The white knight! The home town hero! The Pro Tour Eldritch Moon Top 8 Competitor! Reid Duke! Reid Duke! Reid Duke!
I might be a little biased on this one, but Reid is one of my best friends and I have known him since before he could read Shivan Dragon. (He played before he could read, but that is a story for another article). I can't tell you how pumped I was to see him top 8, but honestly I think his deck is great! Reid hit a sweet spot combining all his knowledge of Farseek and Read the Bones to make the best Nissa's Pilgrimage deck. So often the problem with ramp strategies is that they don't have enough early plays and are prone to flooding out. Essentially, they are high variance. With cards like Traverse the Ulvenwald and Grapple the Past you have access to early plays that hit your land drops but also find your threats later in the game. Cards like Nissa's Pilgrimage and Hedron Archive are card advantage and ramp. These elements are pivotal in making this the most functionally consistent ramp deck in Standard.
Deck Tech
R/G Delirium Ramp ? Eldritch Moon Standard | Reid Duke
- Creatures (13)
- 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Sylvan Advocate
- 1 Ulvenwald Hydra
- 2 Dragonlord Atarka
- 2 Emrakul, the Promised End
- 2 Hedron Crawler
- 2 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
- 2 World Breaker
- Spells (25)
- 2 Fiery Impulse
- 3 Kozilek's Return
- 4 Grapple with the Past
- 2 Gather the Pack
- 4 Nissa's Pilgrimage
- 4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
- 4 Vessel of Nascency
- 2 Hedron Archive
- Lands (22)
- 10 Forest
- 2 Mountain
- 1 Cinder Glade
- 1 Evolving Wilds
- 2 Drownyard Temple
- 2 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
- 4 Game Trail
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- 1 Kozilek's Return
- 1 Fiery Impulse
- 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- 1 Roast
- 3 Rending Volley
- 2 Greenwarden of Murasa
- 2 Gnarlwood Dryad
- 2 Tireless Tracker
- 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
Match 1: Temur Emerge
Match 2: B/R Vampires
Match 3: B/G Delirium
Match 4: Mono Eldrazi
Match 5: Sultai Delirium
We had some pretty sweet and close games with this deck. We ended up on the wrong side of variance, but we still got to see the power this deck has, (even slogging through hate cards like Infinite Obliteration!) I doubt this will ever be the most popular deck in Standard, but it will most certainly hold onto a Tier 1 spot. The cards in the list that I didn't love were the 2 Gather the Pack and the 2 Fiery Impulse. If I were to play it again I would play 2 more Sylvan Advocates, a 2nd Nissa, Vastwood Seer and the 4th Kozilek's Return. This would give the main deck a bit more presence on the early turns, while packing just as much punch later on. I am also tempted to cut the Hedron Archives for Explosive Vegetations to synergize with the Advocates, Nissas and Shrines, but I think we would run out of basic lands. You might be able to get away with this change, but I am unsure to recommend it. Either way, this is a great deck and I encourage you to try it out, especially if you expect a lot of control strategies because those are great matchups.
Until next week, GLHF friends. May you smite thy enemies with a Golden Axe!
—Andrew Boswell