Elf Tribal / Group Hug: Selvala, Explorer Returned

Commander / EDH* Elves GW (Selesnya) Tap/Untap

xUnholy

Creature (36)

• 1x Accomplished Alchemist
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Copperhorn Scout
• 1x Drumbellower
• 1x Elvish Archdruid
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Emeria Shepherd
• 1x End-Raze Forerunners
• 1x Fyndhorn Elder
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Genesis Hydra
• 1x Greenweaver Druid
• 1x Immaculate Magistrate
• 1x Imperious Perfect
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Llanowar Tribe
• 1x Loxodon Lifechanter
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Nullmage Shepherd
• 1x Quirion Elves
• 1x Realm Seekers
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Scryb Ranger
• 1x Seedborn Muse
• 1x Seeker of Skybreak
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x Timberwatch Elf
• 1x Trelasarra, Moon Dancer
• 1x Veteran Explorer
• 1x Village Bell-Ringer
• 1x Wirewood Channeler
• 1x Wirewood Symbiote

Land (35)

• 1x Arctic Treeline
• 1x Blossoming Sands
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Elfhame Palace
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 10x Forest
• 1x Graypelt Refuge
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 9x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Selesnya Guildgate
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thornglint Bridge
• 1x Tranquil Expanse
• 1x Unclaimed Territory

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Hour of Revelation
• 1x Hurricane
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Regrowth
• 1x Shamanic Revelation
• 1x Storm Herd
• 1x Sylvan Offering
• 1x Tempt with Discovery

Artifact (1)

• 1x Sword of the Paruns

Commander (1)

Instant (11)

• 1x Burst of Strength
• 1x Emerald Charm
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Ornamental Courage
• 1x Rallying Roar
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Roar of the Kha
• 1x Squall Line
• 1x To Arms!
• 1x Tribal Unity
• 1x Vitalize

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Banishing Light
• 1x Elvish Guidance
• 1x Instill Energy
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Righteous Aura
• 1x Rites of Flourishing

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Sideboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Gluntch, the Bestower
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1x Quirion Elves

Artifact (2)

• 1x Howling Mine
• 1x Otherworld Atlas

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Hypergenesis
• 1x Sylvan Offering

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Maybeboard

Creature (21)

• 1x Boreal Druid
• 1x Capricopian
• 1x Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1x Desolation Twin
• 1x Devoted Druid
• 1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Grunn, the Lonely King
• 1x Hunted Wumpus
• 1x Hyrax Tower Scout
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Moldgraf Monstrosity
• 1x Polukranos, World Eater
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Rampaging Baloths
• 1x Serra Avatar
• 1x Soul of the Harvest

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Camaraderie
• 1x Collective Unconscious
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Mobilize
• 1x Open the Armory
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Play of the Game
• 1x Plea for Guidance
• 1x Selvala's Charge
• 1x Tempt with Discovery

Instant (6)

• 1x Bull's Strength
• 1x March of the Multitudes
• 1x Naturalize
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Selesnya Charm
• 1x Stony Strength

Artifact (9)

• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Oketra's Monument
• 1x Rhonas's Monument
• 1x Selesnya Keyrune
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Umbral Mantle

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Beastmaster Ascension
• 1x Darksteel Mutation
• 1x Kenrith's Transformation
• 1x Quest for Renewal
• 1x Sandwurm Convergence
• 1x Trudge Garden

Land (2)

• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Wirewood Lodge

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Elfball!

At its heart, Elf Tribal is all about the mana dorks: Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves and others are the heart of any good Elf deck. From there we have elves that skyrocket our mana (Wirewood Channeler), pump our elves (Timberwatch Elf), make tokens (Lys Alana Huntmaster), or swing in for the win (Ezuri, Renegade Leader).

Since dumping tons of mana dorks will empty our hand quickly and Selvala is both an excellent source of card draw and mana acceleration, we're also going to be running a bunch of untap effects for some really explosive turns.

The game plan is like so:

Play mana dorks. Drop down Selvala, Explorer Returned. Tap Selvala + mana dorks for big mana, untap Selvala + mana dorks and retap them for big mana. Cast giant spells to refill our hand, drop big fatties, or win the game off a lethal Hurricane. Sounds good? Let's get started!

Mana Dorks

We run lots of mana dorks. These elves let us ramp out our game plan and synergize with cards that care about creature count (Shamanic Revelation) and/or elves (Priest of Titania). They also set up our explosive game-winning turns. Since we run so many mana dorks, we can cut down on the land count.

The best mana dorks are without a doubt the 1-cmc dorks that tap for Green/White mana: Llanowar Elves and friends. Fill up on all the ones you can pick up; most are cheap. The other great dorks are ones that can tap for 3+ mana which can enable some combos (discussed later).

Mana Dorks: Arbor Elf, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Boreal Druid, Devoted Druid, Elvish Archdruid, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elder, Fyndhorn Elves, Greenweaver Druid, Joraga Treespeaker, Llanowar Elves, Priest of Titania, Quirion Elves, Wirewood Channeler

Untap, Retap!

Here's where things get spicy: we've got all these mana dorks, along with our powerhouse Selvala, Explorer Returned, tapping for mana, ramping us, and drawing cards. Let's kick it up a notch by running cards that untap our dorks so we can retap them for even more mana/draw!

Thousand-Year Elixir is a staple for Selvala decks letting her and other mana dorks immediately tap when they hit the table and can untap her for extra value. But that's just the beginning: Instill Energy is an obscure oldie that is bonkers good with Selvala, letting her tap twice on your turn and once on each opponent's turn as well. Magewright's Stone is less impressive than Elixir but similarly good.

Let's go even deeper. Why just untap one thing at a time? How about we untap all of our mana dorks at once for some super green Dark Ritual action? Cards like Mobilize and Vitalize do just that and they essentially cantrip in our deck when Selvala is on the field because she draws us a new card to replace them.

Careful, though — these cards are high risk, high reward. They're amazing with Selvala on the field, but they're dead draws if you have an empty board. If you want the fastest, most combo-oriented Selvala list possible, you'll want every untap effect available. If you want to play a slower, more resilient game, you'd be better off running fewer untap cards.

Untap cards: Copperhorn Scout, Quirion Ranger, Seeker of Skybreak, Village Bell-Ringer, Wirewood Symbiote, Wirewood Lodge, Thousand-Year Elixir, Instill Energy, Emerald Charm, Roar of the Kha, To Arms!, Vitalize, Mobilize

C-C-Combo!

Selvala, Explorer Returned has a couple of tasty combos available to her. They're mostly infinite mana, but if you add Selvala to the mix some can turn into infinite draw / lifegain:

Priest of Titania or Elvish Archdruid or Wirewood Channeler + Umbral Mantle or Sword of the Paruns + any 3 elves = infinite mana. Priest, Archdruid, or Channeler tap for 4 mana with at least 3 other elves on the field. Use Mantle / Sword to untap them for 3 mana, leaving 1 mana remaining. Rinse repeat infinite times. If Selvala is on the field, you can then equip Mantle / Sword on her for infinite draw / life gain.

Wirewood Symbiote + Mirror Entity + any elf that taps for 3+ mana = infinite mana. Tap the 3+ mana elf for mana. Pay 1 mana to use Entity's ability on the Symbiote turning it into an elf. Use Symbiote's ability to untap the 3+ mana generating elf, returning the Symbiote (now an elf) to your hand. Replay the Symbiote, which is now considered a new entity so the "once per turn" rule goes away. Rinse repeat. If you have a decent board of creatures, you can turn them infinitely large with this mana and swing for tons of damage.

Winning

Elfball has tons of avenues to win. Here's a couple this deck is capable of:

Lethal burn. Burn in Green? Yup! Generate a ton of mana in one big turn via untap effects or an infinite mana combo, then kill the table with a massive Hurricane or Squall Line. Note you must have more life than your opponents to win, but Selvala, Explorer Return gives you extra life so this should be easy. Turn your dorks into fatties! We have numerous ways to do this: Mirror Entity can make our army infinitely large, Beastmaster Ascension can do similar, Triumph of the Hordes gives us a cheat around life totals along with trample. Big fattie smash! It ain't fancy, but sometimes bashing face with a random big creature like Soul of the Harvest will do the trick.

Sources:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-commander-selvala-explorer-returned-57 https://edhrec.com/commanders/selvala-explorer-returned-budget-budget https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/21-07-18-budget-selvala/ https://deckstats.net/decks/140267/1658626--50-budget-selvala-explorer-re/en

Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 24 - 6 Rares 29 - 0 Uncommons 26 - 3 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.12
Tokens	Elephant 3/3 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Pegasus 1/1 W, Treasure, Treefolk X/X G
Folders	Budget EDH Decks