[Deck Discussion] Revamping MiracleGro

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

Now it takes some guts to take a deck that faded away almost two years ago and bring back new life to it. I used to play the deck with the infamous four Gush and yes it was quite amazing. But is there a way to refuel this dead? The main card that motivated me to spend A LOT of time looking at this deck was Meddling Mage.

Meddling Mage would further prove itself to be one of the main reasons one can play this deck. Now I will be as honest as possible with how the deck plays and what to expect if anyone actually wants to play this deck.



To begin with my analysis lets take an older MiracleGro Decklist.

From Dulmen, June 6, 2003

1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Brainstorm
3 Counterspell
2 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Gush
1 Merchant Scroll
2 Misdirection
2 Opt
1 Time Walk
1 Fastbond
4 Quirion Dryad
3 Meddling Mage
2 Mystic Enforcer
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Swords to Plowshares


Lands (15):
4 Flooded Strand
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
3 Tundra

   
Sideboard: (15 cards)
1 Counterspell
2 Gilded Drake
3 Hidden Gibbons
1 Meddling Mage
1 Misdirection
2 Sacred Ground
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Waterfront Bouncer

Alright sir, we lost four Gush, but there are some other changes that need to be made before slopping this thing back together and facing it vs Slaver. The first thing needed to be done was fix that awful land base for what is running around right now. Some basic lands would be nice, no?

3 Island
1 Plains
3 Tropical Island
3 Tundra
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald

The inclusion of basics would be a first step that changed a lot of things based on playtesting. This turned out to help a lot to reduce that tremendous threat known as Wasteland and allowing you to lose almost automatically. A higher land count was needed because you don't have that massive engine known as Gush anymore so two land hands usually need to see a third land sometimes because now you cast things.


Spells/Changes/Making the deck better

4 Accumulated Knowledge
4 Force Of Will
4 Serum Visions
4 Brainstorm
3 Swords To Plowshares
3 Daze
2 Sleight Of Hand
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Misdirection
1 Gush

Men
4 Meddling Mage (MVP)
4 Quirion Dryad
2 Mystic Enforcer

SB:
1 Berserk
1 STP
1 Stifle
1 Fact Or Fiction
1 Echoing Truth
1 Disenchant
3 Seal Of Cleansing
3 Serenity
3 Ground Seal



Card Choices:
First off you must think why is this guy NOT running Black Lotus? Because it doesn't do enough it seems in this deck. The only times I have really ever used it was to cast Cunning Wish or hardcast Force Of Will. I found it decent at best, much like how fish doesn't play it either.

Accumulated Knowledge:
First off going rogue this can prove to be a big bomb. What I have concluded is that most opponents playing AK won't know initially what you are playing. So one big thing Control Slaver or Oath will do is intuition and draw 3. I think this is a significant plan to actually outdraw these big decks off these cards. From the people I have tested against after they began to AK and I played my first AK (Usually for 4) They looked rather astounded I am happy with these results so far.

Serum Visions:
The original version had Opt which I found HORRIBLE. It did nothing usually it filtered one card and really was bad. Serum Visions I found to be a decent draw card under a Dryad and I really couldn't find anything better  except Sleight of Hand which I am running two of as well.


Cunning Wish:
The original didn't have this. I found this to be a necessary evil and a decent toolbox provider. Though the targets aren't very vast I found what was in there to be quite useful and did not need to expand TOO much.

Daze:
I <3 Daze. Whenever me and my friend were playtesting game 1 he wouldn't play around Daze. It seems like against a lot of decks Daze can be a pure powerhouse when not expected. Of course Game 2 and 3 it loses substantial power.

Cards I didn't play:
Library Of Alexandria: I RARELY EVER found this active. It slowed me down instead of getting to the point like an aggro-control deck should.

Fastbond:Gush is a one of. This card just took up space during playtesting. Sometimes you play more lands after lots of draw but I don't think it was that great. If you decide to playtest it look into it.

Mana Drain/Counterspell: Very often I was tapped out and Mana Drain didn't fit in here too well. I hate to say it counterspell didn't fit either. In the long run both were cut be me because I found them suboptimal at best...

Playtesting Results...

The Good

Slaver
First match we tested happened to be Control Slaver. I expected it to play out somewhat like GAT vs. Slaver kind of close but Slaver had the advantage but I was in for a big suprise....


Mage shall always name welder. I am not saying that is game over for them but it definetly slows them down. A mage isn't that much of a problem to resolve and I really liked the interaction of Swords To Plowshares vs Control Slaver as well. I found the version without Intuition to be the easier of the two. They can't draw as much and need answers to lets say a Mage on welder. A big Dryad as well is a problem for them.
Postboard: The Lava Dart comes in : ( but it was still overwhelming for Slaver which made me really enthusiastic. The Ground Seals helped mucho as well in the situations a Welder did resolve and MiracleGro seems like a great toolbox vs. Slaver.

Oath
Second matchup we tested was Oath and once again this match proved to be on the upside. Mage here rocks the house. The three maindeck STP's kick serious Oath butt as well. Postboard we brought in the Seal Of Cleansings as well to nuke the Oath. This is another matchup where the AK's really shine as well. I found AK's to help a lot in a situation digging for a STP.

The Decent

TPS
It ain't a walk in the park for sure. The Enforcer is way too slow and the Dryad doesn't put them on a fast enough clock. This is a situation where I thought about sticking Stifle's in the main. The only thing I found to win was Meddling Mage...but what to name? What's the right play?

Dark Ritual?
Or Tendrils?
I usually named Dark Ritual, and with a second Mage Tendrils. I was also playing against a version without Cunning Wish as well though so that provides more options on what exactly to name. It looked like in the end a hard matchup for them and a hard matchup for me.

Dragon
I found dragon to be a bit better then TPS because less of your cards are dead in this matchup. And by less I mean three heh. But Swords To Plowshares can definetly shine and dragon definetly walked into daze game one more then TPS did.


THE BAD
5/3, Stax

Simply put, Trinisphere OWNS this deck.  I will be blunt, I rarely won games against any workshop deck. 5/3 beats face in and Stax will never let you do anything usually. The Trinisphere needs to see a force or loses. But even a first turn Juggernaut puts a lot of pressure on this deck if a Swords is not found. I won very few games pre board and won a couple post because of Serenity just SWEEPING everything.

Cerebral Assassin
I don't know how popular this is but we decided to test it, and wow it looks bad. The first mage always names Animate and the Welder hopes to get plowed. The reason for loss is there is no major answer to their draw engine! 7/10 eats everything for supper.


Taking it out to the ballgame.

Well Syracuse is coming up should I take it? I am too afraid to scrub out personally and will probably play Control Slaver. But lets see how human interaction does with it. I go to Neutral Ground and hope to get paired against players with normal decks. There are a few good players in a field of scrubs but here we go.....

Round 1
Control Slaver
I am on the play and see some cards while he shuffles, in particular Goblin Welder.

My opening hand looks like this
Dryad
Mage
Gush
Tundra
Fetch
Mox Sapphire
Daze (Might have been something else?)

Game 1
I lay the first turn mage on welder. It resolves. He gets a draw engine going and I have about a 4/4 Dryad and he drained my Enforcer. He hardcasts Triskelion and nukes my Meddling Mage. He follows with a Goblin Welder. He has two cards in hand and three Ak's in his yard. I draw look at that an AK it promptly gets drained the other card in my hand was a Wish, I wish for a Berserk in my attack step and stomp everywhere.

I am watching him board and I see he is removing 4 cards. I assume it is AK's and I was probably right because I didn't see a single one game two.

Game 2
He plays welder go. My turn I plow he forces and I daze the force. He brainstorms and then drains my Meddling Mage. He then proceeds to Intuition for a Lava Dart and two Deep Analysis. I play a Mystic Enforcer with Threshold and pass turn. It resolved and I figured it would because I thought he'd get down to business. He draws a lot and lays down another welder. There is a mindslaver in his yard. I force the welder and it promptly meets another force. Crap. When all is dwindling I draw a brainstorm. Swing with Enforcer and play brainstorm. I find Ground Seal and end it with that.

1-0

Round 2
Ici Li
Oath (YES ACTUALLY NORMAL DECKS AT NEUTRAL)
I was aware of my advantage in this matchup and all and I win the die roll. Lets get this show on the road.

Game 1
I lay an early Dryad and he isn't seeing an Oath. When he does he taps out for it and I daze it, he forces my daze and I force back. I then lay a Mage on Oath and put him on a two turn clock. He Cunning Wish's for Echoing Truth which promptly sees another Daze ; )

Game 2
He sets up an Intuition perfectly after draining a Dryad. I of course let it resolve. At the end of my turn he AK's for 3 I force it and he says ok then I AK for 4 and he leaks it : (. He gets an Oath down with an Orchard and I drop an Enforcer with Threshold. He gets out a Spirit Of The Night and passes his turn. I drop a mage naming Cunning Wish and smash for 6. Putting him at 10 (Orchard beats). He then Oath's and Akroma which I promptly STP. He's at 16. A Enforcer, two tokens, a Mage is my position. A single Spirit couldn't end it in his favor.

2-0

Round 3
Burninator
He kills me rather quickly. My dryad's get burned, my 6/6 Enforcer gets burned, everything gets burned including me. This prompts me to drop but the human interaction with this deck pulls off a suprise definetly.

2-1

I was starving so I dropped there was another two rounds and I wish I stayed now.

Overall I am satisfied with this deck. I really think it might be a decent choice. But I need advice and some card advice for now. I might pilot this at Syracuse (must be low confidence) but I will most likely change my mind.

Thank you for reading
Elias

[Aykay]

This was a worthless post. Spam deleted, verbal warning issued.
-Jacob

[Grand Inquisitor]

I think somebody at (was it) SCG posted a deck like this a while ago that included Jester's Cap, Force Spike, and Arcane Labratory. (unfortunately that's all the "advice" or "insight" I have:/ ...)

I don't think Quirion Dryad and Arcane Lab have very good synergy.

The main card that motivated me to spend A LOT of time looking at this deck was Meddling Mage.

I don't think the metagame answers from the white splash are ever enough of an argument not to just play GAT, since Yawgmoth's will and tutors are so strong.  However, I have a really low opinion of meddling mage, and you seem to like it.

The Good

It probably depends on the build, but Oath has a quicker kill (which works better since yours is creature based), more counters, and better SB options (B2B and Control Magic).  I wouldn't think this is favorable.

The Decent

I would call both TPS and Dragon good matchups.

THE BAD

These you've hit right on the head.



The inception of the following cards have made dryad based aggro-control basically unplayable:

Crucible of Worlds, Forbidden Orchard, Sundering Titan

Regardless of these, the deck is a poor choice in any metagame where workshops are expected, and both 5/3 and Stax are completely viable right now.

[Matt]

Assuming GI didn't turn you off completely: Enforcer is almost totally unneeded in 1.5, I can't imagine it would be doing any good here. Pro:black is literally useless, I don't think there's a black creature in the game anymore excpet the random Tog, flying is only occasionally useful (chumping Akroma, stalling vs Plats) and a (conditional!) 6/6 for four mana is basically little better than Hunted Wumpus.

Possibly it might behoove you to play Serenity maindeck?

Legacy's Allure is a neat answer to Welder. Accumulated Knowledge looks extremely weak - possibly these would be better as Curiosities or something?

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

@ Grand Inquisitor

From what I have been fiddling around with Meddling Mage is really amazing, and Swords To Plowshares has been extremely effective in this metagame.

I don't think the metagame answers from the white splash are ever enough of an argument not to just play GAT, since Yawgmoth's will and tutors are so strong. However, I have a really low opinion of meddling mage, and you seem to like it.

Even though GAT can take advantage of pure brokenes pretty well with Yawg will and DT, metagame answers might be what the a gro deck needs right now to effectively give a run around.



@ Matt
I completely agree with you on Mystic Enforcer, but I really couldn't find anything better, the next best thing I can do is cut green for black and then I'll basically be playing EBA.

The other option is just to kick Mystic Enforcer out all together though and possibly stick Serenity in the main.

Possibly it might behoove you to play Serenity maindeck?

I think I might test Serenity out in the main. Thinking about it in most matchups it really isn't dead at all. It could swipe away lots of moxes or an Oath or wipe a workshop deck clean. I will definetly test it.

[yespuhyren]

Assuming GI didn't turn you off completely: Enforcer is almost totally unneeded in 1.5, I can't imagine it would be doing any good here. Pro:black is literally useless, I don't think there's a black creature in the game anymore excpet the random Tog, flying is only occasionally useful (chumping Akroma, stalling vs Plats) quote]

Personally, I disagree with this, because although it is a chump blocker against platz and akroma, don't forget spirit of the night, which is still very heavily played in oath decks.  Get this thing out, and you can block and kill the spirit of the night.

[Matt]

So IF you get it out you get a 50% chance to make them wait a turn before Oathing up Akroma as well and just killing you with that? Thanks but no thanks.

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

Yea I decided to cut an Enforcer for a fourth STP, I found it absolutely amazing in this deck.

 I have been playtesting Serenity in the main...

IT IS AMAZING. It acts like a Nev Disk or deed but just on crack.

The only deck its ok vs. is TPS if they layed their moxes. The one bad thing is many decks if piloted by a good player will fully optimize their turn effectively then lose their permanents. But even a game where I layed it down then on their turn they Mindslaved me, it sweeps the board next turn giving me full advantage. : )

Mystic Enforcer is jank.

I may playtest Shoal in here in a similar manner the GAT thread guy is testing them. I will post results ASAP.

[policehq]

Have you tested playing Merchant Scroll and Eternal Witness for Gush tutoring and recycling? I play a U/G version of Gro with these, and they work very well. Merchant Scroll and Quirion Dryad are really good together anyway.

Barry

[AnFgangsta]

Yeah Miracle Gro is great nice solid deck, and its quick which makes it hard to lose interest. Mage by far is a powerhouse just so broken, however I was wondering about your counterbase, do 3x daze, 4x FoW, and 1x misdirection really cut it? Maybe I am just a little too OCD when it comes to counters, I sometimes over do it, so yeah Im just curious.

Now, about Gro's susceptability to burn, have you ever thought of sideboarding heroes reuinion? Thats just broken 2 mana for 7 life, Ill take that any day, and it just craps all over burn...just think, thats more than 2 of their spells just to canel it out, INSANE.

For the usefullness of Library, since Gush has been restircted, yeah I could understand Library being not very useful.  But I dunno I just love the card, its such pimpage I could never cut it =)

Mystic Enforcer, yeah again the restriction of gush has hurt this card as you arent discarding much at all, and that was one way to dump cards into your graveyard, but you still have fetchlands, counters, and your other spells so 2 sounds good to me, I definately would not play any more. Another idea is to maybe cut down to one and then add a Misdirection.

[Denney The Third]

HAs anyone considered playing growbolds? You get the druid big fast to outspeed decks like Oath. The big problem is cutting card for the 12 kobolds and how to keep the deck running. running 4 skullclamps and 4 glimpses would be nice but there's only room for one or the other. Personally i think  deck running glmibses kobolds druids some draw magic, counters, and driads would de pretty good with a quick efficient kill.

Also STP is amazing in the current metagame and is definatly worth the missing black power. You get to RFG and get rid of for the rest of the game: Akroma, SoTn, Welder, and depending on the situations trisk, pents and hydras(in Oath). it can also be used against any random beaters that are found in rogue decks or just plain random bad decks you end up faceing. STPs power is underestimated by the vintage community.

[E Face]

yeah, i thought about it denny, i even have a decklist that i played at SCGP9 in richmond this january... here's the link i have for an old forum i wrote, it has a decklist and discussion on it there.  
http://www.themanadrain.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21406&highlight=

as for the deck on topic, i think that stifle is powerful right now. owning fetches is very good sometimes, and also up for a potential ressurection is Misdirection. with more combo around Mis-D can be crucial targetting yourself with ancestralls or winning counterwars.

I like Mystic Enforcer alot, but i dont know if Lam Phan's Werebear's and Mongoose (mongeese??) are better, they seem quicker and have a better early game, but ME is a powerful finisher. I think its time to test out a wide variety of aggrto-control, an appealing archtype IMHO, and i also believe its a deck to look out for.

[AnFgangsta]

Face, I can see how Mongeese and Werebears would be great off the bat, however completely cutting Mystic Enforcer from the deck I think is a HUGE mistake, atleast leave one in because you never know when you will need him, and you usually have threshhold, or atleast are very close to attaining it by the time you play him, and he does laugh at half of Oath's power (Spirit of the Night).

[crazedpenguinman]

doesn't Stp pwn mystic enforcer in the ass though? Couldn't you in by going Tog>time walk? Obviously oaths speed can screw you over but is one sub-par 4 Cost card going to fix that?

[mr_rogers]

Well the white MiracleGro versions seem to be gaining popularity.  What I would do with the list you mentioned is cut the Serum Visions which seem horrible compared to Slieght of Hand.  I would actually keep the AKs since Tog may make a come back and that deck uses the Intuition/AK draw.  The card advantage gained from an AK following that would most likely win the game.  I would also increase the Daze count to four.  Daze is amazing in Gro as you tap out most every turn.  I would also increase Misdirection to a two of and cut the Gush.  Gush seems to do nothing for this deck as it runs no Togs.  Finally I would replace the Enforcers with Werebear or Nimble Mongoose which both cost less to play and therefore are easier to slip under control's radar.

  Well that's my toughts on what I would change in the deck.  I've played a lot of Gro, though usually the BUG version but the WUG style may be better suited to handle Oath which is usually a tough match up.  Any comments or critisms are welcome.

[E Face]

Gush seems to do nothing for this deck as it runs no Togs.

I dont agree with this statement at all. Gush is more useful than pitching four cards to a Tog. Gush is not only an alternate casting cost draw spell, but it does plenty of tricks like saving lands from Strip effects and floating mana as a pseudo excellerant.

However, I do feel that a second MisD would help out alot. But ripping out the Enforcers and adding Werebears and Mongeese (mongeese pWn) would practically turn this deck into an inferior version of Bird Shit, a deck I am currently testing with and am happy with its performance. (especially with 3sphere being restricted).

My only concern with the list posted so far is an overabundance of card draw. That may be a silly statement, but I think that you could cut the two Sleight of Hand or two Serum Visions to include two more "answer" cards for the deck, such as Null Rods or possibly maindeck Seal of Cleansing (this card is so versatile its silly).

One question to the user, do you find yourself Wishing for the Fact or Fiction frequently? I'd like to know what situations are common for pulling the FoF.

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

I find the Fact Or Fiction in the board extremely helpful. Sometimes its mid-game you just sit with a mage or two on the board and you have a wish in hand and of course target the FoF.

It is definetly a good idea to cut all Serum Visions and replace them with Sleight Of Hand, which is much better.

Well since Trinisphere is hacked it is easy to cut out the Serenity and stick in another Misdirection and some more counters if you'd like.