This is my first article for StarCityGames.com. I’ve written a couple of times for ChannelFireball and for local Australian websites, but I’m very excited to step up to the “big league” of StarCityGames.com.
In this article, I’m going to write about the Esper Control deck that I’m currently playing on MTGO. The past couple of weeks have been the first time in years I have grinded MTGO events. Usually when I’m working on a deck, I’ll play it in a bunch of queues and tune it as best I can. Once I get it to a point where I’m happy with it, I’ll stop playing. This is because most decks I build are for high-level real-life events, like Pro Tours. It’s not ideal to be getting a lot of exposure through Daily Events if you, or your friends, are looking to play the deck in a big event.
At the moment this is not the case. There aren’t any events coming up, so I’ve just been grinding Dailies for tickets. I’ve gone 4-0 in a lot of Dailies recently so my list is definitely out there. I’ve been changing a couple of cards each time, but the core is intact. The benefit of this article is not to introduce a cool new deck. I’m hoping instead to explain my card choices, detail sideboard plans, and talk about the Standard metagame in general.
Many of you will have read about the Esper Control deck that I built for Worlds this year. Jeremy Neeman went 5-1 with it, and you can read his article about the tournament here. I was happy with this deck going into Worlds, and I was thrilled that he managed to do well with it. What always happens after a large event like Worlds however is that the format evolves. In this case, Illusions became very popular, and the matchup was pretty rough. Wolf Run also started playing Autumn’s Veil in the sideboard, and this made the plan of countering all their things a lot worse. I was comfortable against other blue decks, but I didn’t love many of the other matchups. I was ready to just give up on the deck.
Then along came the StarCityGames.com Invitational. Gerry Thompson did well with an innovative four-color control deck that he writes about here. Pristine Talisman seemed insane against Moorland Haunt, and the acceleration it provides made Sun Titan–Phantasmal Image a lot more appealing as a win condition. Being proactive against Wolf Run is a great way to invalidate their Autumn’s Veils as well as their plan in general. Phantasmal Image is also pretty sweet against Illusions, as you can kill Geist of Saint Traft as well as copy Lord of the Unreal. Sun Titan bringing back Ratchet Bomb is also great in that matchup, but the fear of them using Phantasmal Image to copy your Sun Titan is a real concern. Playing more Phantasmal Images and Sun Titans as well as more mana sources in the place of Dissipates and Snapcaster Mages definitely makes the control matchups harder. They have a lot of answers for Sun Titan shenanigans, and the lack of hard counters really hurts you in the long run.
That being said, I liked the Talisman-Titan plan, and I wanted to apply it to my Esper shell. This is my current list:
Creatures (6)
Lands (18)
Spells (36)
This is a slow, dedicated control deck. It’s possibly the slowest deck I’ve ever played, and I played Teachings in Time Spiral block. You often win with very few cards in library while relying on Zeniths to prevent decking. If you are a player who plays a bit slowly, this might not be a great choice for you. You will probably time-out on MTGO and get a bunch of draws in real life. Your plan is to grind your opponents down until they are doing nothing. The Sun Titans allow you to trump a lot of what they are doing, but you often just want to make sure you kill/counter all their threats before worrying about actually killing them.
The Standard metagame at the moment is kept in check by three distinct archetypes: Wolf Run Ramp, Moorland Haunt aggro (Illusions and Humans), and blue-based control (Esper/Solar Flare/UW). When I’m looking to build a new deck or work on an existing one, I’m always thinking about these decks as what I need to be able to beat. There are a lot of other decks floating around like Mono-Black Poison, Red Deck Wins, and G/W Tokens. These decks are definitely out there, but they aren’t the ones I focus on initially. I’m going to go through my card choices individually, and I’ll be referencing the main three matchups a lot. One difficulty with Esper is that a lot of your cards are good against one or two of the main decks but weak against the other(s).
2 Darkslick Shores
3 Drowned Catacomb
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Swamp
3 Pristine Talisman
The mana base for this deck is pretty good. Your lands come into play tapped a fair bit—but not too much to be a real issue. There are only two Ghost Quarters because I’ve cut down to 26 lands with the addition of Pristine Talisman, and I just couldn’t afford to cut a colored source. Ghost Quarter is really important against decks playing Inkmoth Nexus, Nephalia Drownyard, and Kessig Wolf Run. For this reason I’ve got the third in the board.
I love this card. Resolving this against aggro decks is a great feeling. Even if they manage to untap and deal with her, she killed all their creatures when she entered play. Against Wolf Run, she effectively turns off their Inkmoth Nexus, kills their Solemn Simulacrums, and reduces their Titans to a manageable size. Titan with Wolf Run is still a concern though. Against blue decks, she is far less impressive but not irrelevant. She will deal with a White Sun’s Zenith, make your Zenith lethal a lot faster, and hold off a Sun Titan. She does cost seven though, and you don’t want to draw two very often. I’ve been happy with one main and one in the sideboard.
This is your blowout package. In a deck this slow, it’s great to be able to slam a Titan, bring back an Image, and smash face with a couple of 6/6s. The third Image in the board is for Wolf Run, as in that match there are awesome things to copy like Solemn Simulacrum and Primeval Titan. Having two in the main has been okay, as there is usually something okay to copy against aggro, and you don’t really care when they kill it straight away, as it usually comes back later as a 6/6.
These are, in my opinion, un-cuttable. There isn’t a single matchup where I side one out. This deck has a lot of mana. Without drawing these, you will get flooded and most likely lose. At a couple of points, I have had Ponder and/or Divination in the deck. They are far worse than either Alchemy or Think Twice, but this deck just really wants to be drawing cards. In Gerry T’s four-color deck, he plays Desperate Ravings over Think Twice, and Ravings is definitely an upgrade. It takes you so much closer to your other card draw as well as reduces flood and screw. On the other hand, I didn’t love the mana base, and I’ve found Think Twice to be good enough. I also hated having to not cast Ravings just in case I lost the card I needed to cast next turn.
It was very hard to cut the fourth, but I haven’t regretted it. Leak is great against Wolf Run, but you still don’t want to draw too many, as they start being able to pay for them. It is also fine on the play against aggro. Against control it is often but not always relevant. You usually get to the point where you are both playing around multiples of them. I’m not comfortable going below three though, as you do want one in your opening hand.
2 Negate
Running two maindeck Negates might seem strange, but I’ve really liked it. Against Wolf Run, it won’t counter a Titan, but it will counter Green Sun’s Zenith, Garruk, or a mana ramp spell on turn 2. Against Illusions and Humans, it allows you to resolve a big threat through their countermagic. This is far more relevant post-board however, as they side Negates and Dissipates. The one Dissipate is there mainly for Wolf Run. Against most other decks, I would rather a third Negate. Post-board there are more Dissipates, as they are good to side against both control and Wolf Run.
I found that I wanted to continue cutting permission, and once I was down to just six maindeck, this guy was pretty underwhelming. I had a couple in the board for matchups where I wanted additional counters, but I found that I just wanted another Dissipate instead. People also bring in graveyard removal for your Sun Titans and card draw, and this made Snapcaster even worse.
These are the deck’s spot removal, and I rarely side them out.
These are complemented by an additional two of each in the sideboard for aggressive matchups. Against aggro you really want to max out on this type of effect. Killing multiple creatures is a great way to gain tempo and card advantage as well as preventing your imminent death. These cards are pretty weak against control and not amazing against Wolf Run, so I couldn’t justify playing more than three main.
The slow-game win conditions. I’m currently in love with White Sun’s Zenith. Flashing in a bunch of cats is just too much fun. It’s also a brutally efficient win condition. Against control this is the most important card in either deck. Your opponent should prioritize countering it over all else, and you should focus solely on resolving it. Against other decks the game is all about living long enough to cast a big Zenith; the cats will do the rest. You might wake up to a dead opponent on your bedroom floor with a proud looking Cat towering over them. This is a risk I’m willing to take. Blue Sun’s is a bit of a placeholder. You want a Divination-type card against aggro as well as an additional late-game bomb against control. It’s not great at either but does an okay job at both.
Sideboard
2 Day of Judgment
2 Dissipate
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Phantasmal Image
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Timely Reinforcements
I’ve talked about a bunch of these cards in my maindeck discussions so I’m going to briefly go over the ones I haven’t yet discussed.
3 Nihil Spellbomb. This is your trump to opposing Sun Titans and Snapcaster Mages. It also lets your Sun Titans draw a card when they attack. I love this as a sideboard option against things that the deck genuinely struggles with. This is why it takes up three slots of a very tight sideboard. I have cut down to two a couple of times, but I feel pretty safe when I have three.
3 Timely Reinforcements. This has to be to the best sideboard card they have printed in a long, long time. Against all aggro decks, this is your massive trump to their strategy. At worst, it buys you a bunch of time and at best it trades for a few of their cards as well. I wouldn’t consider running fewer than three and four would be totally reasonable.
Sideboard plans:
Illusions
+2 Day of Judgment
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+1 Nihil Spellbomb
+1 Phantasmal Image
+2 Ratchet Bomb
+3 Timely Reinforcements
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
-3 Sun Titan
-1 Dissipate
-3 Mana Leak
-2 Oblivion Ring
Your countermagic isn’t very impressive, as their threats are very cheap. Negate is good, as it counters their answers to your game-winning threats. Sun Titan is super risky against Phantasmal Image, and if you haven’t cast an Image of your own or a Ratchet Bomb, it might not even stabilize.
This is the plan for stock Illusions with four Lord of the Unreal, Phantasmal Image, and two-three Geist of Saint Traft. If they are not, play a lot of the above cards; then you might need to keep Oblivion Ring in to deal with Sword of War and Peace. Phantasmal Image might not be good if they don’t have many awesome targets, and Sun Titan might not be bad if they don’t have a lot of Images of their own.
Humans
+2 Day of Judgment
+1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+3 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Ratchet Bomb
-1 Dissipate
-3 Mana Leak
-2 Negate
-2 Phantasmal Image
Like Illusions, your countermagic is pretty bad. They have more expensive threats, but you would rather have removal. They might also cast Grand Abolisher blanking all your counters anyway.
Kessig
+1 Phantasmal Image
+2 Dissipate
+1 Ghost Quarter
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
-1 Ratchet Bomb
-2 Pristine Talisman
This is the plan against the Wolf Run list that won Worlds. Your Ratchet Bomb is terrible, and Blue Sun’s is too slow. The life gain from the Talismans is rarely relevant, and you’re adding a Ghost Quarter, so I feel fine cutting a couple. Wolf Run lists vary dramatically though, and you need to be wary of what their plan is. Against Dungrove Elder builds, the extra Phantasmal Image and one of your Doom Blades are worse than Day of Judgment, as they don’t answer Dungrove itself. I side up to all four Days if I see them.
Control
+1 Ratchet Bomb
+2 Dissipate
+3 Nihil Spellbomb
-2 Phantasmal Image
-1 Sun Titan
-1 Doom Blade
-1 Day of Judgment
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
This Matchup is still tough, so having a plan is super important. You need to make sure to make every land drop, and don’t be too aggressive with your card draw, as discarding at end of turn from having too many cards is bad. Talisman, Ratchet, and Spellbomb all help with this though, as you are able to add to the board without losing cards. With more hard counters and ways to trump their Snapcasters, you are able to resolve enough threats to get the job done. This often comes down to Blue Sun’s-ing them for the win, as each of you have a lot of ways to deal with the board.
At the moment the game ones with this deck are below where I would like. I’ve tried to get the maindeck to the point where it is equally good against all the top decks, and this has resulted in all game ones being tough. Post-board they all get a lot better. If you are into metagaming and understand your local scene well, then you can adjust the maindeck appropriately. There are a lot of cards in the maindeck that are weak against particular decks, and varying this can give you much better game ones against the decks you expect. It will obviously weaken your game against other decks though so be careful. You draw a lot of cards over the course of each game, so any changes you do make will show up more than they usually do.
This deck is a real test to play. You have answers to all the questions your opponents could possibly ask, but you have to play really tight for a lot of turns of Magic and avoid getting blown out by things you didn’t think to play around. If you choose to play this deck, make sure you get in a lot of games. You need to learn what is important and what isn’t.
I hope you all enjoyed this article. I look forward to your feedback and hope to write for you again soon.
Sledgesliver on MTGO