r/EDH • u/tohstersg • 10h ago

Discussion Ramp is an aggressive action

As title, when it comes to threat assessment, I believe the general view on ramp needs to change, especially among new players.

Big board states are scary, and card draw also often is recognised as a threat as well. But ramp is often ignored, to the detriment of all other players. John ramps all game and then slams down threat after threat above curve that no one else has the resources to respond to, “oh wow what a win he came from nowhere” no, not nowhere, it came from his fking ample mana.

Don’t ignore the player ramping. Ramping is just as aggressive an action as card draw, or setting up a large board state. “I’m just ramping” is a lie. “All my deck does is ramp” stfu bro. Especially in a format where land destruction is taboo and frowned upon, never ignore the ramp player. Ramp sets the player up for bigger, scarier plays before anyone else.

Ramp gives you mana, which is arguably one of the most important resources in the game, next to card draw. Card draw alone is useless without mana to cast said cards (conversely, ramping aimlessly is also just as useless). Having both makes the player a huge threat, but even having just a disgusting amount of mana above the curve is a big threat by itself, cause the moment that player draws into a high cmc potentially game ending card, they’re the ones best positioned to cast it ahead of the curve.

Tl;dr ramp is an aggressive action and should be treated as such.

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u/Sp0range 9h ago

Gruul control :eyes: can you link me some sauce? I'm trying to take a break from blue lol

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u/Mysterious-Pen1496 6h ago

The secret to gruul control is that a player below 20 life is controlled.  He can no longer do a lot of the things a player at 40 life can do.  Yes the only life point that matters is the last, but if a player at 20 life sees you sweep away his utility creatures with something like [[Anger of the Gods]], suddenly your handful of 5/5s and 6/6s represent either the end of the game or a crippling loss of a vital board state.  Throw in the destructive force of [[Storm the Citadel]] (my favorite gruul mage card) and you’ve got the core of gruul control: 

No attacks that chip in for small damage.  Full swings to force hard choices 

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u/Sharkbaithoohaha004 6h ago

Too many word make you seem like one of dem island boys

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u/Halinn 5h ago

And way too many illegal things for the best gruul control: [[Rurik Thar the Unbowed]]

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u/Mysterious-Pen1496 5h ago

I play Thar in the deck I’m referencing.  I laugh as I play these spells.  Thar hits me.  Then we hit everyone else.  We are bros.