From an article... Is green simply the lousiest casual color?

[rakso]

VOTE OSCAR --> http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=3042

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=3042

The article talks about rating green for both competitive Type I and broader casual play. I felt green was simply the most inflexible for both. That doesn't mean it sucks absolutely, just that you can play with a lot less compared to other colors.

This was a tough article to write, considering I had less than 2-days notice for "Bash Randy Friday" and didn't even make Friday. So I was wondering if my thoughts sound about right.

 

[theorgg]

It was a great article, Rakso.

I truly liked the example of Green's Hatred: Green Yoda twiddles the hair on his head(for free), and scoops up his cards.


I want green to get some tricks like Avoid Fate... but it seems that blue is the countering color, even when its only protecting creatures...

 

[BigBlue]

I love green too. They get the best Fatties, and they have some pretty cool stuff. But when it comes to tourney level cards, they just get shafted.

A card Green should have: A 2-drop GG 2/1 Elf who gives 1G for mana.

Another card Green should have never lost: Berserk. Or maybe it should have been a gold RG spell and involved a sacrifice instead of simply destroy, but that is the kind of nastiness G deserves.

If Green is supposed to be the color of Creatures, then it should have gotten hardier ones. Far too many of their creatures are too easilly dealt with, every other color including White can kill a fattie with one spell (other than the uncounterable, untargetable one or two). Black was given far too easy creature removal, and far to much for the G player to deal with.

Why should a Force of Nature cower to Terror? Isn't it a Terror in and of itself? Terror should only have affected small creatures, or cost the Dark Mage life to cast in my view.

I can live with them not getting Flyers, that isn't in it's flavor. Not that Nature doesn't deserve flyers, but WotC has a twisted definition of Nature which somehow I understand enough to get their non-flying point. Weirdness.

I don't foresee anything changing for Green in the future. WotC R&D continues to claim it doesn't "hate" Green, yet they get few great cards, and we're told not to expect repeats of some of the best ones (Wild Mongrel).

If I sound radical, it is because I am. My least favorite spell in the game is Wrath of God, even moreso than Armageddon. White get's all the effecient weenies it wants and when it falls behind, get's to clear the board. I've always felt that the game should be won and lost on the battlefield, not via cheezy combo's. This isn't to say that I don't play cheezy combos, cux I most certainly do. And my name is more appropriate to me, I prefer Blue to any of the colors, but I secretly covet Green. I wish Green had stronger cards or at least stronger defense. It's only Good Surprise (instant) is Growth. It has inefficient and weak removal (none of which is creature removal). In mono-color land, Green is by far outclassed and easilly dealt with.

My best Green deck, is an enchantress deck, which uses Masticore to win much of the time.

Holy Ramble on Bat-Man, time to end this crusade.

 

[rakso]

High praise from THE ORGG.

 

[Spiderman]

Hey rakso, you mentioned in your article

This adds another unintuitive two-card combo to Type I and I.5, another culprit being Illusionary Mask-Phyrexian Dreadnought

Does the new ruling on Illusionary Mask change it (scroll down to get to the Mask ruling)?

 

[rakso]

Dude, if none of the CIP effects take effect due to the Mask, then don't you think the guy doesn't need to sac 12 power of creatures anymore?

So, he gets an artifact 12/12 for 2 cards and 3 mana...

 

[Spiderman]

I didn't know what you were referring to originally and I don't usually play with those cards so...

 

[Dune Echo]

I read Randy Buehler's initial article and damn near wanted to punch him for what I feel is a particularly valid reason. I'm more than a little pissed to hear that "green is too good." It's a load of bull.

Green has been played in tournaments yes, but since when has it dominated a format? Since when has blue dominated, unbalanced, utterly wrecked, and completely trashed a format? Since the beginning. What percentage of the Power 9 is blue? What percentage is green? 'nuff said.

To add to the growing list of outrage that is apparent over Randy's insane statement, I'd like to point out a few things:

Green Type 1 restricted cards from Urza Block:
-

Blue Type 1 restricted cards from Urza Block:
Stroke of Genius
Timetwister
Frantic Search
Tinker

And Morphling is a wrecking ball.

I don't care if Randy lives in a world where Invasion block rotated out 9 months ago. Green has some fun cards that have been seen in tournaments, yes. But never were they over-the-top as R&D (Randy in particular) seems to think they are. Look at every single article written on Star City in response to his article.

Randy has ALWAYS been a blue player and I knew adding him to R&D was a mistake. I'm not saying this is a death knoll for Magic, but it is a mistake to think that "Well... mission accomplished, and then some."

R&D has admitted that Urza Block is a mistake. When they push green so hard that they admit it too was a mistake, then Randy can claim "mission accomplished." Until then, don't MOO! with my green cards!

All in all, Rakso, my hat off to you! You've nailed the problem right on the head like so many other incensed players and you've done it quite well.

 

[rakso]

MOO!

 

[Jigglypuff]

Just wanted to say that I totally agree with Dune Echo's statements.

And to Spidey: That's exactly what I was referring to in my response to your rulings update post: that Wizards clarified the issue on whether CIP or ITWCIP effects trigger.

(- Steve -)

 

[rakso]

But, Dune Echo...

Hope this doesn't rub you the wrong way, and not that your feedback is well-received but...

It's r-a-k-s-o.

We have different lingual patterns in our ends of the world, it would seem.

 

[Spiderman]

Actually, I was making the same spelling mistake when I was first putting up the primers. I realized it about 5 primers in and had to go back and edit your name

 

[rakso]

You're the greatest Spidey, even if it was Maguire who got to smooch Kirsten Dunst.

 

[Dune Echo]

Would you believe in all the time I've been going to BD and have read many (if not all) of your articles and never once caught my mistake?! For some reason, I always thought it was "rasko" like "rascal." Sorry about that! I've editted my post to correct it. Man, do I feel bad!

 

[rakso]

LOL!

Happens all the time.

It's so funny I pretend it's my personal excuse to flog people on BD or something.

 

[Purple_jester]

I play T1 myself, and while I don't play competetively, I do agree with your comments regarding Green. I believe that the quality of Green's creatures now is a step in the right direction, but I believe that the process is by no means complete. It also seems to me that the color needs more non-creature support. Y'know, OTHER abilities beside pumping. Card drawing seems to be an excellent choice...

I have a question though: Will Green have to become dominant in order to make up for R&D's sins, or will a balanced environment be sufficient?

 

[rakso]

Which format?

If you're talking Type I, since all mistakes get compiled in Type I, nothing has to be dominant all at once in Type II.

 

[Purple_jester]

I'm probably talking about dominance (or balance) in T2. Since R&D want to focus on creatures in green, then the only way they can make a good T1 green creature is to make it Morphling caliber. Something like:

Buehler's Bane GG2 5/5
If [this] is countered, put it into play and draw a card.
G: [this] has protection from blue until end of turn
G: [this] gets +1/+1 until end of turn
G: [this] is unblockable
G: If [this] gets put into a graveyard this turn, instead put it into your hand and draw a card.
2: Put a 1/1 green Rowdy Randy token with protection from blue into play.

I just don't see them making creatures like that in a T2 environment. What do you think?

 

[rakso]

Like I said in my article, that'd be the "dumb" way of doing it. It'd wreck limited for one thing.

Seriously, that has absolutely no imagination whatsoever already, and that's why the Urza Block was strong but lousy, unlike more imaginative blocks that were more memorable.

 

[Purple_jester]

Perhaps that's the danger. Green gets shafted in Constructed because it's the "Limited" color. That's why I'm in favor of giving green more abilities. Or at least, increase it's share of the abilities it already has, like card drawing and library manipulation. While I have no problems about the "flavor" of the colors, it seems to me that blue has way too much flavor already, while green (and white) are getting scraps.