I'm really starting to agree with Sthenno about this format in that focusing on one colour seems strong. Most of the cards are just dorks you trade 1 for 1 anyway, so a second colour tends to not actually add much in terms of power but can screw you out of your pack 3 bombs or just on mana colours. Garruk's Wildspeaker is mediocre in a 2 colour deck but a real beating in mono-green because you'll always cast him on turn 2 if he's in your opener. I had a BG deck that had a black one drop and him in it, along with forest, forest, swamp, but couldn't play them both as a result of the double mana.
Curving out also seems to be really important. Even with this deck the game I lost was when my opponent was on the play and curved out better than I did. (I think Aether Adept was involved. Playing him on turn 3 after having made a 1 and a 2 drop is such a beating.) The problem is there's pretty much no good way to get back from a creature disadvantage. There are no sweepers except wrath. There are no big removal spells that kill 2 dudes. You're pretty much always safe just throwing out more dorks, especially if you have a spell to deal with one big blocker. (Note: Some Planeswalkers and Titans can often deal with multiple dudes in one spell and that's a lot of why they're so overpowered in this format I think.)
At any rate, here's the draft and the deck:
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16 Forest
1 Dungrove Elder
1 Lurking Crocodile
1 Overrun
1 Arachnus Web
2 Titanic Growth
1 Giant Spider
3 Garruk's Companion
1 Sacred Wolf
1 Arachnus Spinner
1 Vastwood Gorger
2 Stampeding Rhino
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Lure
2 Runeclaw Bear
2 Rampant Growth
1 Acidic Slime
1 Gladecover Scout
1 Carnage Wurm
Sideboard
1 Kite Shield
2 Diabolic Tutor
1 Kraken's Eye
1 Goblin Grenade
1 Combust
1 Demon's Horn
1 Harbor Serpent
3 Flashfreeze
1 Swamp
1 Angel's Mercy
1 Wurm's Tooth
1 Plummet
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Guardians' Pledge
1 Incinerate
1 Deathmark
1 Hideous Visage
I sided in plummet every match. I didn't side in Wurm's Tooth but I feel like I should point out that in another mono-green draft that I 3-0ed I did side it in against another heavy green deck and it definitely won me a game.
I was really excited to see what your first pick from pack two was after your introduction, and I was super happy to seen the Elder. I've watched that guy get passed all the way around the table because no one is playing a deck that can support him, which is a real shame considering he's an unfathomable beating - many decks just pack up to a turn three elder out of a mono-green deck.
ReplyDeleteI'm also with you 100% on Garruk's Companions. Those guys get passed up despite the fact that they are quite plainly sickening beats.
I'm really glad the mono strategy worked out - I think it's really solid. There just aren't any mechanics in this set. The only actual mechanic to build a deck around is bloodthirst, but the two bloodthirst enablers (fireslingers and tormented souls) would be auto-includes in aggressive decks without any bloodthirst cards at all.
Time to write comments as I read again...
ReplyDeleteWow, Incinerate over Serra. Bold given you just passed two good red cards. :-)
By pack 3, it's clear that RUW are open. So of course you're in green. :-)
Grey ogre over tapper. You're killing me.
Bear over Outrage? I'm dying some more.
You don't hate the Fog when you have Overrun? You take the uncommon Tooth?
Titanic Growth over Basilisk is interesting. I have to keep reminding myself to avoid 5cc spells.
...but take the 7cc spells...
Drafting mono-colour is easy when Red is cut off in pack two and Green isn't because you're taking sloppy seconds from the right in pack 1.
Wow, 5/7 spider rounds out your opening packs quite well!
Wow, Slime over Crown? I don't think I agree with that one.
Rampant growth over 3/1 Hexproof?
Hmm. I'm about to do the top 8 draft of my online event, maybe I'll mono-green?
I didn't want serra since then I'd have GGG and WW costs. Incinerate I'm happy to splash and happy to cast at any point in the game.
ReplyDeleteIs the grey ogre you're refering to lurking crocodile? He's a 3/3 unblockable more often than a 2/2 dork, especially if you draft bears.
Tooth has actually won me a game. It was in a slower deck than this to be fair (that deck had 3 trollhide, 2 lure, 3 basilisks, and about 7 hexproof creatures) and I was pretty much guaranteed to win the long game.
Since the format seems to be all about trading I like growth more than a 5 drop since it will let you survive a trade and keep playing stuff. If you get some of the 3/2 tramplers it's even better since you're probably punching for 5 or 6 along with keeping your guy alive.
Slime kills crown. Enough said!
Carrion worm is slow, and was probably wrong, but he just wins games. I don't have a titan, might as well have a 9/9 trampler.
Though I did the opposite earlier and took a worse 5 drop over a growth so I don't know what I'm doing. 8P
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