”Omnath, the "flickering heart," is a divine manifestation of the wild and chaotic mana of Zendikar, an elemental being that can be found in some incarnation in many creation myths of the plane.
Despite the uncertainty of Omnath's actual existence, a real site on a high mesa of Ondu was dubbed the "Prison of Omnath". The site was safeguarded by a binding circle of strange globular swamp-growths, stone hedrons, and animal bones. The circle created an eerie sensation in those who approached it, deterring them from approaching the circle's center, where a huge pit leas deep into the ground. Those who got too close died to the destructive surges of power that lashed out from the circle.
Religious pilgrims from across Zendikar traveled to the Prison of Omnath on a twice-yearly basis to perform the "Ritual of Lights", a ceremony designed to protect the world from the release of Omnath. During the events leading up to the Rise of the Eldrazi, however, the ritual was disrupted and Omnath was set loose.” – MTG Salvation Wiki
On October 2, 2015, Battle for Zendikar was released, and in the wake of the Eldrazi rampage, Omnath, formerly the Locus of Mana, was released from his prison as the Locus of Rage.
“Why would anyone want to build a deck with a commander that has that high of a CMC?” The answer is quite simple. This is essentially a mono-green ramp deck which splashes red for it’s burn counterpart. Having two colors gives you access to good spells on each side, and also more fetch lands to make better use out of Omnath.
You ramp into Omnath, create a bunch of 5/5’s, and then overwhelm your opponent with either massive combat damage, or if you feel like sitting back, use them for blockers, sac them and kill your opponent’s on their turn.
You might like Omnath if:
1) You like playing Gruul colors.
2) You like having big creatures on board.
3) You like winning with or without going to combat.
4) You like blowing up creatures on the board.
5) You like ramp decks.
You might dislike Omnath if:
1) You hate Gruul colors.
2) You hate ramp strategies.
3) You hate big dumb creatures.
4) You hate playing decks that focus on the commanders.
5) You hate shuffling a lot.
Omnath, Locus of Mana: The other Omnath. Being mono green gives you access to an easier mana base, and allows you to play more of the green good stuff creatures and spells. Xenagos, God of Revels: This guy can play more or less the same as our general. Ramp as much as you can. Play some big fatties. Use your general to double up a creatures power and swing away. Atarka, World Render: Again, you want to ramp with this deck. Play a bunch of big dragons. Play your commander, and swing. You could also go Voltron with this general if you want to try and one-shot someone. Ruric Thar, Unbowed: This deck plays a bit differently. It runs very few nonpermanent spells, and will mostly likely have Primal Surge to dump most, if not all, of your deck onto the battlefield. Mina and Denn, Wildborn: A new Gruul ramp commander. You can switch this card out with Omnath and make a few changes to the list and it will play almost identical.
When this Omnath was first spoiled, I thought to myself “Oh cool, they made another Omanth, but RG this time. Pretty neat ability, too.” Sounds real enthusiastic, huh? Well, that was before I gave him a chance. I built him on Xmage to test him out. It was originally built as a RG good stuff deck that wasn’t really focused on Omnath. That’s where I went wrong. Omnath is a Commander that you NEED to build around. So how do you fully take advantage of this commander? You make him a “Lands Matter” deck. You cut the good stuff spells and add a bunch more land and ramps spells. You don’t need very many creatures, as Omnath himself makes them, and they’re 5/5s, too! Once I made those changes, he became a much more ferocious deck. I won games I had to right to win. I came from behind and pulled victory after victory. I’ve even taken someone from 40 to 0 life with 6 cards left in my library. This deck is the culmination of all of the testing and hard work that I and a few others have done to get this deck into competitive shape.
Forest/Mountain: The basic lands of our colors. This is mostly a green deck that splashes red, hence the reason for more Forests than Mountains. Arid Mesa, Blighted Woodland, Bloodstained Mire, Evolving Wilds, Misty Rainforest, Myriad Landscape, Scalding Tarn, Thawing Glaciers, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills: The fetchlands of the deck. These will allow you to get the colors you need, and will provide extra landfall triggers for Omnath. Cinder Glade/Stomping Ground/Taiga: The dual lands of the deck. Easier mana fixing. Cavern of Souls: Ensures Omnath gets cast through any counter spells. Command Beacon: Omnath gets cast and killed quite often. This land helps keep his costs down by casting from your hand. Gaea’s Cradle: We can make an absurd amount of creatures between Omnath and Avenger of Zendikar so Cradle will make us a ton of mana to either cast a bunch of spells, or one massive Genesis Wave. Ghost Town: This land ensures that we will have at least one land drop each turn by bouncing it to our hands during our opponent’s turn. With Burgeoning out, we will get a landfall trigger every turn. Reliquary Tower: This deck can draw a ton of cards, so we want to be able to keep them instead of discarding. Strip Mine: The only land-hate land we run. Can hit any land, whether we want to keep someone off of a certain color, or get rid of our opponent’s good lands, such as their own Gaea’s Cradle, Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Maze of Ith, etc. Wastes: With the inclusion of World Breaker, I needed more sources of colorless mana. What better way than to have a fetchable basic that produces colorless? Yavimaya Hollow: Helps protect Omnath or any other creature we need it to.
Creatures:
Lotus Cobra: Generates mana. With fetchlands and ramp spells, we are able to play more spells with this little critter out. Sakura-Tribe Elder: Early ramp. Sometimes used as a chump blocker. Azusa, Lost but Seeking: Land ramp. An all-star with Crucible of Worlds/Life from the Loam. Eternal Witness: Used to get a card back, usually something that was countered and something we could really use. Nissa, Vastwood Seer: Gets us a Forest when she comes in. Once she flips, she becomes card draw/land ramp. Not really used for her ultimate, but sometimes will use the token ability. Tireless Tracker: Early beater. With the amount of land drops we are able to make, this card turns into a card advantage engine. Mina and Denn, Wildborn: More land ramp. Enables us to bounce our lands to get landfall triggers. Gives a creature trample as well. Oracle of Mul Daya: More land ramp. Allows us to play lands off the top of our library which can in turn help keep our hand full. Purphoros, God of the Forge: Some burn/planeswalker control. Can get nuts with Avenger of Zendikar after we have a ton of lands out. Works well with Omnath and Titania as well. Titania, Protector of Argoth: Token generator, with a tiny splash of ramp. Can bring back a land from the graveyard (hopefully a fetchland). Creates Elemental tokens whenever a land we control goes to the graveyard from the battlefield. We run a bunch of fetches, so we can create a bunch of tokens. Can also Bolt when they die as long as Omnath is out. Greenwarden of Murasa: Used to get a card back, usually something that was countered and something we could really use. Ulvenwald Hydra: The big beefie guy. P/T equal to the amount of lands we control, which usually means he’s a big guy. He will almost always fetch out a Gaea’s Cradle. Avenger of Zendikar: Token generator. His tokens can get pretty big with the amount of landfall triggers we are able to get. Stalking Vengeance: Why only do 3 damage when an Elemental dies when you can do 8? World Breaker: Better than Reclamation Sage in my opinion. Can remove lands and enchantments as well as artifacts. It’s an on cast trigger, so if he gets countered, his ability still goes through (unless it gets Stifled. It exiles instead of destroys, which is much better. He is also recurrable from the graveyard. Craterhoof Behemoth:The big bomb finisher. Not much needs to be said about this guy. With enough creatures out, you can finish the game with him.
Artifacts:
Amulet of Vigor: All of our lands that come into play tapped no longer do. Really fun to use this with Burgeoning and Thawing Glaciers. Mana Crypt/Sol Ring: Early mana ramp. Allows for turn 1 or 2 land ramp spells. Will also allow Omnath to come out a turn or 2 earlier. Lightning Greaves: Gives a creature haste and protection from targeting. Omnath usually wears these kicks. Ashnod's Altar: Free sac outlet that generates mana. Crucible of Worlds: Allows us to play lands from our graveyard and keep our hands full of cards. Akroma's Memorial: Another finisher enabler. All our elementals that come into play can fly overhead with haste and smash face.
Sorceries:
Farseek: Land ramp. Can fetch out Cinder Glade/Stomping Ground/Taiga. Life from the Loam: Allows us to recur our lands, and get more if we dredge. Nature's Lore: Land ramp. Can fetch out Cinder Glade/Stomping Ground/Taiga. Cultivate: Land ramp. Genesis Wave: One of our bomb cards. Dump a bunch of mana into it and see what you can find. With Omnath out, you may end up getting a bunch of landfall triggers and can deal a ton of damage if you also have/get Purphoros, God of the Forge/ Where Ancients Tread/Warstorm Surge. Kodama's Reach: Land ramp. Nissa's Pilgrimage: Land ramp. Wheel of Fortune: Card draw. We tend to empty our hands a lot, and this will help refill. Explosive Vegetation: Land ramp. Natural Order: Tutor, and a sac outlet to give something a Bolt. Scapeshift: With Titania and Omnath out, this card is just bonkers. Get a bunch of Elementals and with Amulet out, they will all untap and you can cast more spells! Skyshroud Claim: Land ramp. Can fetch out Cinder Glade/Stomping Ground/Taiga. Tempt with Discovery: Land ramp. Kind of a tricky card. You want to get something out like a fetch land first, just in case someone takes the offer and goes for Strip Mine/Wasteland. If someone does take the offer, then you can go for the good lands like Gaea’s Cradle. Shamanic Revelation: Card draw. Can gain an enormous amount of life as well. Seasons Past: Allows us to return spells we’ve used or that have been countered. Our CMCs vary from 0 to 9, so should be able to get back a decent amount of cards when cast. It will also get put back into the library for another use if it resolves. Verdant Confluence: Mostly used as land ramp. Sometimes will get a permanent back. Rarely used for the counters. Boundless Realms: Big land ramp card. Best when used after Omnath is on the field. Blasphemous Act: Creature removal. Can usually wipe the board. With a bunch of Elementals out, can also cause a serious amount of damage.
Instants:
Chaos Warp: Low cost removal. Gets around indestructible effects. Unfortunately, it doesn’t remove it permanently. Chord of Calling: Creature tutor. Will most of the time pull out an Oracle of Mul Daya. Harrow: More ramp. We do lose one land, but if Titania is out, we can an Elemental. Fetches the lands untapped as well.
In order to fully understand how to play the deck, we need to look closer at Omnath to see what he does. He focuses on three things: lands, creating Elementals, and those Elementals dying. Let’s take a look at those three things individually.
Lands: Lands entering the battlefield are what triggers Omnath to create tokens. We run fetchlands in order to get more than one Landfall trigger. Some lands, such as Myriad Landscape and Blighted Woodland will give you more than two Landfall triggers, all from a single card. Ghost Town is another card that can give you multiple triggers throughout the game. Ramp spells are what really gets Omnath’s juices flowing. The ability to drop a land for a Landfall trigger and then play a ramp spell for one or more triggers is really nuts in this game. Producing multiple Elementals in a single turn can turn any game around.
Creating Elementals: When lands come into play, Omnath creates Elementals. But is that all he does? Creates bodies to swing? No, he does far more than that. You want to be able to take advantage of the mass amounts of Elementals coming into play. How do you do that? You play things that trigger when creatures come into play. Warstorm Surge, Where Ancients Tread, and Purphoros, God of the Forge will all deal damage to either creatures or players. These enchantments help control creatures and planeswalkers, and can also kill an opponent if enough creatures come into play. And what’s better than creating a single Elemental for every Landfall? Why, multiple Elementals thanks Parallel Lives and Doubling Season! More Elementals being made means more damage and a faster road to victory. Playing all of these cool spells means you run out of gas, so why not draw cards with Elemental Bond when you make Elementals?
Elementals Dying: Knowing what happens when Elementals die will sometimes make our opponent’s hesitant to kill our creatures, especially with an army out. In order to get around that, we need to take advantage of sac outlets to essentially “machine gun” our opponents. Free sac outlets such as Goblin Bombardment, Greater Good, and Ashnod’s Altar will allow us to start Bolting things with no mana requirement necessary on our part. Evolutionary Leap and Perilous Forays require an investment of a single mana, so while they are less versatile than the others, they also are very key sac outlets. Leap will allow us to refill our hand with some creatures in case of a board wipe. Forays will ramp and Bolt at the same time and with Lotus Cobra or Amulet of Vigor, will let us fetch our all of our lands with a basic land type. This alone could win us the game.
Now, how do we go about playing through a game with Omnath? Let’s take a look at what we should do:
1) Mulligans: Your opening hand needs to consist of two things: lands and ramp. If you have neither, then a mulligan is necessary. If you have a majority of lands to spells, keep the hand as you will be able to play a land every turn and should be able to draw into a ramp spell. If your hand contains a few ramps spells, with only one or two lands, as long as one of those ramp spells is 2 CMC, keep it; otherwise you will want to mulligan it away. This is a lands deck, and a lot of our spells have a high CMC, so without lands or a way to get lands, we’re not going to have much luck playing the game.
2) Early Game: The early game is where you want to set everything up. Play your lands and ramp. You want to be able to hopefully get a draw engine like Elemental Bond/Greater Good and an early sac outlet such as Ashnod’s Altar/Evolutionary Leap/Goblin Bombardment online in order to keep fueling your landfall triggers and be able to Bolt anything that gets in your way.
3) Mid Game: It is possible to play Omnath as early as turn three, and here is how:
Once you get him out, you will hopefully have a draw/sac engine up and going. Keep playing your lands to create more Elementals. A token doubler and a damage enabler will help you get closer to the late game and hopefully end it in quick fashion.
4) Late Game: By now, you have been able to create enough Elementals to do some damage and dwindle your opponent’s life totals down. If you had a draw engine out, you should have been able to draw enough to find a win condition. Whether that is Craterhoof Behemoth, Akroma’s Memorial, Boundless Realms, Genesis Wave, etc., you should be able to swing and kill off everyone. If there are some stragglers left over after your assault, sac your tokens to Bolt away the few remaining points of life left.
When exactly do you want to play Omnath?
When I play this deck, I always try to rush for Omnath. But is it good enough to get to 7 mana to cast him and get nothing out of him? No, not really. The best time to cast Omnath is when you can get value out of him. What kind of value, you ask? Wait until you have something out that will trigger when he enters, like Where Ancients Tread or Elemental Bond, or when you can cast him and ALSO make a land drop. Don’t pay 7 mana for him to just get killed and cost 9 next time. Get something out of him before he dies.
What if Omnath keeps dying?
Omnath is going to die. A lot, in fact. What do you do when that happens? Keep ramping and casting him. Eventually, you will get to the point where he will stick around for a good amount of time. Give him some protection of sorts with Lightning Greaves or Akroma’s Memorial. Command Beacon is Omnath’s best friend. While the commander tax is still adding up, casting Omnath from you hand will still only cost 7 mana. Being able to reuse this land with Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds will help alleviate the excruciating commander tax this guy can get.
How do I win?
Winning can be pretty simple. Create a bunch of Elementals and swing. Adding Akroma’s Memorial to give your army evasion and protection, or a Craterhoof Behemoth with an army is usually game over for most players. However, most games I have won is by using Warstorm Surge, Where Ancients Tread, and Purphoros, God of the Forge and dropping a bunch of lands into play and burning everyone to death. Using sac outlets and “machine gunning” everyone down is another effective way of closing out the game. No attacking necessary. A Genesis Wave for an absurd amount of mana will usually enable you to get a good majority of those cards, along with lands for triggers, and win the game.
Another thing to keep in mind when playing is who you are playing against. If you’re playing against a blue player, you need to be able to know when to play your spells. Don’t needlessly cast something if you think they have a counter spell waiting for you. If need be, try baiting them out with a spell you don’t necessarily need. Be cautious if the blue player has 7 mana available. If you play everything you can, they can and will Cylconic Rift you and restart your entire board. It’s always a good idea to have a free sac outlet available in that case so you can at least Bolt them a few times and get some use out of your Elementals.
Just like any deck, this one has its weaknesses as well. There is hopefully enough redundancy in the deck that you should be able to fight through whatever is thrown at you. Let’s look at some of the weaknesses:
1) Counters: Every decks worst nightmare. We ramp a lot and need the ramp in order to keep playing Omnath. If your opponent is smart, they will want to keep you down on lands, so they are going to counter your ramp spells first. After that, they will probably go after countering Omnath in order to keep his tax high.
2) Land Destruction: We rely on our lands. A lot. When we encounter LD of any kind, it slows us down a lot. Yes, we ramp a lot. But if we get hit with a mass land destruction spell, we’re back to square one and need to start over, this time with less ramp spells to help us out since we already would have used some.
3) Gaddock Teeg: This guy right here is a big pain. A lot of our good spells have a CMC of 4 or more. He stops them dead. If we can get Omnath and a sac outlet out and keep them out, we can keep him in check. Otherwise, he will slow us down a lot.
4) Flying Creatures: We don’t have any flyers and only one creature with reach. In order to protect ourselves from them, we need to either have a sac outlet with enough Elementals to Bolt them out of the sky, or have Akroma’s Memorial so our Elementals can take flight for some aerial assault and prevention.
5) Aven Mindcensor: This deck fetches a lot. When you can only search through the top four cards of your library, most of the time you are going to whiff, even with the amount of lands we run. When this guy is out, we need to play slowly until we have a way to get him off of the field.
Glad you like Omnath, my playgroup had to play against him the first week after he was spoiled! I scribbled up a proxy and then immediately built the deck around him upon being spoiled.Keldon Firebombers+Survival of the Fittest+any eldrazi titan does WORK!
Glad you like Omnath, my playgroup had to play against him the first week after he was spoiled! I scribbled up a proxy and then immediately built the deck around him upon being spoiled.Keldon Firebombers+Survival of the Fittest+any eldrazi titan does WORK!
Omnath is definitely a fun deck to play. It can pull wins out of nowhere. I've won a few games I had to right to win.
Just not too sure about that combo that you mentioned.
Glad you like Omnath, my playgroup had to play against him the first week after he was spoiled! I scribbled up a proxy and then immediately built the deck around him upon being spoiled.Keldon Firebombers+Survival of the Fittest+any eldrazi titan does WORK!
Omnath is definitely a fun deck to play. It can pull wins out of nowhere. I've won a few games I had to right to win.
Just not too sure about that combo that you mentioned.
The original Ulamog shuffles all the sacrificed lands back into the deck to keep fetching. Tap the lands first and float the mana while your opponents have a measly 3 lands to work with. Hermit Druid does similar to the Survival by putting ulamog in the grave if you've fetched all your basics and need more lands to fetch. If you run out of lands, a land destruction/sacrifice outlet in Omnath then saves you valuable slots spent on lands. Sylvan Safekeeper and Scapeshift complement also.
Glad you like Omnath, my playgroup had to play against him the first week after he was spoiled! I scribbled up a proxy and then immediately built the deck around him upon being spoiled.Keldon Firebombers+Survival of the Fittest+any eldrazi titan does WORK!
Omnath is definitely a fun deck to play. It can pull wins out of nowhere. I've won a few games I had to right to win.
Just not too sure about that combo that you mentioned.
The original Ulamog shuffles all the sacrificed lands back into the deck to keep fetching. Tap the lands first and float the mana while your opponents have a measly 3 lands to work with. Hermit Druid does similar to the Survival by putting ulamog in the grave if you've fetched all your basics and need more lands to fetch. If you run out of lands, a land destruction/sacrifice outlet in Omnath then saves you valuable slots spent on lands. Sylvan Safekeeper and Scapeshift complement also.
For me, I feel this combo would belong in some other deck.
Keldon Firebombers is terrible on his own. Yes it sets opponents back as well. But this is a Lands deck. It hurts us, especially if they get rid of Omnath. Now we have to build back up to cast him again.
Survival is a worse Evolutionary Leap in this deck. We don't run many creatures, so discarding one to find another isn't very good. Leap lets you sac an Elemental to Bolt something and also find you a creature to replace it.
Eldrazi Titans are just Bribery targets that we have a hard time dealing with. I ran Newlamog in here as more removal, but it kept getting Bribery'd with no answer to it. Not something I want happening.
For me, I feel this combo would belong in some other deck.
Keldon Firebombers is terrible on his own. Yes it sets opponents back as well. But this is a Lands deck. It hurts us, especially if they get rid of Omnath. Now we have to build back up to cast him again.
Survival is a worse Evolutionary Leap in this deck. We don't run many creatures, so discarding one to find another isn't very good. Leap lets you sac an Elemental to Bolt something and also find you a creature to replace it.
Eldrazi Titans are just Bribery targets that we have a hard time dealing with. I ran Newlamog in here as more removal, but it kept getting Bribery'd with no answer to it. Not something I want happening.
I use such cards and combos in multiplayer games, admittedly your build here is for 1v1 and therefore requires different guidelines. It's more fun to interact with the people reading your post I would figure, hopefully you see my posts as a sharing of ideas as opposed to an objection.
In a multiplayer game the dynamics are way different, Keldon Firebombers is suddenly way more potent at stopping others from stopping you. The grave recursion that Surivial and Ulamog give you is also priceless in such an environment. Trickling buildups of board presence are soooo hard to maintain too! The ideas I'm putting forth come from a need to kill 3 or more people all at once.
For me, I feel this combo would belong in some other deck.
Keldon Firebombers is terrible on his own. Yes it sets opponents back as well. But this is a Lands deck. It hurts us, especially if they get rid of Omnath. Now we have to build back up to cast him again.
Survival is a worse Evolutionary Leap in this deck. We don't run many creatures, so discarding one to find another isn't very good. Leap lets you sac an Elemental to Bolt something and also find you a creature to replace it.
Eldrazi Titans are just Bribery targets that we have a hard time dealing with. I ran Newlamog in here as more removal, but it kept getting Bribery'd with no answer to it. Not something I want happening.
I use such cards and combos in multiplayer games, admittedly your build here is for 1v1 and therefore requires different guidelines. It's more fun to interact with the people reading your post I would figure, hopefully you see my posts as a sharing of ideas as opposed to an objection.
In a multiplayer game the dynamics are way different, Keldon Firebombers is suddenly way more potent at stopping others from stopping you. The grave recursion that Surivial and Ulamog give you is also priceless in such an environment. Trickling buildups of board presence are soooo hard to maintain too! The ideas I'm putting forth come from a need to kill 3 or more people all at once.
I understand where you are coming from. I appreciate all of the input.
I do play this in both 1v1 and Multiplayer, and I already have a thread in the multiplayer section.
”Omnath, the "flickering heart," is a divine manifestation of the wild and chaotic mana of Zendikar, an elemental being that can be found in some incarnation in many creation myths of the plane.
Despite the uncertainty of Omnath's actual existence, a real site on a high mesa of Ondu was dubbed the "Prison of Omnath". The site was safeguarded by a binding circle of strange globular swamp-growths, stone hedrons, and animal bones. The circle created an eerie sensation in those who approached it, deterring them from approaching the circle's center, where a huge pit leas deep into the ground. Those who got too close died to the destructive surges of power that lashed out from the circle.
Religious pilgrims from across Zendikar traveled to the Prison of Omnath on a twice-yearly basis to perform the "Ritual of Lights", a ceremony designed to protect the world from the release of Omnath. During the events leading up to the Rise of the Eldrazi, however, the ritual was disrupted and Omnath was set loose.” – MTG Salvation Wiki
On October 2, 2015, Battle for Zendikar was released, and in the wake of the Eldrazi rampage, Omnath, formerly the Locus of Mana, was released from his prison as the Locus of Rage.
“Why would anyone want to build a deck with a commander that has that high of a CMC?” The answer is quite simple. This is essentially a mono-green ramp deck which splashes red for it’s burn counterpart. Having two colors gives you access to good spells on each side, and also more fetch lands to make better use out of Omnath.
You ramp into Omnath, create a bunch of 5/5’s, and then overwhelm your opponent with either massive combat damage, or if you feel like sitting back, use them for blockers, sac them and kill your opponent’s on their turn.
1) You like playing Gruul colors.
2) You like having big creatures on board.
3) You like winning with or without going to combat.
4) You like blowing up creatures on the board.
5) You like ramp decks.
You might dislike Omnath if:
1) You hate Gruul colors.
2) You hate ramp strategies.
3) You hate big dumb creatures.
4) You hate playing decks that focus on the commanders.
5) You hate shuffling a lot.
When this Omnath was first spoiled, I thought to myself “Oh cool, they made another Omanth, but RG this time. Pretty neat ability, too.” Sounds real enthusiastic, huh? Well, that was before I gave him a chance. I built him on Xmage to test him out. It was originally built as a RG good stuff deck that wasn’t really focused on Omnath. That’s where I went wrong. Omnath is a Commander that you NEED to build around. So how do you fully take advantage of this commander? You make him a “Lands Matter” deck. You cut the good stuff spells and add a bunch more land and ramps spells. You don’t need very many creatures, as Omnath himself makes them, and they’re 5/5s, too! Once I made those changes, he became a much more ferocious deck. I won games I had to right to win. I came from behind and pulled victory after victory. I’ve even taken someone from 40 to 0 life with 6 cards left in my library. This deck is the culmination of all of the testing and hard work that I and a few others have done to get this deck into competitive shape.
7 Omnath, Locus of Rage
Bombs:
3 Genesis Wave
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Card Advantage:
2 Life from the Loam
2 Sylvan Library
3 Elemental Bond
3 Eternal Witness
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Wheel of Fortune
4 Greater Good
5 Shamanic Revelation
6 Greenwarden of Murasa
6 Seasons Past
Protection:
2 Lightning Greaves
7 Akroma's Memorial
Ramp/Land Advantage:
0 Mana Crypt
1 Amulet of Vigor
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
1 Sol Ring
2 Farseek
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Nature's Lore
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Cultivate
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Harrow
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Tempt with Discovery
6 Ulvenwald Hydra
6 Verdant Confluence
7 Boundless Realms
3 Chaos Warp
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
5 Where Ancients Tread
6 Warstorm Surge
7 Stalking Vengeance
7 World Breaker
9 Blasphemous Act
Sac Outlets:
2 Evolutionary Leap
2 Goblin Bombardment
3 Ashnod's Altar
5 Perilous Forays
Tokens:
4 Parallel Lives
5 Doubling Season
5 Titania, Protector of Argoth
7 Avenger of Zendikar
Tutor:
3 Chord of Calling
4 Natural Order
4 Scapeshift
Lands:
0 Arid Mesa
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Cinder Glade
0 Command Beacon
0 Evolving Wilds
14 Forest
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Ghost Town
0 Misty Rainforest
6 Mountain
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Stomping Ground
0 Strip Mine
0 Taiga
0 Thawing Glaciers
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Windswept Heath
2 Wastes
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Yavimaya Hollow
7 Omnath, Locus of Rage
Creatures:
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Eternal Witness
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
5 Titania, Protector of Argoth
6 Greenwarden of Murasa
6 Ulvenwald Hydra
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Stalking Vengeance
7 World Breaker
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
Artifacts:
0 Mana Crypt
1 Amulet of Vigor
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Crucible of Worlds
7 Akroma's Memorial
Sorceries:
2 Farseek
2 Life from the Loam
2 Nature's Lore
3 Cultivate
3 Genesis Wave
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Nissa's Pilgrimage
3 Wheel of Fortune
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Natural Order
4 Scapeshift
4 Skyshroud Claim
4 Tempt with Discovery
5 Shamanic Revelation
6 Seasons Past
6 Verdant Confluence
7 Boundless Realms
9 Blasphemous Act
3 Chaos Warp
3 Chord of Calling
3 Harrow
Enchantments:
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
2 Evolutionary Leap
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Sylvan Library
3 Elemental Bond
4 Greater Good
4 Parallel Lives
5 Doubling Season
5 Perilous Forays
5 Where Ancients Tread
6 Warstorm Surge
Lands:
0 Arid Mesa
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Bloodstained Mire
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Cinder Glade
0 Command Beacon
0 Evolving Wilds
14 Forest
0 Gaea's Cradle
0 Ghost Town
0 Misty Rainforest
7 Mountain
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Stomping Ground
0 Strip Mine
0 Taiga
0 Thawing Glaciers
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Windswept Heath
2 Wastes
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Yavimaya Hollow
In order to fully understand how to play the deck, we need to look closer at Omnath to see what he does. He focuses on three things: lands, creating Elementals, and those Elementals dying. Let’s take a look at those three things individually.
Now, how do we go about playing through a game with Omnath? Let’s take a look at what we should do:
1) Mulligans: Your opening hand needs to consist of two things: lands and ramp. If you have neither, then a mulligan is necessary. If you have a majority of lands to spells, keep the hand as you will be able to play a land every turn and should be able to draw into a ramp spell. If your hand contains a few ramps spells, with only one or two lands, as long as one of those ramp spells is 2 CMC, keep it; otherwise you will want to mulligan it away. This is a lands deck, and a lot of our spells have a high CMC, so without lands or a way to get lands, we’re not going to have much luck playing the game.
2) Early Game: The early game is where you want to set everything up. Play your lands and ramp. You want to be able to hopefully get a draw engine like Elemental Bond/Greater Good and an early sac outlet such as Ashnod’s Altar/Evolutionary Leap/Goblin Bombardment online in order to keep fueling your landfall triggers and be able to Bolt anything that gets in your way.
3) Mid Game: It is possible to play Omnath as early as turn three, and here is how:
Once you get him out, you will hopefully have a draw/sac engine up and going. Keep playing your lands to create more Elementals. A token doubler and a damage enabler will help you get closer to the late game and hopefully end it in quick fashion.
4) Late Game: By now, you have been able to create enough Elementals to do some damage and dwindle your opponent’s life totals down. If you had a draw engine out, you should have been able to draw enough to find a win condition. Whether that is Craterhoof Behemoth, Akroma’s Memorial, Boundless Realms, Genesis Wave, etc., you should be able to swing and kill off everyone. If there are some stragglers left over after your assault, sac your tokens to Bolt away the few remaining points of life left.
When exactly do you want to play Omnath?
When I play this deck, I always try to rush for Omnath. But is it good enough to get to 7 mana to cast him and get nothing out of him? No, not really. The best time to cast Omnath is when you can get value out of him. What kind of value, you ask? Wait until you have something out that will trigger when he enters, like Where Ancients Tread or Elemental Bond, or when you can cast him and ALSO make a land drop. Don’t pay 7 mana for him to just get killed and cost 9 next time. Get something out of him before he dies.
What if Omnath keeps dying?
Omnath is going to die. A lot, in fact. What do you do when that happens? Keep ramping and casting him. Eventually, you will get to the point where he will stick around for a good amount of time. Give him some protection of sorts with Lightning Greaves or Akroma’s Memorial. Command Beacon is Omnath’s best friend. While the commander tax is still adding up, casting Omnath from you hand will still only cost 7 mana. Being able to reuse this land with Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds will help alleviate the excruciating commander tax this guy can get.
How do I win?
Winning can be pretty simple. Create a bunch of Elementals and swing. Adding Akroma’s Memorial to give your army evasion and protection, or a Craterhoof Behemoth with an army is usually game over for most players. However, most games I have won is by using Warstorm Surge, Where Ancients Tread, and Purphoros, God of the Forge and dropping a bunch of lands into play and burning everyone to death. Using sac outlets and “machine gunning” everyone down is another effective way of closing out the game. No attacking necessary. A Genesis Wave for an absurd amount of mana will usually enable you to get a good majority of those cards, along with lands for triggers, and win the game.
Another thing to keep in mind when playing is who you are playing against. If you’re playing against a blue player, you need to be able to know when to play your spells. Don’t needlessly cast something if you think they have a counter spell waiting for you. If need be, try baiting them out with a spell you don’t necessarily need. Be cautious if the blue player has 7 mana available. If you play everything you can, they can and will Cylconic Rift you and restart your entire board. It’s always a good idea to have a free sac outlet available in that case so you can at least Bolt them a few times and get some use out of your Elementals.
Just like any deck, this one has its weaknesses as well. There is hopefully enough redundancy in the deck that you should be able to fight through whatever is thrown at you. Let’s look at some of the weaknesses:
1) Counters: Every decks worst nightmare. We ramp a lot and need the ramp in order to keep playing Omnath. If your opponent is smart, they will want to keep you down on lands, so they are going to counter your ramp spells first. After that, they will probably go after countering Omnath in order to keep his tax high.
2) Land Destruction: We rely on our lands. A lot. When we encounter LD of any kind, it slows us down a lot. Yes, we ramp a lot. But if we get hit with a mass land destruction spell, we’re back to square one and need to start over, this time with less ramp spells to help us out since we already would have used some.
3) Gaddock Teeg: This guy right here is a big pain. A lot of our good spells have a CMC of 4 or more. He stops them dead. If we can get Omnath and a sac outlet out and keep them out, we can keep him in check. Otherwise, he will slow us down a lot.
4) Flying Creatures: We don’t have any flyers and only one creature with reach. In order to protect ourselves from them, we need to either have a sac outlet with enough Elementals to Bolt them out of the sky, or have Akroma’s Memorial so our Elementals can take flight for some aerial assault and prevention.
5) Aven Mindcensor: This deck fetches a lot. When you can only search through the top four cards of your library, most of the time you are going to whiff, even with the amount of lands we run. When this guy is out, we need to play slowly until we have a way to get him off of the field.
11-24-15:
OUT:
Skullwinder
Undergrowth Champion
Whisperwood Elemental
Xenagos, the Reveler
Nissa, Worldwaker
IN:
Rampant Growth
Nature's Lore
Farseek
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Skyshroud Claim
Discussion
12-6-15:
OUT:
Mountain
IN:
Yavimaya Hollow
Discussion
1-14-16:
OUT:
Reclamation Sage
Spearbreaker Behemoth
Beast Within
Gruul Turf
Terramorphic Expanse
IN:
Mina and Denn, Wildborn
World Breaker
Ashnod's Altar
Wastes x2
Discussion
4-12-16:
OUT:
Spellbreaker Behemoth
IN:
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
Discussion
6-8-16:
OUT:
Rampant Growth
Sword of the Animist
Eldrazi Monument
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
IN:
Tireless Tracker
Ulvenwald Hydra
Gratuitous Violence
Natural Order
Discussion
6/13/16:
OUT:
Gratuitous Violence
Mountain
IN:
Seasons Past
Mana Crypt
Discussion
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
Omnath is definitely a fun deck to play. It can pull wins out of nowhere. I've won a few games I had to right to win.
Just not too sure about that combo that you mentioned.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
The original Ulamog shuffles all the sacrificed lands back into the deck to keep fetching. Tap the lands first and float the mana while your opponents have a measly 3 lands to work with. Hermit Druid does similar to the Survival by putting ulamog in the grave if you've fetched all your basics and need more lands to fetch. If you run out of lands, a land destruction/sacrifice outlet in Omnath then saves you valuable slots spent on lands. Sylvan Safekeeper and Scapeshift complement also.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
For me, I feel this combo would belong in some other deck.
Keldon Firebombers is terrible on his own. Yes it sets opponents back as well. But this is a Lands deck. It hurts us, especially if they get rid of Omnath. Now we have to build back up to cast him again.
Survival is a worse Evolutionary Leap in this deck. We don't run many creatures, so discarding one to find another isn't very good. Leap lets you sac an Elemental to Bolt something and also find you a creature to replace it.
Eldrazi Titans are just Bribery targets that we have a hard time dealing with. I ran Newlamog in here as more removal, but it kept getting Bribery'd with no answer to it. Not something I want happening.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya
I use such cards and combos in multiplayer games, admittedly your build here is for 1v1 and therefore requires different guidelines. It's more fun to interact with the people reading your post I would figure, hopefully you see my posts as a sharing of ideas as opposed to an objection.
In a multiplayer game the dynamics are way different, Keldon Firebombers is suddenly way more potent at stopping others from stopping you. The grave recursion that Surivial and Ulamog give you is also priceless in such an environment. Trickling buildups of board presence are soooo hard to maintain too! The ideas I'm putting forth come from a need to kill 3 or more people all at once.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
I understand where you are coming from. I appreciate all of the input.
I do play this in both 1v1 and Multiplayer, and I already have a thread in the multiplayer section.
[EDH Non-Primers] Newzuri | Breya