Esper Control Is The Deck To Beat In Standard
This list that we’re about to show you comes from MTG’s very own Andrea Mengguci, who’s recently raved about why Esper is the best deck in Standard right now.
Here's Why Esper Control Should Be Your Next Deck!
When War Of The Spark hit Standard, Esper was what we called a sleeper deck. It already had its potential, but it still needed a few cards to really fine tune it. We saw variants of Midrange, Control, and even Superfriends.
Now, we’re seeing a lot of Control decks running different variants, including one with Hero of Precinct One (or rightfully called as Esper Hero).
The list that we’re about to show you right now comes from Martin Mueller, who piloted this crazy variation that nearly took him to the Top 16 of Arena MCQ. And you’ll see why this list is completely different from the rest.
Lands
Creatures
Spells
Sideboard
Change #1 – Narset Over Thief Of Sanity!
Thief of Sanity is a relatively good card against Simic Combo decks, but is just bad against everything. Mono-Red, Izzet Phoenix, and Gruul Variants takes this card out with Shock. And there are too many PW’s walking around that easily remove this card (Teferi and Vraska, to name a few).
Narset is a great card over Thief because it prevents the draws from Hydroid Krasis, Teferi’s, and Phoenix decks, as long as you don’t use her -2 unless necessary.
Change #2 – Hero of Precinct One As Your Flex Card
Hero of Precinct One is a great card for pressuring planeswalkers while protecting yours. The card is very flexible and can be boarded out for better cards in the next game. Hero of Precinct One also allows you to be very proactive in main deck while also being a reactive card in the sideboard.
Change #3 – Command The Dreadhorde In Esper!
In my GP Taipei Experience, I came across two variants of Esper Control, and both of them had Hero Of Precinct One and Command The Dreadhorde. The latter is probably the most underrated card in Standard, even though it has more power than most people give it credit. 4 damage, mill 4, gain 4 life, and Amass 4? This is just way too much power!
Change #4 – Basilica Bell-Haunt Over Elite Guardmage?
Basilica Bell-Haunt’s extra power and toughness is a huge advantage of Elite Guardmage, and it’s relevant to not only decks like Mono-Red but also against decks that run Nissa, Who Shakes The World. You can just stall out the board with a single Basilica Bell-Haunt and they are able to protect your PW’s effectively. Granted, it costs more than Elite Guardmage, but I don’t see any other downside.
Change #5 – No Dovin’s Veto And Mortify!
There’s no point in running countermagic in a format with Teferi, Time Raveler. Teferi is a great card, especially when faced with decks like Dovin’s Veto and Mortify. You’ll want to play decks that are immune to Teferi, and that’s why it makes a lot more sense to play spells at sorcery speed.
You can check out the list in action by watching this video:
If you want the sideboard guide, check out Andrea’s full article here.