I really like Omnath, but since I already have a RG deck I feel will be my main, I don't think I'm going to put money into it. That doesn't mean I can't start up my app and kick out a deck. If someone wants this deck and wants to tune it, that would be great! If all we end up doing is talking about it, almost as great. Traverse is the most expensive card in the deck; they look like they're going for $5/each right now. Everything else is $2 or less.
The idea of the deck is to take advantage of elementals coming into play and sacrificing them so they trigger Omnath and Cutthroat.
The way I imagine playing the deck is surviving the first few turns, hopefully getting to a Radiant Flames to clear things out.
Drawing through the deck using Vampiric Rites to keep feeding Mina and Denn to accelerate to the higher costs.
Then using Mina and Denn to continue making landfall triggers to finish the game.
In the endgame, a single Elemental token can come into play and deal 1 dmg for coming into play and up to 4 dmg for dying as well as causing your opponent to lose a life while you gain one. That's not even including if they connect with your opponents!
Now, as built, there are likely some holes in the deck. Immediately to me, it looks like it's too weak in the first few turns to be effective. I think these could be shored up with some cheap creatures/removal in there and taking some other stuff out. Something like Glade Watcher might be just what's needed, a great blocker that can be sacrificed later. I also like Bone Splinters for this deck as a way to kill creatures cheaply while also being a sacrifice outlet.
Another way to go as well would be to just get to your higher mana totals faster. This could be achieved with some mana accel like Ruin in their Wake, but you'll have to add a Wastes to the deck to really make it work. You could also do different drawing. Altar's Reap could be a faster dig through the deck. Smothering Abomination is another option, but to make it work, I feel like you'd have to build more towards supporting him, which would mean having many more creatures to feed him. There really aren't that many elementals at the lower mana costs that impressed me, and even though I'm sure you could get away with some non-elementals filling those spots, I don't want dead draws late in the game. I want to be excited that damage is coming even if I draw a crappy creature I wanted early.
Even though it wouldn't really be a card that would get some early card drawing, Elemental Bond would be a great card in the later game to make sure your engine is being fed new elementals/lands. I didn't pick Elemental Bond or Smothering Abomination, but they're both very good card drawing in this deck because they're passive. I think the best fit for hanging back is Vampiric Rites because the life gain, small as it is, will help save you from early onslaughts.
Finally, I didn't put her in because this is a budget deck, but OBVIOUSLY Chandra would be killer in this deck and would shore up some early holes while also contributing to the late game Elemental engine. I feel like without her it's a good FNM deck, and with her it's a great one.
I think that too. It definitely needs some ramping to get up there quickly. I'd like to do it with drawing and Mina and Denn, but that build up there isn't exactly pulling it off. I think it could get there with some work, but like I said, it was just my first pass at the deck. Playtesting would probably show for sure that real land searching might be needed. If I remember later, I'll post another build that would help add some survival/mana ramping. It will probably be something like Blisterpod and Glade Watcher so I can have some early game blocking/feeding Vampiric Rites. Then i'll see how some simulated hands of that work out.
Omnath says when an elemental "dies". All of the effects mentioned exile tokens at the end step. It means you're needing four pieces to work together in a standard that probably won't let Omnath resolve/stay for a turn. Omnath + Ways to make Tokens + Sac outlet + reliable mana.
No Zendikar's Roil? No ramp and/Zendikar resurgent?
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"The essence of every world, every spell and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
Well, I mostly did this as a deck building exercise, and I didn't optimize, and I'm not sure I plan to.
That said, the only card that makes elementals that are exiled is the Akoum Stonewaker. They have haste and trample, so you can just attack with them, lol. If they aren't killed in combat, they're 3 damage. I think it'll be ok.
I think the biggest problem with this deck is Aristocrats does it better, and i'm not focused on this build so even if I could make it better than Aristicrats (which I probably can't), i'm not going to =p.
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4 Akoum Stonewaker
4 Blazing Hellhound
4 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
3 Omnath, Locus of Rage
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Radiant Flames
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Enchantments 8
4 Impact Tremors
4 Vampiric Rites
4 Evolving Wilds
9 Forest
7 Mountain
5 Swamp
The idea of the deck is to take advantage of elementals coming into play and sacrificing them so they trigger Omnath and Cutthroat.
The way I imagine playing the deck is surviving the first few turns, hopefully getting to a Radiant Flames to clear things out.
Drawing through the deck using Vampiric Rites to keep feeding Mina and Denn to accelerate to the higher costs.
Then using Mina and Denn to continue making landfall triggers to finish the game.
In the endgame, a single Elemental token can come into play and deal 1 dmg for coming into play and up to 4 dmg for dying as well as causing your opponent to lose a life while you gain one. That's not even including if they connect with your opponents!
Now, as built, there are likely some holes in the deck. Immediately to me, it looks like it's too weak in the first few turns to be effective. I think these could be shored up with some cheap creatures/removal in there and taking some other stuff out. Something like Glade Watcher might be just what's needed, a great blocker that can be sacrificed later. I also like Bone Splinters for this deck as a way to kill creatures cheaply while also being a sacrifice outlet.
Another way to go as well would be to just get to your higher mana totals faster. This could be achieved with some mana accel like Ruin in their Wake, but you'll have to add a Wastes to the deck to really make it work. You could also do different drawing. Altar's Reap could be a faster dig through the deck. Smothering Abomination is another option, but to make it work, I feel like you'd have to build more towards supporting him, which would mean having many more creatures to feed him. There really aren't that many elementals at the lower mana costs that impressed me, and even though I'm sure you could get away with some non-elementals filling those spots, I don't want dead draws late in the game. I want to be excited that damage is coming even if I draw a crappy creature I wanted early.
Even though it wouldn't really be a card that would get some early card drawing, Elemental Bond would be a great card in the later game to make sure your engine is being fed new elementals/lands. I didn't pick Elemental Bond or Smothering Abomination, but they're both very good card drawing in this deck because they're passive. I think the best fit for hanging back is Vampiric Rites because the life gain, small as it is, will help save you from early onslaughts.
Finally, I didn't put her in because this is a budget deck, but OBVIOUSLY Chandra would be killer in this deck and would shore up some early holes while also contributing to the late game Elemental engine. I feel like without her it's a good FNM deck, and with her it's a great one.
The deck looks solid but you need more ramp...
Standard: Larkblue's Competitive Mono Red Aggro
No Zendikar's Roil? No ramp and/Zendikar resurgent?
That said, the only card that makes elementals that are exiled is the Akoum Stonewaker. They have haste and trample, so you can just attack with them, lol. If they aren't killed in combat, they're 3 damage. I think it'll be ok.
I think the biggest problem with this deck is Aristocrats does it better, and i'm not focused on this build so even if I could make it better than Aristicrats (which I probably can't), i'm not going to =p.