This is an explorer legal version of Esper Greasefang that attempts to address the weaknesses of the original deck by having a more proactive 'plan b'. I'm still very much in testing so any feedback or comments would be welcome.
For those not familiar, Esper Greasefang is a combo deck that looks to cheat card:Parhellion II into play by reanimating it with Greasefang, Okiba Boss. This allows us to swing for 13 in the air as early as turn 3, and leaves behind a pair of 4/4 angles with flying and vigilance to finish the job next turn. The problem with the original version of the list is that it was 'all in' on the combo plan. If the opponent ever managed to stick a piece of graveyard hate there were very few alternative paths to victory.
Having tried both esper and mardu versions of this deck, I had written esper off as the inferior version until I ran across this: https://mtg.cardsrealm.com/en-us/articles/explorer--obscura-greasefang-deck-tech--sideboard-guide article. While some of the card choices seemed sub-optimal, the basic premise of exploiting the threat of the combo to force your opponent into mis-playing seemed solid. After a bit of experimentation, the list below is what I ended up with.
Card Choices
The Combo:
4x Greasefang, Okiba Boss
4x Parhellion II
Not a lot to say here. Get a Parhellion in the graveyard, play a Greasefang, reanimate and crew for fun and profit. If you are in a meta where aggro is popular, adding in a copy of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is an option but most of the time you would be better served just running more removal.
Enablers
2x Kaito Shizuki
4x Ledger Shredder
4x Raffine, Scheming Seer
One of the keys to making this deck work (and an area where the maru version falls short IMHO) is having repeatable discard outlets. Drawing the combo doesn't do anything unless we have a way to get Parhellion out of our hand and into the graveyard. These cards all give us a way to dig through the deck AND pitch Parhellion when the time is right.
Plan B
4x Raffine's Informant
4x Ledger Shredder
4x Raffine, Scheming Seer
Both explorer and pioneer are rife with decks that depend on the graveyard. As a consequence, we need to be able to fight through the hate. Our creature package is full of threats that can take over the game if left unchecked. Informant is the secret sauce of this deck, giving us a cheap way to discard and a potent early clock, similar to the role Bloodtithe Harvester plays in the Mardu version.
Interaction
2x Thought Erasure
4x Thoughtseize
2x Fatal Push
2x Obscura Charm
Our first line of defense is a strong dose of hand disruption. We back that up with a dash of removal/counter magic.
Recursion
2x Can't Stay Away
2x Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
Sometimes we have to discard a creature to connive that we want back later. Sometimes they simply have more removal than we have threats. In those situations we want ways to get our creatures back. Sorin also helps us stabilize, buying us time with lifelink.
Sideboard
Dovin's Veto Bring this in for the control matchup.
Vanishing Verse This is primarily an anti-aggro tech, but it's a nice catch-all against a lot of common threats. Keep in mind this only hits mono-COLORED permanents. Don't expect this card to help you against colorless artifacts.
Unlicensed Hearse Bring this in against the mirror or any deck where you need to interact with the yard at instant speed. This is one of the few tools that can shut down cat/oven.
Fateful Absence This is our safety valve against planeswalkers. Ideally we want to keep pesky walkers from getting into play at all, but if something slips through this is our best fallback.
Graveyard Trespasser
Have I mentioned that graveyard interaction is important? Bring this card in against graveyard decks, or control/midrange decks where we want a threat that is hard to remove.
The Wandering Emperor You could make a case for running this maindeck, but I prefer to keep the list as focused as possible for game 1. Post board, this card is a great swiss-army knife, especially if you expect a lot of graveyard hate that makes Sorin less useful.
Yahenni's Expertise While the aggro matchup is never going to be great, we at least want to give ourselves a fighting chance. Being able to clear the board and get a free greasefang or rafine into play is a huge value swing if we can survive long enough to pull it off.
Go Blank This is a flex slot that you could swap out for whatever the current meta demand.
Matchups
Azorious Control
Out: 2x Fatal Push, 2x Obscura Charm
In: 4x Dovin's Veto
This is, surprisingly, one of our better matchups. We simply attack from too many angles and they have a hard time covering everything. Post board we take out our generic answers for something more targeted. There are other cards we may want to consider, depending on what adjustments you expect your opponent to make. Fateful Absence is good if you expect them to double down on the planeswalker plan. If you expect them to bring in enchantment based removal/hate like portable hole or rest in peace, then you may want to add some copies of Vanishing Verse. The Wandering Emperor is a good threat to bring in if they are sticking with the draw-go plan since you can flash it in in response to them tapping out to draw cards or play a walker.
Rakdos Midrange
Out: 2x Thought Erasure, 4x Thoughtseize
In: 2x Graveyard Trespasser, 2x Vanishing Verse, 2x Yahenni's Expertise OR 1x The Wandering Emperor, 1x Go Blank
This matchup feels like a coin-flip most of the time. If the game goes long, they win the value war so try to jam threats aggressively and force them to have the answer. One key is to not throw Parhellion into the yard too early. We don't want it getting sniped by a Tresspasser, so try to keep Parhellion in your hand until you are ready to combo off. This is the matchup where I think there is the most potential to pick up points with a better sideboard but I don't know what adjustments to make.
Mono-Red Aggro
Out: 2x Thought Erasure, 4x Thoughtseize, 2x Kaito Shizuki
In: 2x Yahenni's Expertise, 2x Vanishing Verse, 2x Graveyard Trespasser, 1x Fateful Absence, 1x The Wandering Emperor
From the games I have played so far, this feels like our worst matchup. They don't need to run graveyard hate if they can simply kill us before we can go off. We bring in lots of removal, but at best we are buying time. If we want to win this matchup we simply need to get lucky and combo off as fast as possible.
RB/x Sacrifice
Out: 2x Kaito Shizuki, 2x Thought Erasure, 1x Raffine's Informant
In: 2x Unlicensed Hearse, 1x Fateful Absence, 2x Graveyard Trespasser
This is a matchup I haven't seen much of when playing this list, the the card choices here are based on experience with other lists. Some adjustment will be needed depending on the specific variant you are playing.
Going Forward
As mentioned earlier this list is till very much a work in progress. There are several areas I am looking for help in refining or tweaking.
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Manabase:
Trying to craft a consistent manabase for a deck like this is a challenge. We need to balance carefully to make sure we can consistently get access to all three colors without creating situations where we have to play a turn behind due to tap-lands or where we eat too much damage from shock lands. I'm used to crafting for standard so advice from more experienced brewers would be great.
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Improving the RB Midrange matchup:
RB Midrange is the deck I feel like there is the most room for improvement, but I'm a bit stumped trying to figure out what adjustments to make. Are there additions I could make to the 75 to give myself a fighting chance?
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Cards on the chopping block:
In the main deck, I'm pondering whether Ledger Shredder is worth trimming or cutting. The deck doesn't have enough 1 and 2 mana proactive cards to consistently trigger connive. The best argument for keeping it right now is that the combination of high toughness and flying make it a good target for Raffine's ability. I'm not sure that is enough, but I'm also not sure what cards could potentially replace it.
In the sideboard, Go Blank feels a bit luckluster. The only matchup I would ever side it in is the mirror, and I think there are better uses for the slot. If I cut Go Blank, what would you suggest instead?
