Dragons of Tarkir
Nothing really jumped out at me here. A bit of green fight removal, if you need it.
Origins Evolutionary Leap can be good wrath recovery, as well as a way to turn tokens into 'real' creatures. Nissa, Vastwood Seer is a land search on a creature (moderately ok, since it's to hand and not play), but is easy to flip and has several powerful abilities. More green card-draw is never remiss. The Great Aurora can turn tokens into more stuff, and can also act as a green 'wrath' and card draw. Can be difficult to use without breaking it, but if you make tokens during the turn ahead, but somehow can't win, floating duplicated mana into this can be very strong. Zendikar's Roil - It's like Seed the Land, but just for you!
Battle For Zendikar Guardian of Murasa makes another regrowth effect for the deck, with a more relevant body (since no equipment). Also, since we have overall less GY recursion, his second ability may be used as well. Unnatural Aggression is more fight removal, but instant speed and exiles make it rather good. Aligned Hedron Network can be an amusing wrath, especially if paired with processor cards; however, due to mono-g's inability to exile reliably, I would avoid the processors for now. Blighted Woodland - Getting more forests out may be nice. We'll see how it plays out compared to myriad landscape. Oblivion Sower - Gets lands, useful with other people's exile effects. Again, most processors will be 'meh' for us. Scour From Existence - For a while I ran Desert Twister as a catch-all removal. I eventually removed it for more focused, cheaper options (plus, I have Tornado). Scour though, should prove very good at instant speed. We have plenty of mana to make, and are capable of sinking it into other things. Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger - More good colorless removal. Hitting 2 of the things is nice. Exile is super nice. I wouldn't rely on him for activating processors though.
That said, this deck is very straight-forward and simple, which means that there aren't too many updates needed, unless you feel the need to rebalance your creature vs. non-creature ramp. Essentially if there's a meta shift where you play been more aggressive openers vs. more control oriented play.
There are a lot of options in green to get to the end result that you want with the deck, but they're mostly parallel roads.
Arachnogenisis - I always say that people should run more fogs, and this one seems nice. It's a bit had to qualify it over the many other good options though. Bloodspore Thrinax - eat sparolings, make every other saproling made super scary? Adds an extra theme option. Ezuri's Predation - A green wrath... I like it! Skullwinder - Eternal Witness #2 - seems good, has some politicalness. We don't have ways to clean out Graveyards as well though. Pathbreaker Ibex - at least an Overrun on a body, possibly more - this is what craterhoof should have been. Verdant Confluence - potential method of reclaiming multiple mana flares.
Sandstone Oracle - acceptable card draw that's not creature based.
Command Beacon - probably not worth running, despite being able to skip a command tax.
Overall a great set with lots of potential toys for us.
Bonds of Mortality - The cantrip on this card means that it's never a bad choice to include if you have issues with targeting or indestructibility in your meta. I don't feel I have those issues, so I'll be passing it by, but it's always worthy to keep in mind.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - 3 mana is pretty standard for an anthem, but we already have a 3mana anthem effect on demand in Nemata. The plant tokens are close to worthless, and the ult, while amazing, is difficult to reach. She'll be a better fit in a deck more focused on +1 counters.
Oath of Nissa - if ponder and brainstorm are any indication, cheap cantrips to fix your draws are pretty great for smoothing your curve at any point of the game. While not exciting, Nissa's oath will never be a bad addition to the deck. As a bonus, it makes Holistic Wisdom capable of bringing back other enchantment mana flares as well - always super cool.
Seed Guardian - A notable mention for being a sticky creature that will see play in the format, but this deck probably isn't the best fit for him.
Vile Redeemer - Another mention that may get seen in EDH as people try him out, the non-token clause unfortunately means that if we want this style of effect, we probably want to stick to Fresh Meat. That said, turning a bunch of mana-ramp creatures into spawns to get mana to drop a bunch of doublers could always be potent.
World Breaker - Another top-end beater/removal, he fights for the slot with Terrastodon and Woodfall Primus. Since the persist isn't really abused in this deck, this guy could be a worthy replacement, since he can self recur if other recursion avenues are out - we don't typically have too many issues getting lands out, anyways.
Zendikar Resurgent - While we're all about the mana flares, this one is a bit expensive, clocking in above Mana Reflections for less effect. The card draw is cool, but typically by the time we hit 7 lands and a mana doubler, we're not casting many creature spells anymore. Still, a worthy 'keep in mind' for budget, or more creature heavy builds to recuperate from a wrath.
Due to the low amount of colorless mana in the deck, most of the colorless cards aren't terribly worth running, without decent alterations to the manabase. Kozilek could redraw a fair number of cards, but other colorless cards, like Sandstone Oracle, and much better green cards, like Shamanic Revelation can do that without compromising the mana base.
Warping Wail is still a worthy add though, in order to shut down some game winning spells, like Tooth and Nail or Exsanguinate, or to stop a large number of common wrath effects in the format, at a low cost.
Wastes - While I'm in no rush to replace forests, it's a worthy note that if you do add colorless requirements, adding one of two wastes to activate them may be acceptable. I wouldn't go higher than 2 though.
Mirrorpool - A great card in this set, and one that I can see going into many, many, many decks. The utility and versatility is great. It can even 'save' a Commander from single target removal by copying it and losing the original to the legend rule - always hilarious. We don't have too many prime copy targets, but even a medium land ramp spell, or good answer creature can have value copied.
Ruins of Oran-Rief - meh. We don't exactly have that many colorless creatures entering in every turn. We don't even run regular Oran Rief, which would actually be 'ok' in this deck.
Sea Gate Wreckage - Colorless emergency card draw may be decent, if you find yourself in that situation often, or are in a meta that actively runs discard. I'll likely be passing, but worthy to note this one for those specific considerations.
Just found this thread, and I like the set reviews! I'm a little surprised at no nod to Sword of the Animist in the Origins post. Overlooked, or not good here for some reason?
Likely overlooked, as I seem to have just glossed over the green cards. Sword of the Animist is a card I've been appreciating more in more in other decks, and is a solid piece of ramp to smooth out earlier turns. You definitely want the ETB creature ramp route if you want to add the sword, as going the spell ramp (Kodama's Reach) may leave you too light on early creatures to effectively use it. Also, in green it tends to be more incidental ramp, as you don't have any good way to tutor for it early.
Sword of the animist is amazing in non green decks, but I don't enjoy it in my own. It does some heavy lifting in my norin the wary list, for example, but neither of my monogreen decks use it. Green is just better at the land ramp game with both creatures that bring lands with them or spells that one shot 2 or more.
I'm in agreement on most of the cards here, though not for the same reasons. I would say that I actually much prefer zendikar resurgent in my yeva list over mana reflection. I know it costs one more, but the ability to trigger my enchantress effects (all of them, quite literally) and also my creature engine effects (all of those that say enter battlefield or cast and are creatures themselves) for basically the same amount of mana production makes it the stronger choice for me. In that deck, heavy redundancy is a crazy beautiful thing.
In Yeva, I could maybe see it, as card draw is always fantastic. Locking up 7 mana on your own turn in a flash based deck still makes me cringe somewhat.
In here though, there's really no contest. By the time I'm dropping mana flares, it's unlikely that I'm still casting creatures that aren't my commander, and the super doubling on the Gaea's Cradle alone, powers mana reflection far above anything else, though you're right that I don't have much else to really take advantage of it at the moment.
I never play it without patron of the orochi or seedborne muse down. It pillowforts in a uniquely green way, I feel. Mana reflection only ever affected my karametra's acolyte and nykthos, shrine to nyx. I never have enough creatures on the battlefield to make cradle worth it and it's bad without them. But, I built yeva to do well in a nuclear environment because everyone and their mother plays wrath effects in my environment (probably because of yeva, actually...)
Clip Wings is our obligatory flying hate for the set, and the upgrade to a Edict style sac effect is nice to hit those indestructible things, as well as hitting all opponents gives good value, at the downside of the loss of target choosing and being bad vs token decks.
Cryptolith Rite could be good value to get extra mana from our early creatures and get going faster. It's like a budget 'fixed' earthcraft, which, given how good earthcraft is as a card, isn't a point against it.
Seasons Past is a great extra form of mass recursion if our doublers get wiped. I still prefer Creeping Renaissance's flashback and cheaper initial cost, but being able to return multiple different card types 9including spells) is a pretty big boon.
Second Harvest seems like a win more card, but the instant speed makes it quite worth testing, to turn that 'almost' end of turn position into a murder everyone's faces board position.
Tireless Tracker straight up trumps Seer's Sundial as card draw for this deck, and will be an easy swap. It drops sooner, and gives more flexibility in your payments. Fantastic card.
Traverse the Ulenwald seems like a good tutor, but I fear those moments where surprise grave hate turns it into just another basic.
Ulenwald Hydra though seems nice. Great body, reach protection, and a good ETB effect makes this a 'fixed' Primeval Titan. While this deck won't abuse blinking/recurring it as much, free land drops, and more importantly, free Gaea's Cradle search, is always appreciated.
Ulenwald Mysteries - Mostly it's our tokens that will be dying, bu t we have non-tokens as well. This seems like a 'fixed'/budget Fecudity, but again, that's not bad. The extra human tokens are bonus gravy.
Vessel of Nascency - Again, not much ability to abuse/recur this vessel, but it's good filtration at an affordable cost split over turns. It can dig for that piece you need, and there are ways (Creeping Renaissance) in which it might return incidentally. Not a bad card to add.
Artifacts
Tamiyo's Journal - If you end up with a clue theme, this might be ok tutoring/draw. It seems forced though.
Lands
Drownyard Temple is a good card, but we're not doing the sacrifce/discard/mill thing, so it's a bit out of place for this deck.
If he lands and sticks, then he can generate a lot of value, but you have to give up (some of) your board first. If he gets hit by removal then, it really hurts.
I also find that by the time I can stick him in this deck, I usually have enough board presence to take a more aggressive path. I think I would prefer him more in a deck like Yeva, Nature's Herald where you can mitigate his drawback by dropping him on an end step, or in a GB build of some sort, where you can profit more off of the deaths.
Luv this deck. I used to run a Sasaya deck that sometimes left me high and dry for a few turns with lots of mana once it flipped but nothin to sink it into. This is everything Ive been looking for in a mono-G ramp deck.
2 cards missing that I think should be considered: Nullmage Shepherd - tap some newly made saprolings to clear out unwanted pillow fort & stax spells before sac-ing them to pump the attackers.
Exploration - always feels like the strongest T1 play for any green deck.
Luv this deck. I used to run a Sasaya deck that sometimes left me high and dry for a few turns with lots of mana once it flipped but nothin to sink it into. This is everything Ive been looking for in a mono-G ramp deck.
2 cards missing that I think should be considered: Nullmage Shepherd - tap some newly made saprolings to clear out unwanted pillow fort & stax spells before sac-ing them to pump the attackers.
Exploration - always feels like the strongest T1 play for any green deck.
Thanks for the support! And also two excellent suggestions, both are very powerful in token and ramp builds. I'll have to keep a lookout to see if they'll fit in.
I usually prefer exploration effects in decks that have more draw power, as without that they end up dead later in the game, but they remain powerful acceleration effects regardless. Burgeoning is another one you can look at if you like exploration.
Have you had any experience with trying out Duskwatch Recruiter in the deck yet ? It's absolutely extraordinary in my experience so far.
I have not yet, as he only draws creatures and the deck is more focused on the enchantments/artifacts, but you are right that he's a powerhouse draw engine for green decks. I should give him a try regardless.
also was there any mention of jolrael, empress of beasts as another political anti-boardwipe play similar to Kamahl, Fist of Krosa? "Oh you're gonna board wipe? Cool you're gonna lose all your lands if you do so buddy." She also would make a decent win-con
With a god draw, I think I managed to win T4 or 5 once before Rofellos was banned. This isn't going to compete with the Tier 1 decks, but can still be explosive and impressive. Otherwise, it takes a while longer to get up to speed. I'm sure that a number of ramp options would help speed this up.
I find Khamahl a bit more useful than Jolrael, since he doesn't need to tap, and as a wincon his overrun also buffs our tokens and other creatures. He can also split his Land D across multiple players to pop off problematic lands. That said, Jolrael is certainly a potent win con, especially since she's far more efficient at animating lands. She also has the same rattlesnake effect against wraths once online. She's also more likely to turn heads and make people read her and go "she does WHAT?!?"
Poor Marchesa is on 3 lands for the entire beginning of the game. Those lands being Island, Cabal Coffers, and Temple of the false god. Ow. By game end he was finally up to 5 or 6 land.
Sliver Queen takes off out of the gates hard, starting off with an exploration and a Horn of Greed and outramps me. He then adds a Fecundity, Mirari's Wake and Aura Shards to his list, which means that I'm not going to manage with my doublers.
On my side of the field I start off with an Essence Warden into Skullclamp, but the clamp dies before I use it (aura shards), I follow into a Dauntless Dourbark into Seedguide Ash, so the dourbark puts some pain on SQ. I also get a Viridian Emissary, and have at least dropped a Gaea's Cradle to keep up with SQ's mana. I also break Sliver Queen's wake with an Acidic Slime, and sliver queen forgets about the slime, so has to swords it to not lose queen when he attacks. This means he takes another dourbark hit dropping him into the teens before he can exile that.
Then I make a big misplay. I Green Sun's Zenith for Seedborn Muse, but at the last minute decided to cast eternal witness before, so I didn't have enough mana to drop Nemata. (I also have Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power in hand, but there's still an aura shards out).
Sliver Queen's board is nigh untouchable, and adds Wonder and Training Grounds to the list. I survive a turn, and surprisingly so does my Muse. Now things get fun.
Sliver Queen moves to combat, but a few silklash activations clears his board. Thanks Wonder!. I end on 35 saprolings, which is plenty for a one hit kill, except that I know that he has comeuppance in hand, as it's been revealed from a Magus of the Future. I move to combat with a small handful of saprolings, but SQ decides to scoop to get into the next game with more people, as I have a distinct advantage with Seedborn + 2x cradle activations on 40+ creatures, though with the token production of both sides and the Fecundity, it was still anyone's game.
I don't think any card is a "must have." At its core, this deck is about generating a lot of mana, and then being able to dump all of that mana into the Commander to make a lot of tokens. To get to that point, there are a lot of ramp spells, mana doublers, and token improvers that there are many replacements. All three of these cards are exceptionally powerful though, and you may want to work towards them as time goes on, but I wouldn't necessarily make them a priority.
Doubling Season - is the most unique effect among these, but since we're not really using Planeswalkers or +1 counters all that much, you'll be able to make do with Parallel Lives, or maybe another mana doubler instead.
Crucible of Worlds - is a powerful recovery option, and can help ramp with the addition of Fetch Lands, especially in conjunction with Rings of Brighthearth. While I don't have those included, the Crucible was added to this deck to recover powerful lands like Gaea's Cradle, and also to help recover from mass Land Destruction, which one player was dabbling in at one time. If those aren't an issue for you, consider something like Cryptolith Rite or Earthcraft instead.
Oracle of Mul Daya - is useful as it allows extra land drops, providing ramp, as well as playing lands off the top, which amounts to Card Advantage being given. As such, he's a very useful role in most green decks. If you can't get him, consider similar effects like Exploration, Courser of Kruphix, and Tireless Tracker.
Decimator of the Provices - Another overrun option, or a fixed Craterhoof Behemoth. While our saprolings aren't so good for emerge costs, when can toss Nemata to the fire for an all-in turn, or lose an accelerator piece without complaint.
Emrakul, The Promised End - With the amount of mana we can generate, various Eldrazi have always been a viable plan B. Emrakul 2.0 isn't the most destructive of the bunch, but certainly does promise a lot of extra power in multiplayer. This deck has a fair amount of balance between card types as well, so she could get a decent discount too.
Eternal Scourge - I'm sure there's a potential combo somewhere, but this isn't a food chain deck, so perhaps not the most solid option here.
Clear Shot - Likely one of the better instant speed green removals we've seen in a while. A definite possibility.
Eldritch Evolution - This deck isn't geared too perfectly for Birthing Pod or Natural Order, but both effects are incredibly strong, and the merger of the two (with a bit of added flexibility) is a solid creature tutor.
Primal Druid joins the lineup as another land fetcher, but I much prefer the 2/1 stats of the Viridian Emissary as it can take an aggressive stance, trade out with other small utility creatures, and is much better on the clamp on demand. That said, as a secondary effect, this guy may make some decks.
Splendid Reclamation, another recovery for cradle, this would be far more powerful if we ran fetch+rings combo for ramp as well.
Ulvenwald Observer - By the time we're sacrificing enough saprolings in one turn that they have more than 4 toughness, we should be winning. Still, this is an amusing draw option.
Lands
Geier Reach Sanitarium - Extra loot effects is an interesting utility piece to add to any deck. Could be an option if you are hurting for draw/options, or run a heavier recur package.
Regal Behemoth - Could be one of the Monarch options of choice, especially as it gives us another mana doubler on a creature.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Can be risky, as others can profit... but she can produce a fair amount of mana on the turn that we start sacrificing saprolings.
Spltting Slime - an interesting mana sink option. Plays well with token doublers.
Throne of the High City - A steep cost to become the monarch, but since you can activate it EOT of an opponent, you know that you're guaranteed a card back, at least.
Sure thing! Looks like I dropped the ball a bit here.
Kaladesh
One of the main issues of Kaladesh is that neither the energy, nor the Fabricate mechanic do much for us. Vehicles, however, can add a bit of presence between wraths.
Nissa, Vital Force - Nissa's +1 is a weaker version of Garruk, while her -3 gives some good recursion for our doublers, but makes her a more expensive regrowth. Her Ult can give some great long term advantage, though we usually want to end them game in a larger burst.
Aetherworks Marvel - So the interesting thing here is the lack of the 'non-token' clause. This means that we can easily power it up, though usually by the time that many tokens are dying, we're already winning.
Cultivator's Caravan - Usually I prefer land ramp for decks like this one, but having a mana rock that can turn into a beefy blocker for things holding Sword of Feast and Famine is quite nice.
Panharmonicon - While this deck doesn't run quite the same density of ETB effects that other decks do, tinkering that balance isn't hard in green, and the value presented by panharmonicon can be quite insane.
Smuggler's Copter - easy flyer, and some good looting and card filtration.
Rishkar's Expertise - Green needs and loves great card draw, and this delivers, while also allowing us to drop a powerful card into play for free - here's hoping for Seedborn Muse.
Heart of Kiran - While I'm not currently running Planeswalkers, there are a number of excellent ones, and Heart of Kiran provides additional free protection for them, while also being an easily crewed artifact and flyer, bolstering the deck's defenses.
Inspiring Statuary - alone, a 3 cost artifact that can essentially be a mana rock for non-artifact spells, while also turning other artifacts into mana rocks as well.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary - We always love more card draw, and putting a cantip on our creatures is always excellent. It also pairs well with our recursion, so we can continue to gain more cards after we regrow our host of creatures.
Paradox Engine - A card that could cause us to rethink our whole lands-first ramp suite, this card can generate insane tempo if you have ways to gain more mana from non-land sources. Of course, land untappers, like Stoneseeder Heirophant work exceptionally well with this as well (and does crazy things with Thawing Glaciers to boot).
Universal Solvent - While I tend to prefer the other artifact removal options, an interesting point to the Universal Solvent is that it plays well with Salvaging Station, which is an excellent engine I've used in other decks.
Untethered Express - Easily crewed, and can get big fairly quickly. There's usually an available person to attack in a given game.
Modern Masters Reprints
Craterhoof Behemoth - Always a potent finisher, Craterhoof being reprinted should help its availability for others.
Harmonize - Straight up colorpie break of blue draw spells seems good for our draw-starved deck.
Primal Command - Typically a combined non-creature permanent hate + gy hate, it's a decent removal option in green, while also giving the flexibility of a tutor.
Cavern of Souls - If you run into groups that still enjoy countering your Commander, then Cavern being reprinted should make things better for you.
Fetch Lands - While I choose to not run off-color fetches in this deck, I have used them (and crucible + rings of brighthearth) to excellent effect in the past, and reprints are always welcome.
Hello, this is a very interesting deck. I'd like to know a thing, is the deck fun to play? Is it interactive with opponents decks or does it go independently of opponents decks?
So, this is obviously going to be a lot on you, and what you find fun and interactive.
I obviously like the deck, seeing as I built and maintain it. However, I must admit that the deck has a very linear strategy and that often games reach a point where your line of play simply becomes, play Nemata and make as many tokens as you can. I kind of like that about this deck though, as I make up my variance by having a lot of different decks, so it's nice to sometimes have a deck that I know exactly what plan A is from when I sit down (and sometimes I like NOT having that).
That said, I have avoided all combo in the deck, so it does keep some interactivity. The deck includes a decent portion of removal, and combats opposing removal with a large amount of recursion. It still plans to charge headlong down plan A, and simply remove obstacles/recover pieces to make that happen. The question then is where you draw the "interaction" line. I don't think it's as interactive as say, my Marath deck, but I've also seen Marath (combo) decks that would be less interactive than it.
It'll also depend on how you choose to pilot the deck. I've loaned it out a few times, and been very surprised at how other people choose to pilot it at times.
Some notable cards from HoD, as usual, useful new options will be listed, while options that are exceptional, unique, or otherwise notable will be bolded.
Ambuscade - Continuing green's new fight removal, a 3 cost instant creature removal spell can be a good option depending on what problems you are facing.
Hope Tender - I'm sure that somewhere there's a combo waiting for use with this guy. At least he's not an elf, so doesn't auto-infinite with Wirewood Lodge. Overall, there are other options I would choose over this guy first, but if you're looking for a quick mana spike with Nykthos/Cradle and Deserted Temple, he'll do in a pinch.
Uncage the menagerie - putting this on X=3 or x=4 could generate a lot of toolbox value in the right shell. You'd have to work around it a bit though.
Artifacts
Crook of Condemnation - Typically I prefer Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace, however, having the first moved be targeted and repeatable is quite potent. Although we run recursion, we also don't care as much about our own graveyard either.
God-Pharaoh's Gift - While this deck is perhaps not the greatest fit for this card - reuse of graveyard resources is always welcome, and while it has a steep cost, you at least get to trigger it and get value on the turn you play it. In this deck, it would likely serve as simply more ramp, but may also be useful for pulling back pieces of removal, such as Acid Slime.
Mirage Mirror - Another amazing addition, which I think will see play in many decks, as it can be whatever you need most, when you need it. Here, it is likely to be an additional mana flare effect, for a low upkeep cost each turn, although the utility cannot be downplayed. Do note, that it does not retain its artifact typing when it copies something, so you can always shift it into a land on a turn if someone tries to kill it, or to dodge wraths and o-stones and stuff.
Lands
The deserts all have differing levels of utility, and running some of the lesser ones will be largely dependent on how many land slots you have open, as well
as how much synergy you need for other deserts.
Scavenger Grounds is by far the most stand-alone useful desert for edh, giving at the very least a one-shot graveyard full exile on a land slot. While the effect is symmetrical, so you don't want to use it willy nilly, having that emergency button is likely to be quite welcome.
The cycling deserts also deserve special mention, especially in Green, as it allows mono color more tools to use a cycling-loam package, as there are now 4 options in mono-green for cycling lands (though the two colorless ones are likely to be less sought-after) (there's also Ash Barrens, but it can't return the loam, as it's land cycle, not cycle).
Nothing really jumped out at me here. A bit of green fight removal, if you need it.
Origins
Evolutionary Leap can be good wrath recovery, as well as a way to turn tokens into 'real' creatures.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer is a land search on a creature (moderately ok, since it's to hand and not play), but is easy to flip and has several powerful abilities. More green card-draw is never remiss.
The Great Aurora can turn tokens into more stuff, and can also act as a green 'wrath' and card draw. Can be difficult to use without breaking it, but if you make tokens during the turn ahead, but somehow can't win, floating duplicated mana into this can be very strong.
Zendikar's Roil - It's like Seed the Land, but just for you!
Battle For Zendikar
Guardian of Murasa makes another regrowth effect for the deck, with a more relevant body (since no equipment). Also, since we have overall less GY recursion, his second ability may be used as well.
Unnatural Aggression is more fight removal, but instant speed and exiles make it rather good.
Aligned Hedron Network can be an amusing wrath, especially if paired with processor cards; however, due to mono-g's inability to exile reliably, I would avoid the processors for now.
Blighted Woodland - Getting more forests out may be nice. We'll see how it plays out compared to myriad landscape.
Oblivion Sower - Gets lands, useful with other people's exile effects. Again, most processors will be 'meh' for us.
Scour From Existence - For a while I ran Desert Twister as a catch-all removal. I eventually removed it for more focused, cheaper options (plus, I have Tornado). Scour though, should prove very good at instant speed. We have plenty of mana to make, and are capable of sinking it into other things.
Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger - More good colorless removal. Hitting 2 of the things is nice. Exile is super nice. I wouldn't rely on him for activating processors though.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
That said, this deck is very straight-forward and simple, which means that there aren't too many updates needed, unless you feel the need to rebalance your creature vs. non-creature ramp. Essentially if there's a meta shift where you play been more aggressive openers vs. more control oriented play.
There are a lot of options in green to get to the end result that you want with the deck, but they're mostly parallel roads.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Arachnogenisis - I always say that people should run more fogs, and this one seems nice. It's a bit had to qualify it over the many other good options though.
Bloodspore Thrinax - eat sparolings, make every other saproling made super scary? Adds an extra theme option.
Ezuri's Predation - A green wrath... I like it!
Skullwinder - Eternal Witness #2 - seems good, has some politicalness. We don't have ways to clean out Graveyards as well though.
Pathbreaker Ibex - at least an Overrun on a body, possibly more - this is what craterhoof should have been.
Verdant Confluence - potential method of reclaiming multiple mana flares.
Sandstone Oracle - acceptable card draw that's not creature based.
Command Beacon - probably not worth running, despite being able to skip a command tax.
Overall a great set with lots of potential toys for us.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Oath of the Gatewatch
Bonds of Mortality - The cantrip on this card means that it's never a bad choice to include if you have issues with targeting or indestructibility in your meta. I don't feel I have those issues, so I'll be passing it by, but it's always worthy to keep in mind.
Embodiment of Insight, Sylvan Advocate - These guys don't do much for Nemata (unless you run Life and Limb?), but are a worthy mention for Khamal, who can have a similar playstyle.
Natural State - Naturalize doesn't see much play, but 1 CMC removal is always powerful, and the CMC 3 or less restriction still hits a lot of EDH staples like Burnished Hart, Sol Ring, Skullclamp, Oblivion Stone, Oblivion Ring, Phyrexian Arena, and swords of protection and value... the list goes on.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - 3 mana is pretty standard for an anthem, but we already have a 3mana anthem effect on demand in Nemata. The plant tokens are close to worthless, and the ult, while amazing, is difficult to reach. She'll be a better fit in a deck more focused on +1 counters.
Oath of Nissa - if ponder and brainstorm are any indication, cheap cantrips to fix your draws are pretty great for smoothing your curve at any point of the game. While not exciting, Nissa's oath will never be a bad addition to the deck. As a bonus, it makes Holistic Wisdom capable of bringing back other enchantment mana flares as well - always super cool.
Seed Guardian - A notable mention for being a sticky creature that will see play in the format, but this deck probably isn't the best fit for him.
Vile Redeemer - Another mention that may get seen in EDH as people try him out, the non-token clause unfortunately means that if we want this style of effect, we probably want to stick to Fresh Meat. That said, turning a bunch of mana-ramp creatures into spawns to get mana to drop a bunch of doublers could always be potent.
World Breaker - Another top-end beater/removal, he fights for the slot with Terrastodon and Woodfall Primus. Since the persist isn't really abused in this deck, this guy could be a worthy replacement, since he can self recur if other recursion avenues are out - we don't typically have too many issues getting lands out, anyways.
Zendikar Resurgent - While we're all about the mana flares, this one is a bit expensive, clocking in above Mana Reflections for less effect. The card draw is cool, but typically by the time we hit 7 lands and a mana doubler, we're not casting many creature spells anymore. Still, a worthy 'keep in mind' for budget, or more creature heavy builds to recuperate from a wrath.
Due to the low amount of colorless mana in the deck, most of the colorless cards aren't terribly worth running, without decent alterations to the manabase. Kozilek could redraw a fair number of cards, but other colorless cards, like Sandstone Oracle, and much better green cards, like Shamanic Revelation can do that without compromising the mana base.
Warping Wail is still a worthy add though, in order to shut down some game winning spells, like Tooth and Nail or Exsanguinate, or to stop a large number of common wrath effects in the format, at a low cost.
Wastes - While I'm in no rush to replace forests, it's a worthy note that if you do add colorless requirements, adding one of two wastes to activate them may be acceptable. I wouldn't go higher than 2 though.
Mirrorpool - A great card in this set, and one that I can see going into many, many, many decks. The utility and versatility is great. It can even 'save' a Commander from single target removal by copying it and losing the original to the legend rule - always hilarious. We don't have too many prime copy targets, but even a medium land ramp spell, or good answer creature can have value copied.
Ruins of Oran-Rief - meh. We don't exactly have that many colorless creatures entering in every turn. We don't even run regular Oran Rief, which would actually be 'ok' in this deck.
Sea Gate Wreckage - Colorless emergency card draw may be decent, if you find yourself in that situation often, or are in a meta that actively runs discard. I'll likely be passing, but worthy to note this one for those specific considerations.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I'm in agreement on most of the cards here, though not for the same reasons. I would say that I actually much prefer zendikar resurgent in my yeva list over mana reflection. I know it costs one more, but the ability to trigger my enchantress effects (all of them, quite literally) and also my creature engine effects (all of those that say enter battlefield or cast and are creatures themselves) for basically the same amount of mana production makes it the stronger choice for me. In that deck, heavy redundancy is a crazy beautiful thing.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
In here though, there's really no contest. By the time I'm dropping mana flares, it's unlikely that I'm still casting creatures that aren't my commander, and the super doubling on the Gaea's Cradle alone, powers mana reflection far above anything else, though you're right that I don't have much else to really take advantage of it at the moment.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Shadows Over Innistrad
Green
Clip Wings is our obligatory flying hate for the set, and the upgrade to a Edict style sac effect is nice to hit those indestructible things, as well as hitting all opponents gives good value, at the downside of the loss of target choosing and being bad vs token decks.
Cryptolith Rite could be good value to get extra mana from our early creatures and get going faster. It's like a budget 'fixed' earthcraft, which, given how good earthcraft is as a card, isn't a point against it.
Seasons Past is a great extra form of mass recursion if our doublers get wiped. I still prefer Creeping Renaissance's flashback and cheaper initial cost, but being able to return multiple different card types 9including spells) is a pretty big boon.
Second Harvest seems like a win more card, but the instant speed makes it quite worth testing, to turn that 'almost' end of turn position into a murder everyone's faces board position.
Tireless Tracker straight up trumps Seer's Sundial as card draw for this deck, and will be an easy swap. It drops sooner, and gives more flexibility in your payments. Fantastic card.
Traverse the Ulenwald seems like a good tutor, but I fear those moments where surprise grave hate turns it into just another basic.
Ulenwald Hydra though seems nice. Great body, reach protection, and a good ETB effect makes this a 'fixed' Primeval Titan. While this deck won't abuse blinking/recurring it as much, free land drops, and more importantly, free Gaea's Cradle search, is always appreciated.
Ulenwald Mysteries - Mostly it's our tokens that will be dying, bu t we have non-tokens as well. This seems like a 'fixed'/budget Fecudity, but again, that's not bad. The extra human tokens are bonus gravy.
Vessel of Nascency - Again, not much ability to abuse/recur this vessel, but it's good filtration at an affordable cost split over turns. It can dig for that piece you need, and there are ways (Creeping Renaissance) in which it might return incidentally. Not a bad card to add.
Artifacts
Tamiyo's Journal - If you end up with a clue theme, this might be ok tutoring/draw. It seems forced though.
Lands
Drownyard Temple is a good card, but we're not doing the sacrifce/discard/mill thing, so it's a bit out of place for this deck.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
High Risk, High Reward.
If he lands and sticks, then he can generate a lot of value, but you have to give up (some of) your board first. If he gets hit by removal then, it really hurts.
I also find that by the time I can stick him in this deck, I usually have enough board presence to take a more aggressive path. I think I would prefer him more in a deck like Yeva, Nature's Herald where you can mitigate his drawback by dropping him on an end step, or in a GB build of some sort, where you can profit more off of the deaths.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
2 cards missing that I think should be considered:
Nullmage Shepherd - tap some newly made saprolings to clear out unwanted pillow fort & stax spells before sac-ing them to pump the attackers.
Exploration - always feels like the strongest T1 play for any green deck.
I usually prefer exploration effects in decks that have more draw power, as without that they end up dead later in the game, but they remain powerful acceleration effects regardless. Burgeoning is another one you can look at if you like exploration.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
also was there any mention of jolrael, empress of beasts as another political anti-boardwipe play similar to Kamahl, Fist of Krosa? "Oh you're gonna board wipe? Cool you're gonna lose all your lands if you do so buddy." She also would make a decent win-con
I find Khamahl a bit more useful than Jolrael, since he doesn't need to tap, and as a wincon his overrun also buffs our tokens and other creatures. He can also split his Land D across multiple players to pop off problematic lands. That said, Jolrael is certainly a potent win con, especially since she's far more efficient at animating lands. She also has the same rattlesnake effect against wraths once online. She's also more likely to turn heads and make people read her and go "she does WHAT?!?"
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Poor Marchesa is on 3 lands for the entire beginning of the game. Those lands being Island, Cabal Coffers, and Temple of the false god. Ow. By game end he was finally up to 5 or 6 land.
Sliver Queen takes off out of the gates hard, starting off with an exploration and a Horn of Greed and outramps me. He then adds a Fecundity, Mirari's Wake and Aura Shards to his list, which means that I'm not going to manage with my doublers.
On my side of the field I start off with an Essence Warden into Skullclamp, but the clamp dies before I use it (aura shards), I follow into a Dauntless Dourbark into Seedguide Ash, so the dourbark puts some pain on SQ. I also get a Viridian Emissary, and have at least dropped a Gaea's Cradle to keep up with SQ's mana. I also break Sliver Queen's wake with an Acidic Slime, and sliver queen forgets about the slime, so has to swords it to not lose queen when he attacks. This means he takes another dourbark hit dropping him into the teens before he can exile that.
Sliver Queen gets his wake back, along with an Asceticism and a Sterling Grove, so my Krosan Grip in hand is a bit useless.
Then I make a big misplay. I Green Sun's Zenith for Seedborn Muse, but at the last minute decided to cast eternal witness before, so I didn't have enough mana to drop Nemata. (I also have Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power in hand, but there's still an aura shards out).
Sliver Queen's board is nigh untouchable, and adds Wonder and Training Grounds to the list. I survive a turn, and surprisingly so does my Muse. Now things get fun.
Nemata joins the team, as does a Deserted Temple thanks to a Crop Rotation. I also toss in a Silklash Spider.
Sliver Queen moves to combat, but a few silklash activations clears his board. Thanks Wonder!. I end on 35 saprolings, which is plenty for a one hit kill, except that I know that he has comeuppance in hand, as it's been revealed from a Magus of the Future. I move to combat with a small handful of saprolings, but SQ decides to scoop to get into the next game with more people, as I have a distinct advantage with Seedborn + 2x cradle activations on 40+ creatures, though with the token production of both sides and the Fecundity, it was still anyone's game.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Doubling Season - is the most unique effect among these, but since we're not really using Planeswalkers or +1 counters all that much, you'll be able to make do with Parallel Lives, or maybe another mana doubler instead.
Crucible of Worlds - is a powerful recovery option, and can help ramp with the addition of Fetch Lands, especially in conjunction with Rings of Brighthearth. While I don't have those included, the Crucible was added to this deck to recover powerful lands like Gaea's Cradle, and also to help recover from mass Land Destruction, which one player was dabbling in at one time. If those aren't an issue for you, consider something like Cryptolith Rite or Earthcraft instead.
Oracle of Mul Daya - is useful as it allows extra land drops, providing ramp, as well as playing lands off the top, which amounts to Card Advantage being given. As such, he's a very useful role in most green decks. If you can't get him, consider similar effects like Exploration, Courser of Kruphix, and Tireless Tracker.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Eldritch Moon!
'colorless'
Decimator of the Provices - Another overrun option, or a fixed Craterhoof Behemoth. While our saprolings aren't so good for emerge costs, when can toss Nemata to the fire for an all-in turn, or lose an accelerator piece without complaint.
Emrakul, The Promised End - With the amount of mana we can generate, various Eldrazi have always been a viable plan B. Emrakul 2.0 isn't the most destructive of the bunch, but certainly does promise a lot of extra power in multiplayer. This deck has a fair amount of balance between card types as well, so she could get a decent discount too.
Eternal Scourge - I'm sure there's a potential combo somewhere, but this isn't a food chain deck, so perhaps not the most solid option here.
It of the Horrid Swarm - Too small and too few tokens for too high of a cost.
Mockery of Nature - If you need another Reclamation Sage, perhaps, but it feels to be a weaker option unless you run into a lot of Torpor Orb or Humility.
Green
Clear Shot - Likely one of the better instant speed green removals we've seen in a while. A definite possibility.
Eldritch Evolution - This deck isn't geared too perfectly for Birthing Pod or Natural Order, but both effects are incredibly strong, and the merger of the two (with a bit of added flexibility) is a solid creature tutor.
Primal Druid joins the lineup as another land fetcher, but I much prefer the 2/1 stats of the Viridian Emissary as it can take an aggressive stance, trade out with other small utility creatures, and is much better on the clamp on demand. That said, as a secondary effect, this guy may make some decks.
Splendid Reclamation, another recovery for cradle, this would be far more powerful if we ran fetch+rings combo for ramp as well.
Ulvenwald Observer - By the time we're sacrificing enough saprolings in one turn that they have more than 4 toughness, we should be winning. Still, this is an amusing draw option.
Lands
Geier Reach Sanitarium - Extra loot effects is an interesting utility piece to add to any deck. Could be an option if you are hurting for draw/options, or run a heavier recur package.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Conspiracy 2!
Green
Regal Behemoth - Could be one of the Monarch options of choice, especially as it gives us another mana doubler on a creature.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Can be risky, as others can profit... but she can produce a fair amount of mana on the turn that we start sacrificing saprolings.
Spltting Slime - an interesting mana sink option. Plays well with token doublers.
Notable Reprints: Berserk, Beast Within, Burgeoning
'Colorless'
Notable Reprints: Horn of Greed
Lands
Throne of the High City - A steep cost to become the monarch, but since you can activate it EOT of an opponent, you know that you're guaranteed a card back, at least.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Kaladesh
One of the main issues of Kaladesh is that neither the energy, nor the Fabricate mechanic do much for us. Vehicles, however, can add a bit of presence between wraths.
Nissa, Vital Force - Nissa's +1 is a weaker version of Garruk, while her -3 gives some good recursion for our doublers, but makes her a more expensive regrowth. Her Ult can give some great long term advantage, though we usually want to end them game in a larger burst.
Wildest Dreams gives us another massive regrowth effect, but at the mana you need to put into it, Season's Past may remain the favored choice.
Aetherworks Marvel - So the interesting thing here is the lack of the 'non-token' clause. This means that we can easily power it up, though usually by the time that many tokens are dying, we're already winning.
Cultivator's Caravan - Usually I prefer land ramp for decks like this one, but having a mana rock that can turn into a beefy blocker for things holding Sword of Feast and Famine is quite nice.
Panharmonicon - While this deck doesn't run quite the same density of ETB effects that other decks do, tinkering that balance isn't hard in green, and the value presented by panharmonicon can be quite insane.
Smuggler's Copter - easy flyer, and some good looting and card filtration.
Aether Revolt
Heroic Intervention - This is a crazy addition for mono-green, giving us our own version of Boros Charm.
Rishkar's Expertise - Green needs and loves great card draw, and this delivers, while also allowing us to drop a powerful card into play for free - here's hoping for Seedborn Muse.
Heart of Kiran - While I'm not currently running Planeswalkers, there are a number of excellent ones, and Heart of Kiran provides additional free protection for them, while also being an easily crewed artifact and flyer, bolstering the deck's defenses.
Inspiring Statuary - alone, a 3 cost artifact that can essentially be a mana rock for non-artifact spells, while also turning other artifacts into mana rocks as well.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary - We always love more card draw, and putting a cantip on our creatures is always excellent. It also pairs well with our recursion, so we can continue to gain more cards after we regrow our host of creatures.
Paradox Engine - A card that could cause us to rethink our whole lands-first ramp suite, this card can generate insane tempo if you have ways to gain more mana from non-land sources. Of course, land untappers, like Stoneseeder Heirophant work exceptionally well with this as well (and does crazy things with Thawing Glaciers to boot).
Universal Solvent - While I tend to prefer the other artifact removal options, an interesting point to the Universal Solvent is that it plays well with Salvaging Station, which is an excellent engine I've used in other decks.
Untethered Express - Easily crewed, and can get big fairly quickly. There's usually an available person to attack in a given game.
Modern Masters Reprints
Craterhoof Behemoth - Always a potent finisher, Craterhoof being reprinted should help its availability for others.
Harmonize - Straight up colorpie break of blue draw spells seems good for our draw-starved deck.
Primal Command - Typically a combined non-creature permanent hate + gy hate, it's a decent removal option in green, while also giving the flexibility of a tutor.
Scavenging Ooze - Potent GY hate.
Cavern of Souls - If you run into groups that still enjoy countering your Commander, then Cavern being reprinted should make things better for you.
Fetch Lands - While I choose to not run off-color fetches in this deck, I have used them (and crucible + rings of brighthearth) to excellent effect in the past, and reprints are always welcome.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I obviously like the deck, seeing as I built and maintain it. However, I must admit that the deck has a very linear strategy and that often games reach a point where your line of play simply becomes, play Nemata and make as many tokens as you can. I kind of like that about this deck though, as I make up my variance by having a lot of different decks, so it's nice to sometimes have a deck that I know exactly what plan A is from when I sit down (and sometimes I like NOT having that).
That said, I have avoided all combo in the deck, so it does keep some interactivity. The deck includes a decent portion of removal, and combats opposing removal with a large amount of recursion. It still plans to charge headlong down plan A, and simply remove obstacles/recover pieces to make that happen. The question then is where you draw the "interaction" line. I don't think it's as interactive as say, my Marath deck, but I've also seen Marath (combo) decks that would be less interactive than it.
It'll also depend on how you choose to pilot the deck. I've loaned it out a few times, and been very surprised at how other people choose to pilot it at times.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Some notable cards from HoD, as usual, useful new options will be listed, while options that are exceptional, unique, or otherwise notable will be bolded.
Artifacts
Lands
The deserts all have differing levels of utility, and running some of the lesser ones will be largely dependent on how many land slots you have open, as well
as how much synergy you need for other deserts.
The cycling deserts also deserve special mention, especially in Green, as it allows mono color more tools to use a cycling-loam package, as there are now 4 options in mono-green for cycling lands (though the two colorless ones are likely to be less sought-after) (there's also Ash Barrens, but it can't return the loam, as it's land cycle, not cycle).
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek