I've really wanted to build a deck around one of the Theros gods. Unfortunately, they've been mostly lackluster so far. Ephara, however, has some potential to be interesting. The basic idea is to overwhelm the opponent with card advantage from a variety of efficient, control-oriented creatures backed up by a fairly standard U/W control package. My tentative, so far untested decklist is above. More comments to come. In the mean time, any thoughts?
Remember that the god triggers once each turn regardless of the creatures you had played.
I would reduce the creature count, put all the decent token generators and run it in a control shell.
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Remember that the god triggers once each turn regardless of the creatures you had played.
I would reduce the creature count, put all the decent token generators and run it in a control shell.
I'm very cognizent of the restriction on Ephara. However, I think any build still requires a lot of creatures to function. There simply are not enough repeatable token generators in U/W to be consistent by themselves (I've included all the usable ones). One of the goals of the deck is to be able to play "normal" creatures on your turn, then activate instant-speed token generators or play Flash creatures on your opponent's turn in order to draw three cards per round of turns. Some of the token generators (and Whitemane Lion) are repeatable and can be activated on both your turn and your opponent's turn, but others either requiring tapping (Springjack Pasture) or are sorcery-speed (Elspeth, Knight-Errant). They can't be relied upon to consistently provide creatures every turn.
At three cards per round, a 41-creature deck will draw more creatures than it plays, on average, but at two cards per round, a 41-creature deck will play more creatures than it draws, meaning you'll still run out of gas.
I do think it's debatable what the ideal number of creatures in the deck is, and more could be culled. I've created the current list of creatures by carving down a list of about 80 prospects, so they're all pretty solid inclusions and do important things. Some ramp to get Ephara out of turn 3 (Deranged Assistant, Sea Scryer, Stormscape Familiar, Knight of the White Orchid if I'm on the draw), some are key control cards, either bounce or counters, and some interact well with Ephara, in particular all of those that allow some form of topdeck control (Sage Owl, Omenspeaker, etc., and to a lesser extent Court Hussar, Sea Gate Oracle etc.). I could cut down the list further, but I'm not yet convinced that fewer creatures is the way to go.
That said, I haven't had the chance to do real testing with this deck yet. Right now it's just a concept.
On devotion: Meh. It's not that important that Ephara is ever a creature. In fact, I might prefer her not to be--then she's immune to Swords to Plowshares, etc. Getting to seven devotion to any pair of colors requires far too much overextension to be worthwhile. Ephara is unusual in that she counterbalances what would normally be overextension by providing a constant flow of cards to replace the ones you're playing, so Wrath of God is not the blow-out it might usually be (and thus this deck is more resilient to Wrath than Edric was, though its start is much slower than Edric's), but getting to seven devotion is still excessive except in a situation where you've basically already won.
Blink cards are not that great here, either, simply because the value of the individual creatures is low. There are some solid ETB effects, but most are minor, and there are more effective ways than blink to take advantage of Ephara. Venser, the Sojourner may still be worth including, but I'm not yet convinced. Also, there's only one U/W planeswalker not in here that can generate tokens (Elspeth, Sun's Champion). I think she's a bit too expensive, mana-wise, but I may change my mind.
Hey Cuivienen, I've been working on an ephara deck and I'd thought I would stop by and share some of the things I've found.
Flash creatures are not really needed unless they actually do something powerful like aven mindcensor. Just playing a creature on your own turn is enough for the card draw, and generally you don't have enough mana to play a creature on your turn and theirs. Also whitemane lion and stonecloaker are worth keeping in solely for draw triggers.
You need a higher land count to reach your general on time, otherwise the deck doesn't really do much. I see you put in a couple ramp creatures, so that might work, but personally I would play lands over them.
A lot of these creatures you are playing feel too tempo oriented. You won't be able to kill your opponent on time with a couple 1/1's and a 2/2, even with counter spell back-up. At least play a True-Name Nemesis.
The version I have is an aggro build similar to thalia, and so far it works pretty well. Running out of cards is fine, as ephara makes every creature we topdeck good. It also recovers from wraths really well.
After some testing, I agree with those who say the original build had too many creatures. I've compensated a bit for the loss of creatures by adding some enchantment tutors (that can fetch Sacred Mesa, Mobilization or Heliod, God of the Sun, which are incredible with Ephara), but I've also added in a bit more land and more control magic. I think this deck is looking sleeker already but will continue to tweak.
+ Brimaz, King of Oreskos
+ Hero of Bladehold (both cards I really overlooked when coming up with the concept--Brimaz is also the only way I've come up with to immediately take advantage of Ephara)
+ Snapcaster Mage (now relevant with many new spells)
+ Oust (additional creature removal is helpful, though I may turn this into Disenchant depending on how the meta settles)
+ Into the Roil (would also like to fit in Condescend soon)
1x Ephara, God of the Polis
Creatures (30)
1x Cursecatcher
1x Judge's Familiar
1x Martyr of Frost
1x Mother of Runes
1x Weathered Wayfarer
1x Gilded Drake
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Knight of the White Orchid
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
1x Meddling Mage
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spellstutter Sprite
1x Spiketail Hatchling
1x Whitemane Lion
1x Æther Adept
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Man-o'-War
1x Stonecloaker
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Hero of Bladehold
1x Ranger of Eos
1x Restoration Angel
1x Sower of Temptation
1x Venser, Shaper Savant
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Enchantments (4)
1x Detention Sphere
1x Mobilization
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Sacred Mesa
Instants (21)
1x Condescend
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Force Spike
1x Mana Tithe
1x Path to Exile
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Stifle
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Daze
1x Delay
1x Into the Roil
1x Mana Leak
1x Memory Lapse
1x Miscalculation
1x Negate
1x Remand
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Cryptic Command
1x Force of Will
1x Expedition Map
Lands (39)
1x Adarkar Wastes
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Celestial Colonnade
1x Command Tower
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Faerie Conclave
1x Flagstones of Trokair
1x Flooded Strand
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Kjeldoran Outpost
1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1x Mishra's Factory
1x Moorland Haunt
1x Mutavault
1x Mystic Gate
1x Nimbus Maze
1x Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1x Rishadan Port
1x Seachrome Coast
1x Springjack Pasture
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Tundra
1x Wasteland
9x Island
6x Plains
I've really wanted to build a deck around one of the Theros gods. Unfortunately, they've been mostly lackluster so far. Ephara, however, has some potential to be interesting. The basic idea is to overwhelm the opponent with card advantage from a variety of efficient, control-oriented creatures backed up by a fairly standard U/W control package. My tentative, so far untested decklist is above. More comments to come. In the mean time, any thoughts?
I would reduce the creature count, put all the decent token generators and run it in a control shell.
URGBOops all my spellsBGRU
URBYoung GrixisBRU
~Commander~
BUDralnu/ReanimatorUB
GRUMaelstroM WanderiNgURG
GBMerengue Clan of SalsaBG
UTalrand PolymorphishU
UAzami, Lady of CAU
BRWZurgo, Worldslayer BearerWRB
BWUMerieke Ri Berit UWB
UVendilion CliqueU
Modern:U Mono-U TroN U
I'm very cognizent of the restriction on Ephara. However, I think any build still requires a lot of creatures to function. There simply are not enough repeatable token generators in U/W to be consistent by themselves (I've included all the usable ones). One of the goals of the deck is to be able to play "normal" creatures on your turn, then activate instant-speed token generators or play Flash creatures on your opponent's turn in order to draw three cards per round of turns. Some of the token generators (and Whitemane Lion) are repeatable and can be activated on both your turn and your opponent's turn, but others either requiring tapping (Springjack Pasture) or are sorcery-speed (Elspeth, Knight-Errant). They can't be relied upon to consistently provide creatures every turn.
At three cards per round, a 41-creature deck will draw more creatures than it plays, on average, but at two cards per round, a 41-creature deck will play more creatures than it draws, meaning you'll still run out of gas.
I do think it's debatable what the ideal number of creatures in the deck is, and more could be culled. I've created the current list of creatures by carving down a list of about 80 prospects, so they're all pretty solid inclusions and do important things. Some ramp to get Ephara out of turn 3 (Deranged Assistant, Sea Scryer, Stormscape Familiar, Knight of the White Orchid if I'm on the draw), some are key control cards, either bounce or counters, and some interact well with Ephara, in particular all of those that allow some form of topdeck control (Sage Owl, Omenspeaker, etc., and to a lesser extent Court Hussar, Sea Gate Oracle etc.). I could cut down the list further, but I'm not yet convinced that fewer creatures is the way to go.
That said, I haven't had the chance to do real testing with this deck yet. Right now it's just a concept.
On devotion: Meh. It's not that important that Ephara is ever a creature. In fact, I might prefer her not to be--then she's immune to Swords to Plowshares, etc. Getting to seven devotion to any pair of colors requires far too much overextension to be worthwhile. Ephara is unusual in that she counterbalances what would normally be overextension by providing a constant flow of cards to replace the ones you're playing, so Wrath of God is not the blow-out it might usually be (and thus this deck is more resilient to Wrath than Edric was, though its start is much slower than Edric's), but getting to seven devotion is still excessive except in a situation where you've basically already won.
Blink cards are not that great here, either, simply because the value of the individual creatures is low. There are some solid ETB effects, but most are minor, and there are more effective ways than blink to take advantage of Ephara. Venser, the Sojourner may still be worth including, but I'm not yet convinced. Also, there's only one U/W planeswalker not in here that can generate tokens (Elspeth, Sun's Champion). I think she's a bit too expensive, mana-wise, but I may change my mind.
Flash creatures are not really needed unless they actually do something powerful like aven mindcensor. Just playing a creature on your own turn is enough for the card draw, and generally you don't have enough mana to play a creature on your turn and theirs. Also whitemane lion and stonecloaker are worth keeping in solely for draw triggers.
You need a higher land count to reach your general on time, otherwise the deck doesn't really do much. I see you put in a couple ramp creatures, so that might work, but personally I would play lands over them.
A lot of these creatures you are playing feel too tempo oriented. You won't be able to kill your opponent on time with a couple 1/1's and a 2/2, even with counter spell back-up. At least play a True-Name Nemesis.
The version I have is an aggro build similar to thalia, and so far it works pretty well. Running out of cards is fine, as ephara makes every creature we topdeck good. It also recovers from wraths really well.
Added:
3 Island
Removed:
Given the dramatic drop in creatures, especially flying creatures, I may cut out the Stoneforge Mystic package as well.
- Shrieking Drake (too cute)
- Mulldrifter (card draw is somewhat overkill, though I am not certain on this yet)
- Stoneforge Mystic
- Umezawa's Jitte
- Sword of Feast and Famine (Stoneforge package was out of place)
+ Brimaz, King of Oreskos
+ Hero of Bladehold (both cards I really overlooked when coming up with the concept--Brimaz is also the only way I've come up with to immediately take advantage of Ephara)
+ Snapcaster Mage (now relevant with many new spells)
+ Oust (additional creature removal is helpful, though I may turn this into Disenchant depending on how the meta settles)
+ Into the Roil (would also like to fit in Condescend soon)
Mimic Vat
Phyrexian Processor
Orochi Hatchery
Pentavus
Trading Post
Throne of Empires?
Urza's Factory?
My Decks:
All my Decks are budget
EDH:GRWHazezon TamarGRW, RKazuul, Tyrant of the CliffsR, BMikaeus, the UnhallowedB, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GRXenagos, God of RevelsGR, BGPharika, God of AfflictionBG
Standard:BMono Black Control(devotion)B- retired
Casual:UWHeroicUW, UGWall tribalUG, BPhylactery LichB
Modern:UBAbyssal PersecutorUB, WKnight TribalW