by KingOfTheDepths
The cornerstone principle of competitive Magic: the Gathering has been, since the origins of the game, mana efficiency. If a two-mana card has the same effect as a four-mana card, it can be played earlier in the game, or you can deploy two of them on the same turn for the same mana cost. This basic principle slants decks heavily towards lower and lower cost spells, and therefore lower "mana curves" - simply put, selecting cards that cost less, converts to more wins. You will be able to cast cheaper spells more consistently and more often than their more-expensive counterparts.
The most competitive spells are the ones with a powerful effect that cost zero or one mana. Spells at this low rate can be deployed either for free or on the first turn of the game; and remain castable throughout the game. Good deck builders should seek to find intrinsic synergies between zero and one mana spells in order to maximize their deck's speed and force their opponent into a disadvantage.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the best one-mana creatures in Noble. One mana creatures represent many things: the first spell you play each game, the core of your value engine, a combo piece; or in some cases, the very best card in your entire deck. This article will seek to guide readers to a deeper understanding of what one-mana creatures are competitive in the Noble format and why, in order to improve your deckbuilding, your gameplay, and your evaluation of new cards entering the format.
The Best Non-Creatures In The Format
It stands to reason that, if the best thing to do in Magic is to play mana-efficient spells, then the best non-creature spells would be either free or cost 1-2 mana. Noble is no exception, and is stacked with cost-effective interaction, value spells, and combo cards. Here is a quick look at what I consider to be some of the best interaction spells in Noble:
Here are some of the best value spells:
And here are some of the best combo spells:
Because cards like Swords to Plowshares and Force of Will can answer any creature for one mana or for free, it is difficult to justify spending more mana than that on creature spells. However, decks DO need to eventually win the game, and there are extremely limited non-creature options to win in Noble.
This tension puts gamers in a difficult position, where they know creatures are bad into the interaction, but also need to play creatures to win. The format therefore slants very heavily towards playing one-mana creatures, even more so that other competitive Magic formats, because one-mana creatures at least trade even with most removal spells on mana investment.
Additionally, any one-mana creature you put into your deck in Noble needs to synergize with, or protect against, the best non-creature spells. There are many aspects to "playing well with", including mana colors and cost, beneficial triggers, power/toughness and even card types. There are also many aspects to "playing well against", including power/toughness, activated abilities, or value-oriented abilities.
We are going to discuss the one-mana creatures of Noble by assessing them in context of the best noncreature spells. We will evaluate them by-color in WUBRG order, and we will categorize groups of creatures that have similar effects. In doing so, we will explore what creatures and effects each color brings to the table, which can help inform deckbuilding and overall lead to better play experiences.
White 1-Mana Creatures
White 1-mana creatures are first and foremost characterized by being on-color with the best removal spell in the format, Swords to Plowshares. White also has the most playable one-mana creatures of any color, as white's section of the color pie is focused on powerful, cheap creatures and creature synergies. Many white creatures also share a special affinity with Aether Vial:
White creatures will be broadly categorized into five categories:
Protection Creatures
Combo Creatures
Beatdown Creatures
Token Producers
Value Creatures
Protection Creatures
These are creatures that give your other creatures or non-creature permanents protection from the opponent's removal spells.
These creatures protect your other, more valuable creatures from removal spells like Lighting Bolt, Swords to Plowshares, etc.. for the same mana cost as the removal spells. In this sense, they are White's form of disruption, filling a similar role to counterspells for blue decks. Protection creatures are exceptionally potent in combo decks that seek to end the game on a single turn using a creature, as they can protect your combo. The protection creatures ALL play well with Aether Vial, as you can put them into play with the Vial in response to a removal spell (or in the case of Mother of Runes, at end step) in order to "blow out" the removal. Like all of the categories that we will discuss in this article, there are a range of options with the described effect - and which specific card is best for your deck depends on what the rest your deck is trying to do!
Alseid of Life's Bounty is both an enchantment itself and provides protection for both your creatures and enchantments, which is significant upside, at the downside of costing a mana to activate. It also has lifelink, which can be appealing to enchantment based strategies which tend to be slower.
Benevolent Bodyguard and Dauntless Bodyguard offer slightly different levels of protection at instant speed for free, at the cost of sacrificing the creature...which can be all upside in some decks.
Burrenton Forge-Tender is a sideboard all-star for granting protection from red spells, which can include both targeted removal, direct burn damage, or sweepers.
Mother of Runes is the golden standard for a protection creature, as it can both protect other creatures and itself from removal, and can also be used to push damage through opposing blockers and activated multiple turns in a row at no additional cost.
Combo Creatures
As implied by the title, combo creatures are creatures that can either win the game or lock the opponent out of the game thanks to their powerful effects. Noble has several one-mana creatures in white that can be considered "combo pieces":
The most appealing thing about a one-mana combo creature is speed: decks reliant upon these spells can often win the game (or effectively win the game) on Turn 2, provided that they lead on the one-mana white spell and follow with the other half of the combo. They are also often skullclamp-able, thereby representing potential card draw on a stalled board state, or offer other utility (for example, Clever Lumimancer can attack for big chunks of damage each turn without going for the full combo kill). These creatures can of course also all be put into play with Aether Vial around an opponent's removal spell, or protected by the creatures in the first section.
Clever Lumimancer can deal 20 damage to the opponent very quickly by chaining together free spells such as lotus petal, gitaxian probe, and a big damage-doubling spell like Berserk for the win.
Children of Korlis can be paired with Sylvan Library, Reanimate, or other life-loss effects to draw a massive number of cards or gain decisive board-state advantage while maintaining a high life total.
Kami of False Hope can be looped from the graveyard with Reanimate effects to prevent all combat damage from the opponent every turn for the rest of the game.
Nomads En-Kor can be used to target a creature with an ability that triggers on target (like Cephalid Illusionist) an infinite number of times until your whole library is milled.
Tireless Tribe can be paired with cards like Inside Out to reverse its power-toughness, then if you discard 5+ cards, you can deal 20+ damage to the opponent in a single swing.
Beatdown Creatures
These creatures are all about aggression, offering big power/toughness stat lines on one-mana bodies. They are often best used as either a primary gameplan, or a backup gameplan to a deck that is otherwise focused on comboing in order to threaten a different kind of win. They also pair well with direct-damage spells like lightning bolt, and can push through the last points of damage with the help of a protection creature.
White beatdown creatures are well known for "scaling" from the early game to the mid game, but are very poor late-game draws. They generally accrue counters (and therefore damage-making capacity) over time rather than entering the battlefield as a single massive threat.
Boros Elite and Seasoned Warrenguard attack as very sizeable 3-power creatures when paired with the right enablers, creating a very small number of turns for your opponents to answer them.
Flourishing Fox and Stonebinder's Familiar both synergize with other strong effects in white to quickly become large 4+ power creatures; but offer poor power/toughness stat lines the first turn they come into play.
Veteran Survivor is a 2/1 the first turn it comes into play, but over several turns can become a massive 5/4 with hexproof while offering some graveyard-exiling utility.
Token Producers
These creatures are relatively simple compared to the creatures above - they are on the list because they pair well with two specific cards, Skullclamp and Cabal Therapy. One of the best ways to enable Skullclamp is to produce a pair of 1/1 bodies off of a single card, and white has many of the best creatures in the game for accomplishing that.
White token producers typically produce the token as a death trigger, but some have the ability to reanimate themselves. Tokens with a beneficial keyword, such as flying or lifelink, are extra powerful.
Doomed Traveller and Indebted Spirit both pair beautifully with Skullclamp and Cabal Therapy, as the spirit token they produce after they die are generally better at attacking than the creature itself is.
Sacred Cat and Lunarch Veteran both can return themselves from the graveyard to play, which plays well with cards like Faithless Looting and Malevolent Rumble in addition to the other Skullclamp/Cabal Therapy synergies.
Usher of the Fallen offers a good attacking body as a 2/1, in addition to being able to produce more tokens while staying on the battlefield. This makes it pair better with "board-pump" effects and Aether Vial than the other token producers on this list.
Value Creatures
Unlike the other categories on this list, the "value" label is extremely broad, as it can mean different things to different players, decklists, and situations. Value generally means a creature that either draws a card, makes mana, or otherwise presents some type of advantage; although that advantage might not be present immediately.
Value creatures play exceptionally well into interaction from the opponent, as they give your deck the ability to "two for one", i.e. targeting the creature with removal removes the creature, but not the card it has already drawn. They also pair very well with the interaction spells in your own deck, as they often represent drawing cards, which means replacing the card lost from Force of Will or drawing into another Swords to Plowshares. They tend to pair poorly with non-creature value spells, as they functionally replace those effects.
Glint Hawk and Nurturing Pixie can pick up other cards with powerful enter-the-battlefield abilities such as Arcum's Astrolabe or Amped Raptor in order to get the benefits of the enter-the-battlefield trigger a second time. They can also be put into play with Aether Vial in response to a removal spell to "protect" your key card by returning them to hand.
Soul Warden can gain an enormous amount of life to stall the opponent's ability to defeat you, while also triggering your cards that have "whenever you gain life" abilities.
Novice Inspector creates a clue token, which can either represent drawing a card or just be an artifact token for reasons like Tinker or Affinity. Inspector also plays well with Aether Vial, as you do not need to spend mana to play creatures with a Vial in play, leaving up mana for the clues.
Recruitment Officer offers both repeatable card draw and selection with a powerful activated ability; although it is noteworthy that the ability is expensive at 4 mana. Recruitment Officer plays exceptionally well with Aether Vial and Swords to Plowshares, as those spells make the games go long enough to put the activated ability to use.
There you have it for white! A diverse set of abilities and effects, and many creature-focused abilities that push white decks towards playing a high density of creature spells to maximize their effects. The white 1-drop creatures on average pair well with the black, red, and green non-creature spells, and fairly poorly with blue.
Blue 1-Mana Creatures
Blue 1-mana creatures are notable for being strange and diverse, offering a sweeping set of abilities that are all about manipulation, either of the opponent or for your own hand, graveyard, and library. Blue creatures often have synergies either with instants and sorceries, artifacts, or in some rare cases, the graveyard. Blue creatures are all pitch-able to Force of Will, likely the best interaction spell legal in Noble, meaning they are never dead cards when drawn....and simply "being blue" is a key and defining facet of their utility as a result. Blue is also the color with the most card draw options, such as Treasure Cruise and Expressive Iteration; however, blue creatures exchange these advantages by having very poor synergies with Skullclamp and Cabal Therapy.
Blue one-mana creatures also have special synergies with the card Daze:
There are notably fewer blue creatures on this list than any of the other colors, as blue draft archetypes focus on instants, sorceries, and control.
Blue creatures will be broadly categorized into:
Value Creatures
Beatdown Creatures
Mill Creatures
Utility Creatures
Value Creatures
Blue's value creatures are mostly focused on scrying or drawing cards in a way that helps ensure you stay ahead of your opponent with the right cards in hand.
These spells are notable for helping find interaction like Force of Will at the right time, playing well with Aether Vial, and basically all having flying to provide a solid backup plan of attacking for damage.
Artificer's Assistant plays extremely well with zero- and one-mana artifacts like Lotus Petal, Sensei's Divining Top, etc... and can help you dig for combo pieces or a well timed Tinker.
Faerie Seer has two important creature types (Faerie and Wizard) and is often played alongside cards that can re-trigger its enter the battlefield ability.
Hapless Researcher can put cards into the graveyard at instant speed, which pairs exceptionally well with Reanimate but is also a fine value play.
Spyglass Siren makes an artifact token that explores, which not only offers card selection but is perfect when paired with Tinker or other Affinity cards; while also being solidly playable with graveyard synergy spells.
Spectral Sailor represents a similar ability and rate to Recruitment Officer above, but can draw into non-creature spells as well, making it generally stronger with Force of Will and Daze.
Beatdown Creatures
Blue offers many of the best aggressively-statted creatures in the game at one mana, pairing the ability to fly over blockers with instant and sorcery synergies. These cards are great with Daze and Force of Will to protect them in play, Brainstorm and Expressive Iteration to draw them, and Lightning Bolt finish the job. These cards play markedly poorly with Swords to Plowshares, as the life gain counteracts their beatdown potential.
Blue's beatdown creatures come at a high deckbuilding and gameplay cost - they are not simply 1 mana 3/3 creatures like some of White's offerings, and often require significant investment to fully enable.
Delver of Secrets and Pteramander are huge flying threats when played in a deck that is primarily instants and sorceries - fortunately, Force of Will, Daze, Lightning Bolt, and Treasure Cruise are all instants and sorceries. You must play a significant number of instants and sorceries in your deck (30+!) in order to fully, consistently enable these cards, so they pair poorly with Skullclamp and Cabal Therapy.
Triton Wavebreaker is similar to Delver and Pteramander, but does not have flying; however, it can grant the extra aggression to another creature thanks to Bestow, and plays with Skullclamp just fine as it also triggers off of artifacts.
Thoughtbound Phantasm can be a 1 mana 5/5 or bigger provided that your deck has a large number of Surveil effects - which have become more abundant with each new set released. Some highlights are Consider and Thought Erasure.
Jace's Phantasm can be a 1 mana flying 5/5 provided that your deck has a large number of "target opponent mills" effects such as Thought Scour, making it one of the best mana-value-for-stats creatures in all of magic!
Mill Creatures
This is the first of several groups of "one-mana creatures that all go into the same decklist" that this article will explore.
Mill creatures are extremely one-dimensional and do not really require an explanation. They see play in one deck, and one deck only; they play well with Daze, and they represent "blue's version of burn" by going for the empty-library win condition written into Magic's basic ruleset. They are all different and unique, but the strategy is not particularly nuanced.
Utility Creatures
This category is very broad and covers an extremely wide range of effects, many of which are not pictured here. Blue has one-mana creatures that change the colors of permanents, change the colors of spells, tap opposing creatures, put lands directly into play, and a myriad of other diverse effects. Some of the more interesting ones are shown below.
Blue's utility creatures are generally worse than the utility creatures in other colors, such as green or white, and offer more narrowly applicable abilities.
Siren Stormtamer can do a White-card imitation by protecting a creature from removal
Shrieking Drake can be used to re-trigger enter-the-battlefield abilities
Embodiment of Spring and Omen Hawker can be used to gain mana advantage over your opponent by putting lands into play or tapping for mana.
Tide Shaper can be used to "turn off" an opposing utility land such as Cloudpost or Basilisk Gate by turning it into an island, or just turn on your own cards with the island walk ability.
Blue's set of one-mana creatures is much less focused than White's, and the most playable among them are either cards for pairing with the busted non-creature spells (Spyglass Siren, Artificer's Assistant) or payoffs for playing MANY non-creatures (Delver of Secrets, Triton Wavebreaker). Because of the focus on non-creature spells, Blue's one-mana creatures are on average great with Lightning Bolt, Force of Will, and Expressive Iteration; and pair pretty poorly with Cabal Therapy, Skullclamp, and Malevolent Rumble.
Black 1-Mana Creatures
Black creatures are primarily characterized by their ability to synergize with with graveyard and sacrifice effects, and nearly all of the cards discussed in this section fall into one of those two buckets. Black cards pair PERFECTLY with Cabal Therapy, the best black non creature spell. Sacrifice abilities or graveyard synergies means they also pair well with Skullclamp.
Black creatures will be broadly categorized into:
Creatures that Want to be in your Graveyard
Creatures that Mill
Creatures with Death Triggers
..."Other"
Creatures that Want to be in your Graveyard
These are creatures that you are happy to mill over, discard, or otherwise put into your graveyard, where they then can either reanimate themselves or perform some other high value function.
These creatures are a cornerstone of any black deck, because they are the cards you are happy to sacrifice to Cabal Therapy or Skullclamp, and are functionally "drawing a card' when revealed to Malevolent Rumble.
Archfiend's Vessel is okay board presence because of the lifelink, but you are really always trying to Reanimate it, when it becomes a 5/5 flying demon. Pairs incredibly well with Reanimate in addition to the other spells mentioned.
Cauldron Familiar is the food engine that could, partnering with a now-huge number of cards that make food tokens to come back into play for free. It's great in particular with Malevolent Rumble because the main synergy card, Witch's Oven, is a 1-mana artifact.
Forsaken Miner is the best of the bunch as a 1-mana 2/2 that can self-reanimate provided you meet the extremely low bar of "committing a crime". Crimes include: Either half of Cabal Therapy, Lightning Bolt, Force of Will, you see where this is going. And it triggers on TARGET from one of those spells, not resolution. It also has a soft combo with red enchantment Goblin Bombardment!
Ichor Drinker and Retrofitted Transmogrant are both artifact-synergy creatures with relevant kindred types that self reanimates or otherwise produce a creature from the graveyard. The Transmogrant can do it forever!
Creatures that Mill
Naturally pairing with the creatures that "want to be in the graveyard" are the creatures that can put cards into the graveyard. These creatures are all fantastic with Cabal Therapy in particular, but really any Flashback spell, in addition to the self reanimating creatures listed above. It follows that they also play very well with the card Reanimate!
Noble is truly a graveyard focused format, and these spells are some of the best graveyard enablers around.
Faerie Dreamthief not only surveils when it enters, but also has a relevant card draw ability once it is already in the graveyard.
Festerleech is a very aggressively-statted creatures that is hard to block, in addition to its mill text.
Gnawing Vermin, by contrast, is very hard to attack into because of its death trigger, making the rat trade with a 2/2 in combat. Also note that the mill text can target either player.
Snarling Gorehound is the best mill-for-the-mana-value in a go-wide tokens deck, and can also be a way to win the game in decks that go infinite by milling your whole library.
Stitcher's Supplier is the other best mill-for-mana-value creature, and is seemingly always paired with Cabal Therapy. 6 cards off of one creature is a LOT of cards!
Creatures with Death Triggers
The other half of "graveyard and sacrifice" is sacrifice, so let's talk about those creatures!
While there are sacrifice outlets at one mana, they have not seen significant competitive play. What HAS seen play, however, are creatures that have abilities that trigger when they die.
These cards are premier Skullclamp and Cabal Therapy targets, but also do well with a number of other effects such as Deadly Dispute (sacrifices creatures for cards) or Culling the Weak (which sacrifices creatures for mana).
Eyetwitch takes advantage of the "Lesson" toolbox mechanic to provide a myriad of different effects on its death trigger, but also starts with flying, which is always relevant.
Festering Newt and Shambling Ghast can pick off opposing creatures with their death triggers
Greedy Freebooter offers back mana in the form of a treasure token and selection in the form of a scry in exchange for sacrificing it, effectively getting the mana and cards back.
Nested Shambler is like many of the white cards in this article, except it makes TWO tokens when it dies to Skullclamp thanks to its ability.
...Other Creatures
This last category in black is truly a mix of mostly random effects which all have synergy cards in different archetypes, but generally do not synergize together or with the other cards on this list.
Disciple of the Vault is a premier damage dealing payoff for sacrificing artifacts, whereas...
Etherium Pteramander is a big flying beater payoff for leaving those artifacts in play.
Bonecache Overseer synergizes with sacrificing food like Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven by turning that pseudo card advantage into even more card draw
Hateful Eidolon can turn removal auras like Dead Weight into cantripping effects, and is a 1/2 with Lifelink to boot.
Scorn-Blade Berserker is a powerful sacrifice outlet that also draws cards on the way through.
Overall, the black one-mana creatures have largely uninteresting synergies with spells that are not black, besides cards that say the words "mill" or "discard"; of which there are plentiful in black. However, many other colors see Black as an appealing color pairing, which has led to Black decks being a popular choice for Noble gamers.
Red 1-Mana Creatures
Red creatures are (unfortunately) primarily characterized by their ability to do damage thanks to a long history with the card Lightning Bolt. Red creatures in Noble, however, offer a myriad of exciting utility options, many of which are centered around artifact synergies. Red cards often play well with Skullclamp (because it's an artifact), Faithless Looting, Expressive Iteration, and Tinker; but Lightning Bolt and it's direct damage siblings are what "bring home the bacon" for the color.
Best of the Best: Dragon's Rage Channeler
I decided that, rather than trying to pair DRC with another group of red creatures, I would address it alone, as it stands head and shoulders above all of the other creatures on this list for a number of reasons.
DRC has two abilities
Gaining +2/+2 and flying when you have four different card types in your graveyard
Surveiling for 1 whenever you cast a noncreature spell.
These two abilities make DRC a self-contained engine and payoff with relatively low restrictions to make it happen.
Look at the list of powerful noncreature spells in Noble. Swords to Plowshares. Force of Will. Cabal Therapy. Malevolent Rumble. Treasure Cruise. Reanimate. Lotus Petal. Skullclamp. Literally all of these cards are powerful when paired with DRC, because DRC simply says the word "noncreature". Additionally, DRC can be used to fill the graveyard thanks to the surveil trigger, which matters to many of the cards on the non-creatures list AND many of the creature cards listed above. Synergies side, the trigger is also just powerful in a vacuum as a repeatable scry that ensures you draw the right cards at the right time.
When you pair that with the fact that a 3/3 flier for 1 mana literally ties the other best creatures in this list, you realize that we are looking at something incredible. DRC truly stands apart from the other 1-mana creatures in Noble.
Discard Synergies
Whereas Black has creatures that synergize with milling, Red has creatures that synergize with discarding in particular, many of which stem from the Innistrad Madness mechanic. These cards all were designed to be played alongside effects like Faithless Looting, and it is one of their primary and only synergy cards!
These spells are all intrinsically great with the black graveyard spells, Reanimate and Cabal Therapy, in addition to the black graveyard creatures. There are also a handful of blue looters and spells with Jump-Start which can be powerful; but they have limited synergies in other colors.
Blazing Rootwalla can be put into play for free when discarded, and attacks as a 3/1 when pumped
Flameblade Adept attacks as a 3/2 with Menace if you've cast a Faithless Looting, even more if you've found another way to discard.
Voldaren Epicure importantly makes a blood artifact token when it enters, which can later be activated to discard a card. The token is great for Madness, but also Tinker and Affinity, and the 1/1 body can be skullclamped or sacrificed to Therapy freely.
Phoenix Chick is a flier that reanimates itself...need I say more?
Insolent Neonate is like Voldaren Epicure but instead of making a blood token, it sacrifices itself to draw/discard.
Artifact Synergies
Red has a number of aggressive 1-drop creatures that want you to have artifacts in play or sacrifice artifacts to capitalize on their effects. There are also a handful of powerful artifact creatures in Red.
Amusingly, most of these creatures are Goblins. These spells pair well with Tinker, clue tokens, and affinity spells, in addition to the red draw engine Experimental Synthesizer. They play best with cards like Disciple of the Vault and Etherium Pteramander; but several of them also have synergy with Cabal Therapy.
Goblin Blast-Runner is probably the best one mana red creature that isn't DRC thanks to the built in evasion as a 3/2 with menace. There are a number of good ways to activate this little guy, including Mishra's Bauble, Wasteland, and Shrapnel Blast, in addition to the black effects.
Krark Clan Shaman is a sweeper on a stick if you play a good number of artifacts.
Goblin Tomb Raider is just Modern burn staple Goblin Guide if you can control an artifact (like say, an artifact land or a Mishra's Bauble or a Skullclamp)
Rabbit Battery is a hasty artifact creature that grants haste to other creatures
Exuberant Fuseling gets a counter whenever an artifact or creature is sacrificed or dies, making it a fantastic creature to fling at your opponent.
Aggro Creatures
These creatures are pretty straightforward - big stats for their mana cost. They typically have haste or a built-in pump ability, and their primary synergy is with lightning bolt.
Heartfire Hero pairs with pump spells or abilities like Nomads En Kor, and can quickly grow very large if triggered on each player's turn. It requires a dedicated deck to take full advantage of its abilities. GREAT with Berserk.
Kumano Faces Kakazan is a very high amount of value for a 1-drop, being worth a ping, a counter, and a 2/2 creature with haste once all chapters resolve. The enchantment type is nice for triggering Prowess/Delirium.
Monastery Swiftspear is a multi format staple thanks to Prowess and Haste. It, like DRC, triggers off of everything; but due to the lack of evasion is best suited for aggro decks.
Reinforced Ronin is a hasty 2/2 that can beat down for just one red mana each turn until the opponent blocks it; then it can be cycled to dig for more burn!
Cacophany Scamp is another aggro card that combos brilliantly with pump spells and damage doublers like Berserk thanks to its combat damage trigger, allowing you to one-shot out of nowhere.
Goblins
These creatures are all Goblins and will only see play in a dedicated Goblins deck. That said, Goblins has proven its competitive viability in many formats over time!
Goblins pair excellently with Skullclamp, unlike most of the other red cards on this list. They also pair surprisingly well with Cabal Therapy due to the low value of the individual creatures. Note that many of the artifacts synergy creatures above are ALSO goblins, but the goblins in this section require a more dedicated Goblins strategy.
Fanatical Firebrand is a 1-damage removal or direct damage spell, on a hasty 1/1 creature.
Goblin Bushwhacker can be used to pump all of your creatures for a big attack on a wide board.
Goblin Lackey can be used to create mana advantage by "cheating" more expensive creatures into play with its combat trigger
Skirk Prospector can turn spare goblins into mana
Goblin Banneret can turn small attackers into big threats over several turns with its pump abilities.
Value Creatures
Red has come a long way since it's initial designs from the first magic set, and at une uncommon rarity in Noble there is a small stack of red creatures whose primary purpose is to provide value. These creatures are all very different, but powerful in their own right!
Flamekin Harbinger searches your library for the perfect Elemental creature. It only sees play in dedicated Elementals lists, but is a powerhouse alongside Risen Reef.
Norin, Swift Survivalist is the Red take on Shrieking Drake, but it's...somehow better? Norin can be used to re-trigger enter the battlefield abilities, and pairs extremely well with powerhouse Noble staple Unstable Amulet by casting from Exile. It seems great with the Blue and White creatures with powerful Enters -the-Battlefield effects.
Unlucky Witness is the best red card to sacrifice to Cabal Therapy, as it offers card draw and selection when it dies! Also works with Skullclamp.
Orcish Lumberjack turns Forests into Black Lotuses thanks to its strong mana-adding ability. Are there any cards in the format that are both Forests AND Mountains?
Gorilla Shaman is a repeatable way to punish artifact decks by "eating their mana base".
There you have it for Red! Red is diverse and versatile, and is anchored down by the best one-drop in the format. Overall, Red creatures pair very well with the sacrifice synergies and artifact death triggers present in Black. Red creatures also do well in Izzet decks where they can leverage the additional card selection and Prowess triggers. A small number of Red creatures play well with Skullclamp, but Red is usually a support color in Clamp decks.
Green 1-Mana Creatures
Green creatures have historically been relatively one-note in Magic, but recent sets with an emphasis on graveyard synergy have been a huge boost to the diversity and brewing potential for the color.
Green is the color of permanents, and ALL green cards play exceptionally well with Malevolent Rumble. Green is also the color for Elves, which are some of the best creatures in the game to pair with Skullclamp. Green otherwise lacks synergy with Artifacts, or Instants and Sorceries.
Green creatures are going to to be grouped into five categories:
Land Synergies
Mana Dorks
Elves
Graveyard Synergies
Beaters
Land Synergies
These creatures occupy a strange spot in Noble, somewhere halfway between mana ramp and setup for Glacial Chasm thanks to their abilities to put extra lands into play. They have seen relatively little play in Noble to date, but may see an upswing thanks to the printing of powerful land Nesting Grounds in MH3.
Another major drawback of the land synergy creatures is that picking up and replaying lands has historically just not been that powerful of a strategy in eternal formats; and these cards do not play particularly well with any of the busted non-creature spells mentioned at the start of this article outside of Brainstorm.
Arboreal Grazer offers an impressive stat line (0/3 Reach) and lets you play an extra land as an enters-the-battlefield ability, which can be crucial for decks looking to get 3-4 specific lands into play like Glacial Chasm decks.
Insidious Fungus is an elegant design because it both offers a lot of utility on a 1-mana creature, optionally destroying an artifact or enchantment in addition to ramping with an effect similar to Arboreal Grazer; but it also curves with itself and can put the land into play at instant speed.
Quirion Ranger is a cornerstone card of both Elves and Landfall decks, allowing you to pick up and replay lands that are already on the battlefield in order to get ahead on mana.
Skyshroud Ranger and Sakura-Tribe Scout are similar creatures that can tap to put a land into play from your hand.
The main synergy piece with all of these cards is the Ravnica Bouncelands, which unfortunately have not seen much play in Noble due to their susceptibility to Wasteland.
Mana Dorks
These creatures all perform the simple function of tapping for mana! While not inherently good with one-mana spells; they are excellent for making explosive plays at low cost.
Arbor Elf can untap forests that are enchanted with Wild Growth or Utopia Sprawl in order to explode ahead of your opponent on mana (up to 4x on Turn 2!). It is the fastest mana ramp in the format.
Avacyn's Pilgrim both benefits from a human type line, and taps for white mana on a green card, creating flexible deckbuilding options. Unfortunately, the Green/White color pair has been relatively underpowered for most of Noble's history.
Citunal Stalwart can tap an untapped artifact or creature to add a mana of any color; which plays together very nicely with the "survival" mechanic from Duskmorne, but also pairs with Skullclamp, because you can equip a Skullclamp that is tapped, and Stalwart has a 1/1 body which can be converted into cards in those decks.
Elves of Deep Shadow is like Avacyn's Pilgrim, but adds black mana, generally the more valuable color as Green/Black decks are more common than Green/White decks.
Elvish Mystic (and friends) have been a competitive staple in all Magic formats for decades, and for good reason!
Elves
While most of the mana dorks in the section above are elves, this section is dedicated to creatures that wouldn't see play outside of a dedicated Elves deck, similar to Red's Goblins. They are specifically designed for synergizing with each other, but have enormous explosive potential thanks to the fact that they all tap for mana. Elves pair well with Skullclamp, because the creatures make the mana that you use to activate the Clamp, to draw more creatures.
Birchlore Rangers taps untapped elves to add mana of any color, which allows elves decks to splash for powerful noncreature spells like Swords to Plowshares.
Heritage Druid taps 3x untapped elves for 3x mana, which allows you to rapidly pull ahead on mana.
Nettle Sentinel is best friends with the two elves listed above, because its ability allows it to be tapped with their mana abilities multiple times in the same turn. This can lead to silly situations where casting an elf creature actually nets positive mana. These three cards together therefore make a pseudo-infinite combo with Skullclamp, provided you can keep drawing Elves.
Wirewood Symbiote is another potent combo card with the elves that tap for mana. Symbiote is especially good at protecting your combo cards by returning them to hand in response to removal - much like the White cards listed in the first section. If you look closely, you may notice that the three elves already mentioned in this section work whether or not they are summoning sick.
Essence Warden is a solid option for Elves decks to beat red aggressive decks. It counts both your creatures, and your opponent's creatures!
Graveyard Synergies
The majority of cards in this section were printed over the last few years, and have completely changed the landscape of what is possible on a green one-mana spell in Noble. Graveyard synergy cards pair well with Faithless Looting, Cabal Therapy, Reanimate, and the Mill cards mentioned in the black section above (as well as, of course, the omni-present DRC), which makes them much more flexible than the green creatures of the past that were locked into a single strategy. All of the cards in this section will generally be played alongside 4x Malevolent Rumble!
Deathbonnet Sprout is both a mill engine, and, if you can transform it, a 3/3 attacker. It is best played on the first turn of the game, as it can be slow to flip in the late game.
Chainweb Arachnir is a nice graveyard-focused option for dealing with fliers...and that Escape ability is nothing to scoff at.
Patchwork Beastie is an enormous 3/3 for one mana stapled onto "mill a card every turn", provided you can fine delirium. It also has both artifact and creature card times, which helps with delirium decks. As it helps "flip" itself, it is generally more powerful than the Deathbonnet.
Rubblebelt Macerick surveils for 2 as an enter the battlefield trigger, which can both help set up early draws, and dump cards into the graveyard that you want there, like a Forsaken Miner or a Cabal Therapy. The activated ability is also nice! Maverick pairs excellently with black and red spells, and is also Skullclampable.
Spore Frog, like Kami of False Hope, can lock your opponent out of combat completely if it is looped back into play from the graveyard with something like a Tortured Existence or an Abiding Grace.
Beatdown Creatures
Green has surprisingly diverse aggressive strategies available to it, likely to make up for the lack of interaction.
Glimmer Bairn plays extremely well in token decks, where it can threaten lethal every time it attacks thanks to its pump ability.
Experiment One is best played in classic curve-out aggressive strategies where your intent is to follow it on turn one, with another aggressive creature on turn two, and another one on turn three.
Glistener Elf is best friends with Berserk, and is paired with pump spells to quickly deal 10 poison damage, which wins the game.
Young Wolf pairs great with sacrifice abilities in an aggressive deck thanks to its Undying ability.
Gladecover Scout is played in dedicated Auras decks, where the goal is to make a single creature as unblockable and indestructible as possible.
That wraps up the Green one-mana creatures in Noble! Green as a color has suffered from pairing poorly with the other colors in Noble, as many of the abilities are more self-synergistic than offerings in other colors. The Elves always have to be respected for their explosive mana potential, and recent printings of one-mana graveyard synergy cards bodes well for the future of Green decks.
Generally speaking, green pairs best with black, but also has good red card pairings. Green/Blue and Green/White have failed to make a real footprint in Noble due to their middling creature quality and lack of either removal, or hand/stack interaction.
Multicolor and Colorless 1-Mana Creatures
There are few playable multicolor or colorless creatures at one mana, but the ones that are playable pop up in a variety of archetypes due to their flexible casting cost.
Dryad Militant is a relevant graveyard disruption card that can keep Pteramanders, Dragon's Rage Channelers, and Treasure Cruises from maximizing their potential.
Slippery Bogle really only sees play in the "Bogles" deck, but is the anchor for the archetype being able to play in Green/White, Blue/White, or Green/Blue depending on the deckbuilder's desires.
Ravenous Squirrel is one of the strongest creatures in this whole article, representing a scaling threat similar to Stonebinder's Familiar or Heartfire Hero, but without the once-per-turn limitation. It is also a sacrifice outlet itself thanks to its activated ability, and plays well in both creature-based and artifact-based sacrifice decks. Note that neither ability says "non-token"
Gingerbrute is both an artifact and a food, and has a very nasty ability to make itself unblockable, which combos with power-boosting effects to quickly end the game.
Haywire Mite is exile artifact and enchantment hate on a 1-mana creature, and the activated ability only costs one mana, making it the most mana efficient sideboard choice for many decks. It has notable synergy with Malevolent Rumble, as it can be both found by the spell, and cast off of the mana produced by the spawn token.
What It All Means: Building a Deck
If you look at all of the creatures listed in this article, some patterns start to arise. For example, among the creatures listed above, 3 power (with some restrictions) is the "magic number" for a good aggressive stat line. Playable utility creatures, in contrast, come in all shapes and forms and are really all about enabling your other spells. To apply those principles to some hypothetical cards, a 1 mana 1/1 that draws a card when it enters would be extremely playable in Noble; whereas a 1 mana 2/2 with no other abilities would not be.
Some of the creatures on this list naturally have a positive effect when paired with other creatures on the list. Others are in isolation, not really pairing well with any of the other creatures (or even non-creatures) shown. Tide Shaper and Hateful Eidolon are examples of creatures that "stand alone" at the one-mana spot, and don't really have any other cards that they synergize with. On the other hand, it is easy to spot the similarities and inherent synergies between Dragon's Rage Channeler and Delver of Secrets. Pair those two creatures with the best non-creature spells like Force of Will, Expressive Iteration, and Lightning Bolt, and you've successfully created a partial decklist by identifying a powerful "core" of cards.
Here are some other "partial decklists" that came to mind while I was working on this article:
Blue/White "Artifacts"
White/Green "Exile"
Red/Green Delirium
White/Black Token Mill
Black/Red Graveyard
We've now assessed many of the playable 1-mana creatures in Noble, talked about them in context of the best noncreature spells, and arrived at a conclusion as to what makes a creature "playable". Hopefully this gives you valuable context as to what works in a deck, and what doesn't! Stay focused, stay efficient, and stay synergystic. Happy brewing!
-KingOfTheDepths
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