I know what you’re thinking – what in the world is going on in the title to this thread?!? I don’t blame you. At all. The deck is as wonky as it sounds. However, I can assure you that so far in limited testing, it’s surprisingly potent and a guaranteed blast to play. In other words, hear me out!
Brief History
I literally created this deck last night.
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON IN THE TITLE TO THIS THREAD?!?
Had to be answered at some point, right? The thought process behind this monstrosity stems from my lust for casting unfairly large creatures at an unfairly fast pace as early in the game as possible. I also like messing with my opponent. A lot.
Essentially, I harkened back to the days of RG ramp from a few standard seasons ago. Now that Emrakul v2.0 exists, there is a new unfairly large creature to enjoy. A lot of the best ramp spells (read: Explosive Vegetation) rotated out with the most recent cycle, but Splendid Reclamation helps to circumvent that loss. Bringing things back to the forefront, I dabbled with the idea of including Marvel as a way to cheat these huge badasses into play, but I found myself low on energy sources. I cut Marvel and decided to go the Reclamation + Oblivion Sower route.
First of all, ignore the sideboard. It’s a thrown-together pile of Magic cards. The intent is accurate (counterspells, removal), but I’m by no means sold on the card selection. In fact, I think it’s pretty bad. Instead, let’s focus on the main deck, and discuss why I designed it this way.
Lands
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods – This has probably been the best land in the deck so far. We get to 7 lands incredibly easily, so they are turned on as painless Ancient Tombs in nearly every game. Splendid Reclamation and Oblivion Sower both work overtime in getting us to the critical 7-land threshold.
Ishkanah, Grafwidow – Arguably the best creature in Standard at the moment. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. With all of the filtering, Delirium is very reliably achieved.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger – Usually wins the game on the spot. If not, it clears out problematic opposing threats so that you can wrap up the game quickly.
Oblivion Sower – This card has been incredible. Not only does it ramp you into your finishers (typically netting you an average of 2 lands), but it disrupts your opponents by filtering lands out of their deck.
Contingency Plan – Fills your graveyard with lands for Splendid Reclamation, and can also be used to dig for specific answers by milling unwanted cards.
Splendid Reclamation – Hitting this on turn 3 or 4 puts you so far ahead of your opponent. Enables the hard-casting of fatties alarmingly early in the game.
Hedron Archive – Pulls double duty by acting as a ramp spell and card draw later in the game when you have enough mana sources.
Matchups
So far, I’ve played against a wide variety of decks, and haven’t lost a match (even with my clunky sideboard). I haven’t played against UW yet, but I’ve faced – and defeated – BG Delirium (seems we kinda do the same thing they do, only we get there much faster), Vehicles (close matches due to their speed, but once we get to Oblivion Sower and start chaining the big Eldrazi, it’s not so bad), UR Dynavolt, Zombies, Esper Control, etc.
The inevitability seems to seal the deal in every match. The fact that most of our threats have cast triggers really helps push the deck over the edge. Even if Sower gets countered, you still get the lands, which ramps you into your heavy hitters.
Your deck idea seems solid I have a kinda similar build but with more cards that are meant to provide a ton of value throughout the game rather than right out like Crawling Sensation and The Gitrog Monster. Your deck is more based on just using cards for their immediate value to ramp to big boys. For sideboard I think you need more cards to play against aggro cause if you can't ramp fast enough or guarantee delirium then you can't hit your bombs or get max value out of spooder, and then they can just kill you faster than you can stabilize. I think for sideboard you could cut 2 scatter, 2 negate, and add 2 Harsh Scrutiny, and 2 Horribly Awry. Do that so that you have more cards that can let you deal with an aggro deck during t1 or t2. Also Harsh Scrutiny is great against greedy copter players who keep 1 creature and a copter. And If you want more hand disruption Pick the Brain is really good aswell. But for mainboard I say cut 1 Emrakul, 1 Ulamog, and put in 2 World Breaker. It's really good Utility tech since it can deal with a lot of different threats like artifacts, enchantments, and flyers first game and you can tutor it up using Sanctum.
Also imo there is some really good secret tech for a splendid reclamation deck. In my deck I use 1 Mortuary Mire to get maybe 1-3 creatures back from grave to hand in a single game.
edit: Didn't notice you weren't using any black... so for the hand removal I guess not, but you can probably get away with splashing black for sideboard.
Thanks for the suggestions! I actually added 2 World Breaker in my SB (cut 1 Negate, 1 Scatter) for that very reason. I forgot to update the OP, but will do so. I could be convinced to trim an Emrakul and Ulamog to add them to the main. I like diversifying my threats so that Lost Legacy doesn't sting so much, so that might be a good idea.
As for hand disruption, I haven't tried to splash a third color, but it could be worth it in the board. I definitely think I need better answers for aggro. Unfortunately, there just aren't many options in blue and green. Horribly Awry is worth a shot, and I was also thinking something like Commencement of Festivities might be good against aggro to buy me a turn or two.
If you were to splash black I think you could fix your land base really easily by cutting 2 forest, 1 Botanical Sanctum, 1 Lumbering Falls, and adding 1x Swamp, 1 Mortuary Mire, 1 Blooming Marsh, and 1 Hissing Quagmire. You already have really a really good ability to splash for another color since you have 4 Evolving Wilds and 4 Servant of the Conduit.
Also I don't think Commencement of Festivities is really what your deck wants because your deck wants to be ramping hard and curving out hard early to where I think you'll be hindering yourself more by holding up that mana on t4-t6 rather than just ramping. A good card that can probably save you as much life is Jaddi Offshoot. You can gain around 5+ life and block 2 power creatures for days and stop any one big creature that doesn't have trample. Also it gives you another t1 play if you don't have vessel.
Also have you thought about maybe testing Tireless Tracker. I don't know how well it would do in this deck and I don't really think it is great, but I feel it's worth testing in it.
Jaddi Offshoot! That's the card I've been trying to think of. Thank you. I think that's a great call. Tracker is worth testing, but I feel if I splash black (thank you very much for the manabase suggestions), the sideboard slots will be pretty tight.
Updated OP with new list that incorporates the black splash. I didn't realize it until it became relevant in a match, but black also lets me activate Ishkanah's ability. Pretty sweet.
Given that the blue is only for Contingency Plan and sideboard counterspells, would I just be better off with GB or maybe adding red as the second base color to give me spot removal/reach and planeswalkers (Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Chandra, Flamecaller)?
Corrupted Grafstone also isn't a bad idea. Thought-Knot Seer has been considered as well, though I would need to adjust my manabase to include more colorless sources.
Ok so if you want to go red you should check out my list http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/standard-type-2/deck-creation-standard/762617-the-gitrog-hub-jund-delirium-energy-variants. I think that you could use Lightning Axe, Fall of the Titans, and maybeeeee Nahiri's Wrath for removal if you need to get rid of really big creatures early on Axe is great and Wrath can let you just get rid of your hand and those extra titans you got in their and wipe out your enemies entire board. I don't know how well it'll work because I don't know how much card draw your deck can manage, but I think it's a fun card to try. As for the Chandras it can be helpful but I'm not sure... in my deck I really don't care much for for them and thinking about taking them out of my sideboard (I don't know why they are in there) for some other cards. Also Grastone imo is terrible and never deserves to be ran except if you don't want to run servants cause everyone has littlespotremoval for it. Thought-knot is another one I haven't tested it in my decks, but I have thought about it. For your deck though I think it could be good if you go first and are able to get down a t3 Thought-knot that way you can possibly guarantee the game since they might not be able to be faster than you after taking a key piece out of their hand.
Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm toying with the idea of reverting to a Marvel shell. I think the main piece is still Oblivion Sower. That card has just been incredible whenever I've cast it.
Okay. With the re-rise of Marvel, I just want to play 4 World Breakers. This does look like the ramp we have on 4. Suggestions that probably won't work:
Rename the thread ("Tools" widget at top right pulls down, then "Edit Thread" will allow renaming, I think). I would recommend "Gx Splendid Reclamation Eldrazi Ramp" as the secondary color(s) seem flexible.
Crop Sigil - yeah, this is a reach, I'll stop now.
Between Kiora and Kozilek's Return, I want to start testing Temur and Ruin, but it is unlikely that they all work together well. In particular, Ruin seems to conflict with our Delirium interest.
Thanks for the input! What do you mean by, "this is the ramp we have on 4?"
I've toyed with the idea of Nissa's Renewal and Cathartic Reunion (and red in general mostly for Kozilek's Return). Renewal competes with Sower at the 6-drop slot, but I've considered Renewal in the board.
Thanks for the input! What do you mean by, "this is the ramp we have on 4?"
...
Ramp like Explosive Vegetation that actually puts extra lands in play at the four mana slot. Actually there is Wild Wanderer also, so I was exaggerating. Blighted Woodland seems like 5 mana and only ramps us by a net one, so it seems worse than Natural Connection, except uncounterable and better synergy with Reclamation. Primal Druid is interesting, but not a four drop either.
I've brewed around Splendid Reclamation a fair bit.
Great enablers for Splendid Rec: Cathartic Reunion, Grapple with the Past, Crop Sigil, The Gitrog Monster, and Fateful Showdown.
Best PayOffs for Splendid Rec- Big mana spells, all of the Retreats (especially the green one), Tireless Tracker.
If you go back to the Marvel, The Gitfrog is great. As is Tracker. If you stay away from Marvel, I like Red. Big burn pays off for having lots of lands (Fall of Titans/ Avacyn's Judgement/ Burn from within, and Red has sweet enablers. These are terrible hits with Marvel, tho.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Brief History
I literally created this deck last night.
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON IN THE TITLE TO THIS THREAD?!?
Had to be answered at some point, right? The thought process behind this monstrosity stems from my lust for casting unfairly large creatures at an unfairly fast pace as early in the game as possible. I also like messing with my opponent. A lot.
Essentially, I harkened back to the days of RG ramp from a few standard seasons ago. Now that Emrakul v2.0 exists, there is a new unfairly large creature to enjoy. A lot of the best ramp spells (read: Explosive Vegetation) rotated out with the most recent cycle, but Splendid Reclamation helps to circumvent that loss. Bringing things back to the forefront, I dabbled with the idea of including Marvel as a way to cheat these huge badasses into play, but I found myself low on energy sources. I cut Marvel and decided to go the Reclamation + Oblivion Sower route.
The Deck
4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Botanical Sanctum
1 Blooming Marsh
3 Lumbering Falls
1 Hissing Quagmire
2 Sanctum of Ugin
5 Forest
2 Island
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Servant of the Conduit
3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Emrakul, the Promised End
3 Oblivion Sower
1 World Breaker
3 Grapple with the Past
3 Vessel of Nascency
4 Contingency Plan
3 Splendid Reclamation
3 Hedron Archive
1 Nissa, Vital Force
2 Negate
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Natural State
3 Transgress the Mind
1 Pick the Brain
1 To the Slaughter
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Summary Dismissal
Card Choices
First of all, ignore the sideboard. It’s a thrown-together pile of Magic cards. The intent is accurate (counterspells, removal), but I’m by no means sold on the card selection. In fact, I think it’s pretty bad. Instead, let’s focus on the main deck, and discuss why I designed it this way.
Lands
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods – This has probably been the best land in the deck so far. We get to 7 lands incredibly easily, so they are turned on as painless Ancient Tombs in nearly every game. Splendid Reclamation and Oblivion Sower both work overtime in getting us to the critical 7-land threshold.
Evolving Wilds – Good for fetching basics and can also be reused when brought back by Splendid Reclamation.
Botanical Sanctum – Self-explanatory.
Lumbering Falls – The only man-land in these colors and another color fixer.
Sanctum of Ugin – Great for finishing the game. Cast a fatty and fetch up another.
Forest – C’mon.
Island – Stop it.
Creatures
Servant of the Conduit – The only good mana dork right now, it seems. Serves its purpose, and enables a turn 3 Hedron Archive or Splendid Reclamation.
Ishkanah, Grafwidow – Arguably the best creature in Standard at the moment. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. With all of the filtering, Delirium is very reliably achieved.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger – Usually wins the game on the spot. If not, it clears out problematic opposing threats so that you can wrap up the game quickly.
Emrakul, the Promised End – See above.
Oblivion Sower – This card has been incredible. Not only does it ramp you into your finishers (typically netting you an average of 2 lands), but it disrupts your opponents by filtering lands out of their deck.
Spells
Grapple with the Past – A nod to BG Delirium and Marvel decks. Fills your graveyard with lands for Splendid Reclamation and other card types to enable Delirium.
Vessel of Nascency – See above.
Contingency Plan – Fills your graveyard with lands for Splendid Reclamation, and can also be used to dig for specific answers by milling unwanted cards.
Splendid Reclamation – Hitting this on turn 3 or 4 puts you so far ahead of your opponent. Enables the hard-casting of fatties alarmingly early in the game.
Hedron Archive – Pulls double duty by acting as a ramp spell and card draw later in the game when you have enough mana sources.
Matchups
So far, I’ve played against a wide variety of decks, and haven’t lost a match (even with my clunky sideboard). I haven’t played against UW yet, but I’ve faced – and defeated – BG Delirium (seems we kinda do the same thing they do, only we get there much faster), Vehicles (close matches due to their speed, but once we get to Oblivion Sower and start chaining the big Eldrazi, it’s not so bad), UR Dynavolt, Zombies, Esper Control, etc.
The inevitability seems to seal the deal in every match. The fact that most of our threats have cast triggers really helps push the deck over the edge. Even if Sower gets countered, you still get the lands, which ramps you into your heavy hitters.
Past Iterations
4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Lumbering Falls
2 Sanctum of Ugin
6 Forest
2 Island
Creatures
4 Servant of the Conduit
3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Emrakul, the Promised End
4 Oblivion Sower
3 Grapple with the Past
3 Vessel of Nascency
4 Contingency Plan
4 Splendid Reclamation
3 Hedron Archive
3 Negate
3 Scatter to the Winds
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Clip Wings
2 Summary Dismissal
2 World Breaker
Suggestions/Criticisms
Fire away. Help me with my sideboard as well plz and thx.
Also imo there is some really good secret tech for a splendid reclamation deck. In my deck I use 1 Mortuary Mire to get maybe 1-3 creatures back from grave to hand in a single game.
edit: Didn't notice you weren't using any black... so for the hand removal I guess not, but you can probably get away with splashing black for sideboard.
As for hand disruption, I haven't tried to splash a third color, but it could be worth it in the board. I definitely think I need better answers for aggro. Unfortunately, there just aren't many options in blue and green. Horribly Awry is worth a shot, and I was also thinking something like Commencement of Festivities might be good against aggro to buy me a turn or two.
Also I don't think Commencement of Festivities is really what your deck wants because your deck wants to be ramping hard and curving out hard early to where I think you'll be hindering yourself more by holding up that mana on t4-t6 rather than just ramping. A good card that can probably save you as much life is Jaddi Offshoot. You can gain around 5+ life and block 2 power creatures for days and stop any one big creature that doesn't have trample. Also it gives you another t1 play if you don't have vessel.
Also have you thought about maybe testing Tireless Tracker. I don't know how well it would do in this deck and I don't really think it is great, but I feel it's worth testing in it.
Thank you again!
Given that the blue is only for Contingency Plan and sideboard counterspells, would I just be better off with GB or maybe adding red as the second base color to give me spot removal/reach and planeswalkers (Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Chandra, Flamecaller)?
Corrupted Grafstone also isn't a bad idea. Thought-Knot Seer has been considered as well, though I would need to adjust my manabase to include more colorless sources.
Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm toying with the idea of reverting to a Marvel shell. I think the main piece is still Oblivion Sower. That card has just been incredible whenever I've cast it.
Between Kiora and Kozilek's Return, I want to start testing Temur and Ruin, but it is unlikely that they all work together well. In particular, Ruin seems to conflict with our Delirium interest.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I've toyed with the idea of Nissa's Renewal and Cathartic Reunion (and red in general mostly for Kozilek's Return). Renewal competes with Sower at the 6-drop slot, but I've considered Renewal in the board.
Ramp like Explosive Vegetation that actually puts extra lands in play at the four mana slot. Actually there is Wild Wanderer also, so I was exaggerating. Blighted Woodland seems like 5 mana and only ramps us by a net one, so it seems worse than Natural Connection, except uncounterable and better synergy with Reclamation. Primal Druid is interesting, but not a four drop either.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
There's Hedron Crawler as well, but at the 2-drop slot I want to be filling the yard.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I've brewed around Splendid Reclamation a fair bit.
Great enablers for Splendid Rec: Cathartic Reunion, Grapple with the Past, Crop Sigil, The Gitrog Monster, and Fateful Showdown.
Best PayOffs for Splendid Rec- Big mana spells, all of the Retreats (especially the green one), Tireless Tracker.
If you go back to the Marvel, The Gitfrog is great. As is Tracker. If you stay away from Marvel, I like Red. Big burn pays off for having lots of lands (Fall of Titans/ Avacyn's Judgement/ Burn from within, and Red has sweet enablers. These are terrible hits with Marvel, tho.