Pattern Recognition #214 - A New Set - Green Commons

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

17 October 2021

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

And welcome back from my glorious efforts to design a set! Easy? NOPE! Today, I'm going to be taking a crack and knocking out the commons, all 21 of them. So buckle up, because this isn't going to be quick. But first, let's have a look at where we are so far:

Uh... not a lot. Although getting the high end cards out of the way first can help organize and orient the lower rarities, which is what I will be doing today. I'll get to the Uncommons later, but right now, I have a goal to reach for; now it's time to build a foundation.

Commons come in a couple of categories, all of them useful.

Don't look at me like that, I'm serious.

Commons in a set, often just passed over for the splashy and over-hyped Rare-1's and Rare-2's, are there as more than just draft chaff, or fodder for a Pauper deck. Sometimes Uncommons will be sought after if their effect is particularly noteworthy in some formats, such as Delver of Secrets  ^Flip, which was a Common when first printed, and is now an Uncommon, earning more love from players who have discovered why it's so powerful and useful.

On the other hand, Commons are where Limited decks are won and lost. Sure, splashy rares with big effects are splashy, but decks are built on the commons. They need to be useful in limited quantities, not be utter trash, and the mechanics of the set have to be well represented at that level to provide a degree of as-fan cohesion, or words to that effect.

What it all comes down to is that Commons have to support the rest of the set on their shoulders, so that everything can work. And if it doesn't? Well, then you've got a horribly balanced Masters Set. And I don't want that. I want something that can be played.

I've talked about the power and usefulness of Commons before myself, and I intend to follow up on that design scheme with this set. To whit, each of my mechanics, namely Explore and Enrage. To do this, I'm going to go back to when I broke down my whole set and in the commons and uncommons, defined what should be in each slot in terms of card type. For those of you who don't remember, here's the Commons:

CG01 - Creature     CG12 - Creature     
CG02 - Creature     CG13 - Enchantment 
CG03 - Creature     CG14 - Enchantment 
CG04 - Creature     CG15 - Instant 
CG05 - Creature     CG16 - Instant
CG06 - Creature     CG17 - Instant
CG07 - Creature     CG18 - Sorcery 
CG08 - Creature     CG19 - Sorcery
CG09 - Creature     CG20 - Sorcery
CG10 - Creature     CG21 - Sorcery
CG11 - Creature

Now, this actually helps me a bit because I'm looking at this, and I can divide the creatures into three sections, and work my way from there as commons tend toward supporting what they are Primary at in the Color Pie. Anyway, the three divisions of 4 creatures each will be one for Explore, one for Enrage, and one for (French) Vanilla Creatures.

In fact, as I wrote all that out, I was able to determine what would go into that last section, and it's pretty easy to fill in reprints there, because reprints at common aren't that bad.

Moss Viper
Creature - Snake
Deathtouch (Reminder Text)
"It only gets one bite, so it has to make it count." - Eevi Vanasta
1/1

A 1/1 Deathtouch for at Common is pretty standard for 's creatures now, and I see no reason to change that at all. In fact, all four of these (French) Vanilla Creatures are just that, solid ground floor reprints that shouldn't require an explanation.

Copse Elemental
Creature - Elemental
"When you said the ground would rise up to meet us, I thought you were speaking with hyperbole!" - Alba Taedere
3/2

Because I thought Terrain Elemental was a 3/2 for this casting cost, and it wasn't, so I made a vanilla creature to be that. And it's not a reprint! BWAHAHAHA. Look, it's a Vanilla creature. There's no need to be fancy or over think it.

Colossal Dreadmaw
Creature - Dinosaur
Trample (Reminder Text)
"I want to ride it!"
"NO!" - Hualti, and Saheli Rai.
6/6

Because why not reprint the Best Dino ever! Yes? I'm not seeing any arguments, and having a reliably appearing huge beatstick at Common, a game-ender in limited for sure, is a good thing. Sure, lots of franchised players might not enjoy it, but new players? Well, it's a Big Dino. What's there no to love?

Ironshell Beetle
Creature - Insect
When Ironshell Beetle enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
"A valuable resource, as long as it is cultivated carefully." - Solfrid Wanjeri
1/1

The Ironshell Beetle was my choice for a common 'Bear', but really isn't. Sure, it can be a 2/2 for , but is the intersection between two mechanics that care about Toughness. Or rather, the +1/+1 on an Enrage creature can mean the difference between life (and another Enrage trigger in the future) or death. And Explore can put +1/+1 counters on creatures anyway, so why not have another source of them? It just seems like a good choice that can support either color pairing, so in it goes.

Moving on though, we now have the four Enrage Creatures. These need to play nice with and they need to all have the mechanic in question, with a twist to it. So, let's get started.

Leyline Shaman
Creature - Insect Shaman
Enrage - _When this creature is dealt damage, add . This mana is not lost as steps and phases end until your next end step.
"Not all of us see the world as freely giving of its bounty. No, we must pay for our riches, one way or the other." - Unnamed Nantuku Shaman.
0/2

I did want a mana dork of some stripe in this set, and while I took up the (French) Vanilla slots with regular creatures, I decided to incorporate this set's dork with the Enrage Mechanic; given that you have to be very careful how and when it takes damage for the use of the mana. On the other hand, I am concerned that because it's so reactive, and that I had the creature's mana hang out until the end of your turn, that there could be mana floating in your pool for multiple turns. And the other cards that do that sort of thing are rare or Mythic. I may just say until the end of your turn, and leave it at that. Card still in development.

Dinosaur Nurturer
Creature - Human Shaman
Enrage - When this creature is dealt damage, create a 1/1 Green Dinosaur token.
"Harm my babies will you? Not while I still live!"
1/1

A creature that when it dies, makes a token is something that occurs in multiple colours, including and , and here, I'm putting it into . Of course, to avoid too many problems, he's very easy to kill.

Daggertooth Packhunter
Creature - Dinosaur
Trample
Enrage - When this creature is dealt damage, you may put a +1/+1 counter on a Shaman you control.
"This one hunts for its pack, willing to put itself into harms way to benefit the whole. Admirable." - Eevi Vanasta
4/2

A card that's intended for aggression, chump blocking is a lose-lose more proposition for this creature. Sure, you can kill it, but are you sure you want another creature to get bigger? Of course, that depends on if they have a creature of that tribe handy....

Leaf Reader
Creature - Insect Shaman
Defender
Enrage - When this creature is dealt damage, Scry 1.
"In the swirl of the leaves, the eddies of the air, I see what might yet come. And your journey? I do not see it's end."
1/2

A utility creature, and honestly, having Scry 1 on an Enrage trigger is kinda cheating in its non-standoutness. But hey, with that toughness, he can block most tokens all day long and let you see what's coming!

Moving on, Explore. Now, Explore is a lot less interesting than Enrage, as it's more self contained, rather than being an enabler. And because of that, I have to either consider making more French Vanilla creatures, or mixing it up with some Evergreen keywords.

Range Rider
Creature - Human Scout
When this creature enters the battlefield, it explores. (Reminder Text)
"Out here, there's nothing to see, and because of that, I get to see everything."
1/1

Another potential Bear, or you could get a Land. Pretty decent, I think, for a Common.

Canopy Strider
Creature - Insect Scout
Reach
When this creature enters the battlefield, it explores. (Reminder Text)
"Up here, I can see forever. And that means that I can shoot further than anyone else!"
2/3

Not quite sure how this will stack up to Canopy Spider, but it's worth a shot to put in some Flying defense in Green at common.

Glade Reacher
Creature - Insect Scout
When this creature enters the battlefield, it explores. (Reminder Text)
When this creature enters the battlefield, if it does not have any counters on it, gain 2 life.
"I seek the mysterious of this new land, fellow travelers. What I hope to find will soothe the pains I earned along the way."
2/2

I'm not a big fan of and lifegain, but apparently that's a thing now, so here I tied it to the Explore trigger. Either you get a land and 2 life, or you get a +1/+1 counter on it. I can live with either, as long as the lifegain doesn't go overboard. That's 's job.

Ceratops Caravaneer
Creature - Human Scout
Trample
When this creature enters the battlefield, it explores. (Reminder Text)
"Best way to travel, on the back of a Ceratops. Altisaurs are too big, Daggertooths too aggressive, but this guy? Just right."
4/4

Not sure on the cost of this one, but I think it works. It's just a guy riding a Ceratops around as a pack animal, exploring as he goes. It's a nice image, and should make for a nice picture on the card.

And that's it for the creatures, time to move on to the last 9 commons. Of these, their effects should still reflect what is primary in, and these are things that shouldn't be overwhelming, but useful. A combat trick or two, utility spells, the like. In fact, some spells go everywhere, into every set, so we can knock one of those out of the way right off the bat:

Return to Nature
Instant
Chose one: * Destroy target Enchantment. * Destroy target Artifact. * Exile target card in a graveyard.

There, done and out of the way. But while I'm on the Instants, I might as well fill out the other two. For , these tend to either be a combat trick, or some sort of narrow removal like Plummet. Now, I'm not a big fan of 's proliferation of of Hexproof on cards like Heroic Intervention (which is definitely not a Common_) or Snakeskin Veil, but I do understand the need for some degree of protection for creatures. So, allow me to... actually, I just realized that wanted to do was complex enough that it would qualify for Uncommon. So instead, this is going to be a combat trick. Something... classic.

Giant Growth
Instant
Target creature gets +3/+3 until the end of the turn.
"OK, now we might have a problem. RUN!" - Hualti.

I like to think this is the followup to my Colossal Dreadmaw reprint. Hualti realizes that her new ride is a little bigger than she was thinking. You know, a little before and after mini-story. Something for the artists to have fun with.

Anyway, I've got one more Instant that I should be taking care of, then either one more on top of that and three Sorceries, or four sorceries instead. And I think that I'm going to have to go with another classic staple, or rather a reprint of....!

Pierce the Sky
Instant
Pierce the Sky deals 7 damage to target creature with flying.
"Bring it down! Bring it down, NOW!"

Because every journey has its issues, don't you think?

Moving on to Sorceries, I thought hard about this as I could have easily justified switching the numbers of Instants and Sorceries, but in the end, decided against it. So I have four cards to fill out, and they have to be things that are Primary in .

Now, the first thing I'm going to do is get the most obvious required card effect out of the way. One that I didn't want to put on an instant.

Rabid Bite
Sorcery
Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don't control.
"Some critters have bigger mouths than others, that's for sure. I don't care to get up close and personal with any size, if you don't mind."

This set won't have a Fight card in it because Fight plus Enrage is basically instant speed triggers when I want it. And I don't want it as it could work out too well. Perhaps one of the adjacent sets could have something at Instant speed, but here, I'm looking at limited card pools, and this is one interaction I don't want to go overboard with, especially at Common.

Moving on, I have three more slots, and several effects I want to bring out. First, I want something to hand out +1/+1 counters and perhaps interact with them a little more. Second, I want something to fetch a basic land as part of 's constant growth schema. Third, a card to to pull a card from the graveyard. Fourth, a combat trick that works best at Sorcery Speed. Fifth, Creature token generation (eh... maybe?). Sixth, something relevant to the mechanics in

Actually, I think that last one is something I can work with. Who remembers Fastbond? No? Well, it's banned in Legacy and Commander, so let me whip up a little something here for that.

Quick Growth
Sorcery
Put a basic land from your hand onto the battlefield tapped. Quick Growth deals one damage to you and to a creature you control. If you control no creatures, you take two damage instead.
"The land can provide, yes indeed, young one. But taking too much, too soon can hurt more than it helps."

A little rough around the edges, but this synergizes well with Enrage by dealing damage, and with Explore by making sure there's a land in your hand. Moving on, I think it's time for a card to make Invigorating Surge as a Sorcery. Or not. I have a slightly better idea.

Massive Surge
Sorcery
Put a +1/+1 counter on up to each of two creatures you control. Then, double the number of +1/+1 counters on one of those creatures.
"Just because my brother is stronger now than he ever was before does not mean that I would give up or give in either! Now, what is your challenge?"

Basically, this is a Sorcery speed Surge that throws out an extra counter onto another creature. And it gives options! But now let's get to the one thing everyone knows is good at, and you know what, I'm not going to do a Cultivate or a Harrow. I just did the 'drop an extra land' card two slots above. I guess that means something like Reclaim then.

Actually, you know what? Let's just do that then. At this level, Instants and Sorceries can be changed, and so what if Reclaim isn't a Sorcery. It's done!

Reclaim
Instant
Put target card from your graveyard on top of your library.
"The world isn't done with either of us yet. Come, we shall go forward, together."

Now, that leaves us with our two Common Enchantments, and this is where I already had one in mind, an older Common that's fallen out of favor, but I think I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

Wild Growth
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Land
Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller adds an additional
If you stop to listen, you can hear it grow.

Because I said so, that's why. It's also permanent based mana acceleration, it's an enchantment and an aura so while it's not as vulnerable as Llanowar Elves, the only color that would have a problem dealing with is it .

From there, the last card is probably going to be another reprint, and definitely another Aura. What do you guys think about a functional reprint of Talons of Wildwood?

Evergrowing Talons
Enchantment - Aura
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample. (_Reminder Text))

"No matter how much they are trimmed, by knife, by tooth or by claw, they'll always grow back the next morning, ready to be used again."

I like it. It's easy to understand, is self-recurring so it'll always be available, even into the late game when mana's not a problem.

And that's 21 cards knocked out! It wasn't easy at times, and to be fair, you guys are seeing the end result, rather than all the thinking I've had to do. So, what do you guys think so far? I know it's not a lot, but it's here, and there's still room to grow and expand. And fix things that are horribly broken.

Make your comments in the area below, and I will see you all next week when I talk about something else. What? I don't know yet!

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!