Selvala, Explorer Returned - Into the Wild Unknown

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cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
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Post by cheonice » 4 years ago

Selvala, Explorer Returned - Into the Wild Unknown


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Table of Contents




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Overview




Quick Deck History
Back in the days I was a full-on Timmy, cheating out fatties with Mayael the Anima and building my own monsters with The Mimeoplasm. But over time my playstyle changed, I started to enjoy weirder interactions. Thus, Selvala was born. First iterations focussed more on an Elfball style to cast big creatures like Terastodon. Over time the curve flattened and I started to look into some ways to profit more of Selvala's abilities. I added more and more lifegain synergies, which made the deck way more consistent and fun to play. The latest additions try to break the parity of her Parley. Over time Selvala became one of my most beloved decks, a real signature of my playstyle.



Wandering through the Wilds, giving out some cards, gaining some life, getting some mana. What's not to love about an innocent lifestyle like this? Selvala, Explorer Returned might be a lot sneakier than that. Coated with a big layer of "Oh, you are playing group hug? Good for us!" she offers a lot of versatility in playstyle and a lot of ways to build her.
Let's have a look then!

At three mana Selvala can enter the game as early as turn 2. This puts an emphasis on ramp with MV 1 such as mana, elves, land auras or cheap mana stones. Her colour identity offers a wide variety of ramp, control elements, cheap threads and mana sinks.

Legendary Creature - Elf Scout
While Scout is not a relevant creature type at the moment, Elf is. Even if the deck is not leaning into all the elven synergies, it packs some smaller goodies. Going full elfball would be a powerful option, I played in the past.

2/4
Even if she's not a big beater, discourages some random attacks, especially if she acts more as a draw engine and less as a ramp piece.

Parley - {T}: Each player reveals the top card of their library.
For each nonland card revealed this way, add and you gain 1 life.
Then each player draws a card.
The real stuff and the reason to play Selvala. For years, GW struggled with card draw. But not anymore! (Just pretend it's 2014, Conspiracy dropped, White is the worst colour by far, and Green doesn't get to draw a bazillion cards by playing one land. Good ol' times.) Our elven explorer offers, what we crave most! Cards! Mana! Life! It's a revelation!
Selvala gives us access to three of the most important resources in the game. Even if we give out some cards to our opponents at the same time, the boost an optimized Selvala deck gets is nothing to be sneezed at. The deck contains many ways to break this parity.

Selvala's Parley ability is quite a weird corner case, so let's have a look at the rules:

Selvala's parley ability is a mana ability. It doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to. (2014-05-29)
If you activate Selvala's ability while casting a spell, and you discover you can't produce enough mana to pay that spell's costs, the spell is reversed. The spell returns to whatever zone you were casting it from. You may reverse other mana abilities you activated while casting the spell, but Selvala's ability can't be reversed. Whatever mana that ability produced will be in your mana pool and each player will have drawn a card. (2014-05-29)
Except in some very rare cases, the card each player draws will be the card revealed from the top of their library. (2014-05-29)


Because her Parley is a mana ability, it can't be responded to, can't be Stifled or otherwise prevented. In most cases this is not relevant, but there are some weird interactions with cards like Panglacial Wurm and Future Sight.




Why you should play this deck

You enjoy playing a midrange deck
You like to work for your carddraw
You want to weaponize lifegain
You like Seedborn Muse and to play your cards on other players turns
You really want to scream "PARLEY!!!" from the top of your lungs on a regular basis
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Why you shouldn't play this deck

You strongly dislike any kind of Group Hug
You can't stand lifegain and think it's the worst thing ever
You don't like being reliant on creatures
You enjoy either a more explosive or more controlling playstyle



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Other Strategies

Other Commanders
Elfball: While Selvala makes a decent impression as an elfball commander, there are other arguably more powerful options: You should consider Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Lathril, Blade of the Elves, orMarwyn, the Nurturer, if you want to go all in on elves.

Lifegain: With Trelasarra, Moon Dancer we got a strong Selesnya Soul Sisters commander, who profits from individual life gain triggers. If you want to go all in on this strategy, she's easily the best option. Karlov of the Ghost Council supports this theme in another colour combination. Old favourite Trostani, Selesnya's Voice focusses more on a burst of lifegain and makes use of cards like Angelic Accord or the new Celestine, the Living Saint. While Shanna, Purifying Blade profits from these bursts, too, she leads to a more aggressive approach. Having Well of Lost Dreams tagged onto your lifegain commander is certainly a great idea. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic players have known this for years.

Group Hug: While this Selvala deck is not focussed on Group Hug, you might want to embrace this playstyle. Powerful commander options include Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis and Phelddagrif. But be aware that this is not an easy archetype and that it's frowned upon in some playgroups.

Enchantress: Due to the lack of an enchantress commander for Selesnya, some builds of Selvala focussed on this aspect. But with the arrival of Sythis, Harvest's Hand we got the perfect addition! And she even features lifegain!



Selvala's Many Archetypes
Elfball
Selvala is a mana elf after all! So why don't you walk down that line? Classics like Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid can use the same untap shenanigans as Selvala. Powerhouses like Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Leaf-Crowned Visionary fuel your way to victory. Playing the Soul Sisters still serves a purpose to fuel all-stars such as Archangel of Thune.

Twiddle Storm
If you prefer combos, Selvala has you covered. Green and White offer a wide variety of Twiddle variants to fuel your card draw and mana production. With Umbral Mantle and Staff of Domination you can even go infinite to draw everyone out. Combined with cards like Priest of Titania and other mana elves there are plenty alternatives, if Selvala gets handled. Try packing Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, because we can't win via Laboratory Maniac.
Selvala brings her own Death Star, too!
Another easy to incorporate combo combines Heliod, Sun-Crowned with Walking Ballista to deal infinite damage to everyone. It should be pretty trivial to tutor for them, since you are playing Green. Give Old Favourite Tooth and Nail a chance!

Group Hug
Fortunately, Group Hug is not as popular as it once was. I never played a game, where the Group Hug player did something fun. In most games they were just the kingmaker. Typically, the best deck at the table profits the most. If you want to go down that route, try mana doublers like Rites of Flourishing and Collective Voyage or collective card draw such as Heartwood Storyteller or Howling Mine. If you find a way to break parity, this could work, but it's significantly harder to pull off, if everyone gets the same resources. Approach of the Second Sun is a neat finisher for this strategy.



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Current Decklist


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Deck Strategy



How does the deck utilize Selvala?


I built Selvala to fill the gap in card draw within Selesnya. This is still her most important aspect. Even if we give out cards to our opponents, there are several factors that make this acceptable:

1. We get to draw cards.
This sounds trivial, but getting access to more options is probably one of the most important aspects of Magic. Yeah, if you look at the math, you get one card, while your opponents get three. This could backfire terribly, but there are ways to work with this.

2. We decide, when the cards are drawn.
Timing is essential, so all Parleys fall in one of four scenarios:
a) We can activate her on our turn for the full potential as a ramp spell. This can be really useful to power out early haymakers. On the other hand we might draw one of our opponents into a counter spell to nullify our spell.
b) Activating her just before our turn limits our opponents potential to use the drawn cards. If we have a flash outlet, we can even use the mana!
c) Using her as a political tool to give an ally a much needed card draw.
d) Triggering lifegain, even if this is a corner case, it's nice to have the choice to activate this at will.

3. We can utilize several ways to break parity.
Over the last few years White got a number of powerful new toys. In this deck the most generic good stuff white has ever received (Smothering Tithe) shines as an important role player as does her smaller sister Smuggler's Share. Seedborn Muse and Drumbellower let me draw four additional cards in a turn cycle! If that's not powerful, I don't know what would be. Getting to see everyone's draws gives us a good feeling what to expect from our opponents. Additionally timing, as said before, is one of the most effective ways to break parity.

4. We can use Parley politically.
After all this is a group hug ability, isn't it? Not really, but we can make use of it to support our allies, even if they're with us just temporary. Drawing the table a card to help them find that essential removal to counter the strongest player's game winning spell? Sign me up!

5. We gain additional resources.
Cards are not the only thing Selvala cares for! While everyone gets to draw a card, we are the only ones to get the lustrous mana and the precious life. Typically Selvala nets us between two and three mana, which puts her somewhere in the range of Bloom Tender and Elvish Archdruid. If we use her in our turn or in combination with a card that grants Flash, she can easily pay for the cards she draws. Often this gives us the edge against the card disadvantage Parley is causing.

6. We get ALL the life!
This is a lifegain deck after all! In addition to drawing cards and paying for them with the mana from Parley triggering our lifegain outlets is just the icing on the cake. It all comes together, if we have a Well of Lost Dreams to unload Selvala's full potential.



What does the deck try to achieve?


At heart this is a Soul Sisters deck. This means that we want to trigger life gain effects as often as possible rather than gaining large chunks of life. Typically this can be achieved with the holy trio of Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant and Essence Warden. Unlike many of their brothers and sisters, who trigger only off my or only off my opponents creatures entering the battlefield, these three see every creature. Getting 5+ triggers of the token player or just by any player playing there game is no joke.
The constant lifegain fuels some of the best profiteers this strategy has to offer: Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Archangel of Thune, and Trelasarra, Moon Dancer. While the former pumps out counters and brings my board state into dangerous heights, the latter digs through my deck with alarming rates and sets up the next Parley. With Dawn of Hope and Well of Lost Dreams I draw even more cards of these small droplets of life.

I adore the Modern Emeria Control deck (prominently featured at this forum by @The Fluff), so I had to squeeze in Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Sun Titan, along with some other really solid reanimation creatures. Nobody ever expected the Spanish Inquisition and even fever folks expect a reanimator package in an Selesnya lifegain deck *cough*.

As with all deck reliant on certain synergies, Selvala struggles with too much removal. Fortunately we don't need many pieces to make the machine go round. Typically a lifegain effect and a profiteer is enough to build a strong board position. Selvala herself helps us digging for answers, while a good number of tutors help us to find the right cards. The reanimation package makes us very resilient and helps rebuilding after a wrath.




Early Game Strategy


There are two main strategies to consider when you are looking at your starting seven. Either you get a mana dork and some midgame card. In this case you can aim for a turn two Selvala and start digging for synergy pieces. With this start you can also go in and ramp into a 5-6 drop on turn three, which might make you a target. Or you find some lifegain and a profiteer like Trelasarra, Moon Dancer or Dawn of Hope.

This is a pretty straightforward "all eyes on me" hand. You could go for turn two Selvala into turn three Smothering Tithe (plus Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, if you are lucky) and turn four Avenger. This WILL make you a target and you need to handle a lot of hate from the table.
I would probably go for it, even if it is only for the glorious firework before I succumb to my opponent's removal.

A solid but slow hand. Essence Warden into Dawn of Hope secures your card draw, but will cost you a lot of mana. If you can get Drumbellower and Selvala online together, you can make your way to the midgame.
Keep, if the table is not too fast.

Two lands and a ramp spell should be enough. If you draw a land on turn one or two, this is a great start. You can go either for the safe route and cast a turn two Three Visits or play Soul Warden into Trelasarra, Moon Dancer and start digging for lands. Swords can deal with early threats, which helps keeping your opponents in check.
Keep. This should get the gears going.

Difficult start. You got three lands, but no synergies. You could play Voice of the Blessed into Selvala, but I wouldn't count on it. Chord of Calling could find a Soul Sister, but that would be really expensive. I think, this is too slow.
Mulligan.

Half of my ramp package focusses on one-drops. From Sol Ring to Birds of Paradise and Green Sun's Zenith (into Dryad Arbor) each of them is there to enable a turn two Selvala. She is our most important draw engine, so getting her online early is a priority. Focussing on creature-based ramp enables some Soul Sister shenanigans, too, so they serve additional purpose. Them being recurrable doesn't hurt either. Nature's Lore and Three Visits search for my duals, which in turn fuel a late-game Emeria, the Sky Ruin. With Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun and Mirari's Wake I have some late game options. Ramping up to an early Selvala accelerates the game significantly.

In the early game you should focus on some key synergies. Got a Soul's Attendant in your starting seven? Great! Play her! First draw was a Lightning Greaves? Nice! That means you can activate Selvala as soon as you cast her! Remember Fyndhorn Elves? This is their time! If you can drop an early value generator like Trelasarra, Moon Dancer or Esper Sentinel, feel free. Try combining Selvala with Sensei's Divining Top, too! It helps digging for pieces while setting up Parley. Using a fetchland to shuffle away the cards you don't need is an established Top strategy. You need every advantage you can get. If you are missing a piece, you can even go for an early tutor! You prepare for the midgame after all!

You should be aware of the threat level of some cards, though. Trelasarra, Moon Dancer digs through your deck really fast, while growing to an enormous size. Some people consider this a threat, so sometimes she catches an early removal, if an opponent is aware of her potential. Serra Ascendant was the bane of the early days of EDH and people still remember these times. Playing him on turn one deals a significant amount of damage, but paints a giant target on your head.

The deck runs some cheap interaction. If there is a threat emerging, don't be shy to deal with it. With the recursion package you might even get them back later. Look out for cards that prevent you from gaining life or drawing additional cards. Losing a key piece can set you back, so keeping a low profile can be advantageous.

Once you have a small engine, you are ready to enter the midgame. This can be something like a Soul Sister plus a profiteer or Selvala with boots or some topdeck manipulation. Sequencing your plays can give you a huge advantage. Focus on developing your board and your mana base, try not to miss any land drops.




Mid-Game Strategy


Welcome to the Mid-Game. You already deployed some engine pieces onto the battlefield, so it's time to strengthen your position. Keep an eye on your mana. Even if we have a ramp commander, it's still very important to hit your land drops. Selvala is not as mana hungry as other decks, but still needs a good number of lands to get the ball rolling.

In this phase of the game you have several options.
1. Gain all the life!
If you already played a Soul Sister, it's time to dig for other outlets. Tutoring for Heliod, Sun-Crowned or Well of Lost Dreams helps turning the life into advantage, be it cards or a beater. If you have the chance, go for some damage. I lost too many games scrying for the perfect card, while Trelasarra, Moon Dancer was already a 10/10 that could have dealt with my opponents. The deck uses some powerful recursion engines, so don't be afraid to attack. Keeping your second Soul Sister in your hand, is a good idea, though. If you go for the aggressive route, you ask for the Wrath of God.

2. Untap all the creatures!
If you feel confident, go for Drumbellower or Seedborn Muse! With their help, you will drown your opponents in life, mana, and card advantage. Be aware, though: The untappers will be the table's most wanted removal magnets, especially if you pair them with Vivien, Champion of the Wilds. If you manage to find Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and to protect him, you can just run away with the game.
A typical tutor line for Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is:
MV 1 - Essence Warden as a setup for your lifegain engine or Esper Sentinel as a draw engine.
MV 2 - Trelasarra, Moon Dancer/Voice of the Blessed for some lifegainey beatsticks or Gaddock Teeg/Saffi Eriksdotter as board protection.
MV 3 - Drumbellower for going all in, Loran of the Third Path for some removal, Eternal Witness to get back key pieces.
MV 4 - Shalai, Voice of Plenty for board protection.
MV 5 - Archangel of Thune, if you want to see the finish line soon, Karmic Guide, if your opponents played their pesky removal on your creatures.
MV 6 - Go for the endgame and fetch Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, you coward! Or just reset the board for the Enchantress and Artificer players.
MV 7 - Okay, now you are just in your magical wonderland. If you can't win the game after tutoring seven times, maybe this deck is not for you.
You can expect to tutor for 2-4 cards with Yisan, if you're lucky. So typically you want to search for your engine pieces. But if you have the chance, go big!

3. Break parity!
Selvala give resources to our opponents, so naturally we are playing some cards to break parity. Other the last few years WotC released several great options to profit from your opponent's actions. With Esper Sentinel, Smuggler's Share, and Smothering Tithe we are playing three of them. Who would have guessed that Smothering Tithe is a broken card? An activation of Selvala grants you three Treasures in addition to any life you gain and mana you produce. This should bring you on top of the table in no time. Smuggler's Share is a bit trickier, but should draw several cards per game. If you draw into your Enlightened Tutor, these two are the prime targets.

Recur!
I talked about my unhealthy obsession with Emeria, the Sky Ruin earlier. While this is a late game engine, other cards are not. Due to my key cards costing less than three mana Sun Titan and Serra Paragon are very potent recursion engines. It doesn't matter, if the recurred card is a fetchland, a Soul Sister, or Smuggler's Share, the value is always excellent. Long-time favourite Eternal Witness gives me back any card, combined with Sun Titan this can be done over and over.

Protect!
Alongside my recursion package I play several cards to protect my board. As said before, some of my cards are removal magnets and sometimes my board presence just explodes. To protect myself from those pesky wraths Gaddock Teeg has been a very efficient way to counter wraths. Hated by my opponents this old fella carried me to one win or another. The newest addition Teferi's Protection even saves me from alpha strikes, which were hard to deal with sometimes. Cheap interaction a la Swords to Plowshares or Haywire Mite comes in handy, too.

So what's the best-case scenario at this stage of the game? You should have a strong board presence with some kind of lifegain engine. If this is accompanied by card draw (e. g. from Selvala) and maybe even an anti-parity enchantment, you are on your way to the late-game! Save your recursion for anticipated setbacks.




Late-Game Strategy


Let's talk late-game! How do you close the game, how do you weaponize all the lifegain?

This iteration of Selvala doesn't run any convoluted combos, so good ol' attacking is the way to go. Typically, there are three routes to eliminate your opponents:

1. Finishers
Selvala runs a dedicated list of finishers. From old favourites like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Avenger of Zendikar to high-end control pieces like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and allround bombs like Akroma's Will there are plenty (tutorable) options available. If you have a tutor available, try going for these. Have you ever heard of Finale of Devastation? It's quite good, they say. Especially if you fetch End-Raze Forerunners. Return of the Wildspeaker's overrun is another mode to consider.

2. Use Lifegain to end lifes
Many of our lifegain engines revolve around Ajani's Pridemate-like creatures. After all Heliod, Sun-Crowned is just a glorified cat! While cards like Voice of the Blessed focus your options on a singular creature, Archangel of Thune lets you go wide. If you have the chance, try pumping your flyers, since most decks struggle with armies of angels and griffins.

3. Grind them out
Imagine, you are up against particular hard matchup, wrath after wrath are washing away your options. Things look grim. Now it's time to go for the grind! Selvala features several great recursion engines. Sun Titan, Serra Paragon, and Reveillark can reanimate most of your key creatures. If you manage to get Emeria, the Sky Ruin online, you have a good chance to make your way back into the game! As a lifegain deck, it's much more difficult to alpha strike you. Even then you can just blip out of time with Teferi's Protection. Use the opportunities the massive amount of life you amassed during the game!

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Card Choice Discussion

Look at all the cards I play!
A list of really great cards
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//Commander Synergies
  • Sensei's Divining Top // One of the latest inclusions. Top helps setting up your Parley. If you really need the life or mana, you can even put it on top of your library, before you activate Selvala.
  • Lightning Greaves // Old Favourite. This is still the best pair of shoes any commander can wear.
  • Vivien, Champion of the Wilds // I really like the flexibility Vivien offers. She lets me cast my cards with flash, filters through my deck and is even recurrable with Sun Titan.
  • Drumbellower/Seedborn Muse // The Muse has been an all-star, her smaller sister does nearly as much work.
  • Smothering Tithe // Good card is good. Tithe is one of the cards that helps me break parity with Selvala.
  • Smuggler's Share // Racoons! Oh, and an excellent parity breaker. I really like the direction, they're taking to give White some new toys.
//Lifegain //Recursion
  • Saffi Eriksdotter // Helps me protecting key pieces.
  • Eternal Witness // Recurs everything I ever need.
  • Serra Paragon // Small flying Sun Titan. Most of my important cards cost three or less mana,
  • Karmic Guide // Still a card I love. Being able to reanimate any creature in my graveyard is very strong, even at 5 mana.
  • Reveillark // Lark really helps rebuilding after a wrath. Reanimating a Soul Sister and Trelasarra works wonders.
  • Sun Titan // Probably my favourite card. This does so much work.
//Tutor and other Card Draw //Finishers
  • Akroma's Will // Really strong card. Has saved me as many times as it has won me the game.
  • Shalai, Voice of Plenty // I was looking for some mana outlet that can be used at instant speed. Since then Shalai has become a staple. Her many abilities support the deck on many angles.
  • Kamahl, Fist of Krosa // Good ol' Kamahl. Wrath protection through Cold War diplomacy. If you wrath, I will blow up your lands, His overrun can be activated multiple times.
  • Avenger of Zendikar // Pet card. Resolving this with a Soul Sister on the battlefield produces a whole lot of triggers.
  • Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite // Game ending. Some decks can't handle her.
  • End-Raze Forerunners // Budget Craterhoof Behemoth, but still excellent.
//Removal //Other
  • Gaddock Teeg // Hated by my opponents, good old Bilbo is a great way to prevent other from interacting with my board. Or with their own board.
  • Teferi's Protection // Save me from alpha strikes.
//Ramp //Utility Lands //Fixing Lands

Cards to consider
Considerations
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Notable Excludes
Excludes
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Untap Shenanigans Lifegain
  • Daxos, Blessed by the Sun et al // There are many Soul Sister variants. Unfortunately most of them trigger only of our own creatures entering the battlefield. I don't think this is good enough.
  • Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn/Nykthos Paragon/Trudge Garden // Budget cards. I tested all of them, but in the end they weren't good enough
  • Speaker of the Heavens/Crested Sunmare // These are close to playable. While Selvala generates a good amount of life and often puts me way above 40 life, Speaker feels like a win more and a terrible topdeck. At five mana Sunmare is probably too expensive.
  • Valkyrie Harbinger/Angelic Accord // I like self-fuelling cards like Harbinger. At six mana she comes very late, though. She did not give a lasting impression. Accord has a similar problem: I only gain small instances of life, so I can't trigger it as often as I wish.
Elves Goodstuff
  • Craterhoof Behemoth // This is the poster child of a feel-bad card. Why would I ever tutor for another finisher, if I play Craterhoof?
  • Walking Ballista // No combos for this deck.
  • The Great Henge // This would be the perfect addition, as Henge does everything we want! But I can't bring myself to paying 30+ € for a piece of cardboard.
  • Worldly Tutor // After the reprint this finally has a reasonable price. I'm not sure, if this is really better than Eladamri's Call, so for the moment this is a pass.

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Budget Considerations



Lifegain has been a pretty popular strategy lately and WotC keeps pushing the archetype. There should be plenty of cards to choose for a budget decklist. Sure, you will miss out the most powerful cards like Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Archangel of Thune, but Nykthos Paragon and Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn are good cards to consider for lower-powered tables.
The hardest cuts will be the parity-breaking enchantments Smuggler's Share and Smothering Tithe. You could try cards like Rule of Law, maybe focus on more flash spells, but the treasure-generating monsters are hard to come by.
If you don't want to go all in, try mixing archetypes up. Elves and Soul Sisters have some great synergies and there are plenty of cheap options! Selvala, Explorer Returned is really flexible after all.
Selvala Budget Lifegain decklist
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Selvala Lifegain // Budget $109 // March 2023
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New Sets, New Cards




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Change Log

07/2022
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11/2022
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12/2022 part 1
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12/2022 part 2
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01/2023
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//Additions

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02/2023
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//Cuts

//Additions

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03/2023
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05/2023
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Credits & Thanks


This deck wouldn't exist, if it wasn't for the constant input, playtesting, and criticism from my playgroup. A great Thank You to some of my oldest friends!

Thanks to all you great people at this forum! I really appreciate to have a place to share my thoughts on my favourite hobby. A special thanks goes out to @RowanKeltizar, your input has been much appreciated!

*****Credit for this Primer Template belongs to all members of the Primer Committee*****
Last edited by cheonice 7 months ago, edited 70 times in total.

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cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
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Post by cheonice » 3 years ago

Update Ikoria / Commander2020 / M21 / Jumpstart

Welcome to the everlasting spoiler season! It's really difficult to keep up with all the spoilers, but let's try to find the goodies!



Ikoria
  • Kogla, the Titan Ape: This is an easy swap for Acidic Slime. Both handle problematic permanents, but I'm swapping land destruction and bad creature removal for repeatable creature removal and some shenanigans.
  • Vivien, Monsters' Advocate: I'm not quite sure about her. She looks amazing, but is somewhat expensive and suffers from being a planeswalker.
  • Luminous Broodmoth: Great card and an easy pick, but the price tag is just outside my comfort zone.
  • Drannith Magistrate: Really strong Hatebear, but... that's just not the game I want to play.



Commander 2020
  • Flawless Maneuver: I'm not quite sure that this is the right deck for this card. I could swap it with Selfless Spirit, but it's not a creature, not as recurrable as the Spirit. I don't think it will make the cut.



M21
  • Selfless Savior: Cute card is cute. She is easily recurrable, a great one-drop. Maybe I can find a place for her!
  • Speaker of the Heavens: Another interesting one-drop. Selvala meets this condition quite regularly. I would consider this, if I go back to a more lifegainy approach.
  • Griffin Aerie: Alas... "end of your turn" kills this card....



Jumpstart

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cheonice
Sand is overpowered.
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Post by cheonice » 3 years ago

My new cards arrived! And it was time, to review the deck.
There were far to few elves to justify the tribal cards, so this theme is getting cut. The elves are getting replaced by other, more fitting ramp cards. I also made a few upgrades to some cards.

Elf synergy is replaced by more efficient ramp cards.
Elvish Mystic --> Avacyn's Pilgrim
Fyndhorn Elves --> Birds of Paradise
Priest of Titania --> Sol Ring
Elvish Archdruid --> Search for Tomorrow
Wirewood Symbiote --> Scryb Ranger

Dauntless Escort --> Luminous Broodmoth: Escort is just outdated, Broodmoth looks like a fine addition to my reanimation package.
Acidic Slime --> Kogla, the Titan Ape: If one card is overplayed in my decks, it's Slime. Kogla fits that niche but looks way more fun.
Unexpectedly Absent --> Generous Gift: I'm not sure this is the right call. Absent hits gods, which sometimes are a problem in my meta.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary --> Guardian Project: Easy upgrade. Pokedex was a good card, but eats so! much! mana!
Ant Queen --> Return of the Wildspeaker: Another overplayed card. Return brings in more flexibility.


For reference, my new decklist. I hope I will find the time to update the main post soon.
Decklist

// Comandress

// 3 Artifacts

// 1 Planeswalkers

Approximate Total Cost:


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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

The times the are a-changing. In the last few games Selvala, Explorer Returned felt kind of underpowered and I'm not quite sure why. The deck changed from an elfball-y approach to including more goodstuff. I suppose that's the point it got watered down.

So it's time for some new ideas. Over the last years Wizards released an awful lot of lifegain cards I want to try out. These include:
Selvala, Explorer Returned and the three Soul Sisters could provide a steady stream to fuel the profiteurs. But I'm not really sure, where to start. I really like the Selesnya backbone of the deck, filled with small utility creatures which provide great solutions and could provide the bodies for Heliod's counters and so on. But... the deck feels stuffed with cards that are just not good enough anymore. On the other hand I want to avoid combos, because they are frowned upon in my playgroup. Nontheless our power level is somewhere between 6 and 8.

So...yeah...
Does anybody have any experience with Selesnya lifegain? Any idea for a new approach to Selvala?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

After some tinkering I came up with the following decklist. It is focussed on lifegain and how tu utilise it. There are some things I'm unsure about. The card draw section feels a little to small, while Skullclamp seems out of place. I was hesitant to include something like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, but the deck could probably use a high-end haymaker. I'm also not sure, if it was the right call to cut the army-in-a-can Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.

What do you think?
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

I want to put together a full fledged reply for you but don't have the time at this exact moment. My friend runs a Selvala list that he considered to be his flagship deck. I can fire off a few suggestions based on that, however he definitely uses an elfball shell.

Another friend runs Karametra, God of Harvests and your list actually resembles that one more closely. This deck is also his best deck and gives our playgroup a run for their money.

My gut feeling is that you are trying to do too much with this deck. I think Selvala kind of creates that trap since her ability doesn't specifically push the deck in a certain direction. You are more liable to run a lot of Selsneya goodstuff. I think you would gain some benefit from focusing your strategy a bit more.
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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

Yesp, that's true, it's lacking focus. Selvala is my flagship deck, too, my oldest and most beloved one, so each cut is a deep one. There are just too many cards with great memories to decide, which are actually good and which shouldn't make the cut anymore.

Looking forward to your input! :)

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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

Have you completely abandoned the elf tribal / elf ball strategy?

EDIT: and I just wanna say that I support you in that decision lol. I think the route you are taking is a lot more interesting.
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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

It's still an option, but going all elves seems very linear and thus with very similar gameplay paths each time. I think some kind of hybrid strategy (Priest of Titania-like elves and some other synergistic pieces feat. Soul Sisters/Heliod lifegain support) could do some work. In the early days the deck was a hybrid, too, with elves and Sun Titan/Reveillark as recursion engines. It worked well, but got buried under too much goodstuff over the years.

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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

The biggest thing I see lacking from your list is card draw. You have a decent number of tutors, so theres that, but I think more card draw would do wonders for you. I usually aim for around 8-10 card draw spells in every deck I own UNLESS: my commander gives me card advantage, or if I'm relying a lot on tutors. I know Selvala gives you some card draw, but she also gives that same advantage to your opponents.

I would reccomend running at least 4 or 5 more draw spells. More wouldn't hurt. The best card draw options for this deck are probably going to be (that you aren't already running):

Beast Whisperer
Toski, Bearer of Secrets
Ohran Frostfang
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - serves a dual function. You've got a lot of big creatures, so I think this is decent
Elder Gargaroth - i know this isn't exactly explosive draw but reach is good in this type of deck, trust me.
Rishkar's Expertise
Well of Lost Dreams - good for your lifegain theme and because your commander has lifegain this should never be a dead card. Just noticed you already have this in a different section.
Elemental Bond
Garruk's Uprising
Hunter's Insight
Sylvan Library

Situationally good:

Greater Good - having a sac outlet in a creature deck is a good thing to prevent theft

Rowen - maybe a decent budget option? You have a fair number of basics in here and this also plays well with Selvala. You should get at least 2 opportunities to trigger this each turn cycle. If you have way to untap Selvala it will be more. I like that this makes her Parlay ability not as symetrical.

Court of Bounty - I've really been liking this one because it serves a few different functions
Compost - depending on meta
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WRAurelia, the Warleader - Tokens/Equipment
URNiv-Mizzet, Parun - Controlled Burn primer
BRGHenzie, "Toolbox" Torre - Creature Feature
BRGSoul of Windgrace - Lands Matter
RGWGishath, Sun's Avatar - I'M YOUR DADDY
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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

This sounds reasonable, thanks a lot!

This is the list, I came up with. I just need to cut two additional cards. Any suggestions?

Next steps:
1. Improve the mana base.
2. Play!
3. Make this a primer! :D

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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

So as promised, here is my full fledged critique. Sorry if it's too much information. I don't actually own a deck like this other than maybe my dino deck, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm basing this largely on what I've seen from my friends Karametra deck and my other friends Selvala elf ball deck.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Hmm, 2 more cuts for card draw.... well I know that Aetherflux Reservoir is a good card, but I wonder if that's really what you want to be doing here. I don't really see you gaining enough life to kill the table with this. Maybe one player... hows it been playing?

I really prioritize card draw above almost anything else in most decks (spoken like a true Izzet player I know) But in my experience, card advantage consistently wins games and makes for a enjoyable experience. Therefore, it might hurt to make some cuts, but you will be happier for it.

Skullclamp - I think this can go. I wouldn't consider it reliable card draw here since you aren't focusing on 1/1 tokens or sacing your own creatures. It winds up being pretty vanilla. You are a creature deck so I think running creature based card draw makes sense for your tutors and recursion effects.

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds seems a little lackluster to me. I think some card draw would be better in this slot. I realize you are probably going for the combo with Seedborn Muse but how often have you pulled that off?

When I make cuts I always look at my mana curve. Your curve is pretty darn high overall. I know Selvala can give you a lot of mana but you will be able to put more permanents on the table with a lower curve.

Realm-Cloaked Giant // Cast Off 5 cmc is still on the high end for a creature only wrath. I think you can do better.

Avenger of Zendikar can be great for sure. He's in your finisher section but I don't see you have a ton of support for it though otherwise. No token doublers or any broken synergies. It's pretty vanilla here. You also aren't vomiting lands on the field like some decks, so I think this is a potential cut.

Sproutback Trudge I know this can be GG a lot of times, but it's still just a beatstick. Not sure if that's worth it. I would maybe round Elder Gargaroth here instead.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Moving on to mana base and ramp. Seedborn Muse isn't really ramp. I know she works great with your commander, but maybe she should be in the other section.

Is there a reason you took Karametra, God of Harvests out? She's such a powerful midrange engine.

I guess I would be inclined to run creature based ramp here over the sorcery based spells. Works better with the rest of your deck. For example it triggers Beast Whisperer and has synergy with Luminous Broodmoth or Reveillark .

I would run the other 1 drop elves here too Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves since they can help you power into a turn 2 Selvala.

The ones you are missing are Wood Elves, Oracle of Mul Daya, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (helps turn on Emeria) , But would lean toward the other ETB land fetch creatures like Yavimaya Dryad or even Viridian Emissary .

Somberwald Sage - can be really excellant in a creature dense deck.

Nyxbloom Ancient is awesome if you can get a copy, and I would run it over Mana Reflection since you can tutor for it and recur it. It also works with Selvala
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking of tutors, I think you should strongly consider Natural Order. It can absolutely be a bomb play - getting something like Nyxbloom or Karametra into play as early as turn 3. Lategame you can grab a finisher like Craterhoof Behemoth. With the Strixhaven reprint it's a cheap to pick up as I've ever seen it. Another reason to run more green creature ramp cards.

I think a Sterling Grove or an Idyllic Tutor wouldn't be out of place since it can help you get either Karametra or Mirari's Wake into play more consistently

Worldly Tutor is fantastic if you can get one.

________________________________________________________________________________________

You know, I question whether the soul sisters are doing enough here to justify card slots. Lifegain in and of itself isn't always enough unless your commander has a way to directly translate that to damage or card advantage. And Selvala herself should be gaining you a decent amount of life.

Rhox Faithmender Alhammarret's Archive Boon Reflection I think should all be worth considering instead.

Shattered Angel I think is an underrated card in a lifegain deck. One fetchland will give you 6 life.

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice can help gain you some life while powering herself if you have a token in play.

Shalai, Voice of Plenty can be a good way to protect your board.

Felidar Sovereign - I know this is cheesy but have you considered it as a win con?

Craterhoof Behemoth - this costs an arm and leg now, but he's one of the best win cons for this type of deck as well largey because you can tutor for him.

True Conviction and Akroma's Will can be great but you have no way to tutor for them. Academy Rector would be amazing here but $$$$

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Moving on to removal.

Gaddock Teeg is a great hatebear but he also shuts down A LOT of your own spells. Possibly a reason to cut him OR to really build around him. I hate having a stax effect in play at the same time as having a card in my hand that it shuts down.

Scavenging Ooze is kind of meh in my opinion to be honest. I would go for something like Angel of Finality instead. Paying one mana to exile one card is worse than you might think.

Beast Within is one of the best spot removals you can run. It should be in here IMO.

You currently only have two creature based board wipes and I think that's not enough. Here are some suggestions:

Winds of Abandon. It's one sided. Enough said. A lot of decks don't run enough basics to benefit from this anyway. It's been a bomb in my playgroup.

Balancing Act can be a great way to level the playing field if someone is really leagues ahead of the rest of the table.

Hour of Revelation can be a fantastic wipe at the right moment. You currently have no way to deal with Planeswalkers other than combat. Worth considering.

Retribution of the Meek and Slaughter the Strong can be one sided at the right moment.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Further thoughts:

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Avacyn, Angel of Hope are some of the strongest spells in my friends Karametra deck. I think they are worth considering. I know they aren't cheap, but you get what you pay for I guess.

Season's Past I think costs too much. I think this can be something more efficient like a Regrowth or another card I've mentioned.

Marshal's Anthem has also done a lot of work in my friend's deck. I know it's a lot of mana but you have a doubler out it can just allow you to battlecruiser to a win since it puts the creatures directly into play.
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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

Wow, thank you so much!
Actually your suggestions cover a lot of my thoughts, so it's great to get another opinion on them.

So, let's start!

Mana curve: Yep, this should be lower. I'll try to focus on that.
Card draw: You're right, it's very important and offers so many options, but I struggle to find the sweet spot between card draw and other aspects.
Life gain: I think, this should be a minor aspect. It could be a great supporting theme but shouldn't be the main aspect.

Carddraw and Tutors
Skullclamp: If I play more Mana Elves, this gets better, so it depends, if I want to go that route.
Vivien, Champion of the Wilds: Flash was good enough that I played Yeva, Nature's Herald. If the deck get's greener again, I would consider adding her back in. Typically I activate Selvala at the end of other players turns, so the Flash Ladies are very welcome.
Natural Order/Worldly Tutor: On my list for ages, maybe now is the time.
Sterling Grove/Idyllic Tutor/Academy Rector: Yep, you're absolutely right. Actually, I own a Rector, so this could work.
Season's Past: will be cut.

Ramp
Karametra, God of Harvests: She's great in the long run, but I'm not sure. Maybe if I use more elves...
Which leads us to the One Drop Elves: They would support the go-wide strategy, but wraths will hurt me way more. I'm just not sure... I played the land fetchers in so many of my decks that I'm kinda sick of seeing them. The decision will be: Elves or Sorceries.

Removal
Realm-Cloaked Giant // Cast Off: Yep, it's expensive, but it's a tutorable wrath. Tests were really great.
Gaddock Teeg: I think this problem will be solved, if I switch back the a more creaturebased approach. Till now he served his purpose.
Scavenging Ooze: He is better than expected! I often have spare mana (due to using Selvala in my opponents turns) and most graveyard interactions in my playgroup are target-based. And he's a pet card <3 But I think I need other options, too.
Wraths: There is a lot of potential, yeah. I need to test your suggestions. Hour of Revelation has been really great in Ephara though.

High end creatures
Avenger of Zendikar: Uff... tough call. It's a pet card, so I never considered cutting it. But yeah, it deserves a second view.
Sproutback Trudge: Yep, that's a cut.
Nyxbloom Ancient: Oh, this is way cheaper than I tought! This could really be an option!
Craterhoof Behemoth: Yeah... but he is soo boring and expensive. I like me some budget or flavourful options like End-Raze Forerunners or Blossoming Bogbeast.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty: Supports small creatures, so yeah, should be in here.
True Conviction: will be cut.
Akroma's Will: will be tested.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Noted. I want to test them for years.
Marshal's Anthem: Hm, this hasn't been a good card for me.
Aetherflux Reservoir: Never had the chance to test it. You're probably right that this is not the deck for it.

Lifegain
Soul Sisters: If my goal is, to trigger lifegain more often, they are the best one can find.
Life Doubler: More life is not really the goal, it's the triggers I'm after.
Other options: Not sure, I think that this would be a very different deck.
Felidar Sovereign: Frowned upon in my playgroup... But he is on my short list.


To wrap things up: I will go back to more creatures, because this play very well into Selesnyas strengths. Lifegain will be a minor theme. And I will try to find some oft he high profile cards you suggested.

Thanks again, this was really helpful!

Decklist

//Commander (1)

Approximate Total Cost:

EDIT: Small changes to the decklist, spelling.

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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

Cool! Glad I gave you some food for thought. The more I think about it the more I wouldn't discount Alhammarret's Archive. Main reason is the double draw from Selvala. I like to find ways to break symmetry on these types of effects. Bonus is the double lifegain. I would at least give it a test run.

Same reason I think Rowen might be decent. For my primer, I never really discount anything before testing it. Sometimes i get surprised at how good something is in the right deck. You can always proxy before purchase.
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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

Sure, but I needed a new baseline for the deck.
I think I need to test several approaches, so hopefully the vaccines do their work and I get to play more often. Playing online is tiresome...
I'm not sure about Alhammarret's Archive. The card feels like a trap: Five mana, does nothing, when it enters the battlefield, is a removal target. But I think, I'll proxy and test it. Same with Rowen.

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Post by cheonice » 2 years ago

So... Covid and my job pretty much butchered my free time and I didn't really got time to play. But nontheless I got in a few games to test the new lifegain approach and I'm quite happy with it.
The trigger-happy cards really proved their weight, so I added some more: Cleric Class, Soul's Attendant and Voice of the Blessed look really promising, while Blossoming Bogbeast, Aetherflux Reservoir and Well of Lost Dreams were way too clunky. End-Raze Forerunners and Shalai, Voice of Plenty are back in, they sould have stayed. Glorious Protector seems to be a very fun card, but I'm not convinced, if she's really better than Heroic Intervention. Toski, Bearer of Secrets didn't do much, this ist just not the right deck for him. Luminous Broodmoth failed hard, because I allready play a good amount of flyers. I got some problems with the mana base, too, this part needs an overhaul.



I'm not sure, if Yeva, Nature's Herald still is the right card for this deck, since it got so much whiter with the additional lifegain cards. Long-time favourite Mirror Entity is another card I need to take a look at. Finally, Valkyrie Harbinger and Glorious Protector need further testing.
Anyways, here is the new decklist!

Selvala - Into the Wild Unknown
Approximate Total Cost:


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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

I tried to reconstruct my changes over the last two years to edit the first post. Hopefully I will get the time two update the thread with the newest changes.

Next step: Catch up with the latest spoilers and sets! There are ... quite a lot since I found the time to write something about the interesting cards: Zendikar Rising, Commander Legends, Kaldheim, Strixhaven, Modern Horizons 2, D&D Forgotten Realms, Innistrad 1&2, Kamigawa, Capenna. Phew, we will see.

At the moment I'm quite happy with the Soul Sisters. The deck plays really smooth most of the time, but there are some issues. Yeva, Nature's Herald does not hold up her promises anymore. I would like to add some more carddraw, too, the new white additions look promising. Unfortunately they are really pricey, but maybe I can't trade in some older goodies.

Anyway, here is the decklist:
Decklist
Approximate Total Cost:

Changes
Approximate Total Cost:

Last edited by cheonice 1 year ago, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by MaritLage » 1 year ago

Oh cool , didn·t know about the fact that it·s a mana ability means it doesn·t go on the stack . That would allow for some great split-second cracking .
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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

MaritLage wrote:
1 year ago
Oh cool , didn·t know about the fact that it·s a mana ability means it doesn·t go on the stack . That would allow for some great split-second cracking .
It does! The interaction with Panglacial Wurm being cast from the library is even worse. I will cover this, when I rewrite the first post.

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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

Well, let's look at the first set I didn't cover:

Zendikar Rising

The MDFCs – I'm not really a fan of this design… It feels strange to turn the cards around nearly every game. Branchloft Pathway / Boulderloft Pathway might be a great mana fixing land, but I don't think that I want to deal with this issue.
Emeria's Call / Emeria, Shattered Skyclave and Turntimber Symbiosis / Turntimber, Serpentine Wood feel okay as lategame inclusions, the lifeloss shouldn't be a problem with Selvala and the Soul Sisters. In the end I don't think they will find a home here.
Ondu Inversion / Ondu Skyruins feels strong as a land, which doubles as a wrath, but every deck can handle only a small amount of cipt lands.

Angel of Destiny
could potentially kill one player or another. Having 60+ life happens on a regular basis. On the other hand this becomes a must-kill target quickly and has some blowout potential. It doesn't feel like a lot of fun either. Pass.

Yasharn, Placable Earth
– I played some hatebears over the years and Gaddock Teek is still in here. Yasharn's abilities hinder some decks quite a bit, but I don't think want to play a 4 mana 4/4, which does not really support my deckplan.

Zendikar Rising was quite a disappointment. Selvala doesn't focus that much on land ramp, so many of those synergy cards aren't for her. The MDFCs feel clunky, but I should probably give them a try. Angel of Destiny would need some testing, but it doesn't look like a card I want to play.
Last edited by cheonice 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

Kaldheim


Doomskar
is one oft he cheapest wraths available, but it probably belongs in a control shell rather than to some lifegainy elves.

I was kinda hyped about Glorious Protector, but after testing her in a few games I was disappointed. It isn't Sun Titan-able or clampable like Selfless Spirit and plays way worse than Teferi's Protection or Guardian of Faith. Maybe some lower-powered decks could make use o fit.

Righteous Valkyrie would have looked promising a few years ago, when the deck was more into elves and masses of creatures than tall beaters with counters. At the moment this doesn't feel like a good inclusion.

Toski, Bearer of Secrets
suffers from similar problems, namely the lack of small evasive beaters or tokens. Indestructible is nice for piling counters on him, but in the end he is just an easy blockable squirrel

Masked Vandal
is another member oft he glorious clan of ETBdestroytargetunnaturalthing. Reclamation Sage was my gold standard, but nowadays I'm thinking about switching it tot he more synergystic Knight of Autumn rather than the changeling.

I don't think Cosmos Elixir is strong enough. Sure, it does draw me a card or gains me some life, but it feels really clunky at 4 mana. Worse Phyrexian Arena is worse.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin loves herself some Basic land types! Artic Treeline is an easy upgrade over a Basic land, even i fit enters the battlefield tapped.

Kaldheim has some interesting cards, but most feel underwhelming compared to what we are playing. The snow duals are a welcoming budget alternative, though.



Strixhaven

Devastating Mastery is probably not good enough compared to Hour of Relevation. Selvala needs some board presence, too, so this is probably better in Ephara, God of the Polis or similar decks.

I can't think of any fair uses of Ecological Appreciation other than some kind of weird Fact or Fiction variant. Tooth and Nail is, at heart, a combo card, so is it's younger sister.

Four mana for a dork is too much. Accomplished Alchemist suffers from it's dependence on the life I gained. In the end she's just winmore, especially compared to our commander.

Yeah… Honor Troll is not a good card.

Unfortunately most oft he lifegain synergies are part of Witherbloom/Strixhaven… I would love to play Dina, Soul Steeper along the Soul Sisters and Selvala… alas…



Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms

I would consider playing The Book of Exalted Deeds, if it lacked its second ability. The possibility to make any angel into an Platinum Angel paints a target on it like it was B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster). But even then… Griffin Aerie suffers from the same problem that it triggers one on your turn. But with the Soul Sisters and Selvala I gain life on EVERY player's turn.

Teleportation Circle as a white Thassa, Deep-Dwelling sounds promising, but this isn't the right deck. I need to test it in Ephara, though. Any Selvala deck focussed on etbs could bring this to great use!

As discussed earlier, Guardian of Faith could do some work in protecting my board. At the moment I'm circling Selfless Spirit, Guardian of Faith and Heroic Intervention and would like to test Teferi's Protection (if I ever get my hands on one) to protect my board. Any input on these cards is greatly appreciated!

Circle of Dreams Druid is another mana dork that I would have killed for in the elfball years. Now the deck shifted towards White so much that I don't think I can support the druid in the early game.

Bam! Trelasarra, Moon Dancer is an absolute house and does SO MUCH WORK! Scrying with every lifegain iteration and manipulating the top of my library for Selvala really pushes this above all the other Ajani's Pridemate variants. Even without evasion she puts so much pressure onto the board! Though last game I skipped attacking with her, this was not my brightest day…

Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms looks really promising and gives us some great additions to different Selvala builds. For the lifegain approach Trelasarra, Moon Dancer is easily the best addition!
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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

Unfortunately, Sigardian Savior is no Reveillark. I would have liked to have an alternative.

If you need more spot removal besides Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Beast Within etc, Fateful Absence could fill that blank. For me it's a pass.

I'm not sure, if Sigarda's Splendor is any good. Meeting it's condition is fairly easy, it gains life to support itself, but requires constant tracking. Your opponents can take care that this doesn't trigger, too, so… yeah, as much as I want to like this enchantment, it's just not good enough.

Adeline, Splendid Cathar is an auto-include into any token deck and might even be good enough here. Creating three tokens a round is trivial, triggering several effects. In most games though Selvala is not the most aggressive deck, so Adeline can't reach her full potential. In Jinnie Fey, Jetmir's Second she wins games nearly on her own.

Blasphemous Act's distant relative Vanquish the Horde is a great wrath. I prefer more flexible options, though: taking care of other permanent types, too, having flash, being tutorable etc. If I ever decide to play more wraths, this will be the first addition.

With Cathar Commando and Outland Liberator Midnight Hunt brought us two new saccable dorks, that destroy artifacts and enchantments. I dislike the tracking nightmare that the werewolves present, so this is a pass on the Liberator, even though he is probably best in slot. At the moment I'm playing Qasali Pridemage, but considering swapping it to Cathar Commando. Being able to flash her in sounds really promising.

Saryth, the Viper's Fang looks promising, but is quite expensive. I've seen a few lists that played the Warlock to some success, maybe I should give it a try, too.

Overgrown Farmland is a fine land, I probably need to grab a copy.

Wow, this set offered way more cards than I anticipated! I didn't really like the flavour or themes of any of the two Innistrad sets, but sometimes you can find gems in a pile of … uhm … werewolf guts?

Innistrad: Crimson Vow

Wizards continues on their endless journey to find some white card draw and I'm into it. Welcoming Vampire triggers on many of my creatures – even my commander is power 2! I will give it a try.

Voice of the Blessed is no Trelasarra, Moon Dancer, but it becomes a decent beatstick fast. The evasion pushes this into playability. Also, the artwork is just gorgeous!
Looks like there are even less gems in pools of vampire blood, but oh boy!

Modern Horizons

Solitude and Endurance would be great additions, but I'm not willing to pay that price tag. Maybe they will get a reprint someday.

Nykthos Paragon looks like a variation of Archangel of Thune, but is significantly worse. This deck builds on abusing triggers several times a turn with small amounts of life gain, whille the Paragon asks for bursts of life. This might be a card for Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, though.

I allready talked about white card draw. Esper Sentinel would make a find addition to this deck: It should be relatively easy to trigger, several cards increase its power. But again… the price makes it hard to justify to buy a copy.

On the first glance Abiding Grace looks promising. Unearthing a Soul Sister or a mana dork? Check. Gaining life? Check. But in the end, this does not support the deck plan in a meaningful way.

Sythis, Harvest's Hand
is a great addition to the enchantress route Selvala could go. But why wouldn't you play Sythis over Selvala anyway, if you want to go down that rabbit hole?

Modern Horizons was quite an interesting set, but unfortunately the good cards are also the priciest. I really need to find an Esper Sentinel.

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasties

I like the new draconic spiritual successors to the old Spirit Dragons! Ao, the Dawn Sky looks promising, some kind of Collected Company on a stick. Many decks have problems with flyers, so Ao presents an resilient haymaker. In Selvala, she should hit 1 to 2 creatures when dying. Unfortunately my first tests weren't that great, but we will see, if Ao makes the cut in the end.

For most decks Farewell should be an easy upgrade to Austere Command.

Considering how strong Seedborn Muse is in this deck, Drumbellower is worth a shot. A flying, clampable, MV 3 body doesn't hurt either.

I'm less sure about Kodama oft he West Tree. On paper this looks amazing. This deck churns out counters like Wizards new Secret Lairs, but I'm not sure I can connect as often as I wish. On the other hand: gaining two lands equals Cultivate and that card is still playable. Needs some testing.

Eiganjo, Seat oft he Empire and Boseiju, Who Endures are design mistakes. While Eiganjo feels fair, Boseiju is clearly an autoinclude in every green deck. It feels loke a must play, which I dislike… The price doesn't help either. Maybe I can trade for one someday.

Kamigawa felt really special, so many throwbacks! And I really enjoyed the cyberpunk setting and how they managed to melt this with Magic. The set brought many goodies for enchantress builds, if your Selvala is into that.

Streets of New Capenna


Smuggler's Share
is another attempt to give White some carddraw. This looks especially good in Selvala, because it's easy to trigger it's first ability, if you activate Selvala in another players turn. That price tag though…

Some Selvala decks have an more explicit group hug or political approach. This ist he situation, where Jailbreak shines! Striking a deal with an opponent to handle a problematic situation sounds reasonable.

Grand Crescendo
looks amazing on paper and will be a house in Jinnie Fey, Jetmir's Second or other Token decks, but in Selvala I prefer cheaper and more flexible option.

Extraction Specialist should find quite some targets here, but feels very restricted. How does this really bring back something significant? Which reminds me that Recruiter of the Guard would be great in here, but is in dire need of a reprint.

Patch Up suffers from similar problems. Yes, this will hit some creatures. But in the end it's probably not good enough.

This is not a token deck, so Rumor Gatherer doesn't reach her full potential. Between her and Welcoming Vampire I think I prefer the latter.

Similar to Kamigawa Capenna feels very new and exiting. It's the first set that spawned two new decks form me: Jinnie Fey, Jetmir's Second and Raffine, Scheming Seer. For Selvala the white goodstuff does it's job, but is not that interesting. Smuggler's Share is probably to good to pass.

Commander Legends

Akroma's Will looks really incredible: a flexible answer packed with some kind of Overrun effect. What's not to love? It's a really great card that can do a lot of work.

I still play and love Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, so his older (??) self Kamahl, Heart of Krosa deserves a look. Unfortunately he is better of in a token deck, where he can pump so many more creatures, while creating some additional beaters.

I'm not sure, if Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn is any good. Yes, she synergizes with lifegain and will probably give out some counters. But in the end the unicorn feels way more fragile than Cleric Class. Another nail in the coffin is that it can be interacted with, unlike Cleric Class, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or even Nykthos Paragon, who trigger imidiately after I gain life.

Commander Legends was a blast with so many new and fun commander ideas. I especially liked the new partners and the theory crafting and brewing they brought. Unfortunately there weren't many cards for Selvala.

Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur's Gate

Deep Gnome Terramancer is… just wow. This is a really great way to implement some white ramp. It could even be a card for Selvala, even if we are green and have better ramp options.

Similar to Drumbellower White Plume Adventurer helps with untapping Selvala multiple times a turn cycle. It even brings in the initiative. I'm not really sure, if I could keep it long enough or regain it on a regular basis. Drumbellower is probably better here.

White mass reanimation is a really interesting approach. Selvala has some graveyard interactions, but in the end I think Ascend from Avernus, would be to much and not good enough. I'm planning on testing it though.

Archivist of Oghma is everything I could ever want: Card draw paired with lifegain. The halfling could do some serious work here!

Commander Legends 2 really pushed the white card advantage to new heights, unfortunately most of the cards are somewhat expensive. I hope I can trade fort he Archivist and maybe snatch a copy oft he Terramancer. The backgrounds are an interesting approach to partners, maybe I will build a jank deck with Wilson, Refined Grizzly and Raised by Giants.

Conclusion … for now

Phew, what a ride. I should consider doing this on a regular basis.
The last few sets continued Wizards search for white card advantage, so naturally Selvala got many new toys I need to test. Unfortunately some oft he cards have quite a hefty price tag, so we will see, which will get a chance to prove themselves.
Some cards allready found their way into the deck, others need some testing. Fortunately I have some spare time to play in my LGS with some friends.

edit: fixed some formatting issues.
Last edited by cheonice 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by MaritLage » 1 year ago

And yet , when Selvala herself showed up at the Magical Battleground , they chased her out , booring and throwing beer bottles and "pop" cans .

The divide between the fanbase·s imagination and the reality of the situation has never been more clear . One might as well stick a scalpel in it now .
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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

Neverending spoiler season! Yeah!

Dominaria United

I really love Sun Titan, so any card that resembles everyone's favourite titan deserves a closer look. Serra Paragon is a neat reanimation package tied to a relevant body. She even gains life! The triggered ability is a bit of a tracking nightmare (who would ever remember, if the land was played with her??) and loosing a card into exile could be a problem. Nontheless a strong card I want to test.

Threats Undetected looks like a creature-based sister of Gifts Ungiven and Realms Uncharted, But being forced to shuffle the cards back into your library instead of putting them into your graveyard is a huge dealbreaker. It's just a Sorcery, too, so no eot shenanigans. Selvala would have loved a green Gifts!

Well, THIS is a value machine, if I ever saw one. Silverback Elder does many relevant things and Selvala should be able to support it. If I find a copy, I'll give it a try.

King Darien XLVIII joins the ranks of Dauntless Escort, Selfless Spirit and Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, kinda... protecting only tokens is probably good in token builds, but for this deck I thankfully skip him.

As another card for token builds, Queen Allenal of Ruadach allready found a place in my Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second. Selvala is more of a democrat, so no monarchy for her.

Honorable mention: With Shanna, Purifying Blade we have an new and exciting lifegain commander! She really likes bursts of lifegain, so maybe Selvala is a great addition to her 99.

There is not that much in Dominaria for our deck. Silverback Elder and Serra Paragon stand out, though, I will give them a try.

Unfinity

Coming Attraction is another 3-mana ramp spell with a bonus. Maybe playable in a lower powered deck that cares about artifacts and dice?

Not much going on at the fair. I would've liked the set better, if it wasn't partly eternal legal...


Warhammer 40,000 Commander

Defenders of Humanity could be decent in any token build. For Selvala, this is another skip.

I toyed around with Angel of Finality, so Canoptek Scarab Swarm could be an alternative. On the other hand I don't want to pay 4 anymore for some graveyard removal.

While having a Reclamation Sage with kicker sounds great on paper, I don't think Space Marine Devastator is good enough. Bane of Progress costs 6 mana and does so much more.

Celestine, the Living Saint reminds me of Valkyrie Harbinger. Both trigger their own abilities. Celestine would be better in a deck like Shanna, Purifying Blade, which gains bursts of life. And even there I don't think she would make the cut.

I really dislike the aesthetic of these Warhammer decks. Fortunately there are no cards I really need to consider.

Final thoughts

I tracked some games to see, how some of my considerations would perform.
Archivist of Oghma would have triggered once or twice over several games. My meta doesn't run many fetchies, so this is not a card that I think will perform well. Same goes for Deep Gnome Terramancer. Green has so many better ramp cards.
Ascend from Avernus feels win more. Sometimes this could be a game winner, but most of the time this would just sit in my hand.
I don't think this is the deck for Kodama oft he West Tree either. Selvala doesn't hit the conditions on a regular basis.
While Cathar Commando is a great card, for the moment it doesn't make the cut. If I want to add some flash creatures this would be one of the first.

Needs More Testing
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Post by cheonice » 1 year ago

The Brothers' War

Finally we got a white Reclamation Sage! Loran of the Third Path is great for any white deck and I'm thinking of swapping these two here, too. Smuggler's Share, which I finally ordered, should work great with her.

Tocasia's Welcome is another Welcoming Vampire variant, which could prove it's worth. I need to check, if they could replace Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project.

Myrel, Shield of Argive: Great hatebear with some token applications. Not sure, if this is the right deck, though.

Lay Down Arms: Budget Swords to Plowshares, is probably better in mono white decks.

Kayla's Reconstruction and Recruitment Officer work better in low cmc decks. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim and Lurrus of the Dream-Den should make great use of them. Although I'm looking for some instant speed mana sinks, so the Officer could take a spot.

Scholar of New Horizons: We're not a counter deck, skip.

Disciple of Caelus Nin : Wow, unexpected pseudowrath! I ordered one, though I'm not sure where she will find a home.

Titania's Command is an Hour of Promise with upside! Six mana is a lot, but oh boy she brings so much value! We are no lands deck, but maybe she could be an inclusion in Lord Windgrace.

Fade from History: Budget and very flavourful alternative to Bane of Progress.

Titania, Voice of Gaea and Argoth, Sanctum of Nature: Again, great card for lands decks, but a skip for Selvala.

Platoon Dispenser: Mana sink, card draw and token support sounds great. Unfortunately at 5 mana this is quite expensive.

Caustic Caterpillar got a friend in Haywire Mite! The noncreature clause shouldn't matter in most cases. It even gains life! Maybe it's time to get rid of the nostalgia and replace Qasali Pridemage.

Demolition Field: Great addition to the LD lands!


Brothers' War oozes flavour and I'm loving every drop of it! Even though I didn't play during the old sets, I devoured the novels and loved every page. So this is an absolute joy for me! It's just icing on the cake that the set offers so many playables, too!



We played a game with five players, which was gummed up like crazy... Even if everybody got their moments, after two hours in the same game nobody was able to focus anymore. Next time we will try something like Emperor or other variants. Nontheless Selvala performed good, although I couldn't use most of my mana. Atm I'm looking for some mana sinks, maybe lands like War Room or creatures like Recruitment Officer could do some work.



I got my hands on a Serra Paragon and cutted Ao, the Dawn Sky for it. Ao did not really do it's job, although it's a great card that will find a home in Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim.

Ideas
Approximate Total Cost:

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