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 [mailto:bemore4096@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 10:05 PM

Update of green Monk deck by BMoor


Well, right before Betrayers came out, I built and submitted a Monk tribal deck. I made sure to get it in before Betrayers because I wanted the challenge of only one set's worth of Monks to work with. Now that the whole Kamigawa block is out and there's some more Monks to work with, I figured it was only fair to try to rethink the deck.First, I'll list the Monks in Betrayers and Saviors that I didn't have access to the first time. I'll just skip the non-green ones, if nobody minds.

Budoka Pupil: Not bad, but in a deck with so few Spirits and/or Arcane spells, worthless.

Descendant of Masumaro: Really needs a full hand to work effectively.

Iwamori of the Open Fist: Raw power, pure and simple.

Okina Nightwatch: Another "wisdom" card, but a good one.

Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant: Finally, Seshiro isn't the only Snake Monk. Sasaya's not too bad at all, and her essence is incredible.

Okay, there's only five new monks, but they all fit the Monk deck pretty well. The only discrepancy I can see is that Azusa and the Gardener both want you to empty your hand of land, while the Nightwatch, Descendant, and Sasaya all want you to hold onto it. Guess it's your decision to make, depending on the game state. But I think we can make the decision easier by replacing Sylvan Scrying with Seek the Horizon, which increases your hand size. We can also take out Adventurer's Guildhouse for Mikokoro, Center of the Sea. It's much easier to obtain and to play, though it doesn't increase your hand size relative to your opponent, which is what the Nightwatch and the Descendant care about. It's still pretty good, though. Commune with Nature can be replaced with Enshrined Memories, and one more addition I'd like to make to the deck is Gate to the AEther. In a deck with almost all permanents, the Gate can be a surrogate Howling Mine, and since your opponent probably isn't expecting Dosan to restrict his instants, he'll likely have more of them than you, resulting in more permanents you put into play than him. This deck should be almost all creatures and land, then. Now for a decklist:

Creatures
4 Jukai Messenger
3 Budoka Gardener
3 Humble Budoka
3 Order of the Sacred Bell
3 Descendant of Masumaro
2 Dosan the Falling Leaf
2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
2 Iwamori of the Open Fist
2 Seshiro the Anointed
2 Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant
Other Spells
2 Konda's Banner
3 Seek the Horizon
2 Enshrined Memories
2 Gate to the Aether
3 Time of Need
Lands
1 Okina, Temple to the grandfathers
2 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
19 Forest

This version of the deck has much fewer support spells to make room for plenty of Monks and plenty of lands, since so many Monks thrive on a lot of land. Some things to remember if you ever play this deck:
Seshiro+Sasaya=Synergy. Don't worry about flipping Sasaya too much, she's great just as a creature.
The reveal effect from the Gate is mandatory, but putting it into play is optional. Don't worry about revealing a second legend you already have in play, just put it into your hand.
Mikokoro gives EVERY player a card, so use it's ability wisely. consider whether giving your opponent a card is worth getting one yourself. At least use the ability at the end of your opponent's turn, so hopefully you'll be able to use the card before your opponent.

I really enjoyed this deck idea, and I hope you do too.
Send me an email at bemore4096@yahoo.com
 to let me know what you think.