At first glance, Kodama of the West Tree just isn't as big or flashy as some of its other cardinal direction counterparts.

There's no hexproof or big power and toughness. What there is however, is potential to give your team not only trample, but the ability to pull almost every land out of your deck in a hurry while making a bunch of mana.

Interested?

The Mod Squad | Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (25)
• 4 Luminarch Aspirant
• 4 Swarm Shambler
• 4 Monk of the Open Hand
• 2 Brutal Cathar
• 2 Homestead Courage
• 2 Hopeful Initiate
• 4 Kodama of the West Tree
• 3 Iron Apprentice

• Spells (15)
• 2 Emeria's Call
• 4 Felidar Retreat
• 2 Inscription of Abundance
• 2 Snakeskin Veil
• 3 Guiding Voice
• 2 Ranger Class

• Lands (20)
• 4 Branchloft Pathway
• 2 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 2 Lair of the Hydra
• 2 Overgrown Farmland
• 3 Forest
• 5 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Expanded Anatomy
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Reduce to Memory
• 1 Basic Conjuration
• 1 Containment Breach
• 1 Hopeful Initiate
• 2 Skyclave Apparition
• 2 Yasharn, Implacable Earth
• 2 Snakeskin Veil
• 2 Portable Hole

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We haven't seen much synergy-based aggro in Standard in recent years, but that's exactly where The Mod Squad lands.

With 13 one-drops and much of the deck costing one or two mana, this deck can get out of the gates very quickly. Cads like Homestead Courage and Guiding Voice can help make sure you size up well, while Snakeskin Veil and Swarm Shambler offer varying amounts of protection. However, the big payoff is once you start going, well, big!

The biggest deckbuilding challenge with Kodama is finding a deck that can trigger it early and often, but also have a good use for all of the lands that it is capable of getting. Felidar Retreat is the peanut butter to Kodama's jelly, offering bonus for the lands coming into play while also making sure you can modify your whole army at once. There's also a lot of mana sinks built into the manabase with creature lands like Lair of the Hydra and Cave of the Frost Dragon, with Emeria's Call also being available too.

A cheap, aggressive deck that can also go huge? Sign me up!