Ponza Dweller

by DedWards on 15 December 2017

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (15 cards)

Instants (2)


Artifacts (2)

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

Testing out a few things I recently aquired, specifically Nisaa, Arlinn, and Huntmaster.

How to Play

Typical Ponza plan. Ramp into a turn 2 Blood Moon and pick off any non-mountain basics to deny the opponent the ability to play most of their good stuff. All while ramping into your own good stuff.

For those that don't know, this deck can get 4 mana on turn 2:
T1- green source, Arbor Elf
T2- Forest, enchant untapped forest with Utopia Sprawl, tap forest for 2 mana, untap forest with Arbor Elf, tap forest for another 2 mana (total 4 mana).

This list is atypical for Ponza because of Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Most lists run Bonfire of the Damned and sometimes a few Lightning Bolts, but this deck runs Mizzium Mortars instead for a number of reasons:
Firstly, Bonfire is too unreliable. Yes, it's an awesome topdeck with all the ramp in here, but the deck can't manipulate when it'll be a topdeck.
Secondly, Bonfire doesn't interact well with Goblin Dark-Dwellers.
Goblin also encourages playing a few more spells that cost 3 or less.

Notes on specific cards:
> Mwonvuli Acid-Moss: Can fetch any forest, including Stomping Ground and Cinder Glade.
> Utopia Sprawl: Only enchant basic forests with this. Blood Moon removes the forest type from Stomping Ground and Cinder Glade, which results in Utopia Sprawl goin to the graveyard.
> Goblin Dark-Dwellers: Because of the wall of text, a lot of people forget this has Menace. You're not obligated to remind the opponent until he tries to block with only 1 creature.
> Stormbreath Dragon: The most resilient creature in the deck. Prot White means path can't target it, same for Push and Abrupt Decay because of its cmc. 4 toughness puts it just out of Bolt range and haste means it often kills Liliana before she can Edict it.
> Beast Within: The "Catch all" spell of the deck. Kills 'Walkers, creatures, Artifact, Enchantments, and Lands. Warning: Timing is key.

Deck Tags

  • Modern
  • ponza
  • Land Destruction
  • Gruul

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

3
Likes

This deck has been viewed 1,945 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

0003222

Deck Format


Modern

NOTE: Set by owner when deck was made.

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Ponza Dweller

I like the concept here.
interesting that you have three planeswalkers in the same deck. I don't think I've ever seen that before.
I was hoping you'd look at new deck of mine. it is a mill deck based on Jace's Erasure, Compost, and Painter's Servant.
any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Here's the link if you want to take a look.
http://www.mtgvault.com/jacksonfoohia/decks/painted-mill/

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Posted 16 December 2017 at 06:15

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Big Chandra has proven herself very useful as a 1 of in this deck (I own 3). The other two are being tested as they give, in theory, some strong advantages.

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Posted 16 December 2017 at 06:27

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I find it difficult to imagine finding someone who is more well versed in GR Ponza decks in modern, especially when I consider your budget(s) making for a much more focused approach and knowledge pool. I've a question; BLOODBRAID ELF? I am looking to build Ponza on about a 300$ budget, give or take, including Bloodbraid Elf as a playset. The issue, besides a severe lack of statistics on such a deck, I also know little about the different ratios of Moons and Rains and threats.
So thoughts? Lists? Maths? Anything on such a deck?

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Posted 28 February 2018 at 16:16

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I'm not convinced Bloodbraid is a good thing for Ponza as it can hit so many not-so-great things that can not be taken out of Ponza, like one of the mana dorks or Mizzium Mortars / Bonfire of the Damned. Just like how Goblin Dark-Dwellers affects what you include in your list, Bloodbraid will affect a lot of the other card choices. While I'm not a fan of including Bloodbraid, a lot of people are. In the Primer I used, the people are working on including it, so take a gander there (check the latest pages).

As for budget reasons, I personally think that Ponza is one of the cheaper competative decks in the format, despite budget restraints. What I mean is that some cards may look like "budget options", but are in fact not. Because of how uniquely Ponza works, it often does better without all the "expensive" cards. That said, some expensive cards are very good in Ponza; expecially Chandra, Torch of Defiance (which I should have 3 of at the end of March :D ).

Primer:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/220790-rg-ponza-modern-land-destruction

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Posted 28 February 2018 at 16:29

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Oh, and Blood Moon is getting reprinted in Masters 25, so we could see a drop in the price tag

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Posted 28 February 2018 at 16:33

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The issue of cascading into mana ramp is indeed an issue, but my interest in Ponza is minimal without bloodbraid. That's why I was asking, and I'll be sure to look for answers in the primer. I'll be getting my moons so I thought to purchase the whole deck while I'm on it.

All that said, I hope someone will do the statistics for me as I really want to play Bloodbraid without paying full on aggro or breaking the bank. And while the nostalgia weighs a lot, money weighs more, and I am not willing to *weigh* down my deck with sub-par choices just yet.

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Posted 04 March 2018 at 15:38

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BBE Ponza, from what I've seen so far (it's still relatively new), is more of a midrange / tempo than the traditional Ponza which is midrange / control. And that's largley because BBE is such a tempo card, so I don't think you need to fear the aggro route in this case.

As I said already, Masters 25 will be having an effect on Blood Moon's price, and I see that both Utopia Sprawl and Arbor Elf are getting prints in the set (I'm happy to see Sprawl finally get a reprint). What staple cards do you already have? Despite my dislike of BBE in Ponza, I'm willing to help you where I can.

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Posted 04 March 2018 at 20:34

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I've a playset of stomping grounds, any combination of mana dorks tou can think of, any removal package you can think of as well as Obstinate Baloths and Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Not really cards that are going to cut into the price of the deck too much. Oh, and 2 Magus of the Moon. By all means not all of those are staples though.

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Posted 05 March 2018 at 12:30

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Blood Moon and choice 'Walkers (like Chandra, Torch of Defiance) are likely going to be the biggest single cost. Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl are your main mana dorks, with BoP normally being the up to two extra dorks, though I've seen some use Noble Hierarch for the exalted bonus as you're often only attacking with one creature in the early game. Give me a few hours and I'll come back to you with what I feel is a decent BBE Ponza.

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Posted 05 March 2018 at 12:44

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Ok, I couldn't find any definitive list, which is the nature and charm of Ponza overall, but from my short look into BBE Ponza lists I've noticed the following:

> Most seem to keep the core of the deck mostly in tact, with the rest of the deck's average cmc lowering to meet BBE's Cascade and lowing the average number of droks to 8 (Elf + Sprawl).
> Moons stay at 4, or drop to 3 because hitting extras off BBE isn't that great.
> Mwonvuli Acid-Moss is normally dropped, or lowered in favour of Molten Rain because of the lower overall cmc and BBE's cascade. Stone rain is the normal 4 of.
> Tireless Tracker and Kitchen Finks are seeing more play in BBE lists and I've seen Goblin Rabblemaster at 1x in a fair number of lists.
> Goyf is seeing play in some lists, with Strangleroot Geist being a budget alternative for it.
> Chandra, Torch of Defiance is the go to 'Walker, normally at 2-3 copies, with Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Nissa, Vital Force seeing some play.
> Inferno Titan and Stormbreath Dragon are still big hitters, though their numbers are lower in favour of more threats that BBE can hit.
> Bonfire of the Damned and Mizzium Mortars are nowhere to be seen, though I have seen one or two decks using Lightning Bolt and Beast Within.
> The land base is largely unchanged: 4 Wooded Foothills, 4 other forest fetching lands (normally Windswept Heath, but sometimes a mix), 3 Stomping Ground, 1 Mountain, and 8-9 Forest. The odd one includes a single Kessig Wolf Run.

Sideboard is also warped by the inclusion of BBE. Now, as you know, sideboards are extremely meta dependent, but keeping BBE's Cascade in mind is key here:
> Trinisphere is nowhere to be seen because it does not work well with Cascade.
> Ancient Grudge seems to be the go to Artifact hate, though some lists use Abrade.
> Obstinate Baloth can be good with the potential increase of BBE Jund lists. Discarding it to Lilly is always awesome. Extra Kitchen Finks are often in this slot too as it's a BBE hit. Thragtusk is also another good lifegain threat.
> Thrun, the Last Troll as a 1 or 2 of VS Jace, the MInd Scultor is good.
> 2-3x Choke seems to be a popular choice both against Fish and Jace.
> Anger of the Gods is the sweeper of choice, though I've seen some use Slagstorm instead.
> Crumble to Dust for Tron.
> Chamaleon Colossus for Death's Shadow.

I hope this helps.

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Posted 05 March 2018 at 17:39

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