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My name is Ali Aintrazi and within the past year I have won 2 PTQ’s and top 8’ed two SCG 5k’s. One of which I popularized Turboland. I would like to talk about Turboland and adopting Destructive Force and some M11 cards.
Here is the Turboland list I played at the SCG 5k for reference:
[cardlist]
[Creatures]
3 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Overgrown Battlement
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
[/Planeswalkers]
[Sorcery]
4 Explore
3 Mind Spring
4 Time Warp
2 All Is Dust
[/Sorcery]
[Artifact]
1 Expedition Map
[/Artifact]
[Lands]
6 Forest
7 Island
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Halimar Depths
4 Khalni Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Eye of Ugin
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Pithing Needle
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
2 Wall of Frost
2 Flashfreeze
4 Fog
1 Into the Roil
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 All Is Dust
1 Expedition Map
[/Sideboard]
[/cardlist]
My favorite card in Type 2 is by far Time Warp - I mean come on, what's more fun than denying your opponent an entire turn? I had seen a deck tech video of Nassif's U/G turboland block deck and immediately wanted to play it with Time Warps and eldrazi. I quickly sleeved up a rough list and began testing against Jund and U/W control. The deck was doing surprisingly well, but my group quickly pointed out that Avenger of Zendikar was nuts and that Kozilek was not needed since Mind Spring was much better and you would almost always rather cast Mind Spring over the hefty eldrazi. At that time U/W control was extremely popular because it had recently won a GP and Turboland just crushed the deck. So I knew that was what I wanted to play at the SCG 5k. So I hastily assembled the whole deck and the rest is history.
Later on at the next SCG 5k, Turboland had exploded in popularity and at least three big name pros were playing it. I got extremely excited because I had influenced the meta and thought that I was the first person to play this type of deck in standard. Later I realized that I had not been the first to play it and a similar deck had made top eight at a national qualifier in Arizona by Adam Prosak, only he played Rampaging Baloths and no eldrazi spells. Oh well, at least I had put the deck on the map and was the first to top eight with aliens! It's the small steps that count right?
I had a PTQ coming up near my area and I wanted to play the same type of deck, so I looked at the top lists from the SCG 5k and they all were playing Lotus Cobra. I bashed myself for not seeing that card before, because it's so amazingly good in the deck. I took the 2nd place list and made very minor adjustments, mainly adding All is Dust and cutting a couple of tectonic edges – I never lost a single match throughout the entire day. Here is the list I used to win the PTQ:
[cardlist]
[Creatures]
4 Avenger of Zendikar
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
[/Planeswalkers]
[Sorceries]
4 Explore
2 Mind Spring
4 Rampant Growth
4 Time Warp
2 All Is Dust
[/Sorceries]
[Lands]
6 Forest
6 Island
4 Halimar Depths
4 Khalni Garden
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Expedition Map
3 Roil Elemental
3 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
4 Narcolepsy
1 Whiplash Trap
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 All Is Dust
1 Eye of Ugin
[/Sideboard]
[/cardlist]
Now let's take this deck in a new direction and add some M11 cards to it. We will be butchering all the normal creatures for Titans and Destructive Force. You could say it's a new deck all together since it will no longer feel the same, but Turboland does offer us a nice shell to start with. Let's see what some of our options are in M11, I want to play Destructive Force so we will look at some red cards first.
Red
Destructive Force: Wildfire plus one all over! I'm glad it's 5 to everything since it will kill Baneslayer Angel. This is the card that I want the deck to work around.
Inferno Titan: I feel this card is underrated, and believe it is the 3rd best Titan. Arc Lightining is really good on a creature – especially one with firebreathing.
Blue
Foresee: I really like this card, but I don't believe this is the home for that card. It's competing with Jace and Mind Spring, and I find it inferior to both in this type of deck.
Preordain: I could see this card taking the place of Ponder in the deck, but I personally do not like Ponder in the deck and believe if you are going to use one, then Ponder is the better choice since it allows you to see three cards right away.
Conundrum Sphinx: Ehh, I don't like this card in the deck at all, not even in the sideboard. I would rather have small Jace or Crystal Ball for the control matches.
Mana Leak: This card is very very good, so good that I want to play it around 2 mana ramp spells.
Time Reversal: This is another cool and fun card, but I feel it will live in the shadow of Mind Spring. Why would you want the chance of improving your opponents hand or even giving them card advantage? I know I never want to do that. Also a big Mind Spring will easily end the game. You can't really say that about Time Reversal.
Green
Primeval Titan: Where have you been all my life? This card fits amazingly into the deck. It is the heart of the deck - it gets the deck working and allows you to ramp really fast, and best of all lives through a Destructive Force!
Cultivate: I loved this card before and I'm sure I'll love it now; it plays very well with Explore and gives you padding for Blightning.
Obstinate Baloth: I really like this guy - 4 mana for a 4/4 that gains 4 life is awesome, especially if it can happen free sometimes!
"The Deck"
- Creatures (5)
- 3 Primeval Titan
- 2 Inferno Titan
- Instants (9)
- 4 Mana Leak
- 3 Lightning Bolt
- 2 Into the Roil
- Planeswalkers (7)
- 3 Garruk Wildspeaker
- 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- Sorceries (12)
- 3 Rampant Growth
- 2 Explore
- 3 Destructive Force
- 1 Mind Spring
- 3 Cultivate
- Lands (27)
- 1 Mystifying Maze
- 4 Forest
- 4 Island
- 4 Mountain
- 4 Scalding Tarn
- 3 Halimar Depths
- 3 Raging Ravine
- 4 Misty Rainforest
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Burst Lightning
- 2 All is Dust
- 1 Jace Belern
- 2 Pelakka Wurm
- 4 Obstinate Baloth
- 2 Nature’s Claim
- 2 Pyroclasm
As you can see the deck has changed a lot from normal Turboland. You only have 5 creatures and your deck rotates around Destructive Force. No more Time Warps since we do not have Oracle or the need for Landfall Triggers.
Your main goal now is to land a titan or a planeswalker before you cast destructive force severely crippling your opponent, but don't be afraid to cast a Destructive Force when the board is empty. As long as you have more lands than your opponent you should recover faster than them. Inferno Titan and bolts can kill off opposing titans that live through destructive force. Any titan on an empty field can end the game very quickly. We are still playing blue here for the best planeswalker and to fill our hand with Mind Spring when we need an answer or run out of threats. Into the Roil is here so you can bounce pesky planeswalkers or any permanent that will live through your Destructive Force.
These decks are what I have tested against with this deck.
Jund:
This matchup is pretty much even. Usually Turboland has problems with a turn 2 Putrid Leech, but if they don't have it or if you have a bolt then you should be fine. Game one Blightning is a problem. Blightning can three for one you if you have a walker out so be careful. Jund cannot recover from a Destructive Force – so again do not be afraid of dropping it early if you have more lands/ramps spells in your hand.
SB: -2 Jace -4 Mana Leak
+4 Obstinate Baloth +2 Pelakka Wurm
Usually you want to cut most if not all of your planeswalkers because of Blightning, but the Jund player should've taken out all of them, and if they didn't then hopefully you can punish them with the baloth. You don't want to try to 1 for 1 Jund, so I take out Mana Leak since the only spell you really want to counter should be in their SB. Most blue decks play Sphinx of Jwar Isle to beat Jund, but I don't want to play it here because it dies to Destructive Force. After Sideboard the baloths should be able to keep you alive until you can drop a titan/wurm/force to end the game.
RDW:
Not a favorable matchup, but not nearly as bad as it used to be when you played plain U/G. If you have a ramp spell and Mana Leak you will usually want to keep mana open for Mana Leak since they should be casting a spell every turn. If you have a choice between Jace or Garruk, the better choice is usually Garruk making a beast if you don't have a leak or bolt in your hand.
-3 Destructive Force -1 Mind Spring -2 Primeval Titan -1 Inferno Titan -3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+4 Obstinate Baloth +2 Pelakka Wurm +2 Burst Lightning +2 Nature's Claim
After sideboard you should be pretty even with them unless they have multiple Leyline of Punishments, in which case their burn spells should be less. You want Nature's Claim over Naturalize so you can Nature's Claim turn 1 then be able to Mana Leak or ramp next turn if you have to.
Mythic:
This matchup really depends on who's on the play and if you got the counters or bolts. If you are on the play you can hold a lot of their threats at bay with bolts and Mana Leaks. You want to get Jace out as soon as possible to start bouncing threats or just to stop them from playing Jace. Night of the Reliquary can be a problem if they have a lot of lands in their graveyard making Jace and Into the Roil that much more important.
-1 Mind Spring -3 Garruk Wildspeaker -2 Inferno Titan
+2 All is Dust +2 Pyroclasm +2 Burst Lightning
Game two is much better for you. All is Dust is your trump against them. They can't win to a timely All is Dust. Try to bait them into playing more threats. For example, when you can three for one them with All is Dust try waiting a little longer to see if you can make them think you don't have it and get a bigger deal out of it. All your red removal will buy you enough time to seal the game with a Destructive Force or an All is Dust.
U/W Control:
You are favored in this matchup since you can make their Mana Leak pretty much useless. They shouldn't counter your ramp spells, and then when you do have enough mana to cast a threat you should have that 3 extra mana for leak. Obviously Jace is very important here so try not to tap out for him if you have a Mana Leak in your hand.
+1 Jace Beleren +2 All is Dust
Bolts were mainly for Jace anyway, and now you have better ways to deal with him. If they are playing Oblivion Rings and Spreading Seas, then it just makes All is Dust that much better.
R/G Titan Ramp:
I have not tested this matchup, but it has been doing well at nationals. I would assume the game depends on who can get a Primeval Titan to stick. You should be able to keep their Valakut in check with Destructive Force. Also they play Harrow, so a well timed Mana Leak can set them back big time.
I would bring in the Claim for the Khalni Heart Expedition in order to try and slow down their ramp.
This is another deck that is doing decent at nationals, but again I have not tested this matchup. I assume it's not that good, but as long as you can get a Jace to stick you should be fine since that will allow you to bounce their Emarkul.
-1 Destructive Force -2 Inferno Titan
+2 Burst Lightning +1 Jace Belern
After sideboard you will have more "counter spells" for their Polymorph in the form of burn. Again this matchup depends heavily on you sticking a Jace.
I like this deck very much and hope you will too.
Ali
