Rogue and Budget Decks – Rampin’ Up Something Hot
05 Jan 2010 | David Li Wang
Rogue and Budget Decks – Rampin’ Up Something Hot aka R/G Valakut Ramp
I’m a massive fan of combo decks. Although I’m a Johnny/Spike/Timmy, the Johnny in me has always been far more dominant than the Spike, until early this year, when they became roughly equal. Nevertheless, I’ve still got the Johnny instinct. Whenever a card is spoiled on MTG Salvation, think of synergies and combos with the card. When Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle was spoiled, the first card I thought of was… Scapeshift. That’s right! Exactly what most Johnnies would think of. Anyway, one day when I was discussing the card with a friend and I brought up that a deck with the two cards would be viable in Extended, he laughed off the idea. I wanted to build the deck at the time but as I was focusing on preparing my Standard deck, my budget constraints hindered (Man there are so many puns possible with MTG cards!) me from doing so.
After seeing Antoine Ruel playing the deck at Pro Tour Austin, I was convinced the deck was viable in Extended. There was further success at Worlds with Scapeshift-Valakut, but the expensive mana base still prevented me from building the deck (Yes I’m a kid who doesn’t even have the $200 to buy a few Ravnica duals and Misty Rainforests, which is three quarters of the entire cost of the deck).
So I thought to myself, how was I going to get around this problem? The solution was to transfer the deck to Standard. However, I realised the biggest problem was that without Scapeshift in Standard, the deck would suck a lot more. Ouch. Anyway I persisted and attempted to make a list including sideboard under $100. I failed. It was still close though. It’s $114 in total ($77.50 for the main deck and $36.50 for the sideboard).
This was the list:
Lands (26)
3 Forest
13 Mountain
2 Jund Panorama $0.50
4 Terramorphic Expanse $2.00
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle $20.00
Creatures (10)
4 Bloodbraid Elf $14
4 Hell’s Thunder $20
2 Hellkite Charger $6.00
Non-Creature Spells (24)
4 Lightning Bolt $8.00
4 Burst Lightning $2.00
4 Expedition Map $1.00
4 Harrow $4.00
4 Khalni Heart Expedition $1.00
4 Rampant Growth $1.00
Sideboard
4 Magma Spray $2.00
3 Chandra Nalaar $14.00
3 Volcanic Fallout $12.00
3 Goblin Ruinblaster $4.50
2 Unstable Footing $2.00
If you read the third line of the creatures section and thought your eyesight went bad, I wouldn’t be surprised. Choosing Hellkite Charger shows how desperate I was to make a cheap deck under $100. I even convinced myself for an hour that it was decent because of the last ability’s synergy with Hell’s Thunder. However, because the deck was not under $100, I promptly replaced them with Bogardan Hellkites, which are $10 each.
My favourite aspect of the deck is the turn 5 kill. It may be rare but it does happen occasionally if you get greedy and keep a nuts draw.
Let’s go through the deck and its cards!
The strategy is simple. Have a Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and ramp up to 5 Mountains ASAP and every Mountain that enters the battlefield through the myriad of ways, will be a Lightning Bolt. Have 2 Valakut on the battlefield? Even better! The other creature cards in the deck try to get through with more damage and can help you win the damage race. The burn spells are there as finishers or sources of removal.
The deck doesn’t require an active Valakut in order to win but an active Valakut, makes the win far more likely.
Lands – Running 26 lands is pretty self explanatory. You don’t want to miss a land drop at all.
Terramorphic Expanse – They are there to fetch out your Forests early on or Mountains late in the game to act as instant Lightning Bolts.
Jund Panorama – They seem like an awful choice but you definitely need them as Terramorphic Expanses 5-6, fetching out Forests or Mountains.
Bloodbraid Elf – How can anyone possibly not run this creature in a deck that uses both of its colours? It Cascades and it attacks the turn it hits the board. It’s perfect.
Hell’s Thunder – A lot of the time it’s 3 mana for 4 damage and you can bring it back again for another 4 damage. It is awesome in getting your opponent’s life total down to a reachable amount for your Valakuts.
Bogardan Hellkite – May seem slow, but this deck can ramp up to 8 mana easily. Flashing it at the end of your opponent’s turn and then attacking during your turn, can usually mean game over for your opponent.
Lightning Bolt – The most efficient burn spell in Standard. 1 mana 3 damage. Need I say more? If you don’t have this card in this deck, something has gone miserably wrong with your head.
Burst Lightning – Another source of removal and can often be a finisher with your unused mana.
Expedition Map – 4 Valakuts in this deck are not enough. You need Expedition Map to fetch them out, especially if your opponent has sideboarded in Goblin Ruinblasters or Spreading Seas. Sometimes late in the game, they can also search for another Mountain to enable you to finish off your opponent.
Harrow – One of the best ramping accelerators in Standard. From my experience this was the card that was played most regularly during turn 3, followed up by a Rampant Growth, Khalni Heart Expedition, Expedition Map or just leaving mana open for your removal. An absolutely essential card in this deck!
Khalni Heart Expedition – Usually has its counters on 3 so quick, that you won’t have to fear the Maelstrom Pulse that much. It usually fetches out the 4th and 5th Mountains and gets Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle active.
Rampant Growth – Another rampin’ card. Not too bad at all and fits perfectly into the deck.
Sideboard Cards
Magma Spray – Magma Spray is there against the pesky creatures such Bloodghast, Hellspark Elemental and Hell’s Thunder in the Vampire and RDW match ups. It’s also very useful against Boros Bushwhacker and other weenie decks.
Chandra Nalaar – One of your solutions to Baneslayer Angel. Baneslayer Angel is probably one of the only creatures that makes life extremely difficult for you by almost reversing your damage each turn. Dropping Chandra after Baneslayer has hit the field, eliminates it and usually fogs some damage for you too. If it doesn’t fog some damage, you can ping your opponent.
Volcanic Fallout – One of the most needed cards in the deck and I occasionally throw it into the main deck. It’s used against Boros Bushwhacker and other weenie decks. Can also possibly be brought in against Jund.
Unstable Footing – Your tech against Jacerator and Turbofog and it is usually a Lava Axe to finish off your opponent.
Possible Alterations
There are a few cards that warrant a place in this deck but I’m still uncertain of because I haven’t tried them enough yet. The sideboard is obviously going to be changed based on your metagame. Some possibilities include:
Rampaging Baloths – The cost of 2 green does hurt and slows you down from getting your 5 Mountains. However, this card is NUTS! Like Magical Christmas Land, this deck can pump out loads and loads of 4/4 beasts. Once you have them, it’s pretty hard to lose if your opponent doesn’t play a sweeper.
Siege-Gang Commander – A card really worth trying out for several reasons, but doesn’t work out if you have Volcanic Fallout. The chumpers it provides are very handy and can potentially deal lethal damage.
Earthquake – A possible sweeper that can also act as a finisher. The only problems I have with Earthquake are that you don’t want Bloodbraid Elf to cascade into it and sometimes it can end games in a draw.
Caldera Hellion – Very effective sweeper that can also devour up your Hell’s Thunders. Personally I prefer Volcanic Fallout but this can make its way into the deck.
Blitz Hellion – A creature that can deal some serious damage.
Naturalise – Can be handy against Spreading Seas in the sideboard.
Splashing another colour:
Personally I’m not in favour of splashing another colour although it can enable other possibilities. If you want to splash another colour, you’re probably better off spending more money and playing Magical Christmas Land variants by Conley Woods.
Match Ups
This deck obviously lacks the consistency that decks like Jund and Naya can produce, but it is like Magical Christmas Land in terms of power, able to pull of crazy feats. With a good draw, it basically can play solitaire and almost ignore the opponent.
Jund – You won’t have much difficulty until you face Blightning. Then again Blightning always shows up. The match up is not considered favourable but I would say pretty winnable. Goblin Ruinblaster is also a problem, but you have Expedition Maps.
Boros Bushwhacker – Game 1 is all about if you have the Lightning Bolts and Burst Lightnings or the nuts draw for the Turn 5 or 6 kill. If you have neither, prepare to lose. After sideboard, with Volcanic Fallout, the match up is much more favourable and probably just in your favour.
Naya – Baneslayer Angels are annoying. Everyone knows that but Chandra will come to the rescue for you. If they don’t gain much life, you can probably win this.
Red Deck Wins – They are a much more consistent version of this deck, but sometimes this deck can pull off a much faster start and outrace to win.
Control decks – Goblin Ruinblaster will help you and the Unstable Footings make the Turbofog and Jacerator match ups easier.
For those without budget concerns:
As the deck doesn’t purely rely on active Valakut to win, a transformational sideboard can possibly be made for this deck. Turning the deck into an inferior version of RDW after sideboard can be beneficial, and can possibly make the Jund match up easier. Throwing in some fetch lands can also make this deck better, triggering Landfall on the Khalni Heart Expeditions more and also acting as instant speed Lightning Bolts. Fetch lands may also enable a splash with a transformational sideboard. Maybe even rampin’ up to an early Baneslayer will be possible (Although that’s too ambitious, too greedy and definitely too expensive).
Anyway here’s the decklist reposted again but with the Bogardan Hellkite alteration. The total cost of the deck now stands at $128 at Good Games ($91.50 for the main deck and $46.50 for the sideboard)
Lands (26)
3 Forest
13 Mountain
2 Jund Panorama $0.50
4 Terramorphic Expanse $2.00
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle $20.00
Creatures (10)
4 Bloodbraid Elf $14.00
4 Hell’s Thunder $20.00
2 Hellkite Charger $20.00
Non-Creature Spells (24)
4 Lightning Bolt $8.00
4 Burst Lightning $2.00
4 Expedition Map $1.00
4 Harrow $4.00
4 Khalni Heart Expedition $1.00
4 Rampant Growth $1.00
Sideboard
4 Magma Spray $2.00
3 Chandra Nalaar $14.00
3 Volcanic Fallout $12.00
3 Goblin Ruinblaster $4.50
2 Unstable Footing $2.00
Remember that this deck in its current form is real cheap and can come up with some awesome wins. I had an incredible time testing this deck and killing between turns 5 and 7. Due to this happening, I decided to name this deck Rampin’ Up Something Hot with the acronym being RUSH. However, unlike the Extended Scapeshift-Valakut deck which almost always kills when it goes off, going off with this deck may not always guarantee a win, but it will always at least get you close.
Anyway brew up your own variation of this deck! There’s room to improve and innovate! It has some potential and is great fun!
That’s all for this week! Give this deck a run! Good Games! Good Times! GG!
By David Li Wang aka RedBluePlayer on Good Games Forums and MTG Salvation
For discussion.