“We must pull up our roots; darkness corrupts the land.”
Art:Yedora, Grave Gardener
by Svetlin Velinov
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Yedora is an awesome mono-green commander who does things a little bit differently than most mono-green commanders in the format. Being able to turn dead creatures into lands gives us a ton of mana advantages and allows us to use our sneaky morph creatures over and over again. Yedora is super sweet, and we can usually ramp them out a couple of turns early and begin more mana ramp until we cast huge bombs and have an unstoppable board presence. Yedora is an awesome commander and certainly does not feel like an uncommon! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Yedora, Grave Gardener Morph!
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Why Yedora, Grave Gardener?
Yedora is a key part of our deck since they provide insane mana advantages for the deck and allow us to semi-fight through removal and benefit from it. Additionally, since we have a ton of morph creatures gone when they die and get flipped down, we can flip them up for their morph cots over and over again, making them very sticky once they hit the field. Yedora is a huge part of our deck and a card we want to cast as early and often as possible.
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:
To start off, like nearly every green deck, we have some mana dorks that can help get the mana production going, like Elvish Mystic
, Llanowar Elves
and Sakura-Tribe Elder
which are all great ways to get ahead on mana. We also have some secondary ramp pieces like Arboreal Grazer
and Springbloom Druid
, which are both awesome ways to get some extra lands early. We, of course, have our big payoff creatures like Ruin Processor
, Eldrazi Devastator
, and Ulamog's Crusher
, which are an awesome and huge presence on the board that can help us easily end the game with annihilator and huge stats. We also have some strong morph creatures that become nearly unstoppable once we have Yedora out since they always come back like Nantuko Vigilante
, Patron of the Wild
and Sagu Archer
which are all strong well-stated creatures that become even crazier when they keep coming back.
Instants:
We have some instant-speed artifact and enchantment removal like Wilt
and Return to Nature
which are both awesome ways to deal with those types of threats from our opponents. We also have Avoid Fate
, which is a rare green counterspell that can be a great way to protect Yedora themselves. We are a mono-green deck, so we naturally have a ton of devotion to green, so cards like Aspect of Hydra
can be a great way to end the game and one-shot an opponent. Due to the high average power of our creatures like Bite Down
and Ram Through
are the best “creature” removal we have in the deck, allowing us to take down an opponents creature directly.
Sorceries:
We have some sorcery speed mana ramp like Cultivate
, Kodama's Reach
, and Primal Growth
, which are all strong ways to get ahead on mana. Metamorphosis
is a strong card that can trigger Yedora and a great way to get some extra mana and cast a huge permanent early. You Meet in a Tavern
is an awesome card that is a little expensive but provides a substantial one-turn buff for the deck that we can use to close out games.
Artifacts:
Ashnod's Altar
is by far our best artifact, and while many decks use it as a combo piece, we do not, for us it is an extra way to get more Yedora triggers/mana for the deck. We are mono-green, so card drawing can be a struggle for us, so Spare Supplies
is not the ultimate answer to that question, but anything helps. Beyond that, we have mana rocks like Arcane Signet
, Moss Diamond
, and Bonder's Ornament
, which are all good supplemental pieces of ramp for the deck.
Enchantments:
Gaea's Touch
is an awesome card that lets us play out an extra forest every turn, which can be very strong, especially in the early game, and in a pinch, we can sacrifice it for two mana which I have done many times on turn three to get Yedora or another high-value creature out. We have a lot of big creatures, and some of them don’t have trample, so I thought that Talons of Wildwood
would be perfect for the deck since we can give a big body trample and recur the enchantment as needed.
Land Base:
Being a mono-green deck lends us to a pretty simple landbase, but we do have some draw through our landbase like Slippery Karst
, The Hunter Maze
and Desert of the Indomitable
which are all strong sources of draw. My favorite land in the deck is Khalni Garden
since we get an extra creature that can easily be fodder for Yedora. I have found this landbase to be strong and successful, and in testing, I found that thirty-five is the perfect number.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can ramp very hard
- Morph creatures can pretty much always come back unless exiled
- A decent amount of artifact/enchantment removal
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Almost no single target removal for creatures
- Weak to creature hate
- Weak to control strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck that focuses on ramping as much as possible and slamming down huge creatures like Ulamog's Crusher and Eldrazi Devastator, as well as a few other huge creatures. In addition to our big creatures, we have cards like Woolly Loxodon
and Sagu Archer, which are two strong morph creatures that interact very well with Yedora since we can use them as land and unmorph them at any time.
Conclusion:
Yedora, Grave Gardneer is a very cool creature that, in my opinion, does not feel uncommon based on its abilities, but I am very glad it is. This deck is a fun and very interesting archetype that there isn’t much of within the Pauper EDH format. I had a ton of fun with testing this quirky mono-green deck and can’t wait to play for years. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!