My Eldrazi Ramp deck was too slow for my liking, so hopefully this will change things a bit. It's now basically a
Summoning Trap
deck that relies primarily on the luck of the draw, with a small amount of deck manipulation to up the odds of things going well for me. Given the new semi-gambling aspect, that would explain the name I've given the deck. The changes I've made, turning Mono Green Eldrazi into this, may not have been for the best - but a little experimentation now and then never really hurt anyone.
While this deck is weaker than I'd like against creature hate, it can bring out something nasty on turn 3-4 with surprising consistency.
APRIL 22 2011 DECK RESULTS:[1] 1-2 vs Goblins: Game 1 was close; I was at 2 life and ended my turn, ready to win as soon as it was my next attack phase, but my opponent top-decked a
Staggershock
and killed me. Game 2 I summoning trapped into an Emrakul early on... needless to say, I won that round easily. Game 3 ended almost exactly like game 1, except I was at 4 life and my opponent managed to play a second
Ember Hauler
; he sacrificed both of them and killed me before I could win.
[2] 1-2 vs BGR control-ish deck with
Lotus Cobra
s: The first two matches were mostly about luck, and we went 1-1. For the third round my opponent did some odd sideboarding to make his deck what seemed like 80% land destruction, which he claimed was the only way he could beat me. It worked, too, because I wasn't able to burn his creatures or play anything without lands. I actually don't know what his deck was supposed to except possibly ramp quickly into
Grave Titan or
Inferno Titan. I also saw
Garruk Wildspeaker and a
Sorin Markov.
[3] 2-1 vs GW Aggro: Game one was close and I barely won, but I think my opponent had some bad luck because we didn't do much except play lands. I burned his creatures away so that he couldn't hit me for enough damage, and I killed him when I was at 6ish life. Game two I lost because I moved
Archive Trap x4 from the sideboard to the main deck, just for kicks. I actually did alright but he brought out a
Linvala, Keeper of Silence which made my
Overgrown Battlement
s close to useless. Soon he had out 3
Vengevine
s (2 courtesy of me) and there isn't much anyone can do about that. Game 3 I summoning trapped into an Ulamog on turn 3 so that was an easy win. Against decks like this I think I'll put a
Bojuka Bog into my sideboard.
[4] 2-0 vs UW Caw-Blade with
Inkmoth Nexus
: This was barely a game. My deck ripped Caw-Blade apart, especially in game two when I cast
Gaea's Revenge. My opponent didn't even come close to winning, and the best he did was 3 damage and 3 poison counters in one game; the other game he just had 3 poison counters on me.
[5] 2-1 vs GR Valakut Ramp: This wasn't actually a game in the FNM. After the FNM, the Valakut guy and I (he was one of the friends I went to the event with, and his deck made top 4) pretended we were still there and played a serious best-of-three to see how our decks did against each other. I've always had a pretty good matchup against Valakut, and this was no exception: I won 2 of the 3 games.
MAY 29 2011 DECK RESULTS:[1] 1-2 vs GW Aggro: Game one my opponent played
Linvala, Keeper of Silence which more or less completely shuts down my deck if I'm not already about to win. Game two I managed to play an
Inferno Titan early on, killing most of his creatures. He soon conceded and we went to game three, which he won due to
Phyrexian Revokers (which came out just before I could use
Birds of Paradise
to cast Inferno Titan, delaying me) followed by Linvala again (which came out just before I could cast
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, delaying me severely). Against Linvala, I'll be needing some better removal because she single-handedly wrecks this deck.
[2] 2-1 vs UR Splinter Twin: Game one I won without much issue. Game two my opponent put
Splinter Twin on an Inferno Titan, and he slowly beat me to death with it. The third game was a close match; I played a
Gaea's Revenge which made things look alright for me, but the other guy tried to bust out the infinite combo of Twin +
Deceiver Exarch
. Fortunately I had two
Lightning Bolts in my hand, which killed the creature and I eventually won.
[3] 2-1 vs Soul Sisters: Game one I
Summoning Trap
ped into Emrakul turn 4-5, so I easily won. Game two I had to mulligan down to 4 cards and I kept that hand just because I couldn't bear to mulligan to 3. I had one land until turn 5, so I definitely lost that game. Game three I got out Ulamog, quickly followed by
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
, so I won.
[4] 2-0 vs UB Control/Infect: This guy didn't have any chance. I absolutely steamrolled his deck. Game one I played Vorinclex turn 4-5, which ruined his mana, and game two I had a combination of
Gaea's Revenge and
Raging Ravine
to wreck my opponent.
[5] 1-2 vs Tempered Steel: Game one I managed to get 4
Overgrown Battlement
s on the field, and I topdecked an Emrakul - and hardcast it - for the win. Game two I was bitchslapped by a
Mirran Crusader and some of his friends; a
Pyroclasm would have been great if I had drawn one. Game three he played a
Phyrexian Revoker naming Overgrown Battlement - then he played a second revoker naming Birds of Paradise. Again I had no removal in my hand, so I fell quickly. This game was for second place, apparently, as I was tied dead even with my opponent and when the rankings were posted he was in second.
[6] 0-2 vs RUG Twin: Game one I had the perfect opening, and 6 mana to spend turn 3... but my deck refused to give me anything to do after I was all set up. It took a number of turns before I actually drew anything useful, and my opponent just killed me before I could play any threats. He first put Splinter Twin on an
Acidic Slime, which was unfriendly, and then he put a second Twin on an Inferno Titan. I didn't win that game. Game two I kept a terrible hand, not wanting to have to mulligan more, and then my opponent landed the infinite combo.
Conclusion: Halfway through game 5, my luck just ran out, and I ended up somewhere in the vicinity of 12th place (or probably lower; I didn't really check). There were 40 people in the tournament though, so my deck didn't do badly - I just think I need more removal spells to deal with the cards that completely hose me.
Beast Within seems like an excellent option, though I have nowhere to put it - maybe as a replacement for Birds of Paradise, as incredibly useful as they are.
