Monogreen Counters - Deck Advice?
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 12, 2016, 11:29 p.m. by Sidian
4x Avatar of the Resolute2x Endless One3x Leaf Gilder2x Managorger Hydra2x Oblivion Sower2x Oran-Rief Hydra1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger4x Undergrowth Champion
Enchantment (9)
2x From Beyond4x Hardened Scales3x Retreat to Kazandu
Instant (3)
Planeswalker (4)
Land (22)
3x Blighted Woodland17x Forest2x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Sorcery (2)
So I'm just going to start going to FNM and going to start playing in standard. I love creating decks instead of just copying pre-made ones. I've made this one (although I've been told it's very close to a Green/White deck). I'm wondering how it would do in today's standard or if anybody has any advice on cards?
Basically, Hardened Scales + Retreat to Kazandu + Landfall champs mean you can easily get some very strong creatures out. Let's not even mention Nissa who for 2 loyalty can give a +1/+1 (or 2/2, 3/3 etc depending on how many hardened scales you have out) for each creature. Nothing is more fun then getting NIssa out early, getting a few chump blockers with the 0/1 plants, only to suddenly buff up all your creatures with +1/+1 then laying down an avatar who gains a shitload from all the plants/creatures.
Nissa, VoZx4 rocks because nothing is better than using Nissa, get +x/+x, cast another nissa and use the counter again to get +x/+x again. You can buff cards up soooo fast.
Leaf Gilder is an early mana ramp which helps with getting more creatures out. From beyond is nice for extra mana/blocks everyturn but the sacrific to get Ulamog out is nice because destroying 2 permanents is strong (especially with enchant/artifact exile cards).
Inspiring is awesome just to randomly use to draw more cards or to protect your "bigger" cards if needed.
Oblivion Sower is "extra" landfall + hardened scales procs for every landfall creature with is amazing.
Nissa' Renewal + Hydra + Hardened Scales means that hydra gets buff soooo fast. 3x mana, Six +1/+1 counters (plus however many hardened scales you have) then add in the retreat to kazandu procs as well if needed. (For more Life against burn or just more counters)
Managorder hydra in my opinion is fairly weak early but if you leave it alone for too long (especially with a hardened scales out) it can suddently just become out of control.
I'm not a huge fan of Endless One but if you get an early hand with Hardened Scales + Leafgilder + Endless One + Avatar you can get some pretty damn strong creatures out very fast and I"ve won games very quickly with that combo.
Any advice? Thoughts on how this would do in current standard? Thanks guys, appreciate it! =)
I would second most of what e10mays has said. I run a Green white version that I have recently added blue to. It's great fun, but you don't need big creatures. You need instants to trigger Managorger Hydra's ability. Here is a link to my deck for reference.
If you want to stay mono green look at Undergrowth Champion and Woodland Wanderer. There aren't a lot of non-creature spells to support your strategy, so I would recommend adding a second color that will give you counters and do something else. Good luck!
e10mays says... #2
FIrst off, Managorger Hydra, Hardened Scales, and Nissa, Voice of Zendikar go together awesome! I love Nissa for her plant spawning ability. Even if you have nothing to protect her, you can at least chump block 1 thing and bide some time.
Hangarback Walker is a wonderful addition. Even if it's destroyed, a bunch of flyers are spawned.
I think instead of Leaf Gilder, Nissa's Pilgrimage would be better. Leaf gilder can be easily targeted and killed, thus ceasing your mana flow. Also, Nissa's Pilgrimage would trigger landfall. I'm prone to ramps, though, so that may be biased. This is if you choose to ramp, though. I would recommend either choosing ramping or scales, but not both, as it seems you're trying to do. From my experience, focusing on doing 1 thing really well and being the best at it will do better than being alright at 2 aspects.
Most of my further suggestions will be if you splash another color.If you want a competitive scales deck in standard, you should have at least 2 colors. (I'd splash white, but you can also do black).
Another thing to consider - Abzan Falconer. At first, this card doesn't seem great, but if played at the right time, it's a game changer. Imagine you've got some big, beefy creatures, but they keep getting chump blocked by your opponent's spawned weenies. Play this card down, BAM! Game over. As an added bonus, it has outlast, which means you can beef it up without any additional cards.
I don't think Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger belongs here. It won't be often you reach him without devoting your whole deck to ramping.
Splashing another color in your deck could help with the destruction aspect and creature selection Abzan Battle Priest,Ainok Bond-Kin, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Dragonscale General, Dromoka's Command (Destruction and beefiness!!) , Hidden Dragonslayer, Mer-Ek Nightblade, or anything with renown.
Why am I able to make all these suggestions??My girlfriend runs a counter deck sorta like this, but without big creatures (She's usually top 8 at FNM). Always something to play, then beef up and no running into a card that you can't play because of mana problems. Since you're beefing up your creatures, big ones aren't very necessary in my humble opinion.
If you do happen to follow my advice and get rid of the big creatures, then Nissa's Pilgrimage and Nissa's Renewal will not be needed. Add some removal in their place. Valorous Stance, Celestial Flare, and Stasis Snare, or Ruinous Path and Murderous Cut if you splash black.
TLDR - Get rid of the big creatures and leaf gilder. Focus on cards (mainly creatures) that will give you an advantage if your creatures have +1/+1 counters on them. Splash another color. Add destruction or combat tricks.
Hope this was helpful!
February 14, 2016 2:19 p.m.