And now for ... 10th Edition!

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (More info?)

Well, I'm just getting back into Magic and like what I've seen of the
direction the core set is going by and large. However improvements are
still needed to make it fully representative of the colours' abilities.
Having a certain preference for green and a bit of spare time, I
decided to work out what the basic green abilities were that should be
represented in the next core set, and then I devised a provisional set
list (working to the 22 common, 20 uncommon, 17 rare model of the
current set).

Here's my list and my reasons for choosing the cards I did - any
thoughts would be welcome, or ideas of major things I've missed:

Argothian Enchantress R
Birds of Paradise R
Blanchwood Armor U
Bull Hippo U
Carven Caryatid U
Civic Wayfinder C
Creeping Mold U
Elvish Archers U
Elvish Champion R
Elvish Piper R
Elvish Warrior C
Emperor Crocodile R
Enormous Baloth U
Force of Nature R
Frog Tongue U
Giant Growth C
Giant Spider C
Groundskeeper U
Hurricane R
Ivy Dancer U
Kavu Chameleon U
King Cheetah U
Llanowar Elves C
Maro R
Marsh Boa C
Matsu-Tribe Sniper C
Might of Oaks R
Natural Affinity R
Natural Order R
Naturalize C
Nomadic Elf C
Norwood Ranger C
Order of the Sacred Bell C
Overgrowth C
Primal Rage U
Pygmy Troll C
Rampant Growth C
Recollect C
Scion of the Wild R
Seedborn Muse R
Serpent Skin C
Silklash Spider R
Skyshooter U
Skyshroud Elite U
Sosuke's Summons U
Spined Wurm C
Stampeding Wildebeests U
Stream of Life U
Sylvan Library R
Thicket Basilisk U
Troll Ascetic R
Rushwood Dryad C
Trained Armodon C
Treetop Rangers C
Uktabi Orangutan U
Vinelasher Kudzu R
Wild Mongrel U
Yavimaya Wurm C

I identified several themes green needed to flag up and focused on
those:

Vanilla creatures: Basic, fairly efficient creatures are a green
staple, and every one should be more efficient than its counterparts in
other colours. I settled on a broad range of sizes for these beasties -
Norwood Ranger, Elvish Warrior, Order of the Sacred Bell, Spined Wurm
and Enormous Baloth made it in. Craw Wurm and Scaled Wurm didn't.

Efficient creatures: Where a counterpart exists in another colour, the
green version must be strictly superior. So for the various vanilla
one-CC critters, green got the 1/2 Norwood Ranger, for the 3X slot it
got Order of the Sacred Bell over Hill Giant etc. Nomadic Elf replaced
Grizzly Bears to give green a superior card to Glory Seeker, while
Pygmy Troll is the answer to Drudge Skeletons. Not everything fit
because green doesn't have efficient counterparts to everything - Marsh
Boa is no more efficient than Plague Beetle, while Skyshroud Elite is
deliberately slightly less effective than Kird Ape.

Low casting cost creatures: The current set emphasises size - green
creatures are big. But these big creatures are also expensive, so I
moved more of the casting costs towards the cheaper end of the
spectrum, aiming for the majority to be 3 mana or below. Cheap critters
making an appearance include Elvish Archers, Skyshooter, Skyshroud
Elite, Pygmy Troll, Wild Mongrel, Nomadic Elf and Matsu-Tribe Sniper.
Big creatures should be efficient and preferably cheap - Maro and Scion
of the Wild (Ravnica) represent the variable-P/T, economical big
beasts, Stampeding Wildebeests replaces Hunted Wumpus, while Force of
Nature and Emperor Crocodile remain.

Anti-flyer ability: I've ensured that at there is at least one
'anti-flyer' creature at each rarity - Tree Monkey and Giant Spider as
commons, Skyshooter as an uncommon and Silklash Spider as a rare.
Needle Storm is gone, but is replaced by (now Rare) Hurricane.

Species richness: Green should have a wide variety of creature types
and I've ensured that almost every notable green creature type is
represented(the absence of Dryads in the current set annoys me) - there
are Elves (nine or ten), Dryads, a Centaur, Snakes, a Hound, a Lizard,
Apes, Humans, Trolls, Beasts and all the rest, with only Treefolk being
notable by their absence.

Library manipulation: Rampant Growth is in (as always), and is joined
by Civic Wayfinder (Ravnica, replaces Wood Elves), Natural Order and
Sylvan Library. Cantrips take the form of Carven Caryatid (from
Ravnica) and Frog Tongue (*why* they put Web in 9th instead of this is
beyond me - Frog Tongue is hardly overpowered). Graveyard manipulation
is via Groudskeeper and Recollect.

Other green abilities - destruction with Creeping Mold/Naturalize, life
gain (Stream of Life) and token creatures (Sosuke's Summons) are
represented by at least one card each. There are two permanents that
can be cast at instant speed - King Cheetah, as now, and Serpent Skin,
replacing Regeneration. Giant Growth and Might of Oaks remain - sadly I
couldn't find room for Predator's Strike. Mana generation is via
Overgrowth, Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise.

Every green creature ability should be represented at least once, and
the standard green evasion ability - trample - should be relatively
commonplace, just as flying is. Tramplers include Yavimaya Wurm,
Stampeding Wildebeests and Force of Nature, while Primal Rage is added
as a trample enchantment.

Can't be countered: Kavu Chameleon
Can't be the tsrget of spells/abilities: Argothian Enchantress and
Troll Ascetic (the latter taking the place of River Boa, which I know
isn't in 9th for some reason).
Regenerate: Troll Ascetic, Pygmy Troll, Molting Skin.
Can block creatures with flying: The spiders, Skyshooter and Tree
Monkey
Can't be blocked except by creatures with flying: Treetop Rangers
Landwalk: Rushwood Dryad, Ivy Dancer (Ravnica), Bull Hippo, Marsh Boa
Basilisk: Thicket Basilisk.
Paralyse: Matsu-Tribe Sniper
Pump creatures: Wild Mongrel, Vinelasher Kudzu (the last Ravnica
offering), Skyshroud Elite, Elvish Champion.

Philip Bowles

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (More info?)

>> Anti-flyer ability: I've ensured that at there is at least one
>> 'anti-flyer' creature at each rarity - Tree Monkey and Giant Spider as
>> commons, Skyshooter as an uncommon and Silklash Spider as a rare.
>> Needle Storm is gone, but is replaced by (now Rare) Hurricane.
>
>Hurricane will never find its way to any Core Set as it does something
>Green should absolutely never be allowed to do - direct damage to
>players.

Green's always been able to do it, though - Hurricane was in the core
set originally, after all. Green also got Storm Seeker long before the
red version was released, as well as effects like Ihf-Biff Efreet and
admittedly junk direct damage like Unyaro Bee Sting I know Wizards is
trying to get away from that idea, but thematically I have no problem
with a primarily anti-flyer spell that also deals damage to players.
Though I'd be happy if they do make an XG card that just deals X damage
to all creatures with flying.

> I'd say that a new spell along the lines of "{X}{G}/Sorcery/~
>deals X damage to each creature with flying" should appear at some
>point and stick in the Core Set.
>In the mean time Needle Storm is as good an example as any - it kills
>most flyers (especially Core Set's flyers) anyway.

Problem is it's uncommon and not worth elevating to Rare - how about
replacing Hurricane (and Needle Storm) with Whirlwind (the Urza's Saga
"Destroy all creatures with flying" card)? Silklash Spider will have to
do for the hurricane effect (since the legendary spirit with the
hurricane ability can't be included).

>> Can't be the tsrget of spells/abilities: Argothian Enchantress and
>> Troll Ascetic (the latter taking the place of River Boa, which I know
>> isn't in 9th for some reason).
>
>Please - no Troll Ascetics in base sets! It is one of the most
>annoying cards to play against. I don't play much, but I judge at FNMs
>every now and then and observe a lot of games and players' reactions.
>Believe me - it just doesn't belong in a Core Set (which is aimed
>primarily at the beginners).

Stasis was once in the core set, and there's no card in the game that's
more annoying than that. Worship isn't much fun for the opponent
either. The Troll is just an efficient creature that showcases two
green abilities that should be more common. Certainly either this or
River Boa belongs in the core set somewhere, and River Boa directly
overshadows Rushwood Dryad and to a large extent Elvish Archers in the
2-mana slot (Blurred Mongoose, another possibility, would have the same
problem).

Philip Bowles