Can I please get some critique of this deck?

[MrBillCowsby]

This is my current deck, Im looking to add 4 temple garden and 4 sunpetals

https://deckstats.net/decks/672/1794-green-white-token-deck?saved=1&lng=en

Please critique. I am also looking to add swift justice in here.

[Nils]

Could you explain a bit more about what the strategy of the deck is? Also, why are you playing 63 cards in your main deck? Usually you should always have 60.

[MrBillCowsby]

This deck is basically to over power them with tokens. also with Trostani, it helps me gain life. I run a 63 because I am testing the waters on a few cards, but I will be reducing it to at least 61 cards soon.

Basically my stable card is a combination of Armada Wurms, Call of the Conclave and both my Parallel Lives. With both Parallel lives out I can place 4 creature tokens out instead of 1 whenever I something allows me to place creature tokens. So with Armada Wurms, When I place it, I can place 4 more Wurm tokens with trample. and same with centaurs and things like that.

[AeroSigma]

I'd recommend more token generators, since you only have 8, it will be a lowish occurrence for you to actually draw one.  Try to swap out some other creatures for token generators.  Bonus points if you use "put an X token on the battlefield, then Populate" (ex. Eyes in the Skies.) This will allow you more tokens early-mid game, but then still allow you to populate your armada worm late game when a 1/1 flier won't change your board position.  This will really make your deck more draw/mulligan robust and help you get your populate engine up and running faster.

More Parallel lives, (read: 4) less everything else (read: 60 card deck.) That card will win games for you singlehandedly.  error is right, the less everything else you have, the higher chances of drawing your best card.

-AeroSigma

PS- Just saw Slime Moulding, with brings your token generators up to 12.  (and I guess Selesnya charm does too.)  Still, I'd rather have all creatures either token generate or populate (except perhaps Loxodon Smiter, great card)  So, maybe just swap Silklash for Eyes in the Skies, usless your playgroup runs enough fliers to make the ability worth it.

PPS- you can use headers (just an extra row starting with // before a group of cards) like "//token generators" and "//populators" and "//Lands" to sort your cards in the list.  Personally I find that very useful to keep track of how much of what function cards I have.

[MrBillCowsby]

Thanks for the reply!! and yes my whole playgroup uses fliers except for 1 person who basically has a better version on my deck. I use selensya charms for the exile mostly. But with the addition of parallel lives, its really all I need to populate. Almost every game I get one out, so that is 2 per token creature. Then if I do get a 2nd one out, I get 4 per token. Plus with rootborn, trostani, and the guildmages populate, it makes it pretty easy to throw tokens out.

Thanks for the tips on how to organize my deck here!!

[MrBillCowsby]

-P.S. Also I removed those crappy Wayfaring Temples, they would only work if I got all my tokens out before I even drew them which isn't the case. Now I am down to 61 cards!

-P.P.S This is the deck I am currently using. I don't have a lot of money and this deck was bought over 2 weeks

[MrBillCowsby]

Also I have a question about this deck. Do anyone think I should get rid of my centaur healer and put back my vitu-ghazi guildmages??

[gforgregarious]

There are a few suggestions I could make with this deck. For one, if you want to go with a theme, it's often best that you go with it all the way. So basically I would try to make every card a token or token producing/enhancing card, and leave only a few cards for removal. That being said, I'm not sure these are the best colours to be playing for a token based deck... I would be more inclined to play UWb.

But if you want to run with it, I would say that cards like Parallel Lives, Rootborn Defenses and Swift Justice are somewhat awkward. The first two clearly fit with what the deck is doing but have the drawback that they do nothing on their own. Cards like that can still be good, but they need to either always be found in the situation that makes them good or have an effect so powerful that even if it does nothing on its own, when you do get it with the cards with which it works it helps tremendously. My issues with Parallel Lives is one of timing: as 4cmc you'll often play it after you've cast Call of the Conclave or Selesnya Charm or whatever you might have copied. Even if you don't, you have to spend a turn casting it and wait until next turn for it to do anything, which significantly hurts your tempo. It you draw it late after having cast a sweet spell like Armada Wurm it feels useless altogether. Contrast this to Intangible Virtue, which will help your tokens either before or after you cast it, and is much cheaper. Rootborn Defenses also requires very specific timing to be good, and leaving a full 3 mana up. Swift Justice, like all combat tricks, can lead you to get 2-for-1ed by having your opponent remove the creature you cast it on.

There may be a deck here, but I would for certain try to speed it up and use less awkward cards. Consider Avacyn's Pilgrim and Arbor Elf. Also, some number of Gavony Township is clearly a must in this type of deck.

If you'd like to see what I would have in mind for UWb tokens, let me know and I'll try and put something together.

[MrBillCowsby]

Yes I would love to see what you have in mind!

Also, I keep Parallel lives because I almost always draw it. I guess its luck but I always seem to have it turn 2-3. Also, a lot of them time even if I don't draw it I seem to still be able to over power them. I understand what you are saying tho because I have lost a few times because of lack of cards and tokens that I have be able to put down.

[gforgregarious]

OK, please keep in mind I haven't playtested this deck at all. I thought of it when rotation occurred but I moved to the UK and have no access to my friend's cards anymore (I mostly play pauper online now). I think the deck is still pretty sound because I played some similar decks in the previous rotation when I was still playing standard, plus the kinds of hands I get from goldfishing on deckstats seem pretty good. Anyway, here it is:

Creatures

4 Angel of Jubilation
4 Drogskol Captain

Enchantments

4 Favorable Winds
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Oblivion Ring

Instants

4 Azorius Charm
4 Midnight Haunting

Sorceries

4 Lingering Souls
4 Talrand's Invocation

Lands

4 Azorius Guildgate
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Island
6 Plains

Sideboard: not sure... maybe Unsummon, Negate, Sundering Growth, Supreme Verdict etc.

Basically the idea is to get some flying tokens out there, then make them big and overwhelm your opponent, while trying not to get killed first. Drogskol Captain works nicely with itself as well as Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls. Favorable Winds pumps every other creature or token in the deck, as does Angel of Jubilation. Azorius Charm and Oblivion Ring should help keep you alive while you try and get set up. Supreme Verdict in the sideboard might be a terrific card against aggro, especially because they won't see it coming and will overextend: you can just use your first few turns playing enchantments or just one creature so that you suffer far less from casting it. Intangible Virtue has been one of my favourites for a while now as I think the vigilance it gives your tokens is especially sweet.

Having looked at GW more carefully, though, I would say that it would probably be a better choice for a token deck. However, the build I have in mind would be quite a bit more expensive. Here it is:

Creatures

4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Centaur Healer
4 Thragtusk

Enchantments

4 Intangible Virtue
4 Oblivion Ring

Instants

4 Midnight Haunting

Planeswalkers

4 Garruk Relentless

Sorceries

4 Lingering Souls

Lands

6 Forest
4 Gavony Township
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
2 Woodland Cemetery

Sideboard: Sundering Growth, Selesnya Charm... etc

This deck moves a lot faster because of the mana dorks. It also has a great uncounterable option to pump all the tokens/creatures with Gavony Township (one of my favourites). Thragtusk and Centaur Healers help against aggro and to stem the bleeding from all the shocklands (the mana is quite strong though because you can run 8 of them and use Arbor Elf on any of them too). Trying it out on deckstats makes me feel a little more confident in this deck.

Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck!

[AeroSigma]

Honestly, I'm going to have to disagree with gforgregarious somewhat.

First, when going with a theme, DO NOT constrain yourself to it exclusively.  Always be prepared to put in a thematically irrelevant card, if the deck calls for it.

Second, consider the theme of this deck Populate not Tokens.  Rootborn Defenses is great, it protects your tokens, AND gives you another.  Parrallel lives is great, it gives you twice as many tokens, EACH TIME.  If you have enough token generators, your populators will have plenty of targets.  Especially good are cards that populate, but still do something even if you don't have tokens (see: Rootborn Defenses and Sundering Growth,) those are easy includes.

I agree with gregarious on the Swift Justice though, it doesn't really belong, Phantom General would, because of the synergy with ALL of your tokens, but Swift Justice is too small of an effect.  Consider Cathar's Crusade as well.

[MrBillCowsby]

Aero, I agree with you on Swift justice. Its just a placeholder for when I get my intangible virtues. You also got my theme correct which is populate, not just tokens. Tokens are too broad of a spectrum to have it be a theme for a deck. Each land has tokens and I believe with the right amount of luck my deck can generate enough tokens to over power them.

I like some of the cards you displayed for my black and blue deck tho. adding a 3rd color, white, would open my option for that deck.

Note: My black and blue deck is incomplete, I am waiting for Gatecrash to come out so I can make it a truly powerful deck. The theme of that deck when Gatecrash comes out is Cipher.

[gforgregarious]

Hmmmm... to clarify, I meant something more nuanced than it seemed when I wrote that it was best to go "all the way" with a theme. What I really mean is that if, say, you're building an aggro deck, don't put control-type cards in there. Or vice-versa if you're building a control deck. However, often if you do take a theme as far as possible you may build a weaker deck. For example, aggro players will often not build the absolute-fastest-deck-possible in favour of including cards that are particularly good for the metagame, or help to increase the deck's resilience and/or consistency. There is a good example in pauper: the "stompy" archetype. They play Young Wolf because it resists being killed, even though that slot could be taken up by a one-mana, two-power creature instead (eg. Jungle Lion or Pouncing Jaguar).

Anyway, I hadn't caught on exactly that the desired theme is populate, rather than just tokens. Personally, in trying to build a populate deck I think even the strongest possible build will still far short of what is possible with a general token deck. Of course, there really is no substitute for playtesting. I highly recommend downloading Magic Workstation (and supporting the guy who made it by buying the full version) and trying your deck against established archetypes found on the mtgpulse.com. You will learn tons about deckbuilding, but it can be surprisingly time-consuming, I must warn. Anyway, here would be my first attempt at a populate deck, if it helps:

Creatures

2 Armada Wurm
3 Centaur Healer
4 Thragtusk
2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
2 Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage

Enchantments

4 Oblivion Ring
2 Parallel Lives

Instants

2 Rootborn Defenses
4 Selesnya Charm

Planeswalkers

3 Garruk Relentless

Sorceries

4 Call of the Conclave
4 Farseek

Land

8 Forest
4 Gavony Township
2 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
2 Selesnya Guildgate

Sideboard: silklash spider, sundering growth, rest in peace, etc

At the end of the day, I believe you'll do best by playtesting using either proxies in a computer program or live ones if you have patient friends or don't mind making proxies of multiple decks. To have the most success, you'll want to try a deck against "the gauntlet", meaning the set of maybe 4 or 5 of the most successful standard decks.