Mono-Green Aggro

ck3gds · Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 996

Right I must apologize if someone has already posted a thread on this, but I just need some quick advice on my MGA deck. The following list was given to me by a friend, he thought it'd be a good starting point:

4 Llanowar Elves
3 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Predator Ooze
1 Viridian Corrupter
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
2 Wolfir Silverheart

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
2 Beast Within
2 Sword of War and Peace
3 Revenge of the Hunted

23 Forest

SB: 4 Wolfir Avenger
SB: 3 Crushing Vines
SB: 2 Thrun, the Last Troll
SB: 2 Garruk Relentless / Garruk, the Veil-Cursed
SB: 2 Sword of Feast and Famine
SB: 1 Wolfir Silverheart
SB: 1 Batterskull

I'd like to tune this deck to fight a metagame dominated by Delver, Zombie Pod, Esper and WRR. Is this deck any good?

JohnnyBravo · Joined: 22 Apr 2011 Posts: 46

Your friend copied this list: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=47215

Candace · Joined: 08 Jun 2012 Posts: 35

JohnnyBravo, there is absolutely nothing wrong with netdecking. Sorry if that isn't what you're implying, but that's what it came off to me as.

ck3dgs: MGA is not a "good" deck, as in it's not tier 1, but it's a workable tier 2 deck. That particular list could stand to see a bit of improvement. In particular, Bellowing Tanglewurm is almost completely obsoleted in any competitive function by Champion of Lambholt, and Predator Ooze is an awful card. Predator Ooze seems okay in theory, but when you see it in action, you realise it's unbelievably slow for an aggro deck, and being indestructible is nearly irrelevant in this format. I would start with cutting both of those cards and adding 4 Champion of Lambholt. It's a much more aggressive version of Predator Ooze that makes your team unblockable, which can allow you to punish an opponent who stumbles in the starting turns by killing them on turn 5.

Beyond that, I can't help you tune your deck any further, as I'm not a mono-green aggro player. The above recommendation is made based on my experiences playing against mono-green decks and common sense.

struikje · Joined: 11 Mar 2011 Posts: 108

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/carrie-on-evolving-mono-green/

I know she's been having succes with monogreen, and it doesn't play champion of lambholt. The reason a 1 of tangleworm is good, is that its tutorable with gsz, and from the moment it hits play, it makes all you creatures unblockable (winning the game). Champion does not provide that. While its better in the early game, it does not provide the same reach. Tanglewurm is farm from obsolete.

I aggree with 3 predator oozes being to much, switch some for the wolfir avenger (which i'm no fan of either). Vapor snag makes it way less of a beating. I'd also play birds of paradise, just 4 manadorks isn't enough.

JohnnyBravo · Joined: 22 Apr 2011 Posts: 46

Not_I · Joined: 21 Dec 2007 Posts: 39

Your silverhearts have no good targets with evasion or trample, in this decks current state i would recommend Vorapede instead.
Viridian Emissary is far superior to elves with dungroves. Less fragile, more aggressive.
The most popular deck in the format(delver) will be an especially tough match for you if they hold their leaks for your dungroves. Corrosive gale/contagion clasp/gut shot/mortapod/ratchet bomb are some answers you should have ready for it.
The second most popular in my field is blood artist/zombie. This will be another rough match as they can chump block all day long as you have no trample, can ping out most stuff in your deck, and gain life in the process. Grafdigger's Cage will slow them, sword of feast or famine might allow you to connect, but your looking at least turn 4 before you can really do some damage with it. I dont see much in the way of answers against their creatures + removal. Its gonna be all on the dungroves for this match up.
As for your ooze: it totally blows vs vapor,bsz, or slip. But otherwise is a damn solid card. Its a 2/2 minimum swinger for 3 mana and only gets better from there. It can block those absurdly large champions all day long, and laughs at DoJ.

Iv been having luck with a green deck that runs a full 12x green undying +3x ooze, and some proliferate(Contagion clasp/volt charge). But i would not consider it mono green.

Candace · Joined: 08 Jun 2012 Posts: 35

ck3gds · Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 996

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I totally forgot about Carrie Oliver's recent MGA list, thanks for the reminder! I took her evolved list and tweaked some numbers...

24 Forest

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Champion of Lambholt
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Wolfir Avenger
1 Viridian Corrupter
2 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm

4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Revenge of the Hunted
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Sword of War and Peace

Sideboard
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Crushing Vines
2 Beast Within
2 Prey Upon
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Batterskull
1 Nihil Spellbomb

Changes from her list:
-1 Wolfir Avenger (not exactly the best in creature-on-creature clashes)
-1 Revenge of the Hunted (don't wanna have this in my starting hand)
-2 SB: Ratchet Bomb (only effective against tokens and flipped Delvers and Huntmasters)
+1 Forest
+1 Champion of Lambholt
+1 SB: Batterskull
+1 SB: Nihil Spellbomb

Now it may be the case that Champion of Lambholt and Bellowing Tanglewurm serve the same purpose, and if they're there as targets for GSZ then probably one is enough.

Champion of Lambholt comes down two turns sooner, but takes at least one additional creature to start obsoleting 1/1 flying Spirits. That said, once the +1/+1 counters build up, even Mirran Crusader is rendered powerless.

Bellowing Tanglewurm is more of a one-shot enabler, but it costs more, and is pretty miserable against green-based aggro decks. If I do end up cutting Bellowing Tanglewurm, I'll either reinstate the last copy of Wolfir Avenger, which is pretty good against Delver, or try out a miser's copy of Predator Ooze, which is pretty cute with Ulvenwald Tracker.

I've also made some changes to the sideboard, cutting the pair of Ratchet Bombs for a Batterskull and a Nihil Spellbomb, to better answer my metagame. Not sure if this might be ill-advised though.