“I’ll help you. Follow my voice…”
Art:Tatyova, Benthic Druid
by Mathias Kollros
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Tatyova is arguably one of the best commanders in Pauper EDH. From CPDH to Casual Tatyova is an extremely strong and potent card draw engine that is a payoff for the most common action in the game. While many players build Tatyova in a high-value combo style deck, we have opted to go a much more casual route and play a landfall ramp strategy that focuses on attacking and having more stompy elements with little interaction/control since we are in Simic. Whether you play Tatyova as a CPDH deck or as a casual deck with friends, I think you will like this list! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Tatyova, Benthic Druid Landfall Ramp!
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Why Tatyova, Benthic Druid?
Tatyova is a very strong commander, and we usually get out a couple of turns early because of all of the ramp we have. Once Tatyova is established, she is a strong draw engine for the deck and also positions us well against aggressive strategies since we can passively gain life. Tatyova is our deck’s key card and our primary game plan. As soon as we hit five mana, we want to commit Tatyova to the board as quickly as we can.
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 early game ramp like Elvish Mystic
, Llanowar Elves
, and Arboreal Grazer
, which are awesome ways to get ahead on mana early. We also have a bunch of landfall payoffs like Territorial Scythecat
and Sporemound
, which can be strong ways to fill up the board and have a strong and pervasive attacker. Soratami Cloudskater
and Soratami Rainshaper
are awesome ways to bounce our lands and get some card draw/give a creature shroud which is perfect for all of the removal that Tatyova draws. We also have some strong late-game creatures in Ulamog's Crusher
, Maelstrom Colossus
, and Eldrazi Devastator
, which can come down early and when they do can end games pretty soon after. Since we spend our early turns ramping, we often don’t have a strong board presence, so Spore Frog
can be a great way to protect ourselves from big attacks at any stage of the game.
Instants:
Since we are in Simic, we have some counterspells like the namesake Counterspell
as well as Arcane Denial
and Essence Scatter
, which are all strong ways to counter opponents spells or protect our own stuff. Crop Rotation
is an awesome instant to get an extra landfall trigger and grab one of our key lands from the deck. We also have some strong instant speed card draw like Brainstorm
, Oona's Grace
, and Tragic Lesson
, which is a draw spell that also lets us bounce a land.
Sorceries:
We have a ton of ways to hit extra land drops like Explore
and Broken Bond
, which also gives us artifact/enchantment removal which can be strong at any stage of the game. Journey of Discovery
is a strong card. Whether we cast it for its entwine cost or we cast it for one of its modes, it is a great way to get ahead on mana and ramp. We also have format staple ramp spells like Cultivate
and Kodama's Reach
, which are also great ramp spells. Fractal Summoning
is an awesome card in the mid-late game that can give us a huge attacker/blocker. Atraxa's Fall
is another amazing card that can take out artifacts/enchantments as well as creatures with flying, which is one of our biggest weaknesses in Simic. We also have Ponder
and Preordain
which are strong one-mana draw spells that are also a huge benefit of being in Simic.
Enchantments:
Wild Growth
and Utopia Sprawl
are very cheap pieces of ramp that can help us ramp in the early game and get us closer to Tatyova and our other big creatures. Lignify
and Witness Protection
are two awesome auras that can nullify our opponent’s best creatures/commanders.
Land Base:
Our land base is pretty simple, but we have a lot of cards that we use to get double-landfalls like Evolving Wilds
, Brokers Hideout
and Terminal Moraine
which are great ways to grab some basics and have a double landfall trigger. Simic Growth Chamber
also provides a lot of value in this deck since we can bounce a land and get a re-ETB. We also have some draw lands like The Surgical Bay
and The Hunter Maze
, which can be strong supplemental card draw. We are running 38 lands, much higher than the average since we want to hit landfall triggers on nearly every turn.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Tatyova is a strong card draw engine for the deck that we typically commit to the board in the late-game, although we can ramp her out a couple of turns early
- Many of our creatures get progressively better as the game goes on, and we put more land on the field
- We are very hard to beat in combat, especially in the late-game
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Many of our biggest threats can’t come until the fourth or fifth turn, even with ramp, so we can be a little weak to aggressive strategies
- We need to mulligan aggressively for ramp or the gameplan can be slower and flatter
- We do have some, but there is not as much interaction, especially when dealing with threats that have already been resolved, so besides combat, it can be hard to remove resolved permanents.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We end games through combat and swinging with huge creatures like Ulamog's Crusher and Eldrazi Devastator. We have a ton of huge creatures and can be quite dominant and strong in combat. We also have a ton of creatures that continuously get better as we hit more landfall triggers like Wave-Wing Elemental
and Territorial Scythecat which can get out of hand when we hit multiple land drops.
Conclusion:
Tatyova is a very fun commander who is a huge win for Simic and the color combination as a whole. Playing a landfall/ramp-style deck with the addition of blue opens us to more payoffs and more interaction with our opponents. Tatyova is a huge part of our deck and is the main card draw engine for our deck and allows us to find the best of the best in our deck. I have had a lot of success with this deck at my playgroup and found the list to be strong but not too powerful or overwhelming. There are certainly some choices I could add to make this list more competitive, but I find playing a ramp/stompy strategy is a fun and interesting way to play Tatyova. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!