Plum spends his wildcards so you don't have to. This week read about how he crafted 4x Teyo, Aegis Adept to relive the joy of playing a deck of Modern's past
Alright folks, gather ’round, because today I might just hold the title of the only person in the entire MTG Arena universe who willingly, unironically, spent their wildcards on Teyo, Aegis Adept Yeah, you heard that right. If there’s an award for single-handedly trying to make Teyo happen, it’s mine. And I’m about to try and convince you why it’s worth it.
Welcome back to Fun & Jank! Plum here, and today we’re talking about my brew that might just be the closest you’ll get to re-living the glory days of Emeria, the Sky Ruin—without actually playing Emeria, the Sky Ruin. ! This 80-card beauty takes a classic gridny strategy from Modern’s past and brings it to the Historic format with some notable twists!
So let’s take a closer look at how this modern adaptation keeps things fun, competitive, and nostalgic.
As a basic overview, Emeria decks are slow, yet increasingly grindy midrange lists looking to take advantage of the namesake card. Emeria, the Sky Ruin is a low opportunity cost recursion engine that allows you to bring back creatures from your graveyard every turn. When it’s paired with our “blazing sun that never sets”, Sun Titan, the two can create the means to outvalue any other deck in the format. The deck is supported by a low-cost suite of creatures, with almost every one having an enters the battlefield effect. They’re used to stall until one of the engine pieces is set up, where they can then be brought back over and over to gain an advantage over the opponent. Because of all the etb effects, these decks usually have a flicker subtheme with cards like Flickerwisp and Charming Prince there to help generate additional value.
If you didn’t feel like reading that heres the TL;DR:
We wanna keep da board nice an’ tidy, make da bad guys have to deal with our fun, lil’ threats, an’ then wear ’em down with lotsa creature comin’ back again an’ again!
Now yeah, we don’t have Emeria in Historic. But we dooooooo have a 4 mana planeswalker that takes 2 turns to ultimate annnnnd has to be protected in order to get something similar. And to a jank connoisseur like me, that’s basically the same thing.
Early Game
The early game is all about establishing board presence and building resources. Cards like Guide of Souls and Spirited Companion help us pad our life total and keep the draws flowing. Ranger-Captain of Eos finds our small tool box of creatures like Dryad Militant or Haywire Mite to give us some early game interaction while we build towards our more midrange threats. The blinking shenanigans with Charming Prince or Ephemerate can help us create more of an advantage to help carry us to the mid to late game.
Mid Game
This is where we want to start pulling ahead of our opponent. Skyclave Apparition and Phelia, Exuberant Shepard to help keep their board under control, while Stoneforge Mystic can start turning our little guys into powerful threats. Teyo comes in around this time, helping to clog up the board some more and tax the opponent. The goal here is to keep pushing forward while forcing bad blocks for our opponent and continuing to gain incremental value. We want to actively trade out our opponents’ creatures as long as it keeps the board clear since we’ll bring them back later with a Teyo emblem or Sun Titan.
Late Game
The late game belongs to Sun Titan and Teyo’s emblem. Once we have the emblem in play, things start to get oppressive. Bringing back creatures like Skyclave Apparition and repeatedly getting Guide of Souls triggers puts our opponent on a very short clock, we can also loop Yorion with Charming Prince to bounce our entire board every turn.
It’s an 80-card monster, but it can deliver layer after layer of synergy that eventually buries the opponent.
Highlights
Like I mentioned above, the deck has some fun synergies and lines that allow you to pull ahead rather quickly into the mid to late game. I want to highlight a few interactions that might not be apparent at first glance.
Ranger-Captain of Eos + 1 Drops: Ranger-Captain allows us to play some 1-ofs that can be fetched based on the board state. Dryad Militant, Giant Killer, and Haywire Mite all provide some hate that can be matched to whatever deck the opponent is on. This alos allows us to play some more “silver bullet” creatures in the sideboard that Captain can grab in games 2 and 3.
Ranger-Captain of Eos + Sun Titan/Teyo Emblem: Not only does this allow you to search up a 1-drop every turn by reanimating Ranger-Captain, but it can also sacrifice itself on your opponent’s upkeep to lock them out of casting non-creature spells.
Yorion, Sky Nomad + Charming Prince: Together these form a loop that allows you to bounce your entire board in and out of play (albeit only during the endstep).
Lumbering Lightshield: Teyo’s -2 conjures a Lumbering Lighshield into play. Meaning that when it dies it goes to your graveyard to be recurred later, and it can be blinked to constantly put a tax on your opponent’s hand. He’s also not bad beater alongside Teyo’s +1 to turn him into 4/4.
Swords of X and Y: Now I’m not locked into the swords as our sole equipment to fetch with Mystic, but I do enjoy the abilities they provide. Sword of Once and Future allows us to play Ephemerate every single turn if it connects which can help our late game plan snowball even more once its up and running.
Piloting the Deck
Control
Control matchups require patience, but this deck excels here. Ranger-Captain of Eos lets us shut down key turns for combo and control decks, while Teyo’s emblem provides an endless value engine that is extremely hard for control decks to answer. Sun Titan and Yorion both allow us to recover post-sweepers, and we’re constantly threatening to grind the game into our favor. Cheap creatures like Guide of Souls or Phelia also play a key role in ensuring we can consistently cast our spells and apply pressure despite their interaction.
Playing against control often means pacing your threats and playing around board wipes. Stoneforge Mystic and the Swords are essential here, as they ensure that even a single creature can be a major threat. This allows you to keep applying pressure without overextending, and any creature that falls to removal is just another target for Sun Titan or Teyo to bring back, which makes life difficult for control players. If you get Teyo’s emblem online, the constant recursion of creatures should be enough to seal the deal.
Aggro
Against aggro, the deck’s life gain from Guide of Souls and Charming Prince helps us stabilize. Skyclave Apparition deals with the big threats, while Sun Titan and Teyo’s emblem bring back blockers, making it hard for aggro decks to push through enough damage once we stabilize. Early drops like Dryad Militant and Ranger-Captain of Eos can absorb damage or trade effectively, slowing down their momentum.
The key to winning against aggro is holding the line until the midgame. Cards like Ephemerate are invaluable in these matchups for their ability to blink creatures like Skyclave Apparition or Spirited Companion during combat. Stoneforge Mystic can fetch Sword of Fire and Ice, which helps control aggro threats while also allowing you to draw cards and generate card advantage. Teyo by himself is actually quite solid as he makes a 1/4 blocker with his -2. Once Sun Titan or Teyo’s ultimate come into play, aggro opponents will struggle to keep up, as we have an endless supply of blockers and life gain to offset their initial rush.
Midrange
Against midrange decks, we have enough versatile threats to go toe-to-toe. Phelia can flash in and exile key threats, and our deck’s recursive nature allows us to outvalue the opponent in the long game. Stoneforge Mystic tutoring up Swords makes any of our creatures a significant threat.
In midrange matchups, patience is crucial. The games tend to go longer, and both players are likely to have resilient threats. We need to prioritize using Skyclave Apparition on the most impactful threats, and always keep an eye out for opportunities to generate value with Ephemerate and Charming Prince or Phelia. The midgame often comes down to positioning ourselves so that Teyo can safely ultimate, which generally spells the beginning of the end for our opponent.
Sword of Once and Future is a standout card in this matchup, as it provides the opportunity to recast key spells from our graveyard, such as Ephemerate or even Path to Exile, allowing us to remove multiple threats and continuously outvalue our opponent.
Combo
Combo matchups can be a bit tricky, as they often come down to timing. Ranger-Captain of Eos is an invaluable piece here, as it allows us to sacrifice it in response to an opponent’s critical turn, preventing them from going off. Additionally, Haywire Mite provides artifact and enchantment removal, which can be crucial against artifact-based combo decks. Ephemerate targeting Ranger-Captain can sometimes lock opponents out for key turns, buying us the time we need to establish Teyo’s emblem or simply beat down with Sword-equipped threats.
The focus against combo decks is to disrupt their critical pieces while establishing enough of a board presence to race them. Stoneforge Mystic fetching up Sword of Fire and Ice can help speed up the clock, and Guide of Souls’ buff can help outpace them. If you can force the combo player into an awkward position where they’re having to play around Ranger-Captain or removal, it often gives you the opening needed to take over the game.
Closing Thoughts
This deck has been an absolute joy to play, especially if you’re a fan of the Emeria decks from Modern’s past. The 80-card Yorion package gives us a ton of tools to work with, and Teyo’s ultimate is the cherry on top, providing us that beautiful sense of inevitability.
However, it’s worth mentioning that this deck can be a bit slow and clunky at times. Running 80 cards does make it more difficult to consistently draw your key pieces early on, and that added variability means there will be games where we don’t curve out perfectly or find the exact cards we need in time. That said, when everything falls into place, the deck feels extremely powerful, and the grindy, value-heavy gameplay is very rewarding.
Many Emeria decks splashed another color, usually Blue to help shore up some of the weaknesses of the list. In a future iteration I think looking into the energy package would be a good place to start. Ajani, Ocelot, and Phlage would all be on theme and make powerful additions to the deck if we can find the right balance. But that’s for another time!
Hopefully you’re writing me a thank you note right now. I might be the only one out here throwing wildcards at Teyo, Aegis Adept but sometimes you’ve got to take one for the team. I did this for the greater good of all mankind.
Thanks for reading.
As always feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below! Make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!
If you want to see these decks in action, come hang out with me on stream where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together!
Happy Brewing!
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Plum is the creator of the Jank Tank.
He started playing at the ripe old age of 12 and immediately fell in love with the infinite possibilities that deck building could lead to.
He truly understands that jank is a mindset, and spends most of his free time brewing and concocting new and exciting deck lists to help inspire and promote creativity within the MTG community.
