Sometimes you just want to play like Timmy. (See: The three main types of magic players) This deck is made for that kind of playstyle.
I've looked through all of the existing mono-green generals. Asuza, Thrun, and Omnath are arguably the best mono-green commanders, but they don't quite capture the essence of the Timmy player, in my opinion. Verdeloth the Ancient however does, and exceptionally well. I built this deck wanting to have a fun, casual, social deck to play here and there with my friends when my other, much more competitive decks don't feel like the right thing to play at the time.
Notable Exclusions: Krosan Grip - This deck wants to ramp much more than it wants to control. Deglamer - See above. Mana Reflection - Would be nice, but its a costly 6 mana card and I have never once seen it escape removal. Players view it as too greedy to let it stick. Heartbeat of Spring - I'd argue even a group hug deck should never run this. It and Mana Flare are too dangerous and in my experience always lead to a combo player winning. Keeper of Progenitus and Vernal Bloom are in here instead. Overrun - I prefer to just run Overwhelming Stampede and Craterhoof Behemoth. They tend to hit harder. Beastmaster Ascension - Would be inconsistent in function and performance for my meta, might work for you. Asceticism - Not a terribly important effect for this deck Birthing Pod - Some people swear by it, I felt that ramp was again more important for how this deck wants to play than certain cards like this one.
Why you might want to play Verdeloth the Ancient:
1. You like to ramp
2. You like token decks
3. You like winning with swingy combat phases
4. You like Group Hug
5. You don't want to control everything
Why you might not want to play Verdeloth the Ancient:
1. All of your meta's decks are for some reason filled to the brim with boardwipes and counterspells
2. Your meta plays lots of mass land destruction
3. You don't like variance (this deck only has a small number of non-ramp tutors)
4. You aren't comfortable not having the answer to every dangerous move your opponents might make
5. You can't use politics to balance your apparent friendliness with your efforts to build an overwhelming army of dudes
This version of Verdeloth the Ancient is not by any means a tribal deck. The whole point is to kick Verdeloth's slow treefolk behind out of the general zone as hard as you can with the kicker cost as soon as you have a good deal of mana to do it with. There is certainly a lot of green goodstuff, but only that which contributes to what it is designed to do. It has a very modest control suite so that you can at least cause a little bit of disruption where needed, but for the most part the focus is to ramp big, group hug a little bit, and if you're lucky, swing out with an army of tokens for the win. This is a casual, social-oriented deck that isn't necessarily for winning all the time. It some of your opponents like to steal cards as part of their strategy, they should have a lot of fun with some of the feisty creatures in this deck. Whatever happens, this deck is meant to play friendly and fun. When you do want to win, it definitely does have access to some particularly dangerous cards to help you succeed in your overrun-like combat phase, such as Concordant Crossroads, Akroma's Memorial, and the one-of mean card Triumph of the Hordes.
I'm liking it, it's a pleasant deck. Friendly to the table.
Your higher permanent count makes Genesis Wave style things a reasonable idea. I'd probably still be a bit leery of it with a 25% or so chance of hitting a non-permanent but it's not tragic at least.
Cutting the saproling milking dudes wasn't a bad idea, but there's actually a good one Psychotrope Thallid.
Vorinclex doesn't seem to match the rest of your deck being nice. I'm not saying cut him, just an observation.
Vigor is such a fun card. I don't have much to suggest in the way of fat or otherwise. Primalcrux may or may not be brutal. Khalni Hydra may just be free. Worldspine Wurm is the godfather of all the fat ever. Maybe even reach into Eldrazi?
I've updated the deck with some minor cuts and replacements, listed below:
Cuts:
1. Worldly Tutor - deck has enough creature-finding tutors, I'd rather draw any one of them instead of this. I wanted to thin out the non-permanent cards as much as possible too - to maximize the potential of genesis wave. It was a weird choice to cut, I know. I stand by this decision, even though it is admittedly very unorthodox not to run a card as staple as this one is to green.
2. Rampant Growth - I've got plenty of early ramp in the deck, and I'd rather draw Nature's Lore or Growth Spasm over this.
3. Explosive Vegetation - Inferior to skyshroud claim, hunting wilds, and less fun than tempt with discovery. I have enough ramp, this one is mediocre and better suited to multicolor decks.
4. Amulet of Vigor - the deck doesn't need it all that much, a lot of my ramp doesn't even put lands into play tapped, and I've already got seedborn muse to do some work for me too.
5. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - Draws too much hate, doesn't really fit the deck even as a mana doubler.
Adds:
1. Worldspine Wurm - It's huge and threatening, and gives me 3 big, fat tokens if it dies. It also protects my deck from mill strategies a bit and can be tutor recurred if it dies. It turns overwhelming stampede into 'everything gets +15/+15' and can potentially 1 hit someone with triumph of the hordes if left unblocked. It also roars 'TIMMY!'.
2. Thelonite Hermit - Works wonderfully with Verdeloth by turning my saprolings essentially into elephants and is another source of tokens for my army if morphed. Why wasn't I running this before? Because I'm dumb sometimes.
3. Hydra Broodmaster - You can never have enough big fat tokens. Nice little late game mana sink and possible win con. Very timmy too.
4. Birds of Paradise - Makes mana early, its a flying chump blocker, and it can contribute to an overrun-buffed combat phase from the air.
5. Rampaging Baloths - Replaces Vorinclex. It makes me more tokens and synergizes with land ramp - obviously should be in the deck!
Deck needed more dudes, and these latest changes seem to bring the deck closer to perfection in what I want it to be doing - being even more Timmy-like than before.
With any luck it'll be fully assembled within the next two weeks and I can actually try it out with my local playgroup.
Responding to fellow posters on suggestions:
Rumpy5987 - I agree on the first point, I have now boosted my support for genesis wave by cutting 4 nonpermanents and adding 4 creatures.
As for Psychotrope Thallid... I've never been a player who liked sac engines. Always seemed like a janky way to use my creature resources. We'll see, but I think the deck has enough card draw, and the saprolings will most likely be a late game play with Verdeloth right when I'm going for the attack with every last one of them. Vorinclex is just too good for me not to run. While the deck is friendly, I want it to be equally capable of shifting gears and laying down the pressure. It's also a big trampling fatty attached to a Vernal Bloom even if you ignore what it does to opponent's lands. I guess even my nice decks can't escape my desire to slot in at least a couple mean cards like Vorinclex and Triumph of the Hordes. Those two cards can earn a deck a reputation by themselves, but that's what politics is for in EDH. Apparent threat can be negated with a good choice of words.
Primalcrux and Khalni Hydra are just vanilla fatty creatures to me, I prefer creatures that get stuff done and have high versatility. Eldrazi have anti-synergy with Emerald Medallion and it would particularly suck to lose an Eldrazi or Darksteel/Blightsteel Colossus to a Bribery. Worldspine Wurm though? Definitely added.
Krichaiushii- Upwelling is absolutely a no go. Too dangerous. Sprout Swarm seems like a waste of mana, and I don't care for sacrificing stuff when I have other more straight-forward sources of card draw already in the deck. I might consider Heartwood Storyteller though, I'll have to think about it.
Sometimes you just want to play like Timmy. (See: The three main types of magic players) This deck is made for that kind of playstyle.
I've looked through all of the existing mono-green generals. Asuza, Thrun, and Omnath are arguably the best mono-green commanders, but they don't quite capture the essence of the Timmy player, in my opinion. Verdeloth the Ancient however does, and exceptionally well. I built this deck wanting to have a fun, casual, social deck to play here and there with my friends when my other, much more competitive decks don't feel like the right thing to play at the time.
Without further ado, the decklist:
1x Verdeloth the Ancient
CREATURES(25):
1x Acidic Slime
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Eternal Witness
1x Fierce Empath
1x Hornet Queen
1x Hydra Broodmaster
1x Hydra Omnivore
1x Keeper of Progenitus
1x Lotus Cobra
1x Mycoloth
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Pelakka Wurm
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Seedborn Muse
1x Thelonite Hermit
1x Thragtusk
1x Thunderfoot Baloth
1x Vigor
1x Rampaging Baloths
1x Wood Elves
1x Woodfall Primus
1x Worldspine Wurm
1x Yavimaya Elder
1x Concordant Crossroads
1x Exploration
1x Mirri's Guile
1x Parallel Lives
1x Rites of Flourishing
1x Song of the Dryads
1x Sylvan Library
1x Vernal Bloom
SORCERY(16):
1x Boundless Realms
1x Bramblecrush
1x Collective Voyage
1x Cultivate
1x Genesis Wave
1x Growth Spasm
1x Harmonize
1x Hunting Wilds
1x Nature's Lore
1x Overwhelming Stampede
1x Primal Command
1x Regrowth
1x Skyshroud Claim
1x Tempt with Discovery
1x Tooth and Nail
1x Triumph of the Hordes
ARTIFACTS(8):
1x Akroma's Memorial
1x Caged Sun
1x Emerald Medallion
1x Extraplanar Lens
1x Sol Ring
1x Temple Bell
1x Vedalken Orrery
1x Well of Knowledge
1x Beast Within
1x Harrow
1x Summoner's Pact
LANDS(39):
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1x Cavern of Souls
26x Forest
1x Homeward Path
1x Khalni Garden
1x Llanowar Reborn
1x Mosswort Bridge
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Temple of the False God
1x Vesuva
Notable Exclusions:
Krosan Grip - This deck wants to ramp much more than it wants to control.
Deglamer - See above.
Mana Reflection - Would be nice, but its a costly 6 mana card and I have never once seen it escape removal. Players view it as too greedy to let it stick.
Heartbeat of Spring - I'd argue even a group hug deck should never run this. It and Mana Flare are too dangerous and in my experience always lead to a combo player winning. Keeper of Progenitus and Vernal Bloom are in here instead.
Overrun - I prefer to just run Overwhelming Stampede and Craterhoof Behemoth. They tend to hit harder.
Beastmaster Ascension - Would be inconsistent in function and performance for my meta, might work for you.
Asceticism - Not a terribly important effect for this deck
Birthing Pod - Some people swear by it, I felt that ramp was again more important for how this deck wants to play than certain cards like this one.
Why you might want to play Verdeloth the Ancient:
1. You like to ramp
2. You like token decks
3. You like winning with swingy combat phases
4. You like Group Hug
5. You don't want to control everything
Why you might not want to play Verdeloth the Ancient:
1. All of your meta's decks are for some reason filled to the brim with boardwipes and counterspells
2. Your meta plays lots of mass land destruction
3. You don't like variance (this deck only has a small number of non-ramp tutors)
4. You aren't comfortable not having the answer to every dangerous move your opponents might make
5. You can't use politics to balance your apparent friendliness with your efforts to build an overwhelming army of dudes
This version of Verdeloth the Ancient is not by any means a tribal deck. The whole point is to kick Verdeloth's slow treefolk behind out of the general zone as hard as you can with the kicker cost as soon as you have a good deal of mana to do it with. There is certainly a lot of green goodstuff, but only that which contributes to what it is designed to do. It has a very modest control suite so that you can at least cause a little bit of disruption where needed, but for the most part the focus is to ramp big, group hug a little bit, and if you're lucky, swing out with an army of tokens for the win. This is a casual, social-oriented deck that isn't necessarily for winning all the time. It some of your opponents like to steal cards as part of their strategy, they should have a lot of fun with some of the feisty creatures in this deck. Whatever happens, this deck is meant to play friendly and fun. When you do want to win, it definitely does have access to some particularly dangerous cards to help you succeed in your overrun-like combat phase, such as Concordant Crossroads, Akroma's Memorial, and the one-of mean card Triumph of the Hordes.
I hope you all like the deck!
Your higher permanent count makes Genesis Wave style things a reasonable idea. I'd probably still be a bit leery of it with a 25% or so chance of hitting a non-permanent but it's not tragic at least.
Cutting the saproling milking dudes wasn't a bad idea, but there's actually a good one Psychotrope Thallid.
Vorinclex doesn't seem to match the rest of your deck being nice. I'm not saying cut him, just an observation.
Vigor is such a fun card. I don't have much to suggest in the way of fat or otherwise. Primalcrux may or may not be brutal. Khalni Hydra may just be free. Worldspine Wurm is the godfather of all the fat ever. Maybe even reach into Eldrazi?
Nemata, Grove Guardian and Psychotrope Thallid play nice with sap tokens, as does Fecundity.
Once you've enough creatures in play, Sprout Swarm can help you keep that advantage.
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
Cuts:
1. Worldly Tutor - deck has enough creature-finding tutors, I'd rather draw any one of them instead of this. I wanted to thin out the non-permanent cards as much as possible too - to maximize the potential of genesis wave. It was a weird choice to cut, I know. I stand by this decision, even though it is admittedly very unorthodox not to run a card as staple as this one is to green.
2. Rampant Growth - I've got plenty of early ramp in the deck, and I'd rather draw Nature's Lore or Growth Spasm over this.
3. Explosive Vegetation - Inferior to skyshroud claim, hunting wilds, and less fun than tempt with discovery. I have enough ramp, this one is mediocre and better suited to multicolor decks.
4. Amulet of Vigor - the deck doesn't need it all that much, a lot of my ramp doesn't even put lands into play tapped, and I've already got seedborn muse to do some work for me too.
5. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - Draws too much hate, doesn't really fit the deck even as a mana doubler.
Adds:
1. Worldspine Wurm - It's huge and threatening, and gives me 3 big, fat tokens if it dies. It also protects my deck from mill strategies a bit and can be tutor recurred if it dies. It turns overwhelming stampede into 'everything gets +15/+15' and can potentially 1 hit someone with triumph of the hordes if left unblocked. It also roars 'TIMMY!'.
2. Thelonite Hermit - Works wonderfully with Verdeloth by turning my saprolings essentially into elephants and is another source of tokens for my army if morphed. Why wasn't I running this before? Because I'm dumb sometimes.
3. Hydra Broodmaster - You can never have enough big fat tokens. Nice little late game mana sink and possible win con. Very timmy too.
4. Birds of Paradise - Makes mana early, its a flying chump blocker, and it can contribute to an overrun-buffed combat phase from the air.
5. Rampaging Baloths - Replaces Vorinclex. It makes me more tokens and synergizes with land ramp - obviously should be in the deck!
Deck needed more dudes, and these latest changes seem to bring the deck closer to perfection in what I want it to be doing - being even more Timmy-like than before.
With any luck it'll be fully assembled within the next two weeks and I can actually try it out with my local playgroup.
Responding to fellow posters on suggestions:
Rumpy5987 - I agree on the first point, I have now boosted my support for genesis wave by cutting 4 nonpermanents and adding 4 creatures.
As for Psychotrope Thallid... I've never been a player who liked sac engines. Always seemed like a janky way to use my creature resources. We'll see, but I think the deck has enough card draw, and the saprolings will most likely be a late game play with Verdeloth right when I'm going for the attack with every last one of them.
Vorinclex is just too good for me not to run. While the deck is friendly, I want it to be equally capable of shifting gears and laying down the pressure. It's also a big trampling fatty attached to a Vernal Bloom even if you ignore what it does to opponent's lands.I guess even my nice decks can't escape my desire to slot in at least a couple mean cards likeVorinclexand Triumph of the Hordes. Those two cards can earn a deck a reputation by themselves, but that's what politics is for in EDH. Apparent threat can be negated with a good choice of words.Primalcrux and Khalni Hydra are just vanilla fatty creatures to me, I prefer creatures that get stuff done and have high versatility. Eldrazi have anti-synergy with Emerald Medallion and it would particularly suck to lose an Eldrazi or Darksteel/Blightsteel Colossus to a Bribery. Worldspine Wurm though? Definitely added.
Krichaiushii- Upwelling is absolutely a no go. Too dangerous. Sprout Swarm seems like a waste of mana, and I don't care for sacrificing stuff when I have other more straight-forward sources of card draw already in the deck. I might consider Heartwood Storyteller though, I'll have to think about it.