Introduction
For this season, I started out by jamming versions of Orim's Chant Omnath. My main thesis was that Galvanic Discharge + Wrath of the Skies are the most powerful removal package in the format, then locking people out with Wrenn & Six + Orim's Chant + Teferi Time Raveler is hilarious.
Then some guy from Erie PA drove up and smacked folks (i.e. me) down with Boros land destruction. So I swapped over, one because it fits my thesis, two because it gets to soak all the fun from the game, and three because I lost to it and hope that by piloting it I can figure out its weakness.- 4 Galvanic Discharge + 4 Wrath of the Skies: kills basically everything but planeswalkers and lands (Discharge can hit PWs though).
- 4 Path to Exile + 3 Erode + 4 Solitude: these remove many creatures.
- 4 Cleansing Wildfire + 4 Price of Freedom + 2 Avengers Disassembled: these kill lands
Price of Freedom also kills artifacts. - 4 Field of Ruin + 3 Demolition Field: these kill nonbasic lands.
- 2 White Orchid Phantom. Also kills lands, but WW is pip-intensive. The WOPs are on the chopping block, worst card in the deck imo. Cutting them can open up room for a SB Kaheera.
- 2 The Legend of Roku + 3 Cori Mountain Monastery: card advantage engines.
- 7 basics for finding with Fields, 3 Sunken Citadel to power up Fields & CM Monastery. And 4 Sacred Foundry for actual fixing.
- 1 Mana Tithe because I only own(ed) 3 Erodes.
- 2 Reprieves. They're a bit air, which admittedly creates breathing room.
- Sideboard is pretty broad-spectrum hate.
- Deck is very consistent, basically breaking up as one-third lands, one-third creature removal, and one-third land removal. Couple of oddballs that don't fit in the categories like Reprieve & Legend of Roku but whatever.
Swiss
- R1 Nic C on Boros Energy WW (1-0)
Wrath of the Skies is pretty core in the matchup, but what else is there to say? Kill all threats, - R2 Ashden C on UR Eldrazi Aggro WW (2-0)
Oddball deck. Cutting him off colorless kneecaps the deck, but he's running >60 cards and 7 basics so actually winning is slow. He'd do better on 60 cards and not trying Salvage Drone as "budget Ragavan" - R3 Josh B on UR Affinity WW (3-0)
Only two basics for Affinity, wreck his mana then Wrath of the Skies.
G2 he does nothing and I turn one a Vexing Bauble and he is very sad. - R4 Jerry G on UR Affinity WW (4-0)
Played for seeding. Same story as last round. - R5 ID (4-0-1)
In at first seed in a field of nineteen. - QF vs Andy C on Domain WW (5-0-1)
Mana Tithe does work vs a T2 Scion of Draco. Honestly Mana Tithe did some mean work all day that I haven't been mentioning. - SF vs Josh A on Grixis Persist WW (6-0-1)
G1 he gets me down very low with a few Abhorrent Oculus hits but then I stabilize and clear his lands. G2 he mulls to 5 and gets Mana Tithed. - Finals vs Judah S on Esper Dorks + Practiced Offense WW (7-0-1)
Both games I eat some hits, then I Wrath of the Skies as he kind of floods out. Didn't mulligan in either game with the theory that I should be keeping land + spell hands vs Thoughtseize deck.
Conclusions
- Deck is pretty straightforward. It's good practice for lining up your removal vs various decks.
- The hardest part is land sequencing, specifically a turn 1 Sunken Citadel since you have to commit.
- I think the deck loses to off-meta archetypes with 5+ basic , or sticking a T2 threat like Leyline of the Guildpact + Scion of Draco or reanimating an Archon of Cruelty. Merfolk beat me at FNM via Aether Vial + permission. Simic Ritual might play similarly.
- A crazy idea - this archetype plays a single digit number of threats. If you can sandbag 6 answers + lands to cast them you could potentially go draw-discard-go and try to deck RW LD.
- The deck generally seems like a meta call that stops working if everyone other deck collectively weakens themselves by playing more basics -- or RW LD mirrors.
- I think 2 WOPs and 2 Avengers Disassembled are probably fine. Going into the local meta, I would consider playing 62 cards with 4th Erode, 4th Demolition Field (prev. cut for a second Mountain) if others adopt the deck.
