And so we come to the last of the deck examinations, this one is a bit post Dark Ascension but it's core was built in Innistrad thanks to a few cards from it, though i didn't get a chance to examine it till now, that is Mono Green Dungrove Elder which is one of the decks we saw at Pro Tour: Dark Ascension which focuses on the M12 rare Dungrove Elder while having a lot of ramp elements to it to get lands on the battlefield quicker, let's take a look at the first list now though.
The first list of choice is Todd Anderson's take on Mono Green Dungrove Elder, which seems to be one of the more difficult builds to beat these days due to the sheer ramp the deck has to offer, let's see it.
Todd Anderson's Dungrove Elder - Pro Tour Dark Ascension
Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Daybreak Ranger
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Spells
3 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot
4 Sword of War and Peace
Lands
24 Forest
Sideboard
2 Corrosive Gale
1 Daybreak Ranger
1 Glissa, the Traitor
3 Naturalize
2 Precursor Golem
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
Already we are seeing the basics of the deck come together here, sure it's name sake and the basic lands are a start, but what are some more common themes with this deck archetype as a whole, well let's find out with our second list courtesy of Pro Tour Dark Ascension once again, this time however run by Iain Bartolomei
Iain Bartolomei's Dungrove Elder - Pro Tour Dark Ascension
Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Strangleroot Geist
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Spells
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot
4 Sword of War and Peace
Lands
24 Forest
Sideboard
1 Batterskull
2 Creeping Corrosion
1 Glissa, the Traitor
2 Naturalize
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Tumble Magnet
So the creature base is consistent with these two decks, a singleton Acidic Slime and Bellowing Tanglewurm which can be copied via a Phyrexian Metamorph, the standard ramp package of Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves are pretty basic for green these days, leading into a turn 2 to fetch a early attacker in Strangleroot Geist, or even a turn 3 green sun's zenith to fetch one of the deck's 4 copies of Dungrove Elder as a good way to start off the deck, of course spells may vary the creature base is starting to come together though as a whole, so with these two lists we pretty much understand the core cards of the deck already, so without further ado let's take at the core cards of Dungrove Elder
Creatures
Dungrove Elder - This deck's name sake for green justice of course, always consider this 4 slots in your 60 regardless if your playing this archetype.
Llanowar Elves/Birds of Paradise - Standard ramp package, sure we could be playing Rampant Growth, but it's not preferred here, standard creature ramp is much better honestly and these two are always 4x no matter what.
Acidic Slime/Bellowing Tanglewurm - You only need 1 of these each, considering the fact you can fetch them via your Green Sun's Zenith a lot easier then waiting for them.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Sure let's pay 2 life to get a copy card onto the battlefield, copying a sword, copying a creature like Slime or Tanglewurm, or how about a second Dungrove Elder or even a second Strangleroot Geist for that matter
Strangleroot Geist - Kinda required since he's the only 2 drop in the deck, undying, haste does help quite a bit and allows you to churn the extra bits of damage needed, i'd consider him a 4x but minimum of 3 in the deck at any given time.
Thrun, the Last Troll - Honestly the last time we saw this troll was a while back and well he's nice to have, 4/4 for 4, great bait for sweepers and all that neat stuff, you only need 1 of him honestly.
Spells
Green Sun's Zenith - A requirement honestly for this deck, fetching anything in it, period except for Metamorph, makes any green deck worth twice as much, 4x requirement here.
Garruk Relentless/Garruk, Primal Hunter - Just a back up plan in case stuff goes haywire, primal hunter's secondary ability is more useful then anything since it reloads your hand on occasion, Relentless is more useful as a token generator as well, but walker rule can't have two of the same subtype on the field, consider this 2x each easily
Sword of War and Peace - White and red decks a problem for you, no problem this is your answer right here, pro red, pro white, lifegain, direct damage need i say more, 4x easily and this will be the most expensive card in the deck since it sits at 30 bucks right now.
Gut Shot - Another 2x spell of the deck, it's pretty consistent, being one of the two phyrexian mana cards in our deck, dealing those last 2 points of damage is always crucial here.
The lands for the deck should always be basic lands, regardless, meaning you won't need to worry about mana fixers, no real reason to be running duals here, since you want the elder as strong as possible, so with this basic core of the deck, let's build our example list.
Vergil's Example List
Creatures
1 Acidic Slime
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
Spells
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk, Primal Hunter
4 Sword of War and Peace
4 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Gut Shot
Lands
24 Forest
The sideboards for both decks though vary and deal with different archetypes the same way here, though if you can't get swords, then i would suggest either Batterskull or perhaps another good living weapon card, or even get your hands on a set of Trepanation Blade for the final 4 slots of the deck, sideboards though of course as i state may vary but the consistency of the sideboard remain and i leave that to you the reader to decide, but without further ado it's time to end another article, this is the last standard deck examination i will do for post Dark Ascension, until next article this is vergil signing off.
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