I run an Esper deck like this one. Get rid of the Woodlot Crawler s for your Council of the Absolute s. Also, only run one o each of the guildgates. In their places, run 4 Evolving Wilds and the other 2 shock lands. But oter than that, it should do well. If u would like to see my esper deck, it's Exile, Bounce, Destroy. All in a days work. Sorry I couldn't get a link up.

robberxxx I've been debating what to do with my Woodlot Crawler , but I've known that I should side deck it. It only is useful against players with green, otherwise, it just takes up space for spells, more than likely it will be more control spells, or Sphinx's Revelation if I can get them. However, I'm probably going to just keep the Council of the Absolute in my sideboard for now, simply because they aren't super useful except in mirror match ups. I agree with the land decision for the most part, but I also don't poses the extra shocklands. What I have is in this deck. I will take a look at your deck and see what I like and dislike in it. Thanks for the comment.

Have you thought about Nightveil Specter ? I run three of those in my own Esper deck, and even if you don't mainboard it it'd be a good side for mirrors.

Ohhh, Roryrai good idea! Definitely going to add it into sideboard, thanks for the help.

Things that you absolutely need are Think Twice and Augur of Bolas . You should probably take out the Undercity Plagues, Sin Collectors, Teysa, Gideon, and Pilfered Plans to make room for them.

Control is slow, but Ashen Rider is to slow. Also, I know for your decks name-sake, voyage's end is in there, but Doomblade is strictly better, except against Blood Baron of Vizkopa .

I didn't see Hero's Downfall , and noticed 7 gates, so I assume your on a budget. You should try Far / Away . Nice two-for-one card that gets around hexproof.

Codex shedder also is not a great way to go.

Plus your running 5 creatures. Take out ashenrider, then put in a Whip of Erebos for your AEtherling, making it that much more unstoppable. Look up how you can "whip in" AEtherling, use it's activated ability, trigger the whips "at the end step" ability while AEtherling is gone, then return it for good :) he just became that much more unkillable :P

Best of luck. Take a look at my deck:

Esper Control, anti-aggro approach (2nd at FNM)

xTCBxNightmare well thanks for the suggestions! I've been looking to get rid of Ashen Rider , and I'll probably put in a Blood Baron of Vizkopa since I have one laying around. And you're right, it is a budget deck for the most part. But I do buy cards quite often, and am not afraid to splurge if I need to. But I already do have Far / Away in this deck, as a substitute for Hero's Downfall because I lack the money right now to buy it. Whip of Erebos is a good combo for AEtherling , but that's just too much comboing. I've been meaning to slim down on creatures, but was hoping that I would swap them out for better control spells. Thanks for the suggestions though!

@StormZing , depending upon your local meta, even Doom Blade can main boarded, and boarded out for Dark Betrayal against MBD. I run 2 counters in my deck and 3 doom blade. It's effective, and is turn two removal. So is Devour Flesh . Honestly I'd take out the codex shredders, and put in those.

I do know though that it can be nice to get back a verdict or revelation or planeswalker exactly when you need it most, so props for being resourceful sir

If I were you, and decided to sink 40$ more into this deck, I suggest either a bunch of the Scry lands, say 4 temple of silence and a deceit, or buying two Jace, Architect of Thought who is amazing.

But I am warning you, once you sink more, and it improves, you won't want to stop ;P It's dangerous!

xTCBxNightmare again, thanks for even more suggestions! Last night I opened up a Hero's Downfall so was more than excited to see that, and finished my playset of Dissolve . Took out -2 Stymied Hopes to make room for them, and will take out the other two to help complete other playsets when I receive them.

Jace, Architect of Thought is an awesome card, and if I ever get one he will go in here! I'm just holding off on buying cards for a little bit with the release of Born of the Gods right around the corner, there may be something awesome I snag with my preordered fat pack+booster box. But have no fear, the shock/scry lands will go in here if I get them.

Ah Codex Shredder . You understand only one of the 3 big reasons why it is in here. That's reason #1, snagging something from the graveyard. However, there are two other reasons I keep it. 2) It ruins scry and combos well with my Azorius Charm by milling something bounced to the top of the deck. A very nifty combo that irritates all opponents. And the biggest reasons I keep it in here is......

I'm just waiting for more playsets of other cards to get rid of it. While the previously two reasons are useful, it doesn't make the card worthwhile in this deck. I have thought about running Millstone for shits and giggles, but I realized mill is not a win con in this deck. So no point in having either. Personally, I'm waiting until I get 2x more Blind Obedience to swap it out. The extort will be useful late game, and the tapped creatures and artifacts will do well early in the game.

Finally, the reason I don't run Devour Flesh is because it's a turn 2 power house, but I already do incredibly well on holding off all creatures on turn 2. Turn 2 lets me use all my bounce spells, which are useful for stalling for me. They also allow me to put pressure on my opponents because I might let them cast something to tap out their mana one time, but only to bounce it and counter it later. It does wonders against aggro decks, because they have to sit their and decide if attacking is worth losing their presence on the battlefield, and by the time they think they're ready to attack so I can't do anything, I already have an answer and it puts more doubt into them. This deck could be made more efficient probably with more kill spells and hard counters, but the bounce effect is what makes the opponent lose their heads! They know they are playing control, so they doubt for something to hit the field. Then, after they realize it does, they expect it to be killed immediately. After they come over the shock of realizing their creature is totally unharmed, they think they're billy badass and can swing against me. Wrong! Then, every turn after that, they always say "I think I'll swing/attack with (insert card name here)?", never knowing if it will even make it. It is very cruel, and it is unusual punishment for the opponent. Most of my local meta refuses to play me with this, and have given it three lovely nicknames. "Nope", "Nah, not today", and "That fucking deck?". I'm quite proud :')