Lurrus list by Plichow posted on top of Decklist section. Linked it to his first post here on the thread.
the primer is starting to feel fresh with all these new additions.
Solitude - added to creatures section with a rating of 3.
Flickerwisp - not used much anymore. Edited the description, so that people who still like to use it should check out Fincown's list at the Decklist section. Also reduced it's rating from 5 to 3.
____________
Fluff - I think it may be very important now to get at least one Lurrus build on the homepage, since the format seems most open to it rather than control.
It occurs to me that you should probably update the primer to include Solitude as a 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 5 stars card on the homepage
Hoping this finds you well,
-Stéphane Gérard
ok, added it with the ratings you suggested. But I had to add Solitude to "Creatures", and not "Other spells" because it's a creature, and it's a creature on decklists.
we can just later add a description to it that it's mostly used as a spell with it's Evoke cost.
Never said it before but i truly thank you for all the amazing work you've been doing on the primer and keeping this thread fresh!
My maindeck planeswalker right now is Teferi, Time Raveler, as a 3 of, and it has been for a while. It's just a card that does everyhting we want: it's 3cmc, not double blue so relativeley easy to cast always on turn 3, draws a card, can buy us a turn bouncing something from the opponenent or bounce something of ours for value and of course, the static ability just gives us a huge edge over instant speed based decks and randomly hoses mechanichs like cascade. There's a reason for it to be considered a mistake in design Truly believe the card to be at least a 4/5 due to all these functions.
And on the topic of other cards that have worked great for me and can be considered for the primer in my opinion are Skyclave Apparition, as a clean exile effect on a 2/2 body for 3cmc that yes, can't hit anything bigger than 4, but in modern that's a bit more rare like Primeval Titan, stuff from Tron and Eldrazi Tron (even though it takes out Karn, the Great Creator). It can be blinked if you run that sort of effect in the deck and can come back with Emeria, the Sky Ruin. Right now in my build i think i can say that for the cost, it is the strongest card in my deck in most matchups, and i run it as a 4 of.
On the topic of newer cards, I think Prismatic Ending deserves the consideration for the removal section, and Raugrin Triome for the lands part, specifically due to the interaction with Prismatic Ending, allowing us to use a clean exile effect to take anything 3cmc or lower our oppoenent has. Only played 2 FNM with it but brought it almost every game as it always fely usefeul (hence my question about how all you guys feel about the card, and if it would be worth mainboarding.). More testing is required of course but truly think it's a contender for a great removal spell
Let me know your thoughts about the cards and feel free to add them if you consider them worthy of it!
you're welcome. And I would like to thank you too - if people like you don't share experiences, then I would have nothing to write on the primer.
don't have a chance to play the deck these days, due to modern still not being available in my area. So I rely purely on what people on the thread say about cards, experiences, what's hot and what's not. etc.
ok, noted the things you said about Teferi, Skyclave, Prismatic ending, and Raugrin Triome. I plan to eventually add them all, and sort things out, so our primer would be up to date on the latest stuff. We use a lot of good cards, I think this deck still has a decent future in modern.
hmm, sharing my thoughts won't add much, as I feel what you said is already sufficient description on them.
Skyclave Apparition, Raugrin Triome, Prismatic Ending, and Teferi, Time Raveler added to the primer.
"Other spells" section is now broken down into Instant, Sorcery, Artifact, Enchantment, and Planeswalker. So it would be easier to browse the selection of cards available to us.
Forgot to say... does anyone want to write a short guide on how to play, and sideboard against Scapeshift decks? I will add your name as the contributor.
Time away has clearly led to a lot of progress (on both sides of the screen). There is a lot I need to get to, so if I forget things please feel free to remind me of questions so that they don't get left out of the conversation as the pages keep rolling - I am thinking specifically of your matchup breakdowns, Starstorm, and your deck choice/metagame nuance question, Plichow. I also agree with you, Fluff, that it is lovely to have so much new discussion happening, and want to join the chorus of gratitude for your tireless efforts keeping the thread running and up to date.
On that subject, I would like to say that I could give a breakdown for Scapeshift, but I need to solidify things still after a weekend of testing. The pairing does not have a ton of nuance other than "cross your fingers", from my version's perspective, and it ranks among the worse matchups for my variant (after Tron, and nearly as bad). Since one of the strategies for winning also engages with your Planeswalker question, I will use that as a springboard to say that the most important option for this deck where that card type is concerned is by head and shoulders Teferi, Time Raveler. It does too much of what we want to do, and also punishes strategies while critically being Sun Titan-friendly. The colours can support literally any Blue, White, or Colourless 'Walker otherwise, but the ones that are really important to look at are the 3-drops. After the small Teferi, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Gideon of the Trials are the best at winning games for specific matchups, but have their own fail cases and downsides. While it is sadly double-Blue, Ashiok is one of the only actual threats against dcks such as Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle combo. Narset, Parter of Veils also deserves mention, but mostly just because of her static ability's headache-inducing potential, since her Loyalty abilities are mostly lacklustre given our low non-Creature spell count.
That in turn leads me to what I have been up to this weekend. After testing quite a bit, I have both good and bad news to report, then a little more murky news which could be either. The good news is that Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer has made Mortarpod pick up a great deal of incidental value, and that Prismatic Ending has continued to impress. The bad news is that both of these cards are now poised to be present in very large numbers in other decks. Related to your question about it replacing Path to Exile, Starstorm, I think that we may need to play BOTH now to keep pace. I need to go now so there will be more to follow, but my test list has arrived at roughly this configuration (which I will have to explain later):
My previous post was quite rushed, and included Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver when I in fact meant Ashiok, Dream Render, and a Detention Sphere as a 61st card in the list which was an error, but the statements within it stand. To clarify, then, in addition to 4 maindeck Teferi, Time Raveler I am currently advocating 7 copies of 1-mana interaction plus moving more towards land and spell-based disruption in general at this time, because of the presence of Ragavan and the now near-total unreliability of both Crucible of Worlds and Detention Sphere in the face of Prismatic Ending from the opposition.
It also appears that Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Dreadhorde Arcanist are becoming more severe threats in this new metagame, which Prismatic Ending and Path to Exile are very highly recommended against, in addition to substituting for the reduction of Detention Sphere to a singleton in the sideboard. I am quite unhappy with this resulting long-term plan without D-Sphere or Crucible, which now has enormous difficulty winning against a resolved Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in game 1, so I may need to brainstorm (no pun intended) a solution for these very serious issues, however the new removal suite as bolstered by a high density of card-velocity bounce spells is excellent against both the cheaper threats [EDIT: INCLUDING DELVE] and against the influx of Germ tokens from Stoneforge Mystic trending upward to exploit Kaldra Compleat. The proactive plan against Control is also a little better at resolving spells with Tef3ri present in such numbers, so it is not all bad news on that front.
Should things remain as they are, however, I suspect that the manabase might switch to 4 Field of Ruin and a single Ghost Quarter in the main to improve deck thinning and prioritize going straight for Emeria activations in control encounters, while Pithing Needle becomes abysmal in the face of the new exile effect and so leaves the 75 to make room for the following sideboard which attempts to deal with Kaldra Compleat permanently (either by removing it, or by exiling its Germ then exhausting the basic lands so that it cannot be re-equipped):
I am less than 50% certain about the sideboard, and the loss of Court Hussar nos. 2 and 3 to fit in the extra copies of Tef3ri is, frankly, depressing in the extreme, but the blue spell count was becoming too high and the possibility of losing single copies of permanents to exile in many forms had become an intolerable variance. I will accept Court Hussar being exiled since its function is replaced some small amount by the Planeswalker, but all other spells are now redundant in the main (barring the two "finisher" equipment), and its absence is not a crippling loss to Emeria activations when said Planeswalker can re-set Wall of Omenset al. for advantage more often. Having access to the 25th Land in the shape of a Ghost Quarter plus a Crucible post-board is a comfort against Control, at least. The last card that the Forsake the Worldly could be is an Angelic Ascension, which might also help with the big Planeswalkers issue, but for now I think I will try the Forsake.
There is a lot yet to do as the format is so volatile, so I will bid you all a good day for the moment.
Okay guys managed to go 3-0 today so another good result!
congrats on the good finish!
among the people active on the thread. I notice that you're the only one playing Skyclave Apparition. I think it's a good card.
can I add your list to the primer, so we would have a sample list with Skyclave Apparition there?
Of course Fluff, it would be my honor to show this decklist to more people and with it we would have 4 distinct approaches to the Emeria archtype in the primer for people to choose and see what they are most confortable with!
Stéphane, glad to see your new list for this new meta!
Your list seems very geared towards aggro wich makes perfect sense given the current meta! We have discussed Pilgrim's Eye in the past and while i'm not as high on it as i was when i started playing the deck, for your controlling version of the deck it makes sense to get to an Emeria activation as soon as possible, while many of my games are won before getting that late game. But in a world with mostly Lava Dart but also cards like Wrenn and Six being present, do you still believe the card to be as good as it was for you before?
Another question i have is regarding Mortarpod. I love the card in an evironment with many 1 thougness creatures, and with the rise of Delver that is certanly the case. But my question is do think 3 is a good number? I say this because while it feeds your graveayard and has value against some of these creatures, i feel like in the late game is just a dead draw when i need something of power. I was running one as i have been for a long time, and for the vast majority of my games it wouldn't do anything except block and ping my opponent for one. I started running it mostly because i wanted a way to interact with the Heliod Combo when they went to take the counters of one of the creatures, but now that that deck is falling in the meta with the rise of Afinnity and other decks, at least for me i don't find as much value running it. But i would love seeing your point of view on the card as it has definitely been good for me in the past.
About the 4 Teferi, Time Raveler, do you think the benefit of maximizing the oods of having it as much as possible outwheighs the drawback of being legendary? I'm running 3 of them so i think we both have the card in high consideration in this meta, my question was simply regarding the deckbuilding of 3 vs 4.
Also i like your approach against control in the side, with Ghost Quarter and Crucible of Worlds. That's a lock i haven't used in a long time, as crucible, as a 3 mana do nothing artifact when it comes into play, just didn't cut it for me. Haven't played against a hardcore control deck in some time so i might try it again in the future, but i need more experienace to see if with my current build i'm able to deal with control easily or need more tools.
Regarding to Aura of Silence, do you find it to be better that the second Seal of Cleansing? Being 3cmc, how relevant is the first line of text when sometimes you just want to sacrifice it to break something we need. In what matchups and situations do you think it's better than Seal?
Tell us about your experiances when you have the chance to give the deck a spin as it would be very enlightening! Good luck on your games!
Hey Fluff , thank you for your work again :b
That list was the one i used because i didn't have Solitude yet, so if you could add this one instead it would be great!
About the Scapeshift guide, i haven't played against it in a very long time, only against Amulet Titan which seems to be the defacto Primeval Titan and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deck so while i could write something it would be only very theoretical and not based on my recent experiances.
ok done, replaced the list there with the one in your post.
I notice the card Elite Spellbinder in your deck. Can I hear your thoughts on this card? What match-ups has it been useful so far. Will add it to card choices. And what do you think it's rating should be?
Fluff and Starstorm - you have both asked about Pilgrim's Eye, so I will start there. It is indeed valuable as a flying blocker, however in my version they essentially serve as basic lands with a 3-mana body attached as a kicker. Lava Dart and Wrenn and Six make that body less relevant, but as a measure of how much I want the land it provides I will state that I tested The Birth of Meletis, and (bad as it is) would be willing to run it over Stoneforge Mystic if it ever leaves. I realize that I will be sounding like a broken record at this point, but every creature-based option that interacts well with filling our deck with Plains represents the kind of advantages that Emeria, the Sky Ruin rewards and maximises. I WANT approximately 40 lands in my deck, and can GET AWAY WITH running only 24 because of curve filling creatures like Wall of Omens and Court Hussar being able to find me more Plains. Given that Sun Titan is the best finisher for our strategy, Pilgrim's Eye is a crucial effect in that pursuit.
Focus on the advantages that this shell has over other viable candidates, and ask yourself: what makes this strategy unique? what does it offer that other decks do not, and therefore why is it a viable deck choice? My answer is that, as a "free" effect in the manabase, it enables the purely focused mantra of "survive, survive, survive". The natural consequence of playing the game takes over from that point and flood no longer becomes a death sentence for us, while other decks must ultimately leverage dwindling resources which depend on much more variable boardstates. Build with Emeria ASSUMING you will have to come from behind to stabilize - THEN you can proceed to win with whatever you have at your disposal. Anything other than crossing the threshold to the next upkeep is superfluous, and in my opinion a distraction from the core ideal which results the strategy's dominance when the conditions for it are right. The only other thing that matters in-game is whether, after avoiding lethal as best as possible, I have played a land before passing the turn. If I have done so, I literally consider myself one step closer to winning the game. I will, however, gladly take every extra tiny edge that I can if my permanents can generate extra value on their way to jumping in front of a bus for me, which is why I continue to debate the card choices as much as I do, but my focus continues to differ from many other decklists in this respect - with telling results in anything resembling a midrange or control matchup, I might add. This is the way that persistent advantages can be gained without devoting precious spell slots to such a lower-priority cause as "winning the game".
Next up, the question of Mortarpod. Given the strategy above, I am quite content with "block and ping" as the base rate, since (in an extremely important difference from your build) that is EXACTLY what I am hoping for it to do. I have no other objectives with it, other than to interact with the board early so that I can reliably continue to put land on the Battlefield for one more turn. There is a minor concern that has to do with deck thinning and guaranteeing value for lategame recursion of Stoneforge Mystic, but this is secondary to the fact that it is a 2-drop that can help stabilize at any point in the game against a lethal attacker, [EDIT: AND INCIDENTALLY TURNS ANY RANDOM BOARD PRESENCE INTO WIN CONDITIONS WITH EMERIA ONLINE] while providing synergy with both a premier creature in the format AND the natural end game of our namesake land. Unless this effect becomes nearly irrelevant to surviving even a single turn against the majority of the format, it will be staying in the deck even should Stoneforge Mystic make a hypothetical return to the banned list.
Finally, on Teferi, Time Raveler, I am altogether uncertain whether the 4-of will be the best configuration, but my initial impressions are that it is not a crippling disadvantage to have two copies in hand during a game, and even drawing three in the first six turns has not been as bad as it could have been. It is clearly optimal, in a theoretical sense, only to draw one and have it do its work unmolested, and I consider my former list to be a better deck in that respect, and yet the world we live in seems to have changed in its favour with respect to the needs of my spell suite. This is still anecdotal, however, and the potential of drawing 4 has never yet manifested itself, but I will be certain to tell you all if and when it does.
Irrigated Farmland rating dropped to 2. Changed description as well, indicating Raugrin Triome as the better land, because Raugrin has synergy with PE.
still using mortarpod in my build as well, although only two copies. It's another 2 cmc blocker. The +1 toughness boost to whoever equips it is often relevant. And the ping once emeria is active can knockout people who are low enough on life.
Hey all, wanted to update you all on the testing that I'm doing (little though it is, I'm really just trying to stay alive in this heat wave). I played the following deck to a 3-2 finish, beating GR Moon, UB Food and Grixis Rogues, losing to Jeskai stoneblade and Jund shadow.
In my 3-2, my UB Food opponent conceded the match early, so my record was more like 2-2. This deck felt quite good, except it had issues dealing with planeswalkers and kaldra compleats. I was stuck in a place vs GR Moon where they had a Chandra, Torch of Defiance on 7 loyalty, And i had to cast a creature every turn and equip with mortarpod to sacrifice and keep it at 6. I think i did this for 7 turns, And could not find an emeria or a kaldra to pressure it harder.
That said, pilgrims eye was fantastic, And i do like this list a lot. Pilgrims eye was very nice as a land drop and a blocker or small pressure, And when equipped with a mortarpod it actually blocks well. I would definitely take out the detention sphere in favour of another t3feri though, and then heavily tweak the sideboard as necessary as it didnt feel optimal.
I built this list based on Stephane's primer list plus his listed upgrades, i think on page 78. I would play this variant (or something similar) over a lurrus version myself in the future
Hey folks, I have never posted here but I was around back in the day, probably 2-3 years ago just before and after MH1 came out playing this deck. Originally, I played a control version somewhere along the lines of this (going off memory)
I'm getting into modern again and picked up some stoneforges and am looking to try out both the control and aggressive versions of this deck. I'm bringing something similar to Starstorm's to my local FNM this Friday and I'd love some feedback on this list. The sideboard obviously isn't great, just something I threw together. One thing in particular that I would like to know is regarding the sword of feast and famine. As of right now I do not have access to a fire and ice and I slotted in feast and famine in it's place but I'm skeptical that it really fits in the deck. That being said, I am under the impression that you want at least 3 equipment targets in your deck for stoneforge. Must gut tells me mortalpod might actually be better, but I'm not sure if that fits what this version of the deck is trying to do. Would picking up something like shadowspear be advisable for the main deck to replace the fire and ice that i'm missing? Any other criticism is appreciated, and I suspect you'll tell me to play more Teferi, so maybe I'll look to pick up another copy or two. anyway, the following week I may try and run the more controlling version with crucible, pilgrim's eye, and prismatic endings in the maindeck. I'll try and share how my games go this weekend. Thanks for keeping this thread active, many of the posts serve as great inspiration to me.
Last question, do you think there is a version that plays ranger-captain as well as skyclave? It seems difficult it requires so many slots. Maybe 8 card of the sideboard dedicated to ranger captain and silver bullet one drops? I'm not sure.
Hey Plichow, hope you're surviving out there in these hot times and congrats on the 3-2!
I think it takes time to get used to a new configguration of the deck and to find a sideboard that we can work with so definitly keep working on your build and posting results here a si feel you encounter many more matchups that i for example have never actually played like UB food!
Glad to know Stéphane's list is working out for you and hope it keeps being good in this meta!
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Lurrus list by Plichow posted on top of Decklist section. Linked it to his first post here on the thread.
the primer is starting to feel fresh with all these new additions.
Solitude - added to creatures section with a rating of 3.
Flickerwisp - not used much anymore. Edited the description, so that people who still like to use it should check out Fincown's list at the Decklist section. Also reduced it's rating from 5 to 3.
____________
done.
ok, added it with the ratings you suggested. But I had to add Solitude to "Creatures", and not "Other spells" because it's a creature, and it's a creature on decklists.
we can just later add a description to it that it's mostly used as a spell with it's Evoke cost.
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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
What maindeck planeswalker do you use? And what kind of decks is that walker good against?
asking, because I would use the info to further update the primer.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
Never said it before but i truly thank you for all the amazing work you've been doing on the primer and keeping this thread fresh!
My maindeck planeswalker right now is Teferi, Time Raveler, as a 3 of, and it has been for a while. It's just a card that does everyhting we want: it's 3cmc, not double blue so relativeley easy to cast always on turn 3, draws a card, can buy us a turn bouncing something from the opponenent or bounce something of ours for value and of course, the static ability just gives us a huge edge over instant speed based decks and randomly hoses mechanichs like cascade. There's a reason for it to be considered a mistake in design Truly believe the card to be at least a 4/5 due to all these functions.
And on the topic of other cards that have worked great for me and can be considered for the primer in my opinion are Skyclave Apparition, as a clean exile effect on a 2/2 body for 3cmc that yes, can't hit anything bigger than 4, but in modern that's a bit more rare like Primeval Titan, stuff from Tron and Eldrazi Tron (even though it takes out Karn, the Great Creator). It can be blinked if you run that sort of effect in the deck and can come back with Emeria, the Sky Ruin. Right now in my build i think i can say that for the cost, it is the strongest card in my deck in most matchups, and i run it as a 4 of.
On the topic of newer cards, I think Prismatic Ending deserves the consideration for the removal section, and Raugrin Triome for the lands part, specifically due to the interaction with Prismatic Ending, allowing us to use a clean exile effect to take anything 3cmc or lower our oppoenent has. Only played 2 FNM with it but brought it almost every game as it always fely usefeul (hence my question about how all you guys feel about the card, and if it would be worth mainboarding.). More testing is required of course but truly think it's a contender for a great removal spell
Let me know your thoughts about the cards and feel free to add them if you consider them worthy of it!
you're welcome. And I would like to thank you too - if people like you don't share experiences, then I would have nothing to write on the primer.
don't have a chance to play the deck these days, due to modern still not being available in my area. So I rely purely on what people on the thread say about cards, experiences, what's hot and what's not. etc.
ok, noted the things you said about Teferi, Skyclave, Prismatic ending, and Raugrin Triome. I plan to eventually add them all, and sort things out, so our primer would be up to date on the latest stuff. We use a lot of good cards, I think this deck still has a decent future in modern.
hmm, sharing my thoughts won't add much, as I feel what you said is already sufficient description on them.
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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
Skyclave Apparition, Raugrin Triome, Prismatic Ending, and Teferi, Time Raveler added to the primer.
"Other spells" section is now broken down into Instant, Sorcery, Artifact, Enchantment, and Planeswalker. So it would be easier to browse the selection of cards available to us.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
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
Time away has clearly led to a lot of progress (on both sides of the screen). There is a lot I need to get to, so if I forget things please feel free to remind me of questions so that they don't get left out of the conversation as the pages keep rolling - I am thinking specifically of your matchup breakdowns, Starstorm, and your deck choice/metagame nuance question, Plichow. I also agree with you, Fluff, that it is lovely to have so much new discussion happening, and want to join the chorus of gratitude for your tireless efforts keeping the thread running and up to date.
On that subject, I would like to say that I could give a breakdown for Scapeshift, but I need to solidify things still after a weekend of testing. The pairing does not have a ton of nuance other than "cross your fingers", from my version's perspective, and it ranks among the worse matchups for my variant (after Tron, and nearly as bad). Since one of the strategies for winning also engages with your Planeswalker question, I will use that as a springboard to say that the most important option for this deck where that card type is concerned is by head and shoulders Teferi, Time Raveler. It does too much of what we want to do, and also punishes strategies while critically being Sun Titan-friendly. The colours can support literally any Blue, White, or Colourless 'Walker otherwise, but the ones that are really important to look at are the 3-drops. After the small Teferi, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Gideon of the Trials are the best at winning games for specific matchups, but have their own fail cases and downsides. While it is sadly double-Blue, Ashiok is one of the only actual threats against dcks such as Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle combo. Narset, Parter of Veils also deserves mention, but mostly just because of her static ability's headache-inducing potential, since her Loyalty abilities are mostly lacklustre given our low non-Creature spell count.
That in turn leads me to what I have been up to this weekend. After testing quite a bit, I have both good and bad news to report, then a little more murky news which could be either. The good news is that Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer has made Mortarpod pick up a great deal of incidental value, and that Prismatic Ending has continued to impress. The bad news is that both of these cards are now poised to be present in very large numbers in other decks. Related to your question about it replacing Path to Exile, Starstorm, I think that we may need to play BOTH now to keep pace. I need to go now so there will be more to follow, but my test list has arrived at roughly this configuration (which I will have to explain later):
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
3 Mortarpod
3 Prismatic Ending
1 Detention Sphere
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Path to Exile
3 Emeria, The Sky Ruin
7 Plains
3 Field of Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
1 Island
1 Mistveil Plains
4 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Raugrin Triome
-Stéphane Gérard
My previous post was quite rushed, and included Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver when I in fact meant Ashiok, Dream Render, and a Detention Sphere as a 61st card in the list which was an error, but the statements within it stand. To clarify, then, in addition to 4 maindeck Teferi, Time Raveler I am currently advocating 7 copies of 1-mana interaction plus moving more towards land and spell-based disruption in general at this time, because of the presence of Ragavan and the now near-total unreliability of both Crucible of Worlds and Detention Sphere in the face of Prismatic Ending from the opposition.
It also appears that Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Dreadhorde Arcanist are becoming more severe threats in this new metagame, which Prismatic Ending and Path to Exile are very highly recommended against, in addition to substituting for the reduction of Detention Sphere to a singleton in the sideboard. I am quite unhappy with this resulting long-term plan without D-Sphere or Crucible, which now has enormous difficulty winning against a resolved Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in game 1, so I may need to brainstorm (no pun intended) a solution for these very serious issues, however the new removal suite as bolstered by a high density of card-velocity bounce spells is excellent against both the cheaper threats [EDIT: INCLUDING DELVE] and against the influx of Germ tokens from Stoneforge Mystic trending upward to exploit Kaldra Compleat. The proactive plan against Control is also a little better at resolving spells with Tef3ri present in such numbers, so it is not all bad news on that front.
Should things remain as they are, however, I suspect that the manabase might switch to 4 Field of Ruin and a single Ghost Quarter in the main to improve deck thinning and prioritize going straight for Emeria activations in control encounters, while Pithing Needle becomes abysmal in the face of the new exile effect and so leaves the 75 to make room for the following sideboard which attempts to deal with Kaldra Compleat permanently (either by removing it, or by exiling its Germ then exhausting the basic lands so that it cannot be re-equipped):
I am less than 50% certain about the sideboard, and the loss of Court Hussar nos. 2 and 3 to fit in the extra copies of Tef3ri is, frankly, depressing in the extreme, but the blue spell count was becoming too high and the possibility of losing single copies of permanents to exile in many forms had become an intolerable variance. I will accept Court Hussar being exiled since its function is replaced some small amount by the Planeswalker, but all other spells are now redundant in the main (barring the two "finisher" equipment), and its absence is not a crippling loss to Emeria activations when said Planeswalker can re-set Wall of Omens et al. for advantage more often. Having access to the 25th Land in the shape of a Ghost Quarter plus a Crucible post-board is a comfort against Control, at least. The last card that the Forsake the Worldly could be is an Angelic Ascension, which might also help with the big Planeswalkers issue, but for now I think I will try the Forsake.
There is a lot yet to do as the format is so volatile, so I will bid you all a good day for the moment.
-Stéphane Gérard
I notice you have Pilgrim's Eye maximized to 4. Is it for use as blocking the flying threats from UR prowess?
forsake the worldly feels like a decent answer to kaldra compleat and enemy batterskulls.
4 verdicts? Looks like you're fine tuning your deck for a specific environment.
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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
congrats on the good finish!
among the people active on the thread. I notice that you're the only one playing Skyclave Apparition. I think it's a good card.
can I add your list to the primer, so we would have a sample list with Skyclave Apparition there?
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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
Of course Fluff, it would be my honor to show this decklist to more people and with it we would have 4 distinct approaches to the Emeria archtype in the primer for people to choose and see what they are most confortable with!
Your list seems very geared towards aggro wich makes perfect sense given the current meta! We have discussed Pilgrim's Eye in the past and while i'm not as high on it as i was when i started playing the deck, for your controlling version of the deck it makes sense to get to an Emeria activation as soon as possible, while many of my games are won before getting that late game. But in a world with mostly Lava Dart but also cards like Wrenn and Six being present, do you still believe the card to be as good as it was for you before?
Another question i have is regarding Mortarpod. I love the card in an evironment with many 1 thougness creatures, and with the rise of Delver that is certanly the case. But my question is do think 3 is a good number? I say this because while it feeds your graveayard and has value against some of these creatures, i feel like in the late game is just a dead draw when i need something of power. I was running one as i have been for a long time, and for the vast majority of my games it wouldn't do anything except block and ping my opponent for one. I started running it mostly because i wanted a way to interact with the Heliod Combo when they went to take the counters of one of the creatures, but now that that deck is falling in the meta with the rise of Afinnity and other decks, at least for me i don't find as much value running it. But i would love seeing your point of view on the card as it has definitely been good for me in the past.
About the 4 Teferi, Time Raveler, do you think the benefit of maximizing the oods of having it as much as possible outwheighs the drawback of being legendary? I'm running 3 of them so i think we both have the card in high consideration in this meta, my question was simply regarding the deckbuilding of 3 vs 4.
Also i like your approach against control in the side, with Ghost Quarter and Crucible of Worlds. That's a lock i haven't used in a long time, as crucible, as a 3 mana do nothing artifact when it comes into play, just didn't cut it for me. Haven't played against a hardcore control deck in some time so i might try it again in the future, but i need more experienace to see if with my current build i'm able to deal with control easily or need more tools.
Regarding to Aura of Silence, do you find it to be better that the second Seal of Cleansing? Being 3cmc, how relevant is the first line of text when sometimes you just want to sacrifice it to break something we need. In what matchups and situations do you think it's better than Seal?
Tell us about your experiances when you have the chance to give the deck a spin as it would be very enlightening! Good luck on your games!
added your list to the Decklist section of the primer (at Table of Contents click Decklist). Yours is second from the top. Just below Plichow's list.
if there's something wrong on how I described it, just let me know, and I will edit.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
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That list was the one i used because i didn't have Solitude yet, so if you could add this one instead it would be great!
2 Windswept Heath
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
1 Snow-Covered Island
3 Field of Ruin
3 Flooded Strand
Creatures: 25
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
3 Charming Prince
4 Skyclave Apparition
2 Elite Spellbinder
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Artifacts: 3
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
Sorcery: 2
2 Supreme Verdict
Instant: 3
3 Path to Exile
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Shadowspear
2 Prismatic Ending
2 Gideon of the Trials
2 Sanctum Prelate
1 Sanctifier en-Vec
About the Scapeshift guide, i haven't played against it in a very long time, only against Amulet Titan which seems to be the defacto Primeval Titan and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deck so while i could write something it would be only very theoretical and not based on my recent experiances.
I notice the card Elite Spellbinder in your deck. Can I hear your thoughts on this card? What match-ups has it been useful so far. Will add it to card choices. And what do you think it's rating should be?
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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
Fluff and Starstorm - you have both asked about Pilgrim's Eye, so I will start there. It is indeed valuable as a flying blocker, however in my version they essentially serve as basic lands with a 3-mana body attached as a kicker. Lava Dart and Wrenn and Six make that body less relevant, but as a measure of how much I want the land it provides I will state that I tested The Birth of Meletis, and (bad as it is) would be willing to run it over Stoneforge Mystic if it ever leaves. I realize that I will be sounding like a broken record at this point, but every creature-based option that interacts well with filling our deck with Plains represents the kind of advantages that Emeria, the Sky Ruin rewards and maximises. I WANT approximately 40 lands in my deck, and can GET AWAY WITH running only 24 because of curve filling creatures like Wall of Omens and Court Hussar being able to find me more Plains. Given that Sun Titan is the best finisher for our strategy, Pilgrim's Eye is a crucial effect in that pursuit.
Focus on the advantages that this shell has over other viable candidates, and ask yourself: what makes this strategy unique? what does it offer that other decks do not, and therefore why is it a viable deck choice? My answer is that, as a "free" effect in the manabase, it enables the purely focused mantra of "survive, survive, survive". The natural consequence of playing the game takes over from that point and flood no longer becomes a death sentence for us, while other decks must ultimately leverage dwindling resources which depend on much more variable boardstates. Build with Emeria ASSUMING you will have to come from behind to stabilize - THEN you can proceed to win with whatever you have at your disposal. Anything other than crossing the threshold to the next upkeep is superfluous, and in my opinion a distraction from the core ideal which results the strategy's dominance when the conditions for it are right. The only other thing that matters in-game is whether, after avoiding lethal as best as possible, I have played a land before passing the turn. If I have done so, I literally consider myself one step closer to winning the game. I will, however, gladly take every extra tiny edge that I can if my permanents can generate extra value on their way to jumping in front of a bus for me, which is why I continue to debate the card choices as much as I do, but my focus continues to differ from many other decklists in this respect - with telling results in anything resembling a midrange or control matchup, I might add. This is the way that persistent advantages can be gained without devoting precious spell slots to such a lower-priority cause as "winning the game".
Next up, the question of Mortarpod. Given the strategy above, I am quite content with "block and ping" as the base rate, since (in an extremely important difference from your build) that is EXACTLY what I am hoping for it to do. I have no other objectives with it, other than to interact with the board early so that I can reliably continue to put land on the Battlefield for one more turn. There is a minor concern that has to do with deck thinning and guaranteeing value for lategame recursion of Stoneforge Mystic, but this is secondary to the fact that it is a 2-drop that can help stabilize at any point in the game against a lethal attacker, [EDIT: AND INCIDENTALLY TURNS ANY RANDOM BOARD PRESENCE INTO WIN CONDITIONS WITH EMERIA ONLINE] while providing synergy with both a premier creature in the format AND the natural end game of our namesake land. Unless this effect becomes nearly irrelevant to surviving even a single turn against the majority of the format, it will be staying in the deck even should Stoneforge Mystic make a hypothetical return to the banned list.
Finally, on Teferi, Time Raveler, I am altogether uncertain whether the 4-of will be the best configuration, but my initial impressions are that it is not a crippling disadvantage to have two copies in hand during a game, and even drawing three in the first six turns has not been as bad as it could have been. It is clearly optimal, in a theoretical sense, only to draw one and have it do its work unmolested, and I consider my former list to be a better deck in that respect, and yet the world we live in seems to have changed in its favour with respect to the needs of my spell suite. This is still anecdotal, however, and the potential of drawing 4 has never yet manifested itself, but I will be certain to tell you all if and when it does.
Hoping you are all having a wonderful day,
-Stéphane Gérard
Lurrus of the Dream-Den added to creatures. At Table of Contents - click card choices.
Irrigated Farmland rating dropped to 2. Changed description as well, indicating Raugrin Triome as the better land, because Raugrin has synergy with PE.
Raugrin Triome rating increased to 3.
_________________
@Gerant
still using mortarpod in my build as well, although only two copies. It's another 2 cmc blocker. The +1 toughness boost to whoever equips it is often relevant. And the ping once emeria is active can knockout people who are low enough on life.
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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
4 stoneforge mystic
4 wall of omens
2 mortarpod
3 court hussar
1 detention sphere
3 teferi, time raveler
1 crucible of worlds
4 pilgrim's eye
4 supreme verdict
2 batterskull
3 sun titan
1 kaldra compleat
3 emeria, the sky ruin
2 hallowed fountain
1 prairie stream
4 flooded strand
3 field of ruin
2 ghost quarter
1 island
1 mistveil plains
7 plains
1 blessed alliance
3 remorseful cleric
2 celestial purge
2 aven mindcensor
1 lone missionary
2 pithing needle
1 seal of cleansing
1 aura of silence
1 sanctum prelate
1 lavinia, azorius renegade
In my 3-2, my UB Food opponent conceded the match early, so my record was more like 2-2. This deck felt quite good, except it had issues dealing with planeswalkers and kaldra compleats. I was stuck in a place vs GR Moon where they had a Chandra, Torch of Defiance on 7 loyalty, And i had to cast a creature every turn and equip with mortarpod to sacrifice and keep it at 6. I think i did this for 7 turns, And could not find an emeria or a kaldra to pressure it harder.
That said, pilgrims eye was fantastic, And i do like this list a lot. Pilgrims eye was very nice as a land drop and a blocker or small pressure, And when equipped with a mortarpod it actually blocks well. I would definitely take out the detention sphere in favour of another t3feri though, and then heavily tweak the sideboard as necessary as it didnt feel optimal.
I built this list based on Stephane's primer list plus his listed upgrades, i think on page 78. I would play this variant (or something similar) over a lurrus version myself in the future
4 Wall of Omens
4 Lone Missionary
4 Pilgrim's Eye
4 Flickerwisp
3 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
4 Path To Exile
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Detention Sphere
1 Crucible of worlds
3 Mortarpod
Lands
3 Emeria, The Sky Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
7 Plains
1 Island
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Prarie Stream
1 Irrigated Farmland
and then after MH1 something like this.
4 thraben inspector
1 giant killer
1 kami of false hope
4 Wall of Omens
4 charming prince
2 court hussar
4 ranger-captain of eos
2 flickerwisp
3 sun titan
4 Path To Exile
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Detention Sphere
1 winds of abandon
2 Teferi, time raveler
Lands
3 Emeria, The Sky Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Plains
1 Island
4 Field of ruin
1 blast zone
1 Prarie Stream
I'm getting into modern again and picked up some stoneforges and am looking to try out both the control and aggressive versions of this deck. I'm bringing something similar to Starstorm's to my local FNM this Friday and I'd love some feedback on this list. The sideboard obviously isn't great, just something I threw together. One thing in particular that I would like to know is regarding the sword of feast and famine. As of right now I do not have access to a fire and ice and I slotted in feast and famine in it's place but I'm skeptical that it really fits in the deck. That being said, I am under the impression that you want at least 3 equipment targets in your deck for stoneforge. Must gut tells me mortalpod might actually be better, but I'm not sure if that fits what this version of the deck is trying to do. Would picking up something like shadowspear be advisable for the main deck to replace the fire and ice that i'm missing? Any other criticism is appreciated, and I suspect you'll tell me to play more Teferi, so maybe I'll look to pick up another copy or two. anyway, the following week I may try and run the more controlling version with crucible, pilgrim's eye, and prismatic endings in the maindeck. I'll try and share how my games go this weekend. Thanks for keeping this thread active, many of the posts serve as great inspiration to me.
Last question, do you think there is a version that plays ranger-captain as well as skyclave? It seems difficult it requires so many slots. Maybe 8 card of the sideboard dedicated to ranger captain and silver bullet one drops? I'm not sure.
Current list
4x Wall of Omens
4x Charming Prince
4x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Court Hussar
2x Elite Spellbinder
4x Skyclave Apparition
1x Solitude
3x Sun Titan
Planeswalker (2)
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Kaldra Compleat
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
3x Supreme Verdict
Instant (4)
4x Path to Exile
Land (24)
3x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
3x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Hallowed Fountain
1x Prairie Stream
1x Raugrin Triome
1x Snow-Covered Island
6x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Celestial Purge
2x Detention Sphere
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Prismatic Ending
3x Remorseful Cleric
1x Sanctum Prelate
2x Seal of Cleansing
1x Sorcerous Spyglass
I think it takes time to get used to a new configguration of the deck and to find a sideboard that we can work with so definitly keep working on your build and posting results here a si feel you encounter many more matchups that i for example have never actually played like UB food!
Glad to know Stéphane's list is working out for you and hope it keeps being good in this meta!