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.
5 comments:
Ob Nix costs 5, only 2 of which are black.
Warp World only costs 8.
Those are my only thoughts atm.
Oh, well there you go. I should have looked em up. Thanks for saying because eight mana seems like less of a threshold than nine, somehow, and if I can play violent ultimadeum then i can play ob nix, if he's only two blacks. maybe not with just five lands out, but maybe sometimes, too. plus, if he just costs five then there is a chance i'll have an un-popped expedition waiting when he lands.
if you or drok have any ideas let me know, this is the best i've managed to come up with so far. i've been messing around with it on mtgo and i think i need harrow. i may test it with -3 burst lightning +3 harrow.
The other thing is if i take out CU and don't play ob, then I can go straight RG, and if i did that, i could play with the molten pinnacle land.
In the current build that you have, I see no reason for summoning trap to be in here as you only have 8 creatures. We can use this slot for something more stable.
-3 Summoning Trap
I think the best option for replacement is more ramp. While we are at it, the ramp could be versatile. so:
+3 Garruk
additionally we could opt for harrow so that we could have a more guaranteed increase in land production as well as the better mana fixing that harrow gives.
Other than that, I think I have to see how it performs. If it can be consistent about keeping opponents off of mana by turn 4, it could have some potential. Especially if It can pull off the wrecking spells in a good time.
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