Get the MTG
Interactive Encyclopedia
from Amazon.com

Rebels is one of the most versatile decks in standard Magic right now. Between all the different builds of counter-based and aggressive designs with the same base of creatures, there are more, different types of Rebel decks than I care to think about. Fortunately, in this case we can start with a reader submission. Thank you Sean Reusing for this first idea of Rebels with Trees:

4 Ramosian Sergeant
4 Lin Sivvi
4 Might of Oaks
4 Steadfast Guard
3 Armadillo Cloak
1 Thermal Glider
1 Defiant Vanguard
1 Ramosian Sky Marshall
2 Defiant Falcon
2 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Parallax Wave
2 Reverant Mantra
3 Disenchant
1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
4 Brushland
4 Elfhame Palace
4 Rishadan Port
11 Plains
1 Dustbowl

Beefy, eh? I can see a giant Randy Savage himself jumping out with a tree in his hand, yelling "Snap into *THIS*!" My first impression is that this looks like the Junk deck that made impressions right before Regionals came about. A few card choices could be improved immediately; first, Disenchant should probably become Wax/Wane. Having played a lot of Red Zone, I can attest to the power of this card, and it's efficiency and flexibility are just unquestionable. Also, there just aren't enough artifacts in this environment that make enough of a difference; Idol can be worked around, or dealt with. It doesn't justify it's own removal, in this case.

Now, let's analyze a few more choices. 4 Might of Oaks is a *whole* lot of growth, especially since we just added Wax into the mix. Let's pull one out, see if we can smooth out the draws. However, let's move it up to 4 Cloaks; it's enough of a swing to make the jump to four, and they can land on just about anybody here. I would probably cut one Mantra, but the four Waves are quite alright.

Having looked at the spells, I'd move over to the critters now. There's too many of a lot of things here. First, 2 Lin Sivvi should be enough; we'll be cutting two in order to thin down on the possibility of drawing one. You are going to be winning by overrunning your opponent, not doing lengthy recursion tricks with the Rebel mistress. The Sky Marshall and a Lieutenant will also be sent away, as well as Cho Manno. Without them, and with the additional room we created before, we can run two Fresh Volunteers, so we have additional bears to search for, and then either Longbow Archers or Noble Panther to fill out the deck with additional beasts.

As far as land, the Elfhame Palaces are going to be a huge hinderance to the deck. You could run Forests, or take the chance and run Cities of Brass there. Personally, I'd probably run City; with the Cloaks, you can probably outrun any damage being done there.

Here's my final decklist:

The Great Lumberjack Rebellion

4 Ramosian Sergeant
2 Defiant Falcon
1 Ramosian Lieutenant
2 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
4 Steadfast Guard
2 Fresh Volunteers
1 Defiant Vanguard
1 Thermal Glider
4 Noble Panther
4 Parallax Wave
1 Reverant Mantra
4 Armadillo Cloak
3 Might of Oaks
3 Wax/Wane
4 Brushland
4 City of Brass
4 Rishadan Port
12 Plains

As a final note, I also want to remark on the merits of Glorious Anthem for this deck. It could definitely be fit in in place of the Mantra and some other cards. And it would provide a great punch in a mirror-sort of match. That's all I'm going to give this for now; hope this helped some of you folks out. Any other questions or ideas, feel free to let me know. It's way too late right now, the shift is over, and I gotta get some sleep.

-Jonathan Pechon
Sigmund@pojo.com