Saryth's Magnificent Trampling Circus

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

"Image"

One day around 2001/2002, I went to lunch. Two of the kids pulled out two mono green piles, likely inherited from older brothers, and started slinging. I watched in awe as Rabid Elephants and Whiptail Wurms started landing and crashing into each other, with the game going long and turning into a stalemate between a lethal-sized Lhurgoyf and a Stone-Tongue Basilisk. Alas, the game never reached its conclusion as the lunch break was over, but once some classmates got a bit more actively into Magic around 2005, I had one thing on my mind. I pieced together the coolest green fat I could find, augmenting it with Blanchwood Armors for good measure. The deck wasn't great, to put it gently. A fact that I was all too often reminded of by my most common play partner, who was rocking what may well have been a proper Extended Psychatog list. While I drifted away from the game, the memory of the deck remained.

As such, once I got into EDH, I kept an eye out for opportunities to pay tribute to the wurm deck of yore. Grothama was kind of similar in spirit, but too explosive in practice. Selvala, Explorer Returned had good acceleration, but lacked direction. And then MID rolled out, I saw Saryth, and was committed to building her the second I reached the bottom of the card. It's been a while since a legend turned my head to this extent, the last one was Feather. Saryth is actually quite an interesting commander in practice, not quite the one-dimensional deathtouch + trample with hexproof backup pile I was expecting. The ability to untap creatures or lands incentivises some exploration of tap abilities and land auras. However, the wurm deck spirit is definitely there. One of the deck's first games, where I got to double Nantuko Mentor the Rootbreaker Wurm and blast into someone for 24, got me grinning like crazy. Soon after Colossification landed on said Wurm, and the smile didn't go away even after I got taken out by a dragon horde. Fun times.


The list ran tall draw for a while, all the way up to four pieces, but they ultimately got removed for trickle draw as the gameplay just felt wrong (even if it was stronger). The deck responded well to having pump effects present as a way to get more damage going quickly and swing with even more impunity than deathtouch + trample already offers, now mostly in the form of equipment so that it survives interaction better. The ramp suite is centred around land auras and untappers, as the untappers can potentially become a deathtouching blocker in a pinch. Plus the direction was just less explored in my other decks.

Changelog
Show
Hide
12.09.2021 Changes
Show
Hide
02.10.2021 Changes
Show
Hide
02.10.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

11.11.2021 Changes
Show
Hide
11.11.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

19.12.2021 Changes
Show
Hide
19.12.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

21.05.2022 Change
Show
Hide
21.05.2022 Change
Approximate Total Cost:

29.09.2022 Changes
Show
Hide
29.09.2022 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

The Brass Knuckles Update
Show
Hide
The Brass Knuckles Update
Approximate Total Cost:

27.05.2023 Changes
Show
Hide
27.05.2023 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

06.10.2023 Changes
Show
Hide
17.03.2024 Changes
Show
Hide
17.03.2024 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by Rumpy5897 1 week ago, edited 17 times in total.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

Tags:

Chromaticus
Posts: 308
Joined: 3 years ago
Pronoun: Unlisted

Post by Chromaticus » 2 years ago

If there was ever a deck to bring back Basi-Lure this has got to be the one!

Your commander plus any reasonable beater and Lure is a one-player Plague Wind .

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Yep, Lures are something I'm keeping in mind. However, they strike me as rather mean, given the power level the deck wants to operate at - sending a one-sided board demolition bludgeon into a single player will probably kneecap them a bit harder than I would like. We'll see how the deck shapes up. For now, I've got some other swaps going on.


This bunch of changes addresses two main concerns with the deck - the variable returns of the first strike equipment, and the list running out of gas quite aggressively. Stuff like Sharpened Pitchfork is great on paper, as it can be used to swing into threatening boards or threaten very favourable blockers, but then in practice it didn't do a lot. A better approach was just to "more gun" the hell out of the situation. A massively pumped deathtouch trample swinger that requires a hefty board presence sacrifice to answer tends to work pretty well :P This also leans into memories of the original 2005 wurm deck, where I'd stack unnecessarily many Blanchwood Armors on a beefslab. As such, more pump! Curving out a beatstick into a crazy overpriced pump aura is also a quicker way to deliver the punch, and Saryth helps make everything work as intended by offering hexproof on tap. Mythic Proportions, Prodigious Growth and Soul's Might all lean into this angle. Trying to find nonstandard green draw was more challenging, as anything worth its salt is played all over the format. I asked a friend about cool options and he said Colossal Majesty. It's honestly amusing how a Phyrexian Arena clone is so far down the pecking order. I tried Augur of Autumn, but found it unreliable, so I sold out and added another tall draw in Return of the Wildspeaker because it's cheap to get. Cuts included some cards that didn't spark joy - somehow I never bothered chasing out Llanowar Tribe, despite its synergy with Saryth. I didn't like Multani's art :P The inferior Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer stayed in because of old-border cool. I'm never going to cast Titanoth Rex at any meaningful time in the game when I'm supposed to start mounting pressure. In addition, the group expressed a dislike of Storm the Citadel, pointing out it's a very high variance card that can potentially completely destroy someone's game plan. Given this response, my hopes for Lures going in are quite low :P Added Naturalize instead as I remember the original deck running it back in the day.

Need to play the deck some more and see how it handles now, how the proportions play out. There are plenty of variably cool constituents for most of the categories I can call on. The game after I cut most of the first strike equipment, Viridian Claw did massive work enabling a Keen Sensed Phantom Nantuko to keep collecting cards, before allowing a massive Rampaging Brontodon to bludgeon into a very developed board with impunity. Does the fact I was stuck putting the draw aura on the Nantuko mean that I need more fat? Need more data!
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Last week, the 2014/2015 gang got together to rip a box of Mystery Boosters, scored in the before times of early 2020. In one of the drafts, I opened Roar of the Wurm in pack one, and got passed Blanchwood Armor as pick two. Did I do poorly? Why yes, I did, but I lived the wurm deck dream :P I scored some cards that make sense as includes from that box, and then found some more cool stuff while going through my chaff looking for things I knew were lurking in there.

02.10.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

The original 2005 green fat deck was quite wurm heavy, and apparently a-few-years-ago me picked up random dirt wurms he'd locate... somewhere? I have no recollection how Carnage Wurm ended up in the bulk box, but this way I don't have to fork over whatever trace amount of money for it. I also found Duskdale Wurm and Pelakka Wurm - both pretty cool wurms. Panglacial Wurm came out of the Mystery Boosters. Needed to make room, so took out objectively better fat in Crash of Rhino Beetles, Froghemoth and Regal Behemoth. Sometimes you just need to let your inner Timmy take the wheel and judge a card's coolness. None of the cards I'm cutting is particularly cool to said inner Timmy, but all the new wurm friends certainly are. I also located Elderscale Wurm, but it didn't go in for two reasons - for some reason it lacked the cool factor in the art, and it would actually be nontrivially gross with Saryth's hexproof powers. Boreal Druid was also part of the Mystery Boosters, so in true "play what you have" fashion that led me to include the Curiosity variants I put it in over Fyndhorn Elves, which I regretfully don't. I found my Patron's old Coldsnap snow forests in the bulk box, so adding Rime Tender for another land untapper over Vastwood Surge. The deck's shtick is land auras rather than land ramp, so may as well lean into it hard. Ruinous Intrusion seems like a fun card, adding another layer of utility/shenanigans to the Naturalize. A friend looked at the list and recommended swapping out Traproot Kami for Colossus Hammer, so I did so.

I'm not sure these changes make the deck better. The wurms in particular are objectively questionable, but subjectively cool. The thing plays like a hot mess, often not applying enough meaningful pressure, sputtering out of gas. Perhaps it needs more first strike, it certainly needs more tall draw. But I'm not trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of this list, and a lot of the cards that would help it are quite staple'y.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

There hasn't been a lot of cardboard happening lately, but I got part of the gang together for some 3-man action yesterday. In the first game, I got to voltron up Argothian Wurm with Blanchwood Armor, One with Nature and Sixth Sense, until it perished in Ravos + Tana's Star of Extinction. While I got out a bit of replacement fat, the fact Jhoira had her own fat come off suspend promptly ended up giving that player the game.

Jhoira then swapped to Kazuul ogre tribal as a more appropriate foe for this deck, and in game two an early ramp cumulation got me a 29/29 Neverwinter Hydra after fronting X=7. Ravos+Tana was the inherently scarier deck, so that's where the Hydra went first... while Kazuul somehow got together enough various buffs to offer to one-shot me with commander damage out of nowhere. Huh. Ram Through took quick care of that, splashing 28 damage onto the guy in the process. Rampaging Brontodon came out to support, and once it got back to me I offered a table kill by sending the Brontodon at Kazuul and Hydra at Ravos+Tana. The partner deck left a lot of mana up, and offered to Beast Within the Brontodon. Interesting move, killing the swinger going at the other guy. I activate Saryth to untap/hexproof the Brontodon, looking at the Wrap in Vigor in my hand and expecting another removal spell going at the Hydra. Alas, I forgot that many colours means access to a lot of good interaction, and Utter End this did not stop. Kazuul perished, and the partner deck had a bit of stuff going on with Cathars' Crusade and some guys, a couple of deathtouching insects to potentially eat my Brontodon, but the Wrap in Vigor actually did its thing here and allowed me to swing enough times through the deathtouch blockers to bleed out the victory before the crackback took care of me. A rare win!

There's still plenty of knobs to twiddle if tuning up the deck were to be desired. Land ramp would be nice for the Blanchwood Armor variants, but the land auras plus untapping is a cool angle that's less commonly pursued with this degree of depth. There's obviously the better fat/draw. But I just like the deck in its current state, with its feeble attempts at creature overkill emulating the good old days.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Gamazson
Posts: 151
Joined: 2 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

Stone-Seeder Hierophant and Viridian Longbow with Saryth, the Viper's Fang will let you kill a creature each time you have landfall.

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6279
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 2 years ago

The nice part of running a deck with a lot of threats I think is not having to run mana dorks that get caught up in the sweepers that bashing with a 7/7 requires.

I think I'd run more higher impact land untappers like Krosan Restorer than Boreal Druid. I like the land aura package but it's got some risks, so could add Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and some Crop Rotation effects to give you an alternate plan.

I think I like more Cultivate effects as well just because they provide some card advantage and help bridge if you get whomped early game with a sweeper, but could be wrong.

This is almost surely a Rishkar's Expertise deck too. I think you probably could use some creature based draw effects like Guardian Project and The Great Henge and such, or maybe even Beast Whisperer.

User avatar
Gamazson
Posts: 151
Joined: 2 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

I have been messing around with my own build. Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood looks good as ramp / draw candidate. I am also going to track down a Nature's Chosen. There are ton's of card in the deck that will benefit from both abilities.

Kogla, the Titan Ape looks good too. Creature removal on ETB, destroy an artifact or enchantment on the attack step and has an activated ability that can be used to protect both Saryth and himself.

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma is stepping away from the Jank sub-theme, but the cost reduction on creature that gives itself trample is worthwhile to include.

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Sorry for the lack of response, the deck has transferred to paper and is every last bit as clunky and inefficient as you'd hope. So far the highlight of its paper existence has been pulling out seven d6'es to execute Neverwinter Hydra and just piling them on the card without even counting what I rolled. The deck's yet to win in paper, but its digital wins are so scarce that it might take a while. It did manage to enter a mutually assured destruction stand-off once, but came out ultimately losing due to having fizzled out of cards. Needs some more kooky draw!

11.11.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

Good point that the one-drop dorks do little. Thing is, Fyndhorn Elves is a nostalgia card for the 2005 deck... but I don't even have Fyndhorn Elves and these ones aren't as nostalgic :P This opens up a few slots, and one goes to Sculptor of Winter, a land untapper I forgot exists. Another one goes to Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood - an excellent suggestion, which I didn't think of as the bugger costs three mana and only ramps by one. Also because I already have a deck co-manned by him :P Thing is, he's anything but your go-to green goodstuff draw, and responds well to a Saryth untap, mana permitting, so in he goes. The last slot went to Mask of Memory as I remembered I have one, which is as good a reason as any :P

I'd quite like to see your build, @Gamazson - you got it anywhere?
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Gamazson
Posts: 151
Joined: 2 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Gamazson » 2 years ago

Sure, I do my deck work on Archidekt, though I think you'll find it pretty familiar; I am prone to using decks I find online as a foundation, and tweak them as I see fit. It is also very good stuff oriented.

https://archidekt.com/decks/1976525#Saryth

When I saw your decklist, I realized I had found a home for my copies Nyxbloom Ancient, Regal Behemoth, and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger. I have been hoarding these card for a while. Too good to trade away, but not a natural for my other green decks. Yeah those cards work in any deck, but I enjoy synergy. A deck based around combining trample and deathtouch that wants lands to tap for multiple mana to cast big creatures is a perfect fit at last!

I haven't had a chance to give it a spin yet, but it should be mostly ready for FNM next week. It is always the obscure cheap cards like Mark of Sakiko that are hard to track down.

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Yeah, those look like better creatures than my Rootbreaker Wurm :P However, here's an interesting point to consider - imagine you're the defending player, and you're in the process of absorbing a Saryth'd Boringclex. My gut instinct is to throw enough of my board away to kill him, an instinct that does not kick in as the Rootbreaker Wurm is coming in for the same amount of damage. So the fact your creatures are better is a bit of a double-edged sword, as it's quite feasible the opposition will be more willing to block them down. You can of course build around this fact, add some more first strike or survivability shenanigans.

The easiest way to sauce up the deck would be to dime the tall draw. This build is missing Soul's Majesty and Rishkar's Expertise, and you could even consider Greater Good. The deck really starts humming when you follow up one of the crappy wurms with a massive refuel and suddenly have options for later.

I'd like to thank you again for the Gilanra recommendation, he's proven to be super fun in the shell, and is very far off the beaten path of typical green draw. Not a ton else to report. I could quite easily de-clunk the deck a nontrivial amount by streamlining the fat to be lower cost and better stats. However, I prefer the giddiness of holding the Rootbreaker Wurm in my hands again.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

weltkrieg
Posts: 152
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by weltkrieg » 2 years ago

One thing that makes me sad about this pile of nostalgia is a lack of Might of Oaks . Cards that make me even sadder by their lack of presence are Decree of Savagery or Vitalizing Wind . I ran one of each in my own big green silly deck back in the day. Nothing made me happier than responding to a nasty series of blocks or damage based removal with a vitalizing wind.

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

You see, the reason Giant Growths are not in here is because I don't find them nostalgic :P I didn't run much in the way of pump, just the Blanchwood Armors, as I liked the permanence and rate of return.

For now, the do-nothing seven-drop density got to me. The high-cost cards without nostalgia or some utility attached shall now go away. I'm happy to see Rootbreaker Wurm; Pelakka Wurm, while technically better, does not spark such joy. What's up with that art? Reminds me more of a sea monster than a wurm.

19.12.2021 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:


This is still not the optimal creature set, but that's good, that's by design. The new creatures come with better mana costs and stat lines, leaning into what 2005 me was enamoured by. I always thought Primalcrux was a super cool card but somehow never got around to running him anywhere. Well now I can!

I actually won a game with this today. An early Plated Crusher got fat enough to live through a Blasphemous Act, and got me eighteen cards off a tall draw. The biggest threat got splashed down with a Ram Through, and I made a nice big board with Primalcrux (who got to be 18/18 by the end of the game) and Ghalta to help peck down the others.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 1 year ago

21.05.2022 Change
Approximate Total Cost:

The deck does not have a great time against little deathtouching blockers. Viridian Claw is a good way to circumvent this issue, but I've been on the lookout for organic options to help out, and they printed Family's Favor. No more shall my wurms cower before a Hornet Queen, as now they get to have a shield and that's cool. Also if people choose not to block, I get to draw, so that's nice too.

Cuts wise, I went for Glissa. I like how weird the card is, with the first strike and the unusual tap ability. I assumed I'd be able to use her defensively, tapping her to grant her deathtouch and maybe taking some rock out in the process if I was feeling menacing, but that hasn't really come into effect. Phantom Nantuko, a fellow card I expected to be a rattlesnake, is seen swinging in more often than playing defence. Glissa has ended up doing very little.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 1 year ago

The 40k tyranid deck is swimming in perfect includes. Aberrant and Tervigon are trampling hydras that cantrip on entry and do meaningful stuff on hit, which is the set's token bit of product-shifting power creep. Bone Sabres makes me happy. Old One Eye offers incredible returns for the mana investment. Swap time!

29.09.2022 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

Just because cards are good does not make they make it in here though, as evidenced by Defiler of Vigor and countless others :P And now joined by two pieces of tall draw - something I've openly stated is great in here as it grants options. Thing is, it does it a bit too well. By now there were four pieces of tall draw in the deck, and I've had situations where I ripped one only to draw into another, and I'd end up digging for e.g. Ram Through. That was a powerful play pattern that I did not particularly enjoy within the context of this deck, so I'm going back to my original tall draw density, keeping the somewhat riskier on-hit variants and looking for alternatives.

Threats Undetected is absolutely perfect for this deck, kudos to Gamazson for bringing it to my attention in his thread. Three mana, two pieces of fat to hand, some element of audience participation, fun card that keeps the deck going. I struggled with what to put in the other slot for a while, as alternative draw felt too mainstream and tutors too tryhard (even if they'd get me a Ghalta or whatever). And that's when I remembered Hystrodon, a card that Ebline used to run in their Xenagod deck. It is objectively worse than the card it is replacing, but this way I get to tip my hat to a friend's deck while staying on theme over here.

I just remembered Fireshrieker exists, so that may make its way in here one day.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 10 months ago

Here's an update that's been brewing for quite a while.

The Brass Knuckles Update
Approximate Total Cost:

The seeds for this can be seen in the prior post's Fireshrieker musings, and then Staff of Titania got itself printed. And then I remembered Brass Knuckles exist, found two in an SNC draft chaff pile, and started considering adding more support for them in the deck.

The various pump auras have done pretty well for themselves in the deck as they circumvent summoning sickness. They're a nice quick way to get extra damage going, so moving some of that functionality over to equipment should synergise with the Knuckles and also leave something behind in the event of interaction. Hedron Matrix is a pretty solid chunk of pump. Lightning Greaves is a different way to get around summoning sickness :P Spare Dagger is a silly little card that can maybe work with Knuckles, or it can turn into creature removal (as it's the creature doing the damage).

Most of the expensive auras depart as these are functionally similar cards. Colossification gets to stay as it's hilarious on many levels. Thriss, Nantuko Primus was a little too silly for his own good, Nantuko Mentor does the job better. Panglacial Wurm is a top tier silly card when there's library searching, but this deck doesn't do a ton of that. And without it it's got the somewhat troublesome cost of 7 while not carrying nostalgia or something relevant. Spawnwrithe is a meme card, but not my meme. It's a decent early carrier of value things, but a similar purpose can be accomplished by quickly sticking value stuff onto an untap dork.

I may have done the above a number of times today - land a quick untap dork, then use it to milk a couple shots of Mask of Memory or Family's Favor while someone's still open in the early game. The decent density of trickle draw kept me topped up during recent games, one of them saw me easily rebuild from a wipe as I had a full grip at the time it came down. I'm not sure what the optimal density of the trickle draws is, but I somehow enjoy Family's Favor more here than I do Hunter's Insight. I also got to live out the absolute dream in one of the games, as one trampler wore Hedron Matrix, another trampler wore Strata Scythe, and out came the Knuckles and closed things up. The Knuckles have some pretty interesting offensive/defensive patterns, in the event of a single extra equipment two mana allows juggling double strike between a swinger and a blocker. I think at some point I linked them up with Viridian Longbow, which turned out quite solid.

The update took forever to properly materialise as I didn't have all the cards (still don't - only got Spare Dagger from a group friend today, and need to get around to ordering Staff of Titania), and was also considering a couple other cards. Strength-Testing Hammer almost went in, but I somehow couldn't talk myself into putting an un-set card in quite yet. Soul of the Harvest almost went in too, but then I realised that people would actually be incentivised to block this thing down if it went swinging, going against the terrible french vanilla creature pool.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 10 months ago

Time to follow up on the punch!

27.05.2023 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

While the tall draws are objectively stronger than the trickle draws, I tend to prefer the gameplay of the latter. I absent-mindedly picked up Strength-Testing Hammer when buying cards based on an old wish list, so since I own it now I may as well put it in. Retrieved Rogue's Gloves from the chaff box and so ends the career of tall draws in this deck. I didn't realise Portent Tracker is a land untapper, probably distracted by the useless battle clause, and only noticed when we did our MOM faux-prerelease with the guys. Mark of Sakiko is a super cool card when it gets going, but I rather like this land auras plus untappers ramp package as it helps get the initial fat out better.

I still realise I probably should run more land ramp in here to work with the Blanchwood Armors, but this whole untappers business is a little less explored in my other decks so I like it. Plus the trickle draw helps me hit land drops pretty reliably and that's good enough. Nevertheless, I have a Sword of Rampant Growth kicking around that could come live here. Also I need to get a Spectral Force, which just screams to be included here. Alas, the same ditziness that led to me owning Strength-Testing Hammer has kept the Force out for now - forgot to buy one :P
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 5 months ago

And third time's the charm, finishing up the trends started by the Brass Knuckles update. I had the swaps finalised about a month or two after the last post, but just never got around to writing here. As such, I have plenty of data to support that all of the new includes are a good idea.


As it turns out, Spectral Force has a buddy in Traxos, Scourge of Kroog. Overstatted, untap-challenged creatures are a fun on-theme include, and Traxos in particular creates a mini-game where the various equipment and occasional legendary creature double up in utility. Heck, he sometimes encourages sneaking Gilanra and/or Silvos into the standard Threats Undetected pile of Ghalta-Soul of the Harvest-Primalcrux-Voracious Hydra (sorted on increasing likelihood of being given on resolution). Sword of Rampant Growth is a pet card that fits the theme. Barrow-Blade is a Leonin Scimitar that also happens to handle various nasty keywords on blockers pretty well. Apparently it's not just deathtouch I need to be concerned with - in one game I was staring down a massive wall of Crested Sunmare derived blockers that outstatted my swingers. Soul of the Harvest is a card I was tentative to put in, as it sounds like the sort of thing you just block down if it goes into combat. Thing is, it turns out that the magic barrier for what tends to not live through combat in my group falls somewhere below 6/6 trampling deathtoucher with relevant static ability. I can usually send it somewhere less crowded, applying pressure and retaining the draw prowess. Soul of New Phyrexia ended up being a relatively 1:1 swap with Wrap in Vigor. Having a reactive Heroic Intervention-like in the deck just felt weird, and this feels more on brand. Can swing, pressure activating the ability, and then use the mana on something main two. Think at this point I'm pretty well equipped to try to force damage through various board states.

In terms of non-Wrap in Vigor cuts, a bunch of them are once again seven drops. This time I had to cut into things that actually do something, but lack the massive "hell yeah" factor of the ones that remain. Giant Adephage is a meme, not my meme, we've been there, but I've actually caught myself missing it since taking it out. The self-replicating is actually a pretty decent self-contained pressure engine. I could see myself putting it back in at some point. Moldgraf Monstrosity survived a few waves of cuts as a responsible include that offers reasonable game against wipes, but the trickle density means I tend to handle disruption better these days. Plated Crusher is very much cut from the same cloth as Penumbra Wurm and the other OGs, but is not an actual OG. At this point the only non-OG seven drops left in are Caller of the Pack and Rampaging Brontodon, both of whom tickle the Timmy and offer good gameplay. Kodama's Reach was a card in the original 2005 deck, but has since become an ubiquitous format-wide staple. Also it doesn't play particularly amazingly, I tend to have lands to hit drops via trickle draw and ramping on three is kinda wonky. Phantom Nantuko was meant to go in as a defensive card, but as all other defensive cards found himself underutilised in the role. I honestly think it's just the power of the Saryth untap, with the promise of generating a big blocker if need be taking the same sort of mid-game pressure off that the defensive cards were meant to assist with. As a swinger, Phantom Nantuko is rather underwhelming, if a decent carrier of various on-hit effects.

I don't think I stressed in the thread before just how much of a slam dunk this deck turned out for me. Easily my most played list since its creation in 2021. I'm tempted to find a slot for Khalni Hydra for general cuteness, particularly with Primalcrux. Stonehoof Chieftain got himself reprinted and now costs a pittance, and is very much on brand here in spirit. Hey, maybe some of these will make their way in.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 3 weeks ago

Half a year of incremental "but what if I tweak this too" has led to a massive continuous update with about 5 twists and turns, culminating in 28 (!) total roughly 1:1 swaps. The update started when Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth got himself printed and I realised he needs to go in. Above rate stat line, a source of saboteur dig, coming back from the dead, the card felt like one of those modern "powerhouses" I was consciously avoiding but actively tempted me. I put it in and it did fine, and the deck still felt like it was supposed to. As it turns out, the wurmdec spirit is all about punching people with big things, and the modern big things still do that. I properly digested the fact the deck has a very low ceiling - even if using the best fatties in all the land, punching with them fairly is not going to catch up to the level displayed by, say, Ghired. As such, the deck's battle plan was streamlined a little and the gloves came off. Everything remains in service of the stat line - the beef needs to be huge and pressure life totals. Pressuring life totals is a whole different game in a 120 life format than it is in a 20 life format, and the best way to try to go all the way is to aim for creatures that continue scaling as the game progresses. There aren't that many of those, but the ones that do exist have been recruited. Another avenue for success is double strike with its combined protective nature and increased pressure. Additionally, Soul of the Harvest has been a runaway success with its creature-based draw, which encouraged an increased creature density and pursuit of other creature-minded refuels, both old and new. The deck has three rules - no Sol Rings, no Scattershot Archer, no tall draws. The last of those is a little negotiable. I'd like to thank pokken in particular for a number of chats about the deck, leading to the inclusion of Ilysian Caryatid, Conclave Sledge-Captain and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. He may still not be keen on the equipment, but at least now it's better equipment :P

Midway through the process Trostani, Three Whispers got revealed and I entertained the thought of switching commanders for an afternoon. The design rhymes with Saryth, but you get white for equipment support and out of the command zone double strike. However, the deck would have to go gigantic on the mana to keep fuelling the abilities, especially if there were to be more than one swinger. Threat of activation is one thing, actually getting value is another. This would also incentivise popping the beef once it gets sauced up, something that Saryth can actually do something about. In the end it was a pretty simple decision to stay on Saryth, the wurmdec was mono green, and a friend was not swayed from Rosheen when Magus Lucea Kane got spoiled.

Onward to swaps!



In a vacuum, I don't think I'm building the "correct" Saryth. The "correct" Saryth probably goes for elfball and untaps Elvish Archdruids and the like en route to your standard elfball win. While I'm not about to ditch my fat for Priest of Titania, I could make use of some reliable big mana things for untap purposes. The land untappers don't do a lot unless there's an enchanted land around. Ilysian Caryatid and Whisperer of the Wilds both need a fat to start tapping for two, making them more consistent if lower ceiling than Rime Tender and Sculptor of Winter. Karametra's Acolyte and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds both easily offer huge mana on tap, with better returns than the four-drop land auras. True, Dawn's Reflection and Market Festival don't die to creature wipes, but stacking a land full of auras comes with its own mild risk of tempting the occasional Acidic Slime. Plus moving to creatures is a recurring theme of the mega-update, so that fits right in. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is an easy way to get a good untappable land, and is the list's first nonbasic, in over a Forest. Archdruid's Charm primarily finds the Nykthos if encountered early, but has a bunch of various modes for later. The slot used to be Spare Dagger, but being able to potentially off a creature for one total mana more at instant speed has major strategic advantages. People don't overcommit blocks, deathtouch trample is a hell of a thing to try to get rid of, so instant shenanigans tend to lead to blowouts more often than not. And the card can also potentially find a creature or pop an artifact/enchantment! The three mana overhead is a bit much for my other, more performant decks, but this list appreciates it. In no small part because of the Nykthos mode. The remaining two-drop land untappers can reach it, so that's nice.

There were further creature conversions. The one-drop auras got replaced entirely - Ojer Kaslem and Doomskar Warrior further the pursuit of creatures and oust Keen Sense and Sixth Sense, while One with Nature became Primeval Herald. All three of these are now Threats Undetected mainstays, with Flip God becoming a major persona non grata and going back into the deck the vast majority of the time. Rampant Growth grew legs and is Steve now. 2005 me would understand once I explained the creature-centric refuels, I'd imagine. Like The Great Henge - that one cares about Steve, but Rampant Growth not so much. While there is a universe in which it contributes less to a game than Colossal Majesty, that seems very unlikely to happen.

The glut of the swaps are improving the efficiency of beef. I think back fondly to the update where I took out do-nothing seven drops and added Primalcrux and some of his buddies, that ended up greasing up the deck a bit. As such, I applied similar principles to get the creature suite humming. Costing seven has been known to be a liability for a number of updates now, and every single seven drop in the list gets cut. I have great nostalgic memories of Penumbra Wurm, Rootbreaker Wurm and Thorn Elemental, but they led to mixed feelings in practice as I'd see the art but then wished the card did more as it sat in my hand. I took out Rootbreaker as a feeler, stuck it to the side of the deck in a sleeve and used it as a stand-in token in the event of needing one, and that worked out okay - I'm still getting my trip down memory lane but not at the cost of performance. The other two seven drops become game enders. If coughing up that much mana, may as well get Giant Adephage and Primordial Hydra which will eventually solo the table. Caller of the Pack and Rampaging Brontodon have good damage output, but not to the same standard. More do-nothing six-drops also got hit - Honored Hydra is at its best when being discarded, and Terra Stomper is a decent blob of stats but we can do better. Like Conclave Sledge-Captain - a Necropolis Regent-like, with a floor of a six mana 7/7 and a ceiling of revving up other threats on the board into gargantuas that take over the game. Defiler of Vigor is a pile of efficiency, condemned as such earlier in the thread. It's got good baseline stats, it ramps, it pumps, a very good body. Also it's a wurm, and with Argothian Wurm being the only other survivor it would be nice if there was even a little typal coverage for the name sake of the deck :P Kalonian Hydra is the gold standard of efficiency, an effective five mana 8/8 that then just keeps spiralling. Of note, here it attacks fairly and takes a while to take over the game, while in the aforementioned Ghired comparison it gets copied and just ends the game immediately. See, fair green combat! There is occasional bonus value to be gained with the other hydras as well. Khalni Hydra may not be quite as impressively discountable as Ghalta, Primal Hunger, but the creature focus is likely to knock some pips off, and the impressive cost synergises with Primalcrux and devotion-based ramp. Majestic Myriarch is a secondary beef, needing something else to come out and have trample to start being a trampler himself, but take that beef and Saryth and you already have a five mana 6/6. Add further beefs/dorks and the stat line will be great value, and he can couple double strike off other equipped creatures too. You have to get creative if you want the keyword in mono green. Other refinements include swapping Keeper of Fables for Toski, Bearer of Secrets, and rehoming a recently unemployed Vigor over Soul of New Phyrexia. It may well be correct to keep running the Soul, but five mana is a lot of mana. It's the most likely to return of the creature cuts. The two most recent swaps came as I played the deck and saw myself become the increased focus of removal to keep the beef in check. That was flattering, but also means that Saryth taps now need to be managed even more carefully than before. Spectral Force and Traxos, Scourge of Kroog become Battle Mammoth and Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma. Hey, if you're going to be smart about it and pop my equipment I may as well get a card out of it. Hey, if the board is too contested for a 5/4 to roll in (which it probably won't be, given my track record of connecting with Soul of the Harvest), I may as well get passive ramp for my fat out of it.

The equipment suite also got streamlined a bit, with the main focus being reaching as much double strike as possible. Which means inserting all two of the playable remaining double strike cards in Fireshrieker and Grappling Hook. Just going for it seems largely superior to trying to strip problematic keywords with Barrow-Blade or first striking in with Viridian Claw. Power Fist brings a Necropolis Regent scaling growth boon to its recipient, and sparks a lot more joy than Hedron Matrix, especially as the latter has been dwindling in efficiency with the streamlining of the creature suite. Strength-Testing Hammer is annoying to equip at 3, yet you may find yourself incentivised to juggle it around as further arrivals appear on your field, and then only rewards you with a single card. Sword of Fire and Ice is more reliable, and not super oppressive in terms of board control as it's the Sword chucking out the shock rather than the creature. Blade of Selves is an interesting option, with a terrible floor on hydras and legends and a crazy good ceiling on ETBs like the new backup guys, Primeval Herald and Verdurous Gearhulk. It went in over Soul's Might, which is a nice way to sauce up a creature and synergises with other pump, but has the drawbacks of an aura in its single-target commitment and falling outside the deck's main desired card types. There's also the potential Kalonian Hydra synergy. The second most likely card to return from the cuts. Umezawa's Jitte is a known powerhouse card, and confers a huge degree of control of the board. It has made two showings so far, and it's been instrumental in winning both those games through sheer threat of activation alone (I'm yet to actually take a counter off, believe it or not!). Colossus Hammer grants a great stat boost, but comes online much later.

While it may have been a little strange to take the glut of the OGs out of the deck (Argothian Wurm and Silvos, Rogue Elemental remain - the latter even inspired the choice of Forest|22021 to go in now that there's no mechanical incentive for snow), it never housed the entirety of what I remember of the 2005 iteration anyway. Plated Slagwurm and Symbiotic Wurm come to mind, both lacked trample, so they didn't get drafted. The current token representative arrangement works out fine and the deck slaps just a little bit harder because of it. Auras are probably at an equilibrium, with Blanchwood Armor being an OG, cheap and very above rate, and Colossification conferring insane pump at the cost of an untap sink. Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood is technically a bit worse now as his target density fell from 15 to 13, but he's been perfectly fine in his recent showings. A bit of a rhyme with Selvala, but draws a little more and ramps a lot less. Belt of Giant Strength had a brief showing in the 99, but didn't really spark joy and got ditched when Power Fist got made. Seeker of Skybreak looks kind of eh on paper but plays very well in practice, as it's hard to account for needing to untap guys defensively outside of encountering those scenarios. The Skullspore Nexus is another avenue for power doubling, may be worth a shot? Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is a global stat doubler, but costs seven and doesn't trample. Joraga Treespeaker is a known good dork, and becomes all the more tempting with the influx of good 5 mana plays and focus on standalone decent dorks. On a tangential note, I can envision myself running Rishkar's Expertise here, tall draw was powerful when I had it back in the day but it felt a bit awkward to effectively take a turn off to refuel. Given the creature density, Last March of the Ents would be good. I sometimes find myself outpacing my current refuels so I might try that some time. That, or reinstating Keeper of Fables and introducing Ohran Frostfang for more Coastal Piracy draw. Or Tribute to the World Tree as it's got lovely GGG pips and I have a spare from its brief stint in Ghired. There are options if I decide I need them.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

Dragonlover
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Dragonlover » 2 weeks ago

Zopandrel and Rishkars have been very good in Molimo to the point where it'll take a hell of a card to get me to cut them, and Tribute was very good when my morph deck was Glissa. Now that ones in four colours the triple green was a bit too much of an ask.

Have you considered Nissa, Ascended Animist? Makes big lads, gives you the Overrun to end all Overruns to finish off the game, could be worth it.

Dragonlover
All my decks are here

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 1 week ago

Thanks for the thoughts, I dug up your Molimo list and it's got some cool tech - Cityscape Leveler has been on my radar for a while, but its prohibitive mana cost and some degree of unpleasantness stopped me from pursuing it. Nissa, Ascended Animist is an interesting idea, I'm not quite as land density focused and the guys that fall out don't trample. Still, the ability to play her for seven and immediately blast an omega overrun is a hell of a thing, given the various dorks and stuff I tend to have kicking about these days. I'll have to keep her in mind. I could also look to Thunderfoot Baloth and Pathbreaker Ibex for rhyming rewards, Thing is, both of those are in Ghired, and I'm already sharing Kalonian Hydra and inherited its recently cut Vigor. Interesting to hear of Tribute to the World Tree in a morph deck of all places - did you want the counters and/or ran many anthems?

17.03.2024 Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

I drew Goreclaw in a game, plonked her onto the board, and proceeded to get a single discount until the game ended. That seemed weird, so I actually looked at my creature base, and it turns out that surprisingly enough the majority of my tramplers either fail to formally have 4+ power or come with crazy mana costs that don't gel with the discount. 12 legitimate targets, I believe. Given concerns over Goreclaw's relative scrawniness otherwise, I feel the slot can be better utilised. I got a bunch of games and goldfishes on the settled build, and I found myself somewhat depleted on cards yet swimming in mana. Time to slightly jiggle the balance between ramp and draw!

I put some goldfishes on tall draw and did not find it enjoyable. Somehow I don't appear to have the meaningful sub-6 density for Rishkar's Expertise and standalone slammable density for Last March of the Ents. Trickle draw is tried and tested, so I slotted Keeper of Fables back in, along with Ohran Frostfang. I like its gameplay pattern here, especially now that the streamlined creature focus and secondary beefslab application means I often have multiple swingers to keep me topped up. Rogue's Gloves is the weakest draw piece in the 99, and its resilience does not make up for its ultimately low impact.

I figured the least I can do Zopandrel wise is to give him some goldfishes. I was giddy to windmill him in off Flip God, and realised he needs to go in when I spent an Archdruid's Charm to fetch him up late game. Unnatural Growth has always been stellar here, who could have foreseen that it would still be great if you added two mana and gave it legs. It's kinda neat that the legs come with a degree of wipe insurance and happen to reach, feels okay to leave him back on blocks. Took out Blade of Selves as it didn't really properly gel. Making extra copies of stuff is neat and all and has a great ceiling with a few select cards, but it was yet another Ghired retiree and it just felt wrong somehow. Zopandrel fits better, and made a triumphant paper debut out of Elvish Piper in a turn seven victory. Turns out giving your 17/17 Neverwinter Hydra both double stats and double strike out of nowhere is pretty good at deleting unsuspecting, untouched opposition.

Gilanra's target density nudges up to 14, but I have noticed my reluctance to set him down outside the early game. Sword of Rampant Growth is cute, but along similar lines to the Gloves I think something better will come along at some point. I've got a bit over 20 modifications for Kodama of the West Tree, though the aura and equipment counts have been dwindling a bit. I just put about 20 goldfishes on him and he did nothing in all of one of those games, so it's probably pretty safe to assume he's higher impact than the Sword. Maybe Gilanra could become a Biophagus for another modification source, on a two-drop dork of all places? This would technically slightly cut into draw density, though Gilanra is on the less impactful side of the options.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

Dragonlover
Posts: 546
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Dragonlover » 1 week ago

Tribute was in my morph deck partially because the deck was a hot mess. It had started out as being focused on face down stuff, but a lot of the face down stuff was quite bad. I then moved to a combat damage mattering theme for all the stuff that wasn't face down, so as to make blocking choices harder for opponents, and Tribute was part of that. Harder to lose a 4/4 to a throwaway blocker, and if it drew cards then happy days. I still wasn't super happy with the deck, which had been through several commander choices, then they spoiled Missy from Dr Who and the choice to go 4c was made.

Glad Zopandrel is working out for you, its a common tutor target for me as well. Given the relative lack of targets for it and the re-added trickle draw, is it worth swapping Gilanra for Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea? She's probably hitting more things, and inherently ramps your guys out faster even if she never gets a counter.

Finally, I see you've never had Genesis Wave in the deck, which just feels wrong. Don't get me wrong, I get you're not ramping to.the point where a Wave for 25 is the norm, but even getting X to be 8-10 can be absolutely crushing.

Dragonlover
All my decks are here

User avatar
Rumpy5897
Tuner of Jank
Posts: 1854
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rumpy5897 » 1 week ago

I'll do you one better - Primal Surge. It's in active consideration, as there's just a tiny handful of non-permanents in the deck and the returns are likely to be very good, all while the nondeterminism adds to the fun. It may make its way in at some point.

Gilanra is a typical flexible card, where it ramps a little, draws a little, never feels bad to have on the field, and is a bit overcosted to compensate. If going for a swap I'd probably be stuck committing to one of the directions. There is plenty of standalone good draw and ramp I could be running. I'm not sure Gwenna is the answer I'm looking for, as she costs three and at three you have to be a bit crazy good these days. I'd probably enjoy her more than Goreclaw at least. May be worth a try, see how she does. Or I could just get a Joraga Treespeaker in here and power out five drops on turn three :P

I've gone off the Kodama idea since the last post actually. Yeah, the card did objectively stupid stuff in goldfishes, but somehow it doesn't sit right. I did a bit of pondering as to why and realised that it's the modified focus. The deck is still actually focused on the tramplers, and the various modifications are means to an end. Shining the spotlight on them somehow just doesn't vibe.
 
EDH Primers (click me!)
Deck is Kill Club
Show
Hide

User avatar
pokken
Posts: 6279
Joined: 4 years ago
Answers: 2
Pronoun: he / him

Post by pokken » 1 week ago

I don't think this deck needs or wants any "put a billion things without haste on the battlefield" effects. it's winmore and sometimes actively bad with some creatures (hydras esp).

Many things I would prioritize over winmore stuff.

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “Decklists”