Discussion Forum

I think you're going to get slaughtered. You're deck looks quite slow and the format can be quite fast.

a suggestion: go to a site with a lot of modern decks and pick one like this domain zoo deck:
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/25202

print out proxies for the entire deck, sleeve it up and play it a few times so you get the kind of tempo it sets. Have some friends over to play the deck against you and playtest against it. If you can defeat it on a regular base your deck is ready. Defeating aggro is the first step, when you can do that look at some of the other decks like these

http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/25139
http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/24878

See how you do against these. Both are combo in a way but very different.

good luck

I agree, to play competitively in the modern format you need to have your deck hit stride about turn 3, turn 4 is a little late and the difference from 3 to 4 is huge.

note taken. i haven't had a chance to try it against those suggested decks yet, but i have made some revisions. although they upset me because now it looks very similar to another treefolk deck i've seen on this website, it has sped it up a bit.

also, what do y'all think about dungrove elder? he'd help my mana curve, and looks pretty solid. i would like to take out those vivid groves and replace them with something that counts as a forest but wouldn't short me on the black and white mana i need.

[QUOTE=Piney_Tinecones] i would like to take out those vivid groves and replace them with something that counts as a forest but wouldn't short me on the black and white mana i need.[/QUOTE]

Overgrown Tomb and Temple Garden , fetchland would help the deck as well.

man, i wish i could afford those recently mentioned lands. they're a little out of my price range considering i just dropped a good bit on this deck already.

i took out the vivid groves and replaced them with forests, scrapped the dungrove elder idea, threw in another dauntless dourbark and unstoppable ash, and some other stuff. i updated the deck on the website.

i threw in some reclaims as well, because they can get dead treefolk cards to the top of my library where leaf-crowned elder can grab em. do y'all think that's worth it or could those 2 slots be filled with something more productive?

i just printed out those proxies, i'm about to cut em out and play against them and see how it goes. i really do appreciate the input. the tourney is on the 17th, i'm trying to get this thing running smooth before then!

also, i really love those recross the paths, they send the land into play untapped, there's a clash afterwards which i seem to often win due to the costly treefolk, and then i get the option of putting the revealed card on top or bottom, which helps my leaf-crowned elder's chances of pulling a treefolk. but my question is this: would i be better off replacing them with 2 more rampant growths, as that would give my 8 ways total (4xbosk banneret, 4xrampant growth) to get my 4 mana creatures (there's a lot of them) out on turn 3?

i just updated the link to the deck

If you can't afford the shock lands at least add some of their more recent counterparts like sun petal grove and I can't remember the b/g one.

[QUOTE=mtglord]If you can't afford the shock lands at least add some of their more recent counterparts like sun petal grove and I can't remember the b/g one.[/QUOTE]

I think he wants forests only for synergy with treefolk

made some big changes! my decks getting quite a bit faster! i'm excited. it's handling that aggro deck pretty well now :)

Asceticism is pretty bad. Don't put resources in slow defense cards. The format has wrath of God and Damnation as pretty efficient sweepers + most decks play enchantment/artifact removal + it's 5 mana!!!! If it costs 5 mana it should pretty much win you the game on the spot.
Every turn you waste is a turn you make it easier for combo and control decks to win.

[QUOTE=Seth]I think he wants forests only for synergy with treefolk[/QUOTE]

oh yea. however if you cannot get the shock lands and dont mind not having a couple of non-forest lands the more recent dual lands are a good option.

[QUOTE=Seth]Asceticism is pretty bad. Don't put resources in slow defense cards. The format has wrath of God and Damnation as pretty efficient sweepers + most decks play enchantment/artifact removal + it's 5 mana!!!! If it costs 5 mana it should pretty much win you the game on the spot.
Every turn you waste is a turn you make it easier for combo and control decks to win.[/QUOTE]

i was wondering about that. the heartwood storyteller's and dungrove elder's put up a pretty good defense against spells and abilities my opponents control anyway. not to mention i always try to champion the harbingers with the unstoppable ash to make them pay for killing the ash. i see a lot of path to exile's in these modern decks (including that aggro you showed me), but even if i don't have my timber protector out, that free basic land i'd get would hurt my opponent quite a bit. it'd speed up my processes a lot and give my dourbarks and dungrove elders a boost.

ok, so no asceticism. that leaves me 2 slots to fill. i was sad to see that armageddon didn't have a modern formatted card, because that would prove useful with my timber protectors. i replaced those vivid groves with basic forests for now (as i cannot afford those fancy lands ;) ), and it's working pretty well, but that also means i'm having to steer clear of cards that cost more than one mana that can't be paid with green. any ideas for those 2 slots?

and again, many thanks for the input.

Alright, I've updated my deck! The new link is http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=288603

I replaced the rampant growths with the much better sakura-tribe elder (wish i had seen this sooner) who also happen to be shamans for at least a little bit of synergy with the leaf-crowned elder. This also allows me to have 4 fewer non-creature spells if I wanted to throw heartwood storyteller into the mix (do I?).

I also acquired a couple more maelstrom pulses. I really like this card.

I managed to get a hold of an overgrown tomb as well.

I replaced raking canopy with squall line on my sideboard, and in addition made some other sideboard changes.

I have some space open for a few other cards, but I've been having the hardest time figuring out what to fill it with. I want to really optimize this deck!

Please, Please, Please check out the link!

I need 4 more cards in the main deck and 5 in the sideboard.

Some ideas for the main deck:
Heartwood Storyteller?
Woodfall Primus?
Dungrove Elder?
Lurking Predators?

Sideboard ideas:
Nameless Inversion?
Lignify?
Luminescent Rain?
Go for the Throat?

sorry i cant view your deck so ill just list some common green sideboard options.

natures claim
krosan grip(almost a must)
beast within(to use against splintertwin kiki-jiki combo)
gutshot(against anything with inkmoths)
relic of progenitus(goyf hate)
spellskite(is an odd choice but good for protecting your stuff)
vexing shusher(must, makes control easy to beat)
dismember(sounds really good for your deck because you can pay for the black if you need to)

thank you! that was very helpful! gave me plenty of ideas for a well rounded sideboard. pretty much sums it up.

i guess really the only questions i have left are:

lurking predators; worth it? (i feel like it's not, not for 6)

woodfall primus; worth it? and if so, is it worth it to throw a few Oran-Rief, the Vastwood in there?

oh, one more thing: natures claim or gleeful sabotage?

[QUOTE=mtglord]sorry i cant view your deck so ill just list some common green sideboard options.

natures claim
krosan grip(almost a must)
beast within(to use against splintertwin kiki-jiki combo)
gutshot(against anything with inkmoths)
relic of progenitus(goyf hate)
spellskite(is an odd choice but good for protecting your stuff)
vexing shusher(must, makes control easy to beat)
dismember(sounds really good for your deck because you can pay for the black if you need to)[/QUOTE]

- How does beast within interact with kiki-jiki combo?
- Vexing Shusher does nothing against control decks, first of there is not that much counter magic in Modern and there is TONS of spot removal. Vexing just dies.

beast withing interacts with kiki jiki combo is that it is able to target deceiver exarch or pestermite at instant speed, it makes it so the combo cant go off.

and just because somthing can be removed doesnt mean it shouldnt be played as far as i know most decks dont contian only cards with shroud or hexproof.

[QUOTE=mtglord]beast withing interacts with kiki jiki combo is that it is able to target deceiver exarch or pestermite at instant speed, it makes it so the combo cant go off.
[/QUOTE]

instant speed removal doesn't break the exarch combo.

so what do you do about kiki-jiki?

i've decided that woodfall primus isn't worth it. he's just too expensive. yeah maybe i can get him with leaf-crowned elder, but i don't want to rely on that, and i'd hate to have him in my hand. not to mention i don't want to have too many non-forest land because of oran-rief.

That's it! I'm finished! My deck has changed quite a bit since I started this thread, and now it's running smooth as can be. Check it out! I've won one modern tournament already with it, and have another coming up on the 6th of April! Thank y'all for all the advice!


Creatures
3x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Dauntless Dourbark
2x Timber Protector
4x Treefolk Harbinger
2x Doran, the Siege Tower
1x Bosk Banneret
2x Chameleon Colossus
4x Leaf-Crowned Elder
2x Orchard Warden
2x Unstoppable Ash
1x Woodfall Primus
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Dungrove Elder


Land
1x Swamp
4x Murmuring Bosk
15x Forest


Planeswalkers
1x Liliana Vess


Spells
4x Maelstrom Pulse


I've had fantastic luck with this deck.

Turn 2 Dorans and Dungrove Elders, and most importantly, turn 3 Leaf-Crowned Elder. A lot of other 4 mana guys that are easy to get out by turn 3 if you can't manage to get ahold of a Leaf-Crowned Elder by then. Birds of paradise cover my ass from early game fliers (Glaze Fiend and the like), and between them, Murmuring Bosk, and Sakura Tribe Elders (which are shamans, btw), it's easy to get the other colored mana I need.

Maelstrom Pulse and the Woodfall Primus (easy to pull with Harbingers, easy to play with LCE) normally get rid of whatever needs getting rid of, and if they're not handling it, got plenty of removal in the sideboard.

The Harbingers are nice to champion with the Unstoppable Ashes.

Dauntless Dourbarks can give huge life with the Orchard Wardens.

Liliana (easy to play by turn 4) works well with the Leaf-Crowned Elders, and it's nice to give the opponent multiple kinds of threats to worry about.

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=288603

i lied... i made some more changes. added an elspeth and some other stuff. who am i kidding? i'm never gonna be done with this deck.

By the way I would recommend switching 4 forests for 4 verdant catacombs they are not only a great card but also a solid investment as they will most likely gain value in the future.

mtglord, i took your advice and ordered 4 verdant catacombs. great idea! now i pretty much have 8 chances at getting my murmuring bosks, and they thin out my lands so that my leaf-crowned elder has a better chance of pulling a treefolk or shaman card. since i have so many opportunities to get those murmuring bosks, i was able to get rid of the 1 plains, 1 swamp, and 3 sakura-tribe elders, freeing up a lot of needed space. i made some other changes too! check it out!