Ramp (41)
- 1x Arbor Elf
- 1x Arcane Signet
- 1x Ashnod's Altar
- 1x Awakening
- 1x Basalt Monolith
- 1x Bear Umbra
- 1x Birds of Paradise
- 1x Burgeoning
- 1x Caged Sun
- 1x Cryptolith Rite
- 1x Cultivate
- 1x Doubling Cube
- 1x Early Harvest
- 1x Earthcraft
- 1x Elvish Mystic
- 1x Emerald Medallion
- 1x Extraplanar Lens
- 1x Fyndhorn Elves
- 1x Gauntlet of Power
- 1x Heartbeat of Spring
- 1x Heartstone
- 1x Jeweled Lotus
- 1x Kodama's Reach
- 1x Llanowar Elves
- 1x Mana Reflection
- 1x Mana Vault
- 1x Nature's Lore
- 1x Nature's Will
- 1x Nissa, Who Shakes the World
- 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
- 1x Seedborn Muse
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Squirrel Nest
- 1x Thran Turbine
- 1x Three Visits
- 1x Utopia Mycon
- 1x Utopia Sprawl
- 1x Vernal Bloom
- 1x Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
- 1x Wild Growth
- 1x Wilderness Reclamation
CreatureEffects (10)
- 1x Champion of Lambholt
- 1x Collective Unconscious
- 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
- 1x Doubling Season
- 1x Epic Struggle
- 1x Parallel Lives
- 1x Second Harvest
- 1x Shamanic Revelation
- 1x Skullclamp
- 1x Triumph of the Hordes
SaprolingsTribal (8)
- 1x Coat of Arms
- 1x Elvish Farmer
- 1x Fungal Plots
- 1x Mycoloth
- 1x Psychotrope Thallid
- 1x Saproling Symbiosis
- 1x Spontaneous Generation
- 1x Tendershoot Dryad
Disruption (5)
Commander (1)
Lands (33)
- 1x Ancient Tomb
- 1x Castle Garenbrig
- 1x Deserted Temple
- 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- 1x Reliquary Tower
- 27x Snow-Covered Forest
- 1x Strip Mine
Other (2)
Maybeboard
Ramp/Lands (32)
- 1x Carpet of Flowers
- 1x Chrome Mox
- 1x Crop Rotation
- 1x Crucible of Worlds
- 1x Dryad Arbor
- 1x Elfhame Sanctuary
- 1x Exploration
- 1x Explore
- 1x Gaea's Cradle
- 1x Gilded Lotus
- 1x Green Sun's Zenith
- 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc Flip
- 1x Ilysian Caryatid
- 2x Lotus Cobra
- 1x Lotus Petal
- 1x Magus of the Candelabra
- 1x Manabond
- 1x Mark of Sakiko
- 1x Misty Rainforest
- 1x Nissa, Worldwaker
- 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
- 1x Patron of the Orochi
- 1x Prismatic Vista
- 1x Ramunap Excavator
- 1x Regal Behemoth
- 1x Skyshroud Claim
- 1x Somberwald Sage
- 1x Sylvan Caryatid
- 1x Verdant Catacombs
- 1x Windswept Heath
- 1x Wooded Foothills
CreatureEffects (9)
Other (5)
This deck needs a reboot and can improve dramatically when I get a chance to edit it! Read at your leisure, but know it will be improved soon!
Introduction & Overview
Ah greetings tappedout traveler, you have stumbled across one of my favorite builds, a build that uses common ideas and yet turns those ideas into something more unique. I am quite proud of how this deck currently is, and while I am still working on it, I encourage all viewers to test it out for themselves and see if they enjoy it too! Note that I am currently working on the decklist to the best of my ability, and thus the description needs quite a large revamp, which will be happening in due time! At the moment, there may be some cards in the description mentioned that aren't in the deck, so please ignore it for now, and it will be completed later! If you love to read primers, check out my deck Double Trouble EDH ⫸PRIMER⫷! But anyways, as many commander decks are, this deck is based around the commander: one that is very underplayed and is much greater in power than many typically take it for. In fact...
As you can see it has currently (12/26/2020) only 33 decks on the entire website of EDHREC, and here on tappedout, only 4 pages of decks, which compared to many other popular commanders is very, very, little. And yet, I certainly disagree with all of that, as the commander takes two most important themes of the deck, and holds a solution to them both. Let me stop being so cryptic and show you the commander before I continue: Nemata, Grove Guardian. Nemata has an efficient way of making tokens, that does not cause her to tap, or perform some sort of action in order to do so. Some commanders have abilities you can generally only use once a turn, and while these are perfectly fine, they also cause us to limit ourselves, but this is not the case with Nemata. Instead, we have a virtually limitless source of tokens that we can pool our mana into, which is a great way of making tokens compared to more temporary or slow effects. And yet, most token decks need some way of buffing the tokens and having some sort of win-con for them. Triumph of the Hordes and Craterhoof Behemoth and other such cards are super famous for their effects in this genre, and yet, Nemata has no need for wasting too many card slots on these either, as she has a built in ability that takes care of it! Thus, Nemata, in one single card, takes care of two huge, entire, categories of most token decks, saving us a great many card slots. Now, you must be thinking, what then makes this commander so unpopular?! While I don't know for sure, my guess is its mana cost and age. It is quite an expensive mana cost which discourages many players from using it, and at first glance there doesn't seem to be much special about it. It also is quite an old card, and if I hadn't dug around on EDHREC I myself wouldn't even have known about it. This combination of CMC and age makes it quite unpopular, and yet, there is a way to get around it. To create tokens, we need lots of mana. To play the commander, we need lots of mana. Like everyone, to win games fast, we needs lots of mana. And so, the obvious solution is to have a deck that is ALL about ramping and mana, where you can use that mana to create tons of tokens which can be used to buff each other! And that ladies, gentlemen, and others, is exactly what this, and so, I welcome you, to Strictly Saprolings EDH!!!
Ramping
Oh boy, as you can see under the decklist, ramping takes up a HUGE part of the deck- which makes sense! We need to ramp to get Nemata out, and then ramp a hell of a lot more in order to get a bunch of tokens out and eventually win the game. And while many of the cards are simply "good" ramp cards, we can also sort them into categories based on their effect. So bare with me as this section MAY get a big long...
Doublers
Let's begin with the first category: what I can the doublers. These types of cards can double, triple, or just add to the amount of mana we get from our regular sources. So, despite the name, they don't always necessarily "double" our mana. Mana Reflection and Nyxbloom Ancient are some of the most straightforward of these, and they are especially good with Basalt Monolith, as we would thus get infinite mana since basalt taps for double and only requires half of what it gives to untap itself. Most of the others sadly do not join this combo, as Reflection and Nyx double PERMANENTS, while the others do not apply as broadly. Nonetheless, they are still EXTREMELY powerful. Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power are both very similar and very good, as they also strengthen our army of saprolings once we begin to form it. They are most useful though for their second ability, where they double our green mana in some form or another! This allows us to put out a TON of more tokens and is even more powerful with effects that allow us to get more lands. Doubling Cube is much better later in the game, when you have so much mana that doubling it can basically win you the game on the spot. Pre-Nemata it is less helpful, though nonetheless still remains extremely powerful. Extraplanar Lens is very similar too, however also MUCH better as it can be played much more early on, which in most games is a true asset. Heartbeat of Spring can also come out early, and yet it is much more debatable as it can strengthen our opponents too. This can sometimes be a fatal move for us, but if played properly and strategically it can help us more than it can help them. These next four only apply to forests, though either way it won't make a difference to us since we are in mono-green. Nissa, Who Shakes the World is ridiculously powerful, as it immediately gives us an effect which we've seen before, then strengthens our lands which we can use to protect nissa from attackers, and finally has an endgame move that practically wins us the game. While the lands do come in tapped, we can easily win the following turn, OR we might have the means to untap them which I will touch upon later. Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl are very helpful in supporting us early on, as even though ramping is important, some of the most important ramp comes from the cheaper, supportive, and simpler cards. Utopia and wild both fit this category, and have been extremely helpful in doing just that. Vernal Bloom is similar to heartbeat of spring in the way that it also helps our opponents, and yet since the deck is composed of almost all forests, and usually our opponents don't have TOO many lands with the subtype forest, we can usually safely use vernal and benefit from it much more than our opponents. To end this subsection with a bang, we lastly have the titan, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger. He is almost an immediate target, and yet he staxes out opponents big time, while also doubling mana and acting as a huge blocker or attacker. While he is costly in mana, the deck ramps a lot as is obvious and so it isn't as hard as it might be in a different deck to put him out.
Dorks
The second (much smaller) category is mana dorks! For those of you that don't know, a mana-dork is a creature that taps for mana. Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, and Elvish Mystic are all exactly the same and are some of the best ramp cards in the deck. While they may seem simple, these guys are so supportive especially if you can get them out early, and like utopia sprawl/wild growth they build the foundation for producing stronger ramp cards and later our end-game. Plus, much later on once the game is set up they can act as efficient blockers if you need your tokens, providing the time you need to eventually wrap it up. Birds of Paradise is virtually the same for us if not a little more powerful, as it can also be an even better blocker due to its flying capabilities. Arbor Elf may seem the same, but in fact, there is actually much more thought into him. As previously shown, there are many cards that car increase the amount of mana certain lands produce. Having this guy means we can untap those very lands, so while Elvish mystic may produce a green, arbor might produce 3 green due to him untapping a land. Even at worst, he will still untap a forest giving us one green mana; the equivalent of the previous dorks. To top it all off for here we have a card that isn't a dork itself, but can turn other things into dorks- Cryptolith Rite! A staple in most token decks, cryptolith rite can turn all of our saprolings into dorks, producing a LOT of mana. When you start having 10+ tokens out, you truly start to see the power in this little two mana card. Even with only a few tokens, it can produce quite a bit of mana, making it a great card to put out early or even late in the game! Such cards that can have great power no matter when they are played are very useful and is thus something I'd recommend to everyone to keep in mind when deckbuilding.
Untappers
The next subcategory for ramp is the untappers! This category reflects cards that allow us to untap and reuse our lands, which combined with the doubling category can be very powerful and synergistic. Seedborn Muse is by far one of the most powerful and popular, as it only affects us and still has so much potential. By untapping our lands on every other person's turn, we can continuously reuse our mana and pool it in towards tokens since we can activate Nemata's ability at any time. This means in the average four-player game, we can do this THREE times per turn cycle, putting out an insane number of tokens that we can immediately use as blockers if necessary. Seedborn also untaps other permanents, meaning dorks, mana rocks, and all the other good stuff! Awakening is also quite similar and amazing, however, the negative side is much greater. While it costs a mana less, it also occurs for our opponents meaning they reap the benefits as well, and also does not untap our mana rocks, just lands, and creatures. While this is good for our opponents too, it is usually much better for us, though it can vary for situations. Wilderness Reclamation is also worse than seedborn muse but instead, it also has less of a negative effect like awakening. While it only applies to lands, and only allows us one more go, we can usually make a LOT of value off of it nonetheless. The next two are also quite similar: Nature's Will and Bear Umbra. Bear umbra only applies to one creature usually meaning we have to risk that creature getting removed due to the power of the enchantment, except it also has totem armor meaning it protects what it enchants, which is also a good form of protection for nemata. Nature's will does not offer this protection, but it also does not need to enchant an individual creature and instead can be played even if we don't have any creatures out yet. It also applies whenever any of our creatures successfully deal combat damage, however that does mean if they are blocked we do not get the triggers, unlike bear umbra. Both of these cards have their ups and downs and yet still manage to remain extremely powerful and useful in the deck. One strategy for the umbra is to literally just attach it to something and attack even of you know the creature will die, as you may be able to use the trigger to win thereafter. Early Harvest is quite amazing too as we use many basics, and if those basics are under the influence of say a Mana Reflection, this simple card can start to have some true synergy and can get us a ton of mana. However, by far, the best, possibly the best of all our ramp cards, is of course Earthcraft. We can use this and tap our saprolings as soon as it comes out (since it doesn't give them a tapping effect instead) and thus play tokens, tap them, untap our lands to play more tokens, and go on a huge cycle. With our doublers and some cards mentioned later if our lands produce 3+ mana then it becomes an infinite combo as we can tap a token, get three mana, play a token, and repeat. Earthcraft also goes infinite with Squirrel Nest, which is why the latter is in the deck. Even without infinite, earthcraft is exceptionally powerful and broken in this deck.
Sacrificers
Now that we have gone over the three titan categories, we can start naming some smaller ones and even some individual cards. The sacrifice category is very good, as we can sacrifice our saprolings to get more mana and play more tokens, possibly getting creature triggers (mentioned later) among other things. Ashnod's Altar is the main one (I left out Phyrexian Altar) as we can easily sacrifice our tokens and pay for the majority of a new ones cost, where the same goes for Utopia Mycon, which acts as a much cheaper phyrexian altar. If utopia is played early it can also get us a good number of tokens, though that is not why it is in the deck. Speaking of sacrificing, I have sadly decided to use the Jeweled Lotus, even though I hate the fact they created the card, as its power in this deck is very high, almost spiking our win by three entire turns if not more.
Land Fetch, Rocks, and Other
We also have a few cards that allow us to search for lands! These include Kodama's Reach/Cultivate, Nature's Lore, and Three Visits, all of which work fabulously when a doubler or two are on the battlefield as well. These are especially good since the deck isn't TOO high on lands, though I may change that in the future. I especially like lore and visits, since they allow us to immediately use the lands which may produce more mana than the spell itself. Some mana rocks that are quite self-explanatory that I included are Arcane Signet, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, and Emerald Medallion, as these supportive cards are extremely helpful to us in earlier turns just like the dorks I mentioned and a few others were. Speaking of reducing costs like in the medallion, Heartstone can reduce the cost it takes to play a token, which is a very useful ability and sadly the only useable one of its kind I can use in the deck. Reducing costs can be extremely helpful in creating some infinite mana combos in the deck as well! We now come to the final two cards: Burgeoning is wonderful when you have a hand full of lands or after playing something like Cultivate, and can certainly up us ahead a few turns if we have the right amount of lands, especially when played early on. And last but not least, is one I am very proud of finding myself, as it is usually undervalued: Thran Turbine. While most people can't use it, we can! Every turn, this provides two extra mana towards a token, which isn't too much, but considering it occurs every turn at the expense of one, one time, colorless mana, sounds pretty great to me! And so folks, that wraps up the extremely large ramp section for the deck, but don't be fooled, there are a TON of more cards that truly aid this journey that might just make your eyes pop! Keep reading to see what these cards are and what they really can do!
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Casual
92% Competitive
Revision 18 See all
(2 years ago)
| +1 | Carpet of Flowers | maybe |
| +1 | Crucible of Worlds | maybe |
| +1 | Dryad Arbor | maybe |
| +1 | Explore | maybe |
| +1 | Green Sun's Zenith | maybe |
| +1 | Ilysian Caryatid | maybe |
| +1 | Lotus Cobra | maybe |
| +1 | Lotus Petal | maybe |
| +1 | Mark of Sakiko | maybe |
| +1 | Misty Rainforest | maybe |
| +1 | Prismatic Vista | maybe |
| +1 | Ramunap Excavator | maybe |
| +1 | Somberwald Sage | maybe |
| +1 | Sylvan Caryatid | maybe |
| +1 | Verdant Catacombs | maybe |
| +1 | Windswept Heath | maybe |
| +1 | Wooded Foothills | maybe |
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 3 years |
| Last updated | 1 year |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 7 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.13 |
| Tokens | Beast 3/3 G, City's Blessing, Emblem Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Saproling 1/1 G, Squirrel 1/1 G |
| Folders | My Primers, or To-Be Primers |
| Votes | |
| Ignored suggestions | |
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