Subject: Mono-Green in the T2 Metagame
Date: 30 Mar 1998 03:58:53 GMT
From: etrangerns@aol.com (EtrangerNS)
Newsgroups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy

NOTE: this post is NOT intended to start another "green sucks/green rocks"
debate such as this NG has been exposed to over the past month. if you want to
tell everyone how much you love/hate green, or how much Perish is/is not
broken, start your own freakin' post. i'm not interested.

now that that is over with, let's begin, shall we?

ok. i've been working on a Blessing/Mulch deck for the past few weeks (a
decklist can be found at the bottom of this post). it's supposed to be t2
legal, and runs on your typical green weenie base. Mulches and Gaea's Blessings
provide library recursion, as well as a shuffle effect with Sylvan Library.

the metagame from my area (southern New Hampshire), is very weighed towards
Mono-Blue, Mono-Red (Cursed Sligh or Burn), as well as White Weenie and, at
least now, Megrim-Discard decks. i've found that this deck slams discard into
the ground for the most part; Stupors don't bother me one bit when i've been
Mulching my hand full of forests, and Steel Golems cower in the presence of
Stampeeding Wildebeests and fat Maros.

Mono-Red i can usually sideboard against (Dense Foliage comes to mind), and if
that fails, i can hide behind Maros and Worbs to provide the necessary fatness.
i'm a little worried about Burn, because that requires my deck to work at it's
top speed, and i'm not sure how much i can crank that out.

at this point in t2, i think Green can stomp Mono-Blue into the dirt. between
River Boa, Scragnoth, and City of Solitude, i should be able to run over Blue
with a moderate challenge. the "card advantage" aspect of Ophidian, Whispers,
etc. may be a problem, but if you're holding a handful of useless counters v. a
CoS, you're screwed.

White Weenie, for me, is an absolutely HUGE problem. honestly scares me,
because i've been told by the top players of the area that WW is their deck of
choice. my deck cannot realistically race a WW deck when it's cranking out
Soltaris and White Knights everywhere, along with Crusades and Geddons. the
problem exists that if i should succeed, and make the cut into the "final
eight," i will most likely have to face one of these decks in order to progress
any further.

i've spent the entire weekend thinking about it, on and off. i came up with
Sandstorm, or Barbed Foliage. i considered splashing Black for Dread of Night,
or Red for Earthquake. now, i want to keep this deck as green as i possibly
can, but Sandstorm isn't the most optimal card, and neither is Barbed Foliage.
i need a solution to this. how do i deal with the oncoming traffic of a million
Knights, Monks, and Priests on their holy war, when all i have is some elves,
snakes, and something that resembles a hobo in a bush?

anyway, here's the main deck as i have it so far. pick it apart. or don't.

Creatures(22)

Maro x4
Stampeeding Wildebeests x2
Llanowar Sentinels x4 (the mana-intensity of the spec. ability is null in this
deck)
River Boa x4 (gotta have the Boa)
Hermit Druid x1 (AIH, and a killer card. perfect synergy w/Blessing)
Llanowar Elves x4 (these are invaluable in the early game; work well with
Beests)
Quirion Ranger x3 (good synergy with most of the cards in this deck)

Spells (17)

Mulch x4 (excellent in playtesting, esp. with Blessing)
Gaea's Blessing x4 (excellent card, and a cantrip as well. see above)
Winter Orb x4 (disruption in a can, easily negated w/Elves and Rangers)
Sylvan Library x2 (just the right amount, i've found)
Provoke x3 (still testing; results look fairly good)

Mana (23)

Forest x20
Ancient Tomb x3

Total: 62 cards. note that this does include seven cantrips (Blessing and
Provoke)

so that's where i am. anything anyone could offer would be so greatly
appreciated.

thanks in advance

~sabin

***
Nicolas Sabin

" in order to save the sheep, you must be willing to kill the shepherd."