Monopod
---Lands (23)---
2x Kessig Wolf Run
19x Forest
2x Mountain
---Creatures (32)---
2x Acidic Slime
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birds of Paradise
4x Dungrove Elder
4x Llanowar Elves
1x Myr Propagator
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Precursor Golem
1x Predator Ooze
1x Primevil Titan
3x Solemn Simulacrum
3x Strangleroot Geist
4x Viridian Emissary
2x Wurmcoil Engine
---Artifacts (6)---
4x Birthing Pod
2x Mimic Vat
---Sideboard (17*)---
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Batterskull
3x Corrosive Gale
1x Karn Liberated
2x Naturalize
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Ratchet Bomb
Breakdown:
- Kessig Wolf Runs, Forests, and Mountains: Forests are the primary fuel of the deck, with Mountains in only to support the game-ending potential of the Wolf Runs. And while it is annoying to run into either of the non-green sources early in some games, most of the deck only cares about having just one green symbol anyway, and the redundancy has dashed at least three opponent's plans to date.
- Avacyn's Pilgrims, Birds of Paradise, and Llanowar Elves: Provide the early game support. Blue hates it when I turn two Dungrove Elder. The Pilgrims would be Birds, but they're on loan and I don't mind the early aggro nor really need the color fixing.
- Viridian Emissaries and Solemn Simulacrums: Give me ramp, and decent Pod fodder.
- Strangleroot Geist: Early aggro and not a bad Pod target, since he can swing after it, unless he's busy with having been killed earlier by removal or previous sacrificing.
- Dungrove Elder: The tastiest critter in the deck. He provides the most of the beats, wins, and opponent disliking. Especially when it's an Emissary providing Pod fodder for him.
- Wurmcoil Engine: Doesn't show up as much as the Elder, but still provides a decent amount of beats.
- Phyrexian Metamorph: Jack-of-most trades. Kills opposing legendaries. 85% of the time becomes Dungrove Elder and doesn't afraid of anything. Especially in this artifact hate-filled environment.
- Precursor Golem: Fun against light-removal decks. Mostly only a bridge between a Simulacrum and a Wurmcoil, though. Never hurts when he leaves behind his posse!
- Acidic Slime: Only removal in the deck pre-sideboard. Loves to eat swords and long walks on unique locales.
- Myr Propagator: Occupies a very chaotic spot in the deck. Used to be a Pyreheart Wolf until I disliked the lack of early game red for it. Then was a Daybreak Ranger, but wasn't relevent / alive for enough games. Almost became a One-Eyed Scarecrow until Spirits got lucky and I thought better of it. Knowing my luck will become a Jar of Eyeballs, but more likely will become a Garruk Relentless until I get a better three-drop in color in Avacyn Restored. Assuming I don't take it out now that I've noticed there's 61 cards in the deck. Fingers crossed.
- Predator Ooze: A convenient one-of. Rarely shows up in games he shouldn't participate in, and can be Podded into when he is needed. Blocks opposing Dungrove Elders on the defensive, and offensively can swing all day long until they run out of chump blockers or I hit a Wolf Run. So basically, an anti-mirror / Timmy deck tech inclusion.
- Primeval Titan: Purely in the deck for fetching up a Wolf Run and a mountain. If he lives to swing, good for him; the Dungroves are sure to appreciate it.
- Birthing Pod: One of the key bits of the deck, but not vital. Generally only used as a tool to turn cmc 2s into Dungroves and cmc 4/5s into Wurmcoils.
- Mimic Vat: Defensively, keeps an expendable blocker around at a low cost. Offensively, lets me swing and Pod if the fake critter survives. Douchebaggingly, can steal a Chandra's Pheonix or a Gravecrawler if need be. Serves 'em right for depending on graveyards instead of their deck for more critters.
What's Missing:
- Predator Ooze: One's out, since it's intentional use is veeeery specific so far.
- Woodland Sleuth: I took her out after rarely ever seeing her hit play, much less have time to fetch / abuse it. Sadly, I haven't missed her.
- Vorapede: No access. Acidic Slime seem to be doing fine in their place.
- Bellowing Tanglewurm: A casualty of never showing up. Podwise, I always felt more of a need to pull acidic slime instead.
Sideboard:
Note: I listed 17, because I've been switching between the two Naturalizes and Batterskulls. Both have merits and have won me games, so it's tough.
- Autumn's Veil: For screwing over control. Especially if it's to play a hexproof creature. A resolved Elder just eats them alive.
- Batterskull: For when the Pods come out and I go into pure ramp mode. They evade artifact hate, and that can really matter.
- Corrosive Gale: For stalling Delver decks and the occasional Spirit-focused token deck. Since I can't always draw a needed Dungrove for racing them.
- Karn Liberated: Another ramp mode choice. Slower decks don't appreciate his bulky exiling bullying.
- Naturalize: Mostly intended for busting Oblivion rings and Swords.
- Surgical Extraction: For the French Rites deck that's going around, mostly. With that, I almost feel like I need two Nihil Spellbombs as well to screw it over. Not sure, since it's probably the toughest matchup. Anyways, I also have a bad habit of exiling counterspells after they've annoyed me, with the added bonus of seeing my control opponent's hand.
- Thrun, the Last Troll: Another anti-control measure. Resolving hexproofers has been what's allowed me to eat them alive in most of my matches. He makes it easier, and (although I haven't needed it), can survive the rare board wiping.
- Ratchet Bomb: Disentegrates tokens. That is all.
That's about it. Most of the strategy involved is covered in the breakdown. Lastly, I do want to know how deceptive I've noticed the deck can be. With Dungrove Blade and Wolf Run metagame decks running around, I've noticed the more "internet-informed" players jumping to the conclusion that this deck's one of those, only to see "the other half" appear shortly after.
Tldr; Dungrove Elder beats.
Until next post!
No comments:
Post a Comment