Pro Tour Aetherdrift has concluded, and let’s just say things didn’t go as we thought. Going into the event, there was plenty of fear within the MTG community that Esper Pixie would completely dominate the tournament. Yet, this proved to be far from the case.
First of all, Esper Pixie wasn’t even the most played deck on day one. That honor belonged to Gruul Mice. On top of that, Esper Pixie didn’t even achieve a very high win rate compared to some other top-tier archetypes. The ban talks around This Town Ain’t Big Enough have subsided for the time being.
This raises the question, though: why did Esper Pixie perform as poorly as it did? How were players able to adjust to a deck that clearly had a target on its back coming into the event? Well, in order to start answering these questions, we have to look at the elephant in the room.
Domain’s Time to Shine
The big takeaway from Pro Tour Aetherdrift was that, even though Esper Pixie was the new hotness, it was the well-established Domain ramp decks that crushed on every level. Domain came into day one representing 15.23% of the field. This is just barely below Esper Pixie and Gruul Mice, which took up 16.67% and 18.97% of the field, respectively. No other decks came close to these three in representation.
After day one, Domain was the only one of these three decks with a win rate above 50%, boasting a win rate of 53.33%. By the end of day two, Domain’s win rate had increased all the way to 55.9%, while Esper Pixie’s win rate fell even further.
Come top eight, zero copies of This Town Ain’t Big Enough remained, while three of the eight players in the top eight wielded Domain. All three Domain players made it to the semifinals, and the finals ended up being a Domain mirror.
Obviously, Domain proved to be a force to be reckoned with, and part of that came from a strong Esper Pixie matchup. Over the course of day one and day two, Domain emerged victorious versus Esper Pixie almost 65% of the time. Despite Esper’s solid matchup against Gruul Mice and mono-red, being such a big underdog versus Domain ended up being too much to overcome.
Domain may be a relatively slow deck, but it has the tools necessary to fend off Esper Pixie quite well. Esper Pixie isn’t super fast, especially with draws that don’t feature Stormchaser’s Talent. Esper Pixie is extremely vulnerable to Temporary Lockdown game one. Zur, Eternal Schemer can take over games alongside Overlords, and every major threat out of Domain outsized Nowhere to Run.
Then, in games two and three, Obstinate Baloth can further help stabilize while simultaneously dunking on Hopeless Nightmare. It’s clear players came prepared for Esper Pixie, and this goes beyond just the Domain matchup.
Player Preparation
While Esper’s matchup versus Domain proved to be quite rough, one might think that its positive win rates versus red aggressive decks and black midrange decks would be enough to compensate. The issue is that players who registered other archetypes came prepared for This Town Ain’t Big Enough and friends, too.
For example, the fourth most played deck on day one at the Pro Tour, Jeskai Oculus, annihilated Esper Pixie with a win rate exceeding 70% in the matchup. Abhorrent Oculus is naturally a great card versus Esper Pixie. Looking at players’ sideboards, it’s obvious people were gunning hard for the matchup.
The top performing Jeskai Oculus players not only registered Pyroclasm, but they also went as far as to play The Filigree Sylex in the sideboard. The Filigree Sylex can sweep away all of Esper Pixie’s pressure.
Another matchup where Esper Pixie ran into trouble was against Azorius Omniscience. Azorius Omnscience is yet another matchup where the Esper Pixie player needs to present a super fast clock to have any chance, and thus another spot where Temporary Lockdown is an absolute beating.
Adjusting to Adjustments
Where things get really intriguing is when you consider the fact that Orzhov Pixie in the hands of Ben Stark put up an elite performance. Not only did Ben go 3-0 against Esper Pixie with the brew, but he also beat the only Domain and Jeskai Oculus players he faced.
Orzhov Pixie is very different from Esper Pixie as it primarily functions like a control deck. There are no Stormchaser’s Talent+This Town Ain’t Big Enough loops to be had. Instead, you’ll find a playset of Temporary Lockdown to help crush Esper Pixie and Gruul Mice.
You’ll also notice playsets of Get Lost and Loran of the Third Path in the 75. These cards do a great job permanently answering various enchantments out of Domain, something Esper Pixie has a tough time doing.
Even the adjustment to favor Momentum Breaker over Nowhere to Run was a nice touch. This change enables you to deal with bigger threats that most Esper Pixie decks struggle with.
For now, it seems all fears of a format driven by This Town Ain’t Big Enough have been laid to rest. For Nurturing Pixie enjoyers, Orzhov Pixie looks like a solid up-and-coming strategy with game against many of the top decks.
Domain is the top dog at the moment, but if this tournament taught us anything, it’s that no deck is safe from major metagame shifts. It’ll be interesting to see how Standard shakes out in the coming weeks.