Esper Control

FEB 2021 

Overview: 

Spells: 

This continues to be one of the best spells in the game. 2 life is a small price to pay for taking the best thing out of their hand (or the thing you are least equipped to deal with based on your hand). Opening with this has extended benefits, as it can clue you in to your next few turns (based on their hand) and if you can get this on T1, Fortell Doomskar on T2, you are set up for a nice T3 board wipe. 

Prime Targets: Literally anything, with the exception of cards that want to be in their graveyard. 

This card continues to impress me, and I think I actually prefer it to Fatal Push at this point. I think its flexibility later in the game (and against planeswalkers) makes up for the sorcery speed. I would hear out arguments for Fatal Push in this spot (or some kind of split), but for me at least, this card has never felt bad in my hand, and I can't say the same for Fatal Push. 

Prime Targets: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Monastery Swiftspear, Soul-Scar Mage, Stonecoil Serpent

As someone who has gravitated towards control decks for the entire time I've played, few things feel better than catching someone out with this card. Most of the time, this will be a good spell to catch someone early. Sometimes, it can be card draw if you need to cycle it or if you can't get them tapped out. And every now and then, someone will tap out for 5, 6+ mana, and you get them with this. That is the height of countering. 

Prime Targets: Anything when they are tapped out. Stronger early in the game, more satisfying when they get greedyat 4+ mana. 

These two form the backbone of the removal suite. Between these two, its not too troublesome to remove most of the creatures in the format (though knowing which to use in any situation is crucial). I am constantly moving the numbers on these, and also considering the potential of Poison the Cup in this slot. 

Prime Targets: Between these two, you should be able to pick off most every create that sticks, save for hexproof, protection from black, or some very specific cards in very specific scenarios. (a creature that is at least 4 mana AND has +1 counters)

Part counter, part removal. This card is powerful, due to its flexibilty and low cost, and will likely be more useful later in a game (unless the opponent helps by filling their own yard). This card is in the deck primarily due to its low cost, since it usually means we can do something else in the same turn when casting this. Its almost never the counter or removal you want in a situation, but the ability to be either of those things on one card cannot be underestimated. 

Prime Targets: Whatever you can get, whenever you can get it

For a long time I wasn't sure what the best version of this spell was, but I think I have settled on this as the 'best-in-the-most-situations' version. I think Disallow (being able to stop abilities is nice) and Void Shatter (exile is nice for a lot of targets given the amount of things going into graveyards) are both great cards, but the ability to Surveil on this ends up being more useful in more situations than either of those secondary benefits of the others. Moving a land (or really any unhelpful card) off the top of the library helps us get to our best/most useful things faster, and in situations of most matchups, I'd rather have that. 

Prime Targets: Literally anything that doesn't say 'Can't be Countered'

I really miss being able to cast Glimmer of Genius comfortably in a game, but I feel like now too many other types of decks can draw cards too well, or can recover or overwhelm more quickly than is comfortable, so a card that serves as a counter spell of sorts, in addition to helping get deeper into the deck, feels the most comfortable for me. It also has the corner benefit of getting around things like Narset, Parter of Veils as it isnt technically card draw. 

Prime Targets: If they ever can't pay the 3, get them (save other spells for when they can). If you can use this on their end step to dig through your deck, do it. 

I think this is one of the most over-looked removal spells in the format. The ability to destroy any target permanent at this cost might not be worth it, but exiling makes it worth a spot. The cost of 3 life is not something we can be over-aggressive with (especially in a deck with 12 shock lands), which is why its only a 1 of in the deck. That being said, it really can be a silver bullet and can make all the difference in a game. 

Prime Targets: Nearly anything, one time, so choose wisely. 

This spot used to be for Supreme Verdict. So far, this card has absolutely prooved its worth. The ability to set this up after a Thoughtseize is huge. Even when you Fortell it and they know its coming, that creates a game in a game for them: do they cast more into a board they know can be wiped, or hold cards back and risk casting into more counters or a Thoughtseize? Both of those are good for us, so this will continue to be in the main deck until there are really a lot of decks able neutralize this minigame. The minigame gets even better with cards like Poison the Cup, Saw It Coming, and Behold the Multiverse. 

Prime Targets: Boards, full boards.

Enchantments:

This card is good on its face, as being able to better the draw by dumping something into the graveyard is important in a control deck. It's very good once we get it flipped, as it serves as an accelerator to finidng more good things later in the game. In this deck in particular, I really like that this allows us to run 25 lands, giving us one more spot for a spell. 

The 3 damage on entry is great, but really its the prolongued gain and drain for attacking playwalkers is what makes this special. We run planeswalkers, and they will be attached often. Planeswalkers take damage away from us, and this pulls our life total further away from their attackers. Also is a good target for Teferi, Time Raveler. 

This is the card I am least familair with in Pioneer, but has been amazing in Historic and I think its good enough to be here. Good as an emergency lever (if you have to sycle for a blocker), great if you can cast it and it sticks on the board. A swarm of flying sharks follow, and that will close out games as we just continue to play our deck. 

Planeswalkers

This card makes its way in and out of decks for me, but as mentioned earlier I think there are enough other decks (besides control decks) that draw multiple cards per turn a bit too well for my liking. The static alone is worth a spot in the 75. With no creatures in the main deck, this doesn't have bad -2 (save the dreaded, but rare, 4 land hit). 

This card has slowly worked its way from the Maybe List, to the sideboard, to the main deck. The ability to exile a 1 mana permanent is absolutely huge, as it's not just creatures that are at risk. Prime targets for this include Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Monastery Swiftspear, Soul-Scar Mage, Witch's Oven, Cauldron Familiar, Selfless Spirit to name a few. Hating on the graveyard is good too, as even if the opposing strategy isn't particularly graveyard-themed, as long as there is a creature we can gain some life. 

I don't have much to say about this card that hasn't been said before. If you've played with it or against it, you know how strong it is. I know there is always tak about whether this should be removed from the format, but as one of my favorite cards I will run this in every deck for as long as possible. 

Just like Teferi, Time Raveler there is not much I have to say about this card beyond what players have known for years. The +1 means you can hold a removal spell or counter spell back to protect him, the -3 can be a huge shift in the game if you set them back a key card (and can draw into a counter or removal before they can draw it again), and if you get to the -8 you don't have to exile many of their lands before most opponents will scoop. 

Lands

I don't want to talk about these too much, but there are a few things I want to highlight:

I think this is the best Castle land for the deck, and it's not close. The consistent token generation can extend and win games on its own. Castle Vantress only scrys for us, and at 4 mana I don't think that's worth it. Castle Locthwain does give us the draw over the scry, but hitting for life hurts us more than it does decks that aren't worried about their own life total. We are usually looking to draw an answer because it's not in our hand, and paying 3 mana plus life to draw 1 card is a bit underwhelming. 

You don't want this as a tapped land when you need untapped, but the chance to play a dual land on T1 untapped, especially with something like a Thoughtseize you want to cast, can be a big key to success. Being at 16 or 18 can be signifcant in many matchups. 

Getting the spell of choice back on top of the deck is really good, especially given the number of ways we can get that card in hand (draw or put in hand) in the same turn. The mini-game of picking up a sweeper and daring an aggro deck to try and re-load the board, or picking up a Dovin's Veto against a control deck creates an interesting 'you know what I have, what can you do about it'. 

These are in here for two reasons: First, both Castle Ardenvale and Mystic Sanctuary both care about the number of Plains and Islands, respectively, and these help towards that count. I think that is more valuable than 4th copies of Glacial Fortress or Drowned Catacombs. Second, I don't think cards that just draw cards are really strong enough in this deck, but having a land you can cycle away for a card feels about right. 

The Sideboard

I currently like this against the Mono-Green Planeswalker matchup, as Karn, the Great Creator in particular is a problem card if it resolves. This has also been useful in the Spirits and Auras matchups, as it nerfs the ability for cards like Selfless Spirit, Alseid of Life's Bounty, and Selfless Savior to protect from Doomskar. It also does a number on the Jund Sacrifice deck. Overall I would say this is a card more dedicated to targeting pieces of the meta rather than augmenting our strategy.

With Mono-Green Planeswalkers, Mono Green Stompy, Gruul Aggro, and a variety of strong green creatures in the format (the elves, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Omnath, Locus of Creation, this will usually find a host of targets when sided in. It is great against something like Shifting Ceratops, which is frequently boarded in against our deck. 

An auto-in against any deck even close to having counters, this is safe side-in for most matchups. I would rather have Drown in the Loch in the main deck for G1, as the flexibility to target creatures is more valuable than being uncounterable. That said, this card can be back-breaking against decks trying to play the counter game against us. As long as those decks trend towards tap out control and don't plan counters, this hits even harder. 

Very powerful for its cost, even if it is limited by having to target 4+ CMC permanents. We have ways to deal with creatures and planeswalkers, but picking up artifact and enchantment hate is huge for us in G2, G3. Prime target: Wilderness Reclamation. Lots of other things too, but I hate that card and love to exile it before they can untap the lands and reload. 

Are they playing blue? Bring this in. 

I still think this card has a spot in the board, simply to hate out entire playsets of a card and exiling them. This is particularly important against things like Lotus Field, or other hexproof, counter-proof, or deeply integral cards. 

I know cards like Grafdigger's Cage and Weathered Runestone have their benefits (blocking library casts isn't nothing), I think I prefer this card's ability to exile the entire graveyard with each -1, and to block any kind of searching for opponents ends up having benefits (watch what happens when they try to sac Fabled Passage with this out). 

I think Torrential Gearhulk, Dream Trawler, Chromium, the Mutable, and even Lochmere Serpent could be considered viable control finishers when looking at creatures, but I think I like this one best. 

The Maybe List

In some ways, the cards that have not made the cut (or that once were in and have since been moved out to the 'Esper Cards Box') are more interesting to talk about, because it feeds my desire to constantly tinker and deck build within the archetype. 

Removal

Fatal Push has been swapped out for Bloodchief's Thirst, as explained above. I know the instant speed removal is powerful, but I have struggled to recall a situation in which I wanted Push over Thirst. Without Fabled Passage, we are hoping for some real niche situations to trigger Revolt, at which point I'd rather pay 2BB at sorcery speed.