Now that Edge of Eternities is here in earnest, we’re in that lovely experimental phase that marks the start of every new Standard format. Players are trying out all sorts of lists, from Simic Midrange to Izzet Artifacts. On top of the newcomers, an old favorite is once again spreading its wings. Thanks to a few spicy Edge of Eternities cards, Esper Pixie is back in the metagame in a big way.
Going by recent data, the deck is actually the third most popular in Standard right now, tied with Izzet Prowess. This conjures memories of the deck’s old pre-ban incarnation, for better or worse. Esper Pixie is definitely different now, but going by the numbers, it’s no less potent. At the current rate, it could well reclaim its position in the metagame before long.
Esper Pixie Returns to Standard
At its core, Esper Pixie is running the same game plan now as it was pre-bans. It uses cheap self-bounce creatures like the titular Nurturing Pixie to return permanents to the hand for value. Before the June bans, the prime target here was definitely Hopeless Nightmare. Getting to attack your opponent’s hand and life simultaneously was too good a deal to pass up.
With Nightmare gone, the deck has had to diversify. Esper Pixie still plays the classic Stormchaser’s Talent to build board presence, but now it also runs Lightstall Inquisitor from Edge of Eternities. It attacks your opponent’s hand and slows down their game plan, albeit in a less permanent way than Nightmare. It also hits for two on board, and can trade up if need be.
Inquisitor isn’t a better card than Nightmare, but it’s the best option the deck has in a post-ban world. The self-bounce value suite is rounded out with Momentum Breaker and Nowhere to Run, two repeatable removal pieces that are particularly good against aggressive decks.
The other big loss the deck suffered in the bans was This Town Ain’t Big Enough. Bouncing two of your value permanents, or one of yours and one of your opponent’s, for just two mana was stellar. Again, there’s no real 1:1 replacement here, but the deck does its best with what it has. Fear of Isolation was already fairly popular in the deck, and now it’s joined by a full playset of Sunpearl Kirin.
The card draw potential with Kirin is huge, as is the fact that it can come down via Flash. The instant speed on This Town Ain’t Big Enough was a big part of the deck’s previous appeal, and this lets you replicate that.
New Frontiers Of Power
Thanks to some new additions from Edge of Eternities, Esper Pixie is now attacking on a couple of new axes. The big change is the introduction of Cosmogrand Zenith. This is an incredibly efficient three-drop for any deck that can cast multiple spells in a turn, but it fits particularly well here. Most Pixie turns will involve you playing a value permanent and a bounce creature, which guarantees you a trigger from Zenith.
Both triggers are hugely relevant, too. Two 1/1s help you hold down the ground, and also make great fodder for Sunpearl Kirin. Putting counters on your board is also fantastic, given how many evasive creatures the deck runs. Zenith gives the deck the option of playing aggressively, which complements Stormchaser’s Talent nicely to turn this into a pseudo-Prowess list.
Not to be outdone, Tragic Trajectory opens up a lot of new space for the deck as well. This has become a staple removal spell in a range of archetypes, but as with Zenith, it’s especially good in Esper Pixie. The entire concept of the deck is bouncing permanents out of play, which means the Void ability on this should be active most of the time. This gives the deck a real answer to bigger creatures, which it struggled against before.
Factor in the eight new Shocklands the deck received in Godless Shrine and Watery Grave, and Esper Pixie is in a great spot post-Edge of Eternities. It lacks the brutal early starts of the Hopeless Nightmare days, but it makes up for it with the ability to play a Midrange game via Zenith and Trajectory.
A Real Shot At The Top
Esper Pixie is definitely in a strong position right now. The list we looked at above, which came from RezerDeDog, went 5-0 in yesterday’s MTGO Standard League. It wasn’t alone, either, with Surgetemelo and Xbz50016 achieving the same results. These lists varied slightly in their construction, but Zenith and Trajectory showed up in all three. It’s clear that these are the cards behind the archetype’s current resurrection.
‘Resurrection’ really feels like an appropriate word here. Esper Pixie isn’t just showing up in a few League results: it’s well on its way to reclaiming its former meta position. The deck makes up about 10% of the field right now, and that figure seems to be climbing by the day. According to MTG Decks data, it’s pretty well-positioned against a lot of the other big decks at the moment. Dimir Midrange is a 50% win rate matchup, which is solid considering that’s the best deck in the format right now.
There’s not much data on the deck’s Izzet matchup, be it Cauldron or Prowess. These are the other two big decks right now, so Pixie’s performance against them is crucial. Prowess definitely seems like the tougher of the two, since it gives less breathing room, but both are potentially quite tricky. Bringing in Ghost Vacuum out of the sideboard should help hedge against the more explosive plays from Cauldron, mind you.
Overall, Esper Pixie is a case study in just how resilient a Magic: The Gathering deck can be. Despite losing its two best cards, it’s back and fighting fit just one set later. It’s a testament to what can be achieved when archetypes move with the times.
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