Land Week. The one topic that I’d hoped wouldn’t be used as a theme, but it happened. When I think of land, I think of Basic Lands, and the Dual Lands that are so popular. But there is one deck archetype that stands out in my mind when it comes to land. (No, it doesn’t involve Seismic Assault.)

A few years ago, a friend of mine thought it would be funny to build a deck that used land as the win condition. No burn, no milling, no countering. Straight land beatdown. Today, I will try to recreate the deck idea, using some of the new cards that have been developed since I first witnessed the land overrun.

The Deck

It’s been a few years since I’ve seen the Big Land Beatdown deck, so I don’t remember what went into it. Instead of trying to recreate the original, I’ll build a new version using the newer cards that help beef it up.

A deck like this needs acceleration, and lots of it. The best color for getting lands into play is Green, which will be the deck’s base. There are many cards that can help to amp up the land count on your side of the board. Most recently, Search for Tomorrow, Farseek, and Kodama’s Reach have made the search for land easier and faster. Outside of creatures that allow you to play more lands, there are other search cards that have been useful in the past.

• Explosive Vegetation pulls two land for one Green and three colorless mana. It’s a bit slow for this type of deck.
• Far Wanderings has a casting cost of one less colorless, but until you hit threshold, it only gets one land. When you have seven or more cards in your graveyard, it puts three in hand, which is nice.
• Journey of Discovery and Reap and Sow out of Mirrodin Block both have Entwine costs, which allow the use of both effects. Journey of Discovery searches out two basic lands or allows you to play two additional lands for one Green and two colorless, with an Entwine cost of the same. That’s a very nice effect.
• Reap and Sow, for three colorless and one Green, offers the choice of searching out a single land and putting it into play, or destroying one land. The Entwine cost is cheaper at one Green and one colorless, which makes it a little more attractive.
• Lay of the Land searches out one land for one Green mana. In multicolor decks, that’s not a bad trade. In a straight Green deck, that slot could be used for a Forest.
• Sylvan Scrying has a casting cost of one colorless more than Lay of the Land, but it will search out any lands, not just basic. When running a deck that’s nonbasic land heavy, the extra mana in the cost is well worth it.

The question now becomes whether or not to use another color. Since I’m trying to avoid using anything other than land for the kill, is there something else that I want to do? White could be good for life gain, and a Wrath of God while my lands are still lands (and not creatures). Blue has countermagic, bounce, and other tricks to keep my lands from the graveyard. Black has spot removal (and land destruction). Red has little to offer a deck like this, except for one thing. Efficient land destruction (and a 6/1 land beatstick). While adding another color is interesting, mono-Green looks like the best bet.

Looking over the possible choices for acceleration, there are a handful of cards that will make the cut. First off is Search for Tomorrow. The cost to hardcast it is a little high, but the Suspend cost makes it a good first-turn play. It ensures a minimum of four mana by turn three. Kodama’s Reach is the next choice, since it puts a land into play and one into my hand for three mana. Journey of Discovery will also find its way in, just because the potential for five mana on the board after turn three is pretty hard to pass up.

For the beats, there are quite a few options. Animate Land is a nice one-shot that can turn a land into a 3/3 blocker or attacker for just one mana. Genju of the Cedars is another good one-drop, but it costs two mana to turn the land into a 4/4. It would be better if the land had trample, but it’s still good. At a cost of 3 colorless and one Green, Living Lands turns all Forests (not just yours) into 1/1 creatures that are still lands. That could backfire easily. For the same CMC (2 colorless, two Green), Living Terrain turns one forest into a 5/6 Treefolk. That’s efficient. Treetop Village serves two purposes. It’s a land (though it comes into play tapped), and it can become a 3/3 creature for 2 mana. It helps to fix the curve, and it can be used as an attacker or a blocker when needed.

Of these choices, I’m going with efficiency, without putting all my land in danger of something as simple as Rain of Embers or a Wrath of God. The Genju makes the cut, as does Living Terrain. Both of these turn a land into a creature, which leads me to the Treetop Village. Because it acts as both mana and a creature (a reverse Birds of Paradise), it will be part of the deck. Animate Land is included for early defense and offence, since the Genju and Village won’t come into play as creatures until after the third turn (at best).

Because the lands are likely to end up in the graveyard, some recursion might be necessary. Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds will bring them back. Of the two, Crucible seems to be the better choice, because the lands can be played from the graveyard. Life could be used instead of Crucible, or along with it. But, for now, I want to keep a slot open. Life will stay out for now.

To give the deck more teeth (and to find a use for the lands that aren’t busy smacking your opponents around), I’ve decided to add a couple of buffing spells. There are many to choose from—Giant Growth is the most well-known. But there were two from Kamigawa Block the caught my attention. With the Genju (which is a Spirit), Unchecked Growth works well. It gives the creature +4/+4, and if it’s a spirit, the creature gains trample. That makes Genju an 8/8 trampler for 5 mana. Not bad for a Forest. The other was [/card]Strength of Cedars[/card]. +1/+1 until the end of turn for each land you control. The cost of 5 mana looks hefty, but it’s possible to drop it on the third round with the acceleration in this deck.

To add defense, and to speed up the acceleration a hair, Early Harvest is in. There are other options, such as Nature’s Will to untap your lands, but Early Harvest has more of a guarantee. Another option, to stop spot removal and enemy enchantments, is Privileged Position. But for this deck, I’m opting for acceleration.

The mana base is pretty straightforward for this type of deck. With all of the acceleration and land search cards, the amount of mana can be fairly low. But, since there’s a good chance that the mana will spend a lot of time in the graveyard, it might be best to keep the count over 20.

There are other options, but this is the best decklist that I could put together. In tests, it averages a 7th-turn kill, though a 4th or 5th-turn kill is possible.

Taking It to the Edge

Without Seismic Assault to fuel burn and other ways to use land as the kill mechanism, the options seem limited. However, there is one enchantment that fuels a deck base that uses land for burn, and Madness.

Land’s Edge is a more vicious version of Seismic, even though it puts the land-as-burn ability into your opponent’s hand, as well. At one colorless and two Red, it’s fairly easy to cast. All it does is allow any player to discard at will. If it’s a land card, that player can choose to deal two damage to a creature or player.

That doesn’t sound healthy. But with the number of Madness cards available, Land’s Edge becomes the engine for destruction.

In Red, there are two decent Madness cards: Violent Eruption which isn’t bad, but the casting cost and Madness cost are both Red-intensive (three and two Red, respectively). Fiery Temper becomes a Lightning Bolt when it’s discarded. With Land’s Edge, both of these cards offer good options for direct damage. The Eruption is nice, since the four damage can be spread out to wipe out several weenies.

The best cards for mana-fixing and loading your hand with land are in Green. And land-search mechanics will help speed up the deck, plus put kill cards into your hand. Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds (an artifact) will recur discarded or sacrificed lands.

With a Red-Green base, there are many ways to go with Land’s Edge. Use it as a cheap Seismic. Use it to fuel Madness. Splash other colors to break their Madness cards, or just fill the deck with Basking Rootwallas and Arrogant Wurms to speed up the beatdown while keeping the board clear with discarded land. Circular Logic becomes a controllable, cheap counter. Nightshade Assassin can be used as both a blocker and spot removal when it’s needed. Strength of Isolation can provide a little added defense at the right moment. Splashing a third color (or using a second color other than Green) can help give Land’s Edge more power. The Kamigawa Sweep cards will also work to get a handful of burn with the Land’s Edge on the board.

But, since this is Land Week, I’ve decided to build a Red-Green deck around Land’s Edge, with a smidgeon of White. It uses land as the kill mechanism, but in a passive way.

Here, the premise is to sacrifice and destroy lands to buff the Akki Raider. Land’s Edge is used as a finisher, since you can pitch lands or the Madness burn to it to push through the last bit of damage, or early spot removal. Since the Ambush Commander turns all Forests into 1/1 creatures, the Animate Land can be cast on one of the Plains or Mountains for a temporary blocker or attacker. Harrow searches out two lands and puts them into play, and sends one land to the graveyard to buff the Raider. In the mid- to late-game, a Life from the Loam followed by an Armageddon helps speed your recovery, and turns the Raiders into huge beatsticks. (Another way to do it is to float the mana for the Life before dropping the ‘Geddon, then cast the Life after the ‘Geddon has resolved.)

There are other cards that play well with Land’s Edge. Any card that wants cards to go into the graveyard (such as Vulturous Zombie, which looks for cards going into your opponents’ graveyards), or cards that look for Threshold, will get a boost from Land’s Edge.

Getting Grounded

Land isn’t just about tapping for mana. The ways to use it are endless. It’s a way to draw cards, burn opponents, beat them ferociously, or buff creatures. The two decks here show that lands can win the game without using Seismic Assault. “Swing with my Forest for the win” is simply one of the many ways land can be used.

Land is the engine that drives the game, but it can be much, much more than mana. It’s a powerful resource for every aspect of Magic.

~CV~

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
Find other articles by this author here.
Find other articles from this series here.

[ Back ] [ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]

Articles Spotlights from 2007:
Lorwyn Theme Week Intro & Schedule of Events
Blink And Bounce: Timing is Key
Going Blind: XCB Metagaming - A Prolonged Conclusion.
The Science of Magic: Genetic Engineering, Part Two.
Shifting Lineaments: Casual Metagaming (Pt. 2).
The Dungeon Of Malefict: Pure Evil!
Land Week Introduction & Schedule.
Combofusion: Legends Timeshifted.
One Card to Rule Them All: Coastal Piracy
Irrational Love: Chimeras. The Lego's of Magic.