Standard deck that has what it takes to beat the best decks of all types, and can do it without spending a ton of money. When RTR came out, i figured that Jund aggro or midrange would be the dominant deck. I couldn't afford to build a top-notch Jund deck, and I refused to play with a weaker version of anything, so I came up with a cheap, powerful alternative.(this deck started out for less than a hundred bucks worth, and most of it was in my collection already, I spent a total of $23 on first version of this thing, then more to upgrade it, mostly sideboard).
This deck worked out really well, I've won 2 out of the last 3 FNMs I played with it. The lost one was in the finals to a really unlucky draw, the summary is in a comment below.
Incredibly powerful and shockingly fast G/W creature deck. Has great matchups against the other popular decks. Paladin+Silverheart come out fast thanks to pilgrim and arbor elf. Turn 4 i can have a 6/6 double-striker attacking, and turn 5 brings another 8/8 double strike. Charm can grant trample or remove anything big enough to threaten. Dryad Militants is a 2power 1 drop that kills snapcaster, runechanters pike, and unburial rites. Smiter is an undercosted weapon that punishes counters and discard. Rancor is a recursive threat that makes my huge guys even bigger tramplers. This deck is good against all the most powerful/popular archetypes.
WARNING:SKIP NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DONT WANT DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF MATCHUPS!!!!
Unburial Rites: Dryad Militants makes life hard on them, after sideboarding RIP makes it even tougher. My curve is WAY stronger and faster than theirs if they try to cast their creatures the normal way.
Control: Game 1 is pretty even, I can usually get in a lot of damage before they stablize, and even once they do I have enough resilient creatures that its hard for them to hold me off long enough Smiter kills grixis versions that like discard, and plays through counters. After sideboarding Thalia and Familiar make their plays cost more, slowing them down, while Garruk avoids sweepers, restocks my board, and keeps my hand full, so I can continue to get more creatures out after multiple board sweepers.
Jund: My curve is faster and 1st/double strike on paladin lets my creatures kill theirs without dying. However, they start with more removal and Olivia is a threat, but takes a few turns to start killing my creatures. Depending on the number of Olivia Voldarens, and miracled Bonfires, game one can go either way. After sideboards I get O-ring and Ulvenwald Tracker(teams with Smiter or Silverheart to work as repeating removal).
R/B aggro: Great matchup for me. Only the fastest variants do more damage on the first 3 or so turns, and after that my huge trampling creatures dominate their cheap ones. Against the slightly slower variants, I control the board from the first few turns to the end.
B/W or Bant tempo: These decks dont get too much damage in early, and Dryad Militants really hurts their late game, which often depends on flashbacked cards. I almost always block/kill Saint Traft the 1st time he attacks, and once I get a few creatures attacking they have no defense. After sideboards, Thalia makes their bounce/detain/tap spells far less efficient, O-ring removes threats and Triumph is almost always active to give me card advantage.
Combo: I have enough raw speed and trampling power that very few combo decks last long enough to get their combo going. After boards, O-ring takes out combo pieces.
Bant Midrange(Thragtusk+Restoration Angel): This is a deck that is starting to gain popularity. It seems like every game I have played against it uses a very different list, only consistent things are Thragtusk, Resto Angel, and Saint Traft. Its hard to make a complete summary of the matchup against such inconsistency, but the main part is that Thagtusk cant really beat you. It allows a midrange deck to put an aggro deck out of reach, and gives resistance to control's board sweepers, but doesn't really hurt me, because I can block. Garruk's tokens are great here, as is paladin+anything with 3 power. The main advantage I have against this deck is that it plays no sweepers(even jund has bonfire). Because of this, they can't stop Sigarda, which is bigger than their top flyer(resto angel), and can win easily with Paladin, Silverheart, or Rancor. This is one deck I may need to adjust the sideboard for in the future, but for now im happy with the matchup.
I think this is maybe my best deck yet, especially considering the cost (compared to Jund decks costing $500)and cant wait to try it this FNM. Any feedback is welcome, especially mentioning any other archetypes that would give this deck trouble, or cards from the decks that I mentioned which would hurt this deck. I'm currently debating whether to switch the Militants with the Trackers. I'll probly decide after next FNM, when I see if G/W and Jund aggro decks are more popular(my local meta has been full pf Unburial Rites decks).
I'm currently deciding whether or not to replace the Dryad Militants. Everyone tells me I should replace them, but they have been pretty helpful. For one, they give me another good 1-drop, any 2-power 1-drop with no disadvantages is good(except maybe in red). They help ensure a decent first turn play, especially considering their color-friendliness. They are great against flashback(making snapcaster useless) and good against control, since it causes their flashback spells to no longer generate card advantage. They can also slow down Rites.
Thank you everyone for the front page, I'm hoping that now there will be enough people looking at this deck to give me some good feedback. Please post anything you think of, even if you aren't sure, that's what helps decks get better. The general consensus at my local store and from several people on this site is that Dryad Militants is only good for a sideboard card against decks using lots flashback. I have found that they have performed pretty well in this deck, but I am completely open to any suggestions for replacing them.