Intro
There's a few members here to whom this list presents no surprise. This list has been discussed in the main forum, but it pretty well forms a complete list now
When I pulled Nissa from Origins, I knew she was strong; I knew I wanted to build around her, but her abilities are suitably vague enough that I wasn't sure what to do with her. Traditionally, I've struggled to build commanders without a clear build path, so this presented a challenge for me, and I do like those. I've had a lot of feedback and suggestions come through from MTGs for this list (see below), and I'm now really happy with it; it plays well, plays differently most games, has multiple avenues to achieve a win, can scale to a variety of tables, and most importantly - it's a lot of fun to play.
Before going any further, I should thank MTG salvation members weltkrieg, Iansisle (who runs a Yeva primer), aslidiksoraksi (who runs a Nissa Enchantress primer) and ertaiplaneswalker for providing some really valuable guidance and input towards this build. Their help has turned this from a reasonable casual list into a resilient, semi-competitive beast that can stay in a game against the odds, win from nowhere, and change strategies at a moment’s notice.
About Me
I’ve been playing Magic for many years. I started as a kid of 11, had a hiatus through high school, and started again when my wife dug up my old collection (I married a gamer, and I call it a win). I discovered EDH a few years later and have not given any other format a single look back since. I try to build my decks for synergy. I like the idea of being able to play a deck that plays differently each time, while still maintaining a reasonable level of flavour, enjoyment for myself and others, and has a degree of resilience to varying strategies. This deck is probably my closest to that particular set of specifications, and it's a really enjoyable experience. It's strong, it's unexpected, it offers political options in terms of providing board answers, and people seem to be really interested in what the deck looks like and what it does.
Why Nissa? Nissa, Vastwood Seer is a subtle general - she ramps, but provides next to no onboard threat. A lot of players will look over her seeing that she's not going to kill anything any time soon. That's the beauty of her: She's unassuming, but throughout the game she provides a steady flow of ramp and pseudo-draw, without having a 'must-kill' profile like that of Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Omnath, Locus of Mana. Honestly, I'm usually glad when someone does waste a removal spell or effect on Nissa. It means I can cast her again (for next to nothing), re-land my hand, and 9 times out of 10 flip her straight away, and draw or ramp to battlefield. She's a great enabler, she's quick, can protect herself, and provides plenty of gas in lands and draw for the rest of the deck's engine. Essentially, she is the Spanish Inquisition - nobody expects her, and they almost always assess her as a threat incorrectly.
What we’re looking to achieve here is making sure that we have an answer that will get us through most of what gets thrown at us. Nissa gives us the mana to manage that, we’ve got options to bring answers to hand or battlefield, and our ability to present a win condition is good. We can make that happen quite quickly, and that’s part of the strength of the deck; we’re offering a reasonably short window in which opponents can shut us down, and if that does happen we have contingencies.
You’ll like playing Nissa if:
- You like a deck that doesn’t necessarily revolve around the commander
- You like playing permission and control in an unexpected colour
- You have no problem changing strategies as the game dictates
- You like to challenge yourself to think outside of the box, take risks, and think around corners
- You like to adapt the cards you play to solve problems in different ways every game
Why not Nissa?
This deck is not without weaknesses – no deck is. Green is low on creature removal, and this presents a stumbling block for Nissa. I’ve built around that as best as I can, but our options are few. We also struggle with nasty activated or triggered abilities. I’ve built to make this less of an issue, but green doesn’t run counters. We have to wait for stuff to be played before we can provide answers and that can leave us temporarily vulnerable.
The above problems are things we can definitely play around in most cases; the biggest issue with Nissa is reading the table correctly. A lot of our crucial plays are big and splashy, and it's important to time them well. Nissa and her pals can give us enough momentum that we can pull ahead pretty quick. It's going to draw attention, so be prepared to play somewhat politically and not make yourself an enemy to the table. Piloting the deck well takes some subtlety and timing, and that's something the cards themselves can't make up for.
You may not like playing Nissa if:
- You like a commander-centric strategy
- You like playing Voltron - Nissa's flip ability is not optional. She's not guaranteed to flip, but mostly she will. Commander damage is possible, just highly unlikely (have yet to unlock this achievement, but it may yet happen!)
- You like to keep a consistent playstyle throughout a game
- You like infinite strategies and combo
- You like to play permission (You’re looking for U)
Obviously, Nissa is not the only option for Mono Green EDH. There are plenty, and some of them are very good:
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - A very similar commander. Grizzly Bears with two Explorations on it is nothing to sniff at, but comes with a substantial price tag, and a reputation. These last two points are the predominant reasons I don't have her either in the deck or at the helm. Nissa probably does come with a more versatile package, as Azusa is probably more of a mono green goodstuff Commander, given the ramp she allows.
Omnath, Locus of Mana - Another very strong commander, Omnath probably lends more to an aggressive voltron or aggro build. Again, price could be a deterrent, and it probably is a reasonably different build to what I run here.
Titania, Protector of Argoth - A very strong, very good commander. Runs very much down the lands.dec route, and there are all the makings of an excellent, super quick, competitive build available these days, for a reasonable price. Probably the closest in similarity to this build, although lands.dec is just one of the strategies I employ here.
Yeva, Nature's Herald - Another similar commander in terms of what this deck is trying to achieve, Yeva looks a lot of fun and probably plays similarly. Probably the biggest advantage Nissa has over Yeva is the ramp ETB ability on her front, and the draw/ramp +1 loyalty ability. Probably the biggest difference in play style is that we're trying to keep a reasonably low profile until we're ready to make our move for the win, otherwise there is probably a bit of crossover in card choices between Yeva and Nissa.
Roon of the Hidden Realm - My wife plays a pretty oppressive lockdown Roon list with a substantial blink package. Roon himself is a little slow, but Bant offers great colours for a good ETB value deck. It does involve committing to the board signficantly more than Nissa, and is less able to change tack. Regardless, Roon is strong, and if ETB is your jam, he deserves consideration.
Brago, King Eternal - Another 'all-in' blink commander, Brago is quite strong. His fragility comes from the fact that his ability triggers from combat, but nonetheless he's in good colours to be a strong build. Lacks green for ramp options, though. I've played around with him before, and I honestly found him strong but a little repetitive and boring, which really is a surefire sign for me that the deck won't stick around.
Card Choices
I've thought hard about card choices since this deck first started to cement itself. Most of what is in here is a piece in a larger puzzle, or has more than one use. I've made sure this is the case; we have a couple of engines to generate advantage in the deck, but resilience and having multiple avenues to victory is what has made this deck successful to date, and it's a theory I try to work on in all of my decks. My initial tendency when I discover a new synergy is to dream up everything that could possibly help that synergy, and it's a weakness in my builds. In a vacuum, maximum synergy can be nice, but in reality, you're not playing the game alone, and people will always try to dislodge the gears in your engine. Resilience is very important.
For this reason, any new cards or further considerations have to really earn their places and fit in very well. It's more or less past the point where I can add 'goodstuff' and expect things to work seamlessly, which makes improving the deck a real challenge from here on in. There are definitely places to improve (see Notable Exclusions section), but for now the core of the deck is pretty well established.
Creatures
Sylvan Safekeeper – This guy is here to protect our key creatures, and just happens to also work really well with Titania. It’s convenient and incredibly frustrating, I’m told.
Wirewood Symbiote – Here to allow us to reuse our ETB triggers. The untap is nice, and can give us some big mana with Karametra’s Acolyte, save a key piece from a sweeper, or free up a tapped creature for blocking, but that’s all a cherry on top. Great for saving Nissa from removal prior to her flipping if needed, as well.
Elvish Visionary - This guy is here to trigger draw. The fact that it puts a body on the field is nice, too. Nice early play, ideally if we can find a way to bounce him from battlefield to hand repeatedly, we’re doing well.
Lotus Cobra - A really strong landfall trigger, ramps us into a strong board position early, or gives us enough mana to win explosively out of nowhere later in the game. Fantastic with Kamahl, fist of Krosa in play or with Collective Voyage or Boundless Realms.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways - Mana dork with a stapled on win con. I don't run any particular sweepers to make use of this, but it makes a strong enough addition on it's own. At the very least, it makes Squall Line a much easier proposition. People tend to forget that it does what it does too, so it can be a really strong play - especially if you can flash it in.
Tireless Tracker - Last time I played this guy, I had more clues than I knew what to do with. He gets big. The investigate mechanic isn’t perfect. 2 per draw is a little steep, but if we have to use it to dig for an answer we can. There’s some synergies with Wave of Vitriol and all of the ramp options we have, but essentially this is an incidental draw engine that conveniently can get rather large.
Reclamation Sage – Pretty obvious board control. A lot of the time this will sit in your hand and not hit play immediately. Generally I’ve found that it’s best to use it to hit what you need to hit and no more; as soon as you have eyes watching you, people are going to be a lot more aware of you.
Wayward Swordtooth – Mini-Azusa. Ideally this is early ramp that turns into a decent combat choice, and should do so quite quickly. Additional support to help flip Nissa, too.
Wood Elves – Decent ramp, and a 1/1 for 2, once the fetched land hits play. Can fetch Dryad Arbor as well as basics, but generally his value is derived from repeating the ETB trigger as many times as possible.
Farhaven Elf – Wood Elves v2.0. The land enters tapped, for what it’s worth. Usually this isn’t entirely relevant, it’s still a great trigger. There’s going to be times where it’s not as valuable as Wood Elves, but mostly they’re very comparable.
Eternal Witness – Probably the most valuable ETB trigger in mono-green. It’ll pick up anything that’s hit your graveyard to date. Stupendous value on a 2/1 body. There’s a reason it’s a staple.
Fierce Empath – A good mid-game trigger that will pick up a beater, a control element or ‘the last piece of the puzzle’ if we have a synergy on board to exploit.
Ramunap Excavator - Magus of the Crucible. Helps our lands.dec subtheme and does cleanup after any mass land destruction or lands that we’ve sacrificed. Great with the fetches, super great with Glacial Chasm.
Springbloom Druid - Harrow on a stick is nice early ramp. Helps Titania, helps Nissa, helps landfall and is more abusable than the spell version. Plus, if you don't want your lands wrecked it is a may ability.
Beast Whisperer – Our super solid draw engine, most of the deck will trigger this ability. It was at one point Soul of the Harvest, but I've decided that speed and a lower CMC are more crucial than a trampler. One of the fundamental engines of advantage in this deck, goes well with Wirewood Symbiote if needed.
Bramble Sovereign - Does nothing on its own, but gives us plenty of ways to a)fill the board, and b)abuse a ton of ETB triggers. We can use the trigger on other players' creature casts too, if it suits.
Spike Weaver - Fog on a stick. While we can't give it more counters, we can bounce it plenty and recur it plenty. For those times you can't find your Glacial Chasm.
Temur Sabertooth – One of the foundations of our bounce and ETB trigger system. The activated ability allows us to recur triggers when we want to, protect our key creatures if needed, and obviously gives a measure of protection to the Sabertooth itself. A strong card, even stronger in that it’s rather unassuming.
Karametra's Acolyte – If you’re going to mana dork, do it right. We’ve got a lot of devotion in the deck, and this can get really silly rather quickly. Our best play is swinging with Nacatl War-Pride before using the Acolyte; this gives us (3x)+3 green mana, where x is the number of defending creatures. Predominantly we’re using this mana for Squall Line blowouts or mana sink for draw or removal, but can also give us a massive pump with Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or turn a lot of lands into creatures.
Polukranos, World Eater – One of the more unique ways in which green can remove creatures. It needs a bit of mana to see a huge ton of removal, but it’s a handy tool regardless. If it survives its activated ability it makes a decent beater in combat, and if our mana game is on point we can use it's ability immediately.
Titania, Protector of Argoth – Titania is a really strong win condition. I like her ETB trigger – for what it’s worth, there are a couple of lands that can use it to eke out a little extra advantage. Predominantly, though, she’s here to make an army of elementals. There’s a few synergies to take advantage of this – Wave of Vitriol, Sylvan Safekeeper, Constant Mists, and lands that sac themselves.
Seedborn Muse - Incredibly strong control option. Gives us options to cause shenanigans outside of our turn, and lets us reuse our mana for various sinks.
Acidic Slime – Another strong ETB trigger, similar to Reclamation Sage, this one will likely be a sleeper in your hand until you need the trigger or a rattlesnake.
Baru, Fist of Krosa – We’re mono green, so we’re playing lands. Baru makes our creatures count significantly in combat. There’s a couple of nifty interactions, too. Mirage Mirror can copy him, so if you can recur him to hand with Eternal Witness or Nostalgic Dreams you can get yourself an enormous worm. Collective Voyage will make his first ability really just silly, too. As well as this, I've been playing the guy for 2 years without reading him properly. His first ability triggers whenever any forest comes into play, not just yours. This makes Collective Voyage and Wave of Vitriol legitimate overrun finishers with any sort of decent boardstate. It also means any x/g players ramping have a larger wall to overcome swinging into us, making combat a choice between ramp or damage. Talk about value!
Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar – Mostly, Multani is here to be big. Thankfully, it’s something he does well. Reach and trample make him fearsome in combat, both defensively and offensively. And his third ability has some mild landfall synergies, which can come in handy with multiple cards.
Rampaging Baloths – Essentially, this guy is the other side of the Titania coin. Both create big tokens, and this guy is decently big enough to hold his own in combat if needed.
Nacatl War-Pride – This guy has a couple of uses – firstly he will take out any and all blockers for any one player, leaving them open for alpha strike. Secondly, he will generate a ton of mana with Karametra’s Acolyte. It seems like a lot of mana to play, but he’s very strong.
Brutalizer Exarch – A pretty weird ETB trigger, but when you need it you need it. Being able to tuck a titan or something easily recoverable via reanimation is damn strong, and he’s one of the few pseudo-tutor ways to find a specific answer and bring it to hand.
Woodland Bellower – Probably one of the stronger ETB triggers in the deck, this guy is eminently abusable. An immediate extra ETB trigger for draw, ramp, recursion, or tutelage for 6CMC creatures, with enough mana we can string together a lot of triggers for some serious advantage. It also helps that he’s got a decent body, too.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa – Kamahl ends games. He’s a really solid threat against board sweepers, and the most obscene mana sink in green. Multiple overruns in one turn? Forget about it.
Pathbreaker Ibex – Similar but different to Craterhoof Behemoth. Instead of counting the size of your army, the goat counts the size of your biggest creature. That can be pretty big in this deck (my record to date stands at a pump of +23/+23). The only thing I miss in this guy is haste, but regardless, this goat is really strong. I’m not even sure I’d prefer Craterhoof, to be completely honest. I think this guy fits better.
Duplicant – An obviously strong inclusion, being able to reuse this trigger again and again won’t win you any friends, but it will win you some serious advantage. Duplicant has obvious synergy with our ETB trigger engine, and if we can exile something big he makes good friends with Pathbreaker Ibex.
Tornado Elemental – The ETB trigger on this guy is really strong. It has obvious strength for mono green, but I’ve also found it good as a political tool, too. Given that we can find our creatures with relative ease, bringing a whole ton of fliers down can render some favours. I really like that he has combat evasion, too. It’s not always handy, but when you need it you need it; this can be used to redirect damage to planeswalkers too, if needed.
Regal Force – This guy is here for his crazy look, and his crazy ETB trigger. It really doesn’t take much of a board presence to make the trigger count for a lot.
Hornet Queen – 7 mana for 5 deathtouch creatures with 6/6 total power and toughness is really nice. The queen fills a weak spot for green with flying defense, and being able to abuse the trigger makes this eminently playable.
Terastodon – 8 mana for a 9/9 is decent. Being able to destroy three noncreature permanent is also decent. I’ve seen a fair share of bad feels from this guy, so as a personal piece of advice, don’t hit lands unless you need to. He’s hard to cheat into play, but not impossible. I couldn’t care less about 3 elephants roaming about the place, it’s a trade that favours us almost every time.
Emrakul, the Promised End – I really like Emrakul being in here as a super strong cast trigger and a strong combat option that will likely be cheaper than a full 13 to cast. This is about as fair as Mindslaver gets, too. Ideally you’re going to close out the game for the opponent before they get their extra turn, but that all depends whom you’re choosing. There's always a chance you could bounce and recast, but I'd probably be careful with that unless you're gaming hard. No one likes walking away with bad feels.
Planeswalkers
Garruk Wildspeaker – All 3 abilities are relevant, but it's really the first ability we're here for. Early game he gives us an extra 2 mana at least per turn. Late game the overrun is a great finisher.
Nissa, Vital Force – A really strong and versatile planeswalker. 5 loyalty for 3GG is really nice. Her +1 is good acceleration, with a beater if needed. Her -3 is great redundancy, even if it can’t fetch instants or sorceries. Her ultimate is crazy card advantage for doing what we’re already doing, and if we want we can zero her to get that sweet emblem second turn she's in play.
Nissa, Sage Animist - It's sort of a freebie on the back of our commander, but counts for a ton. Most of the time we’re going to be spamming the +1 for draw and lands, it’s where most of her value lies. And it's fantastic value. In a real pinch you can get her token, but I don’t think I’ve ever once done it, nor needed it. Her ultimate is strong, but not necessarily game ending. Great for a big Squall Line, and if we have Titania, Protector of Argoth in play I don’t mind swinging with man lands. The other really unexpected way she gets value for us is drawing attention; people swing at her a ton, and it works great for us that they do.
Enchantments
Burgeoning - Obviously stronger early than late, it will help us flip Nissa more immediately early game. Late game, we're using it to make the most of Nissa, Vital Force's emblem, make beasts or give us combat pump on someone else's turn. It can also land a utility land or rejuvenate our landbase after sac's late game too. A nice way to sneak a Glacial Chasm or Winding Canyons into play.
Concordant Crossroads – We can do all of the things, and we can do them immediately! So can everyone else, but for G this is crazy good. Makes our Rampaging Baloths and Pathbreaker Ibex truly dangerous right now instead of a distant threat.
Lignify - A cheap control tool for difficult creatures. Not as strong as Song of the Dryads, but it is good.
Cream of the Crop – It’s cheap pseudo-scry whenever a creature enters our battlefield. If things are generally going well and I have what I need, I’m sometimes comfortable enough to just ignore the trigger. If I don’t have what I need or want, this can help me find it, and it can dig really, really deep.
Song of the Dryads – YOUR COMMANDER IS A TREE. Saying that is always fun, especially for a problematic commander. It’s a versatile pseudo-removal option, and has cute synergy with Mirage Mirror; the mirror copies the original card, not the enchantment. Very nice that it can nullify any permanent, too.
Growing Rites of Itlimoc – A one-time topdeck fix, this is going to flip most of the time we have occasion to cast it. I struggle to think of a time I’d cast it if it didn’t.
Abundance – An underrated staple, Abundance gives you more of what you want when you want it, for each draw trigger. You want land, you can draw land. You want nonland, it shall be so. Note also that the trigger is a replacement effect. This will rarely be relevant, but when you’re about to draw out, you can choose to draw something you don’t have any of, fail to find it, and stay in the game.
Wilderness Reclamation - I'm currently playtesting this. It gives us a few options outside of our turn, makes sure we can hit sink mana outside of combat and helps for things like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Tireless Tracker's clues. (I ended up going to Seedborn Muse here instead - why do anything half-assed?)
Zendikar Resurgent - It's come in and out of the deck a few times. Both abilities are strong, and if it's not dealt with it will help close games with a surge of advantage on the table and in the hand.
Artifacts
Swiftfoot Boots - Instant haste for your Multani, War-Pride, or whatever else needs to be active at this very moment. Has since been upgraded to Concordant Crossroads - this is a fine budget replacement where needed though.
Mirage Mirror – This thing is literally the Magic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. It can be anything you want it to be for a turn.
Cloudstone Curio – Gives us a way to abuse our ETB triggers. This can apply to lands, enchantments, planeswalkers, and it’s conveniently a ‘may’ clause. It takes the right hand to make the most of it, but when it works, it works very, very well. This and Wood Elves, Nissa, Vastwood Seer, Reclamation Sage can ramp you out quicker than the rest of the board, control the board state and protect you from commander tax. All at the same time. It doesn't go infinite here, but it's damn strong nonetheless.
Panharmonicon – Does one thing very specifically – doubles our ETB triggers. This is a really strong effect for no extra outlay, but it will be a target when it lands.
Instants
Crop Rotation – There’s a lot to love about this card. It costs G, it’s instant speed, it fetches any land directly to the battlefield untapped. The additional cost of sacrificing a land is mostly inconsequential, but can give us an elemental if we have Titania, Protector of Argoth in play. Otherwise, we're mostly going to use this to search for a specific effect. It's not always big mana, though we have that option. If we want quick creatures it's Winding Canyons, if we want a fortress of impenetrable solitude it's Glacial Chasm and so on.
Constant Mists – Fog is nice, repeatable fog is even nicer. Sacrificing land isn’t the end of the world. We can get it back if we need it, and it helps Titania, Protector of Argoth build an army. If your opponents aren't tearing their hair out, you're doing it wrong.
Squall Line – Our one-shot win condition. It can clear the skies, but ideally we’re also playing this with Glacial Chasm in play.
Beast Within – Destroy one thing, you can have a token. There’s a reason this is staple, it’s a very strong, very versatile card.
Realms Uncharted - It's a strange ramp, but its handy. Most people don't have an idea of what they're picking, so it's easy enough to hide what you really want behind something a bit more scary like Rogue's Passage or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
Force of Vigor - Potentially free multiple removal at instant speed. Flexible and reliable.
Sorceries
Collective Voyage - Having 9 mana on turn 2 is supremely beneficial. It's pretty rare to find someone who won't contribute, and it benefits them, but it makes things incredibly easier for us too. This card is slowly becoming one of my absolute favourites to play. It makes games awesome, whatever the outcome is. It does still require judicial use, however; be very aware of the boardstate you're ramping, as if you're not able to take advantage of this immediately you may be winning the game for someone else.
Green Sun's Zenith – Tutoring to battlefield is nice, as is being occasionally reusable. The last thing I want with tutoring answers is having to reveal what I’ve found, so this is the all-purpose tutor of choice for Nissa. Strong effect and a resilient spell.
Finale of Devastation - Our 'finisher'creature fetch. It's a lot of mana to sink, but we're capable of managing it mostly. I love the flexibility of being able to grab something from the yard or library, and I love the pump effect too.
Life from the Loam – Super strong land recursion, this card is a machine all on its own. Makes sure we hit our land drops, gets back used up utilities, reusuable for a reasonable price.
Nissa's Triumph – Modal, flavoured land tutor. Best case scenario this picks us precisely the lands we need, worst case scenario it helps us hit land drops. With two iterations of Nissa in the deck there's every chance this plays out very well.
Nostalgic Dreams – This essentially functions as our late game hand-sculptor. I don’t mind pitching a whole lot of lands to get what I need to win, and this is otherwise reasonably costed. Occasionally it’ll play nicely with Splendid Reclamation, but it does enough on its own.
Scapeshift - Part ramp, part specific land tutor. Great with Titania, Multani, landfall triggers and Ramunap Excavator.
Hour of Promise - Finds us specific lands, puts them into play. Costs a little, but when you need a specific utility land, this is going to find it. Has since been replaced, but this would do fine in a pinch.
Shamanic Revelation – Regal Force the sorcery, with life gain almost guaranteed. Explosive draw for a reasonable cost. The life gain is more relevant than you’d think too, it’s saved me many a game. For extra stupid draw, swing with Nacatl War-Pride and cast this in the second main phase.
Seasons Past – A very strong recursion option, can pick up any card type, in multiples at a time, and shuffles. Gives us options for ETB triggers, landfall, specific lands, just generally a really strong card that gets us precisely what we need.
Wave of Vitriol – Excellent board control. Playing this will not always be the right option; like any sweeper it’s up the player to time it right. But this can turn the tide for us, especially with specific cards on the field. It will generally trigger a decent landfall and a decent land death, so either Rampaging Baloths or Titania, Protector of Argoth benefit from casting this. Because it nukes our artifacts, there’s a fair chance it will cause us to change track, but we’re capable of doing that. It can also cause some hurt feelings; at the end of the day I'm not too worried about this, it's about as fair and land destruction gets, but 5C decks suffer more than most, and this makes an expensive manabase weep tears of blood.
Lands
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx – Our big mana option number one. Usually one of our first choices with Crop Rotation. Obviously doesn’t do a lot with an empty board, so there’s times it won’t be the right play, but mostly it does very well.
Mosswort Bridge – My favourite recent play with this was a turn one hideaway of Boundless Realms, boosting me from 8 mana at turn 5 to 16. It’s a strong surprise option.
Rogue's Passage – We run some big creatures, so this can help us knock a player out in one blow occasionally.
Reliquary Tower - Some of our draw can be unpredictably enormous, so this is really helpful. It’s often a significant target for Crop Rotation, too.
Ghost Town – A consistent landfall trigger, or Nissa switch if we need it. Until recently I'd forgotten this card even existed, but I'm very glad to have rediscovered it.
Thespian's Stage – Makes sure I always have the options of the strongest utility land on the battlefield. Can give me options for shenanigans with Song of the Dryads if the occasion presents itself.
Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Warped Landscape - Mono fetch lands. These have proved to be, surprisingly, a really great addition. They enter untapped and get silly with any combination of Lotus Cobra, Ramunap Excavator, Titania, Protector of Argoth and such engines. A combination of the aformentioned gives you a great boost, but even one of them and the fetch lands is really valuable and a great early game boost.
Blasted Landscape - The only cycling land that enters untapped, it's a valuable draw if needed.
Dryad Arbor - It's a forest, a chump blocker, a trigger for landfall, Multani buff, death trigger for Titania, and a Panharmonicon trigger[/c]. Granted, a land with summoning sickness is debatable, but a T1 Green Sun's Zenith into Dryad Arbor is decent.
Winding Canyons - Everything is better at instant speed, and for some reason my meta seems to ignore the threat this presents. Really strong, gives me the option of untapping with a hasty Pathbreaker Ibexand so on.
Buried Ruin – Utility land – there’s not a ton of ways to get our key artifact pieces back, so this is not unwelcome.
Mirrorpool – Lots of options here. We run enough colorless land to make it usable most of the time, and there is a glut of things to copy, both in terms of creatures and spells. As a sac-land, also has synergy with Titania, Protector of Argoth.
Crystal Vein – Burst mana – Doesn’t enter untapped, so can give me either 1 or 2 immediately.
Glacial Chasm – Our fortress of impenetrable solitude. Add Squall Line and sufficient mana for a win, or hold out behind your fortress until you have a way to generate further advantage. Usually you’re best to leave this in hand until you need it, as cumulative upkeep means you can’t leave it on field indefinitely. That being said, Ranumap Excavator allows you to not pay its upkeep, sac it and replay it to reset the age counters for minimal life loss.
Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun - Comes last, as it's not always a land. Regardless, easy to flip here, and totally worth it. Obviously not as strong as Gaea's Cradle, but regardless it's a strong land.
Optimizing/Notable Exclusions
At present, there really isn’t much I’d like to add to the list. There’s some staples that would be nice, some that I'm interested in testing, and others that would take the deck in a drastically different direction. Here’s what I'd consider top of the pile:
Creatures
Solemn Simulacrum - Decent ramp, the reasons he's not in here is that I don't have a spare, and there are very few ways for me to really abuse his second ability. I can see playtesting it at some point, but it definitely has more value in a multicoloured deck and/or with ways to sacrifice it.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - stupid mana and card draw. She could tow some real weight here. It is conditional, so it might need some building around.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - I guess I just don't see the need. By the time we have that much mana we're looking in other directions anyway, but also people don't like their mana screwed with, so it paints a target, big time.
Bane of Progress - obviously not a high budget addition, I've toyed with it being in here, but some of my artifacts are really crucial. I may yet playtest, as it's a really strong ability and will end up being enormous, invariably.
Oracle of Mul Daya - Could be a very strong ramp engine, the only reason I don't play it is it's price - card really needs a reprint. Wayward Swordtooth is an option too, but Oracle has probably the best options for utility. Note - I'm currently trying out Wayward Swordtooth as an extra land option that's favourable in combat. I also like that I don't need to reveal any information with it, so it may stick around.
Craterhoof Behemoth - A game ender, although more useful in a swarm deck than it would be here. I don’t see a need to add it at present. That being said, with…
Avenger of Zendikar - ...this bad guy, the partner in crime, games would end. As they usually do. If I were to add one, I would likely add both, but I probably won’t, either way. Partly this is because I prefer to take the path less walked, and Avengerhoof is a road that's been walked again and again.
Woodfall Primus - Repeatable destruction on a strong, resilient beater. Since reprint, I've considered adding this in. The only deterrent to this is it's casting cost.
Prowling Serpopard – A meta-dependent choice, it could see a space. Depends how much blue you see, I’m fairly happy without this effect at present, but of course your mileage may vary.
Non-Creatures
Natural Order - Strong tutor, although the sac doesn't help out in any way.
Tooth and Nail - A game ender. Could be of use here, depending on how competitive you want to get. Again, if I were to add Avengerhoof, this would be a good option. It just seems too boring to want to have it here though.
Worldly Tutor - Not quite as useful as these first two, but a damn sight cheaper to cast. What really turns me off about most tutors for this deck is the reveal clause, and this is no exception. This deck thrives on the element of surprise, so I don’t like this here.
Survival of the Fittest - Really strong tutor engine, and it could see use here. I'd prefer not to have to recur creatures, but this could get you the answer you need, when you need it. Again, revealing is antithetical, but it’s a strong engine that comes down early. Damn has it shot up in price though!
Exploration - Would likely be a very strong add. If a reprint came along I'd consider it, but at it's present price I'm not interested.
Earthcraft - It wouldn't be as useful here as in a dedicated swarm, but that's not to say it isn't damn strong. It'd give us a bit more mana to play with outside of our turn, but I don’t really feel like that’s quite necessary right now.
Traverse the Outlands - Given that we have some sizable creatures from time to time, this could be a truly explosive ramp spell - it's a straight swap for Boundless Realms, with a slightly smaller cost.
Sylvan Library - Really good draw option - either 4 life per card or rearranging the top deck could be of use, although I’m in no hurry to pay this much for what Abundance does just fine.
Karn Liberated - For that non-negotiable removal action, I'd consider him if I had a copy. Damned expensive, and will remain so most likely. Still, being able to repeatedly Beast Within once a turn is great value.
Sword of Feast and Famine - Easily the most applicable sword of X and Y here, this would really only enter to give us extra mana if or when we want it out of turn. It gives pro-green though, so I’m no rush to add it.
Vedalken Orrery - It changes the way you play. It could be really helpful, but then if you NEED it, you're probably best changing general to Yeva, Nature's Herald. A lot of our wins are going to come from keeping quiet until we have what we need and going from 0-100. Everything is better at instant speed, but it does nothing on its own.
Crucible of Worlds - If you have it, it could be good for redundancy. But then 1)It's not a creature and therefore 2)Is not tutorable with our toolbox, and also is 3)Dizzyingly expensive
Lands
Gaea's Cradle - The obvious. It would be a very strong addition here, as it is in every deck. I don’t see it as necessary, especially considering the cost, but if you have it there’s no reason it wouldn’t be the very strong addition it always is.
Ancient Tomb - I'd be happy to see a copy in here, early starts are really valuable.
Deserted Temple - For burst mana purposes, obviously. Less valuable than some of the other big mana options, but still of value.
Strip Mine - This deck could easily support a land destruction package. It's not my thing, but if your meta supports it, you could.
Maze of Ith - Secret tech for guaranteed enormous mana every turn cycle with Nacatl War-Pride and Karametra's Acolyte. I’d love a copy, and this is likely to be an add at some point once I can track it down at a reasonable price.
Hall of the Bandit Lord - Haste on demand, this is really valuable. This is on my watch list, it would make my plays a lot quicker.
Cavern of Souls - there's not enough tribal support that you know what you're naming every time you play this, but you probably have an answer in hand that you don't want to whiff. This could help. I'm not in a rush to add it, personally.
Obviously, these are all value cards - add them or not as you feel fit; the list at present is strong and plays just fine without most of this.
Synergies
For what amounts to a comparatively budget list at about $200 all up, this deck performs admirably. It ramps well, outpaces decks often, has a good degree of versatile control, and has been known to win out of nowhere shortly after being kicked Sadistic Sacramented.
Part of the reason this is possible is that there are a lot of avenues the deck can take towards a win. There are a lot of synergies, explosive plays, and broader strategies available, and more or less every card in the list at present serves a specific purpose, if not more than one. What follows is a somewhat exhaustive detailing of some of the stronger synergies present:
Mirage Mirror
Yes, it deserves it’s own section. Rather than list every interaction, it's easier just to list the cards that Mirage Mirror can imitate for benefit (at last count, it’s 33 – that’s 1/3 of the entire deck!!):
It's probably worth noting that once the Mirror has copied something it loses its ability. So, in terms of functionally using it as whatever you're copying it pays to make the decision carefully based on what you most need to achieve. You can stack the ability, which in some decks can be of benefit. I guess in some ways it could come in handy here, although I can't think of any strong synergy to stacking the ability here; other than boosting devotion very slightly, triggering a legendary or planeswalker sacrifice. Maybe it would be of benefit to copy something that requires activation under a passive object like Panharmonicon - that way it would still double ETB effects, but you could also use the activated ability you're after.
Strategy
I'm going to preface this section with something of a foreword; in general, as fun as this deck can be, it's generally as good as the person piloting it. That's not to say that you can't pick it up, have a great time, and likely do well. It just generally does better when you're alert and keeping the rest of the table well in check; occasionally it will stomp mudholes in 3 other players and not blink, but there's times where it will need a delicate touch and some subtlety to make sure you don't get targeted. This is partly because some of the components we use look enormously threatening on their own but need something else on board to win a game, and partly because the deck is capable of explosive passages of play that advance us pretty quick. It makes people nervous, and nervous people will break your things. All this being said, with some subtlety, a little bit of friendly rapport, and being helpful towards the table you can make someone else look worse and still creep ahead.
How and when to use Nissa
It's not a commonplace thing to have a creature and a planeswalker in the command zone, so it's probably worth expounding a little on how best we make use of her.
Essentially, as a creature, she is Civic Wayfinder. Early in the game that can be handy - she'll help us keep land drops going. If you're mana screwed, don't be afraid to use her that way. Especially if you have access to Wirewood Symbiote, Panharmonicon, Cloudstone Curio, or Temur Sabertooth. It's not the ideal, but if you need it you need it. Any of these will avoid commander tax, so we're not too bothered.
If we're hitting our land drops, we want to hold off on casting her until we hit 7, or 6 if we have land in hand. If the latter is the case, drop Nissa then land, not the other way around; her flip ability is almost landfall, it's not enough to have the requisite lands in play, a land has to hit the field. (Aside: There may be times you can use this to advantage, I guess. If you really need Nissa to stay a creature she can. That being said, she's puny so the concept of killing via commander damage is probably a pipe dream with this deck. Never say never, but it's probably a stretch.)
Once she flips (and in most cases the sooner the better), we're basically getting either an Exploration effect per turn or a free draw per turn. She's a card advantage engine first and foremost through her +1 ability. Her second ability, while flavourful, really doesn't do enough to justify playing in most cases and is easily outclassed by her first ability. You're going to use the latter to keep your hand full, your lands dropping, and getting yourself some win cons or key pieces. The ultimate we're really only using if we need to. If you have a win con and need 6+ mana, fire away. If you need blockers, or have a lands.dec play with Titania, or need extra mana, use it. Essentially, though, if you don't need to use it or can't close a game by using it, hit that +1 every time.
In terms of defending her, I usually don't worry too much about it. Early game I might be a little more concerned with protecting the creature, and we can do that with appropriate bounce effects as they come, and benefit from repeated castings. Later in the game though, I'm far less worried. All going well, she'll be a walker and our opponents will have bigger threats to worry about. Realistically, most of the time our opponents will write her off as an invisible general that does nothing, which is exactly what we want. Even when she does get targeted (and it does happen sometimes), your opponents are usually assessing the threats we pose incorrectly, and should be directing their attention elsewhere; I'm more than happy for Nissa to take the hit if it allows me to play freely otherwise.
As tempting as it is to keep some of the bigger creatures, they're no good to you early. Hardcasting them isn't as good value as we're capable of, so if you're pulling hands of fatties, mulligan with confidence. The deck CAN manage with a 2 land hand, provided you have enough early gas in hand (most of the aforementioned cards will do) to keep ramping and get a boardstate, but you will be relying on luck to some extent. It's doable though, this engine runs on the smell of an oily rag so it can pay off.
Early Game
Ideally we want to be pushing lands onto the battlefield with some ETB effects and setting up some draw, and we want to be doing it quickly. We want to hit 6-7 lands before casting Nissa, play another to flip her and set up our advantage engine. After this point, we’re going to be keeping an eye on on-board threats, keeping a full grip with Nissa’s +1, and dropping land as it comes. What you have in your hand for onboard threats should inform as to what to do with those lands and when, but this also will depend on what your opponents are doing. I’ve found it best to keep quiet early, build resources, and wait for someone to reveal their game plan.
Mid Game
We're now looking to leverage the big mana we have. Nissa, Sage Animist should be in play and everything going well, we're only using her first ability. If we NEED to we can generate her token, but I've only ever done it once. Her +1 is either draw or landfall, either way is fine. We should now be gaining advantage via ETB effects, draw, landfall effects. Once we’ve done threat assessment around the table and seen game plans reveal themselves, we want to make those plans harder. You can get mean with this if you really want to. Enough mana on board and we can blow out people’s land bases with Terastodon and Panharmonicon, or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Duplicant + Temur Sabertooth or some other variation of these effects. I tend not to - people get salty and they’ll never treat your deck the same way again. However, there is something to be said for scaling to the table - this deck can game hard if everyone else is; from a political perspective it's better not to stand out unless you have to though.
Late Game
We have plenty of win cons here - Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and lots of mana is a walk over, plays well into Titania, Protector of Argoth if needed, Pathbreaker Ibex is likely a game over if it lasts a turn or gets flashed in. Emrakul, the Promised End can end games obviously, and with enough mana Squall Line will do it too, leaving you unscathed. Most of these win cons don't need to wait until 'late in the game' - we can move quickly enough to find them early-mid game, and the chances of your opponents being prepared is slim - this deck is now responsible for my quickest ever win, through a turn 5 Shaman of Forgotten Ways activation. Nissa's ultimate can help too, as bare minimum 6 burst mana out of nowhere can be really handy. Still, it should be reassuring enough to know that we have multiple ways of finding these cards, or bringing them back if needed again via Eternal Witness, Nostalgic Dreams, Seasons Past and Nissa, Vital Force. It does pay to get the timing right on your win cons, so sitting on them may be a good option nonetheless. But knowing you can get them early is reassuring, and also helps us plan a few steps ahead of our opponents.
If things don’t go according to a plan, it’s also really important to know that this deck is pretty decent at just keeping a presence on the field. As long as you have something in play and a few lands, this deck is damn hard to keep down. And in a really rough game, that’s often what will get you over the line - having gas in the tank long after everyone else has run out. In that respect, be prepared with a win con if you have it, but don’t be too worried if it doesn’t come together cleanly. If you can disrupt, survive, or dig you can stay in the game. The more I play this deck the more I realize that it’s capable of versatility around a lot of weird boardstates. So don’t be afraid to make a risky weird play or do things that might look crazy from the outside. I often hear “What are you doing? That doesn’t make sense....oh.” This deck loves those moments and handles them well. The deck is designed so that there’s enough synergy between multiple pieces that if you keep doing stuff, eventually two or more effects will come together that do something cool. Often it's a case of choosing to either advance your plan and make a move, or keep your opponents on the back foot; assessing which option is more appropriate is entirely the place of the pilot.
27/9/17
In Nacatl War-Pride - strong mana and combat evasion option Jungle Basin - utility land for landfall and for additional mana
Out Asceticism - was constantly irrelevant Forest - removed in favour of utility
11/6/18
In: Greater Good - added for strong draw engine
Out: Realms Uncharted - removed to playtest other options
9/7/18
In: Wayward Swordtooth - Extra land on a decent body for cheap. I like most aspects of this card, and its playtested well so far. Chord of Calling - Brought this back in for further playtesting, and it's been very valuable. Realms Uncharted - Brought back in for further playtesting, and it solves the issues I wanted it to; finding utility lands and providing early ramp.
The ETB tapped lands were really slowing things down, and I was only ever playing them when I had no other option, which is never a good place to be. The super cheap fetches don't enter tapped, trigger landfall, get a forest at instant speed when I want one and don't slow me down. They've been really good thus far, simply because they're simple and uncomplicated. Blasted Landscape is much the same, it's the only cycling land that doesn't enter tapped, so it's the best of both worlds.
I've been straying away from Wild Pair recently and haven't missed altogether, so Zendikar Resurgent is taking a spin in its seat. I haven't drawn it yet to try it, but we will see. Burgeoning is a decent way to get land drops early to flip Nissa, or to trigger landfall later on. I've always liked what Song of the Dryads does, so a second (albeit slightly weaker) version is worth a spot.
In: Mosswort Bridge - Free stuff is always good and this will trigger so easily it's a no-brainer Great Oak Guardian - Flash is nice Goblin Charbelcher - With the amount and speed of ramp here, this represents a reasonably effective way of dealing with problematic creatures and some burn to the face. Besides which, doesn't interfere with things too much due to key pieces like Wild Pair and Woodland Bellower being able to tutor for what's needed anyway.
Out: Forest Nissa's Pilgrimage - There's not really the depth of instant and sorcery cards to make this a worthwhile spot. Hunter's Prowess - Draw has never been a problem here, and I don't want to force myself to turn sideways into an unfavourable situation to draw the cards I need.
- How helpful is Squall Line, and how do you use it? I feel like it's probably a finisher or something that closes the game after they thought that wrath stabilized them, but not the 40 dmg to everyone kind of thing it might be in other decks? also it's an instant (I think it's under sorceries on your list)
- Where is Genesis? This guy is one of the best reasons to run green, if you ask me, and in any ETB based deck he's amazing. Extra good with High Market. And on the topic of recursion, what do you think of Regrowth? too small an effect, especially given you already have Eternal Witness? Maybe wildest Dreams? I just get worried that I'll draw Creeping Renaissance right when I want to recur a non-permanent; that's what kept happening to me when I tested it (but then, I run more non-permanents than you).
- How do you feel about Scavenging Ooze? A decent grave-hate card but perhaps doesn't do enough, and you already have Loaming Shaman, which has a much stronger immediate effect (though less beatdown)
- As for cuts, you could probably drop Wild Wanderer? You have this effect in spades already. Archetype of Endurance also, he seems good but there's probably more game-winning things you can do with 8 mana, and he dies to wraths. Architect of the Untamed also feels real slow to me, but then I'm on the outside looking in.
- Farhaven Elf could be turned into Yavimaya Dryad pretty easily, and who knows, you might win off forestwalk damage one day (though maybe a 2/1 throws off your Wild Pair math?)
- How has Stingerfling Spider been performing? I love that it's green creature removal, but I worry that it might be too narrow. It would definitely catch people by surprise though
Anyway just some thoughts Nice list, keep stomping fools with Basilisks!
(mostly the answers are - I don't have a copy, but there are exceptions)
- why no Vedalken Orrery or Yeva, Nature's Herald? Both of those seem super helpful. Right now the deck can do very little on opponent's turns. I would consider turning Desert Twister into Scour from Existence for that reason. And if you can cast creatures at instant speed, Rhonas' Monument will get that much better.
I can see either in here. It would give me a little more control over how and when I'm getting triggers, and at instant speed I can disrupt a little more effectively. I was hesitant to add Yeva, Nature's Herald, though I can't for the life of me remember why. I even have a copy so it should really come into the deck. Scour from Existence is a strict upgrade and I have a copy, so I don't see why it shouldn't be in here. I can afford the cmc.
- Fog should be Moment's Peace or Constant Mists or maybe Snag or Tangle... it's not hard to do better than Fog unless you're really married to that 1cc cost
Of the suggestions here I only have Constant Mists, and without Crucible of Worlds which I definitely can't afford, I'm hesitant to start saccing lands. That being said, Drownyard Temple I have a copy of and could see a place here.
- How helpful is Squall Line, and how do you use it? I feel like it's probably a finisher or something that closes the game after they thought that wrath stabilized them, but not the 40 dmg to everyone kind of thing it might be in other decks? also it's an instant (I think it's under sorceries on your list)
Squall Line is my "hold back in case of sweeper", similar to Creeping Renaissance and Praetor's Counsel. I like a degree of resilience to my decks, and it's nice to have a contingency plan. Truth be told I've yet to draw into it, but I sort of see it as a contingency/ finisher. I'm aware it deals to each player and not each opponent though.
- if it's off flavor that's all good, but I'd suggest Emrakul, the Promised End and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and maybe even Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. You have enough ramp to play them, they have brutal cast triggers, and you have the tools to recycle those triggers with Temur Sabertooth and Invasive Species. You can even tutor Emrakul, the Promised End (the best of the three, IMHO) with Mwonvuli Beast Tracker.
I won't disagree with that assessment. I don't have spare copies of these. You'll see a Kozi list in my sig, so I definitely have copies of these, but I'm happy with where they are. If I had spares I'd consider running them, but unfortunately they're outside of my budget at present.
- you could probably include more utility lands, especially as you're running Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying; right now all they get is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which is strong, but you could have a whole toolbox here for very little cost in terms of deck space. Glacial Chasm might not be that good here since you want to attack, but Maze of Ith can buy you time, and even just stuff like Temple of the False God and High Market can be helpful. If you swap Fog for Constant Mists, consider adding Drownyard Temple. Also a cute thing to do is put in the Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage combo since they're both decent on their own, and bonus points if you throw in a few snow forests and run Into the North Wink
- Where is Genesis? This guy is one of the best reasons to run green, if you ask me, and in any ETB based deck he's amazing. Extra good with High Market. And on the topic of recursion, what do you think of Regrowth? too small an effect, especially given you already have Eternal Witness? Maybe wildest Dreams? I just get worried that I'll draw Creeping Renaissance right when I want to recur a non-permanent; that's what kept happening to me when I tested it (but then, I run more non-permanents than you).
The simple answer is I don't have a copy. I agree he's excellent. In saying that I don't really have the sac engines here to make him shine. Regrowth I don't see a need for right now - as you mention I have Eternal Witness, there's also Greenward of Murasa here too - I'd think twice before using his exile effect but redundancy is nice.
- How do you feel about Scavenging Ooze? A decent grave-hate card but perhaps doesn't do enough, and you already have Loaming Shaman, which has a much stronger immediate effect (though less beatdown)
I like the ooze. I don't have a copy, but it's the best grave-hate around no doubt. Loaming Shaman I'm more likely to use on myself than anyone else barring corner cases, as it pairs nicely with Wild Pair. I'd definitely consider getting the ooze in here at some point.
- As for cuts, you could probably drop Wild Wanderer? You have this effect in spades already. Archetype of Endurance also, he seems good but there's probably more game-winning things you can do with 8 mana, and he dies to wraths. Architect of the Untamed also feels real slow to me, but then I'm on the outside looking in.
Wild Wanderer could go, it's slightly overpriced for the effect. Archetype of Endurance is again good but overpriced, I'd drop it for any of Platinum Emperion, Patron of the Orochi, [card]Vorinclex,
Voice of Hunger[/card] or Woodfall Primus, all of which are at the same CMC. Architect of the Untamed in any other deck I would certainly agree - here, it's a solid trigger. Granted, it's expensive to create those tokens, but I'm ramping like crazy (as you'll know) anyway, and with Panharmonicon it goes nuts. Last time I played I kept forgetting the trigger and still ended up with close to 30 energy before I closed the game out. I also like that it can provide a chump blocker from nowhere at instant speed.
- Farhaven Elf could be turned into Yavimaya Dryad pretty easily, and who knows, you might win off forestwalk damage one day (though maybe a 2/1 throws off your Wild Pair math?)
Another one I don't have a copy of. Pretty cool card and more or less a slight upgrade, so if I saw a copy I'd add it.
- Aetherwind Basker is so badass and I love it
Agreed. He's nuts. He's probably a good reason to add Rogue's Passage. That being said, he's good enough value just as a rattlesnake to take attention away from other key pieces like Kamahl, Nylea and Rhonas even if he doesn't get an opportunity to swing.
- How has Stingerfling Spider been performing? I love that it's green creature removal, but I worry that it might be too narrow. It would definitely catch people by surprise though
It's ok, not perfect. Not every threat flies, so it's been held more often than not. Which is not ideal. I've been thinking of switching it out for something like Silklash Spider instead. It does tutor for Kamalh, Fist of Krosa which will 9/10 win me the game, but it's not the only card here that does that.
Thanks for the input, really good to get some areas to develop on!
Tempting Licid would make a good addition I think. It let's you "sacrifice" one of your cheap etb mana dorks to ensure your heavy hitters get through, and if you happen to be able to enchant Rhonas the Indomitable with it... good times.
Tempting Licid would make a good addition I think. It let's you "sacrifice" one of your cheap etb mana dorks to ensure your heavy hitters get through, and if you happen to be able to enchant Rhonas the Indomitable with it... good times.
That could be fun, it's like a WAY better Noble Quarry - which I had considered adding for just this reason. I'd definitely rather the licid, although tracking it down may be problematic due to its age and obscurity.
Since you ramp into so much forests, would that Great Oak Guardian not look better as Kalonian Twingrove? And maybe there's a place for Dungrove Elder in there?
Kalonian Twingrove goes well with Panharmonicon, but it doesn't Wild Pair well and has no evasion. I like it more than Dungrove Elder though. I guess Great Oak Guardian is relative protection against an alpha strike. It also has reach, so there's that, which is not nothing in mono green.
Not sure what that Goblin Charbelcher is doing in there, perhaps a Pokedex would be better?
My thinking was that the level of ramp I'm doing means that a)It'll pound out a pretty large amount of damage and be able to remove problematic creatures (which mono green doesn't have a lot of short of fight mechanics) or shoot degenerate damage straight to the face, and b)the 'bottom of library' clause won't matter hugely due to Wild Pair. Lifecrafter's Bestiary I've looked at as a really viable option here, do you have any experience with it you could share? I see no reason not to run both if the shoe fits.
If you have it, that Gaea's Touch really wants to be Exploration
I know it does and I don't. Gaea's Touch will do fine in the meantime, and it certainly doesn't get in the way of playing utility lands - it just means they need to be the first land I play.
I can second Squall Line as a good card to play. Nobody expects a green deck to finish with direct damage. It's like the Spanish Inquisition.
...And we all know nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Lifecrafters Bestiary is insanely good. The scry every turn even more so than the draw, though I always pay G extra. It's like a green Rhystic Study on steroids.
As for the Charbelcher, if you want to removd creatures and don't mind spending some mana to do so, Predator Flagship seems better suited for your needs. Kills any creature for 7 mana, and can give your own creatures flying to boot.
As for the Wild Pair issue, the Twingrove and Elder can actually find each other. And if you choose to run both, Dauntless Dourbark is a nice inclusion as well.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Predator Flagship seems better suited for your needs. Kills any creature for 7 mana, and can give your own creatures flying to boot.
It's certainly more versatile in being both offensive and defensive, and my wife has a copy. Mana won't be an issue either, so it could be a winner.
My issue with the Twingrove and Elder is more that they don't really do anything other than be big; I can beat most creatures without the need for fatties - Rhonas, Nylea and Kamahl make fatties. Granted there are some big guys in this deck, but that's not all they provide and that's why they're here. Great Oak Guardian isn't as big, but he's flying defense, buffs (twice in some circumstances), has the element of surprise, and (should I need it) synergises well with Hua Tuo, Honored Physician and Nullmage Shepherd. The other card I've been considering at that point in my curve is World Breaker - exile is powerful, it has reach, and recursion if needed. Pretty solid indeed.
1. I agree here. Tempting licid lets things get through. Failing that, taunting elf or nemesis mask will also do the job. Either licid or the mask is also a one sided wrath of god if you have an engulfing slagwurm forcing the block.
2. No comments. They serve different functions. I like great oak guardian, but he screams "combo enabler" to me.
3. Lifecrafter's bestiary probably is better here. Cream of the crop is probably superior to either, but I think this is already being run.
4. I respectfully disagree. It is important to note the wording on them. Exploration gives you an extra land drop, but if you have a way to recur the gaea's touch repeatedly and recast it, you can get additional forests out of it. Reason? Gaea's touch doesn't give you an additional land drop, it is an activated ability, meaning the multi land drop rule doesn't apply here.
5. No comments.
With regards to Archetype of Endurance, I could see you dropping it, but I personally don't like having my finishers blown up and for the price (money) you don't get any better. You do run few enough finishers that this effect is invaluable and short of asceticism, I don't see much beating it in mono green. I used to have the same problem in Yeva, Nature's herald. I added archetype of endurance and haven't looked back. Asceticism actually isn't as good for me.
2. The guardian has some utility to me over and above the other options presented. I'd happily remove him for something that gives me MORE utility, but I won't switch it out for less. It's definitely not there for combo, as I'm fairly sure I don't run any combo here.
3. Cream of the Crop isn't here, but I'd like a copy. I'd happily run both the Bestiary and Cream.
4. I wasn't aware of that. I know there's not many 'extra land' cards, but among them this would probably be fairly rare.
I'm in no rush to remove Archetype of Endurance. Yes it's expensive, but it pairs, protects, and the CMC is not an issue in this deck.
@Weltkrieg Now that I have your attention, I remember you mentioning you wouldn't run Yeva, Nature's Herald in this list. Do you remember the reasoning behind this? I feel it could be a reasonable add, although it could draw too much attention.
Because it would warp the play style is why I wouldn't run yeva in here. Yes, it is a good card. However, you will always find yourself searching for it, and it makes things like patron of the orochi or seedborne muse necessary, and neither of those does anything to help your mission, which is to gain massive advantage from enters the battlefield effects. None of the three really does that for you, they are only enablers, and you don't have a ton of activated abilities to capitalize on to the seedborne muse or patron of the orochi.
Fair enough. I think if Yeva, Nature's Herald were to be here, it would become central to the deck, and in that case I might as well lead with her. Not having a great degree of interaction during others' turns certainly isn't detracting from hitting lands, keeping a full grip and being a viable threat.
Oh yes, Great oak guardian is most definitely a combo piece. An infinite one, in fact. Of multiple kinds. He untaps karametra's acolyte. Assuming you have temur sabertooth, he returns to your hand. Assuming you have sufficient devotion, these three go infinite for both size and mana at instant speed. If you have a lifecrafter's bestiary down, then you just drew your deck. Last time I checked, this deck's main function was to puke up mana for days...he may be utility to you, and he is that, but by far and away he is also a win condition.
Sorry! I have been building janky Rube Goldberg decks for so long that it just screamed out to me. If I ever get my yeva list updated and posted there are going to be a lot of questions for the very same reasons...Actually, now that I think about it, this deck is all about etb effects. Why isn't soul of the harvest in here? For that matter, it does good things for you or bad things to your opponent, one of the very few green clerics, brutalizer exarch would probably like to be considered. I understand that for 6 mana, you can have something else, but almost nothing else will offer all the same modes this guy does on one critter and I am pretty sure there are plenty of things to wild pair it with.
The answer to both of those questions (as well as Woodfall Primus, Cloudstone Curio, and Fierce Empath) is that I don't have copies. It's frustrating, the cards might be cheap enough but that doesn't necessarily mean they're always easier to find.
Fair enough. I think if Yeva, Nature's Herald were to be here, it would become central to the deck, and in that case I might as well lead with her. Not having a great degree of interaction during others' turns certainly isn't detracting from hitting lands, keeping a full grip and being a viable threat.
You don't have to go all in with Yeva, she will enable you to keep information away from your opponents as they do not know what you will have on the battlefield until right before your next turn. It also makes you less susceptible to Wrath of God type effects, as people either not kill the card you would play with it, or because you can play one or two more creatures EOT to create a board state they would like to Wrath, but then they have to wait until you at least had a turn attacking with them. And she screws with opponent's combat math. TL;DR: She is good without actively having to go all in on her.
The answer to both of those questions (as well as Woodfall Primus, Cloudstone Curio, and Fierce Empath) is that I don't have copies. It's frustrating, the cards might be cheap enough but that doesn't necessarily mean they're always easier to find.
I don't know where you live, but in Europe Magiccardmarket.eu is the way to go and in the US I believe Cardkingdom.com is relatively cheap. Just mailorder what you need, all the cards we discussed so far are $1-$2 cards.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
It's a fair point. The pilgrimage has a possibility of being a one up on reach, however remote that might be in a deck with 12 non-permanent spells (so 11 other spells). That being said Animist's awakening is looking more and more underwhelming the longer I look at it. Worst case scenario, it's a bad Boundless Realms. Best case scenario you have the same amount of mana you started the turn with. And again that is conditional on 11 other non-permanent spells.
TL;DR: She is good without actively having to go all in on her.
She might be worth playtesting. It's worth seeing whether she impacts on the value my ETB effects have. My initial thoughts are she will draw ire from opponents and I'll get targeted more quickly than usual. But I'm happy to playtest.
I don't know where you live, but in Europe Magiccardmarket.eu is the way to go and in the US I believe Cardkingdom.com is relatively cheap. Just mailorder what you need, all the cards we discussed so far are $1-$2 cards.
I'm in New Zealand. I know the prices are not significant, partially it is a money thing as my wife and I are putting plans in place to buy a house this time next year, so every cent counts, and partially it's putting together a trade pile for a wad of store credit
While this deck is close to the top of my competitive pile, it's also not the only deck I'm trying to fine tune. Most of the lists in my sig have areas to improve. Having said that this deck will be remarkably easier to improve than most due to the low cost nature of the cards needed.
Yeva may not stay; if she warps the way the deck plays too much or is a dead draw, she's out. But there is a chance she could help a great deal. Scour is a strict upgrade for C, and the lands give me some utility and some more things to search for with Sylvan Scrying and Crop Rotation.
The changes are no surprise. If you want to take a look at my mono green yeva list for reference, I did post it in aslid's thread. It is 5 cards over (result of 4+ years of playing the deck and no small amount of tinkering), but the ideas should be similar.
In: Cream of the Crop - Keeping the charbelcher too for now - I want to at least test it, and I still have a couple of spots to fill anyway. Soul of the Harvest - About damn time.
Out: Wild Wanderer - I have cheaper versions of this trick. Primordial Sage - Slightly worse Soul of the Harvest. Would make more sense for Eldrazi titan style effects, but with ETB and bouncing tricks this is less useful.
I saw the list, good to see it. There's some really nice options in there to change combat math - things that don't initially look like a threat. I really like Nacatl War-Pride and Siege Behemoth. How helpful have you found Tornado Elemental? I feel like it's deserving of a spot to clear the skies in my list.
It's been incredibly solid. I like it both as a finisher option because it gets through and as a etb effect to really wipe out fliers. There are precious few that survive a 6 damage hurricane. I have many a fond memory of greater good on a board full of fatties in response to a living death . It see's a fair bit of play in my meta and I once sacrificed (and drawn/discarded) every creature in my deck to greater good in response to a living death only to reanimate them all thanks to the living death. One of my opponents creatures was archetype of imagination. Well, you can imagine how well that ended for him!
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Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
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Intro
About Me
Why Nissa?
Why Not Nissa?
Other Commander Options
The Decklist
Card Choices
Notable Exclusions
Synergies
Strategy
Changelog
Intro
There's a few members here to whom this list presents no surprise. This list has been discussed in the main forum, but it pretty well forms a complete list now
When I pulled Nissa from Origins, I knew she was strong; I knew I wanted to build around her, but her abilities are suitably vague enough that I wasn't sure what to do with her. Traditionally, I've struggled to build commanders without a clear build path, so this presented a challenge for me, and I do like those. I've had a lot of feedback and suggestions come through from MTGs for this list (see below), and I'm now really happy with it; it plays well, plays differently most games, has multiple avenues to achieve a win, can scale to a variety of tables, and most importantly - it's a lot of fun to play.
Before going any further, I should thank MTG salvation members weltkrieg, Iansisle (who runs a Yeva primer), aslidiksoraksi (who runs a Nissa Enchantress primer) and ertaiplaneswalker for providing some really valuable guidance and input towards this build. Their help has turned this from a reasonable casual list into a resilient, semi-competitive beast that can stay in a game against the odds, win from nowhere, and change strategies at a moment’s notice.
About Me
I’ve been playing Magic for many years. I started as a kid of 11, had a hiatus through high school, and started again when my wife dug up my old collection (I married a gamer, and I call it a win). I discovered EDH a few years later and have not given any other format a single look back since. I try to build my decks for synergy. I like the idea of being able to play a deck that plays differently each time, while still maintaining a reasonable level of flavour, enjoyment for myself and others, and has a degree of resilience to varying strategies. This deck is probably my closest to that particular set of specifications, and it's a really enjoyable experience. It's strong, it's unexpected, it offers political options in terms of providing board answers, and people seem to be really interested in what the deck looks like and what it does.
Why Nissa?
Nissa, Vastwood Seer is a subtle general - she ramps, but provides next to no onboard threat. A lot of players will look over her seeing that she's not going to kill anything any time soon. That's the beauty of her: She's unassuming, but throughout the game she provides a steady flow of ramp and pseudo-draw, without having a 'must-kill' profile like that of Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Omnath, Locus of Mana. Honestly, I'm usually glad when someone does waste a removal spell or effect on Nissa. It means I can cast her again (for next to nothing), re-land my hand, and 9 times out of 10 flip her straight away, and draw or ramp to battlefield. She's a great enabler, she's quick, can protect herself, and provides plenty of gas in lands and draw for the rest of the deck's engine. Essentially, she is the Spanish Inquisition - nobody expects her, and they almost always assess her as a threat incorrectly.
What we’re looking to achieve here is making sure that we have an answer that will get us through most of what gets thrown at us. Nissa gives us the mana to manage that, we’ve got options to bring answers to hand or battlefield, and our ability to present a win condition is good. We can make that happen quite quickly, and that’s part of the strength of the deck; we’re offering a reasonably short window in which opponents can shut us down, and if that does happen we have contingencies.
You’ll like playing Nissa if:
- You like a deck that doesn’t necessarily revolve around the commander
- You like playing permission and control in an unexpected colour
- You have no problem changing strategies as the game dictates
- You like to challenge yourself to think outside of the box, take risks, and think around corners
- You like to adapt the cards you play to solve problems in different ways every game
Why not Nissa?
This deck is not without weaknesses – no deck is. Green is low on creature removal, and this presents a stumbling block for Nissa. I’ve built around that as best as I can, but our options are few. We also struggle with nasty activated or triggered abilities. I’ve built to make this less of an issue, but green doesn’t run counters. We have to wait for stuff to be played before we can provide answers and that can leave us temporarily vulnerable.
The above problems are things we can definitely play around in most cases; the biggest issue with Nissa is reading the table correctly. A lot of our crucial plays are big and splashy, and it's important to time them well. Nissa and her pals can give us enough momentum that we can pull ahead pretty quick. It's going to draw attention, so be prepared to play somewhat politically and not make yourself an enemy to the table. Piloting the deck well takes some subtlety and timing, and that's something the cards themselves can't make up for.
You may not like playing Nissa if:
- You like a commander-centric strategy
- You like playing Voltron - Nissa's flip ability is not optional. She's not guaranteed to flip, but mostly she will. Commander damage is possible, just highly unlikely (have yet to unlock this achievement, but it may yet happen!)
- You like to keep a consistent playstyle throughout a game
- You like infinite strategies and combo
- You like to play permission (You’re looking for U)
Other Commander Options
Obviously, Nissa is not the only option for Mono Green EDH. There are plenty, and some of them are very good:
- Azusa, Lost but Seeking - A very similar commander. Grizzly Bears with two Explorations on it is nothing to sniff at, but comes with a substantial price tag, and a reputation. These last two points are the predominant reasons I don't have her either in the deck or at the helm. Nissa probably does come with a more versatile package, as Azusa is probably more of a mono green goodstuff Commander, given the ramp she allows.
- Omnath, Locus of Mana - Another very strong commander, Omnath probably lends more to an aggressive voltron or aggro build. Again, price could be a deterrent, and it probably is a reasonably different build to what I run here.
- Titania, Protector of Argoth - A very strong, very good commander. Runs very much down the lands.dec route, and there are all the makings of an excellent, super quick, competitive build available these days, for a reasonable price. Probably the closest in similarity to this build, although lands.dec is just one of the strategies I employ here.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald - Another similar commander in terms of what this deck is trying to achieve, Yeva looks a lot of fun and probably plays similarly. Probably the biggest advantage Nissa has over Yeva is the ramp ETB ability on her front, and the draw/ramp +1 loyalty ability. Probably the biggest difference in play style is that we're trying to keep a reasonably low profile until we're ready to make our move for the win, otherwise there is probably a bit of crossover in card choices between Yeva and Nissa.
- Roon of the Hidden Realm - My wife plays a pretty oppressive lockdown Roon list with a substantial blink package. Roon himself is a little slow, but Bant offers great colours for a good ETB value deck. It does involve committing to the board signficantly more than Nissa, and is less able to change tack. Regardless, Roon is strong, and if ETB is your jam, he deserves consideration.
- Brago, King Eternal - Another 'all-in' blink commander, Brago is quite strong. His fragility comes from the fact that his ability triggers from combat, but nonetheless he's in good colours to be a strong build. Lacks green for ramp options, though. I've played around with him before, and I honestly found him strong but a little repetitive and boring, which really is a surefire sign for me that the deck won't stick around.
The Decklist
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Nissa, Sage Animist
Creatures
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Lotus Cobra
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fierce Empath
3 Ramunap Excavator
3 Reclamation Sage
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
3 Springbloom Druid
3 Wayward Swordtooth
3 Wood Elves
4 Beast Whisperer
4 Bramble Sovereign
4 Karametra's Acolyte
4 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Spike Weaver
4 Temur Sabertooth
5 Acidic Slime
5 Baru, Fist of Krosa
5 Seedborn Muse
5 Titania, Protector of Argoth
6 Brutalizer Exarch
6 Duplicant
6 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
6 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
6 Nacatl War-Pride
6 Pathbreaker Ibex
6 Rampaging Baloths
6 Woodland Bellower
7 Hornet Queen
7 Regal Force
7 Tornado Elemental
8 Terastodon
13 Emrakul, the Promised End
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Nissa, Vital Force
Enchantments
1 Concordant Crossroads
2 Cream of the Crop
3 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
3 Song of the Dryads
4 Abundance
Artifacts
3 Cloudstone Curio
3 Mirage Mirror
4 Panharmonicon
Instants
1 Crop Rotation
2 Constant Mists
2 Squall Line
3 Beast Within
4 Force of Vigor
Sorceries
1 Collective Voyage
1 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Finale of Devastation
2 Life from the Loam
2 Nissa's Triumph
2 Nostalgic Dreams
4 Scapeshift
4 Splendid Reclamation
5 Shamanic Revelation
6 Seasons Past
7 Wave of Vitriol
Land
1 Blasted Landscape
1 Buried Ruin
1 Crystal Vein
1 Drownyard Temple
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Emergence Zone
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Ghost Town
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Mirrorpool
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Warped Landscape
1 Winding Canyons
19 Forest
Card Choices
I've thought hard about card choices since this deck first started to cement itself. Most of what is in here is a piece in a larger puzzle, or has more than one use. I've made sure this is the case; we have a couple of engines to generate advantage in the deck, but resilience and having multiple avenues to victory is what has made this deck successful to date, and it's a theory I try to work on in all of my decks. My initial tendency when I discover a new synergy is to dream up everything that could possibly help that synergy, and it's a weakness in my builds. In a vacuum, maximum synergy can be nice, but in reality, you're not playing the game alone, and people will always try to dislodge the gears in your engine. Resilience is very important.
For this reason, any new cards or further considerations have to really earn their places and fit in very well. It's more or less past the point where I can add 'goodstuff' and expect things to work seamlessly, which makes improving the deck a real challenge from here on in. There are definitely places to improve (see Notable Exclusions section), but for now the core of the deck is pretty well established.
Creatures
- Sylvan Safekeeper – This guy is here to protect our key creatures, and just happens to also work really well with Titania. It’s convenient and incredibly frustrating, I’m told.
- Wirewood Symbiote – Here to allow us to reuse our ETB triggers. The untap is nice, and can give us some big mana with Karametra’s Acolyte, save a key piece from a sweeper, or free up a tapped creature for blocking, but that’s all a cherry on top. Great for saving Nissa from removal prior to her flipping if needed, as well.
- Elvish Visionary - This guy is here to trigger draw. The fact that it puts a body on the field is nice, too. Nice early play, ideally if we can find a way to bounce him from battlefield to hand repeatedly, we’re doing well.
- Lotus Cobra - A really strong landfall trigger, ramps us into a strong board position early, or gives us enough mana to win explosively out of nowhere later in the game. Fantastic with Kamahl, fist of Krosa in play or with Collective Voyage or Boundless Realms.
- Shaman of Forgotten Ways - Mana dork with a stapled on win con. I don't run any particular sweepers to make use of this, but it makes a strong enough addition on it's own. At the very least, it makes Squall Line a much easier proposition. People tend to forget that it does what it does too, so it can be a really strong play - especially if you can flash it in.
- Tireless Tracker - Last time I played this guy, I had more clues than I knew what to do with. He gets big. The investigate mechanic isn’t perfect. 2 per draw is a little steep, but if we have to use it to dig for an answer we can. There’s some synergies with Wave of Vitriol and all of the ramp options we have, but essentially this is an incidental draw engine that conveniently can get rather large.
- Reclamation Sage – Pretty obvious board control. A lot of the time this will sit in your hand and not hit play immediately. Generally I’ve found that it’s best to use it to hit what you need to hit and no more; as soon as you have eyes watching you, people are going to be a lot more aware of you.
- Wayward Swordtooth – Mini-Azusa. Ideally this is early ramp that turns into a decent combat choice, and should do so quite quickly. Additional support to help flip Nissa, too.
- Wood Elves – Decent ramp, and a 1/1 for 2, once the fetched land hits play. Can fetch Dryad Arbor as well as basics, but generally his value is derived from repeating the ETB trigger as many times as possible.
- Farhaven Elf – Wood Elves v2.0. The land enters tapped, for what it’s worth. Usually this isn’t entirely relevant, it’s still a great trigger. There’s going to be times where it’s not as valuable as Wood Elves, but mostly they’re very comparable.
- Eternal Witness – Probably the most valuable ETB trigger in mono-green. It’ll pick up anything that’s hit your graveyard to date. Stupendous value on a 2/1 body. There’s a reason it’s a staple.
- Fierce Empath – A good mid-game trigger that will pick up a beater, a control element or ‘the last piece of the puzzle’ if we have a synergy on board to exploit.
- Ramunap Excavator - Magus of the Crucible. Helps our lands.dec subtheme and does cleanup after any mass land destruction or lands that we’ve sacrificed. Great with the fetches, super great with Glacial Chasm.
- Springbloom Druid - Harrow on a stick is nice early ramp. Helps Titania, helps Nissa, helps landfall and is more abusable than the spell version. Plus, if you don't want your lands wrecked it is a may ability.
- Beast Whisperer – Our super solid draw engine, most of the deck will trigger this ability. It was at one point Soul of the Harvest, but I've decided that speed and a lower CMC are more crucial than a trampler. One of the fundamental engines of advantage in this deck, goes well with Wirewood Symbiote if needed.
- Bramble Sovereign - Does nothing on its own, but gives us plenty of ways to a)fill the board, and b)abuse a ton of ETB triggers. We can use the trigger on other players' creature casts too, if it suits.
- Spike Weaver - Fog on a stick. While we can't give it more counters, we can bounce it plenty and recur it plenty. For those times you can't find your Glacial Chasm.
- Temur Sabertooth – One of the foundations of our bounce and ETB trigger system. The activated ability allows us to recur triggers when we want to, protect our key creatures if needed, and obviously gives a measure of protection to the Sabertooth itself. A strong card, even stronger in that it’s rather unassuming.
- Karametra's Acolyte – If you’re going to mana dork, do it right. We’ve got a lot of devotion in the deck, and this can get really silly rather quickly. Our best play is swinging with Nacatl War-Pride before using the Acolyte; this gives us (3x)+3 green mana, where x is the number of defending creatures. Predominantly we’re using this mana for Squall Line blowouts or mana sink for draw or removal, but can also give us a massive pump with Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or turn a lot of lands into creatures.
- Polukranos, World Eater – One of the more unique ways in which green can remove creatures. It needs a bit of mana to see a huge ton of removal, but it’s a handy tool regardless. If it survives its activated ability it makes a decent beater in combat, and if our mana game is on point we can use it's ability immediately.
- Titania, Protector of Argoth – Titania is a really strong win condition. I like her ETB trigger – for what it’s worth, there are a couple of lands that can use it to eke out a little extra advantage. Predominantly, though, she’s here to make an army of elementals. There’s a few synergies to take advantage of this – Wave of Vitriol, Sylvan Safekeeper, Constant Mists, and lands that sac themselves.
- Seedborn Muse - Incredibly strong control option. Gives us options to cause shenanigans outside of our turn, and lets us reuse our mana for various sinks.
- Acidic Slime – Another strong ETB trigger, similar to Reclamation Sage, this one will likely be a sleeper in your hand until you need the trigger or a rattlesnake.
- Baru, Fist of Krosa – We’re mono green, so we’re playing lands. Baru makes our creatures count significantly in combat. There’s a couple of nifty interactions, too. Mirage Mirror can copy him, so if you can recur him to hand with Eternal Witness or Nostalgic Dreams you can get yourself an enormous worm. Collective Voyage will make his first ability really just silly, too. As well as this, I've been playing the guy for 2 years without reading him properly. His first ability triggers whenever any forest comes into play, not just yours. This makes Collective Voyage and Wave of Vitriol legitimate overrun finishers with any sort of decent boardstate. It also means any x/g players ramping have a larger wall to overcome swinging into us, making combat a choice between ramp or damage. Talk about value!
- Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar – Mostly, Multani is here to be big. Thankfully, it’s something he does well. Reach and trample make him fearsome in combat, both defensively and offensively. And his third ability has some mild landfall synergies, which can come in handy with multiple cards.
- Rampaging Baloths – Essentially, this guy is the other side of the Titania coin. Both create big tokens, and this guy is decently big enough to hold his own in combat if needed.
- Nacatl War-Pride – This guy has a couple of uses – firstly he will take out any and all blockers for any one player, leaving them open for alpha strike. Secondly, he will generate a ton of mana with Karametra’s Acolyte. It seems like a lot of mana to play, but he’s very strong.
- Brutalizer Exarch – A pretty weird ETB trigger, but when you need it you need it. Being able to tuck a titan or something easily recoverable via reanimation is damn strong, and he’s one of the few pseudo-tutor ways to find a specific answer and bring it to hand.
- Woodland Bellower – Probably one of the stronger ETB triggers in the deck, this guy is eminently abusable. An immediate extra ETB trigger for draw, ramp, recursion, or tutelage for 6CMC creatures, with enough mana we can string together a lot of triggers for some serious advantage. It also helps that he’s got a decent body, too.
- Kamahl, Fist of Krosa – Kamahl ends games. He’s a really solid threat against board sweepers, and the most obscene mana sink in green. Multiple overruns in one turn? Forget about it.
- Pathbreaker Ibex – Similar but different to Craterhoof Behemoth. Instead of counting the size of your army, the goat counts the size of your biggest creature. That can be pretty big in this deck (my record to date stands at a pump of +23/+23). The only thing I miss in this guy is haste, but regardless, this goat is really strong. I’m not even sure I’d prefer Craterhoof, to be completely honest. I think this guy fits better.
- Duplicant – An obviously strong inclusion, being able to reuse this trigger again and again won’t win you any friends, but it will win you some serious advantage. Duplicant has obvious synergy with our ETB trigger engine, and if we can exile something big he makes good friends with Pathbreaker Ibex.
- Tornado Elemental – The ETB trigger on this guy is really strong. It has obvious strength for mono green, but I’ve also found it good as a political tool, too. Given that we can find our creatures with relative ease, bringing a whole ton of fliers down can render some favours. I really like that he has combat evasion, too. It’s not always handy, but when you need it you need it; this can be used to redirect damage to planeswalkers too, if needed.
- Regal Force – This guy is here for his crazy look, and his crazy ETB trigger. It really doesn’t take much of a board presence to make the trigger count for a lot.
- Hornet Queen – 7 mana for 5 deathtouch creatures with 6/6 total power and toughness is really nice. The queen fills a weak spot for green with flying defense, and being able to abuse the trigger makes this eminently playable.
- Terastodon – 8 mana for a 9/9 is decent. Being able to destroy three noncreature permanent is also decent. I’ve seen a fair share of bad feels from this guy, so as a personal piece of advice, don’t hit lands unless you need to. He’s hard to cheat into play, but not impossible. I couldn’t care less about 3 elephants roaming about the place, it’s a trade that favours us almost every time.
- Emrakul, the Promised End – I really like Emrakul being in here as a super strong cast trigger and a strong combat option that will likely be cheaper than a full 13 to cast. This is about as fair as Mindslaver gets, too. Ideally you’re going to close out the game for the opponent before they get their extra turn, but that all depends whom you’re choosing. There's always a chance you could bounce and recast, but I'd probably be careful with that unless you're gaming hard. No one likes walking away with bad feels.
Planeswalkers
- Garruk Wildspeaker – All 3 abilities are relevant, but it's really the first ability we're here for. Early game he gives us an extra 2 mana at least per turn. Late game the overrun is a great finisher.
- Nissa, Vital Force – A really strong and versatile planeswalker. 5 loyalty for 3GG is really nice. Her +1 is good acceleration, with a beater if needed. Her -3 is great redundancy, even if it can’t fetch instants or sorceries. Her ultimate is crazy card advantage for doing what we’re already doing, and if we want we can zero her to get that sweet emblem second turn she's in play.
- Nissa, Sage Animist - It's sort of a freebie on the back of our commander, but counts for a ton. Most of the time we’re going to be spamming the +1 for draw and lands, it’s where most of her value lies. And it's fantastic value. In a real pinch you can get her token, but I don’t think I’ve ever once done it, nor needed it. Her ultimate is strong, but not necessarily game ending. Great for a big Squall Line, and if we have Titania, Protector of Argoth in play I don’t mind swinging with man lands. The other really unexpected way she gets value for us is drawing attention; people swing at her a ton, and it works great for us that they do.
Enchantments
- Burgeoning - Obviously stronger early than late, it will help us flip Nissa more immediately early game. Late game, we're using it to make the most of Nissa, Vital Force's emblem, make beasts or give us combat pump on someone else's turn. It can also land a utility land or rejuvenate our landbase after sac's late game too. A nice way to sneak a Glacial Chasm or Winding Canyons into play.
- Concordant Crossroads – We can do all of the things, and we can do them immediately! So can everyone else, but for G this is crazy good. Makes our Rampaging Baloths and Pathbreaker Ibex truly dangerous right now instead of a distant threat.
- Lignify - A cheap control tool for difficult creatures. Not as strong as Song of the Dryads, but it is good.
- Cream of the Crop – It’s cheap pseudo-scry whenever a creature enters our battlefield. If things are generally going well and I have what I need, I’m sometimes comfortable enough to just ignore the trigger. If I don’t have what I need or want, this can help me find it, and it can dig really, really deep.
- Song of the Dryads – YOUR COMMANDER IS A TREE. Saying that is always fun, especially for a problematic commander. It’s a versatile pseudo-removal option, and has cute synergy with Mirage Mirror; the mirror copies the original card, not the enchantment. Very nice that it can nullify any permanent, too.
- Growing Rites of Itlimoc – A one-time topdeck fix, this is going to flip most of the time we have occasion to cast it. I struggle to think of a time I’d cast it if it didn’t.
- Abundance – An underrated staple, Abundance gives you more of what you want when you want it, for each draw trigger. You want land, you can draw land. You want nonland, it shall be so. Note also that the trigger is a replacement effect. This will rarely be relevant, but when you’re about to draw out, you can choose to draw something you don’t have any of, fail to find it, and stay in the game.
- Wilderness Reclamation - I'm currently playtesting this. It gives us a few options outside of our turn, makes sure we can hit sink mana outside of combat and helps for things like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Tireless Tracker's clues. (I ended up going to Seedborn Muse here instead - why do anything half-assed?)
- Zendikar Resurgent - It's come in and out of the deck a few times. Both abilities are strong, and if it's not dealt with it will help close games with a surge of advantage on the table and in the hand.
Artifacts
- Swiftfoot Boots - Instant haste for your Multani, War-Pride, or whatever else needs to be active at this very moment. Has since been upgraded to Concordant Crossroads - this is a fine budget replacement where needed though.
- Mirage Mirror – This thing is literally the Magic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. It can be anything you want it to be for a turn.
- Cloudstone Curio – Gives us a way to abuse our ETB triggers. This can apply to lands, enchantments, planeswalkers, and it’s conveniently a ‘may’ clause. It takes the right hand to make the most of it, but when it works, it works very, very well. This and Wood Elves, Nissa, Vastwood Seer, Reclamation Sage can ramp you out quicker than the rest of the board, control the board state and protect you from commander tax. All at the same time. It doesn't go infinite here, but it's damn strong nonetheless.
- Panharmonicon – Does one thing very specifically – doubles our ETB triggers. This is a really strong effect for no extra outlay, but it will be a target when it lands.
Instants
- Crop Rotation – There’s a lot to love about this card. It costs G, it’s instant speed, it fetches any land directly to the battlefield untapped. The additional cost of sacrificing a land is mostly inconsequential, but can give us an elemental if we have Titania, Protector of Argoth in play. Otherwise, we're mostly going to use this to search for a specific effect. It's not always big mana, though we have that option. If we want quick creatures it's Winding Canyons, if we want a fortress of impenetrable solitude it's Glacial Chasm and so on.
- Chord of Calling - An instant speed creature tutor that we can pay for very, very cheaply? Forget about it. When you're ready to alpha strike, this will get you that Pathbreaker Ibex, Titania, Protector of Argoth or Baru, Fist of Krosa the turn before you need, ready to swing without summoning sickness.
- Constant Mists – Fog is nice, repeatable fog is even nicer. Sacrificing land isn’t the end of the world. We can get it back if we need it, and it helps Titania, Protector of Argoth build an army. If your opponents aren't tearing their hair out, you're doing it wrong.
- Squall Line – Our one-shot win condition. It can clear the skies, but ideally we’re also playing this with Glacial Chasm in play.
- Beast Within – Destroy one thing, you can have a token. There’s a reason this is staple, it’s a very strong, very versatile card.
- Realms Uncharted - It's a strange ramp, but its handy. Most people don't have an idea of what they're picking, so it's easy enough to hide what you really want behind something a bit more scary like Rogue's Passage or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
- Force of Vigor - Potentially free multiple removal at instant speed. Flexible and reliable.
Sorceries
- Collective Voyage - Having 9 mana on turn 2 is supremely beneficial. It's pretty rare to find someone who won't contribute, and it benefits them, but it makes things incredibly easier for us too. This card is slowly becoming one of my absolute favourites to play. It makes games awesome, whatever the outcome is. It does still require judicial use, however; be very aware of the boardstate you're ramping, as if you're not able to take advantage of this immediately you may be winning the game for someone else.
- Green Sun's Zenith – Tutoring to battlefield is nice, as is being occasionally reusable. The last thing I want with tutoring answers is having to reveal what I’ve found, so this is the all-purpose tutor of choice for Nissa. Strong effect and a resilient spell.
- Finale of Devastation - Our 'finisher'creature fetch. It's a lot of mana to sink, but we're capable of managing it mostly. I love the flexibility of being able to grab something from the yard or library, and I love the pump effect too.
- Life from the Loam – Super strong land recursion, this card is a machine all on its own. Makes sure we hit our land drops, gets back used up utilities, reusuable for a reasonable price.
- Nissa's Triumph – Modal, flavoured land tutor. Best case scenario this picks us precisely the lands we need, worst case scenario it helps us hit land drops. With two iterations of Nissa in the deck there's every chance this plays out very well.
- Nostalgic Dreams – This essentially functions as our late game hand-sculptor. I don’t mind pitching a whole lot of lands to get what I need to win, and this is otherwise reasonably costed. Occasionally it’ll play nicely with Splendid Reclamation, but it does enough on its own.
- Scapeshift - Part ramp, part specific land tutor. Great with Titania, Multani, landfall triggers and Ramunap Excavator.
- Splendid Reclamation – Ideally, we’re either playing this with Rampaging Baloths, Lotus Cobra, Multani, Yavimaya's Avatat or Baru, Fist of Krosa already in play. It’s pseudo-ramp in some situations, an army creator in others.
- Hour of Promise - Finds us specific lands, puts them into play. Costs a little, but when you need a specific utility land, this is going to find it. Has since been replaced, but this would do fine in a pinch.
- Shamanic Revelation – Regal Force the sorcery, with life gain almost guaranteed. Explosive draw for a reasonable cost. The life gain is more relevant than you’d think too, it’s saved me many a game. For extra stupid draw, swing with Nacatl War-Pride and cast this in the second main phase.
- Seasons Past – A very strong recursion option, can pick up any card type, in multiples at a time, and shuffles. Gives us options for ETB triggers, landfall, specific lands, just generally a really strong card that gets us precisely what we need.
- Wave of Vitriol – Excellent board control. Playing this will not always be the right option; like any sweeper it’s up the player to time it right. But this can turn the tide for us, especially with specific cards on the field. It will generally trigger a decent landfall and a decent land death, so either Rampaging Baloths or Titania, Protector of Argoth benefit from casting this. Because it nukes our artifacts, there’s a fair chance it will cause us to change track, but we’re capable of doing that. It can also cause some hurt feelings; at the end of the day I'm not too worried about this, it's about as fair and land destruction gets, but 5C decks suffer more than most, and this makes an expensive manabase weep tears of blood.
Lands
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx – Our big mana option number one. Usually one of our first choices with Crop Rotation. Obviously doesn’t do a lot with an empty board, so there’s times it won’t be the right play, but mostly it does very well.
- Mosswort Bridge – My favourite recent play with this was a turn one hideaway of Boundless Realms, boosting me from 8 mana at turn 5 to 16. It’s a strong surprise option.
- Rogue's Passage – We run some big creatures, so this can help us knock a player out in one blow occasionally.
- Reliquary Tower - Some of our draw can be unpredictably enormous, so this is really helpful. It’s often a significant target for Crop Rotation, too.
- Drownyard Temple – Slow and average mostly, but with Constant Mists it’ll keep us going. Great for landfall triggers if you have Ramunap Excavator in play, and will keep us unhurt with Glacial Chasm.
- Ghost Town – A consistent landfall trigger, or Nissa switch if we need it. Until recently I'd forgotten this card even existed, but I'm very glad to have rediscovered it.
- Thespian's Stage – Makes sure I always have the options of the strongest utility land on the battlefield. Can give me options for shenanigans with Song of the Dryads if the occasion presents itself.
- Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Warped Landscape - Mono fetch lands. These have proved to be, surprisingly, a really great addition. They enter untapped and get silly with any combination of Lotus Cobra, Ramunap Excavator, Titania, Protector of Argoth and such engines. A combination of the aformentioned gives you a great boost, but even one of them and the fetch lands is really valuable and a great early game boost.
- Blasted Landscape - The only cycling land that enters untapped, it's a valuable draw if needed.
- Blighted Woodland – Slow ramp, but again synergises with landfall, investigate, Titania, Protector of Argoth.
- Dryad Arbor - It's a forest, a chump blocker, a trigger for landfall, Multani buff, death trigger for Titania, and a Panharmonicon trigger[/c]. Granted, a land with summoning sickness is debatable, but a T1 Green Sun's Zenith into Dryad Arbor is decent.
- Ghost Quarter – If I really need a land gone, I can make it gone. I can use it on myself if I have Titania, Protector of Argoth in play as well.
- Winding Canyons - Everything is better at instant speed, and for some reason my meta seems to ignore the threat this presents. Really strong, gives me the option of untapping with a hasty Pathbreaker Ibexand so on.
- Emergence Zone – Our second land flash-enabler. Great addition, cheaper than Canyons, and plays into Titania, Protector of Argoth.
- Buried Ruin – Utility land – there’s not a ton of ways to get our key artifact pieces back, so this is not unwelcome.
- Mirrorpool – Lots of options here. We run enough colorless land to make it usable most of the time, and there is a glut of things to copy, both in terms of creatures and spells. As a sac-land, also has synergy with Titania, Protector of Argoth.
- Crystal Vein – Burst mana – Doesn’t enter untapped, so can give me either 1 or 2 immediately.
- Glacial Chasm – Our fortress of impenetrable solitude. Add Squall Line and sufficient mana for a win, or hold out behind your fortress until you have a way to generate further advantage. Usually you’re best to leave this in hand until you need it, as cumulative upkeep means you can’t leave it on field indefinitely. That being said, Ranumap Excavator allows you to not pay its upkeep, sac it and replay it to reset the age counters for minimal life loss.
- Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun - Comes last, as it's not always a land. Regardless, easy to flip here, and totally worth it. Obviously not as strong as Gaea's Cradle, but regardless it's a strong land.
Optimizing/Notable Exclusions
At present, there really isn’t much I’d like to add to the list. There’s some staples that would be nice, some that I'm interested in testing, and others that would take the deck in a drastically different direction. Here’s what I'd consider top of the pile:
Creatures
- Solemn Simulacrum - Decent ramp, the reasons he's not in here is that I don't have a spare, and there are very few ways for me to really abuse his second ability. I can see playtesting it at some point, but it definitely has more value in a multicoloured deck and/or with ways to sacrifice it.
- Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - stupid mana and card draw. She could tow some real weight here. It is conditional, so it might need some building around.
- Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - I guess I just don't see the need. By the time we have that much mana we're looking in other directions anyway, but also people don't like their mana screwed with, so it paints a target, big time.
- Bane of Progress - obviously not a high budget addition, I've toyed with it being in here, but some of my artifacts are really crucial. I may yet playtest, as it's a really strong ability and will end up being enormous, invariably.
- Oracle of Mul Daya - Could be a very strong ramp engine, the only reason I don't play it is it's price - card really needs a reprint. Wayward Swordtooth is an option too, but Oracle has probably the best options for utility. Note - I'm currently trying out Wayward Swordtooth as an extra land option that's favourable in combat. I also like that I don't need to reveal any information with it, so it may stick around.
- Craterhoof Behemoth - A game ender, although more useful in a swarm deck than it would be here. I don’t see a need to add it at present. That being said, with…
- Avenger of Zendikar - ...this bad guy, the partner in crime, games would end. As they usually do. If I were to add one, I would likely add both, but I probably won’t, either way. Partly this is because I prefer to take the path less walked, and Avengerhoof is a road that's been walked again and again.
- Woodfall Primus - Repeatable destruction on a strong, resilient beater. Since reprint, I've considered adding this in. The only deterrent to this is it's casting cost.
- Prowling Serpopard – A meta-dependent choice, it could see a space. Depends how much blue you see, I’m fairly happy without this effect at present, but of course your mileage may vary.
Non-Creatures
- Natural Order - Strong tutor, although the sac doesn't help out in any way.
- Tooth and Nail - A game ender. Could be of use here, depending on how competitive you want to get. Again, if I were to add Avengerhoof, this would be a good option. It just seems too boring to want to have it here though.
- Worldly Tutor - Not quite as useful as these first two, but a damn sight cheaper to cast. What really turns me off about most tutors for this deck is the reveal clause, and this is no exception. This deck thrives on the element of surprise, so I don’t like this here.
- Survival of the Fittest - Really strong tutor engine, and it could see use here. I'd prefer not to have to recur creatures, but this could get you the answer you need, when you need it. Again, revealing is antithetical, but it’s a strong engine that comes down early. Damn has it shot up in price though!
- Exploration - Would likely be a very strong add. If a reprint came along I'd consider it, but at it's present price I'm not interested.
- Earthcraft - It wouldn't be as useful here as in a dedicated swarm, but that's not to say it isn't damn strong. It'd give us a bit more mana to play with outside of our turn, but I don’t really feel like that’s quite necessary right now.
- Traverse the Outlands - Given that we have some sizable creatures from time to time, this could be a truly explosive ramp spell - it's a straight swap for Boundless Realms, with a slightly smaller cost.
- Sylvan Library - Really good draw option - either 4 life per card or rearranging the top deck could be of use, although I’m in no hurry to pay this much for what Abundance does just fine.
- Karn Liberated - For that non-negotiable removal action, I'd consider him if I had a copy. Damned expensive, and will remain so most likely. Still, being able to repeatedly Beast Within once a turn is great value.
- Sword of Feast and Famine - Easily the most applicable sword of X and Y here, this would really only enter to give us extra mana if or when we want it out of turn. It gives pro-green though, so I’m no rush to add it.
- Vedalken Orrery - It changes the way you play. It could be really helpful, but then if you NEED it, you're probably best changing general to Yeva, Nature's Herald. A lot of our wins are going to come from keeping quiet until we have what we need and going from 0-100. Everything is better at instant speed, but it does nothing on its own.
- Crucible of Worlds - If you have it, it could be good for redundancy. But then 1)It's not a creature and therefore 2)Is not tutorable with our toolbox, and also is 3)Dizzyingly expensive
Lands
- Gaea's Cradle - The obvious. It would be a very strong addition here, as it is in every deck. I don’t see it as necessary, especially considering the cost, but if you have it there’s no reason it wouldn’t be the very strong addition it always is.
- Ancient Tomb - I'd be happy to see a copy in here, early starts are really valuable.
- Deserted Temple - For burst mana purposes, obviously. Less valuable than some of the other big mana options, but still of value.
- Strip Mine - This deck could easily support a land destruction package. It's not my thing, but if your meta supports it, you could.
- Dust Bowl - See above.
- Wasteland - And again.
- Maze of Ith - Secret tech for guaranteed enormous mana every turn cycle with Nacatl War-Pride and Karametra's Acolyte. I’d love a copy, and this is likely to be an add at some point once I can track it down at a reasonable price.
- Yavimaya Hollow - Great utility, but probably not crucial.
- Hall of the Bandit Lord - Haste on demand, this is really valuable. This is on my watch list, it would make my plays a lot quicker.
- Cavern of Souls - there's not enough tribal support that you know what you're naming every time you play this, but you probably have an answer in hand that you don't want to whiff. This could help. I'm not in a rush to add it, personally.
Obviously, these are all value cards - add them or not as you feel fit; the list at present is strong and plays just fine without most of this.Synergies
For what amounts to a comparatively budget list at about $200 all up, this deck performs admirably. It ramps well, outpaces decks often, has a good degree of versatile control, and has been known to win out of nowhere shortly after being kicked Sadistic Sacramented.
Part of the reason this is possible is that there are a lot of avenues the deck can take towards a win. There are a lot of synergies, explosive plays, and broader strategies available, and more or less every card in the list at present serves a specific purpose, if not more than one. What follows is a somewhat exhaustive detailing of some of the stronger synergies present:
Temur Sabertooth/Cloudstone Curio+
- Wood Elves/Farhaven Elf = Ramp loop
- Elvish Visionary = Incremental Draw loop
- Reclamation Sage/Acidic Slime/Duplicant/Terastodon = various permanent destruction loop
- Hornet Queen = a horde of flying rattlesnakes
- Tornado Elemental = Remove flying threats
- Woodland Bellower = find a chump blocker/answer/ramp/draw/recursion effect
- Regal Force = mass draw
- Titania, Protector of Argoth = Land reanimation
- Fierce Empath = find your answer creature
- Add Strionic Resonator/Panharmonicon to double any of these effects (including Cloudstone Curio)
- Add Mirage Mirror to double ETB effect or double bounce
Land LTB synergyTitania, Protector of Argoth+
- Sylvan Safekeeper = Creature protection + a 5/3 for each activation
- Kamahl, Fist of Krosa = Converts lands into 1/1s then into 5/3s in case of a board sweep
- Constant Mists - Combat protection + an incremental army of 5/3s
- Nissa, Sage Animist - ultimate ability gives you six creatures to attack with temporarily that can turn into 5/3s permanently
- Nissa, Vital Force - First ability gives you the same thing once per turn
- Wave of Vitriol = Board control and instant army.
- Lands that sacrifice or animate - Blighted Woodland, Ghost Quarter, Buried Ruin, Haunted Fengraf, Evolving Wilds, Crystal Vein
Land ETB SynergyBaru, Fist of Krosa+
- Splendid Reclamation/Boundless Realms/Collective Voyage = an enormous pump to your creatures
(add Titania, Protector of Argoth and Sylvan Safekeeper for insane pump and a bigger army)
- Wood Elves/Farhaven Elf = slightly smaller pump
- Rampaging Baloths = 1 beast per land + incremental pump after first token.
- Wave of Vitriol = Board control and big pump
Rampaging Baloths+
- Boundless Realms/Splendid Reclamation = instant beast army.
- Wave of Vitriol = Board control and Instant army
- Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar = Incrementally large, evading beater with defense options and options for recursion with each landfall.
Combat SynergyPathbreaker Ibex +
- Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
- Emrakul, the Promised End
- Terastodon
- Baru, Fist of Krosa
- Kamahl, Fist of Krosa = enormous trampling horde
Baru, Fist of Krosa+
- Boundless Realms
- Farhaven Elf
- Wood Elves
- Wave of Vitriol = instant trample and board pump
Nacatl War-Pride + Karametra's Acolyte = G equivalent to 3x amount of tokens. 6x if Mirage Mirror included to copy either.
Mirage Mirror
Yes, it deserves it’s own section. Rather than list every interaction, it's easier just to list the cards that Mirage Mirror can imitate for benefit (at last count, it’s 33 – that’s 1/3 of the entire deck!!):
It's probably worth noting that once the Mirror has copied something it loses its ability. So, in terms of functionally using it as whatever you're copying it pays to make the decision carefully based on what you most need to achieve. You can stack the ability, which in some decks can be of benefit. I guess in some ways it could come in handy here, although I can't think of any strong synergy to stacking the ability here; other than boosting devotion very slightly, triggering a legendary or planeswalker sacrifice. Maybe it would be of benefit to copy something that requires activation under a passive object like Panharmonicon - that way it would still double ETB effects, but you could also use the activated ability you're after.
Strategy
I'm going to preface this section with something of a foreword; in general, as fun as this deck can be, it's generally as good as the person piloting it. That's not to say that you can't pick it up, have a great time, and likely do well. It just generally does better when you're alert and keeping the rest of the table well in check; occasionally it will stomp mudholes in 3 other players and not blink, but there's times where it will need a delicate touch and some subtlety to make sure you don't get targeted. This is partly because some of the components we use look enormously threatening on their own but need something else on board to win a game, and partly because the deck is capable of explosive passages of play that advance us pretty quick. It makes people nervous, and nervous people will break your things. All this being said, with some subtlety, a little bit of friendly rapport, and being helpful towards the table you can make someone else look worse and still creep ahead.
How and when to use Nissa
It's not a commonplace thing to have a creature and a planeswalker in the command zone, so it's probably worth expounding a little on how best we make use of her.
Essentially, as a creature, she is Civic Wayfinder. Early in the game that can be handy - she'll help us keep land drops going. If you're mana screwed, don't be afraid to use her that way. Especially if you have access to Wirewood Symbiote, Panharmonicon, Cloudstone Curio, or Temur Sabertooth. It's not the ideal, but if you need it you need it. Any of these will avoid commander tax, so we're not too bothered.
If we're hitting our land drops, we want to hold off on casting her until we hit 7, or 6 if we have land in hand. If the latter is the case, drop Nissa then land, not the other way around; her flip ability is almost landfall, it's not enough to have the requisite lands in play, a land has to hit the field. (Aside: There may be times you can use this to advantage, I guess. If you really need Nissa to stay a creature she can. That being said, she's puny so the concept of killing via commander damage is probably a pipe dream with this deck. Never say never, but it's probably a stretch.)
Once she flips (and in most cases the sooner the better), we're basically getting either an Exploration effect per turn or a free draw per turn. She's a card advantage engine first and foremost through her +1 ability. Her second ability, while flavourful, really doesn't do enough to justify playing in most cases and is easily outclassed by her first ability. You're going to use the latter to keep your hand full, your lands dropping, and getting yourself some win cons or key pieces. The ultimate we're really only using if we need to. If you have a win con and need 6+ mana, fire away. If you need blockers, or have a lands.dec play with Titania, or need extra mana, use it. Essentially, though, if you don't need to use it or can't close a game by using it, hit that +1 every time.
In terms of defending her, I usually don't worry too much about it. Early game I might be a little more concerned with protecting the creature, and we can do that with appropriate bounce effects as they come, and benefit from repeated castings. Later in the game though, I'm far less worried. All going well, she'll be a walker and our opponents will have bigger threats to worry about. Realistically, most of the time our opponents will write her off as an invisible general that does nothing, which is exactly what we want. Even when she does get targeted (and it does happen sometimes), your opponents are usually assessing the threats we pose incorrectly, and should be directing their attention elsewhere; I'm more than happy for Nissa to take the hit if it allows me to play freely otherwise.
Starting Hand
What we really want here is 3+lands, and some of our early curve; realistically, anything we can use to get to the 6+ lands mark. There are some key pieces that can have a big impact early:
Ramunap Excavator and fetches
Temur Sabertooth
Wirewood Symbiote - even on it's own we can bounce Nissa for ramp bare minimum
Cloudstone Curio and Wood Elves, Farhaven Elves
Lotus Cobra
Burgeoning
As tempting as it is to keep some of the bigger creatures, they're no good to you early. Hardcasting them isn't as good value as we're capable of, so if you're pulling hands of fatties, mulligan with confidence. The deck CAN manage with a 2 land hand, provided you have enough early gas in hand (most of the aforementioned cards will do) to keep ramping and get a boardstate, but you will be relying on luck to some extent. It's doable though, this engine runs on the smell of an oily rag so it can pay off.
Early Game
Ideally we want to be pushing lands onto the battlefield with some ETB effects and setting up some draw, and we want to be doing it quickly. We want to hit 6-7 lands before casting Nissa, play another to flip her and set up our advantage engine. After this point, we’re going to be keeping an eye on on-board threats, keeping a full grip with Nissa’s +1, and dropping land as it comes. What you have in your hand for onboard threats should inform as to what to do with those lands and when, but this also will depend on what your opponents are doing. I’ve found it best to keep quiet early, build resources, and wait for someone to reveal their game plan.
Mid Game
We're now looking to leverage the big mana we have. Nissa, Sage Animist should be in play and everything going well, we're only using her first ability. If we NEED to we can generate her token, but I've only ever done it once. Her +1 is either draw or landfall, either way is fine. We should now be gaining advantage via ETB effects, draw, landfall effects. Once we’ve done threat assessment around the table and seen game plans reveal themselves, we want to make those plans harder. You can get mean with this if you really want to. Enough mana on board and we can blow out people’s land bases with Terastodon and Panharmonicon, or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Duplicant + Temur Sabertooth or some other variation of these effects. I tend not to - people get salty and they’ll never treat your deck the same way again. However, there is something to be said for scaling to the table - this deck can game hard if everyone else is; from a political perspective it's better not to stand out unless you have to though.
Late Game
We have plenty of win cons here - Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and lots of mana is a walk over, plays well into Titania, Protector of Argoth if needed, Pathbreaker Ibex is likely a game over if it lasts a turn or gets flashed in. Emrakul, the Promised End can end games obviously, and with enough mana Squall Line will do it too, leaving you unscathed. Most of these win cons don't need to wait until 'late in the game' - we can move quickly enough to find them early-mid game, and the chances of your opponents being prepared is slim - this deck is now responsible for my quickest ever win, through a turn 5 Shaman of Forgotten Ways activation. Nissa's ultimate can help too, as bare minimum 6 burst mana out of nowhere can be really handy. Still, it should be reassuring enough to know that we have multiple ways of finding these cards, or bringing them back if needed again via Eternal Witness, Nostalgic Dreams, Seasons Past and Nissa, Vital Force. It does pay to get the timing right on your win cons, so sitting on them may be a good option nonetheless. But knowing you can get them early is reassuring, and also helps us plan a few steps ahead of our opponents.
If things don’t go according to a plan, it’s also really important to know that this deck is pretty decent at just keeping a presence on the field. As long as you have something in play and a few lands, this deck is damn hard to keep down. And in a really rough game, that’s often what will get you over the line - having gas in the tank long after everyone else has run out. In that respect, be prepared with a win con if you have it, but don’t be too worried if it doesn’t come together cleanly. If you can disrupt, survive, or dig you can stay in the game. The more I play this deck the more I realize that it’s capable of versatility around a lot of weird boardstates. So don’t be afraid to make a risky weird play or do things that might look crazy from the outside. I often hear “What are you doing? That doesn’t make sense....oh.” This deck loves those moments and handles them well. The deck is designed so that there’s enough synergy between multiple pieces that if you keep doing stuff, eventually two or more effects will come together that do something cool. Often it's a case of choosing to either advance your plan and make a move, or keep your opponents on the back foot; assessing which option is more appropriate is entirely the place of the pilot.
Changelog
15/5/17
In:
Mosswort Bridge - free plays are nice
Great Oak Guardian - wanted an option to untap creatures outside of my turn
Goblin Charbelcher - experimenting with direct damage
Out:
Forest - came out for utility
Nissa's Pilgrimage - started the move towards creature ramp
Hunter's Prowess - sorcery speed and one time effect made this unfavourable
21/5/17
In:
Ghost Quarter - utility land that sacs
Temple of the False God - extra mana
Rogue's Passage - combat evasion
Drownyard Temple - early addition for land recursion
Blighted Woodland - ramp and recursion utility
Scour from Existence - instant speed permanent exile for utility
Constant Mists - repeatable damage control
Predator, Flagship - added for creature destruction options
Nissa's Pilgrimage - added for flavour/ramp options
Yeva, Nature's Herald - playtested for options outside of my turn
Out:
5 forest - dropped in favour of utility
Desert Twister - dropped for being sorcery speed
Great Oak Guardian - dropped for combo capabilities (not something I want to pursue)
Kodama's Reach - Nissa's pilgrimage is strictly better in this scenario
Animist's Awakening - didn't fit well
Fog - worse than Constant Mists
22/5/17
In:
Cream of the Crop - Added for draw manipulation
Soul of the Harvest - Added as a draw engine
Out:
Wild Wanderer - Too high costed to keep
Primordial Sage - Strictly worse than Soul of the Harvest
5/6/17
In:
Tornado Elemental - added for combat evasion and flier destruction
Beast Within - added for quick and easy permanent destruction
Brutalizer Exarch - added for library manipulation and ability to deal with difficult permanents
Triumph of the Hordes - added as a combat win-con
Cloudstone Curio - added as a bounce engine
Masked Admirers - added for draw
Tilling Treefolk - added for land recursion options
Out:
Genesis Hydra - removed due to inefficiency
Stingerfling Spider - removed as too conditional
Krosan Grip - removed due to redundancy - I have this effect in sufficient quantities on creatures
Nullmage Shepherd - removed as was a dead draw and made for unfavourable combat situations
Elvish Visionary - playtesting without it
Goblin Charbelcher - underperformed
Predator, Flagship - far too expensive and inefficient
26/6/17
In:
Garruk's Packleader - draw engine
Elvish Visionary - Added again as it was missed
Out:
Yeva, Nature's Herald - Underwhelming and warped play
Elemental Bond - No 'may' clause made this dangerous
9/7/17
In:
Winding Canyons - valuable utility land
Out:
Forest - removed for a more versatile option
7/8/17
In:
Bow of Nylea - combat evasion
Predator, Flagship - playtesting again
Out:
Creeping Renaissance - inefficient recursion
Rhonas the Indomitable - underperformed badly
14/8/17
In:
Shamanic Revelation - burst draw, second ability will almost always be relevant
Out:
Wall of Blossoms - defender was problematic
18/9/17
In:
Emrakul, the Promised End - strong cast trigger and game warping creature
Out:
Wirewood Symbiote - playtesting without it
27/9/17
In
Nacatl War-Pride - strong mana and combat evasion option
Jungle Basin - utility land for landfall and for additional mana
Out
Asceticism - was constantly irrelevant
Forest - removed in favour of utility
2/10/17
In
Genesis Hydra - playtested again
Seasons Past - Very strong repeatable recursion
Reliquary Tower - Was becoming necessary
Explosive Vegetation - Ramp options
Steel Hellkite - Added to deal with tokens, flying creatures
Sol Ring - Ramp
Sylvan Safekeeper - Creature protection
Out
Tilling Treefolk - Proved lackluster
Nylea, God of the Hunt - Very mana hungry power sink
Forest - Removed in favour of utility
Thought Vessel - Redundant once Reliquary Tower was added
Tireless Tracker - playtesting without it
Rhonas's Monument - Provided minimal additional benefit
Bow of Nylea - Underperformed
13/10/17
In
Polukranos, World Eater - Added for spot creature removal
Abundance - Added to smooth draw
Out
Yavimaya Elder - Slow ramp was underperforming
Predator, Flagship - Once again underperformed, redundant once Polukranos, World Eater was added
20/12/17
In:
Ramunap Excavator - added for land reanimation
Titania, Protector of Argoth - added for land reanimation and additional win-con
Buried Ruin - utility land, artifact recursion
Haunted Fengraf - utility land, land reanimation strategy
Myriad Landscape - ramp, land reanimation
Out:
Forest (3) - removed in favour of utility
Mwonvuli Beast Tracker - proved underwhelming, I didn't like the reveal clause
Praetor's Counsel - proved redundant, I have better and cheaper recursion options
27/12/17
In
Green Sun's Zenith - Strong, flexible, reusable tutor
Rampaging Baloths - Win con with any ramp
Nissa, Vital Force - Added for utility - every ability is valuable
Mirage Mirror - Added for utility
Growing Rites of Itlimoc - Added for burst mana
Krosan Grip - Split Second
Out
Zendikar Resurgent - Proved a problematic card
Architect of the Untamed - Inefficient, and redundant with the addition of Rampaging Baloths
Greenwarden of Murasa - I didn't like the idea of exiling, which makes it an expensive Eternal Witness
Hua Tuo, Honored Physician - Proved too slow
Explosive Vegetation - Ramp on legs is more useful
Forest - Removed in favour of utility
3/1/18
In
Baru, Fist of Krosa - Win-con with any ramp
Realms Uncharted - Utility land tutor
Splendid Reclamation - Land reanimation support
Crystal Vein - Burst mana and land reanimation support
Out
Deadwood Treefolk - Expensive and specific recursion
Sylvan Scrying - Removed for the reveal clause
Chord of Calling - I have plenty of tutor options
Forest - Removed in favour of utility
30/1/18
In
Tamiyo's Journal - Synergy with Tireless Tracker, reveal-less tutor
Voyaging Satyr - playtesting with burst mana options
Lignify - control for difficult creatures
Harrow - land reanimation strategy and otherwise quick ramp
Treetop Village - utility land
Havenwood Battleground - sac land
Wirewood Symbiote - strengthening the bounce engine
Explorer's Scope - help to hit land drops
Nostalgic Dreams - strong hand sculpting and recursion
Out
Sol Ring - not as valuable here as ramp creatures
Manglehorn - underperformed, not meta relevant
Garruk's Packleader - proved too expensive
Forest - removed in favour of utility
Conjurer's Closet - proved slow and predictable
Nissa's Pilgrimage - removed for preference of this effect on a creature
Genesis Hydra - proved inefficient and redundant
Krosan Grip - redundant in favour of Reclamation Sage
13/2/18
In:
Glacial Chasm - win-con with Squall Line
Song of the Dryads - creature control
Tireless Tracker - synergy with lands, gets big, mana sink for draw, came back in as it proved handy
Out:
Lignify - upgraded to Song of the Dryads
Forest - removed for utility
Voyaging Satyr - proved underwhelming
19/3/18
In
Fierce Empath - added for ETB suite
Out
Explorer's Scope - proved underwhelming and slow
5/4/18
In: Wave of Vitriol - added for control
Out: Scour from Existence - slow and underwhelming
14/3/18
In:
Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar - strong combat option
Thespian's Stage - utility and shenanigans
Out:
Wolfir Silverheart - strictly worse than Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
Forest - removed in favour of utility
11/6/18
In:
Greater Good - added for strong draw engine
Out:
Realms Uncharted - removed to playtest other options
9/7/18
In:
Wayward Swordtooth - Extra land on a decent body for cheap. I like most aspects of this card, and its playtested well so far.
Chord of Calling - Brought this back in for further playtesting, and it's been very valuable.
Realms Uncharted - Brought back in for further playtesting, and it solves the issues I wanted it to; finding utility lands and providing early ramp.
Out:
Invasive Species - I find it sitting in hand a lot, so it's an easy choice to remove.
Masked Admirers - It's a bit too mana intensive at present.
Tamiyo's Journal - It's slow, and sort of outclassed by the additions of Chord of Calling and Realms Uncharted.
10/8/18
In:
Collective Voyage
Lotus Cobra
Shaman of Forgotten Ways
Skyshroud Claim
Mirrorpool
Out:
Steel Hellkite
Aetherwind Basker
Strionic Resonator
Greater Good
Haunted Fengraf
Leaning out the curve, Basker was underperforming and outclassed by Multani. Hellkite was outclassed by Constant Mists and Glacial Chasm. I found myself resenting the discard of Greater Good, and Mirrorpool is much better utility than Haunted Fengraf. I've been playtesting Collective Voyage and Lotus Cobra, and they are both disgustingly good ramp.
1/9/18
In:
Evolving Wilds
Terramorphic Expanse
Warped Landscape
Blasted Landscape
Lignify
Burgeoning
Zendikar Resurgent
Swiftfoot Boots
Out:
Havenwood Battleground
Treetop Village
Myriad Landscape
Jungle Basin
Skyshroud Claim
Harrow
Wild Pair
The ETB tapped lands were really slowing things down, and I was only ever playing them when I had no other option, which is never a good place to be. The super cheap fetches don't enter tapped, trigger landfall, get a forest at instant speed when I want one and don't slow me down. They've been really good thus far, simply because they're simple and uncomplicated. Blasted Landscape is much the same, it's the only cycling land that doesn't enter tapped, so it's the best of both worlds.
I've been straying away from Wild Pair recently and haven't missed altogether, so Zendikar Resurgent is taking a spin in its seat. I haven't drawn it yet to try it, but we will see. Burgeoning is a decent way to get land drops early to flip Nissa, or to trigger landfall later on. I've always liked what Song of the Dryads does, so a second (albeit slightly weaker) version is worth a spot.
24/10/18
In:
Beast Whisperer
Garruk Wildspeaker
Out:
Soul of the Harvest
Triumph of the Hordes
General streamlining improvements to draw and versatility. Have had a couple of negative comments about Triumph of the Hordes too.
5/11/18
In:
Strionic Resonator
Out:
Gaea's Touch
Versatility upgrade.
3/12/18
In:
Dryad Arbor
Scapeshift
Out:
Loaming Shaman
Forest
Versatility upgrade
31/12/18
In:
Ghost Town
Out:
Temple of the False God
In all honesty, Temple is too conditional not to a terrible choice. Ghost Town ensures landfall triggers and Nissa flips.
4/3/19
In:
Bramble Sovereign
Hour of Promise
Out:
Strionic Resonator
Boundless Realms
Playtest upgrade - Resonator was a dead draw a lot of the time, as was Realms.
23/4/19
In:
Wilderness Reclamation
Out:
Realms Uncharted
Playtesting trial for Reclamation.
5/5/19
In:
Emergence Zone
[c]Life from the Loam
Concordant Crossroads
Seedborn Muse
Nissa's Triumph
Spike Weaver
Out:
Blighted Woodland
Hour of Promise
Swiftfoot Boots
Wilderness Reclamation
Burgeoning
Zendikar Resurgent
5/5/19
In:
Springbloom Druid
Force of Vigor
Green Sun's Zenith
Out:
Tireless Tracker
Lignify
Chord of Calling
As always with my threads I'm more than happy to answer questions, criticism, feedback or discuss options. Enjoy!
In:
Mosswort Bridge - Free stuff is always good and this will trigger so easily it's a no-brainer
Great Oak Guardian - Flash is nice
Goblin Charbelcher - With the amount and speed of ramp here, this represents a reasonably effective way of dealing with problematic creatures and some burn to the face. Besides which, doesn't interfere with things too much due to key pieces like Wild Pair and Woodland Bellower being able to tutor for what's needed anyway.
Out:
Forest
Nissa's Pilgrimage - There's not really the depth of instant and sorcery cards to make this a worthwhile spot.
Hunter's Prowess - Draw has never been a problem here, and I don't want to force myself to turn sideways into an unfavourable situation to draw the cards I need.
So I have a bunch of questions and stuff, in no particular order and probably you've thought of them before. But here goes anyway
- why no Vedalken Orrery or Yeva, Nature's Herald? Both of those seem super helpful. Right now the deck can do very little on opponent's turns. I would consider turning Desert Twister into Scour from Existence for that reason. And if you can cast creatures at instant speed, Rhonas' Monument will get that much better.
- Fog should be Moment's Peace or Constant Mists or maybe Snag or Tangle... it's not hard to do better than Fog unless you're really married to that 1cc cost
- How helpful is Squall Line, and how do you use it? I feel like it's probably a finisher or something that closes the game after they thought that wrath stabilized them, but not the 40 dmg to everyone kind of thing it might be in other decks? also it's an instant (I think it's under sorceries on your list)
- if it's off flavor that's all good, but I'd suggest Emrakul, the Promised End and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and maybe even Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. You have enough ramp to play them, they have brutal cast triggers, and you have the tools to recycle those triggers with Temur Sabertooth and Invasive Species. You can even tutor Emrakul, the Promised End (the best of the three, IMHO) with Mwonvuli Beast Tracker.
- you could probably include more utility lands, especially as you're running Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying; right now all they get is Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which is strong, but you could have a whole toolbox here for very little cost in terms of deck space. Glacial Chasm might not be that good here since you want to attack, but Maze of Ith can buy you time, and even just stuff like Temple of the False God and High Market can be helpful. If you swap Fog for Constant Mists, consider adding Drownyard Temple. Also a cute thing to do is put in the Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage combo since they're both decent on their own, and bonus points if you throw in a few snow forests and run Into the North
- Where is Genesis? This guy is one of the best reasons to run green, if you ask me, and in any ETB based deck he's amazing. Extra good with High Market. And on the topic of recursion, what do you think of Regrowth? too small an effect, especially given you already have Eternal Witness? Maybe wildest Dreams? I just get worried that I'll draw Creeping Renaissance right when I want to recur a non-permanent; that's what kept happening to me when I tested it (but then, I run more non-permanents than you).
- How do you feel about Scavenging Ooze? A decent grave-hate card but perhaps doesn't do enough, and you already have Loaming Shaman, which has a much stronger immediate effect (though less beatdown)
- As for cuts, you could probably drop Wild Wanderer? You have this effect in spades already. Archetype of Endurance also, he seems good but there's probably more game-winning things you can do with 8 mana, and he dies to wraths. Architect of the Untamed also feels real slow to me, but then I'm on the outside looking in.
- Farhaven Elf could be turned into Yavimaya Dryad pretty easily, and who knows, you might win off forestwalk damage one day (though maybe a 2/1 throws off your Wild Pair math?)
- Aetherwind Basker is so badass and I love it
- How has Stingerfling Spider been performing? I love that it's green creature removal, but I worry that it might be too narrow. It would definitely catch people by surprise though
Anyway just some thoughts Nice list, keep stomping fools with Basilisks!
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
All valid questions. One by one, here we go:
(mostly the answers are - I don't have a copy, but there are exceptions)
I can see either in here. It would give me a little more control over how and when I'm getting triggers, and at instant speed I can disrupt a little more effectively. I was hesitant to add Yeva, Nature's Herald, though I can't for the life of me remember why. I even have a copy so it should really come into the deck. Scour from Existence is a strict upgrade and I have a copy, so I don't see why it shouldn't be in here. I can afford the cmc.
Of the suggestions here I only have Constant Mists, and without Crucible of Worlds which I definitely can't afford, I'm hesitant to start saccing lands. That being said, Drownyard Temple I have a copy of and could see a place here.
Squall Line is my "hold back in case of sweeper", similar to Creeping Renaissance and Praetor's Counsel. I like a degree of resilience to my decks, and it's nice to have a contingency plan. Truth be told I've yet to draw into it, but I sort of see it as a contingency/ finisher. I'm aware it deals to each player and not each opponent though.
I won't disagree with that assessment. I don't have spare copies of these. You'll see a Kozi list in my sig, so I definitely have copies of these, but I'm happy with where they are. If I had spares I'd consider running them, but unfortunately they're outside of my budget at present.
Again it's a case of what I have and don't have - Maze of Ith I don't unfortunately. However, I do have a spare Rogue's Passage, Temple of the False God (which would activate pretty quick, Blighted Woodland could be valuable to thin the deck, Mosswort Bridge I've just added, the aforementioned Drownyard Temple. Thespian's Stage I don't have a copy of unfortunately but I agree it would be a good add.
The simple answer is I don't have a copy. I agree he's excellent. In saying that I don't really have the sac engines here to make him shine. Regrowth I don't see a need for right now - as you mention I have Eternal Witness, there's also Greenward of Murasa here too - I'd think twice before using his exile effect but redundancy is nice.
I like the ooze. I don't have a copy, but it's the best grave-hate around no doubt. Loaming Shaman I'm more likely to use on myself than anyone else barring corner cases, as it pairs nicely with Wild Pair. I'd definitely consider getting the ooze in here at some point.
Wild Wanderer could go, it's slightly overpriced for the effect. Archetype of Endurance is again good but overpriced, I'd drop it for any of Platinum Emperion, Patron of the Orochi, [card]Vorinclex,
Voice of Hunger[/card] or Woodfall Primus, all of which are at the same CMC. Architect of the Untamed in any other deck I would certainly agree - here, it's a solid trigger. Granted, it's expensive to create those tokens, but I'm ramping like crazy (as you'll know) anyway, and with Panharmonicon it goes nuts. Last time I played I kept forgetting the trigger and still ended up with close to 30 energy before I closed the game out. I also like that it can provide a chump blocker from nowhere at instant speed.
Another one I don't have a copy of. Pretty cool card and more or less a slight upgrade, so if I saw a copy I'd add it.
Agreed. He's nuts. He's probably a good reason to add Rogue's Passage. That being said, he's good enough value just as a rattlesnake to take attention away from other key pieces like Kamahl, Nylea and Rhonas even if he doesn't get an opportunity to swing.
It's ok, not perfect. Not every threat flies, so it's been held more often than not. Which is not ideal. I've been thinking of switching it out for something like Silklash Spider instead. It does tutor for Kamalh, Fist of Krosa which will 9/10 win me the game, but it's not the only card here that does that.
Thanks for the input, really good to get some areas to develop on!
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
That could be fun, it's like a WAY better Noble Quarry - which I had considered adding for just this reason. I'd definitely rather the licid, although tracking it down may be problematic due to its age and obscurity.
Kalonian Twingrove goes well with Panharmonicon, but it doesn't Wild Pair well and has no evasion. I like it more than Dungrove Elder though. I guess Great Oak Guardian is relative protection against an alpha strike. It also has reach, so there's that, which is not nothing in mono green.
My thinking was that the level of ramp I'm doing means that a)It'll pound out a pretty large amount of damage and be able to remove problematic creatures (which mono green doesn't have a lot of short of fight mechanics) or shoot degenerate damage straight to the face, and b)the 'bottom of library' clause won't matter hugely due to Wild Pair. Lifecrafter's Bestiary I've looked at as a really viable option here, do you have any experience with it you could share? I see no reason not to run both if the shoe fits.
I know it does and I don't. Gaea's Touch will do fine in the meantime, and it certainly doesn't get in the way of playing utility lands - it just means they need to be the first land I play.
...And we all know nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Lifecrafters Bestiary is insanely good. The scry every turn even more so than the draw, though I always pay G extra. It's like a green Rhystic Study on steroids.
As for the Charbelcher, if you want to removd creatures and don't mind spending some mana to do so, Predator Flagship seems better suited for your needs. Kills any creature for 7 mana, and can give your own creatures flying to boot.
As for the Wild Pair issue, the Twingrove and Elder can actually find each other. And if you choose to run both, Dauntless Dourbark is a nice inclusion as well.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
That's a strong endorsement. I'll give it a go.
It's certainly more versatile in being both offensive and defensive, and my wife has a copy. Mana won't be an issue either, so it could be a winner.
My issue with the Twingrove and Elder is more that they don't really do anything other than be big; I can beat most creatures without the need for fatties - Rhonas, Nylea and Kamahl make fatties. Granted there are some big guys in this deck, but that's not all they provide and that's why they're here. Great Oak Guardian isn't as big, but he's flying defense, buffs (twice in some circumstances), has the element of surprise, and (should I need it) synergises well with Hua Tuo, Honored Physician and Nullmage Shepherd. The other card I've been considering at that point in my curve is World Breaker - exile is powerful, it has reach, and recursion if needed. Pretty solid indeed.
2. No comments. They serve different functions. I like great oak guardian, but he screams "combo enabler" to me.
3. Lifecrafter's bestiary probably is better here. Cream of the crop is probably superior to either, but I think this is already being run.
4. I respectfully disagree. It is important to note the wording on them. Exploration gives you an extra land drop, but if you have a way to recur the gaea's touch repeatedly and recast it, you can get additional forests out of it. Reason? Gaea's touch doesn't give you an additional land drop, it is an activated ability, meaning the multi land drop rule doesn't apply here.
5. No comments.
With regards to Archetype of Endurance, I could see you dropping it, but I personally don't like having my finishers blown up and for the price (money) you don't get any better. You do run few enough finishers that this effect is invaluable and short of asceticism, I don't see much beating it in mono green. I used to have the same problem in Yeva, Nature's herald. I added archetype of endurance and haven't looked back. Asceticism actually isn't as good for me.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
2. The guardian has some utility to me over and above the other options presented. I'd happily remove him for something that gives me MORE utility, but I won't switch it out for less. It's definitely not there for combo, as I'm fairly sure I don't run any combo here.
3. Cream of the Crop isn't here, but I'd like a copy. I'd happily run both the Bestiary and Cream.
4. I wasn't aware of that. I know there's not many 'extra land' cards, but among them this would probably be fairly rare.
I'm in no rush to remove Archetype of Endurance. Yes it's expensive, but it pairs, protects, and the CMC is not an issue in this deck.
@Weltkrieg Now that I have your attention, I remember you mentioning you wouldn't run Yeva, Nature's Herald in this list. Do you remember the reasoning behind this? I feel it could be a reasonable add, although it could draw too much attention.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I don't know where you live, but in Europe Magiccardmarket.eu is the way to go and in the US I believe Cardkingdom.com is relatively cheap. Just mailorder what you need, all the cards we discussed so far are $1-$2 cards.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
It's a fair point. The pilgrimage has a possibility of being a one up on reach, however remote that might be in a deck with 12 non-permanent spells (so 11 other spells). That being said Animist's awakening is looking more and more underwhelming the longer I look at it. Worst case scenario, it's a bad Boundless Realms. Best case scenario you have the same amount of mana you started the turn with. And again that is conditional on 11 other non-permanent spells.
She might be worth playtesting. It's worth seeing whether she impacts on the value my ETB effects have. My initial thoughts are she will draw ire from opponents and I'll get targeted more quickly than usual. But I'm happy to playtest.
I'm in New Zealand. I know the prices are not significant, partially it is a money thing as my wife and I are putting plans in place to buy a house this time next year, so every cent counts, and partially it's putting together a trade pile for a wad of store credit
While this deck is close to the top of my competitive pile, it's also not the only deck I'm trying to fine tune. Most of the lists in my sig have areas to improve. Having said that this deck will be remarkably easier to improve than most due to the low cost nature of the cards needed.
In:
Ghost Quarter
Temple of the False God
Rogue's Passage
Drownyard Temple
Blighted Woodland
Scour from Existence
Constant Mists
Predator, Flagship
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Out:
5 forest
Desert Twister
Great Oak Guardian
Kodama's Reach
Animist's Awakening
Fog
Great Oak Guardian
Yeva may not stay; if she warps the way the deck plays too much or is a dead draw, she's out. But there is a chance she could help a great deal. Scour is a strict upgrade for C, and the lands give me some utility and some more things to search for with Sylvan Scrying and Crop Rotation.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
In:
Cream of the Crop - Keeping the charbelcher too for now - I want to at least test it, and I still have a couple of spots to fill anyway.
Soul of the Harvest - About damn time.
Out:
Wild Wanderer - I have cheaper versions of this trick.
Primordial Sage - Slightly worse Soul of the Harvest. Would make more sense for Eldrazi titan style effects, but with ETB and bouncing tricks this is less useful.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!