Day 5 :
GreenBenefaction of Rhonas:
0 Only getting maybe one card out of five for three mana and dumping the rest in the grumper? Delirium or reanimator maybe, but they have better options with less chance of screwing them.
Bitterblade Warrior:
0.5 A bear with the added option of getting +1 and deathtouch in a situation you're prepared to lose it in anyhow, making the exert a non-cost. Still, probably better things to do with your 2 slots.
Cartouche of Strength:
0 Overpriced,
Nature's Way makes better removal, and the minor buff not really worth it until late game on bigger dudes. Pass.
Champion of Rhonas:
1.5 Yeah, it's a Hill Giant, but if you keep that in mind and include combat tricks, it'll probably go off at least once, and that will oftentimes be enough.
Crocodile of the Crossing:
2.0 Mono-G hastiness 5 damage for 4 mana in the best case, 4/3 in the worst. Bonus if you're trying the
Nest of Scarabs deck with this.
Defiant Greatmaw:
1.0 Another Nest candidate, can also "heal" other critters and comes down potentially big. Possibly
Leatherback Baloth if you don't mind having a -1/1 Druid.
Exemplar of Strength:
1.5 Niche card in the Nest deck, really bad late game in anything else. On curve you get a bear that grows once or twice. That's not super exciting when the opponent almost has to be asleep to trigger it. Pretty much only interesting if you have a 1 drop to throw the counters on to, in which case you're accepting card disadvantage for a wanna-be
Tarmogoyf. Aggro players might be more thrilled than me.
Gift of Paradise:
1.5 It's ramp, it's fixing, it's a little lifegain, and it is going to do shenanigans with Kiora. There's the dream of T2 Druid, T3
Weaver of Currents, T4 tap Weaver and G for this, aiming at one of 3 remaining lands, tap all for Kiora, untap Weaver and Gifted land for
where you can do
Bounty of the Luxa,
Explosive Vegetation, most versions of Nissa, or other silliness. T5 you have access to 11 or more mana, depending what you did T4. Granted, this won't come up often with Kiora being a mythic, but you're probably well on your way to an auto-win when this sort of thing happens.
Greater Sandwurm:
0 Niggity-naggity-NOPE. Not when
Plated Crusher and
Gaea's Revenge both exist.
Hooded Brawler:
0 This has less to do with gangsta boxing rings than the name implied and that was only the first of many disappointments with this card.
Honored Hydra:
3.5 It's
Roar of the Wurm with Trample. That's a feisty little card there, even if it just eats two removal spells.
Initiate's Companion:
0 This would be cute with a Gifted land if it had any chance of getting through. To NOPE and beyond!
Mouth // Feed:
3.0 // 2.0 Half
Call of the Herd, half one-shot
Elemental Bond, with a possibility of card advantage. I also like the idea of
Rishkar's Expertise into this, as unless your opponent kills a dude, you'll start the next turn with at least two qualifying dudes for Feed.
Oashra Cultivator:
0 All aboard the Nope train! No one wants a worse
Diligent Farmhand. Hell, we stopped running that once
Sakura-Tribe Elder was a thing.
Ornery Kudu:
0 Nopey McNoperson called for his card back. This is never better than
Defiant Greatmaw.
Pouncing Cheetah:
0 N-N-N-N-NOPEBO! We have better versions of this.
Prowling Serpopard:
3.0 Don't feel bad about this getting a solid 3. Ignoring that the ability is only useful in certain matchups, I expect counters to make a comeback, and will say that's a REALLY day-ruining ability when it kicks in. Plus, we can stop having new creature types, because nothing is ever beating Catsnek. Worse case scenario, you've got a 4/3 for 3 on a rare. Pretty likely to trade up.
Quarry Hauler:
1.0 4/3 for 4 is significantly less impressive in G. Other colours might snap that up, but the ability can futz with +, -, loyalty, brick, or other types of counters, including counter types not yet released. I expect this to be a small piece in a semi-broken deck in the future.
Rhonas the Indomitable:
5.0 Think this is the second 5 I've given out? Well, despite that Deathtouch is useless 90% or more of the time on a five power guy, he can swing as early as turn 4 with a bear in play T2 and pumping it. Just big enough to dodge
Languish, easy to turn on/keep on, counts for Feed/Rishkar's even if he can't currently attack, etc. Splashable to boot. Unless the only reason G is in your deck is to cast
Fog, there's pretty much no excuse not to run this.
Sandwurm Convergence:
2.0 Personal bias, and I want this to be better than it is. Still, the effect is worth ramping in to; it gives you inevitability as a win condition and stops the flying guys that give so many other G decks problems. Of course
Heaven // Earth probably solves that for less mana, but this is a package deal.
Shed Weakness:
0 Nopeasaurus Rex sez; the best way to shed weakness is to cut this card from your deck.
Synchronized Strike:
0 Whether it's a shoddy version of
Invigorated Rampage or the bad part of
Blessed Alliance, the point is it's crapper version of better cards. To the Nope League with you!
Trial of Strength:
1.0 The tiny butt on these tokens kills them for me almost as much as it does Sir Mix-A-Lot, but if you're building a Cartouche/Trial deck, these work well with the U/W Cartouches and/or
Anointed Procession. Still nothing to get excited about, but hey.
Watchful Naga:
0 Can watch from the sideline, 'cause NOPE, I need bigger than 2/2 from my 3 slots in G.
Not quite Green
Rhonas's Monument:
2.5 While this is probably the best colour to take advantage of the cost reduction, the trigger helps Rhonas stay awake (all the gods are caffeine addicts, you see...) and forces opponent to use most size-based removal in response, so nice to avoid nasty combat tricks if you cast first main.
Partial Greens (not previously reviewed);
Spring // Mind 1.0 // 1.0 While Spring is overcosted by one and Mind is overcosted by two, getting both effects from one Delirium-friendly card slot will be nice in a deck or two.
Prepare // Fight 0.5 // 0 A mediocre combat trick stapled to the worst Fight card ever? Would you like fries with your Nopeburger?
Heaven // Earth 1.5 // 2.0 Two sweepers, one cheaper and instant, the other more applicable but slower, but the select-a-size nuke nature of these makes it very possible to set up one-sided situations, and Heaven gets the bonus of being a surprise. Unless we get
Silklash Spider at some point, this may be some of the best anti-flying tech G ever gets.
Top 5:
1.
Rhonas the Indomitable2.
Honored Hydra3.
Mouth // Feed4.
Prowling Serpopard5.
Rhonas's MonumentOf note is that G got the most 0 pans from me so far. It got a lot of trash, but it's also in a colour that's hard to print useful new dudes for in an eternal format. The stuff it did get is fairly mighty (and a lot of its best stuff is multicoloured), but falls off sharply after the top 5 or 6. Then again for a constructed eternal format, getting 5-6 playables per set isn't awful.