MTG Salvation

Hello everybody!

If I'm posting on the wrong topic, please let me know, but I think I'm in the right place.

I've always used red strategies on my usual EDH/Commander table (usually me + 3 players), but I've decided to try something new: I've bought a pre-made Selesnya token deck on the internet and I'm currently "fixing it" by myself. I've already made A LOT of changes, but I know there is still a long way to go.

Current deck is listed below, followed by some considerations I've noticed playing with it:


Some considerations:

• I'm not saying that Emmara Tandris sucks... but she really isn't a good commander. Ok, OK, I've won once or twice because of her, but that is it. There are games I don't even cast her once.
She is really heavy (base CMC 7), gives a FALSE sense of safety (she is one instant away of getting my token creatures killed) and once removed, she starts costing way too much to be worth losing a turn tapping almost all my lands to cast her again (also leaving me without response to stuff on opponent's turns).
I don't have enough money to Trostani, Selesnya's Voice or Rhys the Redeemed, I'm looking for a good Legendary Selesnya creature.
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy is cheap and sounds really nice for a change, being really easy to cast and recast. I don't like to rely solely on my commander, but I want them to be viable.
Saffi Eriksdotter is REALLY expensive, but sounds awesome, too...


• Some of those cards have to leave, like Sandsteppe Mastodon, for example (Bolster sounds useless on a deck full of 1/1 creatures, even if he provides Reach, something I really need). Those are just here because they came with the pre-made deck and I still haven't found anything better to use instead.


• Although I have 33 lands, the deck feels overall slow. It is not a matter of how many lands I have, but on how many lands I can drop on the battlefield.
I can only play one land each turn and there are turns where I simply don't have a land on my hand.
I do have cards to fetch lands such as Kodama's Reach, Cultivate and even a Crop Rotation available, but I'm not sure how many of those I should use on the deck. How many of those "fetch lands" are recommended, usually?


• I'm not using any Mana rocks. My reasoning was that I barely have any mana to fix (only 2 colors) and I have some really good lands ( Command Tower, or lands that generate both green and white and enters untapped). Removing lands is harder than removing artifacts, so I thought it would be better to use those fetch lands. A friend told me to use some mana rocks, since I can put a land AND the rock on the battlefield on the same turn. What do you think?


• Although this is a token deck, I'm feeling my Token generation capabilities aren't what they should be. Aside from Mycoloth and Tendershoot Dryad, all my means of token generation are non-repeteable instants and sorceries (like Advent of the Wurm or Supply // Demand) or cards that drop a lot of tokens, but don't happen that often (like Supply // Demand or Polenbright Wings, which rarely goes unblocked, aside of the first turn I've casted it). Do you have advices on means to create more tokens? I feel that I'm slow to rebuild after a board wipe, for example.


• I feel the deck is lacking in overall strategy. I rarely have responses to other people strategies. The whole strategy is: fill the board with an army as fast as I can and try to use one of my win conditions (Triumph of the Hordes, Overrun, Collective Blessing and so on) to win the game. Or build a game presence to not be a target, but also try to not be a threat, until I can kill eveyone else who is alive in one round.
Usually those win-conditions get countered or prevented in any way. Also, I'm Sorcery heavy, so I usually don't end my turn with untapped mana (unless I have token generators such as Selesnya Guildmage. I feel I'm lacking in versatility.


• I lack a good board wipe, because there are moments when your game simply sucks. While I do have some cards to deal with spot problems like Swords to Plowshares or Beast Within, I need means to clear the board, precisely when I know I can rebuild fast.


• Overall advice is welcome. I've started playing EDH/Commander this year and I think my deck-building skills aren't really good yet. Advices on mana curve, number of cards, cards you consider useless or anything else are all advices that are more than welcome!

Thanks in advance !

Trostani just got a reprint in the guild kits so it shouldn't be that expensive. As far as ramp, cards like Perilous Forays is great in token builds. And making copies of Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, Yavimaya Granger, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Burnished Hart are great when paired with Mimic Vat (which was just reprinted in C18) or Conjurer's Closet.

For midrange decks, this is my foolproof starting build:

37 Lands
15 Draw Engines
15 Ramp Pieces
2 Wraths
5 Life-Gain Cards
5 Instants for Interaction

You start at that number and then tweak, leaving twenty cards for your theme. I have five life gain cards because if I lose I want to make sure it was intentional and not accidentally get killed from being collateral damage. That leaves twenty cards for theme. The better the deck is, the more cross pollination it will have. For example, Blighted Woodland is a Land but it also Ramp, so that means that it tucks into my Land category but checks off of a Ramp card; this effectively means I now have an extra card for my theme or anywhere else the deck is weak. Zendikar Resurgent? Well, that is both Ramp and Draw, so again that frees up another card. Take a loot at my Asmadi and Tymna & Ikra decks in my signature to get an idea of how midrange wants to be built. Temple of the False God is a Ramp piece, not a Land because you cannot play it on turns 1-4, so in a way it is like Explosive Vegetation. This is why a lot of my decks go to 38, Temple is not a Land.

I have my own Trostani build that I don't play too often because it pubstomps unsuspecting decks because the deck just does not lose. It doesn't quite follow the same formula as I do.

My decklists may be daunting, full of good, expensive cards but I always start with a budget build and over the course of months I build it better. You don't need it to be great or perfect right away; it just needs to be solid. Once you have that, you can slowly make changes to improve the deck by asking 'How do I lose?' and adding cards that stop that from happening.