Tribal Thriftiness #133 - Green-White In Double Standard

It was a dark night, and a huge storm was chaining thunder through my eardrums as if I had laid my head down to be the ten pin in a bowling alley.
I had just closed up a case where the husband was a cheating scumbag, and the wife was a real looker with legs all the way up to her eyebrows. I
was ready to sit back and have a glass of that fine, fermented liquor, my usual reward for a job well done. That’s when she
walked in.

I kind of stumbled into Extended. I had been planning on a little hiatus from competitive Magic; I was missing the last Sealed PTQ here in Colorado
thanks to it falling on the same weekend as my wife’s return from work travel (and I kind of hate Scars of Mirrodin Sealed on top of that), and
there wasn’t going to be another PTQ in Denver until March. Sure, we had the GP coming in late February, but even that was up in the air. (I
don’t know if I mentioned it in this paragraph, but I kind of hate Scars of Mirrodin Sealed.)

The wife came home from work travel with this little tidbit: Boss wants us, in Seattle, for as long as we can manage it. Pack the cat, pack the
suitcases, pack the Magic cards, off we go.

As I noted in my last column, this is actually great for me. I love Extended on principle – it’s a “larger” format than
Standard, which means you get a lot more variance at a PTQ, and there’s a lot more room to find a “fringe” deck that can perform well
against the expected field. And it also means an additional chance to look back over the last couple of years and see what decks I absolutely loved
playing, so I can contemplate running them out one last time.

Last year’s blast from the past: Dragonstorm. Missed Top 8 by a fraction of a tiebreaker.

This year’s blast from the past: G/W Little Kid. Let’s improve on that finish.

I played G/W Little Kid in GP Seattle 2009 and all during that summer. That was after Alara Reborn had been released, so the Jund deck was in its
infancy, and (post-GP) mostly after M10 had been released, so B/W Tokens’ mana base had been shattered, and there was no more Seismic Assault for
Swans – meaning 5CC and Faeries were the top dog. Jund, 5CC, Faeries – where have I heard this before?

(I mean, before, before before, not just now before. Ludicrous speed. Sorry.)

The starting point:

Dave Meeson

Test deck on 08-30-2009

Standard

Creatures (30)

Lands (10)

Spells (21)

Sideboard

This is the deck that I went 6-2 with at the last PTQ in the summer of 2009. My result isn’t overly as important as the contents of those
results: 4-0 vs. Jund, 1-0 vs. Faeries, 1-1 vs. 5CC. (And a double mana-screw loss at that!)

So looking at this deck, what needs to stay, and what can potentially go?

I don’t think there will be any debate about Kitchen Finks, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Qasali Pridemage, or Gaddock Teeg. These guys all carry their weight
in three-color decks like Naya and Treehouse, so they’re going to stick around.

Bant Sureblade
: I sure do love the little 2/1 two-drop that could. Bant Sureblade was a 3/2 in most occasions, and the first strike gave a lot more protection
against Jund’s early creatures like Boggart Ram-Gang and Red Deck guys like Ball Lightning than Wall of Omens would now. The problem is those
creatures aren’t really all that popular right now, and Bant Sureblade doesn’t do much against Wall of Omens. He’d likely be the
first two-drop that I’d replace, albeit with another two-drop. Thankfully, we have some good options here (which I’ll get to in a moment).

Steward of Valeron
: The deck needs an additional mana producer, and I’m confident that Steward of Valeron is the guy for the job. He gets double-pumped by
Wilt-Leaf Liege and can both attack and tap for mana. In this deck, you aren’t really accelerating into three-drops (because it’s, what,
Kitchen Finks?) as much as you are into four-drops, or into three-drop-plus-Path-to-Exile-up. I tried Noble Hierarch out last year and was
underwhelmed; it’s very infrequent that you’re attacking with just one guy, and he makes a horrible draw in the midgame. Steward stays.

Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
: Are the Cavaliers the right three-drop, or is it Dauntless Escort? Part of what made Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers so attractive last year was the four
toughness, which meant it survived both Lightning Bolt and Firespout – but, thanks to the prevalence of Faeries, this year’s Little Red Sweeper
That Could is Volcanic Fallout, which they both survive. I’m leaning towards Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers (mostly because he handles every single creature
in Jund), but I could be persuaded to go with the rhino.

Chameleon Colossus
: The deck needs a four-drop in this slot, and Chameleon Colossus was about the only choice last year. Sadly, I never got to play G/W Little Kid with
Watchwolves and Loxodon Hierarchs – how killer would that have been? Chameleon Colossus skips past Bitterblossom tokens and is a one-card threat
post-Wrath, but with Great Sable Stag a lock for a sideboard spot, does the deck need another pro-black guy?

And now, the cards that have been considered going into the most recent round of testing:

Fauna Shaman
: On the surface, it seems like Fauna Shaman should be a lock for this type of deck. You’re likely always going to want a Wilt-Leaf Liege, and
Fauna Shaman can always get you one. The problem is you’re essentially trading two cards – the card you discard, and Fauna Shaman itself,
since it will never attack – to get the one card that beefs up your whole team. I tested with it and found that it rarely survived early on,
which meant that it could literally be any two-drop, and that it didn’t have the impact I needed in the midgame. Despite having more
than a couple people recommend his slot, as of right now, I’m leaning more towards …

Wren’s Run Vanquisher
: The Vanquisher is still a 4/4 with a Liege on the table, which I like, and can handle a Wall of Omens or (heaven forbid) a Plumeveil on its own.
Heck, it can handle a Wurmcoil Engine on its own. He promotes the aggressiveness of the deck much better than a 2/2 that doesn’t attack. But
because Fauna Shaman and Vanquisher won’t both make it into the deck, the real question becomes, are there enough Elves in the deck to support him? Both of the Wilt-Leaf guys are Elves, but we might have to pack in an Elvish Hexhunter or
something.

Vengevine
: And finally we come to the non-budget card in the “Potentials” list. Vengevine offers a better threat mid-game and after a Wrath and can
spring forth to put in the last few points of damage at pretty much any point in the game. He has great synergy with Fauna Shaman – you can pitch
a Vengevine to fetch out a Liege, then return it later on. It is a great threat against 5CC and U/W Control despite the existence of Path to Exile.

Here’s the deck as I plan on playing it this weekend:

G/W Little Kid

Dave Meeson

Test deck on 01-23-2011

Extended

Creatures (30)

Lands (15)

Spells (15)

And here is my recommendation for a budget-friendly version:

G/W Little Kid

Dave Meeson

Test deck on 01-23-2011

Extended

Creatures (30)

Lands (13)

Spells (17)

Rare Cost Summary:

Gaddock Teeg ($3.49 x 3 = $10.47)

Chameleon Colossus ($2.99 x 3 = $8.97)

Wilt-Leaf Liege ($3.99 x 4 = $11.96)

Stirring Wildwood ($1.99 x 4 = $7.96)

Razorverge Thicket ($2.49 x 4 = $9.96)

Wooded Bastion ($3.99 x 4 = $11.96)

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood ($3.99 x 1 = $3.99)

The bulk of the cost of the “expensive” version is borne by the Vengevines (still $36.99 and awesome) and Fauna Shamans ($7.99) –
every other rare in the deck is four bucks or less. Heck, Kitchen Finks and Path to Exile are both four-dollar uncommons, so they’re more
expensive than half your mana base.

Speaking of the mana base, this current mana base is a huge improvement over last year’s model. First off, you get Stirring Wildwood,
which comes into play tapped (but that’s offset again by the lack of one-drops) and becomes an enormous 5/6 with a Liege in play. He’s a
tremendous finisher and fights against Vendilion Clique as well. Second, you get Razorverge Thicket, which plays into your aggressive game plan by
coming into play untapped when you need it most, the early turns. Wooded Bastion is still great, and the miser’s Oran-Rief is in there just in
case you get to do shenanigans with your Kitchen Finks. (More than one means more than five CIPT – er, ETBT – lands, which is too many.)

Sideboard options: Great Sable Stag and Cloudthresher will definitely get slots to fight Faeries (probably 3/2 or 3/3), and Celestial Purge will
probably make an appearance because it’s good against Jund and any Red deck that shows up – better than Path to Exile. I have some
Fracturing Gusts around, and they seem like an absolute kick in the goodies to Tempered Steel. I also might want some additional Naturalize action. I
ran Guttural Response in the sideboard last time, but it seems less than awesome at doing anything other than fighting Cryptic Command for G –
but Autumn’s Veil doesn’t do exactly what I want it to either. I’m not above running Vexing Shusher – think that would help?

In any event, this is what I took to the Seattle Center this weekend to ply my trade. Looks like my mate Yoshi will also be in attendance – see one of his myriad of stories here – a
good guy who lives in the area now and who I don’t see enough of. Next week, tales of my adventures in Extended! Did I prevail? And if not,
there’s some gang of costumed “superheroes” making the rounds here in Seattle – did Yoshi and I go earn our sidekick badges?

Until next week,

– dave

dave dot massive at gmail and davemassive at Twitter and Facebook