[ELD] Castle Garenbrig (Mothership)

[Rumpy5897]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2019-09-17



Best served chilled with a side of Mana Reflection

[The Fluff]

amazing artwork. And good ability for green decks that have large creatures to cast.

[CalebLost]

Six mana output for five mana input (4 + tap a land) doesn't seem worthwhile

[pierreb]

Accelerate you from 5 to 6 mana and only for narrow usage. Not bad, but not quite as good as the red and blue one.

[CommanderMaster999]

Hang on guys

Use a Nissa, Vital Force like effect untap the land turn it into a creature then you net 8 rather than 6

[CalebLost]

Hang on guys

Use a Nissa, Vital Force like effect untap the land turn it into a creature then you net 8 rather than 6

You still need a second effect (that transform the land into a creature in addition to untapping it otherwise you cannot use the mana for the second activation) and all this to have a net gain of TWO MANA! WOW!

It still feels the weakest of the 4 spoiled so far, and by a wide margin

[The N82O Molecule]

Ill admit the "net 1" math on this is

every mono green deck can run this, you play this on turn four your playing with turn 5 mana, given you have another forest

I wonder if "net 2" is busted haha

also is that a jet stream in the art or is that just how the clouds roll on eldraine

[Serenade]

Two of our three green adamant cards are not creatures.

[CommanderMaster999]

Hang on guys

Use a Nissa, Vital Force like effect untap the land turn it into a creature then you net 8 rather than 6

You still need a second effect (that transform the land into a creature in addition to untapping it otherwise you cannot use the mana for the second activation) and all this to have a net gain of TWO MANA! WOW!

It still feels the weakest of the 4 spoiled so far, and by a wide margin

Still nice like trick to add just a couple more mana besides two more mana is probably all you need for that big nasty creature or activated ability

[Hawk]

Basically, this card relies on Mana Reflection to be busted - with Reflection you put five in to get twelve out, which is worthwhile. Otherwise, it's "just okay", ramping you one ahead in a way similar to Temple of the False God but with some serious restrictions (need to have forests, need to only need the mana to cast or activate creatures). I'd run it in mono-green in Standard or Commander just because it's so little downside and lots of upside, but it is definitely a weak effect compared to the rest of the cycle so far.

[Dunharrow]

Lol, this card is so good and none of you agree?

It is free ramp. There is no drawback if you are playing basics. It taps for mana, and on turn 5 accelerates you one mana.

This is super strong. In mono green this is better than temple of the false god, myriad landscape.... and Blighted Woodland, assuming no landfall and that you have creatures.

I really like this card and expect that it will see play in big mono green decks in Standard and Commander.

[Serenade]

Here's the thing: Filter it further with Skyshroud Elf.

[pierreb]

Here's the thing: Filter it further with Skyshroud Elf.

Bonus: it converts the mana from being usable only on creature to being usable on anything.

[Wallycaine]

Yeah, I think a lot of the responses here are seriously underestimating the value of free ramp. For a land with basically no drawbacks in a dedicated list, it is a land that comes with a free "rampant growth for big creatures" stapled to it. It's biggest issue is that it's difficult to stack (since one of these can't pay for the activation of another), but even so a land that effectively taps for 2 mana under certain conditions is a very strong ability.

[Hawk]

Lol, this card is so good and none of you agree?

It is free ramp. There is no drawback if you are playing basics. It taps for mana, and on turn 5 accelerates you one mana.

This is super strong. In mono green this is better than temple of the false god, myriad landscape.... and Blighted Woodland, assuming no landfall and that you have creatures.

I really like this card and expect that it will see play in big mono green decks in Standard and Commander.

I'm just not sure "Big Green" is going to be better than UR Phoenix and GU Flash and various control lists and maybe stuff like Knights or BUG Food. The payoffs are there - we've got some big rumblers at the top of the curve in End-raze Forerunners, Gargos, Vicious Watcher, and ultimate mana-fillers Voracious Hydra and Stonecoil Serpent, plus Biogenic Ooze as a mana sink. And of course the deck has Nissa, Who Shakes the World as a combination advantage engine and mana engine. But, this card is actually sorta awkard with Nissa (and Vivien), we're losing a lot of our best ramp with Elves rotating, and a linear strategy like that feels like it's a bit weak compared to powerhouses like the aforementioned archetypes.

If this sees play, it will see play because of how good all those cards are, rather than enabling an entire archetype on its own. It's fine - free ramp is fine. But I don't think it's a format-warper or all-star.

[Mookie]

Castle Garenbrig looks quite good to me for any heavy-green deck. You do need to be running enough Forests to have it enter untapped consistently, but the upside of free ramp is pretty solid. Ramping from 5 to 6 mana isn't the most impressive, but given the low opportunity cost, it's pretty nice.

[theMarc]

Free ramp is good and all, but this nonetheless feels less exciting than the rest of the cycle.

[RxPhantom]

I'll agree that it's not the flashiest card, but I know I've got a mono-green stompy Commander deck that will be more than happy to have it.