Mana Drain and Jace, the Mind Sculptor are both very powerful esper options, and Tectonic Edge can be upgraded to Wasteland almost directly. +1 for being an Esper Colored EDH deck!

re nayrash5 Actualy, Jace is terrible in EDH (my opinion,) and Mana Drain is actually pretty bad for this type of deck. I like to flash things in, and mana drain is just "counterspell" 70% of the time when I did have it in the deck. As for Wasteland, you're right. But spending $60 on a land that is only a "minor" upgrade over Tectonic Edge seems useless.. Also, my Tectonic Edge is already altered. If it was more the $10-15 dollar range for a Wasteland, I might - but not at $60. The only thing I spend that much money on willingly is a dual land from revised.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor is actually extremely playable in any format where it's legal. Especially in control and combo decks. The reusable card advantage is incredibly important in a long game, and it can get rid of possible threats. He gets even better if you play some fetches of course.

Speaking of combo, how does this deck hold up against combo decks? You're only playing 5 counterspells (7 if you include Squelch and Stifle, which in this case, I don't), so disrupting a combo deck will be quite difficult. I'm also not seeing alternative disruption, for instance Aven Mindcensor. So I'm inclined to believe this deck has a difficult time handling combo decks. Swan Song, Delay, Pact of Negation, Venser, Shaper Savant, Counterspell, Mana Drain are all very useful and much more maneuverable than a Draining Whelk or Time Stop.

Manarocks might not be your style of playing, but playing Kor Cartographer as your only ramp/fixing seems very lackluster, not even Sol Ring? In my meta, EDH games are won by card advantage and winning the land/mana race, neither of these seem very achievable with this build. How do you cope with faster decks that can produce 6 mana on turn 3?

What's the thought behind Sphinx of Lost Truths over Consecrated Sphinx or for instance Angel of Despair over Ashen Rider?

re: deathbygiraffe

Hi DbG, you do raise some valid points and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability with good reasoning.

1. Jace TMS is powerful - but there are three major points against him. One, I don't feel like spending $100 on a planeswalker. Dual lands yes, but planeswalkers no. Two, I hate Jace. Ever since they made Jace the poster boy of MTG I've despised him. Jace Beleren is the only good Jace. Three, I have previously included a copy of jace TMS for testing, and .... Brainstorm every turn is good - getting constantly attacked for having Jace isn't. He doesn't protect him self well in EDH, as Elspeth 1 and Venser can. Also, I hate Jace; and I do not play Fetches.

2. I do play in a some-what moderate combo meta - and they usually aren't an issue unless they try to combo off before turn 5 or so. I have enough utility spot-removal to deal with most issues that come up. Aven Mindcensor is a great card, but it doesn't do enough and isn't big enough. It also paints an incredibly large target on its owners head. People like their tutoring and fetch lands a bit to much.... As for the counterspells - Venser is the only one I'm thinking about. Pacts kill people more then they save them, around here, and Swan Song, and Counterspell aren't really anything special. Mana Drain is not good for a deck that doesn't play much in the main phase. Draining Whelk and Time Stop have been amazing though. Draining Whelk can end games nicely at crucial moments when it stops a big spell and you start smacking people. Another point in Draining Whelk (and possibly Venser's) favor - is that it goes very well with Vault of the Archangel. All said, in my meta I don't have much problem controlling against combo decks. Most combo players aren't really...that good at playing their combo and more often then not, play into removal via telegraphing. The biggest problem is usually Turn 2 survival; or Purphoros when I don't have the four specific things to get rid of it - I fucking hate Purphoros....

3. Sphinx of Lost Truths is AMAZING, 7 mana for 3 cards and a 3/5 flyer. No, its not Uthuun, but its still very good - and you can 5-mana unkick it for some dirty looting action. I dislike Consecrated Sphinx because I think its just a dumb-unfun-hate-filled sack of dirty untested-bullshit by WotC (just like Vorinclex, Iona, and Eldrazi,) Lastly, I'm currently testing out Ashen Rider ; both as a replacement for Angel of Despair and in addition to it - but for some reason, that one extra mana is really hurrting.

4. I made a vow not to use mana rocks. At best, I could add in that one 2-drop knight that grabs a plains; but I've not yet needed to do so. Kor Cartographer [and cloning it], Druidic Satchel, Demonic Tutor, Rune-Scarred, and Expedition Map have met my mana needs quite well. There are many games (more then half) that I've played were I've ended up with just as many lands as most ramp decks (or more,) because Druidic Satchel is just soooo goood in this deck. On average, it gets me 4-7 lands a game, 10-20 life, and about 4-5 1/1 chumps.

Venser, is the most likely new addition; and I might want to find room for Sakashima. But so far, the deck - works; much to my own and other's confusion. It seems that favoring pure quality of cards, over quantity of cards, and the strong utility land package has worked out.