The Old Gods are Cruel

Historic Combo GWUB Praetor

Lightehammer

Land (26)

• 4x Breeding Pool
• 3x Hinterland Harbor
• 2x Indatha Triome
• 4x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Sunpetal Grove
• 4x Temple Garden
• 2x The World Tree
• 3x Woodland Cemetery
• 2x Zagoth Triome

Sorcery (15)

• 4x Abundant Harvest
• 4x Emergent Ultimatum
• 4x Explore
• 1x Ondu Inversion  ^Flip
• 1x Peer into the Abyss
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip

Planeswalker (4)

• 4x Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Instant (4)

• 4x Growth Spiral

Enchantment (6)

• 3x Binding the Old Gods
• 1x Cruel Reality
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Overwhelming Splendor

Creature (5)

• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 3x Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core AugurGC

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Alrund's Epiphany
• 1x Cry of the Carnarium
• 1x Drawn from Dreams
• 1x Emeria's Call  ^Flip
• 1x Gaea's Blessing
• 1x Hour of Promise
• 1x Languish
• 1x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Necromentia
• 1x Ondu Inversion  ^Flip
• 1x Planewide Celebration
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Shadows' Verdict
• 1x Star of Extinction
• 1x Thought Distortion
• 1x Thoughtseize
• 1x Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip

Creature (11)

• 1x Arasta of the Endless Web
• 1x Carnage Tyrant
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios  ^Flip
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core AugurGC
• 1x Scholar of the Ages
• 1x Scholar of the Lost Trove
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shifting Ceratops
• 1x Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Artifact (2)

• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Relic of Progenitus

Instant (5)

• 1x Commit / Memory
• 1x Despark
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Mythos of Nethroi
• 1x Vanishing Verse

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Binding the Old Gods
• 1x Cruel Reality
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Sandwurm Convergence

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ashiok, Dream Render
• 1x Tamiyo, Collector of Tales

Land (1)

• 1x Crawling Barrens

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Welcome to the Jungle

This is the most fun I have ever had playing non-Eternal formats. This is just downright, degenerate fun. There are a million Emergent Ultimatum decks out there but I haven't seen any of them playing the payoffs we are so here goes nothing.

Why Emergent Ultimatum and not Unburial Rites for these sweet payoffs?

First and foremost it's worth discussing why we chose the Emergent Ultimatum shell and not an Unburial Rites shell. With the hype surrounding Historic Anthology 5 and the arrival of the Praetors in particular, there are a ton of sweet graveyard decks running around. However, Historic has some of the most accessible graveyard hate of any format with Relic of Progenitus , Grafdigger's Cage , Leyline of the Void , Rest in Peace ... the list goes on. In every combination of colors there is an accessible, good option for tanking your Reanimator dreams. While there are still cards that can punish us for taking the combo route, like Deafening Silence and Rule of Law , those cards aren't seeing very much play - if any.

Isn't an unrealistic option for consistent mana?

A very important piece of this puzzle, Nissa, Who Shakes the World doubles your mana as long as they have the type Forest . All of your Breeding Pool / Overgrown Tomb , Indatha Triome / Zagoth Triome and other unsuspecting mana sources like Gingerbread Cabin have that subtype.

Truthfully, I have only lost a handful of matches due to not being able to cast all my spells. with Indatha Triome and Zagoth Triome as well as the Golos, Tireless Pilgrim + The World Tree combo, we just downright have the mana we need, every time. Also, because of The World Tree and our mana accelerants, we can often just hard cast our + mana value spells. I haven't seen that many Emergent Ultimatum builds running The World Tree and as such, they stick to the payoffs used in standard: Valki, God of Lies  , Kiora Bests the Sea God and Alrund's Epiphany . Not that those are bad options, but if you cast a sorcery, you want it to either win the game on the spot or give you a HEALTHY chance of closing in a turn or two. For this reason, we chose the payoffs that have the biggest immediate/permanent impact on the board state.

All that being said, the correct mana is always up in the air, with shock lands, pathways, buddy lands. This part will change very often for sure.

How do we win the game?

I love this deck because you get to pick the coolest, most expensive pipe dream cards in the format and actually make them work. Here are the spoils of our conquest: Overwhelming Splendor , Omniscience , Peer into the Abyss , Cruel Reality , Ondu Inversion  , Sea Gate Restoration  , Thought Distortion , Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur . These cards aren't just individually powerful though, remember you get to net TWO of these sweet cards depending on the situation and most of the time, we present the opponent with a card they just CAN'T let us have and we get the other two guaranteed.

Omniscience + Peer into the Abyss = Half your deck for free, including (usually) the spell they put back.

Thought Distortion + Peer into the Abyss = Draw your opponent half their deck, then exile that half and whatever else was in their hand/graveyard.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite + Overwhelming Splendor = All your opponents creatures are 1/1... and then they get -2/-2.

Sea Gate Restoration   + Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur = Every turn, a Griselbrand for free without having to pitch to hand size.

Thought Distortion + Peer into the Abyss = Target your opponent, draw half their deck, exile half their deck. Against graveyard/reanimator/control decks this is usually just a scoop.

There are other sweet combinations, but these are the most common.

Ok, but how do we get the spells we want? Are those combos even achievable?

There are two things that work HEAVILY in our favor here. One, I will call the Ad Nauseaum benefit, and the other, the Gifts Ungiven benefit. In Modern, until very recently when bans crippled the deck, you would win a fair number of games because people just didn't know what deck you were playing. Taking cards at face value in a highly synergistic deck can be a fatal mistake, and you will often win because people don't read the cards you offer them. The Gifts Ungiven benefit refers to the old trick of only choosing the two cards you wanted in the bin, often Unburial Rites and Griselbrand and abusing the card to work only for you. There is a reason we have Sea Gate Restoration   and Peer into the Abyss and not 2x Sea Gate Restoration  . Similarly, there is a reason we have Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Overwhelming Splendor and not 2x Overwhelming Splendor . By having multiple cards that present the effect you are going for, you are guaranteeing you will achieve the result you're after.

Additionally, in order to "guarantee" you get a pair of cards you're after, you have to give them an offer they can't refuse. If you are facing down control, and you offer them Thought Distortion + any two other spells, its hard for them to not pitch that one back. Especially if you pair it with Omniscience + Peer into the Abyss , they will can put the Omniscience back, and then you can exile over half their deck as a punishment. Maybe they are a creature deck, and you offer up Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite , Overwhelming Splendor and whichever other spell you really want.

Why aren't we playing ?

There are a ton of good cards in Historic, and as with any Reanimator deck you need to shape your payoffs around the format you're facing at the time. Here are a few of the options we have cut along the way.

Star of Extinction is a super dope card, kills just about everything... but that's the problem. If you have a few lands animated with Nissa, Who Shakes the World , an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and you cast Star of Extinction you put you and your opponent at parody in a top deck war. The goal with our big spells is to put us very far ahead, not neck-and-neck.

River's Rebuke was an option we tried when the format was just too dang fast. Able to cast as early as turn four because of Explore and Growth Spiral this was a way to buy a turn or two. However, this got pushed out by Time Warp which ended up not even being good enough itself.

Alrund's Epiphany In this shell, this is just a win-more card. There are better options to fetch with Emergent Ultimatum and if you hardcast this with any of your other big payoffs out, you were winning the game already.

Massacre Wurm might see more play if Elves or any other low-to-the-ground strategy comes back in with too much force.

Sandwurm Convergence is just a COOL card. It makes combat forever in your favor, works exceptionally well against decks like control that do nothing for a lot of turns and have sweepers that don't address your enchantment. If we were playing a Taking Turns deck, this would be back in for sure. However, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Overwhelming Splendor put us in a better position than hoping we win in ground combat.

For other fun stuff check the maybe board.

Sideboard Guide

Ins and Outs for each of our worst match-ups coming soon. In the meantime, a few brief notes.

-based Control: Shifting Ceratops and Thought Distortion are your friend.

Phoenix: Ashiok, Dream Render and Relic of Progenitus are your friend. Also, Shifting Ceratops can gain reach for just one and be a brick wall against Crackling Drake .

Have fun!

Take the deck for a spin, drop a comment if you have any card selections or pathways I didn't think of. The best part about magic is the gathering, after all.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Historic legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 3 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	4.68
Tokens	Emblem Nissa, Who Shakes the World