Ruby Storm

i have a discord for it, but it's dead! nobody uses it.

anyway, this is my latest version. it still needs to be tested. i haven't had the time:


// Hypothetical Ruby

// 60 Maindeck
// 12 Artifact
4 Ruby Medallion
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

// 2 Enchantment
2 Pyromancer Ascension

// 12 Instant
4 Seething Song
4 Manamorphose
4 Lightning Bolt

// 14 Land
11 Mountain
3 Ancient Tomb

// 20 Sorcery
2 Past in Flames
4 Rite of Flame
4 Act on Impulse
4 Burning Wish
4 Gitaxian Probe
1 Gamble
1 Empty the Warrens


// 15 Sideboard
// 4 Artifact
SB: 2 Defense Grid
SB: 2 Silent Gravestone

// 11 Sorcery
SB: 1 Past in Flames
SB: 1 Reforge the Soul
SB: 1 Empty the Warrens
SB: 1 Grapeshot
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 By Force
SB: 1 Cave-In
SB: 1 Pyroclasm
SB: 1 Shattering Spree
SB: 1 Gamble
SB: 1 Dark Petition


with grixis delver being the undisputed deck now for all the spikes, i think it's very reasonable to keep the 4 maindeck bolts. also could run 12-2 split on lands instead of 11-3. empty is also to help hedge on the grixis matchup. the dark petition is there for when you have an active pyromancer ascension or if you just have 6 mana and want to tutor for goblins, it's better than wasting the extra 2 mana and 1 storm to wish for empty.

i do like ahg113's list as well (the maindeck)

also scab-clan is still great if you're in a storm meta.

Figured I would type up my latest weekly legacy at my lgs.

3 Rounds, so nothing too exciting, but I went 3-0, (6-1 in matches).

My list:

Sorcery (23)

4x Act on Impulse
4x Burning Wish
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Gamble
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Hazoret's Undying Fury
3x Past in Flames
2x Reforge the Soul
4x Rite of Flame

Artifact (14)

2x Helm of Awakening
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
4x Ruby Medallion

Instant (9)

4x Manamorphose
4x Seething Song

Land (14)

3x Ancient Tomb
2x City of Traitors
9x Mountain

Sideboard (15)

2x Blood Moon
3x Defense Grid
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Firespout
1x Grapeshot
1x By Force
1x Past in Flames
1x Reforge the Soul
2x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Shattering Spree
1x Tendrils of Agony

Round 1: Lands

Game 1:
I open with Ancient Tomb into Ruby Medallion. Opponent has to read the card, so I know at least my list is slightly unknown to him. He opens land into Mox Diamond Tranquil Thicket, so I know he is on lands and figure this will be an easier match. Turn 2 I git probe to confirm his deck and go for it. Act on Impulses + Seething Songs get me the mana I need, Manamorphose gets my black for Tendrils as he responds to my Burning Wish with Crop Rotation for Glacial Chasm.

Board:
2x Blood Moon for 1x Reforge the Soul 1x Past in Flames (Moon can hose their deck, and I don't need as much resilience vs lands).

Game 2:
I keep a weak opener that has a Medallion. Play it turn 1 of a petal. Opponent Krosan Grips it, followed up next turn with a Sphere of Resistance. Turn 3 I drop Helm of Awakening into Medallion into Blood Moon. Turn 4 I Burning Wish for By Force, casting it for x=3 on 2 Mox Diamond and the Sphere of Resistance. Opponent scoops it up.

1-0 for the night, 2-0 in games.


Round 2: Bug Delver

These two games happen quickly, as my opponent mull'd to 5 first game, 6 second game.

Game 1:
I open with Ruby Medallion, opponent asks if he is getting Dragon Stormed and I chuckle. He opens with USea Ponder. Second turn I land another Medallion, and he plays land and Hymn to Tourach. Next turn I Git Probe he 5, see no counter, and go for it.

Board:
3x Defense Grid 2x Blood Moon for 2x Reforge the Soul 1x Past in Flames 2x Helm of Awakening (The Helm don't help BUG too much, but I figured I don't want anything in his deck being easier to cast, namely Liliana and hardcasted FoW)

Game 2:
As I said, opponent mulls to 6. I keep a meh hand with Defense Grid and play it turn 1. Turn 2 I draw a second Grid and play it. Turn 3 I draw and play Blood Moon. This leaves him with just 2 DRS on board and me with a hand full of mana and no gas. I manage to cast all my Git Probes, and between that and his DRS activations, I go down to 4. On my turn 5 I Past in Flames, recast a probe andsee his hand is 2 land, brainstorm, FoW, and Jace(?). With his two DRS tapped and no way to cast his spells, through Defense Grid x2, I go off.

2-0 for the night, 4-0 in games.

Round 3: Miracles

Game 1:
I play Ruby Medallion after opting to be on the draw. I attempt to go off turn 2, but he counter spells which I saw off Gitaxian Probe. Turn 3 has me play another Ruby Medallion and go off when he whiffs a brainstorm. I make it to 19 storm and attempt to find my Grapeshot, only to realize I don't have it in my board (I maintain that the list I posted above is my list, I apparently have my Grapeshot in my edh deck and only brought a 14 card sideboard). I make 24 Goblins instead and kill in 3 turns. This was a huge misplay. Unaware of every card in Miracle, I never turned them all sideways. This gave my opponent a turn when he double Swords to Plowshare on two Goblins. Dumb mistake, but I get there anyway.

Board:
3x Defense Grid for 1x Reforge the Soul and 2x Helm of Awakening (A good number of cards in my opponents deck have a generic mana, and I don't want to reduce that, specifically Predict. I also don't want to draw a wheel, opting to cast it when I want off the Board.

Game 2:
I keep a solid opener, and attempt to go off turn 2. Opponent counters my Act on Impulse, then end of turn Surgical Extraction hits it. Next turn he counters my Burning Wish and at the end of turn he hits that with Surgical Extraction. With a lot of gas gone and 4 of my 5 mainboard win conditions, I feel a bit dismayed, but I have 5 castable cards in hand, and hitting my 1 Reforge, Hazoret's or Empty can get me back in the game. However, my opponent plays Jace on his turn 4 and fateseals me. When he gets up to 11 counters and then Surgical Extraction hits my LED in the bin, I scoop it up for game 3.

Game 3:
I keep a great opener after choosing to be on the play. I Gitaxian Probe and see a counter, and choose to run my Ruby Medallion out anyway. Opponent doesn't take the bait. Turn 2 I play another Medallion. Turn 3 I open with Rite of Flame into Act on Impulse, which he counters. Turn 4 I attempt to go off again, seeing one FoW in hand. He casts it to counter Hazoret's, but I am ready with Past in Flames, and 2x Seething Songs 1x Act 1x Hazoret's, Gitaxian Probe and a Manamorphose in the bin. The Act draws me into Burning Wish and 2x other cards. With Past, 2x Seething, Act, 2x cards off Act, Manamorphose, Gitaxian Probe, Burning Wish into Tendrils seals the Game.

3-0 for the night, 6-1 in games.


I am really happy with the outcome. Playing versus two blue decks and winning is always a treat. Obviously, as others have mentioned, the deck is pretty resilient, in that failing to go off one turn doesn't end the game. I feel I really need another wincon in the mainboard. I own all the cards for the Pyromancer's Ascension version of the deck, but have yet to play it. I'll probably bring the list in the comment above mine to my lgs next week.

All in all, it was a solid night and I walked away with a slightly overpriced foil Plow Under for my troubles (store credit winnings):
https://i.imgur.com/VOoGWs9.jpg

Thanks for the report. Glad to see the deck did well.

You may notice the pic for my avatar here. stunted growth.

This card is sweet.

I've been working on the ascension list a bit with goldfishing and hopefully will be able to jam some games this weekend. (finally)

Nice job! I have been working on a 4x Blood Moon/3x Empty the Warrens list for a few weeks now. It has been really great, but I really need to get Ancient Tombs! Crystal Vein gets me t1 Medallions and Moons...but if it's my only land, it has been a slog to get to another mana source. So even before I get Lion's Eye Diamonds, I really need 3x Ancient Tomb.

the list i've been testing is the same as the one i posted a few posts back, but with a 3rd ascension as the 61st card.

Weekly was canceled due to release tourney for new set.

Did still get to jam about 6 games vs grixis delver (I think he won one game)

A few games against 4c value deck, went about 50/50

Then played 2 games vs miracles. First game I dumped a hand into wish for Warrens but he had the force.

Game 2 he had Counterbalance. I had 2 ascension but couldn't get the 2nd counter. Lost to a mentor clock of 2 turns once it came down.

Overall pretty pleased with the deck, although I will likely cut the 2 grids for something more aggressive against control decks. (I think the tempo matchups are favorable)

I felt like silent gravestone was pretty good. Maybe it's worth it to have 2 sb Reforge to help fuel the deck when it feels like you've been locked out by the control decks. Hard to say, but it likely can help enable pyromancer, or draw into one when necessary.

If you have an ascension online and you play a reforge, can you cast instants between the copy and the original resolutions? The copy would resolve with the original still on the stack, right?

Why are you guys so sold on LED? I've been playing a list posted here (3 hazoret, 3 reforge the soul, 2 act on impulse, 4 helm of obedience.) and for me the main concern with this deck should be to get your engine going rather than doing fancy things with LED. Can someone explain why did you drop hazoret's undying fury to a number less than 4 copies? That card is the true big money of the deck. I'm also playing 3 etw main 1 side, so you get much more payoff cards that has been the reason why i was mulling so many hands, because i had mana but nothing to do with it. I own a playset of LEDs and to me it is a card that plays on a different angle of what this deck tries to do.

Up to you how you want to play the deck.

Nothing wrong with the brute force method.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by owerbart

Why are you guys so sold on LED? I've been playing a list posted here (3 hazoret, 3 reforge the soul, 2 act on impulse, 4 helm of obedience.) and for me the main concern with this deck should be to get your engine going rather than doing fancy things with LED. Can someone explain why did you drop hazoret's undying fury to a number less than 4 copies? That card is the true big money of the deck. I'm also playing 3 etw main 1 side, so you get much more payoff cards that has been the reason why i was mulling so many hands, because i had mana but nothing to do with it. I own a playset of LEDs and to me it is a card that plays on a different angle of what this deck tries to do.

---

I disagree, in that aggressive openers with wheel or AoI are made better with LED. It just flat out produces the most mana. At the same, when you chain 2-3 AoI and all your castables are in exile, you can play out and LED or two to generate more mana. I just don't get how you can be opposed to it when you play reforge, hazoret, AoI, and have past in flames. It is amazing with past in flames.

As for hazoret's, I still love the card and have a copy in my mainboard, but it whiffs often enough that I just don't want multiples. I already count copies between hazoret's, reforge, and past in flames. Wouldn't want to cut much for hazoret's.

But yeah, LED just seems vastly superior in a deck where most of the draw power comes from AoI, or the few lists that also run Commune with Lava. It just seems like you are running a different deck. LED is meant to be abused with AoI, and most people aren't running 3 reforge maindeck, or 4 helm. You're light on AoI and big on the cost reducers (I haven't seen a list with more than 6 in a while), so clearly LED will play differently.

You can still play 4 led even in a high reduction version. Space is limited in that so you'd have to cut the probes entirely.

I'm still not sure what version would be best. They both have their merits.

For me the biggest selling point on the ascension build is running the bolts.

If youre in a heavy storm/snt/combo meta, then running the helms builds are probably not ideal.

If you're playing vs a heavy Czech pile/miracles meta, the helms are also potentially a liability.

for reference, here is my all in list:


// 60 Maindeck
// 16 Artifact
4 Lotus Petal
4 Ruby Medallion
4 Helm of Awakening
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

// 3 Creature
3 Simian Spirit Guide

// 8 Instant
4 Seething Song
4 Manamorphose

// 12 Land
4 Ancient Tomb
7 Mountain
1 City of Traitors

// 21 Sorcery
4 Rite of Flame
2 Hazoret's Undying Fury
3 Reforge the Soul
3 Past in Flames
4 Act on Impulse
4 Burning Wish
1 Gamble


// 15 Sideboard
// 3 Creature
SB: 3 Scab-Clan Berserker

// 2 Instant
SB: 2 Abrade

// 10 Sorcery
SB: 1 Reforge the Soul
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Grapeshot
SB: 1 Past in Flames
SB: 1 Gamble
SB: 1 Empty the Warrens
SB: 1 By Force
SB: 1 Cave-In
SB: 1 Shattering Spree
SB: 1 Dark Petition

Theres 50 pages on this thing. good golly

https://magic.wizards.com/en/article...gue-2018-05-12

APATHETICPLAYER

on here at all?

happy to see a 5-0! good to see trying some other stuff. i hadn't tried the rite of flame as a wish target since when i first brewed the deck. maybe i should try it again.

what were your matchups? (hopefully it's someone on here)

pretty excited to see the blood moon deck win the GP. maybe this will uptick the red stompy decks, which this deck can generally do pretty well against.

still undetermined which version would be best, but playing vs so many dead cards maindeck is great.


Planeswalker (2)
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Creature (15)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Sorcery (4)
4 Fiery Confluence
Artifact (14)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Trinisphere

8 moon effects, 4 bridge, and all their win cons. confluence can be annoying, and trinisphere is still fantastic. chalice only hits minimally when it's for 1.

might be the one matchup where we are actually better than traditional storm lists game 1. (and any post sb game on the draw)

After having the deck proxied for ages, I finally bought all the remaining pieces at GP Birmingham last weekend. I was there for side events so I played a few games in Turbo Town. I didn't have time to finish any except the first one because draft events fired either for myself or opponent but it went pretty well.

Burn: 2-1
Stoneblade: 1-0
Forgemaster MUD: 1-1
Mono B Control/Pox: 1-0

Deck is legit. This is the non-LED brute-force version with just some bolts as interaction and both By Force and Shattering Spree in the wishboard. I don't have a full list to hand but it won't be much different to the last version I posted whenever that was. In game one against MUD I was successfully comboing off through Trinisphere with Pyromancer Ascension online until I accidentally killed myself with Gitaxian Probe. Game 3 against burn was a turn one Tendrils win. The games with MUD were largely recurring artifact removal, giving me a few turns to find all the pieces after blowing through two Burning Wish in three turns.

This is the first time I've ever played legacy and I had a great time. After the turn one win I realised both games either side of us had stopped to watch and loads of people asked questions about the deck afterwards. I told them where I found it so we'll see if any turn up. I kind of wish I'd entered the legacy main event at the GP rather than doing limited side events as there's not going to be another legacy GP in this country for a while now (I assume). I didn't expect that the deck would actually be competitive. It's only a small sample size and it's regular REL, but it's still very positive.

Thanks again, mistercakes and others on this thread, for giving me my first taste of legacy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

I purchased the remaining cards for a Dragonstorm variant, spoiler, it's not very good lol. I'm currently going old extended tech with Lotus Blooms, which are abysmally slow by legacy standards (turn 4 combo.) Getting to 9 mana however is quite difficult, and when you consider Burning Wish as well it's at least 10 mana. That means we still need Ruby's and Past in Flames to get to a high enough mana count...and at that point you can win with Tendrils, EtW, or Grapeshot. So I'm playing 4 maindeck Blood Moons as plan #1, which should buy time to get to turn 4.

Here is my testing list, it's quite awkward, but it does what its supposed to do by turn 4.

Dragonstorm Moon

3x Dragonstorm
4x Burning Wish
4x Thundermaw Hellkite
3x Bogardan Hellkite

4x Lotus Bloom
4x Lotus Petal
4x Ruby Medallion
4x Rite of Flame
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Seething Song
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Blood Moon

4x Crystal Vein
9x Mountain

Sideboard
3x Empty the Warrens
1x Dragonstorm
1x Past in Flames
1x Grapeshot
1x Pyroclasm
2x Scab-Clan Berserker
2x Tormod's Crypt
4x Pyroblast


Hardcasting Dragons is not unreasonable, especially after Blood Moon and several turns to draw extra mana. I think for now the SSG's are necessary to really push for a t1 Moon. I think boarding in Empty the Warrens and other cards in cases where Blood Moon is bad is a decent plan, considering it would need a faster combo turn than t4.

---

Why are you playing Lotus Blooms? Just wondering what your reasoning for that is. I'd think Pyretic Rituals are just better.

To me, it looks like Scourge of Valkas are better than Bogardan hellkites. You still kill with 4 storm (1 scourge and 3 thundermaw) and they are a lot more castable. I'm also playing Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice, and Mizzix's Mastery. Makes it a lot easier to hit Dragonstorm. I still need to do proper testing with the list, but it's really not so terrible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mort47

After having the deck proxied for ages, I finally bought all the remaining pieces at GP Birmingham last weekend. I was there for side events so I played a few games in Turbo Town. I didn't have time to finish any except the first one because draft events fired either for myself or opponent but it went pretty well.

Burn: 2-1
Stoneblade: 1-0
Forgemaster MUD: 1-1
Mono B Control/Pox: 1-0

Deck is legit. This is the non-LED brute-force version with just some bolts as interaction and both By Force and Shattering Spree in the wishboard. I don't have a full list to hand but it won't be much different to the last version I posted whenever that was. In game one against MUD I was successfully comboing off through Trinisphere with Pyromancer Ascension online until I accidentally killed myself with Gitaxian Probe. Game 3 against burn was a turn one Tendrils win. The games with MUD were largely recurring artifact removal, giving me a few turns to find all the pieces after blowing through two Burning Wish in three turns.

This is the first time I've ever played legacy and I had a great time. After the turn one win I realised both games either side of us had stopped to watch and loads of people asked questions about the deck afterwards. I told them where I found it so we'll see if any turn up. I kind of wish I'd entered the legacy main event at the GP rather than doing limited side events as there's not going to be another legacy GP in this country for a while now (I assume). I didn't expect that the deck would actually be competitive. It's only a small sample size and it's regular REL, but it's still very positive.

Thanks again, mistercakes and others on this thread, for giving me my first taste of legacy.

---

glad to hear you checked out the pyromancer ascension + bolt list. pretty funny that even in those lists you still have the core of the deck that makes it capable for turn 1 wins. the deck is super fun, you just have to be honest with yourself at times since we aren't using blue for consistency you will have some games where you just don't get the combination of cards needed.

hopefully next europe legacy gp will be on the mainland and i'll get over to it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mistercakes

glad to hear you checked out the pyromancer ascension + bolt list. pretty funny that even in those lists you still have the core of the deck that makes it capable for turn 1 wins. the deck is super fun, you just have to be honest with yourself at times since we aren't using blue for consistency you will have some games where you just don't get the combination of cards needed.

---

It's a scrappy little deck. Even in games without all the pieces I was able to play a more interactive game and keep my opponent's threats at bay until I drew into what I needed. One opponent Forced a card draw spell and I just kept going a couple of turns later. Pyromancer Ascension is super flexible as well. I ran it initially as Ruby 5 and 6 but it also makes spells harder to counter, doubles up your removal and lets you combo off through Trinisphere (I don't mind paying three mana to get ten back) or Chalice.

Ascension is bad in multiples though so I'm sticking at two. Bolt, while sometimes necessary, I think is more likely to make this build a bit less consistent so I'm only playing two of those as well. Not totally sure about that though, probably depends on the meta.

Here's my list:

// Main
4 Act on Impulse
3 Ancient Tomb
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Burning Wish
3 Desperate Ritual
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Guttersnipe
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Lotus Petal
4 Manamorphose
11 Mountain
3 Past in Flames
2 Pyromancer Ascension
4 Rite of Flame
4 Ruby Medallion
4 Seething Song

//Sideboard
1 By Force
2 Defense Grid
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Grapeshot
1 Hazoret's Undying Fury
1 Past in Flames
1 Pyroclasm
1 Reforge the Soul
2 Scab-Clan Berserker
1 Shattering Spree
2 Silent Gravestone
1 Tendrils of Agony

Oh and unrelated good news because I'm excited. I asked my LGS about a legacy event and he said he didn't think he'd seen anyone play legacy there but I could try and drum up some interest. I asked around and we're planning an event! A few people from out of town expressed interest and the LGS owner has an LED lying around which he's willing to offer up as first prize (and I'd totally try it in the deck as a one-of). There's very little legacy in the UK and even less in North Wales where I am so I'm really hoping we can throw together a good event.

Page 2 on new/dev?!?!? Come on guys, we can do better than that!

I am going to test the brute-force approach, dropping the Blood Moons for a full set of HUF. I haven't tried it in a while, but I think it could be good. Without LED I need a way to cheat on mana costs, and this does it.

http://mythicspoiler.com/bbd/cards/sentineltower.jpg

this is interesting, dunno how good it is. it feels like overkill, but maybe a singleton is pretty cool. it functions as a guttersnipe that doesn't die to bolt. (3 spells = 6 dmg), with this card, 3 spells = 7 damage.

in any case, i'm really happy they're printing a storm style card after explaining how storm was such a mistake. could justify using helms a bit more though now.

something like this is lethal:

seething song, burning wish, past in flames
then flashback all 3.

(that's 15 damage)

if you have any other spell in the graveyard it's lethal, assuming you can cast everything.