Valakut Titan Ramp Deck for Post Rotation
September 23, 2010 | Posted by Dee
Update: I got 6th place at States with a version of this deck. Click here to read my tournament report.
I started testing with Valakut Titan Ramp for post rotation Standard because I felt it would be a good choice for States, which is in about two weeks.
Many of Valakut’s tough matchups will be severely weakened or not exist anymore. Mythic Conscription loses Sovereigns of Lost Alara and Knight of the Reliquary, Polymorph loses its namesake card, and Pyromancer Ascension loses Time Warp and Ponder.
Also, Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp doesn’t lose much in the rotation but it seems like a good matchup for Valakut.
In a new format, you want to have a strong proactive plan against many types of decks since the metagame is not established. You don’t want to play a reactive control deck. The metagame will usually be too diverse to have all the right answers in that type of deck. Turn four Titan is one of the strongest proactive plans in post Scars Standard. Its power level in the new format feels similar to turn four Sovereigns in Mythic.
My testing with the deck has been pretty successful. I’ve been winning a lot with Valakut so I thought I’d share my latest list.
| Valakut Titan Ramp | |||||||||||
Creatures (11) Spells (21) Lands (28) | Sideboard (15) |
| |||||||||
Building the Deck
I based my decklist on the first place deck from German Nationals by Dennis Johannsen. I liked the mana base with 13 green sources, the Summoning Trap in the main, the huge amount of ramp spells, and the straightforward sideboard. The only changes I made were:
+1 Forest
-1 Verdant Catacombs+1 Rampaging Baloths
-1 Inferno Titan+2 Lightning Bolt
+2 Overgrown Battlement
-4 Rampant Growth+1 Burst Lightning
+3 Wurmcoil Engine
-4 Obstinate Baloth+2 Lightning Bolt
+2 Growth Spasm
-1 Swamp
-3 Thought Hemorrhage
The deck survived the rotation except for Rampant Growth and Thought Hemorrhage. Hemorrhage was not a concern because I could go with Memoricide from Scars, which basically did the same thing. But in testing, I realize that Memoricide was pretty useless because combo decks like Pyromancer Ascension didn’t see much play.
Replacing Rampant Growth could’ve been a big problem. Fortunately, I found suitable replacements with 2 Lightning Bolt and 2 Overgrown Battlement. I went with 2 Bolts because I think the format is faster with Koth of the Hammer and the new dual lands. But I still wanted some ramp spells on turn two against other ramp decks. If you have a lot of fast creature decks in your meta, you can move all four Bolts main and put 2 Overgrown Battlement or 2 Khalni Heart Expedition in the sideboard.
Dennis had Rampaging Baloths instead of Inferno Titan for the ninth fattie, but Inferno Titan seems better since Jund is rotating out. Plus, in a field with many fast aggro decks, you’d rather have the red titan.
The last change I made to the deck was cutting 4 Obstinate Baloth for 3 Wurmcoil Engine and 1 Burst Lightning. Baloth was great pre-rotation but he’s mediocre against Koth. Wurmcoil Engine costs two more mana but you should have time to play it if you overload on removal spells. Baloth feels like a five mana spell anyways since you don’t have Rampant Growth anymore to get double green early. Plus, red loses Ball Lightning, Hellspark Elemental, and Hell’s Thunder so Pyroclasm can buy you a lot of time post rotation.
Playing the Deck
If you’ve never played this deck, the gameplan is straightforward. You have a bunch of ramp spells because you want to hit six or seven mana as soon as possible to play your fatties or Summoning Trap. Your fatties are so powerful that one of them often wins the game on its own. If your opponent deals with the first creature, you win by playing another one or finishing them off with Valakut.
Primeval Titan and Avenger of Zendikar are the best threats available since they are very synergistic with your many ramp spells. Titan is especially good since it is not vulnerable to Day of Judgment like Avenger. If your opponent deals with Titan, you still have ramp spells and Mountains that deal damage because of volcanoes from Titan.
The typical land configuration you want after you cast Titan is 2 Valakut, 2 Forest, and 4 Mountains. With these lands, you can do a lot of Valakut damage with Titan, Harrow, and Khalni Heart Expedition. These cards can do 12 damage on their own because of the 4 Mountains ruling.
[Buy Primeval Titan and Avenger of Zendikar at a low price on eBay]
The deck seems to have solid matchups across the board. Many decks just do not have an answer to a turn four Titan.
Fast decks and counterspell decks can be tough at times. Bring in removal and lifegain from the sideboard to beat the aggro decks. Bolt is solid as always and Pyroclasm is a two mana wrath against so many decks.
Summoning Trap helps you fight counterspells in game one and Gaea’s Revenge has been solid from the sideboard. Also, you will have to play smart to fight Mana Leak in game one. I often play around that spell when casting big creatures. You have a bunch of land and ramp spells so it is not too hard to hit nine mana to cast Titan.
If you’re playing against Spreading Seas or land destruction like Acidic Slime, you should be careful with your green mana sources. Sometimes you need to fetch three Forests to ensure that you can cast Titan or Avenger.
Unfortunately, I wish I could give solid sideboarding plans, but I’m still trying to figure it out. Here are some principles to consider.
Khalni Heart Expedition seems like a good cut against aggro. Don’t be afraid to cut other ramp spells to fit in removal. You can still hit six mana without a lot of ramp since you’re playing 28 lands and the removal buys you time to make your land drops. I wouldn’t cut Cultivate though.
You can also lower your curve versus super fast burn decks by cutting some Avengers for Wurmcoil Engine.
I’ve been cutting a couple Harrows against counterspell decks.
Growth Spasm is my attempt to out-ramp other ramp decks. You can also bring it in for Harrow against blue.
If you leave in the Traps for post-sideboard games, make sure you have at least nine targets.
Other than that, observe the cards your opponent plays to inform your sideboarding decisions. If he has a lot of counterspells, bring in Gaea’s Revenge. If you see a lot of creatures with toughness higher than two, don’t bring in Pyroclasm.
Sideboarding should be very fluid for a while since players will be trying out a bunch of different cards. For example, you may play against Bant Midrange for two rounds straight and sideboard very differently in each match since the decks are not similar at all.
Playtesting Results
All my testing has been non-rated games because the full spoiler was not released until yesterday.
Full matches: 54-7 (88.5%)
Here is a breakdown of the results. Anything that is 2-0, 2-1, 1-2, or 0-2 was a full match with sideboard for games two and three.
Bant Midrange: 2-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-0, 1-4 (these five games were all sb games)
Mono Blue Grand Architect: 1-2, 1-2
UW Midrange: 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 0-1, 0-1
UW Control: 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 2-1, 1-0, 1-0
BUG Dredgevine: 2-0, 2-1, 1-0, 1-0
Mono Red Goblins Equipment: 2-0, 2-0, 2-1
Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp: 2-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 2-0, 1-1, 1-1
RDW (Red Deck Wins): 1-2, 1-2, 1-0
Big Red Koth: 1-2, 2-0, 2-1
WW Equipment: 1-0
GB Poison: 1-0, 2-1
Mono Black Midrange: 1-0, 2-0
BUG Midrange: 2-0
UG Turboland: 2-0
GB Vengevine: 0-1
Mono Blue Artifact Control: 2-0
UG Artifacts: 1-0
White Weenie: 2-0
UR Control D-Force: 1-2
GU Rite of Replication/Frost Titan: 2-0
Mono Red Midrange: 2-0
BUG Poison: 2-0
GW Tokens: 2-0
Mono Blue Artifact Midrange: 2-0
Mono Green Myr Ramp: 0-1
Mono Black Poison: 2-0, 2-0
UW Artifacts: 2-1, 2-0, 2-0
Esper Control: 2-0
GW Midrange: 2-0, 0-2, 2-0, 2-1
UB Poison: 2-0, 1-0, 2-1, 2-0, 1-0
RW Myr: 1-0
Mono Black Vampires: 1-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1
Mono Green Stampede: 1-2, 2-1
UWR Midrange Equipment: 2-0
UR Pyromancer Ascension: 2-0
Mono Red Artifacts: 1-0
UG Eldrazi Ramp: 2-0, 2-0
A couple highlights.
I lost two matches in a row to Mono Blue Grand Architect. He had early Lodestone Golem, Argentum Armor, Wurmcoil Engine, and Mindslaver to wreck me. His Spreading Seas main and counterspells didn’t help either. I thought Pyroclasm would help out but he was playing Kraken Hatchling lol (0/4 for one mana). If I don’t draw a Bolt and he has an early Lodestone Golem, I pretty much lose.
I played against UW Midrange deck with 4 Arbiters main and 4 Seas sb. We played three matches and I went 2-0, 2-0, and 2-0. I got a little lucky of course, but I think the results show the resiliency of the deck. My opponent was a solid player and had only lost one match until playing me.
I was doing well against Bant until I played five sideboard games with someone who brought in 14 cards against me including 4 Acidic Slime and 8 counterspells. I went 1-4 in those games but I think I could’ve done better if I had brought in Gaea’s Revenge.
Somehow I went 6-0 in full matches against UW Control and 5-0 against Mono Green Eldrazi Ramp. Mono Green didn’t seem like a tough matchup. Most of the matches against UW felt close. I had to play very tightly to win.
I went 1-2 against RDW in full matches. I had problems with Koth so I added Wurmcoil Engine over Obstinate Baloth. Unfortunately, I haven’t played against RDW since making that sideboard change.
28 Responses to “Valakut Titan Ramp Deck for Post Rotation”
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Welcome to the new season!
I have already done tons of testing with the following list:
// Lands
11 [MR] Mountain
2 [ROE] Evolving Wilds
4 [HOP] Terramorphic Expanse
4 [REL] Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
2 [WWK] Raging Ravine
4 [CST] Forest
// Creatures
4 [M11] Primeval Titan
3 [WWK] Avenger of Zendikar
2 [SOM] Wurmcoil Engine
// Spells
2 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
4 [M11] Cultivate
2 [ZEN] Burst Lightning
4 [U] Lightning Bolt
4 [ZEN] Khalni Heart Expedition
4 [WWK] Explore
2 [DDE] Harrow
2 [SOM] Koth of the Hammer
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
SB: 2 [OV] Pyroclasm
SB: 4 [WWK] Ricochet Trap
SB: 3 [M10] Naturalize
SB: 2 [ZEN] Oracle of Mul Daya
SB: 3 [M11] Obstinate Baloth
I dont have a lot of time right now, here are a few quick comments:
- Try out Koth. Just do it. I wouldnt have believed it. I thought that he doesn’t suit our strategy, but he has blown my mind. He REALLY is the second best planeswalker, as far as I can tell. The great thing is, control players often tap out until you are at 5 mana (because they mainly fear Titan).
- Wurmcoil Engine is a mixed bag. He is awesome vs midrange and Aggro, but not very good vs UW because he suddenly turns on their condemns (which they dont board out by the way).
- I play 2 Ravines main because they are the best turn 1 forest you could imagine. They’ve won me many games and cost me maybe one.
- I prefer lots of removal in mainboard. Agressive decks are pretty nuts these days, I can’t imagine you ever beating a turn 1 Goblin Guide. It’s still difficult, though. I wouldn’t want to cut all the Baloths from the sideboard – they are still amazing. 4 is a really big butt. Post-board i board in 2 pyroclasms vs Tunnel Ignus and Leonin Arbiter so they rarely are a problem.
Playing 4 Avengers main could be a good idea, though.
what did that grand architect deck look like?
@ Peter Pegasus
Glad to see you back
Thanks for the list and your comments on it. Looks really solid.
Are you thinking of playing Valakut for States?
@ JABluemage
Here are the cards I saw: Kraken Hatchling, Grand Architect, Spreading Seas, Unified Will, Mindslaver, Lodestone Golem, Enclave Cryptologist, Wurmcoil Engine, Prototype Portal, and Argentum Armor.
I am not from the US but from Austria and going to move to Malta (south of Italy, in case you wonder) for half a year, starting tomorrow. Since Malta is very small and even has its Nationals as an open event, the only tournament I’m going to play are FNMs, and yes I do plan to play Valakut on those.
(Even though I still only own 2 Titans. Damn they’re rare!)
This deck will certainly be a contender. However there are still builds yet to be created and run. An early aggro- mid control deck could blow this up. Watch out for the Necrotic Ooze combo deck.
Running a very similar build as you, I mapped my deck off Johannsen as well (made a few changes), this is how I adapted
My deck before SoM:
Start with Johannsen’s list,
MD:
+1 Forest, -1 Catacombs
+2 Inferno Titan, -1 Summoning Trap, -1 Explore
SB:
+4 Lightning Bolt, -1 Swamp, -3 Thought Hemorrhage
+1 Sarkhan Vol, -1 Obstinate Baloth
-3 Gaea’s Revenge, +2 All is Dust, +1 Summoning Trap
My predicted list after SoM,
MD:
-4 Rampant Growth, +2 Overgrown Battlement, +2 Lightning Bolt
-1 Rampaging Baloths, +1 Explore
SD:
-2 Lightning Bolt, +2 Chain Reaction
-3 Obstinate Baloth, +2 Gaea’s Revenge, +1 Wurmcoil Engine
+1 Summoning Trap, -1 Sarkhan Vol
Debating if I want to make it 1 Trap 2 Wurmcoils in the board, will see after testing.
i just dont think titan ramp will be any good anymore. if your ramp spells get countered then you are screwed. and without rampant growth the deck is considerably slower. expedition just isnt good enough either. on the other hand the bolts are a good idea but then you take time away from ramping and therefore may not hit a turn 4 titan witch doesnt happen much anyways. honestly i think the deck will not stack up to anything when the metagame sets in
@ Dee
The deck is great so far =)
I mostly win round 1, but have some problems with other 2 matches. I blame it to my knowledge of Sideboarding…
-> Can you write me some notes to what to switch from main to SB and vice versa. for RDW, UW and popular types like these THANKS!
im telling you guys this deck cant possibly do well in the new format. i have playtested it with the players from my local shop and it is just not good enough. i was dominated bu UW control and some crazy myr deck that beat me on turn 4. its just not fast enough to do anything.
@ Miky
Try these sb plans based on this new list.
// Lands
4 [ZEN] Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 [ROE] Evolving Wilds
3 [10E] Terramorphic Expanse
11 [HOP] Mountain (3)
6 [DM] Forest (2)
// Creatures
4 [WWK] Avenger of Zendikar
4 [M11] Primeval Titan
2 [M11] Inferno Titan
// Spells
4 [WWK] Explore
3 [ZEN] Summoning Trap
4 [ZEN] Khalni Heart Expedition
4 [M11] Cultivate
4 [TE] Harrow
4 [A] Lightning Bolt
// Sideboard
SB: 3 [M11] Gaea’s Revenge
SB: 4 [PT] Pyroclasm
SB: 4 [SOM] Tunnel Ignus
SB: 4 [M11] Manic Vandal
Aggro decks with small creatures like RDW
-2 Khalni Heart Expedition
-1 Avenger
-1 Trap
+4 Pyroclasm
Ramp decks
-4 Bolt
+4 Tunnel Ignus
Counterspell decks like UW Control
-3 Bolt
+3 Gaea’s Revenge
Great write up and keep it up!
@ David
Thanks!
@ Miky
Whoops, messed up on the sb plans for UW Control.
I would go:
-1 Inferno Titan
-2 Harrow
+3 Gaea’s Revenge
Keep the Bolts in since they will probably bring in Leonin Arbiter.
I think the Tunnel Ignus are a great idea for the sideboard.
@ josh: I, on the other hand, do not think that Valakut is going to fail. Losing on turn 4 can happen, but i think it rarely does (except RDW, which is a bad matchup in general). Playing 6 removals helps. If UW counters your ramp spells then they are going to lose most of the time. We have 14-20 ramp spells, how many counters do you expect them to have? Besides, then the way is clear for our main threats.
@ josh
Over the weekend, Valakut Titan won a tournament with over 180 players.
See here:
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=9177
http://twitter.com/UpComingMagic/status/26277862025
@ Peter Pegasus
Tested Tunnel Ignus some more. It is awesome in the mirror and solid against Mono Green Eldrazi ramp. Definitely a 4-of for sb in this meta. I’m glad I opened two of them in prerelease and launch party
Also if they counter the ramps i side boarded 2 oracle of mul dya and 2 khalni gems and the ramps still worked out
Can any1 comment on this and offer help
4 lightning bolts
4 galvanic blasts
4 burst lightning
4 reverberates
4 kargans
4 arc runners(till i get my guides)
2 inferno titans
1 koth of the hammer
2 chandra nallar
1 chander ablaze
4 pyretic rituals
2 valukuts the molten pinnacle
18 mountains
I noe its not the titan i have one as well but i also put a molten tail masticore in my burn for the arcs but i feel like im missing sumthing and does anybody know a good way to trade online i have alot of value in cards i dont use and im looking for stuff i cant find in my circle of mtg players… please email me with the site or post sum links
Try http://magictraders.com/ or just buy and sell on http://ebay.com/
Good luck!
Oh, your red deck needs more Koth
My friend Ethan top 4′d Massachusetts states this year with a similar build.
@ Beau
Awesome!
I got 6th out of 109 players in Texas
Should have the tournament report done soon.
I played the build in this comment:
http://magicgameplan.com/blog/valakut-titan-for-post-scars-rotation/comment-page-1/#comment-2350
Were you able to play in States?
@ josh
valakut actually works really really well in the meta. Even with these burn spells in the deck (which are a very good idea) it still has plenty of ramp spells. UW is actually one of its best matchups.
@ everyone
a new problem this deck faces is the new Pyromancer Ascension mill build. This deck has the potential to destroy the top decks in right now. It beats mono green eldrazi, valakut, UW and UR Destructive Force.
To combat this deck i recommend 3 memoricide boarded as well as a swamp. I was doing this anyway before the new Pyro Build.
Congratulations!! I’ve personally never gotten to top 8’s but some of the decks i’ve worked on have (I run out of steam after like the 4th or 5th round and then make tons of errors). That’s gotta be an awesome feeling.
I didn’t get to play States, I was working (and sadly will be working again this weekend) – note to all of you college kids still looking at majors, don’t go into IT if you want any sort of social life because generally you’ll be fixing all the issues when there are no users on (ie nights and weekends)
This is Ethan’s decklist, I am assuming it’ll get posted to starcity or tcgplayer at some point:
4x Joraga Treespeaker
4x overgrown battlement
4x primeval titan
2x avenger of zendikar
2x inferno titan
1x wurmcoil engine
(17 creatures)
4x lightning bolt
4x explore
4x khalni heart expedition
4x cultivate
(16 spells – 4 removal/12 ramp)
4x valakut, the molten pinnacle
4x misty rainforest
8x forest
11x mountain
(27 land)
SB:
4x pyroclasm
4x summoning trap
3x act of treason
2x obstinate baloth
2x mold shambler
Ok, i’m caving and buying Titans and building the deck. I blame you (Dee), Ethan, and Peter Pegasus.
Speaking of the pyromancer ascension build, what’s the spell stack they have going that prevents eldrazi from reshuffling? Someone tried to explain it to me, but I was very very sleepy. I was considering Eldrazi in the board for it, but I guess memoricide is way better.
I’m playing Genesis Wave these days
@ Eric
Memoricide seems great against Pyromancer Ascension Mill. Thanks for your comment.
@ Beau
Thanks! Yeah, it was a great feeling to get my first top eight in a big tournament.
That’s cool that your decks have made top eight.
Ethan’s list is an interesting way to build the archetype. It is definitely faster than other ramp decks. But it sacrifices consistency and synergy. Consistency because only nine fatties and no Traps and only four fetches for KHE. Synergy because Joraga Treespeaker and Overgrown Battlement can’t fetch Mountains.
Not sure if the trade off is worth it, but the list is creative either way.
Regarding the Eldrazi ruling, you don’t actually prevent Eldrazi from shuffling. Instead, you remove your opponents graveyard while the Eldrazi triggered ability is on the stack. So, when the ability resolves, your opponent will have no graveyard to shuffle into his library.
Ravenous Trap is an instant so you can respond to the shuffle triggers of Eldrazi monsters.
Genesis Wave seems awesome but I don’t think it fits Valakut. First, getting three green mana doesn’t really work with the Valakut plan because you want Mountains not Forests. Second, you really want to Wave for six or more because Titan costs six. But nine mana is a lot. For example, Terastodon doesn’t usually make the deck because it costs eight.
I think Trap provides a similar effect for a lower cost and it has better utility since it is an instant and can sometimes by played for 0 mana.
I could be wrong. But I haven’t seen any top Valakut lists playing Genesis Wave.
How to beat mill: Add 1 of the Eldrazis to your sideboard.
Seriously, mill is really good vs Valakut because they only need to mill 4 or 5 of your mountains. If mill becomes viable, we really need to devote at least 1 slot to an Eldrazi. Which isn’t too bad since they are decent vs control as well.