A classic 10 land stompy. This list is reminiscent of some extended decks played back when Urza's block was around and earlier.
Jungle Lion
is a card from Portal (therefore not legal), but it begged to be included for sake of flavor.
This deck embodies Green's Strenght. Though the deck should not be played hastily, it is certainly an aggressive one and puts a lot of pressure on your opponent. To ephasize the aggressive side of this deck, Winter Orb (a staple in most of these decks) has been left out. In my view, it's mutually exclusive with
Rogue Elephant
, one of the angriest beaters in this deck.
This deck runs 10 lands, period. You can find similar concepts featuring more or less than that, and it's fine. I found that the nice spot is 10. With your
Land Grant
s and
Elvish Spirit Guide
s and most creatures costing 1cmc or even 0cmc (!!), you'll rarely have problems with mana (and most of them are due to
Rogue Elephant
played without a backup Forest in hand).
The trick with this deck is to play exactly one more creature than your opponent can block: if your opponent has one creature in play you should have two (that applies also if he or she has 0); if he or she has two, you should have three. The deck forces your opponent to block each turn and to lose at least a creature in the process, so that he or she constantly needs to keep the pace (keep in mind that that is due to their creatures being weaker than yours: don't try too hard to save your creatures or to go for the kill, if it doesn't really benefit you. Your creatures are expendable and you have many). Your pump spells are not that many as compared to the number of your creatures and they should be played very sparingly and with caution. Put yourself in an advantageous position and maintain it. That's all.
With a playset each of
Elvish Spirit Guide
and
Vine Dryad
you'll almost always be able to cast two creatures on your first turn (this advantage becomes dramatic if you're on the play). What happens next depends on your opponent: you'll probably drop a third creature if you sniff he or she may kill one of your attackers (your creatures don't have Haste so you should be ready in advance and set your board in such way as to be always ready to send fresh bodies to the front line). Beware that if overextending is generally not advisable, with this deck it can be fatal: if your opponent nukes the battlefield, though you have many cheap creatures, there's no guarantee you'll draw them; on the other hand, if you keep a creature or two in your hand, you'll recover much better than your opponent from a mass removal, as your creatures are still cheaper then his or hers. Even if you expect your opponent to lack mass-removals and you think it may be worth to speed things up, play your threats faster only if it puts your opponent on a tighter clock.
Your strongest beaters are by far
Hidden Gibbons
and
Rogue Elephant
. They are situational though, so don't hesitate to remove them from your hand to cast 'free' spells (aka
Vine Dryad
and
Bounty of the Hunt
), if the situation requires it. An
Elvish Lyrist
with a Rancor is nothing to laugh at, anyways. Also, although you'll always be on the attack, you have 'secret blockers' in
Vine Dryad
(thanks to Flash) and Quirion Ranger. The Ranger allows you to cast multiple spells when the situation is dire.
I must stress that this deck doesn't win in four turns: it takes its time. Even if you pack a considerable punch every turn, you'll probably deal 2-3 damage with every attack, with most of your firepower being absorbed by your opponent's defending creatures. This deck may be aggressive, but it requires tactics.
I just love this deck. Flavorwise, it features a lot of jungle creatures (apart from
Jungle Lion
, of course, as there are no lions in a jungle, but who cares!) and it feels so cohesive and fun. So much love...
