Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 19:00:02 -0700 (PDT) From: David Subject: Cold Undergrowth Hi, maybe you've seen my Turbo-Buried Alive deck on this page. Well, just ignore it. See, someone told me (thanks again...) the most interesting combo in the deck (Colossus of Sardia + Dance of the Dead) doesn't work. You must pay 10B to untap the damn critter. Well, to make it up for this stupid mistake of mine, I've decided to share a deck that won me the last two local tournaments. Don't get excited, this a very small tourney, so it's hard to tell how well the deck would do in a bigger (read: more dangerous) environment, but still, I've met a nice variety of decks, and this deck can beat them all. It's been more than inspired by 'Senor Stompy' (Paul Gallagher) and the monogreen designed by Al Sousa that won some state championship (his gilrfriend won the tourney with his deck!!). I've changed some creatures, though, and I think my sideboard is pretty strong against the current t2 environment, whatever your local metagame looks like. Tell me what you think. Here we go, cards and comments: 16 forests 4 quicksands // against creatureless decks, I often sideboarded out 1 or 2 quicksands. The deck does as well with 18 lands. I suddenly realized it was a possibility in the middle of the last tournament, while looking for what to sideboard out (I always know what to put in, I don't like to pull anything out). 4 elves 3 quirion rangers // the mana boosters, the usual 1st turn critters. And don't forget the obvious combo (yes, this one *does* work :-) spectral bear + quirion. 4 river boa // many people are still playing blue. Tough, heh. What do you know, sometimes these guys get countered!! (sure. well I'll cast a centaur then) 4 spectral bear // many people are beginning to play black again. Tough, heh. See rangers. 4 jolrael centaur // these guys are the nightmare of... well, every color out there. W has to wrath, U (or B) has to disk, R has to pyroclasm or earthquake, etc... Which reminds me: once this guy is out, let them deal with it before casting anything else. It'll often mean a wrath less to worry about. So why don't I play with deadly insects you ask? Outpost tokens, that's why. 4 yavimaya ants // here come the plows... the nice thing about this deck is that pretty much every creature is a menace. It keeps the opponent under constant pressure. "Should I plow/incinerate that, or is there something bigger coming??" He he. 2 lhurgoyf 2 maro // actually, these are the real plow drawers. Against post, sideboard them out after the first game. You'll notice your ants suddenly get through much more often ("... or is there something bigger coming??") 4 giant growth // annoying card. For your opponent, that is. Be careful, though, I've been fooled more than once in playing it too fast, then my elf is plowed or incinerated in response... When the opponent is tapped out is a good time. 2 serrated arrows 2 creeping mold 2 hurricane 3 winter orb // this is principally where my deck differs from "Senor Stompy". I don't believe in all creature decks. The arrows are nice against other green decks, you'll always find some target for the molds, the hurricane are a nice game finisher (no they're not here to get rid of flyers, though they can do that too), and the orbs disrupt pretty much any kind of deck out there (besides this one, that is). And here is the sideboard, which I think is what makes the deck so strong. 3 city of solitude // I was almost tempted to put these in the main deck, seeing how it shuts down 80% of the current strategies: counter, abeyance, icy, etc... This is a game winning card, but only against the right decks. Putting it in the main deck would mean you lose the boa's regeneration or the ability to use the arrows at the end of opponent's turn, stuff like that. 1 winter orb // to reinforce the anti-blue/outpost/glaciers strategy. 2 thermokast // anti-outpost... 3 emerald charm // if your opponent is playing W, chances are he'll sideboard CoPs. Don't let him use'em. 1 serrated arrows // against green elves, or black or white knights. 2 uktabi orangutan // obvious use 3 whirling dervish // These were in the main decks of Al Sousa's and Paul Gallagher's decks, but I've noticed how useless they are if you're not playing against black. They'll just attract plows or incinerates, and there are enough critters to do that in the main deck already. For 2 mana I'd rather have a river boa or even a spectral bear. Well, that's it. Comments are welcome, I'll be happy to hear how this deck does in your local environment, but as I said, I believe the sideboard to be strong enough to handle pretty much anything that could come your way :-) Actually I've been thinking about furnaces, too, but I believe the dervishes can handle black buried alive decks, the worbs can take care of hammer's recursion, etc... Good luck!! David. "... I love you Michael. - I don't think you love me, Sandra. I think you just hate the idea of me not loving you." Peter Milligan, Enigma