Glowing Ranks: Green Legends

Happy Three-Day Weekend Zoners!

I'm kicking off the fall with a series of articles of  Legendary Creature power ranks. I've put quite a bit of distance since my last set of lists, and rather than give you a list of creatures I'm most excited about, this list comes from my more objective side.

So even though Omnath wins the battle for mono-Green superiority (Spoilers!), and Wild Azusa will appear, there's still plenty of room, I hope, for surprise and intrigue as we attack the big, mean, Mono-Green decks, and the subsequent lists you'll see over the next few Saturdays. Let's begin!

5. Silvos, Rogue Elemental

The only thing setting Silvos back from leapfrogging the Commanders on this list is his mana cost. It's huge, and almost always requires an extra G open for any typical Murder-style removal. While there is quite a bit of removal that Silvos can't respond to, there are still enough cards rendered inert by Silvos' regenerate ability to make this a quality threat. As a result, he generates some serious board pressure.

The battlefield is considerably more narrow with a Voltron-style Commander, but the kills are going to generally be a lot quicker if he goes unchecked because Baru and Ezuri have to have board state to finish someone off, and that's a little less certain.

4. Yeva, Nature's Herald

Yeva made into the Top 5 because timing is huge, and the lack of dedication to ramp or tribal provides great design space. We talked about this back when I featured both mine and TappedOut user YouGotFranked's designs that this offbeat tempo to the game makes your opponents play completely different versus other green decks, as it forces blue players to counter spells on their own turn, and other abilities and spellstend to go 1/2 a turn too early. Her aggressive CMC allows for an "early" game cast, and therefore complete re-castability, hence why she's edged out Silvos. Though she won't attack a lot, going back to hand isn't a problem, and chump-blocks are also more favorable.

3. Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Seemingly a no brainer. In actual experience, Azusa is really only as good as the player's opening hand. Playing a lot of basic forests (usually between 40-45 + nonbasics) gives you a full value Azusa the second she comes into play, but also leaves you thin to draw threats. Which can be bad, unless the threat is G-Wave, or Genesis Hydra, even. Like Blue Braids, Azusa wants to play quick and thin, which I think makes this deck far superior in 1v1 than multiplayer, but it's still a tall Timmy deck to battle in the latter.

2. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

The Kamahl list I play against regularly in my playgroup is perhaps one of the most competitive and powerful lists I've seen. Though one list is hardly a reason to give for why it's better than Azusa, I feel that the case is that this list is merely just under-the-radar based on the popularity of these other creatures. Kamahl is a creature people want to add as a supporter/finisher because it's easier to have as backup with access to tutelage, therefore creating a "feature-but-not-really-but-seriously-it-is" quality to the card.

Contrary to the marginal attitudes, the guy who plays Kamahl in my group has gone all-in on Kamahl's abilities. Fortified with land, ramp, mana dorks, and a ton of untap effects, the deck is a well-oiled Overrun machine, often turning 7/7 lands or bigger sideways for lethal damage. Whereas the Azusa deck will get to a point where it runs out of threats, the thing about Kamahl is that in top deck mode, every card is pretty much a good draw. A land gives Kamahl another creature, or another chance to cast Kamahl, which basically means paying his CMC is both worth it and deck-dependent, while drawing into a creature or another cards almost always yields more lands, the ability to untap lands for more mana, or a piece of card advantage enabling these functions, making this a deck that can go toe-to-toe with a lot of the decks in the list.

1. Omnath, Locus of Mana

Yeah. Om Nom Nom Nath is #1. Objectively, Omnath can combine any or all of the best qualities of these other green Legends and win with a nice Greatest Hits package.

One of the biggest pet peeves I have about the card is that most people don't recognize this, and use his skills to full potential. What I mean is that the tendency is to be very robotic in their turn rhythm, tapping down all their forests, attacking with Omnath, playing a big spell, and repeating it once it's their turn again.

In the amalgam of my Commander experience, I've seen about 5 different Omnath builds, which I found, that even when the decks were different, everyone wanted to play them this way. I'm not saying it's wrong, just easy.

Once Omnath has some mana meat (what I call the green mana in the pool that pumps the 2G Elemental), why not hold up your Forests until before damage is dealt? Changing your playstyle, and getting comfortable with this will only help to confuse and force your opponents to go through their own checklists.

While I have seen some tricky shenanigans with Yeva and tutors in hand, also a few Instant speed tricks, I find this deck can surely carve out more in its colors than people try. This is a creature with more to offer, even if you anticipate the beatdown. Get creative if you play it, and be prepared if you don't.


Pass.
-UL