Having fun in a stale environment

Over the past six months I have played little to no Magic. When I have been able to play it’s only been for a game or two, never a draft or even a daily, and there is no guarantee my one game will finish. Ah, the power of babies…

But lately I’ve been able to escape my daughter’s frenzied baby-antics and play a few games of Standard on MTGO. I had originally swapped out my Junk Midrange deck for RG Monsters, but then I went down an even more verdant path…. mono-green! All I had heard was talk of how mono-black and mono-blue were dominating the environment, so I wanted to steer clear of those.

I find a lot of solace and peace in green cards that other colors just don’t have, not even white. Even though I’m likely casting some kind of hideous beast or murderous elf, there’s still a nice, verdant border surrounding the art.

So I built a green devotion deck and the few matches I’ve played have been really fun. It helps to win, but having fun with my limited time is really what I’m looking for. Cards like Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Kalonian Hydra, and Arbor Colossus do just the trick! See you in the practice room!

Early Melira Pod Testing for GP Detroit

Initially, I did some testing without fetchlands. That led me to the conclusion that I needed fetchlands. Then, having acquired said fetchlands, and behold, I saw that they were good.

Now that that’s out of the way, my early testing may help you if you are less experienced, or force you to call me out for terribad-plans if you are more experienced. I welcome both. Here are some results from my early testing phase (including daily events and casual room matches):

vs. Bogles (one match)
Game 1: Lost, Game 2: Won, Game 3: Won. Result: 2-1
Spellskite was very important and killing Kor Spiritdancer is also top priority.

vs. U/R Splinter Twin (one match) and RUG Twin (one match)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Sideboarding Plan: +1 Linvala, +3 Duress, +2 Dismember, +1 Shriekmaw, +2 Decay.  -1 Pod, -1 Chord, -1 Archangel, -1 Spike Feeder, -1 Ooze, -1 Eos, -3 Deathrite.
In these matches, my mulligans are really what destroyed me. I guess it takes time for MTGO to warm up that shuffler. 🙂

vs. UWR Control (one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Sideboarding: +3 Duress, +1 Voice, +2 Lingering Souls. -3 Deathrite, -1 Spellskite, -1 Chord, -1 Pontiff.
This match was also uneventful, as my opponent got mana screwed in game two.

vs. Soul Sisters (ugh, one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Boarding: +2 Dismember, +1 Shriekmaw, +2 Decay. -1 Spellskite, -1 Ooze, -3 Deathrite.
Orzhov Pontiff single-handedly shut this guy down, he was an all-star.

vs. Affinity (two matches)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: lost. Result: 0-2
Game 1: lost, Game 2: won, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
Boarding: +1 voice of resurgence, +2 lingering souls, +2 dismember, +1 linvala, +2 abrupt decay, +1 harmonic sliver. -1 spellskite, -1 scavenging ooze, -1 metamorph, -1 shriekmaw, -1 birthing pod, -3 deathrite shaman, -1 chord of calling.
The first match was gross, as I forgot to sideboard. lolz, right? The second one was very close with me losing the turn I had the crack-back.

vs. Amulet of Vigor combo (one match)
Game 1: lost, Game 2: won, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
I had no idea how to play against this crazy deck. He rolled over me when I couldn’t disrupt him.

vs. UW Tron Gifts (one match)
Game 1: won, Game 2: lost, Game 3: lost. Result: 1-2
This matchup is bad bad bad for me. Not sure how to plan for it.

vs. BG Midrange (two matches)
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
Game 1: won, Game 2: won. Result: 2-0
I don’t remember much about the first one other than that it was easy.
The second was very hard-fought but I overcame a lot of his board presence to do exactly lethal one turn.

Part of playing this deck is to know when to attack, when to Pod, and when to just hold back. There were many times where I would want to Pod up an answer to something that I didn’t really need to answer. The temptation is there to simply shut down everything the opponent is doing, regardless of your own plan. This is sometimes good and sometimes a trap and knowing the difference means everything.

Going into beatdown mode is sometimes easy because you just chip in for damage here and there before activating Pod and sometimes hard because they might have resistance or creatures to attack you back.

This deck is very complex, and now that I have the completed deck I am going to test it extensively. Here’s my updated list:

 

Note: That should say “31 creatures”