Green is, pound for pound, the weakest colour in my cube. And the reason for it is not because it lacks raw power, but simply because it lacks enough interaction to actually cover its bases. It has little removal and even fewer ways to interact with the stack, making it a less central colour than it could hope to be.
The problem is that, after all is said and done, most "interactive" cards end up getting cut for not being good or useful enough. At the current iteration of my cube, I run exactly five cards that could be used as interaction or mess with the opponent somehow. And one of them isn't even green in any way that matters.
That's all. And it's not for a lack of trying. I've tried a bunch of cards that simply weren't good enough compared to the offerings of other colours, like the "fight" creatures:
These are fine at lower power levels, but red creatures are just plainly better. Not only do they more damage, they can't get "countered" by killing the creature in response to the trigger. Most green "interaction" is similarly weak:
is much worse than
is hardly better than the outdated
leaves a huge 3/3 behind
is a bad vindicate that can be destroyed and ramps the opponent
is symmetrical, so it wrecks your own equipment and prevents you from using artifacts to shore up your lack of interaction.
has the same problem.
Some options are fine, but I've found them middling one way or the other:
There are some very powerful options for green to interact with the opponent. So powerful that they go overboard and prevent any further interaction from the opponent:
Some of green's best interaction doesn't do much against the average deck but crushes weaker archetypes so I don't run them right now:
---------
Ultimately, green is a proactive colour. And while there's nothing wrong with that, the fact is that it's not the most proactive colour, either. Green is solid, unique and has a ton of powerful options backed by recursion. But it does not pressure the opponent, making it less well-rounded than it could be.
Given how heavy on artifacts my cube is, I wonder if I can just run this type of cards as a toned down Swords to Plowshares:
Natural State seems appealing since it doesn't destroy some of the most important build-arounds while being a mere one mana.
Ideally, I would like green cards like this:
But I don't think they exist. Do they?
The problem is that, after all is said and done, most "interactive" cards end up getting cut for not being good or useful enough. At the current iteration of my cube, I run exactly five cards that could be used as interaction or mess with the opponent somehow. And one of them isn't even green in any way that matters.
That's all. And it's not for a lack of trying. I've tried a bunch of cards that simply weren't good enough compared to the offerings of other colours, like the "fight" creatures:
These are fine at lower power levels, but red creatures are just plainly better. Not only do they more damage, they can't get "countered" by killing the creature in response to the trigger. Most green "interaction" is similarly weak:
is much worse than is hardly better than the outdated leaves a huge 3/3 behind is a bad vindicate that can be destroyed and ramps the opponent is symmetrical, so it wrecks your own equipment and prevents you from using artifacts to shore up your lack of interaction. has the same problem.Some options are fine, but I've found them middling one way or the other:
There are some very powerful options for green to interact with the opponent. So powerful that they go overboard and prevent any further interaction from the opponent:
Some of green's best interaction doesn't do much against the average deck but crushes weaker archetypes so I don't run them right now:
---------
Ultimately, green is a proactive colour. And while there's nothing wrong with that, the fact is that it's not the most proactive colour, either. Green is solid, unique and has a ton of powerful options backed by recursion. But it does not pressure the opponent, making it less well-rounded than it could be.
Given how heavy on artifacts my cube is, I wonder if I can just run this type of cards as a toned down Swords to Plowshares:
Natural State seems appealing since it doesn't destroy some of the most important build-arounds while being a mere one mana.
Ideally, I would like green cards like this:
But I don't think they exist. Do they?
