Kobold-Clamp as a draw engine in blue-green Gro-a-Bolds

[E Face]

Kobolds and skullclamp have been receiving alot of attention recently as a draw engine (featuring glimpse of nature as well), and it has also grabbed my attention. i clamored with the decklists in other threads, mostly the black green tendrils builds, but i was always unhappy with what i saw. so i decided to add the draw engine to one of my favorite decks: Gro

somebody asked me when building this deck, "what are you going to do with all those kobolds?" i told him, "whatever i feel like, GOSH"

so i started with the draw engine: 14

10 random kobolds
4 not so random skullclamps

sometimes its just silly how effectively you can draw mad amounts of cards with this engine.  so with a good draw engine i needed a kill. i found that kobolds, "being red spells when they are cast", are also coincidentally good friends of the dryad.

the non-kobold creatures: 8
4 quirion dryad
3 serendib efreet
1 Disney's Iron Giant (darksteel colossus)

dryads can get silly huge in very little time with tiny kobolds running around getting clamped, and serendib efreet is a flying threat that also serves as pump for the dryad, and can trade with juggernauts, kill little basking rootwallas, and straight dominate the air attack of fish. and tinkering out a DSC is good game against some decks.

the support: 12
4 force of will
4 brainstorm
4 mana leak

this may seem like not so very much when looking at it, but after i tested the deck out, i always had hands full of cards after clamping kobolds til i collapsed, and mana leak and force of will hold their own long enough to sneak beefy whip yielding dryads to victory. brianstorm is awesome with fetches, filtering my hand, or searching for a force early. also, i have to run mana leak in the second counter slot, because this is designed for a 5 proxy format, and i do not have the mana drains. otherwise, the deck may have taken on another shape that may have included the cunning wish toolbox kit.

restricted stuff for good measure: 11
tinker
fastbond
sol ring
mana crypt
lotus petal
crop rotation
*black lotus
*mox sapphire
*mox emerald
*ancestrall recall
*time walk

one of the cards that is heavily on the chopping block for being removed from the deck is mana crypt. sometimes 3 damage to the dome a turn can burn, and my teammates are really good at calling coin flips correctly against me in testing, not to mention serendib's drawback and fetchlands. fastbond gives the deck more juice when drawing kobolds, and has made it possible for me to grow dryads an extra +7/+7 in single turns. crop rotation has been money so many times, fetching gaea's cradle or academy, allowing me to clamp off mad kobolds and grow large dryads with more kobolds off the clamp draws.

the mana: 14

1 tolarian academy
1 gaea's cradle
2 wooded foothills
2 flooded strand
4 tropical island
3 island
2 forest

not much is needed to be said about the mana base at this point. it has 5 basics and 4 fetches to play around wastes. i havent tested out a wasteland/strip mine mana base yet, although i am pretty sure at this point that the deck would not run as smoothly with that mana base as opposed to one that provides more color.

the sideboard: 15

3 naturalize
3 SSAOT
3 ground seal
3 annul
3 stifle

this deck faces it obvious problems with trinisphere and chalice for zero, but other than that it has the ability to win off pure card advantage against most decks. skullclamp turn one is awesome against oath, as every activation of the orchard is 2 more cards drawn for me, allowing me to set up properly to win.  combo is a bad match-up, but thats almost given when playing aggro. tog can cause problems, but i feel confident in gor-a-bolds ability to muscle out a win against our favorite toothy friend.

so what does everybody think? this is a deck i have put some thought into, and i enjoy playing it very much. its fun to see players looks on their faces when a dryad grows from a 1/1 to an 8/8 in one turn, and its even better when you have two dryads out. any and ALL suggestions and feedback are welcome, as i am likely to pilot this in tournaments soon.

thanks

[pi]

Hi,

how do you feel about replacing a few kobolds with cloud of fearies? They can be pitched to FoW and they could be able to generate you a nice amount of mana with the academy or cradle as well. If all else fails they could even try to attack the opponent.

Good luck with your deck.

pi

[E Face]

i've thought about using them, but one of the strengths the kobolds have over the clouds is that after exhausting your mana supply clamping, you can still play them after drawing cards from your last clamping.

but cloud of faeries is certainly one of the top cards for consideration in the deck, but i just dont have results with them yet.

[giddygorgon]

I don't think this deck will work.  Having to put 14 cards as a draw engine, none of which are very flexible as you don't want to be clamping your dryad, is waaaay too much.  You are bound to get hands like:
Kobold
Kobold
Kobold
Land
Land
Effreet
Dryad

You need some pretty amazing topdecks to not just be beating for a couple each turn. I like the concept but way too clunky

[Revvik]

I have got to try this... All of my good cards are in Psychatog, meaning these are free.  This is insane, a riot.  I LOVE Dryads.

(surprisingly, there was no sarcasm in this post.)

[Mark_Story]

I did some goldfishing with a little spare time I had, and I thought that there were times I wished that memory jar was in the deck.  Times when I was 2 or 3 damage away from the kill.  A jar would have pulled a few more kobolds to push the dryad up enough to swing for the win.  Whereas, the iron giant would take another whole turn.  A crucial turn against combo or oath decks.  

Also I tested with the cloud of faeries.  They didn't seem to take the deck over the edge for me.  They usually slowed me down a turn, as there were many times where I had a dryad and faeries in hand and lacked the mana to get one or the other out.  Of course there were other times where a first turn clamped faerie turned into a tinkered colossus. (twice that happened)  I can't really give conclusive evidence for or against the faeries.  But many times I wished they were a kobold so I could just get them out and swing with a larger dryad one extra time.

[yankeedave]

Hi,

Have you thought about the super secret tech that is Auriok Steelshaper from Mirroden, as then you get to clamp for free? I have just seen this on another post about koboldclamp, and am trying to sort out the mana base before playtesting. Might help your deck.