Analyze the Pollen by Anna Christenson

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts & Lands | Allied Colors & Shards | Enemy Colors & Wedges | cEDH | Reprints | Budget/Pauper

Lean, Green, Mystery Machine!

Hello, everyone! It’s your friendly neighborhood Jesguy here, and welcome to the Murders at Karlov Manor Green Set Review!

Today we're putting our thinking caps on, collecting some Clues, and figuring out exactly whodunit! There's plenty of twists, turns, and Red Herrings about, so keep your eyes sharp, and let's dig into what mysteries green has to offer!

Mythics

The Pride of Hull Clade

I won't go too long on this guy since it will be covered more in-depth in the multicolor set review, but dang it, I wanted to talk about this Crocodile Elk Turtle!

The Pride of Hull Clade is quite interesting, as not only can it helm its own deck, but it slots into preexisting Toughness decks as well! Arcades, the Strategist is the biggest winner here, as it gives the deck another way to draw oodles of cards.

Were you to forgo white, though, The Pride of Hull Clade could easily stand on its own two (four?) feet. Charix, the Raging Isle, Towering Titan, Weathered Sentinels...This deck has tons of excellent options to choose from. However, the nice thing is you don't even need to be a defender to take advantage of The Pride of Hull Clade activated ability! All you need is high toughness! Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant, Bedrock Tortoise, and Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus all perform beautifully inside this deck!

Overall, I really like The Pride of Hull Clade. It's great as a commander and as a piece in the 99, which is all you could want from a legend in my opinion. It already has nearly 200 decks to its name on the site, and I could easily see it swelling more and becoming one of the most built commanders in the set.

Undergrowth Recon

A lot of people are incredibly hyped for Undergrowth Recon, but sadly I am not one of them.

This is a great card to have access to, don't get me wrong, but I can't see this seeing play outside of Lands and Self-Mill lists. In those lists it will put in some work, but its use case is a lot more niche than I think people are giving it credit for. In the average deck, even if you're at 3+ colors and run fetches, I don't think it's worth it. There are already so many ways to recur lands. I don't know if this makes as big of a splash as people are expecting, even in archetypes that want it. Yes, it doesn't take up your land drop per turn, but in most Lands decks I'm playing multiple lands per turn already with ease. This doesn't change anything.

What it comes down to is this: if you aren't already playing something like Ramunap Excavator, you won't be interested in Recon. It's a solid card in a couple archetypes, but outside of those it's a waste of a card slot.

Rares

Analyze the Pollen

I'm a sucker for modal spells, so this card is easy for me to analyze.

This is an easier-to-cast Traverse the Ulvenwald, since exiling eight mana worth of cards from your 'yard is easier than turning on Delirium on most decks. Early game it's a Lay of the Land to help fix and get your land drops, and later it's a tutor for any creature or land you want. I love that kind of modality in a card. Being viable both early and late always jumps a card up in my rankings a ton.

Overall, I think Analyze the Pollen is a solid tutor, and a great addition to green decks. Graveyards don't always need to be for recursion! Gobble them up a little bit for some extra value!

Archdruid's Charm

I wasn't expecting Archmage's Charm to become a cycle, but man, I'll happily take more of these charms if they are all as good as Archdruid's Charm.

Every mode on this card is excellent. An instant that can tutor a creature or land, potentially ramp you, bite something, or can exile a pesky artifact or enchantment is incredible. When you think about it, this card actually has five modes, which is just absurd for a three-mana card. This charm can fit into any deck that is heavy green. Every mode is relevant and powerful and its flexibility can't be understated.

If you couldn't tell, I am really, really high on Archdruid's Charm, and I expect it to put up significant numbers on the site. I already have about three decks it fits perfectly in, and I'm sure there will be more. A+ card.

Audience with Trostani

I love card draw as much as the next person, but Audience with Trostani is asking too much of me, and I'm not happy with it.

On average, I see this being the same power level as a Divination. Yes, it spots you a card thanks to the Plant it creates, but is that really worth it? When I am playing a token deck, I want my effects to count all of my tokens; Collective Unconscious and Shamanic Revelation come to mind. Yes, they are more expensive, but they provide so much more card advantage. Call me greedy, but I'd rather stock up late game with a big spell that rewards me easily rather than trying to play a cheaper one that has me jumping through hoops.

Fringe decks that make lots of different creature tokens may be interested in Audience with Trostani, but I'd personally steer clear of it. It needs too much set up.

Axebane Ferox

A 4/4 for four with two keywords and ward is definitely a solid card...for 60-card formats. Not for us.

Axebane Ferox will find a home in Beast and Deathtouch lists, but not much else. It definitely isn't bad, but it isn't the kind of thing that you want to be doing in the majority of EDH decks.

Case of the Locked Hothouse

Case of the Locked Hothouse is our first Case card, and while it isn't as elegant as a Saga is, I still like these enchantments quite a bit.

Four mana is a lot for a do-nothing enchantment, but with enough lands in hand, you can easily solve this case the following turn. Once you're able to do that, I like this card much more. A Future Sight for creatures, lands, and enchantments covers a lot of different card types and makes it useful in a wide variety of decks which is great. Playing cards off the top of your deck is basically drawing a card, and who doesn't love card draw?

It takes a little work, and is a little slow, but in the right decks I think Case of the Locked Hothouse can pay dividends and provide a ton of card advantage. Seems good to me!

Hide in Plain Sight

I thought I had another card to review, but it seems I misplaced it-

Oh, there it is!

Like the majority of these cloak and disguise cards, Hide in Plain Sight has a home in Morph decks only. There are very few lists that would run this style of card I reckon. I'd rather tutor up two creatures to my hand with Shared Summons, or get something directly onto the battlefield face-up with Chord of Calling. Being a sorcery hurts this a lot. I'd say skip.

Sharp-Eyed Rookie

Sharp-Eyed Rookie is a Bear with evolve, which is to say it's not great in the majority of decks.

+1/+1 counters decks might be interested in this, but I have difficulty seeing that being the case. Like Axebane Ferox, this is a 60-card format plant, not one for EDH. I'd just skip it and play something else.

Uncommons and Commons

• Aftermath Analyst is one of the best uncommons in the set. World Shaper always had the problem of never being able to die on command, and Aftermath Analyst fixes that. Yes, a total of six mana is double what you'd need to pay with World Shaper, but I think having an instant-speed Splendid Reclamation is worth the increase in cost.
• Case of the Trampled Garden is right at home in +1/+1 Counter decks. One of the biggest problems with this archetype is having a creature with a bunch of counters on it, but no evasion. Having eight power to solve the case is trivial for a counters deck, so having an enchantment that can continue to grow an attacker and give it trample is a welcome reward indeed. At three mana, I think this is a steal.
• Chalk Outline is a card that slots right into decks like green Tormod, the Desecrator, or Self Mill lists with lots of recursion or exile. Four mana is a bit pricey, but getting a 2/2 and investigating each time one or more cards leave your yard stacks up really easily. I think it's quite fun!
• Flourishing Bloom-Kin is a card for Morph lists. It is a little pricey, but the more Morph-like cards these decks have, the better. I'm sure they won't turn down some ramp attached to a cheap 2/2 with ward 2.
• Greenbelt Radical is another shout out to Morph decks. These lists struggle with the same thing that +1/+1 Counters decks often do: pushing damage through. Greenbelt Radical helps with that, growing your board and giving everything trample until the end of the turn. Seems like a nice tool for this style of deck to have access to.
• Glint Weaver is great for both Spider decks and +1/+1 Counter decks. Seven mana is a lot, but this massive arachnid provides a lot of value between the counters and life gain. That said, it will probably populate Spiders lists the most.

• Hard-Hitting Question is a Prey Upon upgrade. While it won't make it into a deck like Neyith of the Dire Hunt, there are plenty of Fight-based decks that will want a cheap, efficient spell like this.
• Nervous Gardener is another Morph card. Cheap ramp on a body is something I'm sure these decks would rather have than cheap ramp on a sorcery just for synergy's sake.
• Pick Your Poison is in my opinion overhyped for EDH. In cEDH I could see it putting in a lot of work, mopping up fast mana and things like Mystic Remora, but for regular EDH I'll stick with my Beast Withins and Return to Natures. I just hate giving my opponents a choice.
• Slime Against Humanity is going to spawn entire decks and archetypes, much like Dragon's Approach has. Some notable commanders will probably be Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Umori, the Collector, and Falco Spara, Pactweaver. Have fun with your slime time (crime?)!
• They Went This Way is a nice little ramp spells for decks that care about artifact tokens or Clue tokens in particular. Not much else to say about it. It's decent value for three mana and a nice Weirding Wood variant.
• Vengeful Creeper is another Ainok Survivalist-like card, albeit much more expensive. Due to that prohibitive cost, I don't know how many Morph lists it'll be included in, but it is a nice option to have.

Commander Precon Cards

• Experiment Twelve is a cute reference to Experiment One that will only see play in Morph lists. In those lists, though, it is quite the house, doubling power whenever a creature is turned face-up is potent indeed, especially when said creatures can be flipped at instant speed!
• Innocuous Researcher is a strange little card. It's another Parley card for Group Hug decks, a way to make clues for decks that care about them, and a way to untap all your lands, albeit with a stipulation. This is a very strange combination of effects in my opinion, and I'm unsure if I like it, or if it's even good. I like this for Group Hug lists, and maybe some Clue decks, but not much else.
• On the Trail is a nice way for decks that draw a lot of cards to get some lands from their hand into play. That's about it. If you plan on drawing a handful of cards on each turn or have a lot of Clues, I like this for your deck. Otherwise this is niche.
• Printlifter Ooze, like Experiment Twelve, is another card for Morph decks (which makes sense since it came in the disguise precon :^) ). It's a solid body for a good rate, and rewards you handsomely the more creatures you have to flip over. Outside of Morph lists though, it's not good whatsoever.

Why Do Detectives Have Such Bad Posture?

Because They Always Have A Hunch!

And there we have it! All the green cards in Murders at Karlov Manor!

In a surprise sweep, I think the uncommons in this set blow most of the rares and mythics out of the water. Between Slime Against Humanity, Aftermath Analyst, and all of the support for Morph decks, the green uncommons do quite the heavy lifting!

As for my favorites, I think I'm enamored with Archdruid's Charm as well as the aforementioned Aftermath Analyst and Slime Against Humanity. All of these are potent, powerful cards, and I'm excited to add them to my decks, and see how they impact the format.

What about you, though? What green cards are your favorite? Any standouts? Anything I missed on? Be sure to let me know down in the comments below!

Until next time, stay sharp and keep your wits about you!

You can reach me on Twitter (@thejesguy), where you can always hit me up for Magic- or Jeskai-related shenanigans 24/7. Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Please don’t hesitate to leave them below or get in touch! Stay safe, wear your mask, wash your hands, and keep fighting the good fight. I support you. No justice, no peace.

Read more:

Murders at Karlov Manor Set Review - Black

Angelo Guerrera

Angelo is a New England resident who started playing Magic during Return to Ravnica, and has made it his mission to play Jeskai in every format possible. Along with Commander, he loves Limited, Cube, and Modern, and will always put his trust in counterspells over creatures. He is still hurt by Sphinx's Revelation's rotation out of Standard.