Edric Elf-Ball

Commander / EDH Elves GU (Simic)

wkowert

Creature (37)

• 1x Allosaurus Shepherd
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Coiling Oracle
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
• 1x Elvish Archdruid
• 1x Elvish Champion
• 1x Elvish Harbinger
• 1x Elvish Lyrist
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Elvish Reclaimer
• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Elvish Warmaster
• 1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Frilled Mystic
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Heritage Druid
• 1x Imperious Perfect
• 1x Incubation Druid
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Joraga Warcaller
• 1x Leaf-Crowned Visionary
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1x Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Realmwalker
• 1x Spire Tracer
• 1x Treetop Scout

Land (33)

• 1x Barkchannel Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Botanical Sanctum
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 6x Forest
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 6x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Secluded Courtyard
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Wirewood Lodge
• 1x Yavimaya Coast
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Elvish Promenade
• 1x Expropriate
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Natural Order
• 1x Notorious Throng
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes

Artifact (3)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel

Commander (1)

Instant (16)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Unified Will
• 1x Veil of Summer

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library

---

Introduction

This is my elf tribal deck, helmed by Edric, Spymaster of Trest. There are a lot of options for playing an elf deck—Ezuri, Renegade Leader; Marwyn, the Nurturer; and especially now Lathril, Blade of the Elves. However, all of these are second-rate elf commenders compared to Edric. This is the first commander deck I ever built, and the design has slowly evolved throughout the years. It's not designed to hang at a cEDH table, but is otherwise very well tuned and very competitive.

Why Edric over other elf commanders?

While Edric is maybe most famous for the highly tuned flying men style of deck, I've found that his talents lend equally well to his fellow elves. So why play Edric over any of the other choices for an elf commander? I think it comes down to two main things:

1. Edric provides a reliable source of card draw. Mana and card draw are two sturdy pillars that hold up many a commander deck. Elves come by mana quite naturally. Many of the creatures in this deck will tap to add more mana. And in the case of Priest of Titania or Elvish Archdruid, it can be a lot of mana. However, what elves have often lacked is a reliable source of card draw to keep the elf-ball rolling. Here's where Edric steps in in a big way. All of our early 1 and 2 drops quickly turn into card draw once Edric hits the board. Because this deck has planned around having a lot of elves hit the board early, we'll be in a better position to take advantage of Edric's ability than our opponents.

2. Edric gives us access to blue. Most elf decks don't have blue and because of that, the general game plan of playing a huge board of elves is extremely vulnerable to interaction from opponents. Green has some ways to combat a wrath effect, like Heroic Intervention. But green's solutions are few and far between. And nothing is as universal as just being able to hold up a counterspell.

Gameplan

There's nothing wildly creative here compared to other go wide strategies. The early turns should be spent playing as many elves as possible. When choosing whether or not to mulligan, I highly value being able to play Edric on turn 2. Hitting the ground running with elves before our opponents all get down blockers is very important. It can be tricky to find a good balance between using your elves for more mana versus attacking to draw more cards. But the flexibility of each elf to either add mana or draw a card can be very nice. Once we have a solid amount of elves in play, we can protect our board with the decent amount of countermagic in the deck. Then it's just about digging to one of the game winning cards like Expropriate, Craterhoof Behemoth, or Triumph of the Hordes. Our countermagic is also great at making sure those game winning threats resolve.

The Manabase

I've actually found the manabase for this deck to be pretty demanding even though it's only two colors. Our cards have a lot of colored pips in their manacost, so it's very important to pay attention to what lands you're tapping. Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is really strong for us because it not only makes all of our islands into dual lands, but it also synergizes with Eladamri, Lord of Leaves and Elvish Champion to let all of our elves forestwalk in for more Edric triggers.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	9 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.36
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Manifest 2/2 C