Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Rob, today we're going to take a look to a mono green (with a splash of red) deck I've been working on recently; before we start I want to apologize for my bad English (I'm Italian).

The deck

The concept behind this deck is really simple, as years of history and traditions teach to us, green decks always had one job: to ramp mana and to drop huge creatures onto the battlefield (yes, we're ignoring elves on purpose because they are pure evil).

Unfortunately there's one little problem with doing this in the actual standard meta, we are incredibly slow, wich means we need to find a way to protect ourselves from both aggro and control decks; we do this by adding smaller but still treatening creatures like Steel Leaf Champion, and some utility cards like Thrash // Threat and Rhythm of the Wild.

Ps: this deck is designed for "Best of 1" (Bo1) matches, that said it can also be used for "Best of 3" (Bo3) matches, with the inclusion of a sideboard of your choice.

Creatures

I know I said they're evil, but they produce our precious mana, so we really, really need them, always look for at least one in the opening hand.

Same as Llanowar Elves.

The first one of our little allies, this guy comes in at the cost of 2m with a 3/2 body, but what is really special about him, is that he can help us to deal with those annoying flying creatures the enemy may have on his/her side of the field.

Another elf, yes you're right, but this one rides a giant beast so i doesn't count, besides that he's a 5/4 that can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or les, I like to call him "The Aggro Slayer"; unfortunately he has one great weakness, and its name is Lava Coil.

3m 3/4 dinosaur, nice, but you know what's better, a 3m 3/4 that sacrifices himself to destroy an artifact or an enchantment, you want to get rid of that annoying The Immortal Sun/ Divine Visitation/ Dawn of Hope/ Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin/ The Eldest Reborn, leave it to the trusty dinosaur.

Our first big boy, 4m for a really nice 6/6 body and pseudo-hexproof, really nice against control decks, I found him particularly usefull as a counter move to Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen; that said be careful with him, because he can lock you out of using your planeswalkers or your utility spells.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to present you, the one and only "Green Pony"! An absolute beast when dealing with control decks and also golgari, because he can't be blocked by black creatures, and with a strenght score of 5 he can be a serious threat if underestimated; one little note, beware the Deafening Clarion.

The bane of every control deck, there's almost nothing that can stop this monster making him an incredibly powerful late game (even turn 4 if you ramp enough mana) bomb; against black decks always be sure that he's not alone on your field, because he can still be sacrified (The Eldest Reborn/ Plaguecrafter); against white pay attenction to board whipes like Cleansing Nova/ Settle the Wreckage or even double Deafening Clarion.

What to say, drop them onto the field and smash the city down to pieces! Awesome finisher in late game, especially if you have more than 2 creatures on the board, +2/+2, vigilance and trample to everyone, where do I have to sign? Yes they are a little expensive but we're running a green deck right? Pay attenction to Settle the Wreckage.

This guy is the physical manifestation of the green color in mtg, he is big, really big,  he tramples, leaving nothing but dust behind him, and he wants to fight alongside other big creatures, to totally destroy your opponent, he may be killed by removal spells but in the end, who cares.

Instant and Sorceries

The first one of the two red cards in the deck, on the left side, we have a great removal that can help us to deal with planeswalkers, yes i'm talking about you Teferi, Hero of Dominaria; on the right side we have a 4m 4/4 trampler, because we love big boys.

Enchantments

The second red card in the deck, and the key of our strategy, making every single creature in our deck uncounterable and also giving them riot, that basically means endless potential, as an example: uncounterable hasty Ghalta, Primal Hunger; this card is an absolute must against every control deck.

Planeswalkers

Vivien perfectly fits in our strategy, coming in at 5 loyalty and giving us drawpower with her +1, flying creature/ artifact/ enchantment removal with her -3, and making our creatures even deadlier with her ult.

Maybeboard

In this section I'm going to show up some of the possible changes to this deck.

• The Aggro Patch: we can make this deck a lot more aggressive by removing 4 copies of Incubation Druid, 3 copies of Thrashing Brontodon and 1 copy of End-Raze Forerunners, to add 4 copies of Merfolk Branchwalker and Jadelight Ranger; in this way you will have better times when facing White Weenie and Selesnya decks while also having some land advantage; keep in mind that without the Incubation Druid big creatures will come in play a bit later.

• The Anti-Red Strategy: this one can also be considered as a sideboard strategy, when facing Red Rush decks you need life, to get life you need lands, so we need to swap 4 copies of Incubation Druid with 4 copies of Merfolk Branchwalker, because they can give us lands without having to stay on the board; then swap 3 copies of Kraul Harpooner with 3 copies of Gift of Paradise, this will help you to gain some life and mana advantage; last but not least, cut 1 copy of Carnage Tyrant and 1 copy of End-Raze Forerunners and add 2 copies of Pelakka Wurm, this guy can really save your day with that 7 life gain, plus he's still a 7/7 trampler and draws you a card when he dies.

• Dirty Tricks: if you like to play a little bit more on the control side of this deck, than you may consider swapping 3 copies of Kraul Harpooner for 3 copies of Collision // Colossus or 3 copies of Lava Coil, remeber to add 2/3 Mountain and cut 2/3 Forest for the second one; then try to remove 1 copy of End-Raze Forerunners to add  1 copy of Territorial Allosaurus or Ravager Wurm or Bounty of Might.

• Trampling Boys: you really want to break your enemy defenses don't you? Then get rid of your 3 copies of Thrashing Brontodon and add 2 copies of Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma and 1 copy of Aggressive Mammoth, by doing this you will be able to play really big creatures earlier and make them trample to death.

Matchups

I'm going to analyze the matchups with some of the most common, and strongest meta decks;

• Vs. White Weenie: really tough matchup, you may prefer having Incubation Druid instead of Llanowar Elves in your opening hand, also always look for an early Steel Leaf Champion and/or Thrashing Brontodon, the first one will protect you while putting some pressure on the opponent, the second may be helpful against History of Benalia/ Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort; keep an eye on their mana, and if there's some red in it always be prepared to fight a Heroic Reinforcements.

• Vs. Blue Tempo: don't get fooled by the name, this deck can be as aggressive as a White or a Red one, but with one little difference, maybe two, first every single creature in it except for Merfolk Trickster can fly, second it has counter spells; that said you definitely need a Kraul Harpooner in your opening hand and a Thrashing Brontodon to get rid of the Curious Obsession, also having a Rhythm of the Wild may be really helpful; try to be as aggressive as you can.

• Vs. Red Rush: probably the worst matchup, your Llanowar Elves/ Incubation Druid will 100% be killed by Shock, your Steel Leaf Champion dies to Lava Coil, your only chance to win is dropping Rhythm of the Wild followed by huge hasty creatures, otherwise your life total will go down relatively fast; always find a way to destroy their Experimental Frenzy and Rekindling Phoenix.

• Vs. Boros Aggro: almost the same as Vs. White Weenie, but pay attenction to Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice and Chance for Glory.

• Vs. Selesnya aggro: there are a few simple rules for this matchup, always kill Emmara, Soul of the Accord/ Trostani Discordant, that means look for a Thrash // Threat in your opening hand; watch out for their March of the Multitudes, try to keep pressure on them with Steel Leaf Champion if you can; look  for a Thrashing Brontodon or even Vivien Reid to destroy their Divine Visitation/ Conclave Tribunal.

• Vs. Mardu Aristocrats: not a difficult matchup at all, the thing you mostly need to be aware of is the Hero of Precinct One turn 2 + Judith, the Scourge Diva turn 3 combo, that is really going to  hurt you if defensless, so look for Llanowar Elves and Steel Leaf Champion/ Thrashing Brontodon in your opening hand; if you manage to set up a nice wall of creatures you will have a great advantage on them, that said they will still be able to rely on Mortify/ Bedevil to take out your defenses; also Pitiless Pontiff can be quite problematic, so try to kill her with Thrash // Threat or by attacking when your opponents are out of mana.

• Vs. Green Midrange: mirror matchup, look for Llanowar Elves/ Incubation Druid and Rhythm of the Wild in your opening hand, if they splashed in red try do destroy their Rhythm of the Wild, other than that the entire match will be a race to who can get big creatures faster.

• Vs. Orzhov Afterlife: this is a tricky matchup, your opponents will try to bait you into killing their small creatures in order to trigger afterlife and get, literally, a billion 1/1 spirit tokens with fly; so in this case you really have to think on what you're doing, especially when blocking/attacking your opponent; the safest option is to poke him with Vine Mare, because it can't be blocked by most of the creatures in their deck, so look for it in your opening hand; also look for a copy of Kraul Harpooner to kill their Seraph of the Scales, but be careful, if Teysa Karlov is on the field you may want to let the angel live and focus on her instead; also look out for Kaya's Wrath and Revival // Revenge because these two cards can completely destroy your advantage (if you have some) in a split second.

• Vs. Golgari Midrange: quite an easy matchup, your best ally will be Vine Mare so look for it in your opening hand, don't play everithing immediately otherwise it will get killed by Cast Down/ Ravenous Chupacabra/ Vraska's Contempt, but be sure to have at least two creatures on board to face Plaguecrafter/ The Eldest Reborn; you may want to keep a copy of Thrash // Threat in your hand for Wildgrowth Walker; if they splashed in some blue watch out for Hydroid Krasis or even Doom Whisperer because they can be really dangerous; poke them to death with Vine Mare and Carnage Tyrant.

•  Vs. Dimir Control: another easy one, make sure to have Rhythm of the Wild in your opening hand, only drop it on the board when you're sure it will not be countered, if you manage to do this you've basically won the game; if you're not able to play Rhythm of the Wild keep a Kraul Harpooner in your hand to deal with Doom Whisperer and try to get some hexproof creatures on the field; pay attenction to Ferox Nullhide locking you out of playing Vivien Reid.

• Vs. Izzet Drakes: really annoying matchup, try to be as aggressive as you can, so look for Steel Leaf Champion in your opening hand; always keep your Kraul Harpooner ready to kill Enigma Drake/ Crackling Drake before they become a serious threat; there's also a chance that they're playing Niv-Mizzet, Parun so watch out for him.

• Vs. Esper Control: skill based matchup, you can't rely to much on Rhythm of the Wild because it will be destroyed by Cleansing Nova, that said you really need turn 1 Llanowar Elves as opening move otherwise you will be too slow to do anything; try to keep alive at least one heproof creature on the field and a Thrash // Threat in your hand to kill Teferi, Hero of Dominaria; you need to play every single card wisely or you'll lose the game.

• Vs. Jeskai Control: almost same as Vs. Esper Control, but a little bit more difficult considering the presence of Lyra Dawnbringer and Niv-Mizzet, Parun.

• Vs. Bant Fog-Nexus (not a threat anymore in Bo1): in this case, we have a pretty big advantage in the early game, but if the match reaches late game we are basically doomed; Rhythm of the Wild is fundamental so look for it in your opening hand; be as aggressive as possible but always watch out for Settle the Wreckage; keep Thrash // Threat for Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Thrashing Brontodon for Wilderness Reclamation; if you can't win before they start looping Nexus of Fate you better surrender.

• Vs. Grixis Control: similar to Vs. Dimir Control, if you manage to drop Rhythm of the Wild on the field you've won the game; if you're not able to do this than watch out for Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen, Doom Whisperer and Captive the Audience; Ferox Nullhide and Vine Mare can really hurt them.

Conclusion

Thanks to everyone that read the list and/or this description, I really hope you liked it and that you're having fun if playing it 

-Rob.