Since the CSR, I've been toying around with a few decks - mostly not too successful although they were pretty fun to play with. One of the decks that I eventually enjoyed playing was Transform Ramp Magic - I clocked 23 games today (not counting the previous attempts)! The main difference between this and normal Ramp Magic was the inclusion and emphasis of Metamorphosis which was changed in the CSR. It's great fun; you no longer have to wait until 9-mana turns to drop a Polyhymnia, and your opponents will be wondering just what they can do in the face of one on a 7-mana turn. Let's jump right in!
Deck Overview
Deck Link: GUDecks
A good portion of the deck is dedicated to removal spells, as with any normal Ramp deck. Survival is key! With how often you're gonna be bricking your hand, some draw power is also helpful, provided by All-seeing Spire and Pallas' Wand. Of course, you can't forget the refreshed Leyhound Hatchlings which serve as amazing removal too.
If I had 2 Stormstresses, I would replace the lone Guild Enforcer here. Other than that, I don't think I'd change anything else for now. Street Conjurers are useful for eking out that 1 extra damage on Crystal Rain and Shaped Blast, so I am hesitant to take them out. Porphyrion has also proven itself to be amazing - most gods rely on their god power to ping off a Ward and that +2 mana cost can really hurt. A 5/5 is also not very easily removed.
The main combo of the deck involves Metamorphosis and City Planner/Scholar of Power.
Metamorphosis performs best when you cast it on a 7-cost or 8-cost creature since 8/9-cost creatures are way stronger than their 1-mana-less counterparts. It's logical, seeing how it takes 3 turns to move from 7-mana to 8-mana, and 4 turns from 8 to 9.
Thus, to make full use of Metamorphosis's potential, I paired it with two 7-drops that have utility past their stats.
The ideal combo (City Planner):
- Ramp until 6.5 mana and draw a Metamorphosis or two.
- Pip to 7 mana, play City Planner.
- Hope your opponent doesn't clear City Planner. The Ramparts should make it pretty difficult to remove it.
- Attack with City Planner.
- Cast Metamorphosis on City Planner and select the most annoying 8-drop you can find. These are some of the creatures that I try to look for. Remember, Roar doesn't proc, so Guardian of the Underworld is a no-strings-attached 13/17.
- If you are feeling lucky and have a second copy of Metamorphosis in your hand, feel free to cast it again if your 8-drop roll wasn't good. Some of the 9-drops that you can get are ridiculous. I've used Eris to obliterate 20 cards off my opponent's deck before.
- Win.
Of course, this doesn't happen all the time. You don't always draw Metamorphosis when you need it, and a 7/7 City Planner isn't that tough to remove. Depending on how dire your situation is, casting Metamorphosis on a City Planner the turn you play it with a mana pip can be viable too.
So where does Scholar of Power come in? Well, Scholar of Power allows you to do this:
- Ramp until 6.5 mana.
- Mana pip to play Scholar of Power. Reduce Metamorphosis cost to 0.
- Play the Metamorphosis on Scholar of Power immediately to get an 8-drop.
I don't do it all the time, but it's good to have an alternative. 8-drops are powerful!
Side note: Metamorphosis takes in account reduced mana cost. So playing it on a 2-cost Leyhoard Hatchling will give you a 3-drop. I was hoping it didn't work this way...
Performance
Starting Rank: Mythic (1383 ELO)
Ending Rank: Mythic (1603 ELO)
Overall win rate: 87.0%
| Opponent Deck | Score (Wins / Total Games) |
|---|---|
| Nature | 6 / 6 |
| War | 3 / 3 |
| Magic | 4 / 4 |
| Death | 3 / 6 |
| Deception | 2 / 2 |
| Light | 2 / 2 |
| Total | 20 / 23 |
Given that the games are played on the weekdays and CSR has just been released, these win rates are absolutely not representative of what performance will be like on the weekends. I think I got a bit lucky here since my previous variations of this deck performed a lot worse. I'd like to think that maybe this variation, in particular, has sorted all the issues (although that is unlikely to be the case).
As usual, Death was the most tricky deck to play against. Both Zombies and Control/BWD are strong against this deck because Death has access to unconditional removal spells. Reap, Ray of Disintegration, Void Flash - these spells make this deck's big creatures cry. And Death decks are very strong in their own right.
Against the other classes, it was mostly a task of survival. Getting to 7-mana and dropping a Metamorphosis usually won me the game. Here are some board states that can occur while playing this deck:
Polyhymnia on 7-mana? Thankfully, Sage of Renewal can no longer delve Grass Roots!
20 attack? Pretty decent.
Gameplay
vs Card Draw Magic
I got saved by both my Metamorphosises in this match. My first one was played on Scholar of Power on turn 7 as described above, getting a Figure in the Streets which helped cull the aggression and provide me with a Cyrodyne Trident. Without both, I would have lost the match for sure.
My second Metamorphosis was played on Frey, netting me an Anagreos which helped me secure the win by dealing 12 damage to the opponent. If I'm not wrong, my opponent hadn't drawn both of his Wyrmbreaths yet, and one more draw could have resulted in me taking the L.
Conclusion
I really enjoy playing this deck! The idea of cheating out an 8 or 9-drop appeals greatly to me and it's always funny to see your opponent not knowing what to do with a 13/17. And the best part of all this is that your opponent can't be prepared for whatever comes out of Metamorphosis.
Have you tried running something similar before? Let me know! I'm curious to see what everyone is running.
P.S. I just had to rant here, but I've opened my fourth Avraxus from the Weekend Ranked packs. I'm fuming.