Mono green chalice aggro/stompy - initial brainstorming

[Moroklumpen]

Green has gotten some really strong cards in the last few sets, and the stars may be right for mono green stompy to break out and establish itself as a viable deck. However, I'm not entirely sure what's the best way to build it. The way I see it, there are several approaches one could take.

My main inspiration is the chalice aggro deck written about here and here. However, it's been two years and two blocks since then, and the toys we received in the meantime have been pretty darn exciting. I'd love to update the deck for the current legacy meta.

There are several cards that could potentially make the deck, depending on which direction we want to take it in.

The most obvious contender is Green Sun's Zenith. Already a proven legacy card, it allows us to extend our toolbox with a number of one-ofs and use Dryad Arbor as acceleration. If the game goes really long, it can even fetch Progenitus if we keep the Natural Order package (which I think we should, but feel free to argue otherwise).

The next candidate is Thrun, the Last Troll. A house against control, a solid roadblock against aggro and a reasonable clock when you need to kill a combo player before he goes off. I'm pretty sure he has a place if the deck turns out to be viable.

From Dark Ascension we have Strangleroot Geist. Against any non-combo deck without Swords to Plowshares this guy should be solid. Unfortunately, that makes him very meta dependent. Also, having double green on turn two or three is an issue in a deck with Wasteland and Ancient Tomb. However, decks like Zoo, Merfolk, RUG tempo, Team America, Eva Green and The Gate could be in trouble with this guy if he resolves.

Next we have two of my best friends: Fauna Shaman and Vengevine. They may be playable separately, but their obvious synergy makes me want them together if at all possible. Fauna Shaman basically turns all our creatures into Green Sun's Zeniths, except when they come back because they are angry plants. Shaman also allows us to discard a naturally drawn Progenitus so we can shuffle it in and play Natural Order. Vengevine is at its best against the same decks as Strangleroot Geist, but he shines against counterspells and recurring more than one at a time allows us to power through Swords and other removal.

Terastodon is a great alternative to Progenitus if we come up against some problem that can't be solved by a huge fatty. Multiple lock pieces, the threat of a combo kill or a lethal alpha strike can all be solved by distributing elephants as needed. He can also be hardcast if games go long. Probably a sideboard card, but consider your metagame.

If we go for a more toolbox-oriented version with Zenith and/or Fauna Shaman, we should consider Eternal Witness and Viridian Shaman. Witness allows us to rebuy our favorite threat or answer, and Viridian Shaman allows us to blow up problematic artifacts for two less mana than Wickerbough Elder. Something to keep in mind.

If we want a cheap creature that works as both a beater and disruptive element we have Phyrexian Revoker. I'm not sure how good it could be, but I figured it deserves mention at least. It should have targets against just about every deck except burn.

We also got some new swords to play with. Of the new ones, Sword of Feast and Famine is the best in a vacuum, but in an aggro heavy meta, Sword of War and Peace could have a place. Sword of Body and Mind has already seen legacy play under the moniker "Sword of protection from Tarmogoyf and Merfolk" and could absolutely be a good meta call.

I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts about Garruk Relentless. The original seemed to fit really well in Keller's version of the deck, and it'll take a lot to replace it, but the relentless one does offer removal, tutoring, token making and an overrun effect. What do you think?

A pet card of mine that I'd love to fit in is Masked Admirers. As a card advantage engine and recurring threat I think it could be a pretty good sideboard card against control decks. I know it sounds far fetched, but think it over. If you have tested it or know something better that fills a similar role, let me know.

Beast Within answers just about any permanent; the beast token shouldn't normally be a huge problem. If played along with Acidic Slime, it allows us take out basic lands and tighten the mana screw even on decks that run lots of basics.

A version that focuses more on aggression and less on disruption and resilience could conceivably play cards like Leatherback Baloth, Dungrove Elder and Skyshroud Elite, but I think those would work better in a budget version without Wastelands and Tombs, which would mean a very different deck. I won't discuss those unless someone thinks I'm wrong on that count, but I figured I'd mention them.

I'll post my first stab at an actual decklist when I've hammered out the initial kinks, but I figured I'd throw this thing out and see if anyone has any comments or suggestions.

[zathe922]

i have been tinkering with a mono green chalice deck using ice storm, wasteland, beast within, argothian wurm ,terravore, tarmogoyf and garruk 1.0. It runs quite well.

[Michael Keller]

For reference.

[Moroklumpen]

Thanks! For some reason I got the idea that the thread stopped after a couple of pages. I may have switched to reading the tournament report (which is way shorter) and forgotten it was not the main thread. Since resurrecting old threads is considered impolite on most forums I decided to start a new one.

[paeng4983]

Since resurrecting old threads is considered impolite on most forums I decided to start a new one.

I think, resurrecting it with a valid reason is just fine rather than posting "what happened to this.." kind of question. :-)

Im still using the deck (though I named it GSA). And the last time I used it was three weeks ago wherein i had a 3-1-1 record. And as of the moment, my latest tweaks were:
I added GSZ, thrun, scryb ranger. And with the addition of Dark ascension, I might consider Predator ooze for this deck. Then I lessen/ removed snakes (riverboa and mireboa)*, jitte, spwan, ice storm and finks.

* = my build before does not use tarmos. Instead, I have 4 riverboa and 3 mireboa

[dr.philgood]

Here is the List i have been toying around with
Pros: it's a mono-green list that has a chance against combo game 1
Cons: well its still a mono-green deck, and this is an eternal format

Although you don't have as much disruption as the Red stompy decks you do have better beaters, and with thrun, and troll ascetic you have some beaters that don't die to blockers/targeted removal
My sideboard is probibly not the best, maily because i don't really take the deck that seriously, but it is fun, and it probably is the best, non-elf, mono-green deck in the format. (yeah like that's saying a lot)
I think cutting a Nobel hierch for another sword would be good, and maybe a Pridemage/teeg in the side would be the right call, IDK you decide.

// Lands
2 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
1 Dryad Arbor
6 Forest
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
//\\
// Creatures
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Troll Ascetic
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Progenitus
//\\
// Spells
2 Sylvan Library
3 Trinisphere
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Natural Order
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Chrome Mox
1 Umezawa's Jitte
//\\
// Sideboard
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Krosan Grip
4 Tormod's Crypt
4 Faerie Macabre
3 Dismember