Keeper of the Trees!
Art:Sapling of Colfenor
by John Avon
Table of Contents
Welcome to another Installment of Brewed EDH!
Todays Featured Commander is:
Sapling of Colfenor is a really fun golgari commander which can be played in a variety of ways, for this deck we chose to go the Treefolk Tribal route. With our treefolk being low-power, high-toughness creatures we can utilize this to gain a great amount of life from Saplings trigger and we utilize a ton of payoff cards for our lifegain! This deck is great for any tribal lover and does not require a ton of experience to pilot this deck!
The Deck:
Sapling of Colfenor Treefolk Tribal!
Why Sapling of Colfenor?
The main reason that we chose Sapling of Colfenor is how well it interacts with treefolk, not only is Sapling a treefolk as well, but Saplings ability to gain life on toughness fits perfectly into the treefolk tribe. Sapling is indestructible and can help us gain a ton of life which we can pump into our payoff cards to attack quickly and start draining our opponents life. Sapling is a tough creature to remove who we can freely attack with as soon as possible. Overall Sapling of Colfenor is a great treefolk tribal commander the natural indestructible combined with life gain is great in a color combo that does not gain a ton of life!
Deck Overview:
We are at a core a treefolk tribal deck, so of course we have a ton of treefolk. Some of our best treefolk include Dauntless Dourbark
who not only cares about the number of forests we have but also the number of treefolk, combine this withYavimaya, Cradle of Growth
and you have an absolutely huge creature. Another great treefolk is Magnigoth Treefolk
who almost always gives our treefolk Swampwalk and Forestwalk. Another great treefolk is Timber Protector
who not only is a lord for treefolk but also gives them indestructible this is great for attacking and protecting against boardwipes. Since Saplings ability cares about the top of the deck we have couple of ways to manipulate the deck which are Mirri's Guile
, Sensei's Divining Top
and Sylvan Library
. All of these cards not only help us with draws but also allow us to manipulate the deck to get the most from the top of our deck. Speaking of Saplings ability there are a ton of great targets for his trigger especially cards like Tree of Redemption
and Tree of Perdition
. When we combine either of these high value targets with Blossoming Bogbeast
we can attack for crazy damage giving all of our creatures +13/+13. Since we are very much toughness based arguably the best card in our deck is Assault Formation
which allows our creatures to deal damage as their toughness instead of their power, in testing I found that this was the first tutor target any time I got an opportunity to search my deck as it just makes the game progression so much easier, plus a bunch of our high toughness creatures have relatively cheap mana costs! Since we are green we are packing some removal which is a very standard package including Cultivate
and Kodama's Reach
we dont need a ton of lands to begin to execute the plan so we are quite light on ramp compared to most green decks. Since we are a black deck as well we are of course playing some removal such as Essence Pulse
and Assassin's Trophy
. One of the best cards in the deck that I want to highlight is Gift of the Deity
which when placed on Sapling is absolutely crazy not only does it buff Sapling and give them deathtouch it forces all possible blockers to block our indestructible Sapling! Gift is an absolute homerun in this deck and whenever its out really does change the game quite dramatically! Our treefolk aren’t baseline the strongest permanents and can die to a ton of different removal spells so we utilize Steely Resolve
and Asceticism
to give them hexproof. Some of our lifegain payoff cards are Trudge Garden
,Well of Lost Dreams
and Willowdusk, Essence Seer
, all of these cards give us huge benefits from gaining life off of Saplings ability! Overall we are tribal deck say from a few highlighted cards our main goal is to place creatures and start swinging and typically ending the game through the combat phase.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Life gain in every combat
- A lot of support / synergy for Treefolks
- One combo to instantly end games as needed
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak to creature hate
- Outpaced by aggressive high-support tribes like elves or goblins
- Only a handful of interaction
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
With Sapling allowing us to gain life every combat we are of course packing Exquisite Blood
+ Sanguine Bond
. Other than that combo we are nothing but a treefolk combat style deck! We can end games with pumping up our treefolk and finishing opponents with cards like Triumph of the Hordes
or Blossoming Bogbeast.
Conclusion:
In conclusion Sapling of Colfenor is a really fun treefolk tribal deck which highlights the power of a tribe that is not always in the discussion. Its a fun Black / Green life gain deck which is not that common in EDH and allows for a different tribal playstyle. With huge creatures attacking for big a ton of lifegain and a lot of payoff it is a really fun deck to pilot!
Thanks for reading to the end!