Hello folk, one thing I'm quite curious about is how far it is feasible to stretch the manabase. My current manabase I'm using right now is as follows.
The issue is that I find I really want to run a full 4 Field of Ruin. That being said, it got me thinking, Is it out the question to cut down the number of Blue/White duals to afford that 4th copy and maybe a plains or two. Am I heading in the wrong direction here? I feel I may try running a single Raugrin Triome and 2 or 3 Hallowed Fountain and no Prarie Stream. I've sometimes found myself running out of basics, but not often where I needed more than 1 or 2 at max blue sources in a game. Maybe running out of basics isn't even a big deal at all and I'm just trying to be too cute. While I'm at it, what do you all think the optimal number of fetches is? I'd imagine it depends on how many Field of ruins you play as well as if you play Pilgrim's eye.
Would something like this be better or worse than the previous list.
Maximising value in the manabase from fetchable sources is one of my priorities, and running out of basics is a very real point of discussion. I prefer to run sufficient basic Plains that I cannot be taken off of the seven needed to immediately threaten recursion with either Fulminator Mage or Field of Ruin, so I never go below seven of those, and I also work very hard to minimise my Blue requirements to prevent issues with smooth sequencing to Emeria. That being said, the basic island (despite being the worst land in the deck) has sadly proved to be a necessity for me, since whenever I try to cut it I inevitably die at least once in a tournament after casting a Pilgrim's Eye on turn three that could not fix for the game-winning Supreme Verdict I had in hand. Ghost Quarter helps mitigate the downside of this land (and helps reduce the sting of drawing multiple Emeria, the Sky Ruin), but as I recently stated my list has now changed to reflect my new plan against control and is now quite close to what you posted, replacing only the Windswept Heath with the Island, but also running a Prairie Stream instead of a Hallowed Fountain, and rounding our the four nonbasic fetchable Plains with a Mistveil Plains as an additional source.
As a final point, I believe that the printing of Break the Ice puts a disaster scenario into the equation which disincentivises the Snow Basics that you have indicated.
How does everyone feel about Priest of Ancient Lore? Does it go into lists or is it more something that makes a mono white version of emeria closer to the UW version? I like the card but Court Hussar out of UW (the probably card it would be subbed for in a mono white version) is just sooo good.
Since I referenced my new list, I will present it here for the record. There is some generic good news on that front, so I will start by saying that the metagame has never been less friendly to Tron. Between the prevalence of cheap countermagic, extremely efficient Aggro, and the splash hate for Amulet Titan's utility lands and Urza's Saga, the deck has almost disappeared from contention at the top tables. This does not mean that it is gone, as I believe it will remain viable for a long time, but the same considerations have also pushed against fast combo, so I would say that Emeria Control is well-positioned to trump the midrange decks that will try to rise up in response to the current Aggro/Control dyad.
The next good thing is more of a personal note, as I think I have narrowed in on a viable list for the attrition/board control shell that I favour. I have, however, reached an impasse that I cannot resolve without in-person tournaments, so here it is as it sits on my shelf at this time:
It pains me slightly to be at 61 cards, but that is where I must be since I am almost precisely divided in trying to get four major effects into my deck. The loss of the fourth Sun Titan analogue for Land recursion was giving up too many game 1 lines against Control and Ramp, so the Crucible of Worlds needed to return (I have played 4 Titan in the past, but this was too much top end and ended up costing games when the curve suffered for it). I have also gone down 1 Teferi, Time Raveler to foster my diversity, since the difference between 3 and 4 of these has not proved a telling advantage against countermagic even if the 4th has not proved a disadvantage per se. Going from 2 to 3 did, however, seem to provide a relevant boost, and they have therefore pushed out Detention Sphere at the moment since these provide no value against Control's adoption of Prismatic Ending. I am also now running 3 Prismatic Ending myself between maindeck and sideboard, which was roughly what I was hoping to get up to by the time my testing was complete, and I have happily gone back up one copy of Court Hussar to two. I still feel the loss of the third Vedalken Knight some amount, but the presence of several Tef3ri can mitigate its velocity loss a little and I am extremely glad to be back at multiple copies, at the very least. My Blue spell count is now up to 9 from 8, which is proving tolerable, and the Cavalier of Dawn is primarily proving adequate as the preferred answer to Planeswalkers in the maindeck, which can also recur Pilgrim's Eye, Crucible, a discarded Kaldra Compleat, or a variety of sideboard cards. Depending on how these change, the Cavalier, an Ending, the Crucible, and a Path are all equally likely to move out of the main, and in the meantime I am satisfied that these proportions are not detrimental to the lategame.
The sideboard itself, then, is becoming more streamlined as well, and the two biggest question marks for me are the Detention Sphere and the Shadowspear. The first is very difficult to give up entirely, since it has a few excellent matchups and represents a fantastic catch-all answer, specifically in many game 2 situations, so I will try to keep it in the 15 until I can be certain of its utility in live match play. The downside of its presence is that I am now up to 4 cards that cost 3 mana there, even if one of them can be cycled for 2, so I will be keeping a wary eye open for more opportunities to trim the most expensive effects. On this subject, Sanctum Prelate seems to do an acceptable job as a singleton, and I would only advise playing more if relevant interaction with Combo decks on 2 mana can happen much more often than the 5 slots I now lean on against Creature-light decks (3 Ending, 1 Lavinia, 1 Seal). Depending on the specific degenerate strategy, these may sometimes be supplemented by other removal, but they are the core of my post-board games to disrupt the acceleration of Grapeshot or Ad Nauseam decks, for example. Notably, these are also strategies where the Detention Sphere and the Aura of Silence gain a lot of value for games 2 and 3 as well to cover for surprise additions of Keranos, God of Storms, Solemnity, Nine Lives, Pyromancer Ascension, Blood Moon and Platinum Emperion, while the D-Sphere also trumps Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor, Grand Abolisher, and Empty the Warrens if I have taken out all of my Paths and Verdicts, plus hedges against singleton power Planeswalkers as possible transformations.
I believe I have discussed the rest of the cards included here in other contexts, but running through them briefly I am still a strong advocate for Lone Missionary versus Burn specifically, I find Remorseful Cleric to be the most efficient and synergistic graveyard hate for us in general, I continue to be highly laudatory of Celestial Purge against Shadow/Junk/Jund/Ponza, and am very happy to have the second Ghost Quarter as both a 25th land and a 6th piece of manabase disruption against Control or Ramp now that the maindeck includes 4 Field of Ruin. The Forsake the Worldly has been a very strong answer to Kaldra Compleat, particularly in tandem with Tef3ri against Control, and the Shadowspear needs much more testing but has been quite comforting as an extra answer there as well that has very high upside in stalling against early swarms, often leveraging Mortarpod value. Access to it via Stoneforge Mystic threatens lifegain immediately on turn 3 against Burn, and so it provides a consistent threat to stabilise or pad life totals, which acts as a good supplement to Batterskull and an extra threat to Trample against Planeswalkers. The activated ability is of dubious value in anything other than the Kaldra standoffs, but is so nearly free to include otherwise that I find it irresistible to keep in until I have seen it in action. Finally, the lone Prismatic Ending is a way to lower the curve and has consistently been as good as advertised when brought in. The third copy in the main may be possible, but I continue to prefer staying more permanent-based to beat Control.
I think this covers the nuances of the build I will be taking to live tournaments as of next month, but if there is anything else please let me know!
I am more intrigued by the increasing bleed of "draw a card" into White than anything else, since at 3 mana its impact is quite mild. There may be more chances to include new cards if the trend continues to push cantrips into more than tertiary position in the colour. As far as Priest of Ancient Lore himself goes Skyscanner was already an option that was easier to cast and a better blocker, but without the lifegain, and is fringe playable in Mono-White. This will provide another option, and with recursion will easily outclass Clockwork Servant even though it was a much better body in that colour. I think that the value aspect of repeated triggers makes me consider this much stronger in Yorion, Sky Nomad shells so that the single point of extra life can begin to add up more consistently. You are right that it is not even close in power level to Court Hussar, however, unless you care an enormous amount about the second point of power or have extra lifegain synergies. The fact that this is not Blue is the most important thing to remember when building lists in the future.
Good catch on the card being spoiled, though! A lot of later Common cards tend to slip through the cracks for assessment.
that new list looks strong. Looking forward to see it in action on your next tournament.
glad to know that Tron, which is the natural predator of our deck, is on the decline.
Keranos, god of storms.. brings back memories, I remember this card from the time Splinter Twin was still legal.. some twin players had a copy of this god in their sideboard.
Hi Stephane, hope you're well!
I ran your list from this post through a league yesterday to an 0-4 result. I was a little tired and made definitely noticeable misplays, so I can't say its genuine. Faced Umoon, Hardened Scales, RB Lurrus and Esper Control. I definitely do not have the finesse for taking less clear lines yet, so thats something I will have to work on!
Prismatic ending felt good, but i think I wanted to hit quite a few targets that were 4 mana. Any thoughts on incorporating another triome or does that clunk up the manabase too much?
Against hardened scales I cast supreme verdict 4 turns in a row and still lost on the 5th turn, and they managed to apply enough pressure to finish the game before i had emeria online.
Thank you for the information, I appreciate the results and matchup identities. Since you are new to the deck, I will assume that some percentage of these losses did indeed come from lines that I might have avoided because I have experience with all but the RB Lurrus strategy, but I take your overall record at face value when you say you had no wins in best of threes. Whether this is a problem that is fixable or whether (as I fear) this may be a natural consequence of losing both Settle the Wreckage and Detention Sphere's effect in the main is an open question, notably given the latter's utility against specifically the Hardened Scales matchup and Planeswalkers in general.
Could I press you for a more detailed explanation of what happened in each match? If your sideboard plans differed from mine, we can take it as weak evidence that the list is still viable as-is, but your described opposition was previously considered a comfortable enough spread that I would immediately return to the drawing board if I agree with your substitutions and plays. The reason I have not officially endorsed this most recent list for Fluff to update the homepage is because I have been frustrated in trying to put my theories into practice, so your input is literally jump-starting my feedback process - for which I am very grateful. Nothing beats actual tournament games for relevant data, in my mind, and I will be very happy to mine your experience for all that it is worth until I can get to more than test sessions where matchup experience tends to weigh much more heavily in my favour.
On your Prismatic Ending question, I truly wish it was easier to do so, but I cannot at this time conceive of a world where a Plains that always comes into play tapped would be worth the ability to make an already castable spell 10-20% better unless it could also fix for Blue to justify fetching it when Ending is NOT drawn. I have yet (in around 50 test games) to have felt the slightest desire to Cycle the Raugrin Triome that I am running, so even their built-in alternate mode leaves me little hope that they will be viable unless they can be valuable lands to the rest of the deck in their own right. The unfortunate upshot of this is that the current "Wedge" configurations will not give us such a Plains until the fancy comes upon Wizards to complete them with a "Shard" Supercycle in a few years. If Cavalier of Dawn is not doing the job of an Ending at 4+, Skyclave Apparition may have to take its place as a singleton, though I would be very anxious to avoid having zero direct answers to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in the maindeck.
Regarding the Izzet Blitz guide I thank you all for the feedback!
Going in depth about our divergence Stéphane, it made rethink exactly how I approached the matchup and while it's true I do value my creatures more because of the blink effect of Charming Prince and the possibility of equipping my creatures with either Shadowspear or Sword of Fire and Ice, in a vaccum I think your approach is indeed more correct and I might have let these synergies cloud my judgment a bit. The fact I had won preety much every game I've played against the deck might have also let me to believe it was an optimal line, but fter putting some thought into it I think I prefer your line and I thank you for making me ponder over this subject, specially now that my list doesn't run charming prince.
Plichow, im sad to hear about the 0-4 but in my opinion, Emeria being a reactive deck, it takes some time to adjust to new metas, and specially beginning with a new version of the deck, it will take some more time to take optimal lines, but nothing that should discourage you and with the support of everyone hopefully the adaptation phase will be a brief one!
I am glad you feel my reasoning is sound, Starstorm, thank you.
Having spent last evening with Plichow's issues running around my brain, I have come up with an alteration of the build that I will be starting off with in my next testing session, and wanted to put the plan into words for discussion. Until I hear back from Plichow on the specific details of the matchups, I will assume the worst when taking the 76-card list into account, then, and I would give priority to the following set of subtle but significant changes:
1) Removing the fourth Path to Exile with the assumption that the 2 new maindeck Prismatic Ending can compensate as 1-mana removal when relevant. This then officially drops the main back down to 60 cards, and puts it at one fewer dead card versus Control lists running cheap permanents.
2) Switching the singleton Cavalier of Dawn for an Elspeth Conquers Death as a standalone value answer to bigger Control or Midrange threats, again leaning on the maindeck and extra sideboard Prismatic Ending to make the difference against the early game Aggro decks which ignore its ETB effect. Resolving it would often rely on Teferi, Time Raveler, but I hope that their mutual synergies will allow for new lines and better combined probabilities.
3) Swapping the sideboard Forsake the Worldly for a Revoke Existence, which drops the curve down 1 mana total post-board, and has extra instant-speed utility given that I had not played with this many little Teferi when I had originally run the card to satisfactory, though unimpressive, results. Allowing a hit from Kaldra Compleat is also coherent with the mainphase overlap options of Teferi, Time Raveler, Prismatic Ending, and now Elspeth Conquers Death.
4) Though Detention Sphere will still be a card I am very interested in getting back in later on, its overlap with Declaration in Stone means that I will reluctantly be switching these two cards to test out the latter as a direct swap for ECD against cheap swarms, [EDIT: LOWERING THE TOTAL SIDEBOARD MANA VALUE BY ANOTHER 1]. This has newly become critical, given that Pithing Needle previously dropped the curve by much more against several decks. The supplemental Exile utility also provides an analogue to the missing Settle the Wreckage as a small bonus incentive.
The list is now likely to look more like the following:
If anyone has advice on these changes, I would be happy to hear them. Losing Sorcerous Spyglass and its ilk have me wary of being over-exposed to Walking Ballista, so I am hoping that the current modifications represent a slightly better balance. In my previous theorycrafting, I had mentioned one last alternative Planeswalker answer in Voidstone Gargoyle, which may actually have gained some ground here as - in addition to being an "Emeriable" Flying Creature that plays around Force of Negation and is not completely dead against Ballista or some other Aggro/Combo lists - it is immune to Skyclave Apparition and much more difficult to answer with Prismatic Ending through the four maindeck instances of Field of Ruin. On this last card, I am not certain I like the reduction of Ghost Quarter in the main: its second copy was critical to game wins by locking out colours during Sun Titan stabilization, and with fewer copies of Court Hussar, I can no longer dig quite as strongly for my one remaining piece. If I am unimpressed with the ECD, I think I may consider going back to 25 land in the main by moving it (or another answer to noncreature permanents) to the sideboard, leaving Land advantage as my only maindeck plan against large Planeswalkers. I will have to think hard on this as I run through some sample hands.
I hope that this sparks some relevant talking points on the Control/Attrition shell,
Just following up, I went and reviewed the tapes to see what sideboarding I had done and noticed that I even misremembered a matchup (I really must have been tired). I'll post how I boarded as follows, at present I feel I may have made some mistakes.
R1 was indeed against Blue Moon, and they were playing thought scours and murktide regents (but I only saw those in g2, althought highly suspected in g1). These games went rather the same way, where they had an active jace for a while and then just had a counterspell for anything. G2 I feel i should have won, but they had a blood moon and I spent most of the game removing threats. I had to use Pilgrim's eye to find a plains, then path my eye to get my island, but then I never drew another plains and was stranded on 1 white source (9ish lands) and died to a large murktide regent.
R2 was against RBw Lurrus, their white splash was for prismatic ending. They play Ragavans, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Tourach, Kroxa, Dauthi Voidwalker, that sort of thing. I lost to this deck in 3, and it wasn't close as they just tore apart my hand too early. Hand disruption has gone from a small speedbump to crippling (while stapled on strong effects/bodies). I think my boarding reasoning was that the kaldra and sun titan were too high on the curve and I'd never cast them, but in hindsight I kind of wanted to keep them in, and teferi too, as his bounce can be very effective in these matchups. I had a chance to stabilize in g3, but made a misplay of attacking with SFM instead of using it to play batterskull for some reason, i think I was trying to bait my opponent into playing their lurrus into a wrath, but it was silly as I was in a dominant board position.
R3 was against Gr Hardened Scales. They just overwhelmed me with Urza's saga. By the time I was ready to field of ruin them they had the mana to make 1 construct at the very least, and then had hangarback walker and welding jar to make my verdicts awkward. This is the matchup where I verdicted 4 turns in a row and still lost on the following turn. With the boarding, I do feel I made a similar mistake here, and getting kaldra down would have been hard for them to deal with. I saw a lot of natures claims in g2.
+1 seal of cleansing, +1 aura of silence, +1 prismatic ending, +1 lone missionary
-1 crucible of worlds, -1 cavalier of dawn, -1 sun titan, -1 kaldra compleat.
R4 was against 5c Elementals, not esper control. G1 they had the grief ephemerate to rip my hand of anything playable, then eventually got down unsettled mariner and risen reef and just effectively clocked me. I didn't see any lightning skelementals in g1, but I suspected them. In g2 thats exactly what I died to. My opponent had turn 1 grief ephemerate again, then spent turn 3 4 and 5 hardcasting skelementals to completely strip my hand and leave me dead.
+2 celestial purge, +1 lone missionary, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, time raveler, -1 crucible of worlds.
At this point I dropped the league, felt like I was making too many play mistakes and needed to re-evaluate on a clear head!
One of the cards that i liked particularly in this match up was actually Skyclave Apparition, as their usual play is deploying a Jace, the Mind Sculptor, brainstorming and then leaving a Force of Negation to deal with anyhting we throw next turn. But if they tap out for Jace, Skyclave Apparition just eats it, simple. Have played against 3 Jeskai decks in this tournment wich i'll talk later too, but Jace was always of extreme importance to their plan, and being able to answer it so swiftly i found to be a big upside. Teferi, Time Raveler was of course amazing when he managed to stay on board, and the value of Emeria Titan in the late game showed once more. On the other hand, i wasn't particularly impressed with the land destruction tactic as from what i swa they were running at least 8 basics and mostly played with blue so though i didn't draw Crucible of Worlds, just with normal Field of ruin and Ghost Quarter activations it didn't look like i was going anywhere with it, specially when they had planeswalkers on the table. For me, early agression and having creatures on board was key to never give them a good chance to resolve a planewalker. Sanctum Prelate on 4 was also good to end the game as it took him out of supreme verdict, jace and Cryptic Command options to deal with my board or look for answers. Mortarpod was good to fill the grave, and ocasioanlly saving a creature from a path to exile, but it always felt awkward when putting it as a 2 drop and it not being able to apply any pressure. It's a trade we make and in the late game to fuel Emeria is amazing, but for that early agression that i spoke of, it obviously didn't provide much. Still think it's good but have to look at my sideboard again to see if there are better fits.
Very grindy game and won already on turns when i thought i was going to draw it.
Second match won 2-0 against Rakdos Midrange with Lurrus of the Dream-Den.
Game one he starts by using Inquisition of Kozilek to take a look at my hand and sees 2 Skyclave Apparition, 1 Prismatic Ending and 1 Path to Exile. He takes path, and proceeds for the next 4 turns to just use the Dash ability on Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer without me able to do anyhting against it. I was both lucky and unlucky here as i was stuck on 2 lands and Ragavan was always exiling a land, so he didn't play anyhting from my deck, but i also didn't have the lands to play. Eventually i maange to start putting defences with Mortarpod, and Court Hussar and he didn't have much else when he killed all my creatures, tried to dash with Ragavan and i evoke Solitude and leave him out of threaths. What i got from this match is that Ragavan is really sacry with the Dash ability and we should be mindfull of that and not just rely on Prismatic Ending or sorcery based removal.
Game 2 had Sanctifier on turn 2 which dealt with his building of delirium and acted as a wall for Ragavan. He eventually exiles it with Prismatic Ending but i had already developed my board and the value from ragavan dropped quite significantly. from there it was just playing it out, making my creatures stronger with Sword of Fire and Ice and just killing everything he had always with backup removal in hand.
Third match was a draw 1-1 against Jeskai Stoneblade (withou Ragavan, but with Jace).
Kaldra is a big problem. in the eraly game it's really easy to deal with the token, but in the late game when they can just eqquip it to nayhting on the board and still have counter magic up, it really leaves us betwenn a rock and a hard place.
Just like the previous Jeskai match up, my early agression allowed me to stay in a good postion to win the first game, dealing with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. Prismatic Ending was good to deal with Stoneforge and the germs, but it didn't really shine this game. Mortarpod helped pinging jace to death so it was better than the previous Jeskai match up where it really hadn't done much,
Sideboarded out: 1 Supreme Verdict, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Solitude
Sideboarded in: 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render and 1 Remorseful Cleric.
I was kind of at a loss on what to sideboard here. I didn't want to bringCrucible of Worlds and Ghost Quarter because of my preveious experiance that i had reported, and because this was going to be a more agressive match up where i would need my removal or i would just die. I think there is very much space to improve with this sideboarding and i would like to hear everyone's thoughts.
Game 2 i lost because i had 10 plains in total but no Emeria and it was just very sad...
Game 3 went on and on, but htis time i had Emeria active with no creatures on the grave. He managed to exile 1 Wall of Omens, 1 Sun Titan 1 Skyclave apparition, 1 Stoneforge Mystic and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, i didn't draw Mortarpod to fill my grave and we just on and on until eventually i was going to win with Kaldra Compleat but it was already too late. I also made a missplay that might have costed me the game, by casting Solitude on his turn when he had mana to counter it, when i could have casted it on my turn and exiled his Stoneforge Mystic which would leave him more defenceless in the late game so i think i could have won the game with more tight play, but that's just how it went.
Fourth match won 2-0 against Izzet Blitz.
Just like i had already disccued in previous posts, i put blockers up for the ground creatures and tried to save my instant speed removal for the fliers, specially Storming Entity. Solitude was actually a great card as it's evoke really came in handy to exile a swiftspear that was going to attack for 6 and that kinda left my opponent without many threaths and without spells. From there it was really easy. Skyclave Apparition was as usual a great card for the ground creatures and Prismatic Ending didn't show up but it would have been amazing.
Game 2 was almost over before it started. Turn 2 Sanctifier en-Vec and turn 3 Sanctum Prelate just shut their deck down. They tried to make Sprite Dragon when they could, but a Solitude evoked just shut eveything they had and they swiftly conceded.
Fifth match lost 1-2 against Jeskai Stoneblade with Ragavan and Jace this time.
Just like other Jeskai matches, this ws a long one and just like the previous Stoneblade matchup, i was a bit lost in what to put in and out.
This played mostly like the previous match as Ragavan really didn't do much. Teferi Time Raveler resolving on game one i think preety much gave me the game.
Didn't think Remorseful Cleric would have been the most amazing card as they weren't using Murktide Regent and Dragon's Rage Channeler for what i saw, and i wanted the extra removal do deal with their threats.
Game 2 and 3 they had Cleansing Wildfire for Emeria and i hadn't brought Crucible of Worlds so i payed the price for that.
Game 2 a combination of Kaldra Compleat with Sword of Feast and Famine giving their germ protection from my Kaldra Compleat won them the game.
Game 3 i was about to win the game as i had mannaged to put them to 4, had a Sun Titan equipped with Mortarpod and a Skyclave Apparition. They had play Narset, Parter of Veils and have 2 lands left. with those 2 lands and 3 cards in hand, they path my titan, which i respond by pinging them, and when i go for attacks, they bolt my skyclave which leaves them at 3 with a batterskull and a Kaldra Compleat in play but with nothring to equip it to. Eventually they find a creatures and manage to swing the game in their favour as i was out of gas.
Very fun game and i'm sure more lines could have been played optimally, but i was also getting tired and control wasn't really in the meta here before MH2 so didn't have much experiance with it for a long time.
I think the next games will for sure go better and i'll put the results here.
Last match won 2-0 against Lantern Control.
A deck running mainboard Skycalve Apparition and Prismatic Ending will always be good against Lantern. Also a turn 3 Kaldra Compleat swinging kinda puts the pressure on them. They manage to put Ensaring Bridge, which i exile with Skycalve Apparition, and then they play another and start playing the control game with Lantern of Insight, Codex Shredder, Ghoulcaller's Bell and Pyxis of Pandemonium. Fortuantly i had Emeria already in play so i manage to do my land drops and proceed to bring Skycalve Apparition back to exile Bridge and win.
I think it was a good showing from the deck but i definitely need more practice against these Jeskai Decks that are becoming more and more popular with the new additions from MH2. Overall 4-1-1, and against Jeskai decks 1-1-1.
Gonna see what i can refine on the sideboard and i'll wait for your feedback as these control decks seem to be troubling all of you for what i've seen in the last posts!
Report by Starstorm added. Table of Contents->Tournament Reports.
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Since people are active playing the deck.. I asked my friend Metalraptor. He made for us a new banner at the Tournament Report section.
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@everyone
To anyone with experience in the match up.. looking for someone who wants to write a guide on how to play and sideboard against Hardened Scales Affinity - the updated version that use Urza's Saga.
Hardened Scales is now at Table of Contents->Matchups and Sideboarding. It is below the Infect guide.
Unfortunatly i haven't played against this new iteration of Hardened Scales Affinity so just like the scapeshift guide, it would be a theoretical guide and not one based on my experiance.
Regarding the Izzet Blitz guide, i would like to rectify some points given the feedback i received, so if you could just switch it with this updated version it would be amazing!
We usually have blockers on the ground that buy us a lot of time to develop our game. The biggest problem comes in the form of the fliers. When using 1 for 1 removal, try to prioritize flying creatures, only using it on ground creatures if it's absoultly needed and only after they pump it enough with a couple of spells to make them lose some value out of it.
If they swing with only one creature and you have a creature with at least 2 thoughness, you should probbaly block it as they will have to pump their creature to actually kill ours, making them waste a spell pumping only one creature when in future turns they could be pumping several. It also leaves them with less mana to work in the second main phase which can be relevant.
Stoneforge Mystic is quite important to get Batterskull assuming we are running the Stoneforge package. Even when stabilized with an empty board, we are still going to probably be low on life, so that's the recovery we need to put the game to rest and our life total way out of their range.
Always remember that without creatures, they cannot threaten us. Be mindfull of Expressive Iteration. This card can single handidly change a game as for 2cmc they see 3 cards and get 2 of them. Even when they are on top deck mode, assume there is a line where they can kill you out of nowehere if you're low enough and be ready for it.
2 cards i absolutly love in this match up in my mainboard are Skyclave Apparition, which can eat one of their creatures and trade with another (or at least make them use a spell to pump their creature); and Prismatic Ending which cleanly deals with whatever 1 drop they put, which will save you quite a bit of life in the long term.
When sideboarding out, Don't be afraid on trimming Sun Titan (some or all of them) and an Emeria, the Sky Ruin to lower or curve a bit if you need the sideboard slots.
Hey everyone! Glad to see this thread is still active and thriving! This is by far my favorite Magic deck and I’ve been piloting it for years. I’m trying to get back into Modern after a while of being away and want to get back to my Emeria roots. Though I’m well aware that the Stoneforge build is the best version of this deck, I’m really tired of greedy WotC just ravaging my bank account and can’t justify spending all that money for certain cards. Instead I’d like to go in on a mono white creature heavy version of the deck. Here is my current iteration of the main deck. I’d love to know yalls thoughts and if you had any recommendations:
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Charming Prince
4 Wall of Omens
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Cavalier of Dawn
3 Sun Titan
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Path to Exile
2 Generous Gift
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Winds of Abandon
1 Day of Judgment
2 Wrath of God
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Mistveil Plains
14 Plains
Yhea unfortunately cards are still super exapnsive, specially format staples like Stoneforge Mystic and fetchlands.
However Mono white Emeria is still a great build, with a smoother mana base and retains most of the power of the UW version baring some cards that are better in this version like Teferi, Time Raveler, Court Hussar and Supreme Verdict, but that can be substituted for others.
I think even without Stoneforge package, Mortarpod is still a great card, specially in this meta with a lot of 1 thoughness creatures like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dragon's Rage Channeler. If you're using Thraben Inspector, i think Ranger-Captain of Eos is always a great card to consider as it can fetch silver bullet creatures or the Inspector, and it also has a great active that works wonders against control, combo and the Cascade decks! Giver of Runes, Kami of False God, Burrenton Forge-Tender and Hex Parasite are just some of the cards that work well in this build in the side. I think Prismatic Ending is a wonderful card, but given that you´re playing a mono colered version it loses a bit of it's shine... Still great for the aggro matchups but loses to much value perhaps.
For the sideboard, most cards we have in our lists are white so i think you can also take ideas from there! I would love to see the results you get with the deck as i haven't played the mono white version in a very long time!
Good luck for your games!
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
The issue is that I find I really want to run a full 4 Field of Ruin. That being said, it got me thinking, Is it out the question to cut down the number of Blue/White duals to afford that 4th copy and maybe a plains or two. Am I heading in the wrong direction here? I feel I may try running a single Raugrin Triome and 2 or 3 Hallowed Fountain and no Prarie Stream. I've sometimes found myself running out of basics, but not often where I needed more than 1 or 2 at max blue sources in a game. Maybe running out of basics isn't even a big deal at all and I'm just trying to be too cute. While I'm at it, what do you all think the optimal number of fetches is? I'd imagine it depends on how many Field of ruins you play as well as if you play Pilgrim's eye.
Would something like this be better or worse than the previous list.
3x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
4x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
1x Windsweapt Heath
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Raugrin Triome
1x Snow-Covered Island
7x Snow-Covered Plains
Maximising value in the manabase from fetchable sources is one of my priorities, and running out of basics is a very real point of discussion. I prefer to run sufficient basic Plains that I cannot be taken off of the seven needed to immediately threaten recursion with either Fulminator Mage or Field of Ruin, so I never go below seven of those, and I also work very hard to minimise my Blue requirements to prevent issues with smooth sequencing to Emeria. That being said, the basic island (despite being the worst land in the deck) has sadly proved to be a necessity for me, since whenever I try to cut it I inevitably die at least once in a tournament after casting a Pilgrim's Eye on turn three that could not fix for the game-winning Supreme Verdict I had in hand. Ghost Quarter helps mitigate the downside of this land (and helps reduce the sting of drawing multiple Emeria, the Sky Ruin), but as I recently stated my list has now changed to reflect my new plan against control and is now quite close to what you posted, replacing only the Windswept Heath with the Island, but also running a Prairie Stream instead of a Hallowed Fountain, and rounding our the four nonbasic fetchable Plains with a Mistveil Plains as an additional source.
As a final point, I believe that the printing of Break the Ice puts a disaster scenario into the equation which disincentivises the Snow Basics that you have indicated.
I hope this has been helpful!
-Stéphane Gérard
Since I referenced my new list, I will present it here for the record. There is some generic good news on that front, so I will start by saying that the metagame has never been less friendly to Tron. Between the prevalence of cheap countermagic, extremely efficient Aggro, and the splash hate for Amulet Titan's utility lands and Urza's Saga, the deck has almost disappeared from contention at the top tables. This does not mean that it is gone, as I believe it will remain viable for a long time, but the same considerations have also pushed against fast combo, so I would say that Emeria Control is well-positioned to trump the midrange decks that will try to rise up in response to the current Aggro/Control dyad.
The next good thing is more of a personal note, as I think I have narrowed in on a viable list for the attrition/board control shell that I favour. I have, however, reached an impasse that I cannot resolve without in-person tournaments, so here it is as it sits on my shelf at this time:
7 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Raugrin Triome
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Prairie Stream
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Path to Exile
2 Prismatic Ending
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Mortarpod
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Court Hussar
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Cavalier of Dawn
1 Batterskull
3 Sun Titan
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Shadowspear
1 Prismatic Ending
1 Lone Missionary
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Detention Sphere
2 Celestial Purge
3 Remorseful Cleric
It pains me slightly to be at 61 cards, but that is where I must be since I am almost precisely divided in trying to get four major effects into my deck. The loss of the fourth Sun Titan analogue for Land recursion was giving up too many game 1 lines against Control and Ramp, so the Crucible of Worlds needed to return (I have played 4 Titan in the past, but this was too much top end and ended up costing games when the curve suffered for it). I have also gone down 1 Teferi, Time Raveler to foster my diversity, since the difference between 3 and 4 of these has not proved a telling advantage against countermagic even if the 4th has not proved a disadvantage per se. Going from 2 to 3 did, however, seem to provide a relevant boost, and they have therefore pushed out Detention Sphere at the moment since these provide no value against Control's adoption of Prismatic Ending. I am also now running 3 Prismatic Ending myself between maindeck and sideboard, which was roughly what I was hoping to get up to by the time my testing was complete, and I have happily gone back up one copy of Court Hussar to two. I still feel the loss of the third Vedalken Knight some amount, but the presence of several Tef3ri can mitigate its velocity loss a little and I am extremely glad to be back at multiple copies, at the very least. My Blue spell count is now up to 9 from 8, which is proving tolerable, and the Cavalier of Dawn is primarily proving adequate as the preferred answer to Planeswalkers in the maindeck, which can also recur Pilgrim's Eye, Crucible, a discarded Kaldra Compleat, or a variety of sideboard cards. Depending on how these change, the Cavalier, an Ending, the Crucible, and a Path are all equally likely to move out of the main, and in the meantime I am satisfied that these proportions are not detrimental to the lategame.
The sideboard itself, then, is becoming more streamlined as well, and the two biggest question marks for me are the Detention Sphere and the Shadowspear. The first is very difficult to give up entirely, since it has a few excellent matchups and represents a fantastic catch-all answer, specifically in many game 2 situations, so I will try to keep it in the 15 until I can be certain of its utility in live match play. The downside of its presence is that I am now up to 4 cards that cost 3 mana there, even if one of them can be cycled for 2, so I will be keeping a wary eye open for more opportunities to trim the most expensive effects. On this subject, Sanctum Prelate seems to do an acceptable job as a singleton, and I would only advise playing more if relevant interaction with Combo decks on 2 mana can happen much more often than the 5 slots I now lean on against Creature-light decks (3 Ending, 1 Lavinia, 1 Seal). Depending on the specific degenerate strategy, these may sometimes be supplemented by other removal, but they are the core of my post-board games to disrupt the acceleration of Grapeshot or Ad Nauseam decks, for example. Notably, these are also strategies where the Detention Sphere and the Aura of Silence gain a lot of value for games 2 and 3 as well to cover for surprise additions of Keranos, God of Storms, Solemnity, Nine Lives, Pyromancer Ascension, Blood Moon and Platinum Emperion, while the D-Sphere also trumps Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor, Grand Abolisher, and Empty the Warrens if I have taken out all of my Paths and Verdicts, plus hedges against singleton power Planeswalkers as possible transformations.
I believe I have discussed the rest of the cards included here in other contexts, but running through them briefly I am still a strong advocate for Lone Missionary versus Burn specifically, I find Remorseful Cleric to be the most efficient and synergistic graveyard hate for us in general, I continue to be highly laudatory of Celestial Purge against Shadow/Junk/Jund/Ponza, and am very happy to have the second Ghost Quarter as both a 25th land and a 6th piece of manabase disruption against Control or Ramp now that the maindeck includes 4 Field of Ruin. The Forsake the Worldly has been a very strong answer to Kaldra Compleat, particularly in tandem with Tef3ri against Control, and the Shadowspear needs much more testing but has been quite comforting as an extra answer there as well that has very high upside in stalling against early swarms, often leveraging Mortarpod value. Access to it via Stoneforge Mystic threatens lifegain immediately on turn 3 against Burn, and so it provides a consistent threat to stabilise or pad life totals, which acts as a good supplement to Batterskull and an extra threat to Trample against Planeswalkers. The activated ability is of dubious value in anything other than the Kaldra standoffs, but is so nearly free to include otherwise that I find it irresistible to keep in until I have seen it in action. Finally, the lone Prismatic Ending is a way to lower the curve and has consistently been as good as advertised when brought in. The third copy in the main may be possible, but I continue to prefer staying more permanent-based to beat Control.
I think this covers the nuances of the build I will be taking to live tournaments as of next month, but if there is anything else please let me know!
-Stéphane Gérard
I am more intrigued by the increasing bleed of "draw a card" into White than anything else, since at 3 mana its impact is quite mild. There may be more chances to include new cards if the trend continues to push cantrips into more than tertiary position in the colour. As far as Priest of Ancient Lore himself goes Skyscanner was already an option that was easier to cast and a better blocker, but without the lifegain, and is fringe playable in Mono-White. This will provide another option, and with recursion will easily outclass Clockwork Servant even though it was a much better body in that colour. I think that the value aspect of repeated triggers makes me consider this much stronger in Yorion, Sky Nomad shells so that the single point of extra life can begin to add up more consistently. You are right that it is not even close in power level to Court Hussar, however, unless you care an enormous amount about the second point of power or have extra lifegain synergies. The fact that this is not Blue is the most important thing to remember when building lists in the future.
Good catch on the card being spoiled, though! A lot of later Common cards tend to slip through the cracks for assessment.
-Stéphane Gérard
that new list looks strong. Looking forward to see it in action on your next tournament.
glad to know that Tron, which is the natural predator of our deck, is on the decline.
Keranos, god of storms.. brings back memories, I remember this card from the time Splinter Twin was still legal.. some twin players had a copy of this god in their sideboard.
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Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
I ran your list from this post through a league yesterday to an 0-4 result. I was a little tired and made definitely noticeable misplays, so I can't say its genuine. Faced Umoon, Hardened Scales, RB Lurrus and Esper Control. I definitely do not have the finesse for taking less clear lines yet, so thats something I will have to work on!
Prismatic ending felt good, but i think I wanted to hit quite a few targets that were 4 mana. Any thoughts on incorporating another triome or does that clunk up the manabase too much?
Against hardened scales I cast supreme verdict 4 turns in a row and still lost on the 5th turn, and they managed to apply enough pressure to finish the game before i had emeria online.
Thank you for the information, I appreciate the results and matchup identities. Since you are new to the deck, I will assume that some percentage of these losses did indeed come from lines that I might have avoided because I have experience with all but the RB Lurrus strategy, but I take your overall record at face value when you say you had no wins in best of threes. Whether this is a problem that is fixable or whether (as I fear) this may be a natural consequence of losing both Settle the Wreckage and Detention Sphere's effect in the main is an open question, notably given the latter's utility against specifically the Hardened Scales matchup and Planeswalkers in general.
Could I press you for a more detailed explanation of what happened in each match? If your sideboard plans differed from mine, we can take it as weak evidence that the list is still viable as-is, but your described opposition was previously considered a comfortable enough spread that I would immediately return to the drawing board if I agree with your substitutions and plays. The reason I have not officially endorsed this most recent list for Fluff to update the homepage is because I have been frustrated in trying to put my theories into practice, so your input is literally jump-starting my feedback process - for which I am very grateful. Nothing beats actual tournament games for relevant data, in my mind, and I will be very happy to mine your experience for all that it is worth until I can get to more than test sessions where matchup experience tends to weigh much more heavily in my favour.
On your Prismatic Ending question, I truly wish it was easier to do so, but I cannot at this time conceive of a world where a Plains that always comes into play tapped would be worth the ability to make an already castable spell 10-20% better unless it could also fix for Blue to justify fetching it when Ending is NOT drawn. I have yet (in around 50 test games) to have felt the slightest desire to Cycle the Raugrin Triome that I am running, so even their built-in alternate mode leaves me little hope that they will be viable unless they can be valuable lands to the rest of the deck in their own right. The unfortunate upshot of this is that the current "Wedge" configurations will not give us such a Plains until the fancy comes upon Wizards to complete them with a "Shard" Supercycle in a few years. If Cavalier of Dawn is not doing the job of an Ending at 4+, Skyclave Apparition may have to take its place as a singleton, though I would be very anxious to avoid having zero direct answers to Teferi, Hero of Dominaria in the maindeck.
I hope this finds you well,
-Stéphane Gérard
Regarding the Izzet Blitz guide I thank you all for the feedback!
Going in depth about our divergence Stéphane, it made rethink exactly how I approached the matchup and while it's true I do value my creatures more because of the blink effect of Charming Prince and the possibility of equipping my creatures with either Shadowspear or Sword of Fire and Ice, in a vaccum I think your approach is indeed more correct and I might have let these synergies cloud my judgment a bit. The fact I had won preety much every game I've played against the deck might have also let me to believe it was an optimal line, but fter putting some thought into it I think I prefer your line and I thank you for making me ponder over this subject, specially now that my list doesn't run charming prince.
Plichow, im sad to hear about the 0-4 but in my opinion, Emeria being a reactive deck, it takes some time to adjust to new metas, and specially beginning with a new version of the deck, it will take some more time to take optimal lines, but nothing that should discourage you and with the support of everyone hopefully the adaptation phase will be a brief one!
I am glad you feel my reasoning is sound, Starstorm, thank you.
Having spent last evening with Plichow's issues running around my brain, I have come up with an alteration of the build that I will be starting off with in my next testing session, and wanted to put the plan into words for discussion. Until I hear back from Plichow on the specific details of the matchups, I will assume the worst when taking the 76-card list into account, then, and I would give priority to the following set of subtle but significant changes:
1) Removing the fourth Path to Exile with the assumption that the 2 new maindeck Prismatic Ending can compensate as 1-mana removal when relevant. This then officially drops the main back down to 60 cards, and puts it at one fewer dead card versus Control lists running cheap permanents.
2) Switching the singleton Cavalier of Dawn for an Elspeth Conquers Death as a standalone value answer to bigger Control or Midrange threats, again leaning on the maindeck and extra sideboard Prismatic Ending to make the difference against the early game Aggro decks which ignore its ETB effect. Resolving it would often rely on Teferi, Time Raveler, but I hope that their mutual synergies will allow for new lines and better combined probabilities.
3) Swapping the sideboard Forsake the Worldly for a Revoke Existence, which drops the curve down 1 mana total post-board, and has extra instant-speed utility given that I had not played with this many little Teferi when I had originally run the card to satisfactory, though unimpressive, results. Allowing a hit from Kaldra Compleat is also coherent with the mainphase overlap options of Teferi, Time Raveler, Prismatic Ending, and now Elspeth Conquers Death.
4) Though Detention Sphere will still be a card I am very interested in getting back in later on, its overlap with Declaration in Stone means that I will reluctantly be switching these two cards to test out the latter as a direct swap for ECD against cheap swarms, [EDIT: LOWERING THE TOTAL SIDEBOARD MANA VALUE BY ANOTHER 1]. This has newly become critical, given that Pithing Needle previously dropped the curve by much more against several decks. The supplemental Exile utility also provides an analogue to the missing Settle the Wreckage as a small bonus incentive.
The list is now likely to look more like the following:
7 Plains
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Raugrin Triome
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Prairie Stream
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Path to Exile
2 Prismatic Ending
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Mortarpod
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Court Hussar
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Supreme Verdict
1 Elspeth Conquers Death
1 Batterskull
3 Sun Titan
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Shadowspear
1 Prismatic Ending
1 Lone Missionary
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Aura of Silence
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Revoke Existence
1 Declaration in Stone
2 Celestial Purge
3 Remorseful Cleric
If anyone has advice on these changes, I would be happy to hear them. Losing Sorcerous Spyglass and its ilk have me wary of being over-exposed to Walking Ballista, so I am hoping that the current modifications represent a slightly better balance. In my previous theorycrafting, I had mentioned one last alternative Planeswalker answer in Voidstone Gargoyle, which may actually have gained some ground here as - in addition to being an "Emeriable" Flying Creature that plays around Force of Negation and is not completely dead against Ballista or some other Aggro/Combo lists - it is immune to Skyclave Apparition and much more difficult to answer with Prismatic Ending through the four maindeck instances of Field of Ruin. On this last card, I am not certain I like the reduction of Ghost Quarter in the main: its second copy was critical to game wins by locking out colours during Sun Titan stabilization, and with fewer copies of Court Hussar, I can no longer dig quite as strongly for my one remaining piece. If I am unimpressed with the ECD, I think I may consider going back to 25 land in the main by moving it (or another answer to noncreature permanents) to the sideboard, leaving Land advantage as my only maindeck plan against large Planeswalkers. I will have to think hard on this as I run through some sample hands.
I hope that this sparks some relevant talking points on the Control/Attrition shell,
-Stéphane Gérard
Just following up, I went and reviewed the tapes to see what sideboarding I had done and noticed that I even misremembered a matchup (I really must have been tired). I'll post how I boarded as follows, at present I feel I may have made some mistakes.
R1 was indeed against Blue Moon, and they were playing thought scours and murktide regents (but I only saw those in g2, althought highly suspected in g1). These games went rather the same way, where they had an active jace for a while and then just had a counterspell for anything. G2 I feel i should have won, but they had a blood moon and I spent most of the game removing threats. I had to use Pilgrim's eye to find a plains, then path my eye to get my island, but then I never drew another plains and was stranded on 1 white source (9ish lands) and died to a large murktide regent.
+1 detention sphere +3 remorseful cleric +1 sanctum prelate +1 ghost quarter
-2 prismatic ending -2 path to exile -2 supreme verdict.
R2 was against RBw Lurrus, their white splash was for prismatic ending. They play Ragavans, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Tourach, Kroxa, Dauthi Voidwalker, that sort of thing. I lost to this deck in 3, and it wasn't close as they just tore apart my hand too early. Hand disruption has gone from a small speedbump to crippling (while stapled on strong effects/bodies). I think my boarding reasoning was that the kaldra and sun titan were too high on the curve and I'd never cast them, but in hindsight I kind of wanted to keep them in, and teferi too, as his bounce can be very effective in these matchups. I had a chance to stabilize in g3, but made a misplay of attacking with SFM instead of using it to play batterskull for some reason, i think I was trying to bait my opponent into playing their lurrus into a wrath, but it was silly as I was in a dominant board position.
+2 celestial purge, +3 remorseful cleric, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, -1 crucible, -1 kaldra compleat, -1 sun titan.
R3 was against Gr Hardened Scales. They just overwhelmed me with Urza's saga. By the time I was ready to field of ruin them they had the mana to make 1 construct at the very least, and then had hangarback walker and welding jar to make my verdicts awkward. This is the matchup where I verdicted 4 turns in a row and still lost on the following turn. With the boarding, I do feel I made a similar mistake here, and getting kaldra down would have been hard for them to deal with. I saw a lot of natures claims in g2.
+1 seal of cleansing, +1 aura of silence, +1 prismatic ending, +1 lone missionary
-1 crucible of worlds, -1 cavalier of dawn, -1 sun titan, -1 kaldra compleat.
R4 was against 5c Elementals, not esper control. G1 they had the grief ephemerate to rip my hand of anything playable, then eventually got down unsettled mariner and risen reef and just effectively clocked me. I didn't see any lightning skelementals in g1, but I suspected them. In g2 thats exactly what I died to. My opponent had turn 1 grief ephemerate again, then spent turn 3 4 and 5 hardcasting skelementals to completely strip my hand and leave me dead.
+2 celestial purge, +1 lone missionary, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, time raveler, -1 crucible of worlds.
At this point I dropped the league, felt like I was making too many play mistakes and needed to re-evaluate on a clear head!
4x Wall of Omens
2x Charming Prince
4x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Court Hussar
2x pilgrim’s eye
4x Skyclave Apparition
1x Solitude
3x Sun Titan
Planeswalker (2)
2x Teferi, Time Raveler
Artifact (3)
1x Batterskull
1x Kaldra Compleat
1x mortarpod
3x Supreme Verdict
2x prismatic ending
Instant (4)
4x Path to Exile
Land (24)
3x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
4x Field of Ruin
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Prairie Stream
1x Raugrin Triome
1x Island
7x Plains
1x crucible of worlds
3x elite spellbinder
1x sword of feast and famine
2x detention sphere
1x celestial purge
3x Remorseful Cleric
1x Sanctum Prelate
2x Seal of Cleansing
1x Sorcerous Spyglass
This is the list i was playing:
2 Windswept Heath
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
3 Flooded Strand
1 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
4 Skyclave Apparition
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
2 Mortarpod
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sorcery
3 Prismatic Ending
2 Supreme Verdict
Instant
3 Path to Exile
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Damping Sphere
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Shadowspear
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Celestial Purge
1 Sanctum Prelate
First match won against Jeskai Control 2-1. Important to say this was a straight control version with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Jace, the Mind Sculptor and without Stoneforge Mystic and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
I'm going to go over the sideboard first as i think even with it, the match up doesn't particularly change much and i just a more fined tuned deck i games 2 and 3.
Sideboarded out: 2Path to Exile, 1 Solitude and 2 Supreme Verdict
Sideboarded in: 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Crucible of Worlds, 1 Ghost Quarter, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render and 1 Remorseful Cleric.
One of the cards that i liked particularly in this match up was actually Skyclave Apparition, as their usual play is deploying a Jace, the Mind Sculptor, brainstorming and then leaving a Force of Negation to deal with anyhting we throw next turn. But if they tap out for Jace, Skyclave Apparition just eats it, simple. Have played against 3 Jeskai decks in this tournment wich i'll talk later too, but Jace was always of extreme importance to their plan, and being able to answer it so swiftly i found to be a big upside.
Teferi, Time Raveler was of course amazing when he managed to stay on board, and the value of Emeria Titan in the late game showed once more. On the other hand, i wasn't particularly impressed with the land destruction tactic as from what i swa they were running at least 8 basics and mostly played with blue so though i didn't draw Crucible of Worlds, just with normal Field of ruin and Ghost Quarter activations it didn't look like i was going anywhere with it, specially when they had planeswalkers on the table. For me, early agression and having creatures on board was key to never give them a good chance to resolve a planewalker. Sanctum Prelate on 4 was also good to end the game as it took him out of supreme verdict, jace and Cryptic Command options to deal with my board or look for answers.
Mortarpod was good to fill the grave, and ocasioanlly saving a creature from a path to exile, but it always felt awkward when putting it as a 2 drop and it not being able to apply any pressure. It's a trade we make and in the late game to fuel Emeria is amazing, but for that early agression that i spoke of, it obviously didn't provide much. Still think it's good but have to look at my sideboard again to see if there are better fits.
Very grindy game and won already on turns when i thought i was going to draw it.
Second match won 2-0 against Rakdos Midrange with Lurrus of the Dream-Den.
Game one he starts by using Inquisition of Kozilek to take a look at my hand and sees 2 Skyclave Apparition, 1 Prismatic Ending and 1 Path to Exile. He takes path, and proceeds for the next 4 turns to just use the Dash ability on Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer without me able to do anyhting against it. I was both lucky and unlucky here as i was stuck on 2 lands and Ragavan was always exiling a land, so he didn't play anyhting from my deck, but i also didn't have the lands to play. Eventually i maange to start putting defences with Mortarpod, and Court Hussar and he didn't have much else when he killed all my creatures, tried to dash with Ragavan and i evoke Solitude and leave him out of threaths. What i got from this match is that Ragavan is really sacry with the Dash ability and we should be mindfull of that and not just rely on Prismatic Ending or sorcery based removal.
Sidebparded out: 1 Path to exile, 3 Teferi, Time Raveler.
Sideboarded in: 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1Remorseful Cleric, 1Celestial Purge
I took Path but given what i said about instant speed removal, i think i could be better of taking a Supreme Verdict or something like that.
Game 2 had Sanctifier on turn 2 which dealt with his building of delirium and acted as a wall for Ragavan. He eventually exiles it with Prismatic Ending but i had already developed my board and the value from ragavan dropped quite significantly. from there it was just playing it out, making my creatures stronger with Sword of Fire and Ice and just killing everything he had always with backup removal in hand.
Third match was a draw 1-1 against Jeskai Stoneblade (withou Ragavan, but with Jace).
Kaldra is a big problem. in the eraly game it's really easy to deal with the token, but in the late game when they can just eqquip it to nayhting on the board and still have counter magic up, it really leaves us betwenn a rock and a hard place.
Just like the previous Jeskai match up, my early agression allowed me to stay in a good postion to win the first game, dealing with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic. Prismatic Ending was good to deal with Stoneforge and the germs, but it didn't really shine this game. Mortarpod helped pinging jace to death so it was better than the previous Jeskai match up where it really hadn't done much,
Sideboarded out: 1 Supreme Verdict, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Solitude
Sideboarded in: 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render and 1 Remorseful Cleric.
I was kind of at a loss on what to sideboard here. I didn't want to bringCrucible of Worlds and Ghost Quarter because of my preveious experiance that i had reported, and because this was going to be a more agressive match up where i would need my removal or i would just die. I think there is very much space to improve with this sideboarding and i would like to hear everyone's thoughts.
Game 2 i lost because i had 10 plains in total but no Emeria and it was just very sad...
Game 3 went on and on, but htis time i had Emeria active with no creatures on the grave. He managed to exile 1 Wall of Omens, 1 Sun Titan 1 Skyclave apparition, 1 Stoneforge Mystic and 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, i didn't draw Mortarpod to fill my grave and we just on and on until eventually i was going to win with Kaldra Compleat but it was already too late. I also made a missplay that might have costed me the game, by casting Solitude on his turn when he had mana to counter it, when i could have casted it on my turn and exiled his Stoneforge Mystic which would leave him more defenceless in the late game so i think i could have won the game with more tight play, but that's just how it went.
Fourth match won 2-0 against Izzet Blitz.
Just like i had already disccued in previous posts, i put blockers up for the ground creatures and tried to save my instant speed removal for the fliers, specially Storming Entity. Solitude was actually a great card as it's evoke really came in handy to exile a swiftspear that was going to attack for 6 and that kinda left my opponent without many threaths and without spells. From there it was really easy. Skyclave Apparition was as usual a great card for the ground creatures and Prismatic Ending didn't show up but it would have been amazing.
Sideboarded out: 3 Sun Titan, 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin, 1 Kaldra Compleat and 2 Mortarpod
Sideboarded in: 1 Kor Firewalker, 1 Shadowspear, 1 Gideon of the Trials, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Sanctum Prelate and 2 Sanctifier en-Vec.
Game 2 was almost over before it started. Turn 2 Sanctifier en-Vec and turn 3 Sanctum Prelate just shut their deck down. They tried to make Sprite Dragon when they could, but a Solitude evoked just shut eveything they had and they swiftly conceded.
Fifth match lost 1-2 against Jeskai Stoneblade with Ragavan and Jace this time.
Just like other Jeskai matches, this ws a long one and just like the previous Stoneblade matchup, i was a bit lost in what to put in and out.
This played mostly like the previous match as Ragavan really didn't do much. Teferi Time Raveler resolving on game one i think preety much gave me the game.
Sideboarded out: 1 Supreme Verdict and 1 Path to Exile
Sideboarded in: 1 Sanctum Prelate and 1 Ashiok, Dream Render.
Didn't think Remorseful Cleric would have been the most amazing card as they weren't using Murktide Regent and Dragon's Rage Channeler for what i saw, and i wanted the extra removal do deal with their threats.
Game 2 and 3 they had Cleansing Wildfire for Emeria and i hadn't brought Crucible of Worlds so i payed the price for that.
Game 2 a combination of Kaldra Compleat with Sword of Feast and Famine giving their germ protection from my Kaldra Compleat won them the game.
Game 3 i was about to win the game as i had mannaged to put them to 4, had a Sun Titan equipped with Mortarpod and a Skyclave Apparition. They had play Narset, Parter of Veils and have 2 lands left. with those 2 lands and 3 cards in hand, they path my titan, which i respond by pinging them, and when i go for attacks, they bolt my skyclave which leaves them at 3 with a batterskull and a Kaldra Compleat in play but with nothring to equip it to. Eventually they find a creatures and manage to swing the game in their favour as i was out of gas.
Very fun game and i'm sure more lines could have been played optimally, but i was also getting tired and control wasn't really in the meta here before MH2 so didn't have much experiance with it for a long time.
I think the next games will for sure go better and i'll put the results here.
Last match won 2-0 against Lantern Control.
A deck running mainboard Skycalve Apparition and Prismatic Ending will always be good against Lantern. Also a turn 3 Kaldra Compleat swinging kinda puts the pressure on them. They manage to put Ensaring Bridge, which i exile with Skycalve Apparition, and then they play another and start playing the control game with Lantern of Insight, Codex Shredder, Ghoulcaller's Bell and Pyxis of Pandemonium. Fortuantly i had Emeria already in play so i manage to do my land drops and proceed to bring Skycalve Apparition back to exile Bridge and win.
Sideboarded out: 1 Supreme Verdict, 3 Solitude, 2 Path to Exile
Sideboarded in: 2 Cleansing Seal, 1 Gideon of the Trials, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Crucible of Worlds
Game 2 i had 2 Skyclave Apparition so i was happy. They strip one of them with an Inquisition of Kozilek and then play spellskite to protect their best cards. The game goes long and eventually I have a Sun titan but they had a Grafdigger's Cage. I start looping 2 Teferi, Time raveler and the sheer vlaue from this countering their Grafdigger's Cage, eventually finds me and opening to take the Ensaring Bridge out of the way and win.
I think it was a good showing from the deck but i definitely need more practice against these Jeskai Decks that are becoming more and more popular with the new additions from MH2. Overall 4-1-1, and against Jeskai decks 1-1-1.
Gonna see what i can refine on the sideboard and i'll wait for your feedback as these control decks seem to be troubling all of you for what i've seen in the last posts!
Stay safe and good luck for your games!
Report by Starstorm added. Table of Contents->Tournament Reports.
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Since people are active playing the deck.. I asked my friend Metalraptor. He made for us a new banner at the Tournament Report section.
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@everyone
To anyone with experience in the match up.. looking for someone who wants to write a guide on how to play and sideboard against Hardened Scales Affinity - the updated version that use Urza's Saga.
Hardened Scales is now at Table of Contents->Matchups and Sideboarding. It is below the Infect guide.
it has a status of "waiting for contributor".
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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
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
Unfortunatly i haven't played against this new iteration of Hardened Scales Affinity so just like the scapeshift guide, it would be a theoretical guide and not one based on my experiance.
Regarding the Izzet Blitz guide, i would like to rectify some points given the feedback i received, so if you could just switch it with this updated version it would be amazing!
Usually Izzet Blitz plays 16 creatures: 4 Monastery Swiftspear, 4 Soul-Scar Mage, 4 Stormwing Entity, and depending on the build, 4 Sprite Dragon or 4 Dragon's Rage Channeler.
We usually have blockers on the ground that buy us a lot of time to develop our game. The biggest problem comes in the form of the fliers. When using 1 for 1 removal, try to prioritize flying creatures, only using it on ground creatures if it's absoultly needed and only after they pump it enough with a couple of spells to make them lose some value out of it.
If they swing with only one creature and you have a creature with at least 2 thoughness, you should probbaly block it as they will have to pump their creature to actually kill ours, making them waste a spell pumping only one creature when in future turns they could be pumping several. It also leaves them with less mana to work in the second main phase which can be relevant.
Stoneforge Mystic is quite important to get Batterskull assuming we are running the Stoneforge package. Even when stabilized with an empty board, we are still going to probably be low on life, so that's the recovery we need to put the game to rest and our life total way out of their range.
Always remember that without creatures, they cannot threaten us. Be mindfull of Expressive Iteration. This card can single handidly change a game as for 2cmc they see 3 cards and get 2 of them. Even when they are on top deck mode, assume there is a line where they can kill you out of nowehere if you're low enough and be ready for it.
2 cards i absolutly love in this match up in my mainboard are Skyclave Apparition, which can eat one of their creatures and trade with another (or at least make them use a spell to pump their creature); and Prismatic Ending which cleanly deals with whatever 1 drop they put, which will save you quite a bit of life in the long term.
Sideboaard considerations: Prismatic Ending (assuming you're not running it on mainboard already), Sanctifier en-Vec, Gideon of the Trials, Shadowspear, Celestial Purge, Kor Firewalker, Detention Sphere, Sanctum Prelate and whatever other removal, life gain or pretection from red you have.
When sideboarding out, Don't be afraid on trimming Sun Titan (some or all of them) and an Emeria, the Sky Ruin to lower or curve a bit if you need the sideboard slots.
Izzet Blitz guide by Starstorm edited. Thank you for your contribution.
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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
added 5 color Niv-Mizzet to Table of Contents->Matchups and sideboarding-> it's below the Amulet Titan guide.
status is waiting for contributor.
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
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Charming Prince
4 Wall of Omens
4 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Cavalier of Dawn
3 Sun Titan
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Path to Exile
2 Generous Gift
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Winds of Abandon
1 Day of Judgment
2 Wrath of God
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Mistveil Plains
14 Plains
Yhea unfortunately cards are still super exapnsive, specially format staples like Stoneforge Mystic and fetchlands.
However Mono white Emeria is still a great build, with a smoother mana base and retains most of the power of the UW version baring some cards that are better in this version like Teferi, Time Raveler, Court Hussar and Supreme Verdict, but that can be substituted for others.
I think even without Stoneforge package, Mortarpod is still a great card, specially in this meta with a lot of 1 thoughness creatures like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Dragon's Rage Channeler. If you're using Thraben Inspector, i think Ranger-Captain of Eos is always a great card to consider as it can fetch silver bullet creatures or the Inspector, and it also has a great active that works wonders against control, combo and the Cascade decks! Giver of Runes, Kami of False God, Burrenton Forge-Tender and Hex Parasite are just some of the cards that work well in this build in the side. I think Prismatic Ending is a wonderful card, but given that you´re playing a mono colered version it loses a bit of it's shine... Still great for the aggro matchups but loses to much value perhaps.
For the sideboard, most cards we have in our lists are white so i think you can also take ideas from there! I would love to see the results you get with the deck as i haven't played the mono white version in a very long time!
Good luck for your games!