Commander Collection: Timber Terror

Commander / EDH Bracket 4 Combo Mono-Green Snow Stax

Jurrane

Land (35)

• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures P
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Crystal Vein
• 1x Demolition Field
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Glacial ChasmGC
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Prismatic Vista P
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 17x Snow-Covered Forest
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Urza's Cave
• 1x Verdant Catacombs P
• 1x War Room
• 1x Wasteland
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Creature (12)

• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Tireless Provisioner
• 1x Titania, Nature's Force
• 1x Vorinclex, Voice of HungerGC

Enchantment (14)

• 1x Burgeoning
• 1x Elemental Bond
• 1x Exploration
• 1x Food Chain
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Hall of Gemstone
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Lignify
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Tribute to the World Tree
• 1x Undergrowth Recon
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation
• 1x Zendikar's Roil

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Bramblecrush
• 1x Ezuri's Predation
• 1x Genesis Wave
• 1x Into the North
• 1x Natural Balance
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Scapeshift
• 1x Splendid Reclamation
• 1x Three Visits
• 1x Whirlwind
• 1x Wildest Dreams

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Akroma's Memorial
• 1x Conduit of Worlds
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Emerald Medallion
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Mishra's Helix
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x Sunstone
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Winter Orb
• 1x Zuran Orb

Instant (11)

• 1x Archdruid's Charm
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Constant Mists
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Entish Restoration
• 1x Force of Vigor P
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Worldly Tutor

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“Out of this wood do not desire to go;
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.”

Titania, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, III.1.972

{G}{S}{G} Deck Concept: A Forest Prison {G}{S}{G}

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To make a mono green deck, I wanted to do something different than just ramp into massive creatures, which green always does. Then I remembered playing against a mono-G artifact-based Stax build that seemed to be pretty unusual, so I decided to give it a try.

In principle, green is the best colour to exploit a Stax resource denial strategy. We have numerous mana dorks and other ramp sources, and Seedborn Muse as a way of ignoring lock cards like Winter Orb and Static Orb.

The basic goal of this deck is designed to ramp into as many lands as possible, and then to slow down and soft-lock opponents while churning out 5/3 Elementals with Titania, Protector of Argoth. We often want to use Ramunap Excavator, Conduit of Worlds, Undergrowth Recon or Crucible of Worlds to keep recurring our sacrifice lands from the graveyard, particularly Wasteland and Strip Mine.

Win Conditions

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The deck’s primary route to victory is to create enough 5/3 Elementals to overwhelm our opponents, using Titania, Protector of Argoth’s triggered ability. Our standard finisher is then to use Akroma's Memorial to give them haste, flying and other abilities.

We also have access to an infinite combo that uses Titania, Protector of Argoth, Food Chain and Command Beacon to create an infinitely large army of Elementals. Here's how it works:

1. All three permanents must be on the battlefield.
2. Activate Command Beacon's second ability by tapping and sacrificing it.
3. Titania's second ability triggers, creating a 5/3 Elemental creature token.
4. Respond to Titania's second ability by activating Food Chain and exiling Titania, adding {G}{G}{G}{G}{G}{G} that can only be spent to cast creature spells.
5. Choose to have Titania put into the command zone from the graveyard.
6. Resolve the Command Beacon ability from step 2, putting Titania from the command zone into your hand.
7. Cast Titania by paying {3}{G}{G}
8. Titania enters the battlefield, returning Command Beacon from the graveyard to the battlefield.
9. Repeat an arbitarily large number of times to make an enormous army of Elementals (they will all have haste if Akroma's Memorial is on the board).
10. NB. also make infinite mana this way as we have one spare {G} for each loop of the combo.

The Stax Plan

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For the uninitiated, Stax is a strategy of resource denial that uses permanents with abilities that prevent players from performing actions in the game (for example, preventing them from untapping their permanents). Some Stax cards are symmetrical, in that they affect all players instead of all opponents, although we have various tools in our deck to minimise their impact on us. Our primary Stax pieces mostly focus on mana denial and we therefore use these to create a soft lock that restricts our enemies’ access to their key resources, while advancing our own game plan. Our deck is built to mitigate many of the mana denial effects that are included.

The main Stax elements we have are listed below. We’re not a hard lock deck that stops our enemies doing anything at all but instead we run a series of soft lock elements. Either individually or in combination, the primary purpose of these elements is to limit our opponents’ actions, while we work around their restrictions.

- Mana Denial: The classic Stax pieces of Winter Orb and Static Orb limit the number of lands (or permanents) that players can untap. We have various cards to mitigate this (see “Overcoming Resource Denial” below), while our opponents’ actions slow to a crawl, giving us more time to develop. We include Mishra's Helix to tap opposing lands if their owners don’t want to do it themselves. Hall of Gemstone makes life difficult for multicoloured decks, while Collector Ouphe shuts off everyone's mana rocks, as well as other problematic artifacts.

- Creature Tax: We have a series of cards that minimise the impact of enemy creatures. Torpor Orb removes their enter the battlefield (ETB) effects and can shut down entire decks singlehandedly. The small number of creatures we run don’t have ETBs so there’s no downside for us. Cursed Totem shuts down activated abilities, which is slightly annoying for us if we have mana dorks or Sylvan Safekeeper in play, but is potentially backbreaking for many opponents. Crawlspace limits the number of creatures that can attack us in combat (and we can always use Constant Mists or Sunstone to reduce their damage to zero, often with the negliable drawback – or even benefit – of sacrificing a land).

- Land Destruction: Here’s where things get nasty. Mass land destruction is frowned on in EDH, but we have no qualms about chipping away at our opponents’ mana base with our land destruction package. We use Strip Mine, Wasteland, Demolition Field and Ghost Quarter to selectively remove lands that are advantageous to our enemies, all of which can be recurred from the graveyard with Ramunap Excavator, Conduit of Worlds or Crucible of Worlds. Splendid Reclamation brings all our lands back so the fun can start all over again. We also have Natural Balance to reset everyone’s land count to five, which becomes an upside for us if Titania, Protector of Argoth’s in play as we get a 5/3 Elemental for each land we sacrifice.

Overcoming Resource Denial

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While our opponents are hindered by the Stax elements listed above, we have numerous cards to work round them. Here’s how we overcome our own soft Stax lock cards:

- Mana Dorks & Doublers: While Winter Orb punishes land-based mana, we’re in green so we run all sorts of alternative mana sources. We have various mana dorks, plenty of ramp sources, and several effects that double the potency of our own lands (Vorinclex, Voice of HungerGC and Caged Sun. Our devotion to green is usually quite high, so Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is really useful. All this means we can usually carry on playing spells while Winter Orb taps down opposing lands.

- Untappers: We can also play round Winter Orb and Static Orb’s effects by using cards of our own that provide untapping effects. Seedborn Muse is incredible as it means we can be truly nasty if Mishra's Helix is in play and tap down each opponent's lands in their upkeep phase. Wilderness Reclamation allows us to ignore Winter Orb’s drawback.

- Finding The Right Creatures: We’re highly reliant on finding the right creatures – usually Seedborn Muse, Ramunap Excavator or Vorinclex, Voice of HungerGC – to mitigate some of our Stax elements. Creature tutor cards like Chord of Calling and Worldly Tutor allow us to do so. Genesis Wave is an all-star as it usually results in various Stax pieces, together with one or more of the above creatures, hitting the board at the same time.

- Recursion: If our Stax pieces are destroyed or our mitigation cards are removed, we run a number of recursion effects to get them back from the graveyard. Eternal Witness and Wildest Dreams return cards back to our hand, ready for us to play them again.

Why Snow Lands?

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Apart from the obvious flavour win of including Winter Orb in a deck full of frozen forests, we play Snow-Covered Forests to benefit from Sunstone’s Fog defensive effect that avoids damage from attacking creatures. We don’t mind paying the price of sacrificing lands as Titania, Protector of Argoth gives us an Elemental for each land we sacrifice; and we have ways of returning our lands to play from the graveyard.

Fuelling Titania

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Not many decks want to be frequently sending their lands to the graveyard. We do, because that’s the way we get our Elemental tokens when Titania, Protector of Argoth is on the board.

Here are the various ways we get lands into the bin:

- Land Destruction: Our land destruction package of Strip Mine, Wasteland, Ghost Quarter and Natural Balance goes from annoying to lethal if we also get a 5/3 Elemental every time we use one of these to make an opponent sacrifice a land.

- Other Utility Lands: We run various other utility lands that provide helpful effects when we sacrifice them. Misty Rainforest, Fabled Passage, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills etc allow us to search for basic lands and enable land sacrifice/ETB triggers. Urza's Cave tutors for any land we need (typically we want Command Beacon for its combo potential with Titania, or Nythos, Shrine to Nyx for the high amouts of mana it generates). Crystal Vein is a nice little resource boost.

- Land Sacrifice: We have ways of sacrificing our own lands to create upside. Constant Mists and Sunstone shut down combat damage while giving us 5/3 tokens if Titania’s around, while Zuran Orb rewards us with lifegain. Harrow and Crop Rotation's downsides are mitigated by Titania, while being useful sources of ramp.

Protection & Removal

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Finally, we have a removal package to take care of troublesome permanents that we can’t control or mitigate through our Stax elements. Beast Within is our best choice for versatility and its downside of creating a 3/3 Beast token is rarely a problem. Bramblecrush, Force of Vigor and Nature's Claim have more limited uses but are still helpful in the right situation. Lignify, Kenrith's Transformation and Song of the Dryads are fantastic for shutting down creatures, especially enemy commanders. Ezuri's Predation is the closest we have to a creature boardwipes to punish go-wide decks.

While we don’t have many ways of protecting our stuff from opponents’ removal (Heroic Intervention is our only solution), we have enough recursion that it's rarely an issue.

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.

The two mono green decks I have are amongst the weakest in my collection. Both this one and my other mono green build are what I would say are my Tier 4 decks. Although green tends to be strong in constructed formats, in my experience, mono green can be easily shut down and its weaknesses - particularly in removal - tend to be particularly exposed in EDH. That isn't to say this deck can't put up a fight but it's best suited to casual tables as it can be outclassed by faster, more aggressive competitive decks.

In terms of WotC’s new power level brackets for EDH, this is a Bracket 4 list, mainly because of its mass land denial effects. We also have a couple of game changer cards like Glacial ChasmGC and Vorinclex, Voice of HungerGC. But it’s one of those decks that plays a bit lower than its bracket classification and I’d think about Rule 0’ing it for B3 pods if other players are happy to do so.

Budget

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Somehow the price of this deck has crept up to nearly $600 on Card Kingdom, which obviously makes it very expensive for a casual deck. The land base is where some of the more expensive cards are, such as fetch lands and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Other more expensive cards include Akroma's Memorial, Burgeoning, Exploration, Scapeshift, Worldly Tutor and Crucible of Worlds. Many of these cards are pretty central to the deck's strategy so it's difficult to suggest replacements. I'd therefore suggest that if you're interested in building a deck like this, first test it on one of the free online MtG applications to see if you enjoy playing it, as it has quite a specialised play style that's not for everybody. At least that way you can figure out if you like it before pulling the trigger and buying lots of cards.

Upcoming Changes

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I haven't made many changes to this list for a while so it's looking a bit dated. I'd like to add Sylvan Library, replacing Hurricane.

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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 IVGC {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	5 days
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 11 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.91
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elemental 2/2 G, Elemental 5/3 G, Food, Phyrexian Beast 4/4 G, Treasure