I don’t need to explain why Rhys is powerful. One of the cheapest commanders in the game, he comes into play turn one and immediately starts pushing out tokens. The ability to double creature tokens in play once you hit six mana is brutal in any token deck, and because Rhys makes elf token he combos well with powerful tribal strategies. With that said, there are a number of ways to build with Rhys, and so I will try and explain some of my choices.
Tokens
The main goal of this deck, like any Rhys deck, is to go wide with tokens. Rhys is pretty effective at this on his own, particularly due to his second effect. To take advantage of this, many cards in this deck create useful creature tokens. Cards like Master of the Wild Hunt, Wren's Run Packmaster, Hornet Queen, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, Mycoloth, Imperious Perfect, Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Requiem Angel, Tendershoot Dryad, Twilight Drover, all provide reliable and repeatable ways to put tokens into play. Other cards like Doubling Season, Anointed Procession, and Parallel Lives work to double the number of tokens that are being created, synergizing with Rhys’ secondary effect to allow for explosive and exponential growth. Provided you are able to keep Rhys in play, it should not be too difficult to amass a sizable token army in a very short time.
Once these tokens are in play, the shortest path to victory is to go wide. Cards like Overrun, Cathars' Crusade, card:beast master ascension, Coat of Arms, Vanquisher's Banner, Collective Effort, card:crater hoof behemoth, Huatli, Radiant Champion, Triumph of the Hordes, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader either make tokens incrementally stronger or temporarily provide a massive boost in power to your board.
Tokens aren’t just effective for combat however. A number of other cards work to turn tokens into other resources. Soul Warden, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, and Essence Warden all allow you to gain life whenever a token enters the battlefield. This can lead to massive increases in life over one turn. Aura shards turns tokens into targeted removal, while Symbiotic Deployment, Skullclamp, Mentor of the Meek, Slate of Ancestry, and Shamanic Revelation create card draw. Other cards like Cryptolith Rite, Earthcraft, Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, Path of Discovery, and Harvest Season turn tokens into various forms of ramp. Collective Effort is a particularly beautiful card in a token deck, allowing for powerfully broken effects when used in tandem with untap effects like Staff of Domination.
Elf tribal
Because rhys creates elf warrior tokens, he works well with elf tribal support. Elves already have token sub theme, so these two approaches have a great deal of synergy. Ezuri, Renegade Leader works well with many elves on board, as does card:well-wisher. Elvish Archdruid, Imperious Perfect, and Elvish Champion provide additional anthem effects for elf creatures.
Elves are infamous for their ability to generate huge amounts of mana, and this deck runs a number of cards to enable this. Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, Wirewood Channeler, Heritage Druid all make huge amounts of mana through tap for effects. with untap effects like Thousand-Year Elixir, Wirewood Lodge, Umbral Mantle, Staff of Domination, Sword of the Paruns, Seeker of Skybreak, Seedborn Muse, a lot of these mana generators can go infinite pretty easily. Untap effects also allow Rhys to Second Harvest more than once per turn, which with infinite mana quickly leads to infinite creatures. At this point it is possible to just swing in for lethal, but there are a couple of other ways this deck can abuse absurd amounts of mana. Ezuri, Renegade Leader pumps elf creatures and gives them trample.
Other cards like card:skyshroad poacher and Kindred Summons allow for the deck to quickly tutor out any elf in the deck, allowing for a toolbox approach to most threats. Cards like Wren's Run Packmaster and Immaculate Magistrate are situationally useful, but become much better with tribal support. Vanquisher's Banner, Kindred Summons, Coat of Arms, Slate of Ancestry,
Path of Ancestry
provide generalized tribal support.
General Utility
Games of EDH are won and lost based on players’ ability to respond. For this reason, there are a number of cards in this deck that don’t fit the token or tribal theme, but provide much needed flexibility. Sol Ring and Sensei's Divining Top are both auto includes in any EDH deck. Swords to Plowshares is powerful creature removal. Reap and Sow and Regrowth are some of the most useful cards in green. Because this deck runs a ton of enchantments, Enlightened Tutor is incredible useful.
