Happy to see Emeria putting up some results on Modo (Yorion version no less). It's appeared a couple times on the League 5-0 dumps and even two 11th places in the Challenge which is super impressive. I've been playing more meta decks recently but some of the key takeaways I'm seeing are:
1. Addition of ephemerate and Esper Sentinel
2. Cutting lands down to 29-30
3. 0 path, 0 prismatic ending in lieu of 4 March of otherwordly light
4. A lot of white fetches in the mana base
5. Return of flickerwisp
Grats Starstorm well played! Any interest in some of the newer cards in Innistrad? Particular interested in your thoughts for:
1. Cathar Commando (Seal of cleansing replacement?)
2. Ambitious Farmhand (for those that play Pilgrims eye?)
3. Malevolent Hermit - harder on the mana, but I've been theorizing this card for a while and I feel like this could push us in the right direction
Couldn't get enough Emeria so I got a Manatraders subscription. Played through 11 leagues with a total record of 31-24; the first 9 leagues I did no better than 3-2 in any one league, having tried many variations such as 60/80 cards, Stoneforge package / Ranger Cap package, No Wall of Omens / No Charming Prince etc.
In my last two leagues I went 4-1 in both leagues so I feel there's a very minor breakthrough without looking into the results too much. My decklist is tightened up a bit further now and the consistency has helped. Thanks to Starstorm for the inspiration on his list, mine is basically the same besides running the Ranger Captain package instead.
Some takeaways:
1. I tested Starstorm's list a bit, maybe its just a preference thing but Stoneforge has been only OK for me. It makes the close out speed faster and has the utility of grabbing silver equipment bullets but I've been overly impressed with the Ranger-Cap / Teferi lockout. I feel very comfortable with the other numbers though.
2. For whatever reason my list that only runs 4 2-drops has not been a noticeable crutch for me ; it probably makes more sense to swap some Hussar's out for some Wall of Omens to better the curve.
3. Have gravitated more towards the 60 card version; not being able to draw sideboard answers with an 80 card deck has hurt me in more polarizing matchups where if I draw the wrong side of the deck its auto-GG. I can see having access to Yorion being more favorable in grindy Lurrus matchups where it often comes down to top decking / who gets the most value out of their companion. Gotta figure out the right numbers for redundancy but being able to draw sideboard cards is quite huge in modern...
Hey Gerant thanks for the feedback, didn't get a chance to respond but here are my quick-takes:
1. Dovin's Veto vs. Jeskai Stoneblade - I think that in hindsight it was wrong to bring it in - its main use is for combo/counterspell heavy decks which Jeskai Stoneblade is neither. Got back into modern recently and learning what all the decks do :\
2. Domain opponent - yes indeed the card was Might of Alara! I didn't think Prismatic ending was great as he was very multi colored but looking back it hit Brushfire/Kavu so should have left it in
3. Flickerwisp - I actually love its utility for my list, it flickers my creatures for additional value (Sun Titan returning Flickerwisp was a common play until the printing of Charming Prince). It can flicker reset things like Chalice/EE (which aren't great against our deck but can be useful in a pinch). It kills Germ/Rhino/Blue Illusion from Skyclave immediately and can also move our Spreading Seas to a higher priority target land late game. It also flickers troublesome permanents temporarily like Ensnaring Bridge/Sphere of Safety (not very much played now) which adds to the utility. Lastly it can flicker our living weapons to reset them. I think the right number is 1-2 and adds to consistency.
4. Blast Zone has been great in killing one drops, and annoying permanents. It's not amazing but provides utility in times of need and I feel like its a free inclusion to the mana. I don't have Crucible in the mainboard but Sun Titan can return it if needed, which is quite rare. The extra utility land has not impacted my mana as I'm on 31 land in the Yorion build. If I was on 60 cards I would go with only the 4 Field of Ruin / 1 Ghost Quarter package.
5. Prismatic Vista is an extra fetch that allows me to get basic island but due to the lack of Blood Moon decks it's probably better to have a 6th white fetchland to get the Raugrin triome instead.
Agreed that the 80 card Yorion variation hedges even stronger against creature decks, which makes us softer against the likes of Tron/Combo/Mill. To strengthen the combo matchup I'd put the Ranger Captains back in. I'd also just pack more sideboard hate against Tron maybe like 6-7 slots (Damping Sphere, Void Mirror, Aven Mindcensor, Sorcerous Spyglass etc)
I don't think elementals is strong enough right now to warrant hostile sideboard options like Torpor Orb effects...but yeah Torpor orb is basically GG against us unless we have Teferi / Seal of Cleansing.
1. 0 Path, 4 On Thin Ice: I'm certainly going to test this with reservations that I'm losing out with instant speed removal, the ability to path my own creature to ramp and requiring a basic snow plains to use. The upside of OTI not giving opponent an extra land may outweigh all the downsides I've listed.
2. 4 Flickerwisp, 3 Blade Splicer: Definitely helps with the closing speed of the deck and a feature of the deck since it also runs 4 Ephemerate. This is a more aggressive package that Emeria can pack. I've never been the biggest fan of Blade Splicer but I can see its worth with Yorion and Charming Prince.
3. 4 Solitudes and 4 Teferis: Might be the right numbers in the current meta tbh but can be adjusted
4. 4 Thraben Inspectors: One of the best blockers against Ragavan and I've really been a fan of the card in Emeria as a chump blocker and 'cycler'.
5. 4 Spreading Seas: Hard agree on this choice, people are playing really greedy mana bases / utility lands that make Spreading Seas very impactful.
Will be testing this or the Stoneforge package soon time and hope to come back with another report!
Played a 3 round FNM, was supposed to test the Stoneforge package that everyone's on but unfortunately my friend forgot to bring a Batterskull for me to borrow so we stuck with the Ranger Captain package instead.
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Jeskai Stoneblade
I opened with Thraben Inspector + Wall of Omens which rendered his Ragavan useless. He plays Stoneforge fetching up Kaldra and I answer the germ with Solitude. I eventually run him out of cards with Ranger Captain fetching up Inspectors and cracking clues along the way while hitting his white sources with my land denial package.
Game 2 (+2 Dovin's Veto, -2 Verdict) Game was grindy and I flooded for a while with like 10 lands (no Emeria) while trading 1:1. It was looking quite bad for me until I drew into Wall of Omens into Thraben (crack clue) into Ranger Captain (finding Kami) which stalled for me a bit more. I eventually get a big turn with Yorion/Sun Titan/Charming Prince and he can't come back.
Round 2: 2-0 vs. General Ferrous Omnath
Game 1 luckily had 2 Teferi's in hand so I kept bouncing General Ferrous and he couldn't develop a board. I land a Sun Titan and he doesn't have the removal to keep up even though he made a couple of golems. I build up my board and get an active Emeria and it was quite an easy finish.
Game 2 (+1 Winds of Abandon, +1 Crucible, -2 Prismatic Endings. Was more of the same where I built up a decent board, he lands an early Rest in Peace which I eventually exile with Prismatic Ending. An interesting turn I had was playing a Phantasmal Image copying his Omnath. I fetch a land that was already on the battlefield to get the first trigger, then play a Sun Titan getting back the same fetchland, cracking it for the 3rd trigger which wiped out both his W6 and Teferi. That felt reallly good.
Round 3: 2-1 vs. Domain Aggro (Scion/Kavu/Brushfire Elemental/some Domain pump spell)
Game 1 I got ran over, took 2 tribal flames and a Boros Charm to the face and I was quickly dead.
Game 2 (+1 Winds of Abandon, -1 Prismatic Ending) In hindsight should have brought in Sanctifier which has pro red. He was setting up for a big turn with Boros Charm (double strike) with the domain pump spell, but I blow him out with an evoked Solitude. He can't keep up with my card advantage and enormous amounts of removal and I land a Sun Titan and do my thing.
Game 3 He gets an early Territorial Kavu on board with domain which I immediately answer with Skyclave Apparition. He also gets a Brushfire elemental on board but doesn't have the lands to make him good. His hand was full of Boros Charms / Tribal Flames which I negated with Charming Prince lifegain. I set up a bunch of dinky blockers (Walls/ Court Hussar / Thrabens) and I stall long enough for Sun Titan / blinking Charming Prince to get out of range.
Overall deck felt great today, probably cause I faced midrange creature decks which I feel is Emeria's strong suit. Would still like to try out the Stoneforge package but Ranger-Captain / Kami looping was good for padding my life and cycling more cards with Thraben Inspector. Stoneforge would definitely help with the closing speed problems of the deck. The Ranger Captain sac ability wasn't very relevant today and probably not as relevant in the meta due to the lack of combo decks. Other cards I'm on the fence on are Flickerwisp / Court Hussar ; think I really want to bump the Teferi count to 4 to deal with the Cascade/Ephemerate decks. I will continue to test with Yorion though cause he has impressed. Spreading Seas has been awesome and would highly recommend.
I subscribed to Manatraders and got back into MTGO to get more reps with the deck
I made some changes for budget reasons (No T3feri, no Prismatic Vista)
Currently 5-3 after playing 1.5 leagues, wanted to share some of my thoughts:
First league
[LOSS] UW Terminus Control
[WIN] Jund Shadow
[WIN] Budget Mono G Elves
[LOSS] BG Elves
[WIN] Grixis Shadow
Have always felt we had a good Shadow matchup based on my experience in paper matches, I tend to keep sub-par 7s as I expect to be IOK/Thoughtseized turn 1; mulling makes my hands considerably worse so I tend to not unless I'm short on lands. Losing to UW in 3 felt bad as we came to a razor thin third game. Difficult to win when the board is flooded with Walkers and we do have some trouble clearing them out after they stick. Detention Sphere only provides a temporary answer as both T3feri and T5feri can bounce Detention Sphere. Thinking I might need to plug Hex Parasite back into my 75 if I continue to face UW.
Got punished being Wrath light against Elves who had some nutty draws, but otherwise it doesn't feel overly great for us regardless since they can easily gas back up with Lead the stampede / Canopy lands.
Second league
Changes:
-1 Crucible : I gave it a try again, just really felt bad everytime I drew it...can't afford to find a turn to drop it.
+1 Wrath : Flex slot, could be Hex Parasite / White Cavalier in this slot
-2 Deafening Silence : Was expecting to face Emry, not sure if it's even good against them considering they have 4 EEs
+2 Aven Mindcensor : Vs. Amulet/Scapeshift
Second league (ongoing)
[WIN] Amulet
[WIN] 4C Chord Hatebears brew - Giver of Runes/Goyf/Thalia/Qasali Pridemage/Ooze etc
[LOSS] UW Stoneblade + Fae
Another frustrating close loss to UW in 3 - I've normally won this on paper, not sure if it's the level of opponent I'm facing on MTGO or because I don't have Court Hussar anymore. Really missed the digging power. Seems like everytime I lose to UW is when their draws are PW heavy.
Amulet matchup was unsurprisingly easy as I drew a number of sideboard cards to stall them as I got setup.
PROPS and SLOPS
+++Ranger Captain - everyone knows how I feel about this card by now, won't say more
++Charming Prince - great as advertised
++Dovin's Veto - skeptical of mainboarding it, but it's overperformed
+Cavalier of Dawn - does some serious work against troublesome permanents
+Aven Mindcensor - love it vs. Scapeshift/Amulet
+Kami - MVP vs Shadow
?? Flickerwisp - on the fence right now on this card, I do appreciate resetting spyglass and Dsphere and the ability to block flyers
--Wall of Omens - after the replacement of Lone Missionary, to me this is the worst card in the deck now. I've really missed the digging power of Court Hussar and intend to swap out 2 Wall of Omens for 2 Watcher for Tomorrow in my next league. Will have to add blue sources accordingly.
Welcome to the forum Paul!
We re-use Ranger-Captain Triggers via Sun Titan/Emeria - a common play pattern vs. control is to sac Ranger-Captain on your turn to safely resolve Sun Titan, immediately bringing back Ranger-Captain. The Ranger-Captain "lock" is mainly a mid-late game play usually when you have Emeria online (or you have drawn into multiple Ranger Captains) where you sac him on your opponents upkeep which essentially shuts off all Sorcery speed non-creature spells and restricts instants to be played on upkeep/ your turn. With a Teferi online that locks your opponent playing instants on only their upkeep.
Ranger Captain fetches up Kami/Thraben Inspector which buys time for you to get to your Sun Titan / getting Emeria online. In the late game you have a Ranger Captain lock against non creature decks, and also a Kami-lock against creature decks that attack us. Meanwhile all our creatures are basically 2 for 1s / cantrips and we drown them in card advantage. Hence I tend to chump creatures quite liberally.
The deck is very fun and rewarding to play, there's many lines and game plans that you need to identify and execute at the proper point in game. You also have a land destruction package in recurring Field of Ruin with Sun Titan/Crucible, and the ability to loop Blast Zone with Sun Titan to blow up troublesome permanents.
Hey Marinojuk I'm going to GP Montreal this weekend and might jam some modern with Emeria before/after the main event. I will take your word on the Teferi's and replace my Court Hussars. Some questions for you:
1. Did you miss Flickerwisp at all or did you find Charming Prince fulfilled that role ? I'm concerned about the deck's closing speed in only 50 minute rounds
2. Did you like the main Dovin's Vetos? Feel like Ranger Captain already serves a similar purpoes
3. Thoughts on the Crucible?
1. I tried putting back in Spreading Seas once and immediately regret it. It used to be good against Jund but now with Wrenn and Six printed, seas is pretty bad. I can only see it being good against a big Tron meta.
2. Golos was medium in my utility slot, I did fetch for Emeria a couple times which felt good, but I think Cavalier of Dawn is slightly better especially with the printing of Charming Prince.
3. I am fully on the Ranger Captain train and I think people who aren't running 3-4 are losing huge percentage points in a lot of matchups. It is very versatile and has a serviceable body. The standard target is Thraben Inspector, which is basically a 3 for 1 as you get a clue to draw another card. Please do yourself a huge favor and go buy a playset.
Ranger-Captain can do so much its insane - I'm going to list a few which I've often encountered and led me to winning more games than I ever had before the printing:
a. Saccing Ranger Captain on your turn enables you to safely resolve Sun Titan and immediately returning Ranger Captain. This gets around counterspells and fades instant speed removal until your opponents turn.
b. With Emeria enabled you can bring back Ranger Cap every turn and sac it on your opponents upkeep which for creature-lite decks can be backbreaking.
c. With two Emeria and two Ranger Cap you've locked your opponent in casting non-creature spells on each upkeep.
d. You can prevent spells coming off suspend, Electrodominance, and pre-emptively stop a Cascade
e. Ranger Cap has made what I thought was a bad matchup against Soulherder/Ephemerate variants actually not so bad. You can guarantee your removal resolving by saccing Ranger Cap and then playing the removal on your turn.
f. Fetch up Kami of False hope before a lethal attack - this is huge in surviving early and then deploying a sweeper or Sun Titan the turn after to extend the game.
g. Fringe but since I play against burn a lot, it shuts down Lava Spike and Rift Bolt as outs when they have you on lethal.
4. I can't will myself to cut Court Hussar as I'm always happy to see the card in my hand for some reason. Also one of my favorite re-animate targets.
5. Utility land slot - Blast Zone vs Ghost Quarter, I'm with team Blast Zone as it's so good against Shadow, Bogles and versatile against UWx/Jund too. You can re-cur it with Sun Titan in a pinch too.
I'm kinda drinking my own kool-aid here but I'm really liking my mainboard in how effective it is in winning game 1s (besides Scapeshift). Post Eldraine I will be swapping out -3 Lone Missionary -1 Court Hussar +4 Charming Prince
Did some brainstorming the other day and my friend suggested to include 1 of Golos, Tireless Pilgrim to fetch up Emeria/blast zone in a pinch. Can also help ramp us to 7 plains faster from Flickering it. Think I will try it for my weekly modern this week to see how it goes.
Played a 3 rounder last night and ended up 2-1 (split last round but played for the premium promo pack)
Match 1 [W--] vs UW Control w/ Stoneblade
We only ended up finishing one game which seems about right from experience lol - I usually average about 1.5 games with UW so very important to win the first one, or identify when you can't win to scoop for more time to win the second one. He lands an early Jace and there was a crucial turn in which he was tapped out to block all my attackers with Snapcaster at Jace, and played Path on my Ranger Cap. I sac'd Ranger Cap in response and then proceeded to play Detention Sphere in my 2nd main phase, which was met with a Veto. We proceeded to his turn with both of us forgetting that he could not cast non-creature spells which actually made a big difference because he ended up brainstorming with JTMS for another 10+ turns. I'm not sure what the ruling would've been to backtrack, but in any case I let it go since it was regular REL and low stakes. After 15+ turns of grinding I reach a board state of 3 active Emeria but at low health. I proceed to sac Ranger Cap on his upkeep everyturn to lock him out, but ignorant that I needed to sac my second Ranger Cap on my own turn so he can't interact with Kami, cause i would've been dead from a Cryptic tap down and alpha swing. Unfortunately I did not get punished for that and had a path in hand to save my butt. I ended up grinding him out and then time was called while we were sideboarding.
Match 2 [WW] vs 5c Whirza
Largely uneventful as my opponent had less than spectacular draws, I brought in 11 cards to stop him at numerous angles (Stony Silence, Spyglass, Mindcensor, Veto, Cleric). I drew enough of my sideboard cards and established a clock to end the game quickly.
Match 3 [LL] vs Jund
I haven't played against Jund post MoHo so this was a good learning experience to see how the matchup has evolved. I was generally happy to play against Jund before but after playing against W6 I felt a bit helpless. The Spreading Seas were atrocious as I didn't really have much time to go on the land destruction plan, and regardless that would be futile anyway because of W6. Game 1 a resolved Lili + W6 grinded me out of cards and I lost to a Hexdrinker before I could turn the corner.
Game 2 I brought in 3 Leyline, 2 Veto, 2 Spyglass to focus on the walkers. My 7 had double Missionary which I shipped because its so bad against W6. I usually try to keep as many 7s as I can against hand-disruption decks. My 6 was a 1 lander (Field of ruin) with a Leyline. I could'nt go down to 6 so reluctantly kept and played the T0 leyline hoping he has a hand full of Iok/Thoughtseize. He didn't, I missed 1 land drop and lost to an unanswered Tireless tracker which generated too much advantage.
In conclusion, Spreading Seas was worse than I thought it would be, decks play too many basics and ways to get around land d / color denial (Astrolabe, W6) to be effective. I actually decided to pack 0 wraths yesterday and found out later that I did miss having 2 - its actually not so bad against UW now that they upped the creature count, and it can take out Hexdrinker.
Going to give it another run today at FNM, this deck has so many lines I still have so much to learn after picking the deck up 4 years ago. Can't make the MCQ unfortunately on Saturday
3 more weeks until I can shelve Lone Missionaries...
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1. Addition of ephemerate and Esper Sentinel
2. Cutting lands down to 29-30
3. 0 path, 0 prismatic ending in lieu of 4 March of otherwordly light
4. A lot of white fetches in the mana base
5. Return of flickerwisp
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4722677#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4721854#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4711721#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4711726#paper
1. Cathar Commando (Seal of cleansing replacement?)
2. Ambitious Farmhand (for those that play Pilgrims eye?)
3. Malevolent Hermit - harder on the mana, but I've been theorizing this card for a while and I feel like this could push us in the right direction
In my last two leagues I went 4-1 in both leagues so I feel there's a very minor breakthrough without looking into the results too much. My decklist is tightened up a bit further now and the consistency has helped. Thanks to Starstorm for the inspiration on his list, mine is basically the same besides running the Ranger Captain package instead.
Sideboard is tuned more against Tron/Burn.
6 Plains
1 Island
4 Field of Ruin
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
1 Raugrin Triome
Creatures
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Charming Prince
3 Skyclave Apparition
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
3 Path to Exile
3 Prismatic Ending
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Burrenton Forge Tender
2 Damping Sphere
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Void Mirror
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Stony Silence
Some takeaways:
1. I tested Starstorm's list a bit, maybe its just a preference thing but Stoneforge has been only OK for me. It makes the close out speed faster and has the utility of grabbing silver equipment bullets but I've been overly impressed with the Ranger-Cap / Teferi lockout. I feel very comfortable with the other numbers though.
2. For whatever reason my list that only runs 4 2-drops has not been a noticeable crutch for me ; it probably makes more sense to swap some Hussar's out for some Wall of Omens to better the curve.
3. Have gravitated more towards the 60 card version; not being able to draw sideboard answers with an 80 card deck has hurt me in more polarizing matchups where if I draw the wrong side of the deck its auto-GG. I can see having access to Yorion being more favorable in grindy Lurrus matchups where it often comes down to top decking / who gets the most value out of their companion. Gotta figure out the right numbers for redundancy but being able to draw sideboard cards is quite huge in modern...
1. Dovin's Veto vs. Jeskai Stoneblade - I think that in hindsight it was wrong to bring it in - its main use is for combo/counterspell heavy decks which Jeskai Stoneblade is neither. Got back into modern recently and learning what all the decks do :\
2. Domain opponent - yes indeed the card was Might of Alara! I didn't think Prismatic ending was great as he was very multi colored but looking back it hit Brushfire/Kavu so should have left it in
3. Flickerwisp - I actually love its utility for my list, it flickers my creatures for additional value (Sun Titan returning Flickerwisp was a common play until the printing of Charming Prince). It can flicker reset things like Chalice/EE (which aren't great against our deck but can be useful in a pinch). It kills Germ/Rhino/Blue Illusion from Skyclave immediately and can also move our Spreading Seas to a higher priority target land late game. It also flickers troublesome permanents temporarily like Ensnaring Bridge/Sphere of Safety (not very much played now) which adds to the utility. Lastly it can flicker our living weapons to reset them. I think the right number is 1-2 and adds to consistency.
4. Blast Zone has been great in killing one drops, and annoying permanents. It's not amazing but provides utility in times of need and I feel like its a free inclusion to the mana. I don't have Crucible in the mainboard but Sun Titan can return it if needed, which is quite rare. The extra utility land has not impacted my mana as I'm on 31 land in the Yorion build. If I was on 60 cards I would go with only the 4 Field of Ruin / 1 Ghost Quarter package.
5. Prismatic Vista is an extra fetch that allows me to get basic island but due to the lack of Blood Moon decks it's probably better to have a 6th white fetchland to get the Raugrin triome instead.
Agreed that the 80 card Yorion variation hedges even stronger against creature decks, which makes us softer against the likes of Tron/Combo/Mill. To strengthen the combo matchup I'd put the Ranger Captains back in. I'd also just pack more sideboard hate against Tron maybe like 6-7 slots (Damping Sphere, Void Mirror, Aven Mindcensor, Sorcerous Spyglass etc)
I don't think elementals is strong enough right now to warrant hostile sideboard options like Torpor Orb effects...but yeah Torpor orb is basically GG against us unless we have Teferi / Seal of Cleansing.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4255942#paper
Super interesting build by Oreia - my takeaways:
1. 0 Path, 4 On Thin Ice: I'm certainly going to test this with reservations that I'm losing out with instant speed removal, the ability to path my own creature to ramp and requiring a basic snow plains to use. The upside of OTI not giving opponent an extra land may outweigh all the downsides I've listed.
2. 4 Flickerwisp, 3 Blade Splicer: Definitely helps with the closing speed of the deck and a feature of the deck since it also runs 4 Ephemerate. This is a more aggressive package that Emeria can pack. I've never been the biggest fan of Blade Splicer but I can see its worth with Yorion and Charming Prince.
3. 4 Solitudes and 4 Teferis: Might be the right numbers in the current meta tbh but can be adjusted
4. 4 Thraben Inspectors: One of the best blockers against Ragavan and I've really been a fan of the card in Emeria as a chump blocker and 'cycler'.
5. 4 Spreading Seas: Hard agree on this choice, people are playing really greedy mana bases / utility lands that make Spreading Seas very impactful.
Will be testing this or the Stoneforge package soon time and hope to come back with another report!
9 Plains
1 Island
4 Field of Ruin
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
1 Marsh Flats
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Blast Zone
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
1 Raugrin Triome
Creatures
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Charming Prince
4 Wall of Omens
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Skyclave Apparition
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Court Hussar
2 Flickerwisp
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
4 Path to Exile
3 Prismatic Ending
3 Supreme Verdict
4 Spreading Seas
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Damping Sphere
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Void Mirror
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Winds of Abandon
Played a 3 round FNM, was supposed to test the Stoneforge package that everyone's on but unfortunately my friend forgot to bring a Batterskull for me to borrow so we stuck with the Ranger Captain package instead.
Round 1: 2-0 vs. Jeskai Stoneblade
I opened with Thraben Inspector + Wall of Omens which rendered his Ragavan useless. He plays Stoneforge fetching up Kaldra and I answer the germ with Solitude. I eventually run him out of cards with Ranger Captain fetching up Inspectors and cracking clues along the way while hitting his white sources with my land denial package.
Game 2 (+2 Dovin's Veto, -2 Verdict) Game was grindy and I flooded for a while with like 10 lands (no Emeria) while trading 1:1. It was looking quite bad for me until I drew into Wall of Omens into Thraben (crack clue) into Ranger Captain (finding Kami) which stalled for me a bit more. I eventually get a big turn with Yorion/Sun Titan/Charming Prince and he can't come back.
Round 2: 2-0 vs. General Ferrous Omnath
Game 1 luckily had 2 Teferi's in hand so I kept bouncing General Ferrous and he couldn't develop a board. I land a Sun Titan and he doesn't have the removal to keep up even though he made a couple of golems. I build up my board and get an active Emeria and it was quite an easy finish.
Game 2 (+1 Winds of Abandon, +1 Crucible, -2 Prismatic Endings. Was more of the same where I built up a decent board, he lands an early Rest in Peace which I eventually exile with Prismatic Ending. An interesting turn I had was playing a Phantasmal Image copying his Omnath. I fetch a land that was already on the battlefield to get the first trigger, then play a Sun Titan getting back the same fetchland, cracking it for the 3rd trigger which wiped out both his W6 and Teferi. That felt reallly good.
Round 3: 2-1 vs. Domain Aggro (Scion/Kavu/Brushfire Elemental/some Domain pump spell)
Game 1 I got ran over, took 2 tribal flames and a Boros Charm to the face and I was quickly dead.
Game 2 (+1 Winds of Abandon, -1 Prismatic Ending) In hindsight should have brought in Sanctifier which has pro red. He was setting up for a big turn with Boros Charm (double strike) with the domain pump spell, but I blow him out with an evoked Solitude. He can't keep up with my card advantage and enormous amounts of removal and I land a Sun Titan and do my thing.
Game 3 He gets an early Territorial Kavu on board with domain which I immediately answer with Skyclave Apparition. He also gets a Brushfire elemental on board but doesn't have the lands to make him good. His hand was full of Boros Charms / Tribal Flames which I negated with Charming Prince lifegain. I set up a bunch of dinky blockers (Walls/ Court Hussar / Thrabens) and I stall long enough for Sun Titan / blinking Charming Prince to get out of range.
Overall deck felt great today, probably cause I faced midrange creature decks which I feel is Emeria's strong suit. Would still like to try out the Stoneforge package but Ranger-Captain / Kami looping was good for padding my life and cycling more cards with Thraben Inspector. Stoneforge would definitely help with the closing speed problems of the deck. The Ranger Captain sac ability wasn't very relevant today and probably not as relevant in the meta due to the lack of combo decks. Other cards I'm on the fence on are Flickerwisp / Court Hussar ; think I really want to bump the Teferi count to 4 to deal with the Cascade/Ephemerate decks. I will continue to test with Yorion though cause he has impressed. Spreading Seas has been awesome and would highly recommend.
I made some changes for budget reasons (No T3feri, no Prismatic Vista)
Currently 5-3 after playing 1.5 leagues, wanted to share some of my thoughts:
Deck below:
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
7 Plains
1 Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Prairie Stream
1 Blast Zone
4 Field of Ruin
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Wall of Omens
4 Charming Prince
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
3 Flickerwisp
3 Sun Titan
3 Detention Sphere
4 Path to Exile
1 Winds of Abandon
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Deafening Silence
1 Burrenton Forge Tender
2 Dovin's Veto
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Remorseful Cleric
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Damping Sphere
1 Cavalier of Dawn
2 Stony Silence
First league
[LOSS] UW Terminus Control
[WIN] Jund Shadow
[WIN] Budget Mono G Elves
[LOSS] BG Elves
[WIN] Grixis Shadow
Have always felt we had a good Shadow matchup based on my experience in paper matches, I tend to keep sub-par 7s as I expect to be IOK/Thoughtseized turn 1; mulling makes my hands considerably worse so I tend to not unless I'm short on lands. Losing to UW in 3 felt bad as we came to a razor thin third game. Difficult to win when the board is flooded with Walkers and we do have some trouble clearing them out after they stick. Detention Sphere only provides a temporary answer as both T3feri and T5feri can bounce Detention Sphere. Thinking I might need to plug Hex Parasite back into my 75 if I continue to face UW.
Got punished being Wrath light against Elves who had some nutty draws, but otherwise it doesn't feel overly great for us regardless since they can easily gas back up with Lead the stampede / Canopy lands.
Second league
Changes:
-1 Crucible : I gave it a try again, just really felt bad everytime I drew it...can't afford to find a turn to drop it.
+1 Wrath : Flex slot, could be Hex Parasite / White Cavalier in this slot
-2 Deafening Silence : Was expecting to face Emry, not sure if it's even good against them considering they have 4 EEs
+2 Aven Mindcensor : Vs. Amulet/Scapeshift
Second league (ongoing)
[WIN] Amulet
[WIN] 4C Chord Hatebears brew - Giver of Runes/Goyf/Thalia/Qasali Pridemage/Ooze etc
[LOSS] UW Stoneblade + Fae
Another frustrating close loss to UW in 3 - I've normally won this on paper, not sure if it's the level of opponent I'm facing on MTGO or because I don't have Court Hussar anymore. Really missed the digging power. Seems like everytime I lose to UW is when their draws are PW heavy.
Amulet matchup was unsurprisingly easy as I drew a number of sideboard cards to stall them as I got setup.
PROPS and SLOPS
+++Ranger Captain - everyone knows how I feel about this card by now, won't say more
++Charming Prince - great as advertised
++Dovin's Veto - skeptical of mainboarding it, but it's overperformed
+Cavalier of Dawn - does some serious work against troublesome permanents
+Aven Mindcensor - love it vs. Scapeshift/Amulet
+Kami - MVP vs Shadow
?? Flickerwisp - on the fence right now on this card, I do appreciate resetting spyglass and Dsphere and the ability to block flyers
--Wall of Omens - after the replacement of Lone Missionary, to me this is the worst card in the deck now. I've really missed the digging power of Court Hussar and intend to swap out 2 Wall of Omens for 2 Watcher for Tomorrow in my next league. Will have to add blue sources accordingly.
We re-use Ranger-Captain Triggers via Sun Titan/Emeria - a common play pattern vs. control is to sac Ranger-Captain on your turn to safely resolve Sun Titan, immediately bringing back Ranger-Captain. The Ranger-Captain "lock" is mainly a mid-late game play usually when you have Emeria online (or you have drawn into multiple Ranger Captains) where you sac him on your opponents upkeep which essentially shuts off all Sorcery speed non-creature spells and restricts instants to be played on upkeep/ your turn. With a Teferi online that locks your opponent playing instants on only their upkeep.
Ranger Captain fetches up Kami/Thraben Inspector which buys time for you to get to your Sun Titan / getting Emeria online. In the late game you have a Ranger Captain lock against non creature decks, and also a Kami-lock against creature decks that attack us. Meanwhile all our creatures are basically 2 for 1s / cantrips and we drown them in card advantage. Hence I tend to chump creatures quite liberally.
The deck is very fun and rewarding to play, there's many lines and game plans that you need to identify and execute at the proper point in game. You also have a land destruction package in recurring Field of Ruin with Sun Titan/Crucible, and the ability to loop Blast Zone with Sun Titan to blow up troublesome permanents.
1. Did you miss Flickerwisp at all or did you find Charming Prince fulfilled that role ? I'm concerned about the deck's closing speed in only 50 minute rounds
2. Did you like the main Dovin's Vetos? Feel like Ranger Captain already serves a similar purpoes
3. Thoughts on the Crucible?
Some off the beaten path choices:
Grand Abolisher
Anafenza Kin Tree Spirit
Knight of the White Orchid
Meddling Mage
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
6 Plains
1 Island
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Prairie Stream
1 Blast Zone
4 Field of Ruin
1 Kami of False Hope
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Wall of Omens
3 Lone Missionary
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
3 Flickerwisp
1 Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
3 Sun Titan
2 Court Hussar
3 Detention Sphere
4 Path to Exile
1 Winds of Abandon
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Remorseful Cleric
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
2 Runed Halo
1. I tried putting back in Spreading Seas once and immediately regret it. It used to be good against Jund but now with Wrenn and Six printed, seas is pretty bad. I can only see it being good against a big Tron meta.
2. Golos was medium in my utility slot, I did fetch for Emeria a couple times which felt good, but I think Cavalier of Dawn is slightly better especially with the printing of Charming Prince.
3. I am fully on the Ranger Captain train and I think people who aren't running 3-4 are losing huge percentage points in a lot of matchups. It is very versatile and has a serviceable body. The standard target is Thraben Inspector, which is basically a 3 for 1 as you get a clue to draw another card. Please do yourself a huge favor and go buy a playset.
Ranger-Captain can do so much its insane - I'm going to list a few which I've often encountered and led me to winning more games than I ever had before the printing:
a. Saccing Ranger Captain on your turn enables you to safely resolve Sun Titan and immediately returning Ranger Captain. This gets around counterspells and fades instant speed removal until your opponents turn.
b. With Emeria enabled you can bring back Ranger Cap every turn and sac it on your opponents upkeep which for creature-lite decks can be backbreaking.
c. With two Emeria and two Ranger Cap you've locked your opponent in casting non-creature spells on each upkeep.
d. You can prevent spells coming off suspend, Electrodominance, and pre-emptively stop a Cascade
e. Ranger Cap has made what I thought was a bad matchup against Soulherder/Ephemerate variants actually not so bad. You can guarantee your removal resolving by saccing Ranger Cap and then playing the removal on your turn.
f. Fetch up Kami of False hope before a lethal attack - this is huge in surviving early and then deploying a sweeper or Sun Titan the turn after to extend the game.
g. Fringe but since I play against burn a lot, it shuts down Lava Spike and Rift Bolt as outs when they have you on lethal.
4. I can't will myself to cut Court Hussar as I'm always happy to see the card in my hand for some reason. Also one of my favorite re-animate targets.
5. Utility land slot - Blast Zone vs Ghost Quarter, I'm with team Blast Zone as it's so good against Shadow, Bogles and versatile against UWx/Jund too. You can re-cur it with Sun Titan in a pinch too.
I'm kinda drinking my own kool-aid here but I'm really liking my mainboard in how effective it is in winning game 1s (besides Scapeshift). Post Eldraine I will be swapping out -3 Lone Missionary -1 Court Hussar +4 Charming Prince
Match 1 [W--] vs UW Control w/ Stoneblade
We only ended up finishing one game which seems about right from experience lol - I usually average about 1.5 games with UW so very important to win the first one, or identify when you can't win to scoop for more time to win the second one. He lands an early Jace and there was a crucial turn in which he was tapped out to block all my attackers with Snapcaster at Jace, and played Path on my Ranger Cap. I sac'd Ranger Cap in response and then proceeded to play Detention Sphere in my 2nd main phase, which was met with a Veto. We proceeded to his turn with both of us forgetting that he could not cast non-creature spells which actually made a big difference because he ended up brainstorming with JTMS for another 10+ turns. I'm not sure what the ruling would've been to backtrack, but in any case I let it go since it was regular REL and low stakes. After 15+ turns of grinding I reach a board state of 3 active Emeria but at low health. I proceed to sac Ranger Cap on his upkeep everyturn to lock him out, but ignorant that I needed to sac my second Ranger Cap on my own turn so he can't interact with Kami, cause i would've been dead from a Cryptic tap down and alpha swing. Unfortunately I did not get punished for that and had a path in hand to save my butt. I ended up grinding him out and then time was called while we were sideboarding.
Match 2 [WW] vs 5c Whirza
Largely uneventful as my opponent had less than spectacular draws, I brought in 11 cards to stop him at numerous angles (Stony Silence, Spyglass, Mindcensor, Veto, Cleric). I drew enough of my sideboard cards and established a clock to end the game quickly.
Match 3 [LL] vs Jund
I haven't played against Jund post MoHo so this was a good learning experience to see how the matchup has evolved. I was generally happy to play against Jund before but after playing against W6 I felt a bit helpless. The Spreading Seas were atrocious as I didn't really have much time to go on the land destruction plan, and regardless that would be futile anyway because of W6. Game 1 a resolved Lili + W6 grinded me out of cards and I lost to a Hexdrinker before I could turn the corner.
Game 2 I brought in 3 Leyline, 2 Veto, 2 Spyglass to focus on the walkers. My 7 had double Missionary which I shipped because its so bad against W6. I usually try to keep as many 7s as I can against hand-disruption decks. My 6 was a 1 lander (Field of ruin) with a Leyline. I could'nt go down to 6 so reluctantly kept and played the T0 leyline hoping he has a hand full of Iok/Thoughtseize. He didn't, I missed 1 land drop and lost to an unanswered Tireless tracker which generated too much advantage.
In conclusion, Spreading Seas was worse than I thought it would be, decks play too many basics and ways to get around land d / color denial (Astrolabe, W6) to be effective. I actually decided to pack 0 wraths yesterday and found out later that I did miss having 2 - its actually not so bad against UW now that they upped the creature count, and it can take out Hexdrinker.
Going to give it another run today at FNM, this deck has so many lines I still have so much to learn after picking the deck up 4 years ago. Can't make the MCQ unfortunately on Saturday
3 more weeks until I can shelve Lone Missionaries...