HELP!...Some kind of Scepter/Valakut thing

[Travis Lannoye]

I'm trying to come up with a slightly different idea for Valakut in Extended because I really don't like the Scapeshift combo idea. My first thought was to try and use Prismatic Omen to turn every land I have into a Mountain, which would then trigger Valakut every time I play any land.

The base of the deck would still be blue/green, but I also want to try splashing red for the Punishing Grove combo. Below is a sample list I put together online:

4 Valakut
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Stomping Ground
1 Steam Vents
3 Breeding Pool
3 Tolaria West
1 Forest
3 Island
(26)

2 Engineered Explosives
4 Prismatic Omen
2 Vedalken Shackles (combos with Omen)
(8)

4 Ancestral Vision
4 Repeal
4 Spell Snare
3 Into the Roil
1 Life from the Loam
2 Muddle the Mixture
4 Mana Leak
4 Punishing Fire
(26)

Sideboard:
- Firespout
- Krosan Grip
- Negate
- Flashfreeze
- some kind of graveyard hate
- Kitchen Finks

[crazedferret]

The combination zoo-scape deck was pretty decent. Go red green maybe something else in addition, get in some earlier beats and then finish with the scapeshift. It was rather effective as people kept thinking it was simply zoo or something close to it.

I don't like the prismatic omen unless you have more reasons to turn all your land into all lands and if you do that, then the deck becomes too dependent on prismatic omen.

[Travis Lannoye]

There are a several benefits to running Omens.
- Vedalken Shackles and Engineered Explosives become a whole lot better.
- You can trigger Valakut with any combination of lands. You can even play Valakut as your 6th land and it will trigger off itself.
- Fetchlands will trigger Valakut twice.
- You can play the Omen whenever you want to, without having to worry about having enough lands in play to trigger Valakut (unlike Scapeshift, which requires a specific number of lands in play at the time).

I realize that the deck is dependent on getting the Omen into play. However, I think that I should be able to force it through with enough counters and bounce spells. There's also the Punishing Grove combo as a backup plan, and I could include one or two copies of Meloku, the Clouded Mirror as an alternate win-condition.

[Travis Lannoye]

A little more testing last night revealed that my first list is way too vulnerable to enchantment hate and larger creatures. I found myself wanting to play a lot of the same spells that were in Adrian Sullivan's Bloodchief/Scepter deck from the Minnesota PTQ. However, I still wanted to play the Valakut/Omen combo. Hence, I've come up with this new list (asterisks indicate how many copies I do NOT have):

3 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 Verdant Catacombs
(26 land)

**4 Dark Confidant
***4 Isochron Scepter
**4 Prismatic Omen
(12 permanents)

3 Burst Lightning
1 Life from the Loam
4 Lightning Bolt
****4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
****4 Punishing Fire
2 Terminate
(22 instants)

Sideboard:
***3 Dead/Gone
3 Engineered Explosives
*3 Extirpate
3 Naturalize
3 Shadow of Doubt

Notes:
- The mana base is still pretty rough, but I tried to include at least one of each relevant shock land, two of each relevant fetch-land, and 1 of each non-red basic land (for Blood Moons). I also made sure to include 4 Valakuts and 4 Groves. The extra two spots went to R/W lands because those are the two most common colors.
- The deck has the exact same instant package that the Bloodchief deck has, except I have a 4th Path to Exile and one Life from the Loam. In fact, the only changes I made to Adrian's deck were as follows:
-4 Bloodchief Ascension, +4 Prismatic Omen
-3 Countryside Crusher, -3 Simian Spirit Guide, +1 Path to Exile, +1 Life from the Loam, +4 lands.
- Depending on what makes it into the sideboard, I might try to squeeze in either a Ghost Quarter or an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth for additional fixing. I know that Shadow of Doubt is really good right now, but the double-black mana cost is kinda tricky.

[Travis Lannoye]

Initial testing from last night was pretty good. I played a couple of games against Zoo and Thopter.
- The Zoo deck was pretty easy. I lost the first game because I only drew burn spells (no Paths or Terminates) and he got counters on his Jitte to keep his guys out of range. The other two games were a piece of cake. Imprinting Lightning Helix on Isochron Scepter is quite good.
- The Thopter deck was a little trickier. Game 1, he had both combo pieces in play by turn 3, which is damn near impossible for anyone to stop. I don't remember much of Game 2, but I think I either lost to the Thopter combo or won with the Prismatic Valakut combo. I know that in Game 3, I had Punishing Fire and double Grove of the Burnwillows going, and I eventually got there.

EDIT: Now I remember: in game 2, I stuck a Prismatic Omen and then managed to resolve Life from the Loam, returning two fetch lands that ended up dealing a total of 24 damage. I actually out-raced his Thopter combo with two active Valakuts.

EDIT: Played a round of three against UB Faeries today. Game 1, I lost to an active Jitte. Game 2, I got there on the back of Valakut + Prismatic Omen. Game 3, I lost to a turn 1 Bitterblossom. I think the mistake I made in game 3 was using my Scepter with Lightning Bolt on his Blossom tokens rather than on him. I'll have to remember that for the future.

[Travis Lannoye]

More good results from testing this weekend. I really like where this deck is going.

Changes from the last list:
-3 Burst Lightning, +3 Hide/Seek

[Travis Lannoye]

OK, I need some help on this one...

Further testing has shown that Cascade combo decks are by far the worst matchup for my deck. I have played about 4 different matches against the Living End Cascade deck, and the combination of massive LD and my lack of mass graveyard removal makes this matchup nearly impossible.

Right now, I know that game 1 is an auto-loss, as I have a lot of dead cards and no way to stop their combo. I know that I would board in 3 Extirpate and 3 Celestial Purge for 2 Terminates and 4 Lightning Bolts, and just hope to draw enough of them to survive.

There are certainly other options out there.
- I could try to get 4 Leylines of the Void, and hope to have one in my opening hand. However, if I don't get to play one for free, it will be very hard to get one out before their yard is full of guys already. Plus, it doesn't synergize with Dark Confidant or with Isochron Scepter.
- I could try to use Chalice of the Void for 0 to just counter their Living Ends. Unfortunately, this deck definitely plays Ingot Chewers in the board, and some even play them main-deck. Plus, I'd have to draw and play the Chalice before they cascade.
- I could try for something like Tormod's Crypt or Relic of Progenitus, but those two choices are fairly narrow options, and I would likely have to cut Extirpates for them, which would weaken my other matchups.
- I could try to bring Bloodchief Ascension back into the deck, and then try to get it online before they cascade. However, there is always the problem of being able to actually get the Ascension into play and online fast enough.
- One final thought I had was to try and squeeze blue into this list for counters and/or bounce. But, my current list is really tight right now, and it would be very hard to try and cut one of the other colors for it.

Anyone else got any bright ideas?

[Travis Lannoye]

Worldwake may have provided an answer for me in Bojuka Bog. Unfortunately, this would force me to try and squeeze it in along with Ghost Quarters to dig it up in response to the Living End spell.