6th Place at Texas States With Valakut Titan
October 17, 2010 | Posted by Dee
I was pretty excited to play in States this year. First, I spent a lot of time preparing. If you recall my last post from over three weeks ago, I played over 60 full matches with the Valakut Titan Ramp deck. Plus, I played many uncompleted matches that ended up being 1-0, 0-1, or 1-1 because my opponent quit or we got disconnected.
I had a lot of experience with the deck and it performed very well so I had no reason to try out other decks. With all the practice, I felt I had a good shot of doing well in States.
States was the second big Constructed tournament I played in. The first one was Regionals in 2008 but I don’t really count that too much since I was playing a budget build.
My financial situation has gotten much better since then, so I had the resources to buy and trade for a top tier deck.
I was a little concerned when Valakut got 1st place in a 5K tournament a week before States. I thought about switching decks to avoid the hate but I didn’t have time to test other decks. Anyways, I think being very familiar with your deck is a pretty big factor. I just stuck with Valakut and hoped to avoid RDW, Leonin Arbiter, Tunnel Ignus, and Leyline of Sanctity.
My final list is a little different from my last post. I didn’t have time to practice very much the week leading up to States but I felt like my list needed some tuning. Fortunately, I found a list that was winning a lot on Magic-League. It looked similar to my build and small differences seemed solid. Also, the list was played by one of the top 50 Constructed players.
Here’s what I registered.
| Valakut Titan Ramp | |||||||||||
Creatures (10) Spells (23) Lands (27) | Sideboard (15) |
| |||||||||
Decklist Analysis
The only change I made was cutting four Manic Vandals from the sideboard for four Naturalize. Naturalize seemed better because of its flexibility. You could blow up Volition Reins and Journey to Nowhere as well as problematic artifacts.
The deck performed well all day and I wouldn’t change anything other than maybe swapping 2 Pyroclasm for 2 Lightning Bolt from sideboard to main deck. Pyroclasm is awesome against small creature decks. UR and UWR control decks are packing them main.
A couple things about the card choices.
In my testing, Avenger of Zendikar was the clear 2nd best fattie. It was much better than Inferno Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, and Rampaging Baloths.
I like Avenger because it is solid in so many matchups. This was important because I thought States would be a diverse field. My hunch was right. I ended up playing a different deck in each round.
Avenger gives you infinite chump blockers versus aggro and midrange. It beats up control if they don’t have a sweeper. It gives you a super fast clock especially late in the game when you’re both in topdeck mode. It has more synergy with the rest of the deck than the other non-Primeval Titan fatties. For example, Avenger + Harrow or Primeval Titan is just sick.
Avenger is less vulnerable to Act of Treason and Mark of Mutiny. The 5/5 is often your best card against Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp, which is a popular deck.
Basically, I wouldn’t play the deck without four Avengers. Avenger is just at a higher power level than the other fatties and it is better in more matchups.
[Buy Primeval Titan and Avenger of Zendikar at low prices on eBay]
That said, I’m not sure about Inferno Titan. I haven’t done enough testing but Wurmcoil Engine or Rampaging Baloths may be better.
The spell suite is mostly ramp spells that provide two functions. The ramp spells allows you to hit six mana on turn four or five and they allow you to trigger Valakut multiple times per turn once you get the volcano active. This is why I passed on Overgrown Battlement. The wall doesn’t have synergy with an active Valakut. Also, it leaves you open to cards like Flame Slash and Oust, which have become more popular.
Oracle of Mul Daya is good if you expect midrange and control but the other ramp spells are better against fast decks. I expected an aggro field so I didn’t play Oracle.
I played 4 Bolts to fight aggro, which can be a tough matchup. Aggro decks can kill on turn four and five. You want a way to slow them down because your fastest kill is turn five.
I see some people cutting Harrow but it’s been one of the best ramp spells for me. In mid game or late game, Harrow is pretty sick with Valakut and Avenger. Plus, Harrow allows you do crazy early turns like turn two (t2) Khalni Heart Expedition, t3 Harrow + Explore, and t4 you have eight lands! Also, you can go t3 Harrow + Pyroclasm or Bolt against aggro.
I initially was skeptical of “sac a land” cost because of Mana Leak but I’ve found that you can play around counterspells if you’re careful. Usually the blue control player has to counter your other ramp spells to slow you down. This means you can cast Harrow when the coast is clear. You always have the option of boarding out a couple against a heavy counterspell deck.
Summoning Trap is great against counterspells, of course. But I like it main because it often acts like extra copies of Avenger or Primeval Titan. I want to have four copies of Trap but I can’t really fit it because I don’t want to cut ramp spells or removal and if you cut fatties, then Trap becomes less consistent.
Regarding the lands, I think you want at least 12 green sources to lower your chances of mulliganing. 11 Mountains is probably the lowest you want to go. In some games, you will need them all to win.
I could see going 5 Forest and 7 fetchlands or 4 Forest and 8 fetchlands. It all depends if you want access to more Mountains or untapped lands.
If you’re playing Explore, I think 27 lands or more is a must.
The sideboard is pretty straightforward. If you haven’t tested Tunnel Ignus, he is awesome in the mirror match. If they cast Harrow, crack Khalni Heart Expedition, or search for two lands with Titan, they take six damage.
Tournament Report
Like I said, I was pretty confident because of all my playtesting and the positive results from the testing. But things got even better. David Campano hooked me up with a secret weapon: sweet plant tokens.
He got them from Inkwell Looter. Everyone who saw them liked them and I thought they were pretty cool myself. Much better than the crappy Faerie tokens I was going to use since I forgot to buy plant tokens.
Onto the tournament! There were 109 players for 7 rounds of swiss.
By the way, when I say “Titan” in this report, I mean Primeval Titan.
Round 1 vs Bant Ramp
Game 1
He played Overgrown Battlement into turn three Garruk. Then, he started making tokens. I cast Titan on turn four and he had no removal. Turn five, he took over 20 damage due to a Titan attack and Cultivate.
Game 2
I sideboarded -4 Bolt +4 Tunnel Ignus.
I didn’t see a blue mana source in game one but he played Misty Rainforest early this game. I baited a possible counterspell with Explore. He Negated it. Then he tapped out for Baneslayer. The coast was clear so I played Primeval Titan. He attacked with Baneslayer and gained three life after he played Elspeth Tirel. He was at 28 life.
I played a third Valakut and dealt 36 lava damage by attacking with Titan and casting a second one.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-0
Round 2 vs Mono Green Elves
Game 1
He had a fast start and I died on turn four. Maybe I could’ve come back but I couldn’t topdeck a land to hit six mana on turn four for a fattie.
Game 2
I sided in 4 Pyroclasm for 2 Khalni Heart Expedition, 1 Trap, and 1 Avenger.
He got me down to 12 by turn four with two 2/2s and Vengevine. I played a Titan on turn five to stop his assault. On turn six, I played Pyroclasm and another Titan to clear his board. I couldn’t kill him yet because he gained 13 life from Leyline of Vitality and Nissa Revane. I mowed down all his non-land permanents with fire from volcanoes. He drew his card for the turn, compared his empty board with my two Titans and two Valakuts, and conceded.
Game 3
He mulled to six and had a slow start. Again, I had two early Titans and he didn’t have an answer to them.
Matches 2-0, 4-1
Round 3 vs Green/Black Poison
Game 1
I was on the draw. I played Cultivate on turn three and then ate 10 poison counters on turn four. He said that was the fastest kill he’d ever had.
Game 2
He mentioned he wasn’t sure what deck I was playing. All he saw from me was Cultivate, a fetchland, Forests, and Mountains. He put me on Red/Green Destructive Force, so I was pretty happy.
I brought in the same sideboard package from my last match:
+4 Pyroclasm
-2 Khalni Heart Expedition
-1 Trap
-1 Avenger
I cast two Pyroclasms so he wasn’t able to mount an offense. I played Inferno Titan for even more removal. Two attacks later he was dead.
Game 3
He went back to his sideboard so I was probably facing a couple Memoricide.
I had an early Pyroclasm to stop his early rush.
I was ready to play Titan but he played Mimic Vat. Titan imprinted on Vat is pretty awkward.
Fortunately, I ripped a land so I played Avenger instead. He did have a removal spell but I didn’t fear Avenger on Vat since he only had five lands and I had seven 0/1s for chump blockers. Plus, I had Pyroclasm in case things got crazy.
Next turn, I played Titan to setup Valakut. He didn’t have a second removal spell. Then, I Trapped into another Titan to deal 24 volcano damage.
Matches 3-0, 6-2
Round 4 vs Blue/White Control
My opponent this match was Kyle Sanchez, one of the top players in the state and former Starcitygames writer. He beat me twice in Scars draft two weekends ago at a launch party. He was my only loss in the swiss rounds and then beat me in the semifinals. In game three of our last match, I mulled to five and got stuck on three mana. I had a solid chance of winning if I had drawn a fourth mana source.
Anyways, I was looking for revenge.
Game 1
He was mana screwed at four mana and cast Wall of Omens so he only had two mana open. I had Titan and Trap so it was time to set the trap. He had Mana Leak for Titan and I Trapped into another Titan.
Then, I topdecked Valakut to add insult to injury. He had Condemn but had to take 18 damage from erupting volcanoes. Next turn, I won with Cultivate.
Game 2
I brought in three Gaea’s Revenge but I can’t remember what I cut. If was to play the matchup again, I would cut two Inferno Titans and one Harrow. Most UW Control decks are bringing Leonin Arbiter so you want to leave the Bolts in. If they have Leyline of Sanctity instead, cut the Bolts, bring back Inferno Titan and Harrow, and side in one Naturalize.
I thought I would win this game because I cast Gaea’s Revenge when the battlefield was empty except for lands. Plus, he wasted Journey to Nowhere on it. However, he cast Baneslayer Angel to stop Gaea’s Revenge.
I resolved a Titan but I misplayed when I tried to kill Baneslayer with Terramorphic Expanse into a Mountain. He had a Tectonic Edge that I didn’t see and destroyed a Valakut in response. Baneslayer ended up only taking three lava damage. Awkward.
After that, he had a second Journey for Titan. Then, he countered all my spells and Edged my other Valakut. I died to an aerial assault of Baneslayer and Celestial Colonnade.
I estimate I had a 30-40% chance of winning if I didn’t misplay with Terramorphic Expanse.
Game 3
He got stuck on four lands and I resolved two fatties. He scooped. Even if he had counterspells for them, I had double Trap in hand!
Revenge was mine hehe.
Matches 4-0, 8-3
Round 5 vs Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp
I was excited at this point because if I won my next match, there was a chance I could double draw into top eight.
I found my opponent and felt even better because I knew he was playing Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp. We played next to each other in previous rounds. I think Valakut has a slight advantage in the matchup.
Game 1
I mulled a hand without any green mana. My six card hand was Inferno Titan, Avenger, and four lands including Evolving Wilds. It was really slow but I don’t like going down to five cards because I only have 12 green mana sources.
Well, I didn’t draw mana ramp spells early and he had a solid draw. He had plenty of time to ramp up his mana and I lost to Wurmcoil Engine, a hardcast Ulamog, and a hardcast Emrakul.
Game 2
I sided in four Tunnel Ignus for four Bolts.
It was deja vu. I had to mull again and kept a four lander with Titan and Avenger. I also misplayed by playing Titan instead of Avenger. Avenger is usually the better card in the matchup because you can sac tokens to annihilator. It didn’t matter though. EOT he Trapped into Emrakul and then cast Terastodon. Even Avenger could not have saved me from that beating.
Matches 4-1, 8-5
Round 6 vs Blue/Red Koth Midrange
Game 1
I came out slow and he had an early Wurmcoil Engine. I cast an Avenger to chump block for a while. He got up to 39 life.
However, I drew into another Avenger and then a Titan. With Khalni Heart Expedition and Titan, I destroyed his team and dealt him 27 damage. He had Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar to kill Titan but I still had two Avengers, 30 power worth of plant tokens, and three active Valakuts. He conceded.
This game shows why I like Avenger over other non-Titan fatties. The infinite chump blockers is a lot of value.
Game 2
I left the main deck unchanged.
I mulled to five, stumbled on mana, and he was too fast with a turn three Koth and then Trinket Mage.
Game 3
I saw more artifacts last game so I boarded in 2 Naturalize for 2 Bolts.
I played Khalni Heart Expedition on turn two and then Naturalized his Everflowing Chalice on turn three. Next, I had another Khalni Heart Expedition.
He had Trinket Mage, which hit me twice. I just kept playing lands to get my enchantments active. He tapped out for Wurmcoil Engine. I cast Titan, searched out two Valakuts, and played a third Valakut. I went on two expeditions and found four Mountains. He died a fiery death, taking 36 damage. Overkill much?
This is why I like the enchantment over Overgrown Battlement.
Matches 5-1, 10-6
Round 7 vs White/Green Monument Aggro
The standings were up and I was in eight place. There were too many players with 15 points so I had to play. Plus, the 15 pointers above us decided to draw. One of them got ninth place after going 5-0 and then conceding round six. Ouch.
Game 1
I had two Bolts to slow him down and then I could rip a sixth land to play Titan. Instead, I ripped two straight enchantments lol. He killed me with Garruk’s ultimate and some random dorks.
So Khalni Heart Expedition often sucks in mid or late game but I still like it over the 0/4 wall.
Game 2
I used my standard sideboard plan for small creature decks: +4 Pyroclasm, -2 Khalni Heart Expedition, -1 Avenger, and -1 Trap.
He had a turn two Luminarch Ascension. I smiled inside. I don’t think I’ve ever lost to that card. It’s not very good against Valakut and gets even worse in a non-control deck.
I had Bolt for his first creature. Then, I played Inferno Titan to destroy Fauna Shaman and shoot him for one damage. Avenger came down the following turn. He conceded with two counters on Luminarch Ascension.
Game 3
I was strangely calm even though it was one game to see who gets to advance to top eight. I think my nerves were calmed because I had practiced so much with the deck.
Anyways, this game was epic even though it only lasted five turns.
He started off with Birds of Paradise turn one (t1) and then Fauna Shaman and another Birds on t2.
On t3, he attacked me down to 18 and played Nest Invader. On t4, I went down to 14 and he sacced the Eldrazi Spawn token and tapped all his mana for Wurmcoil Engine.
Fortunately, I had enough ramp to counter back with a t4 Titan.
On t5, he tapped five mana so I thought I was dead to Overwhelming Stampede. Instead, he cast Eldrazi Monument. I thought I was safe for a second but then I realized he had a 6/6 lifelinker on the board. We counted up the damage. I took 13 and was down to my final life point. He went up to 27.
On t5, I dealt 36 damage:
12 from Titan trigger
6 from Titan combat damage
18 from two Cultivates
Got there 
I got lucky because he got stuck on three land. Otherwise he could’ve attacked with Birds for the final point of damage. At the same time, he got lucky I didn’t draw any of my eight removal spells.
Matches 6-1, 12-7
I’d never top eighted a big tournament so I was soaking in the process.
Basically, the head judge calls out each top eight competitor in order of their seeding. I was the second seed so that was cool.
Next, you give your deck box and they do a deck check. Then, they lay out all the eight prize playmats and put your deck box on one of them. You look for your deck box, sit down, and battle. The playmats were sweet.
Interestingly enough, it was actually my first time to play on a playmat.
Quarterfinals vs Mirror
Unfortunately, I got paired against the mirror so I had to get lucky. Valakut mirrors remind me of Faerie mirrors. Titan is Bitterblossom. Plus, both decks are a dogs to Mono Red Aggro.
Okay, it’s probably bad to compare Valakut to Faeries. Faeries is an interactive deck and Valakut is not (except against Blue Control decks).
Game 1
I was on the play and keep a hand with four lands, Cultivate, Inferno Titan, and Avenger of Zendikar. I played the first fattie, Inferno Titan, on t5. His t5 was Inferno Titan and Bolt to kill my 6/6.
I cast Avenger of Zendikar. He killed it with Inferno Titan and a Valakut trigger.
I topdecked a Valakut to give me two on the battlefield. Then, I cast Harrow to kill his 6/6 and deal six damage to him. I played a second Inferno Titan and hit him for three. He was at eight life.
EOT he Trapped into Titan and then cast a second Titan. I took my own medicine, 24 fiery damage from volcanoes.
Game 2
We both mulled to six. I kept four lands, a Tunnel Ignus, and a Titan. Unfortunately, I didn’t draw a ramp spell or another Tunnel Ignus in five draw steps. On the other hand, he had Harrow to play his Titan on t5.
He killed me on t6 right after I played Titan. Turn six Titan doesn’t usually cut it.
Oh yeah, what about Tunnel Ignus?
The hate bear definitely made it interesting because Harrow dealt six to him and it was attacking for two each turn. I got him down to eight life with just Tunnel Ignus. My opponent even neglected to use Titan’s trigger to avoid taking six damage.
However, I misplayed by not attacking Koth. He was able to ultimate Koth, which allowed him to ping Tunnel Ignus with a Mountain. If I had attacked Koth, he still could’ve won but the winning play would’ve been hard to find.
Matches 6-2, 12-9 (6th place out of 109)
After I lost, I went to get my prize from one of the judges. He asked me if I want to sell my playmat for $20. I asked, “Why are you buying them?” He said, “I collect them.”
He had States playmats from the last four years. I thought about it for a bit and decided I wanted a souvenir of my first top eight in a big tournament
14 Responses to “6th Place at Texas States With Valakut Titan”
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Dee, I’ve been seeing a lot of valakut ramp decks running a swamp and three memoricides in the sideboard, how do you feel about that? Did you playtest it at all?
I did playtest Memoricide initially about a month ago. I cut it pretty quickly because it seemed mediocre since combo decks like Pyromancer Ascension were not popular.
Pyromancer Ascension has gained some popularity but I don’t think it’s popular enough to start playing Memoricide.
Some people like Memoricide vs other ramp decks but I think Tunnel Ignus is much better. You can Memoricide your opponent’s Primeval Titans but they can still win with Avenger, Eldrazi creatures, or Terastodon. And Trap allows them to get these creatures out for only six mana.
Plus, Memoricide slows down your Valakut setup because you have to fetch a Swamp.
I realize I’m a little late on the comment haha but in regards to Memoricide, the swamp isn’t such a bad thing. After playing Memoricide, if you don’t have another in hand, you can always sac the swamp to harrow providing you have it, then it won’t affect your forest or mountain count
no Ravines?
I would consider some wurmcoils in the board for fast RDW matchups, especially since I expect a rise in the meta given the results of some of the Boston tourneys (I am actually currently playing a Strobe based build that is extremely, extremely fast, but pretty much scoops if you can land a wurmcoil).
@ JABluemage
I haven’t tested out Ravines but in theory they don’t seem that great because you want your fixing to be able to get Mountains. Valakut is your primary plan so I think fetches are better.
1 or 2 copies is probably ok though.
@ Beau
Good point. I replaced one Inferno Titan with Wurmcoil and once I get another Wurmcoil, I’ll replace the other Inferno.
Also, I cut 2 Naturalize for 2 Fog in the sb to fight Act of Treason from RDW.
Hey Dee,
congratulations to your finish. I think we talked a bit about Jund last season, so it’s funny to see we play the same decks again. Never mind, based on your report I have some question about your list:
1) No Overgrown Battlement seems right to me after the first testings. I still pondering about Oracle of Mul Daya. At the moment I play 3 copies together with 27 lands. They vary between awesome and crappy. They are horrible if you already ramped a lot or played Titan. AND they do not fit in the curve very well. You only have Explore to drop them t3.
2) As it’s mentioned in the comments, Wurmcoil Engine seemed very solid in testing. You really should replace them with Inf Titan. I tested yesterday against a RDW list of my friend and Engine was an autoscoop everytime I dropped it.
3) Do you sitll think 4 Avenger is the correct number? Weren’t there situations where you ran out of lands after dropping Avenger as your only option? I mean 0/1 tokens don’t win games, heh?
4) Versus UW Control: I also cut 1 Harrow and 2 fatties to bring in Revenges. I cut 2 Wurmcoil Engines in the matchup. But my testpartner said that I should cut 2 Avenger, because he is more scared about the Engine. What’s your thought about that?
5) 4 Naturalize in the board seems off to me. I mean, it sounds that you noticed that already but I can’t think of a situation where Naturalize is that good. Please help me.
6) How good is Tunnel Ignus in Vala Ramp and Eldrazi Green “Mirror”? I really like the little guy but cannot find room in the sb at the moment.
I really look forward to your reply.
Greetings from a German reader!
Shizzow
Hi Shizzow, good to see you back!
To answer your questions:
1) I think Oracle is solid but the meta has to be mostly control and midrange. I wouldn’t main deck it in an aggro field.
2) Yeah, I’ve done some more testing and Wurmcoil is definitely better than Inferno in the current meta. You mentioned the RDW matchup and I was wishing I had Wurmcoil over Inferno versus UB Control because Inferno sucks against Doom Blade.
3) Yes, 4 Avenger is definitely the right number in a diverse metagame because it’s solid in all the matchups and it’s awesome against Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp. Plus, it just provides a more powerful effect than Wurmcoil because it has so much synergy with the rest of the deck.
If you have a lot of RDW, you could play 1-2 Wurmcoil over it.
One thing to keep in mind is that Avenger can be tricky to play against control. You really have to play tight and choose your spots wisely.
4) I don’t know your build but I would cut -1 Bolt and -1 Harrow instead of the two fatties. That’s what I’m trying now. I still think Avenger is better than Wurmcoil in the matchup but I could be wrong. I haven’t tested Wurmcoil enough. But Avenger has been great for me in post sb games vs UW Control.
5) Yeah, I made that same realization. I cut all the Naturalize for 2 Fog and 2 Oracle.
6) Ignus has been awesome for me in the mirror. He’s solid vs Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp. It depends what they draw but I’m pretty sure I’d rather have Ignus than Bolt in that matchup.
You can try Act of Treason or Mark of Mutiny instead. Those two cards seem better against Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp but not as good as Ignus in the mirror.
My current board for strobe red, specifically to deal with bombs like wurmcoil is:
4 Manic Vandal
4 Dragon’s Claw
4 Brittle Effigy
3 Mark of Mutiny
I’m basically boarding in the vandals, effigy’s and marks for strobes, flame slashes, and some combo of burst lightling / forked bolt.
Manic Vandal is admittedly not a great answer, but letting you gain 3 is better than letting you gain 6.
Looks good.
Why not run with some terastodon? Also I’m running this deck with wurmcoil and yes, he is working great
Oh and one more thing, have you taken a look at Magma Phoenix? I’ve included 4 magma phoenix instead of pyroclasm in some games and he can be absolutely nasty.
Oh how I love Valkut. Too bad there is Goblin Ruinblaster and tectonic edge to rain on my parade.
[...] still have the Primeval Titans from my old Valakut deck so I playtested his deck to see how good it was. Playtesting went very well. I didn’t have [...]