GW Emiel EDH: Blink Toolbox PRIMER

Commander / EDH Blink Combo GW (Selesnya) Maverick Primer Toolbox Value Engine

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LAND (35)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 9x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Lush Portico
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 6x Plains
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

INTERACTION (9)

• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Endurance
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Palace Jailer
• 1x Solitude

RECURSION (2)

• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Karmic Guide

RAMP (18)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Delighted Halfling
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Earthcraft
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1x Wood Elves

DRAW (11)

• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Spirited Companion
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Welcoming Vampire
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x The One Ring
• 1x Soul of the Harvest
• 1x The Great Henge

PROTECTION (4)

• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Restoration Angel

Commander (1)

TUTOR (14)

• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Worldly Tutor
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Knight of the Reliquary
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Natural Order

COMBO / VALUE / WIN (6)

• 1x Village Bell-Ringer
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Preston, the Vanisher
• 1x Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth

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Maybeboard

Other (9)

• 1x Legolas's Quick Reflexes
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Invasion of Ikoria  ^Flip
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Teferi's Protection
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Trouble in Pairs
• 1x Reveillark

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PRIMER Show

Emiel the Blessed is my return to Commander after about eight years away from the format. It's filled with a lot my favorite and most sentimental cards since I started playing in the fall of '96. Here’s my awesome misprint Emiel the Blessed I play in my deck.

In the beforetime, I played a lot of Legacy Survival and GW Legacy Maverick, and this deck has a lot of that built into it with its toolbox engine and combo finish.

The gameplan is to set up an early value engine, blinking creatures to get extra draw and ramp triggers. The creature tutors are then used to control dangerous elements with our silver bullets, blinking them as necessary for extra triggers. The endgame is a combo finish usually involving Emiel the Blessed + Felidar Guardian + Gaea's Cradle or Felidar Guardian + Preston, the Vanisher , netting infinite mana.

COMBOS Show

Felidar Guardian

Emiel the Blessed + Felidar Guardian + Gaea's Cradle creates infinite green mana. You want to use the mana to blink any of the Wall of Blossoms variants or trigger The Great Henge variants to draw your library, then funnel it into Finale of Devastation to win the game. There are lots of avenues to get there.

Felidar Guardian + Restoration Angel creates infinite ETBs. It takes a third card to net gain here: Earthcraft or Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines net infinite colored mana; The Great Henge, Guardian Project, or Soul of the Harvest net infinite draw.

Felidar Guardian + Preston, the Vanisher can also be used to create infinite mana. Felidar needs to ETB through either blink, reanimation, or X tutor to the battlefield, but once there Preston, the Vanisher sees Felidar and creates a 0/1 white illusion copy. The copy targets the original Felidar with its ETB blink trigger, and the loop is infinite. Each time the OG Felidar gets blinked, you can target a mana source and tap it before it LTB creating infinite mana.

Village Bell-Ringer

Circle of Dreams Druid + Emiel the Blessed + Village Bell-Ringer creates infinite green mana. For this combo you can also substitute Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Priest of Titania, any combination of mana dorks that tap for four mana, or Earthcraft. From there you use the mana the same as the Felidar Guardian combos to blink things infinitely and draw your library.

Lightning Greaves

Lightning Greaves works with any of Circle of Dreams Druid, Priest of Titania, or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. Tap the mana dork for at least four mana, equip the Lightning Greaves to Emiel the Blessed, use the floating mana to blink the dork, then equip the Greaves back to the dork, tap, rinse, repeat, infinite mana.

THE TUTORS Show

With a deck skewing so heavily towards combo and ETB creatures, I felt a toolbox nature was the best strategy, prioritizing putting creatures directly into play.

1. Green Sun's Zenith - Frequently used on T1 for 0 to find Dryad Arbor.
2. Finale of Devastation - A huge win con giving the team haste with infinite mana. It's reanimation is undervalued. Like Green Sun's Zenith, this is sometimes used in the early game for X=0 to grab our Dryad Arbor.
3. Chord of Calling - Instant speed, convoke, and finds a creature of any color as opposed to GSZ.
4. Eldritch Evolution - Use Eldritch to find card draw or combo pieces in Preston, the Vanisher or Felidar Guardian.
5. Natural Order - Natural Order finds value engines in Soul of the Harvest and Seedborn Muse or silver bullets like Eternal Witness and Reclamation Sage. The best play is to find Craterhoof Behemoth, blink it a bunch and run over people.
6. Birthing Pod - There isn’t a direct line to a win with Pod, but it can set you up to win the next turn. With Emiel the Blessed on the board, you can Pod a three-drop into Felidar Guardian. Felidar untaps Pod, so you can sac Felidar for Karmic Guide, which returns Felidar, untapping Pod. Then again sac Felidar, this time finding Seedborn Muse, which allows you to untap and blink Karmic Guide and return the three-drop, setting you up on your turn to Pod into Preston, the Vanisher, then blink Karmic Guide to get Felidar Guardian, get infinite mana and win the game.
7. Survival of the Fittest - Finds all your missing pieces, and is one of the best engines in the deck.
8. Fauna Shaman - Survival, but it's an elf.
9. Recruiter of the Guard - Has around 20 targets in the deck including most of the mana dorks and silver bullets.
10. Worldly Tutor
11. Eladamri's Call
12. Enlightened Tutor
13. Crop Rotation - Most typical targets: Gaea's Cradle, Ancient Tomb, or even just a land that produces {W}.
14. Knight of the Reliquary - Grabs Gaea's Cradle, then ramps every turn. You can tap the Forest or Plains before sacrificing it to tutor, netting one mana whenever you activate it.

THE RAMP Show

I chose to prioritize mana dork ramp over land ramp because Emiel the Blessed is a deck that cares about creatures.

I don't play the traditional Rampant Growth or Cultivate because I choose to utilize my early X creature tutors as proxy versions of these land ramp spells. Cultivate gets two lands. Green Sun's Zenith for two gets Priest of Titania which usually taps for more than that. Yes, it dies to Wrath of God, that's what happens when you play a creature deck.

1. Jeweled Lotus - Lotus is great to power out our commander, especially after he gets killed once or twice.
2. Chrome Mox
3. Mox Diamond
4. Mana Crypt
5. Sol Ring
6. Birds of Paradise - My favorite card
7. Delighted Halfling - Happy to have this Cavern of Souls on a mana dork.
8. Avacyn's Pilgrim - This could be Arbor Elf, but I had too many non-forests, and really need the W to cast my commander.
9. Llanowar Elves - Thus begins the elves
10. Elvish Mystic
11. Fyndhorn Elves
12. Bloom Tender
13. Priest of Titania - Remember that this counts ALL elves, not just ones on your side of the board.
14. Circle of Dreams Druid - I can't believe they put Gaea's Cradle on a creature...
15. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Ramp + Draw = This card is amazing.
16. Wood Elves - Great to blink with our commander. Land comes in untapped. Don't forget Dryad Arbor is a searchable forest, which can trigger Guardian Project, et al.
17. Farhaven Elf - Great to blink with our commander.
18. Earthcraft - Earthcraft is one of the most busted cards in the game. And somehow it seems to fly under the radar every time. It always sits on the battlefield way longer than it should, and in this creature focused deck, it becomes and extra 2-6 (or more) mana every turn.

THE REST Show

INTERACTION

1. Swords to Plowshares
2. Path to Exile - There's an argument that Path is bad in commander. I disagree. Being able to interact with a combo while it's on the stack, or deal with a huge attacker for only {W} is amazing. Even Pathing someone's commander during their upkeep so they get a tapped land is a huge tempo hit, and a lot can happen in a full turn cycle when they get to use that land.
3. Generous Gift - A lot of my interaction is on creatures, but Torpor Orb and the new Elesh Norn are real cards that shut down ETBs, so a few pieces of non-creature removal are necessary. Gift and Beast Within are so flexible, that they're 100% worth the inclusion.
4. Beast Within
5. Reclamation Sage - Also an elf.
6. Skyclave Apparition - Remember you can blink it with its ETB on the stack, which causes its LTB trigger to resolve first, and since nothing has been exiled yet, they get nothing yet. It re-enters adding another ETB to the stack, so you can get a 2 for 1 by manipulating the stack triggers.
7. Palace Jailer - Combination removal and card draw, plus Emiel can always blink to gain back Monarch. Jailer locking opponents with Emiel and Seedborn Muse is a real possibility.
8. Solitude - Tutorable Swords to Plowshares that can be blinked and is sometimes just free. It's Force of Plowshares. I couldn't ask for a better card for this deck.
9. Endurance - Graveyard hate is always great to have around, especially with flash and that can be blinked.

DRAW

1. Elvish Visionary - Blinkable with Emiel the Blessed. This, Spirited Companion, or either of the two walls become infinite draw if you have infinite mana.
2. Spirited Companion
3. Wall of Blossoms
4. Wall of Omens
5. Welcoming Vampire - A great draw engine in this deck. Even at one card per turn, it's netting at the same rate as Phyrexian Arena, and this deck packs lots of ways to trigger it on my opponent's turns. FWIW, if you have infinite mana, you can use Emiel the Blessed to blink the Vampire itself, resetting its once per turn clause allowing you to draw your library.
6. Guardian Project - Project, Henge, and Soul of the Harvest results in infinite draw with any infinite blink.
7. The Great Henge - There's nothing this card doesn't do. And the fact that it only costs {3}{G}{G} after Emiel the Blessed is in play, makes it a house in this deck.
8. Soul of the Harvest - Underrated card, and definitely more powerful 10 years ago, but still a powerful draw engine in this deck.
9. Esper Sentinel - Sentinel is an amazing card, plus I have the ability to pump it with Emiel the Blessed and The Great Henge. NOTE: It’s not tutorable with Urza's Saga because Saga searches for something with {0} or {1} in its casting cost, and Esper Sentinel costs {W}.
10. Sylvan Library - Take the eight damage almost every time.
11. The One Ring - This card is cracked. It feels like playing with Necropotence. Add in some Seedborn Muse to really break it.

RECURSION

1. Karmic Guide - Guide is an absolute house in this deck with the ability to be blinked, and is best friends with Survival of the Fittest.
2. Eternal Witness - Witness belongs in every Green deck, but somehow gets better in a blink deck.

PROTECTION

1. Cloudshift - Having the ability to blank a targeted removal spell, block and blink, or re-trigger an ETB ability is great.
2. Ephemerate - Everything Cloudshift does, but with "Rebound."
3. Restoration Angel - Works as a repeatable, blinkable protection spell to save Emiel the Blessed and goes infinite with Felidar Guardian.
4. Lightning Greaves - Amazing protection, I frequently underrate the haste, and it's a combo enabler with the dorks that can tap for four or more.

THE WIN / VALUE

1. Preston, the Vanisher - It combos infinitely with Felidar Guardian. It doubles up the direct to battlefield X creature tutors like Green Sun's Zenith, Finale of Devastation, and Chord of Calling. It also copies creatures entering from blinking and reanimation. It's a perfect fit for this deck.
2. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines - Panharmonicon on a body, but also add a Torpor Orb to it.
3. Seedborn Muse - Muse is a house in most cases and when it allows me to blink ETB creatures on my opponents turns, it’s even better. Saw a tweet once: "Seedborn Muse is like three extra turn spells in a trench coat."
4. Craterhoof Behemoth - Helps give your team trample when you combo off. Or, sometimes you can't combo, so you just need to punch people in the face with a multi-blinked 'hoof.

UTILITY LANDS

1. Gaea's Cradle - One of the best cards in the format, one of the fulcrums of the deck, and one of my favorite cards.
2. Ancient Tomb - The life loss is worth it with Tomb. It's a Sol Ring on a land.
3. Urza's Saga - It can get Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, the Moxen, and Jeweled Lotus. Sometimes the Constructs are extremely relevant as well.
4. Horizon Canopy - This deck is GW, so sometimes it needs help to draw cards. When the engine is humming, it's not necessary, but sometimes it just needs that extra little push to get started.
5. Dryad Arbor - I love Dryad Arbor. Sometimes you draw it your opener and curse a little bit, but other times it gets tutored out by Green Sun's Zenith on T1 or Finale of Devastation on T2. It gets searched for by Wood Elves to trigger a Guardian Project. Sometimes it gets pitched to Survival of the Fittest because you're flooded, or sometimes you tutor for it with Survival to hit your land drop. It powers up Gaea's Cradle, and gets found by fetch lands. It's just such a powerful little card that hits so many synergies. Sucks when it gets Wrathed though.
6. Boseiju, Who Endures - Zero reason to not play this in anything with green in it.
7. Windswept Heath, Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, Flooded Strand - Heath is obvious, but the four off-color fetches are there to grab "duals," basics for Earthcraft, and the green ones can fetch Dryad Arbor. I used to run every available fetch, but with only two fetchable duals, found I ran out of dual targets pretty quickly.
8. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth - Instant fixing and makes sure I have enough green early to cast all the mana dorks.

CHANGES Show

I'm adding this section in April '21, so I'm behind by about five months of changes, but I'll make updates here going forward.

4/19/21

• IN Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest
• OUT Forbidden Orchard, Branchloft Pathway  , Forest

5/20/21

• IN Recruiter of the Guard
• OUT Essence Warden

6/11/21

• IN Solitude, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
• OUT Aura Shards, Castle Garenbrig

7/15/21

• IN Urza's Saga, Endurance, Ephemerate, Cloudshift, Circle of Dreams Druid
• OUT Command Beacon, Kitchen Finks, Good-Fortune Unicorn, Phyrexian Altar, Elvish Archdruid

10/1/21

• IN Esper Sentinel, Seedborn Muse
• OUT Great Oak Guardian, Workhorse

11/11/21

• IN Welcoming Vampire
• OUT Shalai, Voice of Plenty

2/12/22

• IN Boseiju, Who Endures, Bountiful Promenade, Savannah
• OUT Turntimber Symbiosis  , Plains, Sunpetal Grove

3/22/22

• IN Spirited Companion
• OUT Land Tax

6/14/22

• IN Flooded Strand
• OUT Fabled Passage

12/2/22

• IN Preston, the Vanisher
• OUT Sensei's Divining Top

2/5/23

• IN Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• OUT Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

4/13/23

• IN Wooded Foothills, Arid Mesa
• OUT Plains, Prismatic Vista

6/16/23

• IN Delighted Halfling, The One Ring
• OUT Ulvenwald Hydra, Avenger of Zendikar

12/8/23

• IN Chrome Mox
• OUT Canopy Vista

1/6/24

• IN Eldritch Evolution
• OUT Teferi's Protection

2/14/24

• IN Mox Diamond
• OUT Smothering Tithe

4/15/24

• IN Lush Portico, Sunpetal Grove
• OUT Wooded Foothills, Arid Mesa

5/9/24

• IN Knight of the Reliquary, Birthing Pod
• OUT Reveillark, Panharmonicon

Top Ranked	Achieved #18 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #15 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Blink 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Combo 2 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 month
Key combos	Felidar Guardian + Restoration Angel Emiel the Blessed + Felidar Guardian + Gaea's Cradle Felidar Guardian + Preston, the Vanisher Circle of Dreams Druid + Emiel the Blessed + Village Bell-Ringer
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 4 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.60
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Illusion X/X U, The Monarch
Folders	Starka, EDH Decks, Commander, definitely, Interesting, Commander, Great Builds, Commander, EDH, Inspiration