Esper Control

Michael Jacob

0th Place at Test deck on 4/22/2012

Standard

 

Creatures (4)

• 1 Bloodline Keeper
• 2 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Phantasmal Image

Planeswalkers (3)

• 1 Gideon Jura
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

Lands (26)

• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 3 Darkslick Shores
• 2 Drowned Catacomb
• 3 Evolving Wilds
• 2 Glacial Fortress
• 3 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Nephalia Drownyard
• 4 Seachrome Coast

Spells (27)

• 1 Batterskull
• 3 Ratchet Bomb
• 1 Curse of Death's Hold
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Doom Blade
• 3 Forbidden Alchemy
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 3 Mana Leak
• 1 Negate
• 3 Think Twice
• 3 Day of Judgment
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 2 Ponder

Sideboard

• 2 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Phantasmal Image
• 3 Celestial Purge
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Divine Offering
• 1 Negate
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Karn Liberated
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Sever the Bloodline
• 1 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Nephalia Drownyard

 

Note: YES I AM AWARE I SMACK MY LIPS OFTEN. Sorry if it bothers you.

Overview

All the games are long, drawn-out affairs, with multiple lines of play and plenty of interaction.

I make plenty of mistakes, as this deck is very difficult to play. Try to follow along and see what you may have done differently.

Many people prefer live audio, whereas I prefer replays so I can concentrate on winning. Be aware that the observations I make are made with NO prior knowledge, just what is face up on the table. It may seem strange for me to name cards and have my opponent immediately play them, but that is because I have practiced a lot and get inside my opponent's head, trying to formulate combinations of cards that would justify lines of play. This is something that is very, VERY hard to teach, and really only comes with experience.

There is a reason why Yuuya played Delver without Gitaxian Probes. Masters have a passive ability; opponents play with their hands face up.

Round 1 against Token Delver

Round 2 against W/B Tokens

Round 3 against Frites

Round 4 against Mono Green Ramp

The biggest question to ask: How is the deck against Delver? Honestly, I think it has as good a matchup as a control deck could have against it. We have all the tools, great cards, plenty of removal, and card draw. They can nut us with Delver and Mana Leaks, but they can beat anyone with that, so it doesn't count against us. I believe in a world where both players draw average, Esper is heavily favored. My sample size may be small, around 10 matches, but I'd say I am either 8-2 or 7-3.

Good luck in Standard PTQs.

WARNING: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I am sure people want their own custom images for card art. It is relatively simple, go to where the card art is saved on your computer, for me it was:
C:Program Files (x86)Wizards of the CoastMagic OnlineGraphicsCardsPics

Images are sorted from oldest to newest by set. Just replace the image you want to do with the exact filename. Bloodline Keeper, for instance, is 138260_typ_reg_sty_010 and 138266_typ_reg_sty_010

Google image search can find you some stuff. Open it in your image editing program of choice, and crop/resize your image to 256x188.

Remember to rename your image with the exact same file name, or modo will not see it.

Updating modo will sometimes erase your changes, so make sure to keep a BACK UP of everything you do, including the images you replace.

Watch my stream www.twitch.tv/Darkest_Mage

Follow me on Twitter @Michael_A_Jacob

No one can fight the tide forever.

DarkestMage