What's the point?

it's the most interesting mythic EVAR!!

I gotta be honest, I agree with Link. All those words doesn't seem worth it, just to get around the occasional Pacifism. At the very least, I'd choose either attacking or blocking and stick with that. The card would look more impressive if it didn't try for both.

green's a very boring color. finally something to make green interesting.

Heh. Kinda reads as "~ may attack or block, because it is a creature"

But I presume the intent is that it actually may attack or block AFTER it sees what blockers / attackers there are? (Um, that second one not seeming particularly pointful.)

i'll save the old card for an Un-set.

Heh. Non-creature permanent? I assume this isn't supposed to be 10 ways better than Desert Twister. :)

Desert Twister was played? i know beast within was, and that's because it's half the cost of Twister and instant, despite the drawback.
anyway this is a mythic after all. probably the most playable of the cycle, but still the most boring (rules text wise).

Green is really not supposed to straight-up destroy creatures. This should probably only hit noncreatures like jmg said, both for power and color pie reasons. See for example Terastodon, Woodfall Primus, or the brand-new Sylvan Primordial.

If you do change it, you might consider adjusting the death trigger to put a creature into play. It feels very green that way, and also counteracts the fact that this is OP.

Yeah, that wasn't really a comment about power level, so much so that it was a comment about a card that most people who work for Wizards wishes was never published... never mind reprinted in Mercadian Masques of all things. Talk about a confusing message.

You're right, though, Desert Twister isn't over-powered. Sorry about stressing the wrong point.

"Green is really not supposed to straight-up destroy creatures."
So far, it's the only color that can destroy any permanent without help from another color. Even as recently as New Phyrexia as an uncommon.
As for power-level, it's all speculation until it's playtested. The closest is Angel of Despair and that didn't break any metagame. Of course being green has its advantages, such as creature search and ramp, but then also has tutor, graveyard filling, and reanimation. And it's not like R&D doesn't print OP cards all the time. Hello Primeval Titan. I'd say this is slightly weaker.

­Beast Within is a color pie break from a color pie-breaking set and should generally not be used as a precedent. Green shouldn't be able to destroy creatures, and if it does, it "transform" them, as does Beast Within.
I never noticed until writing this that Beast Within is like a green, any-permanent Rapid Hybridization.

It's a heated argument, as we're proving here - we seemed to have dragged a random visitor into the mix.

Personally, I can only report on what I see. I see Mark Rosewater go off the rails every time they print a card in green that hinders creatures (He doesn't even like Roots, or any other 'green pacifism' style card). According to him, it breaks the color pie, and he's not only in charge of design, but is considered 'the color pie guru'.

Obviously, though, there are people who disagree with Mark internally, and externally... otherwise we wouldn't see cards like Beast Within pop up.

Personally, I got to go with MaRo on this one. To me, every color should have a major advantage, and a major weakness. Green traditionally has been great at making big things, specifically creatures. It's weakness is that it can't manipulate opponents creatures... it can only attack and block around them. If we're to accept green creature destruction, what's Green's new weakness? Because it's going to end up with one if we keep pushing the green creature destruction. I'm guessing the whole color will end up top-heavy as a weakness, the way we're going... and I think less people will like that, but maybe I'm wrong.

As for Beast Within, it has a very strange property. Because it's used so often, it's starting to become a staple. But it's used so often because it's the only card that does what it does... the very fact that this effect is so rare in green is what is making the effect very common to see in green. What a strange design paradox.

I certainly think Beast Within is clearly a colour-pie-breaking card from a colour-pie-breaking set, and shouldn't be used as any kind of precedent. The way that other recent cards with this effect (even Sylvan Primordial) only hit noncreatures indicates that that's what this should do too.