The primary difference, in my mind, between Esper and UW besides their significantly worse manabase. They have a ton of air in their deck so if you play draw go with an opponent for a while they will find more action than you will. This means that you need something like Secure the Wastes to turn the corner quicker as it's one of your few actual ways to win.
I don't play Finks or Wall of Omen maindeck.
I also don't agree that Secure the Wastes fills an important role. It's best case scenario is casting it for X = 5 against an opponent who is out of cards and is living off the top of their deck. In these scenarios the game is already won for UW control. You just win with Colonnade over the course of a few turns. In my mind, playing Secure the Wastes is just a way of having a card that's worse in the early game than something like Condemn, Blessed Alliance, Negate, Spell Snare, etc in exchange for having a quicker end game clock.
I'm not interested in trading premium early game interaction for a quicker clock.
Regarding your question about tapping out with UW Midrange. You have to know the matchups. Don't tap out for something when it leaves you in a really bad spot if you're opponent resolves a Liliana of the Veil, has an attacking Inkmoth Nexus, etc. Playing Wall of Omens on Turn 2 when you have Leak/Spell Snare in hand isn't very smart. You can wait a turn or two, cast Wall leaving up Mana Leak/Spell Snare etc.
I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere in the past pages, but why do I tend to see Batterskull in these lists and not Wurmcoil Engine? Is it due to the increased likelihood you'll have a creature to equip Batterskull to it, reducing the blowout potential of them pathing your Wurmcoil?
I'm not a fan of Secure the Wastes. I just don't see the value in dedicating deck space to it. We have a lot of early interaction in Path, Condemn, Blessed Alliance, and Spell Snares and want to play turn 4 Wrath to clean anything else up. The deck doesn't really need additional win conditions since Colonnade is more than sufficient in most matchups and you have a lot of incidental win conditions in Jace, Gideon, Snapbeats, Restoration Angel, and Clique.
Esper tries to use it since they play zero planeswalkers, and most of the time only 3 Snapcasters, 3 Colonnades. It's a bit of a different situation there.
Gideon is definitely a powerful card that is great against aggressive decks and creature decks in general, but a bit slow to the board and largely irrelevant in a few matchups. I like the versatility that Jace, AOT gives and would like to see how he performs as a 2 of.
I beat a budget Naya Burn deck 2-0, Affinity 2-0, Merfolk 2-0. Deck felt pretty smooth all night. Detention Sphere wasn't great, and I feel like the deck almost definitely needs 1 Sphinx's Revelation in the maindeck primarily as a way to gain life in the endgame to prevent any narrow losses due to stabilizing at 1-4 health. I never drew Aven Mindcensor, but feel like it can almost definitely be cut. It's just not necessary. Shadow of Doubt was great game 1, but I usually sided it out due to lack of surprise factor in post board games, but opponents will still tend to respect the threat of it. Manabase was okay, but there were games where my hands were slowed down by come into play tapped lands when I really would have preferred a basic or mystic gate.
Jace, Architect of Thought was very good against Affinity and Merfolk buying me enough time with his +1 buy time and then using the -2 to find Verdicts. I never cast Gideon Jura. If I were to play the deck again next week I'd likely sleeve up the following.
I think you can cut a Sphinx's Revelation. There's only so much time and deck space you can dedicate to cards that don't affect the board early on. 4 Esper Charm, 4 Think Twice, 2 Rev, 1 White Sun is a lot of cards that can bog down your early game space if you draw too many of them.
I'm considering getting some foil Tron lands, but feel like they are way overdue for a reprint in a Modern Masters set. They have got to be making an appearance in MM17, right?
This deck is almost identical to the list Ryan played except it's been updated for Fatal Push. Wafo's list has the same matchup problems that the Ryan list has so I don't see that being a great argument against it. I think I'd cut the Ancestral Vision, Think Twice, and Verdict for 3 Fatal Push and see how it works out. The mana base would need to be tweaked a bit for the extra black cards.
I played the Ryan list at FNM this week. I lost to Spirits, and Merfolk. A common theme was my dissatisfaction with 4 Think Twice/4 Esper Charm and no Serum Visions. I was either getting mana screwed or flooded and really missed Visions ability to filter. It also felt like not having Vision in the deck hurt the overall potential in early Logic Knots. I'm going to go back to something closer to Wafo-Tapa's original Esper list that featured 2 Serum Visions and trim elsewhere to make room for Fatal Push.
Speaking of Fatal Push; the card didn't feel overwhelmingly powerful to me, but I didn't get to cast it on any Goyfs/Thought-Knots/Grim Flayers.
Yes, figured. No problem! I found Nahiri Jeskai wasn't the Control Deck suited to me, and ever since going straight Control without her I got better results for myself. Keep the fight on.
Best of luck Jeskai brothers!
I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen Jeskai Nahiri put up results in a while, but Jeskai Top 4'd a GP and shows up occasionally in dailies.
I don't play Finks or Wall of Omen maindeck.
I also don't agree that Secure the Wastes fills an important role. It's best case scenario is casting it for X = 5 against an opponent who is out of cards and is living off the top of their deck. In these scenarios the game is already won for UW control. You just win with Colonnade over the course of a few turns. In my mind, playing Secure the Wastes is just a way of having a card that's worse in the early game than something like Condemn, Blessed Alliance, Negate, Spell Snare, etc in exchange for having a quicker end game clock.
I'm not interested in trading premium early game interaction for a quicker clock.
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Restoration Angel
1 Vendilion Clique
Instants and Sorceries:24
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Path to Exile
4 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Spell Snare
2 Condemn
1 Mana Leak
1 Remand
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spreading Seas
Planeswalkers:2
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Gideon Jura
Lands:26
6 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mystic Gate
EDIT:
Regarding your question about tapping out with UW Midrange. You have to know the matchups. Don't tap out for something when it leaves you in a really bad spot if you're opponent resolves a Liliana of the Veil, has an attacking Inkmoth Nexus, etc. Playing Wall of Omens on Turn 2 when you have Leak/Spell Snare in hand isn't very smart. You can wait a turn or two, cast Wall leaving up Mana Leak/Spell Snare etc.
Esper tries to use it since they play zero planeswalkers, and most of the time only 3 Snapcasters, 3 Colonnades. It's a bit of a different situation there.
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
5 Island
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Mystic Gate
1 Temple of Enlightenment
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Restoration Angel
1 Aven Mindcensor
Spells:24
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Path to Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Spell Snare
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spreading Seas
1 Condemn
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Remand
1 Detention Sphere
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Gideon Jura
I beat a budget Naya Burn deck 2-0, Affinity 2-0, Merfolk 2-0. Deck felt pretty smooth all night. Detention Sphere wasn't great, and I feel like the deck almost definitely needs 1 Sphinx's Revelation in the maindeck primarily as a way to gain life in the endgame to prevent any narrow losses due to stabilizing at 1-4 health. I never drew Aven Mindcensor, but feel like it can almost definitely be cut. It's just not necessary. Shadow of Doubt was great game 1, but I usually sided it out due to lack of surprise factor in post board games, but opponents will still tend to respect the threat of it. Manabase was okay, but there were games where my hands were slowed down by come into play tapped lands when I really would have preferred a basic or mystic gate.
Jace, Architect of Thought was very good against Affinity and Merfolk buying me enough time with his +1 buy time and then using the -2 to find Verdicts. I never cast Gideon Jura. If I were to play the deck again next week I'd likely sleeve up the following.
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Restoration Angel
1 Vendilion Clique
Instants and Sorceries:24
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Path to Exile
4 Cryptic Command
3 Supreme Verdict
2 Spell Snare
2 Condemn
1 Mana Leak
1 Remand
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spreading Seas
Planeswalkers:2
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
Lands:26
6 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Plains
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mystic Gate
2 Restoration Angel
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
5 Island
3 Plains
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Seachrome Coast
2 Spreading Seas
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Cryptic Command
1 Disallow
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
4 Path to Exile
1 Remand
2 Shadow of Doubt
2 Spell Snare
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Crucible Of Worlds
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Stony Silence
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Disenchant
1 Dispel
1 Ethereal Haze
1 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Mana Leak
4 Path to Exile
3 Rewind
2 Spell Snare
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Serum Visions
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Dispel
2 Negate
3 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Serum Visions
1 Ancestral Vision
4 Supreme Verdict
3 Think Twice
4 Esper Charm
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Path to Exile
3 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
1 Negate
4 Cryptic Command
1 Secure the Wastes
4 Polluted Delta
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
3 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Celestial Colonnade
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Drowned Catacomb
60 Cards
3 Condemn
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Dispel
2 Lingering Souls
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Gideon Jura
Speaking of Fatal Push; the card didn't feel overwhelmingly powerful to me, but I didn't get to cast it on any Goyfs/Thought-Knots/Grim Flayers.
No creatures? That's passing up some sweet Ultimatum value!
I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen Jeskai Nahiri put up results in a while, but Jeskai Top 4'd a GP and shows up occasionally in dailies.