If there were to be a major art controversy in Magic, you would have bet on it being a Black card, right? Certainly Green wouldn’t have been my first choice. Life is funny sometimes. Onward to the cards:
[card]Abundant Growth[/card]:
Downsides: Does not provide mana acceleration. Could be stranded in hand by splash damage from [card]Ghost Quarter[/card]/[card]Cavern of Souls[/card].
Upsides: You still achieve parity against [card]Ghost Quarter[/card]. Mana fixing for one mana without expending a card. Cantrip for Comer style decks.
This might be a four-of in some kind of 5cGreen deck. Alternately it gives you easy access to Blue or Red for [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card]. There really is nothing to dislike about [card]Abundant Growth[/card].
Addendum: Not being acceleration hurts this more than I expected. Still, it does the job you ask at the right price.
[card]Blessings of Nature[/card]:
A sick miracle, but what Green deck would ever want to pay retail for this? Seems destined to being a swing card in limited.
[card]Borderland Ranger[/card]:
Reprint. One of my favorite cards in pauper cube. I’ll be drafting him early and often. Card advantage + mana fixing is how I roll. 🙂
[card]Bower Passage[/card]:
Very cool thematically . Even with [card]Lingering Souls[/card] this will almost never be worth a card. Pass.
[card]Champion of Lambholt[/card]:
I hated this when I first saw it. If any kind of Champion deck ever tried to become popular it would simply get wrecked by [card]Gut Shot[/card]/[card]Vapor Snag[/card]/[card]Tragic Slip[/card]. However, as I’ve given her a spin I’ve discovered she gets out of hand pretty fast. One slight issue: Is it me, or has WotC tried to improve creatures by making them less interactive?
[card]Craterhoof Behemoth[/card]:
Too expensive to cast, not good enough to reanimate.
Addendum: The elves can actually cast this, but can’t they just [card]Overrun[/card] for 5 and win the game just as easily?
[card]Descendants’ Path[/card]:
Is this the first Magic card to include modern technology? Remember, Black and White was a modern invention, painters and sculptors always had access to various dyes. Anyway, this is potentially nuts. Not only does it provide card advantage, but you get to save the mana as well. It’s a little clunky to have to invest the original three mana, but long term this will win you the game. To put this in perspective, it can give you a turn four Avacyn or [card]Griselbrand[/card]. In other words, there is a ton of raw power here to explore. One of my top cards in the set.
Addendum: Hold your horses, I might have jumped the gun a bit. This is very good in a tribal deck, but it is pretty slow/inconsistent to get this to start pumping out anything other than humans or elves. Yes, the power level when rolling is off the charts, but the setup is commensurate with that.
[card]Diregraf Escort[/card]:
Green has some insane soulbond cards. This isn’t one of them.
[card]Druid’s Familiar[/card]:
Bear! Bear +2/+2! Bear friend +2/+2. Growl!
[card]Druids’ Repository[/card]:
Sure, this can accelerate out some monsters or whatever you want, but if you attacking that often, wouldn’t this be better served as something that contributes to the attacks? I feel like the synergy is awkward at best.
[card]Eaten by Spiders[/card]:
You fools! Now that Becker has tasted blood, he’ll be insatiable! Soon there will be a spider tribe, and then a spider planeswalker, and then a spider block, and then they’ll be nothing else left to do. The trip down the slippery slope has begun. As for the card itself, it is pretty straightforward. It kills angels, insects, and will occasionally kill a [card]Runechanter’s Pike[/card] or perhaps a Sword.
[card]Flowering Lumberknot[/card]:
Impossible to judge in limited without knowing how many soulbond cards I can expect to get. I don’t think I’ll have enough soulbond cards to think about this in constructed. I like the card, it’s just tricky to evaluate.
[card]Geist Trappers[/card]:
I just got a mental image of Spiders playing patty cake. Anyway, reach + soulbond = sure, why not.
[card]Gloomwidow[/card]:
Reprint. This is fine, but creatures have improved since when this first hit the scene. I’m happy enough to draft these though.
[card]Grounded[/card]:
Green must really be pissed about all the air traffic flying above it. Lousy card, for 1G and a card you should simply kill the flyer.
[card]Howlgeist[/card]:
I guess I can live with one six drop in a Green deck. Obviously incredibly slow, but tough to block and kill, so it has some value.
[card]Joint Assault[/card]:
Slightly cheaper and slightly less versatile than Symbiosis. A decent trick in limited, I figure if I’m drafting Green I’ll want a couple of these.
[card]Lair Delve[/card]:
I’m Green. If I want [card]Divination[/card], I’ll just play [card]Divination[/card].
Addendum: Revealing the cards is bad, and this missing on itself is bad. Just lousy card being lousy. Even in limited this isn’t special.
[card]Natural End[/card]:
Is this a Red hate card? Just kidding, [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] and [card]Ray of Revelation[/card] are less versatile, but much stronger. This might have a place if you are willing to pay more mana in order to gain three life, but right now we don’t have a need to do so. I shouldn’t mock this, if only because if this is what you want, it is very efficient.
[card]Nettle Swine[/card]:
I think I’d rather befriend a bear.
[card]Nightshade Peddler[/card]:
Maybe I am underrating this, in a removal light environment. I won’t be taking him highly.
[card]Pathbreaker Wurm[/card]:
Another very slight improvement on [card]Craw Wurm[/card]. Random aside, how is it that wurms are so similarly sized? Seems weird.
[card]Primal Surge[/card]:
[card]Genesis Wave[/card] is unimpressed, but this isn’t meant for standard. If you can resolve this it likely means it is the only spell in your deck and you just won the game. Perhaps this is an EDH bomb. Rofellos anyone?
[card]Rain of Thorns[/card]:
We’ve had cards like this before and they’ve generally been unimpressive. For six mana you generally want to know what you are getting in return. Maybe this will be a sideboard card that absolutely wrecks a particular archetype, but I’m reaching here.
[card]Revenge of the Hunted[/card]:
The Green wrath? I’ll say this, as miracles go, this is the least [card]Desolate Lighthouse[/card] friendly one in the set. I’m sure this is a blowout in limited, but that might be the extent of it.
[card]Sheltering Word[/card]:
Counter target removal spell, gain some life. Meh. Yeah, I know you can use this for pure lifegain in a pinch, Still meh.
[card]Snare the Skies[/card]:
Yeah, Green hates flyers right now. I’m not sure the flyers care.
[card]Somberwald Sage[/card]:
First thought: Whoa!
Second thought: We’ve had a three mana guy who tapped for GG, he wasn’t special.
Third thought: This isn’t GG, and we didn’t have Prime Time or [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] back then.
Like [card]Descendants’ Path[/card], [card]Somberwald Sage[/card] is a potentially sick accelerator. She is more consistent with less card advantage. Either way, she is a huge “Build Around Me” card, and I’ll be testing her out.
Addendum: Some awkward draws with lots of mana, no large men, but otherwise she is doing her job.
[card]Soul of the Harvest[/card]:
You know, this isn’t Prime Time, but that ship has sailed. 6/6 trample + card advantage is pretty sweet. Isn’t untapping with a six drop supposed to feel amazing? This just might provide that feeling in a post-Titan world. The only major problem is that it isn’t that much harder to play a [card]Griselbrand[/card], and that is a lot more threatening. Also, let’s not forget this is still a [card]Vapor Snag[/card] world, and this gets owned by Snag.
[card]Terrifying Presence[/card]:
Yes, it is. Peter Parker would crap his pants around that thing. The real issue: This isn’t a true fog, so it is likely homeless.
[card]Timberland Guide[/card]:
I like two drops, and this is fine as a bear, but this lives in the realm of 40, like most commons.
[card]Triumph of Ferocity[/card]:
I am going to link to an Unglued card, and it isn’t going to be [card]Sex Appeal[/card]:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=9773
Every Magic card is independent. They exist in various contexts of sets, stories, and formats, but they also exist as individual pieces of art. [card]Triumph of Ferocity[/card] makes sense inside the story, but as an independent card it is unacceptable. When I saw it I did some quick Bayesian math in my head: “What are the odds this was drawn by a woman?” I didn’t settle on an exact %, but it was in low single digits.
Now, remember what I said about cards existing in formats? Triumph is a potential [card]Howling Mine[/card]. Against a creature light deck you will often have the only creatures in play, so you’ll draw cards by default. Alternately, since you’re Green, if you really want the largest creature, just play it. I see this mostly as a sideboard card since you need to get back at least three cards for it to be better than your other potential options. Remember, you could just as easily have drawn two cards immediately.
[card]Trusted Forcemage[/card]:
Four power for three mana is nothing to sneeze at, especially since one point of it has haste. Green is pretty strong at three mana these days, but a long time ago this would have been a very good card.
[card]Ulvenwald Tracker[/card]:
As one drops go this is pretty pesky. Green will usually prefer to accelerate, but for cheap removal when you can count on your guys to be larger than theirs, this is cost effective. Solid card.
[card]Vorstclaw[/card]:
Forget werewolves, this thing can eat [card]Craw Wurm[/card]s. Needless to say, 7/7 are nowhere near the stats required for a vanilla Green six drop to see tournament play.
[card]Wandering Wolf[/card]:
Thanks for the offer, but we’re going to have to go with [card]Strangleroot Geist[/card]. I know you’re tough to block, but haste and undying are hard to match.
[card]Wild Defiance[/card]:
How many uses do you need to get out of this to make it worth it? Three? That seems highly unlikely.
[card]Wildwood Geist[/card]:
Even without the drawback this would be destined to live in a limited world.
[card]Wolfir Avenger[/card]:
This is a pretty nice package. Flash is good, regeneration is good, and being 3/3 for three is solid. Is that enough given the fact that there is still plenty of good removal that can take him out? Furthermore, we have hexproof options that are much better. I’m skeptical of this guy, but that’s a lot better than simply being completely ignored. Potentially useful three drop.
[card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card]:
Now, this is a vanilla creature. 8/8 for five mana, plus it makes a friend huge. If this isn’t constructed worthy, there really is no hope for simply large men. Yes, he is weak against [card]Vapor Snag[/card], although Green is better equipped than most colors to fight that battle. Just an absolute monster, and one of the best cards in the set.
[card]Yew Spirit[/card]:
In other words, strictly worse than [card]Chameleon Colossus[/card]. I’ll move on.
Green got a very nice haul in AVR. For three mana you can get card advantage, mana acceleration for creatures, or both. You also get a potential Falter on a stick. For five mana you get an absolute beast, regardless of his actual creature type being Wolf Warrior. Warriors, come out and play.
5. [card]Champion of Lambholt[/card]
4. [card]Wolfir Avenger[/card]
3. [card]Descendants’ Path[/card]
2. [card]Somberwald Sage[/card]
1. [card]Wolfir Silverheart[/card]
Maybe [card]Triumph of Ferocity[/card] should be number five due to its value as a sideboard card. Alright, now for the fun stuff. The Gold, the Artifacts, and the Lands.
Seth Burn is a former Pro Tour player and a long-time Magic columnist who has written for both TCGPlayer.com and Star City Games. He is also known for his undeniable love for the NFL.