A Lovely Lady and Her Axe (Selvala Storm)

Commander / EDH* Casual GW (Selesnya) Multiplayer Storm Tap/Untap

Anarrandir

Lands In Function (36)

• 1x Arctic Treeline
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Branchloft Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Elvish Spirit Guide
• 1x Emeria's Call  ^Flip
• 3x Forest
• 1x Gemstone Mine
• 1x Horizon Canopy
• 1x Kabira Takedown  ^Flip
• 1x Khalni Ambush  ^Flip
• 1x Lair of the Hydra
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Makindi Stampede  ^Flip
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Ondu Inversion  ^Flip
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip
• 1x Skyclave Cleric  ^Flip
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Tangled Florahedron  ^Flip
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip
• 1x Vastwood Fortification  ^Flip
• 1x Wirewood Lodge
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Removal (5)

• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Song of the Dryads
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Untap Effects (33)

• 1x Aim High
• 1x Benefactor's Draught
• 1x Bull's Strength
• 1x Burst of Strength
• 1x Djeru's Resolve
• 1x Emerald Charm
• 1x Gift of Growth
• 1x Hyrax Tower Scout
• 1x Instill Energy
• 1x Jandor's Saddlebags
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Mobilize
• 1x Nature's Chosen
• 1x Ornamental Courage
• 1x Puppet Strings
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Savage Surge
• 1x Scryb Ranger
• 1x Seeker of Skybreak
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Steady Aim
• 1x Stony Strength
• 1x Sudden Spinnerets
• 1x Sword of the Paruns
• 1x Synchronized Strike
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x To Arms!
• 1x Touch of Vitae
• 1x Umbral Mantle
• 1x Veteran's Reflexes
• 1x Vines of the Recluse
• 1x Vitalize
• 1x Wings of the Cosmos

Fixing (3)

• 1x Chromatic Orrery
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Orochi Leafcaller

Commander (1)

Other (Tutors, Protection, Recursion) (10)

• 1x City of Solitude
• 1x Dosan the Falling Leaf
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Nostalgic Dreams
• 1x Sterling Grove

Payoffs and Wincons (7)

• 1x Borrowing the East Wind
• 1x Finale of Glory
• 1x Gelatinous Genesis
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Hydra Broodmaster
• 1x Squall Line
• 1x Wolfbriar Elemental

Mana Utilitties (5)

• 1x Leyline of Abundance
• 1x Mana Reflection
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring

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Sideboard

Other (1)

• 1x Paradox Engine

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Maybeboard

Other (6)

• 1x Aeve, Progenitor Ooze
• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Gaea's Will
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Praetor's Counsel

Untap Effects (2)

• 1x Ruthless Instincts
• 1x Spidery Grasp

Lands In Function (1)

• 1x Kazandu Mammoth  ^Flip

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What Is This?

A rebuild of Storm post Paradox Engine ban.

Paradox Engine remains in the sideboard for play groups that allow it.

How to play:

Selecting a deck:

• This deck should not be played in a group with fewer that three opponents. It's theoretically playable with two opponents, but it will not be nearly as explosive. The reason for this is that Selvala, Explorer Returned 's parley ability scales with the number of opponents, so your ability to produce large amounts of mana is severely limited in a smaller game.

Keeping a hand:

• Do not keep a hand with fewer than three lands, including both a source and a source. Double-faced modal cards count as lands. At least one land must enter the battlefield untapped.

Turn 3:

• Always play Selvala, Explorer Returned . Never play any other card, unless you are in imminent danger and have to disrupt an opponent. This is the most important turn of the game.

Using your Mana:

• Selvala, Explorer Returned only produces .
• You want to conserve your as much as possible for things like Smothering Tithe , Burst of Energy , To Arms! , and Djeru's Resolve , and avoid using it for paying generic costs.

Using your Tutors:

• The enchantments you want to tutor for, in this order, are: Nyxbloom Ancient , Smothering Tithe , and Mana Reflection .
• If you are playing with Paradox Engine , that is your top target for Enlightened Tutor .

Ending the Game

• Finish the game using Gelatinous Genesis , Hydra Broodmaster , Hurricane , Squall Line , or Borrowing the East Wind . Other cards like Finale of Glory and Wolfbriar Elemental can put you ahead massively, but will generally not produce enough damage to kill multiple players at once, and as such form only a solid second tier of finishers.
• In case it's not entirely obvious: cards like Vines of the Recluse and Sudden Spinnerets are not random trash pump spells in this deck. They're actually rituals! Any spell that untaps Selvala acts like a ritual that produces mana, draws cards, and gains life.

Weird Includes:

• I run almost all of the modal spell/lands. The reason for this is that they count as nonland cards on their front face, so they are lands that don't count as lands for parley. However, except in very specific circumstances, they are basically just lands.
• Orochi Leafcaller is an obscure but useful common since it filters your abundant into .
• Contrary to many other Selvala decks, I do NOT run Illusionist's Bracers . Even though it is commonly played in Selvala lists, it doesn't actually work with her- According to a judge ruling on 2014-05-29, "Selvala’s parley ability is a mana ability. It doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to." As a result, most copy effects for activated abilities don't work with her, so I've eschewed them in favor of marginal combat tricks that happen to untap the creature.

Matchups:

• The deck is weak to highly interactive decks featuring removal and counterspells. Unfortunately, this weakness is really hard to fix: I could add cards that make things uncounterable, or to give things hexproof or shroud, but that dilutes the card pool and makes the deck less efficient. And since Selvala forces players to draw lots of cards, they will almost certainly draw their interaction. I've settled on using Dosan the Falling Leaf , City of Solitude , and Grand Abolisher , but because of variance, these can hardly be relied upon. In addition, they only stop opponents from interacting on your turn.
• The deck is weak to hatebears and hate enchantments, and has a difficult time against enchantress decks, simply because its removal, while powerful, relies on the deck getting on its feet. If those decks stop you from playing and activating Selvala, you will have a hard time. This may be antithetical to the purpose of removal, but hey, I didn't built this deck because it's good, I built it because it's fun.
• The deck can usually outpace most combo decks, but can have a difficult time against those decks' disruptive spells.
• The deck is very strong against battleship decks and tribal synergy decks, as well as traditional midrange synergy strategies like ramp, voltron, mill, non-combo artifacts, and +1/+1 counters. Some midrange synergy strategies can be tricky: for example, token decks can produce enough blockers to blunt an alpha strike.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	UBR
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 1 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.84
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Angel Warrior 4/4 W, Human 2/2 G, Hydra X/X G, Ooze */* G, Soldier 2/2 W, Treasure, Wolf 2/2 G