Moneyball Green
Coalesing diamonds in the rough
by Quentin C.
Conduit of Worlds illustrated by Jokubas Uogintas
Moneyball Green is a ramp deck that amasses both mana and cards. It then uses them to activate abilities and cast multiple large spells a turn. Any excess cards can be fed to the masticores. This once “broken” creature type of decades past has returned with a facelift.
Setting Up
Ramp redundancy— some more stable and others explosive
Green is synonymous with ramp, and Season 11 goes all in on creature mana. Noble Hierarch lets you keep land-light hands and play Satyr Wayfinder, Courser of Kruphix, or Yavimaya Elder to lock up the early land drops. If looking for a more stable mana accelerant, Sylvan Caryatid is impervious to most removal while effectively blocking early creatures. If looking to go to the moon with mana, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary can cast the deck’s most expensive spells on turn three with only the help of some forests; Rofellos is arguably the strongest pull towards any mono-green strategy.
Game-Ending Threats
These must-answer threats completely change the game
Moneyball Green shores up the problem that many ramp decks run into: having a lot of mana but too few threats to spend the mana on. That’s why each of the deck’s major threats can solo the game. Masticore converts excess mana into creature removal while being able to protect itself. Argentum Masticore similarly locks down the board through combat stats and through its ability to convert excess cards in hand into removal spells. It can’t regenerate itself, but that’s the job of Yavimaya Hollow. Nissa, Ascended Animist repurposes mana dorks into a game-ending horde or makes an ever-growing army from scratch. Access to Conduit of Worlds turns removal into merely a temporary solution.
The Conduit Grind
There is always something to do
In fact, Conduit of Worlds really ties the deck together. With Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix slowing down ground combat, the artifact can take over a game even without a major threat. It allows for proactive loops with Cankerbloom and Yavimaya Elder to answer problematic permanents or draw cards. Chump-block lines are also available with Nylea’s Disciple and Satyr Wayfinder to gain life and dig towards a major threat. If you have already cast a spell for turn, Evolving Wilds can still be replayed to shuffle away bad cards revealed by Courser of Kruphix and gain life.
Conclusion
Masticore illustrated by Paolo Parente
Moneyball Green’s ability to lock up the ground while gaining life makes it tough to aggro out, and controlling decks can struggle to answer multiple resilient threats. When paired with Conduit of Worlds, Moneyball Green can hit home runs with explosive hands, but even its worst starts can set it up to be a value machine.
