   Growing
Volraths.
Description of deck by its author
(quoted):
Volrath's Gardens. Let's examine the card I
need to build around. It's a cheap Green enchantment. It costs two mana
and the tapping of one of my creatures as a cost. I gain two life.
Lastly, I can only use the ability as a sorcery.
This deck might be a little confusing so let's take a
look at it. The deck only has twenty cards that make (or are) creatures,
yet it needs a ton of creatures to work well. As a result, the creatures
and cards that deal with creatures need to make multiples. The Skyshroud
Elves are just mana fixing, so they are no help. Of the remaining
sixteen cards, Ageless Entity is just a 4/4 that will always be just one
creature. It will get bigger, sure, but it will still just be one
creature.
That leaves twelve cards. I begin with Deranged
Hermit. It makes some squirrels, and you can pay its upkeep as well if
needed. One creature really turns into five creatures and nine power if
you pay the Echo. This is a perfect card for the deck. Grizzly Fate
joins as another card that makes a lot of creatures. When you first play
it, if your have threshold, you get four 2/2 bears. Feel free to rinse
and reuse once more for an additional four 2/2 bears. If you don't have
threshold, it can still make four total bears if you need them now.
Finally, I decide to play a cheaper casting cost card
in Call of the Herd. It will only make two 3/3s total, but that's still
two creatures for one card – a solid deal for this deck.
This deck uses the recent “when you gain life” trigger
that began on Ageless Entity and Well of Lost Dreams and continued on
Searing Meditation. When you activate the Gardens, the Entity gets
bigger, you can draw cards off the Well, and you can activate the
Meditation for damage to something.
I'm running a pair of Cradles to give you a lot of
mana, for either the Gardens or other effects like the Well and a Peach
Garden Oath. Normally I'd run Congregate over Peach Garden Oath, but the
cheap cost of the Oath is needed against all of these activation costs
of the Meditation and the Well.
There are three ways this deck wins. It can make a
huge Ageless Entity and pound its way through any opposing defense. This
is the backup option, but it's the most obvious, so many opponents might
focus on it.
The primary way this deck wins is through dealing a
lot of damage with Searing Meditation. Every Garden activation allows
you to deal damage. In the early or mid game you can use this to off
creatures, but later you'll use this to kill your opponent.
The super secret third way this deck wins is by
dropping a Test of Endurance once the player hits 50 life and winning
during the following upkeep. There's just one Test in the deck, and it's
just a backup way of winning. This is in case you go against the person
running tricks like Worship and Dawn Elemental. Just drop the Test and
win. With an active Well, you should find the cards you need in no time,
including the Test.
In fact, your opponent might think the Well is the
biggest threat on the table. An active Well will allow you to draw a ton
of cards. Let's say here is your board:
One Cradle
Four lands
A Well of Lost Dreams
One Deranged Hermit, just played – four squirrel tokens
One Skyshroud Elves
You untap, fail to pay the Echo, draw a card, play
Peach Garden Oath and gain ten life. Trigger the Well and tap nine mana
to draw nine cards. You probably have all of the cards you need to win
now.
I really like the interaction between these cards. If
I were to modify the deck, I might add a creature that can sacrifice for
a gain of life for no mana, like Ravenous Baloth or Spike Feeder.
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