Hey, best, I've got a question for you. What would you do (running your build) if opponents Switcharoos you bomb and you've got no Dissolve in hand to counter it? Yesterday I was playing with a good friend of mine (he runs midrange UG) and he managed to steal my creatures two times in a row in 2 matches: first it was Arbor Colossus, second time (IIRC) it was a Stomper. I've tried to trick him into blocking my Pelakka and finishing with Anger of the Gods, but he had some Primal Bellow to save it. Lack of removal really hit me hard and I think I'm going to add 2 Ground Assaults just for that case. What do you think about it? I think I'll swap out Kozilek and 1 Rift for that.

Doesn't my build have all the ground assualts?!

Woah wait a minute, something happened to my build! It's not exactly how I had it optimized.. weird..

If you recall when we were playing I was strongly considering removing nullify. I'm going to start with -2 nullify -1 cultivate +3 ground assualt.

Or you could consider removing tectonic or inspirations. But I like both of them. Bah what happened?! Gotta get my testing back on with this deck and figure out where I messed this up! I was playing with lands and some different setups and totally botched my list! I had all three in before I went messing with lands and stuff..

I would virtually never advocate running a deck that includes green and red and NOT running ground assault here in duels..

I am pretty sure if you shock the creature he is switching to you, that will prevent the switch though. I am fairly certain that is how it works in game. It's rare that people actually run that card though so I wouldn't worry TOO much about it.

Oh, now I know why the lack of removal (preferably Ground Assault) felt kinda wrong -1 Cultivate is okay, because yesterday I run into a situation where Cultivate was a dead card... twice! -2 Nullify is fine too, I guess. Gonna try that tonight!

It's all situational, of course. But it was painful sitting there knowing I've got no answer for that trick in my whole deck Shock wouldn't have heped me either, by the way - he switched my fatties for blue 0/4 and 1/3.

Yeah, I actually removed the 4th cultivate a long while ago. I think that the removal of the nullify and the cultivate for the 3 GA is the way to go.

I am kinda contemplating subbing out the kozilek for stormbreath or titan. But damn I love Kozilek when I get to cast it! I don't even care if its killed or countered.

Actually, yours build is the only one where I run Kozilek It usually allows me survive till 10 lands But Titan would make more sense for me.

I like Kozilek, but I also like the idea of ANOTHER affordable bomb that demands to be dealt with early. There are times where Kozilek sits around in your hand for a while. Those are times where I think a titan would be great to get that pressure going sooner.

Considering I am not running the ingots that I used to upon this deck creation, I feel it's more reason to include titan over him.

Unless I am running a low-curve build Titan is pretty much an auto-include w/red. A lot like Baneslayer, lol.

I am the same Nebula. And I probably had it in originally, something strange did happen to my build.

Let's see if I've got the coding correct for this...

This is a land destruction deck I've been tinkering with over the last week or so, and it is a work in constant flux. I've played many, many games with it and made changes almost every step of the way...I've had some filthy, filthy wins and been called a f****t quite a few times, but I've also gone on some pretty sad runs and I'd say I've lost about 500 ranking points on account of this beast but this build is 6-0 so far and I think I might be getting close to a finalized list. I'd love to hear suggestions from you all.

As you might expect, this deck thrives against midrange and control but has trouble with aggro, token strategies, and anything with Cultivate in it. Shock and Saruli Gatekeepers are a nod to the aggro--the Gatekeepers have worked out especially well because in addition to stonewalling just about everything aggro throws at you, they double as a threat that dodges Reprisal and survives Anger of the Gods and can provide a decent clock on a stifled board. One of my biggest problems early on was firing off 3-4 land destruction spells but having NO THREATS and just sitting around Cultivating until they clawed their way back. The Gatekeepers and Sphinx-Bone Wand were added to give me a few more ways to win.

As for ramp strategies, I haven't found an effective counter other than 1) go first and 2) hope they are playing 3-5 colors. That's definitely a weak point.

I suspect the number of Inspiration might want to increase at the expense of Think Twice and possibly replace it entirely, but I just like Think Twice so much!

I am playing with 23 land which seems absurdly low to me as a paper player, but I was consistently flooding with 24. I still flood a bit more than I think is normal, but 22 is suicidal and I'd have to mulligan all the damn time. 23 is weirdly working out for the most part. Maybe because of the Think Twices.

My concern at this point is consistency. Shoring up the deck's weaknesses meant taking a card here and there from the core strategy of blowing their lands to hell. I feel like just 3 Archaeomancer will be enough to show up when I need them, but can you ever have too many in a deck like this? I could also play one more copy each of Tectonic Rift, Mold Shambler, and Ground Assault but I don't know where room can be made.

I've rambled long enough. Looks like I'm further from the end point than I thought...anyway comments welcome! Please don't call me a f****t

4 x Izzet Guildgate
4 x Gruul Guildgate
4 x Simic Guildgate
1 x Forest
6 x Mountain
4 x Island

4 x Voyage's End
3 x Archaeomancer
4 x Think Twice
2 x Inspiration
4 x Demolish
2 x Tectonic Rift
3 x Mold Shambler
3 x Shock
3 x Saruli Gatekeepers
2 x Charmbreaker Devils
1 x Sphinx-Bone Wand
2 x Cultivate
2 x Anger of the Gods
2 x Ground Assault

Have you considered Goblin Electromancer? It lets you start your destruction shenanigans on T3 and get discounts on Think Twice and Inspiration. I also think you should consider Species Gorger to create a lock with Mold Shambler.

Another idea would be to move out of green and into white so you could Cloudshift and/or Seance your Archaeomancers and cast a destruction spell in the same turn.

I'm not going to suggest any cuts because I haven't played anything like this, so realize that I'm just throwing ideas out there to see if anything sparks you.

Having never played a deck in this game that didn't have Shock in it has resulted in a misplaced bias that Goblin Electromancer is fragile and dies all the time and never does anything for you but take bullets. I will try him out.

I thought about Species Gorger, initially rejecting him because I felt I couldn't maximize his ability (and thus avoid the huge downside) consistently enough. However, adding the Gatekeepers has provided a whole new ETB trigger to abuse, and I think it's time he merited fresh consideration.

You mentioned white and I threw up in my mouth a little. Cruel habits die hard.

I run a similar land destruction build, but I do utilize the Frogbeast/Shambler combo. When it gets going, it is fantastic. I have run into problems surviving the early games against aggressive piles. I love the idea of the electromancer in the deck. It is an absolute MUST to take out a land on turn 4 with my build, being able to possibly do that on turn three and have a body out there is a great suggestion.

Nuts to that land destruction stuff. For the record, the Goblin Electromancers were helpful and a couple Species Gorgers were fine, I cut the Charmbreaker Devils for an oscillation between draw spells and ETB creatures to better synergize. The problem is that the strategy itself is flat-out invalid against certain decks. Goblin Love Explosions and White Auras will laugh at your turn 3 Tectonic Rift and you need to run extremely hot to beat Cultivate. So, when you've had the kind of day where you find acceptable the 65% odds of ruining someone else's and 80% odds of receiving homophobic slurs, it's nice to dust off.

But I did enjoy the many interactions with Species Gorger, himself a card with a very nice rate, and saw lots of talk about Warstorm Surge earlier in this thread. So I decided to give it a shot and it's been doing really well in the ranked matches. Somewhere around 75% win rate, I'd say.

I used Hakeem's list on page 3 as a starting point, so hat tip there:

4 x Izzet Guildgate
4 x Gruul Guildgate
4 x Simic Guildgate
4 x Forest
4 x Mountain
3 x Island

4 x Saruli Gatekeepers
3 x Species Gorger
2 x Mold Shambler
4 x Elvish Visionary
2 x Genesis Hydra
1 x Vengevine

4 x Cultivate
4 x Think Twice
3 x Ground Assault
3 x Shock
2 x Anger of the Gods
2 x Warstorm Surge
3 x Negate


I don't really like the Shocks, but they are necessary because only the fastest starts can go under you once those Gatekeepers start landing. On the other side, once you get the engine going, you've got the Negates to cover you and I cannot praise that card enough here. It is fantastic in all phases of your game and I feel like I want four, but I don't think that's correct. While there's lots of excellent targets in the early game, you really don't want to hold up your own setup to interact with your opponent unless you suspect something you won't be able to beat later.

I now present to you:

Deck: Dumb and Dumber

Counts : 60 main

Creatures:25
4 x Elvish Visionary
2 x Genesis Hydra
4 x Frost Lynx
4 x Pestermite
4 x Mold Shambler
1 x Vengevine
3 x Species Gorger
3 x Pelakka Wurm


Spells:11
3 x Military Intelligence
3 x Darksteel Ingot
3 x Triumph of Ferocity
2 x Warstorm Surge


Lands:24
10 x Forest
2 x Gruul Guildgate
4 x Island
2 x Izzet Guildgate
2 x Mountain
4 x Simic Guildgate


Lol... When this works.... Just f'ing lol!

I need a replacement for Military Intelligence, suggestions?

Um, Ground Assault? Also, Triumph of Ferocity is terrible. Mold Shambler is a nice lategame lock but a bad hardcast, so we can trim here. And Cultivate > Darksteel Ingot in any green deck. So...

-3 Military Intelligence
-3 Triumph of Ferocity
-3 Darksteel Ingot
-2 Mold Shambler

+3 Ground Assault
+4 Think Twice
+4 Cultivate

Thanks... I'll give it a shot. :-)

Deck: Genesis Surge (Contains Premiums)

Counts : 60 main

Blue:12
4 x Think Twice
4 x Frost Lynx
4 x Pestermite

Red:2
2 x Warstorm Surge

Green:16
4 x Elvish Visionary
2 x Genesis Hydra
4 x Cultivate
2 x Mold Shambler
1 x Vengevine
3 x Pelakka Wurm

Gold:6
3 x Ground Assault
3 x Species Gorger

Land:8
2 x Gruul Guildgate
2 x Izzet Guildgate
4 x Simic Guildgate

Basic Land:16
10 x Forest
4 x Island
2 x Mountain


Updated with some edits/ideas from Hakeem. This is a fun take on the generic Simic build. If you get Surge and Gorger in play, it's probably automatic victory. The deck has plenty of card draw to get you there, and of course the Hydra helps a lot. You can basically just recur the Hydra over and over until you put Surge into play, and then it's going to be 6 damage, or worse per turn. You'll win quickly.

You don't necessarily want to see Surge in your hand. Keep that in mind.

Anyway, I think this one is fun to play. Probably not quick enough to be high tier, but it's definitely cool enough for casual play.

Accidently posted in Grixis:

I've been trying to build a deck around these two cards:
Military Intelligence
and
Beastmaster Ascension

Now I know it's probably never going to be 'top tier' or anything, but I'd still like to make one as good as possible.
Here's what I've got right now:

Lands 22:
Island x6
Mountain x6
Forest x10

Monsters 24:
Triton Shorestalker x4
Spire Tracer x4

Quickling x2
Bloodcrazed Neonate x4
Elvish Visionary x4

Genesis Hydra x2
Reclamation Sage x2
Marauding Maulhorn x2

Spells 14:
Voyage's End x2
Shock x2

Military Intelligence x2

Beastmaster Ascension x2
Cultivate x4
Anger of the Gods x2


The weaknesses I've been coming up against is having to many weenies without any direct ways to power them up and having a limited removal pool.
I'm considering adding a Chaos Skulker or 2, but not sure yet which cards to take out for it/them.
Also poindering if I should have more removal.

Any tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

*Addendum, not sure whether the is adding enough to justify splashing it. Might have to go instead.

Edited my original build post to reflect the current status of the build.

My take on a warstorm deck with a little twist. Using pyxis to do some work with warstorm surge. Haven't had a chance to test it out yet so all theory, but let me know what you all think.