seems like you should just make a deck that only uses those two cards and then just play 8 counterspells

Lol... Maybe splash black for some discard effects. Or, you know, load up on bounce spells.

Control

3 pieces of the puzzle
2 angelic purge
2 devour in flames
1 tamiyo's journal
1 akoum firebird
3 telling time
2 scatter to the winds
2 confirm suspicions
3 horribly awry
2 tragic arrogance
2 planar outburst
1 chandra, flamecaller
1 jace, unraveler of secrets
1 jace, vryn's prodigy
1 kozilek's return
2 radiant flames
1 geistblast
3 sphinx's tutelage
2 rise from the tides
3 island
2 clifftop retreat
2 glacial fortress
4 highland lake
2 needle spires
4 stone quarry
2 wandering fumarole
2 sulfur falls
4 meandering river

This seems pretty solid in the few games I've played. Work in progress, though. The lands were just tossed in for now.

I don't have nahiri, the harbinger yet. I have all cards unlocked except for around 40% of SOI.

Rise from the tides has been amazing so far.

Pieces of the puzzle is broken and only fetches sorceries for me (Xbox one).

I'm not sure about Firebird. With every deck in White running a 2 mana exile, that thing will eat an otherwise useless card against you. Have you considered Thing In The Ice?

I've heard good things in other decks about Rise from the Tides, I might give it a shot in my Jeskai shell over something else. How has Angelic Purge been working out for you? What do you often sacrifice to use it? And lastly, Pieces of the Puzzle is bugged on a few instants and sorceries atm, has it worked for everything you've used yet?

Rest looks fine to me

Firebird is great against control decks relying too heavily on board wipes and can kill a planeswalker, occasionally. I don't think it's relevant enough, either. Thing in the ice dies to everything firebird does, though, so I'm not sure if that's the answer. Maybe nahiri?

Rise from the tides is backbreaking. The zombies should have a clause where they can't be blocked by creatures with defender, world war Z style.

Angelic purge has too much utility to not get at least one copy in, umm, pretty much everything. Will I sac a land? Sure if I have to. I've been saving them in hand for cards that justify the sac, like ulamog or sigil of the empty throne.

Pieces of the puzzle pulls all sorceries for me, no instants. I wonder how much better this deck would be if it worked. It feels powerful as is. It's also a good bump towards ensuring rise of the tides is big enough.

All in all, this deck feels too slow for now. I can't seem to recover against recursion, opposing counterspells,, and tokens. I always seem to be a turn or two behind when it loses. I've had more success with an esper list as far as control goes.

I built a deck and have tested it for several days, it feels very powerful and mid-late game you have a lot of options to keep board control and ride to victory. When I saw certain cards I felt like they should be abused in some way and this is the current version I came up with. On my twitch channel (see spoiler) should be some video's of me playing this deck (sometimes poorly, sometimes losing due to priority issues).

Creatures (12)
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Harbinger of the Tides
3 Reflector Mage
2 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Archangel of Tithes
1 Linvala, the Preserver
1 Alhammarret, High Arbiter

Spells (18)
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Essence Flux
2 Radiant Flames
1 Kozilek's Return
2 Scatter to the Winds
3 Geistblast
2 Planar Outburst
2 Brutal Expulsion
1 Part the Waterveil

Planeswalkers (4)
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Lands (26)
1 Mountain
2 Wastes
2 Plains
5 Island
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Drownyard Temple
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Prairie Stream
2 Wandering Fumarole
2 Needle Spires

This deck has a lot of wacky stuff you can pull off. Nahiri -8 for Jace and flip it into planeswalker right away. Ofcourse the blink effects on your creatures which can give multiple life gain, clearing and controlling your opponents board/plays. Double timewalking with Geistblast on Part the waterveil and so on. I really like to play this deck, it's fun and it has a lot of options. The only cards I'm not 100% sure about are the Declaration in Stone & Brutal Expulsion (altho Expulsion is such a blowout sometimes..) and the fact that it lacks carddraw. Sometimes you really want to draw a card or 3... Reflector Mage + Essence Flux can really hurt your opponent, especially if followed up by an Eldrazi Displacer.

Let me know what you think and be sure to check out me playing it when I stream!

You could lower your curve and add some card draw by replacing the 2 Expulsions with 2 Fevered Visions. The Kozilek's return seems to be under-used as you don't have any big eldrazi's to cast, so you could replace that one by a single Displacement Wave or Crush of Tentacles which also combo's nice with the Fevered Visions starting to deal some damage to your opponents face. This would also allow you to reuse your Harbinger and Reflector Mage once again

Nice ideas, I will try those tonight and post some results! Thanks

EDIT: added 2 Fevered Visions a Crush of Tentacles and Displacement Wave. Won all 5 games, 1 on the single Crush of Tentacles and 2 games I ended the game with both Fevered Visions in hand and not really wanting to play them (I never played them in all 5 games). It's only been 5 games so I'll continue testing a bit more but for now only the Crush of Tentacles was a good addition

Testing some control, no counters. Seems to be working well so far. Any advice always appreciated - I'm enjoying having multiple combos itching to come out, it's very fun.

Combos / win cons, or interesting plays as follows: Fevered visions, sphinx's tutelage add pressure. Together are a force. Win by mill or damage

3 planeswalkers add to the pressure, nothing specific, but help a lot. Nahiri goes with tutelage

Nahiri, the harbinger ultimate to Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger wins games if they're at 20 or less cards from mill

Dazzling reflection A shining... card in this deck, works well on opponents creatures or your own if needed. I've attacked with ulamog, done my damage, then used two of these to gain 20 life. It's mostly just there to gain life and keep afloat, inevitably you will start losing life and this has saved me too many times to cut

1 cmc
3 fiery impulse
4 clutch of currents

2 cmc
2 thing in the ice
4 gideon's reproach
4 dazzling reflection
2 declaration in stone

3 cmc
3 sphinx's tutelage
2 fevered visions
2 radiant flames

4 cmc
3 inspiration
1 gideon, ally of zendikar
1 nahiri, the harbinger

5 cmc
1 archangel avacyn
2 planar outburst

6 cmc
1 chandra, flamecaller

10 cmc
1 Ulamog, the ceaseless hunger

Land x 24
4 plains
4 island
4 mountain
2 prairie stream
2 clifftop retreat
2 sulfur falls
2 glacial fortress
4 evolving wilds

Beeswax, you can just put deck before and after the decklist in the same format as bracket card bracket, instead of doing each card individually.

lol Immortal is that because of my edit history? Thats mostly just spelling errors

But yes I highlight them one by one at the end. Think I had some trouble with the decklist thing once and gave up.. might try again some day

No lol. We don't see edit history in this sub forum. But it's as simple as ]deck[ before you list and ]/deck[ after your list. Brackets transposed of course.

first ever post, so apologies if my formatting isn't up to scratch!

Humans

2x molten vortex
2x fall of the Titans
4x rush of adrenaline
1x clutch of currents
2x hanweir militia captain
2x thalia's lieutenant
2x akoum stonewaker
2x stormchaser Mage
2x nahiri's machinations
2x declaration in stone
3x jhessian thief
2x reflector Mage
2x iroas's champion
2x jori en, ruin diver
2x always watching
1x retreat to coralhelm
1x retreat to valakut
1x anchor to the aether
1x roil spout


4x plains
4x island
4x mountain
2x wandering fumarole
2x needle spires
2x prairie stream
2x clifftop retreat
2x sulphur falls
2x glacial fortress


Currently 20-9 online...it feels like this deck has something, but needs focus, and I will be cutting some and increasing numbers of others to gain more consistency.

The curve is very low with a drop off at 3. Very capable aggro, It has won games by turn 6. mid game, wen jhessian or jori stick it explodes, the synergy is great. also molten vortex and akoum stonewaker can use lands late game to great effect.
I really can't decide which to cut/increase...give it a whirl and see which direction you think.This list is very much a work in progress, and I'm very unsure so any ideas would be great!

I've been performing VERY well with this deck recently. No idea of tier or place in the meta or whatever, and I'm not sure that it actually has the best matchups against the top tier decks, but I've been stomping the diverse Steam meta with it. It runs very smoothly, consistently, and is a blast to play for me.

Give it a try and I'm pretty sure you'll find success with it as well, when played right. Just keep in mind, it has many control elements but do not be scared to be the aggressor in the matchup! You can output a lot of damage. It typically wins by defending itself against the opponent's early plays and then killing them with powerful planeswalkers and creatures like Gideon, Chandra, Avacyn and Drowner of Hope. It can turn the tables quickly.

2x Fall of the Titans
4x Alchemist's Vial
2x Oath of Chandra
3x Telling Time
2x Declaration in Stone
3x Pilgrim's Eye
4x Artificer's Epiphany
2x Radiant Flames
2x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Suppression Bonds
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Archangel Avacyn
2x Planar Outburst
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1x Linvala, the Preserver
2x Drowner of Hope
1x Chandra, Flamecaller

3x Plains
3x Island
3x Mountain
2x Wandering Fumarole
2x Needle Spires
2x Prairie Stream
2x Clifftop Retreat
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Glacial Fortress
3x Evolving Wilds

I go over some of my card choices in depth in this vid!

I'd like your input on this Jeskai Mill list I threw together today; in the games testing it it performed quite well.


Creatures (4):
1 x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 x Thing in the Ice
1 x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Planeswalkers (3):
1 x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 x Chandra, Flamecaller

Enchantments (7):
2 x Oath of Jace
3 x Sphinx's Tutelage
2 x Fevered Visions

Instants and Sorceries (22):
4 x Fiery Impulse
3 x Telling Time
2 x Declaration In Stone
3 x Geistblast
2 x Radiant Flames
2 x Brutal Expulsion
2 x Talent of the Telepath
3 x Pore over the Pages
1 x Part the Waterveil

Lands (24):
1 x Plains
5 x Island
4 x Mountain
2 x Wandering Fumarole
2 x Praerie Stream
2 x Sulfur Falls
2 x Glacial Fortress
2 x Clifftop Retreat
4 x Evolving Wilds



Basic idea of the deck:
The idea of having a blue-red Mill list is pretty straightforward seeing cards like Sphinx's Tutelage and Fevered Visions. However, I felt these lists often relying too much on the mill cards to get there. I wanted some more removal as well as another wincon.
Shortly after, I saw a Modern deck which ran Nahiri, the Harbinger, to find Emrakul with her ultimate. While we don't have Emrakul in out pool, we do have Ulamog; and seeing how both cards fit a mill strategy nicely and I wanted a third colour for Radiant Flames anyway, I decided to try Jeskai Mill.
This list that is floating somewhere between combo and control is what came out of it.

In-depth card explanations:

Creatures:
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy does an amazing job in this deck, looting to find your win-cons/smooth your mana early, flashing back good spells or helping to stall the game late. His planeswalker modes do exactly what a mill deck wants.

Thing in the Ice acts as early protection as well as a late-game threat and alternate win-condition. Also, while it may not seem amazing for you to use Nahiri's ultimate to grab a TITI, sometimes bouncing the board and hitting for 7 is worth it entirely.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is an alternate win-condition and your go-to target for Nahiri's ultimate. You can sometimes hard-cast him if you haven't found your other win-conditions yet. Him often being a dead card does not matter much in this deck as you'll often have to discard a card off your spells; he'll do.


Planeswalkers:
Nahiri, the Harbinger is the card we're splashing White for. All of her three modes help the deck tremendously: rummaging helps you smooth your draws, find your combo pieces, mill faster and getting Geistblast into your graveyard, her -2 gets rid of problematic creatures or enchantments and her ultimate into Ulamog is backbreaking; a mill for 20 that is hard to interact with as well as occasionally 10 damage.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is in here for power level - +1 to find the cards you need and mill faster, -2 for protection and tempo. His ultimate is not a win-con by itself, but it definitely helps the deck as the other win-cons are harder to stop that way.

Chandra, Flamecaller does exactly what this deck wants - wipe the board and look for answerd while milling the opponent for a lot. Her +1 also represents an alternate win condition.

Enchantments:
Oath of Jace is this deck's support enchantment. Drawing three helps you find what you need early and mills the opponent later. The scry if you control a Walker is icing on the cake, but it is relevant at times.

Sphinx's Tutelage is this deck's main win condition - and it's a good one. It always represents a clock that has to be dealt with, and it's not that easy to interact with it.

Fevered Visions is a very helpful card; an alternate win-condition that synergizes with your main one and helps you dig through the deck. Also, it demands the same answers as your main win-condition does, which is relevant at times.


Instants & Sorceries
Fiery Impulse is in here for early protection in the aggro match-ups and as an instant-dpeed answer to some problematic creatures like Tireless Tracker before they get out of hand. It can also be used in conjunction with other spells to take down mid-range threats - something you're almost never excited to do, but sometimes that is necessary and this deck can compensate for it.

Telling Time does not synergize with your win-conditions, but its sheer utility makes it good enough for this deck. It helps you smooth your draws, dig for your win conditions and set up your plan for the next couple turns.

Declaration In Stone is a nice added bonus that comes with the White splash. Unconditional removal is very powerful, and you don't even mind the drawback of your opponent drawing a card all that much.

Geistblast's main purpose is getting into the graveyard (most commonly by being discarded, but it can double down as removal if needed) and copy a high-impact spell from there - all of the cards mentioned after this one (as well as Declaration In Stone sometimes) are good candidates depending on the situation.

Radiant Flames is this deck's most common boardwipe. It comes in early against aggro, which is very nice, and it can be copied with Geistblast or combined with Fiery Impulse or a hard-cast Geistblast to deal with bigger threats.

Brutal Expulsion is a very nice, flexible card. A bounce spell that can sometimes double down as a Remand combined with a small removal spell that can also finish a weakened planeswalker; this card does many things you want it to. It is a bit expensive, but often worth it.

Talent of the Telepath is a bit of an oddball, but I think it's well placed in this meta. Many decks run answers to their own threats - this card helps you find and cast them while also forwarding your game plan.

Pore Over the Pages is my draw spell of choice. Out of the options presented it is the best one to copy with Geistblast I think, and it is the most mana-efficient one. The other options I'd consider are Comparative Analysis (for the instant-speed) and Brilliant Spectrum (which I'd have to splash another colour for)

Part the Waterveil is just a good card that works with many of your win-conditons, is sometimes a win-condition on its own, and it's backbreaking when copied with Geistblast.


Manabase:
As a three-colour deck, this deck has to run quite some fixing to make it work, even if one of the colours is just a splash.
Praerie Stream enables all of our checklands, Evolving Wilds gets us the colour of our choice.
Wandering Fumarole fixes our main colours and can serve as manasink or protection later in the game.
The basic lands included give us 11 sources, which are enough to reliably cast Nahiri, the Harbinger on turn 4. I might up this count a bit by cutting a Mountain and maybe a second Basic (Mountain or Island) for Needle Spires. This would give us W more reliably for Radiant Flames t3 and help our alternate win conditions at times, but Radiant Flames can function without and this would lead to more lands entering tapped.
Our lands give us 17 sources by turn 2, which is more than enough for Telling Time, and we have enough ways to find double-blue by turns 4 and 5 thanks to Oath of Jace and Telling Time.
Finally, we have 14 sources by turn 2 for Fiery Impulse; again the double-red for Chandra, Flamecaller is achieved by the draw spells.

So, how do people feel about creatureless Tutor decks? I have been running a Fevered Visions/Tutor deck with a ton of burn, and I kept cutting down the creatures. I was at 1 Jace and 2 Things, but they tended to die way to often as I had no other targets (except man lands) and they would sometimes die to my own sweepers (or I wouldn't cast them). I took them all out last night and added some more burn.....and I am pretty happy with it.

I still have Gideon (Which I may dump, he has been in and out of the deck) and the man lands (I need the duel lands, even if I don't activate. In some match ups they are golden) but other then that, the deck is starting to feel like an old burn deck w/ Milling as a second win condition. (More then a few games I have been able to Mill to 0 and then burn out as well.)

So, am I just being stupid/stubborn by not running creatures? One benefit is more useless cards in hand for Visions. Visions has really impressed me. At first, I thought of it as a slightly better Howling Mine, but it is so much better. It is just as dangerous as Tutor.

Wintervoid: can you post your list?

Modulo: I am curious about the absence of planar outburst. I would cut the third geistblast and both brutal expulsion and add land #25 plus planar outburst.
How do you deal with planeswalkers? A suppression bond or two might help.

Inevitability


Instant(8)
2x Geistblast
4x Fiery Temper
2x Brutal Expulsion

Sorcery(12)
2x Declaration in Stone
2x Avacyn's Judgment
2x Radiant Flames
2x Exquisite Firecraft
2x Talent of the Telepath
2x Planar Outburst

Enchantment(9)
2x Oath of Chandra
3x Sphinx's Tutlelage
2x Oath of Jace
2x Fevered Visions

Planeswalker(4)
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1x Chandra, Flamecaller

Land(27)
2x Prairie Stream
4x Plains
4x Island
2x Wandering Fumarole
4x Mountain
2x Needle Spires
2x Canopy Vista
2x Sunpetal Grove
2x Glacial Fortress
3x Evolving Wilds

This is from memory, and I am still tinkering with it and my mana base. But this is the general gist of it.

It has 32 points of burn to the face not including stuff like Visions, Geistblasted Burn, Oath of Chandra etc. Depending on match up I will go agro burn or use burn for creature control.

Ulamog is either a big issue for me or just an inconvenience depending on if I have Dec in hand. That is the one thing I am trying to better adjust for. I have tried Flare, Counters, Bonds, bounce and cards that put on top of library. Bonds worked best, but was vulnerable to being disenchanted. Also, it was a bit slow for White/X Aggro, so I am testing Judgment now. I would love Angelic Purge, but I don't have very many permanents. That will probably be my next experiment.

I may do a more extensive write up later when I am satisfied with the deck. Seems Tier 2 right now, but on the cusp.

..of 3

Perhaps. But I have been told that before when I played paper magic. Some times they were right, other times I would hear about how 'lucky' I was at PDQs and state tournaments when I would make top 8 and they didn't.

That is why I test. Separate the wheat from the chaff.

If you would like to help me test, I would appreciate it.