You are: Home -> Articles -> Columns -> State of Play |
Editor: Audrey C Quan. Sunday 8 June 2003.
|
Scourge Draft Review Part 3 - Green
You can read the first 2 parts of this series here
Green may have got the goods in Legions but the tables have turned in Scourge. Both green and blue are really lacking a good deep run of commons so if you are drafting those colours, don't rely on Scourge to "fix you up". However, it is not all bad as green receives 2 powerful fattie "accelerators" in Fierce Empath and Krosan Drover in the common slot, a hefty morph trampler and perhaps the biggest creature ever printed - Ancient Ooze. One thing I noticed about green in Scourge was the quality of uncommons - Alpha Status, Krosan Warchief, Elvish Aberration, Hunting Pack and Kurgadon are all very good, the warchief in particular is amazing. The commons pale in comparison so my draft picks may be out of whack because the cards are nowhere near as good as white, red and black. In fact I may even be picking a Zombie Cutthroat over any of the green commons!
So sit back and relax, as this is going to be a hard pill to swallow.
Wirewood Guardian - 5G
This guy won out purely because of Forestcycling. It is pretty sad this is the best green can muster but it is really playing a support role in Scourge and this is about as fat as things get in the common slot. Titanic Bulvox is a better creature but triple green is a tall order at the best of times. The commonality of the guardian increases the power of Krosan Drover and Fierce Empath (you should have better creatures to search for though!) making it an early pick, 2nd or 3rd.
Titanic Bulvox - 6GG
Unfortunately this is where the fatfest ends, but no one is going to debate picking a 7/4 trampler that has morph, over any of the other cards on this list. Any of the Dragon enchantments (or Accelerated Mutation) make Bulvox a potential game winner but he won't be doing you any favours in the early game. A hard hitter which needs to be drafted early, 2nd to 4th.
Krosan Drover - 3G
I am going out on a limb here but I think the drover is very good. Sure your opponent will breathe a sigh of relief when you play him on the 4th turn but things are going to get nasty when you play Wirewood Guardian or a face up Lorian on your next turn. Even Titanic Bulvox's casting cost seems OK with the drover in play. How many should you play with? Well that depends on your high end creature count (obviously), but generally you should only ever play with one unless your deck is loaded with a lot of expensive morph creatures. Solid in every archetype, Krosan Drover is a good mid range pick that you should see in every draft, 4th to 6th.
Accelerated Mutation - 3GG
I am still in 2 minds about the mutation as 5 mana is a lot to keep open but there is no doubt that this is a game winner. This works in any deck with evasive creatures and/or tramplers (read Bulvox) and remember it only counts the permanents you control. Do not play more than 1 of these under any circumstances, so pick the first mutation early and pass the rest - around 4th.
Fierce Empath - 2G
I have placed the empath fairly highly on this list because of the proliferation of common landcyclers in Scourge. He is also a good deck thinner, especially if you have Pit Fighter Legends or anything bomblicious. I don't think I would play him if I didn't draft any landcyclers or bombs though...a mid to late range pick, 6th to 9th.
Woodcloaker - 5G
In one word, average. The morph cost is cheap though but will still lose out to morph staples such as Battering Craghorn and Daru Lancer. The trample effect works well with Nantuko Husk, but that is about it. A filler creature that will probably get the nod more times than not. A mid to late range pick, 6th to 9th.
Dragon Fangs - 1G
I stupidly ran this at the pre-release rather than play with a second Lingering Death (oh the naivety!) and I have to say it didn't help me once. Comparisons to Crown of Vigour have been made, but to give the fangs some credit, I think they are a little less crappier. The late game come into play effect is nice, but this is the weakest of the dragon enchantments. I'm sure it won't stop some people from using it though, a late pick, 9th to 12th.
Sprouting Vines - 2G
Am I too harsh by ranking the Vines 8th? (no I'm not talking about the band for all the smart arses out there). This looks good in sealed for those 3 colour special decks but I can't see why you need to run this in a 2 colour draft deck, especially if you have landcyclers. If you are running 3 colours, it may be worth considering so you should have no problems getting one of these in Scourge. A late pick, 10th to 13th.
Break Asunder - 2GG
Let me see - what are the decent artifacts in Onslaught? Riptide Replicator, Tribal Golem and the occasional Doom Cannon. Legions? Zip. Scourge has erm... Proteus Machine. The enchantments are too numerous to mention so is the extra 2 mana (and sorcery status) worth the cycling?....no. If you want main deck enchantment removal play Nantuko Vigilante or Wipe Clean because everybody will have dragon enchantments. However if you are desperate for removal this is your last chance, 12th to 15th.
Treetop Scout - G
This is just another bad 1/1 that isn't worth the cardboard it is printed on. Never, ever, ever.
Divergent Growth - G
Ahh, I think it is good that Wizards are still coming up with funky ways for green to get mana. It is just a shame that none of them are playable.
Well that did seem pretty brief to me. Green's commons are definitely lacking in the power department but I think the uncommons more than made up for it. Wirewood Guardian and the Bulvox were the obvious top choices for me but the guardian has more synergy with other cards cementing it's place. Krosan Drover is an interesting card because it is very average by itself, but backed up with a high costing fatty it can be abusive. Other players have actually ranked the drover higher but 3rd seems about right. The mutation was a tough call because of the "I win" factor. Any card which can swing the game dramatically requires some thought to draft correctly but like I said you don't want more than 1 of these. Fierce Empath and Woodcloaker round out the playables, with the empath getting the nod again because of it's potential synergy. The rest of the commons are terrible with only Dragon Fangs and Sprouting Vines possibly seeing any play.
With the commons out of the way here is my take on some of the uncommons and rares.
Forgotten Ancient - 3G
Green has some decent rares in Scourge but this will be on top of everyone's list. The only way to shut him down is with black removal, i.e. Skinthinner, Cruel Revival, Lingering Death, etc and it has to be done quickly before the game spirals out of control. Forgotten Ancient is the kind of card that will have players scrambling for their sideboard between games siding in crap like Hindering Touch and Temporal Fissure to deal with it. A sign of a great card.
Upwelling - 3G
I was going to review Ancient Ooze as the second rare but it's a creature, blah, blah, blah, play it, blah, blah, only black can stop it, blah, blah, first pick, etc, etc, but decided that Upwelling was far more interesting. It is not a power rare by any means and can often backfire as both players can add mana. However after playing against it, I have a lot of respect for Upwelling - especially if your opponent has an invoker of the black or red variety. My board was literally decimated in 1 turn after my opponent had been storing up mana over half a dozen turns. I forgot I had a Flamewave Invoker in my deck until my last turn when I drew him realizing if I put some mana away my opponent would be dead. There's a lesson for everyone in there somewhere. It also sucks if your opponent disenchants this himself in your combat step when you have 13 mana in your pool. I would pick this quite highly if I had enough mana sinks, but be very careful when you play it, a 1st pick for the right deck.
Krosan Warchief - 2G
Best uncommon in Scourge? You betcha. This is pretty obvious, but the Krosan is possibly the strongest Warchief (up there with the undead one) in Scourge and the fact he slips right into the curve makes 4th turn Barkhide Maulers a common occurrence. Better still, how about 1 mana for a Wretched Anurid and we will also throw in regen? A first pick if ever there was one.
Alpha Status - 2G
The thing to remember with Alpha Status is it counts all creatures, not just yours, and 9 times out of 10 that creature is going to be a beast, and if you are really lucky a Titanic Bulvox. This is definitely a mid to late game card as it does squat when you are facing down morphs, so I don't think it is first pick draft material. This could be a lot of fun in U/G with multiple mistform creatures making blocking decisions tough for your opponent. A solid early draft pick, 2nd or 3rd sounds good.
Another week, another colour. Next week I will be taking a look at the colour which dominated Onslaught - Red.
Until next time
Dan
|
