Build of the Week: Ruric Thar Punisher

I'm happy to announce the return of Build of the Week. I had quite a few commitments I had to tend to prior to this, so I unfortunately did not have the time to commit to doing this series. I've been able to make time though, so I'm back to writing. While I do have plans to cover most or all of the legends that I've missed, there was a deck that I really wanted to talk about first. My good friend Zach Enos told me about this spicy brew he cooked up when he was getting a bit tired of his Borborygmos list. It revolves around Ruric Thar and Glacial Chasm. The Chasm lets you play whatever you want under Ruric while still dealing an absurd amount of damage to your opponents when they try to get him off the table. It needed some refining, but I liked the concept quite a bit. R/G lands is one of my favorite archetypes, and this provided a useful alternative to Borborygmos Enraged. However, one of the primary challenge is winning the game. Glacial Chasm has a lot of positive qualities, but the draw backs are very real. You need to eat a land when it enters the battlefield and it stops you from attacking as well. The cumulative upkeep isn't too much of an issue in EDH, but it could become one if you aren't careful. Given these constraints, the deck had a few primary goals to solve before it did anything else.

Deck list here - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ruric-thar-gruul-punishment/

The first problem was the land you sacrifice to Glacial Chasm. These cards make the lands function:

  

These cards overcome the 1 land a turn rule or buyback the sacrificed land. Here the non-mana upkeep cost of Glacial Chasm plays to the deck's advantage. It eats a land but then gives us time to catch back up on our mana. Atarka's Command is a one-shot, but instant speed Chasm + preventing life gain gives it enough utility for me to like it. These are ways we persistently get ahead of the sacrifice. Things like Kodama's Reach and Explosive Vegetation put us ahead for the first time we play Chasm.

I say the first time we play Chasm because it would not be useful to have it in play the whole time. As stated, we do have to win. There's some consideration for playing non-combat win conditions. However, the one that lines up the best in our space is Borborygmos. I don't want this to be a Captain Sisay style deck where the real general is in the 99. He might make the cut, but I'm not devoting space to the angry land man. Most other R/G win conditions involve attacking. Its possible to play a colorless-combo, its just not exciting. We are also basing this on the punishing power of Ruric Thar, so having a damage oriented win condition is going to be important. Chasm can eat itself, but there should also be some other ways for the deck to get rid of it.
        
A couple of these not only eat Chasm if we already have it, they also function as ways to find it. I'm a bit iffy about the inclusion of Aggressive Mining. Its a powerful card. The trade-off on it is pretty glaring though. However it does work well with Burgeoning and Budoka Gardener, so I'm leaving it in. That's the core of the deck's engine. What we need now are ways to deal damage.        
The deck is building itself around single large attack steps since it's likely that we won't have perfect control over when Chasm is in play. There are going to be times when its the only thing discouraging people from attacking us. During the windows we have to attack, having lots of equipment and buffs for a Knockout Punch is going to valuable. Urabrask opens windows later in the game and his second line is very powerful for shutting down instant speed blockers. Seize the Day is just shy of a general damage kill on its own, so any buff or a previous attack is likely to make it a lethal threat. Proper timing of casting Seize the Day will be necessary to ensure Ruric doesn't punch us while Chasm is down. Its possible more Overrun effects would be better in the deck, but they don't do a lot unless you have enough to capitalize on them.
     
 
The tokens makers for the Overrun effects. Bodies are very useful for the deck. They provide blockers for when Chasm isn't on the table and generally win the game. They can crush through an open attack window with an overrun. Titania and Hammer are of particular importance given the rest of the deck's construction.

The foundational idea of the deck was as an entry in the punisher archetype though. Ruric accomplishes that well on his own but he could use some back up.
       
These cards continue the Punishment theme. I'd like to expand on them and other cards that exploit the broken symmetry that occurs when you have Glacial Chasm in play, but the deck is already tight and eight cards isn't a small commitment.

The deck wants a ton of acceleration to play a 6 mana general that you want out before the table has emptied its hand:
            
A 6 mana general that we want to have in play as much as possible that has a huge target on his head is going to need to be recast a fair number of times. The lands to play ramp also enables Aggressive Mining if that card winds up staying in the deck.

                     
That's the basic deck. It has everything you need to start. There are some simple power ups that might be expensive or repetitive to add so I omitted them from the main list. This deck could definitely use a Gaea's Cradle, a Tooth and Nail, a Taiga, a Regal Force, and Borborygmos Enraged. Also a Sylvan Library and more of the traditional card draw spells. Again, if these are within your budget and you don't might putting Tooth and Nail in another deck, by all means include them.

A note on playing the deck, getting to Glacial Chasm is very important. All three of the tutors in the deck can get it, but you won't always have it. Without Chasm, you should be more aggressive till you find it. You are threatening a lot of damage with Ruric so use that to make space for yourself. Another category of cards you could add if you want to power the deck up are more tutors for consistency, like Gamble.

I also omitted Battle For Zendikar cards for this build since we're still a week away from the Pre-release, never mind actual release. However, these cards all look like potential includes:     

I hope you guys liked this article and I'll be back next week where I will start tackling some of the new legends in Battle for Zendikar! Cheers!