I don't have any recent experience with E-Tron but from past games I had always found it favorable. I'd have to look up a recent tournament result to cross-reference first.
The basics are from lists I've seen and online results. There's varience of course, especially with storm b/c of the budget vs non budget manabase for blood moon.
Tips and Tricks
1 Be mindful that a Gideon of the Trials at 3 loyalty can still be killed by a Lightning Storm without any lands pitched
2 Be mindful that a Flickerwisp can exile a Phyrexian Unlife in a pinch to deal lethal combat damage when needed
Tips and Tricks
1 Use Path to Exile on a mana bear in response to the first ritual effect
2 Be mindful that some Storm list play Blood Moon, if your opponent is play fetch lands like Scalding Tarn they are more likely to be playing Blood Moon than lists that play Shivan Reef
3 Be mindful that some lists also like to pivot into a transformational sideboard of Madcap Experiment and Platinum Emperion
Basic Land count: 5
2 Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mountain
Everything seems to be in order, thank you for dedicating your time for this. I'm not sure how lively this thread will be in the future but at the very least it'll help people looking to adopt the deck. Good work!
Primer looks great, but you posted the Glittering wish version twice. Once at the top and again at the bottom, was this intentional? Also the Amulet Titan sideboard guide doesn't include the actual sideboard strategy.
Sorry about my lenthy guides, I'll try to really condense the information if I write more.
I do have some experience in the Amulet Titan matchup. This is largely because a regular at my old LGS a year ago was playing this deck post Summer Bloom ban. Anyway, so lets talk strategy, Amulet Titan is a toolbox combo deck, it is looking to ramp into an early Primeval Titan. Ideally they're looking to do this by exploiting the interaction between Amulet of Vigor and various bounce lands and committing more land drops with Azusa, lost but Seeking. Regardless, once a Primeval Titan is resolved it can end the game by tutoring for a Slayers' Stronghold upon entry and a Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion upon attacks. This will make their Primeval Titan a 8/6 with trample, first strike, haste, double strike and vigilance. Essentially this Primeval Titan is supposed to end the game is one swing. Though they can go for a kill, the Amulet Titan player can also opt for a slightly grinder plan by tutoring for a Tolaria West which can then be used to transmute for a Summoner's Pact, Walking Ballista, Engineered Explosives or Pact of Negation. The Summoner's Pact can then be used to tutor for additional Primeval Titan thus looping them. Other cards they may search for include, Tireless Tracker, Zacama, Primal Calamity, Ruric Thar, Hornet Queen. Some builds also play an alternate win condition in the form of Hive Mind in which they will cast a Pact of Negation or Summoner's Pact and if the opponent fails to pay the upkeep cost they lose the game.
So to review, Amulet Titan is a ramp focused toolbox combo deck focused on dealing lethal damage through a buffed Primeval Titan or an alternate win condition in the form of Hive Mind. They can also grind fairly well by searching for a Tolaria West and a bouceland, upon Primeval Titan's enter the battlefield trigger and repeating this process.
So how do you combat this? Your best friends in this matchup pre side are Path to Exile, Ghost Quarter, Field of Ruin and Gideon of the Trials. Instant speed removal is likely needed to weather the first hit from Primeval Titan afterwards you want to take out their Slayers' Stronghold as this will force your opponent to play a sorcery speed making both Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict much better. Once they shift gears to their grinder gameplan you need to prioritize destroying Tolaria West in response to a bounce lands trigger, this is to prevent them from starting their loop. A Gideon of the Trials emblem will ensure you don't get janked out by a Hive Mind. Gideon of the Trials will likely also buy you a turn if you get attacked by a Primeval Titan because Amulet Titan usually only has one massive attacker to swing with at a time. You can also use Gideon of the Trials as a quasi removal for a Titan by fogging it until you draw into real removal.
Spreading Sea's is unreliable because your opponent will just play a bounceland to pick up the land enchanted by it and the lifegain provided by our Lone Missionary is largely inconsequential because our opponent tends to deal damage in massive chunks.
Keep in mind, Flickerwisp can be used to kill Walking Ballista or reset a bounce land. Detention Sphere should be used to take out Amulet of Vigor ASAP. Sometimes you can win a match by destroying the correct bounce land while your opponent has pact triggers at upkeep. Make sure to destroy the bounceland upon entry so it's etb still forces your opponent to pick up another land. Our Emeria, the Sky Ruin gameplan is largely unreliable because of their one Bojuka Bog and thier ability to easily reset it multiple times. I would suggest holding a Court Hussar until you can use a Ghost Quarter / Field of Ruin to destroy it.
That said, I may have to give the sideboard from Goldfish a spin, as it's entirely possible that I've been stuck in my ways. I don't like the idea of no graveyard hate but having both Runed Halo and Disdainful Stoke could be useful when playing against Arclight Phoenix and Amulet Titan respectively.
In my opinion, Champion of Wits is worse than Court Hussar. However I play it in the three color version to hedge being able to discard redundant Glittering Wish which can get stuck in your hand when a Blood Moon is in play. It has also been semi-impresive against the UR eltro-living end deck.
@The Fluff I just saw your post about including the bant version under unconventional builds, I'd appreciate that, though I think I may be the only one playing UWish Emeria right now.
As far as core of the deck, I think those numbers come into play if you cut down to the bare bones as a lot of base UW lists play + 1 Flickerwisp + 1 Court Hussar + 1 Wrath of God and sometimes + 1 Detention Sphere. The manabase strikes me as a bit weird though, I've seen eight basic emeria decks usually a split between seven Plains and one Island but I haven't seen an eight Plains build for a while. Four Hallowed Fountain also seems somewhat excessive now that we have access to both Irrigated Farmland and Prairie Stream. I also think you need to add Spreading Seas to the core of the deck, it's a way to generate card advantage and is an important part of our secondary mana denial plan. It is also one our only ways to keep the Tron menace in check.
In summery
Path to Exile = 4
Wall of Omens = 4
Spreading Seas = 4
Court Hussar = 2 - 4
Flickerwisp = 3 - 4
Detention Sphere = 2 - 4
Supreme Verdict = 2 - 3
Wrath of God = 0 - 1
Sun Titan = 3
Hallowed Fountain = 3 - 4
Plains = 6 - 7
It's generally been accepted to play the three copies of Sun Titan now, this is because just one uncontested Sun Titan will single handily win you the game.
The problem with only the two copies is that you are likely to only find a single titan during the game. Usually the first Sun Titan will eat either countermagic or removal. On the opposite end four copies is much too many because they end up clogging up in your hand.
No worries, I'll see what I can do! Doing a quick search on golfish I got a 2018 list for UW Emeria https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1178362#online. Obviously everyone is going to have different sideboard strategies, this list looks like it's forgoing graveyard hate in leu of getting a better Amulet Titan, Titanshift and Tron matchup. The maindeck however is pretty stock, give or take a Detention Sphere for a Day of Judgement. I can't work on all of them right now because it takes time to right them up and I gotta go to work now but I'll try to post my experiences consistently!
No, the primer was never mine. I forget their username but I think it had a picture of a blue bird - penguin in it.
I digress, UR Arclight Phoenix
In my experience you want to side out land destruction package in Spreading Seas and Crucible of Worlds. This is because their deck is already base UR so taking them off mana will be difficult and Crucible of Worlds is too slow and grindy for the matchup. I generally bring in disruption, exile based removal, and graveyard hate. Think, Damping Sphere, Settle the Wreckage and Tormod's Crypt. You really just want to slow them down and avoid busted nut draws because you will win the mid to late game. Also be very conscious of what removal you are spending for what creature, this is because the amount of card draw your opponent posses will likely have you seeing a diverse arrangement of threats. In a long game you are very likely to see Young Pyromancer, Arclight Phoenix, Crackling Drake and Thing in the Ice. I generally want to use exile based removal like Detention Sphere and Path to Exile on Arclight Phoenix and mass removal like Supreme Verdict on Young Pyromancer, Crackling Drake and Thing in the Ice. Gideon of the Trails is mvp against an Thing in the Ice or Crackling Drake. Also keep in mind that Awoken Horror is something you can easily chump block forever and one hit from it will likely not end the game. Them flipping it will also allow you to reset all your enter the battlefield triggers, which is very kind of them. UR Phoenix doesn't play much in the way of countermagic, in fact it's all in the sideboard. Spellpierce and Dispel, you may also see Surgical Extraction and Anger of the Gods post board depending on how your opponent sideboards. Personally I don't bother playing around countermagic with Path to Exile, maybe with a Wrath of God or blow out Settle the Wreckage but giving your opponent extra untaped mana by using it at sorcery speed is generally a bad idea. It may even be the difference between them flipping their Thing in the Ice and smacking you with an extra two Arclight Pheonix. Their basic land count is four, with two mountain and two island.
I'm really glad this thread is back up, that's great! What happened to original person who held the primer?
@The Fluff I'd be more than happy to help contribute information regarding matchup data, what decks did you need the matchup info for so far?
@thnkr A Tithe Taker list would be interesting, I'm glad it's been working out for you. For myself, most recently I've been piloting a UWish build with some success on magic online. I've gone through so many revisions but I think what I have now is optimal.
So this version has been doing well for me on magic online. Gaddock Teeg shutting down Electrodominance and Sigarda, Host of Herons shutting down the wrath aspect of Living End has come up in more games then it reasonably should. It seems to have a decent Phoenix matchup too. I remember absolutely manhandling a Temur Phionex opponent with Glittering Wish and Rest in Peace. Aggro has been better for me since making the changes too. I've learned that a lot of the time you want to use Glittering Wish for a second wrath against most creature based aggro because they can usually rebuild after the first one. On the draw you can also add one Supreme Verdict into your deck and keep one in side to have access to a total of eight wrath's and maximize consistency. I did add Nissa, Steward of Elements to the deck, in place of Geist of Saint Traft and so far it's been preforming much better as a second non-graveyard win condition. Either drawing cards and ramping towards Emeria, the Sky Ruin, scrying to relevant cards, or clocking the opponent for 10 damage and killing the opponent out of the blue.
@TimeWizud All really cool cards, and maybe I'm wrong about High Alert but they don't really seem to impact the board when cast, three to five mana is a lot in modern.
Anyway, I've recently started playing mono white again because of the UR Phionex decks running around. Remorseful Cleric and Kami of False Hope really help in the matchup! I'll share the list, but I've had good results with it so far, it really needs more card advantage to do well outside of a creature / graveyard centric meta but if you come across either of those you're favored to win.
Post sideboard you want more creature removal and counter magic for specifically; planeswalkers or sweepers. I generally cut some number of one toughness creatures because they die to both Walking Ballista and End Bringer. I also trim a Path to Exile to hedge a Chalice of the Void on one, if your opponent has sided them out, leave Path to Exile in. Post sideboard if you're opponent brings in both Relic of Progenitus and Ratchet Bomb while leaving in Walking Ballista I would consider siding in Stony Silence too.
Side out: 5
1 Path to Exile
2 Lone Missionary
2 Flickerwisp
Side in: 5
2 Negate
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Settle the Wreckage
Anyway the E-Tron that I am familiar with is vulnerable to both our mana denial and creature removal package. Be wary of Walking Balista, All is Dust, and top end like Karn Liberated or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
If you're expecting this deck
Side in
relevant countermagic, disruption, and removal
i.e. Elspeth, Sun's Champion is extremely potent in this match up
Side out
- assortment of 1 toughness creatures b/c of Walking Ballista and Endbringer
- trim Path to Exile b/c Chalice of the Void
I can write up a guide for this matchup soon.
Ad Nauseam is an all in instant speed combo deck that is looking to draw their entire deck and win the game with either Lightning Storm or Laboratory Maniac. They do this by ramping into Ad Nauseam using artifact mana like Pentad Prism or Lotus Bloom and setting up their combo with either Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace so they do not lose the game from the life loss given by Ad Nauseam.
Sideboard Strategy
Side out
all creature removal
4 Path to Exile, 2 Supreme Verdict, 1 Wrath of God, 3 Sun Titan
Side in
countermagic, disruption, and threats
2 Dispel, 2 Negate, 2 Stony Silence, 2 Damping Sphere, 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, 1 Gideon of the Trials
Tips and Tricks
1 Be mindful that a Gideon of the Trials at 3 loyalty can still be killed by a Lightning Storm without any lands pitched
2 Be mindful that a Flickerwisp can exile a Phyrexian Unlife in a pinch to deal lethal combat damage when needed
Basic Land count: 2
2 Plains
STORM
Storm is an all in semi graveyard based combo deck looking to cast multiple spells in a turn to increase their 'storm' count and kill you with either Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens. A storm players first priority is to resolve a Goblin Electromancer or Baral, Chief of Compliance. Once that is accomplished they will start netting mana with Desperate Ritual and Pyretic Ritual and drawing cards with Opt, Slight of Hand, Serum Visions and Manamorphose. They can run all this back with a Gifts Ungiven for Past in Flames, and once they have cast enough spells in a turn they will cast their win condition Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens.
Side out
4 Spreading Seas, 1 Crucible of Worlds, 2 Sun Titan, 1 Wrath of God, 2 Supreme Verdict
Side in
Graveyard Hate, Countermagic, Disruption, Threats
3 Tormod's Crypt, 2 Dispel, 2 Negate, 2 Damping Sphere, 1 Gideon of the Trials
Tips and Tricks
1 Use Path to Exile on a mana bear in response to the first ritual effect
2 Be mindful that some Storm list play Blood Moon, if your opponent is play fetch lands like Scalding Tarn they are more likely to be playing Blood Moon than lists that play Shivan Reef
3 Be mindful that some lists also like to pivot into a transformational sideboard of Madcap Experiment and Platinum Emperion
Basic Land count: 5
2 Island
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mountain
Sorry about my lenthy guides, I'll try to really condense the information if I write more.
Good luck on the primer! Oh, I just saw one of your earlier posts.I never held the primer, I just posted consistently.
So to review, Amulet Titan is a ramp focused toolbox combo deck focused on dealing lethal damage through a buffed Primeval Titan or an alternate win condition in the form of Hive Mind. They can also grind fairly well by searching for a Tolaria West and a bouceland, upon Primeval Titan's enter the battlefield trigger and repeating this process.
So how do you combat this? Your best friends in this matchup pre side are Path to Exile, Ghost Quarter, Field of Ruin and Gideon of the Trials. Instant speed removal is likely needed to weather the first hit from Primeval Titan afterwards you want to take out their Slayers' Stronghold as this will force your opponent to play a sorcery speed making both Detention Sphere and Supreme Verdict much better. Once they shift gears to their grinder gameplan you need to prioritize destroying Tolaria West in response to a bounce lands trigger, this is to prevent them from starting their loop. A Gideon of the Trials emblem will ensure you don't get janked out by a Hive Mind. Gideon of the Trials will likely also buy you a turn if you get attacked by a Primeval Titan because Amulet Titan usually only has one massive attacker to swing with at a time. You can also use Gideon of the Trials as a quasi removal for a Titan by fogging it until you draw into real removal.
Side in:
2 Dispel, 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, 1 Gideon of the Trails, 2 Damping Sphere
Side out:
2 Lone Missionary
4 Spreading Sea's
Spreading Sea's is unreliable because your opponent will just play a bounceland to pick up the land enchanted by it and the lifegain provided by our Lone Missionary is largely inconsequential because our opponent tends to deal damage in massive chunks.
Countermagic for Pact of Negation and Summoner's Pact, Sorcerous Spyglass for Slayers' Stronghold, Engineered Explosives, or Tolaria West transmute. Gideon of the Trials for Hive Mind or fogs a threat. Damping Sphere to slow down the opponent by cutting off extra mana added by bouncelands.
Keep in mind, Flickerwisp can be used to kill Walking Ballista or reset a bounce land. Detention Sphere should be used to take out Amulet of Vigor ASAP. Sometimes you can win a match by destroying the correct bounce land while your opponent has pact triggers at upkeep. Make sure to destroy the bounceland upon entry so it's etb still forces your opponent to pick up another land. Our Emeria, the Sky Ruin gameplan is largely unreliable because of their one Bojuka Bog and thier ability to easily reset it multiple times. I would suggest holding a Court Hussar until you can use a Ghost Quarter / Field of Ruin to destroy it.
Other great cards in this match up Runed Halo, Disdainful Stroke, possibly Surgical Extraction.
Basic Land count: 3
3 Forest
Maindeck: 60
Creature: 18
3 Lone Missionary
4 Wall of Omens
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Flickerwisp
3 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
Instant // Sorcery: 7
4 Path to Exile
1 Wrath of God
2 Supreme Verdict
Enchantment: 7
4 Spreading Seas
3 Detention Sphere
Planeswalker: 2
2 Gideon of the Trail's
Artifact: 1
1 Crucible of Worlds
Manabase: 25
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
6 Plains
1 Prairie Stream
1 Windswept Heath
Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dispel
1 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
2 Negate
2 Damping Sphere
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Gideon of the Trial's
1 Settle the Wreckage
That said, I may have to give the sideboard from Goldfish a spin, as it's entirely possible that I've been stuck in my ways. I don't like the idea of no graveyard hate but having both Runed Halo and Disdainful Stoke could be useful when playing against Arclight Phoenix and Amulet Titan respectively.
As far as core of the deck, I think those numbers come into play if you cut down to the bare bones as a lot of base UW lists play + 1 Flickerwisp + 1 Court Hussar + 1 Wrath of God and sometimes + 1 Detention Sphere. The manabase strikes me as a bit weird though, I've seen eight basic emeria decks usually a split between seven Plains and one Island but I haven't seen an eight Plains build for a while. Four Hallowed Fountain also seems somewhat excessive now that we have access to both Irrigated Farmland and Prairie Stream. I also think you need to add Spreading Seas to the core of the deck, it's a way to generate card advantage and is an important part of our secondary mana denial plan. It is also one our only ways to keep the Tron menace in check.
In summery
Path to Exile = 4
Wall of Omens = 4
Spreading Seas = 4
Court Hussar = 2 - 4
Flickerwisp = 3 - 4
Detention Sphere = 2 - 4
Supreme Verdict = 2 - 3
Wrath of God = 0 - 1
Sun Titan = 3
Hallowed Fountain = 3 - 4
Plains = 6 - 7
The problem with only the two copies is that you are likely to only find a single titan during the game. Usually the first Sun Titan will eat either countermagic or removal. On the opposite end four copies is much too many because they end up clogging up in your hand.
No, the primer was never mine. I forget their username but I think it had a picture of a blue bird - penguin in it.
I digress, UR Arclight Phoenix
In my experience you want to side out land destruction package in Spreading Seas and Crucible of Worlds. This is because their deck is already base UR so taking them off mana will be difficult and Crucible of Worlds is too slow and grindy for the matchup. I generally bring in disruption, exile based removal, and graveyard hate. Think, Damping Sphere, Settle the Wreckage and Tormod's Crypt. You really just want to slow them down and avoid busted nut draws because you will win the mid to late game. Also be very conscious of what removal you are spending for what creature, this is because the amount of card draw your opponent posses will likely have you seeing a diverse arrangement of threats. In a long game you are very likely to see Young Pyromancer, Arclight Phoenix, Crackling Drake and Thing in the Ice. I generally want to use exile based removal like Detention Sphere and Path to Exile on Arclight Phoenix and mass removal like Supreme Verdict on Young Pyromancer, Crackling Drake and Thing in the Ice. Gideon of the Trails is mvp against an Thing in the Ice or Crackling Drake. Also keep in mind that Awoken Horror is something you can easily chump block forever and one hit from it will likely not end the game. Them flipping it will also allow you to reset all your enter the battlefield triggers, which is very kind of them. UR Phoenix doesn't play much in the way of countermagic, in fact it's all in the sideboard. Spellpierce and Dispel, you may also see Surgical Extraction and Anger of the Gods post board depending on how your opponent sideboards. Personally I don't bother playing around countermagic with Path to Exile, maybe with a Wrath of God or blow out Settle the Wreckage but giving your opponent extra untaped mana by using it at sorcery speed is generally a bad idea. It may even be the difference between them flipping their Thing in the Ice and smacking you with an extra two Arclight Pheonix. Their basic land count is four, with two mountain and two island.
@The Fluff I'd be more than happy to help contribute information regarding matchup data, what decks did you need the matchup info for so far?
@thnkr A Tithe Taker list would be interesting, I'm glad it's been working out for you. For myself, most recently I've been piloting a UWish build with some success on magic online. I've gone through so many revisions but I think what I have now is optimal.
Maindeck: 60
Creature: 16
3 Lone Missionary
4 Wall of Omens
3 Flickerwisp
1 Champion of Wits
2 Court Hussar
3 Sun Titan
Instant // Sorcery: 11
4 Path to Exile
4 Glittering Wish
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Wrath of God
1 Supreme Verdict
Enchantment: 5
4 Spreading Seas
1 Detention Sphere
Planeswalker: 2
2 Gideon of the Trials
Artifact: 1
1 Crucible of Worlds
Manabase: 25
1 Canopy Vista
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
6 Plains
1 Temple Garden
3 Windswept Heath
Sideboard 15
3 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
2 Negate
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Absorb
1 Detention Sphere
1 Knight of Autumn
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
So this version has been doing well for me on magic online. Gaddock Teeg shutting down Electrodominance and Sigarda, Host of Herons shutting down the wrath aspect of Living End has come up in more games then it reasonably should. It seems to have a decent Phoenix matchup too. I remember absolutely manhandling a Temur Phionex opponent with Glittering Wish and Rest in Peace. Aggro has been better for me since making the changes too. I've learned that a lot of the time you want to use Glittering Wish for a second wrath against most creature based aggro because they can usually rebuild after the first one. On the draw you can also add one Supreme Verdict into your deck and keep one in side to have access to a total of eight wrath's and maximize consistency. I did add Nissa, Steward of Elements to the deck, in place of Geist of Saint Traft and so far it's been preforming much better as a second non-graveyard win condition. Either drawing cards and ramping towards Emeria, the Sky Ruin, scrying to relevant cards, or clocking the opponent for 10 damage and killing the opponent out of the blue.
@TimeWizud All really cool cards, and maybe I'm wrong about High Alert but they don't really seem to impact the board when cast, three to five mana is a lot in modern.
Anyway, I've recently started playing mono white again because of the UR Phionex decks running around. Remorseful Cleric and Kami of False Hope really help in the matchup! I'll share the list, but I've had good results with it so far, it really needs more card advantage to do well outside of a creature / graveyard centric meta but if you come across either of those you're favored to win.
Mono White Emeria
Creature: 25
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Lone Missionary
3 Remorseful Cleric
4 Wall of Omens
4 Flickerwisp
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Sun Titan
Instant // Sorcery: 8
4 Path to Exile
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Wrath of God
Planeswalker: 3
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Gideon Jura
Lands: 24
4 - Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 - Field of Ruin
3 - Flagstones of Trokir
2 - Ghost Quarter
11 - Plains
Sideboard: 15
1 - Kami of False Hope
1 - Remorseful Cleric
2 - Stony Silence
4 - Damping Sphere
2 - Sorcerous Spyglass
1 - Gideon of the Trials
2 - Kitchen Finks
2 - Cleansing Nova
Recently I've been debating cutting a Lone Missionary to move the last Remorseful Cleric from the board. Then perhaps adding a one of Celestial Purge, Disenchant, Declaration in Stone. You could also make an argument for a third Kami of False Hope too.