Seton, Krosan Protector, is nice. Seton is friendly. For GGG it's only a weak 2/2. It doesn't do crazy effects or pull all the aggro on you. He's just a nice Centaur Druid that wants to mix his potions and wax his hoofs. When you land it on turn 2 it really gives you a huge mana advantage so you can cast spell that will durably increase your mana base like Cultivate, Caged Sun, Mana Reflection, etc. the next turn. Now that Seton has done is job doubling your mana he can get killed, removed, tucked or whatever hate he will received from your opponents. He's only there to ramp early game so you can cast all your fatties easily.
Mid game, he will get your that extra mana you need to cast multiple spells and ramp even more. If you need one more mana to cast that killer Karn Liberated you can simply cast him and the next turn you'll have all your mana ready and set.
Late game, you'll have a whole load of lands and he'll just act as a beater for cards like Craterhoof Behemoth or Overwhelming Stampede. Finally, he can chump block a big threat once his job is done, leaving him in the command zone for the rest of the game.
In a nutshell, he has two functions : distract your opponents so they target each other instead of attacking you and help your ramp process.
One important fact to remember is that its ability let you tap him and the others druids the turn they came into play. The "Tap an untapped druid you control : Add one green mana to your mana pool" is an activation cost that doesn't requires the creature to be haste because you're not using the tap symbol on the creature, which needs the creature to be out of summoning sickness, unlike "Tap : Add one green mana to your mana pool".
Reasons to play Seton :
You like cool interactions between mana producing creatures ;
You like dropping your whole hand on the table in early game ;
You want to always have mana advantage over your opponents ;
You want to play a simple, casual and multiplayer oriented deck that still rocks.
You want to play bi-colored or tri-colored EDH decks ;
You prefer to win with combo instead of lethal damage ;
You hate the green color.
Other options in mono-green
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Omnath is just crazy. With the good build, you can ramp into 20-25 green mana in your mana pool on turn 4-5 and then swing for one lethal 21 commander damage with a trample or evade spell. With Azusa he's in my opinion the best mono green commander. But because of his crazy ability and because it can get very huge quickly enough, he's much hated in almost every casual playgroups.
Seton isn't just cool for ramping, he's also distracting your opponents because he's not a direct threat like Vorinclex.
Like Omnath, when you play this little girl with many land fetcher cards and are able to drop her as soon as turn 2 she lets you play fatties on turn 4-5 like Terrastodon and other "Okay I give up" spells. Like Omnath she'll attract all the anger of the table like a magnet because of her accelerating ability.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
I used to play Ezuri in an old Elf deck. In an EDH deck I think he's pretty good because of its ability to protect all your essential elves in addition of being a kill itself. With an elf archetype EDH we can all say it's very easy to ramp to enormous amount of mana by turn 2 or 3 and then activate his ability 3 to 4 times on turn 4 to kill the opponent.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
He's very much like Ezuri but you can do nice tricks with his first ability to destroy your opponent's lands and his second ability allows you to run anything instead of just running elves. Definitely interesting choice in the more casual-oriented EDH decks.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Man this card is crazy. Everyone will just want to destroy your entire ramp to keep you from landing this baby. It just slow down the table while you hit anybody each turn with a 7/6 trample. And when someone successfully finds a way to get rid of him, he'll still wastes the lands he tapped for him for another turn. An excellent commander that gets much hated but remains a good choice if you can ramp him quickly enough.
Yeva, Nature's Herald
I don't know much about this general. I guess it must be similar to mine with ramping and fatties, but you can play them at instant speed. Must be a very cool and fun deck to play with as you can build it around the Elf archetype like Ezuri.
I started playing MTG last summer, around June 2012. The first deck I built was a ramping-agro casual elf deck that spawned tons of Lords and mana. Then, I built up my first EDH during my senior High school year. I wanted something Blue and White so I can play it aggro while keeping some control. It's also my favorite colors with Green. I first built Bruna, Light of Alabaster with many aura and Voltron play style. It was doing well but when Bruna was tucked I was left with a sure game lost. I began my search of other B/W commanders to find that Augustin was the only other one good enough (In my idea). I slowly removed all the auras to replace them with enter-the-battlefield creatures, Counterspells, Clones, etc. I wanted to always have an answer in my hand and have the pleasure of blinking my creatures to do crazy triggers. Also wanted a good synergy with cards like Reveillark and have some evade with flying.
The only problem is that Grand Arbiter Augustin IV gets a lot of hate in every meta because he breaks everyone's game. Also, when I get tired my answers gets less efficient and the error chances are much higher in this kind of deck. That's why I wanted to get back to the roots with this EDH : ramping and dropping fatties on the table. I quickly started the search of good green commanders. Rapidly found that Omnath and Azusa would attract to me all the agro of the table so I continued my search to find a casual oriented, cool archetype and ramping commander. That's when I found Seton :).
24x Forest
Decided to play them over Snow-Covered because they only synergized with Extraplanar Lens, which had a too big drawback early/mid-game, and Scrying Sheets. Also gets me one extra green mana instead of colorless. The reason I put 25 of those is that I only have 7 non-basic so 33 is enough for this deck. Early game you'll mulligan all the big casting cost away anyway and you want to quickly and easily drain the library so your top decks get better ; that's why I didn't want to have more than this number.
Dryad Arbor
The Dryad has nice synergies with many cards. It can be clamped to draw 2 cards, it can ramp with a turn one Green Sun's Zenith X=0. It also help killing with Craterhoof Behemoth because it's a creature that gets the +X/+X even bigger. I can tutor it very easily with Wood Elves, Sylvan Primordial and Skyshroud Claim. Can be brought back with Genesis if one opponent is playing a land destroyer EDH. It can be discarded with Survival of the Fittest. It's just an excellent card.
Dryad Arbor is the only card in all MTG that's both creature and land at all time. Better use it!
High Market
Interacts very well with creatures your opponents doesn't want to kill like Solemn Simulacrum, Woodfall Primus, Seedguide Ash and Yavimaya Elder. Can also be used to put a creature in your Mimic Vat, or sacrifice a creature your opponent is targeting with a "Gain control" effect. It also gives a little life gain when you block.
Maze of Ith
This land can save you from a huge damage. It's not necessary to name all the fatties with evade, trample, double-strike, etc. that can be avoided with this card. Also breaks Rafiq of the Many EDHs. Can also be used politically in free-for-all games.
Homeward Path
Very useful against "Gain control" effects because every colors run some, especially red and blue. It also can be played at instant speed which is awesome.
Yavimaya Hollow
Cool card that regenerates any creature for only one green mana. Its effect can be applied on your and also their creatures, so you can play it politically.
Temple of the False God
With all the ramping in this deck this card is just a free Sol Ring. It may not be very good early game but when you hit your fifth land drop and it's in your hand you'll love its extra colorless mana. Awesome land card.
Ancient Tomb
Another Sol Ring. Still excellent because it can ramp you on turn 1 or 2 but it'll bleed you a little. Not very worrying because of your 40 life points.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
This land just fitted right into the deck because of the explosive mana it could give with Seton's mana cost. Also, with a couple of druids and/or creatures on your battlefield it easily repays itself.
Accelerating Creatures
Treefolk Harbinger
A nice tutor that costs just one mana and can search you the treefolk you need, the green mana you're missing or Dryad Arbor for pumping even more Craterhoof Behemoth late game. What's even better is that he's a druid so he will later be tapped for mana with Seton.
Arbor Elf
He's a druid, he's clampable and when the mana enhancers like Caged Sun are in play he produces 4
The card is maybe too insane to be played as a commander but for our ramp strategy he'll be perfect!
mana instead of 2 like a normal Llanowar or Fyndhorn.
Fyndhorn Elves
Just a weaker Arbor Elf but still cool because of his old age and the fact that its reprint in FTW : 20 is very nice.
Llanowar Elf
The last Arbor Elf of the family. Its foil old version is just insanely cool.
Joraga Treespeaker
This card is like a weaker Sol Ring but still does its job because if you don't have in hand a 2 CMC on turn 2 then on turn 3 you'll still have 5 mana to play with.
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
No one wonders why this card is banned as a commander. It's just so broke. It's like a Gaea's Cradle on two legs. When his job is done he can be clamped and also be tapped the turn it came into play with Seton because in its oracle he's a druid.
Priest of Titania
Another great druid that is clampable. With the amount of elves this deck is running no one will argue that he doesn't have his place.
Elvish Harbinger
This is another tutor that will usually search for Fierce Empath. It can be tapped the turn it came into play if Seton is on the field but if he's not there you can still use him for mana the next turn!
Seton, Krosan Protector
This card is just the "clé de voûte" of the deck because one third of the creatures have the druid archetype. He's also very cool in its old foil version.
Somberwald Sage
Clampable druid that can be played turn 2 so you have 6 mana on turn 3 to play an Acidic Slime or another crazy 6 CMC fattie that will probably give you the game.
Karametra's Acolyte
Very nice druid that isn't squishy at all and that synergizes very well with Seton's high devotion to green. If dropped on turn 3 or 4 with Seton before he can generate enormous amounts of mana.
Ramping Creatures
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Sakura is just sooo awesome. It let you fetch a basic land at instant speed without any cost (other than casting it). It can also block a non-trample fattie and be sacrificed before the damage phase to ramp you. A must in every EDH that has green in it. Can be clamped.
You'll find this little snake shaman in every EDH that has green as its colors. Even this one!
Wood Elves
Wood elves is also excellent. Even if it's not a druid it let you fetch not a basic land but a forest card and put it into play untapped. So even after casting him you can still use the forest to cast something else, or go find your Dryad Arbor to have more creatures when you drop that Regal Force. In EDH with more than 1 colors it fetches you your Shocklands and/or Dual Lands early game and put it into play not even tapped! It's like a fetch land on two legs! Can be clamped.
Farhaven Elf
Farhaven is maybe a little bit weaker than Wood Elves but he still does his job and he is a druid so he double accelerate you by dropping a land and tapping himself for one mana after if Seton is on the battlefield. Can be clamped.
Yavimaya Elder
This card is sooo crazy. Yes, it doesn't put the lands into play, but it drains two lands from your deck before making you draw a card, so the chances of getting something cool is increased. Can be clamped.
Solemn Simulacrum
This card is a must for every EDH. It drains you a land, blocks a creature and makes you draw in the process. Also, it can very easily be abused with cards that activate his triggers again and again like Mimic Vat.
Seedguide Ash
The creature itself isn't that cool but his Archetype (Druid) and his dying trigger definitely are and make him an awesome creature to sacrifice with High Market after getting tapped for one green mana with Seton. Finally, for a creature that costs 5 mana, ramp you three lands and gives you one green mana he's not bad at all.
Krosan Tusker
Not going to re-write Solemn's text here because Krosan Tusker is simply a Solemn at instant speed that can be cast as early as turn 2.
Sylvan Primordial
In multiplayer games this card is just insane. His trigger let you fetch a forest card so he's even crazier with tri-colored decks. In a 4 players free-for-all game, he'll destroy up to three non-creature threats and ramp you 3 lands, while being 6/8 with reach so he can kill many of the format stample like the Titans, Wurmcoil Engine and even Akroma, Angel of Wrath.
Draw Engine
Skullclamp
With all the creatures with one toughness (13 in total) and the plant tokens, this card
If you can't afford its 60$ foil version, your EDH will still thanks you for adding its 15$ version.
is a must to have your hand always filled up. It also boosts our creature so they can block bigger threats and get you extra draw. Saying that, opponents will not be likely to block or kill the equipped creature to keep you from getting the card advantage. Works well with High Market also.
Sylvan Library
This card is a must in every EDH running green. It's just a too good card advantage enchantment for only 2 mana.
Yavimaya Elder
This awesome druid will drain your deck from 2 forests before making you draw. It's like a double-fetch that draws a card. Can be tapped to pay half its cost or equipped with the clamp for an extra card.
Harmonize
I my opinion, it's the card with the best Draw/CMC ratio in green. A must in every green EDH.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts
This card is already pretty good with its other abilities alone. But its +1 definitely makes him a must for this creature-based EDH. In the worst, it'll just Scry away 5 lands/bad top decks. At its best, it'll fill back your hand with threats, then cast them for free the next turn.
Staff of Nin
This staff deals direct damage which is fairly rare in mono-green, while controlling many annoying creature that have one toughness. Also gets me an extra card per turn, which none of the other drawing cards does constantly. Finally, it's nice to get it by Genesis Wave, for example.
Regal Force
The best drawing creature in the green. You can also Tooth and Nail him with Avenger of Zendikar to draw a ton of cards, or just cast it with Seton and 3-4 other druids an you'll already draw 6 cards for 7 mana.
Utility Creatures
Scavenging Ooze
In the EDH format, in every deck you'll be interacting with your graveyard. Having an instant speed answer to opponent's interactions with their and even your graveyard is a must. Plus, it only costs one green mana to activate and can make the ooze get big quickly while giving you extra life points.
Eternal Witness
This awesome card can target anything in your graveyard, not only creature cards like Genesis or Deadwood. Its cheap casting cost also makes it a prime choice early game if your Caged Sun gets destroyed, for example.
Genesis
This is the kind of card you'll always be happy to sacrifice, pod, chump block with, etc. Then, for only 3 mana you can bring back any of you ETB creatures after a creature-wipe.
Deadwood Treefolk
This easily gets tutored by Harbinger, and brings two creatures at once. It's also a little bit bigger than Genesis so it blocks larger threats before dyeing. You'll also always be happy to pod it for Avenger of Zendikar.
Fatties
Wolfbriar Elemental
This card is just insane. Mid or late game you'll always have tons of mana. Once its casting cost is paid it basically puts a 2/2 for only 1 mana. That's crazy. Then, if you have Strionic Resonator in play you'll just abuse him by putting twice many tokens in play. Then, the next turn, attack with 20 2/2 wolfs.
When this fattie leaves, your opponent's life count will surely be like a crater!
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
He's a druid, he transforms lands at instant speed in answer of creature wipes, and he's basically an overrun on two legs.
Wurmcoil Engine
I don't think I have to explain why Wurmcoil is in there. He's good for attacking, for blocking, for poding, etc. He's good at basically everything ; you're always happy to sac him and you can abuse his tokens with Strionic.
Avenger of Zendikar
This card is one of the cards that'll win you a good part of your games. Just play him, play a land, play cultivate, play another land on the next turn and you're set with 8 3/4. As always, you can abuse both its ETB with Strionic to make more tokens and make them bigger.
Woodfall Primus
This card, while being a 6/6 trample, will hit the opponent hard while destroying, most of the time, two permanents or even 4 with Strionic. It's also a prime choice for blocking an annoying Wurmcoil Engine or Harvester of Souls because of its second trigger.
Craterhoof Behemoth
This is the second card that'll win most of your games. With just 5 creatures on the board you get 6 7/7 trample creatures that will, usually, deal more than enough damage to kill one opponent. But if you wait a little bit longer you can blow up multiples players with 8 or more creatures late game.
Terastodon
This card is very powerful and should be used very wisely depending on your meta. Against casual decks or in free-for-all you'll want to target non-land permanents or one land maximum because this guy can come back very easily with all the tutors and it's just not fun to get 3 lands destroyed by turn 4 or 5. In more duels and more competitive games don't be ashamed of casting him by turn 4.
Removal spells
Beast Within
Destroying any permanent at instant speed as soon as turn 2 makes this a must. It gets rid of anything at a small
Karn is essential because of all the non-creature permanent destroy. He can also be cheated to exile cards from your own hand!
cost of putting a 3/3 beast under an opponent's control.
Krosan Grip
Many EDH decks use strong enchantments and artifacts. This allows you to destroy it without any answer at instant speed. Yes, you can finally destroy that Sensei's Divining Top.
Acidic Slime
This card has so many uses in EDH. It makes a great blocker, you can cast it as soon as turn 3, gets you rid of anything annoying on board for a small CMC.
Indrik Stomphowler
This card is a little less good than Acidic but still make a great attacker and a great destroy artifact/enchantment ETB.
Brutalizer Exarch
This card can tuck some good stuff to prevent it from being graveyard abused. In desperate cases, he'll replace himself with a better creature with its tutoring ability.
Duplicant
One of the rare card that exiles creatures instead of just destroying it. Awesome against Avacyn, all the upcoming Theros Gods, Wurmcoil, and many others.
Steel Hellkite
This card is pretty good in many metas because nobody has answers that block this guy. Once your opponent have lost the eighth of his life, you'll always have the mana to destroy any permanents that keep you from winning next turn.
Karn Liberated
Karn is just stupid. He exiles two permanents without dying, or gets almost unkillable by the turn it gets on the battlefield. Being the best colorless removal spell in EDH, every mono-colored commander should run it.
Tutors
Green's Sun Zenith
Green's Sun is one of the best tutors green has to offer. You can do it with X=0 to search for the Dryad and put it directly into play. Then, it shuffles itself into the deck so you can draw it again and use it another time.
A Tooth and Nail entwine just gives you a win unless your opponent counterspell it or wipe the table.
Worldly Tutor
Like its brothers Enlightened, Mystical, Vampiric tutors this searches for a creature card and put it on top. Always good when you have one mana left at the end of an opponent's turn or in answer of a draw spell.
Survival of the Fittest
THE best tutoring spell in green. You can drain your deck from all the 1/2 CMC creatures at instant speed before getting the creature you need, directly into your hand, or use it to put Genesis into the grave. Many uses.
Sylvan Scrying
Always a great turn 2 spell when you need extra mana with Ancient Tomb, just another forest to cast Seton or simply get your maze to protect you from that explosive Rafiq deck.
Fierce Empath
This searches for all your good creatures and put them directly into your hand. Then, you can simply clamp it to draw two cards or use it to pump the behemoth even more.
Chord of Calling
Just like a Green Sun's Zenith that is better. You can easily do it at instant speed before the blocker step, or assign your blockers then tap them to put the behemoth in play and save your butt. This card just brings too many possible answers.
Birthing Pod
I built the deck with many ETB triggers and a solid mana curve. That's why this artifact got into it ; in 2-3 turn you can easily climb up your curve to the 6-7-8 CMC drops. Annoying planeswalker? Pod for a 6/7/8 drop. Annoying artifact or enchantment? Pod for a 5/6/7/8 drop. Your lands have been destroyed? Pod one of your creature for a 2/3/4 drop. Birthing Pod simply gives you an answer for everything your opponent plays.
Sol Ring
Do I really have to explain this cards? For ONE colorless mana it gives you TWO colorless mana. That's it. How many cards do you know that give more mana than they cost without any side effect?
Explore
Always keep in opening hand. If you only have two lands on turn 2, it gives you the chance of drawing one extra
If you're short on mana, you'll never miss a creature drop after you cast this awesome card.
to reach your curve and play it, then play a one CMC creature, so you be at 5 mana by turn 3. If you already have 3 lands in hand by turn 2, it lets you put two lands in play untapped, then replace itself.
Kodama's Reach
Fetches 2 basic forest, putting one into play and assuring that you'll have a land drop the next turn. This is the kind of card you want to be playing as soon as turn 2 so your mana curve is optimal by turn 3 ; then, you can drop your whole hand on the table by turn 4.
Cultivate
Just a clone of Kodama, but this one comes in a cool FNM look. Definitely worth three bucks.
Awakening Zone
This card, in my opinion, is always good. Early or mid-game, it gives you free blockers, ramp and clamping options. Late game, it gives you that extra mana for Genesis Wave or that extra creature for Craterhoof Behemoth. And god the tokens are cool.
Skyshroud Claim
For 4 mana it puts two lands into play untapped so you can use them to cast another spell. Also fetches the Dryad, if needed. The best ramp spell in mono-green.
Gauntlet of Power
Doubles all the basic forest and pumps all the green creatures by +1/+1, which help you both ramp and kill. But if your meta is heavy on playing basic forests and/or green creatures, use this card wisely because it can help more your opponent than yourself.
Caged Sun
Just like the Gauntlet but works only for you, so don't be afraid to always cast it if you have the mana, even if you'll lose one turn to do so, unless you know for sure it'll get destroyed the same turn it came in.
Mana Reflection
This doesn't add mana when you tap your lands. It DOUBLES any mana produced by any permanents, so you can easily abuse it with Seton, Sol Ring, Ancient Tomb, etc.
Other utility cards
Oblivion Stone
This card is just a time bomb. Cast it, then see your opponents fear to lose all these good cards or keep them in their hands. If they still put on the table all their threats, just active the bomb so you keep one or two key cards then empty the board.
All Is Dust
This card is very situational. In some cases in gets you rid of many indestructible goodies, like planeswalkers, enchantments, creatures, etc., but leaves intact a bunch of annoying artifacts. Use it wisely.
Genesis Wave
I try to always ramp to the maximum before casting it for two reason : First, the X is bigger, so you can more stuff on the table. Second, the deck is more drained so the chances of getting good stuff are higher.
Overwhelming Stampede
Usually a kill ; you just need one of the many creatures with 6 + power and 5-6 creatures and one opponent is down. Repeat the process with something like Terrastodon in play and laugh.
Akroma's Memorial
If you can get it with Genesis Wave into play you'll simply win any duel and most multi game. Or, casting it the turn before you do a crazy Tooth and Nail Entwine will sure do some damage.
Strionic Resonator
One of the key cards of the deck. Just count all the ETB triggers, the small cost of this artifact and make an idea yourself. There are just too many triggers that you'll want to copy. If you don't think destroying possibly 4 permanents with Woodfall Primus isn't cool, think about fetching 6 lands with Seedguide Ash, or doubling your tokens with Avenger of Zendikar and Wolfbriar Elemental.
The starting hand is very important because it's what's inside that will get your tempo for the rest of the game. If you have a slow hand you'll always be late to answer everything and your opponents will always be ahead of you. On the other hand, if you have a very fast hand but not threats and/or tutors you'll just put all your cards on the board and get in top-deck mode, which we never want.
So, we need to get a hand that'll ramp quickly but once ramped will have something to cast with all the mana.
I would mulligan a Forest and Tooth and Nail. You don't need the third forest because you have the Llanowar Elf and Cultivate, so you'll have it anyway by turn 2 unless someone kills the Llanowar, which is very unlikely to happen. The Tooth and Nail is also mulliganned because of its too high CMC and the fact that you prefer replacing it by a ramp spell to drop Mana Reflection sooner.
Here you have only one forest but you still can do a GSZ for X=0. Otherwise, if the dryad gets killed or you don't get your second land drop the next turn, of the GSZ get countered, you're in deep problem. That's why I'd mulligan Genesis Wave, Solemn and the Gauntlet. This way, you'll be more likely to get your second land, which will be enough to start the ramp process and you'll still have the GSZ to drop a fattie once your ramp is done.
Here you have a good start but the average CMC is way too high. You'll need to mulligan everything but the forests and Joraga to have lower CMC drops and tutors.
Perfect starting hand ; you'll keep everything because you have each turn something to drop on the table : T1 Sol Ring, T2 Cultivate, T3 Acidic Slime, T4 Caged Sun, T5 Sylvan Primordial. Then, you'll be 2-4 land drop ahead of your opponents, which should give you the advantage for the rest of the game.
Early Game (T1-T5)
The early game plan is very easy. All you want to do is ramp. But solid ramping, like lands, not mana acceleration like creatures. So you'll sacrifice this Sakura-Tribe Elder , that Yavimaya Elder or this Seedguide Ash as soon as possible. Cards like Joaraga Treespeaker or Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary are insane early game but if the board gets cleaned (which happens very often in multiplayer game) all your tempo will be lost. That's why you prefer to use their mana to cast cards like Cultivate, Farhaven Elf and Solemn Simulacrum, because even if they get wipped the mana advantage will stay and you'll be 2-3 land drop ahead of your opponent. If you're missing mana you can also drop Seton, I've often seen some Path to Exile on him on turn 2 to prevent you from ramping with the other druids ; it's perfect, the Path is wasted, you get one land (that will stay whatever happens unlike Seton) and your key creatures will be more likely to stay on the board mid game (Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, etc.). In one word : ramp, then ramp again.
Middle Game (T6-T12)
Once the ramp is done, you'll try to start landing threats on the table depending of the number of opponents you're facing. In a duel, you'll simply destroy his lands to always be ahead if he plays really aggressively or plays annoying combos. In multi, you'll build a board then put threats on the table to see what's the board's reaction. Always keep important cards like Krosan Grip that can be very useful if someone drops something you don't want to stay at any price (Caged Sun, Ashnod's Altar, etc.) instead of destroying a Sol Ring with it, for example. You also want to always be in control of the board by having the most lands and blockers. Build your board, ramp more, draw cards ; you want to be in a comfortable position when you get a way to tutor your win conditions that I'll explain later or top deck them. It's in this part that you'll win or lose.
Late Game (T13 +)
The game is starting to be long. You're starting to lose your tempo, some decks will or have already started to abuse stupid synergies and/or combos, so if you don't already won in the turns before, you need to win now. Tutor anything that'll make you win, ramp a last land before casting Genesis Wave. At this point, if you're in top deck mode, the game is probably lost, unless you top deck something crazy like Tooth and Nail.
Winning conditions
These are the cards that you aim to tutor for, or always want to draw/top-deck. When you have them middle or early game, they're an immediate win unless an opponent has an answer or wipes the board the next turn.
Genesis Wave
Never do it if X < 8 because the amount of permanents is too little and you can't drop stuff like Craterhoof Behemoth or Terrastodon on the table. The ideal is 12 and + because you get many permanents on the table and the bigger you do it, the bigger are the chances of having Akroma's Memorial dropped on the table with it. If you manage to get any of the 7-8 CMC fatties with this artifact you should be able to win by combat damages instantly, or by the turn after.
Wolfbriar Elemental
Just like Genesis Wave, you have to do a big X like 10 or 12, and even more. The bigger it gets the better it is because you have more tokens to hit with. Never use it below these numbers unless you're in a desperate situation.
Tooth and Nail
If you're aiming to cast this spell, you absolutely have to pay its entwine cost, unless you already have the two creatures in your hand by magic and don't have the mana to cast both of them. If you don't it's just an useless tutor spell. The two creatures you're aiming to tutor will probably be Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force. One will drop 10 threats on the table while the other will make you draw 12 cards or more. If you already have a well-developed board, you can always do the behemoth + the avenger so your 5-6 creatures gets like +15/+15.
Craterhoof Behemoth
Just insane. With just 6 creatures on the board he transforms them in 7/7 trample fatties. The behemoth itself will be 11/11 and will attack now. All of this should be enough to take out one if not more opponents. Synergizes very well with the token producers like Wolfbriar Elemental, Avenger of Zendikar and Awakening Zone.
Avenger of Zendikar
Like said before, he creates an enormous army of tokens that you just have to pimp by playing two lands drop and a land ramp spell like Kodama's Reach so they can kill pretty much anybody. Awesome when a Caged Sun or Gauntlet of Power is on the table
Overwhelming Stampede
Just like a less good behemoth. Still gets the job done if you have a 6/6 on the table or Terrastodon, for example.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
With all the mana this deck is producing, you should be able to activate its ability 2 to 3 times the turn after he came into play. Also, he can transform lands into frogs so they get the behemoth bigger, or in answer of an opponent's Wrath of God destroy his own lands with his spell.
Metagame
I've built the deck to be fun to play against the people I often play with. One of them, dnLL MTGO (his Youtube channel), plays a very good Norin, the Wary, that plays cards like Possibility Storm. This card explains the fact that I needed to either play 0 planewalkers or play two so if I cast one of them while the enchantment is on the table I'm sure to get the other. I also play a heavy non-creature destruction base because the meta in EDH plays a bunch of abused artifacts, enchantments and planewalkers, so I like to have an answer to them at each mana level above 4 in my curve (Acidic Slime (not for PW), Brutalizer Exarch, Sylvan Primordial, Terrastodon). The idea behind this is that I often got stuck with an Acidic Slime and a Birthing Pod on the board so I need two turns to have an answer again against a Karn, Omniscience and other crazy stuff.
Over the months that I've spent playing this deck I've also, because of dnLL once again and of Genesis Wave, tried to lower the non-permanents cards in the deck. That's why you can find in the change log many instant/sorceries being kicked out for permanents. I wanted to be able to get benefits from his Wrap World because it's one of Norin's main wincons and I never want to be missing some permanents to drop on the table because that's what aggro decks are all about.
Finally, the non-competitive meta that I've faced over the past year explains why this deck isn't running the "Competitive package" that I'll list below, which is very expensive and not fun-at-all to play against.
I might be missing a few but it's not important. You get here a good idea of how the deck could be way less fun to play against. Mana Crypt is in my mind a very broken card that I'll never be playing in a non-competitive EDH because it's so powerful. Natural Order too, you can so easily lock down the game in duel or multiplayer with this and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger but also because I play so much mana doublers this crazy one if not necessary. Winter Orb synergizes also very well because of all the tap-for-mana creatures I have, but I fell it's very boring to be playing against. Gaea's Cradle, like Mana Crypt, is way too broken and expensive. Mana Vault also enters this category of broken cards I do not wish to play outside of Sol Ring. Furthermore the Crucible of Worlds/Wasteland combo is old as everything but still over-powered and anyway too expensive. I also have another tri-colored bant deck in which I use 9 fetchs to have a stable mana base so I was happy for not having to put them in this deck so I can search my library a little less. The Squirrel combo is both overpowered and is the perfect target for Strip Mine. However, Earthcraft seems to be an excellent card on its own, but Seton already allows the majority of my creatures to do an effect similar to his. That pretty much covers the competitive package that you could include to make the more competitive and powerful.
If I had no basics land in hand when casting him he was simply a dead card without Seton on the battlefield. Fyndhorn is always good with or without Seton and is never a dead card.
Garruk didn't have any ETB triggers and was just a 7/7 trample most of the time showing my top deck to everyone. Krosan is like a Solemn Simulacrum evoked and is much more excellent.
Like Garruk Primalcrux is just a fattie that doesn't have any ETB triggers. I also had too many 6 CMC and not enough 5 CMC for the Birthing Pod mana curve. Plus, artifact and enchantment removal is always a plus in EDH. 9 August 2013
Initially thought that this card untapped ALL your forests and that they ALL became 3/3. When I learned that this was only for the 2 I just put in play it was instantly kicked out of the deck to solidify the 5 CMC step with a crazy ramper.
I already have enough land destroyer (Acidic Slime, Terrastodon, Woodfall Primus, Beast Within, etc.) without having to need another one that can potentially be drawn when I absolutely need green mana. 15 August 2013
The deck is really green mana intensive with Seton so I need more basics. Also, nobody plays counterspells in my meta, I don't draw enough cards for the Reliquary Tower to be a must, the instant speed creature cast is too much expensive and almost always useless and Terrain Generator isn't useful because of the amount of ramp I already have. Finally, Tranquil Thicket is not worth slowing me down by 1 green mana and doesn't work with Extraplanar Lens or Gauntlet of Power. 18 August 2013
Roaring was just always a dead card because it neither helped the ramp, kill or board control. Switching him for Brutalizer will allow me to have a non-creature removal from at 6 CMC (which I didn't have before) and another creature tutor, something I never have enough of.
The choice between getting out Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves or Arbor Elf wasn't difficult. With one of the ramp artifact in play, Arbor is better because the forest he untaps will produce again 2 green mana instead of a single mana with Elvish, Llanowar or Fyndhorn. Also, Fyndhorn is going to be reprinted in FTV and the old foil Llanowar is way too cool to be out of the deck so it was Elvish that got kicked. 20 August 2013
The Greaves are excellent in many EDHs but in my Seton deck where I don't need any creature to be haste and/or shroud it was just most of the time a dead card. Akroma's Memorial will work well doing a killer Concordant Crossroads and with Genesis Wave it's an absolute win.
Mimic Vat needed 6 mana and the creature to die without being exiled. The Strionic needs only 4 mana and the only thing that cancel it his Torpor Orb which I've never seen in my meta. Going to playtest it to see how it does.
With the amount of land ramp this deck has when Oracle comes into play it's more like "hey look at my next draw" rather than something that kills or help the ramp. Sylvan Scrying will make the 2 mana CMC curve stronger and help me keep my starting hand more easily. 28 August 2013
Was tired of this card. It just had a drawback too big to be played. On turn 2, it only gets me one more mana the next turn assuming I played another land. It's also very easy to just bounce it, cloudshift it, destroy it, etc. I also wanted to make the deck more creature-heavy so my Genesis Wave are better.
Without Extraplanar Lens running these lands became useless, so I replaced them with normal forests and got one extra basic in the process. Also allows me to run old foil lands and/or Zendikar lands which are beautiful.
This card is very often a dead card in my meta. Steel Hellkite will be much more useful as it's better with Genesis Wave, all the tutors and will give me that extra permanent removal.
With Deadwood in, I needed less graveyard recural. Also wanted to cut a sorcery for more permanents so Genesis Wave gets better. Finally, this will help the draw and kill many 1/1 format stample like Norin the Wary, Goblin Welder, etc., that my meta plays.
With the amount of basics I could easily swap one for this awesome green cabal coffers. Just with Seton on the play and a another druid it gives GGGG, so it definitely fits into the ramp strategy.
After a lot of games and play testing, I found Soul of the Harvest rarely useful. Its drawing ability isn't good at all because the only time I cast many creature spells is early game, and he's always mulliganed at this stage of play. Karametra however, will act like a Thran Dynamo helping the ramp process while being though enough to resist to spells like Thunderbolt. It also adds to the tribal sub-theme of the deck.
Sylvan Ranger could fit in so it's easier to stick with a starting hand of only 2 Forest and many 3 CMC ramp spell. It can also be clamped but isn't a druid.
Crop Rotation or another "land card" fetcher should be added because of the high number of utility lands in the deck and to have instant speed answers.Added Sylvan Scrying instead.
Sylvan Scrying is a very good land tutor and can be played on the second tour to search for the exact land drop I need. Definitely going to add it to the deck soon.Added.
Treefolk Harbinger is a cool card because of its ability to fetch either the Dryad, a Forest (so you can keep him with only one forest in your opening hand) or even Seedguide Ash. It also taps himself for mana with Seton and can be played as soon as turn 1. Man this card interacts with so many other cards!Added.
Momentous Fall could be in so I can answer to board-wipes like Wrath of God, with card draw and life gain, so I can rebuild my board after it. It also acts as a better High Market with cards like Woodfall Primus or Seedguide Ash.
Strionic Resonator, as mentioned by dnLL, is very interesting over Mimic Vat because I don't have many ways to kill my creatures other than High Market and Momentous Fall in future. Its cost is also lower and it can copy crazy ETB triggers like Terrastodon, or Sylvan Primordial so I can destroy 2 non-creature permanents per opponent and search for 2 forests per opponent. That's just insane.Added.
Deadwood Treefolk works well with Treefolk Harbinger as it's easily tutored, he can be used to chump block and the facts that he only needs to leave the battlefield, and not die or be put into a graveyard.Added.
Primal Command after looking at it seems very useful also. It can get rid of any non-creature permanent for a good time and also acts as graveyard hate and another tutoring spell. In desperate cases it'll heal you a bit too.
Steel Hellkite is another nice fattie that has a CMC of 6. He can get rid of anything, and not only non-creatures, has evade, and still hits with 5 of power and toughness. I would love to draw him instead of Oracle of Mul Daya for example, midi or late-game.Added.
Akroma's Memorial would work very well with a Genesis Wave of X= 12 for example, enabling my creatures to be haste and when I've enough mana to do this, normally there is just fatties left in the deck anyway. It also protects my creatures from Red and Black which are the most threatening colors to my creatures because of all their direct damage and removal spells.Added.
Karametra's Acolyte basically acts as a better and a more flavorful Thran Dynamo. With Seton on board he gives 4 and more mana while still being though enough to survive many direct damage spells. Finally, it would help consolidate the 4 CMC level.Added.
Expect both your commander and Extraplanar Lens to get destroyed the turn it entered the battlefield. I would like to see how many Forests you play, not sure Temple of the False God is good in this deck, it's a dead card depebding on your starting hands. Ancient Tomb could be better, the only problem is that your commander is green intensive.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Birds of Paradise for his ability to block flying creature looks like a nice addition here too. Not sure you need so many mana dorks (Llanowar Elves and all the others) that much considering your commander's ability.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I really like Seton a lot as a general because he plays so much differently than most other generals, especially from normal green rampy generals. He was the first Edric in terms of very early game hyper tempo boost and I think the deck should focus on his strength. I do like a lot of the choices you've made, like Skullclamp, Birthing Pod, Primordial, and Survival, and I feel like there are other additional card choices that could make the deck better.
My version of the deck is a bit more of a glass cannon, but that's pretty true of any general/creature centered deck, and I feel that I've managed to balance the aggressiveness without overextending. In my experience, people will generally save the spot removal for more directly threatening generals but a well timed board wipe will still ruin the day. Still, I have recovered to go on to win after several boardwipes before. My list has more 1-2 CMC druid weenies to get the engine started faster and less heavier creatures, saving the high CMC spots for gamechangers/enders.
Here are some questions I had about some of your choices:
Temple of the False God: Overall I think Temple is an awkward card in general with the 5 land requirement, and 33 lands is quite a low count for lands (even mine runs 34/35) even with the ramp cards in your deck. It's imperative that you hit 3 green by T3 and the deck is somewhat color intensive in the early game, so colored mana is even more important.
Wurmcoil Engine: It's a great card in 60 card formats, but I feel like he has reduced utility in EDH. In his place, I would highly recommend Steel Hellkite as green has difficulty dealing with opposing creatures and it can be a mana sink for this deck
Krosan Tusker: I actually love this card a lot, and put it in many green decks, but you will never play him as a creature. I think I'd recommend putting in another druid instead.
Cultivate/Kodama's Reach/Oracle of Mul Daya: Again, I would rather put in more druids instead of these direct ramp cards to draw upon Seton's ability better. With 33 lands, Oracle will probably help your opponents more by giving them information rather than dropping you lands. An all-star in Azusa, she's not so good in this deck.
All is Dust: this deck runs quite a bit of colored permanents, so if you would have to use AiD, you're already in a bad spot already. A good value card I like is Rain of Thorns, which can destroy up to 3 things for 6 mana, which is good value.
Extraplanar Lens/Gauntlet of Power/Caged Sun: Again, you only have 33 lands, and only 24 Forests that will actually work with these artifacts. If you really want something similar, I recommend Gaea's Touch or Vernal Bloom. Cutting more artifacts also opens up Creeping Corrosion which can be brutal against artifact heavy decks.
Awakening Zone: it works well with Skullclamp, but the ramp is really too slow for this deck.
Recommendations/Suggestions: Gilt-Leaf Archdruid: there is no excuse to not run this card in a Seton deck. If I could make him a general, I would. Tutorable with Harbinger Collective Unconscious: Regal Force number 2 Primal Command: Good utility: spot removal, graveyard hate, replenish your library, or tutor. Chameleon Colossus: is a druid, mid-late game beater and mana sink. 8 mana->16/16, 12 mana-> 32/32 Deadwood Treefolk: recursion, tutorable with Treefolk package Lignify: also part of treefolk package, some solid spot removal. Many times, people would rather have the general die so they can recast it rather than become a tree Triumph of the Hordes: game winner, you only need 4-5 creatures to take out a person Primordial Sage: Soul of the Harvest number 2 Eldrazi Monument: boardwipe protection and wincon Nullmage Shepherd: very solid in a creature heavy deck Grim Flowering: good recovery card after board wipe (another is Caller of the Claw)
Combo: Cloudstone Curio: This is a combo oriented wincon which is okay in my book because I can't tutor for any artifacts in this deck. With Archdruid, Soul of the Harvest, or Primordial Sage, you can draw your entire deck. With Elvish Pioneer, you can then play all the forests in your hand, Llanowar Druids untaps all your forests, Vitalize untaps all your druids, and Concordant Crossroads lets you swing in with all the fatties you've just played. These cards are all quite solid in their own rights, so it's not like they're being played exclusively for the combo.
In the end, the card choices are up to you, but I've had a lot of experience tweaking and playing with my Seton deck. It is dependent on your meta too though.
shneakyshneaky
Just recently adjusted the utility/basic land ratio and at 33 lands it's perfect. I rarely get too much or not enough lands. When I just get one land in my opening land I just have to keep one land, one ramp spell and mulligan the rest. Also, when Temple is draw I either already have enough lands on the battlefield or have the spells to get to it in my hand already.
Replacing Wurmcoil by Steel Hellkite is definitely a good suggestion. Going to think about it.
Krosan Tusker is a card I really like because it drains the deck from 3 cards (himself, the land and the card drew with his cycling). It also can be recurred with Genesis and can help reaching the 8 CMC with Pod in desperate situations.
I have been thinking about removing Oracle of Mul Daya for a long time now. Problem is I want to switch it for another drop 4 so I'm not left with only 2 4 CMC drop in my curve.
All Is Dust, with Oblivion Stone are the only ways to clean the table. I need to keep it.
I'm thinking about removing Extraplanar Lens but its ability to be dropped on turn 2 makes me think again...
Awakening Zone works well with Skull clamp but also with all the buff spells because they can attack. They can also chump block. This card has too many utilities.
I don't feel I'm running enough druids for Gilt-Leaf. Late game I'm not going to kill with druids and at 5 CMC he's just going to be a dead card.
No way to tutor for Collective Conscious and with Regal Force it's normally enough. Cannot pod it also.
Primal Command is interesting for its graveyard hate and tutoring ability, definitely.
Chameleon Colossus is cool for sure but it's not trample sadly...
Deadwood Treefol could easily replace Wurmcoil Engine because of its recurring potential.
What you're saying about Lignify is true but in my deck I have just one way to tutor it and my meta plays High Market so it's easily removed.
Triumph of The Hordes is an interesting way to win. Going to playtest it one day.
I find Soul of The Harvest better because it's more agressive and there is no counterspell in my meta so my creature will always enter the battlefield.
Eldrazi Monument is just a big ? for me. I would rather run Akroma's Memorial because it works better with Genesis Wave.
Nullmage Shepherd isn't a druid, he's not that good and I already have like 10 spells to get ride of artifacts.
As for Grim Flowering it could have some potential in the deck.
I don't find the combo that good because you can easily run out of mana in the process. The deck is also damage-oriented and I want to keep it that way, thanks for the explanation and idea though.
SaraceenPsycho
Helix is just another weird and desperate wincon I don't really want to run in the deck. But it stays an original way to win haha.
And thanks for the feedback it's really appreciated I will include some of your suggestions for sure.
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Just recently adjusted the utility/basic land ratio and at 33 lands it's perfect. I rarely get too much or not enough lands. When I just get one land in my opening land I just have to keep one land, one ramp spell and mulligan the rest. Also, when Temple is draw I either already have enough lands on the battlefield or have the spells to get to it in my hand already.
Overall, I really don't like this land at all in EDH, but that's probably because I'm playing too much with (or without) lands in my own decks (please welcome Warp World and Armageddon, eh!).
Replacing Wurmcoil by Steel Hellkite is definitely a good suggestion. Going to think about it.
Wurmcoil is still a good card because it trades for 2 creatures/spells and can gain you some life if needed. It's a good target for Birthing Pod too, but I also feel that Steel Hellkite could be good. Evasiveness isn't green's specialty. He flies, he attacks for a lot with all your mana and also has a really useful ability. You should add it, whether you remove Wurmcoil or not.
Krosan Tusker is a card I really like because it drains the deck from 3 cards (himself, the land and the card drew with his cycling). It also can be recurred with Genesis and can help reaching the 8 CMC with Pod in desperate situations.
I have been thinking about removing Oracle of Mul Daya for a long time now. Problem is I want to switch it for another drop 4 so I'm not left with only 2 4 CMC drop in my curve.
[...]
I don't feel I'm running enough druids for Gilt-Leaf. Late game I'm not going to kill with druids and at 5 CMC he's just going to be a dead card.
I also like the idea of designing this deck as mostly a tribal druid deck, but that's just me. Even if the Gilf-Leaf's second ability can't be activated most of the time, his first triggered ability is just too strong for a Seton deck to pass by. And if you ever get to those 7 druids (adding a few druids in your list), you just win in a really original fashion. More druids, less sorcerys and you should do all right. Oracle doesn't do much in this deck anyway.
All Is Dust, with Oblivion Stone are the only ways to clean the table. I need to keep it.
Steel Hellkite can take the AiD's spot. You can destroy pretty much anything, only indestructible creatures/permanents could be problematic for this deck but the strategy is basically to just ramp enough before any player gets there or to let the white player deals with those kind of treats.
I'm thinking about removing Extraplanar Lens but its ability to be dropped on turn 2 makes me think again...
If you don't find too much hate in your meta against it, it's a really insane card, and one more reason to drop Temple of the False God.
Awakening Zone works well with Skull clamp but also with all the buff spells because they can attack. They can also chump block. This card has too many utilities.
I don't think you need it as a mana producer and considering you don't have much to find both this enchantment and Skullclamp in your deck, I don't think this is enough reliable to be worth a spot. Skullclamp is still great by its own.
No way to tutor for Collective Conscious and with Regal Force it's normally enough. Cannot pod it also.
Primal Command is interesting for its graveyard hate and tutoring ability, definitely.
Chameleon Colossus is cool for sure but it's not trample sadly...
Deadwood Treefol could easily replace Wurmcoil Engine because of its recurring potential.
What you're saying about Lignify is true but in my deck I have just one way to tutor it and my meta plays High Market so it's easily removed.
Triumph of The Hordes is an interesting way to win. Going to playtest it one day.
I find Soul of The Harvest better because it's more agressive and there is no counterspell in my meta so my creature will always enter the battlefield.
No counterspells? The dream come true...
Eldrazi Monument is just a big ? for me. I would rather run Akroma's Memorial because it works better with Genesis Wave.
I can see reason to run both.
Nullmage Shepherd isn't a druid, he's not that good and I already have like 10 spells to get ride of artifacts.
I only see 2 at instant speed. The problem with the Shepherd is the lack of surprise. It's an auto-in if it's a druid, but it's not.
As for Grim Flowering it could have some potential in the deck.
I don't find the combo that good because you can easily run out of mana in the process. The deck is also damage-oriented and I want to keep it that way, thanks for the explanation and idea though.
And thanks for the feedback it's really appreciated I will include some of your suggestions for sure.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I prefer Strionic Resonator over Mimic Vat, it still copies all your ETB triggers or leave-the-battlefield triggers while it is more reliable than the Vat (the creature could be removed before you exile it and the Vat is slower, 3+3 instead of 2+2 to activate). You could even copy Woodfall Primus's persist trigger when someone is trying to remove your graveyard in response to the original trigger. Imprint 2 creatures with Duplicant, get 4 tokens with Wurmcoil, draw A LOT of cards with Regal Force, get more tokens/counters with Avenger of Zendikar... well, I guess you understand the idea. I don't think the Vat is as reliable.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Way back in the day I tried doing a flavor build of Seton (it was an anti artifact all nature style of build). Back then we didn't have access to Craterhoof though which I think is a big thing for random green beats style decks like this though. I never put it on the deck database though so... yea. Still, it looked like a ton of fun but I never followed through other than buying a foil Seton which I still have in my binders. I love the flavor of this guy and some day I will have to circle back to build him.
Call of the Wild seems like it would be fun with the super ramp this type of deck can output.
No Thrun, the Last Troll option as green :(. I will recover I suppose lol. Its hard to list every playable legend in a color.
P.S. I love your back to top links. They are a very nice touch for a low spoiler count approach.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
dnLL
Strionic is sure crazy with all thoses ETB triggers. Going to playtest it.
SaraceenPsycho
I would prefer something that hits the non-flying creatures because of Kamahl, Fist of Krosan's first ability. And also it doesn't wipe the board so if I'm not in the good board state this doesn't help me...
ISBPathfinder
I don't find Call of the Wild this good because if it's not a creature card it's very likely to not be a land card (which I have drained almost all of them) so it's going to be good cards like Overwhelming Stampede, Genesis Wave, one of my artifacts I really need, etc.
I tried to list the major ones only. Sorry for not listing Thrun, he's good but he's too much voltron-oriented in my opinion. And have you ever seen an EDH thread with Seton listed ;)?
Thanks for the compliment, I effectively don't like spoilers, they're just efficient for very long texts like decklists in my mind.
NB: Thread updated. Added 3 cards and worked over the Change Log to make it look more efficient.
Have you ever considered running some land disruption tactics like Winter Orb, Hall of Gemstone, and Ritual of Subdual? I have no idea how you feel about these type of tactics but considering how many tap for mana dudes you have I could see this deck running them very profitably.
Greater Good is also something to strongly consider in a heavy creature list. You also seem to run several of the higher mana creatures making it effective.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Hall of Gemstone and Winter Orb are definitely interesting options because of he mono-colored theme of the deck and the druids that can replace lands. But I'm not sure if my meta would like it.
Garruk seems pretty strong in my opinion with 35 creatures (third of the deck).
Greater Good is interesting too, I'd need to play test it.
Update. Added the Draw Engine section to the Card Choices.
ISB, would it be possible to seek your wisdom to transform this thread in a primer in the future? Thanks.
Have you ever considered running some land disruption tactics like Winter Orb, Hall of Gemstone, and Ritual of Subdual? I have no idea how you feel about these type of tactics but considering how many tap for mana dudes you have I could see this deck running them very profitably.
I came in to make this suggestion. One of Seton's greatest strengths is that he doesn't necessarily need to rely on lands to generate mana.
Anyway, I was looking over your list and I noticed that you don't really have any Druids that can't already produce mana. Because of this, Seton will only really net you that one extra G that you couldn't already make.
This might be blasphemy, but I'm going to suggest Radha, Heir to Keld as your general. It's still green so you can keep the deck essentially the same, but now you have access to red and you get that extra G a turn earlier, and don't have to rely on drawing an Elf.
Either that, or make the deck really fun by adding in a bunch of narrow but powerful druids to abuse with Seton.
Edit: Natural Order was made for a deck like this.
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My apologies, children, for I am afraid I cannot save you all.
I want to keep this commander mono-colored because the play style differs a lot from mono to bi-colored EDH. Thanks for the suggestion though.
As for Natural Order, it surely is very good but I don<t want to include any more non-permanent spells because of Genesis Wave.
Thread update : Added Fattie and Utility Creatures sections ; another change log. Now, the deck should be changing very less as the play style gets very stable each time I modify the decklist. The next changes are going to be with the release of Theros because it's mono-color oriented.
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Wrote the removal spells section. Now I only have the strategy, tutor and miscellaneous cards sections to do. Also have to wait if Theros reveals a good druid and/or ETB creature. Then, the thread'll be ready to postulate for the nice Primer tag.
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Wrote down the Mullginaning section and Early Game, Mid Game still being under construction. Always eager to hear your comments on the thread/deck list :)!
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I've already Genesis Wave and Wolfbriar Elemental plus Chord of Calling and GSZ for mana sink. If I had more of theses, the ramp strategy would need to be heavier because the optimal mana is around 8-9, and it would need to be higher with more of theses.
As for Voyaging Satyr I don't find it good at all and Karametra's Acolyte is interesting, I need to think about it a little. It sure gets interesting with Seton on board, giving 4 mana for 4...
I would personally find the Bow very situational against heavy flying creature decks and Puppeteer Clique and such decks because it only shuffles your graveyard, not theirs. When I attack it's usually because I'm sure i'm going to kill, so the death touch is very optional.
Yes, Karametra's Acolyte is definitely interesting.
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I don't run Gaea's Cradle because of its price. Yes it untaps Nykthos but that,s only one card on 100. It can't be clamped, I cannot tutor him with with the Harbingers, so beside the fact that he's a druid and untaps one land he doesn't interact with anything else.
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Analyzing Seton
Seton, Krosan Protector, is nice. Seton is friendly. For GGG it's only a weak 2/2. It doesn't do crazy effects or pull all the aggro on you. He's just a nice Centaur Druid that wants to mix his potions and wax his hoofs. When you land it on turn 2 it really gives you a huge mana advantage so you can cast spell that will durably increase your mana base like Cultivate, Caged Sun, Mana Reflection, etc. the next turn. Now that Seton has done is job doubling your mana he can get killed, removed, tucked or whatever hate he will received from your opponents. He's only there to ramp early game so you can cast all your fatties easily.
Mid game, he will get your that extra mana you need to cast multiple spells and ramp even more. If you need one more mana to cast that killer Karn Liberated you can simply cast him and the next turn you'll have all your mana ready and set.
Late game, you'll have a whole load of lands and he'll just act as a beater for cards like Craterhoof Behemoth or Overwhelming Stampede. Finally, he can chump block a big threat once his job is done, leaving him in the command zone for the rest of the game.
In a nutshell, he has two functions : distract your opponents so they target each other instead of attacking you and help your ramp process.
One important fact to remember is that its ability let you tap him and the others druids the turn they came into play. The "Tap an untapped druid you control : Add one green mana to your mana pool" is an activation cost that doesn't requires the creature to be haste because you're not using the tap symbol on the creature, which needs the creature to be out of summoning sickness, unlike "Tap : Add one green mana to your mana pool".
Reasons to play Seton :
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Omnath is just crazy. With the good build, you can ramp into 20-25 green mana in your mana pool on turn 4-5 and then swing for one lethal 21 commander damage with a trample or evade spell. With Azusa he's in my opinion the best mono green commander. But because of his crazy ability and because it can get very huge quickly enough, he's much hated in almost every casual playgroups.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
I used to play Ezuri in an old Elf deck. In an EDH deck I think he's pretty good because of its ability to protect all your essential elves in addition of being a kill itself. With an elf archetype EDH we can all say it's very easy to ramp to enormous amount of mana by turn 2 or 3 and then activate his ability 3 to 4 times on turn 4 to kill the opponent.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
He's very much like Ezuri but you can do nice tricks with his first ability to destroy your opponent's lands and his second ability allows you to run anything instead of just running elves. Definitely interesting choice in the more casual-oriented EDH decks.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Man this card is crazy. Everyone will just want to destroy your entire ramp to keep you from landing this baby. It just slow down the table while you hit anybody each turn with a 7/6 trample. And when someone successfully finds a way to get rid of him, he'll still wastes the lands he tapped for him for another turn. An excellent commander that gets much hated but remains a good choice if you can ramp him quickly enough.
Yeva, Nature's Herald
I don't know much about this general. I guess it must be similar to mine with ramping and fatties, but you can play them at instant speed. Must be a very cool and fun deck to play with as you can build it around the Elf archetype like Ezuri.
Other people's Seton decks
By rudoso (04/13)
By davidboan (02/13)
By shneakyshneaky (08/12)
By omGeo (09/11)
By Ambassador Laquatus (08/11)
By Magnus Magicus (01/10)
List took from this topic.
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History
I started playing MTG last summer, around June 2012. The first deck I built was a ramping-agro casual elf deck that spawned tons of Lords and mana. Then, I built up my first EDH during my senior High school year. I wanted something Blue and White so I can play it aggro while keeping some control. It's also my favorite colors with Green. I first built Bruna, Light of Alabaster with many aura and Voltron play style. It was doing well but when Bruna was tucked I was left with a sure game lost. I began my search of other B/W commanders to find that Augustin was the only other one good enough (In my idea). I slowly removed all the auras to replace them with enter-the-battlefield creatures, Counterspells, Clones, etc. I wanted to always have an answer in my hand and have the pleasure of blinking my creatures to do crazy triggers. Also wanted a good synergy with cards like Reveillark and have some evade with flying.
The only problem is that Grand Arbiter Augustin IV gets a lot of hate in every meta because he breaks everyone's game. Also, when I get tired my answers gets less efficient and the error chances are much higher in this kind of deck. That's why I wanted to get back to the roots with this EDH : ramping and dropping fatties on the table. I quickly started the search of good green commanders. Rapidly found that Omnath and Azusa would attract to me all the agro of the table so I continued my search to find a casual oriented, cool archetype and ramping commander. That's when I found Seton :).
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Decklists
By CMC and card type
By card function
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Card choices
Lands
Accelerating Creatures
Ramping Creatures
Draw Engine
Utility Creatures
Fatties
Removal spells
Tutors
Mana Rocks and Ramp
Other utility cards
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Strategy
Mulliganing
The starting hand is very important because it's what's inside that will get your tempo for the rest of the game. If you have a slow hand you'll always be late to answer everything and your opponents will always be ahead of you. On the other hand, if you have a very fast hand but not threats and/or tutors you'll just put all your cards on the board and get in top-deck mode, which we never want.
So, we need to get a hand that'll ramp quickly but once ramped will have something to cast with all the mana.
A good starting hand should always consist of:
-2 Forests ;
-1 turn-1 drop (Arbor Elf, Llanowar Elves, OR Sol Ring/Ancient Tomb) ;
-1 land ramper (Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, Kodama's Reach etc.) ;
-1 land doubler (Caged Sun, Mana reflection, etc.) ;
-1 tutor (Green Sun's Zenith, Chord of Calling, Fierce Empath, etc.) ;
-1 threat or another ramp spell (Cultivate, Behemoth, Woodfall Primus, etc.).
Now let's examinate some possible scenarios and how you should react to them.
Scenario 1 : Forest, Forest, Forest, Llanowar Elf, Cultivate, Tooth and Nail, Mana Reflection
I would mulligan a Forest and Tooth and Nail. You don't need the third forest because you have the Llanowar Elf and Cultivate, so you'll have it anyway by turn 2 unless someone kills the Llanowar, which is very unlikely to happen. The Tooth and Nail is also mulliganned because of its too high CMC and the fact that you prefer replacing it by a ramp spell to drop Mana Reflection sooner.
Scenario 2 : Forest, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Kodama's Reach, Gauntlet of Power, Solemn Simulacrum, Green Sun's Zenith, Genesis Wave
Here you have only one forest but you still can do a GSZ for X=0. Otherwise, if the dryad gets killed or you don't get your second land drop the next turn, of the GSZ get countered, you're in deep problem. That's why I'd mulligan Genesis Wave, Solemn and the Gauntlet. This way, you'll be more likely to get your second land, which will be enough to start the ramp process and you'll still have the GSZ to drop a fattie once your ramp is done.
Scenario 3 : Forest, Forest, Joraga Treespeaker, Craterhoof Behemoth, Mana Reflection, Tooth and Nail, Staff of Nin.
Here you have a good start but the average CMC is way too high. You'll need to mulligan everything but the forests and Joraga to have lower CMC drops and tutors.
Scenario 4 : Forest, Forest, Sol Ring, Cultivate, Acidic Slime, Caged Sun, Sylvan Primordial
Perfect starting hand ; you'll keep everything because you have each turn something to drop on the table : T1 Sol Ring, T2 Cultivate, T3 Acidic Slime, T4 Caged Sun, T5 Sylvan Primordial. Then, you'll be 2-4 land drop ahead of your opponents, which should give you the advantage for the rest of the game.
Early Game (T1-T5)
The early game plan is very easy. All you want to do is ramp. But solid ramping, like lands, not mana acceleration like creatures. So you'll sacrifice this Sakura-Tribe Elder , that Yavimaya Elder or this Seedguide Ash as soon as possible. Cards like Joaraga Treespeaker or Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary are insane early game but if the board gets cleaned (which happens very often in multiplayer game) all your tempo will be lost. That's why you prefer to use their mana to cast cards like Cultivate, Farhaven Elf and Solemn Simulacrum, because even if they get wipped the mana advantage will stay and you'll be 2-3 land drop ahead of your opponent. If you're missing mana you can also drop Seton, I've often seen some Path to Exile on him on turn 2 to prevent you from ramping with the other druids ; it's perfect, the Path is wasted, you get one land (that will stay whatever happens unlike Seton) and your key creatures will be more likely to stay on the board mid game (Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, etc.). In one word : ramp, then ramp again.
Middle Game (T6-T12)
Once the ramp is done, you'll try to start landing threats on the table depending of the number of opponents you're facing. In a duel, you'll simply destroy his lands to always be ahead if he plays really aggressively or plays annoying combos. In multi, you'll build a board then put threats on the table to see what's the board's reaction. Always keep important cards like Krosan Grip that can be very useful if someone drops something you don't want to stay at any price (Caged Sun, Ashnod's Altar, etc.) instead of destroying a Sol Ring with it, for example. You also want to always be in control of the board by having the most lands and blockers. Build your board, ramp more, draw cards ; you want to be in a comfortable position when you get a way to tutor your win conditions that I'll explain later or top deck them. It's in this part that you'll win or lose.
Late Game (T13 +)
The game is starting to be long. You're starting to lose your tempo, some decks will or have already started to abuse stupid synergies and/or combos, so if you don't already won in the turns before, you need to win now. Tutor anything that'll make you win, ramp a last land before casting Genesis Wave. At this point, if you're in top deck mode, the game is probably lost, unless you top deck something crazy like Tooth and Nail.
Winning conditions
These are the cards that you aim to tutor for, or always want to draw/top-deck. When you have them middle or early game, they're an immediate win unless an opponent has an answer or wipes the board the next turn.
Genesis Wave
Never do it if X < 8 because the amount of permanents is too little and you can't drop stuff like Craterhoof Behemoth or Terrastodon on the table. The ideal is 12 and + because you get many permanents on the table and the bigger you do it, the bigger are the chances of having Akroma's Memorial dropped on the table with it. If you manage to get any of the 7-8 CMC fatties with this artifact you should be able to win by combat damages instantly, or by the turn after.
Wolfbriar Elemental
Just like Genesis Wave, you have to do a big X like 10 or 12, and even more. The bigger it gets the better it is because you have more tokens to hit with. Never use it below these numbers unless you're in a desperate situation.
Tooth and Nail
If you're aiming to cast this spell, you absolutely have to pay its entwine cost, unless you already have the two creatures in your hand by magic and don't have the mana to cast both of them. If you don't it's just an useless tutor spell. The two creatures you're aiming to tutor will probably be Avenger of Zendikar and Regal Force. One will drop 10 threats on the table while the other will make you draw 12 cards or more. If you already have a well-developed board, you can always do the behemoth + the avenger so your 5-6 creatures gets like +15/+15.
Craterhoof Behemoth
Just insane. With just 6 creatures on the board he transforms them in 7/7 trample fatties. The behemoth itself will be 11/11 and will attack now. All of this should be enough to take out one if not more opponents. Synergizes very well with the token producers like Wolfbriar Elemental, Avenger of Zendikar and Awakening Zone.
Avenger of Zendikar
Like said before, he creates an enormous army of tokens that you just have to pimp by playing two lands drop and a land ramp spell like Kodama's Reach so they can kill pretty much anybody. Awesome when a Caged Sun or Gauntlet of Power is on the table
Overwhelming Stampede
Just like a less good behemoth. Still gets the job done if you have a 6/6 on the table or Terrastodon, for example.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
With all the mana this deck is producing, you should be able to activate its ability 2 to 3 times the turn after he came into play. Also, he can transform lands into frogs so they get the behemoth bigger, or in answer of an opponent's Wrath of God destroy his own lands with his spell.
Metagame
I've built the deck to be fun to play against the people I often play with. One of them, dnLL MTGO (his Youtube channel), plays a very good Norin, the Wary, that plays cards like Possibility Storm. This card explains the fact that I needed to either play 0 planewalkers or play two so if I cast one of them while the enchantment is on the table I'm sure to get the other. I also play a heavy non-creature destruction base because the meta in EDH plays a bunch of abused artifacts, enchantments and planewalkers, so I like to have an answer to them at each mana level above 4 in my curve (Acidic Slime (not for PW), Brutalizer Exarch, Sylvan Primordial, Terrastodon). The idea behind this is that I often got stuck with an Acidic Slime and a Birthing Pod on the board so I need two turns to have an answer again against a Karn, Omniscience and other crazy stuff.
Over the months that I've spent playing this deck I've also, because of dnLL once again and of Genesis Wave, tried to lower the non-permanents cards in the deck. That's why you can find in the change log many instant/sorceries being kicked out for permanents. I wanted to be able to get benefits from his Wrap World because it's one of Norin's main wincons and I never want to be missing some permanents to drop on the table because that's what aggro decks are all about.
Finally, the non-competitive meta that I've faced over the past year explains why this deck isn't running the "Competitive package" that I'll list below, which is very expensive and not fun-at-all to play against.
Competitive package
I might be missing a few but it's not important. You get here a good idea of how the deck could be way less fun to play against. Mana Crypt is in my mind a very broken card that I'll never be playing in a non-competitive EDH because it's so powerful. Natural Order too, you can so easily lock down the game in duel or multiplayer with this and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger but also because I play so much mana doublers this crazy one if not necessary. Winter Orb synergizes also very well because of all the tap-for-mana creatures I have, but I fell it's very boring to be playing against. Gaea's Cradle, like Mana Crypt, is way too broken and expensive. Mana Vault also enters this category of broken cards I do not wish to play outside of Sol Ring. Furthermore the Crucible of Worlds/Wasteland combo is old as everything but still over-powered and anyway too expensive. I also have another tri-colored bant deck in which I use 9 fetchs to have a stable mana base so I was happy for not having to put them in this deck so I can search my library a little less. The Squirrel combo is both overpowered and is the perfect target for Strip Mine. However, Earthcraft seems to be an excellent card on its own, but Seton already allows the majority of my creatures to do an effect similar to his. That pretty much covers the competitive package that you could include to make the more competitive and powerful.
Change log
7 August 2013
16 September 2013
11 October 2013
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Maybeboard
Crop Rotation or another "land card" fetcher should be added because of the high number of utility lands in the deck and to have instant speed answers.Added Sylvan Scrying instead.Sylvan Scrying is a very good land tutor and can be played on the second tour to search for the exact land drop I need. Definitely going to add it to the deck soon.Added.Treefolk Harbinger is a cool card because of its ability to fetch either the Dryad, a Forest (so you can keep him with only one forest in your opening hand) or even Seedguide Ash. It also taps himself for mana with Seton and can be played as soon as turn 1. Man this card interacts with so many other cards!Added.Strionic Resonator, as mentioned by dnLL, is very interesting over Mimic Vat because I don't have many ways to kill my creatures other than High Market and Momentous Fall in future. Its cost is also lower and it can copy crazy ETB triggers like Terrastodon, or Sylvan Primordial so I can destroy 2 non-creature permanents per opponent and search for 2 forests per opponent. That's just insane.Added.Deadwood Treefolk works well with Treefolk Harbinger as it's easily tutored, he can be used to chump block and the facts that he only needs to leave the battlefield, and not die or be put into a graveyard.Added.Steel Hellkite is another nice fattie that has a CMC of 6. He can get rid of anything, and not only non-creatures, has evade, and still hits with 5 of power and toughness. I would love to draw him instead of Oracle of Mul Daya for example, midi or late-game.Added.Akroma's Memorial would work very well with a Genesis Wave of X= 12 for example, enabling my creatures to be haste and when I've enough mana to do this, normally there is just fatties left in the deck anyway. It also protects my creatures from Red and Black which are the most threatening colors to my creatures because of all their direct damage and removal spells.Added.Karametra's Acolyte basically acts as a better and a more flavorful Thran Dynamo. With Seton on board he gives 4 and more mana while still being though enough to survive many direct damage spells. Finally, it would help consolidate the 4 CMC level.Added.Go back to the top ↑
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
Expect both your commander and Extraplanar Lens to get destroyed the turn it entered the battlefield. I would like to see how many Forests you play, not sure Temple of the False God is good in this deck, it's a dead card depebding on your starting hands. Ancient Tomb could be better, the only problem is that your commander is green intensive.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Thanks!
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
I would love to have some feedback and card suggestions from older players/forumers to make this thread/deck better!
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
My version of the deck is a bit more of a glass cannon, but that's pretty true of any general/creature centered deck, and I feel that I've managed to balance the aggressiveness without overextending. In my experience, people will generally save the spot removal for more directly threatening generals but a well timed board wipe will still ruin the day. Still, I have recovered to go on to win after several boardwipes before. My list has more 1-2 CMC druid weenies to get the engine started faster and less heavier creatures, saving the high CMC spots for gamechangers/enders.
Here are some questions I had about some of your choices:
Temple of the False God: Overall I think Temple is an awkward card in general with the 5 land requirement, and 33 lands is quite a low count for lands (even mine runs 34/35) even with the ramp cards in your deck. It's imperative that you hit 3 green by T3 and the deck is somewhat color intensive in the early game, so colored mana is even more important.
Wurmcoil Engine: It's a great card in 60 card formats, but I feel like he has reduced utility in EDH. In his place, I would highly recommend Steel Hellkite as green has difficulty dealing with opposing creatures and it can be a mana sink for this deck
Krosan Tusker: I actually love this card a lot, and put it in many green decks, but you will never play him as a creature. I think I'd recommend putting in another druid instead.
Cultivate/Kodama's Reach/Oracle of Mul Daya: Again, I would rather put in more druids instead of these direct ramp cards to draw upon Seton's ability better. With 33 lands, Oracle will probably help your opponents more by giving them information rather than dropping you lands. An all-star in Azusa, she's not so good in this deck.
All is Dust: this deck runs quite a bit of colored permanents, so if you would have to use AiD, you're already in a bad spot already. A good value card I like is Rain of Thorns, which can destroy up to 3 things for 6 mana, which is good value.
Extraplanar Lens/Gauntlet of Power/Caged Sun: Again, you only have 33 lands, and only 24 Forests that will actually work with these artifacts. If you really want something similar, I recommend Gaea's Touch or Vernal Bloom. Cutting more artifacts also opens up Creeping Corrosion which can be brutal against artifact heavy decks.
Awakening Zone: it works well with Skullclamp, but the ramp is really too slow for this deck.
Recommendations/Suggestions:
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid: there is no excuse to not run this card in a Seton deck. If I could make him a general, I would. Tutorable with Harbinger
Collective Unconscious: Regal Force number 2
Primal Command: Good utility: spot removal, graveyard hate, replenish your library, or tutor.
Chameleon Colossus: is a druid, mid-late game beater and mana sink. 8 mana->16/16, 12 mana-> 32/32
Deadwood Treefolk: recursion, tutorable with Treefolk package
Lignify: also part of treefolk package, some solid spot removal. Many times, people would rather have the general die so they can recast it rather than become a tree
Triumph of the Hordes: game winner, you only need 4-5 creatures to take out a person
Primordial Sage: Soul of the Harvest number 2
Eldrazi Monument: boardwipe protection and wincon
Nullmage Shepherd: very solid in a creature heavy deck
Grim Flowering: good recovery card after board wipe (another is Caller of the Claw)
Combo:
Cloudstone Curio: This is a combo oriented wincon which is okay in my book because I can't tutor for any artifacts in this deck. With Archdruid, Soul of the Harvest, or Primordial Sage, you can draw your entire deck. With Elvish Pioneer, you can then play all the forests in your hand, Llanowar Druids untaps all your forests, Vitalize untaps all your druids, and Concordant Crossroads lets you swing in with all the fatties you've just played. These cards are all quite solid in their own rights, so it's not like they're being played exclusively for the combo.
In the end, the card choices are up to you, but I've had a lot of experience tweaking and playing with my Seton deck. It is dependent on your meta too though.
RGodo, Bandit WarlordR
GSeton, Krosan ProtectorG
BGJarad, Golgari Lich LordGB
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
Just recently adjusted the utility/basic land ratio and at 33 lands it's perfect. I rarely get too much or not enough lands. When I just get one land in my opening land I just have to keep one land, one ramp spell and mulligan the rest. Also, when Temple is draw I either already have enough lands on the battlefield or have the spells to get to it in my hand already.
Replacing Wurmcoil by Steel Hellkite is definitely a good suggestion. Going to think about it.
Krosan Tusker is a card I really like because it drains the deck from 3 cards (himself, the land and the card drew with his cycling). It also can be recurred with Genesis and can help reaching the 8 CMC with Pod in desperate situations.
I have been thinking about removing Oracle of Mul Daya for a long time now. Problem is I want to switch it for another drop 4 so I'm not left with only 2 4 CMC drop in my curve.
All Is Dust, with Oblivion Stone are the only ways to clean the table. I need to keep it.
I'm thinking about removing Extraplanar Lens but its ability to be dropped on turn 2 makes me think again...
Awakening Zone works well with Skull clamp but also with all the buff spells because they can attack. They can also chump block. This card has too many utilities.
I don't feel I'm running enough druids for Gilt-Leaf. Late game I'm not going to kill with druids and at 5 CMC he's just going to be a dead card.
No way to tutor for Collective Conscious and with Regal Force it's normally enough. Cannot pod it also.
Primal Command is interesting for its graveyard hate and tutoring ability, definitely.
Chameleon Colossus is cool for sure but it's not trample sadly...
Deadwood Treefol could easily replace Wurmcoil Engine because of its recurring potential.
What you're saying about Lignify is true but in my deck I have just one way to tutor it and my meta plays High Market so it's easily removed.
Triumph of The Hordes is an interesting way to win. Going to playtest it one day.
I find Soul of The Harvest better because it's more agressive and there is no counterspell in my meta so my creature will always enter the battlefield.
Eldrazi Monument is just a big ? for me. I would rather run Akroma's Memorial because it works better with Genesis Wave.
Nullmage Shepherd isn't a druid, he's not that good and I already have like 10 spells to get ride of artifacts.
As for Grim Flowering it could have some potential in the deck.
I don't find the combo that good because you can easily run out of mana in the process. The deck is also damage-oriented and I want to keep it that way, thanks for the explanation and idea though.
SaraceenPsycho
Helix is just another weird and desperate wincon I don't really want to run in the deck. But it stays an original way to win haha.
And thanks for the feedback it's really appreciated I will include some of your suggestions for sure.
Certified L1 Magic Judge - Feel free to ask me any questions by PM!
Overall, I really don't like this land at all in EDH, but that's probably because I'm playing too much with (or without) lands in my own decks (please welcome Warp World and Armageddon, eh!).
Wurmcoil is still a good card because it trades for 2 creatures/spells and can gain you some life if needed. It's a good target for Birthing Pod too, but I also feel that Steel Hellkite could be good. Evasiveness isn't green's specialty. He flies, he attacks for a lot with all your mana and also has a really useful ability. You should add it, whether you remove Wurmcoil or not.
I also like the idea of designing this deck as mostly a tribal druid deck, but that's just me. Even if the Gilf-Leaf's second ability can't be activated most of the time, his first triggered ability is just too strong for a Seton deck to pass by. And if you ever get to those 7 druids (adding a few druids in your list), you just win in a really original fashion. More druids, less sorcerys and you should do all right. Oracle doesn't do much in this deck anyway.
Steel Hellkite can take the AiD's spot. You can destroy pretty much anything, only indestructible creatures/permanents could be problematic for this deck but the strategy is basically to just ramp enough before any player gets there or to let the white player deals with those kind of treats.
If you don't find too much hate in your meta against it, it's a really insane card, and one more reason to drop Temple of the False God.
I don't think you need it as a mana producer and considering you don't have much to find both this enchantment and Skullclamp in your deck, I don't think this is enough reliable to be worth a spot. Skullclamp is still great by its own.
But you are playing Harmonize...
No counterspells? The dream come true...
I can see reason to run both.
I only see 2 at instant speed. The problem with the Shepherd is the lack of surprise. It's an auto-in if it's a druid, but it's not.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Neheb
Marath
Yidris
Sharuum
Yidris
Call of the Wild seems like it would be fun with the super ramp this type of deck can output.
No Thrun, the Last Troll option as green :(. I will recover I suppose lol. Its hard to list every playable legend in a color.
P.S. I love your back to top links. They are a very nice touch for a low spoiler count approach.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Strionic is sure crazy with all thoses ETB triggers. Going to playtest it.
SaraceenPsycho
I would prefer something that hits the non-flying creatures because of Kamahl, Fist of Krosan's first ability. And also it doesn't wipe the board so if I'm not in the good board state this doesn't help me...
ISBPathfinder
I don't find Call of the Wild this good because if it's not a creature card it's very likely to not be a land card (which I have drained almost all of them) so it's going to be good cards like Overwhelming Stampede, Genesis Wave, one of my artifacts I really need, etc.
I tried to list the major ones only. Sorry for not listing Thrun, he's good but he's too much voltron-oriented in my opinion. And have you ever seen an EDH thread with Seton listed ;)?
Thanks for the compliment, I effectively don't like spoilers, they're just efficient for very long texts like decklists in my mind.
NB: Thread updated. Added 3 cards and worked over the Change Log to make it look more efficient.
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Garruk, Caller of Beasts also feels a little weak to me in a 35 creature list. I guess he isnt terrible but I still prefer Garruk, Primal Hunter over him in creature based decks.
Greater Good is also something to strongly consider in a heavy creature list. You also seem to run several of the higher mana creatures making it effective.
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Garruk seems pretty strong in my opinion with 35 creatures (third of the deck).
Greater Good is interesting too, I'd need to play test it.
Update. Added the Draw Engine section to the Card Choices.
ISB, would it be possible to seek your wisdom to transform this thread in a primer in the future? Thanks.
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I came in to make this suggestion. One of Seton's greatest strengths is that he doesn't necessarily need to rely on lands to generate mana.
Anyway, I was looking over your list and I noticed that you don't really have any Druids that can't already produce mana. Because of this, Seton will only really net you that one extra G that you couldn't already make.
This might be blasphemy, but I'm going to suggest Radha, Heir to Keld as your general. It's still green so you can keep the deck essentially the same, but now you have access to red and you get that extra G a turn earlier, and don't have to rely on drawing an Elf.
Either that, or make the deck really fun by adding in a bunch of narrow but powerful druids to abuse with Seton.
Edit: Natural Order was made for a deck like this.
As for Natural Order, it surely is very good but I don<t want to include any more non-permanent spells because of Genesis Wave.
Thread update : Added Fattie and Utility Creatures sections ; another change log. Now, the deck should be changing very less as the play style gets very stable each time I modify the decklist. The next changes are going to be with the release of Theros because it's mono-color oriented.
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As for Voyaging Satyr I don't find it good at all and Karametra's Acolyte is interesting, I need to think about it a little. It sure gets interesting with Seton on board, giving 4 mana for 4...
I would personally find the Bow very situational against heavy flying creature decks and Puppeteer Clique and such decks because it only shuffles your graveyard, not theirs. When I attack it's usually because I'm sure i'm going to kill, so the death touch is very optional.
Yes, Karametra's Acolyte is definitely interesting.
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