I wouldn't run Village Messenger  ^Flip without Neglected Heirloom  ^Flip, besides being an early aggresor transforming that sword is really all it's useful for

Cryptolith Rite + Vines of the Recluse feel like auto run cards in R/G token. Vines always helps, whether it's blocking Ormendahl with a 2/2 wolf, or untapping all your creatures for double mana and a massive Burn from Within or Fall of the Titans. You can even go Pseudo-infinite with Vines and Expedite on just Zada + Silverfur + 2-3 Tokens and a Seasons Past somewhere in the deck.

JaceToFace,
Um, yeah. That's part of why I'm already running Cryptolith Rite, Vines of the Recluse, and Burn from Within. :-D

Oops, I guess I wasn't looking at the sideboard. I just think those are core parts of getting the deck to do fun things.

What are your thoughts on Blisterpod and Elvish Visionary instead of Lambholt Pacifist  ^Flip and Lightning Berserker? Dropping the Berserker would also slant your early game more towards green sources making it more consistent.

Confront the Unknown in place of Rush of Adrenaline gives you another card that ramps similarly to Might of the Masses while giving some desperately needed card draw. Arlinn Kord  ^Flip also doesn't really interact with Silverfur and Zada very well.

JaceToFace,
No worries on missing the sideboard. But for your future ref: Sideboard is a Big Deal ... I mean, I know it's a cliche, but VERY few matches are determined by only one game! You may find it helpful to think of a build as a 75-card deck, of which you can only play 60 cards at one time.

So have you playtested this deck? Because I can't imagine replacing Lightning Berserker (immune to Sorcery speed removal + late-game Firebreathing) with Blisterpod (mana I don't need). Nor can I imagine replacing Lambholt Pacifist  ^Flip (not bad as a Wall, and much more often awesome as a plus-sized beater) with Elvish Visionary (Draw I don't really need, which dies in a stiff breeze). Nor do I understand what you mean about Arlinn Kord  ^Flip.

The Confront the Unknown vs. Rush of Adrenaline piece makes sense though. I ran Confront the Unknown at last FNM, and it was fine. But I found myself wanting Trample much more than I wanted the pump or additional (super-slow) Draw. We'll see if I got the balance right later today!

Thanks

What would be your answer for a deck like Westvale Vampire Aristocrats ? I know there are some bad matchups, but this matchup seems really bad. I really like your Gruul deck here and was considering making something similar, so I playtested it against a bunch of decks. This vampire deck beat it pretty consistently and I couldn't think of an effective strategy to counter the Vamp deck offhand. What would be your thoughts on SB or countering this deck?

Hey again clayperce: Just noticed you put the Arlinn Kord  ^Flip, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar in. Was wondering how you enjoyed it, cause it seems to be in a better place with more tokens based deck than what I was running it for.

I still have faith in this deck. How did Nissa, Voice of Zendikar fare? Im thinking of switching back to Zada if i get Nissa

Catching up on comments ...

dentalflosstycoon,
Frankly, the best bet against something like Westvale Vampire Aristocrats is to take a bye for that match and go get something to eat :-D

Instead I recommend something like Temur Wolves (SOI) ... siding out 4x Impact Tremors and 2x Zada, Hedron Grinder for 2x Clip Wings (or maybe 2x Tears of Valakut), 3x Exquisite Firecraft, and 1x Turn to Frog.

BlueEyes and snarlmkiv,

My thoughts ...

• Arlinn Kord  ^Flip solo: I'm increasingly convinced that Arlinn on her own is only good for Control match-ups. She's very powerful, but kinda slow.
• Nissa, Voice of Zendikar solo: Nissa's 0/1 Plants are weaker than Alinn's 2/2 Wolfs of course, but Nissa can drop a Token every turn, which is nice. Plus the lack of Wolf synergy is kind of refreshing (since I never mind sac'in them for value, to Evolutionary Leap, Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, a chump block, or whatever). I like Nissa's -2 better than either of Arlinn's +1s too, because Nissa's +1/+1 counters persist.
• Arlinn + Nissa have some good synergy and can work nicely together (e.g., Arlinn can pump while Nissa drops a Token, or Arlin can Bolt while Nissa pumps, or whatever). Unfortunately, there are a BUNCH of Flyers in my meta, and the deck is just so weak then, that they're both pretty much unplayable. :-(

clayperce: Thats actually one of the reasons I took them out. I am noticing a major increase in flyers even in my meta, but I can already tell soon it's going to be full of Aristocrats.

Draw well.

clayperce thanks for the comment. I feel like Eldritch Moon is Arlinn's time to shine, which is why i'm going to sideboard her for the time being.

why not put the village messenger instead of lightning berseker?

hdfngdgndi,
If you're on the play and running Neglected Heirloom  ^Flip, VM is OK. Otherwise I find the card much worse than Lightning Berserker

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/wolfzada-ramp-token-nonsense/

This was the deck I put together. It's more midgame focused.

Slanting the early game to one color or another dramatically increases the number of opening hands you can keep and just makes the deck more consistent. Early green mana is absolutely necessary because of Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip, Cryptolith Rite, and Silverfur Partisan. This suggest cards like Blisterpod as a chump blocker/mana tapper accomplishes more than berserker. Fall of the Titans more efficiently uses the excess mana created with Rite and provides a way to deal with planeswalkers, weenie creatures, or finishing your opponent. Nissa looks pretty decent, but Arlinn competes with Zada as a 4 drop and the buffs can't be used at instant speed and aren't persistent. Confront the Unknown and Might of the Masses are both better than Rush of Adrenaline, especially after fixing the mana base is taken into account.

you need to put at the top:

do NOT recommend Village Messenger  ^Flip, NO, just no...

AndyReveler,
Literally lol!

I thought about it (actually something like StuBi's "No longer discussing amount of land" update on Oh, the Humanity), but decided the benefit to the community was probably to keep explaining. At some point though I may do a "cards not in the deck and why" accordion, just 'cause it's be quicker to point to that rather than retyping.

Anyways, thanks for brightening my day!

hdfngdgndi,
I know you're new to T/O, so some background may be in order: This deck has been around for a while (right after Wizards spoiled Silverfur Partisan, actually) and I had Village Messenger  ^Flip in the list for a long time. But once I started testing it against real decks, the limitations (or more accurately, the tradeoffs, became clear). It's just one of those cards that looks great in a decklist, but never quite plays at good as you think it's going to. Though folks do seem to like it on the play in an Heirloom deck ... though even then, they recommend siding it out for Game 2-3 if on the draw.

Thanks though, and welcome to T/O!

(And though I mention it in the deck description, I really do recommend stopping by this thread sometime: All things Wolven ... it's a fun community, and the Hall of Fame decks, especially, are really well done.)

JaceToFace,
Um, we already talked about Blisterpod and Confront the Unknown back around Post #376. I'm glad they work great in your midrange deck, but they (still) don't make sense here.

Fall of the Titans might make good sense in your midrange build too, but in this deck it would either be a win-more (when ahead on board state) or a completely dead card (when behind). Either way, it's not a good fit for this deck.

Thanks though.

They don't want this widely known but Village Messenger  ^Flip and Lightning Berserker have decided to elope.

They left behind this note:

"We have decided to run off together because we just have so much in common, but most people can only see our differences."

Argeaux,

XD !

Totally excited about Mirrorwing Dragon, and looking forward to (re)brewing the deck for EDM Standard!

Mirrorwing upside:

• A bigger, better Zada!
• Superb against targeted removal!

Downside:

• Dangerous vs. decks with combat tricks. For example, if an opponent casts a pump spell targeting only Mirrorwing (Dromoka's Command doesn't work!), all their Creatures get the pump :-(

That downside hurts a lot. Free buffs. I think Mirrorwing is good as a sideboard or totally remove him from decks that run Dromoka's... :D

maybe im looking at this wrong, but wouldnt targeting Zada, Hedron Grinder while Mirrorwing Dragon is on the board create an endless loop casing an instant draw?

nvm, read it. sorry