Subject: is it green or the other colours? Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 16:05:46 +0200 From: onick To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Hello Frank, last night i was privy to an interesting discussion on #mtg (efnet IRC), where dan gray was bombarded with exodus questions and comments which soon turned to a "green still sucks" slagging contest. aside from a slightly teasing hint that there is a 2GG 3/4 creature which returns to play if killed in the urza cycle, there was little encouragement for competitive green. as we know each colour is supposed to have its theme. red has direct damage, white has life gaining + mass removal, blue has countermagic, black has discard and now life and graveyard as a resource, green has creatures. this would work out fine if the rules were obeyed. however, red and black are both getting undercosted weenies with drawbacks, which quite frankly, aren't drawbacks at all. it's the juzam djinn problem in a different guise. i mean for christsake, suicide black is PURE creatures. an example: green: best 2 pow: river boa 1G, 2/1, regen, island walk black: best 2 pow: black knight BB, 2/2 first strike, prot:W hang on, whose theme is creatures? another example: black strays off-theme and gets a "cheap creature". black: best 1cc: sarcomancy, carnophage. 2/2 1 life upkeep green: comparable 1cc: ghazban ogre 2/2, lose if less life. black's are far better. let's turn the tables and see what happens when green goes out of theme. red: basic 2pt bolt: shock R green: " " : unaro bee sting 3G all things equal, it SHOULD be, G, sac a creature, deal 2dmg to any target. of course this would only be effective if green had the kjeldoran outposts and sengir autocrats. while i've never been part of the "green sucks" bandwagon, analysing these examples shows that there IS a double standard being applied here. conclusion: the state of the game is that each colour now has good creatures and a sub-theme, except green has no subtheme. green's theme is NOT creatures. green's theme is having lots of big creatures to choose from. unfortunately the creature game is hard to play without fast powerful weenies. if this isn't changed, green will continue to be a nice support colour, with the cards like uktabi urangutan, wall of blossoms, spike feeder. solutions: 1. black, red and white must stop getting undercosted weenies 2. black, red and white can continue getting their weenies, but then green must get 3/3s at the same casting cost. 3. the creature policy remains the same, but green gets its own subtheme. 4. all green creatures with GG in the cc automatically get trample and regenerate i'm in favour of 3. because no one wants to see creatures getting weaker in future. but what could green get? i'm sure there are plenty of potential ideas out there. here are some fun themic ideas though: how can fliers harm a green mage in a forest? green can't afford wasting an enchantment on this so short of changing the rules, the best solution i can see is: tangle vines GG summon meanie 2/2, flying creatures can not attack you. green's supposed to have monsters right? something scary GG summon meanie 2/2, any creature blocking or blocked by something scary is buried (dies of fright) nature's all about growing right? hormonal experiment GG summon meanie 2/2, if hormonal experiment is blocked or blocks, put 3 +1/+1 counters on it. green's theme is supposed to be big creatures right? well i don't care to summon them. toad familiar GG summon meanie 2/2 if toad familiar leaves play, you may search your library for a green creature and put it directly into play. lets make a decent green creature generator gift of the trees 1GG enchantment return a forest to your hand: put a 1/2 green creature into play okay here's a fat creature. green monster 1GGG summon meanie 4/5 and another ball of muscle 2GG summon meanie 3/4 ball of muscle can attack twice a turn. (needs a reword) that would make mono green as scary as mono black or mono red while staying in the creature theme. Really sincere regards, Onick mailto:onick@dbn.lia.net