Let it Rhys

Commander / EDH jdl0184

SCORE: 4 | 9 COMMENTS | 861 VIEWS


Primal Vigor works great in my Rhys deck... Garruk, Primal Hunter would be better than wildspeaker... Of course Green Sun's Zenith and more importantly Genesis Wave ...Storm Herd is legit...Hour of Reckoning , Phyrexian Rebirth , or Martial Coup are better board wipes for Rhys...You can check out my Rhys deck here:


Improved and Newer Rhys Playtest

Commander / EDH garrettlstewart

SCORE: 1 | 12 COMMENTS | 454 VIEWS

August 9, 2014 2:56 p.m.

mbern says... #2

Why Qasali Pridemage when you could just run Krosan Grip or Disenchant ?

August 18, 2014 2:39 p.m.

mbern says... #3

Altar of Bone is also a really good tutor in Rhys decks.

August 18, 2014 2:40 p.m.

jdl0184 says... #4

I agree, Krosan Grip is strictly better. As for Altar of Bone , I feel like I have enough tutors and I'm not sure what to take out if I ever did decide to use it. It is a good suggestion though, thank you!

August 18, 2014 6:38 p.m.

cian114 says... #5

Replace Farseek and Rampant Growth with Kodama's Reach and Skyshroud Claim . Might be good to consider Asceticism and/or Privileged Position to protect rhys. Dauntless Escort , Sun Titan , and Avacyn, Angel of Hope (if budget permits) help keep your tokens alive.

I run a Trostani deck, check it out for more ideas here

Anyways, the deck looks great, it just needs some more threats and some tweaks with ramp. +1 from me!

October 10, 2014 7:50 p.m.

jdl0184 says... #6

Thanks cian114 for the suggestions! I have an extra Avacyn I could be using so she might go in there in place of Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. I like the new wrath spoiled in Nahiri, the new commander deck so that'll go in place of day of judgement. Thanks guys keep the suggestions coming!

November 5, 2014 9:48 p.m.

8bitJesus says... #7

I love Rhys, he was my first and is still one of my favorite Commanders, I've been playing since sometime around Shards of Alara block. +1 for the solid deck list. This comment may seem quite long, and offer a lot of things that you may or may not be interested in, but it is only because of my love for Rhys.

That said, I am not a big fan of creature Tutors in Rhys decks, because 99% of the time, they are going to find Craterhoof Behemoth, and while I appreciate that he is an awesome finisher in a token based deck, it does get old searching him up each time. I am not however going to tell you to cut any, because that is simply my opinion, and in reality I understand that cutting them would cause your games to be less consistent.

One of the things I have noticed in all of my Rhys games, is that you need to be aware of what you are doing on turn 3. So many of the staple ramp spells in the format cost three, but in reality you should be making a token on turn 3 so that you have a couple more laying around when it comes time to double them. Might I suggest Nature's Lore or Explore instead of Cultivate.

When I first started playing Rhys it was all about building a big army quickly and smashing in with a horde of tokens. However as the format grew and creatures got better, I found that often I was building an army just to get "Wrathed" out of the game. Ramp and card draw goes a long way into allowing you to rebuild, however having some protection in place helps a lot too. Spawning Pit and Fresh Meat both offer some great wrath protection, as does the threat of activating Khamal's first ability on the wrathing player. Eldrazi Monument acts as both a pump and wrath protection while providing evasion too.

I think it also important to mention that almost all of your current token producers are at sorcery speed, which is also bad against wraths. I'm a big fan of more "army in can" style creatures/enchantments like Rhys that allow you to wait until the end of turn before deploying your army. Cards such as Ant Queen, Nemata, Grove Guardian and Mobilization are great examples of this.

These are just some ideas that you might want to give some consideration. Ultimately Rhys lends himself well to a variety of different strategies each tailored to the pilots preference. Heck for awhile I was running a pretty decent tribal theme in my Rhys deck with things like Birchlore Rangers, Heritage Druid and Priest of Titania.

You can check out the my latest incarnation (more or less) for other ideas. Rhys' token army

P.S. I should point out that I have gone from a very competitive group to a very casual one over the years. One of the reasons I have cut tutors, and honestly even Craterhoof from my list. Also I myself don't like putting counters on my tokens, because it gets too hard to keep track of all the dice and what they signify(even when using green dice for counters and white for number of tokens). Hopefully the advice I gave can still prove beneficial to you regardless of play style.

February 3, 2015 12:11 a.m.

jdl0184 says... #8

Thank you for the suggestions! I had Explore in the deck and took it out. I love eldrazi monument and will definitely include it in here. Ant Queen is also really good. She will go in here as well.

February 5, 2015 8:37 p.m.

jdl0184 says... #9

I think I am going to add a Defense of the Heart. What should I take out? I am thinking Ajani, Mentor of Heroes because he doesn't do a lot for the deck.

Let me know what you think!

May 7, 2015 9:32 p.m.

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