Hey all, I've been tinkering with a RG(currently U, post-sideboard, having no reason to play it pre currently) control deck, centered around board control with cards like LB, Madness LB, Pyroclasm and Graveyard Ping, helped by Guttersnipe and Pyromancer's Swath to transition to late game.
Origin
The deck takes root in another deck I built that's very similar but Combo oriented, trying to combo out by stacking a Storm count of 7, dropping a Pyromancer's Swath in the meantime then go for a lethal grapeshot. This version have become heavily control based.
Win Cons
The current wincon comes in the way of either of the pumps (Gutter or Swath) then you can recur lands turn after turn with Life From the loam, pitching them to Jab for 3 damage to face, totaling 9 damage per turn for a meek 5 mana. Depending if you go with Guttersnipe or Swath, you may or may not be able to dodge Leyline of Sanctity post-board or burn creature for 3 per Jab if needed. Another possibility currently is through Worm Harvest.
I am also looking toward finding additional win cons other than graveyard oriented, so I can dodge RIP and the like. I'm currently thinking about Young Pyromancer although I'm not sure where to fit him.
Sideboard
Currently, the board is kind of a mess. I'll try to explain my choices: Anger of the Gods: Finks makes our life miserable. Can kill a lot of creature by itself, turns into a Modern board wipe with the help of Pyromancer's Swath. I find myself swapping this card with my Pyroclasm when I need a more potent wipe or removing some Tempers for it when I needed tons of removal in matchups like Robots and Merfolks. Aura Barbs: A 1-of. I am not scared that much of the return of Boggles but I am prepared. This + Claim makes my boggle protection. With the amount I can dig if needed, I have relative ease to find it when needed. Essence Backlash: For Tron decks mainly. Can't counter Emrakul but can drop them from a respectable amount back down to 5-6 health. Counters the rest of their threats, while hurting them pretty bad. Unfortunately, does not protect me from Goryo, Polymorph and TtB. Can also be good against Tasigur and Tarmogoyf. Guttural Response: My response to counter magic. Mindbreak Trap: Is there for the faster Storm matchup. Can stifle their combo out of the blue, with all mana tapped. Also playable against slower combos like Scapeshift, as I can hard cast it (through Manamorphose if needed). Doesn't help with Goryo unfortunately. Molten Rain: Tron, the now-deceased Post, Scapeshift, etc. Troublesome lands go down. Also helps versus control and their manlands. Nature's Claim: Hate against Blood Moon, RIP, Leylines, etc. My gameplan must get enabled as soon as possible to work. Tormod's Crypt: I play this over Relic because I don't want my own graveyard to get exiled.
Colors
As I discussed at first, my third color is currently blue, with only sideboard presence but my choice on this is not locked. With a good reason, I would be interested to see what the other colors could bring to the table. I am looking interested at White or Black for their respective Retrace primarly (Cenn's Enlistment and Raven's Crime respectively) but could see some Paths and such doing work in the deck.
Current Maybelist
Here's the current maybelist:
White: Cenn's Enlistment: Gives me a semi-infinite amount of tokens. Path to Exile: ... Need I say more?
Pro-red creatures: Would allow me to go more heavy on board wipes, à la Pale Moon. Myth Realized: One of the cards that interests me the most about going with White. For a single W in the first turn, this card can turn into a monster in the later turns. Even late game, this card can become huge fast. A single rotation through the combo grants it 4 counters. (1 from Loam, 3 from Jabs). Even without combo, we strive at playing multiple cards in one turn. And most important thing: It dodges our board burns if played well. Jötun Grunt: Graveyard hate at some point, will survive a few turns more plowing through our own graveyard. Could see play in a wipe heavy version due to his size, smacking for high damage. Is quickly a nightmare to Tarmagoyf and fetch land users.
Black: Raven's Crime: Tons of discard, can be used through life. Tasigur: With a graveyard as big as mine is, I can see some nice things coming out of it. The Tempers, bolts and such are pretty much useless to me once they hit the grave so I don't mind exiling them. His second ability is just butter to his bread body and cost. Abrupt Decay & Maelstrom Pulse: Going with Black gives me access to those gems of removal. Terminate: Another good card black gives me access to.
Red: Pyromancer Ascension: My biggest problem with playing this is that it makes me ask "Why play this instead of Storm if I play this card?" Young Pyromancer: Synergize with 28 cards out of the mainboard and 13 out of 15 cards of the board. Can play under both tricky leylines. Adds a token every time we play a Jab. Avaricious Dragon:Going full Madness. Might work alongside Pyromancer's Swath for massive bursts and high damage (dissolving a drawback, having the same twice.) I'm scared that I might draw cards that will be impossible to cast/use. Taylor Swift: Another insane card that will go in the list at some point. it dodges our clasms by itself, helped by a single spell, it dodges enemy 2 damage swipes or our own 3 damage swipes. When the combo is active, it becomes a 5/6 on any turn we combo out, even taking Rhino, Tasigur and Angler, while not even yielding to Angler. Plus, it has haste, making for a dangerous 6 mana combo potential without going through sorcery approval. The only problem is that playing this mainboard removes our "No swinging creatures" in G1, giving our opponent something to do with his creature removal. (As we can go off without Guttersnipe game 1)
Multicolored: Call the Skybreaker: Late as hell but can be a massive blowout late-game.
Artifact: Shrine of burning Rage: Brings inevitability to non-white lists. Becomes a liability Game 2 or 3 due to having to hold 3 mana open in case of removal.
Avaricious Dragon should have made it's way to the list at first since I was thinking of it but somehow, I dismissed it during the creation of the list.
An edit of the Maybeboard is done, adding a few more cards. I will be testing multiple builds as soon as I have time, namely the current list (Temur), a Naya version and a Jund version. I will be editing the OP as soon as I build the decks and also when I have time to playtest to come back with the results. In the meantime, I would be interested to see some different versions of the deck, seeing how it can take form with more or less focus on the combo of Jab+Loam.
Private Mod Note
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Current Decks:
MODERN: RG Shamanism RG WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
So I have tested the GR combo version. It's simply bad due to instability. Temur doesn't work either, the blue not helping enough to warrant the third color. Out of the current tests, Naya is the best version right now. Now I still need to test with Jund and GR control. I will be coming back as soon as possible with more results but here are the preliminary results on specific cards:
Taylor Swift: A monster. Helps stave off aggression versus hyper aggressive decks, puts on a decent amount of damage when on the offensive. Is immune to our Pyroclasms which is just a cherry on the cake.
Myth Realized: As terrifying as it seemed, Game 1, this card terrorized most deck I played against. It brings instant inevitability when it hits the board if no enchantment control is in. You could potentially remove them game 2 for other creatures and leave their enchantment control only to hit on Swath.
Swath: The deck doesn't even requires it to play since it can go off with creatures hitting face, protected by spells. These will be cut down in future lists, acting as another potential combo rather than the focus of the deck.
Life & Jab: Definetely the bread and butter of the deck. Jabs have to be removed from your graveyard or you will be able to proc everything so often.
Worm Harvest: Very sketchy as you don't have too much lands in your yard most of the time.
Jotun Grunt & Boros Reckoner: Both serve the same general purpose and they both do it very well. Surprisingly, I haven't found myself sacrifing Jotun that often even when I played against decks that didn't play fetches and cantrips.
Desperate Ritual: Has been cut from all lists. The deck doesn't allow for such shenanigans unfortunately. Ramping a turn ahead isn't worth the card loss. Once the combo is enabled, you most of the time won't grab anything else than LftL every turn, limiting you to graveyard based stuff.
Faithless looting: This card does a lot for the deck. While it does loses you a single card in your hand, it allows to draw two cards (yes, you can dredge from it) then discard two. (Jabs and other graveyard stuff are often the ones discarded.)
Fiery Temper: Bad. It just didn't behaved at all. Not enough discard outlets in the deck.
Here's the current list:
4x Desperate Ritual
3x Fiery Temper
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Manamorphose
Lands
4x Forest
13x Mountain
4x Rootbound Crag
3x Sulfur Falls
3x Faithless Looting
3x Flame Jab
3x Life from the Loam
3x Pyroclasm
1x Worm Harvest
Enchantment
4x Pyromancer's Swath
Creature
4x Guttersnipe
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Aura Barbs
2x Essence Backlash
2x Guttural Response
2x Mindbreak Trap
2x Molten Rain
2x Nature's Claim
2x Tormod's Crypt
Origin
The deck takes root in another deck I built that's very similar but Combo oriented, trying to combo out by stacking a Storm count of 7, dropping a Pyromancer's Swath in the meantime then go for a lethal grapeshot. This version have become heavily control based.
Win Cons
The current wincon comes in the way of either of the pumps (Gutter or Swath) then you can recur lands turn after turn with Life From the loam, pitching them to Jab for 3 damage to face, totaling 9 damage per turn for a meek 5 mana. Depending if you go with Guttersnipe or Swath, you may or may not be able to dodge Leyline of Sanctity post-board or burn creature for 3 per Jab if needed. Another possibility currently is through Worm Harvest.
I am also looking toward finding additional win cons other than graveyard oriented, so I can dodge RIP and the like. I'm currently thinking about Young Pyromancer although I'm not sure where to fit him.
Sideboard
Currently, the board is kind of a mess. I'll try to explain my choices:
Anger of the Gods: Finks makes our life miserable. Can kill a lot of creature by itself, turns into a Modern board wipe with the help of Pyromancer's Swath. I find myself swapping this card with my Pyroclasm when I need a more potent wipe or removing some Tempers for it when I needed tons of removal in matchups like Robots and Merfolks.
Aura Barbs: A 1-of. I am not scared that much of the return of Boggles but I am prepared. This + Claim makes my boggle protection. With the amount I can dig if needed, I have relative ease to find it when needed.
Essence Backlash: For Tron decks mainly. Can't counter Emrakul but can drop them from a respectable amount back down to 5-6 health. Counters the rest of their threats, while hurting them pretty bad. Unfortunately, does not protect me from Goryo, Polymorph and TtB. Can also be good against Tasigur and Tarmogoyf.
Guttural Response: My response to counter magic.
Mindbreak Trap: Is there for the faster Storm matchup. Can stifle their combo out of the blue, with all mana tapped. Also playable against slower combos like Scapeshift, as I can hard cast it (through Manamorphose if needed). Doesn't help with Goryo unfortunately.
Molten Rain: Tron, the now-deceased Post, Scapeshift, etc. Troublesome lands go down. Also helps versus control and their manlands.
Nature's Claim: Hate against Blood Moon, RIP, Leylines, etc. My gameplan must get enabled as soon as possible to work.
Tormod's Crypt: I play this over Relic because I don't want my own graveyard to get exiled.
Colors
As I discussed at first, my third color is currently blue, with only sideboard presence but my choice on this is not locked. With a good reason, I would be interested to see what the other colors could bring to the table. I am looking interested at White or Black for their respective Retrace primarly (Cenn's Enlistment and Raven's Crime respectively) but could see some Paths and such doing work in the deck.
Current Maybelist
Here's the current maybelist:
White:
Cenn's Enlistment: Gives me a semi-infinite amount of tokens.
Path to Exile: ... Need I say more?
Pro-red creatures: Would allow me to go more heavy on board wipes, à la Pale Moon.
Myth Realized: One of the cards that interests me the most about going with White. For a single W in the first turn, this card can turn into a monster in the later turns. Even late game, this card can become huge fast. A single rotation through the combo grants it 4 counters. (1 from Loam, 3 from Jabs). Even without combo, we strive at playing multiple cards in one turn. And most important thing: It dodges our board burns if played well.
Jötun Grunt: Graveyard hate at some point, will survive a few turns more plowing through our own graveyard. Could see play in a wipe heavy version due to his size, smacking for high damage. Is quickly a nightmare to Tarmagoyf and fetch land users.
Black:
Raven's Crime: Tons of discard, can be used through life.
Tasigur: With a graveyard as big as mine is, I can see some nice things coming out of it. The Tempers, bolts and such are pretty much useless to me once they hit the grave so I don't mind exiling them. His second ability is just butter to his bread body and cost.
Abrupt Decay & Maelstrom Pulse: Going with Black gives me access to those gems of removal.
Terminate: Another good card black gives me access to.
Red:
Pyromancer Ascension: My biggest problem with playing this is that it makes me ask "Why play this instead of Storm if I play this card?"
Young Pyromancer: Synergize with 28 cards out of the mainboard and 13 out of 15 cards of the board. Can play under both tricky leylines. Adds a token every time we play a Jab.
Avaricious Dragon:Going full Madness. Might work alongside Pyromancer's Swath for massive bursts and high damage (dissolving a drawback, having the same twice.) I'm scared that I might draw cards that will be impossible to cast/use.
Taylor Swift: Another insane card that will go in the list at some point. it dodges our clasms by itself, helped by a single spell, it dodges enemy 2 damage swipes or our own 3 damage swipes. When the combo is active, it becomes a 5/6 on any turn we combo out, even taking Rhino, Tasigur and Angler, while not even yielding to Angler. Plus, it has haste, making for a dangerous 6 mana combo potential without going through sorcery approval. The only problem is that playing this mainboard removes our "No swinging creatures" in G1, giving our opponent something to do with his creature removal. (As we can go off without Guttersnipe game 1)
Multicolored:
Call the Skybreaker: Late as hell but can be a massive blowout late-game.
Artifact:
Shrine of burning Rage: Brings inevitability to non-white lists. Becomes a liability Game 2 or 3 due to having to hold 3 mana open in case of removal.
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
An edit of the Maybeboard is done, adding a few more cards. I will be testing multiple builds as soon as I have time, namely the current list (Temur), a Naya version and a Jund version. I will be editing the OP as soon as I build the decks and also when I have time to playtest to come back with the results. In the meantime, I would be interested to see some different versions of the deck, seeing how it can take form with more or less focus on the combo of Jab+Loam.
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)
Taylor Swift: A monster. Helps stave off aggression versus hyper aggressive decks, puts on a decent amount of damage when on the offensive. Is immune to our Pyroclasms which is just a cherry on the cake.
Myth Realized: As terrifying as it seemed, Game 1, this card terrorized most deck I played against. It brings instant inevitability when it hits the board if no enchantment control is in. You could potentially remove them game 2 for other creatures and leave their enchantment control only to hit on Swath.
Swath: The deck doesn't even requires it to play since it can go off with creatures hitting face, protected by spells. These will be cut down in future lists, acting as another potential combo rather than the focus of the deck.
Life & Jab: Definetely the bread and butter of the deck. Jabs have to be removed from your graveyard or you will be able to proc everything so often.
Worm Harvest: Very sketchy as you don't have too much lands in your yard most of the time.
Jotun Grunt & Boros Reckoner: Both serve the same general purpose and they both do it very well. Surprisingly, I haven't found myself sacrifing Jotun that often even when I played against decks that didn't play fetches and cantrips.
Desperate Ritual: Has been cut from all lists. The deck doesn't allow for such shenanigans unfortunately. Ramping a turn ahead isn't worth the card loss. Once the combo is enabled, you most of the time won't grab anything else than LftL every turn, limiting you to graveyard based stuff.
Faithless looting: This card does a lot for the deck. While it does loses you a single card in your hand, it allows to draw two cards (yes, you can dredge from it) then discard two. (Jabs and other graveyard stuff are often the ones discarded.)
Fiery Temper: Bad. It just didn't behaved at all. Not enough discard outlets in the deck.
Cards I will be testing next:
Past in Flames
Avaricious Dragon
Young Pyromancer
Burning Inquiry
MODERN:
RG Shamanism RG
WUG Blades of the Avatars WUG
LEGACY:
WUBRG Cascabalance WUBRG
Made by the amazing Traproot
"Some say the clockwork doesn't speak... I say they are deaf to it's voice." -Daeren, Artificer Druid.
Archester Revival (Custom Steampunk set)