She has no legs but she loves boots, greaves and charriot. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and her little sister Emrakul, the Promised End are both here to be casted for their full mana cost, and without combo. See how their choosen, Kydele and Thrasios achieve to doing before being destroyed by your opponent Overwhelming Stampede !
This deck uses Kydele and Thrasios as commanders. Kydele will maximise the benefit of each draw, and this deck can make you draw a lot. Thrasios is the best partner here, with an activated ability that prevent you to waste all the mana you can generate.
There is no alternate win condition in this deck : it's the challenge : Emrakul must win the game.
Your suggestions are welcomed !
About the format :
Emrakul is banned in multiplayer but is authorized in both "French" Duel Commander and "Italian" Leviathan. If you want to play in multiplayer, add a Sol Ring and change Emrakul with any Legendary Big Monster you like. If your playgroup accept the optional 10 cards sideboard, you could even use a Spawnsire of Ulamog.
Real cast and no infinite mana :
there's many ways to put Emrakul onto the battlefield without even casting him (Polymorph, etc.). It's not the spirit of this deck. I want to cast Emrakul, fairly, paying its 15 mana, without any infinite mana combo. That's why you won't see here Umbral Mantle or Sword of the Paruns even if my commander is Kydele.
Strategy :
The strategy is quite self explained by the customed categories i did : in few words, it's a classic turbo fog deck with Emrakul as win condition.
Draw for a triple benefit : more chance to find Emrakul, more ramp in itself and with Kydele you can play spell like Mind Spring nearly for free.
Ramp, find Emrakul, play him, and eventualy use his best friends to maximize your advantage
Use your fog, counterspell and bouncing cards to buy time while Emrakul destroy your opponent.
Group hug or not... :
There's a lot of ways to ramp and draw with cards that benefit to everyone. Font of Mythos, Howling Mine, Flux, Rites of Flourishing, Heartbeat of Spring, Upwelling, Kami of the Crescent Moon, etc. In duel, you are the only target and this strategy is too risky unless you have Burgeoning in play. The additional draw each upkeep can be used efficiently with Kydele in play, transforming card like Font of Mythos into Sisay's Ring. After some testing, i've decided to avoid this kind of cards , except from Intellectual Offering (played as a ritual), Heartbeat of Spring and Upwelling. That is to say : i didn't keep the "all player draw" cards.
Playtesting my deck show Emrakul can be casted very quickly. So quickly that drawing one additional card each upkeep is not really decisive, and even less if your opponent can do the same thanks to you. Even a commonBrainstorm is better to Howling Mine in a fast game.
That's why i don't go the way of group hug. In a multiplayer game, this could be reconsidered anyway.I must admit Collective Voyage was a really useful card in each of the games i played. That's why i kept Heartbeat of Spring and Upwelling : i benefit from the advantage of these two cards before my opponent.
Specific cards :
Crystal Shard lets you cast Emrakul turns after turns, and the same is true about Myojin of Seeing Winds if you want a massive draw (and ramp with Kydele). It also can help you survive in early game by bouncing your opponent creatures (this card is rarely seen as dangerous as it is. Remember that you can use it two times beforre your opponent can untap its lands : it can be a "pay 2 or return that creature to your hand").
Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots will make Emrakul less vulnerable to colorless spot removal or cards like Journey to Nowhere that could target him while being a permanent and not a spell. It's also a good way to double the Annihilator effect.Chariot of Victory serve the same purpose of giving Emrakul haste. It also adds first strike and trample to deal with cards like Vampire Nighthawk.
Strionic Resonator is here for both triggered abilities of Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. It can also be used with Fierce Empath, Well of Ideas, Quiet Contemplation and Blinkmoth Urn.
Training Grounds is here the activated ability of Thrasios, Triton Hero : double benefit.
Drift of Phantasms is here to find Emrakul via Fierce Empath, but if you already have another way to find Emrakul (or Emrakul itself), you can use it for a large array of cards depending of the situation : Heartbeat of Spring, Void Shatter, Chariot of Victory, Crystal Shard, etc.
Myojin of Seeing Winds can be used with Kydele in play. By the time you play it, you should have enough permanents to draw 10+ cards. If Kydele sees that, i let you imagine her (your) smile. Note that Time of Need can find the Myojin if you already have Emrakul in hand.
Evacuation seems obvious but it's even more powerful in a deck where you can cast each turn Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Myojin of Seeing Winds.
Why these cards are not here ?
Teferi's Puzzle Box and Windfall : not here because i want to keep Emrakul in hand if i want to play him !
Vial Smasher the Fierce : not here as a partner because.... oh... okay... First, it's so boring to see Kydele and Vial Smasher everywhere. Second i wanted to kill my opponent with Emrakul, not a fireball.
Kruphix, God of Horizons, Eye of Ugin, Conduit of Ruin, Paradox Engine: great cards here, but i don't have these cards...
Statistics :
VS Jhoira of the Ghitu: 2 wins /2 games
Playing against counterspells and removals was challenging and proved the efficiency of cards giving hexproof in this deck.
VS Horobi, Death's Wail: 0 win /1 game
Cards like Hex Parasite kill Emrakul with instant speed, and there's a ton of cards like that in any Horobi deck. Few cards in my deck can help against Horobi : Crystal Shard, Waterfront Bouncer and Quiet Contemplation seem to be the best solutions.I could consider introducing Emrakul, the Promised End, too. A great card to prepare the finish.
VS Omnath, Locus of Mana: 1 win /2 games
Emrakul casted around turn 7 in each game. I lose the first game after attacking with Emrakul and destroying all but Omnath and two minor creatures. It was enough for Omnath to win by casting Overwhelming Stampede. I won the second game thanks to Arcane Denial. It seems that counterspell should have a better place in my deck.
VS Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder : 1 win /1 game
Against a deck that relies on sacrifice, mine could have had a bad time without Emrakul, the Promised End. With Upwelling in play, my opponent had plenty of mana for me when i played his turn. Just what i needed to wipe his board with sacrifice abilities. Next turn, it tried to come back by taking control of Emrakul with Grave Betrayal, but the big sister Emrakul, the Aeons Torn had finded her Swiftfoot Boots. Annihilator 12 : Game ;)
More :
You can find a full explanation of the building process of this deck, but in french, in my blog : classicedh.blogspot.fr
