[Deck] 43 Lands

[TheGube]

I promise you though if Mental Misstep gets banned or I don't care that much about a tournament I will test your Pharaoh

Well there you go. MM got banned (just too bad i sold my hightide deck and built reanimator about 3 weeks ago but o well ) I will be piloting Lands again with pretty much a dedicated anti combo board that im still working on any suggestions?


4 Exploration
4 Manabond
4 Life from the Loam
3 Intuition

1 Engineered Explosives
1 Mindslaver
1 Zuran orb

4 Mox Diamond

1 Forest
3 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Bayou
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs

3 Tranquil Thicket
3 Tolaria West

4 Rishaden Port
4 Wasteland
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Maze of ith
1 Creeping tar pit
1 Cephalid Coliseum


1 Tabernacle at pendrell vale
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of yawgmoth

// Side Board
4 Chalice of the void
2 Ethersworn canonist
1 Darkblast
1 Volrath's stronghold
1 Karakas
3 Knight of the reliquary
3 Krosan Grip

[Wanderlust]

Can't wait to resolve some Explorations and Manabonds again unmolested by MMS.

As for:

Decklist

I would say the maindeck flex slots are:
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yagmoth

I would personally try to squeeze Karakas into the maindeck just to free up one slot in the SB. How necessary have you found Urborg in getting maze/tabernacle/chasm mana for the Mindslaver lock? Does it serve any other function really? That would be the first card I would try taking out for Karakas.

I like Mishra's Factory, as it gives us more ways to attack Jace and block an early Goblin Lackey, but some seasoned pilots argue that the singleton Creeping Tar Pit is enough manlands.

Any reason for not running at least one Ghost Quarter?

As for the sideboard, I would love to hear your explanation for your choices. My biggest concern is that there currently aren't any card advantage alternatives to the Loam engine (ie., Dark Confidant or Crucible of Worlds). That seems risky if facing any hate, esp. Extirpate and Surgical Extraction, which will probably show up fairly often.

[GoldenCid]

@The gube: i'm running an almost exact list than yours. But i added Worm Harvest. Did you test it?

[mchainmail]

@The gube: i'm running an almost exact list than yours. But i added Worm Harvest. Did you test it?

There's been infinite discussion on this card already; some people like it, the rest think it's terrible.

My old sideboard was:

3 Mindbreak Trap
1 Null Rod
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Arcane Laboratory
4 Dark Confidant

1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Ghostly Prison
2 Other Cards

as the anti-combo package. I think I was 70% or so across 10+ sanctioned matches against Storm combo. You really need both proactive and reactive hate to beat combo, especially Spiral Tide.

[rocketrae21]

I dont like having land in the sideboard. Therefore I am not a fan of the karakas being there. Also I would suggest cutting down to 2 Manabonds and then running 2 Enlightened Tutor. I have to try to optimize my list again and find a spot for the Pharaoh to test.
I'm sad MM got banned but I'm happy I can play this pile again.

Once I figure out my list, I will post it for you guys to hate on or whatever

[GoldenCid]

There's been infinite discussion on this card already; some people like it, the rest think it's terrible.

Because of tabernacle?? It sounds antisinergic but you can just "pay" for the amount of worms you need and that's it. Then you retrace, multiply your army with bunch of chumpblockers.

On Pharaoh: i'm not sure on the ruling. A creature that dealt damage is still considered as attacking creature??

[Antonius]

Because of tabernacle?? It sounds antisinergic but you can just "pay" for the amount of worms you need and that's it.

Nah, Dog, you sac your Tabernacle to Zuran on their endstep then just replay that shit on your turn.

[GoldenCid]

Nah, Dog, you sac your Tabernacle to Zuran on their endstep then just replay that shit on your turn.

So...why is terrible???? Dog.

[Einherjer]

.

On Pharaoh: i'm not sure on the ruling. A creature that dealt damage is still considered as attacking creature??

Yes.

[Serbitar]

So...why is terrible???? Dog.

My intuition is this: Worm Harvest requires your gameplan to work already - that is, you are dredging Loam repeatedly and have played a lot of lands. If your gameplan works already, you should win - Worm Harvest or not (this obviously applies to Mindslaver, too). I also find myself with very few lands in grave most of the time I do have Loam running (and obviously with even fewer if I don't).

[Leftconsin]

The point of Worm Harvest every time I have played it is simply time constraint. I was having trouble playing 3 games in 50 minutes before Worm Harvest. It clogs the deck up a bit, and is winmore, but I know I want to stop having game 3s where my opponent has little to no permanents, is at some high life total, and time gets called. If you are confident that you can play at a fast pace, and keep your opponent at a fast pace, then this just doesn't apply to you.

[GoldenCid]

In my experience harvest has delayed the match until i get an answer or won it right staight. I know it requires 5 mana but remember that it has retrace, that puts a one more land in yard before it resolves. And yes i have some lands 5-8 when playing it. Remember that loam takes out just 3 not all. Finally it requires much less mana than slaver (i run both). I don't konow maybe it depends on the pilot.

[TheGube]

Can't wait to resolve some Explorations and Manabonds again unmolested by MMS.

As for:


I would say the maindeck flex slots are:
1 Tranquil Thicket
4 Mishra's Factory
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yagmoth

I would personally try to squeeze Karakas into the maindeck just to free up one slot in the SB. How necessary have you found Urborg in getting maze/tabernacle/chasm mana for the Mindslaver lock? Does it serve any other function really? That would be the first card I would try taking out for Karakas.

I like Mishra's Factory, as it gives us more ways to attack Jace and block an early Goblin Lackey, but some seasoned pilots argue that the singleton Creeping Tar Pit is enough manlands.

Any reason for not running at least one Ghost Quarter?

As for the sideboard, I would love to hear your explanation for your choices. My biggest concern is that there currently aren't any card advantage alternatives to the Loam engine (ie., Dark Confidant or Crucible of Worlds). That seems risky if facing any hate, esp. Extirpate and Surgical Extraction, which will probably show up fairly often.

Hmm coulda sworn I had Ghost quarter in the list. Guess its just -1 factory +1 quarter. I generally play around the targeted hate via cycling in response.

I havent tested canonist and darkblast has been in there for meddling mage which ive seen in many lists in my meta lately. ive toyed with worm harvest and the urborg is a holdover from that. (also toyed with ravens crime found it totally win more) but ive had troubles with closing the game as well sometimes so I added knights/stronghold, crucible is also in and out of the 75 alot i just cant justify dropping the land count any more than it is.

[Serbitar]

I don't think Worm Harvest//Mindslaver are the solution to drawing some game 3s. Sure you might find it in time but it is still a one-of. So more often than not you will have to spend time searching it and will find it too late or not at all. I think unintentionally drawing some games is simply inherent to the Lands strategy and your best bet at hedging that risk is learning to play faster.
(This also means you have to constantly make sure your opponent plays at a reasonable pace. My impression is that games with Lands go so long because the opponent is taking forever. Lands itself is quite straightforward most of the time.)


Btw, my current list is this:

1x Academy Ruins
1x Creeping Tar Pit
3x Mishra's Factory
4x Maze of Ith
1x Glacial Chasm
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
4x Rishadan Port
4x Wasteland
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Karakas
3x Tranquil Thicket
3x Tolaria West
4x Green Fetch
3x Tropical Island
1x Bayou
1x Forest
4x Mox Diamond

4x Life from the Loam
4x Exploration
4x Manabond
4x Intuition
1x Zuran Orb
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Oblivion Stone

Board:
4x Dark Confidant
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Chalice of the Void
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Cabal Pit
1x Krosan Grip (I recently lost a game to Null Rod, so maybe I need more of these)
2x Oblivion Stone
3x Cursed Totem (if Maverick or GSZ-decks in general are still that common, now with Misstep banned)

[GoldenCid]

I'm cosidering agian running 1 of Oblivion Stone in side or MD. I solves the toruble of planeswalkers. Yesterday a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas destroyed me twice, lol. Maybe my side would be:

4 Chalice
3 Mindbreak Trap
2 Null rod
3 Grip
1 Stone
2 Crypt

[Julian23]

Never count out Pithing Needle. I think it's the superior choice to Oblivion Stone, especially with MMS banned now. Hardly any deck runs more than 1 Planeswalker you really want to deal with, plus Needle is super-duper-uber more flexible than Stone.

[Serbitar]

I actually think Oblivion Stone - while being clunkier - is more flexible than Needle. But maybe I'm looking at it from the wrong angle. The way I see O-Stone, its a catch all answer. Not only does it handle planeswalkers but also random hate like Leyline or Crypts, big monsters like Emrakul or Progenitus, aggro guys lying around, Blood Moon, Enchantress (which is pretty unwinnable without Stone) ... The only of these Needle handles too are Crypt/Relic and maybe stuff like Lavamancer. I also dislike in cards like Needle that you are prone to get blown out once the opponent handles it (in this regard it is alot like Humility).

[rocketrae21]

So are we thinking Lands is a viable strategy at the moment? I have no idea what the format is going to become and I was doing some testing with Lands against NO RUG and it wasn't going so well for me. I really want to play this deck again, but maybe I have graduation goggles about the deck.

[GoldenCid]

So are we thinking Lands is a viable strategy at the moment? I have no idea what the format is going to become and I was doing some testing with Lands against NO RUG and it wasn't going so well for me. I really want to play this deck again, but maybe I have graduation goggles about the deck.

Think like this:

-Misstep is banned: So FoW is the main trouble to drop Explo / Manabond. With mox diamond daze is meh.
-Discard effects can be minimized with intuition, if an enchantment was discarded, or with loam to retrieve lands discarded with H. to tourach.
-We have intensive mana denial: 4 Wasteland and 4 Ports and some have a Ghost quarter.
-We have an strong anti aggro lock.
-With the draw engine of the deck, Jace is not a big big problem for us.

If i'd run lands i'd take care of combo match up. Reforcing the antio combo SB cards could be healthy.

My 2 cents...

[rocketrae21]

You really don't think Jace is a problem? That card is the biggest pain in the ass for me if I can't effectively waste/port lock them.