This is my take on Rhys the Redeemed and his token swarming abilities. I didn't want to build an elf tribal because I thought this style would give me more opportunity to create stronger and better creatures. First off, Rhys as a commander is great and his ability to double your number of tokens and cheap casting cost make him intensely powerful for this style of deck. I intend to play Rhys and abuse his powers when I'm ready and use his abilities in addition to the other token generators in the deck to swarm the board and seal the win.
The creatures:
I chose to go non-elf in this deck because I wanted a variety of creatures and ways to cast them quick and cheap. Creatures like ant queen, bramble sovereign, and tendershoot dryad give me the opportunity to generate loads of tokens of various types and do them as often as I can afford them. Other creatures in the deck focus on removal, buffing other creatures/win cons, and assisting the deck with tutoring for what I need when I need it. The deck runs a lot of token generators in the form of instants buffed by enchantments to double, triple, or possibly even quadruple the number of tokens entering the battlefield, or in the case of Rhys anytime I want to.
Instants/Sorceries:
Cards such as march of the multitudes, secure the wastes, white sun's zenith, finale of glory, and martial coup allow me to generate as many tokens as I can afford. Comboed with enchantments this can create some serious token doubling/tripling or quadrupling effects that can quickly swarm the board.
Card Draw:
I tried to add some card draw to this deck in any way possible to get some advantage and control over what I need and how to get it. Sensei's Divining top is obvious and skullclamp combined with any number of tokens sacrificed for use in this deck can bring numerous cards into my hand. Mentor of the meek works well comboed with any of my small tokens hitting the battlefield and allows me to pay 1 for a card as well. Oracle of Mul Daya helps to eliminate mana pockets and while revealing my next card, allows me to pump more land onto the battlefield and thins the deck out to what I need.
Hate/Defense:
I play in a group with decks of various colors and styles so I need to be ready for anything. To that end I've included staples like Aura Shards, krosan grip, path to exile, and both generous gift and beast within to provide targeted permanent removal. I've added a strip mine just in case to take care of any pesky lands. Glare of Subdual is a sneaky control card allowing me to tap tokens to tap opponent's artifacts and creatures; handy in a bad situation with creatures to spare! Finally, privileged position and sterling grove protect enchantments and permanents and help keep pesky spells away from the cards we need to win. I've added a lot of protection spells to this deck including teferi's protection, rebuff the wicked, root born defenses, and heroic intervention to save the board state and ward of targeted removal and board wipes.
Buildup:
This deck runs power build up in the form of Bow of Nylea, Eldrazi Monument, and Beastmaster Ascension. All allow us to make our tokens big, adds effects to them and makes them much more deadly. Cards such as Craterhoof Behemoth are obvious and a win condition in of itself, and Overwhelming stampede can be game ending. Champion of Lambholt is interesting and can make all tokens unblockable very quickly with her card power. Elesh Norn can both kill opponent's creatures outright, and buffs ours by an additional +2. The enchantments in this deck can make things get crazy super fast. In addition to Rhys, this deck runs numerous token doublers and cards like Cathar's Crusade can drop double digit strength creatures onto the battlefield instantly.
Mana ramp/creation:
Gaea's Cradle, Sol Ring, land fetches, and enchantments such as Mirari's Wake, Mana Reflection, Earthcraft, and Cryptolith Rite to add and reuse our resources and creatures as much as possible. Birds of Paradise, arbor elf, and Lanowar Elves give cheap easy mana each turn while Weathered Wayfarer searches for a land each turn for only the cost of a white mana. Smothering tithe can be doubly effective with some of the enchantments on the board and can double treasure tokens. Oracle of Mul Daya puts land onto the battlefield quicker and helps with land draws when you have to have something else.
Recursion and Tutors:
This deck runs lots of tutors to help fetch out what is needed and when. Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic tutor help to get artifacts and enchantments as needed and a worldly tutor helps to grab a needed creature. Worldly tutor, Eladamri's Call and Green Sun's Zenith all bring tutor ability as well. Academy Rector when sacrificed and then exiled puts an enchantment onto the battlefield. Recursion comes in the form of eternal Witness and Noxious Revival allowing you to grab whatever you may need and use it again. Bow of Nylea puts any four cards I choose shuffled back into the deck to be reused a second time.
Combos and Win Conditions:
This deck utilizes loads of creature tokens and swarms to beat an opponent down. If that doesn't work by itself Craterhoof Behemoth, Overwhelming Stampede, and the Artifacts beef up all your creatures making them far deadlier. Combined with enchantments these creatures should overload any defenses your opponent's have and secure the win.
Earth craft and Squirrel's nest- this is an older one but still effective. Infinite squirrels from tapping an enchanted land with Squirrel's nest attached to create a squirrel and then tapping that squirrel with Earthcraft to create infinite squirrels. Combined with just about any of the artifacts and enchantments or by themselves should be enough to seal the win.
Bramble Sovereign- This card is seriously insane and combined with any of the enchantments, token generators, big gun creatues etc. this will allow you to copy any creatures or tokens you put onto the battlefield. With no Legendaries in the deck other than Rhys, this allows you to copy tutor creatures, Craterhoof Behemoth, land with birds of paradise or the elves and more. Doubling rules apply here as well with Rhys and the enchantments.
Mirror Entity- dumping all my mana into this card can allow for a big swing and a win at the right time. Adding different creature types can help with getting around any spells preventing damage from a certain type of creature as well.
Thanks everybody for taking time time to take a look. This is just my first build of this deck and I'm looking forward to your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions to help make it even better. I will post updates as I continue to play and test the cards in this deck and make any changes as needed.
Note this deck if officially retired, I loved building it, playing it, and tweaking it but it just never seemed to get off the ground enough to get the win.
