Avacyn Restored EDH Set Review, Part Five: Green

Ah, Green. The ultimate Timmy color. I don't have much to say this time. Green has always been solid in EDH, and it's not likely to change over night. So let's just dive in and see what Green goodies AVR has to offer.

I can't imagine running this in anything, when Increasing Savagery exists. Not even the Miracle possibility is enough to warrant running this in Animar or Ghave, arguabley the two decks that can best take advantage of this.

 Awful.

This could be pretty powerful. It gets bigger, and as it does so, it becomes increasingly hard to block any of your creatures. Then again, this is going to be a big target for spot removal, so it might not live long enough to give you value. I think it should do well enough in Ghave or other token decks.

Holy win condition! Resolving this should kill at least one opponent every time. Very much an EDH-only card. Should see tons of play in this format, where Avenger of Zendikar is one of the most ubiquitous Green cards in print.

Yup. It's a Hidden Predators for half-price, if you're playing Tribal. Combine with Changelings (try Mutavault, in particular), for greater chance of success. Outside of decks with heavy tribal themes, this ain't going to do much, but there are plenty of decks that can support this.

There's a cycle of these guys in Green that just give vanilla +X/+X bonuses. None but the Rare one stand any chance of being worthwhile, and even that one is iffy. This just doesn't do enough in EDH to be relevant most of the time.

Obvious choice for token decks. Gives you incentive to just start running your hordes of tokens into the redzone, blockers be damned. When used properly, will generate obscene amounts of mana. When not used properly will be utterly dead on the board.

Cool flavor, love the name! I like Wing Snare and Plummet already. This is strictly better than Wing Snare. Should be playable in the right metagame. If the only Sword of Stuff and Junk you ever see is Feast and Famine, this won't get you very far.

Meh. Good limited card, maybe.

 Not even Undying makes this appealing for EDH.

Possible inclusing in creature-saturated Animar decks. Mimeoplasm has better options. Usually, I'd rather just Harmonize or something.

 Bad ass art, cool effect. Only problem is, it competes with Krosan  Grip and Beast Within. This is unlikely to stack up against those two, but if you're already running those two and still in need of a third option, this could be worth considering.

Here's a fun scenario for you. I have Scroll Rack and Stranglehold on the board. I tap out for a Weird Harvest for x= 8 to 10, getting a huge handful of creatures. Next turn, I use Scroll Rack to stack the top of my library with 7 or more hand-picked creatures, then cast this. Okay, that's so convoluted it'd likely never happen, as one of your opponents is bound to disrupt your plans even if he has no clue what you're up to. Still, seems like a fun, epic play if you did pull it off.

Done right, this card should win the game for you on the spot. But it is a ten mana Mythic, so that's pretty much the only outcome that would make it worth casting. Seems like it could get a fair amount of play in EDH. You have to set it up, though, or it's gonna let you down.

Exceptionally versatile and powerful, this is a choice removal spell for Green. Most of the time, I'd just rather have Beast Within, but there's no way this isn't going to see some play in EDH. Even at six mana, it still has the potential to be a much easier to cast Violent Ultimatum. Just wish it could hit creatures too.

Meh. I could almost see actually paying six for this once in a while, and not being too unhappy about it. Especially targeting a creature with Deathtouch.

Animar decks will absolutely love this. Maybe some Mimeoplasm decks, too. There are probably more than a few ways to get infinite mana from this, if that's your thing. Most of the time, though, the spending restriction on her will just make her terrible.

YES! This is a dude I can really get behind. Obviously this is going to be in a lot of decks, starting with Animar. The nontoken clause makes it unappealing for Ghave and other token decks, but they have other toys for drawing cards. This is a worthy draw engine for all those nontoken decks out there. Suck it, Primordial Sage!

 In EDH, this is likely to be your first creature cast, and thus will target itself, making it a Grizzly Bear. Which is utterly unplayable. However, I could see this in Animar decks, where it's a cute techy choice, but still unlikely to be very good.

 Too slow and conditional. Most green decks that need or want card draw from large creatures will run Greater Good and/or Momentous Fall. Not to mention Soul of the Harvest or a host of other, better choices.

Tired of your opponents not running headlong into your Acidic Slime or Vampire Nighthawk? Force the issue.

This will require a little bit of fiddling to make it work, but once it gets going it could be a great form of removal for some decks.

This is terrible even by today's standards. Pelakka Wurm is better than this in almost every single way, despite being one mana more, and even that get's virtually no play in EDH.

This is a hilarous card, but it's definitely more of a build-around-me card for 60-card formats. In EDH, instants and sorcery cards that target your guys are almost always removal spells cast by opponents.

This is one badass uncommon, but a 3/3 just rarely gets the job done in EDH. He's just gonna be a chump blocker most of the time. Sure he could be a roleplayer in some Voltron decks with lots of equipment that just need cheap, efficient guys to attach to, but that's about it.

Best when paired with cheap evasion guys like Blighted Agent or Invisible Stalker, or large tramplers like Deus of Calamity or Simic Sky Swallower. He's a bit janky, but I could easily justify running him in Rafiq, Edric or Stonebrow (had I not decommissioned Stonebrow already...). He packs a lot of punch for 5 mana, even if he is a vanilla beatstick most of the time.

Bad Chameleon Colossus is bad. Still, I'd play it in a dedicated Treefolk deck like Doran. Needs more Trample!



















Well, we're getting near the end, here, and Green stuff looks pretty good, mostly. Two really swingy Mythics, and a handful of playable rares and uncommons. Not the most exciting color in the set, but plenty to like nonetheless.

Next up, everything else! Lands, Artifacts, and of course the Powerpuff Girls.

Enjoy.

Stupid Green Burn

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Stupid Red Burn archetype. Essentially you just pack as many Lightning Bolts, Lava Blasts and other really efficient burn spells into the deck. Keep the land count as low as possible and turns 1 through whatever, you just sling burn at your opponents dome,  ignoring virtually everything your opponents does. You let them know that right from the first land drop they’re in a race with you.

Stupid Green Burn, a simple deck idea a friend and I came up with, is the Mono-Green equivalent to Stupid Red Burn. Thanks to Planar Chaos’s tampering with the color pie, Green began to get a bit of Haste. Green already is known for its creature buffs... Giant Growth = Lightning Bolt? Not quite, but close.

Here’s the list:

4 Uktabi Drake

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Primal Forcemage

4 Boggart Ram-Gang

4 Ground Breaker

3 Timbermare

4 Might of Old Krosa

3 Evolution Charm

4 Giantbaiting

3 Gift of the Gargantuan

23 Forest

Well, lets start with the creature base. Most of the creatures have haste - only the Llanowar Elves and Primal Forcemages are excluded. Llanowar Elves in a monogreen deck should be no mystery. The Forcemages will bite the dust a whole lot more than you’d like them too, but they’re really worth it. They either eat a removal spell that would otherwise cost you a Groundbreaker, or they’ll net you and extra 3 damage or more. They beef up Groundbreakers and Timbermares quite nicely. Also, imagine this play:

Turn 1: Forest, Llanowar Elves, go

Turn 2: Forest, Primal Forcemage, go

Turn 3: Forest, Giantbaiting, tap your two elves to Conspire it, swing with two 7/7 Giant Tokens

Nice! And that happens quite often. Usually if your opponent lets you resolve a creature with the Forcemage still on the table, they’re in real trouble. The remaining guys are pretty self-explanatory, being the cream of the crop when it comes to Green dudes with Haste. Don’t worry too much about Echoing the Drakes. Cast ‘em on turn 1 if you have no other plays, but I prefer to save them for Turn 2, so I can Might of Old Krosa, getting in for 6 in the air, turn 2. It’s a rare opponent that can do anything about that. Even if they have removal, they’re going to save it, because they know you can’t pay Echo. Or, if you have the Forcemage, and a couple of Drakes, wait until you drop the Forcemage, then swing for 10 in the air on turn 4. Timbermare is great, as he is virtually impossible to block. And, like the Drakes, he rarely gets hit with removal if you don’t already have 6 mana up.

As for the spells, they too are fairly obvious, with the possible exception of Evolution Charm. I have to thank my friend Steven for this little piece of tech. It’s quite versatile, and all modes of the spell can be relevant. The land search is the least exciting and you’d rather not use it in that way, but sometimes the deck just needs it. Fair enough. The ability to give a creature flying can really make a difference. It lets Groundbreakers get past First Strike, for example. It’s just a way to force through damage, if you think your opponent is keen to start blocking. The most common use, for me at least, is to retrieve Groundbreakers or Drakes from the ‘Yard. This allows you to confidently play the Echo creatures even if you can’t pay the Echo. Think of those two creatures as one-shot Burn spells, not creatures. Don’t wait until turn 6 to drop the Mare. You can just get it back!

Giantbaiting is exceptionally well-suited to this deck. I do try to make sure I can Conspire it before I cast it, but I will cast it for one Token if I must. It’s basically just Green’s closest immitation of a burn spell.

Might of Old Krosa should nearly always be cast Main Phase, to maximize its effect. If you only need two more damage to finish your opponent, then by all means, go instant speed! But really, I prefer to just wait until my opponent isn’t able to block, or cast it on a Groundbreaker or Timbermare. Doubling them up on a Groundbreaker is particularly a fun (albeit risky) play.

Gift of the Gargantuan is a bit iffy. It was originally Harmonize but the 4 mana CC was awkward and difficult. I’m still not sure I really like Gift, but I need SOMETHING like it, and that’s the best effect I could find for the mana. I haven’t really been disappointed with it, so I’ve been happy to keep it in.

Basically, the deck plays very much like a mono-red burn deck. You can’t worry about the long game, as this deck doesn’t really have much long game, a typical trait of the archetype. That’s just an inherent risk in making the deck as aggro as possible. That’s not to say it can’t win past turn 6, but it’s difficult. Evolution Charm allows you to recycle a key threat, but that’s about it. If this deck had a sideboard, I’d probably put some Hurricanes or something in, as that’s the closest Green gets to an X spell finisher.

--------------------------------------------

This is an old deck, and I wrote this little article up way before I actually started this blog. The blog was supposed to have been started much, much earlier but some personal stuff got in the way and I had to delay it for a while. In the mean time, I have a bunch of stuff pre-written and ready to go... I just use it as a mine for content when I run dry of inspiration...

That's not exactly why I posted this one, however, as I simply wanted to share the deck and see if I could drum up feedback on how to update it. Green is still getting a bit of Haste now and then, but I'm open to other ideas. Obviously Vengevine would be a phenom in this deck, as he is in almost ANY deck, but I don't have them, and can't afford them just yet. Putrefax seems cute with the Might of Old Krosa and Primal Forcemage pumps... I could also consider adding black for Tainted Strike (on a Groundbreaker, that's just sick!)

I dunno, what am I missing? I'd like to rebuild this deck somehow, but I'm looking for ways to change it up a bit...