Ever since I saw Marath, I knew I wanted to make him my general. He's got a little bit of everything and is a lot of fun to play. But after testing him out for a while, I've found that making a token deck for him is the most fun and most effective way to use him. And with his number of counters increasing with each summon, he'll continue to grow with each turn. He's a mana sink that can grow and army, and with the right environment it can grow huge.
The Maybeboard is where I'm going to put cards that I personally don't run. They can still work well with this kind of set up, but for one reason or another I think there spot can be used by someone else. But feel free to use them if you want!
=======MARATH, WILL OF THE WILD=======
Marath, Will of the Wild - The is the swiss army knife of Commander. The Red Mage. The jack of all trades. Marath can do a little bit of everything, and that's what I love about him. He gets stronger the more mana you spend on him, so you don't feel bad about removing all his +1/+1's. He doesn't tap when he uses an ability, so he can fire off his powers as long as you have the mana for it. And he never leaves a turn wasted. No cards you can play this turn? Just pump mana into him and make tokens. He's wonderful, a lot of fun to play, and my favorite commander. (Fun fact: If you give him deathtouch, his ping will kill. So that's a one mana destroy. Yeah. Basilisk Collar is in the maybeboard for this reason, but I find using it while attacking with Bow of Nylea on the field works just fine.)
=======MANA=======
34 lands might seem a little bit low at first, but this deck has enough fetches and other forms of mana gen to support it. And besides, less lands means more spells! Whee!
The lands themselves are straight forward, and there are only two I want to note:
Gavony Township - Only four mana to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature I control? And with my Doubling Season it's even more counters? Yes please.
Kessig Wolf Run - There's no way they'll be able to block every single one of your tokens, so why not super buff the one they decide to let go through?
Next, let's look at every other mana engine we're running:
Boros Signet, Gruul Signet, Selesnya Signet, Darksteel Ingot, Sol Ring, Farseek, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach - Self explanatory
Chromatic Lantern - Gotta hit those colors.
Druids' Repository - If the main objective of token decks is to raise an army and hit the enemy with a lot of little guys, why not get mana for every time a creature attacks? This card seems to be overlooks a lot, but having a mana bank ready for whenever you need it is insanely good, and with this deck you'll be stacking counters on it in no time (And with Doubling Season it will be even more counters god I love that card).
Mana Echoes - This card is a MUST and will refund you the mana Marath uses to make tokens, and give you even more the more Elementals you haves. "But, Mr. Cheddr, won't Marath run out of +1/+1 counters very quickly if you keep getting mana to use his abilities?" Great question, and we'll get into this in just a little bit.
Mirari's Wake - +1/+1 to all your creatures? Pretty cool. Double all mana made by your lands? Really cool. Both together in one card? AMAZING (P.S. I don't have Caged Sun in here because there's three colors that are pretty evenly distributed and because Mirari's Wake does what it does for ALL colors for 1 mana less]]
=======TOKENS=======
Cause what is a token deck without tokens?
Avenger of Zendikar - Yes. Don't even question it, just yes. This card is stupid good in EDH, where you'll probably have a dozen or so lands out when you get him out. He makes an army of tokens all on his own, and you could either play him then put down a land to beef up the plants right out of the gate, or let your other buff cards beef them up. There are some fantastic combos you can play with this guy and we'll get into them in a bit.
Captain of the Watch - This card isn't essential, but still can be good. There are a few more soldier tokens in this deck, and with the three tokens she makes as she's summoned, she's definitely efficient (And even more with double tokens effects. Praise be to Doubling Season).
Darien, King of Kjeldor - As soon as you drop this guy, all aggression towards you STOPS. The King is such a high priority that no one will want to attack you until they have a way to deal with him first. 1/1 tokens for every damage is nice. And with the buff cards we run, they're even nastier.
Dragon Broodmother - Because flyers are always nice, right? This mama pumps out a little dragon every upkeep. Every, not just yours. The devour is a nice addition to the hatchlings and allow you to either have a few 1/1 flyers just to block, or a big dragon baby to smack people with. Either way, very good card, VERY good token gen.
Hero of Bladehold - this card is four mana? Seriously? Battlecry, two tokens every time you attack, decent bulk. This is a wonderful card.
Mycoloth - This card is so soooo good for a token deck environment. If you devour 1/1 mini marath tokens, you get twice as many back as saprolings. If you have a curtain card on the field (Doubling Season) the token output this one card has is stupid good. And then after he's done exploding your side of the field with tokens, he's got an insane bulk too. Love this card. No reason not to run it.
Rhys the Redeemed - Did someone say double my tokens? Cause I heard double my tokens.
Rith, the Awakener - 6/6 flying for 6. To be honest the token gen on this creature isn't very efficient, but with everything else he's got going on for him he's a strong pick for the deck.
Thopter Assembly - Cause we could always use some way to block those pesky flyers.
Trostani's Summoner - More tokens are always good.
Utvara Hellkite - I like to think Utvara Hellkite is the baby father for Dragon Broodmother. The two work wonderfully together, but even just on his own the Hellkite is good. Flying means you can attack with almost no problem, and he clones himself every time he attacks, and for every other dragon that attacks. This is one of those cards where you play it and everyone else in the game goes, "Oh no..."
Wolfbriar Elemental - The multikicker is only one green mana. One green mana for a 2/2 wolf. Pump that guy up!
Assemble the Legion - When I think of the Boros Legion, this is the card that instantly comes to mind. This card is a countdown, and if someone doesn't take care of it fast enough, you'll have an army on your field to play with. Also, the soldiers have haste. Enjoy!
Awakening Zone - More mana, more tokens.
Elemental Mastery - Not only does this card get around blocking creatures, but if you have our one true god (Doubling Season) out, you'll get double your damage you would have. Pair it with cards like Purphoros, God of the Forge or Ogre Battledriver, and you have yourself a good time. Try putting this card on Juniper Order Ranger or a buffed up Marath, Will of the Wild or Mycoloth.
White Sun's Zenith - The thing that really makes this card so good is the instant speed. Yeah you can dump tons of mana and get all the tokens you want, but the instant speed really sells it.
Phyrexian Rebirth - I'm not sure whether to put this card under the removal category or the token category. So I'll put it in both! Since most of your creatures will tokens, losing them won't be a big deal. Obviously don't play this card when you have a big threat on your side, but still, sacrificing your tokens to make a really big token won't hurt to bad. Killing all your enemies tokens while making your token even BIGGER? That's just good stuff right there. (Also why not two giant tokens? Praise the doubling)
=======BUFFS=======
There are three steps to any token deck. Step 1: Summon a bunch of tokens. Step 2: Buff the tokens. Step 3: Swing with the tokens. Now we'll take a look at how to make your little creatures a nightmare for your enemies.
THE DOUBLES - Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, and Parallel Lives - You don't need any explanation for this. Just yes. These three cards literally double every single card you play. Double tokens, double counters. Yes.
Bow of Nylea - It's deathtouch ability is pretty amazing enough. But the fact that it can also do a wide variety of other effects at the same time is amazing (If you haven't noticed I really value versatility.)
Coat of Arms - You know all those tokens you're making? This works with this. All the Elementals from Marath or Elemental Mastery, all the saprolings and plants the jolly green giants are making, all the soldiers you're assembling. Simply put, yes.
Hammer of Purphoros - Haste is good. I try to put in as many reasonable ways to get my tokens haste as I can. This is one of them. The token making function of it is honestly a last case scenario. You don't want to get rid of your lands, so use this effect only if you REALLY need a creature.
Skullclamp - a given for token decks. It's a 1 mana 1 creature 2 card combo. And it pairs insanely well with Elemental Mastery. They're dying anyway, might as well make them useful.
Hellrider - This guy is crazy good for any deck with a lot of creatures. 1 damage for every attacker will add up very quickly. Think of it as death by 1000 tiny fireballs.
Iroas, God of Victory - I'm a huge Boros fan. So allow me to try and summarize my thoughts when this card was revealed. "Oh? Oh! OOOOOOOOH!" I had Gruul War Chant in this spot originally, but I'll personally take prevent damage instead of +1/+0. You'll probably never get enough devotion to make him a creature, but honestly he's good enough with the effect.
Juniper Order Ranger - This guy is like a mini Cathars'. He'll buff up all the tokens entering the field, and he himself will also get buffed very quickly. This guy is also a great pair for Elemental Mastery.
Ogre Battledriver - This card works so well with so many cards in this deck. Avenger of Zendikar, Mycoloth, Rhys the Redeemed's doubling effect. The Battledriver takes all those tokens you're pumping out and tells them "Go nuts" and it can make for some wonderful results.
Purphoros, God of the Forge - You know what goes great with tokens constantly entering the field? Damage for every token entering the field. Also a nice buff up for all creatures. Again, he probably won't get to be a creature, but again it doesn't really matter.
Vigor - Oh Vigor. Not only does he block damage for all your creatures, not only does he give +1/+1's, not only is he a huge threat your opposites have to get rid of, but even if they kill him off, HE'LL COME BACK. Yeah he's in your library somewhere but he's not gone yet baby. God I love this card.
Aura Shards - Yes. Again, just yes.
Cathars' Crusade - Now we're get to it. Whenever Marath make a token with Cathars' out on the field, he gets his +1/+1 counter refunded to him. Along with a +1/+1 for everyone else on the field. "Wow, that's great! Now if only we had some way of getting infinite mana! Then we could make an infinite army! Wasn't there a card that just kept making mana or something..." That's right. Cathars' Crusade
+
Mana Echoes
is the combo that makes Marath broken. And even if you don't want to make an infinite combo cause you're not that evil, both these cards are good enough on their own to have in this deck.
Fires of Yavimaya - because we could always use more haste. Oh and the buff is neat too.
Intangible Virtue - You may personally want to change this out for something with a little more high end power ups, but it gets the job done.
(More to come!)
