---

Explorations #10 - Going Green

Steve Gargolinski

Let's Talk About Colors

This week I'd like to start off with a little exercise.  Everyone think about this question for a minutes before reading on:  Now that the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block is complete, and we've had some time to reflect on the environment: as a player, how would you describe the theme of the Shadowmoor-Eventide mini block?

Let's table that for a minute; I'll get back to it.

When I first started playing Magic, I remember sitting down at the card store to play casual games against random players, the first question asked was usually, "What color do you play?"  Back then, the color wheel was not as well understood as it is today.  When players asked this question, the card pool was very small, they were largely trying to determine if they should be worried about Mana Drain and Counterspell or Juzam Djinn and Mind Twist.

Way back then, the seeds of color-imbalance that would drive passionate individuals out of their minds were being sewn.  Green, for example, was just not a strong color/strategy throughout the early part of Magic.  It did not have enough powerful cards.  Green could not compete with the power of blue or black - but that definitely didn't stop people from trying.  There was just something about green, right from the start, that a lot of players loved.  They were drawn to the color of Elves, sharing, fast mana and big creatures.  I can identify.  I opened a Force of Nature in one of my first booster packs, and when I got that monster into play my opponents cowered in their chairs.  Not even the mighty Wall of Stone could withstand a Force of Nature assault.

As time went on, things became more balanced in color land.  Blue is still usually objectively the best color, but the gap is definitely becoming more narrow.  This fluctuates from set to set and card to card, but it seems as if things are headed at least somewhat in the right direction.  This doesn't mean, of course, that there aren't any color issues in Magic.  This brings us back to my opening question.

Did you come up with an answer?  Do you know how you would describe the theme of the Shadowmoor-Eventide block?  I know I do - but who cares what I think?  Let's go right to the top.  Let's ask Magic head designer Mark Rosewater.  Hey Mark, I know that Lorwyn was defined by the heavy tribal theme.  What would you say the big idea behind the Shadowmoor block is?

"I knew it was going to have a "color matters" theme," says Mark.

That's funny, because I would have said:  "color doesn't matter!"  From where I'm standing, Shadowmoor has brought in an era of Magic where color has never mattered less.  Even in Legacy/Vintage, there is FAR more color discipline!  Of course there are lots of different reasons for this (speed of the format, lack of power in certain colors), but the facts are the facts.  Things are just crazy these days!  There are all of these decks running around that just run a pile of cards from all different colors and the mana just sort of works out.  Start off a deck with thirty-four or so of your favorite cards, throw in four Reflecting Pools, add six or so various filter lands, and then finish off with a handful of Vivid lands - you'll never want for colored mana again.

Maybe we have different ideas of "color matters".  Can you clarify this a bit?

"Just as we can make tribal matter merely by having consistent tribes, we can make color matter in the block before by pushing people towards one- and two-color decks."

Hmmmm...  Still not really following.  The tribal matters part of that certainly worked out - I think everyone has seen enough Faeries for a lifetime.  But take a look at the top tables at your next local tournament and you'll see cards that cost 2GGGG, 1UUU, and UUBBBRR - all in the same deck!  Maybe I'm crazy, but it doesn't sound like that whole 'push people towards one- and two- color deck' thing really worked out?  I'm not pining for the horrid mana of Kamigawa block, but I really prefer when there's a bit of color discipline in a format.

Obviously these all go in the same deck.

The issue here is that there's very little reason to stop at one or two colors.  Super-aggressive decks like Kithkin or Red Deck Wins do so for efficiency and consistancy, but for most decks this doesn't make sense.  If you're running two colors, then why not run three and splash for Firespout?  If you're running three colors, then why not run four and toss in a few copies of Jund Charm?  If you're running four colors, why not add in a playest of Cryptic Command?  Sure it costs triple-blue, but that doesn't really matter - it's still the best card in Standard, and the mana is no problem.

Just to be clear, I'm a big fan of the Vivid lands and Alara lands.  They actually give budget players some manabase options for multi-color decks that don't cost an arm and a leg.  There's definitely nothing wrong with that.  Once you add filter lands and Reflecting Pool to the mix, however, we end up in seeing Wrath of God, Cruel Ultimatum, Cloudthresher, and Cryptic Command all in the same deck.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of this sort of format - but I guess I can understand how other people would love it.  So what do you guys think?  What do you think of the current state of mana in Standard?  Do you like the ability to assemble a mana base that can run any card at all, or do you like formats where there's a bit more color definition?  I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this!

Don't You Usually Make a Deck?

The whole 'color matters' theme may not have had a big splash on the tournament scene, but it seems to be pretty popular with the casual crowd.  I don't have any specific data on this, but it seems that I run into a whole bunch of Lieges in the casual room.  I've written about two different decks (here and here) that really cares about colored mana symbols.  Today I'm going to write about one more.

Remember earlier when we talked about how people love big green creatures?  That's what I want to focus on today.  Remember back in the day when people used to pay six mana for Craw Wurm?  Here's what you get in the 'color matters' days of Eventide:

Now there's a creature that would make Jamie Wakefield smile.  A gigantic green creature that grows bigger with every green creature that you drop into play!  What's not to love?  Time to work this guy into a deck.

One of my long-time Magic buddies absolutely loves to play green.  Ever since Revised, he's been working on a fast green deck based on Mox Emerald, Rofellos Llanowar Emissary, Gaea's Cradle, Weatherseed Treefolk, Bersek, and Thorn Elemental.  His deck has evolved through the years, but it's always followed the same basic strategy:  deploy mana acceleration into huge creatures, playing one every single turn until the game is over.  If your creatures get destroyed, then just play out more.  As Jamie used to say, "It's that last fatty that kills you."

My plan today is to apply this idea to the current day Standard environment.

This deck has two main components:  acceleration and dangerous creatures.  First I'll go over the acceleration options available, and then break down some creatures that play well with the big guy Primalcrux.  I'll wrap up with the analysis of some miscellaneous cards that don't fit anywhere else, put together a list, play a few practice games, and then take things from there.  Sound good?

Acceleration

Garruk Wildspeaker
I'm not sure where to list Garruk, so I'll talk about him right off the bat.  He is perfect for this deck.  He gives PrimalCrux +2/+2, provides Ley Druid-style mana acceleration (that gets better with Wild Growth effects), churns out 3/3 creatures, and can cast Overrun.  What's not to love?  He hits all of the main ideas of our deck:  acceleration, big creatures, and green mana symbols.

Llanowar Elves
Right when I first started playing, my buddies and I thought we were able to play out as many lands as we wanted per turn.  Whenever we saw someone playing by the rules (one land per turn), we called it "slow mana".  That's how the game was taught to me (for some unknown reason), so that's how I taught it to other people.  For a short time, I didn't really understand what was so great about Llanowar Elves.  I didn't understand Fastbond either!

What more can I say about the original Elf that hasn't already been said?  Classic acceleration, solid turn one drop, opens up lots of strong turn two plays.

Birds of Paradise
Birds of Paradise has stood side by side with Llanowar Elves ever since Alpha.  You're essentially trading one point of power for flying and the ability to produce any color of mana.

Fertile Ground
This deck would most likely prefer Wild Growth, but Fertile Ground is the closest that we can get in Standard.  Awesome combo with Garruk, generating more than two mana with his untap ability.

Overgrowth
Double Wild Growth at triple the cost, which is almost definitely solid in this deck.  Even better than Fertile Ground alongside Garruk.

Bloom Tender
Bloom Tender is probably not ideal for our deck.  While we may end up running some non-green cards (most likely hybrid creatures such as Kitchen Finks or Oversoul of Dusk), much of the power of Bloom Tender is lost in a mono-color deck.

Civic Wayfinder
Civic Wayfinder doesn't actually accelerate our mana, but he does make sure that we don't miss that fourth land drop - and he's also a decent 2/2 body.

Devoted Druid
Good for a one-time shot of mana, but isn't reusable the same way that Overgrowth is - unless we decide to run some way to remove -1/-1 counters from our own creatures.

Heritage Druid
Everyone saw how much mana this girl can generate at Pro Tour Berlin, but she totally relies on us filling our deck with Elves.

Keeper of Progenitus
Adds Wild Growth onto all of our Forests.  Unfortunately this guy costs four, which is as much as some quality monsters.  If he cost three, then I bet he would have a place in this deck.

Druid of the Anima
Not great for our deck.  Might become an option in budget builds if we decide to splash additional colors.

Drumhunter
Slow mana-acceleration that gets us cards if we control big monsters.

Sacellum Godspeaker
This guy comes down for 2G and most likely adds G or GG to our mana pool the next turn.  Sure there's the possibility for GGG or GGGG, but I think that Overgrowth is just much better.  This also requires us to fill our opponent in on what we have in store for them.

Dangerous Creatures

Primalcrux
Discussed above, starts off as 6/6 trample and only gets bigger.

Cloudthresher
The flash on Cloudthresher is very strong, as is evoke.  Also gives our deck a way to deal with flying creatures, a traditional weakness of green creature-based strategies.

Troll Ascetic
Even though we're focusing on huge creatures, it's not a bad idea to have some strong options lower on the curve.  Troll Ascetic isn't played much these days, but it's always a strong choice with three power and a strong set of abilities.

Kitchen Finks
Another strong option in the three mana slot.  Keeps some life up so that you can survive long enough to deploy your stronger creatures.

Deity of Scars
Lots of green mana symbols for Primalcrux (+5/+5), becomes a 7/7 trampler quickly and easily.

Deus of Calamity
Another big trampler filled with green mana symbols.

Spearbreaker Behemoth
Wrath of God is always a terrible card to see when playing a big monster strategy, but Spearbreaker Behemoth can help to provide some protection.

Oversoul of Dusk
Protection from black, blue, and red basically means 'protection from the colors this strategy has the most trouble with'.  Doesn't dodge Wrath of God, but does doge Terror, burn, Unmake, etc.

Chameleon Colossus
Chameleon Colossus would be solid even without the +X/+X ability.  Gives us a mana sink in the late game when our hand is devoid of big monsters.

Vigor
Really limits the options that your opponent has available to deal with your monsters - forget about dealing with them by blocking/damage, the only option is complete removal.

Woodfall Primus
Takes out a card one-for-one, and then does so again if your opponent manages to kill the Primus.

Briarhorn
Pumps up creatures, helps a LOT to trigger Mosswort Bridge (discussed below), and is a decent beater.

Not Acceleration, Not a Creature

Dramatic Entrance
Allows us to deploy any creature in the deck at instant speed.  Costs five, which isn't much cheaper than to just actually cast the creatures we're going to be playing.  Sure it could save us a mana or two, but at the price of a card - the majority of the time we're going to be playing Dramatic Entrance for the flash.

Mosswort Bridge
Since we're planning on having lots of strong creatures in play, Mosswort Bridge is a way to cheat another one into play while gaining a bit of card advantage.

Primal Command
Tutors for the creature that we need the most, gives our deck a way to deal with problematic non-creature cards, and even gains some life if necessary.

Cream of the Crop
Once we get Cream of the Crop into play, it basically guarantees that we will only draw big monsters from that point forward.

Gift of the Gargantuan
During Time Spiral block, Concentrate time shifted it's way into green (Harmonize) and provided a solid way to draw cards without running blue.  Gift of the Gargantuan is probably the best replacement in Standard these days.  It's cheaper and provides some minor sorting ability, but only draws a maximum of two cards.

Hurricane
Mono green decks have a tough time with flying creatures, and Hurricane is a way to remedy this.  It also adds some reach into the deck, pseudo-direct damage for when we can't win with creatures for whatever reason.  As long as we were able to get ahead in life, our mana reserves should be able to fuel a game-ending Hurricane.

After all of that, here's the first list I want to try out: 

Game 1 vs Bant Aggro-Control

I start off by casting Fertile Ground, but my opponent takes it out with Negate.  I come back with Troll Ascetic, but he is quickly one-upped by Rhox War Monk.  Garruk Wildspeaker is taken down by Oblivion Ring, but then I use Primal Command to shuffle away the Ring and get my Planeswalker back.

My opponent taps out for Wilt-Leaf Liege, which givs me the opportunity to lay down a 10/10 Primalcrux.  Double Kitchen Finks and Gaddock Teeg beef up my opponent's defense, and Bant Charm takes out my gigantic Primalcrux.  I cast Deity of Scars and then fire off Mosswort Bridge for another Primalcrux.  Garruk fires off Overrun for a whole bunch of damage and a win.

Analysis:  It's a bummer when your opponent's three drop (Rhox War Monk) clearly one-ups yours (Troll Ascetic) when you're playing a deck that's all about strong creatures!  Spot removal like Oblivion Ring and Bant Charm have trouble keeping up with our deck's threat density, so in those situations just continue to summon the big dudes.

Game 2 vs BUW Hoofprints Control I hide Deity of Scars under Mosswort Bridge and then Overgrowth into Chameleon Collosus, but my opponent has Remove Soul.  I cast another Colossus, and my opponent has another Remove Soul.  I cast a THIRD Colossus and stick it.  Snakeform + Afflict takes out the Colossus, and my opponent plays out two copies of Hoofprints of the Stag. With my opponent tapped out, I get Primalcrux into play and then follow up with a second Primalcrux and double Mosswort activation for Garruk Wildspeaker and Deity of Scars - swinging for twenty with my first Primalcrux!  Unfortunately my opponent had cast Kiss of Amesha, so it didn't quite finish him off.  Wrath of God clears away my creatures, and I'm forced to rebuild with a few Hoofprint 4/4s in my face. My hand has double Primal Command and Deity of Scars, so I gain fourteen life and bounce both copies of Hoofprints of the Stag to my opponent's library.  This gives me enough time to get Deity of Scars through for the win. Analysis:  Wrath of God is much more dangerous to our deck than the spot removal (or pseudo-removal) being used in this matchup:  Snakeform, Afflict, and Remove Soul.  Try not to overextend into a Wrath of God, although it can be tough to resist when you're piecing together a lethal Primalcrux.

I can't believe that I forgot to run Cloudthresher in this list - it was just an oversight.  I'm going to add in two copies in place of Diety of Scars.

Out:  2x Diety of Scars
In:  2x Cloudthresher

 Game 3 vs Exalted

I am on the play with a slow hand, and my opponent gets going quickly with double Akrasan Squire.  Things turn around when he misses his third land drop, and I keep going with Fertile Ground, Troll Ascetic, Garruk Wildspeaker, another Troll Ascetic, and then Primalcrux.  This all happens before he makes his third land drop.  I have plenty of loyalty with Garruk and easily Overrun for the win.

Analysis:  It's tough to lose with this deck when your opponent is manascrewed.  This is obviously true most of the time, but this deck is particularly nasty to a manascrewed opponent.  The amount of pressure that you apply is really crazy, and if they can't keep up then just about any creature in the deck is capable of ending the game.

Game 4 vs Elementals I start off with Mosswort Bridge (hiding Garruk Wildspeaker) and Troll Ascetic; my opponent plays out Smokebraider.  This is a bummer, I have no way to deal with a creature like Smokebraider.  My hand is slow and he plays out Spawnwrithe, Incandescent Soulstoke, and Shriekmaw.  I'm under some big pressure and have to start chump blocking with my Trolls to save some Spawnwrithe damage.  For some reason my opponent casts Skullmulcher and eats most of his own team - if he had just attacked, then I'd have almost definitely died. I'm down to six life, but at least now I have an opening.  My opponent uses Incandescent Soulstoke to get Shriekmaw into play, swinging for four and also taking out his own Soulstoke!  From here I unload huge monsters (Primalcrux, Diety of Scars, Garruk Wildspeaker) and then Primal Command for the win. Analysis:  I definitely should have lost this game.  My opponent completely threw it away on multiple occasions.  Instead of sacrificing half of his team to Skullmulcher and then taking out his own guy with Shriekmaw, all he had to do is attack and I'd die.  Cards like Smokebraider are a big problem for this deck; it doesn't have any way at all to pick off a utility creature unless Cloudthresher gets the job done.  This is definitely a weakness of the mono-green ramp strategy.

Game 5 vs Blue Something

Double Mosswort Bridge hides Chameleon Colossus and Diety of Scars, and I follow up with Troll Ascetic.  My opponent sets up a hand with two copes of Telling Time and then Wistful Selkie.  Garruk Wildspeaker comes into play, and opens up my options a bit.  I'm stuck on two Forests and two copies of Mosswort Bridge, but Garruk gives me access to six mana.  My opponent plays Thieving Magpie and attacks into my Cloudthresher, and then takes it out with Snakeform.  I get Chameleon Colossus and Primalcrux, and then fire off both copies of Moswort Bridge to add Chameleon Colossus and Diety of Scars into the mix.  Garruk pumps everyone up, and I attack for fourty-nine!

Analysis:  I was never really in any trouble this game.  My opponent cast a ton of card-drawing and didn't really play anything very scary.  He gave me plenty of time to set up a huge attack through very little resistance.

After playing these fives games, I've decided to get rid of Troll Ascetic.  He just doesn't make much sense in a deck like this.  His shroud ability is decent, but I almost never have available mana to use his regeneration.  This deck does not want to sit back on open mana, but pour all of our resources into dropping giant monsters into play.  I'm going to try running Kitchen Finks instead.  Some other options considered here were Boggart Ram-Gang and Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers, but I love that persist.

Out:  4x Troll Ascetic
In:  4x Kitchen Finks

In addition to this change, I want to add in a few copies of Treetop Village.  I'm only going to add two to start, since I don't want to end up with too many comes into play tapped lands.  It's true that our 1G is often better spent to deploy a big creature, but Treetop Village really helps us recover after something like Wrath of God and adds more to the late game assault.

Out:  2x Forest
In:  2x Treetop Village

 Game 6 vs BR Land Destruction

I tuck Garruk Wildspeaker under Mosswort Bridge, and then play Fertile Ground.  My opponent casts Birds of Paradise and then hits my Fertile Ground Forest with Rain of Tears.  It seems like land destruction is in my future, so I use Gift of the Gargantuan to make sure that I don't run out of land.  My opponent ius a bit light on mana (two Forests, one Swamp, and the Birds) and uses Beseech the Queen to find another Rain of Tears.

Instead of running Overgrowth right into Rain of Tears, I take the tapped-out opponent opportunity to cast Chameleon Colossus; Fleshbag Marauder hits the table and gets rid of my pro-black monster.  I have enough mana to cast double Overgrowth and then Kitchen Finks, which leaves me plenty of mana to cast Cloudthresher after he uses Rain of Tears to take out my Overgrowth-ed Forest as expected.  An evoked Shriekmaw takes out my Cloudthresher, but I use Primal Command to tutor up Chameleon Colossus and Plow Under his only Swamp - this gets a concession.

Analysis:  I wasn't sure if I should evoke the Cloudthresher to keep him off of BB for Rain of Tears, but I had plenty of land and wasn't really worried about running low, so I just waited until I could hardcast.  I'm pretty sure that this is the correct move.

Budget Time

Alright, this deck runs some sort-of-expensive cards (prices from mtgotraders.com):

Garruk Wildspeaker = $6.25
Chameleon Colossus = $9.00
Cloudthresher = $3.00
Treetop Village = $1.50

Garruk Wildspeaker is a tough one to replace, since he provides so much different functionality.  One way to solve this is to replace him with some of his parts.

Out:  4x Garruk Wildspeaker
In:  2x Llanowar Elves, 2x Overrun

Chameleon Colossus is a VERY good creature, and it's tough to replace all of his utility - but there are certainly a whole bunch of options.  Lots of them are discussed above in the 'dangerous creatures' list.  I'm going to replace him with a few different creatures - you should playtest some options and see which ones fit your style best.

Out:  4x Chameleon Colossus
In:  1x Oversoul of Dusk, 1x Vigor, 1x Spearbreaker Behemoth, 1x Woodfall Primus

There are two different options I can think of to replace Cloudthresher.  The first is to run an inferior reach creature such as Tangle Spider, Cloudcrown Oak, or Jungle Weaver.  The other option, my favorite of the two, is to run Tower Above.  Remember above when we discussed the inability to get rid of utility creatures?  Tower Above is one solution to this problem.  It can also be used, proactively, to take out troublesome fliers.  It won't clear out an army of Bitterblossom tokens, but it will definitely help a Kitchen Finks take down Shivan Dragon.

Out:  2x Cloudthresher
In:  2x Tower Above

Both copies of Treetop Villages can be replaced with basic Forest.

Out:  2x Treetop Village
In:  2x Forest

So here's our budget deck:

 ... and here's the cost breakdown.

Name	Quantity	Cost
Fertile Ground	4	$0.12
Mosswort Bridge	4	$1.20
Overgrowth	4	$0.08
Llanowar Elves	2	$0.32
Overrun	2	$0.80
Gift of the Gargantuan	4	$0.20
Primal Command	4	$4.60
Kitchen Finks	4	$2.30
Oversoul of Dusk	1	$1.75
Vigor	1	$0.50
Spearbreaker Behemoth	1	$0.15
Woodfall Primus	1	$0.60
Deity of Scars	2	$1.40
Tower Above	2	$0.24
Primalcrux	4	$1.20

Total:  $15.46

If you want to cut another $4.00 or so out of the deck, then you could run something like Naturalize, Viridian Shaman, or Wickerbough Elder instead of Primal Command.  Just realize that Primal Command's strength is in it's versatility, and you're definitely going to lose some of this as you move towards budget options.

Big Green Conclusion

I had a lot of fun today smashing faces with gigantic monsters.  Mosswort Bridge is ridiculously easy to trigger in this deck, and it's really fun to see how huge you can make Primalcrux.  The biggest I managed to get him over these test games was 20/20 - if you decide to play this deck then e-mail me screenshots of your biggest Primalcrux!

In today's article, after a long rambling aside on color, I made a mono-green deck where color matters.  Next week I'm going to stretch the ol' manabase a bit and build a four-color list where color matters in a much different way.

Thanks for reading!
spgmtgo@gmail.com