TOOLBOX/BEATZ (15)
LOCKDOWN! (10)
LAND (13)
UTILITY (2)
RAMP (12)
SEARCH (8)
Sideboard
Other (15)
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WINTER MAZE!
- The idea behind this deck is to lock down your opponent's mana base with the frustrating synergy shared between Root Maze and Winter Orb followed by dropping massive fatties such as Progenitus and/or Dragonlord Atarka via Natural Order for the kill. While under the Winter Orb / Root Maze soft lock, generate hordes of mana with Arbor Elf off of a single Forest loaded with Wild Growths while your opponent struggles to untap. An array of singleton silver bullet cards have been included in the deck to be tutored up for any given situational event that you might find yourself. Creatures were chosen so that there is a Green Sun's Zenith target for every combination of mana you want to pump into it. A GSZ set at zero nets you Dryad Arbor, set to 1 you get Arbor Elf, set to 2 you get Scavenging Ooze, set to 3 you get Leatherback Baloth etc..
WHY PLAY IT?
The entire deck only costs around $380 with sideboard included and has been proven to so far compete with many of the best Legacy archetypes in the current meta. While it hasn't been exhaustively tested we will say this. It flat out stomps Death & Taxes, Burn and Lands. Delver variants appear to be really favorable. We haven't tested every variant, but it does seem to go about 70/30. Mostly Threshold variants have been tested. Grixis has not been tested. Super fast combo such as BR Reanimator and Storm are its worst match ups but not impossible, especially after sideboard. Root Maze is just nuts against combo. As mentioned earlier testing hasn't been exhaustive but it can and does beat all of these decks. We were extremely impressed with how ridiculously resilient and strong this deck is against most decks in the meta. So far none of the match ups have been too terribly difficult. Further testing will include Miracles, Maverick, Pox and Eldrazi etc.. with sideboard geared towards it's most difficult match ups.
Often you will get explosive turn one plays such as: Drop a Forest, pitch Elvish Spirit Guide casting Wild Growth, tap Growthed Forest, cast Arbor Elf and Root Maze, pass the turn. Your opponent will get a tapped land drop and pass the turn back. You then drop Natural Order for Progenitus and follow up with either Winter Orb or Trinisphere for the lock. Game Over!
CARD EXPLANATIONS:
LOCK DOWN!
Root Maze : This card by itself is a house and is one of the keys to locking up your opponent's mana supply. This is your best turn one drop by far. Not only does Root Maze give most Storm combo decks fits by locking down your opponent's fast mana (Lion's Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal) it also draws a lot of it's strength in the fact that 85% of all Legacy decks run Fetch Lands causing your opponent to wait three turns before they can draw any mana from them. Since we are not running Fetch Lands we will not be affected by this. Root Maze also laughs at one of the most popular cards in the format which is Daze . Go ahead, Daze my spell then replay your land tapped the following turn.
Winter Orb: Winter Orb by itself is house, combined with Root Maze it creates a near hard lock on your opponent. While winning games is not difficult without either of them the combination of the two of these cards is really the meat and potatoes of the deck.
Trinisphere: This is our third lock component. By itself it's amazing however you most likely won't want to drop it until after you established your mana engine. Combined with Winter Orb and/or Root Maze you will have an incredibly tight lock on your opponent.
MANA ENGINE / RAMP:
Wild Growth / Utopia Sprawl: These are not only here to ramp you into larger more expensive spells but they have amazing synergy with your Winter Orb lock giving you the freedom to cast what ever you want while your opponent is struggling to untap mana.
Arbor Elf: This guy is nuts here. He can generate between four and ten mana off of a single Forest stacked with multiple Growths. Getting him in play is the icing on the cake. He is typically your #1 target for GSZ.
Forest: One of the strengths of the deck is the fact that you are not running Fetch Lands and/or Non Basics. Fetch Lands have poor synergy with Root Maze and Non Basics can get hated out by the ubiquitous Wasteland. This is important when running Wild Growth. You cannot depend on stacking Wild Growths on non-basic lands that can essentially be Wasteland targets. Also, don't worry about the low land count of the deck, with Wild Growths etc.. there are 33 total sources of mana. You can easily power the entire deck off of a lone Forest with Wild Growths and Arbor Elves. In fact it is possible to generate so much mana that you can actually tutor up Progenitus with Green Sun's Zenith. That being said, running more than 12-13 land is a mistake. After you get your Winter Orb / Root Maze lock, dropping additional Forests is moot as they only come into play tapped and don't untap. Hard casting Dragonlord Atarka actually happens often with Utopia Sprawl and GSZing him happens all the time.
Elvish Spirit Guide: Last but not least, ESG allows for some explosive turn one plays but also is extremely nice as extra mana while you have Root Maze or Trinisphere out. He is also never a bad card to top deck as you can actually cast him late game for additional beats. Also, he is a nice surprise against your Delver opponent's Daze.
SEARCH / TUTORS and TOOLBOX:
Green Sun's Zenith: For the most part GSZ is here to serve as Arbor Elf numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. Most of the time he will be your target to help set up your mana engine however GSZ is also here to grab Scavenging Ooze, Viridian Zealot, Leatherback Baloth, Thragtusk and/or Thrun the Last Troll for random situations.
Natural Order: This card is your sucker punch, brass knuckles right-hook to the face. Most of the time you will use it to grab Progenitus however you will often choose to grab Dragonlord Atarka in the event that Progenitus happens to already be in your hand or to wipe the board clean of pesky critters. It also has the flexibility to really grab any silver bullet in your toolbox.
BEATZ:
Progenitus: No explanation is necessary here. Plop him onto the table with Natural Order and win in two turns. There are really not many ways to deal with him outside of Wrath effects and/or cards such as Ensnaring Bridge and Solitary Confinement. Drop him into the battlefield and smash face!
Dragonlord Atarka He's a massive beater and clears the board. With the lack of creature removal for mono green and against decks that you need removal this is your guy. He can be GSZed, Natural Ordered or even hard cast into play with Utopia Sprawl. Again, he is also your Natural Order choice in the event you happen to have Progenitus already in your hand.
Leatherback Baloth : At first we had Tarmogoyf in this slot however we later realized that almost none of our spells ever hit the graveyard in which to give him the boost. Being that the deck is mono green meeting his requirement is not a problem and his huge body in relation to his inexpensive casting cost is quite nice for applying pressure early and late game. Note my little brother plays this same deck. The only difference is that he plays Yavimaya Enchantress in this slot. With 12 one drop enchantments in the deck he might be on to something. Potentially it can be considerably bigger or smaller than Baloth. It's worth thinking about and preference call. She's arguably better than Leatherback Baloth.
Masticore : People laugh at my Masticore's only once. He mops up Delvers, Deathrite Shaman, Stoneforge Mystic, Mother of Runes, Dark Confidant etc.. He literally can and does end games. As it is, green really lacks in the department of creature removal. Masticore's ability really shines here for mopping up your opponent's dudes and his draw back is not a problem due to the fact that you will have plenty of cards to feed his upkeep once you get your lock going. For example, playing extra lands while under the Root Maze / Orb lock is moot as your lands come into play tapped and don't untap. Instead of playing them, save them for Masticore fuel. This can also be said of extra lock pieces after your lock is already in place. Dropping a second or third Root Maze, Winter Orb or Trinisphere is moot. Save them. One card in particular that is nice to pitch to him is Progenitus. Doing nothing while he is in your hand Progenitus can be pitched to the graveyard only to get shuffled back in with his ability and brought back out via Natural Order. Masticore's other pluses is that he has a sizable body for smashing face and he also regenerates.
Umezawa's Jitte : While technically not a beat stick it can certainly lays down some pain and also provides you with your only other source of creature removal in the deck next to Masticore and Dragonlord Atarka.
Lodestone Golem: For obvious reasons, he is here to further lock up your opponent's mana and smash their face with his sizable 5/3 body. He's a perfect fit.
Thragtusk : This guy is easily fetched with GSZ to help you beat down your opponent. His life gain slows down Burn opponents and his "create a token" ability can save you from mass removal spells, in particular Terminus which happens to be everywhere in the current meta as the most popular deck right now is Miracles.
Reclamation Sage: This guy is your removal guy easily searched up with GSZ. You can run Wickerbough Elder , Viridian Shaman , Acidic Slime or Viridian Zealot here however Reclamation Sage does have the most versatility especially for the casting cost.
Scavenging Ooze: Another silver bullet worth the attention of your GSZ. This guy is great for stopping graveyard based decks such as Dredge and Reanimator but also for shrinking Tarmogoyfs minimizing an opponent's Deathrite Shaman fuel. Gaining life doesn't hurt either and the fact that he grows makes him an obvious inclusion.
Thrun, the Last Troll: His converted mana cost of 4 makes him a great choice for GSZ and his hexproof ability can cause headaches for your opponent. Better yet he can't be countered making him awesome in the Miracles matchup. There is nothing to dislike about him.
Dryad Arbor: This guy turns your GSZ's into Llanowar Elves. He's incredible here for ramping up to your big spells or for situations where you didn't draw much in the way of mana in your opening hand. He is also a perfect GSZ target when you are in need of a creature to sack to Natural Order.
SIDEBOARD:
Cursed Totem: You really need Cursed Totem for your sideboard in this deck. Elves will give you fits otherwise. Not only that, it helps shut down a number of cards such as Griselbrand, Deathrite Shaman etc.. Swap this in in place of your Arbor Elves as they will be useless otherwise.
Mindbreak Trap: This is here to stop Storm Combo decks dead. Swap them in place of Winter Orb which typically won't do much in this match up anyway. Along side Root Maze, Storm shouldn't be too bad of a match up.
Krosan Grip You will need these to take out Counterbalance. Miracles is currently the deck to beat. Run at least three.
Surgical Extraction Reanimator is one of the top decks right now and this card is your go to choice for taking out pesky Griselbrands and Sires.
Xantid Swarm / Deathrite Shaman Both can be fetched with GSZ therefore only one of each is included in the sidboard. Deathrite Shaman is here for additional grave hate and other tricks. Xantid Swarm is really good against blue control strategies. Not limited to but in particular an irritating Force of Will that won't let you resolve Root Maze or Winter Orb.
Feel free to Upvote, play test and comment for questions and recommendations.
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 7 years |
| Last updated | 6 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Legacy legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 5 - 2 Mythic Rares 24 - 10 Rares 7 - 3 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.47 |
| Tokens | Beast 3/3 G |
| Folders | Interesting decks, Brilliant decks, Decks, Other's decks, Legacy, Legacy, want for EDH, Budget Legacy, Cool, Legacy decks |
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