That is kind, and I will wait on more data, but I think it will be quite important to change three things on the homepage as soon as possible in order to keep it relevant.
1) Make the switch of Seal of Cleansing for Disenchant on my primer list. The synergies with Sun Titan, Detention Sphere, Mistveil Plains and the tapout plan are far too important for the minimal downside of its on-the-board representation during their turns. The mainphase sequencing is also a very nearly irrelevant concern, and as a board control shell Emeria benefits less than usual from hidden information. Consequently, the Enchantment is now my first choice for sideboard Artifact/Enchantment disruption (until the format dictates otherwise).
2) Put a copy of Sanctum Prelate in over an Aven Mindcensor. It has offered interaction at an affordable rate in matchups that were formerly a "cross your fingers and hope" gameplan for me. In addition, for new players of the archetype it highlights the preferred style of solutions that Emeria, The Sky Ruin wants to focus on, and completely outclasses any countermagic-based plan against noncreature combo, in my estimation, at the cost of only a single slot (though more will surely follow). Finally, it has proved to be situationally backbreaking in the Blitz, Xerox (Phoenix), and Burn matchups, which is an enormously relevant subsection of the metagame right now. Ignoring this powerful new tool may prove frankly irresponsible in the long-term.
3) Add Kaldra Compleat to the "Other Spells" list for Stoneforge Mystic builds (with a provisional 3/5 rating, in my opinion). The 7-mana drawback is real, but the power level is incredible, and offers a completely unique angle of attack only partly mimicked by Batterskull, whose dynamics are also extremely different. The baseline option of a 5/5 Haste Equipment threat cannot be ignored, and access to it can completely change the texture of games or matchups. Since some may wonder about it, it would be foolish not to bring it up on the homepage as well.
Finally: I have tested (and played) against the mono-red Prowess deck more than the U/R versions, so I have to do some catch-up work when I can, but when real sessions get back up and running to re-calibrate strategy guides instead of try out new cards I hope that I will be able to get you a matchup guide with my updated list against the deck sometime next week.
Didn't have much time during the weekend to post but i'm here with a few results.
Went 2-2 at my FNM having played against Mono Green Stompy, Izzet Blitz twice and Amulet Titan.
First match won 2-0 against Mono Green Stompy.
I think our deck is very favoured and a creature based aggro deck without a lot of disruption or surprise is exactly what we want. Dealt with the biggest threats, put up some blockers until a wrath just put them out of the game.
Sideboarded in: 2 Gideon of the Trials Sideboarded out: 2 Teferi, Time Raveler
Third match lost against Izzet Blitz 1-2.
Exactly the same thing as last match up but this time didn't draw the removal i needed for the Stormwing Entity. Could have won the third game but was playing around Spell Pierce because i only had a Wrath of God and not a Supreme Verdict in hand. Very badly played by me and a succesion of Expressive Iteration gives them the edge to just trample over me in the mid game. Still think we're favoured in this match up, i just screwed up my lines of play a lot this time, causing me to lose the game.
Just for the sake of completeness - I don't know if you got my last message to you, and since you mention playing Gideon, Ally of Zendikar I think you should probably post the list you ended up playing for clarity. How were the copies of Solitude? Did you end up drawing them?
Backing up your sentiment, I just did some testing yesterday and had a similar problem to yours with Stormwing Entity in Murktide Regent. I had previously noticed Fatal Push decks having trouble with Delve spells like Gurmag Angler and Bedlam Reveler, but these have always been weak to either Devout Lightcaster or Celestial Purge effects in the past (as you mention), however now Prismatic Ending is unfortunately exposing me to the same issue post-board. Teferi, Time Raveler is very valuable against these spells, but does not appear in numbers in my list, so Pilgrim's Eye was actually critical to winning against the version I played against, and Subtlety was often actually being held for the 1/1 flyer once my playtest partner and I figured out how important the body was. With Dragon's Rage Channeler now in the mix with Delver of Secrets, I think that there is a critical mass of threats that ignore Wall of Omens in the format, combined with the presence of multiple tempo-killing versions of Counterspell to make Emeria currently a poor choice against the top tier.
My other testing - against RUG Crashing Footfalls Cascade - highlighted this fact for me even more with Force of Negation playing a similar role. I always bias my testing to being on the draw (AKA worst-case scenario only) once first impressions are formed, so these decks are definitely beatable as-is, but I think that if I was to play an FNM this week, I would immediately cut my own list's Wrath of God for the fourth Supreme Verdict, and maybe the Settle the Wreckage as well for a second Tef3ri plus one Detention Sphere for a third even. The ability to ignore or force countermagic just seems too important right now, and I would have to accept my increased share of losses to Meddling Mage, Silverquill Silencer, Surgical Extraction, and the like. In other news, Remorseful Cleric appears better than usual against the suite of threats at present, Sanctum Prelate is good but not great, Kaldra Compleat is a little worse in reality than on paper due to being inflexible, and Raugrin Triome is not too awkward to maindeck in the slow versions if you are running Prismatic Ending (which itself may have performed better than the Prelate and Living Weapon overall).
Expanding out from these statements to the format as a whole, it appears that Lightning Bolt is probably a key part of Modern's best removal suite at the moment (hitting multiple 3-power fliers and going at Loyalty or life total otherwise). Outside of Vanishing Verse, I think that I would most like to pair it with Despark to cover for its weaknesses, while Elspeth Conquers Death seems expensive, but may currently be an excellent game-breaker. The colour combination of these spells would also allow Ajani Vengeant and Nahiri, the Harbinger to smoothly fill out the curve in a creature-light shell, but I don't know where the card advantage to make land drops consistently would come from then given such a spell suite. Painful Truths might just work, but would then incentivise more Lightning Helix-type cards, and I am not sure how that would all come together. Maybe something like this:
This "Mardu Converge Control" list is for theorycraft purposes only, and is ugly as sin on initial impression, but in addition to what I believe might be a strong removal suite contains a solid card advantage shell plus a few interesting synergies that I will leave for the reader to explore. I hope it kicks off some useful discussion.
Both Cascade decks and more controlling decks with Counterspell and similar effects seem to be running wild in this new meta, at least for now. For that reason i think Teferi, Time Raveler is just a great card that we need to run more off to fight off these effects, It does everything we want it to and it just shuts some decks down (at least temporarily).
If Enchantress becomes a big deck we have some deep old tech in the form of Patrician's Scorn. Don't know if it will ever be good enough or needed in the sideboard but it exists and is an option!
Sanctifier En-Vec at least for now, doesn't seem like a strong enough card and i'm also leaning on Remorseful Cleric just doing a better job.
Thank you for mentioning Kataki, War's Wage - it may be a useful tool against Hardened Scales in particular, though there is awkwardness with boarding in a 2/1 against a deck running Walking Ballista. Artifact Lands are a serious thing to hate out, however, if these new duals pave the way for a return of more swarm-style Artifact decks or even perhaps the original Mirrodin cycle of lands at some point. Patrician's Scorn is also excellent to keep in mind, even though I have no idea if the Enchantress deck is quick enough getting off the ground in Modern.
Could we perhaps get an update on the 75 you brought to your tournament, for full context on your report? I have a couple of questions for your sideboarding, but they may be explained by the specifics of your list.
My appologies! I forgot to put the decklist but it was the same i posted some time ago! MH2 still isn't legal so no changes yet. Feel free to ask any questions you have and i'll share my views the best i can!
I see - you did not get a chance to try out Solitude yet, then. That was one of my questions in terms of removal against the Izzet deck.
Next, I wanted to get your overall impression of what you are trying to do in the Amulet Titan matchup: your sideboard plan seems slightly unfocused in it. Are you trying to find disruption and then beat down, or use sweepers to protect Planeswalkers for the win? In either event, I am fairly certain I would sideboard quite differently. Before you even tell me which of these is the case, the value of Wall of Omens as a cantrip is almost certainly going to contribute to your strategy. This is, in fact, why the card is as good as it is: the Wall is a purely defensive creature that (by virtue of drawing a card) reduces the effective size of your deck ,and is therefore one of the few things that is good against aggro while not being a total liability against combo. There are times when the rate is too much at 2 mana for a fresh card, but there is literally no better option available to White.
If you know what you need in a given situation, every extra chance at drawing it post-board is a resource that becomes more and more important as the matchup becomes worse. I return to my original statement when I first started contributing to this thread - if Wall of Omens is a card you find yourself wanting to cut, it means that Emeria Control is a bad metagame choice. The Walls also do not hold Equipment with any real value for you, and given that you have reduced your number to 3 already, I might recommend that either you play a different deck or you commit the slots to supporting your more relevant Emeria Fish plan (another Elite Spellbinder, another Charming Prince, and a Selfless Spirit seem like they would be more helpful to you, unless Remorseful Cleric or the third Court Hussar seem better).
It seems as though you may have tried to "split the difference" with the cards you switched out in your strategy, which results in much harder games against Titan decks overall, but in any event I would have tried to find room post-board to bring in your Sorcerous Spyglass. Affecting Tolaria West while covering some ground against problems such as Slayers' Stronghold, Walking Ballista, Urza's Saga, and Engineered Explosives has been nearly invaluable to me with Pithing Needle effects in this pairing.
Still waiting to get MH2 cards due to the inflated prices but hope to get some games at least with some of them in the weekend.
About the sideboard against Amulet Titan, i agree with you that it was quite unfucosed and i lost sight of the normal Emeria plan. I think in part it stemmed from the fact that i hadn't played against Titan decks in over a year and lost my practice against it. That's why i quite like these discussions as they help me correct these mistakes and play more optimally in the future.
With the deck i went, i would have changed what i sideboarded, putting in only 2 Ashiok, Dream Render and 2 Damping Sphere, and maybe pondering over Sorcerous Spyglass for the resons you stated.
I would have sideboarded out 2 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Mortarpod and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice. I think still having access to Batterskull and Sword of Feast and Famine make me confortable taking the 2 less relevant equipmenets in this match up, and Teferi would be the other choice as compared to the rest of the cards, i don't particularly think it would offer me the greatest advantage as they mostly play on their main phase, baring some summoner's pact or Pact of Negation, the first being able to be used at sorcery speed.
Obviously with the new pieces from MH2 my sideboard will change quite a bit so i have to see exactly how i would sideboard against Titan decks, but i'll post it in a bit so we can mull it over and find ideeal lines.
I get it, and the problem of having to "play your way back" into competence is a real one that I have dealt with in the past as well after periods away from the tournament scene. Things should improve for you quickly, though, as you have the good fortune of fully operational Friday Night Magic events.
Speaking of those events, I suspect that Sanctum Prelate may be the swap you are looking for to put in over Teferi, Time Raveler in the Titan Matchup. Setting it to 0 affects literally none of Emeria's key plays, and makes their deck far less consistent at finding answers for a turn-2 Damping Sphere. Despite being 3 mana the Prelate is also far better than Lavinia, Azorius Renegade at pairing with that specific Artifact in the later turns, as in the case of the Blue Legend they could eventually find a way to escape her soft-lock on 0-mana spells while I attempted to beat down with Living Weapon Germs.
On the subject of these Equipment, what do you think you would sideboard out instead if you had a Kaldra Compleat instead of your Sword of Feast and Famine as per your hypothetical list from the last page? Would you keep in the Batterskull? It may be quite a bit worse as a clock than the new 5/5 Indestructible threat, but it does at least provide some measure of offense in the clutch.
On the subject of the equipment sideboard i think Kaldra Compleat is just miles better than Sword of Feast and Famine in this match up. I used to use the sword to power trhough some black and green decks and get some card advantage b having more mana to play with and by making my opponent discard a card when i hit with it. But i don't think it's at it's best in our deck because we don't play as normal stonebalde wich likes to leave counters and instant speed plays. So cutting Sword of Feast and Famine for Kaldra Compleat was an easy choice for me.
Regarding your question in specific about Batterskull i think i would still keep it for the clock, but would always fetch Kaldra first.
I would sideboard in:
2 Prismatic Ending (mainly to deal with turn one Amulet of Vigor and with the addition of Raugrin Triome to the mana base, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove).
1 Seal of Cleansing for exactly the same reason as Dryad is also an enchantment.
2 Damping Sphere because of their bounce lands.
1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade for their free spells, even though it's basically just Summoner's Pact according to the new lists i'm seeing.
For that reason i think i wouldn't bring Sanctum Prelate in order to only stop their Summoner's Pact as for that there is alreadu Lavinia, wich one mana cheaper (even though it kinda has that lack of sinergy with Damping Sphere)
I would Sideboard out: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice and maybe 2 Elite Spellbinder because usually they have so much mana that it might not matter that much, but i'm actually not sure what i would take out for these 2 last slots.
For the next FNM i'm still missing some cards, namely 2 Solitude (which i'll try to get until there), 2 Kataki, War's Wage and 2 Sanctum Prelate so i'll have to ajust a bit.
This is the list i'll be running due to these constraints:
I would advise against trusting that Prismatic Ending will be able to snag a Dryad of the Ilysian Grove before turn 5 unless you started on a Triome turn 1, but the option to get such coverage once you reach the lategame is nice, and this is exactly the kind of "gravy" you can enjoy in a matchup where the 1-mana version is an effect you want against both Amulet of Vigor and some Engineered Explosives lines. In any event, they often have gotten value from the 2/4 Enchantment Creature already by the time they pass back priority, where the land drop they make after it has resolved has already done some damage. The Confounding Conundrum may help there, but it is only a one-of so you should be expecting more to use it for value with Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter as a means to keep their manabase off-balance.
Speaking of keeping them off-balance, I think your Elite Spellbinder is better than Supreme Verdict at slowing them down and/or finishing the game, and I expect that Gideon of the Trials is also a valuable commodity when aimed at Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (while helping to end the game in his own right). I think, since Field of the Dead left the format, that answering Primeval Titan is essentially even more the flagship threat, which I would rely on Path to Exile and Solitude for. Emeria, the Sky Ruin recurring Sun Titan is still a good synergy, but even without factoring in Bojuka Bog the onus is much more on lowering the curve for the early game here, so I would trim one of each to keep in or add as much relevant early pressure or interaction as possible. Given this set of dynamics with the list above, I would therefore try something like this:
Which lowers your curve by removing one 6, three 4s, three 3s, and a tapland to put in three (scalable) 1s, four 2s, and swap in two slightly better 3s.
Titan decks do not tend to "Go Wide" anymore, except with Urza's Saga, which you will want to interact with "for free" via Wall of Omens+Gideon of the Trials+Skyclave Apparition as much as possible anyway whenever your own lands cannot do the job. In this circumstance, the Sword of Fire and Ice will have some value at beating past the Illusion token while vastly improving your clock via 3/1 flying beatdown or buffing key creatures out of Valakut range until Kaldra Compleat can combine with it in a lategame trump to wreck their house (current versions do not seem to have a better answer than the awkward Dismember to the new Haste Living Weapon). This is clunky, as a strategy, but at least focused. If you DO see Urza's Saga in number, it may be that Teferi, Time Raveler returns to being good again, so watch for that if Gideon underperforms.
[EDIT: I had forgotten to mention Force of Vigor, which needs to be played around cautiously. Exposing 2 Artifacts/Enchantments should be minimized, but I think that we can recover well enough if it does not end the game on the spot.]
Let me know if any of this seems unclear, and try out a few sample hands with the configuration to see what might be affected! You have a lot of spot removal, so try to keep your Path to Exile specifically for Primeval Titan, and use Skyclave Apparition on everything else that moves other than tokens. I think it will go much better for you if you lean hard into being the beatdown (regardless of whether the matchup can actually become favourable). Remember that many lists are now only running 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, so kill those whenever you can, and that there are now only three basic Forest in many versions since they now have Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to "fix" around Damping Sphere. things are still not perfected yet, so expect some variation, but I think that overall the most common builds of the matchup have made things a little better for us.
Best of luck, I hope you can face them again next week!
Happy to say i managed to go 4-0 in my FNM even without having all the cards i wanted to try out!
I made a slight chnage to my sideboard, taking 1 Prismatic Ending and putting another Seal of Cleansing in, mostly due to 2 factors: first i feel like i never want to sideboard 3 of the same card in, specially a sorcery as i dilute to much of my deck, even in match ups where it's good. Secondly i really wanted to put another Seal of Cleansing as Urza's Saga is also an enchantment, therefore we can use it as land destruction before the third chapter and the second karnstruct come into play. I think it was a good change but feel free to comment on it!
Going into the matches:
First i went against a mono blue Jace, Wielder of Mysteries deck, trying to combo with Mirror of Fate or Leveler. Won 2-1.
First game had no idea what it was until he played Jace. Managed to exile it with a Skyclave Apparition and he played Mirror of Fate. I had no experience with this card so i didn't see the line of them just activating it, putting the Jace, Wielder of Mysteries i had exiled back on top of their library and exiling the rest, winning after they draw it.
Sideboarded out: 3 Path to Exile, 2 Supreme Verdict, 1 Solitude.
Sideboarded In: 2 Gideon of the Trials, 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade.
Gideon is an autoinclude against any I win combo deck, Seal i brought to deal with the Mirror of Fate to force them to combo in a turn and not just have it in play until they win. Spyglass came in to shut down Jace or Mirror (prefarably Jace as they have the Leveler combo too, altough they also run Laboratory Maniac and Thassa's Oracle so it's kinda hard to pinpoint a target sometimes. Basically i see their hand and decide. Lavinia was for any Force of Negation or Pact of Negation they might have had.
The key cards in the match up were Teferi, Time Raveler and Gideon of the Trials. Resolving a Teferi against a mono blue deck is just the best feel, and provided me with the ability to answer all their threats unchecked. Made me sweat a bit, but always killing Jace on sight and keeping their counters turned off allowed me to get the victory.
My second and fourth match were both against Izzet Blitz, and were both won 2-1.
I had already shared my thoughts about this match up so i'll just talk a bit about the new cards and the sideboard.
Sideboarded out: 1 Kaldra Compleat, 1 Sun Titan, 2 Elite Spellbinder, 2 Teferi, Time Raveler.
Sideboarded in: 1 Shadowspear, 2 Gideon of the trials, 1 Sanctifier En-Vec, 2 Prismatic Ending.
In this match up Prismatic ending was amazing as we could expect it. Exiling their one drop for 1 mana without downside is just perfect. Sanctifier is a card i brought to be a permanant blocker and maybe having the upside of exiling their lava dart, but not sure if i wouldn't switch it for another Teferi, Time Raveler that can delay a Storming Entity for a turn and making them unable to play at instant speed.
Overall still a favourded match up, having only lost a game where i had only 3 lands, 1 Ghost Quarter, 1 plains and 1 island, not even beeing able to play the 2 Skyclave Apparition i had in hand, and another one that went a bit longer and where i didn't draw the response for Stormwing Entity fast enough.
The third match was by far the most entertaining, against Jund. A good old midrange matchup like magic was supposed to be played. Won 2-1.
The first game was a back and forth but i was lucky enough to not see a Liliana of the Veil until very late into the match and just dealt with his permanents until i resolved a Stoneforge Mystic, that went unchecked for a turn and slammed a Kaldra Compleat that just stayed on defence but gained me the time i needed to win the game. The card is just insane in this match up if it actually enters. They have absolutly no answer to it in the 75 (barring a Liliana of The Veil making us sacrifice it if we have no other creatures). The trick i founf was not putting the Kaldra in hand right away as they can just Thoughtseize it and then we are left without our best weapon. I bascially played around the discard they had and only played Kaldra when the coast was clear.
Sideboarded out: 2 Teferi, Time Raveler.
Sideboarded In: 2 Gideon of the Trials.
Honestly didn't know exactly what to bring from the side but this felt like the best, having another threat and something that can just stop attacks from their threats.
Game 2 loss basically because their discard game was just too strong. 2 thoughtseize, 1 Inquisition of Kozilek followed by a Liliana of The Veil were just too much to handle and i was both low on lands and on answers so not much to be done.
Third game was very close, coming down to the wire, with an activation of Emeria, the Sky Ruin, bringing Stoneforge Mystic back and getting me the promised Kaldra Compleat, wich i hardcast on that turn, swinging to killing Liliana, and then with that in play and Emeria bringing a ton of other creatures into play. They still left me at 2 with 2 activations of Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger in the same turn, but equipping a Sword of Fire and Ice to the little germ that could with Kaldra, swinging for the win with 9 damage to the face. In the middle of the match also finally managed to evoke a solitude to exile a Kroxa that had escaped, basically going down to one card in hand but dealing with all their threats.
Overall i'm very happy with the wins and the variaty of decks i played, with 1 combo, 2 aggro and 1 midrange. But i want to know what you guys think and what you would have done differently.
Hope to play with some new cards this week, specially Solitude as i only managed to cats it one time during the whole tournement.
The Fluff,
Regarding Damping Sphere, like natesroom said, i would bring it against storm and tron, and maybe it could be a consideration against cascade decks, as it would delay them for a turn. Would this be significant? Not sure yet but depending on your sidebaord, it might gain the extra turn you need to turn things around!
Fluff - Damping Sphere is strong, but it is a purely passive answer whose taxing effect is symmetrical and doesn't stop many things outright, which is why I am not running it currently. The three lands its first line of text can be literally indispensable for dealing with are 1) Simic Growth Chamber, 2) Urza's Tower and 3) Lotus field - in roughtly that order of popularity and/or relevance in the format. The fact that it can also deal with Castle Garenbrig in the Bounceland Titan decks is pure upside as well, and it has relevance against Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and/or Eldrazi Temple at times, plus very corner-case possible uses against Overgrowth, Abundant Growth, and Utopia Sprawl. Decks using these last three are generally able to play one turn off-curve if they are allowed to resolve one spell per turn, however, so it can hardly be considered high-impact there.
The second line of text is much more situational, and generally isn't worth bringing in against anything other than Storm or AdGrace combo, and it does no more than delay either of those (Storm because they will always board in a bounce spell in the dark, and Ad Nauseam because of their maindeck Teferi, Time Raveler, plus the fact that either deck could have many alternative options to win if they can get to five mana post-board in any event. If you have a particularly difficult multi-spell sequence which you want to disrupt (Bring to Light or Snapcaster Mage are reasonable illustrations of this concept), I could see it coming in if you already have it in the 75, but these (or the Cascade spells Starstorm mentioned) are a losing battle in general for the card, since they will eventually find ways to get around it. To me, it is targeted hate for multi-mana lands and almost nothing else. One last use I have seen is for slowing down the Prowess deck, but my version is so sluggish to finish the game that even there it is a liability in the later turns. Others may have better synergies and a quicker clock to make the tax relevant, so take that for whatever it is worth.
Starstorm- Congratulations on the 4-0, well done! I like the second Seal of Cleansing in your list, and thank you for pointing out the interaction with Urza's Saga - I had not noticed it had a type other than Land. This is a very interesting detail which can notably be exploited with Teferi, Time Raveler! I don't know how good that is, but it seems quite relevant since Tef3ri is also good against the Construct token that it produces. The Patrician's Scorn you mentioned last week may also be more relevant now, as will marginal effects like Cloudchaser Kestrel, War Priest of Thune, Wispmare, Felidar Cub, Dismantling Blow, Fragmentize, Elvish Hexhunter, Dispeller's Capsule, the Duergar Hedge-mage I talked about a little while ago, or more sneakily Echoing Calm. Fracturing Gust and Heliod's Intervention are more realistic and versatile stabilizers against the type of decks the land might tend to associate with, though, so that is where I would legitimately start looking if things lean heavily in the Saga's direction over the next while.
As pertains to your matches, I have nothing much to add to the majority of it except to say great job. I do, however, think that against Izzet Blitz, I would have advised that whenever you bring in Prismatic Ending you should also keep as many Teferi, Time Raveler as possible for the instant-speed synergy. I probably would have trimmed an Emeria or a Titan in the matchup in your position if you really wanted to fit in Sanctifier En-Vec for the Protection from Red blocker it provides. The fact that it is also Protection from Black is the reason why I would have advised bringing it in over Gideon of the Trials versus Jund in your final round, specifically since it also helps contain the Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger you mentioned. Having played with Auriok Champion against Jund in different decks, I can attest to the difficulty they have dealing with a creature that cannot be dealt with via Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command or Maelstrom Pulse. Against Jund I also would have been thrilled to bring in Prismatic Ending over the second Gideon (who does all right, but not spectacular in the pairing), since it cleanly answers Wrenn and Six, Tarmogoyf, the problematic Scavenging Ooze, and any escaped Kroxas without much trouble at all, plus providing extra lategame coverage against Liliana of the Veil if you were indeed running the Triome. Since Elite Spellbinder is so vulnerable to the first of these, I would have cut your copies of that instead - Tef3ri's velocity on his-3 is quite important for stabilizing against single large attackers, and turns copies of Wall of Omens into super-Divinations later on. Since Kaldra Compleat is such a good endgame, I think I would have tried to lean into it and Batterskull by instead going:
The Hussar loop is more vulnerable to graveyard hate in this matchup than 3-mana Teferi is, so sadly I would say trimming one is necessary here unless you could accept cutting your Sword of Fire and Ice, but these three spells are very good at helping to win the game, so I would comfortably back them over Gideon of the Trials by a wide margin against Jund.
I hope this makes sense, and wish you all the best!
Hey all, glad to see that this forum is still so active.
Last night i threw together an emeria pile on mtgo and 5-0'd. The list felt kinda messy, and the sideboard all wrong.
I basically started at the thought of: spreading seas good, card advantage good, and went from there.
Since i dont know how to format decklists on here, I'll just post a link.
Www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4092766#paper
My matchups were:
R1: GW Enchantress 2-0
R2: UR Prowess 2-0
R3: Amulet Titan 2-1
R4: BW Griefblade 2-0
R5: Death and Taxes 2-1
A lot of my games were decided by a quick kaldra, and i never cast sun titan or had emeria trigger. Lurrus + seal of cleansing was really good.
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That is kind, and I will wait on more data, but I think it will be quite important to change three things on the homepage as soon as possible in order to keep it relevant.
1) Make the switch of Seal of Cleansing for Disenchant on my primer list. The synergies with Sun Titan, Detention Sphere, Mistveil Plains and the tapout plan are far too important for the minimal downside of its on-the-board representation during their turns. The mainphase sequencing is also a very nearly irrelevant concern, and as a board control shell Emeria benefits less than usual from hidden information. Consequently, the Enchantment is now my first choice for sideboard Artifact/Enchantment disruption (until the format dictates otherwise).
2) Put a copy of Sanctum Prelate in over an Aven Mindcensor. It has offered interaction at an affordable rate in matchups that were formerly a "cross your fingers and hope" gameplan for me. In addition, for new players of the archetype it highlights the preferred style of solutions that Emeria, The Sky Ruin wants to focus on, and completely outclasses any countermagic-based plan against noncreature combo, in my estimation, at the cost of only a single slot (though more will surely follow). Finally, it has proved to be situationally backbreaking in the Blitz, Xerox (Phoenix), and Burn matchups, which is an enormously relevant subsection of the metagame right now. Ignoring this powerful new tool may prove frankly irresponsible in the long-term.
3) Add Kaldra Compleat to the "Other Spells" list for Stoneforge Mystic builds (with a provisional 3/5 rating, in my opinion). The 7-mana drawback is real, but the power level is incredible, and offers a completely unique angle of attack only partly mimicked by Batterskull, whose dynamics are also extremely different. The baseline option of a 5/5 Haste Equipment threat cannot be ignored, and access to it can completely change the texture of games or matchups. Since some may wonder about it, it would be foolish not to bring it up on the homepage as well.
Finally: I have tested (and played) against the mono-red Prowess deck more than the U/R versions, so I have to do some catch-up work when I can, but when real sessions get back up and running to re-calibrate strategy guides instead of try out new cards I hope that I will be able to get you a matchup guide with my updated list against the deck sometime next week.
I hope you are having a good weekend,
-Stéphane Gérard
on your list at the primer. I did -1 Aven Mindcensor +1 Sanctum Prelate, -1 Disenchant +1 Seal of Cleansing.
also added Kaldra Compleat on cards on "Other Spells".
and lastly, I removed the guide for Bant Snowblade as it is no longer needed.
goodluck in testings.
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Didn't have much time during the weekend to post but i'm here with a few results.
Went 2-2 at my FNM having played against Mono Green Stompy, Izzet Blitz twice and Amulet Titan.
First match won 2-0 against Mono Green Stompy.
I think our deck is very favoured and a creature based aggro deck without a lot of disruption or surprise is exactly what we want. Dealt with the biggest threats, put up some blockers until a wrath just put them out of the game.
Sideboarded in: 2 Gideon of the Trials Sideboarded out: 2 Teferi, Time Raveler
Second match won 2-0 against Izzet Blittz
The true problem in this matchup is Stormwing Entity. Being a Blue, 5cmc flyer, it presents a big clock that can't be dealt by skyclave apparition or Celestial Purge. In my version of the deck, i only have 2 flyers, them being Elite Spellbinder that are quickly shot down by Lava Dart. If i can deal with it, either with a Path to Exile or a wrath effect, it doesn't seem to be a very bad matchup as i had previously stated. Shout out to Expressive Itereation wich is honestly a crazy good card and can out of nowhere swing games in their favour.
Sideboarded in: 2 Gideon of the Trials, 1 Kor Firewalker and 1 Celestial Purge. Sideboarded out: 1 Mortarpod, 2 Elite Spellbinder, 1 Giddeon, Ally of Zendikar (this last one should have already been out of my list but didn't chnage it in time).
Third match lost against Izzet Blitz 1-2.
Exactly the same thing as last match up but this time didn't draw the removal i needed for the Stormwing Entity. Could have won the third game but was playing around Spell Pierce because i only had a Wrath of God and not a Supreme Verdict in hand. Very badly played by me and a succesion of Expressive Iteration gives them the edge to just trample over me in the mid game. Still think we're favoured in this match up, i just screwed up my lines of play a lot this time, causing me to lose the game.
Fourth match lost against Amulet Titan 0-2.
Never liked this matchup and probably never will. I had been cutting my hate against Primeval Titan decks as they weren't very present in my meta and i think it showed a bit. First game was just instant win for them. I mulligan to 6 and kept a hand with 2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin but with Stoneforge Mystic and Wall of Omens and thought i could get away with it. They play turn one Amulet of Vigor. I draw the third Emeria the SKy Ruin, they proceed to make what seemed close to infinite mana on turn 2 with multiple explore and Arboreal Grazer and Dryad of the Ilysian Grove , and on turn 3 Drop a Primeval Titan out of a Summoner's Pact and leave me preety much dead.
Sideboarded in: 2 Gideon of The Trials, 2 Ashiok, Dream Render, 2 Damping Sphere, 1 Detention Sphere and 1 Hour of Revelation
Sideboarde out: 3 Wall of Omens, 1 Mortarpod, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, 1 Charming Prince, 2 Teferi, Time Raveler
Ashiok, Dream Render was the true MVP on the second game, at least until turn 5 when they put Engineered Explosives at 3 and blow her up. Damping Sphere was also nice to block them of the bounce lands they run but unfortunatly it also affected me as i got stuck at 5 lands and could never play 2 cards in the same turn, being forced to chose between a 2cmc or a 3cmc spell. Skyclave Apparition was also a great card dealing with Dryad of the Ilysian Grove on curve, but in the end i got stuck on lands, they started getting advantages with Tireless Tracker, and eventually play another Dryad and Valakut, the Moletn Pinacle me to death. Sad game but i wasn't ready for it and haven't played it in a while so probably some mistakes were made in the match.
Overall not the best result but hopefully we can improve in the future and get more data from all of us
Just for the sake of completeness - I don't know if you got my last message to you, and since you mention playing Gideon, Ally of Zendikar I think you should probably post the list you ended up playing for clarity. How were the copies of Solitude? Did you end up drawing them?
Backing up your sentiment, I just did some testing yesterday and had a similar problem to yours with Stormwing Entity in Murktide Regent. I had previously noticed Fatal Push decks having trouble with Delve spells like Gurmag Angler and Bedlam Reveler, but these have always been weak to either Devout Lightcaster or Celestial Purge effects in the past (as you mention), however now Prismatic Ending is unfortunately exposing me to the same issue post-board. Teferi, Time Raveler is very valuable against these spells, but does not appear in numbers in my list, so Pilgrim's Eye was actually critical to winning against the version I played against, and Subtlety was often actually being held for the 1/1 flyer once my playtest partner and I figured out how important the body was. With Dragon's Rage Channeler now in the mix with Delver of Secrets, I think that there is a critical mass of threats that ignore Wall of Omens in the format, combined with the presence of multiple tempo-killing versions of Counterspell to make Emeria currently a poor choice against the top tier.
My other testing - against RUG Crashing Footfalls Cascade - highlighted this fact for me even more with Force of Negation playing a similar role. I always bias my testing to being on the draw (AKA worst-case scenario only) once first impressions are formed, so these decks are definitely beatable as-is, but I think that if I was to play an FNM this week, I would immediately cut my own list's Wrath of God for the fourth Supreme Verdict, and maybe the Settle the Wreckage as well for a second Tef3ri plus one Detention Sphere for a third even. The ability to ignore or force countermagic just seems too important right now, and I would have to accept my increased share of losses to Meddling Mage, Silverquill Silencer, Surgical Extraction, and the like. In other news, Remorseful Cleric appears better than usual against the suite of threats at present, Sanctum Prelate is good but not great, Kaldra Compleat is a little worse in reality than on paper due to being inflexible, and Raugrin Triome is not too awkward to maindeck in the slow versions if you are running Prismatic Ending (which itself may have performed better than the Prelate and Living Weapon overall).
Expanding out from these statements to the format as a whole, it appears that Lightning Bolt is probably a key part of Modern's best removal suite at the moment (hitting multiple 3-power fliers and going at Loyalty or life total otherwise). Outside of Vanishing Verse, I think that I would most like to pair it with Despark to cover for its weaknesses, while Elspeth Conquers Death seems expensive, but may currently be an excellent game-breaker. The colour combination of these spells would also allow Ajani Vengeant and Nahiri, the Harbinger to smoothly fill out the curve in a creature-light shell, but I don't know where the card advantage to make land drops consistently would come from then given such a spell suite. Painful Truths might just work, but would then incentivise more Lightning Helix-type cards, and I am not sure how that would all come together. Maybe something like this:
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Canyon Slough
1 Isolated Chapel
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Marsh Flats
3 Arid Mesa
2 Blood Crypt
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Godless Shrine
2 Savai Triome
1 Field of Ruin
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
1 Prismatic Ending
1 Cling to Dust
2 Lightning Helix
1 Vanishing Verse
1 Despark
1 Declaration in Stone
4 Painful Truths
3 Inscription of Ruin
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Reconstruct History
1 Lorehold Command
1 Obzedat's Aid
3 Ajani Vengeant
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Young Pyromancer
1 Soulfire Grand Master
1 Epochrasite
1 Omen of the Sun
1 Elspeth Conquers Death
1 Solitude
1 Duplicant
1 Myr Battlesphere
This "Mardu Converge Control" list is for theorycraft purposes only, and is ugly as sin on initial impression, but in addition to what I believe might be a strong removal suite contains a solid card advantage shell plus a few interesting synergies that I will leave for the reader to explore. I hope it kicks off some useful discussion.
-Stéphane Gérard
Speaking a bit of some sideboard cards:
With the rise of affinity and Urza's Saga, Kataki, War's Wage seems like a great returning card! In association with Seal of Cleansing and Prismatic Ending, it might really help in the match up once again.
If Enchantress becomes a big deck we have some deep old tech in the form of Patrician's Scorn. Don't know if it will ever be good enough or needed in the sideboard but it exists and is an option!
Sanctifier En-Vec at least for now, doesn't seem like a strong enough card and i'm also leaning on Remorseful Cleric just doing a better job.
Thank you for mentioning Kataki, War's Wage - it may be a useful tool against Hardened Scales in particular, though there is awkwardness with boarding in a 2/1 against a deck running Walking Ballista. Artifact Lands are a serious thing to hate out, however, if these new duals pave the way for a return of more swarm-style Artifact decks or even perhaps the original Mirrodin cycle of lands at some point. Patrician's Scorn is also excellent to keep in mind, even though I have no idea if the Enchantress deck is quick enough getting off the ground in Modern.
Could we perhaps get an update on the 75 you brought to your tournament, for full context on your report? I have a couple of questions for your sideboarding, but they may be explained by the specifics of your list.
Hoping this finds you well,
-Stéphane Gérard
glad we have some activity again.
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3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Snow-Covered Island
2 Windswept Heath
1 Prairie Stream
1 Irrigated Farmland
3 Flooded Strand
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Wall of Omens
3 Charming Prince
1 Mortarpod
4 Skyclave Apparition
2 Elite Spellbinder
2 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
Planeswalkers
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Batterskull
Instants
4 Path to Exile
1 Wrath of God
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Rest in Peace
1 Detention Sphere
2 Damping Sphere
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Shadowspear
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Kor firewalker
2 Dovin's Veto
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Hour of Revelation
I see - you did not get a chance to try out Solitude yet, then. That was one of my questions in terms of removal against the Izzet deck.
Next, I wanted to get your overall impression of what you are trying to do in the Amulet Titan matchup: your sideboard plan seems slightly unfocused in it. Are you trying to find disruption and then beat down, or use sweepers to protect Planeswalkers for the win? In either event, I am fairly certain I would sideboard quite differently. Before you even tell me which of these is the case, the value of Wall of Omens as a cantrip is almost certainly going to contribute to your strategy. This is, in fact, why the card is as good as it is: the Wall is a purely defensive creature that (by virtue of drawing a card) reduces the effective size of your deck ,and is therefore one of the few things that is good against aggro while not being a total liability against combo. There are times when the rate is too much at 2 mana for a fresh card, but there is literally no better option available to White.
If you know what you need in a given situation, every extra chance at drawing it post-board is a resource that becomes more and more important as the matchup becomes worse. I return to my original statement when I first started contributing to this thread - if Wall of Omens is a card you find yourself wanting to cut, it means that Emeria Control is a bad metagame choice. The Walls also do not hold Equipment with any real value for you, and given that you have reduced your number to 3 already, I might recommend that either you play a different deck or you commit the slots to supporting your more relevant Emeria Fish plan (another Elite Spellbinder, another Charming Prince, and a Selfless Spirit seem like they would be more helpful to you, unless Remorseful Cleric or the third Court Hussar seem better).
It seems as though you may have tried to "split the difference" with the cards you switched out in your strategy, which results in much harder games against Titan decks overall, but in any event I would have tried to find room post-board to bring in your Sorcerous Spyglass. Affecting Tolaria West while covering some ground against problems such as Slayers' Stronghold, Walking Ballista, Urza's Saga, and Engineered Explosives has been nearly invaluable to me with Pithing Needle effects in this pairing.
I hope this is useful to you,
-Stéphane Gérard
Still waiting to get MH2 cards due to the inflated prices but hope to get some games at least with some of them in the weekend.
About the sideboard against Amulet Titan, i agree with you that it was quite unfucosed and i lost sight of the normal Emeria plan. I think in part it stemmed from the fact that i hadn't played against Titan decks in over a year and lost my practice against it. That's why i quite like these discussions as they help me correct these mistakes and play more optimally in the future.
With the deck i went, i would have changed what i sideboarded, putting in only 2 Ashiok, Dream Render and 2 Damping Sphere, and maybe pondering over Sorcerous Spyglass for the resons you stated.
I would have sideboarded out 2 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Mortarpod and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice. I think still having access to Batterskull and Sword of Feast and Famine make me confortable taking the 2 less relevant equipmenets in this match up, and Teferi would be the other choice as compared to the rest of the cards, i don't particularly think it would offer me the greatest advantage as they mostly play on their main phase, baring some summoner's pact or Pact of Negation, the first being able to be used at sorcery speed.
Obviously with the new pieces from MH2 my sideboard will change quite a bit so i have to see exactly how i would sideboard against Titan decks, but i'll post it in a bit so we can mull it over and find ideeal lines.
I get it, and the problem of having to "play your way back" into competence is a real one that I have dealt with in the past as well after periods away from the tournament scene. Things should improve for you quickly, though, as you have the good fortune of fully operational Friday Night Magic events.
Speaking of those events, I suspect that Sanctum Prelate may be the swap you are looking for to put in over Teferi, Time Raveler in the Titan Matchup. Setting it to 0 affects literally none of Emeria's key plays, and makes their deck far less consistent at finding answers for a turn-2 Damping Sphere. Despite being 3 mana the Prelate is also far better than Lavinia, Azorius Renegade at pairing with that specific Artifact in the later turns, as in the case of the Blue Legend they could eventually find a way to escape her soft-lock on 0-mana spells while I attempted to beat down with Living Weapon Germs.
On the subject of these Equipment, what do you think you would sideboard out instead if you had a Kaldra Compleat instead of your Sword of Feast and Famine as per your hypothetical list from the last page? Would you keep in the Batterskull? It may be quite a bit worse as a clock than the new 5/5 Indestructible threat, but it does at least provide some measure of offense in the clutch.
Wishing you good luck again this week,
-Stéphane Gérard
On the subject of the equipment sideboard i think Kaldra Compleat is just miles better than Sword of Feast and Famine in this match up. I used to use the sword to power trhough some black and green decks and get some card advantage b having more mana to play with and by making my opponent discard a card when i hit with it. But i don't think it's at it's best in our deck because we don't play as normal stonebalde wich likes to leave counters and instant speed plays. So cutting Sword of Feast and Famine for Kaldra Compleat was an easy choice for me.
Regarding your question in specific about Batterskull i think i would still keep it for the clock, but would always fetch Kaldra first.
I would sideboard in:
2 Prismatic Ending (mainly to deal with turn one Amulet of Vigor and with the addition of Raugrin Triome to the mana base, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove).
1 Seal of Cleansing for exactly the same reason as Dryad is also an enchantment.
2 Damping Sphere because of their bounce lands.
1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade for their free spells, even though it's basically just Summoner's Pact according to the new lists i'm seeing.
For that reason i think i wouldn't bring Sanctum Prelate in order to only stop their Summoner's Pact as for that there is alreadu Lavinia, wich one mana cheaper (even though it kinda has that lack of sinergy with Damping Sphere)
I would Sideboard out: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice and maybe 2 Elite Spellbinder because usually they have so much mana that it might not matter that much, but i'm actually not sure what i would take out for these 2 last slots.
For the next FNM i'm still missing some cards, namely 2 Solitude (which i'll try to get until there), 2 Kataki, War's Wage and 2 Sanctum Prelate so i'll have to ajust a bit.
This is the list i'll be running due to these constraints:
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
3 Field of Ruin
1 Snow-Covered Island
3 Flooded Strand
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Skyclave Apparition
3 Charming Prince
2 Elite Spellbinder
4 Wall of Omens
1 Solitude
2 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
1 Kaldra Compleat
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Path to Exile
1 Batterskull
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Shadowspear
3 Prismatic Ending
1 Confounding Conundrum
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Sanctifier en-Vec
Feel free to suggest some changes due to the lack of new cards for now!
I would advise against trusting that Prismatic Ending will be able to snag a Dryad of the Ilysian Grove before turn 5 unless you started on a Triome turn 1, but the option to get such coverage once you reach the lategame is nice, and this is exactly the kind of "gravy" you can enjoy in a matchup where the 1-mana version is an effect you want against both Amulet of Vigor and some Engineered Explosives lines. In any event, they often have gotten value from the 2/4 Enchantment Creature already by the time they pass back priority, where the land drop they make after it has resolved has already done some damage. The Confounding Conundrum may help there, but it is only a one-of so you should be expecting more to use it for value with Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter as a means to keep their manabase off-balance.
Speaking of keeping them off-balance, I think your Elite Spellbinder is better than Supreme Verdict at slowing them down and/or finishing the game, and I expect that Gideon of the Trials is also a valuable commodity when aimed at Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (while helping to end the game in his own right). I think, since Field of the Dead left the format, that answering Primeval Titan is essentially even more the flagship threat, which I would rely on Path to Exile and Solitude for. Emeria, the Sky Ruin recurring Sun Titan is still a good synergy, but even without factoring in Bojuka Bog the onus is much more on lowering the curve for the early game here, so I would trim one of each to keep in or add as much relevant early pressure or interaction as possible. Given this set of dynamics with the list above, I would therefore try something like this:
-3 Teferi, Time Raveler
-3 Supreme Verdict
-1 Sun Titan
-1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
+2 Damping Sphere
+2 Gideon of the Trials
+1 Seal of Cleansing
+1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
+1 Confounding Conundrum
+1 Sorcerous Spyglass
Which lowers your curve by removing one 6, three 4s, three 3s, and a tapland to put in three (scalable) 1s, four 2s, and swap in two slightly better 3s.
Titan decks do not tend to "Go Wide" anymore, except with Urza's Saga, which you will want to interact with "for free" via Wall of Omens+Gideon of the Trials+Skyclave Apparition as much as possible anyway whenever your own lands cannot do the job. In this circumstance, the Sword of Fire and Ice will have some value at beating past the Illusion token while vastly improving your clock via 3/1 flying beatdown or buffing key creatures out of Valakut range until Kaldra Compleat can combine with it in a lategame trump to wreck their house (current versions do not seem to have a better answer than the awkward Dismember to the new Haste Living Weapon). This is clunky, as a strategy, but at least focused. If you DO see Urza's Saga in number, it may be that Teferi, Time Raveler returns to being good again, so watch for that if Gideon underperforms.
[EDIT: I had forgotten to mention Force of Vigor, which needs to be played around cautiously. Exposing 2 Artifacts/Enchantments should be minimized, but I think that we can recover well enough if it does not end the game on the spot.]
Let me know if any of this seems unclear, and try out a few sample hands with the configuration to see what might be affected! You have a lot of spot removal, so try to keep your Path to Exile specifically for Primeval Titan, and use Skyclave Apparition on everything else that moves other than tokens. I think it will go much better for you if you lean hard into being the beatdown (regardless of whether the matchup can actually become favourable). Remember that many lists are now only running 2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, so kill those whenever you can, and that there are now only three basic Forest in many versions since they now have Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to "fix" around Damping Sphere. things are still not perfected yet, so expect some variation, but I think that overall the most common builds of the matchup have made things a little better for us.
Best of luck, I hope you can face them again next week!
-Stéphane Gérard
have a question. Besides Amulet Titan, what other decks do we bring in Damping Sphere?
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Happy to say i managed to go 4-0 in my FNM even without having all the cards i wanted to try out!
I made a slight chnage to my sideboard, taking 1 Prismatic Ending and putting another Seal of Cleansing in, mostly due to 2 factors: first i feel like i never want to sideboard 3 of the same card in, specially a sorcery as i dilute to much of my deck, even in match ups where it's good. Secondly i really wanted to put another Seal of Cleansing as Urza's Saga is also an enchantment, therefore we can use it as land destruction before the third chapter and the second karnstruct come into play. I think it was a good change but feel free to comment on it!
Going into the matches:
First i went against a mono blue Jace, Wielder of Mysteries deck, trying to combo with Mirror of Fate or Leveler. Won 2-1.
First game had no idea what it was until he played Jace. Managed to exile it with a Skyclave Apparition and he played Mirror of Fate. I had no experience with this card so i didn't see the line of them just activating it, putting the Jace, Wielder of Mysteries i had exiled back on top of their library and exiling the rest, winning after they draw it.
Sideboarded out: 3 Path to Exile, 2 Supreme Verdict, 1 Solitude.
Sideboarded In: 2 Gideon of the Trials, 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade.
Gideon is an autoinclude against any I win combo deck, Seal i brought to deal with the Mirror of Fate to force them to combo in a turn and not just have it in play until they win. Spyglass came in to shut down Jace or Mirror (prefarably Jace as they have the Leveler combo too, altough they also run Laboratory Maniac and Thassa's Oracle so it's kinda hard to pinpoint a target sometimes. Basically i see their hand and decide. Lavinia was for any Force of Negation or Pact of Negation they might have had.
The key cards in the match up were Teferi, Time Raveler and Gideon of the Trials. Resolving a Teferi against a mono blue deck is just the best feel, and provided me with the ability to answer all their threats unchecked. Made me sweat a bit, but always killing Jace on sight and keeping their counters turned off allowed me to get the victory.
My second and fourth match were both against Izzet Blitz, and were both won 2-1.
I had already shared my thoughts about this match up so i'll just talk a bit about the new cards and the sideboard.
Sideboarded out: 1 Kaldra Compleat, 1 Sun Titan, 2 Elite Spellbinder, 2 Teferi, Time Raveler.
Sideboarded in: 1 Shadowspear, 2 Gideon of the trials, 1 Sanctifier En-Vec, 2 Prismatic Ending.
In this match up Prismatic ending was amazing as we could expect it. Exiling their one drop for 1 mana without downside is just perfect. Sanctifier is a card i brought to be a permanant blocker and maybe having the upside of exiling their lava dart, but not sure if i wouldn't switch it for another Teferi, Time Raveler that can delay a Storming Entity for a turn and making them unable to play at instant speed.
Overall still a favourded match up, having only lost a game where i had only 3 lands, 1 Ghost Quarter, 1 plains and 1 island, not even beeing able to play the 2 Skyclave Apparition i had in hand, and another one that went a bit longer and where i didn't draw the response for Stormwing Entity fast enough.
The third match was by far the most entertaining, against Jund. A good old midrange matchup like magic was supposed to be played. Won 2-1.
The first game was a back and forth but i was lucky enough to not see a Liliana of the Veil until very late into the match and just dealt with his permanents until i resolved a Stoneforge Mystic, that went unchecked for a turn and slammed a Kaldra Compleat that just stayed on defence but gained me the time i needed to win the game. The card is just insane in this match up if it actually enters. They have absolutly no answer to it in the 75 (barring a Liliana of The Veil making us sacrifice it if we have no other creatures). The trick i founf was not putting the Kaldra in hand right away as they can just Thoughtseize it and then we are left without our best weapon. I bascially played around the discard they had and only played Kaldra when the coast was clear.
Sideboarded out: 2 Teferi, Time Raveler.
Sideboarded In: 2 Gideon of the Trials.
Honestly didn't know exactly what to bring from the side but this felt like the best, having another threat and something that can just stop attacks from their threats.
Game 2 loss basically because their discard game was just too strong. 2 thoughtseize, 1 Inquisition of Kozilek followed by a Liliana of The Veil were just too much to handle and i was both low on lands and on answers so not much to be done.
Third game was very close, coming down to the wire, with an activation of Emeria, the Sky Ruin, bringing Stoneforge Mystic back and getting me the promised Kaldra Compleat, wich i hardcast on that turn, swinging to killing Liliana, and then with that in play and Emeria bringing a ton of other creatures into play. They still left me at 2 with 2 activations of Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger in the same turn, but equipping a Sword of Fire and Ice to the little germ that could with Kaldra, swinging for the win with 9 damage to the face. In the middle of the match also finally managed to evoke a solitude to exile a Kroxa that had escaped, basically going down to one card in hand but dealing with all their threats.
Overall i'm very happy with the wins and the variaty of decks i played, with 1 combo, 2 aggro and 1 midrange. But i want to know what you guys think and what you would have done differently.
Hope to play with some new cards this week, specially Solitude as i only managed to cats it one time during the whole tournement.
Regarding Damping Sphere, like natesroom said, i would bring it against storm and tron, and maybe it could be a consideration against cascade decks, as it would delay them for a turn. Would this be significant? Not sure yet but depending on your sidebaord, it might gain the extra turn you need to turn things around!
Fluff - Damping Sphere is strong, but it is a purely passive answer whose taxing effect is symmetrical and doesn't stop many things outright, which is why I am not running it currently. The three lands its first line of text can be literally indispensable for dealing with are 1) Simic Growth Chamber, 2) Urza's Tower and 3) Lotus field - in roughtly that order of popularity and/or relevance in the format. The fact that it can also deal with Castle Garenbrig in the Bounceland Titan decks is pure upside as well, and it has relevance against Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and/or Eldrazi Temple at times, plus very corner-case possible uses against Overgrowth, Abundant Growth, and Utopia Sprawl. Decks using these last three are generally able to play one turn off-curve if they are allowed to resolve one spell per turn, however, so it can hardly be considered high-impact there.
The second line of text is much more situational, and generally isn't worth bringing in against anything other than Storm or AdGrace combo, and it does no more than delay either of those (Storm because they will always board in a bounce spell in the dark, and Ad Nauseam because of their maindeck Teferi, Time Raveler, plus the fact that either deck could have many alternative options to win if they can get to five mana post-board in any event. If you have a particularly difficult multi-spell sequence which you want to disrupt (Bring to Light or Snapcaster Mage are reasonable illustrations of this concept), I could see it coming in if you already have it in the 75, but these (or the Cascade spells Starstorm mentioned) are a losing battle in general for the card, since they will eventually find ways to get around it. To me, it is targeted hate for multi-mana lands and almost nothing else. One last use I have seen is for slowing down the Prowess deck, but my version is so sluggish to finish the game that even there it is a liability in the later turns. Others may have better synergies and a quicker clock to make the tax relevant, so take that for whatever it is worth.
Starstorm- Congratulations on the 4-0, well done! I like the second Seal of Cleansing in your list, and thank you for pointing out the interaction with Urza's Saga - I had not noticed it had a type other than Land. This is a very interesting detail which can notably be exploited with Teferi, Time Raveler! I don't know how good that is, but it seems quite relevant since Tef3ri is also good against the Construct token that it produces. The Patrician's Scorn you mentioned last week may also be more relevant now, as will marginal effects like Cloudchaser Kestrel, War Priest of Thune, Wispmare, Felidar Cub, Dismantling Blow, Fragmentize, Elvish Hexhunter, Dispeller's Capsule, the Duergar Hedge-mage I talked about a little while ago, or more sneakily Echoing Calm. Fracturing Gust and Heliod's Intervention are more realistic and versatile stabilizers against the type of decks the land might tend to associate with, though, so that is where I would legitimately start looking if things lean heavily in the Saga's direction over the next while.
As pertains to your matches, I have nothing much to add to the majority of it except to say great job. I do, however, think that against Izzet Blitz, I would have advised that whenever you bring in Prismatic Ending you should also keep as many Teferi, Time Raveler as possible for the instant-speed synergy. I probably would have trimmed an Emeria or a Titan in the matchup in your position if you really wanted to fit in Sanctifier En-Vec for the Protection from Red blocker it provides. The fact that it is also Protection from Black is the reason why I would have advised bringing it in over Gideon of the Trials versus Jund in your final round, specifically since it also helps contain the Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger you mentioned. Having played with Auriok Champion against Jund in different decks, I can attest to the difficulty they have dealing with a creature that cannot be dealt with via Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command or Maelstrom Pulse. Against Jund I also would have been thrilled to bring in Prismatic Ending over the second Gideon (who does all right, but not spectacular in the pairing), since it cleanly answers Wrenn and Six, Tarmogoyf, the problematic Scavenging Ooze, and any escaped Kroxas without much trouble at all, plus providing extra lategame coverage against Liliana of the Veil if you were indeed running the Triome. Since Elite Spellbinder is so vulnerable to the first of these, I would have cut your copies of that instead - Tef3ri's velocity on his-3 is quite important for stabilizing against single large attackers, and turns copies of Wall of Omens into super-Divinations later on. Since Kaldra Compleat is such a good endgame, I think I would have tried to lean into it and Batterskull by instead going:
-2 Elite Spellbinder
-1 Court Hussar
+2 Prismatic Ending
+1 Sanctifier En-Vec
The Hussar loop is more vulnerable to graveyard hate in this matchup than 3-mana Teferi is, so sadly I would say trimming one is necessary here unless you could accept cutting your Sword of Fire and Ice, but these three spells are very good at helping to win the game, so I would comfortably back them over Gideon of the Trials by a wide margin against Jund.
I hope this makes sense, and wish you all the best!
-Stéphane Gérard
thanks for the explanation on Damping Sphere.
___________
@Starstorm
nice report. Added it to the primer.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Last night i threw together an emeria pile on mtgo and 5-0'd. The list felt kinda messy, and the sideboard all wrong.
I basically started at the thought of: spreading seas good, card advantage good, and went from there.
Since i dont know how to format decklists on here, I'll just post a link.
Www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4092766#paper
My matchups were:
R1: GW Enchantress 2-0
R2: UR Prowess 2-0
R3: Amulet Titan 2-1
R4: BW Griefblade 2-0
R5: Death and Taxes 2-1
A lot of my games were decided by a quick kaldra, and i never cast sun titan or had emeria trigger. Lurrus + seal of cleansing was really good.