Card/Deck Green Three Drops

Peter LaCara

Peter LaCara

The three drop slot is super important for green decks because that is what they're trying to accelerate into on turn 2 with a mana dork. Right now, here's what I'm running:



If we include gold cards, we also have:



The problem is that 2/3 of them cost 1GG, which isn't so bad on turn 2 with an elf, but can get problematic in a 2+ color deck on any other turn. I'm thinking about including both Ohran Viper and Elvish Archdruid, but both still fall prey to the 1GG cost. Additionally, a lot of the threes are not necessarily ones you want to cast early.

What are you guys running, and what good 3-drops may I have missed?
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I currently run


In the past I also ran



I think I might replace the Krasis with Borderland Ranger. Don't know how I forgot to add that in!
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
I was running it, but my +1/+1 counter decks are really aggressive and this is a bit slow to be doing on turn three. It also just seems like a lot has to happen right to get value out of it, and I'd rather just be playing a consistently better card.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Yeah, if you're a Podder, there are a bunch more options available to you, that may or may not be better than Borderland Ranger:



Incidentally, I'm not a big fan of Borderland Ranger... too slow for aggro, not explosive enough for ramp, he's the quintessential jack-of-all-trades who isn't well suited to any archetype.

Fate Reforged gives us two new three drops to consider:

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Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
James Stevenson said:
I was running it, but my +1/+1 counter decks are really aggressive and this is a bit slow to be doing on turn three. It also just seems like a lot has to happen right to get value out of it, and I'd rather just be playing a consistently better card.
Click to expand...

This pretty much sums up the limited experience I had with the card. Most of the time people don't even run it. The more I think about it, the more I think I should probably cut it. Incidentally, if you're running a +1/+1 counter theme, Cytoplast Root-Kin is a really cool card. Unlike Renegade Krasis it has immediate impact, and it always manages to have some impact in a well-drafted deck.

Diakonov said:
Personally, I love this card:



Though it's not exactly a turn-3 play most if the time.
Click to expand...

I ran that as well, but I cut it together with Birthing Pod in my last update. Call me crazy, but between Green Sun's Zenith (and Dryad Arbor in the utility land draft), the exiting new See the Unwritten and the graveyard-strategies enabling Fauna Shaman, I decided I wanted to cut some green tutors. My playgroup has had the most trouble with making Birthing Pod work, so it's probably the one that has to go, especially because you really want to cube more than one pod, since it's so much better in multiples. Still feels weird.

Here's a couple more green (semi-) 3-drops with an easy casting cost that might work in particular cubes.

 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I currently run Loxodon Smiter as essentially a {1}{G}{W} vanilla 4/4. So if they ever came out with an actual vanilla {1}{G}{G} 4/4, I'd probably be the first person in line.
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
I feel that a {1}{G}{G} creature has a much better chance of being cast on-curve than a {G}{G} one, with cube manabases being what they are. Like, ballpark, 70% versus 40%. As I mentioned in the red two drop thread, I'm not a big fan of CC creatures, and try to limit them to one per colour. Strangleroot Geist currently holds down that slot in green, but I honestly wouldn't miss him that much if I cut out {G}{G} creatures entirely.
 
CML

CML

Contributor
VibeBox said:
Click to expand...


is this an actual card? i mean, it's kinda meh in KKK limited.

for beats at 3 there's also reverent hunter and i'm not sure how else you'd classify boon satyr

as a lover of green in constructed i disagree with the premise that "we need lots of 3 drops in green because we have dorks," the way it ends up shaking out there is that ideally yes we will make a 3 on turn 2 but such starts range from "very good" to "completely unbeatable" and the best thing to t2 in the current standard format anyway, rabblemaster, isn't even green. so we end up instead scrounging for two-drops to have a t2 play in games where we don't have the dork into 3 start, which is the vast majority of them

as for "green aggro," it's more likely to encompass dorks and 4-drops like pukey than it is explicit beats like baloth or tusker or hunter or whatever

here are my green 3's



anyway, i'm gonna hijack this thread for green 2's. i will start

 
Peter LaCara

Peter LaCara

I run:


Albino Troll is being tested instead of Strangleroot Geist as part of my reducing CC costs initiative, but that's probably not going to last too long.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I run



I don't think there's a place for CC cards in my 3-color cube. Half my playgroup doesn't know what the double-faced cards do. Unsleeving and resleeving the lot gets old fast, so I just cut all the transform cards.
 
James Stevenson

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
I have a huge bias against CC cards, but Strangleroot Geist has proven to be excellent, castable and well worth the trouble time and time again.

As for double faced cards, I have a nice solution:
dRmcL3Q.jpg

I have this printed and in the cube, and it can go in your deck like one of those checklist cards. Then when it's in play I just put the real card on top of it, in a clear sleeve. It works fine, all the problems are solved except for having a tiny text box. Doesn't matter with delver but it's annoying for other cards.
 
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