Add more land in ramp?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Dec. 27, 2013, 6:47 p.m. by megawurmple
Run, Fat Boy, Run!
Ideally, I want to hit my first 3 land drops (4 if I have Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger in hand and no Primeval Titan ), and I run 22 lands at the moment. Do you think that is enough? Or should I add more?
If there's anything else you think I should change, any help is apprecianted. Cheers.
My current Modern ramp deck, Sonic BLOOM! is running 25 at the moment, which seems ideal for me. Usually around 24 is your best bet for consistency getting that extra land drop.
December 27, 2013 8 p.m.
megawurmple says... #4
I run a playset of Sylvan Caryatid at the moment, plus 1 Farseek . The benefit of Sylvan Caryatid over Farseek and its ilk is that it ramps and is near impossible to remove, but it doesn't take a crucial land out of my library. Do you think 22 is about right in that case? I've had a couple of games in which I've been screwed, but I normally manage to dig myself out of them. I haven't played against many control or midrange decks though, so that might be why I'm able to escape.
December 27, 2013 10:40 p.m.
theinfernumflame says... #5
Trust me, you need more land. I've played ramp decks like this before, and with just 22 lands, you're going to struggle to make land drops when you need them. I run ramp decks with 24-26 land (a deck like this should probably have 26), and 12-14 ramp cards on top of that. Even then, you'll still find times when you're stuck at 5 mana, needing one more for a titan. You have lots of mana guys (16), but if they get killed, you're probably in trouble. Maybe cut 4 of them for 4 more lands?
December 28, 2013 2:23 a.m.
megawurmple says... #6
The thing is, is I only need to hit my first 3 land drops to ramp into my best stuff, and I have enough ramp to support low amounts of land (20 ramp cards in there at the moment). If I keep drawing lands after turn 3, it's almost entirely redundant. I might want to go up to 23 lands, but not 24 or above. Aggro decks that want to see their first 3 lands, but no more than that, often run 22-23.
December 28, 2013 8:12 a.m.
Aggro decks more often than not don't need more than 3-4 land on the battlefield at any given time. This is due to the fact that their mana curve mostly runs up to about 4cc/5cc at maximum.
Your deck while it has aggressive qualities is more of a midrange build. Over 1/3 of your deck is 6cc and up bombs and most of the rest of it is the means to play those bombs early. Assuming your preferred result is casting said bombs T3 with Somberwald Sage , we'll concentrate on that specifically.
Here's my proposed changes:
-4 Sylvan Caryatid (likes to be tapped for mana, provides no defense when tapped)
-1 Garruk Wildspeaker (a good ramp alternative if stuck/mana dork overrun?)
+3 Farseek (prevents you from drawing land later in the game)
+1 Path to Exile (great spot removal, keeps you alive until the bombs drop)
+2 Land
December 28, 2013 9:13 a.m.
@TitansFTW: True, but say you play a T1 Birds of Paradise , T2 Somberwald Sage . Your opponent on his turn, casts Pyroclasm , T3, you play a Sylvan Caryatid . You have 4 open mana, and aren't likely to consistently see land for the remainder of the game.
Creature based ramp is quite fragile, and while the scenario I posted isn't going to be true all or even most of the time, I still think that 24 land is a good number for a ramp deck.
You won't flood too much, and you'll be able to hit land drops when you need. When you hit Prime Time, you'll think out the land in your deck anyway.
Emrakool says... #2
I think unless you're running a full playset of Rampant Growth or something of the sort you may be asking for trouble with 22. Mana dorks getting subdued by a board wipe or just timely spot removal without a consistent 3rd land draw can spell doom. Also, for extra fixing you can probably cut a Kessig Wolf Run for another land (especially if you don't intend to see Wolf Run until Prime Time is bringing out massive amounts of land).
December 27, 2013 7:58 p.m.