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Marwyn the Nurturer of Victory (Highpower Elf EDH)

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Elves Mono-Green Multiplayer Primer

BlazingPheonix

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Creature (39)

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Land (30)

Commander (1)

Commander: Marwyn, the Nurturer

Artifact (9)

Enchantment (3)

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Land (4)

Instant (1)

Enchantment (2)

Creature (1)

Sorcery (2)

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Sorcery (21)

Land (5)

Planeswalker (2)

Enchantment (14)

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Welcome to my High-Powered Elf Commander list, featuring Marwyn, the Nurturer as the commander! Unlike many decks which have Ezuri, Renegade Leader as the mana outlet in the command zone we're putting the infinite mana generator in the command zone. Building around the commander, we're playing token generators. Also, she allows us to play certain cards like Overwhelming Stempede. I've included explanations for many cards, feel free to leave questions or comments. This deck aims to win between turns 3 and 6. This deck only wins on turn 3 with the best of draws but consistently goes off on turn 6. As such, it is slightly not good enough for CEDH but otherwise very competitive. In this deck Squall Line is a more consistent wincon than damage, which is the usual go-to for elf decks. This deck can reliably win through damage, but ending the game at instant speed in mono-green is awesome. Relatively budget, as I own some expensive cards but don't own many relevant ones, I'm not playing a few expensive cards like Natural Order or Gaea's Cradle because I don't own them. The sideboard consists of cards that I am not playing for budget reasons. You'll notice the maybeboard is HUGE; this is every card I have considered for the deck. I'm constantly working on this deck and week to week I change a few cards. I have not playtested all of them, but they are listed here so I do not forget cards I have considered already (and they may also be of use to you!). Enjoy!

I'm constantly changing the cards in the list! Here are some explanations for some interesting cards. Feel free to comment if you would like to discuss any cards mentioned here, in the maybeboard, or that I may not have seen!

1. Overwhelming Stampede This card can obviously allow you to win through combat damage. In this deck, however, it is a ritual. Marwyn adds mana equal to her power. This spell will double her power if she's out biggest creature, which she often is.
2. Elvish Clancaller This little elf seems strange at first, since it's second ability seems ineffective in commander. It's currently in the deck for a few reasons. With just Marwyn on board, this spell pays for itself. It does so by triggering Marwyn's ability and passively increasing her power with it's static. If you control another mana generating creature (that is not a 1 drop) you've just made mana. Also, interestingly enough, the last ability has a little utility. You never known when you might need a free shuffle, but the ability to tap itself is relevant when comboing off with Umbral Mantle as explained in the combo section.
3. Benefactor's Draught While other mass untappers did not make the cut, this ritual does because it draws a card. This spell is a ritual to untap your elves and the blocking text has not yet been useful to me during gameplay, although one day it will likely draw me a card or so. It is also a combo piece, as explained below.
4. Concordant Crossroads Thousand-Year Elixir Lightning Greaves Swiftfoot Boots haste is so good in this deck it gets 4 slots. There is a massive difference between your mana dorks having haste and not having haste. Having one of these cards gives you access to specific lines when tutoring.
5. Crop Rotation This spell is a little lackluster without Gaea's Cradle in the deck, but it fetches Wirewood Lodge and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx wich can both generate a ton of mana.
6. Hunting Triad I've never activated the second ability. However, this spell is very strong in the deck in the same way the Clancaller was explained - this makes Marwyn tap for 3 more mana. If I control another elf-relevant mana generator, it makes 6 mana. While fairly innocuous, this card pulls it's weight as a 4 drop.
7. Joraga Treespeaker This 1 drop elf does not get us our commander on turn 1. However, by leveling up once, it does allow us to essentially bank 2 mana for later turns. I yet to be in a situation where I leveled this up more than once. One mana elves are very good in the deck for the same reasons as previous elf cards were explained, and can be of particular use while comboing out. Marywn (or any other tapper) tapping for 5 instead of 4 thanks to casting a 1 drop can be the difference between winning or losing.
Praetor's Counsel Yikes, an 8 mana sorcery that does not affect the board. There are other cards that could bring cards back from the graveyard for much cheaper, but sometimes you just need all of them. I prefer this one, but feel free to try out others.
9. Skullclamp You know it, you love it. While this card may not need an introduction, its specific uses in this deck can be interesting to navigate. Killing off elves can be detrimental if you're relying on a elf-dependent tapper. However, despite her nurturing nature Marwyn can be a bit harsh, as she no longer cares what happens to those little elves after they enter the battlefield... CLAMP. Importantly, this can be equipped to Marwyn to increase her power by 1. As explained, one power can be the difference between comboing out or not.
10. Sylvan Offering slaps Sylvan Offering this baby can fit so many creatures in it. This spell is strong at any stage of the game. The best way I've found to use this card is to have Marwyn on board, spend all your mana without tapping her on this spell, then tap her for an elf ton.
11. Zendikar Resurgent A 7 mana enchantment that doesn't affect the board... earns its keep. This spell enables a combo and works very well with other combos listed below. A non-creature version of "creature spell? draw a card!" has proven to be valuable. 12. Timberwatch Elf This guy makes Marwyn HUGE. Remember, an increase in power means an increase in mana. I've only used this to increase combat damage once, but the utility and mana generation potential make this an amazing card.
13. Wellwisher While this little elf does not tap for mana, the extra life can come in handy in a great number of situations. Only life generating elf has shown itself to be the right number.
14. Yeva, Nature's Herald I tried cutting this card multiple times. This is one of those niche cards that you think you can cut but will sorely regret cutting when you almost won at instant speed. You can cut her, as she isn't always useful, but I recommend trying her out as she is very useful in the right situations.
The three artifacts that allow for infinite mana are 1. Staff of Domination , 2. Umbral Mantle , and 3. Sword of the Paruns .

1. To go infinite with the staff, all one needs is a creature that taps for 5. The process is as follows. Tap the creature for x mana, where x>=5. Spend three of this mana to activate the staff's third ability, untapping that elf. Your staff will be tapped and you elf untapped. Spend 1 more to untap the staff. The cycle ends with you having x>=1 mana and an untapped staff and elf. Another route to go with the staff is using Argothian Elder and a land that taps for x>=5. The two lands in the deck that can do this are Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and the flipped Growing Rites of Itlimoc  . The win is the easiest to do with staff because with that infinite mana you can use the staff to draw your deck, gain enough life to have more than your opponents, and Squall Line the table. Alternatively, you can NOTE: In order to start this combo with only a creature (that does not have summoning sickness) on the battlefield, you need 6 mana. That's 3 to cast the staff and 3 to untap the creature.
2. To generate infinite mana with the mantle, one requires a creature that generates x mana where x>=4, or Marywn. This combination, with just a creature on board, requires 6 mana to start. That is 3 mana to cast the mantle and 3 mana to activate mantle's untap ability. If the creature taps for 4, you add that mana to your pool, spend three of it to untap the creature, and have generated a mana. Marwyn interacts with the mantle in a particular, exciting way however! Marwyn adds mana equal to her power. With 6 mana in the pool and Marwyn with no counters on her, cast, equip and activate umbral mantle's ability. The equipped creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn, so Marywn now taps for three mana, which pays for the untap ability a second time and from then on makes her huge and generates mana. To win from here, you can use the mantle infinitely increase the power of any creature you control that can tap itself. The mantle can only interact this way with creatures that can tap themselves because you must be able to pay the cost of untapping the creature. So, any mana dorks you control become infinitely large and you attack with them. Or, you cast a draw spell. NOTE: Be careful not to deck yourself by casting Rishkar's Expertise if you've declared her infinitely large! If this card is your outlet, be specific about her power and roughly how much mana you have (technically you have a finite number here, but it's a lot).
3. Last and least, the sword. For this combo one needs a creature that generates >=4 mana or Marwyn with two power. This is the most mana intense artifact to combo out with, as with just a creature on board it costs 10 mana to start. That's 4 to cast the sword, 3 to equip, and 3 for the first untap. This is another card that interacts excitingly with Marwyn! Because Marywn's ability requires her to tap to activate, when the mana is added to your pool (thus, when Marywn's power is checked) she is tapped and given +2/+0 by the sword. This combo also requires you to have additional cards to win from this position.
CREATURE BASED INFINITE MANA COMBOS
1. Another infinite mana combo this deck features is Wirewood Symbiote + Temur Sabertooth . This is a 4 card combo; the two aforementioned cards, an elf to bounce/recast with the symbiote, and a creature that generates x mana where x> 2(temur sabertooth's ability)+1(wirewood symbiote's cmc)+Y (the cmc of the elf returned by wirewood symbiote). The lowest x can be here is 5, where Y = 1. If x is 4, the combo generates no mana and simply triggers cast and etb abilities. The steps happen as follows, with all 4 creatures on board. Tap the mana generating creature for 5 (at least) mana. Activate Wirewood Symbiote, untapping that creature and returning a 1cmc elf you your hand. Activate Temur Sabertooth's ability, returning the symbiote to your hand. You now have 3 mana. Cast the elf and the symbiote. You have now returned to the combo's starting position and generated one mana. NOTES: If the Mana generator is Marywn, you will generate one more mana per loop because she will get an additional counter when the elf being bounced by Symbiote etbs. She does not change the amount of mana necessary to get started. In this combo the only creature that cannot have summoning sickness is the creature that taps for 5 or more mana. This combo does not work with Quirion Ranger.
2. Temur Sabertooth + a mana generating creature + a haste enabler. If the creature is given haste by Concordant Crossroads or Thousand-Year Elixir it simply needs to tap for x where x>= 2(sabertooth's ability)+y(the cmc of the mana generating creature). The minimum for x is 4, with the creature being Priest of Titania. You'll need an outlet for this combo.
3. Temur Sabertooth + Great Oak Guardian + a creature that taps for 9 or more, or Marwyn with 6 power. This combo works at instant speed, as the guardian has flash. Great Oak Guardian untaps all your creatures and gives them +2/+2, so all your creatures can become infinitely large. Marwyn is advantageous here again because Great Oak Guardian giving her extra power means the combo can be started with a creature that taps for less mana.
4. Temur Sabertooth + Eternal Witness + Benefactor's Draught + a creature/combination of creature that tap for 7. 7 mana breaks even, as conducting this loop costs 7 (2 to cast benefactor's draught, 3 to cast eternal witness, 2 to bounce EW with TS). The explanation is long, but if you conduct the combo with generators that tap for 6, you have will draw 7 cards before you are unable to continue the combo. After casting BD 7 times (drawing 7 cards) you will have 6 mana left. Feel free to test this in TappedOut's deck tester if you like, or if someone wants to type out those steps I'll include them and give you credit. However, with 7 mana's worth of generation, you will draw you deck are best off ending the combo with 16 mana in your poor and BD in your graveyard.
Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge + a land that taps for GG or more. That is to say, Nyxthos, Shrine to Nyx, Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun , or a basic when Zendikar Resurgent is on the field. Steps are as follows. Tap the mana land for GG. Activate the elder's ability targeting that land and the lodge. Hold priority, activate the lodge (paying one) untapping elder. When the stack resolves, all 3 are untapped and you've made mana. You'll need an outlet.
NOTES ON THE MANA GENERATING COMBOS
If you can go off with Dosan the Falling Leaf on board during your turn, do so. Be aware however that Dosan will prevent you from winning during other people's turns, which can happen. This will mostly likely come up involving Wirewood Symbiote and Quirion Ranger , which can untap your mana creatures during other people's turns. While the creature-based combos have extra steps, they can be made entirely uncounterable by Gaea's Herald or entirely instant speed by Yeva, Nature's Herald . Conducting the listed creature based combos while controlling a card that has the word "draw" on it can draw your deck.
OTHER COMBOS
Temur Sabertooth + Eternal Witness + Beast Within with infinite mana. While there are a lot of cards involved in these combos, sometimes it happens. With infinite mana you can infinitely bounce/recast eternal witness, getting back a card. If that card is Beast Within voila, their permanents are beasts! NOTE: Don't let them attack you. In the words of a wise man, "THAT'S A LOTTA DAMAGE!" It was mentioned already, but keep note of Marwyn's power even when she's very large as it can be relevant.

In mono-green we have access to several creature tutors. We unfortunately cannot search for artifact combo pieces. When using a creature tutor, you're often going to be looking for one of the creatures in the combos listed above. In my experience, to be most proficient at tutoring in this deck, one needs to memorize what options are available at specific CMCs. Unlike black tutors which can get any card (allowing you to decide what you want while you're tutoring) you need to know Exactly what you want before you search your deck for it, because with Chord of Calling Green Sun's Zenith and Uncage the Menagerie you must pay the cost before you get to look at your options. you're paying the cost upfront. In my experience the most common targets are Wirewood Symbiote , Temur Sabertooth , and Regal Force . You'll get the Symbiote in situations where you just need a little more mana, you just need to untap Marwyn one more time. Symbiote is best used when Marwyn is your mana generator as she does not require your elves to stay on the battlefield and there is synergy in recasting those elves. Quirion Ranger is the alternative. The ranger is best used when you just need One more elf to make another mana creature generate enough mana to conduct another combo. Wirewood can be used profitably over the course of multiple turns because recasting elves is typically more beneficial than detrimental, but the Ranger's activation cost is steep and requires careful timing. Keep this in mind when choosing between 1-drops. Sabertooth is a target because it turns your mana into cast and enter triggers. Sabertooth gets a higher priority if you control a haste enabler; if your mana creature taps for more than its CMC+2, then you have infinite mana. Return the mana creature, cast it, tap it with haste, return it, repeat. Note, this does not work if Marwyn is your mana generator as she loses her counters when she leaves the battlefield. Regal Force is likely my most common target - it draws cards without additional help. With mana generation in the command zone, often what you need is more cards and Regal Force gets them. Do not tutor for Regal Force if you control more creatures than cards in library. Dosan the Falling Leaf gets a special mention here. There are many well known 3-drop elves, Elvish Archdruid for example, and your opponents may suspect you will search for one of those. If they allow your tutor (that puts the creature onto the battlefield) to resolve and you choose Dosan, your opponents can no longer respond. Use the fact that your hand contains hidden information to your advantage in these situations. If your board looks like you need more mana but you have umbral mantle in hand for example, your opponents may not realize that not countering the tutor will cost them the game. Primal Command is different than the other tutors because it only gets 1 creature and it goes to hand - while it works, I will likely replace this with Natural Order in the future.
Uncage the Menagerie is likely the toughest card to tutor with because it presents so many options. It does require you to have your creatures memorized as it does not contain the "or less" clause. For 3 mana you search for a single 1-drop, and I already explained those. For 4 mana, get 2 2-drops. Premiere options include Priest of Titania , Seeker of Skybreak and Dywnen's Elite. 5 mana gets you 3 3-drops and 6 mana gets you 4 4-drops. These are perhaps the most complicated number to tutors for. The guideline I've found effective is to choose X=3 when you need more mana (if the you need more mana and cards than X=2 provides) and choose X=4 when you have lots of mana. However, both options have both outlets and mana generators. Best options at 3 include Elvish Archdruid , Dosan the Falling Leaf and Ezuri, Renegade Leader . Options at 4 include Wirewood Channeler , Temur Sabertooth , and Lys Alana Huntmaster . These listed creatures are just examples and fill different roles - these exact selections are not necessarily the best in all situations. The best way to figure out the best selection is honestly just to playtest the deck as the combinations and possible situations, like arranging a doomsday pile, are too varied to describe here. X=3 and X=4 are very often what you will tutor for, unless specifically need a 1 or 7-drop.

I hope you enjoyed the read, if you play it I hope you enjoy the deck and all the nurturing I've given it! If you do, feel free to upvote it.

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