This deck is the genesis of three different ideas. The first came from my Teneb, the Harvester deck. It had a fantastic mana engine, vomitting lands onto the table willy-nilly, and then used the mana advantage to leverage a Reveillark combo kill. The combo got old quickly, but I still enjoyed the overwhelming mana advantage the deck could generate. The second idea came from my Mayael the Anima deck, where Warp World was the single funnest card in the deck, often resulting in me having enough fat in play to one-shot everyone the turn after casting Warp World. Sadly, Naya has zero good tutors for Warp World, so this didn't happen very often. The third idea is that I've long wanted to play a Jund deck but could not find a way to differentiate it from my friend's Kresh list so I never built one. Then I got the idea to turn Teneb's mana engine to a far more interesting purpose: Warp World. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Why Xira?
Initially Xira Arien was a placeholder until I could pick up a Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund. I figured that a 7/7 hasted flying general would make a pretty good plan B in case I couldn't Warp World. Xira, however, has more than proven her worth. She's a cheap general to cast, she's non-threatening, and a good source of card advantage. There have been many times I've gotten the all-mana draw and used Xira to dig my way out of it. She's also not central to the deck's theme and cheap to cast, so she's pretty handy to up my permanent count by one pre-Warp World.
4a. Land
The Forest dual lands are pretty key to the deck's succes, as a lot of the land searchers find Forests specifically. All 9 fetches are present to maximize landfall. You could use the Mirage fetches (Bad River, Mountain Valley, Grasslands, and Rocky Tar Pit) plus Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds in place of them if necessary, but it will slow the deck down quite a bit.
Bojuka Bog: Random graveyard hate that doesn't take a normal card slot.
Gaea's Cradle: This is a creature heavy deck with a token sub-theme. Gaea's Cradle is an obvious inclusion, and makes an excellent Primeval Titan target.
Kher Keep: Produces a lot of tokens, whether for Warp World, Skullclamp, or just chump blockers.
Mosswort Bridge: Hideaway lands are pretty fun, and it's really easy to trigger this one. Casting a Warp World on someone else's turn to make sure your triggers go off first is pretty brutal.
Phyrexian Tower: Sacrifice outlet that takes up a land slot. Gets pretty good with Bloodghast.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Never lack for black mana. If I had more non-basic land search I'd put a Cabal Coffers in to go with it. This could easily be a basic swamp.
Volrath's Stronghold: It's mainly here to get back Eternal Witness or Anarchist so that you can continue casting WW. It's a nice ability to have access to, but I rarely use it.
4b. World Shapers Warp World (WW): This is the crux of the deck. This card is your #1 game plan. The first thing to notice is that there are only six cards in the deck that will not come into play off of WW, including two planeswalkers. That means that it's nearly impossible to lower your permanent count post WW, unless you start with ten or less and get unlucky. I generally Warp around a permanent count of 15-20, unless I'm playing against heavy permission decks, in which case I Warp as soon as I can get it to resolve. Generally speaking, a permanent count of 30 or more will result in at minimum the ability to Warp again immediately (with an increased permanent count), and usually a table kill. With the high amount of permanents that generate more permanents when they come into play, it's not hard to keep increasing the permanent count in between casts, with the Avenger of Zendikar and Rampaging Baloths being true all-stars.
Genesis Wave: This might as well be Warp World #2 in the sense that both vomit a ton of permanents on the table. Both cards impose the same deckbuilding constraints, requiring a large amount of permanents in your deck to be effective. Genesis Wave is better in that you get to add to your board position instead of resetting it, but it's worse in that it doesn't disrupt anyone else and it costs quite a bit more. For best results pair it with Gaea's Cradle and/or Cabal Coffers+Urborg.
Living Death: This is there as a third game-altering affect. It's best used in conjunction with Survival of the Fittest or Greater Good. Don't be afraid to Living Death early if you can get decent value out of it.
4c. Post Warp World win conditions Fires of Yavimaya + Madrush Cyclops: These are both here to give your new army haste. There's nothing worse than seeing your 12 12/13 plant tokens get waxed by a sweeper, and that's where these two cards step in.
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: Usually not capable of killing the entire table, he has been known to one-shot someone post WW and come down with 30+ power. He also plays very well with Primeval Titan.
4d. Sacrifice Outlets
The key to these are that they're 1)free to use and 2)reusable. Pretty much anything goes as long as it fits these two criteria.
Dimir House Guard: If you don't have a WW, he starts a tutor chain by grabbing Diabolic Tutor. If he shows up post WW, he's more than happy to start chowing down on the rest of your creatures.
Liliana Vess: A tutor that also increases your permanent count. It's unfortunate she doesn't come into play off of WW. Can also be used as a late-game win condition if you can protect her for a few turns.
Survival of the Fittest: When I draw this early, I generally switch to the Living Death plan and start filling my graveyard with fatties. Be careful to not overextend into your graveyard if you're playing against a lot of gy hate.
Fauna Shaman: Survival's weaker cousin, Fauna Shaman still gets the job done.
Eternal Witness and Anarchist: The Anarchist is here entirely to double the chances of getting back Warp World after casting it. The Witness is, of course, essential in any green deck.
Charnelhoard Wurm: I've been pleasantly surprised by this guy. I've seen him set up a recurring Fleshbag Marauder soft-lock, as well as rebuying tutors and other miscellaneous cards. He works best when you have something that gives him haste.
Bloom Tender: Turn 2 Tender lets you play Xira on turn 3 for free and then untap with 7 mana on turn 4. One of the best accelerants if you have a general that costs exactly XYZ.
Garruk Wildspeaker: He's basically here as an Explosive Vegetation that can also make tokens.
Lotus Cobra: He's decent when you run him out early, but he turns into an all-star when you reveal him for Warp World. This slot might be win more, but I've never been unhappy to see him.
Primeval Titan: One of the best cards in the deck hands down. I often search out a pair of fetches with him just to make my landfall guys that much more dangerous.
Oracle of Mul Daya: Extra landfall, plus he clears the land from the top of your library to ensure that you draw gas every turn.
4g. Token Producers Avenger of Zendikar: Absolutely ridiculous. It produces the most tokens and, with some help from the landfall enablers, the largest tokens. When you reveal it off of a Warp World it's possible to stack the triggers so that you first get the tokens, then they get pumped for each land revealed, resulting in X X/X+1 tokens where X is the number of lands Warp World put into play.
Awakening Zone and Bitterblossom: Enchantments that sit in play and accumulate tokens. Eldrazi Spawn ramp you, Faeries can ping for minor damage. Both work really well with Skullclamp.
Grave Titan: Three permanents in one card, and two more every time he swings. With something that grants haste, your army grows absurd fairly quickly.
Emrakul's Hatcher and Siege-Gang Commander: Here mainly because they're four permanents in one card, they're occasionally useful for their abilities as well. They are two of the weaker slots in the deck.
Mitotic Slime and Symbiotic Wurm: These are both pretty underwhelming while building up to a Warp World, but they're key post WW in that both let Stalking Vengeance and Vicious Shadows do some serious damage. The Slime is 12 SV damage and 7 VS triggers, while the Wurm is 14 SV damage and 8 VS triggers.
Rampaging Baloths: This is almost as absurd as Avenger of Zendikar. With a bit of work, it's not uncommon to be able to crank out 4 or more beasts the turn you cast this, not to mention how many beasts it generates when you Warp into it.
4h. Removal
This deck is lighter on removal than I would normally run a jund deck, simply because Warp World acts as a global reset for any of the more absurd game states.
Acidic Slime, Terastodon, Woodfall Primus: These are the utility removal spells, taking out annoying non-creature permanents. The Terastodon usually feels like a mono-green Violent Ultimatum, except it also drops a 9/9 onto the table. The Primus loves all the sacrifice outlets in the deck.
Big Game Hunter and Duplicant: These are the spot creature removal guys. BGH is chosen over Shriekmaw or the like because there are a lot of black decks in my metagame, plus the madness comes in handy surprisingly often.
Pernicious Deed: General catch-all sweeper. Also counts as a permanent so it can sit in play if it's not needed.
4i. Card Advantage Skullclamp: The best way to abuse all the X/1's in the deck, this card is utterly busted with Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton. Turning land drops into 1: Draw 2, or just letting you go 2B: Draw 2 cards seems pretty reasonable, doesn't it?
Graveborn Muse, Phyrexian Arena, Sylvan Library: Incremental card advantage. They usually go unnoticed in my playgroup, and just sit in play generating quite a few cards over the course of a game.
Lightning Greaves: Does double duty by hasting your guys up and protecting them from spot removal.
Lurking Predators: This deck has a pretty high creature count so this card can fill the battlefield very quickly if left unchecked.
Sensei's Diving Top: With all the shuffle effects this deck runs, it's very easy to see a fresh set of three cards whenever you want, making the Top much better in this deck than in most that run it.
4k. Cards that don't quite make the cut
Deathbringer Thoctar: Useful to clear out token hoards. Cut because its effect isn't that powerful when there aren't any token hoards to clear out.
Tajuru Preserver: Useful if your meta is infested with things like the Eldrazi or Death Cloud.
Vexing Shusher: Helps out if your meta has a lot of countermagic.
Genesis: A great way to recover dead creatures, but it's very slow, vulnerable, and mana-intensive. In my group, a Genesis in my graveyard is just begging to make me the target of Tormod's Crypt, so it never sticks around long enough to be productive.
5. Why you should/should not play this deck
You might like this deck if:
-You enjoy chaotic effects.
-You enjoy combo decks, but don't want to the same thing to happen every game.
-You like huge mana acceleration.
-You like Warp World.
You might not like this deck if
-You dislike using pen+paper to keep track of the triggered abilities.
-You dislike shuffling. (seriously, at least once a turn for the entire game)
-Your playgroup hates random effects.
I ran a warp world deck revolving around Kresh a while back (currently rebuilding it with Sedris) but I have a couple of questions regarding card choices.
First, how have the three Eldrazi Spawn producer creatures been treating you? Have you considered somethinkg like Skeletal Vampire which has a bit more power and can produce a few more tokens instead? I'm also a fan of Nath of the Gilt-Leaf but he doesnt have as much of an immediate effect but becomes more disruptive.
Secondly I see that you are running some landfall abilities and I was wondering if you considered running Perilous Forays with bloodghast cause that can get pretty nasty.
And last of all, did you consider running any Infinite combos that you can hit off of warp world? I'm not sure if there are any good ones but just a consideration.
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I really don't like Goodstuff, which makes me a Self-Proclaimed EDH Hipster. I'm also an avid theory-crafter, most of which are terrible.
Re: Eldrazi Spawn makers Emrakul's Hatcher has been pretty solid, mainly because 4 permanents in one card. The mana ramp can be quite useful at times too. Kozilek's Predator, on the other hand, has been pretty underwhelming. I'd like to find something to replace him with. I've considered Skeletal Vampire, but the 6 mana cost isn't very attractive when I already have a fairly high curve. The Pawn of Ulamog is there mainly to double my creature count when I'm killing people with Vicious Shadows triggers. It can occasionaly be absurd with Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton too.
Re: Landfall
I'd love to pick up a Perilous Forays for the deck, but I'd have to order online to find one and I rarely order cards anymore. I'll try to see if anyone locally has one. The landfall guys are in mostly because of how positively they interact with Warp World. For instance, it's not uncommon to shoot someone in the face for 30+ damage with Ob Nixilis triggers.
Re: Infinite combos
I'm not sure what infinite combos are possible to hit with Warp World. I'm not really a fan of 2-3 card combos unless the pieces are useful by themselves, simply because it's pretty low odds that I hit all the pieces off of one Warp. Vicious Shadows and Stalking Vengeance (SV+Avenger of Zendikar+sac outlet is insane) are both pretty good at killing a table post-Warp, and even if I don't kill the table I usually gain a lot of ground while everyone else is set back quite a bit due to having a much higher non-permanent count in their deck. Ideally I'd like to have another sac outlet or two. I want to pick up a Goblin Bombardment, and I was toying with Blasting Station for another outlet.
Thank you for your comments. They're much appreciated.
@Tarasco: Some good suggestions there! I had completely forgotten about Madrush Cyclops, which is strange because my friend uses it in his Kresh deck. Phyrexian Tower is already in the list (card #81), but thanks for suggesting it. I'm not a fan of Goblin Assault simply because it requires the goblins to attack so it can be hard to accumulate them. Bitterblossom would be a good card to add, though, if I can find one. One Dozen Eyes is not a permanent so it gets passed over, although it does generate a lot of tokens.
This deck makes a surprisingly good Archenemy list. Last night I was able to Warp World on turn 5 with 11 permanents, flipping up an Anarchist to get the WW back, and then next turn Warp again with 15 permanents, hitting Rampaging Baloths + Lotus Cobra + Anarchist to Warp Again immediately with 28 permanents, and then getting a table kill with the resulting mess (Avenger + Rampaging Baloths + 14 landfall triggers + Stalking Vengeance + Vicious Shadows, just in case :)).
I finally got ahold of the two M11 titans for the deck. The Primeval is ridiculous when combined with all the landfall guys, and with him comes the rest of the fetches to maximize landfall. Creakwood Liege was underwhelming so I'm going to give Bitterblossom a shot. Goblin Bombardment is one of the better sac outlets in Jund colors and the Pelakka Wurm was the card that least fit with the rest of the deck.
This list is starting to feel really tight. Sadly my playgroup has started targetting my Warp World with exile effects, even when it's in my library, so I don't get to cast it as often as I used to. The deck is still effective without it, but it's not nearly as amusing.
I actually put this deck together and have been playing it. You picked up on the same stuff that I did. The Titans really improve the deck. And you are right, the deck is really tight.
Counterspells can be a problem, but luckily it's strong enough even if you get the Warp World countered. Good stuff.
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Most recently looking at Morinfen!
If you're having problems with countermagic, you could try adding Boseiju, Who Shelters All to the deck. It's pretty lame in that there are only four sorceries to power through with it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Genesis might also be useful in a counter-heavy environment since he lets you keep rebuying Eternal Witness and Anarchist. I don't run him because he's ridiculously slow and there's a ton of graveyard hate in my meta. The good news about playing against counter decks is that if you can force through a Warp World, it's especially devastating since they have a ton of non-permanent spells in their decks.
I'm glad that you like the deck! It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that Xira has spread to other playgroups.
As far as things I would like to see in upcoming sets, replacement token generators for Emrakul's Hatcher and Siege-Gang Commaner, another creature that recurs Warp World, and another good sac outlet top the list. Here's hoping Scars delivers at least on at least one of them.
I also linked to this thread, as it is where I found the deck, obviously. Feel free to talk in the comments about it. Still having fun with it, and I've even won games without Warping at all.
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Scars didn't deliver anything on my wish list, but it did give me something even better: a true second Warp World effect. Genesis Wave fits right into the strategy I'm already employing. I've already gotten to cast it for X=14 on turn 5 (thanks to Primeval Titan and Sol Ring), and it's almost as busted as Warp World. It's the single best thing to do with all the mana Gaea's Cradle and Cabal Coffers/Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth generate.
Tunnel Ignus was the only other card in the set that I considered, simply for the fact that if you Warp into it, the Ignus can deal a considerable chunk of damage to everyone else. Unfortunately, it's completely useless by itself, so it doesn't make the cut.
This deck is the genesis of three different ideas. The first came from my Teneb, the Harvester deck. It had a fantastic mana engine, vomitting lands onto the table willy-nilly, and then used the mana advantage to leverage a Reveillark combo kill. The combo got old quickly, but I still enjoyed the overwhelming mana advantage the deck could generate. The second idea came from my Mayael the Anima deck, where Warp World was the single funnest card in the deck, often resulting in me having enough fat in play to one-shot everyone the turn after casting Warp World. Sadly, Naya has zero good tutors for Warp World, so this didn't happen very often. The third idea is that I've long wanted to play a Jund deck but could not find a way to differentiate it from my friend's Kresh list so I never built one. Then I got the idea to turn Teneb's mana engine to a far more interesting purpose: Warp World. The rest, as they say, is history.
2. Why Xira?
Initially Xira Arien was a placeholder until I could pick up a Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund. I figured that a 7/7 hasted flying general would make a pretty good plan B in case I couldn't Warp World. Xira, however, has more than proven her worth. She's a cheap general to cast, she's non-threatening, and a good source of card advantage. There have been many times I've gotten the all-mana draw and used Xira to dig my way out of it. She's also not central to the deck's theme and cheap to cast, so she's pretty handy to up my permanent count by one pre-Warp World.
3. The Decklist
1 Xira Arien
World Shapers
1 Warp World
1 Genesis Wave
1 Living Death
Win Conditions
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Madrush Cyclops
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Vicious Shadows
Sac outlets
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Phyrexian Plaguelord
Tutors
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Liliana Vess
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Vampiric Tutor
Recursion
1 Anarchist
1 Charnelhoard Wurm
1 Eternal Witness
Acceleration
1 Bloom Tender
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Primeval Titan
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Seedguide Ash
1 Sol Ring
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Wood Elves
1 Yavimaya Dryad
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Awakening Zone
1 Bitterblossom
1 Grave Titan
1 Emrakul's Hatcher
1 Mitotic Slime
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Symbiotic Wurm
Removal
1 Acidic Slime
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Duplicant
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Grave Pact
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Terastodon
1 Woodfall Primus
Card Advantage
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Greater Good
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Skullclamp
1 Sylvan Library
Other Creatures
1 Bloodghast
1 Nether Traitor
1 Reassembling Skeleton
Other Spells
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Lurking Predators
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Land
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Grounds
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Graven Cairns
1 Twilight Mire
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Kher Keep
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
4 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Swamp
4. Individual card choices
4a. Land
The Forest dual lands are pretty key to the deck's succes, as a lot of the land searchers find Forests specifically. All 9 fetches are present to maximize landfall. You could use the Mirage fetches (Bad River, Mountain Valley, Grasslands, and Rocky Tar Pit) plus Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds in place of them if necessary, but it will slow the deck down quite a bit.
Bojuka Bog: Random graveyard hate that doesn't take a normal card slot.
Cabal Coffers: This is here to be fetched up alongside Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth by Primeval Titan. There are enough Swamps in the deck that the Coffers aren't totally dead without Urborg though.
Gaea's Cradle: This is a creature heavy deck with a token sub-theme. Gaea's Cradle is an obvious inclusion, and makes an excellent Primeval Titan target.
Kher Keep: Produces a lot of tokens, whether for Warp World, Skullclamp, or just chump blockers.
Mosswort Bridge: Hideaway lands are pretty fun, and it's really easy to trigger this one. Casting a Warp World on someone else's turn to make sure your triggers go off first is pretty brutal.
Phyrexian Tower: Sacrifice outlet that takes up a land slot. Gets pretty good with Bloodghast.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Never lack for black mana. If I had more non-basic land search I'd put a Cabal Coffers in to go with it. This could easily be a basic swamp.
Volrath's Stronghold: It's mainly here to get back Eternal Witness or Anarchist so that you can continue casting WW. It's a nice ability to have access to, but I rarely use it.
4b. World Shapers
Warp World (WW): This is the crux of the deck. This card is your #1 game plan. The first thing to notice is that there are only six cards in the deck that will not come into play off of WW, including two planeswalkers. That means that it's nearly impossible to lower your permanent count post WW, unless you start with ten or less and get unlucky. I generally Warp around a permanent count of 15-20, unless I'm playing against heavy permission decks, in which case I Warp as soon as I can get it to resolve. Generally speaking, a permanent count of 30 or more will result in at minimum the ability to Warp again immediately (with an increased permanent count), and usually a table kill. With the high amount of permanents that generate more permanents when they come into play, it's not hard to keep increasing the permanent count in between casts, with the Avenger of Zendikar and Rampaging Baloths being true all-stars.
Genesis Wave: This might as well be Warp World #2 in the sense that both vomit a ton of permanents on the table. Both cards impose the same deckbuilding constraints, requiring a large amount of permanents in your deck to be effective. Genesis Wave is better in that you get to add to your board position instead of resetting it, but it's worse in that it doesn't disrupt anyone else and it costs quite a bit more. For best results pair it with Gaea's Cradle and/or Cabal Coffers+Urborg.
Living Death: This is there as a third game-altering affect. It's best used in conjunction with Survival of the Fittest or Greater Good. Don't be afraid to Living Death early if you can get decent value out of it.
4c. Post Warp World win conditions
Fires of Yavimaya + Madrush Cyclops: These are both here to give your new army haste. There's nothing worse than seeing your 12 12/13 plant tokens get waxed by a sweeper, and that's where these two cards step in.
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen: Usually not capable of killing the entire table, he has been known to one-shot someone post WW and come down with 30+ power. He also plays very well with Primeval Titan.
Stalking Vengeance + Vicious Shadows: These let your reusable sac outlets turn lethal, throwing damage around willy-nilly. Stalking Vengeance works best with Rampaging Baloths and Avenger of Zendikar, whereas Vicious Shadows likes Mitotic Slime and Symbiotic Wurm just as well.
4d. Sacrifice Outlets
The key to these are that they're 1)free to use and 2)reusable. Pretty much anything goes as long as it fits these two criteria.
Dimir House Guard: If you don't have a WW, he starts a tutor chain by grabbing Diabolic Tutor. If he shows up post WW, he's more than happy to start chowing down on the rest of your creatures.
Goblin Bombardment + Phyrexian Plaguelord: Both of these work exceptionally well with Reassembling Skeleton, turning 1B into 1 damage or -1/-1, respectively.
4e. Tutors and recursion
Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor: The cheapest, most reliable ways to get any card in your deck. They usually grab WW.
Diabolic Tutor: This is here mainly because it lets you turn Dimir House Guard into Warp World.
Liliana Vess: A tutor that also increases your permanent count. It's unfortunate she doesn't come into play off of WW. Can also be used as a late-game win condition if you can protect her for a few turns.
Survival of the Fittest: When I draw this early, I generally switch to the Living Death plan and start filling my graveyard with fatties. Be careful to not overextend into your graveyard if you're playing against a lot of gy hate.
Fauna Shaman: Survival's weaker cousin, Fauna Shaman still gets the job done.
Eternal Witness and Anarchist: The Anarchist is here entirely to double the chances of getting back Warp World after casting it. The Witness is, of course, essential in any green deck.
Charnelhoard Wurm: I've been pleasantly surprised by this guy. I've seen him set up a recurring Fleshbag Marauder soft-lock, as well as rebuying tutors and other miscellaneous cards. He works best when you have something that gives him haste.
4f. Acceleration
Farhaven Elf, Seedguide Ash, Solemn Simulacrum, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Dryad: These guys all have one thing in common: they accelerate you while increasing the number of permanents on the battlefield. Seedguide Ash is bonkers if you have a landfall guy and a sac outlet on the battlefield. It's too bad Yavimaya Granger has echo, or he would be in here as well.
Bloom Tender: Turn 2 Tender lets you play Xira on turn 3 for free and then untap with 7 mana on turn 4. One of the best accelerants if you have a general that costs exactly XYZ.
Garruk Wildspeaker: He's basically here as an Explosive Vegetation that can also make tokens.
Lotus Cobra: He's decent when you run him out early, but he turns into an all-star when you reveal him for Warp World. This slot might be win more, but I've never been unhappy to see him.
Primeval Titan: One of the best cards in the deck hands down. I often search out a pair of fetches with him just to make my landfall guys that much more dangerous.
Oracle of Mul Daya: Extra landfall, plus he clears the land from the top of your library to ensure that you draw gas every turn.
4g. Token Producers
Avenger of Zendikar: Absolutely ridiculous. It produces the most tokens and, with some help from the landfall enablers, the largest tokens. When you reveal it off of a Warp World it's possible to stack the triggers so that you first get the tokens, then they get pumped for each land revealed, resulting in X X/X+1 tokens where X is the number of lands Warp World put into play.
Awakening Zone and Bitterblossom: Enchantments that sit in play and accumulate tokens. Eldrazi Spawn ramp you, Faeries can ping for minor damage. Both work really well with Skullclamp.
Grave Titan: Three permanents in one card, and two more every time he swings. With something that grants haste, your army grows absurd fairly quickly.
Emrakul's Hatcher and Siege-Gang Commander: Here mainly because they're four permanents in one card, they're occasionally useful for their abilities as well. They are two of the weaker slots in the deck.
Mitotic Slime and Symbiotic Wurm: These are both pretty underwhelming while building up to a Warp World, but they're key post WW in that both let Stalking Vengeance and Vicious Shadows do some serious damage. The Slime is 12 SV damage and 7 VS triggers, while the Wurm is 14 SV damage and 8 VS triggers.
Rampaging Baloths: This is almost as absurd as Avenger of Zendikar. With a bit of work, it's not uncommon to be able to crank out 4 or more beasts the turn you cast this, not to mention how many beasts it generates when you Warp into it.
4h. Removal
This deck is lighter on removal than I would normally run a jund deck, simply because Warp World acts as a global reset for any of the more absurd game states.
Acidic Slime, Terastodon, Woodfall Primus: These are the utility removal spells, taking out annoying non-creature permanents. The Terastodon usually feels like a mono-green Violent Ultimatum, except it also drops a 9/9 onto the table. The Primus loves all the sacrifice outlets in the deck.
Big Game Hunter and Duplicant: These are the spot creature removal guys. BGH is chosen over Shriekmaw or the like because there are a lot of black decks in my metagame, plus the madness comes in handy surprisingly often.
Butcher of Malakir, Fleshbag Marauder, Grave Pact: These are the heavy duty creature removal spells. It's not hard to keep a board clear of everyone else's creatures, especially when the trio of Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton are feeding the engine.
Pernicious Deed: General catch-all sweeper. Also counts as a permanent so it can sit in play if it's not needed.
4i. Card Advantage
Skullclamp: The best way to abuse all the X/1's in the deck, this card is utterly busted with Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton. Turning land drops into 1: Draw 2, or just letting you go 2B: Draw 2 cards seems pretty reasonable, doesn't it?
Greater Good: Card advantage, sac outlet, and one of the better set up cards for Living Death.
Graveborn Muse, Phyrexian Arena, Sylvan Library: Incremental card advantage. They usually go unnoticed in my playgroup, and just sit in play generating quite a few cards over the course of a game.
4j. Other creatures and spells
Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton: These guys perform all sorts of tricks. Post WW, Nether Traitor gives your sacrifice engine another creature for every B you have open and the Skeleton gives another creature for every 1B (for the extra Stalking Vengeance and Vicious Shadows triggers). All three are the preferred snacks of Goblin Bombardment, Phyrexian Plaguelord, Phyrexian Tower, and Skullclamp at any point in the game.
Lightning Greaves: Does double duty by hasting your guys up and protecting them from spot removal.
Lurking Predators: This deck has a pretty high creature count so this card can fill the battlefield very quickly if left unchecked.
Sensei's Diving Top: With all the shuffle effects this deck runs, it's very easy to see a fresh set of three cards whenever you want, making the Top much better in this deck than in most that run it.
4k. Cards that don't quite make the cut
Deathbringer Thoctar: Useful to clear out token hoards. Cut because its effect isn't that powerful when there aren't any token hoards to clear out.
Tajuru Preserver: Useful if your meta is infested with things like the Eldrazi or Death Cloud.
Vexing Shusher: Helps out if your meta has a lot of countermagic.
Genesis: A great way to recover dead creatures, but it's very slow, vulnerable, and mana-intensive. In my group, a Genesis in my graveyard is just begging to make me the target of Tormod's Crypt, so it never sticks around long enough to be productive.
5. Why you should/should not play this deck
You might like this deck if:
-You enjoy chaotic effects.
-You enjoy combo decks, but don't want to the same thing to happen every game.
-You like huge mana acceleration.
-You like Warp World.
You might not like this deck if
-You dislike using pen+paper to keep track of the triggered abilities.
-You dislike shuffling. (seriously, at least once a turn for the entire game)
-Your playgroup hates random effects.
Changes:
9/11/2010:
Khalni Garden -> Kher Keep
Conquering Manticore -> Madrush Cyclops
Kozilek's Predator -> Creakwood Liege
9/19/2010:
Creakwood Liege -> Bitterblossom
Pawn of Ulamog -> Grave Titan
Wall of Roots -> Primeval Titan
Pelakka Wurm -> Goblin Bombardment
Raging Ravine -> Wooded Foothills
Rootbound Crag -> Windswept Heath
Savage Lands -> Polluted Delta
Added individual card explanations.
9/23/2010:
Deathbringer Thoctar -> Solemn Simulacrum
Tajuru Preserver -> Fauna Shaman
Forest -> Gaea's Cradle
Forest -> Cabal Coffers
9/28/2010:
Vexing Shusher -> Genesis Wave
Tarasco was kind enough to write up an article about this deck. You can find it here.
All comments and criticisms are welcome.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
First, how have the three Eldrazi Spawn producer creatures been treating you? Have you considered somethinkg like Skeletal Vampire which has a bit more power and can produce a few more tokens instead? I'm also a fan of Nath of the Gilt-Leaf but he doesnt have as much of an immediate effect but becomes more disruptive.
Secondly I see that you are running some landfall abilities and I was wondering if you considered running Perilous Forays with bloodghast cause that can get pretty nasty.
And last of all, did you consider running any Infinite combos that you can hit off of warp world? I'm not sure if there are any good ones but just a consideration.
BBBMBC Shirei StyleBBB
URUNiv-Mizzet, Warp WorldURU
BGRKresh the BloodbraidedBGR
Emrakul's Hatcher has been pretty solid, mainly because 4 permanents in one card. The mana ramp can be quite useful at times too. Kozilek's Predator, on the other hand, has been pretty underwhelming. I'd like to find something to replace him with. I've considered Skeletal Vampire, but the 6 mana cost isn't very attractive when I already have a fairly high curve. The Pawn of Ulamog is there mainly to double my creature count when I'm killing people with Vicious Shadows triggers. It can occasionaly be absurd with Bloodghast, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton too.
Re: Landfall
I'd love to pick up a Perilous Forays for the deck, but I'd have to order online to find one and I rarely order cards anymore. I'll try to see if anyone locally has one. The landfall guys are in mostly because of how positively they interact with Warp World. For instance, it's not uncommon to shoot someone in the face for 30+ damage with Ob Nixilis triggers.
Re: Infinite combos
I'm not sure what infinite combos are possible to hit with Warp World. I'm not really a fan of 2-3 card combos unless the pieces are useful by themselves, simply because it's pretty low odds that I hit all the pieces off of one Warp. Vicious Shadows and Stalking Vengeance (SV+Avenger of Zendikar+sac outlet is insane) are both pretty good at killing a table post-Warp, and even if I don't kill the table I usually gain a lot of ground while everyone else is set back quite a bit due to having a much higher non-permanent count in their deck. Ideally I'd like to have another sac outlet or two. I want to pick up a Goblin Bombardment, and I was toying with Blasting Station for another outlet.
Thank you for your comments. They're much appreciated.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
Madrush Cyclops - Makes your team hasty after Warping.
Creakwood Liege - Pumps your dudes, makes tokens.
Phyrexian Tower - Another sac outlet if you need one.
Goblin Assault - More tokens.
One Dozen Eyes - Just a personal favorite.
It looks like a ton of fun.
Most recently looking at Morinfen!
Khalni Garden -> Kher Keep
Conquering Manticore -> Madrush Cyclops
Kozilek's Predator -> Creakwood Liege
@Tarasco: Some good suggestions there! I had completely forgotten about Madrush Cyclops, which is strange because my friend uses it in his Kresh deck. Phyrexian Tower is already in the list (card #81), but thanks for suggesting it. I'm not a fan of Goblin Assault simply because it requires the goblins to attack so it can be hard to accumulate them. Bitterblossom would be a good card to add, though, if I can find one. One Dozen Eyes is not a permanent so it gets passed over, although it does generate a lot of tokens.
This deck makes a surprisingly good Archenemy list. Last night I was able to Warp World on turn 5 with 11 permanents, flipping up an Anarchist to get the WW back, and then next turn Warp again with 15 permanents, hitting Rampaging Baloths + Lotus Cobra + Anarchist to Warp Again immediately with 28 permanents, and then getting a table kill with the resulting mess (Avenger + Rampaging Baloths + 14 landfall triggers + Stalking Vengeance + Vicious Shadows, just in case :)).
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
I collect pre-release Stone-Tongue Basilisk
Creakwood Liege -> Bitterblossom
Pawn of Ulamog -> Grave Titan
Wall of Roots -> Primeval Titan
Pelakka Wurm -> Goblin Bombardment
Rootbound Crag -> Wooded Foothills
Savage Lands -> Polluted Delta
Raging Ravine -> Windswept Heath
I finally got ahold of the two M11 titans for the deck. The Primeval is ridiculous when combined with all the landfall guys, and with him comes the rest of the fetches to maximize landfall. Creakwood Liege was underwhelming so I'm going to give Bitterblossom a shot. Goblin Bombardment is one of the better sac outlets in Jund colors and the Pelakka Wurm was the card that least fit with the rest of the deck.
This list is starting to feel really tight. Sadly my playgroup has started targetting my Warp World with exile effects, even when it's in my library, so I don't get to cast it as often as I used to. The deck is still effective without it, but it's not nearly as amusing.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
Counterspells can be a problem, but luckily it's strong enough even if you get the Warp World countered. Good stuff.
Most recently looking at Morinfen!
I'm glad that you like the deck! It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that Xira has spread to other playgroups.
As far as things I would like to see in upcoming sets, replacement token generators for Emrakul's Hatcher and Siege-Gang Commaner, another creature that recurs Warp World, and another good sac outlet top the list. Here's hoping Scars delivers at least on at least one of them.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
http://puremtgo.com/articles/conquerer-commander-vol-xxvi-xira-arien
I also linked to this thread, as it is where I found the deck, obviously. Feel free to talk in the comments about it. Still having fun with it, and I've even won games without Warping at all.
Most recently looking at Morinfen!
Slight change:
Deathbringer Thoctar -> Solemn Simulacrum
Tajuru Preserver -> Fauna Shaman
Forest -> Gaea's Cradle
Forest -> Cabal Coffers
I'm going to try these out as Primeval Titan targets. I'm not entirely sure on the Coffers, but I'll give it a shot.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners
Vexing Shusher -> Genesis Wave
Scars didn't deliver anything on my wish list, but it did give me something even better: a true second Warp World effect. Genesis Wave fits right into the strategy I'm already employing. I've already gotten to cast it for X=14 on turn 5 (thanks to Primeval Titan and Sol Ring), and it's almost as busted as Warp World. It's the single best thing to do with all the mana Gaea's Cradle and Cabal Coffers/Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth generate.
Tunnel Ignus was the only other card in the set that I considered, simply for the fact that if you Warp into it, the Ignus can deal a considerable chunk of damage to everyone else. Unfortunately, it's completely useless by itself, so it doesn't make the cut.
Teneb, the Harvester: Let there be life!
Drafting Aggro in the Cube: A Primer for Beginners