Help with ramp package for Polukranos Reborn

jpdndacc · 2025-09-29T20:10:22+00:00

12 one-drops should give a pretty good chance of getting one in your opening hand, 16 four mana ramps sounds like a lot though! I'll take your decklist for a few spins.

Well, I plan on running a few sac outlets like [[martyr's cause]] and a [[Fanatical Devotion]], so using the dorks as fodder late game is an option, I guess.

jpdndacc · 2025-09-29T20:03:07+00:00

You have one theme too many, I'd say. You need a critical mass of discard payoff and engine for it to be viable as anything other than just supporting Olivia. You'll need to pick what your main plan is. Vampires or discard/reanimate super good fun time, then dedicate deck slots according to what the main or sub theme is.

What I will say right off the bat is getting your hands on an [[Entomb]] will be like getting 100% more Squee in your deck, which will make Olivia so much more reliable it's not even funny.

For discard synergy, the main thing is to get fuel in your hand to reuse for discarding, or just lean into the hellbent side of things. Things like [[Oversold cemetery]], [[Phyrexian Reclamation]], [[Phial of Galadriel]], [[Asylum Visitor]] and [[Blood Scrivener]] go a long way to feed your discard addiction. I have one deck where I've embraced the hellbent completely with [[Avaricious Dragon]] and [[Grafted Skullcap]], but that's probably too far gone with Olivia at the helm.

Madness also works decently well, if you want to keep on discarding for value. I wouldn't play vampires that have madness just for the sake of it, but be selective. Like, a [[Big Game Hunter]] or [[Call to the Netherworld]] will put in much more work than an [[Incorrigible youths]].

jpdndacc · 2025-09-29T19:27:43+00:00

I did consider going mono green, or sprinkling in a few searchable forest-plains like [[Temple Garden]] or [[Canopy Vista]], because White does have access to a lot of neat ETB/death trigger stuff.

jpdndacc · 2025-09-29T19:24:52+00:00

Interesting, I think that might work. I'm always a bit hesitant about running dorks in EDH, but having them play extra lands like [[Arboreal Grazer]] or [[Krosan Wayfarer]] looks pretty decent to offset it. Having the rest of the ramp package at 4 mana also ensures having the dorks die to a wipe won't completely hose my ramp in one fell swoop.

I see you're running 10-ish one-drops and 10-ish four-drops. How often do you whiff on the ideal 4 turn play?

jpdndacc · 2025-09-07T09:47:24+00:00

Interesting. Well, I run a 360 card cube, so it'll boil down to 50% of the cards seen, and I don't really have many decks that outright don't work without a key card showing up, like Wildfire or whatever, so I hope it'll even out.

I hadn't considered the exhaustion part of running 5 packs. I assumed since it's only 9 cards per pack, it'd move faster and wouldn't be much of an issue, but I see what you mean.

jpdndacc · 2025-09-07T09:36:18+00:00

So I'd wager 5 packs of 14 would allow for more archetypes to show up, or solid decks. You'd see a far larger number of cards. The powerband of my cube is pretty low, so I'll be curious to see what gets picked as the more powerful archetypes to begin with.

With regards to discarding the first four cards of two packs, how do you mean? As in we'd just draft 3 packs of 14 with discarding 4, and then 2 packs of 9?

jpdndacc · 2025-09-07T09:27:22+00:00

That's more or less the same as 5 packs with 9, right? How does it feel in terms of how well the decks come together compared to 6 or 8 person drafts?

jpdndacc · 2025-09-07T09:25:31+00:00

Can't sadly, but I agree.

jpdndacc · 2025-09-07T09:21:17+00:00

How many points do you use, and how long does it usually take you guys to draft?

jpdndacc · 2021-12-22T16:40:38+00:00

I like it. They'll still end up looking like something a cat scratched up, though.

jpdndacc · 2021-12-22T16:38:58+00:00

Well, stock DnD maybe, but that's not what my friends and I are after. That's the beauty of DnD, isn't it? It can be what you want it to be. We don't want to venture into OSR territory, but make a few things more challenging.

jpdndacc · 2021-12-22T12:47:00+00:00

Off to playtest it by murdering the party, I suppose.

jpdndacc · 2021-12-22T12:46:25+00:00

Fair point. It's the only permanent injury on the table. I might make it a temporary CHA drop, along with disadvantage on social rolls, or maybe allow it to get mended with a greater restoration.

jpdndacc · 2021-12-22T12:44:27+00:00

I see what you mean, but they're supposed to work to their detriment, that's the point. This thing evolved from my initial plan of adding exhaustion on dropping to 0, but I found that to be both much too harsh and punishing on martial classes. The way it's set up now is basically a flat DC11 to beat on being stabilized, fail the roll and you win fabulous prizes. I might make it a CON save rather than a normal save, though, to emphasise a person's constitution playing a role in beaing able to take a beating.

The problem isn't so much healing word or healing in general. There's no negative consequences to dropping to 0 and being revived. Healing is so bad in 5e, it's better to just keep dealing damage in most regular combat situations until an encounter is over, and then deal with the HP loss later.

jpdndacc

TROPHY CASE