Ephara, God of the Polis - Flash & Taxes

[pokken]

I looked at Aerial Surveyor as well but a) it doesn't trigger Ephara and b) it seems too close to Cartographer's Hawk . It can swing every turn and triggers on attack rather than damage, which is great, but it also requires another creature, with 3 power no less, to make it work. I am not sure if it quite crosses the threshold.

Surveyor says crew 2 to me? That feels a lot more achievable. Play whitemane, crew, bounce, etc.

I think it's significantly stronger than hawk -- even without the triggering, being able to just hit your land drop every turn guaranteed and sticking around through some sweepers, etc.

I think I'll play that The Restoration of Eiganjo first probably but we're definitely getting close to where I can just stop playing most artifact ramp.

[WizardMN]

True, I misread (I corrected it)

I am still not sure the Crewing is ideal. It does make it a bit easier though as there are more 2 power creatures than 3 in our deck.

I do agree that Restoration is a better fit for the deck overall and is far less conditional for ramping (it is also a one shot; usually).

[pokken]

I think probably the best time I am gonna see to get a foil Gemstone Caverns for a while so I got one of those. Will figure out where to fit it soon as it gets here I guess

I'm heading back to the gamestore soon I think and my intention is to play a ton of Ephara, and do some serious tuning, so looking forward to that.

I preordred The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration for this deck as well.

[pokken]

2022-02-17 Update

Minor update here, wanted to try this card for a while. I think it'll be good. We'll see.

Just nowhere else I could think of to make room tbh

Add Gemstone Caverns
cut Snow-Covered Island


---

In unrelated news to the update, I am planning to head back to the game store and try to mix it up with Ephara a bit more than I have been so I'll probably be making a lot of tweaks. I don't think the current time magic approach is really going to stick, I just don't like it all that much.

[ISBPathfinder]

Humm interesting that nobody seems to have talked about Shorikai, Genesis Engine in an Ephara shell. I guess maybe tokens are a ways off of where everyone is at but it seemed like a somewhat ok token producer who also draws cards itself at instant speed and thus spins into additional ephara draw triggers. The fact that it isn't a creature is somewhat of an asset as it means the turn after you play Ephara you could play the vehicle and activate to still trigger the commander's draw in the same turn.

Its probably a little more draw go / token oriented than most of the builds here but I felt like it was actually fairly synergistic making bodies and drawing card at instant speed for reasonable costs. I probably thought about it given I did some tinkering with a tokens ephara build though and I have an unreasonable love for draw go UW.

[pokken]

Humm interesting that nobody seems to have talked about Shorikai, Genesis Engine in an Ephara shell. I guess maybe tokens are a ways off of where everyone is at but it seemed like a somewhat ok token producer who also draws cards itself at instant speed and thus spins into additional ephara draw triggers. The fact that it isn't a creature is somewhat of an asset as it means the turn after you play Ephara you could play the vehicle and activate to still trigger the commander's draw in the same turn.

Its probably a little more draw go / token oriented than most of the builds here but I felt like it was actually fairly synergistic making bodies and drawing card at instant speed for reasonable costs. I probably thought about it given I did some tinkering with a tokens ephara build though and I have an unreasonable love for draw go UW.

I think it's really exceptionally good in the Unwinding Clock build of Ephara. I'm regularly tempted by that to be honest.

It's possible Shorikai, Genesis Engine would be pretty good in this deck even though I really like to Hour of Revelation and have debated adding Devastating Mastery.

Overally I think it'd be a pretty major retool to want to play it for me, but it's definitely great in some Ephara builds.

[pokken]

I am really very tired of signets and moxen so I'm going to down-power Ephara a little with these changes:


2022-02-25 - Manabase adjustments

Cut

• Mox Diamond
• Arcane Signet

Add

• The Restoration of Eiganjo
• Esper Sentinel

I'm still ruminating hard on adding Devastating Mastery as I shave rocks and such.

[pokken]

First game in a while I only got one, but I did a pretty good solitaire game with Wayfarer->Ancient Tomb->Ephara.

Turn 4 recruiter for spellseeker, turn 5 spellseeker ephemerate, hit seeker for mystical tutor and enlightened tutor, etutor for thassa, blink recruiter get archaeomancer, and that's all she wrote turn 6 infinite turns.

I'm pretty happy with how that works, could possibly be faster, and I was able to get someone to burn their interaction countering a Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft before the game over turn.

Think I might like a second time warp effect instead of Phyrexian Altar, and maybe chuck Nexus of Fate and Mistveil Plains lines. Mistveil has cost me before.

[WizardMN]

I wouldn't disagree with cutting Mistveil Plains. I have had issues with it before as well and it never works out as well as you want it to in my experience. Entering tapped just makes it much worse. Especially in your deck where you are trying to combo off.

In terms of the extra turn spells, it does seem like having a bit of redundancy would be warranted. I see you are already playing Temporal Manipulation so just tossing in Time Warp seems like a logical choice.

[pokken]

I wouldn't disagree with cutting Mistveil Plains. I have had issues with it before as well and it never works out as well as you want it to in my experience. Entering tapped just makes it much worse. Especially in your deck where you are trying to combo off.

In terms of the extra turn spells, it does seem like having a bit of redundancy would be warranted. I see you are already playing Temporal Manipulation so just tossing in Time Warp seems like a logical choice.

Mistveil Plains enables Mystical Tutor for Nexus of Fate loops off the end step blink Spellseeker but it's a bit wombo comboey. I think it's just too cute. Yeah Time Warp and possibly Walk the Aeons might be worth thinking on.

I'm still somewhat uncertain about the time magic stuff but it's so far been really good. Time Warp as Rampant Growth is not horrendous.

[pokken]

Some more tweaks, I might wind up doing some more serious revamps here if I don't end up liking this direction:

2022-02-25 - Spell focused update

Cut

• mistveil plains
• karmic guide
• nexus of fate

add

• time warp
• myriad landscape
• devastating mastery

State of the Deck

One issue with this direction is that I am a bit all-in on Archaeomancer so I might need to add Salvager of Secrets, but I'm kinda holding out that they will print a 4 cmc version that doesn't require sac'ing itself (Repository Skaab). It feels like they could actually have a super pushed version at 3 CMC and still be worse than Eternal Witness so maybe that'll happen.

There's also a shortage of blink effects with spells so it might be worth adding a Otherworldly Journey type spell at some point.

I'll admit to some ambivalence about this design but I have noticed that setting up Soulherder effect + Spellseeker or similar is the way this deck seems to win the most consistently. I've also noticed that being able to really clean up the board with Hour of Revelation has been consistently better than mana rocks for me, so hopefully Devastating Mastery will help me be more consistent at setting up that strategy--and Houring my own mana rocks is not the best.

It's possible that I need to further cut back on things that are vulnerable to Hour/etc. like Crucible of Worlds and so on.

Honestly overall I am in a bit of a weird place with this deck; it's good and it consistently does well, but the game has gotten to the point where it's a struggle to use static effects to do anything, so I've soaked up more and more reactive spells and sweepers. Right now I'm something of a weird blink deck that is possibly just worse than Yorion, Sky Nomad, with the only huge advantage being that Ephara, God of the Polis doesn't die to sweepers.

Another thing I would kinda like to explore is getting really consistent at the Emeria, the Sky Ruin ruin endgame, with that in mind I've got a Walking Atlas sitting around, and might want to think about Sudden Salvation to get a bit more in on the fetch ramp plan.

I'm also personally kinda meh on Magic a lot lately, so having a hard time devoting enough energy to playing to get the deck enough reps to be happy with.

[pokken]

2022-03-05 update

Cut Ornithopter of Paradise
Cut Stonecloaker

add Sunscape Familiar
add Lion Sash

I think as my blue count has gone up a bit, Sunscape has more utility and smooths out the infinite turn combos as well.

I also decided to just add Lion Sash. I'll miss cloaker, it's a great card, but I've seen an uptick of graveyard stuff and I like being able to close the game with serious combat damage if I need to. We'll see if this is correct I guess. Haven't really wanted to use cloaker in quite a while.

--

Some other things that are on my radar:

* I think I want Walking Atlas in the deck but need to figure out what I cut for it. Knight of the White Orchid just does different stuff and it really is hard for me to have 4 lands in hand by turn 3 reliably to get an Ephara early out of Atlas. Still might be OK. Could also see cutting Stonecloaker but I was planning to cut that for Lion Sash at some point. Man lion sash is legit--although I wish it gained life.

* Sword of Hearth and Home is on my radar a bit as a much better version of Teleportation Circle as another way to make infinite archaeomaners. Gonna have to noodle on that one. It's a very good card in this deck, although it does open up an attack surface I have been trying to shrink. Wish I could play another copy of Ephemerate instead I also considered Teleportation Circle as it avoids the whole 'equip and get blown out' scenario though. As is I think having two end step blink effects is *probably* OK? It might be I should be back on Venser, the Sojourner instead.

[shermanido37]

Walking Atlas is stellar in low to mid powered environments, where you can draw all the cards you want and not get punished. It also absolutely loves Land Tax.
However, it loses a lot of value versus actually strong decks that require keeping a lot of mana up for interaction, causing you to draw less cards and see less lands. In those matchups I've found most cards that aren't hatebears, self contained engines, or interaction, to be win more.
Sword is even worse. You need a creature for it and you need it to connect, which seems unlikely. And even if you did want a sword, it would be close to the last one I'd recommend. The best for us are obviously Feast and Famine, Light and Shadow, Fire and Ice, in descending order.
I like Venser much better than the sword, since it's much less conditional and poses much more of a threat. It sees counterspells with good reason, while I'm 100% sure no one would bother batting an eye at the sword. In fact, I'd much rather straight up play Brago than the sword...

[pokken]

Brago is a good one I forgot from the old days. Surely a better extra blink guy if I want to add another.

Also probly right about atlas. I'm finding games shorter and shorter but my hope is I can get a hold on that with an extra sweeper or two? Guess I'll watch and see before I just jam it.

Knight has been superb at mid game ramp where I can often trigger it a few times and catch up on mana. So gotta keep that in mind.

[pokken]

This is shaping up to be a pretty interesting set for us. Lots of interesting, powerful stuff and lots of instant speed token generation and some interesting white effects.

So far Omniseer Arbiter is one of my favorite cards of the set -- a big repeatable CA body that lets you gum up the board with creature nurfing is cool. It also really synergizes with Fleeting Spirit which is an insanely good card already. Feels like a pretty strong top end that's both blink synergy and also puts the beats down.

New Elspeth is fairly good too - 5 cmc is a good spot for a ramp spell post-Ephara that might also put out a blocker and trigger Ephara. Probably not quite what I'm looking for but it's cool.

[shermanido37]

I don't know who was in charge of printing Rescue Expert (look it up), but someone needs to give that godless fanatic a payraise. 10/10 card.

Easy to cast 3 drop? Check.
Recruitable? Check.
Lifelink for a defensive deck? Check.
Recurs a 2 drop or lower on ETB? Wait, what? And with no real caveat???

It recurs our fallen Whitemane Lion that bounces either itself or the Expert back to our hand for ridiculous value.
It recurs prized one-shot effects like Kami of False Hope for great utility.
It recurs our generally great hatebears like Drannith Magistrate and Containment Priest.
And Soulherder can make it all happen again every turn.
Decks outside of Azorius can use this card for endless nonsensical combos, like with Saffi Eriksdotter.

I just love it, it completely breaks Wizards' design philosophy of the last decade and has gained a place in my heart.

[ISBPathfinder]

I don't know who was in charge of printing Rescue Expert (look it up), but someone needs to give that godless fanatic a payraise. 10/10 card.

Easy to cast 3 drop? Check.
Recruitable? Check.
Lifelink for a defensive deck? Check.
Recurs a 2 drop or lower on ETB? Wait, what? And with no real caveat???

It recurs our fallen Whitemane Lion that bounces either itself or the Expert back to our hand for ridiculous value.
It recurs prized one-shot effects like Kami of False Hope for great utility.
It recurs our generally great hatebears like Drannith Magistrate and Containment Priest.
And Soulherder can make it all happen again every turn.
Decks outside of Azorius can use this card for endless nonsensical combos, like with Saffi Eriksdotter.

I just love it, it completely breaks Wizards' design philosophy of the last decade and has gained a place in my heart.

Extraction Specialist

I think its worth mentioning that this rez effect is still quite narrow in scope and tends to be hard to abuse. I get the flicker options and tutor options but generally you get diminishing return out of flickering something like this. I am not saying that it can't be run but I think a two or less mana rez is still a bit narrow given that its limited to two or less mana creatures.

I think if you look for where its probably at its best would be some sort of sac based concept given that you get two things you can sac from it and recurring it its stronger given the two bodies back. I think its.... ok with blink but I think it probably performs a lot stronger with sac. To me it seems like its built for Aristocrats / Grave Pact.

Keep in mind some of what makes Sun Titan incredible is that it hits any permanent type including lands. Narrowing in on just creatures and in a smaller pool is a bit hard for me to be overly excited about.

[pokken]

I don't know who was in charge of printing Rescue Expert (look it up), but someone needs to give that godless fanatic a payraise. 10/10 card.

Easy to cast 3 drop? Check.
Recruitable? Check.
Lifelink for a defensive deck? Check.
Recurs a 2 drop or lower on ETB? Wait, what? And with no real caveat???

It recurs our fallen Whitemane Lion that bounces either itself or the Expert back to our hand for ridiculous value.
It recurs prized one-shot effects like Kami of False Hope for great utility.
It recurs our generally great hatebears like Drannith Magistrate and Containment Priest.
And Soulherder can make it all happen again every turn.
Decks outside of Azorius can use this card for endless nonsensical combos, like with Saffi Eriksdotter.

I just love it, it completely breaks Wizards' design philosophy of the last decade and has gained a place in my heart.

Yeah this card is really good. End step Blinking it sets up board lock with Cathar Commando (where you commando every time you blink it), etc.

I think this may single handedly set up the Altar of Dementia / Phyrexian Altar as the right approach to this deck since you can set up stuff like a 'build your own yorion' loop like this. (I think)

1. Play Extraction Specialist
2. play Charming Prince blinking extraction specialist, then sac Charming Prince
3. end step, specialist returns, returning Charming Prince who blinks Extraction Specialist

Setting up free auto-ephara triggers until you win, which is admittedly a 3 card combo -- but with all good cards and zero repeated mana investment.

It makes Phantasmal Image pretty insane too

[pokken]

New anti-mana crypt hatebear feels like a borderline autoinclude. Someone almost always ramps. Good mid late too.

Odds of it being as good as a signet for ramping into ephara are high. I dig it.

[shermanido37]

Codename is Scheming Accomplice.
I didn't think of it stealing mana abilities until you mentioned the option. This, along with the option to shut down planeswalkers, even without copying their abilities, make this card quite powerful.

[pokken]

Codename is Scheming Accomplice.
I didn't think of it stealing mana abilities until you mentioned the option. This, along with the option to shut down planeswalkers, even without copying their abilities, make this card quite powerful.

Yeah it can steal all kinds of awesome ramp abilities, mana dorks, mana rocks. There're a lot of combos it disables too, but that's a bit more precarious. I think thinking of it as a signet on a dude is probably the best way overall. Very nice design!

It's also super nice that it doesn't target so you can beat hexproof effects (things like Asceticism and Padeem, Consul of Innovation)

[pokken]

Hmm, am I reading skyway robber right that if you have a sac outlet and an extra turn spell you can just keep replaying it every turn and re-exiling Time Warp? So kinda wombo-combo with Altar of Dementia? Even just taking a handful of sequential extra turns would probably be worth it. Maybe worth a look as a powerful standalone recursion card.

[shermanido37]

Seems way too convoluted in my opinion. The card costs 4 and has to survive a round, which is a lot considering it dies to bolt. Even beyond that, it has to connect with an opponent's face, which is very unreliable late game.
I like Grand Crescendo better. It's possible to treat it like a 2cmc combat trick to make our board indestructible, while later on drawing a card for Ephara.

[pokken]

Seems way too convoluted in my opinion. The card costs 4 and has to survive a round, which is a lot considering it dies to bolt. Even beyond that, it has to connect with an opponent's face, which is very unreliable late game.
I like Grand Crescendo better. It's possible to treat it like a 2cmc combat trick to make our board indestructible, while later on drawing a card for Ephara.

Presumably you would cast Time Warp then escape it and immediately win.

Grand Crescendo is fantastic for sure. 1WW protect my board draw a card isn't bad and it scales. Definitely worth thinking about all the token support for presenting a real clock with Ephara.

[WizardMN]

It still seems like you need a lot of cards to make Time Warp win with the Robber. Sure, cast Time Warp, exile it (with 4 other cards) so you can cast it again next turn. But then you need to sac Robber and exile 4 other cards again with the Escape (plus the Time Warp to make 5). I wouldn't doubt that there could be enough cards in the yard to make it work a few times but 20 cards in the graveyard "only" gets you 5 more casts of Time Warp. And, as mentioned, it is still a small body and it needs to connect so I think there is quite a bit going against it to make it a real powerhouse.

Grand Crescendo is definitely a card on my radar and it seems pretty solid for a couple of my decks. I think it can do well in this list.