3 x Essence Scatter
1 x Mission Briefing
2 x Search for Azcanta
3 x Cast Down
3 x Thought Erasure
4 x Sinister Sabotage
1 x Settle the Wreckage
3 x Chemister's Insight
2 x Ritual of Soot
2 x Vraska's Contempt
1 x Cleansing Nova
1 x Lyra Dawnbringer
1 x Bone Dragon
1 x Dream Eater
3 x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 x Chromium, the Mutable
2 x Syncopate

1 x Plains
4 x Island
3 x Swamp
4 x Glacial Fortress
3 x Meandering River
3 x Isolated Chapel
4 x Drowned Catacomb
4 x Watery Grave



SIDEBOARD

1 x Mission Briefing
3 x Negate
1 x Moment of Craving
1 x Thought Erasure
2 x Unmoored Ego
2 x Ixalan's Binding
1 x Settle the Wreckage
2 x Ritual of Soot
1 x Doom Whisperer
1 x Vona, Butcher of Magan

Today for Thanksgiving I give thanks I don’t have to play against this

It's exactly as infuriating to play against for an aggro deck as it looks.

How has performed Mission´s Briefing?
It seems better in this shell than in Izzet or Jeskai...
Would you still play Bone Dragon it if you got unlimited resources?

I probably would. I love that Bone Dragon is a recursive threat. Are there better options? Maybe, but I'm light on threats so something I can recur is big for control mirror. It used to Doom Whisperer and I like the dragon more. Might be better as a second Chromium, but another 7 drop is a big ask.

Mission Briefing is doing pretty good. The fact it digs is always relevant and all the good 2 drop spells means that it isn't always super late game. I've needed it for some big niche plays like recasting sweeps.

Vs. RDW, for a sideboard plan, what is more important, Thought Erasure or Vraska's Contempt? It seems close. Contempt deals with Phoenix, but Thought Erasure allows for double spells on turn 4 to thin out threats and can deal with Banefire.

I just had a game that I won by the skin of my teeth, by casting Vraska's Contempt on my own Teferi to survive Banefire and take over. It got me wondering.

Mathematically, this deck shouldn't flood every single game, yet somehow it does.

Vert, how's this deck holding up? I like it a lot and played a bunch of matches with it. Hard to get it past 50/50 win ratio though...so much aggro and such demands on the mana...double blue t3, double black or white t4...good amount of the losses come from the messed up mana requirements. But it's such a powerhouse.

I'm at a similar spot. It's not well positioned vs. RDW and the like, but it can still do a solid 65-70% win rate. I haven't used that much recently, though, because I've mostly been testing different builds like my Selesnya Angels and a Mardu Lich deck.

I'm going to say Contempt hands down, then again I don't even maindeck Thought Erasure. vs. RDW you'd probably be happier
drawing Moment of Craving most of the time.

This is what I'm running:

Main (35)

3 x Essence Scatter
1 x Negate
2 x Search for Azcanta
3 x Moment of Craving
2 x Cast Down

4 x Sinister Sabotage

4 x Chemister's Insight
4 x Vraska's Contempt
2 x Ritual of soot

2 x Cleansing Nova
4 x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

1 x Dream eater

1 x Chromium, the Mutable

2 x Syncopate

Sideboard

2 x Duress
2 x Negate
3 x Thought Erasure
3 x Golden Demise
1 x Unmoored Ego
2 x Ixalan's Binding
2 x Lyra Dawnbringer

Yeah, at this point, I main deck 4x Moment of Craving. It's a huge card.

vert, I feel it is time to rekindle Esper Control. Now that we have perfect lands (literally 24 dual/shock lands), a new board wipe for 4, Mortify, the pure and unadulterated joy that is Absorb and Angel of Grace, I feel like Esper can once again reign supreme.

You still feeling Chromium? I have him sideboarded right now. I'm toying with bringing Nezahal as a 1 of.

Why run Golden Demise over Cry of the Carnarium? Same cost and speed, but Cry offers more for control than Demise. You don't have any creatures that get saved with City's Blessing on Demise, and Cry can exile pesky Phoenix in Drake builds while also exiling creatures in recursive Golgari Midrange decks. Also deals with Afterlife creatures and the new recursive 2/1 in Mardu Aristocrats. You can also pair it with Cast Down or Moment of Craving to exile a bigger butt creature while sweeping the chaff in a pinch. I feel like Control should be all over Cry when otherwise wanting to run Golden Demise...

EDIT: Oopsie. Just noticed the date stamp on this

Esper seems strong with the new toys. Currently testing this:

Main:
3 Moment of Craving
4 Sinister Sabotage
2 Vraska's Contempt
3 Thought Erasure
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Discovery // Dispersal
2 Disinformation Campaign
2 The Eldest Reborn
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
3 Kaya's Wrath
2 Mortify
3 Quench
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Watery Grave
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Island

SB:
Work in Progress...

what do you do if your reborns and lyra get destroyed?

Teferi mill win.

I'm not sure about Quench over Syncopate.
Or maindeck Lyra, even in Bo1.

How's the mana holding up? T3 Sabotage into T4 Wrath seems rough.

The mana works perfect, its a huge upgrade over the previous situation. We have 16 sources of black and white, and 18 blue, perfect for casting T3 Sabotage and T4 Kaya's nasty sweeper. About quench; this turned out to be perhaps the best addition to the deck, but depending on the meta there could also be an argument for Syncopate. The maindeck Lyra is just there for the 1st few weeks of this meta, 90% you face will be (mostly red based) aggro. And yes, Teferi is it's own wincon. Most ppl will scoop long before that though.

Yeah, Turbo and myself worked on that list and its going well in testing. Esper doesn't really need many win cons.

Tweaked version currently testing:



4 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (DAR) GR6
2 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
3 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
4 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
4 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
2 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
4 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241
4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
2 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
4 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
1 Disinformation Campaign (GRN) 167
2 The Eldest Reborn (DAR) 90
1 Lyra Dawnbringer (DAR) 26
4 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
3 Kaya's Wrath (RNA) 187
2 Mortify (RNA) 192
3 Quench (RNA) 48
2 Island (RIX) 193
2 Warrant // Warden (RNA) 230

2 Duress (M19) 94
1 Thief of Sanity (GRN) 205
1 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
2 The Eldest Reborn (DAR) 90
1 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
1 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
2 Cry of the Carnarium (RNA) 70
1 Lyra Dawnbringer (DAR) 26
1 Unmoored Ego (GRN) 212
1 Quench (RNA) 48
2 Disinformation Campaign (GRN) 167

I like the idea of running a few Warrent // Wardens. How's it doing in testing so far?




EDIT: How crazy am I for wondering is Sky Tether is playable in constructed? It's a 1 mana removal spell in control. You don't care that it's target becomes a defender on the ground if your win cons are flyers and PWers. You have enough sweepers that enchantment removal isn't too scary, if that one mana buys you turns before they find it - and the cheap cost helps you play other spells where more costly removal wouldn't.

The obvious nonbo in Esper is with Eldest Reborn, and maybe (prob) that's enough to never consider further there - but I'm thinking it could be good in control decks that don't have access to Reborn but do pack sweepers (Bant, Azorius, Jeskai, or maybe even some goofy Naya build that wants to use W for mass removal, G for ramp and Wilderness Reclamation, and R for big burn finishers).