Until I discovered the storm mechanic, green was my favorite color in Magic. Just like any other little kid, I wanted to beat people down with Craw Wurms. I came to my senses when I realized that killing people with Tendrils of Agony was a lot more effective, but I still have some love for green embedded in my heart. Last Friday, I returned to my roots and decided to beat down with some big green monsters.
Creatures (23)
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 3 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Viridian Corrupter
- 4 Dungrove Elder
- 4 Strangleroot Geist
- 3 Predator Ooze
- 1 Wolfir Silverheart
- 2 Ulvenwald Tracker
- 1 Thragtusk
Lands (24)
- 24 Forest
Spells (13)
First of all, I didn’t realize until about round 3 that I was only playing seven mana dorks and two Ulvenwald Tracker. My preferred list plays only one Tracker and eight mana dorks. My friend owned 69 cards for the deck because he had played it the week before at a tournament, so I just took the deck from him and filled out some sideboard slots. The sideboard was also not completely optimal, though I’m not sure what a good sideboard for this deck might look like.
This deck is fairly mainstream, especially compared to everything else I’ve played in this column, but I definitely wanted to give it a try. The basic plan is to start out with a mana dork (hence why I would like eight) and curve into a three-drop like Dungrove Elder, Predator Ooze, or Green Sun’s Zenith for Strangleroot Geist. You have a lot of options at three mana, so it can be tough to decide exactly which one to play. Here is how I did with the deck last Friday.
Round 1: Ian with Naya Pod – Loss 1-2
I was on the draw for game 1 and went down to six cards. My six was mana light, but I was only a land away from being able to play every card in my hand. I started off with a Llanowar Elves and a Strangleroot Geist, but that plan was killed by a Blade Splicer. A couple turns later I hit my land, but I had fallen too far behind at that point to come back. A combination of Restoration Angels, Golem tokens, and Huntmaster of the Fells made it a losing battle.
For game 2 I had the awesome curve of Birds of Paradise into Dungrove Elder. He had a Blade Splicer, but a miracled Revenge of the Hunted dealt with that and took a chunk out of his life total. I had a Predator Ooze to add to the board. A couple turns later he started to catch up with a Restoration Angel and a Huntmaster of the Fells, but I had a hard cast Revenge of the Hunted to finish him off.
Game 3 was very back and forth with us both gumming up the board with mana dorks, tokens, and other assorted creatures. I had set up a Predator Ooze, Rancor, and Wolfir Silverheart grouping that threatened to kill him quickly, but an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite created a board stall that I had trouble swinging through. My Predator Ooze grew very large, but he killed me with some large fliers before it could really connect for much damage. I had one turn where I could’ve drawn a land to cast Revenge of the Hunted (or miracled a Revenge of the Hunted) to kill the Elesh Norn and get really far ahead, but it didn’t happen like I wanted it to.
Round 2: Brian with G/W Aggro – Win 2-1
I was on the draw for game 1 and had two Dungrove Elders and two Llanowar Elves by turn 3. On turn four he played a Sigarda, Host of Herons, which could have potentially been a problem, but I hit the land to cast Revenge of the Hunted on one of my creatures. He couldn’t recover and was flooding out anyway, and he died shortly after.
In game 2 he had a Mirran Crusader on turn 2 and an equipped Sword of War and Peace on turn 4. I didn’t find my answers to the Sword and died very quickly.
For game 3 he went to six cards and was stuck on one land for most of the game. I had a Llanowar Elves and Predator Ooze to start the aggression, and a Rancor made it a much quicker clock. I paired a Wolfir Silverheart with my Predator Ooze to make it insanely large. When he finally got a Mirran Crusader out, the trample from my Predator Ooze was a still a good clock. He had some Nearheath Pilgrims to stem the bleeding, but eventually he ran out of ways to play defense and the Predator Ooze got him.
Round 3: Dan with U/W/R Miracles – Win 2-1
I was on the play for the first game, and a Strangleroot Geist alongside a Dungrove Elder got him down to seven life very quickly. He tried to miracle a Terminus or Bonfire of the Damned a couple of times, but all he got was an Entreat the Angels for two. I used Revenge of the Hunted on the Strangleroot Geist, and my Dungrove Elder hit him for the last four points of damage that I needed at that point.
I kept a two lander on the draw in game 2 and took a few turns too many to hit my third land. I was getting in some points with Strangleroot Geist, but it wasn’t going to be enough. I finally hit a land for Dungrove Elder and started getting more aggressive, but a Terminus set me back to square one. He used a Tamiyo, the Moon Sage to lock up one of my lands and lock me out of the game.
For the third game my opponent kept a land light hand and never really got past his first land. By the time he started chaining lands together, I used a Thragtusk with a Rancor to build a hard to deal with threat. Thragtusk is pretty good at winning games, and this one was no exception. I got him to five life before he miracled a Terminus, and after putting the Rancor on the Beast token, he went to exactly zero.
There were only eight people left going into round 4, so we all decided to skip the round and go right to Top 8.
Top 8: Nathan with G/B Infect Ramp – Win 2-0
I got a very aggressive start with a turn 2 Dungrove Elder and two Strangleroot Geists on turn 3. I had him dead in two turns, but he played a Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon and gave it haste. I was still going to win the race, but then he played a second Skitheryx on the next turn. I went to scoop up my cards, and then my friend pointed out the Skitheryx is legendary. He took back the Skitheryx and played something else, but whatever it was didn’t stop me from killing him.
For game 2 he got stuck on two lands for a while, and I used a Viridian Corrupter to kill his Sphere of the Suns. I established a strong board presence with multiple Dungrove Elders and by the time he started hitting lands, he was too far behind. I had a miracled Revenge of the Hunted for extra rub-ins.
Top 4: Erik with G/U Infect – Loss 0-2
He started off in game 1 with a Glistener Elf and a Blighted Agent. I didn’t know what he was playing so I kept a relatively slow hand. I tried to muster a race with a Dungrove Elder and a Strangleroot Geist, but a Livewire Lash combined with a bunch of Mutagenic Growths put me to thirteen poison.
In the second game I kept a fast hand with little interaction. I wanted to have a Melira, Sylvok Outcast in my sideboard, but I forgot about it when I was constructing the sideboard before the tournament. I knew there was something I was forgetting. Anyway, I used a couple of mana dorks and a couple of Dungrove Elders to get him to seven life with seven power on the board going into his turn 4. I had a couple of mana dorks playing defense, but he used a Livewire Lash and an Apostle’s Blessing to make it so I couldn’t block. He had a Titanic Growth as the last card in hand to get me to more than ten poison.
Overall, the deck was definitely a lot of fun. It needs a little tweaking and I wanted the eighth mana dork very often, but it could be a real contender in Standard. For tonight, I have no idea what I’m playing yet for sure or if I can even play in FNM. Hopefully, I can surprise everyone next week with something awesome. Some ideas I have in the works include a B/W Smallpox Deck, a Mono-Red version of the R/W Storm deck I played a few Fridays ago, and a Goblin aggro deck.
I admit that the deck this week may not have been as original as some of the other things I’ve played, but every once in a while it is good to go back to your roots as a Magic player. Until next Friday, thank god it’s FNM!
@AJKerrigan55 on Twitter