Over the past month, the Modern format has grown rather stale. The sheer dominance of Bant Nadu and Energy variants has significantly warped the metagame. If you don’t have a plan to beat these decks, chances are you’ll have a tough time succeeding.
Nonetheless, even this harsh environment hasn’t deterred some players from registering unique decks they enjoy and doing their best to fight the top dogs. For instance, just recently, a player won a Regional Championship Qualifier preliminary event in Japan with a nearly mono-green deck that is certainly on the cheaper side of things in Modern.
The deck utilizes some intriguing card choices to help against aggressive archetypes like Energy. Even if this green shell isn’t a tier one choice, it’s nice to see a mostly budget-friendly strategy have success in the current state of Modern.
Mana Production and Payoffs
- Mana Value: 1G
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/4
- Text: Tap: Add green. Ferocious- Tap: Add four green. Activate only if you control a creature with power 4 or greater. Eternalize 2GG (2GG, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that’s a copy of it, except it’s a 4/4 black Zombie Snake Druid with no mana cost. Eternalize only as a Sorcery.)
While this deck is certainly quite assertive, it gets a bunch of its power from being able to produce lots of mana early on. In the one-drop slot, both Ignoble Hierarch and Noble Hierarch make an appearance. These cards help you cast your potent three-drops a turn ahead of schedule. Plus, the Exalted bonus provided makes your three-drop beaters end the game even quicker.
While these mana dorks are helpful, Fanatic of Rhonas undoubtedly provides the highest upside. As a four-toughness creature, Fanatic of Rhonas dodges some premium removal spells, such as Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury. After playing Fanatic of Rhonas on turn two, following up with either Steel Leaf Champion or Old-Growth Troll immediately allows Fanatic of Rhonas to tap for four mana. From there, you’ll be able to cast a copy of Questing Beast or even The Great Henge.
If you’re fortunate enough to untap with Fanatic of Rhonas, the world is your oyster. Cards like Tyrranax Rex are sure to end the game in short order. With access to so much mana, Scavenging Ooze becomes a reliable piece of graveyard hate that threatens to grow quite large depending on the matchup.
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A Neat Metagame Decision
- Mana Value: 2BG
- Rarity: Rare
- Text: Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. Add B or G for each permanent destroyed this way.
Perhaps the most intriguing inclusion in the deck, all things considered, is Culling Ritual. Culling Ritual is certainly a narrow card. Typically, you’d find this kind of effect in decks focused on fighting attrition battles, such as Modern Necrodominance. Even then, Culling Ritual is almost always a sideboard card.
As such, it may seem strange to see this assertive green deck go through the efforts of splashing for a card that actively kills its own mana dorks. When factoring in the current state of Modern, though, this isn’t an unreasonable idea.
Both Bant Nadu and Boros Energy do a good job of clogging up the ground with small creatures. Energy decks in particular are very vulnerable to Culling Ritual. Unlike traditional board wipes, Culling Ritual has the potential to provide a big rebate on mana. This allows you to not only set your opponent back, but also add pressure of your own to the board.
In this way, Culling Ritual doesn’t clash with the mana dorks as much as you might think. The mana producers enable you to cast Culling Ritual as early as turn three. Plus, you get a mana boost from your low-cost permanents dying, not just your opponent’s. Your opponents will likely feel pressured to overextend to the board when facing down Fanatic of Rhonas and beyond, which can make Culling Ritual that much more devastating. Some games, you’ll even have the luxury of getting Steel Leef Champion or another threat on board first before wiping away everything with lesser mana value.
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Strengths and Weaknesses
- Mana Value: R
- Rarity: Common
- Text: Chooose target creature or planeswalker. You get three energy counter, then you may pay any amount of energy. Galvanic Discharge deals that much damage to that permanent.
Generally speaking, this deck does a reasonable job addressing some of the popular matchups in the metagame. Culling Ritual tech aside, your beefy creatures line up decently well against Galvanic Discharge. Meanwhile Steel Leaf Champion can attack fearlessly into tokens generated by Ocelot Pride or Springheart Nantuko.
That being said, it’s clear that the deck has its limitations. Outside of Culling Ritual, the deck is mostly just a pile of creatures with minimal disruption present. Even the most explosive draws you have access to can’t realistically beat quick combo kills from Bant Nadu or Ruby Storm. The mana dorks also line up very poorly in the face of Orcish Bowmasters, which is prevalent in black Necrodominance and Dimir Frog strategies.
Most of the deck’s appeal comes from the fact that it’s unique and, for the most part, somewhat budget-friendly by Modern standards. The Great Henge and portions of the manabase are a bit expensive, but trimming on The Great Henge or Boseiju, Who Endures to soften the cost isn’t a huge deal.
Yet, even though this isn’t the most competitive deck in the world, the results speak for themselves. Supposedly, the pilot went undefeated in the tourney, beating Storm, Esper Goryo’s, Mardu Energy, and Jeskai control twice. The large threats line up decently well against Jeskai control, and the presence of Scavenging Ooze and Endurance helps a lot versus Esper Goryo’s. This elite showing is impressive, showcasing that sometimes, registering what you know well and like to play can have its perks.
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