This is a token deck I made up using Tana, the Bloodsower
+
Tymna the Weaver
.
Initially it was going to be a Saskia the Unyielding deck, then I realised that Tana & Ravos would be much better as Commander. Then, I played it a couple of times and found that I preferred to have Tymna as the partner, to get some card draw early and help get me into some of my good cards.
Since we've still got Saskia the Unyielding, and hordes of tokens may be able to deal combat damage to one or more of our opponents, there's a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
+
Quest for Pure Flame
+
Saskia the Unyielding
combo in there.
It boils down to the damage doubling effects
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
+
Quest for Pure Flame
triggering a second time when Saskia's ability triggers. So, if Saskia (chosen player B) &, Gisela on the field, and Saskia attacks player A and gets through, she deals 3 combat damage (doubled to 6 via Gisela), then Saskia's trigger will deal 6 damage to player B (doubled to 12).
It gets even more silly if you've used
Quest for Pure Flame
that turn, 3 damage doubles twice to make 12 combat damage, which doubles twice to cause 48 damage to player B.
Chord of Calling is fantastic in any deck, but it's in this deck specifically to put Gisela on the field at instant speed, to kill an opponent.
So, here's how we get our tokens:
One of our partner generals, gives us tokens on combat damage. I'll be one of the first to admit she's not the best token generator, 4CMC for a 2/2 body and requiring combat damage isn't exactly reliable. But in a multiplayer game, it's possible, and there's no other partner to choose from.
The
Dune-Brood Nephilim
has the same trigger, but produces a lot more tokens (most likely), but doesn't have trample.
Rith, the Awakener pays for his tokens, but again, can make a lot of them, and comes with a big body and evasion.
These guys all come into play with counters, and can turn those counters into tokens. Plus some other possible utility. They all want Mana Echoes in play.
This guy gives you the tokens just for casting him, even if he's countered. He also provides a sac outlet, and a significant threat of a gigantic body with evasion and pump coming your way.
Gives us tokens when they attack (and Brimaz, when he blocks). They're both rather mana efficient, I wish I had a
Hero of Bladehold
as he'd fit right in with these guys.
Left unanswered for a couple of turns, and it starts providing an endless stream of soldier tokens. Worth the wait.
As long as he can survive that turn when he eats my board state (postcombat, of course), he'll start providing a steady stream of tokens each upkeep. I don't even need to go overboard with how much I devour - 2 or 3 tokens eaten will provide 4-6 each turn, well worth it.
He is also a target for Chord of Calling, at the end of the turn before me, cheat this guy in play and have much less time for an opponent to deal with him before he starts spewing saprolings at me.
Most notably just says non-Spirit, not non token. Most of my tokens are not spirits, so whenever one of my soldiers/saprolings/elementals/elves dies, I get a spirit. Which flies. Fantastic.
Works well within the token theme - my tokens die, he gets counters, then he turns those counters back into 2 tokens. If there's a Mana Echoes, a sac outlet, and a few mana available, that's a lot of tokens can be made.
Seems slow compared to the other token generators. But if I get to double them all at some point, he'll have earnt his keep.
-
Impact Tremors + Purphoros, God of the Forge
Any time a creature enters the battlefield with either of these guys on the field, and each opponent will be taking damage. When you have Assemble the Legion with a bunch of counters on it, or Prossh, Skyraider of Kher being cast, this can get out of hand quickly.
This fantastic little guy causes lifeloss to all your opponents and you get a life every time one of your tokens bites it. Coupled with Impact Tremors + Purphoros, God of the Forge
, it's another small trend towards bringing your opponents into range to be killed by other parts of the deck.
Any time any creature dies, these guys can swing our life totals with an opponent, slowly. When you're running a horde of tokens and a few sacrifice effects, this can keep us in the game and wear down whoever we need to kill.
If you get a decent board state, this can be used in response to a board wipe to make a player pay dearly for bringing you down. At instant speed, it's decent damage, lifegain, and you only need a few tokens for it to be worthwhile.
Regardless of whether you're going to win the combat, just attacking players with your tiny tokens and these guys on the field gives you damage anyway (and lifegain with the Hordechief and Campaign).
This guy has won me games before. He gets large quick, and can offload those counters into problem creatures, planeswalkers, or directly to a player to close out a game.
Every deck needs ramp, and this is no different. I don't have an
Earthcraft and it's too pricey, so that's out.
Seeing as most of my land is nonbasic, a bunch of the standard green ramp spells like Harrow are useless here.
Bloom Tender is probably the best ramp I could hope to draw in this deck. I was surprised when I was making the deck that I owned one, given his price, I don't remember buying him.
Lotus Cobra is fantastic, even though I'm not running a massive landfall engine. He's always welcome. I know he's a little pricey, but I drew a couple of these back in the day.
Farseek
+
Sylvan Scrying
can both search for my multilands, giving me the colors I need to keep rolling.
Expedition Map can search for any land I want. There's a reason it's an EDH staple.
Druids' Repository
is nuts in a token deck. You store all this mana, access it later. Gives you the juice to do things in your post-combat main phase.
Cryptolith Rite also fantastic in a token deck. Each creature running as Birds of Paradise means you're never without your colors.
Mana Echoes doesn't need all the creatures to be tribal to be crazy good. With any of Ghave, Guru of Spores
+
Marath, Will of the Wild
+
Ulasht, the Hate Seed
, creating a single token will be enough to power out all the of the tokens that guy is capable of, plus a ton of mana left over. That mana can be fed into Mirror Entity or casting a gigantic Mikaeus, the Lunarch, or just helping out the colorless aspects of other cards.
Nature's Will has to be dealt with or I'll have all my mana again each postcombat main phase, and those blue players will have no mana free to counterspell whatever I cast in that phase. Very useful.
Mirari's Wake double mana and anthem effect. What's not to like, other than the 5CMC?
Chromatic Lantern if my many multi-color lands don't fix my colors, this will. 'Nuff said.
One of our partners, she provides much needed card draw for a deck going wide, sending just enough tokens to make contact with as many opponents as is prudent to do so. I'm yet to actually have that happen, but I expect it will go down well.
Have 1/1 token creatures. Attach Skullclamp. Draw cards. Easy.
Classic token card draw. Gotta keep the mana free, but if there's a Mana Echoes, even with no other creatures of the same type, and it's free!
A much needed sac outlet coupled with filtering, this guy works so well in this deck.
It's not really draw, but using his second ability and casting spells from an opponents deck is card advantage, right?
Have a bunch of tokens, so draw a bunch of cards. If you're doing this postcombat after a
Jazal Goldmane
, or anytime with a Mirror Entity or when you've had Cathars' Crusade in play, this is a ton of lifegain as well.
Can be used as creature removal, recursion, or card draw. Or all three.
Gets me a Saskia the Unyielding or a Gisela, Blade of Goldnight at instant speed after blockers are declared to kill someone, or gets me a finisher just before my combat phase, or a
Rage Thrower
or Deathbringer Thoctar or Zulaport Cutthroat in response to a board wipe.
Simple creature tutor, instant speed, to hand not library. I like it.
I'm looking for any suggestions of cards I could replace, although I'm not likely to be spending much money on this deck, it was put together entirely using cards I already own (I used to run a
Marath, Will of the Wild
and a
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher deck which have been largely cannibalized for this).
I know Doubling Season, Earthcraft and
Hero of Bladehold
would be great for the deck, but I don't have them and they're too pricey.
