Modern Mayhem: Esper Shadow (Modern, Magic Online)
#MTGMH1 Has been a sweet so far and definitely added a few sweet cards into the modern card pool. Today we take a look at a variant of Death's Shadow
Gameplan
As you all know, we're all about punching ourselves with this deck as growing our Death's Shadow requires us to hurt ourselves often with this deck but we're rewarded with a gigantic cheap threat that can win in about one to two hits.
The deck plays a solid midrange gameplan that can grind with the best but also win out of nowhere. The only difference with this variation of the deck is that we cut red out so we lose some reach in Lightning Bolt and most importantly, Kolaghan's Command. Well, what do we gain with the addition of white???
SaffronOlive was hyped on Ranger-Captain of Eos and I was just medium on the card but after playing through the league...I think the card is pretty sweet. I can only imagine how much better this card gets once we see refined lists with all the sweet new #MTGMH1 cards, The number of games where we got to bring this card back with Unearth was sweet. There's a lot of power in playing Captain into Death's Shadow.
Though we lost Lightning Bolt, the way the modern meta-game is shaping up to be right now is going to require us to have cheap and efficient exiling removal. Path does all of that for the low price of one mana and has continued to prove why it might be one of the most important pieces of removal in modern.
Conclusion
The list feels close to being a big player. the deck's ability to play the grindy game very well thanks to Ranger-Captain but I'm not huge on Jace, Vryn's Prodigy as I feel like there could be something else in its place. Unearth has been amazing as it can cycle when you need it to be a land or a way to potentially draw a removal spell. There is a discussion to go up to three copies. Let me know if you all have an Esper Death's Shadow list you like or what improvements you've made!
See you at the next one!
-TheAsianAvenger
Twitter: @TheAsianAvenger || twitch.tv/TheAsianAvenger || Email: theasianavenger@mtggoldfish.com
