Welcome to yet "another" Maelstrom Wanderer thread! Thanks for taking a chance to see my version. I love to share my own insight when using the King of Cascades.
Maelstrom Wanderer came from the Planechase (2012) in June 1, 2012 and later Commander's Arsenal in November 2, 2012. When he was first spoiled, everyone saw his potential for both casual and competitive setting. At that time, I wasn't gaga over him because I had other projects to do... however I did see his potential. It wasn't until the following year when I started to search for a suitable commander for a [Duel Commander] Cockatrice EDH Tournament. I'd seen his list online and decided to use him for the tournament. I based my deck on what had already been established, mainly Kilkeny's Valakut route. The only problem with my build is that I built it on a whim without any actual testing and learning its weakness. So far, luck has been on my side...
I've been working on this deck ever since I joined the MTGS Tournament (January 2013). It's tedious to realize that my first build was not that great. After a lot of field testing on Cockatrice, the same deck has evolved based on the competitive environment where everything is readily available. I like it, pretty much, but it's not yet optimized.
It started as a typical ramp with big spells for Maelstrom Wanderer with I used it on an MtGS tourney. The more I played and lost, the more I realized that I need to drop a lot of the more useless cards. It's all because in certain games, they don't do anything... for example cascading counterspells like Remand and Autumn's Veil. With that in mind, I had to lower my total cmc, focusing more on ramps and rocks and a couple of utilities for protection and pseudo controls. Things that I could cascade into and still have a use for. Even with that, I've faced u decks and even worse... Teeg. I realized that most decks in the meta cost less than MW (other than Griselbrand) so I streamlined even further and started sacrificing some of the good cards to put a complete focus on speed such as dropping Urban Evolution and Scapeshift for a land and Basalt Monolith.
After a few months of vigorous testing later using various versions, I've gained a lot of good insight on making the deck more efficient, and I'm loving it more and more. Currently, my deck can manage to go toe-to-toe with other competitive decks... I'm happy that it can stand on its own. Furthermore, my insight into MW has helped other players improve their deck performance and strategy.
Why Section
Why do I choose Maelstrom Wanderer?
Just a pet project. I've seen a lot of builds throughout the net, I just want to add my insight for this deck. In addition, I like fast casting... including able to cast big and juicy spells. However, the more I test him, the more I want to optimize him. I'm still trying to figure what are his weaknesses and how to overcome him. I want him to be suitable to any matches that we're about to face.
The purpose of this thread is for accumulating any data regarding to Maelstrom Wanderer's performance. Halfway around the world MW is doing ok in tournament no matter what kind of meta their lgs or event is being held. However, it's not enough.
Why do YOU like Maelstrom Wanderer?
If so, this guy is good for you IF...:
Sick of just casting cheap gramebreaking (as opposed to expensive spells to cast) spells in tourney?
Do you like to ramp like crazy and cast crazy expensive powerful game-breaking spells?
Do you like to hit your opponent three times for general damage?
Do you just simply wanting to wipe everything from the face of game board?
Why avoid playing Maelstrom Wanderer?
He's expensive
It's like playing slot machines either you have got 1, 2 or 3 slots for a jackpot.
Commander-centric
You don't like ramps
You prefer interacting to the opponent other than dropping something and pass.
URGF.A.Q.URG
A lot of people doesn't understand Maelstrom Wanderer's ability.
Let's review:
Cascade, cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order. Then do it again.)
Meaning it's When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.
THEN
When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.
Here's the official ruling:
Quote from Ruling »
Maelstrom Wanderer gives itself haste.
Each instance of cascade triggers and resolves separately. The spell you cast due to the first cascade ability will go on the stack on top of the second cascade ability. That spell will resolve before you exile cards for the second cascade ability. Casting that spell may cause additional cascade abilities to trigger.
No matter what spell you cast with the first cascade trigger (or any cascade triggers that result from casting that spell), the second cascade trigger will look for a spell with converted mana cost less than Maelstrom Wanderer's converted mana cost of 8.
A lot of players assume that it's revealing the spell twice at the same time.
Here's some link regarding to the rules:
Hello,
I have a question with the double cascade ability of Maelstrom Wanderer.
When I play the Wanderer, I am not sure about the order in which I resolve the two cascades :
1. I cascade the first spell, then the second, then I resolves the second and then resolves the first in the normal order of the stack?
2 . I cascade the first spell, resolve it, then cascade the second and resolve it?
Thanks!
Answer: The second scenario is the correct one, each instance of cascade is completely separate and needs to be completely dealt with including casting the resulting card before you can move onto the next one.
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When you cast Maelstrom Wanderer, the stack looks like this:
<TOP>
3. Cascade trigger
2. Cascade trigger
1. Maelstrom Wanderer
<BOTTOM>
You resolve the first cascade trigger:
<TOP>
3. {cascaded spell}
2. Cascade trigger
1. Maelstrom Wanderer
<BOTTOM>
You resolve the spell you cascaded into:
<TOP>
2. Cascade trigger
1. Maelstrom Wanderer
<BOTTOM>
You resolve the second cascade trigger:
<TOP>
2. {cascaded spell}
1. Maelstrom Wanderer
<BOTTOM>
You resolve the cascaded spell:
<TOP>
1. Maelstrom Wanderer
<BOTTOM>
When casting Maelstrom Wanderer, does his double cascade ability resolve as two seperate instances of cascade (with the spells from one cascade resolving before the other cascade does), or as one big effect (with all the spells going on the stack before beginning to resolve?)
It represents two triggered abilities, which resolve independently, one at a time. Source
URGStrengthsURG
It's strength is depending on the speed of dropping your mana source. You ramp like crazy while taking a lot of hit (thus making it a midrange strategy). Once you cast Maelstrom Wanderer you get two new spells depending on how much you manipulate or thinning your deck during the first few turns. The more you dig your cheap spells the more chance you'll hit cards that you wouldn't usually cast because you lack the mana.
Once everything is online, you can cast almost anything that you draw because of the mana that you've established. There are ways to rebuild your resources if everything goes wrong because your opponent cast counter your MW.
When you cast MW, your opponent will be baffled whether or not doing something in between aka the luck of the draw. The most popular is often extra turns (Time Warp) or mass removal ( Jokulhaups). Remember that he's a beefing 7/5 with haste and you just need 3 hits (21 general damage) to win because his ability grant himself haste.
URGWeaknessURG
As one person once told me, it's Chaotic!!!!
Weakness is balancing between ramp and other spells. The more I played with MW, the more I realized that opponent's are smart enough when to disrupt. Or at least, rely on ramping (aka being "slow") to deal that much damage.
For some reason, we're are not as crazy when it comes to play against other ramp decks. An example for that matter is playing against Iname, Death Aspect where he can cast it on his 6th mana. He doesn't have that much creatures and thus we they cast Iname, he can dump all of his wincon to his grave. So far, we don't have much answer against that unless we're armed with Time Spiral, Primal Command or even Timetwister.
Another weakness are Tendrils (especially with 5-colored variants) decks. Unless we have counterspells. We have to do drop everything asap! Removal like All is Dust, Devastation Tide and etc aren't that helpful against them.
Two of them are from a tool box boss named Zur the Enchanter. By turn four he gets to be casted and by turn 5 he can grab any of those cards. So far, Phyrexian Metamorph and Krosan Grip is what I have so far. I might add Acidic Slime, Nature's Claim and etc... the problem is that it'll affect the deck.
Balefire Dragon: This card is there for massive sweepers for anything 6 toughness or lower. Before I added it, I have problems with a lot of cheap aggro. With the dragon as a cascade or as a regular spell, it help me a lot killing annoying critters like Animar, Thalia and etc.
Eternal Witness : One of the good utility creatures to use. Even as a creature for Oath of Druids, it brings back any cards from the graveyard as well as blocker fodder.
Frost Titan : Taps down any potential threats ranging from creatures to lands. As a cascade, that's double tapped .
Inferno Titan: Same as Frosty, except it deals 6 damage. Its firebreathing ability is useful for additional damage.
Phyrexian Metamorph: It's a good clone that includes creatures usually used it as a 3cmc spell.
Garruk Wildspeaker: If using mana ramp and rocks, by turn 3 you can drop him for either a 3/3 mana or 2 lands for addition ramp or rock... that's a potential 7 mana available by next turn.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor : Best walker... manipulate your top deck to cast a spell or to cascade. If you cast Devastation and JtMS is available, that usually gg for your opponent.
Karn Liberated : Same as JtMS, with everything gone on the field and him remains, you can manipulate your opponent by exiling essential permanents or hand. It usually remove pesky permanent that usually blocked MW.
Tezzeret the Seeker : It's a good card. Searches any artifacts that you can afford. If you're rock-heavy, you can use his ability to swing your opponent for 5/5 for each artifacts.
Sorcery
Threats
All is Dust
This card is good to get rid of colored protection. Sadly it won't hit colorless. Also, it can kill gods.
It's decent draw power. Ancestral Vision is there to get some free spell. Really good on turn 1. Explore is there for draw... if I have an additional land, I can drop it with ease.
Really good to replenish your hand. I put that under "misc" because I don't use that everytime. If my hand is lesser than my opponent I'll then use it.
It's a good tutor. Sadly it's sorcery and searches for sorcery. This one requires a lot of thinking. For turn 1, I often use it to grab Explore to drop 2 lands the following turn.
This card requires a lot of difficult choices when you have it in your opening hand. If you drop it on turn 1, you better make sure you have enough lands to drop and cast a spell.
Those 2 cards are awesome. LED, is a utility card especially when your hand is empty... it's a good card when you cast Time Spiral. Bloom is a good 0 cmc... it avoid the discard and you can use it either as a cascade or suspend.
This card deserve another special mention. Once you clear the lands for both side, he'll be remain. Knowing that it'll take some time to refill the field, you can use the 2 mana to hit him for 2 as a 2/2 creature.
Basic strategy is ramping. MW is expensive with just basic 1 drop per turn, it'll take us exactly 8 turns to cast him. This is why it requires a lot of ramp spells and rock spells. Once you get to #8 mana, you can cast 3 spells that time. Those 2 extra spells are essential that will determine if you can get the upper hand however the random reveal can either be benefit for your or not.
There are ways to win the game:
Maelstrom Wanderer's general damage. He has tons of global removal at our disposal:
I've seen Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle variant and tested it. It's really useful for additional damage to opponent and a good Lightning Bolt to any creatures ESPECIALLY with protection of any color.
Mindslaver lock is a good combo. With Academy Ruins, you don't get to decked out if the match takes too long.
Oath of Druids is another strategy that we can utilize. With less weak creatures (not Llanowar Elves) and focus something big (think Emrakul big) , we can focus on board control through land destruction or even bounce.
Good old fashion overrun. Grab and cast your friends and just beat the crap to your opponent.
With that in mind, you'll be spending your time casting rocks and ramps to cast MW to grab a lot of game-breaking spells that has been mention from above.
Goodstuff
More creatures than Oath decks. You'll be balancing spells and creatures. Meaning that if you include Oath of Druids in your deck and triggers, you might be getting a 1/1 Elf.
This strategy is totally different from ramping your way to cast big spells. Some MW decks just rely on getting good combination of creature and noncreature spells to win.
Cards that I've often witness are the ones packing Tooth and Nail. You'll be getting some one turn kill like:
This deck is designed by Killkeny. It's fast and resilient because of mana that they produce by turn 3-4.
In addition, Maelstrom Wanderer can give them haste which even though they're not as strong as the commander, they can still hit their opponents.
Most common way to win your opponent is by gather the elves and simply search for Craterhoof Behemoth.
Battling Others
It's easy for MW to set up and go for the kill. Unfortunately, experienced opponents won't give you the chance thus either outrace you or disrupt it. There are three categories with different ways to fight against them
Control
They'll disrupt your ramps and rocks left and right. The best way is to waste those counters by baiting them to waste it on a useless spells. If they're tapped out, be careful with counters like Daze or Force of Will other than that, they can disrupt only one spell.
Those are easy to deal with. If you armed with sweepers, then you bait to drop everything from their hand. When that happens, you cast that spell. They'll be out of creatures to beat you up.
The good thing with Aggro is they don't usually disrupt your resources except for certain decks. An example of that is Radha, Heir to Keld and Ezuri, Renegade Leader.
Tempo
Tempo is a type that utilize card advantage and/or control. An example of that is Animar, Soul of Elements which utilize cheap creatures to make it big and can either win with combo or a really really big boss. Another example is Geist of Saint Traft and Zur the Enchanter which utilized control and using their abilities to deal damage or gain advantage.
The best way is to drop your resources asap. This is a rat race and you have to gain sufficient mana to cast MW.
The Art of Turn 2 Maelstrom Wanderer
Granted that most people who saw me perform this move considered as a god hand. Truthfully, it won't appear ALL the time but it does happen.
On average, Turn 3 MW can happen if you keep dropping rocks and lands like crazy. Having it on turn 2 is godly.
The key to turn 2 for some reason is Fastbond (insert sarcasm) and a G. Fastbond is useful if you have a following cards as long as you have 1 green source and Fastbond. The key is the number of lands, rocks and a couple spells that make this possible... if one of the spell is not a mana (or worse mulligan), it won't produce that result. It might get the result around turn 3 or more depending on your next draw. The goal for the list are scenarios that is most likely for MW to appear the next turn which is 5URG. Glad that I've experience one of those scenarios (not all the time) from time to time (aka once in a blue moon... or less depending on how lucky I really am).
Having 7 mana is possible but it'll depend on your next draw. By then, you'll be in top deck mode by turn 2 (on the brightside, you have 7 mana available).
Here's a couple of god hands that can make the scenario happen:
The weakness for this having this hand is that you'll empty it by turn two. However, if you do have it, your opponent is going to be annoyed and concede. That's why having a turn one Fastbond is a bluff move that you can pull it off MW asap.
For example, in my games, I dropped a turn 1 Fastbond, my opponent knows that I'll have a lot of advantage of dropping more lands that they use Daze (coming from Talrand, Sky Summoner player) which loses their turn 1 land, Mental Misstep (from Rafiq or Jenara) and free FoW (Zur). It's fun for me to see them wasting their resources on an enchantment. And yes, they actually happen... and no, I didn't win all of them (mostly from Zur).
Art of Mulligan
If above scenario doesn't match even if you have Fastbond, I would suggest get rid of it. Having only 1 extra drop of land in a turn isn't worth it UNLESS you have any 1 cmc spells like Search for Tomorrow or Ancestral Vision. You can keep I extra land drops if you have 2 cmc rocks like Grim Monolith or Signets or Diamonds since they'll be more benefit in the long run.
So what if you didn't drew Fastbond and get a good hand? Then I would suggest get rid of anything 5+ cmc because they will be useless during those turn unless you can cast in 1st three-four turns (drop diamonds on turn 2 (total 3mana) then Search for Tomorrow then dropping a land (5 land available).
Gameplay
During your game, there will be a lot of different scenarios. All of your opponents are different but the fundamental principle are the same.
Early Game
Aside from having a minimum of 2 lands (preferable because having 2 cmc to drop your spells which usually a rock or a ramp... or cheap sweepers). If you have more than 1 5cmc cards in your opening hand, I'd suggest mulligan it.
For lands, having Wasteland at the beginning is useful. If they drop a nonfetchland, and didn't drop something else (unless it's a cascade), I'd suggest popping them. That way, they're off with their tempo.
Usually, having 1 drop is awesome even if you're using mana dorks.
Against aggro, keep the tutors or sweepers. They'll overextend it and that'll be their downfall and wide open for MW.
For control, use cheap spells to bait their counterspells. If they're tapped out, they might have Daze or Force of Will... waste them.
All in all, play as much as you can per turn when it comes to ramp. By turn 4 you should be able to cast MW.
Mid Game
By then you should able to cast MW... Casting him means shuffling your luck. Casting them is a good thing depending on your situation.
if you can't, you should have enough cast whatever pricy spells. Wildfire are going to messed up your opponents. Even losing your lands, you have your rocks. Upheaval is also considered another way to messed your open. Cast it because unlike losing lands, both sides will lose everything. However, you have enough mana to cast your rocks and other resources, whereas your opponent will only drop 1 land and drop everything to 7.
When you cast the removal, it's preferably drop the land AFTER casting it.
Late Game
The longer the game, the more intense it can be. Sometimes, killing MW can be a good thing to dig your deck deeper with cards like Food Chain and/or High Market. You have enough mana to recast MW again. Even if you cast Upheaval, you can simply recast it with enough mana. If you cast Devastation or Apocalypse, they'll have nothing and you have MW to beat your opponent.
Note: the reason for the changes is because I rebuild the deck from the ground up. So far, I'm missing some of the cards. In addition, I experiment some of the old cards that I removed few months ago because I want to add more spot removal to certain critters.
Note:I added Cultivate and Search for Tomorrow because I need some extra lands that turn in addition to dropping artifacts. With the Skylasher popping during matches, Kessig Wolf Run is as important to deal massive damage. Sadly, I have to drop Carpet of Flowers. That card is meta dependent and with a lot of decks that I've faced online, that card is as useless if your opponent isn't using blue. If I'm going to a tourney, that card will be in the list
Note: There are times that I wish that my lands gives specific colors. That's why I added Chromatic Lantern. Copy Artifact is there to give me some boost for my rocks or my metamorph. Heck, I helped my opponent adding one more Tangle Wire which ended them tapping out. Scroll Rack must be removed because there are times that I don't really need hand manipulation, although they'll be back if I need them. Rite of Ruin is out because I have 6+ expensive cards which might ruined me and wished I need something else... especially during earlier part of the game.
I love Devastation Tide. I've used it against hordes with neat tech. Unfortunately, I whenever I use any tutors, I ended up not searching it and often it's on my bottom of my "most search card." So I just have to drop him altogether.
I realized that Winter Orb is essential for control decks. Since I'm using rocks, it won't affect me. I dropped Ulamog because it's a double edged sword when MW is using Bribery... in which case, I can use it and take a look to my opponent's deck.
Note: Changes a lot to compensate with speed. The top MW deck (at that time) meta managed to win with a lot of good decks. I added a lot of etb lands and more rocks. Let's see if it'll help me increase my wins.
Note: Major addition. Carpet of Flowers is awesome against the current UX meta. It'll boost your mana and your opponent will have to cast their counters on just that G. Intuition is useful for other people. That card isn't for me.
Note:I forgot that Fastbond is legal in Duel. Been using Exploration for a while that it's that good when I use it 2 lands per turn. Fastbond accelerates my spells like crazy most of the time.
Footnote
* Unknown Card- Before I started reported about this deck, I found out that my MW decklist that I gave to other users for help and reference in this site and other forums seem to be missing a card or two. I apologized for the lack of information between my first deck to the deck that I just posted in this thread.
Emether: he has some nice input regarding to MW and some couple cards that he discussed in couple of MW threads.
Fluxuate: for giving me some ideas on how to perform MW to upmost efficient.
Jibux: he has personal imput when he talked to Pierre Laisne about his deck's performance and what changes can he made.
Killkeny's Maelstrom Wanderer - Valakut designed which I use as a basis on my deck. In addition, his site has some usefull info since it was posted the year when MW is available.
Leroy: for giving me some nice challenge to my deck. And giving me some neat tricks about post editing.
Once you cast them, pretty much they're wide open. Remember that Maelstrom Wanderer is still on the stack and thus not affected to anything that's happening on the field. As a player, you can use some or all of them. It's preferable to not to choose so that they won't turn into dead draws (applies to massive removal).
The benefit with Devastation Tide, Wildfire, Destructive Force, Burning of Xinye, All Is Dust is that we're partially hindered. Since we ramp like crazy it only deal a very small percentage unless we need to cast it ASAP to prevent from losing further from say... fast swarm.
Special Note: So far, there are 2 cards that actually send nonland permanents to the graveyard other than damage:
You have a lot of choices to choose from in this selection. Two things can go for MW.
* Rely on getting big spells to win with Oath. * Go to an "almost" creature route
Creatures can give you more options for blocking or doing some nifty stuff. Both both versions they have access to big beefy creatures which usually the game ender. Cheaper creatures can be as reliable as expensive counterparts because early turn cast can give you protection.
Ramps
The purpose for this list is accumulating creatures that does the same thing: grabbing land or adding mana
* It's like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate except it can search basic land-types. Big difference is that the other 2 cards can search basic land AND adding another one to hand. So that's net 0 if you didn't count using your mana.
* Draws are your best friends. In certain decks, you easily empty your hand around 3-5th turn. Often, they're counter magnet. If not, you get some card advantage. *Common Draw Spells
* Special mention with this guy since he can be cast in turn 2 for its Miracle Cost for 1U. If I have Mystical Tutor in first or second turn, I cast it during end turn and find that card. So during my 3rd turn, I cast it. Two things will happen: either your opponent counter that thus losing a very important counterspell OR we get an extra turn thus by the time we finish our extra turn, we'll be getting 4+ lands and/or more rocks.
* It's like Exploration except during your opponent's turn. If they play lands from their hand, that's awesome. If they grab lands from the deck, that's not good for us.
* Awesome card if you have 37+ lands in there (minus DA). I have a couple wins having that card out on turn 1... in turn 2 I have 4 lands and grabbing goodies from my deck. With Life from the Loam, I can keep putting lands that can be reusable... say Wasteland? * If you're using the regular list, this is the slower alternative... unless you combo it with Azusa, Lost but Seeking which is playing maximum 4 lands per turn.
* One of the best cards if you're running less creatures and your only creatures are massive. If you have him during opening hand, that's pretty much seals it. I do have my luck of grabbing Dryad Arbor though. Still loved that card (DA I mean).
* One of the best cards if you're running more creatures. Too bad there aren't enough good creatures that cost less or do awesome things in the grave that putting Basking Rootwalla and Vengevine in there just for pure and unadulterated attrition.
* Best additional draw spells that doesn't require us to use out resources except for life. Just don't be too greedy...works well with Miracle cards if you want to draw it the following turn.
* The most common way to quickly cast MW! However, like ramps, it depends on how fast you build up your mana. Pretty bad if you're up against aggro. The only card that I'm concern is Stony Silence or Null Rod. Expect that card to appear to any white decks... ESPECIALLY Zur the Enchanter.
* Undisputed best PW in our arsenal. It makes our dead draw to be essential key piece before we cast MW! Plus he's so good that most players will waste their resources killing him.
* I used him in Goodstuff. He's good if you have a lot of mana rocks and his ultimate can be a game breaker. He's great in Regular Commander where a lot of rocks cost 0+cmc like Lotus Bloom, Sol Ring, Grim Monolith and more.
* Whenever I draw this card first, I always declare the first creature that I can cast. Some players often dislike that card because the other spells will won't be bothered. In my match with Talrand, Sky Summoner, he counters MW and other 3 spells (often with Mana Leak and/or Spell Pierce. So in a way, he's an essential land to include in the deck.
* This card is a lifesaver against blue decks. They can't do anything when we ramp. They can't do anything if we use it cast our Time Walks! I'm down to 10 life and they can't do anything as we use it to sweep everything on the field without using MW (long story, he's getting expensive).
===============================================
Footnote:
* The price is based on the then current price from Magic's Tcgplayer of 27/03/2013
* PS Don't blame me if the prices fluctuate in later years... or even today... whatever
This match has 50/50 chance of winning. If you wait long enough, he can do the combo with or without Animar. It's best to take down his bullets (ie dorks and Animar himself). It's better to have your sweepers ready (or tutors) because when he's cast on turn 2 or 3, the following turn can be a headache.
He's a really hard matchup. On turn 3 and lower, he's either forced you to discard your cards or using spot removal on your permanent. By turn 3, he'll drop the commander and start swinging at you. Your best bet is to drop your hand left and right and disrupt his mana dorks with sweepers.
Geist is a easy matchup. Usually, the players will either be using a voltron variant or a control deck (i.e. Catacylsm and Counterspell). The control version is often a 50/50 chance on winning... I usually win because I bait his counterspells and I have cheap sweepers like Pyroclasm. Volcanic Fallout, on the other hand, wrecks him
Extremely hard matchup for me. You need to take him out asap (usually Mizzium Mortars can do the trick but that won't last that long. Anti-Counter lands are your best friends in this scenario. Just expect him to counter your stuff so cast your spells carefully...
Best that you don't let him do the waiting game since he'll get the cards that he needs.
Pretty good matchup. Both side will just ramp and ignore each other... except the Grisel will also use discard to slow down the race. Luckily, MW has green ramps which is a guarantee a +1 land more than the opponent.
This is a super rat race. He's 2 cmc cheaper than MW but once he's out, every single spirit soldiers will be move to the graveyard. And worse of all, he can do it as early as turn 3 and at the average of turn 4.
Your bff in this match is Time Spiral. I didn't like Time Spiral because of giving your opponent card advantage but it messed Iname's tempo. Without it, he can bring back those spirits and can simply do a lot of things... and when they attack, it's enough to take you down (ie Patriarch's Bidding or Twilight's Call.
In Cockatrice, there's a different variant. The hardest is the goodstuff. He'll have counterspells targeting your stuff. Boseiju is often your best friend in this scenario.
Early Oath is often the best way to deal with him.
So far, she's fast deck to beat. Turn 1 can drop a creature like Experiment One, Llanowar Elves, or even Kird Ape. Turn 2 is always Radha unless he knew about your strategy to take her out. Turn 3 is anything goes... a haste creature or even Natural Order to grab like Primeval Titan. One of the biggest offense is that not only he swarm you by turn 4 but he has burn spells to drop your life dramatically and the usual finisher to me is Price of Progress.
Your only solution are sweepers... Pyroclasm, Whipflare, Volcanic Fallout and even Mizzium Mortars. For lands, be weary that he has Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon, so drop as many basic lands as you can... if you use fetchlands, find basic Forest and Islands, your dual lands will cover your mountain expenses.
This is a race. He'll drop creatures left and start swinging at you. Sometimes, they'll use infect strategy to hit you 10 times. Sweepers are your bffs in here. Be super careful with his Cold-Eyed Selkie which is annoying that it can hit you and replenish their hand. Cephalid Constable is the same as Selkie except you'll be needing Fastbond to drop those returned permanents to your hand.
Remember, they're weak and you can use Slagstorm and Pyroclasm to full effect.
Turn 4 mana is always a race. If he reached his 4th mana, can do 2 things:
Cast Ruhan for a 3x combat for general damage
Wait for a good opportunity to counter our spells
My usual strategy is to remove all damage spells like small sweepers Volcanic Fallout or Pyroclasm since his body is too big for removal. I would use bounce spells for surprise factor since by turn 4 he'll definitely be tapped out when he cast Ruhan. If he didn't cast his commander, use some minor spells to bait his counterspells. Also, be careful with Aven Mindcensor which locked our chance to ramp. TAKE HIM OUT ASAP!!!
A tough matchup. If you're playing with more than 15 creatures, you can survive her. But to most part, she's a headache to ramp strategy.
Her only weakness is overextension... meaning that she'll drop her armies left and right. Your solution is to keep or at least draw cheap sweepers... most of her guns are have toughness of 1-3 which is wide open for Pyroclasm or Flamebreak... and pray that he won't drop Mother of Runes.
He's a headache. The only way to win him is by outrace him. If you get turn 1 Fastbond and dropping your lands and rocks, you're guarantee to win. Most often, as much rocks as possible. If he's out on turn 3-4, pray that Mizzium Mortar can take him out after he's cast out.
If he's out and you're not ready, then be prepared to be negated or say goodbye to your rocks.
Note: If you have any winning decklists from a single tourney with Maelstrom Wanderer (preferably from a website), please inform me.
Most of the list you can see them at MtG Top 8's Maelstrom Wanderer list.
Warning: Some decks might be surprisingly (and/or shockingly) different from what we're usually used to or expected to win.
Race wars. If you don't get your 8th mana before his 6th mana. You have at least 1-3 turn chance of turning things around. Remember, he has He Who Hungers to discard your hand which is essential to your land drops meaning that you'll be relying on your top deck.
MVP- Primal Command: wait for him to cast his boss and you'll be trolling him.
Worst Enemy- Iname's 4BB meaning that they can easily drop him before you do. You'll be hoping that you'll cascade something that can remove a lot of them.
I was just unlucky with decisions. I managed to drop ton of lands. My 5th mana turns into Urban Evolution (from 4 cards to 8 and dropping a land... also I have Sylvan Library in play) instead of letting me pass my turn (I have Cryptic Command) waiting. On his turn, he cycle Decree of Annihilation(with used up Basalt Monolith). It became yet another race wars. I was actually thinking of conceding the match. I kill his Rings of Brighthearth with Krosan Grip before he got his combo out and killing my Library with Beast Within to start dealing the damage (he's 30 while I'm like 10-11). I got MW out cascading a lot of stuff.
That's because it's late and I didn't think it right. It was until I made some minor mistake... THEN he made a mistake of copy my titan... all ends when we decided to have a draw...
Got lucky this time around with the same build from last night. I outpaced him in terms of mana and grabbing MW and cast either Jokulhaups, Destructive Force
Just some random notes from when I was playing Maelstrom Wanderer
Rite of Ruin
Just so sweet. It's a card that no one seems coming, and allows you a total blowout on a Zur that has been enchanted with Pemmin's Aura, and thinks he's safe from Wildfire. It also helps deal with equipment at the same time as blowing stuff up. Just an overall sweet card.
Wild Growth
I think this is a much better Turn 1 ramp card than Green Sun's Zenith -> Dryad Arbor. I honestly never found GSZ + Dryad Arbor to be worth playing. It's the worst ramp card to cascade into, is not a nonbo with Wildfire, and GSZ itself (as a sorcery), is super vulnerable to all the tempo counters that are played (Spell Pierce, Flutterstorm, Negate)
Soothsaying
I think this is nowhere near as good as Mirri's Guile
Parallax Tide
This card was always an incredible bomb. You can always play it Turn 3, and it gives you more than enough time to stall for the win. It's at its best in a deck like this, since opposing decks will often tap out early, not expecting you to lay a disruption card rather than ramp.
Jokulhaups
If they float mana and kill Wanderer once he's resolved, you're no better off than them, and maybe worse since you blow through your hand to resolve Wanderer ASAP. I was always hesitant to play this.
And on your recent changes:
Upheaval has to be in. Always.
Scapeshift is also sweet. I would be reluctant to cut it.
I like that card. There are times that I don't have anything to cast or 0 cards in hand. I just sink at minimum of 2 to check my next few cards. I would drop it and replace with M's Guile to check it.
Note: I don't know why I have a Forest in there... not Snow-Covered Forest... just a single forest in my then current deck
With a lot of changes. It's sad that I have to drop such cards like Sylvan Library or even some draw power. Can anyone help me find a space for the Library?
First game, I get ramp like crazy. Mizzium Mortars on Radha and bounce spells from Rift. Got MW out asap...
2nd game, didn't get enough lands nor ramps. Overwhelmed me with Hellrider
3rd game, 2nd turn Oath against his 1st turn Elves. I get to use Life from the Loam and keep grabbing Wasteland that only his mountain remains (with L.Elf).
2nd game... got Mirri's Guile and Exploration... got 4 lands and Grim Monolith by turn 2
Opinion on Guile... it's no Soothsaying.
3rd game: kept 4 lands, rampant and mortars mulling disk and time miracle. Sucks that I didn't get enough ramps to speed things up by turn 4 (5 lands for me). Lesson learned... keep disk and mull mortars instead...
Been using it to grab dead lands in the grave if I missed some land drops. Some other cards can be a nifty combo if Exploration is out. Definitely a keeper especially I kept using Wasteland which is useful
Used it once when I use Avenger of Zendikar via Oath which is sacing 5 lands. Won't be using anything else other than that (Avenger overrun) or for Valakut (Valakut+6 other lands) to make it effective. Keeping it for a while.
Used it more than 3 times now. And it helped me ramp my deck without relying on dropping lands from my hand (ESPECIALLY if I have 0 lands and x ramp spells) unless it's necessary. Dropping it last if I used up all of my lands in my hand. Definitely a keeper.
He won via having Rafiq out and double strike me with a Cephalid Constable. He also won via countering my every ramp and at the same time, I didn't draw enough lands.
Note: I wished I have my Sylvan Library... couldn't find any space for it.
Note: I was too tired to get a 3rd game... plus my laptop is overheating.
I Mindslaver lock him with 0 cards in my deck because of Oath of Druids
Overall: I learned a lot from playing my previous games with that Ruhan player... even complimented that it's better than the last time I used it against him.
Lose only to getting Helm of Possession to MW and made a mistake on using Homeward Path (using it in Upkeep instead of Main Phase). He won when Overlord is out and Essence Sliver is out.
Round 1: Kept bounce land, fetch, slag, claim, rech and wild. He got out SFM on turn 2 with SoFai. I got Kodama's reach on turn 3. Then Claim and then Groth Spasm. He cast Doran and use Greaves but I took it despite having a 0/1 blocker. Cast MW cascading GSZ on Dryad and Avenger but he Go for the Throat.
Cast G/B Liege making his Doran 2/7 and wall of blossom 1/5. He blocked my plants and MW but I cast Wildfire. Then using Life from the Loam to take back my sac lands. All before my 3rd turn Ancestral Vision.
Ramp it good
Mull to 5 lands and A. Visions. He got turn 2 Wall of Blossoms but I just dropping lands. Then he got turn 3 Doran. Took me 10 damage from Silverblade Paladin. I have to use Volcanic Fallout the following turn. He got SoFaF thus getting me up to 17 Gen damage. I stall enough time by bouncing Doran and draw using Cryptic. Sadly, he has to recast it. But I do cast Devastation Tide and GSZ on Dryad. My mistakes took a toll on me when I cast Mindslaver but didn't drop his Bojuka Bog thus negating my infinite turn. Not sure why though... I cast MW cascading Primal Command bouncing his swords and then Temporal Manipulation... He took 5 gen damage from MW thus saving Doran. Following turn, I cast Sphix grabbing Prietime, Growth Spasm and a mountain... then using the remaining land to cast Disk for insurance. Then he drop Bog thus removing my win con. Pretty much stalemate and with Primetime, I spend all of my mountains just to get rid of Sword-powered Doran via Valakut via Prime Time while MW is out. Mistake number 2 is when I didn't cast the cascaded Rite of Ruin spell thus negating his the lands so that he can't cast his Sorin 2.0 and Doran. So far our life is 17 and his 4. He started using tokens from Sorin and I can't simply attack with MW because I have 2 lands... Mistake #3 is I didn't use my Academy Ruins to grab Nev's Disk. He gain advatage by Eladamri's Call on SFM and grabbing Skullclamp drawing him to 6 cards. I then drew Destructive Force but couldn't cast MW because of the gen points.... I have to cast him again the foloowing turn. He kept making token and casting Calfenor' Sapling. I got Inferno TItan out but he was saved by Path to Exile to his 1/1 token thus saving him to 1 life. Then he get to cast Doran using Sorin 2.0 to grab my Titan and hit me for 3. Cascading MW with a could of land searchers thus losing the 2nd round.
3rd game: kept oath, rift, mortar, 2 lands, rack and o stone. turn 2 oath. He used Demonic Tutor to grab a land and I just stuck with 2 lands. I cast Mirri's Guile that I managed to get a land and start gaining momentum. Upon my third land, I used it to put down Grim Monolith, He used Abrupt Decay on my Oath but I bounce his Sylvan Library using C. Rift... he also use Eladamri's Call to nab Oversoul of Dusk ... on my 4th land, I didn't cast anything to untapped my artifact thus beating me via Dusk... then cast Great Sable Stag. I nabbed Temple of the False God and cast MW who cascaded into Avenger of Zendikar with 5 tokens and Inferno Titan killing the Stag.... I swing him for 21 damage (6+3+5+7=21) with 5 tokens because I didn't dropped any land afterwards. He's down to 3 from 24 from the hit.... while I'm up in 23. On his last turn, he drop Dryad Arbor, and Divinity of Pride. With Mirri's Guilde, I nab, Slagstorm and cast it to deal 3 damage to each players... thus he can't stop a direct hit from Titan's 3 damage.
He has Consuming Vapors waiting but can't cast it because I have 5 other creatures.
Mana screw for having 2 lands. managed to get to cascade avenger and inferno with only 5 lands (5th land being temple)
He got Hokori, Dust Drinker... I sweep everything with Volcanic Fallout. He quit even though he's 30 with 3 cards in hand and I'm down to 10 with 7 cards in hand...
Game 2:So far, the race is too much because he grab some big creatures via Buried Alive and among them is Avacyn, Angel of Hope then using Necromancy bringing back an angel
Last game: turn 4 City of Traitors with Basalt Monolith. Casting MW cascading Beast Within on one of his 3 lands and Mortars on his token.
Game 1... mull then kept GSZ, City of Traitors, Taiga, r/g fetch, Phyrexian Metamorp and High Market. I get 2 lands that 1st turn... he got swamp and Lotus Bloom suspend. We both drop lands until he got Tomb Urborg (from Demonic Tutor in turn 2) and Cabal Coffers out. For me, turn 4 Personal Tutor for Time Manipulation... His turn 4 is Lotus Urborg+Coffers and Griselbrand... Turn 5, I use Miracle extra turn.. then kill his boss with metamorph. Then again used my 7 lands ( then 5 after dropping a land thus killing city of traitors)... Casting MW cascading Karn exiling Urborg and Skyshround Claim on turn 5... Swining for 7... he used Snuff out on MW on his turn... my turn goes landing Gilded Lotus... then Karn's + to exile his Liliana of the Dark Realms... He can't do anything because next turn I can cast my MW... he has Damnation, Thran Dynamo and Karn Liberated...
Game 2... mull down to 6 keeping: Cavern, simis growth, mindlsaver, oath, wasteland, coalition relic. Turn 3 he got Lotus out with 2 swamps and Grim Monolith... I got Grim monolith with Growth Chamber and a forest. Next turn he cast Phyrexian Obliterator, I then cast Oath of Druids. Next he swing me for 5 and cast Innocent Blood thus saving himself from Oath. I ramp my guys (C. Relic, G. Lotus) the next turn... he cast Griselbrand grabbing 7 cards and down to 23 life... next turn I Oath'ed a Sphinx... using all my mana except Grim Monolith to cast Mindslaver... controlling his life down to 2... then up to 9 because I forced him to attack my Sphinx. Then Oath to Frost Titan... then that's game...
So far, my deck is doing alright with other decks... no problems so far except not getting any lands thus didn't do any changes.
Bit saddens me that people pm me for particular lists from different decks that I've faced before with my build rather than giving me insights and tips to deal with the meta.
As for Radha, its weakness is overextend since it's a race against the clock when dealing with me.
My reasoning is that the common denominator for his early creatures are toughness of 2 or 3. I have to keep my cool and accept the beating from their rampage. If they drop Hellrider or Hero of Oxid Ridge, that's when I use sweepers during that turn or during my turn (with Slagstorm of course).
For rocks, I have to be careful with my drop it's hard to know if he has Ancient Grudge or Artifact Mutation. The expensive one like Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus MUST be cast last or at least you can cast any spells that can turn the tide.
Also, Mizzium Mortars and Cyclonic Rift are your bestfriends in late game since their overload ability bypass their annoying 3+ toughness... except for Primetime.
Turn 2 Oath of Druids are a pain for them. I have 2 chances of grabbing a crappy creatures but at least one of them can be useful.
Thanks for posting how your matches have played out on Cockatrice. I think that's really cool to see how this deck has progressed. Too bad I can't get on Cockatice anymore; otherwise I would have liked to play a few games :). Oh well I guess...
Have you ever tried out something like Wheel of Fate as a way to get rid of answers your opponent may be holding for Wanderer?
Replenish you hand for 0 mana and 4 turns later and drawing 7 new ones after discarding it.
Cons
Time to wait since suspend 5 turns.
Bit useless when you have it.
Your opponent might be happy to discard their useless cards and draw new ones and prepping for counter attack.
I've played a similar card from my current list: Time Spiral which is like turn 6 but with bonus. My opponent want that card be countered because even though your hands will be replenish, your graveyard is gone and you can untapped up to 6 lands (with potential mana of 6 or more). If I cascade that card, I have the chance to cast something else after it resolve.
IMO, Wheel of Fate is like a double-edged sword for me. I empty my hand and draw 7 news cards... so does your opponent. If I cascade that card (and needing to replenish my hand if I choose NOT to put it on the bottom), I only gain that much plus I'm tapped out and so far, I don't have ANY cards that lets me untapped my permanents. I'm not convinced that card is worthwhile unless someone else give me an additional (and positive feedback)...
1st game. I cast Cyclonic Rift on GAAIV at et turn using Grim Monolith and 2 untapped lands just in case he has Mana Leak holding. Next turn, I cast Upheaval bouncing everything, then cast Fastbond... I've gained momentum
2nd game... he countered my tempo (turn 2 Farseek) :/ He cast GAAIV and Elspeth... thus i have to wait to get my 9th mana
3rd game... my mistake is that I used Phyrexian Metamorph on his Talisman of Progress. I should've wait and used it to clone GAAIV. I empty my hand with Fastbond but I needed that 9th mana... my 9th mana is Valakut. He then won by Dust Bowl me left and right.
Note: If you have a clone or removal (Slagstorm is preferable or Mortars) hold on to it and used it on GAAIV... doesn't matter if he has other permanents, he's the leading cause for my lose. Other than that, it's a close 3rd game.
I could've have a 2nd win if I didn't made a mistake on seeing Devastation Tide is Rift... cost me the game. After that match, I redo my move... turns out I have the mana to turn things around. A very costly mistake.
Fastbond is doing exceptionally well however, it doesn't mean I can reach that much mana to cast MW...
I guess my deck isn't optimized like I thought it would. I have to play more with Doran and GAAIV to get used to their gameplay. It's either you're fast enough to cast MW or you have to rely on getting thing turn around.
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Any experience on beating cheap bosses like Ruhan, Doran and etc? Cheap bosses are a bad race for us since we rely too much on MW for our win con. Remember that those 2 decks are very efficient to what they do.
UBW have the best field and hand removal as well as countering out best stuff. Any ideas how to outpace them?
I've managed to out pace him a couple of times but cascade ramps and I have to be on the defensive. I've mentioned my supposedly second win if I didn't make a mistake on seeing Devastation Tide as Cyclonic Rift.
You're right on the rat race, but you can only be dealt from him 3 times before receiving the gen damage, you have to be careful on his discard and spot removal.
What about GAAIV? It's a close game for me until I needed that 9th + 2X mana.
As for Urban Evolution, it used to be in my deck. With faster paced boss, I have to drop them for more cheaper drops. Despite and able to achieved 3GU on turn 3 or 4, I don't have any space left for other cards.
As a MW players, we have to balance our ramp, rocks, removal and other lesser spells. If we remove one, it'll disrupt our tempo. I've played a couple of white boss (Zur, Sisay, Teeg and etc) which they're packed with Stony Silence or Null Rod.
Null Rod or Winter Orb can kill us and those are dependent to your local meta.
As for Oath, I guess I can replace Eternal Witness with Noxious Revival, but I'm iffy of using it because I like having a body and able to net gain 3 cards in one go. I've Oath'ed Witness grabbing Fastbond and dredge Life from the Loam and able to dropped 3 lands all with the start of 1GG and start using my rocks or others (namely Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk OR Mindslaver)and able to locked them. That's my usual other M.O.
Note: I remove those good cards for experimental purpose. I don't removing them but I need 2 space open to test drive those cards.
Maybe I should've remove Ancestral Vision instead; still wishing I have Sylvan Library in my deck. All the cards in my MW are essential and painful when I remove one of them since all of them aren't considered dead draw.
I'll just make a report if those 2 new cards are worthwhile in the deck. If not, I'll definitely change them back like what I did with Spoils of Victory.
Since you have more pyroclasm than my build, what's your meta? My meta tends to be all over the place since Cockatrice is a place when people have more access and have a closer build to the top tier list plus either Winter Orb or Null Rod can stop either MW.
I might put back Consecrated Sphinx. In addition, you should try City of Traitors.
What's your usual turn 1 drop like in your meta?
I know that GSZ+DA is a double edged sword depending of the build, but for my build, I have 3 candidates to grab from my deck which can also speed up my pace. Also, Cyclonic Rift is an awesome card for early and late game. In addition, Devastation Tide can help me sweep nonland permanent. What are your opponent's lands do you usually copy for Vesuva?
So far you have more pyroclasm, ramp and rocks than I did. Plus you avoid Mindslaver and instead you use Wildfire/Burning for early turn drops. How would you usually dealt with players that's floating a mana or 2 for edits and bounce after removing most of your lands during your 8th mana shenanigans? Plus you have Wolfrun assemble.
So far, the decks I haven't got a complete win is Zur.
Put Sphinx back in only just to deal with Doran. It makes sense and if you resolve sphinx or Cascade it you're going to be in a super dominate position. It's basically like Wurmcoil Engine in that I can't touch it unless i get lucky with removal.
I also like Niv as well as a possible test. Easy way to ping a board down, he's beefy, and if you cascade him or drop him with Maelstrom you're drawing a lot of cards.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
French EDH BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB B Braids, Cabal Minion B G Titania, Protector of Argoth G R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us My Street Art
Lol... Just need to revamp my deck to deal with you... And other top tier decks.
This time, sober up and dont messed up with your "soup" like last night... The game is interesting last night when you mellowed out I lost but its fun as hell...
Quote:
How would you usually dealt with players that's floating a mana or 2 for edits and bounce after removing most of your lands during your 8th mana shenanigans?
I'm out of my comp so my phone use auto correct. Against black, white and blue players, when you grab your 8th mana, smart players usually let everything resolves if the spells are convenient to them say Upheaval everything... They usually cast Edict to kill your only creature, use Swords to Plowshares or Mana Tithe for white and Mana Leak for blue... How would you go back in position when most of the competitive decks cost cmc<6 (I can think of Black Iname as an expensive boss)? Sometimes, it's hard to avoid doing a guesswork if they can mess us up.
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The good thing for City of Traitors is that you can drop on the same turn and cast 1-2 2cmc land search without losing that much tempo. It catch everyone one by surprise that you 3 lands+Temple and your 5th land being Traitor can build 7 mana that very turn...
I still love having Academy Ruins and Mindslaver/Oblivion Ring for control and anti-deck out when Oath decks me out (ie I got 0 cards left in my library when I used Slaver).
So are there any decks that you lose more than you win? I have that with Black Iname and Ruhan in addition to GAAIV, Doran and Zur with my current build.
Teeg is one of the reason I use cmc<4+ ramps or rocks that's why my limitation is what set us apart from our build... That and I used to have a lot of ramps and changed a lot before making this thread... Not only as a gen but using him in 99 as well. Good thing Cyclonic Rift bypass that card when Teeg is out on turn 2 and that card is awesome when you bring back using Revival or Witness and use overload on his hoards during his/her end turn.
i tend to gamble a lot in duelcommander, and what i found that was intersting as a turn 1 drop was.... manabond
it can turn into massive ramp. but you're on topdeck mode for a while :S fastbond is also good for ramp, it's, IMHO, better than exploration. but if you can, run both.
It's true that having early Pyroclam/Slagstorm is essential and easily turn things around, it took me a couple of matches against Radha to figured out how... If your build is the same as his (or anyone else) he has early drops like Sulfuric Vortex, Skyshroud Elite, Rubblebelt Raiders, Briarhorn (via Radha's Trigger) or even Kird Ape which more or less kind of annoying pingers. I "might" add more 2 damage sweepers IF I started having losing streak again. For now, I actually thinking of a way to win defensively. Even with Oath, I actually use my fetchland to fetch Dryad Arbor as a blocker if he decided to swing at me to deal me damage further before grabbing some 8 potential creatures and putting a lot of potential endgamers to the grave. So in my case, a win-win. (First time I used Dryad surprised few weeks ago when Ruhan was about to deal me the 21st gen damage clause after I dropped Oath... he doesn't have removal but it cost his game).
For Sunken Hope, it looks good on paper but it feels that my opponent can simply bounce his most cheapest creatures. For GAAIV or Ruhan, that's a big deal (unless Ruhan has that annoying Aven Mindcensor or GAAIV's Phantasmal or SCM).
@Kuma91
I've played against Dralnu a couple of games but didn't recorded since his build isn't that much to report. It feels like Thrun when I decided to make a report because there are games that I might lose because of how slow I am in the game. Oh, and tutoring Slagstorm with Boseiju is what I have at most of those games.
@soulbanana
It's a tempting suggestion. I've played Manabond in Legacy and Vintage but "might" use it in the future. With Treasure Hunt and Life from the Loam, I can definitely able to use it and start reusing Mindslaver every turn if I got it out for 13 mana (6 to cast, 4 to trigger and 1U and Academy Ruins). Will test that in the future.
1st win. He did his DoranxSilverblade Palladin. I counter his move by Beast Within his general and for a couple of turns he beat me 10 damage per turn. I cast Maelstrom Wanderer with Phyrexian Meta (via Scrollrack) copying his Paladin and bonded my MW since that's my only creature at that time and a Krosan Grip killing his Tidehollow Sculler returning my Worn Powerstone.
2nd win. He Duress me. I countered by Brainstorm and move back Grim Monolith on top and Temp Master on 2nd top... He made me discard my Personal Tutor. Using my Miracle for extra turn thus moved my land counter to 4 with Grim Monolith. I cast JaceTS and bounce his Tarmogoyf (which he cast it after I dropped my Miracle move)... I then cast MW not cascading Scapeshift (only 5 lands that time) and cast Upheaval (after I bounce Goyf again before casting MW). I sweep off his field and on his turn I swing him for 14 damage and Wasteland (he saw me drop it before casting MW) his Command Tower leaving him with Llanowar Elves.
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Duel Commander
Welcome to yet "another" Maelstrom Wanderer thread! Thanks for taking a chance to see my version. I love to share my own insight when using the King of Cascades.
I.URGDeck HistoryURG
URGF.A.Q.URG
URGStrengthsURG
Once everything is online, you can cast almost anything that you draw because of the mana that you've established. There are ways to rebuild your resources if everything goes wrong because your opponent cast counter your MW.
When you cast MW, your opponent will be baffled whether or not doing something in between aka the luck of the draw. The most popular is often extra turns (Time Warp) or mass removal ( Jokulhaups). Remember that he's a beefing 7/5 with haste and you just need 3 hits (21 general damage) to win because his ability grant himself haste.
URGWeaknessURG
Weakness is balancing between ramp and other spells. The more I played with MW, the more I realized that opponent's are smart enough when to disrupt. Or at least, rely on ramping (aka being "slow") to deal that much damage.
For some reason, we're are not as crazy when it comes to play against other ramp decks. An example for that matter is playing against Iname, Death Aspect where he can cast it on his 6th mana. He doesn't have that much creatures and thus we they cast Iname, he can dump all of his wincon to his grave. So far, we don't have much answer against that unless we're armed with Time Spiral, Primal Command or even Timetwister.
Another weakness are Tendrils (especially with 5-colored variants) decks. Unless we have counterspells. We have to do drop everything asap! Removal like All is Dust, Devastation Tide and etc aren't that helpful against them.
Radha, Heir to Keld managed to overwhelm me with her creatures and damage. It's quite annoying when you can't do anything when they cast creature after creature after damage like Price of Progress. So far I manage to held her back using Volcanic Fallout , Slagstorm, Mizzium Mortars, Cyclonic Rift, and maybe Blasphemous Act.
There are few cards that'll messed up our deck:
Protean HulkWinter OrbTwo of them are from a tool box boss named Zur the Enchanter. By turn four he gets to be casted and by turn 5 he can grab any of those cards. So far, Phyrexian Metamorph and Krosan Grip is what I have so far. I might add Acidic Slime, Nature's Claim and etc... the problem is that it'll affect the deck.
II.URGCurrent DeckURG
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1x Maelstrom Wanderer
Creature:6
1x Balefire Dragon
1x Eternal Witness
1x Frost Titan
1x Inferno Titan
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Primeval Titan
Planeswalker:4
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Karn Liberated
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
Sorcery:20
Threats
1x All is Dust
1x Burning of Xinye
1x Destructive Force
1x Desvastation
1x Upheaval
1x Wildfire
Draw
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Explore
Sweepers
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Mizzium Mortars
1x Pyroclasm
Ramps
1x Farseek
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Nature's Lore
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Three Visits
Misc
1x Life from the Loam
1x Temporal Mastery
1x Time Spiral
1x Personal Tutor
Instant:10
1x Beast Within
1x Brainstorm
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Electrolyze
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Fire // Ice
1x Krosan Grip
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Volcanic Fallout
1x Fastbond
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Oath of Druids
1x Sylvan Library
Artifact:17
Ramps
0
1x Everflowing Chalice
1x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Lotus Bloom
2
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Grim Monolith
1x Gruul Signet
1x Guardian Idol
1x Izzet Signet
1x Mind Stone
1x Simic Signet
1x Talisman of Impulse
3
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Coalition Relic
1x Worn Powerstone
4
1x Thran Dynamo
5
1x Gilded Lotus
Land:38
3x Snow-Covered Forest
2x Snow-Covered Island
1x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Breeding Pool
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Taiga
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Cavern of Souls
1x City of Traitors
1x Crystal Vein
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Rishadan Port
1x Temple of the False God
1x Wasteland
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
1x Havenwood Battleground
1x Simic Growth Chamber
1x Command Tower
aka No space in the deck even if you ALL the cards in the universe
III.URGStrategyURG
Basic Concept
Basic strategy is ramping. MW is expensive with just basic 1 drop per turn, it'll take us exactly 8 turns to cast him. This is why it requires a lot of ramp spells and rock spells. Once you get to #8 mana, you can cast 3 spells that time. Those 2 extra spells are essential that will determine if you can get the upper hand however the random reveal can either be benefit for your or not.
There are ways to win the game:
In the net, there are different variation for Maelstrom Wanderer.
Battling Others
The Art of Turn 2 Maelstrom Wanderer
On average, Turn 3 MW can happen if you keep dropping rocks and lands like crazy. Having it on turn 2 is godly.
The key to turn 2 for some reason is Fastbond (insert sarcasm) and a G. Fastbond is useful if you have a following cards as long as you have 1 green source and Fastbond. The key is the number of lands, rocks and a couple spells that make this possible... if one of the spell is not a mana (or worse mulligan), it won't produce that result. It might get the result around turn 3 or more depending on your next draw. The goal for the list are scenarios that is most likely for MW to appear the next turn which is 5URG. Glad that I've experience one of those scenarios (not all the time) from time to time (aka once in a blue moon... or less depending on how lucky I really am).
Having 7 mana is possible but it'll depend on your next draw. By then, you'll be in top deck mode by turn 2 (on the brightside, you have 7 mana available).
Here's a couple of god hands that can make the scenario happen:
The weakness for this having this hand is that you'll empty it by turn two. However, if you do have it, your opponent is going to be annoyed and concede. That's why having a turn one Fastbond is a bluff move that you can pull it off MW asap.
For example, in my games, I dropped a turn 1 Fastbond, my opponent knows that I'll have a lot of advantage of dropping more lands that they use Daze (coming from Talrand, Sky Summoner player) which loses their turn 1 land, Mental Misstep (from Rafiq or Jenara) and free FoW (Zur). It's fun for me to see them wasting their resources on an enchantment. And yes, they actually happen... and no, I didn't win all of them (mostly from Zur).
Art of Mulligan
So what if you didn't drew Fastbond and get a good hand? Then I would suggest get rid of anything 5+ cmc because they will be useless during those turn unless you can cast in 1st three-four turns (drop diamonds on turn 2 (total 3mana) then Search for Tomorrow then dropping a land (5 land available).
IV.URGChange LogURG
Change History and Notes
V.URG2013 Cockatrice EDH Tournament (GTC Edition)URG
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Footnote:
* PS Don't blame me if the prices fluctuate in later years... or even today... whatever
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Examples of Bad Matchups so Far
VII.URG[VS Popular Commanders]URG
VIII.URGMatch ScoreURG
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Warning: Some decks might be surprisingly (and/or shockingly) different from what we're usually used to or expected to win.
[Source:]
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Going to update some reports and etc.
If I missed something, feel free to tell.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Today's matches is:
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
This are my updates for the past few days:
+ Snow-Covered Forest
+ Basalt Monolith
- Urban Evolution
- Scapeshift
+ Coldsteel Heart
+ Scroll Rack
- Garruk, Primal Hunter
- Basalt Monolith
+ Devastation
+ Garruk, Primal Hunter
+ Snow-Covered Forest
- Reliquary Tower
- Upheaval
- Basalt Monolith
===============================================
If you have any good suggestions, please tell us how to improve this deck :3
It seems that this deck requires more tweaking and be faster than other decks that armed with -7cmc thus gaining a lot of advantage.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Here's what I can remember
===============================================
Today's Game:
Radha, Heir to Keld
Thrun, the Last Troll
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Rite of Ruin
Just so sweet. It's a card that no one seems coming, and allows you a total blowout on a Zur that has been enchanted with Pemmin's Aura, and thinks he's safe from Wildfire. It also helps deal with equipment at the same time as blowing stuff up. Just an overall sweet card.
Wild Growth
I think this is a much better Turn 1 ramp card than Green Sun's Zenith -> Dryad Arbor. I honestly never found GSZ + Dryad Arbor to be worth playing. It's the worst ramp card to cascade into, is not a nonbo with Wildfire, and GSZ itself (as a sorcery), is super vulnerable to all the tempo counters that are played (Spell Pierce, Flutterstorm, Negate)
Soothsaying
I think this is nowhere near as good as Mirri's Guile
Parallax Tide
This card was always an incredible bomb. You can always play it Turn 3, and it gives you more than enough time to stall for the win. It's at its best in a deck like this, since opposing decks will often tap out early, not expecting you to lay a disruption card rather than ramp.
Jokulhaups
If they float mana and kill Wanderer once he's resolved, you're no better off than them, and maybe worse since you blow through your hand to resolve Wanderer ASAP. I was always hesitant to play this.
And on your recent changes:
Upheaval has to be in. Always.
Scapeshift is also sweet. I would be reluctant to cut it.
I can think of that card as a replacement card for massive removal for Jokulhaups and Devastation. There times that when everything resolves...
Worth testing that.
I still like GSZ+Dryad Arbor. I will include that as among my potential first turn drops (seeing Jester's Animar using it intensively).
I like that card. There are times that I don't have anything to cast or 0 cards in hand. I just sink at minimum of 2 to check my next few cards. I would drop it and replace with M's Guile to check it.
It's interesting. Too bad that I don't have any space for it.
===============================================
+ Exploration
+ Life from the Loam
+ Mirri's Guile
+ Rite of Ruin
+ Scapeshift
+
Spoils of Victory+ Upheaval
+ Wild Growth
+ Snow-Covered Island
- Cultivate
- Izzet Signet
- Jokulhaups
-
Kodama's Reach- Preordain
- Soothsaying
- Sylvan Library
- Talisman of Impulse
- Forest
Been updating my deck:
1x Maelstrom Wanderer
Creature:8
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Dryad Arbor
1x Eternal Witness
1x Frost Titan
1x Inferno Titan
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Primeval Titan
1x Sphinx of Uthuun
Sorcery:25
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Destructive Force
1x Devastation Tide
1x Mizzium Mortars
1x Rite of Ruin
1x Slagstorm
1x Upheaval
1x Wildfire
1x Farseek
1x Growth Sparm
1x Into the North
1x Nature's Lore
1x Rampant Growth
1x Search for Tomorrow
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Spoils of Victory
1x Three Visits
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Life from the Loam
1x Personal Tutor
1x Primal Command
1x Scapeshift
1x Temporal Manipulation
1x Temporal Mastery
1x Time Spiral
1x Beast Within
1x Brainstorm
1x Cryptic Command
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Krosan Grip
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Volcanic Fallout
1x Worldly Tutor
Planeswalker:3
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Karn Liberated
1x Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Enchantment:3
1x Exploration
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Oath of Druids
1x Wild Growth
Artifact:13
1x Basalt Monolith
1x Coalition Relic
1x Coldsteel Heart
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Grim Monolith
1x Gruul Signet
1x Simic Signet
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Scroll Rack
1x Mindslaver
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Oblivion Stone
Land:37
4x Snow-Covered Forest
2x Snow-Covered Island
5x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Command Tower
1x Academy Ruins
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x High Market
1x Homeward Path
1x Temple of the False God
1x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1x Wasteland
1x Arid Mesa
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Flooded Strand
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Breeding Pool
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Taiga
1x Tropical Island
1x Volcanic Island
1x Hinterland Harbor
1x Simic Growth Chamber
Note: I don't know why I have a Forest in there... not Snow-Covered Forest... just a single forest in my then current deck
With a lot of changes. It's sad that I have to drop such cards like Sylvan Library or even some draw power. Can anyone help me find a space for the Library?
Cards that I want it back with not enough space:
Before
Creatures=8
Sorcery=27
Planeswalkers=3
Enchantments=3
Artifacts=13
Lands=36
After
Creatures=8
Sorcery=25
Planeswalkers=3
Enchantments=4
Artifacts=13
Lands=37
Radha, Heir to Keld
Rafiq of the Many
Haven't used any of your suggested cards.
Update:
+ Kodama's Reach
- Spoils of Victory
* Thanking Fluxuate for pointing out that literary mistake.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Update:
+1 City of Traitors
-1 Snow-Covered Forest
Nin, the Pain Artist
3-1 Cards added:
+ Exploration
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Osku's Ruhan of the Fomori
Nin, the Pain Artist
Update:
+1 Fastbond
-1 Exploration
Note: Fastbond is an awesome card. It's quicker version than Exploration and in some games, I can drop my entire hand and cast MW the following turn.
Evergreen's Radha, Heir to Keld
Alteon's Sliver Overlord
2-1
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
He has Consuming Vapors waiting but can't cast it because I have 5 other creatures.
Mana screw for having 2 lands. managed to get to cascade avenger and inferno with only 5 lands (5th land being temple)
Tefeiri's Gaddock Teeg
Whitewing's Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Nickness' Griselbrand
So far, my deck is doing alright with other decks... no problems so far except not getting any lands thus didn't do any changes.
---------------------------------
Tonight's Game
Evergreen's Radha, Heir to Keld
So far, I've made it to top 8
Posted my original deck for viewing purpose and so far... I'm lucky enough to survive the first 5 rounds.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Bit saddens me that people pm me for particular lists from different decks that I've faced before with my build rather than giving me insights and tips to deal with the meta.
As for Radha, its weakness is overextend since it's a race against the clock when dealing with me.
Cards that always kills me are:
Whenever I started playing Radha, few cards that I'm willing to keep if I drew them:
For rocks, I have to be careful with my drop it's hard to know if he has Ancient Grudge or Artifact Mutation. The expensive one like Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus MUST be cast last or at least you can cast any spells that can turn the tide.
For Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon, I just need to fetch some basics FIRST before putting down dual lands. That way, I won't be open to a massive Price of Progress damage.
Also, Mizzium Mortars and Cyclonic Rift are your bestfriends in late game since their overload ability bypass their annoying 3+ toughness... except for Primetime.
Turn 2 Oath of Druids are a pain for them. I have 2 chances of grabbing a crappy creatures but at least one of them can be useful.
@Umex: I'll try and ask Ever if he's willing.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Have you ever tried out something like Wheel of Fate as a way to get rid of answers your opponent may be holding for Wanderer?
Wheel of Fate
Pros
IMO, Wheel of Fate is like a double-edged sword for me. I empty my hand and draw 7 news cards... so does your opponent. If I cascade that card (and needing to replenish my hand if I choose NOT to put it on the bottom), I only gain that much plus I'm tapped out and so far, I don't have ANY cards that lets me untapped my permanents. I'm not convinced that card is worthwhile unless someone else give me an additional (and positive feedback)...
-----------------
Tonight's Game:
Klaus' Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
perfect's Doran, the Siege Tower
I guess my deck isn't optimized like I thought it would. I have to play more with Doran and GAAIV to get used to their gameplay. It's either you're fast enough to cast MW or you have to rely on getting thing turn around.
--------------------
Any experience on beating cheap bosses like Ruhan, Doran and etc? Cheap bosses are a bad race for us since we rely too much on MW for our win con. Remember that those 2 decks are very efficient to what they do.
UBW have the best field and hand removal as well as countering out best stuff. Any ideas how to outpace them?
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Perfect's arsenal for those 6/7 lose have a lot of turn 3 Doran... and before that he has the common discard arsenal plus Dust Bowl, Sylvan Library and etc. Pretty much is every mana dork/cheap (Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Deathrite Shaman, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Scavenging Ooze, Skinshifter and etc) you could think of for an empty hand (Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Castigate) and common removal (Go for the Throat, Damnation, Dismember). Worse offender is Cataclysm on turn 4 which he kept his Doran while I'm stuck with a rock and a land and a hand with 5+cmc spells. Another offender is Winter Orb. Heck, he even use Skinshifter to deal me 13 damage per turn.
I've managed to out pace him a couple of times but cascade ramps and I have to be on the defensive. I've mentioned my supposedly second win if I didn't make a mistake on seeing Devastation Tide as Cyclonic Rift.
You're right on the rat race, but you can only be dealt from him 3 times before receiving the gen damage, you have to be careful on his discard and spot removal.
What about GAAIV? It's a close game for me until I needed that 9th + 2X mana.
As for Urban Evolution, it used to be in my deck. With faster paced boss, I have to drop them for more cheaper drops. Despite and able to achieved 3GU on turn 3 or 4, I don't have any space left for other cards.
As a MW players, we have to balance our ramp, rocks, removal and other lesser spells. If we remove one, it'll disrupt our tempo. I've played a couple of white boss (Zur, Sisay, Teeg and etc) which they're packed with Stony Silence or Null Rod.
Null Rod or Winter Orb can kill us and those are dependent to your local meta.
As for Oath, I guess I can replace Eternal Witness with Noxious Revival, but I'm iffy of using it because I like having a body and able to net gain 3 cards in one go. I've Oath'ed Witness grabbing Fastbond and dredge Life from the Loam and able to dropped 3 lands all with the start of 1GG and start using my rocks or others (namely Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk OR Mindslaver)and able to locked them. That's my usual other M.O.
===============================================
Experimental Updates
+ Sylvan Scrying
+ Treasure Hunt
-1 Kodama's Reach
-1 Basalt Monolith
Maybe I should've remove Ancestral Vision instead; still wishing I have Sylvan Library in my deck. All the cards in my MW are essential and painful when I remove one of them since all of them aren't considered dead draw.
I'll just make a report if those 2 new cards are worthwhile in the deck. If not, I'll definitely change them back like what I did with Spoils of Victory.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I might put back Consecrated Sphinx. In addition, you should try City of Traitors.
What's your usual turn 1 drop like in your meta?
I know that GSZ+DA is a double edged sword depending of the build, but for my build, I have 3 candidates to grab from my deck which can also speed up my pace. Also, Cyclonic Rift is an awesome card for early and late game. In addition, Devastation Tide can help me sweep nonland permanent. What are your opponent's lands do you usually copy for Vesuva?
So far you have more pyroclasm, ramp and rocks than I did. Plus you avoid Mindslaver and instead you use Wildfire/Burning for early turn drops. How would you usually dealt with players that's floating a mana or 2 for edits and bounce after removing most of your lands during your 8th mana shenanigans? Plus you have Wolfrun assemble.
So far, the decks I haven't got a complete win is Zur.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I also like Niv as well as a possible test. Easy way to ping a board down, he's beefy, and if you cascade him or drop him with Maelstrom you're drawing a lot of cards.
BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW
GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB
B Braids, Cabal Minion B
G Titania, Protector of Argoth G
R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us
My Street Art
This time, sober up and dont messed up with your "soup" like last night... The game is interesting last night when you mellowed out I lost but its fun as hell...
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I'm out of my comp so my phone use auto correct. Against black, white and blue players, when you grab your 8th mana, smart players usually let everything resolves if the spells are convenient to them say Upheaval everything... They usually cast Edict to kill your only creature, use Swords to Plowshares or Mana Tithe for white and Mana Leak for blue... How would you go back in position when most of the competitive decks cost cmc<6 (I can think of Black Iname as an expensive boss)? Sometimes, it's hard to avoid doing a guesswork if they can mess us up.
------
The good thing for City of Traitors is that you can drop on the same turn and cast 1-2 2cmc land search without losing that much tempo. It catch everyone one by surprise that you 3 lands+Temple and your 5th land being Traitor can build 7 mana that very turn...
I still love having Academy Ruins and Mindslaver/Oblivion Ring for control and anti-deck out when Oath decks me out (ie I got 0 cards left in my library when I used Slaver).
So are there any decks that you lose more than you win? I have that with Black Iname and Ruhan in addition to GAAIV, Doran and Zur with my current build.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
manabond
it can turn into massive ramp. but you're on topdeck mode for a while :S
fastbond is also good for ramp, it's, IMHO, better than exploration. but if you can, run both.
Thanks Argentleman;)
WB Teysa token aggroBW (retired)
MAKING (Onmath, Numot, maybe something in Esper)
@Kuma91
-----------------
Last Night's Game:
perfect's Doran, the Siege Tower
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier