Type 2 Land Destruction

So.. many of you know that I prefer two types of decks - discard and land
destruction. So I've taken a look at what's in Type 2 and decided to give LD
a whirl now that Dissension is out, allowing full mana fixing and a few good
LD cards. Here's my current draft:

4 Crack the Earth
4 Stone Rain
3 Zo-Zu, the Punisher
4 Befoul
4 Wrecking Ball
3 Hit/Run
4 Blackmail
2 Rakdos Pit Dragon
1 Helldozer
3 Frostling
1 Shattering Spree
4 Rakdos Signet
4 Rakdos Carnarium
4 Blood Crypt
4 Sulfurous Springs
6 Mountain
5 Swamp

Sideboard: 15
3 Shattering Spree
3 Pyroclasm
3 Cruel Edict
4 Shadow of Doubt
2 Cranial Extraction

I'm still mulling over Ghost Quarter as mana restricting (hitting a
shockland, painland, or Karoo with it isn't quite a Bad Thing) or an
emergency mana fixer for my end. There's a single Shattering Spree in main
since a lot of decks are still running artifacts - although not as much as
before, from what I can tell (Jitte and Top, for example, seem to be fading
away slowly) - although those that run artifacts tend to still run a decent
number of them, thus the additional ones in the sideboard. Pyroclasm to deal
with small creatures eg Goblins, Edicts against decks that run size over
quantity (think Oath or Tooth & Nail as [obviously non-T2] examples), Shadow
vs Heartbeat (No land search for you!) - can also look like "BB, Discard ~:
Ghost Quarter's name becomes 'Strip Mine' until end of turn. Draw a card."
Yet another reason to consider GQ So.. what do you think?

Erich

"Erich Leibrock" <eleibrock.DeleteThis@symDELETETHECAPSpatico.ca> wrote in message
news:9Tqfg.2639$EF1.188153@news20.bellglobal.com...
> LD cards. Here's my current draft:
>
> 4 Crack the Earth
> 4 Stone Rain
> 3 Zo-Zu, the Punisher
> 4 Befoul
> 4 Wrecking Ball
> 3 Hit/Run
> 4 Blackmail
> 2 Rakdos Pit Dragon
> 1 Helldozer
> 3 Frostling
> 1 Shattering Spree
> 4 Rakdos Signet
> 4 Rakdos Carnarium
> 4 Blood Crypt
> 4 Sulfurous Springs
> 6 Mountain
> 5 Swamp

OK, some questions I've been tossed:

-> Demolish vs Shattering Spree
-> Wild Cantor, Plagued Rusalka vs Frostling
-> Question Blackmail
-> Ickspitter
-> Jester's Cap

So.. I'll tackle these as a starting point.

Shattering Spree has mana cost over Demolish as an incentive - R vs R3. What
I am looking at for this slot is a card that can handle artifacts. Thing is,
many decks are not running artifacts anymore. However, there's enough
artifacts out to be on the watch for that people ARE (still?) using: Jitte
and Top, for example, or Signets. Also gives me a way to handle my own
artifacts if I need to. Not that that should be a problem, but you never
know sometimes.
Given the Hit/Runs in the deck, the single Spree seems a little out of
place, so perhaps that can be pulled for something else.
* What Demolish does have over Shattering Spree is its ability to hit lands
as well. The question then becomes, do I need more LD in the deck? In
Invasion/ Odyssey/ 7E Standard, before I was coerced into playing Psychatog,
I ran LD as well. Twelve slots were basically dedicated LD (Stone Rain,
Pillage, and I forget what else at the moment, but I think it was Rancid
Earth), four were Befoul, and two were Braids. At this point I count Crack
the Earth as LD considering what should be in play when I drop it, and I see
16 LD plus one Helldozer. Another card that's been suggested is Stoneshaker
Shaman, although I don't know how good that would be. Also, when I
originally designed this deck, I had Ghost Quarter in it. I'm still debating
whether it should be in or not.

I looked at the ideas of Wild Cantor, Plagued Rusalka and Frostling. At this
point, since my creature base is relatively light, I'm thinking the nod
should go to Frostling over the Rusalka. However, as it's been suggested, a
turn 1 Cantor allows for a turn 2 Zo-Zu, or a higher chance of turn 3
Befoul/ Wrecking Ball/ Pit Dragon. Do I need more accelerants or do I need
better board control? As the deck stands, Crack the Earth, Befoul and
Wrecking Ball can all hit creatures, and Hit/Run will most of the time make
them sacrifice a creature.

Blackmail has been suggested as not being in theme with the deck. However, I
also find that hand denial can go well with LD given a chance. I originally
had Rise//Fall but it won't ever hit lands, and Blackmail often does -
especially when they don't know what they're playing against. Granted, games
2 and 3 you've lost that edge, but at that point you've likely already
sideboarded. And if you're shown three cards with relatively low mana
costs - couldn't hurt to take the one that will either give them a mana
boost or something they can play quickly and give you problems.

Ickspitter I looked at, and believe me, I like it. Is it worth putting in?
Normally I'd put Plagued Rusalka in over Ickspitter, although Ickspitter
doesn't require a creature sacrifice, and doesn't have to kill the creature
to make the player lose life.

As for Jester's Cap.. Well, I joked in #themanadrain on EFnet today that if
Goblin Welder was legal, I'd be playing an UBr milling deck in a heartbeat.
Play Signet, float mana, weld signet, grab Cap, sac cap with mana from
Signet.. As that's NOT an option, I still think the Cap is an option for
removing major threats before they can come online. Always a good thing.
Wish it was 3/3 instead of 4/2 (cost/activation) but still.. the only thing
I can see pulling this early for the Cap would be the Helldozer.

Current sideboard looks like this:

Sideboard: 15
3 Shattering Spree
3 Pyroclasm
3 Cruel Edict
4 Shadow of Doubt
2 Cranial Extraction

Even if I pull the Spree out of main, three in the side should be enough to
handle most quantities of artifacts, considering that each one can
reasonably be played to hit two artifacts (that's six in total). Pyroclasm
is there to handle weenie decks (eg Goblins, no matter what their actual
creature type is) and Edict is for decks with fewer but bigger creatures, or
creatures I can't target. Shadow of Doubt was suggested as sideboard against
Heartbeat, but it's also been said that the Shadow doesn't really do that
much against it, and Cap might be a much better option. As for CE - well,
it's like Cap, but it can also take cards from hand and graveyard. Perhaps
CE is better in the main than Cap, as its converted mana cost is the same
and it essentially fills the same role.

Thoughts?

Erich