The combo of Shock and Lightning Strike as removal that can also give me some reach to finish off an opponent. As for the core of the deck, the 3-6 drops, I really like the versatility they provide. Deathgorge Scavenger is good against the GFG decks and against aggro decks with lifegain. Ripjaw Raptor is excellent as both a defensive creature that can help draw cards or being a big body to beat down with. Coming in at the five drop spot is Regisaur Alpha that is just a bomb by providing two bodies and granting Haste to other Dinos. Topping out at 6 we have Burning Sun's Avatar that is a very underrated card. Being able to remove a creature and to go to the face (or removing a Planeswalker) for 3 damage is very good, and this being a follow up to the Alpha is a devastating combo. Tying this all together is the two drop creatures. First you have Otepec Huntmaster that can really give you explosive draws with saving mana and granting Haste. The other amazing two drop is Drover of the Mighty, he not only helps accelerate, but he also turns into a 3/3 beater which is fantastic after using the ramp. Lastly we have Commune with Dinosaurs that helps smooth out draws. While no Attune with Aether, it fills a similar role while providing late game digging for threats. I want to point out that the mana base is the way it is so that I don't have any lands come into play tapped.
btw have you considered Consuming Fervor? Never actually tested it myself, but I really want to play with it
Thanks for the help on the tag!
As for Consuming Fervor, there is just to much good cheap removal (Fatal Push/Magma Spray/Harness Lightning/etc.) that sees play for my liking with this card. It's a card that would only ever be good game one, and as you play more games sideboarded I don't want a card that would only ever be in my deck 33% of the time regardless of the matchup. All that said, I do think the card has great potential though if the format was different.
Hey guys, I wanted to get some feedback on a deck I've been testing on MTGO in the Tournament Practice room to good results so far. First up I will post the list:
The basic game plan is to flood the board the first three turns with creatures, use the "2 for 1" burn spells (Collective Defiance/Hungry Flames/Insult // Injury) to remove blockers and hit them in the face at the same time to keep beating down then finish them off with a flurry of burn spells if needed. It has been performing exactly as I have hoped, and Insult // Injury has been perfect at putting opponents into burn range. Being able to make two or three creatures go from hitting for 4 to 6 points of damage to doing 8 to 12 points of damage is big against certain decks. Add in the fact that it can double as a "2 for 1" burn spell from the graveyard and it is exactly what this deck wants.
Granted, sometimes my opponents stumbled, but that is exactly what this deck is designed to do, punish those slow/bad starts.
As for the sideboard, Impetuous Devils provides another 4 versions of "2 for 1" removal that can be useful against midrange or other low to the ground decks. It also serves as a "burn" spell against certain control decks. I have the 4th copies of my main deck card advantage cards in the sideboard for those matchups I want them. Boiling Earth is there to combat any of the 1/1 creature token strategies I see and being a card that can be Awaken it provides a little flexibility if I flood out. By Force is for those artifact decks and Magma Spray is perfect against Zombies/Scrapheap Scrounger and other agro decks in general.
Anyway, I might record the replays and post them up on youtube for viewing if you would like.
As for some changes, I'm not 100% sure the land count is right, but I seem to have more games where I want more mana then games where I flood out, but I might cut it back down to 22. The only maindeck card I'm not sold on is Borderland Marauder, but there isn't a huge range of options right now in that CMC for Red. Harsh Mentor is on my radar, but it doesn't help against the biggest issues this deck has, which is Planeswalkers and Enchantments. I've tried Bloodrage Brawler, but that card requires a different strategy built around Discard/Madness and I didn't like the way it played.
Lastly, I am pondering swapping Impetuous Devils for Glorybringer but the difference between four and five mana is huge.
Please give me some feedback, and if anyone tries this list, let me know how it plays for you.
I think we are seeing the birth of a new Titan, and we will learn that Ulamog and Koz were born the same way. Em is going to be more of a being of "creation", and the Titans/Champions take on a different role of getting a plane ready for consumption.
So I decided that I didn't want to have an expensive digital collection anymore, so I sold my collection off and used credit from bots/free bots to build this deck:
I wanted to maximize the potential of Sylvan Messenger, and when you draw 3 or 4 cards off of it, it is back breaking against so many of these one for one decks running around. The other thing is Duress is seeing so much play right now and this deck pretty much blanks that card right now.
I don't really have a sideboard, but this is what I was thinking:
So Gilt-Leaf Winnower I'm thinking would be excellent against midrange decks and it kills the most played creature in Standard, Siege Rhino. Eyeblight Massacre I was thinking would be perfect against stuff like Atarka Red that tries to go wide as well while not effecting my board. It seems like it would help push through against bigger creature decks as well. Eyeblight Assassin is for "mirror" matches of go wide strategies, but mostly for ramp decks using Rattleclaw Mystic and Leaf Gilder to disrupt their tempo while advancing my board at the same time. It feels good casting one second turn on the draw because of Gnarlroot Trapper (he is another reason why I wanted to play this deck, I miss having a turn one accelerator). Lastly, Duress is to attack sweeper cards from the control decks.
As for how the deck has performed, it has gone 10-0 (18-1 in games) in matches. Here is a breakdown of the games so far:
2-0 against GW Hardened Scales
2-1 against GR Landfall
2-0 against UG Tempo
1-0 against BR Colorless Aggro (rage quit)
2-0 against UR Aggro
2-0 against Esper Control (killed him so fast I only saw Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Duress and some other control cards)
1-0 against UR Thopters (rage quit)
2-0 against Abzan Aggro
2-0 against UR Aggro
2-0 against UG Ramp
Just want to give an update of the testing so far. I have gone 6-2 (12-6 in games) in 8 matches so far:
4-0 against BW Ally (with Gideon)
4-2 against RUG midrange decks
2-0 against Jeskai Black (with Jace)
0-4 against ramp decks (Naya and UG)
I'm really enjoying the matchup against every deck except Ramp, not really sure what I can do to improve this match up. I've gone the Infinite Obliteration and Transgress the Mind route, but that didn't seem to really do anything because if they top deck an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, we lose if we have no Ruinous Path, and I don't think there is anything I can do to try and go "underneath" them. Maybe something Rakshasa Deathdealer or "Dash" creatures?
Hey everyone, just wanted to get a deck posted up that has been testing well in the Tournament Practice Room, looking for others to help with testing the deck. First off, the deck is much different then anything else I see running around right now. Here is the deck list:
Ob Nixilis Reignited and Nissa, Vastwood Seer: These are our best win conditions, forces our opponents to answer them as they can quickly run away with the game with them drawing cards every turn. When they are both on the board at the same time....
Reclaiming Vines: With the amount of enchantment based removal, manlands, and Hedron Archives, this card has been better then expected.
Funny, I was just playing the deck, and I found that Greenwarden of Murasa is one of the most important cards in the deck, so I started building more around that and Den Protector. Now I know that Den Protector isn't really a "budget" option, even still the deck that I have constructed right now is still really cheap. Here is the deck that my Value Leap deck morphed (no pun intended) into:
So I've been testing a list that is a little bit more different then what others have been testing. I have been destroying Midrange and Control/Dragon decks so far, and I have had better matchups against agro decks than I thought I would. First, the list:
So the reason I am running Desolation Twin is so that I have more cards to turn on Titan's Presence, and Titan's Presence has been amazing so far. It allows me to interact early against Control decks looking to lean on Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Jeskai decks looking to get there with Mantis Rider, etc. I'm really hoping that we get something like it in the next set.
I am not running any creature based ramp because they always die before doing anything for me. If I'm using them to chump block, then I'm already in a losing situation. Natural Connection is nice because it allows me to keep up Titan's Presence and/or Winds of Qal Sisma. Nissa's Renewal is the perfect card to get us to our payoff cards. And I'm calling it right now, but I think Sylvan Scrying is and will be one of the most powerful cards in Standard. I love Sylvan Scrying more and more every time I cast it. Early game it helps me find those Shrine of the Forsaken Gods to ramp me faster, and then after I get one or two of those it helps me "tutor" for Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger via Sanctum of Ugin.
The Gaea's Revenge in the sideboard is the perfect card to play against any Control deck. It hits hard and fast and is hard to deal with. Temur Sabertooth is there to allow me to "durdle" with the big 10 casting cost stuff. Winds of Qal Sisma and Jaddi Offshoot are there for the agro matchups.
Brood Butcher is a very underrated card in my opinion, and in certain matchups it's an easy card to side out, usually for Whisperwood Elemental.
Overall, I'm finding that the deck does an excellent job applying early pressure and then has cards (From Beyond, Whisperwood Elemental, Smothering Abomination, Brood Butcher, the flip walkers) that are excellent at providing enough late game to close the game. That was the biggest problem that I found with the Collected Company version was that often times I would fizzle out.
Ghostfire Blade has been amazing so far. Ruinous Path has been better then expected. From Beyond is so underrated, when I resolve one of these I almost always win. Being a win condition on top of a tutor engine is amazing.
Some of the one-ofs in this list are for testing, but I can already see that I want to cut Bane of Bala Ged and Ruin Processor. Probably going to add in a couple more Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or more removal. As for the sideboard, I think that I'm going to cut Gaea's Revenge for some one-ofs to fill out against certain decks, like Brood Butcher (this card is amazing in the right matchups) and Brood Monitor (this card shines in certain matchups).
Speaking of Brood Butcher and Brood Monitor, I think these two cards are going to be the stars of The Rock 2, The Brood. These two can really take over a game. Against other midrange decks, having repeatable -2/-2 is devastating. Been pondering about trying to fit in some sort of ramp and more of these guys and making that the focal point of the deck. Actually, I think I'm going to do that and let you guys know how that goes in the near future.
Anyway, I like the way the deck is going.
About why no Despise, I don't like it period. I would rather play more removal, as the card does not answer a topdecked threat and it just doesn't provide the same kind of disruption that Thoughtseize does.
So my personal thoughts on this deck is that game one it needs to be played like a "combo" deck, so it needs to win with the top 10 to 12 cards, and you do this by playing 4 of each card to maximize your chance of drawing that card needed. This is where I'm starting:
The basic idea is you have Fiery Impulse for cheap interaction/removal, Murderous Cut for mid range decks, Self-Inflicted Wound for any G/W creatures, and then the commands for versatility.
4 Burning Sun's Avatar
4 Regisaur Alpha
4 Ripjaw Raptor
4 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Otepec Huntmaster
4 Lightning Strike
4 Shock
4 Commune with Dinosaurs
Lands - 24
8 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Vance's Blasting Cannons
1 Creeping Mold
2 Fiery Cannonade
4 Abrade
2 Heroic Intervention
4 Magma Spray
The combo of Shock and Lightning Strike as removal that can also give me some reach to finish off an opponent. As for the core of the deck, the 3-6 drops, I really like the versatility they provide. Deathgorge Scavenger is good against the GFG decks and against aggro decks with lifegain. Ripjaw Raptor is excellent as both a defensive creature that can help draw cards or being a big body to beat down with. Coming in at the five drop spot is Regisaur Alpha that is just a bomb by providing two bodies and granting Haste to other Dinos. Topping out at 6 we have Burning Sun's Avatar that is a very underrated card. Being able to remove a creature and to go to the face (or removing a Planeswalker) for 3 damage is very good, and this being a follow up to the Alpha is a devastating combo. Tying this all together is the two drop creatures. First you have Otepec Huntmaster that can really give you explosive draws with saving mana and granting Haste. The other amazing two drop is Drover of the Mighty, he not only helps accelerate, but he also turns into a 3/3 beater which is fantastic after using the ramp. Lastly we have Commune with Dinosaurs that helps smooth out draws. While no Attune with Aether, it fills a similar role while providing late game digging for threats. I want to point out that the mana base is the way it is so that I don't have any lands come into play tapped.
Creeping Mold will probably become Appetite for the Unnatural, 3 CMC is much easier to cast and the ability to destroy a land seems less important currently. Heroic Intervention is excellent against cards like Fumigate and I'm thinking about getting more into the sideboard. Vance's Blasting Cannons is another excellent card against control/midrange. Magma Spray and Abrade easily slot in for Commune with Dinosaurs and Otepec Huntmaster with Fiery Cannonade being a perfect sweeper against go wide strategies.
Anyway, let me know what you guys think, thanks!
Thanks for the help on the tag!
As for Consuming Fervor, there is just to much good cheap removal (Fatal Push/Magma Spray/Harness Lightning/etc.) that sees play for my liking with this card. It's a card that would only ever be good game one, and as you play more games sideboarded I don't want a card that would only ever be in my deck 33% of the time regardless of the matchup. All that said, I do think the card has great potential though if the format was different.
4 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Borderland Marauder
4 Falkenrath Gorger
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Village Messenger
Spells - 17
3 Collective Defiance
3 Hungry Flames
3 Insult // Injury
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Shock
4 Blighted Gorge
19 Mountain
3 By Force
4 Impetuous Devils
1 Collective Defiance
1 Hungry Flames
1 Insult // Injury
1 Boiling Earth
4 Magma Spray
The basic game plan is to flood the board the first three turns with creatures, use the "2 for 1" burn spells (Collective Defiance/Hungry Flames/Insult // Injury) to remove blockers and hit them in the face at the same time to keep beating down then finish them off with a flurry of burn spells if needed. It has been performing exactly as I have hoped, and Insult // Injury has been perfect at putting opponents into burn range. Being able to make two or three creatures go from hitting for 4 to 6 points of damage to doing 8 to 12 points of damage is big against certain decks. Add in the fact that it can double as a "2 for 1" burn spell from the graveyard and it is exactly what this deck wants.
Here is the results so far from testing:
0-1 (1-2) GW Tokens
1-1 (3-2) GB -1/-1 counters
1-0 (2-0) UB Artifacts
1-0 (2-0) RUG Midrange
1-0 (2-1) UB Zombies
2-0 (4-1) UW Control
1-0 (2-1) RGW Energy Midrange
1-0 (2-1) BUG
1-0 (2-1) BW Zombies
9-2 (20-9)
Granted, sometimes my opponents stumbled, but that is exactly what this deck is designed to do, punish those slow/bad starts.
As for the sideboard, Impetuous Devils provides another 4 versions of "2 for 1" removal that can be useful against midrange or other low to the ground decks. It also serves as a "burn" spell against certain control decks. I have the 4th copies of my main deck card advantage cards in the sideboard for those matchups I want them. Boiling Earth is there to combat any of the 1/1 creature token strategies I see and being a card that can be Awaken it provides a little flexibility if I flood out. By Force is for those artifact decks and Magma Spray is perfect against Zombies/Scrapheap Scrounger and other agro decks in general.
Anyway, I might record the replays and post them up on youtube for viewing if you would like.
As for some changes, I'm not 100% sure the land count is right, but I seem to have more games where I want more mana then games where I flood out, but I might cut it back down to 22. The only maindeck card I'm not sold on is Borderland Marauder, but there isn't a huge range of options right now in that CMC for Red. Harsh Mentor is on my radar, but it doesn't help against the biggest issues this deck has, which is Planeswalkers and Enchantments. I've tried Bloodrage Brawler, but that card requires a different strategy built around Discard/Madness and I didn't like the way it played.
Lastly, I am pondering swapping Impetuous Devils for Glorybringer but the difference between four and five mana is huge.
Please give me some feedback, and if anyone tries this list, let me know how it plays for you.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/32840_Team-MetaGameGurus.html
4 Tajuru Warcaller
4 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
4 Sylvan Messenger
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Leaf Gilder
4 Beastcaller Savant
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Thornbow Archer
4 Gnarlroot Trapper
10 Forest
10 Swamp
The deck has been winning on turn 4-6 almost every game, it's been pretty insane. Tajuru Warcaller, Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen, and Shaman of the Pack play well with the strategy of going "wide". Elvish Visionary and Sylvan Messenger keep your hand filled. Gnarlroot Trapper, Leaf Gilder, and Beastcaller Savant (which also triggers Tajuru Warcaller) help the deck empty out its hand as fast as possible. Thornbow Archer just provides early pressure and helps making sure you get damage through against stuff like Jaddi Offshoot. Dwynen's Elite is perfect for helping the deck go wide.
I wanted to maximize the potential of Sylvan Messenger, and when you draw 3 or 4 cards off of it, it is back breaking against so many of these one for one decks running around. The other thing is Duress is seeing so much play right now and this deck pretty much blanks that card right now.
I don't really have a sideboard, but this is what I was thinking:
3 Eyeblight Massacre
4 Eyeblight Assassin
4 Duress
So Gilt-Leaf Winnower I'm thinking would be excellent against midrange decks and it kills the most played creature in Standard, Siege Rhino. Eyeblight Massacre I was thinking would be perfect against stuff like Atarka Red that tries to go wide as well while not effecting my board. It seems like it would help push through against bigger creature decks as well. Eyeblight Assassin is for "mirror" matches of go wide strategies, but mostly for ramp decks using Rattleclaw Mystic and Leaf Gilder to disrupt their tempo while advancing my board at the same time. It feels good casting one second turn on the draw because of Gnarlroot Trapper (he is another reason why I wanted to play this deck, I miss having a turn one accelerator). Lastly, Duress is to attack sweeper cards from the control decks.
As for how the deck has performed, it has gone 10-0 (18-1 in games) in matches. Here is a breakdown of the games so far:
2-0 against GW Hardened Scales
2-1 against GR Landfall
2-0 against UG Tempo
1-0 against BR Colorless Aggro (rage quit)
2-0 against UR Aggro
2-0 against Esper Control (killed him so fast I only saw Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Duress and some other control cards)
1-0 against UR Thopters (rage quit)
2-0 against Abzan Aggro
2-0 against UR Aggro
2-0 against UG Ramp
2-0 against Mono Gideon
2-3 against ramp decks (UG)
2-1 against Mono Red
Going to try something for the sideboard, some sort of Dark Petition toolbox of sorts I'm thinking.
4-0 against BW Ally (with Gideon)
4-2 against RUG midrange decks
2-0 against Jeskai Black (with Jace)
0-4 against ramp decks (Naya and UG)
I'm really enjoying the matchup against every deck except Ramp, not really sure what I can do to improve this match up. I've gone the Infinite Obliteration and Transgress the Mind route, but that didn't seem to really do anything because if they top deck an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, we lose if we have no Ruinous Path, and I don't think there is anything I can do to try and go "underneath" them. Maybe something Rakshasa Deathdealer or "Dash" creatures?
4 Greenwarden of Murasa
4 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Den Protector
4 Elvish Visionary
Spells - 18
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Murderous Cut
1 Reclaiming Vines
3 Languish
2 Ruinous Path
3 Read the Bones
2 Ultimate Price
3 Duress
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Llanowar Wastes
8 Forest
8 Swamp
2 Crux of Fate
2 Infinite Obliteration
2 Ruinous Path
2 Feed the Clan
1 Naturalize
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Ultimate Price
1 Duress
Here is some card choice explanations:
Greenwarden of Murasa and Den Protector: Den Protector needs no introductions, but Greenwarden of Murasa is the new kid on the block. Using our cheap interactive spells to slow the opponent down then having these guys Regrowth these spells is quite amazing.
Ob Nixilis Reignited and Nissa, Vastwood Seer: These are our best win conditions, forces our opponents to answer them as they can quickly run away with the game with them drawing cards every turn. When they are both on the board at the same time....
Reclaiming Vines: With the amount of enchantment based removal, manlands, and Hedron Archives, this card has been better then expected.
Transgress the Mind and Infinite Obliteration: These are excellent sideboard cards against Gx Ramp decks and Control/Dragon decks.
Ultimate Price: This card is very underplayed right now. It has targets in almost every matchup, even most control decks running Jace.
Feed the Clan: Already excellent against agro decks, but when you get it back with Greenwarden of Murasa, that usually is the icing on the cake.
4 Greenwarden of Murasa
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Den Protector
4 Elvish Visionary
Spells - 18
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Murderous Cut
1 Reclaiming Vines
3 Languish
2 Ruinous Path
3 Read the Bones
2 Ultimate Price
3 Duress
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Llanowar Wastes
8 Forest
8 Swamp
2 Conclave Naturalists
1 Reclaiming Vines
2 Ruinous Path
2 Virulent Plague
3 Evolutionary Leap
2 Feed the Clan
2 Ultimate Price
1 Duress
So far in testing, the only matchup that I have struggled with is 4 color Rally. I'm not really sure what to bring in for that matchup.
I will be switching the 2 Conclave Naturalist and the Reclaiming Vines for Infinite Obliterations. Infinite Obliteration is solid against Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger decks, Dragon decks, and seems like a solid option against the Rally decks to take out their Zulaport Cutthroats as that is really their only win condition against the deck. What do you guys think of Transgress the Mind, I'm thinking I want one or two in the sideboard.
Anyway, the deck has been testing very well in the Tournament Practice Room, and I think I'm going to give it a whirl in some actual Tournament games.
Close Encounters
or
3rd Kind
(they require 2 other cards to be played before them to get the best value out of them and they are the 3rd of their kind, two basic land types)
4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Desolation Twin
Spells - 26
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Nissa's Renewal
4 Explosive Vegetation
4 Natural Connection
4 Nissa's Pilgrimage
4 Titan's Presence
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Foundry of the Consuls
4 Sanctum of Ugin
4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
14 Forest
4 Gaea's Revenge
1 Temur Sabertooth
2 Abzan Beastmaster
4 Winds of Qal Sisma
4 Jaddi Offshoot
Some changes I will be making is moving 2 Titan's Presence to the sideboard to add 2 more Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. In the sideboard, I will be dropping the 2 Abzan Beastmasters to fit the 2 Titan's Presence.
So the reason I am running Desolation Twin is so that I have more cards to turn on Titan's Presence, and Titan's Presence has been amazing so far. It allows me to interact early against Control decks looking to lean on Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Jeskai decks looking to get there with Mantis Rider, etc. I'm really hoping that we get something like it in the next set.
I am not running any creature based ramp because they always die before doing anything for me. If I'm using them to chump block, then I'm already in a losing situation. Natural Connection is nice because it allows me to keep up Titan's Presence and/or Winds of Qal Sisma. Nissa's Renewal is the perfect card to get us to our payoff cards. And I'm calling it right now, but I think Sylvan Scrying is and will be one of the most powerful cards in Standard. I love Sylvan Scrying more and more every time I cast it. Early game it helps me find those Shrine of the Forsaken Gods to ramp me faster, and then after I get one or two of those it helps me "tutor" for Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger via Sanctum of Ugin.
The Gaea's Revenge in the sideboard is the perfect card to play against any Control deck. It hits hard and fast and is hard to deal with. Temur Sabertooth is there to allow me to "durdle" with the big 10 casting cost stuff. Winds of Qal Sisma and Jaddi Offshoot are there for the agro matchups.
2 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Brood Butcher
1 Temur Sabertooth
2 Smothering Abomination
4 Catacomb Sifter
2 Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Nantuko Husk
1 Ainok Survivalist
4 Carrier Thrall
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Blisterpod
1 Murderous Cut
2 From Beyond
1 Ultimate Price
Lands - 22
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Llanowar Wastes
7 Forest
7 Swamp
2 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Brood Butcher
3 Murderous Cut
3 Ainok Survivalist
1 Ultimate Price
4 Duress
Brood Butcher is a very underrated card in my opinion, and in certain matchups it's an easy card to side out, usually for Whisperwood Elemental.
Overall, I'm finding that the deck does an excellent job applying early pressure and then has cards (From Beyond, Whisperwood Elemental, Smothering Abomination, Brood Butcher, the flip walkers) that are excellent at providing enough late game to close the game. That was the biggest problem that I found with the Collected Company version was that often times I would fizzle out.
Let me know what you guys think of this deck.
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Bane of Bala Ged
1 Ruin Processor
1 Deathless Behemoth
1 Brood Monitor
1 Brood Butcher
1 Smothering Abomination
4 Catacomb Sifter
1 Wasteland Strangler
4 Blisterpod
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Murderous Cut
4 From Beyond
4 Ruinous Path
2 Ultimate Price
4 Ghostfire Blade
Lands - 24
5 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Blighted Fen
2 Mortuary Mire
2 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
4 Gaea's Revenge
2 Murderous Cut
3 Complete Disregard
2 Ainok Survivalist
4 Duress
Ghostfire Blade has been amazing so far.
Ruinous Path has been better then expected.
From Beyond is so underrated, when I resolve one of these I almost always win. Being a win condition on top of a tutor engine is amazing.
Some of the one-ofs in this list are for testing, but I can already see that I want to cut Bane of Bala Ged and Ruin Processor. Probably going to add in a couple more Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or more removal. As for the sideboard, I think that I'm going to cut Gaea's Revenge for some one-ofs to fill out against certain decks, like Brood Butcher (this card is amazing in the right matchups) and Brood Monitor (this card shines in certain matchups).
Speaking of Brood Butcher and Brood Monitor, I think these two cards are going to be the stars of The Rock 2, The Brood. These two can really take over a game. Against other midrange decks, having repeatable -2/-2 is devastating. Been pondering about trying to fit in some sort of ramp and more of these guys and making that the focal point of the deck. Actually, I think I'm going to do that and let you guys know how that goes in the near future.
Anyway, I like the way the deck is going.
About why no Despise, I don't like it period. I would rather play more removal, as the card does not answer a topdecked threat and it just doesn't provide the same kind of disruption that Thoughtseize does.
4 Snapping Gnarlid
4 Makindi Sliderunner
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Scythe Leopard
4 Lightning Berserker
Spells - 16
4 Become Immense
4 Atarka's Command
4 Swell of Growth
4 Titan's Strength
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest
4 Mountain
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
1 Smoldering Marsh
So with this setup you can very easily win turn 3/4/5. The sideboard I would start with for now would be this one:
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Dromoka's Command
4 Murderous Cut
The basic idea is you have Fiery Impulse for cheap interaction/removal, Murderous Cut for mid range decks, Self-Inflicted Wound for any G/W creatures, and then the commands for versatility.
Let me know what you guys think.