Miracle Grow

Today’s deck was named after some real life magic! Specifically: the power of poop to pop out some serious plant power. Now say that out loud and try not to smile.  Despite today’s list being quite different from the original version, the thing I like about Alan Comer’s deck was that it is entirely Ancient-legal. That being said.. I don’t think it would be as competitive nowadays, so I made a few changes! So, let us sprinkle some of our own magical poop to create the new and improved Miracle Grow!

Alright, the name of the game is aggro control. You want to lay down a threat and ride it out to victory by controlling your opponent’s resources and board state. While many tempo decks prefer to incorporate Red, I decided to go with White. The main reasons for this are because a) it’s different and b) it offers things Red does not. While arguments can (and probably will) be made for either, it really depends on whether you want to focus more on aggro or control.

Let’s talk strategy. After having just said that.. try not to use Swords to Plowshares unless you have to. Dryad should get big enough that it can take care of their land creatures, so you should save Swords for the ones it can’t. Despite being more control-ish, that doesn’t mean you don’t want to play the aggro game too. Determine which course of action is best based on your board state and go from there. In other words: play Magic.

As you can see, the deck contains a lot of spells, which are meant to enable your win conditions in Dryad and Mongoose. If a Mongoose is on the board but no Dryad and you don’t have Threshold, then for the love of Garfield, DON’T try to conserve your hand for one. Mongoose is a viable win condition on its own; don’t forget that! Ok Mongoose, cover your ears because Dryad IS the main win condition of the deck. The counterspells are there to protect it, and the Rancor is there to help you power through chump blockers. Take note of the Abeyance(s?) as well, which are meant to stall the opponent while growing Dryad and without costing you a card.

Why no Werebear? There are SEVERAL reasons. Allow me to list some of them.. I wanted to run Meddling Mage to focus more on the control aspect. The prevalence of graveyard hate in the format meant trying to ease the pressure off of Dryad, as both the goose and the bear are just not amazing without a large graveyard. Lastly in our list, Werebear is green and I wanted a creature spell to help boost Dryad as well. Whew! Now bring on the naysayers.. Happy Brewing!

Miracle Grow

Land

4 Tundra

4 Tropical Island

1 Island

1 Forest

9 Fetchlands

4 Wasteland

Total: 23

Creatures

4 Quirion Dryad

4 Nimble Mongoose

4 Meddling Mage

Total: 12

Spells

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Daze

4 Sleight of Hand

1 Counterspell

3 Abeyance

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Rancor

Total: 25

Sideboard

4 Tormod’s Crypt

3 Counterspell

1 Misdirection

4 Stifle

1 Abeyance

1 Hydroblast

1 Disenchant