Sowing the Seeds of the Future (Standard MTG Deck)

This deck operates on the principle of resource-deprivation - in this case, I want my opponent to have as few lands as possible. Less lands means they can't do as many things as they would like to, and in some cases prevents them from even beginning the game, which allows me to sweep in and steal victory. Keeping your opponent stranded on turn three or turn four is a beautiful thing, and I haven't been able to make it work since RTR-THS block, so you can imagine my excitement to get this off the ground!

Everything in the deck is designed to either further my game plan (by preventing my opponent from doing so) or generate enough value that I can turn to my advantage in the later stages of the game. Most of these pieces do so by turning back the clock on my opponent's board-state, by bouncing threats or dealing with their resources.

The Long Road to Getting There

Now, one of the biggest assets a Land Destruction deck can have is a source of mana independent from their own lands; ramp or acceleration. This is more important in formats where some of your better LD effects also eliminate your own lands (back in the good ol' days, Ember Swallower was the best card in my deck), but we don't have to worry about that in this season. Obviously, the more efficient the mana-dorks, the better, but unfortunately it doesn't look like Wizards is any longer in the business of printing 1cmc mana-dorks, so I have to make do with what I'm given. Curious Homunculus is basically a concession to this fact, though it flips into a strictly better Baral, Chief of Compliance, which we also run. Cost reduction is almost always good. Homunculus does have the downside, though, that it only facilitates Instants and Sorceries, so I only run three, and Baral only generates more value than the Homunculus when we also run counters, which we have in the sideboard but not in the main. (This is because, in my opinion, the primary focus of Game 1 is to jam the focus of the deck to its utmost capacity, and then water it down with utility post-board to try and dismantle the opposing strategy.) The other dork we run is Servant of the Conduit, because it's better than all of the other ones, though it needs a bit of an energy package to make it more productive. For that we have Aether Hub (which will, often enough only need to tap for so we can use it as an source for the Servant) and Harnessed Lightning (which is pretty much for removal, though we can use it as an emergency instant-speed energy boost).

An Introduction to the Toolbox

Designing the toolkit for a deck is one of the more fun parts, for me, because it takes a lot of imagination to predict the troublesome matchups. Furthermore, making sure that the kit doesn't interfere with the function of the deck is paramount, and it's a Brewer's Challenge to find the right balance and the right pieces.

Fevered Visions allows us to keep our hand flush with cards, and since we are running LD, our opponent will (hopefully) have enough cards trapped in hand to make it a potential win-condition. This is kind of a concession to the fact that, in the long run, most decks can outrun Land Destruction just by virtue of having access to better cards, and occasionally the deck can stumble and allow them into the lead. By giving ourselves consistent card-draw (not card-advantage, unfortunately, as the opponent receives all the benefits we do), we can keep our hand chock-full of goodies to grind the game to a close.
Shock is the best burn we have right now, being versatile and able to kill most every threat we care about that can be cast for three or less. It's very important, though, to have that versatility, because there are times when you will need to just hit them straight in the dome in order to force a line or to close out the game, though perhaps Incendiary Flow would work just as well? The Instant-speed of Shock is a little hard to pass up, though.
Unsubstantiate is probably my favourite soft-counter in Standard, and the fact it Unsummons, too, is awesome. This card has so much lasting potential, since the deck revolves entirely around mana-deprivation, and making your opponent waste resources to cast things multiple times or find other lines of play is just perfect for the deck.
Lastly, the biggest value card in the deck: Baral's Expertise. This card is amazing. While the price is a little steep at 5cmc (which shouldn't be a problem with seven dorks and two cost-reduction pieces), it bounces everything we care about and lets us cast almost anything else in our deck, be it Visions, removal, a dork, or a Land Destruction spell. And speaking of those...

Annihilare Terram

To be fair, most of our LD spells aren't technically Land Destruction; eight of them exile the lands. This, however, is very exactly the opposite of a problem, and I will show you why in a moment. These pieces, obviously, are the focus of the deck; they are what make it tick, make it function.

Of these, Structural Distortion is one of my favourite cards for the deck. It exiles, it deals damage - it's just a strictly better Demolish in every way!
While I did not get my wish of a Bramblecrush reprint in Shadows block, we did get Reclaiming Vines in Battle, so I can't complain too loudly. Not being able to nick 'Walkers is a problem, but it's better than Desecration Plague .
The last of these is Crumble to Dust, which I love - Sowing Salt needed a successor, and I'm glad it got one.

Now, with the majority of our LD spells exiling lands, what do we do with that but cast Oblivion Sower? What a great turn six it would be to cast Sower, steal five lands, cast Expertise, and drop another LD spell. That's my new goal. I will make an update when I get there!

Now, there is one more card that I haven't discussed, and it needs to be talked about. Combustible Gearhulk is the fun-of card I needed to slide in here because it does so much. If absolutely nothing else, having a 5/5 first-striking body on the field is absolutely game-changing, especially if the opponent is still stuck on three lands. The fact that it has text is even better. I've always loved Browbeat, despite the constant disapproval of my playgroup: "You never want to give your opponent choices! Giving them choices gives them more control of the game! They'll just pick the side that's less bad for them and beat you!" I can understand this sentiment, but at the same time it is the caster of Browbeat that forces the decision: Do I Ancestral Recall or do I Lava Axe you? The decision gives you a lot of information, and using that to your advantage can seal the deal. Combustible Gearhulk ramp that decision up a bit: How badly do you want to roll dice? Do I Recall, here and now, or do you take between 0 and 18 points of damage? And, of course, they don't know what's in your deck - you could be running four Ulamogs, just for fun - but they also don't know what's in your deck - what are you drawing? Anyway, I digress, but I may even up the count of Hulks later just because they are such an information dump and a powerful threat.

Sideboard Tech

We have three Negates in the side, for obvious reasons, and an extra Baral, Chief of Compliance to match. Two more Unsubstantiates for all-purpose bounce, and Brutal Expulsion even for more of that and for Walkers. Radiant Flames and Shock for more ground control, and one more Reclaiming Vines for the extra catch-all. I may need more silver bullets for Jeskai Saheeli and G/B Delirium, since those are the dominant archetypes right now, but hopefully the meta settles out a bit.

Matchups and Theory: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

So, since I have yet to actually build this IRL, I only have my extensive experience with LD builds of the ancient past to go on. If I can get it together and put in the time, I'll give a more detailed report.

Aggro Matchups Show

As always, if you like the deck, please give it a +1, and if you have any suggestions I will be more than happy to hear them!

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Revision 5 See all

(7 years ago)

-1	Brutal Expulsion	side
-1	Fevered Visions	main
-1	Harnessed Lightning	main
+1	Lumbering Falls	main
-1	Mountain	main
+3	Unsubstantiate	main

Top Ranked	Achieved #20 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 18 - 7 Rares 20 - 2 Uncommons 9 - 6 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.45
Tokens	Energy Reserve
Folders	Nice, Purchased Decks, Interesting Standard Decks, Inspiration
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