You have now forced me to do something I didn't want to have to do! The following is the Ponza deck history from the Dojo.It is really long and I'm too lazy ta' get the link, so copy and paste or read it and then reply, but you are right, I thought Ponza was a little different but then I looked it up on the Dojo, it is kind of control red.
The History of Ponza Rotta Red
- the Dojo Staff
"The best thing about playing this deck is that people just do not understand how it works. They always tell you you got lucky. You started out with the worst Sligh start ever and then you topdecked the only Lightning Dragon you probably play. And how the hell did you expect to cast Wildfire with Sligh? It is like the jankiest card in Urza's Saga."
-Brian Kowal, 5 January 1999
Ponza Rotta Red is an interesting and relatively young deck archetype. Unlike many other decks, which seem to creep up in many places simultaneously with the release of powerful cards in a new set, Ponza has had a very distinct and easy to follow history, directly attributable to the fact that it was largely developed by a single geographic area (the little-known tech Mecca, Wisconsin), and grew out of that area by the reputation and publication of a small group of loyal Ponza players. Although the history of the archetype at this point seems to be the story of just a handful of Magic players, Ponza's influence can be seen in decks far-flung from the Midwest, especially in some of the more recent major championships.
Chapter I: WAKEFIELD SLIGH
Ponza creator Brian Kowal credits a great deal of the archetype's principles to Wakefield Sligh, a reset-based burn deck developed by the King of the Fatties. Jamie Wakefield first played Wakefield Sligh in the 1997 Vermont State Championships; though he earned an undefeated record in the Swiss portion, Jamie fell to (future) Cabal Rogue teammate (and eventual State Champion), Kevin McLaughlin, in the Top 8.
Wakefield Sligh, 1997 Vermont Championships - "Phoenix-Haups"
Main Deck:
4 Bogardan Pheonix
4 Suq'ata Lancer
4 Talruum Minotaur
3 Ball Lightning
3 Orcish Settlers
2 Lava Hound
4 Incinerate
3 Disintegrate
3 Fireblast
3 Guerilla Tactics
3 Jokulaups
2 Dwarven Ruins
4 Crystal Vein
20 Mountains
Sideboard:
4 Dwarven Miner
4 Anarchy
3 Thunderbolts
1 Fireblast
2 Pyrokenisis
1 Omen of Fire
Note that Phoenix-Haups is a classic Wakefield deck that flies in the face of most accepted convention. There is no mana curve: the creature base starts at 2 Orcish Settlers at 2 mana, and then progresses to a variety of 3, 4, and 5 casts. No 1-mana spell, even, with the burn starting at Guerilla Tactics and Incinerate, progressing to the 6-mana Jokulhaups as a finisher. Lots of fatties, of course.
Just as the Ponza archetype grew out of Wakefield Sligh, this deck is a direct descendant of the R/W Ivory Gargoyle-Jokulhaups decks that dominated early qualifiers for PT Dallas in 1996. /Jamie Wakefield was one of the players who was lucky enough to make it to the Pro Tour with that archetype: note how the Bogardan Phoenix performs similarly to the Ivory Gargoyle post-Jokulhaups… a substantial creatures is left on this player's side after the world blows up (just as the Ivory Gargoyle could be put back into play)… Phoenix-Haups is an attempt to bring a successful deck into the then-current Type II environment.
"Its got a lot of heat, but the Pheonix and the Haups is the way I prefer to finish off an opponent."
-Jamie Wakefield
The biggest criticism of this deck is the lack of then-legal Thawing Glaciers. Obviously they would have fit in perfectly in a deck designed to destroy its own land, especially one built on the eccentric 26 land / 62 card Wakefield model. However, Jamie's personal aversion to that card prevented the Glaciers from making the deck.
On the other hand, Crystal Vein and Dwarven Ruins serve as interesting acceleration. The Phoenix-Haups player can both cast Jokulhaups at least one turn earlier and save himself the destruction of an additional land once the Haups resolves. This is a less efficient strategy against blue-based permission decks, of course… if the Jokulhaups becomes countered, the Phoenix-Haups player will nonetheless lose the sacrificed Crystal Vein or Dwarven Ruins.
Jamie continued to play versions of Wakefield Sligh as sets rotated in and out of Standard, but this deck is the basis of the archetype. General deckbuilding notes:
1. The mana Curve for Wakefield Sligh is "fat = GOOD."
2. 26 land and 62 cards, which is usual for this designer.
Chapter II: RATH CYCLE QUALIFIERS FOR PT ROME
It was during the Rath Cycle qualifiers for Pro Tour Rome that Ponza Rotta Red proper made its first appearance. Brian Kowal constructed this deck, based on the Wakefield fatty model. According to Adrian Sullivan, a Ponza Rotta is "like a calzone, but deep fried instead of baked." Kowal named it for "the finest delicacy in Waukesha, Wisconsin. It includes all of the key ingredients: the cheese (shock, etc), the meat (Giant, etc), and the sauce (Stone Rain)."
Ponza Rotta Red, PTQ Rome Era
Main Deck:
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Fireslinger
4 Flowstone Giant
2 Ogre Shaman
3 Shard Phoenix
4 Shock
4 Kindle
4 Lightning Blast
2 Seismic Assault
4 Stone Rains
4 Wastelands
4 Stalking Stones
19 Mountain
Sideboard:
4 Seething Anger
4 Boil
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Shard Phoenix
3 Torture Chambers
This deck runs 27 lands of its 62 cards. The high land count in this deck is designed to ease the play of some of the more expensive power cards in Rath Cycle red. It also lessens the threat of Chill somewhat, and opens up the Seismic Assault path to victory.
Unlike a lot of Rath Cycle decks (certainly Rath Cycle red decks) Ponza plays primarily fat creatures and a lot of spot removal. Fat creatures were difficult to remove in that environment, and spot removal was particularly keen against creature decks that employed a lot of creature enchantments, for example Giant Strength or Curiosity.
Flowstone Giant was considered "supertech." He could not be easily stolen via Legacy's Allure, and he generally stole two or more cards from an opposing weenie player. Flowstone Giant also proved excellent vs. Living Death, able to kill Walls of Blossoms and "survive" a Living Death. On a less exciting level, he could smash into the opponent for 5, or fizzle a Capsize, as well.
Seething Anger was a solution to Humility, Ancient Tombs to Chill or any slow deck without a lot of fast damage sources, and Torture Chamber was in the sideboard against white weenie. Boil came in "against everything," according to Kowal, and for a time, he toyed with playing one main deck. The global reset available for the Rath format, Apocalypse, was not present in the original draft of Ponza, but was added late in the qualifier season, further allying the deck style with Wakefield Sligh.
Ironically, Kowal himself never qualified for the Pro Tour with this deck, but it spread like wildfire in the Milwaukee area (no pun intended), and came to define the Midwest Magic scene over the next few months.
Chapter III: PONZA CROWNED STATE CHAMPION
Probably the most successful player during Ponza's early existence was Jake Welch. A little-known player from the Milwaukee area, Welch and other players from the Virtual Gaming Center (Team VGC) took Kowal's deck, modified for Type II, to November 1998's Wisconsin State Championships.
Teammate Mike Heinrich played to a first place 6-0-1 record in the Swiss, but it was Welch who actually won the whole thing. More impressive than the actual Championship, perhaps, was that Welch defeated a variety of decks to earn the title, including multiple "broken" Academy decks… including PT great Bob Maher in the finals!
This is the version that Welch played:
Ponza Rotta Red, 1998 Wisconsin State Champion
Main Deck:
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
4 Stone Rain
1 Aftershock
3 Apocalypse
2 Wildfire
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Fireslinger
4 Lighting Dragon
2 Orgg
4 Wastelands
4 Stalking Stones
18 Mountains
Sideboard:
1 Grizzly Bears
2 Wildfire
1 Aftershock
4 Meltdown
4 Pyroblast
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
Welch apparently needed only 14 sideboard cards, so he devoted one slot to one of his 1,500(!) Grizzly Bears.
Overall, Ponza translated well into the Standard environment, where even better burn options became available, including Cursed Scroll. The deck ended up being an exceptional deck against weenie beatdown strategies, which prompted Welch and the VGC to coin the clever phrase "Thanks for the bye, Sligh." Interestingly, based on Ponza winnings alone, Welch earned over 250 DCI points in just a few tournaments
The most interesting aspect of this Ponza deck, especially in historical retrospect is the selection of fatties and sweepers. Orgg has strong interaction with Wildfire: basically, the only thing on the board after a Wildfire is the Orgg!
However, Lightning Dragon and Apocalypse might seem sub-optimal given some of the other choices available… In the words of Brian Kowal,
"[Lightning Dragon] is just the beefiest creature alive. Typically your opponent will wait to see if you remember to pay echo… and then scoop. This is a 'there's no way I can win" card… If you have Lightning Dragon in play and cast Wildfire, you should not be playing Wildfire. You should be hitting him for 10 damage and extending the hand."
-Brian Kowal
Apocalypse is a trickier choice. Faced with problems versus Living Death, Wildfire was only mildly useful. Apocalypse, on the other hand, was crippling. During the Rath Cycle season, many speed red decks proved that Apocalypse could be useful despite its drawback - topdecking solutions was often simple for those speedy red decks. Ponza, with its extremely high land count, was also able to "out-topdeck" most opponents after an Apocalypse. At the VGC, where Ponza originated, the unusual 3 Apocalypse and 2 Wildfire soon became the standard, with 4 Wildfires being a common alternative.
By mid January, the Academy/Stroke deck had been at least somewhat crippled by bannings, and Ponza looked to have an even better time in Type II. The problem was the Nightmare Survival archetype…
"Before Urza's Saga it looked better for Ponza. The deck was 50/50 for the most part against Death during Rath Cycle (4 Lightning Blasts were some good and I keep trying to fit some Lightning Blasts into Ponza)… but Rec/Sur is just annihilating Ponza out here."
-Brian Kowal
With the deck losing to one of the more popular and consistent archetypes, the deck seemed to need a reset like Apocalypse (which would remove lands and creatures from the game) rather than one which would simply allow Cartographer or Living Death an easy recovery to removal and land destruction… even when in the form of a powerful sweeper like Wildfire.
Nonetheless, other players still found a lot of success in Ponza. Through bannings and the rise of other power archetypes, Ponza remained relatively consistent in the Wisconsin area.
"My deck list stayed the same for most of Type II. The only real change was moving the Disks from sideboard to the main deck. With Academy being banned there was no real reason for Meltdown, either, so Bottle Gnomes went in. The best change was the "burn change," changing some Shocks to Arc Lightnings… the best thing that ever happened to the deck! The deck won me five straight tourneys of a 15-match winning streak. I stopped playing the deck for a while because Dream Halls and Earthcraft were really big and I had a very hard time beating those… The deck list has been the same the entire time with only about an 8-card difference at any one time… Not many changes were ever made."
-Jacob Welch
Chapter IV: THE PRO TOUR
The next major event in Ponza's short history was probably its play at Pro Tour New York 1999. Multiple members of Cabal Rogue played Ponza variants, including Cabal founder (and Brian Kowal's teammate) Adrian Sullivan, as well as Ponza's grandfather, Jamie Wakefield. Jamie went with a 26 / 62 setup, but Adrian made his best finish in his Pro Tour career.
With a 10-3-1 record, Adrian had the record, but not the tiebreakers, to make Top 8, and finished 10th.
Café Ponza, Pro Tour New York 1999
Main Deck:
2 Shower of Sparks
2 Parch
4 Arc Lightning
4 Goblin Welder
4 Molten Hydra
4 Wildfire
2 Viashino Heretic
2 Lay Waste
3 Avalanche Riders
1 Crater Hellion
4 Rings of Gix
3 Worn Powerstone
1 Phyrexian Tower
4 Ghitu Encampment
20 Mountain
1 Shivan Gorge
Sideboard:
1 Mishra's Helix
3 Thran Lens
1 Crater Hellion
1 Goblin Welder
1 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Rack and Ruin
2 Heat Ray
2 Shivan Hellkite
1 Viashino Heretic
This version of Ponza was dramatically different from all previous ones, and ended up being quite influential in Ponza construction for Regionals and Nationals. For one thing, with Lightning Dragon legal (a defining card for Type II Ponza) one would think that Sullivan might select it for his Saga/Legacy deck. Instead, he went for smaller, yet efficient, utility creatures. The Hydras ended up being backbreaking against fast green decks with weenie creatures. The Heretics punished decks that relied on artifacts, particularly expensive ones, like Mishra's Helix or Phyrexian Processor (ouch). Goblin Welder simultaneous served as an early speed bump for beatdown and single-handedly destroyed Tinker decks.
Thran Lens ended up being a strong card against decks with protection from red creatures. With colorless Crater Hellions and Shivan Hellkites, Café Ponza was able to make short work of small creatures, even ones named "Disclipe of Law."
In retrospect, one of the 3 Rack and Ruins should probably have been a Meltdown, evidenced by Sullivan's skillful 0-2 performace against Zvi Mowshowitz playing the Zero Effect.
Chapter V: POST-NEW YORK: VEGETARIAN PONZA AND REGIONALS 1999
Less than a week after the Pro Tour, a semi-legitimized Ponza had made some some impact over the wider Magic world. As far away as Georgia, Matt Ranks won a weekly store tournament at Neutral Ground: Atlanta with a Ponza variant. At the time mislabeled "8 Year Old.dec," (for this was one of the deck's earliest steps beyond the Midwest), the Ranks version shows some parallel design to the Sullivan Pro Tour version.
Andrew and Matt Ranks worked with many of the New England Pro-Tour players for Pro-Tour New York, developing an aggressively mana-controlling deck with Rings of Gix, Wildfire, and Rain of Salt. While none of them played that deck, conversations with Chicago player Timothy McKenna about the Midwest's "control red" deck fueled parallel development of Ponza.
"I had started to become really impressed by the Wildfire decks I'd been seeing around Chicago," said McKenna. "I talked to some people in New England about the deck. They really liked it, but we were all terrified by the thought of actually playing Apocalypse."
Dropping the Apocalpse in favor of more main deck Wildfires and using main deck Nevinyrral's Disks to increase the board control, this deck was all about owning the table. In a far departure from any other Ponza deck, Matt Ranks chose Shivan Dragon as his primary creature. Able to survive Wildfires and hard to eliminate, the inclusion of the Shivan Dragon perhaps drew more focus than the actual deck itself. Interestingly, Jake Welch's version of Ponza at this time (including main deck Nevinyrral's Disks) was only a few cards different at this time.
Atlanta Ponza, circa 5 May 1999; Matt Ranks
Main Deck:
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Wildfire
4 Stone Rain
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Incinerate
4 Shock
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Arc Lightning
2 Molten Hydra
2 Shivan Dragon
18 Mountain
4 Wasteland
4 Ghitu Encampment
Sideboard:
4 Meltdown
4 Pyroblast
1 Ruination
4 Ankh of Mishra
2 Raze
In no other Region than the Midwest (predictably) did Ponza make as big an impact. Adrian Sullivan squeaked into the Top 8 and qualified for Nationals with the unusual "Vegetarian Ponza"… in ninth place, with a more traditional version (but no slot) was Jake Welch.
Vegetarian Ponza, 1999 Midwest Regional Championships
Main Deck:
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Mogg Fanatic
1 Shard Phoenix
4 Stone Rain
4 Wildfire
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Apocalypse
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
3 Arc Lightning
16 Mountain
4 Ghitu Encampment
1 Shivan Gorge
3 Stalking Stones
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
1 Apocalypse
1 Arc Lightning
1 Jokulhaups
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Pyroblast
3 Shattering Pulse
4 Ticking Gnomes
Called "Vegetarian" because it lacked any main-deck "meat," or fat finishers, this is a pure red control deck. Every single card in the deck except for the lands (and in some cases even this is not true) destroys something (or in some cases, lots of things).
A metagame choice against the dominant Living Death and Necropotence archetypes, Vegetarian Ponza used a combination of land destruction and overall removal to stunt these decks' developments in order to prevent them from generating degenerate or explosive turns… it is sort of difficult to Corrupt an opponent out with 1 Swamp in play.
The biggest criticism of this deck from most Ponza players was that it had no fast finisher. This may be a valid argument in relation to an archetype that had previously won via huge Orgg or firebreathing Dragon beats. Vegetarian Ponza did a point or two here or there with Mogg Fanatics or Avalanche Riders, finishing with man-lands… an endgame more reminiscent of decks like CMU blue than most red decks.
Nevinyrral's Disk was primarily as an answer to Survival of the Fittest and Oath of Ghouls, although it also offered redundancy in terms of global sweepers. Vegetarian Ponza's absence at Nationals can largely be attributed to the loss of the Disk… while Powder Keg is powerful, it isn't very good at removing problem enchantments, one of the few types of permanents that Ponza has difficulty destroying.
Chapter VI: A CURIOUS STANDARD ENVIRONMENT AND THE GERMAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 1999 German National Championships took place during a curious Standard season. Although 6th Edition was legal during June of 1999, the bannings of certain "broken" cards, such as Mind Over Matter, had not yet taken effect. This environment should have been rife with decks powered by Mind Over Matter, Prosperity, and other classic combination elements, but the roguish Ponza deck peeked out its head.
Piloted by Maro Blume, this verson of Ponza Rotta Red won the German Nationals:
Control Red, Maro Blume
Main Deck:
19 Mountains
4 Wasteland
1 Shivan Gorge
1 Maze of Shadows
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Shock
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Fireslinger
4 Stone Rain
4 Pillage
2 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Ticking Gnomes
4 Avalanche Riders
1 Balduvian Horde
2 Earthquake
Sideboard:
4 Jackal Pup
1 Balduvian Horde
1 Lightning Dragon
4 Shattering Pulse
1 Earthquake
2 Ticking Gnomes
2 Fire Diamond
German National Champion
The Blume deck lacks Wildfire, but it has considerable disruption in the form of Stone Rain, Pillage, Avalanche Riders, and Wasteland. With utility creatures like Mogg Fanatic, Ticking Gnomes, and Fireslinger, this deck was well-prepared for weenie decks, and could morph into a more aggressive version with Jackal Pups in the sideboard.
The Blume deck is most important, however, because it is the first Ponza deck to have done well in a larger field (that is, outside of Wisconsin).
Chapter VII: THE 1999 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
Ponza did not perform spectacularly at Origins 1999. Jake Welch made the Top 4 of the first US Open, but was defeated by the Ponza-like Sped Red, played by now-PT great, Jamie Parke.
Welch's deck was very much a classic Ponza deck, with lots of land, several fat creatures, and lots of creature elimination.
Neo-classical Ponza, Jake Welch
Main Deck:
3 Wildfire
1 Apocalypse
1 Shard Phoenix
3 Lightning Dragon
2 Masticore
4 Pillage
3 Arc Lightning
3 Fireslinger
3 Parch
3 Fire Diamond
3 Mogg Fanatic
3 Shock
4 Cursed Scroll
16 Mountain
2 Ghitu Encampment
1 Shivan Gorge
3 Stalking Stones
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Repercussion
1 Viashino Heretic
2 Shattering Pulse
4 Magmasaur 3 Boil
3 Powder Keg
This deck seems to have some eccentric number choices, but the burn count, for instance, was designed to answer a wider field… Arc Lightning against weenie swarms, Parch against blue, etc.
The Repercussion + Magmasaur sideboard may have been sub-optimal, but the combination yields at least one amusing story… with his opponent at close to twenty life, Welch used the Magmasaur's ability to kill him via Repercussion!
Although not strictly a Ponza deck, Jamie Parke's Sped Red was at least originally categorized as such. A loose definition during the U.S. Opens was "any base-red deck that goes for board control, high mana, and mana denial as tempo control (not as a dedicated land destruction strategy)." Parke's deck did, indeed, gain time via land destruction in order to allow its board control to become effective.
Sped Red, Jamie Parke
Main Deck:
4 Shock
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Jackal Pup
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Fireslinger
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Pillage
4 Stone Rain
3 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Arc Lightning
15 Mountain
3 Ghitu Encampment
4 Wasteland
2 Ancient Tomb
Sideboard:
1 Arc Lightning
2 Shattering Pulse
2 Torture Chamber
4 Spellshock
2 Balduvian Horde
3 Mountain
1 Hammer of Bogardan
Parke's deck is also important in that it was the first American Ponza (or base-Ponza) deck to be proved effective in either a wider field (outside Wisconsin) or to win a major championship; Parke of course was a finalist in the first Open and won a slot at the 1999 U.S. Nationals. His deck echoes the Blume deck in its Pillage + Stone Rain + Riders + Wasteland redundancy, although it advances the strategy even more via the use of Ancient Tombs (which allows land destruction one turn earlier) and main-deck Jackal Pups. Moving the Pups to the main deck allows the deck to grab the turn economy generated by destroying land, as opposed to the original Blume deck, which gained a slower control base to kill with a more endgame-oriented finisher (i.e. Balduvian Hordes or Lightning Dragon).
Sped associate Kartin' Ken Krouner played Parke's deck to a Top 8 finish in a later U.S. Open, but was unable to actually qualify.
Sped Red, Kartin' Ken Krouner
Main Deck:
4 Avalanche Rider
4 Jackal Pup
4 Pillage
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Shock
4 Stone Rain
3 Fireslinger
3 Hammer of Bogardan
4 Cursed Scroll
2 Masticore
15 Mountain
4 Wasteland
3 Ghitu Encampment
2 Ancient Tomb
Sideboard:
4 Spellshock
2 Shattering Pulse
2 Balduvian Hordes
1 Arc Lightning
1 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Torture Chamber
3 Mountain
The main difference is of course Masticore over Arc Lightning in the main deck. Masticore is probably a superior choice: while both are excellent weenie defense, Masticore could also remove protection from red creatures like Soltari Priest, or de facto protection from red creatures like Mother of Runes or Warrior en-Kor. Note that white weenie was a powerful choice in the Nationals Type II metagame, and that deck - especially the versions packing a pre-errata Wayaly - saw Sped Red as a virtual bye.
More recently, at a $500 tournament at Your Move Games (a premiere game store in Massachusetts, and home to some of the Pro Tour's best players), the Ponza archetype has peeked past the Wisconsin area and found some success. This version, played by Scott West, made a respectable 4th place:
West Side Ponza, Scott West
Main Deck:
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Lightning Dragon
2 Avalanche Riders
2 Powder Keg
4 Shock
2 Arc Lightning
4 Pillage
4 Stone Rain
3 Fireslinger
4 Jackal Pup
4 Mogg Fanatic
2 Ghitu Encampment
3 Wastland
1 Ancient Tomb
17 Mountian
Sideboard:
4 Scald
2 Powder Keg
3 Shatterstorm
2 Earthquake
4 Havoc
West Side Ponza is one of the first versions to embrace Powder Keg as a post-Classic replacement for Nevinyrral's Disk. While less powerful than the Disk against a deck like Living Death (because it cannot destroy enchantments such as Survival of the Fittest or Oath of Ghouls), the Keg is nonetheless an excellent sweeper against fast decks. The Kegs actually free up slots that were previously filled by Torture Chambers in the Origins-era Sped Red decks, and can be used as artifact defense as well.
Note the use of Scald in West's sideboard. Scald is a powerful tweak card in the matchup against a base-blue opponent. It generates a great deal of virtual card advantage by deterring the opponent from casting any spells (he is likely afraid of the burn packed by the Ponza player), and simultaneously slows down the use of any Islands in play… sort of like a number of mini-Stone Rains. The West Side Ponza player can also choose to destroy only non-Island lands with his targeted land destruction, making the use of remaining lands all the more painful.
Chapter VIII: The 1999 World Championships
Two copies of Sped Red made the Top 8 of the 1999 World Championships, piloted by Jamie Parke and finalist Mark LePine. These decks were more-or-less the same as the Origins version played by Parke, except with superior sideboards, including Scald.
However, the deck that might impact Ponza history most is the Champion deck, a Mono-Brown design played by German Kai Budde.
Mono-Brown, Kai Budde
Main Deck:
4 Cursed Scroll
4 Fire Diamond
4 Grim Monolith
1 Karn, Silver Golem
3 Masticore
2 Mishra's Helix
4 Temporal Aperture
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Voltaic Key
2 Worn Powerstone
4 Covetous Dragon
4 Wildfire
3 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
13 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Phyrexian Processor
2 Boil
3 Earthquake
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Shattering Pulse
4 Spellshock
Budde's deck is not strictly a Ponza deck by any means, but it does share a number Ponza-like attributes. While its overall land count is quite low (20 lands only), it has a massive amount of mana acceleration, from the Ancient Tombs to the one-card engine, Thran Dynamo. Like most Ponza decks, Mono-Brown has some measure of mana denial: here a lot of mana combined with Mishra's Helix is probably better than actually blowing up land with cards like Stone Rain or Avalanche Riders.
In a classic Ponza move for this not-really-a-Ponza deck, Mono-Brown has the power combination of Wildfire with actually keeping a creature on the board… instead of Orgg, this deck finishes with Covetous Dragon.
Chapter IX: The Future of Ponza
Ponza's initial strength as a deck came from its ability to handle two very different kind of decks: weenies and control. With its excellent board control, most weenie decks would find themselves quickly dismantled; the mana disruption coupled with heavy burn has long proved its worth against control. Most Ponza decks could annhilate the typical blue control deck from sheer mana advantage, with only decks like Buehler Blue actually able to resist Ponza's combination of threats and mana deprivation. After the introduction of 6th Edition, Pyroblast and Nevinyrral's Disks rotation from Standard hurt the deck greatly. Ponza found itself mostly helpless to both fast combo decks and Survival of the Fittest.
After the Rath Cycle rotates out of Standard, an entirely new, perhaps extremely pro-Ponza environment. Ponza retains most of its extreme board control in cards like Arc Lightning, Powderkeg, and Wildfire. Fast decks, on the other hand, find themselves losing staples like Cursed Scroll, Jackal Pup, and Sarcomancy. Huge threats like Survival of the Fittest and Oath of Ghouls also disappear, making the lack of enchantment elimination much less hazardous.
The Ponza-like Sped Red will also have to undergo radical changes. Losing Mogg Fanatic and Jackal Pup, Sped Red will probably steer back towards its more controlling roots, as it loses its primary aggressive characteristics that differentiate Ponza from Sped Red. The primary characteristics of Ponza, time advantage and board control, will remain for the Sped deck, but without many of its punch cards or colorless removal, a move towards Powder Keg will perhaps prove necessary.
As we enter into a post-Rath Standard, Ponza's core pieces will remain. Stone Rain and Pillage, (occasionally) coupled with Avalanche Riders and Wildfire provide plenty of options for mana-control. Arc Lightning, Powder Keg, and Masticore are quick board control, and a great deal of burn remains available. Ponza could be one of the few Standard decks that translates into the new Type II.
