UG Emerge is a deck I've been working on for a while now, it's a midrange-aggro style strategy with lots of efficient creatures and card advantage that makes it quick to the punch in aggro matchups and strong in the long game board stall for control/midrange matchups. The deck has enough interaction that it holds up well to combo but is fairly weak pre-sideboard in those matchups. I would love any advice on the deck and any experience you all have had so far. Thanks in advance!
Here is my list so far:
RWx Wellspring:60/40
A great matchup. Wellspring doesn't have a fast enough clock or big enough creatures to really compete with us. In the long game we easily beat them out while they are stuck trying to out-value us. Sideboarding isn't imperative for this matchup but there are a few things we can do to further improve our game. IN:
1x Mulldrifter
0-1x Nantuko Vigilante
1-2x Gleeful Sabotage
0-1x Spell Pierce
0-4x Negate OUT:
1-2x Hooting Mandrills
0-3x Brindle Shoat
0-2x Commune With Nature Delver: 50/50
Not our best matchup but can be good after sideboard. Our delve creatures can be very non-profitable to counter due to the cast triggers, Stormbound Geist is great against Delver Of Secrets, and with a decent hand we can easily race them. IN:
4x Negate
1x Spell Pierce
1x Mulldrifter OUT:
3x Brindle Shoat
3x Nest Invader
Combo:30/70
A pretty bad matchup all around. We are almost always too slow to hold up and our disruption generally can't beat the combos. Post sideboard we have some countermagic that can help our odds a bit but really racing our opponent and holding up countermagic is our best bet. IN:
4x Negate
1x Spell pierce
1x Nantuko Vigilante OUT:
2x Commune With Nature
2x Mulldrifter
2x Grapple With The Past
This deck would be a lot better poised by eschewing almost all of the creature suite and going the Tron route with the Emergers as the main threats and Fierce Empath to tutor them up (and serve as emerge fodder). Furthermore, while I think that you're on the right track with Gryff, I'm not that sold on It of the Horrid Swarm. When compared to Maul Splicer, it comes out unfavorably: 6/6 worth of stats vs 7/7, no evasion and only one large body. It's strengths when compared to the Splicer are twofold: like the Gryff, it's on cast trigger makes it naturally resilient to counterspells, and Emerge means it can be cast for cheaper emerging from Empath.
Gryff, however, is a creature I see very well suited to fight against the current meta:
- 7CMC means it can be cast as soon as turn 3 from natural Tron and impact the table with it's huge, evasive body. It also plays a minor role in it being unable to be hit by CMC matters cards like Prohibit or Spellstutter Sprite.
- It's huge stats coupled with flying means it can effectively survive combat against every flying creature in the format, while also getting into the red zone to steal the crown without being stonewalled by Monarch-granting cards like Thorn of the Black Rose or Palace Sentinels.
- On cast trigger makes it resilient to countermagic, turning every attempt at Counterspell into a 2-for-1.
- Colorless means that Kiln Fiend and Tireless Tribe combo decks can't rely on Apostle's Blessing to get through, and that Boros Monarch can't protect it's crown with Prismatic Strands.
With these conclusions, I believe a Tron-style shell crafted around the three creatures could have a shot at the meta. I would start with this core:
Those 44 cards leave 16 spots left, 7 of which should be used on 4 Khans gainlands, 2 utility lands and a basic of the splash color, thus leaving us with 9 spots of real estate. I don't believe the secondary color should necessarily be Blue, since Gryff can be easily hardcast via Tron or Emerged with mana from a Chromatic artifact. It of the Horrid Swarm isn't a very impactful creature except when holding the fort against Aggro decks or against black decks running Chainer's Edict, so I cut it to a minimum since it can still be fetched with Empath. Moment's Peace is a tried and true card that takes care of Aggro and Combo decks alike, while Pulse of Murasa keeps the life total high and rebuys dead threats, including Emerged Empaths. While I included Ulamog's Crusher both as a beefy endgame threat overall and against durdly Tron decks that lean on Moment's Peace and assemble a Dinrova Horror lock since Annihilator still eats up their permanents even if damage is prevented, I still think that the deck needs a way to interact directly with the Dinrova lock (or any other Ghostly Flicker loop basically) besides just turboing a Crusher. For this, we have two color options: Blue or Black. Here are the 16-card package I would run for either splash:
This package would offer the posibility of tutoring both Relic of Progenitus as maindeck graveyard hate and Sylvok lifestaff as a way of keeping the life total high while emerging. Trinket Mage is also a nice Emerge target thanks to it's 3 CMC and etb effect that allows us a great deal of flexibility by tweaking our deck to include various silver bullets, and, alongside Empath and Stirrings (since both the artifacts and 6+ CMC creatures are colorless) gives us a level of consistency not all Pauper decks are able to achieve. Mage can also still fetch an Expedition Map to finish that Tron, or Seat of the Synod / Tree of Tales to fix your colors should you cast it from a Chromatic artifact. 4 copies of Condescend allow us to interact on the stack not only against the Dinrova loop, but against all sorts of decks while also digging us towards what we need.
Here you rely on the good ol'Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog in response to Mnemonic Wall targeting Ghostly Flicker, while also being able to complete your Tron should you need to. Being in black means you also get to round it up with Edicts of your own and instant speed removal to snipe Wall or Horror in response to being targeted by Flicker itself.
UG Emerge is a deck I've been working on for a while now, it's a midrange-aggro style strategy with lots of efficient creatures and card advantage that makes it quick to the punch in aggro matchups and strong in the long game board stall for control/midrange matchups. The deck has enough interaction that it holds up well to combo but is fairly weak pre-sideboard in those matchups. I would love any advice on the deck and any experience you all have had so far. Thanks in advance!
Here is my list so far:
3 Brindle Shoat
3 Nest Invader
4 Fierce Empath
4 Stormbound Geist
2 Mulldrifter
2 Hooting Mandrills
4 Wretched Gryff
4 It of the Horrid Swarm
2 Commune with Nature
1 Prey Upon
4 Epic Confrontation
4 Grapple with the Past
3 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Ash Barrens
6 Forest
4 Island
2 Simic Growth Chamber
4 Thornwood Falls
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Mulldrifter
2 Gleeful Sabotage
2 Moment's Peace
4 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
3 Spreading Seas
Emerge Creatures
Wretched Gryff: Our go-to emerge creature. Profitably blocks almost every flyer in pauper. Also draws us a card and beats such notable pauper winners as: Delver Of Secrets, Guardian Of The Guildpact, and Liliana's Specter
It Of The Horrid Swarm: Our other great emerge creature.
RWx Wellspring:60/40
A great matchup. Wellspring doesn't have a fast enough clock or big enough creatures to really compete with us. In the long game we easily beat them out while they are stuck trying to out-value us. Sideboarding isn't imperative for this matchup but there are a few things we can do to further improve our game.
IN:
1x Mulldrifter
0-1x Nantuko Vigilante
1-2x Gleeful Sabotage
0-1x Spell Pierce
0-4x Negate
OUT:
1-2x Hooting Mandrills
0-3x Brindle Shoat
0-2x Commune With Nature
Delver: 50/50
Not our best matchup but can be good after sideboard. Our delve creatures can be very non-profitable to counter due to the cast triggers, Stormbound Geist is great against Delver Of Secrets, and with a decent hand we can easily race them.
IN:
4x Negate
1x Spell Pierce
1x Mulldrifter
OUT:
3x Brindle Shoat
3x Nest Invader
Burn:40/60
Overall a poor matchup but with 1-2 Sylvok Lifestaffs we can easily live long enough to win. Additionally, with enough creatures in hand, we can easily lock out the opponent's early creatures.
IN:
1x Spell Pierce
1x Sylvok Lifestaff
1-4x Negate
OUT:
2x Commune With Nature
1-4x Grapple With The Past
Combo:30/70
A pretty bad matchup all around. We are almost always too slow to hold up and our disruption generally can't beat the combos. Post sideboard we have some countermagic that can help our odds a bit but really racing our opponent and holding up countermagic is our best bet.
IN:
4x Negate
1x Spell pierce
1x Nantuko Vigilante
OUT:
2x Commune With Nature
2x Mulldrifter
2x Grapple With The Past
Gryff, however, is a creature I see very well suited to fight against the current meta:
- 7CMC means it can be cast as soon as turn 3 from natural Tron and impact the table with it's huge, evasive body. It also plays a minor role in it being unable to be hit by CMC matters cards like Prohibit or Spellstutter Sprite.
- It's huge stats coupled with flying means it can effectively survive combat against every flying creature in the format, while also getting into the red zone to steal the crown without being stonewalled by Monarch-granting cards like Thorn of the Black Rose or Palace Sentinels.
- On cast trigger makes it resilient to countermagic, turning every attempt at Counterspell into a 2-for-1.
- Colorless means that Kiln Fiend and Tireless Tribe combo decks can't rely on Apostle's Blessing to get through, and that Boros Monarch can't protect it's crown with Prismatic Strands.
With these conclusions, I believe a Tron-style shell crafted around the three creatures could have a shot at the meta. I would start with this core:
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
5 Forest
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
2 Pulse of Murasa
3 Moment's Peace
3 Wretched Gryff
1 It of the Horrid Swarm
2 Ulamog's Crusher
Those 44 cards leave 16 spots left, 7 of which should be used on 4 Khans gainlands, 2 utility lands and a basic of the splash color, thus leaving us with 9 spots of real estate. I don't believe the secondary color should necessarily be Blue, since Gryff can be easily hardcast via Tron or Emerged with mana from a Chromatic artifact. It of the Horrid Swarm isn't a very impactful creature except when holding the fort against Aggro decks or against black decks running Chainer's Edict, so I cut it to a minimum since it can still be fetched with Empath. Moment's Peace is a tried and true card that takes care of Aggro and Combo decks alike, while Pulse of Murasa keeps the life total high and rebuys dead threats, including Emerged Empaths. While I included Ulamog's Crusher both as a beefy endgame threat overall and against durdly Tron decks that lean on Moment's Peace and assemble a Dinrova Horror lock since Annihilator still eats up their permanents even if damage is prevented, I still think that the deck needs a way to interact directly with the Dinrova lock (or any other Ghostly Flicker loop basically) besides just turboing a Crusher. For this, we have two color options: Blue or Black. Here are the 16-card package I would run for either splash:
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Island
1 Tree of Tales
3 Trinket Mage
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Relic of Progenitus
4 Condescend
This package would offer the posibility of tutoring both Relic of Progenitus as maindeck graveyard hate and Sylvok lifestaff as a way of keeping the life total high while emerging. Trinket Mage is also a nice Emerge target thanks to it's 3 CMC and etb effect that allows us a great deal of flexibility by tweaking our deck to include various silver bullets, and, alongside Empath and Stirrings (since both the artifacts and 6+ CMC creatures are colorless) gives us a level of consistency not all Pauper decks are able to achieve. Mage can also still fetch an Expedition Map to finish that Tron, or Seat of the Synod / Tree of Tales to fix your colors should you cast it from a Chromatic artifact. 4 copies of Condescend allow us to interact on the stack not only against the Dinrova loop, but against all sorts of decks while also digging us towards what we need.
2 Bojuka Bog
1 Swamp
4 Chainer's Edict
2 Crop Rotation
2 Rend Flesh
1 Doom Blade
Here you rely on the good ol'Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog in response to Mnemonic Wall targeting Ghostly Flicker, while also being able to complete your Tron should you need to. Being in black means you also get to round it up with Edicts of your own and instant speed removal to snipe Wall or Horror in response to being targeted by Flicker itself.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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