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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| DanDan | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Judge Tower | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Rishkar's Expertise
Sorcery
Draw cards equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
You may cast a card with converted mana cost/mana value 5 or less from your hand without paying its mana cost.
rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with me …
4 days ago
Welcome back to another episode of Build a Deck with Me. In the first two episodes I focused on a couple decks that want to go infinite and combo out. I realize that playing infinite combos is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but one of the things I enjoy is finding cool interactions/ways to break cards. So today instead of finding ways to break cards, I’m simply going to start with a card that is already broken and build a deck around it. That card is Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. Ok, so maybe it isn’t broken, but you have to admit, you see this good boy on the field and you need to find a response quickly.
Research
In the last episode, I had some comments that suggested I talk about some of the general research that goes into deck-building. One thing to keep in mind is that when you’re building a deck there are general archetypes that exist and are fairly well known. These can often serve as models when thinking about what cards to use, although relying too heavily on them long term can diminish creativity. If you’re just starting out though, by all means run over to EDHRec and find what cards usually go into a counters deck or a tribal deck (spoiler alert that is what we’re building here). One of the things that I do that helps my deckbuilding is watching youtube channels that play commander. This includes: The Command Zone, Tolarian Community College, Commander at Home, and Elder Dragon Hijinks. There are many others out there, but these are the ones that I’ve watched more than a couple episodes of. As I’m watching an episode, I find myself thinking, “Wow I want to build something like that” or “I really liked the interactions with that”. For instance, there was a Commander at Home game where I got to see the interaction between Dihada, Binder of Wills and Odric, Lunarch Marshal and now they’re sitting on my desk, waiting to be built. Today’s episode is the result of one such instance. I watched The Command Zone episode that covered Murders at Karlov Manor. In that game, the Voja deck was a beast. It was fast, it made huge creatures, it drew tons of cards, and it just couldn’t be stopped, oh and the commander was a big puppy dog (wolf, puppy same thing).
To start building, I went into Gatherer and just began looking for a few things like Wolves, Elves, and Changelings. I started to realize that there are very few changelings and the wolves out there really aren’t that great outside of a few like Hollowhenge Overlord. So I turned back to the Command Zone for some help. They post their decklists on the videos and I began scrolling through it and much to my surprise, the list was similar to the ones that I had found, but wasn’t sure about like Ferocious Pup and Universal Automaton. These aren’t good cards unless you have something that really wants creatures on the field. And that’s when things started to click. The support for Voja didn’t necessarily need to be super strong in their own right, it just needed to enable him to do more.
Changelings
First of all, Voja is an interesting card because it wants both Elves and Wolves on the field. Most tribal decks want just one tribe so it almost feels like you have to make a choice between one or the other here. Well I don’t like choosing between two good options. It’s like deciding between chicken nuggets or a chicken sandwich at Chick-Fil-A. I say both! (I also might need to reconsider some life choices, but oh well)
Changelings are great because they have all creature types which means any tribal deck can use them. Some are extremely powerful, while others just have an interesting creature type. In this deck, however, we want to focus on low cost creatures. If they do something cool, bonus!
Realmwalker is awesome because it is every creature type but it can also cast creatures from the top of your library which instantly gives you card advantage, we will likely choose elf as our creature type when it comes in because they generally are going to be our lower cost creatures, our mana dorks, and likely the more prominent tribal type in our deck.
Remember any changeling on the field will trigger both aspects of Voja’s triggered ability so a Universal Automaton becomes a 1 drop enabler for both adding counters and drawing cards. Irregular Cohort provides two 2/2 bodies both of whom are changelings and give us more counters and cards.
Of course there are two cards here that are just amazing. Maskwood Nexus which makes all your creatures all creature types, and Shields of Velis Vel which does the same thing in instant form. Both are game changers with voja.
Elves
When it comes to elves, we generally want to have mana dorks. This is going to ramp us out quickly, but also allow us to have bodies out there to add counters to. A couple standouts besides the normal ones like Llanowar Elves are:
Gyre Sage who is going to get huge thanks to Voja.
Beast Whisperer will draw you lots of cards because we are going to be a creature heavy deck.
Yeva, Nature's Herald is also helpful in being able to get your cards out on your opponent’s turns.
All the versions of Tolsimir are great because they often come with a wolf token in tow.
Finally there is Shalai and Hallar… When you’re adding counters to every creature on your board equal to the number of elves you control, this card can take out an opponent.
Wolves
There are a few wolves out there, but its surprisingly fewer than you would think. Hollowhenge Overlord is really good, and so is Ferocious Pup. You play it and suddenly you have two wolves which means two more cards when Voja attacks. Another great wolf is Roaming Throne. I know what you’re thinking, “it’s a golem.” In this deck, it’s a wolf… trust me. Roaming throne will double all of Voja’s triggered abilities and now you’re thinking “Voja only has one triggered ability.“ Actually, Ward is a triggered ability. Which means now in order to target him, your opponents need to spend 6 mana!! So you swing with Voja, let’s be conservative and say that you have just llanowar elves, Voja, and roaming throne, you add 2 +1/+1 counters to everything and you draw 4 cards. Speaking of doubling that trigger: Annie Joins Up. A super underrated card so far and triggers on Voja, Shalai, and Tolsimir.
Other fun stuff
There are a couple other things that help support Voja as well. Counter multipliers and additional combat steps are all good things for this deck. You don’t want to put too many of those in though because when push comes to shove you’re likely going to just want a creature to play instead of another counter multiplier. I have Kami of Whispered Hopes in the deck, because it adds counters, but it also produces a crazy amount of mana which I can use to empty my hand of creature cards. Hardened Scales is fine and even Branching Evolution feels worthwhile, but I chose not to add any others.
For additional combats I added only two cards, one was Relentless Assault and the other is Great Train Heist. The latter is great because it has more versatility, is an instant, and costs the same as relentless assault for its first ability. Both of these cards can win the game pretty easily.
There are also wolf producers like Howling Moon which I’ve played in Arena with great results. (also pairs well with Tocasia's Welcome). Sword of Body and Mind produces wolves, gives protection, and mills your opponent. Arlinn, the Pack's Hope Flip is another powerful card since it produces wolves, but can also give you flash on your creatures.
Finally, there is a card that I’m proud to say I noticed before it became super popular. Silver Shroud Costume. I remember playing it in the dogmeat deck and thought, this is good, I’m going to put a copy into voja. At that time it was $5. It has since surged to $20 and there is a reason. It can flash out and attach to Voja, who is now hexproof, (in case ward 3 wasn’t enough) and unblockable gg.
Card Draw, ramp, interaction
Don’t forget your interaction. Just because Voja has ward 3 and is hard to spot remove, doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to be protected. Flawless Maneuver, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection etc. will help keep him and the rest of your creatures safe.
As far as ramp goes, Voja wants creatures which means a lot of ramp is going to be in the form of mana dorks not mana rocks or traditional green ramp spells. I still added a few green ramp spells, but its definitely fewer than some of my other green decks.
Card draw is also a little different here. We’ve got Beast Whisperer and Tocasia's Welcome already and they work really well with the deck since the Beast whisperer is also an elf and tocasia’s welcome triggers with all of our mana dorks which we can flash out on other turns as well. Voja of course is the main card draw engine (seriously a commander who draws cards is just waiting to be abused). Other good cards here are Inspiring Call and Rishkar's Expertise.
About Card Draw
One quick note on card draw that has recently changed the way I think about it. I used to separate card draw into two different categories. Card draw engines which are ongoing effects that will give me cards as long as they remain on the field. The other is simply cards that draw more cards. Previously, I assumed that the former were excellent cards and the latter were well… not great. But as I was listening to The Command Zone they started talking about cards and the amount of triggers you can expect to get in a single game. This changed the way I thought about it. A card like Rhystic Study is great because you are likely going to get some cards from it, but your opponents can pay the 1 or they can remove it. The idea is to think about your card draw engines in terms of the average cards you get from it. This helped me starting think about the usefulness in a card like Inspiring Call which is likely to give me 4-5 cards when I play it, at least. Rishkar's Expertise similarly will net me upwards of 7-10 cards and play a spell from my hand. Meanwhile, rhystic study, which is a great card, will likely get me 5-6 cards before being dealt with, sometimes only a couple. It helped me shift my thinking and made me consider other cards that I had previously dismissed.
Lands
Not a lot of utility lands are needed in this deck, I did like Rogue's Passage, because a lot of times Voja is swinging for lethal commander damage. Making him unblockable is great.
Here is the final form: Voja, the good boy
And by final form, I mean the form I’m currently playing, but likely will change because decks are always being updated and changed. As always, hope you enjoyed the article and if you have any commanders or interactions that you want to see built, let me know in the comments.
Profet93 on
Thrun Voltron-His Silence is Violence
2 weeks ago
MysticSnake, thank you for your patience. Since you didn't mention budget, I just put what I thought could work regardless of price point. You should add some non-basics to provide utility, also, add maybe 1-2 more lands just to ensure you don't miss land drops.
Rishkar's Expertise - Draw, either as a replacement or in addition to soul's majesty. Same with Garruk, Primal Hunter
Nylea's Colossus - Big Guy
Bear Umbra - Works well since they can't 2 for 1 u in response to cast. Nice buff and the "ramp" aspect is good, all while being an enchantment
Song of the Dryads - Removal!
Nyxbloom Ancient - Supe ramp!
Herald of the Pantheon/Cloud Key - Ramp
Season of Renewal - Recursion
Composer of Spring and Weaver of Harmony - Potentially worth considering
Rofellos's Gift - I actually don't like this card but worth mentioning.
Creeping Renaissance - Crystal chimes #2 but can be used twice and is more flexible
Overgrowth - Ramp
Sylvan Library - Draw/utility
Greater Good - Draw that is also a sac outlet to prevent theft and exile.
RufusTheGrufus on
Mono Green Stompy
1 month ago
Profet93, thank you for taking the time to check out the list and offer your suggestions!
I'm going to try my best to articulate my opinions of said suggestions:
-Rishkar's Expertise: I do enjoy this card quite a bit, and did originally have it in the list. It eventually got cut because the floor was too low for a 6 mana card; and I opted for a similar effect in Return of the Wildspeaker because it's one mana cheaper and has extra utility since it can help push through alpha strikes. I do feel like this deck could benefit from a bit more card advantage though.
-Pir's Whim: I actually completely forgot this card exists, I think this is a perfect swap suggestion, thank you!
-Traverse the Outlands: I totally get why you're suggesting this card, I think I personally just tend to shy away from more conditional ramp, removal, and card advantage; since typically if I'm desperately needing one of those effects I don't want to have to rely on satisfying an extra condition in order to achieve it. I think otherwise Traverse the Outlands could totally find a home in this kind of deck.
-Collector Ouphe, Manglehorn, Reclamation Sage: Collector Ouphe and Manglehorn are definitely great cards to include in this deck. My main hesitation with including them is because this decklist was made with the intent of having it be a bit more casual and less "feel bad" for when my playgroup wants to play with lower powered/more casually oriented decks. I love the idea of including them though and am adding them to the Maybeboard for further consideration! In terms of Reclamation Sage, it was in the decklist initially but ultimately got cut over more flexible pieces such as Krosan Grip, Beast Within and Return to Nature as I typically feel the need to have some options for instant speed removal; and I have a few pieces of creature-based artifact/enchantment removal that can target multiple things.
-Nissa's Pilgrimage: This is just an objectively better card than Cultivate in a mono-green deck, thank you!
-Yavimaya Hollow: Intriguing card, I'm definitely interested in testing it out!
-Turntimber, Serpentine Wood Flip: I generally have an aversion to these flip lands. I totally get the arguments for playing them, I've just never felt inclined to play a majority of them. I'd be willing to give this one a shot in the list though to see if it exceeds my expectations; especially since it's so on-theme!
-Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma: I completely forgot about this guy, I'm interested in testing him out and am swapping him in over Giant Adephage; which was really just in the deck as a 'fun' pet card anyways.
-Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Somberwald Sage: I don't know how I forgot about Shaman of Forgotten Ways. Thank you for such a great suggestion, I slotted it in instead of Llanowar Tribe for now. Somberwald Sage I'm less sure of including at this point in time. I'll put it in the Maybeboard and keep thinking on it.
-Siege Behemoth: An interesting suggestion, I'm not sure if I'll find a home for it in the deck just yet but I'm adding it to the Maybeboard to consider!
-Berserk: This would be an incredibly fun include, I just need to find something to cut. It'll have to live in the Maybeboard for now.
-Life's Legacy, Greater Good: Since I'm truly a Golgari player at heart, and love playing around with sacrifice and my graveyard, these cards were definitely in consideration when I initially built this deck. I eventually opted for just Momentous Fall and not Life's Legacy because Momentous Fall can be cast at instant speed which allows it to be used in response to removal to help with rebuilding. If I had more synergy with sacrificing creatures baked into the deck, and/or more ways to utilize my own graveyard, I would definitely be including Greater Good. I'm adding them to the Maybeboard for now, especially since Greater Good may just be too much card advantage to turn down.
Thank you again for such considerate suggestions and for taking the time to look over the list!
longmuiryan on
Kool-Aid Man if He Knew Mitosis
1 month ago
As a deck that seeks to make a land drop every turn (if not more), I would consider adding more card draw/card advantage. Cards like Vorinclex Flip, Valakut Exploration, and Rishkar's Expertise are all good inclusions IMO. I would consider removing cards like Sparkspitter and Lightning Mare
Profet93 on
Mono Green Stompy
1 month ago
I actually completely disagree with the above GoldBerserkDragon, (GBD) both personally and professionally. 37 lands is actually my favorite # in EDH. While yes, you could it isn't optimal, especially in a build whose avg cmc is above 4.5. Now to actually provide you with suggestions unlike GBD. Some of these might be better than others, let me know what you think of each....
Rishkar's Expertise - It's draw + tempo. While it is a bit risky if you have one creature, the risk is mitigated if you have several creatures on board.
Pir's Whim > Tempt Discovery - Tempt is best if you have cradle or another high mana producing land to immediately use untapped. I used to run it but my playgroup would either not take the bait, or would just tutor for strip mine and destroy whatever land I got. Pir's whim is political and removal, all at the same time.
Traverse the Outlands - Mass land ramp
Collector Ouphe - Null rod the creature. It only stops 2 of your cards but since artifacts are huge in EDH, it's definitely worth considering. If not, then perhaps a Manglehorn or a Reclamation Sage
Since you run momentous fall, perhaps a Life's Legacy? Better yet, Greater Good!
Nissa's Pilgrimage > Cultivate
Yavimaya Hollow - Regen / politics
Turntimber, Serpentine Wood Flip - Spell or land, you decide!
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma - Ramp + Trample
Shaman of Forgotten Ways/Somberwald Sage - With the former as an alt wincon
Siege Behemoth - Push damage through
Berserk - Super fun! I once used this on an opponents (Op1) commander to kill Op2 via commander damage and Op1 lost his commander making him easier to kill. Usually used to close things out. It's also fun to use on Selvala as psuedo ramp. Not needed, but nice.
seshiro_of_the_orochi on
2 months ago
This looks like a great starting point for a Goreclaw deck! Depending on what you wanna do with it, it could easily become a creature storm deck. Looking at what you have here, my suggestions are these:
1: Add in some mana doublers. I really like Zendikar Resurgent for it's potential to survive a boardwipe.
2: Rishkar's Expertise is a powerhouse draw spell you should try to include.
3: With only one nonbasic, Primal Order is an unexpected way to deal quite a lot of damage.
Enjoy the teddy deck!
Profet93 on
King Stranger, Make Me Strong! *PRIMER*
2 months ago
First and foremost, I enjoyed reading your description. Do Note that Sword of Feast and Famine means your commander cannot target it to increase it's stats due to the "pro green."
Greater Good - THE MOST IMPORTANT CARD IN XENAGOS, HANDS DOWN. IF YOU LISTEN TO ANYTHING, THIS IS THE ONE SUGGESTION. Used in response to removal or equip activation, or just in a pinch. This card forces them to use removal lest they die to your overwhelming card advantage. DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS CARD.
Harmonize - Simple draw
Momentous Fall/Life's Legacy - While weak against blue, could warrant an inclusion depending on how much draw you want in the deck. The former is used in response to removal and the lifegain is icing on the cake.
Rishkar's Expertise - I'm normally against cards like this but in Xenagos, there is way too much of an upside to ignore. Used post combat most of the time, allows you to draw without missing out on tempo.
Skullclamp - Cut little idea to use on mana dorks, or force interaction pre-commander ability/combat.
Return of the Wildspeaker - Used in response to removal. Overrun option is nice as well
Elemental Bond - Draw, also see Guardian Project (although they can remove ur creature in response to the trigger to deny you a card)
Ancient Tomb - Ramp
Raging Ravine - Manland that can get bigger.
Dread Statuary - Manland that can get to 8 power with Xenagos. I usually use manlands as fodder for one of the draw spells listed above. Worth considering
Castle Garenbrig - Simple ramp
Cragcrown Pathway Flip - Red or green, whichever you need.
Elder Gargaroth - Draw, lifegain or token production
Somberwald Sage - Ramp
Berserk - Super fun! Use before the damage step. Or better yet, use on your opponent attacking another opponent and force op 1 to lose a creature while op 2 takes lots of damage. Fun fact, I killed an animar this was (lol). You can also use it on Selvala for extra ramp!
Xenagos decks typically go one of 2 ways. Either lots of dorks and some land ramp like your deck to bring threats out more quickly, or to forgo dorks and focus solely on land ramp. Your deck is the former while mine is the latter. Do note that even with the dork route, Xenagos decks go tall, not wide. So there are some creature choices that I do not believe are as efficient as other choices could be and would love to discuss them with you if you're up for it. Xenagos decks are like snipers, usually one big creature at a time, sometimes more if you have the right set up. They also fold to spot removal as spending 5+ mana on a creature just to have it removed by 1 - 3 mana removal spell really sucks. I know you're against bolt bend/deflecting swat (despite them being my favorite type of spells) but perhaps something like Vines of Vastwood or another spell might potentially warrant an inclusion to save an important creature. At the very least, having more than 2 instants, only 1 of which acts as protection, could be used as a bluff and keep opponents guessing.
Profet93 on
Karlach the Outlander
3 months ago
SoulXCross +1
Godo, Bandit Warlord - Synergy with embercleave, can also tutor greaves if needed.
Berserk - Can also be used on opposing creatures that are attacking your opponents for fun. Double commander damage anyone?
Tooth and Nail - Tutor for big dudes, one that gives has like Xenagos and a big beater
Green Sun's Zenith - Solid tutor
I don't see many draw sources. Have you considered the following...
Rishkar's Expertise - Draw + Tempo
Momentous Fall/Life's Legacy - The former can be used in response to removal, both fold to blue. Nevertheless, it's a huge draw source.
Bonders' Enclave - Land slot
Elder Gargaroth - Versatile
Skullclamp - Forces interaction pre-combat or else you can usually draw if it isn't exile removal
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - Super ramp, also some draw
| Have (6) | Azdranax , metalmagic , JordanSanFran , orzhov_is_relatively_okay819 , TheRealSpecialK , PrismMTG |
| Want (9) | MTGCHR , mflint , C0LDE , AjaxSlumbering , Skullzer7 , Rivel , freshie9000 , Arkhaschan , sarcasticpeony |