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Aug 23, 2010 -- 11:16AM, Lorrdian_Jedi wrote:

Aug 23, 2010 -- 10:36AM, th3maninblak wrote:

Trust me, Cobra is ONLY good on turn 2, and nowhere after that.  Garruk could be ok, but they're still not getting the job of putting lands in play done, which is what you want to be doing.  Lightning Bolt MD is a really good idea, as letting mana dorks or Fauna Shamans survive unhindered is bad news.  I'm also a big fan of Comet Storm.  Late game it becomes a one sided wrath that deals damage to the face at instant speed.

Here's my current list.

Creatures- 10
4 Primeval Titan
3 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Terastodon
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

Instants/Sorceries- 18
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rampant Growth
4 Explore
4 Cultivate
2 Comet Storm

Enchantments- 4
4 Khalni Heart Expedition

Lands- 28
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Raging Ravine
4 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
12 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Ricochet Trap
2 Back to Nature
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Chandra Nalaar
1 Naturalize
1 Terastodon

My current record with this deck (through various tweaks) is 13-2-2 in sanctioned matches.  It's consistent, hardhitting, and has tons of answers in the sideboard for just about every deck in the format.

Edit- Still want to see some sick artwork on the OP, or at least a great big picture of Primeval Titan. 

How is your mana consistency? I don't like only having 3 forest. I've found 5 is about the minimum that I can stand going down to and not have mana issues. I also tend to do a 3/2 split on the tap fetches, as I have had needle named on those lands before. Since they are functionally identical, for safety sake there is no reason not to.

Why Dumbo in the main board? I tend to stick my spark mages in the MD (the weeks I run them)and call Dumbo when I'm running against control (Or Jund, to hit the Janky Manabase). I have also had better luck with 2/1 naturalize back to nature vs 1/2. How has it worked for you? Do you find KHE to really be that beneficial? I was always subbing them out, and now I don't even run them. How is Explore? I've had better luck with harrow/RG/Cult vs RG/Cult/Explore. With the creature count I've found it's better to thin the deck than try and draw.

There's alot of UW and Jund in my area, and Dumbo is bonkers in those two matchups.  Against Naya, Boros, or RDW I just sub him out for Chandra Nalaar.

I personally love KHE.  It allows for some really explosive draws, and you can save it until you drop a titan to just dome your opponent for lethal.  Needle on the lands would be pretty bad, but I haven't run into it yet.  The mana is remarkably consistent, and I wouldn't dare take out Raging Ravine.

The ramp package is pretty amazing.  I prefer Explore over Harrow right now because of the abundance of UW control, and because I like to get my CIPT lands out of the way.  I'll probably play Harrow over Rampant Growth post rotation, but for now the ramp package and the mana base are exactly where I want them to be.

The singleton Kozilek is just amazing.  I've mised wins just by ripping him and plopping him down on the field.  Even if UW counters him, suddenly you have more gas than they do.

Aug 24, 2010 -- 5:26AM, Zesty wrote:

So I was looking up alternate builds for Valakut decks today and I find it interesting one that included Vent Sentinel , Overgrown Battlement , Battle Rampart . Basically it was more defense deck that used Valakut as the only means of damage besides Bolts and Primeval Titan. What do you guys think?

For a fun deck, sure. For a competitive deck, horrible.

Aug 24, 2010 -- 6:56AM, Lorrdian_Jedi wrote:

Aug 23, 2010 -- 4:08PM, Xeraseth wrote:

Don't have the time to edit it right now but need to add

Lotus Cobra
Garruk
Plated Geopede
(all 3 I don't really thing go in the deck, they distract from the focus of the deck, but I will add them)
Commet Storm

When I get enough time i will pretty up the OP, I am a web developer so I want to do it right. 

Has anyone had success with Cobra or Garruk? If not I wouldn't add them. I have seen lists (including my own) that do well with the Geopede.

My first take on this deck actually featured 3 birds and 4 cobras and while it made the deck lightning fast I wouldn't recommend it if you're expecting a lot of naya shaman deck and/or titan force deck. IMHO mana dorks are way too fragile unless you're playing a very fast aggro deck and I'd stick with regular ramp spells.

So it looks like recent developments very highly rate Ricochet Trap in the SB and I have seen quite a few with Summoning Trap both MD and SB so I am curious what tweaks could be made to this:


4 x x Avenger of Zendikar
4 x x Primeval Titan
4 x x Oracle of Mul Daya

4 x x Khalni Heart Expedition

4 x x Harrow
4 x x Explore
4 x x Cultivate
4 x x Lightning Bolt
2 x x Comet Storm

4 x x Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
13 x x Mountain
2 x x Terramorphic Expanse
2 x  x Evolving Wilds
5 x x Forest

SB:

2 x x Obstinate Baloth
2 x x Chandra Nalaar
1 x x Back to Nature
2 x x Naturalize
3 x x Cunning Sparkmage
4 x x Ricochet Trap
1 x x Terastodon




I have been feeling on the fence about the Oracles, they are great for thinning and getting that land you don't want to draw gone.  They also help with timing my Explore a little better, but I am slightly underwhelmed.

Would they be better replaced with Geopedes and would it be in my best interest to drop the Comet Storm for the Summoning Traps?

Aug 24, 2010 -- 11:39AM, th3maninblak wrote:

You're only running 9 sources of green mana, which is far too little to be effective.  Give my mana base a shot (28 lands is alot, but it's what is necesary) and tell me your results.

27 is good as well

11 mountain (Although 12 is probably better. I did run out of mountains to fetch last week)
5 forest
2 raging ravine
3 Terramorphic
2 Evolving Wilds

That's 12 sources, which has done me pretty well so far (better than 6 forest 3 tap fetches)

The Rest of the build seems fairly standard.

Imo, there is too much ramp. You have essentially 20 ramp spells. Imo, it's just not enough business. I'd replace Oracle with Geopede or Rampaging Baloths, or something that can better take advantage of the ramp. I would stick summoning trap in there. Personally, I do this in place of Khalni Heart Expedition.

Now SB-I don't know what your meta looks like, but here is an example of my SB for my meta

2-Combust
2-Terastodon
3-Goblin Ruinblaster
2-Naturalize
1-Back to Nature
2-Obstinate Baloth
3-Ricochet Trap

This gives me a very good matchup vs U/W control, Superfriends, while still able take on Jund, and deal with RDW and enchantments. Tailor to your own taste.