1st Place in MPDC 35 WORLDS

Yesterday was the capstone event for Season 35 of Monday Pauper Deck Challenge. Thirteen players battled it out for the prize of becoming the Season 35 Champion, and when the dust had settled, AlwaysFace took 1st place with his Esper decklist, which I believe was the same list that moromete had also piloted to 1st place two weeks prior. Interestingly enough, the player Julion also ran this list and finished in Top 4 this week. So clearly this deck has something going for it. Let's take a look at the list:

Esper

1st Place MPDC 35 Championship

Creatures 4 Aviary Mechanic 4 Desperate Sentry 4 Thraben Inspector 4 Wretched Gryff 3 Pilgrim's Eye 1 Ruin Processor 20 cards Other Spells 4 Grasp of Darkness 4 Oblivion Strike 4 Prophetic Prism 4 Take Inventory 2 Complete Disregard 18 cards

Lands 7 Swamp 5 Plains 4 Evolving Wilds 3 Island 2 Mortuary Mire 1 Unknown Shores 22 cards Sideboard 3 Negate 3 Dead Weight 2 Turn Aside 2 Dukhara Scavenger 2 Vampire Envoy 2 Complete Disregard 1 Fragmentize 15 cards

Unlike the Orzhov Enchantments deck that has performed so well this season, this Esper build forgoes the Aura-based removal spells for a more typical suite of spells, including Grasp of Darkness, Oblivion Strike, and Complete Disregard (as well as both Dead Weight and two more completes of Complete Disregard in the Sideboard). The deck has two major synergies its playing off of. First, it can recur its value cards like Prophetic Prism and Thraben Inspector with the Aviary Mechanic. Second, it can utilize the Emerge cost on Wretched Gryff to good effect, gaining an additional creature off of Desperate Sentry or just get rid of something like a Pilgrim's Eye once it is no longer relevant. It also includes a full playset of Take Inventory for more card advantage, and a lone copy of Ruin Processor as a finisher.

From the Sideboard, it can improve its matchup against Control with permission spells like Negate and Turn Aside, recur its creatures while putting another big threat on the board with Dukhara Scavenger, or gain Life with the decent blocker of Vampire Envoy. And in addition the aforementioned extra removal spells, it also includes a singleton Fragmentize as a nod to the other strong Enchantments and Artifacts in the metagame.

Overall this looks like a very strong deck with lots of decent options to gain advantage over your opponent. And it certainly will be interesting to see what changes, if any, Aether Revolt brings to this archetype. In any case, congratulations once again to AlwaysFace for his victory as the Champion of Season 35!