The Golden Age for Ramp
Standard forum
Posted on Nov. 19, 2014, 8:34 p.m. by OP_Magikarp
So I had a bit of a revelation when commenting on a different post a few days ago: Standard right now has the HIGHEST potential for ramp standard has ever seen. Let me give you an example, although it is very situational. Okay assume you go second and get to draw for turn one, here we go.
Turn 1 --> Forest. Play Elvish Mystic
Turn 2 --> Forest, Play 1 more Mystic and a Voyaging Satyr
Turn 3 --> Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Tap all your stuff to play 3x Voyaging Satyr
Turn 4 --> (Your devotion at this point is 6)
Tap 2 Forests and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to float 6 mana and play a Hydra Broodmaster (Devotion is now 8).
Tap 2x Elvish Mystic, a Voyaging Satyr to untap Nykthos, and tap Nykthos again to float 8.
Use 2 of your floating mana (down to 6), and a second satyr to untpap Nykthos and repeat to float up to 14.
Use 2 floating (down to 12) and a third satyr to tap Nykthos to float up to 20.
Use 2 floating (down to 18) and your last satyr to untap Nykthos and tap to float to 26.
Finally, Play a second Nykthos (your land for the turn) and sacrifice the first one. Use 2 floating (down to 24) and tap Nykthos to float up to 32.
Now use 31 of that to Make Hydra Broodmaster monstrous. Congratulation, you have a 22/22 broodmaster and fifteen 15/15 hydras on turn 4.
I know this exact example is only under perfect conditions but it is not hard to float MASSIVE amounts of mana mid to late game in the current standard. Once this goes out, does anyone think mana ramp of this titanic level will ever be achieved again? I personally do not think so, and I am enjoying this last year as much as I can because it's something we may never see again.
I think the two best things a mega-ramp deck can be doing right now are Genesis Hydra and Villainous Wealth by far. Both of those cards have the ability to wreck boardstates without just dying to a single removal spell.
November 19, 2014 8:48 p.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #4
Well in my current deck I splash red for the sole purpose of Crater's Claws. Ramp all I want and just give a direct blow. Not much you can do to avoid that.
November 19, 2014 8:53 p.m.
insertcleverid says... #5
Sorry, I'm not playing standard right now. Why are you saccing?
November 19, 2014 8:55 p.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #6
insertcleverid You mean when I sac the land? Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is legendary so there can only be one of it on the battlefield. After the first one remains tapped, play a second one which comes in untapped, sac the first one, then tap the one you just played for a little bit of extra mana.
November 19, 2014 9 p.m.
Oh yeah, Crater's Claws. That would be the third thing to do lol. (how did I forget when I play that card?)
November 19, 2014 9:02 p.m.
RussischerZar says... #9
The potential ramp with a Burning-Tree Emissary chain and Garruk, Caller of Beasts was higher.
T1: Land, Elvish Mystic
T2: BTE, BTE, BTE, BTE, Nykthos, use floating mana to activate Nykthos, cast Garruk, Caller of Beasts, plus him to draw some creatures, cast Voyaging Satyr from them
T3: Starts with 12 devotion plus the ability to do one untap and the potential for so much more.
November 20, 2014 8:34 a.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #10
RussischerZar Yes you are correct. Once Nykthos goes out the ramping is going to decline quite a bit. I'm just hoping these future sets have some potential for green.
November 20, 2014 8:53 a.m.
Kalibroxin says... #11
The Power Nine define what mana ramp is. Nythos is a strong mana ramp card, but it requires too many cards for it to define a "golden age" of ramp.
Just my 2 cents
November 20, 2014 9:47 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #12
@ Kalibroxin: Good luck waiting for the Power Nine to be reprinted for Standard ... o_O
November 20, 2014 6:06 p.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #13
The Power Nine doesn't even have THAT great of ramp compared to now lol
November 20, 2014 6:45 p.m.
Kalibroxin says... #14
who said anything about being in Standard? I played the P9 when those sets were the only sets available. The P9 allows for first turn kills, by ramping into card draw and the spells you need, and then playing more Moxes, then more cards, then more Moxes. Nykthos gives you an insane amount of mana, but only AFTER you've gotten to at least turn 3, and have at least 4 mana's worth of permanents. Definitely not as fast. This is NOT the golden age of ramp. Anyone who has played for longer than 2 years knows exactly what I'm talking about.
November 21, 2014 7:55 a.m.
jandrobard says... #15
The golden age of Green. Not ramp, for reasons Kalibroxin mentioned, but green is good, and the golden age of America doesn't have that ring to it.
November 22, 2014 1:05 a.m.
CaptainCaveman says... #16
@RussischerZar i miss Burning-Tree Emissary already :/
November 22, 2014 12:06 p.m.
RussischerZar says... #17
@ Kalibroxin: This post is in the Standard forum and the OP clearly says in the 2nd sentence "Standard right now has the HIGHEST potential for ramp standard has ever seen."
November 22, 2014 12:30 p.m.
Kalibroxin says... #18
But if it only applies to standard, it wouldn't be a "golden age" of anything. And in the context of the OP, standard was being compared to all other formats.
November 22, 2014 1:42 p.m.
Kalibroxin- They are trying to say that this is one of the best standard compilations for ramping. This standard compilation(Theros, M15, and Khans) is better than many previous standard compilations. I hope you are understanding what I'm saying.
November 22, 2014 3:35 p.m.
Kalibroxin says... #20
I understand. I guess Type 2 didn't exist until long after the P9 was printed, so technically there was no Standard back then.
Hickorysbane says... #2
It's really crazy (ableit a little unnecessary) with Kruphix, God of Horizons :D Makes Villainous Wealth decks fun too!!
November 19, 2014 8:44 p.m.