[Casual] Mono Green Pattern

INTRO:

while i've been trying to get more and more into the legacy scene (or any competitive magic scene for that matter), i'll probably always been an extremely casual player at heart. i've always gotten the most enjoyment out of magic when i'm playing a deck that doesn't win more, but rather has really cool card interactions, and is just plain fun to play.

that being said, i've decided to post the decklist and a small analysis for some of of my favorite casual decks. mostly, i just want to get the lists out to people outside of my tight-knit playgroup, in hopes of some constructive criticism.

first off, i present you with a mono-green pattern of rebirth aggro-combo deck. it's not the most original idea, but i feel like it has a lot of personal touches (pet cards) that set it apart. at the very least, it's hella fun to play. i'd like to say that this list is fairly 'optimized,' but i'm not sure if that's a word i should throw around in regards to casual decks. in short, it's a very old deck of mine that has gone through a million and one transformations, of which, this seems to be my favorite.

DECKLIST:

creatures
4x diligent farmhand
4x krosan wayfarer
4x heart warden
4x yavimaya elder

combo pieces
4x bequeathal
4x pattern of rebirth

rebirth targets
4x thorn elemental
1x thriss, nantuko primus
1x multani, maro-sorcerer

utility
2x squallmonger
1x seton, krosan protector

other spells
4x muscle burst

lands
1x pendelhaven
2x yavimaya hollow
2x treetop village
4x hickory woodlot
14x forest

DECK STRATEGY & CARD EXPLANATIONS:

basically, it's a creature based combo deck, and the idea is to enchant a creature that has the ability to sacrifice itself with pattern of rebirth with the intent of tutoring up a thorn elemental for the win. thorn elemental is the pretty obvious target for the rebirth, but i've included a tool box of other targets, should the situation call for it:

multani, maro-sorcerer is the obvious rebirth target in multiplayer games. also, he's usually my first choice against red and black decks, or anything i know is packing creature removal. he can't be hit with muscle burst, but that's a small price to pay for keeping him around. thriss, nantuko primus is only in the deck because he's such a baller. his combat tricks aren't as varied as they used to be before the rules change, but at the very least he turns thorn elemental into a 12/12, which is pretty nasty. i'll only ever tutor for thriss if i already have an elemental or two on the field, or i'm holding one in my hand. seton, krosan protector isn't so much a target because he's a beater, but he makes it really easy to hardcast the beaters i end up with in my hand, so long as the field is stacked with little guys (all sixteen of which are druids). he's only ever a rebirth target if i'm holding a ton of beaters in my hand. squallmonger is the deck's narrow protection from flying creatures, and the occasional battlefield stalemate breaker. when i first built the deck, she was a four of, but i quickly realized that was a mistake, so i dropped the count to two. i could probably stand to drop the count to one, but i'd really rather draw into her, than have to tutor for her, and that leads me to my next point...

the deck has an insane amount of card-drawing potential, especially for green. in an ideal combo scenario i have a yavimaya elder enchanted with a bequeathal and a pattern of rebirth. activating the elder's "draw a card" ability will net five cards: one from the ability itself, two basic lands from his triggered ability, and two cards off the top of the library from bequeathal's trigger. pretty solid.

yavimaya elder isn't the only target for patterns though, all sixteen druids can sacrifice themselves with different applications. krosan wayfarer allows the deck to perform at it's fastest. leading off with a [cards]hickory woodlot[cards] followed by two turns of forests means that we can sacrifice wayfarer on turn three, netting a pretty early thorn elemental. also, with a hand full of lands off a dead elder, it means we have a little land acceleration as well. for a while, i tried spore frog in the deck for more consistency at landing a turn three elemental, but i didn't like the flavor (no card advantage, not a druid, no mana accel). heart warden is (admittedly) a pet card of mine, and not a very ideal target for pattern, but she works in a pinch, and is a llanowar elf a turn slower at the very worst. diligent farmhand is the last pattern enabler, and a pretty lulzy one at that. he helps accelerate land counts, and buffs muscle bursts (duh) to help thorn elemental swing through for even more unblockable damage.

toss bequeathal into the mix on any of these guys, and let the card drawing begin. it took me a long time to stumble across bequeathal, but since the decks sweaty conception, it's been the best supplement.

as far as the mana base goes, i'll admit i'm a total sucker for non-basic lands; they're easily my favorite cards in the game. not many of my choices here need an explanation, but here we go anyway:

pendelhave is strictly better than a forest if you're not worried about wasteland. it also has interactions with my little dudes. another pet card of mine. yavimaya hollow acts as a bit of protection against removal, in the event of pressure on your beaters. treetop village is just a champ no matter how you look at it, and hickory woodlot (i love all the masque's lands) allows us to "combo off" a turn earlier than we should be able to.

PROBLEMS & HOLES:

because it's just a casual deck, and a pet of mine, i tend to just straight up ignore it's shortcomings, but there are a few:

- the deck pretty much scoops to any sort of creature removal. if the opponent can burn out my sacrifice outlets, then they shut the whole thing down. if my beater hits the board, only to get tossed out a turn later, it's really hard to come back from. that being said, there's a pretty small back-up aggro plan, but it's hard to swarm with little 1/1 druids, even after muscle burst. this is definitely the deck's biggest problem, and something i just can't seem to solve. any ideas?

- it's mono-green, which means it back literally know control. it's entirely at the mercy of the opponent, and very much prefers to play against a deck that it can straight-up race. as far as criticism on this point goes, i'm extremely opposed to splashing for another color.

- flying creatures are a problem, and while green has quite a few answers to dudes with wings, none of them are very impressive. squallmonger is my defense of choice here because i can tutor for her, but i'm sure there are choices that are leaps and bounds better. if you know of any, let me know.

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comments and criticisms are, as always, greatly appreciated. if you can think of any cards that look like they should be auto-includes, or cool playtest fodder, don't hesitate to toss 'em my way.

Sakura-Tribe Elder is beautiful with Pattern.

Answer to flying creatures should be Arashi, the Sky Asunder, Cloudthresher or Chancellor of the Tangle. Last one seems to be the best choice since it does something even from your starting hand and looks realy brutal.

I'd almost just say forget the muscle bursts. I'd try to fit in Tribe-Elder. I'd get rid of stuff like muscle bursts and bequethal for Sylvan Library and maybe a couple Worldly Tutors, they're not that much really. Thorn Elemental's such a badass if he gets through, it'd really be nice to have some Sword of Light & Shadows to run with your Tribe-Elder and Pattern of Rebirth too, the idea of passing through damage for free would be perfect with that equipment and it'd keep your life steady. Otherwise, Deathrender could work in a similar way. I'd even try to fit in like ~2 Harmonize to keep your card draw up. Give it a shot.

The obvious route to improvement that I can think of is just making your Pattern'd creatures that much better. A 7/7 is cool, but Emrakul is better. Or Progenitus. Or Iona. You're not restricted on mana, and your little sacrifice dudes are going to be doing quite a bit of mana fixing on their own so branching out to white or something might be worth doing. If you do this, you can also run Quasali Pridemage in the main, which is a cheap, awesome creature that fits the general strategy of the deck AND can answer threatening enchantments.

EDIT: Also, Tooth and Nail might be a fun way to get some redundancy in the deck.

Something I've been thinking of with this deck...given how priority works, wouldn't this combo essentially be...to an extent, unable to be dealt with?

Say you play pattern on your Krosan Wayfarer, you resolve the pattern (assume this is true and always possible for my question), you then have priority to do something. You sacrifice Krosan Wayfarer, which can't be responded to because you had priority and it's an activation cost, so with that activation cost, Pattern would then be put into the graveyard as it would have nothing to enchant.

From my understanding, there is no time between playing and activating Krosan Wayfarer for someone to Krosan Grip the Pattern. Unless somehow Pattern stays in play after Krosan Wayfarer hits the graveyard long enough to be hit but, I don't believe that to be the case.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by evanmartyr

The obvious route to improvement that I can think of is just making your Pattern'd creatures that much better. A 7/7 is cool, but Emrakul is better. Or Progenitus. Or Iona. You're not restricted on mana, and your little sacrifice dudes are going to be doing quite a bit of mana fixing on their own so branching out to white or something might be worth doing. If you do this, you can also run Quasali Pridemage in the main, which is a cheap, awesome creature that fits the general strategy of the deck AND can answer threatening enchantments.

EDIT: Also, Tooth and Nail might be a fun way to get some redundancy in the deck.

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with most of my casual decks, I like to keep all of my card borders the same (old format), so that and my moral opposition to emrakul, lock creatures like him out. as far as other colors go, that thought never entered my mind, as stupid as that sounds. time to dig back through my boxes, for more baddies.