Muldrotha Snow: The Frozen Forest

Commander / EDH BUG (Sultai) Elves Snake Snow Zombie

MadMork

Creature (44)

• 1x Angel of Suffering
• 1x Decimator of the Provinces
• 1x Eradicator Valkyrie
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Grim Flayer
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Quicksilver Gargantuan
• 1x Blood Scrivener
• 1x Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1x Deadbridge Goliath
• 1x End-Raze Forerunners
• 1x Engulfing Slagwurm
• 1x Icebreaker Kraken
• 1x Inkwell Leviathan
• 1x Kazandu Mammoth  ^Flip
• 1x Knight of the Ebon Legion
• 1x Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1x Lotleth Troll
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Massacre Girl
• 1x Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 1x Oathsworn Knight
• 1x Ohran Frostfang
• 1x Ohran Viper
• 1x Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1x Rotting Regisaur
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Splinterfright
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Tajuru Preserver
• 1x Terra Stomper
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1x World Shaper
• 1x Brawn
• 1x Lullmage's Familiar
• 1x Moritte of the Frost
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Thorn Elemental
• 1x Whisper, Blood Liturgist
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Nimble Mongoose
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder

Land (36)

• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1x Opulent Palace
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Rimewood Falls
• 1x Simic Guildgate
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Waterfront District
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Ice Tunnel
• 12x Snow-Covered Forest
• 9x Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Woodland Chasm

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Haunting Voyage
• 1x Jarad's Orders
• 1x Traumatize
• 1x Into the North
• 1x Strategic Planning

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Demonic Embrace
• 1x King Narfi's Betrayal
• 1x Sultai Ascendancy

Commander (1)

Instant (6)

• 1x Once Upon a Time
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Thirst for Discovery
• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Village Rites

Artifact (5)

• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Commander's Sphere

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Like the land that gave her life, Muldrotha is wild, dark, unpredictable, and relentless. She appears as an immense shape, suffused with green light and wrapped in the remnants of rotting vines and wood and woven through with fragmented corpses and mud. Huge horns top her head and her open maw is a rage-filled rictus.

What if Muldrotha was lost in the frozen wastes? Suppose she was suffused with rime and hoarfrost? It are these fundamental questions that this deck seeks to answer. By leveraging a split of {B}/{U} and {G} we attempt to utilize the best of all three worlds within the {S} supertype.

This deck should be able to fetch lands quickly then bring the land-fetchers back into play with Muldrotha to juice the mana base as much as possible. With a healthy mana base established we can put forward powerful snow creatures while building towards getting Marit Lage into play by both fetching the specialist lands or milling them into the graveyard for Muldrotha to bring into play.

Updates

Great feedback in the comments that has helped direct and focus the deck.

Update 1

Thanks to multimedia for the great suggestions regarding the function of the deck. Things have been refined by focusing more tightly on the ability to pull snow permanents into play, while also making better use of Muldrotha. However the inclusion of a few heavy hitters like Ohran Frostfang and Dark Depths caused the deck cost to spike by appx double, hence the Budget++ designation. There is no reason we couldn't run without the Ohran Frostfang but we already have a number of Snow Snakes in play so I figured why not?

Update 1.1

Thanks again to multimedia more targeted suggestions aroung getting Marit Lage into play by utilizing Thespian's Stage to blow past the ice counters. Additionally getting more protection cards in place in the form of Swiftfoot Boots and Kaya's Ghostform. Finally a new angle is introduced to get Seal of Primordium destroying Cemetery Tampering to force some self-milling to leverage Muldrotha more.

Update 1.2

Removed Environmental Sciences and Grave Strength in exchange for Death Baron and Counterspell. I think these are straight value additions, the Baron boosting many of our core hitters while Counterspell is just good clean protection.

Update 1.3

Swapped in Biomancer's Familiar to increase the number of creatures while also reducing the activated costs. Ascendant Spirit benefits from this reduction for the transformation ramp. Adjusted land distribution to slightly favor {U}{G}

Update 1.4

Big adjustment here with some eight cards being swapped out, thanks to amarthaler for the opinions! The biggest dollar increase comes from Scrying Sheets which should help with {C} generation. Otherwise several control cards were dropped in favor of surging the number of lands that can come into play.

Withercrown and Dead Weight were removed because while fine as {B} "Protection" cards there were better choices in focusing on more land pulling. This is the same fundamental reason Bubble Snare was removed. I like the idea of Biomancer's Familiar but I just don't have enough activated abilities on Creatures in this deck to justify the slot. Harrow might come back but thematically I like some of the other cards that were included. Finally Poison the Cup was too expensive for direct removal and there are other sources of scrying.

From the creature side Centaur Omenreader was brought on of my own volition to help reduce the cost of some of the better creatures. The combination Centaur Omenreader + Winter's Rest can be pulled out to rush 3 CMC creatures onto the board. With Muldrotha these cards can go into the graveyard separately and be played together depending on how early they show up. Also padded out the 1 CMC creatures with reintroducing Frost Augur, as a scrying snow goon it helps push our deck to roughly a 60/40 split in favor of {S} to keep these permanents in place for other power consumers like Icebreaker Kraken or Abominable Treefolk

Update 2.0

Had the pleasure to visit with a good friend who was extremely knowledgeable and able to help beef up this deck! We've swapped out a ton of cards here. The hard truth is that Snow was not providing enough to justify its primary focus in the deck. As a result we've swapped in more creatures, cut out a lot of low power cards, and generally diversified out of snow to gain raw power.

I'm pretty happy with how things have shaped up. The biggest thing is the mana and power curve has been fixed from a fast playing mana starved deck to a slower but much more meaty deck.

At the time of this decks creation I didn't know about Power Level estimating. This deck in the current iteration is at PL 5.

How This Deck Came to Exist

This is my first ever Commander deck. I have a ton of snow cards so I decided to see how far I could go with the snow theme. Muldrotha, the Gravetide was chosen as my commander because of the correct mana colors. This was the primary reason, however the ability to play additional cards may be useful. Also thematically an elemental avatar seems fun.

Creatures and Destruction

A key creature here is Narfi, Betrayer King handing out +1/+1 tokens to 17/25 of the creatures in the deck, who also has the ability to keep coming back from the graveyard. In this regard we are also looking for Rime Transfusion to continue to push the power of snow creatures. The Ohran Viper can work here, but Blizzard Brawl + Ice-Fang Coatl seems like a great way to lock a dangerous monster into a serious situation. Fatal Push + Priest of the Haunted Edge can be used for targeted destruction against creatures.

The combination of Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage is also an interesting offensive trigger. With Dark Depths in play we cast Thespian's Stage, and because of the tap ability we can create a "second" Dark Depths with no ice counters on it. The original Dark Depths is removed from play due to the Legendary rule, and then Thespian's Stage has no ice counters on it which allows the sacrifice to be made to generate Marit Lage. Even if Marit Lage is removed from play, Marit Lage's Slumber is easily attainable with Muldrotha pushing snow permanents back onto the board to get Marit Lage back on the board.

Spells and Defense

For various spell counters we can rely on cards like Annul, Disdainful Stroke, and Negate. If things have to go nuclear then the combination of Blood on the Snow + Rise of the Dread Marn can clear the board while leaving us with a large number of Zombie Berserker 2/2 B on the field. Finally we are looking to eventually pull Swiftfoot Boots to get some protection on our big killer.

Commander Interactions

Cemetery Tampering + Seal of Primordium are interesting because we destroy Cemetery Tampering and pull it back into play with Muldrotha. After 20 cards are in the graveyard the Hideaway card can be played for no mana.

Fatal Push + Plaguecrafter can do the graveyard shuffle, sacrificing itself and then coming back onto the board while also being able to fuel the prerequisite to power up Fatal Push.

Mana Acceleration

Springbloom Druid, Diligent Farmhand, Dawntreader Elk, and Sakura-Tribe Elder all contribute to getting snow lands into play. This is important for mana generation, but specifically for snow rules it is generally beneficial to get as many snow permanents into play as we can. Additionally getting World Shaper to die later in the game will return the sacrificed lands back into play.

What I am looking for

I would like general commentary on how the list looks, if there are any obvious deficits, or are there any other cards that could work with the Snow theme.

What I have learned building this deck

1. Ideas around using a "deep" strategy versus a "wide" strategy regarding including creatures into a Commander deck, and leaning into creatures who are useful because of their effects first, and their power/toughness second.
2. The snow supertype appears to be strongest when multiple snow permanents are in play, and as a result utilizing Muldrotha more effectively will better cycle snow back into play.
3. Interesting and powerful creatures can be generated from interactions solely between Lands.
4. I like the idea of having a large land base for sacrificing to generate more lands. I am learning I may fall into the "Power Gamer" archetype.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Exclude colors	WR
Splash colors	UBG
Key combos	Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage Blood on the Snow + Rise of the Dread Marn Fatal Push + Priest of the Haunted Edge Blizzard Brawl + Ice-Fang Coatl Fatal Push + Plaguecrafter Cemetery Tampering + Seal of Primordium
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.64
Folders	something, Card ideas, Under 200