Making a powerful elf deck has been a goal of mine ever since I got into EDH after buying my first
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
deck & until I decided to make
Marwyn, the Nurturer
command the deck instead the deck wasn't really coming together. I initially built the deck with a +1 counter theme throughout along with getting my commander enough power to go infinite, but now I've opted instead to go full ham with infinite win cons up the wazzoo and placing all my bets on
Marwyn, the Nurturer
producing infinite mana with untap effects. I've also included the 2 deck lists I consulted to help build this deck at the bottom should you be looking into building a deck with this commander yourselves, they were a great resource.
As mentioned earlier the goal of this deck is to produce infinite mana as soon as possible so mana ramping is a big part of this deck. To start I believe I'm running every 1 cost elf that produces mana in MTG, cards like
Llanowar Elves
,
Elvish Mystic
, &
Arbor Elf
. I'm running these cards because they allow me to cast
Marwyn, the Nurturer
turn 2 & with this being a low land deck they're nice to have around should something happen to my commander. I also run other powerful mana ramp spells such as
Leyline of Abundance
which greatly accelerates my commanders ability to go infinite should it be in my opening hand,
Elvish Harbinger
which allows me to tutor for any other elves I may need, &
Priest of Titania
who can also easily produce infinite mana with enough elves on field.
Now with this being a very aggressive deck many players in my group naturally attempt to remove
Marwyn, the Nurturer
before she can produce a quick win so it is vital this deck run a healthy amount of protection for my commander. Perhaps the best of these cards being
Vines of Vastwood
which not only provides protection but also buffs my commander,,
Heroic Intervention
which is one of the few cards that can save my whole board from a board wipe, &
Lightning Greaves
which provides continuous protection as long as it's attached.
Like most commander decks I also run a healthy amount of removal should I need to interact with my opponents board, after all you never know what the deck your playing against is capable of. Some notable inclusions are
Kenrith's Transformation
which can neutralize a commander & replace itself with another card,
Beast Within
which is capable of removing any permanent, &
Force of Vigor
which can be cast for zero should the need arise as my opponents accelerate their board states.
This deck also runs a good amount of tutors & card draw to grab hold of a card to win the game or ensure my deck doesn't run out of gas. Some of my favorites are
Glimpse of Nature
which can draw most of the deck with infinite mana,
Sylvan Library
which is just good card draw,
Rishkar's Expertise
which draws a bunch of cards than plays a big boy, &
Chord of Calling
which can tutor straight to the battlefield.
Now while
Marwyn, the Nurturer
is capable of quickly reaching the desired power to produce infinite mana with an untap engine sometimes she can reach her desired power even faster with a few exceptional buffing cards. These include
Invigorate
which can be cast for zero mana by giving one of our opponents 3 measly life,
Berserk
which can double Marwyn's power or act as removal under the right circumstances, &
Timberwatch Elf
which with one tap can buff Marwyn exponentially.
Of course to play any of these big green spells we need to be able to untap
Marwyn, the Nurturer
at a mana profit to reach infinite mana so we have a variety of means with which to achieve this goal. Some of these include
Wirewood Symbiote
&
Temur Sabertooth
which easily pair together to grant Marwyn infinite power,
Umbral Mantle
which equips to my commander to provide infinite untaps at the right power, &
Staff of Domination
Which can not only grant infinite mana but also draw the entire deck if desired to win the game with said infinite mana.
For the deck to be successful we need a win-con that can use our infinite mana to cast our metaphorical Spirit Bomb though, which the deck has an abundance of. Some of my favorite ways to win include
Helix Pinnacle
to win with tower counters of all things,
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
&
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
to cast infinite
Overrun
effects on my board,
Finale of Devastation
to play every creature in my deck with haste, &
Walking Ballista
to ping all my opponents to death with infinite counters.
As mentioned before this deck is a work in progress so if you have any suggestions please let me know & I'll take them into account for the build should they fit within my card budget. Thank you for checking out my deck!
Sources:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/marwyn-elf-engine/
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/10-05-18-marwyn-the-nurturer/
