AWESOME Esper Control | Ranked Standard | MTG Arena

Decklist - www.moxfield.c...
Main Channel - / covertgoblueyt
2nd Channel - / covertgoblue
Commander - / covertgocrew
VODs - / @covertgolive
CovertGoBlue HQ - www.coolstuffi...
All My Decks - www.moxfield.c...
Patreon - / covertgoblue
Twitter - / covertgoblue
Discord - / discord
Twitch - / covertgoblue
Facebook - / covertgoblue
Instagram - / covertgoblue
TikTok - / covertgoblue
Stats - tinyurl.com/cg...
Sponsors
CoolStuffInc.com Promo Code CGB5 - www.coolstuffi...
Ultimate Guard - tinyurl.com/UGCGB
Moxfield - www.moxfield.c...
Untapped.GG Affiliate Link - tinyurl.com/un...
Credits
Written and performed by Daniel Wagner, aka CovertGoBlue
Title Music by Sam Plotkin - www.samplotkinmusic.com
Logo design by HolyMTG - [e-mail] Twitter @HolyMTG
© CovertGoBlue Entertainment, LLC
#cgb #mtgarena #mtg

[@docauch5938]

CGB, I know a lot of your audience watches for deck ideas and wants to see success, however speaking for myself I can neither afford nor have the time to play the countless decks of yours that I love. I am here for the entertainment, and to experience the overwhelming amount of Magic products vicariously through you. That’s the ups and the downs. I wouldn’t stress over the win rate so much, even though I know how competitive you are. Seeing you frustrated in Standard or now Timeless is just as fun for me as anything you make. Thanks as always for the endless entertainment.

[@marc-andre2929]

Thanks to that early access we now know the best way to win versus this deck tomorrow is to make our opponent washing machine malfunction! Thanks CGB!

[@afguy8i]

If you're playing a "nope" deck, it's because you're too fail to actually DO anything yourself. I encourage anyone who finds themselves playing against control to let the game drag out til it's clear you lost, then close the app and let them sit there waiting. If someone wants to play solitaire where they're the only ones casting spells that resolved, let them have their wish. They can play solitaire all by themselves.

[@douglasmagowan2709]

This is the CGBiest deck that CGB played in weeks. I don't know why we haven't seen more decks like this.

[@kaerustation]

agree

[@dougcarey2233]

Demonstrated here: the strength of a 3-mana board wipe followed by a 4-mana planeswalker. This actually reminds me of the planeswalker version of Jeskai Fires several years ago.

[@oliverb2303]

You had me yelling to use your syncopate against that Brutal Catar on game 2!

[@KlossBernardo]

That last match was amazing, absolute masterclass on picking the opponent apart

[@GozMaster]

Hillarious! Absolutley the 80% thumbnail got me to watch, well that and esper :p well done CGB

[@vallesso]

You could have countered the Brutal Cather at 10:54 he already used Cavern of Souls for antoher creature.

[@Adameshh]

Appreciate the sideboard to get a clearer understanding of why the deck decisions were made and its author’s opinion of its weaknesses. Ty

[@azullove979]

The win loss counter is a huge upgrade! Love that!

[@gregw5731]

awesome, thanks for the preview.

[@COYS450]

CGB, big fan, didn’t realize I played you until I saw this video. GG and thanks for the consistently excellent content

[@WhenTheCrowdsAreGone]

THANK YOU CGB, YOU'RE COOL!

[@kumpfj]

Love the special vids! Gonna knock Jace out of this and toss 7cmc Kaya in because I'm a greed lord!

[@SackofDooDoo]

49:45 Bravo; absolutely beautiful lesson to players learning how to maximize interaction. If a player panic board wipes in a situation like that, it can easily spell two+ useless cards in hand, effectively being a 3 for 2 (not as worth it as two 1 for 1s and saving the boardwipe).

[@CptSaveABro808]

And @32:43 a brutal lesson on how to give away an overwhelming advantage 😂

[@SackofDooDoo]

@@CptSaveABro808 We've all been there.

[@CptSaveABro808]

@@SackofDooDoo Yup. If it happens to CGB, it’s a reminder that we’re all mortals and can always improve. Back to the dojo for me for more reps.

[@angellopez6475]

That game against the ramp deck was so satisfying to watch

[@shadowinversion]

Love the insight on Steel & Oil. I keep going back and forth with it & duress in my Bo1 decks, unsure which provides the most value. I keep justifying Oil by telling myself it's great for Shelly etc ... but in reality I usually end up taking their early drops. Whereas Duress can hit a LOT of 'card advantage' cards, or board wipes etc.

[@jackeea_]

Reasons why Dreams of Steel and Oil is a good card: * pitches to March of Sorrow * pitches to Grief

[@DiscardatRandom]

Pitches to the opponents hopeless nightmare

[@CoachBill315]

I like the score keeping 👌. Nice touch

[@ZBlaze_23]

I’m an azorius control gamer but I’ve had to switch to esper in this meta. It’s nice! Ggs CGB

[@KevinMainero]

Love this preview lets go baby!!!!

[@RetroMTG]

It’s funny to consider how CGB uses the latest gamer technology to pay the bills but must empty his washing machine using a bucket 😂

[@thor82ak]

Couldn't you have used the Syncopate against the brutal cathar at 10:57?

[@reidyo5404]

Just used to not being able to counter because of the cavern of souls lol

[@violentedward]

Just because they have one cavern of souls on the field, CGB thinks all their creatures are uncounterable

[@Basoosh]

It's interesting that the autotapper always attempts to use the Cavern first. Leaves the player vulnerable to "Pay extra" counterspells like Syncopate and Make Dissappear on followup creatures.

[@stevendunn5597]

@@Basoosh he used the Cavern on the Veteran

[@Basoosh]

@@stevendunn5597 Right - that's what I'm saying. Autotapper uses the Cavern on the first creature you play. Normally this is what you'd want, but it's kind of bad against Make Dissappear and Syncopate.

[@tylersmith3811]

@CGB been a fan for a long time and am wanting to craft a control deck. Should I go with this deck (with BO1 changes), normal Blue White control/mill, or the Blue White control that has 3 depopulate and a farewell? Love the content, open to opinions!

[@22ndCatch]

Love the control content keep it up!

[@tacothursdays6546]

Dreams of Steel and Oil is in there for hand information. Think back to that last game against ramp. Knowing his hand was only removal made it so much easier for you to deduce the lethal lines were milling for you and tokens for the opp.

[@stevendunn5597]

But Duress does that also....

[@DiscardatRandom]

Thats not worth it

[@carcass2099]

At 10:55 you could synco the brutal cathar.

[@JulioConnory]

I've run these type decks for decades. Get rid of Adarkar Wastes in favor of your fields and perhaps another land-creature option. Hate the one black discard choice and synchopate? Get rid of them for other removal/counterspells. Hardest part of these decks is playing them well, which I think you're generally doing excellent at. That said, every card in here you dislike that you replace with "something that will kill Sheoldred" is fine. Want to run less removal = add more wipes. Wipe timing after surviving the first boards is the name of the game. These decks are notoriously more powerful in best of ___ as they play toolbox games better than most. Sweep 3 or more unless you are dead next turn, use everything tricky on the right pieces. Idk about that Jace or the lack of more card draw/filtering. Seems to be going well though. Syncopate is awesome... in/against another deck. You DO need counterspells, but does not have to be syncopate at all. Dreams is sus to me here too, nothing to see in their hand when everyone is playing aggro creature shit. One more sweeper, another card entirely, is awesome. Well done Tentacle Fan agreed.

[@neros_soren]

56:50 March for 7 on Atraxa gain 7, take 2, have Deluge/emperor next turn. March literally molds in that hand, even tho it had a perfect out.

[@Cordjacke]

ty for your content! Had my first day in the Arena today after taking a 2-year-break and this deck I'll instantly "copypasta" (without the Dreams of Steel [...]) if you don't mind ;)

[@yomommashaus]

"Every hand has just been sweet!" Yes CGB, that's because you are a control mage at heart and this whole deck is removal basically...

[@atranimecs]

- 1 Anoint with Affliction -2 Dreams of Steel and Oil +1 Bitter Triumph +1 Sheoldred's Edict +1 March of Wretch Sorrow

[@damo9961]

Then cavern Etali and Atraxa just craps on you

[@TheCrmerry]

Man, trying to decide on this deck, the dino control Rakados deck or ye old blue white mill. He comes up with too many decks. Any suggestions on which one?

[@erik-fisher]

You could syncopate the go for the throat.

[@nomakym]

At 7:27 he didn't make Thalia uncounterable, you could have used your syncopate. It would have said uncounterable on the card. The auto tapper used his plains first.

[@KPX01]

Unless the autotapper being dumb and not using mana from the second mode it should be uncounterable.

[@stevendunn5597]

Same at 10:54, he could have Syncopated the Brutal Cathar as he already used the Cavern for the Veteran

[@nomakym]

Red aura? I will rewatch. Thanks for the tip. I assumed the card would say "uncounterable", because I have seen that in the past.@@NickTemperistic

[@nomakym]

You're supposed to add the colored mana from the cavern, it can also tap for colorless and not make your spell uncounterable.@@NickTemperistic

[@Yoshimo_]

Re dreams of steel. Never underestimate the power of "show me your hand so I know what's coming and you don't" The remove one card or another are just gravy

[@Icameron259]

Since our counterspells are mostly for non-creatures now (Cavern of Souls is such a pain for control), I'm going to test swapping out 2-3 of the Syncopates for Negates.

[@pauljimerson8218]

Syncopate is so bad, how many times would make disappear been better?

[@Icameron259]

@pauljimerson8218 it's probably better than Make Disappear in Bo3, the exile is important for Memory Deluge and Tenacious Underdog. The new Blue White mana leak which exiles coming in the next set is obviously a huge upgrade, though.

[@oscarguzman3017]

Love the one of Sorin ❤️

[@renierroach4525]

Yeah CGB. Wouldn't it be better to replace "steel and Oil" with Concealing Curtains, it's a better blocker against red and still allows you to discard Atraxa. Maybe just 1 steel and oil. Would also throw in one Ertai, great for 2 for 1 sometimes. Great deck, REALLY enjoyed seeing red get rolled. Nice place. Keep up the good work.

[@Herenoeviltattoos]

You can do polls for historic brawl decks like bunch of em you want to do

[@N3gativeR3FLUX]

A scoopski on 20 never gets old.

[@EricBurbeck]

If you kill Archangel of Wrath before the ETB trigger resolves, doesn't the damage fizzle?

[@therealax6]

No, objects that leave the battlefield can still deal damage.

[@ubermalice9589]

Could literally taste those salty tears from the second game. Feels good. Edit: Solid list. Any list that makes quitters is solid.

[@jmbw4271]

Not a fan of playing slow games myself but this list looks pretty sweet in bo3

[@lrdrandom]

How about negate? since it's clear that you cannot counter creatures, just carry a everything-else hard counter?

[@Gorrgrim]

Great deck, complete control madness the opponent scoops after 20 mins and taps out lol

[@duaneshaffer4427]

10:59 you should’ve countered. They had already used their cavern

[@KrypptikkSoulslayer]

When you see CGB, you know a shark is not far behind 😅

[@valentinbouvard7798]

You're cool CGB 😊

[@Kthggg]

Great video 😊 Your so cool 😎

[@mufasafalldown8401]

I'll wash dishes for wildcards

[@Sitalolita]

YOU'RE COOL!

[@simonmarchetti8196]

i have another esper decklist you may be interested in. how can i send it to you?

[@t-dogn6171]

Thanks CGB.

[@maclegend9169]

Im new to Magic. Why are people conceding on turn 2?

[@gabrielfuksrodrigues6776]

I'm sure that washing machine is red-mana aligned...

[@jacoblemasters1974]

With all the exile effects and the odd choice of Dreams of Steel and Oil as well as Anoint with Affliction and Syncopate, I feel like this deck is primarily targeting the Recombobulate/Helping Hand decks.

[@damo9961]

Those cards are good vs a lot of decks. The green adventure creature and dennick, as well as manlands. The discard is mainly for cavern into Etali or Atraxa

[@dcnole]

I PAY TO WIN, BABY! (But I mostly just pay janky nonsense anyway so...)

[@tjloefflerjaetem]

Game 2 was an opponent with a clogged dryer vent.

[@thisispotatos9957]

Hour long video? What? Is it my birthday?!

[@eldrazo6325]

All that i thought watching the games was "wow, wandering emperor should get banned"

[@adamgreen6051]

Nice!

[@Gaston-Melchiori]

"almost 82%" it would be pretty funny if the deck had a 2% win rate and the "almost" had to make a heavy lifting of titanic proportions XD.

[@absence9443]

"Almost 80%" :D

[@JoShe-c2o]

Too much cavern of souls around, love this deck with duress instead of syncopate

[@janjansen4239]

Need mindsplice apparatus and token creature sweeper along with mirrex to get good. Silver scrutiny > memory deluge

[@Basoosh]

Those decks were played on the channel when the card was new. Mindsplice is crazy fun, but the 4x Jace strategy unfortunately does the job better.

[@ShroudofBob]

You can't get me with these evil clickbait thumbna... Oooh cool video

[@zoggoth]

The 80% thing got me thinking. How bad can a deck be & still go 4-1? A deck with only 69% WR actually has 50% chance of going 4-1 (or even 5-0) 60% decks have a 1/3 chance 55% decks have a 1/4 chance 51% decks have a 1/5 chance So if someone really wanted that magic number, they'd have interesting decision to make about whether to spend time making a great deck, or just try 4 or 5 random netdecks I suspect they'd get diminishing returns on every video being lucky runs with crap decks though. Wouldn't be much fun to make either

[@PsychedelicCheeseburgers]

10:54 you were complaining about dead Syncopates against this matchup and then you let them resolve a Brutal Cathar and used removal on it when you could have Syncopated it! (They had already used their Cavern of Souls that turn so the Brutal Cathar was not uncounterable).

[@cibor07]

My Man got what he deserved with that lose for dissin Duress Ala the goat

[@frinbar]

1. Leave a comment at 8 minutes into the video asking about Celestus being a good add or not 2. Realize you probably left that info in the outro. 3. Skip ahead, and confirm 4. Delete Comment 5. Admit I'm one of those people that ask questions that get answered in the video. 6. Go back to the start of game 3 and enjoy the great content.

[@laurensmayr7760]

In the second match it would have actually been possible to counter the brutal cathar because he tapped cavern for another creature.

[@craigejacobs]

Pardon my squirrely ignorance, but does joining mean no ads?

[@Dwayne0630]

Cavern only works for creatures cast with it. For human decks if they have only one cavern you can counter the second card they cast… I think you used anoint on a brutal Cathar you could have hit with syncopate…

[@Shining_Light]

This!!! Your comment needs more upvotes. It seems that whenever control players see cavern their brain shuts down. They immediately assume that now everything can not be countered.

[@BuddhaJesusSoul]

What pride is there in beating mono red with a deck 10 times more expensive that has only removals-, draws and planeswalkers

[@venger5705]

But CGB !

[@lydiankazar5581]

One! Question! **CgB wHaT hApPeNeD tO hIsToRiC bRaWl WeEkEnD?**

[@oliverb2303]

Should've minus the Emperor on game 3 before Scoundrel was cast..

[@ayan.rodrigo]

Best counter spell in the format is negate at the moment. Anyone mind arguing otherwise? I'm not saying it's good, I'm saying it's the best one

[@carlosavecilla26]

Grixis Control for standard please!!

[@roshandala]

77.7 is close enough to 80%!

[@drenth27]

It's january, the algorithm sux this month any how

[@PsychedelicCheeseburgers]

CGB I beg you, when you take these best of 3 decklists, I would love it if you'd "pre-sideboard" for the BO1 meta instead of just playing the main 60 as is. Keeping in bad BO1 cards like Dreams of Steel And Oil when there's perfectly good alternatives in the sideboard of this list that you could bring over instead, just makes no sense! Don't question why the bad card is in the deck, just take it out, it's not meant for the meta you're playing the deck in. Sideboard for BO1, please.

[@ChristianChosenOnes]

Go lions

[@Andrew.Holmes.Official]

just youtube the problem and how to fix it. usually its a common problem and easy fix for the washer

[@claytonhanson6438]

My man switches to control and starts posting Ws. Hmmm, maybe he likes control. Lol

[@theresnosiknamesleft]

@10:55 you could have finally used a syncopate instead of burning removal

[@odststalker5117]

Tentacle fan??????

[@FlyingSpaceOstrich]

Esper control is just azorius control with better cards… who knew

[@yavivanov6650]

and worse manabase, which sometimes costs you games

[@sabsmall6523]

Why doesn't he just swap in cards from the sideboard, like when bo3 plays second game against aggro? That would be still the intended deck. Instead of complaining about bo1 suss cards.

[@konachan01]

Not a single field of ruin in a standard where land creatures and mirrex exists. And you call yourself a control player. FOR SHAME FOR SHAME!

[@jamest1955]

The originality on standard ranked in arena is terrible. everyone I come across is playing a net deck or content creator deck. smh

[@maurokoller3910]

34

[@007Strings007]

who cares about the KZbin algorithm if your making more money doing it.

[@Mirrodin82]

Holy crap modern mtg sucks. So glad I quit years ago.

[@ildlyn8966]

viewer decks would be trash. You got a lot of very mid mtg players viewing your content.

[@Xalkerro]

Literally not doing anything with this deck. just sit there dig nose and board wipes.. pffttt..

[@HappySlime716]

Control is to powerful. And that make magic not fun anymore. What point of playing creatures if Wzard print so much removal? That why red deck is so popular, because can kill stupid blue mage before he can setup.

[@gamekeeper777]

Unsubscribed, not supporting your vids if you dont think my views are as important as those that pay you for it, they can support your views too.

[@reidyo5404]

That’s kind of how paying for things works

[@gamekeeper777]

@@reidyo5404 No, i was talking about how he viewed the views, the views shouldnt matter if they are paid watcher or a not, but thanks for the input.

[@gabesgames9893]

K bye

[@RetroMTG]

Thank you for your valuable feedback. We’re sorry to see you go! But we have faith you’ll return to Subscribe again one day soon 🙏😎

[@GigaLordShinyMudkip1]

What a baby. Yelling in a comment section that you, gamekeeper777, are unsubscribing from a KZbin channel.

[@asaboteler5894]

Honestly getting bored of all this standard