It has been a long time since I have played this deck, but I have decided to tweak a few cards for inclusions from GRN. For this deck, the main card that stands out is Dream Eater. It has Flash, it lets me dig (kind of), and it potentially gets rid of a threat. Plus, it leaves behind a flying body that can be blinked with other cards to do it again. The P/T leaves a lot to be desired, but flying and flash are enough to make it a reasonable body.
I am going to cut War Priest of Thune for it. I have been getting kind of down on this card since it wants to come down early to trigger Ephara but often can't if I want to get value out if its own trigger. It also doesn't have Flash and is small so it doesn't have much impact. I am thinking Dream Eater, even though it is a higher mana cost, will be better in this slot.
That card definitely seems worth considering. I would have loved to see it cost 5 but as Reveillark has proved for me you can win games on flying 4 power bodies with this deck. Attached to a large tempo play and some card selection seems good.
I can't really think of anything much stronger, esp. when already playing Draining Whelk. We really could use a clear cut Reclamation Sage or something in the Azorius block of new Ravnica
We really could use a clear cut Reclamation Sage or something in the Azorius block of new Ravnica
Oh, man, I would love that. I have kept War Priest of Thune until now because I still wanted enchantment removal at least, but it is just too narrow sometimes. A creature that can destroy either on ETB would be a welcome addition. But, I think that is solely in green's realm now But, I am looking forward to seeing what goodies the next set brings us.
I played this deck the other night for the first time in a while. It was me, Ishai and Ludeviuc partners, and Tuvasa. I am pretty sure the Tuvasa deck was mostly still the Precon with just a few changes.
The game started off fairly slow for me, but I did get some timely spells when I needed them. One was a Supreme Verdict to help clear up the board. I had Ephara out at the time and dropped an Elpseth to allow me to create tokens. I ticked up once and then Ishai exiled Elspeth with Detention Sphere. From there, I dropped a couple things like Faerie Artisans (which gave me a Niv-Mizzet Parun and then died) and then a couple of other small things to just keep things going. Notably, it took a long time to draw a counter spell and had a bunch of blink spells in hand (Resto Angel for example). Ishai cast an extra turn spell and copied it 3 times with Fury Storm so we just sat there doing nothing while they took 4 turns. Luckily they did very little on these turns, though they got Tuvasa pretty low.
Tuvasa ended up dying a little later and then it was just me and Ishai. We went back and forth a while and I finally got some counters in hand to stop them from doing anything. I was finally starting to build up a board presence to finish out the game, but we had to end early as we were going long and the store wanted to start FNM and the Ishai player was drafting in that.
Even with the shortened game, I felt the deck was able to perform well. It would have been nice to get some earlier card draw and some counter spells, but it worked out. Where the game ended, I felt I was in a good position. I do not know what the Ishai player had in hand, but it seemed like they were petering out a little (they mentioned they drew 4 or 5 lands in a row).
I did not have Dream Eater in the deck yet as I want to get a foil (and forgot I opened one in a pack). I will just use the nonfoil I have for now so I will hopefully get a chance to play the deck more in the coming weeks.
I finally got around to playing a game with Ephara and it went well. I played against Brion Stoutarm, Karador Ghost Chieftain, and something else (I can't seem to remember).
As usual, I got down Ephara when I could (I think turn 4 this time) and then just sat back trying to find an opening. It did take a while to get to any creatures I could cast (or, that I wanted to cast) but I did build up a bit of a board state. At one point, someone tried to wrath so I cast Ghostway to protect everything. Since Archaeomancer was on the field, I just got Ghostway back. The 'Mancer did go away shortly after that though.
At one point, I had Containment Priest and Eldrazi Displacer on the field so I was able to exile my opponents' creatures as I needed to. At one point, False Prophet from Karador died and I wanted to protect my board so I exiled Containment Priest to Release to the Wind, flickered a couple of my own things to get some value, and then let everything go away. The big thing here is that exiling the Priest made it so Ephara was no longer a creature so the board wipe didn't affect her. I did end up dealing with False Prophet a little later but there was a time when there was a loop that I had to keep dealing with.
Eventually, it was just me and Karador left and it was pretty tough as I couldn't just clear their board since they kept getting everything back. I was able to continuously answer their board (and Karador in particular) to make it tougher for him to stick around. I did try to exile their graveyard (I don't remember how) and they shuffled it away with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Not exactly what I wanted but it did get rid of a few things to slow them down.
In the end, I was able to just fly over the top of them to finish the game as they were unable to continue to rebuild.
A couple cool plays (I don't remember when they happened):
I flashed in an Alms Collector in response to a Skullclamp trigger to draw a card. This also affected a Kozilek trigger too to ensure I got value when others tried to.
Dream Eater and Eldrazi Displacer got me a little value together but I ended up getting down Containment Priest shortly after so I didn't loop this too much.
I had a Faerie Artisans getting me copies of a bunch of stuff and one of them was a Chancellor of the Forge to get me some tokens. I also had my own Kozilek for a short time but never got to attack with it.
Karador attempted to exile all my attackers with Settle the Wreckage so I flashed in Seht's Tiger to give myself Pro-White to stop it.
As an aside: as Pokken pointed out, Draining Whelk is woefully inefficient. I had a couple chances to get to it (off of Recruiter of the Guard and seeing it off of Sensei's Divining Top) but I never wanted it. I always put it back or didn't take it. Now, my deck is pretty light on counters, contrary to Pokken's deck, but I am starting to feel like replacing the Whelk might be the best course of action. I don't even think I have to replace it with another counter; I don't intend for this deck to be loaded with counters as I much prefer the interaction with Ephara and creatures over going too far into the control route via counterspells. I am not sure what creature I would want in this slot, but I am sure there are some good options that still allow for control elements without necessarily being a counter.
Gilded Drake - it costs, but it's very strong given you're running Venser and Displacer
Forbid - is a counterspell I find to be insanely good with Ephara. I am almost always loaded on cards and it's a great way to close the game out sometimes.
and the out there thought is I'd consider Palace Jailer - I find myself thinking about this card a lot, and I'm often the one pecking away at people and with a board state no one wants to attack into. Might be worth a try.
I like Remorseful Cleric though I kind of like Angel of Finality over it since it is an ETB effect. Mostly, it works better with Displacer and Venser. I like Cleric since it is cheap but getting multiple uses out of it is tougher. I had cut it once before but maybe it is worth another try.
Metamorph looks pretty good. The deck is certainly not light on creatures and cloning something of an opponent's can be useful too. If only it had Flash, the choice on whether to add it would be much easier
I like the suggestion of Gilded Drake if, for no other reason, it gives me a deck to use one of my copies in. I used to run it in Thassa but didn't care for it and I thought about building Aminatou at one point just to use it. I think this will slot in over Draining Whelk for now as I am really down on Whelk.
Forbid is certainly a good card, and Ephara would be a good deck to keep fueling it. Of the possible counters, this is probably one of the better ones just due to the fact that it is easily re-usable.
But, out of personal preference, I don't run many counters in this deck. I think I have 5 total once Whelk is gone (6 I guess counting Venser) and then Snapcaster and Gearhulk to re-use some. The main reason I like keeping this deck focused on creatures and board control over straight counter magic is because Niv-Mizzet is supposed to be my hard counter deck. And, as soon as I blur the lines too much the decks become too similar for me to play and for others to play against. It might not happen easily with these two, but it has happened in the past and I want to avoid it.
And, finally, Palace Jailer is questionable. I don't often have enough blockers to stall people from damaging me and passing around the Monarch can be detrimental for me as I may not have it very long in the early game. And in the late game I don't think I need it. Losing the Monarch also obviously means the creature is no longer exiled. Now, with blink effects I can easily become the Monarch again and exile something new but it really just puts a target on me as I try to keep it.
Anyway, looking through my list, I think that, in addition to Draining Whelk, I am going to cut Sphinx of Uthuun. It is expensive and it can't be cast at instant timing. Which means I not only have to spend 7 mana, but it needs to be on my turn. Its effect is good and the body it leaves behind can help close out games, but 7 mana is just too much for the effect.
I also don't think Reveillark is pulling its weight. In the last game I played, I had Reveillark in hand but had very little to get back with it. And Containment Priest was on the field anyway. While the latter isn't likely to be out all the time, I still don't think that in all the time Reveillark has been in the deck that its trigger has actually gone off. I think I am just going to try the suggestion of Metamorph for now to see what it does.
Leonin Relic-Warder is another one that just isn't doing much. I had visions of casting it, exiling it to Displacer to get 2 things, one of which is exiled forever. However, it never played out that way. And I realized I am very low on sweepers in this deck so I am going to add in a Cleansing Nova as a way to still deal with troublesome Enchantments and Artifacts that can also deal with a problematic board flooded with creatures.
So, the changes I think I am going to go with are:
Cleansing nova is excellent, though I have been giving serious thought to slipping Hour of Revelation in as a third sweeper. It's just so darn mana efficient and my artifacts/enchantments are usually not something I mind sweeping if it comes to it.
I like your changes Let me know how the Angel goes. I went with Cleric because it's way cheaper mana wise and comes back off lark, but if you're cutting lark that's less of an issue.
I have been testing Hour of Revelation in my Queen Marchesa league deck. So far, I like it. At worst, it is a Planar Cleansing which isn't awful. I do agree that, in this deck, losing my artifacts isn't usually an issue. And I don't have any Enchantments to worry about. I might have to think of that at some point. I prefer Nova as it allows me to be a little more precise in what I want to destroy.
Hopefully I will get a game or two in with the deck tomorrow; otherwise it might not happen until next week sometime. I will definitely update once I get a chance to try these changes.
Jhoira got out to a quick start and had something like 6 artifacts by turn 4 along with Jhoira. I ended up dropping Ephara on turn 4 and just started working on value at that point. I did try to cast Cleansing Nova around turn 5 or 6 to get rid of Artifacts and Enchantments but Thrax (inexplicably) countered it. They had Mindcrank as the only thing that would get blown up but they really wanted to save it at the expense of allowing Jhoira to keep going off and leaving Feather with Swiftfoot Boots. I ended up having to use Archaeomancer to get back Nova to cast it again.
This slowed the others down and I still kept things going. Faerie Artisans was a big deal in this game as it gave me a copy of Thrax as well as a number of other creatures. I kept drawing off Ephara in the meantime.
One play I made that I kind of messed up was casting Spellseeker with the intent of getting Mystical Tutor only to find out I don't run M Tutor in this deck. That definitely shows I don't play this deck often enough so I ended up getting Mana Drain which let me counter Metalwork Colossus for a bunch of mana.
The game kind of went on and Rashmi, Jhoira, and I were fighting it out most of the game. Thrax wasn't doing a lot. But, eventually, I pulled away and was able to keep control of the game and just started swinging in with my creatures to end the game. The deck doesn't run a lot of counterspells, but I did have 2 in hand at the end of the game since no one was really doing much that needed to be countered.
The deck is still playing very well and I don't have any major concerns over how it is playing. While I mistakenly tried to get Mystical Tutor, I don't think the deck needs it and I just need to remember that it isn't in the deck
I generally think Mystical Tutor is very important to this deck despite the relatively low count. The instants/sorceries are so key. But obviously don't forget you can get rift like a jerk
I finally broke down and added a mystical tutor after years of playing my deck and I never regret drawing or seeing it.
I'd suggest you consider two updates with the new set:
* Soulherder is an exceptionally powerful recruiter of the guard target, generating value the turn it drops and then allowing you to repeat every turn until it's killed. And it's a huge fattie on its own eventually.
The interaction of this card with Faerie Artisans being reset and letting you keep your token every turn is kind of absurd.
* Winds of Abandon is a sweet spell seeker target for when you're not feeling rifting like a jerk. It's one sided, but obviously the ramp is a problem - presumably you should be able to finish the game from the position you get into when you spend 6 mana for a one sided sweeper, at least killing the person that you ramped the most.
There're quite a few other good cards in the set but nothing autoinclude like those. Other than Prismatic Vista of course but that is really a matter of taste.
Objectively, Mystical Tutor should be an auto-include in this type of deck. And I run Mystical Tutor in other decks and this deck has other tutor cards so, realistically, there isn't a good reason this deck shouldn't have it. I might think about trying to find a spot for it.
Soulherder is an easy include and I immediately thought of this deck when I saw it spoiled. I will be finding a spot for it.
Winds of Abandon is another where I thought of this deck though I am not sure where I want to go with it. The ramp, as you mentioned, is definitely a problem and I find that this deck can rarely just alpha strike to close out the game. It generally takes a few turns of board management and incremental damage. It is on my radar but it is not an definite include. The fact that it can be gotten off Spellseeker though is not something I initially thought of and that might be enough to push it over the edge into "include" territory.
Prismatic Vista is one that I will likely include in every 3 color deck I have. I *should* include it in 2 color decks too but I am not sure how much I want it as I like the aesthetic of "no fetches" in my 2 color decks. That being said, in the game I summarized above, I was stuck on 2-3 blue for way too long. If even one of my Plains was a Vista, it could have helped out a lot. And I have had other games where I am short on white mana. I think the right call is to put it in, so we will see what I end up doing.
Yeah, I think Winds is just too dang strong being tutorable by spellseeker. I don't like the idea of the big ramps but there are many times where I do not want to Cyclonic Rift for one reason or another (ex: powerful ETB creatures, board state not advanced enough to be punishing, board state all creatures, I don't feel like being that guy, etc.).
Having a second sweeper you can get with Spellseeker is just too much IMHO.
I think you're correct in your assessment of vista, as it mostly jives with mine. Basics are great in EDH and fetching either basic is huge. For me, it's another land that can get a plains for Emeria.
Honestly, it makes me consider slotting a Wastes into my deck since it would essentially add +2 colorless sources as well (prismatic vista + wastes) at the cost of only playing one.
I ended up slotting in Soulherder and Winds of Abandon to try out. I haven't gotten a good change to test the changes yet, but I felt like they were both worth a shot.
In order to make room, I ended up cutting Mimic Vat and Brago, King Eternal. I felt that Mimic Vat is just too slow for what it does and Soulherder is just a much better replacement. It effectively does the same thing (get an extra creature to enter the field each turn) at a slightly more limited timing but it doesn't cost me mana to do it. Mimic Vat was nice to hate out some things from my opponents and use their stuff against them, but the fact that the token didn't stick around made it less useful in that regard.
Interestingly, Soulherder actually kind of replaces Brago as well in that I get to re-use ETB effects on my creatures even if it is only 1 per turn. It is obviously like Conjurer's Closet in this regard but cheaper and on a creature which Ephara likes. Brago is great when he works, but needing to deal combat damage (with a 2/4 no less) and needing to have a decently established board meant that he didn't always get me the use I wanted out of him. The big thing is obviously the need for combat damage as the deck doesn't tend to attack much early on so when I really want to get good use out of him, he is just blocked. I feel Soulherder being able to flicker another creature no matter what will probably play a little better for the deck.
Winds of Abandon was discussed more above but the fact that I can get it off of Spellseeker was the tipping point for me. I am not sure how often an "alpha strike" will occur after using it but being able to permanently remove troublesome creatures might be worth the ramp it gives my opponents. And not requiring that the creatures are attacking while also hitting all opponents makes it better than Settle the Wreckage in my mind.
Those look like good cuts to me. I had similar challenges with Brago, but he also was a bit of a lightning rod - once I started going nuts with him people would all turn toward me and look menacingly. That was years ago, mind, but I still see the same any time someone trots out a Brago deck.
Mimic Vat was something I always struggled to set up. People would just not kill creatures when I wanted them do and my deck doesn't have a ton of ways to kill my creatures or their creatures. So it mostly rested with the whims of fate. It also has some of the Skullclamp problems in that it doesn't advance your board materially.
I am very excited to hear how you find winds. I hope my assessment of it is right. So far I have been looking at positions where I could have drawn it, and it would have been stupidly good most times. But I don't play as many games as you, so I'm going to have to ride your coattails a little
Once all my stuff from the new set gets here I think I'll try to play more games with Ephara next week and really get the tires kicked.
Hour of Revelation is another card I've been mentally watching for and it would have been insane for me all night last night
I played this deck last night against Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, Vaevictus Asmadi, the Dire, and Tuvasa the Sunlit. I didn't get an early ramp, but I cast Day's Undoing on turn 3 to get a new hand and mess up the other players' hands. Tuvasa, at the end of the game, mentioned that they had 3 wraths in hand at this point and I made them discard them which worked out.
I got down Ephara and then just passed the turn for a while. I was low on Blue mana for a while (not terribly, but still lower than I wanted) but it never really affected me. I ended up with Soulherder on the board, Containment Priest, and Eldrazi Displacer (this setup will become important later, which I will mention below) but in the short term this allowed me to exile their creatures permanently along while getting counters on the Soulherder.
I also had a Winds of Abandon in hand for basically the entire game (along with Cyclonic Rift) but I never cast either one of them. At one point, both Tuvasa and Kynaios cast their own Cyclonic Rift (on the same turn) and I just cast Teferi's Protection. Another time when they tried to wrath my board, I cast Eerie Interlude to save everything. That was when I had Stunt Double, Duplicant, Containement Priest, Ephara, and Eldrazi Displacer. Not the greatest board state but still one I wanted to keep.
On one important play of the game (which meant that we either won or lost because of it) Vaevictus had Archfiend of Despair and Baneful Omen on the field. They had just tutored up a Void Winnower off of a Brutalizer Exarch. They were going to stack the triggers so we lost 9 from the Omen and another 9 from the Archfiend which would have killed the table. I couldn't bounce either one since I needed to act in their second main which would have just allowed them to cast both again (they had plenty of lands from a Mending of Dominaria). And, of course, I couldn't just blink my stuff since Containment Priest was on the field. I ended up having to crack my Top to draw Venser, Shaper Savant, cast Venser to pick up my Containment Priest, activate Eldrazi Displace to blink my Stunt Double, which then copied their Exarch which allowed me to put the Omen on the bottom of their deck. It was a convoluted mess and all because of the Priest.
In the end, I was able to cast Winds and then just win the game while their boards were reduced to nothing. I actually won because I had Faerie Artisans which got me an Avenger of Zendikar which got me 17 tokens. I put in a land off Terrain Generator, played a land for turn, and got another land in play so I had 51 damage just with those. After casting Winds, it was game over.
I did have a couple of times where I wanted to cast Winds but it never felt right since I couldn't alpha strike them. The boards were pretty out of control and I did almost pull the trigger but the opposing Cyclonic Rifts meant I didn't have to. I don't know if I was too cautious about using Winds or not, but I am pretty sure I would have needed to fire it off if the Rifts hadn't been cast. I kind of wish I had so I could see what the card did in a situation where I didn't win the game.
And, as mentioned above, there was a scenario where I had Soulherder, Displacer, and Containment Priest. It was great to get rid of opposing creatures but I found that the Priest severely hindered me. I have come across it before but it was never quite as severe as this game. It turned off my Emeria, my Soulherder, and my Eldrazi Displacer. I actually wanted to blink my Gilded Drake that I had traded for a Zacama so I could get other things and I couldn't do that either.
In the end, I think Containment Priest is just a bad card for this deck. It is great with Displacer and it is kind of cool to pull off, but with everything else wanting to blink things or bring things back for free, it is just a huge hindrance. I am going to find a replacement for it before I play the deck again.
Containment Priest at its core is a tech hatebear against creature cheating strategies. That is and always should be the main reason for running it. Everything else is just gravy and a side product of the power level of the card.
The cards that seem to do best, according to what you're saying, are big flash threats. Maybe try another one of those. Otherwise there are a ton of Ephara Staples you could be playing, including Aven Mindcensor, Hushwing Gryff, any Thalia, etc.
I have too many ETB effects for Hushwing Gryff to be the right call. It is basically the same issue as the Priest except I actually get my creature to stick.
I might try the Mindcensor. There are enough tutors in the format that having that little piece of hate, tied to a flash creature, can be really good for Ephara.
Another option, is that I always thought that decks with Archaeomancer must run Time Wipe. It's slow and expensive, but you seem to have that kind of mana at your disposal.
I had thought about it when it was spoiled (and I wouldn't mind getting a promo Time Wipe) but I am not sure if I need another wrath in the deck. I should pick one up anyway and the synergy with Archaeomancer is pretty good.
I think mostly evacuation is better than time wipe if you want that arch loop effect. Dealing with indestructible and haste creatures is more important than dealing with just dudes, and it's a significantly better tempo play.
The new mass bounce effect would also be preferable over wipe for me personally, though I forget the name of it offhand
I am going to cut War Priest of Thune for it. I have been getting kind of down on this card since it wants to come down early to trigger Ephara but often can't if I want to get value out if its own trigger. It also doesn't have Flash and is small so it doesn't have much impact. I am thinking Dream Eater, even though it is a higher mana cost, will be better in this slot.
I can't really think of anything much stronger, esp. when already playing Draining Whelk. We really could use a clear cut Reclamation Sage or something in the Azorius block of new Ravnica
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
The game started off fairly slow for me, but I did get some timely spells when I needed them. One was a Supreme Verdict to help clear up the board. I had Ephara out at the time and dropped an Elpseth to allow me to create tokens. I ticked up once and then Ishai exiled Elspeth with Detention Sphere. From there, I dropped a couple things like Faerie Artisans (which gave me a Niv-Mizzet Parun and then died) and then a couple of other small things to just keep things going. Notably, it took a long time to draw a counter spell and had a bunch of blink spells in hand (Resto Angel for example). Ishai cast an extra turn spell and copied it 3 times with Fury Storm so we just sat there doing nothing while they took 4 turns. Luckily they did very little on these turns, though they got Tuvasa pretty low.
Tuvasa ended up dying a little later and then it was just me and Ishai. We went back and forth a while and I finally got some counters in hand to stop them from doing anything. I was finally starting to build up a board presence to finish out the game, but we had to end early as we were going long and the store wanted to start FNM and the Ishai player was drafting in that.
Even with the shortened game, I felt the deck was able to perform well. It would have been nice to get some earlier card draw and some counter spells, but it worked out. Where the game ended, I felt I was in a good position. I do not know what the Ishai player had in hand, but it seemed like they were petering out a little (they mentioned they drew 4 or 5 lands in a row).
I did not have Dream Eater in the deck yet as I want to get a foil (and forgot I opened one in a pack). I will just use the nonfoil I have for now so I will hopefully get a chance to play the deck more in the coming weeks.
Speaking of things I would love to see, it'd be nice to see a UW Mystic Snake type card -- Draining Whelk is just too inefficient for me.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
As usual, I got down Ephara when I could (I think turn 4 this time) and then just sat back trying to find an opening. It did take a while to get to any creatures I could cast (or, that I wanted to cast) but I did build up a bit of a board state. At one point, someone tried to wrath so I cast Ghostway to protect everything. Since Archaeomancer was on the field, I just got Ghostway back. The 'Mancer did go away shortly after that though.
At one point, I had Containment Priest and Eldrazi Displacer on the field so I was able to exile my opponents' creatures as I needed to. At one point, False Prophet from Karador died and I wanted to protect my board so I exiled Containment Priest to Release to the Wind, flickered a couple of my own things to get some value, and then let everything go away. The big thing here is that exiling the Priest made it so Ephara was no longer a creature so the board wipe didn't affect her. I did end up dealing with False Prophet a little later but there was a time when there was a loop that I had to keep dealing with.
Eventually, it was just me and Karador left and it was pretty tough as I couldn't just clear their board since they kept getting everything back. I was able to continuously answer their board (and Karador in particular) to make it tougher for him to stick around. I did try to exile their graveyard (I don't remember how) and they shuffled it away with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Not exactly what I wanted but it did get rid of a few things to slow them down.
In the end, I was able to just fly over the top of them to finish the game as they were unable to continue to rebuild.
A couple cool plays (I don't remember when they happened):
I flashed in an Alms Collector in response to a Skullclamp trigger to draw a card. This also affected a Kozilek trigger too to ensure I got value when others tried to.
Dream Eater and Eldrazi Displacer got me a little value together but I ended up getting down Containment Priest shortly after so I didn't loop this too much.
I had a Faerie Artisans getting me copies of a bunch of stuff and one of them was a Chancellor of the Forge to get me some tokens. I also had my own Kozilek for a short time but never got to attack with it.
Karador attempted to exile all my attackers with Settle the Wreckage so I flashed in Seht's Tiger to give myself Pro-White to stop it.
As an aside: as Pokken pointed out, Draining Whelk is woefully inefficient. I had a couple chances to get to it (off of Recruiter of the Guard and seeing it off of Sensei's Divining Top) but I never wanted it. I always put it back or didn't take it. Now, my deck is pretty light on counters, contrary to Pokken's deck, but I am starting to feel like replacing the Whelk might be the best course of action. I don't even think I have to replace it with another counter; I don't intend for this deck to be loaded with counters as I much prefer the interaction with Ephara and creatures over going too far into the control route via counterspells. I am not sure what creature I would want in this slot, but I am sure there are some good options that still allow for control elements without necessarily being a counter.
Remorseful Cleric - solid beater that is somewhat appropriate to this report
Phyrexian Metamorph - just a really strong card
Gilded Drake - it costs, but it's very strong given you're running Venser and Displacer
Forbid - is a counterspell I find to be insanely good with Ephara. I am almost always loaded on cards and it's a great way to close the game out sometimes.
and the out there thought is I'd consider Palace Jailer - I find myself thinking about this card a lot, and I'm often the one pecking away at people and with a board state no one wants to attack into. Might be worth a try.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Metamorph looks pretty good. The deck is certainly not light on creatures and cloning something of an opponent's can be useful too. If only it had Flash, the choice on whether to add it would be much easier
I like the suggestion of Gilded Drake if, for no other reason, it gives me a deck to use one of my copies in. I used to run it in Thassa but didn't care for it and I thought about building Aminatou at one point just to use it. I think this will slot in over Draining Whelk for now as I am really down on Whelk.
Forbid is certainly a good card, and Ephara would be a good deck to keep fueling it. Of the possible counters, this is probably one of the better ones just due to the fact that it is easily re-usable.
But, out of personal preference, I don't run many counters in this deck. I think I have 5 total once Whelk is gone (6 I guess counting Venser) and then Snapcaster and Gearhulk to re-use some. The main reason I like keeping this deck focused on creatures and board control over straight counter magic is because Niv-Mizzet is supposed to be my hard counter deck. And, as soon as I blur the lines too much the decks become too similar for me to play and for others to play against. It might not happen easily with these two, but it has happened in the past and I want to avoid it.
And, finally, Palace Jailer is questionable. I don't often have enough blockers to stall people from damaging me and passing around the Monarch can be detrimental for me as I may not have it very long in the early game. And in the late game I don't think I need it. Losing the Monarch also obviously means the creature is no longer exiled. Now, with blink effects I can easily become the Monarch again and exile something new but it really just puts a target on me as I try to keep it.
Anyway, looking through my list, I think that, in addition to Draining Whelk, I am going to cut Sphinx of Uthuun. It is expensive and it can't be cast at instant timing. Which means I not only have to spend 7 mana, but it needs to be on my turn. Its effect is good and the body it leaves behind can help close out games, but 7 mana is just too much for the effect.
I also don't think Reveillark is pulling its weight. In the last game I played, I had Reveillark in hand but had very little to get back with it. And Containment Priest was on the field anyway. While the latter isn't likely to be out all the time, I still don't think that in all the time Reveillark has been in the deck that its trigger has actually gone off. I think I am just going to try the suggestion of Metamorph for now to see what it does.
Leonin Relic-Warder is another one that just isn't doing much. I had visions of casting it, exiling it to Displacer to get 2 things, one of which is exiled forever. However, it never played out that way. And I realized I am very low on sweepers in this deck so I am going to add in a Cleansing Nova as a way to still deal with troublesome Enchantments and Artifacts that can also deal with a problematic board flooded with creatures.
So, the changes I think I am going to go with are:
CUTS
Draining Whelk
Leonin Relic-Warder
Sphinx of Uthuun
Reveillark
ADDS
Cleansing Nova
Gilded Drake
Phyrexian Metamorph
Angel of Finality
I like your changes Let me know how the Angel goes. I went with Cleric because it's way cheaper mana wise and comes back off lark, but if you're cutting lark that's less of an issue.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Hopefully I will get a game or two in with the deck tomorrow; otherwise it might not happen until next week sometime. I will definitely update once I get a chance to try these changes.
Jhoira got out to a quick start and had something like 6 artifacts by turn 4 along with Jhoira. I ended up dropping Ephara on turn 4 and just started working on value at that point. I did try to cast Cleansing Nova around turn 5 or 6 to get rid of Artifacts and Enchantments but Thrax (inexplicably) countered it. They had Mindcrank as the only thing that would get blown up but they really wanted to save it at the expense of allowing Jhoira to keep going off and leaving Feather with Swiftfoot Boots. I ended up having to use Archaeomancer to get back Nova to cast it again.
This slowed the others down and I still kept things going. Faerie Artisans was a big deal in this game as it gave me a copy of Thrax as well as a number of other creatures. I kept drawing off Ephara in the meantime.
One play I made that I kind of messed up was casting Spellseeker with the intent of getting Mystical Tutor only to find out I don't run M Tutor in this deck. That definitely shows I don't play this deck often enough so I ended up getting Mana Drain which let me counter Metalwork Colossus for a bunch of mana.
The game kind of went on and Rashmi, Jhoira, and I were fighting it out most of the game. Thrax wasn't doing a lot. But, eventually, I pulled away and was able to keep control of the game and just started swinging in with my creatures to end the game. The deck doesn't run a lot of counterspells, but I did have 2 in hand at the end of the game since no one was really doing much that needed to be countered.
The deck is still playing very well and I don't have any major concerns over how it is playing. While I mistakenly tried to get Mystical Tutor, I don't think the deck needs it and I just need to remember that it isn't in the deck
I finally broke down and added a mystical tutor after years of playing my deck and I never regret drawing or seeing it.
I'd suggest you consider two updates with the new set:
* Soulherder is an exceptionally powerful recruiter of the guard target, generating value the turn it drops and then allowing you to repeat every turn until it's killed. And it's a huge fattie on its own eventually.
The interaction of this card with Faerie Artisans being reset and letting you keep your token every turn is kind of absurd.
* Winds of Abandon is a sweet spell seeker target for when you're not feeling rifting like a jerk. It's one sided, but obviously the ramp is a problem - presumably you should be able to finish the game from the position you get into when you spend 6 mana for a one sided sweeper, at least killing the person that you ramped the most.
There're quite a few other good cards in the set but nothing autoinclude like those. Other than Prismatic Vista of course but that is really a matter of taste.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Soulherder is an easy include and I immediately thought of this deck when I saw it spoiled. I will be finding a spot for it.
Winds of Abandon is another where I thought of this deck though I am not sure where I want to go with it. The ramp, as you mentioned, is definitely a problem and I find that this deck can rarely just alpha strike to close out the game. It generally takes a few turns of board management and incremental damage. It is on my radar but it is not an definite include. The fact that it can be gotten off Spellseeker though is not something I initially thought of and that might be enough to push it over the edge into "include" territory.
Prismatic Vista is one that I will likely include in every 3 color deck I have. I *should* include it in 2 color decks too but I am not sure how much I want it as I like the aesthetic of "no fetches" in my 2 color decks. That being said, in the game I summarized above, I was stuck on 2-3 blue for way too long. If even one of my Plains was a Vista, it could have helped out a lot. And I have had other games where I am short on white mana. I think the right call is to put it in, so we will see what I end up doing.
Having a second sweeper you can get with Spellseeker is just too much IMHO.
I think you're correct in your assessment of vista, as it mostly jives with mine. Basics are great in EDH and fetching either basic is huge. For me, it's another land that can get a plains for Emeria.
Honestly, it makes me consider slotting a Wastes into my deck since it would essentially add +2 colorless sources as well (prismatic vista + wastes) at the cost of only playing one.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
In order to make room, I ended up cutting Mimic Vat and Brago, King Eternal. I felt that Mimic Vat is just too slow for what it does and Soulherder is just a much better replacement. It effectively does the same thing (get an extra creature to enter the field each turn) at a slightly more limited timing but it doesn't cost me mana to do it. Mimic Vat was nice to hate out some things from my opponents and use their stuff against them, but the fact that the token didn't stick around made it less useful in that regard.
Interestingly, Soulherder actually kind of replaces Brago as well in that I get to re-use ETB effects on my creatures even if it is only 1 per turn. It is obviously like Conjurer's Closet in this regard but cheaper and on a creature which Ephara likes. Brago is great when he works, but needing to deal combat damage (with a 2/4 no less) and needing to have a decently established board meant that he didn't always get me the use I wanted out of him. The big thing is obviously the need for combat damage as the deck doesn't tend to attack much early on so when I really want to get good use out of him, he is just blocked. I feel Soulherder being able to flicker another creature no matter what will probably play a little better for the deck.
Winds of Abandon was discussed more above but the fact that I can get it off of Spellseeker was the tipping point for me. I am not sure how often an "alpha strike" will occur after using it but being able to permanently remove troublesome creatures might be worth the ramp it gives my opponents. And not requiring that the creatures are attacking while also hitting all opponents makes it better than Settle the Wreckage in my mind.
1 Mimic Vat
1 Brago, King Eternal
1 Soulherder
1 Winds of Abondon
Mimic Vat was something I always struggled to set up. People would just not kill creatures when I wanted them do and my deck doesn't have a ton of ways to kill my creatures or their creatures. So it mostly rested with the whims of fate. It also has some of the Skullclamp problems in that it doesn't advance your board materially.
I am very excited to hear how you find winds. I hope my assessment of it is right. So far I have been looking at positions where I could have drawn it, and it would have been stupidly good most times. But I don't play as many games as you, so I'm going to have to ride your coattails a little
Once all my stuff from the new set gets here I think I'll try to play more games with Ephara next week and really get the tires kicked.
Hour of Revelation is another card I've been mentally watching for and it would have been insane for me all night last night
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I got down Ephara and then just passed the turn for a while. I was low on Blue mana for a while (not terribly, but still lower than I wanted) but it never really affected me. I ended up with Soulherder on the board, Containment Priest, and Eldrazi Displacer (this setup will become important later, which I will mention below) but in the short term this allowed me to exile their creatures permanently along while getting counters on the Soulherder.
I also had a Winds of Abandon in hand for basically the entire game (along with Cyclonic Rift) but I never cast either one of them. At one point, both Tuvasa and Kynaios cast their own Cyclonic Rift (on the same turn) and I just cast Teferi's Protection. Another time when they tried to wrath my board, I cast Eerie Interlude to save everything. That was when I had Stunt Double, Duplicant, Containement Priest, Ephara, and Eldrazi Displacer. Not the greatest board state but still one I wanted to keep.
On one important play of the game (which meant that we either won or lost because of it) Vaevictus had Archfiend of Despair and Baneful Omen on the field. They had just tutored up a Void Winnower off of a Brutalizer Exarch. They were going to stack the triggers so we lost 9 from the Omen and another 9 from the Archfiend which would have killed the table. I couldn't bounce either one since I needed to act in their second main which would have just allowed them to cast both again (they had plenty of lands from a Mending of Dominaria). And, of course, I couldn't just blink my stuff since Containment Priest was on the field. I ended up having to crack my Top to draw Venser, Shaper Savant, cast Venser to pick up my Containment Priest, activate Eldrazi Displace to blink my Stunt Double, which then copied their Exarch which allowed me to put the Omen on the bottom of their deck. It was a convoluted mess and all because of the Priest.
In the end, I was able to cast Winds and then just win the game while their boards were reduced to nothing. I actually won because I had Faerie Artisans which got me an Avenger of Zendikar which got me 17 tokens. I put in a land off Terrain Generator, played a land for turn, and got another land in play so I had 51 damage just with those. After casting Winds, it was game over.
I did have a couple of times where I wanted to cast Winds but it never felt right since I couldn't alpha strike them. The boards were pretty out of control and I did almost pull the trigger but the opposing Cyclonic Rifts meant I didn't have to. I don't know if I was too cautious about using Winds or not, but I am pretty sure I would have needed to fire it off if the Rifts hadn't been cast. I kind of wish I had so I could see what the card did in a situation where I didn't win the game.
And, as mentioned above, there was a scenario where I had Soulherder, Displacer, and Containment Priest. It was great to get rid of opposing creatures but I found that the Priest severely hindered me. I have come across it before but it was never quite as severe as this game. It turned off my Emeria, my Soulherder, and my Eldrazi Displacer. I actually wanted to blink my Gilded Drake that I had traded for a Zacama so I could get other things and I couldn't do that either.
In the end, I think Containment Priest is just a bad card for this deck. It is great with Displacer and it is kind of cool to pull off, but with everything else wanting to blink things or bring things back for free, it is just a huge hindrance. I am going to find a replacement for it before I play the deck again.
The cards that seem to do best, according to what you're saying, are big flash threats. Maybe try another one of those. Otherwise there are a ton of Ephara Staples you could be playing, including Aven Mindcensor, Hushwing Gryff, any Thalia, etc.
I might try the Mindcensor. There are enough tutors in the format that having that little piece of hate, tied to a flash creature, can be really good for Ephara.
The new mass bounce effect would also be preferable over wipe for me personally, though I forget the name of it offhand
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall