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Played against this deck several times (the mono-green version) with my Vampires several times.  No sideboards were used.  My findings.

The average game wins were about 3-2 in favor of green.  Being on the play is huge for both decks and there was a marked advantage.

Discard is mostly ineffective against this, as a first turn Llanowar or Noble Hierarch can empty the hand really quickly.  Black mass removal is also mostly ineffective with all the t-3 running around (Nissa's Chosen, Garruk Beasts, GSS, and anything with an Oran-Rief).

If Ant Queen resolves with an Eldrazi Monument in play, it's game over. 

Fliers are a real weakness of this deck (prior to Eldrazi coming out, of course).  It's tough because of strong ground defenses (Bloodghast is near-useless), but by combining your agressive fliers with lifedrain, you are able to race.  A Hexmage-Nighthawk-Nocturnus tempo hand is very difficult for them to oppose.

For sides, remove Bloodghast and Mind Sludge first.  Ground defenses are too strong and no blocking means the ghast is useless outside Nocturnus, and they can usually empty their hand before turn 5 with 12 mana accel cards (15 if you count Garruk).  Deathmark is always useful and Pithing Needle (naming Nissa Revane) rocks out loud.  For the red-black splash, Thought Hemmorage is good.  The hidden play for Thought Hemmorage is naming Nissa's Chosen.  You deny the creature draw and neutralize a planeswalker in one shot.

For vamps, you have to agressively play defense early game unless you have a race-capable hand.  They can accel into things very quickly, but by the same token, they empty their hands really quickly.  If you can stabilize against the initial assault, you can usually race with fliers.  If you're holding removal, Ant Queen is priority target 1, followed by Master of the Hunt and then Elf Lord.  Hexmage is a supurb maindeck because of all the planeswalkers, but they both give instant card advantage, so use the mages sparingly.  (Garruk goes to 2 counters to summon a beast, so Nighthawk is an awesome card for killing him, as well as a reason why Pithing Needle should always name Nissa).

 

 

Nov 11, 2009 -- 7:22PM, sully5927 wrote:

I wonder how Coat of Arms would do in this deck?

Monument is just better, evasion + indestructibility > chumpable fatties.

I strongly feel that Vines of Vastwood belongs in this deck. For 1 green mana, it counters a removal spell, and 1 more green and it's a huge pump. Very good combat trick, IMO.

River Boa seems like a good sideboard card against any aggro deck with no Exile removal (Vamps, Red, Jund) and anything with Islands. Comments?

Nissa Revane? VERY interesting.


EDIT: White being splashed for legit removal seems like a very good idea. A case for Black could be made for the very same reason, IMO. But White has noble working for it, too. I think this build should have Dauntless Escort in place of GSS, with GSS in the board, though. It stops DoJ, which really hurts a deck with no card-drawing. Thank god for the CA that the PW's provide.

EDIT2: on the note of adding black, I think a highly recursive deck with Nissa+Chosen and Bloodghast + Vampire Aristocrat could make for a very interesting deck...

And anyone else notice the synergy that Garruk's untapping has with Oran-Rief? 

I built this deck based on spoilers before Zen came out. Early test version had CoA and Visionaries, but other than that, yeah. I called it Antsplosion. I abandoned it for being too slow and inconsistent. Shows what I know.