As far as Esper goes in modern, I'm currently on a more midrange/control type list that feels a lot like a rock deck, and it served me well through Eldrazi winter and so far beyond as well. The deck doesn't play any of the gross counterspells in modern outside of 2x Negate in the main to shore up fast combo matchups.
I don't think that anyone can afford to be purely reactive in modern, because the format is too fast and too open and the answers just aren't as fast and versatile. Sitting back on a pile of mediocre counterspells and wraths is a good way to get killed, so I've opted for pressure + disruption. Otherwise it's an all-in tapout control grindhouse. I love this style of deck, and you get to play 4x of the best card in modern, Lingering Souls. Overall I like my current configuration a lot, but I'm not sold on my slots with Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Esper Charm. Looking for suggestions/advice there. I'm considering just maindecking one or both of the Damnations out of the side, but I'm really looking for ideas here. I've opted for Damnation over Supreme Verdict because of the strain that Liliana of the Veil puts on my manabase. I'm pretty heavily base black, so it just made more sense I think. Hit me up with questions, comments, and advice!
The Kurt Spiess list in my opinion lets you be more one-dimensional and more efficient. The Intuitions and like are fine and good, but cutting blue can definitely be worth it in a number of matchups. I play a list very similar to the Spiess Combo list and find that I have to realistically only resolve Punishing Fire if I need to, nearly every other counterspell my opponent draws is dead, as long as I'm patient enough to wait for shields to go down to resolve my Crop Rotation and beat their brains out. Sure, cards like Swords to Plowshares exist that beat Marit Lage, but that's why I play Chalice of the Void in the SB, and they'll usually be so cut off of mana that Plowing my Lage only buys them one turn.
I feel like there is definitely a place out there for a long-game Abzan strategy, using 4x Abzan Ascendancy and the new huge elephant (Ivorytusk Fortress) that lets all your beaters untap at every turn, the curve topping out at a 1x or 2x Duneblast/End Hostilities. The synergy with Abzan Ascendancy is real. Having two or more Ascendancies and a board full of creatures after a field wipe annihilates the opposing field, leaving you with a new army of flyers, maybe even doubling or tripling the number of creatures under your control. In the meantime you can control the board while you ramp on up with Caryatids, Mystics, and Coursers, using cards like Silence the Believers to keep down other strategies while you build up. Cards like Nissa, Worldwaker and even Garruk, Apex Predator can fit in here somewhere, it's just a matter of finding out how well you can ramp and survive to the long game.
I don't think that anyone can afford to be purely reactive in modern, because the format is too fast and too open and the answers just aren't as fast and versatile. Sitting back on a pile of mediocre counterspells and wraths is a good way to get killed, so I've opted for pressure + disruption. Otherwise it's an all-in tapout control grindhouse. I love this style of deck, and you get to play 4x of the best card in modern, Lingering Souls. Overall I like my current configuration a lot, but I'm not sold on my slots with Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Esper Charm. Looking for suggestions/advice there. I'm considering just maindecking one or both of the Damnations out of the side, but I'm really looking for ideas here. I've opted for Damnation over Supreme Verdict because of the strain that Liliana of the Veil puts on my manabase. I'm pretty heavily base black, so it just made more sense I think. Hit me up with questions, comments, and advice!
Note: A version I'm testing now is playing -2 Negate -1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor -1 Esper Charm in favor of +2 Thought Scour +1 Gurmag Angler and +1 Tombstalker.
2x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Darkslick Shores
4x Flooded Strand
2x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
2x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Instant (10)
1x Esper Charm
2x Negate
4x Path to Exile
1x Slaughter Pact
2x Thought Scour
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lingering Souls
4x Serum Visions
2x Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (4)
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Creature (9)
3x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Celestial Purge
2x Damnation
2x Disfigure
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Leyline of the Void
2x Thoughtseize
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Acidic Slime
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Baneslayer Angel
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Eternal Witness
1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1x Karametra, God of Harvests
1x Karmic Guide
1x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Lotus Cobra
1x Mirror Entity
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Restoration Angel
1x Reveillark
1x Saffi Eriksdotter
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Serra Ascendant
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Soul of the Harvest
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Sun Titan
1x Terastodon
1x Vigor
1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1x Wood Elves
1x Yavimaya Elder
1x Yosei, the Morning Star
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Brushland
1x Command Tower
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Evolving Wilds
7x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Kor Haven
1x Nantuko Monastery
6x Plains
1x Razorverge Thicket
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Savannah
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunpetal Grove
1x Temple Garden
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Wooded Bastion
Sorcery (5)
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Life from the Loam
1x Sylvan Scrying
1x Tooth and Nail
1x Wrath of God
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Garruk, Caller of Beasts
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
Artifact (9)
1x Altar of Dementia
1x Birthing Pod
1x Conjurer's Closet
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Umezawa's Jitte
Instant (8)
1x Beast Within
1x Chord of Calling
1x Eladamri's Call
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Krosan Grip
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Swords to Plowshares
Enchantment (5)
1x Mirari's Wake
1x Privileged Position
1x Rancor
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Sylvan Library