Selvala Brostorm
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 532 | 490 COMMENTS | 262037 VIEWS | IN 248 FOLDERS
A Conservative Update Pre-Aether Revolt —Jan. 10, 2017
Cuts:
Elvish Pioneer
Lignify
Hunted Troll
Sylvan Library
5xSnow-Covered Forest
Adds:
Autumn's Veil
Song of the Dryads
Briarhorn
Sensei's Divining Top
Cavern of Souls
4 Green Fetches
For this update, we have gone for further slimming of the curve. Hunted Troll was once again deemed too slow and awkward. Briarhorn takes his place. Briarhorn can be played evoked for an ephemeral 6/6 for 2 mana - we found this better suited for t3 wins than Troll.
Library is out for Top because Sensei's Top is much better during the combo turn.
Elvish Pioneer had his uses, but he was pretty narrow. I think he is still fine to keep in if you like him since he's another way to land a t2 Selvala.
The fetches are in to support Sensei's Top. Personally, I haven't been able to get much use out of the fetches yet, but they have undeniable synergy with Top.
We are bringing in Autumn's Veil and Cavern of Souls for extra protection. If you don't see a whole lot of blue and black bounce/removal (read: lots of Swords to Plowshares), Blossoming Defense is a fine choice over Veil, but Veil does help against countermagic. Cavern is in as a relatively free way to protect Selvala from countermagic. Cavern can also name other types if you draw it later and want to force in a bellower, fatty, untapper, or Yisan. For the budget players out there, cavern and the fetches are by no means critical to the deck's function.
With Aether Revolt release right around the corner, we have definitely been very excited with testing Rishkar's Expertise, but we will hold onto it for now for further testing.
tw0handt0uch says... #2
There is some pretty spicy stuff in there! Squallmonger is interesting in that it can kill mindcensor, hushwing, linvala and act as an outlet for infinite mana. I'd do anything I could to keep the big draw spells - not having memory jar and genesis wave really hurts. Some interesting stuff there fot sure. Let us know how prey upon works out. We've been experimenting with crushing vines.
December 30, 2016 2:31 p.m.
tw0handt0uch squallmonger doesnt work against linvala, but its still pretty spicy. I'll have to checkout this list tonight.
December 30, 2016 11:44 p.m.
Wow, this Selvala Deck is absolutely unique! I really appreciate and respect the effort you guys put in here. Awesome! I play Selvala myself but never thought of such interesting combos.Maybe two more suggestions I use myself. Since you play many small mana dorks which let your devotion run berserk you could consider Khalni Hydra as well. A creature that becomes cheaper as time goes by and may be cast for 0 or at least at decent cost. Also, Altar of Dementia seems to be another sweet win condition, for example together with Umbral Mantle. Keep the good work up! Def +1!!
January 3, 2017 8:07 p.m.
ScrOuch we don't run khalni hydra because its too cost prohibitive t3/4 which is when we want to go off. Altar of dementia is a dead card and unnecessary. The deck has enough ways to win. The list is very tight and we cut as many situational cards as possible. All of our win cons also serve as combo pieces or protection/removal/recovery.
January 3, 2017 11:39 p.m.
PyreStarter says... #6
Thoughts on the new Rishkar's Expertise from Aether Revolt?
January 4, 2017 12:10 p.m.
tw0handt0uch says... #7
Rishkar's Expertise is a powerhouse and will almost certainly carve out a spot. I wish it was 5/4 instead of 6/5 so it could cast off of a turn 3 riftwurm / groundbreaker with spare mana to tap Selvala again if you draw into an untap- but even so, if you get this puppy to resolve you should win promptly thereafter.
January 4, 2017 3:29 p.m. Edited.
Just gotta live the dream of rishkar's into soul's majesty for 12.
January 4, 2017 8:59 p.m.
PyreStarter says... #9
Do you think Walking Ballista will have a spot as a tutorable wincon?
January 5, 2017 10:18 a.m.
tw0handt0uch says... #10
I think we'd want to be careful - we're talking about outlets that are not useful unless we are already infinite. We would only want to add more if we are finding ourselves with infinite mana and nothing to do with it. We have 1 creature to deal with this already: duskwatch recruiter - which means that any creature tutor is also an outlet. We also have outlets in gwave, staff, and Selvala herself provided we can bounce the biggest creature repeatedly or cast any draw spell on a dude buffed to our library size. Swapping duskwatch for ballista would seem bad because then we camt tutor the wincon with green sun's zenith, summoner's pact, or natural order.
So I would say probably no spot for ballista. Rishkar's expertise on the other hand lools like ot has a lot of potential.
January 5, 2017 10:36 a.m.
I just wanted to say, thank you for this primer and this deck idea. I've built a "budget" version of this deck mostly because I don't have the money cards (Gaea's Cradle).
This deck really took me by surprise. The speed at which it wins is mind blowing. The card draw power is incredible.
Once again, thank you for this awesome primer and deck idea!
January 9, 2017 12:27 a.m.
Meut budget version is linked at the top of the primer. A friend also has a great budget list you can checkout here.
January 9, 2017 1:19 a.m.
tw0handt0uch says... #15
Thanks Meut !
We put a lot of work into the deck and have continued to tinker with it. Look for updates in the near future as we continue to improve it based on play experiences and new set releases.
p0megranates says... #1
Thanks for the feedback on my suggestion. Hope it didn't come off too critical or obstinate; I really love this deck and the work you guys put into it. This list actually inspired me to build a super-budget (<$90) version of the list here: Budget Selvala Mono-G Combo, and a slightly-higher budget ($155) list here: Upgraded Budget Selvala Combo (still lower than your budget list), although I haven't really gotten a chance to test the latter. Thoughts?
December 30, 2016 1:21 p.m.