Imagine squaring off with someone, fists raised, poised for action when all of a sudden, the ground is ripped right out from under you. There exists no effective offense or defense; all that remains is to stagger about trying to regain some footing and hope that you aren't crushed beneath the weight of the Earth itself as it heaves to and fro.
There is nothing more frustrating than having a handful of spells with no way to cast them, which is exactly what this deck aims to accomplish. Without further hesitation...
Creatures:
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Elvish Pioneer
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Ravenous Baloth
3 Molder Slug
2 Hunted Wumpus
Creature Removal:
3 Starstorm
Land Destruction Spells:
4 Stone Rain
4 Molten Rain
4 Creeping Mold
3 Plow Under
Lands:
4 Wooded Foothills
9 Forest
8 Mountain
2 Contested Cliffs (Double as creature removal)
Side Board:
4 Naturalize
3 Flashfires
4 Wing Snare
3 Shatter
1 Starstorm
The core deck is pretty obvious, as the idea is to destroy your opponent's lands as quickly as possible and then brutally beat them with large Green men. A brief analysis of some of the seemingly odd choices is warranted:
Elvish Pioneer
Historically, Land Destruction decks have had eight acceleration spells main deck. The castration of Green acceleration in 8th Edition, however (I mourn you, Llanowar Elves), causes us to look to the pioneers for mana acceleration. While many of you may scoff, I have no hesitation to chump with these Elves, and a well placed first turn burn spell does nothing to slow the acceleration that the Elves offer.
Molten Rain
While there are other choices for Land Destruction (with both Demolish and Lay Waste costing the single red), I felt as though the eight possible second turn land denial spells were simply too vital to the deck's success.
Starstorm
More often than not Starstorm is a better fit than Pyroclasm for this deck. Starstorm punishes those who tap out, not to mention being an instant answer to a cycled Decree of Justice.
Hunted Wumpus
Despite his hefty drawback, Hunted Wumpus' rather large body more than makes up for whatever creature your opponent may put into play. A Contested Cliffs in play practically spells game over for your opponent as a Hunted Wumpus drops Exalted Angels, Eternal Dragons, Visara the Dreadful, and many of the other"tier 1" creatures directly into the graveyard.
Sideboard:
Naturalize and Flashfires are pretty obvious tech against Affinity, Slide, and White decks.
Wing Snare
The first"tech" call for the sideboard. Wing Snare dismantles so many popular decks. Exalted Angel, Eternal Dragon, Broodstar... all of the type 2 fliers fall to Wing Snare.
Shatter
With Affinity running rampant throughout Type 2, I felt as though Shatters were necessary in addition to the Naturalizes.
Starstorm
With one slot left, the fourth Starstorm fits in nicely as an extra piece of removal against aggressive decks.
Let's examine how the deck performs against a gauntlet of time-tested favorites.
Goblins
Goblins is the current deck to beat in standard. If the Goblins player burns
your Birds of Paradise then you're in for a tricky game, but if you get your acceleration going, then it's smooth sailing. An early Troll Ascetic usually means they're in for some trouble though, as they have no way to remove it. Should they happen to get the mana to resolve a Siege-Gang Commander make sure you have the mana available to Starstorm for two, as they most likely will have tapped out to cast him. Apart from the above, with the land-light Goblin builds, a Ravenous Baloth or a Molder Slug with an active Contested Cliffs should spell G-A-M-E for them.
Pre-Board 75-25
Post Board 80-20
Out: 1 Hunted Wumpus
In: 1 Starstorm
The typical goblin builds does not have a great many options for game 2. The worst thing that can happen is for a Goblin Charbelcher to resolve and become active, but how many Goblin decks have been boarding in Charbelchers lately?
Goblin Bidding
I did not playtest as intensively against Goblin Bidding as I did against regular Goblins for the simple reason that if you destroy their Black mana sources, Goblin Bidding becomes a toned-down version of the straight Red Goblins deck.
Pre-Board 80-20
Post Board 85-15
Out: 1 Hunted Wumpus
In: 1 Starstorm
The only real worry for you is taking a bunch of damage from a well-timed Goblin Sharpshooter. Again, Starstorm comes up huge here.
G/W Control
Here is a very bad game 1 matchup for Land Destruction. Their deck is built so that, if you do not get the second turn Stone Rain/Molten Rain, you're in for a long game. They run a creature base similar to yours (Troll Ascetic and Ravenous Baloths) and if you can't Contested Cliffs a face-down Exalted Angel then the game is basically over.
Pre-Board 35-65
Post Board 65-35
Out: 1 Molder Slug, 2 Hunted Wumpus
In: 3 Flashfires
After sideboarding the matchup increases drastically in your favor.
Flashfires cripples the effectiveness of their deck, making Exalted Angel
unwieldy to cast or flip, as well as neutering their ability to cast mass removal spells. The matchup in no way becomes a bye, but sideboarding helps you a lot.
U/W Control
U/W Control is bad news for Land Destruction. More often than not, a first turn Flooded Strand negates any Land Destruction you may have had planned. From there on, Mana Leaks, Complicates, and Rewinds make for a long boring game. The problem against U/W Control is that many versions run as many counters as you run Land Destruction spells, only they have card drawing to help dig them out.
Pre-Board 15-85
Post Board 30-70
Out: 1 Molder Slug, 2 Troll Ascetic, 2 Hunted Wumpus, 1 Plow Under, 1
Starstorm
In: 4 Naturalize, 3 Flashfires
Post Board U/W Control still causes a few too many problems for the match to
be positive. A well-timed Flashfires will slow them down to a crawl, but only if it resolves. Story Circle, Wing Shards, and Sacred Ground will generally come out of the board to make life impossible.
Mono Black Control
MBC is such a mana-hungry deck that this matchup is the proverbial cakewalk. Gone are the days of first-turn Duress. Many builds have taken to moving Wrench Mind to the sideboard, ensuring the effectiveness of your disruption. Troll Ascetic comes up huge in this matchup, as once you've begun to beat their lands into submission only a timely Infest (assuming they even have the mana) can save them.
Pre-Board 70-30
Post Board 60-40
Out: 2 Starstorm, 2 Hunted Wumpus
In: 4 Naturalize
MBC manages to bolster their chances to nearly even for the second game. Wrench Mind can give this artifact-less deck fits. If they manage to Wrench Mind out your threats early enough things are semi-bleak, though there are chances for recovery. The Naturalizes come in for Grid Monitor and the potentially deadly Extraplanar Lens.
Affinity
(Note: With all the versions of Affinity flying around I tested against the best version I could find, the U/B splash R for Shrapnel Blast).
Land Destruction gives Affinity headaches. The trick here is to keep their Blue mana off the table. Bait out counters with Plow Under. A Troll Ascetic dropped early can be very troublesome, but is a Molder Slug should happen to resolve they will probably just scoop.
Pre-Board 75-25
Post Board 85-15
Out: 2 Hunted Wumpus, 2 Starstorm, 1 Troll Ascetic, 2 Molten Rain
In: 4 Naturalize, 3 Shatter
(Editor's Note: Having tested this matchup, the Game 1 percentage isn't nearly as skewed towards G/R as the author claims, but Games 2 and 3 are a lot closer to hopeless if G/R sides in seven artifact destruction spells. -Knut)
After sideboarding, Shatters and Naturalizes become Stone Rains for all their artifact lands and give their already land light build a headache. Drop a Ravenous Baloth or a Molder Slug and just win.
Astral Slide
Tremendous amounts of card drawing along with reusable burn in the form of Lightning Rift make most decks cry. Land Destruction has a slight chance however, as Slide tends to drop comes-into-play-tapped lands on its first or second turn. If you can slow them down early, then your chances are good, but if not you might want to start sideboarding.
Pre-Board 40-60
Post Board 50-50
Out: 2 Hunted Wumpus, 3 Plow Under, 2 Molten Rain
In: 4 Naturalize, 3 Flashfires
What can I say? Post-sideboarding, the matchup simply does not improve all that much. Slide still has tremendous amounts of card drawing, not to mention too many important enchantments to choose from. Intelligent playing and a little luck make the match even, but it's still a crap shoot.
B/W Control
B/W Control is even more mana hungry than Mono Black, but with an added bonus for you - it has a shakier mana base. B/W does nothing offensively until the third turn and then it's just a face down Exalted Angel. As with so many other match types, once their White mana has been stripped the deck becomes fairly neutered.
Pre-Board 80-20
Post Board 70-30
Out: 2 Hunted Wumpus, 3 Starstorm, 1 Plow Under, 1 Molten Rain
In: 4 Naturalize, 3 Flashfires
Sacred Ground can be a pain post-board, but a well timed Naturalize/Creeping Mold lets you easily regain control. Flashfires again wreaks havoc with their mana base.
Conclusion
There you have it, R/G Land Destruction in a nutshell. I have found Land Destruction to be a viable choice for most metagames. The only decks that truly provide trouble are U/W Control and Slide, and the metagame is diverse enough that you may not see them that often. (Yeah, you won't see U/W Control all that often, right? - The Ferrett)
Should anyone have questions, comments, or constructive debate, feel free to e-mail me at jimminyjillickrs@hotmail.com. Good luck, and may all your opponents be frustrated.
Ben McDole
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