Introduction:
I started building this as a casual theme deck. It's not built to have the most broken or insane plays, but it's built to play a solid game. Some of my card choices are based entirely on nostalgia or theme. There are intentionally no infinite combos, it's a mostly fair deck that wants to win via the combat step.
The deck is heavily focused on fungi, mold, spiders and treefolk. This is the dark part of the woods. This started very casually, but has slowly morphed into something with a decent power level. I'm always asked the same thing by turn 3 when playing vs someone new "Swamp?" they say. It seems that many people are unfamiliar with how color identity works, this leads to someone having to search the rules, so I'll post it below.
3. A card's colour identity is its colour plus the colour of any mana symbols in the card's rules text. A card's colour identity is established before the game begins, and cannot be changed by game effects.
The Commander's colour identity restricts what cards may appear in the deck.
Here is a breakdown of some of my card choices:
Ok, so down what I'm actually playing. First off notice that Thelon's color identity is not just green, the B in the rules text box means I can use black too.
First off the obvious things, the fungi. Thallids are often slow and can lead you to over extend, but they crank out little friends and they grow just by having Thelon around. Don't worry too much about protecting them though, because Thelon's ability makes sure the dead ones are still useful. In addition to the Thallids there are several mold creatures that are also fungi. Mold Demon is one such card that fits the theme, but he is also terribly bad. Mold Shambler is a much better example that is actually playable. (I would probably run Mold Demon if anyone wanted to donate one, but I can't justify buying such a bad card).
The Good cards:
Weatherseed Treefolk - This guy is an oldschool powerhouse, has awesome art and is hard to get rid of once he hits the board. Also I don't see him in a lot of deck lists these days, so it's fun to bring him out.
Molder Slug - By keeping the artifact count in this deck light, cards like this are easy to include. He also has mold in the name, so he seems to fit the theme, and if he sticks around a turn or two he really pulls his weight. Also that 6 toughness means he can block a lot of stuff too.
Mold Adder - This guy is awesome. It's a fungus that comes down turn one, and though he may not stick around too long, he reacts to two different colors that you will probably see being played. He can also end up with spore counters on him due to the synergy with the rest of the deck. Also worth mentioning, I had someone "go infinite" with Palinchron just to put counters on their Animar, but with no win conditions online. I reminded them that since they cast it that many times I also have a 1 billion / 1 billion creature. Then on my turn I drew Fungal Sprouting and laughed hysterically.
Fresh Meat - Helps you recover if someone decides to wrath the board. Having abilities on creatures you can play off creatures or lands at instant speeds means you can hold mana open to keep this card active.
Elves of Deep Shadow - The dark elves. Original art only. Doesn't matter if there are other mana dorks that don't hurt you, they aren't as badass.
Nightshade Peddler - Because he dishes out poison, and he looks crazy enough to venture the deep woods every now and again to get it. Goes will with the Arena.
Arena - I have all of the harper books cards, and as a colorless form of removal that can be re-used this one rarely gets the credit it deserves. I've filled the deck with little deathtouch creatures, ways to give my creatures deathtouch, and even a land that regenerates my spiders, so it actually performs really well.
Swarmyard - Regenerates spiders, makes mana. Seems legit.
The old stuff that got cut:
Thicket Basilisk - Because Beta Basilisk is so pretty, and I wanted a place to run it. I ended up moving it to the same 93/94 deck as the Whirling Dervish.
Titania's Song - Nice 1/1 sol ring you have there. This little enchantment turns off all the artifact ramp that everyone else will have in play. Since I'm in green I can ramp with spells into more land instead. I actually ended up cutting this when someone started sacrificing sol rings and signets to his Sarkhan the mad, however most of the time it was still useful.
Scavenger Folk - He's got your arm! One drop artifact hate is not bad, and the art is awesome. Moved to another deck though.
Eater of the Dead - This actually ended up getting cut, but was in the deck for a while. He's situational graveyard hate, and has beautiful art, but he's also 5 mana and you have to tap him before he does anything. If I had a way to reliably tap him he'd come right back in here. I mean he eats dead things, and that's what this deck is about, but I found myself wishing he was a better card.
Scarwood Hag - I know she's a bad card, but she looks like she lives here, and at 2 mana she's not exactly hard to cast either. This is an example of a card that is only really here because of the art, and people are amused when you play it.
Whirling Dervish - An old school favorite, the protection from black is definitely relevant. He has won me games. I ended up moving it to another deck though.
Cards I thought about when putting this together:
Fungusaur - This guy is really oldschool and that's why I like him, though mostly unplayable by today's standards, I think he would work here. I'm holding out for a beta or at least an unlimited one...
Sylvan Library - This card belongs here, as good green card draw it's awesome, but it also gives me a reason to run Dark Heart of the Wood. However I traded my copy, and haven't bothered to get another.
Basilisk Collar - Because deathtouch and lifelink are both relevant, however I took this out and moved it to Jaya EDH where the lifelink seemed better. I do have multiple ways to give deathtouch, so I'm not sure it was needed.
Wormwood Treefolk - This guy looks like he belongs here, and seems to fit with the idea of turning things into forests. Sadly I don't actually have one, also his P/T to casting cost ratio is not the greatest, but the landwalk abilities both seem valid in a format where people like to ramp with green and like to run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Niall Silvain - This guy isn't great, but he has really cool looking art, and his ability can work with Arena. Again not fantastic, but fun.
Sapling of Colfenor - The deck could use more ways to gain card advantage, and this one happens to be a treefolk.
Change log:
8/21/2013
-1 Craw Giant
+1 Doomgape
Craw Giant is an old favorite, but for the same amount of mana in a spell that is much easier to cast I can have a 10/10 Lord of the Pit with benefits... sort of... I'm testing this out as it just makes sense.
Shriekmaw seems good here with all of the recursion. I'd also recommend Eternal Witness and Regrowth, as they are good recursion and value cards... hope this helps.
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Avatar by Disappointing Signet Inc
EDH Decks UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition) WRKalemne's Angels BRUG Yidris's Wild Party UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys UBRThe Pretender
Thanks, I completely missed this! I'll check it out. I recently picked up Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse and at least one of them is going in here. The other may go into Shattergang Brothers (which I'm also trying to build now). Sylvan Library and Doubling Season have been traded away for other value cards that I wanted (for other decks). I may pick up another Sylvan Library at some point. I don't see myself getting another Doubling Season though, just too expensive for what it does. I previously had a fourth edition library, I've been offered a couple 5th edition ones in trades, but the 5th edition one has terrible wording.
I might have a Bloodgift Demon that I could put in here in place of Phyrexian Arena, but I don't have the arena anywhere. I think I need to update this list too. I'm pretty sure I'm running Ancient Craving as another draw spell now too.
Shriekmaw seems good here with all of the recursion. I'd also recommend Eternal Witness and Regrowth, as they are good recursion and value cards... hope this helps.
Eternal Witness has been in and out of the deck a couple of times. Sometimes Regrowth comes in when she goes out, but usually regrowth sits in my binder as not quite good enough. I've traded my copies of e-witness a few times. I usually have 1-2 on hand, but have multiple green decks.
I had Lignify in here for a while as additional removal, and I may put a Murder or Royal Assassin in, but I don't really like the sorcery speed and terror type restrictions of Shriekmaw. It's a decent card though, and I've ran it in other decks. I really like the cards that can disable a general without putting it back into the command zone. Lignify (removes abilities) and Demonic Torment (stops attacking) are decent at this.
I started building this as a casual theme deck. It's not built to have the most broken or insane plays, but it's built to play a solid game. Some of my card choices are based entirely on nostalgia or theme. There are intentionally no infinite combos, it's a mostly fair deck that wants to win via the combat step.
The deck is heavily focused on fungi, mold, spiders and treefolk. This is the dark part of the woods. This started very casually, but has slowly morphed into something with a decent power level. I'm always asked the same thing by turn 3 when playing vs someone new "Swamp?" they say. It seems that many people are unfamiliar with how color identity works, this leads to someone having to search the rules, so I'll post it below.
And now the decklist:
1 Thelon of Havenwood
Lands:
1 Arena
15 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Grim Backwoods
1 Khalni Garden
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
8 Swamp
1 Swarmyard
1 Temple of the False God
1 Woodland Cemetery
Fungus & Saproling (Main-theme):
1 Mold Adder
1 Thallid
1 Utopia Mycon
1 Deathspore Thallid
1 Elvish Farmer
1 Fungal Bloom
1 Jade Mage
1 Korozda Guildmage
1 Night Soil
1 Spore Flower
1 Vitaspore Thallid
1 Psychotrope Thallid
1 Thallid Devourer
1 Thorn Thallid
1 Fungal Sprouting
1 Mold Shambler
1 Sporesower Thallid
1 Thelonite Hermit
1 Mycoloth
1 Sporoloth Ancient
1 Verdant Embrace
1 Feral Thallid
1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
1 Verdeloth the Ancient
1 Verdant Force
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Sporecap Spider
1 Sentinel Spider
1 Silklash Spider
1 Stingerfling Spider
Removal:
1 Go for the Throat
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Beast Within
1 Oubliette
1 Putrefy
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Creeping Mold
1 Molder Slug
1 Rain of Thorns
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Avatar of Woe
Mana Fixing and Card Advantage:
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Expedition Map
1 Skullclamp
1 Gaea's Touch
1 Nature's Lore
1 Rampant Growth
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Cultivate
1 Descendants' Path
1 Fecundity
1 Harmonize
1 Gorgon Flail
1 Nightshade Peddler
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Quietus Spike
1 Acidic Slime
Other good stuff:
1 Fresh Meat
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Gleancrawler (swarmyard regenerates insects too)
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Doomgape
Here is a breakdown of some of my card choices:
Ok, so down what I'm actually playing. First off notice that Thelon's color identity is not just green, the B in the rules text box means I can use black too.
First off the obvious things, the fungi. Thallids are often slow and can lead you to over extend, but they crank out little friends and they grow just by having Thelon around. Don't worry too much about protecting them though, because Thelon's ability makes sure the dead ones are still useful. In addition to the Thallids there are several mold creatures that are also fungi. Mold Demon is one such card that fits the theme, but he is also terribly bad. Mold Shambler is a much better example that is actually playable. (I would probably run Mold Demon if anyone wanted to donate one, but I can't justify buying such a bad card).
The Good cards:
Weatherseed Treefolk - This guy is an oldschool powerhouse, has awesome art and is hard to get rid of once he hits the board. Also I don't see him in a lot of deck lists these days, so it's fun to bring him out.
Molder Slug - By keeping the artifact count in this deck light, cards like this are easy to include. He also has mold in the name, so he seems to fit the theme, and if he sticks around a turn or two he really pulls his weight. Also that 6 toughness means he can block a lot of stuff too.
Mold Adder - This guy is awesome. It's a fungus that comes down turn one, and though he may not stick around too long, he reacts to two different colors that you will probably see being played. He can also end up with spore counters on him due to the synergy with the rest of the deck. Also worth mentioning, I had someone "go infinite" with Palinchron just to put counters on their Animar, but with no win conditions online. I reminded them that since they cast it that many times I also have a 1 billion / 1 billion creature. Then on my turn I drew Fungal Sprouting and laughed hysterically.
Fresh Meat - Helps you recover if someone decides to wrath the board. Having abilities on creatures you can play off creatures or lands at instant speeds means you can hold mana open to keep this card active.
Elves of Deep Shadow - The dark elves. Original art only. Doesn't matter if there are other mana dorks that don't hurt you, they aren't as badass.
Nightshade Peddler - Because he dishes out poison, and he looks crazy enough to venture the deep woods every now and again to get it. Goes will with the Arena.
Arena - I have all of the harper books cards, and as a colorless form of removal that can be re-used this one rarely gets the credit it deserves. I've filled the deck with little deathtouch creatures, ways to give my creatures deathtouch, and even a land that regenerates my spiders, so it actually performs really well.
Swarmyard - Regenerates spiders, makes mana. Seems legit.
The old stuff that got cut:
Thicket Basilisk - Because Beta Basilisk is so pretty, and I wanted a place to run it. I ended up moving it to the same 93/94 deck as the Whirling Dervish.
Titania's Song - Nice 1/1 sol ring you have there. This little enchantment turns off all the artifact ramp that everyone else will have in play. Since I'm in green I can ramp with spells into more land instead. I actually ended up cutting this when someone started sacrificing sol rings and signets to his Sarkhan the mad, however most of the time it was still useful.
Scavenger Folk - He's got your arm! One drop artifact hate is not bad, and the art is awesome. Moved to another deck though.
Eater of the Dead - This actually ended up getting cut, but was in the deck for a while. He's situational graveyard hate, and has beautiful art, but he's also 5 mana and you have to tap him before he does anything. If I had a way to reliably tap him he'd come right back in here. I mean he eats dead things, and that's what this deck is about, but I found myself wishing he was a better card.
Scarwood Hag - I know she's a bad card, but she looks like she lives here, and at 2 mana she's not exactly hard to cast either. This is an example of a card that is only really here because of the art, and people are amused when you play it.
Whirling Dervish - An old school favorite, the protection from black is definitely relevant. He has won me games. I ended up moving it to another deck though.
Cards I thought about when putting this together:
Fungusaur - This guy is really oldschool and that's why I like him, though mostly unplayable by today's standards, I think he would work here. I'm holding out for a beta or at least an unlimited one...
Sylvan Library - This card belongs here, as good green card draw it's awesome, but it also gives me a reason to run Dark Heart of the Wood. However I traded my copy, and haven't bothered to get another.
Basilisk Collar - Because deathtouch and lifelink are both relevant, however I took this out and moved it to Jaya EDH where the lifelink seemed better. I do have multiple ways to give deathtouch, so I'm not sure it was needed.
Wormwood Treefolk - This guy looks like he belongs here, and seems to fit with the idea of turning things into forests. Sadly I don't actually have one, also his P/T to casting cost ratio is not the greatest, but the landwalk abilities both seem valid in a format where people like to ramp with green and like to run Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Niall Silvain - This guy isn't great, but he has really cool looking art, and his ability can work with Arena. Again not fantastic, but fun.
Sapling of Colfenor - The deck could use more ways to gain card advantage, and this one happens to be a treefolk.
8/21/2013
-1 Craw Giant
+1 Doomgape
Craw Giant is an old favorite, but for the same amount of mana in a spell that is much easier to cast I can have a 10/10 Lord of the Pit with benefits... sort of... I'm testing this out as it just makes sense.
I recommend: Phyrexian Arena, Sylvan Library, Abrupt Decay & Maelstorm Pulse.
Oh, and...Doubling Season...
EDH Decks
UWB Oloro, Ageless Ascetic's spring of life
RUG Animar, Soul of the Elements and friends... lots of them
WBG Karador king of two worlds (value and attrition)
WRKalemne's Angels
BRUG Yidris's Wild Party
UWBR Breya's Terrifying Tinker Toys
UBR The Pretender
Thanks, I completely missed this! I'll check it out. I recently picked up Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse and at least one of them is going in here. The other may go into Shattergang Brothers (which I'm also trying to build now). Sylvan Library and Doubling Season have been traded away for other value cards that I wanted (for other decks). I may pick up another Sylvan Library at some point. I don't see myself getting another Doubling Season though, just too expensive for what it does. I previously had a fourth edition library, I've been offered a couple 5th edition ones in trades, but the 5th edition one has terrible wording.
I might have a Bloodgift Demon that I could put in here in place of Phyrexian Arena, but I don't have the arena anywhere. I think I need to update this list too. I'm pretty sure I'm running Ancient Craving as another draw spell now too.
Eternal Witness has been in and out of the deck a couple of times. Sometimes Regrowth comes in when she goes out, but usually regrowth sits in my binder as not quite good enough. I've traded my copies of e-witness a few times. I usually have 1-2 on hand, but have multiple green decks.
I had Lignify in here for a while as additional removal, and I may put a Murder or Royal Assassin in, but I don't really like the sorcery speed and terror type restrictions of Shriekmaw. It's a decent card though, and I've ran it in other decks. I really like the cards that can disable a general without putting it back into the command zone. Lignify (removes abilities) and Demonic Torment (stops attacking) are decent at this.