I picked Black and won the event. I was actually shocked a bit, as I didn't get anywhere near the level of removal I wanted.
Rares: Doomwake Giant - insane all day. He must have killed 15-20 creatures by himself across my games Master of the Feast - only came up once, but was brutal in that match Athreos, God of Passage - was relevant once or twice, but always draws a lot of attention away from the other stuff Thoughtseize - pretty good all but one time I played it Scourge of Skola Vale - pretty solid, but not exciting
I went BG splashing white for Athreos.
I did have a nice little ramp package which made the multi-enchantment turns easier. Voyaging Satyr + Market Festival was fairly absurd.
Kind of cliche, but the best defense is a good offense. I would try splitting your deck between 2 basic types of cards.
Cards that beat face (midrange stuff tends to be more impactful)
Cards that keep your stuff alive/in play
Every other player is already chock full of answers, so all you should do is focus on your own plan. Nothing is sweeter than casting Ghostway in response to a smug Hallowed Burial.
I have been playing Omnath for quite a while and it is certainly brutal and effective.
Some cards that really shine for me not mentioned above: Budoka Gardener - this has been amazing, nice early ramp and then huge tokens Bellowing Tanglewurm - won more than a few with this Seer's Sundial - not flashy, but good solid repeatable draw Abundance - much better chance of getting what you need Polukranos, World Eater - great removal Vorrac Battlehorns - when you just have to get it done with Omnath Tiger Claws - basically reads, 'kill target player' on the card
btw, my best Genesis Wave story was one cast for 18.
I got Eternal Witness to get my wave back, and enough land and mana doublers to cast it for 22 right after that.
I love Patron in my mono-blue, and that's just as one of the 99. I'd be instantly on the defensive if I saw a deck with it as the General.
Thoughts:
Land Equilibrium - not sure how much synergy this has with the rest of your deck, but it seems brutal after a Sunder Recurring Insight - this has easily been my most efficient draw spell, netting me 10-12 cards for 6 mana Leyline of Anticipation - flash is good Jushi Apprentice - shouldn't be hard to trigger in this, and then you have mass draw on a stick Descendant of Soramaro - almost an auto-include for me in any blue deck, particularly one as draw heavy as this Proteus Staff - even closer to a blue auto-include, even without a ton of token generation - the general rattle-snakiness alone is super relevant, and upgrading an early creature is always good
I had one of these decks for awhile and determined it was too passive for me. I wanted to give you some feedback based on my deck list in hopes that it might help you.
Some cards from your list that look redundant or less than effective:
Vigilance creatures - I do have some underwhelming vigilance creatures in there, but that is a big theme of the deck. Serra Angel and Opal Archangel usually end up doing massive amounts of damage. And the Razor Golem is free and blocks a lot of evasive creatures.
Sunblast is there because I really only want asymmetrical wrath effects.
The Absolutes are amazing as long as someone is playing their colors. And they tend to cause maximum confusion.
Some cards that I feel might be beneficial to the overall strategy enabled by Rune-Tail:
The rest:
Lifegain cards - not really a big focus Crovax, Ascendant Hero - this would be really good, but I would certainly need to find a non-vigilance cut at similar mana cost
Other creatures - Wall of Glare would be good, but I like to focus on the redirects to help with unblockable/evasive armies. Veteran Bodyguard is one I need to get badly Land Tax - only have the one copy, and it is spoken for Austere Command - too symmetrical, and with my spread of cards it seems tough to find a good time to use it without impacting my stuff Second Sunrise - again, too symmetrical - if I need another way besides Faith's Reward + Ghostway I'd probably go with Rootborn Defenses Lightmine Field - yes, this needs to go in immediately if not sooner
This is probably one of my favorite EDH creations. It has a great success rate, and is a blast to play. Not to mention at least once per game, someone tries to do something because they forgot (or didn't know) what Rune-Tail does.
This deck is modified from one of the first EDH decks I ever made. I had to add some more recent cards, and cut a bunch of cards to get in under the $50 limit. As I'm adding this, it totals out to $49.35 so hopefully it stays put.
I'm generally a slave to deck themes, so often I'll exclude goodstuff cards in favor of those that are more on-theme.
That said, Sun Titan has actually made it it into 4 of the 6 white decks we have in our household.
But there are reasons for each:
1. Vigilance theme - duh
2. Reanimation theme - also duh
3. Boros aggro - he almost didn't make this deck, but there are 27 targets for recursion which seems good
4. Kemba voltron - lots of equipment to get if need be
The two he didn't make it into were Rith tokens (just not a lot of reasons) and slivers tribal.
The point of EDH is to have fun, and in that sense that you ruined the other players' fun, which is wrong. That said, if what you did ruined their fun, there was no way they were going to have fun unless they were allowed to do anything they wanted. In essence, you were placed in a position where there was no 'right' way to play except to meekly lose.
That said, this is a very small snapshot of a game so we can't really evaluate it that well. The game gap between 'Ruination turn 4' and 'Firecat Blitz for 50' seems very large. It would be interesting to know what was happening in the meantime to get a full picture.
I personally don't run MLD in any of my 16 decks, unless you count Land Equilibrium, which I don't. This is based on my personal feelings rather than right vs. wrong. Nothing is worse for me in any format of magic than being mana-screwed, so inflicting that on a player in a non-competitive setting would be abhorrent to me.
Options like Blood Moon or Hall of Gemstone can slow people down enough without full-on screwing them in my opinion.
Turn One
Me: Mountain
Player A: Land, Sol Ring
Player B: Land, Sol Ring, Mana Vault
Player C: Seat of the Synod, Memnite, Expedition Map
Turn Two
Me: Mountain, Meltdown for 1
Those guys were not amused.
Rares:
Doomwake Giant - insane all day. He must have killed 15-20 creatures by himself across my games
Master of the Feast - only came up once, but was brutal in that match
Athreos, God of Passage - was relevant once or twice, but always draws a lot of attention away from the other stuff
Thoughtseize - pretty good all but one time I played it
Scourge of Skola Vale - pretty solid, but not exciting
I went BG splashing white for Athreos.
I did have a nice little ramp package which made the multi-enchantment turns easier. Voyaging Satyr + Market Festival was fairly absurd.
Also Humbler of Mortals played like a rare...
Also, Descendant of Soramaro and Aven Mindcensor.
I have played it a few times, and it is a lot of fun.
I just changed out about 10 cards to get things a bit smoother.
Thoughts?
General: Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Creature (33)
1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
1x Marrow-Gnawer
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Nezumi Graverobber
1x Ogre Slumlord
1x Pack Rat
1x Ratcatcher
25x Relentless Rats
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
Sorcery (9)
1x Calming Verse
1x Cultivate
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Doubling Chant
1x Harmonize
1x Jarad's Orders
1x Living Death
1x Patriarch's Bidding
1x Syphon Mind
Instant (3)
1x Abrupt Decay
1x Beast Within
1x Putrefy
Enchantment (12)
1x Abundance
1x Asceticism
1x Attrition
1x Bloodbond March
1x Deadbridge Chant
1x Descendants' Path
1x Druids' Repository
1x Grave Pact
1x Greater Good
1x Intimidation
1x Night Dealings
1x Phyrexian Arena
Artifact (8)
1x Citanul Flute
1x Door of Destinies
1x Expedition Map
1x Golgari Signet
1x Mimic Vat
1x Sol Ring
1x Soul Foundry
1x Thrumming Stone
Planeswalker (1)
1x Liliana Vess
Land (34)
1x Barren Moor
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Crypt of Agadeem
1x Evolving Wilds
7x Forest
1x Golgari Rot Farm
1x Grim Backwoods
1x Mosswort Bridge
1x Polluted Mire
1x Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
13x Swamp
1x Tainted Wood
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Woodland Cemetery
Cards:
Terrain Generator
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Kor Haven
Angel of Jubilation
Archon of Justice
Heliod, God of the Sun
Intrepid Hero
Magus of the Moat
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
Caged Sun
Leonin Sun Standard
Pearl Medallion
Blind Obedience
Crackdown
Concerted Effort
Endless Horizons
Light From Within
Reconnaissance
Mass Calcify
Every other player is already chock full of answers, so all you should do is focus on your own plan. Nothing is sweeter than casting Ghostway in response to a smug Hallowed Burial.
Some cards that really shine for me not mentioned above:
Budoka Gardener - this has been amazing, nice early ramp and then huge tokens
Bellowing Tanglewurm - won more than a few with this
Seer's Sundial - not flashy, but good solid repeatable draw
Abundance - much better chance of getting what you need
Polukranos, World Eater - great removal
Vorrac Battlehorns - when you just have to get it done with Omnath
Tiger Claws - basically reads, 'kill target player' on the card
btw, my best Genesis Wave story was one cast for 18.
I got Eternal Witness to get my wave back, and enough land and mana doublers to cast it for 22 right after that.
I have also had very good results w/ Soulbright Flamekin. It gives you incidental value, and rituals you an extra two mana.
Thoughts:
Bloodchief Ascension - gets nasty
Mindcrank - infinite mill w/above and the Guildmage
Proteus Staff - slows opponents, upgrades your creatures, etc, etc
Torpor Orb - you have very few ETB effects, so this should be a big net gain
Trepanation Blade - huge attackers and incidental mill
Guiltfeeder - insane in this
Jhessian Zombies - utility, and can get your shock
Siren of the Silent Song - nice value, but adds up fast
Szadek, Lord of Secrets - big swingy mill
Induce Paranoia - hard counter and incidental mill
Rise of the Dark Realms - win condition!
Thoughts:
Land Equilibrium - not sure how much synergy this has with the rest of your deck, but it seems brutal after a Sunder
Recurring Insight - this has easily been my most efficient draw spell, netting me 10-12 cards for 6 mana
Leyline of Anticipation - flash is good
Jushi Apprentice - shouldn't be hard to trigger in this, and then you have mass draw on a stick
Descendant of Soramaro - almost an auto-include for me in any blue deck, particularly one as draw heavy as this
Proteus Staff - even closer to a blue auto-include, even without a ton of token generation - the general rattle-snakiness alone is super relevant, and upgrading an early creature is always good
Vigilance creatures - I do have some underwhelming vigilance creatures in there, but that is a big theme of the deck. Serra Angel and Opal Archangel usually end up doing massive amounts of damage. And the Razor Golem is free and blocks a lot of evasive creatures.
Sunblast is there because I really only want asymmetrical wrath effects.
The Absolutes are amazing as long as someone is playing their colors. And they tend to cause maximum confusion.
The rest:
Lifegain cards - not really a big focus
Crovax, Ascendant Hero - this would be really good, but I would certainly need to find a non-vigilance cut at similar mana cost
Other creatures - Wall of Glare would be good, but I like to focus on the redirects to help with unblockable/evasive armies. Veteran Bodyguard is one I need to get badly
Land Tax - only have the one copy, and it is spoken for
Austere Command - too symmetrical, and with my spread of cards it seems tough to find a good time to use it without impacting my stuff
Second Sunrise - again, too symmetrical - if I need another way besides Faith's Reward + Ghostway I'd probably go with Rootborn Defenses
Lightmine Field - yes, this needs to go in immediately if not sooner
Thanks for the comments!
1x Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
Creatures
1x Adarkar Valkyrie
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Angel of Jubilation
1x Angelic Field Marshal
1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1x Avacyn, Guardian Angel
1x Captain of the Watch
1x Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Eternal Dragon
1x Geist-Honored Monk
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Hallowed Spiritkeeper
1x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Intrepid Hero
1x Luminate Primordial
1x Mystic Penitent
1x Odric, Master Tactician
1x Palisade Giant
1x Pentarch Paladin
1x Radiant, Archangel
1x Serra Angel
1x Soltari Visionary
1x Soul of Theros
1x Soul Sculptor
1x Stonehewer Giant
1x Sun Titan
1x Sunblast Angel
1x Twilight Shepherd
1x Veteran Bodyguard
1x Weathered Bodyguards
1x Weathered Wayfarer
1x Mass Calcify
1x Survival Cache
1x Wave of Reckoning
Instants
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Faith's Reward
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Rootborn Defenses
1x Swords to Plowshares
Enchantments
1x Absolute Grace
1x Absolute Law
1x Blind Obedience
1x Crackdown
1x Endless Horizons
1x Karmic Justice
1x Land Tax
1x Marshal's Anthem
1x Mobilization
1x Opal Archangel
Artifacts
1x Angel's Trumpet
1x Argentum Armor
1x Batterskull
1x Caged Sun
1x Expedition Map
1x Extraplanar Lens
1x Leonin Sun Standard
1x Mind's Eye
1x Pariah's Shield
1x Pearl Medallion
1x Seer's Sundial
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Staff of Nin
1x Sword of the Animist
1x Temple Bell
1x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1x Kjeldoran Outpost
1x Kor Haven
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
23x Plains
1x Secluded Steppe
1x Serra's Sanctum
1x Temple of the False God
1x Terrain Generator
1x Thawing Glaciers
1x Tower of the Magistrate
Above is the real life version of this deck. I mostly play online, and some cards are different due to price/availability.
+ Eiganjo Castle
+ Mystifying Maze
+ Windbrisk Heights
+ Winding Canyons
- Kor Haven
- Serra's Sanctum
- Tower of the Magistrate
- Enlightened Tutor
- Path To Exile
+ Ghostway
- Land Tax
+ Crescendo Of War
+ Fight or Flight
- Seer's Sundial
- Batterskull
+ Howling Mine
+ Spear of Heliod
+ Devout Witness
+ Mesa Enchantress
+ Knight of Obligation
+ Hundred-Handed One
+ Herald of the Host
+ Sentinel of the Eternal Watch
- Angelic Field Marshal
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope
- Avacyn, Guardian Angel
- Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- Eternal Dragon
- Hallowed Spiritkeeper
- Serra Angel
- Soul of Theros
Wallgasm 2.0
General
1x Doran, the Siege Tower
Other Creatures (29)
1x Axebane Guardian
1x Basilica Guards
1x Carven Caryatid
1x Colossus of Akros
1x Crenellated Wall
1x Foriysian Interceptor
1x Gatecreeper Vine
1x Hedron-Field Purists
1x Indomitable Ancients
1x Jaddi Lifestrider
1x Overgrown Battlement
1x Perimeter Captain
1x Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
1x Sapling of Colfenor
1x Silklash Spider
1x Souls of the Faultless
1x Stalwart Shield-Bearers
1x Tree of Redemption
1x Trestle Troll
1x Vhati il-Dal
1x Wakestone Gargoyle
1x Wall of Blossoms
1x Wall of Glare
1x Wall of Mulch
1x Wall of Nets
1x Wall of Omens
1x Wall of Shields
1x Wall of Swords
1x Wall of Tanglecord
Sorcery (6)
1x Calming Verse
1x Cultivate
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Plague Wind
1x Survival Cache
1x Wave of Reckoning
Instant (5)
1x Faith's Reward
1x Golgari Charm
1x Solidarity
1x Tower Defense
1x Wing Shards
Enchantment (15)
1x Abundance
1x Aura Shards
1x Conclave's Blessing
1x Dueling Grounds
1x Eland Umbra
1x Fortified Area
1x Hero's Resolve
1x Hibernation's End
1x Opal Acrolith
1x Primal Rage
1x Reconnaissance
1x Rolling Stones
1x Spidersilk Armor
1x Unquestioned Authority
1x Wild Pair
Artifact (9)
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Ensouled Scimitar
1x Golgari Signet
1x Jayemdae Tome
1x Journeyer's Kite
1x Orzhov Signet
1x Selesnya Signet
1x Slagwurm Armor
Land (35)
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Forbidding Watchtower
6x Forest
1x Golgari Guildgate
1x Golgari Rot Farm
1x Krosan Verge
1x Mirrodin's Core
1x Orzhov Basilica
1x Orzhov Guildgate
10x Plains
1x Selesnya Guildgate
1x Selesnya Sanctuary
1x Shimmering Grotto
4x Swamp
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vivid Grove
1x Vivid Marsh
1x Vivid Meadow
That said, Sun Titan has actually made it it into 4 of the 6 white decks we have in our household.
But there are reasons for each:
1. Vigilance theme - duh
2. Reanimation theme - also duh
3. Boros aggro - he almost didn't make this deck, but there are 27 targets for recursion which seems good
4. Kemba voltron - lots of equipment to get if need be
The two he didn't make it into were Rith tokens (just not a lot of reasons) and slivers tribal.
That said, this is a very small snapshot of a game so we can't really evaluate it that well. The game gap between 'Ruination turn 4' and 'Firecat Blitz for 50' seems very large. It would be interesting to know what was happening in the meantime to get a full picture.
I personally don't run MLD in any of my 16 decks, unless you count Land Equilibrium, which I don't. This is based on my personal feelings rather than right vs. wrong. Nothing is worse for me in any format of magic than being mana-screwed, so inflicting that on a player in a non-competitive setting would be abhorrent to me.
Options like Blood Moon or Hall of Gemstone can slow people down enough without full-on screwing them in my opinion.