Mono-Green in the format

[(nameless one)]

Outside Survival, Krosan Grip and the infamous Goyf, Green doesnt really offer that much in the format (unfortunately) :(

Outside Elf Variants, are there any other viable mono-green decks in the format? What makes these mono-green decks work in the format?

Discuss.

[jrsthethird]

Berserk Stompy

[Skeggi]

There are ofcourse the 8/10 land stompy (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?15020-[Deck]-Berserk-Stompy) decks which exploit Kavu Predator in combination with cards like Invigorate and Berserk. Next to this, there's a Green Stompy deck with Chalice I believe commonly named Garruk Stompy (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?14341-[Deck]-Mono-Green-Chalice-Aggro). They're all not exactly tier 1 decks, but fun nonetheless.

[jazzykat]

Mono-Green Chalice aggro is awesome but hurts for consistency sometimes.

[DrJones]

Turbo-fog.

[rockout]

Turbo-fog.

/thread

[troopatroop]

Elf Survival. You forgot Natural Order.

[Eldariel]

Honestly, most of the played engines in the format right now are green. Looking at what's played:

Green:
Life from the Loam
Survival of the Fittest
Natural Order
Sylvan Library
(Glimpse of Nature & Enchantress) - fringe

Blue:
Counterbalance
Standstill
Intuition
Show and Tell
(Dream Halls)

Black:
Storm-combo stuff (Ad Nauseam, Ill-Gotten Gains, Doomsday)
Reanimation (Reanimate/Exhume/whatever)

Red:
Goblins (Matron/Ringleader)

White:
Wait, it's still a color?


Hell, between Goyfs, various Bant & Naya-creatures, etc. green is pretty ubiquitous right now. Doesn't hurt that it also happens to have a number of good hate-cards against blue. Of course, that doesn't really help with mono-green, but that's really just a symptom of the fact that mono-ANYTHING is doing quite poorly in Legacy right now. You just gain too little from going mono compared to playing 65 colors and a few splashes. Like, Countertop is nice, but why not play Goyf? It helps with your worst MUs (all low-curve aggro that slips under your Counterbalance and has game with it in play still), gives you a fast-enough clock to beat combo and so on. Storm is nice, but why not play some nice tutors, library manipulation and so on? Life from the Loam is nice, but better combine it with a color that can find it and some utility cards to use all those lands in play and hand. And sure, StP is a good card, but mite as well play a blue/green shell with it rather than play the white guys.

The power of cards you gain from multicolor just far outweighs the Stifle/Wasteland-vulnerability (which is why it's so strong in the format, I guess) and various other nonbasic hate. Hell, said colors can often provide answers to said hate. Oh, and then there's that Iona which is pretty good against mono-colored decks but not very amazing against anything with more than two colors. Though that's, of course, no reason but more of a nice side effect of playing a bunch of colors. Only few linears are strong enough to outweigh the bonus power of cards from multiple colors and even in those linears, small splashes generally improve the whole (see: Goyf in Merfolk, Black Gobs and Weirding in Goblins, etc.).

[jrsthethird]

Unless your deck is 4 Goyf and 56 Forest I doubt any of those qualify as mono-green.

[TooCloseToTheSun]

Unless your deck is 4 Goyf and 56 Forest I doubt any of those qualify as mono-green.

What are you talking about?

[wcm8]

Enchantress functions with both white and green as its main colors. And it doesn't use Tarmogoyf or Swords to Plowshares. Most of the cards are pretty linear, but it's still a competitive deck.

edit: Eldariel hit the nail on the head when he said that splashing multiple colors is in general better than going mono-anything. And it's not hard to do it with the available card pool in Legacy (fetchlands, duals, etc.)

[jrsthethird]

What are you talking about?

OP asked for mono-green decks. So giving him a list of tools that happen to be in green is not answering his question.

Maybe he likes green and can't afford to splash a color? Or maybe he just really likes green? Or maybe he's just posing a question about the format, but your post doesn't address it at all.

[Antonius]

Natural Order Stompy is probably the best mono green deck besides elves

[(nameless one)]

Its not that I wanna make a mono-green deck.

Each color somehow has that mono-color deck that actually works. White has Quinn, D&T, Rabid Wombat (if you still count that deck), Blue has MUC, Merfolk, Sea Stompy, Ninja-Still variant. Black has MBC, MBA, Pox, even The Gate is on the rise (although I just see that as a MBA variant). Red has Goblins, Dragon Stompy and that occassional Burn. Somehow, It looks like Green only has Elves and the rest of Green are only good for splashing.

All but green has something that can be utilized in the format by itself. Goyfs are good because they're splashable to other colors. But by itself in a mono-green deck, can it really deal that much damage? Can it actually be game-changing? See my point here?

[troopatroop]

If you don't count the Mirror Entity, Anger, Squee, and Progenitus, Elf Survival is a very real Tier 2 Mono Green deck.

[jrsthethird]

If you don't count the Mirror Entity, Anger, Squee, and Progenitus, Elf Survival is a very real Tier 2 Mono Green deck.

The deck can be run with only Forests so it's not really a stretch.

[TooCloseToTheSun]

OP asked for mono-green decks. So giving him a list of tools that happen to be in green is not answering his question.

Maybe he likes green and can't afford to splash a color? Or maybe he just really likes green? Or maybe he's just posing a question about the format, but your post doesn't address it at all.

Oh, when you actually address points others made it makes sense but the way I read your statement was that the only mono green deck was 4 goyf and 56 forests and that statement would have been idiotic. Also Eldariel wasn't listing tools he was listing current engines decks are using and pointing out that a majority of them are green.

[troopatroop]

The deck can be run with only Forests so it's not really a stretch.

Actually this is False, You need Taigas and Savannahs for Anger and Mirror Entity respectively. + Fetches.

[DrJones]

Actually this is False, You need Taigas and Savannahs for Anger and Mirror Entity respectively. + Fetches.I understood it as that it's possible to build a survival elf deck without Anger and Mirror Entity.

[troopatroop]

Not an optimal one! You don't want HASTE?! That's dumb.

EDIT: Mirror Entity is admittedly cuttable. Taigas at least.

[jrsthethird]

Actually this is False, You need Taigas and Savannahs for Anger and Mirror Entity respectively. + Fetches.

Birchlore Rangers gives you access to off-color mana.

Although I forgot that you need an actual Mountain in the bin for Anger to work, so touche.