This popcorn I'm eating is delicious.
Oh sorry, I was going to say something relevant in this post. Something you would approve of, not just pointless rantings.
Oh Lolcats. Thank you for your approval.
You make me rofl.
Oh, right. Red and Green spells.
I thought that, instead of just posting decks ad nauseum, I'd actually share my thoughts on this deck and talk about match ups and stuff.
I played this deck at my FNM this evening and went 5-0-1 against fine competition.
Next Level Big Mana
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wall of Roots
4 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Cloudthresher
4 Harmonize
4 Skred
4 Into the North
3 Incinerate
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Pyrohemia
2 Primal Command
7 Snow-Covered Forest
5 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Treetop Village
3 Highland Weald
3 Mouth of Ronom
2 Mutavault
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Sulfurous Vortex
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Primal Command
(Very) Short Report:
# of players: 14 (4 rounds, cut to top 4)
Round 1: 2-1 win, 5 Color Elementals (actually, he straight borrowed my deck)
Beat me in game 2 because I basically can't beat Horde of Notions. That card is sooo goooood.
Round 2: 2-0 win, UG Aggro-Control
Mystic Snake is annoying, but decks that play 2/2s for 4 don't beat me. My 2/2 costs 5. And brings friends. Feel free to Venser him. Anyway, red and green spells win me the game.
Round 3: 2-0 win, BR Grave Pact Gobs
He gets mana screwed both games. I Command an Urborg to his library that delays him even more in a game. Also relevant: he didn't get a GravePact in either of these games. Not a good example of this match up.
Round 4: I.D., UB Faeries
I won the 2 playtest games we played, post board game 2. I resolve Pyrohemia in game 2 when he has a pair of Bitterblossoms in play. GG.
Semis: 2-0 win, UWr Reveillark Blink
He doesn't have the combo in his deck (aka 1 Mirror Entity), but has Av Riders and Boom/Bust, which is annoying. Venser Blink makes things odd and annoying, but game 1 ends in a couple 4/5 Goyfys getting it for me. This match up shows my sideboard off, as I bring in everything except Sulfur Blasts (which and argument could be made that they should've come in too). Game 2 was pretty gosh darn epic. Mana Tithe counters 3 of my spells, I play 2 Red-kromas which dies to Wraths, etc. He's at 1 for a few turns before I topdeck Incinerate.
Finals: 2-0 win, BR Grave Pact Gobs
He is mana screwed game 1 and mana flooded game 2. Anticlimatic.
Won 10 packs, opened a Mauler, Crusher, foil Blackguard and Colossus. And some other irrelevant stuff (like a Primal Beyond for my Elementals!).
Breakdown time. First, the creatures:
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wall of Roots
4 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Cloudthresher
This is close to what I want the creatures to look like in this deck. Chameleon Colossus is mediocre in my experience compared to what i have. Same goes for Spectral Force and... well, anything else I've tried to stick in there. These 15 just work. Most games SCG and Cloudthresher are the heavy lifters and win it for me. Wall of Roots is amazing and would be even more insane if the most popular deck in the meta, faeries, couldn't just fly over it (obv). Still, gets me lots of extra mana and for that I love it very much.
Goyf is... fine.
Sorry, what's that you say?
Goyf is average. Worst of the four creatures in the deck by far, imo. Sometimes (like in the semis game 1) a big Goyf or two will just get you there. But in my opinion it's the second worst card in the deck.
I think that i will +1 Cloudthresher, -1 Goyf in the future when I battle with this.
Yes, that means not running 4 Goyfs in a deck that runs green.
Shocker.
Cragganwick Cremator, Woodfall Primus, Fulminator Mage and Deus of Calamity come to mind as possible test subjects when Shadowmoor arives for other slots.
How about the non-creatures:
4 Harmonize
4 Skred
4 Into the North
3 Incinerate
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Pyrohemia
2 Primal Command
Harmonize and Into the North are why this deck runs. Leading with those guys on turns 2 and 3 seems to be the best ways to open that this deck has to offer, of course followed by a Gang of Four* on turn four and a Big Green Windshield** turn 5. Skred kills any creature for R (take that, Deathmark). I took down a Gargadon today with one, which was ridiculous that I can spend 1 mana and kill a 9/7 (equally ridiculous: getting a 9/7 for 1 mana, but such is life. at least he had to wait like 5 turns). Incinerate is the worst card in the deck by far, but it burns creatures or face and sometimes you just gotta burn face. Garruk is unfair and sometimes just won me a game by himself. I was thinking of taking them out, but they were actually relevant every time I drew one so I think I'll keep him. Pyrohemia was a meta choice since Fae is so big right now (and 4 of the 14 in our tourney were Fae) and was amazing. It's a straight up trump card against Bitterblossom. Primal Command is great great great. Did I mention it's great? Either by gaining me 7 and searching for a creature against aggro or by putting a land/Bitterblossom/whatever on top of an opponent's library and then having them shuffle their graveyard shenanigans back into their deck along with the land. I'm very happy with it as a 2-of.
As good at Pyrohemia was, I believe I will instead add +2 Sulfurous Blast from the sideboard and -2 Reds-tilence from the deck and put 'em in the sb in their place. It just so happened they were more insane than Blasts would have been today.
I may try Poison the Well, but that seems like a more likely sideboard choice. I am straight up adding 4 Fire Javelin to this thing, as that card is actually the Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-Nuts.
Some people would say to me, "Hey what about Firespout?" And I say, "It looks pretty good. But not 'replace your Sulfur Blasts with me' good." End story.
Every deck needs mana, especially if you're Big Mana... and especially if you're Next Level Big Mana!
7 Snow-Covered Forest
5 Snow-Covered Mountain
4 Treetop Village
3 Highland Weald
3 Mouth of Ronom
2 Mutavault
As you can see, I have nine 1-drops in this deck... my 7 CitP tapped lands or getting my Mutavault active for turn 2. I don't run the usual 10 accel spells (2 Search for Tomorrow or something), but I run an extra land (24). Snow mana is a must because of how insane Into the North and Skred are, so I don't think those need to be explained. I had 4 Weald, but 3 is plenty. Mouth is a role player. I'm never really psyched to see it, but it lets me search for something relevant to do with my mana if I topdeck a late game ItN or draw it. Expendable, but a fine card. Treetop Village ruins house by itself and is an auto 4-of. If you run less in a deck like this I will destroy you with my mana base. Same goes for Mutavault. Only a brace of 'Vaults because I needs all the colored mana I can and running more than 5 colorless lands seems loose. 5 is bad enough, so we'll not push it.
Trying the new Cairns land wouldn't be out of order for this deck, but it seems unnecessary. If the Deus actually ends up being insane in this deck then I will probably take out a Mouth or two (maybe even Mutavault) for this land.
Sideboard? Surely.
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Sulfurous Blast
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
3 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Primal Command
Magus is insane. Best ever, actually. Nonbasics aren't just for Extended anymore. Shuts people down by itself a lot of the time. plus, it beats for 2!
I am on record in an episode of The Magic Show saying that Sulfurous Blast is the best card in Standard. I stand by that statement. I look at it like this:
Step 1: Play Standard
Step 2: ????
Step 3: PROFIT!
Turns out, ???? = Have Sulfurous Blast. If only those gnomes in South Park knew what I know.
Akroma was iffy. I didn't have anything better to add in there so i kept her in since I was expecting Reveillark. Also, not being able to be countered and having Pro-Blue is relevant against fae. i think she's the best 8 mana creature i can use (yes Jorts, better than Hellkite) and she's relevant in this meta, so she's ok... for now.
Acid-Moss beats Reveillark for a living. Probably keeping it no matter what.
Extra Primal Command, how I love thee. There was a burn deck that was like 5th place, and gaining 7 life is actually the most relevant thing ever. Doing it 4th turn off of acceleration is even better. Love this card.
Well, that's it I guess.
Done with my popcorn.
Reubs
*Best nickname for Siege-Gang Commander ever. Also, a really good band. Look 'em up... and pick up the nickname.
**Best nickname for Cloudthresher ever. Whoever came up with it is a genius, and I called it the Big Green Windshield at the tourney. Squish all your bugs, bro-ham!
Tags: Tmp Red Spells Green Cloudthresher Big Mana Siege Gang Commander Tarmogoyf
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Magic: the Gathering
