Gahiji: Forever War

Commander / EDH* awalloftext

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Set Exploration: Commander 2019 —Aug. 15, 2019

Oh boy! It's been a while since a big update, and Commander 2019 is the perfect opportunity. Still love and play this deck (just got it some new sleeves), and there sure are some fun updates this set!

New Recruits

Unsuprisingly, with a Naya-colored token themed deck, there are a TON of potential additions. As always, this Gahiji build tries to balance politics and token aggro, and these are the kind of cards I'm interested in:

• Marisi, Breaker of the Coil: Yeah. This cat fucks. Not only is it a perfectly, amazingly on-theme card, you could even have it as the commander of this deck in Gahiji's place.

• Tahngarth, First Mate: A hilarious card in the same wheelhouse as Rite of the Raging Storm. One of the biggest downsides of Rite is the prevelance of sacrifice outlets (and also Skullclamp) in EDH; Tahngarth gets around these issues, but is easier to remove. Personally, I think this effect is so much fun, I'm just going to try to run both.

• Bloodthirsty Blade: A home run. The effect is cheap, powerful, and perfect for Gahiji.

• Pendant of Prosperity: The sort of Group Hug-adjacent effect that we want. Usually, best to give this out to the person that's most behind (you want them to use it, after all). Won't break a stalemate when it's down to 1v1, that's for sure, but it certainly gets the politicking game started early.

• Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero: I'm not 100% sold on Gerrard yet; most of the time he's just a 5/3 first striking bruiser. However, wrath protection is always good, so he still might be worth running! Personally, I think Dauntless Escort is just slightly better here.

Other Cards to Consider

As mentioned above, the new Naya deck this year has any number of cards for token support. Although, honestly, if you're running Gahiji for pure token aggro, you might just be better off running the deck's headliner: Ghired, Conclave Exile!

• Populate Support: For token heavy builds, look no further than the new Song of the Worldsoul, Full Flowering, Ghired's Belligerence, and Selesnya Eulogist. Most of these are hefty mana sinks, but the effects are definitely powerful.

• Ohran Frostfang: I like this card a lot, but I feel like this build doesn't have room. Still, great synergy with Marisi!

• Dockside Extortionist: Interesting ramp on a creature.

• Sevinne's Reclamation: A decent recursion option.

• Notable Reprints: Sun Titan, Ghostly Prison, Chaos Warp, Beast Within, Solemn Simulacrum

My Swaps:

• -Warmonger Hellkite // +Marisi, Breaker of the Coil

• -Hornet Nest // +Tahngarth, First Mate

• -Rhys the Redeemed // +Bloodthirsty Blade

• -Lifecrafter's Bestiary // +Pendant of Prosperity: Bestiary's an excellent card, but I want to give Pendant a fair shake. Might swap back eventually.

• -Sunforger // +Skullwinder: Dropping the Sunforger angle for now, as I've gotten a little tired of it.

• -Mistveil Plains // +Kher Keep: As above, without Sunforger, Mistveil is an easy swap.