This deck idea has been rattling around my brain for a bit. Finally decided to commit it to paper (as it were) and ask you guys "Is there a deck somewhere in here?"
So the deck has quite a few things going on. The whole idea is to amass an army of Servo tokens that deal damage to our opponent not only when they attack, but also when they become tapped forMerchant's Dockhand's activated ability alongside Throne of the God Pharaoh's triggered ability. Simultaneously, Growing Rites of Itlimoc/Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun allows us to dig for creatures and ramp into more mana to make activating Dockhand's ability and casting our higher CMC cards easier. Once Tishana, Voice of Thunder hits the field, we should be able to not only draw into other powerful cards, but also be able to dig for any card we want, have the mana to cast it, and possibly cast 3-4 spells a turn.
The Support Staff
Since the deck employs a "go wide" strategy, it's not terribly hard to hit with a creature to draw off Jace's +1 ability. His -2 helps clog the board and fuels his +1. His -5 is incidental, but if you manage to reach it, you'll have more creatures on the board than you'll know what to do with! Anointed Procession+Call for Unity both increase the number tokens created and make them bigger when Revolt is triggered. And in a deck that wants to always be attacking as this one does, our creature's deaths will only add more counters to Unity making our creatures bigger too! Rashmi makes casting our assembled pieces faster.
The Removal
Ballista becomes bigger and deadlier if you have Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun on the field. Ajani is there to exile some creatures here and there if need be. He also feeds into the search/go big strat of the deck.
So this is just the beginning. I haven't gotten any testing in (yet). Just looking at the deck, I could maybe see going down -2 Jace, Cunning Castaway, -1 Anointed Procession, and -1 Call for Unity, and adding +2 Gideon of the Trials and +2 Legion's Landing MB. It just depends on fast the initial build above is able to assemble the combo. I will say that it is possible to flip Growing Rites of Itlimoc the turn you play it casting our 5+ CMC spells as early as Turn 4:
The other card that I've seen used with Growing Rites was Sram's Expertise. I love the Deckhand and wonder about the Vizier of the Menagerie. Overwhelming Splendor also intrigues me, probably from the sideboard. I am not the biggest Ornithopter fan but it does make the Spires better.
I love the idea of doing a different kind of ramp deck with Growing Rites and I pulled a set, but I won't have any time for brewing before the weekend.
4 Spire of Industry
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Irrigated Farmland
2 Island
2 Plains
CREATURES 16
4 Ornithopter
4 Merchant's Dockhand
4 Walking Ballista
2 Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
2 Tishana, Voice of Thunder
2 Ajani Unyielding
4 Jace, Cunning Castaway
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 4
4 Servo Exhibition
ENCHANTMENTS 7
3 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
2 Anointed Procession
2 Call for Unity
ARTIFACTS 3
3 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4 Legion's Landing
2 Cast Out
The Key Players
So the deck has quite a few things going on. The whole idea is to amass an army of Servo tokens that deal damage to our opponent not only when they attack, but also when they become tapped forMerchant's Dockhand's activated ability alongside Throne of the God Pharaoh's triggered ability. Simultaneously, Growing Rites of Itlimoc/Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun allows us to dig for creatures and ramp into more mana to make activating Dockhand's ability and casting our higher CMC cards easier. Once Tishana, Voice of Thunder hits the field, we should be able to not only draw into other powerful cards, but also be able to dig for any card we want, have the mana to cast it, and possibly cast 3-4 spells a turn.
The Support Staff
Since the deck employs a "go wide" strategy, it's not terribly hard to hit with a creature to draw off Jace's +1 ability. His -2 helps clog the board and fuels his +1. His -5 is incidental, but if you manage to reach it, you'll have more creatures on the board than you'll know what to do with! Anointed Procession+Call for Unity both increase the number tokens created and make them bigger when Revolt is triggered. And in a deck that wants to always be attacking as this one does, our creature's deaths will only add more counters to Unity making our creatures bigger too! Rashmi makes casting our assembled pieces faster.
The Removal
Ballista becomes bigger and deadlier if you have Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun on the field. Ajani is there to exile some creatures here and there if need be. He also feeds into the search/go big strat of the deck.
So this is just the beginning. I haven't gotten any testing in (yet). Just looking at the deck, I could maybe see going down -2 Jace, Cunning Castaway, -1 Anointed Procession, and -1 Call for Unity, and adding +2 Gideon of the Trials and +2 Legion's Landing MB. It just depends on fast the initial build above is able to assemble the combo. I will say that it is possible to flip Growing Rites of Itlimoc the turn you play it casting our 5+ CMC spells as early as Turn 4:
Turn 1: Land, play Ornithopter and Merchant's Deckhand (2 creatures on the field)
Turn 2: Land, play Servo Exhibition (2 more creatures on the field, total of 4)
Turn 3: Land, play Growing Rites of Itlimoc (hopefully hitting a Walking Ballista or Rashmi, Eternities Crafter), flip into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun
Turn 4: Granted, if all your creatures are still alive, you now have 7 mana to use!
I love the idea of doing a different kind of ramp deck with Growing Rites and I pulled a set, but I won't have any time for brewing before the weekend.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.