Bant vs. Esper Control
Standard forum
Posted on April 14, 2014, 6:12 p.m. by bigv54
I went ahead and built the esper control deck, but then saw a very cool looking list for bant that had me salivating over the possibilities. Assuming no boundaries due to price or card availability, which do you think is better?
A word on my meta, I'm this week going to attend FNM at a new store since I recently moved and so I don't know every deck there. I did however draft there last week and when I spoke to the owner and a few players, I learned that esper control is very big there along with mono black and then various splashing of other decks rogue or otherwise. Apparently, esper has won the last 3 weeks there though, and not all the same player.
Which is strictly better in y'all's opinion and which is better against esper in the control mirror?
CommanderOfBolas says... #3
I think Esper is better in the control match up. Thoughtseize is just such a powerful tool against control. I feel like Kiora, the Crashing Wave is better against agro decks. I would prefer Esper in your meta
April 14, 2014 6:24 p.m.
That's what I was thinking, I might switch it to bant if it ends up more aggro heavy. Thank you guys very much!
April 14, 2014 6:26 p.m.
I play primarily aggro deck as they fit my style of play, and I must say that Esper is rougher then Bant. Kiora, the Crashing Wave dose almost nothing against me post SB since I'll be packing 4 Skullcrack and even if I don't have them she only shuts down 1 creature while the rest of my guys are free to swing wildly at my opponent or kill the walker. Esper however has spot removal to keep my pump spells in line and 1-2 Drown in Sorrow in the SB to up their sweepers against me. Of all the control variants Esper is by far the best against aggro in my experience, it's still not great but at least it gets around my 4 MB Skylasher and all I have is my 2 SB Gladecover Scout . I have won tones of games on the back of a T2 Skylasher into Madcap Skills and other pumps where none Esper only really have 4 cards in their decks that interact with me.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
I played a Bant control build last Friday and it was a nasty piece of work.
Esper is very powerful and has access to Thoughtseize (which is often good enough to be splashed for by itself), Doom Blade , Hero's Downfall , and occasionally Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver . It definitely packs more removal.
However, I feel that Bant is more of a dark horse control deck since it competes with Azorius and Esper decks for the dominate control build. Adding green removes some of its removal opportunities, making it more reliant on Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict , but green also opens up Kiora, the Crashing Wave as damage prevention, card draw and extra land, and a win condition..
April 14, 2014 6:21 p.m.