Card/Deck Green 5-drops

[CML]

So at my first Invitational we'd brewed a GW deck whose plan was to make a Silverblade Paladin and pair it with a Silverheart so you had sweet 6/6 and 8/8 double strikers. Basically at high levels of competitive play you can always count on the best players to level themselves and play whatever unplayable Blue deck is modish so you get stuff like Dig Through Time Stoneblade in Legacy or the even more flagrantly unplayable Jeskai Tokens in Standard. You can kill them with dumb creatures because this is what is supported by R&D these days. Three cheers for NWO Constructed, I say.

Anyway I went 2-2 with the deck after running afoul of a rough matchup and making a subtle punt to, then being slowrolled by, Michael Hetrick, Who Has No Personality. My co-pilot went 3-1 and went on to do very well on day 2, losing one match to a miracled Terminus off Sphinx's Revelation ... looking back on it, it's amazing how much stronger those decks were than the ones in current Standard, though of course we noted that they were much worse than when I started playing Standard, in Besieged ... all this gives me a lot of hope for Cubes at every power level, though the designers who "put Batterskull with Arbor Colossus" clearly have no idea what's going on.

I don't really remember why I started typing this out, aside from my love of Wolfir Silverheart (the deck boarded Thragtusk, too), but anyone who plays Titania in Legacy is obviously a gangster. I like Green creatures.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I like incoherent reminiscing

 

[Chris Taylor]

Green burn spells new meta

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Green burn spells new meta

I think Bee Sting has much better art, a better name, ánd better flavor text!

 

[Lucre]

I liked @CML's post because it highlighted that just playing dumb creatures and trying to beat on the interactive or introspective decks is sorta the theme for NWO and it's half of the reason I find hard-question cards like hydra problematic. I mean, I really dig stuff like polukranos and eidolon, but generically good beaters with an asterisk that don't expand your decks gameplay just aren't what I'm looking for at 4-6. Unless we are talking about silverheart lol.

Trying to work in interactive or introspective themes into your pressure is pretty sweet and helps get over the power creep that sometimes favors super boring cards.

 

[Lucre]

+1 to sig, a little self promotion never hurt anyone (unless your first name is Michael and your last name is Flores, in which case a little self promotion hurt everyone)

Man what does everyone have against my main man flores?

 

[CML]

Battling control decks with creatures will always be interesting and skill-testing on both ends.

I forgot the funniest parts of my reminiscences:

--When we had to deal with blockers and couldn't find a Rancor, we still wanted to win. Thus, we included a Rogue's Passage, in a format where Gavony Township was legal.
--The maindeck included 3 Thalia and we would always board it out against control, hilariously, because they would bring in Izzet Staticaster. I had forgotten that card existed until beating Gerry T at Legacy last night, weird.
--After two weeks on the road I was very tired and slept in after washing out of the Invi. At around 2 PM I awoke and walked from our hotel in Chinatown to LA Live -- this was the last great tournament venue SCG would ever shell out for (and the Invi was the last one with a $75K prize pool). I remember being bewildered at the futility, idiocy, and transparent farce of "professional Magic," but I also remember being able to walk 3 miles in 65-degree weather and buy a coffee and mango and cheese pastry for $4 in the dead of December. Magic trips are a blast and Los Angeles is cool. Anyway, when I got to the venue, we'd lent the deck to another friend -- he was 6-1, and I walked in just in time to watch him punt to Falkenrath Aristocrat and Geralf's Messenger by missing a point of Elf damage. Meanwhile, our other friend who had started the Invitational 0-4 with Chronic Flooding had switched to R/b aggro and was running the tables en route to winning the tournament. Brian Kibler was leaning over his chair very suggestively.

 

[shamizy]

I have 4 slots I can divvy up between these five. Which one's the cut?

 

[Dom Harvey]

Vorapede IMO

 

[DreamPaint]

Cut Vorapede

 

[shamizy]

Yeah, that's what I was leaning towards as well. Gracias.

 

[ahadabans]

I hate Thragtusk. Cut that annoying thing. Vorapede is sort of cool (though vigilance feels out of place).

 

[Lucre]

I'm supes torn on voreapede and I'm really sorry but I can't contribute some really caustic endorsement right now.

It came to mind the other day but would you guys cube this mess:


Creature - Beast?
flash
When NAME enters the battlefield draw a card.
4/4

I kinda think I might have to change it a little and make it evoke to be truly sweet. Green decks draw a lot of land equivalents and a random 4/4 + combat trick isn't what you want to be what your 55% landequiv deck rewards you on.

 

[GenericZero]

Keep Vorapede. Cut the Tusk. Fuck that stupid value play.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I like Thragtusk, but then again, I wasn't playing standard when it was legal. I heard it was kind of unfun. In cube though? Honestly, it hardly ever feels unbeatable.

 

[GenericZero]

In cube, it is just uninspiring. It's a Wurmcoil pick. You almost always take it and run it. Splashing a green for it is sadly almost always worth it. Just take ONE dual that makes green and is in your colors. Or even a green fetch. The point I'm making is that I won a lot off of tusk in standard against delver. Hated him during RTR though. I just think he's extremely dumb in a "obvious value is obvious" way that really bites.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Am I the only guy who hates Deranged Hermit? It's got echo and squirrels, two things I dislike. (I do run echo creatures sort of begrudgingly, though...)

 

[shamizy]

Hmm, I think I'll cut Thragtusk instead then. I do like rewarding people if they do decide to stick to one color, and Vorapede is a pretty sweet pod target also.

I actually really like Deranged Hermit. Echo sucks, but getting those 4 bodies is nice. I also really want to see someone pull off Alesha/Hermit just once.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Am I the only guy who hates Deranged Hermit? It's got echo and squirrels, two things I dislike. (I do run echo creatures sort of begrudgingly, though...)

How can you hate this?! Are you a bad person? Do you hate life? Have you no shame? Squirrels are the epitome of all that is good and holy in Magic. Well, all that is small and furry really, but I digress. WITNESS THE POWER OF THE SQUIRREL!

 

[CML]

I have 4 slots I can divvy up between these five. Which one's the cut?

deranged hermit is great

if it's 1999

squirrels are great always

 

[Chris Taylor]

The vigilence/undying on vorapede shut down many more aggro decks than thragtusk ever did in my cube. There's just not 4 of them + progenitor mimic + restoration angel all in the same list comprising 90% of the metagame.

Plus Threatening a thragtusk and saccing it feels fair to both players, whereas the same play on a vorapede just fuels concessions and hurt feelings.

Has titania been good?

 

[Suicufnoc]

Yeah Thraggy is probably more fair than Vorapede. Plus easier to cast. Also he says Swagtusk and has a sweet hat.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

First I was like...

Then I was like...

PS. I cut Faith's Fetters for example because it's pretty stifling to aggro decks, as it neutralizes a threat and gains a bunch of life. Why keep Thragtusk? Because he somehow feels more beatable. It gains a comparable amount of life, but doesn't directly neutralize a threat, comes in a color that's less hostile to aggro decks, and, importantly, costs a mana more. I also find that you can manoeuver around Thragtusk in ways Faith's Fetters can't be played around.

PPS. Sorry for spamming you guys with webcomics. I promise I'll better my life, probably!

 

[ahadabans]

In cube, it is just uninspiring. It's a Wurmcoil pick. You almost always take it and run it. Splashing a green for it is sadly almost always worth it. Just take ONE dual that makes green and is in your colors. Or even a green fetch. The point I'm making is that I won a lot off of tusk in standard against delver. Hated him during RTR though. I just think he's extremely dumb in a "obvious value is obvious" way that really bites.

This is my beef with Tusk. There are stronger cards sure. But this card just oozes value in a really annoying way. I can't think of a deck that can cast this that doesn't benefit from including this card in it's final 40. 5 life double speed bump for 5 mana and only one green at worst (never mind if you put any energy into trying to really break it)? I mean, seriously.

I really just don't like those kinds of cards. My cube certainly still has some (and maybe they need to go too), but this one in particular just gives me a rash.

I suppose Vorpapede is heavy handed in it's own way, but being triple green at least you have to commit to the color. And green getting big dumb shit seems in line with the theme of the color honestly. It's why I still run Silverheart even though he has completely wrecked board states. Green needs to be good at something.

 

[ahadabans]

I realize Genesis if probably slow for a lot of cubes here, but to me that is the coolest green 5 drop ever printed. I love that thing and would never cut it. If my cube got too fast to run it, I would cut 50 other cards to slow the cube down so he was still awesome. That's how much I like Genesis.

I sort of like the band too, but I don't think that is why I like the Magic card. I don't think anyway.