[Primer] Esper Draw-Go Control

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A Cute Bunny
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Post by A Cute Bunny » 4 years ago

aklepatzky wrote:
4 years ago

Went 3-1 today at my LGS with this list. Beat Jund (2-1) Mono g Tron (2-1) Jund (2-1) and lost to a weird midrange sultai list with Oko, Queller, T3feri, BoP, hierarch, leak among its cards..

-Mana base feels really solid. Not missing FoR and was able to fetch for an untapped Mystic Sanctuary most of the times I wanted to.
-I will go down to 24 lands trimming a Drowned Catacomb once I get my second copy of Supreme Veredict, I think its necessary to assure creature heavy mus and specially against etron.
-Lyra stole 2 games against Jund by herself tonight. Second time playing her in the side. First time was on friday where she instantly won me a game against boros burn.
-Unsure if I want a heavy discard package in the main along with 2 T3feri since the combination seems awesome. Theres a friend at my LGS who also has a esper control deck though he almost always plays Jund and hes running 4-5 discard spells main and trimmed 1 push 1 Jace 1 opt 1 charm from my list to fit them. Thoughts?
-Drown felt AMAZING when I played straight UB control/Faeries, but now that I'm on Esper Control 2 Drown has felt like the sweet spot. Never felt like I wanted more.
The most played decks at my LGS are (virtually in order) Jund, (E)Tron, Valakut, Urza and Control. With that in mind:
-I'm unsure if I want another copy of Stony in the side. Its such a high impact card that having 2 copies feels better than a single one that you arent that likely to draw.
-Thoughts on adding Gideon, Ally Zendikar/Plague Engineer ?

Any general thoughts about my list are welcome.
I have been a strong advocate for Discard in the main since the release of T3feri, however Veil of Summer has been showing up a lot more lately and that card is a lot worse for us when when your deck is filled with Discard, Pushes, Lochs, Cryptics and other counters. Depending on the share of your meta that has green in it, it may not be worthwhile. For me, at this time I am moving away from Discard.

You should be on at least one Plague Engineer, the card does a lot right now against Urza and tribal decks like Humans and Merfolk as well as being relevant against decks that rely on Snapcasters, Coatls or small creatures like Infect and Boggles.

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SanityLost
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Post by SanityLost » 4 years ago

MashedPotato wrote:
4 years ago
Mystical is to situational imo, for 3 mana if its not targetting blue spell its expensive over many other spells.
However, Dispute counters many key spells such as Oko and Urza. And it has many other applications, for instance in control mirrors. I like it so far, but I guess it depends on your meta whether you are willing to invest these SB slots.
Unban Mental Misstep.

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Post by TheAnnihilator » 4 years ago

aklepatzky wrote:
4 years ago
Snip!
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Went 3-1 today at my LGS with this list. Beat Jund (2-1) Mono g Tron (2-1) Jund (2-1) and lost to a weird midrange sultai list with Oko, Queller, T3feri, BoP, hierarch, leak among its cards..

-Mana base feels really solid. Not missing FoR and was able to fetch for an untapped Mystic Sanctuary most of the times I wanted to.
-I will go down to 24 lands trimming a Drowned Catacomb once I get my second copy of Supreme Veredict, I think its necessary to assure creature heavy mus and specially against etron.
-Lyra stole 2 games against Jund by herself tonight. Second time playing her in the side. First time was on friday where she instantly won me a game against boros burn.
-Unsure if I want a heavy discard package in the main along with 2 T3feri since the combination seems awesome. Theres a friend at my LGS who also has a esper control deck though he almost always plays Jund and hes running 4-5 discard spells main and trimmed 1 push 1 Jace 1 opt 1 charm from my list to fit them. Thoughts?
-Drown felt AMAZING when I played straight UB control/Faeries, but now that I'm on Esper Control 2 Drown has felt like the sweet spot. Never felt like I wanted more.
The most played decks at my LGS are (virtually in order) Jund, (E)Tron, Valakut, Urza and Control. With that in mind:
-I'm unsure if I want another copy of Stony in the side. Its such a high impact card that having 2 copies feels better than a single one that you arent that likely to draw.
-Thoughts on adding Gideon, Ally Zendikar/Plague Engineer ?

Any general thoughts about my list are welcome.
- Why play the 3rd Path over the 4th Push?
- What do you think about Kaya's Guile in this meta?
- Why play 24 lands? Was 25 too many, in your opinion?
- Do you feel like the 3rd and 4th Snaps are necessary?
- Would you suggest playing the Snare, Ashiok, and Surgical in the board? How would feel about a 2nd Ego (For Tron, Urza, Titan decks, etc.)?
- Would you play a 2nd Timely in the board? And if you chose not to play Guile, would that affect your decision?

Not gonna lie, at a shop with lots of Jund, ETron, and Control, I would expect Esper to do well. Urza and Titanshift are prolly your worst matchups, because Urza can play Oko, discard, and/or T3feri and Titanshift gets Veil of Summer, which is insane against ECharm, Ego, and Counterspells, and still good against discard spells. Also worth noting that Ego naming Valakut doesn't deal with the Field of the Dead.
GenesisEffect80 wrote:
4 years ago
Jizard wrote:
4 years ago
Also came up against T2 Oko.................... utterly miserable.

Need some new answers. Either Mystical Dispute for 1 CMC counter or perhaps the discard package.
What do ppl think?
Unmoored Ego post board... I think that between Force of Negation and Thoughtseize, and perhaps Spell Snare, if we know their play is T2 Oko we should be more than ready for it. T1 Push the bird with FoN in hand, or Thoughtseize or hold up U on the draw for Snare.

Having stated that, I haven't played against it yet, and there is plenty of threat in that deck.
I take it you mean Spell Pierce? Because Spell Snare doesn't help against Oko, Thief of Crowns.
Last edited by TheAnnihilator 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by TheAnnihilator » 4 years ago

SanityLost wrote:
4 years ago
MashedPotato wrote:
4 years ago
Mystical is to situational imo, for 3 mana if its not targetting blue spell its expensive over many other spells.
However, Dispute counters many key spells such as Oko and Urza. And it has many other applications, for instance in control mirrors. I like it so far, but I guess it depends on your meta whether you are willing to invest these SB slots.
Dispute hits Oko, Urza, Whir, Thopter Foundry, Emry, T3feri, Cryptic, and sideboarded counterspells as well. It is weak to Veil of Summer tho. I'd say we should all be playing at least 2 Mystical Disputes until something from Urza gets banned.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

TheAnnihilator wrote:
4 years ago
aklepatzky wrote:
4 years ago
Snip!
Show
Hide

Went 3-1 today at my LGS with this list. Beat Jund (2-1) Mono g Tron (2-1) Jund (2-1) and lost to a weird midrange sultai list with Oko, Queller, T3feri, BoP, hierarch, leak among its cards..

-Mana base feels really solid. Not missing FoR and was able to fetch for an untapped Mystic Sanctuary most of the times I wanted to.
-I will go down to 24 lands trimming a Drowned Catacomb once I get my second copy of Supreme Veredict, I think its necessary to assure creature heavy mus and specially against etron.
-Lyra stole 2 games against Jund by herself tonight. Second time playing her in the side. First time was on friday where she instantly won me a game against boros burn.
-Unsure if I want a heavy discard package in the main along with 2 T3feri since the combination seems awesome. Theres a friend at my LGS who also has a esper control deck though he almost always plays Jund and hes running 4-5 discard spells main and trimmed 1 push 1 Jace 1 opt 1 charm from my list to fit them. Thoughts?
-Drown felt AMAZING when I played straight UB control/Faeries, but now that I'm on Esper Control 2 Drown has felt like the sweet spot. Never felt like I wanted more.
The most played decks at my LGS are (virtually in order) Jund, (E)Tron, Valakut, Urza and Control. With that in mind:
-I'm unsure if I want another copy of Stony in the side. Its such a high impact card that having 2 copies feels better than a single one that you arent that likely to draw.
-Thoughts on adding Gideon, Ally Zendikar/Plague Engineer ?

Any general thoughts about my list are welcome.
- Why play the 3rd Path over the 4th Push?
- What do you think about Kaya's Guile in this meta?
- Why play 24 lands? Was 25 too many, in your opinion?
- Do you feel like the 3rd and 4th Snaps are necessary?
- Would you suggest playing the Snare, Ashiok, and Surgical in the board? How would feel about a 2nd Ego (For Tron, Urza, Titan decks, etc.)?
- Would you play a 2nd Timely in the board? And if you chose not to play Guile, would that affect your decision?

Not gonna lie, at a shop with lots of Jund, ETron, and Control, I would expect Esper to do well. Urza and Titanshift are prolly your worst matchups, because Urza can play Oko, discard, and/or T3feri and Titanshift gets Veil of Summer, which is insane against ECharm, Ego, and Counterspells, and still good against discard spells. Also worth noting that Ego naming Valakut doesn't deal with the Field of the Dead.
Last edited by aklepatzky 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

TheAnnihilator wrote:
4 years ago

- Why play the 3rd Path over the 4th Push?
- What do you think about Kaya's Guile in this meta?
- Why play 24 lands? Was 25 too many, in your opinion?
- Do you feel like the 3rd and 4th Snaps are necessary?
- Would you suggest playing the Snare, Ashiok, and Surgical in the board? How would feel about a 2nd Ego (For Tron, Urza, Titan decks, etc.)?
- Would you play a 2nd Timely in the board? And if you chose not to play Guile, would that affect your decision?

Not gonna lie, at a shop with lots of Jund, ETron, and Control, I would expect Esper to do well. Urza and Titanshift are prolly your worst matchups, because Urza can play Oko, discard, and/or T3feri and Titanshift gets Veil of Summer, which is insane against ECharm, Ego, and Counterspells, and still good against discard spells. Also worth noting that Ego naming Valakut doesn't deal with the Field of the Dead.
-Because Path kills all Etron creatures, Titan, Angler, Tassigur, Wurmcoil, Ulamog..
-Kaya's Guile feels good tbh. Its flexibility is whats key. Gaining life/creating a blocker against aggro or getting rid of troublesome permanents or even the more fringe mode exiling gy are all useful in lots of mus. Ive been liking 2. Never draew too many but still see it from time to time.
-When I played UB control I played 24 lands and never felt I consistently missed my land drops. Now with esper control I was playing 25 cause I wanted to test the feel of it. Yesterday I got flooded one game against jund horribly but that's just variance. Although I've felt in a couple ocassions that I needed to draw "something" instead of a land. So I believe 24-25 is correct and JUST I wanted to free up a slot for another verdict and can't seem to cut anything else atm.
-Snap is one of the best creatures ever printed. Honestly playing less than 3 just feels flat wrong and doesnt make sense to me in a deck like mine with around 24 instants.
-I ain't against the idea of playing 2 snare in the main cause I feel the card is well positioned atm, hits a lot of relevant stuff (Goyf, confidant, w6, trophy, sakura tribe elder, farseek, sylvan scrying, snapcaster mage, stoneforge mystic, ahalf the burn spells and so on) but I just cant find a space for the second copy in the main.
With regards to Ashiok yesterday was the first time I put her in there and she came in against Jund and Tron and felt good. Further testing is needed but I can say that looking at my local meta it comes in a lot of mus. That's why I put her in the side in the first place.
I was playing two surgical but trimmed one to fit in Ashiok, I used to side it in against Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet Titan, Urza and Control (Id sided those in against Dredge too but I havent faced the mu with this deck yet) and loved it.
-Unsure about the 2nd ego too.
-If I didnt play Kaya's Guile I'd definetely play another life gain card. Two timely is reasonable if you expect a lot of burn. I side it in against jund too.

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Post by GenesisEffect80 » 4 years ago

TheAnnihilator wrote:
4 years ago
I take it you mean Spell Pierce? Because Spell Snare doesn't help against Oko, Thief of Crowns.
Yes, thanks. And your points about Veil of Summer are very well taken. If our opponent is impatient we can take advantage, but if they wait just one extra turn to cast Oko then they can back it up with Veil and we're screwed. I kinda think an aggressive T1 discard strategy forces their hand.

I like Leyline of Sanctity in the board for Burn and Titanshift, and against discard. I run 2 and London mulligan makes it easy.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

GenesisEffect80 wrote:
4 years ago
TheAnnihilator wrote:
4 years ago
I take it you mean Spell Pierce? Because Spell Snare doesn't help against Oko, Thief of Crowns.
Yes, thanks. And your points about Veil of Summer are very well taken. If our opponent is impatient we can take advantage, but if they wait just one extra turn to cast Oko then they can back it up with Veil and we're screwed. I kinda think an aggressive T1 discard strategy forces their hand.

I like Leyline of Sanctity in the board for Burn and Titanshift, and against discard. I run 2 and London mulligan makes it easy.
Leyline ? That seems so bad tbh. Why would we run that card and no other control list ever has?

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Post by GenesisEffect80 » 4 years ago

aklepatzky wrote:
4 years ago
Leyline ? That seems so bad tbh. Why would we run that card and no other control list ever has?
I guess its bad if you don't like having two decks scoop before T1. For the cost of one card it kills discard, burn, Valakut, 8rack, Walking Ballista. Why are we judging what we run based on what other control lists run? Just try something - if you don't like it, try something else. I ran it against Titanshift and hit it after 1 mulligan, then played Unmoored ego calling Field of the Dead and later played another calling Prime Time. Easy money.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

If you played 2 ego you didnt need leyline in the first place tbh. Even resolving one ego is backbreaking for them. 8 rack is such a fringe deck.
Sure Kills burn but unless you play in a meta with lots of burn i wouldnt consider it cause its too narrow.
If you like the card fine but doesnt seem like a good choice tbh.

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Post by GenesisEffect80 » 4 years ago

It doesn't only kill burn. I hate having to discard more than anything, and for the handful of decks that play discard I am prepared. I like the card. My local meta is not very predictable. Nobody plays Tron by me. I haven't run in to Urza yet. People play burn, prowess, humans, sultai, titanshift, dredge, infect, the rock, death's shadow, bant spirits, goblins, rakdos... So a few mainstream decks and some odds and ends. There's even a woman who plays Swans of Bryn Argoll with Treasure Hunt and Seismic Assault. That deck is jenk but she loves it.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago


This is the list i'll be running today. Just trimmed the 25th land for 2nd verdict. Considering adding 1 COB maybe cutting the singleton stony since i haven't run into Urza for a week.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

Went 2-2-1 at a 20 people FNM tonight.

R1: tied against amulet titan (1-1)

Game one I kept a reasonable hand with two lands and didnt draw my third land for 3 turns. I was still able to win the game. Game two I made a mistake that cost me game. I should've snap + FON instead of snap + Cryptic cause he had DS in hand. They play negate too but he had already played one and hes only playing 1 negate 2 DS in the side but who would've known that. I remember they used to play 2 negates (in which case the spell I chose wouldn't have mattered) but w/e.

R2: won against etron (2-0)

Game one he had t1 tron piece t2 tron piece chalice for one on the play and I had played t1 a tapland and my hand was something like opt path push land so I feel pretty f'ed up. Kaya's guile helped me survive against t4 Matter Reshaper (I think he missed t3 land drop) and found t3feri to bounce chalice with a backup counter, then FON x2 both of his Ugin and won the game. Game two I Path and Kaya's Guile his treats followed by a vendilion for a fast clock then followed by Jace which he got rid of with a topdecked BZ but was already too late cause I drew what I needed.

R3: lost against UW control (1-2).

Game one was kinda long but I drew very well. Typical draw go for several turns until I decided to slam t3feri he tried to counter it but I had Drown+FON (I believe he didn't expect me have two counters and drown took him by surprise). Next turn he tried to Jace cause we had already spent counters and surely he didn't expect me have the 2nd FON. Then I slammed big teferi and he conceded the following turn.
Game two I fetched and shocked I believe too agressively for TS and to have the colours I needed plus I incorrectly played my Vendilion: t3 he showed me Narset Jace dispel Gideon Snap something like that and he had 3 lands in play and no lands in hand. I decided to bottom Narset and he drew his 4th land to slam Gideon. He created 3 tokens until I was able to take Gideon down but unfortunately the tokens won him the game. The correct play was to let him keep his hand. He would've played Narset and -2 and would've sent the land he drew to the bottom along with some other cards probably keeping him out of the game for some turns and I had vendilion to finish off Narset at 3 loyalty.
I don't remember game three very well only that I mulled to 5-6 and he slammed t3feri and beat me with colonnade.

R4: won against 8 rack (2-0).

Not much to say really. Esper charm was an all star as expected. T3feri bought time bouncing BB and drawing cards.

R5: lost against GDS (0-2).

Game one I kept a reasonable hand but he had triple discard and made my hand s***. I flooded HORRIBLY and he beat me with Royal Scions+DS.
Game two I kept a very good hand with TS purge path Kaya's guile snap 2 lands, He mulled to 5. T1 I took his TS and he had a hand consisting of land land DS snap and Angler. I don't remember the exact sequencing we had but I remember he played snap for no value and I Kaya's making him sacrifice the snap and exile his GY. I played snap+ flashback TS to take his angler. But then I flooded HORRIBLY AGAIN and lost. I might have sequenced poorly some spells (like taking the angler when I had already exiled his GY despite him quickly refilling his GY) but variance still got me.

General thoughts:

-I flooded horribly twice today but still M1 G1 I didnt drew the 3rd land til my 6th turn so it's variance. 24 lands feel good regardless.
-Sanctuary is amazing but wouldn't play more than one unless the manabase is specifically changed to fit more copies.
-GDS has been a deck that I haven't been able to beat for the last 3 times I've faced it I believe. Its always close. The first 2 times were when I was playing straight UB control/Faeries tho. This was the first time I faced the mu playing Esper control and it definetely felt better.
-Only change I made to the last 75 I presented is that I took out Stony from the side and added a second copy of Ashiok. I'm not convinced about the 2nd Ashiok tho. I might be better off with a single copy of brutality or who knows.

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Post by The Fluff » 4 years ago

[mention]aklepatzky[/mention]

thanks for sharing your notes on tourney report. I'm also building this kind of deck.
your reports give me an idea on what cards are good in the deck.
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want to play a uw control deck in modern, but don't have Jace or snapcaster? please come visit us at the Emeria thread

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

So I just went 2-1-1 tonight at my LGS.

Round 1: tied against UR storm (1-1)

Game one on the play I kept a slow and therefore risky hand with 2 cryptic lands snap (basically no interaction for the first 3 turns). I know the opponent, hes my friend and he respects the control mu and I knew he wouldn't try to go all in t2-t3, he mulled to 6. He sculpted his hand for the first three turns with his cantrips while I drew and said go. I had the counters when I needed to and was careful about my decisions. I slammed t3feri which helped me stay in control of the game and beat him with tar pit. It was tight but I got there.
Game two I kept a good hand with 2-3 lands logic knot push thoughtseize etc. T1 he plays painland and says go, I shock, play TS and he reveals a hand consisting of ritual baral goblin electromancer empty the warrens mountain I take the baral and say go. He plays mountain ritual blood moon. I scoop.
Game three I feel I had what I needed to win and we played like 4 turns each but time ran out.

Overall an unfortunate g2 loss with him topdecking the card that shuts off my deck if played that early but what can I do.

Round 2: lost against 8 rack (0-2).

Game one he plays two discard spells t1 and t2 and takes my two blue spells (a logic knot and something else) so leaves my FON in hand useless til t3. He was on the play so he was able to slam lily. It was a somewhat long game where I used sanctuary to get back cryptic to bounce lily but he had another discard spell for the counter I was saving and then slammed Gideon who beat me.
I dont remember game two tbh.

Round 3: won against 5c Niv Mizzet (2-0)

Not much to comment really. That 5c deck always looked weird to me cause it just looks like a random pile of cards thrown together. Just be prepared to answer the dragon and you shall be fine.

Round 4: won against jund (2-1).

Game one was tight as this mu almost always is but he topdecked better and got me.
Game two he kept an amazing hand with w6 confidant confidant tarmo land land something like that but I just happened to keep a hand with push push path land land purge something like that so T2 I Purge his w6 and kill all his threats and then beat him with colonnade.
Game three he kept a hand with 3 discard spells which teared apart my hand. I mulled to 6 and kept a pretty slow hand with t3feri cryptic and don't remember what else. I felt pretty devastated cause the first turns I drew expensive spells and needed my third land..specially cause he followed all the discard with a lily. Lily reached 6 loyalty and separated my permanents (he obv tried to colour screw me) so I just took the pile with more lands (2 UB lands one island) he then got another lily and she reached 7 loyalty. He felt pretty confident of winning and tbh I felt like it was over cause I was mana screwed and didn't draw a land for like 3 more turns or so but then I drew the lands I needed and eventually topdecked a snap and flashback the celestial purge he discarded me during the first turns to exile the Lily. Then we reached a point where he had like 6-7 cards in hand and I was in topdeck mode but he never had any real pressure to backup his disruption. He casted confidant and I got the feeling he was trying to bait a counter out of me so I let if resolve. Plus if he already had 6-7 cards in hand I believe it is correct to assume that he should probably had any answer he wants if I resolve something. Then he casts ashiok and I do counter that and draw a card with cryptic. Eventually his w6 went to up to 7 loyalty and I decided to cast another cryptic I got that was saving til the very last moment to bounce w6 and draw. Then I cast my own Ashiok and -1 and get rid of his GQ tarmo a land and an elf. Seeing the GQ go away I felt safe to start smashing with colonnade (by this point he was at like 12 life or so cause he fetched aggressively to purge his deck with the help of w6). Then I play a Jace and inmediately +2 looking at his top to get him out of bolt range (I remember I already knew my top I think cause of a Sanctuary I used) and start hitting with colonnade. He reached 4 life and topdecks a Huntmaster goes to 6 life, kills his own confidant with w6 so he doesn't kill him but colonnade ultimately did its job. He then revealed me his hand with 6 cards or so and it was full of lands that w6 got him and he was saving to retrace LOL. Ashiok did a good job there getting rid of troublesome cards.

The list I played was the exact 75 I presented last time except trimming the 2nd Ashiok and replacing her with the 4th path in the side.

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Post by Fxcg » 4 years ago

Thanks for your Lgs report!
Is Karntrol still a thing tho? Would be nice to see some additional results/reports too

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Post by SanityLost » 4 years ago

Hi folks, didn't post for a while, but I spontaneously decided to bring my take on Esper Control to a 7 round 68 player tournament yesterday (opting for the control deck instead of my Izzet Breach list). I want to share a quick report on the matchups and my list. Bear in mind that I didn't know the meta, so I tried to adress a broad variety of decks with my SB choices. Major conclusion of the day in advance: Drown in the Loch really was the card of the day, it did all the heavy lifting, from killing key creatures to countering Ugins and Ulamogs (with support from Thought Scour). Here is the list:

Quick report on the matches as far as I can remember:

Match 1 vs. Bant Stoneblade (Loss 1:2)
Cannot remember much of this MU. I lost G1 to a resolved Geist of Saint Traft on turn 2, powered with a Sword of Fire and Ice. G2 I could keep the board clean although he resolved a RiP, shutting off my Drowns. However, I drew the right portion of my deck and resolved Jace and T5feri for the win. G3 I kept a sketchy hand lacking interaction. I cannot remember what exactly killed me but his creatures outclassed what I could bring up.

Match 2 vs. Titanshift (Loss 1:2)
This was a buddy of mine who travelled with me. I won G1 due to him drawing only lands, me countering the few key spells and resolving Jace and T5feri. G2 I rather instantly scooped to Chandra, Awakened Inferno. I could not imagine a single scenario in which I am able to race this Chandra, it was just backbreaking. Sadly, I did not even board in Celestial Purge. G3 I kept a 2-lander and did not draw any land in the following 5 turns, rendering my whole hand useless. He finished me with Valakut and Prismatic Omen.

Match 3 vs. Jund (Win 2:0)
This match undeniably was the dream. G1 I drew literally all my Drowns and killed and countered everything he did. G2 went the same way, he resolved a few discard spells which I could draw out of. The discard mode on Esper Charm did the rest. My PWs and manlands did the rest.

Match 4 vs. Tron (Win 2:1)
G1 was a resemblance of my former Tron experiences. I could counter many threats he deployed and path resolved Wurmcoils. However, once I ran out of counterspells, he eventually resolved an Ugin, to which I instantly scooped. Classic. G2 I could bring in all the goodies. Fielding and extracting his Tron lands. Thoughtseizing early Expedition Maps. From there on, I could counter all his stuff and won with Jace/T5feri. G3 was an iteration of G2. Take that, Tron, my nemesis!

Match 5 vs. Bant Vizier Combo (Win 2:0)
What can I say, creature-based combo decks are a delight, at least for my list. Drown did the heavy lifting here. T3feri forced him to do his things sorcery speed, making it pretty easy for me to disrupt him. G2 was actually a pretty close one. He tutored a Thrun, the Last Troll with Eladamri's Call and resolved it. From there on it was a race, which I won with Colonnade beats since I did not take any damage from attacks or shock lands until this point.

Match 6 vs. Abzan Vizier Combo (Draw 1:1)
G1 was comparable to G1 versus Bant Vizier. Killing creatures and resolving planeswalkers seals the deal. G2 I had to experience the downside of Drown in the Loch. I mulled once, getting a hand with 3(!) Drowns in it, putting one on the bottom. However, he started off with basic into Giver of Runes into second giver, putting no cards in his GY. Thus I was not able to kill them right away, forming a serious threat. They beat me to 6 life and I really had to get creative. I did not find a Verdict and he could manage to resolve a Vraska, Golgari Queen, which created too much value. G3 we went to turns and drawed. Unlucky, since I think Esper should beat this kind of deck any given day.

Match 7 vs. Simic Whirza (Loss 0:2)
Jeez, this is one hard matchup. I lost both games clearly and rather fast. Even though I extracted his Urza and Whir in G2, he won with help of Oko, Thief of Crowns and Emry, Lurker of the Loch. The deck is called Whirza and functions without the namesake cards with ease. I mean, come on. Oko is a BIG pain for Esper, I really had a rough time trying to answer him, leading my to Cryptic Bounce him hoping I could counter him on the way back down. However, Metallic Rebuke and his own Cryptic Commands shut off my whole plans. Ultra hard matchup, I really would appreciate some advice and/or experiences on this one!

Final score: 3-3-1, ranking 30th

Okay, the short report got a bit longer than expected. Thank you for reading and advice, tips or questions on card choices/matchups are welcome!

Cheers from Germany

PS: Resolved planeswalkers are VERY hard to handle, at least from my experience. I am considering some hard removal for PWs and adding a few more clocks to be able to pressure them (e.g. Tasigur and/or SFM package). More Tarpits could also help.
Unban Mental Misstep.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

Resolved PW are indeed a problem. That's why I'm running 2 tar pits to help the early pressure.

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Post by GenesisEffect80 » 4 years ago

aklepatzky wrote:
4 years ago
Resolved PW are indeed a problem. That's why I'm running 2 tar pits to help the early pressure.
There's always Psionic Blast.

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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

Shadow variants on the rise at my lgs. What are the best main and sb cards against them ?

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Post by The Fluff » 4 years ago

Condemn is good in a shadow meta. Get's rid of one, and shrinks those still in their hand.
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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

Went 3-2 yesterday ar my LGS. Im writing this on the phone so ill be brief.

Round one: lost (0-2) against bant devoted druid.
Game one he played t3 oko on the play (i pushed his bird if not that oko wouldve came down t2..disgusting). He kept pressure with elk tokens i found a couple of spot removal + kayas to stay alive til i found a wrath. I completely.ignored attacking oko and just went with colonnade beats to the face. He was at 6 life and i had him dead next turn and he topdecks (0 cards in hand) the phyrexian black spell that brings back a creature with haste and kills me with it bringing back eos (i was at like 2 life)

Game two i had a lot of disruption (ts, counters, spot removal) and exhausted his resources but he just kept drawing the combo. One turn (habing infinite mana) he plays green finale i counter it and he plays another one having only two cards in hand. When they have it all they have it all.

Round two: won (2-1) against dragonstorm (yes you read that right)

I thought he was playing gds so i kept a hand according to it only to be surprised with t0 cavern t1 land suspend lotus and prism. I thought it was something like ad naus at first but then he goes off t3 on the play.
Game two he had the exact same.opening after a mull to 6 and i was like for real? But managed to disrupt him with ego naming dragonstorm plus counters and beat him with tar pi leaving up mana for counters after wrathing a hardcasted dragón and being at 1 life
Game three i had the game controlled almost the whole time and he mulled to 5.

Round 3: won against jund (2-1)

Game one i won cause he got stuck on two lands for 2-3 turns
Game two he had an aggressive start and found back to back elves
Game three i punted horribly so many times!! It was embarrassing. We were joking around so i got distracted. I survived a lily ult plus another lily on 7 loyalty plus w6 at 6 loyalty is all ill say. Purge is hell of a card in that mu.

Round 4: won against jund shadow (2-0)

A friend of mine who just built the deck. I saw he was testing it today so i kept a hand according to the mu. Game one was won with 2 resolved pw plus spot removal and kayas. Game two won with tar pit / colonnade beats and spot removal.

Round 5: lost (0-2) against Mardu pyromancer

I didnt respect the blood moon g1 even tho he only had 1 básic out when he played hazoret +moon and i had neither path in hand nor plains on the field so i conceded
Game two he played 3-4 discard spells and overwhelmed me with CA and lost to hazoret again. I took out the esper charms i dont know if thats correct in this mu

Considering cutting one push for one path

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Post by The Fluff » 4 years ago

SanityLost wrote:
4 years ago
Match 6 vs. Abzan Vizier Combo (Draw 1:1)
G1 was comparable to G1 versus Bant Vizier. Killing creatures and resolving planeswalkers seals the deal. G2 I had to experience the downside of Drown in the Loch. I mulled once, getting a hand with 3(!) Drowns in it, putting one on the bottom. However, he started off with basic into Giver of Runes into second giver, putting no cards in his GY. Thus I was not able to kill them right away, forming a serious threat. They beat me to 6 life and I really had to get creative. I did not find a Verdict and he could manage to resolve a Vraska, Golgari Queen, which created too much value. G3 we went to turns and drawed. Unlucky, since I think Esper should beat this kind of deck any given day.

Match 7 vs. Simic Whirza (Loss 0:2)
Jeez, this is one hard matchup. I lost both games clearly and rather fast. Even though I extracted his Urza and Whir in G2, he won with help of Oko, Thief of Crowns and Emry, Lurker of the Loch. The deck is called Whirza and functions without the namesake cards with ease. I mean, come on. Oko is a BIG pain for Esper, I really had a rough time trying to answer him, leading my to Cryptic Bounce him hoping I could counter him on the way back down. However, Metallic Rebuke and his own Cryptic Commands shut off my whole plans. Ultra hard matchup, I really would appreciate some advice and/or experiences on this one!

Final score: 3-3-1, ranking 30th

Okay, the short report got a bit longer than expected. Thank you for reading and advice, tips or questions on card choices/matchups are welcome!

Cheers from Germany

PS: Resolved planeswalkers are VERY hard to handle, at least from my experience. I am considering some hard removal for PWs and adding a few more clocks to be able to pressure them (e.g. Tasigur and/or SFM package). More Tarpits could also help.
sorry, forgot to comment on this. Anyway, good work and I agree.. Vizier combo should be an ok matchup. And I believe any whirza variant is a bad matchup for us, espescially the ones with Oko.

[mention]aklepatzky[/mention]

thanks again for the report. I notice you seem to consistently beat Jund. Easy to outgrind them?
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Post by aklepatzky » 4 years ago

[mention]The Fluff[/mention]

To be honest I think I've just played correctly and been lucky the last 3 or so times i've faced the jund mu cause I believe its very close (50-50) or maybe 55-45 in our favour at most, so anyone can win.

Had a bad run today,

Round 1 won (2-1) against boros burn.

Game one he had t1 goblin t2 eidolon and even topdecking a kaya's wasn't enough
Game two I mull to 5 and keep a hand with no t1/t2 untapped land so I feel like it's all over. I play brutality t3 and he had skull crack. Man I felt like s***. But then he started to flood terribly and I landed t3feri, e charm and got there with colonnade beats.
Game three I won with 1 life (opp was so salty lol). I remember casting t2 brutality and then snap brutality and t3feri. There was a point where I had Jace and activated brainstorm and found only lands and creature removal, my hand was like land land path and he was in top deck mode and any spell would've killed me but I was lucky enough to survive and beat him with colonnade.

Round 2 lost (0-2) against boros burn

I couldn't believe I was facing the only two burn players there and back to back.
Game one he kept a one lander with a lot of cmc 1 spells and found the second land like two turns after but even that wasn't enough to compensate the fact that I punted t5 with the way I payed my mana and I think it ended up costing me the game.
Game two was literally t1 guide t2 eidolon t3 eidolon. Unwinnable.

Round 3 lost (1-2) against mardu pyromancer

Game one I kept a slow hand with two cryptics kaya's and like 3 lands, he kept a one lander and didn't draw his second land in like two turns and then didn't find his third land in a turn or two more but I wasn't able to put up a fast clock either (t3 I cast one of the lamest Kayas ever choosing the "create a spirit" and "gain 4 life" modes). He started drawing lands and I just had every answer possible for any treat he presented (double seasoned pyromancer, lingering souls, pyromancer, etc). and at the same time literally hitting for one a turn with the spirit token and he just conceded cause I was in control of the game and time was running out.
Game two was tight I remember I answered two blood moons (even after punting playing an incorrect second land to have purge available which wouldn't had let me fetch and float mana to exile it after it resolved). Luckily it wasn't a t3 moon but lily and t4 moon so I was able to continue playing but he just killed me.
Game three I remember I mulled to 6 and kept a two lander and didn't draw the third land for a couple of turns (even after opting). He resolved double fulminator so I was pretty much f****. Luckily I started drawing back 2 back lands to cast my spells but he eventually resolved kambal and pyromancer. I believe I punted by not exiling Kambal on sight with the purge I had in hand, I think I was respecting and eventual moon. I don't remember this game very much tbh but I'm sure I punted at some point and he just had the pressure along with those annoying disrupting cards.

Round 4 lost against titanshift (0-2)

Game one he just had a very good hand with ramp, followed by mwonvuli and double titan but I only had path to answer the first and field of the dead along with the second killed me.
Game two he had t1 ramp t2 ramp and showed me double veil of summer to protect his scapeshift. I kept a two lander and NEVER drew the third land. My hand had Ashiok, ego and t3feri. Beautiful variance getting me.
He basically had it all both games and I had bad luck game 2.
I feel quite comfortable with this mu tbh regardless.

Additional notes:

- This is the list I played today
-I will cut the noxious grasp and add the 2nd DS
-Wanting to add the 2nd snare to the main or the veto cause they're reasonable in several mu and that frees up space for a 2nd brutality/a surgial. Problem is slots are very tight..

Last edited by aklepatzky 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by The Fluff » 4 years ago

Hmm, I think Mardu Pyro is difficult because it is a moon deck, and this is a three color deck. I'm a Mardu Pyro player, so I have an idea on the matchup. Are you playing against a Reveler build? It's good to clear their yard so they cannot cast the reveler. And bring in all purge from the side - most of the creatures in the deck are red.

You just had badluck on the Titanshift. Double veil is pretty hard to get past. :)
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