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Alchemy Quick Guides: Esper Portent by Santiago Bigatti
The Deck
This is my current version of the deck.
$315/69.58 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [9] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 Oracle of the Alpha | --- | |
| 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse | $79.99 | |
| 4 Rusko, Clockmaker | --- | |
| Instant [18] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Cut Down | $1.49 | |
| 2 Get Lost | $8.99 | |
| 4 Reprieve | $1.79 | |
| 2 Go for the Throat | $1.49 | |
| 3 No More Lies | $2.79 | |
| 2 Sauron's Ransom | $0.69 | |
| 4 Porcine Portent | --- | |
| Sorcery [6] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 Sunfall | $7.99 | |
| 2 Lórien Revealed | $3.49 | |
| 1 Deadly Cover-Up | $0.49 | |
| Enchantment [3] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 Case of the Lost Witness | --- | |
| Land [24] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Island | $0.01 | |
| 2 Adarkar Wastes | $7.49 | |
| 1 Meticulous Archive | $9.49 | |
| 2 Restless Anchorage | $1.99 | |
| 3 Seachrome Coast | $4.49 | |
| 3 Caves of Koilos | $0.69 | |
| 3 Darkslick Shores | $1.99 | |
| 1 Undercity Sewers | $13.99 | |
| 2 Underground River | $2.79 | |
| 4 Captivating Crossroads | --- | |
| 2 Mirrex | $7.99 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 Cut Down | $1.49 | |
| 1 Duress | $0.35 | |
| 2 Soul-Guide Lantern | $0.35 | |
| 1 Disdainful Stroke | $0.35 | |
| 3 Phantasmal Extraction | --- | |
| 2 A-Orcish Bowmasters | --- | |
| 3 Temporary Lockdown | $6.99 | |
| 1 Legions to Ashes | $0.49 | |
| 1 Palantír of Orthanc | $15.99 | |
$74.81 Tix @cardhoarder
$1.87 / Week @cardhoarder
$279.66 @tcgplayer
$351.64 @cardkingdom
Visual View
Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
Apprentice and MWS .dec
Mastering the Deck: Quick Tips
Arena Tips
Be careful with the stops and full control especially when Case of the Lost Witness is resolved. There are several times when the game doesn't give you priority in situations where you could play an instant.
For example, when you play a draw spell from the top or a card that shuffles the deck (Oracle of Alpha, Case of the Lost Witness), whenever you pretend to play one of those from the top you have to put on full control first to have the chance to play what comes next, otherwise it shuffles/draws them immediately.
The game doesn't give you priority on your endstep if you let an opponent's spell resolve without putting on full control or a stop. For example, if you want to use a removal and they play a Sauron's Ransom at the end of turn and you let it resolve, it will immediately pass to your opponent's turn as soon as the Ransom resolves unless you put a stop. This sort of applies to any action at the end of the turn, for some reason the damn Arena doesn't give you priority again on your endstep.
Keep an extra eye about how MTG Arena auto tap lands, the game loves to keep Mirrex upright, even if you have no lands in hand, as long as you haven't played a land for the turn the game understands that you could potentially do so, thus it leaves it untapped even when you only have 3 left.
It also doesn't take into account the clock's mana if you play Rusko, it's happened to me to have 7 mana and it taps 2 black and I can't play a Sheoldred afterwards.
Playing the Deck
- The deck uses only 3 lands with the subtype Island, so be careful cycling Lorien Revealed.
- If you're flooded, it's better to keep your Moxes in hand to trigger a potential Rusko a few turns later.
- Remember that you can use Reprieve with your own spells. Porcine Portent and Rusko are the most important cards in the deck.
- Porcine Portent is 80% First Pig, 20% Second Pig, 0% Third Pig.
- The only ways the deck has to gain life are through Sheoldred or Rusko (Porcine Portent occasionally earns you some life but nothing relevant).
- Bowmasters lack their enter the battlefield ability in Alchemy, so it's usually better to wait until your opponent plays card draw.
- Casting Ancestral Recall targeting the opponent can sometimes be lethal with Sheoldred.
- The games against control take a very long time; you have to play at a consistent speed, or you will lose because you will run out of time.
- If you face any deck with white that goes wide (Naya, Boros, etc) remember that they play 4x Reprieve.
- The only card that Emmara can draft that is played at instant speed is March of the Multitudes.
Sideboard Guide
vs Esper (or any other control deck)
Sideboarding
Tips:
- We keep Get Lost to destroy Case of the Lost Witness and manlands. If our opponent is not playing Case, it's probably better to keep Go for the Throat.
- Use Porcine Portent to destroy Clock/Ring/Case of the Lost Witness
- Game 1 you can us Deadly Cover Up to deal with Rusko.
- Orcish Bowmasters are key if you don't have an answer to Clock, but they also works against Lórien Revealed, The One Ring and Ancestral Recall.
- Legion to Ashes serves as a generic removal, primarily to have a way to destroy the Palantir of Orthanc.
vs Golgari Roots
Sideboarding
Tips
- Like any highly synergistic deck, a couple of discards can leave it with a useless hand. That's why we focus more on optimizing tempo and applying pressure whenever possible, so as not to give our opponents time to draw their key cards.
- The most important card in their deck is Insidious Roots; even if it's in their graveyard, they can recast it with Chitinous Crawler.
- If there are Roots on the board, Agatha's Soul Cauldron creates havoc; it can put plants into play at the end of turn even if there's no table, and with those plants continue to cast cards from the graveyard.
- The way to win this game is to target Roots, Cauldron, and Chitinous Crawler, the rest is just filler. Get Lost can destroy Insidious Roots, but be careful because they can come back with Chitinous Crawler.
- Exiling is very important in this game, so cards like No More Lies and Porcine Portent are excellent. Sunfall is only good for resetting the board after we have answered Insidious Roots.
- Deadly Cover Up targeting Insidious Roots or Chitinous Crawler is almost a guaranteed victory.
- Phantasmal Extraction is perfect in this match because we can always cast it before our opponent's put Insidious Roots into play, and it exiles them. Remember that we can also exile cards from their graveyard instead of their hand.
- Soul Guide Lantern must always be broken before they can activate Chitinous Crawler (remember that Crawler's ability can only be used as a sorcery).
- Temporary Lockdown basically deals with everything, but remember, they're running three Mites.