When writing my last article, I touched upon Drop of Honey in a Legacy sideboard. After playing with it for a while, I’ve come to appreciate how much awesome sauce can be packed in to one card. (Is that Magic lingo outdated yet? If not, it probably should be.) For those of you not familiar with the Green Abyss, here’s the Oracle text:
Drop of Honey, G
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy target creature with the least power. It can’t be regenerated. (If two or more creatures are tied for least power, target any one of them.)
When there are no creatures in play, sacrifice Drop of Honey.
One of the most powerful things about Drop of Honey is that it only costs one mana, and unlike The Abyss, you can play multiples, even though they may end up targeting the same creature. However, that comes at a cost: its effect only lasts as long as there are creatures on the table, allowing an opponent to hold back threats until the Honeycombs head to the grumper.
In Vintage, Drop of Honey was never really played much, particularly because creatures are so decentralized from most deck’s game plans. In Legacy, however, creature combat is a regular part of the game. In Peter Rotten’s recap of Big Arse II, he notes that a very high percentage of Legacy decks win through creature combat. Legacy, therefore, is the prime candidate to milk Drop of Honey for all it’s worth.
In order to break Drop of Honey, there are two strategies that you can invoke: you can either find a way to recur it after it lures away all of the creatures on the board, or you can play a creature like Kodama of the North Tree. [Or Nimble Mongoose. – Knut, who loves a Goose] Since Kodama can’t be targeted, even if it’s the last creature on the table, Drop of Honey can’t touch it. This prevents the Honey Drop from sacrificing itself, and makes the card completely asymmetrical, since it’s unlikely that the opponent will play a creature with a power greater than North Tree’s whomping six.
It would be wise to use both strategies. In Legacy, getting back Drop of Honey is simple, without even leaving Green. Regrowth, Revive, and even Rofellos’s Gift can bring it back from the dead. (Eternal Witness might not be worth it, since it might end up being the lowest-power creature on the table.) White also offers Argivian Find, so it’s not like there’s a shortage of cheap ways to get the Drop back if it commits suicide. Recursion should probably be considered mandatory, since so many Legacy decks are prepared to deal with enchantments.
Creatures can avoid Drop of Honey’s effect with one of three major categories of abilities; protection, general untargetability, or type-altering (such as manlands, which won’t be legal targets for Drop of Honey, barring unusual circumstances). Type-altering creatures won’t keep Drop of Honey in play, though. Some other loopholes exist as well (e.g. Glasskites and Sakura-Tribe Elder, which never makes it to the next upkeep anyway). The following is a list of creatures that aren’t completely allergic to Honey:
Green:
Elvish Lookout, Sylvan Safekeeper, Nimble Mongoose, Blurred Mongoose, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Argothian Enchantress, Humble Budoka, Jolrael’s Centaur, Pincer Beetles, Taoist Hermit; Zuo Ci, the Mocking Sage; Blastoderm, Citanul Centaurs, Hawkeater Moth, Deadly Insect, Gigapede, Kodama of the North Tree, Autumn Willow; Multani, Maro-Sorcerer; Crashing Centaur (after threshold)
Blue:
Coast Watcher, Treetop Sentinel, Cerulean Wyvern, Soratami Rainshaper, Cephalid Inkshrouder, Advanced Hoverguard, Shimering Glasskite, Jetting Glasskite; Kira, Great Glass Spinner; Warped Researcher, Homarid Warrior, Giant Crab, Morphling, Silver Wyvern, Zephid, Deep Spawn
White:
Empty-Shrine Kannushi, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Spectral Lynx, Knight of Dawn, Voice of Duty, Voice of All, Glimmering Angel, Resilient Wanderer, Pristine Angel
Black:
Grotesque Hybrid, Masked Gorgon (after threshold)
Gold:
Iridescent Angel, Armored Guardian, Crystalline Sliver, Minotaur Illusionist
Lands:
All manlands
Sifting out the chaff from the list above, it should be clear that there exists a strong possibility of using Green with Blue and/or White to build a deck. Both white and blue have strong advantages. Black, however, won’t provide much in terms of creatures, so we’ll push it aside for now. Note that neither Troll Ascetic nor Plated Slagwurm is immune to the effects of your own Drop of Honey, which is why they aren’t on the list.
White has Swords to Plowshares and Enlightened Tutor, which would work nicely. Argivian Find and Seal of Cleansing would be potential complements in a W/G deck that focused around finding and recurring enchantments. While most of the creatures have low power and/or are not aggressively costed, White does pack the control monster, Pristine Angel. With an enchantment framework, adding Worship seems like a possible inclusion, and Sphere of Law could come out from the board to give Goblin decks headaches. Serenity could also be used, if you feared Raffinity. (Null Rod still works too, though.)
Blue, on the other hand, would provide access to some of the most powerful spells in Legacy: Force of Will, Misdirection, Intuition, Accumulated Knowledge, Fact or Fiction, ad nauseam. Kira, while being a low-power creature, could essentially protect your entire team if necessary. The creature worth most attention, though, is Morphling. Undeniably amazing, Morphling could easily walk all over an opponent struggling to get out from underneath a pile of Honeycombs. Zephid is workable, and Jetting Glasskite is no slouch, either – either would certainly be serviceable if necessary. Silver Wyvern could prove to solid as well, since it could potentially redirect Drop of Honey’s target to a larger creature. (I’m not 100% sure on the rules here, but I think the lowest-power clause is not a targeting constraint, only an initial decision maker. If the target was chosen by Drop of Honey and then subsequently redirected, I would presume it is still valid regardless of the new target’s cost, but I’m not sure. Judges in the audience?) Chill and Energy Flux in the board could fight Goblins and Raffinity, respectively.
Running both Blue and White would give you access to the best of both worlds as well as Iridescent Angel, although Morphling would probably be better anyway. Alternatively, Crystalline Sliver would let you use a Counter-Sliver shell. Both options could present a deck with a very rough manabase, though. With Wastelands roaming everywhere, it would probably be best to try and avoid playing three colors if possible, although there are certainly rewards to be had by following that route.
Of course, you could simply ignore the targeting aspect of Drop of Honey and just wait until you build resources to drop your bomb finisher and go to town. That allows your opponent to hold back and wait for the Drops to expire. You could therefore punish them with discard, which might be a good reason to play Black. You would also be well prepared to take on control and combo decks as well.
Assuming one wanted to go the creature route for the time being, the most obvious place to start is Blastoderm. In a deck with access to 4 Regrowth and 4 Drop of Honey, I can’t imagine a creature that would be more aggressive fit than Blastoderm. At four mana, it could be powered out on the third turn if we use Moxen, ESGs, or Ha-Ha-Dead-Elves. Its huge power would probably allow Drop of Honey to look at the opponent’s creatures first, causing the most amount of damage. Best of all, once it resolves, it can really only be dealt with in combat, and that could be quite an issue for many opponents. Unless there is some really good reason not to include him, Blastoderm should probably make the cut.
Other than Blastoderm and the aforementioned Kodama of the North Tree, there are only three other Green creatures that are possibly worth inclusion. Humble Budoka is an aggressive 2/2 that could easily maintain the Drop for a bit, although it would limit Drop of Honey to killing opposing weenies. That’s probably acceptable most of the time, since most creatures with a power greater than two are going to be more expensive anyway, and could be addressed by S2P or FoW. The exceptions are things like Wild Mongrel and Basking Rootwalla, which could pump themselves out of range, so Budoka is not an auto-include. The similarly-costed Blurred Mongoose, however, is not maindeck material, since it trades with 1/1s in combat, and Llanowar Elves and Mogg Fanatics are commonplace. However, it could be used as a sideboard target against control decks, that may not have many small critters that they are willing to trade with in combat (Goblin Welder, for example).
Nimble Mongoose is also a possibility, since one you achieve threshold, he becomes a 3/3. If we were playing Blue, that would probably be easy to achieve, since we could build the deck with enough cantrips to make it work. As a 1/1, though, he’s hardly effective, so it’s unlikely that Mr. Nimble would make it into a W/G version that would be less likely to achieve threshold.
Jolrael’s Centaur is an interesting choice. For an extra G, you get a Humble Budoka with flanking, which is actually significant. The Centaur will be the “largest” 2/2 on the table, and can attack into Rootwallas, Kird Apes, and even effectively trade with Mongrels. More importantly, your opponent can’t chump him with two 1/1s like he can with the Humble monk.
A Green/White version might look like this:
The Untouchables
by njx
Creatures (16)
Lands (25)
Spells (19)
Sideboard
It’s almost guaranteed that you will find a Honeycomb, and it is highly likely to stay around, tormenting your opponents’ creatures. The artifact lands can be searched out via Enlightened Tutors in a pinch. Seal of Cleansing is tutorable, and Sphere of Law is great against Goblins and burn. The Chants are good against combo and control, and Kodama in the board is great against decks that give you time to bring him out.
Note the effectiveness of Cursed Totem in a deck like this. Remember, Cursed Totem is like the Null Rod of Legacy. It doesn’t hurt you one bit, but it disrupts against all sorts of opponents. If they destroy it, use Regrowth to get it back or just tutor up another one. If for some reason you choose not to run them, I would swap out the Budokas for Sakura-Tribe Elders and run Sensei’s Divining Top instead.
A Blue/Green version might look like this:
Raindrop
by njx
Creatures (12)
Lands (24)
Spells (24)
- 4 Brainstorm
- 4 Force of Will
- 4 Accumulated Knowledge
- 2 Regrowth
- 3 Intuition
- 4 Drop of Honey
- 3 Misdirection
Sideboard
The basic idea is to draw through your deck to find the Honeypot and get it into play with any one of your creatures. You shouldn’t have too much difficulty achieving threshold. The sideboard is pretty straightforward and doesn’t really need much discussion, other than my choice of Elephant Grass over Propaganda is acceptable since as more and more creatures bite the dust, the taxing effect becomes less significant. Therefore, the up front cheaper mana cost can save you time in the early game when you need it most. A turn 2 Honey + Grass on the draw against an opponent with weenies is a spectacular way to slow down an early bum rush.
As I mentioned earlier, you also have the option of a Black control build that relies on Green for Drop of Honey, Naturalize, and possibly Regrowth. If your opponent plays out threats, they will get sapped away from the Killer Bee Food. If they hold back, you can hit them with discard. Innocent Blood and Edicts can deal with opposing creatures that evade the Honey, and Masked Gorgon could be a finisher. That’s right, you heard me: Masked Gorgon. When you have threshold, he’s also immune to Swords to Plowshares; and his big rear means he’s not so easily burned away. Those are reasonably good arguments for consideration, so it’s not like I’m off my rocker here (well, not because of this anyway).
Drop of Darkness
by njx
Creatures: 8
4 Masked Gorgon
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
Spells: 28
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Innocent Blood
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Drop of Honey
4 Regrowth
Mana: 24
4 Bayou
4 Llanowar Wastes
10 Swamp
6 Forest
Sideboard: 15
4 Naturalize
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Phyrexian Negator
3 Pox
The sideboard lets you transform against control if need be. For the most part, though, you should be decently prepared to deal with just about anything. Decks stacked with burn will be your biggest concern; perhaps Nourish in the board would help.
That about wraps it up for my single-card strategy analysis. Even though I played a number of games with each, I wouldn’t consider any of them as even remotely refined. Nonetheless, they should serve as a nice framework for exploration by the masses. I know I will be doing more research and tweaking in preparation for the Grand Prix, but I encourage y’all to work on any of these builds and share your findings in the forums. (That way, I can actually tell you’re reading my articles. Aaah, insecurity… what makes the world go boom, er, I mean, round.)
Tune in next time… if there is a next time.
Cheers!
-Nathan J
Props: Oreo cookies. Just because.
Slops: Exploding cans of tuna fish. Don’t ask.