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If you ever have the change to get a hold of Emrakul Aeons Torn don’t hesitate. When this card first entered the game I saw a massive beast that could destroy and win game by itself alone, then I saw it’s CMC. When it comes to design by Wizards of the coast, look no further than Emrakul and the Edrazi titans.

When looking at this card there are a few things to take note of. And the first and most blaring is that it is colorless. Apart from the ore that the Eldrazi come from the Ǽather and have basically no alignment to any one color in Magic: the Gathering, it give players opportunity to add or use this card in almost any type of deck.

Then there is the first ability, “Emrakul, the Aeons Torn can’t be countered.” This along would not make this card broken, other cards such as Counterflux, Last Word, Obliterate, and Gaea’s Herald just to name a few all cannot be countered. In some cases Emrakul might not be as effective as the other cards. Gaea’s Herald give all creatures this ability and Obliterate destroys everything in its path. However the R&D at Wizards of the coast needed to make Emrakul as balanced as they could make him while still making him a threat.

One way to look at this was by the CMC and the second ability, “When you cast Emrakul, take an extra turn after this one.” Emrakul sits as the second highest CMC in all of Magic at 15, with Draco an artifact creature dragon at 16. Should a player spend actually get to 15 mana and use it to cast Emrakul (this is known as Hard-Casting when you cast a creature on the turn their CMC allows) it leave the player vulnerable and unable to do anything else. So by allowing the Player to take an extra trun in essence it give Emrakul Haste (this is assuming that the player does not already have a way to give Emrakul haste thinking like Anger in the graveyard).

With its next three abilities, “Flying, protection from colored spells, annihilator 6” it basically leaves Emrakul unlockable when attacking, unless your opponent has another Eldrazi titan or an artifact monster. With flying it no longer has to be worried about being blocked by ground creatures and annihilator 6 just changes the game state leaving the opponent crippled and almost defeated.

Because Emrakul is 15 to play it balances out all the other abilities. And begs the question, “wait I want to get this card out sooner, so how?” This is the question I should have asked myself years ago, because now there are deck that use Emrakul and get him out turn two or three. Cards like Through the Breach or Sneak Attack or Show and Tell make Emraul more of a viable card and boots it to absolute threat level when playing off against these decks. But it is because of these cards and their interaction that these cards are just as pricy as Emrakul itself.

Those it can be argued the Emrakul can still be played even if a player does not run the above mentioned cards. Should a player choose to run green and Ramp (play additional lands per turn or have mana acceleration through artifacts and other lands) and get this card out earlier.

Be careful when building a deck with Emrakul, unless a player is able to stall out until turn 15 (Emrakul is banned in Commander and EDH) then it is just a mythical beast tearing through the multiverse and an awe inspiring card for players to conceive new and innovative decks making the Lovecraftian Horror all the more horrifying.