As per the title, I'm looking for a fun mono commander to build around, but looking through the list of available options isn't giving me a whole lot of ideas.
The only one that really stood out was Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Tons of combo potential, but a quick Gatherer search seems to be telling me that green is the wrong color for combos with her. There's Aerie Oupies, Woodfall Primus, and Cauldron of Souls, as well as Lichenthrope, Phyrexian Hydra, and maybe even Serrated Biskellion, but I'm not really looking for a deck that's just the commander plus five creatures and every green creature tutor there is... Maybe I could do Melira Infect, but there's probably better commanders for the infect route...
None of the Spirit based legends seem like there's enough other cards to make a decent working deck either...
It seems like every mono commander used is either tribal elves of some variety, or just green goodstuffs with slight variations...
I mean, there's Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Titania, Protector of Argoth lands, but those are probably the most expensive mono:symg: decks there are, and I think I'm probably going to build a version of The Gitrog Monster at some point, so I don't really want two green land-centric decks...
Is the "best" color in Commander really such a shallow well on its own, or is there something I'm missing?
Creature-based control with Yeva, Nature's Herald. Leverage creatures with impactful abilities at instant speed to play a more reactive game style.
Graveyard and recursion strategy with Hua Tuo, Honored Physician. Green has so many ways to get value with creature recursion, and has a number of ways to benefit from manipulating the top card of your library.
Green historically has been creature centered for most of the existence of the game. This has lead to the majority of green commanders to follow suite, which leads green to be a bit less based upon combos or anything else. You will likely have to force something out of one of the more open ended commanders.
I played Hua tao for a long time. You'd be surprised how effective mono green control is. Survival of the fittest, call of the wild, greater good, etc. Things like tawnos's coffin, ulamog the ceaseless hunger, bane of progress, spike weaver/spore frog, constant mists + drownyard, birthing pod, spawnwrithe, terrastadon and worldbreaker can give you a fair amount of options and responses.
Figured I'd echo Yeva, Nature's Herald control. That was the only mono-green EDH deck that actually got past the planning stage for me (I greatly dislike the timmy approach that mono-green pushes you towards) and it works pretty well.
Past that: Jolrael, Empress of Beasts -- There's enough stuff like Powder Keg and Cyclone that there's probably a mono-green land destruction deck to be had here. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa can do similar things, but likely pushes you more towards what everyone else is doing. Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant -- There's room to mess around here and not many people try.
But all that said: Yes. Green is generally a boring colour on its own that focuses on creatures. If you want something to spice it up, you normally need some other colour to add to the mix.
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I guess before I offered up any opinions I'd ask whether or not you have a set meta that you play in. If you do have a consistent play group, is it laid-back enough to allow you to mess around with a goofy strategy or are you just going to get stomped if you don't try and play some sort of "good stuff" mono green build?
I think if your group is more loose and gives you time to try slower engines and synergies there might be quite a few unique decks you can make with mono green. I do like the idea of Ayumi, the Last Visitor that Weebo brought up. Sweet legendary creature with a unique ability. There are also usually a few legendary lands running around most play groups as well.
Good versions of Titania are actually midrange control and play a variety of cards that other green decks do not. I've run ton of green decks and it's very different than all the others.
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Current Decks GTitania midrange RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
I guess before I offered up any opinions I'd ask whether or not you have a set meta that you play in. If you do have a consistent play group, is it laid-back enough to allow you to mess around with a goofy strategy or are you just going to get stomped if you don't try and play some sort of "good stuff" mono green build?
See, that's the thing. I don't have a play group. Like at all. I've just been building decks in hopes of finding someone to play with.
That said, building the deck is the best part, and sure I could go all in on something crazy like Aurochs tribal or something, but that'd still end up being mostly goodstuffs and tutors with the actual theme being the weak link, you know?
I like having a repertoire of decks, so when I do have someone to play with, I have options for what style I wanna play and they can choose a fun new commander to try also. A lot of times when you run into people that play, they either don't have decks on them or just don't have decks, so I like to have a deck for anyone. The whole group if need be.
So, any deck I build should be able to hold its own against at least some of my other decks, and I certainly don't want a deck that's just gonna roll over to someone with a freshly opened pre-con.
The decks I currently have are as follows:
Darien, King of Kjeldor built around damaging itself for tokens and all that. A mono white deck that runs Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is right up my alley. Lol.
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way built around sacrificing legendary permanents for benefit. Probably still needs a lot of fine-tuning.
Ixidor, Reality Sculptor obviously built around Morphs to be sort of a sleight of hand magic show type of control.
Phage the Untouchable one-touch Voltron. Not the most varied play, but it's one of my first decks and it's still fun to bust out.
Ashling the Pilgrim 66 land rattlesnake. This is a new one I'm still tweaking.
Zirilan of the Claw dragon toolbox beatdown. This was my first Commander. Not the most varied, but it is probably my most powerful deck.
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper manlands. This one's still a work in progress. Think I wanna add an arcane component.
Phelddagrif NOT group hug. This is built more around politics and manipulation.
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy This was a sort of artifact combo deck, but I think I'm gonna turning it into straight Mishra combostax and make another commander that can focus better on artifact combo.
Karona, False God Voltron for everyone! She swings on everyone's turn, so commander damage adds up quick, and I'm safe behind my pillowfort with Vows or Assault Suit on Karona.
---
As you can see, I'm not one for "control" or "Voltron" or the like without some sort of twist. I like commanders that I can build around, not just take advantage of. Yeva, Nature's Herald doesn't say "build around me." It says "play green creatures," which is what every mono green deck was going to do anyway. In fact it almost screams "just play goodstuffs!"
Sasaya, orochi ascendant is my go to green general for shenanigans. I have an 18 card infinite combo in there, none of which are creatures except for sasaya herself, and that only briefly. Ways to win? Never do I attack. It is beneath that decks dignity.
I do prefer Yeva as my reactive control general, but I think dosan, the falling leaf does some pretty cool things to. More of an "up yours" build, though. I am currently building reki, the history of kamigawa as a tribal legends deck. Everything in it except for a few support cards (and I mean like kodama's reach level..nothing too fancy), are all legendaries. Also, contrary to my playgroup's very popular belief, nothing in that deck says "draw a card" which I am apparently rather known for.
there are a lot of cool effects on green legendaries. I do think that melira would be an interesting build, though. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
One of the regulars I play with has a Multani, Maro-Sorcerer deck that can do really well with commander damage, even without getting any symmetric draw engines.
I've also seen a Reki, the History of Kamigawa that had a surprising number of playable legendary spells as far as mono-green goes. You could look at some Captain Sisay decklists to cannibalize for ideas.
Depending on your meta, Ayumi, the Last Visitor might as well read "~ is unblockable", and she's a 3-turn clock without help (2 turns if you give her +4/+N), which isn't terrible.
Sasaya. Orochi Ascendant. It can get out of control really, really fast.
You need 50 Forests then everything else is a creature search spell to get massive bombs into play. YOu're easily able to drop big Eldrazi turn 3ish, and you get to play with Sprouting Vines as ramp!
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Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
No mention of Yisan, the Wanderer Bard in this thread makes me sad. No other green commander can mimic what he does. He is so damn good, he got banned from 1 v 1 games in some circles.
Well, while it might roll over to a precon, a friend had a very casual and low powered Anthousa "The Earth is a living creature!" deck, which had tons of various ways to animate lands and swing, plus Landfall effects. He also had a few ways to protect them like Asceticism. He always got a kick of beating up other players with his army of ents. You could probably throw in Kamahl as the commander and be more effective, but he liked playing up the "Mother Gaia" angle.
Jolrael is very much fun. My approach is fairly direct 'vomit 40 forests to the table, activate Jolrael with something like Beastmaster Ascension about, win in one turn'. In theory anyway: need a lot of green control, protection and disruption (yes, those exist) to get there as no one's going to let you ramp in peace for ten turns. Incidentally, the deck started as control - now it is more of a ramp/control hybrid, oddly enough.
Being the color to get rid of pretty much anything(yeah, even creatures these days...) is the key to ruining other people's plans, I'd say.
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I guess before I offered up any opinions I'd ask whether or not you have a set meta that you play in. If you do have a consistent play group, is it laid-back enough to allow you to mess around with a goofy strategy or are you just going to get stomped if you don't try and play some sort of "good stuff" mono green build?
See, that's the thing. I don't have a play group. Like at all. I've just been building decks in hopes of finding someone to play with.
That said, building the deck is the best part, and sure I could go all in on something crazy like Aurochs tribal or something, but that'd still end up being mostly goodstuffs and tutors with the actual theme being the weak link, you know?
I like having a repertoire of decks, so when I do have someone to play with, I have options for what style I wanna play and they can choose a fun new commander to try also. A lot of times when you run into people that play, they either don't have decks on them or just don't have decks, so I like to have a deck for anyone. The whole group if need be.
So, any deck I build should be able to hold its own against at least some of my other decks, and I certainly don't want a deck that's just gonna roll over to someone with a freshly opened pre-con.
The decks I currently have are as follows:
Darien, King of Kjeldor built around damaging itself for tokens and all that. A mono white deck that runs Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is right up my alley. Lol.
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way built around sacrificing legendary permanents for benefit. Probably still needs a lot of fine-tuning.
Ixidor, Reality Sculptor obviously built around Morphs to be sort of a sleight of hand magic show type of control.
Phage the Untouchable one-touch Voltron. Not the most varied play, but it's one of my first decks and it's still fun to bust out.
Ashling the Pilgrim 66 land rattlesnake. This is a new one I'm still tweaking.
Zirilan of the Claw dragon toolbox beatdown. This was my first Commander. Not the most varied, but it is probably my most powerful deck.
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper manlands. This one's still a work in progress. Think I wanna add an arcane component.
Phelddagrif NOT group hug. This is built more around politics and manipulation.
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy This was a sort of artifact combo deck, but I think I'm gonna turning it into straight Mishra combostax and make another commander that can focus better on artifact combo.
Karona, False God Voltron for everyone! She swings on everyone's turn, so commander damage adds up quick, and I'm safe behind my pillowfort with Vows or Assault Suit on Karona.
---
As you can see, I'm not one for "control" or "Voltron" or the like without some sort of twist. I like commanders that I can build around, not just take advantage of. Yeva, Nature's Herald doesn't say "build around me." It says "play green creatures," which is what every mono green deck was going to do anyway. In fact it almost screams "just play goodstuffs!"
Maybe solving Melira is the way to go..
I'm glad to see someone else enjoys Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker. Mine was a more average list with him and grindy board stall effects and spells to attack the hand, but still, good commander choice.
The last green deck I had together was Seshiro the Anointed simply because I like tribes and drawing cards. Soon I'll be building Ishkanah, Grafwidow because, again, tribes are sweet to me. Honestly based on the playstyle you described for me the craziest "build around me" mono green commander in my eyes is Bounteous Kirin and that just sounds like a hot mess. But it could be YOUR hot mess if you want to give that a whirl
I've been maintaining an Ayumi, the Last Visitor goodstuff decklist for a while now. While she does fall in to the category of "good-stuff" she does have one of the most unusual abilities ever printed on a card. The closest thing that has come to her ability is trailblazer's boots.
I do not have her currently built since I tend to rotate my green cards into different decks (it is the least common color I play), but this is my preferred mono-green general.
The only one that really stood out was Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Tons of combo potential, but a quick Gatherer search seems to be telling me that green is the wrong color for combos with her. There's Aerie Oupies, Woodfall Primus, and Cauldron of Souls, as well as Lichenthrope, Phyrexian Hydra, and maybe even Serrated Biskellion, but I'm not really looking for a deck that's just the commander plus five creatures and every green creature tutor there is... Maybe I could do Melira Infect, but there's probably better commanders for the infect route...
None of the Spirit based legends seem like there's enough other cards to make a decent working deck either...
It seems like every mono commander used is either tribal elves of some variety, or just green goodstuffs with slight variations...
I mean, there's Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Titania, Protector of Argoth lands, but those are probably the most expensive mono:symg: decks there are, and I think I'm probably going to build a version of The Gitrog Monster at some point, so I don't really want two green land-centric decks...
Is the "best" color in Commander really such a shallow well on its own, or is there something I'm missing?
I need some inspiration...
Commander Decks
WDarien, King of KjeldorW - WYomiji, Who Bars the WayW - UIxidor, Reality SculptorU
BPhage the UntouchableB - BShirei,
Shadowborn Ap-Shizo's CaretakerB - RZirilan of the ClawR(W/U)Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper(W/U) - (2/G)Phelddagrif Politics(W/U) - (U/B)Mishra, Artificer Prodigy(U/R) - Karona, God of Voltron
Creature-based control with Yeva, Nature's Herald. Leverage creatures with impactful abilities at instant speed to play a more reactive game style.
Graveyard and recursion strategy with Hua Tuo, Honored Physician. Green has so many ways to get value with creature recursion, and has a number of ways to benefit from manipulating the top card of your library.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Of course, I am biased. I do have a Titania, Protector of Argoth deck, and I LOVE her. No ugly frog monsters for me, thank you very much.
Hall of gemstone is amazing in mono green.
Past that:
Jolrael, Empress of Beasts -- There's enough stuff like Powder Keg and Cyclone that there's probably a mono-green land destruction deck to be had here. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa can do similar things, but likely pushes you more towards what everyone else is doing.
Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant -- There's room to mess around here and not many people try.
But all that said: Yes. Green is generally a boring colour on its own that focuses on creatures. If you want something to spice it up, you normally need some other colour to add to the mix.
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I think if your group is more loose and gives you time to try slower engines and synergies there might be quite a few unique decks you can make with mono green. I do like the idea of Ayumi, the Last Visitor that Weebo brought up. Sweet legendary creature with a unique ability. There are also usually a few legendary lands running around most play groups as well.
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Knowledge is Power U [Primer]
R Heartless Hidetsugu - The Art of Ending Games R
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - The Cluster HungersBG
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
See, that's the thing. I don't have a play group. Like at all. I've just been building decks in hopes of finding someone to play with.
That said, building the deck is the best part, and sure I could go all in on something crazy like Aurochs tribal or something, but that'd still end up being mostly goodstuffs and tutors with the actual theme being the weak link, you know?
I like having a repertoire of decks, so when I do have someone to play with, I have options for what style I wanna play and they can choose a fun new commander to try also. A lot of times when you run into people that play, they either don't have decks on them or just don't have decks, so I like to have a deck for anyone. The whole group if need be.
So, any deck I build should be able to hold its own against at least some of my other decks, and I certainly don't want a deck that's just gonna roll over to someone with a freshly opened pre-con.
The decks I currently have are as follows:
Darien, King of Kjeldor built around damaging itself for tokens and all that. A mono white deck that runs Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is right up my alley. Lol.
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way built around sacrificing legendary permanents for benefit. Probably still needs a lot of fine-tuning.
Ixidor, Reality Sculptor obviously built around Morphs to be sort of a sleight of hand magic show type of control.
Phage the Untouchable one-touch Voltron. Not the most varied play, but it's one of my first decks and it's still fun to bust out.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker built around Shadowborn Apostle. Original? No. Plays differently every time? Not really. Fun when it works? Oh, yeah.
Ashling the Pilgrim 66 land rattlesnake. This is a new one I'm still tweaking.
Zirilan of the Claw dragon toolbox beatdown. This was my first Commander. Not the most varied, but it is probably my most powerful deck.
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper manlands. This one's still a work in progress. Think I wanna add an arcane component.
Phelddagrif NOT group hug. This is built more around politics and manipulation.
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy This was a sort of artifact combo deck, but I think I'm gonna turning it into straight Mishra combostax and make another commander that can focus better on artifact combo.
Karona, False God Voltron for everyone! She swings on everyone's turn, so commander damage adds up quick, and I'm safe behind my pillowfort with Vows or Assault Suit on Karona.
---
As you can see, I'm not one for "control" or "Voltron" or the like without some sort of twist. I like commanders that I can build around, not just take advantage of. Yeva, Nature's Herald doesn't say "build around me." It says "play green creatures," which is what every mono green deck was going to do anyway. In fact it almost screams "just play goodstuffs!"
Maybe solving Melira is the way to go..
Commander Decks
WDarien, King of KjeldorW - WYomiji, Who Bars the WayW - UIxidor, Reality SculptorU
BPhage the UntouchableB - BShirei,
Shadowborn Ap-Shizo's CaretakerB - RZirilan of the ClawR(W/U)Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper(W/U) - (2/G)Phelddagrif Politics(W/U) - (U/B)Mishra, Artificer Prodigy(U/R) - Karona, God of Voltron
I do prefer Yeva as my reactive control general, but I think dosan, the falling leaf does some pretty cool things to. More of an "up yours" build, though. I am currently building reki, the history of kamigawa as a tribal legends deck. Everything in it except for a few support cards (and I mean like kodama's reach level..nothing too fancy), are all legendaries. Also, contrary to my playgroup's very popular belief, nothing in that deck says "draw a card" which I am apparently rather known for.
there are a lot of cool effects on green legendaries. I do think that melira would be an interesting build, though. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I've played both these decks, and honestly Titania is way more fun and is even, in my opinion, the better deck.
Edit: Between Titania and The Gitrog Monster.
It turns out having Heritage Druid as a commander is preeettty good. Very combo oriented, is basically elfball but Druidball.
Here's the link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/autocardanywhere/eobkhgkgoejnjaiofdmphhkemmomfabg?hl=en
I've also seen a Reki, the History of Kamigawa that had a surprising number of playable legendary spells as far as mono-green goes. You could look at some Captain Sisay decklists to cannibalize for ideas.
Depending on your meta, Ayumi, the Last Visitor might as well read "~ is unblockable", and she's a 3-turn clock without help (2 turns if you give her +4/+N), which isn't terrible.
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You need 50 Forests then everything else is a creature search spell to get massive bombs into play. YOu're easily able to drop big Eldrazi turn 3ish, and you get to play with Sprouting Vines as ramp!
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
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Being the color to get rid of pretty much anything(yeah, even creatures these days...) is the key to ruining other people's plans, I'd say.
I'm glad to see someone else enjoys Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker. Mine was a more average list with him and grindy board stall effects and spells to attack the hand, but still, good commander choice.
The last green deck I had together was Seshiro the Anointed simply because I like tribes and drawing cards. Soon I'll be building Ishkanah, Grafwidow because, again, tribes are sweet to me. Honestly based on the playstyle you described for me the craziest "build around me" mono green commander in my eyes is Bounteous Kirin and that just sounds like a hot mess. But it could be YOUR hot mess if you want to give that a whirl
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Knowledge is Power U [Primer]
R Heartless Hidetsugu - The Art of Ending Games R
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - The Cluster HungersBG
I do not have her currently built since I tend to rotate my green cards into different decks (it is the least common color I play), but this is my preferred mono-green general.
While she seems really bad, she is all to often a 7-power (3-hit kill) unblockable. There are 40x legendary lands, and while most are just bad, many people completely forget her ability after reading her and drop their academy ruins/urborg, tomb of yawgmoth/gaea's cradle/nykthos, shrine to nyx/minamo, school at water's edge/phyrexian tower/yavimaya hollow/volrath's stronghold without a second thought. The best games are when they realize they can't stop her and end up using a wasteland or strip mine on themselves
Obviously the more frequently you play the deck the more your meta will remember her function and play accordingly.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/591411-iwamori-of-the-open-fist-wheel-and-deal
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!