Without further ado, here’s the new list:

Esper Control

Jeremy Neeman

Test deck on 01-22-2012

Standard

Creatures (5)

• 2 Grave Titan
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 2 Snapcaster Mage

Lands (27)

• 4 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 3 Island
• 2 Ghost Quarter
• 2 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 3 Isolated Chapel

Spells (28)

• 1 Dissipate
• 3 Mana Leak
• 4 Think Twice
• 2 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Negate
• 1 Doom Blade
• 3 Day of Judgment
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 1 White Sun's Zenith
• 2 Pristine Talisman
• 2 Timely Reinforcements
• 4 Forbidden Alchemy

Sideboard

• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Negate
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 2 Phantasmal Image
• 2 Timely Reinforcements
• 1 Curse of Death's Hold
• 3 Nephalia Drownyard

This deck has evolved quite a bit from when I wrote about it last month. Part of that was thanks to the input of Daniel Unwin, whose article about the deck is here: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/23365_Pristine_Esper.html

The most notable things that have changed are:

– No more Consecrated Sphinx. This card is very good against Wolf Run and G/W Tokens, usually putting you in an unlosable position as soon as you untap with it. Both of those decks have fallen off the radar, though, and there are far too many Vapor Snags running around for the card-drawing riddlemeister to still be a good choice. You can’t afford to have their one mana trade for your six, especially when Snapcaster Mage starts getting involved.

Instead, the six-drop of choice is now Grave Titan. It beats Vapor Snag, which makes it a better choice than Wurmcoil Engine or Consecrated Sphinx, and it’s more consistent than Sun Titan, who too often gets back a land or is just a six-mana 6/6. This necessitated a rework of the manabase to add more black sources, and it’s held up very well. I like 27 land, 2 Talismans—even though it’s a lot of mana sources, you never want to miss a land drop. With the full four Forbidden Alchemies alongside white and blue Zeniths, you usually have things to spend your mana on.

Speaking of which…

– Zeniths. With my previous build I was trying to just ignore other control decks, and you can’t get away with that. People are still playing Grixis, the mirror, and straight U/B. The two Zeniths are a big part of how you win the long, grindy games—without those, you have nothing but the easily-countered Grave Titans. They’re also useful against the Fish decks; you don’t want to tap out for a Grave Titan main phase if they can Snapcast a Mana Leak, and Zeniths give you a lot of versatility.

– Pristine Talisman. This card is pretty sweet. Acceleration is a big deal in a deck like this one because if you get to start flashing back Forbidden Alchemies and aren’t about to die, you’re probably winning the game. The lifegain matters a lot as well, so the card does basically everything you want it to, even if not all that efficiently. The Moorland Haunt decks will typically try to grind you out by chipping away at your life total bit by bit, and Talisman plus Timely Reinforcements helps to ensure that they aren’t successful.

There are a couple of other things that aren’t as big, but I still think are worth mentioning.

– Timely Reinforcements main. This card is just awesome against enough of the metagame that it makes up for being terrible against the other 20%. It’s excellent against any deck that wants to attack you, and it’s unfair how good it is against red, especially in conjunction with Pristine Talisman. There are games where you have two, and you never go below 16 life.

– Go for the Throat is actually better than Doom Blade now. Not being able to kill Inkmoth Nexus is a thing, but being able to kill Phyrexian Crusader is much more important, not to mention Olivia Voldaren or any Phantasmal Images doing their best Grave Titan imitation. (UPDATE: Even more so now with Conley Woods‘ B/G/r ramp winning GP Orlando—killing Grave Titan is suddenly very important again. A 3-0 split in favor of GftT might now be correct.)

– The counterspell suite has changed, with Negate the big winner. This card is very well placed at the moment. The aggro decks don’t even play that many creatures, and their dangerous threats are things like Sword of War and Peace. It’s particularly good at fighting through permission—Mana Leak doesn’t stop Mana Leak on Day of Judgment, but Negate does, and sometimes you really need it to resolve on turn 6.

The matchups:

Mono-Red:

With the Esper deck I played at Worlds, red was probably our worst matchup. In this evolution of the deck, I’d be happy to play against red all day long—it’s amazing what a bit of lifegain can do. Any game you draw Timely Reinforcements, you’re favored unless they manage to resolve Shrine, in which case it’s still up in the air. Two Timely’s will gain you enough life that a Grave Titan can race, but sometimes you do need to hit that Oblivion Ring.

If you don’t have Reinforcements early, all is not lost. Removal and Day of Judgment can buy you enough time to get a finisher online or to cast enough Forbidden Alchemies to find Timely + Snapcaster. Pristine Talisman is amazing here, ensuring that if you do manage to deal with their initial wave of guys, you can stay afloat through burn off the top.

The tough games are the ones they resolve Shrine and you can’t find an answer or a Timely Reinforcements. If that happens, you’ll generally lose. There are also games where they have a very fast draw and you’re a little too durdly, particularly when you’re on the draw.

Sideboarding:

On the play:
-2 Negate
-1 Dissipate
-1 White Sun’s Zenith
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Ratchet Bomb
+1 Oblivion Ring

On the draw:
-3 Mana Leak
-2 Negate
-1 Dissipate
-1 White Sun’s Zenith
+2 Ratchet Bomb
+1 Day of Judgment
+2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Oblivion Ring
+1 Elesh Norn

On the play, Mana Leak can stop a Shrine. On the draw, it can’t, and they don’t run a lot of three- and four-drops. Apart from that, boarding is pretty self-explanatory. You’re better post-board thanks mostly to the third and fourth Timely Reinforcements, and the extra answers to Shrine (Oblivion Ring, Ratchet Bomb) help as well. They really don’t have much to board in against you—most lists just add Manic Vandals or something for your Talismans. However, if you see Koth or Manabarbs, keep in Mana Leak even when on the draw.

Moorland Haunt:

The decks that play this card represent a diverse slice of the metagame, but your plan against them is similar enough that it makes sense to classify them all under one heading.

Against most U/W decks, you want to board in:

+1 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Day of Judgment
+1 Elesh Norn
+1 Curse of Death’s Hold
+2 Ratchet Bomb

What you want to take out varies because so much depends on their particular build. Dissipate pretty much always comes out—it’s far too clunky—and you usually cut a Blue Sun’s Zenith as well. The four remaining cards are typically some combination of White Sun’s Zenith, Mana Leaks, Doom Blades/GftTs, Snapcaster Mages, and Oblivion Rings.

Against U/W tempo (with Invisible Stalker and Runechanter’s Pike), I board something like:

-1 Dissipate
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
-1 Doom Blade
-1 Mana Leak
-1 Snapcaster Mage
-1 White Sun’s Zenith

Although it’s fairly flexible. When on the play you might want to leave Mana Leak in, and on the draw you might want to take more out. Timely Reinforcements and Day of Judgment ensure that you aren’t kold to a Geist of Saint Traft, but it’s always good to have more answers. Oblivion Ring is clunky but important against their equipment, so I’d leave that in unless you’re sure they only have two pieces. Spot removal is actually quite bad against this deck, since so many of their threats are cards like Invisible Stalker, Geist of Saint Traft, Midnight Haunting, and Snapcaster Mage. You need it when they have a Delver that flips early, but that’s about it.

Against U/W Humans, I board:

On the play:
-1 Dissipate
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
-1 White Sun’s Zenith
-1 Mana Leak
-2 Negate

On the draw:
-1 Dissipate
-1 White Sun’s Zenith
-2 Negate
-3 Mana Leak
+1 Oblivion Ring

If you’re on the draw, counterspells are exceptionally bad against this deck because Grand Abolisher can come down and ruin your day. Mana Leak is alright on the play, though—you have to stop Mirran Crusader one way or another. Oblivion Ring is much better against this deck than the heavier blue variants because it does have expensive permanents it can target, like Hero of Bladehold, Mirran Crusader, and Angelic Destiny. Taking out an Honor of the Pure out can be pretty clutch as well.

Against Illusions, I board:

-1 Dissipate
-1 Blue Sun’s Zenith
-3 Mana Leak
-2 Oblivion Ring
-1 Snapcaster Mage
+2 Phantasmal Image

Whether on the play or draw. I think Mana Leak is worse here than against U/W tempo because they don’t always have cards like Sword of War and Peace you want to counter, and Geist of Saint Traft can be dealt with by Phantasmal Image as well as Reinforcements/Day. Mana Leak never counters the Bears and Delvers that do you the most damage. Similarly, Oblivion Ring is mostly just too slow—targeting anything other than a Sword of War and Peace is a loss of tempo, and losing tempo is a great way to ensure you lose this matchup.

Exactly which cards you board in and out depends a lot on exactly what you see in game 1, so treat the boarding guidelines as they are—just guidelines, not rules set in stone. I’d like to fit a Divine Offering in the board, but space is tight as it is, and Oblivion Ring covers that base already (albeit less efficiently).

I’m not scared of any of these matchups. You’re not a massive favorite or anything, but I think you are a favorite—somewhere between 55-60%, depending on their build. The games have a ton of play to them, so make sure to get in lots of practice. A few tips:

– Don’t play into Mana Leak unless you absolutely have to. It’s better to take lots more damage if your Day is guaranteed to resolve next turn. They don’t pack burn spells, so you can hang around on five life or so until you find a Timely Reinforcements.

– You can attack! Their deck is very poorly geared to play defense, and sometimes White Sun’s Zenith or Grave Titan just races. Make sure to get in damage with Soldier tokens if they weren’t going to block anyway.

– If neither player is doing very much except playing lands, you are the huge favorite. Try to get to that position. If you are in that position, don’t do something silly like tapping out for a Grave Titan if they can Mana Leak it. Sit back and flashback your draw spells, hit all your land drops, and wait till Mana Leak is useless.

– Elesh Norn is your massive trump. Treat it as such. If it resolves, you almost assuredly win, regardless of how bad a position you were in five seconds ago.

Control:

Even with Zeniths, the mirror is not great. If they’re running Nephalia Drownyard, they have a big edge game 1. White Sun’s Zenith only does so much. You can often find a window to resolve it, but they usually have sweepers of some variety. I actually prefer drawing Blue Sun’s Zenith in the midgame (by which I mean turn 12). You’re trading one-for-one a lot, and both players will eventually run low on cards, making a draw-four or five effect amazing.

Luckily some control decks have opted to become less durdly, cutting some number of Think Twice and Forbidden Alchemy. If they do that and they don’t have Drownyard, you’re favored. Eventually you will outdraw them and be able to land a threat. If they do have Drownyard, it’s still going to be a struggle, but it’s possible to run them out of counterspells/removal and actually land something. Try and Ghost Quarter the ‘yard when you can, obviously.

You want to board:

-3 Day of Judgment
-1 Elesh Norn
-2 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Oblivion Ring
+3 Nephalia Drownyard
+1 Dissipate
+1 Negate

The sideboard originally had 1 White Sun’s Zenith and 2 Surgical Extraction in place of the Drownyards, but I found the control mirror wasn’t improving enough post-board. As I mentioned, White Sun’s Zenith is very good, but it’s not quite the trump you want it to be. After all, if Drownyards are that good, why not run Drownyards of your own? I haven’t had the chance to play against control since the update—it’s only very recent—but I anticipate the matchup being a lot better. And yes, you actually do want 30 lands post-board. Missing land drops is a great way to fall behind, and it’s not like they can punish you if you get flooded; rather, it blanks their Mana Leaks.

An important tip for control on control: play fast! Especially if you lose game one, you’re going to be hard-pressed to win the match on time. This is a matchup where a game that ends in 15 turns is a quick game.

Ramp:

Thanks to Conley Woods winning GP Orlando, this is almost assuredly going to become a player again. I’m not really sure how good this deck is against that version. It seems reasonable; their Doom Blades and Geth’s Verdicts are useless, and their Grave Titan is not too hard to deal with, between Day of Judgment and Go for the Throat. Negate is pretty bad here, though, given the lack of Garruks and Green Sun’s Zeniths. I suppose it hits the ramp spells, but that’s not usually the strategy you want to pursue.

I would board:

-2 Timely Reinforcements
-1 Elesh Norn
-1 Day of Judgment
-1 Oblivion Ring
+2 Phantasmal Image
+1 Curse of Death’s Hold
+1 Dissipate
+1 Negate

Against traditional R/G ramp with Garruks, I’d leave the O-Rings in—even bringing in the spare from the board—and cut the full set of Day of Judgments.

If this does become a major part of the metagame, the extra Negate in the board should become a Dissipate. Your strategy is as usual for control against ramp—counter the big spells, and outdraw them. Watch out for Autumn’s Veil! Luckily it’s not game-ending if a Primeval Titan or Grave Titan resolves; that’s what you have Phantasmal Image for (alongside spot removal of course).

I hope all the Think Twice lovers out there give this deck a shot. Until next time,

Jeremy (tux_the_penguin on MTGO)