I had forgot to mention that i had come 2nd in another RCQ on September 19/23. Same list except i played a Hallowed Fountain in the main over an Idyllic Grange and 2 Supreme Verdict in the SB over a Hallowed Moonlight and an Unlicensed Hearse. It was a hedge for Murktide, as you can surprise them postboard with an uncounterable wrath.
I also went 4-3 at the facetoface open in October but it was a weird event.
I plan on continuing to test and tune with WB going forward as I'm qualified for the RC in February, and will be bringing Emeria. It honestly feels like the strongest iteration.
I just won an RCQ with BW Emeria. I got here from UW emeria by transitioning to Esper to try to play bowmaster and the ring and Teferi Time Raveler and Supreme verdict but the deck was too slow so i cut the blue for a leaner deck. All the cards were great especially the Eagles. I'll ada link here to moxfield and to my twitter post with the quick writeup but only because i'm in a rush https://www.moxfield.com/decks/HwK3WdLWt0GFW9ffyzoMnw] https://twitter.com/_PlichoW_/status/1683009678085869568?s=20]
Hey all, just checking in to see how everyone is doing. I've been grinding a bunch of standard lately, but am looking forward to perfecting Emeria in time for RC cycle 4. Anyways I wanted to share a tournament report from someone in our discord playing an interesting version.
Hello! My name is Truong (Khepi) Nguyen and this is the last write up I will be writing for a hot second as I have now qualified for the RC in Dallas!
Real quick, huge shoutout to Adam and Dana Fischer for supporting me through this whole thing. Along with the judges of SoCal, my brother Anthony, and all the friends I’ve made along the way to help document this journey.
This is the third RCQ Ive played with this list. In the first two, I lost in second place. I think it’s a testament to the Emeria copium fan club that the worst this deck has ever done in an RCQ is Game 3 of finals.
Here’s my match breakdown:
35 players RCQ in SoCal.
6 rounds swiss with a cut.
Round 1
BYE
GOOD START. Took this time to take notes on every single other player and scout what they’re playing.
Round 2
2-0?
UR Murktide
G1: Durdly grindy game. Both on top deck mode but Emeria breaks parity.
G2: Don’t super remember. I remember seeing a Blood Moon. I remember finding my removal pieces and getting a good Verdict down. But I also don’t remember if he got a game or not? Nonetheless, we get there.
Round 3
0-2
UR Murktide
G1: Holy I never want to play against a Murktide ever again. This guy was insane. Two online DRCs with two Counterspell backups in the play by turn 3 and the game is over.
G2: I get outtempoed and outclassed. He’s a really good player and I just felt useless.
Round 4:
2-0
UW Hammer
G1: I’ve talked about the hammer matchup before and I still feel the same about it. It seems so easy. Solitude Ephemerate just goes so far. He should have conceded much earlier, G1 took 35 minutes or so. It looked like I was organizing my deck I just had playsets of cards on top of one another.
G2: He scoops early after a Mull to 5 and a Dawnbringer Cleric stone raining him and hitting a Sigardas Aid.
Round 5:
0-2
Amulet Titan
G1: Grindy Game. I go down to 1 and can’t activate last fetch to turn on Emeria. He gets there.
G2: I get stuck on mana. He gets a Cultivator Colossus out turn 5 or something after I spent Solitudes on Titans and I just die.
Round 6
2-0
E Tròn
G1: The fear I had going into this. Tròn is my worst matchup by far and it’s so poetic my last game, the one that determines if I top 8 or not, is on tron. This game takes maybe 30 minutes, and with Elesh out and some Princes, I get out of range of Ballista and we shilling. Side note, not sure if I was supposed to evoke Solitude and Eph it earlier but I got greedy and went down to 5 from a Reality Smasher. Worked in my favor because I hit 3 things with it eventually. Also if he know what I was playing, he would have gotten a Topor Orb so fast. Definitely a good reason to play off meta. No one expects it.
G2: He keeps a 2 lander and struggles. I get an Elesh Norn down and he scoops it up.
A deck created using Moxfield.
uwu emeria - Modern
A deck created using the deck building website, Moxfield.
Image
Cut to Top 8
Now is the fun part. The bracket is miserable.
Semis
2-1
THE SAME MURKTIDE PLAYER FROM ROUND 3
G1: He’s so fast and so smart. I get so disheartened from this. He’s playing around my stuff so well. Hopes are shattered.
G2: Well timed Verdict as well as Emeria getting back online means I get there. Side Note: I think I adopted a different attitude once my hope dropped. Like it didn’t matter if I won or not. Stopped taking it so seriously. Just played.
G3: I drew a good amount of sideboard cards. Emeria is active and he concedes.
Quarters
2-0
THE SAME AMULET TITAN PLAYER FROM ROUND 5
G1: Kind of long. He plays cards. I remove some. I always lived in fear I was just dead. I play Mommy Elesh. He tried to play in it and it just doesn’t work. Turns out Solitude Eph is even better with Mom out.
G2: He keeps such a slow hand. Basic Forest into Forest Defense Grid. Dryad into Pact. It’s just too slow. I remove everything as soon as I can. Loran really good in this match btw. Got an Elesh and he scoops.
FINALS
2-0
Creativity
G1: I play a card called Elesh Norn. My opponent creativities and gets an Archon with no trigger. I solitude it and flipped Reflection games over.
G2: Brought Back Elesh. He concedes. We both qualify but we’re just playing for the Lanyard so low stakes.
Overall I’m so proud of my deck and myself. I never realized how high my Match WR on Emeria was before tonight. I love the deck and I think i’m ready to return it and start prepping for Pioneer for the RC. None of my emeria cards are legal so idk what we’ll do. Mindsplice Apparatus?
"
They play what I like to call, high risk high reward emeria, where you have these high impact spells but can be more easily hated out.
Anyways,
Hope all of you are well. I recognize that discord isn't the best medium for archiving results etc, but it sure is a good medium for getting quick conversations going.
I don't believe so, in the meantime Bob49 and I hang in the Martyr Proc discord server, mainly cause I took it over with Emeria stuff. If you have questions / want a more active stream then thats where it would be, but idk how constructive it'll be. https://discord.gg/HR4Wrrt
Hey Stephane! Wonderful to hear from you again. I managed to log in the Friday before Calgary to see if you could make it, so at least I wasn't surprised not to see you! I appreciated the encouragement for the weekend, and I'll have to catch up with you some other time, as I know you'd be proud to see me playing Emeria.
So lets get into Vancouver first. It was 8 rounds of Swiss and 3 rounds of top 8 for an 8-2-1 finish (17-8-1)
R1: Esper Reanimator 1-1-1
R2: Jund 2-0
R3: 4c Elementals 0-2
R4: UB Mill 2-1
R5: GB Rock 2-0
R6: Yawgmoth 2-0
R7: UW Control 2-1
R8: Hammer 2-0
Quarters: UR Murk 2-1
Semis: UR Murk 2-0
Finals: Mono Blue Tempo 0-2
My prep for this tournament was extremely minimal. I 1-4'd an online league and then 2-1'd an FNM, then made changes based on what felt good and what felt bad. I wanted to go in with a good UR Murktide matchup, as I expected that and 4c to be the top dogs.
as for your breakdown, I couldn't tell you what % of each I had, I cannot think that way, but I do have some elaborations:
1) I am on the literal top of my game ever. I didn't miss a single thing these past two weeks. A few of my friends have already told me that this is the best magic that they've ever seen me play, and I feel the same way. I do my best to play tight without playing cocky as well, which can be the downfall of some players.
2) Breakout card choices? I'm not sure, but i think that there is room for an incidental small creature graveyard value strategy. I really felt like supreme verdict was insanely well positioned, and that was kind of my reason for going to UW at the start. Sun titan was also incredibly strong all weekend, and nobody expected it.
3) I definitely managed to find favourable pairings. There were two amulet titan players in the top 10, and only one made top 8 and got knocked out thankfully, but I think I would have easily taken a loss there if I came across it. A few friends of mine also played against Tron multiple times (and I think tron / valakut strategies were a good choice if people were expecting 4c).
4) I pride myself on being very familiar with opposing matchups, at least for the top meta decks. As an exercise I put together a spreadsheet of the top 10 decks and normal lists and sideboards and had my friends look at how they would play out / sideboard against you. I really think it helped us a little.
5) Oh, I had extremely strong luck. I think I only flooded/was stuck on mana 3 times, and that was in R1 and in the finals. Of course, if you build your deck right and play the hands you have properly, you kind of make your own luck, and put yourself into better footed scenarios to draw out of the hole you may be in.
The redundant manabase was perfect. It was so clean and easy and relatively painless. I liked having 4 hallowed fountain as just ways to have more blue sources, and I think 3 emeria is the correct number. The 1 mistveil plains is left over from when I had squadron hawks in the deck, and I've kept it in as a way to fuel a ballista loop. The field of ruins were solid, and the basic island was also excellent, but I felt the ghost quarter was unnecessary.
My removal suite was moreso trying different things. I wanted to be able to kill big murktides, but felt that Path to Exile was bad (so I played Winds of Abandon and Verdicts). Winds being an exile effect was relevant to hit Kroxa or exile things from living end.
The 4 March of Otherworldly light came into my build at the peak of Hammertime success, as a way to snipe an Urza's saga before it can tap for mana. I still love this card, hitting Creatures, Enchantments and Artifacts is so relevant. I used it x=8 hardcast to even exile an Archon of Cruelty, as our games with this list will tend to go long anyways. Not being able to path myself to get to emeria mana has not come up yet, so I haven't missed it. The Wandering Emperors are kind of my flex slot, and I think I'll be cutting them going forward? They were fairly good in Vancouver, where I had a play where i had a t3feri, and an opponent attacked it with ragavan and a ledger shredder, so i flashed in the Emperor, made a samurai to trade with ragavan, then untapped and made another samurai and then played yorion, using the Emperor again at end of turn to exile the shredder. The card is quite strong in a number of scenarios, but can also be a little fragile. I did also like it as a flash threat to pressure counterspells end of turn before untapping and slamming a sun titan. I really liked my skyclaves in the sideboard, I had them in this configuration as I felt like they were quite bad vs 4c (aside from snagging a W6 or T3feri) so I just brought them in where they were good.
Having the 4th verdict in the side was nice, but I think i'll be testing a build shortly where i move it to the main. I was talking with Bob49 from MTGO and he built it a little different, with 4 ephemerate 4 skyclave 4 verdict main.
Now onto Calgary. I was sorry to have missed you there, but we had a great time nonetheless. I had a friend from online come up from Michigan, and multiple friends from Vancouver and Edmonton came out, so we had a big team of people, and almost everyone had a positive record. I ended the day at 5-2-1 for 29th place, and secured another invite to regionals.
I made a few slight changes in the decklist, changing the ghost quarter to an idyllic grange, and changing the 2 dress down in the side to runed halos, and the Emrakul to a lavinia. (I had information that 4c was big in Calgary, so I figured that Valakut would pop up, as the MOCS finals online were won by a Wish Shift deck).
R1: RB Undying 1-1-1 (one of the other top8 from vancouver)
R2: UR Murktide 0-2 (a friend that i traveled with)
R3: 8Rack 2-1
R4: UW Control 2-1
R5: Jund 2-0
R6: UW Stoneblade 2-0 (friend from michigan)
R7: Jund 2-0 (friend I traveled with)
R8: UR Murktide 2-0
All in all I think i performed well here, although I kind of felt like everything I thought I knew about my matchup with murktide went up in smoke. I was sitting on verdicts for a lot of the games, and then my opponents just cleared the board and landed a jace with counter backup that I couldn't answer. The games were close, but I couldn't even win one.
In R1 I got my draw by winning game 1, then being stuck on 3 land for approximately 12 turns (while ephemerating wall of omens multiple times). Eventually they cast tourachs and I countered with verdicts (3x) until I flooded out and eventually lost to a lone Dauthi Voidwalker. We then didn't have time to finish game 3, although it was clear I was winning it.
I definitely put my friends through the gauntlet in this tournament. Against UW Stoneblade I beat a jace ult in G1, with yorion in my deck and a sun titan + solitude in play. I had to fight through a t3feri and lion sash and then had mistveil to put another card on the bottom of my library. In G2 I stabilized on an oppressive board, then cleared his Kaldra and Batterskull with March of Otherworldly Light to gain superiority on the battlefield.
Against my friend on Jund in R7, game 1 he got me to 9 with both of us having empty hands and boards except for his kroxa in play. I then immediately topdeck a solitude to steal the game back from him. In game 2 i just dominated, and had a walking ballista to embarrass his grist when he tried to -2 it.
I think both tournaments were really solid, and I'm looking forward to regionals. Depending on my schedule I may also go to Edmonton for the F2F there in september.
Also I think i have a modern tournament every weekend for the next month here in Vancouver, so i'll keep tweaking as I go and try to figure out my best list.
Thanks for listening and let me know if you have any questions. I'll try my best to clarify, but I do sometimes feel like I don't even know what I know
- Brad
Edited to include my list from the F2F cause i totally forgot.
Ahhh I see its my turn for a reading comprehension lesson! I thought Kor Cartographer was only Basics (because i'm used to everything being always basics).
Also I double checked my list, and there are 4 Thraben Inspector in there, shes just buried in the middle
I have a small FNM tonight, so i'll be doing a little testing and will provide an update afterwards. I decided to cut my Restorations and Graces for Court Hussars and the 4th Sun Titan, and then cut the Charming Prince for the 4th wall of omens. Also majorly tweaked the Sideboard (but it probably needs more tweaking still).
I love the niche cards you choose for your sideboard. It encourages me to re-evaluate everything I know and try to put myself in your headspace, a different viewpoint, and i think thats a great exercise.
I still don't like to play Stoneforge, but i'll look into a small ball package. Having a shadowspear in the main might really start to shore up the burn matchup which can be quite difficult as I'm basically relying on Solitudes lifelink.
Anyways i'll update a bit later after tonight!
*Edited* to include small FNM results:
Also I didn't have the proper fetchlands with me so i did my best.
G1: I was on the play, and had turn 2 Winds of Abandon for their Swiftspear. I then had the skyclave apparition for a goblin guide on turn 3, and was able to t4 put yorion in hand + play thraben inspector as a blocker, then t5 yorion to bounce skyclave and remove a roiling vortex. At this point I could Ranger-Captain for Martyr and gain 15. My opponent definitely flooded in this game or I would have lost.
G2: I had turn 2 auriok champion into turn 3 skyclave on a roiling vortex, then a bunch of squadron hawks and just ran away with it.
Round 2: Grixis Deaths Shadow, 2-1
G1: My opponent played turn 1 Ragavan on the play, then turn 2 stole my Alseid, and cast 2 Dragon's Rage Channelers and got delirium with a Mishra's Bauble.
I decided to play Squadron Hawk on my turn 2, go up to 9 cards in hand, then evoke 2 solitude on the 2 DRCs. The squadron hawk then held on to be able to block the ragavan, and i cast a skyclave to force a sac on the Alseid. My opponent then followed up with Murktide, so I untapped and Winds of Abandoned it. They then untapped and played Murktide + 2 Deaths Shadow, so I untapped and Overloaded another Winds of Abandon but they had Stubborn Denial and got to put me to attack and put me to 5 (after double Heat on my skyclave and hawk). I had to verdict, then they had another Murktide i couldn't answer.
G2: I started with turn 1 burrenton forge-tender, and then controlled the match as they couldn't get through. I Ranger-Captain'd for Kami of False hope, then sacrificed the ranger captain on my turn to play teferi to control the air while swinging with hawks. Eventually they forced a sacrifice on forge-tender but I untapped and Sun-Titan'd it back. and they conceded.
G3: I played turn 2 auriok champion and my opponent mulligan'd to 5. Hawks basically won this matchup on their own, and Teferi being able to bounce murktides and DRCs really hurt my opponent.
Round 3: Living End 1-2
G1: I kept a loose hand of Solitude, 2x Winds of Abandon, and lands on the play. I drew the one of Timeless Dragon I hadn't cut yet on my turn 3, so when they cascaded into Living End with Shardless I pitched a Solitude and cycled my timeless dragon and just ended up with a better board than theirs.
I exiled their flyer, then clocked in with the Dragon for 3 turns and put them to 3, at which point the had found another Shardless Agent (while I only drew lands). They Living Ended again, and left me with no creatures to their 7. I untapped and Overloaded winds but they had the Force of Negation.
G2: My opponent exiled a living end t1 to evoke a Grief and take my Meddling Mage, and I untapped and topdecked a dovin's veto. I left two mana up until my opponent played a shardless on their turn 3, and i countered the living end. I played a Wall on my turn to try to find something to stop another living end, but my opponent Played another shardless, cascaded through their whole deck and laughed cause they had drawn the last living end for turn, so all i had to do was beat up shardless Agents and Endurances.
G3: I kept a bad hand with a veto, then drew another one, but didn't draw any more lands. I countered two living ends with vetos, then drew a tap land on a turn where i wanted to verdict, and since I couldn't until the next turn i had to take an attack down to 6. At that point though my opponent flashed in an endurance, put my gy on the bottom and swung to put me to 3. I played a naked sun titan, and they had ottawara to bounce it and get the last damage in. The rest of their hand was lands
Anyways I mostly wanted to test different sideboard options as well as Court Hussars (Which to be honest were quite awesome, finding lands or action). I tried to remember a lot of key turns but i'm sure I didn't get everything
On the topic of Calgary, June 25th there is a facetoface modern open event. This time its only 1 day long, but I shall be headed out that direction anyways because I'm craving the competitive scene again. There is a similar facetoface the week before in Vancouver as well that I will of course be playing in
To talk a little about Ranger-Captain of Eos, I have to say that it is one of my favourite cards. It also enables me to play a playset of my other favourite card, Thraben Inspector, as well as a myriad of toolbox 1-drops that can come in handy in many scenarios. Its best use, though, is sacrificing it in my opponent's upkeep to stop them from casting noncreature spells on their turn. In conjunction with Teferi, time raveler and Emeria, the sky ruin, you can permanently turn your opponent off of noncreature spells. I also like to use it on my turn before casting powerful spells. If you sacrifice it, your opponent cannot counter anything you play, and in the lategame I will usually spend a few turns returning ranger-captain with Emeria, putting its ETB on the stack, and sacrificing it, fetching a thraben inspector or anything to progress my field a bit until I am dominating and I can switch to proactively using it on their turn.
If you have 2 ways of recurring Ranger-Captain, for example 2 emeria, 2 sun titan (both which require 2 ranger-captain) or emeria + sun titan, you can sacrifice it on your turn and the opponents, which stops them from casting anything except in upkeeps.
Usually I use it as a defensive tool to grind until I can accumulate enough resources to flip the game, and find it effectively does so while having a body that is very relevant for combat.
Elspeth Resplendant is something I have had my eye on, and I'm not sure where she would fit best. I was actually thinking she would be excellent in my 60 card Martyr Proc lists , but she really does have a good way of "imitating" Sun Titan. I have three on order in any case, so I'll be getting my testing in soon.
I love your lists, and Court Hussar was the card that really got me first interested in the Emeria archetype. I'll dive a little into it and see how it goes
Great, thought provoking questions. I tried to spend the weekend thinking about it, and I'll try to summarize my thoughts about my list as I move forward.
I'll start with some responses to your rapid fire questions.
The Stand Out matchups for the following:
- Martyr of Sands : Burn, Aggressive lists, decks with lightning bolt. Basically having 1 martyr in the maindeck allows you to tutor it with Ranger-Captain of Eos in a pinch to gain an average of 6-12 life. It of course plays really well with Abiding Grace, and Squadron Hawk. Usually I like to play martyr when I have mana to activate, but in a matchup where it isn't relevant I'll toss it down turn 1 to get a clock going.
- Hex Parasite : UW Control, 4C Blink, Hardened Scales, Anything with Chalice of the Void or Planeswalkers (that aren't Karn the Great Creator). I recently played a game where my opponent was threatening a Teferi, hero of Dominaria ultimate, and I managed to set up Emeria, the sky ruin to get my Parasite onto the battlefield through a Chalice, and remove all the counters from teferi. I usually play Hex Parasite on a turn where I can completely strip a planeswalker or two, as I know that it will be exiled shortly. I used to keep Parasite in the sideboard, but i think its good enough to play main in an 80 card deck.
- Alseid of Life's Bounty : Alseid performs best against decks with Solitude and Prismatic Ending. It was a toolbox tool that I popularized in the Martyr Proc community as it allows you to protect your Abiding Grace, which also was the key tool to defeat a deck like UW Control. It also found it plays well with Sun Titan to keep it swinging. When it is part of the gameplan, I like to land my Alseid before my Grace, and always hold up 1 mana. You have to play the matchups where it is relevant carefully and slowly.
Giant Killer is primarily in the list as a tutorable removal piece, and is one that I am consistently on the fence about. It has its uses in the Murktide Regent matchups, but also kills Omnath, Locus of Creation, Primeval Titan, and other large creatures. The tap ability has been relevant as well in scenarios where I need to stop an attack trigger, or to get through a creature to clock my opponent.
My non-tutorable singletons in Timeless Dragon and Charming Prince have not performed well, and I'm putting them on the chopping block.
Going forward I will be playing 1 Raffine's Tower. I think that being able to painlessly activate Hex Parasite in some matchups can be very important. I think i'll only play the 1 as I'm not on Prismatic Ending, which kind of segways into how March of Otherworldly Light has performed.
In my opinion, March has been very good. Being able to hit Urza's Saga for 1 mana feels wonderful, and I've even been able to cast it a few times for x=7 to exile a Murktide Regent, as we're a late game deck. I think where it is at its worst is against spell based combo decks, not that there are too many of those floating around at the moment.
The way that I arrived at the 2/2/2 split in the maindeck was that I wanted to test the individual cards, and I wanted to do it quickly. Since posting this list I have also tested a build with 3 Restoration of Eiganjo and 3 Skyclave Apparition, and one with 3 Abiding Grace and 3 Skyclave apparition; instead of the 2/2/2.
I think I'm quickly finding that Restoration of Eiganjo, while strong, is a poor topdeck lategame, and I found that Abiding Grace wasn't as strong in this UW Yorion build. I think I will be cutting them both and testing going forward. This means that I will also probably be cutting the Alseid of Life's Bounty.
To answer your questions though, Skyclave performed the best out of the Three, and was also the best in multiples. Oftentimes you can sequence to Skyclave a permanent, chump block with the skyclave, then cast Supreme Verdict on your next turn. Skyclave is also an answer to Karn the Great Creator that I previously didn't have, and it being recurrable off Emeria, the sky ruin and Sun Titan was also wonderful. It can be a little slow for some matchups, but the fact that it has power and toughness is nice. The flip side of Restoration of Eiganjo is quite strong, but it was often very difficult to get going without being in a losing position by the time it came around.
Moving onto the sideboard.
I have found the countermagic a little underwhelming. It might be that because I have it in such few numbers I don't see it as often as I would want to. I usually bring in the Dovin's Vetos for control, as well as the Cascade and tron matchups. The meddling mage and Lavinia, Azorius Renegae also came in versus Cascade, or when there are namesake permanents to disrupt. Jace, the mind sculptor would come in versus grindy matchups such as 4c Blink, or UW Control, but I'm starting to think that this list grinds hard enough that its unnecessary. The Emrakul, the Promised End also comes in versus those matchups, and that is one that I've been quite happy with. We often get to the late game, and taking an opponent's turn can be devastating. The Dress Downs I have quite liked, and have gone up in numbers to 3. I think i need to focus on making my sideboard less narrow, and have more splash that can be relevant across multiple matchups.
At the moment I think my list is quite weak against Burn, Yawgmoth, and Tron (and probably a lot more), and I think that I need help focusing/coming up with the proper spread.
Anyways, as I have more thoughts I'll post them here, and I really appreciate the Inquiries as they force me to think things through more than I already have. Sometimes I just go autopilot and overlook way too much when it comes to building lists.
Thanks again,
Brad
PS. Any chance I'll be seeing you in Calgary again this year?
Glad to hear from you and hope you're doing well!
I have been trying the past week to smoosh my Martyr Proc list into an Emeria list, and we're kind of having success.
My friend that i'm working on it with (Jlidsky) recently 5-0'd, and I'm getting there as well.
Mine is similar, but with a few changes in card choices. A list like this kind of takes the best of Martyr (Abiding grace loops) and the best of Emeria (incredible inevitability). Going forward I'll be working really hard to find the best iteration, as I am set up to come back to Calgary with some friends in the summer for the Facetoface circuit.
My changes to this list were mostly playing the Kami of false hope in the main, removing the Ephemerate, and adding Emrakul the promised end to the sideboard.
Hey all, just checkin in to see how everyone is doing. Hope the holidays treated you well, and that the new year isn't too harsh.
I thought it would be fun to do a little bit of brewing with some of the new Neon-Kamigawa cards. Specifically Touch the Spirit Realm (and to a lesser extent, March of Otherworldly light). My line of thinking for Touch being a worthy include was that Ephemerate was a strong card (but didn't necessarily synergize well with our deck, meaning mainly Emeria, the sky ruin and Sun Titan. Touch the Spirit Realm allows us to flicker (read: Uncounterable) our creatures in a similar manner to ephemerate, with the drawback of not immediately returning to the battlefield. If we target a Sun Titan with the channel ability, we can return the Touch the Spirit Realm to the battlefield upon returning, which was something I was excited to try.
I think I built it in haste, or at least I started with it with a clear head but as I got to the sideboard I just started throwing stuff in so I could start a Modern league
I ended up 3-2, but I think I have proven the concept. My matches were:
Against UW Urza affinity, Flickerwisp and Solitude really overperformed. I won G1 due to getting an early Kaldra into play, then racing a Thought Monitor with shadowspear on it. I mostly achieved this by Having Flickerwisp bounce Construct tokens, then used a Touch the spirit realm to recycle my flickerwisp, and then untapped with a sun titan bringing back the Touch, and then having emeria active to bring back an earlier solitude.
I brought in my 3 Fracturing Gust and 2 Path to exiles. I took out 4 spreading seas and a lion sash. Upon reflection I think I should have kept in my spreading seas in some number to tag floating Urza's Sagas.
G2 I lost to a double nettlecyst draw, where I had removal for one thought monitor with nettle on it, but not two. I actually Channeled a touch the spirit realm here to flicker a construct token with a Shadowspear equipped just to flat out remove the token.
In g3 I started with fracturing gust in hand, and so played a patient game until getting it off on t5, and slamming sun titan t6 to force a concession.
Against hardened scales, Flickerwisp, Solitude and prismatic ending overperformed. It seems that vs urza's saga, flickerwisp is pretty good. It can be a little awkward, as your opponent often gets a hit in with their construct before you get a chance to remove it with Fwisp, but its fairly clean (albeit not equal in card advantage to the Saga itself, it helps you claw back).
G1 was fairly easy, as my opponent had a large hangarback walker that I could just cleanly remove with Fwisp after I used a prismatic ending on their Ozolith.
I brought in the 3 fracturing gusts and 2 path to exiles, taking out 1 lion sash, 1 mortarpod, 1 stoneforge, 1 thraben inspector, and 1 pilgrim's eye. Just a little trimming.
G2 I Had fracturing gusts, so all i had to do was maneuver into a position where I could remove any hangarbacks before wiping the board. I was a little stuck on land, so I had to channel a few Touch the spirit realms on my singular Fwisp to keep bouncing their Urza's saga until their end step, or i would have been overrun. Eventually I got to 5 lands, and cast a Fracturing Gust, then untapped and played a yorion as a massive wall. A few turns later I had emeria active with a solitude in the graveyard and my opponent saw the writing on the wall.
Against Amulet Titan, I won g1 with a quick kaldra. I had turn 2 SFM, turn 3 prismatic ending an Amulet of Vigor + SFM activation, then t4 I had a flickerwisp to bounce my kaldra post-combat in order to defend well against a Primeval titan. My opponent scooped it up a little early here, I think, as they were at 10 life so had two turns left, but they had to pay for a summoner's pact and it wasn't looking great for them.
I brought in 2 path to exile, 1 fracturing gust, and took out 1 pilgrim's eye, 1 lion sash, 1 mortarpod.
Game 2, my opponent managed get into a good position where they had 2 Dryads, and got a bunch of lands into play with a Cultivator Colossus. I had a solitude for one dryad (to turn off valakut triggers), but because they had 2 I lost to valakut and a hasty colossus.
In game 3, My opponent started with 2 amulet of vigors and a dryad. I prismatic ending'd one Amulet and put kaldra into play off a t2 SFM. They made 7 mana and cast a Turntimber Symbiosis, finding another Dryad. I took this to mean that they didn't have a primeval titan or another payoff, so instead of prismatic ending the remaining amulet I played a Teferi and bounced one of the dryads, Leaving them with a valakut, a forest, a dryad, and an amulet in play (with a bounceland in hand).
They topdecked a primeval titan with exact mana to cast it, gave it haste and got valakut active and took me down in one turn (using Hanweir battlements as their haste enabler of choice).
Match 4 against RUG Glimpse of Tomorrow was basically a coin toss, as I knew that my only out was teferi (I really didn't build the deck with combo in mind).
Game 1, I landed the turn 3 teferi while on the play, then protected it while I closed the game with various creatures. Their deck was built in a way that I saw Omniscience and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker? Very scary.
I didn't bring anything in.
Game 2 I had the turn 3 teferi, but they had the mystical dispute and then untapped to cascade, hitting 2 Nicol Bolas and an Omniscience.
Game 3 I had the turn 3 teferi, but they had a dispute. They cascaded on the next turn but hit 3 lands. I think my only chance here was them missing. I eventually played another teferi that they couldn't answer and that was pretty much it.
VS Burn.
In g1 I had batterskull fairly early, as they didn't kill my turn 2 SFM. They had a skullcrack for the first combat but no pressure to back it up.
I brought in my 3 auriok champions and cut 1 teferi, 1 mortarpod, 1 pilgrim's eye.
In g2 I kept a fair hand but was horribly stuck on land, and couldn't really get out from under a Roil enchantment right away, and after getting a batterskull token pathed, I lost to a lethal spell off the top.
In g3 I kept a very loose hand of Teferi, batterskull, Solitude, and 4 lands, and just lost before I could do anything. I needed more discipline there, definitely.
In summary, I think that there is a lot of untapped strength in Touch the Spirit Realm. I will continue to test it, but I was thinking I could ask for a few tips to iron out the decklist before moving forward. I know that in the past Stephane had said that Flickerwisp was pretty terrible, and in general I would agree, but I think that with all the large construct tokens floating around it definitely has more potential to be unlocked.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on the list, or manabase, and especially sideboard, and i'll update and do more testing.
Cheers!
Brad
*EDIT*
I played two more leagues with this list and felt generally outclassed back to the drawing board!
Hey Stephane!
I won't be posting the small interactions in my games because I simply cannot remember everything the way that you do (and also because I'm on Martyr not Emeria, even if i do have 2 mainboard Emeria).
One thing that stuck out to me when we were speaking at the event, and that is now clarified for me, is that matchup with your containment priest exiling your creatures.
Emeria itself is a May trigger, so you declare a target, but don't have to return anything. Sounds to me like you were playing it as a Must!
All in all though, it was very impressive then, and still impressive now
Edit: I think i think in a more scattered sort of way... Also i really appreciated your wise words on the efficacy of a sideboard crucible of worlds
Hey Stephane, it was wonderful to meet you in Calgary! Congratulations on how well you played and I'm glad we got to talk, even if it was only a little. I'm sorry that I had to catch a flight and didn't get a chance to play a game against you, but I would absolutely love to next time I see you!
Just following up, I went and reviewed the tapes to see what sideboarding I had done and noticed that I even misremembered a matchup (I really must have been tired). I'll post how I boarded as follows, at present I feel I may have made some mistakes.
R1 was indeed against Blue Moon, and they were playing thought scours and murktide regents (but I only saw those in g2, althought highly suspected in g1). These games went rather the same way, where they had an active jace for a while and then just had a counterspell for anything. G2 I feel i should have won, but they had a blood moon and I spent most of the game removing threats. I had to use Pilgrim's eye to find a plains, then path my eye to get my island, but then I never drew another plains and was stranded on 1 white source (9ish lands) and died to a large murktide regent.
R2 was against RBw Lurrus, their white splash was for prismatic ending. They play Ragavans, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Tourach, Kroxa, Dauthi Voidwalker, that sort of thing. I lost to this deck in 3, and it wasn't close as they just tore apart my hand too early. Hand disruption has gone from a small speedbump to crippling (while stapled on strong effects/bodies). I think my boarding reasoning was that the kaldra and sun titan were too high on the curve and I'd never cast them, but in hindsight I kind of wanted to keep them in, and teferi too, as his bounce can be very effective in these matchups. I had a chance to stabilize in g3, but made a misplay of attacking with SFM instead of using it to play batterskull for some reason, i think I was trying to bait my opponent into playing their lurrus into a wrath, but it was silly as I was in a dominant board position.
R3 was against Gr Hardened Scales. They just overwhelmed me with Urza's saga. By the time I was ready to field of ruin them they had the mana to make 1 construct at the very least, and then had hangarback walker and welding jar to make my verdicts awkward. This is the matchup where I verdicted 4 turns in a row and still lost on the following turn. With the boarding, I do feel I made a similar mistake here, and getting kaldra down would have been hard for them to deal with. I saw a lot of natures claims in g2.
+1 seal of cleansing, +1 aura of silence, +1 prismatic ending, +1 lone missionary
-1 crucible of worlds, -1 cavalier of dawn, -1 sun titan, -1 kaldra compleat.
R4 was against 5c Elementals, not esper control. G1 they had the grief ephemerate to rip my hand of anything playable, then eventually got down unsettled mariner and risen reef and just effectively clocked me. I didn't see any lightning skelementals in g1, but I suspected them. In g2 thats exactly what I died to. My opponent had turn 1 grief ephemerate again, then spent turn 3 4 and 5 hardcasting skelementals to completely strip my hand and leave me dead.
+2 celestial purge, +1 lone missionary, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, time raveler, -1 crucible of worlds.
At this point I dropped the league, felt like I was making too many play mistakes and needed to re-evaluate on a clear head!
I also went 4-3 at the facetoface open in October but it was a weird event.
I plan on continuing to test and tune with WB going forward as I'm qualified for the RC in February, and will be bringing Emeria. It honestly feels like the strongest iteration.
I just won an RCQ with BW Emeria. I got here from UW emeria by transitioning to Esper to try to play bowmaster and the ring and Teferi Time Raveler and Supreme verdict but the deck was too slow so i cut the blue for a leaner deck. All the cards were great especially the Eagles. I'll ada link here to moxfield and to my twitter post with the quick writeup but only because i'm in a rush
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/HwK3WdLWt0GFW9ffyzoMnw]
https://twitter.com/_PlichoW_/status/1683009678085869568?s=20]
1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Ephemerate
3 Field of Ruin
1 Giant Killer
3 Godless Shrine
1 Haywire Mite
2 Idyllic Grange
1 Indatha Triome
4 Marsh Flats
1 Martyr of Sands
4 Orcish Bowmasters
6 Plains
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Reprieve
4 Skyclave Apparition
4 Solitude
1 Temple Garden
4 The One Ring
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Damping Sphere
1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
3 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Haywire Mite
2 March of Otherworldly Light
2 Reprieve
2 Stone of Erech
1 Unlicensed Hearse
Sorry for being short, hope everyone is well.
Brad
"
They play what I like to call, high risk high reward emeria, where you have these high impact spells but can be more easily hated out.
Anyways,
Hope all of you are well. I recognize that discord isn't the best medium for archiving results etc, but it sure is a good medium for getting quick conversations going.
Take care,
Brad (PlichoW)
https://discord.gg/HR4Wrrt
So lets get into Vancouver first. It was 8 rounds of Swiss and 3 rounds of top 8 for an 8-2-1 finish (17-8-1)
R1: Esper Reanimator 1-1-1
R2: Jund 2-0
R3: 4c Elementals 0-2
R4: UB Mill 2-1
R5: GB Rock 2-0
R6: Yawgmoth 2-0
R7: UW Control 2-1
R8: Hammer 2-0
Quarters: UR Murk 2-1
Semis: UR Murk 2-0
Finals: Mono Blue Tempo 0-2
My prep for this tournament was extremely minimal. I 1-4'd an online league and then 2-1'd an FNM, then made changes based on what felt good and what felt bad. I wanted to go in with a good UR Murktide matchup, as I expected that and 4c to be the top dogs.
as for your breakdown, I couldn't tell you what % of each I had, I cannot think that way, but I do have some elaborations:
1) I am on the literal top of my game ever. I didn't miss a single thing these past two weeks. A few of my friends have already told me that this is the best magic that they've ever seen me play, and I feel the same way. I do my best to play tight without playing cocky as well, which can be the downfall of some players.
2) Breakout card choices? I'm not sure, but i think that there is room for an incidental small creature graveyard value strategy. I really felt like supreme verdict was insanely well positioned, and that was kind of my reason for going to UW at the start. Sun titan was also incredibly strong all weekend, and nobody expected it.
3) I definitely managed to find favourable pairings. There were two amulet titan players in the top 10, and only one made top 8 and got knocked out thankfully, but I think I would have easily taken a loss there if I came across it. A few friends of mine also played against Tron multiple times (and I think tron / valakut strategies were a good choice if people were expecting 4c).
4) I pride myself on being very familiar with opposing matchups, at least for the top meta decks. As an exercise I put together a spreadsheet of the top 10 decks and normal lists and sideboards and had my friends look at how they would play out / sideboard against you. I really think it helped us a little.
5) Oh, I had extremely strong luck. I think I only flooded/was stuck on mana 3 times, and that was in R1 and in the finals. Of course, if you build your deck right and play the hands you have properly, you kind of make your own luck, and put yourself into better footed scenarios to draw out of the hole you may be in.
The redundant manabase was perfect. It was so clean and easy and relatively painless. I liked having 4 hallowed fountain as just ways to have more blue sources, and I think 3 emeria is the correct number. The 1 mistveil plains is left over from when I had squadron hawks in the deck, and I've kept it in as a way to fuel a ballista loop. The field of ruins were solid, and the basic island was also excellent, but I felt the ghost quarter was unnecessary.
My removal suite was moreso trying different things. I wanted to be able to kill big murktides, but felt that Path to Exile was bad (so I played Winds of Abandon and Verdicts). Winds being an exile effect was relevant to hit Kroxa or exile things from living end.
The 4 March of Otherworldly light came into my build at the peak of Hammertime success, as a way to snipe an Urza's saga before it can tap for mana. I still love this card, hitting Creatures, Enchantments and Artifacts is so relevant. I used it x=8 hardcast to even exile an Archon of Cruelty, as our games with this list will tend to go long anyways. Not being able to path myself to get to emeria mana has not come up yet, so I haven't missed it. The Wandering Emperors are kind of my flex slot, and I think I'll be cutting them going forward? They were fairly good in Vancouver, where I had a play where i had a t3feri, and an opponent attacked it with ragavan and a ledger shredder, so i flashed in the Emperor, made a samurai to trade with ragavan, then untapped and made another samurai and then played yorion, using the Emperor again at end of turn to exile the shredder. The card is quite strong in a number of scenarios, but can also be a little fragile. I did also like it as a flash threat to pressure counterspells end of turn before untapping and slamming a sun titan. I really liked my skyclaves in the sideboard, I had them in this configuration as I felt like they were quite bad vs 4c (aside from snagging a W6 or T3feri) so I just brought them in where they were good.
Having the 4th verdict in the side was nice, but I think i'll be testing a build shortly where i move it to the main. I was talking with Bob49 from MTGO and he built it a little different, with 4 ephemerate 4 skyclave 4 verdict main.
Now onto Calgary. I was sorry to have missed you there, but we had a great time nonetheless. I had a friend from online come up from Michigan, and multiple friends from Vancouver and Edmonton came out, so we had a big team of people, and almost everyone had a positive record. I ended the day at 5-2-1 for 29th place, and secured another invite to regionals.
I made a few slight changes in the decklist, changing the ghost quarter to an idyllic grange, and changing the 2 dress down in the side to runed halos, and the Emrakul to a lavinia. (I had information that 4c was big in Calgary, so I figured that Valakut would pop up, as the MOCS finals online were won by a Wish Shift deck).
R1: RB Undying 1-1-1 (one of the other top8 from vancouver)
R2: UR Murktide 0-2 (a friend that i traveled with)
R3: 8Rack 2-1
R4: UW Control 2-1
R5: Jund 2-0
R6: UW Stoneblade 2-0 (friend from michigan)
R7: Jund 2-0 (friend I traveled with)
R8: UR Murktide 2-0
All in all I think i performed well here, although I kind of felt like everything I thought I knew about my matchup with murktide went up in smoke. I was sitting on verdicts for a lot of the games, and then my opponents just cleared the board and landed a jace with counter backup that I couldn't answer. The games were close, but I couldn't even win one.
In R1 I got my draw by winning game 1, then being stuck on 3 land for approximately 12 turns (while ephemerating wall of omens multiple times). Eventually they cast tourachs and I countered with verdicts (3x) until I flooded out and eventually lost to a lone Dauthi Voidwalker. We then didn't have time to finish game 3, although it was clear I was winning it.
I definitely put my friends through the gauntlet in this tournament. Against UW Stoneblade I beat a jace ult in G1, with yorion in my deck and a sun titan + solitude in play. I had to fight through a t3feri and lion sash and then had mistveil to put another card on the bottom of my library. In G2 I stabilized on an oppressive board, then cleared his Kaldra and Batterskull with March of Otherworldly Light to gain superiority on the battlefield.
Against my friend on Jund in R7, game 1 he got me to 9 with both of us having empty hands and boards except for his kroxa in play. I then immediately topdeck a solitude to steal the game back from him. In game 2 i just dominated, and had a walking ballista to embarrass his grist when he tried to -2 it.
I think both tournaments were really solid, and I'm looking forward to regionals. Depending on my schedule I may also go to Edmonton for the F2F there in september.
Also I think i have a modern tournament every weekend for the next month here in Vancouver, so i'll keep tweaking as I go and try to figure out my best list.
Thanks for listening and let me know if you have any questions. I'll try my best to clarify, but I do sometimes feel like I don't even know what I know
- Brad
Edited to include my list from the F2F cause i totally forgot.
4 Solitude
4 Wall of Omens
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
4 Charming Prince
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
3 Supreme Verdict
2 The Wandering Emperor
4 Thraben Inspector
4 March of Otherworldly Light
3 Winds of Abandon
1 Giant Killer
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Walking Ballista
2 Spirited Companion
3 Ephemerate
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Marsh Flats
2 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Island
9 Plains
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Meddling Mage
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Unlicensed Hearse
2 Dress Down
1 Martyr of Sands
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Supreme Verdict
And then i also want to include my current list as I've done some updating:
4 Solitude
4 Wall of Omens
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
4 Charming Prince
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Skyclave Apparition
4 Thraben Inspector
4 March of Otherworldly Light
1 Giant Killer
1 Flickerwisp
1 Walking Ballista
2 Spirited Companion
3 Ephemerate
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Marsh Flats
2 Arid Mesa
1 Windswept Heath
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
1 Idyllic Grange
1 Island
9 Plains
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Meddling Mage
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Unlicensed Hearse
2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Martyr of Sands
2 Runed Halo
If i have more time during the week I'll elaborate on my matches a bit if i can remember !
Next weekend I'll be in Calgary for the f2f there as well
Also I double checked my list, and there are 4 Thraben Inspector in there, shes just buried in the middle
I have a small FNM tonight, so i'll be doing a little testing and will provide an update afterwards. I decided to cut my Restorations and Graces for Court Hussars and the 4th Sun Titan, and then cut the Charming Prince for the 4th wall of omens. Also majorly tweaked the Sideboard (but it probably needs more tweaking still).
I love the niche cards you choose for your sideboard. It encourages me to re-evaluate everything I know and try to put myself in your headspace, a different viewpoint, and i think thats a great exercise.
I still don't like to play Stoneforge, but i'll look into a small ball package. Having a shadowspear in the main might really start to shore up the burn matchup which can be quite difficult as I'm basically relying on Solitudes lifelink.
Anyways i'll update a bit later after tonight!
*Edited* to include small FNM results:
Also I didn't have the proper fetchlands with me so i did my best.
1 Alseid of Life's Bounty
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Giant Killer
1 Hex Parasite
1 Martyr of Sands
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Skyclave Apparition
4 Solitude
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Sun Titan
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Timeless Dragon
4 Wall of Omens
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Winds of Abandon
4 March of Otherworldly Light
3 Court Hussar
1 Arid Mesa
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Marsh Flats
2 Mistveil Plains
1 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
9 Plains
1 Windswept Heath
2 Dress Down
1 Seal of Cleansing
3 Meddling Mage
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Emrakul, the promised end
2 Dovin's Veto
1 Auriok Champion
1 Burrenton Forge-tender
Round 1: Burn with mainboard roiling vortex. 2-0
G1: I was on the play, and had turn 2 Winds of Abandon for their Swiftspear. I then had the skyclave apparition for a goblin guide on turn 3, and was able to t4 put yorion in hand + play thraben inspector as a blocker, then t5 yorion to bounce skyclave and remove a roiling vortex. At this point I could Ranger-Captain for Martyr and gain 15. My opponent definitely flooded in this game or I would have lost.
In: +1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +1 Sanctifier En-Vec, +1 Auriok Champion
Out: -1 Hex Parasite, -1 Timeless Dragon, -1 Sun Titan
G2: I had turn 2 auriok champion into turn 3 skyclave on a roiling vortex, then a bunch of squadron hawks and just ran away with it.
Round 2: Grixis Deaths Shadow, 2-1
G1: My opponent played turn 1 Ragavan on the play, then turn 2 stole my Alseid, and cast 2 Dragon's Rage Channelers and got delirium with a Mishra's Bauble.
I decided to play Squadron Hawk on my turn 2, go up to 9 cards in hand, then evoke 2 solitude on the 2 DRCs. The squadron hawk then held on to be able to block the ragavan, and i cast a skyclave to force a sac on the Alseid. My opponent then followed up with Murktide, so I untapped and Winds of Abandoned it. They then untapped and played Murktide + 2 Deaths Shadow, so I untapped and Overloaded another Winds of Abandon but they had Stubborn Denial and got to put me to attack and put me to 5 (after double Heat on my skyclave and hawk). I had to verdict, then they had another Murktide i couldn't answer.
In: +1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +1 Sanctifier en-Vec, +1 Auriok champion
Out: -1 Sun Titan, -1 Hex Parasite, -1 Court Hussar
G2: I started with turn 1 burrenton forge-tender, and then controlled the match as they couldn't get through. I Ranger-Captain'd for Kami of False hope, then sacrificed the ranger captain on my turn to play teferi to control the air while swinging with hawks. Eventually they forced a sacrifice on forge-tender but I untapped and Sun-Titan'd it back. and they conceded.
G3: I played turn 2 auriok champion and my opponent mulligan'd to 5. Hawks basically won this matchup on their own, and Teferi being able to bounce murktides and DRCs really hurt my opponent.
Round 3: Living End 1-2
G1: I kept a loose hand of Solitude, 2x Winds of Abandon, and lands on the play. I drew the one of Timeless Dragon I hadn't cut yet on my turn 3, so when they cascaded into Living End with Shardless I pitched a Solitude and cycled my timeless dragon and just ended up with a better board than theirs.
I exiled their flyer, then clocked in with the Dragon for 3 turns and put them to 3, at which point the had found another Shardless Agent (while I only drew lands). They Living Ended again, and left me with no creatures to their 7. I untapped and Overloaded winds but they had the Force of Negation.
In: +1 Sanctifier En-Vec, +3 Meddling Mage, +1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, +2 Dovin's Veto
Out: -1 Hex Parasite, -4 March of Otherworldly Light, -2 Skyclave Apparition
G2: My opponent exiled a living end t1 to evoke a Grief and take my Meddling Mage, and I untapped and topdecked a dovin's veto. I left two mana up until my opponent played a shardless on their turn 3, and i countered the living end. I played a Wall on my turn to try to find something to stop another living end, but my opponent Played another shardless, cascaded through their whole deck and laughed cause they had drawn the last living end for turn, so all i had to do was beat up shardless Agents and Endurances.
G3: I kept a bad hand with a veto, then drew another one, but didn't draw any more lands. I countered two living ends with vetos, then drew a tap land on a turn where i wanted to verdict, and since I couldn't until the next turn i had to take an attack down to 6. At that point though my opponent flashed in an endurance, put my gy on the bottom and swung to put me to 3. I played a naked sun titan, and they had ottawara to bounce it and get the last damage in. The rest of their hand was lands
Anyways I mostly wanted to test different sideboard options as well as Court Hussars (Which to be honest were quite awesome, finding lands or action). I tried to remember a lot of key turns but i'm sure I didn't get everything
On the topic of Calgary, June 25th there is a facetoface modern open event. This time its only 1 day long, but I shall be headed out that direction anyways because I'm craving the competitive scene again. There is a similar facetoface the week before in Vancouver as well that I will of course be playing in
To talk a little about Ranger-Captain of Eos, I have to say that it is one of my favourite cards. It also enables me to play a playset of my other favourite card, Thraben Inspector, as well as a myriad of toolbox 1-drops that can come in handy in many scenarios. Its best use, though, is sacrificing it in my opponent's upkeep to stop them from casting noncreature spells on their turn. In conjunction with Teferi, time raveler and Emeria, the sky ruin, you can permanently turn your opponent off of noncreature spells. I also like to use it on my turn before casting powerful spells. If you sacrifice it, your opponent cannot counter anything you play, and in the lategame I will usually spend a few turns returning ranger-captain with Emeria, putting its ETB on the stack, and sacrificing it, fetching a thraben inspector or anything to progress my field a bit until I am dominating and I can switch to proactively using it on their turn.
If you have 2 ways of recurring Ranger-Captain, for example 2 emeria, 2 sun titan (both which require 2 ranger-captain) or emeria + sun titan, you can sacrifice it on your turn and the opponents, which stops them from casting anything except in upkeeps.
Usually I use it as a defensive tool to grind until I can accumulate enough resources to flip the game, and find it effectively does so while having a body that is very relevant for combat.
Elspeth Resplendant is something I have had my eye on, and I'm not sure where she would fit best. I was actually thinking she would be excellent in my 60 card Martyr Proc lists , but she really does have a good way of "imitating" Sun Titan. I have three on order in any case, so I'll be getting my testing in soon.
Also I should note that I find Solemn Simulacrum leagues better than Kor Cartographer if you're going to be going that deep
I love your lists, and Court Hussar was the card that really got me first interested in the Emeria archetype. I'll dive a little into it and see how it goes
Brad
Great, thought provoking questions. I tried to spend the weekend thinking about it, and I'll try to summarize my thoughts about my list as I move forward.
I'll start with some responses to your rapid fire questions.
The Stand Out matchups for the following:
- Martyr of Sands : Burn, Aggressive lists, decks with lightning bolt. Basically having 1 martyr in the maindeck allows you to tutor it with Ranger-Captain of Eos in a pinch to gain an average of 6-12 life. It of course plays really well with Abiding Grace, and Squadron Hawk. Usually I like to play martyr when I have mana to activate, but in a matchup where it isn't relevant I'll toss it down turn 1 to get a clock going.
- Hex Parasite : UW Control, 4C Blink, Hardened Scales, Anything with Chalice of the Void or Planeswalkers (that aren't Karn the Great Creator). I recently played a game where my opponent was threatening a Teferi, hero of Dominaria ultimate, and I managed to set up Emeria, the sky ruin to get my Parasite onto the battlefield through a Chalice, and remove all the counters from teferi. I usually play Hex Parasite on a turn where I can completely strip a planeswalker or two, as I know that it will be exiled shortly. I used to keep Parasite in the sideboard, but i think its good enough to play main in an 80 card deck.
- Alseid of Life's Bounty : Alseid performs best against decks with Solitude and Prismatic Ending. It was a toolbox tool that I popularized in the Martyr Proc community as it allows you to protect your Abiding Grace, which also was the key tool to defeat a deck like UW Control. It also found it plays well with Sun Titan to keep it swinging. When it is part of the gameplan, I like to land my Alseid before my Grace, and always hold up 1 mana. You have to play the matchups where it is relevant carefully and slowly.
Giant Killer is primarily in the list as a tutorable removal piece, and is one that I am consistently on the fence about. It has its uses in the Murktide Regent matchups, but also kills Omnath, Locus of Creation, Primeval Titan, and other large creatures. The tap ability has been relevant as well in scenarios where I need to stop an attack trigger, or to get through a creature to clock my opponent.
My non-tutorable singletons in Timeless Dragon and Charming Prince have not performed well, and I'm putting them on the chopping block.
Going forward I will be playing 1 Raffine's Tower. I think that being able to painlessly activate Hex Parasite in some matchups can be very important. I think i'll only play the 1 as I'm not on Prismatic Ending, which kind of segways into how March of Otherworldly Light has performed.
In my opinion, March has been very good. Being able to hit Urza's Saga for 1 mana feels wonderful, and I've even been able to cast it a few times for x=7 to exile a Murktide Regent, as we're a late game deck. I think where it is at its worst is against spell based combo decks, not that there are too many of those floating around at the moment.
The way that I arrived at the 2/2/2 split in the maindeck was that I wanted to test the individual cards, and I wanted to do it quickly. Since posting this list I have also tested a build with 3 Restoration of Eiganjo and 3 Skyclave Apparition, and one with 3 Abiding Grace and 3 Skyclave apparition; instead of the 2/2/2.
I think I'm quickly finding that Restoration of Eiganjo, while strong, is a poor topdeck lategame, and I found that Abiding Grace wasn't as strong in this UW Yorion build. I think I will be cutting them both and testing going forward. This means that I will also probably be cutting the Alseid of Life's Bounty.
To answer your questions though, Skyclave performed the best out of the Three, and was also the best in multiples. Oftentimes you can sequence to Skyclave a permanent, chump block with the skyclave, then cast Supreme Verdict on your next turn. Skyclave is also an answer to Karn the Great Creator that I previously didn't have, and it being recurrable off Emeria, the sky ruin and Sun Titan was also wonderful. It can be a little slow for some matchups, but the fact that it has power and toughness is nice. The flip side of Restoration of Eiganjo is quite strong, but it was often very difficult to get going without being in a losing position by the time it came around.
Moving onto the sideboard.
I have found the countermagic a little underwhelming. It might be that because I have it in such few numbers I don't see it as often as I would want to. I usually bring in the Dovin's Vetos for control, as well as the Cascade and tron matchups. The meddling mage and Lavinia, Azorius Renegae also came in versus Cascade, or when there are namesake permanents to disrupt. Jace, the mind sculptor would come in versus grindy matchups such as 4c Blink, or UW Control, but I'm starting to think that this list grinds hard enough that its unnecessary. The Emrakul, the Promised End also comes in versus those matchups, and that is one that I've been quite happy with. We often get to the late game, and taking an opponent's turn can be devastating. The Dress Downs I have quite liked, and have gone up in numbers to 3. I think i need to focus on making my sideboard less narrow, and have more splash that can be relevant across multiple matchups.
At the moment I think my list is quite weak against Burn, Yawgmoth, and Tron (and probably a lot more), and I think that I need help focusing/coming up with the proper spread.
Anyways, as I have more thoughts I'll post them here, and I really appreciate the Inquiries as they force me to think things through more than I already have. Sometimes I just go autopilot and overlook way too much when it comes to building lists.
Thanks again,
Brad
PS. Any chance I'll be seeing you in Calgary again this year?
Glad to hear from you and hope you're doing well!
I have been trying the past week to smoosh my Martyr Proc list into an Emeria list, and we're kind of having success.
My friend that i'm working on it with (Jlidsky) recently 5-0'd, and I'm getting there as well.
1 Alseid of Life's Bounty
1 Charming Prince
1 Giant Killer
1 Hex Parasite
1 Martyr of Sands
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
2 Skyclave Apparition
4 Solitude
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Sun Titan
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Timeless Dragon
3 Wall of Omens
3 Supreme Verdict
3 Winds of Abandon
1 Ephemerate
4 March of Otherworldly Light
2 Abiding Grace
2 The Restoration of Eiganjo
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Field of Ruin
3 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Idyllic Grange
2 Marsh Flats
2 Mistveil Plains
1 Plains
6 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Windswept Heath
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Dress Down
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Meddling Mage
1 Sanctifier en-Vec
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
Mine is similar, but with a few changes in card choices. A list like this kind of takes the best of Martyr (Abiding grace loops) and the best of Emeria (incredible inevitability). Going forward I'll be working really hard to find the best iteration, as I am set up to come back to Calgary with some friends in the summer for the Facetoface circuit.
My changes to this list were mostly playing the Kami of false hope in the main, removing the Ephemerate, and adding Emrakul the promised end to the sideboard.
Anyways, hope all is well
Brad
I thought it would be fun to do a little bit of brewing with some of the new Neon-Kamigawa cards. Specifically Touch the Spirit Realm (and to a lesser extent, March of Otherworldly light). My line of thinking for Touch being a worthy include was that Ephemerate was a strong card (but didn't necessarily synergize well with our deck, meaning mainly Emeria, the sky ruin and Sun Titan.
Touch the Spirit Realm allows us to flicker (read: Uncounterable) our creatures in a similar manner to ephemerate, with the drawback of not immediately returning to the battlefield. If we target a Sun Titan with the channel ability, we can return the Touch the Spirit Realm to the battlefield upon returning, which was something I was excited to try.
My initial draft for this decklist was this:
3 Sun titan
4 wall of omens
4 spreading seas
4 stoneforge mystic
1 kaldra compleat
1 batterskull
1 mortarpod
1 lion sash
3 thraben inspector
4 flickerwisp
4 teferi, time raveler
4 touch the spirit realm
4 solitude
4 prismatic ending
2 march of otherworldly light
3 Pilgrim's eye
3 Emeria, the sky ruin
4 flooded strand
2 arid mesa
2 windswept heath
4 field of ruin
1 mistveil plains
4 hallowed fountain
1 Raugrin triome
1 prairie stream
1 island
10 plains
3 fracturing gust
4 relic of progenitus
3 auriok champion
2 path to exile
1 Kozilek, butcher of truth
1 emrakul, the promised end
1 Yorion, Sky Nomad
I think I built it in haste, or at least I started with it with a clear head but as I got to the sideboard I just started throwing stuff in so I could start a Modern league
I ended up 3-2, but I think I have proven the concept. My matches were:
2-1 UW Urza Affinity,
2-0 GW Hardened Scales *L*
1-2 Amulet Titan
2-1 RUG Glimpse of Tomorrow
1-2 RW Burn *L*
Against UW Urza affinity, Flickerwisp and Solitude really overperformed. I won G1 due to getting an early Kaldra into play, then racing a Thought Monitor with shadowspear on it. I mostly achieved this by Having Flickerwisp bounce Construct tokens, then used a Touch the spirit realm to recycle my flickerwisp, and then untapped with a sun titan bringing back the Touch, and then having emeria active to bring back an earlier solitude.
I brought in my 3 Fracturing Gust and 2 Path to exiles. I took out 4 spreading seas and a lion sash. Upon reflection I think I should have kept in my spreading seas in some number to tag floating Urza's Sagas.
G2 I lost to a double nettlecyst draw, where I had removal for one thought monitor with nettle on it, but not two. I actually Channeled a touch the spirit realm here to flicker a construct token with a Shadowspear equipped just to flat out remove the token.
In g3 I started with fracturing gust in hand, and so played a patient game until getting it off on t5, and slamming sun titan t6 to force a concession.
Against hardened scales, Flickerwisp, Solitude and prismatic ending overperformed. It seems that vs urza's saga, flickerwisp is pretty good. It can be a little awkward, as your opponent often gets a hit in with their construct before you get a chance to remove it with Fwisp, but its fairly clean (albeit not equal in card advantage to the Saga itself, it helps you claw back).
G1 was fairly easy, as my opponent had a large hangarback walker that I could just cleanly remove with Fwisp after I used a prismatic ending on their Ozolith.
I brought in the 3 fracturing gusts and 2 path to exiles, taking out 1 lion sash, 1 mortarpod, 1 stoneforge, 1 thraben inspector, and 1 pilgrim's eye. Just a little trimming.
G2 I Had fracturing gusts, so all i had to do was maneuver into a position where I could remove any hangarbacks before wiping the board. I was a little stuck on land, so I had to channel a few Touch the spirit realms on my singular Fwisp to keep bouncing their Urza's saga until their end step, or i would have been overrun. Eventually I got to 5 lands, and cast a Fracturing Gust, then untapped and played a yorion as a massive wall. A few turns later I had emeria active with a solitude in the graveyard and my opponent saw the writing on the wall.
Against Amulet Titan, I won g1 with a quick kaldra. I had turn 2 SFM, turn 3 prismatic ending an Amulet of Vigor + SFM activation, then t4 I had a flickerwisp to bounce my kaldra post-combat in order to defend well against a Primeval titan. My opponent scooped it up a little early here, I think, as they were at 10 life so had two turns left, but they had to pay for a summoner's pact and it wasn't looking great for them.
I brought in 2 path to exile, 1 fracturing gust, and took out 1 pilgrim's eye, 1 lion sash, 1 mortarpod.
Game 2, my opponent managed get into a good position where they had 2 Dryads, and got a bunch of lands into play with a Cultivator Colossus. I had a solitude for one dryad (to turn off valakut triggers), but because they had 2 I lost to valakut and a hasty colossus.
In game 3, My opponent started with 2 amulet of vigors and a dryad. I prismatic ending'd one Amulet and put kaldra into play off a t2 SFM. They made 7 mana and cast a Turntimber Symbiosis, finding another Dryad. I took this to mean that they didn't have a primeval titan or another payoff, so instead of prismatic ending the remaining amulet I played a Teferi and bounced one of the dryads, Leaving them with a valakut, a forest, a dryad, and an amulet in play (with a bounceland in hand).
They topdecked a primeval titan with exact mana to cast it, gave it haste and got valakut active and took me down in one turn (using Hanweir battlements as their haste enabler of choice).
Match 4 against RUG Glimpse of Tomorrow was basically a coin toss, as I knew that my only out was teferi (I really didn't build the deck with combo in mind).
Game 1, I landed the turn 3 teferi while on the play, then protected it while I closed the game with various creatures. Their deck was built in a way that I saw Omniscience and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker? Very scary.
I didn't bring anything in.
Game 2 I had the turn 3 teferi, but they had the mystical dispute and then untapped to cascade, hitting 2 Nicol Bolas and an Omniscience.
Game 3 I had the turn 3 teferi, but they had a dispute. They cascaded on the next turn but hit 3 lands. I think my only chance here was them missing. I eventually played another teferi that they couldn't answer and that was pretty much it.
VS Burn.
In g1 I had batterskull fairly early, as they didn't kill my turn 2 SFM. They had a skullcrack for the first combat but no pressure to back it up.
I brought in my 3 auriok champions and cut 1 teferi, 1 mortarpod, 1 pilgrim's eye.
In g2 I kept a fair hand but was horribly stuck on land, and couldn't really get out from under a Roil enchantment right away, and after getting a batterskull token pathed, I lost to a lethal spell off the top.
In g3 I kept a very loose hand of Teferi, batterskull, Solitude, and 4 lands, and just lost before I could do anything. I needed more discipline there, definitely.
In summary, I think that there is a lot of untapped strength in Touch the Spirit Realm. I will continue to test it, but I was thinking I could ask for a few tips to iron out the decklist before moving forward. I know that in the past Stephane had said that Flickerwisp was pretty terrible, and in general I would agree, but I think that with all the large construct tokens floating around it definitely has more potential to be unlocked.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on the list, or manabase, and especially sideboard, and i'll update and do more testing.
Cheers!
Brad
*EDIT*
I played two more leagues with this list and felt generally outclassed
I won't be posting the small interactions in my games because I simply cannot remember everything the way that you do (and also because I'm on Martyr not Emeria, even if i do have 2 mainboard Emeria).
One thing that stuck out to me when we were speaking at the event, and that is now clarified for me, is that matchup with your containment priest exiling your creatures.
Emeria itself is a May trigger, so you declare a target, but don't have to return anything. Sounds to me like you were playing it as a Must!
All in all though, it was very impressive then, and still impressive now
Edit: I think i think in a more scattered sort of way... Also i really appreciated your wise words on the efficacy of a sideboard crucible of worlds
- Brad
Just following up, I went and reviewed the tapes to see what sideboarding I had done and noticed that I even misremembered a matchup (I really must have been tired). I'll post how I boarded as follows, at present I feel I may have made some mistakes.
R1 was indeed against Blue Moon, and they were playing thought scours and murktide regents (but I only saw those in g2, althought highly suspected in g1). These games went rather the same way, where they had an active jace for a while and then just had a counterspell for anything. G2 I feel i should have won, but they had a blood moon and I spent most of the game removing threats. I had to use Pilgrim's eye to find a plains, then path my eye to get my island, but then I never drew another plains and was stranded on 1 white source (9ish lands) and died to a large murktide regent.
+1 detention sphere +3 remorseful cleric +1 sanctum prelate +1 ghost quarter
-2 prismatic ending -2 path to exile -2 supreme verdict.
R2 was against RBw Lurrus, their white splash was for prismatic ending. They play Ragavans, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Tourach, Kroxa, Dauthi Voidwalker, that sort of thing. I lost to this deck in 3, and it wasn't close as they just tore apart my hand too early. Hand disruption has gone from a small speedbump to crippling (while stapled on strong effects/bodies). I think my boarding reasoning was that the kaldra and sun titan were too high on the curve and I'd never cast them, but in hindsight I kind of wanted to keep them in, and teferi too, as his bounce can be very effective in these matchups. I had a chance to stabilize in g3, but made a misplay of attacking with SFM instead of using it to play batterskull for some reason, i think I was trying to bait my opponent into playing their lurrus into a wrath, but it was silly as I was in a dominant board position.
+2 celestial purge, +3 remorseful cleric, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, -1 crucible, -1 kaldra compleat, -1 sun titan.
R3 was against Gr Hardened Scales. They just overwhelmed me with Urza's saga. By the time I was ready to field of ruin them they had the mana to make 1 construct at the very least, and then had hangarback walker and welding jar to make my verdicts awkward. This is the matchup where I verdicted 4 turns in a row and still lost on the following turn. With the boarding, I do feel I made a similar mistake here, and getting kaldra down would have been hard for them to deal with. I saw a lot of natures claims in g2.
+1 seal of cleansing, +1 aura of silence, +1 prismatic ending, +1 lone missionary
-1 crucible of worlds, -1 cavalier of dawn, -1 sun titan, -1 kaldra compleat.
R4 was against 5c Elementals, not esper control. G1 they had the grief ephemerate to rip my hand of anything playable, then eventually got down unsettled mariner and risen reef and just effectively clocked me. I didn't see any lightning skelementals in g1, but I suspected them. In g2 thats exactly what I died to. My opponent had turn 1 grief ephemerate again, then spent turn 3 4 and 5 hardcasting skelementals to completely strip my hand and leave me dead.
+2 celestial purge, +1 lone missionary, +1 prismatic ending
-3 teferi, time raveler, -1 crucible of worlds.
At this point I dropped the league, felt like I was making too many play mistakes and needed to re-evaluate on a clear head!