Whatever our souls are made of ours are the same!
Art:Halana and Alena, Partners
by Jason Rainville
Table of Contents
Welcome to another Installment of Brewed EDH:
Todays Featured Commander is:
Halana and Alena is a fun Gruul counters matter strategy which in addition to being a stompy style deck allows us to get big combat swings with Halana and Alena’s ablility of making creatures big. Combined with Ramp a bunch of ways to get counters and big green finishers this deck is a ton of fun! You will like this deck if you are a fan of other stompy archetypes and like big creatures with not a ton of interaction. We are in every focused on our gameplan and outpacing our opponents not stopping what they are doing.
The Deck:
Halana and Alena, Partners +1/+1 Counters!
Why Halana and Alena?
I picked Halana and Alena because they are a fun build around commander in Gruul, even though the do a lot of the same things as most Gruul decks they were very fun to build around and play some Gruul cards that are not staples in every Gruul deck. Overall in testing just a fun experience and great to play. I think this deck is perfect for new players as it is fun and rewarding without requiring a ton of game knowledge!
Deck Overview:
Halana and Alena are the core of our deck so of course we built around them! But to start we need to talk about or ramp package this is nothing too unexpected playing classic ramp like Shaman of Forgotten Ways
and Elvish Mystic
as well Biophagus
which is especially good in this deck. For spell ramp we are playing the commander duo staples Kodama's Reach
and Cultivate
as well as Three Visits
. Once we get a board established we want to cast our creatures to give +1/+1 counters such as Ivy Lane Denizen
which is also one of our main combo pieces. Ancient Bronze Dragon
is another great way to get a ton of counters on Halana and Alena and another creature and gain the benefit from having a big creature and make Halana and Alena’s ability better for our next time combat step. Xenagos, God of Revels
is essentially a second copy of Halana and Alena and can get out of hand when both are on the field. Since we are a +1/+1 counter deck one of the best cards in our deck is The Ozolith
allowing any of our creatures dying to store there counters on the Ozolith and move them to other creatures later, I find the best thing to do is to move them onto Halana and Alena for their ability benefit. Since we are able to give our creatures trample very easily commander damage kills with Halana and Alena is absolutely option but is not the primary gameplan strategy. Another great option for big damage is All Will Be One
when using Halana or Alena’s ability especially in the late game can deal huge damage and be a viable win condition for the deck. We are a Gruul deck so we are packing one of the best green cards Champion of Lambholt
which when combined with Halana and Alena allows us too make it so our creatures cannot be blocked at all which makes games end very quickly. Overall are primary gameplay strategy is like a lot of other Gruul decks cast our big creatures and buff em up and swing, but with Halana and Alena we can buff our creatures up very easily and start swinging for the fences!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can set up large creatures quickly
- Can end games quickly
- Combo potential
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- No interaction
- Can be hard to restart once fully stopped
- Deck is worse without Halana and Alena
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Our main win condition is typically attacking and utilizing our big creatures combined with Craterhoof Behemoth
and Triumph of the Hordes
to finish out games but we also have a few combos!
Herd Baloth
+ Ivy Lane Denizen and optionally Chandra's Ignition
Result: Infinite creature tokens. Infinite ETB. Infinite +1/+1 counters on Herd Baloth. Requires: Ivy Lane Denizen on the battlefield. Herd Baloth in hand. 3GG available. Steps: Cast Herd Baloth by paying 3GG Ivy Lane Denizen triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Herd Baloth. Herd Baloth triggers, putting a green Beast token onto the battlefield. Repeat from step 2. Utilize Chandra’s Ignition to kill opponents outside of combat step
Scurry Oak
+ Ivy Lane Denizen and optionally Chandra's Ignition
Result: Infinite creature tokens. Infinite +1/+1 counters on Scurry Oak. Infinite ETB. Requires: Ivy Lane Denizen on the battlefield. Scurry Oak in hand. 2G available. Steps: Cast Scurry Oak by paying 2G. Ivy Lane Denizen triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on Scurry Oak. Scurry Oak’s last ability triggers, allowing you to create a 1/1 Squirrel token. Repeat from step 2. Utilize Chandra’s Ignition to kill opponents outside of combat step
Aggravated Assault
+ Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
Result: Infinite colored mana. Infinite combat phases. Requires: All permanents on the battlefield. Selvala does not have summoning sickness. You control a creature with power seven or greater. G available. Steps: Activate Selvala to add 3RRG. Activate Aggravated Assualt, untapping all creatures you control and gaining an addition combat step and post combat mainphase. Repeat.
Conclusion:
In conclusion I think that Halana and Alena is a very cool commander with a very straightforward and fun strategy. I think this deck is great in a meta with a lot of other creature decks, and this is a great deck to give a new or starting out player as it is fun and lets you do it but does not have the advanced strategy spellslinger style things that a lot of commander decks have.
Thanks for reading to the end!