Esper Raven Control

Standard* Control WUB (Esper)

jsager99

Land (16)

• 4x Dismal Backwater
• 3x Godless Shrine
• 1x Island
• 1x Swamp
• 3x Temple of Silence
• 4x Watery Grave

Unknown (8)

• 4x Hallowed Shrine
• 4x Tranquil Coast

Sorcery (12)

• 3x Covetous Urge
• 2x Enter the God-Eternals
• 3x Kaya's Wrath
• 4x Thought Erasure

Planeswalker (6)

• 3x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 3x Teferi, Time Raveler

Enchantment (4)

• 4x Revenge of Ravens

Instant (8)

• 3x Absorb
• 2x Chemister's Insight
• 3x Drown in the Loch

Creature (6)

• 2x Lochmere Serpent
• 4x Murderous Rider

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Sideboard

Sorcery (6)

• 2x The Elderspell
• 2x Unmoored Ego
• 2x Witch's Vengeance

Creature (3)

• 3x Thief of Sanity

Instant (2)

• 2x Mortify

Artifact (2)

• 2x Sorcerous Spyglass

Enchantment (2)

• 2x Oath of Kaya

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 3x Despark

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Kaya, Orzhov Usurper

Creature (4)

• 4x Basilica Bell-Haunt

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This deck is an adaptation of the strong Esper Control shell currently in standard, with additions from the Thrones of Eldraine set. The finishers are your Lochmere Serpent and Covetous Urge against control and midrange decks--the serpents are big and have strong recursion value even if you can't protect them while Covetous Urge lets you steal a key card from their hand OR their graveyard to act as your finisher (e.g. Chandra 6). Revenge of Ravens is an inevitable win condition against many aggro decks that will be all over the ladder--they will simply be unable to attack you and you can use this to cut them down over time. It will be very hard to deck yourself due to Murderous Rider, so a worst case scenario would have you simply outlast them until they ran out of cards (40+ turns of paralysis).

For best of 3, here are some substitutions after you know what you are up against:

Against Control: Remove Revenge of Ravens and replace with Sorcerous Spyglass (to neutralize key planeswalkers, specifically Chandra 6, Nissa, Teferi 3, and Narset) and Unmoored Ego (to eliminate key win conditions), or Mortify (to kill high-value enchantments).

Against Aggro: Remove Covetous Urge and one Murderous Rider and replace with Oath of Kaya (healing + removal until you can get the Revenge of Ravens up and Witch's Vengence (if it is a tribal, likely Knight or Elemental)

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	30 - 11 Rares 16 - 4 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.42
Tokens	Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Standard: Competitive