After a short hiatus I've finally recovered from all the standard bannings. I look at Emrakul, the Promised End, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and Aetherworks Marvel fondly now. Neatly sleeved side by side, can't help and choke a bit as I try and hold back the tears, "Don't worry, Demure-Temure has been doing well, she's tier one now, she's tier one..."
Enough of the drama.
So I decided for Ixalan, I'd try brewing something decent enough for competitive play - all by myself(with some help from friends of course). I also promised myself I'd try and stay away from any cards that were over powered and had that "wizards bad quality control slip up" stench. Ehem... The Scarab God.
We all saw cute dinosaurs spawning from Ixalan boosters slowly filling up binders with no deck to call home, ooohhh, cars, dinos... Who's designing this game now? PIXAR?
Then I saw it, and oh maaaan do I love playing cards for free, Gishath, Sun's Avatar. Little Gishath looked at me with it's puppy eyes suckling at his tiny claws like a baby, "Dada" it said, instantly I felt it, that connection. While everyone said it was a bad idea to play dinosaurs this set, I took that baby Gishath home and made him a promise, I will build the deck Gishath, don't listen to them, your not "Just only good for EDH", you'll be tier one soon, it'll be awesome.
Forget about ban possibilities, this dinosaur is rock. He's not just a new Naya EDH commander, he is the new Aetherworks Marvel/Tiny Ulamog who spins for 7, and no doesn't let you play just one card, he lets you play everything as long as their Dinosaurs. Free Carnage Tyrant anyone? Hello Wizards? I would like to order up some tribal sorceries and instants please? Pronto!
Building
I am currently building around this ramp/aggro and testing IRL and online. I still lack a few pieces IRL to give the best reports on matches, but it seems to be working ~ well Approach and Control are crawl matches. The main problem comes in the 2nd turn and trying to do something significantly disruptive until Gishath comes in for a swing, the fun is in ~ assuring that swing connects. I am working my way to 26 creatures so that Gishath's spin hits more dinosaurs, at this rate he only hits about 2-3 per hit. I am thinking maybe I should find a faster way to root out my lands and go 8 land fetches.
There is no secret play here, straight forward survive and make a big hit.
Any feedback is welcome.
UPDATE: 10/22/2017 The ramp aspect of the deck is flimsy in tournament play, there have been matches where it worked but more instances when it just completely failed due to the lack of board wipes. I considered building in Fumigate, but that was questionable decision, Settle the Wreckage sort of worked, but lacked the back up game ender that Approach of the Second Sun is.
Upon testing and losing quite a lot, we decided to update the build and drop the original ramp idea. A few aggro players pointed out Savage Stomp and Otepec Huntmaster. After a bit of a tweak, the deck took on Temur and Mardu vehicles quite easily with no problem. We were all surprised and am looking forward to testing this deck competitively.
We need a few more testing sessions but we are rock solid. The goal now is to build the sideboard against control.
Otepec Huntsmaster is now the key to this build. Check it out! I will tweak and write more as I test and go along. Thanks for the time! Holla back with your ideas.
