Post by High_Gene on Dec 13, 2011 8:39:45 GMT -5
I. Introduction
This deck is based on a deck idea from approximately a year ago. The deck from back then tried to win by ramping into an Annihilator (Hand of Emrakul or Ulamog’s Crusher) with Eldarzi Spawn tokens. Some builds also had a second game plan around Raid Bombardment to deal lethal damage by attacking tokens. However, it saw play mostly in Standard tournaments (around Alara Block).
II. The Deck
a. Win option 1: Raid Bombardment
As the name already indicates, the deck is (more or less) built around the Enchantment Raid Bombardment. What it does is basically to double the damage dealt by your Tokens and thereby greatly increases their value (how you get those will be discussed in the next segment). Another great advantage of the damage dealt by Raid Bombardment is the fact that it’s neither combat damage, nor a spell. Therefore, it is very hard to prevent the damage in terms of blockers, Fog effects, and/ or counters (even Benevolent Unicorn is not working).
a. Win option 2:
Having all those tokens and playing red, Goblin Bushwhacker is an auto-include. I think there is no need for a lot of explanations.
b. The core: Tokens
The Enchantment alone doesn’t do the trick. To fully exploit Raid Bombardment’s value, cards are included that produce multiple creatures, resulting in card advantage (assuming that each removal spell only deals with one creature. Which is true in most cases). The probably most potent Token producing card is Sprout Swarm. On paper it is able to put ‘infinite’ numbers of Saprolings onto the battlefield due to Buyback. This is our strategy for the late-game, attrition wars, and removal heavy decks. If the opponent can’t counter it, it can easily get out of hand very quickly.
Mogg War Marshal, Nest Invader, and Kozilek’s Predator are creatures that are accompanied by their Token friends. Although the latter two only bring 0/1s, they still deal a significant amount of damage with an active Raid Bombardment. Alternatively they can be (ab)used for additional effects besides colorless Mana.
c. Utility: (Ab)use of Tokens
The deck includes Sylvok Lifestaff which turns each Spawn token into a Healing Salve. This should be enough to disable burn decks and to buy enough time against Grapeshot-based combo decks.
Another way to get more value out of your Tokens is Hissing Iguanar which functions as a hybrid of Affinity’s Disciple of the Vault or a Goblin player’s Mogg Raider/ Goblin Sledder. With Hissing Iguanar on the Battlefield, blocking is way less effective (similar to Mogg Raider/ Goblin Sledder). It also turns each Eldrazi Spawn into a small Mogg Fanatic which sometimes is crucial for the last points of damage (Disciple of the Vault). Moreover, it may turn Wrath effects (e.g. Crypt Rats) useless (yes, it does trigger for all other creatures that die simultaneously with Hissing Iguanar itself). Lastly, it itself is a 3/1 which is a considerable clock (if there is no blocker).
To increase the aggressiveness of the deck, I included Giantbaiting (which I haven’t seen in tournaments). The power of this Sorcery is just amazing. Turn three Giantbaiting to deal 8 points of damage is not an exception. Even if the Giants get chump blocked, they cleared the way for your small Tokens. Additionally, Conspire helps to surmount a wall of counter magic.
The last slots are occupied by Essence Warden, which helps in the damage race and also against Empty the Warrens Combo (I said “help” not “win the game”), and Sylvan Ranger for mana fixing and deck thinning.
The Sideboard is still under construction. The current version might be an over-reaction to the last testing session where I lost horribly to U Faeries. I appreciate any suggestions (not only with respect to the Sideboard, obviously).
III. The Decklist
// Maindeck
4 Nest Invader
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Sprout Swarm
4 Kozilek's Predator
4 Raid Bombardment
3 Hissing Iguanar
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Giantbaiting
3 Essence Warden
4 Sylvan Ranger
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Firewild Borderpost
3 Khalni Garden
5 Forest
10 Mountain
// Sideboard
4 Pyroblast
4 Nacatl Outlander
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Scattershot Archer
IV. The Match-ups
I haven’t done any match-up specific testing yet. However, once Raid Bombardment hit the Battlefield, it was nearly impossible to lose (a couple of matches against Golbins, MUC, U Faeries, MBC).
This deck is based on a deck idea from approximately a year ago. The deck from back then tried to win by ramping into an Annihilator (Hand of Emrakul or Ulamog’s Crusher) with Eldarzi Spawn tokens. Some builds also had a second game plan around Raid Bombardment to deal lethal damage by attacking tokens. However, it saw play mostly in Standard tournaments (around Alara Block).
II. The Deck
a. Win option 1: Raid Bombardment
As the name already indicates, the deck is (more or less) built around the Enchantment Raid Bombardment. What it does is basically to double the damage dealt by your Tokens and thereby greatly increases their value (how you get those will be discussed in the next segment). Another great advantage of the damage dealt by Raid Bombardment is the fact that it’s neither combat damage, nor a spell. Therefore, it is very hard to prevent the damage in terms of blockers, Fog effects, and/ or counters (even Benevolent Unicorn is not working).
a. Win option 2:
Having all those tokens and playing red, Goblin Bushwhacker is an auto-include. I think there is no need for a lot of explanations.
b. The core: Tokens
The Enchantment alone doesn’t do the trick. To fully exploit Raid Bombardment’s value, cards are included that produce multiple creatures, resulting in card advantage (assuming that each removal spell only deals with one creature. Which is true in most cases). The probably most potent Token producing card is Sprout Swarm. On paper it is able to put ‘infinite’ numbers of Saprolings onto the battlefield due to Buyback. This is our strategy for the late-game, attrition wars, and removal heavy decks. If the opponent can’t counter it, it can easily get out of hand very quickly.
Mogg War Marshal, Nest Invader, and Kozilek’s Predator are creatures that are accompanied by their Token friends. Although the latter two only bring 0/1s, they still deal a significant amount of damage with an active Raid Bombardment. Alternatively they can be (ab)used for additional effects besides colorless Mana.
c. Utility: (Ab)use of Tokens
The deck includes Sylvok Lifestaff which turns each Spawn token into a Healing Salve. This should be enough to disable burn decks and to buy enough time against Grapeshot-based combo decks.
Another way to get more value out of your Tokens is Hissing Iguanar which functions as a hybrid of Affinity’s Disciple of the Vault or a Goblin player’s Mogg Raider/ Goblin Sledder. With Hissing Iguanar on the Battlefield, blocking is way less effective (similar to Mogg Raider/ Goblin Sledder). It also turns each Eldrazi Spawn into a small Mogg Fanatic which sometimes is crucial for the last points of damage (Disciple of the Vault). Moreover, it may turn Wrath effects (e.g. Crypt Rats) useless (yes, it does trigger for all other creatures that die simultaneously with Hissing Iguanar itself). Lastly, it itself is a 3/1 which is a considerable clock (if there is no blocker).
To increase the aggressiveness of the deck, I included Giantbaiting (which I haven’t seen in tournaments). The power of this Sorcery is just amazing. Turn three Giantbaiting to deal 8 points of damage is not an exception. Even if the Giants get chump blocked, they cleared the way for your small Tokens. Additionally, Conspire helps to surmount a wall of counter magic.
The last slots are occupied by Essence Warden, which helps in the damage race and also against Empty the Warrens Combo (I said “help” not “win the game”), and Sylvan Ranger for mana fixing and deck thinning.
The Sideboard is still under construction. The current version might be an over-reaction to the last testing session where I lost horribly to U Faeries. I appreciate any suggestions (not only with respect to the Sideboard, obviously).
III. The Decklist
// Maindeck
4 Nest Invader
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Sprout Swarm
4 Kozilek's Predator
4 Raid Bombardment
3 Hissing Iguanar
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Giantbaiting
3 Essence Warden
4 Sylvan Ranger
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Firewild Borderpost
3 Khalni Garden
5 Forest
10 Mountain
// Sideboard
4 Pyroblast
4 Nacatl Outlander
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Scattershot Archer
IV. The Match-ups
I haven’t done any match-up specific testing yet. However, once Raid Bombardment hit the Battlefield, it was nearly impossible to lose (a couple of matches against Golbins, MUC, U Faeries, MBC).