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Thread: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

  1. #1
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    [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.
    Last edited by Davran; 01-02-2019 at 08:27 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

    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 Originally Posted by Mr. Safety View Post
    Look at the bright side, if Legacy becomes like Vintage all of us old dudes can get together, drink whiskey, and smoke cigars while we play the gentleman's format. Like an MtG speak-easy.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cire View Post
    And the Reserved List causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their portfolios: and that no man might buy or sell cards or Chinese rip offs, save he made a post about the Reserved List or the number of its Threads: 666.

  3. #3
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    Re: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

    Quote Originally Posted by ronco View Post
    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.

  4. #4

    Re: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

    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 Originally Posted by Mr. Safety View Post
    Look at the bright side, if Legacy becomes like Vintage all of us old dudes can get together, drink whiskey, and smoke cigars while we play the gentleman's format. Like an MtG speak-easy.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cire View Post
    And the Reserved List causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their portfolios: and that no man might buy or sell cards or Chinese rip offs, save he made a post about the Reserved List or the number of its Threads: 666.

  5. #5
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    Re: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

    Quote Originally Posted by ronco View Post
    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.

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    Re: [EDH] Emmara, Soul of the Accord

    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.

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