Dryad Greenseeker
1G
Creature - Dryad
: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.
1/3
Usman mentioned this in his M19 cube review and I was a little surprised to not find a thread for it here. As a 2 mana creature that can provide card advantage (over several turns), I thought it might be worth discussing.
Compared to Courser of Kruphix:
+ Can be played one turn earlier.
+ Can be played in less heavy green decks.
+ Opponent doesn't get to see your top card.
+ Can't be removed by Disenchant effects.
- Smaller body, but can still block 2/2s decently.
- Has to tap to activate, but can be done after blocking or on opponent's end step.
- No life gain.
While I don't think this is Courser good, I do think it's a solid creature. It was an oversight of mine to leave it off my top-20 article. I don't know at what size I'd elect to play it, but it's certainly worth considering.
This card has been way better than I thought in M19 limited. I think it is too small and too slow for smaller powered cube. But it is certainly serviceable especially if you want your green decks to be a little better against aggro. I like it in simic decks. The card advantage can be cashed in with blue loot effects and library manipulation can give seeker a boost.
But comparisons to courser are off. 1/3 vs 2/4 is not close.
The bigger issue is having to stay on defense. Courser can attack and still generate his card advantage. That's a big difference. Well, that, the bigger body and the lifegain.
It's not a bad card, but it just seems like too little value most of the time. It's a 1/3 that will draw you a card 1 out of three times starting the turn after you play it. I feel like Viridian Emissary will just generally be a better card in most situations at that color/cmc.
To be fair, it's >40% to draw a land every turn, the same as Courser.
I agree this won't make it in small cubes, it's no Wall of Blossoms, but 2 drops that give card advantage and don't require a bunch of hoops to jump through are generally worth testing at least.
Three toughness really hurts here. Aggro decks in almost all colors are powering out three-power attackers from turn 2 onward, and there's little worse than a defensive two-drop which doesn't defend.
I thought about this card back when it was spoiled but refrained from starting up a thread. I like a 1/3 with potential card advantage in the more passive colors.
For a while, my Green list has included some aggro duders (inspired by wtwlf's choices) but I've been thinking of messing around and making Green much more of a "sit back and ramp up" color, maybe only slamming down that Polukranos after it's fed up with weenie decks and is ready to start dominating the board. I think this card fits into that kind of theme, and isn't really ever a wasted slot when the color largely lends itself to passive play.
Still haven't tested it, but still curious about it.
I think it's a little too slow for most cubes and too inconsistent with cubes with lots of mana rocks. M19 games typically go 10-13 turns so you have lots of time to generate value off of greenseacker. If you run a slower, less powerful cube (m19 power level) and you think this guy can draw 3-4 cards for you over a game, definitly include him.
I strongly considered testing this after seeing it for the first time in m19 sealed.
A 2 mana card that can gererate a stream of card advantage that has some mild board prescence (for it's size) is a card worth paying attention to.
When combined with cards like sensei's divining top and sylvan library, it actually turns into a legitimate engine.. so there's mild build around potential.
The issue with greenseeker is the rate at which it generates card advantage is pretty slow, and it takes away from some of the explosive nature of green decks. Most green decks can't compete with blue or black card advantage.. It's strengths are explosiveness and a good agro matchup. Cards that deviate from that gameplan and are mediocore in rate, tend to not be what they are looking for.
It's also an engine that is vulnerable to wrath effects, something that green decks are vulnerable to in general. Over-extending on that axis is a downside.
The average green cube decks has about 40% land.. So greenseeker needs about 4 turns on the battlefield, just to exceed a cantrip in card advantage! By that time, a wrath becomes more and more likely.
I like it a lot for very large unpowered cubes, and uncommon cubes, but id be surprised if it's good enough for anything tighter.
You seem to be implying that Courser is "too slow" for most cubes as well, but perhaps being a 2/4 factors into that, since it buys you more time to get value off of it.
Regarding defensive 2 drops, it's not like aggro decks only play 3 power dudes. There are many 2 power creatures which Greenseeker can block just fine, some even profitably.
I actually think the biggest knock on this card is that the Greenseeker can't get you a land to play on your turn AND block, unlike Courser. So you have to choose between hitting your land drops and defending, similar to Sylvan Caryatid. That makes it much weaker than my initial estimation.
You seem to be implying that Courser is "too slow" for most cubes as well, but perhaps being a 2/4 factors into that, since it buys you more time to get value off of it.
Regarding defensive 2 drops, it's not like aggro decks only play 3 power dudes. There are many 2 power creatures which Greenseeker can block just fine, some even profitably.
I actually think the biggest knock on this card is that the Greenseeker can't get you a land to play on your turn AND block, unlike Courser. So you have to choose between hitting your land drops and defending, similar to Sylvan Caryatid. That makes it much weaker than my initial estimation.
I think a 2/4 vs a 1/3 , not needing to tap to activate and gaining a life every land that enters the battlefield more than makes up for the additional G mana.
Courser is significantly better against agro than greenseeker is...
However, all that being said, I actually don't like courser of kruphix very much for small-medium powered cubes. Good enough to earn a slot (I've cut it for a while and ended up missing it), but it's not the powerhouse that it was in it's standard format. It's too low impact in some matchups.
Having now played with this quite a bit in M19, I'm going to be putting it into my 720. I used to run Fa'adiyah Seer but green's two-drops got a little too crowded, and I was spending enough time focusing on supporting green aggro that it was squeezed out a few years ago. Since then, I've wanted it back in, because I love the graveyard shenanigans.
The fact that the Dryad can block so effectively is really the big decision-maker, and it also avoids the feel-bad of having your essential cards in the 'yard (even if that's half the reason I liked the Seer in the first place). I've definitely had games I've lost because I self-milled too hard, and the Dryad avoids that part too.
It dominated its limited format which likely caused many to give it a spin. It’s currently in our list and has only been OK. Looking for a refresh prior to a Cube event next weekend, and it’s on the chopping block.
Dryad Greenseeker
1G
Creature - Dryad
: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a land card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.
1/3
Usman mentioned this in his M19 cube review and I was a little surprised to not find a thread for it here. As a 2 mana creature that can provide card advantage (over several turns), I thought it might be worth discussing.
Compared to Courser of Kruphix:
+ Can be played one turn earlier.
+ Can be played in less heavy green decks.
+ Opponent doesn't get to see your top card.
+ Can't be removed by Disenchant effects.
- Smaller body, but can still block 2/2s decently.
- Has to tap to activate, but can be done after blocking or on opponent's end step.
- No life gain.
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But comparisons to courser are off. 1/3 vs 2/4 is not close.
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I agree this won't make it in small cubes, it's no Wall of Blossoms, but 2 drops that give card advantage and don't require a bunch of hoops to jump through are generally worth testing at least.
For a while, my Green list has included some aggro duders (inspired by wtwlf's choices) but I've been thinking of messing around and making Green much more of a "sit back and ramp up" color, maybe only slamming down that Polukranos after it's fed up with weenie decks and is ready to start dominating the board. I think this card fits into that kind of theme, and isn't really ever a wasted slot when the color largely lends itself to passive play.
Still haven't tested it, but still curious about it.
A 2 mana card that can gererate a stream of card advantage that has some mild board prescence (for it's size) is a card worth paying attention to.
When combined with cards like sensei's divining top and sylvan library, it actually turns into a legitimate engine.. so there's mild build around potential.
The issue with greenseeker is the rate at which it generates card advantage is pretty slow, and it takes away from some of the explosive nature of green decks. Most green decks can't compete with blue or black card advantage.. It's strengths are explosiveness and a good agro matchup. Cards that deviate from that gameplan and are mediocore in rate, tend to not be what they are looking for.
It's also an engine that is vulnerable to wrath effects, something that green decks are vulnerable to in general. Over-extending on that axis is a downside.
The average green cube decks has about 40% land.. So greenseeker needs about 4 turns on the battlefield, just to exceed a cantrip in card advantage! By that time, a wrath becomes more and more likely.
I like it a lot for very large unpowered cubes, and uncommon cubes, but id be surprised if it's good enough for anything tighter.
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Regarding defensive 2 drops, it's not like aggro decks only play 3 power dudes. There are many 2 power creatures which Greenseeker can block just fine, some even profitably.
I actually think the biggest knock on this card is that the Greenseeker can't get you a land to play on your turn AND block, unlike Courser. So you have to choose between hitting your land drops and defending, similar to Sylvan Caryatid. That makes it much weaker than my initial estimation.
I think a 2/4 vs a 1/3 , not needing to tap to activate and gaining a life every land that enters the battlefield more than makes up for the additional G mana.
Courser is significantly better against agro than greenseeker is...
However, all that being said, I actually don't like courser of kruphix very much for small-medium powered cubes. Good enough to earn a slot (I've cut it for a while and ended up missing it), but it's not the powerhouse that it was in it's standard format. It's too low impact in some matchups.
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1/3 is smaller in cube than in M19, Graveyards matter a lot more, and ETB gains a lot of value relative to activated abilities
Seems fine, but I think I'd lean toward Branchwalker between the three, just for doing more faster.
The fact that the Dryad can block so effectively is really the big decision-maker, and it also avoids the feel-bad of having your essential cards in the 'yard (even if that's half the reason I liked the Seer in the first place). I've definitely had games I've lost because I self-milled too hard, and the Dryad avoids that part too.
It dominated its limited format which likely caused many to give it a spin. It’s currently in our list and has only been OK. Looking for a refresh prior to a Cube event next weekend, and it’s on the chopping block.