Magic: The Gathering - Commander Deck Overview 4

For a change of pace, I will now discuss a green deck. Similar to the deck I discussed in my first post in this series, this is a single-color tribal deck that can spawn a lot of token creatures. Unlike the other deck, this one can ramp mana, protect from harm, and boost creatures for major damage. It also has 3 viable general choices, so this post will discuss some things to consider when choosing a general.

Ezuri is only CMC 3, so he is fast to cast and can also be used in a Tiny Leaders sub-deck. His ability to regenerate elves is always handy at rescuing key creatures from destruction, and especially aids Golgari Decoy's otherwise-suicidal ability to make a giant hole in an opponent's defenses. If I add a Pariah's Shield to this deck, this ability means 1 green mana resurrects whichever unfortunate elf is assigned the "damage sponge" duty, too. He is arguably the best option for general, but the others warrant some consideration too.

Dwynen can block flyers and boosts every other elf in play, plus offers life gain whenever she attacks. She has a lot of potential, but the risk involved in sending a general to attack is high in Commander. Without some kind of evasion or regeneration protection, it's a risky strategy. As such, she is usually a better fit in the 99 rather than as the general. Against an opponent who favors life drain strategies though, she can be a good choice instead of Ezuri.

Kaysa costs the most of these three options, but offers a passive boost to all green creatures instead of just the elves. As can be seen in the image above, this is an older card, and the power levels of cards was quite different, so she is fairly weak in combat and vulnerable to spot removal. In a green creature deck rather than elf tribal, she would be a more effective general. Here again, her abilities make her a better fit in the 99. I may remove her from this deck entirely if I build another mono-green deck, too.

As for the deck itself, since Ezuri is the best commander choice of the options in the deck, this focuses heavily on elf tribal strategies with a goal of overwhelming the opponent. Ezuri can boost power and add trample, so he multiplies the effectiveness of otherwise-weak elf creatures. Many other cards in the deck can also boost elves and other green creatures in general. There are also fog effects to prevent combat damage if things go wrong. Large creatures round out the options for late-game strategies.

This kind of deck is great if you want a tribal horde with a more sophisticated edge than the legions of Krenko's goblins, and is a lot of fun to play. Elf tribal is one of the oldest archetypes in the game, and it will continue to be effective for the foreseeable future.