#PTEMN has come and gone, and fortunately we now have a metagame that is not completely dominated by Bant Company. Unfortunately, we may have a metagame that is dominated by giant Eldrazi. We had to ban the last incarnation of them and they’ve only come back bigger and stronger.
Emrakul, the Promised End was the clear winner last weekend, appearing in all manner of decks and obliterating the opposing battlefield position on numerous occasions while under the cameras. And even though it didn’t leave Australia with the trophy, it is the clear card to beat in the coming weeks of Standard.
That being said, the deck from the tournament that caught my eye was Andrew Brown’s Temur Emerge list that, although it features Emrakul, the Promised End, does so as a bit of an afterthought with a single copy in the sideboard for longer games.
Rather than focus on acquiring delirium, Andrew’s deck goes all-in with the powerful emerge creatures from Eldritch Moon, notably Elder Deep-Fiend and Wretched Gryff, capitalizing as many others did on their synergy with Kozilek’s Return.
Primal Druid and Matter Reshaper are excellent sacrifice fodder for emerge, both gaining you the lost card back and often ramping you into your end-game. Eventually you should maneuver to a point where you are simply casting your powerful creatures for their full cost, which Shaman of the Forgotten Ways does quite well. With four copies each of Sanctum of Ugin, Grapple with the Past, and Gather the Pack alongside Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy to recast them, it is easy to keep your stream of threats going well into the late game, an onslaught that few are prepared to answer.
What I like most about this deck is that while it has the power to contend with the Emrakul decks in the format. It is better set up against the inevitable tide of aggressive decks that will crop up as the powerful decks in the metagame inbreed to fight themselves. Your sacrificial lambs make fine early blockers, and you can land your powerful threats with little setup, since you are not reliant on achieving delirium. Combined with the six sweepers between main and sideboard and you have a strong plan against the entire spectrum of the metagame.
For now you may want to tune the deck to play a couple copies of Emrakul, the Promised End since the metagame figures to be quite top-heavy in the coming weeks, but that shouldn’t be too difficult as you can diversify your card types with some minor adjustments. Although, given Andrew’s impressive 8-2 record in a field filled with Emrakul decks, you may not need to adjust much of anything.
Creatures (24)
- 3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
- 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 4 Matter Reshaper
- 4 Wretched Gryff
- 3 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 1 Lashweed Lurker
- 4 Primal Druid
Lands (24)
Spells (12)
