Trostani's Token Army of Lifegain

Commander / EDH* Casual GW (Selesnya) Lifegain Tokens

MRDOOM3

Creature (24)

• 1x Accomplished Alchemist
• 1x Angel of Sanctions
• 1x Archangel of Thune
• 1x Armada Wurm
• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• 1x Blossoming Bogbeast
• 1x Bramble Sovereign
• 1x Crested Sunmare
• 1x Felidar Sovereign
• 1x Giant Adephage
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Nykthos Paragon
• 1x Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
• 1x Rampaging Baloths
• 1x Resplendent Angel
• 1x Rhox Faithmender
• 1x Rhys the Redeemed
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Selesnya Eulogist
• 1x Speaker of the Heavens
• 1x Timeless Witness
• 1x Valkyrie Harbinger
• 1x Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage

Artifact (11)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Helm of the Host
• 1x Idol of Oblivion
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Phyrexian Processor
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Land (36)

• 1x Brushland
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 7x Forest
• 1x Fortified Village
• 1x Gavony Township
• 1x Grand Coliseum
• 1x Grove of the Guardian
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Overgrown Farmland
• 8x Plains
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Stirring Wildwood
• 1x Sungrass Prairie
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Devout Invocation
• 1x Farewell
• 1x Finale of Glory
• 1x Hour of Reckoning
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Parallel Evolution
• 1x Phyrexian Rebirth
• 1x Rampant Growth

Commander (1)

Enchantment (14)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Doubling Season
• 1x Epic Struggle
• 1x Growing Ranks
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Mirari's Wake
• 1x Parallel Lives
• 1x Sandwurm Convergence
• 1x Seance
• 1x Song of the Worldsoul
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Trudge Garden

Instant (3)

• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Second Harvest
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Ajani Goldmane
• 1x Garruk, Primal Hunter

---

Maybeboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Archon of Sun's Grace
• 1x Odric, Master Tactician
• 1x Seedborn Muse

Artifact (1)

• 1x Azor's Gateway  ^Flip

Instant (3)

• 1x Fracturing Gust
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Wheel of Sun and Moon

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Ezuri's Predation

---

Why Trostani?

I chose Trostani, Selesnya's Voice as my commander because, well, to be honest with you, I just wanted to see what would happen. In terms of lifegain, this deck has the potential to go waaaaay off the charts in life total. My current (noninfinite) personal best life total with this deck is 5480 (Yes, I populated a buncha Ajani Goldmane Avatar tokens, so?). This deck is casual mainly because lifegain doesn't win EDH games, and because it is so hard to draw into even one of my wincons. Even if I am about to draw into one, by that point, I'm, more likely than not, killed by commander damage or milled out.

Advantages of having Trostani as a commander:

THE LIFEGAIN! IT'S TOO MUCH!

As mentioned above, once this deck gets moving, it has the potential to catapult your life total into the thousands, maybe ten thousands, if allowed to live that long.

Who doesn't love a massive army of tokens at their disposal?

Left unchecked, I can amass an army of 10 5480/5480 Ajani Avatars, 20 6/6 Wurms, 15 4/4 Beasts, 12 3/3 Centaurs... (Hypothetical situation) and swing for the win with Craterhoof Behemoth's help.

Disadvantages of having Trostani as a commander:

Even though your lifegain may go off of the charts, lifegain can't protect against commander damage or mill.

Yes, the lifegain can get utterly ridiculous with this deck. No, (unfortunately) it does not increase the amount of commander damage necessary for a win, and no, it does nothing about the number of cards in one's library when an opponent has an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger on their side of the field.

A research study performed by people who play Trostani EDH shows that a high dosage of boardwipes is unhealthy for token armies.

One minute, you may be amassing your token army, and you may be lulled into a sense of security... until that one control player casts that one card that you of all people in the playgroup dread: Supreme Verdict. Not only do you fear that card, but you also fear Life's Finale or Damnation. This has forced me to put in Avacyn, Angel of Hope to try to mitigate this prevailing problem. Unfortunately for me, Avacyn still does not protect against Mutilate or Merciless Eviction.

Breakdown of the deck:

Alt Wincons: Aetherflux Reservoir, Epic Struggle, Felidar Sovereign, Phyrexian Processor, Seance, Storm Herd, Odric, Master Tactician. Self-explanatory. These just serve as backup plans if beating the tobacco juice out of opponents with a swarm of tokens with the help of "Captain No-Blocks" (Odric, Master Tactician) just won't work.

Token Producers: Ajani Goldmane, Angel of Sanctions, Angelic Accord, Anointer Priest, March of the Multitudes, Armada Wurm, Crested Sunmare, Devout Invocation, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Ezuri's Predation, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Giant Adephage, Grove of the Guardian, Growing Ranks, Hydra Broodmaster, Luminarch Ascension, Master of the Wild Hunt, Mimic Vat, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, Rampaging Baloths, Sandwurm Convergence, Tendershoot Dryad, Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage, Wingmate Roc, Worldspine Wurm, Budoka Gardener  . The meat and potatoes of this deck. Wouldn't be effective without the Doublers and Pumpers.

Doublers: Alhammarret's Archive, Anointed Procession, Panharmonicon, Parallel Evolution, Parallel Lives, Rhox Faithmender, Rhys the Redeemed, Second Harvest. This is the gravy that goes on top of the meat and potatoes. As the name states, they double the lifegain or tokens when I play a token producing card.

Boardwipes: Hour of Reckoning, Phyrexian Rebirth. If the tables turn against me in terms of boardstate, I can always play one of these to (hopefully) turn them back in my favor. I only run 2 because it can also be detrimental to my token army.

Pumps: Archangel of Thune, Beastmaster Ascension, Cathars' Crusade, Collective Blessing, Craterhoof Behemoth, Gavony Township. This is the, uh, peas on the side of the meat and potatoes, I guess. They allow me to prime my army for when I decide to turn them all sideways.

Protection: Aura Shards, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection, Asceticism. For the control player in the playgroup with all of their boardwipes and punishing enchantments.

Card Advantage: Sylvan Library, Huatli, Radiant Champion, Well of Lost Dreams. Just some extra draw power, especially for when I draw into a basic land late-game. However, Huatli, Radiant Champion can potentially work against me.

Ramp: Cryptolith Rite, Karametra, God of Harvests, Mirari's Wake, Growing Rites of Itlimoc  . What's a green deck without some amount of mana ramp, right?

Date added	7 years
Last updated	2 years
Exclude colors	UBR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 0 Rares 6 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.88
Tokens	*/* W Creature Avatar, Angel 4/4 W, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Angel of Sanctions 3/4 W, Beast 3/3 G, Beast 4/4 G, Centaur 3/3 G, Construct X/X C, Copy Clone, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Elemental 8/8 GW, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW, Fungus Beast 4/4 G, Horse 5/5 W, Minion X/X B, Phyrexian Horror X/X C, Servo 1/1 C, Soldier 2/2 W, Timeless Witness 4/4 B, Wurm 5/5 G, Wurm 5/5 G w/ Trample, Wurm 6/6 G