Modern with Michael: Emerge and Eldritch Evolution WRITTEN BY Michael Krumholz

The Emerge mechanic from Eldritch Moon has a shot at being one of the more broken mechanics in recent memory. Breaking the normal rules of tempo is the surest way to overperform in the way of accomplishing unfair things in Magic. Most recently we witnessed a Modern Pro Tour that turned the format upside down, all because the combination of Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple accelerated Eldrazi decks far beyond the pace of a normal game of Magic.

Prior to Eldrazi Winter, Treasure Cruise provided a positive feedback loop which rewarded decks - that recklessly extinguished their resources - with what they were most starved for, cards. Treasure Cruise allowed for decks to break one of Magic's balancing principles: one can have power, resilience, or speed; but not all three should be attainable simultaneously. The Delve mechanic afforded players the ability to do incredibly powerful things (Draw 3 cards) at a much faster pace than should be allowed.

Now let's take a look at Emerge.

Distended Mindbender has a powerful ability tacked onto a body that is resilient to both Abrupt Decay and Lightning Bolt, and the few commonly played removal spells that can touch it (Terminate, Maelstrom Pulse, and Path to Exile are viable targets for the taking. Against the more typical Modern decks one could reasonably discard an opponent's Oblivion Stone along with his Karn Liberated, or Path to Exile and Nahiri, the Harbinger. In addition to possessing the coolest card name in Magic's 23 year history, Distended Mindbender is sure to be a reasonably castable, monstrous Eldrazi, comparable in power level to Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher. Despite being overtly powerful, Distended Mindbender showcases the fair side of the Emerge mechanic, and let's be honest. We all want to be doing unfair things.

UnFaerDrazi, Modern by Michael Krumholz

This deck is intended more as a proof of concept than as a refined competitive list. The Emerge mechanic isn't inherently broken, because it doesn't really bypass any casting requirements. It allows one to reduce the cost of a creature with Emerge by sacrificing one that one has already paid for. Similarly with suspend, Emerge reduces the cost of a spell by investing mana (and one card) into it on a prior turn. In its intended form, Emerge is a balanced mechanic whose mischief may be fully accomplished by extracting additional value by sacrificing a Kitchen Finks or Matter Reshaper, but we're not interested in these menial achievements. We want to break the Emerge mechanic, and this is best accomplished by pairing it with cost additional reduction effects; in this case, Delve.

Cards like Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Hooting Mandrills see play all over Modern. Despite having a converted mana cost of 6, each of these creatures effectively costs as little as one mana. Putting either of these creatures into play early allows creatures with Emerge to also enter the fray sooner than intended. Piggy-backing off of a turn-two Tasigur, an even greater threat can soon emerge:





Unfaerdrazi or 6-clique takes the most unfair and unfun part of UB faeries and serves it up to an opponent like a plate of calamari. Mistbind Clique and Elder Deep-Fiend fulfill a similar, demoralizing role: preventing your opponent from casting spells.

When you successfully cast Mistbind Clique and Champion a Faerie, you get to tap all of an opponent's lands. The really fun part of this ability is getting to use it during an opponent's upkeep so that his/her turn functionally begins without any mana available. Often enough, this functions as a Time Walk attached to a 4/4 flyer. And now we get another Mistbind Clique (Elder Deep-Fiend), only this one is a 5/6 and doesn't require a faerie. Chaining Mistbind Clique into Elder Deep-Fiend is cute, but even this may just be a win-more strategy. I want to take Emerge as far as it can go.





Anything can Emerge from the Shadows of the Eldritch Moon

Eldritch Evolution makes it so that any creature can emerge from the depths of one's deck. The trick is cheating something into play quickly enough that we can break the natural tempo of the game. Allosaurus Rider is just one of the cards that makes this possible. For the alternative cost of exiling two green cards from hand, Allosaurus Rider can be cast, which can then be immediately sacrificed to Eldritch Evolution in order to cheat any creature with converted mana cost 9 or less directly into play.

In order for this combo to work, a lot of pieces need to come together in exactly the right way. Redundancies have been put in place to overcome this obstacle, namely Hooting Mandrills. Once again, the Delve mechanic is paired with Emerge (at least in spirit). The package of fetchlands, Gitaxian Probe, and Street Wraith allow one to regularly cast a turn-2 Hooting Mandrills, which - like Allosaurus Rider - can be sacrificed to Eldritch Evolution in order to turn out an oppressively large creature.

Richard Wyatt's Dinosaur Evolution

The benefit of including Hooting Mandrills is two-fold: Hooting Mandrills is strong enough to end games on its own, and it affords redundancy in the combo so that the resources required of casting Allosaurus Rider are not always necessary to combo off. Once one of these high-cost creatures hits the battlefield, Eldritch Evolution can find any of a number of threats that can quickly end the game on their own.

Finding the Right Targets

The typical first target for Eldritch Evolution is Woodfall Primus, but against decks sporting Path to Exile, Gaea's Revenge is the better choice. Against Jund, Sigarda, Host of Herons provides an easy route to victory - immune to virtually every removal spell they can muster (except for Damnation). Against Burn, Empyrial Archangel is practically an auto-win, but even if that wasn't enough 4 copies of Nourishing Shoal out of the sideboard will make you feel like you can't possibly lose.

It will often be correct to put Griselbrand into play (definitely a flavor-fail), which provides the resources necessary to take another try at the combo.

This deck is the culmination of every broken mechanic legal in Modern: Phyrexian Mana, Delve, Free spells/Alternative costs, and now Emerge. Eldritch Evolution is the pinnacle of the Emerge mechanic, and will be the source of many new strategies in the coming weeks.

Honorable Mentions

There's already talk of a Blood Moon deck sporting 12 functional copies of Blood Moon (Mana dorks, Utopia Sprawl, Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, and Eldritch Evolution). I can already feel the hate coming to a slow boil…

Delve isn't the only way to accelerate creatures with Emerge into play. All creatures with Emerge are Eldrazi, so they can be further accelerated with Eldrazi Temple. Wretched Gryff is easily cast on turn three off of a Matter Reshaper or an Eldrazi Skyspawner, and it provides a lot of value when it does.





I also toyed with the idea of using Ninjutsu as a means of mana acceleration towards Emerge creatures. Casting Wretched Gryff or Elder Deep-Fiend off of Ninja of the Deep Hours for example, is one way of cheating a large, resilient threat into play without sacrificing card advantage.

The Emerge mechanic and Eldritch Evolution open up a lot of design space for the Modern format, and the next few weeks are bound to be an exciting period of exploration and innovation. Be sure to add your own ideas to the conversation in the comments section provided in the link below.

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Michael Krumholz has been playing Magic since Prophecy. His greatest Magic achievements to date include a 1st place finish at a large Modern 1K and earning a Pro Point at his first Grand Prix: GP Modern Masters 2015 in Las Vegas. Michael's aspirations include competing at the Pro Tour and working for Wizards R&D. His favorite formats are Modern and Limited.

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