If you comparison is only base on the CA alone, yes she is better than Jace AoT. This is pretty obvious from the text description shown on the cards.
That's what I was comparing because that was the initial premise: that she might not be better as a CA engine than AoT. It isn't self-evident.
They're not really aiming to do the same things beyond that, so I don't think one is a direct replacement for the other. I *do* think Narset is the better card for traditional control.
How can you conclude that Narset is light years ahead of Jace AoT?
I'm comparing them as card advantage engines. Beyond that, it isn't really apples to apples. Even in the way they gain cards they're operating differently, but I happen to believe that the slow, steady drip Narset provides is stronger than Jace's mini-Fact or Fiction.
On paper at least, she's light years ahead of Jace AoT. Her +1 always has a chance of an effect, as opposed to just something you do to keep him around an extra turn when the board is empty.
She's a card advantage engine in the colors that badly needed one, and in a manner that can't easily be exploited by tempo decks. I really don't see the downside. Her +1 is basically a free card every other turn without Chandra's timing restriction, and her -2 is basically Snapcaster. Forget the ultimate, it only matters in control mirrors. Her other two abilities are quite powerful, and they affect card quality and quantity more than the board in exactly the manner a real control deck would want.
Is she going to win you the game vs. Affinity, Infect, Twin, Bogles etc? No, she's not an answer to a linear problem. That's what wraths are for, or Cryptic Command, or spot removal like Path to Exile. What she *will* do is allow you to maintain card advantage over your opponent on a board where you're at parity or in control, which is what control strategies in modern badly need.
It's not difficult to keep the board clear enough to land her on turn 4 or 5. She pairs very nicely with both Ashiok and Gideon Jura with a casting cost that bridges between both on turn 4. Esper Superfriends might just be a viable deck, especially since her +1 can draw you a walker off the top.
Esper and Jeskai control builds can both benefit from her. Esper can rebound Lingering Souls or Esper Charm for massive value, or just use her for the Domri effect. She might also be powerful alongside something like Monastery Mentor to pump out additional triggers in a deck that uses it as a kill condition.
If she's going to be powerful in modern, it will need to be that she's powerful just going about your regular game plan. It's not a build around walker like Venser or so many other more recent ones. She's got a solid set of powerful abilities that will sink or swim on their own merits.
It's funny how quickly the goalposts move on "too expensive" when you trade actively. I love collecting, so that's my primary interest in the game (though I do play quite often). In the span of time since Gatecrash I've gone from "I used to love Magic as a kid, maybe I'll go to a prerelease and see what's new about it" to "the dual lands in this foil deck really need to be black bordered."
Judge Gaea's Cradle. At the time it was clocking $300 on SCG, but I had a significant chunk of credit so I paid very little out of pocket. It's up to $400 now, which isn't surprising. When I bought from them, SCG was the cheapest price available. TCG Mid was something like $320. A correction seemed obvious.
I read the SCG article. I have a few points of contention, not the least of which is that the deck he posted by the standards of this forum is clearly esper midrange. Mainboard discard, mana leaks, ousts, multiple planeswalkers, tasigur/resto--those are all what we've (I believe) collectively agreed constitute the major differences between the midrange shell and the control shell for esper.
He's not wrong about his sideboard points--anyone who's read any of my posts about sideboards and deck construction knows I'm the same way in that I favor broad answers that are applicable in more matchups vs narrow answers. I agree that for the most part, people in modern are complaining about junk without trying to innovate around it. That being said, there are some problems with the format, namely that the reward for playing tempo or control strategies doesn't outweigh the costs from a competitive standpoint because there IS still a powerlevel discrepancy between the BGx shell and most other nonlinear decks. That's something I can wait on wizards to fix, because those strategies are playable even if they aren't top tier right now.
I tried the SCG list last night and pretty much hated it. There was no reliable way to turn the corner. I haven't played Esper in a while, but I'm not new to the archetype. Colonnade is dramatically less effective in that list if only because Oust over Path means you have no way to hold up removal off one. Most matches went to time, and while I'm sure part of that is being new to the list, I wasn't playing slow by any means. I'd just keep answering, waiting for a chance, and eventually get buried by a topdecked card after I ran out of answers.
I love control archetypes, but that particular list makes a lot of choices I don't agree with. No Path or Think Twice are the biggest things, but main decking Thoughtseize was also weird. Too often I felt like I had the wrong answer, and was digging furiously trying to find a way to delay just a little longer. I'll be trying Esper again, but not with Fabiano's list. A player of his caliber might can get away with it but I certainly can't.
John Avon's full art lands are excellent. I just happen to like Nielsen's painterly style. It harkens back to the old days of Magic art when it was less reliant on computer generated imagery.
You clearly dont play Titan Bloom. simian spirit guide ban would keep the deck mostly intact but keep it from turn 1 kills and makes turn 2 much harder, while not affecting any other deck.
Seems like a rational, logical argument to me (since the thing people are complaining about and the reason they think Amulet Bloom will be banned is because it breaks the turn 4 rule)
If you have to pick a real problem card, it's actually Summer Bloom. Amulet + Azusa is much slower, but the 3 extra land plays from Summer Bloom are easily as good at generating mana in the deck as Seething Song was for Storm.
Without Summer Bloom, there are no turn 1 or 2 kills at all.
That's what I was comparing because that was the initial premise: that she might not be better as a CA engine than AoT. It isn't self-evident.
They're not really aiming to do the same things beyond that, so I don't think one is a direct replacement for the other. I *do* think Narset is the better card for traditional control.
I'm comparing them as card advantage engines. Beyond that, it isn't really apples to apples. Even in the way they gain cards they're operating differently, but I happen to believe that the slow, steady drip Narset provides is stronger than Jace's mini-Fact or Fiction.
Is she going to win you the game vs. Affinity, Infect, Twin, Bogles etc? No, she's not an answer to a linear problem. That's what wraths are for, or Cryptic Command, or spot removal like Path to Exile. What she *will* do is allow you to maintain card advantage over your opponent on a board where you're at parity or in control, which is what control strategies in modern badly need.
If she's going to be powerful in modern, it will need to be that she's powerful just going about your regular game plan. It's not a build around walker like Venser or so many other more recent ones. She's got a solid set of powerful abilities that will sink or swim on their own merits.
I tried the SCG list last night and pretty much hated it. There was no reliable way to turn the corner. I haven't played Esper in a while, but I'm not new to the archetype. Colonnade is dramatically less effective in that list if only because Oust over Path means you have no way to hold up removal off one. Most matches went to time, and while I'm sure part of that is being new to the list, I wasn't playing slow by any means. I'd just keep answering, waiting for a chance, and eventually get buried by a topdecked card after I ran out of answers.
I love control archetypes, but that particular list makes a lot of choices I don't agree with. No Path or Think Twice are the biggest things, but main decking Thoughtseize was also weird. Too often I felt like I had the wrong answer, and was digging furiously trying to find a way to delay just a little longer. I'll be trying Esper again, but not with Fabiano's list. A player of his caliber might can get away with it but I certainly can't.
The Island isn't great, but the Plains and Forest are both gorgeous. Those are what I happen to need.
If you have to pick a real problem card, it's actually Summer Bloom. Amulet + Azusa is much slower, but the 3 extra land plays from Summer Bloom are easily as good at generating mana in the deck as Seething Song was for Storm.
Without Summer Bloom, there are no turn 1 or 2 kills at all.