Originally Posted by
cwcomposer
[The following is also posted in the Facebook group.]
After playing three weeks at my small, five- or six-person local meta and one week at a larger store, my record with this CG build is 0-3, 1-2, 0-3, 0-5:
4 Warping Wail
2 All Is Dust
1 Spatial Contortion
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Pithing Needle
4 Expedition Map
4 Crop Rotation
4 Candelabra of Tawnos
2 Ugin, the Spirit Drgon
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
4 Vesuva
7 Forest
1 Wastes
2 Maze of Ith
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrall Vale
1 Karakas
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Eye of Ugin
• My consistent problems are as follows:
(1) Land destruction. Obviously. This still is a problem, and the smart Lands players just immediately chain Ghost Quarters together and run me out of basics even though I play eight of them. I've always been afraid of going all-in on non-basics and thought this build would be more resilient because of the high basic land count. It is not. Which leads me to...
(2) 8 basic lands is too many. It sucks being a ramp deck and having four mana on turn four because you've played a Cloudpost and three forests. I have also never once needed Wastes. The thought process was that it's there against Blood Moon, but the one time that's come up, it's not colorless that I needed... it was green.
(3) The deck doesn't DO anything. I find that when things are going well, I build up the manabase and have tons of mana... but it takes forever to draw one of the four threats or a way to find Eye of Ugin and THEN find a threat. During that time I usually end up distracted trying to keep up on board, dealing with threats small and large (which often requires my Crop Rotations and Expedition Maps to search up things other than Posts or Eye of Ugin), which slows things down even more.
• I think the problems are:
(1) The manabase doesn't help a singular goal. Too many basics is a nonbo with ramp.
(2) There are not enough threats. Four high-cost finishers (plus 2 Ugin, which is a sloooowww finisher) is not enough, especially against Wasteland decks where you never make it to ten mana.
(3) The mana curve is too high. Yes, it's great when everything goes according to plan, but it sucks being stuck at six or seven mana and slowly dying.
• Proposed solutions:
(1) Cut Wastes. Cut some number of Forests. Add some number of Ancient Tomb. Possibly add one or two Cavern of Souls because...
(2 and 3) Add more threats at a lower CMC. Some number (3?) of Wurmcoil Engine to help against the aggro and burn matchups and some number (2?) of Thought-Knot Seer to help against combo and to get a (hopefully) super early threat out there. Cavern of Souls could help here.
• Proposed changes (ten cards):
+3 Ancient Tomb
+2 Cavern of Souls
+3 Wurmcoil Engine
+2 Thought-Know Seer
-1 Emrakul, the Promised End
-1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
-1 Tabernacle (move to the sideboard; I rarely use it locally)
-1 Wastes
-1 Vesuva (coming in tapped is rough, as is the new interaction with Blood Moon)
-3 Forest
-1 Thespian's Stage (too slow, rarely use it for neat tricks)
-1 Expedition Map (too slow, although it often eats the first Abrupt Decay or Krosan Grip)
• The new list would look like this:
4 Warping Wail
2 All Is Dust
1 Spatial Contortion
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Pithing Needle
3 Expedition Map
4 Crop Rotation
4 Candelabra of Tawnos
2 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ugin, the Spirit Drgon
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Cloudpost
4 Glimmerpost
3 Vesuva
3 Ancent Tomb
4 Forest
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Maze of Ith
1 Karakas
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Eye of Ugin
I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!
Thanks!