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Insider: Making the Most of Woodland Bellower in Standard

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woodlandbellower

Magic Origins mythic Woodland Bellower is destined to be a Standard powerhouse. As a six-mana, six-power creature with a come-into-play ability, I can't help but reminisce about the cycle of powerful Titan creatures, like Primeval Titan, which defined Standard for as long as they were in the format.

The 6/5 body of Woodland Bellower is impressive, and its come-into-play ability is a creature tutor that digs deep into the deck and generates selective card advantage. Putting the creature into play develops the board and thus generates tempo advantage as well.

Woodland Bellower is only as good as the green creatures it can search for, so today I'll take a look at the best of what Standard has to offer. On the back of Woodland Bellower, these creatures will become a larger part of the metagame, and their stock will rise.

One of the best times to search for specs is when new cards are printed, because the relative value of other cards in the format may change, which comes with potential for significant appreciation.


The creature-searching ability of Woodland Bellower has excellent silver bullet toolbox potential, and Reclamation Sage is a powerful and versatile addition to the arsenal. Destroying an artifact or enchantment is card advantage and a tempo play that will turn the tide of a game.

Access to this sort of effect is quite powerful in nearly every matchup, but it's too narrow to warrant much space in a deck. Woodland Bellower provides situational access to this effect without having to play multiple copies of the card.


Woodland Bellower searching for Reverent Hunter has the potential to generate significant board presence, an aggressive tempo play that is likely to prove itself as one of the finest tutor options. It's not flashy, but it's effective, and producing a creature as large or larger than Woodland Bellower will be common.


Deathmist Raptor will surely be a common card searched for by Woodland Bellower. The Den Protector-Deathmist Raptor package is core to many green decks, and in the future it will often accompany Woodland Bellower. Tutoring for Deathmist Raptor is an investment into the future, and will help to win any attrition battle.


Woodland Bellower can search for Satyr Wayfinder. Along with the 1/1 body, this is likely to provide an extra land, along with extra fuel in the graveyard.


For an immediate card draw, Elvish Visionary is a very reasonable target card for Woodland Bellower's search ability. It's not the most powerful or flashy target, but in situations where no other target would be beneficial, taking one's chances with a fresh card off of Elvish Visionary will be the first step of a game-winning plan.


Courser of Kruphix may be the best three-mana green creature in Standard, and as long as it's in the format with Woodland Bellower, the two will be played alongside each other. Courser of Kruphix has value even into the late game, where it plays lands from the top of the deck, clearing them away to provide fresh draw steps.


Woodland Bellower can also search out a mana acceleration creature to set up a future play. It is able to access typical green mana acceleration creatures like Elvish Mystic, Voyaging Satyr, and Rattleclaw Mystic. But it can also find more specialty acceleration, specifically Shaman of Forgotten Ways, which is not only a power piece of mana acceleration, but an alternative win-condition.



Woodland Bellower can also search for quality pieces of board presence, including powerful gold creatures.

Fleecemane Lion and Rakshasa Deathdealer are two options with potential to solidify a board state and pressure the opponent's position. More exotic options include Fanatic of Xenagos, Nyx Weaver, and Savage Knuckleblade.


While Woodland Bellower into Hornet Nest isn't the most aggressive line, it's a great way to lock up the ground and buy time for more expensive cards to take over the game.


Invasive Species is interesting for its ability to bounce Woodland Bellower, allowing it to be re-cast for more value. It's not efficient, but it's worth noting. Invasive Species has potential to bounce another creature in play, so there are other ways to find value from the effect.


For those with a longer-term focus, Abzan Beastmaster has potential to generate card advantage over a series of turns, and in any given situation Woodland Bellower is likely to be the largest creature in play.

Getting to Six Mana

Maximizing Woodland Bellower involves more than just identifying the best targets, it also requires discussing the best ways to get the card into play. Mana acceleration is the obvious first choice.


Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a great way to accelerate into Woodland Bellower.


Explosive Vegetation and Shaman of Forgotten Ways are also promising.

There's also the matter of cheating Woodland Bellower into play via less savory means, including Chord of Calling and Genesis Hydra.

However it finds itself in play, Woodland Bellower is slated for Standard success and will change the way green decks are built into the coming year. What are your thoughts on the card?

-Adam

5 thoughts on “Insider: Making the Most of Woodland Bellower in Standard

  1. I’m glad to see someone else on the same page as me. This seems like it could easily be worth more than the $9 preorder price. Most of the other cards will likely be worth less than they are now, but I like this one to increase in value. Thoughts?

    1. I have been keeping my eyes on preorder prices as well. The general trend is for cards to have inflated prices across the board, so it’s hard to find things actually undervalued, but under $10 for this card certainly seems like a fine place to get in, it could be a $20 card.

  2. At first, I was very skeptical, but thinking about how powerful the new Nissa is and especially when combined with this guy seems ridiculous. I’m calling it now, PT Mil will be run over by T6/7 Bellowers into Nissa into forest into I think you get the picture. And the fact that you can fit this into Abzan which is really good right now along with retaining a ton of cards post-rotation as well. Anyway, I certainly see this being $20 or more.

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