Green is a color I can't seem to stay away from. So it was no surprise that it took me a while to check and double check to make sure that these 10 were in fact my favorites. Cause I have a bunch.
However, I was surprised to find that most of the creatures I like are comparatively smaller than you might expect for this color, which is known for big Beasts and even bigger Wurms.
10. Sakura-Tribe Scout
For one reason or another, I've been trying to find a copy of this card for a while, and I always seem to cut it from an order or forget it.
I finally got a chance to play her in my Borborygmos Enraged EDH (cause I'm tough like a lumberjack), and I've been really impressed.
Unlike Walking Atlas, which is an unfortunate card with many flaws I can't even begin to count on my fingers, I like Fiona cause she powers out lands in my hand, which can help with mana floods and ramping into a big Commander, which I certainly have in ol' Borby. This effect is really really good on Turn 1 in 1v1. Though Terrain Generator is probably just better, being able to put nonbasics into play is a nice relevant skill. She's not for every deck, but she's effective where it counts.
9. Krosan Tusker
Tusker isn't made for the battlefield though. His sole purpose in your deck is to be a Green Instant-speed Divination, netting you a land and another card.
I never get tired of cycling this guy. He's one of my favorite "secret" pieces of tech, though I'm not sure he's an actual secret if you've been playing EDH a long time or you've been following this blog for any length of time. I almost always keep a 3-lander with this guy in an opening hand. Ranking him here at 9 probably doesn't do diligence to just how much I like him, but he's not coming into play if you're managing the game properly, so don't worry about the 5GG at the top. This guy's CMC is really 2G, and it's one of the most reliable pieces of card advantage green has.
8. Ant Queen
If it's armies-in-a-can you want, Ant Queen is my favorite. I love Saprolings too, but why play with Saps when you can spit out Ant-Babies? Isn't that just better? (Ant-Baby tokens are soon to come.)
Say what you want about unpumpable chumps. They're much better to Skullclamp and chump block. I'm not interested in making them big and relevant. They're tokens, and there's an Overwhelming Stampede for that.
On the curve, a 5/5 for five is great. she can make 3 dudes assuming you play a land every turn, whereas Nemata and Verdeloth, though great nostalgia picks, just don't want to come out before you begin the late-late.
7. Spike Weaver
However, Spike Weaver was a key part to the coolness that the Chorus deck had, if it had anything.
Spikey was constantly changing games, and I wasn't even using him to protect me. In fact, I used him a couple times to keep other opponents from dying, which made him a lot more unpredictable. Politics are a thing in multiplayer, and he helped me abuse them.
Doing so also helped bring a lot of unnecessary hate to him, which in turn helped me keep Gaddock Teeg or Sun Titan, which were far more instrumental in the deck's wins.
I know it's not a good card cause it's fairly predictable, but I still like what it does, and the way it looks kinda harmless sitting on that branch, even though we all know it really isn't. Also, I'm sure Gatherer ruined his cool creature type, but yeah- he's a Spike, which isn't usually irrelevant to the way I pick cards, but I like it here.
6. Dryad Arbor
Being a Forest, a Dude, and Green makes her(?) the most tutorable card in any Green Deck, and I think that's pretty cool. Making your tutors get even more utility provides some flexibility that can be useful.
I'm often Green Sun's-ing for 0 to go get Arbor on Turn 1 in Borborygmos. I've also been known to Worldly Tutor for an Arbor when I need the land.
Your Grave Pact-ing Opponents are gonna love you when they're fry short of getting rid of your Avenger of Zendikar or whatever.
5. Sylvok Replica
Anyway, like our slimy friend, Replica is solid utility. Though not quite as good, Replica is a little more handy, as you can chump and sac to destroy something, or you can wait until your opponent forgets about him as a relevant board threat, and then blast their Gauntlet of Power into oblivion.
Obviously, Acidic Slime outclasses my friend here a little bit with deathtouch, but still favor Replica as the cheaper option with a reasonable activated ability. I usually play both, but I felt like this guy was worth mentioning cause a lot people play Acidic Slime. I've got both in my Dollar General Glissa deck and Animar, where Replica is actually kinda better than Slimer.
4. Chameleon Colossus
He's one of the cheapest late-game threats to cast, and this card is often a blowout. Cause if you don't take care of it immediately, especially in the late-late, you're going to die.
One of my favorite tricks was to combine overruns with him, especially Overwhelming Stampede or Triumph of the Hordes, before that got really absurd.
He is a metagame choice though. If your group relies on black to get rid of dudes, he's a perfect addition to any roster. Cause he's every creature type.
3. Eternal Witness
When you play other colors, she gets even better. With Blue, I've set up Mimic Vat Time Warp locks. With Rite of Replication and an Early Harvest, I saw one of the guys in my playgroup make infinite E-Wits and mana.
If I'm ever going to define the word "Staple," this is the picture I want next to it in the EDH dictionary. Eternal's such a fitting word for this warrior woman.
2. Sakura-Tribe Elder
This is a card that is 100% guaranteed to make your deck better. He makes Dawntreader Elk look like Wood Elemental.
I think this guy speaks for himself. He's a Rampant Growth and a dude. GG plays this, I play this, you should play this, and so enough said. We'll move on to my favorite card.
1. Fierce Empath
But I had to pick one, and Fierce Empath is my absolute favorite green creature. And if (the biggest IF) I ever get tired of casting Solemn Simulacrum, Fierce Empath would be the only card in my mind to unseat the Saddest Robot.
GG played this against me in Pauper a year or two ago, and that was all it took. I went home immediately and bought 4-6 copies of this guy, and I never looked back.
I'm pretty sure I'm the leading expert (next to Gatherer) on Empath targets. I'm not kidding.
This guy does so much work in every deck I put him in. My favorite combo is to go search for Krosan Tusker and leverage maximum card advantage. However, I've done a lot of different things with Empath.
So far, my Animar deck has been the most broken place for him. There's a list of targets a mile long, and depending on what the board looks like, he's a toolbox with endless possibilities, getting anything from Maelstrom Wanderer to Duplicant or even Sun Quan to close out a game. He also really likes getting Steel Hellkite for more removal, Etherium-Horn Sorcerer for more Cascade, or Prime Speaker Zegana for super-sexy card draw times. Like I said- the list is a mile long.
We've got a pretty nice week ahead of us here at TGZ. Thursday Johnny Confidant returns with this great article on Karador. Saturday's going to be a pretty great stack episode, where we dissect some of our Dragon's Maze favorites, and Grandpa Growth will be back Sunday with a piece from his In General series. So don't be a Square.
Keep tuning in for all things essentially Commander. Same bat times, same bat place.
Your turn.
-UL
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