Land Investment is a Ponza Scheme [Primer]
Modern Competitive Land Destruction Midrange Primer RG (Gruul)
Creature (20)
Land (21)
Instant (3)
Enchantment (8)
Sorcery (6)
Planeswalker (2)
Sideboard
Creature (4)
Instant (4)
Maybeboard
Creature (4)
Sorcery (1)
Artifact (2)
Hello everyone! This is my take on R/G Ponza in Modern.
R/G Ponza is a deck that has existed for many years in multiple formats. This version uses Blood Moon, Stone Rain, Beast Within, and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss to disrupt the opponent's lands. It uses accelerants such as Birds of Paradise, Arbor Elf, and Utopia Sprawl. The combo of Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl is extremely strong, giving four mana on T2 and up to 6 mana or more on T3.
We finish the game by playing a bunch of resilient fatties, favorite of my good friend Timmy. We play the mighty Swagtusk (Thragtusk), Finks, some Obstinate Baloths, Inferno Titans, and a single Stormbreath Dragon (notably good against UWx control). These fatties not only are big and have great stats both on offense and defense, but make our matches against Burn/Zoo a lot better than they normally would. Burn players absolutely hate it when you T2 Finks into T3 Baloth into T4 Swagtusk, I can tell you from experience.
Our landbase is very interesting, of course designed to let us operate under our own Blood Moon. Eight fetches, three shocks, eight Forests, a single Mountain and lone Kessig Wolf Run round it out. The possibility of getting no red mana is offset by the playset of Utopia Sprawls and the three Birds of Paradise.
Our removal in this deck is of high quality, albeit less-played removal. 3x Bonfire of the Damned are used to wipe an opponent's board (without causing collateral damage), and wins a very surprising amount of games from a topdeck with five or more mana available. Although it isn't great having in your opener or drawing T1 or T2, it is far more of an asset than a liability, especially considering this deck can normally fire it of x=2 (or even x=3) with the major ramp that we have. Beast Within is a catch-all that doubles as prime land destruction for this deck. The 3/3 beast token rarely matters, considering all of our fatties absolutely stonewall it (even Kitchen Finks). Swagtusk will die to it, however, but then we get our own 3/3 (plus the addition of five life).
Bant Creature Beatdown (2-1): G1 took him down pretty easily, didn't see much of his deck. G2 however, he 2-for-1ed me with an Engineered Explosives and killed two of my mana dorks, when I finally got enough mana for Baloths he Pathed one and Unified Willed another. There was a Mystic Snake somewhere in there, too. G3 was just a stalemate as I pulled a Magus of the Moon and we had a board stall, until I tipdecked a bonfire with like, 14 mana open (he was at 8 life).
B/R Midrange (1-0): Heavy midrange/control, Blood Moon mirror match, even. Lots of discard, but some baloths got there.
UB Faeries (1-0): no moon to lock them out, but just ramped fast into a Thragtusk that went unanswered.
Skred (0-2): Just didn't quite get there...
Mardu Burn (1-2): Just I didn't do anything G1, G2 I barely won from topdecking a forest at 1 life to get a baloth into baloth into thragtusk down. G3 was close, but not quite.
U/W Control (2-1): Game 1 and 3 got a Moon down T2 and he couldn't handle it. G2 went for like 40+ turns but he eventually pulled it out.
R/W Soldiers (2-1): Seemed like a bit of a budget deck, but not sure. Ran over him games 2 and 3.
Total Record: Matches (3-0-1) W/T/L
-Stone Rain is the original and the best land destruction card, all it needs is three words, "Destroy target land". For only ! This coming down T2 cripples many aggressive decks, and works well for holding onto strategically while under a Blood Moon to blow up a basic the turn after it comes down. We run a full playset for obvious reasons.
-Mwonvuli Acid-Moss will get your opponents reading. Don't be mistaken at this inconspicuous Time Spiral common, it does great work. Normally coming down T3, this ramps you directly into a T4 Inferno Titan, while destroying any land of your choice. This can also help you out of a mana screw, if you really need a fifth mana for a game-changing Thragtusk. We run a playset.
-Blood Moon. What a classic. Your opponents won't have to read this one. This is the card that makes this deck's wheels turn, simply shutting down many deck's greedy manabases here in the Modern format. Under a moon, you lock your opponents out of the game, and your fatties run free. If they do get a basic, make sure it gets blown up right away. 4x of this iconic card are included here.
-Beast Within is our all-purpose removal spell that also hits lands. It works so well in this deck because all of our 3+ mana creatures stonewall the beast token. This also works well in the late game, either creating a surprise blocker, a surprise attacker, or just blowing up something big. We run a playset.
Notable Exclusions: Primal Command and Molten Rain. The reasoning behind this comes that Primal Command really doesn't do enough for five mana, and getting access to isn't always possible in the early game.
Fatties
-Inferno Titan is our big hitter, he can help us stabilize against aggressive decks and simply ends the game quickly. With no blockers, this guy swings for 11 damage each turn at minimum. Mwonvuli Acid-Moss and our rampers get him quickly, and I can tell you that one of these T3 is absolutely devastating. We run a half playset.
-Obstinate Baloth is by far our most simple creature in the deck, but it gets work done. It stonewalls beast tokens, it dodges bolt, and even if it does get removed right away, it wastes an opponent's removal spell and gains us a whole 4 life. We run two.
-Kitchen Finks, although not technically a "fatty", is a superb inclusion in this deck. It is super resilient, and helps us a lot in aggressive matchups. Between the 4 life, and being able to sometimes trade twice, this card is very good. It even attacks well! Run a singleton.
-Huntmaster of the Fells
is a loaded card in terms of value. This used to actually be a second copy of Kitchen Finks, but this just gets a little bit more done. It is very similar to finks on the front, having basically two bodies and gaining two life. But Ravager of the Fells is what pushes this card so much. Shocking your opponent AND one of their creatures is very, very powerful, and the 4/4 trample is icing on the cake. The real value of this card shines when it flips back and forth multiple times. Ran as a one-of.
-Thragtusk is simply a freakin' good Magic card. It is super-resilient, and just the fact that it says "leaves the battlefield" and not "dies" really pushes it over the edge. The five life just adds insult to injury when we play this card. Run a half playset.
-Stormbreath Dragon is the bane of any control deck running white. This thing is stupidly powerful to begin with. Evasive, hasty, dodges bolt? Sign me up! If we reach seven mana, this thing becomes a flying terror. Let's see here... Nahiri, the Harbinger? No problem. Path to Exile? Check. Celestial Colonnade? HAHAHAHAHA! Run a singleton.
Rampers
-Utopia Sprawl is our best ramp card in the deck, as it dodges Lightning Bolt. It forms a very strong synergy with Arbor Elf. Run a full playset, no less.
-Arbor Elf is our other best ramper because it works so well with Utopia Sprawl, making T2 Mwonvuli Acid-Mosses possible as well as T3 Inferno Titans. Run a playset.
-Birds of Paradise is the next best ramp card available to us. I have been back and forth between the third birds and a twenty-second land, but the birds do it better, giving us more of a chance to get stuff down on T2. Also combos well with Kessig Wolf Run, run three.
The Landbase
-For our basic lands, we run 8x Forest and a lone Mountain. The forests are needed to help us operate well under our moon, and Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl can't work with Mountains.
-Stomping Ground is run a 3-of, giving us a relatively painless manabase.
-Wooded Foothills is ran as a playset, being able to fetch our shocks helps.
-Kessig Wolf Run is a great long-term mana dump when we run out of fatties, making any Arbor Elf a threat and any Birds of Paradise a win condition. Run a singleton.
Removal
-Beast Within, as stated before, acts as both removal and land destruction. A catch-all, leave nothing standing card. Run a playset.
-Bonfire of the Damned is certainly kind of a hit-or-miss card, but when it hits, it hits HARD. This card gives us a fighting chance against affinity and other hyper-aggressive decks, and can even just wipe midrange boards in the lategame as a topdeck. Can simply kill an opponent with enough mana as well. Run three of them.
-Don't be scared of T2/T3 Beast Withining an opponent's land, and you can do it on their upkeep to stop the beast from swinging early. This sometimes can allow them to bolt/Abrupt Decay/path/Terminate one of your rampers, however.
-With a Blood Moon out, target basics.
-Manlands absolutely hate this deck.
-Mwonvuli Acid-Moss can fetch you Stomping Grounds, free of charge.
-Always make sure you have and available.
-This deck laughs, absolutely laughs, at Spell Snare.
-A miracled Bonfire of the Damned's CMC acts as the CMC as if it were normally casted (ie. if you miracle it x=3, CMC is 7).
-Post SB some matchups, (if your opponent isn't careful) you can Pithing Needle and name a fetchland on the battlefield, acting as a 1-mana Stone Rain.
-Wild Nacatl doesn't mind Blood Moon all that much.
Not a great matchup, as they can Mox Opal/Springleaf Drum to avoid our LD, and Blood Moon does not affect them that much. Bonfire of the Damned can help us put up a fight, though. For SB, I would suggest something along the lines of:
-IN: 1x Kitchen Finks, 1x Shatterstorm, 2x Firespout, 1x Sudden Shock, 2x Ancient Grudge, 2x Natural State, 2x Pithing Needle (name Arcbound Ravager/Cranial Plating/Steel Overseer).
-OUT: 4x Blood Moon, 4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, 3x Stone Rain.
Burn
A surprisingly good matchup because of all our lifegain, Burn I would say is favored G1. For SB, I would suggest:
-IN: 1x Kitchen Finks, 1x Sudden Shock, 2x Firespout.
-OUT: 2x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, 2x Beast Within.
Jund
A very good matchup from the beginning for us. This deck just wrecks their 1-for-1 removal with all our resilient threats. We can be weak to discard, however. Getting them to Thoughtseize an Obstinate Baloth can be very entertaining. For sideboarding:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, sometimes Pithing Needle for opposing LOTVs while on the draw. Kitchen Finks is debatable. I wouldn't really suggest Spellskite, but it could be an option.
-OUT: 2x beast withn.
Aggro Eldrazi (Bant)
Great matchup, they rely very heavily on their lands. Noble Hierarch can be quite annoying. As for the sideboard, I do not suggest any changes!
Abzan Beatdown
Blood Moon utterly destroys this deck. Good luck casting Siege Rhino. Their rampers can be a problem, messes with our mana denial. For the sideboard:
-IN: 1x Sudden Shock (for rampers and other meddlesome creatures of the small variety).
-OUT: 1x Beast Within.
Normal Zoo
This deck is a lot like our burn matchup, we play our life-gaining fatties and overpower their smaller, faster creatures. Normally favorable G1. Bonfire of the Damned helps a lot. For the sideboard, I recommend:
-IN: 2x Firespout, 1x Kitchen Finks, 1x Sudden Shock for small nacatls and other creatures.
-OUT: 4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Death's Shadow Zoo
Very similar to traditional zoo, but a large Death's Shadow can be VERY hard to remove sometimes. Bonfire of the Damned off the top can make some surprise wins for us. As for sideboarding, I would suggest the same as "Normal Zoo". Do note, if you see them playing Phyrexian Unlife, I would suggest MBing a few Natural States.
A less popular brew, but still will show up from time to time. Normally a good matchup. There are many variations of this deck, some running Collected Company, most running Tarmogoyf. For the sideboard:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, 1x Sudden Shock, 1x Kitchen Finks. Firespout depends on what creatures your opponent is running. Pithing Needle is also an option.
-OUT: 3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Hatebears (Most likely Eldrazi)
This matchup depends a lot on whether they get an Aether Vial out, and whether or not they play a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben T2. Is quite a toss up, but our fatties do a good job at overpowering them. For sideboarding, I would suggest:
-IN: 1x Sudden Shock, 2x Firespout, 2x Ancient Grudge, 1x Natural State, above Pithing Needle because of Tidehollow Sculler.
-OUT: 4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss (Leonin Arbiter says hello), and Kitchen Finks.
Also of note: Flickerwisp hitting a Utopia Sprawled land can hurt.
UR Aggro/Suicide Blue
Quite a tough matchup, as our land destruction doesn't really hit them hard enough. Our fatties get overpowered by their Kiln Fiends and Thing in the Ice s. For the sideboard:
-IN: 1x Choke, 1x Sudden Shock, 1x Spellskite
-OUT: 3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Merfolk
Not a great game 1 because of their Aether Vials, basic Islands and possible Master of Waves. This can be a tough matchup, but we have good sideboard tech.
-IN: 2x Firespout, 1x Choke, 2x Natural State (hits Spreading Seas). 1x Ancient Grudge/Pithing Needle.
-OUT: 4x Blood Moon, 2x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Bogles
The dreaded bogles. Our land destruction and moons hit them very hard. A lot of this comes down to who is on the play or not. We can board:
-IN: 2x Firespout, 1x Spellskite
-OUT: 1x Huntmaster of the Fells
, 2x Inferno Titan
Scapeshift/Titanshift
If we resolve a Blood Moon, the game is pretty close to being over. Although they can beat down with their primetime sometimes, our fatties' combined strength can take one out. As for sideboarding, I would suggest:
-IN: 1x Spellskite, 1x Kitchen Finks, and Choke if temur.
-OUT: 2x Bonfire of the Damned
Tron
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Easily our best matchup. I've had opponents snap concede to T2 Blood Moons. This is our bye that counts as a win. For sideboarding:
-IN: 2x Pithing Needle (name Ugin or Karn, generally), Choke and Relic of Progenitus if Mono-U tron with Mindslaver.
-OUT: 2x Bonfire of the Damned
Jeskai Nahiri, the Harbinger
Not our greatest matchup, but they are some of the best games of Magic I have ever played. Stormbreath Dragon is simply amazing against this deck. It's path-proof, Nahiri-proof, and it's monstrosity ability punishes control players especially. Watch out for Nahiri's -2, it can hit our moons. For sideboarding, I would recommend:
-IN: 2x Pithing Needle, 1x Choke.
-Out: 1x Kitchen Finks, 1x Obstinate Baloth, 1x Bonfire of the Damned (it's good to have another card that hits Nahiri, so I only cut one).
Grixis Control
A little bit of a better matchup than Nahiri. Blood Moon hits them hard, and they have a lot of lack of interaction with it (they won't be casting any cryptics, at least). For sideboarding, I would recommend:
-IN: 1x Choke, 2x Relic of Progenitus to combat snappies and Tasigur.
-OUT: 2x Obstinate Baloth (I think playing 61 here is fine, considering your relics cantrip.
Grixis Delver
This matchup is quite close. Our bonfires help clear Young Pyromancer tokens and our lifegain fatties help dodge their big guys and burn, but they can throw a lot of stuff at us. Delver of Secrets
is especially bad for us, due to our lack of flying creatures. For sideboarding:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, 1x Choke, 1x Kitchen Finks. Firespout is inconsistent against delver, but when it's good, it often 3-for-1's them.
-OUT: 4x Beast Within
U/W Control
A good control matchup for us, their wraths don't hit us that hard due to our resilient threats. Gideon Jura can sometimes be a problem. Elspeth tokens can be annoying, but bonfire or Inferno Titan clears a path very well. For the sideboard, I would suggest:
-IN: 1x Choke, 2x Pithing Needle if walker-based finishers.
-OUT: 1-3x Bonfire of the Damned
Lantern Control
G1 is basically if they have their combo+bridge down quickly or not. Games 2 and 3, we get a LOT of hate.
-IN: 2x Ancient Grudge, 2x Natural State, 1x Shatterstorm, 2x Pithing Needle, 1x Kitchen Finks.
-OUT: 4x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, 4x Blood Moon.
Do note that Birds of Paradise+Kessig Wolf Run can really help us get under a bridge, albeit quite unlikely.
Skred
Being completely honest, I am not quite sure about this matchup. I think we get stronger post-board to deal with opposing walkers. Although they can kill our larger threats, those threats are still resilient and get us good value.
-IN: 2x Pithing Needle, possibly Ancient Grudge if Batterskull is present. Also helps take out an early Mind Stone.
-OUT 2-4x Blood Moon.
Dredge
A horrid matchup game 1 if they have even a half good hand and top of library. Our Blood Moons don't work well enough against their discard outlets, and they don't need much mana to operate past that. From the board:
-IN: 1x Kitchen Finks, 2x Relic of Progenitus, 2x Firespout, 1x Spellskite (good chumper).
-OUT: 4x Blood Moon, 2x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Infect
Not necessarily a great matchup, but we can hit their Inkmoth Nexuses hard, which is sometimes enough. Noble Hierarchs are annoying, as always. We have some good hate in the board.
-IN: 1x Spellskite, 1x Sudden Shock, 2x Firespout. I do not think Pithing Needle is needed to combat their Inkmoth Nexuses.
-OUT: 1x Obstinate Baloth, 3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Abzan Combo/Toolbox
Blood Moon, as always, shuts them down well. Generally in our favor, especially after boarding.
-IN: 2x Pithing Needle, 2x Firespout, 1x Sudden Shock.
-OUT: 1x Kitchen Finks, 1x Obstinate Baloth, 3x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss.
Not normally a great matchup G1, it is mainly about Lotus Blooms. For sideboarding, I would suggest:
-IN: 2x Pithing Needle (name Lightning Storm).
-OUT: 2x Bonfire of the Damned
This matchup isn't terrible. If we can keep them off of 3 mana for long enough, that's often a good way to win, especially considering their greedy manabase. For sideboarding:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, 1x Kitchen Finks
-OUT: 3x Bonfire of the Damned
Griselbrand Reanimator
Keeping them off of mana for Goryo's Vengeance is the way to play. Sometimes we can amass a board state and life total to win through multiple swings of the big demon himself. For sideboarding, I'd recommend:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, 2x Pithing Needle (name Grislebrand).
-OUT: 3x Bonfire of the Damned, 1x Huntmaster of the Fells
.
UR Storm
Very similar to Suicide Blue/UR Aggro G1, meaning not good. Post-board we have:
-IN: 2x Relic of Progenitus, 1x Choke.
-OUT: 2x Bonfire of the Damned, 1x Kitchen Finks. I think it is worth keeping moon in against this deck, coupled with our land destruction.
Bloomless Titan
A great matchup for Blood Moon. That's about all there is to it. For sideboarding:
-IN: 2x Ancient Grudge, 2x Natural State (for Amulet of Vigor). 1x Sudden Shock may also be used to take out an opposing Azusa, Lost but Seeking.
-OUT: 3x Bonfire of the Damned, 1x Kitchen Finks.
8-rack
Normally a bad game 1, we get lots of SB hate for their artifacts/enchantments, swinging the tide significantly in our favor. As a side note, Obstinate Baloth is funny to slam down for free against them.
-IN: 2x Ancient Grudge, 1x Shatterstorm, 2x Natural State. Perhaps Pithing Needle, too.
-OUT: 2x Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, 3x Bonfire of the Damned.
Hope you enjoyed this deck, thanks!
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 8 years |
| Last updated | 6 years |
| Exclude colors | W |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 5 - 3 Mythic Rares 25 - 4 Rares 9 - 8 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.77 |
| Tokens | Beast 3/3 G, Clue, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Insect 1/1 G w/ Flying, Deathtouch, Thopter 1/1 C |
| Folders | Gruul/Naya/Boros, moder decks, Modern - Ponza, land destro ideas |
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