Revisiting Mono Green Devotion For Friday Night Magic

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

This past Friday, for FNM, I played a fun Mono Green deck. I guess you could say, it was a strict budget deck. I spent less than $20 on the cards that I needed, and less than $10 on cards I needed for the main board. This was also the first time I played the deck. That tends to be the case with a lot of decks I play. However, it makes things a lot more fun when you learn things on a whim.

I should also mention that this deck was not my creation. This deck was found from the “Decks of the Week” section on DailyMTG.com. This deck was played by “ph_crescens,” and they went 4-0 with the deck.

So, without further ado, here is what I played:

Main board:

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Experiment One

3 Dryad Militant

4 Brushstrider

4 Burning -Tree Emissary

4 Kalonian Tusker

3 Wild Beastmaster

3 Reverent Hunter

4 Slaughterhorn

4 Aspect of the Hydra

2 Giant Growth

2 Ranger’s Guile

19 Forest

Side board:

3 Unravel the Aether

1 Skylasher

4 Mistcutter Hydra

2 Hunt the Hunter

1 Mending Touch

2 Ranger’s Guile

2 Plummet

This deck was a lot of fun to play. I was able to win many game ones, but I ended up losing all my games after that. I lost my element of surprise and didn’t have enough reach. Still, losing helped me understand the deck more. With that, I now have a better idea as to what the deck needs.

While I really wanted to stay on budget, this deck really needs Mutavaults. There was no worse feeling that right after a Supreme Verdict. Once that was cast, I had lost all advantage. If I were running Mutavaults, not only would I still have a threat on the board, the pump spells that remained in my hand would never have gone to waste.

Wild Beastmaster is a really cool card. Well, it’s cool when you can actually trigger it with a pump spell. Otherwise, it is absolutely terrible and is the first thing I would replace. It was obviously respected by my opponents because every time I played it, it would die right away. So what could replace it?

Boon Satyr would be a really great addition to this deck. It’s a 4/2 for three mana, and it’s cost helps add to the overall devotion because it has two green symbols in its cost. The added bestow ability is great for those times the deck begins to flood out. Not to mention, it helps in those situations where your opponent casts Supreme Verdict.  It also helps add to your devotion with the two green mana symbols in its casting cost. This will help boost our Reverent Hunter and some new additions to the sideboard which we’ll get to in a bit.

He wasn’t in our original build, but Polukranos, World Eater would be excellent for this deck. He’s a little more than a budget card, but those rules went out the door when I found the need to add Mutavault. A 5/5 for four mana is hardly something that you can ignore, especially since it has the monstrous ability and helps add to your devotion.

What green deck would be without Nylea , God of the Hunt? Because she is a Legendary Enchantment, and her becoming a creature is dependent on your current board state, she has to be limited to 2-3 copies. However, she should be a power house in this deck. Even if she doesn’t become a creature, she finally give your creatures the reach this deck has been needing which is trample. She can also pump your creatures to an absurd number.

So where does this leave us? As far as the main board is concerned, here is what I think should be run:

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Experiment One

3 Voyaging Satyr

4 Courser of Kruphix

4 Burning -Tree Emissary

4 Kalonian Tusker

4 Boon Satyr

3 Reverent Hunter

4 Polukranos, World Eater

2 Nylea, God of the Hunt

4 Aspect of the Hydra

4 Mutavault

4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

12 Forest

As you can see, I’ve decided to go all out with the devotion. By adding Voyaging Satyr and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, we’re aiming to get our big guys out there as fast as we can and hit them hard before they know what hit them. However, this deck will definitely have its vulnerabilities. For example, once your opponent has an idea as to what’s going on, then the right removal spell will set you back to the stone age.

If you play this deck, you’re pretty much committed from the very beginning. So lay down the beats as much as you can. Here is an example side board if you still are having trouble coming up with one:

2 Arbor Colossus

4 Mistcutter Hydra

3 Nylea’s Disciple

3 Ranger’s Guile

3 Mending Touch

Mistcutter Hydra and Skylashers should help you against the control matchup or anything that has blue in it. Ranger’s Guile will help you against decks like Mono Black where removal spells are dominant. Mending touch is something to think about and is a neat little trick against board wipes like Supreme Verdict. However, it only helps one creature at a time, so be wary of its limitations.

This should be a fun deck to run at an FNM. I’d be a little cautious before running it at the next major tournament. If you do decide to take it to something major, there are still some tweaks it can afford, but only some major play testing will help you figure that problem out.

If you have any suggestions on what others could play in the deck, then let us know in the comment section below. I would love to hear what other people have to say.

Ps. There is still plenty of time in May for you to help me hit that goal of $300 for my Extra-Life campaign! So donate today! One lucky person might win their own copy of Takenoko from me! Click on the banner below.

About the author

Simeon is an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

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Tags: Card Games, Magic the Gathering, MTG, Simeon Cortezano, Wizards of the Coast
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