Invasion Draft: Green Commons Gary Wise Red/Green Well, this is the sixth installment of the series, and I've been constantly talking about importance of aggression. With that in mind, we now embark upon the most focused of the aggressive decks. The RG archetype is built around pure blinding speed and mana efficient removal, and it relies upon lower quality cards to be truly successful. Starting with fast, efficient creatures like Yavamayan Barbarian, Nomadic Elf and Kavu Aggressor, RG keeps the pressure on with larger haste creatures like Serpentine Kavu and Kavu Aggressor. Throw in fast creature enhancements like Explosive Growth and Maniacal Rage as well as fast creature kill such as Scorching Lava and you have an efficient deck that, more then any other, can run an opponent down before they even get started. Green Commons Aggressive Urge Playable in either two color Green deck, this card really excels in the mirror match, where the card advantage it provides should be crucial. A 9th - 11th pick, only because you know you'll get as many as you need. Edges the Urge for creature pumping Explosive Growth One popular comparison in this set is that of the Growth to Aggressive Urge. Each has their strong points, but in the end it looks to me like Explosive Growth wins out simply because of its potential for dealing the deathblow. Trading itself for a defending creature seemingly at will, the Growth's kicker ability lets you finish your opponent with that one, final creature surge. A 5th - 7th pick. Fertile Ground I think it's pretty obvious that the best deck for this card is neither GW or RG, but 5cG. While Fertile Ground doesn't fulfill the 'as many basic land types as possible' requirement of cards like Ordered Migration and Wayfaring Giant, it does ensure you'll have that odd-colored mana your deck needs to be fully functional. Throw in a very fair casting cost and a mana jump that will allow you four mana on turn three and you have a very strong deck that should only be in your sideboard if you aren't playing Forests. A 3rd-5th pick in 5cg, lower in 2c decks. Harrow Continuing with the theme, we come to what may be the single most environment-defining card in Invasions. Not only does Harrow boost your mana production, not only does it thin your deck of land but it also allows the maximization of the Ordered Migrations of the set that require many basic land types for efficiency. Throw in how easy Harrow makes it to splash almost any card in the set and you have one of my favorite Invasions cards. A 2nd-4th pick in the 5cdeck, for which Harrow is a necessity. Not rocket science Kavu Climber Well, this one isn't rocket science. Generally speaking, any card that replaces itself with the cantrip effect while providing a positive influence on your situation within the game is a good card. Logic like this means cards like Ravenous Rats and Aggressive Urge are playable. That makes Kavu Climber damn good. A 2nd-4th pick. Llanowar Cavalry WG. The general attitude I take towards draft is that if it doesn't attack, it just isn't that good, and the Calvary echoes that sentiment. Regardless of its ability to attack without tapping, the Cavalry's lack of power renders it unplayable for my purposes. That said, if you're playing a defensive green deck (an oxymoron), I suppose you could do worse. A 9th-11th pick. Llanowar Elite The Llanowar community just isn't what it used to be. In Limited play, you never want to play a 1/1 for one with no special abilities, making the kicker automatic. For nine mana, I'll take Reya Dawnbringer, thanks. An 11th-13th pick. Llanowar Vanguard Upon looking at this guy, I suddenly find myself realizing that I was wrong about the Cavalry, which is now obviously a good deal. An 11th - 13th pick. Nomadic Elf Having finally escaped the Llanowar Forest, I can now focus on some of Green's better cards. The Nomad is a personal favorite in that it allows you to do mana tricks while serving as a fully functional beatdown creature. A 2/2 for two is fine. Throw in a very important ability in this format and you have a very nice card. A 5th - 7th pick. Pincer Spider Among the most solid green creatures in the set, the Pincer Spider would be considered mana efficient if it were a mere 2/3 for three. Throw in its ability to stop flyers and the option of paying the kicker to make it a little bigger and you have a very solid card that should be picked early and often. A 3rd-5th pick. Quirion Elves Another card for the 5cg deck, the Elves are more like Fertile Ground then Harrow in that they give you your mana and your acceleration but deprive you of extra basic land types. Unlike both of those cards, you can target the Elf with Maniacal Rage and serve. A 5th-7th pick. Quirion Sentinel I think I like this card more than a lot of people. With an effective casting cost of 1, while the Sentinel isn't the optimal turn two play, if you have another 2 cc creature, it could be a great turn three play. An 8th-10th pick. Quirion Trailblazer I was recently assigned the task by some friends of building a draft deck that had three Trailblazers at its disposal. Despite the fact I used four colors in the deck, I chose not to play them. While yes, the Trailblazer can get you the land of choice with the extra body left over, the body is 1/2, and therefore doesn't have enough of an effect on the field of play to really make a dent. I'd try to avoid using it. A 7th - 9th pick in 5cg when you can't find your Harrows. Serpentine Kavu RG. Well this is obviously a beast. If you discount Vodalian Serpent, this is the biggest common attacker in the format. The Kavu is hard to stop, hard to block and hard to account for, throwing off opposing match with its haste ability. A very solid card, this is the finisher in the RG deck. A 2nd - 4th pick. Thornscape Apprentice GW. Interesting that the best Green common in the set could be useless in mono green. This is likely the strongest of the Apprentice crew as its second ability, the awarding of first strike to target beefy attacker, means you can attack without using the tap ability first. A 1st-3rd pick. Tranquility Not as good in this format as it was in Masques, Tranquility is an important sideboard card that can rid you of Armadillo Cloak. A 10th-12th pick. Vigorous Charge The last card in the pack, the Charge doesn't do enough to make it worthwhile. A 13th - 15th pick. Wandering Stream If you're playing five basic land types with lots of ways to get them and you're playing against a deck that will almost definitely outrace you...don't play it. A 13th-15th pick. Whip Silk A viable anti-flyer sideboard card, Shimmering Wings is obviously better. A 10th-12th pick.