Blink and you’ll miss it
I’m addicted to Psychic Frog in Modern, I love this card so much that I just want to play it in every deck possible!
Orzhov Blink was a deck I was very attached to when Aetherdrift released, but the hype around Ketramose, the New Dawn has dwindled since. However, I do believe Esper Blink with Psychic Frog and Ketramose, the New Dawn to be one of the best archetypes in Modern right now.
Standard
Esper Blink
Market Price:$603.61
Maindeck, 60 cards
Sortsort deckCreature (27)
- 1Boggart Trawler
- 2Emperor of Bones
- 4Solitude
- 4Ketramose, the New Dawn
- 4Psychic Frog
- 2Flickerwisp
- 3Witch Enchanter
- 3Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
- 4Overlord of the Balemurk
Sorcery (6)
- 4Thoughtseize
- 2Prismatic Ending
Instant (4)
- 4Fatal Push
Artifact (3)
- 3Relic of Progenitus
Land (20)
- 1Swamp
- 4Polluted Delta
- 1Shadowy Backstreet
- 1Godless Shrine
- 4Marsh Flats
- 1Meticulous Archive
- 1Hallowed Fountain
- 2Plains
- 1Bleachbone Verge
- 1Watery Grave
- 3Flooded Strand
Sideboard (15)
- 4Consign to Memory
- 2Damping Sphere
- 1March of Otherworldly Light
- 1Strategic Betrayal
- 1Celestial Purge
- 2High Noon
- 2Wrath of the Skies
- 1Ashiok, Dream Render
- 1Pest Control
Modern Esper Blink Tips and Tricks
Market Price: $23.42
There’s a lot of amazing tricks that Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd can achieve in this deck, and you need to learn them all if you want to maximize your win rate with Esper Blink in Modern.
- The best play is to cast Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd on turn two at the end of your opponent’s turn, then cast Overlord of the Balemurk for its Impeding cost and attack with Phelia, blinking it right away to net two triggers as well as a 5/5 on the battlefield. Doing all of this by turn three is pretty powerful.
- Whenever I make this play, I like to cast Solitude first to see if I can ensure the Overlord doesn’t brick on the first trigger.
- Phelia can also remove your opponent’s tokens, where this is very relevant against Urza’s Saga’s Construct tokens or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah’s Cat tokens, and notably removing the Cat token doesn’t flip the Ajani as the token hasn’t technically died.
- You can blink your own Flickerwisp, which will return to the battlefield at the end of your turn and can exile a permanent of your opponent for their whole turn, such as denying them a precious land drop (for example).
- You can blink a creature you just reanimated with Emperor of Bones, meaning you won’t connect the opponent with it, but it’ll also mean it won’t die at the end of the turn and will stay in play for the whole game without the Finality counter!
Ketramose, the New Dawn
Aetherdrift, Mythic
The combination of Ketramose, the New Dawn and Relic of Progenitus is old news now, but it’s always best to refresh your memory on how many cards you’re drawing once you pair these two cards on the battlefield. If you have a Ketramose, the New Dawn in play and cast a Relic of Progenitus, you can draw up to four cards since you can tap Relic of Progenitus to draw one. Then, you’ll pay one mana to exile Relic of Progenitus (draw a card), exile all graveyards (draw a card), and finally draw a card for Relic of Progenitus’s ability, for a total of four!
Ketramose, the New Dawn has other synergies in Esper Blink, with cards like Prismatic Ending, Emperor of Bones, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, and Solitude, as well as drawing you cards whenever your opponent attempts to exile something during your turn with a Leyline Binding or an opposing Solitude.
Another decent combination you can achieve with Ketramose, the New Dawn is with Psychic Frog to draw a card for every three you have in the graveyard, refilling your hand super quickly as well as growing the Frog to become very large and potentially one-shotting your opponent.https://www.youtube.com/embed/138b1m3wz04?si=TRCClbqY5FmVL4lR
I think Ketramose, the New Dawn is needed to win consistently with Esper Blink, you could be playing Orzhov with Recruiter of the Guard and that’s certainly a viable strategy, but I feel adding blue and turning it into Esper is has more potential and a higher power level.
My list doesn’t have any copies of Ephemerate and instead includes more interaction spells, such as Thoughtseize and Prismatic Ending. I prefer this approach as I found Ephemerate to be clunky at times, and with the addition of Psychic Frog, you often have so many dysfunctional hands where I just want to avoid the issue as much as possible in Modern. If anything, I want Esper Blink to be a well-oiled machine, and I’m more than okay giving up the more powerful Solitude and Ephemerate play in exchange for a more solid midrange game plan.
Every Orzhov or Esper Blink list always has a few copies of White Orchid Phantom, but the card doesn’t really make much sense anymore, especially if you’re looking to cut all copies of Ephemerate. Besides, Ephemerate isn’t great against Eldrazi and only has meaningful impact against Charbelcher Combo, so I’m happy to cut it in exchange for more answers against Amulet Titan (such as Damping Sphere and Ashiok, Dream Render).
Sideboarding with Modern Esper Blink
Market Price: $12.48
Now I’m going to leave you with a sideboard guide to help you beat the best decks in Modern, reminding you not to overboard on Consign to Memory, which many players often fall victim to. If there’s one piece of advice I can give is to sideboard lightly and don’t lose the core creature recursive game plan. Good luck!
Boros Energy
- In: 1 Celestial Purge, 2 Wrath of the Skies, and 1 Pest Control
- Out: 4 Thoughtseize
Amulet Titan
- In: 2 Damping Sphere, 1 Ashiok Dream Render, and 1 March of Otherworldly Light
- Out: 4 Fatal Push
Domain Zoo
- In: 3 Consign to Memory, 1 Strategic Betrayal, and 1 Celestial Purge
- Out: 4 Thoughtseize and 1 Relic of Progenitus
Izzet Prowess
- In: 2 High Noon, 2 Wrath of the Skies, and 1 Celestial Purge
- Out: 4 Thoughtseize and 1 Relic of Progenitus
Mono-Blue Belcher
- In: 4 Consign to Memory, 1 March of Otherworldly Light, and 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
- Out: 4 Fatal Push and 2 Prismatic Ending
Dimir Murktide
- In: 1 Celestial Purge
- Out: 1 Witch Enchanter
Orzhov and Esper Blink
- In: 1 Celestial Purge
- Out: 1 Thoughtseize
Ruby Storm
- In: 2 Damping Sphere and 2 High Noon
- Out: 2 Solitude and 2 Ketramose, the New Dawn
Gruul Eldrazi
- In: 4 Consign to Memory
- Out: 4 Fatal Push
Gruul Broodscale
- In: 4 Consign to Memory, 1 March of Otherworldly Light, and 2 Wrath of the Skies
- Out: 3 Relic of Progenitus and 4 Ketramose, the New Dawn
Esper Goryo’s
- In: 1 Strategic Betrayal and 1 Celestial Purge
- Out: 2 Prismatic Ending
Affinity
- In: 2 Wrath of the Skies, 1 Pest Control, and 1 March of Otherworldly Light
- Out: 1 Relic of Progenitus, 1 Ketramose, the New Dawn, 1 Thoughtseize, and 1 Prismatic Ending
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