Venser Bant Ramp. A straightforward elegance for the tasteful player.
Instructions
1 Ramp, ramp, ramp. You keep a hand with Forest, Birds of Paradise, Rampant Growth, etc. If you have Serum Visions, all the better to dig out more ramping things. Explode through turn two and three.
2 Abuse enters the battlefield effects on any creature. By turn two that's Blade Splicer, and repeated turn three by Phantasmal Image. Or an
Acidic Slime
on turn 4, with a copy and Restoration Angel killing you three of the opponent's land. Venser, the Sojourner comes in and starts flinging things in any out of the battlefield. Fauna Shaman tutors Sun Titan to retrieve Phantasmal Image from the graveyard and make a Titan copy. Things get silly.
3 Lock down and exile. If you can pull off a looped Stonehorn Dignitary with Venser, the Sojourner, you can build up your army however you want and swing for massive unblockablebeat damage. Hitting Venser's ultimate is also very doable and all but ensures victory. This is when late game draws like Birds of Paradise, and Serum Visions shine since they allow you to cheaply mass-exile whatever the opponent has left on the board.
4 win. If the deck came together for you, the opponent either scoops with no land left on the board, or has just been crushed by an army of golems. Either way it's a nice feeling.
Making a return to mtg. Last time I played competitively was 2012. This was more or less my standard deck. I had success with this deck.
I've adapted it to modern by swapping Ponder for Serum Visions. I also moved two Day of Judgment to the sideboard to make room for Fauna Shaman mainboard for some flexible creature digging power on a body. Beyond those additions, this deck hasn't changed much.
The shell has proven itself. I'm not interested in changing the basic theme. Nor am I interested in upsetting the current card type balance.
I am interested in suggestions for better versions of the existing utility cards. Losing Ponder really sucked. Pretty sure the solution is Serum Visions but maybe there's a better card.
I am definitely interested in sideboard counterspell suggestions. The cards I use are what I had available to combat Kessig Wolf Run Ramp, and vampires in 2012. I have no idea what the modern meta is like in my community. I also don't know what good counter spells exist.
