Budget Magic: $40 Mite-y Mono-Green (Standard)
Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Budget Magic. Mono-green has been the worst color in Standard for a couple of years now, but this might be changing. Edge of Eternities gave us some super-powerful cards for a mono-green aggro deck. So today, we're going to put them all together and see if Mono-Green is back, all on just a $40 budget! Did Edge of Eternities save Mono-Green in Standard? Let's get to the video and find out!
Budget Magic: Mite-y Mono-Green
The Deck
Mite-y Mono-Green is an aggro deck looking to win by curving out with above-the-curve green creatures!
When Edge of Eternities was released, three cards caught my eye for Mono-Green Aggro. The most obvious is Frenzied Baloth, which looks a lot like a two-mana version of Questing Beast, as a 3/2 haste, trampler with a bunch of random abilities. Edge Rover is also notable for its stats. Even in 2025, a one-mana 2/2 is a solid aggro card, and Edge Rover even gets the upside of reach, which is oddly relevant in some matchups. Sure, it gives everyone a Lander token if it dies, which I guess is a drawback since we typically can't take advantage of the extra mana, but it's still a solid aggro beater.
I mostly overlooked the last Edge of Eternities card in the deck during spoiler season: Hemosymbic Mite. But after playing with the card, I'm convinced that it is actually the best and most important card in our deck and is even more responsible than Frenzied Baloth for making Mono-Green Aggro good again. Hemosymbic Mite doesn't look like much at first glance, as a one-mana 1/1 that gives something else +X/+X (where X is its power) whenever it attacks. This plays a lot like double strike but even better in many situations since the damage is split between two creatures. In practice, this means that Hemosymbic Mite essentially attacks for two if we have another attacker on the battlefield, making it similar to Edge Rover but with way more upside since it gets out of hand quickly once we start pumping its power (or if we ever draw multiples so they can pump each other).
While we're not a pump-spell-heavy combo deck, we do have a few ways of powering up Hemosymbic Mite. Aloe Alchemist is another super solid Mono-Green Stompy creature that has been left on the sidelines because the archetype hasn't been good, but it finally gets a chance to shine. A 3/2 trample for two is fine, but the true power of Aloe Alchemist is that we can plot it for two mana to pump something like Hemosymbic Mite +3/+2 and give it trample for the turn, which is a great way to force through a ton of damage. And then, we get to play Aloe Alchemist for free the following turn if our opponent's still alive. Snakeskin Veil offers some removal protection and a +1/+1 counter, while Primal Might gives us a one-mana fight spell that can also turn into an X-pump spell in the late game when we have a bunch of mana. While all of these cards are great in our deck in general, they are all especially busted when we can use them to pump Hemosymbic Mite, which in turn pumps something else, essentially letting us double up the buff they offer.
The rest of the creatures in our deck are essentially above-the-curve threats that also help us first through removal. Pawpatch Recruit offers an upgraded Savannah Lions that also generates virtual card advantage thanks to offspring. Spinner of Souls replaces our creatures with random ones when they die, while Surrak, Elusive Hunter draws us a card when our opponent targets our stuff. (It's also worth mentioning that trample also works really well with the Hemosymbic Mite pump plan, letting us force through even more damage.) Finally, Keen-Eyed Curator gives us a two-mana 3/3, which is already great, while also offering main-deck graveyard hate, which is either useless or game-swinging, depending on the matchup.
Wrap-Up
Record-wise, we went 4-2 with Mite-y Mono-Green, which is solid in general and doubly so for a budget deck. More importantly, the deck felt powerful! Hemosymbic Mite is a messed-up Magic card, and if you look back on our matches, you'll see a lot of our wins came from Hemosymbic Mite doubling up our pump spells. The card is absolutely wild.
As far as changes I'd make to the deck now that I've played it a bunch, I'm happy with where it landed in general, although I think two cards could be upgraded. The first is Spinner of Souls, which is fine, but the fact that its ability only triggers when other creatures die means that our opponent often just kills it and we get no value. I might try a hasty threat like Axebane Ferox in that slot next time I play the deck. The second card I'm considering cutting is Snakeskin Veil. Black removal got wrecked by rotation, and a lot of opponents were playing Nowhere to Run in their main deck. And if everyone's playing Nowhere to Run, then Snakeskin Veil is just bad. We'll have to wait and see how the meta shakes out. Maybe Nowhere to Run won't be as heavily played as it seemed on day one when I was recording this, but if it sticks around as a staple removal spell, a stronger pump spell (like Giant Growth) that offers more stats but less protection might just be better.
So, should you play Mite-y Mono-Green in Standard? While our sample size wasn't huge, I think the answer is yes! The deck felt competitive, Hemosymbic Mite felt busted, and the price is right, at just $40. If you like stomping fools with undercosted green creatures, give the deck a shot!
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
