[Deck] Green Sun's Gamekeeper - A fresh take on Green Sun's Zenith

[vikram]

Hi, I play a Gamekeeper deck. The deck wins far more frequently than not thanks to how devastating all the discard, and deeds are.

For those unfamiliar with Gamekeeper, here is how the deck functions...

Step 1 - Play discard (4 Duress, 3 Thoughtseize, 4 Cabal Therapy) to rid your opponent of their discard, their countermagic, and cards like Humility/Ensnaring Bridge/Counterbalance/Oblivion Ring (cards that stop Emrakul) and sometimes StP/Path (in those situations where you need to go the Innocent Blood route for the combo rather than the Cabal Therapy route and thus your Gamekeeper is vulnerable to StP/Path). You can also use Deed and Innocent Blood to bide your time against aggro decks.

Step 2 - Tutor up and cast a Gamekeeper using any of the following (4 Living Wish, 1 Rhystic Tutor/Worldly Tutor, 4 Green Sun's Zenith, or 3 Gamekeeper).

Step 3 - Sacrifice the Gamekeeper using Cabal Therapy/Innocent Blood/Phyrexian Tower/popping a Deed for 4/using Living Wish to tutor up a Shriekmaw/Fleshbag Marauder. Keep cycling through Gamekeeper using Cabal Therapies added to the yard until you get an Emrakul into play.

Step 4 - Swing with Emrakul for the win.

The deck devotes a total of 9 cards to the combo, and the rest of the deck plays very controllish cards that also happen to synergize with the combo. Thus for all intents and purposes, this deck basically plays out like Train Wreck until it surprises your opponent and lays down an Emrakul, often on turn 3, sometimes on turn 2, and sometimes on turn 4, and the game is effectively over the turn immediately after. The combination of all discard, the wishboard and the Deeds do a great job of brutalizing just about any deck. Other than the occasional storm combo deck, I honestly haven't run into any generally unfavorable matchups. Even storm combo is often winnable if you drew a sufficient amount of your discard (you play 11 discard spells and can usually manage a win if you draw 1-2 of them early on). Other than that, the deck wins far more often than not, against a variety of decks.

Current Decklist...

4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Innocent Blood

4 Dark Ritual
4 Pernicious Deed

2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Gamekeeper
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Living Wish
1 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Crystal Vein

I want this deck to be optimal and as good as it can possibly be. To this end, I have 7 Specific Questions for you guys that will help me optimize it...

Question 1. Sensei's Divining Top vs. Sylvan Library vs. Rhystic Tutor vs. Worldly Tutor vs. Skeletal Scrying vs. Phyrexian Arena vs. Something Else. I don't feel comfortable unless I have 12-13 ways to get my hands on a Gamekeeper. The first 11 are set in stone (4 Living Wish, 4 Green Sun's Zenith, or 3 Gamekeeper). It's the 12th card I'm confused about. So far, Rhystic Tutor seems to be the best option. It is usually used to tutor up Gamekeeper, so Worldly Tutor would work as well, however, unlike Worldly Tutor, it can used to tutor a Deed or a Cabal Therapy or some other random card in a pinch, plus it's not card disadvantage. Other cards I'm considering are random card draw like Phyrexian Arena or Skeletal Scrying.

Question 2. Should I cut a Duress to add yet another tutor/card draw spell of some sort? As I just mentioned, I want to have 12-13 ways to get my hands on a Gamekeeper. I am all about consistency and dislike mulliganing unless I'm land screwed. Do you think 12 ways to get Gamekeeper is enough (the current configuration), or should cut a Duress to make room for a 13th tutor/card draw.

Question 3. Pernicious Deed vs. Maelstrom Pulse Both cards can be used to take out threats, opposing creatures, or blow up your own Gamekeeper. Deed is more explosive. However, it takes two turns and seven mana to do what Maelstrom Pulse often does in one turn and for just 3 mana (blow up your own Gamekeeper). Since the rest of the deck has gotten faster, do you think I should go with the faster option here and cut some Deeds for Pulses?

Question 4. Green Sun's Zenith vs. Eldamari's Call Before Green Sun's Zenith, I used to play Eldamari's Call in it's place. The Eldamari's Call route didn't combo nearly as well with Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, or Crystal Vein. As a result, this used to be a controllish deck that was atleast one full turn slower and played slower disruptive cards like Vindicates, Maelstrom Pulses, Hymn to Tourachs and Eldamari's Calls. Since Green Sun's Zenith got spoiled, I cut white, added cards like Ancient Tomb, Crystal Vein and Dark Ritual, added Duress, and made the deck a lot faster and more explosive. Do you think this was a good call, or do you think I would be better off going the old route, playing Eldamari's Call instead of Green Sun's Zenith and Vindicates instead of Dark Ritual?

Question 5. The 2nd Emrakul vs. a Progenitus vs. a Blightsteel Colossus vs. another Sensei's Divining Top vs. a Maelstrom Pulse Should I stick with the current 2 Emrakul configuration, should I just play a single Emrakul thus freeing up a slot from the deck, or should I do a 1/1 Split with Progenitus or Blightsteel Colossus instead of the second Emrakul. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each creature? The deck also functions okay with just 1 Emrakul maindeck and nothing else. However, situations arise where you have the Emrakul in your hand and have to use Cabal Therapy to discard it, or rarely, where Emrakul is the last or second to last card in your library. But these situations are fairly uncommon and there are ways around them thanks to Cabal Therapy. Should I go back to the 1 Emrakul configuration just to make room for a bomb like Maelstrom Pulse or Smallpox maindeck?

Question 6. A 2nd Crystal Vein vs. my only Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth I added Crystal Vein to the deck when I added Green Sun's Zenith to the deck. It's been fantastic (far better than City of Traitors, I tried both), to the point where I'm considering cutting Urborg to make room for a 2nd Crystal Vein. However, Urborg saves me 4-6 points of life when I play it early, since it lets me not have to sacrifice fetchlands and lets me not have to lose two life each time I use an Ancient Tomb for just one mana rather than two. Far more importantly, the Urborg brings my colored land sources up to 17 instead of 16. Since the only way to use Dark Ritual to play Gamekeeper on turn two or to play Green Sun's on turn three is if I have atleast two colored lands in my opening hand rather than just one, going up to 17 colored land helps me have two colored lands in my opening hand more consistently.

Question 7. Any advice on my current Living Wish sideboard? Which cards specifically should I cut from/add to this sideboard? Here is what I currently play...

1 Dragon Breath - Combo piece
1 Gamekeeper - Combo piece
1 Kjeldoran Dead - Doubles as a tutorable way to kill my own Gamekeeper, and protection form edict effects (used to Shriekmaw but this is way cheaper).
1 Phyrexian Tower - Doubles as a mana source, and a tutorable Gamekeeper sacrifice outlet. I would play more maindeck if it wasn't legendary
1 Bojuka Bog - Doubles as a tutorable colored mana source, and graveyard hate. I often side it in to increase my land count against decks that play heavy land destruction.
1 Karakas - Karakas stops opposing Karakas thanks to legend rule, and also beats opposing Eldarazi.
2 Sylvok Replica - Blows up Oblivion Ring, Ensnaring Bridge etc. Used to be wispmare back when I played white
3 Infest - Stops Elves/Goblins/Merfolk while also doubling as a way to kill your Gamekeeper.
4 Leyline of the Void - Stops 43 lands, ichorid, combo, the mirror etc.

Other options that I'm not sideboarding...
1 Tombstalker - Being able to tutor up a 5/5 flyer for just two mana is helpful when I need a cheap to cast blocker and can't quite combo out. Capable of going the distance all on it's own
1 Wasteland - Karakas serves a similar function. But this also dealing with stuff like Maze of Ith and I've beaten 43 Lands with this deck many times solely because I was able to tutor this up and waste their Maze of Ith. Also stops Karakas and can be sided in against land destruction.
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - I've tutored this up against burn a few times. Being able to use my Ancient Tombs and fetchlands for mana without having to take life loss has won me quite a few games in my old controllish build of this deck.
1 Fleshbag Marauder - Kills opposing Emrakuls/Progenitus (all while letting me sac my own Gamekeeper), but Karakas does the same thing, and this costs one more mana than Shriekmaw and two more mana than Kjeldoran Dead
1 Phyrexian Revoker - A tutorable Pithing Needle that also stops Lion's Eye Diamond and Jace 2.0. I could see this being useful.
1 Eternal Witness - It helps to be able to get my Deed back, or to grab an Innocent Blood or something
1 Yixlid Jailer - Shuts down Ichorid and Loam
1 Viridian Shaman - Blows up Ensnaring Bridge and other artifacts that stop Emrakul
3 Krosan Grip - There wasn't enough room for it, and discard + Deed + Replica serve similar functions.'
4 Carpet of Flowers/Tsunami/Choke - Everyone plays blue.
Back when I splashed white, I used to play Gadook Teeg and Canaonist against combo. I also played Wispmare to blow up enchantments. Is there a black or green equivalent to either, I'm guessing no.

=
Thanks in advance for your advice in regards to my questions.

[Gocho]

Wow, I open the thread thinking in "another gamekeeper try", but I must say that you have a very good approach. I'll answer some of your questions

Question 2: 11 ways to win is the perfect number for Belcher to maximize the chances of having only one in his initial hand. 12 ways seems enough for this deck, because sometimes you will find a counter or can use LW or Rhystic to find an utility card.

Question 3: Pernicious looks better than maelstrom. It cost more, but you can face hordes and have Innocent Blood to kill single creatures. Another card that you can try is Punishment (Crime/Punishment split card). It's a bad pernicious, but can kill hordes.

Question 4: Eladamri-Gamekeeper isn't enough competitive. You don't see it in any TOP8 around the world, just like you don't see Survival Madness before wizards prints Vengevine. Maybe Green Sun is the card that the deck need. A card that you resolve for 5 mana and almost win the game

Question 5: I think that a single win condition is enough. With 2 of them you could draw a dead card more times. And as you say, the worst situation are fairly uncommon. You can try a single Dragon Breath to give haste to Emrakul if you think that it would happen many times and gain a full turn kill, but many times would be a dead card.

Question 6: Urborg looks better with only 6 colored lands and 10 Fetchlands. You can quit a fetchland if you need the slot for the 2nd Crystal Vein.

[Waikiki]

I think emrakul still is the best card to get into play since legacy players can easily block and stop some infest pain which makes it a turn 2 kill aswell without having the sac 5 perm addition!

[Namida]

With 4 Green Sun's Zenith in your deck, would it be worth it to consider playing Dryad Arbor as a T1 GSZ target? I like it more than Crystal Vein, but I might be far off from the mark here. The biggest blows against it are drawing it in your opening hand or hitting it with Gamekeeper, but it's something to consider. You have more Green Sun's Zenith in your deck than Gamekeepers and they shuffle back in your deck after all, so you can always pay G anytime to pull Arbor out of your deck to prevent it from hurting your combo.

I really like where this deck is going, though. I'd play Progenitus if only because in a pinch you can ramp up an big GSZ and get him.

[vikram]

Thanks for the great advice Gocho.

I disliked back when I played with just one Eldarazi. There were many times when I had to Thoughtseize or Cabal Therapy myself when I would have prefered not to, to discard my Eldarazi. It's easier not to have to worry about that. It's nice, not having to bother with their Oblivion Ring and just be able to grab a second copy. It's nice being able to dodge Hide/Seek. And yes, it increases the odds of having one in your hand, but it also increases your odds of popping it with Gamekeeper earlier before you run out of Innocent Blood and Cabal Therapies in the yard, so I think that part is a wash.

Do you have any thoughs on the 1-2 tutor slots, Rhystic vs. Worldly vs. card draw? If I cut an Eldarazi, the extra slot would probably go to one of those, though I haven't ruled out Maelstrom Pulse either.

I would appreciate any suggestions for my sideboard/living wish board as well. Back when I splashed white, I used to play Gadook Teeg and Canaonist against combo. I also played Wispmare to blow up enchantments. Is there a black or green equivalent to either, I'm guessing no.


With 4 Green Sun's Zenith in your deck, would it be worth it to consider playing Dryad Arbor as a T1 GSZ target? I like it more than Crystal Vein, but I might be far off from the mark here. The biggest blows against it are drawing it in your opening hand or hitting it with Gamekeeper, but it's something to consider. You have more Green Sun's Zenith in your deck than Gamekeepers and they shuffle back in your deck after all, so you can always pay G anytime to pull Arbor out of your deck to prevent it from hurting your combo.

I really like where this deck is going, though. I'd play Progenitus if only because in a pinch you can ramp up an big GSZ and get him.

The risk of popping a Dryad Arbor with Gamekeeper is far too high to be worth it in this deck imo. If I really want to pay 1 mana to ramp up mana faster, I would rather play Wild Growth or something.

[Namida]

Well, if you're going to play something like Viridian Zealot, I'd suggest Sylvok Replica instead. That way, you can pay 3G instead of 1GGG to get rid of your problem--unless paying the 3 up front is harder than GG, that is.

I can understand that the risk is too high for Dryad Arbor--You have to make good use of all of your cards because you're still only drawing one card a turn, and you can't dig for your shuffled in GSZs.

I still say that Progenitus might be particularly good because he dodges Karakas and is castable with GSZ in your deck.

Does Tsunami shore up any bad matches, or are you simply playing it because you don't like blue? What decks do you have trouble against?

I don't like Rhystic Tutor because it's conditional. Have you found that people don't pay the two mana often? I'd play Grim Tutor if it's in your budget to do so.

[Maëlig]

Very interesting and promising take on this old archetype. Just a few notes :



1 Viridian Zealot - Blows up Humility

Unfortunately it doesn't. Humility really is a bitch, I don't see any obvious specific hate but discard + deed should help.



Do you have any thoughs on the 1-2 tutor slots, Rhystic vs. Worldly vs. card draw? If I cut an Eldarazi, the extra slot would probably go to one of those, though I haven't ruled out Maelstrom Pulse either.

Have you tried top in this slot? It's not as good if you just want to grab that one combo piece you're missing obviously, but you run 14 shufflers so it could really smooth out your draws.

Also, imo you're going too far with the wishboard. I'm guessing that 90% of the time you just tutor a gamekeeper or a sac outlet anyways, so it feels like you're wasting a lot of valuable SB slots (which could be filled with stuff like grip and/or some kind of GY-hate).

[Namida]

I agree with the above. One Gamekeeper, Fleshbag Marauder, Sylvok Replica, Bojuka Bog, and Wasteland are all that I would keep from your wish board. Maybe I would go down to three Deeds, not worry about the 12th tutor, and play two Maelstrom Pulse?

[Alexeezay]

what about carpet of flowers in the board?

[laxkiddan]

looks like a fun deck to play against

[Tacosnape]

As the person who's been playtesting this deck for longer than anyone (Since Emrakul was printed), I can guarantee you that Green Sun's Zenith isn't the missing link here. As much as I love the Zenith, Emrako Taco dies from being too slow. It's actually quite possible to lose with the Emrakul on the board, and getting the Gamekeeper isn't the problem. Protecting your strategy and surviving meanwhile are. Making Gamekeeper a 5-drop is too harsh.

[ivanpei]

Agreed with Taco, ramping to 5 mana will be difficult, and Is not an "I win now" like adnauseum. Surviving will be a major problem. Even after gamekeeper hits, you don't always have the therapy, opening yourself to an alpha strike. Even if you do have therapy, an emrakul in play doesn't stop folk/goblins/zoo swarming over you. However, Zenith does seem to really help the deck. All the best with the deck! This looks like an excellent tuned list.

[Skeggi]

With Green Sun's Zenith and Living Wish, aren't you able to only run 1 Gamekeeper maindeck? Also, Phyrexian Revoker should be added to the sideboard as a Wish target.


Back when I splashed white, I used to play Gadook Teeg and Canaonist against combo. I also played Wispmare to blow up enchantments. Is there a black or green equivalent to either, I'm guessing no.
No, but black does have creatures that force your opponent to discard (Ravenous Rats, Corrupt Court Official, Nezumi Bone-Reader combos with Gamekeeper), but they may be too slow and a bit underwhelming.

[Xiang]

If you want to run a 2cc discard creature i would run mesmeric fiend which is still underwhelming but better than ravenous rats and co...

[Maëlig]

With Green Sun's Zenith and Living Wish, aren't you able to only run 1 Gamekeeper maindeck?

And why would you want to do that?

[Tacosnape]

Also, for what it's worth, you should run Karakas in your Living Wish sideboard. Either alongside or in addition to Wasteland. Wasteland doesn't stop them from holding Karakas in their hand or fetching it up with Knight of the Reliquary once your Emrakul is on the board. Having a Karakas in play pre-emptively, however, does this. Legend rule will keep it from bouncing your Emrakul.

Additionally,

1. Pernicious Deed maindeck sucks. Trust me. I was a proponent of four of these. You'll come to hate them. They're just way way too slow. Even Pulse is better main.

2. Worldly Tutor also sucks, strangely. As do most tutor-heavy approaches. Living Wish is your only really solid tutor here. I seem to do better with Night's Whisper, of all things. Without trying to find a build that functions on Tainted Pact again, and while it's possible to construct a solid manabase build entirely on 1-of's, just don't do this.

[vikram]

Karakas in the sideboard is a great idea to stop opposing Eldarazi decks and opposing Karakas.

You guys are right about the sideboard. It needs work, too many cards in it no longer make sense in the faster version of this deck. I can't think of what to play in the slots I free up though. This deck really doesn't have any consistently bad matchups to gear the sideboard against. The absolute worst matchup is probably 43 lands and Jailer helps vs that.


As the person who's been playtesting this deck for longer than anyone (Since Emrakul was printed), I can guarantee you that Green Sun's Zenith isn't the missing link here. As much as I love the Zenith, Emrako Taco dies from being too slow. It's actually quite possible to lose with the Emrakul on the board, and getting the Gamekeeper isn't the problem. Protecting your strategy and surviving meanwhile are. Making Gamekeeper a 5-drop is too harsh.
To be fair, I've been toying around with this deck since back when they first printed Progenitus :p

What you write makes sense in theory. But honestly, I found the deck getting faster after adding Zenith. This is bc once I added Zenith, I was able to add 4 dark ritual, 4 ancient tomb and 1-2 crystal vein. I had a tough time justifying these cards back when the only card in the deck that could make use of this mana was 3 gamekeeper. Now that the deck plays 4 zenith and 3 gamekeeper and upped my Deed count that could all use this mana, I could justify playing these cards. Before I had to play eldamaris call which was slow, and this forced me to take the deck in slower more controllish version with vindicates instead of rituals.

Maybe I was playing a poor version of Gamekeeper before Zenith though. I would love to see your list and would be happy to try it. Just on thing, I care a lot about consistency. At an absolute bare minimum, I want 11 cards that tutor up or cast gamekeeper. Have you found a way to do that without zenith.

[Tacosnape]

Actually, your worst matchup isn't Lands. It's Goblins. Stingscourgers, Warren Weirdings, Matrons, Wastelands, the potential to outrace your Emrakul, plus yard hate in sideboard make it a nightmarishly tough matchup.

As for tutors, I'm still currently toying with the prospect. My current lineup is Living Wish, Night's Whisper, and Worldly Tutor, but I'm getting more and more fond of Sylvan Library. But I'm not paying 5 mana for a tutor here. In play or not. Not when Daze exists. Not when the 5 doesn't immediately win the game on its own. I can tell you what I've experimented with, though.

1. Living Wish. Your absolute best choice. Gets Gamekeeper or an answer to a problem. Allows for a lot of turn 3 Emrakuls off the back of a turn one Therapy.

2. Worldly Tutor. Sucks sometimes, but is probably still the best second choice. Allowing turn two Gamekeepers off Ritual or turn three while tossing discard at your opponent's sexy. Plus Worldly Tutor does what no other tutor can do here - Guarantee your Gamekeeper doesn't roll into another Gamekeeper.

3. Infernal Tutor. Weird. It's absolutely amazing against Blue if you can get the first Gamekeeper some other way. It's terrible against Blue if you can't. Not worth running.

4. Sensei's Divining Top. Plausible. Will strongly reduce the number of games you die from not being able to get your combo going due to the opponent's disruption. Will also increase your losses you take due to not being fast enough. Runnable, but not amazing.

5. Night's Whisper. Better than Sign in Blood due to the colorless aspect, despite the couple random times Sign in Blood would have won me an Emrakul race I lost. Pretty good for curving into land, disruption, and Gamekeepers. I still think it's worth running.

6. Grim Tutor. Slow and consistent. Also unsynergystic with Tombs, and doesn't really buy you a whole lot to do off a Ritual. Not worth running.

7. Sylvan Library. Actually quite good in this deck as long as you aren't overloaded with Zoo. GREAT against control. Probably better than Sensei's Divining Top.

8. Tainted Pact. Still a surprisingly decent tutor. SUCH a bitch when you miss, though. And very hard to play right. Here's your manabase for it, btw.

1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Urborg
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Pendelhaven
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Crystal Vein
1 City of Brass
1 Dark Ritual
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox

Pretty cute, don't you think?

[lorddotm]

Why is getting Emrakul into play better than playing Salvager combo?

[vikram]

I've never really tried Salvagers combo. What are the pros and cons?

Don't you have to devote more maindeck slots to the combo?

Doesn't it fizzle more often (ie, you get a Salvagers into play before you get the artifact you need to combo out with into your yard?

Isn't it more vulnerable to graveyard hate (leyline), StP, and as well as stuff like pithing needle/phyrexian revoker?


Actually, your worst matchup isn't Lands. It's Goblins. Stingscourgers, Warren Weirdings, Matrons, Wastelands, the potential to outrace your Emrakul, plus yard hate in sideboard make it a nightmarishly tough matchup.

You mentioned that your build doesn't play Deed. Deed is a massive help against Goblins, you can ritual it out and pop it for one on turn two if needed. But you're usually better off waiting a turn and popping Deed for 2-3. But yeah, goblins is one of the tougher matchups.


I'm not paying 5 mana for a tutor here. In play or not. Not when Daze exists. Not when the 5 doesn't immediately win the game on its own.

Actually, the 5 basically does immediately win the game on it's own most of the time. You usually Cabal Therapied the previous turn, so you can often combo out immediately. Worldly Tutor on the other hand is a turn slower, costs you a card and it still costs you the same amount of mana, just played over two turns rather than one. And it also gives away what deck you are playing a turn before you combo off.

Again though, maybe I was playing a poor version of the deck before Green Sun. If you don't mind posting your decklist, I would happy to try out something like that.

Daze/FoW isn't really as big as issue when you play 4 Duress + 3 Thoughtseize + 4 Cabal Therapy. Simply cast a discard spell the turn immediately before you combo out. The odds of them topdecking an answer are low.

[vikram]

Have you tried top in this slot? It's not as good if you just want to grab that one combo piece you're missing obviously, but you run 14 shufflers so it could really smooth out your draws.

Also, imo you're going too far with the wishboard. I'm guessing that 90% of the time you just tutor a gamekeeper or a sac outlet anyways, so it feels like you're wasting a lot of valuable SB slots (which could be filled with stuff like grip and/or some kind of GY-hate).

Top is a brilliant suggestion. Added it, thanks.

I agree with you about the wishboard, but other than Grip, what would you play. Leyline of the Void? I think Bajuka Bog in the board as a one of is fine.

Here's what my decklist looks like now after I added Top and cut Urborg for the second Crystal Vein (since Top ups my colorless count)...


4 Duress
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Innocent Blood

4 Dark Ritual
4 Pernicious Deed

2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Gamekeeper
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Living Wish
1 Sensei's Divining Top

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Phyrexian Tower
2 Crystal Vein





I agree with the above. One Gamekeeper, Fleshbag Marauder, Sylvok Replica, Bojuka Bog, and Wasteland are all that I would keep from your wish board. Maybe I would go down to three Deeds, not worry about the 12th tutor, and play two Maelstrom Pulse?

Sylvok Replica is a brilliant idea. Added to the board.

Bojuka Bog seems not nearly as good as Yixlid Jailer. Do you disagree?

I agree with you about the board, but what should I play with the freed up slots.


what about carpet of flowers in the board?

Interested idea. I'll test it out.


Also, for what it's worth, you should run Karakas in your Living Wish sideboard. Either alongside or in addition to Wasteland. Wasteland doesn't stop them from holding Karakas in their hand or fetching it up with Knight of the Reliquary once your Emrakul is on the board. Having a Karakas in play pre-emptively, however, does this. Legend rule will keep it from bouncing your Emrakul.

Good idea, added Karakas to the board.

[Tacosnape]

Why is getting Emrakul into play better than playing Salvager combo?

I'm so glad you asked this. Let's go through this. I could crash this site listing all the reasons.

1. Auriok Salvagers combo can die to Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile. All Gamekeeper Emrakul needs to make Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile completely useless is a Therapy in the yard. There will never be an opportunity for the opponent to aim removal.

2. Auriok Salvagers combo dies to all kinds of instant speed removal, like Fireblast, Snuff Out, and Gempalm Incinerator. These cards are completely useless against Gamekeeper Emrakul. Well. Unless they can Gempalm Emrakul for 15. And if they can, Emrakul wasn't going to help you anyway.

3. Auriok Salvagers combo dies to Pithing Needle, as well as his new bigger sexier cousin, Phyrexian Revoker.

4. Auriok Salvagers combo runs the risk of fizzling at a much higher rate, due to the chance of Gamekeeper hitting a Salvagers without you having the other necessary pieces.

5. Gamekeeper Emrakul requires FIVE SPOTS for your combo, allowing the rest of your deck to be dedicated to pulling the combo off successfully. Salvagers required LED's and Chromatic Sphere/Star and Pyrite Spellbomb.

Those are pretty much the big five right there.

EDIT: Also. Other points.

1. Faerie Macabre >> Bojuka Bog in the sideboard. Seriously. You can Macabre Dredge or Reanimator much quicker without having to worry about hitting your Land drop.

2. Run Kjeldoran Dead in your board. It's so worth it. It's both a sacrifice outlet AND Diabolic Edict/Warren Weirding protection, and it does it at a much lower mana cost than Fleshbag Marauder.

3. Sensei's Divining Top isn't as good as you think here. My initial list ran four. I found it clunky, slow, and not really fixing the issues I had, which were speed and not consistency. Sensei's Divining Top is usually only good if you're not on a clock and can afford to pace the game out. This deck, by nature, is on a clock. The more permanents they get, the worse things get.

(Second Edit): I guess I'll just go ahead and post my list.

4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Bayou
3 Swamp
2 Forest
3 Ancient Tomb
4 Dark Ritual
3 Chrome Mox

4 Innocent Blood
3 Infest

4 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress

4 Living Wish
4 Night's Whisper
4 Worldly Tutor

3 Gamekeeper
2 Emrakul, The Aeons Torn

SB:
1 Gamekeeper
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Kjeldoran Dead
2 Pernicious Deed
4 Krosan Grip
3 Extirpate/Nihil Spellbomb

Notable inclusions are Infest (Yes, it's totally worth being maindeck. With it, your chances against Goblins, Elves, Affinity, Merfolk, Dredge, Belcher, TES, etc all increase dramatically) and Chrome Mox (You NEED this card.)

[vikram]

1. Faerie Macabre >> Bojuka Bog in the sideboard. Seriously. You can Macabre Dredge or Reanimator much quicker without having to worry about hitting your Land drop.

2. Run Kjeldoran Dead in your board. It's so worth it. It's both a sacrifice outlet AND Diabolic Edict/Warren Weirding protection, and it does it at a much lower mana cost than Fleshbag Marauder.

3. Sensei's Divining Top isn't as good as you think here. My initial list ran four. I found it clunky, slow, and not really fixing the issues I had, which were speed and not consistency. Sensei's Divining Top is usually only good if you're not on a clock and can afford to pace the game out. This deck, by nature, is on a clock. The more permanents they get, the worse things get.

Fantastic suggestion with Kjeldoran Dead. I had no idea such a card even existed. I like Fleshbag since it's often used to take out opposing Progenitus/Emrakul in the Show and Tell decks, especially after a Deed took out everything else, and it effectively 2:1s or depending on how you look at it, 3:1s your opponent (you take out their creature, you get out an Emrakul and you keep the Fleshbag as well) but Kjeldoran Dead is better than Shriekmaw imo.

I like Bojuka Bog more than Faeirie Macabre because taking out two cards may not be enough to stop ichorid. More importantly, Bog is useful to side in against decks that play tons of land destruction (wasteland + sinkhole + smallpox + vindicate etc).

Top is clunky and too slow as a four of. But I think as a one of or two of, it's fine, especially since my list plays 10 fetchlands, plus you can tap it to draw the card as well and when used like that, it's a two mana tutor from the top three cards in your deck (or six after using a fetchland). It digs deeper than Night's Whisper to get you the card you're looking for.

Your list is cool. I like it but I'm not sold on it. For example, Infest is a fantastic sideboard card against Elves/Goblins/Merfolk (since it also kills your gamekeepers), but there's far too many deck where all the main creatures have a toughness greater than 2 that it's a dead card against. I'm not sold on cutting lands for Chrome Mox (your list plays 19 land, mine plays 23) especially since each Crystal Vein and Ancient Tomb generates as much mana as a land + chrome mox, but it's something I'll keep in mind.

[dahcmai]

Ok, I guess I need an explanation on Kjeldoran Dead. I get what the card does for you, but I don't get why you would want to play with it since if you have not drawn it, the card will become a target for Gamekeeper to accidentally hit. Is that a risk you just take or is there something I am missing? Are you using it in case you have multiple gamekeepers or something.

I have seen one of these decks in action before (salvagers), but have not played it myself to understand the subtle interactions of it. Gimme a cliff's notes on it, but skip the obvious workings.




Oh, and kudoes, gotta love using old obscure cards people have never seen. I admire anyone else who does that too.

[vikram]

Ok, I guess I need an explanation on Kjeldoran Dead. I get what the card does for you, but I don't get why you would want to play with it since if you have not drawn it, the card will become a target for Gamekeeper to accidentally hit. Is that a risk you just take or is there something I am missing? Are you using it in case you have multiple gamekeepers or something.

I have seen one of these decks in action before (salvagers), but have not played it myself to understand the subtle interactions of it. Gimme a cliff's notes on it, but skip the obvious workings.




Oh, and kudoes, gotta love using old obscure cards people have never seen. I admire anyone else who does that too.

Kjeldoran Dead is not played maindeck. It's played as a one of in the sideboard to serve as a Living Wish target. Basically, when you have a gamekeeper in play, and no way to kill it, then you can living wish up a Kjeldoran Dead and kill it for one mana, and you also get a 3/1 creature out of it.

There's an explanation of how the deck plays in the OP, but I'll simplify it a bit more. Basically, the goal of the deck is to get a Gamekeeper into play, kill it to trigger it's effect, which dumps a bunch of cards into your yard till you hit another Gamekeeper, which you also kill (often by using a Cabal Therapy that wound up in the yard), and another Gamekeeper etc etc until you wind up hitting an Emrakul which comes into play. Then you attack with the Emrakul to win the game.

[Maëlig]

I agree with you about the board, but what should I play with the freed up slots.

I would say either carpet of flowers (seems really cut for this deck) or some kind of aggro-hate (infest, or possibly moment's peace?), depending on what you're most worried about.

[dahcmai]

Kjeldoran Dead is not played maindeck. It's played as a one of in the sideboard to serve as a Living Wish target. Basically, when you have a gamekeeper in play, and no way to kill it, then you can living wish up a Kjeldoran Dead and kill it for one mana, and you also get a 3/1 creature out of it.

There's an explanation of how the deck plays in the OP, but I'll simplify it a bit more. Basically, the goal of the deck is to get a Gamekeeper into play, kill it to trigger it's effect, which dumps a bunch of cards into your yard till you hit another Gamekeeper, which you also kill (often by using a Cabal Therapy that wound up in the yard), and another Gamekeeper etc etc until you wind up hitting an Emrakul which comes into play. Then you attack with the Emrakul to win the game.

Ok, I just wondered about why you'd ever board in the Dead. I know the deck's basic workings. Makes sense though to just wish it in.

[vikram]

Now that I've freed up more space in the board, can we run through the different sideboard options and the pros and cons of each...

Vs. Aggro
Infest
Perish

Vs. Lands, Ichorid and Combo
Leyline of the Void

Vs. Control
Krosan Grip

Vs. Blue
Carpet of Flowers
Choke
Tsunami

What other options exist that I'm missing?

I went with Infest over Perish because Tribal decks are faster and seem to be more problematic than aggro control decks. However, Perish kills Progenitus, which is a big plus.

[Captain Hammer]

The deck looks good, the only changes I would make are to add two cards from newer sets.

-4 Duress
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Pernicious Deed
4 Collective Brutality
2 Beast Within

Collective Brutality because that card is tailor made for gamekeeper (lets you pick away a FoW, discard the Emrakul in your hand and kill your Gamekeeper or opposing shamans or oozes as a bonus).

Liliana might be worth playing too because it can discard Emrakul and kill your own Gamekeeper in a pinch.

Beast Within because it can blow up Karakas and Ensnaring Bridge and Jace and can even be used to kill your own Gamekeeper in a pinch to net you a 3/3 in the process so Liliana can't make you sac your Emrakul.

This is what I was thinking...

Sideboard:
1 Gamekeeper
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Shriekmaw
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Kjeldoran Dead
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Xantid Swarm
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Crystal Vein

Maindeck:
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Innocent Blood
4 Collective Brutality

4 Dark Ritual
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Beast Within

2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Gamekeeper
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Living Wish

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Crystal Vein

You can playtest this list here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gamekeeper/ (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/13-07-17-gamekeeper/playtest/)

[lavafrogg]

The deck looks good, the only changes I would make are...

-4 Duress
-1 Sensei's Divining Top
-1 Pernicious Deed
4 Collective Brutality
2 Beast Within

This is what I was thinking...

Sideboard:
1 Gamekeeper
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Shriekmaw
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Kjeldoran Dead
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Xantid Swarm
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Karakas
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Crystal Vein

Maindeck:
3 Thoughtseize
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Innocent Blood
4 Collective Brutality

4 Dark Ritual
3 Pernicious Deed
2 Beast Within

2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Gamekeeper
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Living Wish

4 Ancient Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Crystal Vein

Holy 6 year necro batman!

Isn't their a whole thread on gamekeeper decks with dark rit and LED?

[Captain Hammer]

Why would you play LED? Gamekeeper has zero synergy with LED.

[lavafrogg]

Because you Dark rit into loving wish cracking LED for a salvagers. I think that was the play.

[Captain Hammer]

To answer the question as to why play this instead of Sneak and Show, because this deck is packed to the gill with discard spells to screw with your opponents game plan more than just 4 FoW ever could, and because it's a blast.

You can playtest this list here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gamekeeper/ (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/13-07-17-gamekeeper/playtest/)

One of funnest decks I've ever played.