Something to also consider, the above deck is good for a start, but later when you find yourself wanting to upgrade it, Garruk, Caller of Beasts is fantastic. Also Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx does good work. Lastly, Reverent Hunter is only 2 bucks right now, grab 4, he is the best 3 drop a mono green deck can have.
IDK if it has been asked but has anyone tried running a more GY recurring version of The Rock? Swap Primeval Bounty for Deadbridge Chant, toss in a Bow of Nylea, and a few Commune with the Gods, and you have a nice grinding deck.
Obviously if running against green, pithing needle is huge against Scavenging Ooze (Side yours out first tho haha).
What I'd like to add:
More Boon Satyr. They might replace a few Tuskers.
More Deadbridge Goliath, more Kalonian Hydra. Don't know where to cut though.
More Nylea's Disciple in the side.
How are you finding bramblecrush working out for you? Do you find the 4cmc a bit limiting or do you have no issue getting it off? I've been thinking of swapping my Fades for Crushes.
Also, how are you finding Gyre Sage? I've been mostly testing Caryatids and Voyaging Satyrs. They work fine for ramp, but Sages would be nice for extra beatdown.
After acquiring most pieces for this, I decided to post some thoughts on this deck.
The Good
-If we play against a goldfish, it's a brilliant deck;
-It has a quick first wave that sets up devotion for the second wave (which is more like tsunami then a wave, given the size of the creatures);
-The deck has great mana sinks with Monstrosity, Mistcutter Hydra, Nylea the god and his bow and carddraw of Garruk;
-It's fun to play!!!
The Bad
-If we lose a monster (big drop) against discard (Thoughtseize or Lifebane Zombie) we might get stuck;
-If we get swept, it takes a lot a hard work to rebuild in the face of more disruption;
-The first wave is smaller as the Selesnya creatures that come out to play at that point;
-The deck is to slow to ignore the weak points;
-It's hard to find reliable solutions (such as player hexproof, indestructible creatures or more carddraw at a reasonable cost);
What would be great is some equipment, some digging/cantripping or a way to use small creatures late game (like the Glare of Subdual from the first Ravnica era). Red has a headstart there since it has cards that convert small creatures into direct damage late game (the god and the Fanatic of Mogis).
In my eyes, only Garruk fills this void somewhat but at 6 mana, it's a bit slow and that's problematic against control (if they handle the first wave, the second might never happen).
Can anyone think of some onconventional solutions?
I tried Magma Jet, to scry for cardquality a bit more as just the land. But 2 damage isn't enough really. And scrying isn't great either.
White offers Advent of the Wurm to get more options vs control and stuff lower on the curve, but nothing we need I think (not without evolving to Selesnya anyway)
Blue has great cards, especially Zegana, prime Speaker. But some bounce, scry and evasion are there to be found as well. Maybe even Capture Plasm to accelerate the big threats? It's another mana-engine in addition to being an answer. Or the Bident of Thassa to get some carddraw going? Al the double blue makes is hard though...
(and yes, I know it's All in on Green, but there are plenty lists which splash a color, but it is always red. Why?)
Have you tried Warrior's Lesson for card draw? Could be good vs control when you smack them with some early drops.
This just proves to me that there is no "Wrong" way to build a good versatile green deck. When we've play tested decks in a competitive format, then we can determine what actually works best against what type of deck. For example, a devotion/ramp deck may not work well in a removal/wipe heavy meta. Either way, thanks for the inputs.
Well I am going by personal experience. Yes boardwipe is a major issue for green no matter the deck type. I just find ramp to be a better way of coping with it. Worldspine Wurm is fantastic vs supreme verdicts, as well as having Garruk at the ready with a hand full of new threats ready to roll! Also Nemesis of Mortals is also surprisingly good to throw down and monstrify on the cheap after said board wipe hits.
That being said, it could just be my bad luck, but I tried the stompy lists that people have been showing on here, and I never seem to get the crushing starts that people keep talking about. No card draw as well causes the deck to peter out pretty bad. Maybe Warrior's Lesson would do the trick, as it is cheap. I'll try giving it a shot and see where it leads me.
My 2 cents, I have learned a lot from the Green Beatdown thread in standard. The input from Uncle Isty has really helped me realize that the best way to do mono green is not through stompy, but with a ramped midrange strategy. It wrecks aggro, and if you can get the engine going through Garruk and a Nykthos, then you pretty much have a deck of non-stop threats, of which control can do very little outside of a supreme verdict. The deck is way more consistent then wishing for a good hand with Mystic, BTE, and Reverent Hunter, since there is a much higher chance of getting 1 of the 10 mana ramp buddies in the deck. Without further ado, here is my list, of course as always, it is subject to change.
Let's talk about the deck, the first thing you may notice is the small amount of land in a deck with a high mana curve, this isn't a problem as we have 10 mana dorks available to us. Combine this with the crazy amount of mana we can generate from Nykthos, and his green acolyte buddy and you will see we have more mana available to us then we normally would know what to do with. To fix this issue, we have lots of Monstrosity costs in the creatures we run, Polukranos is especially nice with this. On top of that we have Arbor Colossus. Both he and Polukranos put in a lot of work removing threats from the board that green could not normally handle (Lots of tokens, flying demons and dragons, weenies, etc.) Additionally we have 2 Vastwood Hydras, greens sexy version of a fireball. He may come down as a 12/12 by turn 5 or 6, but that is just a doom blade away to nothing...until you pump the ever loving jesus out of all your other creatures. I find he is fantastic vs none UW control decks, but I will get to that later.
The sideboard is straight forward, a lot of what I see people running works, and the biggest issues we have to deal with are UW based control, Planeswalkers, and lightning fast red based aggro. Aggro is easy to deal with, just dump the disciples and Time to Feeds in there and play them when appropriate, eventually you will lock down the engine and just overwhelm them. UW, Esper, and American control is the only real issue we face, but that is also why we put so many cards in there to deal with it. Fade into Antiquity is for the Detention Spheres and Assemble the Legions you see each play. Mistcutter is a no-brainer, and excellent finisher after they drop a verdict. Lastly, the tried and true Pithing Needle stops Ashiok from wrecking your library, Jace from netting card advantage, and Elspeth from clearing your board then over running you.
All in all I find this to be a solid deck, and it can only get better when more theros block sets get released and more janky giant creatures come out with them.
I am going to toss my 2 cents into here. I have been play testing every sort of black control possible since Theros was spoiled and I have to say that U/B is probably one of the most difficult match up for midrange and other control players.
For your win cons, you need Aetherling, and Ashiok, no arguing. You can make the argument of tossing in a Jace Memory Adept as a singleton as well, basically in case of Pithing Needles post SB.
SB is very fluid, use whatever you feel you need help against. The answers can as well be changed to suit your playstyle. I do not recommend using Inaction Injunction, it only delays for a turn, and it only cycles a card. You are better off playing Divination, Sign in Blood, or any other spell that actually generates CA. This deck plays like the classic Draw-Go style for the most part, only thing you want to actually play on your turn is your wincons with mana to protect it.
@Uncle Isty:
Just curious: Does Bounty trigger if the Wurm tokens are "put on the battlefield"?
No, the spell has to be cast, one of the reasons i don't like to use Bounty.
All in all, except for Esper and UW control this deck is probably the most consistent I have tried on these forums. Definitely found the deck I want to use.
pish posh U/B has plenty of life gain currently, they have elixir of immortality, which is quite nice in and of itself, but also the new beatstick Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and his SB buddy Pharika's Cure.
Loving this deck so far, but i feel like we need a higher creature count to make the most of garruk. I upped mine to 30, and so far it has ran great, several times on cockatrice people take 1 look at my board full of threats and just concede by turn 6.
Critiques, I find Witcstalker to not really fit this deck, sure it gives good devotion and it can be a tough threat to answer, but I feel I'd much rather have Polukranos or a Karametra's Acolyte in its place played on turn 3. We have so much mana ramp in this deck, that honestly, 3 drops aren't really even needed (I consider Boon Satyr more of a 5 drop).
Arbor Colossus has been a surprise, worked very well, comes down early, gives lots of devotion, and a nice monstrous ability to shoot angels, dragons, and demons out of the sky.
Lastly, Kalonian Hydra has been disappointing, there simply is no synergy with him in this deck, I think I'd much rather run Polukranos or try the Giant Adephages I've seen some lists use.
If you want to do tokens, Akroan Hero (I believe thats what its called) mixed with some instant buff spells (Like Dynacharge ) goes well with Pyromancer.
Which is why you run omen speakers and weirds for your two drops, both are good for stalling against aggro, and weird can pack a mean punch vs aggro, or when the board is clear. Plus he is tough to kill for RDW outside of a mortar. Any other removal you can easily stop game 2 with a mizzium skin.
Devotion is the name of the game with this deck, and I think it is pretty sexy. Whether swinging with a 5/5 indestructible, or buffing your weird and making him unblockable, like some sort of goony pseudo Aetherling, I like it!
Obviously if running against green, pithing needle is huge against Scavenging Ooze (Side yours out first tho haha).
How are you finding bramblecrush working out for you? Do you find the 4cmc a bit limiting or do you have no issue getting it off? I've been thinking of swapping my Fades for Crushes.
Also, how are you finding Gyre Sage? I've been mostly testing Caryatids and Voyaging Satyrs. They work fine for ramp, but Sages would be nice for extra beatdown.
Have you tried Warrior's Lesson for card draw? Could be good vs control when you smack them with some early drops.
Well I am going by personal experience. Yes boardwipe is a major issue for green no matter the deck type. I just find ramp to be a better way of coping with it. Worldspine Wurm is fantastic vs supreme verdicts, as well as having Garruk at the ready with a hand full of new threats ready to roll! Also Nemesis of Mortals is also surprisingly good to throw down and monstrify on the cheap after said board wipe hits.
That being said, it could just be my bad luck, but I tried the stompy lists that people have been showing on here, and I never seem to get the crushing starts that people keep talking about. No card draw as well causes the deck to peter out pretty bad. Maybe Warrior's Lesson would do the trick, as it is cheap. I'll try giving it a shot and see where it leads me.
4 Elvish Mystic
2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Kalonian Tusker
2 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Reverent Hunter
3 Boon Satyr
2 Worldspine Wurm
3 Arbor Colossus
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Vastwood Hydra
3 Bow of Nylea
20 Forest
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Nylea's Disciple
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Time to Feed
3 Pithing Needle
Let's talk about the deck, the first thing you may notice is the small amount of land in a deck with a high mana curve, this isn't a problem as we have 10 mana dorks available to us. Combine this with the crazy amount of mana we can generate from Nykthos, and his green acolyte buddy and you will see we have more mana available to us then we normally would know what to do with. To fix this issue, we have lots of Monstrosity costs in the creatures we run, Polukranos is especially nice with this. On top of that we have Arbor Colossus. Both he and Polukranos put in a lot of work removing threats from the board that green could not normally handle (Lots of tokens, flying demons and dragons, weenies, etc.) Additionally we have 2 Vastwood Hydras, greens sexy version of a fireball. He may come down as a 12/12 by turn 5 or 6, but that is just a doom blade away to nothing...until you pump the ever loving jesus out of all your other creatures. I find he is fantastic vs none UW control decks, but I will get to that later.
The sideboard is straight forward, a lot of what I see people running works, and the biggest issues we have to deal with are UW based control, Planeswalkers, and lightning fast red based aggro. Aggro is easy to deal with, just dump the disciples and Time to Feeds in there and play them when appropriate, eventually you will lock down the engine and just overwhelm them. UW, Esper, and American control is the only real issue we face, but that is also why we put so many cards in there to deal with it. Fade into Antiquity is for the Detention Spheres and Assemble the Legions you see each play. Mistcutter is a no-brainer, and excellent finisher after they drop a verdict. Lastly, the tried and true Pithing Needle stops Ashiok from wrecking your library, Jace from netting card advantage, and Elspeth from clearing your board then over running you.
All in all I find this to be a solid deck, and it can only get better when more theros block sets get released and more janky giant creatures come out with them.
For your win cons, you need Aetherling, and Ashiok, no arguing. You can make the argument of tossing in a Jace Memory Adept as a singleton as well, basically in case of Pithing Needles post SB.
Here is a basic shell.
4 Far // Away
4 Watery Grave
4 Omenspeaker
4 Temple of Deceit
10 Island
2 Syncopate
2 AEtherling
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
3 Essence Scatter
7 Swamp
3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Underworld Connections
3 Doom Blade
3 Dissolve
1 Opportunity
2 Read the Bones
2 Disperse
SB is very fluid, use whatever you feel you need help against. The answers can as well be changed to suit your playstyle. I do not recommend using Inaction Injunction, it only delays for a turn, and it only cycles a card. You are better off playing Divination, Sign in Blood, or any other spell that actually generates CA. This deck plays like the classic Draw-Go style for the most part, only thing you want to actually play on your turn is your wincons with mana to protect it.
No, the spell has to be cast, one of the reasons i don't like to use Bounty.
All in all, except for Esper and UW control this deck is probably the most consistent I have tried on these forums. Definitely found the deck I want to use.
Myth Busted
Critiques, I find Witcstalker to not really fit this deck, sure it gives good devotion and it can be a tough threat to answer, but I feel I'd much rather have Polukranos or a Karametra's Acolyte in its place played on turn 3. We have so much mana ramp in this deck, that honestly, 3 drops aren't really even needed (I consider Boon Satyr more of a 5 drop).
Arbor Colossus has been a surprise, worked very well, comes down early, gives lots of devotion, and a nice monstrous ability to shoot angels, dragons, and demons out of the sky.
Lastly, Kalonian Hydra has been disappointing, there simply is no synergy with him in this deck, I think I'd much rather run Polukranos or try the Giant Adephages I've seen some lists use.
Likewise, splashing white and tossing in Assemble the Legion combined with Purphoros can be quite sick.
Devotion is the name of the game with this deck, and I think it is pretty sexy. Whether swinging with a 5/5 indestructible, or buffing your weird and making him unblockable, like some sort of goony pseudo Aetherling, I like it!