Sunday, October 30, 2016

Commander 2016: Green

I am still excited about all those White 'counters matter' cards. I liked the other ranges so far, but White has me hooked.


Benefactor's Draught: It lets opponents decide if they want to give you card draw for blocking your attack or they would rather take the damage. The moment to play this card, of course, is when you are ready for a blowout attack. Only then will you place your opponent in a difficult position.
Evolutionary Escalation: Best friends with Hardened Scales. I like the difficult choice of which opponent gets the counters, especially if you have a way to remove the opposing creature after you put the counters on it. It's an early drop. That's nice.
Primeval Protector: That's quite the beater as long as the table has not been board wiped.


Seeds of Renewal: Can cost very little, yet you still have to hard cast those creatures. I am not a fan of this type of effect because you still need the mana to cast them, but it can help a lot after a board wipe. This is a good recovery card. The better card is the one that prevents you from needing to recover.
Stonehoof Chieftain: It's a very expensive card in any format, even Commander. Compare with Griselbrand. It only gives the protection to one other creature you control. It is indestructible itself, and that is solid.
Beast Within: Solid reprint. You can take out something awesome and then only have to face a 3/3 vanilla token. That can be a great save.


Beastmaster Ascension: That is quite the clock to rush to destroy this in a Commander game. It will probably work best with a bunch of red Haste creatures hitting early are fast, and also with White weenies.
Burgeoning: Very strong card from Stronghold. An awesome reprint.
Champion of Lambholt: A strong creature if you can play a lot of creatures after you cast this.


Collective Voyage: This will clear all basic lands out of all player's decks. One great way to speed up the game for everyone.
Cultivate: Needed by Green.
Den Protector: A great reprint. One of the recently-rotated Standard stars. It's 'target card,' and that means any card you need out of your graveyard.


Far Wanderings: Torment reprint. Another mana card for Green.
Farseek: Needed by Green to help other colors in the deck.
Forgotten Ancient: Scourge reprint. Moving the counters is great if you have Hardened Scales on the board.


Gamekeeper: Urza's Destiny reprint. So many broken cards in that block. This is not one of those cards, yet it is still very good. You don't have to pay the casting cost of the revealed creature and that's very important. Reads like an Ura card, allright.
Hardened Scales: there it is, the most fun reprint in this entire product. I played the daylights out of this card when it was in Standard, and I still play it in every format just because it is so awesome. Those extra counters sure add up in a deck full of 'counters matter' creatures.
Inspiring Call: one of my favorite cards when it was in Standard. So much card draw out of this card!


Kalonian Hydra: Kill it or else. This thing gets big fast. A key card in any deck.
Kodama's Reach: Mana for Green. A classic reprint from Kamigawa block.
Lurking Predators: A mid to late game play, even in Commander. You can free cast the creature, and that's awesome.


Managorger Hydra: I played this card so much when it was in Standard! It gets big really fast in any format, and biggest in Commander. So awesome!
Mycoloth: Play it with Hardened Scales on the board, and generate a bunch of tokens. I will take it!
Oath of Druid: One of the most iconic cards in all of Magic, and the centerpiece of a deck, the 'Oath Deck.' Give your opponent a small creature, and then you can cast Griselbrand. Part of a cycle in Exodus.


Quirion Explorer: A great card to help you with mana fixing. From Planeshift.
Rampant Growth: Needed by Green, especially to help other colors in the deck.
Realm Seekers: An awesome mid to late game play in Commander. True, hands will likely not be that full mid to late game, but still, with many opponents, this thing can come in really big. And then you get to tutor for the colors you are missing or low on. That's great.


Rites of Flourishing: A 'group hug' card. Another card that is needed to speed up multiplayer.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: a classic reprint from Kamigawa block. Even today, a Modern staple.
Satyr Wayfinder: a great way to add a color you are missing.


Scavenging Ooze: One of the key reprints of any reprint product. An awesome card in all format.
Shamanic Revelation: I played this card a lot when it was in Standard. Card draw never gets old and becomes unwanted.
Solidarity of Heroes: Awesome card in Commander, and even better if Hardened Scales is on the board.


Sylvok Explorer: great way to help with colors you need more of.
Tempt with Discovery: another 'speed up' card to get the game to conclude faster.
Thelonite Hermit: goes with anything dropping Saproling tokens, and then goes with anything that helps with counters on your creatures or gives you benefit because you have counters on your creatures. Nice.


Thunderfoot Baloth: Helps with finishing opponents off if you still have a bunch of creatures on the board.
Tuskguard Captain: Solid helper to deal combat damage to player.
Veteran Explorer: Weatherlight reprint. Another 'speed up' card. Everyone gets to play more lands and get unstuck.


Wall of Blossoms: Stronghold reprint. 'Draw a card': enough said.
Wild Beastmaster: Boost this up and then you get to boost everything else up.