Faithless Brewing, Episode 88: Zendikar Rising Sunset Show
This week we bid farewell to Zendikar Rising with a look at the set’s hidden gems. First up: Valakut Awakening. The spell half of this MDFC is perfect for decks looking to dig for A + B combos, or trade away unwanted pieces for fresh cards. It’s also one of the better ways to draw a big burst of cards in one shot. We discuss our testing with four new builds that exploit Valakut’s unique talents.
After that, we look at innovative 5-0 lists with Brushfire Elemental, Thieving Skydiver, Roiling Vortex, Lithoform Blight, and Wayward Guide-Beast. Zendikar’s roster turned out to be astonishingly deep for Modern and Pioneer. Let’s hope Kaldheim can provide a suitable encore!
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Also in this edition: Geist-Honored Winota, As Foretold Living End, Bruna Gifts, and exploratory testing with Commander Legends in Pioneer. Happy brewing!
Decklists for Episode 88
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Experimental brewing with Commander Legends
Nymris, Oona’s Trickster
Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
Tormod, the Descrator
Dargo, the Shipwrecker
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
Picks of the Week
Damon’s pick: Geist-Honored Winota by spiritmonger17
David’s pick: As Foretold Living End by zar0s
Cavedan’s pick: Bruna Gifts by aspiringspike
Brew Session: Valakut Awakening
Pioneer
Big Red: 4-1 league
Valakut Mill: 2-3 league
Dragon Control (Sketch)
Jeskai Blood Sun (Sketch)
Modern
Izzet Niv-Mizzet: 3-2 league
Boros Sunforger (Sketch)
Ominous Seas
Zendikar Rising Sunset Show
Brushfire Elemental
Naya Landfall Zoo by IPlayBadDecks (5-0 league)
Jund Death’s Shadow by bgoose321 (5-0 league)
Gruul TarmoStompy by oskiyaa (5-0 league)
Thieving Skydiver
Temur Liquimetal Thieves by 603leb (5-0 league)
Grixis Liquimetal Thieves by daibloXSC (5-0 league)
David’s Grixis Thieves (Sketch)
Roiling Vortex
45 Modern lists playing it in the sideboard (here)
230 Pioneer lists playing it in sideboard (here)
Lithoform Blight
Enigmatic Incarnation by Mordeka1ser (5-0 league)
Abzan decks with sideboard Lithoform Blight (here)
Wayward Guide-Beast
20 tix 8-Guide by haz_45 (5-0 league)
Other published lists with Guide-Beast (here)
I noticed y’all didn’t mention the synergy between Valakut Awakening and Squadron Hawk. I’ve mentioned it in the Serum Visions discord as a pretty legit value engine but was met with skepticism. Other cards that can go in the package include Seasoned Pyromancer, Nahiri, Magmatic Channeler, the Stoneforge package, Winota, etc. You could go a RW cawblade route, or a controlling Nahiri/Breach/Emrakul route, or potentially a Winota/Pyromancer/Battle Screech route (that one might be too cute.) You can also use things like Teferi or Oust once you’ve used the birds in hand to reset a cast Hawk, and if you ever discard Emrakul you can shuffle your Hawks back in to do the value all over again.
Anyway, since you were trying to make a proactive Valakut Awakening work I thought I’d mention it. Thanks for all the great content!