My apologies for missing last week's article, but that's the price you pay for moving (again).

So two weeks ago we discussed Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle in Extended, and I made a mention of how standard is not the pseudo-legendary land's "comfort zone." Au contraire! You may not have access to Scapeshift so you can deal 18 or so damage in one fell swoop, but you do have plenty of ramp and creature control tools to make it a winner. After seeing some lists from last October's Game Days, I put together this:

You had a good run, Time Sieve, but I may have found my new favorite deck in Standard. It has all the factors I look for in a Standard deck – a blast to play, under the radar, and the ability to hang with the Junds and Bushwhackers of the world. Yeah, there's the expense factor, but as long as I don't have a job outside of this column, you gotta work with what you have.

I took this list to the tournament practice room of Magic Online to see what it could do. (P.S. - You can find me on MODO as 'DJ Samurai'.)

Match 1 vs dumpyfatkid (R/W/U control)

On the play, I kept two Terramorphic Expanse, Valakut, Mountain, Forest, and two Harrow, while my opponent mulliganed to five. I held off my first Harrow until he tapped out for Ajani Vengeant, which kept a second Valakut tapped down. The next turn, I topdecked Bloodbraid Elf into Expedition Map and attacked Ajani down to one counter. He held my Bloodbraid down while drawing cards with Jace Beleren, but playing Jace rendered him unable to counter a Khalni Heart Expedition, followed by my third Valakut. An Expedition Map for Terramorphic Expanse and a second Khalni Heart Expedition ended game one in my favor.

In game 2 on the draw I kept two Mountains, Terramorphic Expanse, Oracle of Mul Daya, two Banefire, and Expedition Map. He made it interesting off the bat with a turn two Luminarch Ascension. I tried throwing burn spells and hasty guys at him to keep the Ascension down, but he had answers ranging from Flashfreeze on Goblin Ruinblaster to Double Negative on Bloodbraid Elf and Harrow, sacrificing my only forest. After Spreading Seas turned my lone Valakut into an Island, he got his fourth Ascension counter, and the Angels finished the job from there.

In game 3 on the play I kept two Mountain, Forest, Naya Panorama, Oracle of Mul Daya, Khalni Heart Expedition, and Goblin Ruinblaster. He got the turn two Ascension again and put another Spreading Seas on a Valakut, but I played a second one and Bloodbraid Elf cascaded into Naturalize for the Spreading Seas. He rebounded with another Spreading Seas on a Valakut. Khalni Heart Expedition induced a Flashfreeze so I could put through Goblin Ruinblaster to destroy his lone nonbasic, a Sejiri Refuge. He tried to buy himself a turn with a Wall of Denial, but a topdecked Rampant Growth with only one land up spelled the end for him.

2-1 win

Match 2 vs pvtdanser (Vampires)

I won the die roll and I kept my opening hand of Khalni Heart Expedition, Terramorphic Expanse, Forest, Mountain, Naya Panorama, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Bloodbraid Elf. I ended up with eight lands in play on turn four and got an active Valakut going very early despite facing Vampire Nocturnus and two Bloodghasts. Thank goodness there was no Nighthawk involved.

On the draw game 2 I kept Terramorphic Expanse, Naya Panorama, two Mountain, Grazing Gladehart, Lightning Bolt, and Oracle of Mul Daya. Once again I was looking down the barrel of Nocturnus and double Bloodghast, but this time he got through with a Disfigure on my Gladehart and a Nighthawk to keep himself out of Valakut range.

Game three was marked by a play where I had set up to kill him the next turn with Valakut and a kicked Burst Lightning. I had Oracle of Mul Daya in play, and went down to four life after an attack from Bloodghast. With my opponent at nine life, he attempted to play Tendrils of Corruption for seven on my Oracle, but I denied him the life gain by killing it off myself with Burst Lightning. The win thus came two turns later, but a win is a win.

2-1 win

Match 3 vs shahi (Jund Ramp)

I won the die roll and kept four Mountain, Naya Panorama, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Banefire – a sketchy keep to say the least. I thought this was a mirror when he led with Forest, Mountain, Rampant Growth, but when he put a Swamp into play tapped, I knew I was up against something very different. I resolved an Oracle of Mul Daya, but it ate a Lightning Bolt at the end of the turn. He then played Garruk Wildspeaker and made a beast token, made a second beast token the following turn, and played Siege-Gang Commander the turn after that. I spent my Banefires on a beast and Garruk, but he followed up with another Commander and swung in for the win.

On the play in game 2 I mulliganed into two Mountain, Valakut, Bloodbraid Elf, and Harrow. He had no plays until a turn four Garruk, but I responded with Oracle of Mul Daya and Grazing Gladehart to hold off the rush, gaining 14 life in one turn at one point with Valakut, Terramorphic Expanse, turning the Expanse into a Mountain, Rampant Growth, and Khalni Heart Expedition. He conceded before I could drop a Bogardan Hellkite.

Game 3 was no contest. He couldn't get much offense going after my triple-Valakut opening hand, along with Bloodbraid Elf, Oracle, and Lightning Bolts on anything relevant.

2-1 win

These results confirm my suspicion – this deck has staying power. The one thing that put me off was, what good is all this mana if you have nothing to do with it? That's why Derek Huang put these unused resources to very good use on his way to a Top 8 berth at the TCGPlayer 5K in Atlanta last weekend:

I like the inclusion of Lavaball Trap. It may seem a little costly, but consider all it does: blow up two lands and sweep the board at instant speed. Does that warrant eight (or hopefully five) mana now? Especially in the mirror match, which is becoming popular online due to its fairly inexpensive cost. The most expensive card in the deck I've had to pick up thus far has been Bloodbraid Elf at about three tickets each. Even Hellkites go for 2.5.

When making revisions to this deck for Worldwake's release, I took into account these factors, both from playing my version and looking at Derek's performance in Atlanta:

• X spells are a Bloodbraid Elf's worst nightmare.
• Too many ramp spells can be bad in the late game when you've weeded out most of your lands.
• Pyroclasm will not get the job as a sweeper against most aggro decks.
• Spot removal (Lightning Bolt and Magma Spray) should stay in the sideboard unless the format is dominated by aggro. Sure, the field might be 1-in-3 Jund right now, but two things invalidate that argument: Things like Broodmate Dragon and Putrid Leech can outlive a Lightning Bolt, and you have slightly better odds of facing a control deck of some variation (most likely Grixis or Red-White-Blue).
• With all that in mind, here's the new list, post-Worldwake.

So there you have it. Valakut Ramp, like Time Sieve, is a relatively inexpensive choice and a blast to play. It's a slight blip on the Standard radar right now, but as it grows in popularity it may set off some alarms. Have fun at your prerelease – assuming it hasn't been snowed out.

Until next time, there's no easy way to say goodbye.

-Sam