I'm sorry, but seleynsa has a *** poor excuse of a champion. she would be fair at even 5 CMC. Note, that her ability was supposed to be Voice of Resurgence's ability... but Development decided LOL, NOPE, YOU GET *** ABILITY.
Good lord people. She's not great, but she doesn't deserve a less than 2 star rating. Yeah she's expensive, but she's pretty big too. Okay so being big isn't in her vorthos unless you stretch the definition of her card to include her elemental.
As for her ability, she makes your tokens wreck combat steps. Which is where token decks want to be wrecking anyway. I don't see why anyone would think that her ability should neuter mass bounce/removal.
Bluehero
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(5 votes)
Awesome art, terrible card. If she costed less (ideally way less, with stats lowered to compensate of course (I think a 1/7 for 2WG would have been fine) or even better, if she made the tokens indestructible (which would actually save them from most board wipe, which is what actually concerns tokens), then she'd be liked more I think.
You know you screwed up when another rare in the same block and in the same colors is better than what should have been one of the flagship cards in the set. Was it really that much to ask for the card to MAKE THE ELEMENTAL IN THE BACKGROUND.
ThisisSakon
★★☆☆☆ (2.1/5.0)(12 votes)
While she isn't the best card in the world, she is by no means 1.125 bad.
EDIT: Wizards in no way should be getting this much backlash for printing this card. Sure, it isn't the greatest effect in the world, but she's still a good card. Tokens dominate when she hits the board, especially when they can attack without fear of opening themselves up via Intangible Virtue. Don't be so ungrateful either, I mean it isn't like they work hard every year to release 1000+ cards for you to hate over.
Good. God.
steev
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
OP. She's better than Jedit Ojanen. THIS, folks, is power creep at work.
Blindingly awful. If it were 'Creatures you control are indestructible', it still would be underwhelming compared to Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Leuitikos
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(8 votes)
Wizards, I am dissapointed.
Nagoragama
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(10 votes)
The reason there is so much hate for this card is that she is not just leagues worse than every other champion, but that she's also the only champion who is an important storyline character, so there was a lot of hype about her before she was revealed. When it was revealed that she is worse than many legends from the oft laughed at Legends set, the backlash was predictable.
jacaramanica
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(7 votes)
WotC utterly failed at this card. This and Voice of Resurgence were meant to be one and the same, but they changed her to be rare to make all champions the same rarity. Instead of just balancing her ability into the rare level, they just renamed it and put no effort into making her a viable card. They claimed that they were designing each of the champions with commander in mind, but she horribly fails that test as well.
All the other champions are great, but I feel really let down by this one.
deixmachinis
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
She's quite bad and worthy of the ~1.5 she's hovering at.
Let's take a look at each part of the card and think about it.
5GW - A seven costed creature for green is understandable, so this doesn't necessarily mean much. No points taken off for this!
Elf Shaman + 5/7 - This makes no sense. An elf and a shaman both lend for smaller P/T and an awesome ability. For the high cost, I could see her being 1/5 perhaps (to stave off Mizzium Mortars). Trostani is a 4-drop that's 2/5 and has two great abilities, for comparison. So the ability would have to be good!
"Prevent all damage" is where this card goes really, really wrong. This should definitely be "All tokens you control are indestructible." For a 7-drop 1/5 (as I said above), this seems at least playable, if not 'good' necessarily.
Let's compare her to Avacyn, an 8-drop 8/8 with flying and vigilance and all permanents including her are indestructible. Clearly Avacyn is better in every way, but at least Emmara would have a similar flavor -- an elf shaman protecting the token creatures of the forest. How she's worded now is just awful.
Wizards dropped the ball on this heavily. I know she was supposed to be Voice of Resurgence, but c'mon. You have to do more than switch abilities and P/T around, dev team.
DrendDragonspawn
★★☆☆☆ (2.1/5.0)(8 votes)
I hope Emmara wins the race, just to screw with you spike trolls.
ItsHarvestTime
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(13 votes)
Dies to removal... and so do the tokens... :( Why are you running the maze, my dear? You'd be better off at home. My home.... errr...
Jake1991
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(32 votes)
Wizards, you had one job!
protohamster
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
5/7 must be one beefy elf chick, oh and the special ability is not good.
If this was swapped with voice of resurgence, why was voice originally so bad then?
KristysAlters
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not only is she over costed for such a USELESS card, but in addition.. you print in the SAME SET a card that "destroys" tokens in which case it can't even be prevented.. She really is as useless and lost in this set as she looks in the picture.
deeptrees
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Shockingly bad + disappointing.
SyntheticDreamer
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Wow. This is actually rated way differently than I expected it to be.
It's rated too high. A 5/7 elf with a useless ability? (Outside Standard, say hello to Ratchet Bomb, Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed, etc...) Complete design disaster with this and Voice of Resurgence...WotC swapping the effects was a very, very bad call. Seriously, leave them be and make Emmara cost or something.
StoicChampion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well, I can't complain about the artwork. It's superb.
No, you keep 1 they keep one, she doesn't make them indestructible, just prevents damage. She will however work against damaging mass removal, as Blasphemous Act And even there she will die herself
Also, all of us selesnya should hail our new supreme leader Voice of Resurgence I, For One, Welcome Our New Elemental Overlord
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Disappointing. If you have no tokens for any reason, you get a 5/7 vanilla for seven. Heck, worse than a vanilla, since any clone spell can kill her. And if you have swarms of tokens, which you should have at the point you cast her, you should win anyway. Not to mention that any destroy, exile, bounce, -x/-x, sacrifice and whatnot effects still kill all your tokens.
The only reason to play her would be to have some sort of combo, that involves dealing damage to all creatures. Like involving last laugh or whatever. But then again you risk killing her as well.
She just doesn't have enough interesting abilities, for being such an expensive legend. Maybe an ability that triggers on you having tokens enter the battlefield, or tokens dealing damage, or whatever. Just anything.
chainsmoker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
what would Cho-Manno do?
Nucleon
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(32 votes)
I for one can't wait to see the Wizards article that talks about how secretly awesome and Jonny-tastic this card is.
"Okay, guys, I know what you're thinking. But you can use her with cards that care about highest converted mana cost! And she's soooo much harder to hit with the deadly new Gaze of Granite! And...wait, this is super secret tech here...you can ENCHANT HER. Or even, if you're really willing to splash for colorless, you can even try out some equipment. Hedron Matrix, anyone? And if you reanimate her, hoo doggy, now you're just getting KUH-RAZY."
Also, I like the flavor text. We too will put the ranks of the guild before you, Emmara.
James_Kernaghan
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(25 votes)
A moment of silence for Selesnya players.
night8883
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I understand that the creation of a mtg set takes a lot of coordination, planning, and editing, but I do not understand how something so obviously terrible could have made it to print. Granted there are "bad" mtg cards, but this one is clearly a mistake. A 5/7 Elf?! No red flags went off in anyones' mind? Am I crazy to think that it would not have been that difficult to come up with a slightly better version? It didn't have to be good, but there really isn't any excuse for it to be this bad?
ddemons
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(19 votes)
Let this rating be a lesson to you Wizards.
This card looks like it is is reprent from the Legends set
SirZapdos
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I don't hate her, because she's awesome in Momir Basic! Plus the art is pretty cool.
XRakd0sXNinjaX
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(11 votes)
0.5/5 Really bad for the cost AND it's also Legendary. Really wish it made tokens indestructible instead or even giving them hexproof/shroud.
I didn't have expectations for Emmara Tandris since I haven't read either books of the RtR block. I did have expectations in that I wanted to have a decent champion. Instead we get a big creature with only one ability...and a very, cruelly boring one at that. 3/5 because the art is good. I mean, look at her, she's cute!
TheChort
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
The effect might have been interesting on a 2/4 for 1GW? Or something? Just a sad execution of what might have been a cool card. If not a competitive card, they should have at least made something that the EDH community could appreciate.
sanctumaviara
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Thank you WOTC, MTG, for making one of the most memorable (stupid) card. Almost everyone thought she would be equally as amazing as to the other guild champions. 5/7 for an Elf? And what's up with her token background? Epic! last minute tweak with voice of resurgence.
Fun Fact: She was originally from Homelands... JK. You get it, this card sucks.
rollinsclone
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well that's underwhelming.
Burgertog
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
2/10 would not run
Fenix.
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Why is this rated so high (at this time 1.248)? It needs to be as close to 0.5 as possible for them to see the disaster this card is.
The_Evictee
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
MY hormones are shooting up!!!!!!!!
DanielLPennington
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I have selected Orzhov as my Guild for Dragon's Maze Pre-release Weekend. Thus my Guild Champion to conquer the Dragon's Maze will be Tesa, Enovy of Ghosts. However, I hope to make a secret alliance between Orzhov and Selesnya if I can manage to pull a Emmara Tandris from a Booster Pack. The following Standard deck will hopefully set the stage for either Champion. Orzhov - Liliana / Sorin, Lord of Tokens 1 Captain of the Watch 4 Doomed Traveler 4 Gather the Townsfolk 1 Geist-Honored Monk 4 Ghost Quarter 1 Godless Shrine 1 Increasing Devotion 3 Intangible Virtue 2 Isolated Chapel 2 Liliana of the Veil 4 Lingering Souls 4 Midnight Haunting 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch 3 Oblivion Ring 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council 7 Plains 2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad 7 Swamp 3 Tragic Slip 2 Vampire Nighthawk 2 Vault of the Archangel
I plan to get her on the battlefield by adding Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, 0-1 Emmara Tandris and 3-4 Unburial Rites to the 60 card main deck and 15 card sideboard. It is with hope that she makes an appearance via Liliana of the Veil to Unburial Rites.
ParallaxtheRevan
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(5 votes)
TL:DR: Dragon's Maze is HP 4, she's Fleur Delacour, her book character isn't a fighter, and I like Legends but she's still not quite good enough even if that's what you're going for.
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(6 votes)
ddemons: ACTUALLY....(please everyone consider my words here) i LIKE THAT about her.
Now, there are two edges to this sword: On the ONEhand, And May I START with my commiseration and sympathies, for a Standard, end-of-awesome-season, High Profile card in a set, YEAH, this was a huge let-down for Selesnya Players. The only justification for that would be if Wizards cited "This is White and Green. Thragtusk is Green. Restoration Angel is White. Yeah, we nerfed you, because you were looking like you were asking for it. We were thinking better safe than sorry."
ON HAND #2, when you think OUTSIDE the context of the (honestly OVERLY) much-anticipated Maze Runner Cycle (y'all wanted Mythics if you read the forums. These aren't Mythics. Some people are ONLY happy with Melek, which makes no sense), let's PRETEND this was for Planechase 2015, or Commander's Toolbox, or something. I actually HONESTLY enjoy the set Legends. Nowadays, simply having a first name and a last name and supertype "Legendary" doesn't seem like enough flavor for cards, which is sort of sad, but y'know, on the cards where that DOES work, I love it. Gosta Dirk, anyone? I think part of the problem with Emmara on the "Legends" argument, though....is that she's Selesnya.
She's no Viking, she's not a Barbarian, or a Warlord, or a Soldier, or any kind of class that you could make her look like a properly interesting DnD-character. So simply appealing Only to Legends fans is not yet enough. The flavor text here is Good Enough if you want to go that route, but the art doesn't look Actiony enough or Regal enough. It looks quite abit like any old Citizen of Selesnya, like Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage. But let's SAY you were trying to create a Legends-feeling card, because you thought that would be a great way to capture "Reversing Power Creep" in a jar, and that is honestly something you need to be looking for ways and opportunities to be doing. Let us pretend for the sake of argument that Barktooth Warbeard deserves 4/5 stars for being "good Legends thinking". In that world, Emmara deserves 3 stars, I think. Which is just enough to not hate that she got printed. Barely.
I, for one, am at least Very Glad that she doesn't have a 187 ability. I thought they were cute when I started playing (Lorwyn), I began to see that some of them were really good around Zendikar, and by Innistrad they started taking over Decklists. I think they have so much steam now that even White-Blue control is going to have to ALWAYS be building around 187s, and I don't like that.
My last comment is that as I was reading Agents of Artifice and The Secretist, when it was announced that Emmara was going to be the Maze Runner, I expected either Spike or Vorthos to not like her card. FRANKLY- she's a weak character! I mean she's interesting to read about, but she's no leader! She's NOT powerful! It makes very little sense for her to be chosen as Maze Runner! The only things she has going for her is that she's a Healer, and she's Old. Every Elf Ever can say that about themselves. I don't know WHAT Trostani was thinking. She retired from Selesnya and befriended Jace, whom she doesn't know is a Planeswalker, but really, she sees very little action. So, this card is ACCURATE per my perception of Emmara's abilities as shown in the novel. Maybe she could have a little bit more life gain in here, but lifegain is weak and Selesnya has too many cards that populate for the mechanic to be here and be interesting and be remotely balanced (look at Vorel. Doesn't quite have Evolve, but he's pushing pretty hard how much you can do. Yes Gilder Bairn and Doubling Season were better, but I think this just means Bairn should be a Rare, and Vorel is perfectly respectable in his Guild.)
If Dragon's Maze is the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire set, then Emmara Tandris is Fleur Delacour. Who pretty much totally sucked at the Tournament Tasks, was never on the frontlines of the Order of the Pheonix, but hey, that's war-level stuff, and for most every-day uses of Magic she was competent. By the way- it's not directly ripping off HP. MTG and HP are both ripping off a super-common generally good Adventure Idea. Find the Lost Thingy in the Place of Perils. It's Magic and Shiny and it's Really Cool. There are a lot of people looking for it. If they're ripping off anyone, they might be ripping off Indiana Jones, but I wasn't aware George Lucas ever did anything original.
A3Kitsune
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
How to improve her.... I'm thinking that instead of a fixed power/toughness, she should have a variable p/t. X/X+2 would be about right, where X = the number of creature tokens you control. Keep the "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creature tokens you control" as it is, and reduce the casting cost to 2GW.
JmLyan
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(5 votes)
I find it ironic that her flavor text contains "making her the perfect choice." Perfect choice for what exactly?
GlintKawk42
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(5 votes)
Well, she is the top babe in the Selesnya's Druid-Wear Calendar.
Ligerman30
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Ok, we get it, it's bad, but, it's not THAT bad is it? This card is rated lower then Ur-Drago it should be at least be rated as high as Hexplate Golem right. I mean Dolmen Gate is a good effect. At least this isn't actively bad for you, it's just conditional and overpriced for virtually every format. I don't think I'd even play this in type 4.
Conclusion: It's really really bad but, it's not 1 star, 1 star is something that is actively very bad for you like Alabaster Leech or something that's inefficienct with downside like Mindless Null.
It what must be the sickest jokes the gods have ever pulled. I opened her in my prerelease twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday. Dear lord, why hast thou forsaken me?
I remember seeing her art spoiled 2 weeks before and thinking, Wow, she creates tokens. But then the card came out along with the story of how she got switched with Voice of Resurgence then my heart gently weeps. Has to be the worst Maze runner ever. If we are talking practical terms her protection is irrelevant by turn 7. Most of the tokens are probably dead by the time she comes into play. And its not even good protection. Like some players have already noted Prevent all damage isn't something to be proud of. If her tokens were granted Indestructibility then we are in the same ball park as the other guild champions.
I am sorry but this champion should stay home. As the only other 7 mana guild champion, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts looks sexy compared to Emmara. Why did Wizards give Selesnya the shaft? I know they realize that the original ability was too good, but they didn't have to dismantle her and give her a useless ability.
JRE47
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Such a waste. I can't even see mainboarding her in Limited. How sad is that?
Maybe, MAYBE she's a one of in sideboards against really damage-heavy decks (like RDW or something). But beyond that? Yeeeeesh. Mechanics fail, flavor fail (HOW is she 5/7?!), explanation fail. Just... EPIC FAIL.
It's just inexcusable that the almighty cycle maintenance destroyed this card. I will continue to look at the art of this and the DGM Elemental token and just shake my head. What a blatant visual reminder of one of Wizards' biggest all-time screwups.
Rokukel
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(9 votes)
"When Selesnya needed a champion, Emmara put the ranks of her guild before herself - Making her the perfect choice." What a load of lies. The real reason she was chosen was obviously the fact that she can wrestle wurms with her bare hands.
Claytoon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Looking at the art, Jace obviously isn't into her for her abilities.
forgetremembering
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
A little weaker than Storm Crow
WoWbolt17
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ok, first off, we all know she's awful. Secondly, can we talk about how shes got a 5/7 body... I mean WHAT? How and why? Then she costs 5GW and besides her body she manages to protect tokens from burn and combat trades. Despite how nice that is, its not worth 7 mana on a creature that can be removed in other ways along with her fireproof tokens. She could've had some sweet ability that mixed in beautifully, something flavorful. She puts her ranks before her? She should be able to sac herself to make tokens indestructable or something like that. I can see her being a 5 drop 1/3 that gives tokens +1/+1 and "WWGG: creature tokens you control are indestructable and have vigilance until end of turn." I personally would've preferred something along those lines. While she's alive she helps her allies and she's willing to sac herself to give them the boost they need.
colvincd
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(4 votes)
OK, so I must be the only person in the world whose wasn't repulsed when I opened this card. My first impressions were 1. Everything about this card makes it looks like it came straight out of Legends, and 2. This is going in my Ghave, Guru of Spores EDH deck. In the case of Ghave, those 1/1 Saproling tokens are very valuable, and are probably going to start coming out once you get 8 mana, which could be exacty one turn after this card comes out.
This card is good for Commander/EDH if you're expecting to have a lot of tokens that you want to protect and know someone is probably going to Magmaquake or Corrosive Gale for 1-4 and wipe them all out (so giving them hexproof or shroud isn't going to help). If you manage to get Ajani, Caller of the Pride to ultimate, you're going to want a little help making sure your 30-40 2/2 cat tokens don't die to a Pyroclasm (and by that time, you'll have enough mana to cast her). Of course, you could use Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but it's a 100 card deck; you'll want more than one card that fulfills that particular function.
Of course, she is vunerable to spot removal and Wrath effects, but that's Magic. If she wasn't, we'd probably all be saying how crazy this is and shelling out $40-$60 for a playset. 3 Stars.
AncientTimer
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(9 votes)
WotC designers are having a competition who can get the worst card published. This is a very good try considering the rarity. But we are still awed by Primal Visitation.
PriestessKikyo1
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Type your comment here.
Diachronos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her usefulness is greatly diminished by the fact that most removal aimed at tokens is either -X/-X, sacrifice, or straight-up destroy. None of those count as damage.
From what I hear, the Champions were originally supposed to be Mythics, and Emmara was supposed to have Voice of Resurgence's ability instead (he would've had hers); when they decided to make the Champs Rares, they just switched the two.
Why couldn't they have given her something actually useful, like "Populate during your upkeep" or "Tokens you control are indestructible"? Or at least another ability to add onto the one she already has?
Kitsuri
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(22 votes)
So I just had to check...
Being a Selesnya follower since Ravnica was introduced, and white green before that... I just had to check how Emmara rated compared to the rest of the cards in Magic.
Out of 13378 cards, she is currently the 208th worst card by our community's rating standards. That's the bottom 0.5% of all magic cards.
...What even was Wizards thinking? Limited to 10 Mythics does not give an excuse for this terrible atrocity.
robits_for_the_win
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(11 votes)
who sends the medic off to run the maze alone? recipe for disaster
Mode
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Her last name sounds a bit like a Sdrawkcab name, but reading it backwards - Sirdnat - sounds just as backwards.
LordOfTheUniverseMCS
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lets see if we can fix her, shall we? So first, what is the biggest issue? The mana cost. Seven is too much. Lets go with . Next is the ability. Maybe "If damage would be dealt to a creature you control, put a +1/+1 counter on Emmara." With this ability, maybe a 1/2.
This would be a decent creature, that might actually see play.
I think someone made a good point about Selesnya concerning rares. They've got overpowered ones. Advent of the Wurm could have been their guild leader and they would have been happy. I agree the ability is meh, but If you make real cheap (say 3 CMC) you have a big problem- It curves too well.
This is going to get unstoppable. They have a weak rare, one that can be useful, and though I think it could have been better, play the rest of Selesnya. Dimir didn't get so hot of a Maze Runner, and don't have as strong a support as Selesnya.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I actually think I'll playtest her in my elf deck. Granted, I'll need to put in at least 1 plains, but what the heck, her ability may actually be helpful. I don't think she's TERRIBLE, just overpriced a little.
Voriki
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(7 votes)
Wow. The rating and comments on this card seem inexcusably whiny. Selesnya decks ramp like crazy, crap out creatures with repeated populate like crazy (when done correctly), and for only 7 we can make them all immune to damage? Hell it costs 6 to give them all a great buff with Collective Blessing but for only 1 more mana and the removal of all damage from an equally targetable source and everyone is ready to just give up on it?
Although she is expensive (completely relative in a game where you can see a 15 cost drop below turn 4) she is still very useful for those who can see her purpose.
Toquinha1977
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Yeesh, people. Entitled much?
If I was playing draft, compared with Trait Doctoring (currently ranked higher), I'd rather be "stuck" with this. At least with her, I can profitably block a large number of non-evasive creatures in limited and can swing for 5, which is something that'll carry you forward in a creature based format, and a much slower one at that.
Can you do better in any constructed format? Probably. But in a small card pool, between this and Trait Doctoring, at least you can win with this card.
CapmCrunch
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It is hard to make Legends from Legends look good, but Emmara does try. She is the powercreeped version of Jasmine Boreal.
Brahmig
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(4 votes)
She does seem a bit price heavy, but five mana for a 5/7 plus two mana to protect tokens from burn, infect, and lethal damage isn't to bad. I don't see why people should get upset when WotC doesn't overpower her, plus being in green, and probably at least having 5-10 tokens in play by this time I consider to be pretty good.
Almost every single card they mention in this article is something that works much better with creatures other than Emmara — indeed, most of it works better with Avacyn, which they do note in the article and then promptly ignore. While they are willing to admit Emmara was an underpowered mistake, they apparently still want us to play her when there are much better options.
OrgasmandTea
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(6 votes)
My only thought for using her effectively is to somehow put a token of her into play, so that she prevents all damage done to herself.
It's weird how this dainty little creature is 5/7. I mean think about it... she can take a punch from a titan and just wipe her bloody nose, spit her dislodged tooth onto the floor and come back ready for round two.
In my head, she's being repeatedly knocked around the squared circle by Apollo Creed dressed in a tutu and high on crystal meth, but somehow she just doesn't go down. Not that I'm praising the performance at all... I just enjoy seeing her being beaten up because of how awful this card is.
Averyck
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
tolsimir wolfblood loves her... becoming a 7/9 beatstick with the joys of preventing Voja from taking any damage? INTO MY EDH DECK WITH YOU!
Winhert
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
She is bad unless you can manaramp her. Perhaps the rating is sort of rage (Wizzards how dare you print bad legends, how dare you?) In my opinion she should give indestructible.
Purplerooster
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
At least she's hot...
LordRandomness
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(7 votes)
This effect could be interesting at a lower CMC. The cost of 7 is at odds with token decks that will often aggro pretty quickly, and is far too close to Avacyn to be practical. If she was weaker and cost, like, 3 or 4, you could drop her and force some pretty undesirable combats (as well as gaining protection from Blasphemous Act), but as is she just comes down too late to affect anything.
blurrymadness
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This is not as bad as the ratings. It's just not. It's below the curve and it's ability is subpar; but 1 star cards are hardly usable while this could actually win you the game quite handily in casual. Being roughly around the curve, no drawbacks, and then a nice ability puts her at a strong 2.5, almost a 3 IMO; and if you built around her I'm sure you could get her to a 3.5
noobmag1
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
She makes all your tokens immune to Wither and Infect, which Indestructible and Hexproof/Shroud don't.
Still terribly expensive though.
Ruaranicus
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
First Dragon's Maze rare I've opened... what a disappointment. Got a sinking feeling just looking at it there in the back of the pack.
psychichobo
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
... Yeah, I'm not sure what to do with her either. I guess she could work as support in EDH tokens, but that's kind of it really.
You can definitely see the mistake made with her and Voice of Resurgence. And yet I somehow feel that if they merely swapped abilities it would all be OK. The rarity values could've even stayed the same - Voice woud've been a bit scary, but removable, and still worth Mythic due to the cheapness and this effect, and Emmara would have been a powerful recurring fatty.
So strange.
TheDarkLight
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I love how they incorporated her change of card in the secretist novel. Apparently its Trostani's fault as she took her power of summoning giant elements of groupies after being branded a traitor (read the novel to find out why!)
I had to laugh about that when I read it.
Yesyesandyes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
IDK, I was underwhelmed at first. But I threw her in, and I've played her several times now. And every time I've played her I've won. A couple times, yeah, I probably would've won anyway (but I like adding insult to injury). But there were a few where I was all but finished, and she turn the whole game around for me. So... while I wish she was better, I can't bring myself to talk too bad about her. I don't she's as bad as most make her out to be.
07mak
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Clearly you have never seen her in a Seleysna deck. It basically makes the whole deck impervious to everything. This is the same guild btw that has Privileged Position
Callahan09
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just got this card in foil from a booster. First time I ever got a foil rare in a booster, I was super excited. Then I read her rules text and I was like "Hmm... pretty nice". Then I read her mana cost and I was like "No, no, no, that's too high." Then I came here and read everyone's thoughts on her and looked up her value and I was like "Dangit, my first foil rare and it's one of the worst rares printed in recent memory. Sounds like Voice of Resurgence is the card to have :(" Then I opened my next booster and it had Voice of Resurgence!
My thoughts on the card: Think of it as if Emmara Tandris and Avacyn, Angel of Hope were on a single card. I'll call it Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope just for the sake of argument here. If you want an example of this sort of functionality, look at Anavolver:
Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope (6) Legendary Creature (5/7) Kicker or (You may pay an additional or as you cast this spell.) If Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope was kicked with its kicker, it gains "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creature tokens you control." It is a green Elf Shaman in addition to its other colors and types. If Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope was kicked with its kicker, it gains +3/+1, flying, vigilance, and "Permanents you control are indestructible." It is an Angel in addition to its other types.
So for 6 CMC you just get a 5/7 body and a choice:
1. Pay nothing and leave it as is... This is OK for a rather large bodied white, considering there are no other options for such a big a bodied white creature. Maybe Woolly Razorback, but it has the drawback of not being able to deal damage or attack until you've blocked with it 3 times (or somehow otherwise removed three counters from it). Since white doesn't get many creatures with bodies this big for 6 CMC, and all colorless ones have serious drawbacks, this is kind of OK (except that it's legendary so you can only have one out).
2. Pay and get damage prevention for your tokens. If you think the 6 is fair enough and you've got a G, then I suppose this isn't the worst ability in the world, but it doesn't really give that much of a benefit compared to...
3. Pay and get indestructibility for ALL PERMANENTS YOU CONTROL! Plus an even bigger body. Plus flying. Plus vigilance. This is so much more benefit than the ability it's ridiculous. If you were playing G/W you'd never want this card at its un-kicked cost because green has bigger bodies for less that aren't legendary. If you were playing all white, you'd never use the ability since you should have plenty of to pay for this far superior ability.
So long story short, don't play Emmara. She's weak and overpriced.
Paladin_of_the_Wood
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Interesting, the only other elf card with the same total power and toughness is Wirewood Guardian. Darn Mutants elves.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
omg this card is so bad. Honestly, this card is just rude to the players. Giving every guild a new legendary creature (and therefore a new commander to experiment with), and making this one so bad that's it's unplayable, is just a kick to the nuts to selesnya players.
Also, ya, I agree with everyone questioning the 5/7. wtf?
Mr.Whatever
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
WOW this is expensive.
Still, with the new Legendary rule, if you can generate a copy of her with say Stolen Identity and send the original to the grave instead, suddenly she's a copy token and at least you prevent all damage to her....don't think it's really worth it but it's something.
EyeballFrog
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rather than giving her this ability, they should have just swapped her with Trostani's Summoner. Emmara's current abilities would make a fine uncommon, and the summoner's abilities make a huge splash when they hit the table.
ProfCharles
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
7th worst legendary card in the game... Think about it, and how many terrible legend cards there are. Only SIX of them are worse than Emmara. Four of them are from Legends itself.
And she's supposed to be Jace's girlfriend, if I recall correctly.
She needs a decent reprint.
lostmongoose
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@Silence9
Or you could, I dunno, run a good W/G commander and cheat out Avacyn for much better effect. You can come up with all kinds of justifications and reasons why everyone is wrong but it's like trying to explain that Hitler wasn't all bad because he promoted conservation and the arts.
tankthebest
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The one thing this card has going for it over Avacyn is the cost, money-wise. I love making budget decks that rely on the synergy between good, cheap cards to win rather than simply dropping a fortune on standalone powerhouses. It's very satisfying when your $10 deck beats a $200+ deck.
That being said, even I wouldn't advocate using this over Avacyn in a budget deck.
ATM97
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Unbarial Rites. Junk Tokens.
Paladin85
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Who invited the original Legends bad legends designers back for this?
Should have had at least Vigilance, Convoke, Populate or Regenerate to go with the GW theme in Ravinca
Dakkon_BlackBlade_LG
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome Art, I wish so much this card was a little bit better so I could actually try to work it out in Commander. I feel disappointed by this Legend. I expect legend to be a bit better then non legendary creature. Also theme wise it feels really weird the 5/7 body on that tiny Elf who isn't known for her personal strength. Most disappointing card of the year 2013 for me who holds legends dearly, They are my favorite part of the game. This one just makes me sad. What a wasted art.
Sironos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When Selesnya needed a champion, they picked a creature that feels very vanilla, but has interaction with tokens, and they felt satisfied. Then they saw the manabill... You can still make some pretty nasty alfa swings in EDH token decks that will decimate the opponent without you losing any creatures I guess, though underwhelming still.
Control_Inspired
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
For a 7 drop 5/7 but she cant defend herself in standard I can see why she has a low rating BUT there is a wonderful little format call commander in which I can see a LOT of potential
BoringUsername
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Believe it or not, this card does have a use.
Pair it with Trostani's Summoner, Conjurer's Closet, and Parallel lives. Now you have an army of tokens that have damage prevented.
Noah927
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
We have a booster box at my LGS filled to the top with the ripped up remains of every Emmara Tandris opened there... that's all I have to say about this card.
mpitcock
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Here's how I would have done Emmara.
Emmara Tandris 3WG Legendary Creature- Elf Shaman Creatures tokens you control get +2/+2 and have trample and lifelink. 4/4
I think she's balanced, fun, and gives a freaking Armadillo Cloak to your tokens.
pedrodyl
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(6 votes)
One and half stars. You guys are fucked and spoiled. This is at least a two and half, if not three star card.
MrSunso
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If she cost 2 or 3 generic less to cast, I would actually consider playing her, but 7 mana? For real? There are a TON of better options for green and white with 7 mana.
swagtusk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I put her in my Edh deck as card 101 only to sit in the box and watch good cards get played. 4 out of 5 for being a hot cheerleader.
Seriously though. She doesn't cut it for most token selesnya Edh decks because she is overshadowed by avacyn and eldrazi monument. I honestly can't think of a reason to sub Rhys the redeemed for her like the article talked about.
@Silence9: she is plain and simply not good even as a commander. Even with token production there is little chance you can keep up with a dedicated token Edh deck ran by a solid general.
Fleetfiend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I honestly think she may have some use in the Gruul tokens deck with Xenagos that I'm building. Other than that... just plain weird.
Luchian-D
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
Overcosted and bizarre p/t for an elf... unless she's really a giant? Anyhow, not bad for a casual token based deck with a decent amount of mana ramping.
Gishra
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
I always thought Riven Turnbull should've been w/g and not u/b, thanks Wizards!
seraphsembrace
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(13 votes)
Obviously Jace caused some lasting harm when he scrubbed her mind. She's forgotten how to do anything.
sceadu
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This is by far the card I am the most disappointed with that has been printed in well since Mirrodin (When I started) it's terrible, I would NEVER play this card. I would play Phyrexian Negator in a white weenie deck splashing black for ONLY Phyrexian Negator, and that would be a TERRIBLE idea.
AnnoyingFogGuy
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I'd have a great time building a deck with Emmara, Despotic Scepter, and a whole bunch of "Return from Graveyard" spells.
Maybe I'd even throw in a few copies of Rod of Ruin to allow me a chance of winning.
NARFNra
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
@Silence9
You can try to justify it all you want; she's still too underpowered for her casting cost to see use. There are good token lords for EDH that play much better than her. (See: Rhys the Redeemed, Tolsimir Wolfblood)
...Also, why bother drawing Go For The Throats when we can just Wrath of God / Day of Judgment / Damnation all of them instead? Asceticism does jack shit against board wipes.
There's a big difference between wanting every creature to be ridiculous for its cost and wanting every creature to be actually useful for its cost. This is a 5/7 with an ability that has almost no effect outside of combat and who has no removal protection whatsoever. She's even in two creature colors, and she's still below the curve.
Really, Emmara isn't going to be staying around very long in EDH. Yeah, she's a fun card to play around with, but she's still not very good.
CommanderPanda
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(6 votes)
Now that Theros is out, I thought I would take a moment to mention. The following is a Hilarious list of cards that Emmara can block all day long, or even kill in some cases.
Arbor Colossus: Giant: Emmara can block this GIANT all day long. Shipbreaker Kraken: Kraken: Unleash the Emmara! As long as it isn't Monstrous and/or using it's monstrous ability to lock down Emmara, she can block the Kraken forever. Hundred-Handed One: Giant: If Hundred Handed one became Monstrous, Emmara could STILL block it all day long. Polukranos, the World Eater: Hydra: Does the World Eater have the stomach to swallow Emmara whole? If you're willing to pay (2)(2)(G) for his monstrous cost, he gains the 7 power necessary to wrestle our heroine. But can he swallow her whole? It would cost 15 Mana for Polukranos to gobble her up while activating Monstrous. By that point, he's a 19/19. Finally, EVERY. SINGLE. THEROSAN. GOD. She can block ALL FIVE GODS. ALL DAY LONG. AN ELF. A non-Mutant. Regular. Skinny. Non-gigantic. ELF! Can block Heliod, God of the Sun, Purphorous, God of the Forge, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Thassa, God of the Sea, and even Erebos, God of Death.
So why the hell is Emmara only getting 1.5 guys? She's BIGGER THAN EVERY SINGLE THEROSAN GOD.
zomboss
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
My friend was arguing how this has 1 extra power compared to Elesh Norn for same cmc and I was like... DID YOU EVEN READ THE TEXT ON THAT CARD?
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
The real question here is, do she got a booty? With 7 toughness... she do.
Goatllama
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I finally get it - she's a throwback to Legends!....... would've completely broken ol' Hazezon back in the day.
TheVizier
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I was at a Walmart and I stumbled upon some ripped open Magic packs. They all had the rares pulled out, except for the pack with this card.
MORAL: Even if you could get it for free, people still don't want Emmara Tandris.
Umbric
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
"But it doesn't do anything!" "No, it does nothing!"
Cyberium
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This champion used to hold the power of Voice of Resurrgence, but it was considered too powerful for a rare so the two cards switched abilities.
Toraka
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hey, stop bashing her, she actually does me good service...
as proxies for Whip of Erebos because I only have 2 and can't be asked to shuffle them between the 3 decks in which I use it.
Yes, you read right, proxies. I drew two of this woman from boosters, and another foiled one. I'd curse the Maze, if it hadn't also given me a Voice and Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
TheWrathofShane
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Would it really have been to overpowered to just prevent all damage to creatures you control? This is a 7 drop legendary creature!!! It needs to do something like this!!
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@Zomboss: Did YOU?
I'm not saying Emmara's better, but she's a 5/7. Elesh is a 4/7. Remember, Elesh doesn't buff herself.
limitededition
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Actually somewhat of a bomb in Momir Basic...
Mr.Freshness-Timmy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
For 7 mana, I feel they could've made damage to any of your other creatures preventable. vigor is a better alternative for green heavy token decks. A budding effect off damage to tokens would be cool though. Like whenever a token takes damage prevent that damage and split it into 2 tokens. Or give all tokens a sprouting phytohydra like effect if that's too broken
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
You guys are fools. I will rock your world with her as my general any day of the week. Unless you can consistently draw murders and day of judgments and go for the throats you are dead. There's no way you're packing enough removal to take out the swarms of tokens I have. And with Asceticism I'm pretty much invincible. Don't bash her until you make an edh deck with her. 4/5
@ lostmongoose
Avacyn is a whole different card all together. First of all she's mono white, so she makes for a bad general, all of the good tokens are green, and she is also mythic rarity. You guys are so spoiled and short sighted to be able to construct around a card and have fun with it. You can't fudging think every Magic card should be like Phyrexian Obliterator, 4 mana for 5/5 with two upsides. Get real...
@Narfnra
I said day of judgement in my review. Did you forget about the regenerate clause on Asceticism? So she's a bad general because there are board wipes? Yes, I'd prefer if her cmc was lower too but she's still a fun, sexy card and makes my EDH deck hard to beat.
OwlSolar
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
But she can punch out a dragon!
JPerson
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
For everyone who is downing this card, I understand your pain...or, I did. I just finished running her in a Commander Deck (not as Commander), and she scared the pants off of everyone, because I gave her whispersilk cloak. If you can, in anyway, make her untouchable like that, things get out of hand pretty fast, which they did! You've got to think outside of the Angel of Hope box, guys...especially since (money wise) the darling angel runs about ten times more than our dear friend here.
clab7834
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you splash some blue you can turn her into a token. I guess she would be protecting herself then.
PEVE_O
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Making her a token helps her out somewhat. In a G/W Token EDH I would probably be running Soul foundry and Mimic Vat. She could at least prevent damage to herself as well... Still so much worse than she could have been.
Hunter06
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Wow, she punches someone with the Strength of gods, giants and dragons, is more unkillable then almost any creature, and has an ability that *While crappy* is still technically not vanilla, not to mention, she stole Jace's heart
Yes, shes not as good as she coulda been, but she isnt 1.5 Stars terrible...
2/5 Stars
yarrunmace
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know what really strikes me about this card?
Her ability, combined with her ludicrous 7 toughness makes her a threat to red decks, of all things. It nullifies red cards like Mizzium Mortars or Tibor and Lumia, and Tandris takes two to four burn spells to kill.
You'd think that the Selesnya Mazerunner would be more anti-black. Something like "If a creature would get -X/-X, instead give them +X/+X".
Comments (135)
She's a Hexplate Golem (rated 2.0), at rare (-0.25), with color restrictions (-0.25). Granted, she does have one ability (+0.5), but tokens will still have trouble with:
Terminus
Cyclonic Rift
Supreme Verdict
Sever the Bloodline
Mutilate
Killing Wave
Gaze of Granite
And other cards like Aetherize and Blustersquall
I think people are rating her low because they expected her to be a flavorful and awesome guild champion, but she's almost a vanilla 5/7.
As for her ability, she makes your tokens wreck combat steps. Which is where token decks want to be wrecking anyway. I don't see why anyone would think that her ability should neuter mass bounce/removal.
As it stands, she's vastly underwhelming.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Vigor
Asceticism
Dauntless Escort
and last but not least
Collective Blessing
You know you screwed up when another rare in the same block and in the same colors is better than what should have been one of the flagship cards in the set. Was it really that much to ask for the card to MAKE THE ELEMENTAL IN THE BACKGROUND.
EDIT: Wizards in no way should be getting this much backlash for printing this card. Sure, it isn't the greatest effect in the world, but she's still a good card. Tokens dominate when she hits the board, especially when they can attack without fear of opening themselves up via Intangible Virtue. Don't be so ungrateful either, I mean it isn't like they work hard every year to release 1000+ cards for you to hate over.
Good. God.
We will never forget!
Voice of Resurgence - May we never forget the real Emmara Tandris.
All the other champions are great, but I feel really let down by this one.
Let's take a look at each part of the card and think about it.
5GW - A seven costed creature for green is understandable, so this doesn't necessarily mean much. No points taken off for this!
Elf Shaman + 5/7 - This makes no sense. An elf and a shaman both lend for smaller P/T and an awesome ability. For the high cost, I could see her being 1/5 perhaps (to stave off Mizzium Mortars). Trostani is a 4-drop that's 2/5 and has two great abilities, for comparison. So the ability would have to be good!
"Prevent all damage" is where this card goes really, really wrong. This should definitely be "All tokens you control are indestructible." For a 7-drop 1/5 (as I said above), this seems at least playable, if not 'good' necessarily.
Let's compare her to Avacyn, an 8-drop 8/8 with flying and vigilance and all permanents including her are indestructible. Clearly Avacyn is better in every way, but at least Emmara would have a similar flavor -- an elf shaman protecting the token creatures of the forest. How she's worded now is just awful.
Wizards dropped the ball on this heavily. I know she was supposed to be Voice of Resurgence, but c'mon. You have to do more than switch abilities and P/T around, dev team.
If this was swapped with voice of resurgence, why was voice originally so bad then?
It's rated too high. A 5/7 elf with a useless ability? (Outside Standard, say hello to Ratchet Bomb, Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed, etc...) Complete design disaster with this and Voice of Resurgence...WotC swapping the effects was a very, very bad call. Seriously, leave them be and make Emmara cost
You keep one guy, I keep twenty.
No, you keep 1 they keep one, she doesn't make them indestructible, just prevents damage. She will however work against damaging mass removal, as Blasphemous Act
And even there she will die herself
Also, all of us selesnya should hail our new supreme leader Voice of Resurgence
I, For One, Welcome Our New Elemental Overlord
The only reason to play her would be to have some sort of combo, that involves dealing damage to all creatures. Like involving last laugh or whatever. But then again you risk killing her as well.
She just doesn't have enough interesting abilities, for being such an expensive legend. Maybe an ability that triggers on you having tokens enter the battlefield, or tokens dealing damage, or whatever. Just anything.
"Okay, guys, I know what you're thinking. But you can use her with cards that care about highest converted mana cost! And she's soooo much harder to hit with the deadly new Gaze of Granite! And...wait, this is super secret tech here...you can ENCHANT HER. Or even, if you're really willing to splash for colorless, you can even try out some equipment. Hedron Matrix, anyone? And if you reanimate her, hoo doggy, now you're just getting KUH-RAZY."
Also, I like the flavor text. We too will put the ranks of the guild before you, Emmara.
This card looks like it is is reprent from the Legends set
Really bad for the cost AND it's also Legendary.
Really wish it made tokens indestructible instead or even giving them hexproof/shroud.
I did have expectations in that I wanted to have a decent champion. Instead we get a big creature with only one ability...and a very, cruelly boring one at that.
3/5 because the art is good. I mean, look at her, she's cute!
Orzhov - Liliana / Sorin, Lord of Tokens
1 Captain of the Watch
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
1 Increasing Devotion
3 Intangible Virtue
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Lingering Souls
4 Midnight Haunting
2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
7 Plains
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
7 Swamp
3 Tragic Slip
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Vault of the Archangel
SB: 1 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Witchbane Orb
SB: 2 Mask of Avacyn
SB: 2 High Priest of Penance
SB: 2 Erase
SB: 2 Murder
SB: 2 Rebuke
SB: 2 Smite
I plan to get her on the battlefield by adding Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, 0-1 Emmara Tandris and 3-4 Unburial Rites to the 60 card main deck and 15 card sideboard. It is with hope that she makes an appearance via Liliana of the Veil to Unburial Rites.
Now, there are two edges to this sword: On the ONEhand, And May I START with my commiseration and sympathies, for a Standard, end-of-awesome-season, High Profile card in a set, YEAH, this was a huge let-down for Selesnya Players. The only justification for that would be if Wizards cited "This is White and Green. Thragtusk is Green. Restoration Angel is White. Yeah, we nerfed you, because you were looking like you were asking for it. We were thinking better safe than sorry."
ON HAND #2, when you think OUTSIDE the context of the (honestly OVERLY) much-anticipated Maze Runner Cycle (y'all wanted Mythics if you read the forums. These aren't Mythics. Some people are ONLY happy with Melek, which makes no sense), let's PRETEND this was for Planechase 2015, or Commander's Toolbox, or something. I actually HONESTLY enjoy the set Legends. Nowadays, simply having a first name and a last name and supertype "Legendary" doesn't seem like enough flavor for cards, which is sort of sad, but y'know, on the cards where that DOES work, I love it. Gosta Dirk, anyone? I think part of the problem with Emmara on the "Legends" argument, though....is that she's Selesnya.
She's no Viking, she's not a Barbarian, or a Warlord, or a Soldier, or any kind of class that you could make her look like a properly interesting DnD-character. So simply appealing Only to Legends fans is not yet enough. The flavor text here is Good Enough if you want to go that route, but the art doesn't look Actiony enough or Regal enough. It looks quite abit like any old Citizen of Selesnya, like Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage. But let's SAY you were trying to create a Legends-feeling card, because you thought that would be a great way to capture "Reversing Power Creep" in a jar, and that is honestly something you need to be looking for ways and opportunities to be doing. Let us pretend for the sake of argument that Barktooth Warbeard deserves 4/5 stars for being "good Legends thinking". In that world, Emmara deserves 3 stars, I think. Which is just enough to not hate that she got printed. Barely.
I, for one, am at least Very Glad that she doesn't have a 187 ability. I thought they were cute when I started playing (Lorwyn), I began to see that some of them were really good around Zendikar, and by Innistrad they started taking over Decklists. I think they have so much steam now that even White-Blue control is going to have to ALWAYS be building around 187s, and I don't like that.
My last comment is that as I was reading Agents of Artifice and The Secretist, when it was announced that Emmara was going to be the Maze Runner, I expected either Spike or Vorthos to not like her card. FRANKLY- she's a weak character! I mean she's interesting to read about, but she's no leader! She's NOT powerful! It makes very little sense for her to be chosen as Maze Runner! The only things she has going for her is that she's a Healer, and she's Old. Every Elf Ever can say that about themselves. I don't know WHAT Trostani was thinking. She retired from Selesnya and befriended Jace, whom she doesn't know is a Planeswalker, but really, she sees very little action. So, this card is ACCURATE per my perception of Emmara's abilities as shown in the novel. Maybe she could have a little bit more life gain in here, but lifegain is weak and Selesnya has too many cards that populate for the mechanic to be here and be interesting and be remotely balanced (look at Vorel. Doesn't quite have Evolve, but he's pushing pretty hard how much you can do. Yes Gilder Bairn and Doubling Season were better, but I think this just means Bairn should be a Rare, and Vorel is perfectly respectable in his Guild.)
If Dragon's Maze is the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire set, then Emmara Tandris is Fleur Delacour. Who pretty much totally sucked at the Tournament Tasks, was never on the frontlines of the Order of the Pheonix, but hey, that's war-level stuff, and for most every-day uses of Magic she was competent. By the way- it's not directly ripping off HP. MTG and HP are both ripping off a super-common generally good Adventure Idea. Find the Lost Thingy in the Place of Perils. It's Magic and Shiny and it's Really Cool. There are a lot of people looking for it. If they're ripping off anyone, they might be ripping off Indiana Jones, but I wasn't aware George Lucas ever did anything original.
Conclusion: It's really really bad but, it's not 1 star, 1 star is something that is actively very bad for you like Alabaster Leech or something that's inefficienct with downside like Mindless Null.
2/5
While she is not worthy of Sandstone Deadfall 's rating she dosen't do mutch. I would rather run something like Elderscale Wurm.
I remember seeing her art spoiled 2 weeks before and thinking, Wow, she creates tokens. But then the card came out along with the story of how she got switched with Voice of Resurgence then my heart gently weeps. Has to be the worst Maze runner ever. If we are talking practical terms her protection is irrelevant by turn 7. Most of the tokens are probably dead by the time she comes into play. And its not even good protection. Like some players have already noted Prevent all damage isn't something to be proud of. If her tokens were granted Indestructibility then we are in the same ball park as the other guild champions.
I am sorry but this champion should stay home. As the only other 7 mana guild champion, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts looks sexy compared to Emmara. Why did Wizards give Selesnya the shaft? I know they realize that the original ability was too good, but they didn't have to dismantle her and give her a useless ability.
Maybe, MAYBE she's a one of in sideboards against really damage-heavy decks (like RDW or something). But beyond that? Yeeeeesh. Mechanics fail, flavor fail (HOW is she 5/7?!), explanation fail. Just... EPIC FAIL.
It's just inexcusable that the almighty cycle maintenance destroyed this card. I will continue to look at the art of this and the DGM Elemental token and just shake my head. What a blatant visual reminder of one of Wizards' biggest all-time screwups.
What a load of lies. The real reason she was chosen was obviously the fact that she can wrestle wurms with her bare hands.
This card is good for Commander/EDH if you're expecting to have a lot of tokens that you want to protect and know someone is probably going to Magmaquake or Corrosive Gale for 1-4 and wipe them all out (so giving them hexproof or shroud isn't going to help). If you manage to get Ajani, Caller of the Pride to ultimate, you're going to want a little help making sure your 30-40 2/2 cat tokens don't die to a Pyroclasm (and by that time, you'll have enough mana to cast her). Of course, you could use Avacyn, Angel of Hope, but it's a 100 card deck; you'll want more than one card that fulfills that particular function.
Of course, she is vunerable to spot removal and Wrath effects, but that's Magic. If she wasn't, we'd probably all be saying how crazy this is and shelling out $40-$60 for a playset. 3 Stars.
From what I hear, the Champions were originally supposed to be Mythics, and Emmara was supposed to have Voice of Resurgence's ability instead (he would've had hers); when they decided to make the Champs Rares, they just switched the two.
Why couldn't they have given her something actually useful, like "Populate during your upkeep" or "Tokens you control are indestructible"? Or at least another ability to add onto the one she already has?
Being a Selesnya follower since Ravnica was introduced, and white green before that... I just had to check how Emmara rated compared to the rest of the cards in Magic.
Out of 13378 cards, she is currently the 208th worst card by our community's rating standards. That's the bottom 0.5% of all magic cards.
...What even was Wizards thinking? Limited to 10 Mythics does not give an excuse for this terrible atrocity.
So first, what is the biggest issue? The mana cost. Seven is too much. Lets go with
Next is the ability. Maybe "If damage would be dealt to a creature you control, put a +1/+1 counter on Emmara."
With this ability, maybe a 1/2.
This would be a decent creature, that might actually see play.
T1:Land
T2: Voice of Resurgence/Call of the Conclave
T3: This, but edited.
T4: Either Trostani, Selesnya's Voice or Growing Ranks
This is going to get unstoppable. They have a weak rare, one that can be useful, and though I think it could have been better, play the rest of Selesnya. Dimir didn't get so hot of a Maze Runner, and don't have as strong a support as Selesnya.
Although she is expensive (completely relative in a game where you can see a 15 cost drop below turn 4) she is still very useful for those who can see her purpose.
If I was playing draft, compared with Trait Doctoring (currently ranked higher), I'd rather be "stuck" with this. At least with her, I can profitably block a large number of non-evasive creatures in limited and can swing for 5, which is something that'll carry you forward in a creature based format, and a much slower one at that.
Can you do better in any constructed format? Probably. But in a small card pool, between this and Trait Doctoring, at least you can win with this card.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ct/245
Almost every single card they mention in this article is something that works much better with creatures other than Emmara — indeed, most of it works better with Avacyn, which they do note in the article and then promptly ignore. While they are willing to admit Emmara was an underpowered mistake, they apparently still want us to play her when there are much better options.
It's weird how this dainty little creature is 5/7. I mean think about it... she can take a punch from a titan and just wipe her bloody nose, spit her dislodged tooth onto the floor and come back ready for round two.
In my head, she's being repeatedly knocked around the squared circle by Apollo Creed dressed in a tutu and high on crystal meth, but somehow she just doesn't go down. Not that I'm praising the performance at all... I just enjoy seeing her being beaten up because of how awful this card is.
In my opinion she should give indestructible.
Still terribly expensive though.
You can definitely see the mistake made with her and Voice of Resurgence. And yet I somehow feel that if they merely swapped abilities it would all be OK. The rarity values could've even stayed the same - Voice woud've been a bit scary, but removable, and still worth Mythic due to the cheapness and this effect, and Emmara would have been a powerful recurring fatty.
So strange.
I had to laugh about that when I read it.
My thoughts on the card: Think of it as if Emmara Tandris and Avacyn, Angel of Hope were on a single card. I'll call it Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope just for the sake of argument here. If you want an example of this sort of functionality, look at Anavolver:
Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope
Legendary Creature (5/7)
Kicker
If Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope was kicked with its
If Emmara Tandris, Angel of Hope was kicked with its
So for 6 CMC you just get a 5/7 body and a choice:
1. Pay nothing and leave it as is... This is OK for a rather large bodied white, considering there are no other options for such a big a bodied white creature. Maybe Woolly Razorback, but it has the drawback of not being able to deal damage or attack until you've blocked with it 3 times (or somehow otherwise removed three counters from it). Since white doesn't get many creatures with bodies this big for 6 CMC, and all colorless ones have serious drawbacks, this is kind of OK (except that it's legendary so you can only have one out).
2. Pay
3. Pay
So long story short, don't play Emmara. She's weak and overpriced.
Also, ya, I agree with everyone questioning the 5/7. wtf?
Still, with the new Legendary rule, if you can generate a copy of her with say Stolen Identity and send the original to the grave instead, suddenly she's a copy token and at least you prevent all damage to her....don't think it's really worth it but it's something.
And she's supposed to be Jace's girlfriend, if I recall correctly.
She needs a decent reprint.
Or you could, I dunno, run a good W/G commander and cheat out Avacyn for much better effect. You can come up with all kinds of justifications and reasons why everyone is wrong but it's like trying to explain that Hitler wasn't all bad because he promoted conservation and the arts.
That being said, even I wouldn't advocate using this over Avacyn in a budget deck.
Should have had at least Vigilance, Convoke, Populate or Regenerate to go with the GW theme in Ravinca
Also theme wise it feels really weird the 5/7 body on that tiny Elf who isn't known for her personal strength.
Most disappointing card of the year 2013 for me who holds legends dearly, They are my favorite part of the game. This one just makes me sad. What a wasted art.
You can still make some pretty nasty alfa swings in EDH token decks that will decimate the opponent without you losing any creatures I guess, though underwhelming still.
Pair it with Trostani's Summoner, Conjurer's Closet, and Parallel lives. Now you have an army of tokens that have damage prevented.
Emmara Tandris
3WG
Legendary Creature- Elf Shaman
Creatures tokens you control get +2/+2 and have trample and lifelink.
4/4
I think she's balanced, fun, and gives a freaking Armadillo Cloak to your tokens.
Seriously though. She doesn't cut it for most token selesnya Edh decks because she is overshadowed by avacyn and eldrazi monument. I honestly can't think of a reason to sub Rhys the redeemed for her like the article talked about.
@Silence9: she is plain and simply not good even as a commander. Even with token production there is little chance you can keep up with a dedicated token Edh deck ran by a solid general.
Maybe I'd even throw in a few copies of Rod of Ruin to allow me a chance of winning.
You can try to justify it all you want; she's still too underpowered for her casting cost to see use. There are good token lords for EDH that play much better than her. (See: Rhys the Redeemed, Tolsimir Wolfblood)
...Also, why bother drawing Go For The Throats when we can just Wrath of God / Day of Judgment / Damnation all of them instead? Asceticism does jack shit against board wipes.
There's a big difference between wanting every creature to be ridiculous for its cost and wanting every creature to be actually useful for its cost. This is a 5/7 with an ability that has almost no effect outside of combat and who has no removal protection whatsoever. She's even in two creature colors, and she's still below the curve.
Really, Emmara isn't going to be staying around very long in EDH. Yeah, she's a fun card to play around with, but she's still not very good.
Arbor Colossus: Giant: Emmara can block this GIANT all day long.
Shipbreaker Kraken: Kraken: Unleash the Emmara! As long as it isn't Monstrous and/or using it's monstrous ability to lock down Emmara, she can block the Kraken forever.
Hundred-Handed One: Giant: If Hundred Handed one became Monstrous, Emmara could STILL block it all day long.
Polukranos, the World Eater: Hydra: Does the World Eater have the stomach to swallow Emmara whole? If you're willing to pay (2)(2)(G) for his monstrous cost, he gains the 7 power necessary to wrestle our heroine. But can he swallow her whole? It would cost 15 Mana for Polukranos to gobble her up while activating Monstrous. By that point, he's a 19/19.
Finally, EVERY. SINGLE. THEROSAN. GOD. She can block ALL FIVE GODS. ALL DAY LONG. AN ELF. A non-Mutant. Regular. Skinny. Non-gigantic. ELF! Can block Heliod, God of the Sun, Purphorous, God of the Forge, Nylea, God of the Hunt, Thassa, God of the Sea, and even Erebos, God of Death.
So why the hell is Emmara only getting 1.5 guys? She's BIGGER THAN EVERY SINGLE THEROSAN GOD.
MORAL: Even if you could get it for free, people still don't want Emmara Tandris.
as proxies for Whip of Erebos because I only have 2 and can't be asked to shuffle them between the 3 decks in which I use it.
Yes, you read right, proxies. I drew two of this woman from boosters, and another foiled one. I'd curse the Maze, if it hadn't also given me a Voice and Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
I'm not saying Emmara's better, but she's a 5/7. Elesh is a 4/7. Remember, Elesh doesn't buff herself.
@ lostmongoose
Avacyn is a whole different card all together. First of all she's mono white, so she makes for a bad general, all of the good tokens are green, and she is also mythic rarity. You guys are so spoiled and short sighted to be able to construct around a card and have fun with it. You can't fudging think every Magic card should be like Phyrexian Obliterator, 4 mana for 5/5 with two upsides. Get real...
@Narfnra
I said day of judgement in my review. Did you forget about the regenerate clause on Asceticism? So she's a bad general because there are board wipes? Yes, I'd prefer if her cmc was lower too but she's still a fun, sexy card and makes my EDH deck hard to beat.
Yes, shes not as good as she coulda been, but she isnt 1.5 Stars terrible...
2/5 Stars
Her ability, combined with her ludicrous 7 toughness makes her a threat to red decks, of all things. It nullifies red cards like Mizzium Mortars or Tibor and Lumia, and Tandris takes two to four burn spells to kill.
You'd think that the Selesnya Mazerunner would be more anti-black. Something like "If a creature would get -X/-X, instead give them +X/+X".