[Article]Eternal Europe: Mana Mania

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

This time I'm taking a closer look at the two well-performing ramp-decks from the last two SCG Legacy Opens and try to explain why they did well. Check it out!

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/25060-Eternal-Europe-Mana-Mania.html

[Einherjer]

So the Eye of Ugin actually is R'lyeh? And Emrakul is Cthulhu? Well then the deck deserves a completly different name though, like "Lovecraft's Legacy" or something :P

On a more serious note: Good article, seems correct too. Nice read.

Greetings

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

So the Eye of Ugin actually is R'lyeh? And Emrakul is Cthulhu? Well then the deck deserves a completly different name though, like "Lovecraft's Legacy" or something :P

On a more serious note: Good article, seems correct too. Nice read.

Greetings

Thanks :)
"Lovecraft's Legacy" is sweet! I'd much prefer that name but alas, too late. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that those were the actual playtest names of the cards.

[wcm8]

I like the article! I remember playing against this style of deck back in the Mental Misstep/Providence Grand Prix era. I agree that such a deck is probably more well situated now that fast all-in aggro decks and Hymn to Tourach are on the decline (fwiw I beat it 2-1 with a classic Team America build... gotta admit, I kind of miss Mental Misstep and the incredibly open format that existed at that time.)

[sdematt]

We ARE having a Team MM vs. Team Ban MM snowball fight at Denver, so I guess I know which team you're on.

Again, I enjoyed the article, Carsten. Conditional counters do nothing to the go-big strategy, and that's what they're preying upon. It's initially the reason UW back a year or so ago started to run Counterspell again, since other UW decks at some point would be able to dodge Pierce and you couldn't interact with them as well. Again, insights like this are nice to see.

The question is, are ramp decks good enough to see long term play? Time will tell, but I definitely know they key for ramp is stable mana development over the long terms and not getting blown out by Wasteland, something both decks do in different ways (Signets and Talismans vs. Needles + Show and Tell to put on a clock).

-Matt

[Amon Amarth]

This article is very timely. Seeing ramp decks take off is pretty cool in a format that's been so hostile to them for so long. I think you're a bit off on the MUD decks though. Thran Dynamo is a great supplement to Metalworker in the MUD Stompy decks and it's another good target for Voltaic Key.

[Tammit67]

Well written and enjoyable as always :)