At a glance
- Format: Standard
- Colors: White / Green (WG)
- Archetype: Selesnya +1/+1 counters midrange
- Power tier: mid-high
- Standard: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Curve out cheap counter engines, then snowball into evasive, trampling damage. Good-Fortune Unicorn, Agent Bishop, and Loxodon Battle Priest drip counters onto every creature, while Jeong Jeong’s Deserters, Felidar Savior, and Earth King’s Lieutenant spread them on entry. Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order turns that counter rain into raw card advantage (draw a card the first time you counter a creature each turn), and Michelangelo, Mutant BFF plus Drix Fatemaker (and Badgermole) make every countered body unblockable-by-one and trampling. Earthbend is the engine that hides in the manabase: Badgermole Cub (a 2-mana ramp body that also adds an extra G whenever you tap a creature for mana), Toph, Badgermole, Earth Rumble, and Sandbenders’ Storm all turn lands into hasty, counter-laden attackers, so 23 lands plays like more and the deck floods the board through removal. Fight-style spells (Felling Blow, Earth Rumble, Knockout-style pumps) double as counter payoffs and removal, with Valorous Stance / Sandbenders’ Storm as clean answers and United Front as the go-wide finisher. Anafenza and Inspirited Vanguard endure the board back together through sweepers. Abandoned Air Temple is a late-game mana sink that pumps the whole team.
Upgrade path
No rare/mythic SPELL crafts. Every rare/mythic in the 60 is OWNED: spells/creatures Agent Bishop (own1), Anafenza (own1), Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order (own1), Earth King’s Lieutenant (own1), and Badgermole Cub (mythic own1, but owned); rare lands Hushwood Verge (own3), Abandoned Air Temple (own2), Temple of Plenty (own1). Temple Garden is the single approved branch-out shock craft (1 copy). vs prior build: cut Optimistic Scavenger (near-vanilla here with no enchantments to trigger Eerie), Zack Fair, Knockout Maneuver, Repel Calamity, and a Synchronized Charge to make room for the undervalued counter/earthbend package — Mikey & Leo (a per-turn card-draw engine), Toph x3 + Badgermole x2 + Badgermole Cub (earthbend ramp/threats), Felidar Savior x2, Earth King’s Lieutenant, and Sandbenders’ Storm. Manabase tightened to favor green (6 Forest / 5 Plains, Hushwood Verge, Abandoned Air Temple for a W source + counter sink, Temple of Plenty scry) for the GG costs (Michelangelo, Earth Rumble, Inspirited Vanguard). Upgrade path: craft a 2nd/3rd Temple Garden to replace taplands.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Deck
4 Good-Fortune Unicorn
1 Earth King's Lieutenant
1 Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order
4 Jeong Jeong's Deserters
1 Nessian Hornbeetle
3 Toph, the Blind Bandit
1 Agent Bishop, Man in Black
1 Drix Fatemaker
2 Felidar Savior
2 Badgermole
1 Michelangelo, Mutant BFF
1 Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage
3 Felling Blow
2 Earth Rumble
2 Valorous Stance
1 Sandbenders' Storm
1 United Front
4 Temple Garden
3 Hushwood Verge
1 Abandoned Air Temple
8 Forest
7 Plains
2 Ouroboroid
1 Germination Practicum
3 The Earth King
Card images & data via Scryfall.