Rise Against The Eldrazi

Here's a decent biudget deck from regular contributor Max Fan...

At my local shop, we play Standard on Tuesdays. There are now four players who play the Eldrazi ramp deck, and another who might. That's a ton of copies of All is Dust floating around the room. I've been working with a friend on a deck to take advantage of this. So far, this is looking promising. Not an excellent matchup, but not rolling over dead, either.

The Eldrazi ramp deck doesn't really do much except set up its mana for the first couple of turns, so you need to come out aggressively, but not overextend to getting Dusted. The Spikeshot Elder is a good quick creature with an ability that gets very good if you have a way to increase his power. Lightning Bolt can pick off Sol Ring Elf, Joraga Treespeaker for those who don't know. The mana ramp here can get you to the point of doing things their deck doesn't have good answers for like playing your own big colorless creatures.

The big colorless creatures are a nod to All is Dust. In another meta, might consider Avenger of Zendikar, Gaea's Revenge, or even Hellkite Charger + Bear Umbra.

Very little instant removal is being played, so Shiv's Embrace on a Spikeshot Elder tends to be highly effective. Comet Storm can be used to keep creature decks in check. Five or six to everything plus your opponent early because of mana ramp can be awesome. Also a great finisher, which is the big thing needed against the Eldrazi ramp decks.

Oracle of Mul Daya is just one of the best mana accelerants that doesn't cost a small fortune to aquire.  Getting one Turn 3 is often the precursor to game over.

There are Tunnel Ignus in the sideboard, but I haven't noticed it making much difference in games this deck wasn't already going to win. Speaking of, some sideboard options might include Ratchet Bomb, Pyroclasm and Obstinate Baloth if aggro is big; and Gaea's Revenge, and Avenger of Zendikar against control.

A possible innovation is playing Traitorous Instict with Teetering Peaks to fetch off a stolen Primeval Titan. Beating them for 12 just for playing a dude seems good. Reverberate also lists as a card that could make the cut, copying your opponents' Cultivate, Growth Spasm, or even Summoning Trap is good, or simply double your own spells. Two Lightning Bolts is always better than one.

Creatures (22)

4 x Birds of Paradise

4 x Spikeshot Elder

4 x Sylvan Ranger

4 x Oracle of Mul Daya

3 x Steel Hellkite

3 x Wurmcoil Engine

Other Spells (14)

2 x Comet Storm

4 x Lightning Bolt

4 x Cultivate

4 x Shiv's Embrace

Lands (24)

5 x Forest

7 x Mountain

4 x Copperline Gorge

4 x Raging Ravine

4 x Rootbound Crag

On an unrelated note: Have you been paying attention to the creature types of spoiled Mirrodin Besieged cards? Might want to get some Knight Exemplars now, just a heads up. It might end up going nowhere, or Knights might become a real deck in Standard. (I Couldn't Agrree More...G.V...)

Max Fan.