Rhys Token Strategy designed to go wide with the cheapest token producers possible. Rhys the Redeemed has a doubling effect that if left unchecked can end the game very quickly. It's cheap versatile mana cost allows it to be cast turn 1 each game and gives you a sink for you early game mana if you want to save threats in hand for future scenarios.
I have broken the deck down into 11 subsections that show how it operates.
Ramp: To generate as many tokens as possible requires as much mana as possible. The ramp is as low costed as possible to allow for explosive starts and to try to ensure a turn 2 play most games. Sol Ring, Joraga Treespeaker, Nature's Lore, Cultivate, Three Visits, Wood Elves and Skyshroud Claim enable this deck to outrace opponents and fill the board with creatures before they have a chance to draw their answers.
Doublers: Our Commander allows us to double our tokens so additional cards are run for redundancy to capitalize on the plethora of token generation we are running. Doubling Season is a must have as it not only doubles our tokens as they are made but also interacts with our cards that use counters. card:Annointed Procession is another doubling effect whereas Mirari's Wake will double the mana our lands produce while also pumping all our tokens. Growing Rites of Itlimoc
can double up our mana and is a nice budget replacement for Gaea's Cradle and can be tutored for with enchentment tutors. Any of these cards left unchecked will quickly win the game.
X-Token Spells: This Section is the cards the reward us the most for ramping. Secure the Wastes is very cheap and versatile as it can be played at instant speed. March of the Multitudes is also instant speed but more mana intensive with the payoff being the flexibility of convoke as well as the upside of lifelink . Finally, card:Marital Coup is a sorcery speed token generator that also acts as a board wipe.
Reuseable Token Generators: The best way to keep ahead of our opponents is to never stop pumping out tokens. card:Impervious perfect is the best investment netting one token for 1 mana, she also pumps those and all other elves we control including our fragile 1/1 commander. Ant Queen is a large 5 power body that can pump many 1/1 tokens out if left alive. Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter is a versatile card that can either pump out 1/1's for 3 mana or huge beaters for 5 mana if we are allowed to assemble a wide board. Sprout Swarm can take over games just by itself but requires a large initial investment. card:Elspeth, Sun's Chammpion can throw tons of soldiers around and is absolutely absurd if you have Doubling Season out. Legion's Landing
, Luminarch Ascension, are essential for recovering from boardwipes. The same can be said about the lands Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree, Springjack Pasture & Kjeldoran Outpost.All of the cards mentioned in the above section gain immense value when you have Seedborn Muse as you can pump out more tokens on each of you opponents turns.
ETB Token Generators: Avenger of Zendikar is built for this kind of deck, 0/1's can be lethal even without his landfall trigger which is just gravy. Hornet Queen and the tokens it produces are a good way to disincentivize threats from attacking you. Mycoloth doesn't create tokens as it enters but he does devour and become an engine all on his own. Thragtusk creates a token on his death and his lifegain can be a welcome sight in many a late game.
Card Draw: This is one of decks weak points and because of this card draw often comes in spurts. Sylvan Library is our most repeatable option without requiring a mana sink. Skullclampdoes but it was made for this deck as once it is on your board it essentially reads 'pay one mana draw two cards'. Skullmulcher is a great way to refill your hand if you start running out of gas. Mentor of the Meek allows the deck to pull some explosive turns. Because our card draw options are so shallow this is why our enchantment/land repeatable token generators are so important, they allow us to continue to play even when we are short on cards in hand. The high number of tutors in the deck means that you can predict when you will need card draw and easily get some in hand to make sure you do not fall behind in the game.
Recursion:The graveyard is not a main focus of this deck but through playing a game of commander it will inevitably start to fill up. Eternal Witness is a great way to grab our non-creature cards like our X-spells back to our hand for another token explosion. Genesis once in our graveyard will give us access to whatever cards we need beck for a small price on our upkeep. Karmic Guide & Reveillark will grab our creatures and return them to the battlefield. They also combo with Saffi Eriksdotter and a sac outlet to produce infinite etb/death triggers. This allows the deck to: find all our basics with Wood Elves, create infinite tokens with several cards, gain infinite life/tokens with Thragtusk, & draw infinite cards with Skullmulcher
Sac Outlets: These cards can really abuse the numbers of tokens we can produce and also protect our forces from being targeted by our opponents. card:Ashnod's Alter allows for some very explosive turns and can easily double the size of our board if combined with an X-spell (lookout for counters though!). Martyr's Cause and Knight-Captain of Eos can help save us from lethal attacks and are often the cards I find myself tutoring for when I'm in trouble. The knight-captain is limited to sacrificing soldiers but we have several cards that produce these reliably. Spawning Pit is the best way to recover from a board wipe as you sac your team and then dump your mana into the spawn tokens. It also has a disgusting interaction with doubling season. High Market has the lowest impact in this deck but access to life gain (even an arguably negligible amount) at instant speed can be the difference between winning and losing some games.Finally Selfless Spirit isn't a sac out let but another great way for us to survive wrath and removal effects through its own sacrifice.
Removal: This deck tends to take a more proactive than reactive approach to games so the removal is limited. Aura Shards is bonkers and will leave you as the only person at the table with enchantments and artifacts.Bane of Progress Will also clear the board of artifacts and leaves you with a beater. Path to Exile is spot removal for creatures that the deck can't deal with or are threats to us. Board wipes are usually the last thing we want to see but are still necessary for stopping opponents who are close to winning the game. Martial Coup will wipe all creatures while leaving behind some tokens to play with. Oblivion Stone is fetchable with Enlightened Tutor in a pinch.
Tutors: Being in green & white allows us to easily find whatever creatures or enchantments we may need to answer our opponents threats or create our own. Eladamri's Call is a creature for two mana. Same with Altar of Bone and the downside is negligible here as we will almost always have creatures to spare for its additional cost. Worldly Tutor comes at the price of card advantage and tempo but is a cheap way to draw into what you need. Green Sun's Zenith & Chord of Calling are X-spell tutors that will throw a creature right on the battlefield. Fauna Shaman requires us to discard a card but is reusable and great for assembling combos such as the Reveillark one. It feels great to pitch Genesis or one of you etb creatures to find Revillark and combo off for the win. On the enchantment side of things I am currently running Sterling Grove. The shroud it grants to enchantments can lock opponents out of the game when paired with Privileged Position. Not to mention protecting your key Enchantments like Doubling Season, card:Luminarch Acsension, or Mirari's Wake. Idyllic Tutor, and Academy Rector allow for tutoring any of my powerful enchantments and the Rector being a creature allows me to use a creature tutor to find it in a pinch.
Wincons: These are the cards that will take you meager tokens and turn them into undeniable threats. Craterhoof Behemothis at its best in the deck. Mirror Entity is an X pump spell on a creatures body who can end games out of nowhere. card:Beatmaster Ascension has a clause that is very easy to meet in this deck and it pump our tokens significantly.Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is mana intensive but has a repeatable Overrun effect and his first ability is not to be overlooked. He can either animate you lands for some extra damage to close out games or turn opponents lands into creatures in response to a board-wipe. Champion of Lambholt gets out of control quickly and provides evasion to your tokens. card:Eldrazi Monunent is a card that demands an answer right away and the downside is essentially non-existent in this deck.
Mana Base:This is a portion of the deck I am slowly upgrading over time. I am including a healthy amount of basics as the ramp package can either search for basics or forests. Notable inclusions of lands that haven't been mentioned yet are: Stirring Wildwood which may be slow but I have found the reach to be handy against certain decks, Wirewood Lodge is mostly used to double your Rhys triggers per turn but can also be used with Joraga Treespeaker, Fauna Shaman, & card:Impervious perfect, Mosswort Bridge is a autoinclude in all my green decks and is easy to activate with a token army, Grove of the Guardian is a bit slow for my liking but the 8/8 body is helpful if you can copy it. Last and certainly not least is Khalni Garden who creates a 0/1 plant on ETB who is a fun turn one play and gives that sweet sweet .
