very good reports guys!
cant wait for you to try my balls... emm that didn't sound right... how did I miss this problem!!

Happy to provide:

Cucho's Great Balls of Fire
Record: 3-4
Notes: This is fine, faced some really tough matchups that I think speak more to the weaknesses of ramp in general than to anything specific to this deck. That said, red isn't really the strongest supporting color for the style. Omnath and glorybringer are cool, but I found the burn generally less helpful than I would have hoped. Chandra's ignition would be fantastic, but it won't work with Gaea's Revenge. I'd be interested in seeing a version with Flameshadow Conjuring and perhaps Elemental Bond though.
MVP: revenge and sage. Maybe get a third sage and one less recruiter? It's your best defense against vehicles.
Ditch: the burn is okay but not great. Maybe swap a magma for Kozilek's Return.

I should have put cut instead of magma in the first place, but yes I think red is not the strongest color for ramp (I´m having a blast with it nonetheless). Overall I think ramp is not the best archetype and the two colour limitations cuts off his wings from start.
anyway thanks for the input!

PS: I swaped the Heavens for radiant flames and its working!


I did face a very interesting fog ramp simic deck yesterday on the ladder and it was very consistent I reverse engineer it and it looked something like this:

That's a pretty spicy fog ramp deck.

Cucho I just played with your balls and it didn't go so well...

Game 1 (Draw) vs rakdos aggro (loss)
Mull a no lander, kept an ok hand. He plays a T2 copter, I rec sage it.
T3 tempers my face, then drops T4 Bloodhall Priest
I drop a dork. I'm holding 3 veggies and a gaea's
He tempers my dork, and hits for 4 and drops bone picker.
I eventually drop the revenge, but alms to face + no answer to the picker means I die quickly...

Game 2 (Draw) Same guy (WIN)
T2 scrounger
T3 unlicensed on my dork.
T4 I play another dork and fall of titans for 1 on his dread wanderer and neonate.
He rage quits? I guess he didn't have any creatures left?
I play on vs AI, Get out a gearhulk, chandra and Gaea's to seal the deal.

Game 3 (Draw) Orzhov Control (Loss)
I play T2 Duskwatch, it gets Nevered.
He plays T4 Gideon and makes a token.
I have an advocate, so T4 I play veggies and attack gideon with my 4/5 advocate and he chumps. (I'm flooding heavily)
Another never on advocate and gideon makes another token.
I play a dork and fall of titans for 7 on gideon + token, he plays avacyn to save the token.
I draw more land.
He uses collective effort to pump avacyn + dork and declaration on my dork.
I draw nissa, play her drop a land, flip her, + 1 her and get another land and pop the clue and get gaea's... No good, I'm dead.

Game 4 (Play, finally) Vs Mono-black zombies? (WIN)
This one goes according to the game plan.
T2 advocate, T3 tracker. He doesn' do much except a lilly's oath T3. I sac the advocate.
T4 veggies and I'm swimming in clues.
He responds with kalitas.
I play glorybringer and bye-bye kalitas.
T5 he plays big lilly and gets 2 zombies.
I play nissa and flip her, +1 get a tracker and drop it.
He uses a mire to put kalitas back on top of his library, drops diregraf and makes another zombie.
I rolling thunder for 6 3 of his zombies and glorybringer kills the last one and attack with everything FTW.

Game 5 (Draw) vs mono-black aggro. (Loss)
T1 dread wanderer. I magma spray it.
T2 copter. I have a rec sage handy.
T3 he drops another copter... Oh crap...
I rec sage one of the copters.
T4 he drops lilly and kills the sage... Great...
I go for veggies. I have 2 Gaea's Revenge in my hand.
He drops a bunch of stuff.
I do some math and figure if he gets cocky and doesn't kill me, I could sneak in a win by hitting face with gaea's.
So I drop gaea's revenge and opt to not kill lilly. He pulls out a scrounger he ditched to copter and still doesn't have lethal.
The second gaea should do the trick if he doesn't get a blocker, but he uses lilly to get a gifted aetherborn which he plays and uses to crew copter which gets him to lethal...

2-3 record. Strangely enough, heaven // earth would have probably saved my neck all the games I lost and never showed up. Gaea's revenge showed up every game.
More sweepers or removal would have helped, since I played mostly against aggro and being on the draw 4 of the games didn't help.
I mostly drew lands instead of answers, even when I veggied my heart away trying to dry out the deck. Can't say any of the card were bad in the games I played, but then nothing, except maybe rec sage sage really shined. If I'd drawn more titan's or rolling thunder, it would have been useful, maybe chandra's ignition would help...
add: I think ballista might be good in this deck too. I got lots land into play quickly in every game and picking off attackers would do some work. Can't complain about the magma sprays, only time they showed they were good for exiling troublesome attackers and I saw enough scroungers and wanderers that I wouldn't have minded seeing more.
cut: Gaea's revenge, being an anti-control card and control being scarce lately would probably be a cut for something else.

Not sure about the cut // ribbons in your most recent version. I think these ramp decks need more instant speed options in general. Radiant flames could be good, but I'd think about kozilek's return for instant speed. And where is good ol' ulamog? That double exile is a life saver all too often for ramp...

Thank you taking time to test and providing feedback on the decks, CardboardNomad and Haven_pt.

@CardboardNomad
I am interested to know what instant/sorcery would you suggest with Vexing Scuttler. Explosive Vegetation and Nissa's Renewal?
Also, I used Spring to Mind over straight ramp cards because I like the secondary use of the split card. It gives me card advantage and I would avoid drawing "blanks" late game.

@Haven_pt
I did get mana screwed and flooded myself when testing the deck. With 25 lands and 7 copies of 3CMC or less ramp spells, it can really go either way. To ease this problem, I was contemplating to put in 4 copies of Hieroglyphic Illumination in place of 2 merfolk, 1 coup 1 part the waterveil. But didn't have time to test it out.
I had flip Nissa and vital force in for previous iterations and did not miss them much when I removed them.


Wish I had more time myself to test out other entries. Hope this deckbuilding contests continues for many more rounds.

Me too! It's a blast. Thanks to everyone that participates

I guess more sweepers may come in handy, maybe the ballista for the Gaea also, I will brew something with the insights of the testings.
Thanks for the input!



I think that fog ramp could win this contest, its biggest problem is that is so damn obnoxious.
PS: I hate that foging fog

Cucho listed something similar to what I've been seeing a few posts up, though I'd add refiners to that list, and probably either disperse or Aether Tradewinds to protect ulamog.

Scuttler primarily brings back bounce, though in yours Confiscation would be a great target too, and renewal is a solid play.

I guess my thinking on spring is that the goal of ramp should be to get to 7 mana as quickly as possible, which spring doesn't do, and once you're at that point you should have better things to spend your resources on than paying 6 to draw a couple cards.

So, here's my run with Elk's deck:

I believe lack of interaction is the deck's main flaw, I missed the bounce from Zen's version for example, so things either snowballed into a board my opponent couldn't handle or I'd eventually get defeated by value or have my key defenders removed and was left without options.

Game 1 (Draw) vs Bant Mid-Range (Loss)
Kept a 2-lander hand.
He goes T2 selfless spirit and T3 dec on my dork.
I got mana screwed holding 3 weavers in my hand and only 2 lands for several turns, along with big expensive stuff I couldn't cast.
When land finally came, it was too late and I couldn't catch up and stabilize.

Game 2 (Play) vs Orzhov Tokens (Win)
This time I mulled that 2 lander and kept a better hand.
T2 dork, T3 bounty, which got anguished next.
He plays T4 anointed procession, then cast start // finish which gave him a tonne of tokens.
I got out bellower and pulled rec sage to kill his procession before it got out of hand. I was getting a bit flooded, so I copied bellower to get out a tracker and make a big creature.
The Copy ate a finish, but his tokens started to run out with the procession against my bigger board.
I attack with the tracker and he forgets I can pop clues to pump it and rage quit.
I played on vs AI, killed his Gideon and Ulamog and ballista clear the way FTW.

Game 3 (play) vs goodstuff? (loss)
I got a really good start, T2 dork, T3 tracker + land for a clue.
He rec saged my clue, which I thought was a desperate move and meant he was in trouble...
A ballista for 2 cleared the sage and I'm pretty confident, making lots of clues.
But then, he eventually top-decked a murder for my tracker and I start popping all the clues I accumulated and start to flood really heavily.
It was flood city central on my side, so much so, he cast a distended mindbender and I didn't discard squat because all I was holding was land.
He eventually starts dropping fatties and I'm left with... more land....
You people and your 25 land decks... Lands aren't good match-ups against 5/5 beaters... oh well...

Game 4 (Play) Golgari trials/cartouches (WIN)
Mulled a 1 lander, kept an ok hand.
Black trial makes me sac weaver. Oath of lilly gets my tracker which were my first plays.
Without dorks, I was getting mana-screwed again, but flip nissa comes to my rescue.
I copy his rec sage to kill the oath (fearing Planeswalkers would show up), then eventually got bellower to kill his black trial he was keen on recurring.
I then dropped a hydra and got out rogue's passage, which prompted a rage quit even though he was close to 30 life at this point.
He has Rhonas out, but since he lacked any friends, he just sat there as I got out some fat and proceded to take big chunks out of his life until it was over.

Game 5 (Play) vs Snek deck (WIN)
This was a close one.
T1 he plays hub + Map, so I don't know what I'm up against.
I got for T2 Advocate and T3 flip nissa.
Meanwhile he plays Oviyah (I have seen this card a lot, but have never seen anyone actually make tokens with it...) and durable handicraft???
T4 I got distracted and played ego instead of bounty (its gold, similar casting cost and I wasn't paying attention :face palm:) so I went and made another advocate.
He then plays constrictor (big problem for this deck) and I finally figure his game plan.
I drop the bounty, then draw and play another Advocate and tracker and start making clues. He drops weaponcraft enthusiast and makes a bunch of servos.
I figure that 3 advocates is enough to sacrifice one to decrease his blockers so I attack... He brings out avacyn... Oh ****.
Kyora dies to avacyn, but I get recruiter and dig and get a Hydra (saved!)
Hydra comes down and gets a passage and I drop another land, keeping the hydra bigger than avacyn. Nissa flips and I get more land off her +1 (In this case I'm happy, because I need a big hydra!)
He then plays little nissa and selfless spirit and gives everybody double tokens. Hydra is still too big for avacyn.
Bounty draws me Ulamog! Yay!
Next turn he sac the handricraft, makes everybody huge and goes for it. I chump with everybody and keep the hydra and an advocate. He sacs his selfless spirit, doesn't kill me and will flip avacyn next turn.
He's at 14 life, I have nissa to +1 and ulamog in hand. Hydra is 9/9 and I have a 4/5 advocate... They'll both survive avacyn's flip... The tension begins...
I top a land! Yes! I +1 nissa all the same and get a dork. Ulamog comes in to save the day, exiling the flipped avacyn (only blocker) and that annoying snake. My hydra just became 10/10, so I attack with advocate and hydra into a tapped board that would kill me next turn with exactly the damage I needed. Dramatic stuff!

So Elk's deck gets to 3-2 and equals modulo's and zen's decks in results. I did get lucky that last game... If the deck gets its pieces going it can steamroll, if it doesn't... So consistency is a big issue. much like all the other ramp decks I tested. This deck is hurt by lack of interaction, that constrictor for example made me have to race, because I have very few ways to remove it, so I have to pray for a misplay from my opp or to get very good draws to win big, and fast. I am impressed by the bounty, that card does a lot of work and was great whenever I dropped it, giving me fast ramp and extra cards.

Adds: Nature's way could be interesting here, much like in modulo's deck. Or some mass-bounce with the expertise, to remove key blockers and slow opp down and clear the way for big hits.

Cuts: Nothing was bad, the serpopard only showed up against the token deck and it was useful for a suicide, clear 3x 1/1s attack... No counter control around atm... Gearhulk swap seems legit, but doesn't really fix the deck's main issues. Maybe the veggies could go, with all the land I drew and the other ramp, I hardly needed them and I think I only drew them once anyway. The weavers also weren't that great, especially when they ate removal... Rhonas didn't feel like showing up either...

I'm so happy to see Elk getting the love two contests in a row. It makes for one sentimental Barney.

Elk's Chubby Chaser
Record: 5-2
Notes: pretty solid, smooth ramp here. The major weakness I see is a lack of removal and any sort of lifegain to mess with aggro. Might be worth finding space for a couple Imprisoned in the Moon or Commit, and maybe a renewal for a vegetation.
MVP: Altered Ego is great here for replicating the EtB abilities of the green utility creatures.
Ditch: nothing's particularly weak, the Serpopard for Gearhulk switch is probably a good one. I guess the most expendable pieces might be Rhona and Kiora.

Alright folks, still one day to test these lists and vote if you already didn't. It's interesting how every voter has voted the same list, while the other votes are only the second picks.

The title helped

Thanks for the games/feedback guys. You're both right too. The deck needs some sort of interaction. A lot of it fell on the criteria of the contest though. I probably should have run a bounce/looping option since I was in (which I really didn't want to submit) or incidental life gain (which several of the ideas weakened the overall deck or made it more midrange with the exception of Nissa's Renewal which unfortunately is too late in the curve to be effective ramp outside of Ulamog) but I really would have preferred a third color option (especially in a deck that could easily fix it's mana) or been allowed to submit a mono green option. Don't get me wrong, there needs to be guidelines to a contest but there are definitely times where it's restricting and doesn't fit what I'm hoping to create (or where my building/testing takes me).

Regardless, I'm grateful for all the input and time spent by folks testing as well as everybody who's supported my submission. It's greatly appreciated! Thank you.


elk

Giocher's Big Ramp Compensation
Record: 3-4
Notes: burned through way too many mulligans tossing out hands that featured one or fewer non-ramp cards; it's great to be able to play the biggest stuff quickly, but if you don't draw that stuff right away the lack of versatility here really hurts.
MVP: I guess Sandwurm Convergence over ulamog. Getting it out t6 is usually pretty critical to stop the bleeding. In that vein, the life gain here is really important, more so than the fogs, because the critical early turns you really want all your mana usage to be going toward something productive.
Ditch: I think one pull from tomorrow is enough, and maybe pull Spring for a couple Displacement Wave. Need something here to knock out wide boards.



Final notes: Elk gets my vote. I may put some more time into my build to try to make it more consistent cause I enjoy the angelic recursion thing, but for the most part I'm done with ramp. I tried building a version of that fog bounce list cucho posted, but playing it made me hate myself. Back to aggro for me.

Another cool ramp deck reverse engineered that I faced twice on the ladder this one was a WG+Colorless ramp deck that features your recursion theme by a guy named Limbocentral (most obnoxious and damn powerful decks in the iOs ladder) It looked something like this:

Edit it was Ruin In Their Wake instead of fork on the road.

This deck brings the angelic recursion into a nightmare scenario... anyone that finds that attractive that list can deliver (it was what I could figure out after two games against it so this clearly is not the optimised list).

On to the next one
PS: Joker please something more aggressive!

Thanks Cucho, that's a super interesting list, I'll have to try it.

Congrats Elky! Two in a row!!

Again my input for next contest would be placing -1/-1 counters on your own creatures or taking creatures out of your own graveyard

Would love contests around that. No colour restrictions

Nicely done ELK! Congrats!! Two in a row definitively puts you on the elite deck builder list in my book.