Commander Collection: Stampida

Commander / EDH GW (Selesnya) Humans

Jurrane

Creature (35)

• 1x Abzan Falconer
• 1x Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 1x Apostle of Purifying Light
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Banisher Priest
• 1x Bastion Protector
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Champion of the Parish
• 1x Devout Chaplain
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart P
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned P
• 1x Intrepid Hero
• 1x Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Kyler, Sigardian Emissary
• 1x Maja, Bretagard Protector
• 1x Mikaeus, the Lunarch
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Moon-Blessed Cleric
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Myrel, Shield of Argive P
• 1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
• 1x Ranger-Captain of Eos P
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Serra Ascendant
• 1x Serra Paragon
• 1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1x Sigarda, Champion of Light
• 1x Thalia's Lancers
• 1x Thalia's Lieutenant
• 1x Torens, Fist of the Angels
• 1x Walking Ballista

Land (34)

• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures P
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Castle Ardenvale
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 5x Forest
• 1x Fortified Village
• 1x Gavony Township
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Hushwood Verge
• 1x Minas Tirith
• 1x Monumental Henge
• 1x Mutavault
• 1x Overgrown Farmland
• 9x Plains
• 1x Sungrass Prairie
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Three Tree City P
• 1x War Room
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip
• 1x Yavimaya Hollow P

Artifact (7)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Horn of Gondor
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Farseek
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Three Visits

Commander (1)

Instant (15)

• 1x Akroma's Will
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Call the Coppercoats
• 1x Dawn's Truce
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Excise the Imperfect
• 1x Flare of Fortitude
• 1x Flawless Maneuver
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection P
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Sylvan Library P
• 1x Tocasia's Welcome

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{W}{G} Introduction: Oh The Humanity {W}{G}

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Welcome to my primer for "Stampida", a Selesnya Humans EDH tribal deck. This is a fun, aggressive deck that wants to attack, but isn't solely reliant on combat to win. It leverages some of the traditional strengths of the Selesnya colour identity, seeking to establish a dominant board presence to take over the game and run over its opponents.

Humans are probably the most supported creature type in Magic, which means a Human tribal deck can be built in pretty much any colour combination and is able to be centered around a variety of different themes. GW Humans is a strong choice as we get access to numerous powerful support cards plus several synergistic Angels to support our Humans-based strategy, including Sigarda, Font of Blessings as our Commander.

This deck was actually one of my earliest builds when I started playing EDH and is one of the handful of tribal decks I still have in my collection. I've tried to diversify it away from a purely combat-focused approach by including the Heliod, Sun-Crowned // Walking Ballista infinite damage combo. This has had the dual benefit of making it rather less linear and more competitive, while also powering it up and ensuring it's more fun to play.

Commander Choice

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Sigarda, Font of Blessings has been chosen as the Commander for this list, purely on the basis that she gives all our permanents hexproof. This grants us several important advantages:

• It negates one of the key weaknesses of creature-based combat decks - their vulnerability to targetted removal;
• Hexproof makes our infinite damage combo of Heliod, Sun-Crowned // Walking Ballista more difficult to interact with and less likely to be disrupted;
• Although Sigarda, Font of Blessings isn't hexproof herself, we can combine her with Bastion Protector, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak or Swiftfoot Boots to make her much more difficult to remove.

In addition, Sigarda's efficiently costed at just {2}{G}{W} for a 4/4 flyer, plus she grants a nice card advantage ability by allowing us to cast Angel or Human spells from the top of our library (and allowing us to look at the top card of our library at any time, giving us useful advance information about what we're going to draw). All in all, she's a strong choice for a green-white Commander.

Strategy & Play Style

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As mentioned in the Introduction, much of the development of this deck has been to pivot it away from an aggressive creature-based attack strategy, to a more midrange build that leverages the simplicity and strength of the Heliod, Sun-Crowned // Walking Ballista infinite damage combo. That's not to say that combat isn't important for this deck - it's still its main win condition - and we want to come out of the blocks quickly with efficiently-costed creatures, attacking whenever possible to bring down our opponents' life totals.

Broadly speaking, therefore, we have two strategies that can operate in parallel: leverage the scale and strength of the Human tribe by attacking aggressively whenever we can; while also using tutors to find the two pieces our combo and then executing it, ideally while Sigarda, Font of Blessings is on the battlefield to give them hexproof. We support our creature-centered attack theme with a +1/+1 counters sub-theme that both powers up our creatures so they hit harder and grants evasion via Abzan Falconer and Champion of Lambholt. Either of these two creatures can be powerful finishers if we're looking to close out the game through combat.

The next couple of sections outline all our creature choices and explain why each has been included in the deck.

Only Human

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The Selesnya colour combination has lots of powerful cards with the Human creature type. This list has been honed over the years to ensure we have lots of different options to deal with a variety of game states, while keeping to its strategy of creature-based attacks. Here are our highlights:

• Abzan Falconer: One of our finisher cards. We have plenty of ways to put +1/+1 counters on our creatures and when this little guy's in play, they all gain flying. Great for closing out games.
• Adeline, Resplendent Cathar: A great way of building up our horde of Humans. Her power can scale to scary levels quite quickly. A new staple for white-based Human builds.
• Apostle of Purifying Light: Included for its power against graveyard-based decks. Protection from black blanks quite a lot of removal in EDH and means it can't be blocked by black creatures, which can often also be relevant.
• Avacyn's Pilgrim: Basic mana dork but a nice ramp source.
• Banisher Priest: Versatile removal with a body attached. Being able to take care of any permanent is fantastic. Good luck getting rid of it when Sigarda, Font of Blessings is around.
• Bastion Protector: Makes Sigarda, Font of Blessings indestructable. Still (just about) strong enough for this list.
• Champion of Lambholt: Another of our finishers. Load enough +1/+1 counters onto it and our whole team will be unblockable. One of the best Humans in any colour.
• Champion of the Parish: A useful one-drop that gains in power as the game goes on. It can get very big very quickly if we're lucky enough to play it early.
• Devout Chaplain: An excellent repeatable source of artifact and enchantment removal. Note that tapping two creatures is part of its activation cost so it can be done with summoning sick creatures (it works in a similar way to convoke).
• Esper Sentinel: One of our best sources of card draw. It will quite often go above its base power, making it even stronger. Staple.
• Eternal Witness: A nice recursion effect. Good for recycling our combo pieces if they get removed or bringing back our finishers. Usually provides great value.
• Fiend Hunter: Same as Banisher Priest. Super versatile removal.
• Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart: Our new superstar for white-based Human tribal builds. Powers up our team and grants our choice of two abilities from three relevant options. Very strong card.
• Intrepid Hero: A reusable source of removal that takes out our opponents biggest creatures. Often acts as a deterrant to stop people casting fatties. Plus you can play politics with it too.
• Katilda, Dawnhart Prime: Her +1/+1 counters ability is expensive but her true power is to turn our Humans into mana dorks to help us ramp if needed.
• Knight of the White Orchid: A 2/2 first striker for {W}{W} is not to be sniffed at. Plus it nearly always ramps us a land (unless we're first in turn order).
• Kyler, Sigardian Emissary: A lot of GW Humans builds run this as their Commander. I can see why. Insane levels of power and a great way of boosting our team.
• Maja, Bretagard Protector: Slightly on the expensive side to cast but we like her because she makes a Human Warrior token each time we hit a land drop.
• Mikaeus, the Lunarch: Good old Mike. As long as we don't pay just {W} for him, he's a great way of putting +1/+1 counters on our team.
• Moon-Blessed Cleric: Tutors for Heliod, Sun-Crowned or other useful enchantments. Not much else to say.
• Mother of Runes: Dear old Mom still makes the grade. Another effective way of protecting Sigarda, Font of Blessings.
• Myrel, Shield of Argive: One of my favourite cards at the moment. Her only downside is she makes Soldier tokens and not Humans but otherwise she's one of the best creatures in this deck. Stops opponents interacting with us in our turn, usually when we want to go off with Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista.
• Odric, Lunarch Marshal: We have lots of relevant keywords in this deck, especially flying with our Commander and other Angels. Effectively a finisher when we're on the offensive - and don't forget his triggered ability is EACH combat so we get to use it on the defensive too.
• Ranger-Captain of Eos: Another of my favourite creatures. Tutors for Walking Ballista and sacrifices to stop noncreature spells being cast during our turn. Use it to protect the combo when you're ready to go off.
• Recruiter of the Guard: Not only another tutor for Walking Ballista but also finds Champion of Lambholt and Kyler, Sigardian Emissary as finishers, plus other low-toughness utility humans. Lots of versatility in a deck like this.
• Serra Ascendant: Seems almost unfair to cast it in the early turns and get a 6/6 flying lifelinker for just {W}. We have other ways of gaining life too so it's usually relevant at some point in the game.
• Thalia's Lancers: Fulfills a similar role to Recruiter of the Guard ie. it finds part of our combo (Heliod, Sun-Crowned) or other finisher legends like Kyler, Sigardian Emissary or Odric, Lunarch Marshal. Expensive to cast but worth it.
• Thalia's Lieutenant: Another good way of getting +1/+1 counters onto our creatures for Abzan Falconer. Essentially a slightly more versatile Champion of the Parish.
• Torens, Fist of the Angels: Makes a Human token every time we cast a creature spell, which will be often. The fact that he (and he tokens he creates) has training is even better, as it's yet another way of adding +1/+1 counters to creatures.

Supporting Creatures

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Although the majority of the creatures in this deck are Humans, they’re not the only ones. These are the others.

• Heliod, Sun-Crowned: One half of our infinite damage/infinite lifegain combo. Find Walking Ballista, make sure Ballista has at least two counters on it, give it lifelink for {1}{W} and you're golden. Also a good way of granting our other creatures lifelink if we don't have access to the combo.
• Mirror Entity: Not technically a Human but it's a Changeling so it kind of is. Either way, it's a finisher card if we have enough mana to sink into it.
• Serra Paragon: We don't run many sources of recursion in this build but this one's definitely worth it. A significant percentage of our permanents are under 3 CMC so there's usually something useful to bring back.
• Shalai, Voice of Plenty: Another way of giving our whole team hexproof including, importantly, Sigarda, Font of Blessings. If both Angels are in play, it's virtually impossible to target our stuff with anything.
• Sigarda, Champion of Light: Has a useful dual purpose. Boosts our creatures with her anthem effect and sometimes acts as a pseudo-card draw source with her attack trigger if the conditions are right.
• Walking Ballista: The other half of our infinite combo, with Heliod, Sun-Crowned. As with Heliod, there are plenty of ways we can tutor for it.

Other Key Cards

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While we're a creature-based strategy, we augment our game plan with several other categories of cards. Here's a rundown of the most important ones.

Ramp
Because we're relatively low to the ground (our average mana value is around 2.7 and 80% of our cards are under 3 CMC), we don't need a lot of ramp sources to get going. We have the obligatory mana rocks, plus Farseek, Rampant Growth and Three Visits, plus a couple of creature ramp effects mentioned in the Humans list. Three Tree City is a new staple for a tribal build like this one.

Removal
Selesnya colours are pretty good for removal. Beast Within, Excise the Imperfect, Generous Gift and Stroke of Midnight take care of virtually anything, and we have efficient answers for creatures in Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile. Aura Shards is often game-breaking as we have so many creatures entering the battlefield.

Tutors & Card Draw
As an offensive deck, we want to run enough sources of card draw that we rarely run out of gas. We rely on three enchantments (Sylvan Library, Tocasia's Welcome and Guardian Project) to keep our hand full, plus useful utility lands like Minas Tirith and War Room. We also have a variety of tutor cards to search for combo pieces or other useful cards - many of these are listed in the Humans/Supporting Creatures lists above, but we also run Eladamri's Call and Worldly Tutor, both of which can be cast at instant speed.

Protection
Our biggest weakness as a creature deck is how susceptable we are to boardwipes. Our Humans will usually be hexproof but that's no good if someone decides to cast Blasphemous Act, Damnation etc. To counteract this, we run Dawn's Truce, Flare of Fortitude, Heroic Intervention and Teferi's Protection to save our creatures in those instances. Akroma's Will gets a special mention because it can be used on offence or defence. Then we have Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Whispersilk Cloak to protect specific creatures (usually Sigarda, Font of Blessings or occasionally one of our finisher cards). Yavimaya Hollow is an amazing old Reserved List card that saves creatures from death by regenerating them.

Token/Counter Generation
Finally we have a series of cards that either make tokens with the Human creature type, or give +1/+1 to Humans that are already in play. Token generators such as Horn of Gondor, Call the Coppercoats, Castle Ardenvale and Westvale Abbey   are handy for a go-wide strategy. Cathars' Crusade and Gavony Township power up our creatures with counters. Coat of Arms doesn't use +1/+1 counters but can boost our team to insane levels if we have plenty of Humans on the board.

Power Level

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I categorise decks in my collection according to four tiers of power, from 1 (most powerful) to 4 (least powerful):

Tier 1: Higher powered decks with fast mana, free spells, and infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors.
Tier 2: Well tuned decks which may have infinite combos or instant wins that are searchable with tutors, but not many fast mana sources and/or free spells.
Tier 3: Reasonably well tuned casual decks that are capable of powerful plays. May occasionally have infinite combos or instant wins but don't generally use tutors to find them.
Tier 4: Lower powered or linear decks, weak enough to play against other casual decks.

Like most of my EDH decks, I'm aiming for this one to be on the higher powered side of casual. Until recently it was definitely in the Tier 4 category but, with thr addition of the Heliod, Sun-Crowned // Walking Ballista combo, plus a change of commander from Sigarda, Host of Herons to Sigarda, Font of Blessings, I'd say is's now somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 2. As it has multiple ways to tutor for its combo pieces, let's call it Tier 2.

Budget

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At just over $400 on Card Kingdom, this isn't one of my more expensive decks but I've invested in some premium cards to boost its overall power. Serra Ascendant, Cavern of Souls, Esper Sentinel, Coat of Arms and Akroma's Will are the most costly but you can make do without them, or swap them for cheaper alternatives.

You'll also notice I've used proxy versions of several cards to keep the cost down - these are Boseiju, Who Endures, Yavimaya Hollow, Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart, Myrel, Shield of Argive, Three Tree City, Teferi's Protection and Sylvan Library. In most cases, I have these cards already in other decks but use proxy versions to save swapping them back and forth.

Upcoming Changes

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It's taken a long time (mainly because I've been prioritising other decks) but I'm finally at the stage where I can call this list finished. I'm not looking to make any significant changes and I'm happy with its overall power level. That said, there are invariably new Humans in each newly released Magic set so I'll keep an eye out for upgrades in Selesnya colours.

Thanks for reading this primer :) I hope you keep fighting the good fight with your Humans decks!

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All My EDH Decks

{W} Giada, Font of Hope {W}
S(i)erra Sidewinder: Mono-White Angel Tribal

{U} Talrand, Sky Summoner {U}
Blue Streak: Mono-Blue Spellslinger

{U} Orvar, the All-Form {U}
Clone Zone: Mono-Blue Shapeshifters Combo

{B} Sidisi, Undead Vizier {B}
Swamp Thing: Mono-Black Goodstuff

{B} Syr Konrad, the Grim {B}
Black Hole: Mono-Black Sacrifice/Aristocrats

{R} Torbran, Thane of Red Fell {R}
Red Force: Mono-Red Group Slug

{R} Rionya, Fire Dancer {R}
Firebird: Mono-Red Storm/Tokens

{G} Titania, Protector of Argoth {G}
Timber Terror: Mono-Green Stax

{W}{U} Grand Arbiter Augustin IV {W}{U}
Control Freak: Azorius Control

{W}{U} Elminster {W}{U}
Crystal Wing: Azorius Skies & Scry

{U}{B} Oona, Queen of the Fae {U}{B}
Dreamcatcher: Dimir Faeries Tribal

{U}{B} Narfi, Betrayer King {U}{B}
Ice Breaker: Dimir Snow/Zombies

{B}{R} Rakdos, Lord of Riots {B}{R}
Steamin’ Demon: Rakdos Life Loss

{B}{R} Juri, Master of the Revue {B}{R}
Pandemonium: Rakdos Sacrifice

{R}{G} Hallar, the Firefletcher {R}{G}
Trailblazer: Gruul Kicker

{R}{G} Wort, the Raidmother {R}{G}
Barnstormer: Gruul Conspire

{W}{G} Sigarda, Font of Blessings {W}{G}
Stampida: Selesnya Humans Tribal

{W}{G} Captain Sisay {W}{G}
Legendia: Selesnya Legendary

{W}{G} Sythis, Harvest's Hand {W}{G}
Diamondback: Selesnya Enchantress

{W}{B} Daxos the Returned {W}{B}
Curse of Novgorod: Orzhov Constellation

{W}{B} Kambal, Consul of Allocation {W}{B}
Oblivion: Orzhov Lifegain & Lifedrain

{U}{R} Firkraag, Cunning Instigator {U}{R}
Dragon’s Fury: Izzet Dragons/Goad

{B}{G} Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons {B}{G}
Scorpion Express: Golgari Deathtouch

{B}{G} Nath of the Gilt-Leaf {B}{G}
Outlaw Run: Golgari Elves/Discard

{W}{R} Bruenor Battlehammer {W}{R}
Steel Force: Boros Equipment

{W}{R} General Ferrous Rokiric {W}{R}
Gatekeeper: Boros Multicoloured

{U}{G} Momir Vig, Simic Visionary {U}{G}
Wicked Twister: Simic +1/+1 Counters

{U}{G} Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres {U}{G}
Toxic Garden: Simic Infect

{W}{U}{B} Tivit, Seller of Secrets {W}{U}{B}
Steel Vengeance: Esper Artifacts

{W}{U}{B} Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign {W}{U}{B}
Riddler’s Revenge: Esper Topdeck

{U}{B}{R} Marchesa, the Black Rose {U}{B}{R}
Revenge of the Mummy: Grixis Dethrone/Combo

{B}{R}{G} Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire {B}{R}{G}
Dragon Wagon: Jund Dragons Tribal

{W}{R}{G} Pantlaza, Sun-Favored {W}{R}{G}
Raptor Attack: Naya Dinosaurs Tribal

{W}{U}{G} Galadriel, Light of Valinor {W}{U}{G}
Vapour Trail: Bant Flicker

{W}{B}{G} Karador, Ghost Chieftain {W}{B}{G}
Hair Raiser: Abzan Reanimator

{W}{U}{R} Kykar, Wind's Fury {W}{U}{R}
Storm Runner: Jeskai Tokens

{W}{U}{R} Hinata, Dawn-Crowned {W}{U}{R}
Phantom’s Revenge: Jeskai Spirits Tribal

{U}{B}{G} Yarok, the Desecrated {U}{B}{G}
Boomerang: Sultai ETB Triggers

{W}{B}{R} Kaalia of the Vast {W}{B}{R}
Abyssus: Mardu Angels & Demons

{U}{R}{G} Omnath, Locus of the Roil {U}{R}{G}
Boulder Dash: Temur Landfall

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.74
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elephant 3/3 G, Human 1/1 W, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Human Soldier 1/1 GW, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Human Warrior 1/1 W, Incubator, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Soldier