Hi there, first timer here. I happened to catch a glimpse of an Esper deck in one of Force Magic Videos, which peaked my interest. Then i kind of tried to orient myself on that thing for a Séance deck type. Here's the results:



What i can say is that it's hell of a lot of fun. The reenacting of those ETB effects and fetching artifacts at the same time. Just nice. Got some self sustain through cheap but effective save spells (Cloudshift and Undying Evil), which further benefits the ETB. Problems with Anger of Gods and special late monsters are exinsting...but i happen to see them discard or dispelled a lot of the time that happens. I even had 2 games in which i could fetch 4 times from those 2 Rune-Scarred Demons.

Would like your opinions. Land wise i'm not an expert, put in many 3s for the sake of the one obelisk.

[Edit]: Just had the most wonderful game with this deck. I landed in a 4player lobby and thought: "What the hell." Inside was one player who was manascrewed first, then planar cleansed 3 times in a row. And every time i was able to save stuff or draw cards. Triggered 4 Liliana spectres in that game, which let's EVERY oponent discard. 3 fetches with rune scarred demon. To top it all off, after i finished the planar cleanser, i had dissolve ready for the 1 card the others might play. The whole game hilariously optimal. Wish i had recorded that. Two Séances of course because the first was cleansed XD.

Tweaking it more to the beefy side could mean : -Lone Missionary + Aegis Angel or Mercurial Pretender (cloning rune scarred demon works, right?), maybe Resolute Archangel. But it's always harder to keep spare mana to save beefy ones on the turn they enter.

So one of my favorite types of decks are Dimir decks that focus on card advantage, hand destruction, and combat tricks. As much as I have tried to build that in DOTP, I have not been pleased with the results. However, I feel that this has been accomplished with my Esper build and has been one of my favorite builds so far. Icing on the cake is that very few opponents know how to handle playing against this and has been very competitive for me.

That's not a bad list overall. I have a few thoughts.

If you're going the discard route, I don't feel 4 Spectres and 3 Dinrova Horrors are really enough personally. With such a minimal amount of discard, I think this devalues all that bounce you're running. Speaking of which.. what's Void Snare doing for you? Bouncing enchantments/artifacts?

This deck looks like it has a weakness to big bombs as well unless you get an Agent of the Fates on board or plan on bouncing them repeatedly.

Also, if the deck is about card advantage.. I don't feel you have enough draw. If you're playing Spectres and planning on having double black out by turn 3, you should probably run Graveborn Muse.

Other than Wall of Omens or bounce, there's no play before turn 3. That's not good IMO. Maybe Pharika's Chosen? Tideshallow Strix?

I agree with megabeast; you don't have a lot going on in the early game so I would look to lower the curve a bit.

Void Snare just looks bad and I don't think you need the Quicklings when you're rocking the eight-pack of Undying/Cloudshift as creature protection and EtB abuse.

I also think that since you're so permanent-heavy with so many EtBs that you should cut the Planar Cleansing and play a Seance.

I would try:

-3 Void Snare
-3 Quickling
-1 Planar Cleansing

+4 Phyrexian Rager
+2 Graveborn Muse
+1 Seance

The Ragers and Muses give you a CA engine and the Seance has a ton of value here with all the EtBs and is tutorable through your Demons. So much for lowering the curve!

I'm not really feeling the Ragers in this list, especially with the Walls already in there.

I'm more worried about the lack of answers to Terra Stomper, Inferno Titan, Baneslayer, Stormbreath, etc.

I agree with cutting Planar Cleansing. I was thinking that earlier when I wrote my first reply. Its a nice Ace in the Hole but.. with this list.. if you've gotta Cleanse, you've probably already lost.

I was thinking about the Spectres and possibly adding more discard or ditching them.. but with the Cloudshifts, Undying Evils and Quicklings.. it's probably fine.

Maybe go:

-1 Planar Cleansing
-3 Void Snare
-1 Quickling

+2 Flesh to Dust
+3 Tideshallow Strix

I think I'd play Angelic Edict over Flesh to Dust if you're going to go that route and add five-mana spot removal. The exile is relevant and the ability to hit enchantments is worth the sorcery-speed restriction.

Really appreciate the feedback!

So I have already playtested this deck with Think Twice, Banisher Priest, Phirexian Rager and Graveborn Muse.

Phirexian Rager and Graveborn Muse both gave much needed draw, but most of the time the extra draw didn't negate the loss of life and being easily removed. Still thinking about putting think twice back in though.

As far as Quickling and Void Snare:

Quickling has really been a champ in my deck and gives it a lot of utility. Many times I am bouncing Wall of Omens back and recasting for extra draw (which my deck does lack draw for sure). Most of the time though, Quickling is used on my spectres opponent's turn and then recast for discard on my own turn or on Dinrova or Shadowborn on later turns.

Void Snare: Very seldomly using it on my opponent except to bounce enchantments. Most of the time is self bounce or another way to target Agent. Not sure I love it's inclusion though. Definately hate it being cast at sorcery speed.

As far as Seance, I am already running a deck that includes it (Hakeem's lifegain in fact LOL) so really trying to stay away from it. Seance could be a beast in my deck though so I may change my mind on that one.

My deck can obviously struggle against aggro as it doesn't get going until turn 3 at the soonest (casting Spectres or Agents is how I would determine that). The keys to being successful with this is idealy to get Spectre out or Agent out and abuse cloudshift, undying, vapor snag, or voyage's end. Survival from turn 3-6 can get a little rough sometimes but usually recovers well enough, but once I get Dinrova going (many times by tutoring) it is gg in most cases, especially if I have cloudshift or quickling in hand to go along with it.

So with that being said, here are the cards that I am considering removing right now (still not sure though what replacements would be but am definately leaning towards the Muses again and possibly some other form of removal as that has been suggested):

Void Snare
Planar cleansing
Obelisk

Without turning my deck into something else altogether I just can't change the rest of the deck too much and still have as much fun.

Thanks again for all the feedback on this one guys. I firmly believe even if you are extremely successful with a deck, there is always room for improvement.

I live in fear of Stormbreath Dragon : )

Touché!

Another Edit: i put in another Solemn Offering, because at the time i encounter decks with strong synergies concerning their enchantments, and there are powerful artifacts in almost every deck.

I say just because you're running the lifegain deck including seance doesn't mean you shouldn't play seance here. This deck plays totally different and seance will totally benefit here. Get a copy in here!

I think the ragers would love a seat here too as they do assist in another earlier body/cantrip. I am gonna give this deck a run for the money. I have been wanting to find an esper build I like a lot. I will let you know what I feel or discover and what direction I take it.

I will test with Seance later and will probably love it. I hate you guys...

P.S. This has been my very favorite Esper deck, mostly because I really love Dinrova and feel it performs really well in my deck.

I love Dinrova too, I dunno how consistent your build can last to later rounds though. I feel like you probably severely struggle against against speedier builds?

Aggro can be tough at times. Planar cleansing has saved me many times, but I am replacing it with Seance and replacing the snags with the Ragers I think. Let me know how your play testing goes.

Play tested this one and it seems fine but I feel it can get better. I'm not sure where though. Feedback would be appreciated. I want to keep the Palisade Giant / Aegis Angel combo with deathtouch creatures. The questionable cards are Baneslayer, Giant Scorpion, Indulgent Tormentor and Wall of Omens...maybe Undying Evil. Not sure if I should go with Gods Willing.

Here's my take on esper control. It's works ok, but it stumbles against fast aggro. I built it prior to the update, so there are minor changes. Any advice would be awesome.

@Vamilvas
Would suggest a second staff for wincon. For 1 Reprisal maybe since there are some situations that card is worthless.

@Pope Pouri
Tested your deck and it is a lot of fun but good enemies anticipate deathtouch decks if they are somewhat removal heavy and only take out your beefy creatures. Had a match in which i literally died to shallow dmg and decked myself, because of 2 inevitable carddraws from zombie and demon (the demon was enchanted to never attack). Rare but occurs. I think 1 Elixier should be in here, because you have no "draw x, discard y" effects in that deck. So you would be kind of unhindered unless milled.

Arrest and tribute to anger is a nonbo

Has anyone made a decent artifact deck that wins? Are they best in Esper, or is it better in Azorious? If anyone has a good artifact deck, let me know.

Here is the Esper Artifact deck I have been using. Dimir with a splash of



Seems to work well.

Get out a sculptor+glaze fiend and then just play out a ton of free/cheap stuff to punch for a ton. Equip Darksteel Axe for even better results. Artful Dodge allows them to get through once things get clogged up.

Gargoyles get back killed off Glaze Fiends, and recycle Courier's Capsule/Amulet to reuse to keep up CA and abuse Glaze Fiend even more.

Capsules and Bident keep up drawing cards (and both activate Glaze Fiend and have costs reduced by Sculptors). Bident can work well to make people attack into Strix and open up attacks for Glaze Fiend/Sphinx.

Esperzoa allows you to abuse Gargoyle to bring things back, as well as cheap/free Artifacts to pump Glaze Fiend.

Traveler's Amulets let the deck grab whatever colors it needs early, can be recycled with Gargoyle, triggers Glaze Fiend, and costs with Sculptor out.

Sphinx pretty much just outright wins you the game unless it gets removed or your opponent has Baneslayer on the table (because no wants to block Strix, and Artful Dodge/Bident help you push damage through).

Elixir covers a lot of different roles, anti-mill tech, some incidental life gain, and another cheap/free artifact for Fiend.

It has been solid enough for me.