Magic: The Gathering has returned to Zendikar once again, and the Zendikar Rising set has a draft archetype for each of the ten two-color combinations. Green cares a lot about lands and creatures, while black favors mill, +1/+1 counters and creatures dying.
When these colors are combined, they can harness the full power of the cycle of life and death. Black/green draft decks tend to emphasize +1/+1 counters, lifegain and killing off friendly and opposing creatures alike. Death can fuel new growth, and the strong will crush the weak.
The Creatures
Green and black can be very grindy together, but not through the card advantage of white/blue. Instead, in Zendikar Rising, black/green decks favor +1/+1 counters, along with effects such as lifegain, creatures getting stronger from death, menace, deathtouch and more. This deck keeps growing stronger and stronger, and its powerful creatures are placing counters on themselves and each other nonstop.
Hagra Constrictor, a 0/0 Snake for 2B that enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it, is a good start. But it doesn't stop there; this serpent grants menace (a great way to push damage) to all friendly creatures, including itself, that have +1/+1 counters on it. In the rare slot, Oran-Rief Ooze is a 2/2 that can gift a +1/+1 counter to either itself or a friendly creature. Every time this Ooze attacks, it'll grant another +1/+1 counter to each friendly creature that already has such a counter on it. That definitely encourages an aggressive strategy, and it keeps paying off.
As for multicolor cards, Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager starts off as a 3/3 with some counters on it, and if a friendly creature died with +1/+1 counters on it, Grakmaw will get a counter. When Grakmaw itself dies, it'll make an X/X token that will match Grakmaw's size when it died. Meanwhile, the other black and green creatures in this set can gain +1/+1 counters when their controller gains life, such as with Scion of the Swarm, and Gnarlid Colony can be kicked to get +1/+1 counters on it. Better yet, it grants trample to all friendly creatures with +1/+1 counters on them, yet another way to push damage (alongside menace).
Support Spells
Green and black, when combined, can offer support spells that can ramp mana, distribute +1/+1 counters, work with the graveyard and destroy creatures and enchantments. Many of these noncreature spells will either place +1/+1 counters on friendly creatures or become stronger if such counters are already present.
Scale the Heights will grant four effects at once: a +1/+1 counter, a bit of lifegain, playing an additional land (the Explore effect) and cantripping, all for just 2G at sorcery speed. Feed the Swarm can destroy a creature or enchantment (rare for mono-black cards), though at the cost of some life points. Oblivion's Hunger is a cheap black spell that grants a target creature indestructible, and if that creature has a +1/+1 counter on it, Oblivion's Hunger also cantrips, a fine reward for having so many +1/+1 counters around.
Most of all, this color combination boasts one of the set's Planeswalkers, the new Nissa. This card is the first Nissa Planeswalker to include black mana, and it also has a triggered ability, rare for Planeswalkers. When its Landfall trigger is met, Nissa gets a loyalty counter, a great way to keep it alive. Nissa's +1 loyalty ability can untap land and turn them into 3/3 Elementals, a common sort of effect for Nissa (who cares a lot about lands). Meanwhile, Nissa's -5 loyalty ability can put a creature card right onto the battlefield from the hand or the graveyard, and grant that creature two +1/+1 counters to help push it over the top. Having a lot of lands on the battlefield helps make this ability stronger, in true Nissa style.