with 7 basics, your duals have a pretty good shot at being guildgates most of the time, Duress and Ob Nixilis Reignited probably deserve sideboard slots. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip definitely deserves mainboard slots, but if youre on a budget, Ojutai's command should come out of the sideboard without a creature to return. (waiting for them to cast a creature isn't worth the card). Learn from the past probably doesnt deserve its slot. maybe sideboard if delirium takes over the meta. If you need more space main board (for JVP), Epiphany at the drownyard, and to the slaughter are probably the best places to make room

In testing this mana base has been fine. Also it isn't as imperative that the land move fast in this deck, as we are in it for the long haul. After I get 3 mana on the board I'm good to start controling. ETB tapped is far more detrimental to Aggro and Ramp. I have nothing but time and an average CMC of 3.1 sooo... It's all good.

Regarding JVP, he has no place here. His price isn't a factor, I could go buy a playset now if I wanted them or thought they'd do something substantial for the deck. But they don't. His emblem is useless and can actually hurt me if the opponent is running delerium or graveyard manipulation. He puts cards in my graveyard (I don't benefit from that). Odds are he wont survive to flip, and he isn't worth wasting defensive spells on when they are better saved to protect things that actually do something for me.

Why no Reflector Mage

hernyage5, he's more tempo and this deck intentionally runs minimal creatures. Instead I'm focused on counter and removal to keep the board clear. I do have a play set of Reflector Mage in case the meta causes me to shift gears and go more tempo/creature-based. He's a phenomenal card though for sure!

If you're going more Esper Dragons or UW Tempo I'd highly recommend you include at least 2x of him.

You like phinx more than dragonlord ojutai? Also you think of throwing 2 avacyn in?

taylordick121, there's several reasons why Sphinx of the Final Word was selected for this deck instead of those.

1) This deck runs no creatures, so there's fewer targets for removal. Meaning by the time a finisher creature comes out, there's a very high likelihood that they will have removal in their hand. Ojutai is only hexproof when he's not tapped.Meanwhile, Sphinx is immune to counters and everything but sac removal.

2) I can't flip Avacyn. She's easily removed. She has no place in a creatureless deck. That's about it on her.

3) Sphinx will prove invaluable when matched up against other Control decks. If we stall out and are unable to budge either way, Sphinx will come out and close the deal.

I'm never a fan of To the Slaughter, maybe sideboard playable at most but I would suggest straight up Ruinous Path.

MTGconstructor, To the Slaughter is there to deal with indestructible, hexproof, Gaea's Revenge, etc. Ruinous Path has a much narrower application and is harder to cast at 2 Black.

I like it! The only thing that is missing is Oath of Gideon, and 2 loyalty +1's on Narset Transcendent to "Your opponents can't cast non-creature spells"

The Oaths are neat but unfortunately the card room just isn't there. The most recent update was excruciating, trying to squeeze in the changes that were made. The 25 instants/sorcery are pretty much intransigent. And I can't take from the Planeswalkers.

It comes down to guaranteeing consistency. With my counter and removal packages, the Walkers should tick in peace and don't need the Oaths for help.

Always great to see another Esper control player. I like the way you've built this one to accomodate a lot more of the early game (mine only has one early win condition: Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip, and focuses more on stopping everything my opponent does until either the Sphinx or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger can be brought out.) My one suggestion (and I get the feeling that it's going to be a suggestion for every deck that isn't already running it) is to run a single Westvale Abbey  ^Flip. It's great in control decks for more creatures for your opponent to deal with, and, between those, Gideon's tokens, and Sorin's it's actually fairly easy to flip. Avacyn could be an interesting addition to this deck. If your Ojutai is vulnerable after attacking, you could flash in Avacyn for not only another threat, but to save the dragon as well.