Subject: Advice wanted on "Verdant Geddon" deck idea Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 10:27:41 -0800 From: Corey Cole Newsgroups: TheDojo.strategy I came up with a new deck idea the other day based on the outrageously powerful but almost impossible to cast Verdant Force. The basic idea is to survive the early game while getting out several alternative mana sources (diamonds, Wall of Roots, and Vineyards), then sac something (probably a Wall) to Natural Order for a Force. Somewhere along the line use one or more Armageddons to disrupt the opponent's game plan. A similar deck could be built with Buried Alive and Necromancy or Animate Dead. Anyway, I put the deck together and tried it out against my wife's black weenie with Hyppies. The new deck shows promise but doesn't quite manage the early board control yet. I'd like to find room for a few more creatures or find some better control options. All advice is appreciated. Here's the current form (I built a sideboard, but didn't use it in the practice play): 5 Forest 2 Plains 3 Grasslands 3 Vec Townships 1 Savannah (all I own, although I could borrow at least 1-2 more) 2 Moss Diamond 4 Marble Diamond I mostly had enough land. Thawing Glaciers seems like a good addition, in which case I might want one more basic Forest and one more basic Plains. The Vec Townships seem to work well, as I don't generally mind the one-turn penalty when I really need colored mana. (In the practice games, I always used them for colorless.) Wastelands and/or Mishra's Factories might be a good addition. I don't think the deck will suffer greatly by turning the Savannah into another Vec or Brushlands for Type 2. 4 Armageddon 4 Eladamri's Vineyard These seem almost contradictory, but don't actually work badly together. Frequently the opponent can't use the green mana, whereas it helps this deck continue past the 'geddon. A problem I was running into was in using the Vineyard in the early game, sometimes Lori managed to get a bunch of stuff out (or drive a Dark Banishing) with the green mana, making the Armageddon planned for the next turn a bad idea. 3 Cursed Scroll (I have a 4th in another deck I could add) 2 Sylvan Library 2 Icy Manipulator (could become Puppet Strings for Type 2. They also might be useful for untapping a Verdant Force. But the Icy can tap a land or Artifact if needed.) 1 Dense Foliage (not sure if this works well in this deck. Would a couple of Flickering Wards make more sense?) 2 Gaea's Blessing 2 Honorable Passage (Natural Spring might be better, but effectively costs a turn of mana production. I might switch one or both to Springs.) 2 Creeping Mold (I'm not sure about these, but they seem prudent vs. combo decks and serves as a post-'geddon land restrictor.) 4 Natural Order (essential to the deck. Would 3 be enough though?) 4 Verdant Force (key card, but 2 or 3 might be enough.) 4 Wall of Roots 4 Jolrael's Centaur (survive the early game, can sac to get a Verdant Force) 1 Kaysa (didn't work well in the games I played, but seems like a great idea for pumping the Force tokens. Might go up to 2.) 1 Dirtcowl Wurm (not useful in the games I played, but seems good with Armageddon. Might take this out.) I think I need a little more creature control or more creatures. Wrath of God is good but needs two white mana (may not be a problem with the above mana sources.) I'd like to have 2-3 Flickering Wards in the deck. The basic idea is to try to keep a Verdant Force alive at least a turn or two to build some tokens. They can be recycled via Gaea's Blessing. Flyers and Shadow creatures were killing me in the games vs. Lori's deck. I have Hurricanes in the sideboard, but what else might work here? Of course, there are the basic black hosers (Light of Day, CoP: Black, Lifeforce, and so on). Suggestions please? -- ******************************************************* * There are just two kinds of people in this world: * * Those who divide everybody into two kinds * * And those who don't. I'm the third kind. * * -- Corey Cole * *******************************************************