I've always enjoyed control shells, and most of my personal favorite plays or memories start with 'On your end step...'
This is my take on Esper Control with one MAJOR caveat: I refuse to play
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
. As a control player I love the card, but I hate what it did to the format and how many players considered themselves control players because they could win by resolving Teferi.
Before I go through the choices I made for the deck, a quick note on lands: I know this is not an optimized mana base, these are the lands I have. Working towards a full set of shocks for each color pair.
Chemister's Insight
is fantastic card draw, and the jumpstart on it is great. Even if you only see one in a game, you can cast it twice, and that is a powerful option to have for a deck like this. There is a reason this card is a staple of blue decks.
Despark
: I have gone back and forth about this card being in the main board, but the flexibility on it keeps it place for now. There are a lot of good targets, whether they are creatures, planeswalkers, or enchantments at 4+ mana, and having clean, cheap, fast removal for them is crucial.
Dovin's Veto
: Control mirrors are often won or lost based on a single resolution, so blanking an opponent's counter spell is huge for this deck. While slightly harder to cast than
Negate
, being able to win the counter war is worth it in a meta that sees control decks (and planeswalkers) heavily represented.
Dovin, Hand of Control
: This card was a late addition to the deck, and it has more than earned its spot. The passive ability is great, especially in tandem with
Teferi, Time Raveler
, as opponents are locked out of playing at instant speed and their sorceries (instant or actual) cost an additional mana. Sometimes that 1 mana is the difference in turning the corner on a game. The minus ability is great, as limiting the biggest threat on the board is exactly what you need to do until you find removal.
Enter the God-Eternals
: This card does it all. I mean there are four modes, so it really does it all. It is a bit slow (great with a Kefnet though), and I am unsure of the number in the deck (2 or 3), but I think this card is worth playing as it helps the deck in so many ways.
God-Eternal Kefnet
: Very difficult to get rid of, very good stats. The ability to copy spells off the draw is great, even if we can't always reduce the cost of a spell. When it can reduce the cost of a
Chemister's Insight
,
Vraska's Contempt
, or an
Enter the God-Eternals
, its a good day.
Karn, Scion of Urza
: This card has been a staple for me since it came out. The card advantage is great and I seldom dont want to see this card off the top.
Mortify
: Glad this is back. Doesn't care how big or legendary your creature is (looking at you
Cast Down
), just great removal. Really helps picking off enchantments like
Wilderness Reclamation
and Sagas.
Search for Azcanta
: All star, staple, whatever you want to call it. Good card is good.
Teferi, Time Raveler
: Definitely one of the more impactful additions from WAR. Shutting down counter spells, forcing control to tap out on their turn to do anything is amazing. Even the -3 is great when you can draw a card on top of removing something. This card has overperformed for me and one of the few cards I fear in the Esper mirror.
Thought Erasure
: This is, I daresay, my favorite card in standard. Even if there was so surveil, this card would be good enough for me, but the surveil takes it from a strong T2 for us to a strong T2+helping enable T3 (either fixing land or getting rid of a non-helpful card.
Tyrant's Scorn
: Great for removing a lot of threats in the mono red and mono white decks, can bounce a bigger threat for a turn and sometimes that is all we need. This into Though Erasure hurts a lot of opposing win-cons.
Ugin, the Ineffible: This card was a late addition to the deck. I like the fact it comes down with 6 mana on board, no matter the color. I don't care for the static ability, but protecting itself with a card that goes to your hand, and removal of any type of permanent is extremely valuable, especially if you can get the loyalty back up for a second or third trigger.
Vraska's Contempt
is back and stronger than ever (did it really ever leave) now that there are more planeswalkers.
Sideboard:
Chromium, the Mutable
is a powerful finisher folks seem to have forgotten about. Comes in against the mirror.
Cry of the Carnarium
is great against mono-red, mono-white, azorious aggro, and phoenix decks.
Duress
is a staple of control decks for a reason. Comes in against control,
Nexus of Fate
, and I have even used it against mono red to rip burn spells out of their hand.
Kaya's Wrath
is back up board wipe for things that dodge
Cry of the Carnarium
and make it past our other single target removal.
Narset, Parter of Veils
pulls double duty against control, greatly limiting their card advantage and giving us an Azcanta-lite effect.
Thief of Sanity
: If you've played with it, you know how strong it is. If you've played against it, you know how strong it is. Good card is good and can steal a game if allowed to swing a few times. Can come in against a variety of matchups, especially when opposing removal is weak or boarded out.
Unmoored Ego
: T1 or T2,
Duress
or
Thought Erasure
for the counter spell, T3 name
Nexus of Fate
,
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
, or whatever else you want.
