Rith, the Awakener is a large general with a large ability. Her ability has the potential to exponentially increase the amount of tokens you have on the board, and all for the low price of hitting someone and 2G. The fact that she is a flying 6/6 makes this even easier and means that using general damage as a plan B is not impossible. However as powerful as her ability is, this deck does not need it to win. The deck rides more off its other methods of producing tokens than solely on the general, although her ability is a great way to get back a decent field after a board wipe.
The colors of the general also give us access to amazing tools to make a token deck powerful. Green gives us most of the deck's generators and also gives us a way to make those little 1/1's deadly. White gives spot removal, mass removal, and some powerful tutors for the artifacts and enchantments that can produce more tokens and provide a lot of utility. Red gives us the ability to give those tokens haste for a nasty surprise and also has a few powerhouse token generators.
This deck may be for you if
-You like using your general but it does not need to be your only win strategy
-You like having a lot of creatures
-You like having a variety of creatures
This deck may not be for you if
-You don't like having an expensive general(mana-wise)
-You don't like keeping track of tokens
-You don't like to attack very often
Possible Generals for RGW Jacques le Vert - He kinda has an odd defense pump attached to him which is nice but I like to use my general for a little more than that. Johan - Close to the same as Jacques only more expensive and gives vigilance in return for him not attacking, and him not becoming tapped. Mayael the Anima - A very powerful general but the strategy she goes for is drop big game ending fatties and beat face with them and since her ability goes off of creatures power 5 or greater only the number of token generators she can rip off the top is pretty low. Palladia-Mors - I love the flavor of using an original Elder Dragon but I think Palladia is more suited to a voltron style deck than to tokens. Uril, the Miststalker - Very voltron and can do little for a token deck other than sport very powerful Pollenbright Wings Hazezon Tamar - By far the next best general for a token swarm deck. He, in my opinion, is almost as powerful as Rith. I like that he drops tokens that are RGW, that makes anthem effects much stronger, as opposed to the G tokens Rith makes. However I feel like he is a bit more build around, since his ability comes off the number of land you have you would want to have more effects to boost his ability. Also I dislike that you really want to play him and then get rid of him before the tokens come in, otherwise they can just kill him and wipe all the tokens out, and I would rather have a general that I could keep around that is an asset instead of a liability. But if you wanted a bigger land ramp package he could make a very powerful token general.
History
Rith was the second EDH deck I built when I started playing the format when the precons last June. The original intent of the deck was to make as many saporling tokens as possible and make them stronger with anthem type effects. I learned fairly quickly that using anthem effects could quickly become a liability if I swung into someone thinking I had them and that person just remove my best buff card, usually coat of arms. Soon after I tweaked the deck to do less buffs and make more tokens but at the time I was still sticking to making saprolings.
It did not take long to realize that 1/1's would still need help to win the game, even more so with General like Zur, the enchanter and Arcum Dagsson running around my meta. At this point I decided to add a few cards to make the tokens go from little beaters to immediate problems, as well as adding some powerful artifact and enchantment removal to the deck. It was at this point that I saw how powerful the deck could become because I realized that if the general greatly helps the theme of the deck but is not required to run it then the deck becomes more resilient and cares a lot less about tuck effects.
That realization came around September or October of 2011. Since then I have worked to make the deck more efficient and more capable of surviving the early game and setting up, to dominating the middle and late parts of the game. So far my win to loss ratio with this deck is pretty high with roughly 42 wins to 19 losses since I started keeping track when I created this thread in November 2011, there were a few games I did not record because we threw in planechase or had an absurd amount of player, over 10.
Dragonmaster Outcast - The perfect lightning rod, also gets lethal quick if he is not taken care of. Rhys the Redeemed - Early game make tokens, late game double them, whats not to love. Secure the Wastes - a cheap and instant speed token generator Jade Mage - Can make for a good early drop and can be a great use for extra late game mana Spawning Pit - I did not really like this card much at first but since then I have realized how powerful it can be. In response to Insurrection or Massacre Wurm you can sac your board and then use it to partially, or fully with doubling season, rebuild your army. Only small downside is the tokens are colorless. White Sun's Zenith - a tad expensive to cast but instant speed token generation can be insanley useful. Elspeth, Knight-Errant - A threat that needs to be answered before her ultimate goes off and makes tokens until you get there. Emeria Angel - Flying blockers are always nice. Saproling Symbiosis - Using it at instant speed can let you get enough power to finish the table off, or it can be surprise blockers when someone thinks your open. Nomads' Assembly is something close to it but being able to only play it as sorcery makes it a bit weaker unless all your creatures have haste, and the rebound rarely does anything since your opponents will do everything they can to make sure you do not make that big of an army. Xenagos, the Reveler - a solid token and also provides heavy ramp Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - a token generator that ramps, has removal and can provide card draw. Garruk, Primal Hunter - Makes nice sized beast tokens and if you can get to his ultimate he makes a ton of giant Wurms which can end the game pretty quick. Assemble the Legion - More and more tokens every turn and they can swing right off the bat, never been sad to see it Mycoloth - Can pump a ton of tokens but can also be a giant target if you pour to much into him. Dragon Broodmother - In multiplayer this card is just crazy, has been a game winner for me many times. Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Can pump three tokens as a + ability, can wipe big threats away and can make a huge buff with her emblem. A total super star planeswalker. Rampaging Baloths - Dropping larger tokens can help wrap the game up. Requiem Angel - I generate very few spirit tokens so her ability is really strong. Avenger of Zendikar - can make a huge board presence which can easily enable any of the finishers and is insane with Cathars' Crusade
Tutors
Crop Rotation - can help fix colors or grab a utility land Enlightened Tutor - Can get any or artifact or enchantment, enough said. Sterling Grove - The enchantments make this deck go from good to insane and getting anyone of them is quite helpful, plus it can be gotten back by Sun Titan. Chord of Calling - Usually used to grab a finisher at the end of my opponents turn but a instant speed creature tutor has many other uses. Congregation at Dawn - Can be used to get a few utility creatures or to get token generators or finishes. Eladamri's Call - Instant speed and to the hand, just awesome Academy Rector - being able to get an enchantment from the deck into play is awesome
Removal
Path to Exile - Cheap and effective spot removal. Swords to Plowshares - Cheap and effective spot removal. Deglamer - Helps get around the God cards which can be difficult to deal with. Aura Shards - Great repeatable removal that is just to good to pass up in a deck like this. Beast Within - Can be used to stop someone from tucking or stealing my stuff or act as great spot removal. Rith's Charm - One of the few cards I have that can remove problem land or can produce a few tokens at instant speed and every once in a while can stop an opposing generals alpha strike. Nullmage Shepherd - Almost as good as Aura Shards, not as easy to abuse but it does not require you to play a creature to use it. Which makes it easier to destroy things when it's not your turn.
I pack a lot of artifact and enchantment removal becuase I play with an Arcum Dagsson, Zur the Enchanter and a few other that pack powerful artifacts and enchantments.
Wipe
Martial Coup - A board wipe that lets me have some presence after, which helps Rith rebuild quickly. Austere Command - Card that can get you out of tough spots with it's flexibility. Hour of Reckoning - Quite often lets me finish the game but just blowing up some bigger creatures with it is enough.
Ramp
Ancient Tomb - the life loss is a price worth paying for the gained tempo Gaea's Cradle - Insane ramp for a deck like this that pumps out tons of creatures. Temple of the False God - Nice built in ramp that usually gets me to the top of my curve a turn early. Sol Ring - Awesome colorless mana ramp. Sakura-Tribe Elder - Great early game color fixer and ramp. Cultivate - Good ramp that also puts a land in my hand for the landfall creatures. Chromatic Lantern - perfect color fixing and can also make mana itself Shaman of Forgotten ways - a dork that can tap for 2 mana and that curves well into Rith. Also with Rith and him out I can use his second effect as a possible finisher. Kodama's Reach - Same as Cultivate. Mirari's Wake - Double mana from lands and pump, I wonder why no one ever lets me have it out for very long
Utility
Gavony Township - A more powerful version of Oran-Rief, the Vastwood for a larger mana investment also great with persist. Haven of the Spirit Dragon - a good color fixer for casting Rith, as well as Dragon Broodmother and can also be used to get them back from the yard. Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - Most of the tokens made are green so they benefit greatly from the power boost this gives, great with persist. Rogue's Passage - Great to get Rith through. Skullclamp - Card is good on it's own and almost unfair with tokens. Earthcraft - This card is just insane. Just be careful, nothing seems to paint a bigger target on my head, except for maybe Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Fecundity - you'll be able to use it far more often than everyone else can Fires of Yavimaya - Haste is great and the boost from sacing can get in that last little bit of damage. Wheel of Fortune - Refilling my hand can help a lot if I don't have skullclamp. Glare of Subdual - Great card for tokens decks to keep your opponents big creatures down, and the small ones to Parallel Lives - A weaker Doubling Season but still very useful. Sarkhan Vol - I love giving my creatures a boost and haste but it is nice to use his ultimate to do some heavy damage. Cathars' Crusade - Can turn anything that makes a few tokens into a game changing card. Doubling Season - A powerhouse card with tokens, counters and planeswalkers, it makes all their ultimate's possible as soon as they are played and makes Sarkhan Vol very dangerous. Sun Titan - Awesome way to recur the smaller cards or to get back my equipments
Protection
Lightning Greaves - Shroud and haste is almost as nice but being free to equip makes this well worth it. Swiftfoot Boots - Hexproof and haste is a really powerful combination. Privileged Position - A card that gives everything I control but it Hexproof, whats not to like.
Finishers
Shared Animosity - After just one hit with Rith this card becomes insane and can hit for unbelievable amounts of damage. Purphoros, God of the Forge - Simply insane amounts of damage can come from him. 2 for every creature entering is almost over the top and then for some icing on the cake he can pump all of your creatures. He will rarely become a creature in this deck but hey that only makes it harder to get rid of him. Eldrazi Monument - Turns your tokens into a dangerous flying, nearly unkillable army and I have never had a problem sacrificing a creature to it at the upkeep. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - Can punish your opponents for blowing up the field , turn their lands into creatures that will die as well, and more importantly can let your army go for heavy damage. Thunderfoot Baloth - gives Rith evasion while buffing the whole field. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Weakens your opponents creatures, killing most utility creatures, and buffs your creatures by a large amount. Vicious Shadows - makes people reconsider board wipes and lets you pull the trigger if you have a sac outlet
Cards / Combos I chose to avoid
Mana Echoes + Sprout Swarm - it does generate infinite combos but overall each piece is a little to weak on it's own so I decided against using it. Juniper Order Ranger - more for an anthem build, and I am running this as a swarm deck. He gets big but makes it harder to abuse skull clamp with the tokens. Squirrel Nest - not a bad card on it's own and it can go infinite with earthcraft but there is an agreement in my playgroup that we will avoid two card infinite combos Epic Struggle - I'm not really fond of cards that have the win the game clause and the people I play with would make sure that it would not stick around long enough to activate anyway.
Cards that have been removed
Woodfall Primus - Can remove many different problems and can be used many times since it has Persist. Something that is always nice when you can put a +1/+1 counter to remove the -1/-1 counter. Comet Storm - Sometimes can finish off players but usually I use it to remove several creatures. Twilight Drover - A nice little engine that usually makes opponents think twice about attacking you or blocking your tokens since it will only led to more he is a bit slow and I did not get value out of him all that often. Mentor of the Meek - Weaker than Skullclamp but still has good card draw power, in theory. I never seen to draw him :tongue:, a bit weaker than I thought he would be so I am taking him out. Behemoth Sledge - Just was not doing enough to keep a spot in the deck all though the lifelink was nice and the trample did help Rith get through. Stoneforge Mystic - A tutor for my protecting equipments or Skullclamp. Into the Core - This was a personal pick because my meta has a lot of decks with hard to get rid of artifacts, like Darksteel Plate and Darksteel Forge. Return to Dust - A lot like Into the Core but can also hit enchantments. Whispersilk Cloak - Shroud and unblockability makes this card great for Rith, who needs to hit to be really mean. Windbrisk Heights - Nice way to get a free spell since it's not hard to swing with three creatures. Verdeloth the Ancient - Generates a few tokens and gives them all a boost, thrown in with a decent body makes him hard to deal with. Oblivion Ring - Great remove anything that you can target card. Elspeth Tirel - Life gain can be nice here and there, can pump out tokens and just in case can reset most of the board. Selesnya Guildmage - An earlier game drop that can be a back up Jade Mage or help pump for an alpha strike. Garruk Wildspeaker - A little bit of ramp, that can make tokens and overrun for the finish. Vandalblast - Can wipe out every artifact I don't control, what more could I ask for? Sundering Growth - fairly easy to cast and has a nice bonus. Perilous Forays - Great with the landfall creatures and is a nice sac outlet for when people try and steal my creatures. Furystoke Giant - Turns your creatures into shocks on a stick and thanks to persist can be used more than once. Even better with Gavony Township. Master of the Wild Hunt - A token every turn and the ability to remove creatures makes this guy great. Darksteel Ingot - Hard to remove ramp and color fixer. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - A good way to get in a heavy hit or on a rare occasion get Rith off twice. Jungle Shrine Evolving Wilds Rith's Grove Rupture Spire
Most games start off slow with some mana ramps in the first few turns and sometimes dropping a small token generator, first 1 to 3 turns.
Then you can start playing some of the more powerful enchantments or start pumping tokens, turns 4 to 6.
After this you can judge the field and get Rith out or start using a bigger token producer to make a large board presence and start doing some damage.
From here it is best to get a finisher down and take out whoever is the biggest threat to you. With just one of the finishers it is pretty easy to knock a player out from damage that they can not even begin to block. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is the most powerful finisher but any of the other finishers will also be able to end the game quickly.
Thanks to the many ways to make tokens it is fairly easy to recover from a board wipe but a key to this deck is to not over extend so if the board does get cleared you have one or two things to start back up.
Threats to be aware of
There are a few cards that can put a deck like this into a world of hurt, most will just cause you to lose your tokens while your opponents keep most of their creatures, however a few of these can just plain knock you out of the game.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - as nice as she is for us if she is on the other side of the table it can be pretty hard to recover. Spot removal is usually the best answer to her but her just hitting play usually will wipe out most of my tokens.
Massacre Wurm - can be lethal if he just hits the board, he has been making me consider having a mass sac outlet however those can be just as dangerous to have around cards like mindslaver
Insurrection / Reins of Power - since the plan is to build enough of an army to run over your enemy having it all come at you can easily knock you out, another reason to consider having a sac outlet.
Repercussion + mass damage cards - Repercussion is a card that if you can destroy do so ASAP. One game I had about ten tokens out and another player dropped Repercussion and then played Blasphemous Act, needless to say that was it for me that game
Overall the deck performs very well in a variety of situations and is a lot of fun to play.
Bio
My name is Greg from Oklahoma City and I am 23 years old. I started playing magic in 2004 shortly after Darksteel was released. I mainly played at home with friends but every once in a while I'd go enter a standard tournament and get shown how to play competitively. Most of the tournaments I played were during the time when Ravnica was part of standard. I played GW tokens during this time and won a handful of FNMs.
I kept playing through tenth edition but got tried of it quickly after that, the fact that the next set was going to be a tribal set did not seem very appealing to me. Add in the fact that I only had one person left that played causally I was tired of being beaten by people who had more money to spend on their decks and called it quits.
Until a friend showed me some of the stuff Alara had to offer. Once he showed me all the love dragons got I decided to play again but to stay away from the tournament scene. Luckily for me another shop opened up and the meta was far more relaxed, 90% played to enjoy the game instead of trying to just flat out win it, so I've slowly started playing FMN there.
Now I have a personal EDH play group of about 6 or 7 people, including my girlfriend, and we play at least two games a week every Saturday night. Also now that I am finally done with College, Bachelors in Computer Science, I feel like I can give a little more time during the week to playing magic, specifically EDH.
01/17/2012 - Added Threats to be aware of section, updated Cards I am considering and Cards / Combos I chose to avoid
01/25/2012 - Took out Dragon Fangs for Primal Rage
02/16/2012 - Updated cards I am considering, Want List, card choices, and my decklist
I see you find Earthcraft makes turns longer, which I disagree with, it's a good card that lets you mana ramp like crazy with tokens. If it takes a while it's the player that is doing it without an idea on what to do.
Only change I would recommend is run Parallel Lives, doubling season number two. Mana could use some work, like Gaea's Cradle, but that is pricey.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
I see you find Earthcraft makes turns longer, which I disagree with, it's a good card that lets you mana ramp like crazy with tokens. If it takes a while it's the player that is doing it without an idea on what to do.
Only change I would recommend is run Parallel Lives, doubling season number two. Mana could use some work, like Gaea's Cradle, but that is pricey.
Don't get me wrong I agree with you that is a super powerful card and I guess part of the makes turns take longer part was from showing some newer players the format and stepping through each untap and tap for them. I took it out more for the fact that I became a huge target every game I got it and with everyone else doing their best to keep my field clear I stopped being able to use it.
Also funny you mentioned Gaea's Cradle it's on my want but can't afford at the moment list along with the three shocklands, the two old fetch lands and the three original dual lands but maybe one day. The cradle does have crazy ramp potential in this deck.
Why no Essence of the Wild? With Mycoloth, you get X 6/6 Fattys a turn, where X= number of +1/+1 Counters. Rith Connects, look..even more 6/6's
Also, In my Rith build, I run Aura Mutation and Artifact Mutation. Even Indestructible Enchantments/Artifacts will still yield Saprolings.
I thought about Essence of the Wild before but I would not want to get stuck with just 1 or 2 vanilla 6/6's, that have to die for me to play something else, if the table decides to kill all my generators as he enters. He is nice since he can make big beaters out of tiny tokens, but I don't like that he makes everything that way which would probably mean he'll have to sit in my hand for a while until I have a way to abuse him in play.
The Mutations are both pretty nice since they net you something for blowing something up, my only concerns are that they are each more narrow and while it would be nice to get tokens for hitting an indestructible artifact with Artifact Mutation I usually need those off the field. More often than not the indestructible artifact is Darksteel Plate, which is a huge pain on generals like Geist of Saint Traft, or Darksteel Forge. I think I'll try the mutations and see how they run, just need to take something out for them
Finally got a chance to play with this deck again had 4 good games but the last one got pretty out of hand since one of the other players was using his Karona, False God chaos hug deck.
Thanks to his card draw and mana acceleration I wound up with getting over 200 tokens in one turn and used a combination of Glare of Subdual and Shared Animosity
Aura helped a bit in the first game, got rid of a Grave Pact, but in the second and third game I ended up drawing the one I couldn't use, Aura when I needed to get rid of an artifact.
I think for now I am going to swap them back out but I am considering trying to find something to remove for Artifact Mutation since I think it will come in handy more often than not
Also been looking at Juniper Order Ranger as another possible finisher, anyone have any experience with him?
Jade Mage seems low powered for the deck or you could cut a land, you do run a lot of them. Rith's Charm is also single use, but has a ot of utility, so not sure, which you find least valuable.
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Weiss Schwarz Sets
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Jade Mage seems low powered for the deck or you could cut a land, you do run a lot of them. Rith's Charm is also single use, but has a ot of utility, so not sure, which you find least valuable.
Verdant Force force is not bad but he is a little slow and in these colors I like Dragon broodmother better since it makes the tokens as often but they have flying and can be pumped with devour.
As for Intangible Virtue, I like it but I have never really found a place for it, I think I replaced it with Shared Animosity. I had tested it before but I kinda feel like it does not pump enough to end the game and if I have it out I won't be able to abuse skullclamp. Do you see anything worth taking out to put it back in?
Naya Charm is a cool utility card that can act as a one shot Glare of Subdual as well as other powerful effects.
There is also Sterling Grove to consider since you have a decent number of enchantments. Having it out with Privileged Position is also fun.
Naya Charm is a cool utility card that can act as a one shot Glare of Subdual as well as other powerful effects.
There is also Sterling Grove to consider since you have a decent number of enchantments. Having it out with Privileged Position is also fun.
Naya Charm does seem like it could come in handy, I'll see if I can find room for it.
I think when I get a Sterling Grove I am going to take out Idyllic Tutor for it. I like the added shroud it gives and the fact that sun titan can get it back is great to.
Added a Threats to be aware of section, just to cover a few of the cards that you should be aware of that can make it hard to run a token swarm deck like this one.
The ones that I have listed have all happened in fairly recently games and if I remember some of the other cards that I have had trouble with in the past I will be sure to add them.
Also if anyone else had cards that just locked them down or blew them out of the water playing a strategy like this please let me know
Also was looking at new cards from Dark Ascension and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on any of the following, or if there is a card I missed that might be useful.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch was someone I was rarely happy to see. If i did not put much mana into him he was far to slow and if I did invest he was often dead before I got much, or any, use out of him. So I took him out for Requiem Angel since she can pump out tokens when almost anything else I have is killed and 6 mana was the very least I usually would ever cast Mikaeus with.
Yavimaya Elder just always seemed really slow and now that I have improved my mana base some, with the shock lands, I think I can get away with out using him. Earthcraft can also help a lot with the mana fixing and it can do it on a bigger scale.
Primal Rage is already being cut since I rarely ever need it to use Rith's ability, although a few times I've had to hit a player who was already a bit behind. But I did not build this deck to be everyone's friend so it's not that big of a deal
I used it's spot for Spawning Pit so I could have a free sac outlet to help against cards like Insurrection and Massacre wurm. It's also a nice combo with Requiem Angel that gets out of hand with doubling season or even parallel lives and it's infinite if you toss in earthcraft
Now that's it for current updates but lately I've been looking at a few different things and wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on them.
Eladamri's Call vs Congregation at Dawn - Call is a bit cheaper and gets one creature to my hand but Congregation lets me setup up to my next three draws, only with creatures but it's still pretty powerful. There have been games when I've wanted the creature asap and times when I've wanted to setup finishers. So I guess my question is do you think I should take out Congregation at Dawn for Eladamri's Call, leave it as is, or try and find room for both.
Pyreheart Wolf seems really strong as well since with it my opponents would need two flying blockers to stop Rith and can make a token swarm be lethal much faster. However as nice as he is I'm not sure what to take out for him, Jade Mage was a thought to take out but she is really strong with earthcraft and she has helped in a few games where I got a turn 1 or 2 skullclamp and basically had the setup of pay 3G draw 2 cards.
Moonveil Dragon could really beef up a token army to finish things off but his ability is R intensive which is making me think he will be a slightly more narrow Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. I'm at the very least going to test him out but I still need to find room for him, maybe I could cut Whispersilk Cloak since I tend not to need it?
After playing a few games with Moonveil Dragon I decided to leave him out of the deck, his effect can lead to a lot of damage but the commitment to R that he requires is a little to strong for my tastes. He also kinda feels like a slightly weaker version of Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, since it was rare that I could produce RRRR and not afford 4GGGGGG and the trample from Kamahl has ended many games in my favor.
Requiem Angel is just a crazy in this deck. The ability for most of the tokens in the deck to pull double duty is just fantastic and on a few occasions she let me really go crazy with skullclamp. Out of the handful of games I have gotten her I got insane value and was glad I had her, all except that one game where she got hit by a rite of replication kicked and of course he had played army of the damned the turn before
Spawning Pit has been pretty helpful to, kinda mad at myself for not seeing how good it was before. It has saved me once or twice and in the face of a wipe has made it so I can recover my army quickly.
Pyreheart Wolf hard to tell if he is any good, since in like 6 or 7 games I have not seen him and the one game I did he got hit with a path to exile. So at the moment I have swapped jade mage with him but I still need to test him some more before deciding if he should stay.
As for Eladamri's Call vs Congregation at Dawn I am kinda leaning toward keeping Congregation at Dawn since it just seems better to tutor up to three creatures for just one more mana, even they go on top instead of into my hand.
Quick update, added a Deck by Card Uses section, just the have the deck organized in two different ways, and added a chopping block section, to keep track of cards that I am thinking about dropping.
Also added two cards to the considering section and they are Nomads' Assembly and Saproling Symbiosis. Both cards have the ability to double the number of creatures I have in play but I am having trouble with two things. If the board gets wiped and one of these is all I have, 0 * 2 is still 0. The other thing is I think I could only make room for one of them, so which is better the one that for 6 doubles, then doubles again in a turn or the one that can happen at instant speed for 6 or on my turn for 4?
I was thinking of dropping Mentor of the Meek for one of them, since I've gotten him the last few games and he has been pretty lackluster. The best he ever did was draw me two cards on turn 6, each other game he was wiped off the board or he came to late to matter.
I like both of those cards. I think I like the Symbiosis a little more because it only has one colored mana in the cost and can be cast as an instant. However, the rebound on the Assembly is really nuts (although, I can see it provoking a Wrath so that you get nothing when the rebound goes off).
I see you have Earthcraft in your list but no Squirrel Nest. Are you purposely avoiding this combo?
I like both of those cards. I think I like the Symbiosis a little more because it only has one colored mana in the cost and can be cast as an instant. However, the rebound on the Assembly is really nuts (although, I can see it provoking a Wrath so that you get nothing when the rebound goes off).
I see you have Earthcraft in your list but no Squirrel Nest. Are you purposely avoiding this combo?
Cheers,
rant
Yea, I think I am leaning toward Saproling Symbiosis. I will see if I can pick one up this weekend and then test it and then swap it for Nomads' Assembly and see which I like better but Saproling Symbiosis seems a little bit stronger.
As for the no Squirrel Nest, I usually try and avoid two card infinite combos, it's kinda of a gentleman's agreement in my main playgroup to help games stay interesting. Although swinging with a million squirrels is always fun
Thanks for pointing it out, I will go ahead and add it to my combos I am choosing to avoiding section
Over the last week I have been able to test out Saproling Symbiosis and Nomads' Assembly and I like Saproling Symbiosis a lot better, being able to play it at the end of a turn is really strong. I was able to end two different games on my next turn with it, once with Shared Animosity and the second time using Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. Nomads' Assembly was not bad but a bit slower and I never got anything out of the rebound, the whole table made sure to see to that
Another bonus from Saproling Symbiosis is that the tokens are green, which most of my token generators produce, which helps out my generals ability.
Hall of the Bandit Lord: Great card for Rith. Having haste on your rith greatly increases the surprise factor, thus improving the chance of him connecting.
Overwhelming Stampede: One card win-con in most creature-based decks. Ridiculous in a token deck.
Avenger of Zendikar : This seems a bit obvious but is there a reason why avenger isn't in the deck?
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Why play Rith?
Rith, the Awakener is a large general with a large ability. Her ability has the potential to exponentially increase the amount of tokens you have on the board, and all for the low price of hitting someone and 2G. The fact that she is a flying 6/6 makes this even easier and means that using general damage as a plan B is not impossible. However as powerful as her ability is, this deck does not need it to win. The deck rides more off its other methods of producing tokens than solely on the general, although her ability is a great way to get back a decent field after a board wipe.
The colors of the general also give us access to amazing tools to make a token deck powerful. Green gives us most of the deck's generators and also gives us a way to make those little 1/1's deadly. White gives spot removal, mass removal, and some powerful tutors for the artifacts and enchantments that can produce more tokens and provide a lot of utility. Red gives us the ability to give those tokens haste for a nasty surprise and also has a few powerhouse token generators.
This deck may be for you if
-You like using your general but it does not need to be your only win strategy
-You like having a lot of creatures
-You like having a variety of creatures
This deck may not be for you if
-You don't like having an expensive general(mana-wise)
-You don't like keeping track of tokens
-You don't like to attack very often
Possible Generals for RGW
Jacques le Vert - He kinda has an odd defense pump attached to him which is nice but I like to use my general for a little more than that.
Johan - Close to the same as Jacques only more expensive and gives vigilance in return for him not attacking, and him not becoming tapped.
Mayael the Anima - A very powerful general but the strategy she goes for is drop big game ending fatties and beat face with them and since her ability goes off of creatures power 5 or greater only the number of token generators she can rip off the top is pretty low.
Palladia-Mors - I love the flavor of using an original Elder Dragon but I think Palladia is more suited to a voltron style deck than to tokens.
Uril, the Miststalker - Very voltron and can do little for a token deck other than sport very powerful Pollenbright Wings
Hazezon Tamar - By far the next best general for a token swarm deck. He, in my opinion, is almost as powerful as Rith. I like that he drops tokens that are RGW, that makes anthem effects much stronger, as opposed to the G tokens Rith makes. However I feel like he is a bit more build around, since his ability comes off the number of land you have you would want to have more effects to boost his ability. Also I dislike that you really want to play him and then get rid of him before the tokens come in, otherwise they can just kill him and wipe all the tokens out, and I would rather have a general that I could keep around that is an asset instead of a liability. But if you wanted a bigger land ramp package he could make a very powerful token general.
History
Rith was the second EDH deck I built when I started playing the format when the precons last June. The original intent of the deck was to make as many saporling tokens as possible and make them stronger with anthem type effects. I learned fairly quickly that using anthem effects could quickly become a liability if I swung into someone thinking I had them and that person just remove my best buff card, usually coat of arms. Soon after I tweaked the deck to do less buffs and make more tokens but at the time I was still sticking to making saprolings.
It did not take long to realize that 1/1's would still need help to win the game, even more so with General like Zur, the enchanter and Arcum Dagsson running around my meta. At this point I decided to add a few cards to make the tokens go from little beaters to immediate problems, as well as adding some powerful artifact and enchantment removal to the deck. It was at this point that I saw how powerful the deck could become because I realized that if the general greatly helps the theme of the deck but is not required to run it then the deck becomes more resilient and cares a lot less about tuck effects.
That realization came around September or October of 2011. Since then I have worked to make the deck more efficient and more capable of surviving the early game and setting up, to dominating the middle and late parts of the game. So far my win to loss ratio with this deck is pretty high with roughly 42 wins to 19 losses since I started keeping track when I created this thread in November 2011, there were a few games I did not record because we threw in planechase or had an absurd amount of player, over 10.
Deck List
1 Rith, the Awakener
Creatures (18)
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Jade Mage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Shaman of Forgotten ways
1 Academy Rector
1 Emeria Angel
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Mycoloth
1 Dragon Broodmother
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Requiem Angel
1 Sun Titan
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Enchantments (14)
1 Earthcraft
1 Sterling Grove
1 Aura Shards
1 Fecundity
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Shared Animosity
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Parallel Lives
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Doubling Season
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Privileged Position
1 Vicious Shadows
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Spawning Pit
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Eldrazi Monument
Planeswalkers (5)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Instants (11)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Deglamer
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Beast Within
1 Chord of Calling
1 Rith's Charm
1 White Sun's Zenith
Sorcery (7)
1 Martial Coup
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Saproling Symbiosis
1 Austere Command
1 Hour of Reckoning
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Canopy Vista
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gavony Township
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Temple of the False God
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
Card Options
Deck by Card Uses
1 Rith, the Awakener
Token Generators (19)
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Secure the Wastes
1 Jade Mage
1 Spawning Pit
1 White Sun's Zenith
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Emeria Angel
1 Saproling Symbiosis
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Mycoloth
1 Dragon Broodmother
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Requiem Angel
1 Avenger of Zendikar
Tutors (6)
1 Crop Rotation
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Sterling Grove
1 Chord of Calling
1 Academy Rector
Removal (7)
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Deglamer
1 Aura Shards
1 Beast Within
1 Rith's Charm
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Martial Coup
1 Austere Command
1 Hour of Reckoning
Ramp (10)
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Temple of the False God
1 Sol Ring
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Shaman of Forgotten ways
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Mirari's Wake
Utility (14)
1 Gavony Township
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Skullclamp
1 Earthcraft
1 Fecundity
1 Fires of Yavimaya
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Parallel Lives
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Doubling Season
1 Sun Titan
Protection (3)
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Privileged Position
1 Shared Animosity
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Vicious Shadows
Mana-fixing (18)
1 Arid Mesa
1 Canopy Vista
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Plateau
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
Basics (12)
4 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Plains
Dragonmaster Outcast - The perfect lightning rod, also gets lethal quick if he is not taken care of.
Rhys the Redeemed - Early game make tokens, late game double them, whats not to love.
Secure the Wastes - a cheap and instant speed token generator
Jade Mage - Can make for a good early drop and can be a great use for extra late game mana
Spawning Pit - I did not really like this card much at first but since then I have realized how powerful it can be. In response to Insurrection or Massacre Wurm you can sac your board and then use it to partially, or fully with doubling season, rebuild your army. Only small downside is the tokens are colorless.
White Sun's Zenith - a tad expensive to cast but instant speed token generation can be insanley useful.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - A threat that needs to be answered before her ultimate goes off and makes tokens until you get there.
Emeria Angel - Flying blockers are always nice.
Saproling Symbiosis - Using it at instant speed can let you get enough power to finish the table off, or it can be surprise blockers when someone thinks your open. Nomads' Assembly is something close to it but being able to only play it as sorcery makes it a bit weaker unless all your creatures have haste, and the rebound rarely does anything since your opponents will do everything they can to make sure you do not make that big of an army.
Xenagos, the Reveler - a solid token and also provides heavy ramp
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - a token generator that ramps, has removal and can provide card draw.
Garruk, Primal Hunter - Makes nice sized beast tokens and if you can get to his ultimate he makes a ton of giant Wurms which can end the game pretty quick.
Assemble the Legion - More and more tokens every turn and they can swing right off the bat, never been sad to see it
Mycoloth - Can pump a ton of tokens but can also be a giant target if you pour to much into him.
Dragon Broodmother - In multiplayer this card is just crazy, has been a game winner for me many times.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Can pump three tokens as a + ability, can wipe big threats away and can make a huge buff with her emblem. A total super star planeswalker.
Rampaging Baloths - Dropping larger tokens can help wrap the game up.
Requiem Angel - I generate very few spirit tokens so her ability is really strong.
Avenger of Zendikar - can make a huge board presence which can easily enable any of the finishers and is insane with Cathars' Crusade
Tutors
Crop Rotation - can help fix colors or grab a utility land
Enlightened Tutor - Can get any or artifact or enchantment, enough said.
Sterling Grove - The enchantments make this deck go from good to insane and getting anyone of them is quite helpful, plus it can be gotten back by Sun Titan.
Chord of Calling - Usually used to grab a finisher at the end of my opponents turn but a instant speed creature tutor has many other uses.
Congregation at Dawn - Can be used to get a few utility creatures or to get token generators or finishes.
Eladamri's Call - Instant speed and to the hand, just awesome
Academy Rector - being able to get an enchantment from the deck into play is awesome
Removal
Path to Exile - Cheap and effective spot removal.
Swords to Plowshares - Cheap and effective spot removal.
Deglamer - Helps get around the God cards which can be difficult to deal with.
Aura Shards - Great repeatable removal that is just to good to pass up in a deck like this.
Beast Within - Can be used to stop someone from tucking or stealing my stuff or act as great spot removal.
Rith's Charm - One of the few cards I have that can remove problem land or can produce a few tokens at instant speed and every once in a while can stop an opposing generals alpha strike.
Nullmage Shepherd - Almost as good as Aura Shards, not as easy to abuse but it does not require you to play a creature to use it. Which makes it easier to destroy things when it's not your turn.
I pack a lot of artifact and enchantment removal becuase I play with an Arcum Dagsson, Zur the Enchanter and a few other that pack powerful artifacts and enchantments.
Wipe
Austere Command - Card that can get you out of tough spots with it's flexibility.
Hour of Reckoning - Quite often lets me finish the game but just blowing up some bigger creatures with it is enough.
Ramp
Ancient Tomb - the life loss is a price worth paying for the gained tempo
Gaea's Cradle - Insane ramp for a deck like this that pumps out tons of creatures.
Temple of the False God - Nice built in ramp that usually gets me to the top of my curve a turn early.
Sol Ring - Awesome colorless mana ramp.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Great early game color fixer and ramp.
Cultivate - Good ramp that also puts a land in my hand for the landfall creatures.
Chromatic Lantern - perfect color fixing and can also make mana itself
Shaman of Forgotten ways - a dork that can tap for 2 mana and that curves well into Rith. Also with Rith and him out I can use his second effect as a possible finisher.
Kodama's Reach - Same as Cultivate.
Mirari's Wake - Double mana from lands and pump, I wonder why no one ever lets me have it out for very long
Utility
Gavony Township - A more powerful version of Oran-Rief, the Vastwood for a larger mana investment also great with persist.
Haven of the Spirit Dragon - a good color fixer for casting Rith, as well as Dragon Broodmother and can also be used to get them back from the yard.
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood - Most of the tokens made are green so they benefit greatly from the power boost this gives, great with persist.
Rogue's Passage - Great to get Rith through.
Skullclamp - Card is good on it's own and almost unfair with tokens.
Earthcraft - This card is just insane. Just be careful, nothing seems to paint a bigger target on my head, except for maybe Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Fecundity - you'll be able to use it far more often than everyone else can
Fires of Yavimaya - Haste is great and the boost from sacing can get in that last little bit of damage.
Wheel of Fortune - Refilling my hand can help a lot if I don't have skullclamp.
Glare of Subdual - Great card for tokens decks to keep your opponents big creatures down, and the small ones to
Parallel Lives - A weaker Doubling Season but still very useful.
Sarkhan Vol - I love giving my creatures a boost and haste but it is nice to use his ultimate to do some heavy damage.
Cathars' Crusade - Can turn anything that makes a few tokens into a game changing card.
Doubling Season - A powerhouse card with tokens, counters and planeswalkers, it makes all their ultimate's possible as soon as they are played and makes Sarkhan Vol very dangerous.
Sun Titan - Awesome way to recur the smaller cards or to get back my equipments
Protection
Lightning Greaves - Shroud and haste is almost as nice but being free to equip makes this well worth it.
Swiftfoot Boots - Hexproof and haste is a really powerful combination.
Privileged Position - A card that gives everything I control but it Hexproof, whats not to like.
Shared Animosity - After just one hit with Rith this card becomes insane and can hit for unbelievable amounts of damage.
Purphoros, God of the Forge - Simply insane amounts of damage can come from him. 2 for every creature entering is almost over the top and then for some icing on the cake he can pump all of your creatures. He will rarely become a creature in this deck but hey that only makes it harder to get rid of him.
Eldrazi Monument - Turns your tokens into a dangerous flying, nearly unkillable army and I have never had a problem sacrificing a creature to it at the upkeep.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - Can punish your opponents for blowing up the field , turn their lands into creatures that will die as well, and more importantly can let your army go for heavy damage.
Thunderfoot Baloth - gives Rith evasion while buffing the whole field.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Weakens your opponents creatures, killing most utility creatures, and buffs your creatures by a large amount.
Vicious Shadows - makes people reconsider board wipes and lets you pull the trigger if you have a sac outlet
Cards / Combos I chose to avoid
Mana Echoes + Sprout Swarm - it does generate infinite combos but overall each piece is a little to weak on it's own so I decided against using it.
Juniper Order Ranger - more for an anthem build, and I am running this as a swarm deck. He gets big but makes it harder to abuse skull clamp with the tokens.
Squirrel Nest - not a bad card on it's own and it can go infinite with earthcraft but there is an agreement in my playgroup that we will avoid two card infinite combos
Epic Struggle - I'm not really fond of cards that have the win the game clause and the people I play with would make sure that it would not stick around long enough to activate anyway.
Cards that have been removed
Woodfall Primus - Can remove many different problems and can be used many times since it has Persist. Something that is always nice when you can put a +1/+1 counter to remove the -1/-1 counter.
Comet Storm - Sometimes can finish off players but usually I use it to remove several creatures.
Twilight Drover - A nice little engine that usually makes opponents think twice about attacking you or blocking your tokens since it will only led to more he is a bit slow and I did not get value out of him all that often.
Mentor of the Meek - Weaker than Skullclamp but still has good card draw power, in theory. I never seen to draw him :tongue:, a bit weaker than I thought he would be so I am taking him out.
Behemoth Sledge - Just was not doing enough to keep a spot in the deck all though the lifelink was nice and the trample did help Rith get through.
Stoneforge Mystic - A tutor for my protecting equipments or Skullclamp.
Into the Core - This was a personal pick because my meta has a lot of decks with hard to get rid of artifacts, like Darksteel Plate and Darksteel Forge.
Return to Dust - A lot like Into the Core but can also hit enchantments.
Whispersilk Cloak - Shroud and unblockability makes this card great for Rith, who needs to hit to be really mean.
Windbrisk Heights - Nice way to get a free spell since it's not hard to swing with three creatures.
Verdeloth the Ancient - Generates a few tokens and gives them all a boost, thrown in with a decent body makes him hard to deal with.
Oblivion Ring - Great remove anything that you can target card.
Elspeth Tirel - Life gain can be nice here and there, can pump out tokens and just in case can reset most of the board.
Selesnya Guildmage - An earlier game drop that can be a back up Jade Mage or help pump for an alpha strike.
Garruk Wildspeaker - A little bit of ramp, that can make tokens and overrun for the finish.
Vandalblast - Can wipe out every artifact I don't control, what more could I ask for?
Sundering Growth - fairly easy to cast and has a nice bonus.
Perilous Forays - Great with the landfall creatures and is a nice sac outlet for when people try and steal my creatures.
Furystoke Giant - Turns your creatures into shocks on a stick and thanks to persist can be used more than once. Even better with Gavony Township.
Master of the Wild Hunt - A token every turn and the ability to remove creatures makes this guy great.
Darksteel Ingot - Hard to remove ramp and color fixer.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - A good way to get in a heavy hit or on a rare occasion get Rith off twice.
Jungle Shrine
Evolving Wilds
Rith's Grove
Rupture Spire
Cards I am considering
Warstorm Surge - Again potential for a lot of damage but have never found room for it.
Artifact Mutation - Removal with a bonus, but need to find room for it.
Juniper Order Ranger
seedborn muse - Might be nice as a way to use my token generators on everyone else's turns.
Moonveil Dragon - Seems like a powerful finisher.
Pyreheart Wolf - Make my tokens harder to block could be a nice effect.
Eladamri's Call - Very strong creature tutor.
Nomads' Assembly - similar to Saproling Symbiosis, but weaker.
Strategy
Most games start off slow with some mana ramps in the first few turns and sometimes dropping a small token generator, first 1 to 3 turns.
Then you can start playing some of the more powerful enchantments or start pumping tokens, turns 4 to 6.
After this you can judge the field and get Rith out or start using a bigger token producer to make a large board presence and start doing some damage.
From here it is best to get a finisher down and take out whoever is the biggest threat to you. With just one of the finishers it is pretty easy to knock a player out from damage that they can not even begin to block. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is the most powerful finisher but any of the other finishers will also be able to end the game quickly.
Thanks to the many ways to make tokens it is fairly easy to recover from a board wipe but a key to this deck is to not over extend so if the board does get cleared you have one or two things to start back up.
Threats to be aware of
There are a few cards that can put a deck like this into a world of hurt, most will just cause you to lose your tokens while your opponents keep most of their creatures, however a few of these can just plain knock you out of the game.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - as nice as she is for us if she is on the other side of the table it can be pretty hard to recover. Spot removal is usually the best answer to her but her just hitting play usually will wipe out most of my tokens.
Massacre Wurm - can be lethal if he just hits the board, he has been making me consider having a mass sac outlet however those can be just as dangerous to have around cards like mindslaver
Insurrection / Reins of Power - since the plan is to build enough of an army to run over your enemy having it all come at you can easily knock you out, another reason to consider having a sac outlet.
Repercussion + mass damage cards - Repercussion is a card that if you can destroy do so ASAP. One game I had about ten tokens out and another player dropped Repercussion and then played Blasphemous Act, needless to say that was it for me that game
Overall the deck performs very well in a variety of situations and is a lot of fun to play.
Bio
My name is Greg from Oklahoma City and I am 23 years old. I started playing magic in 2004 shortly after Darksteel was released. I mainly played at home with friends but every once in a while I'd go enter a standard tournament and get shown how to play competitively. Most of the tournaments I played were during the time when Ravnica was part of standard. I played GW tokens during this time and won a handful of FNMs.
I kept playing through tenth edition but got tried of it quickly after that, the fact that the next set was going to be a tribal set did not seem very appealing to me. Add in the fact that I only had one person left that played causally I was tired of being beaten by people who had more money to spend on their decks and called it quits.
Until a friend showed me some of the stuff Alara had to offer. Once he showed me all the love dragons got I decided to play again but to stay away from the tournament scene. Luckily for me another shop opened up and the meta was far more relaxed, 90% played to enjoy the game instead of trying to just flat out win it, so I've slowly started playing FMN there.
Now I have a personal EDH play group of about 6 or 7 people, including my girlfriend, and we play at least two games a week every Saturday night. Also now that I am finally done with College, Bachelors in Computer Science, I feel like I can give a little more time during the week to playing magic, specifically EDH.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Cinder Glade
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Change Log
11/14/2011 - Removed Mana Echoes and Sprout Swarm for Sarkhan Vol and Dragon Fangs
11/15/2011 - Posted decklist
11/30/2011 - Added Juniper Order Ranger and Artifact Mutation to Cards I am Considering
12/29/2011 - Took out Khalni Garden for Garruk, Primal Hunter, garden is a little slow and does not give all that much
01/05/2012 - Added a want list, updated the list and made the following changes
In: Sacred Foundry Out: Boros Garrison
In: Stomping Ground Out: Copperline Gorge
In: Temple Garden Out: Forest
01/17/2012 - Added Threats to be aware of section, updated Cards I am considering and Cards / Combos I chose to avoid
01/25/2012 - Took out Dragon Fangs for Primal Rage
02/16/2012 - Updated cards I am considering, Want List, card choices, and my decklist
In: Earthcraft Out: Yavimaya Elder
In: Spawning Pit Out: Primal Rage
03/21/2012 - Updated list and
In: Wooded Foothills Out: Evolving Wilds
In: Cathars' Crusade Out: Behemoth Sledge
Decklist
In: Enlightened Tutor Out: Stoneforge Mystic
In: Sundering Growth Out: Return to Dust
In: Vandalblast Out: Into The Core
In: Gaea's Cradle Out: Forest
In: Rogue's Passage Out: Windbrisk Heights
- Gaea's Cradle
+ Eladamri's Call
+ Academy Rector
06/17/2012 - Updated both decklists and want list.
Decklist
-Master of the Wild Hunt
-Furystoke Giant
-Woodfall Primus
-Perilous Forays
-Sarkhan Vol
-Comet Storm
-Forest
-Forest
-Mountain
-Plains
-Terramorphic Expanse
-Darksteel Ingot[/CARDS]
- Taiga
- Academy Rector
03/24/2014 - Made a few changes to the deck list.
+Deglamer
+Elspeth, Sun's Champion
+Purphoros, God of the Forge
-Oblivion Ring
-Elspeth Tirel
-Verdeloth the Ancient
10/09/2015 - changes to the main list
+Shaman of Forgotten ways
+Thunderfoot Baloth
+Secure the Wastes
+Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
+Xenagos, the Reveler
+Canopy Vista
+Reflecting Pool
+Windswept Heath
+Savannah
+Ancient Tomb
+Haven of the Spirit Dragon
-Sundering Growth
-Vandalblast
-Selesnya Guildmage
-Garruk Wildspeaker
-Plains
-Evolving Wilds
-Rith's Grove
-Rupture Spire
-Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
-Forest
-Jungle Shrine
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Only change I would recommend is run Parallel Lives, doubling season number two. Mana could use some work, like Gaea's Cradle, but that is pricey.
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Don't get me wrong I agree with you that is a super powerful card and I guess part of the makes turns take longer part was from showing some newer players the format and stepping through each untap and tap for them. I took it out more for the fact that I became a huge target every game I got it and with everyone else doing their best to keep my field clear I stopped being able to use it.
I do have Parallel Lives and I love the card, it's above Doubling Season in the deck list.
Also funny you mentioned Gaea's Cradle it's on my want but can't afford at the moment list along with the three shocklands, the two old fetch lands and the three original dual lands but maybe one day. The cradle does have crazy ramp potential in this deck.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Also, In my Rith build, I run Aura Mutation and Artifact Mutation. Even Indestructible Enchantments/Artifacts will still yield Saprolings.
540 Peasant cube- Gold EditionSomething SpicyI thought about Essence of the Wild before but I would not want to get stuck with just 1 or 2 vanilla 6/6's, that have to die for me to play something else, if the table decides to kill all my generators as he enters. He is nice since he can make big beaters out of tiny tokens, but I don't like that he makes everything that way which would probably mean he'll have to sit in my hand for a while until I have a way to abuse him in play.
The Mutations are both pretty nice since they net you something for blowing something up, my only concerns are that they are each more narrow and while it would be nice to get tokens for hitting an indestructible artifact with Artifact Mutation I usually need those off the field. More often than not the indestructible artifact is Darksteel Plate, which is a huge pain on generals like Geist of Saint Traft, or Darksteel Forge. I think I'll try the mutations and see how they run, just need to take something out for them
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Thanks to his card draw and mana acceleration I wound up with getting over 200 tokens in one turn and used a combination of Glare of Subdual and Shared Animosity
Anyway tried out Aura Mutation and Artifact Mutation, swapped them in for Rith's Charm and Into the Core.
Aura helped a bit in the first game, got rid of a Grave Pact, but in the second and third game I ended up drawing the one I couldn't use, Aura when I needed to get rid of an artifact.
I think for now I am going to swap them back out but I am considering trying to find something to remove for Artifact Mutation since I think it will come in handy more often than not
Also been looking at Juniper Order Ranger as another possible finisher, anyone have any experience with him?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Main Decks
Diaochan, Iroas, God of Victory, Kaalia, Marton, Ulasht, Volrath,
Kaervek, Prossh, Titania
Amusing or Themed
Progenitus
Pauper Guildmages
Azorius Boros Dimir Golgari Gruul Izzet Korozda
Orzhov Rakdos Rix Maadi Selesyna Simic Skarrg Zameck
I also play Weiss Schwarz, Chaos, Vanguard and Wixoss.
Accel World, Angel Beats, Familiar of Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Guilty Crown, Kill La Kill, Robotics;Notes, Sword Art Online.
Chaos Partners
Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Iona, Kirishima, Kongou.
Dangan Ronpa: Asahina, Togami.
Freezing: Vibration: Chiffon, Satelizer.
Vanguard Clans Favoured
Angel Feather, Dark Irregulars, Genesis, Neonecter, Pale Moon, Shadow Paladins, Tachikaze.
Wixoss - Just trial decks for now!
Hmm I think for now I will try cutting a land, so I'll take out Khalni Garden for Garruk, Primal Hunter
Thanks for the suggestion
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Verdant Force force is not bad but he is a little slow and in these colors I like Dragon broodmother better since it makes the tokens as often but they have flying and can be pumped with devour.
As for Intangible Virtue, I like it but I have never really found a place for it, I think I replaced it with Shared Animosity. I had tested it before but I kinda feel like it does not pump enough to end the game and if I have it out I won't be able to abuse skullclamp. Do you see anything worth taking out to put it back in?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
There is also Sterling Grove to consider since you have a decent number of enchantments. Having it out with Privileged Position is also fun.
Naya Charm does seem like it could come in handy, I'll see if I can find room for it.
I think when I get a Sterling Grove I am going to take out Idyllic Tutor for it. I like the added shroud it gives and the fact that sun titan can get it back is great to.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
In: Sterling Grove Out: Idyllic Tutor
In: Sacred Foundry Out: Boros Garrison
In: Stomping Ground Out: Copperline Gorge
In: Temple Garden Out: Forest
Also I am reconsidering Earthcraft, just will try and avoid infinite combos with it :D, but I'm not sure what to take out for it.
Also was thinking about seedborn muse, anyone have any experience with it in a token deck?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
The ones that I have listed have all happened in fairly recently games and if I remember some of the other cards that I have had trouble with in the past I will be sure to add them.
Also if anyone else had cards that just locked them down or blew them out of the water playing a strategy like this please let me know
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Also was looking at new cards from Dark Ascension and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on any of the following, or if there is a card I missed that might be useful.
Pyreheart Wolf - Can be used to swarm over opponents and can be gotten back by sun titan
Requiem Angel - Makes a board wipe less effective for an opponent, since I don't make many spirit tokens, or could replace a token I skullclamp
Moonveil Dragon - Could be a possible finisher, however has a very heavy requirement for R mana
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
@MiffedMoogle, I'm testing out earthcraft again, now that my playgroup is getting better they seem to not see it as such a big problem
So I have changed out the following
In: Requiem Angel Out: Mikaeus, the Lunarch
In: Earthcraft Out: Yavimaya Elder
In: Spawning Pit Out: Primal Rage
Mikaeus, the Lunarch was someone I was rarely happy to see. If i did not put much mana into him he was far to slow and if I did invest he was often dead before I got much, or any, use out of him. So I took him out for Requiem Angel since she can pump out tokens when almost anything else I have is killed and 6 mana was the very least I usually would ever cast Mikaeus with.
Yavimaya Elder just always seemed really slow and now that I have improved my mana base some, with the shock lands, I think I can get away with out using him. Earthcraft can also help a lot with the mana fixing and it can do it on a bigger scale.
Primal Rage is already being cut since I rarely ever need it to use Rith's ability, although a few times I've had to hit a player who was already a bit behind. But I did not build this deck to be everyone's friend so it's not that big of a deal
I used it's spot for Spawning Pit so I could have a free sac outlet to help against cards like Insurrection and Massacre wurm. It's also a nice combo with Requiem Angel that gets out of hand with doubling season or even parallel lives and it's infinite if you toss in earthcraft
Now that's it for current updates but lately I've been looking at a few different things and wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on them.
Eladamri's Call vs Congregation at Dawn - Call is a bit cheaper and gets one creature to my hand but Congregation lets me setup up to my next three draws, only with creatures but it's still pretty powerful. There have been games when I've wanted the creature asap and times when I've wanted to setup finishers. So I guess my question is do you think I should take out Congregation at Dawn for Eladamri's Call, leave it as is, or try and find room for both.
Pyreheart Wolf seems really strong as well since with it my opponents would need two flying blockers to stop Rith and can make a token swarm be lethal much faster. However as nice as he is I'm not sure what to take out for him, Jade Mage was a thought to take out but she is really strong with earthcraft and she has helped in a few games where I got a turn 1 or 2 skullclamp and basically had the setup of pay 3G draw 2 cards.
Moonveil Dragon could really beef up a token army to finish things off but his ability is R intensive which is making me think he will be a slightly more narrow Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. I'm at the very least going to test him out but I still need to find room for him, maybe I could cut Whispersilk Cloak since I tend not to need it?
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Requiem Angel is just a crazy in this deck. The ability for most of the tokens in the deck to pull double duty is just fantastic and on a few occasions she let me really go crazy with skullclamp. Out of the handful of games I have gotten her I got insane value and was glad I had her, all except that one game where she got hit by a rite of replication kicked and of course he had played army of the damned the turn before
Spawning Pit has been pretty helpful to, kinda mad at myself for not seeing how good it was before. It has saved me once or twice and in the face of a wipe has made it so I can recover my army quickly.
Pyreheart Wolf hard to tell if he is any good, since in like 6 or 7 games I have not seen him and the one game I did he got hit with a path to exile. So at the moment I have swapped jade mage with him but I still need to test him some more before deciding if he should stay.
As for Eladamri's Call vs Congregation at Dawn I am kinda leaning toward keeping Congregation at Dawn since it just seems better to tutor up to three creatures for just one more mana, even they go on top instead of into my hand.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Also added two cards to the considering section and they are Nomads' Assembly and Saproling Symbiosis. Both cards have the ability to double the number of creatures I have in play but I am having trouble with two things. If the board gets wiped and one of these is all I have, 0 * 2 is still 0. The other thing is I think I could only make room for one of them, so which is better the one that for 6 doubles, then doubles again in a turn or the one that can happen at instant speed for 6 or on my turn for 4?
I was thinking of dropping Mentor of the Meek for one of them, since I've gotten him the last few games and he has been pretty lackluster. The best he ever did was draw me two cards on turn 6, each other game he was wiped off the board or he came to late to matter.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
I see you have Earthcraft in your list but no Squirrel Nest. Are you purposely avoiding this combo?
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
Yea, I think I am leaning toward Saproling Symbiosis. I will see if I can pick one up this weekend and then test it and then swap it for Nomads' Assembly and see which I like better but Saproling Symbiosis seems a little bit stronger.
As for the no Squirrel Nest, I usually try and avoid two card infinite combos, it's kinda of a gentleman's agreement in my main playgroup to help games stay interesting. Although swinging with a million squirrels is always fun
Thanks for pointing it out, I will go ahead and add it to my combos I am choosing to avoiding section
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Another bonus from Saproling Symbiosis is that the tokens are green, which most of my token generators produce, which helps out my generals ability.
So I am removing mentor of the meek from my list and adding Saproling Symbiosis
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
In: Plateau Out: Mountain
In: Wooded Foothills Out: Evolving Wilds
Always nice to be able to upgrade the land base.
RGW Rith, the Awakener
BRG Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
UBR Nicol Bolas
GWU Treva, the Renewer
RWU Numot, the Devastator
Overwhelming Stampede: One card win-con in most creature-based decks. Ridiculous in a token deck.
Avenger of Zendikar : This seems a bit obvious but is there a reason why avenger isn't in the deck?