The Importance of Cycles: A Macready Musings Video Essay

As I mentioned in my Christmas update, I've been planning on experimenting with the types of content I provide. As such, I'm very excited to present 'The Importance of Cycles' my debut as a Youtuber. I hope you enjoy it.

Unusual Tribes 10: Giants

Intro   

  

Welcome to the 10^th Unusual Tribes article. It’s hard to believe that I have been analysing Magic the Gathering’s presentation of niche Creature types for 10 weeks now, but here we are. Next week look out for something a little bit different, but still Magic the Gathering related.

As you may have guessed from the title, Giants will be the subjects of this week’s piece. Giants are both more populous (with 166 cards printed) and a little bit more popular than the tribes usually examined in these articles. Nevertheless, as this is the 10^th article it seemed appropriate to explore a tribe that has a lot of members, whilst still being less supported collectively than the likes or Goblins or Elves. Giants even received a tribal preconstructed Commander deck with 2015’s Wade Into Battle although, unfortunately, many do not consider this precon to be paticularly good. It is constructed in the Boros colour pair, which is infamously problematic in Commander due to its limited access to ramp and card draw spells. Furthermore Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, the deck’s leader, is generally considered to be one of the weaker Commanders introduced that year.

There are giants of all five colours, although they are most commonly printed in Red. 88 of the games 166 giants having red somewhere in their colour identity. This is followed by white, which features 44 Giants. As they are a common feature in many different types of fantasy stories, Giants are a near universal presence across the planes of the multiverse. From Diregraf Colossus on Innistrad, to Hammer Dropper on Ravnica.

The Titans

By far the most famous Giants in Magic the Gathering are the Titan cycle. First printed in Core Set 2011 and then reprinted next year in Core Set 2012, the Titan cycle contains several extremely powerful cards… As well as Frost Titan. Each of the Titans costs 6 mana and has an impactful enter the battlefield effect, which is repeated whenever it attacks.

Grave Titan is, arguably, the most powerful member of the cycle. A 6/6 who brings out two 2/2 Zombie tokens when it enters play for only 6 mana offers incredible value. That Grave Titan generates another two Zombies every time it attacks only serves to make it even more absurdly strong. Grave Titan also has Deathtouch. This isn’t terribly useful on a 6/6 creature but is still a nice bonus.

Primeval Titan, if not quite as powerful as Grave Titan, is arguably the member of the cycle who has most impacted the game. Primeval Titan has Trample and puts two tapped lands from your library into play when it enters the battlefield or attacks. This ramping effect makes it the centre piece of so called ‘Amulet Titan’ decks in Modern. ‘Amulet Titan’ is a complex combo decks that relies on rushing Primeval Titan out quickly, and then making use of Amulet of Vigour to untap lands. These untapped lands are then used both to generate mana and to buff Primeval Titan to insane levels of power, such as by granting it Double Strike through the effect of Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion. Outside of Modern, Primeval Titan was once a massive presence in Commander. Due to the length of Commander games, and the variety of powerful lands available in the format, being able to place multiple lands down every turn often quickly spirals out of control. This resulted in the card being banned in the format.

Sun Titan and Inferno Titan are both reasonably strong cards.  Sun Titan fetches permeants which cost 3 or less mana from the graveyard, whilst Inferno Titan deals 3 damage divided across any number of targets. Though too expensive, and not quite impactful enough, for use in Modern, these two Titans see frequent play in Commander.

Frost Titan, as mocked above, has been the member of cycle which has made the least impact on any format.  The card can usually be purchased for pocket change in contrast to Grave Titan which will typically set you back $10.00 or more.  Though not a bad card by any means, Frost Titan simply doesn’t impact the board anywhere near as heavily as his counterparts in other colours. Tapping an opponent’s creature for a prolonged period is certainly useful. Though this effect is nowhere near as useful as destroying them (as Inferno Titan does) or generating 4/4 worth of stats spread out over two bodies (as Grave Titan does).

Other Giants

Stone Giant is one of the first Giants brought into the game. Introduced in Alpha, alongside Hill Giant and Two-Headed Giant of Foryis, Stone Giant sets himself apart from his two contemporaries by having a very evocative effect. Stone Giant can be tapped down to grant Flying to a creature you control with toughness less than Stone Giant’s until the end of turn. That creature is then destroyed at the beginning of the end step. This ability demonstrates Stone Giant flinging a smaller creature through the air towards the foe. Stone Giant shows that, as far back as the game’s beginning, Magic the Gathering has always been home to creative ways of conveying concepts.

As Giants were one of the featured tribes of Lorwyn Block, a small number of Giant ‘tribal’ cards exist, that is to say non creature cards with the Giant subtype. Crush Underfoot, Favour of the Mighty, Feudkiller’s Verdict and Giant’s Ire are a selection of Instants, Enchantments and Sorceries which bear the Giant subtype.  Crush Underfoot and Giant’s Ire both reward you for having a Giant in play. Favour of the Mighty grants the creature with the highest converted mana cost protection from all colours, implicitly rewarding you for playing Giants due to their high mana costs. Finally, Feudkiller’s Verdict encourages you to become a Giant yourself, granting you ten life and placing a 5/5 Giant Token into play if you then have more life than an opponent. The flavour text of Feudkiller’s Verdict states that ‘There are all kinds of strengths, but if you have strength of soul, the others will follow.’ The life gain the card provides demonstrates the caster acquiring this ‘strength of the soul’ and the Giant token created demonstrates how this inner strength lends itself to other forms of power.

‘Tribal' cards were a short-lived addition to the game, that was never seen again after Rise of the Eldrazi in 2010. They were seen as adding too much unnecessary complexity. Whether this is a shame or a relief largely depends on who you’re asking. The short-lived nature of this card type means that Giants join a small selection of other creature types in also describing Instants, Sorceries and Enchantments.

Boldwyr Intimidator is one of the game's most famous giants. A 5/5 Giant Warrior, Boldwyr Intimidator bears the ability 'Cowards can't block Warriors' and, for a small payment in mana, can turn targeted creatures into either Cowards or Warriors. This ability shows Boldwyr Intimidator living up to his name, he is intimidating his foes and cowing them into submission. Boldwyr Intimidator's fearsome nature is further evidenced by the card's flavour text 'Now everyone knows what you are' showing how he has proven the cowardice of his foes to the world.

Two Giants from Theros block pay homage to characters from Greek mythology. Bearer of the Heavens references the Titan Atlas, a being condemned to carry the sky upon his back for all eternity. The name and art of Bearer of the Heavens make clear its duty to separate the sky from the earth, as does its effect. In the event that Bearer of the Heavens dies, all permeants on the battlefield are destroyed at the beginning of the next end step, demonstrating the sky crashing into the earth. Furthermore, the card’s flavour text ‘To hold the heavens from the earth is no curse, but a titanic responsibility’ surely uses the word ‘titanic’ to demonstrate how Atlas, the card’s inspiration, was a Titan.

The card Titan of Eternal Fire is a clear demonstration of the myth of Prometheus. In Greek mythology Prometheus stole the secrets of creating fire from the Gods and granted it to mankind. Titan of Eternal Fire grants all of its controller’s Human creatures the ability to tap themselves and pay 1 red mana to deal 1 damage to any target. A non-subtle, yet still neat, reference to him granting mankind the ability to use fire.  Prometheus’ punishment, being strapped to a mountain and having his liver constantly pecked out by gulls, is also referenced in Theros through the card Chained to the Rocks.

In the event that we ever go to Kaldheim (a plane inspired by Norse Mythology seen only in Planechase and a handful of Core Set cards such as Dwarven Priest) Giants will almost certainly be a large theme of any set based there. As the Giants or Norse mythology are the ancient rivals of the Nordic pantheon’s gods, some Legendary Giants are practically guaranteed.

Gigantic Synergies

Giants have a lord in the form of Sunrise Sovereign. Sunrise Sovereign grants other Giants +2/+2 and Trample. Unfortunately the Sovereign also bears the weighty drawback of costing six mana, making it significantly more expensive than most other lords. Furthermore, although the bonuses the Sovereign  provides are significant, unlike Gargos, Vicious Watcher, he does nothing to reduce the mana cost of other members of the tribe. This is significant as many Giants, due to their colossal size, have a fittingly large mana cost. Only a small number of them cost less than 3 mana. Although Stinkdrinker Daredevil exists, who reduces the mana cost of all Giants by 2, the fact that these effects are not merged on a single card hurts the viability of the tribe. These factors render building effective Giant tribal decks difficult outside of EDH.

Lorwyn also provided support to Giant decks in the form of Giant Harbinger. Each of the major tribes of Lorwyn received a harbinger card which allowed  its controller to place a card of the corresponding creature type on top of their library. Unfortunately Giant Harbinger is, arguably, the worst card of the cycle. He costs, a staggering, 5 mana which is egregiously expensive. This is especially notable when the card is compared to Treefolk Harbinger and Flamekin Harbinger who provide the same effect, for Treefolk and Elementals respectively, whilst only costing a single point of mana.

To end this, currently quite gloomy, segment on a positive note it’s worth saying that Giants do possess one thing which few other tribes do. Realm-Cloaked Giant’s adventure ability destroys all non-giant creatures in play. This is a tremendously useful board wipe effect as, in Giant tribal decks, it leaves your board completely intact whilst, likely, completely eradicating all of your opponents’ creatures.

Arbitrary Grades

Flavour: B

The primary thing to note about Giants is that… well that they are giant. Wizards of the Coast demonstrate this by printing Giants as expensive creatures with large stat blocks. Of course, if this was all, Giants would not be earning a B here.  Giants’ colossal size is also demonstrated through several other, creative, means. Whether it’s through cards such as Stone Giant or Brion Stourarm demonstrating their vastness through throwing smaller creatures or Realm-Cloaked Giant being literally so massive that the entire battlefield sits upon his back and can be cast off. Magic the Gathering also effectively demonstrates the diversity of Giants, as creatures present in all manner of popular media. Whether they are the Fee-fi-fo-fum foes of Fairytales, as demonstrated by cards such as Beanstalk Giant and Blind-Spot Giant, or hulking monstrosities from Gothic Horror stories such as Skaab Goliath .

Viability: C+

Though hardly unsupported (especially when compared to some of the earlier tribes analysed in this series such as Vedalken and Skeletons) Giants are not a top tier tribe. Collectively the creatures of the tribe cost too much mana to see play outside of EDH and, even in Commander, they are scattered across the colour pie.

Morophon, the Boundless makes an excellent Commander for Giant tribal decks. Morophon allows players to gather together Giants of every colour and provides the cost reduction, which they so desperately need. 

Due to their size, many giants can also be utilised in conjunction with cards which care about having high power such as Colossal Majesty, Crater’s Claws and Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner. There are many individually strong giants, such as the Titan cycle listed above, so they make worthy additions to many decks and building a deck incorporating them is certainly a possibility.  The future also looks bright for Giants. New members of the tribe are introduced in almost every set and they are likely to play an important role in Kaldheim, in the likely event that we eventually venture to that corner of the multiverse.

Best and Worst Cards:

Unsurprisingly perhaps, due to the entire section dedicated to how powerful they are above, most of the members of the Titan cycle are eligible to be considered the best cards of the tribe. Grave Titan and Primeval Titan edge out the others and a fair case could be made to declare either the most powerful Giant.  Grave Titan due to the huge amounts of power it brings to the board and Primeval Titan due to its crazy combo potential.

Looking past the Titan cycle, however, there are a selection of other Giants worthy of giving an honourable mention to. Diegraf Colossus is an essential component of most Zombie tribal decks and, just like Grave Titan, is capable of flooding the board with 2/2 Zombie tokens. Nylea’s Colossus can accomplish some truly crazy things. Its ability to double creatures’ power multiple times per turn is exceedingly powerful, at least in Commander where expensive creatures are at their most viable. Though perhaps, all things considered, Nylea’s Colossus is one of the more fun members of the tribe, rather than one of the more competitively viable.

There are two cards worth mentioning as potential candidates for the worst member of the tribe. Hired Giant allows your opponents to fetch a land card from their library and put it onto the battlefield as it enters play. This is a disastrous downside; especially as non-basic lands can be retrieved enabling combos and other nastiness. The card also only possesses average stats for its cost, at least by today’s standards, being a 4/4 for 4 mana.

Karplusan Giant as a 3/3 for 7 mana is massively overcosted. Although the card can gain +1/+1 through tapping snow-covered lands you need to tap down 4 such lands each turn merely to break even and give the cards stats equal to its converted mana cost.  Even then, the card has no keyword abilities, such as Trample, making it not worth the investment.

Unusual Tribes 9: Hydras

Introduction

This week’s Unusual Tribes article will focus on Hydras. The Hydra was a many headed beast slain by the Greek hero Heracles, or Hercules in adaptations made by the Romans and the Disney corporation. Each time one of the Hydra’s heads was cut off two more would grow in its place, unless the stump of the neck was burned away with fire. Hydras are considered green’s ‘iconic creature type’, a term meaning that they are large creatures typically, although not always, printed in a single colour. This places them alongside Angels, Sphinxes, Demons and Dragons, who are the iconic creatures of white, blue, black and red respectively.[1] Despite their modern association with green, Hydras were initially printed exclusively in red. Rock Hydra, the first Hydra ever printed, was a red card. Rock Hydra was then followed by several other mono-red Hydras including Balduvian Hydra, Ancient Hydra and Molten Hydra.

The first green Hydra would not see print until 2005 in Ravnica: City of Guilds. Phytohydra was a green/white Plant Hydra aligned with the Selesnya Conclave.  Phytohydra would later be joined, in the same block, by Ulasht, the Hate Seed and Sprouting Phytohydra. Interestingly, of these 3 hydras, only Ulasht, the Hate Seed was not a Hydra/Plant. As Ulasht is the only one of the three to have red in its colour identity this suggests that red was still the colour primarily associated with hydras, with the green of the other Hydras coming stemming from their Plant creature type. The printing of Khalni Hydra in 2010’s Rise of the Eldrazi marked the decisive shift of Hydras from red to green. Khalni Hydra is officially the greenest card ever made. It costs 8 green mana, that is to say it has 8 individual green mana pips in its casting cost. This gives Khalni Hydra the single most mana pips of any, black-bordered, card in the game. It loses out only to B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster), a joke card printed in Unglued, which costs 15 black mana. Khalni Hydra’s cost is reduced by one green for each green creature controlled by its owner, demonstrating further that Hydras are now aligned with green.

Although Theros: Beyond Death will undoubtedly contain a handful of Hydras, as the plane of Theros is inspired by Greek mythology, this article will be spoiler free. After the set is released, if any of these Hydras are notable enough to warrant mention here, information about them will be retroactively added in.

Heads and Tails

Typically, Hydras many heads are represented through +1/+1 counters. This is made clear when looking at the first hydra printed,  Rock Hydra. Like many of Magic the Gathering’s oldest cards, Rock Hydra’s original rules text is incredibly bizarre by modern standards. The card costs 2 red mana + X and states, ‘Put X +1/+1 counters (heads) on Hydra.  Each point of damage Hydra suffers destroys one head unless R is spent.  During upkeep new heads may be grown for RRR apiece’. The first clause of Rock Hydra’s effect has been replicated on many of Magic’s later Hydras. Of the 48 Hydras in the game, 18 of them (or 37.5%) have X in their mana cost. Each of these Hydras enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.

Protean Hydra is one of the more flavourful Hydras in the game. It perfectly captures the idea of two heads growing back from the stump each time a single head is decapitated. Whenever Protean Hydra takes damage, it loses that number of heads, in the form of+1/+1 counters. 2 +1/+1 counters are then placed upon it at the next end step, for each counter which was removed that turn. This shows new heads sprouting from the severed stumps.

Interestingly, Phyrexian Hydra works in the opposite way to Protean Hydra. Any damage dealt to  Phyrexian Hydra is prevented, but in return, a -1/-1 counter is placed on the card. This, coupled with the card possessing the ability Infect, demonstrates that Phyrexian Hydra grows more and more diseased and sickly as it takes more and more damage. This is an interesting demonstration of the nature of the Phyrexian infection, which spread across Mirrodin, but a slightly strange take on a Hydra. Perhaps the card does the opposite of what other Hydras do to reflect Phyrexia’s status as an absurd and nightmarish world where nothing works as would be expected.

Kalonian Hydra is a peculiar card, in terms of how it conveys the idea of being a Hydra, but a brilliant support card to other members of the tribe. Kalonian Hydra enters play with 4 +1/+1 on it. Whenever it attacks, the number of +1/+1 counters on it is doubled as well as the number of counters on every other card its owner controls. This effect works brilliantly when played alongside other Hydras, as many of them will also be covered in +1/+1 counters. The flavour text of  Kalonian Hydra ,‘Even baloths fear its feeding time’, implies that the +1/+1 counters on the Hydra are doubled due to it feasting on prey. This is slightly inconsistent with other members of the tribe, where the +1/+1 counters are used to represent additional heads. Perhaps feasting on baloths causes Kalonian Hydra to sprout new heads?

+1/+1 counters are not the only way that the multiple heads of Hydras are demonstrated through game mechanics. In multiplayer, Hydra Omnivore deals its combat damage to every opponent, reflecting how each of its heads is lashing out at a different foe. Similarly, Savageborn Hydra  possesses Double Strike to reflect how its multiple heads enable it to bite opponents several times simultaneously.

Gargos and Other Hydra Legends

Until the release of Core Set 2020 Hydras did not really have a lord.  That all changed with the printing of Gargos, Viscious Watcher.

Gargos is the ideal commander for a mono-green hydra deck. Although Gargos does not provide +1/+1 to each Hydra you control, he reduces the price of every other Hydra in his controller’s deck by 4 and fights an opponent’s creatures whenever one of your creatures is targeted by a spell. Gargos’ price reduction effect is extremely valuable. Being able to bring out Oran-Rief Hydra or Hydra Omnivore for a mere two mana is quite intimidating. Furthermore, this cost reduction ability synergises effectively with the series of Hydras who have X in their mana cost, such as Protean Hydra and Hooded Hydra. As each of these Hydras get +1/+1 equal to the value of X, Gargos effectively grants each of these Hydras four extra power and toughness. Gargos’ fight ability is also useful, as it essentially turns your opponent’s removal spells into two for ones. Gargos will fight, and presumably destroy, one of their creatures in the event that they attempt to target one of your Hydras with Swords to Plowshares.

For all of Gargos’ strengths, the card has one major flaw as a commander. Sadly, due to only possessing green in his colour identity, a deck led by Gargos loses access to several of the most powerful members of the tribe. This includes such cards as Hydroid Krasis and Savageborn Hydra. This leaves EDH decks which want to run many non-green Hydras with several potential alternatives, namely, Gyrus, Waker of Corpses, Ulasht, the Hate Seed and Progenitus. Although each of these cards are Hydras, they do not synergise nearly as well with other Hydras as  Gargos’ does, and pull you towards other strategies. Gyrus, Waker of Corpses works best in a graveyard reanimation deck. Ulasht, the Hate Seed wants to be in a go-wide deck. Progenitus, as one of only two cards to bear the clause ‘protection from everything’, wants to act as the centrepiece of a battlecruiser strategy. [2] In summary, despite losing access to several members of the tribe, the sheer impact of Gargos’ ability in a Hydra deck makes him the premier choice for Hydra tribal. The other legendary Hydras encourage you to run alternative strategies.

Arbitrary Grades

Flavour: A

The primary attribute which distinguishes Hydras from each of the game’s other creature types is their multiple heads. By tying heads into +1/+1 counters, Wizards of the Coast have created an effective and consistent means of showing off what makes Hydras novel, and demonstrating them losing and gaining heads over the course of a fight. It is perhaps curious that this ability is not universal amongst all Hydras, and some have a predetermined amount of power and toughness, or else do not interact with +1/+1 counters at all. Overall, however, it is probably for the best that every Hydra in the game is not simply a creature with X in its mana cost that gains +1/+1 counters equal to the value of X. This ensures that the design space for Hydra cards is significantly wider than merely being a series of, marginally altered, duplicates of Rock Hydra. Cards such as Hydra Omnivore and Savageborn Hydra are also effectively able to portray their multiheaded nature.

Viability: B

Hydras have always been powerful creatures, yet green has no shortage of strong threats. Gargos has done a lot to make the tribe more viable collectively as he circumvents Hydras’ most significant weakness, their high cost. Given how recently Gargos was released, and Hydras’ status as green’s iconic creature type, it seems highly possible that more Hydra tribal support is incoming in the future. The many Hydras who rely on +1/+1 counters also make them a great fit in decks that revolve around Proliferate and other mechanics which increase the number of +1/+1 counters in play. Kalonian Hydra is an essential component in any EDH deck in which +1/+1 counters are a major component, and works well alongside other Hydras. Furthermore, as was discussed above, there are several Legendary Hydras who make interesting centerpieces to novel deck concepts.

Best and worst cards:

Hydroid Krasis is certainly the most used card of the tribe at the present moment. Simic Ramp decks are currently very popular in Standard, even if they don’t dominate the meta as they once did in the days prior to the banning of Oko.  Hydroid Krasis is able to offer these decks the dual utilities of card draw and life gain attached to an incredibly evasive threat. A Hydroid Krasis, with enough mana thrown into it, effectively makes its caster’s victory an inevitability. 

Voracious Hydra is another member of the tribe made powerful due to its versatility. Voracious Hydra fits into the long line of Hydras where X can be paid in order to give it +1/+1 counters. As Voracious Hydra enters the battlefield it can either fight a creature your opponent controls, or the number of +1/+1 counters on it can be doubled. The Hydra can thus be a removal spell attached to a decently powerful creature, or simply an overwhelmingly powerful threat. 

A final Hydra worthy of mention here is Hydra Omnivore. An 8/8, for a mere 6 mana, Hydra Omnivore has stats worthy of its cost. The Omnivore deals damage to every single opponent in multiplayer games. If it can be made unblockable, such as through the use of Aqueous Form, then the Omnivore quickly shifts the balance of multiplayer games in its controller’s favour. Although this comes with the downside of Hydra Omnivore being a lightning rod for removal and often drawing out the fury of the other players at the table.

Not every Hydra can get ahead like those mentioned above. Molten Hydra is one of the absolute worst cards of the tribe. It hits the battlefield as a 1/1 for 2 mana. Though Molten Hydra has the ability to place +1/+1 counters on itself, and to remove these counters to damage opponents, the fact that placing each of these counters costs 3 mana ensures that you’re merely sinking more mana into an already overcosted card.  Balduvian Hydra is another member of the tribe headed straight for the trash. Unlike every other Hydra with X in its casting cost, Balduvian Hydra places +1/+0 counters on itself, rather than +1/+1 counters, ensuring that it will only ever enter play with a single point of toughness.  this is somewhat mitigated by the fact that a counter can be removed to prevent a point of damage from being dealt to the Hydra. Having a 4/1 for six mana is a terrible deal. This is especially notable, considering that Balduvian Hydra grows weaker every time it is blocked by creatures with a single point of power or more.

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[1] More information about Iconic Creature types can be found in this article by Mark Rosewater which defines the term https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/building-better-monster-2013-11-11
[2] Hexdrinker is the 2nd card to have 'Protection from Everything'.