Since Rampaging Ferocidon has been banned, tokens are bad on the menu!
In a slight change from usual lists (which are Aggro/Midrange hybrids) I'm trying out a more control oriented list. I find the lifelink on the Vampire tokens combined with Anointer Priest are great at keeping you alive through the early and midgame.
Everyone knows the basic card choices so I'll skip the obvious ones and instead focus on what makes this deck different from the other Token build you've seen.
This version of tokens thrives off of chump blocking and life gaining through the early game, allowing it to build a presence in the mid game, and then hopefully you can convert a Golden Guardian or two into lands that either accelerate your mana or else start pumping out 1-2 4/4's each turn. Note that Golden Guardian's ability doesn't require it to die from the fight, only to die that turn, and can be activated at instant speed. This means you can chump with a 1/1 and a Guardian, make them fight each other and after the Guardian trades you get your land (untapped I might add).
Elenda, the Dusk Rose may seem underwhelming, but she only needs to see one creature die if your have Anointed Procession out before she's making FOUR tokens, which is well worth the investment. Even without any Processions, Elenda becomes worthwhile after seeing two creatures die, so her presence makes combat very awkward for your opponent.
Queen's Commission is normally a worse Call to the Feast in these decks, but our 4 drop slot is already overfilled, while the only other three cost card is a 1-of Profane Procession. So it's worth taking the small hit in power for the massive increase in consistency and early game survivability.
With two very strong boardwipes in Settle the Wreckage and Slaughter the Strong, you should have no issue dealing with decks that go wide, and Fatal Push and Vraska's Contempt give you options versus singular threats.
In the sideboard, Duress lets you deal with Approach of the Second Sun and Boardwipes way before they can even threaten you. Sentinel Totem gives you a lot of time against God-Pharaoh's Gift and
The Scarab God
. Finally Fragmentize lets you deal with everything from Search for Azcanta to Walking Ballista and even in a pinch gives you another way to flip Golden Guardian.
