Respect for taking on my favorite commander and keeping her alive. Selvala You Got Some Splorin To Do

Haven't updated my list in a long time but I'll leave it here anyways.

Not a bad list! :-)

Honestly I don’t like dosan or city of solitude in any decks. It just lets other combo players become unstoppable if you don’t win the turn you drop them. I prefer ranger captain of eos because you can pop him when you’re sure that you can win and he doesn’t stop blue players from countering each other. There’s also grand abolisher which is a solid card

Check my list out here

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/do-you-like-to-draw-cards-3/

shadowmage

I might cut City of Solitude sometime, but Dosan is good because it allows Green Sun's Zenith to find a Grand Abolisher type effect. Also, I always decline to cast these symmetric effects if I don't plan on winning that turn, so they aren't that risky. I haven't tried Ranger-Captain of Eos yet, but I didn't think it was good in this build because it is a single-use effect and it doesn't tutor for any important creatures. Grand Abolisher was also already in the deck (obviously; it's great).

I took a look at your list, and I think it's good as well, but there are still a few cards that I wouldn't play in my list (for my own purposes, not to suggest that you shouldn't play them):

- Angel's Grace is unnecessary. Because of Green Sun's Zenith , the infinite mill wincon with Selvala is already possible, and in my testing, Angel's Grace was always a dead card.
- I've considered Heroic Intervention , but my biggest problem with it is that it doesn't stop the most common board wipe in cEDH, Toxic Deluge . I still might try it sometime though.
- Devoted Druid and Vizier of Remedies , while being an infinite mana combo, doesn't actually win the game on the spot with this deck; it needs an infinite mana outlet (like Walking Ballista ), and part of the compactness of the combos in this deck is how each can immediately win the game with Selvala on the battlefield.

I could talk about these decks forever, so those are just the main points. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

FroggyTroller in my build the ranger captain tutors for either walking ballista or wirewoodsymbiote, which are both very important cards

yea I hear you about the druid/vizier however with the large amount of tutors its never an issue to find an outlet for that mana

heroic intervention has been close to chopping block lately for me tbh because I'm usually tapped out anyway, probably will just put another draw spell or something

def like the idea of green suns fetching the dosan thats a pretty cool interaction

shadowmage I think I might try Mirror Entity again; I like how it also can protect against Toxic Deluge , and if I do I'll try the Ranger-Captain as well. I'll test the Devoted Druid combo, I'm just concerned with Vizier of Remedies being a dead card without the druid. I do like the idea of cards like Uncage the Menagerie being able to tutor for both combo pieces though.

Also, just a suggestion, but Selvala, Heart of the Wilds works similarly to Marwyn, the Nurturer and Viridian Joiner for the purposes of Umbral Mantle , if you want a third copy of that effect in your deck (I'm not playing that or the joiner, but that's just because they are only mediocre without the mantle, and I like having a good average card quality).

@froggytoller

I think relying on the higher cost elves is a bad idea. They cost 4 mana to cast , making you unable to play multiple spells in that turn and coming down much later than the 3 mana joiner or marwyn. Joiner or marwyn alone with umbral makes infinite and I feel is much better than the 4 mana creatures that rely on you having a board of other creatures to work. marwyn or joiner work in a bubble alone with umbral. you make the infinite and slide it over to selvala. to me that is way more reliable and consistent.

also I feel youre wrong about angels grace. It lets you win without contradiction from anyone; it lets you win when you have less cards in your library than your opponents as well. you cannot win with selvala drawing cards unless you have either angels grace or more cards in your library than your opponents. it also has the side effect of letting you skirt around another players winning turn and prevent them from winning.

shadowmage

1- Selvala, Heart of the Wilds is only 3 mana, if that's what you are referring to. If you are referring to Wirewood Channeler and Karametra's Acolyte , I'm am just playing those for redundancy- my build benefits greatly from having creatures that always tap for multiple mana, and once Selvala is on the battlefield, I always have enough mana to play out whatever I need to from my hand.

2- I would suggest reading the "Winning" panel under the "Gameplan" panel of my primer. It details how the deck wins, even without Angel's Grace , once representing infinite Selvala activations. In addition, when I was playing Angel's Grace , it never actually stopped me from losing- CVT decks can win on my upkeep, every Laboratory Maniac win, while giving me another turn, still stops me from activating Selvala (because they would win if I do), etc. I was just consistently unimpressed with it in my deck.

I really do appreciate the feedback, and I'll definitely consider some of your suggestions.

I recently added Seedtime to my deck, may be worth a look?

Seedtime is definitely worth trying in blue heavy metas. I recently added a "Meta Decisions" panel to the primer, and Seedtime is in there.

I like the idea of seedtime but rarely have the mana to cast it after something was countered

Do you have a discord?

I was going to mention Mandate of Peace but seen you had added it in your recent deck update. The card is working wonders for me, not only against strong combat decks, but also whenever i want to win i go to combat and cast it ending combat.

May i ask though, why Selvala, Heart of the Wilds isn't in the deck? All you do is put umbral mantle on her, and she goes infinite immediately with just her. I recently took Wirewood Channeler out just for her

Meritri
Check the additional content panel for a Selvala discord I'm trying to start, or my profile for my discord name

davidsays1
Marwyn, the Nurturer already goes infinite alone with Umbral Mantle , but unlike the other Selvala, has other uses in this deck.

Yeah i run both for that reason alone, may i ask what other uses you have found for her? My deck is very different so its enjoyable speaking to other selvala players lol. My meta features ALOT of creature removal/exile so i need as mana infinite mana dorks as possible. In fact my friend had posted a deck tech of my selvala on youtube id appreciate a view/like his channel name is commandergoose

Marwyn can still contribute well to the other infinite mana combos in the deck, unlike other Selvala, because it taps for more mana the more elves you play

... the other selvala taps for more than one mana (= greatest power-1) still can go inf

SP3CTR3_chelts i get what he's saying. The creatures aren't big enough to benefit from the other selvala, so selvala is a one trick pony with Umbral Mantle where marwyn has more uses then just taht

This deck is incredibly brilliant. However... Your main way to win is easily countered by cards such as Underrealm Lich , Omen Machine , Dredge comboed off with Lotleth Troll , and those darn players who run Jace, Wielder of Mysteries / Laboratory Maniac . All of which, I do.

But I guess that's the rule of thumb in EDH. Whatever you do, someone else can counter.

Seraphim7

No it isn't. If I'm drawing my entire deck, I can use removal spells to get rid of the permanents you described, so they aren't a problem. Even if somehow there is a permanent I can't deal with, I can always just win through the combat step with Mirror Entity , Leyline of Abundance , or Finale of Devastation . If you haven't played with or against this deck before, you might be surprised by how resilient the combo is while still being compact.

Seraphim7 Not to mention he can use Staff of Domination to draw his entire deck while nobody else draws.

Cool deck, Selvala has been a pet deck of mine for years and one I always go back to. I don't know that it'll ever break that barrier of being on the fringe of the better decks but that's not the end of the world. Curious what you think of Cloudstone Curio in here? I've actually run it for awhile but it never ends up on the field since if I do have a tutor I'm usually looking for something else.

My deck is purposefully less streamlined in order to play with more of a midrange strategy so I've dumped a few of the dorks for heavier cards like ( Alhammarret's Archive Akroma's Memorial and Mana Reflection . I still feel like I've nearly always had a turn 2 Selvala play, and fairly often can ramp into one of those bombs right off the bat.

One recent add I've made that you might want to test with is Ranger-Captain of Eos . Tutoring for Quirion Ranger or Symbiote is great, and then you have that Silence effect rattlesnake on the board. Another card that just over-performs all the time for me is the classic Storm Seeker . In a competitive meta when someone goes Ad Naus at the end step, responding with an instant speed direct damage spell in green gets a great laugh at the table.

Another interaction you might want to play with is Penance or any other similar effect. If you have a way to tap/untap Selvala and you have Penance on the table, you can mill out your opponents and win without giving up priority.

Lastly, since you are referring to a comp meta, any reason you're not running Sylvan Library? It's a slam dunk to draw you three every turn when you're gaining tons of life with Selvala.

Anyway - great deck!

goldrhino

Cloudstone Curio isn't there as a tutor target (although it can be if it wins the game), especially since only one card in the deck can tutor for it ( Enlightened Tutor ), but rather because it has just as many combo applications as Temur Sabertooth , so it's one card that offers many more potential combos.

I was probably going to try Ranger-Captain of Eos soon anyway, so it's good to know that you've had success with it.

While Storm Seeker sounds funny, I can't think of a single scenario in which I would want it, so I don't ever see myself playing it.

Penance seems like too cute of an interaction with Selvala and not nearly enough upside. a) It doesn't let you win without passing priority, because you still need to untap Selvala somehow, and that would require passing priority, and b) if your opponents receive priority, they almost always will have a way to stop you (because they are drawing their entire deck.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm not running Sylvan Library , I guess it just never made it's way into my deck. I'll probably throw it in sometime.

Thanks for the suggestions!

yall need some Shared Summons in your life

shadowmage I've been trying it out, but I honestly like Congregation at Dawn better. It turns out 5 mana is a lot.