Among the iconic and format-warping cards of Innistrad, one has always stood out to me as under-appreciated relative to its power and influence.
Gavony Township was nothing short of revolutionary for GWx creature decks. Typically lacking card draw and/or card selection, such decks are prone to flooding out on mana dorks and lands. Township elegantly solves this problem as both a mana sink and threat enabler all with an extremely low deckbuilding cost. As of this moment, a decade after Innistrad's release, Township remains uniquely effective in this role and its difficult to imagine a better alternative will be printed.
Let's examine this card through the lens of some of the decks that have utilized it over the years.
Whether by design at Wizards or by coincidence, this Standard deck developed shortly after Township's printing and exemplified many of its qualities.
| Township Tokens, GP Kuala Lumpur, 3/25/12 | |
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Township mitigates the downside of playing eight mana dorks to accelerate into more powerful plays. We see the employment of creatures that scale well with extra counters like Blade Splicer and Mirran Crusader (note the "non-bo" with Strangleroot Geist however 😅). The many token-producing planeswalkers also pair nicely with Township. Its no wonder this archetype often played the full playset of Townships and was called "Township Tokens".
Our next deck is from the next format of Township's residence in Standard.
| GW Humans, GP Charleston, 11/17/12 | |
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This is an aggressive deck that isn't interested in drawing out games to the point where Township pulls its weight, but playing one copy can still be justified.
Birthing Pod was considered one of the best Modern decks throughout 2013 and 2014. The raw power and relentless consistency of this archetype eventually doomed Pod to the Modern banlist in early 2015.
| Melira Pod, GP Richmond, 3/9/14 | |
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While Pod's flashiest aspects - infinite combos and toolbox creatures - received the most attention, a significant part of its power resided in its ability to play a "normal" game of Magic when all else failed. This was made possible by Gavony Township, which won Pod countless games on the back of a motley crew of creatures grown to a formidable size.
In the wake of Pod's banning, a new archetype emerged that elevated Pod's beatdown plan from backup to star of the show.
| Podless Pod, Pro Tour Fate Reforged, 2/8/15 | |
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This deck, called "Podless Pod" and "Liege Rhino" among other names, could be seen as the evolution of our first example adapted to the Modern format.
Fast-forwarding a few years, our final example is a new breed of combo deck.
| Heliod Life, MTGO Event, 3/14/21 | |
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With combo pieces based on +1/+1 counters like Spike Feeder and Walking Ballista, Township takes on an interesting role in this deck as a combo enabler and can prove to be a huge nuisance for opposing damage-based interaction.
Despite its success in Standard and Modern, Township has had no presence in Legacy. The range of decks that could play it is narrow, competition with other utility lands is high, and the texture of the format makes it irrelevant in the vast majority of games.
I hope you enjoyed this little reflection on Gavony Township - a card I know I will continue playing for years to come.
