General Interesting p1p1 green cards

Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
A player remarked last year that there isn't a single green card in my cube he would p1p1. While I disagree that green is that starved for good picks, it is true that there are less cards in this color that I am excited to p1p1 than other colors. In the past I have cut cards like Titania, Protector of Argoth and Nissa, Vital Force for being too much and/or generically powerful (without leading to interesting game states), so I was wondering whether you got any interesting cards in your cubes that would definitely pull you into green. I'ld say in my current cube these cards would do that for me.



And maybe, depending on the pack...

 
inscho

inscho



I think green has the most of my favorite first pick cards of any of the colors in my cube. White is the color I have the hardest time incentivizing via first picks.

I kind of miss garruk and titania...
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Berserk is mostly power level I think, but it does give a disproportionate amount of power to doublestrike combo.

Sylvan Library is the #1 pull into green card ever, but I'm down on it because its a raw power do nothing that gives incidental power into places that don't need it.

In my cube in the past, rancor was probably the best overall card and definitely worth p1ing.

I think birds of paradise, noble hierarch, , Hornet Queen, Courser of Kruphix, and Curse of Predation are all very attractive first picks. Specifically in my cube Hornet Nest, Eidolon of Blossoms, Oakheart Dryad, and Hardened Scales might also fit. One of my players would also add overrun, which he would pick over literally any other card.
 
inscho

inscho

Chris Taylor said:
Is berserk an archetype anchor or is it first pickable on raw power alone?
Click to expand...

My experience with it in my cube is as more of an anchor card. Not that it couldnt be taken for power alone, but my drafters usually have more synergistic options available in the draft. I find it wheels when there isn’t an aggressive green deck at the table. I don’t recall seeing it randomly included in decks that aren’t suited to take advantage of it.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Lots of sweet replies, just got back from my prerelease. I forgot about Life from the Loam and Courser of Kruphix, those are definitely cool cards, and already in my cube :)

Tireless Tracker is currently benched, because it often seem just a bit too good. I have a hard time evaluating the actual power of that card, but it's definitely a draw into green. I'm continuously on the fence over that card. Maybe I should put it back in?

I also used to have two Birthing Pods in my cube, but the deck was either too reliable or not reliable enough. I don't think I've ever seen a game where the interaction was just right. Curse of Predation was too much for my environment, and Overrun is three green, which is a hard sell in my specific format because of the focus on two- and even three color builds. I now run Garruk Wildspeaker as my team wide green pump of choice. Finally, I cut all one mana acceleration, so Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch are out. Green gets two mana ramp, and other colors get three mana ramp in the form of mana rocks in the artifact section, Wrath effects start at five mana. This has really helped more aggressive and tempo oriented strategies, and I'm unlikely to ever go back to Llanowar Elves in this iteration of the cube.

Oracle of Mul Daya on the other hand looks very interesting. Definitely a design I can get behind! Thanks! Survival of the Fittest could be cool, but I'm more inclined to run Fauna Shaman in its stead, because it's a little more interactive. I actually ran that card long ago, and really liked it. It went out when I started running two Pods, I believe, and just never came back? I've cut tutor effects to a minimum, but this might be a cool one. I really loved the constellation mechanic, and if they ever bring that back, I might reintroduce it to my cube as well. Eidolon of Blossoms is a sweet, sweet card!

Oh. And fuck Hornet Queen! I'm not on speaking terms with that card. :p
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
Between raw power level, synergy potential I can maximize if I have them from the start, and cards that have both, green might have more interesting first-picks than any other colour (especially impressive since green doesn't have the equivalent of Lightning Bolt or Doom Blade that always gets taken and splashed). Some more examples:



See this thread also
 
RavebornMuse

RavebornMuse

In my format, these are probably my top p1p1 for green:



But really, it's very contextual based on whatever I'm in the mood to play, and I'd guess that's similarly true for your drafters. If you have a stable drafting base, and they aren't enthused by what green's doing, maybe the real answer, terrible as it may be, is to re-tune the color and its relationships more drastically?
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Oh, I don't know if that's necessary. Green does get picked up and wins matches. In fact, the player who said he didn't see any good green first picks in my cube list, of all people, won a draft last fall with a {R}{G} Stormbind deck! I do think he's somewhat right though, even if the "no first picks" is a gross exaggeration, so I thought maybe I could add a card or three to the list.

Vengevine (if I can find my copy) and Rancor are good suggestions too. I've always eyed Lotus Cobra, but every time I think about buying one I remember I have a fetch based cube, which means it accellerates to five mana on turn 3, and that's way ahead of the four mana you can ramp up to with every other ramp spell in my cube. I'm not comfortable with that extra mana you can potentially get, and I'ld rather add an extra Rampant Growth, or, a Voyaging Satyr. There's only five bouncelands in my cube, but it is a cute interaction, and seven mana on turn four is strangely more manageable than five on turn three I think, though it's still quite a lot!

Also, I can never find room for Eternal Witness, as the three drop slot is so crowded with theme support cards...

Edit: Also, also, Quirion Dryad may actyally be a better fit for my gold centered cube than the Vinelasher Kudzu I'm currently running. Nice suggestion RavebornMuse!
 
xyz

xyz

Grw WelderPod











(Hopefully that turned out right... I can't see pictures here right now... I'll check back later)

I drafted something roughly like this in a 1v1 draft some time in the last ~30ish days. I'm 95% sure all the cards listed are right, but I'm forgetting 2 2-3cmc cards (at least one creature) and my other 4 cmc creature. The Aether Searcher was attached Contagion Clasp. I boarded in Primal Command for Scrap Trawler because my opponent was going big (a la Gaea's Cradle + Upheaval) with a graveyard that mattered; grinding value with Scrap Trawler was not the name of the game.

This deck was sweeeeeeeet. There were just so many synergies. Managing to assemble Tireless Tracker, Bygone Bishop, and Goblin Welder together in a cohesive deck was unique experience.
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
Someone recently mentioned how they don't like Birthing Pod because the deck either does nothing, or is the nuts. I was thinking about this, because I love birthing pod. I love being able to solve my situation by finding just the right creature out of my deck. But maybe the way to do this in cube is not to run 3 pods, but run a whole suite of green creature-searching cards. Here's a dump of cards:


So what do you all think? Could this be a theme? Would a pod-style deck work with only one pod, and a number of other interesting tutors?
Interested to hear your thoughts on:


edit: I'm just looking for thoughts on cards. What looks good or bad?
 
ravnic

ravnic

I don't run tutor effects, but I want to add two interesting p1p1 cards for slightly lower powered cubes here.



This card is nuts. It's basically a slower but harder to kill Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. Just grab it as eraly as possible and got for the mono/heavy green ramp deck with mana sinks like Centaur Glade. Or like the other card I want to highlight in this thread:



There are probably more efficient game ending effects you can spend 10+ mana on. But nothing's more fun than dumping half your deck out of nothing with a huge Genesis Wave.
 
ravnic

ravnic

I have another good one for lower powered cubes. This one is good in almost any green deck, but it pulls me strongly into green aggro (in case you support that too).

might%20of%20oaks.jpg


It has won so many games for us. And it always gives a nice tension to the games against green, where you have to expect the worst coming at you.
 
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