Chapter Master | Esper Tokens | Primer WIP

Commander / EDH* Tokens Value Engine WUB (Esper)

Poly_raptor

Lands (35)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dromar's Cavern
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Field of the Dead
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 3x Island
• 1x Kjeldoran Outpost
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Mirrex
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 1x Obscura Storefront
• 3x Plains
• 1x Raffine's Tower
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Watery Grave

Protection (4)

• 1x Bastion Protector
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Vexilus Praetor

Ramp (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Grim Hireling
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Replicating Ring
• 1x Skyclave Relic
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Tezzeret the Schemer
• 1x The Golden Throne
• 1x Thought Vessel

Multiple Tokens Per Turn (6)

• 1x Chrome Host Seedshark
• 1x Dovescape
• 1x Hero of Bladehold
• 1x Leonin Warleader
• 1x Monastery Mentor
• 1x Nadir Kraken

Removal (6)

• 1x Fractured Identity
• 1x Hour of Reckoning
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Vindicate

Upkeep Tokens (5)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Mechanized Production
• 1x Ophiomancer
• 1x Skrelv's Hive

Other Alt Wincons (4)

• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Revel in Riches
• 1x Wound Reflection
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Utility (4)

• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Grand Crescendo
• 1x Junk Winder
• 1x Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim

Commander (1)

Draw (6)

• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Stormsurge Kraken
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight

Other Tokens (6)

• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Ethereal Investigator
• 1x Felidar Retreat
• 1x Minn, Wily Illusionist
• 1x Search the Premises
• 1x Smuggler's Share

Buffers (5)

• 1x Angel of Invention
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Eldrazi Monument
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Skyhunter Strike Force

Counterspells (4)

• 1x Access Denied
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Spell Swindle
• 1x Sublime Epiphany

Attack Triggers (3)

• 1x Commissar Severina Raine
• 1x Company Commander
• 1x Myrel, Shield of Argive

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Maybeboard

Other (8)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Crafty Cutpurse
• 1x Deadly Derision
• 1x Halo Fountain
• 1x Mondrak, Glory Dominus
• 1x Thalisse, Reverent Medium

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I remember playing a lot of Warhammer when I was younger. Well, when I say playing I mean sitting and painting the miniatures with my older brother, who actually played it. I just enjoyed the miniatures, was probably a bit too young to understand the actual game, but I have fond memories of the Space Marines. I actually preferred Chaos Marines, but probably just because my brother played with the good guys!

I’ve been in and out the Magic loop for the last couple of years but when I heard about the Universes beyond crossover Commander decks it really peaked my interest. Not knowing much of the lore I just fancied a look at the Magic cards.

Marneus Calgar appealed to me pretty quickly, I like tokens and I like drawing cards. So I thought I’d have a go at brewing up a list around him.

The Deck

This is an Esper token deck that has a couple of alternate wincons to fall back on, if it can not win through combat damage.

It aims to win in the mid to late game and may be a little slow in the early game as it has a slightly high average cmc.

It offers an awful lot of card draw through the commander, in playtesting it seems quite powerful. It would do well in casually competitive pods that like longer games, but would be too slow for CEDH games.

The majority of games I have played when I’ve had the chance to get down to my LGS have involved decks of a similar power level and I have designed it to play in that scenario, however, it is still in early play testing phases.

Strategies

Going Wide / Combat Damage

The main way the deck aims to win is through the combat phase.

Swinging with lots of creatures with flying and indestructible thanks to Eldrazi Monument or triggers such as Commissar Severina Raine should be enough to beat our opponents to death.

There are plenty of anthem affects such as Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to increase damage and Wound Reflection to heap on the loss of life.

Alternate Win Cons

If we can not get the win through combat damage and loss of life, we might be able to sneak a win with either Machanized production or Revel in Riches, these are sort of easy to prevent for our opponents though, as you can see it coming.

Laboratory Maniac is in the deck as there is a combo that could allow us to draw the while Library and win on the spot. The combo is Ashnod's Altar + Marneus Calgar + Pitiless Plunderer

You start off by activating Marneus Calgar to create 2 tokens. (Draw a card) sacrifice these tokens to Ashnod's Altar to float {C} {C} {C} {C} which will trigger Pitiless Plunderer creating 2 treasure tokens (draw a card)), sacrifice the new treasures for the remaining {C} {C} to activate Marneus Calgar again. Rinse and repeat. This would be hard to interact with, as the only action an opponent could prevent would be the activation of Marneus Calgar or by removing 1 of the 3 pieces. As the sacrificing of the creatures and artifacts are mana abilities they can not be stopped and if an opponent does attempt to remove a piece you can hopefully activate Marneus Calgar again in respone if you have enough tokens on the board to sacrifice to Ashnod's Altar

You can also create a similar combo with Ashnod's Altar + Marneus Calgar + Nadir Kraken Draw a card and pay {1} to create a token with nadir kraker, this triggers Marneus Calgar drawing a card, which triggers Nadir Kraken again, sacrifice the first token made to Ashnod's Altar and use {1} to activate Nadir Kraken again, rinse and repeat. This nets infinite mana and infinite card draw, along with infinite death triggers.

These combos would draw into Laboratory Maniac and should also net enough mana to cast and protect it.

Value Engines

The deck runs a lot of card draw and token synergies that really revolve around the general. There are a few cards that create a token on upkeep, meaning before you’ve even had your draw step you could have drawn 3 cards. Paired with cards like Minn, Wily Illusionist or ethereal investor will make more tokens to draw more cards again. If unchecked I think you could easily be drawing 4-5 cards per turn.

Dovescape is a horrible card in this deck, countering all noncreature spells and creating tokens, giving us more card draw, paired with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite it will remove all doves our opponents create and buff all of our flyers even more.

Top Ranked	Achieved #8 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #7 position in Commander / EDH 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Value Engine 1 year ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Key combos	Ashnod's Altar + Marneus Calgar + Nadir Kraken Ashnod's Altar + Marneus Calgar + Pitiless Plunderer
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.62
Tokens	1/1 WU Token Creature Bird, Ape 3/3 G, Astartes Warrior 2/2 W, Cat 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Cat Beast 2/2 W, Citizen 1/1 GW, Clue, Copy Clone, Emblem Tezzeret the Schemer, Etherium Cell, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Human 1/1 W, Illusion 1/1 U w/ Illusion Tribal, Incubator, Monk 1/1 W, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Phyrexian Mite 1/1 C, Replicated Ring, Servo 1/1 C, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Snake 1/1 B, Soldier, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 2/2 U, Tentacle 1/1 U, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	MTG EDH Decks, TTS, Fun Decks