Control is a green player's worst enemy
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 6, 2015, 5:20 p.m. by TheBanlist
Mono green in standard is probably not going to make it to the protour, but I am just trying to have fun with a semi-good deck. I'm just a little worried those blue/black players out there are going to foil my dastardly green plans with their counter spells and kill spells. I was wondering if there was a way my other fellow green players have been dealing with the control decks in the Origins standard landscape, specifically counters. Thanks!
KillDatBUG says... #3
Smash in their face with Gaea's Revenge. If you ramp into it, they almost can't ever win.
August 6, 2015 5:45 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #4
As a control player, I cringe when Gaea's Revenge hits the board. Their only option is to block, board wipe, or mass-exile. Ok, that's a lot of options, but we need to have it to survive.
August 6, 2015 5:57 p.m.
You need Xenagos, the Reveler. It's a threat that makes more threats, and the bodies can be used as blockers vs other midrange decks. What's more it survices both End Hostilities and Crux of Fate.
Whisperwood Elemental - Makes more threats which again can block against midrange. By sacrifiing it to an opponent's End Hostilities you get new creatures when your others die.
Nissa, Worldwaker - Makes threats and ramps.
These cards were all the best main deck choices for 
in control heavy environments because they give you a way to continue the game in the face of a board wipe. Because you have multiple cards which produce more growing threats even letting one go unchecked is enough to finish off control. Unfortunately Whisperwood really hates Languish but Polukranos, World Eater will survive it.
August 6, 2015 6:08 p.m.
My favorite way to kill Gaea's Revenge so far is stacking Silumgar, the Drifting Death's attack trigger along with Languish for -5/-5.
Other than it though, and Mistcutter Hydra (which is the worse of the two), green has very little trump against control, so one of those two cards becomes a necessary evil in the side.
August 6, 2015 6:10 p.m.
I run a mono green deck with a naya splash. It dies quite well vs control because Dragonlord Dromoka poos on their reactionary play style.
August 6, 2015 6:11 p.m.
Dragonlord Dromoka is really only good against control if it manages to stick a turn. And it rarely does. Gaea's Revenge is the same way though. Both are guaranteed to resolve, and not die right away, and Gaea's Revenge will almost certainly smash in for 8. May or may not trade with a Dragonlord Ojutai, and the odds of it dying right away to a Foul-Tongue Invocation are very low.
August 6, 2015 6:31 p.m.
TheBanlist says... #9
Thank you for all the help! Related note for you awesome green players, is Animist's Awakening really that good? It seems like a winmore spell. At the point where I can cast it for enough mana for it to be good, it seems I already have enough mana.
August 6, 2015 6:39 p.m.
Animist's Awakening is more for trying to cast creatures that cost 9+ mana. Currently the closest thing we have to that is casting a Genesis Hydra that's big enough to grab either Hornet Queen, Dragonlord Atarka or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon.
In any case it's a way for you to out board state other board state decks which already does the best.
August 6, 2015 7:09 p.m.
TheBanlist says... #11
But Animist's Awakening can't grab creatures...unless I'm missing something
August 6, 2015 7:58 p.m.
Take it from a control player, what you need is to do is to diversify your threats. Three creatures will die to end hostilities and leave you without a board state. Now, if one of those creatures is a planeswalker instead, that's much worse. Now, instead of just 3-for-1ing you, I have to expend several cards to deal with all your filthy junk clogging up my board. What's more is that I have to do it with certain cards in a proper sequence or i just die.
Half of playing against control is knowing how to leverage threats.
August 6, 2015 8:52 p.m.
@ IzzetGolgariLovechild what I meant is that unless you trying to cast spectacularly large creatures you don't need Animist's Awakening. Plenty of decks get by with 7 or 8 drops (see Dragonlord Atarka and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon) without this card by using Elvish Mystic and either Rattleclaw Mystic or Sylvan Caryatid. If you want to go CMC 9 or higher then Animists Awakening makes much more sense, as dome some removal.
Honestly I'm pretty sure between 
and X or XX that BUG can use the spell a lot better since they'd want to be packing kill spells anyways. That's not to say that I think BUG is beter than stompy, just that I think the spell fits into BUG more.
August 6, 2015 9:04 p.m.
My partner and I have been experimenting with and have found that Sedge Scorpion as a 1 drop can do some early damage against control and potentially kill something later on.
Admittedly, though, our deck is a Control mirror.
bretters says... #2
Gaea's revenge and Mistcutter Hydra maybe... Also That new enchantment Evolutionary Leap
August 6, 2015 5:41 p.m.