Table of Contents
Overview
Let's have a look then!
For each nonland card revealed this way, add and you gain 1 life.
Then each player draws a card.
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.
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
_____________________
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
Other Strategies
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 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.
Current Decklist
Deck Strategy
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.
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.
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.
I would probably go for it, even if it is only for the glorious firework before I succumb to my opponent's removal.
Keep, if the table is not too fast.
Keep. This should get the gears going.
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.
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.
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!
Card Choice Discussion
- 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.
- Essence Warden/Soul Warden/Soul's Attendant // The bread and butter. Selvala is focussed on many instances of lifegain rather than large chunks. The Soul Sisters are as good as it gets.
- Serra Ascendant // The bane of early EDH is still an excellent beatstick.
- Cleric Class // This little enchantment does everything we could ever ask for: It triggers of lifegain and resurrects our dorks.
- Trelasarra, Moon Dancer // Probably the best version of Ajani's Pridemate. Scrying multiple times a turn to set up your next parley is just excellent.
- Voice of the Blessed // Another solid Pridemate, not as good as Trelassara, though.
- Heliod, Sun-Crowned // A Pridemate on steroids. Even though I don't play the combo with Walking Ballista, Heliod is a great roleplayer.
- Archangel of Thune // This allows me to go wide.
- Dawn of Hope // Self-enabling engines are something to look out for. Paying 2 to draw a card is kind of expensive, but the flexibility makes this a worthy addition.
- Well of Lost Dreams // The OG lifegain carddraw.
- 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.
- Enlightened Tutor // With the recent addition of Sensei's Divining Top, Smothering Tithe, and Smuggler's Share this can search for a wide variety of cards.
- Green Sun's Zenith // Great tutor and another one-drop piece featuring Dryad Arbor.
- Eladamri's Call // Instant speed. I prefer this to Worldly Tutor.
- Finale of Devastation // Casting this mid-game is solid. Casting this in the end game for End-Raze Forerunners is devastating.
- Survival of the Fittest // Swaps any not needed creature against something more useful.
- Chord of Calling // Instant speed tutor, that puts the creature directly into play.
- Yisan, the Wanderer Bard // Unchecked, this is a game winner.
- Skullclamp // I play many one-toughness creatures. Even if this was better with the elfball strategy, it's still a great card.
- Esper Sentinel // Card drawing goodstuff.
- Return of the Wildspeaker // Hidden gem. I really like to refill my or kill the table, whichever is needed.
- 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.
- Generous Gift/Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares // Flexible removal.
- Rest in Peace // Yes, it hits my yard, too. But it completely shuts off some other strategies.
- Scavenging Ooze // This might not be the best graveyard hate, but it triggers my lifegain cards.
- Haywire Mite // Really love that cute little mite. I really like that WotC keeps printing new variants so that every deck can find its perfect addition.
- Loran of the Third Path // This is everything I never knew I wanted. A Reclamation Sage that draws cards and works as a second Selvala.
- Aura Shards // Great card, but this is on my watch list. I don't play as many creatures as I used to.
- Bane of Progress // Kills artifacts and enchantments and players.
- Farewell // Highly efficient selective wrath.
- Realm-Cloaked Giant // Cast Off // Tutorable wrath!
- 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.
- Avacyn's Pilgrim/Birds of Paradise/Fyndhorn Elves/Llanowar Elves/Sol Ring // My ramp focusses on ways to cast Selvala on turn two.
- Nature's Lore/Three Visits // Finds duals.
- Sakura-Tribe Elder // Another pet card.
- Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun // Poor man's cradle, even if its price is going up.
- Mirari's Wake // On my watchlist. I'm not sure, if I prefer the lesser cost of Wake to the explosiveness of Mana Reflection.
- Emeria, the Sky Ruin // Selvala is my oldest take on the never-ending quest to enable Emeria. While others may look for explosive lands such as Cabal Coffers, I adore the slow value Emeria offers.
- Wirewood Lodge // Untap Selvala! Yeah!
- War Room // I was looking for more instant speed card draw and this popped out. The life loss is negligible.
- Dryad Arbor // Target for Green Sun's Zenith.
- Reliquary Tower // Not sure, if this is necessary, but it gets the job done.
- Tectonic Edge/Demolition Field // My playgroup is infested with Cabal Coffers, so I try to punish these greedy folks.
- Temple Garden/Canopy Vista/Arctic Treeline/Scattered Groves // Duals
- Windswept Heath/Flooded Strand/Wooded Foothills // Fetchies. They work great with Sensei's Divining Top and Sun Titan.
- Krosan Verge // Can fetch duals.
- Bountiful Promenade/Wooded Bastion/Sunpetal Grove/Fortified Village/Stirring Wildwood //
- Forest/Plains //
- Mana Reflection // On my watchlist. I'm not sure, if I prefer the lesser cost of Mirari's Wake to the explosiveness of Mana Reflection. Getting double the mana from Selvala is probably good enough.
- Quest for Renewal // I don't have that many tap abilities, otherwise this would be a no-brainer. It's really great in Emmara, Soul of the Accord.
- Spectrum Sentinel // A friend plays this in Rodolf Duskbringer and it's ... okay. I don't think this is efficient enough, but I will keep it on my watchlist.
- Sunscorch Regent // The dragon does exactly, what this deck wants. At five mana it's quite expensive. I hope they print a variant at two or three mana.
- Auriok Champion // If I ever want to play another Soul Sister, this is the card to add. At the moment I'm quite happy.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald/Vedalken Orrery // Yeva used to be a staple, but the deck shifted more towards White. Activating Selvala and being able to cast the drawn cards at instant speed is really good. But both cards feel really clunky...
- Celestine, the Living Saint // I don't gain bursts of life, so this is probably not the deck for her. On the other hand my mana curve is really low, so she could do some business. It's a pity that she only triggers on my turn!
- Alhammarret's Archive // People keep recommending this, but I don't see it. I need to get a copy to test it.
- Winds of Abandon // Wrath alternative No. 1.
- Vanquish the Horde // Wrath alternative No. 2.
- Welcoming Vampire/Tocasia's Welcome // Creature-based card draw. This is better within an elfball shell.
- Silverback Elder // The elder looks really great! Still need to get a copy. Triple Green is steep, though.
- Nylea, Keen-Eyed/Duskwatch Recruiter // Krallenhorde Howler // I'm still looking for some instant speed mana sinks. For the moment I'm trying War Room, but they are on my shortlist.
- Elder Gargaroth // Great beater, not sure, if I have space for her.
- Quirion Ranger/Wirewood Symbiote/Scryb Ranger/Seeker of Skybreak // I tested several rangers. In the end they were either too slow or asked for too many resources. Bouncing a land to draw a card is a hefty price.
- Vitalize/Village Bell-Ringer et al // Adding these would make this a different deck. Look for Twiddlestorm-lists if this is your playstyle.
- Thousand-Year Elixir/Magewright's Stone // Tested them extensively, was not impressed.
- Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination/Sword of the Paruns // Again, this would be a different deck. If you like combo decks, give them a try.
- 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.
- Priest of Titania/Elvish Archdruid/Wirewood Channeler// The backbone of elfball. I played them for years, but shifting towards lifegain and lowering my curve made them less efficient.
- Mirror Entity // Creature swarm finisher. There even is a combo with Reveillark and Karmic Guide. Mirror Entity doesn't feel right anymore, as I have better option to finish the game.
- Wellwisher // Lifegain for Elfball, not a card for Selvala.
- 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.
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.
New Sets, New Cards
I covered all sets since 2020. You can find my thoughts in the corresponding posts.
- Ikoria // Commander 2020 // M21 // Jumpstart
- Zendikar Rising
- Kaldheim // Strixhaven // D&D: Forgotten Realms
- Innistrad: Midnight Hunt & Crimson Vow // Modern Horizons // Kamigawa // New Capenna // Commander Legends 1 & 2
- Dominaria United // Unfinity // Warhammer
- Brother's War
- Jumpstart 2022 // Phyrexia: One
Change Log
//Cuts
//Additions
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*****