[Deck Discussion/Report]New Mono Green deck

[Anders Noer]

I usually play in a meta with lots of Landstill and Gay/r, some Slavery, some stax, the occasional FCG and lots of random. A fairly competitive meta but lacking a little bit in the combo department. Also - there are very few Hulk decks here - haven't seen one in 3 months.

I went to a "2 Workshops for 1st prize" tournament in this meta today.
EDIT: Coverage can be found here: http://www.manapool.dk/nyheder.asp?id=291

As I've been currently selling most of my cards, to pay rent/get rich, I had to play a new concoction without my departed Sapphire, Timewalk, Recall and duals.

I chose to play a mono green deck, constructed to beat Landstill and Fish - The two decks I expected to face the most, as they usually do well here and because of Fish's great showing at the recent Starcitygames tourney.

//Mono G Beats:
4 Xantid Swarm
4 River Boa
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Call Of The Herd
3 Viridian Zealot
3 Hidden Gibbons

4 Rancor
4 Berserk
3 Oxidize
3 Null Rod

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
3 Mishra's Factory
15 Forest

SB:
I couldn't find the cards I wanted (Root Maze, Seedtime, Ground Seal), so I had to play all sorts of weird crap. The only cards i used were:
1 Call Of The Herd
1 Oxidize
3 Naturalize
3 Chalice Of The Void

Minireport:
Round 1 - Draw 7.
Go figure. Worst.matchup.evar! 1 of 2 combo decks out of 40+ players - how lame

Rounds 2 & 3 - Iso-Control.
My suite of artifact removal mixed with hard-to-handle creatures, seal the deal as expected. My opponents's tendency to draw Balance all the time, made this harder than it should have been. Troll Ascetic + Rancor is some good, though.

Round 4 - 4c Control
I face a great player with an optimal build.
He draws Balance + broken blue stuff in games 2 and 3, after being berserked out in game 1.

Round 5 - Trinistax
When we sat down to play, I thought I might have a shot after sb. We never get to see though, as he goes: turn 1: Sphere, turn 2 Trinisphere, turn 3 Smokestack. My Null Rod and Oxidize in hand are simply too slow.
Game 2 he goes:
Turn 1 - Workshop, Trinisphere.
Turn 2 - Crucible Of Worlds, Stripmine.
"That's settled then!"

Round 6 - Landstill, Finally!!
Hidden Gibbons are FAT! He wins one game though, due to multiple Standstills.
I wreck him in game 3, by killing him with 1 Xantid Swarm! :shock:  
It gets Rancored turn 2, and after swinging two times and getting another Rancor, I can seal the deal with 2x Berserk because he has fetched a land. LEARN!
---

Anyway.

After the tournament, I really wasn't all to happy with the way my deck had performed. I had consciously tried building the deck more controllish than regular Stompy, as I knew Disks would be around to sweep the board. In the games vs. control I felt that those few control elements in my own deck worked out the best (Xantids, Oxidize, Null Rod, Troll Ascetic). It seemed that the acceleration (Elves) and speed (berserk) was of less importance.
I've therefore tried making the deck even more controllish, adding Waste/Strips and Crucible.

This is the current configuration:

//Mono G ConTroll
2 Viridian Zealot
3 Call Of The Herd
4 Troll Ascetic
4 River Boa
4 Xantid Swarm
3 Hidden Gibbons

4 Rancor
4 Oxidize
3 Null Rod
3 Crucible Of Worlds
1 Crop Rotation
1 Berserk
1 Regrowth

1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
14 Forest
4 Wasteland
1 Stripmine
2 Mishra's Factory

sb:
1 Hidden Gibbons
1 Call Of The Herd
1 Gaea's Blessing
3 Ground Seal
3 Chalice Of The Void
3 Naturalize
3 Seedtime

I added the 4th Oxidize to the maindeck as it seemed really good all day. The Crucible mana denial route seems to go very well with the Null Rods and Oxidize. I'm not too sure if I should add more manlands as well. It just feels good having a solid basic land base...

Other cards that are currently being considered:
Eternal Witness
Elvish Spirit Guide
Exploration/Fastbond
Terravore
Root Maze
Sylvan Library
Tsabo's Web

This is where I am thus far. I think that mono G has the tools to handle pretty much anything apart from combo. This is good enough for me in my current meta. I'll try tweaking this a bit further. In the meantime, I'd be more than happy to hear qualified opinions on this "archetype". Please comment!

BTW - The decks I met in round 1 and 4 met in the finals. Draw 7 won. So I can't be all that unhappy about my performance...

[cardiffgiant]

Anders - cool deck. I think it has a lot of potential. I got to 32 at STG tourney with Rancor, Boas, and Standstill.

Workshop decks are brutal. I think Root Maze has a lot of potential too. I also want to try Seeds of Innocence. I know it seems counter to the process of winning, but the problem I see with workshop decks it even getting a chance to play a mid game.

I think you also need some draw. You may want to look at Druid's Call. Although it only gives lands, it thins your deck and helps against trinisphere, etc.

Personally, I think you should splash another color and use Birds of Paradise. Red gives you Artifact Mutation, Rack and Ruin, Mox Monkey, and Lavamancer. White gets Swords to Plowshares, Balance, Aura of Silence, and Orim's Chant (which frustrates some combos). Black gives Skeletal Scrying, Duress, and Deeds.

You might also consider green land destruction as an option again workshop.

I've thought about ESG also, only because it lets you Oxidize on two 2.

Another option might be Rishadan Ports or Blood Moon.

Oh, also against combo, look at Bind, it might help.

Good luck

[DEA]

Druid's Call. Although it only gives lands, it thins your deck and helps against trinisphere, etc.

huh?
you mean one with nature?
btw, bind does nothing against storm triggers, i'm not sure how you intend to use it against combo

[Anders Noer]

Hey. Thanks for the comments and good joerb at the SCG tournament cardiffgiant.  It seems that you understand how I want the deck to funtion, as you suggest some options that I have thought of myself.

Druid's Call. Although it only gives lands, it thins your deck and helps against trinisphere, etc.

huh?
you mean one with nature?

Yeah I think that is the card he meant. I'm pretty sure it's not good enough though. The card never making it to Standard decks or even block decks usually speaks for itself. I think that Sylvan Library would be better anyway.

Personally, I think you should splash another color and use Birds of Paradise. Red gives you Artifact Mutation, Rack and Ruin, Mox Monkey, and Lavamancer. White gets Swords to Plowshares, Balance, Aura of Silence, and Orim's Chant (which frustrates some combos). Black gives Skeletal Scrying, Duress, and Deeds.

A splash may be the right route to go, but not for the reasons you mention here. I have lots of good artifact removal in green, so there's no need to splash for cards like Aura Of Silence or Artifact Mutation. I would think that Blue might be a nice addition, for carddrawing and Stifle. Maybe even a few counterspells, but every time i consider it, I feel that keeping a solid mana base is more important. The benefits of splashing in this deck aren't big enough in my opinion.

btw, bind does nothing against storm triggers, i'm not sure how you intend to use it against combo

I was thinking the same thing.
The game plan vs. combo is to do what Big-O used to do: Just add Ground Seal, Root Maze, Chalice and pray that you don't run into more than 1 each tournament. Naive ? Definately. But in my meta, I think it's worth the gambit. I have almost a full sb at my disposal.  I could probably spare around 10 slots if I really needed to deal with combo. There must be a way to hate it out. Maybe even some transformational sb thing.

[cardiffgiant]

Yes, I was thinking One with Nature. Sorry about the mistake.

True, Bind doesn't stop storm. It stops Memory Jar, Mindslaver.

The other tremendously situational cards white gives are Gilded Light (instant - can't be the target of spells or abilities) and Abolish. Obviously I'm a big fan of white control.

I hate accepting losing before your first turn to combo, but I think your approach is right. There are very few card that will prevent you from losing if you haven't even played a land (Force of Will, Abolish, Snuff Out). It seems first turn Root Maze should stop most combos for a turn or two.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but another direction that looks really promising in mono-green is Drop of Honey and untargetable creatures (Blastoderm, Blurred Mongoose, Deadly Insert, Gigapede, etc) and use Argothian Enchantress as a draw engine. You lose Rancor, and instead include Sylvan Library, Ground Seal, and the Hidden X. Very different deck, though.

Oh, and I think you can support a splash (only a splash) without hurting your manabase much if at all.

-4 Llanowar Elves
+4 Birds of Paradise
-5 Forest
+3 Tropical Island
+2 Land Grant

If you can resist the allure of counters, blue would be a great splash.

+1 Ancestral Recall
+1 Time Walk
+2 Unstable Mutation (I know it sounds like crap, but it really speeds up the clock)
+2 or 3 other blue (Superman?)

Oh, one other card I've been playing with is Bearscape. It is a must counter for control and can be brutal virtual card advantage mid-game. The green equivalent to Decree of Justice.

I was also curious, how well did Xantid Swarm work for you? What does it help with?

Keep up the good work

[Stupid_Newb]

I was also curious, how well did Xantid Swarm work for you? What does it help with?

Xantid Swarm is possibly the best control-hoser out there. Drop it turn one, attack turn two, and you've got a free ride the rest of the game.

Other cards that are currently being considered:
Eternal Witness
Elvish Spirit Guide
Exploration/Fastbond
Terravore
Root Maze
Sylvan Library
Tsabo's Web

Fastbond deserves a spot in the deck, although I'm not sure about Exploration. How many lands do you normally start a hand with? If it's three or more, Exploration might work, but two or less, it just wouldn't be worth it.

You say you've got a meta with Gay/r (and Landstill also), so I think Tsabo's Web should be a four-of in the sideboard. It totally ruins Fish's manabase, and slows Landstill beyond belief (by making them wait to find a Disk before they can procede with the game).

With Null Rod's in the deck, I suggest taking out Mox Emerald and Black Lotus for two Elvish Spirit Guides. I'm not completely sure if it would work, but I definately think it's worth testing.

Also, I'm not sure why you run so much hate against Control. Xantid Swarms (maindeck), Hidden Gibbons (maindeck, although not completely geared to control hate), and Seedtime (sideboard) seem like overkill to me. Especially since you haven't seen Hulk in a while. Here's a sideboard (going by your meta) that I would run:

4 x Tsabo's Web (Gay/r, Landstill)
3 x Naturalize
2 x Viridian Zealot (although I'm not sure if they're fast enough to be maindecked)
3 x Chalice of the Void
1 x Hidden Gibbons
1 x Call Of The Herd
1 x Gaea's Blessing

Good luck deckbuilding.

[Anders Noer]

Fastbond deserves a spot in the deck, although I'm not sure about Exploration. How many lands do you normally start a hand with? If it's three or more, Exploration might work, but two or less, it just wouldn't be worth it.

If I were to splash a second color, I would add Fetchlands to smoothen out the mana. I would definately add Fastbond and maybe Explorations. Combined with Sylvan Library and Crucible, Fetchlands could be a very nice card quality machine (basically a Brainstorm each turn, costing 1 life). I'm still not sure which color I would want to splash, though.

You say you've got a meta with Gay/r (and Landstill also), so I think Tsabo's Web should be a four-of in the sideboard. It totally ruins Fish's manabase, and slows Landstill beyond belief (by making them wait to find a Disk before they can procede with the game).

Sure, Tsabo's Web is great against Fish and Landstill. But these are great matchups allready. I don't think I need that much more hate to deal with those. The problem still seems to be combo. I think that a black splash for Duress/Therapy or a Blue splash for Stifle/Countering would be the best way to go.

Also, I'm not sure why you run so much hate against Control. Xantid Swarms (maindeck), Hidden Gibbons (maindeck, although not completely geared to control hate), and Seedtime (sideboard) seem like overkill to me. Especially since you haven't seen Hulk in a while.

I think I actually need all this main to have a shot vs. control at all. I believe that those cards a nessecary for an aggro-control deck like this. Turn 1 Xantid/Gibbons is a great start to force through some serious threats later on. Without these I fear that counterspells will wreck me. Rancored Troll/Boa is usually what wins the games in this deck. Having these countered stops me dead in my tracks...
Call Of The Herd are always good against control and aggro alike when you play the slow game. These have proven quite strong as well.

[cardiffgiant]

Anders - How deep a splash are you looking at?

For counters, FoW requires a lot of blue to use it's alternate casting cost. Daze may help against combo by breaking chains of spells. It also has a surprise factor. Stifle, by itself, is a good enough reason to splash blue. It's great.

[Anders Noer]

I currently dropped the idea of splashing a second color. Instead I went for a more focused  gameplan. These are the last changes:

-1 Viridian Zealot
-2 Forest
-2 Mishra's Factory

+1 Crucible Of Worlds
+4 City Of Traitors

Still testing...