i think its criminal how little respect anafenza is getting. she is easily the most powerful of the 5, with zurgo behind her. narset is just a very watered down maelstrom wanderer, and hes fairly easy to cage (even competitive builds). sidisi is a gimmick that requires lots of investment for minimal gain, and surrak is just a guy (as counterspells are best used offensively).
anafenza comes online far quicker than the other four, and her effects are far more relevant than some of the other effects on the rest of the lot. there are so many other factors people are not taking into account, such as running anafenza as your general frees up about a slot and a half in deck construction while decks like narset will promote bad deck construction with overocsted bombs, or how you sidisi needs at least 4-5 slots dedicated to her being a "playable card".
she is also decently aggressive. she may not have the largest body, and her pump may be slow... but the fact of the matter is it gets there. if i can push a person off the table through combat damage with saffi, a deck of 2/2s (with some regularity), on turn 6, i can annihilate someone with a 4/4 who makes my guys bigger.
all in all, the way i am rating them is but the effect they should have on the format (and what i would like to sit across from the LEAST).
1- anafenza: high impact general. she will be a massive headache for competitive tables and casual tables alike.
2- zurgo: he hits HARD, and is in a good set of colors to make sure he hits hard.
3- surrak: he can push damage and gives consistent access to "6" for birthing pod, and is a fairly open general.
4- sidisi: better than narset because colors.
5- narset: begs for bad deck building. shes a trap.
**i am pretty sure the play they will see, is the exact inverse of how i listed them.
how would we even go about recording games? im not even talking about coherent games, just anything better quality than an Iphone hanging from the ceiling...
well then, your best bet is to use a deck builder program or proxy the list. the only true way to test a deck is to get a large number of games in with it. the most cost effective way to do that is with proxies or loaner cards.
if you do purchase large amounts of cards, there is always the option of cashing them out to a shop (for a marginal loss) if you cannot find uses for them elsewhere (or trade them).
the only other option if you want no monetary loss is to net deck. just make sure the list is a good list and is something you will enjoy playing.
borrowing cards may be an option, but not everyone is blessed the way i am in regards to friend with near limitless collections. for example, when i wanted to try out jarad, golgari lich lord as a general, i quickly put something together at a friends house out of his collection and held onto that for a while to try it out.
if that is not an option, there are a few ways to put a deck together (various websites and programs, even mtgo) to at least get a feel for how the deck will look. i really only recommend this option if you have a firm grasp on the format and deck concept.
if none of these options are possible, the only things left to do are proxy the list or find functional copies of cards to get a feel for the deck.
all in all, this is a hobby that costs money. your going to suffer losses at some point. just spend your money wisely to attempt to mitigate those losses. with budget being a factor, you just have to critically analyze every card choice. try to pick up playables with secondary uses, or playables that will retain value (for trading or cashing out on them).
another thing to look into (especially now that your playing gift and vat) are the guys with sac effects. stuff like children of korlis and ronom unicorn have been extremely good for me.
walking atlas has been an important card in my build as well, serving as a way to get those lands into play that you draw off ephara triggers.
as a die hard saffi player, i can tell you how dangerous it would be to put combat damage back on the stack... at least for my opponents. it was one of my deciding factors in becoming a dedicated, life-long blink/rock player back in 2005 or so. it was such an unfair advantage to block with a tribe elder/muldrifter and then sacrifice/momentary blink it and still be able to deal damage. i would be so happy to swing with a triskelion again, and have it deal 7 damage.
Gift of immortality and mimic vat have been good for me. words of wind is a core card in my build as well. chasm skulker. is a card i have high hopes for, but have yet to draw in to.
I was cursed with the infinite mulling in the sideboard games. i would like to test against keeper again as i feel te match is still in bugs favor...
i also am just going to proxy up my final list as playing around card availability is hurting me. if those 5 games i had remora, i had the jaceit should of been, the games would have played out differently.
I just got in from work (it was an early night due to kitchen maintenance). I will post the horrid 75 i ran as well as the 75 i intend on running when i get up in the morning.
Dragon shield put out an adjustable acrylic box that can hold a varying ammount of decks with different sleeve options. I have mine set up to hold my 2 double sleeved edh decks and it still has ample room for accessories for each deck. It is by far my favorite storage option. I think I picked it up for about 8 usd.
As I said... I can see why you don't way to play it. Just putting it out there as a card that should not be dismissed as quickly as many are as it is a card that requires effort (something most players are opposed to).
As for your dislikes of the card, i can assure you that they are not warranted. My list is mostly green as well, yet I have never had an issue turning on an emeria. Coming into play tapped is not a big deal as a good saffi build will always have abundant mana. Good emeria play will also not weaken you to graveyard removal, but it will strengthen your graveyard. Emerias "on switch" is also not as big of a deal as you make it out to be. Unless you are racing to combo as quick as possible every game (which is a recipe for disaster), there is ALWAYS time to set it up as it should come natural to the deck.
All i am getting it here is "don't be so quick to dismiss a card". Your deck is obviously of different design then mine, but I do have a lot of experience with the cards... and experience has shown emeria to be amazing (it just takes a bit of exploration to fully understand what it is capable of). End of the day, it is YOUR build and you should play the cards YOU want to play.
After a quick once over of your list, I can see why you have had poor experiences with emeria. Its a shame though, as it is an incredible engine.
With the loss of primeval Titan a few years ago, most lists have dropped emeria, which I feel is not optimal. With a proper manabase and a supporting group of creatures, the land can be a severe headache for your opponents. From what I have seen, most pilots have not wanted to learn to actually play emeria to cause those headaches and were complacent with those "easy mode" plays.
In order to make emeria work, your mananase would need a complete overhaul, a retrofit of all your spells and a fair amount of time to learn how to safely get to live emeria. It is definitely worth it if you are willing to take the necessary steps.
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anafenza comes online far quicker than the other four, and her effects are far more relevant than some of the other effects on the rest of the lot. there are so many other factors people are not taking into account, such as running anafenza as your general frees up about a slot and a half in deck construction while decks like narset will promote bad deck construction with overocsted bombs, or how you sidisi needs at least 4-5 slots dedicated to her being a "playable card".
she is also decently aggressive. she may not have the largest body, and her pump may be slow... but the fact of the matter is it gets there. if i can push a person off the table through combat damage with saffi, a deck of 2/2s (with some regularity), on turn 6, i can annihilate someone with a 4/4 who makes my guys bigger.
all in all, the way i am rating them is but the effect they should have on the format (and what i would like to sit across from the LEAST).
1- anafenza: high impact general. she will be a massive headache for competitive tables and casual tables alike.
2- zurgo: he hits HARD, and is in a good set of colors to make sure he hits hard.
3- surrak: he can push damage and gives consistent access to "6" for birthing pod, and is a fairly open general.
4- sidisi: better than narset because colors.
5- narset: begs for bad deck building. shes a trap.
**i am pretty sure the play they will see, is the exact inverse of how i listed them.
here is the twist...
i would upgrade my revised savannah to a beta savannah and then have terese nielson do custom art for everything.
if you do purchase large amounts of cards, there is always the option of cashing them out to a shop (for a marginal loss) if you cannot find uses for them elsewhere (or trade them).
the only other option if you want no monetary loss is to net deck. just make sure the list is a good list and is something you will enjoy playing.
borrowing cards may be an option, but not everyone is blessed the way i am in regards to friend with near limitless collections. for example, when i wanted to try out jarad, golgari lich lord as a general, i quickly put something together at a friends house out of his collection and held onto that for a while to try it out.
if that is not an option, there are a few ways to put a deck together (various websites and programs, even mtgo) to at least get a feel for how the deck will look. i really only recommend this option if you have a firm grasp on the format and deck concept.
if none of these options are possible, the only things left to do are proxy the list or find functional copies of cards to get a feel for the deck.
all in all, this is a hobby that costs money. your going to suffer losses at some point. just spend your money wisely to attempt to mitigate those losses. with budget being a factor, you just have to critically analyze every card choice. try to pick up playables with secondary uses, or playables that will retain value (for trading or cashing out on them).
walking atlas has been an important card in my build as well, serving as a way to get those lands into play that you draw off ephara triggers.
i also am just going to proxy up my final list as playing around card availability is hurting me. if those 5 games i had remora, i had the jaceit should of been, the games would have played out differently.
edit: dat gifts pile doe
As for your dislikes of the card, i can assure you that they are not warranted. My list is mostly green as well, yet I have never had an issue turning on an emeria. Coming into play tapped is not a big deal as a good saffi build will always have abundant mana. Good emeria play will also not weaken you to graveyard removal, but it will strengthen your graveyard. Emerias "on switch" is also not as big of a deal as you make it out to be. Unless you are racing to combo as quick as possible every game (which is a recipe for disaster), there is ALWAYS time to set it up as it should come natural to the deck.
All i am getting it here is "don't be so quick to dismiss a card". Your deck is obviously of different design then mine, but I do have a lot of experience with the cards... and experience has shown emeria to be amazing (it just takes a bit of exploration to fully understand what it is capable of). End of the day, it is YOUR build and you should play the cards YOU want to play.
With the loss of primeval Titan a few years ago, most lists have dropped emeria, which I feel is not optimal. With a proper manabase and a supporting group of creatures, the land can be a severe headache for your opponents. From what I have seen, most pilots have not wanted to learn to actually play emeria to cause those headaches and were complacent with those "easy mode" plays.
In order to make emeria work, your mananase would need a complete overhaul, a retrofit of all your spells and a fair amount of time to learn how to safely get to live emeria. It is definitely worth it if you are willing to take the necessary steps.