Beast Within

Instant

Destroy target permanent. Its controller creates a 3/3 green Beast creature token.

Discussion (50)

DemonDragonJ on Does WotC Even Care About …

2 days ago

The color pie is one of the central elements of this game, or, at least, that is what WotC has stated on multiple occasions, but I cannot help but wonder if they truly care about that, given some of the cards that they have been printing, in recent years.

Cards such as Pongify , Rapid Hybridization , Curse of the Swine , and, most recently, Ravenform , Resculpt , and Oversimplify all are blue cards that destroy or exile creatures, which is supposed to be blue’s major weakness; that it can delay threats, but not stop them entirely. If those cars returned the creatures to their owners’ hands, shuffled them into their owners’ libraries, or temporarily transformed them, as does Ovinize , they would be acceptable, but, in their current form, they go against the philosophy of blue being the least aggressive and combative color; blue is the best color for countering spells, so its deliberate weakness is that it has trouble dealing with permanents that have successfully entered the battlefield.

I feel that I should also mention Beast Within , in this thread, because one of green’s major weaknesses is that it is not supposed to be able to unconditionally destroy creatures, being the most creature-centric color of the game. WotC eventually did print Generous Gift , a white version of that card, which is not a break, since white is allowed to destroy any type of permanent due it having the least emphasis on card advantage of all the colors, but that card has been reprinted only once, whereas WotC has reprinted Beast Within numerous times, including in the most recent Commander set.

Even worse, all of these breaks are examples of green and blue intruding into white’s territory, yet, WotC has not printed any white counterspells in years and has been very slow in providing white with methods of card advantage that work within that color’s philosophy.

I am sorry if I am ranting, but this is severely frustrating, to me, especially since white is my favorite color in the game, and I also worry that newer players to the game will think that it is acceptable for blue to have such efficient creature removal, since those cards have existed since they began playing the game. Hopefully, if a sufficient number of players complain, WotC shall realize that they are undermining a central aspect of the game, and stop doing it.

What does everyone else here have to say about this? Does WotC care about the color pie, at all, anymore?

Mcat1999 on Strixhaven spoiler season

1 week ago

I agree. Look at Beast Within and Generous Gift . Three mana for a 3/3. Granted you can also hit lands, enchantments and planeswalkers.

However in terms of blue there are things such as Pongify , Curse of the Swine and Turn to Frog . Also there is Angelic Ascension .

But yes it's annoying that anytime another color gets something for their toolbox, blue had to get it as well.

awmyers7216 on vorel hydras/+1/+1

2 weeks ago

Heyoo, hope you don't find this weird. I was bored and just looking through the decklist you sent me 5ever ago. I had some thoughts on cards you might want to consider, just food for thought.

Overwhelming Stampede - awesome sorc, and you normally have at least 1 stupidly massive creature. 3 to 4 dollars.

Zendikar Resurgent - double your mana, draw cards for playing creatures, 4 bucks.

Stonecoil Serpent - not a hydra, but an X spell for you to double counters on later with vorel. I have one of these that you can just have, its like 4 or 5 bucks.

Courage in Crisis - counter on a creature and a proliferate trigger for 3 mana, pretty solid. trash common card super cheap.

Invigorating Surge - another super cheap instant, doubles counters similar to vorel's ability.

Solidarity of Heroes - same effect, more double trouble ;).

Inexorable Tide - proliferate whenever you cast a spell... pretty OP. 5 bucks.

Increasing Savagery - wowsa, that's a lot of counters, and ONLY A DOLLAR. nasty.

Bred for the Hunt - Draw cards for creatures with counters dealing dmg, cheap too.

Rampant Growth - great counterspell in these colors, worth considering since you cast really expensive spells. 1 doll hair.

Lazotep Plating - you probably have 10 of these lying around. way to protect your shiz.

Beast Within - staple removal in green.

Zameck Guildmage card draw dawg, card draw for counters. tight tight tight.

Its practically hydra tribal, get yo'self a Coat of Arms , I think you already have one in your binder.

If you decide to shell out on some cards, I think a few more expensive cards worth your while would be: Primal Vigor Branching Evolution Cyclonic Rift Rampant Growth - I have this in my Kenrith deck, its pretty great. Double Vorel's effectiveness with an equipment.

Id also put in more common ramp spells than the "draw X cards, put an extra land into play". cards like Cultivate , Rampant Growth , etc.

Lands lands lands, need better lands. Get some stuff like Command Tower , Yavimaya Coast , Llanowar Reborn , Temple of Mystery , Oran-Rief, the Vastwood , Simic Growth Chamber .

Alrighty, my rant is over.

BrassLord on Jolly Green Giant Deck Commander

2 weeks ago

Boy Howdy, that's a LOT of land! Your commander does scale with the amount of land you have in play, but I don't see a lot of interaction with opponents in the deck or card draw. So consider this: I agree that you'd probably want to play a bit more lands than in a typical EDH deck, but I could try to aim for somewhere around 40 lands. That way you still hit your land drops into the late game AND you reduce the risk of durdling into lands when you need action late game.

In terms of card draw Harmonize Rishkar's Expertise Horn of Greed Return of the Wildspeaker and Garruk's Uprising are all sources of card draw that pair with your lands matter/big creature gameplan.

In terms of early interaction, I can see this deck being flooded by decks that go wide. So something like Hurricane may help, as it can even double as a wincon late game. Beast Within is a decent catchall answer for problem creatures. Terastodon and Bane of Progress are late game threats that sweep the board and can hinder opponents if ramped out early. Wood Elves is another just general green staple that ramps you at 3 cmc.

Also consider things that can give your creature deathtouch. With Deathtouch and Trample, 1 damage is enough to be considered lethal to any individual blocking creature, making the rest of the damage spill over. With your commander having the potential to be in the stratosphere with attack, it'd be a headache to block in combat. Basilisk Collar Gorgon's Head and Quietus Spike pair extremely well with your commander!

Also, just a recommendation, if you go more with a landfall theme, some of the fetch lands or things like Evolving Wild are ways to get multiple land drops per turn and thin the deck out a bit!

Good luck beating down some commander players!

kraizor on Omnath, Locus of Creation feat. Landfall!

2 weeks ago

glhfJKiHax I really like the play pattern of Kodama of the East Tree , though have not really found anything to cut as of now. Definitely considering it! What card would you cut from my list to play it?

Ryguyasaurus looks like we both now how to build good decks :p. Do you have a list of yours?
I did not really update my list for Kaldheim, though do like Cosima, God of the Voyage  ^Flip and will probably try it in place of Horn of Greed . What do you think should also be added from Kaldheim?

Mikkelaa Thank you very much, I appreciate it! You are definitely right, we play hardly any removal, which definitely bites us sometimes.
I already have an update to release where I added Scavenging Ooze , Beast Within and Generous Gift .
Even though this is a step in the right direction, there is stil room for more. I stepped away from more than two board wipes, as we are pretty heavy on maintaining a good board state. The only exception could be Austere Command .

raspberryfish25 on Cunning Dark Elves

3 weeks ago

FounderX OMG you just made my day with the "Pricy but spicy" comment. I am totally using that going forward. =)

Glad to see you have already looked at some of those recommendations. I play in a competive meta so in my version of Lathril, Elfball! copy, I needed to add more instant speed targeted removal so I added Assassin's Trophy , Golgari Charm , Nature's Claim , and Beast Within , which you are already running. I found this really helped and saved my butt several times when your opponent has death on board. I have to admit Golgari Charm has been a really strong upgrade mainly for the regenerate ability, but the other two modes are still really strong. I was able to decimate a Krenko, Mob Boss deck thanks to the -1/-1 mode.

Two other cards that have worked extremely well in my deck has been Cover of Darkness and Genesis Wave . Most games Cover of Darkness will make all your creatures unblockable to one or more players which can quickly end games.

For Genesis Wave we are already making silly amounts of mana with our mana dorks so most games I am casting Genesis Wave for 15+ which means 5 to 8 elves along with a hand full of lands/enchantments/artifacts. The only problem I have with Genesis Wave is the deck's lack of haste because, as soon as I cast it I instantly become the prime target for all the other players. However, if I manage to untap with all the perments that Genesis Wave puts in play I typically win the following turn. High risk / high reward right?

A few cards I have thought about trying are, Green Sun's Zenith , Concordant Crossroads , Song of the Dryads , Fauna Shaman , and Seeker of Skybreak . Fun fact, if you give Song of the Dryads to your opponent and have Elvish Champion out all of your elves become unblockable to that player. What are your thoughts on these cards?

Thanks

unwucht on Grumgully Brokoli

3 weeks ago

I'd recommend to use your Sylvan Library . Also, I think Rampant Growth , Kodama's Reach , Beast Within , Nature's Claim and Shamanic Revelation would be decent inserts. Craterhoof Behemoth and Triumph of the Hordes would make for great finishers.

ninetoe on Yarok, the Triggered

4 weeks ago

And if you DO end up deciding that Kinnan and all his infinite mana shenanigans are a good route to go down, I suggest throwing in Timetwister , Beast Within , Reality Shift , and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (and maybe Memory's Journey to cover yourself.)

Time twister + Thrasios, Triton Hero (or any card draw engine Compulsion , Stroke of Genius for example) can be used to infinitely cast the same spell over and over and over. Ashnod's Altar or any other sac outlet if you want that spell to be a creature.

Happy hunting! :)