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Nylea, God of the Big Stuff

Commander / EDH Mono-Green

Kovukono


So you're thinking about Nylea? Well, you may enjoy her if:

  • You don't believe in "big enough."
  • You want to beat people's faces in, and you want to do it differently every game.
  • You want playing creatures to benefit you instead of spell-slinging.
  • You want a toolbox deck.
  • You want to go from "nothing" to "everything" within a turn or two.
  • You hate, with a burning, fiery passion, the term "chump block."

You will not enjoy her if:

  • You want to counter spells.
  • You want to combo off early game and end it.
  • You want a super-competitive general.

Unfortunately, this deck will no longer be getting updates, as I'm transitioning to Nylea, Keen-Eyed.

Nylea, God of the Hunt gives your creatures trample. Yes, she is a god with the odd creature/not-creature devotion gimmick. She's a nice 6/6 indestructible body if she's got the devotion. She also has a pump ability that you will likely not use given how bad of a trade-off it is. But most of all, she gives your creatures trample. Having a difficult-to-remove trample enabler that you can cast time and time again is the one thing that makes this Nylea's deck more than any other commander's.
Nylea is all about versatility. There are a lot of green decks that are about consistency, such as Yisan the Wanderer Bard, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, and Patron of the Orochi. Nylea is more concerned about having answers to problems or creating additional problems. If those answers happen to come strapped to giant bodies, then that's just a bonus. Top it off with a few effects that bounce off each other, and you can make every creature a ripple. In a casual or semi-casual group it's very easy to get out ahead of everybody and become archenemy. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--when it comes to the long game, Nylea often manages to crush players, coming back from little or nothing relatively quickly. The one thing that this build doesn't do well is life-gain, but hopefully your opponents will be more worried about protecting their own life totals than attacking yours.
The deck requires juice to get running, or else it dies right out of the gate. I run 34 lands, and on top of that multiple forms of ramp. Just remember, when putting yours together, that there is such a thing as too much ramp. Some all-stars include:

  • Karametra's Acolyte: Mono-green creature-heavy decks love devotion, and Karametra's Acolyte gives that love right back. One tap of her can fuel multiple creature spells.
  • Mana Reflection: The only thing better than Karametra's Acolyte is two of them off one activation. This also works exceptionally well with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
  • Joraga Treespeaker: One of the oddest cards I've played that works great. Dropping her turn 1 means you can play any two-drop on turn 2 still, and by turn 4 you're already up to 4 mana with this green Sol Ring.
  • Omnath, Locus of Mana: Unlike a lot of decks, Omnath isn't used as a big beater most of the time, but instead as a battery. Even when you're mana-screwed, Omnath still lets you play those big spells that can help you get ahead if you can wait a turn.
None of that mana is any good unless you have something to spend it on, and we're not spending it on Nylea's pump ability (it's just awful). Fortunately, while mono-green doesn't have the excessive spells for card draw that blue has or the looting that red has, it has something just as good. Every creature in this deck can be a draw spell, with a variety of cards offering "Play a creature, draw a card" variations.
  • Soul of the Harvest/Primordial Sage/Garruk's Packleader/Elemental Bond: All of these cards have limits, but most of the deck can get around it. The big ones here are Garruk's Packleader and Elemental Bond, which are functionally the same thing. With almost every creature being big enough to trigger them, it almost always turns into a draw.
  • Shamanic Revelation: I've rarely had a situation where this doesn't net me an entirely new hand. Even if you haven't gotten access to your creature-cantrips, you often have enough on board to make this more than feasible. The life gain is just gravy, and more often than not can save your butt.
  • Garruk's Horde: I know, I know, it's technically not draw, but it can conceivably let you play out your entire deck without drawing a card. It gets an honorable mention, especially when you're pairing it with Courser of Kruphix or Oracle of Mul Daya.

  • Green can't stop things from coming down that easily. There are artifacts that make things cost more that green can more easily play around with its ramp, but there's no mono-green unconditional counterspells. Instead, green has to deal with them the turn after they come out, and when it comes to that almost nothing is safe.

  • Acidic Slime/Reclamation Sage: As far as single targets go, these get you pretty decent responses. They pale in comparison to their big brother Bane of Progress, but they get the job done.

  • Ulvenwald Tracker/Ezuri's Predation: The most annoying creature on the board will probably never attack or block. While you could Beast Within it, Ulvenwald provides repeatable beatdowns--usually between your conveniently indestructible commander and whatever's in your way. Ezuri's Predation does the same on a bigger level--and who doesn't enjoy a board wipe and an army all in one?
  • Wave of Vitriol: There's virtually no EDH deck that this won't do something against. All but the most budget decks run some nonbasics, and most run artifacts. Best of all, this gets around indestructible with the sacrifice clause.
  • All Is Dust: When you just can't deal with the board, upend it entirely. Also gets around indestructible. While this is going to get all of your stuff gone far more than something like The Great Aurora, sometimes you just need an "oh shit" button.
  • Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: He's big and he's bad, but reason I find myself putting him down most often is the "exile two" cast trigger. Like Kozilek, he's in here for the extra effects, not just the Annihilator.
  • One of the things green does best is bringing things back. There's not much to say on this point as they pretty much just do the same thing, but recommendations here include Eternal Witness, her big brother Greenwarden of Murasa, Seasons Past, and one of this deck's all-stars, Paleoloth.
  • Seedborn Muse and Yeva, Nature's Herald: A "build your own Prophet of Kruphix", and often one of your better Tooth and Nail targets if you already have consistent draw.
  • Noble Quarry: It's a good card on its own, but when you can strap it to Nylea, it means your trampling army is even more unimpeded than before.
  • Thunderfoot Baloth: Nylea does not give herself trample. This isn't right. Thunderfoot is here to remedy that--and make Elesh Norn a bit easier to deal with.
  • Silklash Spider: The one thing this deck does not handle well is fliers. While Ulvenwald Tracker can make Nylea punch them out of the sky, sometimes you just need mass removal. Silklash is there for you, no matter how big it gets.
  • Temur Sabertooth: Maybe you want to save a creature. Maybe you want to do something again. With enough mana, you can save your boardstate, or even wipe an opponent's field with the right cards.
  • Shaman of Forgotten Ways: Biorhythm is already a powerful tool, but the fact that you can do this at instant speed after blockers are declared makes this even better.
  • Lurking Predators: During your next game, count how many spells are played on others' turns. Lurking Predators means, for me, that just about every two spells cast yields another free creature for me. A surprisingly political interaction is pairing it with something that reveals the top card of your library--it's been known to stop spells, for fear of something coming down.
  • Cream of the Crop: This card makes every creature a scry spell. What's not to love about getting exactly what you need?

  • Most of the big creatures are already in the list. But if you're still looking for big creatures, here's some of the all-stars in the deck:

  • Mossbridge Troll: He regenerates himself, which is already pretty great, but in addition to that, he can absolutely wreck tables. The +20/+20 is repeatable, meaning that you can tap out as many as you want to make sure you hit as hard as you can. (Almost) no life total is too big!

  • Hydra Broodmaster: Maybe you've got a ton of mana, but no cards in hand. Broodmaster makes sure that you have something to do with it, that something being a huge amount of giant hydras. Add on the counters that you have the Broodmaster herself, and you have enough giant hydras to make every player start searching for boardwipes.
  • Managorger Hydra: Yes, he's a 1/1, but he gets big, and he gets big fast, especially in a multiplayer format. A couple turns after he's out and he'll easily be the biggest thing on board.
  • Heroes' Bane: At instant speed, you can pump in enough mana to kill someone. When Mossbridge Troll isn't going to do the job, Heroes' Bane almost certainly will.
  • Well, the deck loves big stompy things, plain and simple. When I first started out, even Gaea's Revenge and Terra Stomper were in the deck. It's gone toward a more versatile angle than stompy angle, but there's always ways that you can improve on it. You can go for a (near) fully-permanent deck for Primal Surge. You can swap out all of the creatures for Eldrazi (I've tested this myself, and it sadly does better than this deck). You can go for a token-anthem angle. You can go more budget with less versatility and more big brutes. You can go for more control with more enchantments and fewer creatures. So long as it's a deck that loves to use and abuse trample, you're doing it right. If you're looking for a more budget option for this deck than this one, there's a $100 list here and a $50 list here.

    Suggestions

    Updates Add

    I just couldn't stay away from it. Nylea, Keen-Eyed is now Nylea, God of the Hunt again. However, there's more than a few changes made:

    Out:

    • Bane of Progress: He has the downside of destroying my things, even if he does act as a board wipe. Its replacement, Silverback Elder, triggers off the myriad of creatures we have and doesn't have much of a downside.
    • Hall of Gemstone: This card still makes sense in a more competitive pod, but Nylea v2.0 was intended to be that kind of deck. This one firmly wants answers to problems, but isn't going to try to shut people out. Cutting this allows more space for more versatile cards.
    • Thunderfoot Baloth: The trample for Nylea is nice, but by and large its replacement with Unnatural Growth will do the same if not better, for a lower cost and being harder to remove.
    • Mana Reflection: On the other hand, we're removing Mana Reflection for something that is much easier to remove and higher cost--but with higher potential upside.
    • Surrak, the Hunt Caller: Being able to either hit when I came down, or being able to make someone have haste immediately so they could tap for mana is nice, but overall likely not necessary.
    • Llanowar Tribe: He gave three green pips and generated three mana, and was splendid in his role. However, Circle of Dreams Druid just scales better.
    • Vizier of the Menagerie: Augur of Autumn has the same effect for a small requirement in this deck, and also lets me play lands.
    • Runic Armasaur: Over time, he's been netting me less and less card draw. Your meta may vary, but mine has moved more toward treasures.
    • Rampant Growth: Nature's Lore should have been in the deck some time ago, or Three Visits. Both cost the same and allow an untapped Forest as opposed to tapped.
    • Whisperer of the Wilds: This is easily the weakest mana dork in the deck, and I was more than happy to upgrade it to something that scaled.
    • Nissa's Pilgrimage: This is still a good card, but it's been swapped for a lower-CMC card.
    • Garruk, Caller of Beasts: He's definitely not a bad planeswalker, and his ability to cheat in creatures was what made him most valuable, but I've gone for more card draw than just the single burst he gives.
    • Yeva, Nature's Herald: Probably the hardest cut to make this update. Yeva's been part of making a build-your-own Prophet of Kruphix between her and Seedborn Muse since I think the deck began. She's going to be missed--but I believe there's a better upgrade.
    • Two Forests.

    In:

    • Silverback Elder: This deck wants to repeatedly cast creatures, and it plays right into his wheelhouse. We have removal, land tutoring, and if we're really hard-up, life gain as well.
    • Saryth, the Viper's Fang: Bow of Nylea was in the deck for a grand total of one update, just over two months. The big appeal of it was the ability to give deathtouch, where one damage is all that needs to be dealt before trampling over. None of the other abilities were really viable, however. Saryth gives not only deathtouch, but untaps mana dorks, and gives hexproof for combo pieces as well.
    • Unnatural Growth: A grand total of eight creatures won't have their power reach the same amount as with Thunderfoot Baloth. However, none of those eight creatures were expected to be attackers or blockers. Overall, this makes my big guys bigger with no real downside.
    • Nyxbloom Ancient: He dies to both enchantment and creature removal, and costs more than Mana Reflection, but he also gives more mana and can be tutored or cheated out more easily.
    • Ashaya, Soul of the Wild: Not only is Ashaya another big beater, she helps ramp if I really need it. There's also the hilarious interaction of her negating Cyclonic Rifts.
    • Circle of Dreams Druid: See Llanowar Tribe.
    • Augur of Autumn: See Vizier of the Menagerie.
    • Viridian Revel: I've traded one highly-situational card draw engine for another, with the exception that Wizards seems to really be leaning into treasures, and this will likely only get more use.
    • Nature's Lore: See Rampant Growth.
    • Sanctum Weaver: With the amount of enchantments I have, she won't ever be incredibly huge, but she has the good fortune of tapping for two with my commander out, which Whisperer of the Wilds didn't always do.
    • Nissa's Triumph: There's only one Nissa planeswalker in the deck, but even so, the reduced CMC along with the larger potential upside makes this a better choice over Nissa's Pilgrimage.
    • Beast Whisperer: The deck likes to cast creatures and draw cards. Guardian Project also does what he does, but redundancy is nice.
    • Vivien, Champion of the Wilds: The vigilance makes this a nice upside over Yeva, but the fact that she's impossible to tutor might prove problematic.
    • Boseiju, Who Conquers All: Removal stapled onto what's basically a Forest. What's not to love?
    • Scavenger Grounds: I don't expect to use it often, but it's nice to have some graveyard hate on demand.

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    Revision 9 See all

    (1 year ago)

    -1 Mana Reflection main
    +1 Nyxbloom Ancient main
    Date added 9 years
    Last updated 1 year
    Legality

    This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

    Rarity (main - side)

    17 - 0 Mythic Rares

    41 - 0 Rares

    10 - 0 Uncommons

    6 - 0 Commons

    Cards 100
    Avg. CMC 4.26
    Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Hydra */* G, Phyrexian Beast 4/4 G, The Monarch
    Folders Decks I want to get, A~ suggs, Decks to maybe try, Green, Favorite decks
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