Posted by Chris-B
email – olwhiskeyboots@gmail.com
Twitter – @0hn0s3

Today on Staple Remover I continue with the five part series on mono colored deck building. In week 1 we took a look at Talrand for blue. This week we take a look at green with Yeva, Nature’s Herald. The challenge I set for myself with blue was that the deck had to be fun to play and also play against. It couldn’t just be another stifling control build. This weeks deck is even more non-traditional. I wanted to create a theme deck with Yeva. You have probably seen Group Hug decks, Group Slug decks, but have you seen a Bomb Defuser? Read on to see how I built a mono green Bomb Defuser.

The Challenges of Mono Green: Mono green is often known for one thing: ramp. It’s not terribly difficult to sift through some cards to find efficient ramp spells in green. Once you have the lands flowing then it is just a matter of casting your fatties ASAP. Green has some excellent big mana dudes, like Craterhoof Behemoth and Sylvan Primordial. I didn’t want this deck to rely on ramp or big beaters, so I decided to stick with the Bomb Defuser theme.

What is a Bomb Defuser deck? It’s a phrase I made up, but you may have seen a deck like it before at one point or another. Have you ever had a game that ended where there was a big rules dispute, or someone trolled the group with a Jokulhaups or perhaps tensions were running high in general. It’s a casual game, but people do seem to still get pissed off from time to time. That is where the Bomb Defuser steps in. It’s a big goofy-ass deck you don’t tell anyone about until you shuffle up and play it.

When everyone is starting off the next game staring daggers at one another, you’ll be playing your Yeva bear themed deck. Hopefully a Grizzly Fate and a Bear Umbra will remind your opponents that this format is ultimately just about fun and entertainment. That is exactly what I have done with Yeva, mono green bear beats.  Let’s start off by taking a look at the list:

How Important Is the General: Plain and simple, I chose Yeva because there is a bear in her art. She is not vital to the decks success. If you do get her into play she will allow you to ambush your opponents creatures with a pack of cheap bears. When WoTC jumps on the bear theme bandwagon and makes a mono green bear lord, you can probably swap her out.

WINCON Level: Wincon 5. If you haven’t seen my WINCON rating check it out here . This deck lacks any powerful combos and any synergy it does have is going to be mostly just flavor related. The goal of the deck is to actually win, but it doesn’t exactly go about it in an efficient way.

How Does It Work: More often than not your path to victory is going to be slamming some early bears from turn 2 onward. Hopefully they survive long enough to take a big bite out of someones life total with an overrun effect. You are going to have to claw them down the old fashioned way because your primary win condition is meat-and-potatoes vanilla creatures. There are some interactions in the deck to take note of. If you get Winter Orb (we are allowed to play it, there are bears on it) and Words of Wilding in play you can keep everyone else mostly locked down while you use 1 mana to plop a bear out each turn. Aether Vial works well along with Winter Orb as well.

You Should Play This Deck If: You want a cheap budget deck. You want to make people laugh, but still have a chance at winning. You like bears. You like theme decks. You like aggro strategies. You like puns. You prefer decks that don’t rely on their general to work.

You Should Avoid This Deck Like the Plague If: You don’t enjoy tribal themes. You don’t have a sense of humor. You want to build around a better represented tribe. You don’t like swinging into the red zone.

Strengths: The main strength of this Yeva bears list is the ability to come out of the gates with creatures while other players are still just playing lands or utility permanents. The deck looks weaker at first glance, but if you manage to get a few bears in play and pump them with anthems or overrun effects I bet you could pull off a surprise kill. You will most likely also sneak under the radar for a bit since your creatures aren’t going to be too intimidating at first.

Weaknesses: Board wipes. Deforestation. Control Strategies. Picnic Baskets. The current limited offering of bears in the MtG card pool.

Some Key Cards

Wild Pair: Two bears for the price of one!  A lot of bears are 2/2 so this helps us hurry along the march of the bears.  It also allows a card like Grizzly Bears to tutor up a Druid’s Familiar so we get eight power for 2 mana.  Are there more broken things you can do with Wild Pair?  Yes, but we aren’t aiming to have broken combos, just maul hapless opponents with bears.

Cards With Bears In Their Art: To fill out our bear theme cards with bears in their art are encouraged.  Yes, even Fauna Shaman has a bear in her art if you look closely.  Cards like Wild Beastmaster and Zoologist fit the bear art theme as well.  Check through the deck list to find even more.  If you wanted to go full theme Drop of Honey would also be a great fit.  Just keep in mind that it will actually probably be completely detrimental to your cause in most situations, but oh, the flavor you will have!

Bear Umbra: Not only is it a bear umbra, it can let you untap your lands during an attack.  This works great with Kamahl, allowing you to get even more pumps for your bears.  Bears love pumps.

So that about covers bear EDH.  You might not be the strongest deck at the table, but you will probably be able to put on the best show while people wonder why on earth you are casting Balduvian Bears.  It’s not all show and no go either.  This deck has a chance to pull off some unexpectedly decent plays.  What you do think of going all in on a theme for some quality entertainment?  Let me know in the comments below.  You’ll be doin thangs in style. As a bonus, you get to wake up giddy every morning during spoiler season for new sets to see if they are printing a new bear.