I played a Jund version last night also. Lost to Esper control and of all things...lost to a 5 color sliver deck.
Anyway, the only reasonable counter to aetherling is pithing needle that I know of. if your close to killing your opponent, cast your removal before blockers are declared so he has to blink it out, then get your damage through. Or save two removal spells to cast your second one in response to the trigger to blink it. He's a tough cookie and it's a tough choice to slaughter games aetherling or sphynx's most the time.
Electrickery I think deserves a slot. Mortars as well. Fade you'll find not to be that good. If you die to a resolved Master of waves, fading Thassa won't doo much. And against mono black I've posted the idea of Primeval Bounty, seems good on paper. black can't deal with enchantments (assemble the legion outright beats them), and as long as you keep pack rat on check, you should bounty them out.
I didn't enjoy fade too much either. I actually only remembered drawing it for a U/W match up vs Melissa. May be easier to keep them off of devotion using destructive revelry or another red removal spell (or a green fight spell...time to feed vs Master of Waves too??).
I watched Reid Duke play his Bant deck on video replay last weekend. He landed Primeval Bounty vs...mono-blue was it? His opponent already had an established board, but Bounty's three abilities was just over powering in the end. Imagine having a 3/6 Sylvan Caryatid just to block! Hillarious.
That seems like way too much hate for blue decks and nothing to address Elspeth.
He's already running Ghor-Clan Rampager and Nylea. Would you like to suggest an anti-elspeth option?? How many options do we need to address a card that is played in less than 10% of the decks at a tournament?
Seeing that mono black and blue were the top decks this past weekend, I would stack slightly more hate toward them.
I did forget to mention Burning Earth for esper/jund.
I'm glad to see there more people playing Green devotion for big tournaments! Sideboard choice is difficult at times because there are so many options, even with just ravnica block + theros. I would go for some of the obvious standards though.
4 Mistcutters - for control + mono-blue
3 Nylea's Disciple - Pesky red decks and maybe white weenie
3 Mizzium Mortar - more red hate + mono-black + white weenie
3 Skylasher - mono-blue and possibly control
2 destructive revelry - control and mono-black
That's just my suggestions. I know it's difficult to justify some choices over others and you'll most likely receive lots of input. Good luck to you and Dunk! Knock mono-black off it's pedestal.
What sort of troubles have you had with mono black? I know they are different wheel houses then the aggro, just curious.
Another question I have is if mono blue continues and wraths are played more often (in either traditional blue/white or in the form of Anger of the Gods) does that hinder or help us? Traditional blue white control has always seemed like a pretty good match up for the deck to me, while Jund and friends worries me a bit more since they have actual threats (see Naya control). How can we be prepared for the next step, the decks that are meta gamed against mono blue and black?
From my limited experiences vs mono black, it is just a horrible match up. I may have a 40% win percentage which sucks due to the large amount that it is played at the big events. Think I see 2-3 mono-black-ish decks out of the roughly 24 players at my FNM events. Early removal sucks because it keeps us from ramping quickly, and late removal sucks worse because our game winning creatures get eaten. Plus we don't have an anti-black sideboard like we do vs blue based decks... Maybe we'll get opposing color hate cards like the old days...
Mono-blue I have a better match up against. Pre sideboard we can eat their devotion with polukranos or trade devotion for devotion using Domri. Their god is just flat out better than ours because scrying each turn is very powerful. Game 1 they normally have what...3 or 4 answers to our creatures (Cyclonic Rift x1(or 2) and a couple Rapid Hybridization)??
On the bright side, the pros are still toying with the green based devotion decks. I think it was Reid Duke playing a Bant Prophet deck last weekend and Caleb from Channel Fireball just posted a video for a G/U revisit
oops, forgot to mention that with 10+ mana dorks, having 22 lands has worked out great for me so far. But play what you feel comfortable with via testing, sometimes it's worth the risk, sometimes it isn't
Thanks for the feedback guys. There is some reasoning behind part of the decklist I used. I will try to answer the questions with my opinion of why they are there.
3x Nylea : I love that she gives everything trample. Even if she isn't active, it still has the desired effect of pushing that little bit of damage through even if your crashing into Elspeth tokens. it can sometimes cause trouble for white weenie and mono-red since a lot of their creatures are 1 toughness. I dunno, maybe it was just a personal preference since thoughtseize will normally rip a Nylea over Polukranos since they have ways to deal with real creatures. I like having her on the board vice the graveyard or library.
Kalonian Hydra: All the hydras are "must deal with" creatures these days. The only hydra people would be reluctant to kill would be vastwood...maybe. But ideally, Turn 3 Polukranos, T4 Kalonian, T5 Monstrous + attack = GG in most cases. Although it rarely happens, I like to think it could happen for me when I need it Plus I spent a lot of time acquiring a playset of Kalonians... and I think they are awesome as heck.
22 Lands: I never been a fan of 24/25 land decks for some reason. Especially with mana dorks available when running green. I do rely on them too much though. I have won games with just two lands too. Like turn 9. If they can't take out the Caryatids or even the mystics, it just allows you to not depend on land drops. Xenegos helps too. Often I find myself using his +1 ability rather than making tokens. Extra 1 counter on Polukranos monstrous has helped me in many matches.
I dunno, I guess most my decisions are personal preference based on play testing with the local guys. I still feel that even with 9 fatties (12 if you include Nylea) just isn't enough with all the ramp we have available. There are always going to be those match ups where just cant keep devotion on the table or your mana dorks alive long enough. I think with 22 lands, having a max fattie CMC of 4 or 5 suffices. I also don't like playing the odds of running "1 of" cards.
Good luck folks! Keep testing new strategies and posting tournament reports. Hopefully somebody learned from my mistakes.
I don't think we're allowed to post pictures outside the website, so here are a couple links to the top deck pie-charts from GPABQ
Got back from GP Albuquerque earlier today. Was a blast. Ran with G/r devotion and had great match ups. I just played myself out of a couple wins, so I called it a day when I hit 4-3 (needed x-2 to proceed to day two, so I dropped in order to catch up with some homework).
Match 1 vs Mono-Blue Devotion
2:1 - first game he smashed me with thassa and couple specters. Second two games I returned the favor using polukranos to eat his devotion and arbor colossus kept the flyers at bay
Match 2 vs R/W Heroic
2:1 - Ran her through the first game with Nylea and an 11 Polukranos among other creatures. She only cast two creatures, but in the end I beat her 8/8 Phalanx leader and 5/5 Akroan Crusader along with some scattered tokens. Game 2 I felt risky and kept a one land hand (Nykthos), but had a good hand My bust. Didn't draw a land for the first 5 turns so i Scooped. G3 I was a simple win.
Match 3 vs G/W aggro
2:0 - Just an easy win. When they tap out and I already have Polukranos in play, it's easy to just start chomping on creatures.
Match 4 vs Mono-Black
1:2 - Don't remember the details on this one. I'm sure I lost though...
Match 5 vs Esper Control
1:2 - My first super blunder that probably kept me out of day two. First match he won fair and square. Stalled til Elspeth hit the table and dominated from there. Game 2 Was Xenegos and Mistcutter all the way. Game 3 was where I screwed up. Ultimated Domri, but I dont know how to read... Played an arbor colossus and passed turn because I didn't realize the emblem gave all my tards haste too. Then when time expired I allowed him to detention sphere my two blockers (voyaging Satyrs) which gave him the win.
Match 6 vs R/w Devotion
2:1 - He wins game 1, reckoner and zealot being held off but he drops a Fanatic to finish me. Game 2 I just destroy him with back to back polukranos, using the 2nd one to eat his board. G3 was tight, i was on the ropes when he has a couple phoenix slam into a colossus, the next turn he drops a dragon to get two damage through putting me at something like 6. On my turn I monstrous colossus, eat his other phoenix then trample in ftw.
Match 7 vs Blue/White elixir control
1:2 - this was my own personal feature match against one of the professionals. lost first game cause that blasted elixir wouldn't let me finish her off. I blundered by not calling the judge when for some reason i knew i should have at least asked. I attacked with polukranos and a satyr token, she was at like 2 health with elixir and a mutavault available. I declared attackers, she activates mutavault then slides in as a blocker. I wasn't 100% sure if i would be able to monstrous polukranos and eat the 2/2 before she declared blockers or not. Wasn't sure where priority shifted, so like an idiot the block went through, she gained the 5 from elixir then followed up the next turn with a verdict. G2 I killed her with a couple xenegos tokens and voyaging satyrs. G3 I couldn't rebound toward the end and Aetherling got the best of me.
That was my day. I had a blast with some friends from the ol home town. Was my first big event too. Few hot cosplay chicks (Liliana, Chandra and a female Gideon). The artists were cool and there were lots of overpriced cards to purchase if you desired :). I learned from my mistakes, so they wont happen again.
Sideboard notes: Wasteland Viper did nothing for me. I actually played it and swung. Fade is a waste too. It's easier to keep them off devotion then to exile their god.
Choose one — Exile all artifacts; or exile all creatures; or exile all enchantments; or exile all planeswalkers.
they just get exiled, no damage dealt, so regeneration has no effect toward the exile portion.
Was out of town this weekend, seen toward the end of last page somebody wanted to put Sylvan Primordial back in their deck. If your looking for it as a sideboard, you can take out the two Bident of Thassa for two Primordials. It looks like you have plenty of card draw mechanics in the deck with 4 Garruks and 3 Prime Speakers. Unless you desire to utilize the ability on the trident to have creatures attack into your wall of fatties(??).
I have not tested with Primevil Bounty since Theros rotated in, but it just appears the deck is "clogged" for 6+ CMC spells. Prime Speakers, Garruks, Bounties, and Rifts (normally desired to be cast for overload cost) may cause for clunky hands at times, especially vs RDW/WW. I could be totally wrong though, I haven't played Simic for a while, but will put a deck together for next weekend.
To close, I been fiddling with this Dimir midrange deck for some reason and found that I'm totally in love with Thassa herself. Even if she isn't active, being able to scry every turn allows me to push the unwanted land, duplicates, and other crap to the bottom of the library. Soon as i get a deck together, Ill post it and hopefully have some test results shortly afterward. Good luck everybody and thanks for keeping all the Green threads going!
Thanks for the Tournament reports Derek. Been a while since I posted or checked the boards, was too many people *****ing at each other at the time.
For your side board after your 2-1 results, unless you plan on taking out Garruk or Prime Speaker it seems you have enough card draw for the deck. Instead I was looking at Thassa herself. Scrying during your upkeep is awesome and hopefully pushes additional lands and elves to the bottom, I'd say she's up there with Domri with usefulness.
I would axe either gainsay or negate (or make them x2 each) just to slide in 4x mistcutter, they are really decent against most decks and tear through the majority of control and mono blue. All in all, your previous posted sideboard appears to be the winner. Maybe cut the boon satyrs for additional negate/gainsay???
Good luck in future games! I recently got my ass handed to me by GU devotion and cyclonic rift was the back breaker in both his wins. I was playing GR devotion, so the games went to whomever ramped first.
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.
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.
I been playing with this deck off and on all day today. It's just really fun. Thinking off adding two Worldspine Wurms just for giggles. Downfall of course is an opening hand with that big buggar.
The other Mono-Green deck was featured in like round 3 or 5 by a guy named Clair Bigalow (#10). Then there's Chris Renner (#4) who did not run a Nyx, followed by Daniel Novak who was featured in a Deck Tech w/ Nyx.
In my opinion, Shrine to Nyx only shines during certain situations. Running their decklists, pre-sideboard, it only comes into play during Polukanos' monstrosity activation. Post side board it will either again be used for Polukanos, create a huge Mistcutter if your lucky (since you side board it in mainly against control, hard to establish and keep devotion), or it is used as it was during the featured matches...to empty your hand after using Garruk's +1.
At this point, there doesn't seem to be a "Wrong" route to go. Even the small modifications to the SCG decklists appear to neither improve nor ****** the effectiveness of using Nylea's trample ability. Kudos to Daniel, Chris, and Clair for being ballsy and playing the deck. I hope it continues to do well and not be a one hit wonder like Elfball was.
There was at least 3 mono-green decks this weekend. The one with Nykthos did not make top 8, but I think during the deck tech with Daniel Novak it lists the single Nykthos with one less Mutavault. That is the only difference between their two decks. I'm only missing the cheapest of all cards to replicate this deck...the Deathbridge Goliaths, which I swore I had! I tried adding two more Polukranos, but legendary creatures just sit in my hand at times.
I thought the same as you at first Metalcrafter. Moved a 3 cards out for Garruk, but he just isn't "needed" half of the time. I also pondered splashing red for Xenagos or Domri, but...why fix something that isn't broken
Keep up the good work Bran and everybody else. Brainstorming into a great Green deck and testing all the possibilities.
my choice for your last slot would be Kalonial Hydra. Trample plus if you have Blood Witch already in play, he would also have haste is pretty good for a turn 5 drop. Of course Mistcutter Hydra is a great sideboard against control. I like your set up also because you have access to Golgari Charm, great for them red and white weenies, and even against Supreme Verdict if you can manage to keep the two mana open.
Either way, I like what your doing and will be attempting something similar. Good luck with your future testing!
So I've been planning on making my own version of this deck, I'm just trying to think of ways this deck could beat someone playing a dimir control deck with plenty of counter and kill spells. Here's my decklist so far:
It's somewhat of a hodgepodge right now, as I'm going to see what cards work best later. For the dimir deck, the only cards I can specifically think of that would work best are black creatures (don't die to Doom Blade) and Mistcutter Hydra. Sylvan Caryatid has hex proof so they're good if I get them out T2, but does anyone else have ideas of cards that could counter control (and also might be good in other matchups)?
If your talking specifically about Dimir decks, which I haven't played against yet, then it may be slightly harder to play around. But, for U/W and Esper control, I am strongly considering Underworld Cerberus. On a lucky hand, you would have the puppy in your hand after the turn 4 board wipe. Drop a Cerberus while they are tapped out and they are forced to exile him or return him to your hand/deck. If they kill him, all your creatures returned back to your hand. So you can start dropping threats again either forcing their counter spells, or hopefully pushing through damage again.
Anyway, the only reasonable counter to aetherling is pithing needle that I know of. if your close to killing your opponent, cast your removal before blockers are declared so he has to blink it out, then get your damage through. Or save two removal spells to cast your second one in response to the trigger to blink it. He's a tough cookie and it's a tough choice to slaughter games aetherling or sphynx's most the time.
I didn't enjoy fade too much either. I actually only remembered drawing it for a U/W match up vs Melissa. May be easier to keep them off of devotion using destructive revelry or another red removal spell (or a green fight spell...time to feed vs Master of Waves too??).
I watched Reid Duke play his Bant deck on video replay last weekend. He landed Primeval Bounty vs...mono-blue was it? His opponent already had an established board, but Bounty's three abilities was just over powering in the end. Imagine having a 3/6 Sylvan Caryatid just to block! Hillarious.
He's already running Ghor-Clan Rampager and Nylea. Would you like to suggest an anti-elspeth option?? How many options do we need to address a card that is played in less than 10% of the decks at a tournament?
Seeing that mono black and blue were the top decks this past weekend, I would stack slightly more hate toward them.
I did forget to mention Burning Earth for esper/jund.
4 Mistcutters - for control + mono-blue
3 Nylea's Disciple - Pesky red decks and maybe white weenie
3 Mizzium Mortar - more red hate + mono-black + white weenie
3 Skylasher - mono-blue and possibly control
2 destructive revelry - control and mono-black
That's just my suggestions. I know it's difficult to justify some choices over others and you'll most likely receive lots of input. Good luck to you and Dunk! Knock mono-black off it's pedestal.
From my limited experiences vs mono black, it is just a horrible match up. I may have a 40% win percentage which sucks due to the large amount that it is played at the big events. Think I see 2-3 mono-black-ish decks out of the roughly 24 players at my FNM events. Early removal sucks because it keeps us from ramping quickly, and late removal sucks worse because our game winning creatures get eaten. Plus we don't have an anti-black sideboard like we do vs blue based decks... Maybe we'll get opposing color hate cards like the old days...
Mono-blue I have a better match up against. Pre sideboard we can eat their devotion with polukranos or trade devotion for devotion using Domri. Their god is just flat out better than ours because scrying each turn is very powerful. Game 1 they normally have what...3 or 4 answers to our creatures (Cyclonic Rift x1(or 2) and a couple Rapid Hybridization)??
On the bright side, the pros are still toying with the green based devotion decks. I think it was Reid Duke playing a Bant Prophet deck last weekend and Caleb from Channel Fireball just posted a video for a G/U revisit
Caleb's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwxKDk2OY7U&list=PL04lbfeNAaS8rrY5NX97OrvU2AkGTn3J2
Reid's Decklist: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=60941
1 Aetherling
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Prophet of Kruphix
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Voyaging Satyr
4 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Prime Speaker Zegana
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
Lands (25)
6 Forest
1 Island
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Mystery
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Detention Sphere
1 Primeval Bounty
2 Plasm Capture
4 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Aetherling
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Nylea's Disciple
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Detention Sphere
3 Gainsay
2 Bramblecrush
1 Curse of the Swine
oops, forgot to mention that with 10+ mana dorks, having 22 lands has worked out great for me so far. But play what you feel comfortable with via testing, sometimes it's worth the risk, sometimes it isn't
3x Nylea : I love that she gives everything trample. Even if she isn't active, it still has the desired effect of pushing that little bit of damage through even if your crashing into Elspeth tokens. it can sometimes cause trouble for white weenie and mono-red since a lot of their creatures are 1 toughness. I dunno, maybe it was just a personal preference since thoughtseize will normally rip a Nylea over Polukranos since they have ways to deal with real creatures. I like having her on the board vice the graveyard or library.
Kalonian Hydra: All the hydras are "must deal with" creatures these days. The only hydra people would be reluctant to kill would be vastwood...maybe. But ideally, Turn 3 Polukranos, T4 Kalonian, T5 Monstrous + attack = GG in most cases. Although it rarely happens, I like to think it could happen for me when I need it
22 Lands: I never been a fan of 24/25 land decks for some reason. Especially with mana dorks available when running green. I do rely on them too much though. I have won games with just two lands too. Like turn 9. If they can't take out the Caryatids or even the mystics, it just allows you to not depend on land drops. Xenegos helps too. Often I find myself using his +1 ability rather than making tokens. Extra 1 counter on Polukranos monstrous has helped me in many matches.
I dunno, I guess most my decisions are personal preference based on play testing with the local guys. I still feel that even with 9 fatties (12 if you include Nylea) just isn't enough with all the ramp we have available. There are always going to be those match ups where just cant keep devotion on the table or your mana dorks alive long enough. I think with 22 lands, having a max fattie CMC of 4 or 5 suffices. I also don't like playing the odds of running "1 of" cards.
Good luck folks! Keep testing new strategies and posting tournament reports. Hopefully somebody learned from my mistakes.
I don't think we're allowed to post pictures outside the website, so here are a couple links to the top deck pie-charts from GPABQ
Day 1:
http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/gpabq13/rd_7_pie_chart.jpg
Day 2:
http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/events/gpabq13/day2breakdownchart.jpg
Deck List
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Voyaging Satyr
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Arbor Colossus
2 Kalonian Hydra
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
3 Domri Rade
2 Xenegos, the Reveler
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of Abandon
10 Forest
3 Burning Earth
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Nylea's Disciple
2 Wasteland Viper
2 Fade into Antiquity
3 Mizzium Mortar
Match 1 vs Mono-Blue Devotion
2:1 - first game he smashed me with thassa and couple specters. Second two games I returned the favor using polukranos to eat his devotion and arbor colossus kept the flyers at bay
Match 2 vs R/W Heroic
2:1 - Ran her through the first game with Nylea and an 11 Polukranos among other creatures. She only cast two creatures, but in the end I beat her 8/8 Phalanx leader and 5/5 Akroan Crusader along with some scattered tokens. Game 2 I felt risky and kept a one land hand (Nykthos), but had a good hand
Match 3 vs G/W aggro
2:0 - Just an easy win. When they tap out and I already have Polukranos in play, it's easy to just start chomping on creatures.
Match 4 vs Mono-Black
1:2 - Don't remember the details on this one. I'm sure I lost though...
Match 5 vs Esper Control
1:2 - My first super blunder that probably kept me out of day two. First match he won fair and square. Stalled til Elspeth hit the table and dominated from there. Game 2 Was Xenegos and Mistcutter all the way. Game 3 was where I screwed up. Ultimated Domri, but I dont know how to read... Played an arbor colossus and passed turn because I didn't realize the emblem gave all my tards haste too. Then when time expired I allowed him to detention sphere my two blockers (voyaging Satyrs) which gave him the win.
Match 6 vs R/w Devotion
2:1 - He wins game 1, reckoner and zealot being held off but he drops a Fanatic to finish me. Game 2 I just destroy him with back to back polukranos, using the 2nd one to eat his board. G3 was tight, i was on the ropes when he has a couple phoenix slam into a colossus, the next turn he drops a dragon to get two damage through putting me at something like 6. On my turn I monstrous colossus, eat his other phoenix then trample in ftw.
Match 7 vs Blue/White elixir control
1:2 - this was my own personal feature match against one of the professionals. lost first game cause that blasted elixir wouldn't let me finish her off. I blundered by not calling the judge when for some reason i knew i should have at least asked. I attacked with polukranos and a satyr token, she was at like 2 health with elixir and a mutavault available. I declared attackers, she activates mutavault then slides in as a blocker. I wasn't 100% sure if i would be able to monstrous polukranos and eat the 2/2 before she declared blockers or not. Wasn't sure where priority shifted, so like an idiot the block went through, she gained the 5 from elixir then followed up the next turn with a verdict. G2 I killed her with a couple xenegos tokens and voyaging satyrs. G3 I couldn't rebound toward the end and Aetherling got the best of me.
That was my day. I had a blast with some friends from the ol home town. Was my first big event too. Few hot cosplay chicks (Liliana, Chandra and a female Gideon). The artists were cool and there were lots of overpriced cards to purchase if you desired :). I learned from my mistakes, so they wont happen again.
Sideboard notes: Wasteland Viper did nothing for me. I actually played it and swung. Fade is a waste too. It's easier to keep them off devotion then to exile their god.
Anger of the Gods
if you were to regenerate your creature/creatures, then they wouldn't "die this turn". So no exile for them
However, for cards like Merciless Eviction
they just get exiled, no damage dealt, so regeneration has no effect toward the exile portion.
Was out of town this weekend, seen toward the end of last page somebody wanted to put Sylvan Primordial back in their deck. If your looking for it as a sideboard, you can take out the two Bident of Thassa for two Primordials. It looks like you have plenty of card draw mechanics in the deck with 4 Garruks and 3 Prime Speakers. Unless you desire to utilize the ability on the trident to have creatures attack into your wall of fatties(??).
I have not tested with Primevil Bounty since Theros rotated in, but it just appears the deck is "clogged" for 6+ CMC spells. Prime Speakers, Garruks, Bounties, and Rifts (normally desired to be cast for overload cost) may cause for clunky hands at times, especially vs RDW/WW. I could be totally wrong though, I haven't played Simic for a while, but will put a deck together for next weekend.
To close, I been fiddling with this Dimir midrange deck for some reason and found that I'm totally in love with Thassa herself. Even if she isn't active, being able to scry every turn allows me to push the unwanted land, duplicates, and other crap to the bottom of the library. Soon as i get a deck together, Ill post it and hopefully have some test results shortly afterward. Good luck everybody and thanks for keeping all the Green threads going!
For your side board after your 2-1 results, unless you plan on taking out Garruk or Prime Speaker it seems you have enough card draw for the deck. Instead I was looking at Thassa herself. Scrying during your upkeep is awesome and hopefully pushes additional lands and elves to the bottom, I'd say she's up there with Domri with usefulness.
I would axe either gainsay or negate (or make them x2 each) just to slide in 4x mistcutter, they are really decent against most decks and tear through the majority of control and mono blue. All in all, your previous posted sideboard appears to be the winner. Maybe cut the boon satyrs for additional negate/gainsay???
Good luck in future games! I recently got my ass handed to me by GU devotion and cyclonic rift was the back breaker in both his wins. I was playing GR devotion, so the games went to whomever ramped first.
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.
In my opinion, Shrine to Nyx only shines during certain situations. Running their decklists, pre-sideboard, it only comes into play during Polukanos' monstrosity activation. Post side board it will either again be used for Polukanos, create a huge Mistcutter if your lucky (since you side board it in mainly against control, hard to establish and keep devotion), or it is used as it was during the featured matches...to empty your hand after using Garruk's +1.
At this point, there doesn't seem to be a "Wrong" route to go. Even the small modifications to the SCG decklists appear to neither improve nor ****** the effectiveness of using Nylea's trample ability. Kudos to Daniel, Chris, and Clair for being ballsy and playing the deck. I hope it continues to do well and not be a one hit wonder like Elfball was.
Keep up the play testing!
I thought the same as you at first Metalcrafter. Moved a 3 cards out for Garruk, but he just isn't "needed" half of the time. I also pondered splashing red for Xenagos or Domri, but...why fix something that isn't broken
Keep up the good work Bran and everybody else. Brainstorming into a great Green deck and testing all the possibilities.
Either way, I like what your doing and will be attempting something similar. Good luck with your future testing!
If your talking specifically about Dimir decks, which I haven't played against yet, then it may be slightly harder to play around. But, for U/W and Esper control, I am strongly considering Underworld Cerberus. On a lucky hand, you would have the puppy in your hand after the turn 4 board wipe. Drop a Cerberus while they are tapped out and they are forced to exile him or return him to your hand/deck. If they kill him, all your creatures returned back to your hand. So you can start dropping threats again either forcing their counter spells, or hopefully pushing through damage again.