Probably.
Three weeks ago, I wrote the second-to-last post in this series on the color red, which is a very simple color, all about passion and emotion and fire and dealing as much damage as physically possible in the shortest amount of time! This week, we'll be talking about green, which is another fairly simple color. Also, my favorite. But more on that later!
And we finally come full circle, to the top left!!
What does green represent?
In case you couldn't tell by now, the picture on a color's mana symbol often coincides with what the color represents. Red had a fireball, and was focused on fire and passion and emotion. Black had a skull, and was focused on death, especially as a tool to further one's own goals. So, let's take a moment and look above.
Any ideas?
How about now?
If you guessed "nature," "trees," "plants," "growth," or anything like that, you'd be pretty spot-on. The biggest thing that green represents is growth, whether in a literal sense or in a more metaphorical, personal sense. That being said, green typically approaches growth through the lens of nature (although this isn't always true, especially when combined with one or more other colors). Green represents life - which overlaps slightly with white - as well as instinct. It's a pretty simple color, in all honesty - it's similar to red in that regard. You can sum up green, mostly, by saying that it represents life, nature, instinct, and growth. It does get slightly more interesting when we get to the gameplay, though.
What does this mean for gameplay?
I'm glad you asked! So when you think of nature, what's the first thing you think of? Is it bountiful land, full of trees and plants and whatnot? Well, seeing as green uses forests as its mana source, you wouldn't be too far off on that one. And with that, green is the color that's most focused on ramping up its mana base, whether through getting as many lands onto the field as possible or through the use of creatures that help produce mana.
Like this guy. Or the weird plant-person thing in the last picture.
If, instead of lands, you think of creatures when you think of nature, then you just hit green's favorite card type in the game. Green doesn't really care so much about spell-slinging with instants and sorceries - it's perfectly content just slapping some creatures onto the field and letting them have the run of the place. Green doesn't care for blue's machinations, or black's underhandedness. That's not green's style. If green is going to kill you, you'll see it coming from a mile away, but you just won't be able to do anything about it. It's like the inevitability that nature will reclaim all things, if you like analogies.
So, there are two general categories to how green plays with creatures. Option 1 is big armies of small creatures. Perhaps "armies" isn't quite the right word for it - green isn't as organized as, say, white is. But don't fret, green can easily have dozens of creatures on the field, all helping each other grow in strength (see what I did there?) and overwhelm the enemy. The most obvious creature type for this option is elves, of which green has a metric ton. Option 2, on the flip side, is small groups of big, stompy creatures. This is where you find your elephants, your hydras, and all other assorted beasts. Green is all about instinct and growth, like I said, so it plays very intuitively - build up your mana base early, maybe throw out a few weaker creatures to fend off an attack, and then end with some big monstrosities that'll show your opponent the brute force of nature.
Pictured left: Elves.
Pictured right: Beasts.
You get the idea.
However, like I said earlier, green doesn't play a manipulative game. Green doesn't use underhanded tactics to win. Its simplicity and its reliance on instinct can often be its downfall. It is very good at removing enchantments and artifacts (which can be seen as nature reclaiming what rightfully belongs to it), but it is comparatively terrible at removing creatures from the board. When it comes to creatures, green will always attempt to simply have the biggest ones around, and hopefully that will be enough. When it does come to targeted removal of opponents' creatures, this is where the "fight" mechanic comes in, of which green is the most prolific user. When you cast a spell that causes one creature to "fight" another, they essentially just damage each other as if one had just blocked the other in combat. It's a much more limited form of creature removal than, say, black's tendency to just murder things, but it suits green just fine.
Finally, to go right along with green's focus on growth, green is where you'll find the most cards that simply make your creatures bigger than they already are. This can take the form of temporary, "until end of turn" effects like the one seen on Giant Growth, or it can be a more permanent effect, such as a +1/+1 counter. Green likes both of these methods, and uses them both extensively. As long as its creatures are getting bigger, it doesn't much care how it happens.
I won't lie. I just love the picture from this card.
My opinions on the color:
As I mentioned in the red post, my preference is to play a creature-heavy game, and if that's the goal, there's no better color than green for the task. It sure as hell has the creatures to smack your opponents around, and it also has the mana manipulation (via land retrieval and creatures that produce extra mana) to get those big creatures on the field. And the other reason green is my favorite color in Magic is because of its directness. There is little more satisfying than watching a blue player attempt to control a green deck, only to have his attempts foiled by an ever-expanding barrage of giant beasts.
Also, hydras are probably my second-favorite creature type in the game (behind krakens, which are frankly the most green-like blue creatures around).
I mean, look at that thing. How could you not just want, like,
twelve of them?
But, as with many colors, green can be a bit boring on its own. In fact, I'd argue that green is one of the weaker colors on its own, too. White and black can absolutely hold their own in a mono-colored deck, while mono-red just kills you before you have a chance to play. Mono-blue can be tough. But while mono-green has the potential to be very strong (generally speaking, most green cards work at least somewhat well together), it does have some serious drawbacks in that it has little in the ways of control - especially for creatures. Plus, it is heavily reliant on mana, so if you target a green player's mana producers or simply destroy his lands (something that we in the MTG community generally refer to as "a dick move"), you can slow or halt a green deck's momentum. The other problem is that green has the fewest flying creatures in the game, so it can become quickly overwhelmed by a flyer-heavy deck if it doesn't have a creature with reach.
Overall? I'm a huge fan of green. To me, the only reason I don't like red is because when it comes to creatures, green does the same thing, just better. Personally, my favorite color combination is green/blue - use the blue to keep the opponent under control, until your big stompy green creatures can sweep in for the kill. Plus, it lets me use krakens and hydras in the same deck. Which is always awesome.
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