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Najeela, Three's a Crowd

Commander / EDH Aggro Five Color Theme/Gimmick Tokens Tribal

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Creature (29)

Enchantment (8)

Land (38)

Sorcery (5)

Commander (1)

Commander: Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Artifact (10)

Instant (8)

Planeswalker (1)

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Instant (5)

Sorcery (5)

Enchantment (1)

Creature (1)

So it all started when somebody posted an article in an MtG group I'm in (Which can be found here http://www.starcitygames.com/articles/37937_The-Three-Mana-Choke-Point-In-Commander.html ) that described the ubiquity of cards with CMC 3 in commander, and how it throws off clean mana curves. So that of course got me thinking "Hey, let's take this to its logical extreme and make a deck that is only cards with CMC 3."

Najeela was the obvious choice, being the only 3 CMC legend with a color identity of WUBRG. Of course, since I was already playing Najeela, I would be silly to not make it warrior tribal. So I threw the deck together in about two hours and tested it out with some friends. To my surprise, the deck actually functions fairly well. Like, really well in fact. So much so that I want to put the deck together physically. I will take any suggestions you're willing to give about what to add/remove to make the deck better. One particular place that could really use tweaking is the mana base, which I fully acknowledge is pretty terrible.

Also, I wish I could run all of the token doubler cards, such as Parallel Lives and Anointed Procession, but none of them fit within the deck's restriction. Basically, if it's an obvious Najeela inclusion and I'm not running it, it's almost definitely because its mana cost is too high/low. Still, suggestions are welcome. (Also yes, I'm aware that Sol Ring is in the deck. I liked the idea of the joke being "All 3 mana except Sol Ring," but now I'm unsure. I may take it out. If I do, what would you run instead?)

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1st Revision — Nov. 8, 2018
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Added: Thunder-Thrash Elder, Bygone Bishop, Tireless Tracker, Primal Growth, Hanweir Garrison  Meld, Dimir Machinations, Perplex, Druids' Repository, Disallow, Bontu's Last Reckoning, Mercy Killing, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Song of the Dryads, Worn Powerstone

Removed: Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Renegade Rallier, Obsidian Battle-Axe, Merciless Executioner, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Winnower Patrol, Sol Ring, Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Quasiduplicate, Dack Fayden, Jace, Cunning Castaway, Gideon of the Trials, Myth Unbound

Maybeboarded: Drift of Phantasms, Imprisoned in the Moon, Windfall, Sudden Spoiling, Forbid, Counterflux, Toxic Deluge, Immortal Servitude, Genesis Wave, Chance for Glory, Rootborn Defenses, Far Wanderings

In addition to the changes above, I'm going to rebuild the manabase from the ground up to be something a bit more functional. Changes to lands include adding Hanweir Battlements  Meld and Westvale Abbey  Flip.

Reasons for adding/removing: -Thunder-Thrash Elder can get huge quickly in a deck where your board is constantly full of delicious tokens. Having a swole creature is good, but it combos nicely with some of the other cards in the deck. -Bygone Bishop is much needed card draw, and in addition, helps out our good buddy Tireless Tracker, who was also added because she's actually just an insane card. -Primal Growth is good ramp, and with Sol Ring leaving the list, it fills in the ramp position nicely. -Hanweir Garrison  Meld makes us some more really tasty tokens, and although they aren't warriors, they're still a welcome addition. Plus, with the inclusion of Hanweir Battlements  Meld, there's a nonzero chance of getting a massive eldrazi ooze to smash face with. -Dimir Machinations and Perplex both tutor for every nonland card in the deck, which is good for adding consistency the deck otherwise would not have. In addition, Perplex is one of my favorite counterspells ever printed, having a decent chance of seriously disrupting an opponent. -Druids' Repository is a card I'm kicking myself for not including initially. Infinite combat steps? Yes please. -Disallow is arguably the best 3 mana counterspell. Obviously this is a contentious claim, but it's how I feel about it. -Bontu's Last Reckoning fills a pretty big hole in the deck, that being that other token strategies shut us out. Debating if I should go with Toxic Deluge instead, however. -Mercy Killing can net us a bunch of tokens, can save a creature from exile, combos nicely with Thunder-Thrash Elder for a buttload of warriors, and works as removal in a pinch. -Lifecrafter's Beastiary is the card I always mention when I bring up underrated cards, but I always forget to run it myself. Nice card draw and the scry helps filter a bit as well. -Song of the Dryads is great enchantment based removal. Being able to neutralize every kind of permanent is a serious asset. -Worn Powerstone takes the deck up to 11, fully committing to the theme of the deck. I hope people apreciate the dumb meme.

-Derevi, Empyrial Tactician doesn't actually do a ton for me in this deck. It's command zone ability is useless in the 99 and getting to tap/untap is of minimal importance. If I'm going to run non-warrior creatures, there needs to be a solid reason for it. -Renegade Rallier. I straight up just have no idea why I put this in here in the first place. All of the cards are CMC 3 and the most he can do is get back a land for me. -Obsidian Battle-Axe gives haste, which is nice, kind of lets it act as a psuedo-Lightning Greaves in a warrior tribal deck, but honestly in the testing I've done the haste hasn't really been necessary. -Merciless Executioner is fantastic and I love it and its friend Fleshbag Marauder, but having both cuts out valuable space for other creatures like Tireless Tracker and Hanweir Garrison  Meld. I am sad to see it go considering it was a warrior, however. -Varolz, the Scar-Striped was me kind of filling in holes with random 3 mana warriors. Varolz has some merit, being able to buff our creatures, but is antithetical to cards like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. -Winnower Patrol was a janky include I used to fill space. -Sol Ring was the single hardest decision to make about this deck. I wasn't sure if the joke had more impact as being "All CMC 3" or "All CMC 3 except Sol Ring, because Sol Ring." In the end though, I think if I can make the deck work well with zero cards outside the limitation, it has a lot more merit. -Propaganda and Ghostly Prison are both cards I really dislike, honestly. They're good cards and can lead to fun gameplay states, but I would rather this deck be very swingy and lead to fun games where boardstates are constantly changing. Locking out combats doesn't seem like a good way to achieve that to me. -Quasiduplicate is an interesting card that can do some neat things, but the number of creatures I'd actually want to copy with it are relatively small. Best to let the slot go to something I know I'll want to use most of the time. -Dack Fayden, Jace, Cunning Castaway and Gideon of the Trials are all cool planeswalkers, but defending a planeswalker you get out turn 3 is pretty much impossible in this deck. Not only that, but they don't really mesh well with the strategy. Domri Rade I still have high hopes for, however. -Myth Unbound is a great card, but in making room for more active inclusions, it's a reasonable thing to cut. Najeela being 3 mana means she isn't hurt too badly by having to be recast from the command zone a few times.

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Revision 1 See all

(5 years ago)

+1 Blood Crypt main
-1 Gideon of the Trials main
+1 Godless Shrine main
+1 Hallowed Fountain main
+1 Hanweir Battlements  Meld main
+1 Krosan Verge main
-1 Nomad Outpost main
+1 Sacred Foundry main
+1 Steam Vents main
+1 Watery Grave main
+1 Westvale Abbey  Flip main
+1 Worn Powerstone main
Top Ranked
  • Achieved #23 position overall 5 years ago
Date added 5 years
Last updated 5 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

6 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

21 - 0 Uncommons

13 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.00
Tokens Ashaya, the Awoken World, Beast 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Clue, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW, Emblem Domri Rade, Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Human 1/1 R, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Warrior 1/1 W, Warrior 1/1 W w/ Vigilance, Warrior 2/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B
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