{"ops":[{"insert":"This is a deck that I have been working on for quite a while now: "},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"78 Land Astral Slide Pantlaza"},{"insert":"\n\nThe deck is a "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"lands"},{"insert":" deck, not "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"landfall"},{"insert":". The goal is to dump out a lot of lands fast, get set up using various advantage engines and control the board using interactive lands, astral slide flickers and discarding lands for damage. While the deck might look quite linear, my experience is the opposite: the amount of interaction and possible game actions each turn make games feel very versatile and a real puzzle.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Importance of the high land count: "},{"insert":"This strategy requires an "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"insane"},{"insert":" amount of lands for multiple reasons. We want to be able to find an opening hand with at least one ramp spell (exploration/burgeoning/manabond) and preferably 6 lands. Secondly, the deck revolves around cycling lands, of which we are playing 15. Thirdly, we need to get set up with very few discover triggers, so including more non-lands will only dilute the main strategy.\n\nOur main engine, and the reason for building this deck in the first place, is the powerful synergy between cycling lands, Astral Slide and Life From the Loam. Cycling lands allows us to both interact with opponent's creatures and flicker our own creatures, including our commander.\n\nThe deck operates in 3 phases:\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true},"insert":"Get your lands out: "},{"insert":" we mulligan until we find one of the ways to quickly dump all the lands from our hand onto the field. The faster the better! We can mulligan quite a lot since making land drops isn't much of an issue anyway.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true},"insert":"Get your astral slides:"},{"insert":" casting Pantlaza allows us to set up. Hitting more exploration-esque effects isn't much of an issue as we have multiple ways to sacrifice and recast pantlaza. Additionaly, the 3 \"hidden\" lands can also discover multiple times in combination with life from the loam, and Retrace spells like Throes of Chaos and Reality Scramble can also be used repeatedly.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"underline":true},"insert":"Dominate with large creatures:"},{"insert":" the polymorph effects allow us to find our late game threats. 4 out of 5 included creatures have an ETB effect that can be abused using astral slide flickers. My personal favorite is torsten: cycle a land, get about 6 new ones in hand. The only \"non-ETB\" creature, Borborygmos, is a great source of instant speed interaction and - eventually - a way to close out games by throwing lands at people's face.\n\nSome other notable inclusions:\nStruggle // Survive: this is a way to restock the deck at will, which importantly cannot be cascaded into with Pantlaza."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Pair-'O-Dice Lost: this card returns all lands and more from your graveyard to hand for only 5 mana. Great way to end the game in combination with Seismic Assault and Borborygmos."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Inkmoth Nexus, Lair of the Hydra and Kessig Wolf Run are a backup plan in case throwing lands isn't enough."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Mirrorpool is essentially a backup flicker spell that does amazing things when combined with Lumra."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"It doesn't take much for Reality Scramble to become a repeatable \"4 mana: flicker a creature\" as there are only 5 creatures in the deck."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nNotable exclusions to keep the powerlevel down:\nEtali, Primal Conqueror - flickering him with astral slide was overpowering the game too much."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Glacial Chasm and Field of the dead - both are gamechangers, and the 3 used in the deck already are required to keep the deck consistent."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"More polymorph effects - while this would be better, it takes away from the lands aspect a bit too much for me personally."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nChanges:\nSince submitting this deck for the contest I have played with it a lot more and come to the realization that this deck doesn't really belong in bracket 3. It's often very dominant and its threats being mostly land based means decks have a hard time finding relevant answers. I have therefore decided to lean into the bracket 4-ness of the deck and included more game changers. I still left out the extra polymorphs and Etali, simply because I'd rather play a slightly weaker deck that is more fun to play.\n\nEnjoy, and keep slidin'\n\n"},{"insert":{"video":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/_RTs7erqEWM?showinfo=0"}},{"insert":"\n"}]}