Hi all -
Ramp's lost quite a bit with the rotation of the Eldrazi. Nonetheless, the dominance of red and the resurgence of midrange decks means that the lifegain inherent to white/green and the natural staying power of big threats in standard makes the archetype attractive.
Honestly, I've always thought Sram, Senior Edificer was cool. Auras and Equipment are relatively rarely utilized in competitive play due to the ease of a 2-for-1 removal spell, so it appealed to me as a kind of build around card that's an outsider to the metagame. When I noticed that the ramp auras were seeing standard play, I immediately thought of Sram. Calling the deck Ramp is a little deceptive, as it only plays 5 ramp spells, but the pun in the name is too much to resist.
The late-game plan of this game is a single Verdant Sun's Avatar against aggro, which we will have outpaced with a large amount of lifegain and blockers in the mid game. Against midrange decks it is a lethal swing following Wakening Sun's Avatar, and against control decks we attempt to constantly recur Carnage Tyrant with our sideboarded Conqueror's Galleon
's regrow ability.
Ajani Unyielding is here because its +2 says Draw 2 or Draw 3 the majority of the time, and its -2 helps my weak removal suite. Unbridled Growth is just in as a 1-mana divination with Sram, though it does make the mana base a little safer (it's pretty safe already). Honestly, there's room for a couple deserts (perhaps a mainboard Scavenger Ground). The original plan for the deck included a Dowsing Dagger
but it is really too slow for standard.
This deck's weakness is bad removal. 2x Skysovereign, Consul's Flagship, 2x Angel of Sanctions, 4x Walking Ballista can't deal with any of the midrange threats or combo threats consistantly. Against red, I'm not worried - sideboarded Captured by the Consulate (which is an Aura!) on a Hazoret negates 11 cards out of a red deck by making them burn their own indestructible creature while turning off one of their best late game damage. With enough lifegain, remaining Ramunap's slow burn is pretty weak.Sanctions actually fits the open 5 slot and 6 slot with a removal slot quite well, but there are only room for 2.
I've played a lot of solitaire games, but am looking for meta-related advice.
