Unleashing the Jankiest Emrakul Decks in Explorer

ChrisCee March 26, 2023 3 min
Unleashing the Jankiest Emrakul Decks in Explorer

Before the release of Shadows over Innistrad Remastered, players long theorized how Emrakul, the Promised Endimage could be implemented easier in MTG Arena. After all, its Mindslaverimage effect would be the very first of its kind for such a programmed version of the game, essentially giving its user complete interface access to the opponent's deck.

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As described by Ian Adams at WoTC, putting Emrakul, the Promised End in MTG Arena was a herculean effort that would most likely only be put to waste. Programming it to work was an absolute headache, the effect is pretty much unique to Emrakul only, and worst of all, it would only see use in very niche decks outside of competitive play. Plus some pissed-off players scoop without even considering their free extra turn once Emrakul resolves.

Now that it is here though, is it really that niche? Can’t we build a reliable deck around Emrakul, the Promised Endimage that can optimize its performance at least in Explorer as it did in classic paper Standard?

Nope. Definitely not against faster decks like Greasefang builds that can take you out on turn four or five.

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But to be fair, we do have a lot of options for cheating Emrakul into play if we are playing Explorer. However, there are just too many natural counters for those options. So even in basic BO1 matchups, the chances of your deck relegating itself to alternative win conditions (instead of focusing on Emrakul) becomes quite high. That is not yet counting the possibility that your opponent’s deck simply doesn’t have any way to axe itself during the turn you commandeer their board. You’re just setting yourself up to be hit back hard during their extra turn, hence the requirement for that alternate win condition.

Of course, the fact that this article exists means that there is a way to enjoy the card in an adequately competitive manner. Much as how MTGA devs worked hard for its painstaking implementation, there is still light at the end of the tunnel for creating fun, janky decks with this remastered set’s most anticipated card.

 

Devoted to Emrakul

The most straightforward way to bring Emrakul, the Promised Endimage to play is to just manually hard cast it with the help of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyximage, preferably while taking advantage of its first passive ability. This means, that the deck should be chock filled with all different card types that are either independent enough, or could fairly synergize with each other with minor combos.

For this particular build, the alternate win conditions comprise of Elesh Norn, Mother of Machinesimage, Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifierimage, Brisela, Voice of Nightmaresimage, and The Book of Exalted Deedsimage. Each of these components (including Emrakul) can then be fetched semi-consistently by Thalia's Lancersimage.

Gameplay video

Featured cards:

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Devoted to Emrakul (Import)

Main 80 cards (25 distinct)
Creature (27)
$0.30€0.310.04
$0.67€0.430.02
$0.26€0.210.01
$3.13
$3.990.02
$25.200.06
$44.98€37.232.33
$0.26€0.200.03
$1.81€1.430.02
$20.72
$4.95€3.570.02
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (16)
$1.00
$0.55€0.970.17
$0.490.01
$0.99€0.520.02
$0.65€0.650.07
$5.00
$0.57
Planeswalker (5)
$1.70€1.540.02
Land (32)
$35.09€25.270.60
$0.25€0.170.03
$0.52€0.72
$0.360.03
$10.85€8.981.63
Side 15 cards (9 distinct)
$0.64€0.770.03
$10.31
$0.37€0.220.02
$4.50€3.130.03
$19.05€24.93
$4.51€2.370.03
$0.23€0.110.03
$0.57

 

Fight Rigged Emrakul

Another easy way to get a free Emrakul on the battlefield is by using Fight Riggingimage. This allows our 13/13 beatstick to simply become a component of the deck’s stompy resource pool, rather than being the deck’s focus and requirement. Without Emrakul, the deck can still push through via the familiar Shakedown Heavyimage and Rotting Regisaurimage routes. With Emrakul, she basically becomes a giant fight effect card for all your opponent’s weenies to bash through your big defensive walls during their hijacked combat phase.

As an alternate win condition, Nissa, Who Shakes the Worldimage is also added to the mix, both to accelerate Emrakul and to provide land-smacking pressure to your opponent as early as turn three.

Gameplay video

Featured cards:

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Fight Rigged Emrakul (Import)

 

Emrakul Aetherworks Marvel

The classic “broken” way to call upon Emrakul, the Promised Endimage is by using none other than Aetherworks Marvelimage. So, you basically just build a typical Aetherworks Marvel energy deck (as much as you can realistically replicate it), and slap the gargantuan Eldrazi among your myriad of options and tools. This means including other typical targets such as Ugin, the Spirit Dragonimage.

Unfortunately, for this specific build, you don’t have any other alternative way to cast Emrakul without piling up graveyard card types first and surviving long enough during certain badly mulligan-ed matchups. This also means that Karn, the Great Creatorimage will automatically shut down this deck completely unless you can respond as soon as he drops on the board.

Gameplay video

Featured cards:

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[SOI] Emrakul Aetherworks Marvel

 

Marvel Emrakul

A variant of the same energy type Emrakul build that focuses a bit more on land fixing, and adds a few more alternative hard-cast supports and win conditions such as Golos, Tireless Pilgrimimage, and Atraxa, Grand Unifierimage. These could then become secondary targets for Aetherworks Marvelimage. This build does not nearly get stopped in its tracks by Karn, the Great Creatorimage as the previous decklist. But if enough turns pass, the situation just becomes irreversible.

Gameplay video

Featured cards:

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Marvel Emrakul

Main 60 cards (20 distinct)
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (20)
$0.25€0.190.03
$9.99€4.360.12
$0.24€0.130.04
$0.20€0.100.03
$0.15€0.030.03
Planeswalker (2)
$28.50
Creature (16)
$44.98€37.232.33
$0.22€0.190.03
$0.25€0.210.03
$1.74€1.870.58
$29.99€23.0417.08
Land (22)
$0.150.03
$0.180.03
$0.150.03
$4.52€5.520.36
$11.30€9.550.40
$2.50€2.450.06
$0.30€0.190.03
$5.50
$6.69
Side 1 cards (1 distinct)
$0.99€1.160.40

About ChrisCee:

A witness since the time the benevolent silver planeswalker first left Dominaria, ChrisCee has since went back and forth on a number of plane-shattering incidents to oversee the current state of the Multiverse.

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