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: 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 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 (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. [2026-08-10: this note previously credited Badgermole Cub as part of the package; the card was never in this deck’s 60 (only the unbanned common Badgermole x2), so the reference was removed when Badgermole Cub was banned in Standard. The deck itself was unaffected by the ban.] | Land audit 2026-08-23: +2 lands (cut United Front, Sandbenders’ Storm).
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
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
4 Temple Garden
3 Hushwood Verge
1 Abandoned Air Temple
9 Forest
8 Plains
2 Ouroboroid
1 Germination Practicum
3 The Earth King
1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
Sideboard
A 15-card sideboard for best-of-three (Traditional) play — swap these in game 2/3 against the matchups below.
Core plan: this WG counters deck already brings efficient bodies and fight-removal, so the board is all reactive flex — catch-all exile for the enchantment-engine decks, cheap damage + reach/lifegain for the aggro decks. Nothing here is a narrow silver bullet.
vs Mono-Red / Gruul / Boros Aggro: +2 Razor Rings, +2 Elspeth’s Smite, +1 Primordial Pachyderm / -2 Felling Blow (sorcery-speed pump is too slow), -2 The Earth King (top-end you can’t afford), -1 Michelangelo. Razor Rings/Smite are instant-speed removal that also net life; Smite EXILES so it’s your clean answer to Screaming Nemesis. Pachyderm blocks, gains 2, and carries counters.
vs Dimir Midrange: +2 Banishing Light, +2 Web Up, +2 Unforgiving Aim / -3 Felling Blow, -2 Sandbenders’/Earth Rumble filler, -1 slow top-end. Banishing Light + Web Up exile Enduring Curiosity, Kaito, or any evasive flier; Unforgiving Aim doubles as flyer removal and enchantment removal. Your counter threats grind through their spot removal.
vs Golgari Midrange: +2 Banishing Light, +2 Web Up, +1 Glorious Decay / -2 Felling Blow, -2 Valorous Stance situational, -1 filler. Exile Unholy Annex and Glissa; go over the top with counter snowball.
vs Azorius Oculus (graveyard): +3 Glorious Decay, +1 Rooftop Percher, +2 Banishing Light / -3 Felling Blow, -2 Earth Rumble, -1 filler. Glorious Decay exiles from their graveyard AND cantrips; Rooftop Percher exiles two cards, adds a flying body and 3 life; Banishing Light exiles Abhorrent Oculus.
vs Zur Domain / Mono-White token engines: +2 Banishing Light, +2 Web Up, +2 Unforgiving Aim, +1 Glorious Decay / -3 Felling Blow, -2 Valorous Stance, -2 filler. Flood the board with catch-all exile for Overlords, Caretaker’s Talent, and Enduring Innocence; race with counters before their payoffs come online.
Full deck with sideboard (paste into Arena for Bo3):
Deck
4 Good-Fortune Unicorn
1 Earth King's Lieutenant
1 Mikey & Leo, Chaos & Order
4 Jeong Jeong's Deserters
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
4 Temple Garden
3 Hushwood Verge
1 Abandoned Air Temple
9 Forest
8 Plains
2 Ouroboroid
1 Germination Practicum
3 The Earth King
1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
Sideboard
2 Banishing Light
2 Web Up
3 Glorious Decay
2 Unforgiving Aim
2 Elspeth's Smite
2 Razor Rings
1 Rooftop Percher
1 Primordial Pachyderm
Card images & data via Scryfall.