Esper Control Mirror
Standard forum
Posted on May 8, 2014, 2:28 p.m. by bigv54
I'm running esper control and I'm just gonna brag for a minute here, I haven't lost a match with it yet. With one exception, I can't win the mirror no matter what i try, and unfortunately that makes up a decent percentage of my meta. What advice could you guys give for the mirror? Mainly looking for key cards to use and general strategies for coming out on top. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because I'm having a lot of fun with the deck and i would have a couple first place finishes already if i wasn't having a hard time with that matchup
I bring in 2 Duress , in addition to my 3 mainboard Thoughtseize . I also bring in 2 Negate and a 2nd AEtherling . You basically want to load up on counterspells and hand disruption. In an Esper mirror match, it will come down to who misses a land drop first, and who resolves the first big threat.
May 8, 2014 3:12 p.m.
Arorsthrar says... #4
When I played control, I nearly always won control matchups. My board plan was to bring in 12 creatures and beat them down with sideboard transformation. This required a game one win to be effective, so my mainboard was kind of geared towards control with extra cycling, 2x AEtherling , and 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion and more than average counters.
But assuming you want to keep a normal plan, the mirror is all about hitting the land drops and landing a successful AEtherling . Usually the first person to miss a land drop will have to be the first person to make a move. It's really complex, since if you cast something on your turn and it gets countered, your opponent will resolve something and you'll be behind. Try to limit your opponents card advantage to get them to miss a land drop.
Killabeetle says... #2
Thoughtseize / Duress , Negate , Dispel , Gainsay , and maybe a Notion Thief are good SB for the mirror match. AEtherling and Blood Baron of Vizkopa are also nice to have extra copies of as well but I think it all depends on who can stick AEtherling first. That will most likely be the winner.
May 8, 2014 2:39 p.m.