Emrakul, The Promised End
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Surprising only those individuals who have a crush on Marit Lage, Emrakul is back. Like his buddies, she's been given a downgrade, but like her buddy Kozi, Emrakul is not so much inferior as .... different.
Like the other Elradzi, I don't see this new iteration replacing or even really supplementing the original. If you want to cheat something into play that will end the game immediately, you have a lot of explaining to do if you don't tear Aeons or at least brand Grisles. So, right away, this new card is not going to compete in Oath, Show and Tell, and similar strategies.
However, it seems like a ramp or midrangey deck's wet dream. Consider that it's trivial to get 4-5 card types in the yard by midgame, and at that point this guy costs around 9 mana. For 9 mana, you get an evasive monster that can end the game in a maximum of two hits, and who protects itself extremely well. You take your opponent's turn, burn his sorcery removal or a way to find any, and from there your enemy has two draw steps to topdeck his way out of oblivion.
Also, note that your first ramp spell of a certain type actually gives you 2 mana towards Emrakul. Rampant Growth gets you a land and reduces her cost by one. Sakura Tribe-Elder next turn does likewise. Natural Connection on the next turn and you're there, assuming you made some land drops in the meantime, too.
Seems really solid. Modern ramp is going to love this thing.
Vintage doesn't currently have a midrange strategy, however, so I'm not thinking this is really playable. At least, that's my initial reaction.
EDIT: Also - there is no graveyard-reshuffle clause. So, this actually does some work in Reanimator!
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Considering Eldrazi decks are largely based on Sol lands and do not play a wealth of graveyard fillers, I'm not sure how much the cost of this thing could get reduced. A deck that plays every possible type of card type could get this down to 5 mana, but being able to do that on curve would be a task to the point where it may not be worth it.
That being said I can see this being a fantastic 1 of in any eldrazi deck that could cast it if it can get there. It is tutorable by Eye and is almost a guaranteed win if it hits the table, plus eldrazi's land base basically means this guy costs 6 or 7 land taps.
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@MaximumCDawg said:
Also, note that your first ramp spell of a certain type actually gives you 2 mana towards Emrakul. Rampant Growth gets you a land and reduces her cost by one. Sakura Tribe-Elder next turn does likewise. Natural Connection on the next turn and you're there, assuming you made some land drops in the meantime, too.
Need to check your math here, as this sequence gives you 8 mana on turn 5 with 3 card types in grave, even making all 5 land drops.
I think this Emrakul is going to be limited to standard, mostly in ramp sideboards. Could be that the rest of the set has stuff that pushes her over the top, though. Gotta wait and see. -
i honestly dont see it being good at all except standard, and the reason for that is because standard is slow enough this would be good, but for modern i cant see a deck that would want it, maybe scapeshift as a sideboard plan but thats about it, tron wouldnt want it because it has better ways to use the 9-10 mana, and not many other decks can support that well. as for reanimator, i can only assume you mean legacy reanimator, and personally i wouldnt play it in my deck, 9 times out of 10 griselbrand is the best card to get as it protects itself with the draw ability, and also ends the game quickly. this could be good in the titan post deck as a way to lock them out with karakas (not sure how it would all work honestly because they get another turn) im sorry but outside of standard i dont this will se much play, but i could be wrong, only way to know for sure is to test it out.
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I see no reason to waste time testing this. It seems awful unless you can realistically cast it. The trigger on cast ability is pretty great, and I believe if it resolves and they allow you to take their turn the opponent cannot even concede the game....meaning you can immediately look through their sideboard.
Edit: I'm wrong, your opponent can always concede the game and end the effect. So they can stop you from looking at their sideboard, once you ask to do so. Also, you cannot concede the game for them.
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@gkraigher in vintage and legacy yes, but it might find a home in modern
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It seems like unplayable garbage in modern
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I would play this in cube, maybe modern in place of Ulamog in tron. This shall be tested
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A self mill strategy could bring the cost as low as 5. Oath is always the deck that I think of first for over costed creatures but this one seems worse than what is already available.
Original Emrakul was actually worth oathing into even without the "cast" trigger because it can race almost anything. This is a much slower clock and doesn't have annihilator 6; however, I'm taking note that this becomes a lot cheaper to cast when you oath against cage or when you draw one and they have a priest so it's interesting as a post sideboard option. This card is unique and although I can't think of a deck that this obviously slots into it seems hypothetically playable.
Edit: Another point of interest is that having protection from instants combined with taking the opponent's next turn makes this creature extremely hard to kill if cast. Any instant speed removal doesn't touch it and any other form of removal will likely not be able to be cast since the controller of Emrakul will have first dibs at casting it. For Balance, along with a few other wrath effects, they'll need to cast and counter it to keep Emrakul. For Toxic Deluge they literally just win the game on the spot. I can't think of any removal spell that is effective against a resolved Emrakul, the Promised End. Maze of Ith could be helpful if there are no wastelands on either side but is not true removal since they will still have a blocker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8
Pour me a brew as bitter as my blackened heart.
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@Aaron-Patten I agree with you. Cannot imagine any non-ramp deck that wants this, but it's potentially playable (it's barely less playable than 6cc planeswalkers) for the top of the curve. If there is such a deck that can get up to 8 mana while generating a diverse grave (academy decks come to my mind), this card has a great body and a nice effect. I'm not sure Emrakul is better than other academy win conditions, but at least seems more resilient to hate providing you can go to high amounts of mana.
That said, I would not play a dedicated deck around this card, so it should be a natural fit in a decent deck.
"Eron would be much less of a hassle if only he were mortal."
-Reyhan, Samite alchemist -
This seems like it would be good in that veteran explorer deck in legacy. Although it would be better if it was green.
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I think the key to this card is that of all the Eldrazi that Eye of Ugin can tutor for, Eldrazi being key because it will also reduce their costs, this one has the best overall power and effect for cost, provided everything else came together.
In modern I actually think this card would have been amazing in Tron decks, but with eye being banned that is no longer a reality. I have seen decks in legacy tutor with eye before, but not so much vintage so I do not think it will see play. To me that is realistically the only way this would work out unless we see new card types enter the game in the future in which case a self mill list could maybe see him see play.
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I really like the art a lot on the new Emrakul. As far as the power-level goes, seems like the classic is far superior.
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Another Oath of Druids scenario to consider is that if you Oath into this and Cage is down you get to cast it for cheap and take their extra turn, likely crippling them. If cage isn't down then you can play Moments Peace to win the race. Containment Priest will only exile this if there's no cage and can therefore die to Crippling Fatigue. If they run Leyline of the Void then you still get a creature into play so it takes two out of three cards to stop this. Still, in spite of all this, I'm not terribly excited about this card for that shell.
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I'm just not sure what this card does that you can't do with any of the following, which already have tuned strategies built around them:
- Mindslaver, likely in Grixis
- Old Emrakul and Griselbrand in Oath, S+T, Reanimator
- Marit Lage in Dark Depths combo
Want to control your opponent? Play Mindslaver. Want to cheat out game-ending fatties? Oath, S+T, and Reanimator will prefer Griselbrand and old Emrakul. Only care about the large and evasive body? Marit Lage does it in only one swing.
That said, sometimes deck strategies combine around new cards or just given enough time or the right meta (see Bomberman Oath). Maybe New Emrakul does 2 or more of the things on that list well enough that some things get combined? I'm not nearly a good enough deck builder to figure that out, though.
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You can Flash this into play to wreck an opponent's turn for 2 mana. If flash gets unrestricted, then this could be a thing.
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@Serracollector said:
If flash gets unrestricted
Doesn't Flash just put the creature into play? Remember, the Mindslaver effect here triggers when you CAST Emrakul.
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@MaximumCDawg Correct, the Sixth Edition wording errata'd it to put the creature into play instead of cast it.
I think, based on the Hanweir, the Writhing Township spoiler that Emrakul, the Promised End will have a greater impact when it arrives in play than just the card it's self. At first glance it appears as though there are going to be cards that flip upon some interaction with Emrakul. First guess would be entering the battlefield but being cast would be more on flavour with previous Eldrazi. Maybe it's something worse like when it attacks. Maybe I'm totally out to lunch but that symbol in the top left hand corner is the set symbol which looks like Emrakul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8
Pour me a brew as bitter as my blackened heart.
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@Aaron-Patten It would be really terrible design if cards like Hanweir flipped based on Emrakul arriving. Your cards only work if you have a particular Mythic? HELLO YU-GI-OH!
Maybe it would work if it said it flips when a colorless creature with power greater than 10 arrives or something.
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My gut says it's a Legendary Land that flips when you cast Emrakul..
Edit: People have pointed out that it's collector's number likely places it in red or green so not a land.
