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A Complete Review of Scourge (green)109. Accelerated Mutation 3GG common Instant Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the highest converted mana cost among permanents you control. ==> FUN: 1 Way overcosted! If green has a big enough permanent in play to make Accelerated Mutation worth it (as opposed to being a really expensive Giant growth), it'll likely be a huge creature, one that doesn't need Accelerated Mutation to win you the game. Even Might of Oaks is cheaper than this and that gives +7/+7! -- 110. Alpha Status 2G common Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 for each other creature that shares a creature type with it. ==> FUN: 4 Alpha Status isn't for every deck, but theme decks can really benefit from it. If you have five creatures with the same type in play, Alpha Status gives +8/+8. Not bad. -- 111. Ambush Commander 3GG rare Creature - Elf 2/2 Forests you control are 1/1 Green elf creatures that are still land. 1G, Sacrifice an elf: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. ==> FUN: 4 Ambush Commander makes your lands vulnerable to mass removal like Wrath of God, Steamblast or Massacre. But it does give some interesting options. Priest of Titania and Gaea's Cradle will suddenly give a lot more mana and Alpha Status will make one of your elves huge. The ability to turn your elves into Giant Growths is pretty good as well, but probably overkill. -- 112. Ancient Ooze 5GG rare Creature - Ooze */* Ancient Ooze's power and toughness are each equal to the total converted mana cost of other creatures you control. ==> FUN: 3 There's the potential for Ancient Ooze to be absolutely huge in large creature stand-offs, but for seven mana I'd expect nothing less. The problem is that Ancient Ooze needs an army to back it up. No other creatures under your control means Ancient Ooze dies. Only one other creature means your opponent can kill the other creature and get Ancient Ooze with the same stone. That makes Ancient Ooze impressive, but only when you don't really need it. -- 113. Break Asunder 2GG common Sorcery Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Cycling 2 ==> FUN: 2 Not a bad card for green. It's reasonable costed when compared to Creeping Mold, but it's overcosted compared to the green Disenchant (Naturalize?). Cycling is useful, but it isn't worth two extra mana and the loss of being an instant. -- 114. Claws of Wirewood 3G uncommon Sorcery Claws of Wirewood deals 3 damage to each creature with flying and each player. Cycling 2 ==> FUN: 1 If it wasn't for the cycling, Claws of Wirewood would be completely inferior to Hurricane. And it still isn't much good. Claws of Wirewood can't even get rid of the standard mid-range fliers, like Serra Angel, Sengir Vampire and Air Elemental. And it doesn't stand a chance against the big dragons. There must be more interesting ways to get rid of fliers than these boring Hurricane wannabes. -- 115. Decree of Savagery 7GG rare Instant Put 4 +1/+1 counters on all creatures you control. Cycling 4GG. When you cycle Decree of Savagery, put four +1/+1 counters on target creature. ==> FUN: 4 A nifty ability, but Decree of Savagery looks like serious overkill. If Overrun is usually enough to win you the game in one turn, Decree of Savagery is more than enough. Sure, the counters stick around, but if you're going to win the game immediately anyway, what's the use of that? Well, it can be used at the end of your opponent's turn, so all your mana elves will be untapped for the big attack during your own turn, but it still smells of overkill to me. Maybe it wouldn't be if you're playing against a lifegain deck or if you're playing multiplayer or alternate rules (like starting at 100 life instead of 20). The cycling ability is interesting, but also very expensive, even if it is effectively a cantrip. -- 116. Divergent Growth G common Instant Until end of turn, lands you control gain "T: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool." ==> FUN: 2 Divergent Growth looks like a card that should have been printed in Invasion block. Onslaught doesn't need a lot of mana washing. Although Divergent Growth could come in handy if you're trying to play a deck with Queen Sliver and the Invasion dragons, it's still a poor-man's solution to a lack of good multicolor lands and Birds of Paradise. -- 117. Dragon Fangs 1G common Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample. When a creature with a converted mana cost of 6 or more comes into play, you may return Dragon Fangs from your graveyard to play enchanting that creature. ==> FUN: 4 A bit disappointing compared to the white version. Green usually has better creature enchantments than this. On the other hand, green has the easiest time getting a creature with 6cc or more into play because of its mana acceleration, so Dragon Fangs is more likely to get reused. But, do big green creatures really need the boost? They're usually big enough already and a lot have trample. -- 118. Elvish Aberration 5G uncommon Creature - Elf Mutant 4/5 T: Add GGG to your mana pool. Forestcycling 2 ==> FUN: 4 What's wrong with this picture? Other colors get strong, aggressive creatures as their mutant, but green gets a lackluster 4/5 utility creature. Usually when green gets to six mana, it doesn't need three extra. Six mana is enough to start casting some of the truly scary creatures and creature pumpers (like Overrun). But if you're going for an elf theme deck or for serious overkill (Fireball for 40 anyone?) Elvish Aberration is a good choice. The forestcycling probably won't be necessary in either case, but you never know when you're facing a landdestruction deck. -- 119. Fierce Empath 2G common Creature - Elf 1/1 When Fierce Empath comes into play, you may search your library for a creature with converted mana cost of six or more, show it to all players, then shuffle your library. ==> FUN: 5 I'll assume the searched-for creature is then put into your hand. If it's only put on top of your library, I like it a lot less. It's too bad Fierce Empath doesn't allow tutoring for some of green's solid utility creatures (Yavimaya Elder, Elvish Lyrist, Squalmonger etc.), but green has enough mana acceleration that the big creatures should be castable. If you're mana-light, you can even use it to tutor for Elvish Aberration and cycle it for an extra forest. Green's big creatures usually don't have a lot of utility to them, but there are a few that do (Gargantuan Gorilla from Alliances to name one). Also, note that the searched-for creature doesn't even have to be green. -- 120. Forgotten Ancient 3G rare Creature - Elemental 0/3 Whenever a player plays a spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Forgotten Ancient. At the beginning of your upkeep, you may move any number of +1/+1 counters from Forgotten Ancient onto other creatures. Its blood is life. Its body is growth. ==> FUN: 4 Forgotten Ancient will grow rapidly, especially if you use a cheap, recastable spell like Shrieking Drake. Spreading the +1/+1 counters around doesn't seem very useful, but it could come in handy on occasion, like when Forgotten Ancient has Pacifism cast on it, or if you're fearing a Terror. -- 121. Hunting Pack 5GG uncommon Instant Put a 4/4 green Beast token into play. Storm ==> FUN: 5 Hunting Pack is a bit more expensive than I'd like, but the fact that it's an instant, and thus likely to get you at least 2 4/4s as surprise attackers makes up for a lot. -- 122. Krosan Drover 3G common Creature - Elf 2/2 Creature spells you play with converted mana cost six or more cost 2 less to play. "Sit." ==> FUN: 5 I liked the red one that makes dragons 2 cheaper, but Krosan Drover is even better. Not that you'll need a lot of 6cc or more creatures to win, but it's always good to be able to cast two per turn as soon as you reach eight mana. -- 123. Krosan Warchief 2G uncommon Creature - Beast 2/2 Beast spells you play cost 1 less. 1G: Regenerate target Beast. ==> FUN: 5 I guess beasts don't really need their power and toughness increased, but I would have liked to see it anyway. Krosan Warchief is still a very nice addition to a beast deck, making the bigger beasts more castable and giving them some resistance against removal. Even all by itself, Krosan Warchief is a 2/2 with regenerate, making it more durable than the other Warchiefs. -- 124. Kurgadon 4G uncommon Creature - Beast 3/3 Whenever you play a creature spell with converted mana cost 6 or more, put 3 +1/+1 counters on Kurgadon. ==> FUN: 4 Just one fatty and Kurgadon itself becomes a force to be reckoned with. Usually, big creatures should be able to win the game all by themselves, but the possibility of getting a 9/9 without much effort is too much fun to ignore. -- 125. One with Nature G ??? Enchant Creature When enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player you may search your library for a basic land and put that card into play tapped. Then shuffle your library. ==> FUN: 4 I like this type of ability, so I've played with Avenging Druid quite a bit. Ideally, you can play One with Nature on your second turn when you've played a turn 1 Scryb Sprite. If your opponent has no way to get rid of it quickly, you'll soon have a lot of mana available to start playing fatties. Unfortunately, that Scryb Sprite is Shock Bait. Few people play without some kind of cheap removal. Although you should be able to avoid carddisadvantage, because you can play One with Nature when your opponent is tapped out (happens a lot on turn 2) and immediately attack and get a land. One with Nature could even be used on one of your opponent's creatures if you can't block it anyway. Your opponent will be forced to stop attacking or give you a free land every turn, which could be just what you need to cast your blocker or removal. -- 126. Primitive Etching 2GG rare Enchantment Reveal the first card you draw each turn. If it is a creature card, draw a card. ==> FUN: 4 Not as good as it looks at first. Usually, a 60 card deck has about 20 creatures, with the rest lands and a few utility cards. That means you'll draw an extra card on average every third turn. If you stretch things a bit, you could go up to 30 creatures in a 60 card deck, but even then you'll only draw one extra card every second turn. But with a bit of work, you can stack your deck in your favor. Use Bone Harvest to get all the creatures from your graveyard on top of your library, or use Soothsaying to stack your library creature-land-creature-land. But don't underestimate the drawback of having to show your opponent what you draw, it'll give him valuable information. -- 127. Root Elemental 4GG rare Creature - Elemental 6/5 Morph 5GG When Root Elemental is turned face up, you may put a creature card from your hand into play. ==> FUN: 4 Root Elemental is a solid creature all by itself, but when it morphs, it's two solid creatures. At ten mana total to use, it won't make anything big cheaper to cast, but it's still a bargain for two big creatures. As a nice extra, it can mean a surprise big blocker during your opponent's turn. -- 128. Sprouting Vines 2G common Instant Search your library for a basic land card. Show it to all players, place it in your hand, and then shuffle your library. Storm ==> FUN: 5 Not very strong, but Sprouting Vines is still a fun card. Early on, you should be able to get at least two lands out of it, making sure you can keep dropping land until you can cast your big stuff. A late-game Sprouting Vines can help thin your deck a lot and fill your hand with cards. Sure, they will only be basic lands, but in the right deck (with spellshapers, Wild Mongrel or threshold card), you can make good use of them. -- 129. Titanic Bulvox 6GG common Creature - Beast 7/4 Trample Morph 4GG ==> FUN: 3 Nothing much special. Eight mana makes Titanic Bulvox not worth casting the hard way, but with morph it's costed a bit better. -- 130. Treetop Scout G common Creature - Elf 1/1 Treetop Scout can't be blocked except by creatures with flying. ==> FUN: 3 Treetop Scout looks like a reprint to me, but I can't find the set it's from, so I may be wrong about that. It's basically the same as Scryb Sprites, but isn't vulnerable to Hurricane. An ok creature, but too small to be of much use. Although I can imagine a deck with Treetop Scout, Scryb Sprites and flying men would be fun with a lot of cheap creature enchantments (One with Nature, Curiosity, Unstable Mutation) and some counterspells to protect the fragile onslaught long enough to win. -- 131. Upwelling 3G rare Enchantment Mana pools don't empty at the end of phases or turns. (This effect stops mana burn.) Once again, Kamahl felt the full force of the Mirari's pull, but he had learned much since the last time. ==> FUN: 5 A very odd card, but a fun one. Upwelling allows you to start saving up your mana from one turn to the next. If your opponent doesn't do something about it, you can quickly save up enough mana to fireball him for 20 or just to cast some big creature. Of course your opponent can do the same thing, so you have to make sure your creatures are bigger. You should also be very careful, because a single Disenchant can really ruin your day if you have 20+ mana in your mana pool and nothing you can sink it into. -- 132. Wirewood Guardian 5GG common Creature - Elf Mutant 6/6 Forestcycling 2 ==> FUN: 2 This mutant is even more vanilla than the other one. At least it's bigger, but I wouldn't play it, except in an elf deck that's desperate for some in-theme fatty. -- 133. Wirewood Symbiote G uncommon Creature - Insect 1/1 Return an elf you control to its owner's hand: Untap target creature. Play this ability only once per turn. ==> FUN: 5 Think Quirion Ranger, but instead of bouncing forests, you're bouncing elves. Wirewood Symbiote may even be more useful, because it can save your elves from destruction and untap a mana elf so you can recast the elf you bounced, or untap a big creature to block. Also, it works well with elves like Yavimaya Granger and Multani's Acolyte to get cardadvantage. You can even use it once on your own turn and once on your opponent's turn, if necessary. -- 134. Woodcloaker 5G common Creature - Elf 3/3 Morph 2GG When Woodcloaker is turned face up, target creature gains trample until end of turn. ==> FUN: 1 Incredibly expensive. Trample just isn't that strong an ability. Add to that that most of the green creatures big enough to make it worth using Woodcloaker on already have trample. -- 135. Xantid Swarm G rare Creature - Insect 0/1 Flying Whenever Xantid Swarm attacks, defending player can't play spells until end of turn. ==> FUN: 2 Xantid Swarm would be a very powerful creature if you could find a way to attack with it during your opponent's upkeep. As it is, it just hoses counterspells and prevents annoying combat tricks during your turn. Handy, but not much fun. I like counterwars and sneaky combat tricks too much. |
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