Control Your Soul

[SpecialBats]

Creatures:
[card]Shadowmage Infiltrator[/card]  (Draw)
[card]Lu Xun, Scholar General[/card] (Draw)
[card]Exalted Angel[/card]
[card]Morphling[/card]
[card]Psychatog[/card]
[card]Azorious Guildmage[/card]
[card]Jotun Grunt[/card]
[card]Trinket Mage[/card]
[card]Meloku, the Clouded Mirror[/card]
[card]Venser, Shaper Savant[/card]

Other Win Conditions:
[card]Decree of Justice[/card]
[card]Zombie Infestation[/card]
[card]Upheaval[/card] (for Pyschatog, Zombie Infestation, or for clearing the board and hard casting another win condition.

Draw:
[card]Lonely Sandbar[/card] (land)
[card]Secluded Steppe[/card] (land)
[card]Barren Moore[/card] (land)
[card]Library of Alexandria[/card] (land)
[card]Brainstorm[/card]
[card]Ponder[/card]
[card]Portent[/card]
[card]Impulse[/card]
[card]Esper Charm[/card] (Answer)
[card]Compulsive Research[/card]
[card]Deep Analysis[/card]
[card]Concentrate[/card]
[card]Fact or Fiction[/card]
[card]Opportunity[/card]
[card]Skeletal Scrying[/card]

Tutor/filter:
[card]Sensei's Divining Top[/card]
[card]Lim Dul's Vault[/card]
[card]Demonic Tutor[/card]
[card]Personal Tutor[/card] (Upheaval, Wrath, Damnation, Martial Coup, Decree, Deep A...]
[card]Clutch of the Undercity[/card] [Tutors for wrath, FoF, Decree, and is an answer.]
[card]Tolaria West[/card] (maze of ith, library of alexandria, wasteland.)

Counterspells
[card]Remand[/card]
[card]Counterspell[/card]
[card]Mana Drain[/card]
[card]Hinder[/card]
[card]Dissipate[/card]
[card]Undermine[/card]
[card]Absorb[/card]
[card]Dromar's Charm[/card]
[card]Cryptic Command[/card]
[card]Desertion[/card]
[card]Force of Will[/card]
[card]Misdirection[/card]
Preemptive:
[card]Duress[/card]
[card]Thoughtsieze[/card]
[card]Castigate[/card]

Board Control:
[card]Maze of Ith[/card]
[card]Engineered Explosives[/card]
[card]Pithing Needle[/card]
[card]Swords to Plowshares[/card]
[card]Disenchant[/card]
[card]Mortify[/card]
[card]Vindicate[/card]
[card]Capsize[/card]
[card]Faith's Fetters[/card]
[card]Wrath of God[/card]
[card]Damnation[/card]
[card]The Abyss[/card][Great with Morphling or Mishra's Factory]
[card]Treachery[/card]
[card]Austere Command[/card]
[card]Martial Coup[/card]

Other:
[card]Ivory Tower[/card] (Due to the dominance of direct damage and aggro, and my tendancy to keep a full hand, this card most often buys me enough turns to win the game and can be tutored by trinket mage.)
[card]Mishra's Factory[/card] (Alternate win condition, keeps abyss going, and is a great blocker.)
[card]Wasteland[/card]
[card]Vesuva[/card]
[card]Karakas[/card]
[card]Phyrexian Furnace[/card]

Mana Ramp:
[card]Mind Stone[/card]
[card]Talisman of Dominance[/card]
[card]Talisman of Impulse[/card]
[card]Fellwar Stone[/card]

Strictly Mana Land:
7 Island
3 Plains
5 Swamp
[card]Watery Grave[/card]
[card]Hallowed Fountain[/card]
[card]Scrubland[/card]
[card]Underground Sea[/card]
[card]Tundra[/card]
[card]Underground River[/card]
[card]Adarkar Wastes[card]
[card]Arcane Sanctum[/card]
[card]Polluted Delta[/card]
[card]Flooded Strand[/card]
[card]Flood Plain[/card]
[card]Bad River[/card]





Cards with collector's value:
The Library of Alexandria and Mana Drain are real and in English. The Demonic Tutor is Foreign Black Bordered and autographed. Counterspell is Foreign Black Bordered from 4th. Cryptic Command is a textless foil, Hinder is textless, Disenchant is from the book promo. Ivory Tower is korean and black bordered. Mishra's Factory is the winter picture. Swords, Brainstorm, and Portent are from the Coldsnap precons. The deck's foils include the Talismans, Opportunity, Jotun Grunt, the cycle lands, Psychatog, Decree of Justice, and Castigate. Morphling is Japanese.

Potentially Controversal deck decisions:
Upheaval: I'm playing this card partially for sentimental reasons, partially because upheaval/tog or zombie infestation will for certain win me the game. If I get one part of the combo I tutor or draw for the other... it hasn't disappointed me. It has been countered before but it didn't devastate my game.
Zombie Infestation: It's good with upheaval and if I have a good draw engine running on a turn to turn basis. I'll be honest- a lot of the time when I draw it I don't use it.
Talismans: Some say the signants are better, but really- these aren't a bad choice. I can play it on the second turn and have mana to top, or play a duress or whatever.

[/b]Matchups:[/b]
Any control or combo: This is usually very good for me. I have a fast clock on my win conditions and have many options to disrupt them. Plus the cards I have are better than cards most people have for this deck. Decree, Library of Alexandria, duress/discard, misdirection, pithing needle, trinket mage, psychatog, remand, and draw spells are the most important cards in this match.
Aggro weenie: This match is scary. I can't afford to miss land drops or draw things that don't help me. I do have a lot of cards in my deck that help me, however, I can beat and have beaten this deck- not without shedding some sweat when I do, though. Cards that will make or break this game include: The abyss, any wrath variant, engineered explosives, vensner, an early psychatog, drawing a lot of spot removal, cryptic command, ivory towers, faith's fetters. Like I said though- It's a bumpy ride.
Burn/sligh: I have a lot of cards that gain me life. Ivory Towers means they can't kill me before they're on top deck, so, if I can tutor for that I'm fine. Absorb, Faith's fetters, discard, and misdirection also help me. Letting magus of the moon hit has been painful, though because I play a lot of basics I've been able to survive that bomb.
Lando: early counter and bounce spells and mana ramp artifacts are good in this match-up. Psychatog, exalted angel, remand, misdirection, force of will, and mana drain are nifty in this match. This match isn't a sleeper for me, though from experience I find that the odds are in my favor. They do have a lot of things I need to counter, it can beat me and I won't pretend it's easy to beat them,however I've won with tog on three lands in this match. Because some of my wins are low cost and the best things they have to deal with them are burn, I usually win this match.
Survival of the Fittest: Usually, in highlander, this works like a stompy deck which I can usually stabilize against without excruciating effort. If they resolve the enchantment that helps them combo, I better get pithing needle, furnace, grunt, disenchant, or upheaval. The abyss isn't so good against this aggro variant because they can tutor for creatures that disenchant. However, usually, resetting the board a couple of times, casting treachery on a big creature, getting capsize and maze of ith going, and ultimately playing a big flying creature will win me the game... and it happens, though I take some love in the process. Avalanch riders, genesis, uncounterable X spells, and gigapede are great for them. My matches against the rock and stompy decks go similarly to this one, usually.
Possibly popular decks I've not played against:Oath of Druids, mono black control variants.

How to play:
Usually I want Three land in my opening hand, two is acceptable if I have an artifact mana accelerator or top. I usually shuffle away the more expensive win conditions but keep tog and exalted angel. I'd rather keep a tutor than a wrath, spot removal and counterspells are usually always kept. Desertion or cryptic command might get shuffled away if I don't foresee them winning before I can cast them.
I try not to miss any land drops, I tutor for draw spells mainly except when you need something like wrath of god or spot removal. An early library or a protected "ophidian" will most likely win me the game. Psychatog is wonderful in this format- Graveyards and hands get big fast. When Tog's untapped, he's [card]moat[/card]. When he's tapped, he's [card]The Abyss[/card]. Or he's a 3-costed phaige the untouchable. But I'm conservative with him, I don't dump my whole hand into him if I suspect them of having a way of surviving one of his attacks.
Morphling's "can't be target" ability gives him protection from the Abyss, which is wonderful. He's good once you've stabilized, or he'll help you stabilize.
Mana Drain with Decree of Justice is also another very strong out.
In general, I play Exalted Angel as early in the game as possible then use my counterspells only to keep her from dying.

Comments and criticisms are welcome.

[Mythrandir]

well, it looks good. However you're missing on 2 of the most important cards in there:
-gifts ungiven
- intuition

These are the(some of the)bestcards available to our format. And it fits very well with your deck.

I'd also add Gush, tog and upheavel love this one. As for upheavel, yes you shoudl definitely keep it in there.

You should try pact of negation (can be tutored from tolaria west)

Morphling isnt as good as it was, IMO.

cards to consider:

tithe
eternal dragon
glen elandra archmage (persist is awesome)
shriekmaw (one of the best removal around)
- planeswalkers (jace...)
- mystical teachings
- moat (this one wins many games against aggro)

cards to (consider) cut:
zombie infestation
opportunity (too high CMC)
clutch of the undercity
capsize
martial coup (too high CMC)
morphling

And don't know about your meta, but from my experience aggro makes most of the metagame, so games tend to be shorter, and things like morphling, martial coup or capize won't be very helpful, IMO.

But like i said, it looks good, and kudos for you for using vesuva (i´m a very big fan of this card, which i think ppl underestimated)

Hope it helps

[SpecialBats]

Thanks Mythrandir-

I agree that dragon would be fun, it might replace Zombie infestation. Shriekmaw is something I like as well. I agree with Moat as well though I've yet to acquire one- odd considering that I have other cards of that power level and rarity.

I am going to have to defend my decision to play Capsize as it's possibly one of the most unfair blue cards to play against ever, especially in highlander which is a slow format. It throws off your opponent's tempo, can steal multiple turns and gets rid of whatever you need to be gone. It does not discriminate, it will return lands, black creatures, artifact creatures... sometimes it's better than vindicate.

Why I play Clutch is mainly because it's a tutor that can grab me wrath, decree, cryptic command, or fact or fiction. I've rarely used it to bounce something. Mystical teachings would be played over this though it'd be nice if there was such a thing as instant speed wrath. Basically, teachings gets me one-for-one removal, a counterspell, or a draw spell. It does not get wrath or a win condition. Because clutch can get wrath I am partially in favor of clutch, though you're right that this is a good card and the decision is tough.

Opportunity is alright in highlander. I know it's a really big casting cost, but it's an instant, so you can play it end of turn or at some other strategically advantageous time. I used to run Gush but unless psychatog is on the table, I find that I'd rather hardcast than freecast it. And at that point, I can pay 5 to draw 2, or 6 to draw 4. Even though Gush is busted in other constructed formats, it's kind of a late-game draw spell in highlander that throws off my tempo if I use it too soon. I think it was taken out to be replaced by Esper Charm.

Martial Coup I understand the "Too expensive" complaint, because it costs seven and against aggro decks I prefer to resolve a wrath earlier. Alternatively I had considered Akroma's Vengance, Oblivion Stone, or Disk. I've been testing it to see if it's also a win condition like Decree of Justice, but sofar am not greatly impressed.

Morphling... hmmm. I don't think he'll get cut. Him, tog, angel, and decree are the most common ways I win. Because of the way Morphling abuses the stack during combat, and that he can untap makes him viable against other creatures assuming I've been slowing them down some other way until then. I should be better prepared for aggro, though, that is always a stressful match for me. Masticore would be cool, though he gets Krosan Gripped sometimes. Hmm! Maybe stinkweed imp.

Thanks for your insight and helping me explore my options <3

[Mythrandir]

I am going to have to defend my decision to play Capsize as it's possibly one of the most unfair blue cards to play against ever, especially in highlander which is a slow format.

I don't know about your meta, but Highlander is not definitely a slow format. 4, 5th turns wins for aggro aren't that uncommon. I play control and a huge of my matchups are against aggro, and when i have 6 mana (although you have some mana ramp) i really don't want to spend 6 to capize... But since your meta allows it, yes, then capsize is very good.

[SpecialBats]

I can't believe that the [card][/card] tag doesn't do anything on this forum. D:

But anyway, I've made a couple of edits!

Clutch of the Undercity is now Vedalken Shackles
Zombie Infestation is now Oblivion Stone
Martial Coup is now Rout
Japanese Morphling is now English Morphling that has a signature and altered art from the artist, RK Post

[so_not]

You are missing some of the best blue creatures (these are also missing from your staples list):
Vendilion Clique
Teferi
Glen Elendra Archmage
Sower of Temptation

I would also play Volrath's Stronghold and Academy Ruins.