I have no idea how competitive this is, but I've found that it holds its own rather well. It's definitely a ton of fun for not a ton of money, though. Yisan helps tremendously, but is not absolutely vital to win with, which is good. After messing around with it, I've found that the old standby, mono-green Elf tribal, works well and consistently. Tutor up some utility elves like
Seeker of Skybreak
,
Wood Elves
,
Yeva, Nature's Herald
, and so on, or some big beaters like
Pelt Collector
,
Talara's Battalion
, or
Steel Leaf Champion
depending on the situation, and use
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
as your
Overrun
on a stick. I'm thinking of upgrading this to a $100 budget deck option, feel free to let me know what you think of it.
I strongly recommend picking up the final Duel Decks product: Elves vs. Inventors. They're fun decks on their own, but they are loaded with good Commander cards, too. The Elves deck has
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
,
Elvish Archdruid
,
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
,
Regal Force
, and
Yeva, Nature's Herald
, while the Inventors deck has
Goblin Welder
,
Myr Battlesphere
,
Solemn Simulacrum
,
Darksteel Plate
,
Temple of Epiphany
and
Shivan Reef
. Definitely worth the MSRP.
Some various notes on individual cards:
-
Arbor Colossus
and
Cloudthresher
are mainly flying hate, but add a whopping 7 devotion for
Karametra's Acolyte
, and can be tutored in succession after Acolyte.
-
Karametra's Acolyte
,
Elvish Archdruid
, and
Arbor Elf
with
Elvish Guidance
are your main mana sources. Untap them with
Seeker of Skybreak
or
Wirewood Symbiote
for oodles of mana. Or, untap
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
to tutor out another creature.
-
Manglehorn
and
Molder Slug
are artifact hate that won't affect you, since there are no artifacts. If needed, I like having
Krosan Grip
as an immediate answer,
Rending Vines
which replace itself,
Bramblecrush
to take care of anything we need to that isn't a creature, obligatory
Acidic Slime
, and of course
Reclamation Sage
because we can tutor it out and it's an Elf.
-
When we do need to get rid of creatures, we can dump a lot of mana into
Polukranos, World Eater
, which lets you beat up whatever creatures are a problem and gives you a beat stick. Maybe infinite mana with this would help...
-
Uncage the Menagerie
is a fun card, and the magic number for X is usually 3. There are lots of good 3-drops in this deck, and playing this gets three of them into your hand.
-
I just want to appreciate
Elvish Aberration
for a few. If you need to get another Forest, a big boost in green mana, or a solid 4/5 body, this guy does it all at common.
-
Gaea's Herald
prevents all creature spells from being countered, which hardly affects us if we're tutoring them out with Yisan (since we're not casting the creatures) and we don't have any counterspells of our own. So, think of it as politically motivational. Same with
Elvish Herder
, it can target any creature, so have fun influencing combat among other players.
-
Don't forget about
Taunting Elf
. Being a 0/1, it's supposed to die most of the time, but pump him up or regenerate with Ezuri, and you can keep using him if your opponents aren't dead yet.
-
If Yisan sticks around for a while, you can eventually tutor out
Regal Force
,
Tornado Elemental
, or
Terastodon
and get some good value.
-
I like
Repopulate
for being able to eliminate someone's graveyard shenanigans, or get all your stuff back later in the game to get re-tutored from Yisan. Plus, cycling when not needed is super nice.
-
I'm not sure if
Lull
has a place here, but being that quite a few Commander decks like to beat everyone and win in one fell swoop, this can thwart that for a turn and give you a chance to respond. Of course, the cycling is really nice here too, and cheaper than
Haze of Pollen
.
-
I love Charms, and
Evolution Charm
is a good one. Bring back a creature you need, give an attacker evasion or a blocker means of stopping an evasive attacker, or just go get more land.
