As with most things in my life, Twitter inspired me to finally put finger to keyboard on a Doran list for Modern. Yes, folks I am writing about something besides mono-Red. I will allow time for gasps and swoons to resolve.
Now that that is over with, let's get down to the nuts and bolts of this list. The first thing a Doran list needs is Doran, the Siege Tower. The trick with Doran is that he is legendary so just don't play two. You are playing modern so like as not you are at least proficient with the legend rule but one never knows.
This deck has the potential to be underpowered without Doran. For this there are two immediate fixes. The first is Treefolk Harbinger. An obvious powerhouse for this deck, he can find the man that will make him a 3/3 for one green or he can go get those nonbasics you need to actually cast the tri-colour king of trees. Murmuring Bosk, Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, and if you felt so inclined (We don't have any such feeling) Sapseep Forest and Dryad Arbor are all Forests. Harbinger actually fetches 45% of your entire deck. He has some versatility.
Now that you have Doran, you need to protect him. He will be the most popular removal target on your entire board. Well guess who eats removal and doesn't have defender. Spellskite! For guessing correctly, you get to add what potentially equates to a 4/4 for 2 colourless mana into your deck. Cue victory noises.
However you cannot always go straight to Doran and beat face. You need to have mans that can be decent without the treefolk shaman. The first half of this solution is just a treefolk: Dungrove Elder. Another tutor target for the Harbinger and a fellow that, given an all forest mana base, will get absolutely massive. The fact that the sweetest removal in the format, Path to Exile, cannot hit him and just makes him bigger is pretty sweet. Your opponents won't be thrilled to work for your game plan with their removal.
The second half, a shaman (see what I did there?), has synergy with and without the Siege Tower. Skinshifter has 3 forms that are all relevant in this deck. In form of Rino, he tramples for 4. In form of Bird, he flies for 2. In form of Plant, he is a 0/8. So with Doran on the table, he is an 8/8. And he does not gain defender as a Plant! Absolutely nuts.
Now that we have all these sweet mans, I feel like they might need some support. First off, no matter who you are, in the realms of Magic, you can carry a sword. The developers are very progressive that way. The Sword I have in mind is Sword of Feast and Famine. Protection from green means you will get in for your damage a fair amount of the time, which means your best buddy (your opponent) is going to smile cheerfully and make his hand size one card smaller. He, or she, will be even more thrilled when you untap your lands and get to show him even more awesome things your deck can do.
Why not Slagwurm Armor? It would be such a power house if you ever got it on a man with Doran on the table, and even if you don't have the big guy, beating in with a Dungrove that can take an extra 6 points of punishment from those pesky chump blockers seems good. The prohibitive thing on this fine piece of equipment is that pesky 3 to equip. If, may heaven forbid, you go to equip and your best buddy decides not to be a pal and removes your man from the board, you have sunk most of your turn right there. Now let us say you get to equip and bash. Chump block! Your friend just throws one of his beasties under the bus. And where did that 3 mana get you? The exact same place a regular attack would have gotten you. It should be noted that, for the most part, your men will have a higher toughness than your opponents and like as not will trade up if double blocking is the order of the day. So Armor gets you a lot of mana investment for little reward. Cute but all in all just a "Win More" card.
Now your men have something to do with their hands, or branches as the case may be, you should probably give some thoughts to putting some pals in your deck. You know, just in case your opponent doesn't feel so chatty. I think that a gruff green walker by the name of Garruk fits the ticket here. There are 3 versions of this sweet fellow that you might desire to summon to your aid.
The biggest Garruk, weighing in at a whopping 5 converted mana cost, is Garruk, Primal Hunter. He draws you cards, which frankly is absolutely nuts for green. A massive power house. However he doesn't quite fit in this list. He comes down at 5 and makes a 3/3. Nothing to sneeze at but still not the board impacting play that you quite desire. Secondly he draws based on the highest power amongst your mans, many of which have 0 power. Whomp Whomp.
Next up, Garruk Relentless shows up a turn sooner and starts making 2/2 wolves. Or he can put up the fisty cuffs and bully that Noble Hierarch straight to the graveyard. He provides an alternate threat that easily gets out of control unless quickly answered. Moreover, he protects himself from those other nasty aggro lists, so long as they don't feel like taking to the skies. I feel like 3 of these fellows might not be a bad addition.
But wait! There's more! Garruk Wildspeaker! Yeah you know who that is. No, not the guy for Point Break. You know. He was from Lorwyn. Yeah now you remember. He untaps two land! That can equip a sword or play 3 of our 5 men. That can leave up Path mana. (Oh we are playing Path, btw. It really is the sweetest removal.) After he does that, leave him behind a guy or two for one turn. Then he gives all your fellows +3/+3 and Trample. That should mean you win. And even if it doesn't, it will likely tip the balance in your favor.
So these plansewalker things seem pretty powerful. It would be a major bummer if your opponent had one. We need a plan to deal with that, if at all possible. Normally I would suggest a ring of some sort. Perhaps to oblivion. However we are playing modern! That means we have Vindicate. Well. Not quite. But we still get to play Maelstrom Pulse. It even gets rid of that pesky triple Nacatl beatdown plan that can occasionally happen in Zoo.
Mans: 20
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Spellskite
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Skinshifter
Planeswalkers: 5
3 Garruk Relentless
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
Artifacts: 3
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
Instants: 4
4 Path to Exile
Sorcerys: 3
3 Maelstrom Pulse
Lands: 25
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
5 Forest
Well that looks like one heck of a list, at least to me. I will allow you to think of an appropriate sideboard, given your meta. However I do have a few suggestions.
Sword of Light and Shadow is a pretty decent answer to a faster clock and it helps make chumps constantly occur. Were you so inclined, you could move these to the main and play Liliana of the Veil and Inquisition of Kozilek* and have a more Rock like build of Doran, which may be what the meta calls for eventually. However I presently believe that the aggro list above is better suited for the decks that came out of Worlds.
*Why Thoughtseize isn't what you want to be playing in this list. First, you rarely need to take anything over 4 cmc and you essentially never need to take a land. Additionally, have you seen this mana base? Seriously, you might as well start your life at 14. Playing Seize just makes it that much harder. Inquisition hits everything you will generally want to get rid of and Pulse should take care of the rest. If they are going to wipe the board, you can see that with Inquisition and play accordingly.
Another thing I wouldn't hate to stick in the board is Summoning Trap and/or Guttural Response. I honestly believe that a control match up will be hard fought for this deck but still winnable. A good side will be a part of that.
Along those lines, Thrun, the Last Troll is a fair man. He might even be maindeck able in the future. However I presently feel that there are not enough board wipes actively being played in the format to warrant him main and the deck runs smoothly without him.
Give serious thought to Nature's Claim, Naturalize, or even Qasali Pridemage. Personally, I favor the Pridemage but if the list shifts to a more control/rock oriented focus, Claim is a solid card. They play it in Vintage after all.
Hopefully you will be turning some Trees sideways in a Modern tournament near you. If this list inspired you, even if it inspired you to rage at my awful deck building skills, please let me know. You can obviously comment on the post or you can tweet at me @samdavisboyhero or even send me a strongly worded electronic mail. If you just like what I have to say, you can hear me making what I can only assume are iTunes explicit remarks over on Couch Pirate Radio under the Planeswalker Asylum category.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your toughness high.
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