b/g korlash land ramp

[carpathium]

So i've been working on making a land ramp deck using Black and Green however I cant decide how much of a factor landfall will actually play in it so i'm leaving it as just ramp. The deck has a very similar control setup to Eva Green but rushes to get out big threats like Korlash and Tombstalker and such. All comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated seeing as this is the first deck I've made in a while (i've been tinkering with tons of elf builds for like the last year or so lol with a little sligh on the side). SO without further ado here is the list thus far:


//removal
3 innocent blood
4 diabolic edict
4 go for the throat

//fetch
4 nature's lore
2 pack hunt

//utility/2nd win con
2 profane command

//creatures
4 korlash, heir to blackblade
4 veteran explorer
4 sakura-tribe elder
3 tombstalker
2 ob nixilis, the fallen

//land
2 volrath's stronghold
3 overgrown tomb
2 cabal coffers
9 swamp
4 bayou
4 verdant catacombs

Thank you in advance for the help! :smile:

(p.s. please don't mention tarmagoyf at all a) i can't stand the card (no offense) and b) i just don't have the money

[from Cairo]

I'd run some fetches, they smooth your mana, and help feed Tombstalker and Ob Nixilis. Even just 4 Verdant Catacombs instead of an Overgrown Tomb, 2 Swamp and a Forest, maybe?

I'm not particularly fond of Harrow, it sucks when it's Dazed or Spell Pierced because it sets you back mana. Perhaps Search for Tomorrow or Lotus Cobra could serve similar roles with less harsh drawbacks.

I'd also go with Ghastly Demise over Vendetta personally, though they're better/safer with some fetches supporting them, so if you stay fetchless Vendetta might be less situational.

[MGC_player]

I too am not a big fan of Harrow. In a format that has free counters, Harrow can really set you back. This may not be a good suggestion, but have your tried Grim Discovery? It seems that either of those could allow you to get a lot of mileage for your creatures as well as an outlet to help you reuse lands.

[carpathium]

Thanks for the quick response :) i was kinda thinking of using pack hunt in place of harrow so i could grandeur korlash ridiculously fast. Also i do like the idea of using demise with fetches in place of vendetta

[SpeedOfDark]

hey, neat deck.

The comments on harrow are pretty accurate, it would definitely set you back more often than you would want, so finding an alternative would be preferable. Pack hunt -> triple grandeur is neat, but it probably won't happen that way most of the time. In any case, if you decide to play pack hunt, I would probably just make it a singleton trick opposed to something you rely on for ramp.

As for getting rid of harrow, here's a few things to consider:

net effect of harrow (assuming no player interaction):
available: turn 3
cost: 1 mana
gain: 1 land, 1 land in graveyard

net effect of nature's lore or three visits:
available: turn 2
cost: 1 mana
gain: 1 land

As you can see, the only difference (assuming no player interaction) is that harrow puts a land in the yard at the expense of 1 extra turn. That land in the yard is useful for tombstalker and ghastly demise, but only marginally so and might not even be worth the loss of flexibility of playing it on turn 2. And of course as mentioned above, if we do take counterspells into consideration, harrow can set you back 3 mana and 1 land (ouch :(), whereas the other two will only set you back 2 mana.

Another advantage of harrow I didn't mention is its ability to mana fix while fetching basics (immune to wasteland). Although the other two can't fetch swamps, they can still mana fix by fetching dual lands. This is a weakness, but the weakness these ramp spells have to wasteland is not as bad as harrow's weakness to counterspells.

This might not be for your deck, but its still another sexy ramp card:
new frontiers (can you imagine this baby with ob nixilis? lose 15 life, swing for 18. lol)

PS: grim discovery is kind of cool, but I wouldn't play it unless you increase your fetchland count some more, and even then not a 4-of because it uses your land drops unlike green ramp.

PS2: about snuff out, I would probably replace this with another removal spell. Don't get me wrong, snuff out is amazing, but I think it works best in a quick aggressive deck who doesn't care about taking damage. Since your deck is more midrange, diabolic edict/cards], [cards]smother or even innocent blood might be more fitting.

[Moczoc]

I wanted to mention Nature's Lore, but someone was faster.

Test the card, it makes a turn 3 Tombstalker very possible!

[Shabbaman]

If you run Profane Command, I think you'll want to run Shriekmaw as removal.

[rockout]

My friends idea for a list similar to this was running survival with emrakul so that every green would get another korlash for another grandeur effect using emrakul to shuffle them back in and untapping and just plain casting emrakul for the obvious nuts. I'm pretty sure with urborg in play you can fetch coffers and other shenanigans off korlash's grandeur ability.

[carpathium]

Urborg doesn't let you get non swamps with korlash it only affects lands in play. And the emrakul survival trick honestly doesn't make sense to me. Also nature's lore is probably going in, good suggestion. Thank you :)

[Mystical_Jackass]

What about fitting in a few Wastes & Loam? Dredging therapy or food for stalker isn't bad either. I think 1 stronghold's good, Legendary.

[Barook]

How about the Scouting Trek + Clear the Land combo?

And Eternal Witness is ridiculously good, especially with Command to abuse her.

[Mystical_Jackass]

How about the Scouting Trek + Clear the Land combo?

2 Cards + :3::g::g: to put 5 lands into play tapped doesn't seem worth it; considering your opponent will probably get ~2 lands out of it as well. Seems awesome in some green animate land/overrun build though