I only got in 2 games with giocher's deck and didn't actually vote... Oh well.
Btw, giocher's deck went 2-0 in some pretty epic games... But too grindy to get more in...
Congrats elk.

Ok this is the final version of my balls .


- The radiant flames are a very fast sweeper and the splash of black makes it shine at its best (heaven was often to late to solve problems)
- The evolving wilds are helping with the floods and the synergy with trackers and Locus are great, also they reshuffle the library when you are fetching with your recruiters so when you see a Nissa or a Chandra going to the botom of your library you at least have a chance to reshufle them back in.
- I Swaped the woodland Belower for the Green warden of Murasa/ Big boost!
- And the Ballistas for the Gaea revenge, so we are left with nothing against counters but the ballista wins more games and can come out of the hand a lot early.
The ballista´s + the recruiter´s are eating every drop of spare mana so we are whole lot more mana efficient once we have established board presence.

I think I will leave this be for a wile I have had a blast with it but it feels more like a midrange deck than a real ramp deck It can eat a lot of mana but the rewards are more in the midgame zone than in the late game where ramp really shines.

Thanks for the imput fellows I really like how the decks evolve in this challenge.

I might as well finish my testing when I find the time, even though its too late to vote.

I can however, make some observations:

Firstly, Bounty of the Luxa is an awesome card that did a lot of work. Its nearly a Planeswalker in effect, in fact, if you compare it with 4cc Chandra, its like using her +1s with better ramp and drawing a card without the drawback of exiling incastable cards. Sure, there's no auto-win ultimate, damage or clock, but it is harder to remove in theory than a PW.

Rec Sage was also invariably useful. The few games I got in with giocher's deck, I missed them sorely. My own contribution didn't run them, because the idea was to have few creatures, but the utility is undeniable.

Gaea's revenge was in a bunch of lists, probably because control was king at the time that the anouncement to abandon Duels was made, but it looks like control players were the first to jump ship and quit Duels, because control seems to be rare now. Its not a bad card anyhow, as its hard to remove and 8 unexpected hasty damage can be useful, but I wonder if plated crusher (who didn't make any of the lists) wouldn't have been better.

In terms of fatties, Hydra was the most consistent, ramping itself, getting out the passage (its what I always got with its ETB) and putting opps on a tight clock. Reach was also useful to stop big flyers and stall boards.

As for the ramp... Mixed results. Veggies worked better in some decks than others. The 3CC ramp spells seemed worse than dorks and Renewal was usually good to get you out of lethal range against fast decks and get into Ulamog casting territory.

Nobody went with lifegain ramp, with offshoots and retreats, so I wonder how that approach would do in the current meta.

I guess that ramp decks, except maybe for simic, really wantsl to go 3 color or at least have a splash of a third color. The 2-color limitation lowered a notch the overall power level of the decks.

Ballista was great in these decks, especially when you have Pulse of Murasa to get it back and replay it. I got out some pretty big ballistas without needing any damn snakes.

Lastly, Ulamog is still the all-time best ramp fattie and is in itself a game-swinger. All too often there are 2 Permanents that are giving you a headache and when the damage can't get through... Mill them (also good to check out opp's decklist).

So what's next? Tokens?

I really like playing Bounty of the Luxor but the Spike in me screams trash every time I play it

Congratz to Elk, that won this round unanimously, also his second victory in a row.
Info about next round probably on Tuesday.

So I've been testing a version of this (have to have Advocates with all those ralliers) and haven't had much luck getting the delirium or revolt working organically. The ramp is super slow too, not sure I have the patience for it.

Cant argue with that because I did say it was obnoxious but I did loose two epic games against it.

Some decks seem amazing when they come online but take too long or are too inconsistent getting online. They do well vs other slow decks that run less disruption. When running a ramp deck you are betting your end game is better than your opponents and it really should be but you don't always hit your bombs so sometimes you ramp ramp ramp into more ramp. This gives a slow deck time to go crazy that may not be good vs what is typically played.

@Haven - I was watching Zero Budget Geek Duels gameplay videos on YouTube while my car was being worked on this AM, and was pleasantly surprised to see him credit you as creator of a deck he was playing. Deck seemed pretty fun and I found it here as part of this challenge (missed out on this one at the time). Not sure if you knew about it so figured I'd share it in case not:



I like the types of decks he plays, and I like his personality on video, but man he's not kidding when he cracks jokes about "misplaying decks created by the community". I get so frustrated watching his misplays at times, lol

Thanks for that Timh, its always a pleasure to see other people enjoy my builds.

So I accidentally made another ramp deck, cause I was thinking I'd like to get Glyph Keeper on the board earlier, when I realized all its midrange blue flying friends really like ramp spells.

3 x Blossoming Defense
3 x Druid of the Cowl
2 x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4 x Pulse of Murasa
1 x Kefnet the Mindful
1 x Rhonas the Indomitable
3 x Spring
2 x Niblis of Frost
1 x Curator of Mysteries
2 x Commit
1 x Disciple of the Ring
2 x Soulblade Djinn
2 x Docent of Perfection
2 x Glyph Keeper
1 x Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 x Nissa's Renewal
2 x Rishkar's Expertise
1 x Alhammarret, High Arbiter
1 x Ulamog

9 x Forest
8 x Island
3 x Woodland Stream
2 x Lumbering Falls
2 x Hinterland Harbor


Not totally locked into this build, may try gold Nissa over Jace, and maybe displacement waves for a pulse and a blossoming. Suggestions are welcome and appreciated. For now I'm just having fun flying over everything.

After the contest I ditch my druids and my deck improved a whole lot with less ramp spells, -mine was more midrange- on the other hand with such few spells I think you could find better use of the slots baral is using. After the life gain contest I can try it to se how it behaves in the lader.

Baral helps with 13 of 16 instants/sorceries + 4 aftermath, and he's a wizard for Docent. He may still be better off as Trackers or Advocates or something, I'm not sure.

I'd love to have the Druids be ruin in their wake, but then you have to devote 5 land to wilds+wastes, and I don't think it's reliable enough to be worth it.

Elk, I’m sad to say that after dual brutal losses to Izzet Mill I’ve had to retire Chubby Chaser with a 22-5 record. I got two 8-0 winning streaks with it

Barney... you remember that sorry Cucho´s balls on fire deck.... well a long time ago I review the deck and it´s one of those decks that I think you might enjoy... I know it has been a blast for me...so if you are still in the mood for some Gruul Ramp buddy -and giving that you are loosing all you decks- you are more than welcome to try it ;D

Awwww what a great Xmas gift!! Better than the stomach flu someone gave me early this week. I hope that guy dies in a fire.

I’m not building any new decks until January 2nd tho so remind me then

I don't feel bad about giving you the flu at all.

Rectal flu

so classy comments in this thread!
love them!

Joker, I’m sorry to say that Big Ramp
compensation has come to an end after I played terribly versus Radkos sac steal, I thought I had an extra mana but I didn’t. I think I was dead regardless. Before that I had a brutal loss to Dimir Control with tons of walkers. Ugh. Final record is 31-7 which includes a 13-0 run which was cool

Really enjoyed the deck, thanks