Not to say those cards arent solid, but out of all of those cards, Beast Within is the only one that is the most efficient. I feel like my deck needs another solid removal spell, so I am wondering how good Song of the Dryads is.
At first, i was a little turned off by it since my list runs Bane of Progress. So, I wondering if the card is good enough to run even if I run Bane. Overall it seems like a solid green Oblivion Ring effect in a color that sorely needs creature removal. So, how would people rate this card overall?
I ran it myself in a mono green deck. There is just limited access to removal in mono green and its nice because it can essentially take a commander out of action. Other cards like Lignify can be an issue because it leaves them with a blocker. Sure, its a bit of a nonbo with Ugin but think of it this way, you could cast it on yourself before ugin and protect something. If it sticks long enough for an unknown ugin to come up then it probably did its job for a good while.
As a bit of a side note, you can always keep a Strip Mine up and have the spot removal for them at any time assuming something would happen to your aura you can respond with a commander kill.
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you might've missed desert twister, but yea its a bit overcosted too.
as far as i can think of, isn't it just lands that mono-g has actual trouble dealing with? enchantments and artifact spot removal in green is plentiful, and green generally has the bigger, tramply-er dudes that can also fight dudes/smash up planeswalkers.
as a mono-g control, how do you deal with stack control? null brooch?
The big thing about Song of the Dryads is that it answers a commander in a way that puts them essentially out of play. It is an Oblivion Ring like effect that does not offer them the option of putting their commander in the Command Zone. The primary reason to run it is to answer creatures if you ask me.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
you might've missed desert twister, but yea its a bit overcosted too.
as far as i can think of, isn't it just lands that mono-g has actual trouble dealing with? enchantments and artifact spot removal in green is plentiful, and green generally has the bigger, tramply-er dudes that can also fight dudes/smash up planeswalkers.
as a mono-g control, how do you deal with stack control? null brooch?
Every time I've cast Song of the Dryads so far, the card I am targeting gets destroyed in response, so it does its job at least. No one wants a free Forest I guess. It's also interesting tech if you have forestwalk creatures or an Elvish Champion in your elf deck.
It pretty much answers anything. I play it in my Animar/Warp World deck and it is a perfect piece of removal as it has synergy with it being a permanent .
I've only played (and played against) it a handful of times so far, but overall Song of the Dryads has seemed pretty strong. ISBPathfinder's observation about using it to shut down a problem commander is particularly apt.
you might've missed desert twister, but yea its a bit overcosted too.
as far as i can think of, isn't it just lands that mono-g has actual trouble dealing with? enchantments and artifact spot removal in green is plentiful, and green generally has the bigger, tramply-er dudes that can also fight dudes/smash up planeswalkers.
as a mono-g control, how do you deal with stack control? null brooch?
doesn't green get deathtouch/trample/banding/fight? heck even in standard, hydra + Bow of Nylea equals kill almost everything.
actually, i remember a time when green was hands down the single worst colour in magic. now they can just deal with everything!
doesn't green get deathtouch/trample/banding/fight? heck even in standard, hydra + Bow of Nylea equals kill almost everything.
actually, i remember a time when green was hands down the single worst colour in magic. now they can just deal with everything!
Deathtouch is decent, but doesn't show up on too many green cards. As far as EDH-good cards go, Acidic Slime, Bow of Nylea, and Hornet Queen are basically it. And just having deathtouch doesn't mean you can deal with an opposing creature - they have to become involved in combat with you before you can kill them. For creatures like Kaalia of the Vast and Zur, the Enchanter, it's often already too late by the time they swing. For creatures like Arcum Dagsson, they'll likely never be involved in combat.
Trample and Banding aren't removal at all. Trample lets you maybe ignore chump blockers, and Banding... accomplishes very little, plus only shows up on two green creatures, one of which requires you have a Plains to get banding and the other of which is a 1/1 for 1.
Fight is a good start, but still extremely limited. There's only 8 green cards that enable fighting, and 5 of those are sorceries. The two instants are extra-conditional, requiring +1/+1 counters on the fighting creature or an untapped non-summoning sick dude to fight. Most of the fight cards are overpriced (Time to Feed, Hunt the Weak) or overly restrictive (Hunt the Hunter). Prey Upon is passable, but it's still a conditional sorcery-speed removal spell that occasionally 1-for-2's you. It's certainly no Swords to Plowshares or Murderous Cut, and there's not a lot of redundancy on the effect either.
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If you want to have more control in mono G you can use the Splinter and Liquimetal Coating Combo to wipe lands and punish mono colored decks as well as Gilt-Leaf Archdruid just take their lands.
as a mono-g control, how do you deal with stack control? null brooch?
Generally speaking, G has trouble dealing with spells on the stack, but does have some work-arounds when it's creatures are involved. In this case, Yeva, Nature's Herald is on stack patrol, in that Flash allows you to cast creatures with the same flexibility as other players do their counter/control spells, which puts much more pressure on them to decide to commit to either removing your threat, or spending their mana elsewhere.
If you want to have more control in mono G you can use the Splinter and Liquimetal Coating Combo to wipe lands and punish mono colored decks as well as Gilt-Leaf Archdruid just take their lands.
Liquimetal Coating in general is great for anything within the RGW shard, as the amount of re-usable artifact-hate lets you turn conditional (but useful) removal into all-purpose removal. Though on it's own it has a hard time accomplishing much outside of messing with B's spot removal.
Personally, I think Song of the Dryads is a premier piece of removal for decks looking to keep their removal packages flexible. Lignify and Darksteel Mutation have always been borderline playable for me, but the prevalence of sacrifice outlets tends to make them far more temporary than I would hope, and this at least gets around any sac-outlets cast after the fact. At the least, if universal removal is what you're looking for, G doesn't have much else in the way of competition.
Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks like Song of the Dryads has mostly positive reviews. On the flip side, are there any negative experiences people have faced when playing this card that I should look out for?
Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks like Song of the Dryads has mostly positive reviews. On the flip side, are there any negative experiences people have faced when playing this card that I should look out for?
I have had positive experiences and advocate for the said card. A friend had one bad experience, though. He played Song of the Dryads on my general, Angus Mackenzie, and I mumbled, "I have Super Secret Tech for it." In the only deck I run them, I had a Ravnica 1.0 block Bounce Land in hand. He was disappointed when he realized he would not have his aura returned.
i think i really ought to try to make a mono-g control just to see how it goes. there are a lot of good ideas here to kick-start it!
banding works awesome in control. mostly, its opposing players trying to aggro you, so while on defence, you band-block, redirecting all damage so none of your stuff die, and kill the really irritating thing thats harassing you. the polukranos+bow of nylea works when i attack with the hydra, then monsterous it. since he has deathtouch as an attacking dude, he can wipe out everything all players have. jank-tech, but worked once.
You're in green, so land destruction should be easy for you. Mainly, you have access to Strip Mine, Wasteland, Tectonic Edge, Encroaching Wastes, Ghost Quarter, and Dust Bowl to destroy lands, plus Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, and Scapeshift to find them. Reap and Sow does both. And after that, Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds brings them back. They're all good cards on their own, so putting as many as you need in should be easy. At the very least, I like them for the lockdown potential in mono-green when it's down to you and one other person, as well as for having easy and constant access to Eye of Ugin, another great late-game card, and Arena, another way to pick off creatures.
Deathtouch is decent, but doesn't show up on too many green cards. As far as EDH-good cards go, Acidic Slime, Bow of Nylea, and Hornet Queen are basically it.
Song is staple mono green spell imo.
I've always felt like Ambush Viper should get a nod in mono green.
If your going full on LD engines, especially in monogreen, when does Realm Seekers start getting some looks?
Realm Seekers is solid. I think it, and that whole cycle of cards (all of which range from good to exceptional), have not really been a big thing in EDH largely because as the format has developed, people are paying more attention to their mana curves and running fewer huge creatures. I can relate to that, having come to run a pretty tight curve myself, but I think it's caused people to miss what value engines things like Realm Seekers can be.
My mono green deck tries to be a control deck and I feel like the deck is lacking creature spot removal. Ulvenwald Tracker, Master of the Wild Hunt, and Polukranos, World Eater are a little slow. Duplicant, Karn Liberated, and Brittle Effigy are expensive. I then round it out with Setessan Tactics and Beast Within.
Not to say those cards arent solid, but out of all of those cards, Beast Within is the only one that is the most efficient. I feel like my deck needs another solid removal spell, so I am wondering how good Song of the Dryads is.
At first, i was a little turned off by it since my list runs Bane of Progress. So, I wondering if the card is good enough to run even if I run Bane. Overall it seems like a solid green Oblivion Ring effect in a color that sorely needs creature removal. So, how would people rate this card overall?
Edit: just realized that it is also a nonbo with Ugin, the Spirit Dragon as well....
As a bit of a side note, you can always keep a Strip Mine up and have the spot removal for them at any time assuming something would happen to your aura you can respond with a commander kill.
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as far as i can think of, isn't it just lands that mono-g has actual trouble dealing with? enchantments and artifact spot removal in green is plentiful, and green generally has the bigger, tramply-er dudes that can also fight dudes/smash up planeswalkers.
as a mono-g control, how do you deal with stack control? null brooch?
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Green has tons of cards that hit lands: Creeping Mold, Acidic Slime, Rootgrapple, Terastodon, Woodfall Primus, Bramblecrush, Brutalizer Exarch, Primal Command, Mold Shambler, Destructor Dragon, Rain of Thorns, Wave of Vitriol (and these are just the ones that can also hit artifacts/enchantments or noncreature permanents). Creature control is much more difficult.
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doesn't green get deathtouch/trample/banding/fight? heck even in standard, hydra + Bow of Nylea equals kill almost everything.
actually, i remember a time when green was hands down the single worst colour in magic. now they can just deal with everything!
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Deathtouch is decent, but doesn't show up on too many green cards. As far as EDH-good cards go, Acidic Slime, Bow of Nylea, and Hornet Queen are basically it. And just having deathtouch doesn't mean you can deal with an opposing creature - they have to become involved in combat with you before you can kill them. For creatures like Kaalia of the Vast and Zur, the Enchanter, it's often already too late by the time they swing. For creatures like Arcum Dagsson, they'll likely never be involved in combat.
Trample and Banding aren't removal at all. Trample lets you maybe ignore chump blockers, and Banding... accomplishes very little, plus only shows up on two green creatures, one of which requires you have a Plains to get banding and the other of which is a 1/1 for 1.
Fight is a good start, but still extremely limited. There's only 8 green cards that enable fighting, and 5 of those are sorceries. The two instants are extra-conditional, requiring +1/+1 counters on the fighting creature or an untapped non-summoning sick dude to fight. Most of the fight cards are overpriced (Time to Feed, Hunt the Weak) or overly restrictive (Hunt the Hunter). Prey Upon is passable, but it's still a conditional sorcery-speed removal spell that occasionally 1-for-2's you. It's certainly no Swords to Plowshares or Murderous Cut, and there's not a lot of redundancy on the effect either.
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Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsBut yeah, I like Song of the Dryads myself. As mentioned, green has tons of ways to kill lands if desired.
Liquimetal Coating in general is great for anything within the RGW shard, as the amount of re-usable artifact-hate lets you turn conditional (but useful) removal into all-purpose removal. Though on it's own it has a hard time accomplishing much outside of messing with B's spot removal.
Personally, I think Song of the Dryads is a premier piece of removal for decks looking to keep their removal packages flexible. Lignify and Darksteel Mutation have always been borderline playable for me, but the prevalence of sacrifice outlets tends to make them far more temporary than I would hope, and this at least gets around any sac-outlets cast after the fact. At the least, if universal removal is what you're looking for, G doesn't have much else in the way of competition.
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I have had positive experiences and advocate for the said card. A friend had one bad experience, though. He played Song of the Dryads on my general, Angus Mackenzie, and I mumbled, "I have Super Secret Tech for it." In the only deck I run them, I had a Ravnica 1.0 block Bounce Land in hand. He was disappointed when he realized he would not have his aura returned.
Keep brewing.
banding works awesome in control. mostly, its opposing players trying to aggro you, so while on defence, you band-block, redirecting all damage so none of your stuff die, and kill the really irritating thing thats harassing you. the polukranos+bow of nylea works when i attack with the hydra, then monsterous it. since he has deathtouch as an attacking dude, he can wipe out everything all players have. jank-tech, but worked once.
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You're in green, so land destruction should be easy for you. Mainly, you have access to Strip Mine, Wasteland, Tectonic Edge, Encroaching Wastes, Ghost Quarter, and Dust Bowl to destroy lands, plus Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, and Scapeshift to find them. Reap and Sow does both. And after that, Life from the Loam and Crucible of Worlds brings them back. They're all good cards on their own, so putting as many as you need in should be easy. At the very least, I like them for the lockdown potential in mono-green when it's down to you and one other person, as well as for having easy and constant access to Eye of Ugin, another great late-game card, and Arena, another way to pick off creatures.
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Song is staple mono green spell imo.
I've always felt like Ambush Viper should get a nod in mono green.
If your going full on LD engines, especially in monogreen, when does Realm Seekers start getting some looks?
Modern
RBig RedR
GMean GreenG
WWW AlliesW
BGScavengeBG
WUVenser SilenceWU
EDH
RWAurelia 1 vs 1RW
GWURoonGWU
GWSaffiGW
Modern
RBig RedR
GMean GreenG
WWW AlliesW
BGScavengeBG
WUVenser SilenceWU
EDH
RWAurelia 1 vs 1RW
GWURoonGWU
GWSaffiGW