[QUOTE=Einherjer;834263]I am planning on building up a task-force that will work on Esperblade. If you are experienced and willing to put some work into this deck, let me know.
will put in work
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[QUOTE=Einherjer;834263]I am planning on building up a task-force that will work on Esperblade. If you are experienced and willing to put some work into this deck, let me know.
will put in work
ThopterBlade I will be testing before the GP:
Creatures: 8
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells: 22
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Force of Will
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Dig Through Time
1 Council's Judgement
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Counterspell
1 Lingering Souls
Artifacts: 5
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of the Meek
2 Thopter Foundry
Planeswalkers: 3
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands: 22
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats
3 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Karakas
1 Academy Ruins
Sideboard: 15
3 Rest in Peace
2 Notion Thief
2 Engineered Plague
2 Spell Pierce
2 Pithing Needle
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Disenchant
1 Force of Will
1 Perish
Solid list looks solid
I'm building this deck and I was wondering about something.
I've noticed that the non-Jace win conditions utilized seem to vary among Lingering Souls, True-Name Nemesis, and Thopter/Sword combo.
I don't think I have a problem determining the relative advantages and weaknesses of these cards relative to my opponent's potential countermeasures, but I'm unsure of how the choice of win condition affects internal card choices.
Any help would be appreciated.
They don't really have to affect much. TNN does make you feel like you deck is supposed to be more aggressive though. Everytime I put TNN in esper stoneblade I feel like I want wastes, Deathrites and more spell pierces. I have never played thopter/sword, but I would probably want 1 Etutor and a top in the MD and maybe some other Etutor bullets that I would already consider playing (regardless of etutor) in the SB. Shaheen runs intuition and 2 therapy in the SB with his 3 lingering souls, but I do not think thats worth it. Its better to just SB out the souls against combo, and I usually only run 2 souls anyways.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lormador
Thopter/Sword looks really cool and dominating, and it is interesting given that I've never played with it before either... I just don't know if I can stomach graveyard dependence and card disadvantage (if I run E-tutor) to get it online. What's attractive about TNN is his complete disregard for Rest In Peace (and related) conditions. I think I want to go on some Treasure Cruises, and I am concerned that opponents who see both that and Thopters will board accordingly.
Sorry everybody, when I wrote this I was sure that I had the best Miracles list, now as there is more work to be done (a.k.a. dealing with Cruise + Dig) I'll have to stop my work on Esper. You'll get one piece of content in the next week, as far as I know, though. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Einherjer
Sorry.
Greetings
I've got some good testing in with Esper and am happy with 3 Cruise and 3 LS right now.
Do you mind sharing your list with those cards in it?Quote:
Originally Posted by HSCK
Switching gears to test a couple Dig Through Times:
Creatures: 6
2 Vendilion Clique
2 True-Name Nemesis
4 Stoneforge Mystic
Planeswalkers: 3
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Equipment: 2
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull
Spells: 22
1 Ponder
1 Council’s Judgement
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Counterspell
1 Intuition
2 Dig Through Time
3 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Swords to Plowshares
Lands: 22
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Island
1 Karakas
1 Scrubland
3 Underground Sea
3 Tundra
2 Marsh Flats
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
Sideboard: 15
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Pithing Needle
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Flusterstorm
2 Spell Pierce
2 Notion Thief
Was not happy with Lili, I don't know if TNN is useful at all in this shell, but it seems like it'd be another strong mid to late game card I can pick at with DTT.
I tried out that Sorin, Lord of Innistrad that Al Karabell played in Montana... resolved it against DnT and it was a complete house.
Well, it might have had something to do with the fact that the board was empty due to a Zealous Persecution and that there was a Jitte on my side of it.
Nevertheless, I was impressed enough that I'm going to go out on a limb and play a couple more walkers than usual in the deck. I still don't get the point of Ashiok, really, but there are several others.
How has everyone's testing been with Dig Through Time? As a one of it's been pretty insane for me mid/late game. I feel like the deck could easily support another one but I'm not sure what I would cut for it. Even just the one seems like it's straining the decks early game.
Suddenly I don't feel confident when playing esper anymore. The deck is so mana intensive that when you miss land drops it just feels slow and clunky. Are any of you having this problem?
Esper is my pet deck, but I'm afraid it's just not viable on it's "classic" configuration. What do you think? My list, for reference, is currently this:
Land (23)
4x Flooded Strand
3x Island
1x Karakas
2x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
3x Polluted Delta
1x Scrubland
1x Swamp
4x Tundra
3x Underground Sea
Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Umezawa's Jitte
Sorcery (8)
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Ponder
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Thoughtseize
1x Vindicate
Instant (13)
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
3x Force of Will
4x Swords to Plowshares
Creature (10)
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x True-Name Nemesis
1x Vendilion Clique
Planeswalker (3)
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard (15)
1x Disenchant
1x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Flusterstorm
1x Force of Will
1x Perish
2x Pithing Needle
2x Rest in Peace
2x Spell Pierce
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Vendilion Clique
I thought about testing Shaheen's list, but I don't own some of the cards (intuition, cabal therapy etc), so that will have to wait. I tested a single ponder + a treasure cruise, but it felt like that cantrip + shuffle effect helped me more often than drawing 3 cards (hard to believe, huh?).
This is the list I have tested lately - it is based on Shaheen's Intuition list:
Lands (22)
3x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
3x Marsh Flats
2x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
3x Tundra
2x Underground Sea
1x Scrubland
1x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Karakas
Creature (8)
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
Instant (13)
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Brainstorm
3x Force of Will
1x Counterspell
1x Intuition
Sorcery (11)
3x Lingering Souls
2x Thoughtseize
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Ponder
1x Treasure Cruise
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Council's Judgment
Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Engineered Explosives
Planeswalker (3)
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sideboard (15)
3x Rest in Peace
2x Cabal Therapy
2x Spell Pierce
2x Notion Thief
1x Disenchant
1x Flusterstorm
1x Force of Will
1x Zealous Persecution
1x Engineered Plague
1x Supreme Verdict
I wasn't overly impressed with the maindeck 1x Counterspell and 1x Inquisition of Kozilek - I think I'd like to replace them with a 3rd Thoughseize, another Treasure Cruise and/or a maindeck FoW.
Otherwise the deck felt really solid - two ponders are a must to make sure you hit all the land drops.
I haven't tested Dig Through Time yet, however I only wished the Cruises were Digs when playing against Sneak & Show. Intuition was incredible and saved me at least in 4 out of 10 matchups.
Looking at your list, here are my comments:
- 2 Counterspell are definitely too much - I liked them in the UW Stoneblade list, however in this list, getting to UU second turn might not be as easy if you try to play around wastelands.
- Play 3 Snapcaster Mages - I was never unhappy to see them. Early game flashing back Plows, late game cantrips and Treasure Cruises.
- I strongly suggest to play 3 Rest in Peace in the sideboard - they are stellar against all the B/G decks.
- I prefer Lingering souls over TNN mostly to beat Liliana's. Every game vs Liliana I discarded a copy on Liliana's +1, flashed it back and they were forced to -2 Liliana and decay the other spirit. I usually then finished Liliana off with a EOT flash creature.
Regards
What about the land count... do you think 22 is ok'ish? I've tested 22 for around 10 games and got mana screwed every single time. Maybe my version is more mana intensive, though.
Well,
It happens to get mana screwed and honestly I hadn't tested many games vs RUG delver (mostly BUG and U(W)R..). If you get wasted twice in the first 4 turns, you will usually lose to their tempo.
Basically, I against wasteland decks, I only keep hands with 3 lands or blue land, fetch & cantrip. Use the cantrip on turn 3 (main phase) if you haven't topdecked the third land and you should be ok..
Yup, I have had this exact problem. The odd mix of basics and non-basics and general lack of filtering screws me over a lot. If I fetch a basic or two in the first couple turns to avoid wasteland, it just makes the wasteland they use on my non-basic (which I inevitably draw and have to play) even more devastating. Against any deck with stifle its even worse. I played at a 1k this weekend and went a disappointing 2-3. One game loss was to my own technical error, but all 5 of the other losses were entirely do fumbling on mana the entire game.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenShorty
As far as Dig/cruise goes I think they are both great. I tested a lot with dig as both a 2 and 3 of. 3 of was not bad, but 2 of felt better. I have not tried cruise really in esper, but it is possibly even be better; especially if your deck is more tap-out control anyways. One major mistake I made initially though, was cutting ponders for Dig. Don't do this. You still need ponder to smooth out the early game and mana issues. Dig totally turns games around though, and is exactly the kind of card this deck needs to turn the tables and stabilize, or press advantage after stabilizing.
I'm trying to determine whether or not I want to play ANT or Esper Stone Blade next in Legacy (was on RUG Delver and Shardless BUG before, both I think got worse due to cruise making visions worse and U/R Delver being able to play cruise and RUG not).
Anyways, here is the list I was thinking of putting together.
Creatures (9)
4x Stoneforge Mystic
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x True Name Nemesis
Sorceries (14)
4x Ponder
4x Preordain
2x Council's Judgement
1x Supreme Verdict
3x Treasure Cruise
Instants (15)
4x Brainstorm
4x Swords to Plowshares
2x Spell Pierce
1x Counterspell
4x Force of Will
Artifacts (2)
1x Batterskull
1x Umezawa's Jitte
Lands (21)
4x Polluted Delta
4x Flooded Strand
2x Marsh Flats
4x Tundra
6x Island
1x Plains
Sideboard (15)
2x Pithing Needle
2x Disenchant
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Path to Exile
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Spell Pierce
1x Flusterstorm
2x Vendilion Clique
So this is my first post on The Source. I've recently (past 3 months) converted over to Esper Stoneblade after playing UW for quite some time.
Here's my list:
Instants and Sorceries:
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Counterspell
2 Lingering Souls
2 Supreme Verdict
3 Treasure Cruise
1 Council's Judgement
Creatures:
4 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Vendillion Clique
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 True Name Nemesis
Other:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
2 Marshflats
2 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
1 Wasteland
2 Plains
1 Swamp
5 Islands
Sideboard:
2 Pithing Needle
2 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Meddling Mage
3 Thoughtseize
1 Flusterstorm
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Path to Exile
1 Council's Judgement
The MD I initially tuned to beat fair matchups (bug varieties specifically) but I guess in the last month of me not playing, everyone decided to switch to combo....Anyways I'm trying out Treasure Cruise for the next 2 weeks and then I'll test Dig Through Time. My first impressions with TC (at a competitive level) has been less than ideal and DTT would have suited me better in most of my games. I went 3-2, losing to elves 0-2, sneak and show 1-2, Storm 2-1, Elves 2-0, and some homebrew tezzerator 2-0. In all of these games TC was either a win more or it didn't dig (haha) me far enough to an answer. Also, I frequently casted TC at around 2 mana. However, i could do some MD changes to help TC along rather than just jamming it in like I did. As a foil to my testing competitively, TC has been an absolute HOUSE in my casual legacy testing (like 8-1 burn, 5-1 deathblade, 2-0 miracles, 2-0 Goblins)
Anyone else have similar or vastly different experiences with TC?
Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Rest In Peace? I don't think we can afford to run Rest in Peace if you are running Lingering Souls, Snapcaster Mage and Treasure Cruise. Any thoughts on Nihil Spellbomb? It is better than Relic of Progenitus for us since it leaves our GY alone.