Teaching Arena Zoomers About Ponza | Against the Odds

Blood Moon is finally legal on Magic Arena thanks to Timeless, which means it's time to teach some Arena Zoomers about one of Magic's most iconic land-destruction archetypes: Ponza!
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0:00 Start
2:20 Match 1
13:55 Match 2
32:18 Match 3
45:47 Match 4
57:13 Match 5

[@saienmoodley2104]

Growing up is realising Seth was the villain all along and Crim was just a tame grixis enjoyer

[@buddatello]

He plays some dirty stuff then covers it up with against the odds

[@fundude365]

Anyone playing Ragavan doesn't deserve lands 😜

[@koolaiddude7685894]

It's honestly so mind-boggling to me that the dude who looks like the jolly St. Nicholas of MTG is actually just fucking Krampus 😂

[@CreateWorlds]

He’s been Stannint blood moon for years why are you surprised lol

[@fromadhdtodndtomtg]

It's the beard ... it lulls one into a false sense of tranquility.

[@jackeea_]

One of my friends said he'd sell me a land destruction deck for cheap, but to do so I had to get two of my friends to also buy one of those decks (which would fund my deck purchase); each of those needed 2 of their friends, and so on. Turns out the whole thing was just a big Ponza scheme

[@keithbarlow9701]

MLM MTG WTF LOL

[@goldengauntlets]

Boo

[@ther3aper561]

😂

[@Schnokers]

Mods, take him to the waters of Babylon and make him confess his sins.

[@wldnrkls]

match 2 watching opponent discard ragavan to hit delirium, seth noticing it and saying it out loud, and then immediately going "well i guess it doesn't matter what we exile." you could have shut down drc so many times 😭

[@Tinil0]

I just assumed I didn't understand the text or rules because there HAD to be some reason he kept avoiding it

[@skirk248]

I'm trying to figure out why he never bolts the cat in match 3

[@user-iz7nu4wk3h]

@@skirk248 The cynic in me is thinking "if he kills it the game is over = less content". Realistically I think he was tunneled into keeping the bolt to hit them in the face and finish them off; completely forgetting it can actually hit creatures as well.

[@daledullnig1778]

​@@user-iz7nu4wk3h Bolting the cat would mean the Army grows out of brotherhood range; I think he was going for the long shot of drawing into Brotherhood and wiping their board before the Army got too big

[@bennettbottero3352]

How to make a successful new format: let Seth play Blood Moon

[@MTGGoldfish]

That's the main reason I love Timeless so much.

[@Hawk-ly9fi]

Bolt your own face to grow the Death's Shadows is a boss move!

[@TheHuktuk]

Feels like ive seen Seth explain and play Ponza a million times over the years, don't care, i love Ponza.

[@SilverAlex92]

Sameeeeee

[@helloiamjt]

after playing 2 karns and four one rings: "i can't believe we won that"

[@the_r4ts]

I see Seth is still searching for the correct spot to put the S in Brotherhood's End. It seems his logic is if he puts two of them in, it's more likely that one of them will be correct. Keep trying, Seth. You'll get it some day.

[@Lucat27]

At least he doesn’t put an s on end.

[@ConManAU]

He’s just borrowing it from Dragon’s Rage Channeller.

[@jrjamesson]

no, he won't

[@rosspenney5158]

19:05 Seth did you just rip a massive fart lol

[@loxeggcheese]

In that grindy match I think opponent missed a line where he blocks wurmcoil w bow and kills his bow w the bow in hand to cancel lifelink and swing for lethal next turn

[@noeschaeffer2167]

Does that work? I’m not sure how that interaction plays out but I’ve always assumed that the attacking creature still does ‘damage’ for the purposes of lifelink.

[@loxeggcheese]

@@noeschaeffer2167 unless the lifelinker is attacking and has trample, no damage is assigned. It’s a very important interaction to know, (eg in standard right racing against atraxa)

[@noeschaeffer2167]

@@loxeggcheese cool, thanks!

[@Valor-KFP_Sliding_Doors]

Its actually crazy that I know BK (Brian Kowal) because he owns the LGS I go to and I had no idea that was the pioneer of the Ponza strategy, thanks for the history lesson!

[@Jackieman]

In the grindy match 2, couldn't he have turned off DRC by eating the card types it needs? He kept not eating the creatures which would have saved him life per turn.

[@Khunal1]

My thought too.

[@MackNJacishopper]

pretty clearly yes.

[@TheRealPerkins]

Yeah, I was expecting him to take the lands. Opponent can always use his grave as well.

[@doormatt72]

i've seen so many ponza decks, but still never knew why it was called ponza until today. nice.

[@chronics23]

Timeless has been exactly what i wanted from a format on arena!

[@radicalratx7790]

Just need some more classics like birds, survival, oath of druids, grim monolith, etc and it'd be even better.

[@DangerCloseMinis]

I don’t know if it’s just this video, but based on the decks you keep playing against, this format seems very homogeneous.

[@TheRipcurrent]

@40.34 when opponent finds that thoughtseize against his Brotherhood's End. His reaction is both pure comedy gold and also the most human. Very statuesque. Way to claw back from that position. Well done. Timeless is the most fun on Arena I've had in a very long time.

[@thecrazycapn]

These were some scrappy, fun matches. Thanks, Seth!

[@qlethsbagofdecks4959]

Timeless looks fun, but I don't have the wilds to build a competitive deck for that format. I suspect many other free to play players are in the same boat as I am.

[@yaking9610]

There are some budget options. Also, khans draft can help u get the fetchlands.

[@qlethsbagofdecks4959]

@@yaking9610 I got some Khans packs already. Though I need more coins to get more packs. It's a struggle.

[@provostparkpass]

I love this series SO MUCH!

[@sethc.1366]

I'm confused when Seth has the bolt in hand, knows that if he kills the Bowmasters it is just coming back, looks at Lurrus with its 2 toughness, and says "Well, gotta kill that Bowmasters." Lurrus also has lifelink?? To me, that is the biggest threat.

[@davidwipperfurth8465]

I am also confused by that play. The best I could come up with is that seth loves card draw and didn't want his [[The One Ring]]'s card draw to cost him bowmaster pings. That doesn't seem like a good enough reason to skip the obvious line of stopping the loop though, so maybe I'm still missing something? Maybe he didn't think killing the Lurrus was ultimately going to be good enough, so he was gambling on drawing into a brotherhood's end, so he was giving up the removal for life total?

[@Rangerdp117]

Yea at any point he could have killed Lurrus and turned on Klothys super easily to beat with, misplay every single turn lol.

[@jamespurcell3751]

I also wondered the same thing, especially as he drew into another lightning bolt a bit later

[@ruthpol]

He makes misplays all the time nonstop, how is that one so surprising lol

[@tonnenpanda]

I think he wanted to hit Brotherhood's End and dont take damage from the Bowmaster. Seems very greedy

[@Onattamato]

Seth out here doing the Lord's work, Stone Raining and Blood Mooning unsuspecting "zoomers". I do wince everytime he mentions the "Brother's-hood End" though.

[@soul94evisceration]

"brothers who'd end"

[@SmashPortal]

"Brothershood's Ends"

[@bradensorensen966]

While SO is somewhat right about how to cast brainstorm, I feel like the card can be used to just look 2 deep if you really need it. I also feel like the intended use for the card was to counter hand disruption by placing combo pieces and bombs on your library. Cards that mill you and miracle cost cards are also great use cases along with Brainstorm.

[@CronoDAS]

Yeah, although it looks at 3 new cards, not 2. I used to play Brainstorm before the Onslaught fetchlands existed, and Brainstorm without shuffle is still at least as good as Ponder or Preordain - and it's an instant.

[@provostparkpass]

I appreciate the lesson on Brainstorm

[@genius11433]

Wow! That Wurmcoil turnaround in Match 3 was something else! Good luck/draws and good sequencing on your end brought victory out of the jaws of defeat.

[@espinacasable]

I literally made up in my head that there was like a legendary creature that blew up a land on etb named ponza which the deck was named after but is no longer playable (like how decks are named after a card with a mechanic even after the card phazes out of the deck). The fact that its just some dish is breaking my head right now. Now I understand ThrabenU's point

[@espinacasable]

In my mind it was an overcosted goblin ruinblaster with old legends art

[@SteveRyan-bg5yz]

Those were a few pretty entertaining games. Thanks!

[@philipbell915]

19:04 mic picks up Seth dropping his guts 😂

[@MurdoktheMimicKing]

As an Arena zoomer myself, I'm here to learn the hard lessons. Appreciate the content as always.

[@alessandrosina48]

The origin of the deck's name is so funny to an Italian because the name is mispelled (the dish is called "panzerotto"), and we got so close to a world where a magic deck is called after a pasta dish

[@skraecklund5394]

Nothing to do with the island of Ponza then?

[@MaxMckayful]

We already have at least two breakfast options (Cephalid Breakfast and Cheerios) and a beer (Dead Guy Ale). A nice dinner course sounds lovely, and I'm probably forgetting loads of other food/beverage names.

[@mule51]

@@MaxMckayful There's also Trix, Eggs/Second Breakfast, Full English Breakfast, and Fruity/Cocoa Pebbles

[@SanLimone]

crazy to see that the name of a magic deck originated from a typo of Panzerotto lmao

[@DMSFister]

Loved your RDW vids back when the deck was good, hype for this one.

[@teusz16]

Take a drink every time Seth says “Brothers’ Hood End”

[@ETTT5072]

Hell of a game @ The chalice and bloodmoon drop.

[@sumopdude]

Match One, you didn't mistap Delighted Halfling. The colored mana can only be used for Legendary Spells, or else it's just colorless.

[@lesternomo6578]

i mean he did mistap it thats what that means

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, I manually tapped it for colored mana when I should have tapped it for colorless.

[@chrishoye55]

Best part about this deck: it's essentially just modern on arena. Would love to build it in paper. Ponza is definitely in my top 3 favorite archetypes

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, Modern Ponza was more or less what i modeled the deck on.

[@chrishoye55]

@@MTGGoldfish I figured. And it works!

[@Zakading]

Pauper Ponza was one of my favorite decks ever. Jabky as all hell but so damn fun (for me)

[@AAtac-hw2sf]

My greatest motivation to become a Magic pro player is to name my deck Döner. Greetings from Germany

[@realroliver]

Ponza Rotta from Jimmy's Grotto truly is legendary! Fully worth naming a deck after.

[@TheLunaLockhart]

your smile when you said Ponza terrifies me.

[@benistoneman9737]

I have been playing ponza for a week now. So glad I finally got to cast blood moon in arena. Oh man it is so fun. First modern deck I ever made. Just need a inferno titan or two. Love getting to those

[@ms-sull1128]

Fun fact, in Italy that dish is called panzerotto (or panzarotto) so if we go by the original name of the dish the deck should be called panze (or panza, that in dialect means belly)

[@adorkmoreon3599]

Been watching several of your videos lately. Great content. I've been playing MTG on and off since 93/94. I started with Unlimited. That being said you just thought ME about Ponza. And reminded me in several other videos of decks I really hated playing against. Frickin Turbo Fog. That deck in particular always felt like I'd get it on my next draw. Hated that passive aggressive deck. Thank you for the content and lessons.

[@adorkmoreon3599]

P.S. got a jank Maze deck if you are interested. Deck 4 Primeval Titan (M11) 192 4 Strict Proctor (STX) 33 4 Lotus Field (M20) 249 4 Spelunking (LCI) 213 4 Rhystic Study (WOT) 25 1 Maze's End (DGM) 152 1 Baldur's Gate (HBG) 266 2 Selesnya Guildgate (GRN) 255 1 Simic Guildgate (WAR) 274 2 Gate to the Citadel (HBG) 80 2 Gate to Seatower (HBG) 79 2 Gate of the Black Dragon (HBG) 77 2 Gate to Manorborn (HBG) 78 2 Gate to Tumbledown (HBG) 81 2 Azorius Guildgate (RNA) 244 2 Orzhov Guildgate (RNA) 253 2 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245 2 Izzet Guildgate (GRN) 251 2 Rakdos Guildgate (RNA) 255 2 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 248 2 Gruul Guildgate (RNA) 249 2 Boros Guildgate (GRN) 243 1 Simic Guildgate (RNA) 257 1 Werefox Bodyguard (WOE) 39 3 Defense of the Heart (WOT) 51 4 Circuitous Route (GRN) 125

[@mikemoyer8162]

Yay Ponza! My favorite back in the day.

[@noahmurtha4036]

As a Wisconsinite, ponzas are amazing

[@Hearthstoned632]

Ponza, jund and Dredge were my first modern decks back in 2012 I played i never left modern since.

[@trevorr994]

Teaching Arena Zoomers is the best series.

[@patritchie1317]

The old bolt-my-own-life-total move, spicy

[@jwomackandcheese73]

Oh thats crazy. I went to university where Jimmy's Grato is, love me a Ponza.

[@errieck4212]

The games pretty good show why I don't play Arena anymore. You pretty much play against the same few decks. We need more people like you experimenting

[@spardaman]

Land destruction decks will ALWAYS be beautiful. Very unconventional and headache-inducing. ❤️

[@thedeadnotsleeping]

Also save brainstorms for when you’re getting your hand attacked. You can protect important combo pieces by hiding them on the top of your deck.

[@jostme12]

ragavan could be another "dork" for turn two moons or DRS with all the fetching going on and stone rains fuel it down the line.

[@stonerainproductions]

I couldn't click this video fast enough! Stone Rain is my name and LD is my game lol!!!

[@Martin-qb2mw]

Seth getting double Ragavand is clip-worthy stuff.

[@chips8623]

Good job winning with Karn, i hope you're proud of yourself :p

[@Xorthis]

So timeless is basically 90% Bowmaster/DRC/Ragavan. Exciting format.

[@taylorarnold880]

Seth screaming Ragavan takes me back the the flash player days of StrongMad on Homestarrunner.

[@Cruzer50143]

Cracking a fetch land before they brainstorm in match one. Oof. They didn't watch Seth's video about brainstorming the right way

[@MonkPain]

Gotta thank you Seth, now this is all over the ladder :c

[@Thatguy223-vc4wb]

You grinding out someone named emrys is very fitting lol

[@Auraeboros]

Christmas came a week early this year - Seth is playing Ponza again! God I love Ponza. WotC has really shied away from land destruction and resource denial strategies in recent years, and it's so heartwarming to see it working as a policeman for boring "goodstuff" piles with greedy manabases and as a safety valve for combo decks. G5M3 was the perfect Ponza plan in action and it really soothed my soul.

[@alanthepyro]

Holy shit, this is how I find out that the owner of my LGS is the guy that invented Ponza?!

[@Suppaichu]

One point to be made for slamming bauble in every deck is that it's uncommon. And it kinda decreases the size of your deck, so if you craft 4 of it every deck can have 4 less cards, that can potentially be a lot of wildcards not spent. It's kinda dumb, but i'd probably do it if i hadn't stopped playing arena, since i like trying out a bunch of wierd decks

[@cerealforserious]

game 3 was absolute insanity. Really creative play was needed to win that, I definitely didnt see the line to win there

[@jrjamesson]

you know, a turn 1 ragavan also lets you cast moon or stone rain on turn 2...

[@homebrewed]

The other big brain Brainstorm play I love is Brainstorm in response to hand attacks and tuck safely away key cards to draw at a later time

[@icarusfluffybottom899]

I haven't had time to watch this yet, but MAN am I excited for it. Commander has been my main and really only format for a good few years now, but before that, Modern was my bread and butter, and Ponza was PROBABLY one of my favorite decks to use. Gifts Storm was also really fun, but if I didn't want to use my brain at all, Ponza was just some GOOD CLEAN FUN >:D I don't know what this format is, and I don't know how closely it will resemble ye olden Ponza of Modern, but I don't really care. I'm here for it. I want Blood Moons, and I want some kind of Stone Rains. Is there an Inferno Titan? It's fine if there's not, but also there should be. Now to carve out some time to actually watch this dang thing :p

[@colyrne]

Karn turning off Ragavan treasures as well is an unintended benefit of Ponza for sure 😂

[@juantwothree45]

This whole video has been a showcase of why I wanted a Wurmcoil Engine reprint in ONE or MOM so bad to see it be Standard legal again.

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

It’s another “Teaching Zoomers”!!!! Love these

[@laurentrobitaille2204]

Isn’t brainstorm also good against discard by letting you protect/hide some of your hand?

[@swisssaga4419]

i could see a 1-1 split of ruinblaster and bonecrusher or evan a cut of ruinblasters just to have a little bit more removal and for chalice purposees

[@foxokon94]

Isn’t the new 4 mana discover 3 on etb better in this deck? I understand it lacks haste but you can copy it with fable backside.

[@giancarlocafaro6734]

This is such an interesting archetype to explore in timeless. Wondering if it’s worth reconfiguring the deck to make Jegantha a companion. Also, surprised you are not playing Minsc. It’s one of the strongest cards in the format…

[@ecoKady]

I could live with watching Timeless. But if Richard's Modern Abzan is as legit as he says and fair Magic is back in Modern the I'd be willing to watch Modern again.

[@thomasjames1067]

Hey, I know AsianAvenger just did a goyf video for standard, but now that Tarkir has hit historic and historic brawl (or just brawl now??) now has the perfect commander for goyfs, with Sidisi, do you have any plans to take another crack at that deck?

[@jondubois5347]

I wonder if Bloodbraid is better than Geological Appraiser. I know haste is big but not needed green and not being forced into casting the card seems good

[@Simple.Human.]

Jimmy Grotto's Ponzerottis are 🔥🔥🔥

[@jtelo7102]

As a modern enjoyer and as a person who loves seeing people getting blood mooned this deck is gas. 🤣

[@tysonkrunek4132]

Have you thought about spreading algae+urborg+yavimaya?

[@MAGDprogect862]

Lol, saw the picture while Seth was doing the intro of Brian and it seemed firmiliar...hmmmm but why...oh yeah, that's the owner of the LGS that I go to...oh and that my former co-worker sitting across from him 😂

[@Nathan-lw3nd]

24:07, opponent had multiple turns to win the game by killing their own bowmaster with bowmaster trigger so the wurmcoil doesnt gain any life

[@TheAllForm]

Fetches and shuffles do indeed make it far better. But brainstorm is not an "unplayably bad" card without them. We don't see opponents hand so we don't know for sure, but brainstorm without fetch could be the correct here. Consider mana efficiency-- maybe he has plays lined up for the next two turns and this is his only opportunity to eat up 1 mana. Or, let's say he's digging. The card he needs could be the third card down. Brainstorm gets that card, and is the only card that can dig three deep at instant speed for 1 mana. Holding onto the brainstorm in hopes you'll run into a fetch can just as easily prove to be the incorrect play. Weigh your options based off how your deck and the board state.

[@AzazelReborn81]

Btw, for those who are not familiar, with Italian “ponza rotta” is a pun on the Italian name of that “dish” which is actually called “panzerotto” because of its shape which makes it look like a “belly” (panza/pancia = belly) so that type of food looks like a small belly somehow.

[@seilaoquemvc2]

powerful magic is awesome. we were really missing stuff like timeless on arena, format seems amaziing so far. that being said.... If I EVER play Saffron Olive and he calls me an "Arena Zoomer" in his channel I'll go after him... hahaha I've been playing Magic since 1994.

[@Beowulfgang_Amadeus]

Do I have to craft/crack all the cards to play timeless?

[@Jim_Owen]

I quit magic in 2022 but check in once in a blue moon (blood moon in this case). What is Timeless?

[@user-rr4hr7bz7n]

Is anger of the god legal in the is format ?? Or something like it ?? Because it seems like this deck has a hard time with a semi swarm of low to the ground creatures, like when there’s 3 or 4 creatures the deck seems to not keep up? So slag storm? Anger of the goods, pyroclasm?? Just thinking out loud

[@Shimatzu95]

Can we get death and taxes next?

[@JesusCarmona-hb6xi]

Try a Goblin King+ Blood Moon combo, all goblins gain mountain walk, opponents have mountains from blood moon

[@keithbarlow9701]

"Arena players do not know how to Brainstorm" 😂😂😂 Wait wait wait... so I'm supposed to crack the fetchland AFTER I play Brainstorm? Ohhhhhh

[@andreabortolussi8104]

Btw in italy is called panzerotto (pugliese), just a info

[@asitisrequiredasitisrequir3411]

missed the opertunity to run sundering titan in the karn board! in the fetchland forma you can tag 3-4 lands often and it's a basic killer

[@kylewomack45]

41:04 why not bolt the Lurus? What am I missing?

[@biasdahl4737]

Oh my God, hearing somebody say you’re probably wondering what Ponza is made me feel so old

[@Red_Mag3]

Brainstorm on end step without fetch wew

[@WreckItALF]

Brother....hood's...end :)

[@swampybwoy]

I wish stifle was in this format 😂

[@Bearhuggerus]

It is in the format >:)

[@zwolf4118]

Been playing ponza since timeless came out

[@chedu18691]

Never tick down a KtGC vs a mono discard deck. Lesson learnt by force.