I want to let you know that there will be a follow-up to last week’s article about the genesis of the format called "The Middle Years," but it’s going to take a little research. We have more written data about that period, so I want to make sure that my memory lines up with the facts. It’ll be a few weeks, but we’ll get there.

Because of the Christmas break, I hadn’t played in about three weeks, so I was eager to get back to it. Before any of them started, Michelle (she of the Murdered Rofellos) and Sean dropped by to give me a Christmas card. In the card were foil copies of Go for the Throat, Disfigure, Doom Blade, Hornet Sting, Betrayal of Flesh, Zap, Righteous Blow, Assassinate, and Deathmark. As I started leafing through them, I realized that they were all additional ways to kill my (least) favorite Elf. Completely awesome.

I got into a few pickup games before League started. In one of them, Armada employee "Baby" Ben Stevens (so called because L3 Judge Ben McDole is also an Armada regular) was playing my Trostani deck. In the mid-to-late game, Ben had four creatures already in play: Trostani, Angel of Jubilation, and two random Angels. He hadn’t done too much in this game. He had gained a little life but wasn’t otherwise much of a factor. He drew his card, thought for a minute, and said "I got this."

He cast Sublime Archangel. He then copied it with Minion Reflector. He then cycled Decree of Justice for three and attacked with Trostani for 21. It was awesome. I’m sure it’s the first time I’ve seen anyone killed by Trostani damage. My mirth about that situation was tempered a bit by getting killed by Anthony Rueda in round 2 of League by Riku dealing 21 to my face by way of pump spell, Reiterate, Reiterate, Wild Ricochet. Right before that happened, I mentioned that Anthony seemed pretty happy with his draw. Turned out he was.

Canadian Erich Leibrock, aka Mindstab Thrull on the official forums and EdwrdBear on mIRC, is a long-time friend of the format. Not too long ago, he guided the IRC channel change for the format from #edh to #mtgcommander (despite having a preference for still using EDH to refer to the format himself), effectively reviving a channel that had kind of lost its way. There are now always a few dozen people there chatting about the best of all formats.

Erich, who is 42 and lives near Toronto, likes building outside-the-box decks for the challenge. Particularly in the case of this Dosan list, he said that someone in the #mtgcommander channel mentioned that they were tired of mono-green decks that all do the same thing: ramp into fatties. His idea was to build mono-green and stay away as much as possible from everything green normally does. He came up with Dosan "Pseudo-Esper Control." Erich is also fond of older cards—and when I say older, I mean pre-Invasion. You’ll see some classic (in the antique sense) choices for this list. With the exception of just a few lands, the deck is also pretty inexpensive and can be built on a real shoestring budget.

I’ll offer up the list with the breakdowns he gave to me and then put it into decklist format as well. It’s always interesting to me to see how folks break down their lists as opposed to putting them into a templated format.

Spot Removal

Beast Within
Bramblecrush
Chain of Acid
Desert Twister
Mold Shambler
Rootgrapple
Tornado
Venomous Vines
Woodfall Primus

We can see here the beginnings of those old-school choices. Tornado is a card that Erich specifically acquired for the deck. It’s crazy that it has two different kinds of counters. For the low, low cost of 6GG (*cough*), you can Vindicate (and note that we call that "Vindicate" instead of "Desert Twister," which was around much earlier). Paying more life and mana keeps that ability around. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Mold Shambler unkicked, although I can see possibly using it as just a Hill Giant in Draft.

Chain of Acid is the kind of card that can make multiplayer games quite interesting. It wouldn’t be too difficult to encourage two other players to get into a mini war of attrition. I’m a little concerned over the instant removal since the commander shuts it down, but knowing that’s the case, you can plan out when you’re going to use them. Rootgrapple is really great in Treefolk decks, but I’m pretty sure it’s included here simply because it blows up stuff, with Woodfall Primus being the only Treefolk.

Card Drawing

Bequeathal
Citanul Woodreaders
Garruk, Primal Hunter
Greater Good
Harmonize
Hunter’s Insight
Magus of the Library
Momentous Fall
Scroll Rack
Soul’s Majesty
Sylvan Library

This is a nice little card drawing suite. I wouldn’t exactly call Scroll Rack card draw, but it certainly does enough duty in sculpting your hand to be included with the other card drawers. Bequeathal is neat and old-timey. You already know my love of Greater Good. I think Hunter’s Insight is really underplayed in the format. I imagine that players worry that the creature they use will eat some spot removal, but I think the trick here—just like with Soul’s Majesty—is to not be greedy. Use it on something of midrange power instead of your giant guy. Obviously, you always run the risk of being on the bad end of a two-for-one with both cards, but spot removal is precious, so if you keep things reasonable someone will be less likely to completely blow you out.

I play Magus of the Library in my Phelddagrif deck, and it’s been okay but unspectacular. I’m eventually going to get around to playing Sylvan Library in a deck with Repay in Kind in it, but for now I’ll stick to having it in decks like Trostani. At worst, it goes along with Scroll Rack as a method of crafting the hand you really want. If your life total gets high enough from Momentous Fall, you start snap drawing all three.

For this deck, I might also suggest Mirri’s Guile, which lets you Top during your upkeep for free. I think that Masked Admirers would be pretty good card draw here. One of my favorite green card drawers is Compost. It rarely fails in delivering way more return than investment.

Emergency Counters

Avoid Fate
Bind
Ouphe Vandals

I love all three of these card choices and am constantly looking to find room in my own decks for them. I had Ouphe Vandals in a Beast deck and took it out because it violated theme. Bind is always going to be a blowout when it’s cast. I can see it being a card that has an impact on the environment it gets played in. Like with cards such as Mirror Strike or Reflect Damage, it will always have people glancing over their shoulder, wondering what’s going to come out of the shadows. I’d like Avoid Fate more in this deck if there were something critical to protect.

Flying Beatdown!!!

Bounteous Kirin
Canopy Dragon
Cockatrice
Emerald Dragonfly
Giant Dustwasp
Hornet Queen
Jugan, the Rising Star
Killer Bees
Kyscu Drake
Leaping Lizard
Scryb Ranger
Scryb Sprites
Skinshifter
Uktabi Drake
Uktabi Faerie
Unyaro Bees

As you might suspect from a mono-green deck, the flying creatures are the weak link. I certainly love the ancient-school choice of Cockatrice and Scryb Sprites and that a Homelands card (Leaping Lizard) made the list, but after that I’m left a little cold. Jugan is pretty good, as is Hornet Queen, and then we fall off a fair amount.

I might suggest Caustic Wasps, which is half a Trygon Predator. Ifh-Biff Efreet, while not particularly cheap—although also not particularly expensive for an Arabian Nights card—might be a "let’s see where this goes" choice. Venomous Dragonfly could be a nice rattlesnake. Finally, Yavimaya Gnats from Ice Age would fit both the old school and flying green creatures themes, although it’s hardly "beatdown."

Reanimation

Reincarnation
Moldgraf Monstrosity

Reincarnation is an awesome choice. Again, I’d like it, not to mention Moldgraf Monstrosity, a little better if there were a few spicier choices of creatures. The value of a card like Reincarnation is to invest a small amount of mana (in this case 1GG) in order to get into play something that costs lots more. Imagine having something huge like Worldspine Wurm, hitting it with Reincarnation, and then sacrificing it to Greater Good. Okay, now gotta figure how to put that into one of my own decks.

Graveyard Removal

Night Soil
Rysorian Badger
Scavenging Ooze

Rysorian Badger is so next level that we need to create a next next level for it. Night Soil is a long-time favorite of mine in this format, and people still need to read what it does. I don’t think I need to tell you too much about Scavenging Ooze except to reinforce that it’s awesome.

Other

Bower Passage
Elder Druid
Eternal Witness
Gaea’s Blessing
Genesis
Kaysa
Meng Huo, Barbarian King
Nevinyrral’s Disk
Primal Command
Stunted Growth

I saw Bower Passage in play for the first time this past week. At first, I thought about how mediocre it was. Later, I thought, "Why are your fliers killing me???" I’m now convinced. Primal Command and Stunted Growth together on the list make me think Erich may play a fair amount of 1v1 with this deck. The Command is okay, but I can’t imagine Stunted Growth doing much more than cheesing someone off in a multiplayer game.

Nev’s Disk plus Elder Druid is cute. Due to the modesty of the creatures, Kaysa and Meng Huo are good, and you have to love Meng Huo as a unique choice (I’ve certainly never seen it). Perhaps Baru, Fist of Krosa might be a decent addition, although that might stray too far into the realm of doing what other mono-green decks do.

Mana Rocks

Gilded Lotus
Khalni Gem
Mana Vault
Sculpting Steel
Sol Ring
Worn Powerstone

Amusing that Sculpting Steel is listed in this section, but Erich left a note that it’s for copying Gilded Lotus. I’ve thought about playing Khalni Gem a few times, more to bounce enters the battlefield lands like Bojuka Bog than serious ramp. It just feels like hanging too much out there in a world where mana rocks don’t last.

Lands

More Than One Mana

Gaea’s Cradle
Havenwood Battleground
Hickory Woodlot
Hollow Trees
Jungle Basin
Rushwood Grove
Temple of the False God

Fetchlands

Bant Panorama
Grasslands
Jund Panorama
Misty Rainforest
Mountain Valley
Naya Panorama
Verdant Catacombs
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills

I had to look up Mountain Valley, which it turns out is an original Mirage fetchland, because I thought that was the name of the Odyssey land that makes RG, which is turns out is called Mossfire Valley. Darkwater Catacombs, Shadowblood Ridge, Skycloud Expanse, and Sungrass Prairie round out the set, which are nicely cheap dual lands (in the loosest definition of "dual lands").

Cycling

Blasted Landscape
Slippery Karst
Tranquil Thicket

Removal

Maze of Ith
Mystifying Maze
Strip Mine
Wasteland

Basics

Dryad Arbor
15 Forest

I know some people like Dryad Arbor because you can fetch it and Green Sun’s Zenith for zero to get it, but I’m not one of them. In a format full of board sweepers, it seems like you’re just setting yourself up to lose a land without there being too much upside. Of course, I also think mana rocks tend to get blown up too frequently, and the best reason to play them is that you’re NOT in green. That said, I appreciate that Erich is getting outside the box here, which is one of the reasons I’m featuring the deck.

While there are a few tweaks that I think that Erich could make to keep the theme/budget and kick up the deck a notch or two, it’s interesting, certainly different, and probably some fun to play. As a bonus, it’s given me some ideas for tweaks to decks of my own. Thanks to Erich for good stuff from way outside the box.

Dosan the Falling Leaf Pseudo-Esper Control

Erich Leibrock

Test deck on 01-13-2013

Commander

Creatures (30)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Lands (39)

Spells (30)