To control the board until we can either mill our opponents out or drain them with Kaya.
Jace, the Perfected Mind is our main wincon in the deck and what the deck revolves around. Jace's +1 is great at controlling our opponents creatures if we don't have removal ready. It's also really good at helping fulfill the requirements of Cut Down. His -2 is good if we are low on cards and want to start our mill strategy. His -X ability is the main way we win with this deck. Milling out opponents out for just 15 is substantial enough to warrant using his -X ability as soon as he comes into play. Very rarely does he stay on the board for more than 1 turn.
Kaya, Intangible Slayer is another win con for us, but is also the slowest way for us to win. All of her abilites are relevant no matter the situation. Her +2 is how we eventually drain our opponents out. Her 0 ability is decent, but it isn't the main reason you play her. The -3 ability is also really good at controlling the board and helping us get our own blockers too. Nothing feels better than exiling their Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Phyrexian Obliterator and making it our own. You could include 2 copies if you want to.
Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset might not seem as important as the other 2 Planeswalkers, but his abilities benefit the deck greatly. He is great at bringing our life total back up and untapping any of our artifacts or lands that we need untapped to keep our counterspells up. His -7 ability also comes in handy during the late game. He may not be necessary in the deck, but he is a great utility for our deck.
Reckoner Bankbuster is a fantastic card in any control deck, and is a huge part in keeping our gameplan going. I don't have much to say about the card that hasn't already been said before. It's great at refilling our hand, hitting our land drops, and great at being aggressive or keeping a blocker back to protect.
The Celestus combos well with Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset and fits well in the deck. I hardly ever use it's second tap ability, but it helps out when needed. It's also really good in control mirror matches with how often we "draw go" with this deck. Overall, it's a really good with Teferi and helps mana fix if need be.
The Stone Brain isn't necessarily needed in the deck, but it's one of my favorite cards. It does lose it's effectiveness the later the game goes, but it still has it's uses. It's great at getting rid of any problems we may encounter or any getting rid of our opponents wincons. It's also good at looking through our opponents deck and seeing what their gameplan is. Some examples of cards to name are: Invoke Despair/Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in Mono Black, Bring the Ending in Dimir Proliferate, or Atraxa, Grand Unifier in Reanimate decks. Overall, the card isn't required in the deck and could be replaced with any card you prefer.
Cut Down is a cheap removal spell and also great with Jace, the Perfected Mind's +1 ability. The main reason for it's inclusion is to help control with aggro decks until we can draw a board wipe. It does lose it's effectiveness during the late game, but it's fantastic in the early game.
Devious Cover-Up is a great counterspell and is the main way we get back any cards we need. You mainly want to target one of our wincons or any other copies of the card. It could be replaced by Witness the Future, but I prefer having another counterspell. Remember to go into ''Full Control" if your library is running low on cards and you need to counter your own spells to help refill it.
Dissipate is our main way of controlling the board throughout all phases of the game. It may be a little more expensive compared to other counterspells, but I prefer having the option to just outright counter any spell.
Farewell is great at dealing with cards that managed to get through our counterspells and any annoying Enchantments/Artifacts that our opponents have. Just remember not to exile you own graveyard if you still have card in there you want to target with Devious Cover-Up.
Memory Deluge might not be a control option, but it helps dig through our deck to find one. Overall, it's been a great addition to the deck.
Path of Peril is our main board wipe and is crucial in the early game. In control mirror matches it does lose it's effectiveness, but, with how fast the format is, I think it's needed. You could replace this with Depopulate, but I prefer being able to board wipe one turn earlier.
Void Rend is the best single targeted remval option in the deck. It's effective at handling anything that we need taken care of.
Late Game: The deck really thrives the longer the game goes on. Between the counterspells and board wipes, the deck is prepared to reduce our opponents resources until they concede or we hit our wincons. Treat every match as a war of attrition and you'll do just fine.
Controlling the Board: The deck has many options to control the board if that's your style and does it very well. It also feel's great predicting your opponents decks with The Stone Brain or dominating the board state with our spells.
Mana Base: Overall, Esper in a really good place with it's mana base. It's rare that we never have the right mana to cast our spells.
Aggro Decks: The deck can get ran over by aggressive decks if we don't draw the right cards. Cut Down and Path of Peril help alleviate some of this problem, but it does still happen from time to time.
Planeswalker Decks: The deck has ran into some issues with being out valued by other "Superfriend Decks". I use to run Fateful Absence instead of Cut Down, but I would rather just counter their big Planeswalkers. Just be careful on which Planeswalkers you counter.
Long Games: This may or may not be a bad thing, depending on the person, but the deck does have long games. Don't expect to end the game quickly unless you get lucky with your draws.
The Wandering Emperor is great at controlling the board and would also give us blockers/let us be aggressive. I just prefer having Teferi and his -7 ability greatly benefits our deck.
The Eternal Wanderer is also another control option, but I prefer having Kaya be our "big" Planeswalker. You could remove a copy of Teferi or remove Kaya entirely if you wanted to add her.
Depopulate could replace Path of Peril if you wanted to. It's more of a personal preference.
Fateful Absence is another option we could add to remove whatever creature we wanted and to also deal with our opponents Planeswalkers.
Sunset Revelry was in an earlier iteration of the deck, but got cut in favor of more control.
Phyrexian Arena was something I tested out since the deck, at first, had a problem of running low on cards in our hand. Overall, it was decent in the deck, and Teferi helps deal with the life loss.
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (28) | |||
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$0.20€0.090.03 | |||
$1.75 | |||
2
Farewell
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$5.53€5.643.94 | ||
$1.49 | |||
$1.10€1.761.02 | |||
$2.22 | |||
$0.15€0.070.03 | |||
$3.61 | |||
3
Cut Down
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$1.25 | |||
Land (26) | |||
$2.36 | |||
$10.00 | |||
$4.40 | |||
$5.140.52 | |||
$7.00€7.850.81 | |||
$4.96 | |||
$10.00 | |||
$6.99 | |||
$7.13€8.980.72 | |||
$16.04€18.304.24 | |||
Planeswalker (6) | |||
$5.491.24 | |||
$0.49€0.320.02 | |||
$2.63€3.770.09 |
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