I spotted Shadowmoor recently and ntoiced a few lovely little cruelties in stock.
I had a concept. I developed with a friend of mine. It involves using the following cards:
Devoted Druid (0/2 tap for mana and untap for -1/-1 counters) and Barrenton Medic (0/4 tap to prevent damage and untap for -1/-1 counters). The DD is better for speed, but the BM has more life. BM is mostly for backup.
What I noticed is that with a Giant Growth, DD becopmes a mana pump. Combined with Presence of Gond, though (creature enchantment), it can pump out 1/1 elves with every tap. Aha! Sweetness. The BM is backup for this.
Coat of Arms is a sweet artifact which makes this strategy almost unbeatable once you get a few of them out. In fact, it can theoretically give you infinite elf tokens, as each one matches the -1/-1 counter from untapping the DD.
We definitely want Giant Growth and Might of Old Krosa (basically Giant Growth that’s +2/+2 off your main phase but +4/+4 on it). Naturalize will help pull the right cards if you get a back draw.
I was thinking a combo of Mana Monkeys and Mass Hysteria would be very, very nasty. With some real luck you could even just barely manage a turn 1 win, if I count my mana correctly!
In addition to temporary pumpers, anything that can give +1/+1 counters (which will negate the -1/-1’s) is worth considering.
Besides Coat of Arms, there might be other such cards in the Onslaught block and Lorwyn blocks that might help.
I guess the big question is, what is the goal of the deck? I assume it’s to pump out large armies of tokens in a brief period of time. How about something like Doubling Season or Rhys the Redeemed to give you even more? Hmm.
I was imediately thinking Dragon Blood. and Torture for the opposite - That new abillity that brings critters back if they have a -1/-1 on it. The name escapes me at the moment.
FYI, be more specific for the teemings, or move to MTGSalvation.com
Splash Blue for Intruder Alarm, if that’s in your allowed formats. When the token comes into play, untap all creatures. You never get the -1/-1 counter that way.
Power Conduit allows you to syphon off counters to generate more beneficial counters.
There’s a Lorwyn or Morningtide card that is the exact opposite of Torture. I think it’s called Daily Regimen. Dragon Blood is probably better, though - it’s not an aura.
The Druid costs 2, so you either need a mox/ESG/SSG to bring it out on turn 1, or you need something on turn 1 that will give your guys haste.
I do like the idea of turning pump into rituals. There could be some interesting stuff there, since pump is generally undercosted compared to rituals.
Other potential cards that might help:
Slagwurm armor. 1 to play. 3 to equip. Gives +0/+6. It’s effectively +2 mana the turn you play it, but it becomes +3 for each additional Druid you can throw it on.
Invigorate and Bounty of the Hunt, both of which are free pump spells, if you are willing to let your opponent gain a little life or remove a card in your hand from the game.
If you can figure out some way of going off during your opponent’s turn, and you can convince your opponent to attack you and you want to branch into white, Righteousness gets you +7/+7 for W.
Finally, once you’ve pumped up your dude a few times, Fate transfer would be a way of effectively doubling your mana, for {U/B}1
