WELCOME TO THE DOG SOLDIERS PRIMER!
INTRODUCTION
The deck is named “Dog Soldiers” after the cult horror movie about a group of Scottish marines being attacked by werewolves. It is a midrange/aggro deck that aims to establish a strong board early, refill the hand and pressure life totals quickly. If you have blockers, you are probably doing something wrong.
Thematically this deck is all about Werewolves, I have strived to have the majority of the deck be werewolves as the idea is Tovolar is uniting them all, since we finally have a werewolf tribal commander.
They do not need equipments other than boots because savage animals of tooth and claw don’t require pretty magic swords.
I have included werewolves that do something on either transformed form so there is at least some kind of effect on the board.
Essentially it is an low-costed Gruul Timmy deck, with extra steps.
Deliberately excluded the standard tribal cards such as coat of arms etc because I like my decks being a bit different personally, plus only WWs would be getting anthems since when they flip their abilities in combat should be strong enough anyway.
How Do Win Game?
The wincons are listed below but primarily are combat based or wins, as this deck is a midrange aggro deck hinging on the werewolf tribe and associated mechanics for card advantage/some powerful effects.
————-For a further categorisation of what each card is for please view custom categories——————
Arlinn Kord
Emblem - turning creatures into burn spells is pretty hilarious even if this PW is unlikely to actually reach it
Combat (primarily!) - if you can block, you are not attacking enough
Howlpack Avenger
+ Blasphemous Act - this is the only 'combo' in the deck and serves to deal a large amount of damage by nuking our own board if we cant get through with combat damage to bolt peoples faces as a finisher. It is unlikely, irregular, unreliable and hilarious!
Triumph of the Hordes - the bane of the aggro player is life gain/control decks so I (probably out of seethe or spite you decide) always have a way to poison opponents in my decks.
Tovolar’s activated ability - oops oneshot by something that suddenly grew
Tovolar commander damage - at 3cmc he comes down pretty quick and his pump ability can catch opponents unaware
Going wide with the entire howlpack - a weakness of decks that like to play creatures quickly is to refill hand or rebuild after a boardwipe. Tovolar's draw ability keeps us current where we at least have things to do and thus should rarely be in top-deck mode.
In addition, there are a fair few ways to go wide with this deck due to the large number of token-producers we run that have some synergy with werewolves.
STARTING HAND
When playing this deck you should take into account what commanders your opponents/prey are playing.
AS A RULE YOU WANT TOVOLAR OUT ASAP
A good standard hand for this deck contains lands, ideally creatures you can play on T1 or T2 to immediately get a board state. Haste enablers are a HUGE plus and do a lot for the deck.
Tovolar's draw covers additional cards.
Control Decks
Look for things that allow you to maintain a board or to stay present (draw, protection, token producers etc). This would be Lightning Greaves, Full Moon's Rise etc. A must have is Myth Unbound, as Tovolar will likely be targeted a lot.
Combo Decks
Look for cheap or instant speed removal like lightning bolt, if they have black in their identity run at them until they die
to prevent ad naus shenanigans
Midrange Decks
Go for individually powerful cards like Howlpack Piper, Avabruck Caretaker, Huntmaster of the Fells for example to do things based on high card quality. Also things like the couple planeswalkers in this deck who provide flexible actions are extremely valuable since they allow you multiple avenues to react to the board or keep pushing your own. Every one of them has a buff for combat for a reason :)
Unsure
2 lands and a dork will work with anything you draw into.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Lets face it this is a gruul combat deck with extra steps, we are playing for fun and to fit into any pod except CEDH.
People have no idea what werewolves do so you arent often percieved as a threat, unique effects, ways to buff creatures without slinging 50 spells a turn, early board presence, reliable card acquisition/selection
The deck has several core cards (the commander etc) that make it easy to hate out of the game and nullify. Thats not to say it doesnt work without said pieces but just makes it a lot harder.
Does not easily interact with other decks, but you are aiming to be on the offensive and playing proactively...
Also players do get sick of listening to Daytime//Nighttime
CORE CARDS
These cards are highly recommended for a Tovolar werewolf deck because of how well they work with the gameplan.
Tovolar, Dire Overlord
- Tovolar is the lynchpin for the entire deck. Synergy with old werewolf cards and new, controls Day/Night cycle, fills your hand, transformes werewolves. He is one of the strongest/most important things in this deck.
Arlinn, the Pack's Hope
- Arlinn allows creatures cards cast at instant speed to facilitate transformations and creates bodies for Tovolar to trigger. On the back side she is a big haste body or mana dork at night allowing the werewolf gameplan in any form.
Duskwatch Recruiter
/Howlpack Piper
/Werewolf Pack Leader - Best card advantage werewolves in the deck. Activated abilities on the frontside to progress your gameplan (board development, card advantage etc)
Anger/Reckless Stormseeker
/Mass Hysteria/Fires of Yavimaya/Arlinn Kord
- These are needed in order to allow you get going and deal punishment out on the board, haste and throwing dogs at people is how we roll. Immediate attacks and refiling hand with cards=keep playing or easier rebuilds after boardwipes
Huntmaster of the Fells
- One of the few werewolves that likes transforming back and forth, shock removal, face damage, life gain, board presence. Does good work regardless of what form its in.
Immerwolf - One of the best cards in the deck, keeps werewolves transformed into their better sides regardless of spell usage. It is also an anthem so a must have.
Myth Unbound - allstar of the deck, this thing keeps Tovolar accessible and lets Tovolar at least replace himself when he dies
The Celestus/Into the Night/Unnatural Moonrise - These cards force it to be night and strengthens your board because of it while also giving card filtering/draw.
Avabruck Caretaker
/Hollowhenge Huntmaster
- Every time this creature hits the board it does amazing work, the back side is probably the best werewolf in the deck.
Domri, Anarch of Bolas - This little tribal twink prevents counters, removes threats with fights, generates mana and is a combat buff.
Obsessive Astronomer - With flip/flopping from Day/Night every turn as the tempo of the game flows this guy gives you lots of card selection, the absolute goat.
FLEX SLOTS/WHY DO YOU RUN THAT?
A lot of these cards are in for jank or for tech reasons
To see what each card is used for in this list, please view custom categories and you can see what they're essentially for!
To Conclude
This deck is a solid 6-7 on a powerscale of 1-10 (1 being draft chaff and 10 being tuned meta-slave CEDH, precons are about a 4-5), it can and does win games while mostly being combat focused has lots of actions or triggers that it can do and occur so you will always feel like you have agency on the board.
Technically a "Bracket 2 or 3"...
On a personal note:
Werewolves got me into EDH in the first place with my first commander being Kresh, the Bloodbraided and running every werewolf printed at the time (pre-Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon block), including the crap black ones from Homelands.
This deck is intended as a love letter to a younger me's intentions to build a unique and fun deck around an uncommon creature type with a cool play mechanic, if you have found it on the internet somewhere and read/playtested/been inspired by/intruiged by its contents then I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I do. Feel free to reach out with comments, feedback on the primer (im not readily technologically compatible), cuts, adds, jank then please do so!
Thanks for reading all of the above if you made it this far, let me know what you think in comments I will occasionally update it if needed/powercrept.
cheeseychum
Discord is "coldlizard." if you would like to reach out
CHANGELOGS:
updated 22/05/2025
IN: Howlpack Resurgence, Torgal, A Fine Hound, Ulvenwald Captive, Silverfur Partisan, Progenitor's Icon, Fury of the Horde, Cindervines, Dolmen Gate, Moonmist
OUT: Fyndhorn Elves, Kessig Forgemaster, Chaosphere, Hound Tamer, Lightning Greaves, Ulrich Krallenhorde Alpha, Unnatural Growth, Hermit of the Natterknolls, Kessig Cagebreakers
updated 06/05/2025
IN: Hermit of the Natterknolls, Fires of Yavimaya
OUT: Volatile Arsonist, Weaver of Blossoms
updated 03/05/2025
IN: Hermit of the Natterknolls, Volatile Arsonist, Kessig Cagebreakers, Wolfbitten Captive, Werewolf Pack Leader, Kessig Forgemaster, Weaver of Blossoms, Sunset Strikemaster, 1xForest, 1xMountain
OUT: Savage Beating, Dolmen Gate, Gravity Well, Beastmasters Ascension, Ulvenwald Captive, Wolfkin Outcast, Child of the Pack, Howling Moon
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XoQPYxth7UqIkQ9OkaHdBA
Show the moxfield one some love :)
Flip
