MTG Salvation

Hi all,

I used to have a 60 card deck before I started EDH, a Bant token deck that utilizes copy spells (like Cackling Counterpart) then popular them when I need repeat effects, such as Mystic Snake token + Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage. A token Yosei, the Morning Star + Growing Ranks would lock down a player indefinitely, and cards like Doubling Season let you lock down many.

I'm wondering which general would be the best for remaking this deck into an EDH deck. I don't mind adding R also.

Given the similarities between copy token and blinking, I thought about Derevi and Roon first, but Derevi is overused and Roon cannot "blink" token or make a timely blink. No money for Angus Mackenzie otherwise he'd suit a pillowfort strategy. Rubinia Soulsinger might work, since I can make copies of creatures she stole. Strangely enough, Estrid, the Masked might be the black horse here consider the number of enchantments I need to maintain a persistent token flow, and many token generators are already enchantment based.

I actually had this deck for quite some time (Rubinia was my commander, she's a good rattlesnake card in the zone if nothing else). I had a lot of little odds and ends; Soul Foundry, Mimic Vat, Back From the Brink, etc. The whole point of the deck was to basically make tokens of things that should not be tokens and make a lot of them. Acidic slimes, Thragtusks, Wurmcoil engines, Sun Titans, Blightsteel Colossus, etc. I did actually make tokens of opponents' creatures that I stole, was a good time, enough so that I started running Mirror Gallery.

Rubinia Soulsinger is probably the winner-winner, since as mentioned you can make tokens of stuff she steals for even more versatility. Estrid, the Masked doesn't actually seem great - sure, it isn't out of your way to run Fertile Ground, Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, etc., but in a vacuum she does nothing. If you want to lean into the fact that you're going to be running a boatload of expensive, important enchantments I'd probably use Tuvasa the Sunlit instead (especially since you aren't a full enchantress deck and many of your best enchantments are 4+ CMC).

Jenara, Asura of War gives your deck a fine "plan B" and will benefit from Doubling Season and Primal Vigor, and I also wouldn't totally turn my nose up at Roon of the Hidden Realm - while he can't blink your tokens, he CAN blink the things you want to make tokens of like Acidic Slime, Eternal Witness, Mulldrifter, etc. I do think Rubinia is best, but these two have more value than Tuvasa and Estrid imo.

I don't think any of the Bant + red options add anything noteable to the deck despite Heat Shimmer effects being spicy, so I'd probably go for one of the above.

I would say Estrid as my first choice. Bigger bonus with Doubling Season. Not sure if the Mask auras can be on different permanents when you populate them, but I imagine they can be placed wherever you want.

I don't like Rubinia since she is so easy to see coming and does nothing against a non-creature deck

Quote from Dunharrow »

I would say Estrid as my first choice. Bigger bonus with Doubling Season. Not sure if the Mask auras can be on different permanents when you populate them, but I imagine they can be placed wherever you want.

I don't like Rubinia since she is so easy to see coming and does nothing against a non-creature deck

If it's like placing an aura with Replenish or Sun Titan (i.e., just placed on the battlefield), they can. Then again, aura tokens are a new (as in, Estrid is the first choice) area of design space; the most obvious design space for aura tokens is already handled by +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters.

Let's look at the possibilities:

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Pro: Can make any token relevant. Con: Like so many precon Stax Commanders, she gets a lot of undue hate. You'll be playing a tier 2 deck, but she'll be treated as if she's the next Jhoirazur.

Roon of the Hidden Realm Blinking what you can clone.

Rafiq of the Many: Bold choice for tokens. And by "bold choice" I mean "the most antagonistic option possible".

Jenara, Asura of War: Basically you get Doubling Season synergy, making her Daily Regimen more invigorating than ever.

Rubinia Soulsinger: Steal and clone.

Angus Mackenzie: Good card. But he costs over $200. Giant Growth isn't the only thing that'll give you inflation.

Arcades, the Strategist: Another lolwut like Rafiq, though I suppose he has synergy with some of the cantrip walls. Even if I'm cloning Mulldrifter.

Estrid, the Masked: I...don't get it.

Tuvasa, the Sunlit: Well, token decks can use a lot of enchantments (Aura Shards, Doubling Season, Martyrs' Bond, Parallel Lives, Primal Vigor, Anointed Procession, Bident of Thassa, various anthems), so it's not that insane.

Treva, the Renewer: Worst primeval is worst. But merely orthogonal, unlike Rafiq or Arcades.

Arcades Sabboth: I think Goblin Recruiter says it better than I can.

Thrasios, Triton Hero and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker: Well, Thrasios can be used in a token deck, since he's goodstuff. But Ishai is basically the same as Jenara, but only WU and partner.

Ragnar: Why?

Kestia, the Cultivator: Unless you're cloning a lot of enchantment creature tokens, no.

Thrasios, Triton Hero and Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa: This combo is actually a good one for if you want to use partners for generic Bant tokens.

Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix: As is this. You just need one Bident of Thassa or Coastal Piracy to make this fun.

Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker: Really offers nothing.

Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker: Also offers nothing.

A generic answer to Mask tokens and doubling effects: Apparently when you have Parallel Lives out, you create two Mask tokens instead of one, but both has to go onto the same permanent. The replicate effect copies the entire property of the token, which is why the death of any Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang token created via doubling effect would also bring back the sword.

Which makes Estrid's -1 2x/4x/8x more powerful, and populate effect would continue to add more. She also has the biggest mana boost compare to other generals and could untap your enchanted creatures for defense.

I made a deck like this way back. But the goal was to animate a doubling season and make thousand copies of it. The worse was when I had 64 Mana Reflection in play.

Key cards were Second Harvest and copies of Eternal Witness and Peregrine Drake