Dog Soldiers, a Tovolar Primer (Gruul Werewolves)

Commander / EDH Innistrad Midrange Multiplayer Primer RG (Gruul) Theme/Gimmick Transform Vorthos Werewolf

cheeseychum

Werewolves (28)

• 1x Arlinn, the Pack's Hope *pp*  ^Flip
• 1x Avabruck Caretaker  ^Flip
• 1x Child of the Pack  ^Flip
• 1x Conduit of Storms  ^Flip
• 1x Daybreak Ranger  ^Flip
• 1x Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip
• 1x Geier Reach Bandit  ^Flip
• 1x Hound Tamer  ^Flip
• 1x Howlpack Piper  ^Flip
• 1x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 1x Ill-Tempered Loner  ^Flip
• 1x Kessig Naturalist  ^Flip
• 1x Kessig Prowler  ^Flip
• 1x Kruin Outlaw  ^Flip
• 1x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip
• 1x Outland Liberator  ^Flip
• 1x Realmwalker
• 1x Reckless Stormseeker  ^Flip
• 1x Reckless Waif  ^Flip
• 1x Sage of Ancient Lore  ^Flip
• 1x Scorned Villager  ^Flip
• 1x Shrill Howler  ^Flip
• 1x Tovolar's Huntmaster  ^Flip
• 1x Ulrich of the Krallenhorde  ^Flip
• 1x Ulvenwald Captive  ^Flip
• 1x Village Messenger  ^Flip
• 1x Village Watch  ^Flip
• 1x Wolfkin Outcast  ^Flip

Draw (9)

• 1x Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Howlpack Piper  ^Flip
• 1x Into the Night
• 1x Myth Unbound
• 1x Obsessive Astronomer
• 1x Realmwalker
• 1x Sage of Ancient Lore  ^Flip
• 1x Unnatural Moonrise

Haste (5)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Arlinn Kord  ^Flip
• 1x Reckless Stormseeker  ^Flip
• 1x Village Watch  ^Flip
• 1x Zariel, Archduke of Avernus

Tutors (4)

• 1x Gamble
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Moonsilver Key
• 1x Signal the Clans

Lands (31)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 2x Forest
• 4x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Game Trail
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Mountain
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rockfall Vale

Removal (12)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Daybreak Ranger  ^Flip
• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Moonlight Hunt
• 1x Outland Liberator  ^Flip
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Tovolar's Huntmaster  ^Flip
• 1x Ulrich of the Krallenhorde  ^Flip
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker

Tokens (8)

• 1x Arlinn Kord  ^Flip
• 1x Arlinn, the Pack's Hope *pp*  ^Flip
• 1x Child of the Pack  ^Flip
• 1x Howling Moon
• 1x Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip
• 1x Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip
• 1x Shrill Howler  ^Flip
• 1x Tovolar's Huntmaster  ^Flip

Transform (5)

• 1x Geier Reach Bandit  ^Flip
• 1x Immerwolf
• 1x Into the Night
• 1x The Celestus
• 1x Unnatural Moonrise

Commander (1)

 ^Flip

Combat (13)

• 1x Arlinn Kord  ^Flip
• 1x Avabruck Caretaker  ^Flip
• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Berserkers' Onslaught
• 1x Full Moon's Rise
• 1x Howling Moon
• 1x Howlpack Resurgence
• 1x Immerwolf
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 1x Kruin Outlaw  ^Flip
• 1x Savage Beating
• 1x Triumph of the Hordes
• 1x Unnatural Growth

Ramp (11)

• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Conduit of Storms  ^Flip
• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Kessig Naturalist  ^Flip
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Scorned Villager  ^Flip
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x The Celestus
• 1x Ulvenwald Captive  ^Flip
• 1x Werebear

Enablers (6)

• 1x Arlinn Kord  ^Flip
• 1x Arlinn, the Pack's Hope *pp*  ^Flip
• 1x Immerwolf
• 1x Myth Unbound
• 1x The Celestus
• 1x Zariel, Archduke of Avernus

Hate (3)

• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Chaosphere
• 1x Gravity Well

Protection (3)

• 1x Dolmen Gate
• 1x Full Moon's Rise
• 1x Lightning Greaves

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WELCOME TO THE DOG SOLDIERS PRIMER!

INTRODUCTION

The deck is named “Dog Soldiers” after the cult horror movie about a group of Scottish marines being attacked by werewolves. It is a midrange/aggro deck that aims to establish a strong board early, refill the hand and pressure life totals quickly. If you have blockers, you are probably doing something wrong.

Thematically this deck is all about Werewolves, I have strived to have the majority of the deck be werewolves as the idea is Tovolar is uniting them all, since we finally have a werewolf tribal commander. They do not need equipments other than boots because savage animals of tooth and claw don’t require pretty magic swords.

I have included werewolves that do something on either transformed form so there is at least some kind of effect on the board. Essentially it is an aggressively costed Gruul Timmy deck, with extra steps.

Deliberately excluded the standard tribal cards such as coat of arms etc because I like my decks being a bit different personally, plus only WWs would be getting anthems since when they flip their abilities in combat should be strong enough anyway.

How Do Win Game?

The wincons are listed below but primarily are combat based or wins, as this deck is a midrange aggro deck hinging on the werewolf tribe and associated mechanics for card filtering/support.

Win Conditions

Arlinn Kord Emblem - turning creatures into burn spells is pretty hilarious even if this PW is unlikely to actually reach it

Combat (primarily!) - if you can block, you are not attacking enough

Ill-Tempered Loner//Howlpack Avenger + Blasphemous Act - this is the only 'combo' in the deck and serves to deal a large amount of damage by nuking our own board if we cant get through with combat damage to bolt peoples faces as a finisher. It is unlikely, irregular, unreliable and hilarious!

Triumph of the Hordes - the bane of the aggro player is life gain/control decks so I (probably out of seethe or spite you decide) always have a way to poison opponents in my decks.

Tovolar’s activated ability - oops oneshot by something that suddenly grew

Tovolar commander damage - at 3cmc he comes down pretty quick and his pump ability can catch opponents unaware

Going wide with the entire howlpack - a weakness of decks that like to play creatures quickly is to refill hand or rebuild after a boardwipe. Tovolar's draw ability keeps us current where we at least have things to do and thus should rarely be in top-deck mode. In addition, there are a fair few ways to go wide with this deck due to the large number of token-producers we run that have some synergy with werewolves.

STARTING HAND

When playing this deck you should take into account what commanders your opponents/prey are playing.

Mulligan Guide

AS A RULE YOU WANT TOVOLAR OUT ASAP

A good standard hand for this deck contains lands, ideally creatures you can play on T1 or T2 to immediately get a board state. Haste enablers are a HUGE plus and do a lot for the deck. Tovolar's draw covers additional cards.

Control Decks

Look for things that allow you to maintain a board or to stay present (draw, protection, token producers etc). This would be Lightning Greaves, Full Moon's Rise etc. A must have is Myth Unbound, as Tovolar will likely be targeted a lot.

Combo Decks

Look for cheap or instant speed removal like lightning bolt, if they have black in their identity run at them until they die to prevent ad naus shenanigans

Midrange Decks

Go for individually powerful cards like Howlpack Piper, Avabruck Caretaker, Huntmaster of the Fells for example to do things based on high card quality. Also things like the couple planeswalkers in this deck who provide flexible actions are extremely valuable since they allow you multiple avenues to react to the board or keep pushing your own. Every one of them has a buff for combat for a reason :)

Unsure

2 lands and a dork will work with anything you draw into.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Lets face it this is a gruul combat deck with extra steps, we are playing for fun and to fit into any pod except CEDH.

Strengths

People have no idea what werewolves do so you arent often percieved as a threat, unique effects, ways to buff creatures without slinging 50 spells a turn, early board presence, reliable card acquisition/selection

Weaknesses

The deck has several core cards (the commander etc) that make it easy to hate out of the game and nullify. Thats not to say it doesnt work without said pieces but just makes it a lot harder. Does not interact with other decks well (not designed to)

CORE CARDS

These cards are highly recommended for a Tovolar werewolf deck because of how well they work with the gameplan.

Core

Tovolar, Dire Overlord   - Tovolar is the lynchpin for the entire deck. Synergy with old werewolf cards and new, controls Day/Night cycle, fills your hand, transformes werewolves. He is one of the strongest/most important things in this deck.

Arlinn, the Pack's Hope   - Arlinn allows creatures cards cast at instant speed to facilitate transformations and creates bodies for tovolar to trigger. On the back side she is a big haste body or mana dork at night allowing the werewolf gameplan in any form.

Duskwatch Recruiter   - One of the best werewolves, fills your hand with an activated ability on front side allowing transformations, makes creatures cheaper on backside so you can use them.

Anger/Reckless Stormseeker  /Village Watch  /Zariel, Archduke of Avernus - These are desperately wanted in order to allow you get going and deal punishment out on the board.

Howlpack Piper   - you can play multiple werewolves without casting them then easily filling your hand when they transform next turn with its flip ability. 100% include no ifs and buts about it.

Huntmaster of the Fells   - One of the few werewolves that likes transforming back and forth, shock removal, face damage, life gain, board presence.

Immerwolf - One of the best cards in the deck, keeps werewolves transformed into their better sides regardless of spell usage. It is also an anthem so a must have.

Mayor of Avabruck   - Buffs front and back sides which is useful ina format where lots of spells per turn are usually cast

Myth Unbound - allstar of the deck, this thing keeps Tovolar accessible and lets Tovolar at least replace himself when he dies

The Celestus/Into the Night/Unnatural Moonrise - These cards force it to be night and strengthens your board because of it while also giving card filtering/draw.

FLEX SLOTS/WHY DO YOU RUN THAT?

A lot of these cards are in for jank or for tech reasons

Flex/???

Arlinn Kord   - Haste enabler, wincon emblem, trample enabler, makes wolf tokens. All hail the Were-MILF

Beastmaster Ascension - Sounds cool, also this deck can go wide and attacks often enough that it is not impossible to turn on

Blood Moon - In for flavour and to punish greedy manabases.

Conduit of Storms  /Kessig Prowler  /Shrill Howler  /Ulvenwald Captive   - I quite like the design of the Eldritch Moon werewolves, they are unique and useful. They are easier to transform than you think, you just need Vildin-Pack Alpha in play. The front sides are still playable regardless

Chaosphere/Gravity Well - This deck cannot stop fliers so I have put these in to remove flying :)

Faithless Looting - This card tosses Anger in the bin a lot, also f*ck Avacyn, Angel of Hope all my homies hate Avacyn Ancient Grudge

Grove of the Burnwillows - Land that taps for dual, its not good but is easy

Howling Moon - Werewolf combat buff, token generation. It also corresponds to the green side of werewolves as Blood Moon is to the red side (thematically)

Lightning Greaves - Protection/haste for Tovolar. His ability usually benefits others more than him so having shroud isnt the worst thing

Moonsilver Key - Tutors for the Celestus or for Kessig Wolf Run. Also on theme as in the story the Key was used to power the Celestus

Obsessive Astronomer - When changing from Day to Night this guy is excellent at filtering cards

Werebear - Mana dork thats on brand for the theme and can contribute to damage since we loot a lot

To Conclude

This deck is a solid 6-7 on a powerscale of 1-10 (1 being draft chaff and 10 being tuned meta-slave CEDH, precons are about a 4-5), it can and does win games while mostly being combat focused has lots of actions or triggers that it can do and occur so you will always feel like you have agency on the board.

On a personal note:

Werewolves got me into EDH in the first place with my first commander being Kresh, the Bloodbraided and running every werewolf printed at the time (pre-Shadows over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon block), including the crap black ones from Homelands.

This deck is intended as a love letter to a younger me's intentions to build a unique and fun deck around an uncommon creature type with a cool play mechanic, if you have found it on the internet somewhere and read/playtested/been inspired by/intruiged by its contents then I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I do. Feel free to reach out with comments, feedback on the primer (im not readily technologically compatible), cuts, adds, jank then please do so!

Thanks for reading all of the above if you made it this far, let me know what you think in comments I will occasionally update it if needed/powercrept. cheeseychum

Discord is "coldlizard." if you would like to reach out Last updated 10/12/2024

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/XoQPYxth7UqIkQ9OkaHdBA Show the moxfield one some love :)

Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.96
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Day, Devil 1/1 R, Eldrazi Horror 3/2 C, Emblem Arlinn Kord, Emblem Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, Human 2/2 G, Night, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	Copies, werewolves reference decks