This week I’ll be doing a Standard Deck Tech for each of the five guilds from Guilds of Ravnica. Today I’ll be making a Selesnya deck. There are a couple of options on which direction I could go for a Selesnya deck. The first possible option would be to make a deck full of tokens and have a go wide strategy. Another option would be a similar strategy but focused on Legendary creatures. A third option would be almost a Green White Knight deck. I’ll have to lay out the cards in front of me to see what the best option is. There are a lot of cards from the rest of Standard that would be fit into all three of these options.
I first want to start off with a list of cards from Guilds of Ravnica that I believe could possibly be a good fit in the deck. These could include main deck cards and cards that would eventually end up in the sideboard.
Potential Guilds of Ravnica Cards for the deck
Now that I’ve pulled out the best from Guilds of Ravnica, I want to turn my attention to the card pool from the rest of Standard. There are plenty of cards to choose from, so let’s see what list I’ve come up with of potential cards to put in the deck.
Potential Existing Cards from Standard
Now that I have a list of cards to choose from to make the deck, it’s now time to decide what goes and what stays. What I like to do first is break them down by their casting cost with creatures and noncreature spells separated. Let’s see how that breakdown looks below.
Based on the look of the card pool, I believe that I’ve found a focus for my deck. I want it to be centered around Legendary creatures and creatures with power of 2 or less to take advantage of the card Militia Bugler. Let’s see what that means for the cards from each casting cost.
1-Casting Cost Spells
Shapers’ Sanctuary is a great card to have against heavy removal decks in the sideboard. Having 4 Llanowar Elves is key to the success of this deck. Being able to play your 3 and 4-drop spells one turn earlier can make a world of difference. All of the other 1-drop creatures are strong, but there are so many creatures that we want to put in this deck that I want to make sure we have some slots for them later on.
2-Casting Cost Spells
Seal Away is a great early removal spell but since we have so many slots in this deck for creatures, I want to have this card coming out of the sideboard against certain matchups. I believe that Blackblade Reforged has the opportunity to be an absolute all-star in this deck. I’m hoping to have between 15-20 legendary creatures which means there should always be a good target for equipping this.
When it comes to creatures, I want to try and keep in mind that I want creatures with power 2 or less and putting in as many legendary creatures as I can. All of the creatures on the list have power 2 or less, so everything is a go from that perspective. The one creature that I want to have coming out of the sideboard is Remorseful Cleric. With mechanics like Surveil and Undergrowth kicking around in Guilds of Ravnica, there is guaranteed to be some graveyard themed decks coming in the near future. The two creatures I want in the deck for sure are the two legendary creatures, Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy and Emmara, Soul of the Accord. There might be a few more spots left in the 2-drop creatures slot, which means I have to choose from the remaining creatures on the list. I think the best choice would be Thorn Lieutenant. It’s resilient and has the possibility to be a larger threat later in the game.
3-Casting Cost Spells
Starting off with the creatures, the two I want in the deck for sure are Militia Bugler and Knight of Autumn. Since I have Knight of Autumn, I don’t think I need Thrashing Brontodon in the deck. Since I already have Remorseful Cleric in the sideboard, I think I will pass on putting Deathgorge Scavenger there as well. The 2 power of Remorseful Cleric also means you could get it off of a Militia Bugler trigger. When it comes to the other creatures, there is one that fits both of our creature criterias and that is Danitha Capashen, Paragon. She has 2 power, is legendary, and can help us cast our Blackblade Reforged for only 1 mana.
When it comes to the noncreature spells, there aren’t any that I want to have in my creature focused main deck. What I do want to have though is March of the Multitudes as a sideboard card against control matchups. This spell makes it almost impossible for any opponent to tap out their mana with the threat of tons of 1/1 Soldier creatures tokens with lifelink hitting the battlefield.
4-Casting Cost Spells
Sticking to our plan for creatures, Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle seems like a perfect fit for the deck. It has 2 power, is legendary, and can bring back our 7 different smaller creatures directly back onto the battlefield. There are a ton of historic cards in this deck that should allow you to trigger her ability often. Conclave Cavalier, Nullhide Ferox and Vine Mare are all great creatures, but none of them fit our criteria of having 2 or less power or be legendary creatures. That leaves Baird, Steward of Argive and Shalai, Voice of Plenty. Both these legendary creatures would be a good fit for the deck. Shalai, Voice of Plenty will be only 1 of 2 creatures with higher than 2 power but its power level and what it can do can win games. Baird, Steward of Argive is a creature I believe will gain some value if the metagame switches to a strategy where players want to have a go wide strategy.
Conclave Tribunal will be a great card to come out of the sideboard if there is something I’m not able to deal with on the battlefield. The ability to play it a turn earlier thanks to Convoke makes me want to play it more than Ixalan’s Binding. Another sideboard card to use against a heavy creature deck is Settle the Wreckage. Your opponent probably won’t expect it coming out of your own creature deck. When it comes to planeswalkers the best two for the job are Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants and Karn, Scion of Urza. Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants can help pump up your smaller creatures and is also able to bring back your two-drop creatures as well. Karn, Scion of Urza is just its old amazing self and will generate card advantage. Weatherlight and Helm of the Host are good legendary artifacts, but not ones that made the cut for this deck.
5-Casting Cost Spells
Venerated Loxodon could be good, but didn’t seem like the right fit for the deck. Lyra Dawnbringer is just such a powerful legendary creature that I couldn’t not have it in the deck. It also pumps up the other Angels in the deck which is nice. Trostani Discordant was a tough choice, but I didn’t think it packed enough punch at 5 mana to put it in. I might change my mind on this after playtesting if I feel the deck needs more reach. Vivien Reid would work well in the deck, but I just didn’t have room for it. When it came to mass removal, the choices were between something that removed all my creatures in the form of Cleansing Nova or one that didn’t remove all my creatures in the form of Urza’s Ruinous Blast. I went with the latter.
6 Casting Cost Spells
I decided that I didn’t want my mana curve to go up to 6, although these would all be great choices. There are still many spells in the deck that will take advantage of you having a ton of mana, so being flooded will never put you in a terrible position.
Lands
There aren’t many lands to choose from, but here are the ones you could use for this deck.
Forest
Plains
Selesnya Guidgate
Sunpetal Grove
Temple Garden
This deck will need an even distribution of white and green mana for the deck. The curve stops at five mana for this deck which means I'll be going with 24 lands.
It took a while to get there with so many options available for a green-white deck but I think came out of it with one I’m happy with. The synergy between Militia Bugler and Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle allow you to gain the card advantage needed to start taking over the game. Thanks again for reading this Standard Deck tech for Guilds of Ravnica. Join me again tomorrow for a new guild and a new Standard deck.
