Lelouch32
08-03-2010, 02:14 PM
M11 Part 4: Gargantuan Green
By: Corlando
With three down already it’s time that we turn to the big mean Green. Looking at a few of the cards from M11, the only thing I can really say is, “It is an AWESOME time to be a Green mage.” Time to find out why.
Let’s begin by looking at the Instants and Sorceries Green brought with it in this installment. First off we have a :mana1::manag: instant that is sure to go in many green decks, Plummet. This is a great card just out of the fact that it can take care of any flying creature instantly. Aven Squire? Grabbed by a twig and flung into the ground. Baneslayer Angel? Grasped by a series of vines before finally being consumed by the woods below. Sphinx Soverign? Seized by a Woodfall Primus and curbstomped. Ain’t imagery great? But seriously this will be a great card for decks, maybe not main board but definitely side.
But let’s say you don’t care about your opponent having flyers. You just want to end games in a big way. Well Overwhelming Stampede is the card for you. Seriously, did Overrun really need an upgrade? Originally Overrun was just :mana3::manag::manag: to give all creatures you control +3/+3 and trample till the end of the turn. Now for the same price we give all our creatures trample and +X/+X where X is the highest power among the creatures we control. That is just crazy good. Here’s a combo for you. We all know about Terastodon right, the big :mana6::manag::manag:, 9/9 Elephant out of Worldwake which allowed target player to sack three lands to put three, 3/3 elephants on the field? Well now you do. On your 8th turn play Terastodon and sac three lands to put the elephant tokens on the field. Next turn, play Overwhelming Stampede and suddenly you’re attacking with at least three 12/12 and an 18/18 with trample. Pain train hitting NOW. Granted this example is time consuming and could easily be countered by a Doom Blade, but then again Green decks usually are slow and attacking with at least three 6/6 with trample is still pretty fun.
Enchantment-wise Green definitely has obtained a few interesting enchantments with the introduction of M11. Sure Dryad’s Favor isn’t all that awesome, only giving your creature forestwalk and nothing more, but Primal Cocoon has some potential. Primal Cocoon gives the enchanted creature a +1/+1 counter at the beginning of your upkeep. However, if the enchanted creature blocks or attacks, you must sacrifice Primal Cocoon. So essentially your enchated creature grows stronger with every passing turn, but how do you use this to the best of its potential? One idea is to attach it to Joraga Warcaller and watch as your elvish army grows in strength every turn. Another idea is to combo it up with Triskelion so that every upkeep you can ping a creature or a player for one damage by removing a +1/+1 counter or just power it up till it is an 11/11 and attack only to remove 10 counters and deal 10 damage to your opponent. It comes down to how you want to play but it could be a lot of fun.
Now one enchantment that I am pretty happy with is the Leyline of Vitality. This card has the usual Leyline ability, but also gives all your creatures +0/+1 and whenever a creature enters play under your control, you may gain 1 life. I love the flavor of this card because both abilities are designed to keep you and your creatures alive. Your 3/2 Garruk’s Companion is now a 3/3. Leatherback Baloth becomes a 4/6 and so on and so forth all the while you are gaining life. I’d love to see this card used in an elf deck, just to make it just a little more frustrating for all who play against it.
Alright now for the reason we’re all here, the Green creatures. Now just as a little note I won’t be talking about Garruk’s Packleader or Companion due to the fact I have already done so in other articles. With that said, lets get going. The first creature I definitely want to discuss is Acidic Slime. Sure this card is just a reprint and isn’t all that awesome, I mean seriously :mana3::manag::manag: for a 2/2, but I feel this card is going to be important. With Scars of Mirrodin inching towards the horizon, the ability for a green deck to destroy any target artifact, enchantment, or land, might be pretty darn useful. I know there are thousands of ways to deal with artifacts so this card won’t be too valuable, but it still might not be a bad idea to pick up a playset.
I almost feel contractually obligated to talk about this next card just out of the fact he is being hailed as one of the best cards in the game and it is easy to see why. Primeval Titan truly is a great creature. :mana4::manag::manag: for a 6/6, trampling beatstick that searches you up two lands whenever it is put onto the field or attacks, yes this is a great card. Now I’ll have to admit, that I wasn’t all that much for Primeval Titan when he first came out, but that all changed last weekend. Sunday afternoon I had just gotten done winning a little draft tournament going 4/0 winning the whole thing, woo me, when six other players decicded to stay after an do some constructed play. We ended up going with 4 teams of two headed giant and just had a blast. It was turn six and I had barely managed to help my team at all due to bad land draw, only having 4 islands to my name. However, the player to my right played a Primeval Titan. Using a Clone in conjunction with a Leyline of Anticipation, which I had put on the field for free on my opening turn, I cloned myself a Primeval Titan and got the land I needed for my next turn. On turn seven I drew a Mind Control and took control of the actual Primeval Titan. So in other words, thanks to two spells I managed to turn an opponent’s advantage into my own and doubling it. Thank you Primeval Titan for this most epic of plays.
There are so many creatures I want to talk about today, but if I do I know this article will become 20 pages long. As such I’ll finish up the creature section with my favorite green creature of M11, Gaea’s Revenge. Gaea’s Revenge is a :mana5::manag::manag:, 8/5 with haste that can’t be countered, and can’t be the target of nongreen sources… whooo. This card is AMAZING!!!! Essentially what this card is saying is “I’m a big basher that can’t be Mana Leaked or Doom Bladed.” Granted another big creature can still kill him, but that isn’t too bad when you realize your opponent will have to give up at least a creature if not two. This card is absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to put a few in my green deck.
Alright it is time for the Deck of the Week. This deck I have entitled Garruk’s Pack and it is a real doozy. Big creatures, small creatures, a literal army of threats that your opponent will have to deal with or risk being mauled to death. Now the reason I am so confident about this deck is because someone actually went out and played this deck. Here’s what they had to say,
“I have to say that I'm very impressed with this deck! I don't know how much you've gotten a chance to play with it, but it is really great. It does well, even against some of the tops. I beat RDW fairly hardcore with it yesterday, and it's alright even against board wiper decks. Thing is, you keep dropping cheap, large threats constantly. They HAVE to deal with almost everything you throw down, and you throw it down fairly quick.”
With such a raving review, how could I not look forward to constructing it myself one day. Let’s take a look:
Garruk’s Pack:
Creatures:
2x Gaea's Revenge
4x Garruk's Companion
4x Garruk's Packleader
4x Leatherback Baloth
4x Llanowar Elves
2x Primeval Titan
4x Sacred Wolf
Spells:
4x Boar Umbra
2x Leyline of Vitality
3x Overwhelming Stampede
Land:
20x Forest
4x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Leader:
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/garruks-pack/
Now this deck looks like it could be a ton of fun. Whether you’re dropping the Boar Umbra on a Sacred Wolf to bash with a 6/4 untouchable or, on turn five, tapping all five of your lands only to untap two lands with Garruk, tap them again, and then summon a Gaea’s Revenge, this deck has a lot of potential for some serious pain. I’d love to see a version of this deck running a playset of Vengevines. Wouldn’t that be cool, especially with Leyline of Vitality on the field? There is a lot of possibilites for this deck and I do hope to construct it myself one day.
Finally, we come to everyone’s favorite section the Closing Questions section:
1. In your opinion, how viable a card is Acidic Slime?
2. Mitotic Slime, or the Slime that never dies, what are your plans on how to use this creature?
3. Thanks to the surge of such great cards, do you think we’ll see an increase in the number of single colored decks in tournaments?
Thanks for reading this article. I know it was a little long, please forgive me, but I had so much to talk about. Please comment and chat and tell me what you think, trust me I will listen. And as always, “Etherium is Limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.
By: Corlando
With three down already it’s time that we turn to the big mean Green. Looking at a few of the cards from M11, the only thing I can really say is, “It is an AWESOME time to be a Green mage.” Time to find out why.
Let’s begin by looking at the Instants and Sorceries Green brought with it in this installment. First off we have a :mana1::manag: instant that is sure to go in many green decks, Plummet. This is a great card just out of the fact that it can take care of any flying creature instantly. Aven Squire? Grabbed by a twig and flung into the ground. Baneslayer Angel? Grasped by a series of vines before finally being consumed by the woods below. Sphinx Soverign? Seized by a Woodfall Primus and curbstomped. Ain’t imagery great? But seriously this will be a great card for decks, maybe not main board but definitely side.
But let’s say you don’t care about your opponent having flyers. You just want to end games in a big way. Well Overwhelming Stampede is the card for you. Seriously, did Overrun really need an upgrade? Originally Overrun was just :mana3::manag::manag: to give all creatures you control +3/+3 and trample till the end of the turn. Now for the same price we give all our creatures trample and +X/+X where X is the highest power among the creatures we control. That is just crazy good. Here’s a combo for you. We all know about Terastodon right, the big :mana6::manag::manag:, 9/9 Elephant out of Worldwake which allowed target player to sack three lands to put three, 3/3 elephants on the field? Well now you do. On your 8th turn play Terastodon and sac three lands to put the elephant tokens on the field. Next turn, play Overwhelming Stampede and suddenly you’re attacking with at least three 12/12 and an 18/18 with trample. Pain train hitting NOW. Granted this example is time consuming and could easily be countered by a Doom Blade, but then again Green decks usually are slow and attacking with at least three 6/6 with trample is still pretty fun.
Enchantment-wise Green definitely has obtained a few interesting enchantments with the introduction of M11. Sure Dryad’s Favor isn’t all that awesome, only giving your creature forestwalk and nothing more, but Primal Cocoon has some potential. Primal Cocoon gives the enchanted creature a +1/+1 counter at the beginning of your upkeep. However, if the enchanted creature blocks or attacks, you must sacrifice Primal Cocoon. So essentially your enchated creature grows stronger with every passing turn, but how do you use this to the best of its potential? One idea is to attach it to Joraga Warcaller and watch as your elvish army grows in strength every turn. Another idea is to combo it up with Triskelion so that every upkeep you can ping a creature or a player for one damage by removing a +1/+1 counter or just power it up till it is an 11/11 and attack only to remove 10 counters and deal 10 damage to your opponent. It comes down to how you want to play but it could be a lot of fun.
Now one enchantment that I am pretty happy with is the Leyline of Vitality. This card has the usual Leyline ability, but also gives all your creatures +0/+1 and whenever a creature enters play under your control, you may gain 1 life. I love the flavor of this card because both abilities are designed to keep you and your creatures alive. Your 3/2 Garruk’s Companion is now a 3/3. Leatherback Baloth becomes a 4/6 and so on and so forth all the while you are gaining life. I’d love to see this card used in an elf deck, just to make it just a little more frustrating for all who play against it.
Alright now for the reason we’re all here, the Green creatures. Now just as a little note I won’t be talking about Garruk’s Packleader or Companion due to the fact I have already done so in other articles. With that said, lets get going. The first creature I definitely want to discuss is Acidic Slime. Sure this card is just a reprint and isn’t all that awesome, I mean seriously :mana3::manag::manag: for a 2/2, but I feel this card is going to be important. With Scars of Mirrodin inching towards the horizon, the ability for a green deck to destroy any target artifact, enchantment, or land, might be pretty darn useful. I know there are thousands of ways to deal with artifacts so this card won’t be too valuable, but it still might not be a bad idea to pick up a playset.
I almost feel contractually obligated to talk about this next card just out of the fact he is being hailed as one of the best cards in the game and it is easy to see why. Primeval Titan truly is a great creature. :mana4::manag::manag: for a 6/6, trampling beatstick that searches you up two lands whenever it is put onto the field or attacks, yes this is a great card. Now I’ll have to admit, that I wasn’t all that much for Primeval Titan when he first came out, but that all changed last weekend. Sunday afternoon I had just gotten done winning a little draft tournament going 4/0 winning the whole thing, woo me, when six other players decicded to stay after an do some constructed play. We ended up going with 4 teams of two headed giant and just had a blast. It was turn six and I had barely managed to help my team at all due to bad land draw, only having 4 islands to my name. However, the player to my right played a Primeval Titan. Using a Clone in conjunction with a Leyline of Anticipation, which I had put on the field for free on my opening turn, I cloned myself a Primeval Titan and got the land I needed for my next turn. On turn seven I drew a Mind Control and took control of the actual Primeval Titan. So in other words, thanks to two spells I managed to turn an opponent’s advantage into my own and doubling it. Thank you Primeval Titan for this most epic of plays.
There are so many creatures I want to talk about today, but if I do I know this article will become 20 pages long. As such I’ll finish up the creature section with my favorite green creature of M11, Gaea’s Revenge. Gaea’s Revenge is a :mana5::manag::manag:, 8/5 with haste that can’t be countered, and can’t be the target of nongreen sources… whooo. This card is AMAZING!!!! Essentially what this card is saying is “I’m a big basher that can’t be Mana Leaked or Doom Bladed.” Granted another big creature can still kill him, but that isn’t too bad when you realize your opponent will have to give up at least a creature if not two. This card is absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to put a few in my green deck.
Alright it is time for the Deck of the Week. This deck I have entitled Garruk’s Pack and it is a real doozy. Big creatures, small creatures, a literal army of threats that your opponent will have to deal with or risk being mauled to death. Now the reason I am so confident about this deck is because someone actually went out and played this deck. Here’s what they had to say,
“I have to say that I'm very impressed with this deck! I don't know how much you've gotten a chance to play with it, but it is really great. It does well, even against some of the tops. I beat RDW fairly hardcore with it yesterday, and it's alright even against board wiper decks. Thing is, you keep dropping cheap, large threats constantly. They HAVE to deal with almost everything you throw down, and you throw it down fairly quick.”
With such a raving review, how could I not look forward to constructing it myself one day. Let’s take a look:
Garruk’s Pack:
Creatures:
2x Gaea's Revenge
4x Garruk's Companion
4x Garruk's Packleader
4x Leatherback Baloth
4x Llanowar Elves
2x Primeval Titan
4x Sacred Wolf
Spells:
4x Boar Umbra
2x Leyline of Vitality
3x Overwhelming Stampede
Land:
20x Forest
4x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Leader:
3x Garruk Wildspeaker
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/garruks-pack/
Now this deck looks like it could be a ton of fun. Whether you’re dropping the Boar Umbra on a Sacred Wolf to bash with a 6/4 untouchable or, on turn five, tapping all five of your lands only to untap two lands with Garruk, tap them again, and then summon a Gaea’s Revenge, this deck has a lot of potential for some serious pain. I’d love to see a version of this deck running a playset of Vengevines. Wouldn’t that be cool, especially with Leyline of Vitality on the field? There is a lot of possibilites for this deck and I do hope to construct it myself one day.
Finally, we come to everyone’s favorite section the Closing Questions section:
1. In your opinion, how viable a card is Acidic Slime?
2. Mitotic Slime, or the Slime that never dies, what are your plans on how to use this creature?
3. Thanks to the surge of such great cards, do you think we’ll see an increase in the number of single colored decks in tournaments?
Thanks for reading this article. I know it was a little long, please forgive me, but I had so much to talk about. Please comment and chat and tell me what you think, trust me I will listen. And as always, “Etherium is Limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.