Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Modeling the Pulse of a Green Rhino: Freelance Muscle in Deck Outcomes

Green mana isn’t always about “crush now, think later.” Sometimes it’s about tempo, math, and the quiet joy of gradual upgrades. Freelance Muscle—a 4/4 Rhino Warrior you pay {4}{G} for—exemplifies that ethos from Streets of New Capenna. Its ability reads like a practical math problem: whenever this creature attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the greatest power and/or toughness among other creatures you control. In other words, your broadest threat among your other creatures determines how far Freelance Muscle swings come alive in any given moment. 🧙‍♂️🔥 Whether you’re building a lean, stompy green shell or chasing a late-game swing with a single, towering flagship, the math matters, and the outcomes can be surprisingly elegant. 💎⚔️

From a gameplay perspective, Freelance Muscle shines brightest in decks where you can reliably stack multiple creatures on the battlefield. The stronger the other creatures you control, the bigger the buff you grant to Freelance Muscle when it attacks or blocks. This creates a self-reinforcing dynamic: you ramp into more bodies, the buff scales, and the Rhino starts delivering outsized hits. The flavor text—“He never asks why. Just who, when, and where.”—feels earned, because in a well-tuned deck, you’re always answering the question of “where does the next boost come from?” with a confident grin. 🎨

Modeling a simple outcome space

To model deck outcomes with Freelance Muscle, it helps to anchor the analysis around two dimensions: the number of other creatures you control and the distribution of their power and toughness. In a typical green shell, you might have a plan that includes token producers, copy effects, or other beefy bodies. Here’s a practical framework you can apply in real games, with a few light scenarios:

• Scenario A — A modest board: You have Freelance Muscle on the battlefield with two other creatures: a 2/2 and a 3/3. The greatest power among other creatures is 3, so Freelance Muscle receives +3/+3. It becomes a 7/7 on that combat swap (4/4 base + 3/3 buff). The math doesn’t lie: the buff is determined at trigger time, so you want to ensure you’re not overrelying on a single creature to carry every swing. 🧙‍♂️
• Scenario B — A bigger army: With four other creatures, including a 5/5 as the largest stat, Freelance Muscle pumps to +5/+5, turning into a 9/9 on combat. That extra pressure can close games quickly, especially if your opponent has blockers that trade unfavorably. The more bodies you bring, the more opportunities to push through lethal damage as the buff climbs with the board. ⚔️
• Scenario C — The power-stacking edge case: If your other creatures feature a mix of high power and high toughness, the buff still scales to the maximum among them. A single 7/7 on the battlefield can catapult Freelance Muscle into a new dimension, even if the rest of your team remains modest. This dynamic encourages you to value not just quantity but the presence of a “max-power” factor that can swing a turn in your favor. 💎
• Scenario D — ramp and reach: A deck that includes mana accelerants or card advantage engines can drop Freelance Muscle earlier and still have multiple swinging turns. The earlier you deploy it, the more turns you have to reap the buff as your other creatures grow or you protect the board with protection or removal. The key is timing—the buff is powerful, but it’s a windowed burst rather than a constant aura. 🧙‍♂️
• Scenario E — sides from the sideboard: In eternal formats with sweepers, Freelance Muscle’s value shifts. If your board clears and you rebuild with a fresh slate of creatures, the buff becomes a flexible, situational spike rather than an always-on engine. The beauty of the card is that its power scales with your board state, not a fixed pump spell. 🎲

When you model outcomes, consider including threats that naturally increase your largest creature on the battlefield. Cards that pump or protect a single big threat, or that create additional bodies with static effects, can support a feedback loop: you play more creatures, the buff to Freelance Muscle grows, and a single swing can flip a game. This is where the playful math of green magic meets the thrill of a perfectly timed attack. 🧙‍♂️

Deck-building takeaways

If you’re chasing the Freelance Muscle arc, here are practical pointers you can carry into your builds:

• Prioritize the max stat in your creature mix: When choosing your other creatures, think about the largest power or toughness you can reliably commit. A big threat on the board fragments how big Freelance Muscle can become on your next attack or block. •
• Balance ramp and bodies: Freelance Muscle wants a steady side of creatures to maximize the buff. Pair it with mana acceleration so you can drop the Rhino earlier and still snowball with more friends on board. 🔥
• Protect and enable: Include spells or creatures that protect Freelance Muscle or help it escape blockers. A successful buff is more meaningful when you don’t immediately lose the engine to mass removal. 🛡️
• Think about late-game inevitability: In longer games, the buff scale can push Freelance Muscle into the realm of “I’m not blocking that,” which creates a natural anchor for your mid- to late-game plan. 🎲

As you draft or tune a green list, think of Freelance Muscle as a math tutor on the battlefield: it doesn’t just hit hard; it teaches you to read the current board size and forecast the next swing. The card’s uncommon rarity in Streets of New Capenna hides a surprisingly agile toolkit for players who love the intersection of math, tempo, and raw creature power. The art by Randy Vargas and the crisp, high-res rendition on Scryfall capture the energy of a Rhino warrior raring to test its strength in the gate of decisions. 🎨

In the end, modeling deck outcomes with Freelance Muscle is less about chasing a single “best” build and more about embracing the dynamic scale of a green creature ecosystem. Your board becomes a living calculator, where the greatest power among your other creatures determines the swing, and every combat step becomes a data point in a larger, exciting strategic graph. 🧠💥

More than just a card, Freelance Muscle invites you to explore the playful edge between arithmetic and artistry in MTG. It’s a reminder that sometimes the biggest numbers come not from your spells but from the symmetry of your creatures across the battlefield. 🧙‍♂️🎲

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