MTG Salvation

So the gods of BotG excited me more then the monocolored ones did. Xenagos and Karametra both seem awesome to me, but are going to get slotted up as 1 in the 99 in various decks as opposed to generals.

Ephara, on the other hand, kind of screams build-around-me.

It's a control deck, in case you couldn't tell, but it is a very blink/bounce deck with a flash theme, so I can get as many cards of off her as I can. Might not be the generically best, but I like it.



It's really rough right now. I wasn't sure whether to go all-in on her ability, or stick with a control theme and good creatures. I guess I'll figure it out. Any suggestions would be great, rip it apart, obviously it is pretty rough.

Any suggestions for other creatures great with ephara would be nice too.

I'm working on this decklist too, mine looks similar-ish to yours. One gem I found in the dustbin of history is Saltskitter. Works great with Ephara. Not only do your opponents' creature plays give you free draws off him, but you can also double the draw power of whitemane lion, mistmeadow witch, etc, and he's also easy to protect from removal with any flash creatures or instant-speed tokens on hand.

You can check out some of the other ideas I had in my decklist, it's probably easier than listing them all out:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=591237

I just got ahold of Ephara, God of the Polis myself and I'm looking forward to making my own deck, I'm probably going to be basing mine largely around the list you posted.

For me, Rhystic Study is an auto-include in most blue EDH decks, if you are trying to draw cards, a 3 mana investment is not bad especially when most players really don't want to pay the extra 1 for their spells.

Burnished Hart is good for fixing but in a two color deck do you really need it? I feel that spot could be used more efficiently.

Also, do you find Counterbalance to be effective in EDH? In a format with a huge amount of different mana costs I feel like you will have a hard time countering with it, even using Sensei's Divining Top. That being said, I do find my EDH decks are crowded with 3 drops, so I could be wrong here.

This flash theme with Ephara, God of the Polis has got me really excited! Yay for two colored gods!

Some good UW control cards: Detention Sphere, Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer, Wall of Denial. That's all I can think of :/

Counterbalance is kind of just for kicks, but it really makes people not cast stuff. Better in legacy's countertop miracles, but decent here too.

Wall of Denial was in my oloro pillowfort, but when I ported it over it got cut.

Saltskitter looks awesome, and I feel like there is another PC goodie I should be using. Aha - stormfront riders. Maybe check that out, dirk.

I'll look up dsphere, but I am not a big fan of O-rings in the format - I prefer stuff that outright kills.

Did I forget rhystic study? Yep. That was a mistake. I'll put in in for summat.

Eh, I have a hard time liking stormfront riders personally. It's so fat and slow compared to most other options. Maybe if it had flash, but 5 mana on my turn is way too much, especially since it just gives you one ephara trigger himself (despite at least 3 creatures etbing).

EDIT: thought about it a little harder...it does have nice synergy with pranksters, portal, etc. Still, though, I think the 5 cmc keeps me off it for now.

Quote from DivineEdge

Counterbalance is kind of just for kicks, but it really makes people not cast stuff. Better in legacy's countertop miracles, but decent here too.

Wall of Denial was in my oloro pillowfort, but when I ported it over it got cut.

Saltskitter looks awesome, and I feel like there is another PC goodie I should be using. Aha - stormfront riders. Maybe check that out, dirk.

I'll look up dsphere, but I am not a big fan of O-rings in the format - I prefer stuff that outright kills.

Did I forget rhystic study? Yep. That was a mistake. I'll put in in for summat.

In my build I kept Counterbalance but added the Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith and Power Artifact combo in tandem with Soothsaying. This allows you to use one of the monoliths to get as much colorless mana as you want in your mana pool, and then to essentially stack you deck however you like in response to a spell and then counter it with Counterbalance. Yes, this is kind of a glass cannon but if you pull it off (I run a couple tutors to help), you can essentially lock out the board. (this will get beat by Krosan Grip thanks to split second, as will Sensei's Divining Top)

Detention Sphere is good even if you like to kill stuff outright. Here's how I like to look at it, you DSphere an annoying permanent, the problem goes away and gives you time to find an answer for it. If your DSphere is destroyed you have hopefully found an answer by then, but there is also a chance the DSphere doesn't get answered and then you can in turn save your own answer for something else. YAY

Rhystic Study will be in any blue EDH deck I ever make, almost guaranteed to be worth it always.

Quote from HexagonalZebra

Some good UW control cards: Detention Sphere, Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer, Wall of Denial. That's all I can think of :/

Detention Sphere I agree with.

Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer I agree with.

Wall of Denial seems okay, but not great. In an Ephara, God of the Polis deck I would argue that Plumeveil would be better, strictly because it has flash. Although the wall is a bit more preventative in terms of preventing people from swinging at you early one I just like the idea of flashing in creatures for Ephara's draw engine better.

What about stuff like Parallax Wave, Portcullis, and Tawnos' Coffin to both reuse ETBs (although not at instant speed like you seem to be looking for), and to get more consistent draws off Ephara?

Quote from paigeofabook

What about stuff like Parallax Wave, Portcullis, and Tawnos' Coffin to both reuse ETBs (although not at instant speed like you seem to be looking for), and to get more consistent draws off Ephara?

Out of all of these Tawnos's Coffin works best.

If you have no creature(s) to play during your turn and want to get a draw at the upkeep after yours you could do this:

At the end of the turn before yours pay the and tap the coffin to exile one of your creatures, then during your untap step you could choose to untap the coffin and the creature would return to play giving you a draw off of Ephara, God of the Polis during the next turns upkeep.

Making a few changes here.

Rhystic Study in for medomai, because I can count on 0 fingers how many times I've gotten to swing with him.

Detention Sphere in for BSZ, doesn't draw me enough and I don't really need it with ephara.

I'll try out stormfront riders for kicks - mind spring.

Tolaria West in for an island.

Just came to me, so I haven't had time to actually think it over, but how do you guys think equilibrium would do here? It will keep other people's board under control, and it will draw me a lot of cards.

Also, dust elemental has been the shiz. If you're trying to use him as an undercosted beater then he isn't great, but here, he draws me a card and lets me draw 3 more with the bounced creatures. Plus, he beats.

Whats the win condition?

Milling out!!!

But seriously, locking down the board is step 1, followed by 20 cards/hand - step 2. Lighthouse chronologist will win if left unchecked, and so will avacyn, angel of serenity, or sun titan. Entreat the angels will too. And cyclonic rift.

Plus, in my experience, controlling the board while other people hit each other is a fine way to win in EDH.

Changes to make - more funness, less hard control.

In - omniscience, darien, king of kjeldor, mistmeadow witch, angel of salvation, trading post. Also in - saltskitter].

Out - counterbalance (sorry, buddy), muddle the mixture, recurring insight, island, fact or fiction, cloud key.

Also, I will update the list now.

I play a damia deck that is more suited to run the control aspect of things, this deck is card advanatage and beats, and going forward I think I'll be cutting a lot of counters and stuff for things like mentor of the meek, which is by the way in for lighthouse chronologist. This was the hardest cut because I love him, but he is tough to keep alive.

Screw it - Gilded lotus and GAAIV out for Venser's journal and graceful adept. I've had to discard down to 7 a lot of turns with this deck. Why I'm putting in the hand enablers, and the omniscience.