Subject: green
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 10:54:02 EDT
From: RBatta1234@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

Yo,

        with the mirage block rotating out i thought i would share my thoughts on
mono-green after 3 months of testing it as a side project to CounterPhoenix
and in my playtest guantlet.  here is the best deck i came up with:

"GGD" (good green deck)

4 llanowar elves
4 wild growth
4 RIVER BOA -best critter in type 2, one of the best ever
4 uktabi orangutang
1 mirri, cat warrior
4 trained armadon
4 stampeding wildebeests
3 verdant force
4 natural order
4 unyaro bee-tings
2 sylvan library - key

4 quicksand
18 forest - i think this is enough, maybe 1 or 2 more

no wasteland, this deck doesnt really take advantage of opponents mana screw
enough to make stunting your own mana devolopment worth while, IMHO

SB: varies incredibly depending on the metagame
4 spike feeder
4 lhurgoyf*
2 creeping mold
3 scragnoth
2 hall of gemstone

* - people say this is scrubby waste of 4 sideboard slots, and i admit that
they were originally just put in here becuase i needed something to fill these
4 slots 5 mins before the tourney. Ironically they won more games single-
handedly than any other card in my sideboard.  when i put them in the maindeck
they were only so-so, too slow against some decks and only useful
occasionally.

well that's about it.  it's overall pretty simple. some of the idea's were my
own, like the 'stings (which it appears Wakefield has also discovered the
power of those) and others were thought up by my fellow mono-green
collaborators who have shared there idea's online, most notably Seth Burn,
Chris Warren, and most importently Jamie Wakefield. i have to give him credit
for the secret force engine.  i took the land destruction out of the deck and
added in the SFE (tm) and brought the winning percentage from 60% to 75%. i
played this exact version at 2 tourney's and finished 3-0-1 after the swiss in
both making the the top 4 cut, then losing to the first seed both times in the
semi's( beating  2 sligh's, 2 cuneo blue, 1 recurring nightmare/ SotF, 1
suicide black,  1 tradewind deck, and losing in the semi's both times to my
teamate playing an oath of druids which i designed and let him borrow before
the tourney).  also before i go, here is a mono-green deck i used to win an
$500 unsanctioned type 1 tourney at my cousin's college in Albany:

"Slam"  (slug + ham = slam)

4 llanowar elves - beta, had a different wording back then
4 fyndhorn elves
4 wild growth - beta
2 sex monkey
4 yavimaya ants
3 spitting slug
4 erhnam djinn - arabian
1 force of nature - beta, old skool
4 winter's grasp
4 thermokarst
4 ice storm - beta
1 regrowth - german BB, i have the beta i just like this one better
1 black vice -if you could use 4 LD decks like this and nether
void/sinkhole/juzam etc. would be the too powerful IMHO wizards was smart to
restrict this.

1 wasteland - trust me you dont need any more, unless you play cartographer.
good sideboard option
1 strip mine - beta
1 pendelhaven
1 sol ring
1 mox emerald
1 black lotus
14 forest - arena, i choose those over the beta and the japanese tempest

this deck is fun and powerful, i could be assembled for $20 if you replace the
ice storms with 'molds, and all the foreign/beta with regulars, but that
wouldnt be fun
besides i won them all in tourney's anyway, it's not like i wasted my money on
them.

peace,

Matt Battaglia