Villainous wealth

Standard forum

Posted on Sept. 25, 2014, 11:51 p.m. by rooroothepirate

As soon as I saw villianous wealth spoiled, I knew I would have to make a deck around it. I've seen a variety of sultai control lists floating around lately, so my question is how viable do you think villainous wealth is as a control finisher, if you cast for 5+, it seems like it would just be bonkers.

What do you all think? Possible depending on how standard shakes out, or just a pipe dream?

GoldGhost012 says... #2

Maybe a little bit of both. Villainous Wealth has an excellent effect, but only if you hit something worthwhile. I personally believe control will turn to Empty the Pits first, mostly because of instant speed and it instantly strengthens your boardstate.

September 25, 2014 11:54 p.m.

Nigeltastic says... #3

I am 100% for it as a control finisher. If you look at my list (shameless plug to follow), you'll see it's my only win con. In playtesting, X=7+ is backbreaking.


Naga Sleeperhold Playtest

Standard* Nigeltastic

SCORE: 9 | 13 COMMENTS | 769 VIEWS

September 25, 2014 11:55 p.m.

Nigeltastic says... #4

GoldGhost012 has reasonable concerns though, and Empty the Pits will be the weapon of choice for many as well.

September 25, 2014 11:57 p.m.

Arvail says... #5

I didn't really appreciate this card too much until my friend resolved one against my Oloro, Ageless Ascetic EDH deck with his The Mimeoplasm deck for X=24. I just felt violated. You'll be needing to cast this for a minimum of X=5 to do any work. If Standard proves to be as grindy as I think it will, this card's going to be golden.

September 26, 2014 midnight

Nigeltastic says... #6

It definitely fits well into a grindy style control deck, which puts it nicely beside Sultai Ascendancy in terms of play style. The fact that you get all non-land permanents from it makes it REALLY hard to miss on value when you cast it with high enough X. I can only weep for your pain at X=24.

September 26, 2014 12:04 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #7

Jesus, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies.

Actually, yes I would.

September 26, 2014 12:05 a.m.

Scytec says... #8

I think it is kind of a specific build archetype though. Its one of those cards that can be amazing...if you build specifically for it. But just splashing it in a Sultai deck...I don't think it will see to much play, maybe some fringe play in tier 2-2.5 decks. I could be mistaken, but I dont think so.

September 26, 2014 12:19 a.m.

10vernothin says... #9

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/budget-sultai-nightmare/

This is my ramp-tastic villainous wealth deck with 4 Ashiok to beef up the flavor.

September 26, 2014 3:15 a.m.

Souljacker says... #10

I don't think it has a real future as it's way too inconsistent. At X=5, without bad luck you'd get 3 nonland cards. Then you need to see if those cards are gonna help you for 8 mana. Aggro decks won't have anything for you, Control decks might have have a bomb for you but you'd miss out on Elspeth because she's 6 CMC. Some removal or counter spell you draw probably ends up useless as you probably don't have a target for them.

So the only real viable decks to cast this against are midrange decks, and even then you need to get lucky to exile the helpful cards, as those Elvish Mystics and Caryatids are not gonna win you the game. With the exception of the rare (<10% chance) occasion you rip 2 strong cards, you'll probably end up with two 3drops or something as most decks have an avg cmc of 3. At 8 mana, that's not a good investment.

September 26, 2014 3:48 a.m.

weisemanjohn says... #11

Stick it in a mono green devotion shell. Lots of ramp from tapping Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Karametra's Acolyte and maybe a few Voyaging Satyr or Kiora's Follower for x=30+, pick up your opponent's deck, pull out the lands, play the rest, and pass the turn because there is no recovery in standard for that.

September 26, 2014 7:50 a.m.

Bellock86 says... #12

The thing i think that most people miss about Villainous Wealth is that by the time you are casting it you should a fairly stable board state already. And if you don't you can easily recover with it. Let's just say for example that your opponent is playing Mardu aggro/midrange and they have a fairly good board state and you are struggling to get ahead.

dump all your mana including dorks into it and lets say you wealth for X=8

The odds of you not getting value is slim. so in a single turn you could end up pulling Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Butcher of the Horde and a smattering of other random permanents. Elspeth and Butcher alone could win you the game.

Now obviously i know there are going to be games where that won't happen. I'm not niave but as I am normally an aggro midrange player myself who has swtiched to control purely to give Sultai a shot, i'm not ready to count Villainous Wealth out just yet.

September 26, 2014 9:51 a.m.

Bellock86 says... #13

the beauty part is that you can always run Empty the Pits in the side board to change your wincon or include both depending on the deck you are playing against and have 2 wincons.

September 26, 2014 9:53 a.m.

bretters says... #14

i like villianous wealth... check out my deck. Sultai Midrange

September 26, 2014 11:32 a.m.

There is a deep, dark part of me that wants to run a villainous wealth deck with Kruphix, God of Horizons and/or Dictate of Karametra

September 26, 2014 11:44 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #16

Yo, rooroothepirate:


Perfection of Milling 4.0 Playtest

Standard* ducttapedeckbox

SCORE: 10 | 6 COMMENTS | 2377 VIEWS

September 26, 2014 11:51 a.m.

Hardboiled Sultai -TomoharuSaito

Ended up taking one of these as a prize in tonight's draft.

September 27, 2014 2:33 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #18

Is that four In Garruk's Wake ? That is a decklist, right? Holy hell.

September 27, 2014 2:39 a.m.

And 4x Dictate of Karametra ... crazy. Almost seems crazy enough to work.

September 27, 2014 2:42 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #20

I tried 4x Dictate of Karametra in a Monsters-ish build once...I eventually cut it to 3,then realized that I'd rather play most of my threats.

September 27, 2014 2:44 a.m.

Yeah I can't see it working there, it's most effective powering X spells.

September 27, 2014 2:54 a.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #22

It was. I played a bunch of hydras, and while they were still getting big with the Dictate, most of the time I ended up dropping them straight up.

September 27, 2014 3 a.m.

Now that I finally got around to checking up on the site, I saw this.. and my deck was linked! Woo! Thanks GoldGhost012.

Anyways, love the card. In decks that have ramp but lack the ability to prolong the game enough to drop Empty the Pits , this is great. I can usually get it off for X=4-6+, depending on the match up. Empty mainly works for control because they can both control the game long enough to drop it and have the resources both on the field and in their grave to set it off for a decent amount. In my build, I lack the control aspect and the cards in my grave (besides dead creatures) so Villainous Wealth works wonders for me.

September 27, 2014 11:14 p.m.

This discussion has been closed