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.

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.

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]]!

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.

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.

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]].

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.

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!

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.

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.

Stay tuned for the next article!

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