“What part of Georgia you from?”

“South central!”

– Robin Hood: Men in Tights

My best friend, the guy who taught me Magic, is from south central Georgia. It’s a hot, sticky region not very different from the Florida it borders. And like Florida, you don’t want to find out what’s lurking in the foliage. It could be big, swamp-fed, and nasty.

I should have been suspicious when I heard about Cairo, Georgia. Because it’s Georgia, it’s pronounced CAY-ro, like in K-Rod only without the devastating curveball or contribution to the Angels’ 2002 world title. I don’t want to face whatever huge things could eat me around Cairo.

Of course, Cairo has a long Magic history as well. Ali from Cairo established the first in a franchise of cards that keep you from taking lethal damage. This has been a R/W franchise including himself, Sustaining Spirit, Worship, Angel's Grace, and Fortune Thief. Sustaining Spirit isn’t that great, but the other four have seen plenty of casual play, and Worship and Angel's Grace have some tournament pedigree.

Magic 2013, as well as Duels of the Planewalkers 2013 (my preview card’s so large it’s in two games!), dolefully inform you that something ate Ali from Cairo. Those creatures I was afraid of in south central Georgia? Definitely real. Look for yourself at Elderscale Wurm:

I could say this is Pelakka Wurm plus Worship and call it a day, but it’s neither fun nor accurate; this card has broader implications. Breaking it down, Elderscale Wurm is:

• Green – It’s obvious but important. Green’s never had an ability like this before. The joke about an elephant sitting anywhere it wants in the room is apposite here: Green gets to partake of just about anything as long as it involves a creature first. Elderscale Wurm is the culmination of Garruk's Packleader, Hunter's Insight, Prey Upon, Terrifying Presence, and Ulvenwald Tracker in that trend. I realize the Worship ability normally requires a creature, but the ones that combo with Worship normally are silly, and Ali from Cairo and Fortune Thief are 0/1s. 7/7 trample is not 0/1.
• 7 mana – Since Scourge, 6 mana has been the threshold for awesome. Fierce Empath, Krosan Drover, and so on are fond of Elderscale Wurm. Costing a bit can be an advantage in those cases. 7’s also the virtual endpoint of Birthing Pod decks, whether they end in Elesh Norn, Sheoldred, or something else. 7 is playable in every format if the upside’s high enough.
• A Wurm – There isn’t particular support for the tribe unless there’s something new in M13. If there is, awesome, but there isn’t anything known that brings the Wurmlove.
• A 7/7 with trample – I don’t have to tell you those are good. You don’t have to worry about whether a 7/7 trample will help your battlefield.
• A life-gain creature – Well, kinda. It will gain you life to 7 if your life total is below 7. Pelakka Wurm gains you 7 life regardless of your life total, which is more generally applicable, but Elderscale Wurm’s ability keeps company with Form of the Dragon in terms of weird things you can do with it. And in that realm, 7’s a lot easier to abuse than 5.
• A damage-replacement creature – This is the best bit. We’re used to staying at 1 life, but 7 is new and very different. To be clear on the rules here: If your life total goes below 7, subsequent events don’t take your life total back up to 7, but you can stay at 7 for ages. Also, if Elderscale Wurm dies from the same damage that would take you below 7, the Wurm keeps you at 7. Staying at 7 raises your defense against life-loss effects that normally plague Worship decks, since that life loss normally killed the Worship controller instantly, whereas random life loss gives the Elderscale Wurm player enough time to claw back to 7. But the upside of those considerations is that damage that would kill you and Elderscale Wurm at the same time invokes the replacement effect. If you’re at 7, a Bonfire of the Damned for 6 doesn’t kill your Wurm or hurt you at all.

So, we’re in a new color for the ability, which means we get to build around Elderscale Wurm in a new type of shell for a familiar ability. Making a green pseudo-Worship deck sounds fun—more fun than playing against Worship at least.

"System 7"

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Carven Caryatid
• 2 Fierce Empath
• 3 Elderscale Wurm
• 3 Nacatl War-Pride
• 4 Leatherback Baloth
• 4 Obstinate Baloth
• 4 Ulvenwald Tracker

• Spells (14)
• 3 Momentous Fall
• 3 Sheltering Word
• 4 Clinging Mists
• 4 Tangle

• Lands (24)
• 24 Forest

Buy This Deck

This is a collection of classic spells for mono-green that become far more viable in multiplayer due to Elderscale Wurm’s damage-replacement effect. Pelakka Wurm would do about the same thing in a duel, but Elderscale Wurm lets you attack a tapped-out player with much less fear of retribution than if you “just” gained 7 life. You’re playing a defense/fight game early, moving to efficient Baloths in the midgame (which are useful for fighting as well), tapping out a side with Tangle or (if your defenses were breached) Clinging Mists so Nacatl War-Pride and Elderscale Wurm can end an opponent in short order.

What I like most about this build is its resilience through redundancy. There’s enough incidental life-gain (Obstinate Baloth, Sheltering Word, Momentous Fall) to get back to 7 life if something went wrong post-Wurm. There’s enough incidental card-draw and tutoring (Carven Caryatid, Fierce Empath, Momentous Fall again) to find your missing pieces. There are enough Fogs (Clinging Mists, Tangle) to keep you alive until your plan is active. Whatever the game state, each card has an adaptable purpose, which is rare for mono-green.

We can take this a different direction with Phyrexian mana and other life payments, shrugging off the pain by staying buoyant at 7. Like this:

"This Will Hurt Me Less Than It Hurts You"

• Creatures (19)
• 2 Chancellor of the Dross
• 3 Big Game Hunter
• 3 Vampire Nighthawk
• 4 Stinkweed Imp
• 3 Spellskite
• 4 Elderscale Wurm

• Spells (17)
• 2 Putrefy
• 3 Vigor Mortis
• 4 Killing Wave
• 4 Grim Feast
• 4 Phyrexian Reclamation

• Lands (24)
• 12 Swamp
• 8 Forest
• 4 Llanowar Wastes

Buy This Deck

Yeah, I included pain lands for style points (once Elderscale Wurm is out, they stop lowering your life total), but hey . . .

Like the other deck, this one has a lot of classics but is aimed at something it couldn’t do reliably before Elderscale Wurm. Stinkweed Imp, Vampire Nighthawk, Big Game Hunter, Phyrexian Reclamation, Putrefy, and Vigor Mortis have well-deserved reputations for multiplayer value. What are they doing in this deck? Glad you/I asked.

That allows us to tap into B/G’s natural proficiency at recurring creatures. Phyrexian Reclamation might take you to 5 life after Elderscale Wurm dies, but you’ll recast the Wurm and go back to 7, so it’s no big deal. The resilience gained from Wurm with Reclamation will be unbeatable for several decks. When you add Spellskite to protect the Wurm, it gets sillier. (Recurring Spellskite with Phyrexian Reclamation isn’t a bad idea either.)

Grim Feast is the biggest non-Wurm lynchpin. With the Wurm out, you render the upkeep damage harmless (technically, damage against Worship effects is still dealt; it just doesn’t affect your life total, akin to indestructibility versus damage), while also gaining life from opposing creatures dying. Grim Feast has a new sidekick in Killing Wave. Here, you’re likely to keep only the Wurm out most times; that’s okay, since you’ll regain that life off other creatures’ deaths so long as Grim Feast is out. Sacrificing the other creatures, such as Big Game Hunter, allows you to recur them with Phyrexian Reclamation or Vigor Mortis. Grim Feast turns Killing Wave into a Exsanguinate, getting rid of several creatures and draining life about it, so it’s a major win condition. It will be correct on many occasions, such as when the Wurm has kept you at 7, to play Killing Wave for 1 or 2 just to drain life and kill a few creatures, like a Stronghold Discipline with upside.

You could build this with similar synergies in different directions. Strands of Night, Tilling Treefolk, and Syphon Life are generally cheaper on your mana than Phyrexian Reclamation while maybe suggesting some other cards as well (Terravore?). Elderscale Wurm seems exciting with Sylvan Library as perhaps the first card in-color to compensate you adequately for your life payments.

In Commander, you probably have to run similar synergies to the B/G deck to get optimal value out of the Wurm, but that’s not necessarily true; the Wurm does a fantastic job of sending opposing swarms toward a non-you opponent, and there are several playgroups in which that’s a major consideration. Rattlesnakeing against Avenger of Zendikar, Elves, Goblins, and so on can make all the difference, and this is the first green card to fill that role so clearly. As a role player against a certain type of board state, it seems best in a tutor-heavy deck that can protect its targets, but tutors and Asceticism effects are already popular, so that’s not a big switch for most decks. I generally build for depth over consistency, so I don’t have the decks that want this at the moment, but you probably have them, and you know if you want this against your group.

I don’t know every place Elderscale Wurm might fit, but it enables new deck styles for green while also beating some face. Its color-intense mana cost might not play well with Return to Ravnica, but multicolored blocks usually have a bias toward mana fixing and other ways to play your bombs, so a greedy deck might be able to run this anyway. There’s plenty to be excited about here. This is the Big Dumb Green mythic slot, but it’s the Big Smart Green mythic card. Ali from Cairo may be dead, but as they’d say in south central Georgia, he was good eatin’. Feed your Wurm some opponents for dessert.