@ randomname

Ok so you remember I played this janky spirit I brewed deck vs you a couple of times , and my conclusion is there are simply not enough playables to make it really great... but I think you are as usual on the right track to make headway.

Some things:

_ Definately do not run Thing in the ice, since the last thing you wanna do in this deck is bounce your own board. I kinda want to say 'yeah include some instant draw... but we don't have good ones for this deck... You make some clues.... maybe it's enough?' River marshall is a 3/2 for 2 and a manasink. Go beat face brother.

_ Eldrazi Displacer does amazing things, but he's a 2 off, and only does ANYTHING the deck wants to do if you get one of your 5 wastes on the table. Cut him.

_ We dont have enough 2 drop fliers to really go off with 3cmc counterspells (unless you wanna go deep with welkyn tern, which i tried... it sometimes works !), so that's obviously a weakness of the deck. We do have access to Spectral Shepherd and Topplegeist. Together these and rattlechains represent a very cool little manasink. I know we only have 2 Rattlechains, and for this deck to really shine, you'd need 4, but I still think those cards are playable and merit consideration. They also upgrade Essence Flux quite significantly.
What i've found very hard is to enable delirium for topplegeist in this archetype (which turns this card into the best 1 drop EVER, well after Goblin Guide... and 25 legacy/vintage cards). Angelic Purge may help a bit, but it's not really enough imo.

_ I really like Confirm Suspicions here. Babs made a jank counterburn deck that also correctly (imo) identified it as a synergistic card. I also had other people asking me today if I consider that card playable in Zorius, Esper control. Answer is YES ! as long as you have a very heavy flash or instant theme, it's a fine 'wincon'. Wether 1 or 2 is the correct number, I don't know.

_ Finally, and this may come as a surprise, but unlike many, I enjoy a good Roil Spouting. But you know; I'd rather play 1 of it and 2 Always Watching at first glance.

It's good as a 1 or 2 off since you are often holding up mana after you deploy anyway. The earlier you get on board, the earlier you can start trying to win the race with tempo effects. Eventually, countering a big spell and enabling you to investigate over the space of the following turns feels perfect to me.

That said, the deck does not have true inevitability, and other decks do; bouncing your whole board might not even be totally tempo negative, but giving away all the tempo or most of it that you gained during the game, to bank it on a 7/8 vanilla beater without protection, in a meta with ZOMG THE POWERFUL NEW SPOT REMOVAL FOR BIG BEATERS WITHOUT PROTECTiON; feels very very all-in. Not to mention that having to play a 0/4 wall does nothing to advance your gameplan in most matchups.

Maybe I'm wrong, I often am; but it feels like a win-more plan more often than a 'reach' strategy.

Azorius Control

1 x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

1 x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 x Thing in the Ice
3 x Reflector Mage
1 x Archangel Avacyn
1 x Linvala, the Preserver
2 x Emeria Shepherd


2 x Declaration in Stone
2 x Horribly Awry
2 x Telling Time
4 x Just the Wind
4 x Catalog
3 x Broken Concentration
2 x Scatter to the Winds
1 x Confirm Suspicions
2 x Pore over the pages
2 x Planar Outburst
1 x Tragic Arrogance

11 x Island
5 x Plains
2 x Prairie Stream
2 x Glacial Fortress
4 x Meandering River

Actually with so many double blue cost effects t3-4; he wants those blue sources. Similarly, Catalog is better than Artificer's epiphany with just the wind, if you do have a clue token

With 15 blue sources, I still think he can feel pretty confident of having double blue by 4 lands.

And the Just the Wind combo only costs 1 more mana for that very particular scenario where you absolutely want to use it. I'd more often rather have the extra card.

And if you really want blue sources, he could 4x more island or 3x Island 1x Plains.

He has ALOT of double blue effects by t4, and quite a few on t3. this doctorate in game theory thinks 18 seems a minimum.

I perfectly agree. And that is why I said 18, and not 19

I'll concede 17. 2 foundries. Deal ?

I also don't want to lower the threat density by trimming attackers or trading them out for Thing in the Ice. I agree with GRM on that count. If this were a UW Control deck, with significantly more spells and fewer creatures, then I'd be on board. There's an enormous difference between both sides doing nothing (opponent plays something, I counter it, repeat) and me having an attacker or two in play to do 2-5 damage a turn while we both do nothing.