Beanstalk Giant
A ramp spell that gives you something powerful to ramp into is something I'm all about. Color fixing in this set isn't super plentiful, so you'll often want this just to help enable Adamant even if your mana base is relatively conservative. A huge percentage of the removal this time around will never kill a 7/7, as this has power, toughness, and CMC high enough to dodge most everything aside from Bake in a Pie and Epic Downfall. While this is a tad too slow on both ends to excel, Beanstalk Giant is going to kill a lot of people.
Rating: 3.5/5
Curious Pair
Placing a huge value on Food will send you in Curious Pair's direction, but if you're not Food motivated the price here is incredibly steep. I'm a lot more interested in this in general if my deck has a major Adventure theme, as Edgewall Innkeeper, the most powerful Adventure pay-off is also Green and loves cheap creatures with Adventure. This will also serve as an acceptable defensive 2 drop once in a while, but there's nothing much going on here otherwise.
Rating: 2/5
Edgewall Innkeeper
My current pick for best uncommon in the set, Edgewall Innkeeper couldn't possibly be cheaper and gets out of control once its draw two cards or more. One mana is so little here that you can save this until you're casting an Adventure creature on the same turn to ensure that you're getting that free card, although I doubt you'll need to play this that conservatively. There's no removal spell in the set that answers this effectively, as they all cost more than one mana, meaning that even when your opponent kills this instantly you're still generating a small advantage. To top off all of it's strengths, remember that Adventure is incredibly prevalent in this set, so you won't have to put in any work whatsoever to turn this into a card drawing machine, although it will reward you handsomely if you choose to build around it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Despite the incredibly restrictive GGGG casting cost here, Feasting Troll King is an incredibly easy to abuse card. As long as you've got some healthy Food generation, you can just try to discard this to reanimate it, where it will instantly dominate the board as one of the biggest creatures in the set. Casting this is nonsense the fair way, as your opponent has to kill it twice or kill you to stop it from coming back. Jump through hoops, juggle daggers, and breath fire to play this, Feasting Troll King feasts specifically on opponents.
Rating: 4.5
Flying isn't particularly prevalent in this set, although this will kill every Flying creature in the entire set despite only dealing 5 damage. Fell the Pheasant strictly slots in as a sideboard card, but whenever you're bringing it in it's incredibly powerful. Unlike in many sets with Plummet effects, you should almost never main deck this even if you're weak to fliers as there are just so few of them in the set at large; play an 18th land instead.
Rating: 1/5
When Fierce Witchstalker comes down it'll generally be the biggest creature in play by a decent margin, and it even generates a Food because, well why not? For a common this is incredibly pushed, and as there's a slow life rebate attached with other uses, it's not unrealistic to play a pile of these if you can get them. Trample pushes this over the edge, and makes this easily the best common creature in the set. Green decks love everything this does, take them aggressively because you'll have to fight for this.
Rating: 3.5/5
Ideally you're not casting this on turn one all that often, as a 1/2 is going to have a real tough time hitting a player after the first or second turn of the game. On a clear board this can act as a very efficient but slow Disenchant, but generally you'll want to wait until you can make some Bears, and then cast this later on. As this works incredibly well with Edgewall Innkeeper I'm not going to be too low on it, but this is an inherently slow card.
Rating: 2/5
Noxious Gearhulk's lesser known cousin, Lars Gearhulk; potentially the cheapest of all imitators. It's pretty awesome if you manage to trade the combat trick half of this for a creature so that you can play your overcosted 3/2 later on, but both halves of this are inefficient enough that this isn't an effect you can max out on. Whenever your opponent doesn't block in the face of Shield's Might it's horrific to cast the creature without it, so hopefully you'll be flush with other cheap options just in case.
Rating: 2.5/5
Yet another Adamant two bad tastes card, Green lacks the fixing you'd usually expect out of it and as such this card just doesn't do much. Just like his White and Red cousins, if you're already heavy on its given color this card is alright, but unless you're heavy enough Green to always cast this with Adamant it just doesn't cut it.
Rating: 1.5/5
An aggressive 2 drop that cares about Adventures is certainly welcome, and this looks to be the best of the bunch for Green. Maximizing this early will often mean missing out on a lot of value, although if this is sitting around anyways you'll still make it an effective 3/3 or occasional 4/4 once in a while. Like a creature with Landfall this is much better attacking on your own turn than trying to block.
Rating: 2.5/5
Giant Opportunity
Food's most variable pay-off in the set, whenever this creates a 7/7 on turn 3 your opponent either kills it instantly or loses. Paying three mana and a card for three Food isn't the greatest, but it can bring back Feasting Troll King or empower Bog Naughty in Food decks. I'm not the biggest fan of this card as you're paying a huge cost if things don't work out. You could say this one has Giant Opportunity cost.
Rating: 2.5/5
Although this is only a one-shot Birds of Paradise early on, the ability to repeatedly make Food tokens has a lot of value, especially in Green. Color fixing is also quite rare in this set outside of Rosethorn Acolyte, so the ability to facilitate a splash, even if it's only a few times, is at a huge premium this time. The Goose is certainly powerful, and I don't expect including it to be loose.
Rating: 4/5
Green is flush with big creatures, so it's not unrealistic to cast this for 5 or 6 mana pretty easily, and once this is in play your opponent needs to kill it instantly before it runs away with the game. This gains life, draws cards, and gives you a creature sizing advantage all at the same time, the only requirement is to play creatures in your deck. As this even taps for mana as well, it'll help you cast all of the cards it can draw you, snowballing the game out of control in short order. As there's a window to stop this it's not unbeatable, but if you untap with this in play it's extremely hard to lose.
Rating: 4.5/5
Combining this with any Trample creature or the Double Strike 1/2 Goblin looks like a good recipe for winning, and at +3/+3 this is acceptable if you're lacking the requisite Food. While Green has a lot of aggressive slant to it the card quality is so high that I expect to cut tricks more often than not. Despite my Insatiable Appetite, this card will only satisfy it on occasion.
Rating: 1.5/5
Keeper of Fables
Drawing a free card every turn is super powerful, and I'm surprised that the catch is that this has 1 less power than a 5 mana Green creature normally would, and that's it. I hope to play this in U/G the most, as with cards like Tome Raider you'll be able to trigger this ability easily and frequently. Without the ability this card still foots the bill, and altogether you've got a real Green bomb on your hands.
Rating: 4/5
Kenrith's Transformation
Anything with +1/+1 counters will wear this well, and it even cycles and enables cards that care about Enchantments in play. I'd barely call this removal, although when it stops you from dying to a giant creature or something that flies that flexibility will earn its keep. Ideally I'd like to play a 1 mana creature and then cast this on it on turn two as a sort of build your own Watchwolf, as that gives it enough overall flexibility to earn a slot.
Rating: 2.5/5
Lovestruck Beast
1/1s aren't plentiful in Throne of Eldraine, but there's enough to still go on once your true love gets destroyed. For 4 mana here you get a 1/1 and a 5/5 that can be cast in installments, and although there's some fragility here you still have a massive blocker in the absence of a 1/1 to enable it getting into the red zone. Undercosted creatures like this one make Joust and Outmuscle much more powerful and reliable, so it's easy to build around this a bit even though there's no requirement that you do.
Rating: 4/5
Maraleaf Rider
Sacrificing a Food to force a favorable trade or sneak in a bigger creature is a nice upside, but this will play an awful lot like a vanilla 3/1 for 2. The saving grace here is in the type line, as this benefits from every tribal bonus in the set. Green lacks in powerful 2 drops, so Maraleaf Rider is going to make the cut a lot more often than you'd want it to.
Rating: 2/5
Ignoring the text about green permanents entirely, this is a pretty powerful card. Two power Deathtouch creatures with high toughness are incredibly annoying to block, often necessitating an awful feeling double block before they deal too much damage. There's no choice to ignore this one, as repeatedly drawing cards snowballs the game too hard to ignore. Blocking this will be so important that it makes combat tricks like Insatiable Appetite much more powerful, as they get a lot closer to real, cheap removal spells. Against a Green deck this is basically unbeatable, especially if cast early on. Maraleaf Rider can trade with it, sure, but in the absence of that exact two drop this is going to get at least a free card before trading off or getting killed.
Rating: 3.5/5
Once and Future
Under Adamant this is incredibly strong, as it's an Inspiration that draws you the two best cards in your graveyard for 4 mana. Without Adamant I still like this a bit, although the power falls off substantially. Wizards knew that I wanted to use this to get back two removal spells in my control decks, and they put a stop to that before I could start. Pesky Wizards. There's some pull here toward mono Green, but I'd rather try to beat down instead of fighting the attrition war this card is for.
Rating: 2/5
Once Upon a Time, I cast a free spell when I didn't have many lands. I found a land and played a game of Magic. The end. Once upon another time, I had plenty of lands but not much to do with them, so I looked at the top 5 cards of my library for my best creature and then cast it. Every Green deck wants this card, as once you've got 17 lands and 14+ creatures in your deck you're over 90% for this to find something, and you'll generally have your pick of things you want. You can often cut a land for this, but that's unlikely to be worth it unless your colors are shored up effectively.
Rating: 3.5/5
Outmuscle
Green heavy decks will love this, as much of the risk of a card like this is mitigated once Indestructible is granted. Decks lighter on Green will still play this readily, as Hunt the Weak style cards often make up the most consistently playable fight spells. There's always some risk associated when you're trying to Outmuscle your opponent's creatures but it's uncommon enough to lean on this as removal.
Rating: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Questing Beast
Hard to block creatures that play offense and defense at the same time are unreal, and this one even has Haste! Most of the abilities here are meaningless for Limited play, but this is so efficient that it'll be effective at any point in the game. This still dies to Terminates of various stripes without generating anything to show for it, but with Haste you'll often get 4 damage before Questing Beast dies.
Rating: 4/5
Return of the Wildspeaker
Garruk Wildspeaker has returned and he's ready to either crack some skulls or draw a pile of cards. Flexibility here is pretty nice as this is an Overrun your opponents won't always see coming, but on boards where you've only got a creature or two you can cash this in for cards instead. The non-Human restriction on this on is really huge to pay attention to, as I'd prefer to have 0 humans in any deck playing this as it's already so contingent on having things in play.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rating: 3.5/5
I've harped on the huge amount of Artifacts and Enchantments in this set repeatedly, and Return to Nature destroys them all for a fair price. While I'm still not about jamming a million of these in a deck as you just aren't going to find enough targets, the first one has a lot of value, as do future ones for after sideboarding. Once in a while you'll stop a card from going from Graveyard to Hand, but the vast majority of the time this is just Disenchant.
Rating: 2.5/5
Rosethorn Acolyte
When splashing, once you draw Rosethorn Acolyte you can use Seasonal Ritual to cast your splash card without having to wait the turn you normally would. It can also help fix for other Adventure creatures in a pinch, as many of them are quite color intensive if you're trying to cast both parts on the same turn. The body here is acceptable, as is the ability to make mana of any color, making this a perfectly serviceable way to enable Adaman, splash, and ramp.
Rating: 2.5/5
Rosethorn Halberd
Unholy Strength that can be used again in the late game makes for a nice equipment. I really want to jam this on Flutterfox in G/W decks to make a 4/3 flier as early as turn 3, but the vast majority of Green decks will use this well. High creature count is a must as usual for cards that require a creature in play, and the vast majority of them should be non-Humans for the free attachment clause. There's no Hexproof in the set to enable Boggle strategies with these cards, but it's efficient enough that you won't get blown out too hard.
Rating: 2.5/5
Sporecap Spider
As there are so few fliers flying around in Throne of Eldraine, I'm not happy whatsoever if I feel obligated to maindeck this. While it's less embarrassing than the Plummet variant, this card can really only play defense and the vast majority of Limited decks won't be interested in that. Keep Sporecap Spider on the sidelines.
Rating: 1/5
The cheapest member of the uncommon Legendary Knight cycle, Syr Faren isn't quite as powerful as his compatriots. While it won't be tough to facilitate a nice attack with this if you can cast it early, it almost always will trade off or die in the process, meaning that you just won't get much mileage out of this one. The ability scales incredibly well off of pump spells, but the most obvious combo with Rosethorn Halberd doesn't work as Syr Faren is a puny Human.
Rating: 3/5
Stats here are certainly good enough on this Aura, but as Reach isn't important in Throne of Eldraine and the removal is so strong and plentiful, I'd rather hide in the grass than be as Tall as a Beanstalk. This is a great sideboard card against other Green decks and Red decks, which will struggle to kill the massive creature you'll create.
Rating: 1/5
Trail of Crumbs
Once your deck is made largely of permanents this card is incredible, as turning Food into Clues with card selection added and lifegain intact is incredibly strong, and the first Food is even free. The deck building restriction here is huge as you can't afford for this to miss all that often, but the engine here is super powerful at 2 mana. Trail of Crumbs is one of the best uncommons in the set, and will easily win games on its own.
Rating: 4/5
Tuinvale Treefolk
Treat this as a mediocre way to top the curve in a Green deck that also will occasionally give you a small bonus when you lack ways to spend your mana. This is pretty powerful in decks with lots of mana sources, as you can give a card like Rosethorn Acolye Oaken Boon to turn it into a very threatening creature rather than a passive looking mana elf.
Rating: 1.5/5
Pick this one wicked highly as it'll easily pick off opposing 2/2s and threaten to fry bigger fish whenever you've got a Food lying around. Turning Food into +1/+1 counters gives some nice threat of activation to Wicked Wolf, as it'll be really tough to block but very punishing if not dealt with quickly as it always threatens to do some feasting and get massive. Green rares in general have been very good across the board, and Wicked Wolf isn't breaking that trend.
Rating: 4/5
Getting to spend all of your extra mana on giving this +1/+1 counters is totally busted. In any long game this will become colossal, and if it lives it'll kill in short order. This plays defense incredibly well as it also has Reach, and this can be used to ambush another high value target in a pinch as it also has Flash. With how anemic the average Green 2 drop is I'm extra excited to take Wildborn Preserver and jam it into my deck whenever I can.
Rating: 4/5
Wildwood Tracker
As long as you control another non-Human this plays identically to a 1 mana 2/2. Decks with a bunch of these will come screaming out of the gate, as Wildwood Trackers turn each other on, and curving a 1 mana 2/2 into 2 more will be unbeatable if backed up by a trick. Randomly playing a Wildwood Tracker or two in any Green beatdown deck will be worth it, as it's efficient and powerful as long as you've kept the tribal restriction in mind. Maximizing this will mean treating it like Seven Dwarves or Charmed Stray before it, and creatures this efficient scale really hard in multiples.
Rating: 2/5
Three 1/1 Boars and three Food is not much for 6 mana. Just like its friends Lonesome Unicorn and Reaper of Night, expect to see this as a consistent last card in the pack. The rate here is so poor that even if you're in the market for Food, tokens, or both, you're not hoping to acquire them like this.
Rating 1/5
Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig
Keyword "big" on Yorvo is the main selling point, as no matter when you cast him he's still a super efficient creature that threatens to grow larger if the game drags on. While you'll rarely get two triggers off any creatures from Limited, growing this to a 5/5 and larger is absurd stats for 3 mana, and despite the heavy Green commitment I'd play this in decks with only 9 Green sources as it maintains relevancy until you're able to cast it. All bets are off if you're mono Green and you can cast this on turn 3, as it either gets removed instantly or becomes The Abyss after only a few turns in play.
Rating: 4/5
Takeaway
Green certainly gets a run from its money from Black, but looks to compete for the title of best color in the set. The rares are amazing across the board, creatures are huge and flexible, and there's even fixing here to splash for removal spells that shore up your weaknesses. As there's not much Flying to speak of you won't worry too much about opposing fliers killing you while you can't race them, and there aren't other real weaknesses to speak of other than a lack of good two drops. Green two drops are still acceptable in general, but none of them shine like White's or Red's. I expect Green to be heavily contested in Throne of Eldraine Limited, as everyone who starts with a busted Green rare will fight tooth and claw for the right to play the color.
Best Common
Fierce Witchstalker
Crazy efficiency along with a Food token is a deal that shouldn't be passed up. Fierce Witchstalker doesn't edge out the best removal spells but it's easily the best common creature in the set.
Best Uncommon
Edgewall Innkeeper
This threatens to draw you an extra card a turn starting on the second turn of the game, and can also be played more conservatively against decks packing tons of removal. Easily the best uncommon in the set.
Best Rare/Mythic
The Great Henge
The window to interact with this is about a turn, and not everyone will even have access to Disenchants and Shatters to deal with this anyways. Once you untap with this you threaten to snowball the game out of control by simply casting the first creature.
Until next time,
Kevin
@sealedawaymtg on Twitter
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