[Deck] Terravore.dec

[Gothmog]

I won a little 14 person local tournament with this deck I've been working on for a month or so last night and thought I'd share it and look for some input.

Guys

4 Werebear
4 Nimble Mongoose
3 River Boa
3 Terravore

Deck Manipulation

4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Windfall
1 Frantic Search
2 Tolarian Winds ( 1 Instant Discard you hand, then draw that many cards)

Broken Stuff

1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Removal

3 Cursed Scroll
3 Naturalize

Mana

7 SoLoMoxen
1 Strip Mine
4 Wastelands
4 Tropical Island
4 Windswept Heath
3 Yavimaya Coast
5 Forest
1 Treetop Village

Ihatecombo.sideboard

3 Root Maze
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Compost (the tournament before this one I played a ton of Black decks)
3 Energy Flux

The basic idea is to lay out a threat or two, use the deck manipulation to draw into answers to very bad things and fill your graveyard.  Of course, heavy use of Wasteland/Strip Mine is important.  

The creatures come out quickly and get better as the game goes on.  Nimble Mongeese are very good.  Terravore is amazing in the current Wasteland/Stifle filled environment.  I regularly play him as a 5/5 or better.

I'm a little concerned about the lack of disruption with my current build.  This build is the fastest one I've made, but that speed has come at the cost of adding 3-4 creatures at the expense of 3-4 disruption slots.  One version I had of this deck had no Nimbles but 4 MD Chalices, with the basic plan of setting the Chalice for 1.  This of course increased the decks game against combo significantly, but the Nimbles are tough to not want to play.  I'm now thinking the Boas might be able to go for Root Maze's maindeck...

Some less obvious issues to consider also:  The 3 off-color Moxen were Elvish Spirit Guides for a while.  The Moxen of course are permanent mana sources but don't give green; they also make the Thirsts slightly better.  On the other hand, ESGs increase the threat density which would have been handy several times last night.  I also have toyed with City of Traitors' in this deck for the speed boost and because their drawback isn't as harsh in a deck that wants cards, lands specifically in the Graveyard.

Last question is, I have nothing in the board for most Blue decks.  Anyone have good ideas?  My best idea atm is removing one Tropical for the 4th Yavimaya Coast and playing Choke in the board.

[Frost]

29 Mana sources seems like it should be high for this deck given how cheap your threats are.  The lone Treetop Village seems a little strange to me as well.  You mentioned wanting more disruption, have you thought about cutting some of the mana sources for Stifles?  Which deem to be good in our area.  Also, what do you think of adding two blue fetches and an Island in place of two Forests and a Coast?

[monotone]

Knowing first hand how this deck runs my suggestion would be to find room for a few Dazes.  They provide you the counters that you need early to disrupt your threats onto the board.  Spiketail hatchling would work well also.

[waSP]

Matt, I am shocked with you!  Only 4 fetchlands..  I feel like Terravore is your strongest threat.  Why aren't you running 4?  It seems to be the only way you can beat the fatter aggro decks, like TnT.  Speaking of beating fatter aggro, has the new darling, Troll Ascetic, been considered.

Sorry about making this deck my 'Slave last week..  I enjoyed playing against it when my deck wasn't giving me 8 metalworkers each game.  

Did you ever consider making it like Gro, but with Terravores?  Add some Dryads and counters.  That could be interesting..

[Haksaw]

I forsee danger from the Workshop.dec camp (may not be a concern in your area).

A first turn Chalice of the Void for 2...yikes, you can't even Naturalize that puppy, and you lose half your creatures.

Many WelderMUD/TNT builds run Blood Moon sideboard...by 2nd/3rd turn, you could be looking at 17 Mountains and 5 Forests, and if you've got to use a Naturalize on the Blood Moon, you're leaving Chalice/Tangle Wire/Smokestacks on the board longer than you'd like.  

Note: TRINISPHERE...legal as of two days ago, and definitely a first turn drop in Workshop.dec, and it costs 2G to get rid of with a Naturalize, giving them time to set up lock.  

Root maze is a must that 2nd game.  I'd be careful with those Tolarian Winds though...if they haven't drawn into a Goblin Welder yet, you could be filling their graveyard with some nasty stuff that they'll be able to throw back at you with a tap/sac/exchange.

[Lucentspirit]

Terravore is one of my favorite cards, I've tried to build a couple of decks around it since the fetch land invasion. My best was a RG version that ran all kinds of mana controlers like the wasteland, strip mine, raze, null rod, and gorrilla shaman. It also ran a bazaar, squee, anger, madness style aggro. A vore dropping in at 10/10 was pretty common. It was just to slow to be competative though.

[Lockdown]

Actually, have you ever considered Oath of Druids?  It pretty much does the job of the blue cards in your current decklist, it's cheap (money and CC) and will quite often dump a lot of lands into your graveyard.  While it requires that you retool your deck a bit, it has potential.

[Gothmog]

Regarding the 29 mana sources, that number just seemed to creep up over the evolution of the deck.  I agree it is too many, and losing 1-2 sources is part of what I'm looking to do.

The primary disruption cards I've considered are:

Stifle - fits the LD theme nicely, gives some slight game against Dragon/Long

Root Maze - slows the game, good vs Dragon

Chalice - If the Scrolls and Mongeese were something else and the off color moxen were ESGs, I could Chalice for 1 & 0 depending on situation which is strong against a lot of decks.  Chalice for 1 is the best option I can find for keeping Welders off the board in these colors.  It would have lots of game vs Long then, doesn't help vs Dragon.

Winter Orb - again just slows the game

Regarding the adding 2 blue fetches and an Island, removing 2 Forests and a Coast, if we add more blue spells, that could be done.  I was also thinking though we could remove one Tropical add the 4th Coast and play Choke in the board to fight the sea of Landstill/Blue Control in our area.  I'd only have 3 Islands in the list.

I don't have enough true islands for Daze I don't think(4).  Spiketail Hatchling could be interesting though.  I will try them.

For the Fetchlands, one of the issues with Fetches are U/G are opposing colors.  A Fetch can get either Islands or Forests, but not both (except Tropical).  I could add more fetch Forests, the only reason not to really is the number of Stifles I've had shoved down my throat recently.  I personally think Stifle is somewhat overrated for its LD ability.  Playing intelligently can play around them, but its tough when your opening hand's only colored mana sources are all Fetches, then you pretty much have to crack one right away (in this deck anyway), walking into a potential Stifle.  I'll try one more Fetch and see how it goes, do you guys think I should play more than 5?

Haksaw - Workshop decks are tough.  One of the reason the 4th Naturalize is getting in one way or another is to match the 4 Survivals in TnT.  With TnT, the plan is, play out some guys, try to hold naturalize's for their Survivals, keep Survival off the board and burn your hand away to Scroll the Welders.  Its not a great plan, but I've played against a fair amount of TnT and done ok pre-board.  I haven't played a ton of prison.  Against a really great start by a prison deck, there's nothing to be done, but against average starts I think you have some game against them.  Prison's gameplan works nicely with this decks plans, and I would think its reasonably possible to ride a 4/4 Bear or larger Terravore to victory before they get you in a hard lock.  For Trinisphere, ESGs instead of off color Moxen would help against them.  Also, Tolarian Winds doesn't affect the opponent, only me, note its card disadvantage, and really not that good, but it is effective at letting you see a lot of cards and fill the Yard.

Lockdown - I never thought about Oath.  I'd be afraid to maindeck Oath because there are other decks better at being control decks than this one, but as a sideboard vs Aggro decks, that could be interesting....I like it, I think its worth testing.

In working on this deck, I reconsidering the Threshold guys.  Instead of the Werebears/Mongeese, I could put in Gaea's Skyfolk & Serendib Efreet for example...that would require more blue commitment but would free up the deck manipulation slots for more focused disruption.  I think that might have to be the way to go to make the deck disruptive enough to deal with the top decks.

[Suckamouf37]

I've actually been toying around with a similar version lately.  But mine play quite differently, more along the lines of Dryad-Sligh with a heavy LD componant:

Mana
4 Taiga
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mountain
4 Forest
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Diamond

Threats
4 Quirion Dryad
4 Terravore
1 Black Vise

LD
4 Wasteland
4 Tremble
3 Petrified Field
3 Gorilla Shaman
1 Strip Mine

Burn and Wheel
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Incinerate
1 Wheel of Fortune

I'm not positive about the Trembles, but I like them so far.  I really do think that Mox Diamond is this deck's best friend, and would try to fit it in your build, even if you are fully powered.

[Gothmog]

Suckamouf37 - Interesting, at first glance, I like it.  You have to like using the best Red creature ever printed (except maybe Welder) Quirion Dryad.  

I'll try Mox Diamond.  The Trembles I'm not sold on, but if I were to remove the Threshold creatures, splashing Red rather than Blue would need to be reconsidered.  I like the concept of Dryads & Terravores as the beatdown.

[Ben Kossman]

Have you considered trade routes or careful study? They both seem like
they'd be pretty effective. Or maybe a R/G build with Seismic Assault ?

[Tha Gunslinga]

Wouldn't Raze (Saga Red common sorcery, CC one red mana, sac a land: destroy target land) be better than Tremble?  It targets, and costs less.

[Gothmog]

Thanks for everyone's input.  After careful consideration, here's what I'm testing now:

Guys

4 Werebear
4 Nimble Mongeese
3 River Boa or Serendib Efreet
3 Terravore
4 Elvish Spirit Guide

Deck Manipulation

4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Windfall
1 Frantic Search
1 Tolarian Winds

Broken Cards

1 Regrowth
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

Disruption

4 Null Rod
4 Naturalize

Mana

1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Black Lotus
1 Strip Mine
4 Wastelands
4 Tropical Island
4 Windswept Heath
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Forest
1 Treetop Village

Sideboard

4 Oath of Druids
4 Choke
3 Root Maze
4 Energy Flux

The major change is the addition of Null Rod.  This of course give us quite a bit more game vs a lot of decks including Combo & Mask decks that were previously very tough.  Side benefits include slowing Hulk significantly, making Tormod's Crypts from opposing boards less useful & giving Prison/Slaver decks a tough time.  To accomodate the Null Rods, the off-color moxen & Sol Ring are gone for 4 Elvish Spirit Guides.  Mox Diamond as a consideration was also a casualty of the Null Rod decision.

Some other notes:

I have not tried Trade Routes; I agree its worth trying.  I did play some with Careful Study.  I like Thirst for its Instant Speed better, Windfall & Frantic Search seem too good to not play.  For the remaining Tolarian Winds, maybe, but Winds is an Instant also, and messing with an opponents combat math by Winds'ing into threshold has happened more than once.

[martyr]

Would it be worth it to try to include Anger or Wonder maindeck? It'd be tricky if you did, as you'd need more ways to get them in the 'yard, but they really make Terravore a lot better, especially anger.

I guess this just turns it into Madness, though.

[Smash]

Play balancing tings! Wheeee invasion sac lands

[Gothmog]

I did learn the hard way in our last tournament that no way to deal with Welders is bad times.  At least 4 Blue Blasts in the board seems to be a must.