I must protect the wild, Nature will rise against you!
Art:Ezuri, Renegade Leader
by Victor Adame Minguez
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander is:
Ezuri is the general of this elves focused deck and for good reason! Ezuri is super easy to cast and his abilities not only help us protect key elfs we can also use his second ability combined with a bunch of mana to end games pretty quickly! We are an elf deck so our deck is packed to the brim with small efficient creatures that produce a ton of mana and a ton more creatures! We are a creature swarm style deck that beats down our opponents with a mass amount of creatures and buffs! This deck is a super sweet budget deck and with some upgrades can be even better! Lets get into it!
5 Helpful Upgrades:
Since we are a budget deck there are notable exclusions that can improve the deck if you are looking to upgrade this deck here are 5 cards to start with.
While your opponents may be happy that this card has been omitted since we produce so many creatures this card can easily end the game!
Since we can produce a ton of creatures, Craterhoof is not only very easy to cast in our deck but can easily kill 3 opponents when it hits the field!
Another card that benefits greatly from the large amount of creatures we can make, combining this with mana-dumping into Ezuri’s second ability we can make our creatures absolutely huge!
Nyxbloom ancient is a great card that we can ramp into really early and interacts really well with Ezuris second ability and with cards like Genesis Wave
.
We are mono-green so drawing cards and filtering through our deck is not easy. Sylvan Library helps with that a ton and can let us draw up to 3 cards a turn. The life loss from drawing multiple cards a ton is really not a problem in EDH since it is a 40 life format.
All of these cards can really improve the deck but were omitted to adhere to the budget!
The Deck:
65$ Ezuri Elves!
Why Ezuri, Renegade Leader?
The main reason we chose Ezuri as the general of this deck are his abilities. Ezuri not only can protect are elves that die for only one G, but since we can produce a large amount of mana with relative ease we are able to use his second ability to make combat very difficult for our opponents and end games. Ezuri also has the benefit of being only 1GG to cast and since we can produce a large amount of mana it is very easy to cast him if he has returned to the command zone multiple times during the game!
Deck Overview:
The Deck Overview section features highlighted cards from the deck.
Creatures:
We are a creature deck so our creatures are the core part of our gameplan, we have some very small mana elfs like Elvish Mystic
and Llanowar Elves
which are just cheap ways to begin the mana production. Copperhorn Scout
is another great creature that has most of its value come from the late game when we can use it after combat to use our creature mana to cast more spells or activate abilities.
Some of our low mana key elves include sweet cards like Joraga Warcaller
while it only costs one mana the real value comes from multikicking it in the late game can make all of our creature swarm very huge. Since we produce a ton of mana Joraga Treespeaker
is a sweet card that in testing by the mid-game I was able to fully level it in one turn!
Our big mana producers are Elvish Archdruid
, Priest of Titania
, Marwyn, the Nurturer
, Karametra's Acolyte
and Wirewood Channeler
. All of these cards are really good on their own but when combined allow us to really cast anything we want. Additionally pretty much all of these cards combo with Umbral Mantle
which is pretty much game over when we can stick that combo.
Some of the creatures that help a ton with the creature swarm are cards like Dwynen's Elite
, Elvish Warmaster
, Lys Alana Huntmaster
. All of these cards produce additional creatures and allow us to grow the swarm, when we combine this with some of our other cards we can really get out of hand.
Some of our elves that can be real houses on their own include Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant
can be a great mid-late game mana dump and if we have a ton of mana or infinite mana can end games very easily. Nullmage Shepherd
is a great benefit for our creature swarm and can be a great way to destroy artifacts or enchantments and with untap cards like Copperhorn Scout allows us to activate this multiple times in a turn!
Instants:
We are a mono-green deck and while we produce a ton of creatures we can still die through combat so we of course have the classic Fog
. We also have some specific “Fog” style effects like Galadhrim Ambush
which not only produces a bunch of creatures but also has a fog attached. Reclaim
can be a key card in our deck to return one of our key permanents from the graveyard. Elven Ambush
is a super sweet card since we can use it offensively or defensively!
Sorceries:
Our sorcery package contains some pretty sweet game-ending cards like Overrun
and Overwhelming Stampede
both of these cards can very easily end the game. Genesis Wave can very easily end the game after casting this huge x spell and getting a ton of creatures. In testing I was able to cast Genesis Wave for X = 40 which absolutely ended the game for my opponents!
Primal Command
is another great sorcery in our deck that allows us to do a bunch, including recur a creature, bounce a noncreature permanent and search for a creature. Since we are a creature swarm deck we don’t do most of those effects really at all so primal command is a really great sorcery for us! Shamanic Revelation
and Collective Unconscious
are the best card draw spells that we have in the deck and on average draw a ton of cards!
Artifacts:
Our artifact package is pretty simple mostly consisting of mana rocks like Sol Ring
, Moss Diamond
. Heraldic Banner
is expensive for a rock but since it has the added ability to give all of our creatures +1/+0 it is well worth the price. Umbral Mantle is really just a combo piece but is arguably the most important artifact in our deck.
Enchantments:
Lignify
is a great piece of removal for really anything annoying that any of our opponents play out on the field. Sylvan Anthem
is a great way for us to gain life and filter through the deck. Elvish Guidance
is a crazy card that can produce an absolutely ridiculous amount of mana and help a ton with activating Ezuri.
Presence of Gond
is another card that we can easily attach in the early game and continue to make more creatures throughout the game. Crown of Skemfar
is an aura that I typically place on Ezuri so combat damage or non-combat damage cant kill him. Crown of Skemfar also has the ability to recur which is sweet as well. Glorious Sunrise
is a really sweet toolbox card that lets us do a whole bunch of stuff! In testing I typically used the draw card or life buff depending on the situation.
Land Base:
Our land base is really simple consisting mostly of forests but we do have two nonbasics! Blighted Woodland
can be activated pretty early and be a mana positive card with how much mana we produce! Path of Ancestry
is just a great way for us to scry through the deck!
All-Stars of the Deck:
These cards are some of the best in the deck and the gameplan is slower / worse without them!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to amass a large amount of creatures quickly
- Easy to make a ton of mana
- Ezuri can help us end games very quickly
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Lack of card draw
- Very weak to creature hate
- No real way to recur creatures once they die
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
The only infinite combo in our deck is Umbral Mantle + Any creature that produces 3 or more green mana, with this we can infinitely activate Ezuri’s ability. This combo is pretty easy to assemble and its pretty much game over if we can get it to stick.
Our primary way to end the game is through Ezuri’s second ability since we can produce an absolute ton of mana and attack!
Since we can generate so much mana through our creatures we can very easily cast a big X spell like Genesis Wave or Tribal Unity
to help end games!
Conclusion:
In conclusion Ezuri is a really fun and awesome deck! This deck is really great for anyone who loves creature pile / stompy style decks that are low to the ground and simple. Ezuri and all of the elves allow us to play a very fast and fun gameplay style casting big spells and permanents very early!
Thanks for reading to the end!