Nonsense aside, great run!! I'm definitely an advocate for Fungal Infection, almost specifically with Mono-red in mind. Torgaar is a beatstick I've tried and I definitely like him. I think he goes better in some builds than in others, and is not a great late game card where his secondary effect doesn't matter much. I like him better in the sideboard, since against certain matchups bringing yourself back up to 10 is really strong (looking at you Mono-red) and depleting the opponent to 10 is really good against grindy decks, especially if they have lifegain. With that said, he's never useless against any matchups so I would feel free to try him in the main.
Man, I just made a reply to this but accidentally clicked away from the page....
Fungal Infection is so good, but I'd say it's a sideboard card. Being on the draw against mono red and killing a turn 1 Bomat and then having a saproling on the board for one mana feels so good! (Also feels good having saved a fatal push for other targets)
Just want to say again, that Vicious Offering is amazing in this deck. It kills Lyra for two mana and 1 saproling!!!
My removal package was 4x Fatal Push, 2x Vicious Offering, 1x Cast Down and 2x Vraska's Contempt.
Could make a case for removing the Cast Down for another Vraska's Contempt and go 3x Fatal Push and 3x Vicious Offering.
Cast Down is really good too, but I think more Vraska's and more Vicious Offering may the right way to go.
I think this deck surprises a lot of people. I don't think they expect you to come packing with so much removal. They all just go "haha oh cool, Saprolings deck! that's fun" and then you shoot all their ***** down turn after turn lol
has anyone tried this deck out against the new blue/white historic deck that's been going around (at least a few people consider it to be one of, if not the top deck, in the tier)?
I didn't even though there was a lot of U/W control decks. I have a feeling that this deck is actually pretty good against it if you can play around Settle The Wreckage and keep removal up for key targets like Lyra. Most of the threats attacking in will just be saprolings so they will probably feel bad using Seal Away on a token hehe.
This deck is good for grindy games because you can keep spawning creatures, and you have potential for life gain too with a couple of cards.
Also, I think having one or two Lost Legacy in the sideboard has become a must again with Approach decks making a bit of a comeback.
I played a few games today against teshar combo and superfriends....I think driven//despair is better than song of freyalise. Path of Discovery worked well even if slow. I might go back to running llanowar elves since it allows us to drop a turn 2 lord, while keeping up 1 mana for push, etc. Song just wasn't as amazing as I wanted it to be (wasting a turn 4 drop, having to tap out attackers etc). Heroic/blossoming might be good enough to run mainboard.
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Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
Um...this question is going to sound a bit stupid, but it's bothering me, so I'll just get it over with. Why do these creatures have two different species'? Did an elf figure out how to have sex with a tree?
For me the biggest selling point for Driven//Despair is that you can cash it in immediately against control or midrange. If you feel a chainwhirler, fumigate, or a golden demise in your future you can use your creatures to At least draw some cards to refill. Also both sides can win you the game the turn you draw them and if you have enough creatures. I am doing at PPTQ on Saturday with Saprolings so if anyone has thoughts on the deck I would love to hear them
I'm sorry guys, I have betrayed the fungi overlords and jumped ship (at least for tonight)... I'm playing U/W Historic tonight at my Wednesday Night Magic...
I was going to play Izzet Wizards, but I got the last white cards in the mail... I have too many good cards and too little time to play
Though, I'm actually leaning towards using my Saproling deck again because I had a lot of fun playing it, it felt really powerful and could grind against pretty much any deck.
Also, rule question.
How do creatures survive Settle the wreckage when you use Heroic Intervention?? I thought Settle targeted the player and not the creatures.
I'm sorry guys, I have betrayed the fungi overlords and jumped ship (at least for tonight)... I'm playing U/W Historic tonight at my Wednesday Night Magic...
I was going to play Izzet Wizards, but I got the last white cards in the mail... I have too many good cards and too little time to play
Though, I'm actually leaning towards using my Saproling deck again because I had a lot of fun playing it, it felt really powerful and could grind against pretty much any deck.
Also, rule question.
How do creatures survive Settle the wreckage when you use Heroic Intervention?? I thought Settle targeted the player and not the creatures.
You are correct. They don't survive
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Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
Um...this question is going to sound a bit stupid, but it's bothering me, so I'll just get it over with. Why do these creatures have two different species'? Did an elf figure out how to have sex with a tree?
I'm sorry guys, I have betrayed the fungi overlords and jumped ship (at least for tonight)... I'm playing U/W Historic tonight at my Wednesday Night Magic...
I was going to play Izzet Wizards, but I got the last white cards in the mail... I have too many good cards and too little time to play
Though, I'm actually leaning towards using my Saproling deck again because I had a lot of fun playing it, it felt really powerful and could grind against pretty much any deck.
Also, rule question.
How do creatures survive Settle the wreckage when you use Heroic Intervention?? I thought Settle targeted the player and not the creatures.
You are correct. They don't survive
Exactly, which is why you need to play around or discard Settle the Wreckage - or try out a Selesnya Saprolings version with Shalai, Voice of Plenty who will actually protect you from that pesky sweeper.
There was a dude splashing white for one Shalai in his saproling deck at my local fnm this evening. I didn't see how he fared. I saw a lot of Shalai this night actually. It's just a stupid good card.
My best friend was against a Green/white deck where the dude had Lyra and Shalai on the board the same time. Pretty damn brutal!
I'd say, I'd add Anointed Procession somehow too if I splashed for white. It's probably pretty clunky though. I kinda feel like the deck is strong enough as is running G/B, but could be fun with the white splash.
As good as Anointed Procession is I feel that dropping it turn 4 or later just isn't worth it since you would run maybe 2 at most as deck space is pretty tight as is and isn't really necessary since this deck can produce tokens like crazy anyway. I mean its a really nice tech card, espeically if you can manage to splash the white in, but Shalai would be a better tech in my opinion, sure she costs more, but she also does a lot more.
Path of discovery seems kinda slow for my tastes. Still struggling to figure out maindeck removal package, and "win more" package. Honestly I think song of freyalise is better in the G/W build. I like driven to despair better here. Fungal plots is doing OK, but I haven't drawn it much in testing to be honest.
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Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
Um...this question is going to sound a bit stupid, but it's bothering me, so I'll just get it over with. Why do these creatures have two different species'? Did an elf figure out how to have sex with a tree?
Been playing around with this deck a lot, and I think it's got a lot of potential. A few things:
Metallic Mimic is a great card, but also not something you want a board full of. It sucks getting 3 or more mimics out without many saproling tokens too abuse them with. I don't think this is a 4-of, I'm running 2 in my maindeck.
Tendershoot Dryad is an all-star in this deck. There's a reason it's almost quadrupled in price since Dominaria released. Especially since so much of the deck is low-end, I've got no problems running four of these in the deck. If they aren't answered - and I mean immediately - there's very few options for your opponent to make a come back.
Golden Demise is phenomenal. You can ascend quite easily with this deck, and Demise straight up murders go-wide strategies.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty is the real deal. One of the biggest weaknesses of this deck is board wipes, Settle the Wreckage being the most prevalent. Shalai negates Settle, pumps our wide board late-game, and provides a decent flying body to boot. Not only is Shalai absolutely worth the splash into Abzan, IMO, she's also 100% mainboard worthy. I'm running 2x in my 60. (Note: I think her price is going to up up up, because she presents one of the sickest plays in UW historic - one of our worst match ups - and once she catches on there, if UW historic proves to be the tier 1 deck it seems to, she'll be pricy)
Anointed Procession isn't worth the splash, but since we're going into W anyway, we might as well. Don't go out of your way to get explosive procession value, though, as this can be a win-more trap. That said, I don't think it's all that great and I'm actually not running it in my current list.
Llanowar Elves doesn't feel worth it to me. It's the best green card in Standard right now, arguably, and being able to drop two 2-drop lords on turn 4 is nothing to sneer at, but ultimately I don't think it adds that much value here and we're already getting a cramped mainboard. Song of Freyalise may be slower at first, but ultimately helps us more consistently crank out Tendershoot Dryads mid- and late-game, which is plenty ramp enough for this deck.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger is a fantastic one-of that your opponent won't see coming and can end a lot of games.
I am main-boarding Vicious Offering as my local meta is a lot of aggressive red. This card chews up aggressive red creatures. I swap it out for Duress against control, but if your local meta is more heavily control you should do the reverse.
Fatal Push isn't something I'm running. Vicious Offering is excellent removal that takes care of plenty of threats, including Lyra Dawnbringer, and Fatal Push's cost is high enough that I'm fine not investing in it. This deck has plenty of removal without it.
I'm still playing with the manabase, but I'm finding that Shalai is not hard to cast, as you'll usually cast her off of Song of Freyalise
After playing both the G/B and G/W Saproling Tribal decks for a while, I found the slower G/W mana to be a huge downside, particularly because you will often have to play a tapped land on turn 1 to get things going on turns 2, 3 and 4 - which makes Llanowar Elves borderline unplayable in the G/W version.
Running a decently high number of Song of Freyalise might make up for this, especially in a more "greedy" 3-color mana base.
Still, I currently much prefer the G/B version with 23 lands and 4 Llanowar Elves and no Song of Freyalise over any other version. Turn 1 elves simply lets you curve out ahead of aggro decks and often race them, even on the draw. The elves also make for incredible removal bait in game 1 against removal heavy midrange decks - just make sure to board some/all of them out for games 2 and 3 and be ready to grind and bring your own best removal !
I'm currently 2-0 in another Friendly Standard League on MTGO, if the deck performs well in the other 3 matches, I might post my current 75 with some additional main deck and sideboards suggestions - if I find the time.
You're not wrong in that Llanowar Elves doesn't really work in the GBw version. I'm ok with that, but I think a lot of it depends on the meta in which you're playing. I'm happier running multiple Siong of Freyalise and using it to power out Shalai, Voice of Plenty and multiple Tendershoot Dryads, but your mileage might vary.
One thing I am strongly considering is moving fungal plots to the sideboard. I'm finding that I often get little use out of it, as I don't often have creatures in my graveyard to exile (so much exile removal currently), and I don't get to use the sac effect enough for it to be worthwhile mainboard. Thoughts?
I was going to play a GB build at a PPTQ I played over the weekend, but my fears were confirmed with the GP birmingham...goblin chainwhirleris a four of in likely the best aggro deck in the format currently. We can play our twelve lords, but all it takes is a simple removal spell, and then resolve chainwhirler, and the board is wrathed. Slimefood makes that a bit awkward, but since we can't play multiples, it's likely just going to hurt us more.
Honestly I think GW is a better build. You can play charge and Pride of Conquerors which can help deal with chain whirler, as well as push an aggro finish. Benalish Marshal might be tough as it's three white, but it's yet another lord to play.
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"I hope to have such a death—lying in triumph upon the broken bodies of those who slew me."
—Radha, Keldon warlord
Man, I just made a reply to this but accidentally clicked away from the page....
Fungal Infection is so good, but I'd say it's a sideboard card. Being on the draw against mono red and killing a turn 1 Bomat and then having a saproling on the board for one mana feels so good! (Also feels good having saved a fatal push for other targets)
Just want to say again, that Vicious Offering is amazing in this deck. It kills Lyra for two mana and 1 saproling!!!
My removal package was 4x Fatal Push, 2x Vicious Offering, 1x Cast Down and 2x Vraska's Contempt.
Could make a case for removing the Cast Down for another Vraska's Contempt and go 3x Fatal Push and 3x Vicious Offering.
Cast Down is really good too, but I think more Vraska's and more Vicious Offering may the right way to go.
I think this deck surprises a lot of people. I don't think they expect you to come packing with so much removal. They all just go "haha oh cool, Saprolings deck! that's fun" and then you shoot all their ***** down turn after turn lol
I didn't even though there was a lot of U/W control decks. I have a feeling that this deck is actually pretty good against it if you can play around Settle The Wreckage and keep removal up for key targets like Lyra. Most of the threats attacking in will just be saprolings so they will probably feel bad using Seal Away on a token hehe.
This deck is good for grindy games because you can keep spawning creatures, and you have potential for life gain too with a couple of cards.
Also, I think having one or two Lost Legacy in the sideboard has become a must again with Approach decks making a bit of a comeback.
Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
I was going to play Izzet Wizards, but I got the last white cards in the mail... I have too many good cards and too little time to play
Though, I'm actually leaning towards using my Saproling deck again because I had a lot of fun playing it, it felt really powerful and could grind against pretty much any deck.
Also, rule question.
How do creatures survive Settle the wreckage when you use Heroic Intervention?? I thought Settle targeted the player and not the creatures.
You are correct. They don't survive
Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
There was a dude splashing white for one Shalai in his saproling deck at my local fnm this evening. I didn't see how he fared. I saw a lot of Shalai this night actually. It's just a stupid good card.
My best friend was against a Green/white deck where the dude had Lyra and Shalai on the board the same time. Pretty damn brutal!
I'd say, I'd add Anointed Procession somehow too if I splashed for white. It's probably pretty clunky though. I kinda feel like the deck is strong enough as is running G/B, but could be fun with the white splash.
Thanks to SB4 at High~Light Studios for the awsome sig
Metallic Mimic is a great card, but also not something you want a board full of. It sucks getting 3 or more mimics out without many saproling tokens too abuse them with. I don't think this is a 4-of, I'm running 2 in my maindeck.
Tendershoot Dryad is an all-star in this deck. There's a reason it's almost quadrupled in price since Dominaria released. Especially since so much of the deck is low-end, I've got no problems running four of these in the deck. If they aren't answered - and I mean immediately - there's very few options for your opponent to make a come back.
Golden Demise is phenomenal. You can ascend quite easily with this deck, and Demise straight up murders go-wide strategies.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty is the real deal. One of the biggest weaknesses of this deck is board wipes, Settle the Wreckage being the most prevalent. Shalai negates Settle, pumps our wide board late-game, and provides a decent flying body to boot. Not only is Shalai absolutely worth the splash into Abzan, IMO, she's also 100% mainboard worthy. I'm running 2x in my 60. (Note: I think her price is going to up up up, because she presents one of the sickest plays in UW historic - one of our worst match ups - and once she catches on there, if UW historic proves to be the tier 1 deck it seems to, she'll be pricy)
Anointed Procession isn't worth the splash, but since we're going into W anyway, we might as well. Don't go out of your way to get explosive procession value, though, as this can be a win-more trap. That said, I don't think it's all that great and I'm actually not running it in my current list.
Llanowar Elves doesn't feel worth it to me. It's the best green card in Standard right now, arguably, and being able to drop two 2-drop lords on turn 4 is nothing to sneer at, but ultimately I don't think it adds that much value here and we're already getting a cramped mainboard. Song of Freyalise may be slower at first, but ultimately helps us more consistently crank out Tendershoot Dryads mid- and late-game, which is plenty ramp enough for this deck.
Ghalta, Primal Hunger is a fantastic one-of that your opponent won't see coming and can end a lot of games.
I am main-boarding Vicious Offering as my local meta is a lot of aggressive red. This card chews up aggressive red creatures. I swap it out for Duress against control, but if your local meta is more heavily control you should do the reverse.
Fatal Push isn't something I'm running. Vicious Offering is excellent removal that takes care of plenty of threats, including Lyra Dawnbringer, and Fatal Push's cost is high enough that I'm fine not investing in it. This deck has plenty of removal without it.
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
I'm having trouble remembering the manabase (I'm at work currently) but my 60 is something like:
Sporecrown Thallid x4
Metallic Mimic x2
Tendershoot Dryad x4
Slimefoot, the Stowaway x3
Shalai, Voice of Plenty x2
Ghalta, Primal Hunger x1
Fungal Plots x2
Song of Freyalise x3
Fungal Infection x2
Vicious Offering x3
Spore Swarm 2x
Vraska's Contempt x2
Saproling Migration x4
Golden Demise x2
+24 lands
I'm still playing with the manabase, but I'm finding that Shalai is not hard to cast, as you'll usually cast her off of Song of Freyalise
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
I've been playing MTG Arena with Saprolings G/B colors with explore mechanics. What to say, they are really powerful.
Video to a game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1Vln8vTOs
I didn't saw still Slimefoot, the Stowaway on the game, so it's not played.
You're not wrong in that Llanowar Elves doesn't really work in the GBw version. I'm ok with that, but I think a lot of it depends on the meta in which you're playing. I'm happier running multiple Siong of Freyalise and using it to power out Shalai, Voice of Plenty and multiple Tendershoot Dryads, but your mileage might vary.
One thing I am strongly considering is moving fungal plots to the sideboard. I'm finding that I often get little use out of it, as I don't often have creatures in my graveyard to exile (so much exile removal currently), and I don't get to use the sac effect enough for it to be worthwhile mainboard. Thoughts?
My custom sets:
Caeia Block (Released - Beta)
Generals of Dareth (In Design)
Honestly I think GW is a better build. You can play charge and Pride of Conquerors which can help deal with chain whirler, as well as push an aggro finish. Benalish Marshal might be tough as it's three white, but it's yet another lord to play.
—Radha, Keldon warlord
1 Metallic Mimic
2 Slimefoot, the Stowaway
4 Sporecrown Thallid
4 Tendershoot Dryad
4 Yavimaya Sahherd
4 Saproling Migration
2 Cast Down
4 Fatal Push
4 Spore Swarm
1 Vicious Offering
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Field of Ruin
8 Forest
4 Swamp
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Duress
1 Fungal Plots
2 Naturalize
1 Doomfall
3 Fungal Infection
2 Lost Legacy
1 Nissa, Vital Force