Atraxa's Emblem Collection 2020
Approximate Total Cost:
The purpose of the deck is to get one or more emblems as fast as possible. This is tough to do as opponents - especially those who know the deck - will do whatever they can to try and prevent you from getting them. Therefore, I use a few specific cards / lines of play:
- Leyline of Anticipation/Vedalken Orrery/Alchemist's Refuge: These cards allow for playing stuff at instant speed. This is usually a combination of a walker with either Doubling Season or Deepglow Skate to allow for an immediate emblem in your next main phase without any opponent getting a main phase in between.
- Worldly Tutor: This is always saved for playing Deepglow Skate when it will allow for one or more emblems. Play it in your upkeep, draw the Skate and go. Vampiric Tutor can serve the same purpose.
- Overburden/Humility/Portcullis: These can be a bit staxy, but fact is that each of these slows creature based decks down A LOT if they don't immediately have an answer. Even if it gets destroyed two turn rotations later, it usually buys you enough time to set up properly.
- Dueling Grounds or Silent Arbiter with Kor Haven or Maze of Ith: This makes it so that only one creature can attack, and you can remove it from combat if it comes at you. Even though you have multiple opponents, the simple threat of blanking someones attack is usually enough to have them go elsewhere so this will usually be enough to preserve your walkers. Unless of course, you start to theaten getting to ultimate one or more the conventional way, in which case you need:
- Seedborn Muse/Awakening: this makes it so your Maze of Ith and/or Kor Haven will be available for you to use every attack step in case people (rightfully?) start to gang up on you. Not too mention that they work really well with the flash package from point 1 to go full Prophet of Kruphix style though that's just bonus. This deck also has some recursion in the land base with Academy Ruins (to recur The Chain Veil), Hall of Heliod's Generosity (to recur Doubling Season) and Volrath's Stronghold (to recur Deepglow Skate) along with all the other cards they can recur as well as Karn's Bastion to proliferate 3 times between ending your turn and restarting it. Imagine the end step before your turn, let's say the bastion is already in play. You overload Cyclonic Rift or flash in Urza's Ruinous Blast. You untap, drop Awakening[card] and [card]Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. +1 Tamiyo, then proliferate on each opponent's turn. You will untap with Tamiyo on 8 loyalty. You can use the bastion again, get Tamiyo's emblem and even keep her around.
- Academy Rector: This card is so good it deserves a special mention. Once you drop it, people will not want to attack into you as it will guarantee you your Doubling Season. At the same time, if they don't attack you, that's good too! One consideration with this one is to get either Sterling Grove or Privileged Position when you have the other one as that will give all your permanents hexproof that can only be taken away though mass removal. With the exception of Cyclonic Rift and/or Austere Command, not a lot of cards remain that can break through that (though your meta may vary of course).
