If you're not bringing in the Island over a land that gets access to G, then you're bringing it in over a Mountain.
No. Missed again.
What lands are you running that aren't Mountains and don't give access to G?
I wouldn't bring an island over any land. I'd take out 'bad' stuff against control.
The mage formerly known as kedi.
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what do people think of running lotus cobra and overgrown battlement?
In my valakut (which I won a local small tournament with on tuesday) I run lotus cobras in the sideboard against mirror. Its like the only practical sideboard card in valakut mirror, lol. My meta is very aggro-centric, although it looks like Valakut is starting to get more popular now that it has won two of the last three post-ban tourneys over here. (the first was won by a anti-RDW monoB metagame deck). My games went: 1.round monoB obliterator -> practical bye, even though it was only 2-1 for me iirc by some miracle. Maybe lashwrithe+inkmoth nexus 2.round monoG eldrazi -> Im on the draw on both games, I win 2-0 3.round kuldotha red -> Im on the draw on both games, I win 2-0
Im really happy about the ramp package and land count since this seems to 'roll' extremely well.
Sideboard will be refined but will include more pyroclasm and obstinate baloths. Baloths have proven to be great against non-infect aggros. Naturalize or similar artifact hate is needed. Possibly combust, and the lotus cobras for mirrors and the like (I swapped walls into cobras against the eldrazi)
Looks like LSV is starting to see the light, that twin isnt actually as good as you might think. Everytime I have seen people play it I have been underwhelmed. Many of its wins in my local tourneys have come from people playing around it and subsequently playing like crap. Valakut on the other hand is the epitome of reliability.
I think its best to start planning what to do with valakut against UB control.
"And the word my father taught me that evening, the word meaning 'the strongest', was mage." - Tezzeret the seeker, Test of Metal
what do people think of running lotus cobra and overgrown battlement?
In my valakut (which I won a local small tournament with on tuesday) I run lotus cobras in the sideboard against mirror. Its like the only practical sideboard card in valakut mirror, lol. My meta is very aggro-centric, although it looks like Valakut is starting to get more popular now that it has won two of the last three post-ban tourneys over here. (the first was won by a anti-RDW monoB metagame deck). My games went: 1.round monoB obliterator -> practical bye, even though it was only 2-1 for me iirc by some miracle. Maybe lashwrithe+inkmoth nexus 2.round monoG eldrazi -> Im on the draw on both games, I win 2-0 3.round kuldotha red -> Im on the draw on both games, I win 2-0
Im really happy about the ramp package and land count since this seems to 'roll' extremely well.
Sideboard will be refined but will include more pyroclasm and obstinate baloths. Baloths have proven to be great against non-infect aggros. Naturalize or similar artifact hate is needed. Possibly combust, and the lotus cobras for mirrors and the like (I swapped walls into cobras against the eldrazi)
Looks like LSV is starting to see the light, that twin isnt actually as good as you might think. Everytime I have seen people play it I have been underwhelmed. Many of its wins in my local tourneys have come from people playing around it and subsequently playing like crap. Valakut on the other hand is the epitome of reliability.
I think its best to start planning what to do with valakut against UB control.
U/B match up should not be a problem at all. Maybe a couple gaea's revenge and summoning trap/ricochet trap from the sideboard and you should be good. M12 brings us solemn simulacrum and rampant growth back which is a huge boost to our ramp ability.
The loss of JTMS is a huge blow to U/B against valakut now that they can't bounce our ramp nor fateseal us and win via jace.
UB is still Valakut's worst matchup, Siregar. Gaea's Revenge/Thrun are of course big helps, but with counterspells, discard, and Memoricide the matchup is still in their favour.
EDIT: That said, it's one of Valakut's only poor matchups. It crushes almost everything else. That's why it's the Best Deck In The Format.
Speaking of U/B Control...I took Valakut to FNM last Friday (like I always do), went 3-0-1 in the main rounds, then got paired against what I think was the only U/B Control deck in the top 8. Arglefargle...
On the other hand, I did get the opportunity to play against Exarch-Twin for the first time. Man, that's scary. I lost game 1 after I got greedy and zenith'd for a titan when I had my titan, while in reality I should have kept double bolt mana open. Luckily, I made up for it by doing Act of Aggression for the win in game 2 and him being mana screwed for a couple of turns in game 3.
And boy am I looking forward to Rampant Growth being back. I love the consistency that it provides...I don't miss the Khalni Heart Expedition /Harrow package at all. Growth means I have 12 ramp cards to play on turn 2, which is sweet.
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Speaking of U/B Control...I took Valakut to FNM last Friday (like I always do), went 3-0-1 in the main rounds, then got paired against what I think was the only U/B Control deck in the top 8. Arglefargle...
On the other hand, I did get the opportunity to play against Exarch-Twin for the first time. Man, that's scary. I lost game 1 after I got greedy and zenith'd for a titan when I had my titan, while in reality I should have kept double bolt mana open. Luckily, I made up for it by doing Act of Aggression for the win in game 2 and him being mana screwed for a couple of turns in game 3.
And boy am I looking forward to Rampant Growth being back. I love the consistency that it provides...I don't miss the Khalni Heart Expedition /Harrow package at all. Growth means I have 12 ramp cards to play on turn 2, which is sweet.
Harrow is still really good, but I agree that Khalni Heart Expedition can go set itself on fire.
My accel package is: 4 Rampant Growth, 4 Explore, 4 Harrow, 4 Cultivate, but I might cut some Harrow and Cultivate for Solemn Simulacrum.
They key is that you want exactly 5 dead cards in your deck for the mid-lategame. And they're all Forests.
Harrow is still really good, but I agree that Khalni Heart Expedition can go set itself on fire.
My accel package is: 4 Rampant Growth, 4 Explore, 4 Harrow, 4 Cultivate, but I might cut some Harrow and Cultivate for Solemn Simulacrum.
They key is that you want exactly 5 dead cards in your deck for the mid-lategame. And they're all Forests.
Growth spasm is still fastest ramp, growth spasm + 4 lands(one of which produces green) and nothing else = 4.turn titan. The only one of the cards (besides khalni heart) that actually provides 2 manaramp.
Harrow provides 2 landfalls but only one manaramp.
Cultivate provides one manaramp but two lands, 2 landfalls on separate turns.
Rampant growth makes the early game (turn 2-3) more reliable and prevents manascrew, but it doesnt actually make comboing that much stronger once you got valakuts active.
Marvin the sad robot doesnt really make the ramping much faster either, only one manaramp for 4cc, but provides good value against aggros which oracle of mul daya didn't do. But personally I feel that blockers are less important than providing ramp. Often you will find that explore does the same and earlier.
Khalni heart expedition is not actually that bad in providing valakut triggers when you combo off, but it sucks in the early game most of the time (thats why I played 3 not 4). Completely opposite to rampant growth. One of the wins I pulled last time I played valakut was because I played khalni heart. Play heart first, play mountain (activates 2 valakuts I had), zenith for titan, 4 triggers, khalni heart full, sac it for 4 more triggers = 24 damage in one turn. Khalni heart can also provide landfalls at instant speed during opponents turn if you need it. Only harrow is the other one that can do that.
Overall, its not automatic that you replace the old ramp with the new, especially if you replace cards providing 2 landfalls with cards that provide one (rampant growth and simulacrum) you may find mid-game that you miscalculated.. Im not sure whats the best ramp package come M12 yet but I know its not completely trivial to figure it out.
Im pretty sure Im still playing full set of growth spasms though.
ps. One sideboard card Ive picked up from LSV and people at my place is tumble magnet , protects you against act of aggression and similar from red, maybe titan in the mirror (dunno if its a good idea or should we go all in with speed), and grave titan from UB.
"And the word my father taught me that evening, the word meaning 'the strongest', was mage." - Tezzeret the seeker, Test of Metal
