When we last left off here I had just finished detailing my journey to the Pro Tour. I had begun to describe the deck I was going to play. This article will focus on how to play the deck and why certain card choices were made. Here is the maindeck that I took to the Pro Tour:

[deck]
[Lands]
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goryo’s Vengeance
4 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
4 Through the Breach
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
[/Creatures]
[/deck]

The only thing that has changed from the last time that we spoke was that I wanted another basic [card]Swamp[/card]. I cut a [card]Scalding Tarn[/card] for it.

How the Deck Works

The deck’s primary goal is to get a hasty Emrakul onto the battlefield with [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] or [card]Through the Breach[/card], then attack for 15 flying damage backed up by annihilator 6. This sort of brutality is usually enough to end games. Even when it doesn’t, the level of card and life advantage gained makes it difficult to lose before we reload with another Emrakul or finish off the opponent via [card]Lightning Bolt[/card]s.

If Emrakul is so good why is [card]Griselbrand[/card] in there? Well if I could run more Emrakuls I would, but 4 is the limit. The next best fatty to cheat into play in Modern happens to be [card]Griselbrand[/card]. When put into play we are able to draw 7-14 cards, which is usually enough to ensure that the next turn will involve an Emrakul or more [card]Griselbrand[/card]. When compared to the [card]Nourishing Shoal[/card] deck our goal is to use [card]Griselbrand[/card] as a draw engine rather than an essential piece of the killing combo.

Our primary objective is to “cheat” Emrakrul into play. To start, we need a discard outlet, one of the big creatures, and a [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card]. If the big creature is [card]Griselbrand[/card] then we can discard it at any time, as it will sit in the yard. However, if the creature is Emrakul then we need to wait until we also have [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] in hand. This is because Emrakul’s trigger will shuffle it, plus your entire graveyard, back into your library. When discarding Emrakrul state that you are holding priority and responding to the shuffle trigger with [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card]. There are some other tricks, but we’ll get to those later.

The secondary objective of the deck is to move away from [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] to [card]Through the Breach[/card]. We do this when our graveyard is threatened. This can happen in game one when the opponent has a [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] or after boarding when they bring in [card]Rest in Peace[/card]. We won’t typically be hard casting our heavy hitters so having a secondary method to cheat them into play is incredibly important to our success.

The Core of the Deck

4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Serum Visions
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goryo’s Vengeance
4 Griselbrand
4 Through the Breach
4 Thoughtseize
20 Mana Sources

These 48 cards are the soul essence of the deck and are required in order to make it work. Emakul and [card]Griselbrand[/card] are simply the best things to cheat into play by a long shot. There is no reason to run less than the full amount.

Goryo’s Vengeance and Through the Breach are the other “half” of the combo. Once again, running them all maximizes the chances of going off.

Faithless Looting has by far been the greatest discard outlet as we can flash it back and effectively turn over four cards. [card]Serum Visions[/card] is our best current turn one cantrip.

Thoughtseize makes the core list as it lets us remove troublesome spells from our opponent. We all knew that though. The part that might be missed by someone new to the deck is that unlike [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card] when we target ourselves we can take out one of our big ugly monsters. Once in the yard we follow it up with a [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] and for the low cost of 3 mana we have [card]Griselbrand[/card] or Emrakul.

20 Mana Sources. We’re not just talking lands here. [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]s are part of that number as many pilots of this deck prefer to increase their speed via the burning ape. I strongly feel that consistency is our biggest enemy not speed. That is why I am deciding to play 20 lands rather than any number of Spirit Guides.

The Flexible Slots

With the core complete we have 12 flex spots. That might not seem like a lot, but with 12 cards we could dramatically alter how the deck plays in various match ups.

[card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]: As mentioned before, the speed of this deck can be increased with [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]s. I personally don’t think that adding them necessarily helps our plan. A turn 2 Emrakul is rarely as good as a turn 3 Emrakul because the opponent won’t have as many permanents to be annihilated. Slowing down allows us get more bang for our buck.

Nourishing Shoal + [card]Worldspine Wurm[/card] + [card]Borborygmos Enraged[/card]: If you’re looking to add this package then I would recommend adding in the [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]s as we are going further down the all-in route. I feel that doing this dilutes the consistency of the deck and it is the reason I moved away from earlier [card]Nourishing Shoal[/card] versions entirely.

[card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card]: When the metagame included [card]Splinter Twin[/card] and [card]Summer Bloom[/card] decks we needed IOK to slow the other combo decks. Now, I don’t think there is any deck faster than this one, except maybe Burn/Zoo.

[card]Lightning Bolt[/card]: This card is just the most efficient removal spell in Modern. Now that there are less combo decks to worry about, I think we can afford to add in Bolts to slow down the aggressive strategies that may overwhelm us in the early game.

[card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card]: In a meta light on creature removal Jace is perfect. In any matchup, when the opponent doesn’t kill a turn 2 [card]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/card], it will take over the game. This deck not only loves the consistent looting, but once it flips you can get back more cheap spells with the -3 ability, stall against aggro with the +1, or even win the game with his -9. Those, in addition to the fact that you can [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] it back, just makes it the best 2 drop creature we could add.

[card]Izzet Charm[/card]: A flexible tool that almost makes the core list. Currently the meta warrants a wide range of answers that [card]Izzet Charm[/card] provides, but under different circumstances we might want to swap it for something that is less flexible. For now though it’s what we want as all modes are relevant.

Matchups

Unfavorable: Zoo/Burn, Hatebears, Processor Eldrazi Decks

Zoo/Burn is the only deck in the format that is consistently fast enough to cause us trouble. Burn partially negates our ability to draw cards with [card]Griselbrand[/card] as we cannot go too low for fear of being reduced to ashes.

Hatebears can disrupt our mana enough to clock us out of the game. Thalia’s taxing effect can slow us down to the point where she is a must kill the second she arrives on board.

The Eldrazi decks with maindeck graveyard exiling effects, can be difficult to race because they can stop the [card]Goryo’s Vengeance[/card] plan game 1. Our alternative plan of Through the Breach is often too slow when the Eldrazis have a good draw. If you have some answers to this match up I’d love to hear them.

Close: Jund/Junk

GBXThe more hand disruption and efficient creatures they run, the more difficult the matchup is. If they’re tuned with more removal and midrange trumps then it becomes much easier. Jund is by far the worse of the two Game 1 as they are lower to the ground than the current Junk decks.

Favorable: Everything Else

Assuming your deck doesn’t fail to find the combo pieces we’re happy to face whatever else the meta has on hand. The deck can, on occasion, lose to itself by not producing the combo fast enough. Though, that’s a small price to pay for the raw power it brings to the table.

Post-Pro Tour

This deck was a blast to play. I would absolutely recommend it going forward. I finished 4-1 on day 1 and 2-3 on day 2 in the main event. 3 of my losses were due to variance and 1 of my losses was the deck just failing to work properly. The wins all felt as though the deck was running smoothly. I didn’t have many exceptional draws. Two of the losses were to Infect and 1 of the losses was to Suicide Zoo. The self-loss was to Abzan Chord with [card]Spike Feeder[/card] + Archangel Combo.

The New Metagame

Modern is now all about the new hotness: Eldrazi. In addition to that, the metagame has kind of devolved into everyone trying to race one another, which is what I expected at the Pro Tour. Out of the 24+ point Modern decks at the Pro Tour, only 3 weren’t trying to win as fast as possible. I think that Emrakul’s Vengeance is a deck capable of keeping up with the fastest decks since it runs an effective disruption suite alongside a fast combo kill. To be perfectly honest this might be the new [card]Splinter Twin[/card]. Not necessarily in terms of format dominance, but in play style. I think this is about as controlling as you can be in this metagame, just as Twin was the most controlling tier 1 deck before.

Brothers in Arms

Just in case you thought I was some lone nut trying to sell you magic beans, I wasn’t the only person who thought that this was the best tool to take down PT: OGW.

Through the Breach – Kentaro Yamamoto

[deck]
[Lands]
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goryo’s Vengeance
4 Izzet Charm
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
4 Through the Breach
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Simian Spirit Guide
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Dispel
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Painful Truths
2 Shatterstorm
2 Vandalblast
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Kentaro Yamamoto managed to get 14th place, with 8 wins in Modern using a similar deck. I played against a deck like ours on day 1 in the hands of a gentleman named Kenji. I don’t know if it is just a coincidence, or if there were more Japanese players on the deck, but when somebody as good as Kentaro Yamamoto picks up a deck it is certainly worth taking a look at it.

Sideboarding
2 Spellskite
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Terminate
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
3 Inquisition of Kozilek

This is the sideboard I registered for the Pro Tour. I was happy with almost every card. The only thing I didn’t end up using was the Boseijus as I didn’t play against any counter-heavy decks. I could have brought them in against Infect, but it wouldn’t have been relevant in any of the matches I played against them.

Changes Going Forward

I would like to say that my list is perfect and everyone should copy it, but that would be wrong. I think I was wrong on my initial evaluation of 1 card in particular. That card is [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]. Given the pure speed of this metagame I was absolutely incorrect to not be playing 4 of this card. In a slower meta I would stand by my statement about him but now I feel we need the ape. I don’t know if my deck would look the same as Kentaro’s list, but he was closer to the ideal list than I was, solely because he had 4 [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card]s. Until Modern stops being a turn 3 format it is worth playing a playset of them.

[deck]
[Lands]
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Faithless Looting
4 Goryo’s Vengeance
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Thoughtseize
4 Through the Breach
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Griselbrand
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
4 Simian Spirit Guide
[/Creatures]
[/deck]

This is where I would test the deck going forward. Basically, I don’t think that [card]Izzet Charm[/card] is well positioned at the moment as I was sideboarding it out in a lot of matchups. [card]Simian Spirit Guide[/card] is an important addition. With a little work, the deck is still a top contender. I would highly recommend playing it.