Esper Control 3.0
Pioneer*
SCORE: 1 | 11 COMMENTS | 469 VIEWS
Pioneer Dreamhack RCQ 2-Slot —Nov. 5, 2022
This is my 4th event played with this deck and my first ever Pioneer top 8! The deck performed exceptionally well and I believe I am getting close to the correct formula of cards. Rounds 4 and Quarter Finals were unfortunate for me, but that is how it goes. A lot of the reason for my loss to Rakdos in round 4 of Swiss was misplays on my part on account of being frustrated by having to switch sleeves between rounds. I was deck checked for round 3 and my sleeves were deemed "too damaged for play", even though the sleeves were near brand new and had only been played in one event prior. In top 8 I played the same opponent from round 4 and lost to him again, luck was firmly on his side. One trend I've noticed across the 4 events I've attended is that Field of Ruin often times creates extremely awkward mana situations with having so many cards that require 2 or 3 specific mana pips. I may be cutting down from 2 copies to 1 copy in favor of another white land, as I still occasionally struggle to find that second white pip for The Wandering Emperor and Supreme Verdict. Another glaring issue is Rakdos. With Liliana of the Veil now in the mix, the discard plan is difficult to overcome. Often times being left at the mercy of the top deck by turn 4, when they are resolving Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I've been toying with the idea of adding Leyline of Sanctity to the sideboard as a 3 of for the Rakdos matchup. Being able to stop the Stomp side of Bonecrusher Giant, Thoughtseize, and Duress would be a crippling advantage over Rakdos. Adjustments to the sideboard are definitely coming as the cards I have in there for Lotus Field Combo I have never used as that deck is not really viable anymore. Adjustments were made to the main after this event too, including -1Tainted Indulgence for +1 Behold the Multiverse and -1 Absorb for +1 Saw it Coming. The reasoning here is that they can't force me to discard cards not in my hand. I am also considering adding a copy of Eliminate to maintain the same amount of ways to kill creature lands and have another way to deal with Liliana of the Veil. Anyhow, more on the SB changes will come later, for now, here are the results from this event.
Round 1 Win 2-1 VS Mono White Humans - This is usually a fairly good matchup for Esper Control, particularly post board. Game 1 was very close but she was able to take it on the back of a Wedding Invitation. Game 2 went all my way with a t3 Path of Peril into t4 Supreme Verdict. At that point she had 1 card in hand a drew 3 lands in a row. I resolved a Teferi, Hero of Dominaria followed by Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and coasted. Game 3 was very similar to game 1 despite my opponent having to mulligan to 5 cards. The match ended up going to extra turns and she conceded on turn 5 as I had her dead on board if we had 1 more turn.
Round 2 Win 2-1 VS Rakdos Midrange - A very tough matchup, my opponent got game 1 on a top decked stomp the turn after I resolved a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and I was at 2 life. Game 2 I crushed, he had a pretty bad draw overall. Game 3 was very close and we took turns top decking gas and removal until I was finally able to resolve Dream Trawler and he conceded.
Round 3 Win 2-0 VS UR Phoenix - This is my decks easiest matchup. out of the 8 times I've played against it I've only lost 1 round to it and a total of 2 games against it. Both games went the same way, exiled his Arclight Phoenix and killed his creature lands. Resolved a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse game 2 and that was that.
Round 4 Loss 0-2 VS Rakdos Midrange - Not much to tell here, game 1 I never drew a 4th land and couldn't fire off a desperately needed Supreme Verdict or The Wandering Emperor. Game 2 started close, but he hit 5 lands and never drew a bad card after that. I ended the game with 11 lands in play and 0 cards in hand. This a disappointing round for sure.
Round 5 INT Draw 0-0 VS Mono Green Devotion - We intentionally drew to lock in top 8.
Quarters Loss 0-2 VS Rakdos Midrange - This was the same opponent from round 4. Game 1 I should have won but I waited to long to cash in a Field of Ruin to find another colored mana source. The Field of Ruin put me in several awkward situations where I had responses but I couldn't use them. This was one of the occasions that got me thinking about adjusting the number of Field of Ruin in the deck for sure. Game 2 I drew an absurd number lands again and he drew a ton of gas after hitting 6 lands and only ever drew 1 more than past that, which happened to the land that killed me.
Overall the deck did well and I was happy with the way I played. Getting that much closer to a win, just have to keep grinding.