Nationals Legal Gro

[Anusien]

10th Edition Full Spoiler
Assuming that's correct (a pretty safe assumption), here are the highlights
+Peek
+Quirion Dryad
-Mana Leak

// Lands
    2 Temple Garden
    2 Horizon Canopy
    4 Yavimaya Coast
    3 Hallowed Fountain
    2 Breeding Pool
    4 Flagstones of Trokair

// Creatures
    3 Street Wraith
    4 Quirion Dryad
    4 Tarmogoyf

// Spells
    4 Remand
    4 Compulsive Research
    4 Chromatic Star
    4 Edge of Autumn
    4 Thrill of the Hunt
    4 Rune Snag
    4 Telling Time
    4 Peek

Given the current Constructed scene, a few things should be clear.  Tarmogoyf, Quirion Dryad, Edge of Autumn and Flagstones of Trokair are self-evident.  Thrill of the Hunt is to kill opposing Tarmogoyfs.

Alright, now the non-obvious stuff.  3 Street Wraith can't possibly be right, can it?  Well you never actually want to see it, you simply want it to be out of your deck.  Even when you draw it though, it hurts.  It is in here more as a booster to Tarmogoyf than a cantrip.  You want to see one, but you only want to see 1 so I run 3.

The counter base: I would run Leaks and Snags if I could, but Leak rotates.  Given the choice between a situational counter (Remove Soul, the anti-RG spell), Cancel and a good counter that just doesn't put the spell in the graveyard, I'll run Remand.

The creature base.  4 Tarmogoyf is obvious, but what do you run as backup?  Mystic Enforcer, Quirion Dryad and Troll Ascetic are leading contenders.  I'm too worried about having to keep Troll Ascetic alive in the face of opposing blockers and having it be a continual drain on my mana.  Plus, Ascetic is outclassed by both Dryads and Goyfs.

[Ben Kossman]

Maybe a Black splash for Confidant? And you should definitely play Snapback as it's alternatecc makes it perfect for Grow both as removal and to keep your dryad alive. I would try something like so...

Black:8
4 Dark COnfidant
4 Slaughter Pact

Blue:28
4 Remand
4 Delay
4 Snapback
4 Repeal
4 Peek
4 Mystic Speculation
4 Whispers of the Muse
4 Quicken???
 
Green:4
4 Quirion Dryad

Land:20
4 Watery Grave
4 Breeding Pool
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Underground River
2 Simic Growth Chamber
2 Dimir Aqueduct
4 Gemstone Mine

But that's just a rough sketch based around the Vintage Grow lists I've seen. Wish they'd reprint tog...

[Anusien]

A White splash for Edge of the Autumn, Flagstones and Thrill is absolutely correct.  Let's put it this way; if you're on the white splash and your opponent isn't, your Goyfs are just plain better (because you can kill his with Thrill of the Hunt).  It's roughly equivalent to Wonder advantage in the UG mirror.

Dark Confidant is an interesting idea, since Dryad is pretty poor.  I'm considering Sprout Swarm, Troll Ascetic and Mystic Enforcer in that slot.

What do you need Slaughter Pact to kill?

Delay is worse than Rune Snag, since it doesn't put the spell in the graveyard.

Mystic Speculation is worse than Compulsive Research.
Whispers is worse than Telling Time.

Eww, Quicken.

Snapback is just alright at protecting your Goyfs and pretty poor at protecting Dryads.  I'd rather just make a giant Dryad and beat face than worry about blockers.  And Tarmogoyf is 100x better than Dryad, so you cut Dryads before Goyfs.

[Ben Kossman]

I guess I'm a bit hung up on replicating the original Gro with a low land count. The 1cc cantrips are there to make a massive Dryad as quickly as possible. The cycling cards seem like wasted slots to me because they don't make your Dryad bigger. Why not just play a 1cc blue cantrip? Slaughter Pact and Snapback are free removal that pumps the Dryad while removing whatever is in the way at the time also they both kill Tarmogoyph. Speculation actually combos nicely with the Confidant and can make the Dryad bigger late game as well. Having defended my list I have to say that Mystic Enforcer and Goyph are both solid choices for this decktype as well and a white splash is also viable. I just based mine off the Gro lists I've seen in Vintage and extended. Goyph and research seems pretty sexy though...

[Matt]

White splash looks so terrible. Cut that shit for, like, red. Red gives you Fanatic which is WAY better than Street Wraith, and probably Clasm or something, I don't know.

[Anusien]

White splash looks so terrible. Cut that shit for, like, red. Red gives you Fanatic which is WAY better than Street Wraith, and probably Clasm or something, I don't know.

Edge of Autumn + Flagstones is a key engine.  Besides, white looks sexier when you replace Dryad with Mystic Enforcer.

[LordHomerCat]

I agree that White looks much better, the Flagstones + Edge engine is very good with Goyf.  Thrill of the Hunt is also a major beating against anything with creatures, and Mystic enforcer (either main or board) gets threshed up pretty quickly and is especially good in an environment where Tendrils of Corruption is the defining removal spell. 

Personally, I think Dryad looks pretty bad in here, tarmogoyf, Enforcer, Call of the Herd, Troll Ascetic all look better to me, since you're honestly better off playing other green spells than garbage cantrips (like whispers of the muse). 

I have a personal dislike of Telling Time as well.  I guess just looking at Block Constructed, GW is very powerful, and I could see a standard version being successful, but I don't think Dryad is the way to go, I think Goyf should be the centerpiece and the other creatures should be added to compliment him (like Enforcer, which also likes big yards, and Call of the Herd, which is also a sorcery in the yard initially). 

Anusien's list looks OK, but again I personally think telling time is garbage and you would be better off running a creature in that slot, be it Call or Serra Avenger or even Saffi or Watchwolf.

[UR]

Maybe you'll want some basics in this deck. It gives you the option to play Edge of Autumn rather than just cycle it so you can play a T3 Goyf/Dryad with a counter for backup. Also, Magus of the Moon does see play in T2 and it will completely destroy you as it is.

I like the idea and have been playing with it for a while now, but I dislike the idea of running only 8 creatures in a format where removal is plentiful and you only have 8 soft counters to back up your guys. So I was thinking of the Troll Ascetic but even that can get killed in an 8 WoG format.

If anybody gets in some test results I'd be very interested. What does the deck do against Dredge? Against Gruul? What will the new control decks look like and what is the plan? I'm just not sure right now...

[Hi-Val]

I'd rather play Whispers over Wraiths. They have the same function on turn 1 and one is a spell. You'll almost never hit the mana to Buyback Whispers, but I'd run it without intending to buy it back and just run it as a cantrip. The times when you get six mana in a late game are the times when you want Whisper in hand instead of Street Wraiths.

Also, Big Papa got timeshifted. Mystic Enforcer is total nuts.

[Ben Kossman]

The initial Dark Gro list I posted was suboptimal but if you replace the shitty cantrips with more useful stuff you get something like so...

Black:8
4 Dark Confidant
4 Slaughter Pact


Blue:24
4 Voidmage Prodigy
4 Compulsive Research
4 Remand
4 Rune Snag
4 Snapback
4 Repeal

Gold:4
4 Shadowmage Infiltrator

Green:4
4 Qurion Dryad

Land:20
4 Watery Grave
4 Breeding Pool
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Underground River
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest

Like I said a bit better card quality than my first list. The main criteria for this archetype in my mind is whether or not it can beat Gruul or monored and Dragonstorm/Goblinstorm. Other control matchups should be in Gro's favor. One other strong deck would be mono-red with Dryad and Scab-clan Mauler. I really like aggro control and would love to see it make a comeback in Standard...

[Anusien]

Tarmogoyf is much better than Dryad.  Basically, they both grow to about the same size (although I had such trouble growing the Dryad), but the difference is that Dryad is only good in your opening hand.  If you have to spend all your resources to find and resolve Dryad, he's just a 1/1.

[Skink_123]

White splash looks so terrible. Cut that shit for, like, red. Red gives you Fanatic which is WAY better than Street Wraith, and probably Clasm or something, I don't know.

Edge of Autumn + Flagstones is a key engine.  Besides, white looks sexier when you replace Dryad with Mystic Enforcer.

I tend to disagree, to my experience, land and sorcery are always in the yard nowdays, so they dont actually boost anything.