R/G Ponza ;);)

So, I took a modified Ponza list to WMCQ last year and made it to the top 8. Turn 2 Moon hoses so many top Modern decks it's not funny (for them at least). I even kept the Moon in against RDW as it keeps them off their White for Path and Lightning Helix; and it keeps them off Green for Atarka's Command.


Praise for an awesome deck aside, I'd like to point out a few changes I made to my list before attending the WMCQ:

The removal of Bonfire of the Damned: Personally, I don't like this card. Yes, with all the ramp you can deal a good amount of damage, but it was too inconstant for me. Its power lies in the Miracle trigger, which is unreliable as there's no deck manipulation in Ponza. And not casting it for the Miracle cost, because it wasn't nessisary to that turn, puts it in your hand, forcing you to pay double X later. My last gripe, the mana dumped into the X (or double X) pulls mana away from playing other, more reliable cards.

The Addition of Mizzium Mortars: Taking out Bonfire meant I needed a replacement sweeper main deck. I settled on Mizzium Mortars for its Overload. 4 damage is often sufficient enough to kill most things that might be a threat, but that can also be followed up by an attacking Inferno Titan's 3 damage on whatever might have survived. I also worked in 3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers, which meant I could nuke a creature for 4 with its EtB.

Working in Goblin Dark-Dwellers: This was originally done because I was testing 2 Boom // Bust in place of 2 Stone Rain. The idea was to Boom targeting the opponent's non fetch land and my fetch land, activate the fetch in response and only the opponent loses a land. Then later I target Boom with the Goblin and select to cast Bust. Sadly, Drawing Boom // Bust while Moon was out meant I also lost a land early on, so I brought Stone Rain back to 4 copies. I kept the Goblin because I found it interacted well with Stone Rain, Beast Within, and Mizzium Mortars.

The Addition of Chandra, Flamecaller: I originally wanted to run 4 Inferno Titan, and while looking for a fourth, I put 1 Chandra in its slot while testing. Turns out I couldn't get a 4th Titan in time for WMCQ, but that was OK because Chandra did a darn good job in the deck. As I mentioned already, nuking the board for 4 damage is often enough to turn things in my favour. And if I didn't need to nuke with her [-X], her [+1] was a constant 6 damage that creature removal couldn't permanently deal with.


Oh, and just a small note on the deck's archetype: while it contains land destruction, it is not a dedicated land destruction deck. Instead, Ponza is a mana denial deck, specifically a colour mana denial deck.

Well after a lot of deliberation and rigorous play testing against the top 5 Tier 1 decks in the format,over 20 matches each I've arrived at this current list. Which at the moment is what I will be bringing to the Toronto Grand Prix in February.

I've finally come to the conclusion that 2 Bonfires over the Mizzium Mortars is where I want be. (Sorry DedWards) Reasoning behind this decision is Mortars simply doesn't hit what I need it to hit at the time of a 6 mana investment Reality Smasher, Death Shadow, Goyf, etc...
as well as the incidental direct damage comes up relevant in games where it gets cast.

The addition of Tireless Tracker has been amazing to say the least. It gives the deck so much reach/draw in grindy match ups that it just didn't have before hand.

Another impressive and surprising addition is in the form of Hazoret the Fervent. She closes out games so quickly and the only thing currently being play that deals with her is Path which is seeing less play to the dominance of Push. Well also there are a few one of copies of Settle the Wreckage floating around. Either way she is a Power house.

The other main addition to the 75 I want to give credit to is Trinisphere. It started as a 2 of SB card and I found myself bring it into approximately 60-70% of my match up's. This has made me feel comfortable enough to include it as a 1 of in the main. It completely shuts down Storm, Burn, Aggro. As well as being a nightmare for control.

As far as the side board is concerned I've fallen back to the 3 of Ancient Grudge for the affinity match up. I believe early on I actually got lucky in a few matches which gave me a false sense of how the deck played against affinity. At this point it's probably my worst match up pre board but drastically improves post after cutting the LD cards for the 3 Anger of the Gods and 3 Grudges.
Another thing I'd like to point out is the removal of Crumble to Dust. It just kept feeling like I was improving an already good match up against Tron. I wanted to free the slots up for the harder match ups.
I think the only card I'm really not convinced of is Carnage Tyrant. When I read the card it just screams F#ck You you filthy control player. But a second Thrun may actually be ll I really need. Thrun comes down on average 2 turns earlier and lives through a Supreme Verdict thanks to the Regenerate. The main thing I like about the Tyrant is it's large Trampling body. I have found myself being blocked by a couple spirits from Lingering Souls for 2 turns when I should have had the match in hand.

Anyway just putting back out there for any input from the community.
Happy Casting :)

very nice. I recently have gained an interest in Ponza, but haven't been able to play it. or even know where to start to build it.
looks super fun though.

Well here is my Post BBE/JTMS Un-Banning list I will be testing with.
I've trimmed down the higher end by -1 Titan, -1 Wurmcoil, -3x Acid-Moss, -1 Huntmaster, -1 Pia & Kiran. In order to add 4x Bloodbraid Elf +2x Abrade (Surprisingly happy with ow this is performing) and finally +2x Molten Rain.
As far as S/B changes I've made room for 2x Guttural Response and 1 Choke with the assumption that control will be making a rise thanks to the return of JTMS. With the possibility of adding my second Thrun depending entirely on whether or not the meta shifts.