Be sure to check out Part 2: The Big Beatdown, Removal, and Utility Green Creatures before continuing onward. This time we'll be delving into some of the bigger and meatier creatures Green offers.

Call of the Herd (Odyssey - Rare) and Friends
Beatdown 4, Utility 4

A newbie once asked me why Call of the Herd is good, and I was at a loss for words. If you've never had your skull kicked in by Call of the Herd like my opponents have, it's rather hard to explain to someone who might not know what card advantage really is.

Simply put, Call of the Herd is good because you get two efficient creatures from one card. In addition, Call of the Herd, like all Flashback cards, work wonderfully against discard, counterspells, and removal, while being synergistic with your own discarding, milling, and cards Intuition.

Cards like Call of the Herd, Beast Attack, Beacon of Creation, and Grizzly Fate are unique among green creatures. Because tokens are weaker than creature cards, Call of the Herd and friends enjoy a noticeable power level boost when their token aspect is irrelevant. In some cases, you can keep making tokens forever, which has applications in control, combo, and Multiplayer decks.

What decks can play Call of the Herd and friends?
Decks that want to exhaust a control deck's removal.
Decks that want to outlast beatdown decks.

Krosan Tusker (Onslaught - Common)
Mana Acceleration 2, Utility 4, Beatdown 1

The original landcycler, Krosan Tusker is card advantage, color fixing, graveyard fun, and pork tenderloin all rolled up in one Green creature. Krosan Tusker raised many eyebrows at the Onslaught Prerelease, but Green's mana acceleration since then shows that Krosan Tusker's power level is right on target.

This is a perfect Multiplayer creature, where you need all the mana, card advantage, and beef you can stuff into your deck.

What decks can play Krosan Tusker?
Decks with a rather high but dense mana curve.

Forgotten Ancient (Scourge - Rare)
Utility 4, Beatdown 4

Forgotten Ancient is by far the best source of +1/+1 counters in Magic. You get to move them once during your upkeep for no mana and no restrictions, which lets Forgotten Ancient function as a beatdown, control, and utility card all at once.

For added beatdown, move your counters to creatures like Kodama of the North Tree, Treetop Village, Birds of Paradise, and Exalted Angel. For added utility, move your counters to Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver, Mindless Automaton, and other modular creature.

From my experience, Forgotten Ancient's best friend is Triskelion. A large Triskelion is extremely valuable for a green deck and a formidable political tool in Multiplayer.

What decks can play Forgotten Ancient?
Decks that plan to see many spells played.
Decks with tricks for +1/+1 counters.

Elder Druid (Ice Age - Rare)
Utility 1

Elder Druid's real name is Kolbjörn, and his proper title is Elder Druid of the Juniper Order. There have been Elder Druids before him, like Kolevi of Havenwood, and after him, like Kaysa. He's especially preachy of Freyalise (the planeswalker pictured on Pernicious Deed) in his flavor text quotes during Ice Age.

He looks a lot like Gandalf, don't you think? He was my bookmark while reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy when I started in Ice Age.

I'm firm believer that you should learn at least one thing after reading a Magic article.

What decks can use Elder Druid?
Decks that are not decks, but instead are books you are reading.

Ernham Djinn (Arabian Nights, Chronicles - Uncommon, Judgment - Rare)
Beatdown 4, Utility 1

While outclassed by today's bigger, better creatures, Ernham Djinn is still a beefy politician in Multiplayer Free-for-Alls. Unless your opponents control only creatures you intend to block, Ernham Djinn has no noticeable drawback. Even then, that creature has to race Ernham Djinn.

Ernham Djinn shines in a multicolor good stuff deck alongside other such platinum hits as Derelor, Frenetic Efreet, and Armageddon:

Wave Of Reckogeddon
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Vine Trellis
4 Yavimaya Elder
4 Ernham Djinn
3 Lhurgoyf
1 Temple Acolyte
1 Mirri, Cat Warrior
1 Troubled Healer
1 Radiant's Dragoons
1 Glory
1 Genesis
1 Tradewind Rider
1 Armadillo Cloak

2 Swords to Plowshares
2 Serenity
3 Armageddon
4 Wave of Reckoning

2 Undiscovered Paradise
4 Savannah
1 Island
5 Plains
10 Forest

Splashing Tradewind Rider is evil, like everything Blue.

What decks can play Ernham Djinn?
Decks without Forests.

Ravenous Baloth (Onslaught - Rare)
Beatdown 4, Utility 4

This large Bottle Gnomes is a premier Green control creature. Life gain is associated with wasted deck slots, but Ravenous Baloth is an efficient creature that can trade itself in for life when you need it. His zero mana ability, large size, and castable mana cost make him a good recursion target because fighting through a 4/4 body and four life each turn can be very difficult for beatdown decks.

Creatures that sacrifice themselves for an effect are a great source of card advantage. Your opponent will likely need to answer Ravenous Baloth eventually, and no matter what happens you can always squeeze 4 life out of him. Creatures that can disappear from the table can also avoid the ill effects of cards like Eradicate, Duplicant, and Treachery.

What decks can play Ravenous Baloth?
Decks that want to outlast beatdown decks.
Decks that employ recursion.

As an aside, Green's most powerful mana cost for creatures in my mind seems to be 2GG. Green's power curve spikes at 2GG, which can result in large, efficient creatures that are still cheap enough for tournament play. I think R&D likes this cost because it's sufficiently green, sufficiently expensive, and emphasizes two-drop mana accelerators over one-drop mana accelerators. This analysis is just this Green mage's judgment and intuition, since I obviously do not have access to R&D's power/toughness/mana cost curves.

My favorite part of You Make The Card #1 was seeing how R&D costs Green creatures, though Forgotten Ancient's ability massively skews it toward a low manacost. Quirion Dryad is good because it hits the table early; it can make up for its small size by using its ability each turn. So be on the lookout for 2GG creatures, and to a lesser extent 2GGG for control creatures and 1GG for utility creatures.

Spike Weaver (Exodus - Rare)
Utility 4, Beatdown 3

Spike Weaver can create a real dilemma for beatdown decks. They have to swing with enough damage to bait a fog since Spike Weaver stops three combat phases. Swinging with too little damage allows Spike Weaver to just take it, which buys turns and still leaves three Fogs to contend with.

There's also the tiny problem that Spike Weaver and friends can also attack and block. Suffice it to say, racing is very difficult when you selectively lose three combat phases for a relatively small investment from your opponent.

With the tiniest bit of work, Spike Weaver can fog lock many decks out of the game.

What decks can play Spike Weaver?
Decks seeking to steal lots of tempo from beatdown decks.

Kodama of the South Tree (Champions of Kamigawa - Rare)
Beatdown 5, Utility 4

I'm no expert on Kamigawa Block, but when I go Hana Kami, Soilshaper, Kami of the Hunt, Kodama of the South Tree, Kodama's Might splice Kodama's Might, Kodama's Might, extremely bad things happen to my opponent's life total, even through an army of chumpblockers.

Kodama of the South Tree is a menacing beatdown machine, but you must play with Kamigawa cards, which is good for new experiences but bad for modularity.

What decks can play Kodama of the South Tree?
Decks based on the Spiritcraft mechanic from Kamigawa Block.

Iwamori of the Open Fist (Betrayers of Kamigawa - Rare)
Beatdown 3-5

Iwamori pushes Constructed decks to play legendary creatures by welcoming them to the battlefield when he hits the table. Iwamori's mechanic borrows heavily from the Emperor hit Hunted Wumpus. During a past era of Extended, Hunted Wumpus became tech against combo decks because they forgot how fun beating down with creatures is.

I have never been impressed by Hunted Wumpus outside of Limited and Multiplayer. As far as Constructed-playable legendary creatures go, the guys you don't want to see on turn 3 are Keiga, Kokusho, and The Unspeakable. Free Kokusho with Dark Banishing is the worst scenario. While Iwamori is a fairly safe play, I do not enjoy swinginess and nondependability from my Green creatures. I envision Iwamori will be unplayable once Kamigawa Block fills mana curves with legendary creatures.

Kodama of the South Tree beats down harder than Iwamori (who isn't a Spirit), and Kodama of the North Tree analogues him functionally (killing creature-light decks). While Iwamori of the Open Fist is a welcome addition to Green, I don't think Betrayers of Kamigawa fixes The Problem with Standard.

Iwamori is not small against Ravager Affinity, but then again neither is Hunted Wumpus. Green is the control, not the beatdown against Ravager Affinity, and huge groundpounders do not stop death from Blinkmoth Nexus and Disciple of the Vault. Only a well-timed banning will do that.

What decks can play Iwamori of the Open Fist?
Decks that beatdown against legendary creature-light decks.

Tempting Wurm (Onslaught - Rare)
Beatdown 1, Utility -5

Tempting Wurm is probably Green's worst creature. This creature seems to have no place in any Magic format. Tempting Wurm is such a bad rare, I have trouble trading it 1 for 1 for other trash rares on Magic Online.

I play Tempting Wurms in a FFA deck that tries to lose, and the sheer disgust from my teammates is the only fun this casual Green mage can squeeze out of the temptatious wurm. I can't paint pictures with words, but after my teammate has garnered crazy card advantage and wrecked opposing manabases with Explorations, Crucible of Worlds, and Strip Mine, I let loose a giddy "Commencing beatdown!" and drop Tempting Wurm, whereupon unrequited rage bleeds from my teammate. In that Good deck-Bad deck Two-Headed Giant format, I guess Tempting Wurm can force the good decks to apply hard locks, not soft locks.

I oftentimes try to make bad creatures "good" with slight tweaks, but Tempting Wurm is perplexing. For Tempting Wurm to be good, my minimum is 10/10, but then it's just a Fling, Pandemonium, Unearth combo card like Phyrexian Dreadnought turned into. Extremely swingy cards are very unhealthy for the game, anyway, so I guess it's best to let Tempting Wurm sit unloved at an unplayable power level.

What decks can play Tempting Wurm?
Decks that somehow win the game by first losing the game.

Blastoderm (Nemesis - Common)
Beatdown 3-5

Blastoderm is excellent against most removal spells and puts up a fight against most every creature at his mana cost. He can be neutralized by efficient blockers so it helps to clear the way first.

Control decks dislike Blastoderm so try to play one when you know he will stick.

What decks can play Blastoderm?
Decks that can remove blockers while beating down.

Phantom Centaur (Judgment - Uncommon)
Beatdown 4, Utility 3

Resistant to both Red and Black removal, Phantom Centaur is a large threat, rarely trading in combat but weak against chumpblocking and regenerators. Akin to Blastoderm, Phantom Centaur is exactly the stalwartly beatstick many Green beatdown decks are looking for.

What decks can play Phantom Centaur?
Decks that want a resilient beatdown creature.

Stampeding Wildebeests (Visions - Uncommon)
Beatdown 4, Utility 4

Stampeding Wildebeests is a bouncing fun casual green creature. There are lots of green creatures to bounce, including Blastoderm, Eternal Witness, and Deranged Hermit.

If you own a Stampeding Wildebeests deck, you can to correctly spell "wildebeest" on command.

What decks can play Stampeding Wildebeests?
Decks that are built around the card Stampeding Wildebeests.

Molder Slug (Mirrodin - Rare)
Beatdown 4, Removal 1-5

A large, reusable way to kill even indestructible artifacts, Molder Slug is variably stellar because giving your opponent choices does not a good removal spell make. Molder Slug constrains your deckbuilding but if you have a taste for slug, he can hold a place at the top of your mana curve. Luckily for Molder Slug, Mirrodin is a plane that lacks salt.

What decks can play Molder Slug?
Decks seeking to outlast artifact-dense decks.
Decks that want disruption as well as a large creature.

Hystrodon (Onslaught - Rare)
Utility 3, Beatdown 3

Hystrodon exists because of a short-lived shift in the color pie from Judgment to Onslaught to Legions. Randy Buehler tells us that Ophidian is a Blue, then Green, then Blue and Green ability. Actually, the most elegant examples of this mechanic are Curiosity and One with Nature.

Hystrodon, much like Werebear, plays better than he looks. His 3/4 trampling body and morph ability is often just enough is to sneak in one point past your opponent's creatures. He is a nice target for creature enchantments like Gaea's Embrace and Blanchwood Armor as well as combat tricks like Giant Growth and Wax/Wane.

In Multiplayer Free-for-Alls, any relatively cheap creature that needs to hit for a good effect is stellar because there's always some poor mana screwed guy. PH33R the Pygmy Hippo.

What decks can play Hystrodon?
Decks that expect to only fight small creatures, like land destruction decks.
Decks that can reliably push damage through blockers.

Genesis (Judgment - Rare)
Utility 5, Beatdown 3

Genesis is one of those cards that left me bug-eyed viewing the Judgment spoiler. Can Durkwood Boars really be that good? Can a Green vanilla 4/4 creature really be awesome, the way Green vanilla 4/4s were meant to be?

Yes, it can be.

There are very few better Green creatures than Genesis against a control deck. He beats down, blocks, gets countered, killed, discarded, milled, but eventually Genesis will start working his magic in the graveyard. Genesis's card advantage, threat selection, and inevitability make it, to the best of my knowledge, playable in every format.

Every Green deck with a useful selection of creatures can play 1 Genesis. I personally don't think any Multiplayer Green deck should ever be without 1 Genesis. As long as Green creatures are good and they can die, Genesis will be good.

Here's how Genesis works: You walk through the upkeep door, choose a target creature card for Genesis (possibly Genesis itself), and put that ability on the stack. When the ability resolves, you may pay 2G and put the target creature card into your hand from your graveyard. Genesis's trigger works like Lightning Rift.

Since you pay on resolution, you'll never be screwed out of your mana against something like Coffin Purge. Leave Coffin Purge to screw five mana from Eternal Dragon (a decidedly Green card).

What decks can play Genesis?
Decks with creatures that plan to enter the mid to late game.
Decks with creatures that frequently enter topdeck mode.

Gigapede (Onslaught - Rare)
Utility 3, Beatdown 1-5

In most cases, Gigapede is Green's harshest late-game threat against control decks. Decks like W/R Astral Slide, U/W Control, and MonoBlack Control must kill you very soon because Gigapede is basically a Blastoderm that never dies.

Gigapede can sometimes function as a strange discard and graveyard enabler.

What decks can play Gigapede?
Decks that beatdown against slow control decks.

Silklash Spider (Onslaught - Rare)
Utility 3, Removal 1-5

The matriarch of the spider kingdom, Silklash Spider is Green's best blocker, stopping many of the best attackers you'll find at a Multiplayer table like Dragons and Angels while spinning all them out of the sky for a full turn's worth of mana. Silklash Spider can wreck entire tribes like Birds and Slivers if the timing's right.

What decks can play Silklash Spider?
Decks that want to block and remove large or numerous flying creatures.

Battlefield Scrounger (Judgment - Common)
Utility 2, Beatdown 1

This creature fills a small niche in Magic: recycling cards from your graveyard into your near-empty library. He is reliable because he performs this function at faster-than-instant speed and you get to choose the order.

What decks can use Battlefield Scrounger?
Decks that need to restock their library with cards from their graveyard.

Seedborn Muse (Legions - Rare)
Mana Acceleration 1-5, Utility 1-5

Seedborn Muse is Green's most powerful Multiplayer creature when properly abused. She can provide an insurmountable resource advantage in Multiplayer. If you ever see a Seedborn Muse hit the table in Multiplayer, there is a risk that everyone could be locked in as little as one turn.

Seedborn Muse has a lot of variance. Sometimes she'll do practically nothing. Other times she lets you swing with your whole team, untap them all to block, activate all your creature abilities multiple times while drawing and casting 3+ spells a turn, even if it's not specifically your turn.

To abuse Seedborn Muse, you need instant speed effects that utilize your mana and creatures every turn. This can be as simple as Capsize and Ertai, Wizard Adept or as strange as Call of the Wild and Kyren Negotiations. Some locks like Opposition can start affecting the whole table. The relatively obscure Winding Canyons and Veldaken Orrey combo exceptionally with Seedborn Muse.

My friend Marvin is particularly good at Seedborn Muse abuse. He initially begins with Planar Portal into Fires of Yavimaya, Planar Portal into Elvish Piper, Planar Portal into Seedborn Muse. From here, each and every turn results in creatures like Tradewind Rider, Mystic Snake, Arcanis the Omnipotent, Ertai the Corrupted, Avatar of Woe, Spike Weaver, Gilded Drake, and Verdant Force hitting the table like a colorful rain of death.

What decks can play Seedborn Muse?
Decks that can tap all its resources at instant speed each turn.

Solemn Simulacrum (Mirrodin - Rare)
Utility 4, Mana Acceleration 2

This sad robot can fix your mana, draw a card, and provide a warm body for your chumpblocking pleasures. However, in green territory Jens Thoren has to first make room for the Elders Yavimaya and Sakura-Tribe. For Green mages, I've found that RoboJens only has a place in extreme control or extreme land acceleration decks.

What decks can play Solemn Simulacrum?
Decks with many two-drop mana accelerators.
Control decks that want to beat other control decks.

Etched Oracle (Fifth Dawn - Uncommon)
Utility 5, Beatdown 4

Etched Oracle is a Green creature that happens to use an artifact mechanic. Skeptical? Let's see:

• Likes many different colors of mana? Green.
• Can trade its creature form for 3 new cards? Green.
• Uses +1/+1 counters? Green.
• Is usually a 4/4 for four mana? Green.

In an emergency Etched Oracle can Sunburst for 3 or less. It can draw cards more efficiently than Mindless Automaton if you dump +1/+1 counters on it with Forgotten Ancient. You can also target other players to draw three cards, like your teammates.

Etched Oracle wrecks control decks almost as hard as Ravenous Baloth wrecks beatdown decks.

What decks can play Etched Oracle?
Decks with mana bases that generate many different colors.

Masticore (Urza's Destiny - Rare)
Removal 5, Beatdown 5, Utility 3

Masticore is mono-Green's best creature removal spell and rules the combat phase as long as you can keep him in play. Green's mana acceleration, graveyard interaction, card advantage, and love of the combat phase all mesh with Masticore's abilities and drawbacks.

Masticore is a very skill-intensive card, forcing you make decisions about when to play him, which cards to discard, when to attack, when to block, when to shoot, what to shoot, when to regenerate, and when to let him die.

When Masticore hits play, you should start making large strides toward killing your opponent's creatures and smashing her life total. Masticore fails when your combat phase is rendered ineffective through tapping, damage prevention, massive life gain, or a large regenerator. For green mages, Masticore typically lives a short table life, quickly solving any problems before green's efficient fatties take over.

I've seen many players lose to their own Masticore. Masticore is a tool, not a crux.

What decks can play Masticore?
Decks that need a large creature and removal against beatdown.

Triskelion (Antiquities, 4^th Edition, Mirrodin - Rare)
Utility 5, Removal 4, Beatdown 3

Triskelion is a large creature I had never played until Mirrodin. How can a six-drop 4/4 with an ability that makes him smaller be good?

All dedicated Green mages know that removal is scarce. Triskelion's zero mana instant speed damage is extremely good and quite unique. It can stop many problem creatures like Western Paladin, Royal Assassin, Peacekeeper, X/1 evaders, and other small creatures that give Green mages fits. Triskelion shines against removal, dies on command, and combos mechanically with green's +1/+1 counters.

What decks can play Triskelion?
Decks that need to remove small, problematic creatures.
Decks that can repeatedly put a six-mana artifact creature into play.
Decks built around +1/+1 counters.

Duplicant (Mirrodin - Rare)
Utility 4, Beatdown 3-5, Removal 4

Duplicant struck me as potential Green removal, though I believe we as a community needed some warming up before trying him in Constructed.

Duplicant is a reactive creature where Triskelion is an active creature. You must wait for the right turn to play your Duplicant, hopefully the turn he steals the most tempo. There are many extremely dangerous creatures that Duplicant kills, including Masticore, Darksteel Colossus, Jareth, Leonine Titan, and Akroma, Angel of Wrath. Because he removes opposing creatures from the game, Duplicant shines against Multiplayer's large creatures and inevitable graveyard recursion.

What decks can play Duplicant?
Decks that need removal for a single massive creature.
Decks that need to remove opposing creatures from the game.

Pentavus (Mirrodin - Rare)
Utility 5, Beatdown 4

First there was Tetravus. And it was bad.
Then there was Thopter Squadron. And it was still bad.
Then there was Thopter Squadron + Extruder. And it was good.
Finally there was Pentavus, and it was awesome.

Pentavus is a very fun creature. It can block 4 creatures a turn, deal up to 5 combat damage both attacking and blocking each turn, and dispatch five 1/1 flyers upon death as long as you have mana. It can produce endless artifacts and creatures coming into play and going to the graveyard, should you need such an engine.

This is a deck I built around Forgotten Ancient that features many of his best combos:

Dice
4 Wall of Roots
4 Spike Feeder
4 Forgotten Ancient
3 Spike Weaver
3 Mindless Automaton
3 Triskelion
1 Pentavus
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Genesis

4 Aether Vial
4 Power Conduit
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives

4 Mishra's Factory
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Treetop Village
4 Mirrodin's Core
7 Forest

One time this deck beat an entire White Weenie equipment deck with a Pentavus and 10 Forests. After I dropped Pentavus via Aether Vial onto my empty board, I topdecked Forests until the end of the game for the win.

In tournament Magic, if you see a Pentavus hit the table, you must not have killed the Goblin Welder in time because you're now Mindslaver-locked.

What decks can play Pentavus?
Decks that don't have to pay mana for its creatures or artifacts.

Decks that need expendable creatures or artifacts.

Decks with obscene amounts of mana via Seedborn Muse.

Almost done! All you've got left to read is Part 4: The Finishers, Matchups, and Conclusions for Owning with Green Creatures, where danger abounds every topdeck and the myths about Green are finally put to rest!