Will Avatar of Growth Be Banned in EDH?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 9, 2018, 10:12 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The upcoming game night set shall contain five new creatures, one for each color, and I am concerned that avatar of growth, the green creature, may eventually be banned in EDH, a fear that I have based upon the banning of both Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial. Each of those creatures is part of a cycle of five creatures, but only the green members of each cycle are banned, due to the fact that they allow their controller to search their library for land cards, which avatar of growth also does.
I personally hope that it is not banned, because it would be amazing in a deck with Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis as the general, a deck that I hope to build, some day.
Also, as a side note, I feel that militant angel is the least impressive creature of that cycle, which is very unfortunate, since white is my favorite color in this game and angels are my favorite creatures in this game.
What does everyone else say about this? Will avatar of growth be banned in EDH?
You are forgetting a pretty important part of the card - it ramps your opponents. As it lacks flash, each opponent will have an opportunity to take advantage of the ramp before you do - you might get to fire off another 2 drop on your turn, but your opponents get to go directly into their turn 6 battle-strategies.
October 9, 2018 10:33 p.m.
DragonKing90 says... #4
not only will it not be banned, i don't think it'd even be good at all. at best, its a 4/4 trample for 3 mana (if nobody has been eliminated yet. otherwise its more expensive) that ramps your opponents.
i'd rather use that 3 mana to cast a Steel Leaf Champion.
October 9, 2018 11:04 p.m.
Primeval Titan lets you search for ANY two lands alone.
I agree with shadow on why is Sylvan Primordial banned but mostly likely because it is a etb ability and not an on cast, much easier to abuse.
Avatar of Growth allows your opponents to ramp aswell as it only being basics. It feels more like a group hug card than anything.
October 9, 2018 11:33 p.m.
User:DemonDragonJ: As stated, Primeval Titan fetches any two lands on both cast and attack. So you could fetch Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage, or any otehr gross combination. And a 6/6 body is MUCH more relevant than a 4/4 body. Avatar of Growth seems mediocre at best. I would play Skyshroud Claim before I played AoG.
On the topic of Sylvan Primordial, the issue with the cards is that there is too much of a value swing on it. The issue was that decks were designed to consistently get this down turn ~2 (via Entomb/Reanimate effects) and just go for opponents' mana bases. But unlike most other MLD, it's not symetric like Strip Mine (you both go down a land) or Armageddon (everybody goes down lots of lands), you go up in lands as your opponents go down. And then having somebody sac and reanimate primordial 3 turns in a row just swings games too hard to a point where nobody else can recover.
October 9, 2018 11:45 p.m.
Not a chance it's ability is symmetrical and it's nowhere near as broken as Primeval Titan or Sylvan Primordial
October 10, 2018 2:33 a.m.
The only one of those creatures that I think has a lick of a chance in edh is Rot Hulk:
In something like Varina, Lich Queen decks.
October 10, 2018 3:16 a.m.
I think that it will be good, but not fundamentally broken
cdkime the lands enter untapped, so you do get some use out of them before your opponents. However after casting this, you probably won’t have as much to do with said lands
October 10, 2018 7:53 a.m.
ERoss8 - that is what I said. On turn 4, you’re getting this and a two-mana card. Yes, you’re getting an extra card out of the deal, but the point of ramp is to put you turns ahead of your opponent. A 4/4 with trample and a two-mana spell is not that exciting. It’s not until your turn five that you really get any significant advantage from the ramp.
Your opponents are spending their fourth turn making their turn 6 plays. Against well-tuned decks, the kinds considered when determining a card is broken, there’s a good chance one of your opponents will use your generous gift of mana to win on the spot.
October 10, 2018 8:27 a.m.
The primordial searches for any forest card, the titan for ANY land, the avatar looks for basics.
On top of that, it's symmetrical.
So, no, it's not as similar as you think, and no, it will not be banned!
Fear not!
October 10, 2018 11:17 a.m.
SMASHER101 says... #13
This card is actually VERY bad, and can not be compared to prime time or sylvan primordial.
Everyone gets a land is a bad thing, but the cost reduction could make up for it BUT...
It only gets basics. The cards you deference were banned because they get NON basic lands.
October 10, 2018 2:15 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #14
I am very glad that everyone here does not believe that avatar of growth shall be banned, because, as I said, it would be great in a Kynaios and Tiro deck.
October 10, 2018 5:58 p.m.
DragonKing90 says... #15
Avatar of Growth has no direct interaction with Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis, and as others have already pointed out, its just not a good card. there are better ways to ramp your mana.
October 10, 2018 6:52 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
DragonKing90, the cards do not need to directly interact with each other to be in the same deck; if I ever build such a deck, its theme will be to discourage my opponents from attacking me by giving them card advantage while I build up my forces, encourage them to attack each other until only one remains, and I then defeat that last opponent.
October 13, 2018 9:06 a.m.
Spleenface says... #17
Everyone getting two basic lands once is barely even good, compared to repeatedly getting two lands, or Triple Mwonvuli Acid-Moss stapled to a 6/8 with reach.
shadow63 says... #2
I doubt it as its for each player primeval targets any land and that's why hes banned I've never been sure why the primordial has been banned whoever
October 9, 2018 10:16 p.m.