_wolvesatmydoor,
Thanks tons; I love Ponza too! And you bet ... I enjoy knowing the history of decks, and it's cool to hear that someone else does too!

Ever consider running one Samut, Voice of Dissent? I run it in my version. It seems to really catch people off guard when it is flashed in and even more when you can get two triggers off Inferno Titan.

Why does Ponza never run Molten Rain? Sure, it's harder to cast than Stone Rain, but shouldn't the upside more than justify it? In fact, is there any reason not to run playsets of Moss, Stone, AND Molten Rain? It's just more LD in an LD deck, right?

Chikenflakes,
I never have actually, but yeah she could be really good. I don't see giving up a 5- or 6-drop slot for her though, but maybe one of the 4s? I'll have to give her a try. Thanks!

Kezvin,
Molten Rain is just not that good (at least not in Ponza). As you mentioned, it's harder to cast. The deck can get double-red on Turn 2 (the best time to cast LD) but it's kind of tough, and it makes it MUCH tougher to cast the spells with later. And there isn't that much upside actually ... LD is best used on basic Lands, since Blood Moon nukes all the non-basics. And the reason to not run more LD is that LD isn't a wincon :-)

Shivan Wumpus in version 14 looks spicy. How did it work out?

wylie72,
I really wanted to like Shivan Wumpus, but I was underwhelmed. I think it's just the old "any time you give your opponent a choice, they'll pick the option that's worst for you" thing ...

Have you seen this clayperce? Todd Stevens uses Tireless Trackers and they seem really sweet. However, his list has 23 lands and even with 21 I find myself flooded 1/3 times... so it might be a bit too much?

Not sure for the Wurmcoil Engine MB though, it's really bad vs Path to Exile. Even worse than Titan. But it's great vs Black-based decks so if your meta is Death's Shadow heavy then why not.

WizardOfTheNorthernCoast,
Sorry it took me so long to reply!

Thanks so much for pointing out Todd's video! It's now included in in the 'Primers and videos' section.

It looks like Todd based his decklist on Dlt006's deck (5-0 in MTGO Competitive Modern Constructed League, 8/29/2017). Dlt006 used 21 lands, so it obviously works OK, but I love having as many Lands as I can stand with Tireless Tracker ... it's never really flooding when she's on the board, it's just slow card draw. :-)

I mention Tracker in the 'Great cards I'm not using and why' section, saying: Just barely misses the cut. Tracker is kind of a Bolt-magnet, because opponents know she's a Threat that Must Be Answered. But if left unchecked, the card draw and +1/+1 counters are amazing. In my current meta, Chameleon Colossus is just barely better. I tested with this deck: Tireless Ponza. Incidentally, it has 21 Lands, but I didn't really think about it during testing, so I'm not sure that's the best number.

I don't have a strong opinion on Wurmcoil Engine. I really hate playing against it, but I've never actually tested it in Ponza. Like you mention with Path, it's probably just a meta call.

Thanks again!

I've run both Batterskull and Wurmcoil Engine, I found Batterskull to be superior in stabilizing and closing out the game. The lifelink is generally what I'm more concerned about. I comes down a turn earlier, technically dodges Path, and looks great on a Titan.

wylie72,
Thanks so much for mentioning Batterskull! I had looked at it a while back, but life gain effects were not as important in my meta at the time ... but it's definitely worth a re-look now. Do you run it instead of Thragtusk, or something else?

Thanks again!

clayperce, I urge you to take a look at Big Chandra again with the new planeswalker rules. She's honestly pretty bonkers in terms of ramping her out with small Chandra. Seriously, I've been testing it and it's pretty insane.

Moonbar,
Totally! I actually started testing her last Wed on MTGO (they implemented the new rules during the Wed downtime, even though they didn't implement the new cards until the pre-release) ... I haven't drawn her enough though to have a strong opinion yet.

clayperce,

I ran Batterskull maindeck for over a year, alongside a Thragtusk and two Obstinate Baloths. I pulled Batterskull and replaced with a Courser of Kruphix largely because I wanted the Batterskull for an EDH deck. Of the two, I prefer Thragtusk for the instant lifegain against Burn. Sometimes you're dead before Batterskull or Wurmcoil Engine can connect.

Regarding Big Chandra, do you prefer her over a Titan in the 6-drop slot? I tried her for a while, still prefer the Titan.

wylie72,
Thanks much for the additional thoughts on Batterskull. I think that if I add a Chandra, Flamecaller it's going to be as a one-of, but I always "oversubscribe" during testing. So on MTGO right now, I'm running +2x Big Chandra, -1x Primal Command, -1x Inferno Titan.

I've found that titan closes out games faster than any other threat, hitting for a minimum of 9 on an empty board, and often for 12+ with firebreathing. For me, there needs to be a real utility in using a different 6 drop threat over titan since it just ends the game so quickly. I wouldn't run wurmcoil over titan for instance, but against control decks big Chandra might be a consideration. However, I'm trading for a Carnage Tyrant as an additional threat against control decks so I'm not sure big Chandra would be as needed in those matches. One of the best things about Ponza is that the ramp allows for a huge variety of good threats in our colors.

Maybe it's just my meta talking here, but I really like big chandra alongside the titans. She just does everything the deck wants in that it kills quickly, wraths the board, and draws pure gas in the late game. I really like her in just about every matchup due to that utility. It beats aggro with the wrath, and resolving her against control is game over in 3 turns. She also doesn't get pathed like a titan does.

I've tested big Chandra a little bit, and it seems better with the new rule change for sure!

Might consider Ramunap Excavator and Ghost Quarter or other sac land destruction.

SirSh4ggy,
If I went all-in on Tireless Tracker, I think Ramunap Excavator would probably be a must-add. As it is though, there's just not quite enough value in Tracker to do that (mostly because she loses half her value when Blood Moon is out). I had never thought about Excavator though (even though I played it for a while in Standard), so thanks!

Ghost Quarter is a great card for sure, but it doesn't really work in Ponza. For one thing, the deck generally doesn't need more Land Destruction ... it's not really a dedicated LD deck, it's more that it just uses LD as an early game Tempo play, giving us the time we need to ramp into big beaters. Plus, we need the Ramp ourselves, so if we actually wanted more LD (some do), we're better off with Molten Rain, Crumble to Dust, or Acidic Slime than something that sets us back on Mana too. Finally, it's a non-bo with Blood Moon ... and sure, Kessig Wolf Run is too, but Wolf Run has way more value for this deck.

Thanks again!

Ok, I see Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker in your testing spot and that makes me really interested. I've been thinking about him since I watched a Gaby Spartz/LSV stream in which they cubed with him and he overperformed like crazy. How has he been?

Moonbar,
Sarkhan has been very impressive (so far). My favorite play pattern by far is to +1 him twice and then Ultimate ... the card advantage from his -6 makes it almost impossible to lose afterwards. The challenge is all the other cards in our 5-drop slot are crazy-good as well. In my meta (where Pro-White is super-useful), Stormbreath is definitely better. But every time I'm up against a non-white deck, I kinda wish I had Sarkhan instead. And I'm not sure yet if Thragtusk is better ... it's really close. As you know, I kinda struggle vs. Burn, so I've been doing a lot of testing with Finks and now Courser of Kruphix in the main ... that's been working very well (so far), and would likely free up the Thragtusk slot. Of course, I could also downshift the slot and add another Chandra, Torch of Defiance ... she plays better with Courser than Sarkhan does and is just so good in so many ways. So I dunno ...

TL;DR: If your meta is full of Lingering Souls and your Inferno Titans essentially read "Lightning Bolt + draw a basic Land" (due to waaay to many Path to Exiles), then I'd avoid Sarkhan like the plague. Otherwise, I'd recommend trying him out, for sure.

By the way, I haven't updated my decklist here, but Chandra, Flamecaller has found a home in my maindeck for sure. Thanks tons for all the times you recommended her to me! :-D

Hey man, I'm glad that Chandra made it. She really is such a good finisher. One thing that I've been trying is more of a planeswalker-centric type of build. I've been running 1x Chandra, Flamecaller, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Nissa, Vital Force, and Garruk Wildspeaker. Along with this, I've gone with a full playset of Trinisphere and down to 3x Blood Moon. It's been working so far; all the tournaments save one since I made the change has resulted in me prizing out in one way or another. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker would be really sweet for the deck, I think, and it gives us another way to interact with opposing creatures while also winning us the game.

Honestly with this deck, I feel like winning can be so unsatisfying with so many good bombs. Having an opponent scoop to an Inferno Titan while you have two 'walkers in hand is somewhat of a letdown :)

Great deck. Seems like the perfect home for the old Boom/Bust + GDD combo that never got traction. Use Boom to target your own fetchland and an opponent's real land, sac the fetch in response, and get a two mana stone rain (maybe add a few fetches to the deck to set this up more often). Later in the game, you can use Goblin Dark-Dwellers to flash back Bust and destroy all lands in play. If you have a threat on the field, that's almost always going to be lights out. This deck is close enough to independently playing both cards that it seems reasonable to jam it and see what happens. Might be too cute, but might be busted.

RagingBuddha,
Thanks much for the kudos!

Boom/Bust is definitely a powerful card, but IMO it's much better in a more controlling deck like Blue Moon or a Nahiri deck. Ponza's designed to have 3 or 4 Mana on Turn 2 (there's a 60% chance of 3 and 16% chance of 4 ... and it's even better if you consider mulligans), so there's really no point in the game where we'd want Boom over the better 3- and 4-drop Land Destruction options. And the deck never wants Bust ... we need a bunch of mana ourselves (ironically, one of the best ways to beat us is by messing with our Lands). And sure, it can be hilarious if we already have a threat out ... but if they have removal we're SOL. And if they don't have removal, we would probably have won anyways, without the Bust. :-)

Goblin Dark-Dwellers is ok, but it's just REALLY hard to compete with the other great 5-drop options like Stormbreath Dragon (much better evasion, plus Protection from White), Primal Command (much more versatile), and Thragtusk (much harder to remove, plus the life gain is superb in many match-ups). I personally like Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker better too, because he always adds value ... sometimes GDD is kind of a whiff.

Thanks though, I haven't thought about either card in a while, and I always appreciate the chance to re-think a card as the meta and my playstyle change.

Hi,

I am close to finishing this deck using your build. Thanks so much for the resource. I was wondering if you can tell me what you took out of the main deck to make room for the Chadra, Flamecaller ?

Why Shatterstorm over Creeping Corrosion ?

Thanks in advance for your time and response.