Project Ellesmera

Commander / EDH* Elves GW (Selesnya)

Perseus2247

Creature (39)

• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
• 1x Elvish Archdruid
• 1x Elvish Champion
• 1x Elvish Harbinger
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Elvish Vanguard
• 1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Heedless One
• 1x Immaculate Magistrate
• 1x Imperious Perfect
• 1x Jagged-Scar Archers
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Joraga Warcaller
• 1x Kaysa
• 1x Leaf-Crowned Visionary
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Queen Allenal of Ruadach
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Rhys the Redeemed
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Steel Leaf Champion
• 1x Sylvan Ranger
• 1x Tajuru Preserver
• 1x Timberwatch Elf
• 1x Trelasarra, Moon Dancer
• 1x Wildborn Preserver
• 1x Wilt-Leaf Liege
• 1x Wirewood Channeler
• 1x Wolverine Riders
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yeva, Nature's Herald

Land (32)

• 1x Blossoming Sands
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Elfhame Palace
• 12x Forest
• 1x Gavony Township
• 5x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Wirewood Lodge
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Instant (7)

• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Make a Stand
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Rootborn Defenses
• 1x Sundering Growth
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Presence of Gond
• 1x Song of the Dryads

Commander (1)

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Elvish Promenade
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Nissa's Pilgrimage
• 1x Shamanic Revelation

Artifact (7)

• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Umbral Mantle

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
• 1x Nissa Revane

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Maybeboard

Creature (6)

• 1x Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
• 1x Mul Daya Channelers
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Rumor Gatherer
• 1x Wellwisher
• 1x Wirewood Symbiote

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Atra esterní ono thelduin. Mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr. Un atra du evarínya ono varda.

Howdy, all! This is a deck concept I've been sitting on for a while now, and to preface it, have yet to completely assemble. I began brewing this variant of Selesnya Elves with Selvala, Explorer Returned at the helm initially due to the card draw offered, but ultimately it was an opportunity for me to just play a bunch of cool elves. I've been trying to construct it on a limited budget, but I admit it got away from me at points.

Categories for Convenience

Anthems and Lords

• Canopy Tactician
• Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
• Elvish Archdruid
• Elvish Champion
• Imperious Perfect
• Joraga Warcaller
• Kaysa
• Leaf-Crowned Visionary
• Wilt-Leaf Liege
• Coat of Arms

Tutor Effects

Elvish Harbinger

Fauna Shaman

Eladamri's Call

Green Sun's Zenith

Nissa Revane

Board-state Protection

• Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• Tajuru Preserver
• Join Shields
• Make a Stand
• Rootborn Defenses
• Teferi's Protection

Removal

I've elected to lean into the "group-hug" aspect of Selvala and limited my removal to a bare minimum number of removal spells. The spell slots were dedicated more spells to protection of an established board-state. This may be subject to change once this deck plays against more decks.

• Jagged-Scar Archers (Conditional: AA)
• Strip Mine (Conditional: Land)
• Path to Exile
• Return to Nature (Conditional: Artifact/Enchantment)
• Sundering Growth (Conditional: Artifact/Enchantment)
• Song of the Dryads
• Austere Command (Conditional: Board-wipe)
• Hurricane (Conditional: AA and symmetrical)
• Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury (Conditional: Artifact/Enchantment)

Win Conditions

Combat Damage

Craterhoof Behemoth or Ezuri, Renegade Leader are the obvious choices, though Ezuri will necessitate more resources than the Hoof.

Critical mass of elves can be massed through fair play or Nissa Revane. Triumph of the Hordes and any of the pump effects should do the trick as well.

Other

Windstorm serves in an Anti-Air role as well as being a large mana sink to dome the entire pod. In theory, the symmetrical effect should be offset by the consistent life gain provided by CMD Selvala, Explorer Returned or less reliably Nissa Revane. Staff of Domination and any mana dork producing 5 or more mana should go infinite, which also gains infinite life. However, the infinite mana produced has more pressing repercussions.

The Staff can go infinite with Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, Marwyn, the Nurturer, or Wirewood Channeler. From there, you could draw the majority of the deck with Selvala or Staff itself, though I suggest using staff to limit opponent responses.

Interesting Interactions

This section is dedicated to interactions between cards I've noted during play testing or construction for future reference, and thus a work in progress.

Selvala, Explorer Returned and Trelasarra, Moon Dancer work excellently with each other. The primary benefit of this interaction is the scry trigger on Trelassara fires before Selvala's draw trigger. Trelassara getting large may end up being a political detriment, as it paints a large target on your board state.

Weaknesses

This deck is notably more creature-heavy than other lists I've found, thus susceptible against removal heavy decks and edict effects. I've included more protection cards in an attempt to offset this, trading out my own removal. The second weakness of this deck is the lack of interaction with other players. It has little in the way to stop faster, more aggressive decks.

The low power/toughness possessed by the majority of the creature pool means that this deck in theory will have difficulty melding in the mid-late game. Reliance in anthems and lords to keep pace leaves room for inconsistency with deck performance. Furthermore, beyond generating mana, many of the elves are rather vanilla in nature and will be out-performed by creatures with more impactful abilities or triggers.

Understanding all of this, I built this deck due to my love of elves, from fairy-tales to grand epics. Thus I tried to stick as closely to the elf tribal theme, which did limit some spell choices. My personal tastes in this regard don't necessarily align with what is optimal, but I hope that it will in the very least be decent and most importantly: fun!

Thank you for your time! Namárië!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elf Druid 1/1 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	Commander/EDH shenanigans