Green-White Tokens
Click the arrow to download the above deck in .txt formatIf I had a baby that was an amalgam of 75 Magic cards, it would be Green-White Tokens. Sure, some babysitters have taught my boy new tricks (thanks for the tuning, guys), but I still love him and pride myself over his conception. (Okay, this is getting weird.) I love this deck because it only plays two colors (and ignores part of the mana screw problem that 3+ color decks experience).
The Token Maindeck hasn’t changed much over the months (feels like a brick house!), so I am going to focus on the slots that I am still unsure about:
- One Plains and Forest- I have tried in-color Panoramas instead of the Basics, but the tempo loss doesn’t seem to be worth the mana fixing.
- Wild Nacatl- Small kitty is only a conditional 2/2 here, but it’s a nice addition to the mana curve. If the White Kird Ape in Worldwake is real, we’ll be saying, “Ta ta,” to Nacatl in no time! As it stands, I might still consider Protean Hydra or a two mana card over this.
- Kor Skyfisher- This guy feels terrible on Turn 2, but he has synergy with Landfall and “enters the battlefield” guys. Also, the flying can be huge in stalemates. Unfortunately, Tokens has a lot of late game plays- Knight of the Skyward Eye or some other bear might be better.
- Pacifism- This is almost always underwhelming, but I guess every White removal spell cannot be Oblivion Ring. (Side note: I dislike Crystallization much more than this old timer; it’s mana makes it harder to play in conjunction with a second spell).
- World Queller- I am unsure if this is a better choice than Battlegrace Angel or Thornling (who probably gets the nod), but it’s ability is good against Control (where you can kill their wincons with little or no loss) and is decent against other Aggro without token overload. If he wasn’t in the maindeck, I’d have him in the Sideboard.
The deck’s Sideboard is a headache, but I am pretty sure that it’s well built (since I mostly copied it from FFfreak). It just offers you a lot of options, but some of the cards create game states where you have tough decisions to make. (I feel like this deck is one of the hardest to SB with in Standard Singleton, because every card in the Maindeck is good.)
Green-White’s SB has four distinct groups:
- Mass Board Clear- Day of Judgment, Martial Coup, Planar Cleansing. This trifecta presents an interesting quandary- who’s the Beatdown? The Coup sort of supplements your strategy, but you really start questioning what your plan should be when you’re holding a DoJ or Cleansing… It is also awkward that these cards are good against Sphinx of Jwar Isle and Wall of Denial, two annoyances for the deck!
- Utility- Mold Shambler, Acidic Slime, Kor Sanctifiers, Naturalize. Each of these guys offers a different subset of the same skill-set, but I prefer to leave out boring Naturalize unless I am facing something like Esper.
- Color Hate- White Knight, Valeron Outlander, Mold Adder, Celestial Purge, Luminarch Ascension. I like the Pro-Black men and Purge versus Jund, Vamps (obviously… but it will be a real deck soon!), and they are okay against Crosis (ahem, Grixis). The Adder is great versus Esper, Grixis, and Vamps- I usually cut Nacatl against the Control matches and Elite Vanguard against Vamps (as White guys are bad.) I consider Luminarch an anti-Blue card (as it can easily win a game all by its lonesome). But be warned- you must think what you’ve seen before you mindlessly bring a hoser in! You might lose to Ajani Vengeant and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker one game and then not see a single Red card Game 2 (especially if your opponent is wielding four or five colors).
- Life Gain- Mycoid Shepherd, Battlegrace Angel, Wall of Reverence. These cards are mostly against the Red-based Aggro decks, but they do have other applications. If you play against an opponent that outclasses your men, you can bring in the Mycoid Shep. If World Queller belongs on the sidelines, swap him out for the Angel. You can also bring them in if you don’t think that you’ll have enough men
I know I seem biased (I’m not- scout’s honor!), but I really think that Green-White will remain a force to be reckoned with. If you have the cards, try it out!
Very nice article Mr. Cool. I like the thorough analysis of the sideboard options and the strength and weaknesses of each deck. Will make sure to download them and maybe try my luck in a PE; eventually with additional Worldwake power!
Now that Worldwake spoilers are completed, which cards are you most eager to try in your Green-White token deck?
Okay, my initial thoughts are:
-Elite Vanguard, +Loam Lion; The Loam Lion is just more powerful.
-Wild Nacatl, +Arbor Elf; I like to ramp my mana. I will tweak the mana base to reflect the increased Forest requirement.
-Kor Skyfisher, +Stoneforge Mystic; Flying is wonderful, but Skyfisher is a bad drop on Turn 2. I don’t think that this guy warrants inclusion of equipment beyond Behemoth Sledge- the sledge’s power level is far beyond all other Std equipment cards. I really like this guy for the subtle card advantage.
-World Queller, +Wolfbriar Elemental; The Elemental fits the theme of the deck AND increases in power level over time. He can even be a 4/4 chump for 4 mana if needed. Love the flexibility!
The mana base gains Stirring Wildwood and Tectonic Edge. I think the correct course of action is to remove 2 Plains for the previously mentioned lands. I would like to play one of the new enters tapped common lands, but I don’t think it’s worth slowing down the deck even more. I have also considered dropping Jungle Shrine and/or Seaside Citadel for Panoramas.
For the sideboard, I’m adding Kor Firewalker against Jund, RDW and any other deck sporting Mountains en masse (possibly even Grixis). I am also going to sideboard Marshals Anthem to test it in place of Overrun versus Control. Right now, I am planning on taking out White Knight and Day of Judgment… but this will probably change as I get a better idea on what I should add agains the different popular matchups.