Against Thrun, you should have Blessed Alliance / SB ***.
Torrential Gearhulk is not terrible, some people run it, but it's very slow.
Man, the thought of having to play against someone with 2014 tech like Thrun the Last Troll makes me cry on the inside. I swear these small local Modern tournaments are like a different format. Still, if I had to deal with random creature beatdown decks, I would put 2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Baneslayer Angel, or Grave Titan in the sideboard. Elspeth is going to be best against decks without Path to Exile. Grave Titan is a far stronger card than Elspeth if you're not worried about Path and want block all non-flyers, while also dodging the majority of counterspells against blue decks (assuming Grixis cuts Terminate for Fatal Push). Baneslayer is going to stabilize the best against random aggro decks, but is the only one that straight-up loses to Path/Terminate/Dismember. Worth noting that Elspeth gets "countered" by Siege Rhino and more importantly Reality Smasher. I'm going with Grave Titan on the strength of the Eldrazi matchup. Gideon Jura seems like an option, but in my experience requires a density of spot removal to be able to "-2" creatures and stay on the battlefield. Great card in UWR, but not so hot in Esper.
I played the Ryan list at FNM this week. I lost to Spirits, and Merfolk. A common theme was my dissatisfaction with 4 Think Twice/4 Esper Charm and no Serum Visions. I was either getting mana screwed or flooded and really missed Visions ability to filter. It also felt like not having Vision in the deck hurt the overall potential in early Logic Knots. I'm going to go back to something closer to Wafo-Tapa's original Esper list that featured 2 Serum Visions and trim elsewhere to make room for Fatal Push.
Speaking of Fatal Push; the card didn't feel overwhelmingly powerful to me, but I didn't get to cast it on any Goyfs/Thought-Knots/Grim Flayers.
The main reason Wafo went to Serum Visions (I speculate), was because the format was taken over with blitz aggro, and you needed to really goldfish these creature decks by playing removal spell after removal spell. He could have went to 6-8 spot removal spells maindeck, but Condemn was way weaker than Fatal Push and that tanks your percentages against non-creature decks. If you look at the deck differences he basically cut all the middling filler spells like Remand, Shadow of Doubt, Spell Snare, etc., and built a high-velocity deck that could find spot removal early and play Supreme Verdict on turn 4 maybe 75% of games. With the metagame slowing way down if I had to guess, he'd be on something similar to his 2014 list, with different filler cards that better deal with the deck's tighter matchups, like Eldrazi and maybe Tron. I think he'd be back on 2 Snapcasters again, since having more Paths is no longer so crucial, either a single Secure the Wastes or just plain White Sun's Zenith (Secure for x=2 isn't going to trade with a pump spell nearly as often).
I'm still waiting to get Fatal Push on MODO, so I haven't played any games in the new metagame, but this is going to be the list that I start with:
I still have 3x Snapcaster since I want to at least try Fatal Push maindeck. The other option for me was Runed Halo, but I'm thinking Fatal Push is going to be more consistent at stopping early-game pressure.
Thirst for Knowledge is a 3-mana Brainstorm that I'm hoping helps with a lot of the "auto-lose" scenarios this deck has, where you draw counterspells against creature decks, removal spells against spell-based combo, or more often just 4 lands and you end up losing to a guy that's top-decking. I used to run 1 Careful Consideration, which was too expensive but almost guaranteed you to "go off" on around turn 5-6 when you can play it as a sorcery and still interact. The ceiling on these cards is high, but when you already like your current hand they're admittedly just expensive cantrips. Serum Visions in this deck is basically just a free "Scry 2" and you need to fighting hard for some sort of positional advantage payoff to justify it. I don't think I'm goldfishing for Verdicts and Paths anymore so I'm trying out new filler spells. It's definitely a safer card so I may just go back to them in a week.
Another thing you never see on this forum is 2 Spell Snare in the sideboard. I originally had 2x Dispel, but figure this card is better against blue decks (Snapcaster is by far the best card in those matchups) and Affinity, while being about the same against Burn.
Still haven't gotten to try Blessed Alliance, but it's hard for me to imagine how this card is better than more Fatal Push, just because you can cast it for 4 mana and gain 4 life. I'm thinking Burn is the only matchup where that's the case. Being able to actually "Bolt the Bird" with this deck and play more removal as an instant just seems more flexible. I'm also addicted to playing 2 spells in 1 turn in Magic...
Your last sentence is why Wafo liked serum visions. He commented on the article in the last gp he played esper in about serum visions saying it helped with some curve issues. He also cut down to 3 think twice because he felt that r think twice was causing mana efficiency issues. It might be possible to just run more 1 mana answers rather than more velocity now that we have fatal push and the value of spell snare going up again with less one drop aggro being in the format. I feel both a high number of 1 mana non discard answers or serum visions are both viable ways to go moving forward.
Edit: It also seems like Wafo Tapa felt that 6 spot removal spells were the sweet spot when he switched over to jeskai running 2 bolt and 4 path. In it is yet known if he feels that push is strong enough to have more than six spot removal spells in esper but right now it is proabably my guess to have 3/3 or 4/2 split of path and fatal push.
At the time, I 100% agree that the reason to play serum visions (and 4 verdicts) was to have that 75% turn 4 verdict.
As far as blessed alliance being worth the 4 mana to gain 4 and edict a creature, remember that it's also an EDICT EFFECT. It's really good against infect and any remaining pump spell decks because they're rarely able to actually play around it effectively, and it doesn't lose to any of their commonly played tricks. Also, the ability to gain 4 and edict a creature is valuable against some of the medium-large size creature decks, where it's just extra value you can use to grind them down further or to pad your life total against burn spells. The straight up "gain 4" mode isn't terrible against burn either--it's basically a negate with upside at that point.
It's a tradeoff: flexibility, power, and speed. Blessed alliance is powerful and flexible, fatal push is powerful and fast. I prefer flexibility the fast majority of the time.
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I have played this deck for a while, and I really enjoy it. However I saw that the Esper Transcendent deck has been putting in some results.
Is Esper Draw-Go still the better Esper deck? I have this deck built I'm just wondering which one is more consistent and viable in this slower modern meta.
My personal opinion? Esper transcendent is a pile of hot garbage. Reason? It's a fair deck that depends on resolving multi-card synergies to do anything powerful--the only cards it plays that are individually powerful are the wrath effects and the mono-white planeswalkers.
Everything else about it is just being a worse jund or abzan deck--worse or equal removal options, worse or equal threats, etc. They're trying to tie together a bunch of planeswalkers in modern, basically the same way some of our proposed planeswalker-based esper control builds went a while back, but they're ignoring the cards that actually make planeswalkers *good* in modern--leyline of sanctity and jace, vryn's prodigy. Casting a walker on turn four in modern while tapping out is just asking to die in the majority of matches, and they don't have the card advantage to pull reliably ahead of BGx decks to FIND that window to cast a walker and have it stick unless they've already resolved a walker. At least the attempts with walkers in this thread have revolved around doing something uniquely better than the BGx decks (usually: recycling discard spells at a much higher rate to actually generate card advantage with JVP)
Further, the sideboard plans of that deck make no sense to me--they bring in cards like geist of saint traft and monastery mentor to try and race decks that they otherwise can't answer well, but those threats come down at awkward mana costs for the rest of their curve, and they aren't the kind of threats that also pull double duty well for defending planeswalkers.
I believe the esper transcendent deck is VERY good when it manages to stick a planeswalker on an open board. Like, almost unbeatably good--even our deck would have a hard time coming back from that against them. I just think they won't be able to actually pull it off in a large enough percentage of games for it to be better than the alternatives. The draw-go build doesn't get any free wins, but at least we have matchups that are extremely reliable and in our favor (jund, affinity, non-combo midrange creature decks). Esper transcendent appears to give up the easy wins in favor of having fewer "free" wins, and I don't think that's a reliable way to metagame for LARGE modern events (read: GP or Opens. Not classics or smaller events).
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Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I have played this deck for a while, and I really enjoy it. However I saw that the Esper Transcendent deck has been putting in some results.
Is Esper Draw-Go still the better Esper deck? I have this deck built I'm just wondering which one is more consistent and viable in this slower modern meta.
They're both viable in different ways and each have their advantages/disadvantages. For instance, we have many good MU's, such as Affinity, Infect, Zooicide, Jund, Junk, UWx Control variants, and Grixis, and can steal wins vs Combo G1 (i.e. Ad Naus, Valakut, etc.) because of our proactive/disruptive element + pressure and Narset - who can threaten to lock spell-based decks out post-disruption, or after they're in top deck mode (which this deck does well). Esper Charm, for instance, is very live in this deck and is utilized as the modal spell that it is, especially to blow out their hand and then establish board control (the deck's aggressive hand disruption element compliments Esper Charm, and Planeswalkers, very well).
As for the Walkers, hand knowledge through discard, which provides anticipation advantage, helps to improve the quality/impact of your spells, sequencing, timing, and decisions, such as when to resolve your Walker or turn the corner. This information is invaluable to a Control player, especially vs an open field with a lot of varience (I.e. GP). You'll never go into any match blindly and can use the information you gather to your advantage, to adapt and develop your gameplan.
If you've never played the deck before, I highly suggest you do before passing judgment. The SB design is very focused and compliments the deck's design and gameplan. The following is the SB design philosophy:
I'm the designer of ET, btw. We have a strong community with a lot of support, testing, and players providing event/tourny reports and feedback. As you may have already seen, the deck just accomplished its first 5-0 in a competitive league on MTGO and there's been several other top IQ/GPT finishes. I'd say it comes down to play style, too. Esper Draw Go is the best reactive Esper Control deck, while Esper Transcendent is quickly proving to be the best proactive. Like Draw Go, we're also a very good deck for and against removal, such as Fatal Push. I believe there's room for both in the meta/format. There's a few articles out there for ET, such as the one by Ali Aintrazi on Gathering Magic, including streams on Twitch.
I also wrote a document regarding the deck, which also includes feedback from players who are playing it:
My community has a lot more info/documents breaking down the deck, but I don't want to include that here since this is dedicated to Draw Go. My deck, and its updates, can be found on Tappedout if you're interested.
Everything else about it is just being a worse jund or abzan deck--worse or equal removal options, worse or equal threats, etc.
Casting a walker on turn four in modern while tapping out is just asking to die in the majority of matches
I really hope this is an opinion based on experience playing Esper Transcendent. After 10 discard (3 Inq, 2, Thoughtseize, 2 Brutality, 3 Esper Charm), 6 removal (3 Path, 3 Push) and 4 roadblocks (Lingerings souls), it is very easy to stick and maintain the turn four walker. I played draw-go and then a hybrid, but ET is definitely one of the most consistent one I've played.
The deck crushes aggro, creature combo, midrange and control. It has some weaknesses to Valakut, Tron and Burn, but so does draw-go. I've been trying ET and it is surprisingly resilient. All I ask is for you to run it and see. If you have, then that makes sense.
Everything else about it is just being a worse jund or abzan deck--worse or equal removal options, worse or equal threats, etc.
Casting a walker on turn four in modern while tapping out is just asking to die in the majority of matches
I really hope this is an opinion based on experience playing Esper Transcendent. After 10 discard (3 Inq, 2, Thoughtseize, 2 Brutality, 3 Esper Charm), 6 removal (3 Path, 3 Push) and 4 roadblocks (Lingerings souls), it is very easy to stick and maintain the turn four walker. I played draw-go and then a hybrid, but ET is definitely one of the most consistent one I've played.
The deck crushes aggro, creature combo, midrange and control. It has some weaknesses to Valakut, Tron and Burn, but so does draw-go. I've been trying ET and it is surprisingly resilient. All I ask is for you to run it and see. If you have, then that makes sense.
Indeed. Not to mention, all that disruption + 3 Snap and Rebound. Even 3 Souls (and Charm) has proven to be just fine (with 6 Walkers) as we typically play 4 Serum Visions to filter through our cards. Burn and Valakut has improved, especially with the additions of main deck Countersquall, 2 CB over the 1:1 split with BA (though BA can still be there as a flex option and is also in our SB), and MD/SB Clique + Runed Halo (vs Valakut). The deck also has a solid plan vs GW/RG Tron as I discuss here (that's also utilized vs other Combo/Control decks):
I've played the transcendent deck before. Gave it about a week and a half.
It's not terrible--it's certainly a very strong brew.
None of your statements about its advantages are necessarily wrong, either.
However, it's like a lot of what Jordan Bosievert (ashtonkutcher on the forums here) talks about in his articles--it's not enough to just be a "reasonable" deck--in order for a brew to make sense, it has to actually have a selling point. "slightly better matchups X and Y than esper draw go" is not a selling point. It's a comparative statement. Comparative statements are irrelevant--we're looking for superlative statements.
And that's the core of my issue with esper transcendent--there's nothing you can say it's the "best" at.
Esper draw-go is the best deck at fighting on a pure card advantage axis in modern. That extends to just raw resources in general--it is the best deck in the format at leveraging a mana advantage over a long game.
Tron decks, in their various incarnations, are decks that are the BEST at consistently deploying above-the-curve noninteractive threats (karn/ugin/etc).
Bant Eldrazi is the best at consistently deploying above-the-curve interactive threats (TKS/Smasher/etc).
Burn is the best at presenting a fast and consistent clock.
Valakut decks sit in the same space as tron, but instead of pushing down singularly overwhelming threats, they translate that early game ramp focus into a direct kill (valakut triggers).
What is Esper transcendent? Best lingering souls deck? Nope, that's BW tokens. Best deck with discard and countermagic? That's grixis. Best deck for sideboarding in the format? I'd say that honor still belongs to Junk, but it's certainly not advantaged over the draw-go builds at this. Best snapcaster mage deck? Nope, that's UWR control shells or grixis control shells, but definitely not a deck without lightning bolt. Best removal deck in the format? Nope, that's still pretty firmly held by Jund. Best attrition deck in the format? Nope, that's why abzan midrange exists. Most consistent deck in the format? Nope, that's burn. Most abstractly powerful thing in the format? Nope, that's grishoalbrand combo or possibly the amulet bloom deck. Best toolbox strategy? Nope, that's the company decks. Best value deck? Nope, that's the chord-based decks.
The only axis in which you can really argue that Esper Transcendent *might* be the best is as the best planeswalker deck in the format. This begs three questions:
1. Is it really? My opinion is no, but it's an opinion, and there really isn't a lot of data either way.
2. Is it relevant? For a long time, RG valakut didn't see much play compared to the RUG scapeshift builds, but as the format grew more linear, the RG builds became more relevant. Is this doing anything that other planeswalker-based decks aren't doing, or is it doing some things better than those other planeswalker decks to MAKE itself relevant? The answer here is maybe. It certainly has access to discard and lingering souls to try and clear the way to stick a planeswalker, which is something the tron builds don't do, and it has more interaction than the green nykthos-style decks do, but it's up in the air as to whether those things are actually relevant to the space planeswalker decks occupy in the format as a whole.
3. Is being a planeswalker deck in modern something that's worth doing? This is the real catch as far as I'm concerned. Planeswalkers are fundamentally a tool for generating on-board value and advantage in attrition-based decks. No planeswalker that can't impact the battlefield has ever seen significant adoption in nonrotating formats, and even the decks that don't fundamentally seek to control the battlefield have by and large only been able to play these planeswalkers BECAUSE they impact the battlefield. In modern, there's a strange balance on the battlefield--EVERY deck has to respect the battlefield, unlike in legacy and vintage where that isn't the case. At the same time, although the format revolves around the battlefield, there's enough "other" things going on (unblockable creatures in pump spell decks, temur battle rage powered trample alpha-strikes, ad nauseam kills on the stack to name a few) that decks can't afford to play games based on incremental battlefield advantages. We rarely see cards like huntmaster of the fells anymore; it's all about efficiency on rate alone and immediate impact. The games are too short to invest three or four turns into something like walking ballista or sun titan that can absolutely take over a battlefield on their own. In that kind of environment, where creatures that have some kind of immediate impact and also take over a battlefield on their own aren't even seeing play, what makes us think that a walker which does far less and takes far longer to actually generate control of the battlefield will see any play?
The draw-go builds don't really play planeswalkers--we mostly play elspeth, sun's champion as a singleton in the board for dealing with the BGx decks where it provides a big immediate impact and has a strong recurring value on the battlefield--in essence, because it's the biggest stick you can currently wield in modern when looking at the category of "self contained ways to completely own the battlefield". Sometimes you see a gideon in the sideboard for certain linear matches where he's actually very strong and serves as a backup for elspeth or even just an alternative. And the reason for this is that planeswalkers just aren't strong enough in the modern format as a win condition on their own, except against a very narrow subset of the metagame. They aren't a fast enough kill, they don't take an overwhelming amount of resources to stop, they aren't infinitely recurring, and they take too much of an initial investment of tempo, mana, and cards for what they typically do.
Also, for the record: elspeth, sun's champion provides a +1 that is roughly equivalent to a 4 mana sorcery in value. In essence, it's giving you at least three mana and a card every single turn, funneled straight to the battlefield. That alone is a better rate than every other planeswalker that's seen play in modern outside of tron decks. It only sees sparse play in the format because the cost (6 mana) is prohibitive, but it certainly is the BEST planeswalker in the 6 and down range at actually doing planeswalker things. And it's barely good enough.
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
What is Esper transcendent? Best lingering souls deck? Nope, that's BW tokens. Best deck with discard and countermagic? That's grixis. Best deck for sideboarding in the format? I'd say that honor still belongs to Junk, but it's certainly not advantaged over the draw-go builds at this. Best snapcaster mage deck? Nope, that's UWR control shells or grixis control shells, but definitely not a deck without lightning bolt. Best removal deck in the format? Nope, that's still pretty firmly held by Jund. Best attrition deck in the format? Nope, that's why abzan midrange exists. Most consistent deck in the format? Nope, that's burn. Most abstractly powerful thing in the format? Nope, that's grishoalbrand combo or possibly the amulet bloom deck. Best toolbox strategy? Nope, that's the company decks. Best value deck? Nope, that's the chord-based decks.
I don't agree with a lot of this. Best countermagic can be Grixis or it can be Utron. Junk is equal to sideboarding as ET and I don't know why Lightning bolt is required for Snapcaster to have in order for a deck to be the best snappy deck. This is especially true with the printing of Fatal Push. Lightning bolt snap is a different axis to beat the enemy, but in Esper colors, beating the enemy on tempo is not what we want, but containing the battlefield (which fatal is better at and with Snappy, insane). A lot of people say that lightning bolt is good because it as least goes to the face, but Esper Colors are trying to control the battlefield and then deploying threats, not like tempoing with bolt.
I would venture a guess (since it is still new) that ET would be a contender for the best midrange deck. But, that is to be seen and I am willing to explore it for now.
But, alas, I will be more than happy to agree to disagree. I just know when I see that a deck is doing well to not dismiss it. Been playing too long for that. Ample examples of that can be found in modern like Lantern, WR Prison and Bant Eldrazi (which was deemed dead after the ban of Eye). People dismiss it and it carves out a cake of Modern.
I saw a comment (not sure if it was here, or on reddit, or an article comment, or something) that basically said something along the lines of esper transcendant being s deck that almost feels tier two, which when it was first created, was reasonable given that no/few other esper decks could say that.
The issue is that a deck thats "almost tier two" thats not doing anything better than existing decks doesn't really have much of a place in the meta.
The biggest thing for me, is that at its heart, its a liliana deck.
It plays discard/cheap interaction, and some decent threats along with some card advantage, to try to win attrition wars and put the opponent in top-deck mode, except, you don't play liliana.
I've mentioned before that its possible I'm too critical of the deck, but every time I've played it, its just felt so underwhelming.
Too many of your cards are only good at certain times, if that.
Discard sucks when its not drawn early/when your opponent has emptied their hand.
Thats a known problem, and its possible to work around. It means you have fodder for liliana, or you've used it to set the game up in such a way that lili takes over despite the dead cards. Or you just end the game with tarmogoyf. Or bob gives you twice as many chances to not brick your draws.
Except you aren't playing any of those cards.
This, coupled with the fact that you've built around a card that is honestly not very good, is simply not helping your chances.
Narset, best case, wants to flashback spells that are proactive, and do things you want to do multiple times, and things you'd be happy with doing on your own turn. The issue is that, 1) narset is blue/white, which is not the best color combo for this, and 2) does very little else for you if she's not getting enough value off her rebound, because she forces deck construction changes that are questionably worth the payoff.
Its a shame she doesn't fit into grixis or sultai, because both of those colors might be able to do more with her than esper (esper charm being the only commonly played card that is worth flashing back), but she isn't worth splashing for.
If double casting timely reinforcements was something that was actually reasonable, or if her ability read "Until your next turn, whenever you cast an instant or sorcery from your hand...", or if she could rebound ancestral visions, etc, she might be worth playing, but as it is, the only time she hasn't felt like a waste of deck space to me (other than the jankiest baby jace + narset plow under brew you've ever seen in your life) is in jeskai with helix/electrolyze/ojutai's command, where she only felt like a waste of a 4+ mana sorcery speed threat, as ajani vengeant always blew her out of the water.
I could go on here, but I honestly feel that anyone who enjoys esper transcendant would be happy (and win a lot more) playing junk.
I'm not totally sure on which direction I'd take the deck (transcendent) but I think either adding more pressure (ashiok/elspeth/gideon/other walkers that can deal combat damage, liliana, delve threats, the 4th lingering souls atleast) and or adding more card advantage are both reasonable things to do.
Being able to draw enough cards to hold counterspells up (especially g2/g3) while still using liliana is decent, I think, because counters force them to stockpile answers until they can unload, where liliana + discard forces them to slam things as they draw them, but in practice, there isn't enough room and the decks never work out (in any ub/x).
Though I do wonder if something like this would be at all playable.
I do think that sorin, lord of innistrad is the best planeswalker for this deck, with the possible exception of ashiok/ally gideon, because he does everything you need, ie: spitting out tokens, clocking fairly quickly if left unchecked (especially with a lingering souls), and threatening a reasonably useful and obtainable ult that is still capable of swinging games. 1 more starting loyalty and this thing would be a monster, but as it is, very underlooked.
What is Esper transcendent? Best lingering souls deck? Nope, that's BW tokens. Best deck with discard and countermagic? That's grixis. Best deck for sideboarding in the format? I'd say that honor still belongs to Junk, but it's certainly not advantaged over the draw-go builds at this. Best snapcaster mage deck? Nope, that's UWR control shells or grixis control shells, but definitely not a deck without lightning bolt. Best removal deck in the format? Nope, that's still pretty firmly held by Jund. Best attrition deck in the format? Nope, that's why abzan midrange exists. Most consistent deck in the format? Nope, that's burn. Most abstractly powerful thing in the format? Nope, that's grishoalbrand combo or possibly the amulet bloom deck. Best toolbox strategy? Nope, that's the company decks. Best value deck? Nope, that's the chord-based decks.
I don't agree with a lot of this. Best countermagic can be Grixis or it can be Utron. Junk is equal to sideboarding as ET and I don't know why Lightning bolt is required for Snapcaster to have in order for a deck to be the best snappy deck. This is especially true with the printing of Fatal Push. Lightning bolt snap is a different axis to beat the enemy, but in Esper colors, beating the enemy on tempo is not what we want, but containing the battlefield (which fatal is better at and with Snappy, insane). A lot of people say that lightning bolt is good because it as least goes to the face, but Esper Colors are trying to control the battlefield and then deploying threats, not like tempoing with bolt.
I would venture a guess (since it is still new) that ET would be a contender for the best midrange deck. But, that is to be seen and I am willing to explore it for now.
But, alas, I will be more than happy to agree to disagree. I just know when I see that a deck is doing well to not dismiss it. Been playing too long for that. Ample examples of that can be found in modern like Lantern, WR Prison and Bant Eldrazi (which was deemed dead after the ban of Eye). People dismiss it and it carves out a cake of Modern.
Best countermagic is a different format, but whatever it is, it isn't transcendent.
I would argue that mardu and junk are both better sideboard decks than esper, especially transcendent.
I don't know what you specifically have in your board, but most of the trascendant lists I've seen have a bit of a pile for boards. Abzan (and to a lesser extent, mardu) have powerful sideboarding because they can configure their deck to have a very streamlined (but varying) plan against so many decks while also playing some of the best sideboard cards in the format, on top of being a deck that is already 45~50% against most of the field.
As for best snappy deck, the only thing esper gives snapcaster mage that other colors don't have access to is esper charm, which grixis' kommands/electrolyzes make a fine impression of. The reason u/r/x is the better snappy deck is because they can do literally everything esper can while also turning snapcaster mage into a capable finisher without sacrificing too much. Having different axes to win on is not something to overlook, especially if you can do so with little cost. The reason most of us don't run geists in our esper boards to have a different plan against decks like tron isn't because having a different plan is bad, but because the cost is high. You're playing narrow cards, and the cost to tapping out t3 for geist in game is also non-negligible.
As for esper being the best midrange deck, fatal push will change things, but I doubt it. The classic midrange formula in modern works because jund/junk have all of the pieces. Until we get a w/b tarmogoyf, I don't think esper will outshine b/g/x.
What is Esper transcendent? Best lingering souls deck? Nope, that's BW tokens. Best deck with discard and countermagic? That's grixis. Best deck for sideboarding in the format? I'd say that honor still belongs to Junk, but it's certainly not advantaged over the draw-go builds at this. Best snapcaster mage deck? Nope, that's UWR control shells or grixis control shells, but definitely not a deck without lightning bolt. Best removal deck in the format? Nope, that's still pretty firmly held by Jund. Best attrition deck in the format? Nope, that's why abzan midrange exists. Most consistent deck in the format? Nope, that's burn. Most abstractly powerful thing in the format? Nope, that's grishoalbrand combo or possibly the amulet bloom deck. Best toolbox strategy? Nope, that's the company decks. Best value deck? Nope, that's the chord-based decks.
I don't agree with a lot of this. Best countermagic can be Grixis or it can be Utron. Junk is equal to sideboarding as ET and I don't know why Lightning bolt is required for Snapcaster to have in order for a deck to be the best snappy deck. This is especially true with the printing of Fatal Push. Lightning bolt snap is a different axis to beat the enemy, but in Esper colors, beating the enemy on tempo is not what we want, but containing the battlefield (which fatal is better at and with Snappy, insane). A lot of people say that lightning bolt is good because it as least goes to the face, but Esper Colors are trying to control the battlefield and then deploying threats, not like tempoing with bolt.
I would venture a guess (since it is still new) that ET would be a contender for the best midrange deck. But, that is to be seen and I am willing to explore it for now.
But, alas, I will be more than happy to agree to disagree. I just know when I see that a deck is doing well to not dismiss it. Been playing too long for that. Ample examples of that can be found in modern like Lantern, WR Prison and Bant Eldrazi (which was deemed dead after the ban of Eye). People dismiss it and it carves out a cake of Modern.
Best countermagic is a different format, but whatever it is, it isn't transcendent.
I would argue that mardu and junk are both better sideboard decks than esper, especially transcendent.
I don't know what you specifically have in your board, but most of the trascendant lists I've seen have a bit of a pile for boards. Abzan (and to a lesser extent, mardu) have powerful sideboarding because they can configure their deck to have a very streamlined (but varying) plan against so many decks while also playing some of the best sideboard cards in the format, on top of being a deck that is already 45~50% against most of the field.
As for best snappy deck, the only thing esper gives snapcaster mage that other colors don't have access to is esper charm, which grixis' kommands/electrolyzes make a fine impression of. The reason u/r/x is the better snappy deck is because they can do literally everything esper can while also turning snapcaster mage into a capable finisher without sacrificing too much. Having different axes to win on is not something to overlook, especially if you can do so with little cost. The reason most of us don't run geists in our esper boards to have a different plan against decks like tron isn't because having a different plan is bad, but because the cost is high. You're playing narrow cards, and the cost to tapping out t3 for geist in game is also non-negligible.
As for esper being the best midrange deck, fatal push will change things, but I doubt it. The classic midrange formula in modern works because jund/junk have all of the pieces. Until we get a w/b tarmogoyf, I don't think esper will outshine b/g/x.
Contrary to your assessment of ET's SB, it's actually one of the deck's best strengths. It is designed to suit the deck's design and gameplan. It's to be seen as part of the main, like a full 75, rather than a 60 + 15. It also focuses on cross-performing/multi-functional cards that have a max relevance vs the most amount of decks. This isn't youe typical "RiP, Stony Silence, Negate, Timely" SB.
Lastly, the deck's advantages over BGx (which we crush, btw, with at least a 70% win ratio) is that it's resilient to removals, such as Fatal Push, can grind longer and better than BGx vs Control variants, is better vs creature decks, and can generate a lot more card advantage for a Midrange deck. We can also generate as much, if not more power, than BGx, but they do it incrementally through their creatures, while we do it on lump sums post-stabilization and via Geist post-board. We're essentially like a Blue Abzan, but leaning more towards the Control end of the spectrum.
I'd argue that, given more representation, ET would be the best 'fair' Midrange Proactive Control deck in the format. Performance/results will speak for themselves as they have for others like Lantern and Skred.
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One thing I do agree with you about is the possibility of Ashiok as a 2 of (1 was tested and was underwhelming, especially as a top deck). I think it suits the deck quite well and can be played main alongside Narset (fantastic loyalty count and presence vs Midrange/Control and even some Combo), Jace, AoT, Elspeth, and Gideon, Ally (Jura is viable, too). Lilly was not what this deck wanted to be doing as we actually value cards in our hand and it was a bit straining on the mana, especially going into WW. Not worth it. Decent out of the side, though, as a 2 of - similar to Ashiok. However, Snap, Souls, and Charm are already played at the 3 spot, so this angle can't really afford more cards beyond maybe 2 Ashiok if we're on, say, 3 Charms and 3-4 Souls.
Sorin, LoI was tested, too, and was pretty flat overall, particularly as a top deck.
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I had to go read about it. But how can someone call themselves the creator of what appears to be the same generic Esper Superfriends (Blue Jund) deck that we've been seeing since Modern started? Am I missing some sort of quirky interaction, here? Every now and then someone puts up good results with this type deck; I'm sure it's strong enough. But like Amalek said, these decks just seem worse than the GBx decks. I'm assuming you beat Junk while being worse against the field than Junk, the same way the Junk beats Jund, while being worse against the field than Jund?
I definitely haven't seen many Esper Midrange lists with no counterspells maindeck, before. Assuming you don't get lucky and cheese your opponent out of the game with 3x Thoughtseize or something along those lines, doesn't every spell-based combo deck have a bare-minimum 60/40 matchup against you? GBx decks run low to the ground curves to exploit the windows that Thoughtseize opens, but this deck can't follow up on the turn 1 Thoughtseize till turn 4? Even Tier 3 combo decks can combo that quick through a Thoughtseize.
You don't get Abrupt Decay or Pulse to blow up combo pieces. You can Esper Charm to do a Liliana impression, but the only pressure seems to be extremely slow clocks from expensive planeswalkers/lingering Souls that take till turn 8+ to finish off an opponent. I used to play UR Storm and I'd much prefer going against something like this than Jund. I think it would actually be an auto-win matchup, despite all the kill spells for Electromancer. I imagine the Supreme Verdicts (really don't get why you want them...wouldn't 3x Bitterblossom boost your win rate more?) give you a less negative matchup against Eldrazi, but I'm not really seeing the benefits of running this deck unless you jut like the Shaheen Soorani super-friends style of gameplay.
At any rate, why are people comparing this to Esper Draw-Go? If you're deciding between the two, you probably should just go with the superfriends deck and call it a day. It's kind of like comparing UR Storm and Boggles and asking which combo deck is better...
EDIT: Wow, left my computer for an hour and got beaten to the punch.
One thing I do agree with you about is the possibility of Ashiok as a 2 of (1 was tested and was underwhelming, especially as a top deck). I think it suits the deck quite well and can be played main alongside Narset (fantastic loyalty count and presence vs Midrange/Control and even some Combo), Jace, AoT, Elspeth, and Gideon, Ally (Jura is viable, too). Lilly was not what this deck wanted to be doing as we actually value cards in our hand and it was a bit straining on the mana, especially going into WW. Not worth it. Decent out of the side, though, as a 2 of - similar to Ashiok. However, Snap, Souls, and Charm are already played at the 3 spot, so this angle can't really afford more cards beyond maybe 2 Ashiok if we're on, say, 3 Charms and 3-4 Souls.
Sorin, LoI was tested, too, and was pretty flat overall, particularly as a top deck.
If expensive planeswalkers in your hand make Liliana bad, I'd be inclined to cut the expensive planeswalkers, not Liliana
I gotta agree with others in that I've always felt Narset was the worst blue planeswalker printed in years (aside from that version of Jace that can't even draw a card). I never got why people liked her. Draw 0.5 cards on the plus, and a Rebound on the minus that is only as good as the card you follow Narset with. Kinda inherently win-more. There's also no Dig Through Time to rebound in this format...
One thing I do agree with you about is the possibility of Ashiok as a 2 of (1 was tested and was underwhelming, especially as a top deck). I think it suits the deck quite well and can be played main alongside Narset (fantastic loyalty count and presence vs Midrange/Control and even some Combo), Jace, AoT, Elspeth, and Gideon, Ally (Jura is viable, too). Lilly was not what this deck wanted to be doing as we actually value cards in our hand and it was a bit straining on the mana, especially going into WW. Not worth it. Decent out of the side, though, as a 2 of - similar to Ashiok. However, Snap, Souls, and Charm are already played at the 3 spot, so this angle can't really afford more cards beyond maybe 2 Ashiok if we're on, say, 3 Charms and 3-4 Souls.
Sorin, LoI was tested, too, and was pretty flat overall, particularly as a top deck.
If expensive planeswalkers in your hand make Liliana bad, I'd be inclined to cut the expensive planeswalkers, not Liliana
I gotta agree with others in that I've always felt Narset was the worst blue planeswalker printed in years (aside from that version of Jace that can't even draw a card). I never got why people liked her. Draw 0.5 cards on the plus, and a Rebound on the minus that is only as good as the card you follow Narset with. Kinda inherently win-more. There's also no Dig Through Time to rebound in this format...
Nice sarcasm, but no. Lol It's been thoroughly tested and cost was definitely not the issue running it in ET.
Easy to dismiss Narset. I get it. It has a stigma. This deck is over it.
Your last sentence is why Wafo liked serum visions. He commented on the article in the last gp he played esper in about serum visions saying it helped with some curve issues. He also cut down to 3 think twice because he felt that r think twice was causing mana efficiency issues. It might be possible to just run more 1 mana answers rather than more velocity now that we have fatal push and the value of spell snare going up again with less one drop aggro being in the format. I feel both a high number of 1 mana non discard answers or serum visions are both viable ways to go moving forward.
Edit: It also seems like Wafo Tapa felt that 6 spot removal spells were the sweet spot when he switched over to jeskai running 2 bolt and 4 path. In it is yet known if he feels that push is strong enough to have more than six spot removal spells in esper but right now it is proabably my guess to have 3/3 or 4/2 split of path and fatal push.
As far as blessed alliance being worth the 4 mana to gain 4 and edict a creature, remember that it's also an EDICT EFFECT. It's really good against infect and any remaining pump spell decks because they're rarely able to actually play around it effectively, and it doesn't lose to any of their commonly played tricks. Also, the ability to gain 4 and edict a creature is valuable against some of the medium-large size creature decks, where it's just extra value you can use to grind them down further or to pad your life total against burn spells. The straight up "gain 4" mode isn't terrible against burn either--it's basically a negate with upside at that point.
It's a tradeoff: flexibility, power, and speed. Blessed alliance is powerful and flexible, fatal push is powerful and fast. I prefer flexibility the fast majority of the time.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Is Esper Draw-Go still the better Esper deck? I have this deck built I'm just wondering which one is more consistent and viable in this slower modern meta.
Everything else about it is just being a worse jund or abzan deck--worse or equal removal options, worse or equal threats, etc. They're trying to tie together a bunch of planeswalkers in modern, basically the same way some of our proposed planeswalker-based esper control builds went a while back, but they're ignoring the cards that actually make planeswalkers *good* in modern--leyline of sanctity and jace, vryn's prodigy. Casting a walker on turn four in modern while tapping out is just asking to die in the majority of matches, and they don't have the card advantage to pull reliably ahead of BGx decks to FIND that window to cast a walker and have it stick unless they've already resolved a walker. At least the attempts with walkers in this thread have revolved around doing something uniquely better than the BGx decks (usually: recycling discard spells at a much higher rate to actually generate card advantage with JVP)
Further, the sideboard plans of that deck make no sense to me--they bring in cards like geist of saint traft and monastery mentor to try and race decks that they otherwise can't answer well, but those threats come down at awkward mana costs for the rest of their curve, and they aren't the kind of threats that also pull double duty well for defending planeswalkers.
I believe the esper transcendent deck is VERY good when it manages to stick a planeswalker on an open board. Like, almost unbeatably good--even our deck would have a hard time coming back from that against them. I just think they won't be able to actually pull it off in a large enough percentage of games for it to be better than the alternatives. The draw-go build doesn't get any free wins, but at least we have matchups that are extremely reliable and in our favor (jund, affinity, non-combo midrange creature decks). Esper transcendent appears to give up the easy wins in favor of having fewer "free" wins, and I don't think that's a reliable way to metagame for LARGE modern events (read: GP or Opens. Not classics or smaller events).
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
They're both viable in different ways and each have their advantages/disadvantages. For instance, we have many good MU's, such as Affinity, Infect, Zooicide, Jund, Junk, UWx Control variants, and Grixis, and can steal wins vs Combo G1 (i.e. Ad Naus, Valakut, etc.) because of our proactive/disruptive element + pressure and Narset - who can threaten to lock spell-based decks out post-disruption, or after they're in top deck mode (which this deck does well). Esper Charm, for instance, is very live in this deck and is utilized as the modal spell that it is, especially to blow out their hand and then establish board control (the deck's aggressive hand disruption element compliments Esper Charm, and Planeswalkers, very well).
As for the Walkers, hand knowledge through discard, which provides anticipation advantage, helps to improve the quality/impact of your spells, sequencing, timing, and decisions, such as when to resolve your Walker or turn the corner. This information is invaluable to a Control player, especially vs an open field with a lot of varience (I.e. GP). You'll never go into any match blindly and can use the information you gather to your advantage, to adapt and develop your gameplan.
If you've never played the deck before, I highly suggest you do before passing judgment. The SB design is very focused and compliments the deck's design and gameplan. The following is the SB design philosophy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14i5FqU6gJ2NNYLitrzwDBHj5ST7KDENsyxQ7ryYKZtE
I'm the designer of ET, btw. We have a strong community with a lot of support, testing, and players providing event/tourny reports and feedback. As you may have already seen, the deck just accomplished its first 5-0 in a competitive league on MTGO and there's been several other top IQ/GPT finishes. I'd say it comes down to play style, too. Esper Draw Go is the best reactive Esper Control deck, while Esper Transcendent is quickly proving to be the best proactive. Like Draw Go, we're also a very good deck for and against removal, such as Fatal Push. I believe there's room for both in the meta/format. There's a few articles out there for ET, such as the one by Ali Aintrazi on Gathering Magic, including streams on Twitch.
I also wrote a document regarding the deck, which also includes feedback from players who are playing it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17gEsYUetMCyDZjWe37zCndlMmMuI4fw-DfWBduLUMSs
My community has a lot more info/documents breaking down the deck, but I don't want to include that here since this is dedicated to Draw Go. My deck, and its updates, can be found on Tappedout if you're interested.
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I really hope this is an opinion based on experience playing Esper Transcendent. After 10 discard (3 Inq, 2, Thoughtseize, 2 Brutality, 3 Esper Charm), 6 removal (3 Path, 3 Push) and 4 roadblocks (Lingerings souls), it is very easy to stick and maintain the turn four walker. I played draw-go and then a hybrid, but ET is definitely one of the most consistent one I've played.
The deck crushes aggro, creature combo, midrange and control. It has some weaknesses to Valakut, Tron and Burn, but so does draw-go. I've been trying ET and it is surprisingly resilient. All I ask is for you to run it and see. If you have, then that makes sense.
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Indeed. Not to mention, all that disruption + 3 Snap and Rebound. Even 3 Souls (and Charm) has proven to be just fine (with 6 Walkers) as we typically play 4 Serum Visions to filter through our cards. Burn and Valakut has improved, especially with the additions of main deck Countersquall, 2 CB over the 1:1 split with BA (though BA can still be there as a flex option and is also in our SB), and MD/SB Clique + Runed Halo (vs Valakut). The deck also has a solid plan vs GW/RG Tron as I discuss here (that's also utilized vs other Combo/Control decks):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16k79D4qR7K0LMFE8KupmwEAGEoWQ4vL3F3FuOyDzPaI
That makes the MU more manageable post-board (around 40-45% or better).
Eldrazi Tron and U Tron are the deck's most difficult MU's.
Overall, ET is definitely a consistent and strong 50/50+ deck.
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It's not terrible--it's certainly a very strong brew.
None of your statements about its advantages are necessarily wrong, either.
However, it's like a lot of what Jordan Bosievert (ashtonkutcher on the forums here) talks about in his articles--it's not enough to just be a "reasonable" deck--in order for a brew to make sense, it has to actually have a selling point. "slightly better matchups X and Y than esper draw go" is not a selling point. It's a comparative statement. Comparative statements are irrelevant--we're looking for superlative statements.
And that's the core of my issue with esper transcendent--there's nothing you can say it's the "best" at.
Esper draw-go is the best deck at fighting on a pure card advantage axis in modern. That extends to just raw resources in general--it is the best deck in the format at leveraging a mana advantage over a long game.
Tron decks, in their various incarnations, are decks that are the BEST at consistently deploying above-the-curve noninteractive threats (karn/ugin/etc).
Bant Eldrazi is the best at consistently deploying above-the-curve interactive threats (TKS/Smasher/etc).
Burn is the best at presenting a fast and consistent clock.
Valakut decks sit in the same space as tron, but instead of pushing down singularly overwhelming threats, they translate that early game ramp focus into a direct kill (valakut triggers).
What is Esper transcendent? Best lingering souls deck? Nope, that's BW tokens. Best deck with discard and countermagic? That's grixis. Best deck for sideboarding in the format? I'd say that honor still belongs to Junk, but it's certainly not advantaged over the draw-go builds at this. Best snapcaster mage deck? Nope, that's UWR control shells or grixis control shells, but definitely not a deck without lightning bolt. Best removal deck in the format? Nope, that's still pretty firmly held by Jund. Best attrition deck in the format? Nope, that's why abzan midrange exists. Most consistent deck in the format? Nope, that's burn. Most abstractly powerful thing in the format? Nope, that's grishoalbrand combo or possibly the amulet bloom deck. Best toolbox strategy? Nope, that's the company decks. Best value deck? Nope, that's the chord-based decks.
The only axis in which you can really argue that Esper Transcendent *might* be the best is as the best planeswalker deck in the format. This begs three questions:
1. Is it really? My opinion is no, but it's an opinion, and there really isn't a lot of data either way.
2. Is it relevant? For a long time, RG valakut didn't see much play compared to the RUG scapeshift builds, but as the format grew more linear, the RG builds became more relevant. Is this doing anything that other planeswalker-based decks aren't doing, or is it doing some things better than those other planeswalker decks to MAKE itself relevant? The answer here is maybe. It certainly has access to discard and lingering souls to try and clear the way to stick a planeswalker, which is something the tron builds don't do, and it has more interaction than the green nykthos-style decks do, but it's up in the air as to whether those things are actually relevant to the space planeswalker decks occupy in the format as a whole.
3. Is being a planeswalker deck in modern something that's worth doing? This is the real catch as far as I'm concerned. Planeswalkers are fundamentally a tool for generating on-board value and advantage in attrition-based decks. No planeswalker that can't impact the battlefield has ever seen significant adoption in nonrotating formats, and even the decks that don't fundamentally seek to control the battlefield have by and large only been able to play these planeswalkers BECAUSE they impact the battlefield. In modern, there's a strange balance on the battlefield--EVERY deck has to respect the battlefield, unlike in legacy and vintage where that isn't the case. At the same time, although the format revolves around the battlefield, there's enough "other" things going on (unblockable creatures in pump spell decks, temur battle rage powered trample alpha-strikes, ad nauseam kills on the stack to name a few) that decks can't afford to play games based on incremental battlefield advantages. We rarely see cards like huntmaster of the fells anymore; it's all about efficiency on rate alone and immediate impact. The games are too short to invest three or four turns into something like walking ballista or sun titan that can absolutely take over a battlefield on their own. In that kind of environment, where creatures that have some kind of immediate impact and also take over a battlefield on their own aren't even seeing play, what makes us think that a walker which does far less and takes far longer to actually generate control of the battlefield will see any play?
The draw-go builds don't really play planeswalkers--we mostly play elspeth, sun's champion as a singleton in the board for dealing with the BGx decks where it provides a big immediate impact and has a strong recurring value on the battlefield--in essence, because it's the biggest stick you can currently wield in modern when looking at the category of "self contained ways to completely own the battlefield". Sometimes you see a gideon in the sideboard for certain linear matches where he's actually very strong and serves as a backup for elspeth or even just an alternative. And the reason for this is that planeswalkers just aren't strong enough in the modern format as a win condition on their own, except against a very narrow subset of the metagame. They aren't a fast enough kill, they don't take an overwhelming amount of resources to stop, they aren't infinitely recurring, and they take too much of an initial investment of tempo, mana, and cards for what they typically do.
Also, for the record: elspeth, sun's champion provides a +1 that is roughly equivalent to a 4 mana sorcery in value. In essence, it's giving you at least three mana and a card every single turn, funneled straight to the battlefield. That alone is a better rate than every other planeswalker that's seen play in modern outside of tron decks. It only sees sparse play in the format because the cost (6 mana) is prohibitive, but it certainly is the BEST planeswalker in the 6 and down range at actually doing planeswalker things. And it's barely good enough.
Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I don't agree with a lot of this. Best countermagic can be Grixis or it can be Utron. Junk is equal to sideboarding as ET and I don't know why Lightning bolt is required for Snapcaster to have in order for a deck to be the best snappy deck. This is especially true with the printing of Fatal Push. Lightning bolt snap is a different axis to beat the enemy, but in Esper colors, beating the enemy on tempo is not what we want, but containing the battlefield (which fatal is better at and with Snappy, insane). A lot of people say that lightning bolt is good because it as least goes to the face, but Esper Colors are trying to control the battlefield and then deploying threats, not like tempoing with bolt.
I would venture a guess (since it is still new) that ET would be a contender for the best midrange deck. But, that is to be seen and I am willing to explore it for now.
But, alas, I will be more than happy to agree to disagree. I just know when I see that a deck is doing well to not dismiss it. Been playing too long for that. Ample examples of that can be found in modern like Lantern, WR Prison and Bant Eldrazi (which was deemed dead after the ban of Eye). People dismiss it and it carves out a cake of Modern.
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The issue is that a deck thats "almost tier two" thats not doing anything better than existing decks doesn't really have much of a place in the meta.
The biggest thing for me, is that at its heart, its a liliana deck.
It plays discard/cheap interaction, and some decent threats along with some card advantage, to try to win attrition wars and put the opponent in top-deck mode, except, you don't play liliana.
I've mentioned before that its possible I'm too critical of the deck, but every time I've played it, its just felt so underwhelming.
Too many of your cards are only good at certain times, if that.
Discard sucks when its not drawn early/when your opponent has emptied their hand.
Thats a known problem, and its possible to work around. It means you have fodder for liliana, or you've used it to set the game up in such a way that lili takes over despite the dead cards. Or you just end the game with tarmogoyf. Or bob gives you twice as many chances to not brick your draws.
Except you aren't playing any of those cards.
This, coupled with the fact that you've built around a card that is honestly not very good, is simply not helping your chances.
Narset, best case, wants to flashback spells that are proactive, and do things you want to do multiple times, and things you'd be happy with doing on your own turn. The issue is that, 1) narset is blue/white, which is not the best color combo for this, and 2) does very little else for you if she's not getting enough value off her rebound, because she forces deck construction changes that are questionably worth the payoff.
Its a shame she doesn't fit into grixis or sultai, because both of those colors might be able to do more with her than esper (esper charm being the only commonly played card that is worth flashing back), but she isn't worth splashing for.
If double casting timely reinforcements was something that was actually reasonable, or if her ability read "Until your next turn, whenever you cast an instant or sorcery from your hand...", or if she could rebound ancestral visions, etc, she might be worth playing, but as it is, the only time she hasn't felt like a waste of deck space to me (other than the jankiest baby jace + narset plow under brew you've ever seen in your life) is in jeskai with helix/electrolyze/ojutai's command, where she only felt like a waste of a 4+ mana sorcery speed threat, as ajani vengeant always blew her out of the water.
I could go on here, but I honestly feel that anyone who enjoys esper transcendant would be happy (and win a lot more) playing junk.
I'm not totally sure on which direction I'd take the deck (transcendent) but I think either adding more pressure (ashiok/elspeth/gideon/other walkers that can deal combat damage, liliana, delve threats, the 4th lingering souls atleast) and or adding more card advantage are both reasonable things to do.
Being able to draw enough cards to hold counterspells up (especially g2/g3) while still using liliana is decent, I think, because counters force them to stockpile answers until they can unload, where liliana + discard forces them to slam things as they draw them, but in practice, there isn't enough room and the decks never work out (in any ub/x).
Though I do wonder if something like this would be at all playable.
3 snapcaster mage
1 ashiok, nightmare weaver (or gideon, or elspeth, or whatever)
2 narset transcendent
1 jace beleren
1 sorin, lord of innistrad
3 liliana of the veil
2 countersquall
4 path to exile
2 fatal push
2 esper charm
3 ancestral visions
4 lingering souls
2 collective brutality
3 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
I do think that sorin, lord of innistrad is the best planeswalker for this deck, with the possible exception of ashiok/ally gideon, because he does everything you need, ie: spitting out tokens, clocking fairly quickly if left unchecked (especially with a lingering souls), and threatening a reasonably useful and obtainable ult that is still capable of swinging games. 1 more starting loyalty and this thing would be a monster, but as it is, very underlooked.
Best countermagic is a different format, but whatever it is, it isn't transcendent.
I would argue that mardu and junk are both better sideboard decks than esper, especially transcendent.
I don't know what you specifically have in your board, but most of the trascendant lists I've seen have a bit of a pile for boards. Abzan (and to a lesser extent, mardu) have powerful sideboarding because they can configure their deck to have a very streamlined (but varying) plan against so many decks while also playing some of the best sideboard cards in the format, on top of being a deck that is already 45~50% against most of the field.
As for best snappy deck, the only thing esper gives snapcaster mage that other colors don't have access to is esper charm, which grixis' kommands/electrolyzes make a fine impression of. The reason u/r/x is the better snappy deck is because they can do literally everything esper can while also turning snapcaster mage into a capable finisher without sacrificing too much. Having different axes to win on is not something to overlook, especially if you can do so with little cost. The reason most of us don't run geists in our esper boards to have a different plan against decks like tron isn't because having a different plan is bad, but because the cost is high. You're playing narrow cards, and the cost to tapping out t3 for geist in game is also non-negligible.
As for esper being the best midrange deck, fatal push will change things, but I doubt it. The classic midrange formula in modern works because jund/junk have all of the pieces. Until we get a w/b tarmogoyf, I don't think esper will outshine b/g/x.
Contrary to your assessment of ET's SB, it's actually one of the deck's best strengths. It is designed to suit the deck's design and gameplan. It's to be seen as part of the main, like a full 75, rather than a 60 + 15. It also focuses on cross-performing/multi-functional cards that have a max relevance vs the most amount of decks. This isn't youe typical "RiP, Stony Silence, Negate, Timely" SB.
Please read if you haven't already:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14i5FqU6gJ2NNYLitrzwDBHj5ST7KDENsyxQ7ryYKZtE
Lastly, the deck's advantages over BGx (which we crush, btw, with at least a 70% win ratio) is that it's resilient to removals, such as Fatal Push, can grind longer and better than BGx vs Control variants, is better vs creature decks, and can generate a lot more card advantage for a Midrange deck. We can also generate as much, if not more power, than BGx, but they do it incrementally through their creatures, while we do it on lump sums post-stabilization and via Geist post-board. We're essentially like a Blue Abzan, but leaning more towards the Control end of the spectrum.
I'd argue that, given more representation, ET would be the best 'fair' Midrange Proactive Control deck in the format. Performance/results will speak for themselves as they have for others like Lantern and Skred.
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Sorin, LoI was tested, too, and was pretty flat overall, particularly as a top deck.
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I definitely haven't seen many Esper Midrange lists with no counterspells maindeck, before. Assuming you don't get lucky and cheese your opponent out of the game with 3x Thoughtseize or something along those lines, doesn't every spell-based combo deck have a bare-minimum 60/40 matchup against you? GBx decks run low to the ground curves to exploit the windows that Thoughtseize opens, but this deck can't follow up on the turn 1 Thoughtseize till turn 4? Even Tier 3 combo decks can combo that quick through a Thoughtseize.
You don't get Abrupt Decay or Pulse to blow up combo pieces. You can Esper Charm to do a Liliana impression, but the only pressure seems to be extremely slow clocks from expensive planeswalkers/lingering Souls that take till turn 8+ to finish off an opponent. I used to play UR Storm and I'd much prefer going against something like this than Jund. I think it would actually be an auto-win matchup, despite all the kill spells for Electromancer. I imagine the Supreme Verdicts (really don't get why you want them...wouldn't 3x Bitterblossom boost your win rate more?) give you a less negative matchup against Eldrazi, but I'm not really seeing the benefits of running this deck unless you jut like the Shaheen Soorani super-friends style of gameplay.
At any rate, why are people comparing this to Esper Draw-Go? If you're deciding between the two, you probably should just go with the superfriends deck and call it a day. It's kind of like comparing UR Storm and Boggles and asking which combo deck is better...
EDIT: Wow, left my computer for an hour and got beaten to the punch.
If expensive planeswalkers in your hand make Liliana bad, I'd be inclined to cut the expensive planeswalkers, not Liliana
I gotta agree with others in that I've always felt Narset was the worst blue planeswalker printed in years (aside from that version of Jace that can't even draw a card). I never got why people liked her. Draw 0.5 cards on the plus, and a Rebound on the minus that is only as good as the card you follow Narset with. Kinda inherently win-more. There's also no Dig Through Time to rebound in this format...
Favored: (55+ %)
-Junk
-Jund
-Grixis Control/Delver
-UWx Control (includes Jeskai Nahiri)
-Affinity
-Infect
-Zooicide
-Bogles
-Zoo (variants)
-Merfolk
Fair: (45-55%)
-Valakut (TitanShift, RG Breach)
-Ad Nauseam
-Goryo's Vengeance
-Lantern
-Skred
-Sun & Moon
-Company (Spirits/Elves are most difficult)
-Bant Eldrazi
-Suicide Bloo
-Naya Burn
-Kiki Chord
-Hatebears
Unfavored: (30-45%)
-U Tron (toughest MU)
-GW/RG Tron (solid post-board)
-Eldrazi Tron (same as GW/RG Tron)
-Dredge (has improved)
Not Enough Data:
-Cheerios (Puresteel Paladin)
-Breaking//Entering
-Jeskai Saheeli
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Nice sarcasm, but no. Lol It's been thoroughly tested and cost was definitely not the issue running it in ET.
Easy to dismiss Narset. I get it. It has a stigma. This deck is over it.
You can read why she's here:
Evaluating Narset Transcendent
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12u496olgqB6lrNETlMAq7PrzBABTuxRRuZQ3-1ZJYQA
Since this isn't a thread about this deck, I'll just leave it at that. I'm just responding to the initial question and series of posts regarding ET.
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Just responding to the initial question and following responses. Understood.
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It wasn't really directed at you. It was more of a general blanket statement towards the last page and a half.