Considering cutting Ant Queen. It's good with Earthcraft, but Earthcraft's always insane in this deck, so that synergy is somewhat overkill/"winmore". Outside of Earthcraft, 2 mana/token body is just too low rate to be really playable. Considering adding Elvish Visionary in its place as a cheap body that replaces itself, but also willing to entertain other options.

Nice build. I too run a Freyalise. You have cards I’ve never seen before. May steel some of your ideas. Tip for you. A math professor who plays magic claims that thinning a deck with fetch lands has no advantage except for shuffling your deck. Thumbs up!

keithallenlaw I completely agree on thinning being completely irrelevant (in fact, as a math geek I like telling people the same thing all the time). The fetches aren't there for thinning though; they have three main uses.

1. They let you shuffle your deck in combination with Oracle of Mul Daya, Sensei's Divining Top, and Sylvan Library. This is important, as green lacks powerful card selection, so we have to take what we can get. The interaction with SDT in particular lets us see 3 fresh cards when we have lots of mana and are looking for more action.

2. They provide landfall triggers. The most important interaction here is with Lotus Cobra. While Cobra in general is a powerful card, a hand containing just Lotus Cobra and a fetchland can get to 5 mana on T3 with no other help, which increases the odds of T3 Freyalise. They can also come in handy in growing plant tokens from Avenger of Zendikar to a size where they can be effectively Greater Gooded (though this is somewhat ancillary).

3. Last, but definitely not least, they can fetch Dryad Arbor in addition to basic Forests. The most common time this comes up is the EOT before the turn you go off; by fetching an Arbor, you can "freely" increase your creature count by 1 when you ult Freya. Additionally, fetching Arbor can be mana-positive if you have Earthcraft out and a Forest that taps for more than 1 mana. The Arbor can be handy in a pinch to eather protect your board from an Edict or pinch-block for Freya. It also can be Skullclamped, so it can turn your land drop into 2 cards in a pinch.

All these factors combined makes them worth the 1 life cost (which is trivial, especially considering that most people are going to be attacking Freya and not you). We also still have plenty of basics in the deck for Blood Moon and similar effects; that's one of the bonuses of being in mono-green!

I also forgot to mention that the extra lands in GY has positive interactions with Eternal Witness and Ramunap Excavator (especially along with Azusa/Exploration/Oracle), which is an important point to mention.

Thanks for the explanation. I sometimes overlook the significants of shuffling a deck. Especially with cards that make you place cards on bottom of the library. I’ll keep this mind. Thnx

Haven’t been impressed with Elvish Visionary; trying Summoner's Pact in its place. Hoping for a decent token generator from GRN to take its place.

Cutting the 37th land hurt more than I thought. To compensate, I’m changing the mana-base to Snow-Covered so I can replace Eye with Mouth of Ronom and keep my mana-producing land numbers the same. Dealing 4 damage to a creature is undeniably weaker than exiling 2 permanents or drawing 4 cards, but it also costs 10 less mana (vs 7+8) to do so. Being 1-shot is somewhat unimportant given that Eye also tended to be 1-shot, and has some synergy with Ramunap to compensate.

After further testing, didn't like the changes to the mana base. Reverted.

Hi Slivortal, have you played with the deck recently? How it been doing? Thanks!

cuckfamilo I've been playing with the deck quite a bit recently, and it's performed fantastically. The most recent set of net changes (-1 Ant Queen -1 Sensei's Divining Top +1 Summoner's Pact +1 Worldly Tutor) have been a big success in upping the overall consistency while trimming the "fat" (cards that were a little too awkward tempo-wise to justify in the first place). The deck continues to be fast, consistent, and most importantly resilient (I recently won a game on turn 4 that involved Cradle, Earthcraft, and Kozilek all getting exiled).

Finale of Devastation is an insane upgrade for this deck. Apart from being a slightly more expensive GSZ, it actually holds a couple advantages over GSZ. The first is that you can EWit it, leading to some great EWit/Sabertooth chains. The second is obviously the 10+, which is very realistic. Apart from being just a game closer, it also importantly gives all your mana dorks haste. This leads to some extremely interesting synergies, particularly with Devoted Druid. Devoted Druid when given haste and +X/+X actually makes all but 2 of your mana back on each Finale. This means that you can realistically go for the chain Finale -> Bellower -> EWit -> Finale -> Sabertooth -> Finale -> Craterhoof -> Saber + Crater + Devoted infinite. The cut I'm testing here is Wolfbriar, who's always been a little underwhelming.

I'm also planning on giving some more fast mana a shot; right now I'm planning on trying ESG and Chrome Mox. ESG is pretty good in this deck; other than being an uncounterable surprise Lotus Petal, its 2/2 for 3 mode is relevant as a blocker and creature count for Freyalise. You can also Summoner's pact for ESG on your combo turn if you need an extra green mana, which is neat. Chrome Mox seems good in theory because this deck runs two types of green cards: cards that are good earlygame and bad lategame, and cards that are good lategame and bad earlygame. Chrome Mox lets you throw away the type you don't need, which is nice. Might look into Mox Diamond if the test goes well, but I'm trimming the land count to begin with, so I think Chrome Mox is the better of the two to start.

I'm also trying out Marwyn, because I find myself really wanting another ramp source to get from 3->5 mana. Selvala2's another consideration, but Marwyn grows by herself, and Selv2 runs the real risk of feeding our opponents cards. We don't run that many creatures with more than 2 power, unfortunately, so Selv2 has a hard time making more than 1 mana or triggering off our own creatures.

To make room for these additions I'm trimming the land count and cutting Mana Reflection, which has been a little winmore. As always, suggestions are welcome!

After testing, I really like ESG. It's a pretty powerful effect, the surprise factor is great, and the hardcast mode is very relevant as well. I've also been a fan of Marwyn as another 3->5 mana ramp card.

On the other hand, I haven't been a big fan of Chrome Mox. It's great when you're going off, but the card disadvantage is extremely painful. ESG is also card disadvantage, but it doesn't require you to pitch another card, and the hardcast mode is available for when you are living off the top of the deck.

Speaking of creature count, I'm excited to try a couple of new CA engines: Vivien, Champion of the Wilds and Vizier of the Menagerie. Now that we're on a full 37 creatures (counting Dryad Arbor), the deck's finally in a place to take advantage of these cards.

As always, suggestions are welcome!

Ended up cutting Vizier for Sensei's Divining Top; Vizier was too inconsistent and too expensive. Beast Whisperer, Vivien Champion, and Top have all been solid additions, and I've enjoyed all three. ESG continues to impress, and Finale is absurd, as I originally expected.

To be honest man your deck is pretty sweet. I also have a freyalise deck as well and my deck is almost identical as your, but could be a little more fine tuned and I have found my primer!!!! Awesome deck and you definitely have given me the edge to tweak this thing to be perfect. Keep up the good work man!

Thanks for the kind words, Nabuseri! They mean a lot; I hope you find the notes useful, I've been tuning deck 5 years running and it's honestly some of the most fun I've had playing EDH.

You are quite welcome sir and I seriously mean it man. I have 5 decks, I know it's not a lot, but they are an expensive version on the commanders. My favorite of all is my freyalise and my most competitive. Your decklist and info are perfect. Maybe update your card reasons and you will be set.

Nabuseri: Yeah, I've been slacking on my card choice reasoning. I just went through and updated all of them, so feel free to read over them, and let me know if you have any other questions!

I honestly love this deck. A lot more fun than Selvala. Have you considered adding mana doublers such as Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Gauntlet of Power, Dictate of Karametra, Heartbeat of Spring, Extraplanar Lense, Zendikar Resurgent, Doubling Cube, Mana Reflection, Caged Sun, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Regal Behemoth, ect. Those are all the ones I can name with a quick search.

Hazdhurtheabbott I just recently cut Mana Reflection. I think it's by far the best of them (with Cube as a distant second), and if you want to run one, it's actually quite good. There are 3 reasons why I think it's the best.

1. It's the only one of the effects that doubles lands that tap for multiple mana (except for Doubling Cube, which has an annoying break-even point of 2(x-3)=6 mana in addition to its mana cost). This means that it doubles all our Cradles and Nykthoses, which represent a not-insignificant portion of our mana production. It's also the best by far to hit off a say Genesis Wave.

2. It doubles dork mana. This is kind of like point 1 extended, but a good portion of our mana production comes from our dorks, and Reflection interacts the best with those sources.

3. It's one-sided, so you can play it without fear of other people using it to ramp.

I ended up cutting it primarily because of how awkwardly it fits into the curve. This deck really wants to prioritize primary ramp sources (that cost 1 or less) and secondary ramp sources (that cost 3 or less), as 1 of each (or 2 of the former) curve into Freyalise. The problem with Mana Reflection is that the only realistic time you can cast it on "curve" is the turn between when you play Freyalise and when you ult. If you play it that turn and it sticks it's quite good, but it's unfortunately a huge target that doesn't protect Freyalise. On your combo turn you can play it and immediately break positive, but to do so is 2(x-6), so you need 13+ mana. There are times it's clutch, but the problem is that we're unable to tutor for it, so you have to leave a lot to chance. Realm Seekers is kind of similar in that it's an expensive card that makes mana, but the big + of Realm Seekers is its synergy with Greater Good, ability to "convert" creature tutors into land tutors, and ability to fetch Eye when we're flooding out. Mana Reflection also doesn't count towards creature count or block for Freyalise. The card I cut Reflection for is Marwyn (who's a nice secondary source of ramp that can still make a lot of mana), but I think you could definitely find a slot for it or Doubling Cube if you wanted a doubling effect in the deck.

The problem of "+1" mana generators like Vorinclex is that they don't synergize very well with dork mana or lands that tap for lots of mana. This is especially true for the "+1 for Forest" cards like the new Nissa (who I really like, but is hard to find a slot for in this deck).

The new Deep Forest Hermit is more than I could have ever hoped for this deck. Deranged Hermit was already arguably the best card in the deck, and this just increases the consistency and redundancy. Not to mention this one actually sticks around for your combo turn (since the echo was unpayable), and the Vanishing 3 is almost irrelevant for our strategy. Looking forward to picking up a copy!

For those unfamiliar, Deep Forest Hermit is a functional reprint of Deranged Hermit, with Vanishing 3 instead of Echo.

What would you swap for Deep Forest Hermit in the deck? Also, how do you like Force of Vigor? Does it have a slot in the deck? If it does, what would you take out?

ShinyZ

While her stay was short-lived, I will be likely cutting Vivien for the new Hermit. 30% chance of whiffing is fairly high, and a lot of times the creature you find off her isn’t worth the mana (since most of the time, you hit dorks). The flash is nice, but if you play her in the “in-between turn” after Freyalise +2s for the second time, she taxes your mana. She also doesn’t give several of your tutors (GSZ, NO, Finale) flash, which is problematic.

Additionally, while outing Teferi’s Protection is cute, you can still sculpt your field/hand/deck to set up like:

Crop Rotation, Beast Within, Chord of Calling, Kozilek in hand Strip Mine, Scavenger Grounds, Manglehorn on field EWit in deck Which sets up something like a Strip Mines + 2 Beast Withins + an active Scavenger Grounds + either a second Strip Mine or Scavenger Grounds + all their artifacts enter tapped

Which should be sufficient in most if not all scenarios.

A lot of players won’t cast it if you’re tricky and chord/GSZ for Dosan, anyway.

As for the new green Force, I’m not sure. The big + is that it lets you still tap out every turn, and it can be nice if you “whiff” after a card draw effect, since it does provide a lot of disruption. The big - is that it does absolutely nothing on your combo turn, so it increases your odds of whiffing.

It’s likely a meta game call. The next-weakest cards in the deck are likely some combination of SDT, Realm Seekers, Beast Whisperer, Marwyn, and Eye of Ugin. I still think Realm Seekers and Eye of Ugin are important for tutor conversion, I think the Marwyn “slot” needs to be some kind of ramp, and I think that Beast Whisperer is in general better than SDT. So SDT would likely be the next cut, if I were to make room.

1 Forest will obviously be cut for Prismatic Vista going forward. While it is disappointing that it can’t fetch Dryad Arbor like the rest of our fetches, fetchlands continue to have lots of utility with Excavator, Oracle, Cobra, and even SDT while it remains in the deck. 20 basic Forests is more than enough for anti-nonbasic hate purposes (though you could cut the Pendelhaven if nonbasics are targeted harshly in your meta - I think the benefits of generating 2/3 blockers and surviving 1-2 damage effects are still higher, relatively speaking).

Slivortal Really cool deck and I want to make a similar deck with Freyalise. I am new to competitive edh since I have mainly played casual. Is this a hard deck to learn if ur new to the competitive/infinate scene lol?

Any any tips would be amazing to help me understand the combos more :)

Never mind I read all ur notes on every card. Great detailed guide, thank you!

DivineKhaos Glad you liked it! Feel free to ask me any questions you have; I'm more than happy to help new players!

New card notes - Cut Sensei's Divining Top for Collector Ouphe .

On Collector's Ouphe - Freyalise has always had a small problem with Null Rod ; first of all, Null Rod does nothing for our primary gameplan. Ouphe fixes this by providing a body to both block for Freyalise as well as count for her ult. Secondly, while 4/5 of our artifacts are expendable (the 3 mana rocks, Expedition Map), Skullclamp is often a key card when we begin to combo off. Ouphe fixes this problem, as Natural Order , Temur Sabertooth and Greater Good are all efficient ways to get it off the battlefield. I'm optimistic these changes will hopefully "fix" the problems that Null Rod's historically had in this deck. It only costing 2 also makes it a very cheap tutor target for Green Sun's Zenith , Finale of Devastation , Chord of Calling , and it even fits into Woodland Bellower 's toolbox. This also hopefully fixes Null Rod's historic issue of never showing up when you wanted it, and often seeing it when you didn't.

On Sensei's Divining Top - Sensei's Divining Top was always an OK but not great card that made the cut for lack of anything else better. Ouphe is both "something better," and cutting Top is obviously synergistic with running Ouphe in our deck.