Need help against Esper Control
Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 24, 2013, 2:14 p.m. by hochmaster
A friend of mine has this really annoying esper that I have a really hard time dealing with, because it drags games on for so long, and once he gets 4 lands out there, his game stabilizes and he can just stall until he gets blood baron, obzedat, or AEtherling. I usually like to play against him with my really speedy boros, or my early-game smash face selesnya(both of which are here on tappedout on my profile), but he just uses supreme verdict to destroy my attempts at blitzing him, and refills his hand with sphinx's revelation. I would like to be able to beat him without changing either of my decks too much, just using my sideboard to stop the board wipes, and the sphinx's revelations especially. Any help you guys can offer would just be great.
10vernothin says... #3
well... there's a few you can do
a) Undying Evil gets over boardwipe
b) Legion's Initiative also gets over boardwipe
c) Silence can be used offensively to bait out sphinxes and counterspells.
d) Skullcrack works
e) Brave the Elements if your creatures are more white than green
August 24, 2013 2:47 p.m.
hochmaster says... #5
Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I have decided to fight fire with fire, and make an orzhov that focuses on enchanting hard-to-remove creatures and disrupting the enemy's hand. He can't do anything by top-decking games, so destroying his hand is the best way to go.
August 24, 2013 2:58 p.m.
brokendwarf says... #6
I agree with 10vernothin on some of these.
Boros Charm and Legion's Initiative are your best bet for dealing with Supreme Verdict. (You've got that covered).
Skullcrack will deal with the lifegain from Sphinx's Revelation, and Silence is a good bait card.
August 24, 2013 3:04 p.m.
detentionsphere says... #7
GW can be an extremely tough matchup for Esper. With Dryad Militant , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Voice of Resurgence , Strangleroot Geist , and Loxodon Smiter , the deck can be extremely resilient.
Just be careful not to overextend into sweepers. Try to keep about 5-6 power of creatures on the board at a time, and keep the rest in your hand in case of a Verdict.
August 24, 2013 5:51 p.m.
hochmaster says... #8
Never mind lol, that orzhov was terrible anyway, I have discovered Esper's true weakness: Discard and Milling. If their starting hand can be crippled early game, then they will be forced to play a game with top-decking, which never works. In addition, killing their shocks with contaminated ground and robbing them of blue can destroy their game. Esper packs too much stuff for dealing with other people's creatures, so why not make a deck that mills and doesn't run that many dudes anyway? They have little to no planeswalker removal, so jace helps to mill, and milling with land discard is especially helpful early game, because it keeps them from drawing lands and having enough for, say, obzedat or AEtherling.
August 24, 2013 6:35 p.m.
I'd more be looking at jund with Sire Of Insanity . I play a really random 4-colour enchantment control. (All but blue). I water with manadorks like Arbor Elf and Farseek . I then stabilise with Thragtusk and Centaur Healer , and proceed to play out Blightcaster and lots of Dead Weight , Oblivion Ring , Pacifism . And then I just win with bomby enchantments and Sire Of Insanity . It's so satisfying knowing my opponent has no creatures, no hand, and every upkeep Deadbridge Chant and Primeval Bounty are flooding me with value, and I've got an Assemble the Legion ticking up. Yeah, I know it sounds quite disjointed and Wierd, but it works. I beat a jund 2-0 with it, and sire is just funny against control... Before they top deck Mizzium Mortars next turn. :/
August 25, 2013 2:53 a.m.
hochmaster says... #11
Yep, I got it down, ironically by having a very similar setup as an esper, with low amounts of creatures, but super-hard milling and hand corruption. Here's the deck, A Poison Deck.
Krayhaft says... #2
Is this standard? Thalia, Guardian of Thraben represents a great swing of tempo in your favor, effectively setting your opp. a turn back. Skullcrack is a good counter for his revelations, as he'll usually tap out for SR and can't respond to it.
For your selesnya, you'll want value creatures, so that even if he kills them you'll still get something out of them. Things like Voice of Resurgence , and the obvious Restoration Angel and Thragtusk combo will give you something, even if they're removed.
August 24, 2013 2:38 p.m.