Esper Superfriends

Pioneer forum

Posted on July 5, 2020, 6:45 p.m. by TriusMalarky

Is this a viable deck? Using Oaths and many walkers.

More budget-esque as I can't afford Teferis at all.

magwaaf says... #2

like oath of druids?

July 6, 2020 4:51 p.m.

Epidilius says... #4

Before Covid, I was playing Pioneer Esper Planeswalker Control to great success. I haven't gone through the past couple of sets to look at swaps, but man it is so much fun to play.

I tried running Oath of Teferi, but the extra utility it gave me wasn't worth it. I would rather play another walker. Getting two activations a turn doesn't matter when your opponent can do literally nothing anyway.

July 7, 2020 10:35 a.m. Edited.

TriusMalarky says... #5

I would think a 1x Oath of Teferi is worth it. The oaths are legendary, so you wouldn't run many of each. It's like a Time Warp that lasts forever. Of course, you want a lot of 3 cmc Walkers so that you can actually do stuff. The other Oaths are all 3 mana and should probably be 1-ofs, just because they get really really good with all the walkers in play.

July 7, 2020 11:13 a.m.

Epidilius says... #6

The issue with the oaths are that they are almost all win more cards. They don't do a whole lot without me having a planeswalker presence, and since a planeswalker presence is how I win they don't do much when I have it.

My list runs multiple Oath of Kayas for aggro and burn. Playing one can represent 6+ life easily. The legendary rider isn't that big of a deal, I will play a second one to kill creatures.

Oath of Liliana is a 3 mana "kill your opponent's worst creature". Murderous Rider is a better effect at 3 mana, and Fatal Push is even better (if conditional). The zombies are nice (assuming I do get the one per turn), if a little win more.

Oath of Jace is a 3 mana draw 3 with conditional upside. Yes, the condition is usually on, but if I do this on curve I spend T3 doing nothing, and since I have no shuffle effects it can easily read "draw 3 skip 2 draw steps". If I wait until later in the game when I already have control of the board, well, I'm already winning and this won't really help me win faster.

Oath of Teferi is a 5 mana play that makes my walkers better. It's just that when this card is good I am already winning. If I play this when I have 3+ walkers on the field, well, it is at least turn 6, I have 3 planeswalkers, and the fact it is turn 6 with 3 walkers means I have board control and I'm already winning. Being able to produce more tokens or draw more cards is great, but this is as close to win more as you can get.

Almost every game I've won has been to a concession. I get control of the board, cast an Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and my opponent concedes. So playing these cards doesn't even mean I win faster.

I play a few of them in EDH, but here I don't think they are good enough (minus Kaya's).

July 7, 2020 11:51 a.m. Edited.

TriusMalarky says... #7

Oath of Chandra seems like it might be a little better... but then again, the conditional buff isn't much.

July 7, 2020 12:59 p.m.

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