Mono decks in standard using no rares. Need help with green and black
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on June 21, 2015, 11 p.m. by nobodygaming
I'm very new to Magic (learned in October, started collecting in April) but have played other TCGs 10 years ago. I'm mostly in this for the fun of deckbuilding and discovering what works/what doesn't work. Since I built my own budget mono red deck last month I've been inspired to try and make decks that effectively play against it in the other colours.
General rules I've set myself are that the decks run commons/uncommons only and will all be from the same current Standard blocks. I have no plans to update these when the rotate out, so I want to nail this before Origins is out next month.
I'm working on the green deck ATM with a focus on mana ramp into Stampeding Elk Herd while using either Epic Confrontation or Savage Punch as my creature removal. Right now I'm just looking for ways to make this last long enough against my red deck to win at least 40% of the time.
Here are my current built decks-Mono Red Aggro-Mono White Lifegain-Mono Blue Control
Any advice on those decks too would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking less for high tier play and more balancing all 5 decks against eachother. Right now black is planned for basic removal and a devotion win with Gray Merchant of Asphodel but that's as far as I've gotten on that.
Thanks for any help
nobodygaming says... #3
I was already considering a few of your green suggestions so having someone else suggest that means I'm on the right track. My first ever draft ran a more graveyard powered strategy with Hooting Mandrills but it felt too black in play style. So far my green list (in undecided quantities) looks like this
-Epic Confrontation or Savage Punch
-Ranger's Guile or Mortal's Resolve
-and maybe Tread Upon if theres still room
The black suggestion are all great and I was already considering those removal cards except for Self-Inflicted Wound because these decks wont have sideboards so I can't be anti-specific colour without wasting cards. I want card draw in it, but I'm afraid Sign in Blood is a weakness when in a surprisingly fast meta between all these decks. Is there something else you could suggest?
June 22, 2015 1 a.m.
I feel like Nessian Asp is a too slow for what you're trying to do. Instead, you might want to consider Nemesis of Mortals. It can become a giant creature for the possibility of being low. And instead of Time to Feed, how about Warriors' Lesson? Instant speed is very useful and gives you cards.
As for black, I would run Sign in Blood. You can add cards like Foul-Tongue Shriek to gain your life back in a blink of an eye. You might also want to add Mardu Shadowspear. Because it doesn't need to connect to make the opponent lose life, it can help in the end.
Another great card with the life loss theme would be Spiteful Returned. You can either have it as a creature or an aura, depending on your situation. You can add Gnarled Scarhide as a quick creature to deal damage early in the game.
June 22, 2015 1:18 a.m.
nobodygaming says... #5
I was tossing up between Nessian Asp because Nemesis of Mortals graveyard theme was part of my original draft which I scrapped to keep my black deck unique. Also I thought it would be appropriate to have reach in a deck since white and blue will utalise flying for evasion. In retrospect however, I think Defend the Hearth will work for general protection in those turns, followed by an Epic Confrontation response in my own main phrase. The plan for green was always having big stompy smashy creatures for its defence. I think the final deck list will use hexproof over indestructible as to help keep it balanced against other decks.
Please let me know what you think Mono Green Ramp
SirFowler says... #2
All right, I love budget, non-rare decks because they add an extra challenge to the game. I've built a bunch of mono green/black common/uncommon decks and just love playing with them.
Black
Black can be easy to achieve because of cards like Bile Blight and of course Gary.
Duress is almost as good as Thoughtseize, but only costs 25 cents. I would run at least 3, maybe even 4 main board. You will also need cheap and easy removal, so I would run 2 Ultimate Prices, 2Bile Blights, and 1 Murderous Cut.
For creatures, Squelching Leeches are great because they level up with each play. No problem you should have 4 ofs in the deck. Gurmag Angler is a quick, yet powerful creature because you can put stuff into your graveyard and allow you to play a 5/5 for 1! Amazing.
For the sideboard, I would have to suggest Self-Inflicted Wound. It's cheap, but having the opponent lose life is not to be underestimated.
Now, those are just the starting cards. As for the rest, it depends on your preference.
Green
Now green can also do pretty well. Devotion is amazing with cards like Aspect of Hydra to level up your creatures out of nowhere.
You will need cheap and powerful creatures to overpower the opponent. Swordwise Centaur and Hooting Mandrills are powerful enough to be played. I'm also a huge fan of Conifer Strider because hexproof is very underrated in standard.
Just research cheap and powerful creatures and you'll be able to find great ways to make the deck great.
Hope these help! :)
June 21, 2015 11:31 p.m.