There's a few different ways the deck can go for sure. As I'm really just here for Saheeli, I might wanna try going all in her and dropping the combo, actually. Should probably find the Mardu Pyromancer thread for that.
Considering the amount of games I won with tokens and how often getting the combo off doesn't even win you the game, I think it's a mistake to go deeper into the combo at the expense of backup plans.
The value of Sound the Alarm is its instant speed. You have an empty board, opponent thinks they're safe and tap out, you endstep Alarm, untap and combo off.
Oath of Kaya looks terrible to me, it doesn't do anything to advance the plan. Oath of Gideon would be okay in a deck with more walkers that could immediatly ultimate with it. Oath of Liliana only if you're plagued by Bogles, and even then I would rather run Liliana's Triumph.
Izzet Phoenix 2-0
Game 1 don't remember much, I Nahiri a Phoenix and I think I combo off. Game 2 I win with spirit beats flying over 3 Things in the Ice and end with a classy bolt to the face in response to the flip.
UW Control 0-2
Game 1 I almost pull it off, I bolt a whole squad of JTMSs, Creativity into Iona on blue, he has one turn to live and topdecks Terminus. Game 2 is just a depressing slog of not doing anything.
Allosaurus Combo 0-2
Eventhough we are back on the old mulligan this deck is pure unrefined cancer and modo says I can't have hand disruption vs combo, so I die turn 3 and turn 2.
Ad nauseam 1-2
Still no hand disruption vs combo. Game 2 he kills himself with Spoils of the Vault. Game 3 I Wear//Tear Phyrexian Unlife at the perfect moment but he has one last land up to pay for Angel's Grace.
Sultai Death's Shadow 2-1
Game 1 I double bolt Goyf 1, Nahiri Goyf 2, then Creativity for X=2. Game 2 he shreds my hand. Game 3 he's sitting on a Disdainful Stroke but I have all the removal and win the damage race with token beats.
Obviously I haven't faced all of the meta yet but so far I think another Intangible Virtue would be nice, and more hand disruption in the side vs combo.
Saddest moment so far: Emrakul exiled with Surgical whilst looting, Iona and Cerativity in hand.
Can you explain why Alpine Moon affects U-tron more? Cause no Ancient Stirrings to just dig for more lands?
I just had 2 successful matches against G tron, actually.
Match 1, game 1 dude mulls to 1, drops a forest and scoops. I assume he is on that new allosaurus combo travesty so I don't sideboard. Game 2 he has turn 4 Ugin, I endstep Raise the Alarm and Creativity into Emrakul.
Match 2, game 1 I have everything I need, somehow misclick and yield through my turn 4 and it costs me the game. Game 2 I Alpine Moon him and beat down with anthemed tokens. Game 3 I punt and bolt new Karn in response to his -2, so he knows Karn is dead before he picks his sideboard artifact, and goes Spyglass instead of Lattice. He shuts down Saheeli with it and drops a Wurmcoil. After his first attack I topdeck Nahiri while Wurmcoil is tapped. He topdecks another Wurmcoil but I Creativity into Emrakul.
Looks like all the tron players are testing out new Karn in favor of old Karn which is fine with me since old Karn beats both Emrakul and Iona. I do expect them to learn to plus Karn before minusing him so he doesn't die to bolt.
I've had a bit of a losing streak since. Went 0-2 vs Storm, 0-2 vs U Tron (new Karn + Mycosynth lock is real) then had a weird game where I got hit by Restore Balance turn 2, reduced to 1 land on the field and no cards in hand, still got the opponent down to 4 life, then modo bugged out (it reset game 1, mulliganed both our hands a few times, deleted cards from the stack, put tapped lands in the revelaed cards zone, etc...)
Today I went 1-2 vs 8-Whack, winning only game 2 where he didn't play anything until T3 Blood Moon and I answered with Creativity for Iona on red. Then 0-2 vs G Tron where game 2 I mulled a starting hand with no hate, then 3 completely nonfunctional hands down to 3 (fetch, IoK and Alpine Moon) and he had natural tron and O-stone.
Finished with 2-0 against Grixis Control, game 1 went super long until I could bluff out his counters and Creativity for Emrakul, then he kept tapping it down until I hardcast Iona on blue. He scooped a bit early - he had enough permanents that could have won by keeping a red source and topdecking a Bolt. Game 2 I shredded his hand and powered out a few early tokens and beat him down before he had mana to Snapcaster for Anger of the Gods.
Minusing away the Bridge effect would indeed by awesome, but how do we avoid hitting another Bridge instead of Emrakul when we fire off Creativity? I mean, you could also run the new Karn and pull Bridge from the sideboard, but that's probably a different deck, some sort of prison where Saheeli can shut down symmetrical hosers during your turn.
Nice catch on the Cage. So many little upsides to Creativity vs Polymorph.
I have since defeated Goblins (lords, no Whack). They had the one who can sac himself to kill Emrakul, so bolts were handy for keeping those of the board. Finished game 1 with Emrakul and game 2 with Elesh Norn. I am wondering if there are any other silver bullets like her and Iona worth keeping in the side.
Went 0-2 against Nexus, seemed like a miserable matchup although Spirit beats almost came through game 1. I did resolve Saheeli and her making tokens on cast triggers felt significant vs counterspells.
Also played Naya CoCo Aristocrats (wat?), lost game 1 to beats/drain, easy win game 2 turn 4 creativity into Elesh Norn. He conceded game 3 after drawing his hand :S
EDIT
Had a tense match vs Burn. Game 1 I rushed out an early Emrakul, copied with Saheeli and wiped his board. Game 2 he stuck an Ensnaring Bridge and burned me out. Game 3 I completely forgot to board in Wear//Tear for the Bridge and he sticks it again. He's flooding out and I just durdle for a couple of turns behind a wide board of 2/2s (with anthem) before I figure out that Creativity can kill bridge. I Creativity for 2 killing Bridge and fetching Emrakul, copy him with Saheeli for an instant win and only after saccing the original I realize that he hit a second Bridge off Creativity. We durdle some more, I eventually go below 10 life cracking stockpiled fetches so I can hardcast Iona on red, and then we durdle some more until I draw enough burn to kill him with seconds left on my clock. It's a testament to the deck that I ran out my clock, misplayed like crazy, wasted whole turns, killed my own Emrakul and still won in the end.
EDIT 2
RG Ponza brew with Trinisphere and Glorybringers. Lost game 1 to the dragon. Game 2 combo'd into Iona on red, game 2 combo'd into Iona on red while also blowing up Grafdigger's Cage. Then dude got salty about jank brews in the tournament practice lobby.
I am always sad when I don't have Saheeli on board. Getting free tokens with every removal / hand disruption cast is amazing. Intangible Virtue is also nice, probably deserves a 2nd copy. And I never ever thought "I wish I had a Bitterblossom right now".
So I dropped 60 tix on this deck tonight, for budgetary concerns -2 Bitterblossom -2 Thoughtseize +2 Saheeli, +1 IoK +1 Path.
Went 2-0 vs Storm for my first match. First game kept an odd hand of 2 IoK and my first draw was another IoK. Obviously that worked out lovely vs storm. Game 2 I kept a hand of Emrakul, 1 IoK and oodles of removal, and bolted/pushed 3 Barals. He fizzled when Spirit beats forced him to try and go off without. Didn't actually see the combo but the disruption/removal was obviously great. Will keep updating.
Looks like this is the thread I've been looking for since I saw the new Saheeli. What do you think? Her static is basically +1 token every time you cast literally anything in your deck, and if you have a servo that isn't summoning sick, she copies Emrakul for pseudo haste.
Also clearly this deck should be named Mardu Polymorph
Considering the amount of games I won with tokens and how often getting the combo off doesn't even win you the game, I think it's a mistake to go deeper into the combo at the expense of backup plans.
Oath of Kaya looks terrible to me, it doesn't do anything to advance the plan. Oath of Gideon would be okay in a deck with more walkers that could immediatly ultimate with it. Oath of Liliana only if you're plagued by Bogles, and even then I would rather run Liliana's Triumph.
Izzet Phoenix 2-0
Game 1 don't remember much, I Nahiri a Phoenix and I think I combo off. Game 2 I win with spirit beats flying over 3 Things in the Ice and end with a classy bolt to the face in response to the flip.
UW Control 0-2
Game 1 I almost pull it off, I bolt a whole squad of JTMSs, Creativity into Iona on blue, he has one turn to live and topdecks Terminus. Game 2 is just a depressing slog of not doing anything.
Allosaurus Combo 0-2
Eventhough we are back on the old mulligan this deck is pure unrefined cancer and modo says I can't have hand disruption vs combo, so I die turn 3 and turn 2.
Ad nauseam 1-2
Still no hand disruption vs combo. Game 2 he kills himself with Spoils of the Vault. Game 3 I Wear//Tear Phyrexian Unlife at the perfect moment but he has one last land up to pay for Angel's Grace.
Sultai Death's Shadow 2-1
Game 1 I double bolt Goyf 1, Nahiri Goyf 2, then Creativity for X=2. Game 2 he shreds my hand. Game 3 he's sitting on a Disdainful Stroke but I have all the removal and win the damage race with token beats.
Obviously I haven't faced all of the meta yet but so far I think another Intangible Virtue would be nice, and more hand disruption in the side vs combo.
Saddest moment so far: Emrakul exiled with Surgical whilst looting, Iona and Cerativity in hand.
I just had 2 successful matches against G tron, actually.
Match 1, game 1 dude mulls to 1, drops a forest and scoops. I assume he is on that new allosaurus combo travesty so I don't sideboard. Game 2 he has turn 4 Ugin, I endstep Raise the Alarm and Creativity into Emrakul.
Match 2, game 1 I have everything I need, somehow misclick and yield through my turn 4 and it costs me the game. Game 2 I Alpine Moon him and beat down with anthemed tokens. Game 3 I punt and bolt new Karn in response to his -2, so he knows Karn is dead before he picks his sideboard artifact, and goes Spyglass instead of Lattice. He shuts down Saheeli with it and drops a Wurmcoil. After his first attack I topdeck Nahiri while Wurmcoil is tapped. He topdecks another Wurmcoil but I Creativity into Emrakul.
Looks like all the tron players are testing out new Karn in favor of old Karn which is fine with me since old Karn beats both Emrakul and Iona. I do expect them to learn to plus Karn before minusing him so he doesn't die to bolt.
Today I went 1-2 vs 8-Whack, winning only game 2 where he didn't play anything until T3 Blood Moon and I answered with Creativity for Iona on red. Then 0-2 vs G Tron where game 2 I mulled a starting hand with no hate, then 3 completely nonfunctional hands down to 3 (fetch, IoK and Alpine Moon) and he had natural tron and O-stone.
Finished with 2-0 against Grixis Control, game 1 went super long until I could bluff out his counters and Creativity for Emrakul, then he kept tapping it down until I hardcast Iona on blue. He scooped a bit early - he had enough permanents that could have won by keeping a red source and topdecking a Bolt. Game 2 I shredded his hand and powered out a few early tokens and beat him down before he had mana to Snapcaster for Anger of the Gods.
I have since defeated Goblins (lords, no Whack). They had the one who can sac himself to kill Emrakul, so bolts were handy for keeping those of the board. Finished game 1 with Emrakul and game 2 with Elesh Norn. I am wondering if there are any other silver bullets like her and Iona worth keeping in the side.
Also played Naya CoCo Aristocrats (wat?), lost game 1 to beats/drain, easy win game 2 turn 4 creativity into Elesh Norn. He conceded game 3 after drawing his hand :S
EDIT
Had a tense match vs Burn. Game 1 I rushed out an early Emrakul, copied with Saheeli and wiped his board. Game 2 he stuck an Ensnaring Bridge and burned me out. Game 3 I completely forgot to board in Wear//Tear for the Bridge and he sticks it again. He's flooding out and I just durdle for a couple of turns behind a wide board of 2/2s (with anthem) before I figure out that Creativity can kill bridge. I Creativity for 2 killing Bridge and fetching Emrakul, copy him with Saheeli for an instant win and only after saccing the original I realize that he hit a second Bridge off Creativity. We durdle some more, I eventually go below 10 life cracking stockpiled fetches so I can hardcast Iona on red, and then we durdle some more until I draw enough burn to kill him with seconds left on my clock. It's a testament to the deck that I ran out my clock, misplayed like crazy, wasted whole turns, killed my own Emrakul and still won in the end.
EDIT 2
RG Ponza brew with Trinisphere and Glorybringers. Lost game 1 to the dragon. Game 2 combo'd into Iona on red, game 2 combo'd into Iona on red while also blowing up Grafdigger's Cage. Then dude got salty about jank brews in the tournament practice lobby.
I am always sad when I don't have Saheeli on board. Getting free tokens with every removal / hand disruption cast is amazing. Intangible Virtue is also nice, probably deserves a 2nd copy. And I never ever thought "I wish I had a Bitterblossom right now".
Went 2-0 vs Storm for my first match. First game kept an odd hand of 2 IoK and my first draw was another IoK. Obviously that worked out lovely vs storm. Game 2 I kept a hand of Emrakul, 1 IoK and oodles of removal, and bolted/pushed 3 Barals. He fizzled when Spirit beats forced him to try and go off without. Didn't actually see the combo but the disruption/removal was obviously great. Will keep updating.
Also clearly this deck should be named Mardu Polymorph