Let's Talk about Ephara
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Jan. 13, 2014, 8:55 a.m. by capriom85
So, Ephara, God of the Polis is the first dual god we get to see. For those that have not seen the spoiler:
Ephara, God of the Polis 2WU
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to U and W is less than seven Ephara isn't a creature.
During your upkeep, as long as a creature entered the battlefield under your control last turn you may draw a card 6/5
Ok, so, what do we think?
Personally, I like her, but is she standard playable for sure? In terms of what I am playing right now...Bant control and American control....I say MAYBE
Both decks revolve around things that happen to enter the battlefield. Both decks win cons are AEtherling which can be exiled and then return to allow me to draw. elspth-sun's-champion makes guys, so yea...draw. And the latest addition to Bant colors, Kiora also allows creatures to enter the field. Again, let's draw. So, for my standard purposes, yea, she MAY be relevant.not much play, but completely broken in EDH I would say. I will be putting her in my roon-of-the-higgen-realm commander deck for sure. Between Roon, Conjurer's Closet , etc I would say she is a pretty steady draw engine. Even when I am left with no good options to bounce, I can just bounce something in order to get the extra draw. I like her a lot in this regard!
Overall opinion....decent flavor for the current standard, Commander here we come!!!
What do you think?
Beyond standard,
Oh yea, I for sure meant that she was part of the deck ,not a general. I prefer Roon as my blink general...or Momir Vig. I just think she has a place there.. And thanks for clearing up the ability
January 13, 2014 9:49 a.m.
CommanderOfBolas says... #4
as far as standard goes, I don't think she will see play. she isn't reliable enough in those colors. essentially, for her to matter, you have to have a win con on the field. I personallydont like that. you are right about EDH though, she could definitely be good there.
January 13, 2014 10:57 a.m.
Ok, I just read Akroan Horse and realized that I have been misreading it since it came out! Why is this card not used? If they don't answer it you win! I mean...sure, they can have removal, and there is Illness in the Ranks , but that hardly sees play.
January 13, 2014 11:36 a.m.
capriom85 - That's b/c the horse is just terribad?
Honestly I've seen in it in EDH Soldier tribal decks as well as Zedruu the Greathearted decks because it gives itself away for free. In Limited it's ok, but not something you want to see.
January 13, 2014 11:41 a.m.
If you're using a creature heavy deck... especially if it's a Flash creature heavy deck... you will have the ability to draw additional creatures every turn.
This sounds okay by itself, but it also helps to enable her own Devotion limitation. Extra cards = Extra creatures = more devotion.
I also like how 2x Deputy of Acquittals allows you to draw an extra card on every turn.
In Bant, repeatable Populate, like Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage , will also get you extra cards... while allowing you access to Prophet of Kruphix .
January 13, 2014 12:05 p.m.
So do we like her or no? I seem to think that she would be awesome in my Roon of the Hidden Realm EDH deck, but meh in standard bc the necessary win con on the table is a fatal flaw. The Deputy of Acquittals is a nice trick, but is that really competitive?
January 13, 2014 12:29 p.m.
actiontech says... #10
I suspect bant will make a comeback in this set, and she will probably be played. Until we see more of the set I wouldn't go so far as predicting too much more as it relates to standard though.
January 13, 2014 12:33 p.m.
10vernothin says... #11
actually I'm thinking for American control.
3x ephara3x Boros Charm 3x Assemble the Legion 1x AEtherling 2x elspeth4x Mutavault 4x Detention Sphere 4x Supreme Verdict 4x Dissolve 4x Sphinx's Revelation
January 13, 2014 1:50 p.m.
actiontech, Bant is pretty strong right now, actually. For some reason no one is playing it much. Control is strong with Bant, midrange is very weak after all the Innistrad stuff rotated away, though.
10vernothin, Mutavault in a 3 color deck hindered me much more than helped me when I played them in American control. There is a lot of mana fixing needed here and Mutavault does nothing to help that along.
January 13, 2014 4:36 p.m.
Why wouldn't blue dev splash a little white to gain ridiculous card advantage?
January 14, 2014 8:53 p.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #17
Bant seems to be the only real home for this card, with Prophet of Kruphix as the catalyst. AEtherling offers interesting synergy but it seems very win-more.
JWiley129 says... #2
You misread what Ephara's triggered ability is. It isn't your upkeep, it's EACH upkeep, a strictly better ability :). In Standard that means you can draw cards each turn if you play a creature and/or give your opponent an Akroan Horse .
For EDH, idk if she'd be a good general. You would need to run stuff with flash and lots of repeatable blink effects to draw cards every turn. But as one of the 99, I think she's fine in blink decks or U/W/X control.
January 13, 2014 9:03 a.m.