Koth of the Hammer Deckbuilding Challenge thread

Koth of the Hammer

Level 1
Chasm Guide
Belligerent Whiptail
Valakut Invoker
Lavastep Raider
Reckless Bushwhacker
Akoum Stonewaker
Devour in Flames
Chitinous Cloak
Sure Strike
Turn Against

Deck playstyle
At level 1 you have no abilities and a restrictive deck composition. Koth starts off with 6/4/1 creatures/spells/supports. Additional Koth has an extremely polarised mana profile (-2/-2/-1/+5/-1) meaning that you should always try to match Red gems if there is a match available.

Accordingly, your creatures are tailored to benefit your unique mana profile. Chasm Guide and Reckless Bushwhacker both give Haste to all your creatures when summoned, which is useful in the turns where you surge and potentially summon out multiple creatures at once. Akoum Stonewaker gives you a temporary 3/1 Red elemental for landfalls by either player, helping you to boost your board presence even when your matches aren't gaining you much mana.

Your spells help you to dish out damage more quickly to close out the game because the faster your deck is, the less time your opponent has to react or deal damage to you.

Notable cards/combos
Reckless Bushwhacker: Reckless Bushwhacker is a creature that is generally solid regardless of the planeswalker level. At lower levels, it takes the role of a bigger creature and brings a surge in damage with its mass Haste and +1/+0 until the end of the turn. At higher levels, it is still useful for the mass Haste but plays the role of a small but still mana-efficient creature.
Akoum Stonewaker: Akoum Stonewaker is a great creature during the setup phases of your deck. The Elemental summon from landfalls makes good use of a spare creature slot while you are getting ready to summon your other creatures and a 3/1 for each landfall isn't insignificant either.
Devour in Flames: This spell works at low levels as a finisher on the final round or as a last-resort form of creature removal for when the removal of the creature is worth giving the opponent 5 mana.
Sure Strike: This spell is one of the best uses of 1 mana. Giving +3/+0 along with First Strike makes this the bane of Defenders/Reach/Vigilance creatures everywhere. Also good to put onto a Berserker, if you use those, to keep it from taking damage when attacking.


Level 40
Desolation Twin
Reckless Bushwhacker
Akoum Stonewaker
Jori En, Ruin Diver
Akoum Hellkite
Cinder Glade
Smouldering Marsh
Scour from Existence
Sure Strike
Turn Against

Deck playstyle
At level 40 you gain access to your planeswalker abilities and increased mana gains. For Koth, this improves to -1/-1/+0/+8/+0 which still leads you to focus on Red matches. Koth's first ability also becomes useful to shake the board in search for Red gem matches. The contrast with the other colours also means it might make more sense to match loyalty over Blue or White in order to more quickly reach your first ability for that purpose. The second and third abilities are good for a boost in damage when your board is set up.

Cinder Glade and Smouldering Marsh help to introduce more Red gems onto the board every turn. Coupled with the first ability, they also increase the chance of landfalls happening which this deck is poised to benefit from through Akoum Hellkite and Akoum Stonewaker. Akoum Hellkite and Scour from Existence work as your dual means of creature control. Jori En gives you much needed draw.

Notable cards/combos
Desolation Twin: This is the best rare creature in the game if you can afford the summon cost. 21 mana for 2 10/10 creatures has a lot of advantages. It is crazily mana-efficient being 21 mana for 20 power. It is also highly card-efficient as one card packing 20 power. 6 rounds is enough for Desolation Twin to take out any planeswalker without life gain. Reinforce it and that drops to 3 rounds which is a pretty short window to react to these hulking creatures. Two creatures also means it requires twice the creature removal spells to counter.
Reckless Bushwhacker: Reckless Bushwhacker is a creature that is generally solid regardless of the planeswalker level. At lower levels, it takes the role of a bigger creature and brings a surge in damage with its mass Haste and +1/+0 until the end of the turn. At higher levels, it is still useful for the mass Haste but plays the role of a small but still mana-efficient creature.
Akoum Stonewaker: Akoum Stonewaker is a great creature during the setup phases of your deck. The Elemental summon from landfalls makes good use of a spare creature slot while you are getting ready to summon your other creatures and a 3/1 for each landfall isn't insignificant either.
Sure Strike: This spell is one of the best uses of 1 mana. Giving +3/+0 along with First Strike makes this the bane of Defenders/Reach/Vigilance creatures everywhere. Also good to put onto a Berserker, if you use those, to keep it from taking damage when attacking.

Level 60
Desolation Twin
Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Tyrant of Valakut
Akoum Firebird
Akoum Hellkite
Smouldering Marsh
Cinder Glade
Scour from Existence
Brutal Expulsion
Crumble to Dust

Deck playstyle
At level 60, you gain access to your planeswalker's full potential. Koth becomes one of the best planeswalkers for a rush deck. The mana bonuses of -1/-1/+0/+9/+0 means Koth gains 12 mana on a Red match. The contrast with the other colours also means it might make more sense to match loyalty over Blue or White in order to more quickly reach your first ability to shake the board to find more Red matches.

Consequently with the high mana gains from Red matches, we can make good use of more expensive creatures with better abilities. Gem converters are still important to give us access to Red matches. Crumble to Dust also works in the same capacity while helping to charge up Brutal Expulsion.

Control of the board happens through Tyrant of Valakut, Scour from Existence (nicely positioned at 12 mana), and Brutal Expulsion (also nicely at 12 mana). Koth's second ability is also solid for clearing the board as well as dealing a lot more damage to the opponent. The third ability is mainly more useful in PvE matches, but if you manage to trigger it in a normal PvP match, you can be sure that the match will end relatively quickly.

Notable cards/combos
Desolation Twin: This is the best rare creature in the game if you can afford the summon cost. 21 mana for 2 10/10 creatures has a lot of advantages. It is crazily mana-efficient being 21 mana for 20 power. It is also highly card-efficient as one card packing 20 power. 6 rounds is enough for Desolation Twin to take out any planeswalker without life gain. Reinforce it and that drops to 3 rounds which is a pretty short window to react to these hulking creatures. Two creatures also means it requires twice the creature removal spells to counter.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion: Kozilek's greatest benefit to Koth is drawing 6 cards on summon. With the uneven mana gains, Koth can empty his hand at times and hence drawing 6 cards is good to ensure that mana matches do not get wasted. Aside from that, he is massive at 12/12 and the Activate 5 ability is easily triggered by Koth's first ability for some bonus mana gain. The Trap ability doesn't hurt either.
Tyrant of Valakut: Tyrant is great board control with its on-summon ability. It also has a fairly good power-to-mana ratio.
Akoum Firebird: An 8/8 Haste Flying creature is good enough in itself. The ability to resurrect from the dead with Red landfalls is extra sweet gravy. And with Koth, you're looking to make Red matches anyway so this can happen fairly often
Crumble to Dust: This spell is great in helping Koth's mana gain. By removing two colours from the board and matching them off as Void gems, it makes Red matches more readily available which is what Koth wants.