Challenge of the Week: Death's Shadow

Should be easy enough.

Join the Ranks is the best limited card in Zendikar Block

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Hagra Diabolist

I have a dumb idea. Build a deck on Hagra Diabolist. No back talk, just do it.

Ok, back to the drawing board v4

Ok, I have talked a lot about it but i've never built it so my mana base may be totally messed up, but here goes.

26 lands
6 forest
10 mountain
3 jund panorama
4 terramorphic expanse
3 valakut, the molten pinnacle

10 creatures
4x grazing gladehart
4x rampagin baloths
2x bogardan hellkite

11 engine pieces
4x khalni heart expedition
3x rampant growth
4x harrow

11 keeping it real
3x garruk
2x warp world
4x burst lightning
1x expedition map

sideboard
2x acidic slime
2x siege-gang commander
3x volcanic fallout
3x chain reaction
2x comet storm
3x lightning bolt

so i really don't have much to deal with a baneslayer here. and my secondary focus of LD went out the window, apparently. I'll still be able to remove a land here and there, but I'm more about landfall and manaramping into goodness.

Not sure this is better than the RGB ld ramp, but I think this might be fun, too.

I just have to figure out which is better against the greatest number of decks.

So feel free to offer suggestions to this one or the other one. I obviously have too much free time right now.

BRG ramp

So what happened was I thought the Lotus Cobra engine is amazing when it works, but it isn't consistent enough. I prefer having a turn one land, turn two land + khalni heart expedition, a turn three fetch land and a rampant growth...that gives me a turn 4 seven mana. so with seven mana in mind (or the same scenario, but not having another land in hand to play turn four...six mana...) Or if I only hit one of those pieces I only excel a little bit, but i have color fixing for a soft splash of a third color. Anyway, I guess the bottom line is for my play-style I felt uncomfortable with the explosive but weak cobra, so I'm gonna try this other thing out. Take a look:

the engine:
4x Khalni Heart Expedition
4x Rampant Growth

the good stuff:
4x Acidic Slime
3x Lavaball Trap
4x Rampaging Baloths
4x Roiling Terrain
3x Summoning Trap
2x Violent Ultimadeum

removal:
3x burst lightning
4x lightning bolt

lands:
8 forests
5 mountains
3 swamps
3 savage lands
2 terramorphic expanse
4 verdant catacombs

sideboard
2x chain reaction
4x goblin ruinblaster
3x ricochet trap
4x terminate
2x volcanic fallout

Ok, so there is the rough draft. I didn't go super big mana--I have lavaball trap in at eight mana as a 3 of, then 2 ultimadeums, 3 baloths, 3 summoning traps. So eleven spells at 6+. There are no Terastodon or Bogardan Hellkites. I like both and either, but the only two slots that are negoitable of those eleven are 3 baloths and 3 summonging traps. I think Baloth is better than terastodon, but is harder to hard cast on games when my little engine doesn't work. Same thing with the hellkite, but I think the hellkite is as good (if not slightly better because there is guaranteed five damage happening somewhere). Hitting a hellkite with a summoning trap can be a win con on its own, but hitting a baloth or terastodon are just helping me get where i want to be. The other guy is Ob Nixilis; he is the same cmc as baloth, but 3 black mana isn't what this deck wants to get out. He works better in a more black deck, or with the lotus cobra engine. Lastly is siege-gang. He is a little too underpowered in my mind, but it might deserve a test run in the decklist, or a sideboard slot to help against weanie. Personally, seems like I'm thinking i'll need him to help as removal, so i just need to run some good removal and not use the commander. I did not use shambling mold because I'm using summoning trap, and the mold is only good with the kicker. I don't mind hitting a slime because he's doing something already, but i wouldn't want to hit a mold (or ruinblaster goblin, either). Grazing gladeheart isn't bad for my maindeck, or my sideboard, but i didn't see an easy cut anywhere, so i figured i'd just keep him in mind and look for a place for it.

The engine itself is small and simple. Eight 2-cost ramps, both have some synergy with the baloth if i get them late game. Top-decking a BoP or Lotus Cobra late game makes me want to cry. I'm not saying I want to top-deck a khalni heart expedition when all i need is to do...anything...but it is bad for your morale to topdeck a lotus cobra when you need something else, and it is easy to blame the cobra. It is harder to lose morale and blame an enchantment. But more importantly, I'm wondering if maybe I shouldn't have harrow in here. Particularly if I stay with the baloth. But even if I don't, it is good for mana fixing. If i have only 3 forests and a swamp i can trade in a forest for two mountains, or whatever. Not to mention it is cheap (for this deck) and instant speed. Obviously it fits nicely, even as just a 3 of.

The other way I could go with it is Warp World. It randomly wins games, especially if I'm winning with the permanent count, and i have baloths and/or hellkites and/or terastodon (or some other nasty thing that I haven't thought of yet), and it has the potential to randomly change the tide and make a game i'm losing 15 to 2 and i'll die after one more turn into a game i can win. The bad news is that it costs nine mana and it can randomly lose me a game if i happen to get unlucky. On the other hand, it is fun, and that makes it worth considering, and i can always sideboard it out and play the serious version against good decks that i need quick answers for.

Lots of sentences ending in prepositions here.

This looks more like something I would probably play at a FNM than the other decks I thought I might play but realized lotus cobra woes could make for an unfun magical time.

It needs some work. Please offer suggestions.

To recap, the big quesitons:

Gladeheart makes it in?
Baloth or Hellkite
Harrow?
Warp World?
Fix my sideboard 101. For some reason (probably because I don't think about it very much) my rough draft sideboard almost always gets 100% replaced by the final cuts, so I don't expect to see any of these in here soon.

RG ramp combo/LD v2

the mana ramping
4x Birds
4x Lotus Cobra
4x Explore
4x Harrow
3x Garruk

the ld
4x Roiling Terrain
4x Acidic Slime
3x Mold Shambler
3x Lavaball Trap

the win-con
3x Bogardan Hellkite
(garruk counts as win-con, too)

4x Arid Mesa
4x Misty Rainforest
9x Forest
6x Mountain
1x Plains

sideboard
3x Thornling
3x Goblin Ruinblaster
4x Volcanic Fallout
2x Obelisk of Alara
3x Sylvan Bounty

The problem I'm having is 8 mana is one more than 7 mana, and the thornling is more resiliant. So I'll board in the thornling after they see the hellkite and hopefully they won't have path.

This version looks better...the obelisk with a plains helps vs RDW, and I already match up as well as I can vs jund and ultimadeum, since they are 3+ colors and mid-range dependent. Weanie and RDW will be harder to beat.

So what do i need to change?

Dumb Idea #685419 - Creatureless control RW

Removal:
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
4x Burst Lightning
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Volcanic Fallout
3x Earthquake
4x Chain Reaction
4x Day of Judgement
2x Comet Storm
2x Martial Coup

Creature:
1x Baneslayer

Land:
4x Arid Mesa
4x Valakut the Molten Pinnacle
11x Mountains
5x Plains

SB:
3x Banefire
3x Baneslayer
1x Earthquake
1x Martial Coup
3x Ajani Vengeant
4x Pyroclasm

Edit: Pyroclasm has recently replaced Luminarch Ascension

RG mana ramp

4x Lotus Cobra
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Goblin Ruinblaster
4x Acidic Slime
3x Seige-Gang Commander

4x Explore
3x Lavaball Trap
4x Roiling Terrain
4x Harrow
3x Khalani Heart Expedition

24 lands
3x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4x Teramorphic Expanse
11x Mountain
6x Forest


My original idea was to include black for targeted removal and desecrated earth. Then I kept thinking how I wanted to not use desecrated earth, cause even in ramp it is pretty expensive when really all i care about is killing a land, i might as well just run Demolish. Then I remembered the hasty goblin and I figured I could do worse than that. I wanted to add Ob Nixilis, and it might be the call. I haven't piloted a lotus cobra engined mana-ramp, so i'm not sure if it is likely to get the mana to play ob nix and still have some land fetching to utilize his ability. I went with the seige-gang over the hellkite because it is easier to use if i don't get my ramp going, for whatever reason.

Two colors still seems easier than three, in terms of making my floating mana options easier decisions. Instead of floating a black, red and green, or two black and a green, or whatever, now it'll be float a green and the rest red. Probably. I'm fairly confidant that this deck could run black (or white, or blue) and not have a big problem, but it'll be a little more stream-lined and user-friendly in just two colors.

So no black.

Then I realized this decklist already exists, and it runs the legendary red land that interacts with mountains. This version just has more emphasis on ramping into early LD to help me get to my molten pinnacle centric win-con.

Cards that I like that didn't make it, but maybe should have:
Bogardan Hellkite
Lightning Bolt
Volcanic Fallout
Bloodbraid Elf
Demolish
Burst Lightning
Meteor Storm

a misguided first attempt at making a fun RU roiling ruin

Instead of trying to base it off of UB, I was thinking of starting with RDW and making changes. You're a better UB builder than me, for sure, so you might have better insights to go from that side. But when I had the idea for Roiling Ruin being good with U, I was thinking of how UB can put some cards in the yard.

But I know I'm pretty terrible with building UB, so I thought maybe a RDW variant could be viable.

Something like:

the burn and control part
Lightning Bolt
Burst Lightning
Volcanic Fallout

the LD part
Goblin Ruin Blaster
Roiling Ruin

the jank part
Font of Mythos
Ruin Flare Trap

Cards that seem to fit the theme and might make it more consistent, but look like more lose-sauce:

Jace Beleren
Double Negative
Earthquake

So now that I'm looking down this list of cards it seems like I might need to rethink this. A lot.

I just want to find a good home for Roiling Ruin. I think the ramp-LD deck is a much better fit than this, at least right now. I'm not sure there's anything to salvage from this. Which is a pity, because I love UR.

mana ramp

4x Lotus Cobra
4x Caldera Hellion
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Bogardan Hellkite
2x Thraximundar
2x Wrexial

4x Lightning Bolt
4x Harrow
3x Summoning Trap
3x Explore
2x Comet Storm

24 lands
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Swamp
3x Island
5x Mountain
4x Forest

sb
2x thraximundar
2x wrexial
1x summoning trap
4x great sable stag
4x fallout
1x comet storm



I dont know if this ramps fast enough, but now there are more threats and less draw. also, six wrathy type of effects.