MTG Salvation

Mostly I'm looking for what would be a better fit for my deck between Quicksilver Amulet and Cryptic Gateway. But, with all the choices of Beasts and support out there, any general opinions on where I could steer the deck are certainly appreciated.

Deck:

Creatures:
4 Arbor Elf
3 Arboreal Grazer
3 Kalonian Tusker
3 Krosan Warchief
3 Leatherback Baloth
2 Ravenous Baloth
3 Elder Gargaroth
3 Garruk's Packleader
2 Thragtusk
1 Rampaging Baloths

Enchantment:
4 Wild Growth

Instant:
3 Beast Within

Plainswalker:
2 Garruk Wildspeaker

Artifact:
2 Quicksilver Amulet
or
2 Cryptic Gateway

Land:
2 Contested Cliffs
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Rootbound Crag
12 Forest

I do worry, beyond the Arbor Elf and Wild Growth, that things are going to be too slow. Even for my casual games.

I would definitely try to decrease your mana curve. You currently only have 3 two drops, so often you will have no play for the early turns. Garruk's Companion come to mind as a good filler for that role. It has 3 power so it synergise with your Packleader, plus it has trample.

As for your initial question, I'd go for Quicksilver Amulet since you want your beasts to apply pressure by attacking, not keep them to activate Cryptic Gateway.

EDIT: I'm not sold on playing Contested Cliff in a mono green build. You could easily go for a Gruul beast tribal if you absolutely want that land.

I don't know. 22 land is a tad low, but 4 arbor elf, 4 wild growth, and 3 Arboreal Grazer is a decent ramp package. I'd probably move the Arboreal Grazers to being a more effective ramp. Perhaps some elvish mystics?

I'd decide if you want to play cryptic gateway or not. It can get fairly combo centric if you do. Quicksilver amulet is rather worthless considering there's very few playable beasts that it will reduce by more than 2 mana.

Here's a combo idea:


Running Kaheera was just a fun on theme option. For combo I'd probably play Craterhoof Behemoth if available, but he's pricey now. If you're playing multiplayer, Caller of the Pack is an option. Krosan Tusker is decent mana consistency, but I went for more explosive options under the assumption that you'd find a Garruk's Packleader and be trying to get it out as fast as possible. Some more cards I considered that put different spins on the deck:

• Green Sun's Zenith
  
• Chord of Calling
  
• Protean Hulk
  
• Woodland Bellower

And here's a more aggro variant:

You'll note that the deathmist raptors are gone in favor of more power on the field from Leatherback Baloth and Rancor. I completely removed the cheat into play effects, and rancor turns your early game beasts into serious threats. The deck isn't as tribal focused and just wants to get big things early.

Garruk's Harbinger is really strong in similar green builds i've played. Probably a good replacement for the Packleader for digging for cards.

Questing Beast if you can get them.

I totally missed Garruk's Harbinger in my search. That's probably better than Deathmist Raptor. Packleader has some combo potential though, so I'd probably run both and use the harbinger to dig for or trigger packleader.