Shards of Alara Part 8: Grixper January 2, 2009
Posted by James in : all, strategy, tips, limited, draft , trackbackThe most unusual Shards of Alara deck that I have seen was an Esper deck (blue-white-black) without an artifact theme. Instead it had an exalted/unearth theme. This might not seem to be worth mentioning, but it’s the only Esper deck that I’ve ever seen that got first place. I call this deck “Grixper.”
Creating a Grixper deck uses the best cards for Bant, Esper, and Grixis. Unearth and exalted have a particularly good synergy. You attack with an unearth creature every turn until it is destroyed. Then you can bring it back to attack with it again.
Reasons to play Grixper
- It is a lot easier to draft than a regular Esper deck. Instead of trying to take all of the artifact themed cards, you can take unearth and exalted themed cards. You can just take all the “best cards” and not worry as much about getting the artifact theme.
- It can be too risky to draft Esper with an artifact theme. If you don’t get enough artifacts, then the cards tend to be underpowered.
- It can hurt other players who are playing Esper, Grixis, or Bant. These players need all the good cards they can get, but you will be taking some of them.
- If the draft has an underpowered card pool, this might be the best option.
Best cards for Grixper
Bombs
- Sharding Sphinx (rare)
- Battlegrace Angel (rare)
- Elspeth (ultra rare)
First Picks
- Sharuum the Hegemon (ultra rare)
- Infest
- Oblivion Ring
Second Picks
- Sphinx Sovereign (ultra rare)
- Scourglass (rare)
- Ethersworn Canonist (rare)
- Tar Fiend (rare)
- Covenant of Minds (rare)
- Resounding Silence
- Executioner’s Capsule
- Bone Splinters
- Excommunicate
Other cards worth mentioning
- Deft Dualist
- Viscera Dragger
- Akrasan Squire
- Dregscape Zombie
- Windwright Mage
- Agony Warp
- Fleshbag Marauder
- Tidehollow Strix
- Esper Charm
- Tower Gargoyle
- Tidehollow Sculler
- Arcane Sanctum
The best cards tend to be the same as in a regular Esper deck. However, Deft Dualist, Viscera Dragger, Akrasan Squire, Degscape Zombie, and Windwright Mage are better in Grixper than in Esper:
Deft Dualist is particularly good with the exalted theme. A big first strike attacking creature with shoud is hard to deal with.
Viscera Dragger is one of the best unearth creatures. It can be cycled and unearthed, or it can be played as a creature.
Dregscape Zombie is one of the best low mana cost creatures you can play in an Esper or Unearth deck.
Akrasan Squire is one of the best low mana cost creatures for an Exalted or Esper deck.
Windwright Mage is particularly good with exalted. A big creature with lifelink that might get flying.
My next article will be posted on Tuesday 1-6-2009.
Comments»
Agony Warp, Tower Gargoyle, and Arcane Sanctum are better than quite a few cards you mentioned in the second picks list.
Also, I would put Scourglass way above infest, which you have as a first pick card. It’s the same thing but better…
Alex, you might be right that Scourglass should have been higher. I’m not sure how much I like the card yet. Scourglass is also going to be better in Esper than Grixper though. (I’m also not sure how much I like Infest.)
What exactly are “first picks” and “second picks” and so forth? I don’t rate cards only based on how powerful they are. What I call “second picks” are cards generally reserved for cards you would take in your first pack right away. Usually I would only do that with removal spells involving mono-colored spells. If you are absolutely sure you will be playing Esper/Grixper, then you will definitely rate those cards higher. The point is that my earliest picks are non-committal. I don’t like to decide what I am playing right away.