I remember Quirion Dryad being one of the most
eye-catching cards in Planeshift. In a limited
environment that actively encouraged splashing a
third and fourth and sometimes a fifth color, it
wasn't uncommon for her to end a game with stats
that rivalled mid-tier Eldrazi. It wasn't long
before she made an impact on constructed as
well, mainly alongside Mercadian Masques' free
spells in Extended and Vintage (some of which,
like Misdirection, also shored up her inherent
weakness to Unsummon and the like). Although she
is often the second pick behind Tarmogoyf
nowadays, her potential should never be
underestimated. First of all, with enough
cantrips and low-cost burn spells and cards with
flashback, the upper bound of her power is far
higher. Second of all, she lacks the
vulnerability to graveyard countermeasures that
all Lhurgoyf variants and some other "growing"
creatures have. And third and perhaps most
enticingly of all, she plays very well with the
ever-growing class of cards that manipulate
counters - I like her with Volt Charge, but
there are other combos with everything from
Dromoka's bolster effects to Power Conduit.
On its first printing, Quirion Dryad saw quite a
bit of use as a win condition splashed into
multicolor control decks. Many of them already
used cheap cantrips to dig for the cards they
needed and smooth out their draws, and the big Q
fit into that situation perfectly.
Upon her return in Tenth Edition, she briefly
made a few waves as a substitute for Tarmogoyf,
and as the cornerstone in a hypothetical deck
full of her, Forests, and hybrid spells from
Shadowmoor block that never really
materialized.She's never quite recaptured her
glory days, but in multicolor situations she's
always been worth consideration.
