Doran, the Siege Tower | Primer |

Commander / EDH* Aggro BGW (Abzan, Junk)

unkindpotato

Creature (24)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Giver of Runes
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Taunting Elf
• 1x Utopia Tree
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Omens
• 1x Abzan Beastmaster
• 1x Ochran Assassin
• 1x Runic Armasaur
• 1x Virtus the Veiled
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Gorm the Great
• 1x Indomitable Ancients
• 1x Oketra the True
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa
• 1x Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
• 1x Karametra, God of Harvests
• 1x Nethroi, Apex of Death
• 1x Silklash Spider
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

Instant (12)

• 1x Darkness
• 1x Holy Day
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Tower Defense
• 1x Abzan Charm
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Force of Vigor
• 1x Return to Dust

Land (34)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Command Tower
• 5x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Indatha Triome
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Meteor Crater
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 4x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Wood
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath

Artifact (9)

• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Meekstone
• 1x Slagwurm Armor
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Bow of Nylea
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Indatha Crystal

Commander (1)

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Treasured Find
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Vindicate
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Fell the Mighty
• 1x Dusk / Dawn

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Gravity Well
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Spidersilk Armor
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Ajani, Caller of the Pride

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One of my friends told me that Doran, the Siege Tower could never be a competitive commander. While I wouldn't say this is a Tier 1 deck by any means, I dare say I've done a good job of it. This build is a solid T3 competitor and can usually give T2 decks a real run for their money. It's a fun deck to pilot, won't make you lose your friends like my Brago, King Eternal deck does, and can hold its own in most games. Without any further delay, let me introduce:

Doran, the Siege Tower

What Everybody Does Wrong

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When I was building this commander, I noticed that the only two directions that anyone seems to go with this deck is either walls/defenders or treefolk tribal. I've played them both and found that these are overwhelmingly weak builds, and are the reason that this commander is typically found in lists of the lowest power-level decks.

Treefolk Weaknesses Show

The main weakness of treefolk tribal is the high CMC of most treefolk creatures. I've found that while cards like Ulvenwald Observer and Orchard Warden are strong, their mana cost is much too high. The majority of the tribe is hovering in the 3-4 mana range, and the more powerful cards in the tribe are in the 5+ range. When you're spending that much mana on a creature, you're going to want more bang for your buck than most treefolk provide. Furthermore, most treefolk have a relatively high power, which can deprive you of the one-sided board wipes that will be featured later in the description.

Walls/Defenders Weaknesses Show

The most obvious weakness is that walls and other creatures lack the ability to attack. You want to be on the attack as quickly as possible with this deck, and running these creature types is contrary to that goal. Sure you could run cards like Rolling Stones, but that diverts valuable deck space away from other key areas like removal and card advantage. You don't want to need another (removable) card on the field to have your creatures be able to attack, in addition to having your commander on the field to make the attack worthwhile. You want to be able to have your creatures function with as few additional pieces as possible. The less obvious weakness that walls have is a general lack of more powerful abilities. There are too many big-butted creatures that have powerful effects that don't need another card on the field to make them able to beat face.

The next most common mistake that I see is not running nearly as much card advantage as they should. If you're going to want your build to swing for the fences, you're not going to want to run out of gas by turn 4. Admittedly, finding enough draw in Abzan colors is quite difficult. I've found that cycle lands help fill out your draw package, but more on that later.

People also tend to build decks that are too heavy on creatures, or that otherwise largely play at sorcery speed. You're going to need a good amount of non-creature spells, and you're going to want to be able to play at instant speed sometimes. This may seem like an obvious point for general deckbuilding technique, but it seems like a lot of people who choose to build Doran decks throw smart deckbuilding out the window and opt for some gimmicky tribal deck.

The Gameplan

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The Early Game Show

From the get-go, you're going to want your commander to hit the field as early as possible. Doran swings for almost a quarter of an opponent's commander damage total, and you can get him out turn 3 without any ramp. Make use of this. If they can't keep Doran off the field, they're in for a rough beating. You're going to want to keep Doran on the field, pay as much mana as you have to to keep casting him.

The early game is pretty straight forward: ramp for mana so you can hit ypur 5-6 mana comfort zone asap.

You're also going to want to use your tutors to set up for the midgame. There's plenty of removal in this deck to keep opponents' threats off the field while you're setting up your midgame. The entire time you're setting up you should be punching people in the face with Doran, making sure to leave a couple of blockers to keep your life total up. You're going to need it. Use your gas to get you to your midgame as quickly as possible. I like to use Mother of Runes to keep my commander alive for as long as possible.

The Midgame Show

Once you've managed to acquire either Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or Zendikar Resurgent, the gameplan is pretty simple: play as many creatures as possible and keep punching in the face. I use either Gorm the Great orSidar Kondo of Jamuraa to make sure that the swings all land. I typically end up saving Taunting Elf or Ochran Assassin for a late game surprise, because it's so weak that typically you only get one use out of it without using recursion. You're stalling to hit your late game cards. Between Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper and Rhox Faithmender, you can usually get enough extra life to buy some time.

Preferably at this point you would have also hit Ajani, Caller of the Pride and either begun to close in on an ult or used his minus ability to land some heavy hits with Doran. If you see Craterhoof Behemoth, you're going to want to be going for Ajani's ult ability. Unfortunately, I've found that Ajani typically doesn't make it that far, so I usually find myself using his minus ability. Try to save a recursion spell for Craterhoof, but this is not always possible.

Using board wipes is a great way to stall for time (especially given that they're going to be rather one-sided) usually, but do try to not nuke your Vorinclex or Sidar Kondo.

The Late Game Show

Your late game has officially begun when you've got a decent amount of mana at your disposal (Preferably 10+), and have Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or, preferably (due to the draw effect), Zendikar Resurgent (or both!). Your board should be well developed with several high-toughness creatures and a way to make sure your attacks land.

By the time you get to this point, there is a good chance that one or more other players at the table have been eliminated, ideally getting you to a 1v1 situation. Try to find Craterhoof Behemoth and hopefully snag some more creatures along the way. Now's the time to dump that Taunting Elf or Ochran Assassin, because Sidar Kondo isn't going to work on a craterhoof attack. Barring that, you can hit the field with a boardwipe and then Craterhoof (because the wipes are largely one-sided) Once you've done that and connected, hopefully you'll have done enough damage to kill a player or get them to a very low life total. Otherwise, you're gonna want to find a way to blow up and recur Craterhoof to do it again. Once you've exhausted your Craterhoofing, you go back to the midgame plan and continue beating face. This is not an issue because by the time you Craterhoof, the game will be almost over anyway.

If It Wasn't For Money

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Because unfortunately I don't have an infinite budget, and because this is a decklist that reflects a deck that I actually own, I've had to make some budget substitutions for cards that I will eventually buy. This is not a long list, admittedly barely worth its own section The planned changes are as follows

IN Show

Mana Crypt

Dual Lands (sub for basics)

OUT Show

This section is much harder to write than the "IN" section, and my answers here are much less decisive. I'm just going to include all of the cards I've considered cutting. The deck is very functional as is and I'm always hesitant to cut cards that have worked well for me.

Murmuring Bosk

Llanowar Elves

Indomitable Ancients

Cultivate

I always appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Remember to leave a +1

Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.89
Tokens	Cat 2/2 W, Treasure, Warrior 1/1 W w/ Vigilance
Folders	Considerations