MTG Salvation

I can't help but think that Life's Legacy needs to be played in mono-green stompy with Aspect of Hydra or simply Reverent Hunter. Bash for a ton and then cash in for a bunch of cards.

I'm somewhat surprised that no one has explored this possibility yet, but I feel like Pain Seer really wants to be in a aggressive burn deck that can simply play him on turn two and then clear away any blockers every turn. Here is a rough sketch of where I'd start.



There are a lot of additional cards that you can consider or directions you could take with the deck like Chandra's Phoenix, Hero's Downfall, Mogis, God of the Slaughter, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Firedancer Satyr, Toil // Troublebut this seems like a fine place to start.

Not sure of the exact decklist, but a RW burn deck with Firedancers and Young Pyromancers got top 8 at the Fargo PTQ yesterday and then subsequently died to Gray Merchants.

Here's a bit of a different take on Mono-green that I've been taking to the recent PTQs. I lost my win and in in Madison (6-2) and took it to the top 8 of Cedar Rapids (6-0-2)so it has a good track record.

I will be running the deck this weekend at a PTQ so we shall see how it goes. The list I'm planning on bringing is this:

I haven't liked any of the BNG cards in the list and have really liked adding the scry lands even without a splash. I don't know what to do with the last slot and keep jumping back and forth on quite a few cards. We shall see.

Quote from Sting

Can be a good idea 1x Bramblecrush SB?
That because can remove some non creature threat like Planeswalker without splashing other color ( for hero's downfall ).
Can also hit lands (punishing greedy manabase)
As downside can become a overcosted slower Naturalize

I have had Bramblecrush in the sideboard in the past, but I think that the matchup you most want it in (vs U/W/x control) it is way to slow and the sorcery speed nature of it is a real downside. I think that I would rather have access to Unravel the Aether even though it doesn't hit planeswalkers (the biggest upside to Bramblecrush.)

Quote from Spacetime

Why don't you run Kalonian Hydra seems like the nuts with all these counters.

Kalonian Hydra is nuts in this deck. If you ever cast it and survive long enough to attack once or twice, you certainly will win, but it isn't really consistent. It isn't a good blocker when it comes out and it basically has to attack for it to do anything. It also is rather slow considering you have to have five mana which is sometimes easy, but other times not so much.
The question is whether it is better than any of the other options available and honestly, I don't think it is. Against my harder matchups(especially U/W control) I'd rather be casing Mistcutter for 4 and attacking than casting Kalonian Hydra and saying go. I'd also rather cast Arbor Colossus as it is well positioned in the current meta.
So, it's a sweet card and does really sick things with the deck, I'd just rather have consistency rather than raw power available.

I would find room for Nylea, especially if you are going to run Aspect of Hydra. The trample seems pretty relevant. Also, sixteen green sources seems shy of what it needs to be if you need double green on turn two. I would either add a land or drop a mutavault or two.

Yeah, that's what I need to test out the next month or so. Right now I'm inclined to cut one Krasis, one Boon Satyr, one Mistcutter, and two Skylashers and add one Nylea, two Courser of Kruphix and two Swordwise Centaur. I wouldn't run Hunter's Prowess, though casting it on Nylea would be sick. I would be more inclined to find room for a fourth Garruk if anything.

Against Mono-Black
-2 Skylasher
-1 Mistcutter
-1 Boon Satyr or Renegade Krasis
+4 Scavenging Ooze
This a great matchup preboard and gets even better post board

Mono-Blue
-4 Experiment One
-4 Renegade Krasis
+4 Nylea's Disciple
+1 Mistcutter Hydra
+2 Skylasher
+1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
Preboard is all about who is on the play and whether a number of factors happen like getting Skylasher early, whether you get Nykthos, how many early Tidebinders, so it's up in the air. Post board adding the additional hate cards and Nylea's Disciple is just backbreaking for them. Experiment One never does anything against them and Krasis is worse than Boon Satyr since Satyr turns your Skylashers into Mistcutters.

Control variants
-4 Elvish Mystic
-4 Gyre Sage
+2 Skylasher
+1 Mistcutter Hydra
+1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
+2 Naturalize
+2 Scavenging Ooze
I used to run Bramblecrush, but the cost difference plus the instant speed is much more important. The Mystics and Sage simply aren't powerful enough on their own and overextend you into Wrath effects so they need to go.

Aggro
-3 Mistcutter Hydra
-4 Boon Satyr
+4 Nylea's Disciple
+2 Scavenging Ooze
+1 Nylea, God of the Hunt

Garruk has performed very strong for me over the course of the tournaments and is one of the big reasons to play the deck. There are three situations where you cast able to cast Garruk. One is through quick Nykthos acceleration, the second is simply making the necessary land drops because the game is going long because of attrition, and the third is through Gyre Sage. I wouldn't run three, or a forth in the board without Gyre Sage, but running her enables me to do so. Against almost any deck in Standard an active Garruk means you are almost guaranteed to win the game.

I have absolutely loved Renegade Krasis in the deck. Everyone, including most of the judges, had to read the card whenever I played it, and then they subsequently killed it after looking at my board state or died to it. The double devotion, the synergy with Experiment One, Gyre Sage, Mistcutter Hydra and even Polukranos is very strong. Having him evolve even once is usually worth it to to get value, but multiple times is just sick.

Boon Satyr plays a number of important roles in the deck.
1.) It helps evolve your guys, especially Ex. One and Gyre Sage to a third time and being able to do so at instant speed throws combat math out the window
2.) It fills a very important part of the curve in the early game as establishing devotion is important
3.) It helps you be aggressive against the control decks without over extending
4.) Having the long game ability to bestow on either Mistcutter or especially Skylasher is very important
5.) In the upcoming standard season it will trade with Brimaz
Basically it has important applications in the early, mid and late game and all of those applications are important.

Burning-Tree Emissary....I tested with BTE for quite a while and I hate the card because although it seems super powerful, it never actually did what I wanted it to do. There were three situations when I wanted to see BTE:
1.) The nuts early Nykthos draw with a follow up mana sink or Garruk
2.) On turn three with a Gyre Sage in play and a four drop in hand
3.) After plussing Garruk
Those situations happened relatively infrequently and every other time I would rather have it be something else. So I cut it and have never regretted it.

Scavenging Ooze is a fine card and I ran four in the side, especially for against Mono-Black, but I couldn't justify running them main. There isn't a lot of wiggle room in the deck and the flex spots that I ended up with, I decided to run Skylasher instead. If you take out the Skylashers and the Mistcutters, the mono blue matchup isn't super great game one, but having them turns so many games around. After board I really like the matchup as you get access to Nylea's Disciple, more Mistcutters and Skylashers and it becomes really hard for them.

My board for the last tournament was as follows:

• 4 Nylea's Disciple
  
• 4 Scavenging Ooze
  
• 2 Skylasher
  
• 2 Naturalize
  
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
  
• 1 Mistcutter Hydra
  
• 1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts

During the month of January I traveled to Green Bay, Madison, and Cedar Rapids to play in some PTQs with the following Mono-Green Stompy list.

The first weekend in Green Bay I ended up losing my win and in ended up 6-2. The second weekend I started 4-1 and then the wheels fell off. I ended my run in Cedar Rapids with a 6-0-2 record in the Swiss and 1st place in the Top 8. I had a pretty bad draw and lost in the quarterfinals in the third game to a dumb mistake.
I am going to be PTQing again in March and need to update the deck with BNG cards. Just looking for anyone who is willing to help test out the main, especially looking at Courser of Kruphix. Thanks.

Just throwing this together off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure that there is a sick shell somewhere in here.

I would heavily advocated for Soldier of the Pantheon regardless of what else you do. It matches up well against a lot of cards like Boros Reckoner, Burning Tree Emissary, Rakdos Cackler, and the incidental life gain are also great.
I would compare Precinct Captain with High Priest in their effectiveness against aggro decks in general. Both of them really stem the tide of aggro, but Precinct Captain also plays a key role against control, in that it establishes a board of threats without having to commit too much to the board. High Priest can have a much higher payoff, but Captain is much more consistent.
Even though Tithe Drinker isn't a human, I think it's a necessary evil and worth including, at least in the board for being able to compete with the aggressive decks of the format.

Cartel Aristocrat was a key component in the Aristocrat decks of last Standard so my initial idea was a straight port from that. After think a bit about it, it probably should only be a 2 of to start since there is much less synergy here than there was in those decks. That being said, it is still a basically unkillable, unblockable threat.
Here's a better list from my first.


I've been looking more at Deathrite in decks that can only utilize his black ability and have been intrigued at the possibility. Basically a Grim Lavamancer that only goes to the face seems strong in a hyper-aggressive list, but time will tell.
I also really like Tithe Drinker since the format is saturated with red based and mono-red aggressive decks. It may be right to have four in the main and side them out since the extort ability is great in multiples against midrange decks as well, but I'm not sure about that.
There are some other changes and a lot of kinks to work out, but this is what I like.

One of the big problems with High Priest is that Azorious and Esper Control are going to have a very big presence over the next couple of weeks, and a 1/1 for two that has zero relevant abilities against them is not something that I want. Now against mono red, I think High Priest is sweet, but I'm not sure that I would want it in any other matchup. So I would consider sending it to the sideboard.
The question that you (SonicKaos) need to decide, is what you want to be doing with your deck. Aggressive, Midrange or Control and whether you want to be more focused on heroic creatures or not. Right now your list is somewhat unfocused and I think that you are trying to do too many things.