Last week I wrote about how my triple-Alara drafting had changed over time, but that I didn’t have that much experience with Alara-Conflux drafts. Today I will continue on the draft theme now that I have done a good number of Alara-Conflux drafts by taking a look at an archetype which has immeasurably improved.
One of the conclusions I had come to last week was that I ended up not liking Esper as much as Naya or even Jund, for a few reasons. Esper is too hard to manage, with its heavy dependence on synergy necessary to make the deck work. Most of its good cards only really perform when paired with other specific cards, whereas Naya for example can always just play a Mosstodon (or Cavern Thoctar, or Jungle Weaver etc). Esper also isn’t very good at playing aggressively, although part of that was how I end up liking to draft it. Even setting my preferences aside, Esper’s aggressive cards are just not on par with the Red and Green shards. You basically end up with a controlling deck where many of the cards depend on other cards to function correctly.
That changes pretty significantly now that Conflux is in the mix, since so many good aggressive Esper cards are in the set. Conflux provides a number of cards that other shards won’t even want, which is always good news, as well as many cards which stand perfectly well on their own. That was one of my main problems with Esper before, but most of the Conflux cards don’t suffer from that.
I generally don’t like strict pick orders, because the card you should take often varies based on what you already have, but I will provide a rough list of which Conflux cards are stronger than others when drafting an aggressive Esper deck.
1. Esper Cormorants
2. Parasitic Strix/Sedraxis Alchemist
3. Drag Down
4. Faerie Mechanist
5. Darklit Gargoyle
6. Zombie Outlander
7. Aven Trailblazer
8. Court Homunculus
9. Brackwater Elemental
10. Vedalken Outlander
11. Unsummon
The best common for this archetype is often going to be Esper Cormorants, which is basically just a smaller Tower Gargoyle. A 3/3 flier for four mana doesn’t feel much like a common, and it sure brings the beats quite well.
The next two cards are very close, and vary depending on how easy it is to trigger each. Parasitic Strix and Sedraxis Alchemist depend on having certain numbers of permanents in order to reliably trigger, although the Strix is quite playable even if it doesn’t always drain life. Which one you take here will often depend on your removal versus your evasion count, since you need decent numbers of each. Alchemist in particular can be quite a beating against Naya decks that rely on big slow guys.
Drag Down appears to be a temporary Exotic Curse, but the instant speed will mostly make it better. It is worse at dealing with huge monsters, but being a combat trick probably makes up for that. Either way, it is reliable removal, and that can never be overlooked. In aggressive decks, often bouncing their guy is close enough to removing it that I prefer the 2/2 body of the Alchemist, but bear in mind that controlling decks will want Drag Down above most of these cards.
Faerie Mechanist is excellent in the more controlling builds (given you have 13 or more artifacts for the most part), but the aggressive decks would rather have the 3/3 of the Cormorants. Mechanist still is quite good, although its worth is obviously dependent on the density of artifacts.
Darklit Gargoyle occupies an interesting spot, since although you want it pretty highly, you can often wheel it. It really only fits in BW decks, and that is a combination rarely found outside of Esper, as the five-color style decks aren’t really interested in the Gargoyle. So even though you are willing to pick it early, there often is no need to do so, which is a point in the deck’s favor.
Once you get past the Gargoyle, the order starts to break down. Here, all the cards are close enough that you need to consider your curve, your mana situation (i.e. can you cast the Outlanders on turn 2 or the Homunculus on turn 1?), and what your deck is lacking in terms of evasion or artifact count.
Zombie Outlander is the best of the Outlander cycle, as he singlehandedly stops most aggressive starts out of Naya or even Jund, while still blocking the huge non-trampling Naya guys later. I have lost multiple games solely to that guy, including a game where I played turn 1 Wild Nacatl, turn 3 Rhox War Monk, turn 4 Naya Battlemage, but really had no profitable attacks. Most of the time he is worth picking higher than some of the White cards like Homunculus or Trailblazer, but if his mana cost is an issue than that changes things.
The Trailblazer is a reasonable guy, and often a 2/3 flier for three, which is slightly above the curve. Not being an artifact or a Black or Blue permanent does mean that he doesn’t have much synergy, but Wind Drake or Wind-Drake-plus is definitely good enough.
The artifact Isamaru, Court Homunculus, is another card nobody will really take from you. It is a great way to start your curve, although it does bring a heavier White element into the deck. Homunculus, Darklit Gargoyle, Cormorants, and Trailblazer all lead to a heavier White presence than Esper had before, which actually makes me like Deft Duelist and Akrasan Squire more in the deck. I previously avoided such cards since my Esper decks were UBw, but now that they are becoming more solid three colors, or White plus Blue or Black, I have reevaluated them.
Brackwater Elemental is better than I initially gave credit. At first it looked like a Fog Elemental, where its job is mostly to trade for one of their guys. While it does that quite well, the Unearth ability means it is pretty realistic to attack with it. Normally, throwing away Fog Elemental for four damage was just awful, but because Brackwater does an additional four, that first four damage gains in value. Basically this guy is good at blocking or attacking, and almost always gets both a card and four damage.
Lastly, Unsummon is a pretty boring card but it does what it needs to do. It is cheap enough that you can Unsummon their guy and play another guy for the tempo boost, or use it to save and replay your guy on the same turn. It helps abuse comes-into-play effects, and is easy to leave up since it only costs one. I wouldn’t take it high, especially since you rarely want too many, but it is a good card to have.
Some glaring omissions from the list are Armillary Sphere, Rupture Spire, and the landcyclers (Absorb Vis, Gleam of Resistance, Traumatic Visions). The Sphere in particular is one of the best commons of the set, but it reveals exactly what I dislike about pick orders. Sometimes your deck really needs the Sphere, and you are glad to take it above any of the cards I talk about above, and sometimes you have a few Trilands and couldn’t really care less. In general, you would really rather not spend your first few turns playing and using the Sphere, but you do need a better plan to cast your spells than play a 6/6/5 manabase. The landcyclers are of course about the same, with your color requirements and your manabase determining which are best. The need for colored mana makes them even trickier, and much worse in an evenly split tricolor deck. On power level, I think I like Absorb Vis the best, since late game it is exactly the card you often need to finish a race in your favor.
One card I don’t like in the deck, but on that is interesting enough to talk about, is Wretched Banquet. This is an excellent card in a control deck, and I had a Grixis Cruel Ultimatum deck that loved having multiple copies. In aggressive decks it gets pretty bad, since it loses the Swords to Plowshares aspect (of killing their first guy regardless of what it is) and becomes more of a bad Cruel Edict. I generally wouldn’t play it in this deck, but it is a card to watch out for. One of the things I like about Alara-Conflux drafts is that there are so many cards that vary from excellent to unplayable depending on deck type, even if you are in the right colors. That makes the drafting and playing very interesting, as it rewards players who pay attention to how each card should be used.
Some cards from Shards have obviously changed in value when considering this archetype, which I mentioned when talking about Court Homunculus. Without going over all the good cards from Shards, I just want to touch on a few that I never drafted highly while in triple-Alara Esper, but which have gained in value with the addition of Conflux.
Deft Duelist — Now that Plains are more numerous in my Esper decks, I don’t mind this guy too much. I still don’t think he is awesome, just that he is much more playable. I never used to draft him, and now I will.
Akrasan Squire — Echoing the comments on Deft Duelist, although I actually like the Squire a little more. Having Squires and Homunculi really give you good starts, and since most decks have zero one-drops, having one puts you pretty far ahead.
Tidehollow Sculler — I actually did like this guy before, but he is even better now. In a control deck, he doesn’t do quite as well since he usually just delays a problem instead of actually solving it. Much like bounce, in an aggro deck delaying is often good enough, since you intend to end the game before they can make use of their resources. The time they often have to spend killing the Sculler to free their spell is often exactly what you need.
Arcane Sanctum — Trilands are good! That is certainly not news, but one thing to consider is that aggressive decks hate Panoramas and their ilk, while trilands provide the only fixing that helps cast a two-drop on turn 2. I don’t know if it’s possible to take trilands higher, but I would recommend doing so if you want to draft aggressive decks. Cracking a Panorama or using a landcycler isn’t a big burden to slower decks, but it can be the death knell of fast ones.
Dregscape Zombie — Now that you are beating down, this guy gets a bit stronger. Viscera Dragger was already excellent, but I wasn’t a big fan of Dregs before, and now he is decent.
Call to Heel — With the three new comes-into-play guys (Parasitic Strix, Sedraxis Alchemist, Faerie Mechanist), Call to Heel becomes quite a bit better. You never really want to use it on their guys, but having the option is nice.
The rest of the good Esper cards (Sanctum Gargoyle, Oblivion Ring, Executioner’s Capsule, etc) are still good, but I just wanted to touch on some cards that rose in value.
I don’t have any sample decklists, since I never thought those were particularly valuable. Limited decklists can vary so much that looking at one doesn’t really give that much useful information when talking about an archetype. What I can do is try and describe what you are looking to draft.
Since you are an aggressive deck, you want most of your curve to be four mana or less, and luckily enough just about all the good cards you want fit that description. As I mentioned before, having the one-drop bears of Squire and Homunculus is pretty important, although you will need enough White mana to support them. Ideally if you have two or three one-drops, you would something like seven or eight White sources on turn 1. That may be a tough number to hit, but trying to focus a deck on two colors with a splash is one way to do it. Even going BWu is viable, since there are enough Black and White cards that you want now. You will still often end up straight three colors, in which case you won’t always be able to cast your one-drops on turn 1. Luckily, both are pretty good later, so having a turn where you play a three- and a one-drop at the same time is fine. Akrasan Squire in particular has a good effect later in the game.
You do want removal of course, but overloading on it can be dangerous. Drawing four removal spells and zero or one creature can set you up to just lose to a control deck that kills your only threat and overpowers you in the late game. You are not as well set up to fight in the later turns, especially when they start cycling Resounding cards and casting all sorts of huge things. Because of that, having a preference for creatures over removal when the cards are close is a good thing. I wouldn’t do anything silly like take Cloudheath Drake over Agony Warp, but taking Sanctum Gargoyle over Executioner’s Capsule or Parasitic Strix over Drag Down is more what I mean. This is why Sedraxis Alchemist is so valuable, since he plays double duty as a threat (albeit just a 2/2) and a pseudo removal spell.
As always, it is extremely important to pay attention to synergy. While I keep talking about how I want my cards to be good on their own, you still need to draft with a mind of making your cards work together. Bone Splinters goes from mediocre to excellent depending on your unearth count, and there are numerous cards that do the same. Sanctum Gargoyle is generally going to be insane in this deck, but you have to do some work to make sure of that. Likewise, sometimes Master of Etherium is awesome and sometimes it is barely playable. Although you are Esper, you can end up with a deck heavy on Squire/Deft Duelist/Trailblazer types, and have only some good “standalone” artifacts like Esper Cormorants or Tower Gargoyle.
Speaking of Tower Gargs, he is just about the best card for the deck. I would still take Oblivion Ring over him, but other than that, Gargoyle it is. He turns on both Alchemist and Strix, as well as being very difficult to kill or race. I know I used to love Tower Gargoyle more than was necessary, but if you thought he was good in the controlling Esper decks, try playing him in beatdown.
Although I have far from mastered this format, Esper aggro has definitely impressed me. I know I started out liking Esper in triple-Alara and then later didn’t, but Conflux has answered many of the underlying problems I ended up having with the archetype. Most of the Conflux cards stand on their own quite well, and they all work towards a good common theme instead of just being scattered controllish parts. One last note is that Five-Color has gotten better, and Esper aggro is well set up to beat it. Nothing is sweeter than Five-Color spending turns fixing its mana and dropping a giant guy only to have it bounced with Alchemist then Unsummon as you bash for the win. As long as you don’t get Infested (or Jund Charmed) you should mostly be fine, although you do have a lot more 2/2 guys than you used to.
Have fun drafting… new sets are always fun!
Until next time…
LSV