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By: JBushEsq, Jordan Bush
Mar 22 2009 11:28am
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Hello and welcome back once again to Musings. Sorry about the slighly long delay between this article and the last one - I ended up with an appellate brief to write and suck up 99% of my time. This time around I'm going to be taking a look at Conflux Green, and evaluating the cards and how they play out for drafting, in particular for ALA ALA CON. After my past couple of articles I've been getting some good feed back, and once I get through the rest of the colors, I'm planning on doing an update type article to reflect some changes on how I've over/underrated some of the cards.

Also, for anyone how may have missed them, here are the links for my previous articles

Black http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-black-black
Blue http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-blue
White http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-white

 

Also, for anyone how may have missed them, here are the links for Black: http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-black-black; Blue: http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-blue; and White: http://puremtgo.com/articles/musings-look-conflux-limited-white.

The following chart is a guide to how I'm going to be ranking the cards. The Pick Rankings serve to correspond both to relatively when a card should be taken from a pack, as well as overall playability and usefulness for a deck. Keep in mind though, these are just rough estimates, and it might be very reasonable to take a lower card over a higer ranked one based on the specifics of any given draft.

Pick Ranking What it means
1st Massive, unquestionable bomb - worth considering even if off color because if played, it will likely win the game more or less on the spot
1st-3rd Bombs - but only in the right deck. Probably won't win the game by itself or rip it from the jaws of defeat, but will still likely have a huge impact on the game, and if not delt with, will win it in a few turns
2nd-4th Very solid cards - not worth taking over bombs, but will generally cut most else out. Typically any solid removal spells will fall here.
3rd-5th Bread and butter cards- good creatures that should be welcome inclusions in a deck that can support them
5th-7th Will more than often get played, but generally are unexciting.
6th-9th Filler cards that will flush out a deck - not great, but not completly unplayable.
10+ Junk - not worth it in any deck at any time - take the basic land.

 Anyways, on to the cards.

Beacon Behemoth
 

 A pretty reasonable guy, a 5/3 for 5 being fairly par for the course. However, unlike (Mosston) this one's a bit hard on the mana, needing two green, also, while vigilance is certianly useful for serving double duty, its not as relevant as some of the other abilities that the Naya beasts can share with each other. Still, though, a really decent guy that should easily make any deck that can handle the double green in his casting cost. I want to call him 3rd -5th, but I just can't get excited enough to be happy to pick him that early in most drafts - I'd be happy to pick him up 5th-7th most games. Beacon Behemoth

 Cliffrunner Behemoth
 

 If 5/3 for 5 is par for the course, 5/3 for 4 is that much better. Add in two possible abilities and you have a  serious contender of a creature. Getting haste can be pretty good for catching an opponent off guard - though its his white triggered lifelink that gets my really excited - 10 point life swings win games... Obviously great for any Naya deck that is likely to give him both - but equally good for a Bant deck thats going to be giving him lifelink. In Jund, he's still quite good, but more by virtue of being a 5/3 for 4 than for haste (though thats a nice little bonus...) I'd want to grab this guy 1st -3rd no matter what deck I'm playing- he's big, scary and cheap. Cliffrunner Behemoth

Cylian Sunsinger
 

 Another Knight of the Skyward Eye, Obviously this guy is really solid for any Naya deck that can pump her up. Though, it should be noted, unlike the Knight, she can become an 8/8 or even an 11/11 if the game's going long enough. Since she's rare, don't count on getting mutiples. Just a really solid creature. I'd take her farily early, but not over bombs or removal. 3rd-5th. Cylian Sunsinger

Ember Weaver
 

 Green's just getting no end of efficent creatures. In a format dominated by a lot of 2/2's a 2/3 for 3 is a really reasonable drop as he can stop those 2/2s or attack into them. Add in reach, and he stops most flyers cold. Oh - and he can a 3/3 first striker too - scary. 3rd-5th Ember Weaver

Filigree Fracture
 

 Another Naturalize - that being said, its taken on an extra mana in its casting cost to become a cantrip against Blue/Black. If your removal light, this might be worth starting in the main, as its amazing against Esper, and can handle some other problamatic cards, such as Oblivion Ring. Still, I'd rather keep this in my board, and bring it in against decks that I know will have targets for it. Grab one if you see it late - 6th-9th. Filigree Fracture

Gluttonous Slime
 

 This guys really cool - he's taken away all of the bad with Devor and turned it into card advantage. Simply wait until one of your guys is being hit with removal, and drop this guy as a 3/3. Or, he can get pretty crazy after a big attack - wait until combat damage is on the stack, then drop him to feast on all of your going to be dead anyway critters and net a 4/4 + guy. A really solid creature with some fun possibilities - 3rd-5th. Gluttonous Slime

Matca Rioters
 

 Another great green creature. In a lot of decks he's just going to be a 3/3 for 3... which is great. Obviously in domain, he'll be a 5/5 or a 4/4 which is even better. To be honest, If I'm looking for good creatures, and I'm playing 3 or 5 colors, I want to grab this guy pretty early. 3rd -5th. Matca Rioters

Might of Alara
 

 Once again - in most decks this is going to be a giant growth - which is pretty awesome as thats usually more than enough to throw off combat, counter a burn spell or even get in there for a killing blow. Domain, and its a hugh +5/+5 bonus. Still though, if I'm playing green, I want to have one of these. 3rd-5th, though If I'm creature heavy I think about grabbing this 2nd-4th. Might of Alara

Nacatl Savage
 

 This is a reasonable 2 drop at 2/1, even more so since he only needs a single colored mana. So he's worth playing for some early game, but not to exciting. Obviously, he's much better against Esper, shutting them down, or attacking and being almost unblockable. Worth playing, but don't stress out about drafting them high or anything 6th-9th. Nacatl Savage

Noble Hierarch
 

 OK - So this article isn't about advocating rare-drafting... but this card can almost pay for your draft by herself, so for that reason alone I'd seriously consider grabbing her first if theres nothing else more compelling in the pack. HOWEVER, she's worth so much because she's very, very good. This format doesn't have much in terms of mana acceleration for the early game - this one does just that. Oh, and she has exalted too, so she's very relevant on the attack. Just a really good card, even more so for bant. I'd take her 1st-3rd for all of the above reasons. Noble Hierarch

 Paleoloth
 

 A 5/5 for 6, not too shabby, even more so since a lot of removal has trouble with stuff bigger than 3 (or 4). If you already have the deck ready for this guy, ie a decent Naya build with a lot of 5+'s, then his recursion is nothing short of scary, even more so since you can grab back other 5s etc. A great card for the right deck, or not to bad in a non-opimal set up. I'd happily take him earlyish, but I want to consider the rest of the pack too 3rd-5th. Paleoloth

Sacellum Archers
 

 WOW - another 2/3 for 3 - but this guy can just wreck combat math for an opponent. I'd be happy to grab him eary in any deck that can cast him and activate him. 1st-3rd. Sacellum Archers

Scattershot Archer
 

 Unlike his bigger Archer friend, this guy isn't as automatically devistating. He's just too small to get me excited, and while he has an interesting activated ability, there arn't a ton of X/1 flyers out there. Obviously, if your opponent seems to have more than a few - side this guy in and profit, but I wouldn't be happy starting him in my main. 6th-9th. Scattershot Archer

Shard Convergence
 

 Only domain players needs to sign up here, as I don't really want to be paying for mana to get two lands, though making sure you get full domain and land drops for the next 4 turns is a different story.Obviously very good for any base green domain build - if thats you take this early 3rd-5th. Shard Convergence

Soul's Majesty
 

 I'll be honest - I can't figure this one out. I opened this one a little while back, and I grabbed it first, which was a mistake as ended up not playing it. Getting 4 or more cards would obviously be great, and 3 would still be decent. I guess what would decide if I'm going to play this or not would be based on how much synergy the rest of my deck has - if its high with a lot of really good creatures and tricks, then I don't think I want to waste a turn playing this. Still, probably worth playing, I'm going to go ahead and say I'd want this around 3rd-5th, but I'm really not sure exactly where it belongs ---when I do an updated rankings article, this one's going to be in it for sure, hopefully with some more actually in game perspectives. Soul's Majesty

Spore Burst
 

 Unlike some of the other green domain cards Matca Rioters and Might of Alara I'd value this one a lot higher with a domain deck rather than in a 3 color one. Sure, 3 1/1s for 4 isn't terrible, but its not terribly great either (Unless in a heavy devour style deck...) but 5 1/1s is pretty significant. Domain: 3rd-5th; All others: 6th-9th. Spore Burst

Sylvan Bounty
 

 No. Unlike a the other Basic Landcyclers, this one just doesn't have the appeal of actually being played - sure life gain can be relevant sometimes, I don't want to be spending 6 mana for 8 life, if that sounds appealing...then your probably losing anyways. I guess, and this is a huge guess - that this would be playable for the mana fixing alone - but I wouldn't be happy about having to do so. 10th+ (unless the mana fixing is really really neccessary) Sylvan Bounty

Thornling
 

 OK - so anything ending in "Ling" is a bomb, I get that. Sure, he's not as impressive or as dynamic as Morphling, but nothing is (Remember, I've been playing a long long time...and for me I still rank the Morphling as the best creature ever...)

Anyways- Thornling, he's a little mana intensive, but he's really hard to kill short of removing him from the game somehow. He'll kill pretty much everything and live to tell...oh and he should hit your opponent for a couple too, even if chumped. 1st.

Thornling

Tukatongue Thallid

 Sure, he has to be killed twice, but he's still just a 1/1 both times. Unless you have a lot of devour, this guys just too small to have much impact on the game. 10th+ Tukatongue Thallid

Wild Leotau
 

 This guys a mixed bag really - sure he's a 5/4 for 4, which can do some serious damage. However, he's fairly color intensive, and his upkeep could pose a problem for later game development as well as make him less desireable in multiples. Still, I'd want at least one in any green centric deck as he's pretty big. 3rd-5th Wild Leotau

Green Overall: Green delivers as one would expect - not much else aside from creatures - but theres enough good creatures that any deck playing green should be happy come Conflux as they should end up with a few efficent critters. Not as "Bomb-tastic" as white, but green's very solid.

As always - questions or comments are welcome - as this is by no way a definitive ranking, rather this is just how I approach each of the given cards when I'm drafting Conflux.

Until Red - Cheers.
 

6 Comments

From experience, Tukatongue by Anonymous (not verified) at Sun, 03/22/2009 - 15:58
Anonymous's picture

From experience, Tukatongue Thallid is good. Not very good, but good. There are plenty of X/1s in the format and his persistence helps with chumping/devour. He is a decent 1-drop in an aggressive environment. On the other hand, from experience Nacatl Savage is complete garbage. Filigree is higher and maindeck if you're in a 4-3-2-2 queue on MTGO since your opponent will probably be struggling gamely for domain or in some weird Esper hybrid, meaning you will almost always have a good target. In 8-4, good sideboard card.

I've actually had some good by blandestk at Sun, 03/22/2009 - 17:31
blandestk's picture

I've actually had some good results with the Savage against the right deck.

Sylvan bounty by jayhoegh at Sun, 03/22/2009 - 20:41
jayhoegh's picture

I read all the things about how this card sucks. And yet, twice in one sealed event against different opponents was it played against me, which led to me losing the race and losing.

Gluttonous Slime by Serge (not verified) at Mon, 03/23/2009 - 00:32
Serge's picture

I dunno bout 3rd-5th on Gluttonous Slime bro.. only a 3/3 for 3 if played when a guy is about to die, which means u have to hold the card & keep mana open for it and the right moment may not even come. and throwing 2 of your guys into the bin to net a 4/4 for 3 with no abilities or evasion just doesn't seem that good. Especially when the format includes O-Ring, Path to Exile, and tons of other great removal spells.

Comments by JBushEsq at Mon, 03/23/2009 - 01:22
JBushEsq's picture

Thanks for the comments guys - I appreciate the feedback.

Some comments in response:

I guess the Thallid isn't terrible, but I really just find him too small to make more than a minimal impact. Sure, I guess he can chump block twice...but I'd rather play a better creature to begin with and force my opponent to chump block it instead. I suppose if your really creature light, he's playable- Devour aside, I just really don't want to be playing him.

I think the Savage is a fine card - I like to have a couple of viable early drops, and two power for two mana seems fine in my book - I'm not saying to try and get this guy early, but there are a lot worse creatures that could be played, so towards the late-mid pack, grab one if you see him.

The Slime - yeah, I agree, 3rd-5th is probably a bit too early - I just got really worked up about the cute tricks you can pull with him, ie, to play him after combat and profit. In retrospect, I'd rather pick him up in the 5-7th range (maybe 4th -6th would better summarize it). Still, he has flash, so that can be relevant even without devour as he can really mess up combat if played at a good time. I guess I just think he's a generally solid creature with some interesting possibilities.

Soul's Majesty by Rerepete at Tue, 03/24/2009 - 13:01
Rerepete's picture
5

Soul's Majesty is a good card for mid to late game to replenish your hand, as there are only a few true card drawing spells in Alara Block (Esper Charm, Scepter of Insight, Covent of Minds, and Courier's Capsule). Elvish Visionary will cantrip, while Drumhunter and Filigree Fracture could conditionally give you a card.

When you compare the costs, you will find that Esper Charm is 3 mana for +1 card, Scepter is 4 per card, Covent is 2.5 per card (or 1.25 per card and loss of 3 cards to GY), and Capsule is 4 for +1 card. Since green usually has a creature in the 3-5 power range, Soul's Majesty is usually 1.25-2.5 per card, but could be even less with Sunsinger, or Thornling in play.