The Bear Necessities - Ayula $100 Budget EDH

Commander / EDH Budget Mono-Green Multiplayer Stompy Theme/Gimmick Voltron

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Creature (36)

• 1x Universal Automaton
• 1x Alpine Grizzly
• 1x Aquastrand Spider
• 1x Ashcoat Bear
• 1x Balduvian Bears
• 1x Bear Cub
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Caller of the Claw
• 1x Crowned Ceratok
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Dragon-Scarred Bear
• 1x Druid's Familiar
• 1x Drumhunter
• 1x Exuberant Wolfbear
• 1x Flaxen Intruder
• 1x Game-Trail Changeling
• 1x Golden Bear
• 1x Grizzly Bears
• 1x Mother Bear
• 1x Pale Bears
• 1x Ravenous Slime
• 1x River Bear
• 1x Runeclaw Bear
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Slippery Bogbonder
• 1x Spectral Bears
• 1x Sporeback Troll
• 1x Striped Bears
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Ulvenwald Bear
• 1x Vivien's Grizzly
• 1x Webweaver Changeling
• 1x Werebear
• 1x Woodland Changeling
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1x Yeva, Nature's Herald

Land (37)

• 28x Forest
• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Castle Garenbrig
• 1x Desert of the Indomitable
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 1x Tranquil Thicket

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Bearscape
• 1x Colossal Majesty
• 1x Hibernation's End
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Roots of Life
• 1x Spider Umbra

Instant (5)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Inspiring Call
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Solidarity of Heroes

Commander (1)

Artifact (8)

• 1x Birthing Boughs
• 1x Blood Clock
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Riptide Replicator
• 1x Umbilicus
• 1x The Ozolith

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Creeping Renaissance
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Grizzly Fate
• 1x Kamahl's Summons
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Ayula's Influence
• 1x Boar Umbra
• 1x Bonds of Mortality
• 1x Death's Presence
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Hydra's Growth
• 1x Snake Umbra
• 1x Words of Wilding

Artifact (6)

• 1x Emerald Medallion
• 1x Haunted Cloak
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Ring of Kalonia
• 1x Trailblazer's Boots
• 1x Volrath's Laboratory

Creature (7)

• 1x Abzan Beastmaster
• 1x Armorcraft Judge
• 1x Bramblewood Paragon
• 1x Evolution Sage
• 1x Archetype of Endurance
• 1x Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1x Rhonas the Indomitable

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Biogenic Upgrade
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Nissa's Judgment
• 1x Overrun
• 1x Primal Command

Instant (6)

• 1x Awaken the Bear
• 1x Luminescent Rain
• 1x Repopulate
• 1x Second Harvest
• 1x Tribal Unity
• 1x Wilt

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Garruk Relentless  ^Flip
• 1x Vivien of the Arkbow
• 1x Nissa, Nature's Artisan

Land (1)

• 1x Karn's Bastion

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Things are about to get Grizzly

For just about $100 (plus shipping and handling) you, too, can bombard your friends with bears. [At one point, this deck was like $75. Dang inflation.] This versatile deck is accessible to all skill levels, and can be played as voltron, stompy aggro, bear tribal, or simply as a way to get on your friends' nerves with unBEARable puns. Decklist is still actively evolving as I play with it more and determine what cards best make this into a lean, mean bear machine. Many of the cards I am testing/considering can be found in the "Maybeboard." Interested in how it all works? Read on to get your BEARings with this fun deck!

Ayula: Your friendly, neighborhood bear.

Meet Your Commander

This deck is literally nothing without Ayula, Queen Among Bears, so getting acquainted with her is of the utmost importance. She reads (emphasis is mine): "Whenever another Bear enters the battlefield under your control, choose one-- Put two +1/+1 counters on target bear, or target Bear you control fights target creature you don't control."

A few quick things to understand: Ayula only triggers when another bear enters the battlefield under your control - she does not trigger herself. However, she can be the target of either of her two effects. So, you can target her for the +1/+1 counters, or have her fight another creature. Also of note is that your bears can only fight creatures you do not control (so, no diabolical Stuffy Doll strategies here).

Everything you need to know about the "Fight" keyword:

Per the official MtG rules: "When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other." It sounds simple enough, but there are are some comprehensive rules you might want to familiarize yourself with.

For starters: fighting creatures are not "attacking" creatures, so effects or enchantments that "give attacking creature XXX" (think, for example, Bow of Nylea giving attacking creatures deathtouch) do not apply to a fight. However, if a creature inherently has a static ability like deathtouch, lifelink, infect, etc. those effects will apply as normal because damage is still dealt simultaneously.

On that note: damage dealt by fighting creatures IS NOT combat damage. Combat damage is only dealt by creatures during the combat damage step of the combat phase. Interestingly, this means that abilities like first strike and double strike do not activate because they specifically allow creatures to deal their COMBAT damage before other creatures, modifying the rules for the combat damage step only. This also means that an opponent can't cast Fog and save their creature from being mauled by your bear. It also means Tajic, Legion's Edge prevents any damage you inflict via fighting (but note that you CAN fight and absolutely destroy Tajic himself).

Lastly, it's important to remember that the damage marked on a creature remains there until the cleanup step. If you have a 10/10 Ayula and trigger her to fight a 5/5 creature during your first main phase, she'll have 5 damage marked on her. That means if you make her fight again or assign her as an attacker during your combat step, she'll only need to take 5 more damage for it to be lethal. Keep this in mind if you plan to engage in multiple fights and/or combat, and disperse damage among all your creatures accordingly.

You have the right to BEAR arms: Get to Know Your Bears

Other than Ayula, there are 21 legal, mono-green bears in MtG. This deck runs 19 of them.

"Oh my goodness," you think to yourself. "What could those two bears have possibly done to deserve being cut from this deck!? This is unBEARable!"

Well, Razorclaw Bear has the audacity to be a $36 card, so we can make due without them. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma is lovely, but she BEARly has any synergy with the rest of the deck. We do not cast many creatures with power 4 or greater, and we can get trample from other, better sources. If you feel passionately about Goreclaw, she's a legendary creature and you can make an EDH deck with her as your commander instead.

Truthfully, of the 19 bears you have left, you could probably cut a couple to make the deck more efficient. I wanted to stay true to the bear gimmick, so I've opted to keep all other bears in the deck. However, if you find yourself wanting to add new cards, you might ask yourself if 19 bears is entirely necessary. Below, I'll rank the strongest and weakest bears in the deck to help you make informed decisions about what bears you should abandon.

Strongest Bears: Ashcoat Bear, Mother Bear, Striped Bears, Ulvenwald Bear, Vivien's Grizzly, Werebear

Average Bears: Basically any traditional 2/2 for {1}{G} bear - Balduvian Bears, Bear Cub, Grizzly Bears, Runeclaw Bear, Spectral Bears, plus: Alpine Grizzly, Dragon-Scarred Bear, Druid's Familiar

Weakest Bears: For the most part, these bears cost more to cast than other bears without having strong synergy with Ayula. This could vary by playgroup. For example, Pale Bears and River Bear cost more than an average bear because they have islandwalk. If you don't regularly play against decks running islands, these bears would be fair to cut from the deck. Exuberant Wolfbear is a 4/4 bear for {3}{G}. The scenario where this creature's ability makes any difference to your game is so fringe that it irrationally pisses me off. Golden Bear is the less infuriating version of Exuberant Wolfbear as a 4/3 for {3}{G}. Golden Bear doesn't pretend to be anything it's not, and doesn't try to lure you in with interesting ability text. Unfortunately, from a completely unbiased perspective, this should probably be the first bear you remove from the deck.

Um, what are these NON-BEARS doing in here?

Believe me, I'm as disappointed as you are that we've been forced to run non-bear creatures. Think of it this way: these creatures either pretend to be bears, or make our bears stronger.

"Pretend?"

Your goal is to trigger Ayula's ability as much as possible, so you bet your butt that this deck is running some changelings (which are, at once, every creature type in the game). Universal Automaton, Game-Trail Changeling, Woodland Changeling, and Webweaver Changeling are all just opportunities for more bear triggers. Webweaver Changeling is particularly strong because bears are notoriously bad at blocking flying creatures and it has reach. It's also very likely that you'll be able to trigger its ETB effect as a bonus. Birthing Boughs offers a continuous source of changelings.

The rest of the gang:

As mentioned, the goal of any other creatures you run are simply to make your bears stronger. I'll give the quick reasoning behind them all, but it should be noted that these cards can be swapped for others depending on the decks you are playing against. Check out the "Sideboard Considerations" for ideas about what other creatures you might want to play.

Aquastrand Spider: As mentioned, bears are notoriously bad at blocking creatures with flying, so opportunities to give them reach is prime. Putting more +1/+1 counters in play is also a good thing with this deck.

Beast Whisperer: Card draw is always good, and you'll draw a lot.

Caller of the Claw: A great card to help you recover from a board wipe. Obviously, if Ayula dies in said board wipe you will not be getting triggers from all these bear tokens. That said, there are plenty of other opportunities to flash Caller of the Claw in (perhaps after losing a few bears to fights) and getting those juicy Ayula triggers.

Crowned Ceratok: Trample is very important for making this deck an effective Voltron!

Den Protector: A great card simply for the ability to flip it face up and return target card (any card! not just creatures!) to your hand from your graveyard.

Drumhunter: Card draw is great, and you can tap it for mana. You will almost always have a creature with power 5 or greater.

Flaxen Intruder: You almost always want to cast this as the adventure (three bear triggers will make your opponents sweat a little), but the versatility of being able to destroy an artifact or enchantment is helpful in any EDH game. Note that you can deal combat damage to any player and destroy target artifact or enchantment; make a pact with someone at the table to let your Flaxen Intruder through, then destroy that pesky permanent your common enemy at the table has on the field.

Scavenging Ooze: Particularly strong if you are playing against decks that interact heavily with graveyards, but any opportunity to introduce more +1/+1 counters into the game as well as dump leftover {G} is welcome in this deck.

Slippery Bogbonder: Flash in and give your creature hexproof. As if that's not enough: got lots of counters dispersed among your creatures? If someone decides not to block one of your creatures, flash this in, move all your counters onto the unblocked bear, and make your opponent suffer.

Sporeback Troll: Creating more +1/+1 counters is always helpful. Being able to regenerate any creature with a counter is even better. Regenerating a creature does not remove counters/auras/equipment because that creature is never technically destroyed and never changes zones.

Temur Sabertooth: Seize every single opportunity you have to return bears to your hand and replay them for additional Ayula triggers. Check out the "Deck Interactions" section to read more about how bounce is this deck's best friend.

Ravenous Slime: Similar to Scavenging Ooze, this card is particularly strong when playing against decks with graveyard interaction. Introducing more +1/+1 counters into the game is just a bonus! Having both cards on the field at the same time is overkill (and even actively work against each other). But I play against a LOT of decks that rely on their graveyards.

Rishkar, Peema Renegade: Create some +1/+1 counters, then every creature you own with a +1/+1 counter can now be tapped for {G}. It's just good!

Yeva, Nature's Herald: The scariest bears are surprise bears. Being able to flash in a bear to trigger Ayula is extremely strong.

Going BEAR-zerk: Deck Interactions & Making the Most of Your Cards

You're almost ready to unleash the Bearpocalypse

But, shockingly, there is more to the deck than just playing your creatures. Hopefully many instants, sorceries, artifacts, and enchantments are relatively straightforward. There are a few I'd like to explain in more depth so that you can maximize the PANDAmonium you create (unfortunately, there are no pandas in MtG as of yet).

Bounce it back

It's no secret that when it comes to enter the battlefield effects, returning creatures to your hand and replaying them for more triggers is incredibly strong. Temur Sabertooth is an essential card for this very reason. Blood Clock and Umbilicus are even spicier cards that will actively strengthen your field while making the game much harder for your opponents. Though written slightly differently, these cards do the exact same thing: during each player's upkeep, they must return a permanent they control to its owner's hand hand or pay 2 life. Note that these cards say permanent, so players can return lands to their hands. You get the pleasure of returning bears to your hands, while your opponents have to wrestle with more difficult decisions about what to return. It cannot be overstated how well these cards synergize with nearly every creature in the deck. Not only do you have more opportunities to trigger Ayula, but you can bounce Striped Bears for more card draw. Played Flaxen Intruder as a creature and wish you hadn't? Bounce her back and cast her as three bears! Want Slippery Bogbonder back after you flashed her out to give a creature hexproof? You got it! You can also return lands to your hand that have cycling. If you played Tranquil Thicket or Slippery Karst early in the game and don't need the extra mana now, you can return them to your hand and cycle them for a card.

Another very important note: if things ever start looking grim for you, you can use Blood Clock and Umbilicus' abilities to bounce themselves back to your hand. Maybe your board got wiped and you don't want to put lands back in your hand. Or, your opponent cast Merciless Executioner or Shriekmaw and you really don't want them to have the opportunity to cast them again. You can stop the madness at your next upkeep.

The Ozolith

The Ozolith is kind of crazy. Essentially, all the counters you make won't disappear when a creature leaves the battlefield. They'll simply move to the Ozolith. At the start of combat on your turn, you may move all of those counters onto target creature. Never forget that these counters are not necessarily just +1/+1 counters. Remember Slipper Bogbonder? She puts hexproof counters on your creatures, and those move to the Ozolith as well. Also note that you do not need to target a creature you control when placing your counters. You could put them on an opponent's creature (for what reason, I don't know). Just keep in mind that only counters on creatures you control will move to the Ozolith when they leave the battlefield.

Cauldron of Souls

After one too many board wipes, or being forced to sacrifice Ayula repeatedly, it gets harder and harder to claw your way back into the fight. Enter: Cauldron of Souls. If you aren't familiar with the Persist keyword, the comprehensive rules state: “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.” In most scenarios, Persist gives your creatures a final hurrah. Maybe your opponent plays Wrath of God. If you give your creatures persist, they'll all return to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on them. The idea is that persist only triggers if the creature has no -1/-1 counters on it. So, in this hypothetical scenario, if Wrath of God were cast again you could not use Persist those creatures again because they have -1/-1 counters on them.

Take a look at this rule: "122.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it." In simple terms, if a creature has a -1/-1 counter on it as well as a +1/+1 counter on it, those counters cancel each other out and are removed from the creature. Hopefully you see where we're going with this...

If Ayula is on the field, along with Bear Cub and Runeclaw Bear, and the three of them are going to be put into your graveyard, you could activate Cauldron of Souls and give each of them Persist. When they return to the battlefield, they each trigger Ayula again. By choosing to disperse two +1/+1 counters to each bear, the -1/-1 counters gained from using Persist will be removed from the bears. Each bear will be left with one +1/+1 counter. That means the next time your board gets wiped, you CAN persist again (when you normally should NOT be able to). You've done it. You've created bears that never die. Amazingly, persist saves your creatures from just about anything other than exiling or being shuffled into your deck. Anything that would put it in the graveyard, even sacrificing it, can be undone with Persist.

Some rulings to keep in mind: Persist triggers when your permanent is put into the graveyard. This means the creature does change zones, and any +1/+1 counters, auras, or equipment will fall off of it. This also means that tokens will not return to your battlefield with Persist. Additionally, when the creature returns to the battlefield, it is a completely new instance of that creature with no memory of its previous existence. It will have summoning sickness when it returns.

Hibernation's End

Mostly in it for the bears in the art, but I'll explain this one eventually.

I'll kill you with my BEAR hands: General Deck Strategy

Isn't Voltron the bad guy in that one Avenger's movie?

Close, but no. The goal of a Voltron deck is to cast one creature and buff it the heck up so that is becomes a major threat to your opponents. This is by no means the way that this deck has to be played, but Ayula is a prime candidate for Voltron. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to destroy your opponents by dealing 21 commander damage to them. You'll have to be aggressive -- with a dash of sneakiness. You're a bear ninja now.

When I say you need to be aggressive, I mean turn two windmill slam Ayula onto the field. Many EDH decks have slower starts, so the sooner you start getting damage in, the sooner you win (and hopefully before your opponent has any answers to what you're doing). There is no other card in your deck that needs to be played on turn two. "But if I play Werebear, I can tap him for mana on turn three..." No. You are not playing a bear all alone when you could have gotten a perfectly good Ayula trigger off of it. Burn it into your brain: Turn two Ayula.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward from here on out. Remember how I said you're a bear ninja? You're actually the bear ninja police. You will likely have one of the most controlling decks at your table - yes, even though you're playing mono-green. Ayula's fight ability is on-demand removal. You choose what lives and what dies, and you need to instill that fear into your opponents. They should feel uncertain about casting creatures. They should cast nervous glances at your hand and wonder if you're holding a bear that will maul their commander the second it hits the field. Queen among bears? More like God among bears.

Channeling your inner Bear Ninja

No one is planning to let Ayula prance through their front lines, so the name of the game is (pseudo) evasion. Pseudo because we don't have ways to give Ayula flying, fear, menace, landwalk, etc. There are certainly spells and equipment in MtG that can do this, but it's difficult to make space for those cards when 72 of your cards are creatures, lands, or Ayula. We have to make those last 28 count. The one card you have that grants hard evasion is Rogue's Passage.

Here's how we get in commander damage:

Trample: Cards like Rancor and Overwhelming Stampede are easy ways to get commander damage through. Once you've developed your board state, you'll have enough +1/+1 counters on Ayula to swing into opponents with reckless abandon. It's hardly worth it if they can chump block with that annoying 0/1 goat they made with Trading Post, but trample solves all your problems.

Removal: As mentioned before, this isn't traditional removal. This is throwing opponents' creatures into a pit with your bears and having them duke it out. Your opponent only has two creatures on the field? If you can cast/make the bears, you can fight them pre-combat and get rid of any blockers they have. Then, swing with Ayula and rest easy knowing there's nothing your opponent can do about it. You do have Beast Within and Kenrith's Transformation for any big scaries that you can't take care of (but I recommend saving Kenrith's Transformation to completely eliminate an opponent's commander by transforming them into an Elk).

General Sneakiness: There are thankfully many tricks up your sleeve with this deck. The scariest bears are surprise bears. Ashcoat Bear or Yeva, Nature's Herald will keep your opponents on their toes and give you more flexibility in when you want to trigger Ayula. They'll also probably forget that you can make a bear with Riptide Replicator. Slippery Bogbonder doesn't have to be used just for her ability to give someone hexproof. Did you disperse your +1/+1 counters evenly among your bears? As soon as your opponent doesn't block one of them, use your Bogbonder to move every counter onto that unblocked creature. Did your opponent begrudgingly decide to not block your 10/10 Ayula because they have plans for what's on their board? Cast Solidarity of Heroes and get in there for 20. This also underscores the importance of being aggressive early. When your opponents have nothing to block your early commander damage, those small ticks make the difference when you can finally get a big attack in.

With a healthy supply of bears and some strategic thinking when it comes to using your Ayula triggers, you'll be BEARying your opponents in no time.

Only you can prevent forest fires: Deck Weaknesses

I'll say it one more time for the people in the back: This deck is nothing without Ayula. All the bears in the world won't save you when your opponents' decks start gaining traction and you're staring into the eyes(?) of Bane of Bala Ged. Ayula is thankfully very cheap to cast, so it doesn't matter much if she dies once or twice. Three or more deaths and you're living on borrowed time.

If you've decided to voltron Ayula, you won't have to worry much about creatures duking it out with Ayula or big, zappy spells like Fireball taking her out. However, you are very susceptible to board wipes or being forced to sacrifice creatures. A good rule of thumb: other than the first time you cast Ayula (on turn two!), make sure you've got at least one other creature in hand to cast alongside her. There's nothing worse than casting Ayula and being forced to sacrifice her because you've got no other creatures on the board. Don't waste your time and make her even more expensive to play. Be patient and wait for a bear or token generator so that you've got some other sacrifices.

Board wipes are also bad news bears for your deck. Dealing with these are on a case by case basis, but Cauldron of Souls is the best general solution you've got, as it'll protect you from everything but exiling and tucking. Barring that, if you have a Temur Sabertooth or other way to bounce Ayula into your hand, it's always worth it to cast her for her original {1}{G} than let her die and return to the command zone. If you have Bear Umbra or Spider Umbra in play, Totem Armor will protect Ayula from being destroyed. In some scenarios, Inspiring Call might save your board (or at the very least can draw you some cards before everything dies). Don't forget that you can use Caller of the Claw to give yourself some bear tokens after a wipe.

It's very hard to come back in a game where your board has been wiped multiple times, or Ayula has been killed 3+ times, but don't get discouraged! Patience is key, and waiting for the right time to cast Ayula again is of utmost importance. It's all the better if your opponents don't see you as a current threat because it'll allow you to limp back into the game. It's okay to lose sometimes, and know that when Ayula DOES go off without a hitch, it will feel so satisfying.

My playgroup in unBEARable: Sideboard Considerations

Cards specifically helpful for countering certain deck archetypes. Coming soon!

Top Ranked	Achieved #20 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #15 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Budget 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Green 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	25 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 25 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.13
Tokens	Bear 2/2 G, Beast 3/3 G, Morph 2/2 C, Shapeshifter 2/2 C
Folders	EDH, mono green, Commander Decks, D, Project Decks, Andrews, commander decks