Esper Dragons - Out of Control

Standard haysmafia1

SCORE: 18 | 72 COMMENTS | 5288 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS


justinhays says... #1

I like were your going but try to throw in more creatures to block. With there being three legendary creatures you can only have 3 on the field. You only have a 6 out of 60 chance of getting a creature. You can't just rely on counters so try to get some more creatures in there.

June 9, 2015 10 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #2

Block what? The creatures that I have already countered or removed? Lol.

Odds of having a creature are better, since I have a lot of scry and draw.

June 9, 2015 10:30 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #3

Yeah, so Esper Control is blowing up tournaments all over the place. Most decks I've seen are running 27 land and only 5-6 creatures.

Examples:

  • http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=17206&iddeck=129246

  • http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=17137&iddeck=128650

  • http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=17130&iddeck=128601

Since I am on a budget, Thoughtseize won't be making an appearance. I'll probably balance out Duress / Despise depending on the match-up.

Only one Dig (since I already have it), so I'll up the Anticipate to a full playset.

Bile Blight might get boarded out.

I need help building a competitive sideboard. Main threats appear to be: Red Deck Wins/Burn, Mono-green aggro, Abzan Midrange.

June 10, 2015 9:51 a.m.

TheHroth says... #4

I can understand not getting Thoughtseize due to budget constraints, but I cannot stress enough how necessary a full set of Dig Through Time is to the deck.

My list, The Best Control of Tarkir, has been doing quite well, if you'd like to check it out.

I personally much prefer Dissipate over Dissolve, simply due to the great need to exile things these days (looking at Deathmist Raptor here!)

June 10, 2015 10:10 a.m.

haysmafia1 says... #5

Ok, made a few changes. Now have a little more punch at the back-end.

Last-minute thoughts?

June 10, 2015 8:39 p.m.

downie78 says... #6

I personally don't think Ojutai, Soul of Winter is that good, I would rather have more Dragonlord Ojutai or Icefall Regent

June 12, 2015 9:34 a.m.

haysmafia1 says... #7

Here is the reasoning, hopefully to change your mind:

Go watch all of Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa's Esper Dragons matches.

You will see that with this deck, you will at most have two creatures on the battlefield at any given time. Of course you want one of those to be Dragonlord Ojutai (D.O.) and you want to protect him at all costs.

When you swing with him, you leave yourself open (i.e. no blockers) for some payback on the opponent's next turn. I looked at white cards to give him Vigilance, but we need our counters/removals (no slots for these).

Now, what if I had both D.O. and Ojutai, SoW out together? I've just put the opponent on a two turn clock (whereas D.O. by himself is only four turn, and by the time we cast him, our life total is probably around 10-12). Even if the opponent removes SoW, that still increases D.O.'s chances of survival when swinging.

Lastly, Icefall easily dies to almost every single burn/removal in Standard right now. I can't waste mana to cast a creature that is so vulnerable.

June 12, 2015 9:51 a.m.

Pansini5 says... #8

Pretty cool deck. I'd say that Ojutai Soul of Winter is not reliable enough. I've tried him myself and is just too easily removed and he cannot fight against all the Devotion decks. Yes he has vigilance but you will not really want to block D.Atarka or any other monster creature. You should try to find one Ugin and another D.O. to really solidify your deck. Everything else is pretty good, maybe switch Dissipate for Dissolves. Great deck overall, I'll +1.

June 12, 2015 1:22 p.m.

Pansini5 says... #9

P.S.You should really look into sideboarding Dragonlord's Prerogative against control decks. Is an amazing card.

June 12, 2015 1:24 p.m.

TheHroth says... #10

Dragonlord's Prerogative should just be mainboarded. It is good against every deck, not just control.

Dissipate is better than Dissolve right now. The exile clause is much more relevant than scry 1.

June 12, 2015 1:35 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #11

Pansini5 Thanks for the great feedback. For now, I am trying to keep this as budget as possible. This deck does not work with D.O. and a third one is on the horizon (Ugin as well).

Since, you gave me +1, I'm heading over to check out your decks and if I see anything decent, will return the favor.

June 12, 2015 1:38 p.m.

Pansini5 says... #12

Thank you both, I mainboard Dragonlord's Prerogative myself, but not everyone really does it. I might use dissipate and see how well that works TheHroth. I think Ugin alone will make a huge different if u get it, a wincon for sure.

June 12, 2015 2:38 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #13

Slight tweaks made.

June 12, 2015 5:14 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #14

TheHroth & Pansini5 I made a few more changes, please review and provide some more insightful feedback.

June 13, 2015 10:44 a.m.

TheHroth says... #15

Hero's Downfall needs to be in the mainboard. It's just the best removal spell there is right now.

June 13, 2015 10:50 a.m.

Pansini5 says... #16

I agree with TheHroth with Hero's Downfall. You must have it mainboard. I'd sideboard 2 negate. Then switch treasure cruise for D.Prerogative and put a second one on the side unless u can fit two main.Also I personally believe 3 Mainboard Bile Blight is much better than 2-2, you could take out 1 Anticipate for it and u will have two spots on sideboard open now for anything else that will help against either aggro or green ramp.

June 13, 2015 1:18 p.m.

justinhays says... #17

this deck is what he is going to have it like in the future. Go check out the copy of this deck on his page. That is what the deck is now and this is what the deck will be like down the roadhis copy of this deck:


Esper Dragons - Out of Control copy Playtest

Standard* haysmafia1

SCORE: 0 | 1 COMMENTS | 9 VIEWS

June 13, 2015 3:01 p.m.

I personally would side in a Dragonlord Silumgar or two. It can be a game changer if you're up against a Siege Rhino deck.

June 13, 2015 7:41 p.m.

haysmafia1 says... #19

xXOrgasmusPrimeXx maybe, but that is assuming an Esper deck would allow a Siege Rhino to resolve ;-)

June 13, 2015 7:58 p.m.

TheHroth says... #20

I often let Siege Rhino resolve, even if I can counter it.

June 13, 2015 8:37 p.m.

You should see my Esper control. It is super powerful and it could help your deck immensly. Please up vote mine?

June 15, 2015 6:13 a.m.

mindcrush says... #22

Having 1 copy of Disdainful Stroke seems a little out of place. I'd consider it better to put it to the sideboard and up Anticipate to four copies.

I'd also say that your removal suite is far too situational. Turns two-four you should be able to heavily mitigate what your opponent is able to get on the board but on turn five or six you ideally want to be playing a dragon so you need to be able to remove whatever your opponent plays on that turn (while you're tapped out). Depends on what you see a lot locally but either Hero's Downfall (if you're happy to spend the money on a rotating card) or even Utter End (which I run two copies of) are good options to know you have an answer to just about anything an opponent can play while you're unable to counter. There's all kinds of threats that Foul-Tongue Invocation and Bile Blight are completely impotent against.

I'd also say that Despise is better as a sideboard card. You only have three Swamps so how often are you hitting a turn one Despise? Turns two and three you want to keep your mana up for counters and removal the vast majority of the time, so most likely you're playing it turn four. By then they've either tried to play whatever creature you'd be sending to the graveyard or it's a five or six drop that you won't need to worry about because that's the point at which you'll be taking control.

June 15, 2015 9:32 a.m.

haysmafia1 says... #23

Thanks mindcrush, changes made.

June 15, 2015 10:20 a.m.

mindcrush says... #24

No worries. Hope it helps.

June 15, 2015 10:34 a.m.

haysmafia1 says... #25

Def. mindcrush, it is always appreciated.

June 15, 2015 11:24 a.m.

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