Spoiler Highlight: Emeritus of Conflict on Standard & Pioneer

There are moments when you look at a newly printed card and realize something's off. A mana cost is higher than it should be, or a line of text feels like it was cut or added to dodge future problems.

Sometimes these changes feel like they were made out of respect for a format's environment or because a specific combination of abilities — or a color or archetype's track record — has been too dominant in recent years.

You get the sense the card was nerfed. What we actually got doesn't impress at first glance. That seems to be the case with Emeritus of Conflict, the new red two-drop mythic from Secrets of Strixhaven.

The first reaction I saw from players was asking why the card has First Strike instead of Prowess or Haste. The card itself answers that question: Emeritus gives you a Lightning Bolt off the third spell, and a sequence with two cheap damage/pump spells — red's specialty — would make it a huge problem when Wild Ride plus Turn Inside Out and Lightning Bolt would do up to 14 damage to the opponent if Emeritus untaps.

Without Prowess or ways to pump its own power, First Strike becomes way more appropriate. Plus, red two-drops have been moving away from "Haste plus abilities" to focus on other ways to pressure the opponent. The lack of those keywords hasn't hurt Hexing Squelcher or Razorkin Needlehead in Standard one bit.

Another common complaint: unlike Emeritus of Ideation, this one doesn't enter prepared. A 2/2 with First Strike for that deals three damage to any target the same turn it enters would absolutely be a Standard staple and could find room in Pioneer, maybe even Modern, where it'd recreate part of the "Bolt-Snapcaster Mage-Bolt" line — a far cry from needing six mana to cast an Ancestral Recall off a glorified Titan cycle.

If they kept the same conditions and cost but gave it haste, Emeritus of Conflict would be way too strong: casting it plus a Bolt leaves you one spell away from a second Bolt the same turn. Any Heroes' Hangout or aggressive one-drop already does that work easily, giving red — especially Izzet with cheap cantrips — sequences comparable to Cori-Steel Cutter.

For the last two years, red or Izzet decks have been the dominant force in Standard. First Mono Red Mice, then Cori-Steel Cutter, then Mono Red became a problem again with Screaming Nemesis, and in the current season, Prowess is still one of the best archetypes in Standard. Giving them another payoff with a 2/2 that already comes with a Lightning Bolt would be a bit much right now.

Even without haste, once you sequence three spells, Emeritus's Lightning Bolt counts toward the next setup. On its own, it feeds one of the three spells needed to repeat the process, and multiple copies on board feed each other, making it easier to chain Bolts every turn. It was carefully built to avoid looping and carries a dozen lessons that might have come from last-minute design changes after Cori-Steel Cutter and red's dominance, but that doesn't make it a bad card.

Mono Red Aggro's two-drops in Standard have shifted away from raw attack speed toward punishing opponents for actions they take during the game: Hexing Squelcher, the best of the bunch, punishes spot interaction with a Shock; Razorkin Needlehead punishes excessive card draw; Zhao, the Moon Slayer slows down greedy mana bases; and Magebane Lizard is a sideboard staple against Prowess.

Emeritus of Conflict doesn't fit that pattern. Instead, it asks you to take more actions in the game to get value, making it a risk-reward card. On the plus side, Mono Red Aggro runs a healthy number of one-drops and spells like Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike that make it easy to set up. Once it's ready, you just need to sequence two spells each turn, and it'll either pressure the opponent or keep the board clean.

But let's not be naïve: Izzet Prowess and its variants are where this new creature has the most potential. Current Prowess lists run a bunch of cheap one-drops and two-drops, plus Slickshot Show-Off, which you can plot to feed Emeritus the turn it comes down — giving you two spells in one turn, one Opt or Burst Lightning away from a Lightning Bolt and up to seven damage to the opponent with Show-Off.

The Boomerang Basics lines with Stormchaser's Talent also add an efficient, cheap sequencing setup for Lightning Bolt, and none of these cards are being included specifically for Emeritus — they're already part of the well-established Prowess shell.

Right now, the flex threat slots in Prowess are split between Eddymurk Crab, Drake Hatcher, or even Hearth Elemental (which can mix Adventure and cast triggers to set up another Lightning Bolt). Emeritus of Conflict might easily compete for those slots and might even become a defining staple of the archetype.

It's not as strong there as in a dedicated Prowess deck, but Boros Momo or Boros Dragons can also capitalize on spell sequencing using the known combos with Momo, Friendly Flier and Springleaf Drum or Nurturing Pixie plus Warp creatures to trigger Emeritus as another payoff alongside Cosmogrand Zenith and Sage of the Skies.

On the other hand, Emeritus of Conflict isn't a Burn card. Even in dedicated lists, the "risk" of spending two mana and doing nothing is already a problem on cards like Slickshot Show-Off. Most of those variants go all-in on speed, and needing to pay can be too slow or come down too late for the new creature to earn its slots.

In Pioneer, this new creature has a challenge: Cori-Steel Cutter is a better card. So much better that it broke Standard and got banned while remaining a permanent staple in Modern and Legacy — and it's so strong that I've been arguing for its ban in Pioneer for months.

If — or when — Wizards acts on Cori-Steel, Emeritus could be worth considering. Three spells a turn isn't a challenge for any Red Aggro variant, and it's already within the scope of what archetypes like Izzet Phoenix or Gruul Prowess try to sequence each turn.

But even then, it'll have to prove its space. It's still a 2/2 for two mana that does nothing immediately and relies on other cards to work — that didn't stop Cori-Steel from being a staple, because once it resolved, it took a ton of work to stop the tokens from snowballing. Emeritus just dies to Fatal Push.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for reading!