Sets [EMN] Eldritch Moon Spoilers Thread

[RavebornMuse]

This was said in a reddit thread

And the Jacetice league killing eldritch gods yet being most threatened by having their faces held in a puddle for a few seconds says all we need to say about story.

It sums up my feelings towards the Jacetice League pretty well. Like, when a handful of planeswalkers can group up to take a hot shit on 3 world-eating otherworldly beings, how am I supposed to convince myself that they're ever in peril facing down swarms of angry calamari? Instead I'm supposed to care about their interpersonal lives as supergods leading an oh-so-ironic crusade stomping in everything's face ~for the multiverse yall~ but they're so embarrassingly written, I'd rather go back to reading my Draco x Harry slash fics from last year grad school college high school middle school. They do weird spurts of character "development" and "complication (see: Chandra and the monks???), disappointing queerbaiting (see: Ral x Jace), and the most boring take on duty-bound soldiers I've ever read (see: Gideon anywhere anytime)... just, nah
Ashaya...

 

[Kirblinx]

So I just finished my prerelease. I got there late as I had to work, so the TO decided to open my packs and sort them for me so I could just slam cards together for the first round. My white was pretty strong and just randomly paired it with red. After getting flooded in match 1 all three games (I did win one with Gatstaf Arsonists and Blood Mist, it does do 20 damags in two swings) I decided to switch to black as my second colour and ended up going 3-1 and finishing in 8th place (out of 38). Here was the deck:


Cards in my deck that I noticed did things:

• Gisela and Thalia are extremely hard to get around that high power first strike lead their attack to stop and mine to begin. Thalia almost always died straight away, but cutting off blockers for a turn was so great.
• Subjugator Angel underwhelmed. She was stuck in my hand for too long, and I was never able to use the ability where an alpha strike wouldn't put me further behind. Plus there are a lot of removal spells that deal with 3 toughness creatures, so it died pretty quickly (same with Gisela)
• Faithbearer Paladin way overperformed. Something about having 4 toughness in this format seems to work wonders. It would always help me stabilise the board and even start swinging in. I would often swap out the Subjugator angel for the 3rd Paladin.
• Faith Unbroken is pretty decent for an aura. I like to think of it like Hammerhand, where it is much better in aggressive decks as you can abuse the creature going away straight away. Also great against red, as then they have to spend another burn spell to get their creature back.
• I got to meld Scavengers + Rats once and it was pretty sweet (won on that combat). Scavengers was more often than not return Thalia to my hand, which always led to collective groans from my opponents.
• True-Faith Censer is still a great equipment. Putting it on any creature with first strike or high toughness lets you jsut chip away with no ramifications. Plus turning the lowly Thraben Inspector to a 3/3 is nothing to sneeze at either.

Things I noticed about the format:

• I guess 3/2's are the new 2/2's. There are so many 3/2's in this format it makes 2/1's actually decent (but not that decent as there seems to be a lot of things in red that ping for 1). Things with 4 toughness are king (which is why the paladin did so much work for me) and even stops against two common removal spells (Boon of Emrakul and Fiery Temper)
• I had a turn 2 Wharf Infiltrator played against me one game. Just just oozes value. I had bearly any creatures that could block it and it would just keep chipping away, builing an army or 3/2's, which his hand was filled with tempo cards to keep me behind. Very impressed, might even be cubable (Less shadowy Looter il-Kor maybe?).
• Seems like a pretty fast format. I blame all the 3/2's (or that 4/3 wolf for 3 when it attacks). There also seems to be enough answers in all colours that bombs aren't too swingy in the format. Should be a great format to play in GP Sydney (let's see if I do better than the 4-5 at the BFZ sealed last year)

 

[genericco]

You're right about all the 3/2s and how key four toughness is. EMN added a bunch of 3/4 bodies that stabilize and give some sort of value on ETB, but you typically have to tap out to cast them. So Faith Unbroken or direct removal can make for big blowouts.

This is how match two game one went:

me: Lone Rider
opponent: Lambholt Pacifist
me: "Well, I guess I'm all in. Faith Unbroken, targeting Lone Rider, trigger exiles blocker, let's go to attacks..."
opponent is already scooping

 

[Aston]

My Prerelease deck:



This is my favourite kind of sealed deck, in that it's grindy and super-late game focused. I ended up going 4-1, sideboarding out the emerge creatures, Emrakul and Tamiyo's Journal in 4 rounds for some cheaper defensive stuff as apparently everyone decided to play beatdown . I did manage to cast Emrakul in one game, which I won pretty soon thereafter.

As for specific cards, I was quite impressed by Cryptolith Fragment and hadn't realised how insanely good Dark Salvation was until I cast it for the first time. It's nuts. Voldaren Pariah was interesting, it's a bit under rate at 3/3 Flying for 3BB but it might be useable as a top-end for black token or sacrifice strategies, because the trigger on transforming is no joke. Grim Flayer was a bit better than I anticipated, although I don't think he'll be making it into my cube. Ulrich was pretty good as he usually got through a bunch of damage on the turn he was played and then killed something a couple of turns later, but he's very slow. Primal Druid plus emerge is a pretty cute combo as well, it didn't come up much in this deck but I could see that being something in draft.

 

[shamizy]

Went 3-1, this deck was awesome



When I initally opened my pool, I wasn't sure where to actually go and whether the zombie synergies would be enough to carry me to victory. It looked like it would be kind of difficult for me without a ton of removal or big finishers, but evasive dudes and buying back creatures while trading worked out.

Cryptbreaker is an amazing card, I had it T1 in two different games throughout the night and I think in each game it drew me like 4-5 extra cards. Just plopping it down T1, play a land and pass T2, discard and make a guy EOT on their turn, play a zombie 3 drop and pass, block if you need to and also start drawing cards. It was just ridiculous once it got going and gummed up the board really well. Once I hit 5 mana, I could start actually madnessing out 3/3 creatures and make zombies too. Also in two games I discarded a zombie to its effect EOT and then used Cemetery Recruitment to buy it back + draw a card. It was so gross. I even used its discard as a way to buff my Liliana's Elite in combat and create another blocker. It just has so much utility, I think it's a must add to any cube with a decent number of zombies in black.

I pulled off the Meld combo in my very first game when I was getting pressured where the Midnight Scavengers brought back a rat and I then played it to flip them and hit back for 5. He punched me back for 5, dropped me to 7 and he was at 15. But then I punched back + Grotesque Mutation to flip our life totals. Unsubstantiate then came to the rescue by bouncing the Sigardian Priest he played like a turn after to allow me to get through for lethal.

Speaking of Unsubstantiate, that card is amazing. It's so much of a tempo (TRIGGERED) swing in your favor if you ever screw up their big turn of pumping mana into a transform or trying to stick a bomb to stabilize. It also helped me push through lethal in two games, especially one where we grinded to a boardstall where I was just draining each of us for two with Skirsdag Supplicant. I then bounced his last flier EOT, hit him for 3 with the 3/4 Eldrazi thing, and drained for the last 2 life for the win with 17 seconds left on the clock for the round.

This deck was so much fun, I was blown away by how good Cryptbreaker was. People just didn't want to use up premium removal on it and it just ran away with games with all that card advantage. The fact that the zombies come into play untapped and that you can just do that at instant speed was freaking insane. I cannot wait to play with this in cube alongside Gravecrawler and Carrion Feeder.

 

[RavebornMuse]

Quick question: is Liliana's Elite worth considering for cube? It's a more castable Nighthowler with a better floor, and zombie typing to boot. I can see it being a great topdeck and at least a tolerable curve-out, and it does great work as an early threat to build on through dredge/self-mill strategies or reanimator. (I also like the art and anything referring to Liliana, which I admit isn't really formal data in its favour..)

 

[ahadabans]

Great reports. Thanks for these. I really want to try Unsubstantiate now.

 

[Goldenpineapple]

I played an awful red/green deck with fine tricks but the creatures were really bad. I won matches for all the wrong reasons but luckily split with my final round opponent before he could crush me with his nine removal spells and four meld pairs.

The Jacestice League

I prefer The Gideons of the Galaxy myself but maybe the community will find one for each character so we can rename it depending on who is main at the moment!

 

[Alphez]

Found 2x Gisa and Geralf, had a bunch of zombies as well, so I built my deck around that. It was slow as hell, since I did not have many removals nor good finishers, but it was super fun even when I lost. Given enough time, I would just spam the board and eventually find a way. A very zombie-esque plan, if you ask me.

G&G is a super cool card, but I think it would only work at a relatively low power level. I loved it, though.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I went 1-4-1 with a deck that looked at least 3-3 to me. Sometimes you just can't get there.




This card is the bee's knees. It's awesome to play, for you and your opponent. I cast it multiple times, and it was always a blast to find out if you got got, or if you hit the jackpot


This card is a nice little engine all on its lonesome. It's everything I wish Pack Rat was, and none of the bullshit Pack Rat actually is. I didn't order one because it honestly didn't look that impressive to me, but I'm glad I pulled it at the prerelease, and it's going straight into my cube.


This actually let me swing in a few times for quite a lot of damage. I'm not in love with the 2 toughness, but it certainly overperformed for me.


Speaking of overperformers. I only drew this twice, but both times it was great. Two 3/3's for three mana simply is a great deal, and I might have passed on this one too lightly on my SOI includes.


This won me both games in my only match win. Unless you put them in a single pick, it's pretty hard to pull this off in cube, but it's certainly satisfying to swing in with a huge meld creature


This is a nice little pump spell I missed. With investigate being a favorite mechanic of some, I think this deserves a look. Save a creature in combat or from a burn spell, and draw a card later is actually a sweet value play.

The emerge creatures are... awkward. They offer tremendous effects and stats for their mana cost when you cast them using emerge, but sacrificing a creature is so painful. I don't think I can make them work in my cube, especially knowing that the removal in cube is much better than in this set.

 

[shamizy]

Quick question: is Liliana's Elite worth considering for cube? It's a more castable Nighthowler with a better floor, and zombie typing to boot. I can see it being a great topdeck and at least a tolerable curve-out, and it does great work as an early threat to build on through dredge/self-mill strategies or reanimator. (I also like the art and anything referring to Liliana, which I admit isn't really formal data in its favour..)

If you have a self-mill theme or a lower powered cube, I think it's worth trying out at least. When I first saw it, I thought it would be garbage like Wight of Precinct Six has been most of the time, but it was a sweet cards alongside the Cryptbreaker and Relentless Dead. I traded off my guys way more often than I would have with double blocks and whatnot to clear bigger dudes just because I knew I had a virtual 4/4 or 5/5 for 3 in my hand. I think there are better options at the 3 slot in black (even better zombies), but it could be a fun card. I know I'll be drafting this one quite a bit.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Dangit black 3s

 

[sigh]

Found 2x Gisa and Geralf, had a bunch of zombies as well, so I built my deck around that. It was slow as hell, since I did not have many removals nor good finishers, but it was super fun even when I lost. Given enough time, I would just spam the board and eventually find a way. A very zombie-esque plan, if you ask me.

G&G is a super cool card, but I think it would only work at a relatively low power level. I loved it, though.

I'm super excited to try G&G out. I think my power level is low enough for then to be at least cool role players and/or some neat stories when the deck comes together and "goes off"

 

[Peter LaCara]

If you have a self-mill theme or a lower powered cube, I think it's worth trying out at least. When I first saw it, I thought it would be garbage like Wight of Precinct Six has been most of the time, but it was a sweet cards alongside the Cryptbreaker and Relentless Dead. I traded off my guys way more often than I would have with double blocks and whatnot to clear bigger dudes just because I knew I had a virtual 4/4 or 5/5 for 3 in my hand. I think there are better options at the 3 slot in black (even better zombies), but it could be a fun card. I know I'll be drafting this one quite a bit.

Interesting. I wrote that card off as nearly unplayable. I hated Wight of Precinct Six in Gatecrash draft and this costs 3 instead of 2! I still wouldn't cube it, but now I may actually draft the thing.

FWIW, Owen Turtenwald was high on it during the Limited Resources set review, and it's pretty safe to say that guy's a better Magic player than I am, so I'll trust him.

 

[ahadabans]

I completely missed the card Clear Shot. And given how well Rabid Bite has done (in very limited sampling admittedly), adding a targeted +1/+1 (yay! Heroic!) and making it instant for 1 more mana, I suspect this new version will be just as good if not better. Fight cards have generally been bad because your dude takes damage. But these newer ones I think are simply much better. They do still have the potential 2 for 1 drawback, but as far as green removal goes I feel like these are clearing a bar previously only reached by Song of the Dryads and Beast Within. Thoughts?

 

[Grillo_Parlante]

I think that if your format has a lot of instant speed removal, they are pretty bad. Doom blade in response to rabid bite seems like a blow out.

Otherwise, rabid bite seems reasonable, and clear shot seems very strong, potentially obnoxiously so.

 

[Chris Taylor]

never really had a great time with beast within. a 3/3 is a LOT

 

[ahadabans]

Beast within I found to be good in my old high power cube. 3/3's are much better in my current cube so I'm inclined to agree.

 

[Meltyman]

Cards that i will try out in my cube for sure:

Spoiler

<- Makes Firestorm a little more interesting while also giving a little more reach to reanimator against planewalkers. (i have welder reanimator also)
<- I like Song of the Dryads, so i definitely want to see this effect for blue also. Sadly it's a little too close to Song of the Dryads, but a little more nerfed at least.
<- This might not be good enough, but it's a reasonable body and it says draw 3 cards. Must be tested.
<- Red removal with options is great, another card to put instead of 10 different Searing Spear effects.
<- I like Natural Order, but it's a little too powerful to my taste. Eldritch Evolution might be good enough without being broken.
<- Hatebears is a theme in my cube, so in it goes.
<- I want spells matters to be a theme along with storm. This is CLOSE to being good maybe a little too niché but i want to try it.
<- Maybe a little too close to the 10 different searing spear clones, but my cube has enough persist dudes that it's a good addition for red.
<- The new Emrakul adds to the reanimator targets that aren't insanely good, but they SHOULD get the job done most of the time. It's also reasonably costed that you can hard cast it.
<- Planeswalker that has some interesting abilities, must try.
<- Oh man, so sweet card this one. Got a foil promo of it yesterday <3

Card that i'm not that excited with, but will test if i happen to open it in a draft or today's sealed:

Spoiler

<- the abilities are OK, but not that crazy that i want to aqcuire the card if the price stays high.

Reject Rare bonus round:

Spoiler

<- Elbrus, the Binding Blade so broken now!!
<- so random card that i have to test it out.
<- Funny counterspells are a must in this cube.
<- Rare removal is something i actively look and this one is an interesting one. Tibalt is the only planeswalker, so the planewalkers bonus doesn't matter.
<- Discard outlets are needed for reanimator, so here is a good one.
<- The ability isn't as great as in the normal cube because of the horrible targets and that's why it will go into this cube.
<- So much text, not that much value gained when payed 8 mana. Perfect for this cube.
<- More discard outlets

Need opinion:

Spoiler

Good enough ?

 

[sigh]

Went 3-1 with this little pile. Seems like I just can't escape prereleasing with GB these days, and I'm ok with that, I guess, if it's working . My promo was an Identity thief, which was all sorts of dissapointing, but I did also pull a foil Scourge Wolf, so that's pretty sweet.

GBu Emerge

won games by going straight over the top of everyone. This deck had pretty mediocre/bad removal, so it was reliant on a fairly beatdown plan. Which worked almost entirely because of one thing:

Emerge

Mechanic is pretty freakin' busted. Attacking T3 with something for some damage, then turning around and getting a 4/4 + 2 1/1's... is basically the worst case scenario o_O. Best Case scenario comes from T4 dropping Distended Mindbender. WTF this card is so gross. I got value off hard casting it at least one game, but saccing a Thraben Foulblood or whatever into a T4 5/5 with "discard two cards outta your hand, likely your finisher and removal that can deal with this 5/5" is so nuuuuts.Way too powerful for my cube environment, I think.

Lets talk about how this isn't even getting into Emerge with Flash. Countering a removal spell and getting a 5/7 body for like... 3 mana... wow.

Succumb to Temptation is a nice card, but a little awkwardly placed for what my deck wanted to be doing. Can definitely see it being a perfectly fine card though, when a deck has more instant speed things to be doing and the like.

collective brutality is just a little under the curve on all the modes, it's so clunky. games I had it, the stuff on the other side I couldn't kill with it (where were all the 3/2's then???) and the lifegain part is super mediocre. The "duress" part was ok.

Didn't have it in my deck, but Clear Shot is worth it's weight. Such a brutal 2-1 or 2-2.

 

[GiftsForgiven]

About to head to my first prerelease in an hour or so! (I'm never able to make the Saturday ones due to religious reasons.) Anyone have any words of advice?

Also Sigh, that deck looks Sweeeet!

 

[sigh]

About to head to my first prerelease in an hour or so! (I'm never able to make the Saturday ones due to religious reasons.) Anyone have any words of advice?

Also Sigh, that deck looks Sweeeet!

Thanks

in terms of tip-like thoughts: I think Delirium is too hard to try to mess heavily with in this sealed environment, so I'd steer clear unless the cards are good enough on their own (like Gnarlwood Dryad). really need more than two packs worth of the SOI enablers to get there with it. Also, green seems really strong in general, as does the Human tribe.

 

[GiftsForgiven]

Thanks

in terms of tip-like thoughts: I think Delirium is too hard to try to mess heavily with in this sealed environment, so I'd steer clear unless the cards are good enough on their own (like Gnarlwood Dryad). really need more than two packs worth of the SOI enablers to get there with it. Also, green seems really strong in general, as does the Human tribe.

I saw from your deck description that Emerge cards worked very well for you, but how did they feel in general? Is it worth jamming some of the common ones?

 

[Chris Taylor]

Man, emerge is like an aura with split second.

 

[sigh]

I saw from your deck description that Emerge cards worked very well for you, but how did they feel in general? Is it worth jamming some of the common ones?

I think they are almost all worth jamming in a creature heavy deck, tbh. I splashed just for two of my Emerge cards. I probably wouldn't go ham on splashes to get them to work, but if you've got a theoretical RG deck or something, splashing a third color for them isn't out of the question. All depending on your pulls and mana of course. I allowed myself to do that because I got the GB dual to make my primary colors better, which opened up the two slots for the Islands, along with some of the green mana fixing stuff I had.

Verdict is: heavily in favor of using them, and splashing for them, but not such that it wrecks your primary plan. In the RG deck, for instance, I'd definitely run all the copies of It of the Horrid Swarm I happen to pull, and maybe splash a little U for a Drownyard Behemoth or something.