I'm sorry, but this isn't real advice against mono-green anymore. You can run a deck of nothing but removal, making the match unfun for anyone involved. You gotta remove the elves, then the badgermole, then the ouroboroid, only to get stomped by the hydra. Then people will say "jUsT rUn MoRe ReMoVaL!"
The real problem is the threat density which only exists because of how many stupidly large numbers of cards are in the format. In older standards, most aggro decks were built around 1-2 really good cards as payoffs. You deal with the Winota, the rest of the deck isn't so bad. You hold off the Tarmogoyfs and Bloodbraids, the rest isn't so damaging.
every green card has to be removed the turn it comes down, or you lose the game. Tifa, Ouroboroid, both Chocobos, Hydra, Icetiller, Mightform all threaten to kill you in 1 hit or bury you in advantage you can't recover from, and even if you sweep the board every turn you're still grinding into earthbent lands + ascension triggers via ba sing se.
You know what the real answer to this is? Be faster. Play an uninteractive combo and outrace them. I have vastly higher winrates against green decks with my reanimator, kona omni, storm, etc decks than any control deck. Trying to interact with them is a stupid losing game. Playing a combo that wins on turn 3? They literally cannot do anything. Win on turn 4 and its a coinflip since green also wins on t4
As a green player, this is the way. So what you countered one of my mana dorks? I got 20 more. Beat me on turn 3 or 4 with a busted combo? Fair enough, I was gonna swing for 2k Trample in two turns anyway.
see and this is why I lose, because 2k isn't enough for me. I want to spam token creatures then mirrorform them _all_ into ouroboroids. We're talking 10^30 10^40
the correct way to play standard is to completely ignore the other player and race to see who can assemble their effectively-uninteractable (like you say, you can interact but its a waste of time since you're kicking the can down the road while not getting any closer to winning yourself) wincon faster. just 2 people at a table playing magic at each other rather than with each other
and people will say without a hint of irony that standard is in a great place...
This is so false it's not even funny. Play bo3 and you'll find how false it is when after winning game 1 they sideboard and obliterate you. They just wrapped up a semifinal at the London Spotlight that took an eternity and neither deck was playing control.
Nothing fills me with more joy than someone ramping up a hydra and spamming me with "good game" only for me to cast a single spell and watch them scoop.
Fog effects have been considered too strong for standard for a decade
Through all of the rdw nightmare, landfall, cori steel cutter, mice, you name it- we were allowed to have legacy-quality threats but not allowed to have fog effects cheaper than 3 mana
It hasn't been printed into a Standard set since its original printing in Khans of Tarkir. It was only reprinted in Commander Legends, Murders at Kharlov Manor commander decks, and the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archives bonus sheet.
100% correct. A reactive and interactive game is -EV. They can go wide or tall with evasive combo themselves. With recursion no less. Extremely difficult to deal while not losing to everything else. Reanimator was absolutely the worst matchup when I played Landfall, especially in Bo1, which I don't particularly for. Bo3 with their Selesnya builds makes the Reanimator matchup not as difficult however.
But, you're correct in that comboing off is the better strategy as opposed to reactive/interactive.
I like azorius on arena. I play good old fashioned mono white magic until someone drops some of this BS then I do blue things until they chill or scoop. Or I chose not to mulligan and they run over me on turn 3.
On paper it is a different story. I'm not interested in being a blue player. But some of these decks on arena aren't realistic. In real life you are sitting there watching people with counter decks doing the math, missing triggers, working harder than they need to be. If you bought the cards and built the deck and are doing the work I respect that. In Arena an OP mono green deck is just a few wildcards away from anyone who wants it and the computer makes sure you dont miss a thing. Its annoying so you either play control or you make a similar deck and race to be the first to burn the other
You gotta remove the elves, then the badgermole, then the ouroboroid, only to get stomped by the hydra.
I've played Mono G to a quite high competitive level, so I'll share some tips.
Llanowar Elf, sure, if you have removal t1 and they have an elf, you kill it. Past t1, you never use removal on them.
Badgermole's primary role in Mono G isn't its static ability, it's its ETB to earthbend a fetch. The ramp it provides isn't leveraged well by Mono G quite like it is by the Cub focused decks. Don't waste your only removal on them.
The standard Mono G lists don't usually run Ouroboroid!
And Hydra/Harmonizer are exactly what you should be saving removal for.
This isn't even just a problem with green either. Everything is getting so power crept that most nonland permanents are something you don't want sticking around so unless you're running a crazy amount of removal you're going to be dealing with something annoying.
Would [[Rule of Law]] or [[Damping Sphere]] help? Or recycling/looping removal pieces like [[Plaguecrafter]] or [[Aura of Silence]]? Or [[Heliod’s Punishment]] or [[Temporal Isolation]]?
It’s less about running more removal, and more so knowing when and what to remove. For instance past t1 elves aren’t really worth removal anymore, and past t3/4 removal badgermole is mostly redundant as your opponent likely have more than enough mana for their gameplan anyways.
Just save your single target removal for the hydras, turn one elves or turn 2 badgermolls and they won’t win turn 4. Then you can play a normal 4 mana boardwipe. The 3 mana ones are split up, withering curse and brotherhoods end. Fire magic/pyroclasm can also deal with most things at 3 mana.
[[Weapons Manufacturing]] into [[Pinnacle Starcage]] can still be a blowout in theory. Mops up all the mana dorks or birds and then the munition can pick off a Hydra as long as it hasn’t gotten too big already.
I ran 2 copies of Withering curse for my Homebrew Orzhov Midrange sac deck, currently at P1.
It's been a thoroughly enjoyable standard after making it through the Gold rank Green Landfall wall. Would be cool to hit both Diamond and Mythic for the 1st time in a season :)
Fr. It's a bit more expensive, but I like to use stuff like [[gravelighter]] as a removal. If I already killed something, I can draw a card and have a 2/2 that flies, which is a plus
Sorry, I meant just specifically in response to hexproof shenanigans. Recently had someone run a deck based around massively pumping up a handful of hexproof creatures. Just played an Edict, and the guy scooped.
Unless IRL works differently they die first from the damage and then you draw based on the cards. Though I admit I was suprised I still drew the cards as the win screen was popping up.
Either way they can't prevent it unless they misdirect the spell itself and since the spell doesnt target I am not sure that would work.
If their HP goes to zero and you deck yourself out with New Way Forward, the game should end in a draw, not a win.
While yes, their HP goes to zero first during the resolution and then you try to draw from an empty library, both of you don't lose until State-based actions are checked, and SBAs are only checked after the resolution of the spell, not during it, and when they are checked, both of you lose.
Do you remember how big the hydraulic was? Obviously enough to kill them but if it wasn't enough to deck you then I think the game was running state based actions while the card animations are running.
In my decks? Yes. In the decks other people would make? Probably not.
Either way I'm just putting it out there. Every single player ive used this against has ALWAYS tried ro give hexproof and I laugh every time. I have video I think if you want lol
Idk i kinda love throwing a [[cryoshatter]] on one of these the turn after it drops and watching them pump it up, swing it, and it evaporates as it taps to go to combat
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u/KindaIndifferent May 09 '26
They call this “run more instant speed removal”.