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By: TheDwarf, Anton Yuriev Nikolov
Sep 13 2009 10:04am
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Hello again! Before I start I want to thank all of you for the positive and constructive comments on my previous (and first) article - Thank you guys :) This week I'll present one of my favorite decks - Tilling Thunder. The idea about this deck was floating in the heads of my roommate and me for about a week or two and then I discovered that someone had already created almost the same deck. So I started playing it and I loved it! The deck isn't very powerful but is really fun and has a reasonable match with most of the decks in the current meta.

The Deck:

Many people confuse Tilling Thunder with Kodama's Thunder because the two decks like to cycle Resounding Thunder but this deck generates card advantage through cycling lands and returning them with Tilling Treefolk or Cartographer, not with Mulldrifter. The feeling of playing this deck is like you are piloting Life from the Loam and Devastating Dreams so if you like these decks you must try this one. And finally I present you the build:

 

Engine creatures:

Cartographer Tilling Treefolk Harvest Wurm


4 Cartographer A really solid creature that practically draws you a card!
4 Tilling Treefolk I fell in love with this one from the moment I saw it! I have been waiting for a really long time to create a deck that features this one. This is the muscles of the deck. Most of the time it will be Mulldrifter for 3 mana :)
2 Harvest Wurm Sometimes I hate this one but every time that I cast Harrow on turn 3 and then this one I feel warm and fuzzy inside!



Draw/Control finisher:

Viscera Dragger


4 Viscera Dragger Draws you a card! Really powerfull vs control players especially if you use it early game. This card is NUTS with Grim Harvest after SB. This one is Swirling Sandstorm's best friend.


Little Hate mainboard :)

Nantuko Vigilante


1 Nantuko Vigilante Just in case. It is a good beater even if you don't have targets for the morph.


 
Finishers:

Fireblast Resounding Thunder Firebolt Magma Burst


3 Fireblast This one doesn't need explaining :) Also activates your Harvest Wurm
4 Resounding Thunder Your basic and most common finisher. Heavy control players hate this card!
4 Firebolt Usually this one keeps you alive vs aggro and finishes off control players(doesn't really work vs storm combo).
1 Magma Burst Instant speed burn that can be 2 for 1, activate your Harvest Wurm or just kill your opponent!


The lock!

Raven's Crime


1 Raven's Crime With some extra lands and this  you can devastate every combo and almost every control player. The rule of thumb here is to always use your cycling lands for discard vs control and for draw vs aggro!


Anti-aggro:

Swirling Sandstorm


3 Swirling Sandstorm You will probably win the match if you get to threshold and have one of these in your hand before the aggro player kills you. Really useful for cleaning the board and then unearthing Viscera Dragger for extra damage.


Acceleration:

Edge of Autumn Harrow


2 Edge of Autumn - Priceless. Early game it is acceleration and late game it is Harvest Wurm enabler.
2 Harrow - I can't explain how happy I am that this one is going to be in standard in just a few weeks! Instant speed mana acceleration and Harvest Wurm enabler. Has an enormous synergy with the rest of the deck.

 


Basic package :


4 Terramorphic Expanse If you already have all the colours you MUST fetch Mountain with this.
5 Forest
5 Mountain
3 Swamp


Engine Lands - the heart of the deck! Both cards are 4x no matter what!


Forgotten Cave Tranquil Thicket

To cycle or not cycle? This one of the toughest questions, so I'll try to give you a quick guide about cycling:

You MUST cycle if: You have 8 or more lands. You have 0 or 1 land in the graveyard. You have too many lands (flooded).

You may consider playing the land if: You have fewer than 8 lands and you are going to miss a land drop. You have 2 cycling lands in the graveyard and  suspect that your opponent have graveyard hate.  You play vs control Raven's Crime. You are playing vs aggro (Flame Job).

The SB:

Ancient Grudge Nourish Terminate Flame Jab

Pyroblast Grim Harvest Raven's Crime


4 Pyroblast Does it really need a comment? :)
3 Ancient Grudge Without these the affinity is not exactly a "good" match.
3 Nourish Because the fast aggro decks tend to rape this deck.
1 Terminate One extra removal just in case.
2 Grim Harvest Side this in if your opponent is control and at least as slow as you are.
1 Flame Jab For those pesky x/1 creatures. Really good vs Fish and WW.
1 Raven's Crime You just need this if you want to beat storm players regularly. Also usefull vs other control decks.

 

What makes this deck tick?

Everything! The deck has so much synergy that it makes my brain hurt :) Almost every card in the deck is kind of a combo with the other, but I'll point some of the most important ones:

Tilling Treefolk, Cartographer and some of the following: Forgotten Cave, Tranquil Thicket, Terramorphic Expanse, Raven's Crime, Edge of Autumn, Harrow, Magma Burst, Fireblast and so on and so on(I think you get the picture).

Harvest Wurm and Raven's Crime, Edge of Autumn, Harrow, Magma Burst or Fireblast.

Viscera Dragger and Swirling Sandstorm or your opponent's Circle of Protection: Red :)

The beauty of this deck is that it can't be stopped by just one type of hate. You can still win even if your opponent has CoP:Red/Black, Prismatic Strands, graveyard hate, life gain or heavy hand disruption. The problem is when your opponent has two or more of the above but this is not very common in the current meta.

A little tip how to play around Relic of Progenitus and other types of graveyard hate - don't overextend (two or more draggers/lands in the graveyard). Also If you know that your opponent has graveyard hate it is better to play your lands than cycle them and then just try to blow him over with burn as fast as possible.

And finally how to play around CoP:Red - just burn his creatures. Don't try to overwhelm him with burn spells, just kill his creatures and start beating him up with yours .
 

I'm sorry guys but this time there will be no alternative builds :( I will try to compensate next time!

The match-ups:

Just keep in mind that these match-ups and my advices are relative and apply to my build and play style. Your mileage may vary !
If you think that the builds of some of those decks are suboptimal or plain wrong just show me a link to more powerful / consistent version and I'll check it out! If you thinks that I have missed some relevant match-up just show me a link and I'll check it out :)

 Blink -  Blink - The match is a solid tie if your opponent has  Lifespark Spellbomb in the Main or SB and knows what he is playing against. Before SB your game plan is to burn his blink targets and smash him with your creatures. Try to keep mana open for instant speed burn and don't let him blink his creatures.Viscera Dragger is the MVP of this match, your opponent can't kill him with his removal and you will burn any creature that tries to trade with him in combat, so you must hardcast this beat stick as soon as possible. Post SB you have Pyroblast (for his Mulldrifter and Trinket Mage) and Ancient Grudge. That's right Ancient Grudge! This card is really versatile in this match-up - you can use it as land destroy, mana-filter destroy and advantage destroy :)

MBC - Tied match (most of the times) but the game can get pretty ugly if the MBC player draws more than 3 Tendrils of Corruption + Corrupt. Before SB your gameplan is to burn him as fast as possible so try to trade your creatures for his (if he doesn't have targets for Tendrils the game will be yours) and don't be afraid to gamble a little by sending all the damage to his dome :) If he reaches 8-9 mana before you and start casting Corrupts and Tendrils you are done for :( After SB you should bring in Grim Harvest and Raven's Crime and pray for the best because post SB this match is REALLY draw dependent - sometimes you will be able to lock him with Raven's Crime and overwhelm him and sometimes he will rape you with mass discard + Relic of Progenitus + Multiple Corrupts and Tendrils.

MBCu - Tied match. This one is almost the same as MBC (atleast for you). There are only two differences : 

1. Post SB you can side in Pyroblast!

2. Some of the builds have Probe so you must always watch out for this! Sometimes it can be devastating :( Post SB try to keep your Pyroblast only for Probe and ignore everything else.

Teachings - Before SB this match is for us, because all forms of Teachings are slower than our deck and we should be able to burn them to death before they do the same thing with us :)  Post SB we can bring in Pyroblast, Ancient Grudge (If they play with Spire Golem and Raven's Crime, but they will side in Hydroblast and Relic of Progenitus. Just don't overextend with things in the graveyard and play your cycling lands untill you have at least 8-9 mana for Resounding Thunder with cycling.

My conclusion is that after SB the match is tied but you will probably have the lead from game 1 so the match as a whole is in our favor.

Affinity - Tied Match. Before SB they have the advantage but you can still win if they have a weak hand. Post SB you have Ancient Grudge for their lands(early game) and Enforcers(late game). You should also side in you Pyroblast and counter their draw spells. So in general you should have the upper hand in game 2 and 3 but most of the time they need only one of those games to beat you :(

Other random advices about this match: Kill Somber Hoverguards first because you have Swirling Sandstorm for his other threats. Don't hesitate to eliminate all of his Disciple of the Vault on the spot.

G/W Slivers - This match is almost tied but The Thunder deck has the upper hand. Your game plan here is to burn his Slivers and try to stay alive! If you successfully survive to turn 4-5 the match is probably yours. Your greatest enemy is Prismatic Strands, so try to kill his white Slivers first and don't hesitate to burn their 1/1 sliver with Firebolt on turn 1 or 2. Post SB you have Terminate and Flame Jab for extra crispy slivers and they don't have anything relevant( CoP: Red just doesn't work in this match for them). Of course every now and then you will be overwhelmed with many slivers on the board and Prismatic Strands in hand and there is nothing you can do about it.

G/W cloak - Bad match. They have two creatures that you just can't kill - Silhana Ledgewalker and Guardian of the Guildpact - and when they enchant one of those creatures with Armadillo Cloak it is over. Post SB things only get worse, because most of the builds have Pro-red creatures, which means even more things that kill you with Armadillo Cloak and Empyrial Armor. I think that if you win vs this deck you should try the lottery that day :)

I'm really considering Edicts in the SB for match-ups like this...

BURN
BURN
Creatures
4 Keldon Marauders
3 Spark Elemental
7 cards

Other Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Lava Spike
4 Needle Drop
3 Shard Volley
4 Fireblast
4 Shock
31 cards
Lands
22 Mountain
22 cards

Fireblast

Burn/Burn Range - A bad match especially before SB. They are just too fast for you and you can't slow them down! After SB bring in the Nourish and pray because most of the time the burn player will have enough burn to kill you even after you cast 2 x Nourish...

B/W mimic aggro - JUST BURN THEM! Relatively easy match before SB. Just don't think twice about killing a creature that is going to be enchanted with (Edge of Divinity), even if this mean that you cast one of your Thunders without cycling. If they don't enchant a creature with Edge really early in the game you won't have any real trouble winning before SB. Post SB you have Terminate and a nasty little surprise for them - the Nightsky Mimic ARCH-NEMESIS Flame Jab. They will bring in CoP:Red and Relic of Progenitus. The CoP is kind of  irrelevant because you will be trying to kill all of their creatures anyway and I already mentioned how to play around Relic. Be prepared for situations where both players kill their opponent's creatures on the spot. Just be patient - your deck has more card advantage than his and you should win in such lock-downs.

Goblins - Bad, Bad, REALLY BAD! You will have to use all of your burn just to stay alive. Swirling Sandstorm will probably help you take control in the few games that you survived to turn 5-6 but let me tell you something - you won't survive past turn 4-5 in most of the games. The worst thing in this match is that if you somehow manage to survive you will be almost without burn left to kill him. And one final word of wisdom - don't take a hand without Firebolt or there is a good chance that they will be bashing your head open  before you even think of casting a spell.

WW
SpikeBoyM Build from PDC-forums :)

Creatures
4 Akrasan Squire
4 Order of Leitbur
4 Stormfront Pegasus
2 Ivory Giant
4 Knight of Sursi
4 Shade of Trokair
4 Razor Golem                        4 Icatian Javilneers
26 cards

Other Spells
4 Sunlance
4 Temporal Isolation
8 cards

Lands
22 Plains
22 cards

Martyr of Sands

WW - A tied match that favors the thunder player. Before SB and after it your game plan is almost the same - burn all of his creatures and then kill him with yours. You should kill his flayers first because Swirling Sandstorm can take care of the rest. Your biggest problem in this match is Shade of Trokair and you must try to annihilate him on the spot! Your SB plan should be something like this - Terminate for his Shade of Trokair, Flame Jab for his x/1 creatures and 1 or 2 x Ancient Grudge fro his Razor Golem.

Post SB you want him without a living creature because of those pesky Prismatic Strands. You can easily achieve this with Flame Jab which is your MVP for this match! This card is so good here that I'll keep almost any hand that has it. One final word of wisdom - try to play fast because the games tend to be really long(you kill his creatures and he returns the favor) and it won't be very nice if you time out.

 

MUC
MUC
Creatures
4 Spire Golem
2 Fathom Seer
6 cards

Other Spells
4 Exclude
4 Prohibit
2 Repulse
1 Echoing Truth
4 Think Twice
3 Piracy Charm
3 Faerie Trickery
4 Counterspell
4 Force Spike
1 Oona's Grace
30 cards
Lands
24 Island
24 cards

Faerie Trickery

MUC - The match is clearly for us. All you need to do before SB is to burn him/attack him as quick as possible to 12 life and the game will be yours. There is nothing they can do to stop your Resounding Thunder. After SB bring in Pyroblast, Ancient Grudge and Raven's Crime and the rest of the game should be a walk in the park.

Parlor Tricks - The match is for them! Remember what I said about decks that have 2 or more types of hate that affects you? Well this deck is exactly this: you can't possible fight with the graveyard hate (and some builds pack 2 or 3 Shred Memory ) when it is combined with CoP : Red and CoP: Black. Your only chance is to kill him with your green beaters or to discard his hand with Raven's Crime really fast. After SB you should side out Swirling Sandstorm and 1 or 2 (Tilling Treefolks) for another Raven's Crime, Pyroblast and the most important think for this match - your lucky charm :)

Fish
Fish
Creatures
4 Spire Golem
4 Pestermite
4 Zephyr Sprite
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Faerie Squadron
3 Latchkey Faerie
25 cards

Other Spells
4 Counterspell
4 Daze
4 Repulse
8 cards
Lands
22 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
23 cards

Sideboard
2 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
4 Hydroblast
4 Annul
4 Negate
15 cards
Ninja of the Deep Hours

Fish - Good Match-up. This one is kind of easy but you must really know what your opponent's deck can do. Before SB you can and MUST kill all of his creatures except for Spire Golem with (Fireblot) and attack him with your beat sticks. Just  try to remember that he has Daze and game 1 will be yours in no time :) Post SB you have Pyroblast and your secret weapon - Flame Jab. Flame Jab is so fantastic in this match that I haven't lost a game where I started with this one in my hand. Deep fried fish == Good Game!

KODAMA'S THUNDER - TIED! This one is practically a mirror. This  match is a mad damage race so I recommend adding the Nourish post SB. The other viable SB option is Pyroblast for his Mulldrifter and Steamcore Weird. Generally to win this match you will need lots of Pure Skill !

<advertisement>"What exactly is  Pure Skill will be explained in one of my next articles :)"</advertisement>

 

Goblin Storm
Goblin Storm
Creatures
4 Skirk Prospector
4 cards

Other Spells
2 Brightstone Ritual
4 Goblin War Strike
2 Seething Song
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Peer Through Depths
3 Ideas Unbound
4 Rite of Flame
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Ponder
3 Distant Melody
4 Manamorphose
38 cards
Lands
9 Island
9 Mountain
18 cards

Sideboard
4 Pyroblast
1 Flame Jab
5 cards
Goblin War Strike

Goblin-Storm - This one is tied. Swirling Sandstorm is your best friend in this match-up and you must try to create threshold as quick as possible. After SB you will have Pyroblast to counter a draw or two and sometimes this will be all you need to win :) Other times they will just crush you like a bug! And one final tip - KILL his Skirk Prospector.

Grapeshot Storm Kill - This one is a hard match. All you can do to stop them before SB is Raven's Crime or a really fast draw so practically you will be dead before you even have a chance to do something. After you side in you will have Pyroblast to counter a draw or two and second Raven's Crime but most of the time it isn't enough :( Your only chance is to side in the Nourish and hope that he will try to deal you exactly 20 damage.

Elves-Combo-Storm - Tied to Good match (draw dependent). They have lots of creatures and you have lots of burn :) You're gonna love Swirling Sandstorm in this match. Most of the games gonna be something like this - burn burn burn, oh I draw my Sandstorm you die (or you don't draw it and die :) ). The elves that you should burn on sight are these (ordered by their threat level) - Timberwatch Elf, Nettle Sentinel, (Birchlore Ranger), Quirion Ranger and then the other mana generators.

U MAD? (...NOMAD)
U MAD? (...NOMAD)
Creatures
4 Tireless Tribe
4 Daru Spiritualist
4 Nomads en-Kor
12 cards

Other Spells
4 Impulse
4 Confound
4 Deep Analysis
4 Gigadrowse
1 Think Twice
4 Mana Leak
4 Inside Out
25 cards
Lands
2 Lonely Sandbar
2 Secluded Steppe
4 Terramorphic Expanse
5 Plains
10 Island
23 cards

Daru Spiritualist

U-mad Nomad(nomad combo) - Bad Match. You can't burn his creatures very effectively and disrupt him :( Post SB things get uglier because of his Hydroblast + CoP: Red. Your only chance is to burn his creatures while he is tapping yours with Gigadrowse or when he is trying to do the combo without tapping you out.

Yak Attack(and all of the other land destroy decks) - Extremely easy match-up. Their game plan is to deny you lands and you just don't care - you have too many land-recursion and mana acceleration. After SB Terminate to kill their win conditions and Raven's Crime to destroy their hand and the match should be yours.

 

Bad match-ups- Burn/Burn Range, Parlor Trics, Nomad Combo, Grapeshot Storm Kill, G/W Cloak, Goblins
Good match-ups - Yak Attack, MUC, Teachings,B/W Mimic Aggro, Fish
Tied  match-ups- Affinit, MBC, MBCu, Elves, Goblin Storm, KODAMA'S THUNDER, Blink

Conclusions:

The deck is not exactly "hot", new or powerful and if you go to a PE with it your best chance is for top 16. But it has an unique flavor that makes you play with it again and again. Yes, it has a long list with bad match-ups and can only beat easily heavy control and midrange aggro decks. Yes, most of the decks pack really heavy hate in their SB but if you like playing with Loam decks you just won't be able to resist this one.

Few Random Final Words:

Just try the deck it's really fun to play.
I want to thank and credit my editor/friend/roommate/test partner Ste! I'm waiting to see what he is going to write for you guys :) Expect him soon. 
I want to know weather you like the template that I'm using for my article.
Don't forget to comment because I really need your feedback.
If you think that the builds of some of the decks are suboptimal or plain wrong just show me a link to more powerful / consistent version and I'll check it out! If you thinks that I have missed some relevant match-up just show me a link and I'll check it out :)
Everything that I wrote here is my opinion and I am open to constructive criticism.

 

12 Comments

Less emotion please. It is so by 53N531 at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 10:13
53N531's picture

Less emotion please. It is so all over the place I can't even read it all. Also, Pay less attention to stating where a matchup favors one deck or another, because in a situation like this, where you obviously have a gigantic hard on for the deck you are writing about, you are going to be wrong in some cases, and it ultimately just makes you look like you have no idea what you are talking about.

First thanks for the comment, by TheDwarf at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 10:38
TheDwarf's picture

First thanks for the comment, but I'm really passionate person, so this is just the way I think,live and write. I don't think that my prediction are really that inaccurate and just keep in mind that :

These match-ups and my advices are relative and apply to my build and play style. Your mileage may vary !

:)

Interesting article, seemed by Paul Leicht at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 18:00
Paul Leicht's picture

Interesting article, seemed a little biased towards certain builds but as I don't play classic or pauper, who knows? Meantime advice is both plural and singular in English. Confusing I know. Also I noted you typoed your with you at least once. As a writer, I know how hard it is to edit yourself so it isn't a knock just a note for improvement.

Also you state the deck isn't good enough to top 8, so I wonder why you posted it at all, unless like I often do with decks, you are really just posting it for casual players. In which case cool deck.

Amazing article by Roman at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 10:31
Roman's picture
5

I like these articles very much :) They are fun to read and you give a deep analysis of the Meta too.

Have you considered showing some match replays to illustrate how it works?

Yep I have consider it :) But by TheDwarf at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 10:40
TheDwarf's picture

Yep I have consider it :) But I just don't have the time right now, because of a big project at work :( Next Time I'll try to add some videos.

OMG! the best pauper article by Amonchakai (not verified) at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 12:32
Amonchakai's picture

OMG!
the best pauper article i have ever senn!
really:
your list,the meta list and the explain loves me!
great tnx (i add to my firefox favorites ;) )

skred or bolt or incinerate > by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 12:58
Anonymous's picture

skred or bolt or incinerate > magma burst...you should be playing kodama's reach amd sakura tribe elder. Harrow seems to be an invitation to get blon out by counterspells. Fireblast just seems really, really bad in a deck that isnt mono-burn or very aggressive. You want to hit 8 mana...this isn't a way to do this.
however, terrific article...most pauper articles are quite bad (spikeboy and the guy that suggested gush excepted), and yours has really upped the bar. The first guy was right, tho...you need to be a little more objective when dealing with what should be hard data.

I disagree. by Ste at Sun, 09/13/2009 - 14:38
Ste's picture

You should try playing the deck before dismissing any of the card choices. Fireblast specifically is more than pulling its own weight in my experience. Skred and bolt and incinerate aren't nearly as good as Magma Burst in this deck. Both of these facts can only really be seen after you've played a few games with Cartographer, Tilling Treefolk and Harvest Wurm.

And if you want to play with Kodama's Reach and Sakura-Tribe Elder you're better off playing Kodama's Thunder which is a deck with a bit different idea behind it.

I am no master of pauper, but by StealthBadger at Mon, 09/14/2009 - 04:21
StealthBadger's picture

I am no master of pauper, but does Wild Mongrel really not make the cut? It looks like it'd be pretty good here?

Can I tell you? I tried this by Amar at Mon, 09/14/2009 - 04:59
Amar's picture

Can I tell you? I tried this deck last week, and got run over by variations on goblin tokens 3 matches in a row. It does ok against slower stuff. But Swirling Sandstorm is just not fast enough.

Also I think you're underplaying how much trouble Relic can be. I've played Blink, Teachings, Parlor Tricks, and even Tortured Existence against opponents who bring in Relics and mostly shrugged them off. In those cases I could dump cards I didn't care about fast enough to outpace the singular removal and force them to pop, at which point the graveyard was free again. With this deck though, it's often the same card going back and forth from gy to hand. If it's gone, now it's a deck of green Scathe Zombies. And Relic means Swirling Sandstorm is a blank.

But really the main issue I have is that this is what I call a "column A and column B" deck, making it in some ways similar to combo. One such example was the Jund Mana Ramp deck that saw some play around 7-10 months ago in Standard. That deck needs acceleration and it needs big spells. If you draw only dragons and Ultimatums, you can't cast anything. If you draw only Rampant Growths and Fertile Grounds, Ramp does nothing. It needed some cards from column A and some from column B in order to make the deck run.

And while Tilling Thunder is in some ways more resiliant, it really does suffer the same issue. It's really lousy to have 4 basic lands, 2 cartographers, 2 tilling treefolk, swirling sandstorm, firebolt, Dragger as your first 3-4 turns. Or needing to play your only cycling land and finding yourself in the same situation. It happens and because it's a 3-color deck you can't necessarily mulligan aggressively either.

I'm sure there was room for improvement in the matches I played. When you're racing to sandstorm, there's a fine gamble to take between dumping fast to ensure you have threshold (but hoping to draw the 4th mana) and playing lands properly to get to 4 mana (but taking risks to hit threshold). I lost the bet in both directions, and with experience could hopefully make the call better. And against an opponet who can give you time to set up, this deck offers a lot of long-term card advantage. But I just feel it's way too risky for the aggro out there now.

Good exposure for others by First_Strike at Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:42
First_Strike's picture

I like that you take a deck that most people have never seen and give them some exposure to something new. I like that you explain that you really like it and why. Having fun is a good reason to be interested in trying a new deck.

I also like that you try to help a new pilot navigate through match-ups. I don’t like that the deck only really beats Mono Blue (due to Resounding Thunder), goes about even with most decks and flat out gets dominated by more than a couple of decks.

Cycling lands and Raven's Crime seem to be how to best utilize Tilling Treefolk. Nice article to bring this deck forward as something fun to play.

Btw, where is my Devastating Dreams that I want to play in Pauper?

Doesn't really work by Hibiki (not verified) at Fri, 09/18/2009 - 00:01
Hibiki's picture

I've played a dozen games with this decklist, and frankly, I'm underwhelmed.

The deck really needs very specific cards at very specific times, and when the cards don't come when they are needed, the deck just stalls and dies. For example:

Harvest wurm without harrow or a cycling land is a dead card. with just two harrows and 8 cyclers, this happens quite often. I've actually gotten better results removing the Wurms altogether!

When you want to be able to cycle your land away, 2 land hands are not going to work, and even 3 land hands can be a problem.

1 Raven's crime in a deck without a way to search for cards? That's just horrible, horrible deckbuilding. Same with the single Nantuko: You either want the card and play multiples, or you don't, and put the sigle card in the sideboard.

The dragger never feels quite right: It's only cast quite late, and as a cycler, it's nothing but a conditional burn spell.

The deck needs some more early burn, bad. You might say that Mimic is a great matchup, but unless you have firebolt in hand in the first two turns, it's awful before sideboarding. And even if you do have the firebolt, it's still not good enough if they have two mimics, or even a Nip Gwillion: An instant speed, 1 or 2 CC removal spell would be much better, and allow the 2 for 1s that make the mimic deck sweat.

Harrow in a counter heavy meta is death, and we have a counter heavy meta.

I really like the concept of the deck, but the cards themselves don't have the power they need. Now, I am very hopeful about Zendikar's ability to give us cards that work well with this concept. But as it is, the deck is just wildly inconsistent.