So I've put together a budget list of Maelstrom Wanderer to play with my friends in 1v1 (Duel Commander) and 2HG formats, following the French EDH banlist in all cases. There are people who'd rather not invest in pricey physical cards, so we're allowing decks to be entirely proxied, with the following deckbuilding restrictions. Note that they apply to ALL cards in a player's deck, not just the proxies, so no one can bypass the rules by purchasing expensive cards. The intent is mostly to limit the powerlevel of decks so we can have the fun games we want, but implied house rules just don't work as well for us as strict deckbuilding rules. Finally, peasant and pauper are too restrictive for our group, while allowing anything is a little too permissive for our tastes. Here are our rules, just fyi:
1) Unlimited nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is under $10.
2) Up to 8 nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is between $10 and $15.
3) Up to 2 nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is below $35.
4) Any land that costs less than $120.
5) No mass land destruction. (Wildfire and above count as mass LD.)
My strategy is to do some of everything to keep games fresh and interesting. That, and I'm priced out of P3K cards like Capture of Jingzhou which would help focus my strategy. The one consistency is ramping into Maelstrom Wanderer early and then cascading into beaters, time warps, tempo cards, or big swingy spells. If I get ramp then I'll just cast him again (High Market helps here), but ordinarily I hit at least one power card and things snowball from there. I tried to curve the ramp out to cast MW by turn 5 every game, and there are some combinations which let me pull it off on turn 4.
That said, here is my decklist with two different sort styles:
Sorry if that's not something that's 'interesting', but to me, that is a very unique interaction.
That's actually really cool! Unfortunately I don't have many ways to tutor the Griffin with Food Chain, so the combo is easier said than done. I've mostly used Food Chain as a 1-card combo with Wanderer. If I untap with both, or cast him one turn and Food Chain the next, I am very likely to advance my board considerably.
...I am also somewhat concerned with how badly I seem to get hosed by Iona and Gaddock Teeg. Teeg could be dealt with via 3 of the above 4, making things a bit easier on me, but Iona is still a pain. Anyone who knows me (ie, my entire playgroup), can call "blue" and leave me with only a few answers in a 100-card deck.
I'm also considering removing Relic of Progenitus and swapping it with Loaming Shaman, to have a tutorable grave-hate card, but I don't know if shuffling into the deck would give them more access to cards which I'd rather not see again.
Finally, I'd like to take a second look at the ramp I use:
Creature-based ramp is very vulnerable to early removal in my experience, but having a 1-drop accelerator can enable a turn 4 Wanderer (with some assistance) that would not be possible otherwise.
Artifact-based ramp can lead to very quick starts since there is no summoning sickness, but a wipe (including my own O-Stone/Disk) presents a big threat to my manabase.
Land-based ramp is safe in a mass-LD free environment, but tends to be slower or more expensive (mana-wise) than other forms.
Currently I run a mix of all of the above, but am I playing some suboptimal choices? I feel that Wall of Roots could be replaced by a Signet safely if I'm going to adjust the aggro matchup with some other cards. Otherwise I don't know if my mana-ramp "curve" needs work.
That's actually really cool! Unfortunately I don't have many ways to tutor the Griffin with Food Chain, so the combo is easier said than done. I've mostly used Food Chain as a 1-card combo with Wanderer. If I untap with both, or cast him one turn and Food Chain the next, I am very likely to advance my board considerably.
It doesn't matter with it, Food Chain can be use in different ways such as sacing your creatures to cast something else. Sooner or later, you can even use 2 of them. Plus I'm not sure how much of fliers you have to deal from your opponets... namely Zur the Enchanter. On the other hand, you have to do it quick and fast.
I'm definitely thinking of the following cards to help address the aggro matchup:
Among those 4, 3 of them (more...if you include the "/") is among my MW deck. They're really helpful against early rampage.
...I am also somewhat concerned with how badly I seem to get hosed by Iona and Gaddock Teeg. Teeg could be dealt with via 3 of the above 4, making things a bit easier on me, but Iona is still a pain. Anyone who knows me (ie, my entire playgroup), can call "blue" and leave me with only a few answers in a 100-card deck.
Hmm.. you can burn him and such. Ramp yourself like crazy until you find your answers. Karn Liberated is among ramp's answers to color hosers which I have it in my old and new version for 4+cmc. Mizzium Mortars is actually one of the answers that bypass Gaddock.
I'm also considering removing Relic of Progenitus and swapping it with Loaming Shaman, to have a tutorable grave-hate card, but I don't know if shuffling into the deck would give them more access to cards which I'd rather not see again.
I'm going to face Iname, Death Aspect in a few days. I'll give you an input if those cards are really helpful. From what I've experience from other matches, Iname just need just ramps to mana #6, while discarding my hand and start reviving when he cast his boss. If I outrun him before his cast, then that's game (since I use LD and mass removal cards). Yours, however, don't allow such cards in your meta.
Creature-based ramp is very vulnerable to early removal in my experience, but having a 1-drop accelerator can enable a turn 4 Wanderer (with some assistance) that would not be possible otherwise.
Doesn't matter. If they use noncreature spells to kill, they wasted their resources before they deal with your Boss.
Artifact-based ramp can lead to very quick starts since there is no summoning sickness, but a wipe (including my own O-Stone/Disk) presents a big threat to my manabase.
Doesn't matter. You pop the artifact ramps if the situation is dire. It's necessary setback. If they waste their hand/resources when you pop them, you have time to cast your boss.
Land-based ramp is safe in a mass-LD free environment, but tends to be slower or more expensive (mana-wise) than other forms.
Please explain.
Our lists might be different but the fundamental is the same. Mine however, have creatures cost waaaayy too much and less in numbers... and I use Oath of Druids.
I use some noncreature spells just for removal and annoyance to the opponent. The only problem with my old list is that I made it out of whim and the problems will show its face sooner or later during the tourney.
It doesn't matter with it, Food Chain can be use in different ways such as sacing your creatures to cast something else. Sooner or later, you can even use 2 of them. Plus I'm not sure how much of fliers you have to deal from your opponets... namely Zur the Enchanter. On the other hand, you have to do it quick and fast.
Fliers aren't usually a big threat for me, to be honest. I agree that it may prove useful in that respect but I prefer to hold it in my hand until I can beast with MW using the card. Otherwise it may get blown up by a naturalize effect before I can put it to best use. Plus the lost card advantage from banishing cards other than my commander is pretty painful.
Among those 4, 3 of them (more...if you include the "/") is among my MW deck. They're really helpful against early rampage.
I will definitely look into them as possible ways to improve my matchup against aggro. What would you suggest I cut? I'd like to add:
1x Inferno Titan
1x Slagstorm
1x Mizzium Mortars
to begin with.
Hmm.. you can burn him and such. Ramp yourself like crazy until you find your answers. Karn Liberated is among ramp's answers to color hosers which I have it in my old and new version for 4+cmc. Mizzium Mortars is actually one of the answers that bypass Gaddock.
Last night, I lost several games in a row to some early creature kill on my ramp dudes followed up by lots of little beaters (2/2s and such) or some hand disruption (Tidehollow Sculler, for example) to remove my gas followed by similar beatdown.
My opponent had a better-positioned hand in these cases, certainly, but I found that slowly ramping up to MW or waiting to simply drop sufficient land to get him on turn 6-7 was too slow. My health was almost depleted by then and my opponent had a solid board position. I definitely need the burn to alleviate this issue.
I'm going to face Iname, Death Aspect in a few days. I'll give you an input if those cards are really helpful. From what I've experience from other matches, Iname just need just ramps to mana #6, while discarding my hand and start reviving when he cast his boss. If I outrun him before his cast, then that's game (since I use LD and mass removal cards). Yours, however, don't allow such cards in your meta.
I look forward to hearing how things go for you! Let's work together to improve the deck.
Doesn't matter. If they use noncreature spells to kill, they wasted their resources before they deal with your Boss.
That's a good point, but if that's all I have then I'm a sitting duck playing lands like a non-green player waiting to reach my expensive spells. Some cheap creature removal followed by beatdown is sufficient to overcome my deck in these cases.
Doesn't matter. You pop the artifact ramps if the situation is dire. It's necessary setback. If they waste their hand/resources when you pop them, you have time to cast your boss.
That's a good point.
Please explain.
Well for creatures you have Birds of Paradise/Arbor Elf/Treespeaker, which provide at least 1 mana for your investment of 1 mana into casting them. Somberwald Sage is the upper end, at 3 mana for a 3 mana investment.
Artifacts you have Signets (1 mana for 2 mana, usable immediately), Coalition Relic (1-2mana for 3 mana), or Thran Dynamo and the Monoliths, which are great value.
Land ramp is fine if it's a Rampant Growth type effect (1 mana for 2 invested), which is slightly inferior to other forms but not excessively so. The higher land ramp spells like Cultivate, and the 2-for-4 (Explosive Vegetation and friends) are less efficient than their counterparts judging by the numbers I've provided so far, but are also more difficult to overcome in a meta where MLD is not allowed.
Our lists might be different but the fundamental is the same. Mine however, have creatures cost waaaayy too much and less in numbers... and I use Oath of Druids.
I use some noncreature spells just for removal and annoyance to the opponent. The only problem with my old list is that I made it out of whim and the problems will show its face sooner or later during the tourney.
Fair enough. I didn't want to play an Oath package since my meta isn't entirely cutthroat and I like casting creatures. Hopefully your list serves you well in the upcoming tournament!
I replied in bold since it's much easier. Thanks for all the feedback and discussion!
Ugh, you have to post your list. Both of these cards are just so explosive in MW, but I'm wondering how much it hurts us that we can't simply tutor for them! (excepting the case of Gamble, which I am perfectly fine with running to find our various RUG enchantments or whatever is needed) I've just recently come across an Oath, and so playing around with the number of creatures, finding out what sort of frequency of creatures and of what kind we want is absolutely wracking my brain. Soothsaying and Scroll Rack come to mind, but again, Soothsaying is just another enchantment we have to luck out on rolling into our hand...
So, tl;dr: What's the best way to go about controlling MW, or do we just let chance and the pure power coming out the deck be good enough for us?
I'm going to post my updated version later. My list is just compose of LD, $$$ and stuff but you guys can compensate with it because the tourney is held in Cockatrice.
If I have a matched against Iname soon, I'll post the updated version then.
Burning of Xinye, Destructive Force, Wildfire, All is Dust are all VERY good in this deck because of ramp. They are usually the cascades I want to see the most off Wanderer.
I'm going to post my updated version later. My list is just compose of LD, $$$ and stuff but you guys can compensate with it because the tourney is held in Cockatrice.
If I have a matched against Iname soon, I'll post the updated version then.
I eagerly await your list. I'm trying to optimize mine and your list will definitely help me in that respect. Hopefully I can provide a suggestion or two for you in exchange!
Burning of Xinye, Destructive Force, Wildfire, All is Dust are all VERY good in this deck because of ramp. They are usually the cascades I want to see the most off Wanderer.
Unfortunately my hands are tied with respect to MLD. My group has house-ruled it out and I'm okay with that, since a resolved Armageddon for my opponent is very bad news for me if I don't have a major board presence in terms of creatures and other nonland permanents.
I haven't had much use out of Scroll Rack in the 40+ games I've played, so I'm probably going to cut it for another $15-$35 card instead. I'm waffling between Karn Liberated (wincon/removal) and All is Dust (removal).
Karn is good on either cascade, but All is Dust generally works better as the first resolved cascade, since it will leave me with both Wanderer and possibly another creature off the second resolved cascade. If I cascade into AID second, then I'll lose whatever creature I may have got from the first cascade. Outside of that, a cast-from-hand All is Dust can definitely serve me well if I'm being pushed back by aggro or other decks.
Flame Slash, Lignify are also good against the weaker matchups such as extreme general centric decks (Zur, Arcum Dagson, etc). There isn't a lot of enchantment hate so lignify is actually quite good.
Maybe add in Kiki-Jiki, Birthing Pod, Zealous Conscripts, Glen Elendra Archmage? They are all perfectly good cards in their own right but can infinite combo starting with Pod and Elendra. Pod Elendra -> Conscript, Untap Pod with Conscript -> Pod Elendra for Kiki-Jiki....make infinite conscripts and swing. This has won me many games although I probably would have won those games anyways.
Crystal Shard was also a lot of fun, although i did end up cutting it because it didn't do enough early game. Crystal shard for eternal witness for timewalk shaningens or crystal shard wanderer. You can also crystal shard opponents creatures (you can delay their general one turn).
I like All is Dust more than Karn. This deck has inevitability. It just needs to stay alive. All is Dust is better at staying alive.
It's just ramp race. Bit of a hard matchup with Iname if they drop lands and rocks every turn until turn 4. I lost to an Iname deck last week... which is a good training exercise for me when facing during tourney.
Once you get things going, it's either you or him casting it the wincon.
Here's my updated version of my MW deck for competitive use (the current one for the tourney doesn't have much oomph and less LD because I'm stupid and lucky enough to survive in a format that has access to everything).
Flame Slash, Lignify are also good against the weaker matchups such as extreme general centric decks (Zur, Arcum Dagson, etc). There isn't a lot of enchantment hate so lignify is actually quite good.
Maybe add in Kiki-Jiki, Birthing Pod, Zealous Conscripts, Glen Elendra Archmage? They are all perfectly good cards in their own right but can infinite combo starting with Pod and Elendra. Pod Elendra -> Conscript, Untap Pod with Conscript -> Pod Elendra for Kiki-Jiki....make infinite conscripts and swing. This has won me many games although I probably would have won those games anyways.
Crystal Shard was also a lot of fun, although i did end up cutting it because it didn't do enough early game. Crystal shard for eternal witness for timewalk shaningens or crystal shard wanderer. You can also crystal shard opponents creatures (you can delay their general one turn).
I like All is Dust more than Karn. This deck has inevitability. It just needs to stay alive. All is Dust is better at staying alive.
I felt the same way about Crystal Shard. It's great with some of my ETBs, but I don't feel that I have enough to abuse it. My only real outlets would be cards like Sphinx of Uthuun and my commander, of which there are not many.
I already have Conscripts and Archmage, and I'd rather stay away from Kiki for the moment. It would have to replace either Bribery (often an instant game-ender) or Karn due to our group's price restriction.
I'm not as certain about Birthing Pod. I personally find it quite slow, and I don't have a good birthing pod chain imo, outside of the Glen Elendra Archmage interaction.
It's just ramp race. Bit of a hard matchup with Iname if they drop lands and rocks every turn until turn 4. I lost to an Iname deck last week... which is a good training exercise for me when facing during tourney.
Once you get things going, it's either you or him casting it the wincon.
Here's my updated version of my MW deck for competitive use (the current one for the tourney doesn't have much oomph and less LD because I'm stupid and lucky enough to survive in a format that has access to everything).
Primordial- like PT's inexperienced young brother. Plus his effect is one time and only search 1 Forest which happens to be that or Dryad Arbor. Unless you convinced me to add that beast in my deck.
Ambassador- iffy for me. It's like Bribery but my gut tells me it's not that great. How does he do when using him?
Plow- gut feeling. It's decent to have land removal.
Hunting- You have too many land searchers. I would go any spells that cost x<3. So far you have 8x spells that search lands + 6x mana dorks... Which is more than mine (11x land spells+0 mana dorks).
Oh replace Walk the Aeons with Time Warp... 5cmc>6cmc since I'm not too keen on sacing 3 lands (might use it to recast something).
Primordial- like PT's inexperienced young brother. Plus his effect is one time and only search 1 Forest which happens to be that or Dryad Arbor. Unless you convinced me to add that beast in my deck.
Ambassador- iffy for me. It's like Bribery but my gut tells me it's not that great. How does he do when using him?
Plow- gut feeling. It's decent to have land removal.
Hunting- You have too many land searchers. I would go any spells that cost x<3. So far you have 8x spells that search lands + 6x mana dorks... Which is more than mine (11x land spells+0 mana dorks).
Oh replace Walk the Aeons with Time Warp... 5cmc>6cmc since I'm not too keen on sacing 3 lands (might use it to recast something).
I'm mostly playing Primordial for power reasons. It helps to have multiple tutorable answers for noncreature permanents. Sometimes it pops lands, but other times it takes out nasty Artifacts/Enchants/Planeswalkers. One of the problems with this deck is that I tend to have difficulty dealing with beastly equipments and 'Walkers, which is why I added Primordial. Of course, it is also a 6/8 beatstick off Wanderer, and combos with Deadeye Navigator to mass wipe my opponent's side of the field. That is the best-case-scenario though. Worst case, it eats a land or troublesome permanent and ramps me before getting removed without dealing combat damage. Perhaps that worst case is bad enough that I cut it from the deck? It can get the Forest duals, though, on top of generic Forests and Dryad Arbor.
Sphinx Ambassador is a nifty card which is maximally effective off a cascade. I've gotten clones out of my opponent's decks to murder their Commander, Titans to generate card advantage, and other similarly useful cards. I don't get to take their best dude because they'll likely name that card, but I can certainly get a number of other creatures which they'll have to deal with somehow. I agree that it's generally terrible to draw, however. Maybe a powerful ETB+body creature would be a good replacement?
Plow Under....every time I cast this card it either wins me games on the spot, or generates enough tempo to let me stabilize against a strong opposing start. I find that it is useful whether I'm ahead or behind, but exchanging it for Wash Out will trade one sort of tempo for another. Hm.
Hunting Wilds (and ramp in general) - this is what I'm wondering. I don't want to take away my consistent early Wanderer drops, but obviously something has to go.
Finally, I already have Time Warp in there! Do you mean Temporal Manipulation? I didn't include the latter for budget reasons.
The difference between yours and mine is that we're on the opposite side of the same coin.
I use massive LD to win while you're using good stuff. Mine, however, still waiting if I'm going to face someone who's more aggressive... and blue like Rafiq which is a potential turn 3-4 drop. I'm concern about that match up.
You just need to replace some good cards and before you know it, you'll be questioning why you have that card in the first place.
Just keep testing them. You'll find some cards that are considered dead draw sooner or later.
The difference between yours and mine is that we're on the opposite side of the same coin.
I use massive LD to win while you're using good stuff. Mine, however, still waiting if I'm going to face someone who's more aggressive... and blue like Rafiq which is a potential turn 3-4 drop. I'm concern about that match up.
You just need to replace some good cards and before you know it, you'll be questioning why you have that card in the first place.
Just keep testing them. You'll find some cards that are considered dead draw sooner or later.
I agree. One of my friends just built Infect Rafiq, which looks to be one of the premier aggro decks of the format. Until now I've had to deal with toolbox Karador and ramp/combo Animar, both of which I outspeed most of the time. This new experience vs aggro (I lost 5 games out of 6) tells me that I won't be able to outrace the best.
The question is, how can I address aggro without Wildfire-type effects? I think it's high time to cut cards for Slagstorm and Mizzium Mortars, but of course I'll have to run the deck without them many times to identify the weakest links.
Currently I feel that one of the weak points will almost certainly be Sphinx Ambassador, but identifying the others will take some time.
Bit hard to figure out which cards are useful for you case. You have to balance between not too low/high spells whenever you hit MW.
I'm doing some digging since last night and I found this list as the winner of Manila Nov 2012 Tourney. Although, I'm not sure if you found this list yet. It's reliable and we both can use it as a basis. It has a couple of cards that you might ignore (based on your house rule), but you should also include some of the removals... Just in case things get out of hand. I've seen Rafiq deck win with nothing but Cephalid Constable on turn 3-4 against a Geist deck in the tourney... Which I assumed that Geist gets the upper hand.
With that in mind, Wall of Roots can be some use for your deck (for now), Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf for just 3cmc land searcher as well as being blocker fodder and clampable. Too bad you can't use Explore or you would've use extra lands as early as turn 1.
Bit hard to figure out which cards are useful for you case. You have to balance between not too low/high spells whenever you hit MW.
I'm doing some digging since last night and I found this list as the winner of Manila Nov 2012 Tourney. Although, I'm not sure if you found this list yet. It's reliable and we both can use it as a basis. It has a couple of cards that you might ignore (based on your house rule), but you should also include some of the removals... Just in case things get out of hand. I've seen Rafiq deck win with nothing but Cephalid Constable on turn 3-4 against a Geist deck in the tourney... Which I assumed that Geist gets the upper hand.
With that in mind, Wall of Roots can be some use for your deck (for now), Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf for just 3cmc land searcher as well as being blocker fodder and clampable. Too bad you can't use Explore or you would've use extra lands as early as turn 1.
If you think about it, his lands are 39 cards WITHOUT GSZ+Dryad package. I'm not sure if you want to include Exploration, I would love to add that card to my arsenal. On the other hand, Explore is awesome too. With just 5 spells, you can add more lands... like grabbing lands from grave, top deck or even extra turns.
In the end his version is much slower than mine or yours, though.
I don't really count Eternal Witness as ramp because I almost never use it that way (prefer to wait to recur a power-card or removal), and Primeval Titan is a corner case IMO. When I think of ramp, I'm thinking of cards that will accelerate me to a turn 4-5 Maelstrom Wanderer.
Certainly I could drop him on turn 4 to push me into MW mana on turn 5, but that means I already have 6 mana available T4 and with just another land drop I will hit 7 on T5. Any small ramp spell would do to get me there in the place of Primeval.
I definitely want to make room for Devastation Tide in here since I generally favor land-based ramp. Additionally, I think you missed Cyclonic Rift as far as mass removal goes, and I would like to add that as well, but only after I successfully find room for Devastation Tide.
I don't really like Punishing Fire or Fire/Ice, but that's mostly a meta call imo. I prefer the one-shot kill spells like Pongify and Rapid Hybridization to serve that purpose for me. Likewise, I noticed that he doesn't play Beast Within or Chaos Warp, which I find invaluable to universally address any troublesome permanents.
It's true that his deck is bit slower than our usual build... but you have to consider the availability of each cards... $1=Php 45.... And his meta. It did good on his local meta consist of 10 or more players considering they have the usual top tier cards. Pretty surprisingly he did well on getting that far in the ranking.
I already included Tide, Upheaval in addition to Rift. It did well to an extent against optimized aggro decks. Too bad I was so close on getting a consistent win.
So I've put together a budget list of Maelstrom Wanderer to play with my friends in 1v1 (Duel Commander) and 2HG formats, following the French EDH banlist in all cases. There are people who'd rather not invest in pricey physical cards, so we're allowing decks to be entirely proxied, with the following deckbuilding restrictions. Note that they apply to ALL cards in a player's deck, not just the proxies, so no one can bypass the rules by purchasing expensive cards. The intent is mostly to limit the powerlevel of decks so we can have the fun games we want, but implied house rules just don't work as well for us as strict deckbuilding rules. Finally, peasant and pauper are too restrictive for our group, while allowing anything is a little too permissive for our tastes. Here are our rules, just fyi:
1) Unlimited nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is under $10.
2) Up to 8 nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is between $10 and $15.
3) Up to 2 nonland cards whose tcgplayer medium price is below $35.
4) Any land that costs less than $120.
5) No mass land destruction. (Wildfire and above count as mass LD.)
My strategy is to do some of everything to keep games fresh and interesting. That, and I'm priced out of P3K cards like Capture of Jingzhou which would help focus my strategy. The one consistency is ramping into Maelstrom Wanderer early and then cascading into beaters, time warps, tempo cards, or big swingy spells. If I get ramp then I'll just cast him again (High Market helps here), but ordinarily I hit at least one power card and things snowball from there. I tried to curve the ramp out to cast MW by turn 5 every game, and there are some combinations which let me pull it off on turn 4.
That said, here is my decklist with two different sort styles:
Sorted by Card Type:
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
Creatures (21)
1 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Somberwald Sage
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Palinchron
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Inferno Titan
1 Primeval Titan
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Sphinx Ambassador
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Eternal Witness
1 Acidic Slime
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
Instants (9)
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Beast Within
1 Chaos Warp
1 Pongify
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Krosan Grip
1 Rampant Growth
1 Into the North
1 Nature's Lore
1 Farseek
1 Cultivate
1 Growth Spasm
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Hunting Wilds
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Plow Under
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Primal Command
1 Time Warp
1 Walk the Aeons
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Bribery
Enchantments (4)
1 Treachery
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Food Chain
1 Sylvan Library
Artifacts (10)
1 Simic Signet
1 Talisman of Impulse
1 Coalition Relic
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Mindslaver
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Karn Liberated
Lands (37)
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Volcanic Island
1 Steam Vents
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Temple of the False God
1 Dryad Arbor
7 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Island
4 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
1 Dust Bowl
1 High Market
1 Command Tower
Sorted by Purpose:
8 Maelstrom Wanderer
Ramp (20)
1 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Rampant Growth
2 Into the North
2 Farseek
2 Nature's Lore
2 Simic Signet
2 Talisman of Impulse
3 Somberwald Sage
3 Cultivate
3 Growth Spasm
3 Coalition Relic
3 Basalt Monolith
4 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Hunting Wilds
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
Card Advantage and Library Manipulation (6)
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Sylvan Library
4 Fact or Fiction
6 Consecrated Sphinx
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
Creature Tutoring (4):
1 Worldly Tutor
4 Defense of the Heart
7 Tooth and Nail
4 Sower of Temptation
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
5 Treachery
5 Plow Under
Removal (9):
1 Pongify
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Beast Within
3 Chaos Warp
3 Krosan Grip
3 Oblivion Stone
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
5 Acidic Slime
Combo Pieces (2):
6 Deadeye Navigator
7 Palinchron
Big beaters (5):
6 Primeval Titan
6 Inferno Titan
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Sylvan Primordial
7 Sphinx Ambassador
Utility (6):
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Eternal Witness
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
5 Primal Command
5 Zealous Conscripts
7 Karn Liberated
Swingy Spells (6):
3 Food Chain
5 Bribery
5 Time Warp
6 Mindslaver
6 Walk the Aeons
7 Temporal Mastery
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Volcanic Island
1 Steam Vents
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Tropical Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Flooded Strand
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Temple of the False God
1 Dryad Arbor
7 Snow-Covered Forest
4 Snow-Covered Island
4 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Academy Ruins
1 Wasteland
1 Dust Bowl
1 High Market
1 Command Tower
Changelog:
12 March 2012:
- Search for Tomorrow
- Wall of Roots
- Balefire Dragon
- Scroll Rack
+ Into the North
+ Simic Signet
+ Inferno Titan
+ Karn Liberated
Price Restriction Cards:
Under $35:
- Bribery
- Karn Liberated
Between $10 and $15
- Treachery
- Glen Elendra Archmage
- Sylvan Library
- Defense of the Heart
- Tooth and Nail
- Oblivion Stone
Do you have any suggestions which may work better in my list? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
Sorry if that's not something that's 'interesting', but to me, that is a very unique interaction.
With him on full life and I'm down to 0.
I see Frost Titan tapped a lot of beaters and Inferno Titan pinging a lot of weak annoyance.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
That's actually really cool! Unfortunately I don't have many ways to tutor the Griffin with Food Chain, so the combo is easier said than done. I've mostly used Food Chain as a 1-card combo with Wanderer. If I untap with both, or cast him one turn and Food Chain the next, I am very likely to advance my board considerably.
I'm definitely thinking of the following cards to help address the aggro matchup:
1x Slagstorm
1x Volcanic Fallout/Pyroclasm/Mizzium Mortars
1x Inferno Titan
1x Wurmcoil Engine
...I am also somewhat concerned with how badly I seem to get hosed by Iona and Gaddock Teeg. Teeg could be dealt with via 3 of the above 4, making things a bit easier on me, but Iona is still a pain. Anyone who knows me (ie, my entire playgroup), can call "blue" and leave me with only a few answers in a 100-card deck.
I'm also considering removing Relic of Progenitus and swapping it with Loaming Shaman, to have a tutorable grave-hate card, but I don't know if shuffling into the deck would give them more access to cards which I'd rather not see again.
Finally, I'd like to take a second look at the ramp I use:
Currently I run a mix of all of the above, but am I playing some suboptimal choices? I feel that Wall of Roots could be replaced by a Signet safely if I'm going to adjust the aggro matchup with some other cards. Otherwise I don't know if my mana-ramp "curve" needs work.
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
It doesn't matter with it, Food Chain can be use in different ways such as sacing your creatures to cast something else. Sooner or later, you can even use 2 of them. Plus I'm not sure how much of fliers you have to deal from your opponets... namely Zur the Enchanter. On the other hand, you have to do it quick and fast.
Among those 4, 3 of them (more...if you include the "/") is among my MW deck. They're really helpful against early rampage.
Hmm.. you can burn him and such. Ramp yourself like crazy until you find your answers. Karn Liberated is among ramp's answers to color hosers which I have it in my old and new version for 4+cmc. Mizzium Mortars is actually one of the answers that bypass Gaddock.
I'm going to face Iname, Death Aspect in a few days. I'll give you an input if those cards are really helpful. From what I've experience from other matches, Iname just need just ramps to mana #6, while discarding my hand and start reviving when he cast his boss. If I outrun him before his cast, then that's game (since I use LD and mass removal cards). Yours, however, don't allow such cards in your meta.
I'm thinking of Mogg Infestation but it's a double edged sword. Brittle Effigy can be tutored by Trinket Mage.
Doesn't matter. If they use noncreature spells to kill, they wasted their resources before they deal with your Boss.
Doesn't matter. You pop the artifact ramps if the situation is dire. It's necessary setback. If they waste their hand/resources when you pop them, you have time to cast your boss.
Please explain.
Our lists might be different but the fundamental is the same. Mine however, have creatures cost waaaayy too much and less in numbers... and I use Oath of Druids.
I use some noncreature spells just for removal and annoyance to the opponent. The only problem with my old list is that I made it out of whim and the problems will show its face sooner or later during the tourney.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I replied in bold since it's much easier. Thanks for all the feedback and discussion!
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
Ugh, you have to post your list. Both of these cards are just so explosive in MW, but I'm wondering how much it hurts us that we can't simply tutor for them! (excepting the case of Gamble, which I am perfectly fine with running to find our various RUG enchantments or whatever is needed) I've just recently come across an Oath, and so playing around with the number of creatures, finding out what sort of frequency of creatures and of what kind we want is absolutely wracking my brain. Soothsaying and Scroll Rack come to mind, but again, Soothsaying is just another enchantment we have to luck out on rolling into our hand...
So, tl;dr: What's the best way to go about controlling MW, or do we just let chance and the pure power coming out the deck be good enough for us?
If I have a matched against Iname soon, I'll post the updated version then.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I eagerly await your list. I'm trying to optimize mine and your list will definitely help me in that respect. Hopefully I can provide a suggestion or two for you in exchange!
Unfortunately my hands are tied with respect to MLD. My group has house-ruled it out and I'm okay with that, since a resolved Armageddon for my opponent is very bad news for me if I don't have a major board presence in terms of creatures and other nonland permanents.
I haven't had much use out of Scroll Rack in the 40+ games I've played, so I'm probably going to cut it for another $15-$35 card instead. I'm waffling between Karn Liberated (wincon/removal) and All is Dust (removal).
Karn is good on either cascade, but All is Dust generally works better as the first resolved cascade, since it will leave me with both Wanderer and possibly another creature off the second resolved cascade. If I cascade into AID second, then I'll lose whatever creature I may have got from the first cascade. Outside of that, a cast-from-hand All is Dust can definitely serve me well if I'm being pushed back by aggro or other decks.
What do you think?
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
Maybe add in Kiki-Jiki, Birthing Pod, Zealous Conscripts, Glen Elendra Archmage? They are all perfectly good cards in their own right but can infinite combo starting with Pod and Elendra. Pod Elendra -> Conscript, Untap Pod with Conscript -> Pod Elendra for Kiki-Jiki....make infinite conscripts and swing. This has won me many games although I probably would have won those games anyways.
Crystal Shard was also a lot of fun, although i did end up cutting it because it didn't do enough early game. Crystal shard for eternal witness for timewalk shaningens or crystal shard wanderer. You can also crystal shard opponents creatures (you can delay their general one turn).
I like All is Dust more than Karn. This deck has inevitability. It just needs to stay alive. All is Dust is better at staying alive.
Close game with Anen's game!!! 2-1
It's just ramp race. Bit of a hard matchup with Iname if they drop lands and rocks every turn until turn 4. I lost to an Iname deck last week... which is a good training exercise for me when facing during tourney.
Once you get things going, it's either you or him casting it the wincon.
Here's my updated version of my MW deck for competitive use (the current one for the tourney doesn't have much oomph and less LD because I'm stupid and lucky enough to survive in a format that has access to everything).
1x Maelstrom Wanderer
Creature:8
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Eternal Witness
1x Frost Titan
1x Inferno Titan
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Primeval Titan
1x Sphinx of Uthuun
Enchantment:3
1x Oath of Druids
1x Soothsaying
1x Sylvan Library
Instant:9
1x Beast Within
1x Brainstorm
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Krosan Grip
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Volcanic Fallout
1x Worldly Tutor
Artifact:12
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Coalition Relic
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Grim Monolith
1x Gruul Signent
1x Mindslaver
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Simic Signet
1x Talisman of Impulse
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Mizzium Mortars
1x Personal Tutor
1x Preordain
1x Primal Command
1x Scapeshift
1x Slagstorm
1x Temporal Manipulation
1x Temporal Mastery
1x Time Spiral
1x Urban Evolution
Land Searcher:11
1x Cultivate
1x Farseek
1x Growth Spasm
1x Into the North
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Nature's Lore
1x Rampant Growth
1x Reap and Sow
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Three Visits
Nono Spells for you:4
1x Burning of Xinye
1x Destructive Force
1x Jokulhaups
1x Wildfire
Planeswalker:3
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Karn Liberated
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
3x Snow-Covered Forest
1x Snow-Covered Island
6x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Academy Ruins
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Command Tower
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Simic Growth Chamber
1x Temple of the False God
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdan Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Breading Pool
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Taiga
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
I still need to add Upheaval in there
My deck that I use in the tourney consists of:
10 Creatures
12 Artifacts
2 Enchantment
9 Instant
3 Planeswalker
27 Sorcery
36 Lands
Few suggestions that you might like and I haven't mentioned.
- 1x Wash Out
- 1x Evacuation
- 1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Soothsaying (that and Scroll Rack are affordable which is -$20)Definite:
- 1x Volcanic Fallout
- 1x Mizzium Mortars
- 1x Slagstorm
- 1x All is Dust
1x Blasphemous Act (worth testing for budget or local meta)Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I felt the same way about Crystal Shard. It's great with some of my ETBs, but I don't feel that I have enough to abuse it. My only real outlets would be cards like Sphinx of Uthuun and my commander, of which there are not many.
I already have Conscripts and Archmage, and I'd rather stay away from Kiki for the moment. It would have to replace either Bribery (often an instant game-ender) or Karn due to our group's price restriction.
I'm not as certain about Birthing Pod. I personally find it quite slow, and I don't have a good birthing pod chain imo, outside of the Glen Elendra Archmage interaction.
Very nice decklist! I've actually made some changes to my deck, which I'll outline below:
- Search for Tomorrow
- Wall of Roots
- Balefire Dragon
- Scroll Rack
+ Into the North
+ Simic Signet
+ Inferno Titan
+ Karn Liberated
Further, I'm actually looking for cards to cut for the following:
Slagstorm
Wash Out
Mizzium Mortars
Duplicant
Do you have any ideas?
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
Primordial- like PT's inexperienced young brother. Plus his effect is one time and only search 1 Forest which happens to be that or Dryad Arbor. Unless you convinced me to add that beast in my deck.
Ambassador- iffy for me. It's like Bribery but my gut tells me it's not that great. How does he do when using him?
Plow- gut feeling. It's decent to have land removal.
Hunting- You have too many land searchers. I would go any spells that cost x<3. So far you have 8x spells that search lands + 6x mana dorks... Which is more than mine (11x land spells+0 mana dorks).
Oh replace Walk the Aeons with Time Warp... 5cmc>6cmc since I'm not too keen on sacing 3 lands (might use it to recast something).
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I'm mostly playing Primordial for power reasons. It helps to have multiple tutorable answers for noncreature permanents. Sometimes it pops lands, but other times it takes out nasty Artifacts/Enchants/Planeswalkers. One of the problems with this deck is that I tend to have difficulty dealing with beastly equipments and 'Walkers, which is why I added Primordial. Of course, it is also a 6/8 beatstick off Wanderer, and combos with Deadeye Navigator to mass wipe my opponent's side of the field. That is the best-case-scenario though. Worst case, it eats a land or troublesome permanent and ramps me before getting removed without dealing combat damage. Perhaps that worst case is bad enough that I cut it from the deck? It can get the Forest duals, though, on top of generic Forests and Dryad Arbor.
Sphinx Ambassador is a nifty card which is maximally effective off a cascade. I've gotten clones out of my opponent's decks to murder their Commander, Titans to generate card advantage, and other similarly useful cards. I don't get to take their best dude because they'll likely name that card, but I can certainly get a number of other creatures which they'll have to deal with somehow. I agree that it's generally terrible to draw, however. Maybe a powerful ETB+body creature would be a good replacement?
Plow Under....every time I cast this card it either wins me games on the spot, or generates enough tempo to let me stabilize against a strong opposing start. I find that it is useful whether I'm ahead or behind, but exchanging it for Wash Out will trade one sort of tempo for another. Hm.
Hunting Wilds (and ramp in general) - this is what I'm wondering. I don't want to take away my consistent early Wanderer drops, but obviously something has to go.
Finally, I already have Time Warp in there! Do you mean Temporal Manipulation? I didn't include the latter for budget reasons.
I think I'm too attached to my cards!
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
I use massive LD to win while you're using good stuff. Mine, however, still waiting if I'm going to face someone who's more aggressive... and blue like Rafiq which is a potential turn 3-4 drop. I'm concern about that match up.
You just need to replace some good cards and before you know it, you'll be questioning why you have that card in the first place.
Just keep testing them. You'll find some cards that are considered dead draw sooner or later.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I agree. One of my friends just built Infect Rafiq, which looks to be one of the premier aggro decks of the format. Until now I've had to deal with toolbox Karador and ramp/combo Animar, both of which I outspeed most of the time. This new experience vs aggro (I lost 5 games out of 6) tells me that I won't be able to outrace the best.
The question is, how can I address aggro without Wildfire-type effects? I think it's high time to cut cards for Slagstorm and Mizzium Mortars, but of course I'll have to run the deck without them many times to identify the weakest links.
Currently I feel that one of the weak points will almost certainly be Sphinx Ambassador, but identifying the others will take some time.
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
I'm doing some digging since last night and I found this list as the winner of Manila Nov 2012 Tourney. Although, I'm not sure if you found this list yet. It's reliable and we both can use it as a basis. It has a couple of cards that you might ignore (based on your house rule), but you should also include some of the removals... Just in case things get out of hand. I've seen Rafiq deck win with nothing but Cephalid Constable on turn 3-4 against a Geist deck in the tourney... Which I assumed that Geist gets the upper hand.
With that in mind, Wall of Roots can be some use for your deck (for now), Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf for just 3cmc land searcher as well as being blocker fodder and clampable. Too bad you can't use Explore or you would've use extra lands as early as turn 1.
Here's the list btw...
General:
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
Creatures:
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Azusa, lost but seeking
1 Eternal Witness
1 Oracle of Muldaya
1 Spike Weaver
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Primeval Titan
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Pestermite
1 Trinket Mage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Mulldrifter
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Frost Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Palinchron
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Zealous Conscript
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Inferno Titan
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Explore
1 Life from the Loam
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Primal Command
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Cyclonic rift
1 Cryptic command
1 Time Warp
1 Devastation Tide
1 Bribery
1 Upheaval
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Punishing Fire
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Slagstorm
1 All is Dust
1 Fire/Ice
Artifact:
1 Expedition Map
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Scroll rack
Enchantments:
1 Sylvan Library
1 Survival of the Fittest
Planeswalker:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Karn Liberated
Lands:
6 Forest
3 Island
2 Mountain
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Arid Mesa
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Gruul Turf
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Tolaria West
1 Command Tower
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Temple of the False God
1 Homeward Path
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Volcanic Island
1 Tropical Island
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Yeah, I'm pretty strongly considering swapping the Signet for a Wall of Roots to improve the aggro matchup.
That's an interesting list. I noticed that he played much less ramp (~7 spells) vs our lists, which I believe play at least twice as much.
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
Typical Searchers:
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Cultivate
1x Kodama’s Reach
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Primeval Titan
Alternative ways to ramp:
1x Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1x Oracle of Muldaya
1x Explore
1x Life from the Loam
1x Eternal Witness
If you think about it, his lands are 39 cards WITHOUT GSZ+Dryad package. I'm not sure if you want to include
Exploration, I would love to add that card to my arsenal. On the other hand, Explore is awesome too. With just 5 spells, you can add more lands... like grabbing lands from grave, top deck or even extra turns.
We should look over to his other package:
Removals:
1 Devastation Tide
1 Punishing Fire
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Slagstorm
1 All is Dust
1 Fire/Ice
To tell you the truth, I didn't realized that Devastation is a miracle card. I definitely add that since it's within MW's spells.
Extra Turns:
1 Time Warp
1 Temporal Mastery
Nono Spells
1 Upheaval
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I don't really count Eternal Witness as ramp because I almost never use it that way (prefer to wait to recur a power-card or removal), and Primeval Titan is a corner case IMO. When I think of ramp, I'm thinking of cards that will accelerate me to a turn 4-5 Maelstrom Wanderer.
Certainly I could drop him on turn 4 to push me into MW mana on turn 5, but that means I already have 6 mana available T4 and with just another land drop I will hit 7 on T5. Any small ramp spell would do to get me there in the place of Primeval.
I definitely want to make room for Devastation Tide in here since I generally favor land-based ramp. Additionally, I think you missed Cyclonic Rift as far as mass removal goes, and I would like to add that as well, but only after I successfully find room for Devastation Tide.
I don't really like Punishing Fire or Fire/Ice, but that's mostly a meta call imo. I prefer the one-shot kill spells like Pongify and Rapid Hybridization to serve that purpose for me. Likewise, I noticed that he doesn't play Beast Within or Chaos Warp, which I find invaluable to universally address any troublesome permanents.
More Trades: My YGO for Your MTG
I already included Tide, Upheaval in addition to Rift. It did well to an extent against optimized aggro decks. Too bad I was so close on getting a consistent win.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier