Ginpachi

i hadn't thought about deicide so there is something to consider, as for quicken it's in there more as a 1mana cantrip and if i happen to get an instant speed mortars or divination it's just a bonus

i was corrected on this recently and each creature with life link is treated as it's own instance of life gain and there for does trigger the angel multiple times

i would replace the smiters with brimaz and the centaur healers with courser of kruphix, three life is nice but courser lets you trigger archangel by playing a land, as well as playing lands off the top of your library when you're flooded to try and thin them out.

in some situations smiter is better but i feel brimaz is just a bigger threat, and even though he's legendary i would run 3-4 in smiters place, chances are if they haven't dealt with the one on the field you are already winning and if they kill it you just play another

life link during combat counts once, if you're saying that you attack with 4 dudes then use charm for life link, you get four archangel triggers you would be incorrect. combat damage all happens at once so unless something has first strike you only get one trigger on archangel. still a good card as it lets you draw or bounce a creature along with life link

mutavault is in fact a vampire

sigh... some people are so closed minded, if you are suggesting thassa simply because she scrys and can make things unblockable then ya it's a bad card choice, sure scry is good but wasting a card slot so you can maybe scry every turn is bad, making things unblockable for 2 mana is okay but at that point you might as well just play aetherling. unless you want to turn thassa on as a creature you shouldn't play her.

no, board impact doesn't say "i win the game" but it changes the state of things, if you play thassa or heliod without the chance of them being creatures they have no impact on the game, sure you can spawn 2/1s but it costs 4 mana which would be better spent playing cards that do impact the state of the board.

and the fact that those cards need creatures to function means that if you only have one creature you're going all in on it, in a format filled with so much spot removal that every colour has an answer.

and if you think people offering insight on how even if a card is god depending on the environment it is played in it can be bad is trolling then you have a lot to learn.

agreed it does have down sides, but it's more so for the fact that it can let you play lands off your deck so you don't have to draw in to them.

also as much as giving away info on your next draw it also distracts from your hand. if i have say a brimaz sitting on top staring them down it can change how they play a turn yet without knowing my hand they cant really play around a single card.

for a control deck running no ramp 24 lands is too low and mutavault hurts more than helps in a three colour deck i would cut them for breeding pools, and you should be running 26 lands i would go -2 mutavault -2 divination +4 breeding pool.

i also am not a huge fan of running 4 supreme verdicts when your win conditions seem to be creatures, as well as the fact that archangel doesn't do much without lots of creatures on board, yes i realize fleecmane can become indestructible but it requires a 5 mana investment where you may need to verdict on turn 4.

i feel you're stuck between wanting to play midrange and control, control doesn't have to be all counter spells and board wipes look at mono black devotion it's more of a control deck than it is anything else. and all it does is play a lot of spot removal while putting threats on the board.

not trying to be a dick just my personal opinion.

you just top them from doing anything until you get the aetherling of the tromokratis then you kill them with that. jace, architect of thought can technically be a win con if you ultimate him and take one of their threats.

if you're referring to mizzium mortars and cyclonic rift as board wipes they aren't they are spot removal. overload is a bonus not the intended use. anger of the gods deals with smaller creatures earlier than verdict, and some times you need to drop it turn three rather than wait a turn to verdict. whelming wave is a late game disruption spell that leaves his creatures on the board while removing the rest.

every one of those spells have different purposes even if they don't actually look like they do, and with him running only 2 creatures even if he uses a verdict to kill one creature it's just removal and is being used for it's intended purpose.

i used to play esper, but as much as i love having my opponent hate me i just got bored after a while. that being said i don't like nightveil specter in this deck i would run an aetherling or 2 and blood baron.

second i would go -2 cancel, +2 divination, -3 psychic strike, +1 dissolve, +2 syncopate.

i also think elspeth and jace go well in this deck.

since every ones main issue seems to be the mana, all i have to say is running 12 scry lands is fine, however if you don't want to run shocks you NEED to replace the guild gates with basics, if you don't you might as well add 1 to the cost of every card in the deck with the cheapest spell being a 1/1 with no real evasion for 2 mana.

at that point you are already very far behind, against an aggro deck you basically start playing on turn 4 when they are hitting the final stretch of their game with no resistance, and against control or midrange they already have enough board presence or card advantage that you just cant catch up.

next point, i agree with some of the others you should cut thassa reason being this is an aggressive deck you want to drop a creature or an aura and swing in, but thassa forces you to commit 2 mana to give unblockable which should be going towards resolving another aura or a creature. if you need to run aqueous form for the unblockable , but i feel blue doesn't do enough here to be relevant, you should probably run just green white, replace the detention spheres with pacifism or arrest, both still buff up ethereal armor while taking your opponents blockers out of the way to swing in.

that's all my opinion any ways.

agreed, i would say cut like 2 of each guild gate and play 3 plains 3 forests, or cut all the gates and go 4,4 and like 2 islands