He's so angry that he's bringing his hammer down. Cause he's a cyclops. And a lumberjack.
Maybe not. But he's not here to mess around. He's enraged. And he's definitely here, to at least do that. Rage.
It takes a real lumberjack's courage to take on this 8-cost monster. Most people might cringe at the thought of such an investment that can just as easily be Doom Bladed or Exiled in an instant.
Still, it takes even MORE than just the stuff of woodsman to concoct an EDH brew like Tappedout user smash 10101's "Ermahgerd! Berbergermers" design.
This guy really knows how to be extreme. His gimmick is this.
87 Lands + 11 spells + a Heartwood Storyteller = Doing It!
And though I'm not this hardcore, I was inspired to optimize his level of hardcore into a nice 1-on-1 deck.
So the deck's strategy is as crude and primitive as Mr. Enraged himself.
The plan is simple:
1. Ramp up to Borborygmos
2. Play Borborygmos
3. Pitch as many land as you can, cast a Keen Sense or Snake Umbra, attack if you must.
4. If he survives, repeat while also trying to not die.
Ultimately, the magic number for me is 13 land. If you can pitch 13 land, you're probably winning with a Borborygmos swing. Of course, that's barring any life gain, etc.
I've projected in my deck that if all goes according to this horribly ridiculous plan, victory can come as early as Turn 4 and as late as Turn 8, and usually requires a combat step to get the extra 2-3 land you need to win.
In smash10101's build, that might be a lot different. You can check out his 87 land masterpiece here.
Ermahgerd! Berbergermers!
I reduced the land count to 70. Mostly cause playing the magic 69 like I wanted to felt really awkward.
Land
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Evolving Wilds
30 Forest
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Gruul Turf
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
26 Mountain
1 Slippery Karst
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Tranquil Thicket
Honestly though, I arrived at 70 lands out of sheer randomness. 87 was absurd and felt a little masochistic, while some of the other builds didn't dare go over the magic 45-47 you might see in Azusa decks. So I straddled the difference, and when I got to the deck sample testing phase, I found this amount seemed to be pretty good. I'd like to play a couple more if I could.
You'll also notice that the lands aren't real bank-breaking. That's cause there's really no need for any of them, except Ancient Tomb and Mikokoro. I might add a Terrain Generator back in here. Dryad Arbor's really great with the Green Sun's Zenith and Worldly Tutor.
Creatures
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Keeper of Progenitus
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Skyshroud Ranger
Creature base is pretty basic. Your main goal is getting Ol' Borby in play, so you're just trying to slam down as many lands as you can.
I chose more permanent-permanent based guys here, versus Sakura-Tribe Elder and other rampy guys that require sacrifice for ramp. We're going for recurring value.
Enchantment
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
1 Keen Sense
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Snake Umbra
1 Sylvan Library
There's some expensive stuff here, but it's worth it. Turn 1 Burgeoning or Exploration almost always ensures a Turn 4 Borby.
Keen Sense and Snake Umbra are there to combo with the General once you start tossing land away, while Rites of Flourishing and Sylvan Library are there to keep the lands a-flowing.
Artifact
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Horn of Greed
1 Storm Cauldron
1 Zuran Orb
Horn of Greed is definitely great in here. Zuran Orb and Crucible of Worlds have had mixed results, but I feel like they need to be here. They allow for nice combos with Storm Cauldron, helping me to move land to be in the right place at the right time.
If I could afford it, I'd love to have Sunstone and Snow-Covered basics here. For now, this has been fine.
Instant
1 Crop Rotation
1 Realms Uncharted
1 Sprouting Vines
1 Worldly Tutor
Crop Rotation has been surprisingly great, allowing me to get Mikokoro between turns 1-3, or Ancient Tomb or Temple of the False God when I need to cast my Commander. Getting Glacial Chasm also helps me not die. Sprouting Vines is just good for Instant speed, so I can hopefully leverage my opponent's spellcasting.
Sorcery
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Cultivate
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Mulch
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Wheel of Fortune
Sorceries are where all the bombs are in this deck. Having Creeping Renaissance, Life From the Loam, Reforge the Soul, or Wheel of Fortune almost always ensures a nice re-loading of the Borborygmos shotgun after I've tossed all the land away in my hand. Life from the Loam really relies more on the cycle lands to be a powerhouse, but it works.
Mulch and Seek the Horizon are supposed to do similar work. They have to be cast before any of the previously mentioned spells though because it doesn't make sense to discard them to Wheel or Reforge, and getting those lands back with Creeping is better value cause it's doubling the damage.
Kodama and Cultivate are actually here for early ramp support, but they've been known to get me that extra 3 damage in a tight spot.
Now, this is obviously pretty streamlined, and doesn't have any removal. So you could be pretty owned. There's a lot of high risk and reward with this build as is. It would definitely need to get a few games in at the table to pull a few cards here and there. Maybe Ancient Grudge and Heartwood Storyteller come back in from smash's original build. I don't know.
All I know is that this is one crazy combo deck, and this build is very good at getting the game over with.
I haven't heard any other news on the Grandpa Growth front, but I'm sure he's somewhere out in the world, doing whatever it is when he doesn't have the Internet.
So I'll pick up on Tuesday with something, before I was so hilariously distracted by the giant Cyclops in my way.
Have fun playing silly decks.
-UL
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