Korvold, Lands-HO!

[toctheyounger]

Thinking I should really have Pitiless Plunderer in here since he can make treasure off of tokens.

Can confirm, Plunderer is nuts in this build. Get it now and windmill slam it in here.

[yeti1069]

Thinking I should really have Pitiless Plunderer in here since he can make treasure off of tokens.

Can confirm, Plunderer is nuts in this build. Get it now and windmill slam it in here.

Thanks! I'll put him in.

[yeti1069]

Thinking I should really have Pitiless Plunderer in here since he can make treasure off of tokens.

Can confirm, Plunderer is nuts in this build. Get it now and windmill slam it in here.

So, the potential cuts I see for token generators are:
Awakening Zone -- slow 1/turn, but as an enchantment is harder to remove, and tokens generated can sac themselves and make mana
Omnath, Locus of Rage -- tokens are threats themselves being 5/5, and his death trigger can provide reach to close out a game, but he's 7 mana, and I've held him up in hand on more than one occasion. Landfall to make a creature can be explosive in this deck.

Potential adds:
Pitiless Plunderer -- makes treasure for creatures dying (does NOT specify non-token), almost definitely going in
Tendershoot Dryad -- don't love 5 mana, but makes a token every upkeep and they can be threatening as 3/3s if he sticks around
Ophiomancer -- 3 mana, makes a creature every upkeep IF the creature he has made previously dies--basically fills a similar role to Mad Ratter (1 mana less, and doesn't require any set up to get a token, but can never get ahead on tokens, and is limited to 1/turn rather than 2/turn)

I'm thinking cut Awakening Zone for Plunderer for now.

Other considerations:
-Gaze of Granite: have held it without casting many times, because it would hurt me too much
+Finale of Eternity: 3-for-1 with potential for one-sided mass reanimation. Often have the mana for X=12, but not sure I need this. Would prefer more flexible removal
-Command Tower: GASP! Not tutorable off a land-type search effect, and have rarely had mana problems
+Kazdul's Fury or Malakir Rebirth: lands when I need them (but ETB tapped), and otherwise are a Fling or way to save an important creature (often Korvold) from removal. Bonuses: Kazdul's triggers Korvold and Rebirth allows Korvold to trigger while still saving a creature.
-High Market for +Phyrexian Tower: is more valuable than 1 life here.
Thinking I should add Heroic Intervention, possibly.
Need to find my Anger. Would possibly replace Fires of Yavimaya.

Thoughts?

[toctheyounger]

I've never really liked Awakening Zone a ton. It's very slow. I think if you must have the effect, drop an extra mana and run From Beyond and something to search for with it (It That Betrays is pretty nasty, a favourite of mine). It seems reasonable that as long as you're sacrificing a lot of creatures Plunderer will give you a LOT more bang for your buck, though.

Tendershoot Dryad was always excellent in my build. Set and forget, and even without anything else on the board it creeps itself ever closer to blessing. Its a nice compact package.

Ophiomancer I've never run anywhere, although I'd love a couple copies for various places. My guess is it'd be pretty great here so long as you have instant-speed sacrifice outlets, and even outside of that would be great for favourable combat, be it offensive or defensive.

Finale of Eternity - It's fine, I guess. If you're after flexible removal, why not just go for Windgrace's Judgment at half the cost?

Anger vs Fires - I think I prefer Fires here purely for the tiny added benefit of being able to sacrifice it. The effect afterwards is neither here nor there, it's the trigger itself you want. Besides which, grave hate has come a long way in recent times. You could always bake your haste into your land package too, with Hall of the Bandit Lord, Winding Canyons and Emergence Zone.

[yeti1069]

I have Judgment in here already. Honestly, I was just flipping through cards and came across the Finale. I keep holding up Gaze, and this looked like a decent swap. Really, though, could probably use a board wipe or more instant speed removal, but given how much mana this gets access to, figure the finale might be worth trying.

Tendershoot and Ophio I've tried elsewhere and have been fairly happy with them, but I don't know if they do enough here.

[toctheyounger]

I have Judgment in here already. Honestly, I was just flipping through cards and came across the Finale. I keep holding up Gaze, and this looked like a decent swap. Really, though, could probably use a board wipe or more instant speed removal, but given how much mana this gets access to, figure the finale might be worth trying.

Tendershoot and Ophio I've tried elsewhere and have been fairly happy with them, but I don't know if they do enough here.

Fair enough. I guess I just don't think overly of Finale as a closer, which it ought to be for the cost. Personally, as griefy as it is I think I'd prefer something like Death Cloud.

Yeah the dryads and snakes are really going to be as good as your ability to sacrifice them for profit. Or swing with them if there is benefit to that for you.

[yeti1069]

Oh, and as far as haste goes, other than Lightning Greaves, which also serve to protect an important piece, I've found making an army and swinging the same turn has been very impactful, so I'm more in the market for haste for everyone than for one target.

[toctheyounger]

Oh, and as far as haste goes, other than Lightning Greaves, which also serve to protect an important piece, I've found making an army and swinging the same turn has been very impactful, so I'm more in the market for haste for everyone than for one target.

Concordant Crossroads could, and does, do wonders for that. It's amazingly good in my Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Nissa, Sage Animist build.

[yeti1069]

Oh, and as far as haste goes, other than Lightning Greaves, which also serve to protect an important piece, I've found making an army and swinging the same turn has been very impactful, so I'm more in the market for haste for everyone than for one target.

Concordant Crossroads could, and does, do wonders for that. It's amazingly good in my Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Nissa, Sage Animist build.

If it didn't cost $35+ that would be a strong possibility, although I've seen other players who dropped one of these regret it.

In other news, the deck went NUTS in a game last night!
Dropped Scute Swarm on turn 3, and had 96 of them on turn 7!
Opponent cast a Starstorm in response to me casting Mayhem Devil, but had a sac outlet and Korvold out, so I drew half my deck in response. Dropped a Cavalier of Flame, some land to make a few more tokens, and swung in with a 48/47 Korvold, a 43/42 Carrion Feeder, and 22 damage in other stuff to knock out two players on 7, and put the last in range of a death from sac triggers.

[yeti1069]

Another ridiculous game. Discovered a semi-infinite combo as well: Squandered Resources + Phyrexian Reclamation + World Shaper + at least 6 lands.

This game went:
1. Land
2. Land + Nature's Lore
3. Dryad of the Ilysian Grove + Field of the Dead + land
4. Land, Mayhem Devil, Roiling Growth, 2 zombies
5. Dockside Extortionist for 5 treasures, Korvold, Squandered Resources, Phyrexian Reclamation to get back Dockside, World Shaper, Phyrexian Altar...

Drew almost half the deck, in through a combination of Mayhem Devil, Retreat to Hagra, Omnath, and Valakut, dealt about 130 damage to the table before being able to swing with a hasty Korvold who was over 60/60, and had cycles of World Shaper to keep going.

So...just to reiterate, the deck can be VERY EXPLOSIVE!

[frogchild]

If Concordant Crossroads proves to be too expensive, may I reccomend Mass Hysteria as a more budget replacement?

[yeti1069]

Tireless Provisioner is going in this deck so fast I'm afraid of starting a fire!



Dockside Extortionist is already one of the strongest cards in the deck, and Lotus Cobra has performed very well. Where to find the space for this bonkers elf...?

[yeti1069]

So, after playing this a bunch with some different groups, I'm struggling to find games in which to play this deck. It overwhelms mid-power tables, and higher-powered tables are either bringing too much stax for the deck to function, or comboing off before I can assemble anything.

[yeti1069]

Separately, wondering whether it would make sense to go heavier on treasure with some of the new stuff that's been printed.

[motleyslayer]

I built Korvold maybe a month or two ago and saw some cards in your list I totally forgot existed. Mainly Need for Speed , Retreat to Hagra and World Shaper . Gonna have to try out stuff similar. Good primer

[yeti1069]

Thanks. I think I've taken out Need for Speed (need to update). I found that too often, either I couldn't afford to sacrifice resources for haste, or I wanted mass haste. It was rare that I was happy to sac one land to give Korvold the giddy-up, or sac a bunch of lands to power him up/set up a mass land recursion. Squandered Resources on the other hand, has been amazing, and is a semi-frequent tutor target. World Shaper and Retreat have both been solid.

[motleyslayer]

yeah I guess sacrificing that many resources could be hard. I'm definitely gong to use your list as a resource though. I like the deck

sorry if I missed it in the thread but what's your opinion on Anger in the list? you can sac it to the etb to give everything haste

[Sefir]

Just discovered this thread.
Nice, list, it remindes me a lot of my Kynaios and Tiro Egglands deck, but grindier and less comboy.

If I have to give my 2 cents on one card that is a must addition though, is Valakut Exploration. The card is just nuts.

[yeti1069]

Anger would be pretty good, I think, yeah. I just tend to run into at least one graveyard removal per game, so I don't like leaning on the yard too much here. I do use it, largely in terms of land recursion, but Anger should probably be here.

Glad you folks like the list. I made an effort to largely avoid combos (there are a few options revolving around Dockside, Pitiless Plunderer, Phyrexian Reclamation, Eternal Witness, and Living Death), but they require a few pieces, and are not something I'm actively looking for. That said, the deck is often NOT grindy, but rather has some explosive turns.

Valakut Exploration is a card I've played with a bit on Arena, but I have mixed feelings about it. There are so many turns that I drop multiple lands into play and don't necessarily have the mana to be casting exiled cards. The damage that can deal is nice, but I don't know that I'd want to risk exiling some important pieces just to throw 1 damage at the table.

Right now, I do feel like the deck needs some additional removal. I've had a lot of games where I've been unable to do anything due to some heavy stax/hatebears, and waiting for removal was painful.

[yeti1069]

Cards I'm considering adding (still have to update list to current build):
Brass's Bounty -- debating since initially putting the deck together. At 7 mana it's expensive, but with Korvold out it's functionally a free wheel at minimum, with a lot of upside. Just not sure I need it.
Crack Open -- sorcery speed removal is not where I want to be, especially for a Naturalize variant, but adding a treasure can be valuable.
Fae Offering -- doesn't come online early too often, but later it may proc on each of my turns. Probably not reliable enough to bother.
Fain, the Broker -- removes a counter from Korvold to make a treasure, which puts a counter back on a draws a card when it's sacrificed. Probably too slow for what the deck wants to do. In a slower, grindier deck, it's probably super good.
Goldspan Dragon -- a pretty good standalone card, with significant upside in this deck, but there's a bit of a glut at 5 mana, and the deck doesn't NEED a 4/4 flyer for 5 that makes 1 treasure per turn.
Grim Hireling -- this looks better, I think. It comes down earlier, makes more treasure per turn, and has some built in removal ("as a sorcery" is painful, though).
Kalain, Reclusive Painter -- don't care too much for the +1/+1 counter effect, but this acts as 2-mana ramp that leaves a body behind to sacrifice.
Old Gnawbone -- looks fantastic! 7 might be a bit high for what it does, but if it survives long enough for Korvold or an army of tokens to connect, it's going to be RIDICULOUS. I view this as competing with Brass's Bounty.
Prosperous Innkeeper -- see notes on Kalain, but I care more about the ability on the card for protecting my life total or enabling more aggressive life spending.
Revel In Riches -- alternate wincon. Can get to 10+ treasures occasionally without any real focus on trying to get there, but the deck doesn't do a lot of murdering of opponents' creatures, so it may not be worth including.
Treasure Vault -- absolutely needs to go in

Don't think there are any others I'd really consider as being worthwhile in the treasure department. Not sure what I would cut to add 1 or more of these.

[yeti1069]

Have definitely received a few complaints of the deck durdling with long turns. I wouldn't classify what it's doing as durdling, since it IS digging for a win (and at a pretty fast pace), but it has a lot of triggers to keep track of on big turns, and a win isn't obvious.

[RowanKeltizar]

Yeah, running a similar list with Prossh, however it is a bit more aggro and graveyard focused. I highly reccomend Anger One of my favorite turn one plays is to Entomb Anger with a dual Moutain/X land.

Another card you might try out is Hermit Druid. I actually run like 36 lands, so he helps me hit my lands drops, lol. HOWEVER, he can be a great graveyard enabler, albeit risky if you see a lot of exile effects in your playgroup.

Notably, i don't see Strip Mine or Wasteland in your list. With Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth you can make these tap for colored mana. But more importantly with Ramunap Excavator and extra land drops you can start machine gunning people's lands. XD Even you don't go for that combo, it's still not a bad idea to have some non-basic land hate to get rid of that pesky Maze of Ith, etc...

[yeti1069]

Anger is a possibility I've entertained, but I don't do enough with the yard to include Entomb.

Maze doesn't really bother me since the deck can swarm with tokens or kill with triggers from things like Purohuros. I do have Field of Ruin to address problem lands. Ramping the other two opponents isn't great but it does get me another landfall trigger.

[yeti1069]

This is absolutely STUPID in this deck.

Lands you control have "T: Create a Treasure token."