** This is a Mono-Green Ramp build loosely based on Pageofabooks build from Mtg Salvation. (http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/601190-titania-mono-green-tempo)
I have borrowed some of her descriptions as she is an excellent explainer of the finer points of playing this deck. My version and hers differ on many points so I can absolutely recommend that you check out her original article. Even if it has not been updated in some time. **
Deck Objective
The main goal of the deck is to use Titania's abilities as our win condition and the main value engine of the deck.
The 5/3s that Titania generates are the driving force of the entire deck. More often than not, we will win through the sheer power of an attacking force of Elementals. In fact, this version of the deck strives to run other creatures as support to allow Titania's Elementals all the glory of winning. Moreover, since they come into play just as a byproduct of playing our deck, we should have no objections to using them as resources. We want sac lands, therefore, not only to maximize our land drops through Titania's first ability, but to make our Elementals through our second. This circular nature of Titania's abilities allows us to make her extremely powerful with only a few synergies.
Why Play This Deck
*You like having a commander that is both the primary win-con and engine of your deck.
*You like having a toolbox of specific answers at any given moment.
*You like to win through the combat phase.
Why Not To Play This Deck
*You don't like to rely on your commander.
*You hate explosive plays and would rather win the game gradually.
*You don't like tutoring and shuffling your deck a lot.
Piloting the Deck
Early Game
Just because we have the potential to play a long game in our deck, it doesn't mean that we can't ensure a swift victory. I have personally won on turn 3 in this deck, but more often on turn 5 or 6.
When putting lands down in your first few turns, don't be afraid to crack fetch lands. Casting Titania is a much better play when we have lands to bring back from the graveyard. It is best to get the benefit of having a land in play, even if Titania is not out to produce a token, and then generating that token later after we crack the same fetch again.
Mid-Game
This is where most of our removal and draw comes into play. This deck offers a variety of answers to most of our opponents' threats. Green is particularly good at artifact and enchantment destruction on the whole, which encompasses most of the value engines in EDH.
Late Game
This is where we try to throw down our big threats and splashy plays. The goal in the end game is to create as many Elementals as possible based on the board we built up in the early stages of our game and swing out for lethal on our opponents.
Weaknesses
Losing Titania
The most obvious weakness of the deck is losing Titania. This is the case with every commander-centric deck. However, I feel as though it's the price to pay for synergy and fun while playing. Moreover, there are ways of not only combating this issue but also playing, and winning, without access to your commander.
Fortunately for our deck, tuck is now not an issue for us. While before we were forced to play an entire game without access to our deck's main engine or use a creature tutor to get her back, now we only have to worry about bringing her back from the command zone. While a tax of 2 every time Titania is removed from play can seem daunting, we are playing green after all. Access to Gaea's Cradle is probably the best way that we can assure we have enough mana to repeatedly cast Titania. However, it is also safe to rely on a surplus of lands, since we shouldn't be sacrificing them until a path to victory is clear.
Getting Overzealous
Let's say we have fifteen lands and Titania in play. On our opponent's end step we Chord of Calling into our Sylvan Safekeeper and sacrifice all of our lands, going all-in and guaranteeing that we swing for 80 damage (15 5/3s plus our commander). We declare attacks, and our opponent casts Cyclonic Rift or Rout.
I've had this happen more than once. It's the biggest tragedy we could imagine when piloting this deck. We're left with absolutely nothing on our board and little hopes of re-establishing. So what can we do to prevent this from happening? One is not to sacrifice all of our lands when our opponent has seven open mana. But there are also other ways we can pave our way to rebuilding our board after a blowout.
The best insurance against this kind of situation is getting out Gaea's Cradle. While the Cradle is an amazing way to get a ton of mana in our deck at any point of the game, its value really shines once our lands are dead. Every land that we turn into a creature still supplies us mana with Gaea's Cradle out. In the same situation above, we can sacrifice everything but our Gaea's Cradle, still swing for lethal, and still have mana in case of an unfortunate play from an opponent.
If we haven't gotten Gaea's Cradle yet, we can also just be more conservative with our plays. Don't swing for 80 damage if your opponent only has 25 life and no blockers. Limit sacrificing lands by only producing the exact amount of creatures you need. This way we can still push our opponent out of the game while still retaining the resources we need for the rest of the game.
Lastly, we can take measures a few turns before our splashy, winning plays to make sure we can re-establish at all. One thing I like to do is cast a large draw spell, such as Shamanic Revelation, and cast Azusa, Lost But Seeking or Exploration to make sure we can get our lands quickly back into play after we kill them off. This also works with Life From the Loam in the grave. If we do face an untimely board wipe, we will usually be left alone by the other opponents at the table, who will believe we are sufficiently neutered as a threat. If we find a way to re-establish during this down time, there is still hope that we can win the game altogether.
