RG Gruul Ponza aka \"My opponent will learn to play basics\"

Introduction

The significant number of top decks in Historic as of this writing that I have seen lists of are playing ZERO basic lands. That is being super greedy with the mana base and last time there was a situation like this in Standard was when War of the Spark came out in Standard and the Golgari Citadel deck would capitalise on this with Assassin Trophies and four copies of Field of Ruin in the deck against the control decks. This is unusually quite high in Historic right now, sometimes they will be playing 1 or at most 2 basic lands or they will have maybe 1 of each but either way it is not much. Given that right now of this writing the metagame of Historic is a vast field of UWx control decks that are barely playing any basics and trying to unfairly get ahead on resources. That is where you come in with maindeck Cleansing Wildfires and Stone Rains as a random deck check and ways to advance ahead while setting them back so you can resolve your big end spells and threats.

Interestingly enough the RG Ponza archetype in Historic is very heavily customizable, you could play more threats at cmc 3-5 like more Town Razer Tyrants, Questing Beasts, Glorybringers, Thragtusks etc. This list leans more towards a control variation with a snow theme for ramping with Into the North and sweepers that function at getting rid of planeswalkers and threats but also the few threats you do have they will survive your own wraths in the vast majority of cases. The only thing that is definitely fixed in this list is Llanowar Elves, Cleansing Wildfire, Stone Rains and any 2 mana ramp spells you might want to play be it Explore or Into the North. Chanda Awakened Inferno also seems very good in the metagame right now as a high loyalty planeswalker that can\’t be countered and puts a clock on your opponent.

Your main win condition is generally Chandra Emblems and attacking with lands after exhausting your opponent of resources but you can get there with early Town Razer Tyrants and also late game Beanstalk Giants.

Sideboard strategy

Abrade comes in against any artifacts you want to hit plus any decks where you need cheap removal early.

Weathered Runestone is played over Grafdigger\’s due to Greasefang vehicle decks reanimating Parhelion\’s being on the rise so you can sort of softlock them out of playing that line. Also bring it in against any heavily graveyard focused decks. Not needing rare wildcards is also a bonus.

Escape to the Wilds comes in on expected longer slower games though this could also be a copy of Harmonize or any sufficient card advantage draw spell

Flame Blessed Bolt for any cheap aggro decks and Izzet Phoenix

Arasta is also for Phoenix Decks but can be okay against anything with lots of small cheap flyers

Cindervines is for control or combo matchups but also extra insurance to hit artifacts and/or enchantments.

Rampaging Ferocidon is for lifegain decks and any deck you think that might look to make lots of small threats and try to gain life

Elder Gargaroth can help stabilize against aggressive decks but also acts as an extra solid threat and gain you life, draw cards or increase board presence.

Shifting Ceratops is to pressure control decks earlier since you\’ll want an early uncounterable threat

Interesting observational notes

Amusingly against decks that attempt to play more \”fair\” you will just side out Cleansing Wildfire and maybe even all your Stone Rains too and just play a control role against the beatdown decks. Take note that even in game 1 against said decks you can target your own lands with Cleansing Wildfire to get 1 basic land out of your deck and draw a card so it is not completely dead in the 1st game and sometimes it can fix your mana base in some particular cases if you want an extra red or green source.