Tournament report while using this list from 02/06/12
Match 1[/U][/I][/B]: B/R Vampires
[B]Game 1[/B]: Slag the vampires, easy win. He beat me down to 2 life, while I stuck a VERY early turn 3 Burning Vengeance, but with 2 Clifftop retreats I was able to follow it up with a Day of Judge. All his vamps enter as X/1's so I was able to just use BV triggers to kill his Aristocrat / Blademaster / Noble before any of them could actually connect. Most of the triggers went to contriving the board but was able to send a few to his face and burn him down enough for Devil's Play to finish him off. The only scary part of tis match was when he got his Bloodhall active. I don't have any land hate so it became a mini race, BV easily won out, but he did burn me down to 3 using it.
[B]Game 2[/B]: I sided out my disaptes and brought in timely reinforcements. He had only actually burnt me in the face once during our first game so I left the Spellkites out. He turn 2 interlopers and after it swings I follow up with a Timely sends me to 24 and 3 Solders. He plays a 2nd interloper and we take turns swining at each other before he starts galvanic blasting my tokens. He shocks a pair of them and trades a noble for the last one. Once they are all dead, he swings with both interlopers for 4. I respond with snapcaster targeting my Timely Reinforcements and he responds with a handshake and a concession.
[B][I][U]Match 2[/U][/I][/B]: W/u Humans, Fateful Hour Remix
[B]Game 1[/B]: I learn very early on that this deck is janky. It is against a close friend of mine so it ends up being very casual. Close match irregardless. He plays a turn 1 Champion of the Perish, I counter the turn 2. I let him have his Hex Parasite because I didn't think it would be much of a threat***. He burns himself down to 4 life with the Hex Parasites, activating Faithful Hour, Plays Gather the townsfolk, pumping his champion to a 6/6 and starts swinging. It takes me 2 turns, (With all his tokens and his Titan-esqe champion) to swing me down to 2 life, but by that time I got the day of judge and was able to take control of the game.
***The kicker here is that I traded him the Hex Parasites 2 weeks ago when he told me he was building this exact combo.
[B]Game 2[/B]: He plays around my counters and we end up with an empty board state by turn 5. I just keep doing card draw on his end step then passing, waiting for him to play something worth countering. By turn 7 I give up and play BV
He negates my vengeance.
I mana leak his negate.
He leaks my mana leak.
I negate his leak.
He glares at me and concedes.
Game 3 was not necessary, but he had 30 minutes left in the round and he wanted to try out his "Extended Sideboard" that he got from his trade binder.
Turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage
... damnit...
I spend the entire match just digging. As soon as I got draw I played it. Using a forbidden Alchemy to get another Alchemy, letting the Burning Veng go to the graveyard. It wasn't gonna matter, if I didn't dig up an O-Ring for the cage then it wasn't really gonna matter. I used my snaps to trade with any creatures he chose to swung with. I counter what I can but with out my GY it's rough. By turn 8, I only have a negate left in hand. I play both of the BV's that made it in to my hand because... well.. it would be dead mana no matter what.
He uses hex parasite to go to 4 life, plays Gather the townsfolk, then passes the turn to me. I top deck O-Ring, Play it, targeting the his cage, he tries to Faiths Shield (He is still at 4 so all permanents would get pro-white) but the negate held it through. Left 3 mana open in the end which Flash'd a desperate ravings, both BV triggers took him out. He rages, walks away laughing to bring more people around to see what a silly board state we ended up with.
[B][I][U]Match 3[/U][/I][/B]: B/W Tokens, the easy version
[B]Game 1[/B]: Draw-Go at its finest. My opponent played a doomed travler, and that was literally the only spell I let him resolve. I leak, negate and dissipate my way though his entire hand. Using snapcasters to keep it up. I draw all 3, he keeps plugging at me with his doomed travler, which I never blocked. I just let it through then swung with all of my snaps. When he finally realized that the snaps were gonna kill him, he held back. I O-Ring his travler, swung him down to 2, he tried to cast a spell again but I showed him the dissipate in my hand and he conceded.
[B]Game 2[/B]: Since I kept him in such a bad counter lock for the first game, I took out 2 of my dissipates and sided in my other two slagstorms. I never got much counters this game, but with the leak mana open each time he still played around them. He resolved an esplith, who I Devil's Played down. He played a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, which pooped out an emblem, then swung for 6. With Sorin on 1, I killed him on the endstep with a Geistflame. He finally took a chance and cast hero of bladehold on turn 8. (Which I really didnt have a spell to counter it) but by that time I had 2 BV's in play. I burnt him and his Hero down with triggers after that. Very easy match.
I have gone 2-0 in every match so far, so feeling pretty good going in to game match 4.
[B][I][U]Match 4[/U][/I][/B]: B/W Tokens, the scary version
[B]Game 1[/B]: I won, but just barely. He gets a pair of living husks on the field, which they are easy enough to deal with but he very quickly beats me down to low life before I can stabilize and Geistflame them out of existence. He ends up getting Vault of the Archangel out and swining me down to 2 while himself up to 32. (Ghost Quarters need to make it to the sideboard!) A few board wipes later and I have control of the game, but its very tense. I draw, pass, he flash backs linger souls, I flash back BV triggers to kill them. I eventually win with a devils play but it came down to longevity. His graveyard and his hand ran out before mine did, Burning Vengeance did its job wonderfully!
[B]Game 2[/B]: I never see a board wipe. Once. I do my best, but I hit some desperate plays after not so long. My last turn I end up Devil's Playing for 2, then immediately flashing it back for 0 to let BV triggers burn off all his tokens. I just don't have enough to deal with his swarm and I get crushed.
[B]Game 3[/B]: 2 Big factors made me loose this one. The bigger of the two was that I never got access to double white. 3 Day of Judges in my hand, but only a Clifftop Retreat and no Grottos in sight. He brings in a spellbomb early on, so on my next turn I bring in a snapcaster to force him to blow it early and take out my graveyard, but even that is enough to set me back a few passes. I keep digging for another white source, but his tokens killed me quickly. I lost the game with 3 DoJ's and Sun Titan in my hand, my next card was a Glacial Fortress.
[B][U]Overall[/U][/B]: 3-1 for the night and took 2nd overall so I would still call this a success. I just got home and typed this all up, so not sure what my sideboard is gonna look in the morning but will post again once I decide on it. Its gonna include more land main board for sure, as well as land hate in the sideboard. I am not sure on the numbers for any of that but defiantly gonna happen one way or another. I did a few casual games aginst various other decks with slightly diffrent setups. A resolved Sun Titan bringing back a O-Ring to cage a Geralfs-Messenge was the only highlight that comes to mind. Despite being a dead draw in my final game, I am still standing by this guy.
As I left Game 2, 3 and 4 opponents all showed me the Grafdigger's Cage they just traded and/or bought telling me that they would be ready next week. At any given point during the night I had at least 2-3 spectors watching my matches. No one had really seen a functioning Burning Vengeance deck before so I got lots of questions about my deck lists. I traded a few of my extra BV's away so I think there will be some copy cats next week as well as some definite graveyard hate.
[B][I][U]TL : DR[/U][/I][/B] BV trumped must decks by going long! Token decks can either be a very easy win or a difficult uphill losing fight depending on the player! Grafdigger's Cage and Spellbomb are huge set back but not a game ender!
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- Liquidska
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It's not an X, you would only gain one and they would lose one. There would only be that much of a swing if you had 8 extort abilities on the field.
One of the most underrated cards in standard.
1a) He can still only show 1 card?
2) It's very hard to tell the details of the card.
2a) That foiling is weird.
3) It's grossly, stupidly overpowered. There is no way that is balanced at 4 mana. That would be a very good 6 drop.
Fake.
Sideboard Tremblors and Burning Oil usually fixes this, but game 1 against GW is usually pretty rough.
Forbidden Alchemy however will be a rock star. Take 1 out of 4? There will always be a pick you dont mind being in your hand. Being able to take Instant / Sorcery will be huge if we can make the mana stable. However we can not pull that one off until Gatecrash and we get the other shocks. (Mainly Breeding Pool)
4 Steam Vents
7 Island
7 Mountain
4 Izzet Signet
4 Witchbane Orb
2 Pact of the Titan
4 Cerebral Vortex
4 Magma Jet
4 Arc Blade
3 Turn Aside
3 Rhystic Study
4 Brainstorm
2 Pyroclasm
The idea is early game I protect myself with Magma Jet and Pyroclasm, Brainstorm to find my "Combo". Get Witchbane orb out, then a Hive Mind play a few Arc Blade and then watch a bunch of Arc Blade go off targeting everyone/everything but me. Turn Aside will mostly be used to protect Hive Mind/Witchbane, (The only counter I could find that a bunch of Hive Mind copies won't just counter). The fun idea is to let Cerebral Vortex go off where everyone draws a bunch, then takes a bunch.
I couldn't resist adding a pair of pacts, but at least I didn't put in Tutors in!
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
Overview:
Jund ramp is a late game control deck that is focused on board wiping any potental threats then landing a planeswalker or Griselbrand to gain a victory. It has a variety of support cards but primarily depends on Mutilate, Bonfire, Mizzium Mortars and Sever the Bloodline to control the field.
Sample Working Decklist
4 Griselbrand
4 Farseek
4 Liliana of the Dark Realms
4 Mutilate
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
2 Elderscale Wurm
4 Blood Crypt
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Forest
5 Swamp
2 Woodland Cemetery
2 Sever the Bloodline
4 Mizzium Mortars
2 Devil's Play
2 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Gatecreeper Vine
2 Tree of Redemption
The Main Stars!
Her -3 is more situational, but it does have some very strong applications. The most obvious use is killing a resilant threat that cant be dealt with by normal means. Loleth troll is the first to come to mind but indesctuable such as Predator Ooze are a decent target. The more interesting applications involve her buffing. Late game buff on to a Griselbrand can be a game ender (From additional damage, lifelink, card draw).
Her ultimate can be argued as a win more token. However, one should keep in mind that if she ultimate you are at at a minimum of 7 land. That means you can tap a crypt for red and the rest of the swamps you fetched up for 4 each and Devils play for 24. Or flash it back for 21. Or Rakados Return for game. Or Bonfire for 12 as a hard cast.
Garruk Primal Hunter " target="blank">Garruk Primal Hunter - A bit more straight forward planeswalker. Pop his +1 to make chump blocks for as long as you need, or if you have control of board state to start applying pressure. His -3 is conditionally good, but it also can draw you in to an answer for 0 mana. If you are in the control match up, pooping out a token then drawing three can easily be the deciding factor.
Unlike Liliana’s ultimate, Garruks is a must answer now bomb.
The only downside to Garruk is his color’s. Three green can be difficult for this deck occasionally, especially when you would like to overload Mizzium Mortars the next turn for RRR. With smart fetching this is not a problem, but it is something to keep in mind.
Griselbrand " target="blank">Griselbrand - The big man himself! Heart of the Monoblack control and a huge win con for us. 7/7 Flying, Lifelink is already enough of a win condition, adding in his draw enginge is just icing on the cake. Wolfrun him when you can, pump him with lilly when you can, -3 Garruk when you can. Even if he dies to removal, you can always draw 7 in response. (Which likely gets you another one.
The supporting cast!
Farseek" target="blank">Farseek - It's not flashy but it is necessary. It's a 4-of that you hope to see in your opening hand. Your goal is to play the big threats, the quicker you do that the better off you are.
Elderscale wurm" target="blank">Elderscale wurm – Mostly added as a stabilizing factor, but has a large amount of synergy with the rest of the deck. A surprising number of decks flat out fold to this card purely because they do not have a way to exile. Life loss will still get around his ability so you are not completely safe, but he goes a long ways. He is a good top deck, and a good follow up to a Griselbrand activation
Tree of Redemption" target="blank">Tree of Redemption – Not just a wall, but THE wall. Agro decks will spend multiple turns trying to whilte you down. He is not a win condition, he is a stall tatic that slows down the agro decks.
Gatecreeper Vine " target="blank">Gatecreeper Vine - One of our few early game options. He does not ramp per say, but he does keep the land flowing. While also proving a chump blocker to an opponents early threats.
Other creatures:
Vampire Nighthawk" target="blank">Vampire Nighthawk - A flying lifelinker that trades with anything without first strike? Yes please. Fantastic in the control match ups as a small threat they must waste removal on and good in the agro match ups as a block to kill their threats or a source of constant life gain.
Dawntreader Elk " target="blank"> Dawntreader Elk - It is a rampant growth attached to a body. Which is fairly appealing, however its primary downside is the G of the activation cost. This is no viridian corrupter but it is closest we can come. He makes a good chump then sac target.
Our ambitious mana base!
Dragonskull Summit" target="blank">Dragonskull Summit – Is important to have in the deck to smooth out our colors, but it can not be fetched and does not recognize as a swamp for Lilliana or Mutilate. I been switching between 2 and 3 of these.
Woodland Cemetery" target="blank">Woodland Cemetery – Slightly more important then Dragonskull purely becaue it is attached to green, but still suffers many of the same downsides.
Kessig Wolf Run" target="blank">Kessig Wolf Run – A hedge card. Considering how creature light we are, its difficult to justify this. However since we are ramping, this can turn any creature in to a late game threat.
The board wipes!
Bonfire of the Damned" target="blank">Bonfire of the Damned – Our primary reason for playing red. It is a solid board wipe even as a hard cast but absolutely devastating as a miracle.
Sever the Bloodline" target="blank">Sever the Bloodline – With the rise of zombies, blood artists and brimstone volley “exiling” a creature instead of killing it is very relevant. This can easily stop a swarm of strangleroot geists then late game stop a group of loleth’s troll.
Abrupt Decay" target="blank">Abrupt Decay – A sideboard card at least initially, but has potential to be mainboard pending on the meta. Kills almost everything in the agro match up and destroys O-ring/D-Sphere in blue white games.
Devil’s play" target="blank">Devil’s play – Great singleton removal that you can ramp to the size you need while also simultaneously being a win condition. It’s flash back is steep, but still worthwhile.
Mizzium Mortars" target="blank">Mizzium Mortars – It is an early game kill spell and a late game 1 sided board wipe. I won’t lie that its overload cast is difficult at time, but its worth it but perhaps not a 4-of.
Poetnetal Sideboard options:
Flames of the Firebrand" target="blank">Flames of the Firebrand – It’s not quite a board wipe, but its close enough.
Rakdos Return" target="blank">Rakdos Return – This is the deciding card in control match ups. Most agro decks will generally play out their hand as quickly as possible, but it’s the guys who still have a full grip on turn 7 that you gotta watch out for.
Slaughter Games" target="blank">Slaughter Games – Is… okay. It all depends on what your opponent is playing, how certain you are of what they are playing and what they need to win. If there is a combo deck in the new meta, then this could shift from a mediocre card to a fantastic one.
Unauthorized modtext removed. ~parinoid
Which is why you put it on a hexproof. Board wipes are virtually non existant as is. There is bonfire and .... Electrickty I guess?
If you play some mana dorks to try and side step the sacrfise effects (or ramp in to Sigarda) you can do okay with this. Etheral armor does have 2v1 potential, but it can also make a near immposbile creature to kill.
Another possible enchant to synergy with spectral flight? Evasion and +2/+2 seems good.
That is a way to do it.
Personally just taking this baby on to a storm deck seems a lot easier / more reliable. Much smaller chance of hitting a non spell and has a much bigger chance of just going infinite with past in flames.
Basically everything in legacy.
Basically everything agro in standard.
Agro is getting a lot of intersting toys in RtR, most of which are coming from the BG camp. Intrestingly enough abrupt decay might be one of the better cards to keep it in check. Personally I am just gonna side step the whole issue and go Naya ramp/control.