Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
If you pay, the draft is already more than enough reward, right? You don't get to keep the cards you didn't pay for.
Sets [EMA] Eternal Masters Spoilers Thread
- Thread starter Onderzeeboot
- Start date
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
This set seems like everything great about magic: exciting pulls, creativity, and fun games. Reading these draft reports I feel like i'm in 7th grade again listening to friends.
Yup. We talked. I let him keep it but now he knows he owes me
LGS hosted EMA drafts last night for FNM, had a bit of store credit left over so I tried it out again:
I was hoping to pull some value this time around since last night was pretty much just a good draft deck (though it did end up being like $17 worth of stuff somehow), but no crazy pulls for me. I P1P1'd a foil Imperious Perfect over Balance and it ended up being the right choice, got fed all of the elves during the draft. I actually just wanted to play with Deadbridge Shamans more than anything, that was probably my favorite card from Origins Limited and I've always thought it was sweet. Early on I was worried about getting finishers but got passed a late Croc and Juggernaut, picked the Pangolin after I had gotten a few dorks early. After not having a single piece of removal the night before, I quickly snapped up whatever was on color and ended up with a really nice suite of spells. Never had any problems answering opponents' threats.
Pangolin really overperformed for me, especially when I ramped it out a turn early and the opponent didn't have fodder to sac away to it. Going T1 Dork, T2 Body, T3 Deadbrige Shaman, T4 Pangolin got me there in two games where they just couldn't answer a giant 6/5 out of nowhere. Then, if they ever actually stuck a threat to deal with it, I usually had the removal handy. What I really was hoping for was a Shaman of the Pack at some point so I could combo kill through a Wirewood Symbiote, but the Symbiote just ended up being a value card to dodge removal.
Went 2-0, 2-0, split with my friend in the finals for store credit. Then we played some games for fun and I ended up crushing him 3-0 through his durdly 3C Hondens + Charbelcher deck. I'm a fan of the format, it rewards good drafting and sequencing, kind of like cube-lite.
BG Elves
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I was hoping to pull some value this time around since last night was pretty much just a good draft deck (though it did end up being like $17 worth of stuff somehow), but no crazy pulls for me. I P1P1'd a foil Imperious Perfect over Balance and it ended up being the right choice, got fed all of the elves during the draft. I actually just wanted to play with Deadbridge Shamans more than anything, that was probably my favorite card from Origins Limited and I've always thought it was sweet. Early on I was worried about getting finishers but got passed a late Croc and Juggernaut, picked the Pangolin after I had gotten a few dorks early. After not having a single piece of removal the night before, I quickly snapped up whatever was on color and ended up with a really nice suite of spells. Never had any problems answering opponents' threats.
Pangolin really overperformed for me, especially when I ramped it out a turn early and the opponent didn't have fodder to sac away to it. Going T1 Dork, T2 Body, T3 Deadbrige Shaman, T4 Pangolin got me there in two games where they just couldn't answer a giant 6/5 out of nowhere. Then, if they ever actually stuck a threat to deal with it, I usually had the removal handy. What I really was hoping for was a Shaman of the Pack at some point so I could combo kill through a Wirewood Symbiote, but the Symbiote just ended up being a value card to dodge removal.
Went 2-0, 2-0, split with my friend in the finals for store credit. Then we played some games for fun and I ended up crushing him 3-0 through his durdly 3C Hondens + Charbelcher deck. I'm a fan of the format, it rewards good drafting and sequencing, kind of like cube-lite.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Oh yeah, if it was a gift things change of course, but then he also gets to keep the FoW and the Mox. From the way the post was worded I assumed it was just a "hey I got no money but I want to draft this thing, do you want to pay and keep the cards I open?" thing.
Nah, he knew he was giving me the drafted cards, so I don't really get where the confusion came from. Draft is $40, 30 for packs and 10 for prize support. I payed both, he thought he got to keep one.
Deck was sick. Wanted armadillo cloak, but honesty if your deck is 3 benevolent bodyguards, enlightened Tutor and glare of subdual, you have a good start
My deck from yesterday:
I was playing at a place I hadn't been before. We have 10 people, but for some reason the TO did two pods of 5(?!) instead of one big one of 10. Given that it was my first time attending I didn't want to make too much of a fuss, but it was a bit strange.
I first picked Ichorid and Cabal Therapy as I thought they might have been worth money (they're not), third picked Firebolt and then dropped all of that for UW fliers. I think I wheeled the Serra Angel something like 7th pick and went all in. As it turned out, my buddy I'd come with was sitting on my left and had also gone into UW after I passed him a pair of Jetting Glasskites.
I don't think anyone's deck at the table was particularly good, probably due to the low number of packs. I ended up going 3-0, and the only game I lost was to turn 2 Borderland Marauder turn 3 Undying Rage which I couldn't deal with.
In the small sample size of this one draft deck, I noticed that I had a lot of misleadingly sized creatures in my deck. One opponent Pyrokinesis'd my Merfolk Looter and (untapped) Giant Tortoise for 2 each, thinking they would both die. I also enjoyed ambushing people with Thunderclap Wyvern to turn on Ballynock Cohort, which gets even more insane with Wonder in the graveyard. Sprite Noble/Thunderclap Wyvern plus Wonder messed up a lot of combats.
The deck was pretty fun but often I just curved out and smashed my opponents before they could recover. Obviously opening the Mana Crypt was pretty great - I knew it was money but I hadn't actually realised how much until I looked it up after the draft. I only played it in one game where I won something like 8 out of 10 flips, due to incredible skill on my part.
I was not a huge fan of the Aven Riftwatchers in this deck, they were mostly just Drain Life to the face. My friend who also drafted UW had some Whitemane Lions to go along with his Riftwatchers and that seems like a good strategy to go down. From what I understand, that's the Black/White theme? Rebuying stuff like Nekrataal and Phyrexian Rager could be sweet.
EMA Draft
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I was playing at a place I hadn't been before. We have 10 people, but for some reason the TO did two pods of 5(?!) instead of one big one of 10. Given that it was my first time attending I didn't want to make too much of a fuss, but it was a bit strange.
I first picked Ichorid and Cabal Therapy as I thought they might have been worth money (they're not), third picked Firebolt and then dropped all of that for UW fliers. I think I wheeled the Serra Angel something like 7th pick and went all in. As it turned out, my buddy I'd come with was sitting on my left and had also gone into UW after I passed him a pair of Jetting Glasskites.
I don't think anyone's deck at the table was particularly good, probably due to the low number of packs. I ended up going 3-0, and the only game I lost was to turn 2 Borderland Marauder turn 3 Undying Rage which I couldn't deal with.
In the small sample size of this one draft deck, I noticed that I had a lot of misleadingly sized creatures in my deck. One opponent Pyrokinesis'd my Merfolk Looter and (untapped) Giant Tortoise for 2 each, thinking they would both die. I also enjoyed ambushing people with Thunderclap Wyvern to turn on Ballynock Cohort, which gets even more insane with Wonder in the graveyard. Sprite Noble/Thunderclap Wyvern plus Wonder messed up a lot of combats.
The deck was pretty fun but often I just curved out and smashed my opponents before they could recover. Obviously opening the Mana Crypt was pretty great - I knew it was money but I hadn't actually realised how much until I looked it up after the draft. I only played it in one game where I won something like 8 out of 10 flips, due to incredible skill on my part.
I was not a huge fan of the Aven Riftwatchers in this deck, they were mostly just Drain Life to the face. My friend who also drafted UW had some Whitemane Lions to go along with his Riftwatchers and that seems like a good strategy to go down. From what I understand, that's the Black/White theme? Rebuying stuff like Nekrataal and Phyrexian Rager could be sweet.
I am so glad that MTGO has phantom drafts online. $10 and you get to draft this fun format without having to part with your kidneys. Plus if you 2-1 you can do it again! Plus with no money on the line you get to see all sorts of wonderous cards come around in packs 2 and 3 (5th pick Dack Fayden!).
I did three drafts today and had a great time. I even saw Grillo online and he was regretting his life decisions by doing an EMA sealed. Here were my decks:
I thought this deck was pretty good. I lost in round 2 due to mana issues both games (don't keep that 2-lander on the play :\). It was extremely grindy and came back from all sorts of positions. Not much else to say really. I Animate Dead the opponents creatures more since all mine were so terrible.
This deck was strange. I first picked the Giant Solifuge and then wanted to go a sort of red/white token route but it just wasn't coming. Plus I have a problem with passing Man-o'-war. I was having troubles picking up blue fixing too, I kept getting black fixing. I ended up with this, and not much else playable in my pool.
I played against two RW decks which told me where all my stuff went and made my sideboard Wildfire Emissary really worth it. I had a decent amount of looting which is why I put the Scepter in. I got a Raise the Alarm on it once (it won me the game), every other time I just pitched it away. Also pitched away Wonder without an Island for 8 turns. It was great once I did get that island though. Also, Ticking Gnomes I seemed to get every game and was great an gumming up the board while my mana was trying to fix itself. Would draft a steaming pile again. Speaking of which...
This deck was just hilarious. Crushed mono red in the first round with life lands. Round 2 had an epic match against Burning Vengeance. Where he kept just retracing Oona's Grace and plucking off all my dudes. He had trouble with Prowling Pangolin and whenever it hit it stuck and he died there after. Then in the finals I meet a man with double Rancor on a Kird Ape on turn 3 and I accept my fate.
Here I was thinking I was going to brew some pauper decks. Instead I got sucked into drafting. Also, speaking of pauper, these two cards outshone as I always picked them thinking they were mediocre:
The Pangolin is just so huge. There isn't anything that can block is profitably and the only deck it is actively bad against is tokens. Sure you have to leverage it to work for you. But if you are aggressive enough, people won't want to double edict themselves or if you are control they won't be able to. A great card and shall be picking it more highly.
The Emissary was great just due to the amount of white decks I was facing. But the fact that it had 4 toughness was the real boon. It is so hard to get rid of and the firebreathing helps you race. Sided him in a lot over the Giant Solifuge and was very pleased.
I did three drafts today and had a great time. I even saw Grillo online and he was regretting his life decisions by doing an EMA sealed. Here were my decks:
UBw Value Bears
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Haste and Tricks a Plenty
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I played against two RW decks which told me where all my stuff went and made my sideboard Wildfire Emissary really worth it. I had a decent amount of looting which is why I put the Scepter in. I got a Raise the Alarm on it once (it won me the game), every other time I just pitched it away. Also pitched away Wonder without an Island for 8 turns. It was great once I did get that island though. Also, Ticking Gnomes I seemed to get every game and was great an gumming up the board while my mana was trying to fix itself. Would draft a steaming pile again. Speaking of which...
What have I done?
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Here I was thinking I was going to brew some pauper decks. Instead I got sucked into drafting. Also, speaking of pauper, these two cards outshone as I always picked them thinking they were mediocre:
The Pangolin is just so huge. There isn't anything that can block is profitably and the only deck it is actively bad against is tokens. Sure you have to leverage it to work for you. But if you are aggressive enough, people won't want to double edict themselves or if you are control they won't be able to. A great card and shall be picking it more highly.
The Emissary was great just due to the amount of white decks I was facing. But the fact that it had 4 toughness was the real boon. It is so hard to get rid of and the firebreathing helps you race. Sided him in a lot over the Giant Solifuge and was very pleased.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
The Kirblinx Special certainly is... special
I like how Worldgorger Dragon is a must kill that gains you a ton of life when they do
I like how Worldgorger Dragon is a must kill that gains you a ton of life when they do
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
This was one of my mythics from the sealed pool
$90 in rl; $5 online
$90 in rl; $5 online
I've drafted this twice now, and my latest draft was this 3-0 beast:
I have to say, I've never had more fun drafting a set in my life.
4c Honden Mill
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I have to say, I've never had more fun drafting a set in my life.
- The Honden package was no slouch. Honden of Infinite Rage can chew through token decks or boop Villain's nose; Honden of Cleansing Fire keeps me topped off against midrange and opposing control decks looking to ride a finisher home; Honden of Seeing Winds was really key to keeping my hand stocked; and Honden of Life's Web was a great chump engine-turned-wincon. Sticking one Honden early always happened, and once I hit two, the advantage began to pile up. I was especially impressed with Honden of Seeing Winds, which was a huge help as a constant source of draw power to dig for more Hondens. It's probably cubeable on its own in any lower-mid power format.
- Mill was a win-con in over half of my matches. 4x Dream Twist is 24 cards; out of a 33-card pile (they draw 7 from 40, leaving 33), that means I just need to stall for 9 turns. The synergy with Memory Lapse was pretty gross, too.
- Chugging out tokens from Honden of Life's Web and Young Pyromancer helped me chump -> trade -> swarm over Villain lots.
- Honden of Cleansing Fire is criminally undervalued. I wheeled it (not even being in white) for a Dream Twist early and got it back through some awful twist of fate for my round 3 opponent, who was (surprise) RG aggro. It helped me big time versus a WUB fliers deck in round 2, too.
- Gaea's Blessing seems really incorrectly named, but it's pretty nice being able to shuffle in 3 cards and draw for . It's borderline cubeworthy, but Eternal Witness probably chokes it out too much. I'm not sure.
- Tidal Wave is hilarious when you've got 3 of em (I sided all out R1, all in R2, and for R3 I went down to 1 so I could pack Nature's Claim for fucking Goblin Trenches)
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Have you targeted your opponent with Oona's Grace?
Have you targeted your opponent with Oona's Grace?
In 3-4 of my games, yeah! Suuuuper sweet, and such a rude move, I love it. In my second match I had made them draw 4 to wrap it up quick because I was threatening to deck myself with 3 hondens (won the game with 4 cards left in my deck and a Honden of Life's Web in my hand, whoops!)
I also p1p1 Dream Twist if that tells you anything about how much I love mill
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I will admit to playing Arcane Tide more than once in Peasant tournaments... Kill cards? Dampen Thought and Oona's Grace
Warning, old decklist incoming! Dampen Thought was still an uncommon back then!
Onderzeeboot - Arcane Tide
6th place (9 points)
Spells
1 Evermind (U)
4 Brainstorm
1 Gigadrowse
4 High Tide
4 Ponder
4 Reach Through Mists
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Dampen Thought (U)
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Psychic Puppetry
2 Stream of Consciousness (U)
1 Oona's Grace
Land
17 Island
Warning, old decklist incoming! Dampen Thought was still an uncommon back then!
Onderzeeboot - Arcane Tide
6th place (9 points)
Spells
1 Evermind (U)
4 Brainstorm
1 Gigadrowse
4 High Tide
4 Ponder
4 Reach Through Mists
4 Accumulated Knowledge
2 Dampen Thought (U)
4 Ideas Unbound
4 Merchant Scroll
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Psychic Puppetry
2 Stream of Consciousness (U)
1 Oona's Grace
Land
17 Island
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
You dig for multiple Psychic Puppetrys, fire off multiple High Tides, and keep splicing the Puppetries onto card draw.
1 High Tide + 1 Psychich Puppetry =
to spend on an arcane spell (i.e. Reach Through Mists).1 High Tide + 2 Psychic Puppetry or 2 High Tide + 1 Psychic Puppetry =
to spend on an arcane spell and something else. At this point you keep drawing into draw spells until you find a second High Tide or Psychic Puppetry.2 High Tide + 2 Psychic Puppetry =
to spend on an arcane spell and something else. You're good to go. Aim for the stars!Since most arcane spells in the deck cost two mana, you only need 3 cards (second line) to start the chain, and once you find the fourth piece you are generally save. At some point when going off you want that Evermind to splice a draw onto every arcane spell you find, then an Oona's Grace to turn excess lands into cards, then one of the Dampen Thoughts to start milling your opponent. Once you draw your whole deck, you use the two copies of Stream of Consciousness to keep cards in your deck. Typically at the end you demonstrate them the combo of Stream of Consciousness (targeting the other Stream of Consciousness in your graveyard) + Psychic Puppetry + Psychic Puppetry + Evermind + Dampen Thought, which requires 8 mana, or 2 Islands + 3 High Tide, to loop enough times to mill their entire deck, then point an Oona's Grace at their face!
The deck is at its strongest when graveyard exploiting decks are weak in the meta, and counterspells are not widely played, though you've got Gigadrowse (with more copies in the sideboard) to beat blue players. It's a clever combo deck that's a blast to play and an agony to play against, pretty much the dream for Johnny Combo
Yeah, my favourite pauper deck! Because of the different format, I played a version with Feldon's Cane and 2 Petal's of Insight.