GW Emiel EDH: Blink Toolbox PRIMER

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

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LAND (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 9x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 8x Plains
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Urza's Saga
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

INTERACTION (10)

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

RECURSION (3)

• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Reveillark

RAMP (16)

• 1x Jeweled Lotus
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 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
• 1x Smothering Tithe

DRAW (10)

• 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 Soul of the Harvest
• 1x The Great Henge

COMBO (4)

• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Preston, the Vanisher
• 1x Restoration Angel

Commander (1)

TUTOR (11)

• 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 Invasion of Ikoria  ^Flip
• 1x Survival of the Fittest
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard

PROTECTION (5)

• 1x Cloudshift
• 1x Ephemerate
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Teferi's Protection

WIN (4)

• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Primeval Titan
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth

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Sideboard

Other (1)

• 1x Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

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Maybeboard

Other (1)

• 1x Natural Order

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First things first: yes, I know Primeval Titan is banned. My playgroup rule 0's and allows it. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines is the replacement out of my playgroup. I'm choosing to present it here as I play it, because I like the playtest function.

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.

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 it’s 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 , netting infinite mana.

COMBOS Show

Felidar Guardian

Emiel the Blessed + Felidar Guardian + Gaea's Cradle creates infinite green mana. This has become the most consistent combo in the deck. You can use the mana to blink Wall of Blossoms or trigger The Great Henge to draw your library, blink Craterhoof Behemoth infinitely, or funnel it into Finale of Devastation. There are lots of possibilities.

Felidar Guardian + Restoration Angel creates infinite ETBs. It takes a third card to net gain here: Earthcraft or Panharmonicon 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.

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. Invasion of Ikoria   - Can't recur it, but it's a second copy of Finale of Devastation, and it can find almost everything in the deck.
4. Chord of Calling - Instant speed, convoke, and finds a creature of any color as opposed to GSZ.
5. Survival of the Fittest - Finds all your missing pieces, There are also a couple of lines that lead to infinites: put Restoration Angel and Felidar Guardian in the 'yard, then cast Karmic Guide targeting Guardian, which blinks Guide, which then targets Resto which targets Guardian and sets up an infinite ETB trigger situation. Or you can also dump Felidar Guardian and Preston, the Vanisher into the graveyard, evoke Reveillark to yank them both out, which creates infinite mana as described in the combo section.
6. Fauna Shaman - Survival, but it's an elf.
7. Recruiter of the Guard - Has around 20 targets in the deck including most of the mana dorks and silver bullets.
8. Worldly Tutor
9. Eladamri's Call
10. Enlightened Tutor
11. Crop Rotation - Most typical targets: Gaea's Cradle, Ancient Tomb, or even just a land that produces {W}.

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. Birds of Paradise - My favorite card
2. Avacyn's Pilgrim - This could be Arbor Elf, but I had too many non-forests, and really need the W to cast my commander.
3. Llanowar Elves - Thus begins the elves
4. Elvish Mystic
5. Fyndhorn Elves
6. Bloom Tender
7. Priest of Titania - Remember that this counts ALL elves, not just ones on your side of the board.
8. Circle of Dreams Druid - I can't believe they put Gaea's Cradle on a creature...
9. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Ramp + Draw = This card is amazing.
10. 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.
11. Farhaven Elf - Great to blink with our commander.
12. Sol Ring
13. Mana Crypt
14. Jeweled Lotus - Lotus is great to power out our commander, especially after he gets killed once or twice.
15. 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. Plus, it goes infinite with Avenger of Zendikar + Earthcraft + Emiel the Blessed .
16. Smothering Tithe - There's just no reason to not play Tithe in anything with White in it.

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. Force of Vigor - Free spells are good.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Reclamation Sage - Also an elf
10. 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 - Understated card, and definitely more powerful 10 years ago, but still a powerful draw engine in this deck.
9. Sylvan Library - Take the eight damage almost every time.
10. 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}.

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. Reveillark - Same as above.
3. Eternal Witness - Witness belongs in every Green deck, but somehow gets better in a blink deck.

PROTECTION

1. Mother of Runes - Probably not the perfect fit for the deck, but I love her, so in she goes.
2. 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.
3. Teferi's Protection - Just too good to not include.
4. Cloudshift - Having the ability to blank a targeted removal spell, block and blink, or re-trigger an ETB ability is great.
5. Ephemerate - Everything Cloudshift does, but with "Rebound."

THE WIN / VALUE

1. Craterhoof Behemoth - Tutorable and blinkable, plus it gives trample
2. Avenger of Zendikar - Blink for lots of tokens, occasionally goes infinite with Earthcraft.
3. Primeval Titan - This is honestly just here as a creature tutor for Gaea's Cradle. And it's one of my favorite cards. And it shouldn't be banned. Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines is my rule zero replacement, because that card is way more heinous than Titan, and far more unfun. So I'm choosing not to maindeck Elesh 2.0, and instead use it as a rule zero replacement for Prime Time.
4. 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."
5. Panharmonicon - There are 25 cards that all have creature ETB triggers, either on creatures themselves, or that trigger when other creatures ETB. If Panharmonicon stays on the battlefield for more than one turn cycle, you're probably going to win the game.
6. 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, Chord of Calling, and Invasion of Ikoria  . It also copies creatures entering from blinking and reanimation. It's a perfect fit for this deck.

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, 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. I have four decks, they all have green in them, and I'm playing four Boseijus.
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.
8. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth - Instant fixing and makes sure I have enough green early to cast all the mana dorks.

RULE ZERO SUBSTITUTION Show

As I mentioned, my playgroup allows Primeval Titan in gameplay, and we have actually house banned Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. Consequently, Elesh is my rule zero replacement when playing outside of my playgroup. I used to sub in Elvish Reclaimer which serves a similar function as a tutor for Gaea's Cradle. But, after several games with Elesh, we decided to house ban it, so it became my sideboard replacement for Prime Time, rather than Reclaimer.

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
• OUT Forbidden Orchard, Branchloft Pathway  

4/21/21

• IN Misty Rainforest
• OUT 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 Endurance, Ephemerate, Cloudshift
• OUT Kitchen Finks, Good-Fortune Unicorn, Phyrexian Altar

7/16/21

• IN Circle of Dreams Druid
• OUT Elvish Archdruid

7/17/21

• IN Urza's Saga
• OUT Command Beacon

10/1/21

• IN Esper Sentinel, Seedborn Muse, Force of Vigor
• OUT Village Bell-Ringer, Great Oak Guardian, Workhorse

11/11/21

• IN Welcoming Vampire
• OUT Shalai, Voice of Plenty

2/12/22

• IN Boseiju, Who Endures
• OUT Turntimber Symbiosis  

2/22/22

• IN Bountiful Promenade, Savannah
• OUT Brushland, Sunpetal Grove

3/22/22

• IN Spirited Companion
• OUT Land Tax

6/3/22

• IN Archivist of Oghma
• OUT Sensei's Divining Top

6/14/22

• IN Flooded Strand
• OUT Fabled Passage

12/2/22

• IN Preston, the Vanisher
• OUT Archivist of Oghma

2/5/23

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

4/5/23

• IN Mother of Runes
• OUT Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

4/15/23

• IN Invasion of Ikoria  
• OUT Natural Order

Top Ranked	Achieved #18 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #15 position in Commander / EDH 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Blink 10 months ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Combo 1 year ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 days
Key combos	Felidar Guardian + Restoration Angel Emiel the Blessed + Felidar Guardian + Gaea's Cradle Avenger of Zendikar + Earthcraft + Emiel the Blessed Felidar Guardian + Preston, the Vanisher
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	19 - 1 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 7 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.78
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Illusion */* U, Plant 0/1 G, The Monarch, Treasure
Folders	Starka, EDH Decks, Commander, definitely, Interesting, Commander, Great Builds, Commander, EDH, Inspiration, See all 18