As always, some great questions to start us off!

Question: Do you feel bad promoting this deck?

Answer: I absolutely do!

Question: Then why did you put us through this?

Answer: Because it needed to be done!

Question: Is this deck just pure misery to play with?

Answer: Now let's define misery here because, if by misery you mean taking infinite clicks to win the game, then yes! Yes it is!

As always if the video isn't good for you, or you prefer a deck list anyway, here is the deck list for your viewing pleasure!

Esper Familiar's is a deck that was once one of, if not at the time, the most hated deck in pauper. When Temporal Fissure was legal in pauper, this deck could win as early as turn 2 and it did it quite easily and frequently. After the Storm mechanic got banned from the Pauper format, people added Sage's Row Denizen to the deck to effectively mill your opponent to death.

For those who don't know what the combo is:





Using Ghostly Flicker and a few of the Ravnica bounce lands. You use Ghostly Flicker to target Peregrine Drake to untap your lands and you couple it with Mnemonic Wall to get Ghostly Flicker back from the graveyard. This effectively creates an infinite loop that generates not only mana, but with a Sage's Row Denizen in play, it mills your opponent and eventually kills them when they have no more cards in their library to draw. This combo is sped up by also having either Sunscape Familiar or Nightscape Familiar to make your spells cost less to cast. You can also draw all the cards in your deck using Mulldrifter or gain infinite life with Lone Missionary as well.

What makes this deck so good? It can dig quite deep into the library and it can do this very quickly and it will easily find everything you need to not only survive, but to also win the game. With your Familiar's in play, your spells also become so cheap, you can play a ton of spells in 1 big turn and that will overwhelm any opponent in the Pauper format. But instead of me ranting on about this deck, let's actually see it in action!

Round 1 vs UB Teachings

Game 1 my opening hand was pretty good with 3 mana, a Compulsive Research and a Mulldrifter to draw some cards, as well as a Snap as insurance against an aggro deck. Although my opponent is on UB Teachings, they had a very slow draw and had little in the way of answers in the early game, which allowed me to sculpt my hand and come up with a way to navigate through what they may have. I was able to take advantage of my opponent tapping out for their Curse of the Bloody Tome and a Chainer's Edict and I was able to combo off and win the game.

Game 2 was a bit slower than game 1 and it was a bit harder because my opponent drew a good amount of answers to what I was doing. After both of us making a bunch of land drops, I decided to try and go on the Capsize plan by attacking my opponents mana base, but it was only able to bounce 1 land and then it was met with a Counterspell. My opponent decided to make some plays on their own turn and not leave up any answers to what I could do. I then did what my deck is supposed to do and won the game.

Normally I think UB Teachings is a little favored in this matchup. With Peregrine Drake costing 5 mana to cast, it can really hurt you trying to cast multiple spells in a single turn because they can easily deal with all 7 of your Familiar creatures. But they need time to win and so you can just sculpt the perfect hand and keep making land drops until you are able to just unload everything in 1 turn. You need patience to beat the control decks and as you saw, it can be very rewarding.

Round 2 vs UB Angler Delver

Game 1 I had to mulligan down to 6 cards, but my 6 card hand was very good with a Sunscape Familiar and a Preordain to hopefully get me going. My opponent was stuck on lands for a little while and my Sunscape Familiar allowed me to go to work and helped me dig very deep into my deck by making all my draw spells cost less. Things got a little worrisome however, when my opponent resolved 2 Gurmag Angler's and flipped a Delver of Secrets to put a ton of pressure on me. But luckily my opponent ran out of answers and I was able to keep the cards flowing and soon after I was able to win the game.

Game 2 my starting hand was fine and so I decided to keep it. My opponent killed my early Nightscape Familiar and things got worse from there. I forgot I hit the pause button, but the game wasn't exciting honestly. My opponent flipped Delver of Secrets and I never got more than 3 land and died 7 turns later.

Game 3 you see much of the same where my opponent was able to win with 1 Delver of Secrets and a bunch of answers and I didn't stand much of a chance either. To be fair my draw wasn't the greatest, but this shows why Delver of Secrets is a big problem for this deck.

At first I thought this matchup wasn't all that bad, but then looking more into it, it is actually quite bad. You don't have a solid way to deal with Delver of Secrets and you don't have enough to disrupt your opponents answers. Once they flip their Delver of Secrets, you end up on being such a quick clock and they can draw more than enough answers to slow you down. I am definitely considering adding actual removal to the sideboard for situations like this.

It also didn't help that I was pressed for time and so that made me play a little loose, but all in all, I think UB Angler Delver has the advantage here.

Round 3 vs GW Hexproof

Game 1 my opening hand was perfectly fine and so I decided to keep. I found out early on my opponent was on Hexproof and so I knew I was gonna have to win fast. Luckily for me my opponents draw wasn't all that great and I had plenty of time to set up and win. My opponent didn't draw their major Auras until it was too late and I was able to combo off and win the game.

Game 2 I had some lands, a Fog effect and a way to draw cards, I felt this was a fine hand to keep. My opponent didn't have any hexproof creatures and so they decided to go on the beat down plan with a Plant token, which I thought was awesome. I never drew a Snap early enough for it to matter, but I my Prismatic Strands and Circle of Protection: Green was more than enough help for me to set up and win the game.

This matchup and other aggro matchups are basically a race to the finish. As you saw, my opponent stumbled for a couple of turns and it was enough for me to take it home. I got pretty lucky game 1, but I think game 2 I would have won because my draw was so good. They don't have much in the way of disrupting what you are doing, but because these (Peregrine Drakes) are so popular now, I wouldn't be surprised if Plummet makes its way into a lot of sideboards.

Where we go from here? Updates to the deck list, aftermath thoughts and possibly more!

So what is the verdict you ask? Well my verdict is that this deck is still really really good and very powerful and I would highly recommend it for the format right now. It's as every bit of clicking misery as I remember it to be, but if you are winning the game, I am unsure as to if you should care and believe me, my hand still hurts from all the clicking. It's true that many decks will be ready for this archetype, but because of how quick it can be and how easy it is to generate a ton of mana or make your spells cheap enough to unload a bunch of them all in one turn, it makes it very hard for anyone to fight against it.

I did make a few changes to the deck list since these videos, so let us see what they are!

In the main deck, I made the change I spoke about with taking out 1 Sage's Row Denizen and added another way to draw cards. For the time being, I will be playing with a 4th Preordain as the replacement and it is mostly due to Preordain only being 1 mana at all times. Other than that, I think the main deck is perfectly fine and as close to the stock lists as you can get.

In the sideboard I took out the Dispel and added another Duress because I feel Duress is just a better card for countering what your opponent is doing and although Dispel is a great card, being able to see your opponents hand have the extra information so you can map your game plan can mean a lot. I also took out a Hoodwink because I feel that you will see less of the Esper Familiar's deck and more of the Izzet or Tron versions of the Peregrine Drake combo decks that are being played in the format and against those decks, Hoodwink doesn't do much of anything. I also took out a Lone Missionary because I think 2 is more than enough to see one early and I added 2 copies of Gigadrowse in their place. I think this card is great all around against a wide amount of decks in the format and being able to tap your opponent out at instant speed, could mean the whole game against anything and especially decks with blue in them. I did consider adding a removal type of spell to the sideboard after the horrific time I had against the Angler Delver matchup, but I feel like that was me just jumping to conclusions.

All in all, I think this deck is great and would highly recommend it to anyone who has the patience and time to learn the deck and play it well. You will get paid off quite well for your trouble.

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