The Road to Playing with Ruin Ghost
bdm | 07:25PM on Wed Feb 3 2010When I was at the Prerelease this past weekend a lot people were wondering if Ruin Ghost was good enough to play in Limited. After a weekend of fooling around with him in a couple of different draft decks I am convinced — and now wondering if he is good enough in Constructed. What doesn’t the Ruin Ghost do?
Here is one of the decks I drafted over the weekend which had the Ruin Ghost working overtime — with an able assist from the Pilgrim’s Eye (aka Civic Way-flier).
2 Mysteries of the Deep
1 Aether Tradewinds
2 Pilgrim’s Eye
1 Stonework Puma
1 Bajuka Brigand
1 Caustic Crawler
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Urge to Feed
1 Marsh Casualties
1 Apex Hawk
1 Arrow Volley Trap
1 Fledgling Griffin
2 Hada Freeblade
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Kor Hookmaster
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Marsh Threader
1 Ruin Ghost
1 Talus Paladin
1 Island
2 Sejiri Steppe
1 Marsh Flats
7 Swamps
7 Plains
I ended up in love with this deck despite what could appear to be some awkward mana. The Pilgrim’s Eye was amazing for fixing the colors and keeping the mana flowing — it also conveniently blocks and trades with pesky one toughness creatures (Yes, Surrekar Marauders, I am looking at you!) The real star was the Ruin Ghost who was essentially Isochron Scepter imprinting Hindering Light thanks to the two copies of Sejiri Steppes. Any of the spell lands from the new set — or the ones from the Zendikar — can become a real problem with Ruin Ghost on the table.
In an earlier draft — and the first time I tried out the Ghost — I got him going with Khalni Garden and Emeria Angel, in an otherwise uninspiring deck, to spawn soldiers in an unending army of fliers and chumpblockers each turn. I had one match with the deck listed above where my opponent was waiting until my turn to aim a removal spell at my Talus Paladin. When I played the Sejiri Steppe he responded with Hideous End but since he could not respond to me playing the land I was able to use Ruin Ghost in response to his Hideous End. The Steppe blinked in and out play and in some sort of time travel conundrum was able to give the Ally protection from black before its ability from when it was originally played had resolved.
It felt like playing with Mother of Runes. Yes it required two cards to get the same effect but Mother of Runes is not exactly an option in Standard right now. I could see those two cards being played in a White Weenie deck that also features Kor Firewalker (aka Bearclaw) against a Jund player. They basically have to aim some fire at your Ruin Ghost or they are never going to be able to Pulse that pesky Firewalker.
One of the unexpected abilities of the Ghost in this deck was to filter my mana. I was able to turn WBB into BBB for a kicked Gatekeeper on more that one occasion and used it to get to BB for an unkicked — but board sweeping — Marsh Casualties in another. Instant speed landfall was the most exciting and my Mysteries of the Deep were good for three cards at the end of an opponent’s turn at instant speed in multiple games.
I posted something about my affections for Ruin Ghost on Twitter and Facebook and thanks to a suggestion from Kevin An I am now looking to play with the Ghost in Elder Dragon Highlander where it can do some pretty spicy things with Thawing Glaciers. Thawing Glaciers does not have to return to your hand if you exile it and an ostensibly new card comes into play. Things get even saucier when you add Amulet of Vigor into the pot. You play the Glaciers and untap it, tap it to go fetch a land which comes into play and untaps, then you use that mana to activate the Ghost and exile the Thawing Glaciers, which then comes into play untapped and ready to go again. If there was only a way to untap the Ghost…
If Tectonic Edge becomes a staple in the new format then you could see the Ghost as some kind of countermeasure. It also can protect activated man-lands from having unfortunate accidents. I don’t know if it will become a Constructed staple but I know I will be trying it out in a bunch of different decks.
