My kids have been becoming interested in my Magic cards as more of their friends start to play. This is the deck I made to teach them about the game. One of my daughters is 7, she can play the deck by herself, and does well enough in the 10 year old age range with kids in the neighborhood. Please note that none of the cards cost more then a dollar or 2, and there aren't any complicated mechanics. I'm happy to hear some advice on ways to improve the deck, as long as we keep in mind it's for young beginners, and that I want to keep it a legal Legacy deck. I will be keeping the deck list up to date as I make changes.
Here's the deck:
The deck could use a few more lands. As it is now, it relies too much on the mana dorks staying around, and while it's not impossible to reach 6 mana for Silvos, it usually takes a while, even longer if the mana elves get killed.
There's a hole in the mana curve at 3 CMC. You should fill it up with some regen creatures to stay on theme. There are Troll Ascetic and Wolfir Avenger. Both are a bit more complex than just regeneration, but flash and hexproof should still be quite easy to understand. Adding some 3-drops also reduces the pressure to have a mana dork on the first turn, and you could lower their number a bit (to 6 or so). And with a mana dork, they can come out on turn 2.
Nourish like pretty much all pure life gain spells is a waste of a card. Gaining life does nothing for you to win the game. And gaining life does nothing to deal with the cause of you losing life in the first place. If that cause is creatures attacking you, some creature to block with or a removal spell to kill it will be much more likely to deal with the problem and in the end will prevent much more life loss than a life gain spell could ever regain for you. Maybe add some other means of life gain that also does something more useful in regards to winning. Creatures with ETB life gain effects (eg. Kitchen Finks), life gain spells that can be used in some other way (like Sylvan Bounty), etc. Usually, you want life gain as a nice to have option or tacked on effect, not as the primary effect of the card.
Tranquility is outclassed by Back to Nature. But I'd rather add something that can deal with artifacts, too. In most games, you don't need a nuke to clear everything away, a precise strike is often more than enough. A Naturalize's versatility will benefit the deck more, since there is no sideboard. Or use one of its many variants, that are bit more costly but do other stuff as well (like gaining life, or be pretty much uncounterable).
One shot power boosts are nice combat tricks, sure, but a much better trick is to kill the other guy instead of boosting your own. Not only will you remove a problem but it can also clear the way to let your guy hit the other player. Green has gotten some nice removal options in the past years, like Clear Shot, Prey Upon, Pit Fight (a fight with regenerators is a very one sided deal), Nissa's Judgment, Rabid Bite, Time to Feed, Wild Instincts, Utopia Vow, etc. If the deck can get to 7 mana consistently, Scour from Existence could be the ultimate answer card for you.
If you want to boost your creatures, maybe use auras with flash (Feral Invocation) so that you still maintain the combat trick but get a lasting boost. Or try to distribute some +1/+1 counters (Cached Defenses, Elven Rite, Incremental Growth, Stand Together, etc.). Equipment is also a good idea, something as simple as Bonesplitter or Vulshok Morningstar can change the flow of the game drastically, especially in multiples.
I know its been a while, but ive been doing other things....
Her only real complaint with the deck is sometimes she gets too much land, im not going to add any more right now.
I've thought about changing some of the mana elves to lands, but she said she was happy with the frequency the elves come up.
None of her friends play with any enchantments yet, so Tranquility and similar cards are out for now.
I've also convinced her to loose Nourish.
That gives us 5 slots.
I put in a fourth Hurricane, it's her only defense at all against flying creatures. Without it, one Hypnotic Specter, or some other little creature ruins her game.
The other 4 slots I'm planing on putting some more creatures in. I like your 3 drop suggestions, although I wish they regenerated with G instead of 1G like all the other creatures in the deck. Im going to go with Troll Ascetic, i think hexproof will be more useful to her then flash.
Thanks for the advice, Im certainly open to other suggestions.
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My decks. Feel free to make suggestions. The Precious B___U___G___R___W
Having looked over a monogreen beginner deck I've built some years ago (still have the list) for another thread, I found a new (old) idea of mine to combine with regenerators: Lure and similar effects. Putting such a thing on a bigger creature with regeneration allows you to pick off your opponent's creatures while also keeping them from blocking other attackers. So you get creature kill and evasion. This should provide a means to break board stalls and make for overall more exciting games, which also won't last as long. I'd go for like 2-3 copies of Nemesis Mask, but a few Predatory Rampages could work as a kind of sweeper and finisher.
My kids have been becoming interested in my Magic cards as more of their friends start to play. This is the deck I made to teach them about the game. One of my daughters is 7, she can play the deck by herself, and does well enough in the 10 year old age range with kids in the neighborhood. Please note that none of the cards cost more then a dollar or 2, and there aren't any complicated mechanics. I'm happy to hear some advice on ways to improve the deck, as long as we keep in mind it's for young beginners, and that I want to keep it a legal Legacy deck. I will be keeping the deck list up to date as I make changes.
Here's the deck:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 River Boa
4 Mire Boa
4 Cudgel Troll
2 Silvos, Rogue Elemental
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Giant Growth
4 Predator's Strike
2 Berserk
4 Hurricane
3 Pendelhaven
3 Dryad Arbor
16 Forest
Thanks in advance for your ideas.
The Precious
B___U___G___R___W
There's a hole in the mana curve at 3 CMC. You should fill it up with some regen creatures to stay on theme. There are Troll Ascetic and Wolfir Avenger. Both are a bit more complex than just regeneration, but flash and hexproof should still be quite easy to understand. Adding some 3-drops also reduces the pressure to have a mana dork on the first turn, and you could lower their number a bit (to 6 or so). And with a mana dork, they can come out on turn 2.
Nourish like pretty much all pure life gain spells is a waste of a card. Gaining life does nothing for you to win the game. And gaining life does nothing to deal with the cause of you losing life in the first place. If that cause is creatures attacking you, some creature to block with or a removal spell to kill it will be much more likely to deal with the problem and in the end will prevent much more life loss than a life gain spell could ever regain for you. Maybe add some other means of life gain that also does something more useful in regards to winning. Creatures with ETB life gain effects (eg. Kitchen Finks), life gain spells that can be used in some other way (like Sylvan Bounty), etc. Usually, you want life gain as a nice to have option or tacked on effect, not as the primary effect of the card.
Tranquility is outclassed by Back to Nature. But I'd rather add something that can deal with artifacts, too. In most games, you don't need a nuke to clear everything away, a precise strike is often more than enough. A Naturalize's versatility will benefit the deck more, since there is no sideboard. Or use one of its many variants, that are bit more costly but do other stuff as well (like gaining life, or be pretty much uncounterable).
One shot power boosts are nice combat tricks, sure, but a much better trick is to kill the other guy instead of boosting your own. Not only will you remove a problem but it can also clear the way to let your guy hit the other player. Green has gotten some nice removal options in the past years, like Clear Shot, Prey Upon, Pit Fight (a fight with regenerators is a very one sided deal), Nissa's Judgment, Rabid Bite, Time to Feed, Wild Instincts, Utopia Vow, etc. If the deck can get to 7 mana consistently, Scour from Existence could be the ultimate answer card for you.
If you want to boost your creatures, maybe use auras with flash (Feral Invocation) so that you still maintain the combat trick but get a lasting boost. Or try to distribute some +1/+1 counters (Cached Defenses, Elven Rite, Incremental Growth, Stand Together, etc.). Equipment is also a good idea, something as simple as Bonesplitter or Vulshok Morningstar can change the flow of the game drastically, especially in multiples.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
The Precious
B___U___G___R___W
Her only real complaint with the deck is sometimes she gets too much land, im not going to add any more right now.
I've thought about changing some of the mana elves to lands, but she said she was happy with the frequency the elves come up.
None of her friends play with any enchantments yet, so Tranquility and similar cards are out for now.
I've also convinced her to loose Nourish.
That gives us 5 slots.
I put in a fourth Hurricane, it's her only defense at all against flying creatures. Without it, one Hypnotic Specter, or some other little creature ruins her game.
The other 4 slots I'm planing on putting some more creatures in. I like your 3 drop suggestions, although I wish they regenerated with G instead of 1G like all the other creatures in the deck. Im going to go with Troll Ascetic, i think hexproof will be more useful to her then flash.
Thanks for the advice, Im certainly open to other suggestions.
The Precious
B___U___G___R___W
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)