Warp World/Combo/Control/Aggro Ulasht! “You purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live.”
~Alexander Pope
Ulasht is revered by the Gruul as the purest embodiment of destrution and mindless rage. She has no intention, no desire. A monster hydra with hellions for tentacles, who would doubt? Her life cycle, to multiply and burn relentlessly until she can't multiply and burn anymore. Can her volatile and self-destructive nature be harnessed?
Why play this deck?
- You like playing delicate synergies where 2 accomplish far more together than seperately
- You like having a toolbox of answers and threats that change your approach to victory
- You like an aggressive pursuit of victory
- You might be looking to make a switch from pure combo/control with undeniable consistency to something a bit more radical, surprising, and explosive
- You're a Johnny that hasn't given Red/Green its due chance yet
- You like decks with versatility and non-linear strategy
- You like the idea of being extremely threatening to the table, don't like to hold back, and want intimidating, insane board presence explode from nowhere
- You love keeping track of lots of numbers, math, and data
- You feel lucky enough to warp the world
- You like the idea of playing aggressive creature threats and scoffing at board wipes
- You're not afraid to cast your commander from the command zone a few thousand times
So... why not, then?
- You really want to avoid infinite combos at all costs
- You want to win by combo at all costs
- You feel the need to be in control all the time
- You prefer to sit on your thumbs out of the spotlight until you know you can win
- You have to have all the answers
- You think a lucky play is inferior to a predictable play
- You need a consistent gameplan to focus on
- You think synergy is just raunchy, and overly complex and intricate synergy borderlines on grotesque fetish, and building a deck with thousands of interactions is akin to running a sex camp in Jamaica
- You don't like keeping track of tokens and counters
Introducing Ulasht
Basically, this deck runs a bit differently from most Ulasht builds I've seen around the internet. Quite often I see token swarm decks that try to get Ulasht out as a big, bad bad monster by loading their decks with token-producing creatures. While this strategy works great with Ulasht, I recognized her as a much more synergy/combo legend that should be able to pull off more tricks and fancy shenanigans than your more straightforward token general (ie: every other token general).
Ulasht has several great abilities and characteristics we can take advantage of and build around. The first thing we look at is her come-into-play ability, a loyalty +1/+1 counter for every red and green creature we control. Simply put, she likes creatures. She lends herself to creature-based strategy, and this gives us plenty reason to also take advantage of permanent-based strategy. Also, though she's a 0/0 creature, she can take full advantage of a good boardstate, and be a hell of a beater for 4 mana. The fact that she's 0/0 can also be useful, largely in part of her second ability.
Her second ability, for 1 mana and a +1/+1 counter, she can ping a creature for 1 or make a 1/1 saproling token. Removing counters from her allows us to send her to the grave or to the command zone any time we want. She is her own sac outlet. Making saproling tokens for 1 mana, well, that's just broken. We can negate the limited number of times she can do this by giving her support for getting her +1/+1 counters back. This also means that if she leaves play and returns, she returns much larger than she was before. She is her own doubling effect.
Pinging is highly underrated in Ulasht. Since she doesn't have to tap to ping, she has extreme potential to control the board with removal and other great things triggered by damage, non-combat or otherwise. She's also a pseudo sac outlet when we need her to be.
So, that's the breakdown of the abilities and characteristics we have at our disposal. When I originally put this deck together, I fully intended to exploit every one of them.
Core Philosophies
1. Put permanents in play. 2 for 1 or better. This is the basic criteria for most of our ramp, tutors, and many creatures. Thin the library, aggressively maximize board presence.
2. Synergy cards over value cards. Small combos to make our aggro stronger and/or control the board and clear the way for us makes our tight package of threats extremely volatile.
3. A tight toolbox element. 100 cards is too small too pack glorious synergy and a deck full of answers. Take advantage of the general to shore up the deck's blind spots. Plus, since we're often growing huge in board presence, it's ok to let our opponents try to keep up in board presence and lure them into overextending territory.
4. All things must recur. Important effects should be on creatures that never have to tap. A tight toolbox can go a long way with a recursion plan.
5. All combo pieces must have strong synergy with the deck as a whole, not just another individual piece. Infinite combos aren't part of the toolbox. Most pieces are drawn into, but have a powerful effect with creatures we do have easy access to.
Nevermind I just saw that you had it, and I was looking under the wrong section
But, maybe some cards to consider. Not saying they are better than your cards or anything, just some things I thought of off the top of my head
Shared Animosity ; Maybe not in this deck, but i've seen a player get KO'ed just from a couple saprolings getting through with this in play. Mycoloth ; Big beater and consistent saprolings in play each upkeep. I think I might play this over Broodmother. Then again, Broodmother does make finishers, and if you sac a bunch of guys, and then coloth gets destroyed, could be sad. Saproling Symbiosis Life and Limb ; Eh, could be bad for you as well as good, but it is kinda funny.
Thanks for the suggestions. Sap Symb unfortunately doesn't earn a slot due to how I utilize warp world... and really just seems sorta winmore. Mycoloth is cool, but risky as well. (Edit: adding it. Good card for blade of the bloodchief and a fun splashy bomb with good synergy... Just seems too fun, and the risk is scaleable so it's not bad at all.)
I used to run Life and Limb. It's great, but sweepers are getting tough around here.
Anyhow, I'm going to make some notes on my thoughts of the deck to remind myself when I get home:
+ Kiki Jiki, a fun effect with plenty to abuse here, makes a token
+ Quietus Spike, more removal needed, especially stuff that hits Emrakul after a warp world
+ Sylvan Library, solid card draw & Oracle/Top shenanigans
+ Avenger of Zendikar, we probably grab enough land to abuse this, especially with Kiki
+ Earthcraft, adjust land base to 16+ basics, don't need squirrel nest to abuse
+ Survival of the Fittest... It's a winner.
-Sprouting Phytohydra, just fails
-Coat of Arms, meta risks, not powerful enough, no longer works off phytohydra/ulasht
-Garruk, doesn't do enough first turn, not Warp Worldly
-Hellkite Charger, pressures, but seldom finishes...
Maybes
-Yavimaya Elder... iffy, is cutworthy
-Collective Unconscious... Expensive, also an iffy cut, Sylvan Library should be better, though
+Hoarding Dragon, artifacts are nice.
I just added Mycoloth... seems like a good splashy beater for the deck. I had reservations before because of the risks with devour, but somehow I convinced myself the "may" clause isn't that risky and he's a huge bomb anyways.
I'm not sure Wort's worth it. I've considered her many times, but since I've got a very permanent-centric deck she doesn't get much out of conspire. Still, it is 6 counters on Ulasht for those 3 creatures, she's a good bluff, and the spells I could conspire could be devastating. Maybe I'll give her a try...
I've also been considering Bloodbraid Elf, since most things it could hit result in a pretty solid gain in advantage, and at worst I have a red/green creature. Hmm..
Living Hive, I just don't have too many ways to get the damage through... the tokens just aren't that necessary. I suppose I really underplay Ulasht's token side, but I think I like it that way. Same with the Verdants & the Wurm, just not entirely focused on tokens. Using the right combination of pieces, Ulasht usually fills the holes, especially when tokens become the plan. It makes piloting all the tricks really interesting.
I will keep Silklash Spider in mind as well... I might have to consider more anti-flier tech. I rely on Ulasht quite a bit as my creature hate sometimes, which can either deter or provoke attacks... right now my removal's been solid enough. I'll test a bit more before making too many changes.
Cloudstone Curio is in. That's the biggest thing. It's a house, and I don't know what I was thinking when I first pulled it out of my pool. It's replaced Thelonite Hermit, which was a tad unwieldy at times... the pump bonus doesn't do much and getting the tokens just takes too much work. Cloudstone will work much better at making tokens with Ulasht and provides us with TONS of shenanigans.
Hoard-Smelter has replaced Viashino Heretic for a test run.
Valakut has been added. We've got the land search to turn it into very effective removal, which is always good.
Treetop Village has been added, just because it's hard to get rid of and can count for that 1 extra counter on Ulasht. Also hilarious when pumped with Blade of the Bloodchief. Primal Command is too useful to pass up. I don't think our Warp World plans will be too disrupted by it...
Sideboard is stuff to play with/test as well. I like to keep a lil' variety on the side, without going overboard with the card pool.
I really like your deck and I'll think I'll try make it, but I'd like your thoughts on Garruk, Wildspeaker and Stalking Vengeance I think it is, both seem quite synergistic.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I do like this deck a lot as well, very interesting.
Part of me feels like Cauldron of Souls could be interesting when paired with a sac outlet. Usually you see this card in a Savra themed deck, but i think it might be interesting hear to add a little recursion. Maybe its not a good idea, i dunno. It just came to mind.
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Thanks for the comments!
Garruk is very synergistic with all of his abilities and not a bad inclusion. It's just a bit of work to keep him in play enough to make him worth the 4-drop (unless you've got the cradle out), and I found Sarkhan was just better at affecting the game the turn you play him. It could be good to have both, though. He might make it back in the deck, actually...
Stalking Vengeance is an awesome finisher, but I haven't really found the need for finishers like it and Goblin Bombardment where they're only really king when I've got enough board position to win by other means. It's a lot like Vicious Shadows, I know, but I prefer VS because it's capable of also being a rattlesnake effect when it's not there for the kill.
Cauldron of Souls... hm, that is interesting. I haven't tried that one yet. I like it.
I've also got it in my head that I could use a few more low-cost drops and ways to curve out the deck a bit more nicely, so I'm trying to squeeze in Psychotrope Thallid as a possible early/slow token generating device as well as a way to draw into further action. Eh, I think it'll be good.
I like Beastmaster Ascension, I've just found that I have enough pump effects that also benefit from more versatility. Nemata, Kamahl, Eldrazi Monument, Sarkhan, and Decree all have added benefits to them besides pump, and I'd also consider Thelonite Hermit above Ascension partly as a piece of Skyshroud Poacher's elf package as a surprise tactic... leaving it fighting with Garruk for my favor.
It's definitely good... could be ridiculous to land on with Warp World or Genesis Wave, but it's tough to make a cut for it. Swinging for 42 when it comes out is tempting, but it's a tough call. It's been on my list of things to try for a while, but again it just feels like another finisher I don't really need.
This is a clever deck. I think the biggest weakness is the lack of mana generation. I would play all the reasonable creature mana sources you can find:
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Priest of Titiana
Rofellos, Llanowar Emmisary
You should also play the better green ramp spells:
You have to cut 9 cards to fit these in. I'd aim towards cutting cards that seem a bit gimmicky. You already have a good late game plan-- recur your general.
The problem with defining [EDH] by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
That is a fair and accurate assessment. I suppose if I really do want to lay the deck down in a more competitive way I am going to have to speed it up a bit. Broodmother and Shusher indeed underperform and Altar can be awkward at times. Easy enough to cut. The others are a bit too much fun to nix on the spot, but I can see what you're getting at. I'll have to mull over them a bit in testing. Thanks for the suggestions, it's a good starting point.
Improving the mana base isn't about making the deck more competitive. It's making the deck more consistent. I don't know exactly what part of Magic you find fun, but I'm certain it involves playing your spells, and mana development helps you do that. Timmy likes mana ramp because he likes casting his big bombs. Johnny likes it because his combo cards cost a lot of mana too. Spike likes mana because if you aren't playing all the cards you've drawn, you're going to lose.
Put another way, if you draw Dragon Broodmother, Lurking Predators, and Godo together, but are stuck on 4 mana, you can cast 0 of those 3 spells. If you had cut two of them for lands, you'd at least cast 1 of those 3 spells. Focus on the cards that have a huge impact for your deck. Watering down the mana base to fit in more "kind of good" cards makes it harder to cast the really good ones like Doubling Season and Decree of Savagery.
The problem with defining [EDH] by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
I mulled over quite a bit and made the following changes for now:
- Dragon Broodmother didn't need it.
- Vicious Shadows Really only another finisher... a good one, but not necessary. Running it sideboard now.
- Vexing Shusher Not really doing enough...
- Anger Unnecessary, and graveyard hate is growing in my meta, so he's become rather underwhelming.
- Phyrexian Altar Requires a bit of effort to net worthwhile gains off of it. I swapped in Perilous Forays for it.
- Lurking Predators Didn't seem to have enough of an effect on the game.
Lurking Predators is amazing in 4+ multiplayer. Don't underestimate it, its free scry for Green whenever anyone besides you casts a spell. If you hit something you want to draw, you could always top for it and keep going. It works espicially well if you have some sort of graveyard shuffle effects (say..eldrazi, elixer of immortality, etc.)
Lurking Predators is amazing in 4+ multiplayer. Don't underestimate it, its free scry for Green whenever anyone besides you casts a spell. If you hit something you want to draw, you could always top for it and keep going. It works espicially well if you have some sort of graveyard shuffle effects (say..eldrazi, elixer of immortality, etc.)
Hmm, yes. I agree, and I'm still sideboarding it. I like it, but I'm not running enough creatures that hit hard enough to give it that extra vavoom, and it's just a little too expensive for a scry that reveals what's on top. However, I'm still debating between taking out Kiki-Jiki or War's Toll for it, and I'm basically using my sideboard for further testing.
War's Toll seems like a meta choice to stop against exalted or to force mana dorks/utility creatures to attack. I'd assume that the second ability is more relevant than the first for you.
I'd keep Kiki-Jiki. You can always go back and add more creatures to kiki with, I'd be happy to kiki an eternal witness or something similar every turn. Kiki is versatile, unless your warp world shenanigans are making it less useful.
War's Toll seems like a meta choice to stop against exalted or to force mana dorks/utility creatures to attack. I'd assume that the second ability is more relevant than the first for you.
I'd keep Kiki-Jiki. You can always go back and add more creatures to kiki with, I'd be happy to kiki an eternal witness or something similar every turn. Kiki is versatile, unless your warp world shenanigans are making it less useful.
Naw, Kiki's just as great as you presume with all my etb effects... I'm just bitter about "nonlegendary" and that my other recursion tricks don't say that War's Toll is great in my meta and just a bit of a personal favorite
Ahh R/G. I'm building mine again and debating on Ulasht or Wort.
I see several similar cards in our builds. One I'm eyeballing is Mana Echoes. Combined with Pentavus it creates an arbitrarily large amount of colorless mana. Slap on Blade of the Bloodchief and you've got a beater asking to be removed before he creates a trampling tidal wave. By chance you could have out your Vicious Shadows or a Goblin Bombardment to help secure a win.
I agree with Fires, I'm going to try it, makes the deck so fast. Also Rampaging Baloths seems good for it over skullmuncher imo. Also Khalni Garden generates token advantage too.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Agreed on haste. I may take Skullmulcher out for Anger or Fires of Yavimaya. Khalni's single token didn't do enough in testing, and was too easy to get rid of. I'd rather run a basic land, and for getting a single counter on Ulasht, Treetop Village is usually better in the long run, since it's harder to get rid of than tokens. IMO.
Well I've made some slight changes since the last update. Most notably, I've gotten rid of Tawnos's Coffin in favor of Cauldron of Souls because it's just a little bit faster and a little cheaper to abuse. I've also added Natural Order to the tutor package, which I recently just picked up a shiny DCI version of. It's pretty sexy. Fetching Primeval Titan with it also makes it pretty solid in the ramp market.
The sideboard I've altered for tuning to faster metas. Basically: ramp, haste, and consistency. Depending on the meta I'll know what to take out. Ant Queen is now my main choice for token-gen board-ins because of its synergy with Mana Reflection and Earthcraft, amongst many other things. It's a pretty broken token generator in EDH. I haven't given too much thought into making permanent substitutions from the sideboard as I haven't had much time to play towards the end of last year, but hopefully that'll change through January.
“You purchase pain with all that joy can give, and die of nothing but a rage to live.”
~Alexander Pope
Ulasht is revered by the Gruul as the purest embodiment of destrution and mindless rage. She has no intention, no desire. A monster hydra with hellions for tentacles, who would doubt? Her life cycle, to multiply and burn relentlessly until she can't multiply and burn anymore. Can her volatile and self-destructive nature be harnessed?
Why play this deck?
- You like playing delicate synergies where 2 accomplish far more together than seperately
- You like having a toolbox of answers and threats that change your approach to victory
- You like an aggressive pursuit of victory
- You might be looking to make a switch from pure combo/control with undeniable consistency to something a bit more radical, surprising, and explosive
- You're a Johnny that hasn't given Red/Green its due chance yet
- You like decks with versatility and non-linear strategy
- You like the idea of being extremely threatening to the table, don't like to hold back, and want intimidating, insane board presence explode from nowhere
- You love keeping track of lots of numbers, math, and data
- You feel lucky enough to warp the world
- You like the idea of playing aggressive creature threats and scoffing at board wipes
- You're not afraid to cast your commander from the command zone a few thousand times
So... why not, then?
- You really want to avoid infinite combos at all costs
- You want to win by combo at all costs
- You feel the need to be in control all the time
- You prefer to sit on your thumbs out of the spotlight until you know you can win
- You have to have all the answers
- You think a lucky play is inferior to a predictable play
- You need a consistent gameplan to focus on
- You think synergy is just raunchy, and overly complex and intricate synergy borderlines on grotesque fetish, and building a deck with thousands of interactions is akin to running a sex camp in Jamaica
- You don't like keeping track of tokens and counters
Introducing Ulasht
Basically, this deck runs a bit differently from most Ulasht builds I've seen around the internet. Quite often I see token swarm decks that try to get Ulasht out as a big, bad bad monster by loading their decks with token-producing creatures. While this strategy works great with Ulasht, I recognized her as a much more synergy/combo legend that should be able to pull off more tricks and fancy shenanigans than your more straightforward token general (ie: every other token general).
Ulasht has several great abilities and characteristics we can take advantage of and build around. The first thing we look at is her come-into-play ability, a
loyalty+1/+1 counter for every red and green creature we control. Simply put, she likes creatures. She lends herself to creature-based strategy, and this gives us plenty reason to also take advantage of permanent-based strategy. Also, though she's a 0/0 creature, she can take full advantage of a good boardstate, and be a hell of a beater for 4 mana. The fact that she's 0/0 can also be useful, largely in part of her second ability.Her second ability, for 1 mana and a +1/+1 counter, she can ping a creature for 1 or make a 1/1 saproling token. Removing counters from her allows us to send her to the grave or to the command zone any time we want. She is her own sac outlet. Making saproling tokens for 1 mana, well, that's just broken. We can negate the limited number of times she can do this by giving her support for getting her +1/+1 counters back. This also means that if she leaves play and returns, she returns much larger than she was before. She is her own doubling effect.
Pinging is highly underrated in Ulasht. Since she doesn't have to tap to ping, she has extreme potential to control the board with removal and other great things triggered by damage, non-combat or otherwise. She's also a pseudo sac outlet when we need her to be.
So, that's the breakdown of the abilities and characteristics we have at our disposal. When I originally put this deck together, I fully intended to exploit every one of them.
Core Philosophies
1. Put permanents in play. 2 for 1 or better. This is the basic criteria for most of our ramp, tutors, and many creatures. Thin the library, aggressively maximize board presence.
2. Synergy cards over value cards. Small combos to make our aggro stronger and/or control the board and clear the way for us makes our tight package of threats extremely volatile.
3. A tight toolbox element. 100 cards is too small too pack glorious synergy and a deck full of answers. Take advantage of the general to shore up the deck's blind spots. Plus, since we're often growing huge in board presence, it's ok to let our opponents try to keep up in board presence and lure them into overextending territory.
4. All things must recur. Important effects should be on creatures that never have to tap. A tight toolbox can go a long way with a recursion plan.
5. All combo pieces must have strong synergy with the deck as a whole, not just another individual piece. Infinite combos aren't part of the toolbox. Most pieces are drawn into, but have a powerful effect with creatures we do have easy access to.
So then, let's have at it, shall we?
v. 2/17/12
1 Ulasht, the Hate Seed
Creatures 24
1 Eternal Witness
1 Farehaven Elf
1 Fertilid
1 Wood Elves
1 Anger
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Ant Queen
1 Genesis
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
1 Primeval Titan
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Vigor
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Hornet Queen
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Terastodon
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Woodfall Primus
Equipment 5
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Skullclamp
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Scythe of the Wretched
Artifacts 6
1 Sol Ring
1 Scroll Rack
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Mimic Vat
1 Cauldron of Souls
Enchantments 11
1 Earthcraft
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Fecundity
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Greater Good
1 Mana Echoes
1 Parallel Lives
1 Doubling Season
1 Perilous Forays
1 Lurking Predators
1 Sarkhan Vol
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Instants 1
1 Chord of Calling
Sorceries 14
1 Collective Voyage
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Cultivate
1 Genesis Wave
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Chain Reaction
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Natural Order
1 Reap and Sow
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Primal Command
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Warp World
1 Blasphemous Act
Lands 36
1 Buried Ruin
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
11 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gruul Turf
1 High Market
1 Homeward Path
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Kher Keep
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Mosswort Bridge
4 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Raging Ravine
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
1 Taiga
1 Treetop Village
1 Vesuva
1 Winding Canyons
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Sword of Kaldra
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Caged Sun
1 Mana Reflection
1 Regal Force
1 Vicious Shadows
1 Decree of Savagery
Card by Card Function, Synergies, Strategy & Style in future edits.
~2/13/2012
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
But, maybe some cards to consider. Not saying they are better than your cards or anything, just some things I thought of off the top of my head
Shared Animosity ; Maybe not in this deck, but i've seen a player get KO'ed just from a couple saprolings getting through with this in play.
Mycoloth ; Big beater and consistent saprolings in play each upkeep. I think I might play this over Broodmother. Then again, Broodmother does make finishers, and if you sac a bunch of guys, and then coloth gets destroyed, could be sad.
Saproling Symbiosis
Life and Limb ; Eh, could be bad for you as well as good, but it is kinda funny.
I used to run Life and Limb. It's great, but sweepers are getting tough around here.
Anyhow, I'm going to make some notes on my thoughts of the deck to remind myself when I get home:
+ Kiki Jiki, a fun effect with plenty to abuse here, makes a token
+ Quietus Spike, more removal needed, especially stuff that hits Emrakul after a warp world
+ Sylvan Library, solid card draw & Oracle/Top shenanigans
+ Avenger of Zendikar, we probably grab enough land to abuse this, especially with Kiki
+ Earthcraft, adjust land base to 16+ basics, don't need squirrel nest to abuse
+ Survival of the Fittest... It's a winner.
-Sprouting Phytohydra, just fails
-Coat of Arms, meta risks, not powerful enough, no longer works off phytohydra/ulasht
-Garruk, doesn't do enough first turn, not Warp Worldly
-Hellkite Charger, pressures, but seldom finishes...
Maybes
-Yavimaya Elder... iffy, is cutworthy
-Collective Unconscious... Expensive, also an iffy cut, Sylvan Library should be better, though
+Hoarding Dragon, artifacts are nice.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Yes, got it. I separated equipment from artifacts on the list.
I'm also thinking I'll try Contagion Engine for a spell, see how that goes.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Symbiotic Wurm
Silklash Spider
Wort, the Raidmother
Living Hive
Verdant Embrace
Mycoloth
Verdant Force
I see you have Artifact Mutation which is amazing.
yep.
I just added Mycoloth... seems like a good splashy beater for the deck. I had reservations before because of the risks with devour, but somehow I convinced myself the "may" clause isn't that risky and he's a huge bomb anyways.
I'm not sure Wort's worth it. I've considered her many times, but since I've got a very permanent-centric deck she doesn't get much out of conspire. Still, it is 6 counters on Ulasht for those 3 creatures, she's a good bluff, and the spells I could conspire could be devastating. Maybe I'll give her a try...
I've also been considering Bloodbraid Elf, since most things it could hit result in a pretty solid gain in advantage, and at worst I have a red/green creature. Hmm..
Living Hive, I just don't have too many ways to get the damage through... the tokens just aren't that necessary. I suppose I really underplay Ulasht's token side, but I think I like it that way. Same with the Verdants & the Wurm, just not entirely focused on tokens. Using the right combination of pieces, Ulasht usually fills the holes, especially when tokens become the plan. It makes piloting all the tricks really interesting.
I will keep Silklash Spider in mind as well... I might have to consider more anti-flier tech. I rely on Ulasht quite a bit as my creature hate sometimes, which can either deter or provoke attacks... right now my removal's been solid enough. I'll test a bit more before making too many changes.
Thanks for the insight.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Cloudstone Curio is in. That's the biggest thing. It's a house, and I don't know what I was thinking when I first pulled it out of my pool. It's replaced Thelonite Hermit, which was a tad unwieldy at times... the pump bonus doesn't do much and getting the tokens just takes too much work. Cloudstone will work much better at making tokens with Ulasht and provides us with TONS of shenanigans.
Hoard-Smelter has replaced Viashino Heretic for a test run.
Valakut has been added. We've got the land search to turn it into very effective removal, which is always good.
Treetop Village has been added, just because it's hard to get rid of and can count for that 1 extra counter on Ulasht. Also hilarious when pumped with Blade of the Bloodchief.
Primal Command is too useful to pass up. I don't think our Warp World plans will be too disrupted by it...
Sideboard is stuff to play with/test as well. I like to keep a lil' variety on the side, without going overboard with the card pool.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Part of me feels like Cauldron of Souls could be interesting when paired with a sac outlet. Usually you see this card in a Savra themed deck, but i think it might be interesting hear to add a little recursion. Maybe its not a good idea, i dunno. It just came to mind.
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Garruk is very synergistic with all of his abilities and not a bad inclusion. It's just a bit of work to keep him in play enough to make him worth the 4-drop (unless you've got the cradle out), and I found Sarkhan was just better at affecting the game the turn you play him. It could be good to have both, though. He might make it back in the deck, actually...
Stalking Vengeance is an awesome finisher, but I haven't really found the need for finishers like it and Goblin Bombardment where they're only really king when I've got enough board position to win by other means. It's a lot like Vicious Shadows, I know, but I prefer VS because it's capable of also being a rattlesnake effect when it's not there for the kill.
Cauldron of Souls... hm, that is interesting. I haven't tried that one yet. I like it.
I've also got it in my head that I could use a few more low-cost drops and ways to curve out the deck a bit more nicely, so I'm trying to squeeze in Psychotrope Thallid as a possible early/slow token generating device as well as a way to draw into further action. Eh, I think it'll be good.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
- whhhhhaaat?
Standard Decks:
UBRGrixis ControlRBU
It's definitely good... could be ridiculous to land on with Warp World or Genesis Wave, but it's tough to make a cut for it. Swinging for 42 when it comes out is tempting, but it's a tough call. It's been on my list of things to try for a while, but again it just feels like another finisher I don't really need.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Birds of Paradise
Priest of Titiana
Rofellos, Llanowar Emmisary
You should also play the better green ramp spells:
Nature's Lore
Skyshroud Claim
Cultivate
Kodama's Reach
You have to cut 9 cards to fit these in. I'd aim towards cutting cards that seem a bit gimmicky. You already have a good late game plan-- recur your general.
Try cutting these:
Vicious Shadows
Dragon Broodmother
Vexing Shusher
Anger
Godo, Bandit Warlord
Phyrexian Altar
War's Toll
Shyshroud Poacher
Lurking Predators
By the way, you probably want more basic lands. Valakut isn't very good when you only have 7 mountains in the deck, for example.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
Put another way, if you draw Dragon Broodmother, Lurking Predators, and Godo together, but are stuck on 4 mana, you can cast 0 of those 3 spells. If you had cut two of them for lands, you'd at least cast 1 of those 3 spells. Focus on the cards that have a huge impact for your deck. Watering down the mana base to fit in more "kind of good" cards makes it harder to cast the really good ones like Doubling Season and Decree of Savagery.
- Dragon Broodmother didn't need it.
- Vicious Shadows Really only another finisher... a good one, but not necessary. Running it sideboard now.
- Vexing Shusher Not really doing enough...
- Anger Unnecessary, and graveyard hate is growing in my meta, so he's become rather underwhelming.
- Phyrexian Altar Requires a bit of effort to net worthwhile gains off of it. I swapped in Perilous Forays for it.
- Lurking Predators Didn't seem to have enough of an effect on the game.
+ Birds of Paradise Fixing! Yay!
+ Priest of Titania Go elf package!
+ Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary Ditto above!
+ Ondu Giant A trial run...
+ Perilous Forays A great substitute for Phyrexian Altar, IMO.
+1 Forest To take a more deciduous approach.
- Vesuva wasn't working out
- Mikokoro, Center of the Sea It's nice, but unnecessary
- Evolving Wilds unnecessary
- Terramorphic Expanse unnecessary
- Mossfire Valley eh... hm.
- High Market Pretty blah here.
- Treetop Village I might actually put this back in, but...
- Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Doesn't work.
+4 Forest run Forest, run!
+4 Mountain These have been pretty solid for me.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Hmm, yes. I agree, and I'm still sideboarding it. I like it, but I'm not running enough creatures that hit hard enough to give it that extra vavoom, and it's just a little too expensive for a scry that reveals what's on top. However, I'm still debating between taking out Kiki-Jiki or War's Toll for it, and I'm basically using my sideboard for further testing.
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
I'd keep Kiki-Jiki. You can always go back and add more creatures to kiki with, I'd be happy to kiki an eternal witness or something similar every turn. Kiki is versatile, unless your warp world shenanigans are making it less useful.
EDH:
UBGMimeoplasm (Reanimator Control)
WGBURProgenitus (Dream Halls//Good Stuff)
RNorin, the Wary (Metaddited Gaka List)
Thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Naw, Kiki's just as great as you presume with all my etb effects... I'm just bitter about "nonlegendary" and that my other recursion tricks don't say that War's Toll is great in my meta and just a bit of a personal favorite
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
I see several similar cards in our builds. One I'm eyeballing is Mana Echoes. Combined with Pentavus it creates an arbitrarily large amount of colorless mana. Slap on Blade of the Bloodchief and you've got a beater asking to be removed before he creates a trampling tidal wave. By chance you could have out your Vicious Shadows or a Goblin Bombardment to help secure a win.
I haven't tried much R/G yet, but maybe Radha, Heir to Keld and Quirion Elves for both R/G mana something hasty for creatues like In the Web of War or Fires of Yavimaya for fast beats.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm
The sideboard I've altered for tuning to faster metas. Basically: ramp, haste, and consistency. Depending on the meta I'll know what to take out. Ant Queen is now my main choice for token-gen board-ins because of its synergy with Mana Reflection and Earthcraft, amongst many other things. It's a pretty broken token generator in EDH. I haven't given too much thought into making permanent substitutions from the sideboard as I haven't had much time to play towards the end of last year, but hopefully that'll change through January.
Cheers!
Glissa, the Traitor, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, The Mimeoplasm