Saturday 29 December 2018

Ramp & Burn


very strong, but not in all situations. For example, Mother of Runes is awesome on defense, but her offensive capabilities require another creature. This made deck building both interesting and rewarding. Combining card combinations to accomplish a particular strategy took a real understanding into the game. Today’s deck, while rather simple, does these things to try and win the game. Let’s check it out, as we dive into Ramp & Burn.

As the deck name implies, R&B’s got a rather simple strategy – ramp your mana and burn your opponent to death. Tinder Wall symbolizes this strategy to a tee, as it both ramps and burns. This strategy-synergy is a great introduction into why it is so amazing in the deck and how the two seemingly opposite strategies can work so well together.

Probably the other best example where both strategies are evident within a single card would be Orcish Lumberjack. Despite setting you back a land drop, Lumberjack can ramp you into an amazing tempo advantage. The other important thing to note is that Lumberjack allows you to create two mana-types with a single land, so it adds some serious versatility to your plays.

The last ‘ramp’ card I want to talk about is very versatile in its own right, although its strategy is not the same as the latter two. Werebear is amazing because it ramps your mana when you want but then can also attack with some muscle. Despite being in a ‘burn’ style deck, being able to attack with a low-CMC 4/4 is nothing to ignore. Just ask the opponent.

We’ve talked about the mana-tempo advantage, but just what are we ramping towards? Your popular Lightning-type spells are an obvious answer, so let’s dig a bit and see what else this deck wants to play. Fire Imp is important because not only is it a somewhat aggro creature, but it helps replace the direct damage cards with creature removal. There was actually some debate about whether to include the Imp or not, but its CMC works so well with both Lumberjack and Timber that it was decided to have a place in the deck.

Another card that combines very nicely with R&B’s ramping is Kaervek’s Torch – a lesser known X-damage spell that has seemingly been lost to today’s player. So why is Torch so good? Being un-counterable certainly helps; particularly when one has ramped the mana necessary to destroy the opponent. Seriously, this is an awesome card.

One Rancor in the deck allows Birds and company to damage the opponent and its graveyard shenanigans help protect it; thus the one card and the short paragraph. Short and sweet.

When building the deck, I had begun by looking at some obviously damage-y creatures such as Kird Ape and Granger Guildmage. I think you should always try to keep to the theme of a deck however, and they were simply aggro cards that did not contribute to the win style that had been chosen in the deck. They are certainly cards to keep in mind however. Happy Brewing!



Ramp & Burn

Land

4 Mountain
4 Forest
1 Karplusan Forest
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Wasteland

Total: 21

Creatures

4 Tinder Wall
4 Orcish Lumberjack
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Werebear
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Fire Imp
4 Erhnam Djinn

Total: 25

Spells

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Kaervek’s Torch
2 Price of Glory

Total: 14

Sideboard

Total: 15

4 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Pyroclasm
2 Naturalize
1 Stone Rain
2 Ensnaring Bridge

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