i found it useful in other decks for always giving me something to do, encase I get crappy draws. pitching lands to gain 4 life a turn seemed useful for certain match ups, and it can recover sideboard artifacts that have been milled by loaming.
The biggest drawback is that you can only use an ability once per turn, at the cost of something else. This seems like a classic "jack of all trades, master of none" type thing.
In RG, really only #1 is (marginally) useful, as the deck generally only has 4 artifacts (Mox Diamond). Might save you from Price of Progress or some bolting. We have Glacial Chasm as a workaround. For #4, sac'ing a Mox Diamond to draw a card, perhaps to Loam instead, is pretty desperate. Use Horizon Canopy instead.
In RUG, Zuran Orb does #1 way better. #3 is rather irrelevant as we don't have creatures to sac and taking an extra turn to use #3 via #2 is clunky at best; use Academy Ruins instead. #4 is not bad here, but you're still dumping a highly useful artifact (Mox Diamond, Engineered Explosives or Zuran Orb).. you will be blowing up the EE to use, not sac'ing it to this.
I participated in a Legacy tournament two weeks ago. It was a competitive REL event that brought in 16 players. This event is part of a store championship series that spans Limited, Standard, Modern, Legacy, and a Player's Choice tournament featuring a mix of formats. Prizes included $400 cash divided among the top 4 and points towards the series ranking. We had 5 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to top 4.
All this is from memory, so please forgive me if some details are fuzzy or incorrect.
Round 1 vs. Maverick
Game 1: He played a first turn Forest into Green Sun's for Arbor Dryad and followed it up with Gaea's Cradle and Scavenging Ooze. On my side, I was trying to assemble the combo and had a few cards in the grave, including a Life if I remember correctly. The Ooze quickly consumed it, but with a few draw steps, I was still able to make a 20/20 before the game progressed very far.
After playing the Ooze, my opponent had used his mana to feed it my graveyard. With his resources tied up, I don't remember him playing other cards except for perhaps a Deathrite Shaman. I thought he may have been playing Elves, so I sided in 4 Sphere of Resistance.
Game 2: I made a quick 20/20, but he not only cast Swords to Plowshares on it, he cast Surgical Extraction on my Dark Depths to make sure Marit Lage never returned. (This is about the time I realized he wasn't playing Elves.) Thankfully, I had access to a Punishing Fire and Grove and settled in for the long game. Turn after turn, I controlled his board while reducing his life when I had the chance. We went to time, but rather than playing the extra turns, my opponent conceded at around 5 life.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Stoneblade
Game 1: I conjured up an early Marit Lage while my opponent Pondered a few times. The thing I did was better than the thing he did.
I wasn't quite sure which deck he was on. I feared Miracles, but don't remember how I sideboarded.
Game 2: He dropped a turn 2 Stoneforge, who kindly produced a turn 3 Batterskull for him. My combo came together a little slower this game, but it did come together. He cast Brainstorm a couple times and set sail on a Treasure Cruise, but couldn't find the StP he needed to stall. He made it up to 27 life or so thanks to the Batterskull, but the little germ wasn't enough to thwart Marit's wrath for long. Let me just say I love having a combo that cannot be stopped by Force of Will.
2-0
Round 3 vs. R/W Painter's Servant (AKA Strawberry Shortcake)
Game 1: Turn 1 Bloodmoon was bad for me. Real bad. My deck can do a grand total of 8 damage and almost nothing else after that.
I knew what the guy was playing before the match started. This is not a happy match-up, but I came packing heat in the sideboard.
Game 2: Up until now, my games had been fairly elementary in one direction or the other. This is where things started getting really interesting. He got an early Blood Moon, but unlike in game 1, I knew I could handle it with the right draws. I did have a green source from either a Forest or Mox Diamond. He didn't put a lot of pressure on me, so I had some time to dig. I did a little work with Life from the Loam, but I needed to be careful not to dredge away my answers. One Krosan Grip did hit the yard to my dismay.
Eventually, he drew into both Painter's Servant and Grindstone. I was fortunate to have drawn my Ancient Grudge, which was able to take them both down with the right timing. Next up, he added Rest in Peace, but a sweet top deck of Ray of Revelation took down both that and his Blood Moon.
Once my lands were no longer mountains, Marit Lage came screaming forth from the Depths. Sadly, she was further halted by an Ensnaring Bridge. I asked my opponent if he had 20 cards in hand yet. He didn't.
I had one last Krosan Grip in my deck, so dredging was out of the question. Casting either of the two Gambles in my hand was also too risky. While I throttled his mana with 3 Rishadan Port, we sat there for quite a number of turns just drawing cards and passing. Finally, he dropped a Painter's Servant naming blue and passed to me. I pointed the super secret tech Red Elemental Blast I'd been holding in my hand for awhile at his Bridge. Marit Lage, no longer ensnared, was finally free to feast.
Game 3: At this point, I don't remember much about this game. I believe my opponent kept a shaky hand and got punished for it. I also believe he named red when he cast Painter's Servant. This prevented him from countering a key removal spell I had later. Whatever the case, I won the game, and was absolutely thrilled to beat such a tough match-up.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Elves
Game 1: Here again, I knew what my opponent was playing before we began. I was so relieved to be playing such a favorable match-up, but I have the utmost respect for this opponent's play skill. I don't know if I was drained from the last match, tired, hungry, cocky, or just a little on tilt from being paired against this particular player, but I made mistake after mistake. From playing a Life right into his turn 1 Deathrite to forgetting to Port his land in his upkeep, I did a very good job of losing this one.
I sideboarded in Sphere of Resistance, but I am not convinced that is a great plan.
Game 2: I played a Tabernacle early and he couldn't get out from under it before I made a 20/20. At least I remember to pay the upkeep cost. Which I didn't even have to do, because Marit is an indestructible lady and Tabernacle destroys creatures. Lessons learned.
Game 3: More mistakes. I had a good start with Mox Diamond, Life from the Loam, and two Crop Rotations. I was focused on assembling the combo quickly and declined to Rotate for Tabernacle before passing into a rather sparse board. It horrified me when my opponent drew his card and announced that he thought he could kill me that turn if he didn't screw it up.
He cast Heritage Druid, which I let resolve. Glimpse of Nature was next, followed by another creature. I only had one green mana available. I responded by Rotating for Wasteland and using it to strip his Cradle. It didn't matter. He made plenty of mana to Green Sun's into Craterhoof for the win.
A couple notes: First, you're probably wondering why I didn't just rotate into Glacial Chasm. Sadly, that card was residing in my hand. Even more sadly, I had discarded it to Mox Diamond earlier, before Loaming it back. So my opponent knew it wasn't in my deck and gambled I didn't have another copy. Second, you might be wondering why I didn't Rotate into Maze of Ith. This was probably just a poor judgment call on my part. By killing the Cradle, I'd hoped to screw up my opponent's math. I honestly don't even know if a Maze would have saved me though.
Still, I knew I played poorly and that felt bad.
3-1
Round 5 vs. Metalworker
Game 1: My turn one was: Taiga, Manabond, Rishadan Port, Rishadan Port, Wasteland, Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage.
My opponent's turn one was: Draw. Scoop.
I didn't know what he was playing, so I didn't sideboard.
Game 2: He made a turn 3 Blightsteel Colossus. At the end of his turn 3, I crop rotated into the combo. Marit Lage appeared, looked at the Colossus, and said, “lolz” before ending the match.
4-1 in the Swiss.
With my final Swiss round being over so quickly, I had time to eat a quick and much needed dinner. When I returned, I learned that my Elf opponent had lost his last match. Since my tiebreakers were better, I was the number 1 ranked player going into the top 4. I was excited because this meant I automatically got to play first each round. I was much less excited when I saw that my semifinal opponent would be none other than the Painter's Servant player. The last deck in the top 4 was Sneak & Show.
At that point, I was delighted to agree to an even distribution of prizes among the top 4. We all walked away with $100 cash, but we still played for points (and honor!).
Semifinal vs. R/W Painter's Servant (AKA Strawberry Shortcake) AGAIN
Game 1: This went much like our first game earlier in the day, except that he had the courtesy to wait until turn 2 to drop his Blood Moon. I had dodge a bullet earlier in the day, but now I could see the writing on the wall.
Game 2: I got a forest, Mox, and my sideboard tech of Primeval Titan. He got Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge, but not his combo. Titan fetched my combo cards, even though they were mere mountains for the moment. Again, we played draw-go for awhile. I believe I had Ray of Revelation in hand for several turns, but there was little point in playing it with the Bridge out. Thankfully, I found my artifact removal before he found his combo. I was able to take out his lock pieces, make an Avatar, and swing for 26.
Game 3: I drew my opening hand and felt a little hopeful seeing yet another sideboard piece. This time it was Seismic Assault. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of lands in hand, but I kept anyway.
I remember that he played Grindstone at some point. Also, Blood Moon didn't arrive as quickly as it had the other games, but it did arrive, and it did allow me to finally play the Assault. By that time, I had zero or few lands in hand, though. I don't remember if I already had Life from the Loam or if I drew into it soon after, but even with that engine going, I had to play carefully. A Servant could mean instant death.
And, as a matter of fact, he did draw into Servant, cast it, and passed. I discarded a land for 2 damage. It resolved. I followed with another discard. He responded by activating Grindstone. I responded with yet another discard. There were no further responses. Servant died and I milled a few cards, but thankfully not all of them.
A few turns later and I dropped enough lands on his head with Assault-Loam to put his life at 0. A second victory over this deck left me feeling great. I also have a lot of respect for the pilot now. He was very courteous during our games and seemed like he has a lot of passion for his deck, which I can appreciate.
5-1
Final vs. Sneak & Show
Game 1: I assembled my combo in the first few turns and attacked for 20.
Game 2: He assembled his combo in the first few turns and attacked for 15. I had Maze of Ith, but the first annihilator trigger took care of it. I couldn't recover as he again attacked for 15 over the next two turns.
Game 3: He assembled his combo again, but I cast Crop Rotation into Karakas. Emrakul went back to his hand and stayed there for a very long time. Later, he played a Sneak Attack without enough mana to activate it. I cast Ray of Revelation on my turn to destroy it. Later, his Gitaxian Probe showed him that I had a Krosan Grip in hand, too. He grimaced.
I began to cut him off red mana with Wasteland and Loam. However, two things stopped me from getting ahead. First, I didn't have an Exploration in play, so we stayed at parity while his Brainstorms and Ponders let him hit land drops turn after turn. Second, I had to be very careful to leave several of my lands untapped each turn.
I left Karakas up in case he could Show and Tell into a legend. I left Grove up as a green source to flashback Ray or cast Grip on Sneak Attack. And I left Thespian's Stage up to copy Karakas in case he found a Wasteland.
It turned into a very long, grinding match. Even though I was Loaming frequently with a cycled Tranquil Thicket, I could not find a Dark Depths. I had sided out 3 of my Punishing Fires, so it was less surprising that I couldn't find that card for a long time. Still, I had a certain inevitability, and the long game started to favor me. I eventually began to pull ahead on land drops.
I wasn't out of the woods yet. My opponent cast another Show and Tell. Throughout the game, he had been using fetch lands and Ancient Tombs to cast his spells. Even with some minor life gain from my Grove, this left him at 14 life. Griselbrand hit the board, and his ability was activated once. In response, I tapped Karakas, as well as destroying his untapped Ancient Tomb. He tapped it, going down to 5 in response. The 7 cards were drawn.
No Blood Moon was played. Nor was anything else of consequence shown to me. I finally found my remaining Punishing Fire. I used it to deal a net of 3 damage to my opponent. When he was at 2 life, he sacrificed a Delta and tapped an Ancient Tomb to commit suicide.
I may not have dealt the final blow, but in the end, my opponent still died to lands.
6-1 Tournament Winner.
Additional thoughts: I have had the 4 or 5 color version of lands together for years. This was my first time playing the RG combo version. While I loved the grinding, soul-crushing nature of the old version, I feel the combo version is much, much better. Casting Intuition and transmuting Tolaria West adds some powerful options, but they often felt too slow to me. Crop Rotation is much better at putting your combo directly into play as quickly as possible. It also makes it highly possible to outrace other combo decks that the control version had so much trouble against.
I thought I would miss Academy Ruins the most, as I love recursive control options. But when you can regularly kill your opponent on turn 3 to 5, cards like Engineered Explosives just aren't that necessary. Punishing Fire is often enough recursion by itself for the games that do go long. Furthermore, removing the dependence on the graveyard is a boon to the deck.
I was amazed at how consistent the combo is in practice. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, since having 18 cards dedicated to creating it, fetching it, and recurring it is a very high number.
The only thing about the deck I would change at the moment is trying out Horizon Canopy instead of the third Tranquil Thicket. Otherwise, it is a really solid build in my experience. Had I not royally misplayed against Elves, I may have been able to go all 7 rounds undefeated.
Special thanks to Rampart for his lengthy advice earlier in the thread.
Congrats! That's an awesome result. I'm pretty sure that the RG version is not only faster, but cheaper to build also. I'm running BG Pox Depths at the moment, but as soon as I get my Ports i'll be giving this version a shot. Thanks for the detailed report.
Nice report Necrogenesis. Well played, especially against the bloodmoon decks, and written with a sharp quill.
How did you evaluate your sideboard, would you run this again?
Especially the chokes and REB are less conventional, what's your overall impression on these?
I would definitely run the same sideboard again. REB was critical in winning against Painter for two reasons. First, when I played it, it was a surprise that resulted in me winning the game by destroying his critical lock piece. Second, once he knew I had REB, he tried to play around it by naming red with Servant. This reduced the efficiency of his own REBs and Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. While it is harder to quantify, I believe this helped me win the 3rd game of our first match. After that game was over, a spectator asked why he didn't blast one of my cards. The answer was that he couldn't. Of course, with the heavy presence of blue in many metas, REB can often be sided in as a "gotcha" card and is rarely dead.
Choke never came up during a game, but it is another reason I am glad to cut blue from the deck. It can be devastating against some of these land-light delver decks. Port just magnifies the effectiveness.
The main cards I'd consider switching out are Titan, Sphere of Resistance, and Zuran Orb. Titan can be great in the right situations against Show and Tell or Blood Moon decks, but I can't help wondering if there is a better option.
Sphere seems necessary against combo, but it definitely slows us down a lot, too. I don't think there is a better option against storm right now.
Zuran Orb is great in the control version of this deck where it can be fetched via Tolaria West and Intuition, and recurred with Academy Ruins. However, I think it is possible a second copy of Chasm could potentially be more effective against decks like Burn and Infect. This is because Chasm is a great Crop Rotation target.
I do look forward to testing these choices more after the holidays.
Played against Death and Taxes rounds 1 and 2, sided +2 bridge, + 3 K-Grip both games, took out bog, chasm, 3x tolaria west. Both rounds were a short story--game one punishing fire lock, then snag a bridge, game two--EE lock, draw naturally, wait for them to play out all their rest in peaces and k-grip them as they come.
Round three, I get paired against a guy I know is on reanimator. I don't know if he has tidespout tyrant mainboard, so I agree to a split. We play it out anyway, turns out he doesn't have the tidespout mainboard, and game one is a rather drawn-out affair that ends with me making marit lage after ensnaring bridge holds off his elesh + griselbrand for a dozen or so turns while I draw to find pieces and keep his mana locked down tight. Games two and three, I sideboard in bridges, trinisphere, sphere of resistance, and chalices, taking out the punishing fires, chasm, EE, an intuition, and 2 groves. He gets there with a turn one tidespout tyrant on the play game two, then game three we have some back and forth, then after I'm topdecking behind a bridge he entombs and reanimates tidespout, and proceeds to cast some cantrips and bounce all of my relevant board pieces. Reanimator is a rather terrible matchup if you don't have the containment priests =(
Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
Do you just not have explorations or were you attempting explore for some other reason? In all honest I would love a 2 drop exploration so we could main deck chalice. Also how did the single depths work out?
Posted report at 2:00 AM. Yeah, explorations. I'm missing the 61st card too, I'll figure out what it was later.
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Yes, I am a local area mod. WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
Primary Decks:
Modern: Esper Draw-Go
Legacy: RUG Lands
EDH: Sidisi turn-3 storm
I played the Belgian Legacy Cup this weekend with RG Lands, and finished 8th out of 102 players.
Great job and nice report! It was especially interesting reading all your sideboarding choices. I noticed you bring in Primeval Titan in a number of matches that I didn't think of. Can you explain your thoughts on when you bring it in and why? Maybe I was underestimating him.
You run 2 DD and 1 Karakas main. I noticed you swap out the Karakas pretty frequently. Any thoughts on just putting it in the side and running 3 DD main?
Oh, and don't feel bad about how you beat Merfolk. Your opponent made mistakes and you didn't. That's a good victory!
I played the Belgian Legacy Cup this weekend with RG Lands, and finished 8th out of 102 players.
Great job and nice report! It was especially interesting reading all your sideboarding choices. I noticed you bring in Primeval Titan in a number of matches that I didn't think of. Can you explain your thoughts on when you bring it in and why? Maybe I was underestimating him.
You run 2 DD and 1 Karakas main. I noticed you swap out the Karakas pretty frequently. Any thoughts on just putting it in the side and running 3 DD main?
Oh, and don't feel bad about how you beat Merfolk. Your opponent made mistakes and you didn't. That's a good victory!
Primeval Titan is insane as it is basically a one card combo when resolved and attacking each turn you get to tutor more. Against Mid-range and control decks it is really effective because you have the time to cast the card. The biggest knock on Primeval Titan is its casting cost but that becomes mute if you looking to go long.
I played three DD last week at my local tournament and felt like I drew them too much. I had several games where I had a several DD stranded in my hand where a Karakas or almost anything else would of been better.
If Merfolk copies the Lage Token you can always kill it with Punishing Fire or Maze of Ith as well. I lost a game to merfolk where he copied the lage token then vapor snagged my lage and killed me with the copy - :/
I made the switch to R/G for last night and went 4-0-1 to split for first. The power level of R/G felt higher than RUG lands.
In an entire year of RUG lands I've only made the token on turn 2, twice. Just last night playing R/G lands, I made the token on turn 2, twice.
Thank You necrogenesis. I played your list exactly except for two cards. I only own two gamble so I mainboarded an abrupt decay and a primeval titan.
Match #1 against D&T
This player has seen me play RUG lands so he wasn't expecting the speed that I could make the token.
By turn 4 I had all the pieces and he had some dudes in play but his aether vial was set at three.
I was thinking he would vial in a flickerwisp and possibly win the game, but he scooped.
Took out abrupt decay, ghost quarter and bojuka bog. Sided in 2 krosan grip and ray of revelation.
Game 2 was very long. He kept a one-lander but with an aether vial. His one land was wasteland. I kept an equally janky hand of one fetch 3 maze of ith and two thespian's stage. I kept the hand figuring he has to attack me and the mazes will keep me alive.
He wastes my colored land and ticks up his vial. I play 3 mazes and 2 stages as he is overextending his board to get at me.
This is rather frustrating for both of us but funny as well. He lands a rishadan port and a wasteland but I get a grove of the burnwillows and a punishing fire loop going.
He gets to 4 mana and casts cataclysm which makes me think I just lost. He keeps serra avenger and beats.
I waste his one land and with Life from the Loam get a full grip of lands. Here's where the R/G lands smiled upon me...
I decide to draw and can't believe my good fortune: manabond is my reward. I drop my entire hand of lands and make the token and block his serra avenger. I was at 4 life.
Match #2 is against a junk maverick list.
Opponent was cool and game one I kept a soft hand. I was punished by a first turn deathrite shaman. I scooped in about three turns since my opponent had no idea what I was playing.
I forget what I sided in but it probably wasn't much. I did see that his entire mana base was non-basic though...
Game two: exploration into Loam and I eat all his lands and make the token rather quickly. This surprised him.
Game three was an even bigger surprise. I had the combo in my opening hand so figured I could win.
Even better for me, on my second draw was my new friend manabond.
Match #3 is against an opponent that I saw play a goblin guide in an earlier match.
Game 1 goblin guide and friends show up and help me draw lands.
Opponent had lots of damage on board for me so I dropped glacial chasm and have to explain how he can't damage me.
I hide behind chasm and make the token when I am at 7 life which was very close to him burning me out.
game 2 is almost a repeat but he made a slight mistake in telling me he only has one basic mountain.
It seems he was playing a W/R/G burn deck with tarmogoyf other goodies. Ghost quarter did some work.
Match #4 is against punishing jund so we drew the match but play for fun.
game 1 I have a decent hand but he knows to fetch for basic lands. His early hymn to tourach gets my only gas card: gamble.
He runs me over with dark confidant and bloodbraid elf. There was a chance I could've made the token and blocked but he just landed Liliana of the veil on the cascade of the elf.
game two I make the token by turn four and win.
Match #5 into top four is against the burn player I beat in round three.
game one is a turn two token and win.
game two is crazy. I try to quickly make the token and do, so I apologize for scumming him out, but he doesn't scoop so I swing in and he has path to exile, now it's a game!
I figured I was about to lose since I was at one life, but I drew my mainboard primeval titan and got all the pieces I needed.
I suicide the titan and get 2 more juicy lands. I then hide behind a manabond, three thespian stages, and a glacial chasm. Life from the Loam gets me three lands a turn so I always have the chasm shield.
I slowly wasteland and ghost quarter his entire board and make the token and drop the chasm shield after he is completely tapped out.
I was trying to punishing fire him to death (got him to ten) but the chasm lock was more important. My opponent misplayed several times and I got sloppy too, as this one life chasm lock lasted 30 minutes.
Match #6 was against my second round opponent: junk maverick.
He was tired and didn't want to play me so he offered to just concede.
Since he was cool, we split for first...
I'm not sure how many of you play primarily online but since my work schedule doesn't allow me to play often with people I have to play online. So, to that affect, I've recently made the change to RG lands because it's so much faster and more consistent than RUG lands. Now, online, since the Player's Championship, I think that's what it was, reanimator is everywhere and that deck is fully capable of beating a turn 2 marit lage token. I've had an amazing start against reanimator before, I'm talking Manabond, Life from the Loam and the Thespian's StageDark Depths combo. I made a token every turn for 5 turns straight and still lost. Tidespout Tyrant plus instants is all they need. So, to that, I decided to side Leyline of the Void, which even if I mull down to a useless hand with only 4 cards, as long as it's in there, I haven't lost games 2 and 3 yet anymore. I don't know many other matchups that it's great against but, if you're local meta is a lot of reanimator Leyline is my suggestion, and 2 has been doing great things for me.
Has anyone tested vs Jeskai Ascendancy yet? Interested in that match up and haven't had to play vs it yet.
Ascendancy is a pain, just like any combo match. I've been in situations where they're soft locked down and suddenly they just win because they top deck a land or a petal and are able to go off. They utilize their graveyard and cheap cantrips/spells. My suggestion, the mana denial plan is the best. If you run choke, land it asap since they'll have a hard time landing their Ascendancy and without that, they have a hard time winning.
I've only faced the matchup once but the opponent couldn't find a way around glacial chasm. This may change as the ascendancy lists evolve but he didn't have any outs to it in the 75 when we played at my store. I just rotated into it the first game once I knew what he was up to and found the chasm in my 6 card hand game 2 for an easy win. I was lucky to dodge force of will the first game but he was only playing 4 force/2 spell pierce and was just starting to cantrip when I put him on ascendancy so he didn't have one when I cast crop rotation. I can definitely see the mana denial plan that Nikolai mentioned being very good if they stumble at all since they play mostly non-basics and really need to find all three colors for the ascendancy. The opponent I was playing only had a single basic and 5 duals to fetch so my next plan of attack would have definitely been to just destroy every land I saw.
I've only faced the matchup once but the opponent couldn't find a way around glacial chasm. This may change as the ascendancy lists evolve but he didn't have any outs to it in the 75 when we played at my store. I just rotated into it the first game once I knew what he was up to and found the chasm in my 6 card hand game 2 for an easy win. I was lucky to dodge force of will the first game but he was only playing 4 force/2 spell pierce and was just starting to cantrip when I put him on ascendancy so he didn't have one when I cast crop rotation. I can definitely see the mana denial plan that Nikolai mentioned being very good if they stumble at all since they play mostly non-basics and really need to find all three colors for the ascendancy. The opponent I was playing only had a single basic and 5 duals to fetch so my next plan of attack would have definitely been to just destroy every land I saw.
They play jeskai ascendancy and then use an unearthed fatestitcher, a faerie conclave, or a wind zendikon to produce mana every time they cast a spell. This lets them burn through their deck and pump their creature up to lethal with the ascendancy triggers.
I believe I boarded in 4 sphere, 1 crop rotation, 4 krosan grip, and 1 chalice (I was on RG at the time) for a bunch of creature control cards. Trinisphere seems a lot less useful than normal due to stitcher being able to tap it down.
I played against Ascendancy tonight and found the match to be not that painful. The deck has a reliance on Fatesticher or another creature to win and it needs to have 3 mana open at lest the turn it goes off. You can constrict the mana and burn the creatures and you will find its not that tough. On the second game I gambled for a Sphere of Resistance and dropped it. That deck just feels like a pile of dead leaves against anything like Sphere.
It is a glass cannon. I think it's likely the most winnable match of all the combo decks you just need to know the right moments to disrupt it.
Collaborative Pub: Ice Cold Thoughts Always On Tap Twitter- RogueSource.
Decks: "Name one! I probably got it built In one of these boxes."
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[I]Some call it dig through time, when really your digging through CRAP!
Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
Honest question, how often do you hit Five mana in a turn and not want to use it for other reasons? (Loam, Tranquil Thicket, Punishing Fire, reclaim Punishing Fire, Seismic Assault,)
Also, if your going to run a creature, what does she offer over Primeval Titan?
I don't think she is. At most she would be a sideboard card and at that point there are really no matchups that you think "Titania would dominate here". Cards like Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void shut her down completely which are already popular choices to side in against us. Dice_Bag is right Primeval Titan is superior in this situation.
Honest question, how often do you hit Five mana in a turn and not want to use it for other reasons? (Loam, Tranquil Thicket, Punishing Fire, reclaim Punishing Fire, Seismic Assault,)
Also, if your going to run a creature, what does she offer over Primeval Titan?
Yeah, anywhere I'd consider Titania, I'd just run Primeval Titan instead. It puts the combo pieces directly back into play, or grabs any other utility land you may need (Bog, Tabernacle, Chasm, etc). Can't think of any instance where I'd rather have Titania. You could argue that the Titania land comes into play untapped, but most likely you'll be tapped out (or close to it) to make use of that untapped land to form the combo anyway. Plus when Primeval swings next turn, even more lands for you. Titania is only getting you one land; her second ability is good but your win con is Marit Lage, not a bunch of tokens without evasion.
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The biggest drawback is that you can only use an ability once per turn, at the cost of something else. This seems like a classic "jack of all trades, master of none" type thing.
In RG, really only #1 is (marginally) useful, as the deck generally only has 4 artifacts (Mox Diamond). Might save you from Price of Progress or some bolting. We have Glacial Chasm as a workaround. For #4, sac'ing a Mox Diamond to draw a card, perhaps to Loam instead, is pretty desperate. Use Horizon Canopy instead.
In RUG, Zuran Orb does #1 way better. #3 is rather irrelevant as we don't have creatures to sac and taking an extra turn to use #3 via #2 is clunky at best; use Academy Ruins instead. #4 is not bad here, but you're still dumping a highly useful artifact (Mox Diamond, Engineered Explosives or Zuran Orb).. you will be blowing up the EE to use, not sac'ing it to this.
Here is the list I played, followed by a report:
1 Forest
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Maze of Ith
4 Rishadan Port
2 Taiga
4 Thespian's Stage
3 Tranquil Thicket
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Dark Depths
4 Mox Diamond
Enchantments (6)
4 Exploration
2 Manabond
Instants (7)
3 Crop Rotation
4 Punishing Fire
Sorceries (8)
4 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Choke
1 Karakas
2 Krosan Grip
1 Primeval Titan
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Seismic Assault
4 Sphere of Resistance
1 Zuran Orb
All this is from memory, so please forgive me if some details are fuzzy or incorrect.
Round 1 vs. Maverick
Game 1: He played a first turn Forest into Green Sun's for Arbor Dryad and followed it up with Gaea's Cradle and Scavenging Ooze. On my side, I was trying to assemble the combo and had a few cards in the grave, including a Life if I remember correctly. The Ooze quickly consumed it, but with a few draw steps, I was still able to make a 20/20 before the game progressed very far.
After playing the Ooze, my opponent had used his mana to feed it my graveyard. With his resources tied up, I don't remember him playing other cards except for perhaps a Deathrite Shaman. I thought he may have been playing Elves, so I sided in 4 Sphere of Resistance.
Game 2: I made a quick 20/20, but he not only cast Swords to Plowshares on it, he cast Surgical Extraction on my Dark Depths to make sure Marit Lage never returned. (This is about the time I realized he wasn't playing Elves.) Thankfully, I had access to a Punishing Fire and Grove and settled in for the long game. Turn after turn, I controlled his board while reducing his life when I had the chance. We went to time, but rather than playing the extra turns, my opponent conceded at around 5 life.
1-0
Round 2 vs. Stoneblade
Game 1: I conjured up an early Marit Lage while my opponent Pondered a few times. The thing I did was better than the thing he did.
I wasn't quite sure which deck he was on. I feared Miracles, but don't remember how I sideboarded.
Game 2: He dropped a turn 2 Stoneforge, who kindly produced a turn 3 Batterskull for him. My combo came together a little slower this game, but it did come together. He cast Brainstorm a couple times and set sail on a Treasure Cruise, but couldn't find the StP he needed to stall. He made it up to 27 life or so thanks to the Batterskull, but the little germ wasn't enough to thwart Marit's wrath for long. Let me just say I love having a combo that cannot be stopped by Force of Will.
2-0
Round 3 vs. R/W Painter's Servant (AKA Strawberry Shortcake)
Game 1: Turn 1 Bloodmoon was bad for me. Real bad. My deck can do a grand total of 8 damage and almost nothing else after that.
I knew what the guy was playing before the match started. This is not a happy match-up, but I came packing heat in the sideboard.
Game 2: Up until now, my games had been fairly elementary in one direction or the other. This is where things started getting really interesting. He got an early Blood Moon, but unlike in game 1, I knew I could handle it with the right draws. I did have a green source from either a Forest or Mox Diamond. He didn't put a lot of pressure on me, so I had some time to dig. I did a little work with Life from the Loam, but I needed to be careful not to dredge away my answers. One Krosan Grip did hit the yard to my dismay.
Eventually, he drew into both Painter's Servant and Grindstone. I was fortunate to have drawn my Ancient Grudge, which was able to take them both down with the right timing. Next up, he added Rest in Peace, but a sweet top deck of Ray of Revelation took down both that and his Blood Moon.
Once my lands were no longer mountains, Marit Lage came screaming forth from the Depths. Sadly, she was further halted by an Ensnaring Bridge. I asked my opponent if he had 20 cards in hand yet. He didn't.
I had one last Krosan Grip in my deck, so dredging was out of the question. Casting either of the two Gambles in my hand was also too risky. While I throttled his mana with 3 Rishadan Port, we sat there for quite a number of turns just drawing cards and passing. Finally, he dropped a Painter's Servant naming blue and passed to me. I pointed the super secret tech Red Elemental Blast I'd been holding in my hand for awhile at his Bridge. Marit Lage, no longer ensnared, was finally free to feast.
Game 3: At this point, I don't remember much about this game. I believe my opponent kept a shaky hand and got punished for it. I also believe he named red when he cast Painter's Servant. This prevented him from countering a key removal spell I had later. Whatever the case, I won the game, and was absolutely thrilled to beat such a tough match-up.
3-0
Round 4 vs. Elves
Game 1: Here again, I knew what my opponent was playing before we began. I was so relieved to be playing such a favorable match-up, but I have the utmost respect for this opponent's play skill. I don't know if I was drained from the last match, tired, hungry, cocky, or just a little on tilt from being paired against this particular player, but I made mistake after mistake. From playing a Life right into his turn 1 Deathrite to forgetting to Port his land in his upkeep, I did a very good job of losing this one.
I sideboarded in Sphere of Resistance, but I am not convinced that is a great plan.
Game 2: I played a Tabernacle early and he couldn't get out from under it before I made a 20/20. At least I remember to pay the upkeep cost. Which I didn't even have to do, because Marit is an indestructible lady and Tabernacle destroys creatures. Lessons learned.
Game 3: More mistakes. I had a good start with Mox Diamond, Life from the Loam, and two Crop Rotations. I was focused on assembling the combo quickly and declined to Rotate for Tabernacle before passing into a rather sparse board. It horrified me when my opponent drew his card and announced that he thought he could kill me that turn if he didn't screw it up.
He cast Heritage Druid, which I let resolve. Glimpse of Nature was next, followed by another creature. I only had one green mana available. I responded by Rotating for Wasteland and using it to strip his Cradle. It didn't matter. He made plenty of mana to Green Sun's into Craterhoof for the win.
A couple notes: First, you're probably wondering why I didn't just rotate into Glacial Chasm. Sadly, that card was residing in my hand. Even more sadly, I had discarded it to Mox Diamond earlier, before Loaming it back. So my opponent knew it wasn't in my deck and gambled I didn't have another copy. Second, you might be wondering why I didn't Rotate into Maze of Ith. This was probably just a poor judgment call on my part. By killing the Cradle, I'd hoped to screw up my opponent's math. I honestly don't even know if a Maze would have saved me though.
Still, I knew I played poorly and that felt bad.
3-1
Round 5 vs. Metalworker
Game 1: My turn one was: Taiga, Manabond, Rishadan Port, Rishadan Port, Wasteland, Dark Depths, Thespian's Stage.
My opponent's turn one was: Draw. Scoop.
I didn't know what he was playing, so I didn't sideboard.
Game 2: He made a turn 3 Blightsteel Colossus. At the end of his turn 3, I crop rotated into the combo. Marit Lage appeared, looked at the Colossus, and said, “lolz” before ending the match.
4-1 in the Swiss.
With my final Swiss round being over so quickly, I had time to eat a quick and much needed dinner. When I returned, I learned that my Elf opponent had lost his last match. Since my tiebreakers were better, I was the number 1 ranked player going into the top 4. I was excited because this meant I automatically got to play first each round. I was much less excited when I saw that my semifinal opponent would be none other than the Painter's Servant player. The last deck in the top 4 was Sneak & Show.
At that point, I was delighted to agree to an even distribution of prizes among the top 4. We all walked away with $100 cash, but we still played for points (and honor!).
Semifinal vs. R/W Painter's Servant (AKA Strawberry Shortcake) AGAIN
Game 1: This went much like our first game earlier in the day, except that he had the courtesy to wait until turn 2 to drop his Blood Moon. I had dodge a bullet earlier in the day, but now I could see the writing on the wall.
Game 2: I got a forest, Mox, and my sideboard tech of Primeval Titan. He got Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge, but not his combo. Titan fetched my combo cards, even though they were mere mountains for the moment. Again, we played draw-go for awhile. I believe I had Ray of Revelation in hand for several turns, but there was little point in playing it with the Bridge out. Thankfully, I found my artifact removal before he found his combo. I was able to take out his lock pieces, make an Avatar, and swing for 26.
Game 3: I drew my opening hand and felt a little hopeful seeing yet another sideboard piece. This time it was Seismic Assault. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of lands in hand, but I kept anyway.
I remember that he played Grindstone at some point. Also, Blood Moon didn't arrive as quickly as it had the other games, but it did arrive, and it did allow me to finally play the Assault. By that time, I had zero or few lands in hand, though. I don't remember if I already had Life from the Loam or if I drew into it soon after, but even with that engine going, I had to play carefully. A Servant could mean instant death.
And, as a matter of fact, he did draw into Servant, cast it, and passed. I discarded a land for 2 damage. It resolved. I followed with another discard. He responded by activating Grindstone. I responded with yet another discard. There were no further responses. Servant died and I milled a few cards, but thankfully not all of them.
A few turns later and I dropped enough lands on his head with Assault-Loam to put his life at 0. A second victory over this deck left me feeling great. I also have a lot of respect for the pilot now. He was very courteous during our games and seemed like he has a lot of passion for his deck, which I can appreciate.
5-1
Final vs. Sneak & Show
Game 1: I assembled my combo in the first few turns and attacked for 20.
Game 2: He assembled his combo in the first few turns and attacked for 15. I had Maze of Ith, but the first annihilator trigger took care of it. I couldn't recover as he again attacked for 15 over the next two turns.
Game 3: He assembled his combo again, but I cast Crop Rotation into Karakas. Emrakul went back to his hand and stayed there for a very long time. Later, he played a Sneak Attack without enough mana to activate it. I cast Ray of Revelation on my turn to destroy it. Later, his Gitaxian Probe showed him that I had a Krosan Grip in hand, too. He grimaced.
I began to cut him off red mana with Wasteland and Loam. However, two things stopped me from getting ahead. First, I didn't have an Exploration in play, so we stayed at parity while his Brainstorms and Ponders let him hit land drops turn after turn. Second, I had to be very careful to leave several of my lands untapped each turn.
I left Karakas up in case he could Show and Tell into a legend. I left Grove up as a green source to flashback Ray or cast Grip on Sneak Attack. And I left Thespian's Stage up to copy Karakas in case he found a Wasteland.
It turned into a very long, grinding match. Even though I was Loaming frequently with a cycled Tranquil Thicket, I could not find a Dark Depths. I had sided out 3 of my Punishing Fires, so it was less surprising that I couldn't find that card for a long time. Still, I had a certain inevitability, and the long game started to favor me. I eventually began to pull ahead on land drops.
I wasn't out of the woods yet. My opponent cast another Show and Tell. Throughout the game, he had been using fetch lands and Ancient Tombs to cast his spells. Even with some minor life gain from my Grove, this left him at 14 life. Griselbrand hit the board, and his ability was activated once. In response, I tapped Karakas, as well as destroying his untapped Ancient Tomb. He tapped it, going down to 5 in response. The 7 cards were drawn.
No Blood Moon was played. Nor was anything else of consequence shown to me. I finally found my remaining Punishing Fire. I used it to deal a net of 3 damage to my opponent. When he was at 2 life, he sacrificed a Delta and tapped an Ancient Tomb to commit suicide.
I may not have dealt the final blow, but in the end, my opponent still died to lands.
6-1 Tournament Winner.
Additional thoughts: I have had the 4 or 5 color version of lands together for years. This was my first time playing the RG combo version. While I loved the grinding, soul-crushing nature of the old version, I feel the combo version is much, much better. Casting Intuition and transmuting Tolaria West adds some powerful options, but they often felt too slow to me. Crop Rotation is much better at putting your combo directly into play as quickly as possible. It also makes it highly possible to outrace other combo decks that the control version had so much trouble against.
I thought I would miss Academy Ruins the most, as I love recursive control options. But when you can regularly kill your opponent on turn 3 to 5, cards like Engineered Explosives just aren't that necessary. Punishing Fire is often enough recursion by itself for the games that do go long. Furthermore, removing the dependence on the graveyard is a boon to the deck.
I was amazed at how consistent the combo is in practice. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though, since having 18 cards dedicated to creating it, fetching it, and recurring it is a very high number.
The only thing about the deck I would change at the moment is trying out Horizon Canopy instead of the third Tranquil Thicket. Otherwise, it is a really solid build in my experience. Had I not royally misplayed against Elves, I may have been able to go all 7 rounds undefeated.
Special thanks to Rampart for his lengthy advice earlier in the thread.
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Legacy Lands Primer
Top 8 SCG Oakland 2014
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I would definitely run the same sideboard again. REB was critical in winning against Painter for two reasons. First, when I played it, it was a surprise that resulted in me winning the game by destroying his critical lock piece. Second, once he knew I had REB, he tried to play around it by naming red with Servant. This reduced the efficiency of his own REBs and Jaya Ballard, Task Mage. While it is harder to quantify, I believe this helped me win the 3rd game of our first match. After that game was over, a spectator asked why he didn't blast one of my cards. The answer was that he couldn't. Of course, with the heavy presence of blue in many metas, REB can often be sided in as a "gotcha" card and is rarely dead.
Choke never came up during a game, but it is another reason I am glad to cut blue from the deck. It can be devastating against some of these land-light delver decks. Port just magnifies the effectiveness.
The main cards I'd consider switching out are Titan, Sphere of Resistance, and Zuran Orb. Titan can be great in the right situations against Show and Tell or Blood Moon decks, but I can't help wondering if there is a better option.
Sphere seems necessary against combo, but it definitely slows us down a lot, too. I don't think there is a better option against storm right now.
Zuran Orb is great in the control version of this deck where it can be fetched via Tolaria West and Intuition, and recurred with Academy Ruins. However, I think it is possible a second copy of Chasm could potentially be more effective against decks like Burn and Infect. This is because Chasm is a great Crop Rotation target.
I do look forward to testing these choices more after the holidays.
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Fetch
1 Forest
1 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Maze of Ith
3 Tolaria West
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Karakas
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dark Depths
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Academy Ruins
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Zuran Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
Sorceries:
4 Life from the Loam
Enchantments:
4 Exploration
Instants:
3 Punishing Fire
3 Intuition
3 Crop Rotation
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Sphere of Resistance
2 Trinisphere
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Krosan Grip
2 Phyrexian Revoker
Played against Death and Taxes rounds 1 and 2, sided +2 bridge, + 3 K-Grip both games, took out bog, chasm, 3x tolaria west. Both rounds were a short story--game one punishing fire lock, then snag a bridge, game two--EE lock, draw naturally, wait for them to play out all their rest in peaces and k-grip them as they come.
Round three, I get paired against a guy I know is on reanimator. I don't know if he has tidespout tyrant mainboard, so I agree to a split. We play it out anyway, turns out he doesn't have the tidespout mainboard, and game one is a rather drawn-out affair that ends with me making marit lage after ensnaring bridge holds off his elesh + griselbrand for a dozen or so turns while I draw to find pieces and keep his mana locked down tight. Games two and three, I sideboard in bridges, trinisphere, sphere of resistance, and chalices, taking out the punishing fires, chasm, EE, an intuition, and 2 groves. He gets there with a turn one tidespout tyrant on the play game two, then game three we have some back and forth, then after I'm topdecking behind a bridge he entombs and reanimates tidespout, and proceeds to cast some cantrips and bounce all of my relevant board pieces. Reanimator is a rather terrible matchup if you don't have the containment priests =(
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Yes, I am a local area mod.WELP. GOOD LIFE CHANGES ALL HAPPEN AT ONCE AND SOME ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVEPrimary Decks:
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Great job and nice report! It was especially interesting reading all your sideboarding choices. I noticed you bring in Primeval Titan in a number of matches that I didn't think of. Can you explain your thoughts on when you bring it in and why? Maybe I was underestimating him.
You run 2 DD and 1 Karakas main. I noticed you swap out the Karakas pretty frequently. Any thoughts on just putting it in the side and running 3 DD main?
Oh, and don't feel bad about how you beat Merfolk. Your opponent made mistakes and you didn't. That's a good victory!
Primeval Titan is insane as it is basically a one card combo when resolved and attacking each turn you get to tutor more. Against Mid-range and control decks it is really effective because you have the time to cast the card. The biggest knock on Primeval Titan is its casting cost but that becomes mute if you looking to go long.
I played three DD last week at my local tournament and felt like I drew them too much. I had several games where I had a several DD stranded in my hand where a Karakas or almost anything else would of been better.
If Merfolk copies the Lage Token you can always kill it with Punishing Fire or Maze of Ith as well. I lost a game to merfolk where he copied the lage token then vapor snagged my lage and killed me with the copy - :/
Congrats on both of your finishes
In an entire year of RUG lands I've only made the token on turn 2, twice. Just last night playing R/G lands, I made the token on turn 2, twice.
Thank You necrogenesis. I played your list exactly except for two cards. I only own two gamble so I mainboarded an abrupt decay and a primeval titan.
Match #1 against D&T
This player has seen me play RUG lands so he wasn't expecting the speed that I could make the token.
By turn 4 I had all the pieces and he had some dudes in play but his aether vial was set at three.
I was thinking he would vial in a flickerwisp and possibly win the game, but he scooped.
Took out abrupt decay, ghost quarter and bojuka bog. Sided in 2 krosan grip and ray of revelation.
Game 2 was very long. He kept a one-lander but with an aether vial. His one land was wasteland. I kept an equally janky hand of one fetch 3 maze of ith and two thespian's stage. I kept the hand figuring he has to attack me and the mazes will keep me alive.
He wastes my colored land and ticks up his vial. I play 3 mazes and 2 stages as he is overextending his board to get at me.
This is rather frustrating for both of us but funny as well. He lands a rishadan port and a wasteland but I get a grove of the burnwillows and a punishing fire loop going.
He gets to 4 mana and casts cataclysm which makes me think I just lost. He keeps serra avenger and beats.
I waste his one land and with Life from the Loam get a full grip of lands. Here's where the R/G lands smiled upon me...
I decide to draw and can't believe my good fortune: manabond is my reward. I drop my entire hand of lands and make the token and block his serra avenger. I was at 4 life.
Match #2 is against a junk maverick list.
Opponent was cool and game one I kept a soft hand. I was punished by a first turn deathrite shaman. I scooped in about three turns since my opponent had no idea what I was playing.
I forget what I sided in but it probably wasn't much. I did see that his entire mana base was non-basic though...
Game two: exploration into Loam and I eat all his lands and make the token rather quickly. This surprised him.
Game three was an even bigger surprise. I had the combo in my opening hand so figured I could win.
Even better for me, on my second draw was my new friend manabond.
Match #3 is against an opponent that I saw play a goblin guide in an earlier match.
Game 1 goblin guide and friends show up and help me draw lands.
Opponent had lots of damage on board for me so I dropped glacial chasm and have to explain how he can't damage me.
I hide behind chasm and make the token when I am at 7 life which was very close to him burning me out.
game 2 is almost a repeat but he made a slight mistake in telling me he only has one basic mountain.
It seems he was playing a W/R/G burn deck with tarmogoyf other goodies.
Ghost quarter did some work.
Match #4 is against punishing jund so we drew the match but play for fun.
game 1 I have a decent hand but he knows to fetch for basic lands. His early hymn to tourach gets my only gas card: gamble.
He runs me over with dark confidant and bloodbraid elf. There was a chance I could've made the token and blocked but he just landed Liliana of the veil on the cascade of the elf.
game two I make the token by turn four and win.
Match #5 into top four is against the burn player I beat in round three.
game one is a turn two token and win.
game two is crazy. I try to quickly make the token and do, so I apologize for scumming him out, but he doesn't scoop so I swing in and he has path to exile, now it's a game!
I figured I was about to lose since I was at one life, but I drew my mainboard primeval titan and got all the pieces I needed.
I suicide the titan and get 2 more juicy lands. I then hide behind a manabond, three thespian stages, and a glacial chasm.
Life from the Loam gets me three lands a turn so I always have the chasm shield.
I slowly wasteland and ghost quarter his entire board and make the token and drop the chasm shield after he is completely tapped out.
I was trying to punishing fire him to death (got him to ten) but the chasm lock was more important. My opponent misplayed several times and I got sloppy too, as this one life chasm lock lasted 30 minutes.
Match #6 was against my second round opponent: junk maverick.
He was tired and didn't want to play me so he offered to just concede.
Since he was cool, we split for first...
So to all you Landers, the R/G version is legit!
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Glacial Chasm
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Maze of Ith
4 Rishadan Port
2 Taiga
4 Thespian's Stage
2 Tranquil Thicket
4 Wasteland
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
3 Dark Depths
1 Karakas
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
4 Mox Diamond
Enchantment (6)
4 Exploration
2 Manabond
instant (7)
3 Crop Rotation
4 Punishing Fire
sorcery(8)
4 Gamble
4 Life from the Loam
2 Sphere of Resistance
3 Krosan Grip
1 Zuran Orb
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Trinisphere
2 Choke
2 Leyline of the Void
UWR MiraclesUWR
Veteran WalkerBUG
Lands RUG
Karn
Ascendancy is a pain, just like any combo match. I've been in situations where they're soft locked down and suddenly they just win because they top deck a land or a petal and are able to go off. They utilize their graveyard and cheap cantrips/spells. My suggestion, the mana denial plan is the best. If you run choke, land it asap since they'll have a hard time landing their Ascendancy and without that, they have a hard time winning.
UWR MiraclesUWR
Veteran WalkerBUG
Lands RUG
Karn
I'm going to assume that the usual combo hate (i.e., Sphere of Resistance, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Trinisphere, Chalice of the Void) comes in out of the board for Ascendancy, if you have them? I haven't played against the Ascendancy combo either, and honestly have no idea how it works.
I saw all those non-basic lands and figured any traction with wasteland, rishadan port, ghost quarter and life from the loam would be an insta-win.
IIRCC, one of his interactions was faerie conclave paired with a fatestitcher and jeskai ascendancy.
Chalice at one, or sphere of resistance after SB, would make the match favorable.
They play jeskai ascendancy and then use an unearthed fatestitcher, a faerie conclave, or a wind zendikon to produce mana every time they cast a spell. This lets them burn through their deck and pump their creature up to lethal with the ascendancy triggers.
I believe I boarded in 4 sphere, 1 crop rotation, 4 krosan grip, and 1 chalice (I was on RG at the time) for a bunch of creature control cards. Trinisphere seems a lot less useful than normal due to stitcher being able to tap it down.
It is a glass cannon. I think it's likely the most winnable match of all the combo decks you just need to know the right moments to disrupt it.
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
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Merfolk! showing magic players what a shower is since Lorwyn!
Also, if your going to run a creature, what does she offer over Primeval Titan?
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
Yeah, anywhere I'd consider Titania, I'd just run Primeval Titan instead. It puts the combo pieces directly back into play, or grabs any other utility land you may need (Bog, Tabernacle, Chasm, etc). Can't think of any instance where I'd rather have Titania. You could argue that the Titania land comes into play untapped, but most likely you'll be tapped out (or close to it) to make use of that untapped land to form the combo anyway. Plus when Primeval swings next turn, even more lands for you. Titania is only getting you one land; her second ability is good but your win con is Marit Lage, not a bunch of tokens without evasion.