Wandering Into Victory - Maelstrom Wanderer Lands

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Rorseph
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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

So, I'm prototyping a bunch of Landfall/Lands decks right now because I've gotten a bug for this kind of deck and it's a good way to pass the time right now. I've got the following list inspired by @pokken's Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall deck.
Decklist

Commander (1)

Enchantment (4)

Approximate Total Cost:

I think it's pretty focused (I'm exceedingly proud of the curve!), but I'm worried that I don't have enough payoff spells or enough ramp to consistently hit 8 mana in a timely manner. So, I'm calling upon the MTGN brain trust for more ideas.

What kinds of spells should I be packing?

Is having Rite of Replication and Pathbreaker Ibex as the primary win conditions good enough?

Should I be thinking more about breaking Mystic Sanctuary as way of chaining haymakers?
Last edited by Rorseph 3 years ago, edited 3 times in total.
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


Aurelia | Maelstrom Wanderer | Primer: Thassa | Uro | Primer: Volrath

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

Just a few notes..erm, got longer than I thought :)

* dryad arbor is very important for the GSZ package

* finale of devastation is despite being a wanderer whiff way too good of a mana payoff not to run. When you finale ibex for 10 the game ends, making it basically a 1-card wincon.

* Generally I have found the 2 cmc land ramp spells other than nature's lore to not be that good.

* growing rites of itlimoc likely is better than impulse in this deck. I don't play it because I'm focused on cradle.

* Some ramp sources should take priority over explore effects if available (in my opinion) , but the fetches definitely make some of them better.
dockside extortionist particularly with the creature bounce stuff is insane.

* omnath, locus of rage and titania, protector of argoth and the full fetch package are something I would look at. In a landfall themed Wanderer deck I would definitely jam fetches if you can, and these two creatures pack so much more punch than stuff like worldbreaker and multani, yavimaya's avatar.


Something I see you've got going on that I don't entirely know about, but that is cool, is the mystic sanctuary package. An issue with it is that your payoff spells are not amazing. If you're not actively avoiding winning with an infinite combo the opportunity cost of playing time warp is pretty low with the trade routes/sanctuary package.

I would consider spelljack and remand as mystic sanctuary loops as being able to wanderer → spelljack every turn is pretty good. I cut spelljack because it was too costly but you've got quite a lot of potential setup for it with sanctuary.

With that sanctuary package I would really make sure you jam the offcolor blue fetches.

edit: and last thing...I know avenger of zendikar is cliche but it's also stupid in this deck, like it was designed for it. I've one-shotted entire boards by wandering into avenger, playing 5 lands and swinging with hasted plant army.

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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

First of all, thanks for your input.

So, for most of the cards that you mention adding, they aren't in there simply because I don't currently have them and I don't normally run proxies for aesthetic reasons! :grin: However, since I'm likely to be playing this deck mostly online for the foreseeable future, no need to worry about that just yet.

Dryad Arbor = in

Finale of Devastation seems better than Nylea's Intervention given that I'm not running Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage or some other combination of lands like that.

More fetches definitely feels right for this deck and the off-color blues are certainly a priority. Your advice on ramp sources has been taken under advisement.

Rage!Omnath and Titania are definitely better; especially in combo with other things in the deck. I'll need to think on that.

So, I've got Time Warp and Devastation Tide as my primary combos with Mystic Sanctuary. Spelljack seems like just the thing for my liking and I know have a Remand in my trade binder. Any other thoughts on good pay off spells that can be cast off MW? I'm kind of at a loss for things that aren't board wipes or extra turns, honestly. This package in other forms has been really powerful for me in both Uro and Tatyova. If you haven't read darrenhabib's post on it, you should. Fascinating stuff.

Avenger might find its way in here. Eventually. :P
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


Aurelia | Maelstrom Wanderer | Primer: Thassa | Uro | Primer: Volrath

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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

Rorseph wrote:
4 years ago
So, I've got Time Warp and Devastation Tide as my primary combos with Mystic Sanctuary. Spelljack seems like just the thing for my liking and I know have a Remand in my trade binder. Any other thoughts on good pay off spells that can be cast off MW? I'm kind of at a loss for things that aren't board wipes or extra turns, honestly. This package in other forms has been really powerful for me in both Uro and Tatyova. If you haven't read darrenhabib's post on it, you should. Fascinating stuff.

Avenger might find its way in here. Eventually. :P
Lol i swear I control f'd for time warp and didn't see it. That seems good.

So blatant thievery is the main huge bomb I think you would want -- that card is my main answer to stuck board states with wanderer, taking people's stax pieces and such to ensure free swings.

--------------------------------------------------

Totally unrelated note but I just had my first MTGO game with this deck (my build ofc) and had a hilariously sweet play where I defended my trygon predator with mystic confluence and in that line bounced my own dockside extortionist to replay it, making it net 12 mana in a turn give or take. I won that game.

tireless tracker is a card you're missing that was MVP of that game after I got stalled -- I had this sequence of:
Tap sakura-tribe scout to put a land into play making a clue, crack clue for mina and den, in my turn play lands for 5 clues (thanks mina and den + fetchlands), tap cradle for 7, crack clues til I hit green sun's zenith, gsz for 6 and kill the table with pathbreaker ibex. I'm always surprised how many cards I can draw with it if I'm stalling out. The deck really excels at playing lands over and over :P

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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

Lol i swear I control f'd for time warp
LOL! Happens to me all the time.

Blatant Thievery is one of the ones I was trying to think of. Insurrection was the other, but that's a non-bo with the deck as it is. Probably be pretty sweet in an extra combats Voltron style build, though!
____

Updated the decklist. I'm holding off on Tireless Tracker and Dockside Extortionist for the time being, even though they are clearly able to do good work. Currently limiting new cards to things that were already on my acquire list.
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


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Post by pokken » 4 years ago

If you want to get a dockside, just an fyi but the mystic intellect decks can be found under 25 on ebay again - really good value with all the crap in the deck + sevinne's reclamation + dockside extortionist.

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Post by Rorseph » 4 years ago

Ooh, that's not a bad idea. It'd kill several birds with one stone. I didn't realize that several things I wanted (Gerrard Weatherlight Hero, Leadership Vacuum, etc.) were in there, too. Thanks for the tip!
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


Aurelia | Maelstrom Wanderer | Primer: Thassa | Uro | Primer: Volrath

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Post by Rorseph » 3 years ago

So, I finally piloted this deck in an actual game. Maelstrom Wanderer is a lot more disgusting than I thought it would be. I've played it in the 99 of decks before, but with a deck like this behind it, it was just a steam roller at a table of non-blue decks. I had 8 lands down by T4 thanks to a T1 Exploration and a T3 Mina and Denn, Wildborn and more than a bit of luck. I land MW on T5 and cascade into a Pyroblast and a Blatant Thievery. From there, I fetched up a Mystic Sanctuary and showed the Time Warp in my hand and the table conceded.

An admittedly improbable line of play, but I don't think I'll be pulling this one out on the regular. I finally understand why people say that MW is a bit of a deckbuilding trap. :grin: I'm still going to try to have a Temur lands deck that abuses Mystic Sanctuary, but I think Omnath, Locus of the Roil is probably a better general for that deck.
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


Aurelia | Maelstrom Wanderer | Primer: Thassa | Uro | Primer: Volrath

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Post by pokken » 3 years ago

Eh, you would be surprised how often the lands builds just go off :) All it really takes is a single extra land drop effect to wind up really far ahead.

I actually totally revised my deck recently over quarantine, got all the elementals I was missing and rebuilt as more elemental tribal, kept MW in but Omnath is the official commander now.

Looking to pick up a Tooth and Nail soon so I can go for Master of Waves + Risen Reef :P Might not be enough blue pips though. Anyway all the elementals look pretty interesting. Stuff like Seasoned Pyromancer too.

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Post by Rorseph » 3 years ago

pokken wrote:
3 years ago
Anyway all the elementals look pretty interesting. Stuff like Seasoned Pyromancer too.
Agreed! There's some cool stuff in there I didn't even know about, like Flamekin Harbinger. That looks like pure gas in your deck.
"From void evolved Phyrexia. Great Yawgmoth, Father of Machines, saw its perfection. Thus The Grand Evolution began."
—Phyrexian Scriptures


Aurelia | Maelstrom Wanderer | Primer: Thassa | Uro | Primer: Volrath

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