[Variant] Esper Control

[goropeza]

This Saturday, I will try my hand at my first Open in Dallas. I have seen nothing to suggest that Esper can't still be a contender in the wide open meta we have now so I will stick to what I know best...blowing things up! I wanted to submit my current post Dragons Maze list and let the community comb over it to see what they think. Anyhow....here it is...

(the '*' means it could be cut in the future)

Deck
Creatures: 5 3x Augur of Bolas 2x Snapcaster Mage Instants: 22 4x Azorius Charm 3x Think Twice 4x Sphinx's Revelation 2x Warped Physique 1x Ultimate Price 2x Victim of Night 1x Far/Away 3x Dissipate 2x Syncopate	Sorceries: 6 4x Supreme Verdict 2x Planar Cleansing Planeswalkers: 1 1x Jace, Memory Adept* Lands: 26 4x Hallowed Fountain 4x Glacial Fortress 4x Watery Grave 4x Drowned Catacomb 3x Godless Shrine 3x Isolated Chapel 4x Nephalia Drownyard

Deck
	Sideboard 2x Renounce the Guilds 3x Crypt Incursion 1x Curse of Death's Hold 1x AEtherling 2x Dispel 2x Negate 1x Dissipate 1x Sundering Growth 2x Elixir of Immortality*

Lets look at the main board. As you can see we have a huge removal package complete with a variety of early spot removal, counter spells, and board wipes....including my favorite card in the deck...Planar Cleansing. With such a variety of tools at my disposal in the main board, I actually free up some sideboard space since I don't have to be siding in Detention Sphere's. Planar Cleansing takes care of anything you may want to Sphere, but it has the upside of being able to be fetched off Augur.

Victim of Night is another card I like a lot here. It kills so many relevant creatures that I actually still prefer it over Warped Physique. Just about the only relevant creature it DOESN'T kill is Geralf's Messenger, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Huntmaster of the Fells and the rest become worm food. One weakness with this card is that it is pretty laughably terrible against Jund Aggro since it can't hit Dreg Mangler or Falkenrath Aristocrat.

I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Syncopate, which is why there are only 2. It's terrible later in the game, but there are some 3 mana 'bombs' if you will, that are so high impact that you can't reliably depend on Dissipate to stop them. Things like Geist of St. Traft, Domri Rade, Lilliana of the Veil, and even the 2 mana Voice of Resurgence are things that can often come out too early for Dissipate so you need something like Syncopate to help assure you don't lose to those cards. I wish I could afford to drop this card...but for the foreseeable future...it is a necessary evil.

Warped Physique has been good so far but not great. It kills stuff....and things...and stuff...but without a hefty amount of cards in hand it can be a dead draw. There are certain creatures that gave me headaches before that are now very manageable with it though. Lotleth Troll, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Wolfir Avenger are no longer such a looming threat. For this reason alone, the 2x is pretty locked in.

I think Far/Away is perfect as a singleton. There are lots of decks against which the bounce effect is either stupid good (tokens) or super bad (Thragtusk, Zegana, Restoration Angel) plus the 3 mana edict isn't so hot either. The Fuse effect though makes the card capable of very powerful plays with the right board state. However, the right board state isn't always there to maximize it's potential. So since the card is situationally incredible, it definitely deserves a spot...but no more than 1.

For the first time in awhile, I feel as if the sideboard is pretty solid. 2x Renounce is mainly for Geist, but I do sometimes bring it for the Assemble the Legion threat...or Obzedat. Crypt Incursion is absolutely bonkers. I literally cannot believe how good that card is against a majority of decks. I really want to find space for it in the main board but I do not want to sacrifice any removal so I was thinking I could cut a Jace for it instead...since it's the one card I don't actually need. Draws can be a concern for a deck like this so I don't know how good that will be though...

The Elixir of Immortality was an amazing card pre-Dragons Maze. It came in vs aggro for life gain and came in against UWR/mirror to save myself from Psychic Spiral/Drownyards. But Esper is dropping in popularity, so Psychic Spiral is disappearing from sideboards, and Crypt Incursion gives me way more life than the Elixir plus it can be fetched with Augur. It is definitely on the chopping block. I really want to replace it with 2x Terminus since its good against certain aggro decks that are resilient to 'destroy' effects. I am open to other suggestions for what those 2 slots could be.

AEtherling out of the side is inredible too. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said about that lol.

All in all, I really wanted to go for the most extreme control style I could go. This allows me to have the most possible answers against a wide variety of threats (important in a meta as open as this one), plus I can force the other control decks to play the beat down role since I have ultimate inevitability. That about wraps up the mini-novel and I would appreciate any constructive advice or comments. Wish me luck!!

[Crossbow]

Originally Posted by riph

While Nephalia Drownyards are available, Esper should be running them. They're an uncounterable win-condition and no one is playing 4 Ghost Quarters in their decks.

I agree, and we aren't putting up the kind of numbers that would require players TO run them.

[Crossbow]

So I have been playing this deck a few different ways, and I think I am gonna go a 4 snap augurless version with no other creatures, I think the problem is the even though it has been nice to see augur in my opening 7, I really have had too many Jaces and Drownyards sent to the bottom of the pile. I may try one more time swapping in Planars for rings, but I really think they are done.

Sideboard is the real issue, not having the good feeling I think I should. Got the random Aetherling, a couple of sweepers and one ofs to make 2-3 ofs maindeck, and syncopoate, even though I still hate it, discard and counters and witchorb.

I would really like to run illness or Curse, is there anyone that wants to talk me out of it?

[vipchicken]

Originally Posted by Crossbow

I would really like to run illness or Curse, is there anyone that wants to talk me out of it?

I think I want to talk you out of it. I can't really envisage a time when you are going to want to tapout for Curse at that stage of the game for any deck except perhaps Aristocrats, but man, that's too narrow and that deck can be handled with other cards.
Outside of Aristocrats I can't think of anywhere where it would really shine. Sure, vs Reanimator it hits dorks, souls, lotleth trolls... etc. But... would you really board this in? It's not really stopping the Angel or Hoof. And also, Acidic Slime will just remove it.

I don't think you ever really want to tap out for it, either - if you tap out for Curse and they then go "oh sweet" and lay out a thragtusk or garruk or something...

idk. Seems a bit weak these days!

[call4jim]

So with Gamesday this Saturday I (like everyone else) wants to win, first time deck posting so i got alot of thoughts and questions

Deck
Creatures: 2x Aetherling 2x Obzedat the ghost council 2x Snapcaster mage Instant: 4x azorius charm 2x Dimir Charm 2x syncopate 2x Psychic Strike 3x Warped Physique 2x Far//away 4x Sphinx's revelation 1x crypt incursion	Enchantment: 2 Detention Sphere Sorcery 4x supreme veredict Planeswalkers: 2 Jace,memory adept Lands: 4 Drowned Catacomb 3 Glacial Fortress 4Godless Shrine 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Isolated Chapel 3 Nephalia Drownyard 4 Watery Grave	SB: 2 duress 2 appetite for brains 2 negate 1 Crypt Incursion 2 notion thief 2 Psychic strike 2 renounce the guilds 1 psychic spiral 1 Gideon champion of justice

I guess my local meta is quite casual. a few competitive players, Hexproof bant, naya blitz and Jund, No reanimaters- which is why I play Psychic strike plus I actually like it.

I'm finding Jund to be a bad match up for me- I dont have any witchbane orb for sideboard against them- plus its only been a recent rise at our local so I'm not too familiar if they are our ment to be bad match up etc. I mean Liliana of the Veil, Rackdos Return and Sire of Insanity all seem to wreck me with there hand destruction so my logic is yes they're a bad match up

I guess the odd things that stick out is 2x Aetherling and Obzedat the ghost I know mill tends to more popular win con- though more times then not I'm glad i have 2 Obzedat the ghost cause more odds of drawing and good chance its usually chance its after a sweeping and he just takes over the game if he stabilize. But maybe not 2 Aetherling though. too costly if i draw early with the whole save till you have 7 mana thing etc. though its crazy if 2 are out on table its just amazing (rare but amazing)

next weird choice will prob be Dimir charm I have to say I think this card is great for my meta. Kills aggros, counters Farseek ramp and now i think about it, it does solve the Rackdos Return just a shame i never had any counter for it haha. anyways yeah flexible I like it- plus the amount of times ive done the top 3 check on either myself or them it always had the benefit bye mill Opp threat, or fix answer.

crypt incursion again my meta more ideal to main one. all the kill spells and mill help so long as I manage to pull it mid game onwards its always gonna benefit me.

some of cards I wonder about is Detention Sphere nice card I mainly have in case of early PW, but naturally no PW i just play it on threat simple. Originally it was a Planar cleansing but when I can finally cast it vs PW its just too late. So any better ideas or should i stick. Or even switch to oblivion ring because of Renounce the Guilds. though Theres alot of voice of resurgence and advent wurms so i prob should keep

Does Jace,memory adept fit in my build, or would Jace, architect of thought be more ideal for me

I'm still not 100% convinced behind Warped Physique though my meta plays main restoration angel thragtusk alot (bant Naya) so targeting is usually bad. and the odd hexproof.

my weak point is actually making us of the sideboard but thats just something i got to learn i guess.

I guess the odd ones are extra Psychic strike yeah now i think about it I dont think many of the competitive players actually run caverns in their builds should prob main 3 instead haha.

Gideon champion of justice was just something for mirror - control have hard time dealing with planes walkers etc etc

psychic spiral its something that alot of people seem to have used alot before DGM and for me really used for in control decks

Generally I like it, having trouble with Jund. Im open to any and all criticism

[Fergy57]

Current deck I am working with, might go with it for game day. It is either going to be this, or Jund midrange, but I have a lot more experience with Esper, so I am leaning that way.

Deck
Creatures (4) 3x Snapcaster 1x Obzedat, Ghost Council Planeswalkers (1) 1x Jace, Memory Adept Instants (22) 2x Thought Scour 4x Think Twice 4x Azorius Charm 2x Warped Physique 1x Cyclonic Rift 1x Redirect 2x Crypt Incursion 2x Dissipate 1x Murder 3x Sphinx's Revelation	Sorceries (7) 4x Supreme Verdict 2x Terminus 1x Planar Cleansing Lands (26) 4x Hallowed Fountain 4x Watery Grave 2x Godless Shrine 4x Glacial Fortress 4x Isolated Chapel 4x Drowned Catacomb 3x Nephalia Drownyard 1x Ghost Quarter	Sideboard (15) 1x Duress 1x Dispel 2x Appetite for Brains 2x Tragic Slip 1x Devour Flesh 1x Negate 1x Renounce the Guilds 2x Riot Control 1x Aetherling 1x Psychic Spiral 2x Syncopate

So far, in testing, it has done very well against a number of archetypes.

Matches I have won/done well:

Spoiler:

Junk Reanimator
Jund Midrange
Naya Humans
Dega Aggro
Naya Blitz (tight, but won in 2)
R/G Aggro

Matches I have lost/done poorly:

Spoiler:

BUG Aggro*
Jund Aggro*
*Prior to creature based changes

Matches I need to try before gameday (based on expected meta):

Spoiler:

Wolf Run Bant
Bant Control
Aristocrats
Dega Goodstuff
Mirror Match

Newer cards that work well:

Spoiler:

Redirect- this card has been an all-star so far in testing. It turns bonfires, it ruins re-animation plans with unburial rites (rites an AoS? How about a dork instead), turns burn/removal against opponents creatures, turns counterspells, its just awesome.

Crypt Incursion- this with all the sweepers/removal I have in the deck is one of the main reasons I am on esper again. It played very well in reanimator, and has created some auto-scoops against aggro.

Cards that I am considering putting in:

Spoiler:

Riot Control- Going in where my Tribute to hunger slots were in the SB. The additional slot might be used for another crypt incursion.

Tribute to hunger- put it in, did not like it.

Far//Away-I like that it has some 2 for 1 utility, so it may get a try.

Runchanter's Pike/Glaring Spotlight-Fairly limited uses for the cards, with a lack of creatures affecting pike, and spotlight essentially being for 1 matchup. Probably won't get put into the 75 in any combination, but I might toy around with it.

Aetherling-Derp. I don't know why I haven't tested this card yet, it works so well in other control builds. Putting one in for testing while I type this.

Cards that may be cut:
Renounce the guilds- fairly limited uses, it has not yet had an effect (positive or negative), in a game state.

Prior to this list, I ran the Stark list, which is why I'm still using Planar Cleansing. While planeswalkers pose a threat, it has been able to deal with them well so far in the matches I have played. Might end up changing to D-Sphere though.

I have not missed Resto or Augur since I took them out of the deck.

Thoughts/Opinions are always welcome. Would like to hear what you guys think.

[Nath]

I think I want to talk you out of it. I can't really envisage a time when you are going to want to tapout for Curse at that stage of the game for any deck except perhaps Aristocrats, but man, that's too narrow and that deck can be handled with other cards.
Outside of Aristocrats I can't think of anywhere where it would really shine. Sure, vs Reanimator it hits dorks, souls, lotleth trolls... etc. But... would you really board this in? It's not really stopping the Angel or Hoof. And also, Acidic Slime will just remove it.

I don't think you ever really want to tap out for it, either - if you tap out for Curse and they then go "oh sweet" and lay out a thragtusk or garruk or something...

idk. Seems a bit weak these days!

Agree, but illness in the ranks is a card to consider, i was experimenting vs tradicional jund with tons of tusk and huntmasters, and tested a couple of illnes, I was lucky to draw the 2, played it, then huntmaster token was away, and tusk tokens where 1/1, it put me in a very good position. It was only a match so i can't say it will work the same way.
Vs aristocrads, he had tons of tokes in play, i killed all the blood artist before, and just drop the illness, her face was, omg.. ( also played a witchbane orb for the blasphemous act).
I suppose that it was unexpected for the players, I will test more.


Call4jin i like your list a lot, but i don't like psyquic strike in a reanimator world, dissipate is better 90% of the time.
I changed the detention spheres for oblivions because of the renounce the guilds.
I'm playing 2 think twice, in a heavy aggro meta you will side them out many times, and you want to play a turn 2 warped.

Fergy57

I don't play redirect because in my meta, they're not enought targets, not many bonfires, I rather play negate.

Just try aetherling, its a beast.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Crypt incursion, i adore this card, vs reanimator put me at 30 life, of course I was lucky to draw it after sin collector, this card is a problem to consider, you can't counter it because the cavern.

Aetherling I'm in love with this card, hit, remove, it comes back to block anything, remove, and the art looks like naruto's rasengan ;D

[Warp3000]

If you're ever ever siding out think twice you're doing it wrong. That card is secretly the BEST card in the deck. Forget sphinx's, sweepers, spot removal. WE NEED TO HIT OUR LAND DROPS and think twice gets us there. If anything i'd side out a single sphinx against hyper-aggro before even thinking of siding out think twice.

[Nath]

If you're ever ever siding out think twice you're doing it wrong. That card is secretly the BEST card in the deck. Forget sphinx's, sweepers, spot removal. WE NEED TO HIT OUR LAND DROPS and think twice gets us there. If anything i'd side out a single sphinx against hyper-aggro before even thinking of siding out think twice.

Vs hyper aggro think twice sits in hand many turns, I want a turn 2 azorius charm, augur of bolas, warped... turn 2 removal, and turn 3 the same, because once he plays thalia, she laught at your think twice, vs aggro decks you have to survive first 3 or even 4 turns, and think twice don't help it in any way, helping drop lands? i've rarely never have mana issues, and im more interested in survive a turn 2 hit me from 10 turn 3 thalia than the possibility of mana screw...and in the late game you just have revelations.
If you are in the draw that's even worse...

[Cipher]

I side out Think Twice after counterspells against Blitz decks. The games where that's your turn 2 play are normally lost.