And now we come to my least favorite color, green. I’m pretty sure that my disdain for green stems from the fact that when I first started playing Magic, I would often lose to green decks and not understand why. My compadre Hayes would infuriate me with a Spike Weaver deck that tied me up until it started plowing me under and eventually got around to winning. On the other side, my friend Kurt and cousin Blake both played Elf decks that ramped quickly into massive threats. If you’ve ever been on the loosing end of a Balance because your opponent kept a Caller of the Claw in their hand, you have my sympathies.
I tried for years to make a mono-green deck that I liked. The closest I came was Nine-Land Stompy. Then it occurred to me that I didn’t dislike what green did, I just had bad memories of playing against it and never really cared for its aesthetic (recurring fog is annoying and Elves are dumb). This deck started forming in my mind during Kamigawa block with the printing of Reki and Time of Need. A green-backed legend deck. I just needed the right legends.
As I’ve stated, Elves are dumb, and green doesn’t get many non-Elf legends. Then starting with Ixalan, I started seeing green legends that I liked. Behemoths that were worthy of the title LEGEND. Dinosaurs. Giant Apes. And finally, a thirty-foot wolf. It was time to go on a rampage. It was time to bring the biggest, baddest monsters in cinematic and videogame history to the table. When they printed a Godzilla card, destiny was set.
This deck spends the early game ramping up its mana base and hiding behind Plants. Once you’ve hacked your way through the jungle, you’ll wish you hadn’t because you’ll be face-to-face with one of the original titans: King Kong or Godzilla. Since even the biggest baddies need some backup, I added George and Ralph from Rampage (but sadly, haven’t found a card for Lizzie yet). I even found a place for Reki, represented here by George’s favorite primatologist. Consider the scale of my creatures if the Rock himself is a 1/2.
Homebrew Cycle – Suggested Colors, Part 1
While designing Gold Boons, I explored what each pair of colors shared that brought them together. Clearly, I had more ideas for where these colors intersected, and ideas that were too big to fit within the confines of a boon. Here we have allied spells that cost between two and four mana, depending on how tightly the caster conforms to the mana cost’s colors.
White and blue have always been the best control colors for spells. And the ultimate permission card is not Force of Will, but Mother of Runes. This card sits well next to both Force Spike and Mana Tithe.
At WU, this spell holds its own against Dovin’s Veto and Hindering Light. At 2U or 2W, we see a slightly improved Convolute. And at 4, we allow a player in any color to stop a card unless the caster checks their raise of four additional mana.
This one was easy from start to finish. Blue almost got this ability for 2U with Long-Term Plans. Black has danced around this ability for years from Cruel Tutor to Diabolical Tutor. And securing a draw for 4 in any color seems fair to me.
Even the artwork for this card was easy. Sometimes I spend hours looking for the image I want. This was the first one that came up when I typed in “fantasy art scheme”.
We’ll never see the like of Sinkhole again, and that’s probably for the best. This card comes close, though, and is a fitting successor to Fulminator Mage. Unlike Stone Rain and Choking Sands, this card misses all basic lands, allowing a shrewd player to play around it.
Anyone thinking that 4 mana is too cheap for any color to destroy a land should remember that Wasteland is no longer restricted.
I actually thought of this card when designing a cycle of colorless Mercenaries that brought keywords to any color. And true to that pedigree, this card brings a 3/3 trampler to any color for four mana (which was going rate back in my day).
With creatures getting more powerful (which I wholeheartedly support), I could see a 3/3 trampler printed at 2R or 2G without batting an eye. Is it too good at RG… maybe.
This has always been my favorite “archer” ability, one that I think fits much better than reach. It’s long been in white from archers and engineers, but the ability to deal damage equal to power has has been green since Tracker, and continues to be seen with cards like Ambuscade.
At 4, this card is clearly weaker than Heavy Ballista, so much so, that I’m beginning to think that this one might not be strong enough.