So, this is another vertical growth card. Back when Gro was a thing, this kind of card got played. We still occasionally see Managorger Hydra see play today. Even so, in a world of 4x Mentor, I think it's safe to say that vertical growth really was not very relevant.

But, that world has ended.

Now that Mentor is finally Restricted, is it possible that we will see vertical growth return? If so, does saving one mana over Hydra and limiting the pump to your own non-creature spells have a place?

Honestly, I think no... Quiron Dryad seems to compare pretty well to this card, and Dryad hasn't been played in a million years. But, I'm interested to get the thoughts of people, particularly those who currently swing Managorger.

I think i much prefer Hydra. Playing green, you can also have DR Shaman, and outside of like a UWG build you might not have such a density of non-creature spells. You want Hydra if you want this effect, i think.

The hydra is much stronger and the piromancer is stronger, even driad is stronger this I do not see how it can find place.

Hyrda tramples and grows on opponent spells. Goyf is still better than this.

green merfolk?

@nedleeds

Yeah. Wotc typically does tribes with a "core" color which is the same everywhere and a secondary color which changes from world to world. So merfolk were blue white in lorwyn, blue black in ravnica, and now blue green here.

Can't forget about Gaea's Skyfolk. Flying Merfolk??

Merfolk creature type is irrelevant. Only non-creature spells in Merfolk are Mox, Lotus, Null Rod, etc.

I actually think the card might just be Pyromancer again... also looking at Jori En, which in my experience, was always pretty good, but just always worse than Mentor. Can we just cut white and streamline a red blue delver again?

@nedleeds

Cold eyed selkie. Kiora's follower.

Ballista sets a fundamental toughness threshold of 3 for creatures costed 2 or higher. So, hard pass.

The more I thought about this being a Merfolk, I went back to look at some of my deck lists when I played Merfolk. There are actually 15-17 non-creature spells. FOW, Misstep, Ancestral, Time Walk, etc. I guess there are more than I remembered. Is it worth splashing green for this creature? Don't know. Maybe in conjunction with Nissa, Steward of Elements a splash for green might be good. Basic Island is still your friend when fighting Workshop.

(Corrected link)

@ssasala pretty fascinated by this idea, actually!