“This cursed form… This crude decaying flesh! I loathe it!”
Art:Abomination of Llanowar
by Vincent Proce
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Abomination of Llanowar is an amazing elf commander and the perfect leader for our deck! A huge creature with vigilance and menace in the command zone allows us to be hyper-aggressive and great on defense. We are an elfball deck all the way and focus on dumping our hand not only for the buffs among creature types but for the P/T of Abomination of Llanowar. This deck is perfect for any elf lover and a player of any skill level. Having access to the great elves and a huge commander on top gives us a huge advantage over our opponents. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Abomination of Llanowar Elves!
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Why Abomination of Llanowar?
Abomination of Llanowar is the perfect commander for our deck, they play into the aggressive playstyle that our deck does every game. They can come out early, and even if they are only a 2/2 or a 3/3 in the early game, a 3/3 for three mana with vigilance and menace is a lot of pressure for our opponents. They are particularly strong against elves dying since they get the same buff. Whether we are being aggressive or more defensive with Abomination it is very strong and a great card to have at our disposal at all times!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
I know this may come as a shock to you all, but we have a ton of elves! Honestly, too many elves to talk about individually I am going to highlight some of my favorites within the deck. Elvish Herder
is a simple 1/1 with a key ability to give one of our bigger creatures trample. Speaking of big creatures a couple of turns on the field for Elvish Vanguard
, and he can get very large. High-Rise Sawjack
is a great card on defense, especially against flyers, which is one of our deck’s biggest weaknesses. Priest of Titania
and Timberwatch Elf
are both really strong cards that are the lifeblood of our deck. Being able to produce a ton of mana and buff up a creature huge works well with some of our other cards like Seeker of Skybreak
. We make a ton of mana, sometimes more than we know what to do with. In that case, we can use Wildheart Invoker
as a huge mana dump and provide a huge buff to our creatures/commander.
Instants:
We want to protect Abomination of Llanowar and other key elves from removal. Hence, we have cards like Supernatural Stamina
, Tamiyo's Safekeeping
and Snakeskin Veil
which are all great ways to protect our commander / key creatures. We have some removal of our own with my favorites being Doom Blade
, Cast Down
, and Go for the Throat
which hit a wide variety of creatures for pretty cheap. Return to Nature
is a great piece of artifact/enchantment removal and can be strong by exiling a key card from an opponent’s graveyard. Tainted Strike
is another card that will not make you very popular but can help you end the game quickly. Another huge buff is Wirewood Pride
, which can get out of hand very quickly.
Sorceries:
I always like to get as much card draw as possible, so we have Night's Whisper
, Read the Bones
, and Sign in Blood
, which are all effective ways to refill our hand and keep on building the elfball. Being an elf deck we are quite weak against flying creatures so cards like Atraxa's Fall
are great ways to help mend one of our biggest weaknesses. Eyeblight Massacre
is strong against aggressive/token strategies and is pretty much a one-sided board wipe. Return from Extinction
is a great way to get key elves back while we do temporarily weaken Abomination of Llanowar we can usually get them back on the board quite quickly.
Artifacts:
We do have a little mana ramp in our artifact package, but we rely on our creatures to provide most of our ramp. Arcane Signet
and Golgari Signet
are two cheap rocks that can help us get ahead on mana. We also have a bunch of equipment that makes our big creatures/commander more threatening, like Haunted Cloak
and Whispersilk Cloak
. Games don’t typically last that long after these come out. Cliffhaven Kitesail
makes our commander/ one of our big creatures more evasive, and it is a strong effect for only 1 mana. Wedding Invitation
is a PDH staple. In my opinion, a card and a turn of unblockable on our best creature is so strong.
Enchantments:
We don’t have a ton of enchantments, but they are all very effective. My personal favorite is Elvish Guidance
, which can produce a crazy amount of mana even on the third or fourth turn and can help us play anything we need. Phyresis
is a strong card that may not make you that popular but will help end games quickly. Presence of Gond
is a great card to make more attackers and blockers and tick up the counter for Abomination of Llanowar.
Land Base:
We have a pretty simple landbase, we are much heavier on green than we are on black just because of the card makeup within the deck. We also are rocking the brand new on-color “hidden” lands because free cards are free, and having that outlet/option is always very nice. We do have The Dross Pits
and The Hunter Maze
, but I have chosen not to include the cycling lands as we have a decent amount of draw in the deck. We also did not focus heavily on lands having both types since almost all of our ramp is from creatures/artifacts. In the 5 testing games I played, I found this landbase to be strong and effective.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Our commander is very hard to stop in combat
- A strong amount of interaction
- Strong in the early game
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak to control strategies
- Weak to creature hate
- Weak against stompy strategies as a lot of our elves are not great blockers
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck, but we have some nasty ways to end the game. Two of the “worst” are Phyresis and Tainted Strike. Which can easily give us an infect kill when we target Abomination of Llanowar. Beyond attacking with our commander, we are an elfball deck, so we can easily overwhelm our opponents with our large board. While these creatures are small, they can be quite effective. This deck shines in the early game and with ramp, so we can play many of our cards very early.
Conclusion:
Abomination of Llanowar is a fun commander and opens elves up to a new deck style, while the core is still the same. Being in Golgari allows us access to card draw, removal, and strong elves in black! Elves is a classic archetype in all formats that has followed a similar gameplan for a long time. Being in Golgari gives us access to many strong supporting cards. This deck is a ton of fun to play, and any classic elves player will enjoy this one. Thanks for reading to the end, and thanks for all of your support!