Being a Timmy in a Spike's World
Standard forum
Posted on Oct. 22, 2015, 9:54 p.m. by Dalektable
I hope my intriguing title brought you to my little thread, now let's get down to the meat of the matter. For those that love casting big, backbreaking spells (and as an EDH player, I do) standard is quite dull right now. Especially considering the last set released was one in which one of the two fighting groups were Eldrazi like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Seriously guys, he is standard legal! So, what do you say we get to casting him and his friends?
My brew at the moment: Mono Green Ramp/Eldrazi. I won't take this space to plug my own deck, but if you're interested it is on my profile or I could post it in a comment below.
Quite consistently, the deck can cast it's big threats like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger on turn five. Plus, the deck has a good early game with Undergrowth Champion to put the beats out early or provide a good blocker. As I see it, there is one huge, glaring weakness for the deck...Crackling Doom. There isn't really a great solution, a blue splash might be worth it for Dispel but who knows. Does anyone else have any thoughts on ramp in standard, I think the archetype is largely unexplored and has potential.
ducttapedeckbox says... #3
Adding to what FAMOUSWATERMELON said from the perspective of a control player - Ulamog doesn't scare me. Chances are that I'll be able to remove all of the ramp that makes an early fatty like that possible. Once he comes down on turn 10+, the exile on-cast trigger doesn't even become overwhelming because I'll either have another threat in hand, or just not care that I lose two lands. Ulamog isn't bad, there just isn't the support for him right now.
October 22, 2015 10:28 p.m.
Dalektable says... #4
FAMOUSWATERMELON Which decks are you referring to? The two top decks (Jeskai Black and GW Megamorph) don't really run exile that hits ulamog or bigger creatures. Silkwrap is the premier exile removal spell of the format, which the big eldrazi avoid entirely. Countering it is indeed a concern, as is Crackling Doom (it really hurts), but i really think a light blue splash could really help a ton with Dispel being a good sideboard or even main board tech.
Also I do see your points, just discussing a different POV haha.
October 22, 2015 10:29 p.m.
Dalektable says... #5
ducttapedeckbox In my opinion, permanent based ramp isn't really the best way of going about it. My builds all use primarily the ramp sorceries (Explosive Vegetation and Nissa's Pilgrimage) alongside mana dorks. If the deck is casting Ulamog or similar turn 10+ the deck isnt functioning as it should, haha. Control does prey upon midrange strategies such as this however, in any case so the match up wouldn't be easy.
October 22, 2015 10:32 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #6
Yeah, even if we're talking about spell-based ramp, a control player's countermagic still works :D
October 22, 2015 10:39 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #7
I'm referring to Abzan Midrange (currently 23% of the meta) and Jeskai (currently 19% of the meta).
The problem that ducttapedeckbox brings up about removal is certainly valid, because when you only use sorceries (as I've discovered in my own testing), you really don't threaten until T5-6 at the earliest. That gives plenty of time for control to find a counter/answer to your threat, or perhaps for midrange to prepare an Abzan Charm. The most functional deck I've seen Ulamog in is a Grixis Ramp/Colorless control deck that was very good at constantly presenting a threat while having answers and bigger threats coming around.
October 22, 2015 10:39 p.m.
Dalektable says... #8
The control decks in standard aren't very counter-magic heavy at the moment, and if it spends it's time countering ramp spells that is fine. And you don't only use sorceries, just proposing creature based ramp isn't the best nor only ramp available in standard right now. The decks kind of have to pose early game threats such as Undergrowth Champion, which gets big very quickly in the deck. Also, interesting numbers MTGGoldfish shows very different numbers.
October 22, 2015 10:53 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #9
I also consider those two the top decks because they were the two finalists in Pro Tour BFZ, and if you look at the other Top 8 deckslists, there's 4 Jeskai and 2 Abzan lists, coupled with only one GW Megamorph deck and one Atarka Red list.
You can definitely play things like Undergrowth Champion and Deathmist Raptor/Den Protector combo. But I've found that they just slow down your game-plan and can be dealt with fairly easily by the top decks. And truth be told, so can Ulamog. Sure, you exiled the two best things I had when you cast it, but often, they have hexproof (Dragonlord Ojutai, Silumgar, the Drifting Death) or your opponent can simply keep unloading threats, as Abzan has proved capable of.
October 22, 2015 11:06 p.m.
I've been trying out green decks that ramp into ulamog, but as you've mentioned he is just too vulnerable to crackling doom. In fact, a lot of what green does results in that same weakness. it's a part of what is frustrating me about green at the moment -- jsut a bit too reliant on the Megamorph Combo. I go into detail on this in my next article which should be up in the next couple days, if you're interested.
October 22, 2015 11:29 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #11
I agree, Spootyone. Green right now is somewhat approaching the Modern necessity of Goyf in almost any deck running green with the Megamorph interaction. It is kind of sickening. The same can be said for blue with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip. To a lesser extent, white looks to be headed in that direction with Gideon - just look at the PT BFZ top 8. Five decks ran Gideon, each at a four-of.
As much as I love playing my Bant Dragons brew, Standard is looking rather disgusting right now.
October 22, 2015 11:48 p.m.
Check out this deck list if you wanna cast Ulamog in standard.
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-96-51-tix-standard-ulamog-exile
October 23, 2015 1:11 a.m.
I don't think it's "unexplored" at all, given the popularity of this deck:
Eldrazi: The Gold Standard Playtest
Standard*
SCORE: 75 | 44 COMMENTS | 8803 VIEWS
October 23, 2015 1:15 a.m.
Dalektable says... #14
Spootyone I'm always interested in your articles and decks, I'll be sure to check it out.
ducttapedeckbox I agree, standard is horrible at the moment. Unfortunately it's the only competitive format available in my area. Sigh.
Argeaux I would hardly call a few decks from a generally casual group of players on TappedOut an explored archetype.
October 23, 2015 8:18 a.m.
I wouldn't call it unexplored either.
Little explored may have been a better description.
October 23, 2015 9:47 a.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #16
Get into Modern :)
Just kidding, if you like ramp, Modern is probably not the best option either. I honestly think though that if you absolutely want to play ramp, you should play colorless eldrazi and not mono-green, because it's just so lacking right now, like any mono color strategy. The best decks these days have 3 or 4 colors because of the crazy manabase.
October 23, 2015 1:24 p.m.
Dalektable says... #17
FAMOUSWATERMELON I played modern for awhile (Mono Blue Tron) but I don't have a modern scene here, so unless something starts up I don't have anywhere to play. And Im not deadset on it, it's not really a strategy I've ever played before so I'm just trying to play something new (and cheap) in standard. Also, colorless eldrazi? Mono Green includes colorless spells, at least in my definition of it all the spells I'm ramping into are eldrazi really haha.
October 23, 2015 3:09 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #18
Grixis. You simultaneously ramp with stuff like Herald of Kozilek, Oblivion Sower, and Hedron Archive while deploying small annoying threats (Ghostfire Blade and the like). You eventually ramp into Void Winnower or Ulamog. When I played against it, it seemed very resilient and threatning.
October 23, 2015 4:18 p.m.
Jimmy_Chinchila says... #19
Turn 4 Atarka Turn 5 Ulamog my take, been performing pretty well. Use crackling doom on Ulamog, Atarka wins for you. Use it on Atarka, hope you have a second cuz Ulamogs dropping next turn with mana up for Stubborn Denial. Not a perfect deck by any means but fun for true Timmys
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #2
The problem with big timmy ramp decks is that the two best decks at the moment are both midrange/control, and that means a huge amount of disruption. You can exile Ulamog or counter him, both which are extremely relevant at the moment. And that put aside, there aren't actually a ton of biggeys to ramp into, the Eldrazi put aside. I would love to see some good old ramp decks, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
October 22, 2015 10:04 p.m.