Are you sure? If you cast Reward first and Sunrise last, Sunrise resolves first and returns the Crypt to your opponent's side.
Sunrise first, Reward second:
Sunrise (last to resolve)
Crypt
Reward (first to resolve)
Reward resolves - eggs return, Crypt does not
Crypt resolves - exiles Reward
*Crack everything again*
Sunrise resolves - eggs + Crypt return
Net result: 2 cycles
Reward first, Sunrise second:
Reward (last to resolve)
Crypt
Sunrise (first to resolve)
Sunrise resolves - eggs + Crypt return
1) Do nothing - Reward has no effect
2) Crack eggs - opponent Crypts on the stack:
Reward
Crypt
Cracked eggs
Crypt
Net result: 1 cycle OR you lose all your eggs.
Manalith is worse than Prophetic Prism/Sphere of the Suns.
You have no good targets for Sutured Ghoul. That said, Grave Titan is better than it anyway.
I foresee that this deck will either lose because you don't get enough draw to feed Infestation, or you pitch too many cards to Infestation and can't refill your hand.
I play a mono-W version with only 2 Glint Hawk Idol, since T2 Idol into T3 Tempered Steel is very slow for an aggro deck.
Also known as: RG Makeshift, RG Valakut
Contents
1) What is RG Breach?
2) Card Choices
3) Technical Play
4) Decklists
5) Matchups
6) Articles
1) What is RG Breach?
The deck has several ways to win, with varying speeds, but most of them involve Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. The quickest win is using Through the Breach to put Primeval Titan into play, searching two Valakuts on ETB and two Mountains on the attack for 18 damage (including Titan’s attack). Without Breach, you can hardcast Titan for one more mana and search up two Mountains every turn on the attack. Last of all, if all your creatures have been dealt with, you can still win by slowly playing Mountains or ramp spells to trigger Valakut.
2) Good lategame with Valakut. Lands and ramp spells turn into 3-9 damage with Valakut on the battlefield. This deck can go over the top of any fair deck, and it’s hard to lose if you resolve a Titan against them (even if the Titan gets killed immediately).
3) An instant speed wincon. Breach is an instant, so it can be used to overload your opponent’s counters. More on this in the Technical Play section.
2) Limited ways to control your draws. Other than maybe a few copies of Oath of Nissa, you are at the mercy of your topdecks. However, as mentioned earlier, even topdecking a land is fine if you have Valakut.
3) Unfavorable aggro matchups. You spend the first few turns playing ramp spells, which leaves you open to a quick rush from your opponent. By the time you get to cast Titan, your life total may be low enough that your opponent can just ignore it and burn you out instead. This deck’s aggro matchups are not as unfavorable as RG Tron’s though, since you can play Lightning Bolt easily.
2) Card Choices
a) Lands
4 Wooded Foothills + 3 other red fetches
4 Stomping Ground
2 Cinder Glade
6 Mountain
2 Forest
1 Blood Crypt or Sacred Foundry if splashing a third color
Valakut is one of your wincons. Auto-include 3-4. It forces you to play a lot of Mountains, so non-Mountain duals (e.g. Copperline Gorge, Grove of the Burnwillows) and utility lands (e.g. Kessig Wolf Run, Tectonic Edge) are out.
Wooded Foothills gets both Mountains and Forests. Play 4. Round them out with some more fetches that can get Mountains.
Stomping Ground is a green source that counts as a Mountain. Play 4.
Cinder Glade is also a Mountain Forest, but Stomping Ground is preferable earlier on. Play 2.
At least 2 Forests are necessary to cast green spells under Blood Moon. You don’t want too many; it doesn’t count towards Valakut. Play 2-3.
If you’re playing a Rx shockland to splash for a third color, cut the 4th Valakut for it.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2-4 Farseek
0-2 Solemn Simulacrum
Search for Tomorrow is a ramp spell that you can play on turn 1. Its CMC is 3, so Chalice of the Void at 1 doesn’t interfere with it. Play 4.
Sakura-Tribe Elder can eat one attack and sacrifice itself to get a land. Play 4.
Farseek can search for Stomping Ground, but it’s the weakest ramp spell in the deck. Start with 4, and cut those if you need more space during deck construction or sideboarding.
Solemn Simulacrum ramps you up from 4 to 6 (assuming you hit your next land drop), but at 4 mana Obstinate Baloth is just better. Not recommended.
0-3 Anger of the Gods
Playing removal buys you turns against opposing creatures, so that you can draw cards and make land drops. Lightning Bolt is the cheapest, most efficient removal option, and can be aimed at your opponent if their life total is low enough.
Anger of the Gods wipes the field and exiles the creatures for good measure. It’s great against Abzan Company, since their Voice of Resurgence and Persist creatures won’t come back. On the other hand, all your creatures survive Anger (Sakura-Tribe Elder can be sacced beforehand).
0-2 Obstinate Baloth
0-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
0-2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Mid-sized creatures are there to bridge the gap between cheap ramp spells and expensive Titans.
Courser of Kruphix costs 3 mana and gains life in smaller increments. It also gives you some form of card draw. Revealing the top card of your library is a double-edged sword; your opponent can use the information as well as you can.
Obstinate Baloth gains life, blocks and attacks well, and gets played for free if discarded to Liliana. Sadly its 4/4 body loses to 4/5s like Tarmogoyf and Tasigur, the Golden Fang, but it’s still worth playing in BGx matchups.
Huntmaster of the Fells is easier to cast than Baloth, but is inferior in almost all other aspects.
Pia and Kiran Nalaar can be casted without green mana, and gives you two flying blockers. It doesn’t play well with Anger of the Gods though.
Oath of Nissa finds the two extremes in your mana curve: lands and Titans. It’s not too reliable at finding ramp (only Sakura-Tribe Elder fits the bill). The more midrange creatures you play, the less likely you’ll whiff on Oath, so you might want to cut a few removal spells for creatures instead.
For most intents and purposes, Oath can be treated as a sorcery. Being an enchantment only matters if fringe cases like your opponent playing Tarmogoyf and you casting a second Oath. The second ability only matters if you play Nahiri in your deck, especially when your opponent has Blood Moon - you can use all red mana to cast Nahiri, then exile the Moon with her -2.
4 Through the Breach
2-3 Summoner’s Pact
0-3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
0-4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
0-2 Summoning Trap
0-2 Scapeshift
Titan is the main payoff spell in the deck. Not much to say here, just get Valakuts followed by Mountains and shoot down everything in your way.
Breach enables fast 18 damage Titans. The earliest you can Breach is turn 3 (T1 Search for Tomorrow, T2 Farseek/Sakura-Tribe Elder). It’s also an instant, so you can cast it during your opponent’s end step to overload his counter mana.
Pact acts as extra copies of Titan. Having to pay mana at the next upkeep is a downside, but Titan is so overpowered, and puts lands into play anyway, so it’s worth it. Pact also lets you find SBed green creatures, or an Obstinate Baloth in response to a Liliana of the Veil -1 (it’s ”free” in terms of the number of cards you have in your hand and board, but you still have to pay mana for the Pact). If your opponent plays a late-game Inquisition of Kozilek, you can cast Pact in response to get a Titan.
If you're Breaching into a Pacted Titan, cast Pact to find Titan before casting Breach. If you cast Breach first and your opponent allows it to resolve, you can't Pact then. You can also hold priority, cast Breach, then Pact on top if that's your thing.
Nahiri can tick up twice and put a Titan into play, or, failing that, simply snipe your opponent’s permanents (especially Blood Moon). She’s best when your opponent can’t damage her, but that can be tricky when you’re playing 10+ ramp spells that don’t help in protecting Nahiri, other than Sakura-Tribe Elder which can chump block once.
Emrakul is an alternative to Titan that you can cheat in with Breach/Nahiri/Trap. Pact is generally better, since you can hardcast a Pacted Titan, while you’ll probably never get to hardcast Emrakul.
Summoning Trap was a staple in the older versions of the deck. If you play it, you’ll want more copies of Emrakul instead of Pacts, since revealing a Pact with Trap does nothing. It can be cast for its alternate cost if your opponent Spell Snares your Sakura-Tribe Elder, or counters (including Remand) your Titan/midrange creature, but it’s fine even if you have to hardcast it, since it costs the same as Titan anyway, to say nothing of Emrakul. You can cast multiple Traps in one turn, even if they only countered one creature.
Scapeshift is a pretty mediocre option for this deck. It needs 7 lands in play for one-shot 18 damage hit. In comparison, Breaching in a Titan requires just 5 lands, and hardcasting Titan costs 6. It’s better in all-in variants that use Khalni Heart Expedition.
Creature Removal
Land Hate
Crumble to Dust
Blue/Counterspell Hate
Discard Hate
Combo Hate
Summoner’s Pact bullets
3) Technical Play
All about Valakut
Stomping Ground counts as a Mountain for Valakut.
Valakut needs 6 mountains in play before it does anything.
Land destruction on Valakut does not stop the damage.
With Primeval Titan, the 2 lands enter the battlefield simultaneously, so if you search for 2 Mountains (with Valakut and at least 4 other Mountains on the battlefield before that), both Mountains will trigger Valakut.
Be careful of land destruction on a Mountain when going for Valakut. Let’s say you have 4 Mountains and a Valakut, and cast Primeval Titan. You search for 2 Stomping Grounds, say A and B, and your opponent destroys A before the Valakut triggers resolve. A will trigger Valakut unhindered, but when the Valakut trigger for B attempts to resolve, B only “sees” 4 other Mountains on the battlefield, so the trigger fizzles. Normally, you can see land destruction coming; the only playable instant-speed land hate is Beast Within.
The same disruption trick doesn’t work with Ghost Quarter, because you will always have a Mountain to search for. In fact the Mountain will trigger your Valakut(s) one additional time!
The best possible set of lands you can have is 2 Stomping Grounds and everything else a Mountain or Valakut. However, this isn’t always possible, since you might not want to crack for an untapped Stomping Ground, or because you played Search for Tomorrow/Sakura-Tribe Elder and can only get basics. 1 Stomping Ground and 1 basic Forest is an acceptable alternative.
2 basic Forests is the only way you can cast your green threats under a Blood Moon, but outside of this situation you should avoid it. 2 basic Forests + 1 other land can’t cast Anger of the Gods, and 2 basic Forests + 3 other lands means that a Breached-in Titan only deals 12 damage max, instead of the usual 18. 2 basic Forest + 2 Valakut + 1 Mountain means a Breached Titan only deals 6 damage (from its attack)!
This deck differs from most other decks in that you only need 2 green sources to cast all your spells, and Cinder Glade is a painless dual land once you have 2 basics. If you already have 2 Stomping Grounds for example, you can keep your fetch(es) uncracked. Upon drawing a threat, just crack the fetches for basic Mountains to cast it. Similarly, if you have one basic Forest and Mountain, you can crack for Cinder Glade once you draw a double-green spell. Other decks have stricter casting costs, so they have to weigh the benefits of cracking for a tapped shockland if the opponent passes (reducing their chance of drawing a land) versus leaving the fetch uncracked (and having to pay 2 life if they end up topdecking a land).
The exception to this rule are:
1) Valakut is already on the field AND you have enough other Mountains to trigger it AND you want to trigger it immediately.
2) You have two Mountains in hand. Go ahead and play one; you can’t play them both in one turn anyway.
3) You think that the deck-thinning effect from cracking a fetch outweighs the extra damage. This is dependent on the board state and your evaluation of it.
4) You only have one green source and can’t afford to fetch an untapped Stomping Ground if you topdeck a threat.
Here is an example to illustrate the benefits of sandbagging lands:
Your field is 2 Stomping Grounds, 4 Mountains and 1 fetchland. Your hand is empty. Your opponent passes the turn. Do you crack the fetch for a Stomping Ground or not?
If you crack and end up drawing a Titan, you can get 2 Valakuts for 0 damage, or 1 Valakut and 1 Mountain or 3 damage.
If you don’t crack and end up drawing a Titan, you can get 2 Valakuts, then crack the fetch for 6 damage. Much better than the previous route.
1) Pass your turn with enough mana to cast Breach.
2) On your opponent’s end step, cast Breach. Now your opponent can either counter it, or let it resolve.
3a) If your opponent lets it resolve: put Titan into play and attack on your turn.
3b) If your opponent counters it: On your turn, untap and play Titan.
Note that this sequence only works if your opponent only has one counterspell, or only enough mana to cast one counterspell.
Any threatening instant will also work in place of Breach, such as Summoning Trap or Boil.
Under most circumstances, when Titan ETBs, you will want to search enough Stomping Grounds to bring your Mountain count up to 4, then get Valakuts if you still have searches available. On the attack, get 2 Mountains and both of them will trigger Valakut.
If you think that Titan will not survive, search enough Stomping Grounds to bring your Mountain count up to 5, then get Valakuts with the remaining searches. This way, if you topdeck a land/ramp spell, or if Titan eats a Path, you can immediately start shooting things.
If you are in danger of dying, then you should try to get as many Valakut triggers immediately to destroy opposing creatures, instead of saving up for later turns. For instance, if you have 1 Valakut and 4 Mountains, instead of getting 2 Valakuts or 1 Valakut + 1 Mountain, get 2 Mountains and destroy as many threats as possible.
If you Pacted for Titan and already have two green sources, it’s a good idea to get a third if you anticipate LD from your opponent.
One example is if you're on the play and your opponent taps out for a turn 2 Young Pyromancer. Kill it with Anger on your turn. It seems wasteful to do so, but if you save Anger for later, he may have Remand in response, which gives him another token. By not killing it immediately, you will also take 2 damage from the attack.
Is there a difference between using a 3-mana spell to kill YP before it can create an army of tokens, versus saving the 3-mana spell to kill YP and a bunch of tokens? Yes, in fact there is – you end up taking more damage in the latter scenario, because the YP and its tokens get a few turns to attack. So don’t hesitate to use Anger of the Gods to kill just one creature.
It is best to conquer dragons before they hatch.
—Femeref adage
4) Decklists
4 Misty Rainforest
9 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Farseek
1 Scapeshift
4 Summoning Trap
4 Through the Breach
4 Primeval Titan
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Boil
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Combust
1 Krosan Grip
2 Nature's Claim
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sowing Salt
2 Spellbreaker Behemoth
1 Spellskite
1 Blood Crypt
2 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Farseek
3 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Chalice of the Void
4 Summoning Trap
4 Primeval Titan
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Chalice of the Void
3 Combust
2 Deglamer
3 Fracturing Gust
4 Slaughter Games
1 Unravel the Aether
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Arid Mesa
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Forest
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Farseek
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Anger of the Gods
4 Through the Breach
3 Summoning Trap
4 Primeval Titan
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Boil
2 Combust
2 Sowing Salt
1 Back to Nature
1 Unravel the Æther
1 Shatterstorm
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Defense Grid
2 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Farseek
2 Courser of Kruphix
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Obstinate Baloth
4 Through the Breach
2 Summoning Trap
2 Scapeshift
4 Primeval Titan
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Combust
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Sowing Salt
1 Shatterstorm
1 Krosan Grip
2 Slaughter Games
3 Boil
4 Wooded Foothills
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
2 Cinder Glade
1 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Forest
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Farseek
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Obstinate Baloth
4 Through the Breach
4 Primeval Titan
3 Summoner's Pact
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Nature's Claim
1 Shatterstorm
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sudden Shock
1 Slaughter Games
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Choke
2 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Farseek
3 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Courser of Kruphix
2 Obstinate Baloth
4 Through the Breach
1 Scapeshift
4 Primeval Titan
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Scapeshift
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Reclamation Sage
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Cinder Glade
4 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
6 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Farseek
3 Oath of Nissa
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Obstinate Baloth
4 Through the Breach
4 Primeval Titan
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Fog
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Shatterstorm
2 Spellskite
2 Cinder Glade
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
6 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Farseek
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Through the Breach
4 Primeval Titan
3 Summoner's Pact
1 Scapeshift
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Sudden Shock
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Obstinate Baloth
5) Matchups
Sideboarding
The following sideboard guide was prepared by Ricardo van den Bogaard (Rbd340 on MTGS). His decklist can be found in the above section.
More recently Marijn Lybaert has managed to get hold of Rob Pisano, GP Indianapolis finalist, to share his SBing strategies here.
6) Articles
Ari Lax (Video): http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29768_Video-Valakut-Breach-In-Modern.html
Ari Lax, again (Video): http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33584_Video-RG-Through-The-Breach-In-Modern.html
Gerry Thompson (Video): http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33606_Video-RG-Through-The-Breach-In-Modern.html
20 Mountain
3 Teetering Peaks
One-drops
4 Quest for Pure Flame
4 Goblin Arsonist
3 Goblin Fireslinger
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Ember Hauler
Three-drops
4 Volt Charge
4 Tezzeret's Gambit
2 Chimeric Mass
You win by getting Quest to 4 and firing off a Shrine, or beating with double damage dudes.
Now for individual card comments:
Teetering Peaks: Very versatile; it acts as a spell when you first play it and provides mana afterward. Easy to hit for 2 more damage with Berserker.
Quest for Pure Flame: The cornerstone of the deck. Easy to get to 4 with pingers and proliferate. Wins games with its double-damage ability.
Goblin Arsonist: An efficient creature. It'll activate Quest or Bloodthirst no matter what.
Goblin Fireslinger: It may seem strange to include this over Guide, but 1) Fireslinger activates Quest more reliably than Guide (note that causing your opponent to draw lands makes it easier for them to drop creatures to block Guide with), 2) Fireslinger's lack of a disadvantage makes it better than Guide in games where you need time to build up a Shrine/Mass, and 3) it's a lot easier to acqiure.
Lightning Bolt: Auto-include.
Shrine of Burning Rage: Grows very fast since most spells in the deck charge it (even Tezzeret's Gambit). Another game-winner, especially when paired with Quest.
Stormblood Berserker: Like Quest, it benefits from both damage dealt and proliferate. A 2-mana 3/3 with evasion is hard to say no to.
Ember Hauler: Fills out the 2-drop slot. Potentially hits for 4 damage in 1 turn, 8 if Quest goes off.
Volt Charge: Puts 2 counters on Shrine and Quest, and 1 on Berserker.
Tezzeret's Gambit: Card draw for red. Boosts Quest, Shrine, Berserker.
Chimeric Mass: The other finisher, if you don't have Shrine. Stays on the board dodging creature removal and picking up proliferate.
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