MTG Salvation

A guy at the local store built a deck similar to this and I saw the idea on another forum a while ago, but this is my crack at it. The basic idea is to play lots of interesting lands. The wincons are based on Retrace, Manlands, Domain, and a couple random land related kills.




The basic game plan is to survive using protection cards until you have enough lands to start dumping tokens into play. There are a couple nifty synergies in the deck, many of which people will know:

Disk/O-Stone + Academy Ruins = Keep the board clear

Diamond Valley/High Market + Child of Alara = More keeping the board clear

Eternal Witness + Volrath's Stronghold = Constant recursion

Crucible of Worlds + Strip Mine/Tectonic Edges/Dust Bowl = Repeating land destruction (use only in emergencies!)

Crucible of Worlds + Glacial Chasm + Extra Lands Every Turn = Getting around Chasm's upkeep

Prismatic Omen + Valakut + Scapeshift = Massive damage!

Prismatic Omen + Last Stand = Just plain fun

Life from the Loam + Cycling Lands = Draw Engine

Any thoughts? Cards to put in, take out?

Cards already considered and cut: Knight of the Reliquary, Terravore, Warp World, Rampaging Baloths, Rude Awakening, Savage Conception, most manlands, Manabond, Mouth of Ronom, Zuran Orb, Urza's Factory, Kabira Crossroads, Rude Awakening, SDT

Change Log:
Sakura-Tribe Scout > Expedition Map
Seismic Assault > Spitting Image
Sacred Ground > Karmic Justice

I really, really like this. 5 color lands makes for good times. Last Stand seems like a pretty epic play with Prismatic out

As far as suggestions, I don't think you could go wrong with Spitting Image, especially in a multiplayer environment. Great card. And maybe Genesis to keep up some CA with your Witness?

Also, did you not include Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth/Cabal Coffers for any particular reason? Urborg at least could make your utility lands like Tabernacle and DD tap for mana.

The only card I don't really like here is Sakura-Tribe Scout... but it's still pretty good. Budoka Gardener is just a lot better, and I think you already have a fair amount of mana accel. Once you get a Burgeoning or something on the table you'll pretty much never be holding another land (except to Retrace stuff) anyway.

Really nice deck; let us know how it ends up!

Wait a sec, back this up. You CUT Top? I'm confused and intrigued... I mean, besides being amazing on its own, in landdrop.dec you could easily pair it with Oracle of Mul Daya to get stupid mana accel.

Quote from destinytrigger

Wait a sec, back this up. You CUT Top? I'm confused and intrigued... I mean, besides being amazing on its own, in landdrop.dec you could easily pair it with Oracle of Mul Daya to get stupid mana accel.

o.O

"SDT" didn't register... I'm a bit surprised as well. Keramac, could you explain your thinking on this?

Why not put Ad Nauseam in here? It's already better with 40-life totals, and it would be even less of a life cost in this deck.

Also, for tutors, Expedition Map looks right up your alley in tutoring up any of your extensive collection of lands.

I'll start from the top:

Last Stand with Prismatic Omen is, indeed, epic

For the record, all of the suggestions have been really good. The only problem is that the deck is really tight for slots. There are way more cards that are good with land than actual just good land. And I would like to keep my 60/39 land/non-land split.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers: Black is the least used color, so without a Prismatic Omen or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Cabal Coffers is almost useless. I didn't include Urborg as a fixer because I wanted to slot in a Swamp to fetch with Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds. It is good though... Any thoughts on what to take out? Maybe Crystal Quarry, I never seem to need the five colors. Await updates! I might also throw in Riftstone Portal for mana smoothing.

Sakura-Tribe Scout is there because this deck needs a way to power out an extra land per turn early. Is it good? Not particularly, but sometimes it is needed, especially with all the sweepers I run. I may swap it out.

Spitting Image is also really good. I like my balance of win-cons at the moment, any idea which one it should replace?

I cut Top mostly for space and time reasons. In an earlier build of this, it was UWG and I ran Trinket Mage and Top, which was good. It doesn't combo with Oracle of Mul Daya, but does with Future Sight. Any idea what to cut for it? Top is always good and I would love to slot one in.

I cannot believe I missed Expedition Map - I will find a way to cram that in now.

Ad Nauseam seems like it could be really explosive - I played it in the original BGW list of this. It never really lived up to expectation, because the average mana cost in the deck is 1.1 so it is just a faster Phyrexian Arena, the other draw options are slower but more consistent and there are enough 5-, 6-, and 7- drops to make it dangerous at low life totals to dig.

How have Fabricate and Idyllic Tutor been working? They're usually good cards, but what they fetch is extremely limited here; all of the other tutors you're playing are much stronger.

Do you usually make good use of the additional wrath effects you run? Seems like Child would be more than adequate, usually - and you could always run something like Fist of Suns to make up for the additional command zone costs.

I'd also almost rather run something like Karmic Justice over Sacred Ground... Ground seems very good here, but it's easy to get rid of. Justice is at the very least a Vindicate if they deal with it right away. I guess if you had Sterling Grove out Ground would probably stick around for a while.

Fabricate and Idyllic Tutor have filled their role - Crucible of Worlds and Prismatic Omen are so important that almost any way to fetch them is good.

The artifact based removal is really useful for dealing with color screw. Also, Child of Alara's ability would remove Fist of Suns, so unless she already has two removals you aren't making her any cheaper.

Good call on Sacred Ground. Changed the deck accordingly.

What I meant by comboing with the Oracle was that between being able to put any land in the top 3 on top and the sheer volume of search effects you run, you will almost always hit two land drops.

Do you think Dune-Brood Nephilim would be worth trying?

Looks pretty good! Is there a reason why you chose to exclude vampire hexmage? (saw dark depths)

Quote from Keramac

Fabricate and Idyllic Tutor have filled their role - Crucible of Worlds and Prismatic Omen are so important that almost any way to fetch them is good.

The artifact based removal is really useful for dealing with color screw. Also, Child of Alara's ability would remove Fist of Suns, so unless she already has two removals you aren't making her any cheaper.

Good call on Sacred Ground. Changed the deck accordingly.

Doh! Right, I guess Fist would die with everything else...

I'll take your word for it on the tutors. I haven't played this deck myself, so perhaps they are worthwhile to slot for. Maybe consider a hard tutor, like Demonic Collusion or Diabolic Tutor? Then again, you do have more than one target for both Idyllic and Fabricate.

Demonic Collusion and Diabolic Tutor are both great cards, but what you actually get in terms of added value is very small - you would only ever really want to fetch Avenger of Zendikar as a creature and Last Stand as a sorcery. Also, the double black casting cost could stretch the mana.

I didn't include Vampire Hexmage for a few reasons:

a) The chances of getting the pairing of Dark Depths and Hex is pretty small, considering my lack of creature tutors

b) Vampire Hexmage is not that good on its own. Why use it to get rid of PWs when I can Disk/Stone/Child them?

c) The combo is a bit cheesy, even for me.

Dune-Brood Nephilim was looked at. The sheer awesomeness of playing Nephilim was weighed against the improbability of actually getting a 3/3 in for combat damage, and reason prevailed.

Firstly, I have to say I love this idea, and may have to try my own attempt at some point in the future.

Secondly, are you considering running Primeval Titan, the recently spoiled M11 card? He's got a hefty cost, but he's repeatable search for pretty much any lands you need at the time.

Holy... Balls... Yes.

That looks ridiculous.

So i just built this deck and have been playing it non stop for a few weeks and here are some of my suggestions

Replenish is mandatory. Exploration, Burgeoning, Prismatic Omen (in my case Manabond cause i'm greedy), are all really nice to be able to bring back. Especially if you play Child of Alara, bash, sac it to Miren, wrath the table and then bring back all your money cards.

Expedition Map + Academy Ruins = Infinite 3cc Demonic Tutor

No Barbarian Ring?

No Rishadan Port?

Also this could just be because everyone in my playgroup plays blue, but Boseiju, Who Shelters All

Also, my arguement for Ad Nauseum and Treasure Hunt is that I play Seismic Assault

BTW i can't believe i forgot Halls of Mist! Thanks for that

Thanks for responding.

Replenish seems like it could be good - I had Crystal Chimes in for a while because they can be recurred with Academy Ruins, but it never really worked out for me. On the other hand, I've found I rarely need all my enchantments back at once. Eternal Witness once a turn works well. I may test this out.

Barbarian Ring and Rishadan Port are just too small. They are good cards, but in EDH they seem to be flicking peas against a boulder.

Boseiju, Who Shelters All is on my "keep on hand" list. I don't think I'll have much problem with lots of counters, but if I do it's finding a slot.

I cut Seismic Assault a bit back. I found it wasn't enough oomph, and the RRR casting cost was rough.

From your comments, it seems like your build is a faster, more aggro version of the deck. That's cool, but I like the tempo of mine

Also, this is just a thought out loud for the community: What about Island of Wak-Wak? Seems like it could be a good Maze of Ith #2 against angels and dragons and other random fliers, oh my!

Quote from Keramac

Holy... Balls... Yes.

That looks ridiculous.

Haha, my thoughts exactly. Primeval had BETTER be in every green deck... ever. He's crazy.

I think Rishadan Port is worth checking out. It may seem trivial at times, but some games will hinge on you being able to keep a mono-green player's Gaea's Cradle (or similar ridiculous land) tapped down - and you can also use it to keep manlands at bay. It's always nice to be able to lock another 5cc deck out of a color.

Loving this list. Exactly what I was looking for. Have you ever considered Eternity Vessel? Eternity Vessel + Glacial Chasm is so much win. And Wootwoot for Primeval Titan...he's going to work so well. Sun Titan will recur lands as well as all of your important enchantments.

Thanks!

Sun Titan is also going to be a bomb, but not on the same scale as Primeval Titan. Double land-tutor + 6/6 + trampley goodness is just amazing.

Eternity Vessel is pretty much golden. I will definitely try to find a spot for it somewhere. Good call!

Deadboots: While Rishadan Port is very good at keeping a land tapped down, if I really need to get rid of a problem land I have Strip Mine, Tectonic Edge and Dust Bowl. If I need more I can get a Wasteland or Ghost Quarter as well.

Out of curiousity, why did Manabond not work out for you? I've been considering one as I haven't been able to get an Exploration.

The deck draws a surprising number of cards but can usually play lots of lands. Because of that, the discard aspect of Manabond is incredibly harsh - you simply can't afford to lose your non-lands. Great card in the Legacy list, but it doesn't work here.

Is there a reason you aren't playing Urborg, Tomb of yawgmoth? I play a deck pretty similar to this, and Urborg makes Last Stand kill players, even without prismatic omen, along with allowing things like Maze of Ith and Tabernacle pay for stuff, which has been pretty crucial at some points. It's sort of like an uncounterable prismatic omen in some ways, though not nearly as awesome with Valakut.


I'm also a little curious why you don't want to play Terra Eternal. Makes your manlands awesome, makes you geddon-proof, tutorable via Idyllic Tutor/Enlightened Tutor. Seems pretty okay to me. I mean, to be fair, it makes other players lands indestructible too, but considering your land base, it still doesn't seem quite symmetrical.


HOnestly, I've been considering adding Sanguine Bond to my list, because it 'combos' with last stand, and because then Nomad Stadium and ZUran Orb become win conditions and ways to stay alive longer, which is especially awesome when you have 3 or 4 land drops per turn.

This is the list I've been playing on MWS and in real life with proxies (unfortunately I can't shell out $400 for a Tabernacle). I've been compiling an alternative list for real life tournament play and I think I'll include Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Riftstone Portal in that.

Terra Eternal is good, and I even have a foily version, but I found not being able to use the recurring LD of Strip Mine et al. was too much to pay. Karmic Justice is better, IMO.

Sanguine Bond could be interesting... Although I think that nonland slots are already really tight.

I see you tested Crystal Chimes? What exactly was wrong with it? I've tried Skull of Orm, and it's been pretty okay. Not as huge of an upside any single time, but it's also not quite as threatening, and it's more of an engine for less investment over time.

There wasn't so much anything wrong with Crystal Chimes, it just wasn't good enough. Eternal Witness is vastly preferable. In the deck with Crystal Chimes, I wasn't running black so I couldn't abuse Volrath's Stronghold. With it, EWit becomes fantastic in all situations.