I agree with the Hexproof sentiment. Going through the hoops to get her cost down and casting her without being uncounterable, only to have a topdecked sorcery, or one left over b/c you couldn't cast everything on the controlled turn, take out EM is frustrating.
Would a Flying, Trample, Hexproof 13/13 be too powerful? We're talking about the strongest titan, who has already caused sooooo much pain to a world just by being near it. And now EM has fully manifested. I'd like to know my investment of including EM in my deck was safer with Hexproof. I'm still super excited to play it, though!
I can understand that point. It would be nice and would make sense flavor wise. However, had they done that, I think they would have to tweak her a bit. You know, maybe get rid of the mindslaver? Or get rid of her ability to reduce her casting cost?
I'm just saying: a 13/13 flying, trample, hexproof with the ability to reduce casting cost and can mindslaver an opponent? That's not something I'd ever want to be on the other end of.
I agree with the Hexproof sentiment. Going through the hoops to get her cost down and casting her without being uncounterable, only to have a topdecked sorcery, or one left over b/c you couldn't cast everything on the controlled turn, take out EM is frustrating.
Would a Flying, Trample, Hexproof 13/13 be too powerful? We're talking about the strongest titan, who has already caused sooooo much pain to a world just by being near it. And now EM has fully manifested. I'd like to know my investment of including EM in my deck was safer with Hexproof. I'm still super excited to play it, though!
I can understand that point. It would be nice and would make sense flavor wise. However, had they done that, I think they would have to tweak her a bit. You know, maybe get rid of the mindslaver? Or get rid of her ability to reduce her casting cost?
I'm just saying: a 13/13 flying, trample, hexproof with the ability to reduce casting cost and can mindslaver an opponent? That's not something I'd ever want to be on the other end of.
Yeah, I def get that. I think I'd be happier with Pro Instants and Sorceries, while still leaving the vulnerabilities to enchantments, creature and PW abilities, and boardwipes. But like I said, I cannot wait to play new Emrakul; EM is definitely powerful and will be Standard competitive. Emrakul is one of my favorites, and having an actually castable version is super-special-awesome.
True dat. When I first stated playing EDH and got into Animar, I wanted the titans so badly. I thought they were awesome cards and figures in the lore and really wanted them to be parts my deck strategy. Then I learned that Emrakul was banned completely. The fact we're getting a new version of the most powerful of them has me hyped. Heck, I already pre-ordered her!
Think people are overestimating it's ability to protect itself
As far as sorcery speed... well you wont be able to get rid of it all necessarily and mass removal/bounce it wont matter
For instant speed... I mean one of the most popular decks in standard uses repeatable instant speed bounce. And then because of cards like westvale abbey clipped wings and stasis snare have seen a bit more play. There are others that aren't used but might start if this becomes an issue
well, you can get rid of the sorcery speed removal most of time.
If for some reason your opponent has a Planar Outburst when you gain control o their turn, you're out of luck.
Other than that, you'll be able to spend most of the sorcery speed removal that could hit Emrakul during the turn you steal.
as the ones that can take Emrakul out of the battlefield.
Biggest issue are Stasis Snare and Planar Outburst that simply can't be dealt with. Stasis Snare if your opponent has mana open in the turn you cast Emrakul and Outburst regardless of anything.
Jace is also a pretty great issue that you'll never be able to avoid. He will bounce Ermakul if he want's to.
Clip Wings is either the end of Emrakul or completely irrelevant, depending on you controlling one more flying dude.
Declaration is Stone, Ruinous Path and Angelic Purge can be easily wasted if there's any other target in play, and are very likely to generate important card advantage for you Ob Nixilis Reignited you'd have to play and -3 him to destroy something else, warranting he doesn't kill Emrakul during your opponent's "extra turn"
Tragic Arrogance can always be wasted leaving Emrakul alive.
Nahiri can't avoid Emrakul first attack by herself also.
but she can come in and exile him after that.
well, there's not many cards you can't really get rid off during the mind control turn between stuff people are actually using.
also, it's highly unlikely your opponent will be holding more than one of those in the turn you have enough mana to cast emrakul.
it's even more unlikely that so late in the game he'd also don't have enough mana to cast both if that's the case.
Emrakul is VERY sturdy, she WILL win 90%+ of all games she comes out, no question about it.
Just remember you can only easily waste things if there are targets to easily waste them on. Been a few deck types highly focused on killing all the things while not having a lot of creatures that have been doing well. And if this becomes popular what cards and deck types that are played will change. Pretty much no one played clipped wings before Westvale abbey became popular
It's really not that good, and outside of standard I think it's probably trash, especially because even with the Mindslaver effect it gives the other player another turn, so the mindslaver effect doesn't do that much. Don't invest in it. Every ability it has is just immediately undercut. It has protection from instants, but not enchantments and it isn't indestructible, it mindslaves but gives an extra turn. No annihilator, no huge casting bonus. In every format except standard it's beaten by at most 2 mana. It'll be forgotten about soon enough. A 9 mana 13/13 isn't that great and there are better things to reanimate.
STATISTICS.
All of these "Let's eliminate bad cards" crusades are simply ignorant. And when they start to devolve into "WotC is conspiring to give us crappy cards," they just become embarrassing. MATH is conspiring to give you crappy cards.
I think you are undervaluing the mindslaver effect. and reanimating a 13/13 flying trample creature is not bad. In modern if you are playing this there is no way you are casting it for 9 more like 7ish and I'm not sure there are any other 7 drops that have that kind of effect on your opponent and the board state. I'm not saying it will see play in modern I have no clue, I'm still on the fence about that. But standard this should see at the very least fringe play.
I can't speak for modern or standard. I have no insight into them. But ever hear of EDH? People have been wanting a playable Emrakul for both the Commander and the 99.
especially because even with the Mindslaver effect it gives the other player another turn, so the mindslaver effect doesn't do that much
I have no idea where you getting that. The only way the mindslaver won't mean anything is if the opponent has just the right card, is already so far ahead that there's really nothing you can do or they happen to topdeck into something useful. The fact that the mindslaver effect cannot be countered is a big deal. Also, even if they get an extra turn, it really doesn't matter if they're entire board and strategy as been derailed. If you have nothing to meaningfully affect the state of board, all a turn translates into is: 'I draw a card and untap land'.
It has protection from instants, but not enchantments and it isn't indestructible
It's still has more protection than most creatures. Having protection against instants means that some of the best removal has no effect on her. The argument of it dies to 'this' doesn't mean much when 95% of creatures have the exact same weakness.
No annihilator
We've already known that annihilator was never coming back. NONE of the new Eldrazi have it. So who cares? Instead she kept flying and got trample. How many people are going to have the small army needed to block her. Are they even going to have it after you mindslaver them and sent those creatures to die?
It seems to me that you've just nitpicked the card.
Think people are overestimating it's ability to protect itself
As far as sorcery speed... well you wont be able to get rid of it all necessarily and mass removal/bounce it wont matter
For instant speed... I mean one of the most popular decks in standard uses repeatable instant speed bounce. And then because of cards like westvale abbey clipped wings and stasis snare have seen a bit more play. There are others that aren't used but might start if this becomes an issue
well, you can get rid of the sorcery speed removal most of time.
If for some reason your opponent has a Planar Outburst when you gain control o their turn, you're out of luck.
Other than that, you'll be able to spend most of the sorcery speed removal that could hit Emrakul during the turn you steal.
as the ones that can take Emrakul out of the battlefield.
Biggest issue are Stasis Snare and Planar Outburst that simply can't be dealt with. Stasis Snare if your opponent has mana open in the turn you cast Emrakul and Outburst regardless of anything.
Jace is also a pretty great issue that you'll never be able to avoid. He will bounce Ermakul if he want's to.
Clip Wings is either the end of Emrakul or completely irrelevant, depending on you controlling one more flying dude.
Declaration is Stone, Ruinous Path and Angelic Purge can be easily wasted if there's any other target in play, and are very likely to generate important card advantage for you Ob Nixilis Reignited you'd have to play and -3 him to destroy something else, warranting he doesn't kill Emrakul during your opponent's "extra turn"
Tragic Arrogance can always be wasted leaving Emrakul alive.
Nahiri can't avoid Emrakul first attack by herself also.
but she can come in and exile him after that.
well, there's not many cards you can't really get rid off during the mind control turn between stuff people are actually using.
also, it's highly unlikely your opponent will be holding more than one of those in the turn you have enough mana to cast emrakul.
it's even more unlikely that so late in the game he'd also don't have enough mana to cast both if that's the case.
Emrakul is VERY sturdy, she WILL win 90%+ of all games she comes out, no question about it.
Excellent work
Those are the stuff that can deal with her
But you pointed out what some cons are those removals
Far more important stuff will appear before emrakul pops out. That new first ever flip eldrazi is one of them. But depends on how easy it is to flip it though.
Based on the other comments, i think Emmy is being underrated, you see even if emmy did not come into play, you still get to steal the opponents turn/control it. and he gets countered... so what? he doesnt get reshuffled to the library like the old emmy. so reanimate? put on top of library then re-cast? control opponents turn again and again?
I think a lot of people are really overvaluing the can't be countered clause on the first Emrakul. Apart from really long Tron games, the brief time she was in Commander, Mono Blue Omnitell, and ROE Standard when did anyone actually cast her? Most of the time nowadays she snuck into play via Sneak Attack, Hypergenesis, Eureka!, Goryo's Vengeance, Through the Breach, etc. And even so, the instances where you actually casted Emrakul 1.0 were few and far between and heavily required other cards to make it work. So I really don't see why people are bringing into account. Unless you plan on actually casting Emrakul as a means for a win condition, you never really had to worry about it. Omni-Tell had other means of winning that didn't require Emrakul too. And if I recall, the 15/15 flying, hasted, annihilator 6, pro colored spells spaghetti monster kills you more often than the Time Walk ever did.
That being said, the cost reduction on Emrakul 2.0 is a dead ringer that this is an Emrakul designed in such a way where you want to cast it. There is no immediate attack effect like annihilator attached at all, and the big 13/13 body has no major impact other than being a big beat stick. The trample and flying are things, and pro instants means it can't get blown out by stupid stuff like Path or Swords or the like. The Mindslaver effect means you want to cast this Emrakul for as cheap as possible (rewarding you for going Delirious) and will allow you to wreck their board just like Mindslaver did/does. In standard, the least this card will cost in 6 and in Eternal it's 5 (thanks tribal :D). As I said before--you simply hobble them out with Mindslaver and watch them as they will probably try to recover and, if they fail, Emrakul brings them their Promised End by smacking them in the dome for 13.
One of the biggest flaws with Mindslaver though is that it is extremely dependent on the board state and the cards in your opponent's hand, regardless of if it's attached to Emrakul or the actual artifact. If your playing against a very aggressive deck and survive long enough to cast and slaver them with Emrakul, it doesn't matter. You can dump their hand and tap them out in all kinds of ways, but if your at low life and have no blockers other than a 13/13 C'thulu, you're still loosing that game even after the Slaver. If their hand is ripe with burn and you cast Emrakul, they can dump out in response and still probably kill you. If you playing against say Control and you Slaver them, the variance goes higher. What if they have all removal and no targets on their side? Sometimes you Slaver either archetype and they just have a crappy hand.
The beauty with Mindslaver was recursion. They also didn't get an extra turn afterwards meaning you can make them horribly misplay and it was just over at that point.
This latest version of Emrakul is very strange and certainly far beyond what the first iteration did. However, it's a really unique card and a really interesting design. I'm excited to see what some people due to abuse the cost reduction ability. Get your Haakons and Nameless Inversions now guys.
We've already known that annihilator was never coming back. NONE of the new Eldrazi have it. So who cares? Instead she kept flying and got trample. How many people are going to have the small army needed to block her. Are they even going to have it after you mindslaver them and sent those creatures to die?
I care. Annihilator is a big part of the eldrazi identity. Its removal speaks to wizard's failure to preserve what was once a great tribe. And you are missing the point as to why people are upset with the mindslaver ability. Hardcast Emrakul was the end of the line, they did not get a chance to respond because extra turn + annihilator meant game was over as one does not recover from annihilator 6. This version of mindlsaver does give them an out. Why? It is "The Promised End" for crying out loud, it should not come with qualifiers such as "as long as they don't topdeck xyz".
Now if they don't really want to keyword annihilator again, FINE. Give me Bane of Bala Ged for 4-6 permanents, make it cost a million again and I'll be happy. Instead we get a watered down version, and that's just sad. You know you've screwed up the card when the old version fits the new name better than the new card =/
I think a lot of people are really overvaluing the can't be countered clause on the first Emrakul. Apart from really long Tron games, the brief time she was in Commander, Mono Blue Omnitell, and ROE Standard when did anyone actually cast her?
It has to do with the identity of the card. Hardcasting Emrakul represented the end of the game, and as such it came with an extra turn, protections, uncounterability, pretty much everything to ensure it does that. The new one is not the same way.
Also, to answer your question, you can hardcast Emrakul, The Aeons Torn fairly easily off the back of a Serra's Sanctum chain. Having something like 5-6 enchantments is actually not that difficult to accomplish in legacy
G Azusa, Lost but Seeking G UG Tishana, Voice of Thunder GU UBW Sen Triplets WBU WUBGAtraxa, Praetors' Voice GBUW WUBRGJodah, Archmage Eternal GRBUW GWR Mayael the Anima RWG RWB Edgar Markov BWR WG Gaddok Teeg GW W Oketra the True W
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I care. Annihilator is a big part of the eldrazi identity. Its removal speaks to wizard's failure to preserve what was once a great tribe. And you are missing the point as to why people are upset with the mindslaver ability. Hardcast Emrakul was the end of the line, they did not get a chance to respond because extra turn + annihilator meant game was over as one does not recover from annihilator 6. This version of mindlsaver does give them an out. Why? It is "The Promised End" for crying out loud, it should not come with qualifiers such as "as long as they don't topdeck xyz".
Now if they don't really want to keyword annihilator again, FINE. Give me Bane of Bala Ged for 4-6 permanents, make it cost a million again and I'll be happy. Instead we get a watered down version, and that's just sad. You know you've screwed up the card when the old version fits the new name better than the new card =/
Annihilator is highly oppressive ability to be on the other end of. As powerful as it is and how good it feels to use it, it's not fun for the other player. WotC not bringing it back doesn't speak of failure to preserve the tribe (which has gone in completely different direction with last few sets), it speaks of the failure of introducing it in the first place. Otherwise, WotC would have simply brought it back. If you have to back peddle on a concept it means that either it failed or it was too good.
Yes, it's called 'the Promised End'. It never said who the end is for. I still see how that ties into what it does. How many creatures are over the 13/13 flying, trample, pro instants and reduces it's casting cost? On top of that you get mindslaver someone. Either you're going win or you're going to find out what will be your downfall once that turn is over. No matter what way the turns go, you pretty much know how things are going go down at that point.
You make it sound like that it should be this broken as heck card instead of simply a good card. Shoot, I'd argue that Emrakul is better than the new versions of Kozilek and Ulamog from a tactical point of view.
It's really not that good, and outside of standard I think it's probably trash, especially because even with the Mindslaver effect it gives the other player another turn, so the mindslaver effect doesn't do that much. Don't invest in it. Every ability it has is just immediately undercut. It has protection from instants, but not enchantments and it isn't indestructible, it mindslaves but gives an extra turn. No annihilator, no huge casting bonus. In every format except standard it's beaten by at most 2 mana. It'll be forgotten about soon enough. A 9 mana 13/13 isn't that great and there are better things to reanimate.
Emrakul doesn't give the opponent an "extra" turn. It gives them their normal turn.
Controlling someone else's turn essentially gives you two extra turns, because you're depriving your opponent of their turn while also using that turn to advance your own gameplan.
On top of that, you get to follow it up with your own turn afterward.
Attaching that ability to a flying, trampling 13/13 just makes it even more backbreaking for your opponent.
So the "extra" turn allows Emrakul to be powerful without being overly degenerate.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Emrakul doesn't give the opponent an "extra" turn. It gives them their normal turn.
Controlling someone else's turn essentially gives you two extra turns, because you're depriving your opponent of their turn while also using that turn to advance your own gameplan.
On top of that, you get to follow it up with your own turn afterward.
Attaching that ability to a flying, trampling 13/13 just makes it even more backbreaking for your opponent.
So the "extra" turn allows Emrakul to be powerful without being overly degenerate.
All this is the point I think some miss. Emrakul 2.0 is not meant to be an almost broken card like the original. It's meant to be powerful, not the new bar that you measure everything against.
The "gain control of target opponent" clause is what sells this card to me. I wasn't around for Mindslaver but I did have a BG deck during Theros which topped out at Worst Fears. Without fail, in every game where I cast Fears I won because of my ability to completely disrupt my opponent's hand and board state.
I wouldn't worry about sorcery-speed removal, either. What are they going to use, Declaration in Stone? Exile won't be a problem in the new set. Bone Splinters? That isn't even in the current BW control builds but it may start showing up. Ruinous Path, maybe? There are ways to get it back.
The only real "drawback" will be that you can't use combat tricks but that, also, shouldn't matter. The fact that you hard-cast the card is going to stop whatever your opponent was thinking of doing and will force them to focus on Emrakul, even to the point where they may ignore any threats from some other angle.
The fact that you hard-cast the card is going to stop whatever your opponent was thinking of doing and will force them to focus on Emrakul, even to the point where they may ignore any threats from some other angle.
I really don't like this card, sure the end of the turn and then you control your opponent's turn is good however those are his only pros. The cons are really big ones: 1. You opponent can cast non instant removal of him completely makes him too much of a big target. 2. It has flying and trample, that's it. Don't get me wrong he is 13/13 but he can be still blocked with a lot of creatures meaning your opponent will throw almost anything at him in order to kill it and not to deal damage. 3. In theory her cost will be reduced by 8 but in reality it will be 3 or 4 since you won't likely have any card type imaginable. 4. He could be countered, so much for a menacing eldrazi if your opponent can simply Counterspell or Broken Concentration him. 5. You opponent has an extra turn to fix the damage you have done meaning this is a worse version of mindslaver.
1. Dies to removal is not an argument for a card to be bad. This one even avoids A LOT of said removal. and if you cast it, you gain control of your opponent's turn... if he happens to have a sorcery removal, feel free to cast it at something else.
So, your opponent has to topdeck new removal or deal with a 13/13 flying trampler without it.
2. How many times have you seen people with enough blockers to stop 13 power in the air? Seriously. and that after they made a REALLY bad attack in the turn before and Emrakul blocked and killed his best dude... this point makes no sense whatsoever.
3. And still, he'll be a 13/13 flying trample monstrosity with "ruin target player next turn" attached to it for 10 or something, which is... well, not bad.
4. well, by that logic, almost all hardcasted bombs in magic history are bad. Even so, Emrakul will let you control the next turn of your opponent and try your best to ruin his board position even if it's Counterspelled and that's huge.
5. an extra turn is just an extra card and "untap everything". that doesn't fix a turn where he made the worst possible decisions he could have made.
If just 1 turn fixes everything and deals with the 13/13 flying trampler monstrosity you just played, then you were so much behind you should have conceded before casting emrakul.
Is it a "worse mindslaver"? sure it is.
If it was a straight up mindslaver it would be A LOT better than the Time Walk effect the old Emrakul had.
After looking at what you said and re-thinking this card again I came to realize when you are right. Just was shocked for the first time and jumped on the hate wagon.
I think the card is alright, my issue though is it's rather lackluster for an eldrazi Titan in my opinion. I'd rather use the other two over her, unlike the older set. Yeah the older one was a "I play, I win"... But that was the idea of the card. She was THE strongest entity in magic and backed that up.
This card... I wouldn't say that at all.
Again not a terrible card, just disappointed that she's not worth putting in my Kozilek edh deck
I really like this Emrakul and think it is at least the second best of the new Eldrazi Titans, with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger probably being the best. There will be times with this card where the slaver effect is really strong and there will be times where it is not. Yes it dies to Clip Wings and Stasis Snare, but even original Emrakul will die to those. The idea of giving this card hexproof seems a little ridiculous, because outside of jank like Bonds of Mortality it would be impossible to kill without Planar Outburst or Clip Wings; hell even Tragic Arrogance wouldn't help unless its topdecked after the slaver turn, because the Emrakul player would cast it and have Emrakul live.
Now, I'm not sure if this card will make a splash in any format beyond standard and probably EDH (This may be the first Eldrazi Titan I put in Karador, Ghost Chieftain) but with the original Emrakul being legal for Modern and Legacy, the odds of this card making a splash in either of those formats was already pretty slim.
I think there will be some games where this card bails you out when you're behind, some where it won't and lots of games where it seals the game up when you're ahead which seems like a pretty well designed Magic card to me.
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I can understand that point. It would be nice and would make sense flavor wise. However, had they done that, I think they would have to tweak her a bit. You know, maybe get rid of the mindslaver? Or get rid of her ability to reduce her casting cost?
I'm just saying: a 13/13 flying, trample, hexproof with the ability to reduce casting cost and can mindslaver an opponent? That's not something I'd ever want to be on the other end of.
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Yeah, I def get that. I think I'd be happier with Pro Instants and Sorceries, while still leaving the vulnerabilities to enchantments, creature and PW abilities, and boardwipes. But like I said, I cannot wait to play new Emrakul; EM is definitely powerful and will be Standard competitive. Emrakul is one of my favorites, and having an actually castable version is super-special-awesome.
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Dragon Tempest gives this Haste.
well, you can get rid of the sorcery speed removal most of time.
If for some reason your opponent has a Planar Outburst when you gain control o their turn, you're out of luck.
Other than that, you'll be able to spend most of the sorcery speed removal that could hit Emrakul during the turn you steal.
In the top 50 most played standard spells (http://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/standard/full/spells), you have:
as the ones that can take Emrakul out of the battlefield.
Biggest issue are Stasis Snare and Planar Outburst that simply can't be dealt with. Stasis Snare if your opponent has mana open in the turn you cast Emrakul and Outburst regardless of anything.
Jace is also a pretty great issue that you'll never be able to avoid. He will bounce Ermakul if he want's to.
Clip Wings is either the end of Emrakul or completely irrelevant, depending on you controlling one more flying dude.
Declaration is Stone, Ruinous Path and Angelic Purge can be easily wasted if there's any other target in play, and are very likely to generate important card advantage for you
Ob Nixilis Reignited you'd have to play and -3 him to destroy something else, warranting he doesn't kill Emrakul during your opponent's "extra turn"
Tragic Arrogance can always be wasted leaving Emrakul alive.
Nahiri can't avoid Emrakul first attack by herself also.
but she can come in and exile him after that.
well, there's not many cards you can't really get rid off during the mind control turn between stuff people are actually using.
also, it's highly unlikely your opponent will be holding more than one of those in the turn you have enough mana to cast emrakul.
it's even more unlikely that so late in the game he'd also don't have enough mana to cast both if that's the case.
Emrakul is VERY sturdy, she WILL win 90%+ of all games she comes out, no question about it.
I can't speak for modern or standard. I have no insight into them. But ever hear of EDH? People have been wanting a playable Emrakul for both the Commander and the 99.
I have no idea where you getting that. The only way the mindslaver won't mean anything is if the opponent has just the right card, is already so far ahead that there's really nothing you can do or they happen to topdeck into something useful. The fact that the mindslaver effect cannot be countered is a big deal. Also, even if they get an extra turn, it really doesn't matter if they're entire board and strategy as been derailed. If you have nothing to meaningfully affect the state of board, all a turn translates into is: 'I draw a card and untap land'.
It's still has more protection than most creatures. Having protection against instants means that some of the best removal has no effect on her. The argument of it dies to 'this' doesn't mean much when 95% of creatures have the exact same weakness.
We've already known that annihilator was never coming back. NONE of the new Eldrazi have it. So who cares? Instead she kept flying and got trample. How many people are going to have the small army needed to block her. Are they even going to have it after you mindslaver them and sent those creatures to die?
It seems to me that you've just nitpicked the card.
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Excellent work
Those are the stuff that can deal with her
But you pointed out what some cons are those removals
Far more important stuff will appear before emrakul pops out. That new first ever flip eldrazi is one of them. But depends on how easy it is to flip it though.
its has pros and cons. you cannot have it all.
That being said, the cost reduction on Emrakul 2.0 is a dead ringer that this is an Emrakul designed in such a way where you want to cast it. There is no immediate attack effect like annihilator attached at all, and the big 13/13 body has no major impact other than being a big beat stick. The trample and flying are things, and pro instants means it can't get blown out by stupid stuff like Path or Swords or the like. The Mindslaver effect means you want to cast this Emrakul for as cheap as possible (rewarding you for going Delirious) and will allow you to wreck their board just like Mindslaver did/does. In standard, the least this card will cost in 6 and in Eternal it's 5 (thanks tribal :D). As I said before--you simply hobble them out with Mindslaver and watch them as they will probably try to recover and, if they fail, Emrakul brings them their Promised End by smacking them in the dome for 13.
One of the biggest flaws with Mindslaver though is that it is extremely dependent on the board state and the cards in your opponent's hand, regardless of if it's attached to Emrakul or the actual artifact. If your playing against a very aggressive deck and survive long enough to cast and slaver them with Emrakul, it doesn't matter. You can dump their hand and tap them out in all kinds of ways, but if your at low life and have no blockers other than a 13/13 C'thulu, you're still loosing that game even after the Slaver. If their hand is ripe with burn and you cast Emrakul, they can dump out in response and still probably kill you. If you playing against say Control and you Slaver them, the variance goes higher. What if they have all removal and no targets on their side? Sometimes you Slaver either archetype and they just have a crappy hand.
The beauty with Mindslaver was recursion. They also didn't get an extra turn afterwards meaning you can make them horribly misplay and it was just over at that point.
This latest version of Emrakul is very strange and certainly far beyond what the first iteration did. However, it's a really unique card and a really interesting design. I'm excited to see what some people due to abuse the cost reduction ability. Get your Haakons and Nameless Inversions now guys.
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)
I care. Annihilator is a big part of the eldrazi identity. Its removal speaks to wizard's failure to preserve what was once a great tribe. And you are missing the point as to why people are upset with the mindslaver ability. Hardcast Emrakul was the end of the line, they did not get a chance to respond because extra turn + annihilator meant game was over as one does not recover from annihilator 6. This version of mindlsaver does give them an out. Why? It is "The Promised End" for crying out loud, it should not come with qualifiers such as "as long as they don't topdeck xyz".
Now if they don't really want to keyword annihilator again, FINE. Give me Bane of Bala Ged for 4-6 permanents, make it cost a million again and I'll be happy. Instead we get a watered down version, and that's just sad. You know you've screwed up the card when the old version fits the new name better than the new card =/
It has to do with the identity of the card. Hardcasting Emrakul represented the end of the game, and as such it came with an extra turn, protections, uncounterability, pretty much everything to ensure it does that. The new one is not the same way.
Also, to answer your question, you can hardcast Emrakul, The Aeons Torn fairly easily off the back of a Serra's Sanctum chain. Having something like 5-6 enchantments is actually not that difficult to accomplish in legacy
UG Tishana, Voice of Thunder GU
UBW Sen Triplets WBU
WUBGAtraxa, Praetors' Voice GBUW
WUBRGJodah, Archmage Eternal GRBUW
GWR Mayael the Anima RWG
RWB Edgar Markov BWR
WG Gaddok Teeg GW
W Oketra the True W
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My Decklist Folder
Annihilator is highly oppressive ability to be on the other end of. As powerful as it is and how good it feels to use it, it's not fun for the other player. WotC not bringing it back doesn't speak of failure to preserve the tribe (which has gone in completely different direction with last few sets), it speaks of the failure of introducing it in the first place. Otherwise, WotC would have simply brought it back. If you have to back peddle on a concept it means that either it failed or it was too good.
Yes, it's called 'the Promised End'. It never said who the end is for. I still see how that ties into what it does. How many creatures are over the 13/13 flying, trample, pro instants and reduces it's casting cost? On top of that you get mindslaver someone. Either you're going win or you're going to find out what will be your downfall once that turn is over. No matter what way the turns go, you pretty much know how things are going go down at that point.
You make it sound like that it should be this broken as heck card instead of simply a good card. Shoot, I'd argue that Emrakul is better than the new versions of Kozilek and Ulamog from a tactical point of view.
BK'rrik Goodstuff
GWSythis Enchantress
URYusri Coin Flip
BRGKorvold Tokens
BGUYarok Lands Matter
WUBRaffine Looter
Emrakul doesn't give the opponent an "extra" turn. It gives them their normal turn.
Controlling someone else's turn essentially gives you two extra turns, because you're depriving your opponent of their turn while also using that turn to advance your own gameplan.
On top of that, you get to follow it up with your own turn afterward.
Attaching that ability to a flying, trampling 13/13 just makes it even more backbreaking for your opponent.
So the "extra" turn allows Emrakul to be powerful without being overly degenerate.
All this is the point I think some miss. Emrakul 2.0 is not meant to be an almost broken card like the original. It's meant to be powerful, not the new bar that you measure everything against.
BK'rrik Goodstuff
GWSythis Enchantress
URYusri Coin Flip
BRGKorvold Tokens
BGUYarok Lands Matter
WUBRaffine Looter
I wouldn't worry about sorcery-speed removal, either. What are they going to use, Declaration in Stone? Exile won't be a problem in the new set. Bone Splinters? That isn't even in the current BW control builds but it may start showing up. Ruinous Path, maybe? There are ways to get it back.
The only real "drawback" will be that you can't use combat tricks but that, also, shouldn't matter. The fact that you hard-cast the card is going to stop whatever your opponent was thinking of doing and will force them to focus on Emrakul, even to the point where they may ignore any threats from some other angle.
Classic distraction carnifex.
BK'rrik Goodstuff
GWSythis Enchantress
URYusri Coin Flip
BRGKorvold Tokens
BGUYarok Lands Matter
WUBRaffine Looter
Also, since it wasn't hard cast your opponent won't get a free turn against you.
After looking at what you said and re-thinking this card again I came to realize when you are right. Just was shocked for the first time and jumped on the hate wagon.
This card... I wouldn't say that at all.
Again not a terrible card, just disappointed that she's not worth putting in my Kozilek edh deck
Now, I'm not sure if this card will make a splash in any format beyond standard and probably EDH (This may be the first Eldrazi Titan I put in Karador, Ghost Chieftain) but with the original Emrakul being legal for Modern and Legacy, the odds of this card making a splash in either of those formats was already pretty slim.
I think there will be some games where this card bails you out when you're behind, some where it won't and lots of games where it seals the game up when you're ahead which seems like a pretty well designed Magic card to me.