Comparison - 2 versions of a deck
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 1, 2013, 1:49 p.m. by Rayenous
I have 2 slightly altered versions of the same deck...
Dragon Ramp
and
Dragon Ramp - Alternate
The only difference between them are 8 cards in the mana base... the trade-off is speed for consistency.
Dragon Ramp - 4x Forest
and 4x Elvish Mystic
- This allows for first faster "out of the gate" plays.
- With a T1 Elvish Mystic
, you can jump into Domri Rade
, or even a T3 Scourge of Valkas
- Downside to this is that with Basic Forest
s, it's possible to see 5-6 mana available, but not enough Red for Scourge of Valkas
, or even earlier turns where you have 2x Dragon Hatchling
, but can only cast 1 per turn.
Dragon Ramp - Alternate - 4x Gruul Guildgate
, and 4x Zhur-Taa Druid
- The lack of basic Forest
means that there will always be enough Red mana available when needed.
- Gruul Guildgate
means that green mana comes into play tapped, which is the reason for using Zhur-Taa Druid
, as it will always be T2 before you can cast a mana dork. The Druid allows for extra damage, as well as extra red for the devotion count of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- Downside is that You will always be on T3 before you can Domri Rade
and T4 is the earliest for Scourge of Valkas
or the likes. This means that the consistency is there, but the threats come later.
I'm looking for any opinions and/or discussions as to whether "Consistency" or "Early Threats" is better for this deck. As well as any suggestions that may help improve either of the 2 versions.
It really didn't add to the deck in any way... the synergy of the dragons made it too important to keep the dragons, and the speed of the ramp made it too important to keep the mana producers.
Burning-Tree Emissary is a nice 2/2 body that is essentially free, but when testing, I noticed "free" assisted with neither the ramp nor the synergy. It simply took up slots in the deck.
A few time the "free creature" was good for the ramp with Xenagos, The Reveler 's mana ability... but usually it got the Emissary when I would have rather has a Sylvan Caryatid or even a Dragon's Egg (because with a Scourge of Valkas out, even an egg becomes direct damage)
November 1, 2013 2:24 p.m.
BTW. - This (Dragon Ramp - Alternate 2) was the best spot I saw for Burning-Tree Emissary .
It seemed to take the place of "early threat" when using no one-drops.
November 1, 2013 2:37 p.m.
TheLameSauce says... #5
I like the original version better than the alternate. I would suggest testing with 1 or 2 forests swapped for mountains though. That may help with getting too many forests mid/late game. Maybe even swap a carytid or 2 for a Chromatic Lantern ?
November 1, 2013 2:49 p.m.
TheLameSauce says... #6
Also, I would really take out the Flesh//Blood unless you think you can consistently cast both sides. with your max power (without draining a whole lot of mana into your dudes) is 6, and you only have a couple of those.
November 1, 2013 2:52 p.m.
With the amount of Fire-breathing creatures and Ramp in the deck it's quite common to see a "Flesh only" Flesh / Blood deal 10-12 damage.
I think I'm liking the original better as well... though I'm now working on the 3rd version... similar to the second, but taking out the Magma Jet
s and a Mountain
in place of the suggested Burning-Tree Emissary
... then swapping Zhur-Taa Druid
for Voyaging Satyr
... the Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
becomes devastating, as early as T4.
- Deck: Dragon Ramp - Alternate 2
I'm just hesitant about removing the early burn and scry. - Looks good in Goldfishing, but probably bad idea to remove responses.
November 1, 2013 3:08 p.m.
SharuumNyan says... #8
I see your point about Burning-Tree. You're probably going to have to change the deck mainly to deal with your local meta. Depending on who you're playing, any one of these versions could be good or bad.
November 1, 2013 3:11 p.m.
TheLameSauce says... #9
Generally speaking, at least in my standard meta, you'll be in more situations where you'll want a Lightning Strike than a Magma Jet .
November 1, 2013 3:23 p.m.
Actually, I'm after the Scry as much as the damage... works very well for ensuring you get to land/mana-dorks early, and Dragons thereafter. Also works powerfully in combination with Domri Rade .
Favourite thing to do wis hit my own Dragon's Egg at the end of my opponents turn when I have Scourge of Valkas and a few other dragons out... scry, and deal much more than 2 damage, while "upgrading" the egg.
SharuumNyan says... #2
Any reason why you excluded Burning-Tree Emissary from both of these?
November 1, 2013 2:05 p.m.