Esper MTG Card

Rarity	Common
Type	Plane — Alara
Released	2023-04-21
Set symbol
Set name	March of the Machine Commander
Set code	MOC
Number	49
Frame	2015
Layout	Planar
Border	Black
Illustred by	Bruce Brenneise

Key Takeaways

Esper cards excel in granting card advantage and strategic depth, crucial for outsmarting opponents.
Resource acceleration and instant speed options offer players the upper hand during competitive gameplay.
While powerful, Esper cards require careful deck building due to specific mana needs and higher costs.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Esper MTG card by a specific set like March of the Machine Commander, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Esper and other MTG cards:

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Text of card

Artifact spells cost less to cast. Whenever chaos ensues, creatures you control that are white, blue, and/or black become artifacts in addition to their other types until end of turn. Then each artifact creature you control gains vigilance, menace, and lifelink until end of turn.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: An Esper card typically offers superior card draw mechanics or access to additional cards, which is essential for outpacing your opponent by having more options available at hand.

Resource Acceleration: Many Esper cards come with capabilities that ramp up your resources. They may allow you to untap lands or give you access to alternate mana sources, paving the way for casting high-impact spells sooner.

Instant Speed: Esper cards often come with the flexibility of instant speed, enabling reactive gameplay. This lets you adapt to incoming threats on the fly or optimize your strategy without committing prematurely during your turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Esper cards often comes with the stipulation that you’ll need to let go of other cards in your hand. This necessity to discard can be detrimental when your hand size dwindles, and each card’s value increases exponentially as your options narrow.

Specific Mana Cost: Esper cards pride themselves on a blend of white, blue, and black mana costs. This specificity necessitates a well-tuned mana base to consistently cast them on curve, potentially limiting deck flexibility and exposing you to mana issues if your lands don’t align properly.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The hallmark of Esper is its powerful spell effects, which often come at a steeper mana cost. When dealing with cards requiring six or more mana, you’re forced to weigh whether their impact justifies waiting through potentially critical earlier turns without substantive plays.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Esper cards are known for their flexible playstyles, easily finding their place in control, midrange, or combo decks due to their access to blue, black, and white mana.

Combo Potential: With these colors, Esper cards often open the door for powerful synergies and intricate combos, establishing winning conditions from seemingly benign board states.

Meta-Relevance: Esper decks often adapt well to shifting metagames, using control elements to stave off aggressive opponents and refined tactics to outmaneuver other control or combo decks.

How to beat

Confronting an Esper MTG card on the battlefield can be a strategically complex affair. Known for their color combination of white, blue, and black, Esper cards often present a mix of control and finesse, demanding a careful approach. The key to countering them is understanding their playstyle which is rooted in denying opponents’ moves while progressively advancing their board state.

Dismantling their strategy can be achieved through direct removal spells which can efficiently handle their creatures and planeswalkers. Deploying cards that can’t be countered or employing strategies that grant you hexproof can serve as a bulwark against Esper’s control tactics. Moreover, engaging in hand disruption yourself can help strip away vital pieces from an opponent’s strategy before they are able to execute them.

In summary, while Esper cards combine control and subtle power, countering them relies on a proactive approach. Utilizing removals, adopting uncounterable spells and protecting your own strategies are effective ways to outmaneuver an Esper deck and ultimately, secure victory in the game of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards like Esper

The allure of Esper-themed decks in Magic: The Gathering stems from their versatility and control over the game’s rhythm. Cards within the Esper color combination – white, blue, and black – exemplify finesse and strategic depth. One illustration of this is the iconic Esper Charm, which aligns closely with the Esper ethos by offering multiple choices to players. Like Esper Charm, the enchantment Sphinx’s Revelation also provides a combination of life gain and card draw, though it is more costly in terms of mana.

Analyzing further, Supreme Verdict presents itself as a key comparison point in Esper control decks with its uncounterable board-wiping effect, albeit without Esper Charm’s flexibility in card advantage or utility. Conversely, Fact or Fiction, while not an Esper card per se, complements the same strategies by digging deep into the library, allowing selective card advantage in comparison to Esper Charm’s immediate draw.

In light of Esper Charm’s multi-modal utility and cost efficiency, it admirably represents the core of Esper strategies, standing out for its ability to adapt to various in-game scenarios and affirming its place among the pantheon of powerful Esper MTG cards.

Cards similar to Esper by color, type and mana cost

Academy at Tolaria West - MTG Card versions

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Esper card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2023-04-14	Esper’s first ability doesn’t change the mana cost or mana value of any artifact spell. It changes only the total cost players pay.
2023-04-14	If a spell you cast has in its mana cost, you choose the value of X before calculating the spell’s total cost. For example, if an artifact spell’s mana cost is , you could choose 2 as the value of X and pay to cast the spell.
2023-04-14	If there are additional costs to cast an artifact spell, or if the cost to cast a spell is increased by an effect (such as the one created by Thalia, Guardian of Thraben’s ability), apply those increases before applying cost reductions.
2023-04-14	That ability can’t reduce the amount of colored mana players pay for a spell. It reduces only the generic component of that cost.
2023-04-14	The cost reduction can apply to alternative costs such as prototype costs.
2023-04-14	The set of artifact creatures affected by the chaos ability is determined as that ability resolves. Artifact creatures you begin to control later in the turn and permanents that become artifact creatures later in the turn won’t get the bonuses.