“The unworthy have no place in history.”
Art:Myrel, Shield of Argive
by Ryan Pancoast
Wanna Skip the Primer? Here are the Moxfield links to the Budget and Non-Budget versions
Pricing courtesy of Moxfield.com
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Myrel Shield of Argive is a standard legend and a very strong card. They are absolutely perfect for a soldier’s commander deck. Even in a budget, Build Myrel is extremely strong and a blast to play. This deck is very flavorful and fun and only comes in at sixty-five dollars, which is a great price to help get someone into the game/format. Myrel is an awesome commander of a very fun soldier’s deck, and I am very excited to bring you all this one today! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Myrel, Shield of Argive $65 Soldiers Budget EDH!
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Please Note: The non-budget version of the deck was included just to show some contrast between the versions and to give players who don’t want a budget build a decklist for reference, and if your budget is higher than the above list, you can pick and choose cards you want / may already have. The rest of this article will focus on the budget version of Myrel.
The Non-Budget Version Of The Deck:
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Myrel, Shield of Argive $550 Soldiers Non-Budget EDH!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate Link: Myrel, Shield of Argive $550 Soldiers Non-Budget EDH
Main Differences Between The Versions:
The main differences between the budget version and the non-budget version comes down to how quickly we can kill opponents and how quickly we can fill the board. There is certainly many ways to do both in the budget build. It is just not as fast and efficient. They are both awesome decks, and I tested both versions with my playgroup against various decks and while there were certainly some weaknesses against certain strategies since we are in mono-white.
Five Helpful Upgrades For The Budget Version:
If you own a copy of this card or can get one, I would definitely recommend it for this deck. Myrel produces a ton of tokens as well as many of the soldiers within the deck, so being able to make more and more is super helpful, this card was only cut from the budget version due to price.
Is an amazing card that snowballs crazy hard and can get out of hand in just one combat step, this card makes the deck much quicker and allows you to get some huge damage combats in.
Bennie Bracks addresses one of whites biggest weaknesses which is card draw, even though Bennie only draws one card a turn a consistent extra strong can be extremely strong especially in a color like white that is hurting for card draw.
The perfect card for any deck that cares about a certain creature type since it reduces the cost of our commander as well as most of the cards in the deck if you have one or are looking for upgrades this is one is quite impactful!
This is white’s Craterhoof Behemoth
and is just as strong. Due to all of the tokens we create, this card can often buff enough and allow us to kill all three opponents in one swoop. A perfect end-game card for the deck so that we can end games.
Why Myrel, Shield of Argive?
Myrel is a key card for our deck. Not only does Myrel give us a pseudo-Silence
effect on our turn, but it allows us to produce a ton of tokens, all for only four mana! Myrel is a strong and potent attacker and one of the best token producers in our deck.
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:
We have some creatures that help reduce the cost of all of our soldiers and thusly the majority of our deck like Ballyrush Banneret
, Daru Warchief
which are both amazing creatures. We also have some strong soldier buffs like Valiant Veteran
, Veteran Swordsmith
and Rescue Retriever
, Rescue Retriever is awesome since it not only buffs all our soldiers but allows them pretty much to attack freely since all damage during combat is prevented against our soldiers! Platoon Dispenser
is a very flavorful card a strong token producer and one of the few ways that we have to draw some cards which is something that white defientely struggles with. Court Street Denizen
can be a devastating creature for our opponents since we create a lot of white tokens, sadly this does not count for Myrel tokens but is still very strong. Speaking of a ton of creatures one of our best payoffs is Catapult Master
which can be a very effective way to kill creatures/commanders of our opponents.
Planeswalkers:
We only have three planeswalkers and they are all Elspeth’s funny enough! Elspeth, Sun's Champion
is a very interesting walker since we can board wipe as needed and make three soldiers which can be a great way to help us snowball especially with Myrel. Archangel Elspeth
is a strong token producer and can make some of our best attackers into a flying angel and that evasiveness can be extremely helpful. Elspeth Tirel
positions us quite well against aggressive strategies since we can gain a ton of life from her plus ability. We can also produce a decent amount of soldier tokens and we almost never ult Elspeth Tirel but in a pinch can be a great way to fully clear the board.
Instants:
We have some strong instant speed removal like Return to Dust
, Stroke of Midnight
and Heliod's Intervention
which can be strong ways to deal with opponents artifacts/enchantments and general permanent threats. Brave the Elements
, Rebuff the Wicked
and Surge of Salvation
are all strong one mana ways to protect key parts of our board especially Myrel. Unified Strike
is an awesome card that lets us one mana exile an attacking creature and since we almost always have a high count of soldiers we can exile pretty much anything. Entrapment Maneuver
is another way to kill a strong attacker and we get soldiers equal to the toughness which depending on the creature can be an absolute ton of extra tokens.
Sorceries:
Martial Coup
and Hour of Reckoning
are extremely strong board wipes for the deck that produce us tokens and don’t kill a majority of our board. Captain's Call
is a little expensive but more soldiers and tokens are always welcome. Nomads' Assembly
and Deploy to the Front
are both pretty expensive but in the late-game when we have a pretty big board established it can be a great way to double our tokens and have even more attackers / blockers!
Artifacts:
We don’t have a ton of artifact ramp, but we do have Arcane Signet
and Sol Ring
and Marble Diamond
, which are format staples for a reason and can help us speed out Myrel or pretty much anything. Horn of Gondor
is another strong token producer for the deck. Even though Myrel creates Colorless soldiers, we have a lot of ways to produce human soldiers. Obelisk of Urd
is especially good in this deck since we can convoke it out very early, and provides a big buff for all of our soldiers. Veteran's Armaments
is not only a very flavorful card that can be freely attached to any soldier but allows us to buff them up huge when we attack.
Enchantments:
We have some token payoffs like Intangible Virtue
and Inspiring Leader
, which can make all of the tokens we create strong attackers/blockers. Rally the Ranks
and In the Trenches
are some strong buffs for our tokens/soldiers as well. Mobilization
is an awesome card that makes all of our soldiers vigilant which makes them very strong when blocking and in general for combat and while it is a little expensive, we can make a soldier token in a pinch. We fill the board up pretty regularly, so Starlight Spectacular
is the perfect card that can make some crazy attackers. Darksteel Mutation
is an awesome piece of removal that is absolutely perfect for commanders or pretty much any creature with crazy abilities.
Land Base:
Castle Ardenvale
that, in a pinch, can be a piece of additional token creation; while they don’t create soldiers, an extra body is never something we will say no to. Forbidding Watchtower
is a strong land that we can animate and allow it to get all of our soldier buffs which can make it quite a strong attacker/blocker. Windbrisk Heights
is a sweet hideaway land; we can easily fulfill the hideaway card requirement. We are a mono-white deck, so our landbase Is pretty simple, with the rest of it consisting of basics as well as some cycling / draw lands like The Fair Basilica
and Secluded Steppe
.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can overwhelm the board with our token production
- We have a decent amount of payoffs for the soldiers and tokens we create, we are rarely attacking with 1/1’s
- Myrel protects us heavily on our turn with her pseudo-Silence
effect
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Very weak to creature hate
- Not a ton of card draw effects, which is a general weakness of Mono-White
- We are quite weak against control strategies since we tend to be pretty aggressive
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops in the deck. We end the game through combat and by overwhelming the board, and thusly, our opponents. Myrel is a huge token producer, but we also have cards like Deploy to the Front and Nomads' Assembly, as well as some payoffs like Intangible Virtue and Obelisk of Urd. We rarely attack with our tokens as 1/1’s and can be quite strong at both attacking and blocking.
Conclusion:
Myrel, Shield of Argive is a very fun commander who fits perfectly into a deck focused on soldiers and is perfect for a budget commander where Myrel is the most expensive card in the deck! This deck is easy to put together and a ton of fun to play. While you certainly struggle against some of the more tuned decks, this deck is a lot stronger than precon level and is also a little faster. I would say this is perfect for a table that has some high-casual – low-mid power level decks. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!