Has anyone else been loving Retreat to Coralhelm? I've been playtesting with it a bit and have consistently found that it's totally worth the turn 3 drop, it does so much work for the rest of the game after hitting the field. It's great for fixing draws, has nice synergy with our fetches and protects Ojutai once he hits the field.
The only way I'm tapping out turn 3 is if I have to remove a must kill threat like you, Jace, or if I'm stuck on 3 lands by turn 8 so I'll have to delve a dig through time to get me back in the game, momentarily until I scoop next turn due to being so far behind feelsbadman
Well to be fair Nullify was rarely to never considered and double blue was obviously not an issue with Silumgar's Scorn heavily played as even a stymied hopes early game quite often. And with Ensoul Artifact decks running riot, Nullify would of been even more powerful but STILL saw no play. Exile has been relevant as soon as the dragons saw play and even with den protectors somewhat warping the format, dissipate was also rarely played.
Shout outs to Lugger! I was only offering constructive criticism with my previous comments as I respect Kamahl that's why I said it the way I did. Anyone else not making a real effort wouldn't get my insight.
This list is a big improvement already.
More lifegain in Invocation
A playset of Swift Reckoning which covers playing on the draw as opposed to being stuck with Horribly Awry in hand
Top decks are much better with less conditional cards
Game vs aggro significantly improved. Game vs control was already strong with threat selection and Transgress the Mind and plethora of counters
Also able to fit an extra land in which always helps
To the guy questioning lack of card draw. I disagree. Dig Through Time is mostly enough and you have 4 card draw engines in the Planeswalkers. Not to mention Jace and Ojutai. He's also added another card draw land too. You have to playtest to see why this is more than enough draw. I got by with only 4 Dig and 4 Narset in my Uw control deck and that was good enough for me, Kamahl has even more draw. Against aggro, taking a turn turn to draw can just lose you the game with no sphinx rev to catch up anymore. Against control, game doesn't really start until turn 6+ so there's no real urgency to draw cards in the first few turns. Just making sure you hit your land drops is number 1 and by playing alot of land 26+ is usually enough for hitting your land drops on time while allowing your gameplan to go smoothly. I do admit the most difficult thing for me about building control decks is the card draw spells but that's also the most fun part for me
could it be that with dispel, anticipate, jace and others U/W control may get very strong?
Uw control was already powerful. If anything, it gets weaker since Elspeth is out. Dispel is a fav card of mine but it has always proven to be overrated in sideboards. Negate always gets the job done.
Battle for Zendikar is shaping up to be an exciting set, and perhaps one of the decks I am most excited about it Esper Control. Introducing Sunken Hollow and Prairie Stream is a huge boon for the mana base, being able to run 8 fetches alongside 8 duals means you are able to effectively fix your mana early as well as provide yourself ample ways to make sure you mana comes into play untapped in the early game to suit your needs. While I am not entirely sure of what the correct set up is for an Esper Control deck, I firmly believe it has the tools to function well with Battle for Zendikar.
Having both Sunken Hollow and Prairie Stream be island cards means a lot, you can fetch either of them off of Polluted Delta and Flooded Strand, but more importantly you can really push a blue base for UU cards and I am also really fond of the idea of them all being able to trigger Guardian of Tazeem - Fetch land fetching a dual land that is an island seems rather appealing, especially when the creature also dodges Languish and can block Siege Rhino.
Perhaps one of the bigger appeals for the mana is the new Shambling Vent, being able to activate cheaply for a 2/3 body with lifelink means you can step in the way of many of the hyper aggressive creatures and you can attack and maneuver your way around many of the burn spells that now focus on a 2 damage mark. It also feeds into late game chip damage that can swing for 4 points each attack.
With 11 planeswalkers rotating, along with the premium removal that existed to provide decks with answers to them, Esper gains access to 2 new planeswalkers as well as a replacement answer for opposing planeswalkers. While I am not entirely sure Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is going to be something Esper Control wants, it certainly seems appealing as a steady stream of blockers and a late game beater on the cheap. His power level in a control mirror seems rather high. Ob Nixilis Reignited is a fantastic way to provide both board presence and card advantage at the same time and can take advantage of a number of board states where your opponent has spent time investing into a single large threat and either gotten there or fizzled on their big play. He holds a lot of value for a mere 5 mana.
There a a good number of cards from Khans of Tarkir block that go up in value as well. A good example are cards like Clash of Wills, Silumgar's Scorn, and Calculated Dismissal. With decks trying to capitalize on Landfall, there are more opportunities for opponents to get more value by simply playing something before making their land drops, giving you an advantage with counterspells requiring them to pay additional mana and having to pay 1, 2, or 3 more can punish people for trying to get ahead too fast. While the power of these cards is always relative to what is going on in the format, I feel like the average value of these cards still goes up simply because of Landfall existing in the format and the nature of Battle for Zendikar trying to encourage a "Go Bigger" style of play.
Cards like Despise and Disdainful Stroke go up in average value because of the nature of Battle for Zendikar and along those lines, Horribly Awry allows you to hinder any early game development an opponent can try to establish. Dragonlord Silumgar is also a fantastic way of taking advantage of that as well as the fact that Planeswalker removal looks to stoop some with the rotation of Theros block.
END BFZ OVERVIEW
Esper Dragons is a Control deck geared towards aggressively controlling the game into a state where it can resolve a Dragonlord Ojutai to attempt to soft lock the opponent out of the game for the 4 turns in which the deck attacks with Dragonlord Ojutai. The original soft lock was really just a redundancy in counter magic between Dissolve and Silumgar's Scorn, and took advantage of the fact that you could attack with Dragonlord Ojutai and counter any removal they may have to continue attacking and countering until the opponent is dead. The premise is essentially the same with Battle for Zendikar, and I have found that the ability to present a quick clock is what gives Esper Dragons a slight edge over other control decks trying to combat Deathmist Raptor oriented strategies.
UR Tutelage Greatly Favored (71.79% win rate over 78 matches)
RDW Greatly Favored (71.43% win rate over 14 matches)
R/W Aggro Greatly Favored (71.43% win rate over 14 matches)
UW Control Greatly Favored (66.67% win rate over 42 matches)
Jeskai Tempo Greatly Favored (66.07% win rate over 112 matches)
Goblins Greatly Favored (64.71% win rate over 34 matches)
GW Megamorph Greatly Favored (64.52% win rate over 62 matches)
R/G Dragons Greatly Favored (64.29% win rate over 28 matches)
RG Devotion Greatly Favored (61.76% win rate over 68 matches)
GW Constellation Favored (58.33% win rate over 72 matches)
Temur Midrange Favored (58.33% win rate over 24 matches)
Mono Red Burn Favored (56.67% win rate over 120 matches)
Bant Heroic Favored (56.00% win rate over 50 matches)
UB Control Favored (55.26% win rate over 76 matches)
Abzan Midrange Favored (55.17% win rate over 58 matches)
Sultai Control Slightly Favored (52.17% win rate over 46 matches)
Abzan Control Slightly Favored (51.35% win rate over 222 matches)
Mardu Dragons Slightly Unfavored (50.00% win rate over 44 matches)
BG Elves Slightly Unfavored (46.43% win rate over 56 matches)
Atarka Sligh Unfavored (44.00% win rate over 150 matches)
Hangarback Red Unfavored (43.75% win rate over 32 matches)
UR Ensoul Artifact Greatly Unfavored (39.33% win rate over 178 matches)
Jeskai Tokens Greatly Unfavored (33.33% win rate over 42 matches)
Abzan Rally Greatly Unfavored (26.09% win rate over 46 matches)
Narset and creatures
4 dragons and 4 Scorn
Auto-scoop vs aggro on the draw
Zero nonland permanent removal (enchantment)
Non efficient and lack of lifegain yet playing Ob nix
Too many conditional cards
Horrible topdecks
3 Dig Through Time
Inconsistent gameplan
Appears to be a"journeyman" deck
Um, so... how do you win?
Downvote me bi oh wait
Let's keep the critique constructive. Thanks! -- Lugger
Come on its no contest - UR Riddle of Lightning playing cards like Dig Through Time and Mindswipe for big dmg. Not long to go so get your kicks while you can Geoff
Marsupial it's quite simple really, it's simply just a cross coagulation of the acten tanjo.
I'm not playing dragons I'm playing Clash for EARLY game and Scatter for late game
I am playing dragons I'm playing Scorn for EARLY and LATE game.
We're looking at the words EARLY here.
When I look at Horrible Goaway! Turn 8 Raptor doesn't quite come to mind... If I'm alive by turn 8 and they're dropping velosals, I think I'm doin ok. It's not like I don't run other cards like sweepers and Clash will counter that play every time for the record.
Rg landfall will not even come close to threatening my deck. I'd be embarrassed if it thought itself a chance.
The only way I'm tapping out turn 3 is if I have to remove a must kill threat like you, Jace, or if I'm stuck on 3 lands by turn 8 so I'll have to delve a dig through time to get me back in the game, momentarily until I scoop next turn due to being so far behind feelsbadman
White adds lifegain and non land permanent removal.
Red adds Radiant Flames early game sweeper and a more aggressive win con in Sarkhan.
Adding white is infinitely better for a control deck, in fact control decks should have a Uw base and looking to add black as the next best colour.
2. Conor McGregor
3. Profit mentally
Anyone else have a debilitating injury story that they overcame to get their magic fix?
Shout outs to Lugger! I was only offering constructive criticism with my previous comments as I respect Kamahl that's why I said it the way I did. Anyone else not making a real effort wouldn't get my insight.
This list is a big improvement already.
More lifegain in Invocation
A playset of Swift Reckoning which covers playing on the draw as opposed to being stuck with Horribly Awry in hand
Top decks are much better with less conditional cards
Game vs aggro significantly improved. Game vs control was already strong with threat selection and Transgress the Mind and plethora of counters
Also able to fit an extra land in which always helps
To the guy questioning lack of card draw. I disagree. Dig Through Time is mostly enough and you have 4 card draw engines in the Planeswalkers. Not to mention Jace and Ojutai. He's also added another card draw land too. You have to playtest to see why this is more than enough draw. I got by with only 4 Dig and 4 Narset in my Uw control deck and that was good enough for me, Kamahl has even more draw. Against aggro, taking a turn turn to draw can just lose you the game with no sphinx rev to catch up anymore. Against control, game doesn't really start until turn 6+ so there's no real urgency to draw cards in the first few turns. Just making sure you hit your land drops is number 1 and by playing alot of land 26+ is usually enough for hitting your land drops on time while allowing your gameplan to go smoothly. I do admit the most difficult thing for me about building control decks is the card draw spells but that's also the most fun part for me
Uw control was already powerful. If anything, it gets weaker since Elspeth is out. Dispel is a fav card of mine but it has always proven to be overrated in sideboards. Negate always gets the job done.
Narset and creatures
4 dragons and 4 Scorn
Auto-scoop vs aggro on the draw
Zero nonland permanent removal (enchantment)
Non efficient and lack of lifegain yet playing Ob nix
Too many conditional cards
Horrible topdecks
3 Dig Through Time
Inconsistent gameplan
Appears to be a"journeyman" deck
Um, so... how do you win?
Downvote me bi oh wait
Let's keep the critique constructive. Thanks! -- Lugger
From Beyond
Quarantine field
Lumbering Falls
Gideon, ally of Zendikar
Radiant Flames
Honarable mention
Dragonmaster Outcast
A
I'm not playing dragons I'm playing Clash for EARLY game and Scatter for late game
I am playing dragons I'm playing Scorn for EARLY and LATE game.
We're looking at the words EARLY here.
When I look at Horrible Goaway! Turn 8 Raptor doesn't quite come to mind... If I'm alive by turn 8 and they're dropping velosals, I think I'm doin ok. It's not like I don't run other cards like sweepers and Clash will counter that play every time for the record.
Rg landfall will not even come close to threatening my deck. I'd be embarrassed if it thought itself a chance.