Locations
It's not often one gets an Opportunity to write for a site like Mananation, and to be able to write about a deck I've created and had success with is one more thing checked off the bucket list. You may have already seen or heard of the deck I brewed, quite simply it's a G/W tokens deck. It took close to twenty brews before something successful started showing actual results on Magic Online.
I'm going to start by explaining how this deck is actually a "real" deck as some may put it. When I brew a deck idea I begin by having something that looks good on paper. I tend to brew decks on my phone with a program called MTG Deck Forge and I can then e-mail these lists to my trusted friends who look at it and give me the yay or nay. From that point I dive into my standard cards on Magic Online and begin a few games of tournament practice. However this doesn't last long. If the deck plays out smooth enough in the first few matches I will immediately begin to burn a couple bucks to enter some 2 man queues to see how it holds up vs the current meta-game. Because after all that is what truly matters, you can beat up on your friends at the kitchen table all day long – but to be trusted in a world of the Hive Mind is a whole other game that I'm trying to win at.
The point is these decks are heavily tested far before they are released on my site 60cards.com. There are a few brews posted on the site that tend to do better than 50 percent vs the standard meta-game. However none have had near the success that the following tokens deck has had. Within the first 8 hours of posting this list a twitter follower had top 8'ed his provincials with it. But that's another story which is actually posted on my site.
If you've seen the daily events and decklists in the past at mtgonline.com you may have noticed the deck actually appearing among a field of UB Control, Valakut, Boros, and Vampires. My goal isn't to toot my own horn here however. I just want to set up why you should pay attention to what I'm saying if you are interested in another deck option for the standard meta-game. This deck has been tuned and tightened for well over a month now by multiple players and continues to grow and tighten, particularly the sideboard.
For reference, the deck idea spawned from my love of Elspeth. I really wanted to see where she could be utilized best, and it became pretty apparent when I read the word "token" listed right on the card.
Enough of the introduction to the deck, as most of you may have already skipped to the following, here is the list.
"GW Tokens"
- Creatures (9)
- 4 Nest Invader
- 3 Overgrown Battlement
- 2 Kozilek's Predator
- Spells (26)
- 4 Journey to Nowhere
- 4 Explore
- 3 Awakening Zone
- 3 Beastmaster Ascension
- 3 Garruk Wildspeaker
- 3 Elspeth Tirel
- 4 Conquerors Pledge
- 2 Eldrazi Monument
- Lands (25)
- 4 Razorverge Thicket
- 4 Sunpetal Grove
- 4 Stirring Wildwood
- 4 Khalni Garden
- 3 Tectonic Edge
- 6 Plains
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Leyline Sanctity
- 4 Leonin Arbiter
- 2 Day of Judgment
- 3 Acidic Slime
- 3 Luminarch Ascension
Let's start with a breakdown of some card choices because at first glance some of these things may seem out of place.
Overgrown Battlement: Throughout testing the deck had good early defense at the two drop slot. What I mean by early defense is that the deck wants to get to mid game most the time vs an aggro deck. Nest Invader and Journey to Nowhere were always good, Nest Invader's early were almost always used for blocking purposes so you could hit your power spells like Garruk Wildspeaker and Elspeth Tirel. Nest Invader was always the best two drop, so I wanted something that did just half of what it did. Battlement doesn't attack, but it blocks and ramps and that's the best we can do other than good ‘ol Nest Invader.
Journey to Nowhere: The best removal spell in white. To the point, effective, and gets rid of problem cards like Wurmcoil Engine, or any of the titans for that matter.
Khalni Garden: It's a token deck, but these little plants slow down your aggro opponents, and also help maintain an Eldrazi Monument mid-late game.
Awakening Zone: The deck needs gas, and this provides that every turn. It's also very relevant that Sword of Body and Mind is being used. Colorless tokens can block anything. This will also ramp you into a turn 4 Elspeth or Conqueror's Pledge or even an Eldrazi Monument because Awakening Zone will maintain a monument on its own even if you don't have creatures. This is an effective strategy against control decks.
Garruk: A token producer, finisher, and mana ramper. Possibly the best card in the deck in the sense he's a triple threat. Getting a turn 3 Garruk and then untapping two lands for a Nest Invader while having Garruk threaten Overrun any turn after is quite fast. And you'll probably need cards that threaten quickly against certain decks.
Elspeth: An obvious choice for tons of tokens and lifegain if you are behind. Her ultimate comes in handy in lots of situations too. Because remember that your tokens stay on the board!
Eldrazi Monument: Another finisher. We've cut this to two because often you never want to see more than 1.
Explore: The deck likes to ramp to 5 mana as soon as it can. And Explore is especially good because it helps draw into your more powerful spells.
Conqueror's Pledge: By far the biggest threat in the deck. A resolved Pledge threaten instant death the turn after because you can drop a Beastmaster Ascension and swing with the team (granted you need 1 more attacker on the board, which isn't a problem in the deck. Stirring Wildwood is often the 7th attacker).
There are many ways to approach each archetype in the meta-game. There are also so many different plays for different situations and I will try to cover as much as I can, but you'll be surprised at all the different interactions and choices you have in the course of a game with this deck. I've had some people have little success with the deck but I largely think it's due to not playing the deck correctly. I also receive the argument that Ratchet Bomb and Pyroclasm are just game enders, however that is a myth. Yes they can slow you down, but if played right they are negligible. Additionally most people won't know what you are playing and will Pyroclasm a plant token, Nest Invader, and Eldrazi Spawn token. Therefore paying the same amount of mana you paid for those 3 cards. Point being, in this current meta game, all the aggro decks lose to Pyroclasm and less-so Ratchet Bomb.
Against control decks you'll want to play the deck much slower than other archetypes. What I mean by this is get a tiny bit of board presence such as a Nest Invader or Stirring Wildwood and just starting attacking them down with a little damage here and there. What you are waiting for is the Opportunity where your opponent taps out and you get the chance to cast a must answer spell such as Elspeth, Conqueror's Pledge, or Eldrazi Monument. Currently control only has Into the Roil to buy them some turns. And possibly a charged up Ratchet Bomb. At this point though you are far ahead and they are fighting to find an answer.
Therefore playing unlike they really want to be playing. Now one caveat is that if you drop a planeswalker make sure you have a blocker or a way to protect it. If they have a way to kill the threat you were able to land it's going to be a problem. Unless of course you bait a small threat so they are forced to tap out for a manland or something similar, then drop an even better spell. Post sideboard this matchup gets even better with Luminarch Ascension (another instant must answer threat that makes your opponent play drastically different from what they want to be doing) and Acidic Slime. Acidic Slime will keep them off big mana and help in forcing them to misplay their Ratchet Bomb. That's about the basics of the control matchup. However just testing and playing lots of matches vs both UB and UW are necessary to really get a grasp of what I'm saying.
VS UB/UW Control
+2 Acidic Slime
Aggro decks are probably your easiest matchup (control really doesn't feel that hard to me anymore). The reason for this is because aggro decks have no flyers except for Squadron Hawk and Kor Skyfisher, both of which are the hardest aggro cards to deal with. When I speak of aggro decks I'm really speaking to Boros and Vampires as they are the most proven decks on mtgonline.com and in paper games. The White Weenie quest decks aren't a hard matchup because even if they get out the Argentum Armor they hardly ever have a target that really matters. And most the time you can just block the clunky 8/8 creature. Against Boros and Vampires however most of their threats are on the ground. And this is a huge advantage. The goal is to keep hands with your early two drops, whether that be Journey to Nowhere, Nest Invader, Overgrown Battlement, or even just Khalni Garden. I highly recommend you block early unless you need an extra mana for an important play the turn after. Even throwing your Overgrown Battlement in front of a Plated Geopede is often necessary to force the use of their fetch lands, because even though they have a lot they won't always have more. Once you can safely get to the point of casting an Elspeth, Conqueror's Pledge, or Kozilek's Predator you should feel fairly comfortable about the win at this point. The only card in all 3 of these decks that may give you issues is a Squadron Hawk equipped with a Adventuring Gear. Other than that the odds of losing are slim to none. And once a resolved Awakening Zone and Eldrazi Monument hit the board they have a better chance to win the lottery. The Vampires matchup is about 90% in your favor, so there's not much need to speak on that matter. Here is the common sideboard plays I make.
VS Boros/RDW/Vampires/RDW
-3 Explore
The purpose of the Leyline is that your opponent can't burn you out, but more importantly they can't
Target your planeswalkers, and they sure aren't going to attack into them, because you should almost always have the blockers you need. Explore is less than optimal most the time because you can only take so much damage early unless you have a Day of Judgment. Which is why we side those in.
The last matchup that is most common in the ramp style meta (at least online) is Valakut. Valakut is going to be your biggest struggle, but I believe through practice you'll understand this matchup isn't as hard as it seems. You'll want to keep hands with some ramp, and big spells, and if you're lucky a finisher. A resolved turn four Conqueror's Pledge followed by a Beastmaster Ascension or Eldrazi Monument is what you are going for. Post sideboard you bring in the entire crew to Disrupt them as much as you can. Hands with Overgrown Battlement generally won't get you there unless you set up a turn 3 Garruk followed by a Conqueror's Pledge. But at this point you have to hope they didn't have the nut draw to start shooting down your Garruk. Really you have to outrace them in game 1. And that's unfortunate because I'll be honest… It's not easy to do (although very possible).
Post sideboard we get a lot of help out of the sideboard. Here is what you want to sideboard.
Vs Valakut
+3 Acidic Slime
All of the sideboarded cards help Disrupt what your opponent is trying to do. And you get to remove lots of slow/dead cards in Overgrown Battlement and Awakening Zone. With the Acidic Slime you are hoping to hit their Forest and really hoping that they can buy you a turn or even two. You want to leave in some 2 drop ramp spells to hit the slime as early as you can. Leonin Arbiter is your best turn 2 play though. If they don't have the removal for them you are most likely going to win the game. And finally Leyline of Sanctity is your best option to buy you free turns (and save your Garruk for another turn or two).
It also helps to know how to pilot Valakut because that can be key in slowing them down.
Those are all the matchups you should really be expecting. Anything else shouldn't be an issue because they will usually fall under the umbrella of the above mentioned decks and the sideboarding strategies will be very similar.
I hope this GW Tokens primer has been useful and that you consider this deck the next time you enter into a tournament. Any feedback and progress you've had with the deck would be great to hear about. You can always catch me on Twitter @smi77y.
