From the Brim to the Trim - Happily Ramosing Budget and Opponents Alike
(Ramos, Dragon Engine | Art by Joseph Meehan)
(Jegantha, the Wellspring | Art by Chris Rahn)
Ramos a la Playa, Oh Oooooh
Greetings and salutations, from a country where Thanksgiving is not a thing! I'm Arnaud, and I'm thrilled to take you on a journey of uncanny brews, hidden gems and usage of EDHREC's filtering features.
We left last time on a quite aggressive note, with Akroma and Rograkh tearing through the opposition. For this week's iteration, I gave you the choice between three potential commanders assorted with a flashy companion. Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty and Keruga, the Macrosage did not seem to excite you too much, with only 58 votes (27%). The same cannot be said for the other two contenders. In the end, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Gyruda, Doom of Depths fell behind by a single vote, earning 76 favours from you wonderful people. Which means that, with 77 votes, Ramos, Dragon Engine and Jegantha, the Wellspring take the win. Let's see what this holds in store for us!
Story time. Back when it was revealed in Commander 2017, Ramos was by far the creature I was most excited to build around, and one of my most played decks altogether. While I decided to give it a well-deserved retirement plan a while ago , it sneakily came back in a new janky brew recently, playing only multicolor spells. Fair warning, I might try to include some of my pet cards here.
So, what's so exciting about this big bad Dragon? 4/4 flying for 6 mana is a hefty price to pay. However, as soon as you start churning through spells, it quickly becomes either a massive behemoth or a superb mana engine, to help you cast silly charm after zany instant. Ramos is well known for getting out of hand quickly, so expect some side glances and repeated attempts at removing him from the field.
Jegantha on the other hand is mostly a big mana boy, and is mostly here for the fun building constraint it adds.
With that being said, let's fill the first iteration with all cards from the pair's EDHREC page. With an initial 277 cards to toy with, we should be in for a good ride. Let's go!
First Trim – The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre
Let's get to it. As usual, we'll remove all cards costing strictly more than $1 from the list, to keep only the budget goodies. Interestingly enough, I feel like the build constraint from Jegantha might lead to some unforeseen hidden gems.
After cutting down the most expensive staples, let's have a look at what's between $1 and $2 and worth keeping an eye out for:
- Return of the Wildspeaker: At $1.02, it's only a matter of bad timing. This card deserves a spot in the deck, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could find several for less than a buck.
- Surrak Dragonclaw: If your meta is heavy with counterspells, this is a neat way of saying "Nope" to their "Nope".
- Maelstrom Wanderer: A classic among classics. Will give three +1/+1 counters to Ramos, in addition to all the colors included in the cascaded spells. And has haste. And gives haste. Brutal.
- Trace of Abundance: A fantastic color fixer for a puny two mana, and will pump your commander by 3.
- Mayael's Aria: Will it win you the game? Probably not. Is it fun to try to anyway? You bet it is!
- Hardened Scales: Classic, but will help Ramos grow even faster.
- Baleful Strix: He draws, protects and boosts you commander. What more is there to ask?
- Tiller Engine: Given the budget mana base and very color hungry spells, this neat critter is a serious candidate.
- Wilderness Reclamation: Because casting spells on both your and your opponent's turns feels so good...
With this first cuts out of the way, we're now down to 169 cards. Not an all-time low, but this is going to be an interesting one. Onwards, companions!
Second Trim – Cardward Scissorhands
Now that the fluff is out of the way, let's see how we fare with the clockworks that make our deck tick.
- Draw: 23
- Ramp: 38
- Removal: 47 (Yowza!)
- Wipes: 3
Well well well. Looks like this is going to be quite tricky to sort out, especially in the removal section. You see, most of our spells in that category are modal, allowing for a plethora of situational choices. Simply getting rid of one might affect other sections as well. I'll keep this trim as broad as possible, only getting rid of the most obnoxious cards, and trying my best to keep the ones that apply to multiple situations. Let's have a look.
| Draw | Ramp | Removal |
And because I didn't want to populate a fourth column with a single spell, I'm also getting rid of Iridian Maelstrom, too narrow and situational.
And that's DONE!
I've been quite surprised at some of the stuff brewers are playing in their lists, and even more so by some they don't!
For ramp, I've decided to add Leyline Prowler and Atzocan Seer. The first is an excellent blocker in addition to providing ramp, and the second provides all colors as well, despite a not-so-relevant second ability.
Yes, I know, technically I should stay by the initial list and trim it down without adding stuff, but this is Ramos. He needs care and assistance, as well as a well-curated assortment of various spells. This is a painstakingly long process, but it'll be worth it in the end.
After resizing the land base a bit, we're down to 128 cards and it's more than time to have a look at the rest of the goodies.
Third Trim – Cutting Off the Rough Edges
So. As a veteran Ramos player, there are a few consistent issues I have sadly witnessed in the past, both in my brews and in the occasional other deck.
- Ramos is the be-all end-all of multicolored goodies. What I mean is that players tend to include almost any card in here as long as it's 3 colors or more.
- People love splashy or obscure spells that do little in the end. Most decks I've met (including mine) sorely lacked ways to close out the game aside from bashing heads with their commander.
With that in mind I would like to take the time in this section to mercilessly cut down anything that's not "helping the plan".
Off we go, objective 110.
- Knight of New Alara: Cute, but we won't run that many multicolored creatures in the end.
- Threefold Signal & Cloven Casting : Fun, but I'd rather actually cast my spells than copy them.
- Jodah, Archmage Eternal: There aren't that many expensive spells we'd want to replace the cost of.
- Niv-Mizzet, Supreme: While I can see the appeal, our current list doesn't include enough two-colored spells to make this worthwhile.
- Transguild Courier & Fallaji Wayfarer: Technically, these say "add 5 +1/+1 counters on Ramos". But they achieve little else. I'd rather have my cards do something aside from buffing a hypothetical commander.
- Reborn Hope: Cute, but just a tad underwhelming.
- Rienne, Angel of Rebirth: I love that card, and it's a monster in a dedicated deck. But here it's just a clunky way to somewhat mitigate the ripples of our commander being killed.
- Last Stand: I adore the flavor of that card. And with Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, it's a monster. But we simply don't run enough basics for it to be consistent enough.
- Rith's Charm: Three underwhelming effects, none of which are veggies. Pass.
- Hero of Precinct One: Fun, but puny tokens are not exactly what we're after.
- Jared Carthalion: Five colors, yes. Beaters, yes. But underwhelming ultimate, and anti-synergistic -3 ability. That's a no.
- Door to Nothingness: I know I said we needed some finishers, but trust me, this card is not what you expect it to be. Once you can activate it at instant speed, you'll be holding your opponents at gunpoint in a sort of weird Mexican standoff, and that's neither fun nor easy to manoeuver through. We're not running recursion for this, and we can't copy the ability. Off with you.
- Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile: We're not running enough 5 color spells to make this worth it. And we don't really need the fixing.
- Yore-Tiller Nephilim: Flavorful, but ineffective.
- Gold-Forged Thopteryx: I like this little bird. But Ward 2 is not going to deter your opponents from targeting Ramos, not one bit.
- Lavalanche: As with the Thopteryx, this is one card I wish I would include in more decks, but that ends up being axed every single time.
- Cultivate and Kodama's Reach: After careful consideration, I'm not 100% convinced. They are single-colored spells and they only hit basics. I think our ramp is good enough without these.
- Brokers Ascendancy: Simply too slow.
And we're done with this part. I tried to dig a bit more in the explanations this time, to give you an insight on how I decide on the various cuts. As such, I left the list in the order I made said cuts. I hope this will be of some help if you're struggling with your own decks.
With that being said, we still have 10 cards to go before we can call it a day. Off to the final stretch.
Final Trim - Heart-Wrenching Choices and Last Minute Additions
All right, let's go. As usual, bear in mind that, in this very last section, there are no bad calls. I'm cutting cards according to what I feel is the worst among the best, but I don't pretend to be 100% correct in my assessment! If you like any of these spells (or some of the above-mentioned cuts for instance), feel free to dabble and meddle and muddle and toy and tinker.
- Obscura Confluence: Yes, that's a potential 6-power buff and three-cards dig, but I'm unconvinced by the other modes. Close call though.
- Endless Detour: I love the versatility, I hate leaving my opponent the choice.
- Brokers Charm and Esper Charm: Three colors, but in the end I feel like both will end up being little more than a glorified Divination
- Fusion Elemental: Big body, but no evasion, and hardly any ways to give it some.
- Simic Charm: You'll probably play this mostly for the hexproof part. Not bad, but not enough.
- Azorius Charm: Love the fact it's two mana, less enthused by the slightly lackluster effects. Giving Ramos lifelink could save your life though.
- Quandrix Command: Four counters for three mana is nice, but the effects are otherwise below the average.
- Treva's Charm: Almost good enough, but three mana for targeted removal is not ideal, especially with all the other stuff we've got going.
- Urban Evolution: Card draw is always nice, but this is a tad too expensive for my taste.
Finally, allow me to add one of my pet cards to the mix : Vanish into Memory. This is a fantastic and totally underrated outlet.
- With Ramos, it will always net you more draw than discard, especially if you have a hefty amount of counters, while acting as a protection asset if need be.
- With Primeval Spawn, you basically double the triggered effect when leaving the battlefield, while digging 10 cards deep.
- With Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener, you get to backup again (ok, that's a bit less impressive).
Oh, and did I mention it can target your opponents' stuff as well?
I can't believe this gem has been left behind, and I'm really happy to share it with you.
Let's take Expressive Iteration out instead.
And there you have it!
Conclusion
Well, that was fun. You may have noticed that I've switched to Archidekt for the intermediate lists as well, for... reasons.
That made me think. Do you people make use of these intermediate decklists, or is it something that I should forego entirely, focusing only on the cards removed?
I'd love to have your opinion on that, so much so that it's replacing the poll on commanders this week. Instead, I'll dabble with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Gyruda, Doom of Depths next time (come on, they were one vote short, they deserve some love from the grave!).
As usual, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section.
See you in two weeks!
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Arnaud Gompertz
Arnaud Gompertz has been playing Magic since 4th Edition, back in 1995. He's been an assiduous EDH enthusiast since 2012, with a soft spot for unusual and casual Commanders. He'll always favour spectacular plays against a boring path to victory. Aside from mistreating cardboard, he's a dedicated board games player, loves a challenging video game and occasionally tries to sing with his choir.
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