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Investigating Esper

Commander / EDH Artifact Investigate Tokens Value Engine WUB (Esper)

Khirgan

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Land (34)

Enchantment (7)

Planeswalker (2)

Sorcery (1)

Creature (23)

Instant (14)

Commanders (2)

Commander: Hargilde, Kindly Runechanter
Commander: Wernog, Rider's Chaplain

Artifact (17)

Maybeboard

Creature (7)

Artifact (4)

Land (1)

Instant (2)

Planeswalker (1)

Enchantment (1)

Esper artifact (mostly clues) themed deck. Wernog, Rider's Chaplain MVP for this for sure with Hargilde, Kindly Runechanter pretty much only adding blue. Blink Wernog, Rider's Chaplain to shit out a ton of clues and bleed your opponents down to manageable life totals, then go in for the kill with Cyberdrive Awakener / Tangletrove Kelp, a fat Broodstar, or drain them with Mirkwood Bats / Agent of the Iron Throne / Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge.

I started out thinking this would be a silly, durdle deck. But my playgroup quickly told me that the value engine can snowball to become incredibly oppressive. I now almost never get more than one clue for the Wernog, Rider's Chaplain trigger.

My playgroup has a pretty high amount of GY shenanigans, so I have a little GY hate package including Lion Sash and Unlicensed Hearse. One of the weaknesses of the deck is that it can be a little slow to get off the ground, so these also serve the additional purpose of some early blocks if needed.

The deck has a high level of redundancy and should do a pretty good job with protecting itself, so letting opponents have their fun and keeping interaction to protect your important toys or stop opponents from winning should be the main focus. It has built in draw as well with the clues being able to turn into cards, so the only thing I've noticed is how mana hungry it can be. Leaving mana up for interaction definitely is slowing the deck down. And while I'm not trying to rush to the win, being able to completely develop my boardstate a turn or two earlier is something this deck needs.

I've been actively avoiding infinite combos with this deck, so the slot that used to be Krark-Clan Ironworks is now Urza, Lord High Artificer, which serves the same purpose of turning clues into mana. The irony that he's a gamechanger and KCI isn't, is not lost on me. Only downside is that now people will see Urza and immediately think it's that kind of deck (more specific exclusions, no one sided stax pieces here!). This opened up another slot because I was able to cut Eldrazi Displacer as well. EDIT Ok so I have found an infinite with the deck, but it involves both planeswalkers, Cloudstone Curio, Five Hundred Year Diary, a rock that taps for black, and like 8 clues. Play planeswalkers to bounce planeswalkers, using Tezzeret the Seeker to untap the two rocks to pay for everything and Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge to drain everyone. But the amount of hoops I have to jump through to pull this off means I'll probably leave the cards in as is. Especially due to me not actually having pulled this off in a real game.

I've noticed that Wernog, Rider's Chaplain tends to act like a built-in rattlesnake. My experience so far is that my opponents wont want to waste removal or attack into him out for fear of just helping me get the engine online. An original cost of 2 is a great deterrent as well because, hey, go ahead and kill him. I can easily recast him. The amount of effort needed to make him unplayable is more than my opponents can typically dedicate to one person. There's a little bit of GY shenanigans as well to help keep his costs low.

Definitely one of my favorite decks I've built, so happy to answer questions about card choices or if you have any suggestions they are always super appreciated!

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95% Casual

Competitive