Toph, the First Metalbender Lands Matter Combo

Commander Overview

Toph is one of the most interesting commanders to come out of the ATLA set. Their first ability is very different but insane. Not only do we get a lot of value out of our lands in the deck, but we also get a ton of value out of our non-token artifacts. Additionally, the way Earthbend is written makes it easy for us to sac and recur our artifacts, which can be very insane. This deck is a true combo machine, with one card that combos with Toph and Mindslaver as well as The Stasis Coffin, and this is a deck that can lock down and combo off very quickly.

How to Play the Deck

This deck is pretty straightforward on our game plan. We use our landfall and land matters cards to generate advantage. At the same time, we build up our board with the earthbend from Toph and other creatures like Badgermole Cub or Toph, Earthbending Master once we have those we can use our earthbend abilities for our combos or a beatdown gameplan if we need, we have a lot of combos in our deck and go off early in this deck. We are perfectly ok with the land beatdown/combat game plan until we can combo off. This is how I typically play my games with Toph. Our game plan is relatively straightforward.

Synergy’s in the deck

Our deck boils down to two different synergies/strategies, those being lands and artifacts. These interweave a lot, but these are our core game plan elements. We have a lot of land synergies in the deck with one of my favorites being Dryad of the Ilysian Grove which provides color fixing for the deck and getting our gameplan accelrated, one of my favorite lands in the deck is Secret Tunnel this card is strong and if combo-ing off is not an option being able to use this to kill opponents is a totally valid option.

The artifact strategy is all centered around Toph. There is no doubt that this deck can struggle a lot without them, but it is worth noting that we do not need them to win. We have many other combos, as well as a combat game plan, which is something we can do. Liquimetal Torgue is one of the coolest cards we have in our artifact package and allows us to earthbend Toph and make it so they can come back if removed, an amazing asset for the deck to have. Since we have so many strong lands in the deck, Crucible of Worlds is just amazing in this deck, being able to recur a Strip Mine or a Wasteland is so strong for the deck and can make our opponents struggle with mana.

Phases of the Game

Early-Game: The early-game in this deck is all about getting started and establishing. We typically aren’t rushing to get our combos; we are perfectly ok with taking it slow and biding our time. Committing some strong early creatures like Arcbound Ravager or Badgermole Cub can help us get set up for later. We don’t do a ton in the early turns, and that’s ok for our deck.

Mid-Game: The mid-game is where things start to get a lot better for us, by then we typically have a lot of our artifacts earthbended so they can come back if removed or exiled, while this is extremely powerful if our opponents try to remove our stuff its even more powerful if we do it ourselves, this is typically the part of the game where we do that. We can also go for combos at this stage of the game as well.

Late-Game: Since we have a lot of different ways to combo off in the deck we hopefully have ended the game before we get to the late-game, while its often used as a combo piece The Stasis Coffin is a powerful card for us to get earthbended since we can use it if an opponent is attempting to kill us, and Toph already has quite a bit of a reputation so we will likely get targeted.

Card Breakdowns

Ramp

We don’t have a lot of traditional ramp like Cultivate or Kodama’s Reach but we do make up for it by having a lot of ways to play out our extra lands in the deck, being able to use a card like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove which not only gives us a an additional land drop but provides absolute color fixing for our deck. Dryad is a such a strong ramp piece for our deck. Great Divide Guide is not a piece of ramp itself, but does give us color fixing. In my testing games, I didn’t have trouble with establishing colors, but since we earthbend so often, being able to tap our lands for any color can give us a lot of mana advantage. Ramp is a big part of our deck, and we have quite a few ways to fix our colors and produce more mana.

Card Draw/Card Advantage

We do not have a lot of card draw in the deck, but we do have a decent amount of tutoring, which gives us a lot more card selection than straight-up card draw. Worldly Tutor and Enlightened Tutor are both powerful and cheap tutors for the deck and can give us tremendous card advantage. We typically grab our combo pieces with these. Card draw isn’t very super important for our deck since we are ok if the game goes fast or slow.

Removal

A lot of our removal is through combat since we have so many creatures because of our earthbending. Another very positive element of earthbending is that since the earthbended stuff comes back, we can block with them without very many consequences, since they will come back, and oftentimes a re-ETB is very strong for our deck. We do have some traditional removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile to handle opponents’ creatures/commanders, and Generous Gift to take care of any permanents. We are not super heavy on removal outside of combat.

Protection

We have almost no protection in our deck outside of earthbending our stuff and having it come back that way, we are perfectly ok with that as well. After a lot of testing, I decided it wasn’t worth it to have a ton of protection; our earthbending is enough.

Utility / Support

Slowing down the game is significant for the deck. Authority of the Consuls is a very cheap way that we do that, being able to slow down creature decks and get our life total a little higher. Having this against more aggressive decks is very helpful. Ghostly Prison is another card that allows us to slow down the game and makes it very hard for our opponents to attack us, especially on the early turns. Both of these are great ways to buy us time.

Amulet of Vigor is a card that supports the game plan so well, we typically use it for the stuff we have earthbended. Being able to have it return untapped can be very strong if we need the additional mana. Our artifacts support the game plan very well, with cards like Crucible of Worlds allowing us to keep getting back lands like Wasteland or Strip Mine. There’s no better way to slow down an opponent than to devastate their mana base.

The last group of cards i want to focus on is how we kill our opponents when we have infinite landfall and ETB and LTB combos, we use cards like Chocobo Racetrack and Weapons Manufacturing to turn our infintie lands into a ton of creatures and damage, both of these cards are very strong for the general gameplan and work very well with Toph as well.

Mana Base

Toph’s ability allows us to play a lot more non-basics and unique lands than we normally would. My personal favorite is Secret Tunnel, such a strong card for our deck and assists with the beatdown game plan very well. This is not our primary win condition, but a great secondary option if our combos get stopped. Ba Sing Se is a land that is also very strong for the deck. That extra Earthbend, combined with Toph, can help us have a bigger board presence and, more importantly, will come back if it dies or is exiled. Since we have so many artifacts, Inventor’s Fair is a powerful tutor for the deck that is almost always online and is a great way for us to tutor up a combo piece if we need it. Beyond that, we do have a ton of non-basics, which does make us a little weak to Blood Moon effects, but those aren’t super common in Commander. Our mana base does have quite a few tap lands, but we don’t care that much because we are perfectly ok with a slow game.

Win Conditions

For the full explanation of the combos see the section down below!

Combos are the main win condition of our deck, we have combos that straight up lock out the game like using Toph with The Stasis Coffin or Mindslaver and we have combos like Badgermole Cub + Zuran Orb and Ashaya, Soul of the Wild for Infinite LTB’s ETB’s and Landfall triggers these type of combos wont end the game on their own. Still, when we combine them with cards like Tannuk, Memorial Ensign or Dragonspark Reactor or Weapons Manufacturing, these allow us to turn some of those infinites into damage and actually kill our opponents.

Strengths of the Deck

We can combo off from pretty much nothing. We have a lot of two and three-card combos. When we get to the late-game, it is very easy for us to drop everything in the same turn and win.

Earthbending is a crazy strong ability, and being able to get our stuff that is earthbended back after removal (death or even exile!) is so strong.

Weaknesses of the Deck

The deck can be a lot slower without Toph, and with how popular they have become, a lot of eyes will be on us when we drop them on the field. It can often be tough to keep them on.

We are very weak to removal heavy decks, we are very focused on our gameplan/combos, and don’t have a lot of protection. If removal comes early and we can’t earthbend, we can have a tough time.

Combos Explained

Below are every single possible combo in the deck explained, we have a ton of combos and a lot of them include the same cards being able to combo off with many different cards is a huge asset to our deck as it allows us to win in a lot of different ways with the same cards.

Please Note: This combo also works with: “Any man land that enters untapped”

Please note: The below combo can also be done with Sylvan Safekeeper, Bumi, Eclectic Earthbender or Toph, The Blind Bandit

Deck Testing/Matchups

I tested this deck against three different decks

Game 1: Vs Jaxis, the Troublemaker. Matchup Record: 4-2

This was a decent matchup for our deck, but don’t underestimate Jaxis. They are a powerful commander and can pull off some nasty combos, too. They aren’t super heavy in the removal department, but try to kill their commander if you can.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Generous Gift, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and Constant Mists

Game 2: Vs Brago, King Eternal. Matchup Record: 1-3

I played against a Brago Stax list. Brago can be very nasty; this is another matchup where keeping Brago off the board is important. Additionally, the beatdown game plan we typically employ doesn’t work very well here; the combo game plan becomes our primary.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, The Stasis Coffin and Weapons Manufacturing.

Game 3: Vs Edgar Markov. Matchup Record: 2-2

This is a very 50/50 matchup and one where we don’t want to use our combat gameplan; it’s full-on combo in this one. Edgar can start very strongly since they don’t even need to cast Edgar to amass a big board. Playing it slow and setting up your combos is the best course of action.

Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Springheart Nantuko, Swords to Plowshares and Ghostly Prison

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading to the end! Toph is an amazing commander whose abilities change the game a lot. I love the ability to bring our things back continuously; it’s no surprise to me that Toph is quickly rising in the EDH ranks despite being so new. This deck is different and a true breath of fresh air for the format.