Dimir Ramping
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 2, 2020, 1:54 p.m. by Ssserenity
I run 8 artifacts in my Scarab God Zombies edh deck. They are: Chrome Mox, Everflowing Chalice, Hedron Archive, Star Compass and Manalith. The cards I am thinking of adding are Sol Ring, Commander's Sphere, Dimir Signet, and Firemind Vessel. Should I replace some of them or find ways to add them?
Burnished Hart would be good to add as with the The Scarab God you can recycle it into a 4/4 or get another 2 lands (4 total).
I would find a way to add them in, Manalith I think has a few better options, one being Silumgar Monument.
March 2, 2020 6:01 p.m.
Straight up, Sol Ring is an auto-include in MOST edh decks. It costs 1 mana for the equivalent 4 mana Everflowing Chalice. Yes, chalice can get bigger however I rarely see them cast for more than X=6.
On the topic of how much ramp should you run - it comes down to the setting you play in (and no, this isn't just a binary competitive vs casual), the average CMC of the deck and the win condition.
Generally, the more competitive the setting, the higher the ramp count should be. The higher the average CMC of the deck, the more ramp you should have and the more aggro/beats oriented, the more ramp you should have. So a pretty competitive, aggro based deck with big stompy creatures hsould be looking as somewhere in the low 20's for number of ramp cards run.
4 mana in general is too low for a deck though. I aim for around 10-12 minimum and generally aim for lower costed ramp (2-3 CMC for more casual decks) unless the ramp effect does something very big and flashy (e.g. Boundless Realms - however only if it fits the mechanics of hte deck).
March 2, 2020 7:47 p.m.
multimedia says... #5
For sure add Sol Ring.
Lower CMC mana rocks: Arcane Signet, Talisman of Dominance, Dimir Signet that ETB untapped to make black mana are good with Zombies. K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth is not a Zombie, but has a powerful ability when playing a lot of black cards. He makes black mana costs able to be paid for with 2 life instead of mana. Make him huge with Gravecrawler and other black Zombies.
Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Bubbling Muck. Rituals are options for ramp especially Dark which can help to cast Scarab fast. Soldevi Adnate not a Zombie, but can be repeatable sac of Zombies to make black mana.
March 2, 2020 11:52 p.m.
Are you specifically looking to ramp with artifacts? In my dimir list I've been using the monoblack ramp combo Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and if running enough lands with basic land types coffers is quite often good ramp on it's own. You could throw a Expedition Map in there for some consistence.
DrukenReaps says... #2
For consistency I like to have around 10 cards which produce mana or fetch mana producers. I would try to find under preforming cards and add the mana makers.
March 2, 2020 2:28 p.m.