Hmm, I bet I could help brew that rabbit haha. That sounds like it could be fun

Alright so play testing the esper it just doesn't bang like this thing does lol. So we staying dimir baby. I like that deck too grixis or u/r works really well with mill right now.

Counterspell instead of Negate or Countersquall instead.

They're not standard

Counterspell isn't even modern thats legacy if i remember right or casual only

yeah they are legacy playable. but im just trying to find a replacement for jace

I had Monastery Siege in Jaces spot before. The extra card draw ability or the protection it offered were both very useful

Anticipate doesn't actually draw you cards. If you were looking for a card to help find you land drops, just use more lands instead so you don't have to tap to go snag a land. You could and should do a small splash of white for 2 cards in particular that would work wonders in your deck, Ojutai's Command because it's great with Jace and the counter draw is amazing, and Encircling Fissure so you don't die to early aggression. You could also use the splash for Utter End so you have kind of a "catch all" response. Scatter to the Winds isn't that impressive as a counterspell because there are decks that can just wreck you on their board presence before turn 3, especially if they are on the play. I would suggest going to 2 Scatter's, removing all 3 Anticipates, and Despise is not all that great of a card Game 1. So I would suggest removing all 3 either to the board or all together and rely on your removal and wincon. This way you could add in about 3 Ojutai's Command, 2 Encircling Fissure, and 2 Utter End and now you have a versatile counterspell with draw backing it, a versatile removal spell, and a way to stave off early pressure, yes you have Languish, but Languish cannot stop Atarka Red's combo on turn 3, which is plausible and will happen at the GP. In the side, you could really use some lifegain and your board looks too much of 3 of's. I would suggest going to 1 Virulent Plague (it's only good in like 1 or 2 match ups and it isn't extremely a "gotta have" card), and also if you added the Utter Ends, Ruinous Path gets outclassed by that removal card, so going to that as a 1 of as well will help too. Horribly Awry is that card that you don't really want to see multiples of, so I would say cut those to as a 2 of. Dispel is fine but I would suggest moving to a 2 Dispel and 1 Negate package or vice versa. Negate can hit those cards that are problem cards: Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and so on... Infinite Obliteration is fine because Rally is a thing and it works well against Esper Dragons. I would suggest, if you made these changes, you then have 5 spots open. Adding in 3 Arashin Cleric and 2 Ultimate Price. Cleric for early aggression, which Tutelage decks have always had an issue with. And the same for Price. So I would suggest this, so you have a competitive shot at the GP:

Main:

Remove:

3 Anticipate

3 Despise

1 Scatter to the Winds

Add:

3 Ojutai's Command

2 Encircling Fissure

2 Utter End

Sideboard:

Remove:

2 Virulent Plague

2 Ruinous Path

1 Horribly Awry

2 Dispel

Add:

3 Arashin Cleric

2 Ultimate Price

2 Negate (I just like Negate more than Dispel because it hits more and in your deck, you're not using Dispel to protect your creatures so the extra 1 mana to cast a better counterspell is worth it)

Change in mana base:

Remove:

1 Sunken Hollow

4 Swamp

2 Island

Add:

4 Flooded Strand

2 Prairie Stream

1 Plains

I feel with these changes, your deck has a better chance at the overall meta. Your match up against Atarka Red & R/G Landfall will improve. Also, this will help you tremendously against Jeskai Black since they pack so much removal, you can keep bringing your Jace back and keep their threats off the table easier. AND you can also fend off Abzan better because Abzan has a tremendous long game unless they are playing Abzan Aggro, then in which case, you need the ability to interact before turn 3 hence the changes to the sideboard and you will need to be able to finish them in the long game because Abzan has some serious staying power, hence the addition of white.

Hope this helps! Enjoy! By the way, it may seem like I threw a lot at you and changed the deck, but if you look at it, the deck will do the same thing, just be able to keep doing it in the late the game, because that is where Tutelage wants to be, the late game, the trick is to stay alive to get to that point.

I think those are perfect suggestions thank you in gonna play test it later but I like every suggestion you made lol

I think the deck is pretty sweet. People always undermine mill as a strategy, but in standard it definitely has a place. Sphinx's Tutelage can be absolutely brutal.

Lol yea every format I make a mill deck I hear how mill isn't viable but I love it lol

I played against something very similar to this at an fnm in nyc. He Dark Deal'd me to death. I dig it.

I would play Taigam's Scheming over Anticipate. The reasons being it digs for 5, it fuels delve, and fixes your draws. I feel like it's worth it, even though it's a sorcery.

With Oath coming out, I'd like to see this adjusted to what will be considered standard when Khans goes away and a more budget worthy deck. Would love to get my hands on a Jace which I think is the most expensive card in the deck. If I could see a budget version of this, I'd definitely build it. I'm playing a U/B Ingest deck right now which I've won by damage and by milling, but this seems to mill very quickly. Would probably build this as a separate deck since I enjoy playing my current U/B.

amazingdan I'm gonna give it a shot in the beginning phases of this deck I didn't like it but now given the overall list it works better now.

mcfancher this deck actually was a budget u/b deck when it won my first FNM . I had 4 Monastery Siege no fetches also ran Read the Bones. Had Ruinous Path Horribly Awry Dissolve loved the deck I went with the Jace's cause he's a boss lol but you don't need him for this deck to be good.

Effective. We lost Phenax in Standard, but Sphinx's more than picks up the slack. This is pretty similar to my new Standard mill. I'm too casul to run Jace, Polluted Delta, or Flooded Strand, but your deck has given me some ideas on how to refine mine while still maintaining a budget.

Mtgangsta Thanks for getting back to me. So yeah I'm definitely missing a few cards that would begin to let me build this. That's why I currently run a U/B deck built on Ingest and my 1 Sphinx's Tutelage. So obviously I need 4 more because I like that U/B deck because I can win by damage or by mill.

My questions are, what's your plan for replacing Dig Through Time, Utter End, and Treasure Cruise since those are soon to be out of Standard? My biggest issue is getting some of the removals you have like Languish ( I do have the 3/4 CMC card that does -3/-3 which could replace it, but I only have one or two. I'll probably have to take the splash of white out since I don't have any cards other than ORI and BFZ cards since I just have gotten back into playing so I'm missing things like Crux of Fate and Ojutai's Command. I think I'll build what I can then link to you and get some suggestions if you are ok with that?

The one I'm most nervous about losing is Treasure Cruise I'm really hoping that oath gives me something lol. I can put Read the Bones Artificer's Epiphany or Weave Fate in but none match the power of me paying one blue to draw three cards. Utter End can be replaced with Ruinous Path but it's not as strong losing dig I can throw Anticipate or Taigam's Scheming and be ok. I would be happy to take a look at a list definitely tag me when you post it.

Mtgangsta Yeah that sort of helps me with the cards. I'll definitely hurt in the land portion because some of those are just way out of my price range. I'd rather stumble across them then pay outright. I definitely have some of those to use as subs so I'll get it together and post it sometime today for you to look at. Also, need to pick your mind about how to actually play this, especially when you don't have any creatures yourself. Do you let them get out only a couple cards or do you consistently bounce/counter?

I haven't really played with or against mill before, is the strategy to fog or tap stuff down and then boardwipe larger fields while waiting for mill? I might put this in a metadeck and play against it to see what it's like. Has Dromoka's Command been ruining your day at all?

I just dont see mill being competitive enough, your only mill card is Sphinx's Tutelage if they board enough hate and if you just never draw one your kinda sitting there taking hits from 1-2 drops for a while till you get a board wipe but then your still waiting on tutelage. 4 cards cant make a deck work.

uh if you ult jace that is mill as well...

@ bretters Being the only creature in the deck once he flips his is pretty much defenseless and since he is legendary its not like you can have 2 out at a time. i ran a deck similar to this on origins release. it worked once and lost every game after that. so much removal in standard he wont last.

and do you not see the rest of this guys deck? counter spells, board wipes, AND reanimation (of jace- ojutai's command) oh and don't forget draw in tcruise and anticipate to get what he needs / mill with a tutelage out.

I just wanna know where he plays fnm so i can clean up some chumps