The sideboard was crap. I only went 1-3, but it was a great learning experience. Coordinated Assault and Swift Justice are both great in this kind of deck. Especially Coordinated Assault. I want more Titan's Strength. The scry is very relevant. I'm going to cut the 4-drops. They were only in there because I really wanted to make them work.
I'd rather run Legion's Initiative over the Spear. It helps evade wraths. But in a deck relying on Instants to trigger Heroic, I might take out the enchantments all together. I do have an enchantment version I'm tinkering with. Phalanx Leader, in my friend's words, is a trap. I found myself not wanting him late game. I'm looking at Firefist Striker in his place. A set of Boros Charms is also too much. Gonna cut that down to two. I'm having a hard time deciding between Gods Willing and Brave the Elements. Gods Willing triggers Heroic, but Brave helps you get in there for a final swing. I also like the scry on Gods Willing.
I like Anax and Cymede. It is a little slow, but if you can untap with it, it's pretty good. I don't wanna run four, though. Three feels like a good number. I'm definitely going to come down on the lands since I'm not running Mutavault. Twenty-three was too many. Twenty or twenty-one seem better.
This might be the worse idea for these colors (not sure if it's already been suggested), but with all the removal these colors have access to, I was thinking of making a kind of Superfriends list with Gideon, Elspeth, and Chandra. It might be a bit too mana intensive, though.
I was even considering Liliana to hep with mana fixing. Grab one of the nine swamps the deck runs. Her minus ability could help with taking out any Gods that happen to be creatures, but that probably wouldn't be consistent. I'm also looking at Aurelia's Fury just because I feel that's an underrated card.
second wait until you have five mana to play a 6 mana card....
and then use a 6 mana card to play what? a seven mana card...
I'm not saying it's a perfect plan, I just think that could be one of the strategies people would use. With cards like Mulch and Grisly Salvage, it's not too hard to get him into the yard. But this card is hardly a card to build a deck around, I know.
I'm growing rather annoyed with Izzet Staticaster and Curse of Death's Hold. I have answers for them like Slaughter Games, Wear/Tear, and any kill spell (for the Staticasters), but they're still annoying. Especially when you don't draw the answer.
It's funny, I've been doing better irl than on MODO, but my MODO deck is better equipped than my irl deck. It's obviously because irl, I'm playing against more casual players. Just an observation.
Also, another observation of this list: it runs 5 main deck counter spells! Which I love. Seems like he was not expecting too much Cavern of Souls? Not sure if I could pull it off at my LGS-meta, but I really do like it.
I think the counters are, more or less, for non-creature spells. Like planeswalkers and such. So he probably wasn't concerned with Caverns.
It's based off of Shaheen Soorani's Walker list. It actually started off as that list verbatim, but I was running into some problems against certain decks online, so I modified it. Quite a bit now.
I was running into a lot of reanimator, so I'm running Dissipate now instead of Psychic Strike. I had four charms, but I cut one to fit in Feeling of Dread. That card has been doing real well. Soorani even said his deck is more of a tempo build, so I threw in a card that slowed down my opponent to allow myself to catch up.
I had the Trading Post in the Main, but took it out for the Terminus. I've been doing a lot better since I changed it a little bit. It comes in against aggro decks, because once you start gaining four life, then play Faithmender, it's really hard for aggro to keep up.
In the side, probably the most "out there" card is Stolen Identity. I wanted to try it out against decks with Thragtusk or big creatures that pose a problem. I played against Jund that got me down to three life. He had no fliers, so I used Stolen Identity to copy his tusk, ciphered it onto a spirit, swung in and made another tusk. Shot up to thirteen life. Sure, all he needed was Olivia or Dreadbore, but he didn't draw either next turn, so he scooped. For now, it's staying in.
I honestly wish I could run more Swamps in my Esper 'Walkers list to justify Mutilate. I think that card is super relevant right now. The looming threat of Boros Charm and regenerative creatures can become very annoying. I only run 7 Swamps, though. 8 if I trade out my basic Island.
The Return to Ravnica story seems like it's all over the place. I haven't read any of the books, so my speculation is strictly from flavor text and the set trailers.
RtR is about Jace trying to discover a hidden entity that is looming in the shadows. Gatecrash is about the rise of the Gateless, orchestrated by Lazav. Drgon's Maze is suddenly about a literal maze?
I'm more interested in a story of the Gateless rising against the guilds to prove that Ravnica doesn't need them. Bonus points if Feather is leading the Gateless.
Is it a general trend for Esper as a whole, or only some players, running a lot of Devour Flesh and Tribute of Hunger in their MD+Sideboard, and fewer and fewer targeted removals? I observe that before GTC comes, after sideboard, resolving a Geist of St Traft makes me very far ahead against Esper; but now he falls to instant speed edict effects much more often.
I run only 2 Devour Flesh in my 'Walkers list. I haven't run across many decks using Saint Traft, but it sure does help against indestructible.
I ended up getting second place. Because of the nearby PTQ, not a lot of people showed up. There were only eleven people, so it was 4 rounds with a cut to Top 4.
I had a first round bye, which I wasn't happy about because I feel like it's a cheap win, but it allowed me to look around and scope out the competition. There was a lot of Aggro. Specifically Boros and Naya. One or two control decks.
Round 2 I went 2-0 against Naya Aggro.
First round I went first, and played a tapped Watery Grave. He shocked himself for a Sacred Foundry to play a Stromkirk Noble. Then I dropped an Augur of Bolas, keeping him from attacking. Then I played a Lingering Souls, forcing him to build up a board presence, which allowed me to get some value out of my Supreme Verdict. Then he started trying to build up again, one creature at a time.
Liliana first kept him in check, quickly backed up by Tamiyo. A lot of my +1 on Liliana got some spells of his that could have helped like Boros Charm, while I was feeding the graveyard Lingering Souls, Think Twice, and Forbidden Alchemy. I eventually got to Ultimate Tamiyo, so me discarding wasn't an issue. He conceded.
I sided in 2 Rhox Faithmender, 1 Devour Flesh, and a Trading Post. Took out Jace, Psychic Strike, and Ultimate Price. I didn't see any Haste creatures, so the Blind Obedience stayed put.
Round 2 against him ended fairly quickly with Lingering Souls on Turn 3, Sorin on Turn 4, Flashback Lingering Souls on Turn 5, and a beatdown by Spirits. He told me he made a mistake by not putting in his Gruul Charms after the sideboard. He didn't think I ran a set of Lingering Souls.
Round 3 I lost 0-2 against R/G Aggro.
This one ended pretty fast. I got on Augur down on turn two. By turn 4 he had a Strangleroot Geist with Rancor and Madcap Skills equipped against my Augur and two spirits. He swung in, killed all my creatures, and got me down to 4 life. I thought I was about to stabilize because I had my fourth land with a Verdict in hand. But nope, he cast Fling, sending his Geist to my face.
I was on the play and had to mull down to 5 as a result of lack of land. Pretty sure it ended by turn 4 or five and I only ever got three land into play. I died to Bloodrush.
Round 4 2-0 against The Aristocrats.
This match was unfortunate for my opponent. He automatically had a round one loss due to a discrepancy with the decklist he submitted. So, I won the first round we played, but that was all we played.
He was playing The Aristocrats deck. I forget who went first and a lot of the details of this match. He hit me once with a Falkenrath Aristocrat. I played Tamiyo and kept that tapped for a while. When I eventually tried to D-Sphere the aristocrat, he sacked her. When I finally got Tamiyo to 8 loyalty counters, he played a Zealous Conscripts, stole her, and used her ultimate. This didn't sit well with me, and I thought I was going to lose then and there.
I was able to build up my board with spirits and a Sorin. I got him down to lethal range with my spirits. He tried to be slick with an Orzhov Charm, bouncing his Conscripts back to his hand, then replaying her to steal my D-Sphere and exile all my tokens. I had to explain to him that D-Sphere never leaves the battlefield, so the effect doesn't take place. He conceded at that point because even stealing my Sorin offered no value.
This locked me into Top 4.
Round 1 Elimination 2-1 against Esper Control
This match started out sloppy for me. Our first round I just played bad. I never played more than one Drownyard, even though I had the other two in my hand, forgot to use the drownyard (which should have been priority number 1 in this match), and I even ultimated Jace and Tamiyo, and still lost. He countered the Sorin I was trying to cast off of Jace's ability. Allowed me to cast the Restoration Angel from his deck. When I swung in with his angel, he tried to charm it back to his library, so I used Devour Flesh on myself.
My opponent played very well. He milled me out with double Drownyard. Though I played poorly, this round lasted for about an hour.
I didn't intend to go the aggressive route in this round, but that's the hand that was dealt to me. Lingering Souls and Sorin. By turn 4 he played a Witchbane Orb, which I actually wanted to get rid of because if it turned into another mill battle, I wanted to be able to use Psychic Spiral (which I never saw this round). He had a single Restoration Angel out staring down my for spirit tokens and a vampire token. He passed to me, made a Sorin emblem, and Continued to hold up a defensive line to protect Sorin. Figured that's how I was going to win this round.
It paid off, too, because I was able to make another emblem, swing in, cast another Souls, then swing next turn for game. Onto round 3!
This one was long and arduous. It came down to milling, and I wasn't going to forget my Drownyards this time around. My second draw was my Psychic Spiral, so I knew my plan of action. Let him mill me. There was one point that he Revelationed for five and I didn't counter it. I have a friend that says this was a mistake, but my theory is, let him draw all the cards he wants. I don't want to counter that, I want to counter the spells he draws off of that. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it wasn't.
There was another time that he tried to play Memory Adept. I hesitated here. One on hand, I didn't really want him to make me mill 10, use his drownyards, then, for whatever reason, there's nothing I can do. On the other hand, he could mill me now, and I can make this round end faster. I decided to Negate the Jace. He eventually got my library stack small enough that he decided to Psychc Spiral me. I negated it. A few turns later, he played a Snapcaster Mage and Spiraled me. I had no response. On my turn I saw he had mana up for one Drownyard activation and an untapped Glacial Fortress. I counted my library. 6 cards. I counted my graveyard. 38 cards. I asked him to count his library. 39 cards. Then here's where I made a huge misplay.
I main phased my Psychic Spiral instead of allowing him to Drownyard me, then in response Psychic Spiral. This left him with one card in his library. He drew it on his turn, and that was it. He had no answers. I moved on to the finals.
Round 2 Elimination. 1-2 against Experiment Jund.
This match actually wasn't all that stressful. It was against a friend, and we had decided to split the prize pool, giving us both $45 and one Noble Hierarch. The only thing we were playing for were the Byes to GP San Diego, which I wanted, but wouldn't be too upset if I lost because I don't play a whole lot of Modern. I'm still going to the GP, though. It'll be my first GP.
Round 1 was a blow out. He built up crazy fast, and I couldn't keep up. I don't think I even drew a Supreme Verdict.
I don't remember the specific details of this match. I know he cast Slaughter Games, naming Supreme Verdict. Set me back a bit, but a Blind Obedience was able to keep him at bay, and a Sphinx's Revelation brought me out of range of lethal. He conceded when I had a Tamiyo keeping his Falkenrath Aristocrat tapped and an army of spirits looming about.
Round 3 didn't go quite as well. He Slaughtered out my Verdicts again, right on turn 4 where I had one in hand. I drew my next card, and it didn't help, so I conceded.
Overall, I love this deck. I need to hone my skills to make less misplays, but this deck operates really well. I tweaked it a little bit to have 26 lands now, instead of 25, and I have Trading Post in the Main. It's Shaheen Soorani's list, if anyone is curious.
Any questions, feel free to ask.
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4 Fabled Hero
2 Firemane Avenger
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
1 Brave the Elements
2 Coordinated Assault
2 Gods Willing
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Swift Justice
1 Titan's Strength
6 Mountains
7 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
The sideboard was crap. I only went 1-3, but it was a great learning experience. Coordinated Assault and Swift Justice are both great in this kind of deck. Especially Coordinated Assault. I want more Titan's Strength. The scry is very relevant. I'm going to cut the 4-drops. They were only in there because I really wanted to make them work.
I'd rather run Legion's Initiative over the Spear. It helps evade wraths. But in a deck relying on Instants to trigger Heroic, I might take out the enchantments all together. I do have an enchantment version I'm tinkering with. Phalanx Leader, in my friend's words, is a trap. I found myself not wanting him late game. I'm looking at Firefist Striker in his place. A set of Boros Charms is also too much. Gonna cut that down to two. I'm having a hard time deciding between Gods Willing and Brave the Elements. Gods Willing triggers Heroic, but Brave helps you get in there for a final swing. I also like the scry on Gods Willing.
I like Anax and Cymede. It is a little slow, but if you can untap with it, it's pretty good. I don't wanna run four, though. Three feels like a good number. I'm definitely going to come down on the lands since I'm not running Mutavault. Twenty-three was too many. Twenty or twenty-one seem better.
Here's a rough idea of what I was thinking:
3 Desecration Demon
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Anger the Gods
3 Chained to the Rocks
1 Doom Blade
2 Dreadbore
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Rakdos Keyrune
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Read the Bones
2 Warleader's Helix
4 Godless Shrine
2 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Swamp
3 Temple of Silence
3 Temple of Triumph
I was even considering Liliana to hep with mana fixing. Grab one of the nine swamps the deck runs. Her minus ability could help with taking out any Gods that happen to be creatures, but that probably wouldn't be consistent. I'm also looking at Aurelia's Fury just because I feel that's an underrated card.
Again, probably not the best idea.
I'm not saying it's a perfect plan, I just think that could be one of the strategies people would use. With cards like Mulch and Grisly Salvage, it's not too hard to get him into the yard. But this card is hardly a card to build a deck around, I know.
It's funny, I've been doing better irl than on MODO, but my MODO deck is better equipped than my irl deck. It's obviously because irl, I'm playing against more casual players. Just an observation.
I think the counters are, more or less, for non-creature spells. Like planeswalkers and such. So he probably wasn't concerned with Caverns.
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
3 Azorius Charm
2 Detention Sphere
2 Dissipate
2 Feeling of Dread
2 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Lingering Souls
2 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Terminus
1 Tragic Slip
1 Ultimate Price
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Island
3 Nephalia Drownyard
4 Watery Grave
2 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Devour Flesh
1 Evil Twin
3 Negate
1 Psychic Spiral
3 Rest in Peace
2 Rhox Faithmender
1 Stolen Identity
1 Trading Post
It's based off of Shaheen Soorani's Walker list. It actually started off as that list verbatim, but I was running into some problems against certain decks online, so I modified it. Quite a bit now.
I was running into a lot of reanimator, so I'm running Dissipate now instead of Psychic Strike. I had four charms, but I cut one to fit in Feeling of Dread. That card has been doing real well. Soorani even said his deck is more of a tempo build, so I threw in a card that slowed down my opponent to allow myself to catch up.
I had the Trading Post in the Main, but took it out for the Terminus. I've been doing a lot better since I changed it a little bit. It comes in against aggro decks, because once you start gaining four life, then play Faithmender, it's really hard for aggro to keep up.
In the side, probably the most "out there" card is Stolen Identity. I wanted to try it out against decks with Thragtusk or big creatures that pose a problem. I played against Jund that got me down to three life. He had no fliers, so I used Stolen Identity to copy his tusk, ciphered it onto a spirit, swung in and made another tusk. Shot up to thirteen life. Sure, all he needed was Olivia or Dreadbore, but he didn't draw either next turn, so he scooped. For now, it's staying in.
RtR is about Jace trying to discover a hidden entity that is looming in the shadows. Gatecrash is about the rise of the Gateless, orchestrated by Lazav. Drgon's Maze is suddenly about a literal maze?
I'm more interested in a story of the Gateless rising against the guilds to prove that Ravnica doesn't need them. Bonus points if Feather is leading the Gateless.
I run only 2 Devour Flesh in my 'Walkers list. I haven't run across many decks using Saint Traft, but it sure does help against indestructible.
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
4 Azorius Charm
2 Detention Sphere
2 Devour Flesh
2 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Lingering Souls
2 Psychic Strike
2 Sphinx's Revelation
3 Supreme Verdict
1 Think Twice
1 Ultimate Price
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Nephalia Drownyard
4 Watery Grave
2 Rhox Faithmender
2 Negate
2 Rest in Peace
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Evil Twin
1 Trading Post
2 Blind Obedience
1 Tragic Slip
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Curse of Death's Hold
I ended up getting second place. Because of the nearby PTQ, not a lot of people showed up. There were only eleven people, so it was 4 rounds with a cut to Top 4.
I had a first round bye, which I wasn't happy about because I feel like it's a cheap win, but it allowed me to look around and scope out the competition. There was a lot of Aggro. Specifically Boros and Naya. One or two control decks.
Round 2 I went 2-0 against Naya Aggro.
First round I went first, and played a tapped Watery Grave. He shocked himself for a Sacred Foundry to play a Stromkirk Noble. Then I dropped an Augur of Bolas, keeping him from attacking. Then I played a Lingering Souls, forcing him to build up a board presence, which allowed me to get some value out of my Supreme Verdict. Then he started trying to build up again, one creature at a time.
Liliana first kept him in check, quickly backed up by Tamiyo. A lot of my +1 on Liliana got some spells of his that could have helped like Boros Charm, while I was feeding the graveyard Lingering Souls, Think Twice, and Forbidden Alchemy. I eventually got to Ultimate Tamiyo, so me discarding wasn't an issue. He conceded.
I sided in 2 Rhox Faithmender, 1 Devour Flesh, and a Trading Post. Took out Jace, Psychic Strike, and Ultimate Price. I didn't see any Haste creatures, so the Blind Obedience stayed put.
Round 2 against him ended fairly quickly with Lingering Souls on Turn 3, Sorin on Turn 4, Flashback Lingering Souls on Turn 5, and a beatdown by Spirits. He told me he made a mistake by not putting in his Gruul Charms after the sideboard. He didn't think I ran a set of Lingering Souls.
Round 3 I lost 0-2 against R/G Aggro.
This one ended pretty fast. I got on Augur down on turn two. By turn 4 he had a Strangleroot Geist with Rancor and Madcap Skills equipped against my Augur and two spirits. He swung in, killed all my creatures, and got me down to 4 life. I thought I was about to stabilize because I had my fourth land with a Verdict in hand. But nope, he cast Fling, sending his Geist to my face.
Sideboard:
+2 Rhox Faithmender
+2 Blind Obedience
+1 Trading Post
+1 Supreme Verdict
-2 Forbidden Alchemy
-2 Jace
-1 Tamiyo
-1 Devour Flesh
I was on the play and had to mull down to 5 as a result of lack of land. Pretty sure it ended by turn 4 or five and I only ever got three land into play. I died to Bloodrush.
Round 4 2-0 against The Aristocrats.
This match was unfortunate for my opponent. He automatically had a round one loss due to a discrepancy with the decklist he submitted. So, I won the first round we played, but that was all we played.
He was playing The Aristocrats deck. I forget who went first and a lot of the details of this match. He hit me once with a Falkenrath Aristocrat. I played Tamiyo and kept that tapped for a while. When I eventually tried to D-Sphere the aristocrat, he sacked her. When I finally got Tamiyo to 8 loyalty counters, he played a Zealous Conscripts, stole her, and used her ultimate. This didn't sit well with me, and I thought I was going to lose then and there.
I was able to build up my board with spirits and a Sorin. I got him down to lethal range with my spirits. He tried to be slick with an Orzhov Charm, bouncing his Conscripts back to his hand, then replaying her to steal my D-Sphere and exile all my tokens. I had to explain to him that D-Sphere never leaves the battlefield, so the effect doesn't take place. He conceded at that point because even stealing my Sorin offered no value.
This locked me into Top 4.
Round 1 Elimination 2-1 against Esper Control
This match started out sloppy for me. Our first round I just played bad. I never played more than one Drownyard, even though I had the other two in my hand, forgot to use the drownyard (which should have been priority number 1 in this match), and I even ultimated Jace and Tamiyo, and still lost. He countered the Sorin I was trying to cast off of Jace's ability. Allowed me to cast the Restoration Angel from his deck. When I swung in with his angel, he tried to charm it back to his library, so I used Devour Flesh on myself.
My opponent played very well. He milled me out with double Drownyard. Though I played poorly, this round lasted for about an hour.
Sideboard:
+1 Psychich Spiral
+2 Negate
-3 Supreme Verdict
I didn't intend to go the aggressive route in this round, but that's the hand that was dealt to me. Lingering Souls and Sorin. By turn 4 he played a Witchbane Orb, which I actually wanted to get rid of because if it turned into another mill battle, I wanted to be able to use Psychic Spiral (which I never saw this round). He had a single Restoration Angel out staring down my for spirit tokens and a vampire token. He passed to me, made a Sorin emblem, and Continued to hold up a defensive line to protect Sorin. Figured that's how I was going to win this round.
It paid off, too, because I was able to make another emblem, swing in, cast another Souls, then swing next turn for game. Onto round 3!
This one was long and arduous. It came down to milling, and I wasn't going to forget my Drownyards this time around. My second draw was my Psychic Spiral, so I knew my plan of action. Let him mill me. There was one point that he Revelationed for five and I didn't counter it. I have a friend that says this was a mistake, but my theory is, let him draw all the cards he wants. I don't want to counter that, I want to counter the spells he draws off of that. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it wasn't.
There was another time that he tried to play Memory Adept. I hesitated here. One on hand, I didn't really want him to make me mill 10, use his drownyards, then, for whatever reason, there's nothing I can do. On the other hand, he could mill me now, and I can make this round end faster. I decided to Negate the Jace. He eventually got my library stack small enough that he decided to Psychc Spiral me. I negated it. A few turns later, he played a Snapcaster Mage and Spiraled me. I had no response. On my turn I saw he had mana up for one Drownyard activation and an untapped Glacial Fortress. I counted my library. 6 cards. I counted my graveyard. 38 cards. I asked him to count his library. 39 cards. Then here's where I made a huge misplay.
I main phased my Psychic Spiral instead of allowing him to Drownyard me, then in response Psychic Spiral. This left him with one card in his library. He drew it on his turn, and that was it. He had no answers. I moved on to the finals.
Round 2 Elimination. 1-2 against Experiment Jund.
This match actually wasn't all that stressful. It was against a friend, and we had decided to split the prize pool, giving us both $45 and one Noble Hierarch. The only thing we were playing for were the Byes to GP San Diego, which I wanted, but wouldn't be too upset if I lost because I don't play a whole lot of Modern. I'm still going to the GP, though. It'll be my first GP.
Round 1 was a blow out. He built up crazy fast, and I couldn't keep up. I don't think I even drew a Supreme Verdict.
Sideboard:
+1 Supreme Verdict
+2 Blind Obedience
+1 Trading Post
-2 Psychic Strike
-1 Ultimate Price
-1 Jace
I don't remember the specific details of this match. I know he cast Slaughter Games, naming Supreme Verdict. Set me back a bit, but a Blind Obedience was able to keep him at bay, and a Sphinx's Revelation brought me out of range of lethal. He conceded when I had a Tamiyo keeping his Falkenrath Aristocrat tapped and an army of spirits looming about.
Round 3 didn't go quite as well. He Slaughtered out my Verdicts again, right on turn 4 where I had one in hand. I drew my next card, and it didn't help, so I conceded.
Overall, I love this deck. I need to hone my skills to make less misplays, but this deck operates really well. I tweaked it a little bit to have 26 lands now, instead of 25, and I have Trading Post in the Main. It's Shaheen Soorani's list, if anyone is curious.
Any questions, feel free to ask.