2001)

Lately on the various Magic strategy websites, there have been a number of articles popping up regarding land destruction as a possible deck type in the current type 2. I myself have been tinkering around with a land destruction deck that I'd like to share with you. It has had a very favorable showing against Fires and many rogue decklists, and while Counter-Rebels is a pretty difficult matchup if maindeck Tsabo's Webs are included, even that matchup is not terrible.

This land destruction deck was basically created based on two observations. First, almost all decks in type 2 right now really start at 3 mana. Rebels can't recruit for less than 3, and all of Fires' hitters cost 3 or more. Even good old Disenchant is sitting the pine these days in favor of the 3 casting-cost Dismantling Blow. This leads to a certain level of vulnerability to the land destruction strategy.

Second, a land destruction strategy clearly has strong synergy with Yawgmoth's Agenda. Your opponent gets to play one land per turn; you get to play one spell per turn. Sounds interesting. Limiting your opponent's resources so that she may play only one spell per turn (or less) offsets the Agenda's disadvantage. Seems reasonable. Agenda essentially doubles the number of land destruction spells you have in your deck, meaning that you can finally have a land destruction spell for every land in your opponent's deck, and still have room for the necessary removal to take care of whatever slipped by, in addition to a victory condition or two. That sounds golden.

So, how about a decklist?

All Your Basics Are Belong To Yawgmoth
3:Terminate
3:Snuff Out
2:Urza's Rage
4:Seal of Fire
2:Nether Spirit

The removal you need to take out whatever slips by before the land destruction comes online. 4 Seals and 3 Snuffs are vital for keeping opposing mana-men off the board, and you should never hesitate to pay 4 life to Snuff an early Bird or Elf. I didn't really want to play any creatures in this deck, but Nether Spirit was necessary as Blastoderm removal, and as temporary Idol removal so that I could ignore that threat and come back to it when I had the land situation under control. Rage is used for removal and is also often the last spell cast in the game from the graveyard, with game-winning kicker.

4:Stone Rain
4:Pillage
3:Rain of Tears
2:Tectonic Break

Combined with the Agenda, there is enough land destruction here to destroy every land in an opponent's deck. Tectonic Break is terrific, and Breaking all of your opponent's lands while leaving yourself with a Port plus another land generally means that you should win the game.

4:Vampiric Tutor
2:Yawgmoth's Agenda

Your opponent has 1-2 land in play, you have 5-6 land destruction spells in your graveyard, and you cast Yawgmoth's Agenda. Can you guess who scoops?

1:Planeswalker's Fury

The Fury is a bad card that is good in this deck. There's not much room in this deck for victory conditions, so basically you just need to Tutor for 1 card to finish things up once the game is well in hand. Fury performs nicely here. Note also that sneaking a Fury past a counterspell deck early can be a real pain for that deck, and can sometimes just go all the way before they find a Dismantling Blow.

4:Sulfurous Springs
2:Urborg Volcano
4:Rishadan Port
2:Dust Bowl
7:Swamp
7:Mountain

26 land, because land is amazing.

The ideal game for this deck involves blowing up a few land with Stone Rain and friends while removing a few threats with Snuff Out/Terminate, then Tectonic Breaking all of your opponent's lands away, leaving yourself with a Port plus another land or two. A few turns later, Agenda would come out to seal the deal, recovering Tectonically Broken lands and land destruction spells from your graveyard until the Fury finishes the opponent off.

Of course, if every deck got the ideal draw every time, Magic wouldn't be so interesting, and deck building would be much easier. That's why you have Vampiric Tutor to fix things up for you. Frequently, you don't get the Agenda and Tectonic Break just when you want them, so you'll have to use a Tutor twice to get them. That means you'll have to Tutor for the Agenda first, play it, and then reuse the Tutor for the Break. While this isn't the ideal play, as you don't get your Break and your broken lands back from the Agenda, it is generally more than sufficient to pack the game away. It is also quite common to Tutor for the Agenda, and then reuse the Tutor for another Agenda when playing against Plains, forcing the opponent to have 2 Dismantling Blows at the ready or face the power of Yawgmoth. Another frequent Tutor target is the Rishadan Port, which is definitely a key card to this deck. Get used to Tutoring for the Port when you need it, as hesitating to do so can turn wins into losses.

The Sideboard:

2:Mogg Salvage

Tsabo's Web is not your friend. You have maindeck Pillage to deal with it, but you'd prefer to use that to blow up land. Besides, most of the decks with Webs have Islands in them, so you might as well blow up the Webs for free.

3:Perish

You don't have to wait for the Blastoderm to cast this spell. Destroying some Elves and Birds is sufficient for your needs.

3:Cremate

An opposing Nether Spirit is a real pain.

3:Tsabo's Decree

No explanation needed, as this is the modern Rebel hate of choice.

3:Scandalmonger
1:Tahngarth, Talruum Hero

Frequently after sideboarding, cards like Wrath of God and Route will move to the sideboard, allowing you to bring in a few creatures to do some work with. With a few Islands blown out of the way, a Scandalmonger can wreak serious havoc on a control player, and Tahngarth is quite unfriendly to the land-depleted Rebel player.

Give this deck a try in your playtesting, as it has some serious upset capability. I hope you enjoy it, and as always, feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

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