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About Grixis Cycling
In Pauper, Cycling Storm is a complex, and, as a result, rather unpopular combo. However, if you master it, you'll see straight away how strong this deck can be, and why it is one option for the current meta!
Pauper, Raniere
75 commons
Land141
Seething Landscape
0.1
1
Island
0.22
3
Swamp
1.05
4
Barren Moor
0.35
1
Mountain
0.35
4
Ash Barrens
0.16
Creature251
Blood Celebrant
0.99
4
Drannith Healer
0.24
4
Drannith Stinger
0.2
1
Repository Skaab
0.05
3
Architects of Will
0.81
4
Street Wraith
0.16
3
Horror of the Broken Lands
1.05
4
Imposing Vantasaur
0.16
1
Mirrorshell Crab
0.07
Artifact33
Lotus Petal
70.46
Instant184
Dark Ritual
15.96
4
Songs of the Damned
7.96
4
Cabal Ritual
64.17
2
Dihada's Ploy
0.7
4
Reaping the Graves
1.4
60 البطاقات maindeck
Sideboard 15
1
Forest
0.35
1
Mirrorshell Crab
0.07
2
Duress
0.06
1
Vision Charm
1.29
2
Darkness
28.43
2
Pyroblast
10.33
2
Siege Smash
0.04
2
Gnaw to the Bone
0.6
2
Snuff Out
13.5
The strategy basically centers around creatures with cycling, that is, creatures that let you discard them for a cost to draw a new card - a sort of looting effect.
Besides these creatures, this list also plays a few mana accelerators, like Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Songs of the Damned. The last card, in particular, can create massive amounts of mana depending on how many creatures are in your graveyard.
After you create a lot of mana and put many creatures in the graveyard, you'll can just cast Reaping The Graves and use this Storm effect to get your creatures back. Then, just use their cycling again and find more Rituals and copies of Reaping. This way, you'll be able to draw your entire deck on a single turn.
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However, this deck still needs a win condition, and that's where Drannith Stinger comes along. This creature deals damage to your opponent whenever you use Cycling, and also has cycling itself, so the idea is to discard it straight away to dig through your deck and then add it to your hand with Reaping. This way, you'll be able to cast Drannith before you start cycling, deal damage to your opponent directly and win the match.
This deck also plays a few support cards, like Lotus Petal, which fixes your mana base. Dihada's Ploy gives you more card advantage, as well as some extra HP. Drannith Healer is another quite useful way to benefit from cycling, as it makes cards like Street Wraith and Blood Celebrant not that punishing.
Why Play This Deck?
The current metagame is in a transitional phase, and Cycling is a deck with the potential to win games explosively in a single turn, making it a strong contender as a combo option. Plus, since the format is still adjusting, there’s no better time to experiment with a new deck.
Cycling Storm is a deck that demands deep understanding and sharp decision-making skills. You’ll need to practice extensively and learn how each card interacts in different scenarios. When is it better to play a Barren Moor rather than cycle it? Is it safe to go for the combo now or wait? These are the kinds of questions a Cycling Storm pilot must be able to answer.
With enough practice, you’ll quickly get the hang of the deck. And by studying the matchups and how the deck performs against each one, you’re bound to see solid results.
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Mulligan
The mulligan is crucial for this deck, just like it is for most combos. Unlike Glee Combo, which can be more midrange-y or aggressive depending on the matchup and build, Cycling will nearly always have to stick to the original game plan. The only exception is when you can tell you can use your combo in another way.
This hand is quite reasonable. It has lands, one of them can filter the top of your deck, as well as a few ways to draw cards and Blood Celebrant, which is quite useful when you play your combo. However, you might not find anything soon with this hand, and, in some matchups, this is dangerous. It will open space for your opponent to play their strategy freely.
This hand, however, is a bit more interesting. It has the Rituals you need to combo, as well as cyclers. It is a solid starting hand.
This hand is the closest we have to a perfect hand. It already has the main pieces of the combo, as well as the main cyclers.
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Sideboard Guide
This sideboard is well-prepared to deal with most matchups, as it has ways to deal with the main decks in the format. Gnaw to the Bone is incredibly strong against aggros, and is why we added a basic Forest to this sideboard.
Darkness is also great against aggro lists, particularly Mono-Red. Duress is great in many situations. Pyroblast is a great way to deal with counters and blue decks, and Mirrorshell Crab can also be useful, though it is much better in the mirrors. Siege Smash is excellent against graveyard hates like Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb.
Snuff Out has become critical in many sideboards to deal with Glee in specific. Vision Charm is quite versatile, as it can deal with artifacts and even deal with any answer your opponent might have, simply by changing the color of your lands.
Vs. Rakdos Burn
This is a race—whoever develops their game plan better usually wins. Rakdos will come out swinging aggressively, and post-sideboard it might bring in some graveyard hate like Nihil Spellbomb.
Gnaw to the Bone is a strong addition for Game 2, and Siege Smash can deal with Nihil Spellbomb or Relic of Progenitus if your opponent happens to bring those in. Try to play around your opponent’s missteps and manage your life total carefully.
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Vs. Grixis Affinity
Nihil Spellbomb in their main deck is one of the problems in this matchup, as, in game 1, it can simply disable your deck. In game 2, with your sideboard, you'll be able to deal with it more easily.
Affinity often starts faster and more sequenced, and you'll have to find the perfect opening in them to start playing your combo. On the other side, if you give them too much space, they'll easily put you between a rock and a hard place.
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Vs. Glee Combo
Vs. High Tide
The deck of the moment, home to the newly unbanned card in the format: High Tide. Like Cycling, this is a pure combo deck that takes advantage of the extra mana generated by High Tide to close out the game with Stream of Thought. In this matchup, the faster combo usually comes out on top.
Post-sideboard, the opponent might bring in counterspells, which can disrupt our game plan a bit. However, our own sideboard also has solid tools to interact with their combo.
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Vs. Mono-Blue Faeries
This is, without a question, a bad matchup - maybe the worst. Spellstutter Sprite can counter all Rituals very easily, and the rest of their counters stop practically everything else Cycling plays. The best strategy is to play around your opponent's moves, hoard as many resources as possible to try to force answers out of them and create a window to play your combo.
Pyroblast, Duress, and Vision Charm are the best sideboard cards for this matchup. In game 2, your opponent will have even more answers, and will probably be even more defensive. With a bit of luck, and a lot of attention to detail, and you can still win.
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Vs. Bogles
This is probably the most favorable matchup for Cycling, but it will still be hard. Depending on what your opponent draws, and how fast you play your combo, and you will win.
Bogles will try, at all costs, to grow their big threat to try to finish the game as fast as possible, and won't struggle without blockers on the board. Look for explosive hands and don't worry about playing everything you have because your opponent will hardly have ways to interact with your combo.
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Final Words
Cycling is fascinating and challenging. It often loses to itself than to the opponent, and, at other times, it seems unfair and unbalanced. It is, however, a fun strategy that you'll have to master if you want to win with it. In any case, it can still compete in this format, and perform really well.
One interesting detail is that, in some desperate situations, you'll need to resort to desperate measures. For instance, if you can't find win conditions, but you can play your combo, create enough mana and get Reaping, you can win the match another way. Just use your extra mana to put as many creatures as you can on the board, preferably Horror of the Broken Lands and Imposing Vantasaur, as both are big enough to put pressure on the board. This scary scenario won't happen often, but it can.
What did you think of this list? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.
Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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