[Deck] Aeon Bridge

[RexFTW]

Interesting matchup sidenote: you are immune to any milling strategies game 1 with emrakul in your deck.

Also, this deck plays well as a control deck that has a combo finish. That is, you do not need to win on turn 3. You can easily stall the game out to turn 10 against most decks.

With 8 counterspells and 5 discard spells and stifles maindeck you should be able to slow them down considerably. Also, you can easily board in Pernicious Deed, Mind Harness, LLawan or E. Plague from the board in the agro match ups for additional control.

I recommend Birds of Paradise instead of lotus petal.

[mistervader]

A fair point RE: Birds. I'll look into it, although it removes the potential for first-turn Stiflenaughts.

Just to be clear, though, Daze isn't in the deck anymore, so we only run 4 Counters, 5-6 Duress effects, 0-1 MisD now. You can control to an extent, but not as much as you'd want to.

As a note, Stifle is devastating against Zoo. Each turn they are off two mana on board is a Time Walk for you.

[Vacrix]

Interesting matchup sidenote: you are immune to any milling strategies game 1 with emrakul in your deck.

Interesting matchup sidenote: Solidarity has a milling strategy, and it laughs at Emrakul.

[Anusien]

Is Form of the Dragon still any good, at least in the maindeck? The beatdown decks all have pretty easy ways to bust through it and kill you. Conley said he originally added it to beat Reanimator hate like Edicts and Karakas, and those seem far less widespread. So when do you want it?

[mistervader]

I want it against Merfolk and Gobs. I've won more than enough games off the back of Form, so I don't regret having it in the maindeck at all, since Merfolk is my main mismatch, and having a nice answer to it in Game 1 isn't such a bad thing at all.

Having said that, if Merfolk isn't that big a threat to you, then maybe the Form could be the fourth Petal slot we've all been looking for.

[Anusien]

Coralhelm Commander laughs at Form of the Dragon. So does Siege-Gang Commander.

I think it may be a fine sideboard card against hate, but I don't think it belongs main.

[Kuma]

Coralhelm Commander laughs at Form of the Dragon. So does Siege-Gang Commander.

I think it may be a fine sideboard card against hate, but I don't think it belongs main.

In order for Seige-Gang Commander to kill you, they need six mana. Also, Seige-Gang Commander needs to be on the battlefield when Form of the Dragon hits, or they need to be able to put it onto the battlefield and have six mana without the use of Lackey/Instigator. Otherwise, you can use your first Form of the Dragon trigger to kill Seige-Gang Commander.

As for Coralhelm Commander, he needs to be fully leveled, not sick, and pumped by another lord to kill you. If he isn't, you can kill him with Form of the Dragon.

Seige-Gang Commander and Coralhelm Commander can kill you with Form of the Dragon out, but to say they laugh at Form of the Dragon vastly overestimates their worth.

[mistervader]

Top 8'd again in a 20++ tourney, and here are a few notes:

1. I took my own advice and sent Form of the Dragon to the sideboard, and put in a fourth Lotus Petal. I will explain why I did this in a bit.

2. My sideboard looked like this:

4 Extirpate
3 Pithing Needle
3 Krosan Grip
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Form of the Dragon
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

I didn't face off against Zoo at all this time, so the Sphinx never came into play. Explosives was good, but I still found it too slow. I might replace the Sphinx and the Explosives, and I really want a Wipe Away in the board. More often than not, my opponent has 7 perms in play, and bouncing one away would just solve all my problems for when Emrakul annihilates the board.

3. Four Petals was awesome. My only loss in swiss was to Soul Sisters, which caught me by surprise, and Emrakul didn't come out quickly enough. In the top 8, I lost to Merfolk because I was down to 2 and he had seven permanents in play, including a bunch of 2-power critters. I had to Show and Tell Form in game 2 to force a third game, but he was holding Gilded Drake (grumble), and that was all she wrote. I did beat another Merfolk deck, though, and it came from Petals putting in S and T ahead of schedule. First-turn Stiflenaught has also happened for me about four times during matches. Overall, I did not miss Form of the Dragon, because the speed I was afforded by four Petals really pushed me into the thick of things at all times.

4. I will test 4 Birds of Paradise in the Petal slot. The reason is twofold: I want a stable mana ramp rather than Petal, and I want Edict fodder. The only thing you really give up is a first-turn Dreadnaught/S and T, but you still get your second-turn S and T. It seems worth testing, at the least.

5. Matchups: Soul Sisters (1-2), White Stax (2-1), Dredge (2-1), Merfolk (2-0), Sligh (ID). Then the other Merfolk deck snagged me in two.

[RexFTW]

Interesting matchup sidenote: Solidarity has a milling strategy, and it laughs at Emrakul.

Interesting side note, I have been playing legacy for the last two years without seeing anyone playing solidarity much less having played against it.

Go troll your own thread plz. Leave the rest alone.

[mistervader]

Quite frankly, I don't see how Solidarity could realistically beat Aeon Bridge if Bridge does what it normally does: get Emrakul on the table within three turns.

Solidarity normally needs about four turns to set up, and to keep them off that, you have 5 Duress effects and 5 FOW-ish effects in your deck on top of their worries over you assembling your own combo.

I think that combo isn't the matchup to worry about for Aeon Bridge.

I have another tournament this Sunday in Legacy, but I doubt I'd be able to give a mini-report since I have a feeling I'm gonna be playing Storm (Which is the archetype I'm known for in Vintage.) instead.

[NesretepNoj]

Won a local 22-man tournament tonight. Ran a modified version of Srovex' deck:

4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Phyrexian Dreadnought

4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Lim-Dul's Vault
4x Show and Tell
4x Stifle
4x Force of Will
4x Thoughtseize
1x Duress

3x Lotus Petal
4x Mosswort Bridge
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Verdant Catacombs
2x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
3x Tropical Island
4x Underground Sea
---
3x Krosan Grip
2x Form of the Dragon
2x Pithing Needle
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Blue Elemental Blast
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Relic of Progenitus


VS. UGr Canadian Threshold: 2-1
VS. UGw CounterTop Bant: 2-0
VS. Mono Red Sligh: 2-0
VS. BW Control: 2-1

I don't like FoTD main, so I moved it to the sideboard. My meta don't feature a lot of graveyard-dependent decks, so I left the yard-hate at home. Lotus Petal is just awesome and wins games against waste/port/stifle/sinkhole and helps beating daze.

[addaro]

So I bought all the cards and Im slowly preparing for my first tournaments with this deck. But I have slight problems with manabase and sideboarding. What is everyones opinion about mana base? My problem is getting the right color at the right time and when fetching basics I sometimes get screwed (Im trying playing with all 3 basics, 8 fetches, 5 duals). Or is the right approach to play 8 fetches and 8 duals, when they waste one its one less wasteland for bridge?

Sideboarding: elephant grass, xantid swarm, carpet of flowers, pithing needle, (form). I want all these against merfolk, which do you think is the best approach? I was trying carpet of flowers because it gets rid of daze/cursecatcher/spell pierce and it also enables you to cast a lot of stuff in one turn. All the other cards are self explanatory, the problem is, how to fit all of them in (i.e. what to cut).

[masonbrune]

I've only recently jumped in to Legacy, but I've done well with this deck in my first 3 tournaments (placing 2nd, 1/2nd split, and 3/4th). My mana base looks similar to yours and I strongly support the running of the basics. So far, I have not had problems color-wise with this deck and I'm not sure what to tell you in that department. While it is dependent on the hand, I've found I tend to fetch underground sea first due to it being the best land for search and disruption. Though the last tournament I played I did find myself fetching more for basics due to many of my opponents playing wasteland interactive decks (lands and aggro loam).

I've had a very hard time side boarding out more than 5-6 cards in this deck and as such, I've tried to keep the sideboard in line with that thought. As far as siding against merfolk, I've stuck to what Srovex said a few pages ago about putting in 2 fotd (I don't run one main) and 3 pithing needles. If I can get an early needle on vial, it makes the game so much easier I've found.

[NesretepNoj]

Cards I usually side out are: 3 Lotus Petal (against slow control decks not running land destruction), Thoughtseize/Duress against aggresive decks like Zoo and Goblins (you can keep Thoughtseize in, if you are on the play), 1-2 Ponder, 1 Emrakul, 2-4 Force of Will.

You can find some examples of my sideboarding in my tournament report here.

[alphacat]

I'm wondering what you guys do against Pox. Seem like LD + Edict effect is the worst news for this deck. Any strategies pre and post board?

Also, how's the matchup against VV Survival?

[mistervader]

Speed is your best bet against Survival. Post-board, I run 4 Extirpate, which gives them fits. Overall, as a pseudo-combo deck, you're much less worried about VV Survival than most other decks, although they can and will naturally have more answers to Emrakul than most decks due to Survival itself.

[mistervader]

So... it's been ages, but I guess there's some great news to share.

I came in first after swiss in today's tournament, comprised of 50 players. I think a lot of it had to do with the nature of my matchups, though. Lemme give you my list, and a brief tournament report.

3 Polluted Delta (Should've gone for 4-2 instead, but I wasn't sure about running a basic Forest 'til the last minute.)
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Underground Sea
3 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp


4 Mosswort Bridge
4 Lotus Petal

4 Emrakul
4 Phyrexian Dreadnaught

4 Force Of Will
4 Thoughtseize
1 Duress

4 Lim Dul's Vault
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder

4 Show and Tell
4 Stifle

SB:
2 Pithing Needle
3 Krosan Grip
1 Wipe Away
3 Extirpate
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Form of the Dragon
3 Elephant Grass

Anyways, here's my tournament report. I didn't take any notes, so it will be very brief.

Round 1 : Versus Rock

Game 1, I just S and T into Emrakul around turn 3. He had nothing.
Game 2, I filter into a Mosswort into Emrakul on turn 3. He had nothing.

1-0

Round 2: Versus Rock

Game 1, I Ponder once, I Brainstorm on the second turn, I fetch, then I topdeck an Emrakul. I had S and T, and I play Emrakul. He had 7 permanents, though, and one of them was a Vampiric Nighthawk. We sweep, I S and T into another Emrakul, he plops in a Nev's disk. He sweeps, and I play a Stiflenaught, to which he has no answer.

Game 2, he overwhelms me with Goyf beats after making sure Emrakul bites the dust to an Edict.

Game 3, he keeps an iffy hand and it took me four turns before I realized he had Urborg in play, which turned my lands into Swamps as well. I was holding a Lim Dul's Vault and could've won sooner had I realized it earlier on, but I set myself up for a Mosswort, and I manage to let it take me all the way.

2-0

Round 3: Versus Dark Depths (Noticing a pattern yet?)

Game 1, I assemble Show and Tell into Emrakul on turn 2, thanks to Lotus Petal. He actually told me I was supposed to take an extra turn. I didn't have the heart not to correct him, but I still won anyways.

Game 2, He hits me with Inquisition of Kozilek on turn 1, and sees two Thoughtseizes. I kept a very iffy hand here... Emrakul, 2 Thoughtseize, and four lands. He removes one TS, and then shakes his head. I TS him back and find out why: he was holding the Hexmage and the Depths, and I take out the Hexmage. I then luck into a Lim Dul's Vault, grab a Brainstorm into a Mosswort, Petal, and Dreadnought, then assemble the combo the next turn.

3-0

Round 4: Versus Rock (See what I mean?)

Game 1, I bring down Emrakul on the third turn via S and T. He had nothing.

Game 2, I bring down Form of the Dragon on turn 3 (He had Karakas in play.), but he Vindicates it, and his Goyf takes him all the way. Boooo!

Game 3, I bring down Stiflenaught on turn 1, and it takes me all the way.

4-0

Round 5: Versus Zoo (!)

Game 1, I S and T into Emrakul on turn 3. He had nothing.

Game 2, I Stiflenaught on turn 3, and Emrakul was hiding under a Bridge for turn 4 insanity.

5-0

Round 6: Versus Burn (!!!)

We ID.

5-0-1

That's right: I encountered ZERO blue decks in this tournament, thereby making my life infinitely easier. Had i been a tad greedy, I could've refused a T8 split, but I wanted to go home early, so I didn't bother trying to double my winnings into a T4 split. Note that there were NO blue decks in the top 8, aside from me and from an Ad Nauseam deck who obviously doesn't run permission anyways.

Crazy luck, I must say.

[Kuma]

Good to see someone still kicking butt with this deck.

The only blue deck I have trouble with is Merfolk. Unfortunately, that's blue deck number one right now. There really isn't much we can do about it, as it's nearly impossible to resolve a Show and Tell against them. In my experience, our best bet is to Duress/Thoughtseize them turn one and drop a Dreadnought turn two. That's a pretty hard start for them to beat unless they have two or more counterspells.

How's Elephant Grass working? I can't imagine being able to pay the upkeep while playing your setup cards. I need almost every mana my deck has on turns one, two, and three to set up the kill.

[mistervader]

So far, the Elephant Grass hasn't come up yet. (Pun not intended.) I only ever wanted to use it against the Zoo deck, and I never saw it and just won on the spot instead.

Still, it has its uses, if only to help me stall while I naturally draw into business. I normally lose after S and T by only one turn, so if I can stall them out by that one turn, Elephant Grass would've already done its job. I might try using Goyfs instead, though, and I'm still testing out Birds in lieu of Petals, for the mana stability and Edict sidestepping.

I have a feeling Merfolk will try coming back next tourney. I might end up going back to my combo deck next time.

[Kuma]

I guess if you cast Elephant Grass turn three and play a fourth land and Show and Tell turn four it's buying you a turn. The problem is if you cast it turn one or two and keep paying the upkeep you won't be able to cast any Lim-Dul's Vaults, and by the time you actually draw what you need your opponent will have a critical mass of attackers. You also need four lands by turn four. Wasteland becomes even more of an issue versus Goblins and Merfolk.

I like the idea, but I'm not sure how much upside it has over Fog, and no one is running Fog.