I’ve been hitting this format pretty hard in PTQ preparation, and one thing I’ve learned is that doing something very powerful isn’t difficult. This has led to many failed tournaments because what I was doing in a bubble wasn’t that much better than what other mages were coming up with. However, in such a format, a natural logical approach would be to stop the opponent from doing those powerful things.
One of the more unique decks I heard about and discussed at GP: Seattle was a Cascade land destruction deck centered on Fulminator Mage and Rain of Tears. Given my Cascading advancements from Regionals and my PTQ, it seemed like the next step to solving this puzzle of a Standard format. Who really cares about all the trouble of killing the opponent with Anathemancer when you can just blow up every permanent they have? I never actually saw the list from Seattle, but rumors claimed the curve topped out at Incendiary Command, which is a card that could gain a lot of value given its disruptive nature opposite Planeswalkers and Tokens.
Land destruction decks are possibly the most hated archetype to play against in the history of Magic. It’s just so crippling and demeaning. We all pay our entry fee in a tournament with the intention of playing our spells and battling it out at a shot at glory, but LD decks completely strip that Garfield-given right from us, leaving us with eight cards in hand at every discard step. I don’t recall a single LD player I’ve played against that I didn’t regard as a d-bag for playing such a mindless, unskillful strategy.
That said, Cascade may have revolutionized how we approach LD decks from this point on, and the best way to attack this format might be to make lands go boom boom boom.
The core of the deck resides in Rain of Tears and Fulminator Mage, but from there we have a few directions we can steer down. Everyone’s mana is crazy like schizophrenia, and there is a clear advantage to denying the opponent of his fragile resources. Especially if we can find a way to make those LD spells retain value in other matchups. The most notable difference is choosing between a Jund or Grixis base, both of which have unique angles to be examined.
Cascade LD, Grixis Base
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Broodmate Dragon
4 Boomerang
4 Rain of Tears
3 Grixis Charm
4 Cryptic Command
3 Deny Reality
3 Bituminous Blast
3 Incendiary Command
3 Vivid Creek
2 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Crag
2 Rupture Spire
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Cascade Bluffs
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
Sideboard:
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Sedraxis Specter
4 Hypnotic Specter
1 Regina Spektor
2 Maelstrom Pulse
The Spektor sideboard is mostly a joke, though options I’ve been looking into to have a powerful enough lineup change post board.
This deck is very good at jumping on the opponent early thanks to Boomerang and Grixis Charm, which are followed up by Cryptic Command to create all kinds of instant speed headaches for the opponent. Counter a spell, bounce a land are CC’s most efficient modes, and this deck really looks to exploit them by playing the deny game from turn 2 on.
It seems impossible not to include Bloodbraid Elf in any deck that contains a 3cc spell these days, and I often find myself bouncing him back to my hand with a Boomerang if they ever try to Incinerate or Terror him because there aren’t very many ways to actually kill the opponent in here.
The LD spells are pretty versatile, the bounce gives you creature options, Grixis Charm gives you an early removal spell for Putrid Leech, and Cascading in the late game just means you’ll be doing the same stuff that you did to keep them locked down in the early game.
This provides a pretty interesting take on land destruction. Assuming they have 23-25 lands in their deck, and assuming nearly every spell I’m going to cast in the first five turns blows up a land, that leaves us with 33 LD spells to their 24 land. I’m not sure if it’s occurred before, but I don’t remember a time when so much quality land prohibiting cards were legal in one format. I mean, just look at this list…
Boomerang
Grixis Charm
Cryptic Command
Resounding Wave
Consign To Dream
Fulminator Mage
Scepter of Dominance
Rain of Tears
Ajani Vengeant
Poison the Well / Drain the Well (Bit of a stretch, but certainly more playable than Volcanic Submersion or Woodfall Primus)
Primal Command
Incendiary Command
Violent Ultimatum (Boom, Boom, Boom)
All of these coupled with the quality Cascade spells of Bloodbraid Elf, Captured Sunlight, Kathari Remnant, Bituminous Blast, Deny Reality, and Enlisted Wurm give you a deck entirely compromised of LD spells giving you a much more fluid game plan. And the fact that there are so many different routes you can take is also pretty inspiring.
When looking at making decks like this there is one inevitable Achilles heel that has plagued LD decks since Sinkhole and Ice Storm ruled the battlefield: Kird Ape, a.k.a. early threats. This was a recurring losing trend when testing this Grixis based deck. If I was on the draw and didn’t draw a Boomerang, they would be able to cast three-drops all game, which means a horde of Ram-Gangs, Finks, Leeches, Faeries, and whatever other nonsense in going on.
The bounce spells are the real reason I’m so attracted to this version, since it gives you a quality answer to the early beats while fitting into the grand scheme of locking the opponent down long enough to find a Broodmate/Bloodbraid and smash them. In all the versions I’ve tested so far my kill condition started with Broodmate, upgraded to Uril, downgraded to Sedris, the upgraded again to Broodmate. Of those, three Broodmate is by far the most efficient finisher since there aren’t any good non-Wrath answers to it other than double Path/Terminate/Maelstrom.
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
4 Rain of Tears
4 Captured Sunlight
4 Wrath of God
3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Primal Command
3 Deny Reality
3 Bituminous Blast
1 Sylvan Bounty
3 Rupture Spire
3 Vivid Crag
2 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Grove
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Mountain
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Fetid Heath
1 Twilight Mire
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Fire-lit Thicket
Sideboard:
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Woolly Thoctar
4 Kitchen Finks
This beauty is a little bit different. Screw turn 1 and 2, I’m looking to win the long game with the most consistent Cascading possible while leaning on massive life gain and Wrath of God to make up for the lack of early game.
I really want 27 lands in this deck to hit the 5 mana plateau each game, but I couldn’t find a reason why a Sylvan Bounty couldn’t replace #27 given the lack of two-drops and need for cards that push the game longer. Man, this deck just looks so janky, but I’m having a hard time losing with it given its long game supremacy.
Primal Command gives this deck a leaner look, needing only to play a single Broodmate to get the job done, but the molasses pace this deck runs at can be a little tough to play at times. The decisions are relatively easy, but when my opponent is three spells on the battlefield up on me, I really only have Wrath to lean on, and against Faeries that clearly isn’t going to work. Maindeck Maelstrom Pulse might be the answer, since missing a three-drop puts this deck pretty far behind.
On paper it’s really not that much slower than the Grixis deck, with them only having Charm and Boomerang as addition early plays.
The sideboard is where things heat up, since I have no intention of playing a bad LD deck all three of my games in a match. The brilliant part is that only the Rain of Tears and possibly Fulminator need to come out to change the entire direction of the deck. I toyed around with Blightning + Esper Charm to have a sick discard package that is as relenting as the LD tactics. In the end I found out having actual threats is a better idea, and few are more threatening than Woolly Thoctar and Kitchen Finks backed by Pulse. Anathemancer is another likely candidate for this type of sideboard, especially since this deck has no problem getting to seven and will cast the three-mana spells upwards of three times each per game.
This deck is also extremely vulnerable to Thought Hemorrhage, which is why I lean away from the predictable post board Anathemancer plan.
So then I tried a hybridized version…
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Broodmate Dragon
4 Rain of Tears
3 Grixis Charm
4 Wrath of God
3 Captured Sunlight
4 Cryptic Command
3 Primal Command
4 Bituminous Blast
4 Reflecting Pool
3 Rupture Spire
3 Vivid Marsh
2 Vivid Crag
2 Vivid Creek
1 Underground River
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Mystic Gate
3 Sunken Ruins
2 Cascade Bluffs
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Island
Much success! I couldn’t squeeze Boomerang in, but this might be the best five color LD deck in the history of Magic. I just feel like all the bases are covered.
– 11 resource-restricting three-drops
– 7 four-drops to find those three-drops
– Wrath and Primal Command to make up for off balance starts
– Cryptic Command
– A streamlined game plan that executes extremely reliably
– A sleek kill condition that’s resilient and doesn’t clutter the Cascade
– More sideboard options than Nassif in Kyoto
I’m not sure what else I need to win a PTQ, other than Billy by my side…
In these types of decks what you bring out from the board is just as important as what you bring to the table, so I’ve concocted a couple sideboard plans depending on what’s prevalent in Austin this weekend for the PTQ there…
4 Anathemancer
4 Volcanic Fallout
3 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Thought Hemorrhage
1 Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tender
This one is aimed to primarily combat Faeries. The LD plan against them is extremely fragile because they can operate under four mana without too much trouble thanks to Bitterblossom. They also only need to draw one counter to get up to four mana, which enables them to cast their entire deck. I’m really not expecting Faeries to be a big player in the Standard PTQs, but having Anathemancers for them is crucial since you can race them a good portion of the time.
Pulse is there to be a Wrath alternate opposite Spectral Procession decks, while Woolly Thoctar is the big hitter that combines with Anathemancer whenever the LD package comes out. I’ve just been boarding in two Maelstrom Pulse against Faeries because the Wraths are so horrible, but I’m reluctant because hitting 2-3 Mancers is the best way to win that match.
The singleton Burrenton has been extremely valuable since I seem to hit it a fair portion of the time, and you really only need one to beat the Red decks given how much life gain is already in this deck.
Of course, maybe the discard suite would make a good plan…
4 Esper Charm
3 Blightning
3 Thought Hemorrhage
3 Volcanic Fallout
2 Hallowed Burial
I only played about ten post board games with this sideboard, but it was pretty informational. Esper Charm is miles better than Blightning, and a key ingredient to stealing post board games where they’ve seen Wrath and are trying to play around it. Thought Hemorrhage is really there to stop all the Swans/Fog/Grinding players that will still be there in marginal numbers, but the entire discard plan isn’t needed against them. Usually the LD package is enough to slow them down considerably.
Bant has been another problematic deck for me to handle. With their quick turn 1 Hierarch/Bird it becomes futile to restrict their mana. However, it does help to cripple them if Wrath resolves before I die. Volcanic Fallout has been pretty darn good against the Bant decks out of board, and with maindeck Grixis Charm/Wrath for their Rhox War Monk/Rafiq, I feel pretty comfortable in that matchup as a whole.
Hallowed Burial is key here if they catch on quickly and dump their hand before the discard does its job, as having extra Wrath effects are all you need to win the game. In fact, the discard suite is so appealing it might be a viable tactic on its own in a main deck scheme.
The real reason to play this deck is the amazing matchup is has against 5CB and the Jund decks, who have an awkward time coordinating their offense through Wrath, Cryptic, and severely restricted resources. Not to mention the ability to steal games where they have off-balanced land-to-spell draws. It’s also a pretty good strategy to have a random win deck that beats the combo decks, 5CB, and Jund, one that boards into a deck that can handle Faeries and Bant.
Anyway, even if these decks don’t take off, I hope I gave you a deeper insight into what Cascade can do for you and the many new concepts that will be branching out because of this broken mechanic. It enables us to make our decks more fluid and predictable than ever before, and I’m excited to see what other people can come up with.
Thanks for reading…
Kyle