Welcome to my primer on Nissa, the Vastwood Seer. She quickly became one of my favorite decks and I'd like too share some of what I have learned over time developing and tuning the deck.
The Power Level of the deck I a solid 8, assuming we reserve 9 and 10 for cedh-decks. It does powerful things, reasonably fast and consistent, without being immpenetrable; especially some well placed counterspells or spot removal are able to throw wrenches in my game. And of course being mono green limit the range of effects the deck can provide.
But let's get started, I hope you enjoy :-)
Goal of the Deck
The idea behind this deck is simply enjoying the gameplay of generating value and making big plays. The satisfying feeling of playing extra lands, drawing incredible amounts of cards, the sequencing of mana doublers, the puzzle of getting the most mana and cards out of the deck and sometimes even drawing your entire deck on turn 5 or 6. If you haven’t had the pleasure of playing Garruk Wildspeaker or Nissa, Worldwaker and netting Mana, Tooth and Nailing for Regal Force + Hornet Queen just to get cards, or using Apex Altisaur
+
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
to shoot down enemy lands; well, you should try it some time.
I do play interactive cards, but the plan is to overpower the other decks on the table by generating way too much mana and cards.
And after looking down on half my deck on the battlefield with no way to win the game way too often, I put in some ways to actually win the game, when I reach a certain state, around 30-40 mana.
Most of the time a combination of Kamahl, Fist of Krosa alongside creature removal gunning down enemy lands, gets a win. the kinda recent Finale of Devastation is a perfect additional Wincon, as is doubles as a tutor before.
**History and Design**
The Commander
The deck started withTitania, Protector of Argoth, but after a few games the repetitive and volatile gameplay of this commander became apparent. It’s possible to get down a ton of 5/3s quite early and either wining the next turn or fold to a board wipe. It gave me the “puzzle” feel of green decks, but it just didn’t produce interesting games.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer fits the deck perfectly as she supports the early game and, after flipping, draws a card every turn (I did use her -2 ability once in 2 years, the ultimate I might’ve used a couple of times to generate mana). Sure, Nissa might not be the most powerful commander; I feel it grounds the deck and smoothes out the gameplay. Also the deck isn’t focused around a Commander, which gives more of a diverse gameplay. For example Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Selvala, Heart of the Wilds might be much more explosive, but are forcing a certain type of deck and lines of gameplay, that might get repetitive.
This Deck is not dedicated to getting Nissa flipped as soon as possible, by ramping only lands. She allows us to play less lands as almost any hand with 3 mana is keepable. In the midgame, a flipped Nissa is a nice value engine, helps catching up in cards after investing heavily in ramp
The Structure
The deck is designed to get ahead on mana early on and then using the mana for big effects, land ramp, card draw or interaction, mostly, to catch up on the gamestate. In the “midgame” around turns 5-9 we try to get lands more lands onto the table to secure a stabile mana base even through board wipes. No wonder green is powerfiul in commander when people are scared to play Armageddon effects. A mana doubler or two on the battle field is the setup to go off, getting 20+ Mana and winning with Kamahl, Fist of Kroa + Ezuri’s Predation or Walking Ballista. I never assume I untap with creatures in the Midgame, hence I don’t plan on attacking for the win.
Over time I cut almost all “midrangy” cards, like Thragtusk, Whisperwood Elemental and Verdant Confluence even actual fatties like World Breaker or Woodfall Primus. Solid card advantage like Harmonize or Tireless Tracker, Yavimaya Elder or Courser of Kruphix all got cut in favour of more Impactful cards, like Greater Good, Zendikar Resurgent and Regal Force.
I realized, that I need to do something powerful after ramping, to catch up in time but also in cards, since cards like Llanowar Elves and Cultivate are air in that they don't contribute to a board.
Thus the Deck basically became split in half between enablers, I.e. ramp, and payoff cards with a few utility cards here and there. I wanna get as much mana as quickly as I can and then use it. The cards I accelerate into have to have a huge impact on the game. Card that might have a good rate, especially cretures in the 3-6 slot mostly do not have enough “EDH Punch” to offset the disadvantage I put myself into by playing all this acceleration. Also creatures that are just strong don’t make the cut in this deck. I don’t play Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger for his stats or even abilities, but 10 mana for an uncounterable double exile effect is what I want. A Card like Worldspine Wurm… I don’t wanna attack people to win, I'd rather draw a card than swing at someone for 10... Really. There are many green cards that are just good like for example Yeva, Nature's Herald, who, while giving me amazing flexibility doesn’t contribute to the goal of the deck. Every creature in the deck either gives me a significant advantage or interacts with an opponent. Except Temur Sabertooth… which gets another chance after being cut a some time ago, because the potential value is just so tantalizing.
**Card Choices**
Tutors
Before I break down the deck, I want to lose a few words on the Tutors. We use them to plug the holes in our curve, adapting to the situation at hand. An Azusa, Lost but Seeking might be the perfect card, if we have some lands in hand, I even used Summoner's Pact on turn 2 once to search up Priest of Titania to catapult me far ahead. Of course tutors are used to get an answer for a specific problem.
In the mid game usual targets are Nyxbloom Ancient if we have enough cards to use all the mana, or Regal Force to draw off of all the dorks we have lying around. Note that, while casting Tooth and Nail you don’t have to put the creatures you searched for into play. You can search up Regal Force and Ulamog and then put in Hornet Queen
+
Regal Force
, saving the Ulamog for later.
*Ramp and Mana*
Apart from Dryad Arbor, which is an additional mana dork with Green Sun's Zenith, every land crucially generates mana the turn in comes into play. There just is no land that justifies the disadvantage of entering the battlefield tapped. In addition, we want to keep the Forest count high to ensure maximum value from Vernal Bloom and friends.
Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Boreal Druid, Arbor Elf and Elvish Mystic are the real heroes of the deck. They are the main reason I play Nissa. Every elf almost replaces a land in the deck as they get out Nissa, Vastwood Seer on turn 2, who then refunds the land. The reasoning that they don’t count as lands for Nissa to flip and therefor shouldn’t be in the deck sounds legit, but ignores the fact they do still make mana like a land… for just one mana. There just isn’t any alternative, if we want to keep the speed of the deck. As long as we can use the advantage we get from them, and that’s the entire plan of the deck, they are well worth it. I am thinking about even adding Birds of Paradise, and maybe cutting a colorless land for them. Here I have to mention Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl which are similarly powerful, but less contested as the mana creatures, because they tend to be safer from removal.
I play ramp for its efficiency, which results in a mix of Mana dorks/ Wild Growth’s, Land Ramp, Exploration effects and Mana Doublers at the top. It was an iterative process, that led me to this setup and I can’t really justify why for example I play two Cultivate effects over one or three. If asked about specific card choices I for sure can rattle on about that...
Card advantage
Here I rely on a few very powerful effects, often just using a tutor for Regal Force to give me an infusion of fresh cards.
While powerful cards, Harmonize and Tireless Tracker felt awkward trying to fit them into the curve, as they lie between the ramp and the payoff. A combination of the cheaper Sylvan Library and Skullclamp and the potentially much more powerful Regal Force and Greater Good is my way to go. Especially Skullclamp is nice as it uses the mana elves in the mid game as they have done their part.
Vivien Reid is nice for its selection but I’m starting to think it might be not impactful enough.
The focus is on efficient answers or extreme powerful effects. Putting in Nature's Claim in favour of Krosan Grip opened my eyes to the value of efficiency over flexibility. If I want an effect, I'd rather look for the card that gives me that effect a cheap as possible. Try not to get blinded by fancy and most of the time never used bonuses or extra modes. Simply, I want my interaction never never feel clunky. Hall of Gemstones for example disrupts multi-colored deck, while protecting myself from counterspells (ALL Lands produce the chosen colour!!) at a reasonable cost.
At the higher mana costs the cards are mean more than anything else, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Void Winnower and Emrakul, the Promised End are the Eldrazi of choice since they really disrupt enemies. I am not interested in the old Eldrazi, since annihilator triggers are a full turn cycle away. The same goes for anything, that is good just because it attack or blocks good. The deck just doesn’t need it.
Apex Altisaur is often a 3 for 1 that sticks around, killing our opponents key creatures.
Oblivion Stone is the last of the total board wipes after Nevinyralls Disk and Perilous Vault got cut. I rarely am to far behind on board, but I’d like to have that effect in my repertoire.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Mainly in the deck as a tutorable mana doubler, the second ability of course is nice to have as it forces removal out of our opponents or slows them down significantly.
Alternatively, we can use Kamahl as intended and running our opponents over by animating some of our own lands for a change. Finale of Devastation also opens up that possibility of winning through the oh so dreaded combat step.
*Notable Interactions*
Woodland Bellower: Fierce Empath extends the range of the Bellower to all but a few creatures. Pro tip: Searching for a Regal Force through a Bellower gives 3 creatures counted to draw off of.
The sequencing of Mana doublers and untap effects are mostly situational, although most of the time its advisable to get doubling effects down as fast as possible.
To be continued
*Notable exclusions*
Sol Ring: I do not play Sol Ring and Mana Crypt, out of preference. As a green mage at heart, I despise these cards. While I build almost half my deck around getting ahead on mana, a Sol Ring allows every deck to start the game at turn 4, having to make no compromises in deck building. The early Sol Ring might not enhance your win percentage (as by the Commandzone stats episode 2018), but it creates volatile gameplay. All that being said, I don’t play Sol Ring to proof that green does not need it. Of course, it (and Mana Crypt) would improve the deck significantly.
Craterhoof Behemoth: The main Problem with the card is, that it doesn’t do anything when you’re not winning the game with him. Every card I play as a win-con has other utility; the Behemoth just sits around and maybe gets sacced to Greater Good. That aside, I don’t plan on untapping with many creatures anyway, either because of board wipes or because I don’t have a lot of creatures on the battlefield. I think, in a more interactive pool, Craterhoof Behemoth is a trap.
Avenger of Zendikar is replaced by Hornet Queen as it has more utlity "early", discouraging attacks our way. The pumping effect of the Avenger is just not needed and sometimes (Skullclamp!!) even bad. This for me balances out the fact, that the Avenger has a way higher ceiling. That said, I might try the Avenger some time.
Courser of Kruphix: I just mention the card, because the prof rated Courser of Kruphix the best green card in EDH… I mean, sure it is fine but it just felt like I wasted a card and 3 mana to maybe get an extra card here and there.
As with only a 100 cards, there are many staples I did not include in the deck. Most of them failing to contribute to the general plan of the deck. On request I hopefully can provide explanation
Essentially being the worst ramp option in the deck, The coming into play tapped really hinders the tribe elder during the mid game, where the second Nature's Lore can sometimes even met mana with all the doublers.
The hall is extremely powerful, but I want to move the deck away from this sort of effects back to a more battle cruiser style. This is where I hope the new Devastator does exactly that.
I wanted to make the Early game as fast as possible. Basically always ramping on Turn 1 and catching up on card with Nissa. The Birds are the last 1-Mana Dork I can add to maximize my chances to do that.
It's basically another Mana dork for an even more explosive early game. I like, that, as powerful as the card is early, in the mid game a Forest is better most of the time.
The Sabretooth just doesn't fit the deck. The cards I actually want to recur are too expensive and usualy I don't need a mana sink, since I have enough to do anyways.
Usually Apex Altisaur does more, while i don't feel like the mana difference hurts. when i have 6 mana i want to ramp up even more instead of interacting.
I just don't have enough fatties, so the card is dead a lot of the time. maybe if I wanna go down in Powerlevel i put this back in as i add more big creatures and take out some ramp.
I will miss the card advantage Cultivate gives, but the burst from the Druid was something I wanted to try. If i want to dial back the powerlevel, this card will come in again immediatly.
The last Sets didn't bring much for the deck. Cultivator Colossus looks like is fits, the deck doesn't have enough lands to utilize the effect though.
Cemetery Prowler looks interesting, the cost reduction can yield lots of mana in a long turn, while the graveyard hate utility is convinient. I might try it, when i get the chance to actually play the deck again.
Some Changes in the last year, were mainly to make the deck a bit more robust, I added more card draw, and removed some salty Cards, Vorinclex in particular. Leeding to less variance, maybe i can't "go off" on turn 4 quite as often, on the other hand i have less games, where my deck doesn't work out and i sit around with 5 Lands in play and some fatties in hand.
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