Bright-Palm is an interesting commander to me. Because she has Selesnya colors and deals in +1/+1 counters, she can be built around a go-wide strategy or a counters matter strategy. With her access to red, she also grants access to more combat-focused strategies such as using cards like Seize the Day to attack multiple times in a turn.
With her backup 1 ability, she can buff any one creature and turn that creature into a potential threat. If someone wanted to build a deck centered around the Backup ability, I think she would be a good choice.
One of the issues I have with the go-wide strategy though, is that one well-timed board wipe can be disastrous, especially when the goal is to build up counters. In a strategy centered around counters, I think what matters most is actually the counters themselves and not the creatures. Board wipes are especially devastating because we can potentially lose all the counters we've been spending so much time stockpiling.
If we instead focus all our efforts on a single creature, then we can alleviate some concerns about mass destruction. If the board is wiped, we only need to play a new creature and then start building up like we were doing before. There's an issue here too, if that single creature is removed then our efforts go to waste.
What if instead of having a bunch of creatures, or having one big creature, we have a few creatures that can each become potential threats at any time. I think Bright-Palm is a good commander for this strategy.
Cosmic Rebirth becomes much more effective for each permanent included that costs 3 or less. There are a few cards that cost 4 or more, but I think they're worth it.
Botanical Brawler starts off small, but we're going to be moving counters around a lot, and so it can accumulate counters as we continue to do what we were already doing. It also naturally has trample, and with a pep talk from Bright-Palm those counters double and it can't be blocked by creatures that are too weak. You can potentially force an opponent to block with one of their bigger creatures, or simply swing in for some free damage if that opponent is trying to preserve their creatures.
Champion of Lambholt is a really cool card. It keeps accumulating strength like Botanical Brawler and makes all our other creatures harder to block. It has a relatively cheap mana value of 3. Another upside is the card is already included in the precon.
Conclave Mentor grants another way to accumulate counters, it costs less than 3, it grants a bit of life as a bonus when it dies, and it's in the precon. Neat!
Death-Greeter's Champion costs 3, and can grant another creature more power and double strike. If we're trying to make one creature look scary then I think this card is a good way to do that. It's included in the precon.
Doomskar Warrior unfortunately costs 4, but being able to grant a counter AND trample AND a way to refuel the hand to another creature is pretty strong. It's a card that can be replaced without many issues. I think the potential to combo it with Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier or our flicker cards sounds too fun to pass up, personally.
Dusk Legion Duelist can get us a few cards, it's cheap, it's got vigilance, and it's a 2/2. The only gripe is that it doesn't play into this "accumulating strength" thing that the other cards do, but rather grants a small reward for doing so. It's a solid card, and I think it works, but I also think it's replaceable.
Duskshell Crawler gives a counter to something and gives trample to all of those somethings that have counters on them.
Emiel the Blessed isn't 3 or less, but it blinks all our creatures which combos especially well with our creatures that have Backup.
I think Enduring Bondwarden is a really cool card for this strategy. Our goal is to preserve counters and move them around. Giving another creature the ability to move its counters to something as it dies can help keep the dream alive. Enduring Bondwarden + Voldaren Thrillseeker
allows us to kill our creatures ourselves while also getting some free burn.
Evolution Sage is neat because of the proliferate. I'm not sure if I like it in this strategy though. It builds up our counters, but we can't really use it to rebuild if some of our cards get wiped. It costs 3 so that's good.
Fertilid always brings some counters with it when it enters the battlefield, and it can use those counters to go find us some more land. It costs 3 as well. It's included in the precon.
Generous Patron lets us draw cards sometimes, but more importantly, it puts counters on things and costs 3. It has good toughness too.
Good-Fortune Unicorn lets us build AND rebuild. If an opponent wants to wipe the slate clean with something like Farewell or Merciless Eviction then we can potentially evade those cards with Semester's End targeting all of our creatures. Semester's End would wipe most of our coveted counters, but if this unicorn is there, it'll give them all one more counter back. And that's before we consider cards like Fertilid that bring their own counters. Good-Fortune Unicorn + Semester's End
is pretty neat. It costs 3. It's included in the precon.
Gyre Sage costs 2, accumulates strength, and turns that strength into mana. It's included in the precon.
Remember how Gyre Sage taps for mana? What if it also drew us a card thanks to Hangar Scrounger? That's not the only combo. We're going to be trying to attack most of the time anyway, so the scrounger will allow each of them to become ways to dig through the deck some more when they attack.
Incubation Druid is similar to Gyre Sage, and it costs 2. It won't be very difficult to get counters on it, and while we probably won't need to use that Adapt 3 ability it's still nice to have. It's included in the precon.
Kami of Whispered Hopes is the third mana dork and helps with building up counters. It costs 3.
Loyal Guardian costs 5 but it gives every creature a +1/+1 counter each combat. It can be replaced in this build, but for builds centered around multiple combats I think this card is a must.
Managorger Hydra keeps accumulates counters quickly and has trample built in. It costs 3 and is included in the precon. Playing this card early could be a good way to bait some removal, especially if the opponents aren't aware that there are several more cards like it on the way.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch costs 1 and is included in the precon. He can build up counters, enter with counters, and give counters to every creature. Just casting him for 2 is good. Or just cast him for 1 if card like Good-Fortune Unicorn is on board.
Mirror-Shield Hoplite will become a stronger and stronger card as more cards with Backup are released. It doubles any of our backup-related strategies just by breathing. Oh yeah, it's also a 2/2 with vigilance and it costs 2. Even if Bright-Palm is our only creature with Backup, this card is still worth including because Bright-Palm's backup ability is one of the best.
Pridemalkin is included in the precon, costs 3, and brings a counter with it to the battlefield. Then it gives our creatures with +1/+1 counters trample. It was already good when it brought the counter with it, so giving most of our creatures trample is an amazing bonus.
Restoration Angel is one of our blink cards and it has flash. It's also one of the few creatures in this build that has flying. It costs 4 though, so it doesn't work with Cosmic Rebirth. It's more easily replaceable than the other blink cards. It's also less interactive with the counters themselves. It comes included in the precon.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade turns all of our creatures into mana dorks. Hangar Scrounger would probably be his best friend in this build.
Shinewend has flying, costs 2, and brings counter. The card also has some removal built in.
Tauran Mauler is a slightly worse Managorger Hydra, but it still costs 3 and it starts out as a 2/2. It's also got changeling, which doesn't really help our strategy but might come up one day.
Thundering Raiju is an easy target for any of our backup cards. It has haste and gives counters to our creatures. Then it burns all of our opponents based on how many of our creatures we preserve and keep modified. It starts as a 3/3 on top of this. It costs 4, but I think that drawback is worth it.
Voldaren Thrillseeker is a really cool card. It costs 3 and comes with Backup TWO, not just one. Then it gives any creature a sacrifice ability that doesn't have a tapping cost. It gives any of the creatures that we've built up the ability to fling themselves, and provides a way to kill our own creatures if we need to. The focus of the deck isn't centered around killing our own creatures, but I think this card still has a good home in the counters matter strategy.
Wildwood Scourge costs 1 and accumulates counters. It's not included in the precon but it's a pretty cheap alternative to Benevolent Hydra which I will eventually swap in.
Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter is the only planeswalker. He costs 3 and turns our creatures into mana dorks just like Rishkar, Peema Renegade. He also gives out counters.
Arcance Signet, Commander's Sphere, and Sol Ring are the standard mana rocks. They're included in the precon. They all cost 3 or less.
Strionic Resonator copies any triggers we want, especially our Backup triggers. It costs 2 and is included in the precon.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary is some steady draw, lets us fix those draws a little, and costs 3. It has the precon symbol, but it's not included in the Bright-Palm precon.
Damning Verdict wipes away all creatures, but not ours if we've been maintaining our counters.
Relentless Assault and Seize the Day are the two cards that allow this deck to have additional combats. If we're focusing our resources on one creature then Seize the Day becomes especially powerful. Gyre Sage + Seize the Day
, Incubation Druid + Seize the Day
, and Kami of Whispered Hopes + Seize the Day
are some possible combos.
Swiftfoot Boots is NOT included in the precon. It costs 2. Notably, we won't be using it on our commander but rather whichever creature is the one we're focusing on at the moment.
Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Impulse, and Talisman of Unity each cost 2. I think taking 1 damage is worth having dual mana without having to use the guild signets.
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, and Nature's Lore are our ramp cards. Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are included in the precon.
Unnatural Restoration could be replaced. It's cheap, gets a permanent back to our hand, and proliferates. But there are probably other cards that better fit this strategy.
Acrobatic Maneuver, Cloudshift, Ephemerate, and Semester's End are all ways to blink our creatures. Semester's End is included in the precon, and is a way to evade board wipes at the cost of some of our counters.
Silkguard gives counters to any of our creatures at instant speed and gives modified creatures hexproof. In most cases, we can cast this for 1 without paying X and still get some good protection from it.
Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile and Generous Gift are classic removal spells. They're all included in the precon.
Inspiring Call doubles as protection AND card draw at instant speed. Pretty cool.
Dromoka's Command and Inscription of Abundance have a lot of options on them, and at least one of the options they both share is that they can grant counters. They're both included in the precon.
Return to Nature is included in the precon. It's a good removal card and one of our sources of artifact and enchantment removal.
Colossal Majesty allows us to draw a card during our upkeep for doing what we were already doing. It costs 3. It can be easily replaced though.
Felidar Retreat seems to find a way into most decks lately. It's a good card. It costs 4 but gives tokens and lots of counters.
Hardened Scales helps accumulate counters and it costs 1. It's a cool turn 1 play.
Invigorating Hot Spring costs 3, gives our creatures haste, and grants counters to our creatures. It's pretty much required in this deck.
Mayael's Aria costs 3, gives all our creatures counters, and gives us 10 life. Also it just straight up wins the game if we build up enough counters and it goes unanswered.
Resourceful Defense saves any counters that a creature had if it dies. It can move all those counters to itself in the event of a board wipe. It costs 3.
Rhythm of the Wild offers a way to protect our creatures from counters. Also, it can give our creatures haste or counters. Also, it costs 3.
Touch the Spirit Realm allows a creature to evade removal, or provides some removal of its own. Blinking one of our own creatures for 2 is pretty good, and even if we discard it, it costs 3, so Cosmic Rebirth turns it into instant speed removal, or even an instant speed evasion in the event of a board wipe by having it target on of our own creatures and then letting the board wipe remove Touch the Spirit Realm.
Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier combos with all of our Backup creatures, granting that same backup ability to all of our creatures. This means all of our creatures can suddenly become equally threatening. Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier + Voldaren Thrillseeker
is likely a death sentence for at least one opponent, if not two or more.
Kessig Wolf Run is included in the precon and lets us turn any of our creatures into a threat.
Gavony Township is included in the precon and gives all our creatures a counter, which fits with the strategy.
Game Trail, Furycalm Snarl, and Fortified Village come included in the precon. To try and increase the chances of them entering untapped, I think having multiple dual lands or triomes is a good idea. Canopy Vista and Cinder Glade are also included in the precon and help with this.
I don't think it's necessary to include expensive lands like shock lands but Sacred Foundry, Stomping Ground, and Temple Garden make it easier to play the reveal lands.
Jetmir's Garden isn't included, but should be added at some point.
Jungle Shrine is included in the precon and should stay.
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood gives counters.
Exotic Orchard and Command Tower are included in the precon and can stay.
The general idea is we want cheap creatures that bring counters with them or do something with those counters on their own, but can be given a pep talk at any time to become much more powerful. I think this should allow us to build up a decent board while allowing for some recovery if we're hit with removal.
Rather than one big creature, or going wide with several small creatures, I think there's some kind of middle ground here that Bright-Palm facilitates.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions for how to improve the deck, or cards that you would replace with other cards.
I think what makes Bright-Palm shine is the ability to make other creatures shine, as noted by her title of Soul Awakener, and so I would like to find a way to bring out that concept more.
If you have other concepts or strategies for Bright-Palm, I'd like to hear those as well if you're willing to share.
