Commander Introduction
Side note: This deck isn't near completion, but it's my wife's deck and she wanted to see a spreadsheet for it. It's mostly the mana base that needs improvement, but overall the deck is a monster.
First off, I know there are better selesnya human commanders, but none have more of a witchy flavor than Leinore, and like Wilhelt, she also is a really solid card draw engine. One thing I like about the commanders we've gotten from Midnight Hunt (That is to say Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, Leinore, Autumn Sovereign, and Tovolar, Dire Overlord
) is that they have some sort of card draw baked right into them, and even though it's only once per turn, it feels like just the right pacing. Coven is also not as difficult to trigger as you might think, Usually by the time Leinore comes out (like Wilhelt, her 4 mana cost provides just the right set up time) you already have 2 other creatures out with different powers, and something I really love about Leinore is that her abilities trigger at the start of combat AND her first trigger is not reliant upon Coven, meaning you have even more of an opportunity to make Coven happen, and then you have main phase 2 to use your brand new card you just drew (a slight recommendation, if you don't absolutely need a land in your first main phase, hold out to see if it's a better land then what you have in hand). I am a little disappointed that as of writing she is only rank #372 of all commanders, and I'm not saying she needs to be top 50 or even top 100, but I still feel she should be more popular then that especially since she has a pre con.
Deck Theme
Coven is the theme for this deck, more specifically it's a +1 counters and human tribal deck, so it's pretty straightforward in what the deck is supposed to do. Thankfully Coven is not something you have to focus super hard on, you just have to make sure that you always have 2 other creature with different power, and I say only 2 because Leinoire is one of only 2 creatures in the deck with a power of zero, the other being Somberwald Sage which if that's on the field and you have another creature with 2 or more power, you simply use Leinore to give Somberwald a counter and voila! Coven is turned on. I will also note that there is a touch of landfall theme, actually there are 6 creature cards that deal with lands or landfall. Im not going to list all of them, but I will say my favorite out of all of them is probably Cemetery Protector as it's a very flexible card, not only does it exile a card from ANY graveyard, but because we have fetch lands in the deck you have the option of creating a creature with landfall, or you can just exile a creature and have the trigger be off creatures, oh and it has flash. Overall, there aren't really any combos for this deck like there is with Wilhelt, overwhelming force is the name of the game for Leinore, and next up we are going to talk about some cards that help her beat face.
Singles Spotlight
Mikaeus, the Lunarch: You can't have a counters deck in white and not have Mikaeus in it. He is part of the pre con, and if he for some weird reason wasn't he would have been the very first absolute include in a modified Leinore. You're probably never going to use his first ability, as you have Leinore to place counters on him, it's his second ability makes your board a lot deadlier, giving all your other creatures +1/+1 counters, which really ramps up the table and helps you out with out next card.
Shamanic Revelation: So as of writing, I myself have not played my wife's deck, I am merely reporting on the games I have played against her, and this card has won her games easily. Late game, you are most likely going to have a solid board state with at least 5-6 creatures, and at this point those creatures are likely going to be power 4 or greater. For 5 mana, you can net yourself 5+ cards and at least 20 life. In one game, my wife used this to get to a whopping 72 life!
Champion of Lambholt: Speaking of horrific plays against me, in a game with one of our nesting partners, a game in which I was set to win with a [Rooftop Storm} draw next turn with my Wilhelt deck, I realized something horrifying: This card makes ALL of your creatures unblockable. Now, there is the clause that this depends on Lambholt's power... which for my wife was 9/9... so she beat my face in, and I didn't have enough blockers to stop it. This is definitely a game winning card.
Herald of War: Ah, good old Herald, this is definitely a card you want out as early as possible, not only is it a solid flyer to swing at your opponents with, but you don't even need to swing with it, it can just act as an enchantment making all your angels and humans cost less for however many counters are on it. Early game, it's good to use Leinore to pump it up, though I would not go past 6 or 7 intentionally, as your highest generic mana cost creatures are only 5 or 6.
Imposing Sovereign: This card is so much fun, it's on theme as a human, it's only a 2 drop, and it provides a little more control against opponents right alongside Ghostly Prison. It's not as good as it might seem, meaning it's mostly to slow down your opponents ability to block, because unless your opponents creatures have haste, them attacking same turn or using the creatures tap ability really doesn't matter due to summoning sickness, however in those instances where it really does matter, it can be devastating to an opponent's strategy. If it was more than a 3 drop card I wouldn't have even included it in the deck, but as a 2 drop control on theme it's incredibly useful, especially in a deck that wants to beat face.
Deck Summary
As is, without extensive testing or further edits and an OK land base... This deck is very strong and a lot of fun to play around with, it's not going to make your friends hate you, and as far as human tribal decks go it offers a unique feel. Look forward to more edits coming in the near future.
