Esper Mentor

Esper mentor seems to be alive

https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...gue-2018-07-07

PL00FADOOF (5-0)'d with the list.

Here's the decklist

MAINBOARD

1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil

2 Baleful Strix
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Snapcaster Mage

1 Council's Judgment
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize

4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Engineered Explosives

4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD

1 Containment Priest
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Fatal Push
2 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Rest in Peace
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Vendilion Clique

He also provides a mini tournament report and deck tech

https://www.reddit.com/r/MTGLegacy/c..._2018/e1zbs79/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kramer733

MAINBOARD

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil

3 Baleful Strix
3 Monastery Mentor
3 Snapcaster Mage

1 Council's Judgment
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize

4 Brainstorm
2 Counterspell
4 Force of Will
2 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Engineered Explosives

4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Wasteland

SIDEBOARD

1 Containment Priest
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Fatal Push
2 Flusterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Rest in Peace
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vendilion Clique

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I used the list for our weekly and made some minor changes (marked in bolt) due to card availability (didn't have a Gideon and 2nd IoK) and personal preference (I see no reason to play JvP, and Storm is played alot locally).

R1 D&T draw (win) 1-1

G1 Trading one for one until I can stick Jace for a couple of turns and then clean up with mentor
G2 Cannonist and Recruiter + Flickerwhisp Tempo me, because I have 1 Jace and 2 snapcastermages sitting useless in my Hand
G3 Grind and go Lili into Jace but can only stick Mentor on turn 1 of extra turns and I am a couple points short of lethal. He ends up in the finals so i can't fault him for not scooping

R2 Food Chain W 2-0

G1 I win a tight race on one life while tempoing with 2 FoW (Manipulate Fate and Balista)
G2 Timely Verdict hits Leovold and Trinket Mage and I can grind out with mentor and jace after that

R3 4c loam L 0-2

G1 I Keep Tundra, Sea, Ponder, 4 other spells. Play land cast ponder, 3 nonlands, shuffle, no land, opp wastes me, I draw no land, land go, opp waste me, I scoop
G2 I keep a bad hand but it has land, ponder, RIP, I ponder, 3 non-land shuffle, opp goes T1 Chalice, I can't cast Rip because i fetched an Island, scoop, GG WP...

R4 UBg Reanimator W 2-0

G1 I spellpierce a brainstorm on T1, then my Opp does a whole lot of nothing until hardcasting Elish Norn when I have allready got Mento plus 2 Tokens. But I have 3 Counters in Hand at that point.
G2 My hatefull board is usefull for once and I stick RIP on T3 or 4 and slowly beat down with snaps and strixes

I like the Mainboard, but would make some SB changes:

1. I am not sure if hymn has a place in the main, maybe its a sb option because combo decks don't attack your mana.
2. I would definitly cut down on the gy hate (play 3 surgical cause they synergize with snappy)
3. add either 2 Disenchants or 1 Disentchant 1 C.Judgement to the SB.
4. A 2nd EE could also be usefull.
5. I would defintly play 2 sweepers in the board, maybe even 3 cards ( Zaleous persecution would be a good addition also). Its card to keep up with DNT and Elves and such by just 1-for-1-ing

Nicklas Krull took down MKM Bologna with Esper Mentor. Is there anyone else exploring this archetype still?

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20996&d=339347&f=LE

Quote:

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Originally Posted by koten

Nicklas Krull took down MKM Bologna with Esper Mentor. Is there anyone else exploring this archetype still?

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20996&d=339347&f=LE

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I haven't been active in this thread in a long time. I still haven't even updated the OP since Dig and Probe were banned, but I have playing this deck again lately as well. It seems pretty solid right now. The list I play is quite a bit different from the MKM winners. That list seems super greedy on casting costs and would scoop to moon decks. I generally like to avoid any WW or BB costing spells in the MD, and only have 1 or 2 in the SB as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheArchitect

I haven't been active in this thread in a long time. I still haven't even updated the OP since Dig and Probe were banned, but I have playing this deck again lately as well. It seems pretty solid right now. The list I play is quite a bit different from the MKM winners. That list seems super greedy on casting costs and would scoop to moon decks. I generally like to avoid any WW or BB costing spells in the MD, and only have 1 or 2 in the SB as well.

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Do you have an example list of what you are looking at for this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doishy

Do you have an example list of what you are looking at for this?

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Here's the list I have been trying:
20 lands:
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
2 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea

3 Baleful Strix
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Monastery Mentor

2 Bitterblossom

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

4 Ponder
3 Preordain
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will

2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize

1 Engineered Explosives
4 Swords to Plowshares


Sideboard:

1 Celestial Purge
1 Council's Judgment
2 Disenchant
3 Flusterstorm
2 Meddling Mage
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Zealous Persecution

Bitterblossom, number of Jaces, cantrip/land count are all things I am still tinkering with. The list is pretty all in on Mentor being the way to generate value. I like that the MKM list was trying to remedy that problem of the deck with hymn and search, I just don't think they are the cards we want to be playing.

I haven't played magic in a while, but I retweaked my old list to swap DRS for Mother of Runes, Probe for Preordain, and Cabal Therapy for Thoughtseize. I also cut the JTMS for Predict (experimental)... or maybe I was doing a 1/1 split with Spell Pierce and JTMS? Anyway, Mother of Runes is fantastic.

I'm actually considering taking a page out of Buried Phoenix's book and cutting the FoW from the main deck for Cabal Therapy, at least for testing purposes.

I also started testing this deck a few months ago. I found that you need to add some punch to the more stock lists to make it worth not just playing miracles with mentor. Nicklas Krull did this with 4 Hymn, while I have gone another route - splashing red. After about a hundred matches this were I'm at right now:

CREATURES (9)
4 Baleful Strix
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Monastery Mentor

ENCHANTMENTS (2)
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Counterbalance

SORCERIES (13)
4 Ponder
3 Terminus
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Preordain
1 Vindicate

INSTANTS (14)
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Kolaghan’s Command

PLANESWALKERS (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

LANDS (20)
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Marsh Flats
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp

SIDEBOARD (15)
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Flusterstorm
2 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Disenchant
1 Batterskull


It has been very good for me thus far, and you actually get a better manabase than you get if you splash for hymn (you can lead with all your basics without losing almost any tempo, which is very convenient). Terminus is great too I think, but you can probably play more mentors and cantrips in some metas instead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by koten

Nicklas Krull took down MKM Bologna with Esper Mentor. Is there anyone else exploring this archetype still?

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=20996&d=339347&f=LE

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He wrote a blog post about the deck as an fyi.

https://mtgthelegacy.blogspot.com/20...YOflpB5gNeJHJA

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CptHaddock

He wrote a blog post about the deck as an fyi.

https://mtgthelegacy.blogspot.com/20...YOflpB5gNeJHJA

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Thanks for sharing this!

I have not thought of trying Mom or splashing for K Command, but both are worth exploring and I will try them.