Ape LD

[Holiday]

This deck is for the Tribal Wars format. If you don't know what that is (I don't really expect you to) I explain here. I'm not posting this in the New and Developmental Decks forum because I'm not disillusioned enough to think this is viable in Legacy where most decks would easily dismantle it.

My friend challenged me to make the best Ape tribal deck I could come up with. I haven't tested it out yet but I wanted to get some ideas from my fellow Sourcers. Money is no object because we are going to proxy out most of the expensive stuff. Kird Ape is pretty solid so I knew I was going RG from the start. After seeing Ravenous Baboons I was inspired to go with a land destruction theme similar to aggro loam.

4 Simian Spirit Guide (ape)
4 Kird Ape
3 Ravenous Baboons
4 Hooting Mandrills
1 Uktabi Orangutan

4 Mox Diamond
4 Punishing Fire
3 Life from the Loam
3 Devastating Dreams
2 Crack the Earth
2 Pillage

1 Mountain
3 Taiga
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Wasteland
4 Treetop Village
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Forgotten Cave
1 Ghost Quarter


The 16 monkeys and 4 Treetop Villages gives me the required 20 Apes to meet the 1/3 of deck Tribal Wars requirement.
Hooting Mandrills has synergy with this deck's ability to fill up the graveyard.
Punishing Fire is great for controlling my opponent's board (which will typically have small creatures)
Devastating Dreams is a great sweeper that also kills land. In Tribal wars board sweepers are pretty damn good.
Simian Spirit Guide can do a cool trick with Crack the Earth to make my opponent sack their land if I'm on the draw. It can also combine with Mox Diamond to accelerate into Baboons or Mandrills early. In a pinch, it's a grizzly bear.

Other Cards
There really aren't many good Apes.
I considered Hidden Gibbons for this deck, but in a creature dominated format it might rarely come to life against certain decks.
Summit Apes is probably too slow.
I'm not sure if I want to run three Ravenous Baboons because their non-basic destroying ability is not a "may".
Any other Apes out there I should consider?

As far as LD goes, there are a number of options.
Scorched Earth could give me an advantage if I have the loam engine going. It can also kill basics.
Raze could be run instead of crack the earth. (I read the oracle text on this one and sac a land is part of the cost.)
Molten Rain could replace Pillage but I'm not looking to race my opponent in terms of dmg.
Boom // Bust is another possibility

Any ideas for this deck?

[Ace/Homebrew]

Taurean Mauler is probably one of the stronger 'apes'...
How good is the 1-of Orangutan when you have no way to search for it?


Boom // Bust 'combo's' with fetchlands.

[Holiday]

True, and plus I have Pillage to take out artifacts.
Good idea with the Changeling, I think that is legal.

I overlooked the fact that Boom // Bust works well with Fetchlands. Might be better than Crack the Earth.

Thanks for your ideas.