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Kamahl and Friends (Elf Ramp)

Commander / EDH* Elves Mono-Green Ramp

NovoAevum


Maybeboard


Kamahl, Fist of Krosa for some pump, a whole lot of mana ramp, a bunch of big green stompie guys, and a little bit of annihilator here and there, I mean really... that's all I ever wanted.

It took me a long time to get to this point, actually. Having Kamahl, Fist of Krosa be my commander is something I decided to do recently but I have no regrets. I have probably made 10 to 20 different variations of elf decks, but one of the first I ran had Omnath, Locus of Mana as the commander. A fair amount of elves provided all the mana I needed for tutoring, acquiring hexproof, and throwing out some of the nastier green creatures out there ( Vigor , Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger , etc.). However, the deck was built for a 1v1 situation since I played against only a few friends and never in pods or multiplayer. When I played my first ever tournament a couple of months ago with the deck I quickly realized what I had wasn't actually any good for anything multiplayer. I still own the bulk of this previous build and I'm currently in the processing of reshaping the deck into what is posted above.

A few of the guys at the group gave me some suggestions for commanders, and because I had seen him in so many other decklists I looked up online, I elected to use Ezuri, Renegade Leader. I have this posted and will keep it there because I'm still a big of fan elf tribal and I'll be adjusting it in the future to be a lot more elf tribal. However, I wish to physically construct my Kamahl, Fist of Krosa version first because he's like the perfect combination of the two decks. Elf tribal is effective and can certainly win games but it wasn't what I personally wanted to have elves do. Initially I loved elves because I loved the idea of elf ramp into big guys, but because elves give so much excess mana the pump provided by Ezuri, Renegade Leader outweighed the benefit of having a bunch of stompies. Thus Kamahl, Fist of Krosa , is my perfect solution.

I feel like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is a card a more experienced player would definitely know about but even though I've been playing Magic for a few years my knowledge of cards - otherwise common to other people - can be pretty limited. When I discovered him a couple of weeks ago it was love at first sight and I began making various designs but really liked this one the best. I threw in just about every elf with 3 cmc or less that produces mana and this adds so much ramp you usually don't have to worry about land drops. 27 of 49 creatures provide some sort of ramp, 4 of these costing 4 mana and the rest being 3 or below. There are 15 creatures with power 5 or greater (not including Gigantomancer ). I tried to pick out the biggest guys with the best effects for my field, examples being:

  • Void Winnower to stop or at least slow down some board wipes.
  • Patron of the Orochi is excellent for ramping Kamahl.
  • Paleoloth is great because my lack of non-permanent graveyard recovery is very low (i.e Creeping Renaissance, Seasons Past). If one day I don't run Primal Surge I might remove him for one of these cards but I still think it's a cool effect.
  • Gigantomancer is easy to grab with Wild Pair and while you have to leave mana open (it doesn't usually curve perfectly anyways) I still think it's a great defense against burn. Additionally if I have a bunch of little 1/1, 1/2, etc. elves out I can pay 5 mana to have them get +6/+6 (roughly) instead of the 5 going towards Kamahl, giving me only +3/+3.
  • I then included just 4 Eldrazi cards and so far in testing I can play Kozilek, Butcher of Truth typically between turns 5 - 7. His casting effect is the nicest of the 4 and fills my hand that's pretty empty by that time, plus he's a pretty big threat that demands immediate attention. All 4 of the Eldrazis are, that's why they're here.

Of course these are just examples but I think a lot of the high cost cards in the deck sync well with the overall goal. They make the average cmc of the deck pretty high at 4+ but the sheer amount of mana ramp makes up for this.

Primal Surge can be a near win condition, if not one entirely, if there isn't a board wipe before you're next turn or you've got Concordant Crossroads out. I am still testing different versions of this build and it's possible I discover something more efficient/flexible that involves a higher number of sorcery cards and instants.

Another win condition are the infinite combo's in the deck:
- Umbral Mantle + a big mana dork + 3 other elves
- Staff of Domination + a big mana dork + 4 other elves, or
- Maze of Ith + Argothian Elder
Your big mana dorks that can cause the infinite mana trigger are:
- Priest of Titania
- Elvish Archdruid
- Wirewood Channeler
- Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
- Karametra's Acolyte
- Viridian Joiner

These two methods, along with traditional pumping and swinging of lots of big guys are what win games. I'm very open to lots of ideas for the deck, I think that's about all I have to say for now so let me know if you have feedback at all. Also, definitely will add Survival of the Fittest and a Gaea's Cradle one day when I have more available funds.

Suggestions

Updates Add

I put in Paradox Engine and took out one more Forrest. Although removing some land/ramp here and in the other update it hasn't slowed down the deck at all, still runs smooth and this card is pretty ridiculous.

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

12 - 0 Mythic Rares

33 - 0 Rares

19 - 0 Uncommons

12 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.31
Tokens Copy Clone, Elf Druid 1/1 G
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