MTG Salvation

Well I think this deck is dead now. The loss of Ramunap Ruins means there is no reason to care about deserts anymore.

Combustible Gearhulk is an all-star. Drawing 3 cards is never bad, and when someone actually takes the hit they're taking 10 to 15 damage from it on average. Star of Extinction has potential, but I wouldn't cut the Gearhulks for it.

Sand Stranglers seem like overkill with the Abrades and Ligthning Strikes already there, but I think you're right about the walking ballistas. Time to break the piggy bank!

Also a lucky Iconic Masters pack gave me a Mana Drain which among other things for EDH decks got me a Chandra, Torch of Defiance which I put in in place of a Shefet Monitor. Played a few games with it and saw her enough to think she needs to be a 2 or 3 of if I can acquire them.

I don't really think they are comparable. The two cards do very different things.

I've been conmsidering Excavator, but I feel like that would be part of a larger overhaul, moving away from ramp into something else. I also had looked at the idea of an Abzan coloured version that could use the deadlands as well as Overwhelming Splendor as an additional top end card.

Quote from kpal »

Wow, I cant imagine what it would be like for this deck the first 6 turns as you are getting mauled by mono red aggro or sultai energy.

I'm not? 8 2 mana removal spells, consistent turn 4 either sweeper or pair of tokens to block. Why do you think nothing is happening for 6 turns?

So coming back into the game after years away, this is my first brew for standard since Innistrad days. It started out trying to be a miracle grow deck with Deeproot Champion and Enigma Drake, but they moved out in favour of some other surprisingly strong cards.


So the biggest surprise was just how good Sandwum Convergence is. If you can play Hour of Promise and make your land drop next turn, you can play Sandwurm COnvergence, as early as turn 5 in this deck. It is amazing how much trouble people seem to have dealing with it. The deck as a whole generates incredble amounts of card advantage. Combustible Gearhulk should almost always let you draw 3, and if they take the damage, it usually does 10+ and can potentially be instantly lethal. Spring // Mind provides early ramp and late game draw. Hour of Promise is one of my favourite cards now, being basically the lovechild of Primeval Titan and Grave Titan.

The goal is pretty simple. Lightning Strike and Abrade provide your early removal. You want to ramp on turn 3 with either Spring // Mind or Nissa. With Nissa you play her at 1 then Scry, preferrably being able to put nonland on top of land so on turn 4 you can 0 her for an extra land. Either of those will let you cast either Hour on turn 4, depending on your needs. Turn 5 should either be a Combustible Gearhulk or Sandwurm Convergence, and from there you just keep accumulating value and card advantage until you overwhelm your opponent. Aggro decks run out of steam in the face of a steady stream of 5/5s and flyers can't attack you at all. Nissa can keep smoothing your draws until you're ready to toss lands at your opponent's face. Mind and Gearhulks keep reloading your hand. Shefet Monitor can be backup ramp, providing fuel for the deserts with more deserts, or another perfectly servicable 6/5 body.

Sideboard options include things like Negate and Spell Swindle for control decks, Chaos Maw for aggro/tokens, Filigree Familiar for aggro, Scavenger Grounds for The Scarab God, all adjusted for your local meta.

Tishana, Voice of Thunder has proven to be an incredibly powerful commander, surprising even me with how strong she is. Simic is a colour combination that makes drawing cards and making a creature unblockable trivially easy. While not a particularly great Merfolk commander, she is amazing with a deck full of mana dorks (ie. Elves). 21+ power is easy to achieve by casting her with something like Alhammaret's Archive in play or by following her up with Rishkar's Expertise while Whispersilk Cloak, Thassa, God of the Sea and Rogue's Passage all make her unblockable. I had to add Laboratory Maniac to the deck just because it was too easy to deck myself by accident off of an expertise. And I am sure I am not even running the most optimal build of the deck. I know a lot of people dismissed her for her lack of haste, trample or hexproof, but honestly I think she would be severely overpowered if she had any of those.