Building on a Budget: Green

zaann85
zaann85 Posts: 119 Tile Toppler
edited June 2016 in MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion
Here is a nice little deck for you starting players out there. It only requires you to have one card; Sylvan Messenger. This creature is an uncommon that costs 10 mana for a 4/4 body. Not the best, but not the worst. The thing about this guy is his ability. When you drop this dude, you get the next elf creatire in your deck. Well, what if your only creature was this dude? Bam! You get another Sylvan Messenger. Cast the second and now you have a 8/8. But then you get another Sylvan Messenger! This effect is a limitless supply of Sylvan Messengers!

So now you have 9 other cards to pick. These can be any spells and supports you may have! Heres a sweet tip. If you add cards that aren't creatures, but make tokens, you can essential add more dudes without busting your combo. There are two more cards I reccomend. Seek the Wilds and Gather the Pack. These two spells pull the next few creatures out of your deck. This helps you find your Sylvan Messenger faster, as 3 of the 10 cards in your deck will net you a Sylvan Messenger.

I would fill the rest of the deck with mana producing cards if you have any. The more mana you get, the faster your Sylvan Messenger will swell to an enormous size! Try this deck out if you have a Messenger, but not much else, and maybe it will bring you some wins!

Comments

  • HomeRn
    HomeRn Posts: 330 Mover and Shaker
    Actually, IIRC there is a technical limitation with your strategy. In this game, your library is actually 40 cards total - where each of your 10 cards in your deck duplicated equally to make up your 40 card library in-game. That being said, your one creature would cap out at 16/16 without buffs UNTIL you find a way to draw out your library; then the game would refresh your library with 40 more cards (you cannot lose by being "decked" in this game).

    I am not saying that is not a valid strategy as I have used it before, just not as good as you make it out to be... unless there was a change to that fetch mechanic...
  • zaann85
    zaann85 Posts: 119 Tile Toppler
    This does work. I have used it and you can get as many Messengers as you want. http://imgur.com/a/pCuKe

    I'm also not making this out to be the best thing you can ever do. Just helping players out who can't get anything amazing with the nerf to free packs. Just a neat trick that might help someone.
  • Ap00calypse
    Ap00calypse Posts: 42
    The main issue with this strategy is that once the AI casts any disabling spell/support or, say, Scour, your entire 1-creature army is gone. Not to mention that fetching the Messenger is, essentially, a 1 out of 10 chance if you didn't get it in the opening hand.
  • zaann85
    zaann85 Posts: 119 Tile Toppler
    Luckily you have another Messenger in hand to jump back into battle. If you have the fetch cards, that's 3/10 chance to find your dude. Green also has access to support removal in set 2 that isn't tied to a creature. Again, this isn't the best deck ever. Just something newer players can use untill the get some good rares.
  • EDHdad
    EDHdad Posts: 609 Critical Contributor
    I play Sylvan Messenger as my only elf, but sometimes, for some reason, the ability to draw another elf doesn't trigger.

    I'm not sure why this is. It appears to be some glitch in the program. Possibly it happens when the elf is cast on the second main phase after a cascade. Or possibly it happens when there is a change in the board state, like if I kill an opposing creature with Scour from Existence and then cast the elf. Or possibly something gets screwed up when I use another creature tutor like Gather the Pack or Seek the Wilds. I haven't investigated this fully.

    Your general point that Sylvan Messenger is good value because it draws a card when cast is valid, whether it's the only elf in the deck or not. However, I don't really see any advantage to having just one creature in the deck. Nissa has to win using creatures. A single creature can get locked down any number of ways (Claustrophobia, Hixus Prison Warden, opposing creatures with vigilance or reach, especially when repeatable (Murder Investigation + Knightly Valor creates an infinite loop of chump blockers).

    Some good non-rares available to the green deck include:

    Fertile Thicket, Bonded Construct, Seek the Wilds, Nissa's Pilgrimage, Gather the Pack, Blighted Woodland, Scythe Leopard, Brawler's Plate, Murasa Ranger, Mantle of Webs, Sylvan Messenger, Somberwald Alpha, Rhox Maulers, Conclave Naturalists, Scour from Existence, Dwynen's Elite, Plated Crusher, Breaker of Armies.
  • Wax
    Wax Posts: 37
    Yeah, I used this card for early Nissa as well, back around Summoner levels 20ish to 50ish... It's a good strategy when you have a limited card pool, because that draw-on-cast for such a cheap card is really powerful. However, I don't think I ever used just the Messenger alone. I think I always used it with at least 2 or 3 elves total, which still worked pretty well.

    Today I think it would be even more useful because of those new elf cards with "Rally" abilities. It's a good strategy for budget decks, for sure.

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