Let's Talk Ramos...
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Jan. 10, 2018, 8:34 p.m. by JANKYARD_DOG
Hey all, maybe y'all can help me with some decision making regarding the creation of a Ramos deck. Right not it's a pile of 200+ cards with various overlapping theme, which I will list below. If you have built around him yourself, or have ideas regarding inclusions that'd be great. A public list is not yet available but there really is nothing set (except the giant pile of aforementioned cards). On another note trying to stay as budget as possible so try to stay below $5 a card but don't let it limit your suggestions.
For those that don't know of Ramos, Dragon Engine, he resorts to turning +1/+1 counters into cash (Mana). That being said it would make sense to include a +1/+1 counter theme. Also, the more colors a card has, the better to generate more counters. Counter doubling cards like Vorel of the Hull Clade and Corpsejack Menace do well to ramp/boost with Ramos.
Charms: These are cards that usually offer choices, making them versatile for many situations and some can match to certain themes. Jund Charm for example is Artifact removal, restricted creature removal, or +1/+1 counters, while Silumgar's Command allows 2 choices. While they can fit any theme, there are so many of them its hard to choose the best ones. Alot of them offer control options (counters, removal, bounce), which them steers away from creature based deck (I think anyway), which wouldn't really require a +1/+1 counter theme.
A lot of multicolor cards seem to offer Cascade, this would allow Ramos to grow faster however may cast spells I'd rather hold onto (I.e. charms). Also could tie into a Voltron theme I suppose... didn't add alot of support in that area though.
Another possibility is using a go wide token strategy paired with the various Liege's of Shadowmoor/Lorwyn I.e Murkfiend Liege and Mindwrack Liege. Some are better than others, and would probably require a more expensive land base.
That's it for themes, would be nice to tie them all together but there's just not enough room for it all. There are also a few things I'd like opinions about. The first being I am thinking of including the Borderposts, how many I'm not sure, may just have a few to cover the prevalent colors. My reasoning is that the are mana rocks that have colored cost, ergo triggering Ramos if later in the game. My question is if it is worth it or to just include signers instead. Secondly, Is Urza's Filter worth including considering every card is multicolored or to risque? Thirdly, The Guildgates and The land that says "you win if you have all 10" worth it or no? Lastly.... I thought I had more, maybe I did and am now just drawing a blank, who knows.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Leave your comments, suggestions, alternate ideas, and/or builds and I'll get back when I can. TIA!
rob_shifflett says... #3
My Ramos brew is a Maze's End deck. Extra land plays, +1/+1 counters and charms; with several multicolored legends. Also, every card that makes permanents come into play tapped and an Amulet of Vigor for me. Vedalken Orrery and Seedborn Muse are killer with Ramos ready. Sunbird's Invocation is an all-star.
January 10, 2018 9:40 p.m.
one thing that seems fun is playing something like Ezuri, Claw of Progress (five counters) + Ramos, Dragon Engine for lots of mana.
January 10, 2018 9:55 p.m.
My Ramos deck is also my silver bordered contraption assembling deck. Its pretty budget for the most part and super fun. It leans on +1/+1 counter synergy cards to amp up Ramos and pump other creatures too.
Ramos, Contraption Engine - Unstable Here We Go!!
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 6 | 1977 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
January 10, 2018 11:33 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #6
SteelSentry: Thanks for the detailed response. I think it's safe to say Voltron's out of the lineup. I figured it would probably be focused on G/U for all the +1/+1 counter stuff, Marchesa would be a nice addition, especially considering there are alot of creatures that have "Whenever Name attacks/deals damage, do something with counters. There are 25 Multicolor charms, choosing the best of them is quite the task. And good stuff usually means expensive stuff... I do have a Progenitus kicking around I was going to include.
rob_shifflett: There doesn't seem to be alot of multicolor cards that fetch lands, unless I missed them all... Maze's End does seem like a fun win con, albeit slow. Also trying to stick exclusively with multicolor to maximize the counters Ramos gets per spell.
Wurmlover: Ezuri seems fun, not sure how many 2power and less are in the list but I'll add it.
Rzepkanut: Never been one for the Un-sets, but I'll have a look. Maybe there's other things in the list.
Thanks all for the comments.
January 11, 2018 9:25 a.m.
I have a build with a specific focus on Dream Halls. I run lots of search to get it and then the scariest most expensive creatures I can find. Its not great but it makes for interesting games. Winding Constrictor really breaks the Myojins. Also during an attack or block make 10 mana with Ramos, The Dragon Engine discard Welcome to the Fold to cast Flying Crane Technique with Dream Halls, Ramos, The Dragon Engine gets 3 more counters. Play Welcome to the Fold for madness cost X = 8 and Ramos gets another counter.
SteelSentry says... #2
Ultimately, it depends on what kind of deck you want to make here, but it seems like you could go 3 different directions with this:
1) +1/+1 counters
This is somewhat related to the Voltron theme. Your commander does put counters on himself, so this is a fine choice to either get some big boys or make a lot of mana quickly. Most of the synergy pieces and counter doublers for this strategy are in Abzan-Blue (), but there is nothing forcing you to play all 5 colors in just because Ramos makes all five. However, being able to splash red does give you a lot of dethrone creatures like Marchesa, the Black Rose which commanders like Atraxa or Ghave, who are the big +1/+1 counter commanders, are unable to play.
2) Voltron
Personally, this is the one I would least likely do, since there are much more powerful voltron commanders, and there's a lot more that Ramos can do other than just get big. Any token-based, play all the Lieges deck I feel would be better suited to a commander that's not colorless, since they won't help Ramos at all.
3) Goodstuff (Lucky Charms, no mono-colored cards)
The last option is to just play 5-color goodstuff, or a theme deck. This type of deck is the perfect one to run Maze's End, but I would try to have the guildgates be the only taplands you run. If you wanted to go far in on Gates, you could make a land-based deck. Lucky Charms is the name of a (frankly, bad) theme deck that only plays modal cards, and while it's not super powerful, I have heard from everyone that has a Lucky Charms deck that it is super fun to pilot. You could also make a deck that has no mono-colored cards, so you're only running gold cards and artifacts. It will definitely have a janky manabase and color issues, but it sounds like a blast and you will definitely turn heads at the table.
I hope that helps, and I would recommend posting the decklist here once you are able to pare it down a bit.
January 10, 2018 9:05 p.m.