Reminders for your commander:
The central game plan centers around using Street Urchin's ability to kill things with Erinis, Gloom Stalker.
Street Urchin's ability can be used at instant speed, in many different ways. For example:
- If one of your more disposable creatures gets blocked, you can always sacrifice it to kill a different creature.
- If you have plenty of leftover mana before your turn, why not throw some rocks at your opponents' faces?
You cannot use Street Urchin if Erinis, Gloom Stalker is not on the battlefield.
With Street Urchin out, Erinis, Gloom Stalker stands to become enemy number 1 (unless there's a bigger threat at the table...), this means you can either use them to threaten people and form alliances, but make sure you try and keep them protected first!
Category Breakdowns
If I haven't mentioned something and you're confused by it, hit me up and I'll try to clarify!
Card Advantage
Faithless Looting, Pirate's Pillage, Seize the Spoils, Thrill of Possibility, and Unexpected Windfall all work best when used to discard a land (since you'll be able to get them back with Erinis!)
Faithless Looting has flashback, meaning you can get a second use from it :)
Treasure Map
is an excellent card in this deck, but don't get too hasty with it at the expense of your other actions. It's best used BEFORE you draw a card, so I'd recommend using it right before your turn.
Idol of Oblivion stands to be one of the strongest cards in your deck, as long as you don't forget to use it every time you make a token.
Skullclamp is another powerhouse in your deck. Feel free to attach it to a creature you plan on sacrificing to your commander, but remember you can't do this at instant speed.
Lands
Cards that count as Forests:
- Cinder Glade, Stomping Ground, Sheltered Thicket, Highland Forest, Forest.
Cards that care about Forests or Mountains:
- Orcish Lumberjack, Wood Elves, Mountain Valley, Farseek
Ash Barrens, Blasted Landscape, Forgotten Cave, Slippery Karst, Sheltered Thicket, Smoldering Crater, and Tranquil Thicket can all be CYCLED, meaning you can get them into your graveyard for some extra value. The strat is: past turn 3 play them as lands if you have no other land drop for that turn, otherwise cycle them away and get them back with Erinis, Gloom Stalker.
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth turns ALL LANDS into forests, meaning they can all tap for green. Why does this matter for you? Because Orcish Lumberjack can be used basically every turn with little to no consequence. Go ham!
Protection
Shroud VS Hexproof: the main difference is that if a creature has Shroud, it can't be targeted by ANY effects, including your own! This means no equipping!
Constant Mists can protect you or someone else from a big attack, while also fueling Erinis, Gloom Stalker's ability.
Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots make your commander untargettable while also granting them Haste.
Whispersilk Cloak makes them unblockable on top of giving them Shroud, making your land recursion triggers guaranteed.
Ramp
Harrow and Roiling Regrowth are great value in this deck, and can be cast at instant speed. Leave up mana to bluff an action, and then spend it before your turn on some sweet high-value ramp.
Springbloom Druid can't be used at instant speed, but it does the same job as the two previous cards, while also being something you can toss at people.
Goblin Anarchomancer and Orcish Lumberjack are cards you want to only sacrifice as a LAST RESORT, since their power comes from them being on the battlefield. Also, use your judgment when activating the Orcish Lumberjack: you don't want to end up in a situation where you've totally run out of forests... But it's TOTALLY worth it to ramp out a MASSIVE spell ahead of turn, anything that costs at least 2 more than the number of lands you have out is totally worth it.
Example:
- It's turn 2: tap a mountain for a red, tap a forest for a green, sacrifice that forest to the lumberjack, and cast a Tendershoot Dryad!
Removal
Beast Within and Meteor Golem can destroy anything! Since you're in Green and Red, you typically want to save this for destroying Creatures or Planeswalkers.
Decimate can ONLY be used if you have a every single valid target. If even one is missing, you can't use it.
Night Soil is great for hosing Graveyard-focused decks. If you have a lot of mana left over, it's also great to make a bunch of little guys.
Shenanigans
Ashnod's Altar can be used in conjunction with Street Urchin if you have a lot of tokens on the board.
Burn Down the House is here because it has two very different abilities. If you're winning, make yourself those devil tokens to hit people with! If you're losing, wipe the board to equalise.
Elvish Reclaimer and Zuran Orb are there for if you realise you have no more lands to get back with Erinis, Gloom Stalker. The Reclaimer can also help you get all the extra lands out of your deck so you can avoid drawing them later in the game. REMEMBER: your commander brings lands in UNTAPPED, so this can also be a sneaky way to squeeze out some extra mana.
Token Making
I've divided your token makers into three sections:
Landfall cards either make or buff tokens when a land enters your battlefield. These synergise best with your Commander's ability and fetch lands like Evolving Wilds.
Passive cards create tokens with little-to-no input from you: they either rely on your opponents, or happen automatically. These are the most important to keep track of! I recommend having something on your screen that reminds you about this.
Other are all cards that make tokens after you've worked for them a bit. This can include casting the card, like Deep Forest Hermit, attacking with Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, or killing things for Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge.
