Hey everyone, we’re getting right back into it and breaking down another format top 5. This time we’re going to take a look at Green. Which happens to be one of the most important colors in frontier. While it doesn’t have any over the top, power cards (I’m lying), it has some great “build around me” cards that slot into several different decks without warping the deck-building process around them. Also, if you’re a midrange person looking for a place to start building your frontier deck, welcome home, comrade.
Same rule as last time. Cards have to be good without the surrounding context of other synergistic cards.
Staring with the worst best card for this list, Tireless Tracker. 3/2 for 3. While these stats are not insane, the value in this card lies in its ability. This is the perfect card to begin your transition into the midgame. You’re going to want to keep making land drops. And this card wants you to as well. Which in context means, pay 2 mana, draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on Tireless Tracker, while getting yourself set up to drop your next threat. The value of Tireless Tracker also comes in the fact that it can help turn dead draws into live ones. In a slug fest with another midrange deck? Peel a land instead of a way to turn the corner? Well, how about a second chance? To put this into better perspective, these are triggers and activated abilities. Nothing is being cast, your opponent cannot interact with this. Which is pretty important for the example of the midrange slug fest. It digs you out of holes, it scales, and it gets even better with the premium mana base of the format, so fetch your face off.
Standard may have forgotten you, but we haven’t Sylvan Advocate. While this card is no longer the standard Tarmogoyf, (even though it still is), it has been power crept out. Apparently elves can’t handle swarms of cats and snakes. In a format where people love dropping haymakers and grinding out games, Sylvan advocate is the perfect card to be casting the turn before you jam a Tireless Tracker. This card is good for two glaring reasons. Two mana 2/3 with vigilance. That’s clearly a sizeable threat considering you have to pay 3 mana for something with that type of bulk to it. This card is a great way to stop getting punched in the face very early in the game, and that is nothing to take for granted considering that the most prevalent deck in the format is Atarka Red. But the value doesn’t end there. When you’ve made it to the midgame, (or whenever you get your 6th land drop) you now have a 4/5 for two mana that still has vigilance. That is some serious value. This also helps in the context of midrange decks when you need to drop a threat and hold up some removal.
Next we are going to talk about a card that was one of the most format defining cards in standard for its time, and a card that might actually be the best card on this list depending on how you view Magic. Den Protector. Our lady, our savior. This card was the beginning of the Bant Company deck that we all loved to hate. However, even outside of the context of that deck, she was a powerhouse. Aggro +1/+1 counter deck? Sure, who has time to morph? Just jam her on turn 2 and slowly establish an attacker that can even attack over an Ulamog. (For you vorthos people out there, I am so sorry) Midrange value deck? Sure, I love casting Siege Rhino 47 times in one game. And I also love looping Kolaghan’s Command so my opponent never gets a meaningful draw step. Oh you’re a control player? Well, if you feel like defecting from everything you’ve ever been told and getting cards in your hand via not drawing, welcome. Den Protector fits in any style of deck. Especially Bant or Sultai Control. Seriously. Try it. One time won’t hurt. (Peer pressure peer pressure peer pressure.)
Alright. I did not want to have to do this. And I apologize in advance. And I understand if you boo me. But the second best green card in Frontier is Collected Company. I know, I hate it, you hate it, everyone hates it. But this card is just backbreakingly good. 4 mana to deploy potentially 6 converted mana cost worth of creatures. That’s something that can’t be ignored. “But, for CoCo to be good you have to run creatures that fit this criteria” Yes and no. The creatures you run in a CoCo deck make a perfectly cogent strategy without CoCo. It’s just the extra push to make the deck even better. Again, given the premium mana base in Frontier, you can splash green and make any deck with cheap, efficient creatures even better. When Frontier was first coming into fruition, this card was the elephant in the room. When you’re the first card that comes to mind when a format is announced, that warrants being on a list of the best cards in the format period, let alone in its respective color.
So what card is better than Collected Company? Easy. Elvish Mystic. No, I am not joking. The 1/1 for 1 is the best card of its color. But how? Explosiveness. What’s a good turn 4 play? Siege Rhino. Kalitas. Collected Company. Assorted Planeswalkers. Now let’s start jamming them on turn 3 instead. But wait, there’s more! Turn 2 Anafenza. Oh yeah, turn 2 4/4 Rally the Ancestors hoser. Seems good. If you’re in green and want to start the crescendo of the game a couple turns earlier, Elvish Mystic is the card for you. Not only does it help Abzan be even more of a tyrant, it helps Elves make a brutal amount of elves even quicker. Nothing like watching helplessly as your opponent makes a critical mass of elves a turn earlier than you were able to respond to because they got a head start on mana. Midrange or tribal not your thing? Well, there’s always ramp. Who has time to cast Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher on turns 4 and 5? Not you. Let’s jam them on 3 and 4 instead. And it doesn’t stop there. You can hit your Nissa’s Pilgrimage and Explosive Vegetation earlier and get to your haymakers even faster. Turn 4 Worldbreaker is awfully excruciating when you’re not the one casting it. This is what makes Elvish Mystic the best green card in Frontier. No matter what green deck you’re playing, there is almost always an argument to include Elvish Mystic.
That’s all for this time, friends. I hope you enjoyed the list. If you have any thoughts to share, drop a comment below or email me at captainseon@live.com. Stay tuned, because next week we are breaking down the top 5 cards for Frontier from the worst color in Magic. And remember, buy local play global.