General Overview:
Rhys was my first EDH back in May of 2008 and although I have made many decks he is still my favorite. It plays really well and can hold it's own in 1 on 1 and multi-player. The only global pumps I run do something else, I don't like cards like glorious/gaea's anthem. The current build is a little light on removal because I have found I am usually the aggressive deck and the removal just sits in my hand dead.
Removal for creatures is all but gone, aside from Elspeth Tirel if you can even count that. The deck pumps out so many creatures other players are the ones who want to sweep the board.
The deck seems to want big mana fast so alot of the changes reflect that with the Citanul Hierophants and Rofellos (both of which keep bouncing in and out of the deck), and the Joraga Treespeaker.
The hardest decision was Joraga Treespeaker or Nemata, Grove Guardian. With Green Sun's Zenith now in the deck you can turn 2 Zenith for the Treespeaker and level it up turn 3 without missing a beat. Plus the treespeaker can make all my elf tokens tap for 2 mana should that ever happen and I can grab him with Skyshroud Poacher so he won.
The Primal Growth replaced Journey of Discovery. Heads or tails on which is better. It all depends on what is happening in the game.
[card]Gaea's Cradle
Beastmaster Ascension
Doubling Season
Glare of Subdual
Earthcraft
Slate of Ancestry
Skullclamp
Helm of Possession
Seedborn Muse
Skyshroud Poacher
Citanul Hierophants
[/card]
Game Play:
The basic Strategy is to play Rhys, the Redeemed turn one, except if you have Joraga Treespeaker in your opener. Turn 1 Joraga Treespeaker gets you an active Rhys and at least 5 mana turn on Turn 3. From there you can just start making tokens with Rhys or ramp and hold on to your cards for awhile.
Other than that that deck likes big mana and lots of creatures. It tends to recover pretty fast after a wrath and after a while Rhys just becomes a win more card so you don't care when people try really hard to deal with him.
Other Notes:
Restock could just as well be Praetor's Counsel, the deck has pretty must strayed away from using the graveyard as a resource except for Restock, Sun Titan, and Marshal's Anthem. The green and white reanimate cards sometimes never had a target and Eternal Witness was subpar except for a few occasions.
I have really been liking Nim Deathmantle and have it in most of my decks. With or without some sac outlets it might be good.
Kozilek's Predator is pretty new to the deck after being out a while and so far it has been ok.
The card closest to the chopping black is proably Ajani Goldmane because he likes to hide in the deck and the few times I have played him he has been lackluster
I've never pulled it off but I really want to have a bunch of tokens out, Mirror Entity, and Myr Battlesphere and then just dome the crap out of someone.
My build is fairly different from yours being more enchantment based but we came to a lot of the same conclusions (removal not being very effective, 1 shot spells not being very good, lots of the same card choices). There are 2 very good enchantments that make tokens in Luminarch Acension and Sacred Mesa. These pump out tokens quickly and cheaply and with Earthcraft you can go nuts, often infinite if you have a mana doubler or Doubling Season in play as well. They also make the deck much more resilient to sweepers since you really don't need to play other proactive spells until they are dealt with. They sweep and you just make more tokens. A couple good stand alone enchantments are Sylvan Library and Land Tax. Fecundity is fantastic and while it works for your opponents as well you should very consistently have the creature advantage and gain much more value out of it. Survival of the Fittest is a great tutor with a decent creature count and I also included the pieces for a Reveillark loop so it can easily just win me the game with enough mana. With the addition of all these enchantments I wanted ways to protect them so I also added in Sterling Grove, Privileged Position & Karmic Justice. Since I cut back on creatures to make space this also allowed me to run the backbreaking Humility as well. Many decks simply fold to this card and a lot of the ones that don't must destroy it before they can start functioning again. Lastly with all these enchantments Replenish becomes incredibly powerful later in the game so I added that as well. My primer is in my sig and has some of the card choices I use explained in more detail.
My build is fairly different from yours being more enchantment based but we came to a lot of the same conclusions (removal not being very effective, 1 shot spells not being very good, lots of the same card choices). There are 2 very good enchantments that make tokens in Luminarch Acension and Sacred Mesa. These pump out tokens quickly and cheaply and with Earthcraft you can go nuts, often infinite if you have a mana doubler or Doubling Season in play as well. They also make the deck much more resilient to sweepers since you really don't need to play other proactive spells until they are dealt with. They sweep and you just make more tokens. A couple good stand alone enchantments are Sylvan Library and Land Tax. Fecundity is fantastic and while it works for your opponents as well you should very consistently have the creature advantage and gain much more value out of it. Survival of the Fittest is a great tutor with a decent creature count and I also included the pieces for a Reveillark loop so it can easily just win me the game with enough mana. With the addition of all these enchantments I wanted ways to protect them so I also added in Sterling Grove, Privileged Position & Karmic Justice. Since I cut back on creatures to make space this also allowed me to run the backbreaking Humility as well. Many decks simply fold to this card and a lot of the ones that don't must destroy it before they can start functioning again. Lastly with all these enchantments Replenish becomes incredibly powerful later in the game so I added that as well. My primer is in my sig and has some of the card choices I use explained in more detail.
I've run almost all of these cards at one point or another aside from Humility. The Humility idea seems pretty solid. I was actually looking at your deck post primer the other day. It is an good strategy. I find it intesteing how people seem to build decks that in theory should be pretty similar. I have seen many a Rhys deck that really only use Rhys as the only token maker, some that use mostly spells, etc.
I ran Survival and Fauna Shaman for a while and the way I had things built they didn't seem very effective same thing with Reviellark. Sterling Grove use to be in the deck but I took it out because I didn't like it (I think i just kept drawing it at the wrong times). Sacred Mesa just pisses me off because it never does anything, and I never want when i draw it, and just eats my mana and sits there and shrugs at me. I have kept it in decks for years while it did nothing. I see how it is good with Earthcraft. Fecundity I have tried and I always seemed to get burned by it so I think it just might not be good in my meta.
Ultimately everything gomes down to having enough space in the deck. I need to figure out how I am going to add a few of the new cards from New Phyrexia. I like the infect overrun thing, maybe Fresh Meat, and maybe one or 2 of those Splicers that make Golems (although I am not sold on those). I;ve always wanted to try Dawnglare Invoker but never seem to get it in.
I use to run a Captain Sisay engine along side the Skyshroud Poacher one. That worked pretty well until multiple Captain Sisay decks started showing up at the table.
I'm surprised Sacred Mesa didn't work if nothing else. It's a cheaper to cast Ant Queen that doesn't die to sweepers and makes flying tokens. Early it isn't very effective and it is best to just treat it as though it has an upkeep cost of 1W. The enchantment route does take up a fair amount of deck space so it takes some dedication to maximize all the synergies but that are quite a few ways to build this deck with even monogreen and elf tribal being very viable strategies as well.
I'm surprised Sacred Mesa didn't work if nothing else. It's a cheaper to cast Ant Queen that doesn't die to sweepers and makes flying tokens. Early it isn't very effective
I am rarely in a game with this deck that goes very long. I either kill the table really quick or I get ganged up on and I take a few people with me. I don't think I have ever had time to make it work.
This looks to hose tokens. Good to have it on your side. Bad to have it on the otherside. I have already heard people talking about how much they are looking forward to casting Tooth and Nail for Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm. ugh.
Kozilek's Predator has been pretty OK but I needed to cut something and it seemed like it was good but not good enough. Ajani Goldmane has been in the deck for a over a year, I've played it 2 times, and had it in hand and not played it several times. Ajani seemed to be pretty bad in action, not really doing anything relivant, and not once did I get to play him with doubling season out and make 2 Serra Avatar tokens.
I've had Sterling Grove in the deck before and cut it. Thought I would give it another shot now that I am playing Genesis Wave and may want more help digging for Earthcraft (we will see how it goes). I'm tired of seeing people play Genesis Wave. I have it in other decks might as well play it in here so i can win out of nowhere like everyone else.
Rhys was my first EDH back in May of 2008 and although I have made many decks he is still my favorite. It plays really well and can hold it's own in 1 on 1 and multi-player. The only global pumps I run do something else, I don't like cards like glorious/gaea's anthem. The current build is a little light on removal because I have found I am usually the aggressive deck and the removal just sits in my hand dead.
1 Rhys, the Redeemed
Creatures (28)
Token Makers
1 Ant Queen
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Captain of the Watch
1 Cloudgoat Ranger
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Emeria Angel
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Selesnya Guildmage
1 Verdant Force
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Juniper Order Ranger
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Mirror Entity
1 Citanul Hierophants
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Primeval Titan
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Regal Force
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Skyshroud Poacher
1 Sun Titan
Mana Spells
1 Cultivate
1 Primal Growth
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Chord of Calling
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Natural Order
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Collective Unconscious
1 Genesis Wave
1 Harmonize
1 Restock
Enchantments (10)
Mana/Mana Fixing
1 Earthcraft
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Awakening Zone
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Doubling Season
1 Marshal's Anthem
1 Sterling Grove
1 Aura Shards
Artifacts (8)
Card Draw
1 Skullclamp
1 Slate of Ancestry
1 Sol Ring
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Coat of Arms
1 Eldrazi Monument
1 Rings of Brighthearth
Planeswalkers (3)
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
Lands (35)
Basics
8 Forest
6 Plains
1 Krosan Verge
1 Windswept Heath
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Savanah
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sungrass Prairie
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Wooded Bastion
1 City of Shadows
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Khalni Garden
1 Kor Haven
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Oran Rief, the Vastwood
1 Pendelhaven
1 Saltcrusted Steppe
1 Vesuva
1 Windbrisk Heights
Basic Lands of choice because it matters:
Foil of course
Most Recent Changes:
Removal for creatures is all but gone, aside from Elspeth Tirel if you can even count that. The deck pumps out so many creatures other players are the ones who want to sweep the board.
The deck seems to want big mana fast so alot of the changes reflect that with the Citanul Hierophants and Rofellos (both of which keep bouncing in and out of the deck), and the Joraga Treespeaker.
The hardest decision was Joraga Treespeaker or Nemata, Grove Guardian. With Green Sun's Zenith now in the deck you can turn 2 Zenith for the Treespeaker and level it up turn 3 without missing a beat. Plus the treespeaker can make all my elf tokens tap for 2 mana should that ever happen and I can grab him with Skyshroud Poacher so he won.
The Primal Growth replaced Journey of Discovery. Heads or tails on which is better. It all depends on what is happening in the game.
I switched out the bad Artic Flats, Elfhame Palace, Graypelt Refuge, and a plains, for slightly less bad Sunpetal Grove, Stirring Wildwood, Sungrass Prairie, and Razorverge Thicket. To bad I replaced 4 foil cards for 4 nonfoil cards. You win some you lose some. I have a hard time replacing my foils I have worked hard to get. But the changes make a lot of sense.
I have been slowly getting away from the spells that make guys. Over time cards like Decree of Justice, Conqueror's Pledge, Howl of the Night Pack, Beacon of Creation, Spontaneous Generation, Storm herd, Saproling Symbiosis, Crush of Wurms, Wurmcalling, Sprout Swarm, Beast Attack, Roar of the Wurm, and One Dozen Eyes have all be removed from the deck. I have gone from being more spell centric to more creature centric. Whether or not that is the right call is up in the air.
05/01/2011
- Kozilek's Predator
- Ajani Goldmane
+ Sterling Grove
+ Genesis Wave
Deck Allstars:
[card]Gaea's Cradle
Beastmaster Ascension
Doubling Season
Glare of Subdual
Earthcraft
Slate of Ancestry
Skullclamp
Helm of Possession
Seedborn Muse
Skyshroud Poacher
Citanul Hierophants
[/card]
Game Play:
The basic Strategy is to play Rhys, the Redeemed turn one, except if you have Joraga Treespeaker in your opener. Turn 1 Joraga Treespeaker gets you an active Rhys and at least 5 mana turn on Turn 3. From there you can just start making tokens with Rhys or ramp and hold on to your cards for awhile.
From there you want to play dudes that make tokens and hopefully draw into something like an Beastmaster Ascension, Coat of Arms, Akroma's Memorial, Mirror Entity, Eldrazi Monument, Garruk Wildspeaker, or Kamahl , Fist of Krosa and win.
Citanul Hierophants, Seedborn Muse, Rings of Brighthearth do a pretty good job of letting you use your mana effectively to produce a large army quickly.
Most of the time if you get an early Natural Order you want grab Seedborn Muse, Verdant Force, or Citanul Hierophants, and to lesser extent Skyshroud Poacher, Knight of the Reliquary to get Gaea's Cradle, or Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary or Primeval Titan for ramp.
The Deck runs a Skyshroud Poacher tutor engine in it that can grab:
Other than that that deck likes big mana and lots of creatures. It tends to recover pretty fast after a wrath and after a while Rhys just becomes a win more card so you don't care when people try really hard to deal with him.
Other Notes:
Restock could just as well be Praetor's Counsel, the deck has pretty must strayed away from using the graveyard as a resource except for Restock, Sun Titan, and Marshal's Anthem. The green and white reanimate cards sometimes never had a target and Eternal Witness was subpar except for a few occasions.
Reliquary Tower and Night Soil probably wouldn't hurt.
I have really been liking Nim Deathmantle and have it in most of my decks. With or without some sac outlets it might be good.
Kozilek's Predator is pretty new to the deck after being out a while and so far it has been ok.
The card closest to the chopping black is proably Ajani Goldmane because he likes to hide in the deck and the few times I have played him he has been lackluster
I've never pulled it off but I really want to have a bunch of tokens out, Mirror Entity, and Myr Battlesphere and then just dome the crap out of someone.
For a while I ran Spawning Pit because it works in big ways with Doubling Season and Rings of Brighthearth
My Articles on CommanderCast
My Alters
Generals:
Arcum Dagsson, Asmira, Holy Avenger, Dakkon Blackblade, Doran, the Siege Tower, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Horobi, Death's Wail , Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rhys, the Redeemed, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Vorosh, the Hunter, Zur the Enchanter (Geratric Themed)
I've run almost all of these cards at one point or another aside from Humility. The Humility idea seems pretty solid. I was actually looking at your deck post primer the other day. It is an good strategy. I find it intesteing how people seem to build decks that in theory should be pretty similar. I have seen many a Rhys deck that really only use Rhys as the only token maker, some that use mostly spells, etc.
I ran Survival and Fauna Shaman for a while and the way I had things built they didn't seem very effective same thing with Reviellark. Sterling Grove use to be in the deck but I took it out because I didn't like it (I think i just kept drawing it at the wrong times). Sacred Mesa just pisses me off because it never does anything, and I never want when i draw it, and just eats my mana and sits there and shrugs at me. I have kept it in decks for years while it did nothing. I see how it is good with Earthcraft. Fecundity I have tried and I always seemed to get burned by it so I think it just might not be good in my meta.
Ultimately everything gomes down to having enough space in the deck. I need to figure out how I am going to add a few of the new cards from New Phyrexia. I like the infect overrun thing, maybe Fresh Meat, and maybe one or 2 of those Splicers that make Golems (although I am not sold on those). I;ve always wanted to try Dawnglare Invoker but never seem to get it in.
I use to run a Captain Sisay engine along side the Skyshroud Poacher one. That worked pretty well until multiple Captain Sisay decks started showing up at the table.
My Articles on CommanderCast
My Alters
Generals:
Arcum Dagsson, Asmira, Holy Avenger, Dakkon Blackblade, Doran, the Siege Tower, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Horobi, Death's Wail , Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rhys, the Redeemed, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Vorosh, the Hunter, Zur the Enchanter (Geratric Themed)
EDIT: The new set also has Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite which looks like a house.
I am rarely in a game with this deck that goes very long. I either kill the table really quick or I get ganged up on and I take a few people with me. I don't think I have ever had time to make it work.
This looks to hose tokens. Good to have it on your side. Bad to have it on the otherside. I have already heard people talking about how much they are looking forward to casting Tooth and Nail for Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm. ugh.
My Articles on CommanderCast
My Alters
Generals:
Arcum Dagsson, Asmira, Holy Avenger, Dakkon Blackblade, Doran, the Siege Tower, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Horobi, Death's Wail , Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rhys, the Redeemed, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Vorosh, the Hunter, Zur the Enchanter (Geratric Themed)
- Kozilek's Predator
- Ajani Goldmane
+ Sterling Grove
+ Genesis Wave
Kozilek's Predator has been pretty OK but I needed to cut something and it seemed like it was good but not good enough. Ajani Goldmane has been in the deck for a over a year, I've played it 2 times, and had it in hand and not played it several times. Ajani seemed to be pretty bad in action, not really doing anything relivant, and not once did I get to play him with doubling season out and make 2 Serra Avatar tokens.
I've had Sterling Grove in the deck before and cut it. Thought I would give it another shot now that I am playing Genesis Wave and may want more help digging for Earthcraft (we will see how it goes). I'm tired of seeing people play Genesis Wave. I have it in other decks might as well play it in here so i can win out of nowhere like everyone else.
My Articles on CommanderCast
My Alters
Generals:
Arcum Dagsson, Asmira, Holy Avenger, Dakkon Blackblade, Doran, the Siege Tower, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Horobi, Death's Wail , Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Rhys, the Redeemed, Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, Ulasht, the Hate Seed, Vorosh, the Hunter, Zur the Enchanter (Geratric Themed)