Hey Folks!
Ramp magic has made somewhat of a surge in Mythic the past two weeks. I saw Clutch with a really nice win rate, but his deck is chock full of the infamous power neutrals most of us can't afford. However, while the win cons were expensive, many of the key cards like ramp cards, lightning talisman, etc. are not. So I decided to see if I could put together a budget deck that still felt decently powerful.
Deck Code:
GU_1_4_OAUOAUCFiCFiIBDIBDCEnCEnCEkCEkIBnIBnKApKApBAXICHICHIBsIBsKAqKAqIBpIBpKDmOANPAmPAmCBjCBjIBy
One of the things I'm seeking to maximize in this deck is the number of duplicate (2x) cards. Just like a zombie deck wanting to find a scepter or obelisk in the opening, we want our ramp cards. Sipping on turn 1 is excellent and gives an extra mana every turn for the rest of the game. Crystaltech Scholar can't be used as quickly but unlocks 2 mana for 5. Great card.
With ramp established, we need win cons. The basic options are Form of the Second Shattering, the Coronet package, or what I've chosen: Helians and Poly. A big reason for going with this choice is that it synergizes nicely with my selection of stall cards.
For stalling, we have the required board wipes (Shaped Blast + Unbound Flames), the heal package of neutrals, and frontliners. A tough decision is Guild Enforcer vs Stormstress:
Stormstress might be better - especially if you are facing a lot of aggro light with ward/protected. I've gone with Guild Enforcer which is nearly impossible for token zombies to deal with. They can burn Ray of Disintegration, but you'd much rather them wasted it on GE than your larger frontliners. For light opponents, you pop protected when they have to trade multiple creatures into your Guild Enforcer. Instead of trading 2 creatures to clear Stormstress, they usually need 3 for Guild Enforcer. Feel free to experiment with either. A big benefit of Stormstress is that she is guaranteed to at least do some damage before getting removed by Blade of the Whiteplain.
My deck is definitely geared toward stopping aggro. I'm in Solar Gold, and most matches are against aggro. In these matchups, all the frontliners make Snowshaper Pallas much stronger:
Aggro War, for example, can't remove her from behind a frontline. Consider this dynamic duo:
That's game over for Aggro War and Aggro Light. However, for an even more budget-friendly list, swap her out for Ratify.
Of course, decks need to be able to beat control, too. Firstly, we do this by being greedy on the top end. Two Helian Elites plus Polyhymnia require a lot of resources to remove. I've added one Portal Wrangler to the deck to get extra life out of them. Poly played on an empty board can be cleared by a combination of damage to remove ward + transform; however, this usually means they don't have enough mana to play a creature (especially if you've ramped and are ahead of them on mana). This means you can portal wrangler the next turn to get another Poly. One they can't answer. Additionally, Portal Wrangler comes in useful in many situations. Sometimes you can clone one of their big creatures. You can clone your Gifts or Serris for more healing.
I've been taking Clear Mind primarily because of the importance of finding ramp. Imagine how much more often you'd find your Scepter/Obelisk if you could foresee every turn. This GP does mean you have to be more careful in the mirror. For example, the easiest way to clear Polyhymnia is to GP ping for 1 and then transform. Now you just need to make sure you've got a damage card in hand.
In this game, we got second against aggro light. Not just any aggro light, but probably the hardest matchup for Magic: the one running seemingly 20 board buffs. The ward, protected, and high HP are very difficult to remove with spell cards, but our reliance on frontliners is much more effective.
I'm tempted to take the bolt GP, but honestly, it's just too much mana to try and ping off wards one at a time. We need clear mind to find the right cards and not brick.
The cards I decide to keep in the mulligan are pretty high mana: 3-4-5. However, this isn't so bad going second. The plan:
Turn 2: Pip into talisman
Turn 3: Pip into ramp
???
Win
Also, we get to see just how much better/worse GE performs here compared to Stormstress.
Anyway, I can't do anything turn 1 but Foresee. Luckily, opponent has a slow start.
Guachon makes up for lost time with a really solid turn. Talisman is the play. Even if he has vesper/removal, it will still be decent.
Holy Writ effectively nullifies Talisman. On the other hand, there isn't enough damage on the board to really scare me. Time to ramp!
My opponent is smart enough to reload his hand with cheap acolytes but not to spill them onto the board right into a shaped blast. I toss the GE and pip into ramp once again. Pipping into ramp is always a good deal. You use a pip to get effectively an extra pip every turn.
Note that my opponent is in a bit of a pickle. The deck is so used to seeing shaped blast or stormstress. Both of which get punished, but add a single point of armor on the frontline, and now it's his low-attack creatures that are punished. Guild Enforcer soaks up:
Love to see it. Look how ripe they are now for that Shaped Blast! Don't mind if I do. Then, because my HP isn't too low, I opt to foresee rather than play the gift. The second gift is tempting (healing always is), but we have really nice cards we are now ready to go digging for.
Oni OP! Oops...don't have enough mana. A real shame. GE + Gift will have to do. I choose gift here mainly to have another minion that can pop protected or help whittle down health. It's also 2 more HPfor Oni to hit and leech from.
Protective Benediction. Of course. The bain of magic's existence. He does misplay a bit by not playing Vicar first.
For my part, I'm not sure if I played this correctly, but I'll share my thought process. I could attack separate creatures with my two creatures. This would give me two extra healing from Oni by popping protected, but my bigger fear is Asterius coming down and buffing the board. So instead, I decide to remove a single creature.
Not terribly afraid of Asterius here given Unbound Flames, but he doesn't have it. Trading everything into Oni feels good (for me).
Then we top deck Labyrinth Guard. I had planned to Unbound, but that felt a bit wasteful. Plus, this line lets me foresee. I think I should have tossed the Tracking Bolt, but I was just thinking about the ward-popping potential.
After taking a long hard look at the board, my opponent realizes the obvious and concedes. This deck isn't going to run out of removal. It's going to keep playing big bodies that last multiple turns. Instead of him soaking my resources, I'm soaking his.
This is a pretty basic deck, and it struggles against greedy control and hard removal (like apocalypse now). However, down in the aggro ranks, it's very effective.
