pitdroid3

Update: Purely theoretical at this point, but I took the "Beast Withins" out and replaced them with "Magmatic Sinkholes". Not sure if it will stick, but we'll see. Took "Stormbreath Dragon" out and replaced it with "Glorybringer". I have been looking to replace Stormbreath for a little while. Never a bad card, but I was looking for something new. I have needed more spot removal too, and I don't lose the power or haste. I love my "Primal Commands", so it hurt to move one to the sideboard, but I needed the room for a Chandra. Hopefully the Chandra will provide the extra card-draw and removal that I need.

Update (for my own records and musings): "Primal Command" continues to be awesome, two in the main always. "Banefire" came and went and was replaced again by "Lightning Bolt". Guess I just got better at blowing up lands before control players could get me like that. Sideboard against Lantern Control got better too and now I have "Pillage" mainboarded so the next time should be pretty funny. "Trinisphere" continues to be a stone-cold bitch when working properly. Can't believe it took me so long to get them, worth the price-tag. "Kitchen Finks" came out, and just now went back in. "Thrun, the Last Troll"...agh..someday I'll find room for him again. "Creeping Corrosion" got dropped entirely as I became more comfortable with the mana cost of "Fracturing Gust". The life-gain tipped in it's favor.

Updates (for my own records and musings): Hoo-boy...there's a lot in this one. First, never cut "Blood Moons" for any reason, don't even shorten it. Turn two Moon, makes them swoon I say. It never felt good leaving one in the sideboard, and only having three in the deck felt even worse. The odd game against someone who only needs red mana is worth taking in stride as I am much better equipped against literally everyone else the rest of the time. My friend was right about the "Tireless Tracker" as those have remained in the deck after many other changes. The card advantage, the power, the threat of it sitting there, all of it, yes. Two "Lightning Bolts" in the main, because you never know. The "Madcap Experiment"/"Platinum Emperium" combo is something I toy with once in a while still, but only as a fun side-venture. It definitely worsks, but the loss of so many side-board slots hurts for serious play. I still debate using "Thrun, the Last Troll" or "Angry Kermit" as I call him. He's a pain the ass for my opponent, and for me when I try to figure out where to slot him in the deck. The anti-Affinity plan ("Pyroclasm", "By Force" and "Anger of the Gods") did in fact work. Lost game one as I expected, but the sideboard saw me through it. It's been refined since then for that matchup. "Creeping Corrosion" went in, and was later replaced by "Fracturing Gust". "Pyroclasm" got dropped for "Hornet Queen" and a "Bonfire of the Damned".

Updates (for my own records and musings): Lingering souls turned out to not be such a big deal in the long run. "Peak Eruption" was a waste of time. "Sowing Salt" unnecessary once I got better at making Tron players cry.

New additions:

"Pillage" replacing "Molten Rain" in the mainboard, all four copies. Testing these out, not 100% sure yet about them. The two extra damage from Molten rarely seemed to be a deciding factor. If I have my opponent down on lands, then speeding up the game by 2 is inconsequential. On the other hand, having a mainboard answer to any artifact as well has my attention. I used to love running "Acidic Slime" in the main. Maybe I have a slim chance of beating something like Affinity or Lantern Control in game one now?

Two copies of "Collector Ouphe" in the side against those pesky artifact decks that don't need a lot of mana. Also hoping to use against aggro decks that don't need more than a land or two anyway. In that scenario, lose some land-destruction cards for two more bodies to push in front of oncoming traffic. "Kitchen Finks" joins him as the deck leans towards Ouphe-tribal, for more life-gain. Used to run "Thragtusk", but have gone back on forth with the ease of casting a lower CMC card versus power.

Also took the time to change the artwork on a bunch of cards. Freshen up the deck with a new coat of paint, so to speak. Theros forests for the fiery glow. Modern-formatted cards wherever possible (excepting Stone Rain and Pillage, because I prefer the artwork on those specific versions). From-the-Vault versions of "Fracturing Gust" unfortunately ($$) because the only other printing is the older border style. Can't figure out how to make the single mountain the one I want (also from C17, but the Kev Walker art because it's an erupting volcano).

Perhaps the most important addition to the deck yet: Squirrel Wrangler! Bow before my might army of squirrels!

Following some suggestions I found online, thinking of adding "Constant Mists" for a repeatable fog spell, "Raven's Crime" for repeatable discard and "Borborygmos Enraged" for direct damage/removal. These three would give me some options and more interactions with my opponents. Not sure what to take out, or even if I really need them or it's just fanciful thinking.

Another quick change, added "Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth" to the deck in place of a swamp. This way, any of my lands that don't tap for mana, the ones that search up other lands, can tap for some mana the turn they come in if I need it. I have a few lands that tap for colorless mana as well, so they too can be more useful. Also, fixes me for black mana, which is always nice when running so many colors. Plus, Lord Windgrace is actually from Urborg, so flavor win there.

I have made a lot of changes to this list since the last time I updated this page. To keep track of what I took out (in case I realize what a horrible mistake I made) I bumped stuff down into the sideboard that has actually been removed from the deck. I made almost the entire deck the first time around with little help from anyone, and aside from purchasing one card, entirely out of cards I already owned. Thanks to some of the reprints in recent sets I didn't have to spend too much out of pocket (mostly because I already spend too much money on Magic). "Carnage Tyrant" wasn't really cut from the deck per se, because I needed him for a standard deck. After I had built that deck I found some cards I wanted to squeeze into this one and had friends over to play so in they went for a night and I ended up liking them. Some cards like "Charnelhoard Wurm" and "Stitch Together" came out because of underwhelming performance and not necessarily because they were bad. They were just bad in the games I played with them. Others found actual upgrades, as in the case of "Fires of Yavimaya" becoming "Sarkhan Vol". "Far Wanderings" bad, I just rarely got the threshold ability to work so in came "Realms Uncharted" which puts stuff in my grave and that's something I actually want. After suggestions from others and eventually looking online for advice I have landed on the current build. Other than og dual lands there isn't much out there that I haven't already considered. Doesn't look like I'm getting anything I needed from "Ultimate Masters" unfortunately (was half expecting "Oracle of Mul Daya, the one card I spent money on to of course get reprinted after I shelled out the cash).

More changes, been a while since I updated so I am sure I have missed a few iterations of this;

Primal Command in the mainboard is a lot of fun, lifegain/grave-hate/finding that Inferno Titan to close out the game/and almost-anything removal all in one package. Still gets rid of lands too, keeps the land-destruction ratio high. The grave-hate is nothing to sneeze at, especially when playing Grixis Control or grave-centric decks. I have had loads of games where I can't draw the big finishers despite having my opponent at my total mercy, so searching for a big creature helps a lot.

Mainboard "Banefire" for those matchups where you are sitting in front of an "Ensnaring Bridge" quietly building up mana, or struggling against a control player.

The sideboard is something I have changed a little bit or a totally many times;

Trinisphere for the Delver decks, Mardu Pyromancers, all low-cost stuff. Keep them at two lands (or less if things are going groovy) and your boot is firmly on their neck for a change. Kitchen Finks for more life-gain and anti-aggro strategy along with the sweepers. Thrun for the control players. Fracturing Gust and Creeping Corrosion for Affinity/Lantern Control/anything with tons of artifacts. Lightning Bolts for Affinity/Aggro/Infect.

Haven't played this deck in a while so I came back to it with fresh eyes! Made sweeping changes to the sideboard, got rid of some of the more fanciful stuff. I moved "Ensnaring Bridge" to the sideboard and it actually works wonderfully. More discard cards in the mainboard, means more aggressively attacking their hand. "Damnation" goes in the mainboard in place of single-kill spells. Having played the deck against more opponents the sideboard has changed almost entirely. Hopefully more answers to aggro decks, combo decks and things that dump their hands fast anyway or lots of cards.

Made another series of changes, including a hefty change to the land-base. I have been trying to smooth the deck out and do more in the early game. To that end, I dropped several of the lands that come in tapped and two that produce colorless mana. "Kor Haven" and "Yavimaya Hollow" were good ideas that I never utilized. The guildgates, canopy vista, transguild promenade and seaside citadel came in tapped and slowed me down too much. Sungrass Prarie filtered mana, but slowed me down, and exotic orchard was unreliable. In went the pain lands (Adarkar Wastes, Brushland and Yavimaya Coast, and City of Brass) so that I get mana fast, and if I have to hurt myself in order to bring about world peace, well that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. The temples (plenty, mystery, enlightenment) as well as Halimar Depths went into at least get something out of lands coming in tapped and hopefully smooth out the next draws. Two more basic lands went in to get a better chance of the check lands working.

Arachnogenesis was cut for Holy Day, which is cheaper. Spike Weaver was a neat idea that I just never used, so in went Silent Arbiter as a static way to slow everyone down, not just those attacking me. Skull of Orm was cut in favor of something I needed more, which is lifegain, so in went Horizon Chimera to take advantage of the extra card draw.

I have made a bunch of changes to the deck lately, first was dropping "Blood Moon" to 3 copies and cutting a bunch of the more fanciful (read: dickish) sideboard cards. I listened to a friend and added "Tireless Tracker" and the card advantage and added threat has been a great help. Increasing the number of "Molten Rain" is something I haven't regretted as there are so many non-basic lands floating around the meta that has a lot of value. The sideboard has been totally overhauled. One "Blood Moon" went in there, but I never seem to find a situation where I need to add it back in, same for the "Lightning Bolts", so those are getting cut as soon as the stuff I ordered in the mail comes in (x2 "Platinum Emperion" to go along with "Madcap Experimenet"). "Thrun" goes in against Grixis Control decks. We have an Affinity player now, so in goes "Pyroclasm", "By Force" and "Anger of the Gods"...so wish me luck on that one. Next step is adding in the "Madcap Experiment" and "Platinum Emperion" combo, which hopefully I can ramp into on turn 2 and then make the Storm player cry.

Actually, I just put some "Never/Return" in to compensate.

I have two, would love to have full playset but can't do it right now.

I took this and made some tweeks to it and have had a fair amount of success with it at my store. My problem is when I go up against Temur Energy or four color energy, my opponent removes every energy card from his deck, sideboards in everything else and slams me with control and I get wrecked. Out goes the energy cards, in goes more planeswalkers, glorybringers, etc. So I'm trying to find an entirely new sideboard to do the same, and make it entirely counter-control.

Minus "sylvan caryatid" and "dissipation field" added, "saheeli's artistry" and "skull of orm".

I might even lose the "eidolon" and either find more cheap guys with "unleash" or put in two more discard or kill spells. Come to think of it, adding "Kolaghan's Command" could some very amusing things if you have them.

I would lose the "Carnival Hellsteed" or at least consider it. The high mana cost worries me and Mer-Ek is cheaper and makes your other guys more lethal.

Also, "Mer-Ek Nightblade", it just had a reprint in "Iconic Masters" though it was never expensive to begin with. It would give any of your guys who have been "Unleashed" deathtouch.