Core Set 2021 Limited Set Review – Green

Drifter

I’ve been enthralled by Limited ever since I began in New Phyrexia. With a particular fondness for flashback and cube drafts, I’ve drafted more sets than I can count on every platform through wildly different eras. On Arena I draft infinitely, having profited 30k or so gems from it at this point, and have made top 100 mythic frequently. Self-reflection and critical analysis are paramount to Limited improvement, and that theme features in many of my articles, and in each session of the Limited coaching service I provide.

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Drifter: F

I think this card is never worth it in Limited; you just won’t have enough lands to accelerate all that much with it, and it’s a 3 mana 1/2 so you’ve gone down a card once you run out of lands.

Drifter: B-

Burlfist Oak attacks as a 4/5 and then gets even bigger if you do happen to have any card draw; it’s an amazing card in Simic decks because they have the most, but Green alone has Setessan Training, Llanowar Visionary, and Track Down at common (though I don’t think that last one is worth playing without several synergies). This can lead to some real blowouts with instant speed draw.

It’s less good if you’re not looking to beat down, but most Limited decks should be, especially in Green.

Drifter: D+

Your opponents will be looking to block this with their 2/2s anyway, so the first line of text won’t do all that much. This does trigger your 4 power synergies and will usually gain a couple of life, but is never an exciting card.

Drifter: C

Colossal Dreadmaw is a fine ramp target; there are many other better high end options in this set, but this is the bread-and-butter one that goes well with Green ramp spells and triggers your 4-power synergies. Trample is a solid ability on a 6/6 body.

Drifter: B-

I’m very fond of Cultivate – it’s a value card which ramps you and gives you free fixing. This is a fantastic way to enable your splashes; with a couple of these, the world is your oyster.

Drifter: C+

I think eventually it won’t be too hard to have a creature with 4 power in play in Green, and until then this is a solid blocker. I think the slower decks like Simic (which seems especially strong to me this set) will actively really want this card.

Drifter: S

This is a hugely efficient body with a colossal number of fantastic abilities, that will run away with the game by itself. You usually want to make 3/3s with it, since a 3/3 for 0 will be better than your average card when you factor in lands, but the option to draw cards or gain life is really solid upside.

Drifter: B-

There are a surprising number of Cats at common, and this is a huge boost to their power. Pridemalkin and Sabertooth Mauler are both good cards anyway and, if you’re in Selesnya, then Basri's Acolyte is great too. Protection from dogs is also pretty relevant text this set, and the threat of being able to destroy artifacts and enchantments when dealing damage will often force them to leave stuff back. I think that all adds up to a pretty good card.

Drifter: C-

It’s interesting to consider whether this effect is actually better than drawing a card on average – it clearly is when you have something great to get, but it won’t un-mana screw you and it won’t draw 4 or 5 drops which can fix your curve. There’s also a significant chance of missing (whereas you can’t miss if you draw a card), say if you only have two targets, which is a pretty reasonable number for a Limited deck. I straight up wouldn’t play this if I only had one target, unless that target was really busted. I think it is slightly better than drawing a card, but not much so.

At the end of the day, this is pretty close to a 3 mana Elvish Visionary; it is value and sometimes you will have great targets for it, but I’m not too excited by it in the average deck.

Drifter: C+

I think this card will play a bit worse than it looks, because you won’t always be able to have things die at opportune moments, having to hold it up and not necessarily have something die will really suck, and you do need a good permanent in the graveyard, as with any card like this. That being said, it’s really good when it does work and it can get any permanent, so it still gets a low C+.

Drifter: A

Planeswalkers are a bit worse in this set, because they’ve included a lot more removal for them like Secure the Scene, Finishing Blow, and Scorching Dragonfire, and I think Garruk is one of the weaker ones in the set, along with Teferi, but he’s still incredible.

The minus ability is good even as a -2, and nuts as a -1, though when you’re churning out Beast tokens, it’s probably not going be that for very long. If all you do is make two Beast tokens with Garruk for 4 mana, you’re still getting an incredible rate. This + isn’t that useful unless you’re very ahead – you don’t want to attack with your creatures nearly as much when you have a Planeswalker in play in Limited, since you want to be protecting them as best you can.

Drifter: D

This card does trigger your 4-power synergies, but it’s such a bad rate that I wouldn’t play it very much even in the decks where that matters.

Drifter: B+

The Harbinger is an amazingly efficient card, but not close to a bomb – it doesn’t scale nearly as well into the late game, and it has hexproof from Black rather than protection so it won’t invalidate the most common strategy your opponents will employ, which is to block it. That being said, it is a crazy turn 3 play and if you can connect with it even once, it will be bomb tier levels of impact.

Drifter: B-

Between Gnarled Sage, Colossal Dreadmaw, and Forgotten Sentinel (I think you’ll end up playing that card a decent amount to enable this strategy), there are three reasonable commons Green has access to which trigger this (see the full list here), but a couple of those aren’t great. Still, Red has a bunch more and Gruul will be where this card is at its best anyway, though with the right number of the cards above, it’s good in any Green strategy. Giving trample to all your stuff for free is some great upside, and can set up some huge swings.

One difference between this and Furious Rise that’s worth noting is that Furious Rise triggers end of turn rather than on enter the battlefield – this means you can stack counters onto your creatures or trigger it with cards like Burlfist Oak, which don’t work for this; I actually suspect Furious Rise will be slightly the better card for this strategy on that basis, at least if you don’t have a bunch of good cards to give trample to.

If this is your only turn three play, you should often just drop it – it’s usually not worth wasting 3 mana to potentially get the draw trigger and hurt your curve later on, unless you’re flooded or you only have one 4 drop creature and need to draw more, for example.

Drifter: C

4/4 Reach for 5 is a reasonable statline. This has some upside in that you can sometimes ambush creatures with Opt or other instant speed card draw, especially in Simic, and if you can use Setessan Training or something to enable you to attack as a 4/6 Vigilance, that can make combat much more awkward for your opponents and help you win races, but I don’t think that effect is going to come up enough to strongly impact the grade. This is a fine common way to trigger your 4-power synergies too.

Drifter: C-

This kind of effect tends to be pretty situational for Limited – it just isn’t that common to have 2 mana up and for your opponents be casting a removal spell. The most common use for this will be attacking into your opponents and casting this to save one creature, which is fine but not especially exciting; it does have some 2 for 1 potential but in just as many spots, you won’t be able to offer good trades to your opponents anyway so this won’t help you.

This set does have an unusual number of 4/2s and 4/3s lying around to enable 4-power matters synergy, which should incline your opponents to block a bit more, so it won’t rot in your hand quite as much, but I’m still not excited for this card at all.

Drifter: B-

This is Green’s one form of removal at common or uncommon, and luckily it’s a good one! It’s a bit inefficient as a sorcery but it does kill most of what you want to, and it has the Ram Through effect where your opponents’ creatures don’t get to deal damage back. As always, instant speed removal can blow this out, and especially Grasp of Darkness only costs 2 mana to do so. I think it’s going to be valuable for Green to pair with Black and Red this set, to shore up this weakness.

Drifter: C+

This card is like Feral Invocation from M20, which was a solid card, and this one has counter synergy on top – White has a bunch of ways to give counters this set, that’s one of its main themes, and the one Green common removal spell in Hunter's Edge does that too. Whenever you get to eat a creature in combat and get a permanent buff, you’re gettin gan maazing rate with this, but you do want to be cognisant of instant-speed removal.

Drifter: B+

Jolrael is busted with Llanowar Visionary, and a fantastic reason to put Setessan Training and Track Down in your deck, though ideally you have a couple of other synergies like Burlwood Oak for those cards. She also really goes off hard with Garruk's Uprising and 4-power synergy, and is nuts in most Simic decks. Her second ability is quite winmore since, if you have a bunch of cards in hand late in the game, you’ve probably already gotten a bunch of Cats, but even waiting and holding lands in your hand from turn 6 onwards may well let you set up a gamewinning Overrun at some point.

Drifter: F

I don’t think there are enough lifegain synergies that are worth a card for this to be a card you should ever play in Limited. Here’s the list, and only Griffin Aerie is actually worth doing this; if you have 5 Griffin Aeries (an uncommon) then maybe you can consider this, or maybe there’s some rare I haven’t factored in, but regardless, I’m not rating for 1 in 100 decks and this is an F. To understand why lifegain is so bad in Limited, check out the comment I gave Nine Lives on this page, and that card gains far more life.

Drifter: B+

Ramp looks like it’s going to be extremely worth it in this set, especially in Simic, which has a wealth of good 6 and 7 drops available. But this card doesn’t really care, because it’s such a busted rate anyway.

Drifter: C-

This card is a powerful attacker if you have a 4 power creature, and an okay blocker in general, but overall I’m not incredibly excited for it. The failcase when you don’t have a 4 power creature is really bad, and I don’t think that will be trivial for every deck. Additionally, Shock and Scorching Dragonfire are at common this set, and hurt this card significantly.

Drifter: D-

I don’t see a good reason to put Portcullis Vine in any deck; it’s a 22nd-23rd playable when you’re really desperate (I’d often rather play 18 land over it if I had decent high end), but it doesn’t block well and it does evrything at a bad rate. The best use of it is to chump block a 5/5 and sacrifice itself to draw a card, and that costs you a full 3 mana.

Drifter: C+

While this card only provides 3/2 for 3 of stats, I think it plays far better than an actual 3/2 for 3 – the 2 mana body will trade with 2 drops and you’ll still keep the +1/+1 counter, and the +1/+1 counter will set up attacks, 4 power synergies, and payoffs like Invigorating Surge and Tempered Veteran. Just being able to put it wherever you want is a huge deal, and Trample is not nothing either – imagine topdecking this late in the game and making your random 5/5 a 6/6 Trample which can attack immediately, or curving Dowsing Tyrannidon into this!

Drifter: B+

This will kill almost anything you want to kill, and then give you a gigantic attack, possibly gamewinning with evasive units. It’s a pretty efficient rate too – for 1 mana, you cast Prey Upon, and for 3, you cast Savage Smash, and it just gets better from there.

Drifter: B-

If you can get just one counter off this, you’re doing pretty well, and then over the course of the game it’ll tick up into a greater and greater threat. In heavy green decks, this won’t be as good, and there’s some awkward dis-synergy where if you’re heavy nongreen, you want to play fewer green sources so you won’t be able to play this early as often, but you don’t really need to that much and this should be a solid card in most decks.

Drifter: D+

+1/+1 doesn’t win most combats, and that’s what games of Limited revolve around. There just won’t be as many times where you have 1 mana up and your opponent is casting a removal spell as there will be where this card is rotting in your hand, and you’ll wish it was another creature. Whenever you make cuts in a Limited deck, you need to consider that you’re not gaining cards for free – if you want to measure how good a card like this really is, try to imagine whatever you would’ve replaced this with being in your hand instead, and consider whether that card would’ve been better.

Drifter: D-

There are some high value artifacts and enchantments in the set (check out the list here) but they’re not all good targets for this card (e.g. Rousing Read/Meteorite) and there still aren’t nearly enough to be happy maindecking this. You should take this over garbage in best-of-three, as always.

Drifter: D-

Similarly, there aren’t enough Fliers to be maindecking this, even if there are some valuable ones. Additionally, it being sacrifice rather than destroy does hurt a lot of the time, since you’ll often be hitting a lower value target.

Drifter: B-

This says your end step, so you need to be attacking or have removal to make good use of this card but, if you can get just one counter, you’re getting a good rate and then it’ll be a frightening card that threatens to grow throughout the game. It’s not that hard to make creatures die in Limited, so this should be a solid common.

Drifter: C-

I don’t think this Shrine is great by itself – it’s a pretty weak way to fix and ramp, since it doesn’t give you anything alongside it and costs 3 mana. Additionally the fact that Llanowar Visionary is in the set and is busted reduces the need for this (though that card can’t fix). That being said, it’s not a terrible card and will be a good way to splash your other Shrines and enable their synergies.

Drifter: A

Creatures die all the time in Limited, and Scooze will become immense and gain a bunch of life throughout the course of the game. It’s also free hate against graveyard strategies; you can really mess up some of these cards! Scooze is great at any point in the game, so I’m inclined to give it a very high grade.

Drifter: C-

Setessan Training is a reasonable way to enable the draw two cards synergies that Green and Blue have and buff up your 3 power guys for 4-power synergies, but it’s a pretty medium/tempo negative card by itself, and does open you up to getting 2 for 1ed by instant-speed removal, as with every aura.

Drifter: D-

This is the kind of card you board in against small fliers, but don’t play maindeck – a 1 mana 1/2 is just too bad a rate. Sometimes if you’re really desperate for more flier hate in your green white deck that can put counters on it and make use of the body that way, you can main it, but it’s pretty ill-advised.

Drifter: C

I wasn’t that fond of Snarespinner the first time; it attacks really badly, blocks ground creatures poorly and is pretty low-impact. That being said, Green only has one card for removal at common or uncommon, and White/Blue have more fliers than usual this set, so this will be a necessary evil in some decks. I wouldn’t recommend playing two of this card in game 1 – one is where you’re reasonably happy, drawing two is pretty miserable.

I consider this a low C, and could see moving it down to C-.

Drifter: B

This card will often demand removal before your opponents can attack into it (which Blue can’t do, but they might be able to rely on their other colour, though this also gives you some value against Red removal spells) and it blocks anything with 3 or less power extremely well. That’s just a fantastic rate and any Green deck that’s not really aggressive will want this.

Drifter: B-

The Brontodon has a great body with an nice activated ability. It scales better into the late game than most 3 drops, and every Green deck will be happy to have it.

Drifter: D+

This is a reasonable card in Limited, since it does win you most combats and sometimes kill your opponents, but it has the usual problems of being a fairly inefficient 2 mana trick and is very weak to instant-speed removal. It does give you some value off 4 power synergies that trigger end of turn, but I think that is only really Furious Rise. Against Green decks with a poor second colour for instant-speed removal, like White, or if you just haven’t seen them, I would consider boarding this in. It’s a high D+.

Drifter: D

Scry 3 is good, but there is some chance of missing on a creature and getting a land off this will be terrible in the late game. In the early game, this is really bad tempo. It’s a way to enable your “draw two cards per turn” synergies, but I’d want really a lot of those, probably in Simic, before I was willing to play this card. This is better than Adventurous Impulse, but that card is trash.

Drifter: C+

This may be a C+, but it’s an S in terms of art! I wasn’t kidding around when I said a boar had stolen the show from all the cats in terms of cuteness (and I’m fond of cats myself!).

This is a solid 3 drop, since it will always be a 3 mana 3/3, but I think gaining life will be especially relevant this format, since Red is so powerful and has so much burn. Sometimes you’ll get a 2/2 flier off your Griffin Aerie, or recur your Silversmote Ghoul, or enable your +1/+1 counter synergies in Selesnya. It’s rare to choose the lifegain mode, but it represents a lot of versatility on a solid card to begin with.

Drifter: B-

A 5/7 Vigilance makes attacking ludicrously hard for your opponents, while still letting you make fantastic ones; many decks will actually have to remove this, and then you’ll get an easy 3 for 1. This is actually better than Spined Megalodon, since it costs 1 less mana for the same stats, and Vigilance is such a big deal here. I think I like starting at high B- since there are a lot of good 6s in the format to compete with this, especially if you’re in Simic, and it is still just a pile of stats which will have some weaknesses to fliers and being raced and such, but I could see moving up to B.

Drifter: C+

Ivy Elemental was unusually good in Ikoria, thanks to Mutate, but this has significant upside on top; there are enough ways to put +1/+1 counters on creatures in just Green that this ability will come up a lot. I suspect playing this as a 2 mana 1/1 and then curving out into Trufflesnout and Hunter's Edge will often be a great line. Sometimes you’ll even be able to go really big with Quirion Dryad or Spellgorger Weird… All that doesn’t even factor in how good this is in Selesnya, since counters are one of White’s biggest themes.

Drifter

In classic Core Set fashion, Green seems to have returned to its roots and decided to embrace what it does best: ramping up to giant beefy creatures and throwing +1/+1 counters on things, with tricks and utility options aplenty. Unfortunately, with renewed strength comes renewed weakness; while Green in recent sets has evolved to have a bunch of ways to get around its lack of removal, and has been doing weird stuff like blasting things for the power of its creatures in hand, it only has one removal option this set.

For that reason, I suspect you want to pair it with Black and Red a lot, which both have fantastic removal, though Red has better synergy with its 4-power theme, while Golgari looks like more of a good-stuffy deck and not an obviously great colour pair. White has great +1/+1 counter synergy with Green, and still has decent defence-oriented removal, which will be much appreciated. Green should also combine fantastically with Blue, which can best leverage its huge creatures with a medley of bounce effects and pseudo-removal options, benefits its “draw two cards per turn” synergies, and provides a huge range of great fatties for it to ramp to alongside its own offerings; I suspect this will be the most archetypal good midrange deck of the format, having solid early starts alongside a ton of value late, and splashing removal options from the other three colours.

Green has its range of solid commons and uncommons, but I suspect it’s a little less powerful than the other colours, though it’s close; it just has a few too many of its slots taken up by mediocre tricks and sideboard-only cards. However, it does seem like it will have a good matchup against Red, which has historically struggled against big creatures and lifegain options, and Red is one of the best colours overall; I think it will often have a rough time against Blue and Black though.