by Kar Yung Tom
For those of you who have not been with us since the beginning, you would not know that Thiago Saporito, better known as bolov0, is actually a member of Mana Deprived. He has become an MTGO phenom that Brad Nelson has praised numerous times in his articles. Brad is not the only one that seeks Thiago's opinions though. At Brazilian Nationals, L1X0, the current MTGO Player of the Year race leader decided to pilot a deck designed by Thiago. Very brief thoughts from both of these juggernauts are found within. Scars is coming, but if you are looking for a new deck to play at this week's FNM, look no further.
Due to the language barrier, the interviews were extremely brief, but hopefully, I was able to carve up some value for you guys. With their permission, their original answers had to be modified.
KYT: Thiago, how did you come up with this Esper Control list that L1X0 ended up playing? I remember us having conversations during the week leading up to Brazilian Nationals and you told me you had a secret Naya list. What happened to that?
Thiago: My friends and I created the Esper deck. We actually did not have a good deck until Wednesday. Rastaf and I have always liked to play control decks, but we thought Blue White Control was a bad metagame choice. After testing with Esper instead, we concluded that it was the best way to go if you had to play control. As for the Naya list, it turned out to be just bad.
KYT: Can you elaborate on why you thought Blue White Control was not a good metagame choice?
Thiago: We expected Mythic to be the most popular deck and the Black splash allows for not only faster, but better removal spells for this particular matchup.
KYT: You wanted more spot removal for Sovereigns right?
Thiago: Yes!
KYT: Who was on your playtesting team? Did L1X0 test with you much?
Thiago: My team includes Rastaf, L1X0, kaies and Vagner Casatti. L1X0 did not test the Esper list with us much.
KYT: What was he testing then?
Thiago: His GWB list.
KYT: Alex Hayne and I think that deck is terrible.
Thiago: Hahaha!
Esper Control – Brazilian Nationals (3rd)
L1X0
3 Baneslayer Angel
2 Grave Titan
3 Wall of Omens
2 Day of Judgment
3 Doom Blade
3 Esper Charm
2 Essence Scatter
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
1 Negate
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Path to Exile
4 Spreading Seas
2 Arcane Sanctum
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
4 Marsh Flats
4 Plains
3 Swamp
Sideboard
4 Celestial Purge
1 Day of Judgment
2 Deathmark
3 Duress
2 Flashfreeze
2 Identity Crisis
1 Negate
KYT: The week before Nationals, you won a Premier with your GWB deck. How good do you think that deck was? Why did you use bolov0's deck instead?
L1X0: I was ready to play GWB at Brazilian Nationals, but it was not the most optimal choice after I won the Premier. The cat was out of the bag and it had lost the surprise factor. Moreover, the biggest advantage of the GWB deck came when it went up against Ramp decks (Valakut or Mono Green Eldrazi being examples). The MTGO metagame are completely infested by those. I knew that the metagame would be different at Brazilian Nationals. After giving up on the GWB list, our team concentrated on building the best control deck for the expected environment. The Esper deck was the result of our efforts.
KYT: In your opinion, what are the good and bad matchups of the Esper deck?
L1X0: According to me…
Good Matchups: Naya, UW Control, Valakut
Bad Matchups: Bant, Mono G Eldrazi
50/50 Matchups: Jund
KYT: If you could go back in time, would you have played the same deck? It seems like everyone who played the deck had mediocre results. If you just look at the Standard results, Thiago was 4-2, Rastaf was 2-4 and Vagner Casatti managed a 3-3 record with the Esper list.
L1X0: The deck got me a 2-1 record for the first 3 rounds and it also ended up putting me on the National Team, so it is hard to say that I would choose another deck if i could, but if I had to, it would be my GWB list.
KYT: Do you draft often on Magic Online? Is there a certain color you like to draft in M11?
L1X0: My focus on MTGO has always been to play the Standard tournaments, but I did draft a lot of M11 since its release. My favorite color is blue, because I think it is the best.
KYT: What's the next event we will see you at?
L1X0: The next tournament that I will be playing in will be the very important Season 9 MOCS.
KYT: Thanks for your time!
Dumptruck Shaman
L1X0
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Fauna Shaman
4 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
2 Sun Titan
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Vengevine
1 Journey to Nowhere
3 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Path to Exile
5 Forest
4 Marsh Flats
3 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
4 Stirring Wildwood
2 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Terramorphic Expanse
4 Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard
2 Baneslayer Angel
3 Doom Blade
3 Duress
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Mind Shatter
4 Obstinate Baloth
Until next time,
KYT
Kar Yung Tom (KYT) is the Digital Content Manager for Face to Face Games. He oversees the F2FTour.com and Magic F2F websites. He is also the lead host of the First Strike podcast.
