Mono-Green Budget Werewolves and +1/+1 counters.
I've been working on a budget monogreen wolves deck for a couple months now. Locals have been pretty rough, and even though my local meta (GG Portland) is pretty high-end, I still want to be able to consistently 3-2 (or 4-1, but let's not get too greedy) before I'll call it any kind of success. I've probably spent at least as much as this deck's current value in other possibilities.
This deck is the sort of hyperaggressive aggro usually reserved for red. 20 lands, 28 creatures, and no cards more expensive than 3. It's got stupid combat tricks, it's got card draw, it's got creature removal, and the whole deck costs about half the price of a single Tarmogoyf.
Creatures
Avacyn's Pilgrim: I was recommended to put in a mana dork, and Pilgrim is the only Human. The White's basically colorless for me, but I have a lot of green sources.
Duskwatch Recruiter
: Card draw, in green, that doesn't cost a spell, and can instead switch to a creature-spam enabler when you decide you need to hit the gas. People play this card in Elves, of course I'm running four.
Kessig Prowler
: An in-tribe 2/1 for G that can turn into a 4/4 late game. Hell yes.
Mayor of Avabruck
: Mayor is unquestionably one of the key linchpins of the deck that everything else has been built around, something that demands an answer. I've lost very few games where I've been able to keep a Howlpack Alpha on board.
Ulvenwald Tracker: Repeatable removal. Not 100% reliable, but good enough to justify a 1CMC slot.
Witchstalker: There are people who will tell you that Witchstaker is a sideboard card, that it's only useful against the kinds of decks that won't let it hit board anyways. Those people are liars and charlatans who are afraid of you using it against them. The UB punishment effect is the free soup and salad that come with the prime rib dinner that is a 3/3 Hexproof for 3. He laughs at Lightning Bolt, snickers at Dismember, titters at Terminate, and with a single +1/+1 counter, even Anger of the Gods can't stop the pain train.
Young Wolf: The slight nonbo with Vastwood nonwithstanding, this is arguably one of the best 1-drops ever printed for green that doesn't make mana. It's an in-tribe Doomed Traveler that trades flying for being fatter. Words cannot describe how much I love my puppy.
Spells
Howlpack Resurgence: Howlpack Resurgence is the card that finally made Werewolves modern-playable. I'm sorry, Full Moon's Rise is bad. The toughness increase is good, and the flash is better, but it's the expansion to also include wolves that really makes the deck viable. It turns a here-and-there smattering of decent creatures and weak tribal support into something that can really compete.
Lead the Stampede: 93% chance to cycle, 67% chance to +1 or better, 100% chance to clear some of your topdeck for more creatures later.
Moonlight Hunt: Instant speed creature removal, in green. I've also considered Setessan Tactics, and am still not completely convinced that it wouldn't be a better choice, but I haven't wished I could go wider with Dogbite enough to actually make the change.
Moonmist: This card's real name is Dogfog. You're welcome.
Lands
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood: Happiness is dropping a Witchstalker, a Kessig Prowler, and a Wolf Token, and then giving all of them +2/+2. ETBT isn't even as huge of a tempo loss as it could be when you consider the number of decent 1-drops the deck already has anyways. (On that note, I try to drop Oran on the same turn that I cast Young Wolf, since they're a nonbo anyways.)
Forest: Is 17 basic lands greedy? Probably a little bit, but even 1-land hands are usually playable with at least an Avacyn's Pilgrim and a Mayor in hand. I could see going as high as 20, but cutting for those slots would be incredibly painful, and I'm not convinced the +15% chance to get a second Forest in an opening hand would be worth the loss in follow-through.
Sideboard
Inspiring Call: You know what's not a fun time for this deck? Wrath of God. Call easily slots in as a 1-to-1 replacement for Lead the Stampede as an answer, and even has uses in response to exile or sacrifice effects like Living End or All Is Dust by giving you what's probably a rather absurd amount of card draw to recover from the wipe. Lead keeps the mainboard slot for not being a blank card on a topdeck.
Naturalize: I run this over Nature's Claim because four life is actually a pretty big swing in a deck where the opponent stabilizing is probably going to end you. I've toyed with the idea of trading this out for Oxidize, because enchantments haven't been huge so far. Or I might go the other way and just bite the bullet on Beast Within, but then there's more beef to get through.
Tormod's Crypt: Less expensive than Grafdigger's Cage. Theoretically more useful in certain matchups (and it's semi-removal-proof, being instant-speed, rather than constant), but price was honestly the main reason here.
Windstorm: Instant speed answer to Thopter Foundry, Blinkmoth Nexus, Lingering Souls, Delver of Secrets
, Bitterblossom, Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Talrand, Sky Summoner, Galerider Sliver, I could go on.
Maybeboard
Bond Beetle: Took the slot Ulvenwald Tracker has now. Undecided. Slitherhead has also been considered, but lost out due to a lack of flexibility.
Rejected Cards
Hardened Scales: I was recommended to pull this for a dork. Trying it out for now.
Natural State: At first, it seemed perfect. Hit Ensnaring Bridge, Chalice of the Void, Inkmoth Nexus, Engineered Explosives, even Blood Moon. And then I ran face first into Batterskull and Wurmcoil Engine and Platinum Angel and threw Natural State in the shoebox until the end of time.
Savage Summoning: Admittedly, it was very fun to Savage-Witchstalker, but see my 4CMC comments below. Nothing other than Witch is really worth forcing through without being boltbait, so it was pulled in favor of just keeping the creature count high.
Wolfir Avenger: Flash is good! Regen is good! So why isn't Wolfir good? Lightning Bolt. Lightning Helix. Dismember. Hexproof answers far better than 1G Regen in almost every situation where they're both relevant, so it was pulled for more Witchstalker.
Spirit of the Hunt: Initially my response to Anger of the Gods. Pulled because it was a shitty answer to any of the real Wrath effects, in favor of Inspiring Call.
Wandering Wolf/Timberpack Wolf/Darkthicket Wolf: Ew. Darkthicket has come the closest to being playable, but still not well enough to hold onto its slot.
Wolfbitten Captive
: There are too many important 2-drops for the front effect to ever be relevant, and unlike Mayor and Duskwatch, the backside is really not worth a Moonmist.
Anthing with a CMC of 4+: Yes, this includes the legendary Collected Company. At 20 lands, 4 of them ETBT, holding onto a card until I get four lands down before it becomes useful could mean that I can spend many games against faster decks never being able to cast it at all. And Modern is fast. (For reference, I pseudo-proxied CoCo with Pack Guardian, constantly keeping in mind whether Coco would be worth the cost instead.)
