Help with my Nissa deck please?

tdellaringa

Hey there, wondering if some talented deckbuilders might give me some pointers here. I'm running Nissa, and winning around 90% (which sounds like it's a bit low, should be closer to 98%). I would say I mainly lose to blue decks with a lot of creature control, and the occasional red/white deck that steals my pumped creature or just gets theirs out first.

Creatures (6)

Managorger Hydra Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen Rhox Maulers Conclave Naturalists Skysnare Spider Undergrowth Champion

Spells (1)
Joraga Invocation

Support (3)

Fertile Thicket Sword of the Animist Sigil of Valor

I recently just put the Fertile Thicket in for the landfall Hydra. I'm usually able to get creatures out fast and overwhelm the opponent. Pumping Undergrowth Champion makes him even harder to deal with unless he can be removed. (He constantly will take out 2-3 creatures in one round).

The Naturalists help with opponent supports that lock down my creatures. And I often win by casting Joraga with 3 creatures out and hitting big.

When opponents cast a lot of spells, Managorger can get pretty pumped. I basically organize the creatures tailored to my opponents strategy.

I'm sure this is not a great deck, it works well, but would love to make it better.

PapiLouis4

tdellaringa wrote:

Hey there, wondering if some talented deckbuilders might give me some pointers here. I'm running Nissa, and winning around 90% (which sounds like it's a bit low, should be closer to 98%). I would say I mainly lose to blue decks with a lot of creature control, and the occasional red/white deck that steals my pumped creature or just gets theirs out first.

Creatures (6)

Managorger Hydra Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen Rhox Maulers Conclave Naturalists Skysnare Spider Undergrowth Champion

Spells (1)
Joraga Invocation

Support (3)

Fertile Thicket Sword of the Animist Sigil of Valor

I recently just put the Fertile Thicket in for the landfall Hydra. I'm usually able to get creatures out fast and overwhelm the opponent. Pumping Undergrowth Champion makes him even harder to deal with unless he can be removed. (He constantly will take out 2-3 creatures in one round).

The Naturalists help with opponent supports that lock down my creatures. And I often win by casting Joraga with 3 creatures out and hitting big.

When opponents cast a lot of spells, Managorger can get pretty pumped. I basically organize the creatures tailored to my opponents strategy.

I'm sure this is not a great deck, it works well, but would love to make it better.

you dont need that many creatures, instead get rid of rhox maulers, conclave naturalists and skysnare spider. id replace them with spells to pump up your UC. also get rid of sigil of valor, and replace it with nissas pilgrimage, you need these green gem generators to one, increase your mana ramping ability as well as create more opportunities to get landfalls and pump up your UC even further

good cards to replace rhox and conclave would be, nissas renewal (mythic so hard to acquire), mantle of webs, earthern arms(careful not to over charge its awakening ability) and retreat to kazandu. id also maybe put in animists awakening but since its nerf it usually does more good than bad.

so youll basically be relying on your UC to win you the game by pumping it up as much as possible, and as a bonus those spells that pump up UC also pump up your hydra

tdellaringa

Thanks for the input. That is a lot of reliance on spells, and a low number of creatures. I would be concerned that I would be caught with unusable spells and no defense against creatures, especially since green has no creature removal.

The Maulers are actually really useful in both pounding the opponent and removing opponent creatures. And the Spider saves me quite a bit. Is there a middle ground that makes sense?

tdellaringa

Just replaced the Naturalists with Nissa's Pilgrimage, and that actually improved things a lot. I can see replacing Sigil and maybe Rhox Maulers too.

Mantle of Webs seems not that useful - unless this is a permanent bonus?
Same with Earthen Arms and Retreat - permanent?

majincob

I agree that 6 is too many creatures. I'd run 4 at most. If you are using those extra creatures for removal, Scour from Existence is a good replacement.

Yes, Mantle and Earthen arms are permanent. Webs makes your UC block everything.

tdellaringa

Ok, it's starting to make sense. I pulled out another creature for Earthen Arms, which seems to work well. I don't have Scour, unfortunately.

PapiLouis4

yeah having a dead hand with no creatures can screw you over, but i dont think ull need more than 3. some ppl even run only one creature, UC and use the spells seek the wilds and gather the pack in order to ensure theyll draw the UC. that still only leaves you with 3 cards to draw your UC, but thats 3 cards that will guarantee a UC in your hand.

also that new colorless spell chitnous armor will buff him up +2/2

and like i said, these spells will buff up your hydra as well, and all the cascades will help in destroying the dwynen activate-able gems pumping him up even more

tdellaringa

Ok, running this now:

Creatures (4)

Managorger Hydra
Dwynen
Spider
U. Champ

Support

Nissa's Pilg
Thicket
Sword of the Animist

Spells

Joraga
Earthen Arms
Mantle of Webs


So 4, not 3. Going to test now, but I do find myself with a lot of spells in hand at times. It is definitely a faster deck though.

EDHdad

Mantle of Webs seems not that useful - unless this is a permanent bonus?

Mantle of Webs can be useful if you're spamming tokens or running creatures which are very large. For example, in a Garruck deck, you can spawn an 8/8 for 9 loyalty and then Mantle makes it a 9/11 with reach. It can also be useful with utility creatures - Conclave Naturalists comes in and destroys a support, then you turn it into a 5/7 with reach.

If you're running 3 or 4 important creatures, you might also consider running a couple of tutors to find those creatures. For example, Seek the Wild or Gather the Pack. A deck with 3 creatures and these 2 cards is like having a deck with 5 creatures. You'll have an 87.5% chance that your opening hand either contains a creature, or a card which turns into a creature.