Looking through my backlog of bad decks to play for this week’s issue, I knew I wanted to find something to fit with the spirit of Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I don’t really have anything that fits this theme without stretching. A lot. So, I went with the most fun deck in my list that could still be kind of Thanksgiving-themed. And I sure am thankful that I did. This week’s deck is Red/Green Eldrazi Traverse, a list I originally found on this Reddit thread nearly half a year ago. And let me just say, I love it. Before I go on, here’s the list:
Now that you’ve seen the list: I want to point out the most important part of the deck: the connection to Thanksgiving. If you’ll look at the art for Emrakul, you’ll see that she’s basically just a big, gravity-defying, tentacle-covered turkey. And yes, that is the best parallel I could come up with. Now, on a more serious note, the deck felt really solid in my testing. There was only one time I can recall where I felt like there was no chance I could win, and that’s because I was so tired I mistook Emrakul for an Eldrazi Temple...What? It happens, alright?
The deck was also an absolute blast, and Mindslavering your opponent is always a fun time. Ancient Stirrings and Traverse the Ulvenwald make the deck incredibly consistent, and Delirium is trivial to enable thanks to Mishra’s Bauble, Tarfire, Seal of Fire, and the rest of our cast of spells and fetches. We also have one of the most powerful creature/land packages in the format, thanks to Eldrazi Temple and co. enabling things like turn two Thought-Knot Seer into turn three Reality Smasher. Tarmogoyf can grow to be an absolute monster in this shell, with Huntmaster giving us another potent threat, that can also put in some work on defense. Finally, Noble Hierarch gives us some extra mana ramp, as well as extra attacking power in the early-game.
Our spells all fill one of two roles: Removal or consistency. In the removal department, we have the Lightning Bolt, Seal of Fire, Tarfire, and Engineered Explosives. For consistency, we have Traverse the Ulvenwald, Mishra’s Bauble, and Ancient Stirrings, which is considered by many to be one of the best (if not the best) cantrips in Modern. While our creature base packs a punch, our spells give us a very solid fallback plan in the event that we can’t keep one of our big guys around. Sometimes all we need is an extra point or two of damage, and our eight burn spells give us that reach.
Our sideboard has some odd looking choices, a few of which look odd at first glance. Eldrazi Obligator is what I’m talking about here, as a 5-mana threaten on a stick may seem odd without playing it. But the card absolutely wins games, and can do some from out of nowhere. Taking your opponent’s Gurmag Angler, and then swinging for eight more power than you had a second ago is often game-winning, especially since your opponent is now also down a blocker. Outside of that though, the sideboard is fairly straightforward, with the exception of the one-of World Breaker. Personally, I haven’t found a good use for this big guy. While he can absolutely be backbreaking against certain decks, I’ve never really wanted to sideboard him in, since seven mana can be a hefty toll against a lot of decks, and usually I want its effect against decks like affinity, where the Breaker is far too expensive. I understand the flexibility argument, but I’m inclined to think that something like Reclamation Sage would just be better.
Tips:
- Don’t be afraid to use Traverse for a basic land. Sometimes, especially in the early game, you’ll have a really solid hand that’s just missing a single land. There’s no shame in using Traverse to get it.
- Emrakul can be great against a lot of decks...if you get to cast her. Against fast decks, she should come out immediately for something that can slow your opponent down, like Pyroclasm or Scavenging Ooze.
- Hierarch can help achieve the turn two TKS dream. Playing a turn one hierarch, then dropping a Temple turn two gets you there just the same as playing two Temples in a row.
- This might not be obvious to newer players or players who haven’t seen Ancient Stirrings in action much, but lands are colorless, so Stirrings can grab you Caverns and Temples (as well as any other land in the deck) in addition to threats and Explosives.
Extra Spice:
- Oblivion Sower can give you extra ramp to cast Emrakul, or even just cast additional spells each turn.
- Conduit of Ruin can set you up very well to hit Emrakul. It gives you a tutor for her, and then makes her cost 2 less. Traversing into this seems like it could be a great play in the mid- to late-game.
- Taking a page from Eldrazi Tron’s playbook, we can run Endbringer, which gives us some reach, removal, and card draw all in one.
- Kessig Wolf Run is tutorable off of Traverse, and can help us finish an otherwise stalemated game.
This deck feels really strong, and with some tuning, could probably do very well. Unfortunately, that tuning would probably include removing Emrakul, or at least moving her to the sideboard. While she’s absolutely fantastic when you can cast her, there are a lot of scenarios where you draw her and just don’t have the mana, meaning we’d either want more ramp, or we’ll have to take her out. However, if you aren’t looking to make this deck into your next GP-winner, I say keep her! As a one-of, that scenario is rare enough that it’s completely worth it for the times where you get to control your opponent and start ruining their finely-crafted boardstate. So give this deck a shot! This is one of the most fun decks I’ve played in a while, and if you enjoy seeing your opponent’s frustration at the Eldrazi, or even just your third top-decked burn spell in a row, I can’t recommend it enough. Hope you all have enjoyed, now get back to that tentacle-free turkey!
