Okay, cheesy name aside, I spent some time retooling the first MtG deck I ever built (which was admittedly terrible) after being inspired by the Hyper Aggro 47 creature deck listed on The Source which is attempting to make mono-g aggro competitive. I disagreed with some of their deck building theory (such as not running GSG) so I took my own route with this.
This deck is as classic as it gets. It's really about dropping huge guys and turning them sideways. Sometimes it's nice to feel like you're playing Magic the way you used to when you and your buddies first started, before you all started discovering combo and lock-down control. That's what this is all about.
The deck is super-consistent at ramping mana. GSG into Dryad Arbor, Utopia Sprawl and Llanowar Elves make it cake to have three mana by turn two. That means most starting hands with Leatherback Baloth or Great Sable Stag usually mean a turn two Baloth or Stag. Stag and Terra Stomper are both nice because they can't be countered. If your opponents don't have PtE or StP, Stomper often seals games.
I've playtested quite a bit and 6cmc is the comfortable ceiling for this deck. Smart players will do everything they can to disrupt your mana but you're still packing plenty enough low cost creatures to operate. Garruk's Companion is kind of meh but he's efficient, Protean Hydra rounds out the curve no matter when you draw him. Ambush Viper is great removal as well as an early game deterrent for your opponent to attack. Viridian Shaman is just in there for artifact removal.
Cream of the Crop is the engine here. Hold off a turn dropping a creature in the early game to play this and you won't be disappointed. This thing gives you late game strength. It sets up your draws so well. It ensures you are dropping a threat each turn for the rest of the game.
That's the deck in a nutshell. The SB is kind of thrown together and primarily looks the way it does because those are cards I own. I've done some play testing with this and have done well pre-sideboard against Zoo, Blue Zoo and Merfolk. Whenever I've got a deck idea I think has potential, I always start by testing against those decks. If the deck can handle typical Legacy aggro, then I can work on tuning it to play against control and combo and potentially get something competitive.
So I'd love suggestions but before anyone comments, I want to answer a couple questions I expect to be raised.
Why run this? Well, at the moment, it's ultra budget and the performance/price ratio is pretty impressive. I know there may be better options out there but I like to pilot homebrew decks over Legacy staple decks. Please don't suggest I should run such-and-such deck because it is better. I'm very aware of what's out there in the Legacy meta. That was not the point of me posting this deck.
Also, the two card choices I've made that I expect to receive the most constructive criticism are Cream of the Crop and Utopia Sprawl. I'm open to other options but let me first explain why I chose these.
In the realm of mana ramp, Utopia Sprawl is in here because enchantment removal is much less common than creature removal. If I'm up against a smart player that goes for my Llanowar Elves and Dryad Arbors, I want to have other mana ramp available in my deck that can give me an edge without getting wiped as easily.
Cream of the Crop doesn't work on its own or provide any benefit when it's played. However, in a deck with so many high power creatures, it becomes a threat unless my opponent chooses to deal with it because of how much consistency it provides. I've played several games where I dropped Stomper then looked at the top 8 and put a Stomper on top. Next turn, I draw it, cast it then look at the top 8 again and repeat. Seriously, in terms of mid to late-game consistency, it is a beast.
Anyways, those are my thoughts. I'm definitely open to other ideas, suggestions and improvements! What do you think?
Well, if you're after utopia sprawl, you may also consider wild growth. If you choose to use arbor elf over llanowar elves, things start getting very intense.
Now, I do like cream of the crop, but I would not run 4. 3 is plenty, as you only want to see one per game. However, I've had experience with this in tournaments and it served me very well. it is especially good with higher power guys. However, if you can gain some amount of life, I'd almost suggest sylvan library over it. It's not that pricey and straight up card draw will absolutely wreck a lot of days.
Garruk's companion? I'm not so sure. Mire boa or river boa are less power, but offer more options in their respective metas and are better in an aggro on aggro matchup. there is a reason these guys used to be beast in green aggro.
Can't be countered hard to deal with threats? Have you considered one or two thrun, the last troll? I know he's more expensive, but he should downright dominate most control decks on his own. otherwise, consider my old favorite, kodama of the north tree.
One more post and you're up to 4,000 here, weltkrieg! Congrats and thanks for the great input you provide to everyone here. I always respect your suggestions. Angry Birds wouldn't be where it is without them.
Anyways, to the deck at hand. Arbor Elf is genius and I don't know why I didn't think of him before. He will be taking the place of Llanowar Elves. I was originally running Wild Growth but switched to Utopia Sprawl because it basically serves the same function and I can potentially use it to cast an in-hand Teeg. Plus it's just in there in case the urge to splash another color ever comes up. That said, running Wild Growth (say, in the place of Elves) in addition to Utopia Sprawl would lend some resilience to the deck. I'll consider it.
I like the Kitchen Finks/Oran-rief interaction and will consider it as well. I would need to really test it to see how those cards would effect the dynamic of the deck. Having a land that enters the battlefield tapped sucks but the interaction between those two is sweet.
I'd totally run Sylvan Library but I feel like that would require some other significant changes to the deck. That said, I was already thinking about running it. I definitely concur with running just three Cream of the Crop. I'd say 4 feels just a bit more than needed.
Ahh Mire Boa is an old favorite of mine. The other card I've pondered in Garruk's Companion's place is Vexing Shusher. Possibly. Heck, even the new Strangleroot Geist is better than companion, IMHO.
I have most definitely considered Thrun. He's amazing. Dropping one CoC would open up space for him.
Soo... in terms of competitiveness, what do you think about this deck? I feel like green's gotten some strong additions in recent sets that are really making it a more viable color.
Thank you, I think this shall make post 4000, and man, that's a lot of posts. Proof that I spend too much time on whacky builds!
Green was plenty strong before, but like burn, it gets no respect. People presume that it must be built to be ultra fast or as a secondary color. In it's own right, I'd hate to see a well tuned MG list. I mean, it can play midrange by itself quite forcefully, though I typically consider very unusual options in the deck as such. For the current meta, for non combo blue decks? I'm certain that you're quite capable of handing them some defeats, especially if they are wanting to counter your spells. Now, I am worried about swords to plowshares and the decks packing tiago's invitational card, as your only maindeck answer is one thrun.
I won't lie, I consider protean hydra very weak. he's a 2 drop at best for a 1/1. late game, he could be amazing, but let's face it, he often won't be and an 8/8 trampler that's going through will do the job. Vexing shusher isn't needed at all. I mean, consider that you are currently running 8 spells that can't be countered most of which can drop pretty early and what do you get? a very solid anti counter/control strategy. Your leatherback baloths are very strong against burn, zoo, etc. that might pack burn style removal. Troll ascetic is the other consideration in here, but he'll really want some enhancement, in my opinion.
One other possibility, now that I think about it, is ravenous baloths. I see 8 other beasts in there, and talk about a reset button vs. zoo or burn.
On sylvan library, I might add that I ran it in a w/g aggro deck packing 4 armadillo cloaks, 2 exalted angels, and 4 loxodon hierarch..did I mention that I really like drawing cards and gaining life?! It certainly wasn't uncommon for me to pick up 3 to 5 cards per turn when I had that going on. the lifegain aspect might be more difficult in monogreen, but troll loxodon warhammer could work
Ok, the last thing I see is a distinct lack of removal. Now, I do have a solution which may or may not be good (and probably isn't). On the other hand, if you have the brass to try it, you have my respect. have you considered arena? I mean, most of your creatures will kick other creatures where the sun doesn't shine and come out smelling like roses after such a tactic, but it's only a late game attrition tool.
Now, I am worried about swords to plowshares and the decks packing tiago's invitational card, as your only maindeck answer is one thrun.
I was thinking about that too. Snapcaster is evil. Anyways, I swapped out Protean Hydra (I agree he was weak) for Blastoderm. He's pretty efficient, pretty strong and shroud is what I'm needing. I might also drop a single Stomper for Kodama of the North Tree. I did some looking around and decided that your suggestion of River Boa was about the best I could do for the 2-drop slot. Blue is dang common so Islandwalk is just a plus.
If only I was running a little red! Then I'd definitely consider Contested Cliffs. For now I want to stay mono-g, though and what the heck, I really like your suggestion of Arena. Seems like pretty fun tech. I'm gonna try running two and see how that plays out. Here's the new list:
Terra stomper is a bit expensive for legacy. But, if your meta is slower it may work. Another option could be troll ascetic or the proper troll ascetic, thrun, the last troll. Adding on to the sylvan library suggestion, mirri's guile is another card that could replace cream.
Yes and no. Under most circumstances, I'd give the same advice to someone trying to run a 6 CMC card in Legacy. It's too expensive. However, with the consistent mana ramp here, I've found him to be a great late game card that can swing the game in your favor or seal your opponent's fate. Granted, after testing some more I think the correct number of Stompers to run is 3 not 4. Maybe I can toss a second Thrun in its place.
I like Mirri's Guile and I don't. It lets me manipulate my draws but it doesn't let me dig deeper into my deck. After the first use, I still only get to see one new card a turn. Cream acts almost like a pseudo tutor because I keep digging through my deck with each creature played and can put the card of my choice on top.
Here's what I've had the opportunity to play test against:
I lost a couple games to bad hands but had above 50% match-ups against all of these decks except maybe my own Angry Birds. The only reason for that is because Birds runs Island Sanctuary and that gave me fits. Post SB would possibly be a different story. Other than Sanctuary and some of Birds' synergies, it is an underwhelmingly powerful deck when compared to this.
Wow, not sure where that U/B Control list I had posted above came from. I copy/pasted the wrong list. It's changed now to reflect the list I actually played against. BTW, that was a pretty interesting match-up. Most of his counterspells and removal were ineffective against my creatures which really gave me the edge. Ultimately, he was only able to stall my mana ramp and slow my build. Tombstalker was the only real threat but in most games I beat him in the damage race even when I had my mana boosters countered/killed.
Quote from weltkrieg »
how is arena working out?
You know, I like it. Running two keeps it from being a hindrance and, while it doesn't come up every game, I found it to be useful. One game against zoo, I used it to snipe his Goyfs and Knight of the Reliquary before they got too big. That bought me time to draw up some more big beaters to seal the game. In all honesty, the 3 mana is easy to pay. The only downside to it is that the cost still usually prevents me from dropping a creature that turn... unless it's in the late late game. It's useful against decks with fliers, toolbox creatures, or whatever else comes up.
I haven't playtested against combo yet but I really feel like I should probably be running at least 1 Scavenging Ooze in the MD (possibly in place of a Boa?) to deal with all the graveyard shenanigans going on right now in the meta.
How about some Deadly Recluse in place of River Boa? You already have the stag against blue. The recluse is additional "removal" and his ability to block flying might be sometimes relevant (will kill Tombstalker for example). If opponent removes him, that's one less removal for your bigger threats.
As far as mono green beats goes I wrote up a list for a friend not too long ago. It's not meant to be extremely competitive, but it may give you some ideas. The friend really liked the list, and it won her many games in the casual environment at least. I feel like a few touches here and there and you can have something to impress with.
thornweald archer might be slightly better than deadly reclouse for the higher point of power. Also, I'm glad that my suggestions are holding merit here. Arena looks like crazy fun to play with.
I'll take a look at that list of yours -spooky-! Thanks
I had Deadly Recluse in my list before I ever posted this online. It's a really nice card. Not disagreeing with that at all. Heck, it kills Emrakul, the Spaghetti Monster. But it's a trade off. River Boa is nice for his regenerate feature because it makes him difficult to remove and his unblockableness against blue decks is just icing on the cake. The Boa is great for stalling until I can get something bigger out.
On the flip-side, fliers have been more common in Legacy recently and Recluse would be very nice for his reach ability and his deathtouch. 8x deathtouchers in the list would be pretty frightening.
I played 4 games against U/W Stoneblade today and went 3-1. Despite the wins, I felt like my matchup against U/W Stoneblade was much more difficult than my matchup against Zoo or Merfolk or U/B control. His removal and counterspell suite was much more effective against me because he was able to exile my 'can't be countered' creatures with Swords comboed with Tiago and he was able to counter my shroud creatures. Not to mention, each of the first three games, I literally had top decked both Arenas before the game was over. That was more annoying than it was useful because my mana was being crippled and what I needed to draw was more forests, not Arenas.
Anyways, Batterskull was difficult but for the most part, Stoneblade's a pretty slow deck. I was able to fight through his counters and removal and get some creatures to stick which won me the game. In particular, Thrun saved me in the third game against Batterskull and without him, I could have lost.
Quote from weltkrieg »
Also, I'm glad that my suggestions are holding merit here. Arena looks like crazy fun to play with.
It is! I think it was just poor luck that I kept drawing both in games 1, 2 and 3. The only thing I truly don't like about it is that I can't choose which of my opponent's creatures fight. Again, I find myself wishing that Arena was Contested Cliffs because Cliffs taps for mana, costs less to use, and let's you choose what you want to remove. Think it's worth opening up my mana base to use them by throwing a few fetches in and maybe one, maybe two, R/G duals?
the only problem I have with contested cliffs is the target beast. Your best low cost beast, such as it were, is blastoderm. Shroud prevents him being used as removal. On the other hand, it does open up some sideboard options, if your current anti counter suite isn't enough. I do really like spellbreaker behemoth, myself.
That's a very good point. I didn't even think about Blastoderm being useless with Contested Cliffs.
Anyways, I did some more play testing against Angry Birds and was having a lot of difficulty beating it, Sanctuary or not. I lost most games but the couple I won were really due to one card. Arena was really what pulled through for me in this match up. It's definitely food for thought. I'm also wondering how this deck will do against all-in, Elf aggro decks.
My deck building theory for Dubstep is to fine tune the main list to handle most aggro, aggro-control and control lists. That way the SB can be mostly devoted to dealing with combo which generally is the bane of the aggro deck.
Either way, for not being what I would consider a fine tuned list yet, it's put up good results. I'm happy. One thing I'm really considering is dropping the Arbor Elves, sacrificing some speed, and throwing in Wild Growth for consistency. That gives my opponent less mana production to drop removal on and would give me more consistent starts against those decks. I've otherwise been struggling to get off the ground when they just keep burning out my mana guys. For the most part, I still ended up winning most of those matches so maybe it's not necessary.
Anyways, I did some more play testing against Angry Birds and was having a lot of difficulty beating it, Sanctuary or not. I lost most games but the couple I won were really due to one card. Arena was really what pulled through for me in this match up. It's definitely food for thought. I'm also wondering how this deck will do against all-in, Elf aggro decks.
Perhaps a single copy of Silklash Spider can help? His ability is effective in bringing down flying creatures turn after turn. Has high toughness too, which allow him to block large creatures. Cream of the Crop and Green Sun Zenith in the deck should help find him.
Perhaps a single copy of Silklash Spider can help? His ability is effective in bringing down flying creatures turn after turn. Has high toughness too, which allow him to block large creatures. Cream of the Crop and Green Sun Zenith in the deck should help find him.
Mmm, yeah I might consider him if my meta definitely starts running a lot of fliers that are putting me in danger. He's a little expensive for being a niche card, but he does fill his role quite well.
I went to a tourny yesterday and got my first look at the local meta in several months. It has definitely changed to hate out decks that abuse the curve and/or run Snapcasters and Mystics. I saw Deedstill as well as what looked like Maverick with a slight splash in red for Punishing Fire and Grove of the Burnwillows. These decks were no bueno for Angry Birds which I had decided to run and I couldn't help but think that if I had run this deck instead, I would have done so much better.
It's way faster than those slow decks and none of their disruption and removal would be that effective. Anyways, the meta is definitely changing and I think I will be looking at something like this deck much more closely in the coming weeks. It seems to be better situated to compete.
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
Could Root Maze be good in this deck? It really slows down fetchlands, LED, and Lotus Petal, and this deck has Cream of the Crop to throw it away when it's not needed.
Let's try this again... had this post all written out and then accidentally closed the tab right before posting. -.-
I like Root Maze a lot actually. Though, I run mine in the SB because I don't think it's relevant against all decks. It's certainly something I'd bring in for game 2 against a lot of decks, however.
Recently I've been testing some other ideas for building a good mono-green deck, including infect and hexproof creatures with enchantments. I got the idea for the latter from a guy I played online. I laughed when I saw what he was doing but it's pretty sweet so I decided to build my own list.
It's stupidly cheap but stupidly fun too because there are so few ways for your opponent to interact with you save countering your stuff, dropping board removal, out racing you, etc.
Generally the idea is to drop your guys and then begin enchanting them to pump them and give them evasion. Moldervine Cloak and Rancor are nice because they are difficult to remove and the rest either provide massive pump or pump + evasion.
Other than that GSG helps maintain consistency in mana with Dryad Arbor and allows us to run tool box creatures in our SB.
Thoughts on this, well, pile of cards?
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
elephant guide would be my suggestion. However, maybe one or two of the totem armors? I like the one that gives card draw on damage, and there are a few others that are good, too. However, I do understand that they are much slower than what you have.
berserk is a good card. However, the point of the original deck posted was to clobber creature removal heavy decks and counter decks, which it does well. There aren't a lot of growth effects for a good reason. I think it's better to go without it here.
But I do have some changes I want to make. I'm definitely thinking about swapping out the Arbor Elves for Wild Growth just for added resiliency. Plus, I have determined that I need to tighten the curve a bit. Originally I was felt that 6cmc wasn't that hard to hit to bring out Terra Stomper but I'm rethinking that a bit. It's just a shame because he's out of range of Pernicious Deed and Engineered Explosives, can't be countered and pretty much out powers most creatures in Legacy. I might keep him as a one of.
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Force of Will is kind of like duct tape. Stick it in a deck and it will fix all your problems.
What would a game of Magic between Harry Potter and Voldemort look like?
The Wild Growths over the Arbor Elves look like an improvement.
WG also has the advantage of not having summoning sickness if attached to an untapped land.
I'm just wondering why you have 2 Dryad Arbor. Isn't one enough?
Drawing Dryad Arbor (or having it in opening hand) instead of finding it with GSZ isn't nice at all in my opinion.
This deck is as classic as it gets. It's really about dropping huge guys and turning them sideways. Sometimes it's nice to feel like you're playing Magic the way you used to when you and your buddies first started, before you all started discovering combo and lock-down control. That's what this is all about.
2x Dryad Arbor
1x Viridian Shaman
3x Llanowar Elves
4x Protean Hydra
4x Great Sable Stag
4x Terra Stomper
4x Leatherback Baloth
4x Garruk's Companion
4x Ambush Viper
4x Cream of the Crop
4x Utopia Sprawl
Land (20)
18x Forest
2x Dryad Arbor
Sorcery (4)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Gaddock Teeg
3x Krosan Grip
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Root Maze
4x Leyline of Sanctity
The deck is super-consistent at ramping mana. GSG into Dryad Arbor, Utopia Sprawl and Llanowar Elves make it cake to have three mana by turn two. That means most starting hands with Leatherback Baloth or Great Sable Stag usually mean a turn two Baloth or Stag. Stag and Terra Stomper are both nice because they can't be countered. If your opponents don't have PtE or StP, Stomper often seals games.
I've playtested quite a bit and 6cmc is the comfortable ceiling for this deck. Smart players will do everything they can to disrupt your mana but you're still packing plenty enough low cost creatures to operate. Garruk's Companion is kind of meh but he's efficient, Protean Hydra rounds out the curve no matter when you draw him. Ambush Viper is great removal as well as an early game deterrent for your opponent to attack. Viridian Shaman is just in there for artifact removal.
Cream of the Crop is the engine here. Hold off a turn dropping a creature in the early game to play this and you won't be disappointed. This thing gives you late game strength. It sets up your draws so well. It ensures you are dropping a threat each turn for the rest of the game.
That's the deck in a nutshell. The SB is kind of thrown together and primarily looks the way it does because those are cards I own. I've done some play testing with this and have done well pre-sideboard against Zoo, Blue Zoo and Merfolk. Whenever I've got a deck idea I think has potential, I always start by testing against those decks. If the deck can handle typical Legacy aggro, then I can work on tuning it to play against control and combo and potentially get something competitive.
So I'd love suggestions but before anyone comments, I want to answer a couple questions I expect to be raised.
Why run this? Well, at the moment, it's ultra budget and the performance/price ratio is pretty impressive. I know there may be better options out there but I like to pilot homebrew decks over Legacy staple decks. Please don't suggest I should run such-and-such deck because it is better. I'm very aware of what's out there in the Legacy meta. That was not the point of me posting this deck.
Also, the two card choices I've made that I expect to receive the most constructive criticism are Cream of the Crop and Utopia Sprawl. I'm open to other options but let me first explain why I chose these.
In the realm of mana ramp, Utopia Sprawl is in here because enchantment removal is much less common than creature removal. If I'm up against a smart player that goes for my Llanowar Elves and Dryad Arbors, I want to have other mana ramp available in my deck that can give me an edge without getting wiped as easily.
Cream of the Crop doesn't work on its own or provide any benefit when it's played. However, in a deck with so many high power creatures, it becomes a threat unless my opponent chooses to deal with it because of how much consistency it provides. I've played several games where I dropped Stomper then looked at the top 8 and put a Stomper on top. Next turn, I draw it, cast it then look at the top 8 again and repeat. Seriously, in terms of mid to late-game consistency, it is a beast.
Anyways, those are my thoughts. I'm definitely open to other ideas, suggestions and improvements! What do you think?
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Modern tech that I always liked was kitchen finks and Oran-rief, the vastwood. Sans exile removal, it's a very hard to deal with little combo.
Now, I do like cream of the crop, but I would not run 4. 3 is plenty, as you only want to see one per game. However, I've had experience with this in tournaments and it served me very well. it is especially good with higher power guys. However, if you can gain some amount of life, I'd almost suggest sylvan library over it. It's not that pricey and straight up card draw will absolutely wreck a lot of days.
Garruk's companion? I'm not so sure. Mire boa or river boa are less power, but offer more options in their respective metas and are better in an aggro on aggro matchup. there is a reason these guys used to be beast in green aggro.
Can't be countered hard to deal with threats? Have you considered one or two thrun, the last troll? I know he's more expensive, but he should downright dominate most control decks on his own. otherwise, consider my old favorite, kodama of the north tree.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Anyways, to the deck at hand. Arbor Elf is genius and I don't know why I didn't think of him before. He will be taking the place of Llanowar Elves. I was originally running Wild Growth but switched to Utopia Sprawl because it basically serves the same function and I can potentially use it to cast an in-hand Teeg. Plus it's just in there in case the urge to splash another color ever comes up. That said, running Wild Growth (say, in the place of Elves) in addition to Utopia Sprawl would lend some resilience to the deck. I'll consider it.
I like the Kitchen Finks/Oran-rief interaction and will consider it as well. I would need to really test it to see how those cards would effect the dynamic of the deck. Having a land that enters the battlefield tapped sucks but the interaction between those two is sweet.
I'd totally run Sylvan Library but I feel like that would require some other significant changes to the deck. That said, I was already thinking about running it. I definitely concur with running just three Cream of the Crop. I'd say 4 feels just a bit more than needed.
Ahh Mire Boa is an old favorite of mine. The other card I've pondered in Garruk's Companion's place is Vexing Shusher. Possibly. Heck, even the new Strangleroot Geist is better than companion, IMHO.
I have most definitely considered Thrun. He's amazing. Dropping one CoC would open up space for him.
Soo... in terms of competitiveness, what do you think about this deck? I feel like green's gotten some strong additions in recent sets that are really making it a more viable color.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Green was plenty strong before, but like burn, it gets no respect. People presume that it must be built to be ultra fast or as a secondary color. In it's own right, I'd hate to see a well tuned MG list. I mean, it can play midrange by itself quite forcefully, though I typically consider very unusual options in the deck as such. For the current meta, for non combo blue decks? I'm certain that you're quite capable of handing them some defeats, especially if they are wanting to counter your spells. Now, I am worried about swords to plowshares and the decks packing tiago's invitational card, as your only maindeck answer is one thrun.
I won't lie, I consider protean hydra very weak. he's a 2 drop at best for a 1/1. late game, he could be amazing, but let's face it, he often won't be and an 8/8 trampler that's going through will do the job. Vexing shusher isn't needed at all. I mean, consider that you are currently running 8 spells that can't be countered most of which can drop pretty early and what do you get? a very solid anti counter/control strategy. Your leatherback baloths are very strong against burn, zoo, etc. that might pack burn style removal. Troll ascetic is the other consideration in here, but he'll really want some enhancement, in my opinion.
One other possibility, now that I think about it, is ravenous baloths. I see 8 other beasts in there, and talk about a reset button vs. zoo or burn.
On sylvan library, I might add that I ran it in a w/g aggro deck packing 4 armadillo cloaks, 2 exalted angels, and 4 loxodon hierarch..did I mention that I really like drawing cards and gaining life?! It certainly wasn't uncommon for me to pick up 3 to 5 cards per turn when I had that going on. the lifegain aspect might be more difficult in monogreen, but troll loxodon warhammer could work
Ok, the last thing I see is a distinct lack of removal. Now, I do have a solution which may or may not be good (and probably isn't). On the other hand, if you have the brass to try it, you have my respect. have you considered arena? I mean, most of your creatures will kick other creatures where the sun doesn't shine and come out smelling like roses after such a tactic, but it's only a late game attrition tool.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I was thinking about that too. Snapcaster is evil. Anyways, I swapped out Protean Hydra (I agree he was weak) for Blastoderm. He's pretty efficient, pretty strong and shroud is what I'm needing. I might also drop a single Stomper for Kodama of the North Tree. I did some looking around and decided that your suggestion of River Boa was about the best I could do for the 2-drop slot. Blue is dang common so Islandwalk is just a plus.
If only I was running a little red! Then I'd definitely consider Contested Cliffs. For now I want to stay mono-g, though and what the heck, I really like your suggestion of Arena. Seems like pretty fun tech. I'm gonna try running two and see how that plays out. Here's the new list:
2x Dryad Arbor
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Blastoderm
3x River Boa
4x Great Sable Stag
4x Terra Stomper
4x Leatherback Baloth
3x Arbor Elf
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
4x Ambush Viper
17x Forest
2x Dryad Arbor
2x Arena
Enchantment (7)
3x Cream of the Crop
4x Utopia Sprawl
Sorcery (4)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Gaddock Teeg
3x Krosan Grip
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Root Maze
4x Leyline of Sanctity
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Yes and no. Under most circumstances, I'd give the same advice to someone trying to run a 6 CMC card in Legacy. It's too expensive. However, with the consistent mana ramp here, I've found him to be a great late game card that can swing the game in your favor or seal your opponent's fate. Granted, after testing some more I think the correct number of Stompers to run is 3 not 4. Maybe I can toss a second Thrun in its place.
I like Mirri's Guile and I don't. It lets me manipulate my draws but it doesn't let me dig deeper into my deck. After the first use, I still only get to see one new card a turn. Cream acts almost like a pseudo tutor because I keep digging through my deck with each creature played and can put the card of my choice on top.
Here's what I've had the opportunity to play test against:
4x Brainstorm
3x Spell Pierce
1x Rushing River
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Force of Will
4x Fire
1x Dismember
4x Daze
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Volcanic Island
2x Tropical Island
1x Taiga
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Kird Ape
3x Grim Lavamancer
4x Delver of Secrets Flip
Sorcery (3)
1x Ponder
2x Chain Lightning
2x Wake Thrasher
3x Tidal Warrior
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Merrow Reejerey
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Cursecatcher
3x Wasteland
3x Mutavault
13x Island
Artifact (6)
4x AEther Vial
2x Umezawa's Jitte
2x Stifle
4x Force of Will
4x Daze
Enchantment (4)
4x Standstill
3x Stormscape Familiar
4x Pride of the Clouds
3x Sky Hussar
3x Cloud of Faeries
1x Aven Mimeomancer
4x Kor Skyfisher
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Augury Owl
5x Island
6x Plains
4x Mystic Gate
4x Glacial Fortress
Instant (7)
4x Swords to Plowshares
3x Path to Exile
4x Island Sanctuary
Artifact (4)
4x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Island
1x Swamp
2x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Mishra's Factory
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
1x Riptide Laboratory
4x Underground Sea
1x Verdant Catacombs
4x Brainstorm
2x Counterspell
1x Diabolic Edict
2x Dismember
4x Force of Will
1x Go for the Throat
4x Mental Note
3x Spell Snare
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Tombstalker
2x Vendilion Clique
Sorcery (5)
3x Ancestral Vision
2x Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (3)
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Mountain
3x Plateau
1x Savannah
1x Forest
3x Wooded Foothills
4x Windswept Heath
2x Taiga
1x Plains
4x Arid Mesa
1x Figure of Destiny
1x Gaddock Teeg
4x Kird Ape
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Wild Nacatl
2x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Qasali Pridemage
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Fireblast
2x Lightning Helix
Enchantment (1)
1x Sylvan Library
Sorcery (4)
4x Chain Lightning
I lost a couple games to bad hands but had above 50% match-ups against all of these decks except maybe my own Angry Birds. The only reason for that is because Birds runs Island Sanctuary and that gave me fits. Post SB would possibly be a different story. Other than Sanctuary and some of Birds' synergies, it is an underwhelmingly powerful deck when compared to this.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
You know, I like it. Running two keeps it from being a hindrance and, while it doesn't come up every game, I found it to be useful. One game against zoo, I used it to snipe his Goyfs and Knight of the Reliquary before they got too big. That bought me time to draw up some more big beaters to seal the game. In all honesty, the 3 mana is easy to pay. The only downside to it is that the cost still usually prevents me from dropping a creature that turn... unless it's in the late late game. It's useful against decks with fliers, toolbox creatures, or whatever else comes up.
I haven't playtested against combo yet but I really feel like I should probably be running at least 1 Scavenging Ooze in the MD (possibly in place of a Boa?) to deal with all the graveyard shenanigans going on right now in the meta.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
How about some Deadly Recluse in place of River Boa? You already have the stag against blue. The recluse is additional "removal" and his ability to block flying might be sometimes relevant (will kill Tombstalker for example). If opponent removes him, that's one less removal for your bigger threats.
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Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I'll take a look at that list of yours -spooky-! Thanks
I had Deadly Recluse in my list before I ever posted this online. It's a really nice card. Not disagreeing with that at all. Heck, it kills Emrakul, the Spaghetti Monster. But it's a trade off. River Boa is nice for his regenerate feature because it makes him difficult to remove and his unblockableness against blue decks is just icing on the cake. The Boa is great for stalling until I can get something bigger out.
On the flip-side, fliers have been more common in Legacy recently and Recluse would be very nice for his reach ability and his deathtouch. 8x deathtouchers in the list would be pretty frightening.
I played 4 games against U/W Stoneblade today and went 3-1. Despite the wins, I felt like my matchup against U/W Stoneblade was much more difficult than my matchup against Zoo or Merfolk or U/B control. His removal and counterspell suite was much more effective against me because he was able to exile my 'can't be countered' creatures with Swords comboed with Tiago and he was able to counter my shroud creatures. Not to mention, each of the first three games, I literally had top decked both Arenas before the game was over. That was more annoying than it was useful because my mana was being crippled and what I needed to draw was more forests, not Arenas.
Anyways, Batterskull was difficult but for the most part, Stoneblade's a pretty slow deck. I was able to fight through his counters and removal and get some creatures to stick which won me the game. In particular, Thrun saved me in the third game against Batterskull and without him, I could have lost.
It is! I think it was just poor luck that I kept drawing both in games 1, 2 and 3. The only thing I truly don't like about it is that I can't choose which of my opponent's creatures fight. Again, I find myself wishing that Arena was Contested Cliffs because Cliffs taps for mana, costs less to use, and let's you choose what you want to remove. Think it's worth opening up my mana base to use them by throwing a few fetches in and maybe one, maybe two, R/G duals?
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Anyways, I did some more play testing against Angry Birds and was having a lot of difficulty beating it, Sanctuary or not. I lost most games but the couple I won were really due to one card. Arena was really what pulled through for me in this match up. It's definitely food for thought. I'm also wondering how this deck will do against all-in, Elf aggro decks.
My deck building theory for Dubstep is to fine tune the main list to handle most aggro, aggro-control and control lists. That way the SB can be mostly devoted to dealing with combo which generally is the bane of the aggro deck.
Either way, for not being what I would consider a fine tuned list yet, it's put up good results. I'm happy. One thing I'm really considering is dropping the Arbor Elves, sacrificing some speed, and throwing in Wild Growth for consistency. That gives my opponent less mana production to drop removal on and would give me more consistent starts against those decks. I've otherwise been struggling to get off the ground when they just keep burning out my mana guys. For the most part, I still ended up winning most of those matches so maybe it's not necessary.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Perhaps a single copy of Silklash Spider can help? His ability is effective in bringing down flying creatures turn after turn. Has high toughness too, which allow him to block large creatures. Cream of the Crop and Green Sun Zenith in the deck should help find him.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Mmm, yeah I might consider him if my meta definitely starts running a lot of fliers that are putting me in danger. He's a little expensive for being a niche card, but he does fill his role quite well.
I went to a tourny yesterday and got my first look at the local meta in several months. It has definitely changed to hate out decks that abuse the curve and/or run Snapcasters and Mystics. I saw Deedstill as well as what looked like Maverick with a slight splash in red for Punishing Fire and Grove of the Burnwillows. These decks were no bueno for Angry Birds which I had decided to run and I couldn't help but think that if I had run this deck instead, I would have done so much better.
It's way faster than those slow decks and none of their disruption and removal would be that effective. Anyways, the meta is definitely changing and I think I will be looking at something like this deck much more closely in the coming weeks. It seems to be better situated to compete.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
I like Root Maze a lot actually. Though, I run mine in the SB because I don't think it's relevant against all decks. It's certainly something I'd bring in for game 2 against a lot of decks, however.
Recently I've been testing some other ideas for building a good mono-green deck, including infect and hexproof creatures with enchantments. I got the idea for the latter from a guy I played online. I laughed when I saw what he was doing but it's pretty sweet so I decided to build my own list.
Here's the idea:
3x Moldervine Cloak
4x Treetop Bracers
3x Ancestral Mask
4x Rancor
2x Blanchwood Armor
4x Armor of Thorns
4x Favor of the Overbeing
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Silhana Ledgewalker
4x Slippery Bogle
4x Gladecover Scout
19x Forest
1x Dryad Arbor
Sorcery (4)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
It's stupidly cheap but stupidly fun too because there are so few ways for your opponent to interact with you save countering your stuff, dropping board removal, out racing you, etc.
The deck runs 12x super cheap hexproof guys and 4x Green Sun's Zenith to serve as 4x more hexproof dudes. Slippery Bogle is pretty epic here as he combos well with Favor of the Overbeing.
Generally the idea is to drop your guys and then begin enchanting them to pump them and give them evasion. Moldervine Cloak and Rancor are nice because they are difficult to remove and the rest either provide massive pump or pump + evasion.
Other than that GSG helps maintain consistency in mana with Dryad Arbor and allows us to run tool box creatures in our SB.
Thoughts on this, well, pile of cards?
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I think OOze and Hydra are both playable in there too. But I like the bogle enchant combo thing.
2x Dryad Arbor
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Blastoderm
3x River Boa
4x Great Sable Stag
4x Terra Stomper
4x Leatherback Baloth
3x Arbor Elf
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
4x Ambush Viper Land (21)
17x Forest
2x Dryad Arbor
2x Arena
3x Cream of the Crop
4x Utopia Sprawl
Sorcery (4)
4x Green Sun's Zenith
But I do have some changes I want to make. I'm definitely thinking about swapping out the Arbor Elves for Wild Growth just for added resiliency. Plus, I have determined that I need to tighten the curve a bit. Originally I was felt that 6cmc wasn't that hard to hit to bring out Terra Stomper but I'm rethinking that a bit. It's just a shame because he's out of range of Pernicious Deed and Engineered Explosives, can't be countered and pretty much out powers most creatures in Legacy. I might keep him as a one of.
BGSpanish InquisitionGB
GFood Chain ElvesG
WUAngry BirdsUW
BUThe Four Horsemen (RIP)UB
WG also has the advantage of not having summoning sickness if attached to an untapped land.
I'm just wondering why you have 2 Dryad Arbor. Isn't one enough?
Drawing Dryad Arbor (or having it in opening hand) instead of finding it with GSZ isn't nice at all in my opinion.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread