All in your Cabesa | Meta Esa

Card draw simulator
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Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Esâ macht's besser
ESA - ASI
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Council 1869

Without a Chaser

Not another Runner with this much Flavor

Esa's pretty fun. Recently I've been thinking that xi might be dead in a meta where R+ is so popular, but then I had an idea.

Credit to NWE for having a better inf spend at worlds than us (doubly impressive since they didn't even spend their last point). Altho personally I think the 3rd Laamb is better used elsewhere, hence my experiment of adding 3x Bahia Bands to improve your draw as well as your skateboarding (mid-run core damage ftw) and your matchups against tags and assets. What's most miraculous about this is that the improved matchup comes at virtually no loss in your other matchups: PD, Ob, Asa etc should still get smashed as per your regular Esa programming.

I think this is a high-skill performing decklist that should do well in the current meta: Whether you want the Mystic Maemi or a stray copy of Running Hot is really up to you. If I was playing at CBI, I think I'd take this, and I'd be delighted to see someone do well with it there. :)

Side note: I've dubbed Bahia Bands as "Vimming" in honor of the song "Eu vim da Bahia". I'm excited to see where the 2nd part of our foray into Brazil will take us.

Until then, keep exploding those servers!

Jinsei out

4 comments
5 Jan 2024 Paillu

I've missed playing Esa, just haven't gotten around to it in this rotation. This list is really clean, I'm definitely going to take it for a spin. I think I want some running hots, but I trust your deckbuilding and will try it out as is first. Thanks Jinsei! <3

5 Jan 2024 Council

@Paillu

Ah thank you so much - I think Running Hots are a splendid idea: Their omission may be a relic of Kikai being a bit worried we'd lose our critical cards to random damage with little to show for it. Kinda depends on what you end up using the clicks for, but Nuka's a great funnel in some sense.

I've experimentally cut the Maemi and the Botulus for 2 copies or RH and I'm pretty impressed. Might actually run that from now on, thanks for the inspiration.

5 Jan 2024 London

What do you think about labor rights vs katorga? With steelskin and strike fund trashing 3 has an EV of 0.4 credits and cards each, plus the 1 you draw from LR. It also costs one less but doesn't give (need) a run.

6 Jan 2024 Council

@London

I think that's kind of a conceptual question in how to even build your Esa deck. TheKing had a very cool Labor Rights version (It's kind of his Anarch pet card) that I took to Baltic Nationals in Autumn last year, it did alright, but I've been enjoying the added immediacy of Katorgsley working as a 2nd copy of whatever card you need at hand at that moment, be it a breaker you lost, the game winning Legwork, or yet another Finality. We tried to reduce the # of cards it's awkward to have to keep in hand and avoid losing to Core Damage, and Katorga Breakout supports that playstyle.