Hello - this is my first post... I'm relatively new to magic - never played paper version but a friend introduced me to magic a few years ago with an online program I've since forgotten the name of. Played off and on again but always liked the game, then I found Duels for free on Xbox a few weeks ago and I've fallen in love, despite its horrible programming flaws.
Anyway, I've come here seeking advice on a deck I've built which is a spin on a Gruul deck I've been playing that was centered on an elemental theme using
Zendikar's Roil, green elementals, red burn, and of course, Ulamog. I originally changed this deck purely because I wanted to include
Eldrazi Displacer, but after many games against the AI and a few versus matches I found I could bounce back from tons of damage much easier and became a lot harder to kill. With my old deck I just hoped I could stay alive until I could land my fatties and pray they didn't remove them, but this deck lets me heal most damage I take while ramping and sometimes I could even maintain a board presence too. The problem I have is that my card selection is all over the place and I'm too worried about countering any and all strategies and while still trying to achieve a specific goal (getting out lands so I can overwhelm my opponent), so I need any and all feedback you guys can give me to help me improve my deck.
The center goal of this deck is to heal or defend against any damage dealt to me while I get mana out in the early game, then work towards a board presence and recovering anything I lost to the graveyard if possible, and then overwhelming the enemy if the game goes on long enough (or if things aren't in my favor, to stall as long as possible until I get out a heavy hitter and try to turn the situation around). I'll put my reasoning behind my inclusion of each card so you can know where my head is at and hopefully that will help you guys give better feedback.
Creatures:
2x
Eldrazi Displacer He's why I built this deck - has great synergy with most of the other creatures I have here if I can manage to get a colorless mana card
1x
Nissa, Vastwood Seer Help with ramp a little and a great way draw cards and get more lands out
1x
Tireless Tracker He's here so Woodland Bellower has something else to put on the board if I don't need to destroy an enchantment, or if I happen to get him early I'll use investigate to help with any mana problems I might be having
2x
Reclamation Sage I've found that opponents can use enchantments in some really nasty ways to pacify or eliminate any real threats I can generate, so I need a way to counter that
1x
Mina and Denn, Wildborn Wonderful card, can bounce lands to synergize with Sheperd, Omnath, Retreat to Kazandu, Roil, and Tracker
1x
Greenwarden of Murasa Great card, and even better if I already have a Displacer on the board
1x
Woodland Bellower I use him as a beefy Reclamation Sage or to bring out Tireless Tracker if I don't need Sage
1x
Ulvenwald Hydra Reach, scales with lands, and gets out any land I need... I wish I had four of these
1x
Oblivion Sower Great card, and a real monster if I can use Displacer on him
1x
Emeria Shepherd I basically use this card as a flying version of Greenwarden
1x
Omnath, Locus of Rage I wish I could play this card every game - synergy with Zendikar's Roil and Wildborn retarded like
1x
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger because of course
Instants/Sorceries/Enchantments:
1x
Fog Get out of jail free/ take a second turn card
2x
Retreat to Kazandu Used for lifegain to heal up damage taken during early stages - I only use the counters if I don't feel threatened at all or I want to beef up a small card to take care of a larger threat or survive a board wipe/sweep
2x
Radiant Flames beautiful cheap sweep
3x
Devour in Flames great burn card that has amazing synergy with Kazandu, Roil, Tracker, and others - can also burn planeswalkers
2x
Nissa's Pilgrimage ramp
3x
Suppression Bonds take care of fatties/planeswalkers
1x
From Beyond ramp, can generate scions for displacer if I have no colorless lands
3x
Explosive Vegetation ramp
2x
Zendikar's Roil can generate a formidable army very quickly, its just more expensive than I'd like it to be
2x
Nissa's Renewal ramp and HEAL
Planeswalkers:
1x
Nahiri, the Harbinger can take care of threats and draw for needed cards and, if I'm lucky enough, can get ulamog out early (kind of)
1x
Arlinn Kord doesn't really fit in the theme or synergizes well with other cards, but its value is too great and plugs too many weaknesses in my deck for me to comfortably exclude at this point
Lands: (I really need help optimizing my lands, I'm not terribly good at this part)
3x
Plains3x
Mountain9x
Forest2x
Needle Spires2x
Westvale Abbey2x
Clifftop Retreat1x
Crumbling Vestige1x
Stone QuarryI used to have
Pulse of Murasa to get back cards and to heal damage, but I don't run enough creatures in this deck for it to be really effective, and I have other means to get cards back anyway. Used to have
Gaea's Revenge but by the time I had enough mana to cast it I had other/better cards to play in almost every situation. Used to have
Declaration in Stone but traded for
Suppression Bonds instead because I hate giving clues, Bonds can work on planeswalkers, and most opponents didn't have multiples of the same card out when I had it in my hand anyway.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar just isn't useful enough here to include... dies to fliers or burn too quickly to do anything really effective besides generate one or maybe two chump blockers or put a counter on the one or two creatures I'd have out by the time I cast it
Wish I had room for
Sylvan Ranger and
Herald of the Pantheon, though I'd need to add another Retreat and Roil to justify the latter. I also wish I could include either
Archangel Avacyn or
Linvala, the Preserver, but having one double white seemed like enough and Avacyn didn't really fit or would sweep by Roil spawns, and I had the same problem with Linvala as I did with Gaea's Revenge.
Decided not to include
Sylvan Advocate in favor of
Tireless Tracker...so that's that. Any and all feedback is much appreciated. By the way, I always mulligan for at least three lands no matter what, unless I'm down to a three card hand in which case I'll wing it and hope lady luck feels generous (she doesn't, and she never will).