That's correct, Wildfire is back in type II and I think I just may have found a good use for it. Moreover, I can still play Ponza. I immediately tore my deck apart and started with a new basic skeleton. Allow me to present what I came up with:

4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
2 Earth Rift
3 Volcanic Hammer
3 Firebolt
3 Wildfire
1 Earthquake
4 Terravore
2 Magnivore
4 Call of the Herd
2 Thornscape Familiar
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
8 Mountain
8 Forest
4 Karplusan Forest

Sideboard
4 Price of Glory
4 Urza's Rage
3 Hull Breach
2 Tranquility
1 Wildfire
1 Earthquake

So begins Wild Ponza--the new, New Ponza. Granted, I haven't playtested this deck quite as much, but let me present my analysis of the deck and why I think this new creation is far superior.

To those of you who provided so much help and useful tips for my last article post, I would like to say that your voices are again most welcome here...

Land Destruction:

Obviously the first thing worth discussing about any Ponza deck is just how it is going to destroy lands. Although I have cut down in number of LD spells, the total number of lands I can potentially destroy has increased; whereas, before, I could theoretically destroy 18 lands, now a whopping 28 is possible after sideboard. That is more land than most decks have.
The green LD Creeping Mold has been eliminated as it makes the deck just a little too green mana hungry. The red core of LD remains as a base on which the deck can function. I only need to destroy a few lands before dropping Terravore and then casting Wildfire as the finisher. While before, it was critical that the deck did not stall out in its mana destruction, now only a few removals are necessary before going in for the kill.

Burn:

As I stated in conclusion of my last post, Ponza needed more burn than the little I previously allowed it. After the deck fell to Call of the Herd at states, I realized that more and better burn was entirely necessary. Enter Volcanic hammer: it possesses everything the deck requires--it is a relatively cheap spell that deals three damage at sorcery speed. Although, I have cut down on Magnivores, sorceries are still desirable as they continue to pump the few I have and provide good synergy with Price of Glory. Firebolt stays in as it's great at ridding me of pesky mana creatures, Devoted Caretakers, Meddling Mages and the like. After sideboarding, Urza's Rage packs an uncounterable punch for three and Pyroclasm will rid me of all pesky mana creatures, Mages, Caretakers and the like. I still include one Earthquake as a mass removal spell for critical situations.

Creature Base:

If you can't beat the Herd, join the Herd. Call of the Herd replaces Wild Mongrel for exactly three reasons.
1) It provides a larger creature.
2) It is a sorcery.
3) Fight fire with fire.
Although Wild Mongrel can be potentially larger, a 3/3 elephant will almost always trade for another and without forcing me to discard a spell I would rather cast. This is especially important as fewer Magnivores are in the deck. Terravore takes over for Magnivore because, in concert with Wildfire, it is a game winner. After dropping just a 1/1 trampler, casting Wildfire gives me up to a 9/9 trampler with no way for my opponent to deal with it. Thornscape Familiar is an obvious inclusion to reduce the cost of my LD and Wildfires. Besides, it swings for two.

Wildfire:
This is the glue that holds the deck together. While making a Terravore huge, it is essentially an Armageddon and Wrath of God as well. The synergy is amazing. I can cast it quickly with birds and elves, and although they die, so do my opponent's as well as, hopefully, his or her only four lands. (Thornscape Familiar also speeds up the casting of this finisher.) As an added bonus, any Magnivore just large enough to survive will get a little bigger and hang around for more damage dealing.

Artifact/Enchantment Issues:

The deck packs four artifact removal main deck and not many artifacts create severe problems to begin with. After sideboarding, the number goes up to eight. Enchantments can cause some problems first game; however, Wildfire says "sacrifice" and doesn't target anything. Sacred Ground can cause difficulties but that is only after the opponent sideboards, which means I have sideboarded as well. Two mass enchantment removals and 3 targeted are generally sufficient to absolve any major threats.

Sideboard:

Again, Price of Glory needs no explanation. The Urza's Rage count is upped a little to handle beats decks and control. Hull Breach stays in for artifact and enchantment removal; and, Tranquility for mass enchantment removal against the likes of U/G combos and white weenie. One Earthquake is included in case more mass removal is needed and one more Wildfire for fun. I think the sideboard could use some work; as I said, I haven't playtested a great deal yet.

Mana Base:

The manabase really needs little explanation...

I will definitely be bringing this deck to the next Type II I enter and hope it will do all I believe it can.

C-ya,

__________________
2nd in refs in SC
2nd ranked poster in SC

I am thinking on this deck type and concentrating on a lot of FB. Main deck price, then focus on burn sorcs and token sorcs. Add 2 Mirari to make it all go nutty. At the pre-release, I wound up playing against a guy who Mirred Call of the Wurm... 3x 6/6 facing me down. I had to work to give my stone-tongue threshold... if not for STB, I would have lost.... harshly.

For states, my friend also ran a very similar build to the Ponza you had posted and also had a very similar mediocre results. It just seemed to stall out too often, so we went back to the drawing board and came up with this:

4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
4 Creeping Mold
4 Paradic Miners
4 Thornscape Familiers
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Earthquake
2 Recoup
2 Earth Rift
2 Tremble
2 Terravore
2 Magnavore
2 Mirari
1 Kahmal, Pit Fighter
1Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
4 Karplusan Forest
10 Mountain
6 Forest

SB
4 Rage
4 Volcanic Hammer
4 Pyroclasm
3 Price of Glory

Mirari is awesome in this deck, especially if you ever do happen to stall out. Taking the elves out present a much harder prospect of a turn 2 Stone rain but the Paradic Miners evened it back out. In fact, we have often gotten the turn 2 Familier AND the Miner out, which is DEADLY. The creature base is weak but Kahmal or Tahngarth usually even the playing field and there is always Earthquake. This deck just seems to play faster and have more answers if it stalls. In the short period of time we've been playing the deck, it's tested VERY well. It still needs some tweaking, but so far, not much.

quote:

---

Originally posted by specialgoose182:
I think pardic miner would go great n it

---

nah, turf wound
is better. Same effect AND cantrip.

I would like Miners more if they were:
- 2/1
OR
- >>>uncommons<<<<
OR
- cost 1 less to play
OR
- allowed me to remove a land or other card from my library when I sacked it, in addition to the main effect.

Any one of those items would turn the Miner into something cool instead of the utter disappointment it is when you pull it from a pack. And no, none of those effects makes it broken.

As it is, I think they are neat in the early game and sadly lacking later on. The miner is dropped and sacked almost immediately, and that is where Turf Wound is just plain better... not only do I get its effect, I draw a card to replace it. Miner scarcely has a turn on the table before you lose him.

However, sugarv IS running Elves and I would say if he's looking for a slot to run Turf Wound, pull Pillage. Because of the two red mana cost, Pillage has stalled me more times then I can count. Yeah, Pillage puts a land in the graveyard for Terrevore, a sorcery for Magnivore, but with Wildfire, are you really THAT worried about getting lands into the graveyard? With only 2 Magnivores, are you really counting your sorcerys? Here's my arguments:

Turf Wound can be diverted but who cares? Doesn't hurt you and still gives you the card. Pillage can be, hurts you and the only good it does is add one land and one sorcery to the graveyard.

Pillage has a nasty habit of stalling the deck. Great card, crappy cost.

Turf Wound gets around Devoted Caretaker!!!! (So does the Miner, but that's beside the point)

All in all, it's a good build. The issues I have with it are not enough LD for the early game which allows enough mana for a counterspell. Counter the Wildfire and oops, you still have a 1/1 trampler. My suggestions for the deck would be to put miners over elves. That said, since you probably don't want to do that, I'd say pull the Pillage for Turf Wound, and yank the Magnivores for Overrun. This deck has way too many creatures for my liking, especially for a ponza deck. It's almost like the deck can't make up it's mind what it wants to be and I don't think that's a good thing. Fires? Ponza? Beat? Anyway, my 2 cents. Proceed to rip at will.

1. Forest, Elf
2. Mountain, Thornscape Familiar, Tremble sacking forest.
3. Stone Rain, even if you miss a land drop.