I have been doing a lot of playtesting against W/U control and I've found esper to be a lot stronger I'd recommend trying it if you can.

Try something, I dare you

Seems like a good control deck. I was expecting more than 6 counters from the title though. :(

LordDavop I know sorry about that. This deck has gone through MANY transformations. it used to run a lot of counters hence the name. Also the phrase is kind of an inside joke. It is essentially just W/U control

I really like this deck. If any thing have considered two Elspeth, Sun's Champion ? +1

I love the deck! I thought Azorius Charm was a four of in most UW control0.0

quesobueno123, I have considered it but i personally prefer aetherling as it harder to remove.

Phil_Trick thanks! as for Azorius Charm , it is becoming less and less popular in UW control. For me it is because i find less and less situations where i can bounce something worthwhile because of cards like Stormbreath Dragon and Mistcutter Hydra . Because of this i feel like Celestial Flare is just a lot more solid because in many games the charm just ends up being a card cycle for UW.

skandia4444 Ahhh I see this has always been my dream deck to be able to play, so I asked for Xmas and of course my parents were like 17 and you want a magic deck?! And the answer was no.. but I have mono blue devotion but its not what I really want:/

skandia4444 this is just pretty dang expensive:P

@Phil_Trick i know that feel. the deck i really want to play is American control but with the lands alone at like 100 bucks, its out of my reach. I dont know what version of mono blue you are running but you could probably make a slightly cheaper version of this deck through trade.

I would remove Last Breath in exchange for Banisher Priest

@thefish42 im not sure why i would want a 3 cmc creature with a temporary exile instead of a 2 cmc instant perm exile. as a 2/2 it will get taken by almost any removal spell in standard. If it is the 4 life gain that you dont like, as a control deck i dont care what my opponent's life total is, as my win cons swing so big that they are only delaying the inevitable at that point.

It is mostly a sideboard against RDW and Mono Black Devotion because it hits Pack Rat , Nightveil Specter and Grey Merchant of Asphodel and stops them from being whipped back. and for RDW it slows them down and as soon as they run out of gas, they lose.

skandia4444 you can see my Ono blue at my profile!

Render Silent is a pretty good counter that can force a player to wrap up their turn.

ProfessorSOAD as far as 3 cost counters go, I prefer Dissolve because the scry helps sculpt my hand and the mana cost is slightly less demanding.

I would say take out 3 Plains and add 3 Island because the mana chart says you need more blue mana sources.

i would replace the Architect of Thought with Memory Adept

@vasillion memory adept serves a completely different purpose. architect is there for card advantage and stagnation while memory adept is more of an alternate win condition. He does not belong mainboard in this deck.

I also feel that 2 mainboard Render Silent would do well in this deck. Here are some examples of its uses:
--- RDW likes to puke out a small creature before they drop something big, in order to bait out counters. The control player either lets the weenie through (and then the opponent doesn't play the big threat due to fear of a counterspell), or the control player counters the weenie and thereby gets slammed by the bomb that follows. Render punishes this play strategy, and will buy you time. In the long run, it also forces the opponent to try to jam big creatures through against their will, because doing the previous behavior may result in a Render Silent .
--- Esper really likes to "bait" out counterspells by Thoughtseize ing before a big play. Render Silent punishes this strategy by cutting their plans off immediately, and forcing them to answer the Render or end their turn involuntarily. If they counter your Render, it likely results in them being down an answer, half tapped out, and still not having played their Blood Baron. If they don't, they lose both a turn and a Thoughtseize . Either way, they lose that particular situation.

If these examples don't happen, then the Render is still slightly better than a Cancel , being able to one-up specific situations that Cancel couldn't fix, but still slightly worse than a Dissolve , due to the lack of Scry 1. It simply fills a nice niche.

Another card I like to run main is a one-of Haunted Plate Mail . It's a beefy creature that dodges sorcery-speed removal, and it doesn't soak up your mana to activate, like AEtherling usually does. He also works well as a blocker/wall too. He's peculiarly similar to Mutavault if you think about it, but Plate Mail demands a response at some point. And we don't mind your Hero's Downfall hitting Plate Mail instead of Elspeth, now do we?

I agree with TheAnnihilator about the Render Silent thing. Also, what about Silence and/or Essence Scatter ?

@TheAnihilator, I used to run render silent and agree it is a good card, the reason i took it out is because i feel it is better suited to a sideboard slot, as it only really shines against certain decks, and my 75 is already very packed with things i would rather have. Same goes for silence. as for essence scatter, it just comes down to personal preference as i see it as a strictly mainboard card. Personally i always want dissolve as it hits everything and sculpts my hand, and i would rather syncopate for early countering that exiles against black devotion so they cant whip back a merchant.

Last tournament 4-0 with this, nice deck, +1

@Teleshar thank you very much! I've put a lot of time into perfecting it, and there are still improvements to be made.

Silence , maybe? Do that at the beginning of their turn and you can stall whatever they've got planned, which can be valuable early game.

@Sloanan It is a good card, and has been suggested before. However the list is just too tight to fit it in. If anything i may find room for it in the sideboard in the future but for now, I'm sticking with this list.