Abrupt Decay. Maelstrom Pulse. Thoughtseize. Remand. Mana Leak. Wrath of God. You know what these powerful Modern staples have in common? None of them kill lands. Lands are some of the most important, powerful, and underrated cards in the game. Today, we change that. For those of you who are fond of the Treasure Hunt and
Zombie Infestation
decks, sorry to disappoint you, but this deck is for beating your opponent's face in with the lands themselves.
The 28 Lands That Could
Players have always acknowledged the power of manlands. Just look at any W/U/x list and you'll see Celestial Colonnade just ready for a good time. In addition to the cards above, manlands are virtually immune to sorcery speed board wipes and removal(but fringe cases do happen), as well as pretty much any hand destruction spell. But white and blue are missing out on two key pieces of tech, which I will discuss later.
That being said, the individual lands are very important. Stirring Wildwood is amazing. It tanks combat damage like a champ and shrugs off Lightning Bolt. It can also block troublesome fliers like Inkmoth Nexus,
Delver of Secrets
, and Geist of Saint Traft tokens if need be. It even provides two colors of mana! The only drawback is its three mana activation cost. Treetop Village activates for two, but loses that critical fourth toughness in the bargain. Still, a 3/3 body with trample is playable, and even better with pump from Elspeth. Mutavault, the youngest sibling, activates for one and enters the battlefield untapped, making for great tempo. Dryad Arbor activates for zero, and can be fetched with Windswept Heath. The other lands are there for color fixing.
The Armory
The problem with using lands for your creatures, is that your lands are busy being creatures. They don't always have time to sit back and provide mana. And when they die, you're even farther behind. Thankfully, the folks at Wizards scribbled some things on some cardboard to make sure we'd be okay.
Twenty-eight lands is a lot. Like, a lot. You'll always have a few on hand, so Explore can get them out faster. Birds of Paradise also helps get mana out faster to keep the plan on schedule.
Speaking of ramp, Garruk Wildspeaker does that and provides extra value in the form of 3/3 bodies. His ultimate also adds sme much needed evasion.
Terra Eternal
also joins the party, making the manlands downright scary. If they weren't already scary enough.
The Backup
Even something so terrifying as an army of lands needs backup.What we have here is backup aplenty.
Obviously, this deck is slow, even with the ramp elements. It basically costs 2-4 mana to attack with our titanic god-slayers. Path to Exile wipes away practically any threat, and Wrath of God puts an assault force on its ass.
Meanwhile, Knight of the Reliquary avenges your fallen lands, growing stronger in her pursuit of justice with every land-brother that dies. She also let you tutor up another beater whenever one of your lands bites it or when you just need the color fixing. Elspeth, Knight-Errant is another powerful win condition, generating additional value every turn. Her ultimate also synergizes with, you guessed it, lands!
Speaking of value, Ms. Green Snapcaster herself is making an appearance. Eternal Witness can act as extra Wrath of Gods or Path to Exiles, or she can revive Elspeth, Knight, a land, a key enchantment, what-freaking-ever. All around value on a 2/2 body. The one-of Valorous Stance comes in as an extra removal spell against midrange decks and the like, but also serves as a protection spell in other matchups.
The Sideboard
Bojuka Bog: Against graveyard strats and that one Tarmogoyf that I actually got to see in person one time. Also good against Snapcaster Mage, Grixis Delver, Storm (sometimes), whatever. With Knight of the Reliquary, there are basically 5 chances to get this. Relic of Progenitus also fills this role.
Creeping Corrosion/Stony Silence are for Robots/Affinity or any deck that makes heavy use of utility artifacts or just artifacts in general (cough cough Tron cough).
Crucible of Worlds/
Trace of Abundance
are basically auto-includes for game 2 when they board in all of their land hate.
Qasali Pridemage
serves as the obligatory artifact/enchantment hate, with the added benefit of another body on the board if you need it, and exalted for when it counts.
Kor Firewalker
is a Dragon's Claw on legs that can walk on fire! Just seals the deal against burn.
And of Course, extra [[Wrath of God]ed] for the rainy day when I need it.
Thank You for Reading-- Feedback is Appreciated!
I'm looking for opinions on my Sideboard and on Maybeboard cards. If you mention a card to add, please at least suggest what to pull out. And fee free to playtest the heck out of it (I recommend untap.in because that's where I play, but do whatever you want) and let me know the results! Don't forget to +1, and have a great day!
