Whispers of the Muse: Peter C’s Wild Rush (M13)
It’s that time again! Time for you, the readers, to lend your voice and expertise towards tuning a fellow reader’s preconstructed deck in our occasional deck improvement series. Today’s submission comes to us by way of Peter C, who is taking the scalpel to Magic 2013’s Wild Rush.
“I want it to stay true to the ‘theme’ of the deck,” he begins, “Green beatdown with a bit of trickery. I also want it to be standard legal.”
Here’s how the deck looked in its stock incarnation:
Peter continues…
Other than flashing in beaters, I also want there to be a good bit of removal. Oh, and I would prefer “utility” cards instead of straight beaters. For example, Thragtusk instead of Vastwood Gorger. Maybe I should stick to the Green/Black. Or in other words, I want to increase the efficiency of the Mwonvuli Beast Tracker. Actually, I’m a bit twitchy in picking more beaters vs more utility. With the beaters, you can stick with Prey Upon for nearly everything, which is quite useful. With the utility, you are like a Jack-of-all-trades.
So who has some advice for Peter, and his quest to take Yeva, Nature’s Herald in a stronger, Standard-legal direction?
10 Comments
Post a comment
Ertai's Lament 
i don’t play green often so I’m no expert but lets see green black
4 avacyn pilgrims
4 arbor elf for mana ramp
2 garruk’s pack leaders for card draw
2 deadly recluse for early stall while you build
2 rancor one of the best creature auras of all time
2 duskdale wurm big beat stick
2 yeva cause its her deck
2 titanic growth good old combat tricks for green
2 far seek to find those swamps
2 acidic slimes for utility
4 murder for removal
2 vampire nighthawk one of blacks best creatures all my black decks pack in 4
don’t really know what else check out innistrad block or wait for the golgari deck in ravnica block as GB they would go well with yeva
Instead of Duskdale, I’d pick more useful cards. Consider Soul of the Harvest, which is especially great late game, when it lets you get some use out of otherwise useless small mana dorks. Wild Defiance protects your creatures against targeted burn, while simultaneously boosting all your pump spells. Ulvenwald Tracker is a Prey Upon on a stick, and you could use it with Predator Ooze to build a monster (however, be sure to keep cards Like Ranger’s Guile and Sheltering Word ready to protect it from bouncing).
I’d prefer Giant over Titanic, mainly because of the cheaper mana cost. I’d definitely switch when Ravnica comes out. Ravnica also brings Savage Surge, which is a 1G spell that gives +2/+2 and lets you untap that creature. This’ll make your opponent think twice about attacking, even when your creatures are tapped. And of course, take Rancor – almost every green deck gets better with Rancor.
Acidic Slimes is a definite yes. Great utility card.
Murder is decent, but when Ravnica hits, consider using Ultimate Price, a 1B spell that destroys any monocoloured creature.
While it’s true that a lot of Golgari cards would with Yeva, that’s just because they’re creatures, not because they’re Golgari. Normally, their focus is on getting cards in the graveyard and using ‘scavenge’ to get more value out of them. No particular synergy with Yeva. An exception is Golgari charm, which offers plenty of utility for any BG deck. One other card from Ravnica that could work well with Yeva is Urban Burgeoning, an enchantment that lets you untap an enchanted land during every untap step, not just your own. More mana to flash creatures in EOT is always good.
Well, the Ulvenwald Tracker seems great. However, I think that the synergy between Prey Upon and Wild Defiance(Prey does target your creature, right?) as well as its cheaper cost make it more efficient, in my eyes. Since I’m hoping for utility over brute force, I think the Soul of the Harvest is fantastic.
I’m a little concerned that with the rise of multi-colored cards, Ultimate Price may not be as useful as the murder, especially when it comes to destroying a guild leader.
Thank you for your input. Do you have any decklists in mind?
The problem I have with Murder is that the casting cost is very prohibitive, especially in a two-colour deck without any dual lands. If you truly fear lacking answers against gold creatures I’d suggest picking up Tragic Slip. You can easily force the trigger with Prey Upon or Grim Backwoods, without really hurting your deck. Should you choose to go this way, consider adding Revive or undying creatures like Young Wolf, Strangleroot Geist and Vorapede.
Incidentally, undying works great with Roaring Primadox, as does Yeva. Primadox + Yeva can be a very powerful combination, repeatedly flashing in creatures with ETB effects, like the Tracker, Elvish Visionary and Thragtusk. It gets even better if you have a Soul of the Harvest out. If you go this way, instead of Yeva’s Forcemage, consider cards like Trusted Forcemage and Druid’s Familiar. Their bonus is more sustainable and work even without Yeva to flash them in, whereas her Forcemage really only works as a combat trick.
Another fun idea might be to include Stuffy Dull. Use your spells to force their critters into attacking it, so that it returns that damage straight back to the dome.
I’m just offering some ideas, so I don’t really have a decklist in mind. But cards which I’d scrap out of the stock list for sure are:
-2 Centaur Courser
-2 Vastwood Gorger
-2 Spiked Baloth
-1 Sentinel Spider
-1 Ring of Kalonia (if you get Rancor)
-2 Public Execution
-2 Essence Drain
Also, I’d consider taking cards like Dawntreader Elk and Borderland Ranger over Ranger’s Path as I feel they fit the curve better and allow you to search for swamps too. As added bonuses, the Elk can trigger Tragic Slip and the Ranger’s ETB effect can be repeated with Primadox.
Not much I can say about standard, but I agree. Check out those Golgari decks for more of those utility cards you want.
Hmm…no Yeva’s forcemage?
Get rid of the hawks, the growths, duskdale wurm, packleaders, and recluses. Add in 2 Wolfir Avenger, 1 Soul of the Harvest, 2 Somberwald Sages, 2 Elderscale Wurm, 2 Bloodgift Demon, 2 Wolfir Silverheart, 2 Ulvenwald Tracker, and 1 Vorapede, 2 Mutilate. It works SO well.
I meant to reply to the decklist posted above.
This seems to be a more traditional green beatdown deck. All power and nothing else.
Play with it, then say that. Also, dont forget, its just a suggestion.