Since people are probably interested in building 12-Post decks to take advantage of the new Eldrazi I figured that I'd write a mini-Primer for a budgeted version of the archetype (i.e. no cards over ~$2.00 or so).
You want roughly 23-24 lands that tap for actual mana and 0-3 silver-bullets for Crop Rotation. 4x Cloudpost and 4x Glimmerpost are essential for mass mana production and otherwise you want 1-2x Thespian's Stage to act as additional copies if needed. Why not 4? Simply put the card is extremely marginal and highly overrated. You'll regret fielding too many of them because they're basically just conditional Cloudposts that you can't cast on turn 1 and that cost you 3 mana. Given that you're often spending 1-3 mana to tutor for them in the first place that's asking for way too much. Eye of Ugin is another must-have and there's no two ways about it. It's what enables you to grind past removal/disruption/interaction and ensures that you never draw too much ramp with too little action to abuse it. Otherwise you can field whatever you want in the last flex slots. Glacial Chasm is your single best option as far as I'm concerned because it buys you a full 1-2 turns of no damage and Crop Rotation can fetch it at instant-speed. The goal isn't to keep it around forever; just long enough to stabilize. Bojuka Bog isn't essential but it's inexpensive and almost always over-performs. That being said you can always remove it and add another piece of early-game defense/interaction to the list. Glacial Chasm isn't required either and can also be cut for more cheap interaction but I highly recommend fielding it because it's one of the most powerful defensive cards in the game assuming that you only need to survive for another turn or two.
Beyond that Uzratron can always be used as a substitute for Posts and ideal versions of the list would include Vesuva. For those wondering Posts > Tron and I personally believe that that claim even extends to budget Post decks like the one that I'm proposing. Still, hey, there's nothing wrong with Tron if that's what you own and/or want to play instead. With respect to utility lands things like Spawning Bed and Rogue's Passage can work and even Urza's Factory is solid. You don't want more than 2-3 but I generally prefer lands that "do things" as opposed to Eldrazi Temple and the like. For the record I don't think that Sanctum of Ugin is playable because it's just a terrible version of Eye of Ugin. I would rather run the second Eye than the first Sanctum if only to somewhat protect myself against land destruction.
Every deck that I see posted has 0x Crop Rotation and every single one of them is doing it wrong. The only card in this deck that actually matters is Cloudpost and you'll play any card that reliably find it for 1-2 mana. If you've never played a version of the deck with CR yet do yourself a favor and start fielding 3-4 copies immediately. Otherwise your Maps and Scryings also find Cloudposts which is literally the only thing that we care about. There's not much else to say other than you can consider cutting a tutor (usually a Map) if you need to make room for more defense/interaction. Don't go crazy and start slashing numbers left and right but the full 12 isn't required. I have to stress that Crop Rotation is incredibly broken so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE play the damned thing. Don't go full n00b and think "but I don't want to sacrifice a land." Paying one mana to Tinker for a Cloudpost in insanely powerful and all Post decks should field 3-4. This isn't a suggestion; it's an order.
If you can afford to sink a bit of extra cash into the deck then Ancient Stirrings is awesome but even Explore is extremely powerful in this archetype. The deck that I posted is more threat-dense and is designed for slower metas but if you need some additional speed add Explores by making the substitutions highlighted throughout this guide.
You're going to need roughly 6-10 cards to field as early-game barriers to ensure that you don't get overrun and killed before your 5th turn. Elephant Grass and its kin are cards that I generally dislike but are perfectly suited for this specific archetype. It's a cheap spell that protects you reasonably well from each opponent from turns 2-4 and that's immune to creature removal. It's not pretty or perfect but it almost always gets the job done. Moment's Peace is another generally weak card (most Fogs suck) but when you literally just need to buy 1-2 turns then it does the trick. It gets worse in very large, very fast/aggressive metas but in slower ~4 player games it's usually serviceable. Otherwise it's nice to have access to a bit of mass removal and if All is Dust is out of the budget then things like Nevinyrral's Disk and Perilous Vault will have to suffice. If you're looking for alternatives cards like Wall of Roots are probably your best bets. You need things with easy color requirements and that can defend you from multiple players if possible. I generally prefer things that are difficult to interact with but if push comes to shove then creatures can work fine too. Wall of Roots is the best Wall by far because Crop Rotation only costs G to cast and WoR can activate A) immediately and B) on anyone's turn. This allows for some sneaky ramping that players might not expect/account for. A very common sequence is something like turn 1 Cloudpost, turn 2 Forest -> Wall of Roots -> EOT Crop Rotation for Cloudpost, turn 3 [insert any tutor/Post/Thespian's Stage] (you may even be able cast a fatty as well!), turn 4 Fatty.
Note that you may need to run more early-game defense (every meta is different) and as this guide progress I'll continue to highlight places where you can make cuts to find room for it. If you want to go super-defense you can even consider playing 4x Wall of Roots alongside 4x Overgrown Battlement to double-down on the rampy-Wall theme. The biggest weakness of this strategy is that it's soft to creature removal but insofar as your blockers aren't getting Doom Bladed then it can be quite effective at thwarting early pressure while still advancing your overall gameplan.
For the purposes of this guide I'm going to assume that Primeval Titan is out-of-budget but luckily Sylvan Primordial is almost equally powerful (and arguably moreso). Just play 4 and never look back because that card is completely absurd. Otherwise I want to highlight the fact that Oblivion Sower can also work as a generic 6-7 CMC ramper but for the purposes of this budget guide I didn't include it in the threat-base. Still, you can often Bojuka Bog some Fetchlands away at which point it also does the trick of enabling you to hit ~10+ mana. In general you want to field creatures that "beat removal" by providing additional value but it's realistically not the end of the world if you end up playing cards like Bane of Bala Ged, Breaker of Armies, Colossus of Akros or even Pathrazer of Ulamog. You can even field Soul of New Phyrexia over Conduit of Ruin to setup a Nevinyrral's Disk softlock and you can always play the full 4 Disks to support that synergy if you're so inclined. Mass removal is always welcome in a MP setting after all. Either way this is the least important section of the guide by far because you can field whatever you want in these slots. As long as they're big dumb idiots that smash people in the face then feel free to go nuts with cards like Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion, Sundering Titan, Void Winnower, "real" Eldrazi and/or Darksteel Colossus if you happen to own them. Otherwise none of these slots other than Sylvan Primordial are "sacred cows" so if you need to make room for more cheap interaction/defense feel free to shave the numbers. You can even add defensive/lifegain threats such as Wall of Roots and/or Thragtusk which you'll almost always be able to cast early on in order to stabilize the board.
Mulliganing: As I've previous stated the most important card in this deck (by a lot) is Cloudpost. If your opening 7 doesn't contain one and isn't the stone-nuts otherwise you'll usually want to ship it back and abuse the fact that you get a free mull in MP. Between your looks of 7-7-6+Scry 1 you'll generally open with a fairly powerful hand consisting of a Cloudpost, 1-2 tutors and hopefully a piece of early-game interaction. You really need to think of this phase as having 3 looks of 7 cards and aggressively mulligan marginal hands consisting of "lands and spells" if said lands and spells aren't Cloudpost and ways to find more. You can afford to be choosy so take advantage of that fact. Remember, this is a greedy ramp deck that needs to cast its spells early and often before it gets overrun and killed. If you just snap keep anything that "plays Magic" you'll find yourself sitting in the sidelines waiting for the next game far too frequently.
Sequencing: Rough priority for Cloudpost sequencing is Cloudposts > Expedition Maps/Thespian's Stage > Sylvan Scryings > Crop Rotations. The best possible turn 1 start is a tapped Cloudpost and you should almost always open with that over an Expedition Map. That being said it's not the end of the world if you have to open on a Map, especially if it's off of a Glimmerpost. Otherwise you want to be as mana efficient as possible which means using Maps/Stages assuming that you can cast and activate them immediately. If not you want to use Sylvan Scrying to ensure that you're always casting Cloudposts. You usually want to end with Crop Rotations since they require the least amount of mana and consume a land in the process. That being said this is just a rough guideline and you need to plan your turns strategically. Assuming a turn 1 Post you can't activate Map/Stage on turn 2 which means that Cloudpost #2, Sylvan Scrying or Crop Rotation will frequently be used on that turn. CR is dicey if your hand isn't Green-heavy (which it shouldn't be) which makes Cloudpost #2/Scrying the ideal turn 2 play (or even cracking a Map if that's what you opened with on turn 1). Turn 3 is where you need to be as mana efficient as possible because doing so will frequently enable you to cast cards like Elephant Grass or Crop Rotation "for free" on the following turn (in addition to your big creature spell that is). That being said turn 3 is usually fairly straightforward since you really should have a Cloudpost by now (you kept a terrible hand otherwise) and none of your spells/tutors cost more than 3 mana.
Rough priority for fatty sequencing is Sylvan Primordial > Myr Battlesphere > Conduit of Ruin. In case it isn't clear I'm referring to which creature you should cast on turn 4-5 as your first "real" threat (all things being equal). You generally want to lead with the threats that are the most resilient to removal and that Artisan of Kozilek can recur for value. Whenever I cast Conduit of Ruin as my first threat I almost always tutor for Myr Battlesphere unless I can already cast Desolation Twin without its cost reduction. This deck usually doesn't produce 6 mana without also producing 7 so the Myr is a "safe" tutor target in the sense that it won't rot in your hand should the Conduit get removed. Once you hit 10+ mana and have Eye of Ugin online you can clearly pick and choose whatever you want so just make sure that you're playing things as safe as you possibly can early on. Conduit of Ruin is merely a 6 mana Vampiric Tutor if it eats a Doom Blade so try not to cast it as your first major threat.
Importance of efficiency: If you're wondering why mana efficiency is so important it's because you need to maximize the amount of mana and number of spells you play within the first 4 turns of every game. I personally consider 12-Post to be a "turn 5 deck" in the sense that if you can reach turn 5 with a healthy life total then you've probably won. That's often easier said than done but it's certainly do-able if you build, mulligan and sequence properly. Your interaction (Elephant Grass, Wall of Roots, Moment's Peace) is cheap, your primary tutor (Crop rotation) is detrimental and your bombs are all insanely expensive so you have to make a concerted effort to spend as much mana as possible each and every turn while still developing Cloudposts as frequently as possible. That way come turn 4-5 you can weave in that Moment's Peace or Crop Rotation that you wouldn't have been able to cast otherwise. This will frequently mean the difference between life and death.
Conclusion: Feel free to post questions/comments/concerns/outbursts as you see fit. Again, this Primer is aimed at people trying to take advantage of BfZ to build a rampy Eldrazi deck on a reasonable budget. You can obviously sink another $200.00 or even $2000.00 into improvements but what I posted is a "good deck" that won't break the bank. No cards over 2 bucks, nothing banned/restricted in Legacy/Vintage, no crazy all-in strategies, just lots of power and fun! By the way, let me know if you like these mini-Primers and want to see more of them. Feel free to comment on what I could do anything better, if there's anything that you felt that I missed, whatever you want.
Nice primer. I would only add that Soul of New Phyrexia might be worth consideration for some metas. While not a new Eldrazi, it is budget-friendly, is fetchable with Eye of Ugin, and has some great synergy with Nevinyrral's Disk (which could even be played at 3 copies if sweepers are really strong/necessary in your meta).
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it just looks too cute on paper, to live the dream and respond to a Disk activation with the Soul's activated ability, but it comes up in a surprising amount of games in my experience. If there's a deck capable of making enough mana to activate this thing with some consistency, it's this one. And the ability to pop a disk once per circuit for 6 mana will just steal some games.
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WUBG Atraxa Superfriends WRBG Saskia's Angry UBRG Yidris Valuetown WUBR Breya "not just for infinite combos anymore" Etherium Shaper
mana]W[/mana]UR Narset the Nerfed WBG Ghave counters madness BRG Prossh, Token Master UBG Tasigur Seedborn Control WU Brago Bouncy Castle WB Karlov Voltron B Erebos/Drana MBC R Feldon jank
Nice primer. I would only add that Soul of New Phyrexia might be worth consideration for some metas. While not a new Eldrazi, it is budget-friendly, is fetchable with Eye of Ugin, and has some great synergy with Nevinyrral's Disk (which could even be played at 3 copies if sweepers are really strong/necessary in your meta).
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it just looks too cute on paper, to live the dream and respond to a Disk activation with the Soul's activated ability, but it comes up in a surprising amount of games in my experience. If there's a deck capable of making enough mana to activate this thing with some consistency, it's this one. And the ability to pop a disk once per circuit for 6 mana will just steal some games.
Oh that's not an unreasonable/Magical Christmas Land sequence at all as far as I'm concerned. I've never actually employed this specific synergy myself but it definitely seems powerful enough to consider. I was clearly trying to showcase as many new cards as I reasonably could (something which you picked-up on) but I'll definitely amend the Primer to include these kinds of alternatives. Updated.
This is awesome! Thanks and I'm sure my argu..*ahem* discussion sparked this idea to a certain degree. I will now go out and acquire the CR's I sold a few years ago.
I think you posted a BG GY shell last year and we had some discussion recently with using Mulches and what not, but it would be nice to get the primer version with ways to break it like Angel of Glory's Rise, Havengul Lich, and such.
Everyone gets in their favorites, so I'll also include Prophet of Kruphix/Seedborn Muse as these untappers are perfect in a multiplayer setting where the value scales through the roof.
If you're playing base green, try Ancient Stirrings. It's getting kind of expensive for a common that's only a few years old but that's because it's good. It finds land when you need land and action when you need action.
This is awesome! Thanks and I'm sure my argu..*ahem* discussion sparked this idea to a certain degree. I will now go out and acquire the CR's I sold a few years ago.
I think you posted a BG GY shell last year and we had some discussion recently with using Mulches and what not, but it would be nice to get the primer version with ways to break it like Angel of Glory's Rise, Havengul Lich, and such.
Actually I've been meaning to write one of these for a while now. I just finally pulled the trigger and picked what I thought would be the most time-appropriate archetype. Otherwise, noted on the "archetypes that I'd like to see." I'll be able to hammer some of those out.
I will basically never promote cards that say "must attack" or "can't block" because of how poorly they scale and how weak they are when you're on the back-foot. This is especially true for cards that provide people with big incentives to remove them before they're declared as attackers. Crusher is amazing in duels, the card is just insane as a budget finisher, but I don't think that it ports over to multiplayer especially well.
If you're playing base green, try Ancient Stirrings. It's getting kind of expensive for a common that's only a few years old but that's because it's good. It finds land when you need land and action when you need action.
I see the point in using green, because it makes the deck very consistent and fast. So thumps up for this very nice decklist!
A few suggestions/Ideas for discussion from my side, because I have a Cloudpost deck using white as the only color (with inspirations from Prid3,thread here):
Colossus of Akros + Surestrike Trident
This is the thing that wins me games. Both are budget cards. Colossus is very mana hungry but some decks just have big problems to deal with big indestructible creatures. Surestrike Trident gives the advantage to be able to deal direct damage and avoid combat, breaking any Ghostly Prison-like lock. With Dragon Scales it is possible to attack and to ping, hooray!
I could imagine deck versions that run at least a singleton copy of the two cards (However, this has probably been done a hundred times before).
Arena
I think in the green version of the deck this will be even more fitting as a singleton.
Staff of Nin
This is great card draw and can drop at a crucial point in early game. But I don't think that this is a must include and wonder if it would really fit in the primer decklist.
I added Ugin and Emrakul because I was lucky enough to pull them from a pack. But for budget reasons I think they could be replaced with 2 Moment's Peace.
Pros: ELDRAZI! Also, Pyroclasm is the best early sweeper in the game and Kessig Wolf Run is a great untargetable kill-con.
Cons: Not enough red mana. Using your land searchs for the lone mountain is such a waste when you could cloudpost more. So I added Prophetic Prism. This deck is also slower without Sylvan Primordial/Primeval Titan so getting to 10+ mana will be a hassle. Maybe I could swap something out for Dreamstone Hedron or Everflowing Chalice?
Meta: My meta is 3-4 multiplayer with: Abzan Modern douchebag deck (Siege Rhino), Mono-white Stoneforge/Batterskull shenanigans, Mono-black devotion, Mono-red Goblins, Survival/Recurring Nightmare Reanimator deck from hell, Naya Burn (brutal in 1v1, sucks in FFA, but I would still like to beat this guy if you can think of any tech), U/R not worth mentioning Guttersnipe Izzet.
I mostly play a squirrel deck. Trying to expand my horizons a little. Hoping to smash some face with big fat Eldrazi. But I need this deck to be fast and get a decent threat on the board on turns 4-5.
Questions I have: Is Glacial Chasm worth it? It doesn't tap for mana. Maybe add a Sol Ring? I also saw a U/G Eldrazi Post deck on here somewhere. Maybe blue would be a better color to splash for draw (Ponder and global bounce (Cyclonic Rift and Evacuation). I do enjoy the softlock that Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall provide. It's a great way to stall the game. Is it worth it to splash another color when green is so much faster? Maybe I should just go really slow and try out mono-blue post?
the chasm can be worth it. if you're playing blue for instance you could potentially bounce the chasm back to your hand at the end of your opponents turn and not pay the two life, then replay it on your next turn. thereby creating a soft lock that could potentially lead you to win the game. now understand that effects that cause you to lose any amount of life won't be stopped. the chasm can cause opponents some headaches. also, the chasm can be used outside of blue decks, you just need to find the right fit for it. black works well if you gain a lot of life.
the chasm can be worth it. if you're playing blue for instance you could potentially bounce the chasm back to your hand at the end of your opponents turn and not pay the two life, then replay it on your next turn. thereby creating a soft lock that could potentially lead you to win the game. now understand that effects that cause you to lose any amount of life won't be stopped. the chasm can cause opponents some headaches. also, the chasm can be used outside of blue decks, you just need to find the right fit for it. black works well if you gain a lot of life.
You realize you have to sac a land when chasm etb right? I mean you could do this a couple times but it would have diminished returns for sure.
Questions I have: Is Glacial Chasm worth it? It doesn't tap for mana. Maybe add a Sol Ring? I also saw a U/G Eldrazi Post deck on here somewhere. Maybe blue would be a better color to splash for draw (Ponder and global bounce (Cyclonic Rift and Evacuation). I do enjoy the softlock that Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall provide. It's a great way to stall the game. Is it worth it to splash another color when green is so much faster? Maybe I should just go really slow and try out mono-blue post?
The GU deck is mine. I wouldn't recommend adding card draw, I only added blue for Prophet of Kruphix.
What I think you should consider in this deck is Xenagos, God of Revels; at least one, two is better.
Right now, the fluff looks like the Magus and the Prism from my perspective.
My go-to is big mana decks is Basalt Monolith or Thran Dynamo. When you want to go from 3 to 7 IMMEDIATELY there's no better cards for the price. Stupid Grim Monolith ;~;.
Questions I have: Is Glacial Chasm worth it? It doesn't tap for mana. Maybe add a Sol Ring? I also saw a U/G Eldrazi Post deck on here somewhere. Maybe blue would be a better color to splash for draw (Ponder and global bounce (Cyclonic Rift and Evacuation). I do enjoy the softlock that Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall provide. It's a great way to stall the game. Is it worth it to splash another color when green is so much faster? Maybe I should just go really slow and try out mono-blue post?
I'll answer these as best I can.
With respect to Chasm, I think that people look at it the wrong way. It's a Fog. It's supposed to keep you alive for 1-2 turns and that's it. I don't try and get fancy or do tricky combos with it. I don't support it with mass lifegain. All it does is buy 1-2 turns of reprieve with is typically all you need to set yourself up for a win in my experience. If it doesn't work you, hey, no big deal. Feel free to remove it.
Sol Ring is the best "casual" card in the game. It's better than Black Lotus, it's better than Ancestral Recall, it's better than Tinker, it's better than everything. The question should never be "should I play Sol Ring." The answer is objectively "yes." If you blindly played the max number of copies in all of your decks your win % would increase dramatically and there's countless MTGO Cube/Vintage Masters evidence to support that notion. The only reason why you would ever exclude Sol Ring is if it's A) banned in your meta or B) you don't want to ruin your games with its inclusion. That's it. From a purely "I want to win games perspective" you would always play it though.
My deck is mono-Green because it's cheap, consistent and fast. I could splash a second color at the cost of having terrible/slow + inconsistent mana or by telling people to invest in a $300.00 manabase. Neither option is particularly appealing to me which is why I kept the deck Green. It's not a perfect deck and I'll never claim otherwise but for its cost it's extremely reliable, flexible, powerful, fun to play and easy to improve.
The deck:
13x Forest
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
2x Thespian's Stage
1x Eye of Ugin
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Glacial Chasm
2x Wall of Roots
3x Conduit of Ruin
4x Sylvan Primordial
2x Myr Battlesphere
1x Artisan of Kozilek
3x Desolation Twin
4x Expedition Map
4x Crop Rotation
3x Elephant Grass
4x Sylvan Scrying
2x Moment's Peace
2x Nevinyrral's Disk
If that's all you needed, God speed, but for everyone else I'll break it down and explain the numbers and card choices.
The lands:
4x Cloudpost
4x Glimmerpost
2x Thespian's Stage
1x Eye of Ugin
1x Glacial Chasm
1x Bojuka Bog
You want roughly 23-24 lands that tap for actual mana and 0-3 silver-bullets for Crop Rotation. 4x Cloudpost and 4x Glimmerpost are essential for mass mana production and otherwise you want 1-2x Thespian's Stage to act as additional copies if needed. Why not 4? Simply put the card is extremely marginal and highly overrated. You'll regret fielding too many of them because they're basically just conditional Cloudposts that you can't cast on turn 1 and that cost you 3 mana. Given that you're often spending 1-3 mana to tutor for them in the first place that's asking for way too much. Eye of Ugin is another must-have and there's no two ways about it. It's what enables you to grind past removal/disruption/interaction and ensures that you never draw too much ramp with too little action to abuse it. Otherwise you can field whatever you want in the last flex slots. Glacial Chasm is your single best option as far as I'm concerned because it buys you a full 1-2 turns of no damage and Crop Rotation can fetch it at instant-speed. The goal isn't to keep it around forever; just long enough to stabilize. Bojuka Bog isn't essential but it's inexpensive and almost always over-performs. That being said you can always remove it and add another piece of early-game defense/interaction to the list. Glacial Chasm isn't required either and can also be cut for more cheap interaction but I highly recommend fielding it because it's one of the most powerful defensive cards in the game assuming that you only need to survive for another turn or two.
Beyond that Uzratron can always be used as a substitute for Posts and ideal versions of the list would include Vesuva. For those wondering Posts > Tron and I personally believe that that claim even extends to budget Post decks like the one that I'm proposing. Still, hey, there's nothing wrong with Tron if that's what you own and/or want to play instead. With respect to utility lands things like Spawning Bed and Rogue's Passage can work and even Urza's Factory is solid. You don't want more than 2-3 but I generally prefer lands that "do things" as opposed to Eldrazi Temple and the like. For the record I don't think that Sanctum of Ugin is playable because it's just a terrible version of Eye of Ugin. I would rather run the second Eye than the first Sanctum if only to somewhat protect myself against land destruction.
The tutors:
4x Crop Rotation
4x Sylvan Scrying
Every deck that I see posted has 0x Crop Rotation and every single one of them is doing it wrong. The only card in this deck that actually matters is Cloudpost and you'll play any card that reliably find it for 1-2 mana. If you've never played a version of the deck with CR yet do yourself a favor and start fielding 3-4 copies immediately. Otherwise your Maps and Scryings also find Cloudposts which is literally the only thing that we care about. There's not much else to say other than you can consider cutting a tutor (usually a Map) if you need to make room for more defense/interaction. Don't go crazy and start slashing numbers left and right but the full 12 isn't required. I have to stress that Crop Rotation is incredibly broken so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE play the damned thing. Don't go full n00b and think "but I don't want to sacrifice a land." Paying one mana to Tinker for a Cloudpost in insanely powerful and all Post decks should field 3-4. This isn't a suggestion; it's an order.
If you can afford to sink a bit of extra cash into the deck then Ancient Stirrings is awesome but even Explore is extremely powerful in this archetype. The deck that I posted is more threat-dense and is designed for slower metas but if you need some additional speed add Explores by making the substitutions highlighted throughout this guide.
The defense:
2x Wall of Roots
2x Moment's Peace
2x Nevinyrral's Disk
You're going to need roughly 6-10 cards to field as early-game barriers to ensure that you don't get overrun and killed before your 5th turn. Elephant Grass and its kin are cards that I generally dislike but are perfectly suited for this specific archetype. It's a cheap spell that protects you reasonably well from each opponent from turns 2-4 and that's immune to creature removal. It's not pretty or perfect but it almost always gets the job done. Moment's Peace is another generally weak card (most Fogs suck) but when you literally just need to buy 1-2 turns then it does the trick. It gets worse in very large, very fast/aggressive metas but in slower ~4 player games it's usually serviceable. Otherwise it's nice to have access to a bit of mass removal and if All is Dust is out of the budget then things like Nevinyrral's Disk and Perilous Vault will have to suffice. If you're looking for alternatives cards like Wall of Roots are probably your best bets. You need things with easy color requirements and that can defend you from multiple players if possible. I generally prefer things that are difficult to interact with but if push comes to shove then creatures can work fine too. Wall of Roots is the best Wall by far because Crop Rotation only costs G to cast and WoR can activate A) immediately and B) on anyone's turn. This allows for some sneaky ramping that players might not expect/account for. A very common sequence is something like turn 1 Cloudpost, turn 2 Forest -> Wall of Roots -> EOT Crop Rotation for Cloudpost, turn 3 [insert any tutor/Post/Thespian's Stage] (you may even be able cast a fatty as well!), turn 4 Fatty.
Note that you may need to run more early-game defense (every meta is different) and as this guide progress I'll continue to highlight places where you can make cuts to find room for it. If you want to go super-defense you can even consider playing 4x Wall of Roots alongside 4x Overgrown Battlement to double-down on the rampy-Wall theme. The biggest weakness of this strategy is that it's soft to creature removal but insofar as your blockers aren't getting Doom Bladed then it can be quite effective at thwarting early pressure while still advancing your overall gameplan.
The fat:
4x Sylvan Primordial
2x Myr Battlesphere
1x Artisan of Kozilek
3x Desolation Twin
For the purposes of this guide I'm going to assume that Primeval Titan is out-of-budget but luckily Sylvan Primordial is almost equally powerful (and arguably moreso). Just play 4 and never look back because that card is completely absurd. Otherwise I want to highlight the fact that Oblivion Sower can also work as a generic 6-7 CMC ramper but for the purposes of this budget guide I didn't include it in the threat-base. Still, you can often Bojuka Bog some Fetchlands away at which point it also does the trick of enabling you to hit ~10+ mana. In general you want to field creatures that "beat removal" by providing additional value but it's realistically not the end of the world if you end up playing cards like Bane of Bala Ged, Breaker of Armies, Colossus of Akros or even Pathrazer of Ulamog. You can even field Soul of New Phyrexia over Conduit of Ruin to setup a Nevinyrral's Disk softlock and you can always play the full 4 Disks to support that synergy if you're so inclined. Mass removal is always welcome in a MP setting after all. Either way this is the least important section of the guide by far because you can field whatever you want in these slots. As long as they're big dumb idiots that smash people in the face then feel free to go nuts with cards like Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion, Sundering Titan, Void Winnower, "real" Eldrazi and/or Darksteel Colossus if you happen to own them. Otherwise none of these slots other than Sylvan Primordial are "sacred cows" so if you need to make room for more cheap interaction/defense feel free to shave the numbers. You can even add defensive/lifegain threats such as Wall of Roots and/or Thragtusk which you'll almost always be able to cast early on in order to stabilize the board.
Mulliganing: As I've previous stated the most important card in this deck (by a lot) is Cloudpost. If your opening 7 doesn't contain one and isn't the stone-nuts otherwise you'll usually want to ship it back and abuse the fact that you get a free mull in MP. Between your looks of 7-7-6+Scry 1 you'll generally open with a fairly powerful hand consisting of a Cloudpost, 1-2 tutors and hopefully a piece of early-game interaction. You really need to think of this phase as having 3 looks of 7 cards and aggressively mulligan marginal hands consisting of "lands and spells" if said lands and spells aren't Cloudpost and ways to find more. You can afford to be choosy so take advantage of that fact. Remember, this is a greedy ramp deck that needs to cast its spells early and often before it gets overrun and killed. If you just snap keep anything that "plays Magic" you'll find yourself sitting in the sidelines waiting for the next game far too frequently.
Sequencing: Rough priority for Cloudpost sequencing is Cloudposts > Expedition Maps/Thespian's Stage > Sylvan Scryings > Crop Rotations. The best possible turn 1 start is a tapped Cloudpost and you should almost always open with that over an Expedition Map. That being said it's not the end of the world if you have to open on a Map, especially if it's off of a Glimmerpost. Otherwise you want to be as mana efficient as possible which means using Maps/Stages assuming that you can cast and activate them immediately. If not you want to use Sylvan Scrying to ensure that you're always casting Cloudposts. You usually want to end with Crop Rotations since they require the least amount of mana and consume a land in the process. That being said this is just a rough guideline and you need to plan your turns strategically. Assuming a turn 1 Post you can't activate Map/Stage on turn 2 which means that Cloudpost #2, Sylvan Scrying or Crop Rotation will frequently be used on that turn. CR is dicey if your hand isn't Green-heavy (which it shouldn't be) which makes Cloudpost #2/Scrying the ideal turn 2 play (or even cracking a Map if that's what you opened with on turn 1). Turn 3 is where you need to be as mana efficient as possible because doing so will frequently enable you to cast cards like Elephant Grass or Crop Rotation "for free" on the following turn (in addition to your big creature spell that is). That being said turn 3 is usually fairly straightforward since you really should have a Cloudpost by now (you kept a terrible hand otherwise) and none of your spells/tutors cost more than 3 mana.
Rough priority for fatty sequencing is Sylvan Primordial > Myr Battlesphere > Conduit of Ruin. In case it isn't clear I'm referring to which creature you should cast on turn 4-5 as your first "real" threat (all things being equal). You generally want to lead with the threats that are the most resilient to removal and that Artisan of Kozilek can recur for value. Whenever I cast Conduit of Ruin as my first threat I almost always tutor for Myr Battlesphere unless I can already cast Desolation Twin without its cost reduction. This deck usually doesn't produce 6 mana without also producing 7 so the Myr is a "safe" tutor target in the sense that it won't rot in your hand should the Conduit get removed. Once you hit 10+ mana and have Eye of Ugin online you can clearly pick and choose whatever you want so just make sure that you're playing things as safe as you possibly can early on. Conduit of Ruin is merely a 6 mana Vampiric Tutor if it eats a Doom Blade so try not to cast it as your first major threat.
Importance of efficiency: If you're wondering why mana efficiency is so important it's because you need to maximize the amount of mana and number of spells you play within the first 4 turns of every game. I personally consider 12-Post to be a "turn 5 deck" in the sense that if you can reach turn 5 with a healthy life total then you've probably won. That's often easier said than done but it's certainly do-able if you build, mulligan and sequence properly. Your interaction (Elephant Grass, Wall of Roots, Moment's Peace) is cheap, your primary tutor (Crop rotation) is detrimental and your bombs are all insanely expensive so you have to make a concerted effort to spend as much mana as possible each and every turn while still developing Cloudposts as frequently as possible. That way come turn 4-5 you can weave in that Moment's Peace or Crop Rotation that you wouldn't have been able to cast otherwise. This will frequently mean the difference between life and death.
Conclusion: Feel free to post questions/comments/concerns/outbursts as you see fit. Again, this Primer is aimed at people trying to take advantage of BfZ to build a rampy Eldrazi deck on a reasonable budget. You can obviously sink another $200.00 or even $2000.00 into improvements but what I posted is a "good deck" that won't break the bank. No cards over 2 bucks, nothing banned/restricted in Legacy/Vintage, no crazy all-in strategies, just lots of power and fun! By the way, let me know if you like these mini-Primers and want to see more of them. Feel free to comment on what I could do anything better, if there's anything that you felt that I missed, whatever you want.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I like it.
I would also like to see more of these types of posts
Noted, thanks for the kinds words :). I think I'll do one for a Blue Control deck sometime this weekend.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Now, I'll be the first to admit that it just looks too cute on paper, to live the dream and respond to a Disk activation with the Soul's activated ability, but it comes up in a surprising amount of games in my experience. If there's a deck capable of making enough mana to activate this thing with some consistency, it's this one. And the ability to pop a disk once per circuit for 6 mana will just steal some games.
WUBG Atraxa Superfriends
WRBG Saskia's Angry
UBRG Yidris Valuetown
WUBR Breya "not just for infinite combos anymore" Etherium Shaper
mana]W[/mana]UR Narset the Nerfed
WBG Ghave counters madness
BRG Prossh, Token Master
UBG Tasigur Seedborn Control
WU Brago Bouncy Castle
WB Karlov Voltron
B Erebos/Drana MBC
R Feldon jank
Oh that's not an unreasonable/Magical Christmas Land sequence at all as far as I'm concerned. I've never actually employed this specific synergy myself but it definitely seems powerful enough to consider. I was clearly trying to showcase as many new cards as I reasonably could (something which you picked-up on) but I'll definitely amend the Primer to include these kinds of alternatives. Updated.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I think you posted a BG GY shell last year and we had some discussion recently with using Mulches and what not, but it would be nice to get the primer version with ways to break it like Angel of Glory's Rise, Havengul Lich, and such.
Everyone gets in their favorites, so I'll also include Prophet of Kruphix/Seedborn Muse as these untappers are perfect in a multiplayer setting where the value scales through the roof.
Hopefully being reprinted soon...
Actually I've been meaning to write one of these for a while now. I just finally pulled the trigger and picked what I thought would be the most time-appropriate archetype. Otherwise, noted on the "archetypes that I'd like to see." I'll be able to hammer some of those out.
I will basically never promote cards that say "must attack" or "can't block" because of how poorly they scale and how weak they are when you're on the back-foot. This is especially true for cards that provide people with big incentives to remove them before they're declared as attackers. Crusher is amazing in duels, the card is just insane as a budget finisher, but I don't think that it ports over to multiplayer especially well.
Already in the guide but yes I agree :).
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
A few suggestions/Ideas for discussion from my side, because I have a Cloudpost deck using white as the only color (with inspirations from Prid3,thread here):
3 Perimeter Captain
4 Wall of Omens
3 Hundred-Handed One
4 Guardian of the Ages
4 Colossus of Akros
1 Inheritance
2 Dragon Scales
Artifacts 11
4 Expedition Map
2 Peregrine Mask
3 Surestrike Trident
3 Staff of Nin
2 Arena
2 Wave of Reckoning
Lands 23
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
4 Thespian's Stage
11 Plains
Okay, we don't have to discuss about crappy cuties like Hundred-Handed One or Guardian of the Ages. The strong cards/interactions are imho:
Colossus of Akros + Surestrike Trident
This is the thing that wins me games. Both are budget cards. Colossus is very mana hungry but some decks just have big problems to deal with big indestructible creatures. Surestrike Trident gives the advantage to be able to deal direct damage and avoid combat, breaking any Ghostly Prison-like lock. With Dragon Scales it is possible to attack and to ping, hooray!
I could imagine deck versions that run at least a singleton copy of the two cards (However, this has probably been done a hundred times before).
Perimeter Captain + Wall of Omens
My reasons to play white. Same role as Wall of Roots, they are really good to stall early aggro but get weaker in late game.
Arena
I think in the green version of the deck this will be even more fitting as a singleton.
Staff of Nin
This is great card draw and can drop at a crucial point in early game. But I don't think that this is a must include and wonder if it would really fit in the primer decklist.
Took a slightly different direction by going red/green to splash in cards like Pyroclasm and Kessig Wolf Run. Without further adieu, the decklist!
4 Glimmerpost
2 Thespian's stage
3 Gruul Turf
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Kessig Wolf Run
8 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Crop Rotation
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Pyroclasm
2 Perilous Vault
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Thragtusk
3 Breaker of Armies
3 Desolation Twin
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
I added Ugin and Emrakul because I was lucky enough to pull them from a pack. But for budget reasons I think they could be replaced with 2 Moment's Peace.
Pros: ELDRAZI! Also, Pyroclasm is the best early sweeper in the game and Kessig Wolf Run is a great untargetable kill-con.
Cons: Not enough red mana. Using your land searchs for the lone mountain is such a waste when you could cloudpost more. So I added Prophetic Prism. This deck is also slower without Sylvan Primordial/Primeval Titan so getting to 10+ mana will be a hassle. Maybe I could swap something out for Dreamstone Hedron or Everflowing Chalice?
Meta: My meta is 3-4 multiplayer with: Abzan Modern douchebag deck (Siege Rhino), Mono-white Stoneforge/Batterskull shenanigans, Mono-black devotion, Mono-red Goblins, Survival/Recurring Nightmare Reanimator deck from hell, Naya Burn (brutal in 1v1, sucks in FFA, but I would still like to beat this guy if you can think of any tech), U/R not worth mentioning Guttersnipe Izzet.
I mostly play a squirrel deck. Trying to expand my horizons a little. Hoping to smash some face with big fat Eldrazi. But I need this deck to be fast and get a decent threat on the board on turns 4-5.
Questions I have: Is Glacial Chasm worth it? It doesn't tap for mana. Maybe add a Sol Ring? I also saw a U/G Eldrazi Post deck on here somewhere. Maybe blue would be a better color to splash for draw (Ponder and global bounce (Cyclonic Rift and Evacuation). I do enjoy the softlock that Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall provide. It's a great way to stall the game. Is it worth it to splash another color when green is so much faster? Maybe I should just go really slow and try out mono-blue post?
You realize you have to sac a land when chasm etb right? I mean you could do this a couple times but it would have diminished returns for sure.
What I think you should consider in this deck is Xenagos, God of Revels; at least one, two is better.
Right now, the fluff looks like the Magus and the Prism from my perspective.
My go-to is big mana decks is Basalt Monolith or Thran Dynamo. When you want to go from 3 to 7 IMMEDIATELY there's no better cards for the price. Stupid Grim Monolith ;~;.
I'll answer these as best I can.
With respect to Chasm, I think that people look at it the wrong way. It's a Fog. It's supposed to keep you alive for 1-2 turns and that's it. I don't try and get fancy or do tricky combos with it. I don't support it with mass lifegain. All it does is buy 1-2 turns of reprieve with is typically all you need to set yourself up for a win in my experience. If it doesn't work you, hey, no big deal. Feel free to remove it.
Sol Ring is the best "casual" card in the game. It's better than Black Lotus, it's better than Ancestral Recall, it's better than Tinker, it's better than everything. The question should never be "should I play Sol Ring." The answer is objectively "yes." If you blindly played the max number of copies in all of your decks your win % would increase dramatically and there's countless MTGO Cube/Vintage Masters evidence to support that notion. The only reason why you would ever exclude Sol Ring is if it's A) banned in your meta or B) you don't want to ruin your games with its inclusion. That's it. From a purely "I want to win games perspective" you would always play it though.
My deck is mono-Green because it's cheap, consistent and fast. I could splash a second color at the cost of having terrible/slow + inconsistent mana or by telling people to invest in a $300.00 manabase. Neither option is particularly appealing to me which is why I kept the deck Green. It's not a perfect deck and I'll never claim otherwise but for its cost it's extremely reliable, flexible, powerful, fun to play and easy to improve.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold