Ever wonder why so few crazy combo decks pop up at a casual Commander table? Commander, when not playing competitively, is about optimizing the gameplay experience. Combos that end the game on the spot can be acceptable in some groups, but many aren’t thrilled by them. Having someone take a Nadu-esque turn where they play solitaire for 5 minutes only to pass the turn is hardly the pinnacle of fun…
One of the first combo decks that recreated this feeling in MTG history is Eggs. A combo that involves having cantrips repetitively enter and leave the battlefield, Eggs decks commonly lead to long turns involving various loops. On top of that, since these loops are value-based, they rarely end the game on the spot and are rarely short in length.
Using the technology from the new Pixie Standard decks that involve bouncing permanents, an Eggs-esque Standard deck has now appeared. Using Temporary Lockdown to, essentially, flicker the board, Esper Eggs is either going to be your pet deck or the bane of your existence.
Esper Eggs
This brew is from MTGO user TheManLand, a Regional Championship winner and World Championship competitor. The core card in this deck is one of the best cards in the current Standard format: Temporary Lockdown. Normally, this card is used as an early board wipe to slow down aggro decks. It still does that in this deck, which is what makes it so good, but Temporary Lockdown serves a much bigger purpose. Instead of just using it once, you want to use it over and over again.
Temporary Lockdown doesn’t just get rid of your opponent’s small board, it exiles every nonland permanent with mana value two or less. That includes almost every single other card in your deck. It may seem strange to dismantle your own board, but your cards don’t do much after they enter, anyway. After your small cards enter, they just stick around, waiting to be exiled.
Once you have a massive Temporary Lockdown, bounce it with This Town Ain’t Big Enough, or Flicker it with Scrollshift. All of your cards will re-enter and trigger, and Temporary Lockdown can come back down to keep everything in containment.
Considering all the enters effects you have, just Flickering Temporary Lockdown once can win the game. Between card draw from Prophetic Prism, Thundertrap Trainer, life gain from Clay-Fired Bricks, and life loss from Hopeless Nightmare, you can continue to draw cards while burning your opponent out.
The games are long, the triggers are massive and your opponent generally runs out of options. If that’s not annoying, I don’t know what is.
Because this deck is a bit reliant on finding Temporary Lockdown, there are a few dedicated ways to do it. Thundertrap Trainer can help dig for it, but Wishclaw Talisman can find it guaranteed. Temporary Lockdown even turns off the downside of this card. Use your search and, before your opponent gets to untap Wishclaw Talisman, exile it under Temporary Lockdown.
Knowing Priority
Anyone who is keeping up with Standard knows that bouncing stuff is all the rage, right now. That means you won’t be the only one playing cards like Hopeless Nightmare. As a result, understanding the order of when triggers resolve is going to be important when playing with this deck, whether you’re piloting it or playing against it.
Active player’s triggers always resolve last. In other words, whoever’s turn it is will always have their abilities resolve last. This makes flickering Temporary Lockdown a bit more interesting when both players are using ETB effects. For example, if you decide to Scrollshift your Temporary Lockdown on your opponent’s turn, and they have Stormchaser’s Talent, their abilities resolve after yours. That means your Temporary Lockdown will exile everything back under it, but the Otter token gets to survive because Stormchaser’s Talent’s enters ability resolved after Temporary Lockdown.
Furthermore, you need to have full control on MTG Arena if you’re going to play this deck properly. That’s because some of your cards also generate tokens that you want to survive. Gold Pan, in particular, creates Treasure Tokens. You want Gold Pan’s effect to resolve after Temporary Lockdown. Otherwise, you’ll exile your Treasure Token.
Similarly, Wishclaw Talisman can be activated at instant speed, but only on your turn. If you have a Wishclaw Talisman under Temporary Lockdown, you can activate it at instant speed. before it goes back under the enchantment – as long as you’re flickering it on your turn.
How Good is this Deck?
This silly Esper Eggs deck has legs. It certainly seems competitive, but how competitive is the real question. From the games I’ve played, the deck feels particularly dominant outside of games where both players are interested in Flickering their permanents. The only matchup that seems really bad is the Omniscience combo deck. For the most part, your opponent doesn’t care too much about your antics since they’re just going to win in one turn anyway. Aggressive decks don’t have a chance in hell against this.
If the old Doom Foretold decks of days gone by are something that you enjoyed, I would recommend this deck to you. Better yet, because the deck has a lot of commons, it isn’t too expensive on MTG Arena – as long as you have the lands.
I hope to see this deck pop up more in the future. This is certainly fun enough to pull me in the direction of Standard.
