While Boros Pixie has been the talk of the town thanks to its massive metagame share at the World Championship, it isn’t the only surprise archetype to emerge from the event. Nine players registered a unique Selesnya Counters deck, making it the fourth-most-played archetype.
Surprisingly, this was the deck that had the best day one win rate at the World Championship, meaning that it’s worth paying attention to.
Going Big with Michelangelo
This Selesnya Counters deck shares a lot in common with the Selesnya
Ouroboroid
Ouroboroid
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control, where X is this creature's power.
decks that were more prevalent when
Badgermole Cub
Badgermole Cub
When this creature enters, earthbend 1. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that's still a land. Put a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional {G}.
was still legal. The goal is still to maximize the power of efficient mana sources in order to play powerful threats ahead of schedule.
Unsurprisingly, your best draws start with
Llanowar Elves
Llanowar Elves
{T}: Add {G}.
, which tap for mana unconditionally.
Gene Pollinator
Gene Pollinator
{T}, Tap an untapped permanent you control: Add one mana of any color.
, on the other hand, can’t ramp you to three mana on turn two, but paired with any two-drop, it gets you to four mana on turn three.
As a result, you can still successfully cast Ouroboroid ahead of schedule, racking up counters across your team. Should you untap with the potent four-drop, there’s a good chance the opponent is toast.
Where this deck starts to deviate from previous Selesnya iterations, however, is with
Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11
Michelangelo, Weirdness to 11
When Michelangelo enters, create a Mutagen token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.")
If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.
. This Turtle is the perfect threat to play before Ouroboroid, amplifying the Plant’s trigger. The Mutagen token even synergizes with Gene Pollinator, letting you feed its activation without tapping your creatures.
Things get even crazier if you can buff the Ouroboroid with the Michelangelo’s Mutagen token pre-combat. The Plant then becomes a 3/5 thanks to Michelangelo’s ability, and it threatens to put four +1/+1 counters on each of your creatures with its first trigger!
Notably, though, Michelangelo’s synergies stretch beyond just Ouroboroid, as the Turtle also doubles the effects of
Practiced Offense
Practiced Offense
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature target player controls. Target creature gains your choice of double strike or lifelink until end of turn.
Flashback {1}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
and
Guiding Hydra
Guiding Hydra
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control.
. You just need to go wide to get the most out of these cards, and
Pawpatch Recruit
Pawpatch Recruit
Offspring {2} (You may pay an additional {2} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)
Trample
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control other than that creature.
makes that trivial.
Plus, Michelangelo even makes Pawpatch Recruit’s trigger more threatening, distributing extra counters every time one of your creatures gets targeted. This makes spot removal much less concerning.
With
Brightglass Gearhulk
Brightglass Gearhulk
First strike, trample
When this creature enters, you may search your library for up to two artifact, creature, and/or enchantment cards with mana value 1 or less, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
tutoring up Recruit and Hydra, you have a pretty consistent and scary game plan. Throw in reactive tutor targets like
Seam Rip
Seam Rip
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.
and
Meltstrider’s Resolve
Meltstrider’s Resolve
Enchant creature you control
When this Aura enters, enchanted creature fights up to one target creature an opponent controls. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
Enchanted creature gets +0/+2 and can't be blocked by more than one creature.
, and you’re set up to slow opposing decks down in the process.
Deserves More Respect
With zero MTG Star Trek cards in the mix, it’s strange that Selesnya Counters is kind of just booming all of a sudden. Considering how the deck lines up against some of the other top-tier archetypes in the format, however, perhaps this deck should have been turned to sooner.
Right off the bat, decks that don’t feature much removal, like Landfall, risk getting blitzed by Ouroboroid. The combination of Practiced Offense and Trampling threats, like Bejeweled Warg, also makes it easy to navigate past chump blockers.
At the same time, by going wide, you can put Lifegain under the gun, despite its wave of synergies. Things only get easier post-board, since you get to bring in four copies of
Doorkeeper Thrull
Doorkeeper Thrull
Flash
Flying
Artifacts and creatures entering don't cause abilities to trigger.
, a must-kill hate card.
While fighting through Hasty copies of
Sage of the Skies
Sage of the Skies
When you cast this spell, if you've cast another spell this turn, copy this spell. (The copy becomes a token.)
Flying, lifelink
out of Boros Pixie can be tougher, you get an edge by being able to grow your creatures out of control. Practiced Offense can also provide a nice life buffer to help race.
Then, when facing grindier decks like Dimir Midrange, value engines like Pawpatch Recruit and Brightglass Gearhulk let you win the resource battle. You even have access to the untargetable
Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker
Trample
Leatherhead enters with a hexproof counter on her.
Whenever Leatherhead deals combat damage to a player, you may remove a counter from her. When you do, destroy target artifact or enchantment that player controls.
out of the sideboard, which, alongside Practiced Offense, can cheese the matchup.
This doesn’t mean Selesnya Counters is unbeatable by any stretch, especially since board wipes can be quite a nuisance to fight through.
Sunderflock
Sunderflock
This spell costs {X} less to cast, where X is the greatest mana value among Elementals you control.
Flying
When this creature enters, if you cast it, return all non-Elemental creatures to their owners' hands.
is also a beating, erasing the progress you made building out your board.
Luckily, Izzet Spellementals saw little representation at the World Championship, and Selesnya Counters crushed day one. Of the nine competitors to bring the archetype, six made day two, and four boasted a 5-2 record or better!
Star Trek Standard has plenty of time to evolve, but for now, this archetype looks like a premium choice.
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