Eldrazi Ramp is actually a good deck

I brewed up this deck with a heavy Eldrazi theme.
The deck is a mana ramp deck with a large number of chump blockers and green ramp spells. I runs just four win conditions - four of the largest Eldrazi creatures.

Eldrazi Ramp by Robert Goulet
4 Expedition Map
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Borderland Ranger
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Wall of Omens
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Path to Exile
4 All is Dust
2 Ulamong, the Infinite Gyre
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Plains
7 Forest
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
3 Tectonic Edge


We've been having some real success with this deck recently, facing off 50-50 against Jund and Mono Red and 90-10 against UW control.
The strategy of the deck up real simple: place chump blockers and cast ramp spells for a while. The deck runs 4 All is Dust to supply the crowd control. The key card in this deck is the Eye of Ugin because you can use it each turn to put Eldrazi directly in your hand; usually we use Expedition Map to fetch Eye of Ugin. Once you cast Ulamog you basically win.
The main reason this deck is good now is because the format is actually quite slow right now. Jund is actually kind of a slow deck when you think about it, the Walls and Paths held control aggro decks, and UW control takes forever to win. Any deck that takes later than like eight turns to win gives you enough time to cast Ulamog or Kozilek; Emrakul is really only feasible against control decks. Casting one of those spells generally puts you so far ahead it generally means game.

I haven't figured out the sideboard yet. I think the deck's main weakness is land destruction so we're considering Terra Eternal. Perimeter Captain is good against aggro and Celestial purge works against aggro and vampires.
Yes Emrakul is actually in the deck.
This deck is actually pretty good.
All right feel free to make fun of it.

Edit Note: I forgot to include the 3 Tectonic Edge when I originally posted this list. It is correct as it currently appears. I believe that a 36-24 split for land and spells is appropriate here given all of the mana ramp cards.

Your build is slightly different than mine, but the basic principle is the same. I agree that the deck is perfectly viable and crushes control strategies. If you are really 50/50 against Mono-red I would love to play this at a PTQ.

The only card that I think you could find a better card for is the KHE as you have a glut of 2 drops

perhaps Kozelik's Predator? (chumps and ramps) (4 cmc)
awakening zone? (chumps and ramps) (3cmc)
Harrow? (instant speed ramp) (3cmc)

have you tested this against the Sedraxis (sedraxis jund, and the sedraxis/ruinblaster/blightning/spreading seas grixis aggro ) decks that have been making the rounds?

the LD/disruption and discard would seem like it would hit this hard.

Awakening Zone is mediocre, as is Kozilek's Predator. Perhaps Growth Spasm (untested) or Explore (which I found to be fairly strong). The difference is I had 25 lands with explore, whereas Noah has 21.

Khalni heart expedition and borderland rangers seem like the really weaknesses to me. could also play growth spasm like chingsung suggested or realms uncharted

For what it is worth, KHE is actually a 3 drop that only costs 2 mana.

this card seems like it was made for this deck. a sorcery speed impulse of sorts



realms uncharted seems like it would be pretty good also
turn 3 fetch eye of ugin/temple/2 others... assume they will give you the non ramp lands but it still thins your deck and keeps you ramping lands.. or perhaps the correct play is to fetch 4 non ramp lands to make the odds better that you will draw ugin/temple..

wouldn't think it would be a 4 of, but...

I've got a few updates on my Eldrazi Ramp deck. I'll start with the new modified list and follow it with commentary.


Eldrazi Ramp by Robert Goulet
4 Expedition Map
4 Explore
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Ondu Giant
4 Overgrown Battlement
4 Wall of Omens
4 Path to Exile
4 All is Dust
2 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Plains
7 Forest
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
3 Tectonic Edge

Sideboard
3 Terra Eternal
4 Celestial Purge
4 Rest for the Weary
2 Pithing Needle
2 Avenger of Zendikar


Card Choices:
I agree with you guys that the Khalni Heart had to go. It is a powerful ramp card but it very rarely worked out through disruption. Explore is having a much better effect, especially because it allows me to play extra nonbasic lands of which this deck plays many. Borderland Ranger was also a little weak so I decided to go for Ondu Giant at the 4-spot mainly because he actually puts a land directly into play. The Giant also has a decent body that I can block with.
I could not find a spot in the deck for Ancient Stirrings, although it may be quite good for me. That card may be as good as Peer Through Depths especially because it lets me get to Eye of Ugin or All is Dust very quickly. I find Stirrings very appealing, though I could not find a spot for it. Could it possibly replace Expedition Map?
I realize this deck has no real spell at the 3-spot (besides Expedition Map) and that may be a serious error in construction. Do you guys have any ideas for the 3-spot? Please do not suggest Awakening Zone as I have seen through practice that Eldrazi Spawn strategies do not work at all.
Playtesting:
This deck has been returning amazing results during playtesting. It's win percentage against Jund is very high - certainly 65% or greater. I've played 13 pre-sideboard games against Jund and went 10 - 3. Given that there is clearly a lot of variance and luck involved in all matches this deck still has a significant advantage against Jund. The possibility of land destruction (Ruinblaster) in post-sideboard matches could be devastating and thus I have included Terra Eternal in my sideboard. Card Denial is not so devastating, honestly because it allows me to discard irrelevant cards and the win conditions (which get shuffled back in).
I've playtested this deck against Wesley's mono-red aggro deck and come out a little ahead, anywhere from 50 - 50 to 60 - 40. Now Wesley's aggro deck plays Howling Mine so I should probably test against a true balls-out RDW deck. I believe my match against RDW gets a lot better after sideboard with Celestial Purge and Rest for the Weary. Mana Barbs would be tricky, but alternate mana sources can power C-Purge or All is Dust to destroy the pesty enchantment. All this deck needs to do is survive until Turn 8 or so and the Eldrazi engine completely overpowers any other deck.
This deck just annihilates the slower decks. UW control, UW tapout, and Spread 'Em do not stand a chance against this deck. I have not lost a single game against these decks, mainly because they cannot put any kind of early pressure on Eldrazi and cannot win quickly enough. By Turn 8 the Eye of Ugin engine turns on and no deck can handle me casting Greater Eldrazi every other turn. All is Dust makes Spreading Seas and Borderposts really really weak. Similarly, polymorphing into Iona fails to stop anything substantial this deck can put out because everything substantial is colorless. These slow decks, even if very resilient against Eldrazi (Path, Journey), are hopeless against Emrakul; if the game goes to Turn 10 or longer I will cast Emrakul and end it right there.
Moving On:
My next step in playtesting this deck is to fully vet it against combo decks - Time Sieve and Polymorph. Those decks may be significantly faster than Eldrazi Ramp, but I don't know yet. I have included Pithing Needle primarily to mess with combo decks to shut down the Time Sieve, Planeswalkers, or man-lands if need be.

Ok guys throw out ideas about how my rogue deck sucks.
Comment on the sideboard, please.
What loose cards do you identify that I could cut for Ancient Stirrings?

I'm about 70% sure that expedition map should be something else. Ancient Stirrings or Knight of the Reliquary. Knight demands removal immediately, and if Jund is terminating it, that means you have a wall of omens that is going to shut down a thrinax. If you untap with it twice, you are at +4 mana for monsters. It also gives you the option of Sejiri Steppe protection for your Ulamog when they try to path it or Kozilek when they do anything at all to it. If you go that route, you obviously need to stick a few fetches in so it can grow up to be big and strong, but even a few terramorphics shouldn't hurt you too badly because it seems like you have plenty of room to make an EtBT land on turn 1 or 3 (or turn 2 off of explore) and then later on, as well.

Being able to consistently find your Eye of Ugin is VERY important. I would love to play this deck, unfortunately I am very far from actually putting it together, so I will be playing mono-red on Sunday. Does anyone have Devastating Summons/Kargan Dragonlord I can borrow?