The Griefblade concept is currently doing pretty well in modern and is one of my favorites. I wanted to see if the Grief / Ephemerate combo can do as well in Legacy so this is my crack at a Legacy Esper Griefblade.
The deck is heavily based on my Modern version of the archetype (https://www.mtgvault.com/shadow-2/decks/esper-griefblade) with a bit of extra blue for cantrip and counters. Removed Vendilion Clique in this version. I've removed the Sigarda's Aid for more space for the blue spells. The ability to auto equip is really nice and the cost is low enough that it generally speeds up the clock by one turn but the space and the mana is better used on focusing more on cantrips and gutting the opponent's hand. I removed the Esper Sentinels as I think they're a little too slow for this version and I have plenty of draw power already.
I want to add a bit more removal to this deck. I have Solitude but that may not be enough, particularly in that it only deals with creatures and I could have many mainboard situtation where I need to get and enchantment/artifact etc off the field. I really like Vanishing Verse for this (although it will take some playtesting to make sure multicolored threats aren't too common), but alternatively I'm also considering Anguished Unmaking. Abolish is also nice as it can be pitch cast, getting around things like Blood Moon. My main problem is I don't know what to take out to make room for these. I'd like to run 3 or 4, but I'm not sure where to put them.
Maybeboard:
Kaya, Ghost Assassin
Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
Prismatic Ending
Vanishing Verse
Drown in the Loch
Feign Death
Extirpate (Budget version of Surgical Extraction in the sideboard)
Foil
Changelog:
-1 Daze, +1 Force of Will
-4 Delver of Secrets, +1 Grief, +3 Undying Evil
-3 Swords to Plowshares, +3 Solitude
SB: -2 True-name Nemesis, +2 Flusterstorm
Batterskull -> SB, Kaldra Compleat -> MB
-2 Spell Pierce, +2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
SB: -1 Engineered Explosives, -1 Sword of Fire and Ice, +2 Supreme Verdict
-1 Marsh Flats, +1 Scrubland
SB: -1 Spirit of the Labyrinth, +1 Manriki Gusari
SB: -2 Spirit of the Labyrinth, +2 Meddling Mage
SB: -1 Manriki-Gusari, -1 Sword of Feast and Famine, +2 Plague Engineer
-3 Undying Evil, +3 Feign Death
-3 Feign Death, +3 Reanimate
-1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Soulherder
SB: -2 Supreme Verdict, -1 Meddling Mage, +3 Anguished Unmaking
-1 Karakas, +1 Flooded Strand (Realized there aren't really many good targets for Karakas anymore)
-3 Reanimate, +3 Brought back (Slightly heavier return, but the utility of brought back plays very well with the rest of the deck)
-4 Thoughtseize, +4 Cabal Therapy (I think Cabal therapy works better with the deck than thoughtseize. I already likely know whats in my opponent's hand due to grief, and brought back allows me to sac grief to the flashback and bring it back for another 2+ cards)
-3 Brought back, +3 Reanimate (After a lot of playtesting I've found that brought back is just too heavy and reanimate offers me a lot more value)
-2 Silent Clearing, +2 Creeping Tar Pit
-3 Reanimate, +3 Baleful Strix
-4 Cabal Therapy, +4 Thoughtseize (After removing Brought Back, the value of Cabal Therapy over Thoughtseize has kind of gone away so I'm switching back)
-3 Daze, +3 Reanimate (Daze can be a bit detrimental to my land base especially in a deck that really doesn't want to miss its land drops. I've opted to try out a non-counter in the slot and see if the 4 force of will is enough. I'm therefor dropping in the 3 reanimate here, since I need more black cards to pitch cast grief, and having more than just the 4 ephemerate to recur evoke creatures would be nice)
SB: -1 Anguished Unmaking, +1 Lion Sash
SB: -2 Anguished Unmaking, -1 Lion Sash, +3 Abolish
This is a Stoneblade list with the Grief + Ephemerate combo added in.
Turn one exile a black card to Grief then Ephemerate it, Turn two Ephemerate rebounds for a total of 3 cards out of your opponent's hand out of the gate. After that, cantrip for the card advantage and counter any nasty plans your opponent may have that get in the way, get a stoneforge out and search up Kaldra or Jitte depending on the situation. Chip away at your opponent's life with Kaldra, Grief, or Solitude for the win.
I also have Soulherder in the deck to blink Grief each turn for added card pressure, or to blink Solitude for board control, or Stoneforge if you need to fetch the other equipment. The Soulherder also makes a good threat to wittle away opponent's life as it gets pretty big from blinking Grief every turn (even faster if you speed up the process with more Ephemerates).