|
|
It would seem fitting to end Future Sight with one of the wildest colors of the MTG color pie: Green. 32 of Future Sight's cards are mono-Green and seem to do everything from variable creature power and toughness to powerful quick beaters, to the subtle spells that Green isn't that well known for. Also, if you’re not up to speed on the rest of Future Sight’s First Impressions, you can read all about: The Multicolor/Artifacts, the White, the Blue, the Black, and the Red. Now I'm going to start with a warning; I look at cards very closely. I am a casual player in the means that I'll see every possible combination in the game of Magic, from Black Lotus to Venser, from Johnny the Combo Player to Timmy the Power Gamer and Simic Sky Swallower. In my world of Magic there is no banned or restricted list, just cards and a game. Love it or Hate it, that is the game of Casual Magic.
Ahh, the Grandeur cycle, I'm glad to get this one done quickly... I like cycles, don't get me wrong, but if you’re going to do one, keep it at best 2 cycles per set, meaning 6 cycles per block. Wizards didn't do a good job this time, with 5 cycles in this set that I've counted so far. Baru is a cool card; he really has that green feeling about him. Each time your lands grow, your buddies get a boost and trample, and when all your buddies are 5/5s and 7/7s and you drop one land, that makes them that much more dangerous. But in comparison to Kamahl's Overrun ability, it still pales in comparison. The Grandeur ability feels like a ploy by Wizards to get you to buy 4 copies each time you feel like trying him out (thank you Magic Workstation), but this time it's worth it with the ability to make a Wurm for free, and in the late game (or mid-game in Green’s case) with Reclaim or Recollect, recurring an extra copy of Baru might give you a nice little tribe of Big Trampling Wurms. Grade B – in the end he does what Kamahl doesn't do. I might test them together and see what the Fists of Krosa do, but I'll need a good mount of Recursion to make Grandeur worth the use.
Wait a second... this is in the Future-shifted frame, does that mean... I hope not, I hope we never go back to Snow Creatures, I had a bastard of a time swallowing that Coldsnap is the 3rd set in the Ice Age Block [10 years prior] and make up some BS reason for another bad set [Homelands, yes, I'm talking about you and your Vampiric Baron too], but besides that this is a bit nicer than Krosan Drover if you can find a way to tap him and keep him that way... or at least have the ability be something along the lines of a Birds of Paradise ability (with Utopia Vow or Paradise Mantle, for example). Grade A- or B+ -- I'm not sure which yet, I'd really have to test if this guy can take out the Krosan Drovers from my friend’s deck...
Another of Future Sight’s cycles, the self-recurring spell. This one is really just a Giant Growth every three turns, which isn't bad. The cost of Giant Growth + Reclaim is cheaper, but I'd only get that usage a few times, where every three turns with this I HAVE to give a creature +3/+3, which is nice to tell the opponent, oh yeah, btw, Wrath of God when this has one time counter on it. Grade B- -- If you don't worry about Wrath like Green normally does, then this is a cool card. Hopefully you'll see it trigger maybe two or three times before you win the game.
Another Hybrid Creature/Other Type mix...
I say: As Tynion said it has benefits and drawbacks, but seriously, I can drop a Llanowar Elves and a Forest and get the same effect, plus Dryad Arbor doesn't give me mana on the first turn where I could drop a Llanowar Elves instead. I mean sure this will be one of the few cards that would be good in a deck that utilizes Baru with it coming into play as a creature, and sure you can splash Red to give it haste, but will it best any other first turn drop? No, and that affords it a... Grade D- - It'll see play, then it'll see the graveyard, and then it'll see the shoe box. Might be fine with Baru, might be a hassle in all types that can afford a Llanowar Elves, or they'll run both and pound their head into a wall when they get both without a normal Forest.
This card is counter-intuitive, uh, meaning it does the opposite you want it to depending how you want to use it. Ok, for 1G you can get a land... why does that sound like another card I own... Rampant Growth seems to come to mind. Ok, sure it has cycling, but it costs the sacrificing of a land to do it. So late game, mana base is firm, and fine, then yeah, it's ok to sac a land, but in between turns five and ten that's a dead draw. Grade C – it's an OK card if you don't have Rampant Growth around.
Grade C- -- for not being able to stand on its own legs, and it'll need a lot more help to get out of burn range to be a threat on the field, but on turn 4 (after using turn three for the Anthem) he'll be a nice 9/1 trampling creature, who'll attack once and fall to a first strike creature.
This is new, I kinda like this one. When the opponent Wrath's the field I'll get to draw a card... Grade B+ -- Multiplayer will enjoy having this card.
In the color where a 4/4 for 4 with a drawback is common and a 4/4 for 4 with a positive effect is rare, this card finds itself just a cut above both, with a “drawback” that isn't a problem. And it's a 5/5, so it finds a nice spot in the grade of... Grade A- -- I'd use it.
Ooh, Kavu, this creature type does hold a place in my heart; I still have a Kavu deck just waiting for this guy. The kicker is tough, but with convoke you can pay 4 mana and tap four creatures to have a 7/7 turn four, and that's beautiful. Grade B+ -- Usable but hardly abusable. Good Green fatty.
This one I like, Augurs still feel like dumbed down Magi, but that's fine. This one makes up for it by being better than both Seal of Strength and Giant Growth, but then kills its own advantage by making the ability only usable during your upkeep. Grade B+ -- no combat trick, but it'll make that Elvish Warrior a 5/6 Trampling creature until end of turn, and that is cool. Oh and for those who've been counting, that's the third cycle I've covered so far...
Cool, if it’s a creature you draw it, if it isn't it sucks to be you, but hopefully Scry 2 doesn't find two lands or two good spells. I feel they're trying to 'fix' another Empath from Scorge: Fierce Empath, but that's just me. Grade B- -- It will be seen in Elf decks that don't know about or don't remember Llanowar Sentinel.
Uh... yeah... Elf deck, do you want more than 4 Llanowar Elves? Well look no further! The only thing it'll cost you is your hand! Seriously, this is a threatening card, with the ability to make mana producing Elves for the quick discard of a card and G and tapping this Spellshaper. I bet this guy if he gets to run for a while will be very mean, but otherwise the average casual player won't think twice about shocking the living force out of this one. Grade A – it will be played, it will be killed, it will be known to go as quickly as Wellwisher if done well... yeah, cycle 4 of Future Sight, only one more to go, can you name it?
This could be good and bad; the good is that it's extra mana for free for you; the bad, the opponent as well. The good, the opponent might not be able to use it, causing mana burn; the bad, he might and you might not. Grade A – it might not be the original, but it'll do, and keep something that you can filter the extra mana into if you don't need it (see Green Mana Battery) and yes, this is the final cycle I’ll cover in Future Sight.
The pronunciation is Mura-gand-a Petro-glyphs, but I just call it Whipped Cream. Vanilla creatures finally get a good Enchantment to help their lacking in other areas. I like this card, it's new, it's different and it makes the vanilla creatures in this set worthwhile, wait... BLAST YOU WIZARDS! You've disguised a cycle of vanilla creatures and tried to play it off on me, well BLAST YOU WIZARDS!!!
I could write an article just on this creature alone, oh wait... that's been done already... Streetz's little article “One Card to Rule them All: Nacatl War-Pride” seems to cover it well... the only thing I have to say is that anytime you use this and red, remember Goblin War Drums. You'll thank me later. Grade A+ -- this card is way too good not to try at least once...
Grade B -- Vanilla, 3/3 for 3, and it's a cycle. It has no use other than in a vanilla theme deck with the Glyphs and maybe a Fist of Krosa.
Cool, an enchantment with suspend, I almost wish it was an Anthem variant. It’s no Moldervine Cloak, but it'll do, and just like Cyclical Evolution, it might see a Wrath of the Field or another card that I'm about to get to. I feel that this is another cycle in Future Sight... Gift of Granite, Leaden Fists, Oblivion Crown, Flowstone Embrace, and Petrified Plating? Does that count as a cycle? I'm so confused now... Grade B+ -- I'm liking it, but I'm just as equally confused...
It neat, but only worth the cost in a mono-Green deck with a bunch of Green symbols in the hand. Grade B- -- it might see play, but only in mono-Green.
I like this one quite a bit; it's fast, it's untargetable, and it's a way to make discard effectively non-effective. If this creature was any bigger it would be a hard cut above the rest and that would be cool. Grade A+ -- the only reason you’re not running it now is that you haven't seen it yet or you’re not playing green.
This is a solid card and I wouldn't be surprised if I see this flying more than the normal Green Disenchant, Naturalize, since you can let the opponent keep his enchantment or artifact, but it hinders him from winning, so I see this as a winning combination. Grade A – this might be the better Naturalize, but now it can be Disenchanted too.
Three mana for a single swing of six? Not worth it to me, but of course there is that little Timebug I dropped the turn prior, so that'll be no problem... if you don't have the Timebug just wait till seven mana rolls around, and in Green that normally is turn five or six, and then get this guy for a good 24 to 30 damage if he goes unblocked... Grade B+ -- Strictly the beater in a deck that is Green and utilizes suspend and vanishing, but Maelstrom Djinn happens to be more in color than this beast. If all else fails, Timebug it.
One of the nicest cards in the game is Exploration. It happens to do half of this card's ability, but Exploration costs G. Howling Mine happens to have the other half and it costs 2, so it seems natural to me for this card at 2G, and well, Wizards, go you. You got this one right. Grade A – it won't replace the other two, but it'll be nice in a Green deck that can utilize the lands (Baru)
Non-threat, but the idea for this guy is a big pump spell like Mythic Proportions and then anything like Shielding Plax. So this guy is fine to make into a threat, but Green has a plenty of “natural” threats like Thorn Elemental, and that Riftwurm I just covered.
Five cost for a 4/4 common, not bad. Oh wait and it's a fungus, oh that's nice. Oh and it does the fungus thing with spore counters, ok, cool. Wait, it has this ability... Remove only two? That’s really nice. And it gives it to all the creatures you control? This card is... Grade A+ -- if you don't get it, you'll have your face beaten in by it.
What can I say; it's strictly better than Sprout, which was printed in the same block. Convoke can make it free and Buyback can make it a threatening hassle to the opponent. Add some fungus like that one above and you'll have a party. Grade A- / B+ -- it's good in almost any Green swarm, but just a cut better in a swarm that does what it does.
All right, now the last time I looked at a Pact it failed, because it tried to live up to a card that can't be taken from its throne: Force of Will. Now this one is a bit different, taking a taste from Natural Order, which has you sacrifice a Green creature, but you do get the new one right into play, so I'll give it that. Now there’s still the lose the game stigma and the fact that you don't know what the future holds, which is not the way I'd like going about it. Maybe use this at the end of the opponent's turn and then pay the cost and play the new creature, but besides that it affords itself...
At best it's an 8/9 once Lorwyn comes out with its Planeswalkers. I could see this being a nice creature to have right after Glimpsing the Unthinkable and just watch the opponent try to deal with a 7/8 (or 8/9) for two mana. Grade A – the later in the game it is, the nicer this seems to get.
If you give it a ping ability it becomes a really nasty sniper. Or you could give it a Bloodfire Infusion and then sacrifice it and have a Wrath of God. And it can block flying, which is cool too. Grade A- -- it's better than the other Elf Archers thanks to Deathtouch.
Interesting... first they gave a Sliver the Paradise ability via Gemhide Sliver, and now the Fungi get the Utopian version of the Paradise ability. It doesn't feel fair, but Slivers are fair, amongst themselves. Grade B+ -- you'll play it in a Fungus deck, but nothing more.
Speak of the devil... Slivers, what am I going to do with you? This one is not half bad; it grants all Slivers the poison ability, which can kill you when put in combination with a blue Sliver I know, but in multiples this gets very nasty very quickly. Grade C+ -- Because Slivers don't need any more help, they have just about every combat ability in the game of Magic short of Rampage, in which they have a cut above that with Spined Sliver.
What is this? You give White Ghostway and they have Wrath of God, and this is all you give Green? Yeah, sure, cheaper, I get that, but this isn't going to save us from Wrath of God. Grade B- – it's a better Regeneration, but it's not a way to stave off the Wrath of God, and where this card might be useful, Fog almost covers.
You can't go wrong with almost any of the creatures in this color and set. Sure there will be better in casual, but really some will shine strong even there. Six, maybe seven cycles? That’s what, 30 to 35 cards? Out of 180 and that's only covering the cycles that hit Green? That’s not including the “not-a-creature” morph cards, the Future Sight Duals, and the is-a-creature-as-well-as-a cards... we’re talking almost half the set is cycles. Green non-creature spells might be a bit odd, but there are a couple of golden tickets in that batch of Wonka bars. This has been an event, thanks for the read, and as always back to the Aether with me.
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums
here.
Articles
Spotlights from 2007: |
|