Selvala "Twiddlestorm Explorer" cEDH Primer

Commander / EDH Nathan_of_the_Gilt_leaf

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Commander 2019 update —Aug. 8, 2019

-City of Solitude
-Xantid Swarm
-Ancient Tomb
+Cloudstone Curio
+Mirror Entity
+Mandate of Peace

Commander 2019 gave us another Silence effect in the form of Mandate of Peace, which is even more flexible against combat-oriented decks. I've finally added both Mirror Entity and Cloudstone Curio as combo pieces, almost doubling the number of combos available in the deck.
I've removed Xantid Swarm and City of Solitude, as neither were very impressive as protection, and unless I'm winning the game, City of Solitude was either dead in my hand or helping my opponents. I also wanted to lower the land count a little bit, so I cut Ancient Tomb as the worst land in the deck, rarely being relevant and only tapping for colorless mana.

July 15, 2019 2:37 p.m.

davidsays1 says... #2

EVERYBODY PARL(T)AY that is my current decklist and its amazing for me atleast, i love seeing other selvala players. I remember the first time i played Smothering Tithe that was extremely scary for the people in the game with me lol

July 20, 2019 10:52 p.m.

Ghawn says... #3

Respect for taking on my favorite commander and keeping her alive. Selvala You Got Some Splorin To Do

Haven't updated my list in a long time but I'll leave it here anyways.

July 28, 2019 8:56 a.m.

shadowmage says... #4

Not a bad list! :-)

Honestly I don’t like dosan or city of solitude in any decks. It just lets other combo players become unstoppable if you don’t win the turn you drop them. I prefer ranger captain of eos because you can pop him when you’re sure that you can win and he doesn’t stop blue players from countering each other. There’s also grand abolisher which is a solid card

Check my list out here

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/do-you-like-to-draw-cards-3/

July 29, 2019 5:55 p.m.

shadowmage

I might cut City of Solitude sometime, but Dosan is good because it allows Green Sun's Zenith to find a Grand Abolisher type effect. Also, I always decline to cast these symmetric effects if I don't plan on winning that turn, so they aren't that risky. I haven't tried Ranger-Captain of Eos yet, but I didn't think it was good in this build because it is a single-use effect and it doesn't tutor for any important creatures. Grand Abolisher was also already in the deck (obviously; it's great).

I took a look at your list, and I think it's good as well, but there are still a few cards that I wouldn't play in my list (for my own purposes, not to suggest that you shouldn't play them):

- Angel's Grace is unnecessary. Because of Green Sun's Zenith , the infinite mill wincon with Selvala is already possible, and in my testing, Angel's Grace was always a dead card.
- I've considered Heroic Intervention , but my biggest problem with it is that it doesn't stop the most common board wipe in cEDH, Toxic Deluge . I still might try it sometime though.
- Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies , while being an infinite mana combo, doesn't actually win the game on the spot with this deck; it needs an infinite mana outlet (like Walking Ballista ), and part of the compactness of the combos in this deck is how each can immediately win the game with Selvala on the battlefield.

I could talk about these decks forever, so those are just the main points. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

July 29, 2019 7:53 p.m.

shadowmage says... #6

FroggyTroller in my build the ranger captain tutors for either walking ballista or wirewoodsymbiote, which are both very important cards

yea I hear you about the druid/vizier however with the large amount of tutors its never an issue to find an outlet for that mana

heroic intervention has been close to chopping block lately for me tbh because I'm usually tapped out anyway, probably will just put another draw spell or something

def like the idea of green suns fetching the dosan thats a pretty cool interaction

July 30, 2019 10:41 a.m.

shadowmage I think I might try Mirror Entity again; I like how it also can protect against Toxic Deluge , and if I do I'll try the Ranger-Captain as well. I'll test the Devoted Druid combo, I'm just concerned with Vizier of Remedies being a dead card without the druid. I do like the idea of cards like Uncage the Menagerie being able to tutor for both combo pieces though.

Also, just a suggestion, but Selvala, Heart of the Wilds works similarly to Marwyn, the Nurturer and Viridian Joiner for the purposes of Umbral Mantle , if you want a third copy of that effect in your deck (I'm not playing that or the joiner, but that's just because they are only mediocre without the mantle, and I like having a good average card quality).

July 30, 2019 12:16 p.m.

shadowmage says... #8

@froggytoller

I think relying on the higher cost elves is a bad idea. They cost 4 mana to cast , making you unable to play multiple spells in that turn and coming down much later than the 3 mana joiner or marwyn. Joiner or marwyn alone with umbral makes infinite and I feel is much better than the 4 mana creatures that rely on you having a board of other creatures to work. marwyn or joiner work in a bubble alone with umbral. you make the infinite and slide it over to selvala. to me that is way more reliable and consistent.

also I feel youre wrong about angels grace. It lets you win without contradiction from anyone; it lets you win when you have less cards in your library than your opponents as well. you cannot win with selvala drawing cards unless you have either angels grace or more cards in your library than your opponents. it also has the side effect of letting you skirt around another players winning turn and prevent them from winning.

July 30, 2019 2:18 p.m.

shadowmage

1- Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is only 3 mana, if that's what you are referring to. If you are referring to Wirewood Channeler and Karametra's Acolyte , I'm am just playing those for redundancy- my build benefits greatly from having creatures that always tap for multiple mana, and once Selvala is on the battlefield, I always have enough mana to play out whatever I need to from my hand.

2- I would suggest reading the "Winning" panel under the "Gameplan" panel of my primer. It details how the deck wins, even without Angel's Grace , once representing infinite Selvala activations. In addition, when I was playing Angel's Grace , it never actually stopped me from losing- CVT decks can win on my upkeep, every Laboratory Maniac win, while giving me another turn, still stops me from activating Selvala (because they would win if I do), etc. I was just consistently unimpressed with it in my deck.

I really do appreciate the feedback, and I'll definitely consider some of your suggestions.

July 30, 2019 3:14 p.m.

davidsays1 says... #10

I recently added Seedtime to my deck, may be worth a look?

August 1, 2019 9:09 a.m.

Seedtime is definitely worth trying in blue heavy metas. I recently added a "Meta Decisions" panel to the primer, and Seedtime is in there.

August 1, 2019 9:16 a.m.