I know, I know, I know. Better players are probably going to be writing better articles on this self-same topic (especially due to this whole 2005 Championship Deck Challenge business), but I can't let my favorite color combination slip past without doing some sort of write-up on it.
Whether or not one wishes to pursue the Sigler G/B Control build or the more aggressive Feldman G/B build is really up to him or her. What I'll be doing here is thrashing out the various card choices available to one of the most flexible color combinations in the new post-Ravnica Standard.
So what sorts of cards are generally featured in this type of deck? Generally categories here include:
- mana acceleration
- creature removal
- mass removal
- mid-range creatures
- game-winners
- disruption
- general utility
- non-basic land
I'll try to go through each of these areas, presenting my thoughts on the cards available for G/B in general. Towards the end, I'll try to put my thoughts together with a decklist or two.
Mana Acceleration:
Llanowar Elves
I'll start off with the simplest card choice in this category. This is a 1/1 for one mana with the additional up-shot of producing a single Green mana with no drawbacks. It can hold a Jitte and turn sideways like any other creature, and it also helps accelerate you into your mid to late game plays. A decent creature, but are there better options?
Elves of Deep Shadow
Here we have the recently reprinted evil elves. I've heard quite a few people lamenting the loss of the attractive goth elf that was featured in the artwork of the Elves of Deep Shadow from The Dark, but that's neither here nor there. This guy is a 1/1 for one mana just like the elves of the Llanowar variety, but... *gasp*.. what's this? He produces Black mana! Sure there's a little pain involved, but when you consider what this guy can set up (*cough* Hypnotic Specter *cough*), it's probably worth the investment.
Birds of Paradise
And here we have the ever-wonderful polychromatic Birds. Also recently reprinted with quite an amazing new picture, this little accelerator handily produces mana of any color with the mere drawback of being a creature with no power. In a world dictated by "Umezawa's Jitte, equip, bash", this could be significant - but with Shambling Shell, this guy can pick up that valuable point of power and fly over with Jitte in tow. Definitely a card worth considering.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Ahh... the Ha-Ha Dead Elf. The Rampant Growth on legs that has been talked about over and over again during the Kamigawa block season. Nevertheless, that's because this Snake Shaman is quite the versatile card. It can block Jitte-ed up creatures without allowing the Jitte to gain counters while fetching land from your deck, blah blah blah... really, there's not much I can say about this card that hasn't already been said in the previous block season. It gets hosed by Suppression Field, if that's the kind of card you're watching out for.
Kodama's Reach
Perhaps a spell that is too slow for the more aggressive Feldman take on the G/B deck, but it is sure to find a place in the slower Sigler build. (I hope no one is currently taking offense to the way I've chosen to distinguish the two decks by name, by the way.) Mind you, there is potential in a turn 2 Reach into a turn 3 Kodama of the North Tree or Grave-Shell Scarab. But the question, as always, is whether there is a better alternative - namely that turn 2 Hypnotic Specter play.
Creature Removal
Last Gasp
Probably thinking a little too small in a world with Rend Flesh and Putrefy, but a two-mana narrow removal spell and pseudo-combat trick in one might find its way into sideboards against certain decks to help deal with the inevitable hordes of weenies. I doubt it has maindeck worth, but if weenie really starts choking the metagame, who knows?
Sickening Shoal
Maybe not such an obvious choice as it will often just be an overpriced version of the above spell, but its ability to be played for no mana cost will perhaps push it over the edge at times. Sure there's a slight card loss involved, but is there any better solution to Hokori? Of course you could just untap your Birds, Elves and one land, and then just Putrefy the guy, but I digress...
Rend Flesh
Perhaps a little forgotten especially with its pale comparison to Putrefy, but this spell does add diversity to your removal suite. This can be relevant in a world where one could expect a competitive Dimir deck to be running around. Running Rend Flesh alongside Putrefy gives you another out, just in case Circu randomly removes a Putrefy from the game. Of course, it's an efficient removal spell, killing most creatures that you're likely to face.
Putrefy
Kills any creature, doesn't allow regeneration... even lets you gain Jitte advantage. Seriously, what's not to like?
Mass Removal
Plague Boiler
This is obviously an incredibly slow spell, only Wrath-ing away the board on turn five or so (turn four with acceleration?), giving your opponent quite a few chances to deal with it. Hearth Kami, for example, will have a field day. However, it's the closest we're going to get to Pernicious Deed, so perhaps it will have to do. It's also important to note that it does give an out against that irritating Form of the Dragon that you might find yourself facing.
Hideous Laughter
This is probably just going to be a sideboard card against the weenie decks mentioned previously. However, with the possibility of Glorious Anthem in WW decks, this might be much less good than what you'd think. But once again, you don't get many better options than this... except the following card, on occasion.
Kagemaro, Last to Suffer
This guy definitely falls under the category of mid- to late-game creature as well, but he's primarily a Mutilate on legs. Richard Feldman did make a big point about this being of a sub-optimal size in a more aggressive G/B build that may empty its hand early in the game. However, in some sort of deck that can maintain its handsize, this guy will be great. Whether or not that sort of deck will be good is a different matter altogether.
Mid-range Creatures
Golgari Guildmage
Sure, these guys are better than Grizzly Bears, but that's not that great a place to be. Especially when the base-Green decks can simply skip the two-mana slot in the curve with its plethora of one-drop accelerators. Its abilities aren't particularly efficient - five mana for a +1/+1 counter isn't great, that's for sure. However, sacrificing a Birds of Paradise in the late game to Raise Dead a Kokusho is some good, even at the pricey five mana.
Nezumi Graverobber
Now here's the kind of utility guy that simply outclasses the Guildmage. He's only got one toughness, I know - making him die in combat with Sakura-Tribe Elder - but his abilities (both flipped and unflipped) are great. His graveyard removal ability allows you to mess with opposing Dredge strategies as well as potential Gifts combo shenanigans. Nighteyes' ability lets you bring back that aforementioned Kokusho at a premium price. Or perhaps that opposing Meloku. Or perhaps that... you get the drift.
Vinelasher Kudzu
The new-and-improved or new-and-tuned-down Quirion Dryad, depending on who you ask. It's clearly a good card, but does it even fit into G/B? Mightn't it be better just to stick to the plan of largely skipping the two-slot and moving onwards to wider horizons? Testing shows that Vinelasher Kudzu is a great turn 2 2/2 off of a BoP or Elves, but that the Specter still seems superior.
Dark Confidant
Sure, it'll draw you a heap more cards, but at what cost? In a deck like this one, it can really lead to your untimely demise as you lose hefty chunks of your life total as you flip Scarabs and Dragon Spirits. It should be left to a deck with a much lower curve. Or perhaps a deck with better library manipulation.
Hypnotic Specter
The man (creature?) of the moment. One of the defining guys of the new Standard. Oh yeah, he's some good. Don't overvalue him that much though - he does die to many, many spells. But thankfully, G/B has some fancy mana tricks that can let him attack nice and early in the game. He's also a pretty shoddy way to deal with fliers. Meh... it's much more fun turning him sideways anyway. (I guess if you take offense at the denotation of the specter as being male, you may replace all instances of "him" and "he" with "her" and "she" respectively. It's all the same to me.)
Shambling Shell
Initially I wasn't too impressed with this guy, but the Dredge comes in so handy sometimes. You know those games that you find have drawn to an inevitable topdeck war, and you just want to draw into a guy to bash the opponent with? Well, this guy does the trick. He's also nice at buffing up one of your guys when he's about to die anyway. Please remember that sacrificing him with damage on the stack won't let the Jitte attached to him get counters. Just let the Jitte get counters and Dredge him back! Wheee!
Trained Armodon / Gnarled Mass
You've looked at the other stuff that G/B has to offer and you're still considering these vanilla guys? I know they've been played in competitive decks in a while, and their three points of toughness do come in handy at times, they do get outclassed by the above three-drops. It's probably worth noting that it's simply impossible to run these guys opposite a full set of Specters due to mana problems. And I daresay that Specter is better than either of these 3/3 dudes most of the time.
Grave-Shell Scarab
A cheap Dredge cost that has a built in card advantage engine. Mmm... I like it. It has a few problems keeping up with some of the creatures you might be facing later in the game, but that's what removal's for, right? And we can't forget that a Shambling Shell counter or two works wonders too. Just a great mid-range guy you'll be happy to see. It helps in those topdeck wars mentioned earlier too.
Game Winners
First a small note - the method of distinguishing between this category and the previous one is really just arbitrary. Feel free to switch some of the four or five mana guys from category to category if it suits your fancy. Really, I find it easier to read a long list when it's broken into smaller chunks.
Hunted Troll
Wow. It's easy to get caught up in its appealing stat-to-cost ratio. An 8/4 with a cheap regenerate cost for only 2GG? Where do I sign up? Sadly, the small print has something to do with you losing the game as your Troll gets chumped repeatedly and those widdle Faeries repeatedly bash your head in. However, it's fairly possible that you've stabilized to such an extent that those four 1/1 Faeries are irrelevant. But in that case, why haven't you just won already?
Kodama of the North Tree
Could the triple Green mana in the top right corner spell mana problems for the G/B deck? If the deck is geared towards turn 2 Hypnotic Specter, a turn 4 or 5 Kodama of the North Tree isn't out of the question - but it will almost definitely be more difficult to cast than its closest competitor for the five-slot, the Grave-Shell Scarab. If you think the manabase can handle it, give the Kodama a spin. A 6/4 untargetable trampler is some good. Even if the Microsoft Spellchecker doesn't like that description.
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Everyone's favorite* Dragon Legend. It beats for five, it flies and it leeches another five on the way out... what's not to like? People seem to be psyched up about Gleancrawler for some reason, but Kokusho just seems a better guy overall. Maybe I just like bashing with Dragons. Or maybe there's something the pros have seen that I haven't. Sigh. I'm embarrassing myself, aren't I?
*Clearly a fabricated statistic.
Gleancrawler
While it might see some play as another way to recur Hana Kami in the Gifts combo deck, he really is just a 6/6 trampling beatstick. Oh wait... that's pretty good for six mana. But is it better than Kokusho in this slot? I personally don't think so.
Golgari Grave-Troll
I suspect that many are overlooking this, perhaps with good reason. But he will be very, very large a lot of the time - definitely if you've managed to Dredge him into your hand even once. But it's not the kind of guy you want to be casting on turn five after you go all aggro with early Specter and Jitte beatings. (But after such a start, does it really matter how you follow through?)
Disruption
Nightmare Void
As Zvi pointed out on a magicthegathering.com article, this card can do some very special things, but I'm not sure it fits into this deck. It certainly has no place in the deck pre-board. In the board it could be a handy spell to bring in against Dimir mill, or Blue control, or perhaps Gifts combo/control. I'm just not sure the card does enough.
Persecute
And if the subtle approach fails, we can always try the sledgehammer. Obviously this is weakened slightly by the premise of multicolored decks in the format, but the card should be able to knock out a decent number of cards from your opponent's hand. And you won't be screwed over when topdecking this under Mindslaver control any more. *shudder* Some bad memories there...
Blackmail
A nice cheap spell that is probably worse than your accelerators and turn one, and lacking in impact later in the game. I'm not sure it has a place in this deck, if it indeed has a place in any deck.
General Utility
Pithing Needle
Well, clearly this is going to give you an out against the mirror's Graverobbers, if you're expecting them. It also stops Shard Phoenix recursion, Hana Kami recursion, Jitte activations (including your own, of course), Sakura-Tribe Elder, Sensei's Divining Top - I could go on all night. But I can almost visualize Knutson wagging a disparaging finger at me. It's likely to be a sideboard card, and it'll cost you an arm and several legs, so put it in your deck at your own leisure. It seems to be a nice answer to a lot of things.
Naturalize
This handy spell gives an extra edge in the Jitte advantage struggle (if you feel you need it), but has many other useful applications. It helps to destroy any pesky artifacts or enchantments you might see - targets include Suppression Field, if you consider this enough of a threat; various Auras, if these turn out to be relevant at all against you; and perhaps that annoying Form of the Dragon card that's bound to turn up.
Viridian Shaman
Probably no longer necessary now that we have Putrefy in our decks, but a little extra help never hurt. And if that extra help has great art by Scott M. Fischer, who's complaining? But as I said, it's probably not necessary - something to consider if artifacts ever get completely out of hand.
Manriki-Gusari
Once again, this is to play that fickle Jitte advantage game, if you feel you need to. To be honest, it's a decent equipment - something to the tune of +1/+2 is no small boost. Maybe it could be better to run with more guys or other spells instead, however.
Cranial Extraction
And to think I almost forgot to list this card. Like Pithing Needle and Naturalize, this tends to be a catch-all solution. Except that this catch-all solution really does catch everything you want it to. Whether it's stripping win conditions from Gifts combo or Good Form decks, or whether it's removing Glimpse the Unthinkable from Dimir decks (if it ever gets that bad), it's sure to find uses around the place. It can help deal with those pesky Dredge cards that others might be bringing to the arena.
Sensei's Divining Top
Obviously it doesn't make sense in the aggressive deck, but with a bit of library manipulation, it can do a great job in the more controlling deck. A few people have mentioned this already, but I might as well hammer the point home - Dredge really helps out here. Dredging back a Shambling Shell can let your Top look at a new three cards. But you're stuck in a bit of a Catch-22 as you might not want the Shell in a slower deck. Maybe there's some sort of compromise to be reached here.
Life from the Loam
This card can simply allow you to keep Dredging and making land drops at the same time. Nothing special, but perhaps it has a home in one of these G/B decks.
Non-basic Land
Llanowar Wastes / Overgrown Tomb
You'll probably be wanting to play a full set of each. Getting that single Green mana for turn 1 accelerator, then getting that double Black mana for turn 2 Specter is helped out heaps by these handy multilands. Sure, the Tombs are about as pricey as the Needles, but they'll see plenty of use in other formats - so think of it as an investment.
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
A fairly pricey man-land of indeterminate size. It gives another reason to play with Sakura-Tribe Elder, I guess. While it'll never be big early, you'll never be activating it early either. With a lot of Dredging, this guy can go lethal pretty quickly, but so can a lot of the creatures you cast for six or so mana. Definitely warranting inclusion against any sort of blue control deck, will it be worthwhile in G/B at the moment? Keep in mind just how much it messes with your dreams of turn 2 Specter.
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers / Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Even though these lands are really only going to affect your own Kokusho, it can be handing a Wasteland to other players on occasion. You're less likely to be affected by this loss of a land due to your acceleration, and really, it's functionally as good as a basic land.
Miren, the Moaning Well
Just an easy sacrifice outlet for Kokusho and the like. The life gain could come in handy against Red decks, but it might put too much strain on our color intensive mana base.
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Same sort of idea as for Miren, except exchange "sacrifice outlet" and "life gain" with "card draw". Probably less likely to be played than the Miren, but the ability to out-class your opponent's draws with your Dredge guys sounds pretty tempting...
I was reluctant to post a list, as it might bias people away from better choices I may have mentioned above, but it's nice to get an idea of what a deck might shape up to look like. So a basic shell of a decklist for an aggressive G/B build looks a bit like:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Shambling Shell
4 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Grave-Shell Scarab
3 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Putrefy
3 Rend Flesh
7 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
It has a great early game, assuming it draws one of eight one-mana accelerators and one of many early game creatures. It has a decent mid-game with the like of Umezawa's Jitte and Grave-Shell Scarab. Finally, it has a decent late game with Kokusho cleaning up afterwards.
A slower, more old-Standard B/G deck would look more like this:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Grave-Shell Scarab
3 Kodama of the North Tree
3 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Kodama's Reach
4 Putrefy
3 Plague Boiler
3 Rend Flesh
2 Cranial Extraction
7 Forest
3 Swamp
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
You can always spin the Top into Extractions if you need them, and the rest of the deck is self-explanatory - accelerate into large creatures while clearing the way with your spells. I personally feel that the more aggressive deck has a bit more going for it, with the more balanced game plan, but I guess you can pick the path you want. I'm probably more likely to side with Feldman on this one - aggression seems like the path to a tier one deck.
Keep in mind that these decks have not been tested very much at all, so perhaps the decks are awful. But hopefully they're a step in the right direction.
Further reading:
"Rock, Paper, Sigler: B/G in New Type Two" by Jesse Sigler
"Building a Better Plant Zombie" by Richard Feldman
Until next time,
Brandon
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