As the title suggests, I'm sharing this because I find the concept cool. This isn't really a deck I recommend people play, and I only bring it out myself on choice occasions. The reason for that isn't because it's weak - on the contrary, this deck can win on turn 3 (!) a good 75% of the time, and can go off turn 2 at about a 5% clip. While it's soft to some early removal, not every deck / playgroup has much of that, and when this deck is going off, it can actually put up a good deal of resilience to a counter here or a doom blade there. It's also a lot of fun to pilot, on some level, providing interesting decision points and some very cool combinations of different cards.
No, the reason I don't recommend this deck is because it is the most ludicrously degenerate commander deck I have ever seen, and it is absolutely miserable to play against. The combo turn is excruciating, and generally features drawing a good 20-30 cards before you can demonstrate a deterministic loop, and then Parleying everyone to death while you survive the wreckage with either Abundance or Green Sun's Zenith to stop from milling. As you go off, be sure to take note of floating green, white, and generic mana, as well as Selvala's power. If your playgroup insists on you keeping track of your life total as well, it could be a long day (one variation of this deck is to use Aetherflux Reservoir, which would also require you to add storm count to that list).
The gameplan is fairly simple: play a mana dork turn 1 and Selvala turn 2. As soon as she can activate, start chaining untap spells and effects (primarily targeting your general) to run through your deck while building up mana. As mentioned above, you're not actually building towards anything in particular, just trying to get the engine flowing to the point that you can run through everyone's deck.
A few details and card notes:
- If you have enough mana and an Enlightened Tutor at any point, Paradox Engine is the best card you can get. It is the easiest way to perpetuate the loop. The second most common tutor target is Cloudstone Curio, which I'll get to below.
- Feel free to mulligan until a turn-3 active Selvala is possible. That means making sure that you have a mana dork / rock and enough lands. Watch out for white mana - it's one of your most limited resources. You will not get much chance to play this deck before really feeling the hate, so make it flashy.
- If you have any way of granting haste, Seeker of Skybreak is likely your best target for creature tutors. There are a lot of effects that untap multiple creatures, and double-parleying is very powerful.
- Crop Rotation offers ramp in a pinch. It can work in place of a mana dork by fetching a turn-1 Remote Farm, and if you happen to have Mana Crypt in your opener, you can rotate for Sungrass Prairie for the devastating first turn Selvala.
- Rishkar's Expertise is a very important card, and building to a big one of these is a great way to close out the game. This is why you need to track Selvala's power.
- Cloudstone Curio can go off in a couple ways: by looping Wirewood Symbiote and an elf (especially if you have a haste enabler), or by looping Nature's Chosen / Instill Energy and another enchantment.
- Ranger of Eos will usually grab Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote. Keep in mind this is most often equal to three untaps, as you lead with Ranger, bounce a forest, play Symbiote, bounce Ranger, replay the forest, replay Ranger, bounce the forest again. Speaking of which...
- Save your 3rd turn land drop until you absolutely need it. You never know what may come up.
- Your best cards, and the keys to having turns that finish the job rather than just spinning the wheels for a bit, are the ones that dig deepest. Credit Voucher can be vital, Nostalgic Dreams is stellar, and Memory Jar and Alhammarret's Archive are important tools if you have a lot of mana but are low on gas.
- If you have a lot of mana to throw around, and something like Weird Harvest, go ahead and grab Dosan. May as well erase all doubt.
I like it. This is a very unique deck and it looks like it should run rather well, especially considering how quickly you can end the game.
My only nitpick was in the title. I figured I'd see Hunting Pack, Sprouting Vines, or even Storm Seeker. While all these cards WOULD work with your deck, they'd be either extraneous or off-flavor and I have to say, this deck has quite a flavor.
Thanks!
Yeah, the title is a bit of a question mark. When I set out building it (basically, a week after Paradox Engine was spoiled) the idea was Selvala Eggs, but that would clearly not be accurate here. I suppose it's a storm deck without the storm mechanic, the way modern Affinity retains the style and themes of that archetype without actually running any cards with Affinity (beyond the occasional Thoughtcast).
For what it's worth, the informal name of this deck is 'Parley Vous?'
"Parley Vous" is an excellent innocent sounding name that tells the opponent everything they need to know about your deck...but they probably won't figure out just how true this fact is until it is too late.
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No, the reason I don't recommend this deck is because it is the most ludicrously degenerate commander deck I have ever seen, and it is absolutely miserable to play against. The combo turn is excruciating, and generally features drawing a good 20-30 cards before you can demonstrate a deterministic loop, and then Parleying everyone to death while you survive the wreckage with either Abundance or Green Sun's Zenith to stop from milling. As you go off, be sure to take note of floating green, white, and generic mana, as well as Selvala's power. If your playgroup insists on you keeping track of your life total as well, it could be a long day (one variation of this deck is to use Aetherflux Reservoir, which would also require you to add storm count to that list).
The gameplan is fairly simple: play a mana dork turn 1 and Selvala turn 2. As soon as she can activate, start chaining untap spells and effects (primarily targeting your general) to run through your deck while building up mana. As mentioned above, you're not actually building towards anything in particular, just trying to get the engine flowing to the point that you can run through everyone's deck.
A few details and card notes:
- If you have enough mana and an Enlightened Tutor at any point, Paradox Engine is the best card you can get. It is the easiest way to perpetuate the loop. The second most common tutor target is Cloudstone Curio, which I'll get to below.
- Feel free to mulligan until a turn-3 active Selvala is possible. That means making sure that you have a mana dork / rock and enough lands. Watch out for white mana - it's one of your most limited resources. You will not get much chance to play this deck before really feeling the hate, so make it flashy.
- If you have any way of granting haste, Seeker of Skybreak is likely your best target for creature tutors. There are a lot of effects that untap multiple creatures, and double-parleying is very powerful.
- Crop Rotation offers ramp in a pinch. It can work in place of a mana dork by fetching a turn-1 Remote Farm, and if you happen to have Mana Crypt in your opener, you can rotate for Sungrass Prairie for the devastating first turn Selvala.
- Rishkar's Expertise is a very important card, and building to a big one of these is a great way to close out the game. This is why you need to track Selvala's power.
- Cloudstone Curio can go off in a couple ways: by looping Wirewood Symbiote and an elf (especially if you have a haste enabler), or by looping Nature's Chosen / Instill Energy and another enchantment.
- Ranger of Eos will usually grab Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote. Keep in mind this is most often equal to three untaps, as you lead with Ranger, bounce a forest, play Symbiote, bounce Ranger, replay the forest, replay Ranger, bounce the forest again. Speaking of which...
- Save your 3rd turn land drop until you absolutely need it. You never know what may come up.
- Your best cards, and the keys to having turns that finish the job rather than just spinning the wheels for a bit, are the ones that dig deepest. Credit Voucher can be vital, Nostalgic Dreams is stellar, and Memory Jar and Alhammarret's Archive are important tools if you have a lot of mana but are low on gas.
- If you have a lot of mana to throw around, and something like Weird Harvest, go ahead and grab Dosan. May as well erase all doubt.
Here's the list:
1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
Other Creatures (18)
1x Arbor Elf
1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
1x Birchlore Rangers
1x Birds of Paradise
1x Boreal Druid
1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Elvish Spirit Guide
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Magus of the Vineyard
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Ranger of Eos
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Seeker of Skybreak
1x Skyshroud Ranger
1x Village Bell-Ringer
1x Wirewood Symbiote
Artifacts (19)
1x Alhammarret's Archive
1x Chromatic Sphere
1x Chrome Mox
1x Cloudstone Curio
1x Credit Voucher
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Lotus Petal
1x Magewright's Stone
1x Mana Crypt
1x Memory Jar
1x Mox Diamond
1x Paradox Engine
1x Scroll Rack
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Umbral Mantle
1x Abundance
1x Concordant Crossroads
1x Eladamri's Vineyard
1x Exploration
1x Instill Energy
1x Nature's Chosen
Sorceries (8)
1x Edge of Autumn
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Mobilize
1x Nostalgic Dreams
1x Open the Armory
1x Rishkar's Expertise
1x Steelshaper's Gift
1x Weird Harvest
Instants (17)
1x Aim High
1x Benefactor's Draught
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Burst of Energy
1x Burst of Strength
1x Colossal Heroics
1x Crop Rotation
1x Emerald Charm
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Gerrard's Command
1x Hope and Glory
1x Ornamental Courage
1x Roar of the Kha
1x Savage Surge
1x Spidery Grasp
1x Summoner's Pact
1x To Arms!
1x Touch of Vitae
1x Vines of the Recluse
1x Vitalize
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Flooded Strand
1x Forbidden Orchard
8x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Hickory Woodlot
1x Horizon Canopy
1x Mana Confluence
1x Marsh Flats
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Razorverge Thicket
1x Remote Farm
1x Savannah
1x Sungrass Prairie
1x Temple Garden
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wirewood Lodge
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
Thoughts, suggestions, and questions are welcome, and I invite anyone to test this deck for themselves. It's a ton of fun to goldfish.
My only nitpick was in the title. I figured I'd see Hunting Pack, Sprouting Vines, or even Storm Seeker. While all these cards WOULD work with your deck, they'd be either extraneous or off-flavor and I have to say, this deck has quite a flavor.
Yeah, the title is a bit of a question mark. When I set out building it (basically, a week after Paradox Engine was spoiled) the idea was Selvala Eggs, but that would clearly not be accurate here. I suppose it's a storm deck without the storm mechanic, the way modern Affinity retains the style and themes of that archetype without actually running any cards with Affinity (beyond the occasional Thoughtcast).
For what it's worth, the informal name of this deck is 'Parley Vous?'