Green Beatdown Deck -- I Need Advice!

[jonbrown111]

Hey guys, this is my first post here. A little back-story: I've been playing magic for over a decade and I quit purchasing new cards awhile after Mercadian Masques came out. I have always been a casual player and never cared for playing type 2. I simply was not happy with a company that made a product with planned obsolescence, forcing me to spend tons of money on a good deck, only to have to trash it and make a new one after 6 months when the product became obsolete.

Last week I found a place in Atlanta that holds legacy tournaments, so I started to play again. I brought a green beatdown deck called Overrun to the tourney and made top 8 with it.

Here is the deck list:

Land:

4 Treetop Village
14 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Pendelhaven

Creature:
4 Pouncing Jaguar
4 Simian Grunts
4 River Boa
4 Priest of Titania
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Lyrist
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Yavimaya Ants

Spells:

2 Giant Growth
3 Might of Oaks
4 Rancor
2 Overrun
2 Hurricane

I was thinking of taking out overrun and hurricane and replacing them with 2 wild dogs and 2 more giant growth. Overrun and hurricane are fun cards, and can be powerful, but I didn't use either of them once that entire tournament. These big spells are easy targets to get countered.

I can pin-point a few weaknesses:

1) Tarmogoyf. This card is in every deck, and all the games I lost were because of this creature. I would love to have 4 of them, but I'm not interested blowing $150 bucks.

2) Red burn decks can out-race my defenses and kill my creatures.

3) Blue/white can counter-spell my stuff or swords to plowshares it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Also, I am looking for some sideboard cards. Here is what I was thinking:

- I need something to cope with red burn (life gaining?)
- I need creature destruction (to kill tramogoyf)
- I need something to defend against countermagic (wasn't there a creature from tempest block that was un-counterable?)


Sorry if this post is kinda long. Thanks for any advice anyone may have. I'd greatly appreciate it!

[Isamaru]

My anti-Tarmogoyf weapon of choice in Green is Thornweald Archer.

I will come back if I have any more suggestions I can think of for ya.

[jonbrown111]

My anti-Tarmogoyf weapon of choice in Green is Thornweald Archer.

I will come back if I have any more suggestions I can think of for ya.


Thanks for the tip. I will get me some copies of that card. It seems excellent for killing tarmogoyf, but seems less useful in most other situations (Simian Grunts is a 3/4 that can be played as an instant and can kill most creatures).

Maybe this makes a good sideboard card, for when I know someone is playing tarogoyf?

[The Legacy Weapon]

If you are going straight green, I would suggest Troll Ascetic. That guy is hard as hell to get rid of. Harmonize is also a nice green draw spell.

[Isamaru]

Although it is slightly weaker than something you could get for the same cost (perhaps a 3/3), its abilities are much more useful.

In the current format, a 3/4 won't be killing anything important except Nimble Mongoose. I'd still prefer Troll Ascetic to it, because costing 6 is simply too much.

Another answer to Tarmogoyf in Green I've used is Briarhorn.

Play only 3 Treetop Village, as they will clog up your early game otherwise.

If you want to keep the elf theme, go for all elves or make them useful. Otherwise, take out Priest for something more helpful here.

[Nydaeli]

I don't think you can take very good advantage of Priest of Titania. I'd suggest Fyndhorn Elves or maybe Rofellos in its place.

Also, combo is going to be very difficutl. But I don't know what to do against it except boarding in something antisynergistic like Chalice or Trinisphere.

[The Legacy Weapon]

I use Trolls and Loxodon Warhammers in my build and I also run Call of the Herd. Call is nice when you save the flashback for after a Wrath effect. 3 Treetop Village is the way to go. That is the number I run. You may even look into using Ravenous Baloth and Garruk Wildspeaker. The lifegain off that could be very handy.

[Team-Hero]

A budget card to hose down counter-magic is Gaea's Herald.

Against burn I would run Kitchen Finks or Ravenous Baloth.

Against Tarmogoyf, you can always try Meekstone and Orb of Dreams. Side out all your 3+ power guys and add these two artifacts in. It doesn't seem too viable but it's the best I can come up with right now. I'll think of something better later.

[xsockmonkeyx]

Hello, welcome to the source.

Some ideas:


If countermagic is bothering you, then try Aether Vial. The card is really good in decks with this many creatures anyway.

This deck needs Umezawa's Jitte. The card is awesome in aggro, and you have tons of expendable creatures to build up counters with. Against burn it gains you life to buy time, and protects the equipped critter.

If you like River Boa, then you might be interested in Mire Boa. Same thing but swampwalk.

I will second (or third) the Thornweald Archer suggestion. You could also try Ohran Viper. He is also poisonous and draws cards.

Mishra's Factory>>>Treetop Village. You should only consider Village if you already have 4 Factories in your deck.

Check out THIS (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8860) thread. Its an excellent resource for your sideboard considerations.


EDIT:

Here are some other mono green threads you might get ideas from:

#1 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8887)
#2 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5044)
#3 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7674)
#4 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6972)
#5 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6499)

[Clark Kant]

There's a crapload of solid green beaters, better than most of the dudes in your deck, printed in recent sets worth playing.

Just morningtide alone brought you Kitchen Finks and that 3/4 dude for three mana and the 3/3 haster for 3 mana, all as uncommons. Not to mention the 3cc pump spells +4/+4 trampler that also lets you assign a blocker of your choice (removal + pump) in one.

I would play four of each of those before playing Pouncing Jaguar, Simian Grunt or Yavimaya Ants.

I would also drop all of the artifact and instant removal creatures entirely. With the many slots that you free up, play 4 Krosan Grip and use the remaining slots for more creatures.

[Mordenkaynen]

I would also drop all of the artifact and instant removal creatures entirely. With the many slots that you free up, play 4 Krosan Grip and use the remaining slots for more creatures.
Or use living wish (not very good for a budget deck): it can call loaming shaman, artifact or enchantment removal, any anti-goyf tool, farm vs control and anything you can imagine.

[jonbrown111]

Just morningtide alone brought you Kitchen Finks and that 3/4 dude for three mana and the 3/3 haster for 3 mana, all as uncommons. Not to mention the 3cc pump spells +4/+4 trampler that also lets you assign a blocker of your choice (removal + pump) in one.

Do you know the names of those cards?


I would play four of each of those before playing Pouncing Jaguar, Simian Grunt or Yavimaya Ants.


Pouncing jaguar is cheap and efficent, simian grunts can be played on their turn and kill a creature, or force them to tap out countering it. Yavimaya is good because its fast and powerful with haste.

[jonbrown111]

Hello, welcome to the source.

Some ideas:


If countermagic is bothering you, then try Aether Vial. The card is really good in decks with this many creatures anyway.

This deck needs Umezawa's Jitte. The card is awesome in aggro, and you have tons of expendable creatures to build up counters with. Against burn it gains you life to buy time, and protects the equipped critter.

If you like River Boa, then you might be interested in Mire Boa. Same thing but swampwalk.

I will second (or third) the Thornweald Archer suggestion. You could also try Ohran Viper. He is also poisonous and draws cards.

Mishra's Factory>>>Treetop Village. You should only consider Village if you already have 4 Factories in your deck.

Check out THIS (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8860) thread. Its an excellent resource for your sideboard considerations.


EDIT:

Here are some other mono green threads you might get ideas from:

#1 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8887)
#2 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5044)
#3 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7674)
#4 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6972)
#5 (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6499)


Thanks, I'll look up all those cards.

[jonbrown111]

Thanks to everyone who wrote back. I will consider the cards you have given me. I guess I am out of touch lately, because I haven't a clue what any of those cards are. But thanks for giving me the names of some top-quality new shit that I can throw in the deck.

But still... Urza's block is my favorite. I thought that was overpowered as hell.