Green-White Tokens
Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt formatMy baby! Green-White Tokens has been rearing its head lately, courtesy of insane MTGOer (and highly regarded player) FFfreaK (see his list, GW Tokens, 5th place, January 1, 2010). The deck hasn’t changed much since my initial victory, but it has definitely been polished.
I play Eldrazi Monument (over Crystallization- I like the added reach and endurance against Control), Wild Nacatl (over Cudgel Troll- usually the Nacatl is a 2/2 for one mana) and World Queller (ironically over Thornling… I am just seeing how the Queller plays after seeing it in a few events).
Almost every card in this deck is a scary threat or a multiple threat. Almost every card in the deck is a sick play, and that’s what makes the deck a contender. Against Aggro, you beat them with your speed, mass creature midgame and endgame creature enchancement. Against Control, you reduce their life early, stick a recurring threat when they sweep the board, and then eek a few final points just when they’re looking to stabilize and mount a comeback (it happens, FFfreak snuck by a summoning sick Sphinx of the Steel Wind with River Boa to close an exciting first game against me last PE).
A big boon for Green-White (over Jund or Naya) is its great curve and fairly stable mana base. You lose a bit of power going two colors (mostly you lose the reach of burn and the power of Bloodbraid Elf, Woolly Thoctar and the like), but in reality you are just trading one type of power for another. The creature enhancement cards (think Overrun and Monument) have a massive amount of damage potential but require a specific (and obtainable) scenario to shine. Basically, every card in the Green-White deck still will feel like a topdeck. Sounds like a winner to me!
The sideboard for the deck offers a lot of flexibility (or allows you to choose which fun hat you want to wear)! You can switch to be the Control player (via multiple WoG effects, additional removal and defensive creatures), add in disruption (in the form of Naturalize and its ilk) and Luminarch Ascension against Control, and a bit of color hate (via tons of anti-Black).
For anyone interested in playing control in Standard Singleton, I would highly suggest the Star-Spangled Slaughter list in this article. I played against this deck in the finals of the January 2nd premiere event, and my Jund deck absolutely felt helpless against it. Judging by his record, I would presume many other opponents had similar experiences during the tournament
StasisFreak, I am 3-0 in 2-mans with the deck. It feels really solid- the only thing I’m not sold on is Intimidation Bolt! It should be noted that every 2-man has been a Control deck of some sort.
Nice article and fun analysis. I’m not sure your token deck will be the best response to defeat the jund festival in each top8, but I am sure it will be a difficult deck to defeat.
P.S.: Are you a teacher? Where is your school? Can i go to your class? xD xD xD
Oh oh pick me I want to be in your class too
I had the same experience a couple months back in the 2-mans. I think I played about 6 of them and 5 were control and 1 was a naya deck.