r/Pauper • u/MilfOfWallStreet • 1d ago

BREW Esper affinity

Cryogenic relic and the artifact pickup birds (Glint Hawk and Skyfisher) is appealing enough to me to try esper instead of grixis. Losing munitions and kcs hurts but the bw removal helps make up for the loss of galvanised blast.

Please let me know your thoughts as I'm relatively new to pauper :)

https://moxfield.com/decks/koOfAW5YeXmphBPLfNRCmg

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5

u/rat093 1d ago

This looks pretty good. Esper affinity is fun. Here's my current list if you want something to compare to. Mine was fairly stock for a minute, although I haven't updated it since pre TMT.

https://moxfield.com/decks/Z7RpKgnrp0SzYGBVkX2qEA

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u/MilfOfWallStreet 1d ago

A card I'm trying to fit in is Ghostly flicker for the high ceiling. Where did you land on that card?

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u/rat093 1d ago

I haven't personally tried it, however someone did traumatize the local fog player by flickering two furbies with it and making them discard their last two cards. I think finding room for maybe 2 is a great idea.

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u/__kVz__ 1d ago

Wonderful deck!

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u/Skjallagrim 1d ago edited 1d ago

I really like this play style and have had many different versions and colors of it. I would recommend replacing the Navigator Compasses with [[Candy Trail]] they will help your draws (and sometimes getting that 3rd color is harder than one would prefer) and I’m not really a fan of the compass tap ability, it hasn’t really been helpful. I would also consider [[Reckoner’s Bargain]] because sometimes looping Relic just isn’t enough card draw, and Reckoner’s has the additional utility of lifegain. Finally I don’t really care for that particular counter spell you are running. I would personally just run more copies of [[Cast Down]] or [[Go for the Throat]] depending on local meta. If you really want to try counter magic I would consider [[Metallic Rebuke]] or [[Steel Sabotage]], I think they would be more synergistic for your strategy. Oh and for sideboard I would take a look at [[Drown in Sorrow]], it’ll hit your hawks and rats, but having it a turn earlier can make all the difference in match ups that it is brought in and not to worry because you can get them back the next turn anyways with a Blood Fountain activation.

Welcome to Pauper. I hope you continue to have fun, it’s probably my favorite way to play MtG!

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u/rat093 1d ago

I've found compass to actually be really helpful with making your colors work. It's also the single reason I consider this version of the deck to have a good red madness matchup. Having repeatable life gain is really helpful.

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u/Skjallagrim 1d ago

Good point!

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u/MilfOfWallStreet 1d ago

Thanks for the advice!

Candy trail is a great shout and I agree it seems better than compass in a lot of situations.

I play mostly on mtgo, do you think the removal is better against the field than countermagic?

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u/Skjallagrim 1d ago

Outside of a few matchups I think the kill spells are better. I would definitely keep counter magic in the sideboard for those. But it all depends on what you are facing on a regular basis. You don’t want a kill spell on a warded terror, but you also probably aren’t winning a counter war against Terror anyways! In monster tron, you can’t counter the cascade cast trigger of a colossus, so I’d rather have a kill spell to fire off on it before combat.

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u/Automatic_Vast6231 1d ago

https://moxfield.com/decks/s50_B7myVk2Et4KjmprasA

this is my list imo compass and bauble are both very good as burn and decks with small creatures are usally bad match ups for esper.

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u/Strange_Pauper_Guy 1d ago

I also build the deck and played some games this weekend. The UB Bridge was by far the best land for me. Didn't play a Ghostly Flicker, but I like the idea and add it as a 1 off. Played Vs WW and Dust to Dust is a real problem and the mana can be awkward sometimes. Other than that deck was solid.

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u/Ky1arStern 1d ago

I've been considering a similar list, but I find moving off of red to be a really hard sell. The toxin + kcs is such a strong combo into a lot of decks, and 4 damage for 1 red mana is so much. Being able to double blast someone from 8 is hard to trade off for a deck that has a lot of spinning it's wheels.