I am an almost purely unadulterated Green player in Commander. While I'm partial to Rhys the Redeemed and Kresh the Bloodbraided, both of those decks leverage their Green components more completely than the other colors. The fact that the first (I hope!) Commander deck I ported from paper to digital was Kamahl, Fist of Krosa wasn't an accident should speak volumes for my love of Big, Bad, and Green.

While some of you are reduced to reminiscing about lines from Dr. Seuss, those of us not entranced by the Grinch will recall that "mean green" is a common deck concept in Magic. From Secret Force to Eldrazi Green, powering out the big hitters is what Green does best. And it's something I enjoy doing.

The Crucible

Last week's ditty on format staples was the teaser to the correct follow-up to constructing any deck: play testing. Even the most casual of decks can use a little grinding: randomization, play it out, repeat. Understanding if you like how things are going, and what things you want to change up, is pretty vital to the whole experience.

For Commander on MTGO, this is easy: Burn some games and find out what's missing. While I could share gory details on several games, I'll instead highlight specific instances where my deck felt a little anemic. First, the deck list:

[cardlist]

[Creatures]

1 Acidic Slime

1 Borderland Ranger

1 Citanul Hierophants

1 Civic Wayfinder

1 Dauntless Dourbark

1 Deadwood Treefolk

1 Genesis

1 Indrik Stomphowler

1 Krosan Tusker

1 Masked Admirers

1 Mold Shambler

1 Pelakka Wurm

1 Rampaging Baloths

1 Sakura-Tribe Elder

1 Seedborn Muse

1 Seedguide Ash

1 Silklash Spider

1 Spearbreaker Behemoth

1 Sylvan Ranger

1 Terastodon

1 Timber Protector

1 Tornado Elemental

1 Treefolk Harbinger

1 Vigor

1 Wickerbough Elder

1 Wolfbriar Elemental

1 Wood Elves

1 Yavimaya Dryad

1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder

1 Baru, Fist of Krosa

1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

1 Myojin of Life's Web

1 Verdeloth the Ancient

[/Creatures]

[Spells]

1 Harrow

1 Krosan Grip

1 Momentous Fall

1 Reach of Branches

1 Rootgrapple

1 Cultivate

1 Desert Twister

1 Gaea's Bounty

1 Howl of the Night Pack

1 Hurricane

1 Kodama's Reach

1 Nature's Lore

1 Nature's Spiral

1 Rampant Growth

1 Reap and Sow

1 Recollect

1 Regrowth

1 Revive

1 Rude Awakening

1 Soul's Majesty

1 Sylvan Tutor

1 Three Visits

1 Tooth and Nail

1 Asceticism

1 Fecundity

1 Greater Good

1 Lurking Predators

1 Nature's Will

1 Lignify

1 Crystal Ball

1 Culling Dais

1 Journeyer's Kite

1 Loxodon Warhammer

1 Mind's Eye

1 Oblivion Stone

1 Strata Scythe

[/Spells]

[Lands]

23 Forest

1 Ghost Quarter

1 Llanowar Reborn

1 Mystifying Maze

1 Slippery Karst

1 Tectonic Edge

1 Temple of the False God

1 Tranquil Thicket

1 Treetop Village

[/Lands]

[/cardlist]

Weakness – Mana Explosiveness

My paper deck has gone through several different mana-burst packages, from Vernal Bloom and Extraplanar Lens to Gauntlet of Power and Mana Reflection. While I have quite a suite of ramp effects, the deck may be a little light on pure mana-burst effects.

Weakness – Mana Sinks

There were times when my mana sat worthless. While being able to play spells and keep up Mind's Eye or Tectonic Edge mana is useful, more productive uses—token creation, repeatable mana-ramping, card filtering—were more desirable each time. Either I was trying to draw into something useful or pulled a favor for someone else to attack more profitably (thanks, @wrongwaygoback).

Weakness – Disruption

Rootgrapple and Desert Twister, Indrik Stomphowler and Acidic Slime—they all help in various ways. But thanks to the clearly developed online "metagame" of Commander, more disruption than what I'm packing is called for.

Weakness – Equipment

Equipment is a valuable tool for converting random dorks into viable threats. Hitting hard is something I wished I could do more often, and if swinging protection from colors (or targeted spells and effects) is possible, it should be worthwhile.

20: GOTO 10

Iterative deck development is the recipe I cook with: continual improvement of the overall deck through the collective force of many smaller changes made iteratively. Repeatedly swapping in cards that provide the tools the deck needs at the cost it needs creates incremental improvements consistently over time.

That is, when I first built my paper Kamahl deck, it had significantly fewer mana-ramping effects at 2 and 3 mana than it has now. I've slowly optimized the ramp speed while simultaneously trimming back lands where possible. The result is a tuned machine that minimized dead draws as the game develops; getting fifteen to twenty lands into play during a normal game is common, though not always expected.

Delivering the beats comes quickly.

Online, however, I've made some sacrifices to the consistency and redundancy of the deck in order to meet the ticket quota I laid out. While I enjoy "#WINNING!™" just as much as the next person, actually having a consistent deck is something that always crops up as my goal. (Pro Tip: Having a consistent deck as a goal does not ensure that said consistency is achievable.)

With our eyes on the next step, here are some of the changes I'm considering:

Ant Queen, replacing Myojin of Life's Web

Ant Queen is inevitability: a mana sink that churns out tokens, a nice combination with either Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or his distant descendant, Baru, Fist of Krosa. I've had great success with both of these Trample and pump-providing fellows in conjunction with tokens (see: Wolfbriar Elemental) and the Queen should do the trick in numerous situations where my Green Myojin sat stranded in hand. My deck isn't creature-heavy, so the Life's Web is just too sticky.

Mold Shambler, Uktabi Orangutan, Viridian Corrupter, and/or Viridian Shaman, replacing . . . ???

The idea that answering things is valuable is testament to the power of doing so. While I'm not one for preaching (or fully understanding) Magic theory, I know that having the ability to break up what my opponents are doing is often very handy. The number of copies of Extraplanar Lens, Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and other mana accelerants I saw running around indicates that there will always be a valid target I'm not in control of.

What's tricky here is scaling the change from something proactive—like a scary, threatening creature—to something reactive—these artifact removal spells. I want the best of both, which is why Indrik Stomphowler and Acidic Slime are already in here. Perhaps Woodfall Primus should be on this list to consider adding? Of course, finding a way to slip Liquimetal Coating in would probably be just a little too cute . . . Right?

Nevinyrral's Disk, replacing Fecundity

I need more emergency buttons, and the old-school standby of Disk is the original emergency button. While waiting for the untap next turn is painful, Seedborn Muse can help push this along when they come up together. Disk works, as Oblivion Stone can attest to.

Vernal Bloom, replacing Nature's Lore

For the same net mana investment, I get the effect I want, all up front. Obviously, this gets silly when combined together. However, practicality dictates that simply having it up front is often worth more than spread over two main phases, with mana that can be stopped by a simple Fog.

Duplicant, replacing Lignify

Lignify is as close to creature removal as Green gets. While it works in many cases, Duplicant not only provides a more consistent interaction but also exiles the offending bugger. While it opens me up to a wider angle of Bribery and Acquire shenanigans, nailing something truly obnoxious is totally worth it.

Yavimaya Granger and/or Yavimaya Elder, replacing . . . ???

Thanks to the impending online release of Urza's Destiny, Yavimaya Elder should be more available than before. Additionally, Yavimaya Granger is another Borderland Ranger effect. While Echo or having to sacrifice a creature isn't always optimal, ramping fast and hard is a solid bet for this deck. Regardless of the drawback on Granger, adding the Elder is a solid bet.

Cash Flow Optimization

As mentioned last week, both Solemn Simulacrum and Lightning Greaves are excellent cards to add but are priced a little differently, at 3 tickets and 1 ticket, respectively. The question isn't "Do I have money to spend?" but rather "What's an appropriate Commander allotment to spend per major set release cycle?"

What I'm asking is your opinion about how much one should spend on building Commander. While it's just about two months out, New Phyrexia is around the corner, and squaring away the options at hand for going into the next set is the best bet for grabbing everything I want when the time is right.

For now, it's a budget to drop into staples, powering up the next small step.

[poll id="13"]

20 tickets is where the preconstructed Commander decks start. 5 tickets is an easy amount to carefully optimize. I leave those two options, and anywhere in between, in your hands! Join in next week when we break down the loot and see how they stack up in the deck!