An Esper Control Deck Inspired By, Aspiring Spike's Grixis Control Build
Updated Feb 20th 2021
I really love what Aspiring Spike's Grixis could do with Thought Scour and Into The Story, so rather than copy the known UW Control list and splash black for cards like Esper Charm or Kaya's Guile, (although those are two very powerful cards), I took notes from this Grixis Control build instead as I feel it is FAR superior to UW Control overall. However access to in my opinion has a lot more to offer a control deck, specifically post side board, then having access to and that's where the work began.
Thought Scour
Esper Charm
Drown in the Loch
Into the Story
Being able to play both T3feri and Teferi, Hero Of Dominaria is what made UW Control so powerful in a not so distant meta. However, Grixis Control solves a lot of issues UW control had. Grixis offers more counter magic, more spot removal, much more efficient card draw in the mid to late game, and ways to retrieve your win conditions if they land in the graveyard. Sounds like a dream come true to be able to address these issues, however in my opinion,
Kolaghan's Command
is the only real reason to play .
It works so well in this shell to be able to buy back a creature like Snapcaster Mage or even Torrential Gear Hulk late game and be able to play Into The Story once more without having to pay its mana cost, while also being a decent discard or spot removal card as well, however, the pros do not outweigh the cons to not having access to .
White Mana opens the door to a much stronger sideboard plan than what Grixis could offer, more proactive board sweepers, some of the best planes walkers a control deck could hope to have while being able to play the most powerful one drop spot removal in Modern, (Path To Exile).
Path to Exile
Timely Reinforcements
Supreme Verdict
Teferi, Time Raveler
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Although Path doesn't work great with Drown In The Loch, and Bolt-Snap-Bolt plays are always fun, this is a version of this deck that is designed for the late game rather than having mid range options, or trying to force the 1 for 1 plan. Which is why I opt to play Celestial Colonnade over Creeping Tar Pit and replaced Tasigur with walkers instead. I find lightning bolt to be far to conditional in most cases. Having access to 10 spot removal spells and ways to draw a whole lot of cards at once seems good. Not to mention having access to 11 counter spells in the main board is absurd. All things Control players want to be doing.
-Nate
