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Eternal Masters
EMA Limited
EMA Draft
EMA
Stjepan Sucic
About Stjepan Sučić
Stjepan started his Magic career in 2003, and had some decent finishes over the years, including a World Magic Cup top 8, Pro Tour and Worlds top 32 finishes and a GP top 8 with 61 pro points total.
During the summer months he is also a Magic Online grinder who you can easily find in the draft queues. Stjepan boasts a 74% win rate in his real life Magic career. When he is not playing Magic, Stjepan enjoys watching Starcraft and playing MOBA games.
Eternal Masters Grinding Guide
It has been just a couple of weeks since my last article about Eternal Masters Limited, but now, after having done a couple dozen EMA drafts on Magic Online, I feel that I really understand the format and have some relevant new information to share. I'll be blunt - I don't think that EMA has any real archetypes to speak of, so I can't really talk about those, and even if there were some, I wouldn't bother. Why? Because if you are committing to any color or color pair, you are doing it wrong.
First of all, I need to repeat some of the basic truths about the set:
EMA has tons of fixing, really, if you are in green, it is almost impossible to end up without at least four or five cards that will help you straighten out your mana. If you are not in green, chances are you will be getting at least some dual lands and a Pilgrim's Eye or two.
The power level of the set is very high, even reminiscent of Cube drafting,
Removal spells are far from scarce and most of them are rather efficient. Mass removal isn't too scarce either.
Card advantage is plentiful, both in spell and creature form.
When you take these facts into consideration, the logical course of action is rather obvious - pick the best cards and then pick some fixing and card advantage, mix it up and voila, you have a deck! Well, a deck that looks more like a pile of cards you found in a box under your bed, rather than a real deck, but it works. Since you can get multiples of the same card, this technique works even better in EMA than it usually works in Cube, due to all the mana fixing cards being available in multiples, as well as not very sought-after by other drafters.
I have vaguely mentioned the 5-color-honden archetype in my last article and this is how it all started. My first ever draft I started off with a couple hondens, Abundant Growths and Serra Angels and ended up Green-White splashing red for Honden of Infinite Rage and black for Honden of Nightßs Reach and a pair of Night's Whispers. I picked up a few dual lands that gain life and some other fixing, so my mana wasn't a big issue. The deck worked like a charm, being very defensive and waiting for the hondens to do their job. After sideboard, Monk Idealist was a star, picking up the hondens that fell victim to my opponent's sideboard cards. Since this experiment worked so well for me, I decided to try pushing it even further, going five color more often than not, to see where the boundaries are. Is splashing Wrath of God too much? Is eight taplands too much? Is 5 Abundant Growths too much? It turned out that 'no' was the correct answer to all of those questions. I won or split the finals of every single draft I played with the 'as many colors as you need' (honden) control deck. I put honden in brackets because sometimes there are just no hondens to pick up.
At first I thought my win rate was this amazing because my opponents weren’t drafting/playing well - it is a new set, and most people need some time to figure it out - but then, after a couple of drafts where I ended up in two colors and failed, I was starting to realize that drafting two colors was just subpar.
Each of those two-colored decks that I drafted looked pretty good, and I felt confident it was even better than my usual five-color piles. Why better? Because of the consistency - you can feel safe playing just two colors and knowing you will most likely be able to cast cards from your hand if you draw some land. Needless to say, this line of thinking was wrong - if drafted and built well, five-color is every bit as consistent as a two color deck. Almost every hand with a green source is a keep, especially because of the safety that Abundant Growth provides.
Versions:
Battle For Zendikar (Foil)
Commander 2013
Commander 2014
Duel Decks: Venser Vs. Koth
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Worldwake (Foil)
The other important thing I realized was that if you don't play all the colors and pick the best card out of each pack, every other deck at the table is a bit stronger. Just getting the best card out of each pack means you are not passing any bombs or premium removal/card advantage. It is much easier to end up on top when you are holding all the aces.
Thirdly, I realized that hondens are just insane. I know, I already said they are strong, but I understated it - not picking up each and every one of them (even the black one) is something I wouldn't advise. Playing some form of mana acceleration into (any) hondens is just so absurdly strong, it doesn't seem fair at all. I have never passed a honden, and I still haven't regretted it. Also, a very important thing is that if there isn't something you will certainly play in the pack, it is smart to cut any enchantment removal that is floating around. Monk Idealist (as mentioned above) is also a must-have sideboard card for the honden deck.
There are some drafts where there are few to no hondens, but that's not the end of the world - you can still control the game and win with any other 'big' uncommon like Havoc Demon or Phyrexian Ingester, which are not really super high picks for other players.
After having realized that five-color is the way to go, I started refining the tactic of five-color-control. The first thing I figured out was that I don't want any creatures that cannot create some kind of advantage, unless they have reach or flying. This narrows down the creature selection quite a bit. It is ok to pick up some decent, cheap defensive creatures for the sideboard, but you will never run Glacial Wall or Ballynock Cohort maindeck if you don't have to. The number of creatures you should have in your deck depends on whether or not you have green and/or red hondens as win conditions, as well as the quality of the creatures. The better they are (in terms of game-winning potential) the less you need. For instance, I would be happy with a deck that runs only 9 creatures if they are Llanowar Elves, Civic Wayfinders, and Silvos, Rogue Elementals, and if I still have a backup plan with hondens that can win the game. The lack of creatures is something you need to compensate with removal spells and take advantage of with the black honden. If you deploy the black honden early and just play removal spells, your opponent will be forced to discard all of the removal spells he is holding, since he has no targets. Once your opponent's hand is empty, start playing your game winners.
Big flyers are the main issue for the deck, Rorix, Visara and similar creatures that are too big for Sentinel Spider and can't be chumped by Honden of Life's Web tokens are the Achilles’ heel for the deck, so you need to save your removal for those if you know your opponent has one of those. Visara and Havoc Demon are especially troublesome, since they are immune to Nekrataal and Annihilate, and Visara is wreaking havoc without attacking, so Second Thoughts isn't super effective either.
It often happens that you don't end up in ALL the colors, but despite that, it is good to pick up all the dual lands you see, unless there is something in the pack you will certainly play. By picking those up you are hurting other players at the table, and chances are you will find a reason to play each of them as the draft goes on. Gaining life off of lands is super important (and life gain in general is very useful), since with such defensive decks that generate a lot of card advantage, you need something to keep you out of the danger zone, there are a few burn spells in the format and you need to keep that in mind.
I believe the best way to explain how to execute this whole concept and what is important, is by showing you first hand how a draft progresses and why I pick each particular card. I will go with my first and my last draft and explain what I believe was correct and what was wrong in each.
First Draft
I went into this draft quite biased. I knew that white was the best color and I wanted to be white if possible, but I also wanted to stay very flexible with my other color for as long as possible. This is how it went:
Pack 1 pick 1:
Versions:
Commander
Duel Decks: Elspeth Vs. Kiora
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Urza's Legacy (Foil)
Squadron Hawk
Plague Witch
Dragon Egg
Benevolent Bodyguard
Yavimaya Enchantress
Cephalid Sage
Pilgrim's Eye
Firebolt
Phyrexian Rager
Seal of Cleansing
Armadillo Cloak
Hydroblast
Sengir Autocrat
--> Mother of Runes
Havoc Demon
The draft started off well for what I had in mind, Mother of Runes is a great rare in white, turning games into festivals of frustration for your opponent. It fits well in both offensive and defensive decks, and I was generally pretty happy with it as a first pick. Other contenders were Armadillo Cloak and Havoc Demon, but the Demon is just a weaker card and doesn't fit well in any deck, and Armadillo Cloak makes me commit to two colors from pick one, which is not something I want to do.
Pack 1 pick 2:
Versions:
Champions of Kamigawa (Foil)
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Mogg Fanatic
Second Thoughts
Innocent Blood
Keldon Marauders
Sylvan Might
Oona's Grace
Phyrexian Rager
Werebear
Thornwood Falls
Man-o'-War
Pyroblast
Phyrexian Gargantua
Diminishing Returns
--> Honden of Cleansing Fire
This is where things got interesting. There are a couple of avenues I can take, and the most appealing one might even be Phyrexian Gargantua, a big creature with attached card advantage. I considered Keldon Marauders, as well as Mano-o'-War, but in the end decided to go with a leap of faith just for the sake of staying white and staying open. (this was my first draft, so I didn't know how good the hondens really are in this set)
Pack 1 pick 3:
Versions:
Champions of Kamigawa (Foil)
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Ballynock Cohort
Blightsoil Druid
Desperate Ravings
Humble
Thornweald Archer
Giant Tortoise
Pilgrim's Eye
Man-o'-War
Wind-Scarred Crag
Nausea
--> Honden of Life's Web
Trygon Predator
Night's Whisper
This was the breaking point in the draft. I wasn't sure if I should just play it 'safe' and pick another white card - Ballynock Cohort. It is actually a pretty decent creature in Limited, and I was unsure what to do. I picked the Honden at the last possible moment just because I decided it might be fun to try it out. Today I would never even think about what to pick here, Honden of Life's Web is the clear pick.
Pack 1 pick 4:
Versions:
10th Edition (Foil)
8th Edition (Foil)
9th Edition (Foil)
Battle Royale Box Set
Commander 2014
Duel Decks: Jace Vs. Vraska
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Visions
Second Thoughts
Skulking Ghost
Fervent Cathar
Seal of Strength
Warden of Evos Isle
Wind-Scarred Crag
Nausea
Whitemane Lion
Roar of the Wurm
--> Nekrataal
Jetting Glasskite
Fog
This pack didn't bring much for the white-green enchantments deck, with Roar of the Wurm being something I didn't consider very playable (and it actually is in this deck) I was deciding between Nekrataal and Jetting Glasskite. I didn't expect to play either, but decided Nekrataal was just a bit stronger if I end up ditching green for black. I would say Roar of the Wurm was the correct pick here.
Pack 1 pick 5:
Versions:
Duel Decks: Elspeth Vs. Kiora
Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Magic 2015 Core Set (Foil)
Mirrodin (Foil)
Modern Event Deck 2014
Modern Masters 2015 (Foil)
Wakedancer
--> Raise the Alarm
Skulking Ghost
Thornweald Archer
Stupefying Touch
Sentinel Spider
Swiftwater Cliffs
Counterspell
Shaman of the Pack
Soulcatcher
Thornweald Archer
Here, since I was still unsure about what I was drafting, I decided to stick with white and picked up a Raise the Alarm. That wasn't very brave, but I thought I would certainly play it, which was very wrong, in retrospect. The pick here should have been Thornweald Archer, since it actually does something.
In the remaining picks from pack one, I picked up an Abundant Growth, and tabled Sentinel Spider and a random Night's Whisper.
Pack 2 pick 1:
Versions:
4th Edition
5th Edition
Alpha
Anthologies
Beta
Collector's Edition
Commander 2013
Commander 2014
Eternal Masters (Foil)
International Collector's Edition
Revised
Unlimited
Ballynock Cohort
Blightsoil Druid
Desperate Ravings
Humble
Seal of Strength
Giant Tortoise
Werebear
Thornwood Falls
Man-o'-War
Whitemane Lion
Brawn
Burning Vengeance
Thunderclap Wyvern
--> Nevinyrral's Disk
Cephalid Sage
I'm not too much into hate drafting, I really dislike it, but this pack was rather empty of anything very exciting. I was pondering taking Werebear, but in the end decided that the Disk would probably make my maindeck despite me having some hondens. I was wrong. I would say Werebear was the obvious pick, since mana producers are crucial, but I guess at least no one else had the Disk.
During the next few picks I took Swords to Plowshares, two Serra Angels and some fixing. Then, this pack arrived:
Pack 2 pick 7:
Versions:
Champions of Kamigawa (Foil)
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Night's Whisper
Wake of Vultures
Coalition Honor Guard
Orcish Oriflamme
Shoreline Ranger
Glacial Wall
--> Honden of Infinite Rage
Ancestral Mask
Ticking Gnomes
This caught me by surprise - The red honden is just a very strong card, especially in this set where there are a ton of 1-toughness creatures, and I was very taken aback that it was still in the pack. I snap picked it even though my fixing was rather scarce at this moment. I certainly intended to work on that.
Pack 3 pick 1:
Versions:
4th Edition
5th Edition
Alpha
Beta
Collector's Edition
Eternal Masters (Foil)
International Collector's Edition
Revised
Unlimited
Benevolent Bodyguard
Carrion Feeder
Avarax
Twisted Abomination
Monk Idealist
Reckless Charge
Deep Analysis
Rugged Highlands
Memory Lapse
Civic Wayfinder
Mindless Automaton
Field of Souls
Hymn to Tourach
--> Winter Orb
Counterspell
Well, if I'm playing Hondens, it is great if lands don't untap? Right? Right? No. Civic Wayfinder would have been the correct pick here.
Pack 3 pick 2:
Versions:
Champions of Kamigawa (Foil)
Eternal Masters (Foil)
Mogg Fanatic
Shelter
Night's Whisper
Undying Rage
Giant Tortoise
Lys Alana Huntmaster
Phyrexian Rager
Seal of Cleansing
Counterspell
Merfolk Looter
--> Honden of Life's Web
Ticking Gnomes
Void
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