"Greensleeves: Badgers, Mana Dorks, and Big Expectations"

 "Greensleeves: Badgers, Mana Dorks, and Big Expectations"

by:

Virgilio F. De Leon Jr., MD

The Mystery Booster: Commander Edition features nine new planeswalkers that can serve as your commander, and almost all of them are callbacks to Magic's rich history.

One of those is Greensleeves, a character whose story dates back to the Brothers' War. Now she finally gets her own planeswalker card.

At six mana, she immediately reminded me of Garruk. Then again, Garruk himself can't officially be your commander unless you're playing with Rulebreaker rules, so perhaps this was Wizards' way of giving players a similar experience without actually making Garruk legal in the command zone.

Her first ability is a +2 that creates a 2/2 Giant Badger token. For a six-mana planeswalker, that's not the most impressive plus ability, especially when compared to Garruk's ability to create a 4/4 Beast. Still, the extra loyalty from a +2 is always welcome.

Her second ability is a -3 that mills three cards, then lets you put all permanents milled this way into your hand. It's essentially conditional card draw for green. If your deck is packed with lands and creatures—as most mono-green decks naturally are—you could easily "draw" three cards and refill your hand.

Finally, her -8 ultimate turns all of your creatures into 8/8 tramplers until end of turn. Since green decks are full of mana dorks that can help power out this commander early, this has the potential to be a devastating finisher.

Assuming, of course, that you still have those mana dorks—and perhaps a couple of Giant Badgers—you've been creating over the last few turns. Suddenly, those humble utility creatures become legitimate game-ending threats.

Overall, I get the feeling that Wizards simply didn't want to make another Garruk, nor did they want Garruk himself to become a commander. Greensleeves certainly captures some of his flavor while carving out her own identity.

Will she dominate the format? Probably not. I suspect a mono-green planeswalker commander like this could easily be outclassed by more explosive options.

That said... it doesn't mean I won't build her anyway.

After all, sometimes creating an army of Giant Badgers and turning them into 8/8 tramplers is reason enough to sleeve up a deck.

And honestly? That sounds like a lot of fun. Hahaha.