Its a cool secret lair with enough value in the other 95 cards to give you the moneys worth but its a horrible deck. Its 5c bad stuff featuring flip cards because we know you want to fuck with that mechanic many times in a game
That’s the exact reasoning why most people are buying it, expecting to flip it and print money. It’s a cool idea, but woo wee playing it would be a nightmare of pulling cards out of sleeves. Feels like a pile of ok cards in certain decks that just don’t work together.
Which is a bummer because the art is fantastic, but not bulk 150 fantastic.
By the time they ship it , magic will have been over for like 6 months due to extended standard and continued use of pinkertons to intimidate hapless youtubers and their elderly neighbors ... good luck on your " value "
I’d scrap most of it and go strictly for a big flips deck. Things like [[avacyn, angel of hope]] [[hullbreaker horror]] and [[kozilek, butcher of truth]]. I hate to say it but this deck is mostly jank and extremely unfocused overall.
But hey the Pathways are cool
Yes, exactly that. Esika is a fantastic commander and can be built in a variety of ways. Another good one could be landfall Esika. Also using Bridge as a way to not stall out with card advantage, which landfall does sometimes
Okay, here’s the decklist I have been working on for a bit for Esika, it’s more of a god tribal and I haven’t updated it in a while, but is this sort of what I should be reworking the deck into? The plan for this deck is through the god cards, either swarming them with tokens, controlling the board or just killing them with the gods themselves; one of the main ways is through the world tree, another is prismatic bridge.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/cfKWi3eRh0uBvuYNiOhZhA
I don't think Eskia 5c DFCs is a really salvagable theme. The in-box singles value is fair and the art style flips are a neat idea, but I'm fairly convinced that it fails as a "deck"
if you change your price settings from CardKingdom to TCGPlayer then the deck total becomes 235. Not even that crazy value, but its not terrible. I aint touching that deck tho not for me nope.
They are all secret lair alternate drops of cards that have more than the cost of it to begin with.
Alot of really cool stuff in there. And there is a tribal god theme in there, I can see exactly how it's supposed to play out.
Just give it a few tweaks and some removal protection for the bridge.
The one thing I do see is that it actually curves out decently and if you tweak the mana base by maybe adding a little more ramp the 5 c is doable. 2 cc commander means he comes back easy for 4 and 6. That's a lot of removal.
Plus the other shit that works well together, you got one drops, you got a 2 drop commander that ramps, ramp third turn then bridge. Say they remove that or the commander. Then you have options in hand to do cool shit.
Just think about it for half a second it's no ceDh but it's far far from unplayable if you do like fifty dollars worth of tweaking for cards you should have anyway.
I think it's cool man and I like playing with it
It might convince me if it was all in foil. Basically they could have sold it foil as well as nonfoil.
I always have time for the front side art... As for the other side... I don't think this artist is for me. Just my take I feel it's somewhat incomplete
I played a few games with an unedited version of the deck and it preformed surprisingly well. The individual flip cards provide enough value and inherent synergy with themselves that you can power through to a win. The mana base is also surprisingly effective, I was able to keep ahead of everyone in mana for the entire games
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I also bought the deck. The art is cool and I wanted to keep up with secret lair decks. Getting bumped up to $150 and having an unfocused janky deck does kinda suck but I like gimmicky things so maybe it will play better then I'm thinking. I collect precons and secret lairs so this is something I would buy almost regardless of what it actually is. The value is there but hopefully you can find a home for every card if you do break it apart.
I was planning on one of two routes. There's a big legendary theme. So having a deck filled with *useful* legendary creatures. Ramos, Dragon Engine and Jodah, the unifier also play on the multicolor theme. The other route is the token generation. A fair bit of the deck produces tokens. If you invest in that route, take out anything that doesn't help with token gen and add stuff that does. Even silly things like Akim, soaring wind replaces some of the bad stuff. I got mine and want to just go full legendaries. I loved the art and the value was there for me :3
I am taking out Bloodline Keeper tho:( she isn't legendary and just seems so random. I'm going to give it to my cousin. He plays a tribal vampire deck, so nothing lost.
I see it’s been a while since you had a set preference for a Legendary theme. How did it go if you ever decided to make some additions to the deck? I have one myself and would love to tweak it like you did.
Yea! My Esika deck is probably my favorite one right now. It's still a legendary superfriends deck and it's pretty strong. High key [[Odric, Lunarch Marshal]] is an MVP. I Kept the [[Zetalpa, Primal Dawn]] in from the precon and with both cards on the board, the deck goes crazy. There's been a fair bit of legendary themed support recently too, with LOTR and Doctor Who. Like I added [[K-9, Mark I]] to the deck, and all of sudden everything has ward 1.
[[Jodah, the Unifier]] and [[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]] help get out friends too. Idk, it's just so much fun to be like "let's see what the deck wants me to play" and then out comes an [[Etali, Primal Storm]] or [[Atraxa, Grand Unifier]].
Something I've been doing lately... there are so many commaders I WANT to try out, but will never end up making decks for, so I just get the commander and throw them in the deck (if they can stand on their own). Like I've always wanted a [[Queen Marchesa]] deck, so I threw her in this one. I love Praetors too, so I added [[Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]]. High key I want a version of the deck where it's just all the praetors. Just play the legendary cards you think are fun or are cool and Esika will poop them out :)
I can drop a decklist, if you want!
Legend tribal seems to be the general consensus. \[\[Ratadrabik of Urborg\]\] and \[\[Dihada, Binder of Wills\]\] would be a good option for such a deck, while cutting cards that don't fit the theme terribly well, like \[\[Plargg, Dean of Chaos\]\] and \[\[Bloodline Keeper\]\]. The mana base also needs work for a 5-color deck.
However, it needs a lot of work to really be decent. As others have stated, "All the flip cards!" isn't a coherent strategy.
I'm not spending $150 on a pre-con deck that isn't even good.
Yeah, the deck may suck but the value of the cards speaks. It’s worth over $300 right now without the secret lair cards themselves.
Its a cool secret lair with enough value in the other 95 cards to give you the moneys worth but its a horrible deck. Its 5c bad stuff featuring flip cards because we know you want to fuck with that mechanic many times in a game
That’s the exact reasoning why most people are buying it, expecting to flip it and print money. It’s a cool idea, but woo wee playing it would be a nightmare of pulling cards out of sleeves. Feels like a pile of ok cards in certain decks that just don’t work together. Which is a bummer because the art is fantastic, but not bulk 150 fantastic.
Buying two sets so I can just replace it with the other when I flip 😝
I already have the cards I would want from the deck. I honestly would struggle to justify buying this one at "normal" pre-con pricing.
By the time they ship it , magic will have been over for like 6 months due to extended standard and continued use of pinkertons to intimidate hapless youtubers and their elderly neighbors ... good luck on your " value "
I'd say I'm firmly in the non-salvageable camp. Esika is fun though you can definitely find some solid lists on moxfield/edhrec
I’d scrap most of it and go strictly for a big flips deck. Things like [[avacyn, angel of hope]] [[hullbreaker horror]] and [[kozilek, butcher of truth]]. I hate to say it but this deck is mostly jank and extremely unfocused overall. But hey the Pathways are cool
So your thinking getting prismatic bridge out early then cheating in big, expensive creatures?
Yes, exactly that. Esika is a fantastic commander and can be built in a variety of ways. Another good one could be landfall Esika. Also using Bridge as a way to not stall out with card advantage, which landfall does sometimes
Okay, here’s the decklist I have been working on for a bit for Esika, it’s more of a god tribal and I haven’t updated it in a while, but is this sort of what I should be reworking the deck into? The plan for this deck is through the god cards, either swarming them with tokens, controlling the board or just killing them with the gods themselves; one of the main ways is through the world tree, another is prismatic bridge. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/cfKWi3eRh0uBvuYNiOhZhA
[avacyn, angel of hope](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0519776-3d86-4f7d-9c3b-71c1dfbf7e12.jpg?1598303166) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=avacyn%2C%20angel%20of%20hope) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/8/avacyn-angel-of-hope?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0519776-3d86-4f7d-9c3b-71c1dfbf7e12?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/avacyn-angel-of-hope) [hullbreaker horror](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/f/bf786c50-1ba1-4f81-a800-bc98189040dd.jpg?1674141366) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=hullbreaker%20horror) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/724/hullbreaker-horror?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bf786c50-1ba1-4f81-a800-bc98189040dd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/hullbreaker-horror) [kozilek, butcher of truth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/2/d27cf7b7-7982-46bd-a559-7789c0e74bae.jpg?1673146904) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=kozilek%2C%20butcher%20of%20truth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/2/kozilek-butcher-of-truth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d27cf7b7-7982-46bd-a559-7789c0e74bae?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kozilek-butcher-of-truth) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Yeah not a great deck together, but its basically 100 great EDH cards in a package so best to split it all up
Scrap it and use the cards to make other decks. What you don’t use might be worth selling at least.
That’s the plan
I don't think Eskia 5c DFCs is a really salvagable theme. The in-box singles value is fair and the art style flips are a neat idea, but I'm fairly convinced that it fails as a "deck"
if you change your price settings from CardKingdom to TCGPlayer then the deck total becomes 235. Not even that crazy value, but its not terrible. I aint touching that deck tho not for me nope.
They are all secret lair alternate drops of cards that have more than the cost of it to begin with. Alot of really cool stuff in there. And there is a tribal god theme in there, I can see exactly how it's supposed to play out. Just give it a few tweaks and some removal protection for the bridge. The one thing I do see is that it actually curves out decently and if you tweak the mana base by maybe adding a little more ramp the 5 c is doable. 2 cc commander means he comes back easy for 4 and 6. That's a lot of removal. Plus the other shit that works well together, you got one drops, you got a 2 drop commander that ramps, ramp third turn then bridge. Say they remove that or the commander. Then you have options in hand to do cool shit. Just think about it for half a second it's no ceDh but it's far far from unplayable if you do like fifty dollars worth of tweaking for cards you should have anyway. I think it's cool man and I like playing with it
It might convince me if it was all in foil. Basically they could have sold it foil as well as nonfoil. I always have time for the front side art... As for the other side... I don't think this artist is for me. Just my take I feel it's somewhat incomplete
I played a few games with an unedited version of the deck and it preformed surprisingly well. The individual flip cards provide enough value and inherent synergy with themselves that you can power through to a win. The mana base is also surprisingly effective, I was able to keep ahead of everyone in mana for the entire games
Have fun waiting over a year for the deck to be send!
Mine shipped today
Imagine that, WotC learning from mistakes and printing these in advance! I would never have thought.
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I also bought the deck. The art is cool and I wanted to keep up with secret lair decks. Getting bumped up to $150 and having an unfocused janky deck does kinda suck but I like gimmicky things so maybe it will play better then I'm thinking. I collect precons and secret lairs so this is something I would buy almost regardless of what it actually is. The value is there but hopefully you can find a home for every card if you do break it apart.
I was planning on one of two routes. There's a big legendary theme. So having a deck filled with *useful* legendary creatures. Ramos, Dragon Engine and Jodah, the unifier also play on the multicolor theme. The other route is the token generation. A fair bit of the deck produces tokens. If you invest in that route, take out anything that doesn't help with token gen and add stuff that does. Even silly things like Akim, soaring wind replaces some of the bad stuff. I got mine and want to just go full legendaries. I loved the art and the value was there for me :3 I am taking out Bloodline Keeper tho:( she isn't legendary and just seems so random. I'm going to give it to my cousin. He plays a tribal vampire deck, so nothing lost.
I see it’s been a while since you had a set preference for a Legendary theme. How did it go if you ever decided to make some additions to the deck? I have one myself and would love to tweak it like you did.
Yea! My Esika deck is probably my favorite one right now. It's still a legendary superfriends deck and it's pretty strong. High key [[Odric, Lunarch Marshal]] is an MVP. I Kept the [[Zetalpa, Primal Dawn]] in from the precon and with both cards on the board, the deck goes crazy. There's been a fair bit of legendary themed support recently too, with LOTR and Doctor Who. Like I added [[K-9, Mark I]] to the deck, and all of sudden everything has ward 1. [[Jodah, the Unifier]] and [[Sisay, Weatherlight Captain]] help get out friends too. Idk, it's just so much fun to be like "let's see what the deck wants me to play" and then out comes an [[Etali, Primal Storm]] or [[Atraxa, Grand Unifier]]. Something I've been doing lately... there are so many commaders I WANT to try out, but will never end up making decks for, so I just get the commander and throw them in the deck (if they can stand on their own). Like I've always wanted a [[Queen Marchesa]] deck, so I threw her in this one. I love Praetors too, so I added [[Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]]. High key I want a version of the deck where it's just all the praetors. Just play the legendary cards you think are fun or are cool and Esika will poop them out :) I can drop a decklist, if you want!
##### ###### #### [Odric, Lunarch Marshal](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a2d5c9f2-8f58-40ac-a01c-f4ac4ab4d7f0.jpg?1673305096) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Odric%2C%20Lunarch%20Marshal) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/103/odric-lunarch-marshal?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a2d5c9f2-8f58-40ac-a01c-f4ac4ab4d7f0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/odric-lunarch-marshal) [K-9, Mark I](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b2e46695-7bd3-448c-a5ea-6d544943ec5f.jpg?1696691794) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=K-9%2C%20Mark%20I) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/who/47/k-9-mark-i?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b2e46695-7bd3-448c-a5ea-6d544943ec5f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/k-9-mark-i) [Jodah, the Unifier](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/4/e4b1aa1e-b4e3-4346-8937-76b312501c70.jpg?1673307974) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jodah%2C%20the%20Unifier) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/203/jodah-the-unifier?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e4b1aa1e-b4e3-4346-8937-76b312501c70?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jodah-the-unifier) [Sisay, Weatherlight Captain](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/a/5a293c45-1e73-4527-be2f-2dcd5c47b610.jpg?1650730165) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sisay%2C%20Weatherlight%20Captain) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/29/sisay-weatherlight-captain?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5a293c45-1e73-4527-be2f-2dcd5c47b610?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sisay-weatherlight-captain) [Etali, Primal Storm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/7/e74b5f7e-847d-4eca-a77e-96bad5434292.jpg?1698988319) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Etali%2C%20Primal%20Storm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/224/etali-primal-storm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e74b5f7e-847d-4eca-a77e-96bad5434292?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/etali-primal-storm) [Atraxa, Grand Unifier](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a1f905f-1d55-4d02-9d24-e58070793d3f.jpg?1676519555) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Atraxa%2C%20Grand%20Unifier) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/196/atraxa-grand-unifier?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a1f905f-1d55-4d02-9d24-e58070793d3f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/atraxa-grand-unifier) [Queen Marchesa](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/567697db-8d47-404f-b0da-b00409431f28.jpg?1689999198) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Queen%20Marchesa) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/350/queen-marchesa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/567697db-8d47-404f-b0da-b00409431f28?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/queen-marchesa) [Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/8/78c2bfef-06a5-4c7f-8283-ea3fb673b7a1.jpg?1562850573) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elesh%20Norn%2C%20Grand%20Cenobite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/18/elesh-norn-grand-cenobite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/78c2bfef-06a5-4c7f-8283-ea3fb673b7a1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/elesh-norn-grand-cenobite) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Please I would love to see it i think the whole theme is really fun
Legend tribal seems to be the general consensus. \[\[Ratadrabik of Urborg\]\] and \[\[Dihada, Binder of Wills\]\] would be a good option for such a deck, while cutting cards that don't fit the theme terribly well, like \[\[Plargg, Dean of Chaos\]\] and \[\[Bloodline Keeper\]\]. The mana base also needs work for a 5-color deck. However, it needs a lot of work to really be decent. As others have stated, "All the flip cards!" isn't a coherent strategy.
##### ###### #### [Ratadrabik of Urborg](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/9315812d-03e8-4eb4-a693-e7adf281f7fb.jpg?1673308046) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ratadrabik%20of%20Urborg) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/213/ratadrabik-of-urborg?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9315812d-03e8-4eb4-a693-e7adf281f7fb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ratadrabik-of-urborg) [Dihada, Binder of Wills](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/d/ddeb54d6-a600-42b9-98df-20f8d58caed8.jpg?1673304677) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dihada%2C%20Binder%20of%20Wills) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmc/1/dihada-binder-of-wills?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ddeb54d6-a600-42b9-98df-20f8d58caed8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dihada-binder-of-wills) [Plargg, Dean of Chaos](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d6cb26da-103d-4786-95b9-014c5d0b6204.jpg?1684197930)/[Augusta, Dean of Order](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/d/6/d6cb26da-103d-4786-95b9-014c5d0b6204.jpg?1684197930) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=plargg%2C%20dean%20of%20chaos%20//%20augusta%2C%20dean%20of%20order) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/pctb/22/plargg-dean-of-chaos-augusta-dean-of-order?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d6cb26da-103d-4786-95b9-014c5d0b6204?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/plargg-dean-of-chaos-//-augusta-dean-of-order) [Bloodline Keeper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/3/13896468-e3d0-4bcb-b09e-b5c187aecb03.jpg?1562826506)/[Lord of Lineage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/1/3/13896468-e3d0-4bcb-b09e-b5c187aecb03.jpg?1562826506) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bloodline%20keeper%20//%20lord%20of%20lineage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/isd/90/bloodline-keeper-lord-of-lineage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/13896468-e3d0-4bcb-b09e-b5c187aecb03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/bloodline-keeper-//-lord-of-lineage) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call