A budget Esper control deck?? Never would I see the day lol but for real friend, love this deck, love it's price, love the cards. It's a good example of a deck that can do it's job without breaking the bank!

Toosuavegents thank you. I try with what I can. While I love how it is playing right now, I do plan on getting at least three Jace, Architect of Thought , hopefully through trades.

That's definitely a good idea, that extra draw power is definitely worth while. Elspeth, Sun's Champion is mad expensive atm but definitely good for control where she can instant-churn out some dudes. Gideon, Champion of Justice might be worthwhile simply for his staying ability as a stronger and stronger creature.

Of course, gotta watch out for those planeswalker killers lol

The biggest problem I see with this deck is that you just can't do damage. While this deck is really annoying to play against, I just feel that you will find you can't finish a lot of games. You really only have 5 damaging cards, AEtherling , Angel of Serenity , Gideon, Champion of Justice , Isperia, Supreme Judge , and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts . I know that you're trying - and succeding - to not let the opponent do anything, but at the same time, neither can you. Worst of all, I feel like those heavy hitters that you have are very prone to removal - and you can't protect your planeswalkers after a while.

+1 for budget esper, thats what I run, but I feel mine has MUCH more synergy to the cards... and having 50-80 life on turn 8-12 is nice =)

xantos I don't know about them being removal prone, at least the AEtherling isn't, as long as I leave one Island open I can avoid any removal sent my way. As for the rest of the Angel, Teysa, and Isperia, I plan to replace them and a few other cards, not sure which yet, with Jace, Architect of Thought , Elspeth, Sun's Champion and another Gideon, Champion of Justice .

Just wondering, why run Pilfered Plans over Divination ? I don't see any graveyard interaction and Divination is easier to cast. Just a thought =-)

two reasons,

1) I'm running black, so why not. . . i know i know, not such a great reason.2) for the same cost, you get an extra bonus. It may not seem like much, but that top two cards to the grave can get rid of a threat. also, if by chance i just charmed a threat away, i can get rid of it while i draw.

I just wish it was instant speed. Thinking about taking two out and replace them with Opportunity for the late game draw.

There are many popular planeswalker killer cards in standard right now, and I personally got tired of elspeth dying to black, and B/R... planeswalkers seem more vulnerable to me at this point (though it may just be my local players preferences that thwart me, but...)

I do kind of agree with the divination post above, and to that end I question the psychic strike over dissolve as well..

I would also consider SB at least a couple Merciless Eviction as it can remove anything, like an overloaded detention sphere almost... (if they overloaded...)

conversely: you may get rid of his mana flood, and draw him INTO a threat... its a wild guess at best, honestly...

But the point about charming out a threat is valid, so WTF go for it, as long as your mana base consistently allows it to be played on turn 3...

Psychic Strike makes a lot of sense to me because it's a counter spell that only requires ONE blue! The mill is whatever but because of the land base I'd say it's easier to cast than Dissolve =-)

Merciless Eviction will be added to the side when I build a side. I haven't been able to take this to a fnm, nor attend one in forever, so I'm not sure what my meta is. currently this isn't even the deck i'd take. I feel i'd have a much better chance playing to my strengths with either of my other linked decks above as I am a much more aggressive player.

but what it really comes down to is pretty much my determination to keep it esper. if, from tests, i find it isn't that useful, i'll remove them and just go straight azorius control rather than forcing the black.

What do you guys think of Desecration Demon in place of teysa and isperia?

I run esper simply to get access to Merciless Eviction and Sanguine Bond . I started with azorius control, moved to angels, then added the black to supplement... it has evolved from AEtherling Elspeth, Sun's Champion control (typical builds) to what it is now: a very unique esper blend... I thought about adding R/W and R/U dual lands simply to gain access to Assemble the Legion but I think the dillution to 4 colors might be a bit much... I could do it without harming my colored mana base easy enough if all I needed was 1 R symbol in any given match, but what I would lose is the untapped drops on turns 3 and 4 that I have to have.. heck I am thinking about running 8x any-color land instead of the 4x I have now, just so my SB options would be wide-open... still debating... but I cannot think of anything that does what my SB cards do in any more efficient manner, regardless of color... though I would love to play with Slaughter Games in the deck as a pre-emptive strike to cancell either things that kill my plan like Erebos, God of the Dead or Skullcrack or whatever... even taking out planeswalkers or counters, though I can evict PWs as -is... hmmm.., so I may do it...

I would like to throw a few things out there for your consideration:

Devour Flesh is amazing. Especially since as Esper control their life total is almost irrelevant. I'd say that if you threw 2 Devour Flesh in and you drew both, it would likely only add one turn to their AEtherling clock. Also, it's very easy to cast, unlike Celestial Flare and can hit Sylvan Caryatid and the such.

Opportunity is great and all but you may only want 2 because against early aggro it's just going to clog up your hand and since it doesn't gain you life like Sphinx's Revelation it won't be nearly as good.=-)

Pilfered Plans - With 4 Azorius Charm (and maybe 2 Opportunity ), you would probably want to bring the count down because sorcery speed anything is eww and as a Mono-Black Devotion player not much makes me happier than to see a control deck tap out turn 3 for Divination . Even better would be to see a Pilfered Plans which put a Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Desecration Demon in my graveyard! Whip of Erebos is good .

as for the Opportunity i was only thinking about using 2. I kinda feel that you are right with dropping all four plans which would open room for Devour Flesh which I do like. I'm kinda set on Celestial Flare being a playset though. I love the feeling of the false security it gives the opponent. I know that flesh would be the same thing essentially, but its just not as fun as saying if you didn't attack, you'd still have it :P

Don't listen to any of these people. Looks great. You just need to get those cards to make it one of them unbeatable decks. The Jaces are a good start, they add a lot of draw power as well as shutting down aggro and weenie decks with his +1. Some other cards are Sphinx's Rev. I'd recommend Duress , it's a great card and easy to come by. Easily replaces Thoughtseize in a budget deck. And then get the shocklands and your deck is pretty much set.

Well, the mainboard is at least. Sideboard is a whole bunch more fun.

Butters01 thank you for the kind words. I am working on getting the jaces priority number one now. sphinx rev, i am probably going to stay away from. I know it is amazing, but still want to keep it on the lower side. duress is the first card behind gainsay that i thought of for using in the side when i create it. right now i want to focus on shutting down the aggro decks.

after some testing today, i found myself actually wanting to cut down the Celestial Flare to two. not sure if i want to replace with other sac outlets such as the devour flesh or if i will just replace those slots with jace once i get him.

I think Duress is more mainboard material, while Gainsay is definitely a great sideboard card when you find yourself in any kind of blue matchup.

I don't disagree with cutting down the celestial flare. It's not a bad card, but against aggro decks when someone is swinging at your for a bunch of damage. They're going to sac whatever is providing them the least utility. As for Devour Flesh, it's still giving them a choice on what they want to sacrifice. Unless you bounce and then make them sac. They still might just sac the small creature opposed to their fattie which is what you want gone.

It's probably safer to just up the count of your kill spells. Side the two Celestial Flare (incase you play a hexproof/indestructible heavy deck) for another Doom Blade and you could actually try running another Far / Away since that let's you bounce and then make them sac which is a little more efficient than Devour Flesh or Celestial Flare.

Something I actually agree with in the previous comments is to drop the Pilfered Plans. It doesn't really have good synergy in this deck. Either Opportunity or Divination would probably be your best bet for card draw.

i do plan on dropping the plans. I went today to find Opportunity but couldn't find any. I may make the switch to Divination until i can find the opportunity. what about minus the two Pilfered Plans and 2 Celestial Flare for 3 Duress and one more Doom Blade ?

as for what to replace for 3 Jace, Architect of Thought , remove the two Desecration Demon and an AEtherling or something else?

Hey you commented on my esper controll deck. Can I ask how well Gideon goes in this deck. My friend has one I gave him.

How does gideon work for you?

PartyGoat and dpac, I played last night and had Gideon, Champion of Justice out on the field. He did what I wanted him to. When playing him, I'm not playing him for the minus fifteen. I'm playing him for his plus one once getting him to a 5/5 or 6/6 for a cc of 4. With this deck, keeping threats off the field from killing him is pretty easy. Plus, in human form, he is still hard to get rid of. I was considering putting a second one in here, but I think the one will do just fine for now.

Thanks for the info. Plus I wish I haf more m14 cards. Celestial Flare looks great.