MTG Salvation

Okay so since I have most of the key cards I wanted to try to build a finely-tuned "Eva Green" or as I will be calling it "Evil Green". I had some questions about what other cards to get and tweaks.

Here a list of cards (not necessarily a decklist persay) that I have currently:



I also have 4 Vampire Nighthawk that could replace the Hippies if this an updated change to this deck or not.

I have 4 more fetchs to replace 4 swamps if this is smart or not.

The real question is what else to trade towards for filling this deck. I probably cannot afford to trade towards Dark Confidant (but not seen as mandatory for this deck) or Thoughtseize (have the perfectly viable Inquisition/Duress budget package).

Are Nantuko Shade still a go for this deck? I used to play him way back in the day in Suicide Black but traded them away when that deck got out-classed. Is he out-classed for this deck?

Most older versions of this deck play 3-4 Maelstrom Pulse. However would Abrupt Decay be the way to go now-a-days? Just seems like it's better for legacy, since it costs less, legacy is usually a 3-or-less cc format, and it can't be countered. I don't have either yet but will be willing to trade towards whichever one seems better. (Or both somehow?)

I suspect you will get a 4 deathrite shaman, 4 abrupt decay suggestion. So I will suggest that first. They are just too good not to play.

Other then that I was not a big Eva green player so I'm not really sure what else to tell you.

My suggestions from my limited experience.

Liliana of the veil, Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman are all fantastic.

Also Scavenging Ooze is good. He eats graveyard based decks like reanimator.

That is the best I can recommend. Also with rest in peace so rampant, I have found tombstalker less useful.

Also 2 forests is good. Keep from getting blown out by wasteland.

Tombstalker is one of my favorite finishers, so it'd be hard to not play it. I'd have to find out for myself if I don't like it. Although Rest in Peace is a card I didn't know of and is nasty-looking.

With that said Deathrite Shaman is great a card but not for this deck since he'd have anti-synergy with Tombstalker and Tarmogoyf.

I starting to like Abrupt Decay over Maelstorm Pulse the more it is suggested.

Deathrite would only have anti synergy if you choose to play it like that.

Quote from bodul

no confidant?
why?
you do need some kind of draw or library manipulation.
Either confidant,sylvan library,or SDT.
However confidant is friends with snuff out or tombstalker for that matter.
Shaman works fine along tarmogoyf,along with your discard goyf shouldn't suffer.Abrupt decay is a great card but you do need a way to get rid of jace,elspeth and some other annoying non land permanents that ad can't take out.
Also why no thoughtseize?
I would ditch rituals cause they are the worst top deck possible as long as you aren't playing storm.

No Confidant because I don't have any and they would cost an arm and leg to get them LOL. If anything I do have Sylvan Library I could play. Snuff Out already hurts alot and Confidant hurts plenty. I would rather gets more cards of my choosing when I need them with Library for the life cost. If I were to play Library it would make 8 fetchs mandatory to keep the library shuffled.

Deathrite Shaman is starting look like a viable option, so maybe 2-3? I can't see 4.

The lack of Thoughtseize is another budget call. The difference between other key budgets calls in legacy is far bigger than the difference between running Thoughtseize over a Duress/Inquisition of Kozilek package. I don't find running the cheaper ones as a huge problem. If anything if I love the deck, I would work my way to 4 Thoughtseize over time. I know it may look like I'm not budget strapped with Wasteland, Tarmo, duals, fetchs, etc. but I've had these cards for years some before they became uber-expensive (I've been playing M:tG since about 1998)...and I don't have the resources to obtain the super expensive cards right now that I don't already have.

Abrupt Decay could be run along side Mealstrom Pulse I suppose. However, I seriously doubt with the way this deck intends to run anybody has anything with a casting cost of 4 or more out in time to make a difference.

Here is what im thinking.

The problem with Eva Green/ The Gate right now is that there's no advantage to not running a third color. I spent several weeks trying to brew around the Shaman/Bob/Liliana package, but you are extremely weak to Jace decks. Jund solves this by running Bolt and BBE whereas BUG solves this by running their own Jaces. You also don't have a good 1-mana removal spell in BG, which is another draw to Jund.

Well the thing is at my LCS I think I saw Jace once, half the kids bring home-brew randomness, the other half maybe Burn, Goblins, RUG Delver (no Jace), Tempo Thresh, Land.dec, Food Chain variants, Zombies, Vampires, Elves, Pox, Helm combo. Nothing too too insane. I'm thinking with the bare essentials and some of the tweaks listed here...trying to upgrade to Thoughteize in thefuture, get Liliana (have none right now) and other upgrades this will be a powerful local deck.

I'm starting to get some kind of idea of where to go.

I figured Hippie was out-classed these days, and Vampire Nighthawk was better. I'll make that change.

Abrupt Decay seems like an MVP, maybe a sprinkling of Maelstrom Pulse too.

Deathrite Shaman seems like I''d try a couple first and if he rocks my world go for 4.

I'm a fan of Hyppie as a sideboard card. It ruins full-hand combo, and has a strong game against control and two-card combo, as well. Its pretty useless in every other matchup, though.

I am thinking of buying Thoughtseize as a Tax Return gift to myself and I am trading for 2 Liliana of the Veil as I speak. Does she deserve a good home in this deck?

*EDIT* Well after re-reading the above posted decklist suggestions that answers my question. My decklist is starting to form into something like this:

Brought this to a local 20 player tournament today:



vs. Mono Blue Mill W, 2-1
vs. RG Aggro Homebrew W, 2-0
vs. Stoneblade W, 2-0
vs. Maverick W, 2-0
vs. Lands.dec W, 2-1

Totals: 5-0 (10-2 overall) 1st place.

Dismember is another removal card you can look at for the deck and plays similarly to Snuff Out. Better in some ways(-5 to toughness and can target black creatures), worse in others(will always cost at least a mana and cannot kill anything with 6+ toughness).

I also still like Hypnotic Specter for the same reasons mentioned by Jamis. It is particularily good against many control decks, can be a devestating T2 drop with help from a T1 Deathrite Shaman and fetchland.

Liliana of the Veil is very solid and a great T2 play. May want to eventually move up to 3 mainboard.

Dark Ritual would allow you to open with even more explosive hands - T1 Liana is amazing, T1 1cc discard followed by Hymn is also amazing. I still run them in my deck but your milleage may vary.

Finally put a couple of hours with my favorite deck yesterday.

Decklist



I can tell you from testing, vampire nighthawk is not what I want. Sylvan library is good, but not needed. It can be 2 jittes. So that leaves me with 4 slots to find better creatures.

I like my dark rituals, but it needs to serve another purpose. Right now, I only get super powerful turns early, but it is pathetic late game. I think dark ritual is the best card to side out. Dark ritual on the draw, and take out dark ritual on the play.

I did pretty good yesterday against elves, Doomsday, ANT, goblins, merfolk, maverick, and jund.

I did lose to a couple of control decks, miracles and countertop. These decks are packing diverts now and it gets quite nasty.

Quote from Elminister

@Whitemage57

I used to play Eva Green extensively 2-3 years ago, back when Zoo and Merfolk were dominant decks. Sinkhole sucked in that era. Maybe it's better now, who knows.

Sinkhole is still terrible against anything but U/W, Ever since Zendikar the amount of duals and basics have decreased. People will just play around it by cracking fetches on their own turn when they reach 2-3 fetches. I used to love sinkhole but now its just a dead card 80% of the time.

I like the list. RTR made this deck playable again. Sinkhole will make people shake there heads in disgust.

I think Sinkhole can still be strong. Has anybody tried Phyrexian Obliterator? I've been thinking something like

• 4 Deathrite Shaman
  
• 4 Tarmogoyf
  
• 4 Dark Confidant
  
• 4 Phyrexian Obliterator

Quote from GradStudentGuy

Sinkhole is still terrible against anything but U/W, Ever since Zendikar the amount of duals and basics have decreased. People will just play around it by cracking fetches on their own turn when they reach 2-3 fetches. I used to love sinkhole but now its just a dead card 80% of the time.

That sounds awesome. Isn't that exactly what the tempo player wants?

Quote from jamis

That sounds awesome. Isn't that exactly what the tempo player wants?

There is a large difference between denying mana for a single turn and denying it completely. Sinkholes job was to keep two drops from ever being used. The 5 extra fetches now lets opponents play around it and always make their two drops.

It ends up being okay because from my experience you end up getting both players into top-deck mode pretty quickly with this deck. While you have a couple DRS and Tarmos in play, they don't have much because you take their plays out, and then deny any mana they have left-over as you mentioned after fetching-n-playing on their turn, then you sit there and let them collect more resources while you collect more denial.

I also say Sylvan Library has won me games, paying 4 life and grabbing two gems (especially having fetched to shuffle it up between turns) is an awesome option to have. I'd rather choose when I want to pay 4 life rather then get hit up every turn by Confidant.

Quote from maelarael

Hello there !

I'm originaly a The Gate player (and mono black lover in general ^^) but recently, RtR provided us two cards i really like and want to try out (DRS and Decay of course).

My project is to take the The Gate's Core and splash green to add Tarmo and those two cards submentioned.

Whitemage57's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Deathrite Shaman 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir 4 Dark Confidant 3 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Thoughtseize 4 Hymn to Tourach	3 Abrupt Decay 2 Sylvan Library 3 Liliana of the Veil 2 Umezawa's Jitte 4 Bitterblossom 1 Dryad Arbor 4 Verdant Catacombs 2 Polluted Delta 1 Marsh Flats 1 Bloodstained Mire 2 Bayou 4 Wasteland 5 Swamp 1 Forest

Whitemage57's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
3 Choke 2 Pernicious Deed 2 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition of Kozilek 1 Abrupt Decay 3 Pithing Needle 2 Extirpate

I'm not sure of the sideboard, i hesitate between Deed and Engineered explosives.

Interesting addition of Bitterblossom/Jitte. I would suggest -1 Gatekeeper/+1 Abrupt. I would always go 4 Decay maindeck because it's such a strong card for legacy and can be easily sideboarded for Pulse when needed (like when Jace is abound). Deed is okay because you have Bitterbloosom otherwise in a standard Eva Green list is wrecks our offense completely. I personally suggest 2-3 Perish and 2-3 Engineered Plague which wreck the tribal aggro decks you are probably aiming at with Deed. I'd also find a way to start with at least a combination of 6 IoK/Seize maindeck because having that hand disruption first turn makes up for the bad late game draw of them. Also anti-Reanimator/Lands/Dredge/etc is a must, without hurting our own graveyard prescence and not completely shutting off Tarmo & DRS.

My sideboard would be like:
3-Choke
3-Engineered Plague
3-Perish
3-Leyline of the Void
2-Maelstrom Pulse
1-Wild Card

This depends on your meta though, so if you don't see blue the Chokes can be something else. If there are no Elves/Affinity/Goblins/Merfolk then you can play around with the Perish/Plague spots. Mine has either aggro or graveyard-combo decks so I sideboard accordingly.

Quote from Whitemage57

Interesting addition of Bitterblossom/Jitte. I would suggest -1 Gatekeeper/+1 Abrupt. I would always go 4 Decay maindeck because it's such a strong card for legacy and can be easily sideboarded for Pulse when needed (like when Jace is abound). Deed is okay because you have Bitterbloosom otherwise in a standard Eva Green list is wrecks our offense completely. I personally suggest 2-3 Perish and 2-3 Engineered Plague which wreck the tribal aggro decks you are probably aiming at with Deed. I'd also find a way to start with at least a combination of 6 IoK/Seize maindeck because having that hand disruption first turn makes up for the bad late game draw of them. Also anti-Reanimator/Lands/Dredge/etc is a must, without hurting our own graveyard prescence and not completely shutting off Tarmo & DRS.

My sideboard would be like:
3-Choke
3-Engineered Plague
3-Perish
3-Leyline of the Void
2-Maelstrom Pulse
1-Wild Card

This depends on your meta though, so if you don't see blue the Chokes can be something else. If there are no Elves/Affinity/Goblins/Merfolk then you can play around with the Perish/Plague spots. Mine has either aggro or graveyard-combo decks so I sideboard accordingly.

Bitterblossom is too slow in this meta. I wouldn't touch it.

Quote from KobeBryan

Bitterblossom is too slow in this meta. I wouldn't touch it.

I was referring to my meta, I don't know what his is. I was trying to help his deck out which plays Bitterblossom which I fgured was just his play-style. I do not play Bitterblossom in Eva Green, nor does the deck really call for it really.

Here's my latest build:



This is after getting a couple Pulses finally and obtaining a third Liliana (which I believe 3 now is the perfect number). Also cut Urborg down to 2, and added some more anti-Wasteland with 2 Swamp.