Yeva, Nature's Herald

Legendary Creature — Elf Shaman

Flash (You may cast this spell at any time you could cast an instant.)

You may cast green creature cards as though they had flash.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (45)

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with me …

7 months ago

Welcome back to another episode of Build a Deck with Me. In the first two episodes I focused on a couple decks that want to go infinite and combo out. I realize that playing infinite combos is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but one of the things I enjoy is finding cool interactions/ways to break cards. So today instead of finding ways to break cards, I’m simply going to start with a card that is already broken and build a deck around it. That card is Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. Ok, so maybe it isn’t broken, but you have to admit, you see this good boy on the field and you need to find a response quickly.

Research

In the last episode, I had some comments that suggested I talk about some of the general research that goes into deck-building. One thing to keep in mind is that when you’re building a deck there are general archetypes that exist and are fairly well known. These can often serve as models when thinking about what cards to use, although relying too heavily on them long term can diminish creativity. If you’re just starting out though, by all means run over to EDHRec and find what cards usually go into a counters deck or a tribal deck (spoiler alert that is what we’re building here). One of the things that I do that helps my deckbuilding is watching youtube channels that play commander. This includes: The Command Zone, Tolarian Community College, Commander at Home, and Elder Dragon Hijinks. There are many others out there, but these are the ones that I’ve watched more than a couple episodes of. As I’m watching an episode, I find myself thinking, “Wow I want to build something like that” or “I really liked the interactions with that”. For instance, there was a Commander at Home game where I got to see the interaction between Dihada, Binder of Wills and Odric, Lunarch Marshal and now they’re sitting on my desk, waiting to be built. Today’s episode is the result of one such instance. I watched The Command Zone episode that covered Murders at Karlov Manor. In that game, the Voja deck was a beast. It was fast, it made huge creatures, it drew tons of cards, and it just couldn’t be stopped, oh and the commander was a big puppy dog (wolf, puppy same thing).

To start building, I went into Gatherer and just began looking for a few things like Wolves, Elves, and Changelings. I started to realize that there are very few changelings and the wolves out there really aren’t that great outside of a few like Hollowhenge Overlord. So I turned back to the Command Zone for some help. They post their decklists on the videos and I began scrolling through it and much to my surprise, the list was similar to the ones that I had found, but wasn’t sure about like Ferocious Pup and Universal Automaton. These aren’t good cards unless you have something that really wants creatures on the field. And that’s when things started to click. The support for Voja didn’t necessarily need to be super strong in their own right, it just needed to enable him to do more.

Changelings

First of all, Voja is an interesting card because it wants both Elves and Wolves on the field. Most tribal decks want just one tribe so it almost feels like you have to make a choice between one or the other here. Well I don’t like choosing between two good options. It’s like deciding between chicken nuggets or a chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. I say both! (I also might need to reconsider some life choices, but oh well)

Changelings are great because they have all creature types which means any tribal deck can use them. Some are extremely powerful, while others just have an interesting creature type. In this deck, however, we want to focus on low cost creatures. If they do something cool, bonus!

Realmwalker is awesome because it is every creature type but it can also cast creatures from the top of your library which instantly gives you card advantage, we will likely choose elf as our creature type when it comes in because they generally are going to be our lower cost creatures, our mana dorks, and likely the more prominent tribal type in our deck.

Remember any changeling on the field will trigger both aspects of Voja’s triggered ability so a Universal Automaton becomes a 1 drop enabler for both adding counters and drawing cards. Irregular Cohort provides two 2/2 bodies both of whom are changelings and give us more counters and cards.

Of course there are two cards here that are just amazing. Maskwood Nexus which makes all your creatures all creature types, and Shields of Velis Vel which does the same thing in instant form. Both are game changers with voja.

Elves

When it comes to elves, we generally want to have mana dorks. This is going to ramp us out quickly, but also allow us to have bodies out there to add counters to. A couple standouts besides the normal ones like Llanowar Elves are:

Gyre Sage who is going to get huge thanks to Voja.

Beast Whisperer will draw you lots of cards because we are going to be a creature heavy deck.

Yeva, Nature's Herald is also helpful in being able to get your cards out on your opponent’s turns.

All the versions of Tolsimir are great because they often come with a wolf token in tow.

Finally there is Shalai and Hallar… When you’re adding counters to every creature on your board equal to the number of elves you control, this card can take out an opponent.

Wolves

There are a few wolves out there, but its surprisingly fewer than you would think. Hollowhenge Overlord is really good, and so is Ferocious Pup. You play it and suddenly you have two wolves which means two more cards when Voja attacks. Another great wolf is Roaming Throne. I know what you’re thinking, “it’s a golem.” In this deck, it’s a wolf… trust me. Roaming throne will double all of Voja’s triggered abilities and now you’re thinking “Voja only has one triggered ability.“ Actually, Ward is a triggered ability. Which means now in order to target him, your opponents need to spend 6 mana!! So you swing with Voja, let’s be conservative and say that you have just llanowar elves, Voja, and roaming throne, you add 2 +1/+1 counters to everything and you draw 4 cards. Speaking of doubling that trigger: Annie Joins Up. A super underrated card so far and triggers on Voja, Shalai, and Tolsimir.

Other fun stuff

There are a couple other things that help support Voja as well. Counter multipliers and additional combat steps are all good things for this deck. You don’t want to put too many of those in though because when push comes to shove you’re likely going to just want a creature to play instead of another counter multiplier. I have Kami of Whispered Hopes in the deck, because it adds counters, but it also produces a crazy amount of mana which I can use to empty my hand of creature cards. Hardened Scales is fine and even Branching Evolution feels worthwhile, but I chose not to add any others.

For additional combats I added only two cards, one was Relentless Assault and the other is Great Train Heist. The latter is great because it has more versatility, is an instant, and costs the same as relentless assault for its first ability. Both of these cards can win the game pretty easily.

There are also wolf producers like Howling Moon which I’ve played in Arena with great results. (also pairs well with Tocasia's Welcome). Sword of Body and Mind produces wolves, gives protection, and mills your opponent. Arlinn, the Pack's Hope  ^Flip is another powerful card since it produces wolves, but can also give you flash on your creatures.

Finally, there is a card that I’m proud to say I noticed before it became super popular. Silver Shroud Costume. I remember playing it in the dogmeat deck and thought, this is good, I’m going to put a copy into voja. At that time it was $5. It has since surged to $20 and there is a reason. It can flash out and attach to Voja, who is now hexproof, (in case ward 3 wasn’t enough) and unblockable gg.

Card Draw, ramp, interaction

Don’t forget your interaction. Just because Voja has ward 3 and is hard to spot remove, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be protected. Flawless Maneuver, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection etc. will help keep him and the rest of your creatures safe.

As far as ramp goes, Voja wants creatures which means a lot of ramp is going to be in the form of mana dorks not mana rocks or traditional green ramp spells. I still added a few green ramp spells, but its definitely fewer than some of my other green decks.

Card draw is also a little different here. We’ve got Beast Whisperer and Tocasia's Welcome already and they work really well with the deck since the Beast whisperer is also an elf and tocasia’s welcome triggers with all of our mana dorks which we can flash out on other turns as well. Voja of course is the main card draw engine (seriously a commander who draws cards is just waiting to be abused). Other good cards here are Inspiring Call and Rishkar's Expertise.

About Card Draw

One quick note on card draw that has recently changed the way I think about it. I used to separate card draw into two different categories. Card draw engines which are ongoing effects that will give me cards as long as they remain on the field. The other is simply cards that draw more cards. Previously, I assumed that the former were excellent cards and the latter were well… not great. But as I was listening to The Command Zone they started talking about cards and the amount of triggers you can expect to get in a single game. This changed the way I thought about it. A card like Rhystic Study is great because you are likely going to get some cards from it, but your opponents can pay the 1 or they can remove it. The idea is to think about your card draw engines in terms of the average cards you get from it. This helped me starting think about the usefulness in a card like Inspiring Call which is likely to give me 4-5 cards when I play it, at least. Rishkar's Expertise similarly will net me upwards of 7-10 cards and play a spell from my hand. Meanwhile, rhystic study, which is a great card, will likely get me 5-6 cards before being dealt with, sometimes only a couple. It helped me shift my thinking and made me consider other cards that I had previously dismissed.

Lands

Not a lot of utility lands are needed in this deck, I did like Rogue's Passage, because a lot of times Voja is swinging for lethal commander damage. Making him unblockable is great.

Here is the final form: Voja, the good boy

And by final form, I mean the form I’m currently playing, but likely will change because decks are always being updated and changed. As always, hope you enjoyed the article and if you have any commanders or interactions that you want to see built, let me know in the comments.

DemonDragonJ on Would Seedborn Muse Be Blue …

1 year ago

In this post, Mark Rosewater said that Seedborn Muse would be blue and not green if it were printed, today, but I must respectfully disagree with him on that subject. I do admit that blue would have a card that untaps all artifacts during each player's untap step, because blue has a strong emphasis on artifacts, but I fully believe that green should remain the color of untapping creatures and lands, since green is the color of regrowth, rebirth, and rejuvenation, and, out of all the colors, it has the strongest emphasis on lands and is tied for white with having the strongest emphasis on creatures; by that logic, Prophet of Kruphix could have been mono-green if it did not grant flash to creature spells, but even that is flexible, given that Yeva, Nature's Herald does that and is mono-green.

What does everyone else say about this? Do you agree with Mark Rosewater that Seedborn Muse would be blue, rather than green, if it was printed, today?

RangerOfPower on Omnath locus of mana (opinions needed)

1 year ago

Hi there, Omnath was my first deck that I seriously optimized so I think I can give some good insight.

There are some card choices I love, some I question, and some that make me want to flip over a table.

First, I love your inclusion of mana doublers. Seedborn Muse is by far the most powerful card in the deck followed closely by Nyxbloom Ancient and it seems like you know that. You have a good density of these big mana generation cards already, so just be careful to not go overboard by adding too many of these effects.

As previous commenters suggested, your deck lacks a focused strategy on what you want to do with all that mana. Many builds focus on getting Omnath big and winning with commander damage, but I think using the mana on other resources as a way to win is better. My advice is to question how each individual card interacts with your specific game plan, and if it doesn't advance your plan in the way you desire, then consider replacing it with something that does.

Your card draw choices are questionable. Eye of Vecna for example is very below rate, and we can do much better than just drawing one card a turn. Omnath is a VERY explosive commander, and its card draw should reflect that. Typically, I can expect to draw 10+ cards with a single spell, which usually gives me the gas to win on the next turn. Tutors are also incredibly powerful in Omnath builds because they allow you to more reliably find Seedborn Muse et.al.

If your card draw and tutor package are good enough, you can also cut down on big bombs. This helps consistency by increasing the odds of ramp and draw showing up in your starting hand, which of course is what you want to see. After all, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth does nothing if you can't get to 10 mana.

One other thing I learned when playtesting Omnath is how important protection spells are. In most games, Omnath is the first legitimitely threatening thing to hit the board and is the first thing opponents want to spend removal on. I like running instant speed, one time protection spells like Gaea's Gift so I can get removal out of opponents hands, but cards like Steely Resolve or Lightning Greaves also does the trick. And giving Omnath flash via Vedalken Orrery, Yeva, Nature's Herald, etc. is a more resilient way to make sure your mana pool never empties.

Also, Solidarity of Heroes doesn't work like you think. Omnath give itself +1/+1, but does not use +1/+1 counters.

Be sure to check out my build to see the specific card choices I used. It's not perfect, but the deck has come a long way from when I first built it. I hope some of the lessons I learned here help your deck out too. Happy brewing!

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OMNATH I: 9000 Volt Battery

Commander / EDH* RangerOfPower

SCORE: 2 | 537 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

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Helnas on Omnath locus of mana (opinions needed)

1 year ago

Instead of the mana doublers, i would add something like Bear Umbra, untaps your land if you swing with your commander, plus totem armor. Get some protection aswell, Lightning Greaves Yeva, Nature's Herald (just cast commander straight back when he gets destroyed, keep it in your hand). maybe a few spells like Tamiyo's Safekeeping, Tyvar's Stand, Gaea's Gift, Momentous Fall, Shared Summons, Wrap in Vigor some other creatures i didnt think of before: Oracle of Mul Daya, Silverback Elder, Apex Devastator, Cultivator Colossus, Ghalta, Primal Hunger, Cankerbloom, Topiary Stomper, Regal Force

For cutting cards, i would just cut cards that arent creatures or synergize with creatures, or dont do alot most of the time. something like Exponential Growth is gonna be a dead card in your hand most of the times.

Also dont understand most artifacts in your deck. Diviner's Wand for example, 3 mana to cast, 3 to equip, 4 to draw 1 card, 10 mana to draw your first card, and 4 mana for each card after that doesnt seem worth it at all. Id also cut 1x Mirage Mirror, Staff of Compleation, Helm of the Host, Lithoform Engine, Book of Rass

Id also cut: Vigor, Ironscale Hydra, Seeker of Skybreak, Viridian Joiner, Nantuko Mentor

And i would add 4-5 lands. playing a land per turn is stronger then playing an arcane signet or sol ring and then miss a land drop. (id cut arcane signet and sol ring aswell, they are bad draws past t4)

_Kane_ on Damia mill

1 year ago

This list looks nasty and I hope to never play against it! Plus One on the Upvote. :)

Potentials:

An Offer You Can't Refuse for those counter battles? Downside may not be worth it unless you're stopping or ending the game.

Breach the Multiverse would give a similar effect to Villainous Wealth for each opponent albeit at higher mana value.

Drown in the Loch for a cheap and versatile counter/removal spell.

Syr Konrad, the Grim would be great for ping down your opponents with each milling of a creature. Random mill ability tacked on as well.

Mindcrank

Zellix, Sanity Flayer

Potential Replacements? (IDK this list seems perfect):

Vedalken Orrery this Josh Lee Kwai favorite maybe worth a cut? I see what you're going for with holding up your counter-spells and then flashing in something of value if nothing worth a card is cast.

Yeva, Nature's Herald only 9 targets counting the commander.

Leyline of Anticipation I guess what I am suggesting is to try the deck with the counter-spells but without the 3 flash enablers.

Thought Scour hard to find anything to replace so I choose this smoother.

You do have ~53 piece of land/ramp; Maybe a one card wiggle room with the nice curve you have going.

Anyways decklist is already 10/10.

victor00vm on Death's Presence and Flash

1 year ago

I have Death's Presence and Grizzly Bears on the battlefield. My opponent casts Wrath of God. I have Yeva, Nature's Herald on my hand.

Can I wait until Wrath of God resolves, then play Yeva, Nature's Herald to put the counters from Death's Presence on it?

Profet93 on Ashaya Stacks (Infinite Win-Con)

2 years ago

While not all of these are necessary, some of these will help.

Yeva, Nature's Herald - Prevents you from overextending into a boardwipe and allowing you to play reactively. Probably the best out of all of these recommendations.

Eternal Witness - Recursion

Titania, Protector of Argoth - Creates tokens upon creature death with commander out

Greater Good - Greens best draw, although it might not be needed given the creature power and all the other draw in the deck. Nevertheless, worth mentioning.

Sylvan Library - Nice to have to set up draws early game, provide gas in a pinch and synergy with topdeck shenanigans.

Green Sun's Zenith/Finale of Devastation - Helps you find what you need, when you need it. Finale also acts as an alt wincon (would serve better than ur other x spells) and provides the potential for recursion.

Rishkar's Expertise - Similar to Greater good, not needed but nice. It appears you are a fan of steady card draw over burst. Why is that?

Rude Awakening - Nice to untap everything, albeit unneeded.

Tooth and Nail - Nice to have as another wincon. Can also synergise with eternal witness for re-use during the late game in case you run out of draw

Skullclamp - Extra draw in a "pinch"

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Her Royal Fluffness: Gorestorm

2 years ago

Profet93:

Elder vs. Wall: Your reasoning makes perfect sense.

Seedborn Muse: Looking at my cardtypes, I realize I indeed only have five instants. Also, I have two activated abilities needing mana. So basically muse mostly gives me vigilance. Then again, Yeva, Nature's Herald is tutorable with Shared Summons. And vigilance isn't bad, either. I'll think about it. I might just add another land for it.

Btw, the snowlands are in here because I had them. Nothing special to see here.

Nylea's Intervention: Flyers are always a problem when they appear in masses, especially in when playing a green deck. It's basically redundancy for Whiptongue while occasionally getting a Reliquary Tower.

Castle: Another surprisingly cheap card. Will remember it on my next shopping trip ;)

Fall: Fine card, not sure if I need it. I'll put it into the maybe board for now.