Looking for some sideboard help. I want a fair balance between aggro and reanimator hate. If there's any feedback you wish to give, I'm game.
Pretty simple you mill or kill.
Unlike most Esper builds that use Restoration Angel,
Augur of Bolas
, and Snapcaster Mage as their creature base, this deck uses a creature that I feel is underrated in Consuming Aberration.
I noticed one thing about Esper, it can tend to be too slow, and has a one sided win condition in milling. Another major thing is, the creatues in those Esper builds aren't really designed to get you another win condition in damage. Well, what if you had a creature that takes all those cards you milled and has a power and toughness equal to them? And what if you make him unblockable? AND, what if this said creature helps itself get bigger if you cast things with him on the battlefield? You will win.
He has back ups in the form of planeswalkers and the core spells polarized in many Esper builds to back you up.
Creatures - Only 2 in the build, Consuming Aberration as a play set and 2
Augur of Bolas
. Consuming Aberration has a lot of interactions with this deck and is the heart and soul of the deck. Of course, the obvious is he's bigger based on our opponent's grave yard. His ability to mill while we cast a spell is huge for us. Esper is all about spells so he accelerates to one of our win conditions. He is also the reason for Rogue's Passage. If we can make him unblockable for the killing blow, why not? Also, he has great synergy with Devour Flesh. Are they going to kill him or exile him? Well, Devour Flesh and gain life equal to how big he is. I have casted a wrath and then Devour Flesh to gain me necessary life to survive, have mana open for other responses to then efficiently cast
Sphinx's Revelation
for maximum value and card advantage.
Planeswalkers - They put in work in a number of ways. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad can create tokens for us while we do our milling or controlling. Gideon, Champion of Justice can be just a big body. His ultimate might not hit but he can get big and wreck face. If nothing else, he can take the attention off of our life total so our opponent can deal with him. More turns you survive, more answers you draw into. Jace, Memory Adept helps us to either mill with his zero ability or can help us draw cards. He's especially amazing vs Junk Reanimator. Get some blockers from Sorin, Lord of Innistrad tokens, Consuming Aberration and/or
Augur of Bolas
mixed with some control spells and just draw answers. I've done nothing but draw cards with his +1 and defended him well and still milled to zero against Reanimator WITHOUT using his zero ability.
Spells - I'm only going to cover some as most I feel are pretty self explanatory (
Sphinx's Revelation
anyone?). Merciless Eviction gives us another outlet along side Supreme Verdict while offering more flexibility than miracling
Terminus
or using
Planar Cleansing
. It's especially useful against Reanimator builds. For counter magic, I personally prefer
Dissipate
over Syncopate in this build for Esper.
Psychic Strike
is considered but with Junk Reanimator, and only have 2 in the build, you're probably countering something of a huge importance that you don't want them to interact with.
Sideboard - See updates.
After playing the mainboard during playtesting, I feel it's not being changed. The sideboard is where I would welcome any more feedback on. Overall, it's a fun, different and powerful way someone can play Esper Control.
