BTW, I upgraded the Revive to a Restock.
Krichaiushii, yes, that answered my questions, thank you. I like you more from post to post, and it seems that we aren´t as different as we thought initially (=>Multiplayer Madness).
INTRODUCTION:
(If this is not the first time you read a "The Seriously Casual Series: ..." thread, skip the introduction)
"The Seriously Casual Series: ..." is a series of threads which introduces some of my more successful multiplayer-decks. However, "successful" does not neccessaryly equal "winning". From my point of view Magic is a social game in the first place. As such I try to build decks as funny to play against as to play with. Of course there are as many definitions of "fun" as ways to abuse Necro. Here is what I and my playing group would define "fun":
We enjoy playing unusual cards or using commonly used cards in unusual ways. That does not mean that we do not use staples or power cards, but we do not abuse power cards to the fullest. We do try to win games but "making the deck work" is more important.
What we don´t find funny:
Killing everyone with infinite-whatever-combos. Taking 15-minute-turns. Using no-brainers like Overrun or Coat of Arms. Making someone watching the game incapable of doing anything (Armageddon, Stasislock). Overuse of endless repitions of CIP-effects or similar annoyances. Playing extremely unsocial cards like Gravepact.
These are no official rules and they are bend sometimes by common sense. Additionally I have my own style of play and deckbuilding: I mostly build theme decks, but my themes are related to game mechanics instead of creature types or movie titles. For example, I created a deck called "Was mich nicht tötet, härtet mich ab", a german expression that means "What doesn´t kill me makes me tougher". It packed Scars of the Veteran, Fungusaur, Reverse Damage, Respite, Sentinel, Sworn Defender, Living Artifacts and so on. I love flexible cards and tend to build nearly highlander decks, increasing it´s flexability.
These decks do not win more often than other decks because they need time to evolve. They have a very high proportion of synergy which is their greatest strength and weakness by the same time because they get only slowly stronger. Really successful (winning) decks start out harmless and kill in a flashpoint of 1 to 3 turns. Usually my decks do give my opponents a chance to stop them.
That´s social play for me.
NOTE: I am playing since Revised/Fallen Empires and my collection is rather large including many power cards such as Moxes. However, I almost never build decks around super-expensive cards and most of the older cards I use can be replaced by newer ones. Since my decks tend to be highlander anyways you´ll have no problems when you rebuild them. Just up the count of a similar card instead. This will work almost every time. I do not proxy cards and if I do not have more copies of a specific card I turn on my brain and add another, similar card. This leads me to new card combinations and forces me to try out cards that I did not use before. For example I own only one Sylvan Library. When I needed more for other decks I tried out Preferred Selection and were quite satisfied. Fight the laziness in your head and drop in some anarchy.
The decks I post are fine-tuned and I do not intent do modify them unless a new card seems to be the perfect card for this deck. You may still suggest some card additions but realize that I do not post the decks to optimize them, I do post them to share the fun I had with them and to foster some discussions about "adult" casual/multiplayer deckbuilding and gaming.
All this does also mean that you will play very interesting and balanced games if all players use decks from these series. One player building all decks is always a thrilling variant for the bored.
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This is the fourth part of the “Seriously Casual Series”. Todays´deck is a simple one called “Anh´s Green Weenie deck”. I built it for my girlfriend and it got quite famous. It pumps out fatties like crazy without relying on any combo or things like Quicksilver Amulet. It does not even use Gaea´s Cradles, which have a short life expectancy anyway. That makes it very consistent and straight forward. But don´t underestimate it. Yes, it looks harmless and ordinary but, … more in the “Deckbuilding Notes and Gameplay” section.
ANH`S GREEN “WEENIE”
Multiplayer, Pentagram, General
Type 1.5
January 2000. last modified November 2001
2 Child of Gaea
3 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Force of Nature
1 Craw Giant
2 Rhox
2 Carnassid
1 Colossus of Sardia
1 Teeka´s Dragon
2 Rushwood Elemental
1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
1 Penumbra Wurm
1 Woodripper
4 Silverglade Elemental
1 Barishi
4 Heart Warden
2 Veteran Explorer
1 Vernal Bloom
1 Clear the Land
1 Drop of Honey
1 Purging Scythe
4 Desert Twister
1 Rowen
1 Taste of Paradise
1 Multani´s Decree
1 Revive
2 Mind Stone
1 Wasteland
2 Treetop Village
18 Forest
SOME CARD CHOICES:
Colossus, Carnassid, Craw Giant: Yes, there are betterones. I just use the opportunity to dust off some old fellows.
Heart Warden, Mind Stone: Mana Acceleration without wasting deckspace and draws.
Drop of Honey: Not really necessary, just nice to have. Just add a second Scythe.
Revive, Wasteland: Feel free to use Strip Mine and Regrowth instead. I don´t cause this deck is 1.5 now.
DECKBUILDING NOTES AND GAMEPLAY
Traditional green fat decks use Cradles, Llanowar Elves, Quicksilver Amulets etc. to cast their creatures. That usually means that a single Wrath or Disenchant screws their deck and that it runs out of steam because the deck consists of 50% manasources and –boosters.This deck does use some neat tricks to get the necessary mana rolling:
Heart Warden and Mind Stone are fast mana (fast enough for this deck) but don´t cost you a card and can be “cycled” if drawn later in the game. Rowen is your personal Howling Mine and you are happy either way. Veteran Explorer never fired back yet. Clear the Land serves you the most and annoys the others cause it removes their non-land cards (usually recursion cards). Silverglade Elemental is also crucial, it perfectly closes the gap after your last land drop and jumps you to six mana in the fourth turn. And you´ve got your first semi-fattie during that process.
Most of these cards put basic Forests into play which is much safer than the methods I mentioned earlier.
So your game plan is: Build up your mana base and pump out fatties. The first and second may be killed, the third may be blocked, Maze´d or otherwise handled. Other decks run out of fatties at this point. But this is Anh´s Green Weenie deck! Another really fat critter hits the table and swings for many. Opponents get panicked now and do many resource eating tricks to find a solution. If their solution hits the table its time for one of your Desert Twisters. Kill their solution and then kill him. Believe me, this schedule is more accurate than you might think!
One opponent is out now. Be peaceful for some turns now and build up resources. Then repeat …
The Weatherseed Treefolks, Barishi and all the deck thinning guarantee a steady flow of fatties. Taste of Paradise can be HUGE and Multani´s Decree saves lives in two ways. The Revive is your 5th Desert Twister. Play Vernal Bloom only if it´s necessary.
Note: So far everybody who played against this deck agreed that the deck´s name is appropriate …
That´s it for now. I will be happy about any comments and I will answer all questions if I have the time to do so. If you copy and play the deck, please let us know your experiences!
Magic can be as funny and exciting as you want.
Puschkin
The secret of the Silverglade Elemental is out! This card is great in mono and heavy green decks. A 4/4 that fetches land just can't be wrong.
I prefer Yavimaya Elder over Heartwarden, though. Putting two lands in hand (and often another card, as well) is more useful to me. Plus, my opponents aren't normally that quick on the start, either, so I can afford to wait until I've 1GG to cast him.
Skyshroud Claim is another great green land-fetcher. Its CC of 3G makes it a little expensive, though (green should be casting better things by this point).
And even though you really don't have any "combos" for it, Stampedeing Wildebeests is a relatively cheap 5/4 trampler that can stomp for quite a while. And its not like you can't pay the upkeep on it. ;)
Regardless, monogreen creature decks are a blast in multiplayer games. I've played them enough to know so. Great job!
I use the heartwarden over Elders because they are still acceleration. With Elders I´ll have to wait six turns to cast, say, Child of Gaea.
Skyshroud Claim, no. It´s not only expensive, it is also nothing but extra land. I wanted to avoid cards that are dead middle to late game.
I haven´t checked Odyssey yet (and don´t have any cards from it), is there any green fat that would fit into this deck?
Krichaiushii, what are your experiences with mono-green fat decks in multi? You said it´s a blast to play, but do you win? Is such kind of deck common in your play group? In our group it´s rather unusual to play straight forward "beginner´s decks".
To me, as long as I am in there scrapping away, with my deck's trick(s) working reliably, dare I say, synergistically, I am happy.
Fat creatures of any color seem to do well - they intimidate the board, drawing instant (re)action from everyone. Sometimes they even live long enough to attack.
That being said, I rarely am the last man standing when big green is involved. This is due to becoming impatient with everyone waiting around for something to happen as armies build. So I leap to attack and hope my instants can carry the day. This leaves me vulnerable to more cautious players, but it gets the attack ball rolling...
As to its commonality, it depends. My most common circle of players each have between 3-20 decks of varying quality and content - but creature combat rules the day. The combo decks that exist are fragile three-five card monstrosities that are inevitably based on creatures.
I like cards such as Hunted Wumpus, because its big, and everybody seems to enjoy it. Eureka would be better, but I have none. My monogreen fattie decks build up and explode. I don't use mana elves often, preferring more reliable sources of mana (i.e. more land in play), through Gaea's Touch, Exploration, Yavimaya Elder, and Silverglade Elemental, among others.
The "beginner's" decks are sometimes the best. You don't have to think to hard, so you can concentrate on visiting with your friends. There are rarely "key" cards that can be countered/removed from game that break your deck, so you can keep playing without mishap. No complicated cards means no arguing of rulings and errata. And best of all, you can nearly always recover from the assorted reset buttons out there - from Disk to Wrath to Armageddon to Pox (recovery is easiest if you take out the controllish-players, first, though... ;)).
Besides, if your group has players with widely varying quantity and quality of card pools available for deckbuilding, then using the "beginner's" decks keeps the playing field more even - as a close loss is always better than a lopsided victory.
I hope I answered your question(s).
Why the Woodripper?Id say replace it with blastoderm or another revive,but i dont know why it is there,so im no judge.
It´s there because it´s artifact destruction and a beatstick in one, freeing up a card slot. Much like Silverglade Elemental instead of Harrow or similar. It´s one of the extra guys that overloads your opponent´s creature removal and served me very well. Besides of that, I´ve got a foiled one
BTW, I upgraded the Revive to a Restock.
Krichaiushii, yes, that answered my questions, thank you. I like you more from post to post, and it seems that we aren´t as different as we thought initially (=>Multiplayer Madness).
Well, my likability is directly proportional to how much I've been drinking. Especially with the anonymity(sp?) of being online, I am more likely to actually say (post) the wiseass comments I think of, rather than politely biting my tongue. Though I still skim posts... ;)
Now that I've left the military, my drinking has let up considerably, which is a good thing, indeed.
Though Hunted Wumpus might provide opponents too much help in a Pentagram game, what about Crash of Rhinos or Yavimaya Wurm? Both have built in trample and differ from "better", "more competitive/efficient" cards.
I know it is sneaky but surely Multari fits into this deck as does Lhurgoyf. Are they excluded under the 'no-brainer' rule?
I'd also throw in a Gaea's Blessing to reuse your fatties in case you don't see Barishi.
I like to play Bullwhip in green decks especially multiplayer since , as you say, others sit back and build armies, crack the whip and watch your beasties block annoying creatures. Also kills Peacekeeper, Royal Assassin, assorted tokens, etc. A bad card but if it fits anywhere it fits your deck (meant as a compliment!).
To some degree drinking Magic mix very well. A good drink, good music and good friends playing a good session of Magic: One of the best things to do evenings.
Dan, I used to play Bullwhips a lot, they are great for the reasons you said. But, there are so much other good cards like Phyrexian Splicer or Power Matrix to use in that slot. Also, that slot does not really exist (would reduce the creature count. If there would be a medium to large sized green Nettling Imp it would be in!)!
Barishi and Restock is enough for me. Blessing is too slow for this deck. Also my 4 Blessings are always in use in decks that benefit more from them. As I said I don´t proxy to force myself to play something different. I am glad to have found a place for Barishi. I should maybe include a second one, but so far lack of creatures was a rare instance.
Lhurgoyf does not fall under the no-brainer rule but it is very over-played in our group. Multani is on the edge of degeneration. But, the main reason to exclude both of them is because both lack trample. I need trampling cause of regenerators and random chump blockers which help my opponents to reach the endgame. Although it might not look so, this deck has a tight schedule and timing plan!
Thank you all for your comments! I am surprised that of all parts of the series THIS deck gets the most attention (personally I find The two Stages deck and the Keeper of 1000 combos more thrilling) !
For some reason, Thelonite Druid always had a soft-spot in my heart for multi-player mono-green. The first game you ever play him, everyone kind of just chuckles at him and lets him go, but after that first person dies to a horde 10 2/3 creatures, the entire table seems to scramble pretty quickly for spot-removal to put an end to that nonsense.
I tend to think something like this could be a lot of fun to play because it is like a "beginners" deck and takes no thought to play:
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Priest of Titania
2 Thelonite Druid
4 Elvish Archers
3 River Boa
1 Lhurgoyf
2 Child of Gaea
2 Rhox
2 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Verdant Force
1 Hurricane
2 Rancor
2 Gaea's Blessing
1 Tranquility
1 Desert Twister
2 Sylvan Library
1 Rowen
1 An-Havva Inn
1 Collective Unconscious
24 Forests
1 Gaea's Cradle
There is something to be said for having turns that go "Draw - Play Land - Attack - Play Creatures - Go". Very little thought goes into this deck, but being aggressive in nature, it can sometimes just win.
Defending some card choices:
Gaea's Blessing - in my play group, you NEED recursion. 2 is probably enough, but decking happens sometimes. Gaea's Blessing + Sylvan Library + Rowen = good if it ever comes down to that.
An-Havva Inn - the Green congregate. Life gain is something that every group game needs. Too much is obviously dumb.
I played Thelonite Druid alot back in the days. Problem with it is that there is a decent amount of instant-mass-creaturekill that leaves you with no land nowadays.
My built isn´t as "beginner" as it might look although it is about a beginner´s theme. Your deck looks much like the usual deck I referred to while discussing the differences.
I just remembered that there is a card in Weatherlight which lets you draw a card for each creature card in your grave. It´s a sorcery for about four mana. I can´t remember if your opponents get to draw cards, too. I think it would be worth adding in either deck. Can anybody confirm the card?
Nature's Resurgence. I think it affects everyone.
A portuguese Nature´s Resurgeance is in the mail now, also I added a Kavu Lair. Both cards should give this deck tremendous stayingpower in longer games.