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Don't Let Em Breathe (Quick)

Modern Aggro Budget Competitive Mono-Green Stompy

StoryArcher

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Creature (33)

Land (19)

Enchantment (4)

Instant (4)

Sideboard

Creature (9)

Artifact (6)

Maybeboard

Creature (20)

Instant (4)

Land (2)

Enchantment (1)

Sorcery (3)

Artifact (2)

My most competitive version of Mono-Green for Modern.

So there are really two ways to approach what counts as Modern mono-green 'stompy' these days, and it is predicated on one question - to Hierarch or not to Hierarch? I've tried the former version in my deck Don't Let 'Em Breathe (Fat) and it's how I instinctively want to play the archetype - tons of three CMC creatures to drop as a second-turn play off the Hierarch and to hit big on turn three with a CoCo... but as much fun as that is, I've come to the conclusion that it's the wrong way to go. Sure, it can win, and it can be really dominant when it really gets rolling - IF it gets rolling. More often than not, that Hierarch ends up being the Achilles Heel of the deck rather than its strength, because too much depends on the squishiest of squishies. I play him, he inevitably gets bolted or darted or pushed and then I'm sitting around without even being able to make an attack until turn four, by which time my opponent has his own game plan well in hand.

So instead I'm going with more of a weenie-ish approach, taking advantage of the traditional 1 CMC, +1/+1 counter staples and highly efficient creatures like Hexdrinker, Narnam Renegade, Strangleroot Geist and Werewolf Pack Leader. For my only 3 CMC creatures, I keep the ubiquitous Steel Leaf Champion and the much more rarely seen Gourndbreaker. This gives me a very smooth mana curve, under-costed creatures that can be difficult to deal with and more importantly gives me a wider spread of creatures on the board, opening the door for a more effective Aspect of Hydra when the time comes. My only other non-creature spells are 2x Rancor and 1x Sylvan Anthem, both of which have proven their worth time and again. Every single card in the deck builds maximum devotion for when Aspect goes off.

This particular build is resilient against a lot of the issues that often plague mono-green and allows you to consistently put pressure on and keep it one from the get-go. Thus far the results have been excellent, but, as always, any thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

EDIT: I'm thinking about making a few land changes - dropping the Narnam Renegade, replacing it with something like a fourth Pelt Collector, a fourth Experiment One, a fourth Hexdrinker and a either a Yorvo or a Rhonas. Without the need for a trigger for the Renegade, I drop the fetch lands and go with 2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, 2x Lair of the Hydra, 2x Boseiju, Who Endures and 13x Forest. We'll see how it goes.

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Slashdance says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #1

I've been out of modern for a very long time, so I'm not as keen on some of the current strats out there. That said, I've been very interested in doing one of the modern tournaments at my LGS. My thought was turn an old favorite standard deck of mine that was hugely successful back in the day, and tune it for modern.

That deck is this one: Gruul's Closet - A Primer ... it's not as fast as yours, as it's more mid-rangey, and obviously adds red.

But I'm really interested in your deck, as it's right up my alley and feels like a deck I would build myself!

Can you tell me what the fetch lands are for? Is it just to thin your deck of land in hopes of drawing more creatures in the mid-game?

Another question I have is what would you suggest as the best substitutes for cards in the sideboard that are more than $6? The Collector Ouphe, Endurance, and Veil of Summer represent about $200 that I would not be able to justify to run the deck. I'm sure I could find some subs myself, but in your experience if those cards did not exist and cost was an issue, what would you run to support your deck?

Thank you for your time.

September 17, 2022 3:20 p.m.

StoryArcher says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #2

Slashdance (love the name btw)

I appreciate the kind words. The fetch lands are there to make sure I get a trigger on the Narnam Renegade and to thin out the deck a little so that any draws I get from Werewolf Pack Leader get the most bang for their buck. You could probably go with straight forests to save some cash, but if you do I'd probably pull the Renegades for +1 Experiment One, +1 Pelt Collector and 2x Young Wolf. Going with more basic lands will protect you a bit from cards like Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon as well.

As far as some other budget options, Boseiju, Who Endures is also a very expensive, fairly new card. It's a very strong addition for what it does but is in no way necessary for the deck to operate. That could easily be a Forest as well. If you go all Forests, consider adding in a couple of Treetop Village or Lair of the Hydra and maybe a Dryad Arbor.

Sideboards are largely a product of your local meta and the one I have listed is just a handful of quality generic options. Prowling Serpopard, Scavenging Ooze, Beast Within, Damping Sphere and Grafdigger's Cage are just a few budget options out there, depending on what you're trying to stop.

September 17, 2022 7:01 p.m.

Slashdance says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #3

Thank you so much for the speedy reply!

I did pull Narnam Renegade's for some Young Wolf already in my list, simply because I had Young Wolf already, so now I feel better about trading in the fetch lands for some forests. That was good tech that I didn't even see, lol. I do have some fetch lands I was planning on possibly adding to thin the deck if I felt I needed it, but now I'll consider Narnam more seriously for his ability than I did before and think about it all together.

To replace some of the land, I'm thinking of 2x Llanowar Reborn, 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, 1x Pendelhaven since I had them. Right now I'm unsure, because some come into play untapped and feels slow for this deck, but I see your recommendations also have some that come in tapped.

Thanks for the ideas on the sideboard!

I'll take all of that into consideration as I tinker with the deck. I hope you don't mind, I listed my own version here but linked back to you and this deck for credit, so I hope more people find yours. =) Woodland's Wrath

September 17, 2022 8:27 p.m.

StoryArcher says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #4

Slashdance

I would actually avoid lands that come in tapped if you can, for the very reasons you mention - keep in mind, I only run 19 lands with no mana dorks which goes against conventional wisdom. If you were to drop Boseiju, Who Endures, I personally would replace it with Lair of the Hydra, since your third and fourth land coming in tapped is usually not as big a deal, but you need those first two or three lands you play to be available right away.

Broken Wings is another nice budget sideboard option I meant to mention - I use Reclamation Sage because the deck is predicated on casting creatures first and foremost, which is also why the main deck only has 7 non-creature spells.

The trick with decks like this is avoiding the instinct to drift into 'win more' mode. You normally only need to deal 17 - 22 damage to win the game, and you want to do that as quickly and as efficiently as you can. Being able to deal 100 points of damage on turn 5 is meaningless if you can't get there. Nothing in this deck is actually key to it winning, so it becomes very difficult to derail. Just make sure that you have a means to deal with Ensnaring Bridge and a way to recover from board wipers, which often means NOT casting a creature or two when what you have on the board should be enough.

September 17, 2022 8:49 p.m.

PickleNutz says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #5

Green is my color, has been a very long time. I’ve ran similar decks to this, but I’ve always had dorks in at early play and at least 2 to 4, 4 or 5 CMC beaters with evasion for that mid range strategy. I’ve always felt without haste being prominent in low CMC creatures it’s hard to weenie out something competitive. Red has always done that well with high damage low cost hasty things. However, I think what you have going on here is a legitimate strategy. My only suggestions would be to try Hardened Scales, Blossoming Defense, and Predator's Strike. They’re simple toolkit cards that may help in the sideboard or main deck against heavy hate decks. Devotion boosters like the instant you are running doesn’t give much consistent better numbers than Predator’s Strike. Both are instant, but pred gives you trample. Regardless, you’ve got a good thing going here.

October 22, 2022 9:48 p.m.

StoryArcher says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #6

PickleNutz

I really appreciate you taking the time to leave comments, I'm always interested in input from experienced players.

Obviously this deck has no real removal to speak of, it's whole intent is consistent, aggressive pressure. To that end I've had to pass on a large number of truly excellent cards because they simply slow the deck down. Trying to save or protect any individual creature is actually often counter-productive in this deck as I pretty much always have more threats than my opponent can reliably deal with. Even great creatures like Questing Beast or Gargs usually end up sitting in my hand for that key round waiting for one last mana when I'd rather have played something that I could be using NOW.

I love Hardened Scales, and I have a +1/+1 counter deck that is an absolute blast to play, and it gets SO big that it's truly a sight to behold... but it's just a round or two too slow. Please check it out here: Don't Let 'Em Breathe (counters), give it a spin and let me know what you think.

FWIW, Aspect of Hydra never nets me less than +5/+5 and it's usually more in the +8 - +10. No, it doesn't give trample, but between Rancor and 15 creatures with various types of evasion, that's not usually an issue. All I need is one more attacker than my opponent has means to deal with and, as I said, that's rarely a problem.

October 29, 2022 3:07 p.m.

StoryArcher says... Edit Remove Edit Delete #7

PickleNutz

I hadn't messed with the counter deck in a while, so I just ran a quick playtest. It's just solataire, of course, but at the end of round 5, I had:

and...

That was with one Hardened Scales on the board and an Inscription of Abundance in my hand.

Not every hand ends up like that, but more than you would think. It's just crazy.

October 29, 2022 3:44 p.m.

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Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Card costs (outer) ​Land mana (inner)
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Creature​CreatureLand​LandEnchantment​EnchantmentInstant​Instant
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Converted mana costMana-curve​51.2%​51.2%31.7%​31.7%17.1%​17.1%01230510152025

Casual

93% Competitive