Premodern: Selesnya Terragedon - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

There was a time when mana denial was one of the most solid and respected strategies in Magic. Cards like Stasis, the centerpiece of the first World Championship winning deck, show that this approach was a natural part of the game during its first decade, and as new tools were released, the appeal of an LD deck only grew.

In Premodern, these strategies mostly revolve around the combination of Terravore with Oath of Druids, supplemented by a dozen cards that either increase spell costs or directly attack the opponent's ability to generate mana, varying between and versions.

The white variant, known as Terragedon, originally ran the combination of Armageddon with Terravore to dominate games. Over time, it became clear that Cataclysm was a better card for denying more resources to the opponent and cementing board superiority—even so, the archetype still bears the name of the card that started it all.

Despite no longer including the card that inspired its name, the core strategy of Selesnya Terragedon remains the same: ramp with Mox Diamond in the early turns to begin the cycle of mana disruption with Winter's Grasp and Thermokarst, eventually culminating in denying the opponent's ability to cast spells altogether with Sphere of Resistance.

Once stabilized, Oath of Druids will find Terravore, whose body grows with each land in the graveyard. And to bury any remaining chance of a comeback, Cataclysm creates a resource parity that prevents both players from casting heavier spells, with the key difference being that we'll have a much more threatening board position, since the card also forces both players to sacrifice lands.

Maindeck

Our primary win condition is Terravore, which will typically grow to an 8/8 or larger with Trample, making it difficult to beat in combat and difficult to interact with when the opponent lacks the mana for cheap removal.

We use Oath of Druids as an efficient way to find our main threat since, with only four creatures in the deck, it's common for our opponent to trigger the enchantment's ability at some point. As a boost, it also feeds the graveyard with more lands, essentially granting, with some luck, a one-turn hit-kill.

Mishra's Factory and Treetop Village serve as complementary threats to pressure the opponent on an empty board. Their activation costs are cheap, so we usually have no trouble using them to apply additional pressure.

Sphere of Resistance punishes the opponent's inability to generate mana and cast higher-cost spells by making everything cost more. Combined with our LD effects, it's the main tool to cripple the opponent's ability to execute their plan.

Rishadan Port interacts with our resource denial plan, able to tap down an opponent's land at the start of their turn so they can't access that mana.

Wasteland permanently deals with non-basic lands. Combined with Thermokarst and Winter's Grasp, we have an effective package to remove the opponent's resources as early as turn one, with the ability to chain multiple LD spells turn after turn to frustrate their plans.

Cataclysm acts as a "reset button" for the game and the "lock" we need. Alongside Terravore, it's common to wipe away almost all resources from the board, giving the opponent just a couple of turns to answer our threat or stabilize before losing the game.

Mox Diamond ramps and interacts favorably with Terravore. With it, we can start with very aggressive turns using our LD spells or even cast a Sphere of Resistance on turn one, hindering the opponent's progress from the very start.

Sylvan Library offers filtering and an occasional source of card advantage. Essential for finding what we need or securing more resources in games where our life total isn't threatened.

Enlightened Tutor acts as a fifth copy of whatever we need among our artifacts and enchantments. It's commonly used to find Oath of Druids or Sphere of Resistance, but even one-ofs like Seal of Cleansing are relevant targets.

Swords to Plowshares is the best removal in the format and deals with specific threats that escape the mana denial plan. Essential for holding the game during the early turns.

Seal of Cleansing provides an answer against artifacts and enchantments that we can find with Enlightened Tutor.

Windswept Heath and Brushland provide consistency in our color access, while Heath also increases Terravore's power.

Sideboard

Color-specific "hate."

Compost punishes black-heavy archetypes with a recurring source of draws whenever one of their cards goes to the graveyard, penalizing spells like Duress, Cabal Therapy, and removal.

Circle of Protection: Red nullifies damage from Burn spells and can hold the game for several turns against Goblins or Sligh.

Aura of Silence is another tool we can find with Enlightened Tutor and punishes decks like Replenish and Enchantress by taxing their costs, besides later functioning as a Disenchant.

Ray of Revelation complements Aura of Silence in enchantment hate, providing two removals in a single card, while Naturalize also lets us deal with problematic artifacts.

Cursed Totem shuts down activated abilities of creatures, including mana abilities. Essential against Elves.

Zuran Orb turns our lands into extra life against Sligh while synergizing with our game plan.

Choke is a lock piece against predominantly blue decks. Ideal against Stiflenought, but can also be useful in longer games against Standstill.

Phyrexian Furnace provides a targeted answer against graveyards, slowly removing cards or taking out a specific piece while letting us draw.

Call of the Herd complements our threat package in games where we expect tons of removal. It doesn't win games as fast as Terravore, but it provides two bodies in one slot.

Hail Storm acts as a cheap sweeper against Aggro, especially Goblins and White Weenie.

Krosan Reclamation complements our graveyard hate, countering the target of spells like Reanimate while also preventing Replenish from bringing back the entire combo.

Swords to Plowshares comes in for games where we need more targeted removal, either to hold off Aggro or to deal with larger individual threats.

Stiflenought

IN

OUT

Mono Black Midrange

IN

OUT

Reanimator

IN

OUT

Goblins

IN

OUT

Sligh

IN

OUT

Replenish

IN

OUT

Psychatog

IN

OUT

Elves

IN

OUT

Azorius Landstill

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!