[EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

I got a couple GRN packs for the holidays and opened a copy of Emmara, Soul of the Accord. At first, I was more than a little underwhelmed...but I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I brewed this up:

Commander:
Emmara, Soul of the Accord

Creatures:
Selesnya Evangel
Mentor of the Meek
Dauntless Escort
Eternal Witness
Twilight Drover
Farhaven Elf
Wood Elves
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
Jazal Goldmane
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Hero of Bladehold
Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Seedborn Muse
Sun Titan
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Thunderfoot Baloth
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Craterhoof Behemoth

Instants:
Enlightened Tutor
Path to Exile
Swords to Plowshares
Sprout Swarm
Heroic Intervention
Eladamri's Call
Benefactor's Draught
Beast Within
Chord of Calling
Teferi's Protection
Devouring Light
Sundering Vitae
Secure the Wastes

Sorcery:
Regrowth
Idyllic Tutor
Cultivate
Kodama's Reach
Harmonize
Skyshroud Claim
Shamanic Revelation
Overwhelming Stampede
Austere Command
Camaraderie
Hour of Reckoning

Artifacts:
Paradise Mantle
Sol Ring
Skullclamp
Springleaf Drum
Smuggler's Copter
Lightning Greaves
Honor-Worn Shaku

Enchantments:
Reconnaissance
Nature's Chosen
Earthcraft
Song of Freyalise
Sylvan Library
Dawn of Hope
Sterling Grove
Aura Shards
Glare of Subdual
Conclave Tribunal
Anointed Procession
Parallel Lives
Cathar's Crusade
Doubling Season

Lands:
Savannah
Temple Garden
Canopy Vista
Scattered Groves
Windswept Heath
Krosan Verge
Sunpetal Grove
Razorverge Thicket
Stirring Wildwood
Temple of Plenty
Horizon Canopy
Command Tower
Yavimaya Hollow
Gavony Township
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
Holdout Settlement
Survivor's Encampment
Reliquary Tower
Wirewood Lodge
Scavenger Grounds
8 Forest
8 Plains


The basic idea is to find something like Earthcraft and start making lifelinking soldier tokens. Then find something like Craterhoof Behemoth and win. There's a bunch of ways to turn tokens into cards, not to mention the endless stream of chump blockers.

I thought about sticking Squirrel Nest in there for the "oops I win" squirrel loop with Earthcraft, but I don't know if it's really necessary. I also thought about maybe sticking Felidar Sovereign and/or Aetherflux Reservoir to potentially win off of the lifelink, but that might be a little win-more with something like Craterhoof Behemoth pumping the team anyway.

If you want to go all in on the token route, the "populate" mechanic might be of interest to you:
Growing Ranks
sundering growth
wayfaring temple
(and some others)

and of course, you probably already know of it but just in case, from the same set:
divine visitation

Also, the embalm/externalize cards from Amonkhet block also come back as tokens, so there may be some synergies there too!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ronco

If you want to go all in on the token route, the "populate" mechanic might be of interest to you:
Growing Ranks
sundering growth
wayfaring temple
(and some others)

and of course, you probably already know of it but just in case, from the same set:
divine visitation

Also, the embalm/externalize cards from Amonkhet block also come back as tokens, so there may be some synergies there too!

---

The first draft of the deck had Sundering Growth instead of Sundering Vitae because of the populate. I made the switch because they have basically the same effect - I can tap Emmara for the convoke and make a solider, or I can populate a soldier I already have. Either way I'm +1 token. Since the token thing is basically a wash, it comes down to mana cost. Sundering Vitae has the potential to be "free", so I gave it the nod. Vitae is also a little better if I don't already have a token for some reason.

Growing Ranks is something I didn't think about. The card seems decent if you're making beefier tokens, but I wonder if +1 soldier on upkeep is still good enough to justify the slot. My gut says it seems kind of low impact, but maybe I'm wrong?

Wayfaring Temple is another one I didn't consider. It seems like it might just get chump blocked forever since it doesn't have any evasion. I think if I were going to run a 3 mana X/X it'd be Champion of Lambholt since that at least makes the tokens I already have difficult to block.

Divine Visitation is on my short list...as is March of the Multitudes. I wasn't ready to shell out for them yet, but if I like the deck they'll be in for sure.

I looked up Embalm, and was immediately sad that Aven Wind Guide is outside the color identity of this deck. Man that card would be good here. Anointer Priest could be ok if I went a little deeper on the lifegain theme, but I'd probably go for the 1 CMC Soul Sisters first. Angel of Sanctions might also be interesting, and would potentially change a lot of my comments above regarding populate.

There's nothing interesting in these colors with Eternalize...so hooray for under-supported mechanics I guess.

Aven Wind Guide might be out, but Intangible virtue has a similar effect.

Growing Ranks probably is too light for commander but I was thinking either an eternalized adorned pouncer or angel of sanctions each turn could get swingy.

Or if you wanted to stay lower to the ground until critical turns an elspeth makes 1/1 tokens and then wraths all the big dudes away as needed. There is also slaughter the strong for an extra big creature wrath too.

Oh and for going SUPER wide - launch the fleet Probably terrible but i like extra options when brewing. I've made a mono white token deck recently, can you tell? haha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ronco

Aven Wind Guide might be out, but Intangible virtue has a similar effect.

Growing Ranks probably is too light for commander but I was thinking either an eternalized adorned pouncer or angel of sanctions each turn could get swingy.

Or if you wanted to stay lower to the ground until critical turns an elspeth makes 1/1 tokens and then wraths all the big dudes away as needed. There is also slaughter the strong for an extra big creature wrath too.

Oh and for going SUPER wide - launch the fleet Probably terrible but i like extra options when brewing. I've made a mono white token deck recently, can you tell? haha.

---

Intangible Virtue hit the cut pile fairly early on because it doesn't really do much. Turning a pile of 1/1 dudes into 2/2 dudes can actually be kind of rough if you want to get Skullclamp going, and ultimately there's just not that much difference between a 1/1 and a 2/2 on attacks in a swarm deck like this. I tried to focus on effects that let me go bigger. Vigilance is also just kind of meh...it's the flying that really makes Aven Wind Guide good, and the fact that you can embalm it when someone eventually takes it out.

I did think about Eldrazi Monument to accomplish that sort of thing, but I wasn't sure how rough the sacrifice clause would be. It's something I'm going to keep an eye on. I also thought about Beastmaster Ascension for similar reasons.

Am I missing something with Adorned Pouncer? You get your 4/4 double striker after doing a little work, but without equipment or something it's still pretty french vanilla. I guess populating a bunch of 4/4 double strikers is neat, but that requires finding the other half of the "combo" and making sure it sticks. Plus you've got to clog the deck up with 2 (or more) kind of meh cards on the off chance you really land the payoff and no one can do anything about it.

Slaughter the Strong is one in a long line of effects like it. Retribution of the Meek is another, and there's also the new one from GRN that I can't remember the name of. I'm not actually sure how many board wipes I want in this deck. Right now I've got two, and they both basically leave my board untouched. It might end up being worth it to find room for another one or two, but I think playtesting will bear that out.

I think the Elspeth you're thinking of is Elspeth, Sun's Champion, which is probably pretty good in this deck. I don't actually own a copy though, so that's why it didn't make the cut. It's also kind of cute that Doubling Season lets you skip right to the emblem, which probably makes winning fairly trivial once you have it.

Launch the Fleet is kind of hard to evaluate. On one hand, suddenly having twice as many attacking creatures is cool...but if you're already winning does it matter? It's also kind of awkward with like 2 creatures in play, or on the turn where you want to be dumping that 5 mana into Jazal Goldmane to make your tokens into 5/5s. It seems best in a deck that's running a lot of Crusade effects where you're trading 1 mana for a surprise attacking 3/3 or something.

Quick update:

- Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist, + Twilight Drover

Stumbled across Twilight Drover in a box of cards and it seems like it could be good in this deck. Mirri doesn't really have a ton of synergy with the deck other than wanting to be tapped, so it seemed like a pretty obvious cut.