Tbh the only reason I could see for going Black is to run 1cmc discard spells to protect Blood Moon and Trinisphere from discard. Sinkhole ain't ever getting reprinted in limited. Ever. Rain of Tears is a problem at 1BB, unless you're running a black core with Smallpox and can commit to BB or even BBB spells. But in that case, you're basically playing Monoblack with a green splash. If you had a black LD spell that cost 2B this might be a different story.
But in short, I feel like this is all moot. Losing Red isn't even an option because Blood Moon is the best card in this deck.
RG Ponza is in a good position right now so let's keep it focused.
For DS, you need an early Blood Moon, ideally. I'd like to test Magus of the Moon against them tbh. Anyway, you need to keep them off black mana as much as possible. Trinisphere is also great to tax their discard and cantrips. I would also bring in Relic to reduce their delve capacity.
Likewise for living end, Relics on Relics. Not sure how many of their creatures Anger hits. I have limited experience in this matchup. You'll probably want to target their Red mana as it's necessary to cast Violent Outburst and Demonic Dread. Blood Moon can work if you have the resources to take out their basic Forests and Swamps. I'd probably bring in more creatures to run some defense.
Awesome write-up. If you aren't in love with Sweltering Suns, you could cut it and maybe 1 SBD to fit the Titans back in. I think the pinging effect is too good to lose entirely. Cleaning up problematic creatures is sometimes crucial. You could even run a 3rd Command for the tutor ability and 1 Titan. Or no Titans I love the 4 Bolt. I wonder if some of those should be Mizzium Mortars for the synergy with GDD?
How did you like the Pia & Kiran? Seems like an oddball to me, really soft to removal in a deck that's pretty removal-resilient. I'd personally rather play more Angers and maybe 2 Colossus. VampireChild85 made an excellent point with the GDD / Anger synergy. Repeatable board wipes?!?
You play only 1 Bird, how did you feel the deck operated with it? Would you rather have more, or would you even consider cutting them entirely?
Mtg goldfish played against Ponza in an against the odds match on YouTube and Ponza won in less than 6 min. Lol
Ya, I saw that. It was hilarious.
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
Mtg goldfish played against Ponza in an against the odds match on YouTube and Ponza won in less than 6 min. Lol
Ya, I saw that. It was hilarious.
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
Right, good point. Much less viable in that case. Using Hazoret as a way to dump bad topdecks seems like a tighter plan. Or Chandra to exile bad topdecks out of the way.
Honestly there's no room in the deck for these kind of marginal effects. Blowing up lands gives us all the time we need to reach the mid game.
That said, why haven't we seen anyone playing Fulminator Mage? Seems like an excellent complement to the deck and gives us a tiny bit of reach. If the opponent is stuck on mana, a late game Fulmo is much less of a dead draw than Stone Rain. RR can be an issue I suppose. I'm curious to try a Stone Rain/ Fulm split.
Thanks for the report. I think Madcap coming out for SB hate is exactly the way the deck should be played. The opponent will bring in some amount of hate for it, Ancient Grudge etc., so blanking that hate is totally valid approach. It's at this point that I usually bring in Trinispheres as they totally nonbo with Madcap.
Do you think the MB Thrun is necessary? Or the 3 Bonfire? I find the lack of spot removal a little problematic, but hey, if it works.
I agree on the Scooze. It's a sort of incremental advantage card that's hard to utilize without the support of creature removal/creatures for it to eat. Arguably awesome against Dredge, but how often are we holding mana open? I usually tap out turns 1-4.
Someone mentioned running 4 Primal Command on page 35. I don't think this is all that crazy of an idea. It would allow us to cut creature numbers while offering various toolboxing effects. 5cmc is steep; is it worth it?
I am picking up a set of Time of Need because it's dirt cheap and I love the power of that card. What legends other than Thrun have shroud or hexproof? An?
Can we decide on a few different cores? E.g. Time of Need is its own list, Madcap Emperion its own, and the more traditional streamlined version. Obviously there's crossover between these lists, but I feel like they're all playing different games (after the initial ramp / land disruption).
I'm basically wondering what cards I can combine without diluting the deck. For instance, I don't think it's viable to combine Time of Need with Madcap/Emperion, but one must surely be more consistent than the other.
I'll pick up some Coursers at your suggestion and see how I like them.
I also noticed that you don't have any graveyard hate in your SB. Is this a meta call? I personally can't take Ponza to FNM without some Relics in the SB as we have Dredge, Storm, other Gifts decks, Goyfs, Grixis Delver etc.
How are you liking Courser? Would you consider going the GDD route to make your Mortars more impactful as VampireChild85 indicated? I've been running something like 2 Bonfire, 2 Beast Within, 1 Mortars MD and I've had mixed results. Wouldn't mind going up in Mortars, but I also have Bolt in SB for now.
I also think anyone playing Kessig Wolf Run should consider Thrun for the MB, especially if you have Primal Command. Just 2 cents.
I'm also into the 4 Inferno Titan, but do you ever find them overcrowded?
Anger of the Gods is basically built for this situation. Gets around Kira as well. Most play 3-4. Much broader application than EE as well as it hoses Dredge, Elves, and CoCo offenders.
Bonfire does the same job but not as reliably. Lightning Bolt (or your spot removal of choice) in the SB is excellent.
Spreading Seas hurts on our Utopia Sprawl lands, so keep that in mind if you see a hand with 1 Sprawl and a ton of 5 drops. And don't get greedy by enchanting lands with multiple Sprawl, this opens you up to a blowout Spreading Seas. Keeping them off Islands is nearly impossible, so you'll generally target Mutavault with LD (unless of course they're stuck on 1 blue and you have Moon in hand). You'll likely want to side out cards with heavier colored mana costs as a Fish player will do their best to restrict your access to multiple sources of the same color. Thragtusk is your pal here as it's resistant to Vapor Snag.
But in short, I feel like this is all moot. Losing Red isn't even an option because Blood Moon is the best card in this deck.
RG Ponza is in a good position right now so let's keep it focused.
How does Trinisphere work with the cascade spells?
Likewise for living end, Relics on Relics. Not sure how many of their creatures Anger hits. I have limited experience in this matchup. You'll probably want to target their Red mana as it's necessary to cast Violent Outburst and Demonic Dread. Blood Moon can work if you have the resources to take out their basic Forests and Swamps. I'd probably bring in more creatures to run some defense.
How did you like the Pia & Kiran? Seems like an oddball to me, really soft to removal in a deck that's pretty removal-resilient. I'd personally rather play more Angers and maybe 2 Colossus. VampireChild85 made an excellent point with the GDD / Anger synergy. Repeatable board wipes?!?
You play only 1 Bird, how did you feel the deck operated with it? Would you rather have more, or would you even consider cutting them entirely?
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
That said, why haven't we seen anyone playing Fulminator Mage? Seems like an excellent complement to the deck and gives us a tiny bit of reach. If the opponent is stuck on mana, a late game Fulmo is much less of a dead draw than Stone Rain. RR can be an issue I suppose. I'm curious to try a Stone Rain/ Fulm split.
Do you think the MB Thrun is necessary? Or the 3 Bonfire? I find the lack of spot removal a little problematic, but hey, if it works.
I agree on the Scooze. It's a sort of incremental advantage card that's hard to utilize without the support of creature removal/creatures for it to eat. Arguably awesome against Dredge, but how often are we holding mana open? I usually tap out turns 1-4.
I am picking up a set of Time of Need because it's dirt cheap and I love the power of that card. What legends other than Thrun have shroud or hexproof? An?
I'm basically wondering what cards I can combine without diluting the deck. For instance, I don't think it's viable to combine Time of Need with Madcap/Emperion, but one must surely be more consistent than the other.
I also noticed that you don't have any graveyard hate in your SB. Is this a meta call? I personally can't take Ponza to FNM without some Relics in the SB as we have Dredge, Storm, other Gifts decks, Goyfs, Grixis Delver etc.
I also think anyone playing Kessig Wolf Run should consider Thrun for the MB, especially if you have Primal Command. Just 2 cents.
I'm also into the 4 Inferno Titan, but do you ever find them overcrowded?
Bonfire does the same job but not as reliably. Lightning Bolt (or your spot removal of choice) in the SB is excellent.
Spreading Seas hurts on our Utopia Sprawl lands, so keep that in mind if you see a hand with 1 Sprawl and a ton of 5 drops. And don't get greedy by enchanting lands with multiple Sprawl, this opens you up to a blowout Spreading Seas. Keeping them off Islands is nearly impossible, so you'll generally target Mutavault with LD (unless of course they're stuck on 1 blue and you have Moon in hand). You'll likely want to side out cards with heavier colored mana costs as a Fish player will do their best to restrict your access to multiple sources of the same color. Thragtusk is your pal here as it's resistant to Vapor Snag.
I'm also in support of more planeswalkers with the ability to remove creatures. Might try Garruk Relentless until I can get some of the new Chandra.