Mar 2010 - MDV Deckbuilding Contest! "In Ruins..." [Submission Thread]

[Streetz]

MDV Deckbuilding Contest! In Ruins...

I tested myself this morning to come up with a clever Anagram for "RUIN GHOST" but failed miserably. Here's some of my attempts:

U'R HOSTING
U HOST RING
HURT 'O SING
GIN HURT SO
IN SHORT, UG.
I SNORT GHU
I SHOT RUNG
O STIR HUNG
I, UH, STRONG

As you can see, it was a struggle. So in the End I went with "In Ruins..." which is a nice title to lead into "...there are Ghosts. Ruin Ghosts. And you will be building a deck around Ruin Ghost this month!" Not the most clever intro, I know. Still, I have faith in you that you won't fail at putting a fun, casual, clever, individualized deck together for this contest. Last month you guys did an awesome job. Keep up the good work!

Ruin Ghost is a new card from Worldwake that only costs 1W to play but has a reusable tap ability that Flicker's one of your lands.

This is the official submission thread. That's right, your submission has to be posted in this thread and others will be able to see it. If you want to be secretive, wait until the last minute to post your deck before the deadline.

The discussion thread can be found here. Any questions or comments can be posted in that thread. Only your submission including description and deck name goes in this thread.

This contest's card theme is:
Build a deck around Ruin Ghost.



Objective:
Design a 60 card, no sideboard, deck centered around 4 copies of Ruin Ghost. The deck type doesn't matter. What matters is that you make this the coolest deck possible while following the rules of the contest. Think originality, cool combos, casual perspective. Alternative formats are OK. No sideboards.

Deadline:
Your deck must be posted in this thread with all of the requirements filled by the end of the day on 3/31/10(that's a Wednesday). You may edit your entry up until that point.

Rules:
Please read these carefully as they will make or break your entry.

• All entries must include: a 60 card deck, a deck name, and a description.
• *As a Streetz Deckbuilding Contest staple, your deck must include at least two different cards that are legendary. Think Legendary Lands and Legendary creatures that are fun in 1 of's. Planeswalkers do NOT count as Legendary cards.
• Your deck must make sense using four copies of Ruin Ghost.
• You can use cards from any set, including UN cards and promos.
• One deck per person. If you submit more than one deck I will either review each deck and use your best score or disqualify all entries.
  
• No power nine. No power nine. No power nine.
• Do not copy any existing deck that is on MDV or considered a popular net deck. The contest judge(s) hold the right to reject any deck.
• All submissions must be posted in this thread. Do you best not to copy or borrow ideas from others that have posted before you.
• All discussion for this contest can go here.

Scoring:

• Synergy/Combo - 10 possible points. Is your deck loaded with combos and synergies that make it better than other decks? Is this a unique combo in the deck never seen before? Decks lacking any synergy at all will score low in this category.
• Playability at a glance - 10 possible points. Since I can't test each deck, I review it at a glance. Make sure you go over any key interaction of cards in your description so I don't miss it when reviewing it.
• Overall Score - 10 possible points. Again, this is at a glance, but it is my impression of your deck overall. Does it look fun? Does it look well designed? This score includes a good deck name, a good deck description and a well built deck. A deck with a low playability score could still get a higher score.

If you are interested in judging this month's contest, please let me know

Prizes:
The winner of this contest will be sent four copies of Ruin Ghost. If more than one deck ties for first place, the four copies will be divided amongst the winners.

EDIT: Omegaprime9774 will be judging this contest.

[KlassyReborn]

Land Ahoy!
//Creatures// - 24 4 Ruin Ghost 3 Admonition Angel 2 Tideforce Elemental 4 Emeria Angel 3 Lotus Cobra 2 Roil Elemental 2 Seedborn Muse 2 Uyo, Silent Prophet 2 Patron of the Moon //Spells// - 16 3 Harrow 3 Dream Fracture 3 Path to Exile 3 Amulet of Vigor 2 Khalni Heart Expedition 2 Helix Pinnacle	//Lands// - 20 4 Terramorphic Expanse 4 Plains 3 Forest 4 Island 3 Gemstone Mines 2 New Benalia

Deck Description
I know, yet another landfall deck, but what can you do with a card like Ruin Ghost? ...well we'll find out from other people.

Admonition Angel - The Synergy with RG, makes it into ,: exile target non-land permanent.
Tideforce Elemental - just to keep those beefy swingers at bay.
Emeria Angel - To create little chump blockers, and swing if necessary
Lotus Cobra - Well if I NEED to explain, then it's mana excel :-P
Roil Elemental - What I can't tap, I take.
Seedborn Muse - I like things not being tapped.
Uyo, Silent Prophet - Return lands to my hand, and slap them back down!
Patron of the Moon - Landfall, Landfall, Landfall.
Harrow - It Helps with Landfall, and excel
Dream Fracture - IMO superior to cancel, sure it gives them a card, but it's a card I can take later
Path to Exile - Needs no justification, it's here because this is a control deck.
Amulet of Vigor - I like things not being tapped.
Khalni Heart Expedition - More Excel, I need it

Gemstone Mines - When you're down to the last one, use Ruin Ghost to exile it and have it replentish it's counters.
New Benalia - Scrying is just awesome. RG helps me do it repeatedly.

EDIT: Unbeknownst to me until a few minutes ago, my deck contained the infinite combo of 2 Lotus Cobra, Ruin Ghost, and Tideforce Elemental. Now I was told 3, but i'm going to argue 2, for one VERY good reason. When people are talking about the combo, they forget that they can tap lands Now here's how it goes if you can't see it. You have all 4 creature's in play. : exile a land, it comes back into play, when it hits play, add from one cobra, from another, Tideforce to untap ghost, tap your land to add mana, rinse and repeat. Of course if you have a full play set of cobras out you can get it without tapping the land. Which could be nice for New Benalia, where I can scry infinitely, stacking my deck. Now to accomodate this new finding I added in Helix Pinnacle, so I can dump all my extra mana into Oh wait, that's infinite...which means, I win. Also, if I don't have that out, I do have tons more landfall cards, infinite removal, infinite birds, take all my opponent's creature's, you get the drill.

[Solstice]

I hope you enjoyed a good look at my old deck... heres the new one:

Ghosts of Gaea
Creatures 4x Ruin Ghost 4x Hedron Crab 4x Elvish Spirit Guide 4x Lotus Cobra 3x Steppe Lynx 2x Mycoloth 1x Emeria Angel Spells 4x Lotus Petal 4x Life and Limb 4x Intruder Alarm	Lands 4x Adarkar Wastes 4x Brushland 4x Yavimaya Coast 4x Plains 5x Island 5x Forest

Intruder Alarm + Life and Limb + Ruin Ghost: Whenever a land returns to play, untap all creatures and lands, since all lands are now creatures. Rinse and repeat as necessary to either a) mill your opponents deck with Hedron Crab or b) pump up Steppe Lynx and attack them with a huge monstrosity.

Life and Limb + Mycoloth: Sacrifice your lands as devoured creatures for Mycoloth and get twice the number of lands the next turn... and every next upkeep

Life and Limb + Mycoloth + Lotus Cobra/Steppe Lynx/Hedron Crab: Lets say you sacrificed 5 lands... and now its your next turn and Mycoloth has 10 counters on it and... oh ****... did I just see 10 Saproling Lands hit the table with Landfall??!!!

Intruder Alarm + Ruin Ghost + Emeria Angel: This combo was created by Harizl.

Intruder Alarm + Ruin Ghost + Emeria Angel + Mycoloth: ...huh.

Intruder Alarm + Ruin Ghost + Emeria Angel + Mycoloth + Life and Limb: Okay just wtf is the point of this... overkill much?

Lotus Cobra: Its in there to increase your chance to play the cards you want... and to be sacrificed for mycoloth if you feel you no longer need it... yes thats right Lotus Cobra is expendable in this deck

Elvish Spirit Guide: Remove it from the game from your hand... get mana.

Lotus Petal: Avoid losing life from some of the damage lands, or just play cards faster.

[ALEX Ryugami]

Attempt one, feedbacks appreciated

Soul's Ruin
// Lands 1 Mountain 1 Plains 1 Forest 3 Savannah 3 Taiga 3 Plateau 1 Gaea's Cradle 1 Karakas 1 Pendelhaven 4 Arid Mesa 1 Yavimaya Hollow 2 Khalni Garden 2 Sejiri Steppe // Creatures 4 Ruin Ghost 4 Vinelasher Kudzu 2 Admonition Angel 3 Primal Forcemage 1 Hazezon Tamar 3 Kitchen Finks	// Spells 3 Eladamri's Call 2 Natural Emergence 4 Exploration 2 Pandemonium 4 Path to Exile 1 Soul's Fire 1 Fling 2 Idyllic Tutor

What's the point of this deck?? It's about making creatures and lands bigger! With Ruin Ghost, you can triggering Khalni Garden and Sejiri Steppe's ETB ability, giving you lots of mana via Gaea's Cradle, and also triggering Vinelasher's Kudzu and Admonition Angel. Pandemonium and Primal Forcemage just for fun, and it's funnier when you have Natural Emergence (works great with Exploration), Forcemage, and Pandemonium, since you'll get to choose which thing is smashed for five damage (Gaea's Cradle works too with Emergence for lots of mana.) The tutors and fetchlands are for making the deck more consistent, when Yavimaya Hollow, Kitchen Finks and Path to Exile is for defense. Also, don't forget about Soul's Fire and Fling as back up plan when your Kudzu is very big, and the last thing: Hazezon Tamar loves lots of lands, and you can save it from death by using Karakas, hope to producing more tokens when you have more lands. Cute with Pandemonium though.

[Harizl]

Got Inrush or So Hurting
Creatures 4 Ruin Ghost 4 Emeria Angel 3 Admonition Angel 2 Hokori, Dust Drinker Enchantments 4 Ardent Plea 4 Intruder Alarm 4 Ghostly Prison 4 Propaganda 3 Oblivion Ring 3 Mobilization	Spells 3 Idyllic Tutor Lands 4 Serra's Sanctum 4 Mystic Gate 4 Tundra 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Sejiri Steppe 3 Kabira Crossroads 1 Glacial Chasm 1 Rishadan Port

Inspiration
I had a lot of options to choose from with Ruin Ghost. My view was that the real powerhouse of the card is not landfall, it is the re-entry and untapping of the target land. So to abuse that as much as possible, I was to find lands which to use, therefore : Tolarian Academy, Gaea's Cradle, and Serra's Sanctum.
I first tried Tolarian Academy with Tideforce Elemental and spam artifacts and considered a Loam Dweller / Gaea's Cradle / Spirit Deck but didn't think it would be worth it. The problem with Tolarian Academy is that it was not only blue mana, but also that I couldn't stablize the deck with enough backup and/or synergy. So, I just went over to my favorite card-type and tossed a Serra's Sanctum deck together. It was instantly more stable and smoother playing then Tolarian Academy, later, changes were made for greater synergy.

Creatures
Ruin Ghost triggers landfall so Emeria Angel and Admonition Angel were easy choices, Hokori, Dust Drinker tested very well once the speed of the deck was sped up and became an alt-win condition.

Spells
I love enchantments and this deck runs on them so few spells slots were wasted. Ghostly Prison with Propaganda are always good. Oblivion ring is for taking out early threats that come up unexpectedly. Mobilization / Intruder Alarm are solid Combo pieces for multiple cards. Ardent Plea was a big trade off but well worth it for the synergy. Idyllic tutor was chosen for good reasons to avoid cascade and to get combo pieces in-hand.

Land
Serra's Sanctum is very good with low-cost enchantment and Ruin Ghost, It can power out mana enough to go off on turn 5-6 commonly. Tundra/Hallowed Fountain/Mystic Gate are solid color-fixing. Sejiri Steppe and Kabira Crossroads are both solid mana sources, but also later give you cover and life, the 'into play tapped' is negligible as the deck can only plays one card in the first 2 turns. Rishadan Port and Glacial Chasm are in to stall out the game or combo with Hokori to ruin someone's day. One thing I found was that Glacial Chasm made excess copies of Serra's Sanctum in my hand, usable as well as useful, so I left it in.

Combo's & Synergy
The Deck is built to have Ruin Ghost cost either 1W or 1WU, as Ardent Plea will hit a Ruin Ghost every time, which both gets Ruin Ghost out but also powers up Serra's Sanctum.
Ardent Plea + Ruin Ghost - So damn convenient to have him out on turn 3 nearly guaranteed.
Ruin Ghost + Emeria Angel + Intruder alarm - Doesn't need Serra's Sanctum to get infinite 1/1's
Ruin Ghost + Mobilization + Intruder Alarm + Serra's Sanctum - more infinite 1/1's
Hokori, Dust Drinker + Rishadan Port - slows them down, when added to other cards, forever.
Hokori, Dust Drinker + Ghostly Prison/Propaganda - the slowing affect of either is often enough to hamper a bad situation.
Idyllic Tutor + Ardent Plea - lets you tutor for enchantments, or powers up sanctum while tutoring out a Ruin Ghost.
Intruder Alarm + Ruin Ghost + Admonition Angel + Mobilization - often I'd have multiple Ghost out, and being able to tap them all to power out Sanctum-mana to drop a Admonition angel which then exiles a target for each ghost (as they just untapped) is a huge swing in tempo. Add a Mobilization and they cease to have nonlands for the rest of the game.

Summary
I'm quite proud of the deck, I made a large decision to drop all the lower-cost spells to make Ruin Ghost 100% Cascade-able, but it was a very good change. Often It goes infinite on turn 5-8, often without pulling a Serra's Sanctum which was my fear when I dropped my low-cost land-tutoring. The synergy is very high, which is important when you are not playing offensive spells.

Oh, and my deck name(s) is an anagram for Ruin Ghost.

[Sucros]

Wardens of Bounty
Creatures 4 Ruin Ghost 3 Juniper Order Ranger 3 Emeria Angel 2 Rampaging Baloths 2 Avenger of Zendikar 3 Soul Warden 3 Essence Warden 3 Stonybrook Schoolmaster 1 Rhys the Redeemed 1 Darien, King of Kjeldor 3 Selesnya Evangel 2 Ranger of Eos Enchantments 2 Muraganda Petroglyphs 2 Seed the Land	Instants 3 Sprout Swarm Lands 4 Khalni Garden 2 Sejiri Steppe 3 Verdant Catacombs 3 Marsh Flats 3 Temple Garden 3 Forests 4 Plains 2 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

Ok, this should be apparent to everyone, but this is a token generating deck. There's a ton of small synergies so I'm going to do my best to focus on those.

Ruin Ghost: this card mainly is present to trigger token-landfall effects, from Avenger of Zendikar, Khalni Garden, and Seed the Land. (Update: Also triggers Emeria Angel and Rampaging Baloths, thanks Klassy!) He has additional utility protecting useful creatures by returning Sejiri Steppe to play for protection at instant speed, and, late game, can even get extra value out of a Vitu-Ghazi.

Stonybrook Schoolmaster plays excellently with the Evangel and a convoked sprout swarm, very frequently pumping out a merfolk a turn at no extra cost.

Sprout Swarm is a great end-of-turn trick to maximize mana and creature utility, and can get out of hand as a token generator as the game prolongs (as is this decks goal).

The six Wardens can quickly generate obscene amounts of life, stalling the game and sometimes making it unwinnable for your opponent, and they tap for convoke/evangel. Playing a ranger of eos will fetch you two of these.

Darien + a warden = Whenever you take damage, gain that much live and put that many soldier tokens into play. Darien + 2 wardens = frustrated opponent.

Rhys makes tokens AND doubles them.

Finally, Juniper order Ranger and Muraganda Petroglyphs exist to pump tokens (and, become big in Juniper order Ranger's case), allowing you to push through and win the game before you need to start worrying about milling/combo shenanigans.

The mana base has fetches, for extra landfall, and Vitu-Ghazi, for extra tokens.

... I think I'm going to go build this, actually. This deck looks fun. For me, not my opponent.

[aramis242]

Pompeii is a reference for one of the best known ruin on Earth and homage to this month deck contest, Ruin Ghost. There is plenty of ghosts in the ruin of Pompeii, if you ever had the chance to visit the site.

Pompeii
Lands (24 cards) 2 Seaside Citadel 2 Halimar Depths 2 Sejiri Refuge 2 Graypelt Refuge 2 Kabira Crossroads 2 Sejiri Steppe 2 Azorius Chancery 2 Simic Growth Chamber 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Selesnya Sanctuary 1 Plains 1 Forest 1 Island 1 Gaea's Cradle Creatures (20 cards) 4 Ruin Ghost 3 Vinelasher Kudzu 4 Tideforce Elemental 1 Jenara, Asura of War 4 Lotus Cobra 4 Admonition Angel	Big Mana Threats (8 cards) 1 Decree of Justice 1 Mind Spring 3 Power Sink 1 Hurricane 1 Wurmcalling 1 Clarion Ultimatum Utilities (8 cards) 4 Peer Through Depths 4 Amulet of Vigor Total = 60 cards

With Ruin Ghost, it is hard to not use the landfall ability and I guess many submissions will be made around it, mine included.

I don’t think I will be the only one using the combo interaction between Ruin Ghost, Lotus Cobra and Tideforce Elemental to generate infinite mana. While two Lotus Cobra are required to reach infinity with a “normal” land, i.e. a land giving one mana, only one Lotus Cobra is required with one of the six karoo lands in the deck (Azorius Chancery, Simic Growth Chamber and Selesnya Sanctuary). The only problem with these lands is that they enter the battlefield tapped and return another land into your hands. Hence the presence of the four Amulet of Vigor in the deck, allowing the karoos to tap for mana the moment they enter the battlefield. While infinity cannot be reached with the karoo lands, because of their second drawback, they can still provide plenty of mana with multiple Amulet of Vigor on the board, maybe enough to fuel the major threats of the deck on early turns.

The official Wizard FAQ on Amulet of Vigor states that: “If you control more than one Amulet of Vigor, each Amulet's ability triggers when a permanent enters the battlefield tapped and under your control. The first ability that resolves will untap that permanent. If the permanent somehow becomes tapped again before the next ability resolves, the next ability will untap it as well (and so on).” That means that with two Amulet of Vigor on the board, a karoo land can produce 4 mana the turn they enter the battlefield.

Amulet of Vigor is also very useful with the arrays of “enters the battlefield tapped” land of the deck:

• Gain life and tap immediately for mana with Sejiri Refuge, Graypelt Refuge or Kabira Crossroads
• Order your library and tap immediately for mana with Halimar Depths
• Gain protection from a color and tap immediately for mana with Sejiri Steppes

Gaea's Cradle fulfill one of the legendary requirement and can also act as an important mana generator on its own.

Alongside the combo trio, Vinelasher Kudzu (the first landfaller actually) can become huge in a short amount of time, and Admonition Angel can clear the opponent side in a flash. Jenara, Asura of War fulfill the second legendary requirement, complete an angel subtheme and can also hugely benefit from all the extra mana floating around.

The sorcery and instant singletons of the deck also benefit from lots of mana:

• Decree of Justice creates an army of flying angels
• Mind Spring draws a lot of cards
• Hurricane destroys pesky flyers (before playing your own) or, later in the game, can deal fatal damage to an opponent while you are protected with all the lifegain you had.
• Wurmcalling is a renewable potentially large creatures creator
• Clarion Ultimatum can double almost any permanent of the deck, from creatures to lands (most are in pair) or the Amulet of Vigor. Targeting five different lands with a couple of Admonition Angel on the board can be game ending on its own. And with an Amulet of Vigor on board, the land can even be used the moment they come into play.

To find the most appropriate threat, a full set of Peer Through Depths is added. The three Power Sink can be very efficient counterspell in a deck full of mana, shutting down an opponent for a turn in the process.

Here is my submission for this month. Let’s keep the great ideas coming!

Regards

[Scouter3000]

Ruined Colonies
Lands: 24 4 Khalni Garden 1 Sejiri Steppe 3 Marsh Flats 3 Verdant Catacombs 1 Gaea's Cradle 3 Stirring Wildwood 4 Forest 5 Plains Creatures: 29 4 Ruin Ghost 4 Knight of the Reliquary 4 Emeria Angel 3 Steppe Lynx 4 Noble Hierarch 3 Avenger of Zendikar 3 Great Sable Stag 1 Omnath, Locus of Mana 3 Dauntless Escort	Spells: 7 4 Khalni Heart Expedition 3 Overrun

The name of this deck is a play on how my playgroup pronounces the word "Khalni" and the cards' synergy with Ruin Ghost.

So this is your standard G/W Overrun with a huge amount of synergy coming from the 2 Khalni cards (the Garden and the Expedition) and Ruin Ghost. The Garden gives tokens each time it enters the battlefield, making it a nice combat trick or end of turn Overrun set-up.

Because of the Ghost I decided to go a heavy landfall theme and picked cards that went well with that theme. Emeria Angel and Avenger of Zendikar are both really sick threats in this deck because if they go unchecked for too long you will have enough tokens to win without Overrun.

Omnath and Gaea's Cradle are both fantastic in the list by themselves and are completely nuts when they are on the board together.

Knight of the Reliquary searches for your singleton lands (Cradle and Steppe) while growing with each land you put into the bin.

Dauntless Escort and Great Sable Stag are both extremely relevant to this list. They give this deck outs to things like Wrath of God and Wall of Denial. Both of which really stop this archetype in it's tracks.

[KiwiKiller]

Beautiful Landscape
Lands (21 cards) 1 Serras Sanctum 1 Strip Mine 2 Undiscovered Paradise 3 Forest 3 Plains 1 Island 4 Widswept Heath 4 Savannah 1 Flooded Strand 1 Misty Rainforest Creatures (16 cards) 4 Lotus Cobra 4 Ruin Ghost 3 Steppe Lynx 2 Gaddock Teeg 3 Argothian Enchantress	Enchantments/Artifacts (16 cards) 1 Idle Thoughts 1 Seed the Land 1 Lifegift 1 Concordant Crossroads 4 Freed from the Real 2 Khalni Heart Expedition 4 Exploration 1 Fastbond 1 Crucible of Worlds Instant/Sorceries (7 cards) 2 Eldamrys Call 3 Berzerk 2 Enlightened Tutor Total of 60 cards

Enchantress based Landfall deck.
Testing changes and cardchoices will follow.

;3

[knuckles29]

~IN THE WORKS~
Ruin Ghost
Even the Odds
Eternity Vessel
Book of Rass

Maze of Ith
Tolaria West
Halimar Depths
Rishadan Port
Academy Ruins
Kor Haven
Windbrisk Heights

Quest for Renewal
Muddle the Mixture

[canadagreen]

Don't Fear the Reaper, Fear his Friends
Creatures 4x Ruin Ghost 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa Enchantments 4x Seed the Land 4x Inturder Alarm 2x Lifegift 4x Sterling Grove 3x Enchantress's Presence Other Spells 4x Enlightened Tutor 3x Cloud Key 2x Strength of the Tajuru 2x Extraplanar Lens 1x Decree of Justice 4x Sylvan Scrying	Lands 2x Gaea's Cradle 4x Sungrass Prairie 2x Skycloud Expanse 4x Seaside Citadel 5x Plains 5x Forests

Hoo boy... There's a lot of crazy going on in my mind. Bear with me.

The basic combo of the deck is Ruin Ghost plus Seed the Land plus Intruder Alarm. As I'm sure you can figure out, that makes infinite creatures. But what's the fun of making an arbitrarily large number of creatures if you don't have anything to do with them but bog up the field? that's where the rest of the cards come in.

Lifegift allows you to gain infinite life while you are making infinite creatures.

Tapping Gaea's Cradle, exiling it with the Ghost, and tapping again allows you to drop a massive Strength of the Tajuru or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa on your little snakes, the former of which can target every one of them thanks to the double tap (ha) and multikicker.

Playing an early Extraplanar Lens exiling a plains allows you to add infinite white mana to your pool while your snakes are being made, allowing for a massive Decree of Justice to clog up the air as well as the ground. If you exile a Sungrass Prairie, however, you can add green mana to your pool as well if you exile a second one with the Ghost, which allows you to repeat the same Timmyriffic tricks that I mentioned in the paragraph above.

Once I realized that most of my important cards were enchantments or artifacts, the rest fell into place. Enlightened Tutor fetches most of my combo, as does Sterling Grove, who also does the double duty of protecting all those enchantments. Cloud Key makes all my enchantments cheaper, and can also be tutored up in a pinch. Lastly, Sylvan Scrying lets me nab any of the nonbasic lands that I need, be it the Cradle, the Prairie, of a blue source to drop the alarm.

Feedback greatly apprectiated! (beyond the sheer entertainment of Klassy and Harizl's current deckbuilding war)

EDIT: Just realized that I forgot to mention it, but yes, this is a completely Landfall-free deck. I meant it that way. Emeria Angel and Rampagin Baloths work great too, but I was really trying not to fall into the path of least resistance, no matter what the result was.

[MechanicalMind]

YA GUNNA GIT RUIN'D
CREATURES 2 Admonition Angel 4 Lotus Cobra 4 Ruin Ghost 4 Tideforce Elemental 2 Emeria Angel 2 Rampaging Baloths SPELLS 2 Harrow 4 Path to Exile 2 Oblivion Ring 4 Worldly Tutor 3 Mana Leak	LANDS 5 Plains 5 Island 5 Forest 2 Scalding Tarn 3 Arid Mesa 3 Verdant Catacombs 3 Marsh Flats

well not much to say about this. it's almost completely T2 but i swear i'm not copying netdecks...simply i chose cards i know that fit well with that teeny ghost and threw them in.

Added 4x worldly tutor just so that you can go search for those creatures you need to epically win the game.

[Phrogex]

Hey Streetz, I apologize if I'm not supposed to post here unless I'm submitting a deck, but I've a really fun idea for a deck building challenge for some time in the future: 1-mana deck. Make a deck where all spells can cost only 1-mana! The Dollar Store of decks. I'd like to see what people make. Just a suggestion.

[rcs0889]

My apologies if I didn't do the tags right; it's my first post

[deck=Bounce My Land, Please]
Lands (24)
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
3 Sejiri Steppe
3 Kabira Crossroads
4 Gemstone Mine
8 Forest
2 Plains

Creatures (21)
4 Ruin Ghost
2 Walking Atlas
3 Lotus Cobra
4 Grazing Gladehart
2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
2 Emeria Angel
1 Cosi's Ravager
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen

Other Spells (16)
3 Amulet of Vigor
3 Fastbond
4 Enlightened Tutor
3 Cloudstone Curio
1 Lifegift
1 Dawnglow Infusion
1 Deathgrasp

There are a number of things going on in this here. Amulet of Vigor allows your "enters the battlefield tapped" lands (Selesnya Santuary, Sejiri Steppe, Kabira Crossroads) to untap, freeing up more mana. You can blink the utility lands with Ruin Ghost and/or bounce them with the Sanctuaries, triggering whatever landfall abilities you have on the battlefield and netting you life or protection. If you need instant life or to protect a creature, you can use the Walking Atlas to throw out a Steppe or Crossroads. Fastbond and Azusa give you more land plays extending your bounces. There's also infinite land play/life/mana/creatures combo in the deck. Fastbond + Cloudstone Curio + Lifegift/Grazing Gladehart/Kabira Crossroads allows you to play a land and bounce a land an infinite number of times, which works great with Emeria Angel, Ob Nixilis, Cosi's Ravager, Lotus Cobra, and Grazing Gladehart. (Infinite creatures, opponent life loss, damage, and mana, and life respectively). If you go infinite mana, then you can use the Dawnglow and the Deathgrasp. You should be able to draw some of the combo pieces and use Enlightened Tutor to find the missing one. Of course, if you can't combo or don't want to, then you can always sit there and wreck havoc with Ruin Ghost. You shouldn't have a problem with mana thanks to the Cobra and the Gemstone Mines.

This decks works in theory, but it probably needs some playtesting/tweaks.

[p-chan]

Spiritual Resources
Lands 4x Remote Farm 4x Hickory Woodlot 4x Peat Bog 4x Graypelt Refuge 4x Piranha Marsh 3x Sejiri Steppe Creatures 4x Ruin Ghost 4x Carven Caryatid 4x Hana Kami 3x Elder Pine of Jukai 3x Forked-Branch Garami 2x Celestial Kirin 2x Kodama of the South Tree 2x Kodama of the Center Tree	Other Spells 4x Amulet of vigor 4x Long-Forgotten Gohei 2x Swallowing Plague 3x Death denied

One day at p-chan's brain deck-creation section.

Johnny-Side: Hey guys, I got it! We could create a great landfall deck with Lotus Cobra and ...
Spike-Side: Don't bother man, there are plenty of those already.
J-S: Owww ... I hate you man. How could we miss that chance?
Timmy-Side: *Sucks a Kojak* Fatties!
S-S: He's not talking to you! Ok, here's the deal: Ruin Ghost has lots of interactions with lands, doesn't it?
J-S: Yep. What are you thinking about?
S-S: Tolarian Academy! We could throw some Ruin Ghost into the Tolarian Academy deck and ...
J-S: That won't work! Well, in fact it will, but it wouldn't be original! Right, Timmy?
T-S: *Rubs a Krosan Cloudscraper* Fatties!
S-S: Ignore him, he's retarded and you know it. Accept it man, we can't be original if we want to win!
J-S: But ... there must be something to do. Look, i've been thinking about Mercadian Masques common lands. The Ruin Ghost would reset their counters, and ...
S-S: But they enter the battlefield tapped! That's crap! AND we want recursion! Card advantage! Card advantage! *salivates*
J-S: Hell ... well, Amulet of Vigor is there. But we need some uniform tech ...
T-S: *Rubs a Kodama of the Center Tree* Fatties!
J-S and S-S: *Look at him, them one to the other* Wait a minute ....

And that's it, folks! I finally made a tribal deck with lots of recursion! Why Ruin Ghost, you ask? Because of the lots of land interesting effects we can get to support our recursive strategy. With Ruin Ghost, Amulet of Vigor and the Mercadian lands, we are gonna generate 5-6 mana quite easily, so cmc of 4-5 will be our main. Also, some X costed spells are included.

On to the cards!

Lands:
Remote Farm, Hickory Woodlot and Peat Bog: As Johnny stated, we can reset their depletion counters with Ruin Ghost; also, Amulet of Vigor works quite well with them.
Graypelt Refuge: Great dual land; use Ruin Ghost to increase the life gaining.
Piranha Marsh: Ping!
Sejiri Steppe: This card is a defensive powerhouse used with Ruin Ghost.

Creatures:
Ruin Ghost: Let's abuse our land triggers and generate great amounts of mana!
Carven Caryatid: Incredible defensive wall with integrated card advantage.
Hana Kami: Use with Shallowing Plague or Death Denied for removal, gain life and/or return lots of guys to your hand.
Elder Pine of Jukai: We can search our Ruin Ghost engine quite fast with this guy, and even recover him from the graveyard.
Forked-Branch Garami: Über-card advantage! Celestial Kirin, Kodama of the South Tree, Ruin Ghost and Hana Kami all love this guy.
Celestial Kirin: We use all mana curves in this deck (except for 0), so this guy is an incredible selective board sweeper.
Kodama of the South Tree: A big guy with big friends.
Kodama of the Center Tree: Self-recursion! Also, our guys are quite hard to get rid from, so he will be a big guy.

Other Spells:
Amulet of vigor: One of our deck pillars.
Long-Forgotten Gohei: Bigger creatures! Cheaper spells!
Swallowing Plague: Removal + Life Gain.
Death denied: Again, Über-card advantage! You can go to infinite with this and Hana Kami.