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La_Sin_Grail
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:32 pm
Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland
--- description ---
What’s the only thing more fun that beating your opponent down for a zillion damage with a Jitted creature, pulling off a Heartbeat of Spring combo, and swarming with Boros at the same time? Landkill.
--- end description ---

The basic idea is you play a turn one mana acceleration card. Then, you play landkill until you puke. And finally, you finish with whatever happens to be on the board (namely solifuge)

The First List

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Stone Rain
4 Creeping Mold
4 Wreak Havoc
4 Seismic Spike
4 Demolish
4 Pyroclasm
2 Carven Caryatid
4 Giant Solifuge
2 Arashi, the Sky Asunder

9 Forest
7 Mountain
4 R/G Rav Dual

Sideboard-
4 Needle Storm
2 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
1 Naturalize
4 Savage Twister
2 Common G/R Guildland
2 Carven Caryatid

Birds of Paradise- Gives red or green as necessary, and is a flying blocker. Considering the only flying trampler costs 9 (the unspeakable), BoP can block off much damage later.

Llanowar Elves- More ways to play wreak havoc or stone rain on turn two. Also attacks for one if you run out of cards.

Stone Rain- Kills a land on turn two. Or three, or four, or whenever you need it.

Creeping Mold- Utility (kills jitte and anthem) or provides another land destruction.

Wreak Havoc- Turn two land kill, just like stone rain, except with the added bonus of killing jitte and being uncounterable.

Seismic Spike- Used so the land kill count goes to 16. Can be played on turn four (if you have a bop) in combination with another land destruction card.

Demolish- This card sees limited playing time. Very limited playing time, and for a good reason. Unless it has sixteen other partenrs in destruction, he’s not so great. Throw them all together, and your opponent will start discarding from their hand. "Oh no! This costs three? I’ll never get that much..."

Pyroclasm- This is perfect because it stops weenie, which has the best matchup on this deck of the ones I’ve seen. This wasn’t in my original build because of birds and llanowar, but killing off two or three of their midgets for one is enough stall to blow up their land.

Carven Caryatid- Stops weenies and stalls out any sort of ground attack while providing card advantage. Only two copies played because its typicall better to play landkill first.

Giant Solifuge- Deals enough damage and it’s very tough to kill.

Arashi, the Sky Asunder- Kills all those pesky flyers that somehow managed to survive pyroclasm, perhaps a skyhunter with anthem, so they can’t harass you for too long. Also, in case they have little to no land and you need to kill them, you can grab a 5/5.

Land- Only twenty land because of birds of paradise and llanowar elves. Also, you really only need two to three and a llanowar or three and a bop, after that you can just wait to draw more as you knock off their land.

Needle Storm- Use against weenie. Weenie flyers with anthem isn’t pretty, but this kills all of them. Remember to drop a llanowar over bop if you expect to play this. Also backup against anything else with flying that they may ever be able to afford.

Arashi, The Sky Asunder- Another anti-flying. The first round of this deck had trouble with a flying heavy boros deck I was testing against, but this with needle storm fixed the problems in a hurry. Also, provides some extra beating after they’ve run out of land.

G/R Common Guildland- Using this in a matchup where card advantage is key may help. At the cost of some speed, you can be sure you have the longevity to last out.

Savage Twister- Extra help against weenie, in case they manage an isamaru and an anthem, giving him one too much toughness for pyroclasm. Works on anything else, like leonin skyhunter with anthem, or anything three toughness.

Naturalize- I needed to fill up another spot:). That and it provides just a tad more help dealing with jitte.

Matchups

Weenie- Pyroclasm should hold them off game one. Kill lantern Kamis and Suntail Hawks etc. with arashi, and hold off ground with carven caryatid, solifuge if necessary. When you board in savage twister, other two caryatids, and sometimes needle storm, depending on build, you play spoiler, killing all their creatures with mass destruction, followed by blowing up all their lands. Or, focus on lands while you can and pyroclasm or twister as a last resort. It seems the order doesn’t really matter as long as you’re careful with your life total and use your mana. Reasonably good matchup.

Bob the Builder- Unfortunately, Bob has a couple of problems. Namely, killing the Confidant tends to kill them deck. Also, killing lands every turn can put a damper in the rate they can cast all of the spells they draw. And with too little land, using divining top is all but impossible. While they waste their land or two left on divining top, you can safely take out Bob and beat with arashi and solifuge. Boarding in twisters and arashis allows for more beating and more chances to kill Bob. Possible game one victory, but not likely. After boarding, blowing up Bob and stopping the deck should be considerably easier, and don’t be afraid to mull once or twice until you grab a clasm or twister.

Critical Mass- Blow up enough land that they can’t play big beaters. Then, clasm anything that’s left, and beat with Arashi and solifuge. Board in twisters, G/R common lands. Twisters stop the small beaters they have left after you blow up their land, and G/R lands help outlast them. Not a good matchup if they get too much mana acceleration, but if you can keep their big beaters in their hand, you’ll be fine.

Gifts- Kill lands so they can’t get out gifts. That’s about all there is to it. Boarding in needle storms helps for second game in case they somehow manage a meloku. Guildlands in should help as well, because you won’t need to quite so quick to jump the gun. Good matchup

Rock- Kill lands as much as possible, as fast as possible. Put killing their lands first before clasming or even dumping caryatid. No sideboarding needed; this should be about the best matchup you have.

Agro- Use clasm and arashi to your advantage, but remember to kill land before they can drop any bombs. Boarding in twister and more arashi, needle storm depending on build should provide about three creatures dead for one card, allowing you time to blow up their land. Decent matchup, very much better after boarding.

The Tri-color weenie I published last month that T-2- clasm, board in twister hurts badly. Blow up mountains and they’ll never throw down a kiki. Simple game, their deck is VERY vulnerable to lankilling.

MGA tied 2 last month- Clasm and twister rock this deck. Nothing in any agro can take any combination of two clasms/twisters/caryatids and you have a guaranteed win. Even one clasm should be able to take care of enough. Solifuge after you’ve killed a couple lands should also be capable of finishing. Much as response claims he can deal at least okay with clasm, there’s no chance he can deal with a clasm and a twister. Excluding bad non-mulliganning, you should win after boarding.

Nantuko Husk 1st place Dec.- Clasm makes him lose tons of creatures at a time when he can’t pull a sac/attack. Chump blocking also helps, and he should never have enough mana to throw down any bombs like symbiotic wurm. Good matchup, but the fact that it’s extended means it won’t be a pushover.

Budget Deck Savra (recent, high rating)- Simple matchup, play your land destruction. Destruct them until they can’t even think of a savra, don’t bother clearing the board. Save your arashi for a beater, don’t channel, and solifuge should beatdown bitgtime. Good matchup.

“States Gauntlet” Boros Weenie- Pyroclasm, kill lands, board in caryatids and twisters for an easy win.

“States Gauntlet” Three-color gifts- same as gifts listed above- killing lands turn two, three, and four means no gifts for them and that you just won.

“States Gauntlet” Heartbeat Combo- Not the best matchup in the world, but hopefully when they cast heartbeat you can kill two land at once, eliminating their chances to play mana accel and landfetch. Most likely the worst matchup this deck has.

“States Gauntlet” Fungus Fire- Allthough I did find it odd that in this list the fire part of fungus fire was only in the sideboard, I realized that this is another simple matchup. Firemane Angel has flying, and there will be no way they can afford to play the return to play ability. Blowing up enough land leaves them no way to win, so you should emerge the victor without much sweat.

When you get started, choosing when to mulligan might be a problem, so heres a few tips:

1. 1, 0, 6, 7, land means mull.
2. No turn one acceleration means mull.
3. One land destruction, unless you have a one drop and an otherwise good hand.
4. If you can kill a land on turn two, don’t mulligan, almost no matter what else is in the hand
5. When facing a weenie deck, make sure you start with a pyroclasm or savage twister

Remember that the game of Magic gives each player twenty life so board control has a chance! Don’t be afraid to lose some life while you blow up their land. Then, try to clean the board after they’re down to one land or you must to save yourself. Then, finish up with a big beating from solifuge and arashi, or chip away with llanowar elves. There’s nothing more insulting than getting beaten twenty turns in a row with llanowar elves and having no land with which to do anything about it. The best thing is that landkill is so far from mainstream that they’ll never see it coming.

Some decks I make are not really intended for people to replicate, but this one is! I really encourage you to try it out. Remember that the only money rares in the house are bops and the R/G Lands, so this isn’t exactly going to be a hard project. It may not be a good idea to go around finding a substitute for birds, though, because the only other one drop with mana acceleration is elves of deep shadow, and that taps for black. Sakura-tribe elders are not recommended because they slow your start, but they’re better than nothing. And if you open any G/R duals when Guildpact comes out, I’d love to trade for some….

Till next month,

La_Sin_Grail
Last edited by La_Sin_Grail on Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
Cobra
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:50 pm
Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA
Very thorough, well done. I like how you address not only the general meta, but the specific Magic: The Gathering decks previously posted to this forum.

No particular comments about the strategy / card choices / matchups -- I'm sure all that will be thoroughly covered when the more experienced players start their monthly debate... Wink
http://cobracards.com -- Web's best deals on Trading Card Games.
edud
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:41 pm
Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 6 Location:
Monthly debate! oh yeah!

I'd first like to note that land destruction decks are the bane of my living. the first time I played someone out of the 3 friends that I started the game with I played a land destruction deck with Avalanch Riders, Pillage, Terravore. Not such a good experience.

Easy to get list though, except for the R/G shockland. I think that will be the fourth highest price shockland, after the R/U, B/U, and R/W ones

I tried this list on paper actually, I own most of these and proxied 2 birds, this is good against any opponent that is running a varied mana base (gifts) or gets mana screw early on. Thing is, though, they are going to, after Game one, mulligan away any hand without 3+ land, and...

...too often Life from the Loam ruins your fast advantage. I've had it cast on turn 2, which is right after I pulled off the BoP/Stone Rain combp and had it dredged and cast like over 12 times when I was testing. On average if this deck runs into a problem, like not killing a land for a turn, their life from the loam will be like a 6 for 1 (3 lands gained, + the 3 spells you cast to kill those lands). If they play the threats they drew in the beginning of the game (because they had no time to cast them without land) your gameplay will quickly devolve.

Another thing I'd like to mention -- good thing the Gruul Land kill kills artifacts, the deck loses if they somehow resolve a Jitte because it + like 2 lantern kamis or whatever kills your 2 caryatid if you even draw them and early jitte has no problem with late Magnivore.

I'm don't think the Gruul shockland will be useful, though, with this deck, and its thing of fast landkill, you will almost always pay the 2 life, in which case a painland will be better because they are cheaper to get and will only do a little damage if you get BoP or Llanowar. Heck, even Forbidden Orchard will be good if you are planning to Pyroclasm.
La_Sin_Grail
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:27 pm
Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland
Yes, I've found loam is a problem. The thing is, though, most people will only play one or two copies and plan to search for it. Unfortunately for them, they'll never have the land to search. Also, if you go first, they never have two land.

Yes, Gruul shockland could be switched for pain, I just put in shock because often enough, two life isn't much, but if you draw a painland as your only red or only green, it will keep hurting for longer, and I can't have too much self pain for fear of lava spikes and shocks, which nothing can stop.

Hopefully, you can keep them needing to loam every turn and drop magnivore and try to beat them, but if they go first and draw loam, they should win.... I think it won't be too big a deal, though, because there have been many combos discovered for loam, but I haven't seen any whole decks that try to run a playset. Remember that all decks have a bad matchup, and mine is one that plays more than two loams. Not that I know any competitive decks that do, but some probably will come up.

I'm afraid I was unclear about something. You don't play landkill and then clasm. You do the opposite. Pass turn one, clasm turn two (unless they don't have much) then clasm/land kill turn three vs. weenie only (you'll know by the isamaru). Against almost anything else, blowing up land will be more effective. Use those life points! Killing lands will win the game long term with this deck and nothing else will.
Osion
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:12 pm
Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 62 Location: MD
huh, edud hit a lot of the points I was going to make, so I'm just gonna add to the analysis here

have you tried Uproot? It removes a land and delays their draw for a turn, cost only 3G, so easier to handle with all of the RR and GG cards in here. I'd say use it instead of Creeping Mold or Demolish or Seismic Spike.

Seismic Spike is sometimes a pain-producer, if you cast in on turn four with a BoP in pay you'll need 2RRR to add stone rain, or 2RRG to add wreak havok. How reliable are your mana sources in getting there? With 4 copies you will frequently get it as your only source of LD for turn 3 or 4 (if you don't have GG for creeping mold) and you'll have to burn for 2 if you want to keep up the land destruction.

Another Note: don't play me with this deck, ever. LD is evil.

You only have 10 win conditions in this deck, 4 of which are Llanowar Elves and 2 of which are used as Hurricanes. Did you try Kumano, Master Yamabushi as a finisher? How bout a set of Kird Apes? 2/3's survive pyroclasms, and come down for R (okay, RG really) and I think are better than Magnivores (on average 5/5's)

Edit: nevermind the last edit
La_Sin_Grail
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:58 pm
Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland
Osion wrote:
huh, edud hit a lot of the points I was going to make, so I'm just gonna add to the analysis here

have you tried Uproot? It removes a land and delays their draw for a turn, cost only 3G, so easier to handle with all of the RR and GG cards in here. I'd say use it instead of Creeping Mold or Demolish or Seismic Spike.

Seismic Spike is sometimes a pain-producer, if you cast in on turn four with a BoP in pay you'll need 2RRR to add stone rain, or 2RRG to add wreak havok. How reliable are your mana sources in getting there? With 4 copies you will frequently get it as your only source of LD for turn 3 or 4 (if you don't have GG for creeping mold) and you'll have to burn for 2 if you want to keep up the land destruction.

Another Note: don't play me with this deck, ever. LD is evil.

You only have 10 win conditions in this deck, 4 of which are Llanowar Elves and 2 of which are used as Hurricanes. Did you try Kumano, Master Yamabushi as a finisher? How bout a set of Kird Apes? 2/3's survive pyroclasms, and come down for R (okay, RG really) and I think are better than Magnivores (on average 5/5's)

Edit: nevermind the last edit


You make good points. However, I've found that landkilling really doesn't accomplish the job without at least sixteen landkills, and won't last out unless there's twenty. I've worked hard to try and find ways to include more win conditions, but I'll need the clasms and caryatid vs. weenie, and the eight one-drops against everything.

You make suggestions that are "good". The should work, I agree, but the problem is that each landkilling card I take out makes all the others worse. Kird apes should work, but they mean not playing a mana acceleration turn one- they mean no killing a land turn two. I'll probably add in kird for the sideboard, since they are excellent vs. weenie (instead of needle storm maybe?), but there simply isn't room in the maindeck.

Uproot doesn't seem to help me because killing a land should be more useful than allowing them to guaranteedly draw one the following turn; one is a temporary solution, the other is longterm.

I'm not sure about the 2RRR for spike plus rain- I only need the two red to cast spike- it produces red mana, two of them. I only need 3RR, which isn't too hard for a deck with eight mana acceleration to have on turn four.

I've actually toyed with the idea of adding more multilands because it's somewhat color intensive, but usually between the four multis I have and BoP, I'm okay. Remember that I'll usually have another landkill spell that doesn't take double of the color I lack, long enough to stall till I draw into it.

"Another Note: don't play me with this deck, ever. LD is evil. " And that is precisely why this deck should do so well. People shouldn't be prepared for it, and having no meta against you is an easy way to grab a slot in the top eight.

You do raise many valid points about things to add. Perhaps you could suggest things to remove as well? There is much I should add, but it's difficult to add things while retaining the identity as a landkiller.
T2_Fr33K
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:31 am
Joined: 28 Nov 2005 Posts: 32 Location:
Well, I gave the last one a four and this is far better.

A good deck

Higly original

Fearable

Rock on!
inresponse
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:42 pm
Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 162 Location:
why did you include a card from guildpact?

once the set comes out and the rest of the R/G guild is revealed yu will have to modify the deck heavily anyways. For example, now a 4/3 haste untargetable trample for r/g can be found on spoilers, which should be an almost auto include.
La_Sin_Grail
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:11 pm
Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland
Yes, it's a great-looking card, which I may add is a recent edition after I publiushed the article. However, swithcing that in for magnivores is hardly a huge change, and considering that 28 cards (the eight mana drops and 20 landkill) is cement, I don't see any major revamping to be done. Also, pyroclasm will stay, so only eight cards left to change, which won't be tough at all.

Upon further study, I see nothing of that card. I'm using mtgsalvation, is there a better one? I've never known them to be wrong on more than 1% of cards...
Osion
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2006 8:22 pm
Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 62 Location: MD
inresponse is right, look at this

Giant Solifuge
2{rg}{rg}
Creature - Insect R
Trample, haste
Giant Solifuge can't be the target of spells or abilities.
"We respect all forms of life, but we'd rather respect this from a distance."- ??
4/3

tasty card, definite replacement for Magnivore

wow, looking at it, this could be the Loxodon Hierarch of Guildpact

$7-10 easily! compare to Ravenous Baloth, Fireball, ho snap

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