How does your garden grow?

It's not easy being Green. Players dismiss the color by not seeing the forest for the trees. It offers a vast ecosystem of common utility across color combinations along with some big traditional closers. These cards remind you that it is important to eat your vegetables though if you want to be a strong druid capable of being the forest to your will.

Invest in land, no one is making any more of it... except Wizards

Much like Hobbits, Green players have a love of all things that grow. There is a modicum of patience involved to get those high mana spells cast, but often some good fertilizer can ramp you up quickly. With any mono-colored deck, start with the appropriate medallion, in this case the Emerald Medallion - and be sure to thank it upon casting at a discount. The best ramp can often be a reduction.

Classics including Cultivate or Kodama's Reach prove a land in the hand is worth one on the field - a nice shuffle always helps the soil take in nutrients as well. Rampant Growth is another fine brand of gardening spell to get one land on the field.

In a pinch and not concerned about value, Charms can come through for you. Archdruid's Charm gives the option to search for a creature or land (note, not any not basic) to put on the field tapped. Alternate modes add a +1/+1 to a creature you control that deals damage to a creature you don't control, or exile target artifact or enchantment. Evolution Charm is more the last ditch effort for ramp getting you a basic to hand but useful more to bring a creature back from the yard or give something flying until the end of the turn. Have these for overall utility if anything.

Lastly take care of your lands, or just let them go wild - Wild Growth enchants target land to tap for an additional Green; Abundant Growth at the same casting cost will allow enchanted land to tap for one mana of any color.

Still not enough? Consider renting your property out for a Bootleggers' Stash and watch your land rake in the treasures.

Flora and Fauna

Mana dorks really do grow on trees in Green. The Ilysian Caryatid literally is one. Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, and several others are one-drops that tap for Green mana. However the Caryatid will add two of any one color if you control a creature with power four or greater. In Green that's called every creature. Want to break the mold of Elves? Check out Nightshade Dryad from Modern Horizons 3 to get a little deathtouch with your mana.

Going bigger still, Fanatic of Rhonas gives you a 1/4 for that taps for mana. Again four is the magic number, and controlling a creature with power four causes Fanatic to tap for that much instead. Talk about value - and it comes back with Eternalize.

Need even more? Circle of Dreams Druid adds mana for each creature you control. Drop those low-cost mana producers, then start ramping in style to the point of owning more real estate than the rest of the pod combined.

Also consider putting in a Llanowar Tribe for removal bait. You might get a little use out of it early, but more often than not it's removed in the early game.

Forces of Nature

No, not that one. But with Fanatic of Rhonas you have instant payment for the Force of Nature upkeep if you want to be nostalgic. Instead bridge the gap between ramp and rawr with the Defiler of Vigor. For five mana this 6/6 Phyrexian Wurm (with trample, mind you) minimizes casting costs of Green permanent if you pay two life. It's a slightly more painful medallion in its own way. Whenever you cast a Green permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. This card is pure value - if it lives.

The forests are filled with creatures still, and the more land you control, the more space they have to roam or rampage. Rampaging Baloths gives you a 6/6 beast with trample and landfall trigger - create a 4/4 Green beast creature token. Mix and match with your favorite search spells, or Explore to play an additional land each turn. You'll overrun your opponents in no time.

Fans of Zendikar understand that even the terrain will try to kill you. With Nissa, Who Shakes the World the land fights back. Add a loyalty counter to place three +1/+1 counters on target noncreature land you control, untap it, et voila! It is now a 0/0 Elemental creature with vigilance and haste that is still a land. Fun and flavorful with the various Ent cards in Tales of Middle Earth. Oh, there's also the little static ability.

You have a few big creatures on board. CHARGE!

Show that life finds a way with Unnatural Growth to double the power and toughness of each creature you control until the end of the turn. Or maybe use a Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus for similar effect - Zopandrel is also a 4/6 creature that feels the effect each turn with the potential for indestructibility. Ram Through your opponent's defenses for two mana, then rise up with Garruk's Uprising to give all those big beasties trample (and card draw). Setup a Colossification to enchant one of your creatures for +20/+20 on the next turn, and enjoy.

But wait! No mention of Craterhoof Behemoth?

Play Craterhoof Behemoth. It's cliche, people roll their eyes, but it wins games.

Pest Prevention

We all know that flyers can be a burden, but Assassin's Creed gave us a fun little card in Palazzo Archers. Whenever a creature with flying attacks you or a Planeswalker you control, it deals damage equal to its power to that creature. With all the buffs available in mono-Green - let alone numerous proliferate cards, this squad of rooftop sentinels can hold the line a bit.

Lands showed themselves to be versatile in Green, and the channel lands are no different. Boseiju, Who Endures can be discarded to destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. If you control a legendary creature it costs one colorless less to activate. Your opponent may search for a basic making this your Green Path to Exile.

Removal in Green centers around this in many cases - targeting enchantments and artifacts. Nature is healing itself from the technological expansion of the guilds, of the brothers, and reclaiming the world from large-scale spells. Krosan Grip is one such card with split second that will save your play more often than not.

Bringing It All Back

But what if YOUR creatures get removed? Well in Green (similar to mono-Black), sometimes they come back from the earth. Make sure to have an Eternal Witness to return a target card from your graveyard to your hand. There is a lot of kill-on-sight in Green - be it big or small.

Conduit of Worlds is one artifact that Green will keep around allowing you to play lands from the graveyard. Tap it to choose target nonland permanent in your graveyard, and if you haven't cast a spell this turn you may cast that card.

Now that your garden is cultivated, the path is clear for the Finale of Devastation for a nice alternative if you need to dig deeper to search your library and/or graveyard for a creature card with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield. If X is 10 or more, creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn.

Green gets a good deal of grief in Magic. To the contrary it offers a great deal of utility for faster mana, faster-acting additives, and the ability to salvage the work of those without a Green thumb. Mix and match with your other favorite wedge(s) of the color pie for fun combinations of flavor that make eating your vegetables fun again.