Modern: Hero of Selesnya

Anyone who has been following my articles for a while will know that when it comes to Magic, I’m a huge fan of Red decks. No matter the format, if I can Burn my opponents out or send ‘Bolts’ at their faces, then I’m a happy man. However, I have been known to try other colours out from time to time. In fact, there is actually a particular colour pairing that, deep down in my fiery heart, I have a bit of a soft spot for. And that pairing is Selesnya.

A colour combination that mixes aggressive White beatdown with solid Green creatures, Selesnya plays a beautifully simple strategy that has stood the test of time. While I’ll often gravitate toward aggressive Red decks when picking a tournament-viable deck, Green/White decks usually come a close second for consideration. In fact, it was with a Selesnya Tokens deck that I managed to win a GPT at my first Grand Prix after returning to the hobby.

Today I am returning to my Green/White roots, bringing you a list that is not only a ton of fun, but one that I feel is quite competitive in the current Modern Meta. What’s more, one of the key cards in the deck is a new addition to the format from Ravnica Allegiance: Hero of Precinct One. So, lets get to a deck I’m calling ‘Hero of Selesnya.’

For those of you who don’t know, Hero of Precinct One is a Rare 2/2 Human Warrior that costs one and a White. While its stats are nothing to write home about, being a 2/2 for two Mana, its triggered ability is what makes this card exciting in a duel-coloured deck. The hero allows us to create a 1/1 Human creature token whenever we cast a multicoloured spell, possibly providing us with massive value if we can build our deck around multicoloured spells.

So, we want to include lots of Green/White spells that synergize with token producers. One of the first cards I immediately thought of was Voice of Resurgence. A classic Selesnya creature with some real staying power, the tokens that this Elemental produces work fantastically with of Hero. So too does our next Creature Wilt-Leaf Liege. A way to pump our team (doubly so with our Voice and its tokens) Wilt-Leaf Liege makes a great top end to a G/W beatdown deck. It can also be soul destroying for our opponents when they hit you with a discard effect and you only have a Liege in hand.

Similarly, Loxodon Smiter fulfils the same role as well as being a great value 4/4 creature for three Mana. Speaking of three drops, we’ll be including a full playset of Knight of Autumn. This ‘swiss army’ Dryad gives us some fantastic versatility should we find ourselves in a bind. On that train of thought, Dromoka’s Command works as a kill spell, an Enchantment remover, a pump spell, and a protection spell all in one. Qasali Pridemage adds to the value train, but with so many ways of handling Artifacts and Enchantments in our mainboard we will only be running two. The final Hero enabler we will include will be some graveyard hate and early game pressure in the form of Dryad Militant.

Not all of our spells will be multi-coloured – sadly the price we must pay to make our deck competitively viable! Noble Hierarch provides us with some early game ramp, allowing us to get out some bigger creatures and put the pressure on before our opponents can react. Path to Exile is vital for some targeted removal for the threats our Dromoka’s Command can’t handle. For our Manabase we will be running a decent number of Fetchlands with both Wooded Foothills and Windswept Heath. This should allow us to easily get out our Temple Gardens and basics. Additional fast fixing comes from Razorverge Thicket, and it would be rude not to include a couple of copies of Gavony Township to pump the team. #walue

Creatures  (30)
Noble Hierarch
Dryad Militant
Voice of Resurgence
Hero of Precinct One
Qasali Pridemage
Knight of Autumn
Loxodon Smiter
Wilt-Leaf Liege

Instants (8)
Path to Exile
Dromoka’s Command
Lands  (22)
Wooded Foothills
Windswept Heath
Temple Garden
Razorverge Thicket
Forest
Gavony Township
Plains

Sideboard  (15)
Gaddock Teeg
Dauntless Escort
Rest in Peace
Kitchen Finks

Our Sideboard is unexciting, but effective at propping us up in certain matchups. Gaddock Teeg handles uninteractive and creature light decks. Dauntless Escort protects our board while also adding to our multicoloured creature count. Four copies of Rest in Peace might at first seem excessive, but with Phoenix and Dredge being so popular I feel it really is justified. Finally, a playset of Kitchen Finks for those moments you feel you’re about to be caught on the back foot.

I really like this deck and feel it has legs. Not only is it a solid beat down brew, but it also has great game against a lot of deck in the format during my testing. Loxodon Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege are great against decks like Rock and Jund that love to force discard, while Qasali Pridemage and Knight of Autumn gives us game against Enchantment and Artifacts heavy decks. But I’m curious to hear what you think. Do you like the deck? Will you give it a try, or have you got other plans for Modern? Tell us about it in the comments below and remember to like and subscribe to keep up to date with all we do here at Master of Magics. Until next time remember, whenever you play Magic, Good Luck and Have Fun.

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