Hello everyone!
This deck is based around a game-ending card, Emrakul, the Promised End. You fill up the graveyard with different types of cards, then cast Emrakul, the Promised End for the win. One of the main graveyard filling cards is Smuggler's Copter, which can be crewed easily using this next card. This deck splashes white just to play Lingering Souls. They're great chump blockers to stall for emrakul and if you mill it using some of the other cards in the deck it's ok because it has flashback.
A Letter to the Budget Players : DO NOT WORRY IF THIS IS STILL TOO EXPENSIVE FOR YOU. Some of the more expensive cards, like Collective Brutality, Ramunap Excavator, Eldrazi Temple and Vraska the Unseen, are cards I already have. Anything you find too expensive (lol don't take out the emrakuls) can be replaced with either any card that isn't a full play set or a card that functions similarly. Don't worry budget players! I have your back!
Regarding Graveyard Hate : Some may be worried about graveyard hate, which is completely fine. This deck comes with plenty of artifact and enchantment hate in the sideboard. In the meantime if you don't have those in your opening hand, Utilize Lingering Souls to swarm your opponent, then after you have ramped dump a huge
hangerback walker
for more swarms. You can replace with Walking Ballista if you can invest more money.
Now onto the deck tech, where I go into each card specifically.
Land Base : It was surprisingly easy to make this land base budget. There are only four tap lands, two of them man-lands - (Hissing Quagmire and
Stirring Wildwood
)) - and three of them producing all mana needed (
Sandsteppe Citadel
). This ensures that the deck doesn't slow down too much, and that the cards that do slow it down provide a major advantage later. Darksteel Citadel is great because it's an artifact and a land, so achieving emrakul is much easier. Indestructibility helps against land destruction. Ghost Quarter is in for decks that rely on lands, like titanshift and eldrazitron. You can use ghost quarter 3 times if you recur one with Eternal Witness. Also Ramunap Excavator is in the sideboard, so you can blow up their lands every turn. Eldrazi Temple can be easily searched out with Traverse the Ulvenwald, and can make the Emrakul, the Promised End even cheaper!
Collective Brutality : I pulled this out of a pack and is of course not necessary for this deck. Simply replace it with another Inquisition of Kozilek. However, its discard escalation ability helps you get more card types into the graveyard.
Courser of Kruphix : This helps out against aggro decks like Burn. It also is a nice blocker, and helps make sure lands are readily available.
Dead Weight : This is a nice removal spell that can get rid of a surprising amount of things, like Goblin Guide. This is just a budget option, and after some time can be taken out for better removal auras or some more Courser of Kruphixs.
Dismember : Great removal
Emrakul, the Promised End : Win-con. Great card.
Eternal Witness : You can bring stuff back with this card in case it gets milled, like per se Emrakul, the Promised End.
Eyeblight's Ending
: The only reason this is in the deck is because it's a tribal instant and since elves are barely in modern, can kill almost everything in the meta.
Grisly Salvage : Amazing card in this deck that guarantees creatures or lands you need while simultaneously filling up graveyard to enable Emrakul, the Promised End.
Grapple with the Past
: it may seem like a less powerful Grisly Salvage, but it can do the one thing that Grisly Salvage can't - it can pull out any creature or land from our graveyard. Grisly only allows us to choose from the five it's pulling out of the top of our deck. This can be great if somehow both of the emrakuls got milled, you need an Eternal Witness to bring something back, or recur many other vital cards for a certain situation.
Hangarback Walker : It's an artifact and a creature that helps enable Emrakul, the Promised End. You can make it big later in the game, and becomes a swarm of thopters.
Inquisition of Kozilek : Hand removal
Lingering Souls : Swarm your opponent over and over.
Nameless Inversion : Cheap tribal instant that can be good removal.
Sakura-Tribe Elder : Can do the famous block and sac maneuver and provides great ramp.
Satyr Wayfinder : Helps ramp and becomes a cheap chump blocker.
Sinister Concoction
: For two black mana and losing one life, you get to fill up the graveyard with 3 cards (one from hand, one from deck, and
Sinister Concoction
itself) and kill anything. In this deck, that's pretty amazing.
Smuggler's Copter : Great card that can be crewed easily that can fill up your graveyard and draw into stuff you need. This is also part of the other win-con : make a bunch of spirit tokens and crew them for heavy evasive damage.
Traverse the Ulvenwald : Search out Emrakul late game and lands you need to cast spells.
Vessel of Nascency : Enchantment that enables Emrakul and can help you draw into cards you need.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
: planeswalker fuel for emrakul. Also can provide chump blockers and power up ur creatures. If you ever use her ult, which is highly unlikely, it's still not too bad.
Vraska the Unseen : more planeswalker fuel for emrakul. Honestly, you're probably not going to ever use her, but if you do she has some pretty good abilities.
///Sideboard///
Duress : Helps against control or combo decks.
Golgari Charm : Helps against token decks, board wipes, and many other situations.
Hero's Downfall : Destroy those pesky planeswalkers.
Languish : Cheap boardwipe
Lost Legacy : Great to turn off combo decks.
Nature's Claim : Destroy artifacts that are troubling and mess with your graveyard
Creeping Corrosion
: Counter against affinity.
Thragtusk : This deck struggles against aggro... and to counter you only need 1 Thragtusk! If it doesn't come in your opening hand, don't worry. Keep filling up your graveyard and ramping until you get delirium, use Traverse the Ulvenwald to find the Thragtusk, and once you get him on the field, which in the best case scenario around turn 4, those pesky aggro decks are turned off and you can focus on getting the Promised End out. The next card in the sideboard also helps out against aggro.
Life Goes On : Helps against aggro decks.
Ramunap Excavator : This is great against land centered decks. The main reason you use him is to recur Ghost Quarters, blowing up their important lands that they need.
Bojuka Bog : Disrupts graveyard-centered decks. It can also be easily found with Traverse the Ulvenwald.
I hope you all enjoyed this deck tech and have lots of fun playing this deck.
Comments are always welcome and are a big part to improving this deck.
Thanks!-TankyHamster
