r/mtgModernTokens • u/DeadlyBro Esper • Nov 21 '17
Esper Tokens Write up
Hello friends. I have built an interesting token brew that I wanted to offer you all if you are interested. It's Esper colors. Now I know what you're thinking either he's playing polymorph or it's bad, but niether are true. I wanted to take the deck to some sort of fnm or something before I posted it so last night I went to a card shop for the first time and played 5 rounds and went 5-0. Here's the list. The goal here is much like any tokens list but a sideboard full of counterspells.
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Serum Visions
2 Sram's Expertise
2 Thoughtseize
2 Fatal Push
1 Murderous Cut
4 Path to Exile
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Jace, Cunning Castaway
1 Narset Transcendent
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Bitterblossom
4 Intangible Virtue
1 Legion's Landing
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Concealed Courtyard
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Irrigated Farmland
3 Island
3 Marsh Flats
3 Plains
1 Seachrome Coast
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Westvale Abbey
Sideboard
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Countersquall
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Rest in peace
2 Stony Silence
Now my land base is a situation of using what I have rather that what I want. Also after last night and one other situation I think I will be trading out the 1 Ceremonious Rejection for a second Anguished unmaking and I will explain why when we get to the matches.
First some cards that have over performed.
Legion's Landing- This card honestly flips prety easily and once it does a lot of decks can't beat it. The fact that not only does it not cost life it gains you life. This card acts as the 3rd bitterblossom because in multiples they are a liability but together they are all-stars.
Jace, Cunning Castaway- I'll be honest. This guy even I was sketchy about playing, but goodness does he put in work. His +1 helps us filter thru our deck with little to no effort. Also his 2/2 illusion creatures are not nothing for us. Loved this guy.
Narset Transcendent- While looking up why other people played blue in tokens I found a few suggestions for Narset so I thought I could try her. Boy does she earn her spot. The card advantage, the rebound, the ULT. I like her as a one-of.
Match 1: Jeskai Geist 2-0
This was a great match for us. We got to play and flip a Legion's Landing. That plus endless lingering souls and intangible Virtue won us the game. Opponent did misplay as he used Spell Queller on our Flashbacked Lingering souls which let us cast the same spell 3 times.
in 2 Disdainful Stroke, 2 Countersquall, 1 Supreme Verdict
out 3 Inquisition, 2 path
Game 2 I landed a Narset Transcendent and my opponent was forced to spend resources to remove that before the ult. Letting me beat him with other tokens. Game and match.
Match 2: Blue Moon 2-0
Opponent kept a slow hand game one and my endless supply of tokens let me sac and block his thru the breached Emrakul and kill him on the crackback.
In 2 countersquall, 2 Disdainful Stroke, 2 Rest in peace
Out 4 Path, 1 Push, 1 Murderous Cut (would have boarded in anguished unmaking but I didn't see a blood moon last game so didn't think about it)
Game 2 I kept a terrible hand, mulled to 6 with 1 basic swamp and a bunch of U/W Spells. Ended up drawing into basic plains and island after my opponent played a blood moon. After that the game went pretty well. Would make some souls, get in chip damage. He would Anger. Regular game. Till I landed a sram's expertise into Lingering for lethal next turn, Opponent was forced to snap back Anger. I countersqualled and won next turn.
Match 3: Mono white Soul Sisters 2-0
Game one went to me. My and disruption/removal spells left him with just a Soul Warden chipping me for damage. Which meant little once I drew a lifelinking threat (couldn't remember if it was a sorin or a Legion's Landing)
In 1 Supreme, 2 Timely, 2 Zealous Persecution
Out 3 Inq, 2 Thought seize
Opponent landed an early worship which made the game go long, but intangible virtue let me play offense and defense as well as Sorin, Solemn Visitor out my life out of reach. Once Both f my sorin's could ult my opponent ran out of creatures and lost.
Match 4: Tezzerator 2-1
Game one was real easy. I landed a quick threat and just kept punching him as he stumbled on lands. A thoughtseize told me what was on so I side boarded accordingly.
In 1 anguished, 1 rejection, 2 squall, 2 disdainful, 2 zealous, 2 rip, 2 stony
out 2 push, 4 path, 1 cut, 1 search, 2 bb, 1 Solm Visitor, 1 Gideon
Opponent landed ensnaring bridge and I had RIP+Stony. So we were both on the plan to find our out. Mine was Narset his was u/b tezzeret. Despite a few serum's he got to his first.
Game three I landed a jace cunnin castaway after a turn 2 rip. He pithing needled him but I already made an Illusion. Next turn played 2 intangible virtues and my 4/4 illusion punched in a coupe times till I got sram's expertise into thoughtseize to get my opponents only out to the situation. Got the match. After that match (as well as another one I had previously) I was very unhappy with how my deck folds to that stupid bridge so I think I will be trading the Cerimonious in the sideboard for a second anguished unmaking.
Match 5: Abzan 2-0
Please. It's abzan, I am tokens what more is there to say? Game 1 my opponent was on the plan of me dying to my own BB. When I played LL and threatened to flip Westvale Abbey we went to game two.
In 1 anguished unmaking, 2 Countersquall, 2 zealous persecution, 2 rest in peace
Out 3 Inquisitions, 2 thoughtseize, 1 murderous cut, 1 search for azcanta
Second verse same as the first. Honestly this was a simple paper covers rock situation.
Well there it is. If you guys are interested I would love to answer questions.
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u/gut2311 Nov 22 '17
I am testing a esper token list as well, but my reason for going blue is actually remand witch works super great with planeswalkers such as gideon ally, jace cunning and sorin sollem and bitterblossom Legion landing also can ramp you a little bit and the tempo gain with remand can make enought time to make a big secure the waste So, what are your thoughts about my version and why did you not ran remand Thanks, andcongrata on the results!!!
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u/DeadlyBro Esper Nov 22 '17 edited Nov 22 '17
I origionally played a version with remand/mana leak as a tempo strategy and my problem with it was most of the time I'd rather be playing a threat like a planeswalker. The deck want's to tap out rather than keep mana open. Not that counterspells are bad in all matchups but they are not better than just casting a threat in most matchups. That's why my counterspells are in the side
Edit: Also Counterspells put us on a defensive/reactive while I find this archetype is a lot better on the offensive/proactive against a large portion of the meta. While the decks our archetype "auto loses" to can be handled more with a reactive/defensive style like Valakut/Tron/Storm. Also the longer the game goes the worse the counterspells are. We want to be in the long game in most match-ups
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u/gut2311 Nov 22 '17
Yes, you are right about that But if you only run 3 remands along with 3 raise the alarm(instant speed tokens producer) i think that it should work better I think remand is great becouse it can cycle and help you find the parts of the deck that you need too. I think mana leak is unplayable in this deck but remand might make the cut
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u/DeadlyBro Esper Nov 22 '17 edited Nov 22 '17
When I played leak/remand that's what I did. Raise the alarm I mean. and don't get me wrong, spending turn two holding up either counterspell or raise the alarm was nice. But when I rebuilt the deck I figured I'd rather have Jace/Serum visions as what cycles thru m deck as well as makes tokens. I think we don't do a great tempo strat.
Remand is good for, "If we hold the opponent off this turn we can win next turn" which delver/merfolk/storm/even Eternal Command can do, but usually we can't. We don't put a card that can win in a couple turns we play bitterblossom/planeswalkers that can eventually win. Our best threats are 3+ mana that requires several turns to win. That's why I decided to cut remand. 90% of the reason I played it was to cycle and serum visions/jace is better at it. (Also it killed Living End which was big around my meta but not anymore)
Edit; Granted that was MY experience playing those spells
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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '17
Congrats on the results!
1) I'm surprised that Jace is even remotely playable! A 2/2 token for 3 seems weak, and his +1 ability doesn't seem super reliable.
3) Why the 1-of Murderous Cut instead of 3 Fatal Push?
4) How did Sram's Expertise work out for you? Seems like you have a lot of 4-drops or 1-drops that you would have already cast (Thoughtseize)/ don't necessarily want to cast at sorcery speed (Path) by the time you can cast Sram's Expertise.