PDA

View Full Version : [Deck] RW Landfall



Maveric78f
09-21-2011, 03:44 AM
Following the recent bans, I think that two decks are going to be at least Tiers 2, and probably even Tiers 1: BG Pox and RW Landfall. This topic is here to discuss the latter.

The list is still very raw and has not seen much testing yet on my side. In particular, Adventuring Gear may be greedy on the landfall mechanics. But there are so many ways to get the landfalls that I find it acceptable for the moment.

Lands: 22
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Arid Mesa
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Marsh Flats
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Plains
1 Mountain

Additional Landfalls: 4
2 Shard Volley
2 Second Sunrise

Landfall abilities: 15
4 Plated Geopede
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Zektar Shrine Expedition
3 Adventuring Gear

Additional creatures: 9
4 Goblin Guide
3 Hellspark Elemental
2 Jötun Grunt

Additional removal/burn: 10
3 Path to Exile
3 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt

Sideboard: 15
SB: 3 Damping Matrix
SB: 2 Smash to Smithereens
SB: 3 Firespout
SB: 1 Jötun Grunt
SB: 3 Searing Blaze
SB: 3 Spellskite

How to abuse the landfall abilities?
- play a land = 1 landfall
- shard volley sacrificing flagstone = 1 landfall
- fetches (*9) = 2 landfalls
- double flagstones = 3 landfalls
- ghost quarter on flagstone = 3 landfalls

The last but also most impressive way to abuse landfall is Second Sunrise. It can go really crazy, and at instant speed. :
- simply with a fetch, it's 4 landfalls.
- turn 3, tap a land and FoT for 1W, play GQ, activate it on FoT, get 2 new lands including an untapped plains, tap the plains and play second sunrise, get FoT and GQ back, activate once more GQ on FoT get 2 new lands : 7 land falls.
- it's quite the same with double flagstone, except you need to have 4 lands to do it since the lands enter the battlefield tapper
- it's also quite good with only flagstone on another land: you only fetch 1 land at each GQ activation but it still provides 5 landfalls, which generally means 10 damages, and GG.
- turn 3 double GQ is of course the most impressive, with 7 landfalls and 4 untapped lands at the end of the process.

Second Sunrise is also good:
- at saving your dudes from a wrath effect,
- at recurring one or two ZSE,
- and at saving your board from an attack of an Eldrazi. You can even have fun killing Krozilek.

I might want to remove shard volleys for more Second Sunrise, but then I'd probably need to find more slots for more lands (probably basic lands).

But one thing important to note in this deck is the fact that you don't like to face chumpblockers, since you can't landfall every turn. You have three ways to avoid chumpblockers:
- remove the blockers (path/bolt/helix/shard volley)
- have evasion beaters (hellspark/ZTE token equipped with adventuring gear, you might also consider Elspeth to give evasion and some long term relevance to the deck)
- burn the opponent (bolt/helix/shard volley, you might also consider Ajani Vengeant)

There are still 6 slots we did not discuss for the moment: Goblin Guide*4, very good at putting pressure on the opponent and Jötun Grunt*2, which is also an efficient creature. As long as I play Adventuring Gear (which is quite original, but I might change my mind and come back to a more conventional list as I said earlier), those six slots have to be creatures that can carry the equipment.

The sideboard is a bit sketchy, with Damping Matrix and Spellskite that we both want in the Splinter Twin MU but do not work well together. The good thing about Spellskite is that it does not have defender and thus can attack equipped with gear. Searing Blaze is additional removal/burn against decks that play a lot of early drops. Smash to Smitherens for annoying artifacts, such as Vedalken Shackles or Batterskull. Firespout and Grunt are there but I will probably change them with more controlling options such as the planeswalkers or more combo hates.

Cards that I keep in consideration for future testings:
- Knight of the Reliquary: landfall provider, gets advantage of the land sacrifices and known to be a very good card. Problem: off colour and a bit slow (provides its first landfall only on turn 4). It's really a great card that I want to test, but first things first, I want to keep it RW and highly aggressive for the moment.
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Ajani Vengeant: as for knight of the reliquary, it's a bit high in the curve but they are cards that can really help finishing the game, or get a strong long game plan.

Mr. Safety
09-21-2011, 10:23 AM
I think Grim Lavamancer + Basilisk Collar would be smart in this deck, not only to give lifegain to combat opposing aggro, but also to give you repeatable removal to keep blockers clear. Considering the amount of fetchlands and lots of stuff hitting the graveyard, I think it's a smart game plan.

Just a thought. It's cool to see Second Sunrise in a non-combo deck (although this deck skirts the edge of combo.)