Cody and a few others touched on it a page back or two. I am finding it increasingly difficult to justify playing Esper. The elephant in the room is - Why Esper over Jeskai? Electrolyze vs. Esper Charm. Lightning Bolt vs. Fatal Push. How do we define ourselves both as "Draw Go" and not be a "worse Jeskai?"
The easiest question then to ask is: Why play black?
Collective Brutality also shows up quite a bit, which makes sense with the cards versatility (especially vs. Burn). Beyond that, I'd argue Night of Souls' Betrayal is somewhat underplayed. And... that's it. This is what we give up Bolt for. This is what we give up the clock and corner-turning ability for.
Is it worth it?
We have to be better against combo decks. That said, this statement is likely less true if one does not run Surgical Extraction. Beyond that, where are we better? Where are we worse? We are likely worse against Humans and Affinity, no matter how many Fatal Push and Wrath of God we shoehorn in. Are we better or worse vs. Tron and Jund? I honestly don't know. Jund is a match up that has likely suffered with the rebirth of Bloodbraid Elf and the lack of Think Twice in our current builds.
Another issue I have run into is that the Jeskai vs. Esper match up, which I once thought incredibly favorable, does not feel favorable anymore (at least preboard). This could admittedly be due to the fact that I can count the number of tournaments I've played in the last year+ on my hands, but I feel as if things have changed. We tend to run less of a critical mass of card advantage spells than we used to (Think Twice is the most notable absence). We also tend to run more creature hate (board wipes) and "dead air" in the control match up, such as Blessed Alliance, while most of Jeskai's "dead" cards can be pointed upstairs. They run more Snapcaster Mage than we do, which is one of the strongest cards in a control mirror. I believe we also used to run more counterspells than they did, but this has also changed, with 8 being the stock Jeskai counterspell number (3 Logic Knot, 4 Cryptic Command, 1 Spell Snare or Negate) and many of my current brews having only 7. Now, with a sideboard chock full of discard spells, Surgicals, and the odd Dispel, postboard games feel dominating. But to lose that game 1 slog is more often than not debilitating.
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Magic player since July 2011.
Modern - Esper Draw-Go (Best finish - 12-3, 45th at GP Charlotte 2015), Jeskai Control, UR Breach Moon
IMO, not playing surgical/thoughtseize in your board is just wrong. If you give that up, it may well be that esper is just worse than jeskai. I can't remember when I made them sideboard mainstays, but I do know I've played 3 thoughtseize and 2 or more extractions in my sideboard for over a year and a half by now.
They're powerful against a fair chunk of the matchups we need to sideboard for.
We are definitely not as good vs affinity/humans as jeskai, but its close. Jeskai isn't thaaat much better than we are in these matchups.
This all depends on the lists, but jund is a pretty difficult matchup for jeskai now. Given equal pilot skill, I'm quite tempted to put it at 50/50. Esper is atleast 55/45 vs jund, even without think twice. It depends on the exact builds, but it may very well be better than that. Its still a lot harder than it used to be, but I feel favored unless I'm against a much better player.
Tron I don't have the data to tell you (I've only played a handful of matches with esper against tron, all on different lists). IMO, we're still favored, but it may not be the almost-free it used to be. Jeskai still struggles horribly in this matchup, so this is definitely an advantage for us. Game 1 will always be rough depending on what half of your deck you draw, but with a good sideboard (including discard + extractions) it gets better.
For esper vs jeskai, I still feel favored. We play less card advantage than we used to, but we still play more than them. Plus esper charming a search for azcanta can be game winning. If jeskai can't stick a search or a planeswalker against us, their only hope is stealing a win with burn, which can happen, but is an uphill battle in my experience. Planeswalkers are tough for us to deal with, but they do have to get one into play first, which is always the hard part, and esper charm mind rotting them is just as good as it has been for years. Same deal with tron, game 1 can be rough depending on which half of the deck we draw, but post board, it smooths out. I still play leyline in my board, which may be wrong, but can be nice vs jeskai.
I will say that conceding game 1 if you need to is important. Especially if they may not be familiar with my deck, I'd be quite willing to just concede to a resolved teferi game 1 (assuming they're in a reasonable stable position). I feel so dominant games 2-3 that having the time to finish them is a major concern.
Funny now that some one else is talking down about the deck, I'm the one defending it, but I've been feeling a bit better about our standing recently. In no small part because I've spent a good deal of time tweaking grixis and jeskai lists, and let me tell you, not better. Grixis is actually decently well positioned, but giving up path to exile is such a blow.
I still plan to test moon variants (a harder u-moon control list, similar to some of ross merriam's recent lists, as well as a jeskai moon list are next on the plate), but the games I have been jamming with esper have been feeling better and better.
I'm still tweaking more traditional looking list (with opts) from a few pages back. As much as I want to love teferi as a mainboard catchall, I just don't. He's just much better in jeskai than here. I think playing 1 could be fine, but that would be alongside the jaces, not instead of.
I’ve also found Jeskai to be pretty difficult in G1. Even Esper Charm isn’t that sick when they have dead paths and verdicts rotting in hand, and they can burn out our planeswalkers with ease while their Teferis are pretty much impossible to deal with in a timely fashion once resolved.
That being said, I feel Esper Charm gives us more game against combo and big mana, though I don’t have a lot of games against said strategies to back it up. Having played both decks I also feel Esper is insanely better at playing through Blood Moon or dealing with it.
I play a lot against combo and Esper wrecks it. What we are good at? Combo, creature strategies, control mirror and midrange. What we're bad at? Big mana decks, Burn, Dredge and fast degenerate decks (like Grishoalbrand). That's it.
If the field is big mana and some Burn, better sleeve up something else. If the field is Jeskai, Scapeshift, Affinity and some fringe decks, then we're in good place. That's why I tend to play 2 control decks : Esper and Jeskai to make sure to cover all the angles. Jeskai is weaker against combo and is still weak against tron. Good matchups against all the rest of the field. UW Control is the best anti-Tron deck.
But for us, I think we might overthink the identity of Esper. It has always been draw-go, but I recently took Wafo-Tapa stock list and played 2 walkers (1 Jace, 1 Teferi) as well as 2 SfA and the deck has nothing to be ashamed of. We're good control, it's just that we have to play also the best cards available. I'm sure we'd be fine if we'd all go in the same direction : playing more or less draw-go with 4 Esper Charm, 2 walkers, 2 SfA, 3 Snap, 3-4 Cryptic and 3 Colonnade. The rest is pretty stock and discard belongs to sideboard for combo matchups.
What I don’t get is *why* there is still someone suggesting to go back to Wafo Tapa’s starting point and gear the list toward his. Why should we focus on a structure that DOESN’T work? This is so ankward. If definitely obvious that it’s too much outdated. We should go toward a different direction, if any.
The only issue is that the original lists DID work. And they put up more results than any list recently, even if they are "outdated". If I see an Esper list in the 5-0's these days, it's like I saw a unicorn. So yeah, nothing wrong with reverting back to a list that put up more results than anything recently. And you can't say it's an echo chamber because I've been testing lists with different card choices -- more planeswalkers, SfA, no Think Twice, with/without cantrips like Opt/Serum, even miracles (briefly, deck wasn't good). I've tried everything -- Think Twice is just the truth.
For the overall discussion -- I've begun to realize that I want to be playing Think Twice again. The deck has felt playable without it, but not particularly powerful. At least we can cruise through control matchups like nothing with TT in the deck, and the Jund/BGx matchup can use the boost. I think that Search for Azcanta should be in the deck too, though.
I also have been feeling that a list with JUST Zenith/Secure is a thing of the past -- some other more efficient wincon is necessary, which is why I keep playing Gideons. In fact, I don't like Zenith OR Secure anymore, but we don't have anything better. I don't believe Jace even deserves a spot here anymore either, and I don't personally like Teferi that much. The list that I'm playing these days is closest to the following:
Thoughts/criticisms? Especially on the sideboard, since I've heard people tout Thoughtseize again recently, a card I dropped a while ago and haven't picked back up.
I play a lot against combo and Esper wrecks it. What we are good at? Combo, creature strategies, control mirror and midrange. What we're bad at? Big mana decks, Burn, Dredge and fast degenerate decks (like Grishoalbrand). That's it.
If the field is big mana and some Burn, better sleeve up something else. If the field is Jeskai, Scapeshift, Affinity and some fringe decks, then we're in good place. That's why I tend to play 2 control decks : Esper and Jeskai to make sure to cover all the angles. Jeskai is weaker against combo and is still weak against tron. Good matchups against all the rest of the field. UW Control is the best anti-Tron deck.
But for us, I think we might overthink the identity of Esper. It has always been draw-go, but I recently took Wafo-Tapa stock list and played 2 walkers (1 Jace, 1 Teferi) as well as 2 SfA and the deck has nothing to be ashamed of. We're good control, it's just that we have to play also the best cards available. I'm sure we'd be fine if we'd all go in the same direction : playing more or less draw-go with 4 Esper Charm, 2 walkers, 2 SfA, 3 Snap, 3-4 Cryptic and 3 Colonnade. The rest is pretty stock and discard belongs to sideboard for combo matchups.
Cheers!
I agree with all of this, except I think Esper has decent/average big mana matchups now.
Anyways, I play UW instead of Jeskai, but hey -- please convince me to do otherwise. Also, I'd love it if you could PM me your Jeskai list.
What I don’t get is *why* there is still someone suggesting to go back to Wafo Tapa’s starting point and gear the list toward his. Why should we focus on a structure that DOESN’T work? This is so ankward. If definitely obvious that it’s too much outdated. We should go toward a different direction, if any.
I'm suggesting starting at the wafo-tapa list because it did work, and whether or not it still does doesn't stop it from being the base of the archetype. If you're interested in starting with this deck, I would always suggest you start there, and learn why certain cards were/are played and why certain cards were/are not.
Sure, we "should go toward a different direction, if any" but thats a useless answer to the question "where should I start if I want to learn this deck". There is not an established list currently, and frankly theres not even anything close.
I've played esper gifts in the past, and I tried a very similar to this one briefly when it first appeared, and while its ok, I don't see it being the new best list. It does what it does, and it does it alright, but having tweaked it a bit, I just don't see a direction to take that "pushes it over the edge" so to speak.
On top of that, esper doesn't honestly have too many "terrible" matchups. Dredge is miserable, and requires too much sideboard space to turn into a favorable matchup, but tron/valakut are good matchups, eldrazi tron has never been horrible, IMO. Combo decks tend to be good matchups, and even burn isn't as bad it it seems. My recent lists with jaces + the old leyline/ba/etc in the board actually feels fine vs burn. Not amazing, maybe, but not an unclimb-able hill.
While I've been on secures mostly, I do sort of miss not having night of souls betrayal as an option. That being said, manlands + 2 gideon of the trials is just not a safe enough plan for my tastes. I'm not married to secure/zenith, but they do have certain advantages.
While I've been on secures mostly, I do sort of miss not having night of souls betrayal as an option. That being said, manlands + 2 gideon of the trials is just not a safe enough plan for my tastes. I'm not married to secure/zenith, but they do have certain advantages.
I agree, I'm playing Zenith in addition to the Gideons, but none of it feels great tbh. They all kindof just do what they need to, but not always particularly well.
see, with blessed alliance, baneslayer, 3x surgical, I've actually generally felt it was pretty good postboard. The downside is you just never win game one. it's like 90-10 in their favor g1.
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
I think I've said this before, but I honestly think I could just stack the dredge player's deck game 1 and still lose.
Even post-board though, with halos/leylines/extractions, paths, blessed alliance, etc, I just never felt like I could find enough tools to actually win games reliably. Sometimes you'd be lucky and wouldn't have to mull 3 times to find stuff, but there was not reliable way to ensure you find the right tools when you only have ~7 cards to bring in (and half of them aren't game enders anyways).
Re:chromium, I wish he had been five mana five/five instead of 777. Having this stuck in your hand until seven mana is a giant nope. Just play stw or zenith that also win the game on seven mana (usually) while not being completely dead when you have less than seven.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
So how do we play against UWR? In my experience we're not favoured, at least g1, since they have the counter-burn plan that hurt us a lot.
What's your plan against uwr? Do you find this matchup to be in our favor?
We don't do much. I'm sure we try to hold back with counter and air, but in the end, we trade Colonnades and they have Secure too. We just slowly get burned out.
Disagree, I always feel favored vs jeskai. Game 1 is always going to be a little rough, thats the nature of control mirrors when we have a lot of dead cards.
While burn can be annoying, having planeswalkers now boosts our life total a bit. Some of us are still playing leyline, which obviously solves the burn issue as well.
In general though, we have discard, and we have more card advantage, which puts us over the edge.
With respect to jeskai, be VERY cognizant of the clock. We're much more favored postboard than we are preboard. If you end up in a position where you're down a couple manlands or you're making plays that compromise your ability to win the game just to stay alive, scoop game one. It's so much harder for them to win SB games through discard and walkers.
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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
It's not too often I get excited about a spell that costs more than 4 mana, but Chromium seems sweet. I mean, it's not going to be more than a 1-of if it is even good, but definitely seems sweet. It already dodges most removal, and by the time you get to 7 mana in esper we should have a couple spare cards to toss to it's ability. It also can't be understated how important the "can't be blocked" line of text is, really takes away a lot of the fear of attacking with it. It's 7 mana though, so I'm not going to hold my breath, but maybe in a list with a gifts/unburial package because this feels like a better stand alone card in esper than some of the other typical cards that might occupy this kind of slot due to flash.
This is kind of my problem when playing against jeskai. I feel like I'm doing alright for most of game 1 and then they suddenly burn me out and there's only 20 minutes left in the match. I think I'm favored against them in sideboarded games but never feel like I can make it through game 3 against them.
1. Mainboard timely tech was the truth
2. Baneslayer postboard is an open secret
3. Sweepers are good again
4. Teferi is confirmed the real deal
Personally, I'm starting to think about whether running just jace and teferi as win cons is good enough. I might give it a try when I eventually grab another foil teferi. It's good enough for standard right?
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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
I thought about doing the same (having only planeswalkers for win-cons) in a Jeskai shell, amalek0. It was painfully slow, which is what put me off on running with it at SCG Atlanta. It just felt like playing straight UW would be better at that point so you can have a mana denial plan as well.
Even though Baneslayer was an open secret, it proved itself to be lethal for three of my opponents.
I've heard Wafo switched from UW to UWR after the 5-2 and I know he 12-3'd Barcelona. Unfortunately they haven't published 17-32 so I'm assuming its something similar to the MrCafouillette list above.
In my playtesting experience Teferi is definitely the real deal and I haven't really needed anything else to close the game (besides colonnade.) Granted I play online so I have the benefit of the chess clock, and people scoop pretty quickly after emblem-ing but so far I haven't ran out of time with it.
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The easiest question then to ask is: Why play black?
Our big 3 are probably:
Esper Charm
Thoughtseize
Surgical Extraction (painlessly)
Collective Brutality also shows up quite a bit, which makes sense with the cards versatility (especially vs. Burn). Beyond that, I'd argue Night of Souls' Betrayal is somewhat underplayed. And... that's it. This is what we give up Bolt for. This is what we give up the clock and corner-turning ability for.
Is it worth it?
We have to be better against combo decks. That said, this statement is likely less true if one does not run Surgical Extraction. Beyond that, where are we better? Where are we worse? We are likely worse against Humans and Affinity, no matter how many Fatal Push and Wrath of God we shoehorn in. Are we better or worse vs. Tron and Jund? I honestly don't know. Jund is a match up that has likely suffered with the rebirth of Bloodbraid Elf and the lack of Think Twice in our current builds.
Another issue I have run into is that the Jeskai vs. Esper match up, which I once thought incredibly favorable, does not feel favorable anymore (at least preboard). This could admittedly be due to the fact that I can count the number of tournaments I've played in the last year+ on my hands, but I feel as if things have changed. We tend to run less of a critical mass of card advantage spells than we used to (Think Twice is the most notable absence). We also tend to run more creature hate (board wipes) and "dead air" in the control match up, such as Blessed Alliance, while most of Jeskai's "dead" cards can be pointed upstairs. They run more Snapcaster Mage than we do, which is one of the strongest cards in a control mirror. I believe we also used to run more counterspells than they did, but this has also changed, with 8 being the stock Jeskai counterspell number (3 Logic Knot, 4 Cryptic Command, 1 Spell Snare or Negate) and many of my current brews having only 7. Now, with a sideboard chock full of discard spells, Surgicals, and the odd Dispel, postboard games feel dominating. But to lose that game 1 slog is more often than not debilitating.
Modern - Esper Draw-Go (Best finish - 12-3, 45th at GP Charlotte 2015), Jeskai Control, UR Breach Moon
They're powerful against a fair chunk of the matchups we need to sideboard for.
We are definitely not as good vs affinity/humans as jeskai, but its close. Jeskai isn't thaaat much better than we are in these matchups.
This all depends on the lists, but jund is a pretty difficult matchup for jeskai now. Given equal pilot skill, I'm quite tempted to put it at 50/50. Esper is atleast 55/45 vs jund, even without think twice. It depends on the exact builds, but it may very well be better than that. Its still a lot harder than it used to be, but I feel favored unless I'm against a much better player.
Tron I don't have the data to tell you (I've only played a handful of matches with esper against tron, all on different lists). IMO, we're still favored, but it may not be the almost-free it used to be. Jeskai still struggles horribly in this matchup, so this is definitely an advantage for us. Game 1 will always be rough depending on what half of your deck you draw, but with a good sideboard (including discard + extractions) it gets better.
For esper vs jeskai, I still feel favored. We play less card advantage than we used to, but we still play more than them. Plus esper charming a search for azcanta can be game winning. If jeskai can't stick a search or a planeswalker against us, their only hope is stealing a win with burn, which can happen, but is an uphill battle in my experience. Planeswalkers are tough for us to deal with, but they do have to get one into play first, which is always the hard part, and esper charm mind rotting them is just as good as it has been for years. Same deal with tron, game 1 can be rough depending on which half of the deck we draw, but post board, it smooths out. I still play leyline in my board, which may be wrong, but can be nice vs jeskai.
I will say that conceding game 1 if you need to is important. Especially if they may not be familiar with my deck, I'd be quite willing to just concede to a resolved teferi game 1 (assuming they're in a reasonable stable position). I feel so dominant games 2-3 that having the time to finish them is a major concern.
Funny now that some one else is talking down about the deck, I'm the one defending it, but I've been feeling a bit better about our standing recently. In no small part because I've spent a good deal of time tweaking grixis and jeskai lists, and let me tell you, not better. Grixis is actually decently well positioned, but giving up path to exile is such a blow.
I still plan to test moon variants (a harder u-moon control list, similar to some of ross merriam's recent lists, as well as a jeskai moon list are next on the plate), but the games I have been jamming with esper have been feeling better and better.
I'm still tweaking more traditional looking list (with opts) from a few pages back. As much as I want to love teferi as a mainboard catchall, I just don't. He's just much better in jeskai than here. I think playing 1 could be fine, but that would be alongside the jaces, not instead of.
That being said, I feel Esper Charm gives us more game against combo and big mana, though I don’t have a lot of games against said strategies to back it up. Having played both decks I also feel Esper is insanely better at playing through Blood Moon or dealing with it.
If the field is big mana and some Burn, better sleeve up something else. If the field is Jeskai, Scapeshift, Affinity and some fringe decks, then we're in good place. That's why I tend to play 2 control decks : Esper and Jeskai to make sure to cover all the angles. Jeskai is weaker against combo and is still weak against tron. Good matchups against all the rest of the field. UW Control is the best anti-Tron deck.
But for us, I think we might overthink the identity of Esper. It has always been draw-go, but I recently took Wafo-Tapa stock list and played 2 walkers (1 Jace, 1 Teferi) as well as 2 SfA and the deck has nothing to be ashamed of. We're good control, it's just that we have to play also the best cards available. I'm sure we'd be fine if we'd all go in the same direction : playing more or less draw-go with 4 Esper Charm, 2 walkers, 2 SfA, 3 Snap, 3-4 Cryptic and 3 Colonnade. The rest is pretty stock and discard belongs to sideboard for combo matchups.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
The only issue is that the original lists DID work.
For the overall discussion -- I've begun to realize that I want to be playing Think Twice again. The deck has felt playable without it, but not particularly powerful. At least we can cruise through control matchups like nothing with TT in the deck, and the Jund/BGx matchup can use the boost. I think that Search for Azcanta should be in the deck too, though.
I also have been feeling that a list with JUST Zenith/Secure is a thing of the past -- some other more efficient wincon is necessary, which is why I keep playing Gideons. In fact, I don't like Zenith OR Secure anymore, but we don't have anything better. I don't believe Jace even deserves a spot here anymore either, and I don't personally like Teferi that much. The list that I'm playing these days is closest to the following:
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Reflecting Pool
2x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
3x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
Wincons (3)
2x Gideon of the Trials
1x White Sun's Zenith
4x Path to Exile
1x Fatal Push
2x Blessed Alliance
1x Detention Sphere
3x Supreme Verdict
1x Wrath of God
Counters (7)
3x Logic Knot
1x Negate
3x Cryptic Command
Card Advantage (13)
4x Think Twice
2x Search for Azcanta
4x Esper Charm
1x Sphinx's Revelation
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Dispel
1x Fatal Push
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Celestial Purge
1x Negate
2x Runed Halo
3x Spell Queller
1x Settle the Wreckage
1x Baneslayer Angel
Thoughts/criticisms? Especially on the sideboard, since I've heard people tout Thoughtseize again recently, a card I dropped a while ago and haven't picked back up.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Anyways, I play UW instead of Jeskai, but hey -- please convince me to do otherwise. Also, I'd love it if you could PM me your Jeskai list.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I'm suggesting starting at the wafo-tapa list because it did work, and whether or not it still does doesn't stop it from being the base of the archetype. If you're interested in starting with this deck, I would always suggest you start there, and learn why certain cards were/are played and why certain cards were/are not.
Sure, we "should go toward a different direction, if any" but thats a useless answer to the question "where should I start if I want to learn this deck". There is not an established list currently, and frankly theres not even anything close.
I've played esper gifts in the past, and I tried a very similar to this one briefly when it first appeared, and while its ok, I don't see it being the new best list. It does what it does, and it does it alright, but having tweaked it a bit, I just don't see a direction to take that "pushes it over the edge" so to speak.
On top of that, esper doesn't honestly have too many "terrible" matchups. Dredge is miserable, and requires too much sideboard space to turn into a favorable matchup, but tron/valakut are good matchups, eldrazi tron has never been horrible, IMO. Combo decks tend to be good matchups, and even burn isn't as bad it it seems. My recent lists with jaces + the old leyline/ba/etc in the board actually feels fine vs burn. Not amazing, maybe, but not an unclimb-able hill.
While I've been on secures mostly, I do sort of miss not having night of souls betrayal as an option. That being said, manlands + 2 gideon of the trials is just not a safe enough plan for my tastes. I'm not married to secure/zenith, but they do have certain advantages.
I agree, I'm playing Zenith in addition to the Gideons, but none of it feels great tbh. They all kindof just do what they need to, but not always particularly well.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
*dredge that is
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
Even post-board though, with halos/leylines/extractions, paths, blessed alliance, etc, I just never felt like I could find enough tools to actually win games reliably. Sometimes you'd be lucky and wouldn't have to mull 3 times to find stuff, but there was not reliable way to ensure you find the right tools when you only have ~7 cards to bring in (and half of them aren't game enders anyways).
http://mythicspoiler.com/m19/cards/chromiumthemutable.html
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
We don't do much. I'm sure we try to hold back with counter and air, but in the end, we trade Colonnades and they have Secure too. We just slowly get burned out.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
While burn can be annoying, having planeswalkers now boosts our life total a bit. Some of us are still playing leyline, which obviously solves the burn issue as well.
In general though, we have discard, and we have more card advantage, which puts us over the edge.
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 am!
It's not too often I get excited about a spell that costs more than 4 mana, but Chromium seems sweet. I mean, it's not going to be more than a 1-of if it is even good, but definitely seems sweet. It already dodges most removal, and by the time you get to 7 mana in esper we should have a couple spare cards to toss to it's ability. It also can't be understated how important the "can't be blocked" line of text is, really takes away a lot of the fear of attacking with it. It's 7 mana though, so I'm not going to hold my breath, but maybe in a list with a gifts/unburial package because this feels like a better stand alone card in esper than some of the other typical cards that might occupy this kind of slot due to flash.
1. Mainboard timely tech was the truth
2. Baneslayer postboard is an open secret
3. Sweepers are good again
4. Teferi is confirmed the real deal
Personally, I'm starting to think about whether running just jace and teferi as win cons is good enough. I might give it a try when I eventually grab another foil teferi. It's good enough for standard right?
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
Even though Baneslayer was an open secret, it proved itself to be lethal for three of my opponents.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1163398#online
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1163415#online
I've heard Wafo switched from UW to UWR after the 5-2 and I know he 12-3'd Barcelona. Unfortunately they haven't published 17-32 so I'm assuming its something similar to the MrCafouillette list above.
In my playtesting experience Teferi is definitely the real deal and I haven't really needed anything else to close the game (besides colonnade.) Granted I play online so I have the benefit of the chess clock, and people scoop pretty quickly after emblem-ing but so far I haven't ran out of time with it.