Another exercise in refuting the conventional wisdom:
Quote from Stuffy Doll the Strawman »
Tokens can't possibly work in EDH! Every single token generator is answered by Wrath of God, which people already run as many variants of as they can. You'll dump your hand, get wrathed, and scoop!
It's important to remember that boardsweeps only generate card advantage if they destroy more than one card - getting your Captain of the Watch swept along with her friends invalidates the Captain herself, but the friends were card-free to begin with! Easy come, easy go. There's ways around sorcery-speed creature wipers, too.
It is my considered opinion that the best games of EDH are the ones where every player gets to cast spells. It's in that environment that victory typically goes to the most skillful player - both in terms of elegant card selection and of careful, measured play - and thus that reasonable and mature players can appreciate the game, win or lose.
This means I dislike combos, mass LD, and mass discard; instead, I favor efficient instant-speed interaction and showstopping displays of force. "Epic Moments." Your mileage may vary.
This is a pretty simple, aggressive deck. It's mostly a matter of running out my bombs moderately, and being mindful of useful synergies I could be working toward.
I definitely don't care for infinite combos - this accounts for the absence of Ashnod's Altar. Nothing I would want to spend that much mana on does anything besides make more tokens. I'm also not interested in Squirrel Nest/Earthcraft, and Glare of Subdual just doesn't do enough in exchange for missing my attacks.
At some point during the transition away from Soldier tribal I may have lost all my vigilance sources, so Reconnaissance is definitely something I could wedge in here.
In 1-on-1 play, I usually find that slugging them in the face with a 6/6 flying general while carpeting the ground with chump blockers is a good plan.
Cards marked with * are likely to get replaced with something more compelling.
Army Generators Doubling Season: Doesn't makes an army, but makes your army come out faster. Also combos with a bunch of other stuff, especially Spawning Pit. Spawning Pit: On a bad day, you can store your army in here during a creature wipe, then rebuild them as Robot Bears EoT. Combos nastily with Doubling Season, Vicious Shadows, as well as Anger, Valor, and Glory. Night Soil: The cards are removed as a cost and without targeting. Insane. The saproling is a nice bonus. Dragon Broodmother: Like a much, much better Verdant Force. Tokens like having abilities. Wort, the Raidmother: A nice, repeatable source of spell copying. Goes well with tokens, and brings some of her own! Avenger of Zendikar: Mr. Army In A Can Himself. Hornet Queen: Usually many fewer tokens than AoZ, but tokens like having abilities. Also dead-stops a flying assault, which is a usual weakness in this deck. Decree of Justice, White Sun's Zenith: Two of the three non-permanent token sources I use. These are the ones I can do as instants, which is important, because that lets me sneak around summoning sickness.
Group Buffs Anger, Valor, Glory: Anger gives me a really brutal tempo advantage. Valor is surprisingly nasty with an army of small guys. Glory screws with a lot of stuff. Crescendo of War: Very, VERY nice with Valor. Even without, this card is usually working to your advantage. Be careful around Rafiq. Mirari's Wake: A mana flare AND an anthem. One of the principal reasons I stretched this deck from mono-white to white-green. True Conviction: Probably the most insane army buff I can name. For six mana, flip the effing table on them. Crown of Convergence: It's only an anthem some of the time, but the deck-walking feature is very handy. Eldrazi Monument: A close second to True Conviction, this thing flips games almost as well. Helps to get a token-generating land online beforehand. Akroma's Memorial: This won't make your army hit any harder, but it will make them do absolutely everything else. Savage stuff. Urabrask the Hidden: Big haste sources were one of the major reasons I stretched this deck from green-white to Naya. This one helps by delaying my opponents' emergency blockers, not to mention breaking their own haste sources. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Oh, definitely. Sarkhan Vol: This used to be Fires of Yavimaya, but someone pointed out to me that Mr. Vol does so much more for only one additional mana. Also, completely terrifying when played next to Doubling Season.
Creature Exploitation Skullclamp: Well, yeah. Aura Shards: Helps make up for the lack of instant-and-sorcery spot removal in the deck. Vicious Shadows: Helps deter board-sweeps. Or, just sweep yourself to burn somebody out.
Removal Path to Exile: I might need to get Swords back in here, but of the two, this is the one I much prefer. Aura Mutation, Artifact Mutation: A little on the narrow side, but the instant-speed token generation hurts 'em bad. Especially brutal with Aura Shards. Return to Dust: Super-flexible, super-potent. Acidic Slime, Woodfall Primus, Terastodon: Sometimes you need to break permanents and all you have is an Eladamri's Call. This situation is no longer a problem. Wrath of God: Number one with a bullet. Hallowed Burial: Handy for indestructible stuff, and/or problem generals. Akroma's Vengeance: I can't remember ever having seen this card get cycled in EDH. Maybe in Standard, I would have. Austere Command: Less comprehensive than Akroma's Vengeance, but much more precise. Helps that my big armies usually all have CMC 0. Martial Coup: The only token-bomb sorcery I kept, but you can tell why. Reset the board and start out ahead.
Tutors Enlightened Tutor: Oh, definitely. Usually gets Mirari's Wake, but I have loads of options. Worldly Tutor: Haven't drawn this much yet, but I can probably pick out a relevant creature for my next draw in any given situation. Eladamri's Call: I still can't believe this is an instant. Idyllic Tutor: Pulling the card straight to my hand is nice. Natural Order: The Original Tinker. Not banned, because of being narrow, but yes, I will definitely trade this saproling token for a real creature. Tooth and Nail: As with Vesuva, I'm just glad 12post died out so this could drop in price again. A truly and sincerely violent jumpstart right after you get swept. Chord of Calling: Cast a creature out of your deck, as an instant, with convoke. Oh, yes.
Utility Constant Mists: Not the best, but with the amount of land-ramp I run, I can keep this going for quite a while if I'm in trouble. The last time I cast it without buyback let Sarkhan Vol go Ultimate with no creatures to protect him, which in turn stole a game for me. Sylvan Library: I run this over top. No worrying about having mana up EoT, and you can powerdraw if you need it.
*Mimic Vat: This is a good card, and it technically makes tokens, but I'm not 100% sure why it's in here. I might find something else to put in its place. Stonecloaker: A cleverly flexible card, especially for a deck that makes great heaping torrents of mana - save a creature, surprise-chump-block a flier, AND patrol the graveyard. Eternal Witness: Not the most relevant in this specific deck, but always a solid choice. Waves of Aggression: Such violence. Retrace is a great ability, and one I hope gets printed again, but only two or three of the cards that have it are playable. This one turns any land in my hand into a five-mana extra combat phase. You use this to capitalize on the little bit of time you get with your gigantic nightmare army before you inevitably get boardswept. Praetor's Counsel: Merciless, brutal card advantage.
Ramp Sakura-Tribe Elder: Multiple times, I was stuck at 5 mana, with Chord of Calling in hand, and no way to make it to six for Yavimaya Elder, much less anything else worth casting. This fixes that. Yavimaya Elder: He's not TECHNICALLY a ramp card, but hitting land drops is not to be underestimated, and having lands in hand helps me retrace Waves. Primeval Titan: Yyyep. Sol Ring: Mmm-hm.
*Mana Vault: I like to run all the taps-for-more-than-it-costs mana rocks in every deck, but this deck particularly probably doesn't need them, and Mana Vault is definitely the weakest. Grim Monolith: A fond favorite of mine, due to hilarious flexibility - pity they cost so much money. Nature's Lore: If you run nonbasic forests, this puts one into play, untapped, for two mana. I couldn't ask for more. Three Visits: Exactly like Nature's Lore, only it costs 150 times as much. Totally worth it. Cultivate, Kodama's Reach: Basics are a key tool in surviving the Blood Moon, and land-in-hand helps me retrace Waves.
*Explosive Vegetation: Puts two basic lands on the table, right now! Kind of weak, might go out for a Reap and Sow. Skyshroud Claim: Like Nature's Lore glued to Three Visits. Very effective, probably better than both of them. Mwonvuli Acid-Moss: Find a ravnica dual, while taking down a problem land. Mana Reflection: The only pure mana doubler I run in this, particularly because it goes ballistic with the bounce lands. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Of course.
Land Maze of Ith: Less necessary in a token deck than elsewhere, but balanced by Green's ability to find arbitrary land. Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Sometimes, you need to beat the blue player. Green improves the value of this with its land-searching capabilities. Vesuva: A very flexible card and a proud EDH staple. I'm so glad 12post got banned out of modern so the prices on these came back down. Horizon Canopy: Cycles-from-play is a truly excellent ability that I hope sees print again soon.
*Temple of the False God: A little on the weak side, in a green deck. Could probably drop this for a basic. Krosan Verge: A hideously busted card, and a very popular Primeval Titan target. Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree, Kher Keep: Both are excellent, resilient token-generation engines. Lands with spell-like abilities are very welcome in a deck with this much ramp. Gavony Township: Boosts a token army quite effectively. Strip Mine, Tectonic Edge: Sometimes, you just have to beat Cabal Coffers. Windbrisk Heights, Mosswort Bridge, Spinerock Knoll: Hideaway lands are virtually always good, and it so happens that the Naya-colored ones are all pretty easy to set off in a token deck. It does pay, when deciding what to hide away, to think about what the board will look like when that land is able to activate. Savannah, Taiga, Plateau: Always good, doubly-so with spells and abilities that find basic land types. Temple Garden, Stomping Ground, Sacred Foundry: Also always good. These are usually get when I'm asked to find a tapped forest. Selesnya Sanctuary, Gruul Turf, Boros Garrison: This deck loves bounce lands; they reset your hideaways, they can help you discard Anger/Valor/Glory early, and they can help you retrace Waves. Jungle Shrine, Rith's Grove, Command Tower: My shard-lands. The Grove is a little weak in other setups, but this deck LOVES bounce-lands, as noted above. Forest, Plains, Mountain: In my metagame, Blood Moon is a very real threat that gets played by a lot of red decks that don't want to invest in expensive land. As you develop your landbase in-play, you want to get three-deep in every color ASAP, but then follow it up by increasing your depth in basics.
Oh, you think the losers' bracket is your ally, but you merely adopted the scrub tier. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t 4-0 an FNM until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but an extra pack to sell for store credit!
It's important to remember that boardsweeps only generate card advantage if they destroy more than one card - getting your Captain of the Watch swept along with her friends invalidates the Captain herself, but the friends were card-free to begin with! Easy come, easy go. There's ways around sorcery-speed creature wipers, too.
This means I dislike combos, mass LD, and mass discard; instead, I favor efficient instant-speed interaction and showstopping displays of force. "Epic Moments." Your mileage may vary.
1 Rith, the Awakener
Army Generators (9):
1 Doubling Season
1 Spawning Pit
1 Night Soil
1 Dragon Broodmother
1 Wort, the Raidmother
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Hornet Queen
1 Decree of Justice
1 White Sun's Zenith
Group Buffs (12):
1 Anger
1 Valor
1 Glory
1 Crescendo of War
1 Mirari's Wake
1 True Conviction
1 Crown of Convergence
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sarkhan Vol
Creature Exploitation (3):
1 Skullclamp
1 Aura Shards
1 Vicious Shadows
Removal (12):
1 Path to Exile
1 Aura Mutation
1 Artifact Mutation
1 Return to Dust
1 Acidic Slime
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Terastodon
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Austere Command
1 Martial Coup
Tutors (7):
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Natural Order
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Chord of Calling
Utility (7):
1 Constant Mists
1 Sylvan Library
1 Mimic Vat
1 Stonecloaker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Waves of Aggression
1 Praetor's Counsel
Ramp (15):
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Primeval Titan
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Nature's Lore
1 Three Visits
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Land (26 + 8):
1 Maze of Ith
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Vesuva
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Temple of the False God
1 Krosan Verge
1 Kher Keep
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
1 Gavony Township
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Windbrisk Heights
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Plateau
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Gruul Turf
1 Boros Garrison
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Rith's Grove
1 Command Tower
3 Forest
3 Plains
2 Mountain
I definitely don't care for infinite combos - this accounts for the absence of Ashnod's Altar. Nothing I would want to spend that much mana on does anything besides make more tokens. I'm also not interested in Squirrel Nest/Earthcraft, and Glare of Subdual just doesn't do enough in exchange for missing my attacks.
At some point during the transition away from Soldier tribal I may have lost all my vigilance sources, so Reconnaissance is definitely something I could wedge in here.
In 1-on-1 play, I usually find that slugging them in the face with a 6/6 flying general while carpeting the ground with chump blockers is a good plan.
Cards marked with * are likely to get replaced with something more compelling.
Army Generators
Doubling Season: Doesn't makes an army, but makes your army come out faster. Also combos with a bunch of other stuff, especially Spawning Pit.
Spawning Pit: On a bad day, you can store your army in here during a creature wipe, then rebuild them as Robot Bears EoT. Combos nastily with Doubling Season, Vicious Shadows, as well as Anger, Valor, and Glory.
Night Soil: The cards are removed as a cost and without targeting. Insane. The saproling is a nice bonus.
Dragon Broodmother: Like a much, much better Verdant Force. Tokens like having abilities.
Wort, the Raidmother: A nice, repeatable source of spell copying. Goes well with tokens, and brings some of her own!
Avenger of Zendikar: Mr. Army In A Can Himself.
Hornet Queen: Usually many fewer tokens than AoZ, but tokens like having abilities. Also dead-stops a flying assault, which is a usual weakness in this deck.
Decree of Justice, White Sun's Zenith: Two of the three non-permanent token sources I use. These are the ones I can do as instants, which is important, because that lets me sneak around summoning sickness.
Group Buffs
Anger, Valor, Glory: Anger gives me a really brutal tempo advantage. Valor is surprisingly nasty with an army of small guys. Glory screws with a lot of stuff.
Crescendo of War: Very, VERY nice with Valor. Even without, this card is usually working to your advantage. Be careful around Rafiq.
Mirari's Wake: A mana flare AND an anthem. One of the principal reasons I stretched this deck from mono-white to white-green.
True Conviction: Probably the most insane army buff I can name. For six mana, flip the effing table on them.
Crown of Convergence: It's only an anthem some of the time, but the deck-walking feature is very handy.
Eldrazi Monument: A close second to True Conviction, this thing flips games almost as well. Helps to get a token-generating land online beforehand.
Akroma's Memorial: This won't make your army hit any harder, but it will make them do absolutely everything else. Savage stuff.
Urabrask the Hidden: Big haste sources were one of the major reasons I stretched this deck from green-white to Naya. This one helps by delaying my opponents' emergency blockers, not to mention breaking their own haste sources.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Oh, definitely.
Sarkhan Vol: This used to be Fires of Yavimaya, but someone pointed out to me that Mr. Vol does so much more for only one additional mana. Also, completely terrifying when played next to Doubling Season.
Creature Exploitation
Skullclamp: Well, yeah.
Aura Shards: Helps make up for the lack of instant-and-sorcery spot removal in the deck.
Vicious Shadows: Helps deter board-sweeps. Or, just sweep yourself to burn somebody out.
Removal
Path to Exile: I might need to get Swords back in here, but of the two, this is the one I much prefer.
Aura Mutation, Artifact Mutation: A little on the narrow side, but the instant-speed token generation hurts 'em bad. Especially brutal with Aura Shards.
Return to Dust: Super-flexible, super-potent.
Acidic Slime, Woodfall Primus, Terastodon: Sometimes you need to break permanents and all you have is an Eladamri's Call. This situation is no longer a problem.
Wrath of God: Number one with a bullet.
Hallowed Burial: Handy for indestructible stuff, and/or problem generals.
Akroma's Vengeance: I can't remember ever having seen this card get cycled in EDH. Maybe in Standard, I would have.
Austere Command: Less comprehensive than Akroma's Vengeance, but much more precise. Helps that my big armies usually all have CMC 0.
Martial Coup: The only token-bomb sorcery I kept, but you can tell why. Reset the board and start out ahead.
Tutors
Enlightened Tutor: Oh, definitely. Usually gets Mirari's Wake, but I have loads of options.
Worldly Tutor: Haven't drawn this much yet, but I can probably pick out a relevant creature for my next draw in any given situation.
Eladamri's Call: I still can't believe this is an instant.
Idyllic Tutor: Pulling the card straight to my hand is nice.
Natural Order: The Original Tinker. Not banned, because of being narrow, but yes, I will definitely trade this saproling token for a real creature.
Tooth and Nail: As with Vesuva, I'm just glad 12post died out so this could drop in price again. A truly and sincerely violent jumpstart right after you get swept.
Chord of Calling: Cast a creature out of your deck, as an instant, with convoke. Oh, yes.
Utility
Constant Mists: Not the best, but with the amount of land-ramp I run, I can keep this going for quite a while if I'm in trouble. The last time I cast it without buyback let Sarkhan Vol go Ultimate with no creatures to protect him, which in turn stole a game for me.
Sylvan Library: I run this over top. No worrying about having mana up EoT, and you can powerdraw if you need it.
*Mimic Vat: This is a good card, and it technically makes tokens, but I'm not 100% sure why it's in here. I might find something else to put in its place.
Stonecloaker: A cleverly flexible card, especially for a deck that makes great heaping torrents of mana - save a creature, surprise-chump-block a flier, AND patrol the graveyard.
Eternal Witness: Not the most relevant in this specific deck, but always a solid choice.
Waves of Aggression: Such violence. Retrace is a great ability, and one I hope gets printed again, but only two or three of the cards that have it are playable. This one turns any land in my hand into a five-mana extra combat phase. You use this to capitalize on the little bit of time you get with your gigantic nightmare army before you inevitably get boardswept.
Praetor's Counsel: Merciless, brutal card advantage.
Ramp
Sakura-Tribe Elder: Multiple times, I was stuck at 5 mana, with Chord of Calling in hand, and no way to make it to six for Yavimaya Elder, much less anything else worth casting. This fixes that.
Yavimaya Elder: He's not TECHNICALLY a ramp card, but hitting land drops is not to be underestimated, and having lands in hand helps me retrace Waves.
Primeval Titan: Yyyep.
Sol Ring: Mmm-hm.
*Mana Vault: I like to run all the taps-for-more-than-it-costs mana rocks in every deck, but this deck particularly probably doesn't need them, and Mana Vault is definitely the weakest.
Grim Monolith: A fond favorite of mine, due to hilarious flexibility - pity they cost so much money.
Nature's Lore: If you run nonbasic forests, this puts one into play, untapped, for two mana. I couldn't ask for more.
Three Visits: Exactly like Nature's Lore, only it costs 150 times as much. Totally worth it.
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach: Basics are a key tool in surviving the Blood Moon, and land-in-hand helps me retrace Waves.
*Explosive Vegetation: Puts two basic lands on the table, right now! Kind of weak, might go out for a Reap and Sow.
Skyshroud Claim: Like Nature's Lore glued to Three Visits. Very effective, probably better than both of them.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss: Find a ravnica dual, while taking down a problem land.
Mana Reflection: The only pure mana doubler I run in this, particularly because it goes ballistic with the bounce lands.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Of course.
Land
Maze of Ith: Less necessary in a token deck than elsewhere, but balanced by Green's ability to find arbitrary land.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Sometimes, you need to beat the blue player. Green improves the value of this with its land-searching capabilities.
Vesuva: A very flexible card and a proud EDH staple. I'm so glad 12post got banned out of modern so the prices on these came back down.
Horizon Canopy: Cycles-from-play is a truly excellent ability that I hope sees print again soon.
*Temple of the False God: A little on the weak side, in a green deck. Could probably drop this for a basic.
Krosan Verge: A hideously busted card, and a very popular Primeval Titan target.
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree, Kher Keep: Both are excellent, resilient token-generation engines. Lands with spell-like abilities are very welcome in a deck with this much ramp.
Gavony Township: Boosts a token army quite effectively.
Strip Mine, Tectonic Edge: Sometimes, you just have to beat Cabal Coffers.
Windbrisk Heights, Mosswort Bridge, Spinerock Knoll: Hideaway lands are virtually always good, and it so happens that the Naya-colored ones are all pretty easy to set off in a token deck. It does pay, when deciding what to hide away, to think about what the board will look like when that land is able to activate.
Savannah, Taiga, Plateau: Always good, doubly-so with spells and abilities that find basic land types.
Temple Garden, Stomping Ground, Sacred Foundry: Also always good. These are usually get when I'm asked to find a tapped forest.
Selesnya Sanctuary, Gruul Turf, Boros Garrison: This deck loves bounce lands; they reset your hideaways, they can help you discard Anger/Valor/Glory early, and they can help you retrace Waves.
Jungle Shrine, Rith's Grove, Command Tower: My shard-lands. The Grove is a little weak in other setups, but this deck LOVES bounce-lands, as noted above.
Forest, Plains, Mountain: In my metagame, Blood Moon is a very real threat that gets played by a lot of red decks that don't want to invest in expensive land. As you develop your landbase in-play, you want to get three-deep in every color ASAP, but then follow it up by increasing your depth in basics.