So Esper Control is one of the most popular control decks available right now in Standard. I guess it doesn't hurt that there are only really two variations of viable control decks in Standard - UB and Esper - but nonetheless...
Esper Control just recently won SCG Sacramento and there are quite a few different versions of the deck for us to choose from:
Esper Control - The original. Usually most resembling UW Control, splashing black for removal like Doom Blade or Go for the Throat.
Solar Flare - This is usually just Esper Control, but with the addition of Unburial Rites. It's hard to differentiate between the two decks otherwise, so typically if the deck has at least one Unburial Rites, this is enough of a difference in the main plan to title the deck Solar Flare. Usually this means we can discard completely different things to Liliana of the Veil and Forbidden Alchemy/
Now the deck I'm presenting today follows a little bit different of a path than any of the aforementioned lists, although it does seem to borrow from each. I titled it Esper Life due to its central goal, and it's a deck I wrote about a while ago, when Dark Ascension was first spoiled. The list basically centered around Chalice of Life and flipping it as one of your primary win conditions. As such, most of the cards in the deck are able to gain you like, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take a look at the deck.
Of course the Wurmcoil Engine, the Batterskull, and the Planeswalkers aren't too shabby at winning games either. Before I get into the individual card choices and strategies, let's see the deck in action.
T2 Esper Life vs. Haunted Humans, Match 1, Game 1
T2 Esper Life vs. Haunted Humans, Match 1, Game 2
T2 Esper Life vs. Haunted Humans, Match 1, Game 3
T2 Esper Life vs. Wolf Run Ramp, Match 1, Game 1
T2 Esper Life vs. Wolf Run Ramp, Match 1, Game 2
T2 Esper Life vs. BR Zombies, Match 1, Game 1
T2 Esper Life vs. BR Zombies, Match 1, Game 2
Check out that second game against BR Zombies! Yes, after saying at the beginning of the game that we should have taken him out, we go on to restart the game with Karn Liberated...because we can!
As you can see, the deck's primary goal was to win by life gain, although that wasn't often the case. Often times it's just a secondary plan that manages to keep you alive against aggro decks. This strategy is actually pretty good right now since the format is literally filled with aggro decks: RG Aggro, Zombies, Mage-Blade, Red Deck Wins, etc. This means that cards like Wurmcoil Engine and Chalice of Life are really well positioned (or they should be, in theory).
Unlike traditional Esper Control lists - which typically use Grave Titan or Consecrated Sphinx - we opt to go with Wurmcoil Engine as our finisher, along with a Batterskull simply for the lifegain. The reason Wurmcoil initially started to get the shaft for guys like Grave Titan was the prominence of Vapor Snag, however with Mage-Blade taking up a smaller section of the metagame, Wurmcoil is actually fairly safe now. He's actually nearly unstoppable against the red and black decks.
There are a few missing cards that might seem questionable in a build like this that focuses on gaining life. I'd like to go over some of the more obvious ones, so let's check out a couple.
No Elspeth Tirel? This might seem like a mistake, to exclude Elspeth, but I don't think so. The fact is that Elspeth's life gaining qualities are only good when you have a ton of creatures already, which is something this deck doesn't really provide. Instead we opted for the planeswalker that helps preserve your life total in the form of Gideon Jura. While you won't find me arguing that Elspeth's three 1/1s are quite beneficial, I just think Gideon is a little stronger here. I think if we were playing a deck more focused on Vault of the Archangel, a much stronger case for Elspeth Tirel could be made.
No Timely Reinforcements? Well, no. Or yes? At first I was under the impression that you would always have more life than your opponent, and therefore only get the creatures off of Timely Reinforcements. After playing the deck some, I realized that you don't actually always have the most life, but you are usually sitting at a much higher life total than you ordinarily would against the aggressive decks thanks to our card choices. This being said, I can see situations where Timely would be good, but at this point I'm not sure what to cut for them.
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I want to say the singleton Unburial Rites is the most suspect card in the list, but really, it's always good when you need it. It might seem counterintuitive when you have so few creatures, but that fact is also one that makes Unburial Rites better. You lose a Wurmcoil? Return it! Had to pitch an Elesh Norn to a Forbidden Alchemy? Get it back early! Unburial Rites gives you something of an insurance policy, guaranteeing your opponent will have to deal with the same Wurmcoil Engine at least twice, which is no easy feat, believe you me.
I think one of the deck's largest problems might be Strangleroot Geist, and one of the main cards I wanted to add was Snapcaster Mage. I think with the lifegain and removal, you should be able to handle Geists; just make sure you don't let them get a Birthing Pod online, because those are troublesome. I wanted to add the Grafdigger's Cage to the sideboard once again for the Geist problem, but it shuts down your flashback cards, which is no bueno. I also considered Surgical Extraction, but I'm still not sure it's A) worth it or B) effective enough.
Before you ask, I definitely had an Archangel's Light in the original version of the deck. Eight mana is just so much, Unfortunately we do have better cards (perhaps that isn't so unfortunate?), like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (which has proven to be insane, by the way).
The sideboard is pretty straightforward, as usual. I once again added the Trinket Mage package since Elixir of Immortality is pretty valuable here, and I'd rather draw a 2/2 body and have the choice of getting an Elixir or a Spellbomb, rather than just packing more of each. The Elixir is a little better here than with the Tezzeret brew since this deck is less aggressive, and you're therefore more prone to being milled out in the control mirror match. The third Chalice of Life also comes in against control since they'll usually never counter it, and your ability to acquire ten more than your starting life should nary be impeded by them! You really just want to bring in the two Negate and the Volition Reins and out-control them.
Anyway, the decks plays-and-is-not-that-dissimilar-from your run of the mill Esper Control list. The thing about it is though, is that those are pretty well positioned right now, since no deck truly trounces them. I've come to find that Chalice of Life, while subtle, is able to give you an alternative win condition against control that is hard to deal with, and incremental life gain against aggro decks to keep you alive. All in all, give the deck a shot. If nothing else, you get to sleeve up some of the most powerful Planeswalkers in the format! That's all I have for this week, guys! Thanks for reading and I'll see you in seven!
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