Playable list

Alright everybody, thanks for the help so far. Here's the list I have

3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Argentum Armor
1 Sword of Body and Mind

4 Contested War Zone
16 Plains

Some questions: Is 20 lands playing it too light? Should I be up around 21-22? Please don't mention again how awesome Stoneforge Mystics are. I know. They are also at least $15 per, which I am not going to spend for a semi-casual event like Mirrodin Besieged Game Day. Take it as a given that I know I should be playing those. I am shipping a foil Colossus and Titan to pay for this deck, but that still wouldn't cover Mystics. I've been through my collection and I think my needs are...

2 Accorder Paladin
2 Memnite
1 Ornithopter
1 Signal Pest
1 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher (No, I didn't play during Zendikar/M11)
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
3 Contested War Zone

Somebody offered to loan me a War Zone in the last pack but I don't know who that was.

Mirrodin Besieged Game Day

I can't believe I am saying this, but I want to build a constructed deck. More specifically, I want to build two of them. I want to have decks for me and Eve for Mirrodin Besieged Game Day. I need something simple for Eve, probably all-in infect or something aggro (Boros?). Myself, I'd like to build a Mirran white deck that includes my 3 Hero of Bladehold. You all are my friends, Romans and countrymen and I need help. I am terrible at building Constructed decks (admittedly, I'm not very good at building Limited Decks either, but ignore that for the moment).

What Does an "Affiliated Deck" Mean?

All non-Planeswalker cards in Scars of Mirrodin are watermarked with either a Mirran or Phyrexian symbol to represent the card’s affiliation. You can build your Game Day deck to be affiliated with one of the two sides; this makes you eligible to win the Mirrodin Besieged preview cards. (Having an affiliated deck is not required for Game Day; you can play any Standard-legal deck you choose.)

An affiliated deck must have at least ten watermarked cards from its affiliated faction in its main deck, and no watermarked cards from the opposing faction in its main deck or sideboard. The deck must still be Standard-legal.

So we've already got the 3 Hero of Bladehold. What else? Awesome equipment? Cheap artifacts and Glint Hawks and Idols? A different color for some control? I don't want to spend a ton of money on this but I could drop a little. Lemme know if you have any ideas. I'll post something you can tear apart a little later. Also, I don't know Zendikar, Eldrazi or M11 block cards really at all. So help me there. Here's a link to Mirran-aligned cards. Go!

Limited v. Constructed 2.0-A Cry for Help

So how's that "Get the ole Constructed rating up" initiative going, CBG? Well I am glad you asked. Since making that resolution, I have participated in one event and gone 0-3. This dropped my rating another 7 points, to a new low of 1511. I really am starting to get a little embarrassed by this. After 3-1'ing my flight at the prerelease, my Limited rating is back up to 1654, only 4 points shy of the 1658 I reached after ambushing Gaudenis Vidugiris for 29 points at the PTQ-KL last year*. I still feel a little bad about that, especially since he won out to make top 8 and I, uh, 4-4'ed. A 143-point spread. Ouch.

So like I said, I am getting a little embarassed, and I am asking for help. What should I play at FNM or SNM to get that Constructed rating back up? Will somebody please test with me? It occurs to me that I play Constructed games like Limited games and that is hurting me. What do I need to do to get better at Constructed? Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope!

*Incidentally, Gaudenis was a really nice guy and got horribly mana screwed game 1, and lost to a ridiculous 4 removal spell draw game 2. No disrespect intended or implied.

Constructed!

Yes, that's right. It is time for me to get my first sanctioned match win since...how long has it been anyway, DCI?

08-02-1390181, 21320 QT Hollywood 08: 2008-02-23 186
3 Edd N. Black Loss 1518
2 Yannis S. Guerra Loss 1532
1 Jerret W. Rocha Loss 1541
07-09-1320888, Magic: Standard-2007-09-15-GREENFIELD: 2007-09-15 5
4 Dylan Crisp Loss 1546
3 Robert Majchrzak Win 1552

September 15th? That's not so bad, it's only 7 months. What about before that?

2 Dan Knudten Loss 1540
1 Bye 1544
07-09-1315632, Friday Night Magic - Sept 2007: 2007-09-07 15
4 Tom P. Carroll Loss 1544
3 Dan Knudten Loss 1547
2 Andrew J. Wyrowski Loss 1549
1 Joseph Haines Tie 1551
07-08-1290798, Magic: Standard-2007-08-18-GREENFIELD: 2007-08-18 20
3 Andrew J. Wyrowski Loss 1550
2 Michael J. Groh Loss 1555
1 James Kroblanch Loss 1562
07-07-1273000, Magic: Standard-2007-07-21-GREENFIELD: 2007-07-21 10
4 Greg Barker Loss 1571
3 Bye 1578
2 Nicholas Simmons Loss 1578
1 Jeff Modlinski Loss 1586
06-11-1134522, Friday Night Magic: 2006-11-03 14
5 Tony J. Rome Win 1596

Is that 1-10? Cripes, I suck.

Anyways, here's the list. I long to kill people with Pegasi again. This may explain my rating.

4 Wrath of God
1 Aura of Silence
1 Purity
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Hoofprints of the Stag
3 Idyllic Tutor
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Story Circle
4 Martyr of Sands
3 Pollen Lullaby
4 Condemn
3 Magus of the Disk
1 Urza's Factory
1 Enduring Renewal
2 Austere Command
1 Mobilization

4 Mind Stone
20 Plains
4 Flagstones of Trokair

Yes, that is 25 land and 4 Mind Stone. I don't have a sideboard yet. Probly Ronom Unicorns and 11 Plains. Wish me luck!

Limited v. Constructed

My Constructed rating, after the ptq fiasco? 1518.

My Limited rating? 1648. That's a 130 point difference. Can any of you claim a bigger margin? Maybe I should make it a goal to improve my Constructed play this year. Get that rating back up to 1600. Yeah, maybe not.

CBG proves his point

Well, not to say I told you so or anything, but I did indeed tell you so. I went 0-3 at the ptq yesterday, losing 1-2 to Aggro Loam, 1-2 to monoblue (like Next Level Blue but without Tarmogoyfs) and 0-2 to Astral Slide. The deck was not the problem, except perhaps in the 3rd round, when I twice was one card off from a turn one kill, and I couldn't get the damn thing to cough up a burn spell. There were some interesting stories though and I got to play some more EDH and extend my losing streak through the entire day, casual and sanctioned. Oh! Also, I finished my EDHs, so i am 100% proxy free. Dealers are nice, if mercenary.

The deck is Blazing Saddles of Fury!

4 Blazing Shoal
4 Serum Powder

4 Myojin of Infinite Rage
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Fury of the Horde

4 Spark Elemental
4 Lightning Serpent
4 Raging Goblin

3 Shard Volley
4 Rift Bolt
4 Lava Spike


3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
10 Mountain

I didn't run a sideboard.

This is Blazing Saddles, sped up by including Fury of the Horde. Fury is pitchable to Shoal, so it improves your odds of getting something big to pitch to the shoal, but it's not dead alone.

Round 1

Game one I blast him for 12 turn one. He stabilizes with a couple Wall of Roots and I am kind of wondering what he is playing, until his friend walks by and he points to his board and says, "No second red." So I put him on Aggro Loam with Countryside Crusher. I burn him out with Rift Bolt, Shard Volley, Shard Volley.

Game two I keep a hand which needed something (I think a red card) and I kept it since I had gone to six. He wasn't going to play anything relevant on turn 1 (no moxen) so I wasn't particularly concerned. I didn't draw what I needed until he had Crusher (tapped) and Wall of Roots in play (and I had 3 lands, what the heck am I doing with 3 lands). I had a Cajun and I thought I had enough to Shoal and Fury in the same turn. And I did. If I didn't cast the Lightning Serpent. Then, once I made that mistake, he of course blocks the Serpent with the Wall and I proceed to Shoal the cajun instead of the Serpent. Cause the extra 5 damage is totally more important than getting rid of the blocker. Sheesh. So he goes down to 5, then I Lava Spike. Then he Devastating Dreams for 4 and kills me.

Game three I keep a no lander. I rip it on turn 2, blast for 10 and proceed to not draw burn or further shoals. But he's playing around it. I am fidgeting in my chair and I realize that the floor feels slippery. The carpeted floor. I look down and there's three of my cards. I had dropped a couple cards in my lap when I was side shuffling between games and picked them up and put them back in my deck. Unfortunately, I had also apparently dropped some on the floor and missed them. So I called a judge and told him I had presented an illegal deck for game 3. I just conceded to my opponent, but this is not quite right. I should have actually sat there and had the judge enter the penalty and give me the game loss officially. This judge just ignored it because I conceded but they really are supposed to give me a game loss and if he was doing what he was supposed to, I would have started a game down in round 2 if I had conceded in round 1. So don't concede.

Round 2

Turn one blast for 12. Opponent playing monoblue. Turn 2 suspend Rift Bolt, getting Lightning Serpent Counterspelled. I assumed he didn't have it since he had let me bolt him down to 5. Oops. He was tapped out so I Lava Spiked him. Turn 3, he lays a Chalice for 1. Well frack. I just blew the two cards that avoid that (that would be Lightning Serpent and Rift Bolt). I die with him on 2. Incidentally, Fugie's Lightning Helix tech would have saved me here. One, because it's a 2, but also because he went all in to deal exactly enough with Meloku tokens. Helix over the top would have done it.

Game two. This was a moment I got to live in fear. When I put this deck together, I didn't think a monoblue opponent could do anything relevant turn one. So I let him go first. He lays Polluted Delta and says go. I lay Sparky, and put Shoal on the stack. He cracks the delta! Oh crap I forgot about Force Spike. He searches, finds an island, shuffles his deck, looks at me and says, "resolves." Whew. He lays a Tolaria West and I double Lava Spike to kill him turn 2.

Game three. I get him to two. I get a Gargadon down. I again play the card that I need to power my Fury of the Horde. He had Meloku and two mana, so he could have made double chump blockers for two gargadon attacks, but as it was, I just died. I need to test more.

Round three

I play against some fool playing Astral Slide. This is what happens when you punt yourself into the 0-2 bracket. He draws a bunch of Renewed Faiths, and I am a single card off a turn one both games. I had him as low as 3 game one and 6 game two. It's irrelevant though, as the games lasted too long. Once turn 3 arrives, I lose.

The End

Changes to the deck. Well, now I know what to run for a sideboard. If I did, it would look something like

4 Leyline of the Void
4 Shattering Spree
4 Sulfuric Vortex
3 Tormod's Crypt

I'd also change 2 Shard Volley and 1 Lava Spike to 3 Magma Jet. It's nice to have a little diversity of mana costs and the card selection doesn't hurt. Last, I'd go up to a full set of fetches. Your life total is almost completely irrelevant. I would not try to splash a second color. If I did, it would only be off Rav duals. Topdecking a land that doesn't produce red is stupid. Even stupider than topdecking a land at all.

R/g/b Goblins in Vintage

I have no idea what I am doing playing Vintage. Just thought I'd put that out there. Here's the list I came up with.

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Tin Street Hooligan
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
2 Stingscourger
2 Earwig Squad
4 Aether Vial
4 Thorn of Amethyst

3 Mountain
3 Taiga
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Badlands
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt
1 Swamp

Sideboard

2 Earwig Squad
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Darkblast
4 Goblin King

A couple points before you all tear me apart. (1) This isn't tested. (2) Yes, I completely gave up on the Ichorid matchup. I don't think 3 Crypts is gonna make the difference. (3) Comments suggesting the G should be dropped will be deleted and ignored and expunged from consciousness. The "I won a Lotus" Captain is right. Tin Street is the nuts.

I am down to only 1 Wasteland, 1 Strip Mine. I think they stay because they are still randomly good.

Goblin King is for aggro matchups. I can still combo Workshop Aggro out if I can swing unmolested. He also makes R/g Beatz burn worse.

No Banneret. What do you wanna cut? You still have a ton of ways to T2 a Warchief. And multiple Warchief effects aren't that great, I don't think. Though I do get a little emotionally erect thinking about Matron for R.

Darkblast is for Confidant and Welder and to make it so I can occasionally attack into things. Combat tricks in Vintage! FTW!

Okay, tear me apart. I'll be testing this tonight, but if you have suggestions (possibly for how to stick Banneret in there) I'll test those too and report back. I am planning on going again on the 17th. Because I like torturing myself.

Elder Dragon Highlander (Hideaway Drinking Game Variant)

What's better than Elder Dragon Highlander? Besides sex, smartypants. That's right! Drinking!

This probably works best for multiplayer FFA games. Duels probably won't meet the triggers enough. The game works just like normal, except there are 5 triggered abilities in the rules.

(1) Whenever a source deals 7 or more damage to a player, the controller of the source may pay 3. If that person does, the damaged player takes a drink.

(2) Whenever 3 or more creatures attack a single player, the attacking player may pay 3. If that person does, the defending player takes a drink.

(3) As long as a player controls 10 or more power of creatures, that player may pay 4. If that person does, target player takes a drink.

(4) Whenever a player is hellbent, any opponent may pay 3. If the cost is paid, the hellbent player takes a drink. Play this ability only once per turn.

(5) Whenever an active player has less than 40 cards in their library, any opponent may pay 3. If the cost is paid, the active player takes a drink. Play this ability only once per turn.

I hosed the green one a little since it is so easy to activate, can target any player and can be activated multiple times per turn. What do you all think? Awesome?

W00t, casual deck!

Okay, I have been kicking around UW Fish in my head for like, um, 12 months (i.e. since TS released) without doing anything about it. Here's a decklist that has gone 4-0 (Yes, I know thats not impressive, but it's better than the 0-4 I got out of Living End) since I built it for like 6 tix 2 hours ago.

4 Flying Men
2 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Remand
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Unstable Mutation
4 Azorius First-Wing
4 Drifter il-Dal
4 Jotun Grunt
4 Looter il-Kor
3 Mana Tithe
4 Think Twice

7 Plains
10 Island
3 Azorius Chancery

The Grunts and Warhammers are the most expensive things in here. I think its good to be reminded how fucking insanely good the bouncelands are. Yes, even in constructed (at least where people aren't playing boomerang). Looter feeds Grunt quite nicely. Just saying. I think there might be cause to put Unsummon in here to forge a path. I actually have yet to cast a Think Twice, though I did discard one to a Looter once.

Game 1-Opponent concedes on turn 5 to a board consisting of Flying Men, Suntail Hawk, Jotun Grunt * 2(only one of whom could be fed) and Drifter il-Dal.

Game 2-CounterBurn slows me down a couple turns and opponent concedes on turn 8 at 1 life.

Game 3-Opponent concedes after manascrew.

Game 4-Opponent concedes on turn 5 with lethal on the stack. Double Unstable Mutation draw.

What does it lose post rotation? Remand and Azorius First-Wing. There are lots of replacements for the First-Wing (Serra Avenger comes to mind). I don't know if it's possible to replace Remand though. Sheesh.

SNM > FNM

Being the captain of bondage gothiness means SNM is way more popular than FNM in my house. I was able to carve out time for a Standard tourney on Saturday and brought monogreen midrange and greater goyf. The Goyf was the list that went 7-0 at nats. There it was piloted by the owner of the store I used to play at in Tucson, Dusty Ochoa. Here it was piloted by me. I loaned monogreen midrange out to a deckless dude and sat down for my first round.

Round 1
Bye

Wasn't that awesome? Greater Goyf has the pairings mojo to kick me straight into the second round with three points. I sat and watched my MGM decklist get owned my Project X. It turns out that picking a deck at random doesn't work very well, especially when the person playing has little idea of the decks strategy. No disrespect to the dude who ran my deck, but he made some pretty significant play mistakes, which made this already difficult matchup absolutely unwinnable. Exhibit A. Board is 2 forests, bird and elf, Troll Ascetic. Opponent has just played a magus of the disk. Your hand is Heartwood Storyteller, Stampeding Wildebeests, Timbermare, Harmonize. Do you (A) leave regen mana up for Trollie, (B) play Harmonize, digging for the land you are about to need, (C) play Timbermare, essentially playing a four card Lava Axe? If you guessed (C) you may follow along at home and may CBG get paired against you in the 1st round of a ptq. After board, does he set Pithing Needle on Saffi? No he does not. Ouch. 1-0

Round 2
Dan with AngelFire

I think Greater Goyf is ahead against Angelfire but I am not entirely sure. Haven't exactly tested assiduously. In the first game, I get so close, but misplay and sac a Mogg Fanatic to Gargadon instead of itself. Was he on 8 life? Yes, he was. Did I have Char and Incinerate in hand with 5 land on the table? Yes I did. Game two, I never saw any of the Cryoclasms I boarded and lost to the classic turn 3 Lightning Angel. 1-1

Round 3
Greater Goyf with Dark Confidant.

I don't think he was playing Char. I do think that was the difference. I played very tight game one and had a terrible draw game 2. Burned him out from 16 game 3. Would you keep a 3 mountain 2 Char, 2 Incinerate hand? I threw it back and got 2 mountain, 1 Gargs, 1 Char 2 Incinerate. Gargs is the trump in this matchup and so I kept. Gargs stayed suspended, what with me being busy burning my opponent's face off. So I finally have my first sanctioned constructed match win in 3 months. Yay me. 2-1

Round 4
Assault Loam.

Well, recursive threats are bad for me, but a broken draw is good. Game 1, he taps out for something insignificant while on 12, and I have a seal of fire on board and a suspended Garg. EOT sac seal, shock you, sac my board, Gargs wins. Game 2, I almost get there but he gets Assault down and Loam in the graveyard. 6 to the head per turn is bad. Also, was stuck on 2 land for entire game. Game 3. Was stuck on 2 land again and he gets the nuts anti aggro draw. Double Hierarch, double wall of roots. I threw 13 points of burn at his dudes, but was still only able to force through 12 on the ground. With him gaining 8, that was never going to be enough. Again, I never saw my sideboarded Cryoclasms. 2-2

So what did we learn? First round byes suck. There is no room for error. Also, we are rarely going to beat double elephant draws on the part of anybody. It helps to draw your sideboard cards. Learn how to sideboard. I really felt like I was way behind in the sideboarded games.

Monogreen midrange went 1-3. Hmm. I'll have to check in with TJRome and see how it's going online. Hey TJ? Comment. Did you remember to go down to 2 harmonize yet?

Stories from FNM

I didn't have my own transportation to FNM this week but Super Beer Geek picked me up off the side of the road in exchange for my allowing him to play my build of MGA (Version 2.0! Now, with Troll Ascetic!). This is a decision I would quickly come to regret.

I got to roll with my terrible (0-3 last time) version of UW control. Round 1 I get paired against a Martyr of Sands deck playing Porphyry Nodes and Mobilization (Worst. Sacred Mesa. Ever.) along with green for Treetop Village (won't you take me to? Monkeytown!) and Glare(!?). Game 1 I manage to Condemn two Monkeytowns, counter a mobilization and kill Martyr boy from 41 life. Turns out Azorius Guildmage can counter your Proclamation of Rebirth forecast and stifle your Martyr activation. Go ahead and put it in the graveyard and show me your hand, though. Game 2 I board out my Wrath of Gods since I have seen precisely zero cards it will do any good against. So of course, I get beaten about the head and neck by multiple Serra Avengers. Game 3 goes to time. Yay! A draw! My first (and still only!) sanctioned match point with this shitty, shitty deck.

Round 2, I get matched up against Fugie's far-superior UB control build piloted by the Dirty Dirty Man. I lose game 1 and concede game 2 because honestly, who wants to play this out?

Round 3, Angelfire with Firemanes in addition to Lightning Angels. Lose game 1. Concede because honestly, who wants to play this out? Also managed to piss off a rhinoceros for no fracking reason other than I was in a bad mood. Sorry, Rhinoceros.

Round 4 (hey, I was there and Super Beer Geek was 2-1 so he was gonna play it out, might as well lose a few more ratings points), I get matched against TooSarcastic. He of the 2nd place Angelfire deck 2 weeks ago? That TooSarcastic. Of course, he had picked up a loss and a draw and then gotten paired down against me. Bad beats, man. I managed to steal the second game from him, mostly because Sacred Mesa is...um-maze-ing. Still lost number 3 though.

Remind me to bring Etchings next time. At least I have fun playing that.

Oh and Super Beer Geek? He finished 2nd, losing only to Project X. Why no, we don't have tools to deal with that in monogreen. He kicked me the foil Wing Shards and kept the $21 for himself. He's probably right to do this, since I would have gone 1-3 with my own deck. That's just how I roll.

Also, can I take a moment to just bitch about the store for a second? Where are the freaking donkeys? I have yet to play against a rogue deck with mine, despite never picking up a single win. German Nationals-winning Angelfire in the 4th round? Sheesh. Where are the small children playing precons? Where are the people shoving Rhox into their Verdant Force decks? Why am I wasting my life playing Constructed? The world may never know.

More Casual Magic

Sometimes I feel like I am going to get kicked off the blog for lack of seriousness.

Here's a new decklist, completely untested. I may build this online since it is super cheap (since I have the duals from building dredge pre-FS).

4 Living End
4 Uktabi Drake
4 Timbermare
4 Deepcavern Imp
4 Mirri the Cursed
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Terror
1 Akroma's Memorial
4 Giant Growth
3 Diabolic Tutor
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Llanowar Wastes
6 Forest
10 Swamp


The Leylines are to break the symmetry of Living End, to hose Teachings, Dredge and Loam and to have a turn zero play (joke).

You'll rarely wanna pay the echo. The idea is to shock somebody a few times, then suspend living end, continue shocking and then all in for the win after living end.

I am amused by the singleton Akroma's memorial. Seems like a good thing to drop turn 7 after living end resolves.

I am also amused by the idea of suspending living end on consecutive turns. You never know. It seems like fun to have a bunch of echo creatures die, then immediately reanimate them.

You'll probably wanna learn how to stack Timbermare triggers correctly. This seems antisynergystic? Maybe Icy for creature control instead of Terror? At one point I had fog effects to minimise the creatures they'd be getting back.

Update September 06-Well, I got to play a few games in the casual room last night before the server crashed. It turns out the aggro creatures are just as good as advertised. I won one game by just casting Deepcavern Imp and Mirri and beating face. Go right ahead and race. I lost a game against monored (essentially a Nats deck with Ghostfires instead of Chars. I love the casual room) when I realized the Giant Growths in my hand should be Might of Old Krosas. One. more. point. I won another game by casting Terror as a 3-for-1. Dude has a Vinelasher Kudzu with 3 counters (4/4) and a Fungal Behemoth (3/3) with another Fungal Behemoth suspended for one. Topdeck Terror. Swing with my team. Cast main phase Terror on Kudzu, killing both dudes. The other Behemoth dies when it comes into play. Savage beatings, but Fungal Behemoth is terrible. Why can't it be */*+1? I have no idea.

Re:Timbermare, yeah the tap all creatures thing sucks. I don't have a solution. It's not like I can NOT PLAY a hasty 5/5. What kind of works is paying the echo on the 2nd Timbermare.

Pit-Skulk! A MonoG deck from Japan

So of course I mention my love for Skarrgan Pit-Skulk shortly after a mono-Green list that doesn't include him. And of course, a monoG list from one of the grinders at Japanese Nats emerges with the Pit-Skulk as a 4-of (with Troll Ascetic, natch). Endo Ryota placed 2nd and ground into Nats with this list...

4 Boreal Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Scryb Ranger
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
4 Troll Ascetic
4 Giant Solifuge

1 Giant Growth
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Moldervine Cloak
2 Stonewood Invocation

2 Pendelhaven
4 Treetop Village
15 Forest

Sideboard

3 Call of the Herd
2 Seal of Primordium
4 Spike Feeder
1 Wall of Roots
3 Pithing Needle
2 Serrated Arrows

So how does this differ? Should I stick with my version or should I net-deck like a master?

Let's start with 4 Boreal Druid over 4 Birds. Druid has a power of 1 but no evasion. Birds makes Green. I think that if I keep all the double green in my deck, Birds is better for me. Endo's deck doesn't have all the double costs, especially on turn 2, and thus can afford to run the slightly more aggressive guy.

4 Scryb Ranger. Wow, I hadn't thought of Scryb Ranger, but wow is she amazing. She fixes mana and flies and provides instant speed blocking. Unfortunately for me, she's a 2-drop, which I was trying to avoid.
4 Silhana Ledgewalker. Ledgewalker + Moldervine Cloak. Beating people down since February 2006.
4 Pit-Skulk. I really think he's amazing. Your mileage may vary. He's especially good with MoOK since you wanna cast that mainphase anyway.
4 Troll Ascetic. I feel as if we have talked about this already. He's almost unkillable. He's 3 power for 3 mana. He's amazing.
4 Giant Solifuge. Anti-Wrath tech. Thank you sir, may I have another?

7 pump spells plus 4 Moldervine Cloak. I know it seems crazy, but this is where I disagree most strongly with the Japanese list. All pump spells except Stonewood Invocation are asking to get 2 for 1-ed. Without anyway to generate card advantage, this seems really dangerous to me.

The land base is good. Notice how he still doesn't go down to 20 land, presumably because he would like to activate Monkeytown every once in a while. I like the idea of Pendelhaven. Randomly screwing with pyroclasm or seal of fire seems good right now.

The thing to keep in mind when comparing this list to mine is our different plans. This is a true aggro plan, attempting to deal 20 in the first 5 turns. The only real long game plan is Ascetic plus pump. The only anti Wrath plan is Giant Solifuge. They are good plans, but they depend heavily on having certain cards in hand at certain times. My deck is much more midrange. The 3 drops are much less aggressive, but the 4 drops are much bigger threats, I think. Frankly, Timbermare is pretty hot post Wrath as well, and the Trample on the Wildebeests makes a big difference when compared to OpponentShroud® on the Ascetic. I just feel like my build is more resilient to bad draws, while maintaining the capability of explosive draws. On the other hand, I am not in Japan's National Championships and Endo Ryota is. CBG out.

Edit-2 minutes after I first posted this. Of course, Treetop Village makes a pretty good anti Wrath plan as well. I don't mean to suggest it's a bad list. It's just not what I would play. Then again, CBG is a bad player.

Why I don't play Troll Ascetic in monogreen aggro

Here's my new list...

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Ohran Viper
4 Timbermare
2 Harmonize
4 Might of Old Krosa
2 Stonewood Invocation
4 Stampeding Wildebeests
4 Citanul Woodreaders
4 Llanowar Reborn
1 Hurricane
1 Overrun
18 Forest

I had 4 Harmonize but went down to 2 to shove in a couple of alternate win conditions. I have been playing MGA since I noticed the delightfully dirty interaction between Skarrgan Pit-Skulk and pump spells (Might of Oaks). Go right ahead, block my 8/8. What's that? You don't have anything with a power of 8? Sorry about that. This was in like April 2006. I discovered shortly thereafter it wasn't all that original an idea, and most of the tuned builds that did well online ignored the Pit-Skulk thing but hey, what can you do? MGA got some great new tools with Scryb and Force and was a metagame player for a while but it appears to have fallen by the wayside in favor of multicolor builds with more reach (R/g Tarmogoyf), more card drawing (Suicide Sligh or R/B aggro) or both (U/G Tarmogoyf).

I look at the current field and wonder if there isn't a build of monogreen that can hang with these players and gain the advantage of consistency. Keep in mind that the Tier 1 field is very open, and one generally isn't going to have a hugely favorable matchup against a vast swath of it. What I am looking for is fun, power and consistency. It's also nice not to have to leave Remand mana up once in a while.

So I start with the classic MGA package of 8 one mana accelerators. Then I ignore the 2 drop slot. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on the 3 drop. This is where your MGA lists win or lose the game, because it is in all likelihood, your turn 2 play. The problem with my MGA lists in the past has been a lack of reach after the initial rush. I get a good board position, do 10-15, then the board stalls or is cleared, and I lose. So I decided to go with card drawing instead of true aggro in those slots. Ohran Viper is a damn house. Ophidian is good I hear, and people played Stinkweed Imp in Standard as well. Heartwood Storyteller is amazing. At the very least, he's card advantage when they burn him out. If he picks up a graft counter, Incinerate can't touch him.

The third three mana dude is Citanul Woodreaders, and this is the obvious pull in favor of Troll Ascetic. So why go with Woody?

(1) 1/4 is good. Kills little stuff, bounces off big stuff.
(2) Doesn't tie up my mana. Troll Ascetic needs regeneration mana to be a credible threat. I do not want to leave mana open unless I am representing pump.
(3) Can be returned for huge effect in the late game. You know what seems good to me? Returning my wall to my hand when I have a 5/4 (or 6/5) trampler on the board and recasting it for 2 more cards in hand. A slow green Gush, that's what it is.
(4) Troll Ascetic does not trample. Even if I can pump him, he can just be chumped by any old thing (Goblins).


The four mana slot is where this deck shines. Timbermare is everything from a turn 3 Lava Axe to a turn 8 14/14 tap all yr dudes and swing for the win. Lovely. Stampeding Wildebeests, is also amazing. Why yes, I will pick up my one mana dude and swing for 5 (trample!) on turn 4. Some (The Fugitive and 2S) would argue the Harmonizes are slow or unnecessary. I say that your only problem is running out of threats and quick recovery from Wrath is really hard without this.

Hurricane is there because direct damage is nice and honestly, who plays around Hurricane? Plus I have an Ice Age one, so pbthht.

The pump is nice, but you don't wanna go overboard on it. I think 6+the Overrun is right. I might go back to four Stonewood Invocation. Sometimes that just sits in hand though.

It might also be tempting to go 20 forest, no Llanowar Reborn and pick up 2 more spells. I think this is a mistake. You have the card drawing to pull you out of a land glut and while you'd rather see spells, you do have good uses for the land you have. Plus, it's nice not to be completely wrecked by pyroclasm.

The sideboard is not complete so I am not going to list one. There's the possibility of going aggro-er with Gaea's Anthem+Uktabi Drake. Probably should fit Naturalize in there given the environment. Graveyard hate might be okay depending on how popular Aggro Loam is in your area. Or maybe anti discard/control with Quagnoth. I'll have to think about it some more.

It's nice that aggro still has its place a year after Jitte and this one definitely has some explosive draws combined with a bit of staying power. I like it.

-CBG