Green Group Hug, Where to start?

[novisk58]

So my group of friends and I have decided to play commander (Huzzah!), but I've been flip-flopping constantly on ideas. Now I would tend to describe myself as a bit of a johnny player, so I keep trying to find interesting things to do. Alas I've decided to build something with a group hug basis to it in mono-green. I have a few questions though:

1. Is mono-green even capable of group hug?

2. What cards should I start with?

3. Where are the fun combos at?

I've been looking at using Azusa, Lost but Seeking as my commander, and am only looking for a deck that does cool things. In other words I don't care about its competitive ability as much as its tendency towards shenanigans. Any help on the subject would be appreciated!

[Bismuth Von Pherson]

Heartbeat of Spring and Rites of Flourishing come to mind.

[Joe C]

Heartwood Storyteller Collective VoyageNew Frontiers

[Jivanmukta]

You should start by not building it. Ever.

Now if you're not going to heed that advice I suggest cards like Horn of Greed. Benefits everyone yet you the most.

[MikeCline83]

Rites of Flourishing and Heartbeat of Spring never disappoint the table

Oops, I didn't see Bismuth Von Pherson's post...

[Giodante]

Weird Harvest makes for interesting games.

I used to run Azusa "Group Hug" and it's actually really good. This was back when Primeval Titan and Sundering Titan were legal though, so your mileage may vary, especially since PT into Strip Mine and Wasteland plus ST's land destruction were so key, and you'd easily tutor for both every game. The basic idea is to use Azusa and other ramp to drop lands so quickly that you're the only one who can really benefit from the extra resources. It's not really Group Hug in the traditional sense though, since the aim of the deck is to lock everyone out with extreme resource denial or just win with a huge Overrun by the midgame. Anyway, here's what I used:

Group Hug
Horn of Greed
Howling Mine
Font of Mythos
Temple Bell
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
Heartwood Storyteller
Gauntlet of Power
Caged Sun

If you don't mind sharing mana (I did), you have these:
Eladamri's Vineyard
Magus of the Vineyard
Heartbeat of Spring
Rites of Flourishing
Collective Voyage
New Frontiers
Veteran Explorer

And here's how you lock down the game:

Plow Under
Stunted Growth
Nature's Wrath
Ritual of Subdual
Hall of Gemstone
Predator, Flagship
Terastodon
Woodfall Primus
Acidic Slime
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Artisan of Kozilek
Ulamog's Crusher
Steel Hellkite
Null Rod
Damping Matrix
Molder Slug
Seeds of Innocence
Creeping Corrosion
All Is Dust
Smokestack
Tangle Wire
Sphere of Resistance
Thorn of Amethyst
Karn Liberated
Choke
Tsunami
Root Maze
Orb of Dreams

Anyway, something like that. Just make sure you can deny them the mana to actually cast all the extra cards they're drawing and you should be fine.

[novisk58]

Thank you everyone for the ideas! I'll be adding many of them to the deck.

For those who don't believe I should build this deck, please explain why.

It seems that most of the options are for draw power, like howling mine, which I like alot. I also like the idea of locking down the games. It seems like the most viable way to win with the deck.

[JaiK]

No love for Otherworldly Atlas?

I myself am considering going down this route (not the mana denial, mind you, just the group hug) with Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant. 7 lands in hand is not so hard when you're drawing 4 cards a turn, and I do feel that her ability coupled with traditional green ramp outpaces Azusa's ability. But it could just be me, I dunno.

Speaking of which, if you're going to be drawing 4 cards a turn, you might as well play Masumaro, First to Live and Multani, Maro-Sorcerer for the lols...

[cryogen]

Read this for the most recent debate on why people dislike group hug. It will save time and not derail your thread.

[Wildfire393]

The closest deck I have ever built to "Group Hug" was Multani, Maro Sorcerer. It ran all of the Howling Mine-type effects as a way to keep everyone's hands stocked up, so that Multani could regularly swing for 25+ damage, hopefully with Trample from Brawn or something similar.

[bfellow]

I've done Tempting Wurm followed several turns later by Eternal Witnessing another Tempting Wurm! It made the Stax player very mad lol.

[Darcykun]

If you're rolling with Azusa, Storm Cauldron would be another good way to lock the game in your favor.

[Giodante]

Originally Posted by Darcykun

If you're rolling with Azusa, Storm Cauldron would be another good way to lock the game in your favor.

Oh right, how could I forget? This may very well be the strongest card in most Azusa builds.