Jolrael, Empress of Beasts EDH

Commander / EDH Theme/Gimmick

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Instant (5)

• 1x Artisan's Sorrow
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Constant Mists
• 1x Momentous Fall
• 1x Rootgrapple

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Boundless Realms
• 1x Bramblecrush
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Desert Twister
• 1x Explore
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Howl of the Night Pack
• 1x Hunting Wilds
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Ranger's Path
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Restock
• 1x Revive
• 1x Rude Awakening
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Gaea's Touch
• 1x Khalni Heart Expedition
• 1x Lignify

Artifact (11)

• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Horn of Greed
• 1x Mishra's Helix
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Relic of Progenitus
• 1x Seer's Sundial
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Tower of Fortunes

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
• 1x Nissa, Worldwaker

Creature (21)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Ant Queen
• 1x Archetype of Endurance
• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x Avenging Druid
• 1x Deadwood Treefolk
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Engulfing Slagwurm
• 1x Fertilid
• 1x Frontier Guide
• 1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1x Nacatl War-Pride
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Polukranos, World Eater
• 1x Rampaging Baloths
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Seedguide Ash
• 1x Silklash Spider
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Yavimaya Elder

Land (37)

• 1x Bant Panorama
• 1x Blasted Landscape
• 32x Forest
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 1x Tranquil Thicket

Commander (1)

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The obvious goal of this deck is to ramp incredibly hard into a huge wall of land. It's got various methods of getting around playstyles. I focused heavily on making this deck get better card advantage than most other jolrael lists I've seen, since card in hand is incredibly important for her ability. Once LFTL gets drawn or thrown into the yard, we never lose her ability.

I chose to forsake some of the more traditional protections for jolrael in lieu of CA engines and/or control. This deck has very unassuming inevitability. If let go unchecked, it can quickly grow to 10-14 lands by turn 6-7, swinging for lethal either through Beastmaster Ascension, Kamahl, or sheer tokens.

Rampaging Baloths is a must-answer card in this build, since the amount of ramp available is insane.

Similarly, this deck wouldn't be able to function without Harmonize, Horn of Greed, or Seer's Sundial. Caged Sun + Seer's Sundial with any of the extra land per turn enablers acts as a lopsided horn of greed. LFTL and the cycle lands are equally as important to the digging of this deck. 7 mana + 3 cycle lands in hand and LFTL in GY (easy to do, actually) creates intense card advantage. Without these packages, this deck would simply not function since we would play our hand out and be stuck in topdeck mode for the rest of the game by turn 6. It is important to protect LFTL at all costs. I often keep thicket in my hand till the last second to ensure I can get it back in case of exile.

The creatures themselves are rather predictable for this kind of build, except with my emphasis on ramp creatures. I'm not kidding about trying to get ALL of your lands onto your battlefield as soon as possible, since this is the main wincon and improves the weaker draw power of mono-green.

Mishra's Helix is advised to use the turn BEFORE you go in for the kill. Lock blue players out of blue mana. Don't use it unless you plan to kill, or need to stop a combo deck during their upkeep since it is incredibly oppressive with the mana this deck generates and will make players fear the card.

The weaknesses are obvious. Your lands die to wraths/Bounce. I considered Thousand Year Elixir to neutralize the battlefield, but I decided that Jolrael was rattlesnake enough and avoiding creature count based card-draw also helped keep my lands safely on the battlefield (This means ignoring Slate of Ancestry and Collective Unconscious, and Regal Force) Having to animate my lands to generate CA and not kill has put me back to turn 0 more times than I care to admit. This is also why Dosan of the falling leaf is included. I don't care too much about playing on the opponents turn, since everything I'd want to do on their turn is an ability of a permanent.

I'm still undecided on if Elixir of Immortality has a place here, since Bow of Nylea let's me pick what I want to go back into my deck, should I accidentally hit something valuable with LFTL. Similarly with Regrowth, Restock, and Restore. Should I find myself decking out too frequently, I'll have to take something out for it.

It's got a fair bit of removal in it, most of the best removal available for green. Desert Twister's 6 CMC doesn't pose too big of an issue, considering I have 6 mana usually by turn 4, when most other decks ramp is starting to kick into play.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	9 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 26 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.00
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Beast 4/4 G, Elephant 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 G, Plant 0/1 G, Wolf 2/2 G, Wurm 6/6 G