“My stinger brings ugly death.”
Art:Vrestin, Menoptra Leader
by Ivan Dedov
Pricing courtesy of Moxfield.com
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander Is:
Vrestin is an insect machine, not only is she a really cool flavor win but also just an all around cool card! Being able to produce a bunch of tokens as well as buff them all up on attack allows us to have a clear path to victory combine this with more +1/+1 counter synergy / buffs as well as some mana ramp and you have a recipe to swing for the fences with ease! Without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
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Vrestin, Menoptra Leader $170 Insects Budget EDH!
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Why Vrestin, Menoptra Leader?
Vrestin is the core of our deck, producing a ton of insect tokens and buffing all of our insects when they attack! Vrestin is not only an insect themselves so they get the buff but with mana ramp we can make her a huge attacking threat as well! Vrestin is a card we are fully built around and is a ton of fun!
5 Helpful Upgrades:
Please note that these are in no particular order and are just cards that would greatly enhance the deck but were removed for budgetary reasons!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! As well as highlighting some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
Our deck is packed full to the brim of the baddest insects you have ever seen! We have nearly every insect we could fine in the deck, while some of these cards are not that strong being able to buff them with Vrestin makes them worth playing! We don’t have a huge early game but we do have cards like Bond Beetle
and Caustic Caterpillar
which are both early game cards that have strong effects! Champion of Lambholt
is a card that we can use to make all of our creatures unblockable and close out games quickly! Luminous Broodmoth
is one of the best cards in our deck since we can get nearly all of our insects back, perfect when dealing with single-target removal! Vorapede
is a card that is just really strong and can be cast very early!
Instants:
We are of course playing a bunch of removal like Swords to Plowshares
and Path to Exile
which are great ways to deal with threats from our opponents! Unbreakable Formation
is a great way to either buff up our creatures or prevent them from a board wipe! Pledge of Unity
is a perfect card for combat since we get buffs and life perfect if we are up against a combat or aggressive deck! Since we buff up our creatures a ton one of the best cards in our deck is Momentous Fall
, drawing cards is typically a struggle for our deck so being able to draw a bunch is a huge help!
Sorceries:
We are a Selesyna deck so we of course have a bunch of ramp like Cultivate
, Kodama's Reach
, Nature's Lore
and Skyshroud Claim
which are all just ways to generate more mana and cast more! The biggest benefit of all our ramp is that we can cast Vrestin with X being a lot! Crisis of Conscience
is a great way to keep all of our insects alive while board clearing most if not all of our opponents creatures! Damning Verdict
is another great card that often does not affect us much! Overwhelming Stampede
is an absolute game-ender that can give us the win pretty much out of nowhere!
Artifacts:
Our artifact package mostly consists of mana rocks like Moss Diamond
and Marble Diamond
as well as Talisman of Unity
which are all great ways to boost our mana and be able to cast Vrestin for more or just simply cast more stuff! Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
is a really strong way to not only add more counters but the Ozolith itself can do it as well!
Enchantments:
Hardened Scales
and Cathars' Crusade
are both really strong cards that help us make our insects absolutely huge! Both of these can have a huge effect on the game even if they only have a few turns on the board! Starlight Spectacular
is a great card that works well with token decks since we can buff all of our creatures! Court of Garenbrig
is a great way to buff our insects and get some card draw off of being the monarch!
Land Base:
Our land base consists of a bunch of Selesyna duals which of them my personal favorite is Horizon Canopy
which can be a great way to draw a card in a guild that truthfully struggles with that! Castle Garenbrig
is a really strong card that we can use its ability on pretty easy and effectively!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to win by overwhelming opponents in combat
- Large ramp package
- Decent suite of interaction
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Without buffs / Vrestin a lot of our insects are not that effective
- Very little card draw
- Weak to combo / spellslinger strategies as we have now way to interact with the stack
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We have no infinite combos or loops in the deck, our main win condition is through buffing up our insects to high heaven and swinging for the fences, we have a lot of cards that help like Ozolith, the Shattered Spire and Cathars' Crusade! There is a ton of ways for us to ramp and buff so we can attack and win!
Conclusion:
In conclusion Vrestin is a really fun commander who deals with a creature type that doesn’t have a lot of love or support, it is great to see Insects getting support and getting stronger as a creature type! Vrestin is what you would expect from a Selesyna deck but since you get to play a lot of different cards, I’ve found that it feels a little different, but in a fun way! Thanks for reading to the end and thanks for your support!