A Force of Nature

Flying doesn’t matter anymore. It happened so slowly that, until just a few weeks ago, I’d missed it entirely. When Mirrodin was still in Standard, we had Arc-Slogger, Troll Ascetic, and some Tooth-based ground-bound aggressors seeing play. Today, all you’re likely to glimpse on the ground are Watchwolf, Kagemaro, Hokori, Vinelasher Kudzu, assorted Samurai, dredgers, and Green mana-producers. Hunted Dragon and Hunter Lammasu add to the non-flyer count but in a very odd way; for them, flying is only relevant because it lets them soar over the tokens they produce. Realistically, flying can no longer be seen as evasion.

At the same time as flying, like the car industry, has been devalued by glut, trample has made its resurgence without anyone noticing. It’s probably because we were all so focused on Iraq and our fancy cars. In any case, when I did my five-part Mono-Green Aggro series back in May, Standard was so short on tramplers that I ran Rhox and Fangren Pathcutter, not quite to benefit of my reputation. Traditionally, trample has been the poor man’s evasion. Nowadays, it’s the only effective evasion around. You know, excluding Tidal Kraken. So, what if the Green tramplers can’t block creatures with flying? Almost invariably, the playable tramplers are more cost efficient than their winged counterparts. The time has come to put flying on the defensive like a White House aide.

You can see where this is going.

Last time I looked at Mono-Green Aggro, I suggested that it was an excellent metagame option against Tooth and Nail and MUC. I loved Molder Slug as if it was a barely-clothed, barely-legal slice of cheesecake and my name was Chris Romeo. Since Mirrodin rotated into oblivion, Mono-Green has lost the Slug, Viridian Zealot, Troll Ascetic, Fangren Firstborn, Fangren Pathcutter, and Elvish Pioneer. Of the deck’s ideological core, only Blanchwood Armor, Jukai Messenger, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, and Rushwood Dryad/Zodiac Monkey are still around. And yet Mostly-Green Aggro has gained so much!

Before we get started with any sort of deep analysis about Green Aggro, however, we have some basic points to keep in mind:

1) Sometimes, despite everything, it will be necessary to deal with opposing flyers

2) unless we keep Okiba-Gang Shinobi in the sideboard, MUC will be highly problematic

3) Putrefy, Lightning Bolt, and Char mean that the current stock of creature removal is far better than the previous one.

So much for being negative.

Today’s Standard includes the best non-combo Green mana acceleration in the history of the game. Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Farseek, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Wood Elves all spoil us for options. If you want to build your deck for it, you can now easily achieve five mana by turn 3. For the first time in years, six mana fatties cost little enough to be useful. And the tramplers I’m so obsessed with? Iwamori of the Open Fist no longer warrants consideration. Instead, we have Stampeding Serow, Kodama of the North Tree, Gleancrawler, the spectacularly underrated Force of Nature, and the trample whore herself, O-Naginata.

Not trusting in my Danish know-how, you probably still underrate Force of Nature. Consider this: With a merely good (not even great) draw that includes Force of Nature and Blanchwood Armor, you can be swinging for fourteen on turn 5. Once this puppy is on the board, the only heavily-played answers to it are Devouring Light (still not fully-embraced by Boros players) and Putrefy (not even present in most B/G Dredge builds). Throw together some mana producers, monsters, creature enhancers, and Vinelasher Kudzus, and you’ve got yourself a deck.

As of yet, I’ve mentioned nothing that can deal with flyers. Arashi, the Sky Asunder is the obvious choice here. Every major deck except for Dredge, Heartbeat of Spring, and Enduring Ideal relies on flying creatures to win, so you’ll often be happy using Arashi as one-shot removal. The legend can Channel to kill Dragons and Specters for cost or wipe-out a Meloku or White Weenie army. If nothing else, it can always be a straight-up 5/5 for five mana. Unfortunately, MUC (a deck against which Arashi could be the only nail in the coffin) can run Pithing Needle and Cranial Extraction. As much as I hate saying this, it could be useful to add some variety to your deck in the form of Silklash Spider. If you also choose to run Chord of Calling (itself great against MUC), you greatly increase your chances of winning the matchup. Considering the state of Green at the moment, Chord of Calling will almost never act as acceleration, but out of the sideboard against MUC, it lets you both tutor and play your big threats at end of turn.

Some of you might be happy to play (and lose) with realio-trulio Mono-Green Aggro. In the Ravnicized world though there’s no reason whatsoever to take this route. The new dual lands mean that splashing for Black or White won’t even hurt Blanchwood Armor. The question isn’t whether or not to splash but what to splash for.

Black offers removal (Putrefy and Last Gasp) and my very own love muffin, Okiba-Gang Shinobi. I’d never talk badly of Hypnotic Specter, but if you plan on playing it on turn 2, you’re not aiming for a deck that can fully abuse Blanchwood Armor. Contrary to most folk’s opinion, White is the better splash for Green-based Aggro. White gives us Watchwolf, Loxodon Heirarch, Bathe in Light, and Faith’s Fetters (which is arguably superior to Putrefy in the late-game). Bathe in Light still hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, but it’s really one of the most nuanced cards in the set. Sometimes, the last thing you want is for your opponent to block with Kokusho or Keiga; Bathe in Light ensures that your precious damage goes through. It also: Counters Lightning Helix and other removal, makes Meloku tokens less of a nuisance, and frees creatures from Faith’s Fetters and Threads of Disloyalty. Seeing as your deck will run Blanchwood Armor, it’s almost always better than Otherworldly Journey. As for the other White options, Watchwolf needs no introduction, Loxodon Heirarch “combos” with Gleancrawler and Stampeding Serow in Aggro vs. Aggro stalls, and Faith’s Fetters takes care of everything from Dragons to equipment to Searing Meditation while giving you a White Weenie-crippling life boost.

G/W Beats

4 Birds of Paradise

3 O-Naginata

4 Watchwolf

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder

2 Vinelasher Kudzu

3 Bathe in Light

4 Blanchwood Armor

4 Loxodon Heirarch

3 Arashi, the Sky Asunder

4 Gleancrawler

2 Force of Nature

1 Plains

4 Temple Garden

18 Forest

Sideboard:

4 Chord of Calling

3 Faith’s Fetters

4 Zodiac Monkey

2 Vinelasher Kudzu

1 Bathe in Light

1 Silklash Spider

These days, we instinctively place Sensei’s Divining-Top in every Green-based deck, but powerful though the artifact may be, it works far better in Gifts and Tooth and Nail than it does in Aggro. The above deck includes only four shuffle effects, supplemented sometimes by Chord of Calling out of the sideboard. The primary advantage to Sensei’s Divining-Top is that it lets you skimp on threats without feeling bad about loading-up on mana producers. This, however, is scanty solace when your opponent plays Pithing Needle or Suppression Field, and you’re stuck drawing Elves. Despite the deck’s high casting costs, it acts aggressively from turn 2 on, and the extra mana necessary to make good use of the Top isn’t always there. If I were playing a G/W Beats build with Stampeding Serow and Wood Elves, the Top would definitely make the cut, but Stampeding Serow carries just too much baggage in a world in which your opponent’s removal is likely only to be able to kill those creatures which Stampeding Serow will want to bounce.

The lack of a full set of Vinelasher Kudzu in the above build is glaring, and I realize that it’s a kind of blasphemy to run less than a full set of a creature that’s best in the early-game. It comes down to an expected MUC-heavy metagame, even in Friday Night Magic (where, at this time of year, you’re most likely to be playing Standard). Threads of Disloyalty on Vinelasher Kudzu just isn’t a risk I like taking although I know I’m in the minority here. In any case, the card is so good that I don’t mind running a couple of them. You still probably want some extra Kudzus in the sideboard for the Boros/White Weenie match-up where you need to get rid of Force of Nature (terribly prone to Hokori, Dust Drinker) while retaining a high threat count.

Threat count is, indeed, the deck’s point. With nineteen creatures that act as significant threats on their own and seven pieces of power-enhancing enchantments and equipment, there’s no non-Fungus Fire deck in Standard that can match it with removal. MUC certainly doesn’t have counterspells for all your threats, even if it does have even more threatening threats of its own.

The deck’s sideboard certainly needs some work, work that I would have done myself if I hadn’t already delayed writing this article for so long (since before Champs). Below are some very basic matchup analyses. You’ll notice that some cards come out consistently during sideboarding; this isn’t a sign that they have no place in the maindeck, just that they are more versatile than powerful.

MUC:

I’m perfectly willing to let Flores call this the best deck in Standard. Without Okiba-Gang Shinobi tech, this Green deck isn’t dominant against MUC like its predecessor. Still, unless your opponent shoots off a quick Cranial Extraction or plays Pithing Needle, Arashi (and Silklash Spider after sideboarding) can destroy any creature she plays. Bathe in Light is important both as protection against Threads of Disloyalty and Boomerang (followed-up by a counterspell or Cranial Extraction) aimed at Arashi and the Spider. Chord of Calling for Gleancrawler or Force of Nature at end of turn, when your opponent is tapped out, is really quite scary. By sideboarding-out your aggressive two-drops, you make Threads of Disloyalty nearly useless.

Boros/White Weenie:

Arashi and Silklash Spider can make a killing against the most typical, flyer-heavy builds of this deck. Even with Suppression Field in play, you should have no trouble activating these hosers for enough mana to clear away most of your opponent’s board. Obviously, White Weenie is faster than you are, but its creatures can’t maintain size advantage after the first few turns. Loxodon Heirarch’s life gain is golden here, and you’ll often force your opponent into doing what she least wants to: Blocking. If your opponent is playing with Jitte or a ton of burn, you’ll want to side-in Faith’s Fetters.

Enduring Ideal:

This is an awful matchup for you. Post-sideboarding, your deck gets faster, but it probably won’t be fast enough. Still, a quick Zodiac Monkey carrying Blanchwood Armor has some appeal.

Sideboarding: -3 Bathe in Light, -3 Arashi, +2 Vinelasher Kudzu, +4 Zodiac Monkey

Heartbeat Combo:

You have no disruption, so if you’re going to win, you’ll need to race. Unlike with Enduring Ideal, you’re not automatically out of the game the moment your opponent “goes off”. Loxodon Hierarch could buy you a turn against Blaze and Maga, Traitor to Mortals.

Sideboarding: -3 Bathe in Light, -3 Arashi, +2 Vinelasher Kudzu, +4 Zodiac Monkey

B/G Aggro-Control:

B/G decks were, predictably, hugely popular at Champs, but in proportion to their numbers, they didn’t do so well. You don’t get a turn 2 Hypnotic Specter every game after all. Nevertheless, even though I think that, overall, B/W is superior to B/G, your opponent has the advantage here. It might seem odd siding-out Arashi and Bathe in Light when your opponent is running Hyppie and Putrefy, but by doing this, you place yourself firmly in Aggro. Hopefully, your early creatures will do the job before the Black mega-legends become too big of a problem.

Sideboarding: -3 Bathe in Light, -3 Arashi, +4 Zodiac Monkey, +2 Vinelasher Kudzu

B/G Dredge:

Stinkweed Imp doesn’t do much against trample. You’re far better off against B/G Dredge than most Aggro decks are. A lack of targeted removal means that Vinelasher Kudzu and, more importantly, Zodiac Monkey are safer here than against other B/G decks.

Sideboarding: -3 Bathe in Light, -1 Arashi, -2 Watchwolf, +4 Zodiac Monkey, +2 Vinelasher Kudzu

Gifts:

Again, you want to go pure Aggro after sideboarding. The amount of removal present in these decks varies widely, so it’s tough to know how long your creatures will live. You’re better off against Gifts than most Aggro decks are, but it’s tough to beat a good opposing draw.

G/R Wildfire:

Being caught with Force of Nature in play after Wildfire is a disaster. Luckily, your creatures are rather good at surviving this sorcery, and if you can keep mana open for Loxodon Heirarch’s activation cost, you’re in good shape. Hunted Dragon may be a nice creature, but you’re simply packing more power than your opponent is. For whatever reason, only few Wildfire decks are running Char, so you’re even safer than it appears.

Sideboarding: -3Watchwolf, +3 Faith’s Fetters

Basically, G/W Beats is a solid deck which lacks many blow-out matchups but also has only few auto-losses. If you feel like swinging with monsters, I think that this is the way to go. Whether or not it’s a good idea to be swinging with monsters at all is up to you to decide. On the plus side, G/W Beats isn’t an incredibly difficult deck to play after turn 3, and it has more consistent draws than anything else around besides White Weenie/Boros. There are a lot of folks who get all romantic and misty-eyed about Green. Well, this version of G/W Beats is pretty classic. All it does is attack.

When it comes down to it, that can’t be such a bad thing.

Skål!

Adam Grydehøj

[email protected]