Esperian is traditionally the home of decks building late game inevitability through leveling and crushing people with giant armored monsters. But are these strategies still viable in the current format? Let's take a look.

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Core Cards



Uterradon Mauler Uterradon Mauler

Ionic Warcharger Ionic Warcharger

Skyknight Glider Skyknight Glider

Roaming Warclaw Roaming Warclaw

Barrier Soldier Barrier Soldier

Ravenous Hydra Ravenous Hydra

Ursine Strength Ursine Strength

Metatransfer Metatransfer

Vault Intruder Vault Intruder

Archetype: Midrange Value

Lead Heroics



Weirwood Patriarch Weirwood Patriarch

Esperian Scarab Esperian Scarab

Esperian Steelplate Esperian Steelplate

Soothsayer Hermit Soothsayer Hermit

Frostwild Tracker Frostwild Tracker

Forge Oracle Forge Oracle

H.E.R.M.E.S H.E.R.M.E.S

Key Cards



Torrent Soldier Torrent Soldier

Esperian Wartusk Esperian Wartusk

Cypien Infiltrator Cypien Infiltrator

Steelskin Spelunker Steelskin Spelunker

Toorgmai Mender Toorgmai Mender

Dendrify Dendrify

Tech Explorer Tech Explorer

Poisoncoil Poisoncoil

Battletech Inventor Battletech Inventor

Ether Hounds Ether Hounds

Description

AU is in a tough spot with the current draft pool, but it's not from a lack of good cards or powerful synergies. Esperian pump can make make good use of Spiritsteel Infiltrator, Cypien Infiltrator, and Esperian Wartusk as targets for Blood Boon, Ursine Strength and Pummel Pack. Unfortunately, Death Current exists and it's very popular. My game logs for the current season show that about 2/3rds of my opponents have played Nekrium, and of those Nekrium decks, over half played Death Current (36% of the total population). If you consider that many more of those decks probably still had the removal spell but didn't play it, I would guess that the frequency of Death Current in decks is between 40% and 50%. So if you're focusing on pumping up a big creature in AU, nearly half of the decks you face are going to have a hard counter to your strategy. That's not a good place to be.

Alternatively, AU can play a strategy that levels up a bunch of late game bombs with Tech Explorer, Forge Oracle and Forge Guardian Beta while using Barrier Soldier and Palladium Wave to stall. However, the AU leveling deck is even weaker to aggro rushes than the AN version, since your options for control are almost non-existent. And if you find yourself in a late game slugfest with another leveling deck, you're are definitely the underdog to the one playing Death Current.

There is a third direction to go with AU that doesn't look as strong in a vacuum but should be better in the current draft environment. Instead of relying on big individual threats, midrange value decks focus on winning as many trades as possible, distributing their board presence over multiple lanes rather than consolidating it on one or two. The deck puts a premium on creatures with cross-lane effects like Roaming Warclaw, Toorgmai Mender, Torrent Soldier, and even the lowly Battletech Inventor. These aren't the same quality as tricks that AU decks have had in the past (Matrix Warden and Grove Huntress), but they serve the same purpose; win a trade in one lane while putting an additional body in play. The more bodies you can keep in play, the worse your opponent's Death Currents are. And while not a combat trick, Uterradon Mauler is perhaps the best card in AU for winning trades. It is the gold standard for good-at-every-level blockers, with huge stats when played opposing another creature.

In addition to the combat tricks, you are going to want a way to pressure your opponent. AU doesn't have a lot to choose from but Esperian Wartusk, Ionic Warcharger, and Skyknight Glider all have good stat curves with level 3 bodies that can push damage and finish games. A couple removal spells like Tangle or Dendrify are recommended to answer creatures that are hard to deal with through combat. And it's not as if you can't run Ursine Strength or Tech Explorers in these decks, but they shouldn't be the focus. They should be tools to compliment the midrange strategy and help it in specific matchups. For example, if you see yourself in a midrange mirror, it's a good idea to get that Explorer leveled so you have a way to trump the other midrange deck in the late game.

Even with a viable strategy, this is not a faction pair that I will actively try to draft. I will typically only go into it if I see one of the quality first pick heroics; Weirwood Patriarch, Esperian Scarab or Esperian Steelplate. The deck is weak to all in strategies, since you're relying on nickel and dime tricks to win combat and your options for removal are limited. You are basically expecting the rest of the meta to keep those decks in check. Esperian is also not very interactive outside of combat, so you will have a hard time disrupting plays that your opponent is setting up for the next turn. Instead, you have to use consistent board pressure to keep them off balance.