Been fooling around with Uncage the Menagerie recently. Ignoring the Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies + Duskwatch Recruiter combo it's actually a decent "fair" value engine. 2 isn't worth building around otherwise but with 3 you can fetch a ton of powerful value engines + Eternal Witnesses to keep the chain going. This sample deck has four 4s, four 6s and four 7s because you don't need six 6s or seven 7s to make the card work. Four is fine because it ensures that you'll usually be able to grab at least 3. You can also go for a set of 5s with things like Thragtusk, Titania, Protector of Argoth, Genesis, Seeborn Muse and even Acidic Slime if you want a 5th spell.
Otherwise the other value spell in your deck could be anything. Compost, Evolutionary Leap, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Harmonize, Planeswalkers, Rishkar's Expertise, it doesn't matter. You can also field things like Green Sun's Zenith and Oath of Nissa which are great in singleton decks. The idea here is that your primary gameplan is to curve 1 -> 3 -> 3/4 -> Uncage for refueling and so your primary concern is having a backup plan in case you don't draw one of your key card advantage engines.
Thanks for the list. I'm always on the lookout for a new toolbox deck. Since Uncage the Menagerie doesn't have a color restriction a la GSZ, are there any colorless creatures you think would be worth looking at?
Fair enough. Now let's say I build a deck like this but I want to add spot removal or some other way of handling creatures outside of combat. I've got a friend who likes cheating out Blazing Archon often enough that I try to plan for it. What would you do there? Would you just toss in a few Beast Withins? Or would you opt for toolbox creatures to do the job, like Duplicant or Polukranos, World Eater?
Fair enough. Now let's say I build a deck like this but I want to add spot removal or some other way of handling creatures outside of combat. I've got a friend who likes cheating out Blazing Archon often enough that I try to plan for it. What would you do there? Would you just toss in a few Beast Withins? Or would you opt for toolbox creatures to do the job, like Duplicant or Polukranos, World Eater?
The deck can easily support 4x BW the, only issue is that all of your engines become weaker. In general I'd running 2 and fielding creatures for the rest of the slots. Note that you don't have to run Duplicant and you could easily run some Ulamogs instead if you have them. They're harder to tutor for but you'll typically draw one at some point.
I'll say that I've become increasingly unimpressed with Ulvenwald Tracker to the point where I've stopped considering it to be a card. I like the suggestion, it's a card that I've pushed for a long time, but nowadays anything that has to untap has me on edge. For example, I'd always field the next copy of BW before the first copy of Tracker.
This is a great question and a tough one to answer.
GSZ is a very broken Magic card and any Green deck can happily start with 4. Nothing really competes with it because it's (essentially) the best card to draw at any given point. From a pure power-level perspective it's not even close.
I'm not as high on Selvala's Stampede as most people. It's almost always a "Lure of Prey + Polymorph" but the problem is that when you hit a dork the card feels bad. In that sense I actually prefer it in decks with no creature-based ramp and mostly fatties. I want a lot of cards like Lure of Prey and Worldspine Wurm as opposed to Elvish Mystics so I typically don't like that card in these kinds of decks.
Rishkar's Expertise is a card that keeps going up on my rankings. It feels like a Treachery in that you get to do two extremely powerful things on the same turn. The biggest weakness of drawing cards is that it doesn't affect the board so when you get to do both on the same turn it almost feels like cheating.
Uncage is weird. The card is expensive (base use-case is a 5 mana draw 3) but it enables some extremely grindy lines. You essentially can't run out of gas when you draw one and hit at least 5 lands because all of your sequences will fuel the next ones. The biggest issue that I have with the card is that I rarely find myself lacking action in Green. Once upon time Green wasn't a color known for CA but nowadays I never seem to find myself running low on resources. The color has too much value. For example, all of those chains of Uncages are typically unnecessary if you stick a card like Rishkar's Expertise and draw 5+ cards.
Still, the card does have a lot going for it. First of all it works well with the "one and done" green threats such as Ramunap Excavator and Oracle of Mul Daya. Drawing one is great, multiples not so much, so it's perfect for those kinds of cards. It's also more resilient than Lurking Predators and less conditional than Rishkar's Expertise. It doesn't really compete with GSZ since they both want the same thing (run both) and it's a total nonbo with Selvala's Stampede since you have run cheap cards and reasonably-costed fatties. In essence, the card makes sense to run if:
1) You can't afford GSZ,
2) Your meta is removal-heavy,
3) You enjoy grindy games,
4) You enjoy playing toolbox strategies.
It's not the strongest card in the world but at a buck a pop it foots the bill. I was expecting the card to suck outside of combo decks but having played it it feels quite strong. "Infinite value" engines that dodge removal are never cards to sleep on so I'm going to keep fooling around with it.
I still haven't made my mind up on Uncage.
It seems good, but if you already have access to GSZ and the other choices you've named here, or even Birthing Pod for that matter, I'm not sure the card is really that great.
However, if your meta is full of board wipes, as you've mentioned, this might potentially be very very worth the extra mana requirement.
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14x Forest
4x Evolving Wilds
2x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Mountain
1x Kessig Wolf Run
Creatures (30)
4x Elvish Mystic
3x Llanowar Elves
1x Eternal Witness
1x Skullwinder
1x Wood Elves
1x Farhaven Elf
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Tireless Tracker
1x Ramunap Excavator
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1x Vizier of the Menagerie
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Karametra's Acolyte
1x Temur Sabertooth
1x Primeval Titan
1x Ulvenwald Hydra
1x Greenwarden of Murasa
1x Bane of Progress
1x Sylvan Primordial
1x Avenger of Zendikar
1x Hornet Queen
1x Regal Force
4x Uncage the Menagerie
4x Lurking Predators
Been fooling around with Uncage the Menagerie recently. Ignoring the Devoted Druid + Vizier of Remedies + Duskwatch Recruiter combo it's actually a decent "fair" value engine. 2 isn't worth building around otherwise but with 3 you can fetch a ton of powerful value engines + Eternal Witnesses to keep the chain going. This sample deck has four 4s, four 6s and four 7s because you don't need six 6s or seven 7s to make the card work. Four is fine because it ensures that you'll usually be able to grab at least 3. You can also go for a set of 5s with things like Thragtusk, Titania, Protector of Argoth, Genesis, Seeborn Muse and even Acidic Slime if you want a 5th spell.
Otherwise the other value spell in your deck could be anything. Compost, Evolutionary Leap, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Harmonize, Planeswalkers, Rishkar's Expertise, it doesn't matter. You can also field things like Green Sun's Zenith and Oath of Nissa which are great in singleton decks. The idea here is that your primary gameplan is to curve 1 -> 3 -> 3/4 -> Uncage for refueling and so your primary concern is having a backup plan in case you don't draw one of your key card advantage engines.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Maybe an Ulvenwald Tracker for oppressive critters?
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
The deck can easily support 4x BW the, only issue is that all of your engines become weaker. In general I'd running 2 and fielding creatures for the rest of the slots. Note that you don't have to run Duplicant and you could easily run some Ulamogs instead if you have them. They're harder to tutor for but you'll typically draw one at some point.
I'll say that I've become increasingly unimpressed with Ulvenwald Tracker to the point where I've stopped considering it to be a card. I like the suggestion, it's a card that I've pushed for a long time, but nowadays anything that has to untap has me on edge. For example, I'd always field the next copy of BW before the first copy of Tracker.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
This is a great question and a tough one to answer.
GSZ is a very broken Magic card and any Green deck can happily start with 4. Nothing really competes with it because it's (essentially) the best card to draw at any given point. From a pure power-level perspective it's not even close.
I'm not as high on Selvala's Stampede as most people. It's almost always a "Lure of Prey + Polymorph" but the problem is that when you hit a dork the card feels bad. In that sense I actually prefer it in decks with no creature-based ramp and mostly fatties. I want a lot of cards like Lure of Prey and Worldspine Wurm as opposed to Elvish Mystics so I typically don't like that card in these kinds of decks.
Rishkar's Expertise is a card that keeps going up on my rankings. It feels like a Treachery in that you get to do two extremely powerful things on the same turn. The biggest weakness of drawing cards is that it doesn't affect the board so when you get to do both on the same turn it almost feels like cheating.
Uncage is weird. The card is expensive (base use-case is a 5 mana draw 3) but it enables some extremely grindy lines. You essentially can't run out of gas when you draw one and hit at least 5 lands because all of your sequences will fuel the next ones. The biggest issue that I have with the card is that I rarely find myself lacking action in Green. Once upon time Green wasn't a color known for CA but nowadays I never seem to find myself running low on resources. The color has too much value. For example, all of those chains of Uncages are typically unnecessary if you stick a card like Rishkar's Expertise and draw 5+ cards.
Still, the card does have a lot going for it. First of all it works well with the "one and done" green threats such as Ramunap Excavator and Oracle of Mul Daya. Drawing one is great, multiples not so much, so it's perfect for those kinds of cards. It's also more resilient than Lurking Predators and less conditional than Rishkar's Expertise. It doesn't really compete with GSZ since they both want the same thing (run both) and it's a total nonbo with Selvala's Stampede since you have run cheap cards and reasonably-costed fatties. In essence, the card makes sense to run if:
1) You can't afford GSZ,
2) Your meta is removal-heavy,
3) You enjoy grindy games,
4) You enjoy playing toolbox strategies.
It's not the strongest card in the world but at a buck a pop it foots the bill. I was expecting the card to suck outside of combo decks but having played it it feels quite strong. "Infinite value" engines that dodge removal are never cards to sleep on so I'm going to keep fooling around with it.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
It seems good, but if you already have access to GSZ and the other choices you've named here, or even Birthing Pod for that matter, I'm not sure the card is really that great.
However, if your meta is full of board wipes, as you've mentioned, this might potentially be very very worth the extra mana requirement.