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Matchup Mulligan: Mono-Green Cloudpost


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Final Maverick Hand Answer

Hand No. 10: (on the draw)

[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Echo of Eons|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Polluted Delta|]] [[Volcanic Island|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]] [[Swamp|]]

Keep

It might be crazy, but I believe this hand is fine. You have an answer to either [[Collector Ouphe]] or [[Thalia, Guardian of Thraben]] with mana to cast it even through a [[Wasteland]]. Eventually, you have enough mana to hard-cast [[Echo of Eons]] through a [[Mindbreak Trap]].

This hand has a lot of potential, which is a recurring theme in the way that I select hands. The reason that it was the readers is people sometimes mulligan too aggressively, instead of thinking big picture — which is what this hand is all about.

Mono-Green Cloudpost

Pre-board

Hand No. 1: (on the draw)

[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Brainstorm|]] [[Defense Grid|]] [[Volcanic Island|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]] [[Burning Wish|]]

Mulligan

This hand is essentially a mulligan to five cards already. [[Veil of Summer]] has no application in the matchup. Even post-board, there aren’t any copies of [[Chalice of the Void]]. [[Defense Grid]] is sort of expensive here and has little use, essentially only making the opponent cast [[Crop Rotation]] on their own turn. While it’s very, very uncommon, I have seen lists with one or two [[Warping Wail]] in the main deck. That said, I tend to take the higher percentage play than to try to beat everything.

When we analyze this hand, it’s now a very slow hand that could get there, but ultimately needs a lot of luck. Why not just mulligan to something potentially better? You’ll be gaining a card in the matchup, most likely.



Hand No. 2: (on the play)

[[Dark Ritual|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Rite of Flame|]]

Keep

This hand is pretty obviously great, but the point is that Mono-Green Cloudpost deck doesn’t have any interaction. You’re free to go to town and cast that [[Ad Nauseam]]!



Hand No. 3: (on the draw)

[[Mox Opal|]] [[Veil of Summer|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Taiga|]] [[Swamp|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]]

Keep

It’s hard me to not keep a hand that puts a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] into play on the first turn. The real downside is we need to make it through two turns without a [[Pithing Needle]] on [[Wishclaw Talisman]] and they play a full four copies. It’s really risk versus reward, they’re 40 percent to have a [[Pithing Needle]], so we’re technically favored assuming they aren’t mulliganing for it. We also don’t have [[Burning Wish]] for [[Pulverize]] available for a number of reasons.



Hand No. 4: (on the play)

[[Burning Wish|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Ponder|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Verdant Catacombs|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Tendrils of Agony|]]

Mulligan

What a clunker! This hand is just too slow. Mono-Green Cloudpost is also a slow deck, but this just doesn’t do enough. Disciplined mulliganing is a great skill to have, and this is a perfect example.



Hand No. 5: (on the draw)

[[Rite of Flame|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Taiga|]]

Keep

Fun fact: Mono-Green Cloudpost doesn’t play a [[The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale]] in the main deck.

This means that our horde of [[Goblin Token]]s is likely to win the game! [[Taiga]], [[Rite of Flame]], [[Rite of Flame]], [[Lotus Petal]], [[Chrome Mox]] (Imprint: [[Burning Wish]]), [[Burning Wish]] into [[Empty the Warrens]].



Post-board

Recommended sideboarding:

IN

[[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]]
[[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]]

OUT

[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]
[[Veil of Summer|]] [[Veil of Summer|]]


Hand No. 6: (on the play)

[[Chrome Mox|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Defense Grid|]] [[Volcanic Island|]] [[Lion’s Eye Diamond|]] [[Polluted Delta|]]

Keep

This hand is great! We have a first-turn [[Defense Grid]] to help play around [[Mindbreak Trap]] as well as [[Force of Vigor]] into a second turn [[Echo of Eons]]. Don’t be afraid to setup your sequences and plan for the next or even third turn. By being willing to Imprint the [[Rite of Flame]] onto [[Chrome Mox]], we speed ourselves up an entire turn for the rest of the game.



Hand No. 7: (on the draw)

[[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Badlands|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Lotus Petal|]] [[Polluted Delta|]]

Keep

We have an answer to [[Pithing Needle]] in [[Chain of Vapor]], and can eventually use [[Wishclaw Talisman]] for [[Ad Nauseam]] and resolve it through a possible [[Mindbreak Trap]]. As long as you don’t play [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] on the first two turns, you’ll also be able to use the alternative mana cost of [[Force of Vigor]] against them by using the [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] before it’s destroyed. This hand secretly has a lot of play to it!



Hand No. 8: (on the play)

[[Defense Grid|]] [[Chain of Vapor|]] [[Abrupt Decay|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Tendrils of Agony|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]]

Mulligan

This hand may seem well-balanced, but what does it actually do? It can protect you from a [[Mindbreak Trap]] and answer a [[Pithing Needle]] or [[Collector Ouphe]], but then what? It’s sort of just slow and does nothing. The average six would just be a lot better than this.



Hand No. 9: (on the draw)

[[Ad Nauseam|]] [[Dark Ritual|]] [[Rite of Flame|]] [[Wishclaw Talisman|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Burning Wish|]] [[Brainstorm|]]

Keep

Mono-Green Cloudpost isn’t the fastest deck, which means we have time. We have two and maybe even three draw steps to hit a black mana source (you cannot Imprint a [[Wishclaw Talisman]] onto [[Chrome Mox]]). By keeping this hand, you sort of just accept losing to [[Mindbreak Trap]] which I am also okay with — sometimes the best solution is to accept that you can’t always beat everything.



Hand No. 10: (on the play)

[[Taiga|]] [[Polluted Delta|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]] [[Bloodstained Mire|]] [[Mox Opal|]] [[Chrome Mox|]] [[Ad Nauseam|]]

Stay tuned for the next article!

I’ll provide my answer in the next article. For now, make sure to post your thoughts!