Hey all, I am a long time control player and i love to play and brew up control decks when I can. I had a strong finish at an scg open in standard when sphinx of revelation was around with esper control with a 7-2-1 record, so i was in top 8 contention of that tournament for most of the tournament. Some people might recognize me from my khans standard uw control deck that i made a thread for about a year ago. I also had a strong finish with that as well with a top 8 at tcg player states.
Today, i want to show you what i would play at scg open in atlanta next weekend, its been testing quite well on cockatrice for me.
This deck plays mainly like a draw go control and only tap low/out for a powerful spell or to sweep the board on your turn when its necassary. Also the main reason why i am not running jace from magic origins is because people seem to be prepared for it and i think grasp of darkness is one of the best removal spells in standard and i expect that to be popular. So i find jace vyns prodigy to be a huge liability alot of the time so i choose not to run him.
However, if you still feel like you want to play jaces in your deck i have another deck thats also has been testing well that i would also highly recommend.
Yes, as you notice the deck is really similar to reid duke's mage-ring esper, i just made some updates to it with oath of the gatewatch. I also really like the interaction between painful truths and linvala, it definitely packs a substantial amount of raw power to it. This deck also plays like a draw-go mainly but can turn the tides to be more of a tapout control deck especially postboard with the gideons and the narset. Which can add another dimension to the deck to make it stronger against alot of matchups postboard.
Overall, i would recommend either deck for scg atlanta happening next weekend especially if you like control as much as I do. Both of these decks bad matchup is probably eldrazi ramp with ulamog and worldbreaker but postboard with infinite oblieration it becomes definitely more winnable. Give these two decks a shot in your tournaments if your interested and make optimal changes to the control decks your playing according to the metagame shifts. Just test, test, test and make changes to your lists when its needed. As I think esper definitely has all of the tools to take on anything.
have you tested linvala and what have you tested it against if so?
I'm actually not sold at all on the card, at least until the current finishers rotate.
My thought process is that, you just won't play it vs red/abzan aggro, and she's terrible vs control i feel. I do think she's insane in the midrange matchup tho.
Has the combination of 2 rings and 3 vents gotten you into trouble at all? I cut my deck down to 2 vents because i got tired of starting with 2 or 3 and few blue sources
I have tested linvala against decks like dark jeskai, abzan, and eldrazi aggro and linvala was pretty good in those matchups so I'd imagine that with matchups similar to those linvala is pretty solid against those as well.
I also have liked linvala against red aggro under the assumption that you can answer their early creatures on time and able to counter some key spells which can definitely buy you enough time to drop linvala and just force them to have atarkas command right there. Otherwise you can just board her out in those matchups if that doesn't suit your style. Same goes for abzan aggro except at least you don't have to worry about atarka's command and the fact that they are generally slower then red so this gives you more of a window to land linvala and get maximized value from her. There are definitely lines of play that involve linvala against red for sure.
Sure she is not at her best against other control decks but i feel she still has some value in those matchups too. With that being said, of course it all depends on what kind of control decks your playing against because i feel bw control is definitely viable with oath and i am sure you can gain full value off of linvala i am sure. Against another mage-ring esper deck though i agree not so much.
I also haven't really had that much trouble getting the colors i need to cast any of my spells actually. Although, if your still insisting on playing another blue source you can always cut a mage-ring or a shambling vent for one. I think if i was to make this cut i probably would cut the mage-ring before the shambling vent, as i think shambling vent is a great manland and a much needed one.
I like the second build you have, similar to my own right now. Why not come over to the Esper Control thread and discuss some ideas there? Would be nice to have some more people that are not wanting to run Esper Dragons...
Yeah i might, perhaps we can just merge this thread with that one didn't realize there was another esper control thread. Glad you like the second build though, I would totally play the second build if i was playing in the scg open in atlanta next weekend. Its a pretty solid deck.
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Today, i want to show you what i would play at scg open in atlanta next weekend, its been testing quite well on cockatrice for me.
4 Polluted Delta
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
3 Shambling Vent
4 Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Mage-Ring Network
2 Planar Outburst
1 Languish
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Utter End
2 Sphinx of the Final Word
3 Clash of Wills
4 Void Shatter
4 Grasp of Darkness
1 Painful Truths
1 Murderous Cut
4 Dig Through Time
2 Ultimate Price
1 Scatter to the Winds
1 Ojutai's Command
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Monastery Mentor
3 Infinite Obliteration
3 Arashin Cleric
3 Flaying Tendrils
1 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Negate
1 Duress
This deck plays mainly like a draw go control and only tap low/out for a powerful spell or to sweep the board on your turn when its necassary. Also the main reason why i am not running jace from magic origins is because people seem to be prepared for it and i think grasp of darkness is one of the best removal spells in standard and i expect that to be popular. So i find jace vyns prodigy to be a huge liability alot of the time so i choose not to run him.
However, if you still feel like you want to play jaces in your deck i have another deck thats also has been testing well that i would also highly recommend.
4 Polluted Delta
3 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
3 Shambling Vent
4 Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mage-Ring Network
2 Planar Outburst
1 Crux of fate
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Utter End
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
3 Clash of Wills
3 Void Shatter
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Painful Truths
1 Murderous Cut
4 Dig Through Time
1 Ultimate Price
1 Ojutai's Command
2 Linvala, the Preserver
2 Monastery Mentor
3 Infinite Obliteration
3 Arashin Cleric
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Duress
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Narset, Transendant
Yes, as you notice the deck is really similar to reid duke's mage-ring esper, i just made some updates to it with oath of the gatewatch. I also really like the interaction between painful truths and linvala, it definitely packs a substantial amount of raw power to it. This deck also plays like a draw-go mainly but can turn the tides to be more of a tapout control deck especially postboard with the gideons and the narset. Which can add another dimension to the deck to make it stronger against alot of matchups postboard.
Overall, i would recommend either deck for scg atlanta happening next weekend especially if you like control as much as I do. Both of these decks bad matchup is probably eldrazi ramp with ulamog and worldbreaker but postboard with infinite oblieration it becomes definitely more winnable. Give these two decks a shot in your tournaments if your interested and make optimal changes to the control decks your playing according to the metagame shifts. Just test, test, test and make changes to your lists when its needed. As I think esper definitely has all of the tools to take on anything.
I'm actually not sold at all on the card, at least until the current finishers rotate.
My thought process is that, you just won't play it vs red/abzan aggro, and she's terrible vs control i feel. I do think she's insane in the midrange matchup tho.
Has the combination of 2 rings and 3 vents gotten you into trouble at all? I cut my deck down to 2 vents because i got tired of starting with 2 or 3 and few blue sources
I also have liked linvala against red aggro under the assumption that you can answer their early creatures on time and able to counter some key spells which can definitely buy you enough time to drop linvala and just force them to have atarkas command right there. Otherwise you can just board her out in those matchups if that doesn't suit your style. Same goes for abzan aggro except at least you don't have to worry about atarka's command and the fact that they are generally slower then red so this gives you more of a window to land linvala and get maximized value from her. There are definitely lines of play that involve linvala against red for sure.
Sure she is not at her best against other control decks but i feel she still has some value in those matchups too. With that being said, of course it all depends on what kind of control decks your playing against because i feel bw control is definitely viable with oath and i am sure you can gain full value off of linvala i am sure. Against another mage-ring esper deck though i agree not so much.
I also haven't really had that much trouble getting the colors i need to cast any of my spells actually. Although, if your still insisting on playing another blue source you can always cut a mage-ring or a shambling vent for one. I think if i was to make this cut i probably would cut the mage-ring before the shambling vent, as i think shambling vent is a great manland and a much needed one.