MTG Salvation

I am looking for a new general to base a deck around as I am getting a little tired of my old Teferi deck, which is quite effective but tends to play out the same each game (Forbid lock multiple opponents). However as my meta is dominated by UGx ramp decks and I can expect to see a lot of Palinchrons and Avenger of Zendikars, it has to be able to slow down multiple ramp decks at once. Unfortunately the others in my meta who do not have the ramp decks that tend to win repeatedly usually bring fairly weak, non blue-based decks and don't have a good grasp of the politics of the game, so I can't rely on them to assist me in slowing down the ramp decks. Thus any deck would have to do more than it's fair share of the heavy lifting (for example in a 5 player game with 2-3 ramp decks, myself, and 1-2 others).

I am looking for it to be creative and fun to play against however, especially for those who are not bringing ramp decks. I would rather lose in a fun way but have a non-ramp deck win, just for a change of pace so that the same people don't keep taking the tourney prizes from those who don't have such great decks. Interesting synergies that involve the general are my favorite kind of deck, but the bottom line is it must be able to slow down ramp. I am not opposed to MLD but don't want the deck to be unfun to play against by non-ramp decks. Any thoughts?

Hokori, Dust Drinker as a commander for white aggro. keep a low curve, play Orb of Dreams/Kismet effects and have fun with it.

Bant should be a good color combination, you can combat ramp by blowing up all the lands and maintaining a Life from the Loam/Crucible of Worlds/Whatever-floats-your-boat-recurral engine.

Red would be nice for Wake of Destruction if your meta is truly G/U dominated.

Quote from jakalova

Hokori, Dust Drinker as a commander for white aggro. keep a low curve, play Orb of Dreams/Kismet effects and have fun with it.

Hokori is just a pawn of Derevi. Derevi with winter orb, hokori, and rising waters will make anyone relying on cmc > 2 spells rage quit. Plus it gets even awesomer with the kismet-type effects. Toss in a bunch of evasive weenies and a few CA-generating tap abilities, and you're golden.

MLD is fun, but it's bst with Joirah of the Ghitu. Suspend obliterate then kozilek, ulamog, or omniscience. Of course, if you like your friends...

You could also play your own hyper-ramp deck - eg Azusa, to beat them at their own game.

Numot, the devastator could be fun for just punishing the ramp players.

Quote from DirkGently

Hokori is just a pawn of Derevi. Derevi with winter orb, hokori, and rising waters will make anyone relying on cmc > 2 spells rage quit. Plus it gets even awesomer with the kismet-type effects. Toss in a bunch of evasive weenies and a few CA-generating tap abilities, and you're golden.

I would like to add that Birthing Pod is a great enabler.
Sac Derevi: tutor Hokori, Dust Drinker

Or, Sac Derevi: tutor Academy Rector, replay Derevi for 4, untap Pod, Sac Academy Rector, Search for Rising Waters/Stasis/Whatever floats your boat AND Stonehewer Giant/other 5cmc goodness in stax.

Well, some options are:

Worms of the Earth and Desolation make ramping pointless.

Restore Balance, Ward of Bones, Land Equilibrium and Keldon Firebombers keep everyone on the same page. Damping Engine does this to a lesser degree.

Winter Orb and Static Orb make tapping mana to ramp less appealing. Combine with Icy Manipulator to make it one-sided.

Pox hits players with more lands harder.

Cataclysm hurts people that ramp too hard and do not establish a decent, early board state.


So you might want to build generals that allow you to play some of these cards.

Sounds like a job for Captain Sisay: World Police. The Kamahl, Fist of Krosa + Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Crovax, Ascendant Hero combo should learn those ramp players, and it's a surgical combo so you can direct it at the worst offenders and leave weaker players alone. Supplement the plan with additional legends like Gaddock Teeg, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Dosan, the Falling Leaf, Hokori, Dust Drinker, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Kataki, War's Wage depending on the situation.

The "combo" itself is expensive, so make sure to run your own ramp engine and/or Omnath, Locus of Mana to build up to it, and include some redundant land destruction (like the Strip Mine/Crucible of Worlds lock), which is again a surgical strike against naughty players.

The deck might be vulnerable to group hatred (tutor generals typically are) and will demand a careful, patient pilot who can resist the urge to just tutor for the best back-breakers every single game, but it's a good option.

Quote from Elric VIII

Well, some options are:

Worms of the Earth and Desolation make ramping pointless.

Restore Balance, Ward of Bones, Land Equilibrium and Keldon Firebombers keep everyone on the same page. Damping Engine does this to a lesser degree.

Winter Orb and Static Orb make tapping mana to ramp less appealing. Combine with Icy Manipulator to make it one-sided.

Pox hits players with more lands harder.

Cataclysm hurts people that ramp too hard and do not establish a decent, early board state.


So you might want to build generals that allow you to play some of these cards.

would just like to point out that worms of the earth is terrible. It's a lava axe.

Price of Progress, I just recur and burn if they're heavy non basics. If they're heavy basics, I agree with people using tutor generals and stax generals.

Krenko, while your opponents are busy ramping, you're busy killing them. Works every time.

Great advice everyone, thanks. At the moment I'm leaning toward Captain Sisay since I have most of the cards, but will reevaluate once the new Bird Wizard Legend comes out.

Quote from ama

Great advice everyone, thanks. At the moment I'm leaning toward Captain Sisay since I have most of the cards, but will reevaluate once the new Bird Wizard Legend comes out.

I can tell you from experience this weekend playing a quickly thrown together Derevi goodstuff deck, if you go that route you won't have to worry about other peoples ramp, they'll have to worry about yours. The card is silly, silly powerful. Constant mana, constant tempo, constant abuse of tap abilities. Cards like pod, Gaea's and winter orb win games by turn 4 because you either lock the board, drop an eldrazi or some other game changer based on what you need. It's incredibly flexible. Winter orb is especially awesome when you tap down everyone's lands. Unfortunately I mostly play duel so I don't run orb but even still this un-tuned, quickly thrown together deck was beating all the well established French decks my friends run.