Hello this is my G/R Valakut Ramp deck, the first and only deck that I've ever physically owned. It is very special for me since it started with my first Mythic Rare from the first set of boosters that I bought for myself, the Primeval Titan.
Starting with the star of the show, the Primeval Titan is one of the key cards of the deck and the one that started the whole idea of it in the first place. It was banned for a time but recently I've noticed it was unbanned, coincidently with me coming back to Magic after 4 years. With its absolutely amazing triggered ability, I'm able to ramp uncontrollably while dealing some good trample damage. 3 out of 4 times, the Titan will use its ability to bring to the table the other star of the deck, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle!
Now Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has its name on the deck for a very good reason: it's the main win condition of this deck! After getting 5 Mountains, every other Mountain becomes a free Lightning Bolt, and that's when there's only one Valakut on the field. With all four of them and one trigger of the Primeval Titan's ability, 2 Mountains will deal 24 damage to the face of my opponent before he can even declare blockers!
With these two clarified, the focus of the deck is clear: Ramp. And land ramp in that regard. So I needed cards that could do that cheaply and quickly, and one of the best examples is Rampant Growth!
Rampant Growth,Explore and Harrow all are ramping spells that help to put into play my titans quicker and get my 5 minimum Mountains in play fast, so they are as important as the other cards! Harrow is especially strong paired with a Terramorphic Expanse, basically giving me two untapped basic lands with no negative sacrifices! Harrow can also work as a pseudo Primeval Titan on those rare cases where I already have 3 or more Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle out with 5 Mountains and only need 2 more for the win.(Edit: I've decided to change 4 Rampant Growth for 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder, since both do the same thing for the same amount of mana, but one can be a blocker, which is superior. I've also removed 2 Harrow to give space for 2 Khalni Heart Expedition, which has the potential to have an explosive effect when a Primeval Titan enters the battlefield.)
Sylvan Scrying is a newcomer that I decided to put replacing 4
Sylvan Ranger
since the latter's objective was getting a land anyway, Sylvan Scrying does the same but even better without the basic land limitation!
After I got my Primeval Titan, I discovered he was part of a group of Titans, one for each color. So, since I was already running red, I decided to add his fiery brother, the Inferno Titan, which can stand his ground pretty well and even win games by himself sometimes! He is especially good with Basilisk Collar, making him a strong board clearer and a great life source when in need! But ultimately I decided to switch Basilisk Collar with another artifact that gave me some control on emergency situations: The
Tumble Magnet
!
Tumble Magnet
is an amazing card for those moments when you're being run down by an aggro deck or there's some pesky artifact on the other side giving you trouble. For only 3 mana, being able to tap the opponents creatures or artifacts is very good! I've always felt like the
Tumble Magnet
was doing a good work when I played him, so I rarely switched him with something on the sideboard. And speaking of it...(Edit: I've decided to remove the 2
Tumble Magnet
plus 2 Inferno Titan to open space for Crucible of Worlds and Hammer of Purphoros, because giving haste to my Primeval Titan makes it much more effective at finishing the game quicker, while Crucible of Worlds prevents any land destruction to annihilate my main strategy and making it possible to keep putting Mountains in play through Hammer of Purphoros sacrifice outlet.)
The Sideboard, as most of us know, is where we keep those cards that are too specific to play every time but too good to ignore, and such is the case for one of my favorite cards, the Acidic Slime!
This creature is just the answer for everything. Pesky creature? Deathtouch. Annoying Artifact? Destroy. Irritating Enchantment? Destroy? Someone else is going for the land game? Not on Acidic Slime's watch! Great card all around!
Fog and
Grazing Gladehart
are my attempts to survive against hard aggro until I can get a Titan on the board. Both are good protection in different ways, with Fog saving me from some overbuffed infect creature and
Grazing Gladehart
keeping my life totals at a safe value while the big guns don't get to the field.(Edit: I've removed the 2
Grazing Gladehart
as they were to slow to effectively save me from aggro decks. Instead I added 2 Anger of the Gods to get the board clear while hopefully not killing my titans.)
There's also a few cards for those that like to be on control of the game all the time, especially blue counters. Autumn's Veil is a one mana answer to most problems my titans could face against blue or black and since I added it to the side it has always helped. Naturalize and the Leyline of Punishment are my white hate cards, a hate a grew thanks to my best friend with his mono-white lifelink deck. Even when it's not white, Naturalize is a great, cheap card to get rid of anything my titans can't hit, and Leyline of Punishment not only has a chance of being free from the start of the game but also has a sweet, sweet artwork.(Edit: Many of my friends recommended me to substitute Naturalize for Ancient Grudge because the meta right now rarely focus on enchantments over artifacts and Ancient Grudge has the ability of being used more than once thanks to Flashback, so I've decided to swap them to see how it would go.)
Finally the last 3 cards on the deck are kind of new and honestly could be better, but right now that's what I got lying around. Since graveyard recursion is getting bigger and bigger and in the past, when I played with this deck in Standard, there wasn't much of it and now on Modern graveyard recursion is almost in any deck I felt that I needed some kind of answer to that. Nihil Spellbomb, although not perfect, does the job well while being cheap and fast. Genesis Wave is here just because of the possibility of paying 9 mana and getting multiple titans on the field at once, giving me an automatic win.(Edit: I've decided to substitute Genesis Wave for a more appropriate sideboard card: Surgical Extraction. This card is very strong agaisnt combo decks and costing only 2 life points is very nice. I've also removed Nihil Spellbomb for the superior Relic of Progenitus.)
Well that is it, I believe there are many cards that could be good in this deck such as Scapeshift or Expedition Map but I don't know all cards in Magic and maybe there's something that fits right in in this deck, so please if you think of any card that might be good on this deck feel free to comment it! I appreciate all the help and hope to make this deck the best it can possibly be. Thanks!
