[Primer] G/R Monsters

[Link]

if people are playing U/w devotion seriously than I definitely need some mistcutters back in.

I'd want to fit in 3 but I cant hedge that much space.

I definitely know I want to take out -4 domri -1 xenagod, -2 flesh // blood, -x Stormbreah Dragons (keep some in because they are playing D-sphere now I guess?) For +2 shocks (tidebinder mage) +2 mortars (overload=win) +2 armed// dangerous (wins game or kills master of waves.)

You can even argue for some Skarrg guildmages to give your mistcutters trample against mutavaults (as rampagers 5 and 6). THere's no overboarding for this match-up because it IS a race with their thassa draws and flyers. If you can fit Gruul charm in the 75 its pretty house as well.

Just realize you don't want to be drawing cards you want to be killing them.


As for room for 2+mistcutter, you can probably take out Ruric Thar (since you can playmistcutter vs. Esper and at least its
uncounterable, though it dies to black removal without any punishment sadly) and a Destructive revelry.

I think Esper is going to be popular so definitely keep the Xenagos, Planeswalkers because he is the key that destroys taht MU (all your Satyrs are house actually. Just be on the "Satyr" plan and you can't go wrong.)

[Valdarith]

My experience indicates that if you want to beat Uw you want Skylasher and not Hydra. Holding off their initial barrage of creatures is critical in the match. I've often played Hydra early just to play defense and I eventually realized I'd rather be playing Skylasher. It's not as good against UW control but you have a lot of threats for them anyway, plus they just sandbag Celestial Flare for it anyway.

[Link]

how do you win the game though?

Skylasher doesnt actually kill any of their devotion and its clock is abysmal

[Link]

UW control isnt sandbagging celestial flare against 4 dragons and 2 miscutters either

[Link]

Let me clarify more how U/x devotion games play out:


T1-T2 you WANT to be playing a dork. Your cards are more efficient for killing him, so getting ahead on mana to do so is key. also punishing them when they keep slow temple hands or just random Nightveil spectre/Thassa into double MoW? SNAP KEEP

Skylasher does... what? He blocks (and hopefully kills) a cloudfin raptor or a judge's familiar... He attacks for 2 a turn which doesn't pressure them at all and maybe trades with a mutavault if they actually care (or just dies to frog lizard)


You WILL take damage from mono blue. You WILL use your life as a resource early.

Their "initial barrage" is fucking 0/1s, 2/2s, and 1/4s, and 2/3s. Do you really give a shit? No. And I'd imagine temples slow down U/w quite a bit for this plan (as they did when the deck was initially played before the pro tour as U/w devotion).

They have zero reach. Their reach is
thassa (and the only answer to thassa? racing.) The only early creature I give a shit about is tidebinder mage on a mystic, so i'll shock/mortars that.

Their other card to worry about is master of waves. Skylasher doesn't do shit beccause he didnt actually kill nightveil spectres or raptors (because they anticipated it or soemthing), so then they just make 10 tokens and you.... do what again with G/R?

hard removal > skylasher any day. I'd play lightning strikes before skylasher if I had infinite side board space.


Mistcutters are just insane vs. Mono U. They are a rapid hybridization proof win con. Stormbreaths are way too slow/fragile. Polukranos can get chumped/ cyclonic rifted/D-sphered.

The reason I like gruul charm if this is a big part of your meta is because they start playing around with chumping with muta or Frog lizards to race you, and its a HUGE blow out if used in that mode. The "board wipe their fliers" mode also is awesome enough to be worth playing

[Valdarith]

You win by sticking one of your fatties and riding it to victory. When I lose to blue devotion it's because they get a fast start and I fail to recover. Skylasher prevents that from happening. It gets even better when you run Boon Satyr.

Michael Jacob runs the card in his GR list and it's overperformed every time.

[Valdarith]

Hey look, Fate and I completely disagree. What's new?

[Valdarith]

The big difference is our postboard strats. I have access to four Mortars and two Gruul Charm whereas your list has no Gruul Charm and one less Mortars. You're also not running Courser which alone is a drastic difference in playstyle, so I can see you wanting Mistcutter. That said, I feel like your concession to your playstyle costs you significant percentage against blue devotion.

[Link]

Nothing I guess. Polukranos gets hybridized or chumped. It gets bounced when you try to monstrous it. Hell now it even gets D-sphered so the hybridize can be saved for that Dragon! Besides those two "fatties" what do you evne have? how do you draw more? I hope you're not actually trying ot Domri in this MU.


Meanwhile mono blue is scrying every turn and you're taking damage from fliers you can't (or don't want to) spend a card on. And hey, because you've been so predictable trying to board into a controlling deck, your overloaded mortars to clean up their master tokens and all that other shit just got negated!


Disagree with me on plenty of things, its fine to have a discussion about a deck so people get to see both sides and maybe even choose a route for themselves, sometimes it just feels like you're doing it for the sake of it because its too comical just how opposite our stances are on most things.
n

At least we agree Gyre sage just can't be made to work right now

[Link]

The big difference is our postboard strats. I have access to four Mortars and two Gruul Charm whereas your list has no Gruul Charm and one less Mortars. You're also not running Courser which alone is a drastic difference in playstyle, so I can see you wanting Mistcutter. That said, I feel like your concession to your playstyle costs you significant percentage against blue devotion.

I'll admit that my playstyle gives me bad match-ups, but Mono U isn't one of them (its the mirror match because I'm terrible at midrange match-ups and they are playing higher value cards than me and drawing more cards on average). If you WANT to play the control game with courser of kruphix eventually drawing your way out of it, go for it. You might just get overrun
by master of waves and their Scry 1 thassa is comparable to your Courser sometimes drawing a land.

I'm TELLING you the match-up is in your favor to race. You CAN"T expect skylashers to do anything productive and they CANT race Thassa. You CAN win games by skylasher to keep your health high, overloading a mortars and then just killing them with a 2nd or 3rd polukranos. Sure, but against compotent mono blue opponents, you're just going to get Thassa'd, board stalled, and raced. Overloading a mortars is a long way off (and comptent ones will bring in negate)

Gruul charms are made BETTER by racing if you have access to them. I also go up to 4 mortars versus them post board just because its such a high impact card (but its useless if you mortars them and have nothing killing their face in in the meantime. And by killing I mean 3-4 damage+ a turn).

I like shocks over gruul charms because shock also helps in White weenie or G/W aggro or mono red match-ups. Its also more mana efficient so you can
play dork, Caryatid+shock, etc.


We can argue all day but the results are there: Who got 2nd at GP Louisville when Mono U was at its peak right after GP? The guy with mistcutter hydras MB and kalonian tuskers for an aggressive version.


Who won GP santiago? The guy with mistcutter hydras in his SB and he was DEFINITELY playing the "kill their shit" route with the black splash.

The way the pros SB is to value mistcutter as pressure rather than relying on a random "fattie" to eventually close the deal. You need something they literally can't deal with, no matter what your approach to the MU is

[Valdarith]

I don't think we can definitively say that the version without Courser is better because it spiked x event. We don't know exactly how many times he played certain matchups so it's hard to evaluate the deck given that there are so few that run that configuration.

I understand the value of Mistcutter. I've won plenty of games resolving him against blue devotion but the vast majority of those matches I was already winning due to a suboptimal opening by my opponent. You know, the "subpar draft deck" kind of draws the devotion decks are notorious for.

Domri is okay in the mono blue match, but not a card I like four of. He helps keep devotion low and fights off Tidebinders which really comes in handy. If I weren't running Courser I probably wouldn't bother though.

[Link]

I'm not arguing that my deck is better without coursers. Its pretty clear that Courser of Kruphix is the better magic card and is insane value with Domri that just wins games by itself. My deck might be better to "spike" events with because its not the stock list and its catch you off-guard aggressive, but I think the better decks are the ones in the OP that actually won 10 round events with Courser.



I still just don't understand how your games are going where skylasher is meaningful... He stops their "broken opening"??? Mono U has no t4 kills. It has t5 kills if you ignore (or can't) kill their devotion and you get master of waves for 7 devotion or something.

[Link]

Next topic:

SBing vs. Esper.

I've seen some articles suggesting that you SB out a Mystic because "you need to beat verdict"

Verdict is NOT the card you have to beat. You have planeswalkers. Their BEST card is Dissolve. If you have two things countered I guarantee you've probably lost that game (barring topdecks and them not having a Sphinx's/Elspeth or something)

You beat Esper by forcing them to tap out every turn to answer your threats and then being dead on board with counters still in hand.

Mystics are crucial for getting your T4 plays guys in under counterspells. On the draw, well you still can get in under them because they dnt always have double blue on curve.

Mystics also can get bestowed by Boon satyr (a great card for when you cant play around counterspells so it eats one then you untap and Xenagos or something)

This is why I can't reccomend Skarrg guildmage enough in the MU if youre expecting a lot of Esper. Its 6 power that they have to interact with and tap out, or they just die. Its a fine topdeck as well, and a great way to kill elspeth (or just push through her tokens for lethal because they HAVE shocked themselves a few times and you HAVE been hitting him right?)

This is why I SB more Guildmage than Ruric Thars for the MU. If you can't ever pressure them enough to tap out, Ruric thar just gets countered.


Also another advantage G/R has over the Jund and Naya variants: You can SB out caryatid (and run 2-3 MB) in MUs like these. I know I just said keep Mystics in to ramp, but mystics can be turned sideways and thats a huge difference (also T2 Domris win games). I'd have 3 Skarrg for 3 sylvan caryatid as a swap. Just because I want to see him on T2 pretty often

Take out your dead removal for Xenagos/Chandra and BAM, you're good to go.

Extend into verdict if you can follow up with a Stormbreath or Xenagos, Reveler. It doesn't matter if you get 3-1d if you got a
bunch of damage in and can follow up with a hasty threat. Its not about CA (honestly sometimes I bait them into d-sphering Domri which Esper scrubs are TOO afraid of sometimes so I can stick a threat that kills them) Aka play a Domri into open mana, if they dont counter it and then tap out for D-sphere? NOW I follow up with Fanatic if Xenagos (obviously xenagos PW is better in this situation I'm just saying if you know one 3 drop is getting countered and you dont have a 4 drop, lead with Domri)

[Tanro]

The best thing for Mono U is mortars overload. If you cant reliably get the mortars overload on turn 4 then lean on anger as it kills everything except master and frostburn. I run anger in my board because it hoses early aggro (rdw, madcap rakdgos, heroic decks, etc) it just blows the entire strategy of esper humans 100% to death, and it kills all the bad stuff in most Mono U lists.

The second best thing for Mono U is Mistcutter. Skylasher only gets you their stupid birds. Does nothing against nightveil but chump it.

[Valdarith]

Yeah I can't recommend siding out Mystic at all. I'll usually side out one Caryatid, but ramping into your spells is critical in this match, especially for your deck, Fate.

[Link]

I definitely recommend shocks over anger of the gods since it doesn't kill your dorks and is instant speed to play around a brave for lethal or whatever.


I ironically lost to Esper today becuase he SBed in Archangel of thune and I had all my SB cards that weren't mortars. I dug 4 cards deep with chandra for a domri (I had the rampager) or a xenagod to race but it just wasn't in the cards and I died.

Beat mono black, R/W burn, and RUG Monsters for 3-1 record.

Not enough post board experience to really comment on any of the choices. MIght leave in more flesh//bloods against (unknown obv) esper just to hedge for archangels...


Monster mirror went exactly as planned. I overloaded a mortars with ooze out ate a bunch of stuff, then armed+gruul charm. G3 I kept a 4lander with ooze, polukranos, and mystic just because they were important. Scryed a 2nd polukranos to the bottom, ate his two mystics (and got him stuck
on two land) then flesh/blooded for the kill (I put one back and took out an armed// because hes on Kiora so Flesh seemed better.

Mono black was mono black. I topdecked a rampager after he just had thoughtseized one so it was nice to blow him out with that.

I just raced burn and went over his reckoners with my Fanatic of xenagos getting bestowed in both games I won. Thats why I play 4 of each though. (the game I died I got way too greedy tapping out for not lethal and died from 15. >_>)

[Valdarith]

I think with the meta slowing WAAAAAAAAAAAY down it may be time to revisit GR Monsters. It has a distinct advantage in being much faster than Jund as well as more consistent.

Fate will like this I think.

[deck]
Creatures (28)
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Boon Satyr
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Xenagos, God of Revels

Planeswalkers (5)
4 Domri Rade
1 Xenagos, the Reveler

Spells (3)
3 Mizzium Mortars

Lands (24)
3 Mutavault
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
8 Forest
5 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Shock
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Gruul Charm
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Bow of Nylea
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
[/deck]

[Tyrael]

What's the esper matchup like (since it's currently the most popular deck on paper)

[Valdarith]

I haven't played it yet, but I imagine the matchup is a little bit better than the other GR Monsters builds around currently for a few reasons:

1) One less Caryatid in the main.
2) One less Courser in the main.
3) Three maindeck Boon Satyr.
4) Three Mutavault instead of 1-2.

[Tyrael]

Ha, I'd be playing this if the Domri's weren't 30 bucks a piece

[Valdarith]

They're dropping a little bit since the meta is shifting a bit buy I really think a faster build is the way to go right now. Once the GR pilots pick up on that they're sure to shoot back up.

[Valdarith]

Bow of Nylea may be a better sideboard card now that Burn is a thing. You'd also bring it in against Black devotion to nullify Desecration Demon and Mono Blue devotion to kill Judge's Familiar and fresh Cloudfin Raptors.

[Link]

Bow's a solid 1x

I do like that list since its got a bit of everything. I'd still hedge for 2 mutavaults and down to 2 mortars, but everyone's gonna tweak the # of Xenagos, PW, Boon Satyrs, and Coursers as needed.

Haven't had time for magic for awhile so I don't have much to add at this time. If Esper's big though I love me some G/R. Less mortars more Xenagos, PW and Boon Satyrs and Skarrg guildmage in the SB

[Link]

Anyone know the full spoiler set? Wasn't able to go to pre-releases, but I'm getting back into magic next week and I'd love to know if there are any staples for our archetype that have come out.

[Tyrael]

Font of Fertility
[card]Heroes' Bane[/card]
Hydra Broodmaster
Golden Hind
Setessan Tactics
Revel of the Fallen God
Eidolon of Blossoms
[card]Kruphix's Insight[/card]

I don't see any staples I'm afraid...

[Valdarith]

Setessan Tactics is the only card worth mentioning. The GR archetype will remain unchanged otherwise, but stands to gain position in the meta if it becomes more aggro based which is a reasonable expectation with the introduction of Mana Confluence.

[Tanro]

That 6/6 Green fatty for 4 looks nice.

[Tyrael]

Swarmborn Giant? But his drawback is huge

[Link]

Not enough upside to play over Polukranos I think. And I still like Deadbridge goliath in the right meta >_>

At least the primer doesn't have to be updated, heh

[Link]

Going to the Super IQ tomorrow, should have a nice write-up for good old G/R monsters.

Struggling with my desire to play 8 3-drops, we'll see what I end up on

[Valdarith]

It helps to run Boon Satyr if you want more than Courser since he's a flexible five as well. I've won many games off the back of a bestowed Stormbreath Dragon, and it helps combat Desecration Demon as well.

[Link]

Went 3-0, then ran into a close MU against U/W to lose then the next round a very frustrating game 3 loss to U/W again... Ended up 4-2 just outside top 8.

[deck]
4x Elvish Mystic
3x Sylvan Caryatid
3x Scavenging Ooze
3x Fanatic of Xenagos
3x Boon Satyr
3x Polukranos, World-Eater
4x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Xenagos, God of Revels

4x Domri Rade
2x Xenagos, Reveler
2x Flesh//Blood
1x Clan Defiance

1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Mutavault
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple of abandon
5 Mountain
8 Forest

SB:
1x Ruric Thar, The Unbowed
1x Xenagos, God of Revels
2x Skarrg Guildmage
2x Mizzium Mortars
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x Mistcutter Hydra
2x Armed // Dangerous
2x Destructive Revelry
1x Polis Crusher
1x Bow of Nylea[/deck]

3xs definitely aren't optimized yet, I made a last minute decision to shave 1x Boon Satyr and 1x Fanatic of Xenagos to fit Xenagos, Reveler in the MB. He was house against control decks in the
first 3 rounds, and not seeing him in the rounds I lost was a factor. I might succumb and cut the Fanatic of Xenagos' altogether for another PW, Polukranos, and Boon Satyr.

Xenagos, God out of the SB was crucial to beating B/x lists. Chandra was impossible to cast with only 5 mountains, and I'd cut her while streamlining the SB now that I know the field is mostly UWx and B/g. I managed to dodge the few mirror matches floating around so mortars and Armed//Dangerous never got used.

[Valdarith]

I can see why you lost to UW. Fanatic of Xenagos just isn't worth it in this list. There are so many better cards to be playing.

[Valdarith]

I went 3-1 at a Win A Box with my GR list a few posts above, losing only to RW Burn. He drew well against me both games and I barely lost the race in game one and misboarded and drew clunky against him in game two. Besides that the deck performed well, beating a bad RB midrange brew, GR aggro, and GW aggro featuring Advent of the Wurm (best games of the night).

Some of my findings:

1) I played two Xenagod in my deck because green-based midrange decks are extremely popular in my area and this is the card that typically breaks that match open. That said, I think I'm going to move down to one. I play two Boon Satyr in my deck which functions similarly to Xenagod, and there were times where I drew two and it was terrible. There are also a lot of white decks in my meta and he is easily dealt with against them, so I think moving to one is appropriate, especially considering point #2.

2) I want Harness by Force in my
sideboard. Following the point about midrange decks in my meta, I need a way to push through Desecration Demon, wurm tokens, opposing Polukranos, etc. This is exactly the kind of card this deck wants because we can usually generate six mana to strive it and it's yet another one of those cards in this deck that can just win the game out of nowhere. That's actually what keeps me playing this deck - the power level of all the cards is just extremely high.

3) Three Mizzium Mortars seems good. I like having access to the fourth in the board.

4) I want 2 Xenawalkers in the main. I also no longer want Bow of Nylea because it's too slow vs Burn and Harness by Force plays a similar role against midrange decks. That frees up sideboard space for more goodies.

[deck]
Creatures (28)
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Boon Satyr
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Xenagos, God of Revels

Planeswalkers (6)
4 Domri Rade
2
Xenagos, the Reveler

Spells (3)
3 Mizzium Mortars

Lands (23)
1 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
8 Forest
4 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Shock
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Gruul Charm
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Harness by Force
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
[/deck]

[Tanro]

I quit playing GR Monsters because the meta down here in Cullman Valdarith, but before I did I was @ 4 Boon Satyrs, and 3 Coursers. I found that I almost never wanted more than 1 courser. I usually ended up with more than at least 1 time each match.

[Valdarith]

Did some playtesting with my deck last night, with one slight change to the deck. I swapped out a Mountain for a second Mana Confluence. I feel like I want 14 untapped green sources for turn one Elvish Mystic because playing it on turn one is the single best thing this deck can be doing and I want to be able to do it as much as possible.

I tested against GR aggro and GW aggro. The GR aggro deck was cake as I expected, so I only got in three games there, but I jammed five preboard games against GW because I've been a little concerned with that matchup since my narrow victory against it at the Win A Box. I don't know the exact numbers, but the list contains

[cards]Experiment One
Fleecemane Lion
Voice of Resurgence
Boon Satyr
Loxodon Smiter
Advent of the Wurm
Selesnya Charm
Spear of Heliod
Ajani, Caller of the Pride[/cards]

plus some other fluff. The particular list I tested against today
played three maindeck Unflinching Courage which is actually a good call in our GR-dominated meta. The reason I've been concerned about this matchup since playing against it two weeks ago is that I feel like it beats GR at its own game. It gets to play bigger creatures earlier in the curve, Selesnya Charm to invalidate our Polukranos, Xenagod, or any blockers, and Advent of the Wurm which is impossible for this deck to deal with directly. After testing, I think my concerns were a bit overstated. I ended up going 4-1, all of which were preboard games where he was maindecking Courage. One particular game he managed to suit up Loxodon Smiter and Experiment One with Courage at the same time and I was still able to deal with them, ie attack with Courser, bloodrush with Rampager, second main play Domri, fight your 6/6 Smiter, then brickwall E1 with a couple of blockers. Our basic strategy is to play defense until we can resolve a Dragon and ride it to victory. I really like having access to Boon Satyr because it
can defend against Smiter or go way over the top of what they're trying to do. Xenawalker also isn't too shabby since none of their stuff has evasion unless its suited up with Courage or jumped with Ajani. I actually got to ultimate him in one game because I flooded my board with so many creatures that I was using his +1 a lot to do things like play PolyK and monstrous him in the same turn. That brings up another point vs GW: you can fearlessly shove creatures on the board because they have no board wipes. You obviously want to hold GCR most of the time but crowding the board is the best thing you can do against them, and it makes Xenawalker REALLY shine.

This matchup makes me respect how difficult this deck really is to pilot. There's a lot more to the deck than just playing dudes and swinging with them which is hard to see until you've piloted it. Sequencing is very difficult with this deck and I'm getting more used to it now which is a great feeling.

For the sake of completeness, here's my
final 75 with sideboard strategy:

[deck]
Creatures (28)
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Boon Satyr
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Xenagos, God of Revels

Planeswalkers (6)
4 Domri Rade
2 Xenagos, the Reveler

Spells (3)
3 Mizzium Mortars

Lands (23)
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
8 Forest
3 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Shock
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Gruul Charm
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Harness by Force
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Nylea's Disciple
[/deck]

vs GW: -1 Xenagod, -1 Caryatid, +2 Harness by Force. I prefer Harness by Force over Xenagod in this matchup because it serves a similar purpose: pushing through a stale board. With the little removal GW runs, Xenagod is likely to be active the turn he is played, offering up a trade with Selesnya Charm precombat without getting the +x/+x bonus to one of my creatures.

vs UWx control: -3
Polukranos, -3 Mortars, -2 Caryatid, +4 Hydra, +2 Destructive Revelry, +2 Chandra.

vs mono blue: -1 Xenagod, -2 Xenawalker, -1 Domri, -4 Dragon, +4 Hydra, +2 Shock, +1 Mortars, +1 Gruul Charm. I'm tempted to bring in one Destructive Revelry to deal with Domestication as well, but that may be a trap.

vs Bx devotion: -1 Caryatid, -3 Mortars, +2 Harness by Force, +2 Chandra. We know they're bringing in Lifebane Zombie postboard, and some side out Pack Rat because this deck pushes through them a lot more easily than other decks. That means Mortars only has a five drop as a legit target (unless they keep in Specter which we can power through), so let's side them all out and jam in with good cards.

vs Burn: -3 Mortars, -2 Boon Satyr, -1 Xenagod, -4 Domri, +2 Shock, +2 Revelry, +4 Hydra, +1 Disciple of Nylea. Shock is a tempo card for Phoenix. Revelry kills Firedancer and Chained. Hydras present more bodies. Disciple is basically a body plus a lifegain spell that demands a Skullcrack.

vs Hexproof: -3
Mortars, -4 Domri, +2 Revelry, +4 Hydra, +1 Disciple. My sideboard is not built for this matchup and I pray I don't have to face it.

[LP, of the Fires]

I'd probably board in Mortars and shock vs. GW and board out some number of courser. If the matchup's about fatness, incremental value is definitely not important and shock cleans up small guys nicely.

[magicdownunder]

Most GW creatures are 3 power or less so courser does some work, I do agree on Mortars though.

[Valdarith]

Yeah, I overlooked the fourth Mortars by accident in that match. Not sure what to take out though. Probably a Boon Satyr? I think having Ooze as a two drop is necessary as an additional defense to a quick start from them if we are on the draw.

I like Courser in the matchup since it stones their E1s, Lions, Voices, etc and gives us a distinct advantage since we are likely to be taking the game to at least 7-8 turns.

If we add Shock I'm afraid it would dilute the deck too much. I can generally aim to hold off early aggression by trading off or walling with Caryatid and Courser until I can overload a Mortars.

[Elricity]

A little bit of a necro but I tried the Naya superfriends version of monsters and that was quite enjoyable.

I think someone posted it on DTR but the list was here with some reports:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/28 ... -Down.html

I gave it a go for a couple of hours with his recommended changes at the end and it was fun. I faced no aggro though. Topdecks like a champion.