Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered | Art by Néstor Ossandón Leal

Storm is a strategy I don't often get to play outside of 60-card formats. Typical storm payoffs, like GrapeshotGrapeshot or Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony, are much harder to win the game with when you need to deal 120 damage rather than the meager 20 damage you need to deal in 1v1 formats. Luckily for us, Final Fantasy has given storm decks a new toy to put in the command zone. In this deck tech, we'll try to Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony the table out with the help of Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered. My hope is that the job us storm players have to get done will be much easier with a Yawgmoth's WillYawgmoth's Will as our commander.

What Does Emet-Selch, Unsundered Do?

When Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered enters or attacks, you draw a card and discard a card. Then, when there are 14 or more cards in your graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep, you get to flip Emet-Selch. The flip side, Hades, Sorcerer of Eld, is where the real magic happens. Hades allows you to play cards from your graveyard, with the drawback of sending cards that would go to the graveyard to exile. It is quite literally the text of Yawgmoth's WillYawgmoth's Will on a legendary creature. This, as you can imagine, can be used to enable some very strong graveyard strategies.

If you've ever played Kess, Dissident MageKess, Dissident Mage, Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered will likely feel very familiar to you. You get the same play pattern of recasting tutors and rituals to piece together explosive turns. Not having access to red cards is certainly a drawback, but being able to play cards of any type from your graveyard and being able to do it more than once per turn is a pretty strong incentive to give Emet-Selch a shot. Overall, this commander can support a broader range of strategies due to his shorter list of restrictions.

When I read Emet-Selch, my first thought was "I'd like to storm off and win with Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony using this card." That's exactly what we'll be doing here. My goal is for Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered to lead the ultimate storm deck. The biggest difference between Yawgmoth's WillYawgmoth's Will and Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered is that you can turn off Emet-Selch's ability at instant speed to save a card from resolving into exile with a blink or bounce effect. In theory, you can build up a big stack of instants cast from your graveyard and then blink Emet-Selch before those spells resolve and then do it all again next turn. This adds a level of resiliency to this storm deck that decks based around Yawgmoth's WillYawgmoth's Will simply don't have.

Key Cards for Emet-Selch, Unsundered

You need to build a big graveyard to go off with Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered. The first layer of the deck's strategy is milling yourself aggressively. Cards like Mesmeric OrbMesmeric Orb and Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath are repeatable sources of mill that will grow your graveyard every turn, but they aren't the only way we're getting the job done.

One of my favorite additions to this deck's mill package is dredge cards, like Stinkweed ImpStinkweed Imp. Dredge is a really neat ability as you get to decide when you want to use it, rather than having to trigger them each turn, and you can use them multiple times per turn if you have a way to discard them and draw another card, like Emet-Selch's enters and attack trigger. The last form of self-mill cards that mill a lot of cards in one burst. These are cards like Brain FreezeBrain Freeze and Glimpse the UnthinkableGlimpse the Unthinkable that toss a bunch of cards into the bin immediately. Brain FreezeBrain Freeze in particular is very powerful as it can be done during an opponent's turn if they happen to build up a big storm count for us.

Storm decks are notoriously mana hungry, and Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered is no different. This deck is looking to recast ritual spells, like Dark RitualDark Ritual and Cabal RitualCabal Ritual, from the graveyard to provide a burst of mana on the turn that you're looking to win the game with a storm card like Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony. Similarly, the deck has access to High TideHigh Tide and Bubbling MuckBubbling Muck to make Islands and Swamps tap for more mana. In order to get maximum value out of High TideHigh Tide and Bubbling MuckBubbling Muck on the turn that you transform Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered, you have to play the cards somewhat unintuitively.

In your upkeep, if you have High TideHigh Tide or Bubbling MuckBubbling Muck in your hand, you should cast them in your upkeep in response to Emet-Selch's upkeep trigger so that they resolve and go to your graveyard and can be cast again from the graveyard. We'll get into more of the cool plays you can make with these cards when we get into winning the game.

Any good deck needs a decent backup plan. I'd prefer that every game I play with Emet-Selch end with 60 copies of Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony on the stack, but sometimes one of your opponents slams a Deafening SilenceDeafening Silence on turn one and you have to adjust your game plan. My backup plan is a small number of reanimation effects and a suite of powerful creatures to put into play with them. Hullbreaker HorrorHullbreaker Horror and Tidespout TyrantTidespout Tyrant are threats that can nearly make it impossible for your opponents to keep permanents in play if left unchecked and can even be used in our storm lines. Abhorrent OculusAbhorrent Oculus is a token generator that will put three 2/2 creatures into play each turn cycle while filling your graveyard in the process.

How Does Emet-Selch, Unsundered Win the Game?

Emet-Selch, Unsundered plays a very patient game, like any storm deck. In order to win the game, you're going to need a big graveyard and a lot of lands in play (six or seven being the magic number for PalinchronPalinchron). The most critical decision point when piloting this deck is picking the turn that you go for it. Blink and bounce effects can save spells from going to exile once Emet-Selch is flipped, but you have a limited quantity of those and exiling a key piece could be a death sentence.

The most straight-forward way to win with Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered is using the spells you cast from your graveyard to find High TideHigh Tide or Bubbling MuckBubbling Muck, get PalinchronPalinchron into play and generate infinite mana and infinite storm count by activating PalinchronPalinchron's ability and recasting it over and over again. With infinite storm count, Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony will drain all three opposing life totals to zero.

Speaking of infinite storm count and infinite mana, Tidespout TyrantTidespout Tyrant and Hullbreaker HorrorHullbreaker Horror will allow you to do the same with any two zero-cost mana rocks, like Mox OpalMox Opal and Mox AmberMox Amber. If you've somehow misplaced your Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony, you can mill yourself out withBrain FreezeBrain Freeze and go for the win with Jace, Wielder of MysteriesJace, Wielder of Mysteries.

Professor OnyxProfessor Onyx staples Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony onto all of your other storm spells, allowing you to win by resolving a big Brain FreezeBrain Freeze or Mind's DesireMind's Desire. She also provides yet another win condition when combined with Chain of SmogChain of Smog. I was initially hesitant to include the Chain of SmogChain of Smog combo, but I think it is justified given how well Professor OnyxProfessor Onyx fits into the deck and the "anything goes" nature of Bracket 4 (Optimized). I've also found that discarding your whole hand to Chain of Smog is certainly a way to fill up your graveyard and flip Emet-Selch, UnsunderedEmet-Selch, Unsundered, even if it isn't the way I'd normally like to do it.

Emet-Selch, Unsundered Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I'd definitely place this one squarely into the Optimized Bracket (4), given the high density of tutors and infinite combos. However, as with most storm variants, this deck suffers from having an incredibly high ceiling while also having an incredibly low floor. Strong creature decks like Voja, Jaws of the ConclaveVoja, Jaws of the Conclave have a pretty good chance of eviscerating you if you ever get off to a slow start or simply draw the wrong half of your deck in the first six turns or so. I'd recommend taking a very aggressive mulligan strategy, similar to what you'd do in a cEDH game.

Casting a Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony, countering it with RemandRemand to put it back in my hand, and then casting it again to kill the table is one of the things that makes the long process of building and testing worth it to me. If you're a fellow blue mage that enjoys closing out a game with an incredibly complex 15 minute long storm turn, I'd recommend this deck to you. There's a very specific type of Magic player that is into that kind of thing, and I'm certainly among them. I will warn that the first times I tested this deck, I often encountered situations where I was at least 80% confident that I'm supposed to be able win the game but with no idea what the best way to go about it is.

If you enjoy that kind of challenge, you'll love this deck! If not, I might give the other cool commanders from this set a look instead.