“And the times, they are a changing.”
—Bob Dylan
After some serious consideration of my States deck and thinking I had broken the format, I realized some things after more play with the deck. While I had referred to Viridian Emissary as a “necessary evil” to people with whom I talked about the deck, I wasn’t always happy with the card.
It allowed for early beats and cool tricks with your own Beast Within. But I quickly realized that Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, and Avacyn’s Pilgrim would be much better options because it would guarantee the ramp that you so desperately need.
My thoughts were reconfirmed with recent StarCityGames.com events, seeing a lot of the mono-green versions switching over to Birds and Elves over Emissary. I was beginning to develop distaste for Solemn Simulacrum as well.
I still wanted the edge in the mirror, and it appeared the Wolf Run Green deck would be the contender, as it was wrecking events. I had briefly gone over Mirran Crusader as an option in my last article, and he was quickly starting to become more and more appealing. So I came up with this:
Creatures (16)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 4 Primeval Titan
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim
Planeswalkers (5)
Lands (25)
Spells (14)
Who wins in a fight, Dungrove Elder or Mirran Crusader? Mirran Crusader
As a matter of fact, what wins in a fight: Mono-Green or Mirran Crusader? Mirran Crusader
Mirran Crusader also has protection from Dismember, which is key against the slower decks. A pump with Kessig Wolf Run makes him just as much as a liability as Inkmoth Nexus for pesky control decks.
I cut Day of Judgment seeing as how I feel that Ratchet Bomb will be just as good in the matchups where you want a sweeper. Now that I am running so many one-mana accelerants, it is risky to just slap down a Day of Judgment.
Solar Flare/UW decks
These types of decks share a very similar role. This matchup will almost always come down to an unopposed Thrun, the Last Troll or an Inkmoth Nexus. Now that I have Mirran Crusader, I expect this matchup to become even easier. The main card that I am afraid to see from one of these decks is a Ghost Quarter. An untapped Ghost Quarter really leaves out Inkmoth Nexus as an option, which makes it so that you have to grind out the match a lot longer.
Mono Red/Aggro
Although Viridian Emissary was good against Mono Red, it wasn’t very good against other aggressive decks. Being faster is more important because you can pump out your threats and get your deck online faster. With Mirran Crusader, game one isn’t that bad because you still have a creature that will most likely need to have burn thrown at it to clear the way for your opponent. However, most of the Mirran Crusaders will most likely leave the main deck after sideboarding.
Mirror
You have a much faster clock then your opponent with this version. Not only are you able to race just as fast as they do, but dropping a Mirran Crusader or a Hero of Bladehold (post-board) is likely going to be game over. Mirran Crusader will actually just win the game if dropped on turn 2 or 3 against the Mono-Green versions and will likely do a lot of damage against the versions that are running Slagstorm. If they are running Slagstorm, they are most likely running Viridian Emissary, and you will be much better off with your Birds and Elves so long as you don’t let yourself get blown out by a sweeper.
I think that Ghost Quarter might be a good idea for ramp decks to consider for the mirror and for the slower control decks. By using your Ghost Quarter on an opposing Ghost Quarter, you force them to use their answer, and you can go all-in with another Inkmoth Nexus. Even though Ghost Quarter is annoying, it is card disadvantage for your opponent, and it messes up their mana base, so don’t be too upset with the card. At least there is no more Tectonic Edge!
Two versions of this deck made Top 16 of this past SCG Open in Kansas City.
Creatures (15)
- 3 Solemn Simulacrum
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 4 Primeval Titan
- 1 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 4 Viridian Emissary
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Planeswalkers (6)
Lands (25)
Spells (15)
This deck was a much more controlling version featuring a full set of Day of Judgment. Both White Sun’s Zenith and Elesh Norn are very interesting cards to consider. The sideboard features 3 Celestial Purge, which seem like a very interesting card choice, and I assume they are for Mono Red, or maybe for trying to improve the Infect matchup. I would be more inclined to play Oblivion Ring as more of a catchall.
Creatures (19)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 4 Primeval Titan
- 4 Mirran Crusader
- 4 Hero of Bladehold
- 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (26)
Spells (11)
This version is much more aggressive, featuring a full set of Hero of Bladehold and Mirran Crusader. I must admit that this list does seem very saucy, but I think I would try and fit a couple of Gideon Jura in there. The sideboard is a bit weird; I am very curious what the Mortarpods are for.
I feel like my version is a nice balance between these lists and clearly it would be up to play style to deviate.
Exploring the Open Field
I feel like this format is extremely wide open and unexplored. People are just playing with the decks that are doing well and not trying to put an innovative spin on things. For example, a card like Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas has to be very powerful in this format in some way.
That being said, I have been trying a new spin on this deck in the form of black. Rampant Growth is the best and most efficient ramp spell that this deck has, and a card like Heartless Summoning is quite absurd because it’s a much better Rampant Growth.
I’ve been trying something like this out for a while; unfortunately it may need just a few more cards to be considered tier one.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Solemn Simulacrum
- 4 Acidic Slime
- 4 Primeval Titan
- 3 Wurmcoil Engine
- 3 Thrun, the Last Troll
- 4 Viridian Emissary
- 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
Lands (25)
Spells (12)
Sideboard
The draws can be clunky, which is very unfortunate.
Heartless Summoning is just one of those cards that are begging to be abused because the drawback isn’t that significant for what it does.
Inkmoth Nexus, which is one of your most valuable ways to deal with control, is now not an option due to Heartless Summoning. However, it should make a lot more of your spells able to resolve faster (even around a Mana Leak). With Ghost Quarter running around, it is easier to make such a sacrifice.
Story Time
This article has been business so far; however, I like to try and entertain my readers so I will give you a story from past tournaments.
It was Pro Tour: Honolulu, and I was staying with Tom Visconti and a friend (I won’t say any names for their sake) in a rented out apartment. Tom had taken the liberty of finding us a pretty nice place to stay that was a five-minute walk to the event site.
There was a killer player party (Remember those? I sure hope Wizards brings those back.), and I really just enjoyed the environment. On the first night, we found a killer pancake house that featured lots of different food items, and that’s where most of the players would end up at night.
I had managed to make Day Two with the record of 5-2. All three of us were pretty tired from the long day of grinding Magic. Tom and I were hungry, so we decided to go to P.F. Chang’s while our friend stayed in the room to relax. I had told Tom that we needed toilet paper because we had run out earlier in the day before the tournament. We left it at that.
After a nice Chinese meal, Tom and I walked back to the apartment. We stopped at a convenience store to get toilet paper, but decided it was too expensive, and we would deal with it when the time came. We could just go to the lobby of the place we were staying…
We got back into the room, and our friend was nowhere in sight. Tom and I then realized that the door of the bathroom was closed, and the light was on. We immediately started cracking up hysterically. We didn’t get toilet paper, and we weren’t the ones who were going to pay for it. Our friend was very intrigued as to why Tom and I were laughing so hard. At this point, Tom was keeled over the couch, and I was on the floor, and we couldn’t speak due to hysteria.
Friend (shouting through the bathroom door): What are you guys laughing at?
Us: *laughing*
Friend: Seriously, what are you guys laughing at? What is so funny?
Tom (Giggling): Oh… nothing (This leading to Tom and I laughing even harder)
Friend (pissed): When I get out of here I’m going to kill you guys. I don’t understand what’s so funny… Oh… Oh… Oh… You guys are jerks.
This could have easily been one of the funniest moments in my life. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.