Hi, I'm Dan! One of my biggest hobbies is Magic: the Gathering, and the main format I play is Commander. I love building deck lists for decks I'll never put together in paper, and I wanted to channel that drive into a specific project, rather than just hopping from random deck idea to random deck idea. So, I'm doing what I'm calling...
The Esper Challenge
Feel free to follow to check out my brews and make fun of my deckbuilding choices! You can also find me at my main, @somethingtothatextent, or my Pokemon blog, @pokemon-with-hats.
Challenge details are after the cut:
The Basics
The goal of this challenge is to build new decklists for every single Esper commander over the course of this next year. The pace I hope to hit is one list a day, but don't hold me to it. I was inspired to do this by a friend who is in the process of doing a similar challenge, but with all the Bant commanders instead.
The Specifics
There are currently, as of time of posting, 42 cards in the Esper (white-blue-black) color combination that are legal to be your commander. I will be going through them in EDHRec ranking order - I'll be starting with the most popular commander, and working my way down the list.
The decklists I post will be newly constructed - I may have built a list for a specific commander in the past, but this is a deck building challenge, not a challenge to post old lists I have lying around.
I do not plan on having any of the commanders show up in the 99 of the other decks - I'm trying to build decks that focus on the commander, and I feel that would take away from it.
What About Partners?
I have something planned for partners! I'm obviously not going to do every single partner pairing, that would take forever and not add anything meaningful to the challenge, but I didn't want to ignore them completely.
There are currently no Esper colored partner-with pairs, so that's easy. Similarly, there's only one Friends Forever pair, so I'll do that one no problem.
For partner pairs, the only way to reach Esper is to use one of four 2 color partner commanders: Ravos, Silas Renn, Tymna, and Ishai. I plan on making one list for each of them, pairing them with a mono color partner that I feel would make an interesting deck.
And finally, there are 6 Azorius Time Lord Doctors. Unfortunately, there's only two Doctor's Companions with a black color identity, so we'll be seeing Clara and Vislor multiple times.
I've been thinking about a theoretical MtG x Game Changer secret lair, where all the cards are on the Game Changers list, and I've come up with my card line up:
Teferi's Protection flavored as Immunity Loop-de-loop
Rhystic Study flavored as Sam Says
Necropotence flavored as Race to the Bottom
Underworld Breach flavored as Escape the Green Room
Natural Order flavored as You-lympics
Then three potential Bonus Cards:
Braids, Cabal Minion flavored as Sam, Sadistic Host
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV flavored as Sam, Setter of Rules
Yuriko, Tiger's Shadow as Sam, Who's Been Here The Whole Time
I'm still alive, just working through things. I do want to come back to this, even if it's by just posting a single paragraph and a link to the list or something. We'll see if I can get anything posted this week.
Anyway, I did find the motivation to make custom tokens for a Hashaton, Scarab's Fist deck! One for each creature in the deck, including Hashaton themselves.
I ended up making 5 total frame types, for normal, legendary, artifact, enchantment, and devoid creatures. It was a lot of fun, and I'm planning on printing them out and potentially even making proxies!
I'm gonna try to get the next write-up posted tomorrow. I wanted to get one out over the weekend, but I've been sick since last Friday, and just don't have the requisite energy.
I'm gonna try to get the next write-up posted tomorrow. I wanted to get one out over the weekend, but I've been sick since last Friday, and just don't have the requisite energy.
Deck 10 - Ain't No Party Like a Zombie Party Cuz a Zombie Party Includes Up to One of Each of Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard
The Commander
Varina, Lich Queen was first printed as an alternate commander in the Subjective Reality precon released as part of Commander 2018. Up until very recently, Varina was one of your only on-theme choices if you wanted to combine the traditional Innistrad UB zombies with their WB Amonket cousins.
(more after the cut)
The Decklist
I decided that simply building a generic zombie typal deck didn't interest me. Instead, I took it in a goofier direction - what if all the zombies in the deck could be part of a party? That is, what if we limit ourselves to only wizards, clerics, warriors, and rogues?
Zombie wizards are by far the most abundant, with clerics in second, warriors in third, and rogues trailing far behind. Thankfully, OTJ introduced the zombie rogue token and several methods of creating them, so we can supplement our rogue count that way. In addition, we have honorary zombie-to-be and party payoff Nalia de'Arnise to help increase that count a bit more.
The Standout Cards
Coveted Prize is probably the strongest party payoff card ( it's between this and Nalia). If you have a full party, you have a tutor for any card for a single black mana that then also lets you cast a four drop for free.
I love Havengul Lich. It lets you cast creatures from any graveyard, and gains their abilities for the turn. Snipe your opponents' reanimate targets, steal their dead utility creatures, recast your own stuff, and have a blast doing it.
The Win Conditions
The main win condition is zombie beats, supplemented with lord effects and Calculating Lich. But in case of a board stall, we have Lich Lord of Unx and Shepherd of Rot to help seal the deal.
Final Thoughts
Zombies are a fun creature type. They have so much resiliency, and their card pool can apparently even support a less than ideal build like this. Thanks, Zombies!
Not sure why, but deckbuilding consumes so much less energy than writing said decklists up. Like, I'm completely done with all the regular commanders (except the two new ones, I'll get to them when Aetherdrift spoilers are finished) and am working on partner commander lists.
To give a sneak peek into the future, I ended up doing Ravos/Sakashima, Tymna/Malcolm (but not a cedh build), Silas/Alharu, and am starting on Ishai/Sengir. I even made a dumb meme edit for the ishai/sengir deck:
Anyway, I'm hoping to get to finishing the write up for Varina, Lich Queen today, so keep an eye out for it later in the day!
Raffine, Scheming Seer was first printed in Streets of New Capenna. It has evasion and protection baked in, and it cares about attacking wide, having one creature connive based on the number of attackers. It feels best situated as a tempo commander, giving you card selection when you attack with a few creatures, and also growing your beaters.
(more under the cut)
The Decklist
That sounds boring, though. So instead we're going to go wide quickly, hoping to connive our entire deck into the graveyard as quickly as we can. To achieve this, we're running a large number of ways to generate more attacking bodies on attack, through equipment, creatures, and others. We're also running a decent chunk of protection, as we want our board to remain big and able to get in each turn.
The Standout Cards
Chivalric Alliance, Military Intelligence, and other cards like it give you card draw on attack, along with the card selection of connive. Constable of the Realm can pick off creatures if you choose it as the conniving creature.
We also have a few ways to keep ourselves from decking on attack. The most important thing is stacking your attack triggers correctly, so that the connive trigger happens early enough that you aren't drawing too deeply. But in case it's an issue, we have Living Conundrum and Ormos, Archive Keeper to keep us alive, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to refill our library (note: Emrakul the Aeons Torn is what I wish I could put in this slot, as it would better fit the deck name, but alas, she is banned).
The Win Conditions
The main goal is to win by drawing on an empty library with Lab Man or Jace. We're also running back up options, such as Mystic Redaction, to mill our opponents out when we connive big. Finally, there is always the option of growing Raffine into a lethal threat and getting in.
Final Thoughts
This feels like kind of a goofy one. Be sure to count your attacking creatures so you don't deck yourself before you mean to.
Sefris of the Hidden Ways was first printed as the face commander of the Dungeons of Death precon, printed alongside Adventures in the Forgotten Realm. She rewards finishing dungeons by reanimating something. She can be built as a dungeon deck, a reanimation deck, a self mill deck, among others.
(more under the cut)
The Decklist
The goal of my list is to set up an infinite combo, venturing through The Lost Mine of Phandelver repeatedly and draining my opponents out via the Dark Pool. I decided to completely ignore The Initiative, as it encourages your opponents to attack you, and we'd rather be ignored until it's too late. The key piece of our combo is Radiant Solar - we can go off without it, but it's far easier if it's involved.
The Standout Cards
Hama Pashar and Dungeon Delver both double your room triggers, netting you more value on each venture. Phyrexian Delver and Metamorphosis Fanatic are great targets for reanimation, as they bring a friend along.
The Win Conditions
As I said above, the goal of the deck is to infinitely venture into the dungeon. This can be a complicated combo, but the actual composition of the combo can change wildly.
In order to pull this off, you need: at least one way to venture into the dungeon on etb, and a method of repeatedly triggering that venture. The easiest form of the combo is Acererak the Archlich and Rooftop Storm, but there are much more convoluted toutes you can take if need be.
Radiant Solar is our best venturing tool, letting any nontoken creature etb take us one room deeper. With radiant solar, we can combo with gravecrawler, rooftop storm, and carrion feeder (rooftop storm making gravecrawler free). Or we can swap the rooftop storm out for pitiless plunderer or phyrexian altar for the same effect.
With our commander involved, we can get sillier with it. Sefris' second ability means that if we can reanimate a creature and have it instantly venture 4 times, we can sacrifice it and reanimate it again on the next trigger. This is where the clones and panharmonicon effects come in—with enough copies of radiant solar, other etb venturers, sefris (we can make nonlegendary clones), or etb doublers, we can venture infinitely into the dungeon, draining everyone out via the Dark Pool.
Final Thoughts
So funny enough, you can actually pull off a version of this combo with the default precon. Using Sefris, radiant solar, phantasmal image copying radiant solar, karmic guide, and plaguecrafter. With this configuration, you have to go through the tomb of annihilation in order to be able to put both plaguecrafter and karmic guide back into the graveyard, as it doesn't have any sac outlets.
I, of course, somehow managed to piece this monstrosity of a combo together blindly the first time I played the Sefris precon. Good times.
imagine you're a 1/1 soldier hanging out with your other soldier buddies and an opponent casts like a cyclonic rift and you're like "haha guys back to the hand we go!" and they all turn and wordlessly give you the saddest look and you notice they're all named something like stalwart protector or legion initiate and you're just named soldier, and your skin starts to feel really thin and your insides feel hollow, and the cyc rift is moving down the stack and players are passing priority, you realize you're not even human like the others you're just a soldier. and then someone force of wills the cyc rift, and you're back to being fine, you untap, you're declared as an attacker, but you're a little more hesitant than normal because you know when you die there will be no grave for you
Marneus Calgar is from the 40k precons. He draws you cards when you make tokens, and a 3/5 double striking body is nothing to sneeze at. Other than involving tokens in some way, he's pretty open when it comes to deckbuilding.
(more under the cut)
The Decklist
I decided to focus on clues, with a detective typal subtheme. I went with this due to a quirk in the investigate mechanic - investigate means "create a clue token", but because it's bundled in this action, if you investigate X times, you don't create X clue tokens, you create one clue token X times, and each of those separate instances of investigate trigger Marneus' card draw separately.
The Standout Cards
Academy Manufactor is basically the best card in any deck focused on treasure, clues, or food. Tamiyo's Journal will most likely let you tutor once a turn cycle. Inspiring Statuary turns your clues into ramp.
The Win Conditions
This deck has a surprising number of ways to win. Tangletrove Kelp lets your clues beat down your opponents. Marionette Master, Marionette Apprentice, Kambal, Profiteering Mayor, and Mirkwood Bats will drain them out. Persuasive Interrogators will poison them out.
Final Thoughts
I love drawing cards when i take game actions. It's Good For Me.
Okay the longer write ups I've been doing are using more of my energy than I currently have available, so I'm going to try to do a condensed write up today, and see if that style lets me get back to posting daily.
Took a break due to two deaths in the family, but I'm back today with
Deck 6 - A Solemn Upkeep
The Commander
Zur the Enchanter was first printed in Coldsnap. He's known for being a powerful toolbox commander, able to pull cheaper enchantments directly into play from your deck on attack.
(more after the break)
Zur is most notoriously paired with the card Necropotence, one of the most powerful draw engines out there, turning life into cards at a 1:1 ratio.
Other potential Zur builds include Voltron, value, and combo. Pretty much anything you would want to do with a 3 or less MV enchantment, Zur will help you get there.
The Decklist
I decided to follow my own advice and build a deck around a specific enchantment that Zur can tutor - Solemnity.
Solemnity has several powerful synergies, notably with Nine Lives and Phyrexian Unlife, that make it so you can't lose to damage. Unlife even takes it one step further, allowing you to dip into the negatives without losing.
To back up our lock pieces, we're running other mechanics that benefit from Solemnity. Undying and persist creatures always come back, cumulative upkeep can be ignored, and vanishing cards don't vanish. We're rounding it out with Zur-tutorable removal pieces.
The Standout Cards
Reconnaissance is great in Zur, allowing him to get his attack triggers off without losing him to blockers.
Out of Time is a powerful board wipe, denying death triggers and ignoring indestructible. With Solemnity out, it'll stay around until it's removed. Just be sure to find a way to get Zur off the table before you do it, or he'll be lost to you too.
The Win Conditions
The main win condition is my good friend Geralf's Messenger. With solemnity out, his undying will keep him coming back, and all you need for the win is a sac outlet, two of which can be tutored up by Zur.
And if Geralf's Messenger isn't available, the other persist/undying creatures can fill in with the help of Bastion of Remembrance.
Final Thoughts
This is now my fourth Zur decklist. The first was built around reconnaissance, the second was a joke deck (Esper Feet, only cards where the toes are out), and the third was based on forcing draws. Solemnity is a fun card to build around.
Come back next time for my list for Marneus Calgar!
My cousin passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, and I'm still processing his loss, so I haven't really been in the mood to do deck write-ups. I don't want to give up on this project, but it's been hard trying to get the momentum going again. I'm going to try to get the challenge back on the road next week Monday, with a breakdown of my list for Zur the Enchanter.
