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By: Lord Erman, Nafiz Erman
Mar 02 2010 1:52am
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ROGUE PLAY
Seven Deadly Sins
Part I

by Nafiz Erman

Hello dear readers and welcome back to Rogue Play. Starting with this week, I am starting a new series of articles which I call the Seven Deadly Sins. Each week I will take one deadly sin and build a deck around it. It will be a nice theme deck but it will also be something extra powerful; unless my theme for that week is casual decks of course.

There's no fixed format I will build my "sin decks". They could be for any format I see fit. But as I said, they will either be tournament caliber Tier-1 decks or they will be very creative fun decks.

Okay, so this is what this Seven Deadly Sins series are all about. Actually the main purpose is to deliver you dear readers something fun to read. I personally got tired of the usual "this is the deck, these are the game reports, see you online" type of articles and I decided to add a little bit of flavor to the whole mix and this one is the first one.

And let's see if you will like it or not.

 

SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Of course not everyone is familiar with this whole "seven deadly sins" concept. For those readers here are those sins (in no particular order):

1- PRIDE: Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. If you get too obsessed with the "believe in yourself" motto, this will be the result.

2- ENVY: Envy is the desire for others' traits, status and/or abilities. You commit this sin every time you top-deck a basic land and the opponent top-decks his win condition on his turn.

3- GLUTTONY: Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which ones requires. Unfortunately I personally commit this sin at least three times a day (at every meal).

4- LUST: Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body. And no, I will not add a personal comment next to it.

5- ANGER: Also known as Wrath, Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. You can't cast Maniacal Rage at the office every time you get angry just because your colleagues are plain stupid, you know!

6- GREED: Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. In Magic, playing too much 5-Color decks could be considered as a symptom.

7- SLOTH: Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

So... Seven sins, seven weeks and seven themes. And without losing more time, please allow me to start with the first one which is...

 

SIN #1:

Gluttony will be our first sin. I chose it to be the first because, as I said above, it's a sin I commit every day so I'm very familiar with it. Anyway...

If we are going to talk about gluttony in Magic, there is only one thing I can think of and that is to take some thin and fit creatures and turn them into real fat monsters. And luckily I have a very specific deck in mind for that; the famous Gluttonous Elves deck!

Okay, the name Gluttonous Elves may not ring a bell but I'm sure you'll understand what I'm talking about when I say Eldrazi Green. Now that's a name you heard before, right?


OMG! Fat elves!

So we will take those thin and fit 1/1 elves and pump them and feed them and watch them get fatter. First they will become 2/2, then 3/3, then 5/5 and ultimately they will turn into 6/6 flying indestructible fat monsters; sometimes even more scarier and fatter. Between you and me, I even saw them reach to the gigantic size of 11/11 too. Now is this gluttony or what?!

Once upon a time, during the first weeks of the new Standard after Zendikar, this deck became quite popular but its fame and fortune didn't last very long. But now after Worldwake I do believe that it's once again time to give it a second chance.

But before we talk about the future of those fat elves, let's first take a look at the old version so that everyone understands what we're talking about here.

Here's the old version:

 

As you see this old version was all about aggression; oh and gluttony of course. Cards like Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and Elvish Archdruid were the way to pump the elves as well as the other creatures. And to be able to sacrifice creatures to the Eldrazi Monument, the deck was playing lots of token producers. Ant Queen, Master of the Wild Hunt and even Nissa Revane were in deck for that purpose.

And now Worldwake has come and it brought many new goodies to this deck. First and foremost it brought Joraga Warcaller which is another card that will help us to make our elves fatter.

Then we have one the best new creatures that came with Worldwake; we have Wolfbriar Elemental. It creates wolf tokens and our Master of the Wild Hunt surely knows how to make good use of them.

And finally we have an already fat and gluttonous creature; we have Leatherback Baloth. A second turn 4/5 creature is simply too much for some decks out there.

And considering all those things, let's take a look at our new version of Eldrazi Green Gluttonous Elves deck.

 

I don't think any explanations are needed. What you see here is pure aggression and gluttony!  And now I want to show you what those Gluttonous Elves are capable of doing.

Let the game reports begin!

 

GAME 1:
Opponent:
 magicjason5
Playing: Jund

I was hoping to play against Jund but I was also hoping to get warmed up a bit first to be honest. Apparently that isn't the case and I happen to have jumped right in the middle of the pit.

Anyway, we start and I go first. I have an almost perfect hand and start with a turn one Llanowar Elves followed by a second turn Leatherback Baloth. Definitely the start I hope to see in every game. My opponent plays his new Worldwake manlands one after another but the unfortunately(!) they enter the battlefield tapped.

I then hit him with my Leatherback Baloth and then play my Nissa Revane, and she brings in one of her worshipers. Next turn my opponent plays his Putrid Leech but at that point things definitely look to my favor (as can be seen at left).

I attack with my baloth but he blocks it with his creature. I bring in another worshipper of Nissa and then play my Elvish Archdruid and start making my elves fatter. During his turn he plays yet another "enters the battlefield tapped" land and casts a Sprouting Thrinax. I respond that move the next turn with a second Elvish Archdruid and a Wolfbriar Elemental who brings in two 2/2 wolfs with him (or it?).

My opponent casts his Siege-Gang Commander but the game ends one turn after he does that as can be seen below:

 Sideboarding:
-2 Joraga Warcaller, -1 Wolfbriar Elemental, -1 Eldrazi Monument
-4 Great Sable Stag
This was my very first serious game with the deck and to be completely honest I really didn't know what I was doing. I just needed to add Great Sable Stag and removed four cards almost randomly.

My opponent starts game two and he fries my first turn and second turn mana elves (one Llanowar Elves and one Arbor Elf). Obviously that crazy start in the first game was enough warning for him. But all that Lightning Bolt action doesn't help much and he's once again facing not one but two Leatherback Baloths at the end of my fourth turn... I think I'm going to like this creature a lot.

My opponent plays a Garruk Wildspeaker and then a bloody war starts for that planeswalker. He tries to protect his Garruk with his Siege-Gang Commander and its tokens, and I try to swarm him with my own creatures. This war doesn't last short because he then brings in his Sprouting Thrinax and one turn after that I'm facing those 1/1 saproling tokens!

In the meantime I play my Nissa Revane and she once again starts bringing in her followers. I then play a third Leatherback Baloth and thankfully my opponent doesn't seem to draw his Maelstrom Pulses.

On turn eight I finally get rid of his planeswalker and my opponent seem to draw totally useless cards. He finds a few removal but nothing too annoying as in Maelstrom Pulse, no Bloodbraid Elf but instead some Cunning Sparkmages! An interesting sideboarding and in my opinion a wrong one.

But he fights back and even manages to kill my Nissa Revane in between. But eventually my Leatherback Baloths break all his defenses and after I play my Elvish Archdruid and pump my elves, he decides to concede.

Game: 2-0
Overall: 1-0

This was a very nice start against the best deck of the format. I can say that I'm impressed with the way the deck performed in this game.

 

GAME 2:
Opponent: droopy2
Playing:  Mill Deck

Most probably my opponent was in the middle of fine-tuning his deck and our game happened at the very early stages of it. Because... uhm... I should say that this wasn't even a close match.

Anyway, we start and unfortunately this time I don't have that killer hand. The first creature I play is a third turn Leatherback Baloth. My opponent plays first a Howling Mine and then plays a Jace Beleren. Most probably he thinks that I will go after his planeswalker but I have no such thing in mind; the only person I'm after is my opponent himself!

He sees that too and starts milling me with Mind Funeral and Tome Scour as fast as he can. But unfortunately for him he can't be fast enough and I play one creature after the other. On his turn six, even though I have only ten cards left in my library, he sees no way out and concedes.

Sideboarding:
-2 Master of the Wild Hunt, -2 Nissa Revane
+4 Great Sable Stag

He starts game two fast and plays two Tome Scours on his first two turns. I on the other hand play an Arbor Elf on my first turn followed by a Great Sable Stag on my second turn. His action for his third turn is to play a Mind Funeral which all of a sudden brings my library down to twenty two cards! Wow, that was really fast.

I hit him for two turns with my Great Sable Stag and he plays a Howling Mine but thankfully no other Mind Funerals. In the meantime I play as many creatures as I can.

On my fith turn I play my Garruk Wildspeaker and make him reach to four loyalty. He kills a few of my creatures with his Black spells but cannot do anything after I use my Garruk's Overrun ability.

Game: 2-0
Overall: 2-0

Well, there's not much to say about this game. Milling in Standard surely works but not in the colors my opponent was playing.  

 

GAME 3:
Opponent: burginrussell
Playing: Vampires

So here's what happened in game one:

T1: Forest, Arbor Elf.
T2: Forest, Leatherback Baloth.
T3: Attack with the beast, Forest, Nissa Revane, Nissa's Chosen.
T4: Dread Statuary, Eldrazi Monument, gg.

And they say that vampires are fast...

Sideboarding:
-2 Garruk Wildspeaker, -1 Wolfbriar Elemental, -1 Joraga Warcaller
+4 Great Sable Stag
This was again some random sideboarding to make room for four Great Sable Stags.

I start the game again with an Arbor Elf but this time my opponent has no intention of facing a second turn Leatherback Baloth and kills my mana elf. I play a second turn Elvish Visionary, a third turn Great Sable Stag which stays on the stack for a few seconds before my opponent clicks "ok", and then eventually a Leatherback Baloth.

My opponent gets stuck on two lands and two creatures but I show his bloodsucking creatures no mercy and the game ends on my sixth turn when my Eldrazi Monument is on the stack as shown below.

Game: 2-0
Overall: 3-0

This whole match took like three or four minutes maximum to finish. And this should give you an idea about the speed of the new Eldrazi Green Gluttonous Elves deck.

 

GAME 4:
Opponent: pipedarkfire
Playing: Jund

I start the game, mulligan to six and keep a hand with two lands. The third land eventually comes in time but that's not a great accomplishment considering my hand is full with four cost cards. Two Elvish Visionarys, two Nissa's Chosens and one Joraga Warcaller are all I play but they all perish against the might of Jund. Two Bloodbraid Elfs backed up by tons of removal bring me down to eight life and I concede after my opponent plays his Broodmate Dragon.

Jund is not a forgiving deck and punishes such mana problems pretty badly.

Sideboarding:
-4 Nissa Revane
+4 Great Sable Stag
 

I keep a good hand but good doesn't mean awesome; it only means acceptable. The action starts on my turn three with an Elvish Archdruid and my opponent brings in a Sprouting Thrinax on his third turn. The next turn I play my Garruk Wildspeaker and create a 3/3 beast token.

My opponent's fourth turn is full with action. First he plays a Bloodbraid Elf who reveals a Maelstrom Pulse which kills my Garruk Wildspeaker which pisses me off quite a bit. He attacks with his elf and his lizard and I block them both. At the end of his turn, my side of the table is crystal clear and he has his three 1/1 saprolings.

My next move is to bring in a Wolfbriar Elemental and it brings a 2/2 wolf token with it. Sadly my opponent has another Maelstrom Pulse in hand and that means bye-bye to my 4/4 elemental. But I still have my token! I have two cards in hand at that moment and one is a Forest and the other is an Eldrazi Monument. Unless I top-deck something good, the game will definately end to my opponent's favor. I draw my card and it's...

It's a Leatherback Baloth thank goodness! I play it as a 5/6 thanks to my Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and pray that my opponent doesn't kill it. He doesn't do that but sadly does something more scary; he plays his Broodmate Dragon. But I have no intention of giving up as you can see below too:

Eldrazi Monument single-handedly wins me the game. What an awesome card that is!

And so we move onto the final game. Finally this time I have a very good start to the game; a first turn Llanowar Elves into a second turn Great Sable Stag. Unfortunately the same is true for my opponent as well. A third turn Blightning into a fourth turn Blightning!

But the only good thing about those two Blightnings is the fact that my opponent is leaving the red zone empty and I fully take advantage of this. I hit him with my Llanowar Elves, with my Great Sable Stag and then play two Nissa's Chosens. My opponent is too busy destroying my creatures and on his fourth turn, this time he casts a Maelstrom Pulse and takes down my two Nissa's Chosens.

But this is the fameous(!) Gluttonous Elves deck and no, it can't be taken down with only removal spells. I bring in a 5/6 Leatherback Baloth, lower my opponent's life total to six and during his turn, my opponent decides to concede.

Game: 2-1
Overall: 4-0

Very nice. Very very and very nice indeed.

 

GAME 5:
Opponent: camilla78
Playing: Esper Open the Vaults

I start fast and he starts with a bunch of borderposts. I hit him with my creatures, play more creatures but he somehow manages to slow me down with his Oblivion Rings and Journey to Nowheres.

A few turns later he casts a Sphinx of Lost Truths and sends some very deadly artifact creatures to his graveyard. At that point I realize what's going on and start hitting him harder. He casts a Sharuum the Hegemon and brings in a Filigree Angel and gains a lot of life. Well okay, now I have to start everything from the beginning.

I do so and even bring in an Eldrazi Monument and a Nissa Revane too. With Nissa on table, I have no difficulties finding a creature to sacrifice and start hitting my opponent even harder.

He does nothing of importance and plays another Sphinx of Lost Truths. Three more dangerous artifact creatures are now in his graveyard; sadly that includes a Sphinx of the Steel Wind too.

Then he plays yet another Filigree Angel but with the aid of my Eldrazi Monument I "eat" all his life very fast and bring him down to two life. I know he has at least one Day of Judgment in hand but what good would it do while I have my Eldrazi Monument on table?

He draws his card and pauses. I wait for a "gg" or something but no; apparently he has other plans.

First he casts an Oblivion Ring targeting my Eldrazi Monument and then casts his Day of Judgment... well that was not good. Not good at all.

I still have my Nissa Revane on table and bring in one Nissa's Chosen; at least he's at two life and one hit with my elf creature will do. And my Nissa's ultimate ability is also ready to use.

But again no; my opponent has other plans. He finally plays his Open the Vaults and brings in all kinds of monsters; Filigree Angels, Sphinx of the Steel Winds, a Sharuum the Hegemon and a bunch of Courier's Capsules... even an Oblivion Ring exiling my planeswalker. And of course, the game ends two turns later.

Sigh... He was at two life!

Sideboarding:
-2 Joraga Warcaller, -2 Garruk Wildspeaker, -2 Master of the Wild Hunt, -1 Nissa Revane
+4 Great Sable Stag, +3 Windstorm
Windstorm can't deal with his Sphinx of the Steel Wind but at least it's something and it's better than nothing.

I start game two and start it good actually; Llanowar Elves, Nissa's Chosen and Elvish Archdruid are the creatures I play on my first three turns. On my fourth turn I also bring in a Leatherback Baloth and my other creatures lower my opponent's life to fourteen but finally he gets bored of my creatures and casts his Day of Judgment.

After that I bring in a Leatherback Baloth but sadly lose steam after that. He gets rid of my beast with a Journey to Nowhere and I draw two lands in a row. Even though there are no creatures on table, I know that he is going to win. He first brings in a kicked Sphinx of Lost Truths, then hardcasts a Sphinx of the Steel Wind and finally a Filigree Angel.

I draw creatures and play them too but they look very tiny compared to his robotic monsters. And mines supposed to be the Gluttonous Elves!

Well, at least I take down what I can with me before dying:

Well yes, even I can act like a jerk sometimes.

Game: 0-2
Overall: 4-1

And I was just beginning to think that this deck made me invincible and indestructible just like Eldrazi Monument says. This loss woke me from that sweet dream and showed me where this deck's "Achilles' Heel" is. And dear Mrs. Sphinx of the Steel Wind, I hope we never ever meet again!

 

GAME: 6
Opponent: garltik
Playing: LSV's Zoo

I start with a second turn Nissa's Chosen and he brings in a second turn Stoneforge Mystic bringing in a Behemoth Sledge. I hit with my elf creature and he seems to have a problem with his lands and thus casts a Path to Exile targeting his own creature and gets himself his third land.

I bring in a Leatherback Baloth but he exiles it with Oblivion Ring and the next turn burns my Elvish Archdruid. He's the defending side so far but he has no intention of keeping it like that and brings in a Knight of the Reliquary, a Noble Hierarch and a Birds of Paradise.

I get stuck on three lands for a while and play a kicked Joraga Warcaller and start playing defense. His Bloodbraid Elf brings in Stoneforge Mystic who brings in a Basilisk Collar, and I finally play my fourth land and play my Leatherback Baloth.

He doesn't attack, I don't attack and we sit like that for a while. Then I play my Garruk Wildspeaker and my Nissa Revane. He equips his Knight of the Reliquary with Behemoth Sledge and his Bloodbraid Elf with Basilisk Collar and kills my two planeswalkers.

But I don't mourn for my planeswalkers because I find myself an Eldrazi Monument and end the game in one swift strike.

I am seriously in love with this monument.

Sideboarding:
-3 Wolfbriar Elemental, -1 Joraga Warcaller
+4 Acidic Slime

I start game two with a Llanowar Elves and my opponent brings in a Basilisk Collar after doing nothing on his first turn. I draw a card with my Elvish Visionary, play my Oran-Rief, the Vastwood and even though my opponent has three lands, he doesn't play anything.

On my fourth turn I bring in a 5/6 Leatherback Baloth and my opponent immediately exiles it with Oblivion Ring. The next turn I play my Nissa Revane and she brings in a followers of hers. On my opponent's fifth turn, he finally decides to do something and casts a Bloodbraid Elf who brings in a Knight of the Reliquary. His elf gets killed by my Nissa's Chosen and the next turn my Nissa brings in yet another Nissa's Chosen and I also play my Joraga Warcaller.

My opponent plays his Ajani Vengeant, Lightning Helixes me and passes the turn. I play Eldrazi Monument the next turn and once again end the game in one swift strike as you can see below:

When I said Gluttonous Elves, I really ment GLUTTONOUS Elves! 

Game: 2-0
Overall: 5-1

So LSV: 0 - Fat Elves: 1 I assume!

 

GAME 7:
Opponent: JPNkeiichingb
Playing: Jund

I keep a strange hand that has two Llanowar Elves, one Eldrazi Monument and four lands. I will start the game and therefore don't want to risk to mulligan to six and keep this strange hand. I start with my elves, and my opponent brings in a Putrid Leech after a while and also hits me with a Blightning which doesn't hurt that much; I will only have two less Forests in hand.

I play my Dread Statuary and then play my Elvish Visionary and pass the turn. My opponent brings in a Sprouting Thrinax and on my turn I decide to take the risk and play my Eldrazi Monument even though I have no way of producing tokens.

First I hit my opponent with one of my Llanowar Elves and my Elvish Visionary. The next turn I sacrifice my visionary and attack with my Llanowar Elves and my 5/3 manland. Then I play an Arbor Elf. My opponent can't find his Broodmate Dragon to stop my air force and sees that I still have enough fodder for my gluttonous monument and so he decides to concede.

Sideboarding:
-4 Nissa Revane, -3 Wolfbriar Elemental
+4 Great Sable Stag, +3 Acidic Slime

I again keep a strange hand that has only one Forest, one Llanowar Elves but three two drops including two Elvish Visionarys. I play my mana elf and pray that he survives but no; he doesn't. I get stuck on one single land for two turns but thankfully my opponent is too busy with casting Duresses and Blightnings and doesn't play any creature.

I then draw two lands in a row and start playing. At one certain point, I manage to have three Great Sable Stags on table but that fact loses all its appeal after my opponent plays two Broodmate Dragons. 4/4 flyers are much better than 3/3 nonflyers and the game ends after a short while.

Elks are nice but sadly they aren't fat enough to beat dragons.

I keep my deck and we start game three.

I start this final game with a first turn Arbor Elf. This time my elf is lucky and that means a second turn Great Sable Stag. My opponent doesn't play anything on his second turn but Lightning Bolts my Great Sable Stag the next turn during combat.

After I lose my lovely elk, I bring in my Elvish Archdruid and he also manages to survive because this time my opponent casts Rampant Growth and flourishes his mana base.

On my fourth turn I first play an Elvish Visionary, tap my Elvish Archdruid and a Forest and cast my Garruk Wildspeaker. He untaps two lands and then I cast my Nissa's Chosen; a very fruitful turn indeed. Unfortunately my opponent has a Pyroclasm and all that goodness goes to the graveyard the next turn.

We keep battling for a while and after some time and some tight red zone actions and crazy tactical decisions, we come to a situation where we both can't move a finger. He's at three life and has two 4/4 flyers, one 5/5 flyer and one 2/2 goblin. I on the other hand have five creatures but can't attack with them into his big flyers.

We keep this status quo for a while but after I find me an Elvish Archdruid things change:

And gluttony once again triumphs over Jund!

Game: 2-1
Overall: 6-1

And with this game I end my game reports. Seven sins, seven decks, seven games.

 

SUMMARY

Normally this type of Mono Green mindless looking Aggro decks are the last decks I would imagine myself playing. But I somehow found this one to be extra amusing to play. Everyone knows what you're going to do and yet not many can do something about it. I guess this must be what straightforward means.

As long as the meta is heavy aggression and as long as that aggression is coming mainly from Jund decks, I strongly recommend you to try this deck. After a while the meta surely will lean more towards to Control and I don't know what this deck's performance will be then. During my testing I almost only played against other Aggro decks and lost only once and that loss was against a deck with Day of Judgment... oh and with Sphinx of the Steel Wind.

So for now I think that Eldrazi Green Gluttonous Elves is a perfect choice considering the meta. And I wrote all those game reports in such detail to show you and to convince you that this is the case.

And now I give you the decklist once again to save you from scrolling up.

 

Now after one full week of testing, I can say that there is still room for tweaking. First of all I never used those Vines of Vastwoods in the sideboard. And then there were a lot of situations when I needed an Eldrazi Monument pretty badly. So you may remove those Vines of Vastwoods, add one more Eldrazi Monument and one more Windstorm.

Alternatively and additionaly, you can also replace those two Master of the Wild Hunts with two Pithing Needles or better with two Relic of Progenituses. After all, no graveyard means no Open the Vaults.

 

NEXT WEEK ON ROGUE PLAY
Seven Deadly Sins, Part II

So that's it from Rogue Play for this week. We talked about gluttony and played a really gluttonous deck in my opinion. And what's next week?

Well, I have my decks for lust and pride ready. I know what I will play for sloth and greed but I still have no idea about anger and envy. Wrath of God for anger (as it is also called wrath) and Clone for envy maybe? Well, we'll see that.

Next week it will most probably be either lust or pride. But in any case, it will definately be a deck that kicks some serious butts.

Oh and I do hope you liked this whole Seven Deadly Sins concept. I hope I was able to spice up the article a bit and add a bit more flavor to the whole thing.

And thanks for reading.

See you online
Nafiz Erman, aka Lord Erman

23 Comments

Just a note about your by Mark (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 02:30
Mark's picture

Just a note about your sideboarding against Open The Vaults:

Sideboarding:
-2 Joraga Warcaller, -2 Garruk Wildspeaker, -2 Master of the Wild Hunt, -1 Nissa Revane
+4 Great Sable Stag, +3 Windstorm
Windstorm can't deal with his Sphinx of the Steel Wind but at least it's something and it's better than nothing.

Why stag? They don't run counters, have very few early plays that aren't removal and by the time they cast a blocker (sphinx summoner or sphinx of the lost truths) you're facing a next turn open the vaults anyways. You want your deck to be as fast and as aggressive as possible since their wins with inevitability using the vaults combo. The planeswalkers provide creatures, do not die to DoJ and will win you the game very quickly if not answered (garruk's over run is usually a turn too slow for them to deal with). MotWH is also an mean to quickly rebuilding your ground forces after a DoJ. Dropping 2 warcaller for windstorm seems like a good idea, though you might want to make those slingbow traps against the rest of the field (ie. real decks like vampires). I would also caution against running more than 3 eldrazi monument (3 might even be a bit much). You almost never want to have two and it's the type of card you want to draw into instead of having in your opening hand.

Nice idea by Morkje (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 06:19
Morkje's picture

I really liked the idea of using the seven sins for deckbuilding.

Having said that, it does seem a bit weak to just grab a known deck and strech the imagination to make it fit.

When I saw you were going to do gluttony I thought about devour.
It would fit the theme way better imho.

Looking forward to the next article, but really hope it fits the theme better.

Thanks for the comments by Lord Erman at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 06:42
Lord Erman's picture

Thanks for the comments guys.

@Morkje: As a matter of fact this week's deck did start as a devour deck and it even had 4x Gluttonous Slime in it because it was perfectly fitting the theme. Then I started testing and saw that I was losing most of my games in the TP Room. I needed something that I can take to 2mans and sadly I saw no way out for that devour deck. Maybe I didn't build the deck right as I was constantly losing to the best decks of the format.

And as I didn't want to write about a deck that is good in losing and bad in winning, I decided to try this deck you see in the article. Eldrazi Green was also fitting the theme even though not as perfectly as devour was, but more importantly it was constantly winning. I liked it and decided to write about it. After all, a lot of time has passed since people last took it to big events. I decided to remind people of its existence and its potential considering todays Standard meta.

@Mark: You're absolutely right. As I also said many times in the article, most of the time I had no idea what I was doing when I was sideboarding. That game was one of those moments I guess.

Thanks again for the comments.

LE

Awesome article and great by Anonymous (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 11:33
Anonymous's picture

Awesome article and great idea for the series. I like your take on eldrazi green though I think it did see decent play in PT: San Diego...just not as successful as yours was. I wonder how the deck would run splashing black for maelstrom pulse...

That said, I always have problems sideboarding in mono-colored decks...

Omnath looks like he's hungry by Anonymous (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 11:20
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Though he may not be an optimal inclusion in your deck, from a theme point of view he seems pretty gluttonous to me :)

I've had an itch to build a mono-green deck for a long time. Too bad the prices on Nissa and Eldrazi Monument aren't as low as I'd like them to be. I'd really like to play a deck like this semi-casually, but really don't want to shell out any more money to WotC :P heh

Devour by lackhand at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 14:11
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I love the devour mechanic, and won many limited events in Shards block with it. But it just isn't that good in constructed. When you're facing decks packing so much removal, you can almost guarantee you're setting yourself up for a 2-for-1.

Gluttonous Slime is cute, but really only a decent trick so that you still have a guy on board when they try to remove one. Vines of Vastwood is a far better way to trump removal.

That being said, I think there is one devour creature worth considering. Mycoloth. You wouldn't play him until your Eldrazi Monument was out, but once that happens you're not so worried about him getting removed. Plus, the sheer number of tokens produced by a Mycoloth is ridiculous enough to win games even without the help of the monument and anything else that might pump the tokens (Oran-Rief). You wouldn't want many in the deck, but it might be worth trying.

Good article.

I'm building a very similar by BoogieElAceitoso at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 15:16
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I'm building a very similar Zen block deck right now, with Arbor elf, Leatherback baloth, Nissa and her followers, and Joraga Warcaller. Unfortunatelly I sold off my two copies of Eldrazi monument a few months ago when they were at 5 tix each, I may try to buy them back now.
I'm also trying a couple of Avengers and Terastodons, just for the fun of having some more fat on the board, and Bestial menace but this one hasn't performed according to expectations, though.

Thanks for the by Lord Erman at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 15:17
Lord Erman's picture

Thanks for the comments.

@Anonymous #1: Splashing a tiny piece of black for Maelstrom Pulse is actually an idea which sounds good and worthy of testing. 4x Verdant Catacombs could easily go in the deck (or make it 3 or 2), and then one single Swamp would be enough to do the trick. One single Swamp will be all the addition to the manabase in reality and I think that this might work.

@Anonymous #2: I personally don't like Omnath... yet! But Rise of the Eldrazi might change my point of view.

The last time I played a Mono Green deck was back in Time Spiral Block days. After that I never played one. So this was a nice change for me.

@lackhand: Devour won me more than a few ALA drafts too. And by the way, the very first Eldrazi Green deck did include Mycoloth in its sideboard. I didn't tested it but maybe I should have.

Thanks again for the comments, I do appreciate them all.

LE

personally im going to have by ShardFenix at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 16:25
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personally im going to have to take credit for my idea on maelstrom pulse, unfortunately i was in the school computer lab printing out my bus tickets for this weekend and never signed on. :(

I'm amazed by how by Doctor Anime at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:23
Doctor Anime's picture
5

I'm amazed by how aesthetically pleasing your articles always are. The pacing of short paragraphs and pictures makes it an easy and fun read. When I search for ways to spruce up my own articles, I first take a look at you and Godot's archive. I also like the concept you're using for this article series. Keep up the great work!

I couldn't agree more. It by Raddman at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:42
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I couldn't agree more. It was a nice easy read that was very enjoyable and educational. It isn't a format I spent much time on, can't wait till your sins bring you into the eternal realm.

Ah, eternal formats and me... by Lord Erman at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:02
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Ah, eternal formats and me...

To be honest I thought about it a lot in the past. I played all those "old" cards back when they were actually "new", and loved them all. I am still fond to most of them too. For example, playing Tempest block again(even for a short time), made me extra happy.

But Classic online, no. Sorry but no. Reason? Very simple. Budget.

I decided long ago to stick to the new cards online and that's what I'm doing right now. Sadly I can't play a deck with 4x Baneslayer Angels and then switch to another one with 4x Force of Wills. It was going to be either Baneslayer Angels or Force of Wills and I chose the angels.

But thanks for the comment.

LE

this is definitely a series by JustSin at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:37
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5

this is definitely a series theme that I can get into.. in fact I'm jealous I didn't think of it first! lol

Any thoughts on a Gw build? by Anonymous (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:55
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Any thoughts on a Gw build? Ajani Goldmane + Joraga Warcaller seems like it would be sweet, at least in theory. Swap in Noble Hierarchs for the Lanowar elves and some duals and I don't think it would stretch the mana base too badly.

To be honest I already have by Lord Erman at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 18:01
Lord Erman's picture

To be honest I already have an Eldrazi/Nissa GW deck in mind but for ZEN Block. But now that you mentioned Goldmane + Joraga, I think I can also try a Standard version.

Good thinking!

Thanks.

LE

Oh, and with a CMC of 1 on by Anonymous (not verified) at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 18:39
Anonymous's picture

Oh, and with a CMC of 1 on Joraga the Ranger of Eos becomes an option. Too bad RoE isn't an elf...

Thanks for the kind words by Lord Erman at Tue, 03/02/2010 - 17:58
Lord Erman's picture

Thanks for the kind words guys.

I already started my testing for Part II and all I can say is that if you liked this one at least a bit, you'll definately love the next one.

And JustSin, yes, this theme would have been also nice for you too... on a second thought, what's keeping you from doing your own version? :). "Anything But... Sin" maybe? :).

Thanks again.

LE

just build a jund deck and by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:01
Anonymous's picture

just build a jund deck and call it lust

0cmc split second exile by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 10:21
Anonymous's picture

0cmc
split second
exile target spell
you can have any number of"this card is banned" in your deck

Excellent article! by Anonymous (not verified) at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 14:38
Anonymous's picture

Erman, loved the article. I look at mono-green much diferantly now! I did have a couple unrelated questions though if you don't mind; How do you get your deck lists in such pretty little boxes? Also, what program are you using to take your screenshots? Can you take video with it as well? I ask this because not only is your article well written, it's put together in a very tasteful manner as well. Thanks a bunch and keep it up!

Thanks for the by Lord Erman at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 15:19
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Thanks for the comment.

Puremtgo.com has a special "Deck Creator" and we all use it. So I'm not doing anything special for decklist; I'm just using that Deck Creator.

You will laugh at me when you hear what I do for screenshots. No program, no futuristic software, nothing extraordinary. I'm at stone age actually!!! I hit "Print Screen" on MTGO, paste the image to Paint, save the image, go to Excel and size it and give it shadow so that it looks cooler, take again a screenshot of the Excel sheet, go again to Paint, crop the new screenshot from excel and save as jpg!!!

I'm sure you were expecting a much sophisticated answer but actually this is all I do! Sorry :(.

Videos? What are they?!?! :))

Joking aside, sadly I am not that familiar with computer softwares. Currently taking videos is beyond me. I'm sure there are easy-to-use programs but I never bothered to learn how to use one so far.

HEY!!! I'm even more than happy that I can at least use the MTGO client!!! :)))

LE

Yay! by Katastrophe at Wed, 03/03/2010 - 19:32
Katastrophe's picture
5

That was well written for a Magic article. The average article anywhere is merely proofread, but you have a concept of pacing. I flew right through it despite the length. Thank you! It was a pleasure to read even though I don't pay much attention to Standard.

I would've picked Omnath for gluttony, though. I don't see how Eldrazi Monmument is gluttony other than that it eats your guys. But then again, it is the most severe upkeep trigger currently in Standard. So if it's all about consuming then it's gotta be Omnath. Oh, no - DOOMGAPE! Aw come on! Maybe play Extended? Doomgape is so perfect.

Jund works for everything except envy and sloth. If you're ever stumped then just cascade into a Blightning. Everyone loses!

Envy could be a mill deck maybe? That, or neo-Jace doing a fateseal every turn. Haha. It's like Wand of Denial lockdown.

EDIT: WWK's legendary merfolk, Thel Adel I think, can steal artifacts right out of your opponent's library and put them into play for you. That's envy!

Doomgape is most definately a by Lord Erman at Thu, 03/04/2010 - 04:19
Lord Erman's picture

Doomgape is most definately a great card for gluttony; as a matter of fact Doomgape IS the definition of gluttony (read the flavortext)!

I don't think I will play Jund for any of the future articles. Everyone knows how it works and no one will find my article about Jund useful and/or interesting. All the comments would be something like this: "So, you wrote that many words and basically all you say is that Jund is good. Shocking!"

Therefore I will stay away from Jund.

Envy is hard I must admit, but I think I've found something. No decklist yet but just a sheer idea. And most probably it will be the last sin I will write about because I need time to work on it.

Thanks for the comment.

LE