Hello my friends! Welcome back to the column that gives you a regular casual injection once a week. My name is Abe and I am your nurse, giving you a lollypop to go with your shot.
Sometimes the analogies are not always perfect…
I have long touted the value of Shandalar in this column. Designed by no less a game star than Sid Meier himself, the 1997 PC game Magic: the Gathering was one of the best games of all time (in my not-usually-humble opinion). The campaign was entitled Shandalar.
I have brought Shandalar variants to the column before. Shandalar was a game where you had a campaign and a quest. Five different archmagi, one of each color naturally), are trying to establish mana taps with various cities in the plane of Shandalar. Once a wizard has three, the game is over. You are trying to avert this disaster, while building your deck, fighting the wizard servants who have decks of their own, establishing your own mana links with cities which increases your starting life, and entering dungeons in order to pillage particularly rare and powerful cards for your deck.
The original game includes cards from 4th edition and a handful of restricted, very powerful cards like Balance, Mind Twist, Time Walk, and Black Lotus. That’s it. Plus the game features 12 cards from the Astral Set, which exist only in this game and feature random elements. The best are Aswan Jaguar and Rainbow Knights.
Two expansions would be released, one adding all of the cards from Beta, Arabian Nights, Antiquities and the promo cards. The second would add a lot of cards from the Dark and Legends. An official patch would add another dozen cards (including Moat) that were not in.
The problem is that the decks your opponents used did not grow over time. They were obviously designed with that in mind. Take, for example, the Tusk Guardian. This opponent was a walking elephant creature with a G/W deck. However, at the time, there were no elephants in White, just War Mammoth in Green. Once Arabian Nights was added, however, you could add War Elephant and Elephant Graveyard. It’s obvious that these themes were supposed to get added, but that did not happen.
What I would like to do is simple. I want to show you the decks that the opponents used, and then I would like to modify them based on the card available in Shandalar. If you still play, you can use these edits to change the decks. Then, once I’ve done that, I want to modernize the deck concept, using the whole spectrum of Magic cards available to tweak the initial deck idea.
The good thing about this project is that you get a chance to see some of the classic combos of the early years of Magic. Circle of Protection: Green with Hurricane. How about Lure and Regeneration on a Thicket Basilisk? You can see Island Sanctuary and Howling Mine, Kismet and Meekstone, and Lord of the Pit with Nether Shadow and The Hive. You’ll get a chance to see these oldies, and see me update them as well.
Each article I will look at the decks from the creatures of one color. Then, in a final pair of articles, I’ll edit the multicolor decks. There are a few creatures that are in a color but are multiple colors, because of their theme. An example today is the Summoner. This will be 7 articles all told, but the beautiful thing is that I don’t have to keep going if I don’t want to. If I want to stop, I can. If I get bored with the project, I can move on to something else.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the Green decks!
The Druid
One of the earliest foes you’ll face in Green is the Druid. This deck is built largely around Ley Druid. One of the goals I want to accomplish is to make the decks more thematic, without always making them better. The Druid is a chump opponent, and its modified deck needs to recognize that. Pulling out all of the worst cards and adding good ones will make all of the decks look the same. This is the Druid deck, after all. Let’s make it more Druid-y.
Initial Druid Deck
20 Forest
1 Oasis
4 Mishra’s Factory
3 Ley Druid
3 Llanowar Elves
2 Wall of Wood
2 Naf’s Asp
2 Giant Spider
2 Craw Wurm
2 Ironroot Treefolk
2 Killer Bees
2 Durkwood Boars
3 Wanderlust
3 Instill Energy
4 Giant Growth
4 Wooden Sphere
There’s not a lot of opportunity to abuse Ley Druid. Then it has some creatures, and a few spells. Let’s make this a bit more.
The first place I look is the Wanderlusts. This creature enchantment is simply not on theme. I pull out 3, and add a 4th Ley Druid. I add 2 Citanul Druids. (Ichneumon Druid was not in the game).
Let’s really use those lands. I pull 2 Forests for 2 Deserts. That’s a good number of changes. I don’t want to change the deck just to change the deck, you know?
Modified Druid Deck
18 Forest
2 Desert
1 Oasis
4 Mishra’s Factory
4 Ley Druid
2 Citanul Druid
3 Llanowar Elves
2 Wall of Wood
2 Naf’s Asp
2 Giant Spider
2 Craw Wurm
2 Ironroot Treefolk
2 Killer Bees
2 Durkwood Boars
3 Instill Energy
4 Giant Growth
4 Wooden Sphere
Now, let’s see if we can update the Ley Druid deck.
Updated Druid Deck
4 Ley Druid
4 Juniper Order Druid
2 Instill Energy
4 Seeker of Skybreak
2 Umbral Mantle
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
4 Sylvan Scrying
2 Whetstone
2 Gaea’s Blessing
3 Harmonize
1 Life from the Loam
16 Forests
4 Tranquil Thickets
1 Scorched Ruins
1 Desert
1 Maze of Ith
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Pendelhaven
1 Oasis
This deck uses Sylvan Scrying to find the right land. Then you can abuse it with both the Ley Druid and the Juniper Order Druid. Feel free to tap and retap Maze of Ith or Desert and such.
I added a combo kill as well. Get Umbral Mantle on a Druid. Tap the Scorched Ruins for 4 mana. Tap the Druid to untap it. Use 3 mana to untap the Druid and repeat until you have an arbitrarily large amount of mana. Then activate the Whetstone. Mill everybody at the table and the Blessings keep you alive.
We have Harmonize and cycling lands to keep the card drawing going, and I also included a single copy of Life from the Loam to recur important lands, such as cyclers or the special lands that may have been destroyed, or to restock after playing Scorched Ruins.
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid adds a nice touch to the deck. Every creature in the deck, other than the Seekers, are druids. I’m playing this more for the card draw than the ultimate ability.
I hope you enjoy this updated version of the Shandalar deck.
The Enchantress
The Enchantress is another of the early foes you face from the Green team. It uses a familiar card combination to try and force through a win.
Initial Enchantress Deck
22 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Verduran Enchantress
3 Cockatrice
3 Thicket Basilisk
2 Durkwood Boars
3 Lure
2 Web
3 Regeneration
3 Living Artifact
4 Aspect of Wolf
2 Wild Growth
2 Instill Energy
2 Desert Twister
1 Ivory Tower
2 Coral Helm
1 Library of Leng
The obvious changes are adding Rabid Wombats and a 4th Enchantress. I pull the Coral Helms, Durkwood Boars, and 1 Living Artifact for those 5 cards.
Instill Energy doesn’t do too much, so I pull them out as well. I add a 4th Lure and a Sylvan Library. The result is a more streamlined deck.
Modified Enchantress Deck
22 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Verduran Enchantress
3 Cockatrice
3 Thicket Basilisk
4 Rabid Wombat
4 Lure
2 Web
3 Regeneration
2 Living Artifact
4 Aspect of Wolf
2 Wild Growth
2 Desert Twister
1 Sylvan Library
1 Ivory Tower
1 Library of Leng
Updated Enchantress Deck
4 Verduran Enchantress
4 Enchantress’s Presence
4 Rabid Wombat
4 Blanchwood Armor
2 Gaea’s Embrace
4 Rancor
2 Fugitive Druid
4 Yavimaya Enchantress
4 Gaea’s Anthem
4 Fists of Ironwood
24 Forests
This deck tries to abuse the Enchantress by having both the Verduran one and its Presence. Add some enchantment friendly creatures like Fugitive Druid, Yavimaya Enchantress and Rabid Wombat to the party. Follow up with Rancor, Blanchwood Armor, Fists of Ironwood and Gaea’s Embrace for some card drawing fun. Add Gaea’s Anthem and stir.
The Forest Dragon
Initial Forest Dragon Deck
22 Forest
4 Craw Wurm
4 Cockatrice
4 Thicket Basilisk
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Wall of Brambles
4 Lure
2 Regeneration
3 Living Lands
3 Desert Twister
2 Stream of Life
4 Untamed Wilds
2 Sandstorm
This deck is themed after the Craw Wurm of awesomeness. As such, of all of the Green decks, this one has the least amount of work to do to modify it.
The first thing I do is pull the 2 Wall of Brambles for 2 Faerie Dragons. These are Green Astral creatures from online only. They are 2GG, 1/3, flying, and for 1GG, you can create a random effect (among all effects, like Lightning Bolt, Healing Salve, Add G to your mana pool, etc). Since they are Green dragons, I feel they should be added over Wall of Brambles.
I pull 2 Sandstorm for 2 Hornet Cobra. I’m not sure what Sandstorm has to do with the theme, but the snakey Cobra’s are closer to theme. I’m going to steer clear of Serpent Generator and Marsh Viper and such, however. Just the first strike Cobras will suffice.
And that’s it. Again, there’s not much to change here, the concept is limiting.
Modified Forest Dragon Deck
22 Forest
4 Craw Wurm
4 Cockatrice
4 Thicket Basilisk
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Faerie Dragon
4 Lure
2 Regeneration
3 Living Lands
3 Desert Twister
2 Stream of Life
4 Untamed Wilds
2 Hornet Cobra
Updated Forest Dragon Deck
24 Forest
3 Yavimaya Wurm
2 Canopy Dragon
1 Jugan, the Rising Star
2 Whiptail Wurm
2 Duskdale Wurm
4 Nesting Wurm
2 Penumbra Wurm
2 Plated Slagwurm
2 Symbiotic Wurm
2 Wurmweaver’s Coil
3 Soul’s Majesty
3 Giant Growth
4 Desert Twister
2 Overrun
2 Kodama’s Reach
Well, this is just your basic Wurm deck, with some card drawing, Giant Growthing, Desert Twistering and Overrunning added for fun. The only non-Wurm creatures in the deck are the dragons, since this is, technically, a Forest Dragon deck, not a Forest Wurm deck.
Enjoy!
The Elvish Magi
Most colors have a tribal deck in their color as a bad guy. There is also zombie, merfolk and goblin. What’s interesting here is that there is a tribal opponent despite no tribal enabler for Elves.
Initial Elvish Magi Deck
22 Forest
4 Elvish Archers
4 Elven Riders
4 Llanowar Elves
4 War Mammoth
4 Winter Blast
4 Hurricane
4 Stream of Life
4 Giant Spider
2 Tranquility
2 Jayemdae Tome
2 Green Mana Battery
The easy change here is to Elf it Up. I pull 2 Winter Blast, 2 Stream of Life and 2 Giant Spider.
I add 4 Savean Elves, 2 People of the Woods. I was looking at Sylvan Library but the deck runs Tranquility and I didn’t want to pull them.
The result changes by 6 cards, but the changes are nice.
Modified Elvish Magi Deck
22 Forest
4 Elvish Archers
4 Elven Riders
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Savean Elves
2 People of the Woods
4 War Mammoth
2 Winter Blast
4 Hurricane
2 Stream of Life
2 Giant Spider
2 Tranquility
2 Jayemdae Tome
2 Green Mana Battery
Updated Elvish Magi Deck
4 Elvish Archers
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Viridian Shaman
2 Elvish Lyrist
4 Elvish Champion
4 Hurricane
2 Squall Line
2 Nourish
2 Wellwisher
2 Elvish Soultiller
4 Tel-Jilad Archers
4 Harmonize
24 Forests
I wanted to stay away from the obvious elf cards, from Lorwyn block, and Onslaught Block. The only reason I added Wellwisher was because it worked so well with Hurricane/Squall Line. I wanted a lord, just like goblins, zombies and merfolk have lords, so I included Elvish Champion. After that, it’s just a Elf deck with various casual and multiplayer friendly elves.
The Beast Master
One of the more powerful Green foes you’ll face is the Beast Master.
Initial Beast Master Deck
21 Forests
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Timber Wolves
4 Naf’s Asp
4 Grizzly Bears
4 Aswan Jaguar
2 Durkwood Boars
2 Giant Spider
2 Killer Bees
4 Aspect of Wolf
2 Web
3 Stream of Life
2 Untamed Wilds
4 Giant Growth
The obvious theme is that these are beasts controlled by the Beast Master. Therefore, everything should be wild animals, and not a lot of fantasy animals like Wurms and such. Note that the natural animals here include insects, arachnids and snakes, birds, worlds, bears, jaguars and boars.
There are a lot of good additions to the deck from the later sets, so I can fine tune the deck’s theme. First, I pull the Streams of Life. Every Green deck should not have them, here they are not on theme, and this is supposed to be the most powerful normal Green creature’s deck.
I add 3 Wyluli Wolves. They are totally on theme.
I am very disappointed that Master of the Hunt did not get added in the Legends/The Dark update, because it would be very on point here.
I pull 2 Naf’s Asp for 2 Giant Badger. I pull 2 Web for 2 Giant Turtle.
The result is more on theme. I stayed clear of adding more snakes or insects (like Emerald Dragonfly or Marsh Viper).
Modified Beast Master Deck
21 Forests
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Timber Wolves
2 Naf’s Asp
2 Giant Badger
4 Grizzly Bears
4 Aswan Jaguar
2 Durkwood Boars
2 Giant Spider
2 Killer Bees
4 Aspect of Wolf
2 Giant Turtle
3 Wyluli Wolf
2 Untamed Wilds
4 Giant Growth
Updated Beast Master Deck
2 Master of the Hunt
4 Wyluli Wolf
4 Timber Wolves
2 Arctic Wolves
2 Cave Tiger
2 King Cheetah
4 Argothian Swine
2 Giant Warthog
2 Bull Hippo
2 Karoo Meerkats
2 Joven’s Ferrets
2 Giant Badger
4 Overrun
2 Rabid Wolverines
24 Forest
This is just a fun little theme deck with wolves, tigers, cheetahs, boars, warthogs, hippos, meerkats, ferrets, badgers and wolverines. Plus two Masters. Since I can’t play them above, I might as well play them here! Overrun can get you a win, so get ready.
The Summoner
When you get really bad, Green sends in a nasty creature, designed to kill at will. This is the Summoner, the agent of the Green Archmagi.
Initial Summoner Deck
5 Plains
18 Forest
4 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Disenchant
3 Healing Salve
4 Birds of Paradise
4 War Mammoth
3 Force of Nature
4 Radjan Spirit
1 Channel
4 Hurricane
4 Lifelace
2 Colossus of Sardia
2 Flying Carpet
This deck is more clever than the earlier ones. It tries to play a CoP: Green and then prevent the damage from failing to upkeep a Force of Nature or prevent damage from a Hurricane. It even runs Lifelace to turn a Fireball Green or an opposing creature Green so it can prevent the damage from the CoP.
Frankly, this is about as clever as you are going to get. It has Flying Carpet, which combines well with Hurricane. Healing Salve works well too. Birds of Paradise don’t however.
The first tweak is a simply one. I pull four forests for a full set of Savannah.
This seems like a deck that would really benefit from some removal beyond the 2 Disenchants. I yank two Birds for a pair of Desert Twisters.
I yank the final two Birds for Cyclones. With CoP: Green in the deck already, this seems like a solid addition.
Some of the cards I would want to add are not here, like Aisling Leprechaun. I also had to double check Alchor’s Tomb before realizing it worked on your creatures only.
Finally, I pull a Radjan Spirit for a Forest. Here is the result
Modified Summoner Deck
5 Plains
18 Forest
4 Savannah
4 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Disenchant
3 Healing Salve
2 Cyclone
2 Desert Twister
4 War Mammoth
3 Force of Nature
3 Radjan Spirit
1 Channel
4 Hurricane
4 Lifelace
2 Colossus of Sardia
2 Flying Carpet
Updated Summoner Deck
4 Circle of Protection: Green
4 Hurricane
4 Squall Line
4 Force of Nature
2 Disenchant
4 Silent Arbiter
2 Predator, Flagship
2 Squallmonger
4 Voice of Duty
2 Cyclone
2 Sphere of Duty
2 Lifelace
12 Forest
4 Elfhame Palace
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Plains
I retained a lot of the tricks that it had, including Lifelace and Hurricanes. I amped up some of the cards. For example, I went from Flying Carpet to Predator, which is much better. I added Squall Line and Squallmonger. Voice of Duty is an obvious inclusion. Sphere of Duty can be a backup for the Circle if needed. The result is an interesting deck.
Let’s face it, this was an old school combo that everyone knew about and saw someone play at one time or another. I’ve never built a deck around it though, and I’m happy to do so here.
One last deck for today.
Morgane — The Great Druid
This is the Green archmage:
Initial Morgane Deck
22 Forest
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Gaea’s Liege
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Killer Bees
2 Verduran Enchantress
2 Force of Nature
4 Aspect of Wolf
3 Instill Energy
2 Living Lands
2 Living Artifact
3 Stream of Life
3 Untamed Wilds
2 Jayemdae Tome
The archmagi decks are largely disappointing. These should be the best decks available in the color. Look how sad! Not only will I be adding some cards from the expansions, but I will also be sprucing this deck up and making it much better.
Let’s clean it up.
-3 Instill Energy
+1 Regrowth
+1 Ivory Tower
+1 Llanowar Elves
-3 Birds of Paradise — which don’t make sense in a mono-Green deck.
+2 Aswan Jaguar
+1 Faerie Dragon — these decks should have the Astral Cards where appropriate
-2 Verduran Enchantress — What enchantments are we even running?
+2 Desert Twister — Needs the color’s best removal
-2 Living Artifact — Because it sucks
+2 Sandstorm — A nice surprise
-2 Living Lands
+2 Island of Wak-Wak
-3 Stream of Life
+2 Ifh-Biff Efreet
+1 Berserk
-4 Aspect of Wolf — Not enough creatures
+2 Cockatrice
+2 Triskelion
Note that this person will begin with a Sylvan Library in play already
Now that’s a much better deck. It’s a nice little mono-Green control deck. I’m still not a fan of cards like Force of Nature, but I understand their purpose so I kept them in.
Modified Morgane Deck
22 Forest
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Gaea’s Liege
2 Aswan Jaguar
1 Faerie Dragon
4 Killer Bees
2 Cockatrice
2 Triskelion
2 Force of Nature
1 Regrowth
2 Desert Twister
2 Sandstorm
1 Ivory Tower
2 Island of Wak-Wak
3 Untamed Wilds
2 Ifh-Biff Efreet
1 Berserk
2 Jayemdae Tome
Updated Morgane Deck
4 Roots
2 Desert Twister
3 Silvos, Rogue Elemental
3 Triskelion
1 Sol Ring
1 Maze of Ith
4 Killer Bees
1 Regrowth
1 Ivory Tower
2 Jayemdae Tome
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Hail Storm
2 Green Mana Battery
2 Utopia Vow
4 Briarhorn
24 Forests
I like this deck because it has a lot of control elements to it. Roots and Utopia Vow can take out creatures. Desert Twister does likewise. Hail Storm can clean out many attackers of small size. Brairhorn’s flash can kill a creature after it blocks, or act as a traditional Giant Growth and kill a creature (or both!). Finally, Triskelion can ping a creature or three.
Hail Storm can kill your Llanowar Elves so only use it when needed. I only included two for that reason.
We have Regrowth, Ivory Tower, Sol Ring, Maze of Ith as power cards. Add Silvos for beatings and Jayemdae Tome for draws, because I got tired of adding Harmonizes to decks.
Here is another conversion of a deck from ye olde Shandalar to modernish times.
And that brings us to the close of another article, and a new article launching a new series. I hope you enjoyed this little look through all things Green and Shandalar. Join me next time when I do the same, but in Red.
Until later…