MTG Salvation

1. How much ramp do I need?

It depends on the deck's play style. Decks can have as few as a single Sol Ring to over twenty additional mana sources. Midrange, Control, and other value over time decks tend want 8-12 supplementary ramp effects so they can maintain tempo in the early game. Ramp and Combo decks will generally want more for earlier threat application and to more reliably dodge interaction.

You seem to have enough ramp for what your deck wants to do. Your deck seems to somewhere between a ramp and midrange deck with some smaller token and combo strategies going. I would say 9-12 would be appropriate here and the 14-ish mana accelerants you're running isn't unreasonable.

This deck doesn't do much until you hit four or five mana and your choices of mana ramp should reflect that. You cannot capitalize on one mana creature accelerants and four mana accelerants are going to take a back seat to more impactful cards. You should be using either three mana accelerants that either ramp straight to six mana (Coalition Relic, Worn Powerstone), come with a body (Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf), ensure additional land drops (Cultivate, Kodama's Reach), or two mana accelerants that come into play untapped (Gruul Signet, Talisman of Unity, Nature's Lore, Three Visits).

I generally don't supplementary mana sources that come into play tapped unless it comes with a body attached. Untapped mana ramp will functionally have its mana cost reduced when played off curve. That doesn't sound like a bid deal but has more impact that it sounds. When you have five mana you could play Farseek into Fires of Yavimaya, or you could play Gruul Signet into Garruk Wildspeaker or Fires of Yavimaya. Play untapped ramp over tapped ramp when you can.

I do not like 4cmc ramp. If you ramped previously than effects are redundant. If you failed to ramp by turn four than you be making proactive plays. If you missed failed ramp by turn four and missed your fourth land than 4cmc ramp will be too slow for the rest of the game. You can make a case for Solemn Simulacrum and Oracle of Mul Daya but honestly I feel both are overrated in EDH.

I would 8-12 of these ramp options: Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Talisman of Unity, Talisman of Impulse, Gruul Signet, Boros Signet, Selesnya Signet, Coalition Relic, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Wood Elves, or Farhaven Elf. I listed them by their general effectiveness, though, the gap between Sakura-Tribe Elder and Farhaven Elf isn't very wide.

Solemn Simulacrum and Oracle of Mul Daya good cards to run but you should consider them as value creatres rather than ramp.

2. Is my deck's casting cost have a too high of a curve?

It's depends both on a deck's playstyle and personal opinion. Personally I wouldn't play something that costs more than six mana unless it wins me the game that turn or puts me so far ahead that I can't lose. Few people share such an opinion. You're curve seems fine though.

Ramp decks will have slightly higher mana curves, Midrange decks slightly lower, Combo decks lower still, and a token deck's mana curve is dependent on wether it's an aggressive or grindy token deck. A mana curve isn't indicative of a good or bad deck but rather a deck's intended play style.

Keep in mind that you always win or lose a game with no cards in hand. By which I mean at the end of a game any cards that remained were useless to you as they did not contribute to your loss or victory. You may discarded those cards or even not have drawn them. If you want to know if your curve is too high for the meta you play keep track of how many cards are in your hand at the end of the game. If you often win or lose a game with 3+ cards in hand that's an indication that you have either too high a curve or surplus of card advantage. If you lose a game with no cards in hand that means you should increase your curve or add more card draw engines. I only saw four card draw effects in your list which means you can get a good idea if you have an appropriate mana curve by keeping track of the number of cards in hand at the end of a game.

An appropriate mana curve is, of course, dependant on the meta you play in. Slow metas allow higher mana curves. Fast metas require more interaction - which generally means cheaper threats, cheaper interaction, or both.

3. Is 36 lands too much with my current ramp?

It's fine. The average land count of EDH decks seems to be around 36-37 cards. Most of my decks that have 36 lands curve out at 6 mana and have 5-9 mana accelerants. Again, I feel like your decks wants 8-12 accelerants to function. If you're really scarred about mana screw you can increase it 15 supplementary mana sources.

4. Do you think Rhonas’s Monument and Oketra’s Monument are worth it in the main deck?

No. They monuments are generally bad and they're really bad here. The secondary effects are too small and your deck can't trigger them very well. Monuments want to be triggered multiple times per times per turn. While I don't think your mana curve is too high in general it is too high for you to get any value from the monuments. If you want the mana discounts that they provide you're better off with Emerald Medallion, Pearl Medallion, or more mana rocks.

5. Do have any suggestions overall for cards that could be added/taken away?

Since your comfortable with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts being in the same deck I suggest you go one step further and add Felidar Guardian, Karmic Guide, and Birthing Pod. All three of those cards are individually useful and together they allow you to transform Marath, Will of the Wild into a instant KikiConscripts combo. I'll leave the details in a spoiler if you're unfamiliar wit the process.

For various reasons I don't think Birds of Paradise, Farseek, Rampant Growth, or Skyshroud Claim are not the sort of mana ramp this deck wants at time. I also don't think Chromatic Lantern is very good. A mana ramp tool needs to 1.) produce two or more mana, 2.) come with a body, or 3.) ensure additional land drops or replace itself. Chromatic Lantern checks none of those boxes and its mana fixing ability doesn't make up for it.

I'd replace Basilisk Collar with Nightshade Peddler. You have more creature tutors than you do artifact/equipment tutors so Nightshade Peddler will more consistent. If you end up running Karmic Guide you will also have a means of reanimating it.

Consider replacing Krosan Grip and Beast Within. While these are astoundingly definitive and versatile spells they are on the expensive side. You want to leave interactive spells up on your opponents turn for best effect but that's a difficult endeavor when the majority of your spells already cost 4+ mana. A card you cannot cast when relevant is a card you may as well not have. I recommend replacing Krosan Grip with Nature's Claim or Wear // Tear. I value the lower mana costs of these artifact/enchantment removal tools more than I do split second. Beast Within is a bit more defensible because of the number of targets it can hit but I think it cost too much for this deck if you want to use it as instant speed interaction.

I'd replace Decimate with Wear // Tear or Hull Breach. Decimate is an impressive card when it goes off but the all four targets for it to be castable is a huge strike against it and its higher than needed mana cost is another. While the 2-for-1 you get from Wear//Tear and Hull Breach isn't as good as the 4-for-1 Decimate provides but they make up for that in reliability. I also find that artifacts and enchantments tend be more threatening than creatures so I feel like these are better replacements than Wrath of God. Unless, of course, you find creatures more of a problem.

I'm not sure all three of Craterhoof Behemoth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, and Triumph of the Hordes are needed. I don't how much of a token strategy you're going for.

I'd replace Trostani, Selesnya's Voice with Rhys the Redeemed. The life gain from Trostani isn't very relevant and most of your tokens are 1/1s or 2/2s so I don't think populating them is very valuable. Rhys the Reedemed is better token support if you can get it. Unless you plan on making bigger tokens. But in that case why not both?

This will sound strange but I don't like Doubling Season and Cathars' Crusade in Marath. Not because they aren't good but because they're a part of a fairly interchangeable set of cards that combo with Marath to instantly win. If your opponents recognize the threat those cards could present they'll start targeting your enchantments and you specifically. That's bad. Not because you being singled out isn't fair but because Earthcraft is so strong and you don't want to lose that. Earthcraft is one of the strongest cards green has in EDH and few people recognize that. Seriously, the number of people that ignore that enchantment is ridiculous. Once your playgroup recognizes it as part of a combo they won't let stick around. If you really want to keep Cathars' Crusade and Doubling Season than I recommend doubling down of Marath's combo potential and adding Mana Echoes, Primal Vigor, Ivy Lane Denizen, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Food Chain, and Academy Rector. All these cards enable a mix and match combination of cards that allows Marath to win on spot. I don't remember all of the combos off the top of my head but if Combo Marath sounds like a fun deck to you I'll list them in more detail.

Without knowing more about what kind of deck you want to play I can't make many more suggestions. I can't make suggestions other than "I prefer X to Y" at the moment. Your deck currently has Aggro Token, Ramp/Attrition, and Combo elements the best way to improve moving forward is to pick a strategy and refine it. Or if you want you can go for a different deck idea. Marath is a great commander for any archetype.

Thank you, Thank you for your reply Bthepanda! You explained everything in great detail and that helps me a lot! I will be editing my deck a bit with many of your suggestions. I'm glad I can fit Birthing Pod into the list, since that is one of my favorite cards! And that combo you mentioned looks awesome!

I really need to focus on one strategy like you mentioned, and stick with it. I will post an updated deck-list later on after I tweak some things.

Thanks once again!

I did a major update to the list and now it works great! Tokens are more of the strategy now, but added a lot more mana rocks! Birthing Pod has been amazing! (It's one of my top two cards in Magic, so I'm glad it works well!) I will try to get into more detail in my opening post later on.

I'm still on the edge on the Planeswalkers. Still haven't tested it enough to get the full effect yet.

Needs some more Academy Rector / Splinter Twin imo

I think you'd like Anointed Procession. I like it in place of Sarkhan Vol.

If you're committing to the token strategy, I'd add in Beastmaster Ascension.

I really like the versatility of Boros Charm in my Marath tokens list. Maybe replace Decimate, because I believe your opponents can fizzle it if they get rid of just one of the targets?

Quote from Outcryqq »

I think you'd like Anointed Procession. I like it in place of Sarkhan Vol.

If you're committing to the token strategy, I'd add in Beastmaster Ascension.

I really like the versatility of Boros Charm in my Marath tokens list. Maybe replace Decimate, because I believe your opponents can fizzle it if they get rid of just one of the targets?

Yeah, Decimate needs all of its targets by the time it resolves or else it fizzles.

Quote from Outcryqq »

I think you'd like Anointed Procession. I like it in place of Sarkhan Vol.

If you're committing to the token strategy, I'd add in Beastmaster Ascension.

I really like the versatility of Boros Charm in my Marath tokens list. Maybe replace Decimate, because I believe your opponents can fizzle it if they get rid of just one of the targets?

Quote from DementedKirby »

Quote from Outcryqq »

I think you'd like Anointed Procession. I like it in place of Sarkhan Vol.

If you're committing to the token strategy, I'd add in Beastmaster Ascension.

I really like the versatility of Boros Charm in my Marath tokens list. Maybe replace Decimate, because I believe your opponents can fizzle it if they get rid of just one of the targets?

Yeah, Decimate needs all of its targets by the time it resolves or else it fizzles.

I do like your idea of Anointed Procession! I might have to test that out! Beastmaster Ascension is a nice cheap Enchantment, another card that could use some testing.

Thank you for telling me about Decimate! I will change it to Boros Charm! It's a great, flexible card!

I haven't had too much time to test anything out lately, but I will keep these suggestions in mind. Thanks for replying!