Card/Deck Green 5-drops

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
So, I've noticed the 5-drop spot in green is overpopulated, and each cut and/or swap in this spot leaves me wondering if I'm dropping the right one.



These are the ones I run at the moment at 360, and they all have a lot of play to them, but what about...



Am I missing some? Is there room for more fives? If not, how do I make more room? Should I make swaps?

PS. Can we all agree that Kalonian Hydra is just dumb? I don't want that in my cube.

Edit: Adjusted my cube, adjusted this post :)
Overrun > Wolfir Silverheart
Plow Under > Primal Command
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
I run very few of your top line and most of your bottom line. Primal Command is such a better designed Magic card than Plow Under. I've written about it before so I won't patter on about it here.

I will say that 5CMC Garruk is one of the few Green 5's that actively draws me into the color. Like, actually into the color. Thragtusk is good but it's basically colorless.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Added Garruk, how did I forget him? I actually recently cut Garruk in an effort to make room for more cards. I also disliked that he was the only planeswalker that could legend rule himself, and I like Garruk Wildspeaker more.

Good point about Plow Under, that is definitely replacable. I like that change.

Doubling Season is likely the most suspect card in my lineup, but when it works it's so glorious!
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
If you support green aggro, Boon Satyr and Wolfir Silverheart are some of the best curve toppers there are. Get those in there!

For what it's worth, I run nine five-drops in green. There's.. a bit of a bulge. It's ok, though, because green sixes are surprisingly bad.

 
They are really loading up greens 5 with awesome unique effects eh?

I guess there is tonnes of room in greens 6 zone anyway (Green should have more slots dedicated to mid and high cost spells than other colours in my thinking). It just feels so wrong to see a lot of 5s in your pile though.
 
I think the 4 slot is in green is even more jammed. I'm good with my 5 drop choices and wouldn't switch any of them unless I could get the same or very similar effects in newer cards.

Genesis - a wonderful engine card. One of my favorite green cards ever. A tad slow for some cubes probably, but I'd personally never have a cube without this guy (or his replacement if one ever gets printed).
Acidic Slime - As I don't run walkers, this thing is even better since it essentially kills everything that isn't a creature AND it has death touch too. Often very back-breaking.
Wolfir Silverheart - Ramp loves this guy. He turns mana elves into 5/5 giants and he even makes an innocent BOP into a 4/5 flying monstrosity. Such a cool design.
Primal Command - I echo everything Jason said. I love the flexibility, and every mode has a use. Plow under is obviously the better tempo card, but command is better in more situations IMO.
Deranged Hermit - Token support. He combos with a lot of stuff, including blink themes, Purphoros in red, sacrifice themes, etc. Really cool card that requires a little effort to break which I like.
Overrun - Most people don't run this anymore (replaced by original Garruk I think). But I don't run walkers and so this is still a slam dunk effect in ramp and token decks. Not coming out of my cube.
 
I'm thinking abut adding fated intervention too. I'm really liking the flash elements of green recently, giving it a much more interesting route to take. I kind of really want to add beast attack too as I love that card and I could see it if I had more self mill cards.

The only other green 5 I think hasn't been mentioned is



Which is fine but is great when you have other relevant interactions: haste granters, enchantment triggers, enter battlefield triggers (purpheros says hi!) death triggers (drain for 7 with blood artist) etc. not sure if better than deranged hermit but is a whole lot of cool.
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
The jury's still out on Fated Intervention. I like the idea of six power's worth of instant speed tokens, but {G}{G}{G} can be hard to muster up. Though they serve pretty different purposes, I might eventually revert this one back to Kozilek's Predator.

Overrun and co. might not be great when you're behind, but they break board stalls wide open. A lot of midrange & token-heavy green decks find themselves in those positions, unable to close out games due to lack of evasion, so running one or two Overrun-style finishers is within reason, imo.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb

I've been burned out by a green deck...
Hehe, yeah, that combo is in my cube as well.

Various comments have convinced me to swap out...
Plow Under for Primal Command: more options sounds good, and Plow is boring anyway.
Overrun for Wolfir Silverheart: I do run original Garruk and recently swapped in Craterhoof Behemoth, so I think I've got enough overrun effects. Time to cut the original and add the 12 power for 5 mana guy. I'll keep the other five for now, maybe the Slime can come out when m15 and the 2/1 Naturalize dude arrives.

Also, I forgot about this one. Seems pretty sweet value as well!

 
genesis - slow but too sweet. its not counted as a 5 drop to me. i've got all the custom cards, so i threw trample on genesis.
boon satyr - amazing.
thragtusk - i haven't put this guy in a cube because my players had fatigue on the card from standard. i think it is time for it to come back though, it is super sweet.
overrun - classic, i've run it before. later i recosted tromp the domains as {3}{G}{G}
plow under - you've got to have a certain social acceptance of a card like this, and i'm not sure if all my players are down for playing games where they can get plowed.
primal command - love this card, its a lot of cool fun
doubling season - nope not in a thousand years
boon satyr - love this card
vorapede - its okay
wolfir silverheart - its okay
garruk, primal hunter - yeah its great its cool
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I agree with Jason's assessment that Primal Hunter is one of the few cards that pulls me into green, especially since I don't run Primeval Titan. He's got enough raw power to entice you down a certain road early on in a draft. I mean, you don't take that guy and say "hey maybe I'll splash him with these two fetches".
 

CML

Contributor
That is a steep power curve you have in the original post. I run only Slime, Primal Hunter, Tusk, and Silverheart in the interests of keeping the curve down (Boon Satyr is more of a 3). Ajani, Mentor of Heroes also shows up in my earch

I also don't find many of the other options rich in decisions and uniqueness of functionality -- the ones that are, like Saproling Burst, aren't really powerful enough to fit in with Primal Hunter, Tusk, Silverheart, all very strong cards. If I were to add more green 5's I would start with Genesis and then Primal Command.

Green 6's are quite good with the utility land draft, Primeval Titan and Hydra Broodmaster, awesome
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Updated the first post to reflect the changes. Excellent feedback! I'm still stubbornly denying Garruk, Primal Hunter access to my cube to avoid the legend rule in my cube. Doubling Season is a pet card. If it starts getting last-picked and/or doing absolutely nothing in decks I'ld have to let it go, but for now I'm keeping it. Also I want to see Coalition Relic into Doubling Season into Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker ultimate before I die. Preferably on turn four off a Birds of Paradise >)
 
I think you guys are on the verge of convincing me to break my "no titan" rule and allow Primeval Titan in. I don't like the infinite CA built into the titans (which is why all of them are currently excluded), but this effect is distinctly green and may not be as overtly broken as grave or inferno so might be OK in my cube. Thoughts? Where do you guys rate Primeval Titan in power level to the other 4?
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Grave Titan is head and shoulders above the rest. Sun Titan is sweet but some might find he provides too much value. The other three are fine. I only run Inferno Titan, and that's a blast to play with.
 
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