If I had to sum up what green has to offer group hug in a single word I think “FREE” is the one I would use! It is very easy to help the table too much with green so be aware of that before you go too hard!

So who likes free mana? Mostly everyone especially when you drop a turn one Eladamri’s Vineyard or Magus of the Vineyard! New Frontiers is a great ramp spell if it is helped along by some of your own ramp but it can feel a bit like you wasted your whole turn on it under certain circumstances. Collective Voyage is a strictly better card since other players can help you pay the cost! It is also a great early play to feel the table out for political allies! Veteran Explorer is the same way. You have to get someone to block it or kill it before everyone can reap the reward and that starts a dialogue that can very valuable in the early game!

The dual modes on Pir’s Whim make it very useful to selectively help some players while slowing others down. Tempt with Discovery can be an amazing card if you can do your best to appear harmless when casting it! It is effectively free if all three of your opponents search for a land as well. The fact that the land comes into play untapped and can be ANY land is really key. It makes it a much more… Tempting offer… Sorry I couldn’t help myself!

Dictate of Karametra and Heartbeat of Spring both turbocharge mana that comes from all lands! Dictate has the added advantage of having flash so you can play it just before your turn. This can be very important. Doubling up mana can get out of control in a hurry and there are times that I just let these cards sit in my hand. In particular I watch for permanents in play with activated abilities that cost mana. Kenrith, the Returned King for instance can grind a game to a halt when mana is doubled up. Speaking of which one of the longest feeling games I’ve ever been in involved a player using Kenrith while I had Heartbeat of Spring and Awakening in play at the same time. At the end of every turn Kenrith burst onto the stage for a full length performance! So use extra caution before giving everyone at the table double mana and what usually amounts to their own Seedborn Muse!

Rites of Flourishing not only allows players to play an extra land per turn but draws them an extra card every turn. It’s a great card and is probably my top pick in this category of green group hug ramp cards. It helps people without changing too drastically the way the board functions. Speaking of drastic let’s take a look at what I consider to be the boldest group hug move in the books when played out correctly.

I wanna meet the Timmy that designed these two cards so I can shake their hand! Setting this up is so easy! Use Weird Harvest for all the mana you have minus two. Search for Tempting Wurm, play it and get ready to rumble! Well, get ready to eat popcorn and watch a rumble because all you personally got out of the deal was a 5/5 Wurm (and whatever you searched up) so you better hope you have been playing your politics correctly up to that point!

If you want to create a slightly slower more interesting board state try playing Weird Harvest into Aluren or Vernal Equinox. Anytime creatures can come in at flash speed it makes things very interesting!

Concordant Crossroads is a very interesting card that can be very valuable to a group hug deck that is trying to turn the tables at the last minute to sneak in a victory! Or if you are playing it friendly (helping all your friends pummel each other more effectively) it is very interesting alongside Oath of Druids! Everyone becomes very interested in what is gonna flip off the top of their opponent’s library when it’s gonna have haste!

This has been a brief overview of the cards in green that I consider staples for the way I play! Everyone has their own style and I would love to hear how you play green in group hug! Reach out on Twitter and let me know!

- marksquare