When Commander 2013 came out and all the new legendaries were revealed, one of them immediately caught my eye; Marath, Will of the Wild. Marath represented two new effects to me, and anything new automatically gets me interested as I said earlier.
What I was Going For
Deck List
Note that not all cards listed below are currently in the deck, nor are all the cards in the deck listed here. Also, the 'Maybeboard' is made of cards that are in testing for the deck. Some have been in the deck, others are waiting to get their chance.
Ramp Suite
Ramp is the most integral part of any Marath deck, the more mana at your disposal the better. Although there is not much in the way of infinite mana combos in this particular version, if you did end up with infinite mana, this would obviously mean that you win via burn. One of the side benefits of land ramping is that you are also thinning out your deck of 'dead' land draws late game, although more land is never really a bad thing with Marath.
Cultivate / Kodama's Reach - Probably some of the most iconic of the green ramp spells in the format, and about as efficient as it gets.
Skyshroud Claim / Explosive Vegetation /
Hunting Wilds
/ Ranger's Path- About on the same level as Cultivate/Kodama's, only their slightly higher cost make them less played.
Far Wanderings
\ Primal Growth Not the greatest early game, but pays off big if you have Threshold. \ A number of the creatures in this deck like to die, and this can help them reach their goal. Worse comes to worse you can spend an extra mana as a kicker to make a 1/1 off of marath to sac. Although these two are conditional, they are not TOO bad without meeting the requirements, and very good if they do.
Yavimaya Eldar - This guy is just all sorts of goodness rolled into one little package. Although he doesnt get the lands right into play, he still is just hugely efficient.
Viridean Emissary - Gets me a land in time and doesnt interfere with the 3rd turn Marath play like Wood Elves and friends do.
Seedguide Ash
- This guy is all kinds of good, a 4/4 body with an eventual 3 land pull for only 5 mana. Searches for forests too which is both a blessing and a curse.
Boundless Realms - Epic Ramp, and its very easy to get the mana needed to cast it, unlike other decks which can struggle to reach the 7 mana in decent time. This deck also runs a very high number of basic lands in order to acomodate the equally large number of ramp spells such as this.
Perilous Forrays - Not only does it allow you to sac dying/stolen creatures for land at instant speed, it also lets you pull dual lands, noice! Fits in with ramp, tokens, and add a sacrifice outlet which can be handy.
Fertilid - With Marath's counter shifting ability, you will never run out of +1 counters on Ferts here. Fits snugly into the ramp and +1/+1 counter categories of the deck, but he just isnt very efficient, and I think I have used him to search for land once out of the numerous times he has been drawn/played. I always try and find a place for this guy in my decks, but once again this plant is looking like he is getting the axe :(
Doubling Cube - This cube, its a bit hit and miss. As a 2 drop its nice and cheap, but it doesnt pay out until you hit 7 possible mana. I would not run it in many decks, but here it should work wonders. Havent tried it out yet, but its waiting its turn to try.
Earthcraft
- Pretty broken card really, I dont think I am going to run it mostly because of this. Far far too easy to break this card and I dont want the temptation.
Viridien Joiner /
Gyre Sage
- Great targets for Marath's counter shifting ability, giving you a big creature and big ramp at the same time. These guys have proven their worth time and again, and even with just a few counters they create huge mana advantage, something that Marath loves. They do make fairly tempting targets though obviously.
Mana Echoes - Heres some fun almost infinite mana creation. The more elementals you make, the more mana you have. Great card in general, amazing card here.
Mana Reflection - The best of the mana doublers out there, and Mana is what this deck wants to do.
Mirari's Wake - Second best mana doubler out there, probably better than Mana Reflection in this deck since it relies almost completely on land for ramp and enjoys the buff effect on the many tokens. Only downside being that Marath doesnt die when his last counter is removed, although that is easy enough to work around.
Braid of Fire - One of those few cards that go from horrible to great when a ruling change occurs, Braid of Fire probably killed more owners than opponents back when mana burn was still a thing. Now it offers you next to endless free mana to use on instant speed things during your upkeep, mainly Maraths ability. Still, it takes a while to ramp up and only has a few outlets besides having Marath in play with counters you dont mind using. Yet to be tested in the deck.
Rosheen Meanderer
- He comes with square girth and taps to remove 4 counters from Marath, added bonus he is easy on the mana base to cast. Besides Marath and a couple other cards, this guys ability doesnt really work well with much of the deck so might not be that useful. I eventually cut him due to only really being effective in combination with Marath.
Ordeal of Nylea
- Such Synergy! This card works great with a lot of the creatures in the deck, Marath, Gyre Sage/Joiner, Bramblewood Paragon, Fertilid, Razerunners, Mycoloth, ect ect.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - This guy draws a lot of(deserved) hate, so I try and only drop him if Im fairly certain I can cinch a win fairly quickly afterwards.
Commander Support Suite
The cards for the support suite are all designed to synergise with the commander's abilities, and I feel most EDH/Commander decks should run these cards in order to showcase their Commanders character and style. Most of these further enable Marath's Token making ability, although a few are geared towards Maraths counter shedding ability.
Bramblewood Paragon - This rough and tumble Grizzely Bear automatically gives Marath trample as well as giving anyone with a +1/+1 counter trample, an easy thing to do with Marath and other cards in the deck.
Mycoloth - Shuffle counters onto this guy, or just devour some little elements to quickly amass a swarm of Saprolings to overwhelm your opponents with. Tokens and counters in one nice package. Although he takes a little while to get rolling sometimes, I would still consider him a win condition.
Goblin Razerunner - Dump a bunch of counters on this gobbo and watch him passively burn your opponents to a crisp. Not the most competitive of cards, but he has oddly cool synergy with +1/+1 counters and also adds an alternative win condition, waiting to see how he pans out.
Illusionist's Bracers - Seems like a good fit, just hasnt made a trial rotation into the deck yet.
Ivy Lane Denizen - Works with Marath to give you as many 1/1 Elementals as you want for 1 mana a piece, just keep stacking the +1/+1s back on Marath. This guy also works great with various other creatures in the deck as well, so its not too commander-centric for the list.
Cathars' Crusade - Works similar to Ivy Lane Denizen but much much better, each new Elemental you create buffs each other creature you control permenantly. This is definitely one of the most effective win conditions in the deck. It loves all the +1/+1 counter caring creatures and loves the mass token creation. It often wins the game the turn it drops if not the turn after.
Cream of the Crop - With Marath pumping out tokens of various sizes, Cream of the Crop is true to its word and gets you the best of the best of your top cards. A real powerhouse of deck manipulation outside of blue. This is kind of goodstuffs Ill admit, but I classify it more as some of the always needed card advantage in a deck. It does work well with Marath and his ability to regularly trigger Cream of the Crop with his tokens though.
Basilisk Collar - Ping for one damage, kill a creature, gain a life. Deathtouch + Marath = good times.
Gorgon's Head - A flavorful new addition to the Deathtouch equipment selection, a bit tame compared to Basilisk Collar, but Marath with Deathtouch is worth it. Simply hasnt made it onto the list due to space constraints at the moment.
Strength of the Tajuru
- Not sure what to categorize this as but here works I guess. Im not sure who Tanjuru is but apparently he was pretty strong. Not 100% on the inclusion of this in the deck or not yet, seems like a good fit and possible game ender with enough mana available.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - One of the few pieces of lifegain in the deck, it comes on a decent defensive body and with the ability to populate more of Marath's giant elementals. A nice package for the mana. The populate ability helps to make Maraths ability to make something other than 1/1s more viable to use, and I like that since it adds another angle of play to the deck.
Removal Suite
Removal is important in any EDH/Commander deck and Marath is no different. With Marath being able to kill off the occasional creature if need be, most of the removal here is either mass creature kill or artifact/enchantment hate.
Aura Mutation /
Artifact Mutation
- Although each only works against a single card type, it is a format rich in targets. The saprolings created work well with the other token supporting cards in the deck.
Aura Shards - Classic re-usable arti-enchant removal. Easily capable of clearing the opponents field in a turn or two.
Decimate - The name says more than I could. Occasionally hard to get all the targets, but worth it as it can often reset an overpowered player back to a manageable boardstate.
Hull Breach
- Sort of like a double disenchant for the same cost. Good value.
Mercy Killing
- Although this is often a double edged sword, it can take care of a problematic creature of your opponents if need be, or spawn a small army for yourself that can be quite powerful if combined with other cards in the deck. Also, it is a sacrifice effect and gets around pesky indestructibility.
Hour of Reckoning - Just an amazing card in most token EDH/Commander decks, and equallly so here. I liked convoke, not a competetive ability maybe, or maybe just not an ability on competetive cards. Only drawback is that it cannot save you from an opponents token army, and that makes it occasionally useless.
Pure/Simple - Versitile and deadly, Pure generally pops opposing commanders, although other perms are even more fun if you get the chance. Simple is Simply awesome when only running 1-2 auras or equipment, like here. One of the best Voltron killing cards out there.
That New Fuse - Not sure about this one, seems legit? Blow up an arti and a chant for 3?
Clan Defiance
- Burn, Burn, and, well, more Burn. All in one card. With the large mana pool this deck provides, you should have no problems killing multiple threats and cooking a player for good damage. Nice efficiency at almost a 3-to-1 compared to almost every other Fireball card out there.
Return to Dust - Not nearly as efficient as Hull Breach, but the exile effect is really what I was looking for here. Stops various nefarious plays like Mindslaver locks and the like.
Rith's Charm - Charms have always been great multi faceted tools, and this one does a number of nice things at decent price. Pops the occasional Glacial Chasm or Maze of Ith, can make instant blockers, or prevent big damage from commanders or others.
Bow of Nylea - I love the many uses of this card, but probably my favorite play is to attack with Marath, then before blockers are declared, burn anything that might stand in the way with the now deathtouch Marath. A little small flying removal combined with a little buff, a little grave saftey, and this thing is a bomb. It might not win the game but it lets you interact with stuff in a lot of ways.
Woodfall Primus - Classic stompy removal, made better by the fact that you can cancel out the -1/-1 counter he gets from persistance by adding a +1/+1 counter from Marath. There isnt much in the way of sacrifice engines in the deck so it is not too abusable (Un)Fortunately.
Goblin Tinkerer
- Yeah I know. Still, I like the little guy. Blows up Sol Rings for fun, and once you get marath out you can make him big enough to withstand the biggest of exploding artifacts. I love the flavor of this card more than anything though.
Plays Well with Tokens Cards
Mirror Entity - This guy turns hordes of small guys into giant beaters with all the mana this deck provides. The fact that he can also turn all of my guys into creatures into Slivers has also come in handy on a number of occasions.
Parallel Lives - Pretty self explanatory. Although Im thinking of cutting it oddly enough.
Doubling Season / Primal Vigor - Game winning, shenanigan enabling, and the most iconic of cards in the deck. As a little trick Marath can also add counters to himself with one of these out by targeting himself as the recipient of the +1/+1s that he is removing from himself.
Warstorm Surge - More mana intensive to get out than other variants like it, but its all around better than the other versions, and turns Maraths token making ability into his burn ability at the same time.
Collective Blessing - Like all static buffs, the more creatures its buffing, the more efficient it gets. I also dont think that just a static +1/+1 is worth running in the list so I decided to go big or go home.
Homura, Human Ascendant - I have my doubts about this guy, 6 mana for a 4/4 that Im probably going to have to use Marath to burn to death in order to trigger. If I could find a way to make him a little more reliable though, its a great buff and the flying would really be nice.
Skullclamp - Here to feed elements to in order to draw cards. Kind of just a goodstuffs card draw engine really, but Marath does easily make creatures to clamp.
Hour of Reckoning - Doest protect you from hordes of opposing tokens, but can seal a lot of stalled games by leaving you with the only creatures in in play.
Aura Shards - More tokens means more artifact/enchantment destruction triggers. Remember it is a may ability so if you do not want to draw too much hate you can choose not to destroy something.
Cathars' Crusade - Puts counters back on Marath when he makes tokens, and makes each previously made token bigger as well. A win condition if there ever was. Also as a side not, if multiple creatures come into play at the same time, they are all considered to receive each trigger of Cathars Crusade. eg, if Riths Charms was cast to make tokens, each of those three tokens would enter with three +1/+1 counters on them, effectively giving you three 4/4s.
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - She gives you a reason to make bigger guys out of Maraths tokens, and the on demand lifegain helps to keep you topped up.
Titanic Ultimatum - Some of the biggest and best of the Overrun effects out there, this thing generally ends games, even if you can only take out one or two players with the swing, the lifegain generally allows you to survive the remaining players counterattack. Only bad think I can say about this card is that the First Strike is pretty useless.
Growing Ranks - With a number of cards besides Marath that can produce big tokens worthy of Populating, I dont fully consider it a commander-centric card. Populating Godsire/Wurm tokens each turn for free is pretty nice. Still a little slow for the deck.
Parallel Evolution - Not really sure of this one, with the large amount of mana created by the deck it should not be too hard to cast and flash it in the same turn. Unfortunately I think you already need a good boadstate to take most advantage of it.
Intangible Virtue
- The buff provided helps to make smaller token a little more viable, but the Vigilance is the real reason this card is good here. It allows the deck to play much more aggressively in a multiplayer format.
Coat of Arms - Each 1/1 Elemental made while you have this out buffs each other one. If you have a good number of non-sick tokens out when you drop this it can be game over. It works well with each of the token tribes in the deck, Riths Charm would make 3/3 saprolings for example. Kind of a double edged sword, not sure if it is worth the risk.
Win Conditions/Threats
Ive played too many 3+ hour games of EDH to not run a decent number of win conditions/Threats, if just to end the game.
Entreat the Angels - Just a powerful win condition, its unfortunate that its a bit of a Goodstuffs card and doesnt really have much in the way of strategy to back it up here.
Beastmaster Ascension - Best bet is to have a small army of tokens before playing this and attacking the same turn to trigger it. Works as a decidedly effective game winner with a decent number of guys out.
Basilisk Collar/Gorgon Head/Bow of Nylea - Each of these can shut down most creature based decks when strapped on Marath
Doubling Season/Primal Vigor - Both of these are crazy game changers, and if Marath is left with one of these to play with for long, he will usually win the game in short order.
Genesis Wave - Big mana and this card goes so very well together, and this is an almost guaranteed to win if you manage to resolve one with a 10+ X cost.
Craterhoof Behemoth - Some of the best new overrun going on, and works especially well with the high creature production capabilities of the deck.
Kessig Wolf Run - This land deserves a place as one one of the best tech lands in the format in my opinion. It has probably won me more games than any other single card in the deck. It allows you to hulk-smash! through stiff defenses for commander damage for starters(Sunholme FTW), but can also be combined with other stuff like Flings or Mercy Killing for example.
Miscellaneous & Card Draw
Regal Force - I was originally not going to include this guy on the list but then I realized how well it would work with all the little green Elements.
Keen Sense - Its Curiosity in green, and thats cool. Go Go Crazy Out of Color Cards! The obvious play here being to stick it on Marath and then ping for a bunch of 1 damage triggers. Yes it is a bit of a one shot deal(unless you draw a way to restock his counters), but it is still pretty damn good for card draw outside of blue or black.
Skullclamp - As previously mentioned, this is a staple card drawing engine. Id like to find something nearly as good if I knew of one.
Drumhunter - This guy fills multiple roles in the deck, a little bit of ramp with a pretty reliable card drawing effect to boot. He isnt threatening enough to warrant getting removed most of the time, but is still drawing me needed cards. Can always stack counters on himself so he always triggers.
Playing Marath
Ive been playing various forms of this deck since Marath was first spoiled, and he has a pretty damn good track record. Almost too good maybe as I have had a few people in my group refer to him as possibly broken, Best commander in 2013 and similar worrisome things. Although I dont believe this is true at all, there is a lot of things I would call Marath, but Best and Broken wouldnt be them. This deck went undefeated four weeks in a row at my local shops EDH night though, so I can see what they are saying I guess.The early game is fairly straight forward, getting Marath into play on T3 is generally what I want to do as it gives me a decent beater before a lot of players get defenses up, gives me a little less incentive to be attacked, and also gives me the option to burn off my opponents little tech creatures if I see one that may be an issue to me. Unlike most commanders who do not like dying, Im more than happy(most of the time) to let Marath get boardwiped T4. Marath is a regular Obi-Wan Kenobi that way. If Marath isnt in play by the end of my third, its generally because Im missing a color(and probably ramping for it that turn), or there is something really sinister in play and Im busy trying to kill it. The mid game is generally where most of the ramping happens with Marath and I try to get up close to 10 before I start trying to put a win together. I try and keep my board clear of too many things that cause my opponents reason to worry about me, like having a non triggered Beastmasters Ascension laying around. Maraths ability to instantly spawn blockers combined with his burn give many opponents good cause to worry about attacking into him, and this affords a little bit more security. It can be tough to secure a win against multiple opponents working against you at once, so I try and hold back threats until I can snowball out a sudden victory in just a turn or two. This gives my opponents the least amount of time to join forces against me, and usually also saves my bomb cards from early removal.
Heres some color mana ramp stats for your viewing pleasure :)
Marath %
Land 38
67.5% of having 4+ Lands by 4th turn81.9% of having 3+ Lands by 3rd turn
74.3% of having 1+ Usable Ramp by 3rd turn85.2% of having 1+ Usable Ramp by 4th turn
91.9% of having 1+ Green Land by 3rd turn93.8% of having 1+ Green Land by 4th turn
82.2% of having 1+ White Land by 3rd turn79.9% of having 1+ Red Land by 3rd turn
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the read, and maybe picked up a thing or two along the way!
TL;DR crowd - I dont pander to people who cannot be bothered to read, I spent the effort to type it, you can spend a fraction as much to read it.
