<p style="text-align: right;"><em>(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aeve, Progenitor Ooze" href="#" target="_blank">Aeve, Progenitor Ooze</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | by <a href="https://www.andrewkmar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Mar</a>)</em></p>
<p>Hello and welcome back to <em>The Monolith</em>, the series in which we get players building more monocolored decks. Today I'll be continuing my quest to break each archetype out of its regular color pie by building a Storm deck in mono-green!</p>
<p>Storm? In mono-green? It's more likely than you think! And we'll even be storming off with fan-favorite and veritable meme card, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slime Against Humanity" href="#" target="_blank">Slime Against Humanity</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>But how can I win a game without my <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Guttersnipe" href="#" target="_blank">Guttersnipe</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archmage Emeritus" href="#" target="_blank">Archmage Emeritus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>? What's the point of playing a million spells if there isn't a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grapeshot" href="#" target="_blank">Grapeshot</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> at the end of it? Well that's simple, we just put our storm payoff directly into our command zone, with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aeve, Progenitor Ooze" href="#" target="_blank">Aeve, Progenitor Ooze</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<h2>Gooped and Gagged</h2>
<p>Let's take a look at our commander for this build.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aeve, Progenitor Ooze"></div></div>
<p>For <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-2" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> Aeve is a legendary 2/2 Ooze with storm. If you've not played with one of the most broken keywords in <em>Magic's </em>history before, storm spells copy themselves when cast for each spell you've already cast before it this turn. So if it's the third spell you've cast this turn, for example, you'll get two token copies of Aeve entering the battlefield with it.</p>
<p>Normally that'd be a problem for Aeve seeing as the card is legendary, but its rules text states that token copies of the card won't count as legendary to stop you from having to sacrifice them all to the legend rule as soon as they enter.</p>
<p>As if that wasn't enough, each of them will enter with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other Ooze you control. That means each copy gets bigger and bigger as it enters, seeing all the copies that came before it, not to mention any Oozes you already had on board.</p>
<p>If we can cast enough spells in a single turn before dropping our commander, we could get ourselves a pretty enormous board. And the wider the board gets, the taller it gets as well.</p>
<h2>Slime Time</h2>
<p>So we want to be casting a lot of spells on our turn, but the question remains: what spells will we be casting?</p>
<p>For this deck idea, we'll be committing some crimes. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slime Against Humanity" href="#" target="_blank">Slime crimes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Slime Against Humanity"></div></div>
<p>You're looking at a three mana green sorcery that creates a 0/0 Ooze token and then puts +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of same-named cards in your graveyard or in exile (plus two). It's one of those silly "you can have any number in a deck" cards, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Persistent Petitioners" href="#" target="_blank">Persistent Petitioners</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hare Apparent" href="#" target="_blank">Hare Apparent</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This card also does well in Ooze typal decks as the card will also check for Ooze cards when dishing out its +1/+1 counters.</p>
<p>Importantly for this build, it's a spell we can cast a lot of and one that makes a progressively larger Ooze creature token each time we do so. The plan is to use that Ooze to make mana, draw us cards, and even buff up our Aeve tokens as they enter. So how do we go about doing that? Let's talk about mana first.</p>
<h2>They're Green, They May as Well Be Forests</h2>
<p>This deck was predominantly inspired by my favorite Standard deck in the current meta, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Insidious Roots" href="#" target="_blank">Insidious Roots</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This Golgari (<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-bg" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>) enchantment makes a Plant token every time a creature card leaves your graveyard. Then all your Plants get bigger. When combined with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler" href="#" target="_blank">Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which can not only trigger the card's effect but also lets your tokens tap for mana on the turn they come down, you can do some pretty crazy comboing!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Insidious Roots"></div></div>
<p>But why let the dual colored decks have all the fun? With enough setup (afforded to us by the naturally longer games of Commander) we can do something just as nuts, and have a payoff card ready to roll in our command zone to boot.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Enduring Vitality"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cryptolith Rite"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jaheira, Friend of the Forest"></div></div>
<p>Our Ooze tokens might not tap for mana on their own, but there's a few different cards in green that will provide us with the same effect. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Enduring Vitality" href="#" target="_blank">Enduring Vitality</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is by far the strongest of the bunch, giving us the rules text we need as well as reanimating itself the first time it gets removed. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jaheira, Friend of the Forest" href="#" target="_blank">Jaheira, Friend of the Forest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't a bad pick either for a cheap option, as we'll mostly want to be tapping token creatures anyway.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Elven Chorus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Citanul Hierophants"></div></div>
<p>The above options cost a little more mana to get on the board, but <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Elven Chorus" href="#" target="_blank">Elven Chorus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does provide us with some potential extra reach if we find ourselves with nothing to cast in hand mid-storm. If there's a creature card on the top of our library, it could get us back up and running just when we need it.</p>
<h3>I Need That Mana Now!</h3>
<p>The other element of the combo we'll need to replicate is Tyvar's bonus effect of giving activated abilities haste, allowing you to effectively replace your spent mana by tapping the token you've just made. As Tyvar himself is out of your color identity, you'll have to get some other options.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Surrak and Goreclaw"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Concordant Crossroads"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Akroma&#039;s Memorial"></div></div>
<p>Giving haste to your creatures in mono-green isn't super easy, especially when you need it to be a static effect that'll account for each creature entering the battlefield this turn. That's why colorless cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crashing Drawbridge" href="#" target="_blank">Crashing Drawbridge</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> unfortunately won't cut it. We do have options, but they're either very expensive to cast, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Surrak and Goreclaw" href="#" target="_blank">Surrak and Goreclaw</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, very expensive to buy, like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Concordant Crossroads" href="#" target="_blank">Concordant Crossroads</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, or both (looking at you, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Akroma&#039;s Memorial" href="#" target="_blank">Akroma&#039;s Memorial</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Runadi, Behemoth Caller"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thousand-Year Elixir"></div></div>
<p>A better fit would be the classic <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thousand-Year Elixir" href="#" target="_blank">Thousand-Year Elixir</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which can find a home in pretty much any deck that cares about creatures tapping. But specifically for this deck, I think you'll struggle to find a better fit for what we want to achieve than <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Runadi, Behemoth Caller" href="#" target="_blank">Runadi, Behemoth Caller</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>This card is an absolute slam dunk in our deck as it not only works as a mana creature itself, it also gives haste to all creatures on our board with three or more +1/+1 counters on them. For the record, that's basically every Ooze we make after the first. Not to mention that it'll give haste to pretty much every copy of Aeve if things are going well.</p>
<h2>Budget Blubber</h2>
<p>The next element we need in our cursed combo is something to reduce the cost of our spells. Much like with the flash-in-the-pan Ruby Storm deck we saw in Modern last year, by reducing the cost of our spells we can potentially make them mana neutral (or perhaps even positive!) to allow us to keep comboing off.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Emerald Medallion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cloud Key"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Helm of Awakening"></div></div>
<p>We've actually got a decent amount of options here as well, including <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Emerald Medallion" href="#" target="_blank">the green version</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ruby Medallion" href="#" target="_blank">Ruby Storm&#039;s medallion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> which will reduce all of our green spells by <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-1" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Primal Amulet"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Semblance Anvil"></div></div>
<p>We're in mono-green, so we shouldn't struggle too much for mana, but ideally we want to drop all the colorless cost from our slime crimes. That way we just need to pay for the green, which our token will be able to do for us from the last copy of the spell we've cast. For that we'll need to get two cost-reducers on board.</p>
<p>But just like with our haste problems, there's actually a fantastic card available to us that'll make our lives much easier. The <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Locket of Yesterdays" href="#" target="_blank">Locket of Yesterdays</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> makes me feel like someone from the past knew I was going to build this deck one day. Fitting, seeing as it was printed in <em>Time Spiral</em>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Locket of Yesterdays"></div></div>
<p>This card will reduce the cost of all our spells for each other copy of it already in the graveyard. Literally perfect for reducing the price of our slime crimes. From the third one we cast onwards, we'll only be paying <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>. And we could even reduce that if we add in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Defiler of Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Defiler of Vigor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></p>
<h2>Outta Slime, Outta Time</h2>
<p>As with every storm deck, you can assemble the absolute perfect engine with everything you need to pop off. But if you run out of spells, your turn will come to a crashing halt and deflating fizzle. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slime Against Humanity" href="#" target="_blank">Slime Against Humanity</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> isn't a cantrip, which means we need to make sure we're drawing enough cards to keep our engine ticking as we cast it over and over again.</p>
<p>Green has a few ways of drawing cards, but most of them are tied to the creatures you control. Which, for the combo we're assembling here, is kinda perfect! A card like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Garruk&#039;s Uprising" href="#" target="_blank">Garruk&#039;s Uprising</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> will trigger a card draw for every slime crime we make after the first, as well as giving us trample when we finally swing out with all our tokens.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Garruk&#039;s Uprising"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Outcaster Trailblazer"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Outcaster Trailblazer" href="#" target="_blank">Outcaster Trailblazer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> gives us double effectiveness as it not only gives the same card draw effect as Garruk's Uprising, but we can also plot it. Plotting allows us to cast it for free on a subsequent turn, which will then count towards our storm tally when we need it! He even comes with a free mana of any color when he enters.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Selvala, Heart of the Wilds"></div></div>
<p>For a wildly good fit in our deck though, check out <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Selvala, Heart of the Wilds" href="#" target="_blank">Selvala, Heart of the Wilds</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Selvala gives us a card draw whenever a creature enters under our control with more power than any creature on the battlefield. As each Ooze will be one point bigger than the last one, we can chain these draws off one after another.</p>
<p>Then with a huge board we can tap for a massive amount of green mana with Selvala's ability - mana we can then use to cast more spells and even our commander to finish off the turn.</p>
<h2>I Ooze, You Lose</h2>
<p>Now it's time to finish the game. Our perfect board state looks something like this:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Garruk&#039;s Uprising"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Runadi, Behemoth Caller"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Locket of Yesterdays"></div></div>
<p>We'll also want five untapped mana sources, or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Selvala, Heart of the Wilds" href="#" target="_blank">Selvala, Heart of the Wilds</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> in an ideal world, to allow us to cast our commander and also give extra card draw. Then all the slime crimes we already have in hand will give us a head start.</p>
<p>We cast as many of said crimes as possible, effectively paying zero for each one. Our storm count gets bigger and bigger until we tap for five and bring out <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aeve, Progenitor Ooze" href="#" target="_blank">Aeve, Progenitor Ooze</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Let's say we've cast seven copies of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slime Against Humanity" href="#" target="_blank">Slime Against Humanity</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> beforehand.</p>
<p>One by one, eight copies of Aeve will enter the battlefield. They'll have a minimum power and toughness ranging from 9/9 to 16/16. Every single one will have haste from Runadi, and trample from Garruk's Uprising.</p>
<p>Swing. Win.</p>
<p>That's it for this week's edition of <em>The Monolith</em>, let me know in the comments below how you would build a deck like this. Mono-green isn't the standard home of Spellslinger decks, but I think it has some chops. For more monocolored shenanigans, make sure to tune in next week to <em>The</em> Monolith. Until then, happy slinging and happy sliming!</p>


Mono-Green Storm with Aeve, Progenitor Ooze

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza&#039;s Fun House" href="#" target="_blank">Urza&#039;s Fun House</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/burmak">Dmitry Burmak</a>)</h6>
<h1>Here For a Good Time, Not a Sensical One</h1>
<p>Greetings all you builders of strange and interesting decks, I come bearing gifts on this week's edition of <em>The Monolith</em> - the series in which I convince you to build more monocolored decks.</p>
<p>This week, I'm providing a new challenge for those of us who like to do things a little differently. For the deck builders that crave confusion from their opponents and savor the moments of baffled players staring at your board state with questions of, "what does this deck even do?".</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/the-monolith-where-did-all-the-monocolored-edh-decks-go">first article</a> I ever posted here on EDHREC, I lamented the modern design principle of hiding hybrid mana symbols in monocolored commanders to turn their identity from one to two or more colors.</p>
<p>Some commanders though are born with their hybrid mana symbols baked into their casting cost. This makes them a lot easier to cast from the command zone with less color fixing required to meet their costs.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jinnie Fay, Jetmir&#039;s Second"></div></div>
<h2>You're Doing WHAT in Mono-Green?</h2>
<p>I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this. No props to you honestly, the clue's in the title of the article. The question I'm here to answer is, what's stopping us from playing these commanders as though they were monocolored?</p>
<p>Why, nothing! Will it make the decks any better? No, almost certainly not. But we're not here to make the decks as powerful as physically possible. We're here to do something interesting and unexpected.</p>
<p>And nothing could be quite as unexpected as the decks that come about when you build this way. There's not a huge amount of commanders that fit the bill for this treatment.</p>
<p>The ones that do however, usually provide a strangely unique benefit to mono deck builders. As the card in your command zone is technically sitting outside of its usual color pie, all of a sudden mono decks get better access to some peculiar archetypes.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Strange Inversion"></div></div>
<p>In this week's edition of <em>The Monolith</em> we're going to build a hybrid mana commander whilst only using one of its colors. And to make it extra strange, I'm specifically choosing to use the color that least fits the archetype of the deck we'll be building. An archetype and deck combo that only has around <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/aristocrats/mono-green">115 decks</a> registered on EDHREC.</p>
<p>A special shout out to one of my favorite Commander tech channels on YouTube for bringing this idea to my attention, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@edhdeckbuilding">EDH Deckbuilding</a>. Demo has one of the most impressive abilities to just pull random old cards out of the aether that I've ever seen and uses that power for extreme good. i.e. building a million Commander decks in the most unique way possible.</p>
<h2>Mono-Green Aristocrats</h2>
<p>Their enemy positions on the color pie might convince you otherwise, but did you know that black and green aren't all that dissimilar from one another?</p>
<p>Both care about the graveyard, both are equally capable of returning cards from said graveyard and also making copious amounts of mana.</p>
<p>When you combine both colors into Golgari(<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-bg" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>) there's a heck of a lot of self-mill, reanimating, life gain themes.</p>
<p>Notice however, that those themes are pretty heavy on the black part of the color pie. You can do pretty much any of those in mono-black, but in mono-green there isn't quite as much support.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis"></div></div>
<p>So let's take a look at the legend that struck fear into the hearts of Modern players everywhere, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis" href="#" target="_blank">Hogaak</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Now the 'Gaak is a strange card, it basically can ONLY be cast by either convoking or delving (either tapping a creature you control or exile a card from your graveyard will pay for one of its seven mana). Most importantly however, it can also be cast from your graveyard.</p>
<p>Any commander that can basically reanimate itself can serve as a perfect figurehead for an Aristocrats deck. A deck that wants to continuously sacrifice their own creatures to trigger common black 'whenever a creature dies' effects like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Blood Artist" href="#" target="_blank">Blood Artist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Morbid Opportunist" href="#" target="_blank">Morbid Opportunist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. But it turns out, green has access to a fair few good versions of these effects as well.</p>
<h2>For the Greater Good</h2>
<p>That's right, green mages love to sacrifice their own creatures just as much as the next guy. They just like to put a nice spin on it like calling it, "for the greater good" or chalking the death up to evolution or natural selection. But the effect is the same, I kill something I control and get something in return:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Greater Good"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Death&#039;s Presence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Skullspore Nexus"></div></div>
<p>And those are not unattractive outcomes for your self sacrifice! Especially when you're sacrificing the big boy himself. How does drawing eight cards and discarding three, then putting eight +1/+1 counters on another creature you control sound?</p>
<p>Seems like a pretty good trade off to me. Alternatively, just use The Skullspore Nexus to double Gaak's power then create a 16/16 fungus token and shove 16 more +1/+1 counters on it from your Death's Presence. Good lord, that's a big mushroom.</p>
<p>Remember as well that most of the best sacrifice outlets in the game are colorless artifacts anyways:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ashnod&#039;s Altar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phyrexian Altar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Altar of Dementia"></div></div>
<p>If you find a way to cast creature spells at instant speed by putting out a card like Vivienne or Yeva then you can even reanimate Hogaak with your Death's Presence effect on stack and target him with his own +1/+1 counters.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vivien, Champion of the Wilds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Yeva, Nature&#039;s Herald"></div></div>
<h2>Casting Hogaak</h2>
<p>Speaking of casting your commander with Flash. You'll likely want to be able to cast Hogaak on other people's turns. Because you can't easily use regular reanimation effects that are normally reserved for black decks, the 'Gaak will serve as your only repeatable sacrifice target.</p>
<p>For that reason, we want to be able to cast him over and over again and with his mana cost only available to cast via delving and convoke, there's only so many times we'll be able to do that in a single turn.</p>
<p>But don't worry, we're playing Commander! There's a whole three other players whose turn cycles we can interrupt and perform annoying sequences on. With our flash enabling effects on board we can recast our commander on every other players turn and repeat our engine of sacrifice effects.</p>
<p>This way we can maximize the efficiency of our board and also remain reactive to other players turn by doing things like flashing in Hogaak as a surprise blocker.</p>
<h3>Mill or Tap?</h3>
<p>Now this is all a great plan but we don't exactly have access to unlimited mana. Being able to delve for Gaak's mana cost is nice but we will run out of cards in our graveyard eventually. That's why we want to use the powers of convoke to reliably cast Hogaak on every turn.</p>
<p>And whilst green isn't the go to color for sacrifice outlets, it's incredibly good at convoking with easy access to token generation and, most importantly for this build, the ability to untap its creatures on every player's turn.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seedborn Muse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Awakening"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Patron of the Orochi"></div></div>
<p>By having seven creatures on board, predominantly ones with aristocrat style effects on them, we can effectively cast Hogaak every single turn for free and then sac him again for a huge amount of value. Getting a free effect on every one of your turns is pretty great.</p>
<p>Getting it four times per turn cycle is incredible. And because we'll be convoking each time we cast Hogaak, we won't actually be spending any mana, allowing us to hold up our lands for protections spells and interaction.</p>
<p>One hurdle we will need to jump however is getting around Gaak's high cost on early turns of the game. For that reason you'll likely want to have some token generators in the deck or at least a little self mill to eat up some of the early cost.</p>
<p>Waiting until you've cast seven different creature spells and hoping they don't die until the seventh hits the board is asking for a bad time.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Awaken the Woods"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Esika&#039;s Chariot"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Horn of Gondor"></div></div>
<p>Having some creatures in your deck that also come with a token themselves is a good way to get bodies on board too. The same is true for any repeatable activated or triggered abilities that generate those tokens.</p>
<p>These cards will help us to generate bodies for convoking but also provide us with alternative sacrifice fodder for our triggered death effects, which is especially useful when we start running into anti-'Gaak graveyard hate.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arasta of the Endless Web"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Avenger of Zendikar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Brightcap Badger"></div></div>
<h2>Free Real Estate</h2>
<p>One of the truly funniest things we could do in a build like this is employ yet another banned Modern card to get up to some very specific shenanigans. It's probably one of the coolest sacrifice outlets in the game and it can do some absolutely heinous things. You know it, you love it. It's the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Birthing Pod" href="#" target="_blank">Birthing Pod</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Birthing Pod"></div></div>
<p>With Gaak's big cost of seven mana which we'll largely be spending absolutely nothing to cast, we can tutor some insanely gross creatures directly onto the battlefield by putting Gaak into the pod. The only catch is they have to cost exactly eight mana to meet the pod's effects.</p>
<p>Do you know how many horrendous things in <em>Magic: The Gathering</em> cost exactly eight mana? Did you know that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Craterhoof Behemoth" href="#" target="_blank">Craterhoof Behemoth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> costs exactly eight mana?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Craterhoof Behemoth"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Breaker of Creation"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant"></div></div>
<p>Using this effect we can even tutor out our <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Patron of the Orochi" href="#" target="_blank">Patron of the Orochi</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to untap our green creatures on every subsequent turn cycle as mentioned above, ensuring our plan hits the ground the running once we untap on our next turn.</p>
<p>And there's plenty more horrid eight mana creatures you can pop in this deck if you have the budget or inclination:</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Platinum Emperion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cityscape Leveler"></div></div>
<h2>Go Forth and Reanimate in Green</h2>
<p>In truth there's a lot of funny ways you can build this deck, and I think it provides a very fun deck building challenge for those of us who love a restriction. I'm sure there's plenty other hybrid commanders that could do the same.</p>
<p>Let me know in the comments if you're tempted to build this monstrosity. And let me know what cards you would add or alternate commanders you want to build out of color identity.</p>
<p>For now though, thanks for reading and I'll see you on the next edition of <em>The Monolith</em>. The home of the weird and wonderful in just one color. Keep sleeving those basic lands and I'll see you next week!</p>


Building Hybrid Commanders as if They Were Monocolored

Brew For Your Buck - Six Permanents (more, actually) on a Budget

2024’s EDHighlights -  Kona, Rescue Beastie

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<a href="https://scryfall.com/card/j25/54/shroofus-sproutsire">Shroofus Sproutsire</a> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CYukihiro+Maruo%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art">Yukihiro Maruo</a>)</h6>
<h1>Just a Fun Little Guy</h1>
<p>People have told me that I am a fun guy. Luckily, no one has ever told me I am a fungi. The same cannot be said for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shroofus Sproutsire" href="#" target="_blank">Shroofus Sproutsire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Few things in magic take a player back to the old days as much as making a Saproling token. I aim to make many of these little guys, and I am using a crop of cards that some players know all too well and others will be seeing for the first time.</p>
<p>It is fitting that Shroofus Sproutsire comes from <em>Foundations Jumpstart</em> because we are returning to the format's foundations with this one. I am Nick, and I hope you will join me as I Tech this Deck.</p>
<h2>There is a Fungus Among Us</h2>
<p>Two creature types in the game are forever joined at the hip; <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&amp;order=name&amp;q=type%3Afungus+%28game%3Apaper%29+is%3Apaperart">Fungus</a> and Saproling. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Plenty of Fungus creatures</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, even six, have become legendary</span>. But it wasn't until Shroofus that we got the first legendary creature - Saproling. So why is this a big deal? Because Shroofus is just a little guy, and it would not be very nice if you were mean to him. I joke, but this is a very cool commander with many synergies with cards seen across the many years the game has been around. So, let's go deep into the forest and find some fungi.</p>
<h3>Mushroom Monsters</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thallid|FEM|74d"></div></div>
<p>It's the most classic of the monsters in our list and the one that explains the core of what our creatures are all about. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can remove spore counters to make Saproling tokens. It's a simple effect, but without help, it will take three turns after casting before you can get a single 1/1 creature. While this effect isn't fast, it's frequent across many other Fungi.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Utopia Mycon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Savage Thallid"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Psychotrope Thallid"></div></div>
<p>Four more Fungus monsters, all with the same ability to get spore counters. But each one brings its twist to the same recipe. Utopia Mycon is not only the lone creature not having Thallid in its name of the above four, but it also can cash in your tokens for mana. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Savage Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Savage Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> brings a double dose of older themes with Regenerate, a keyword that card designers have moved away from as years gone by.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychotrope Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Psychotrope Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> might be one of the best of the bunch outside of the Mycon. If we are not making mana, the next best thing to do is draw cards, and this Thallid knows a thing or two about drawing cards. Finally, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vitaspore Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Vitaspore Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can allow us to send in our commander immediately or use some of our other nonfungus creatures in this deck when they hit the board.</p>
<p>But all of these cards have the same problem: they're slow. Even if all the other players let me put these four creatures on the board on turn one, they still would not look great when I got around to my fourth turn. The best scenario is I now have four additional 1/1 creatures, and I can parlay that into mana or card draw. The worst case is right before I get enough counters, someone casts a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and I am out of the game. So what do we do to go faster?</p>
<h2>We Evolve</h2>
<p>Join me in the glorious evolution of this deck featuring a green all-star for any strategy that requires someone to carry a dice bag with them, <div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Evolution Sage"></div></div>. Proliferation is one of the best ways to send our Saproling generation into overdrive. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Evolution Sage" href="#" target="_blank">Evolution Sage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of the best cards for helping us out since all it requires is to make our land drops. We also have a few extra pieces of proliferation to pair up with the sage.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cankerbloom"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Karn&#039;s Bastion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Staff of Compleation"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cankerbloom" href="#" target="_blank">Cankerbloom</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a Swiss army knife creature offering us proliferation, artifact removal, and enchantment removal on a cheap body with great stats. I have undervalued this card for a long time, but I am glad that I got to see just how good they could be before putting this deck together.</p>
<p>Karn's Bastion gives us a repeatable proliferation effect on a land, so playing it with Evolution Sage on the battlefield should make you chuckle at the table. While <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Staff of Compleation" href="#" target="_blank">Staff of Compleation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does cost three life every time we want to use it, getting the one last counter we need could make all the difference. Believe it or not, we have a few other ways to use this proliferation in our deck besides strictly adding spore counters.</p>
<h3>Proliferating the Proliferation</h3>
<p>Proliferation would have been much different if it specified what counters you could add. Luckily for us and many other players, it does not. So, what are we proliferating outside of spore counters and +1/+1 counters?</p>
<p>How about Fading? <div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Saproling Burst"></div></div> gives us a choice between a single 7/7 token that slowly shrinks until it is no more or a surprise of seven 1/1 tokens that will only be around for a single turn. But what if we could add more counters? Not only could we get multiple tokens that could be larger than a 1/1, but we could also increase the number of 1/1s that we can make.</p>
<p>Maybe you need to close out the game and do not have many turns left. If you have a few counters on your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Beastmaster Ascension" href="#" target="_blank">Beastmaster Ascension</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> but not enough creatures to get the magic number of seven, proliferation can help you close out the game.</p>
<p>Similarly, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Door of Destinies" href="#" target="_blank">Door of Destinies</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can get more and more and MORE counters growing our mushroom army. But the heart of this deck is and always will be the Saproling tokens, so let me show you what we've got.</p>
<h2>Saproling Synergies</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Brightcap Badger"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thelonite Hermit"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Verdant Force"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sprout Swarm"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brightcap Badger" href="#" target="_blank">Brightcap Badger</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of my favorite cards in the deck because it does everything. Makes Saproling creatures for us at instant speed and every end step. As well as turning all of our Saprolings and Fungi into mana dorks. Saddly, as a Badger Druid, it will not gain any synergies from our next card, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>While <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does have an expensive Morph cost at 3<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> after playing it face down, the payoff is worth the steep investment. Four 1/1 tokens that get buffed up will do just as well, if not better, than most of the cards in our deck at closing out a game or keeping us alive.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Verdant Force" href="#" target="_blank">Verdant Force</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is objectively past their prime. But I would be forced to turn in my deck building license if I did not include it in the list. We are in mono green, so there is a reasonable chance we can cast this large lad ahead of the curve, even with the heavy mana requirement. If we can't, we also run <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tendershoot Dryad" href="#" target="_blank">Tendershoot Dryad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> so that we can win the game.</p>
<p>A few cards in this deck will elicit a groan from others at the table, but one, in particular, has the possibility of sending someone into a breakdown.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sprout Swarm"></div></div>.</p>
<p>If you ever find a player who was around when this card first came out, be careful when mentioning <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sprout Swarm" href="#" target="_blank">Sprout Swarm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. With the mix of Convoke and Buyback <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-3" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, the swarm will eventually give someone an unending swarm of Saprolings. This card can only be described as a mistake that should never have seen the light of day. But luckily for us, we got to pair it up with our happy little mushroom man. Sometimes, saddly, Saprolings beating down your opponents is not enough to win the game. So, the last part of our deck is where all the spice lives.</p>
<h2>Spicy Mushrooms</h2>
<p>Every good deck needs a plan B. Since our deck combines Fungus and Saproling typal, we start the game around plan C. Never fear because alternate win conditions are here.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Triumph of the Hordes"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Strixhaven Stadium"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Epic Struggle"></div></div>
<p>While it might be cheating to consider <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Triumph of the Hordes" href="#" target="_blank">Triumph of the Hordes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Strixhaven Stadium" href="#" target="_blank">Strixhaven Stadium</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as alternative ways to win the game, giving all of our creatures trample and infect drastically changes the math during the combat step. One moment, all of your opponents think they are safe with a few creatures to block; the next, they are shuffling up for game two. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Strixhaven Stadium" href="#" target="_blank">Strixhaven Stadium</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a risky card for most decks. Ideally, we should have less incurred risk since we should have enough creatures to stop getting counters removed from the stadium, and we can pair it with proliferation to up the counters as close to ten as possible.</p>
<p>There is no way that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Epic Struggle" href="#" target="_blank">Epic Struggle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can be considered anything but an alternative to winning the game. The biggest downside to this card, and the reason most people have never seen it on a battlefield, is that it will become the immediate target no matter what. Someone will try to remove it, your creatures, or you from the game before losing to this card. But if you can pull off the win, it becomes a card where the name perfectly fits the feeling coursing through your body.</p>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shroofus Sproutsire" href="#" target="_blank">Shroofus Sproutsire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a card I expect to show up at a surprising amount of tables. It's a bit of a perfect storm for a commander deck. The art of this card is adorable, and while no one would ever say this card is broken, it can be made to be powerful. This deck hits the perfect middle on the Venn diagram of a new player getting into the format and a long-time player trying to recapture the feelings when they first found themselves tapping lands and slinging spells.</p>
<p>If you want to see more content around the new cards from <em>Foundations</em> or <em>Foundations Jumpstart,</em> check out the other deck techs I did or any other fantastic articles on both EDHREC and Commander's Herald. Once again, I'm Nick, and I will see you the next time we Tech the Deck.</p>
<h2>Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Fun Guy - Shroofus Sproutsire Deck Tech" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Shroofus Sproutsire
[/Commander]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Commander&#039;s Plate
*1 Door of Destinies
*1 Idol of Oblivion
*1 Patchwork Banner
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Staff of Compleation
*1 Strixhaven Stadium
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Asceticism
*1 Beastmaster Ascension
*1 Doubling Season
*1 Elven Chorus
*1 Epic Struggle
*1 Night Soil
*1 Parallel Lives
*1 Saproling Burst
*1 Song of the Dryads
*1 Sporogenesis
*1 Tribute to the World Tree
[/Enchantments]
[Creatures]
*1 Brightcap Badger // Fungus Frolic
*1 Cankerbloom
*1 Champion of Lambholt
*1 Circle of Dreams Druid
*1 Craterhoof Behemoth
*1 Elvish Farmer
*1 Evolution Sage
*1 Insidious Fungus
*1 Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
*1 Mycoloth
*1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
*1 Ohran Frostfang
*1 Psychotrope Thallid
*1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
*1 Ruxa, Patient Professor
*1 Saryth, the Viper&#039;s Fang
*1 Savage Thallid
*1 Sporecrown Thallid
*1 Sporemound
*1 Sporesower Thallid
*1 Tendershoot Dryad
*1 Thallid
*1 Thelonite Hermit
*1 Thunderfoot Baloth
*1 Undercellar Myconid
*1 Utopia Mycon
*1 Verdant Force
*1 Vigor
*1 Vitaspore Thallid
[/Creatures]
[Sorceries]
*1 Collective Unconscious
*1 For the Common Good
*1 Fungal Sprouting
*1 Harvest Season
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Overrun
*1 Pest Infestation
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Triumph of the Hordes
[/Sorceries]
[Instants]
*1 Fungal Rebirth
*1 Heroic Intervention
*1 Return of the Wildspeaker
*1 Second Harvest
*1 Sprout Swarm
*1 Wrap in Vigor
[/Instants]
[Lands]
*1 Boseiju, Who Endures
*26 Forest
*1 Fountainport
*1 Karn&#039;s Bastion
*1 Mosswort Bridge
*1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Three Tree City
*1 Tranquil Thicket
*1 War Room
[/Lands]"></span></div>


<hr />
<h4>Read more:</h4>
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<p><iframe loading="lazy" class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; visibility: hidden;" title="&#8220;The Beast In Me - Slinza, the Spiked Stampede Deck&#8221; &#8212; EDHREC" src="https://edhrec.com/articles/the-beast-in-me-slinza-the-spiked-stampede-deck/embed/#?secret=jYtpmsxLso#?secret=qP6oeO4dx2" data-secret="qP6oeO4dx2" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>


mono green

Mono-Green Storm with Aeve, Progenitor Ooze

Building Hybrid Commanders as if They Were Monocolored

Brew For Your Buck - Six Permanents (more, actually) on a Budget

2024’s EDHighlights - Kona, Rescue Beastie

Fun Guy - Shroofus Sproutsire Deck

Rally the Ancestors - 50 Lands and a Plan

Back to Basics - The 10 Most Played Mono-Green Cards in Commander

Singleton Shmingleton - Commune with Nature

Wombo Combo - Mono-Green Edition

Singleton Shmingleton - Fog