My most recent unsuccessful pitch was a listicle of things to do with Llanowar Tribe, a card recently revealed for Modern Horizons by my favorite pro Magic player, Dana Fischer.
This is a great card for ramp, one of my favorite Magic archetypes, which involves getting as many mana-generating cards on the table as possible and using them to cast powerful expensive spells early. It's also, hilariously, three Llanowar Elves stuck together.
My train of thought looking at Llanowar Tribe went something like this:
Turn 1: Forest, cast Llanowar Elves.
Turn 2: Forest, tap both Forests and Llanowar Elves to cast Llanowar Tribe.
Turn 3: Play another basic land. I now have seven mana available; what do I cast with it?
Here are my favorite 7-drop options in Modern.
White
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Konda, Lord of Eiganjo are arguably the most powerful 7-mana white creatures. Unfortunately, their costs include double white, and at this point in the game we only have access to one Plains. With that in mind, I'm going to recommend a Trostani's Summoner, which gives you 10 power right off the bat, or Mikaeus, the Lunarch, whose X cost makes him more versatile. In fact, use them both. They get along well.
Blue
The hands-down favorite in blue is Simic Sky Swallower. It's hard to block and hard to get rid of, and casting it on turn 3 feels really good. I've actually put together a decklist for it, with some help from folks on Discord, and I'll share that at the end of the post.
Black
Black is a hard one, since its most powerful spells tend to require double or triple-black costs. But with one Swamp in play, you can cast Garruk, Apex Predator and start making Beast tokens.
Red
Red gives us Dragonlord Atarka, an 8/8 with flying and trample that kills your opponents' creatures as it enters the battlefield. This is probably the fastest version of the Llanowar Tribe ramp deck, which makes it the most useful in the fast-paced Modern metagame. I have plans to make this decklist too and play it against the Simic Sky Swallower deck to see which one I like better.
Green
Big stompy creatures is what green is all about, so you'd think we'd have a lot more options here. But it turns out that the most powerful green creatures don't have the most interesting abilities, and while trample is important to have, we can do better than just trample.My recommendation for mono-green Llanowar Tribe ramp is Giant Adephage, which takes control of the board fairly quickly by copying itself, or Gaea's Revenge, which protects itself.
Colorless
The best colorless 7-drop to ramp into is probably Myr Battlesphere, which does a lot more damage than it looks like at first, even if you don't have other Myr in your deck. I also recommend backing it up with Karn Liberated or Platinum Angel.
Ramping Up
Of course, you can only have four of any one spell in your deck, so you're going to have to come up with at least six more spells to fill out your list. I (or at least the committee who helped me build the Simic Sky Swallower deck) recommend doubling down on both mana-generating creatures and big stompy payoffs to keep the deck running at full speed, and filling your sideboard with whatever removal and damage prevention is best in your colors. Don't be afraid to ask your local (or digital) play group for suggestions, and don't be afraid to ask people why they make the suggestions they do.Happy brewing!
Decklist: Big Gulp
Creatures
3x Craterhoof Behemoth4x Elvish Mystic
4x Hydroid Krasis
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Llanowar Tribe
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Simic Sky Swallower
4x Somberwald Sage
Noncreature spells
4x Chord of Calling2x Coalition Relic
3x Nissa, Steward of Elements
Lands
4x Botanical Sanctum4x Breeding Pool
4x Hinterland Harbor
5x Forest
3x Island
Sideboard
4x Autumn's Veil4x Fog
3x Haze of Pollen
4x Weather the Storm
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