Call for Reinforcements

I feel like I shouldn’t be sharing this deck idea just yet, but I can’t quite contain my excitement. I just have to tell all!

With the release of Innistrad, came “Parallel Lives”.

So of course I had to jump on a token building deck.

There are so many ways to make tokens, and not just in the Innistrad block; I naturally wanted to use them all but of course this is impossible, more so it would make for quite an inconsistent deck that could potentially be very weak. I decided to keep to an old favourite of mine.

Elves!

My strongest colour is green, and in all truthfulness probably always will be. Friends of mine who have been playing Magic: The Gathering for the same length of time will know that I mean business if I lay green cards, and as such either hate it or cannot wait for the challenge.

So, back to the elves and the release of the Lorwyn block in 2007, we saw elf decks that could produce tokens like they were going out of fashion. Instinct led me back to my older cards and I shifted through them.

“Lys Alana Huntmaster”

This sets elves as my main creature base, and keeps the effect to work. Is this a problem you may ask? Simply, the answer is not in the slightest as elves are a useful tool within green decks. With this a path to a strategy involving the mechanic of “Kinship” opens up as I’d be likely to draw elves. I threw in “Wolf-Skull Shaman”. 

A token elf themed deck isn’t complete without “Rhys the Redeemed”.

 If I’m failing to pull elf token spells such as “Gilt-Leaf Ambush” and “Hunting Triad”

 

 

then I have no means to make elf tokens on a turn by turn basis. Not only that, but with 6 mana, I can double my token count with his second ability and remember if I have “Parallel Lives” out in the game...

... I think you see where I’m going with this.

Really?! You don’t?

Ok, I’ll explain.

Imagine for example that I have three elf tokens on the battle field.

 I use the second ability of “Rhys the Redeemed” and copy them, 

 putting three more elf tokens onto the battle field, but because of “Parallel Lives”

 I put twice as many out. Meaning there is six tokens going onto the battlefield instead of three.

Now I have nine elf tokens.

During the next turn, I repeat this move. Nine tokens would give me nine copies from “Rhys the Redeemed”, but another nine from “Parallel Lives” gives me nine more. Leaving me with eighteen new tokens and a grand total of twenty seven elf tokens!

 

Again, I repeat so on and so forth.

With maths like that it only makes sense that “Wellwisher” would have to be in my deck.

. So mass token making, coupled with mass life gain leads me to add some white colours to my deck with “Storm Herd”.

I have 10 mana to pay but by the time I might get to play it I could be well over the mark for a life count of 100. One hundred 1/1 flying Pegasus’ is not bad; sorry if “Parallel Lives” is out 200!

As I’m sure you will know, white is the way to go if you want to gain life, and it’s a shame I only own one of each of “Soul’s Attendant” and “Suture Priest”.

                                          

If I get the chance I will be looking to add more of them to my ever-growing collection of cards.

I found that I had had two of “Resplendent Mentor”,

which at first touch would be a bit of a late comer into the game particularly as the white creatures would only come into their own after playing “Storm Herd”, but “Rhys the Redeemed” tokens are green and white elves. WIN!

As most of the tokens that are being made by this deck are 1/1’s, I thought I’d drop in “Sigil Captain” – this pumps them up to 3/3’s. Nice!

At this point, I’m doubling the number of tokens I have and continuously gaining life, then gaining even more by tapping “Wellwisher”, and how about doubling the number of creatures in play with “Saproling Symbbiosis”?

Then just to rub salt into the wound, “Folk Medicine” or “War Report”.

                                              

 

It’s going well, and you’re doubling the army you have built and magically gaining life just by breathing, then... BAM! Your opponent plays an enchantment which stops you from attacking or something to that effect anyway.

So how would you like “Epic Struggle”? That should see you right I think.

You may have learnt that I like to mix things up every now and again, so I threw a wild card in. “Army of the Damned”.

I’m not sure if it will ever be needed, but at the time of making the deck it seemed necessary, therefore we shall see how the deck plays out and I may make further amendments as I go. I am happy with this deck so far as the last time I played it, I won with 96 elf tokens, 64 wolf tokens and a life count of 365.

DECK LIST:

  Green Creatures:

                Lys Alana Huntmaster x3

                Wolf-Skull Shaman

                Urborg Elf x3

                Ambassador Oak

                Wellwisher x4

                Quirion Elves x2

  White Creatures:

                Suture Priest

                Resplendent Mentor x2

                Soul’s Attendant

                Thraben Doomsayer x2

  Multi-coloured Creatures:

                Rhys the Redeemed

                Sigil Captain

  Other Green:

                Grizzly Fate

                Presence of Gond

                Epic Struggle x3

                Gilt-Leaf Ambush x3

                Folk Medicine x2

                Roar of the Wurm

                Saproling Symbiosis x3

                Feed the Pack

                Hunting Triad x 2

                Parallel Lives x3

                Abundant Growth x 2

  Other White:

                War Report

                Gather the Townsfolk x2

                Storm Herd x2

  Other Black:

                Army of the Damned

  Land:

                Evolving Wilds

                Wooded Bastion

                Woodland Cemetery

                Forest x11

                Plains x11