I don't need no colors, to make you fry
Why take a five when you can have a twenty
Go without color in the lands of plenty...
...Mana. Got. Back.
Apologies to Sir Manalot, but the idea of big mana is for me something I have dabbled in over the years. Whether the locus lands or Urzatron, there are some deck ideas you just can't get off the ground without some seriously stupid acceleration. It used to be that was only red with Mana Flare or else the Urzatron set, but things are decidedly better now with more options. I have two here that I love, one being a big red burn deck, the other being eldrazi. Because really, what's life without Ulamog? If you've got a big mana deck, post it here. How do you use it?
So, for the first one, I wanted to play with some indestructible cards as the deck idea, and then came up with a mana shell to allow that but play devious shenanigans with those big mana cards and the big, big mana. Phyrexia's Core recylces Spine of Ish Sah. Vesuva is overboard, but my friend had some and we did a big trade, so why not? Though, Thespian's Stage is perfectly usable. Eye of Ugin gets me tutoring for big creatures, which this deck can't win without. I felt I also needed to have a red burn contingency, and Blasphemous Act is really the best option since it gets cheaper as people fill the board, but hits for a bunch with the Stuffy Dolls. As the deck evolved, a lot of things cycled in and out, including eldrazi titans, but settled into the creatures presently contained, the Sad Robot gets me red mana lands and passive draw. Starfox gets life and passive draw, and the locus lands themselves have decent life gain. I also added ways to kill people with a single spell, a sort of big mana suckerpunch, taking advantage of the Colossus of Akros with Soul's Fire. The locus land lineup allowed the extra slots to play around with adding even more options, including cloning Cloudpost. Urzatron is fine, but it has upper limits and needs all three types to get any benefit. The locus lands are really the best option for a big mana deck in most cases.
Colossal Cinnamon Jawbreaker
The second one is eldrazi, and yes...I know we all know someone who has a frustrating eldrazi deck. But in today's environment where there is so much tech available for tailored boardwipes, they aren't the ultimate doom they used to be. I don't have too much innovation here, but the big mana uses eldrazi-based lands + locus lands + Crop Rotation to get me that critical mass. I do love the eldrazi from the second eldrazi generation more, and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is simply brilliant. He not only wipes out two permanents...permanently, but he then nixes so many deck synergies and mechanics from your opponents if he attacks...he's just so much better than the first Ulamog in my opinion. I chose not to focus on the annihilator keyword, mostly to keep my friends from throwing me off their roof until I personally died, but also because I do love the 2nd generation eldrazi toolbox approach far more. Endbringer is a toolbox on a single card, he's so feared in my playgroup. That, and I love watching their faces melt when the janky Not of This World stymies their attempts to take Ulamog or other bigs out...repeatedly. Always priceless fun. The big mana allows me to also use stuff like Scour From Existence, which is not normally that usable due to cmc, but is very thematic with eldrazi and tactically useful if you can cast it.
Eldrazi Beatdown
Decklist
Creatures
Approximate Total Cost:
The locus lands are so cheap online, too, you don't have to go with Eldrazi Temple, just sub in Thespian's Stage for eldrazi decks in particular, though looking at prices, it seems the Temples are way down! Sweet. I used the Temples simply because I own them. Just about any big mana theme can be piloted with a very cheap land investment. So, I can't recommend enough the thrill of ramping to stupid levels and then letting it rip. Big mana is a really fun deck concept to go for, and there are lots of options. Give it a try or post here what you already use! Thanks!
