First off, you'll notice a lot of odd numbers in the deck. It's full of the odd 1-ofs, 2-of, and 3-ofs because of the ridiculous amount of cycling and card-filtering this deck does thanks to
, and blinking any of the previously listed cards. With the ability to see so many cards each game, having the odd 1-ofs and 2-ofs help to cover as many bases as possible pre-board while still being likely to find the necessary answers in any given game. The deck can be tightened up accordingly in post-board games.
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Path to Exile is premium white removal and can be used to ramp towards Sun Titan or activating Emeria, the Sky Ruin when facing creatureless opponents.
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Legion's Landing
is an early aggro deterrent, flicker target, army in a can, incremental lifegain, and occasional ramp spell all in a convenient one mana package.
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Auriok Champion holds the slot that Lone Missionary typically holds in UW Emeria decks. It's here to provide incremental lifegain and to buy time against aggressive decks, particularly black/red ones. In a deck whose lifeblood is ETB effects on creatures, tacking "When this creature enters the battlefield, you gain 1 life," onto every creature you cast after it really adds up. It is also rather difficult to remove and has the ability to effectively block many prevalent creatures, such as Death's Shadow, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Gurmag Angler, Goblin Guide, etc. It also provides arbitrarily large amounts of life when you put two Felidar Guardians in play and have them blink each other ad infinitum.
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Wall of Omens is a wonderful creature deterrent that replaces itself and is an excellent blink target.
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Spreading Seas is "two cmc cantrip permanent" number 5 and 6 after Wall of Omens. Great for the Tron matchup and can be blinked to draw again and move it to a different land.
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Phantasmal Image is an extra copy of whatever we need. It is also great to bring back with Sun Titan to put an extra 6 power in play. Having it in the deck opens up a lot of odd corner cases for interesting plays. Examples include copying creatures like Geist of Saint Traft, Primeval Titan, and other commonly played creatures with good ETB abilities.
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Negate helps the control and combo matchups in game one.
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Flickerwisp is one of the best cards in the deck. It can re-trigger an ETB effect and is the only flicker effect allowed to target the opponent's permanents. Flickering another Flickerwisp allows you to flicker one of your opponents permanents in your end step, meaning it won't return until their next end step. It is also an excellent clock that can break ground stalls.
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Nimble Obstructionist allows for some exciting blow-outs as well. Notable targets include fetch lands, Snapcaster Mage, Delver of Secrets
, Primeval Titan, Grapeshot, planeswalker loyalty abilities, Oblivion Stone, Wurmcoil Engine, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Thought-Knot Seer, Chalice of the Void, suspend triggers, Ghost Quarter/Tectonic Edge, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Aether Vial, Dark Confidant, cascade triggers, and many more. It is also a great clock and can be reanimated by Sun Titan if cycled.
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Blade Splicer is a fun-of blink target. The golems it creates are very good at stonewalling opposing creatures. Once two are in play, even Reality Smashers cannot attack in. 3 cmc also means it can be reanimated by Sun Titan.
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Court Hussar is the best card drawing effect in the deck and allows for the odd one and two ofs to be played and found at the appropriate time. It is an intricate card thanks to the last bit of text. Blinking or reanimating it causes it to go to the graveyard as is not spent on it as it returns to the battlefield. Normally this would be seen as a downside, but what it means for this deck is that an active Emeria, the Sky Ruin turns into a free Anticipate on the upkeep every turn. Same deal with Sun Titan.
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Reflector Mage continues our theme of "too good for standard" tribal. Very powerful when blinked. I play it over a second Supreme Verdict in the mainboard because it can always just be a beater against creatureless decks.
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Detention Sphere is removal that can be blinked later in the game when a better target appears.
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Saheeli Rai is an integral part of the deck's combos. Still a great card without her cat, she can create a copy of your creatures, particularly good with Flickerwisp, and tends to be a lightning rod for all opposing creatures and burn spells. Having her die is no problem at all as Sun Titan easily recurs her to great profit. Multiples are almost never bad as having two allows for combos with Sun Titan and she tends to die quickly. There are no targets for her ultimate because she is in the deck strictly for her !.
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Felidar Guardian is also an integral part of the decks combos. It is good for many of the exact same reasons Saheeli Rai is good. Great with Flickerwisp, reuse ETB effects, blocks well, lightning rod for removal, good in multiples due to comboing with Auriok Champion, etc.
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Supreme Verdict is game winning in certain match ups like Eldrazi and merfolk.
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Sun Titan is the curve topper. The grand finale. It's not impossible to lose after resolving one, but it is incredibly difficult. The sheer value this thing creates will utterly bury you opponents. Some of the most notable plays are returning a Saheeli Rai and makings a second Titan to return another creature. If its a Flickerwisp or Phantasmal Image then value train continues. Another tactic is to continually return fetch lands to speed up the activation of Emeria, the Sky Ruin, or to continually Ghost Quarter. It even combos with Saheeli Rai. Also great to pitch to Shining Shoal to redirect a lot of damage.
