Continuing The Chromatic: Nylea, God Of The Hunt

As we wind toward the finish line of my Chromatic Project to build a deck of each color combination, we stop by the forest world of Nylea, God of the Hunt.
Nylea will be the 25^th different color combo, leaving me with only colorless and five-color, both of which will be difficult (albeit on two
different axes). Nylea has both thematic and mechanical ways to build around her. It seems reasonable to hit both. Thematically, we can hit all the Forest,
woodsy tropes with all the bows, archers, and centaurs we can manage. Mechanically, Nylea gives other creatures trample, which means we’ll be getting into
the red zone quite frequently, so we’ll want some monsters. Because she cares about devotion, we’ll also look at cards on which the number of green mana
symbols matter.

Building this deck also means understanding what we don’t want to do with it: what most other mono-green decks tend to do. From the piles of mana of
Omnath, Locus of Mana to the hyper-ramp of Azusa, Lost But Seeking (leading inevitably to a giant Hurricane), I want the deck to be different (not to
mention fun) while still being playable. Enchantress might also be a thing, but I find that I play a great number of enchantments in other decks; I’m going
to give them a pass for the most part in this one. Green has the ability to do nearly everything, at least on a one-for-one basis. It obviously has some
difficulty board-wiping creatures, but it’s pretty good at getting rid of enchantments and artifacts (and planeswalkers by smashing them with combat
damage). I’ll make some effort to stay away from running just green good stuff, but there will be a few old favorites in the mix.

Here’s the list. I looked initially at all the cards which had “hunt” in the name, but it turned out to be a little jankier than I had hoped. I stuck with
a few basic ideas: creatures of the woods featuring centaurs, getting Forests onto the battlefield, and attacking unrelentingly. The raw number of
creatures means fewer tricks, but I think the deck-thinning means those tricks will come around more frequently.

Nylea of the Woodland Realm

Sheldon Menery

Test deck on 08-28-2014

Commander

Creatures (50)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts

Lands (35)

Spells (14)

Let’s look at the deck card-by-card:

CREATURES

Allosaurus Rider: In a format that likes to put lands onto the battlefield, you’d think we’d see more of Allosaurus Rider. It should be pretty large every
time it comes around.

Bane of Progress: The first two times I ever had Bane of Progress in play, it came in off my own Lurking Predators. You can see why it’s in a deck with few
artifacts and enchantments.

Battlefield Scrounger: A superstar from the ancient days of the format, Battlefield Scrounger can be activated (assuming you have threshold) on each turn.
Back then, it was one of the few ways of recycling one’s deck. Now it will be some of that combined with some beatings.

Budoka Gardener: This should never be wasted. In the worst case, you play him later, activate him once, and flip him. Early game, he should help ramp up a
little.

Centaur Omenreader: This creature is battling, so creatures will simply cost less.

Centaur Rootcaster: A Hidden Gem recently uncovered by Armada Games EDH League regular Rich Montero, I got excited when I realized it was a centaur. Via
Nylea’s trample, it’s going to get through even on a chump block.

Courser of Kruphix: The not-as-good-as-Oracle of Mul Daya fits the theme and gets there well enough.

Dauntless Dourbark: You don’t really need other Treefolk for this to be huge, and it’s already going to have trample from Nylea.

Dungrove Elder: Forests, forests, and more forests.

Farhaven Elf: Getting more forests.

Fertilid: Ditto.

Frontier Guide: Sensing a theme?

Grazing Gladehart: I thought antelopes were Plains animals, but what do I know? I know that landfall for two life doesn’t hurt.

Hydra Omnivore: With Nylea’s trample, this will connect and deal plenty of damage to everyone. I resisted the urge to add more artifacts and enchantments
to buff up power (like maybe Beastmaster Ascension).

Hystrodon: A card I’ve tried multiple times with little success to make work, I think the basic problem is that it’s just not big enough to be a serious
threat. I hope Nylea can help with that.

Kalonian Twingrove: Two giant creatures for the price of one is some kind of value.

Karametra’s Acolyte: As I looked at the devotion cards in green, I found them most of them less than exciting. Extra mana is always spicy, fueling some big
monsters or maybe a very saucy Genesis Wave.

Loaming Shaman: I like the flexibility of Loaming Shaman in either upsetting the graveyard recursion deck or in being able to get secondary use out of my
cards.

Nullmage Advocate: Nullmage Advocate can also do some work against graveyard decks. It’s not exactly hate, but it allows me quite a few options.

Nullmage Shepherd: When he made this game, Richard Garfield visualized players coming into groups with new cards and players stealing ideas from each
other. I stole this one from Armada regular Kyle Kuhl, who has make great use out of it in his Azusa, Lost But Seeking deck. I might need a few more token
creators for this to actually work the way I want it to.

Nylea’s Disciple: Always good for a little bit of life, sometimes it’ll be good for a pile, like when it comes in off of the aforementioned Genesis Wave.

Ohran Viper: Card draw or rattlesnake, the Viper does its job.

Pelakka Wurm: One of my favorite cards, not only is it giant and do stuff, but it pumps up the devotion count.

Phantom Centaur: Another superstar from the format’s oldest days, it’s another creature that I’m happy is a centaur. It brings back memories of the times
when we were just discovering the magic of EDH.

Pheres-Band Tromper: It’s attacking, so it’s getting counters.

Pheres-Band Warchief: There are enough centaurs to make this worthwhile, although it’s not such a tribal deck that I expect to see more the two or three on
the battlefield at once.

Predator Ooze: In the longer game, Predator Ooze can get pretty scary, especially if it has trample.

Primalcrux: An early version of devotion, it’s always at least a trampling 6/6 for six. Most often, it will be far larger.

Primordial Sage: The deck needs a little card draw, and with nearly 50 creatures, Primordial Sage fits the bill.

Realm Seekers: This mini-Multani might never be used to go get Forests (although one can get any land with it), but it will most often be another creature
whose power is greater than its cost.

Regal Force: A little more card draw. I thought about Skullmulcher instead, but I like the idea of being able to refill my hand without losing my board.

Seedguide Ash: There are no sacrifice outlets in the deck (hrm-Skullmulcher just started looking better), so Seedguide Ash will play a fair amount of
defense and then wait for the Wrath of God.

Silverglade Elemental: A land-searcher that’s also a medium-sized beater.

Silklash Spider: Super underplayed card in the format. So good with Basilisk Collar.

Skyshroud War Beast: Not quite the hilarity of Wilderness Elemental, but someone is going to allow this little fellow to be not so little.

Soul of the Harvest: A little more card draw.

Spellbane Centaur: I doubt too many of my creatures will get stolen by the blue mage since the biggest depend on Forests, but it’s another oldie-but-goodie
and a centaur.

Uktabi Wildcats: More power, less cost.

Vigor: Damage is a thing that will kill your creatures. Since this deck likes to slam into people, we’d like

to give them less incentive to block.

Wickerbough Elder: I’ll have to be careful that Vigor doesn’t wipe out the counter on this before I can use it. Probably unlikely, since there are so many
good targets in the format. It effectively costs the same as Acidic Slime and is slightly larger (although it obviously can’t hit a land).

Wood Elves: Just a bit of ramp.

Woodfall Primus: A favorite that does some heavy lifting as well as up the devotion count. I went with

Woodfall Primus and not Terastodon because of the wood part.

Yavimaya Dryad: Most often, I’ll be getting the Forest, but you never know.

Yavimaya Elder: The classics are classics for a reason.

Arashi, the Sky Asunder: Silklash Spider’s cool cousin provides a great deal of flexibility because of the ability to channel it. It deals damage from a
green source, which there isn’t a great deal of protection from.

Baru, Fist of Krosa: Okay, so in a blue-green deck, you Clone Baru (I guess you need Mirror Gallery in play), bounce Baru back to your hand so that you can
discard it and create an immense token. Alternately, you can be not silly and just dump Forests out.

Hua Tuo, Honored Physician: Another idea nicked from an Armada regular, this time Anthony Rueda. With a fair amount of card draw, being able to reuse some
creatures will keep the spice flowing.

Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer: More land value.

Yeva, Nature’s Herald: Surprise! And you wondered why I didn’t cast anything.

ARTIFACTS

Birthing Pod: The chain is a little wonky. I just want to see how it will do in a deck not specifically designed to abuse it.

Bow of Nylea: Nylea has to have her bow. People will forget about my attackers having deathtouch. The trick will be to get Arashi, Sky Asunder attacking
with vigilance, then activating it.

Elixir of Immortality: I wanted just one more way to reuse my library. The life gain doesn’t hurt.

ENCHANTMENTS

Tranquil Grove: There’s only one, and it deals with all the others.

PLANESWALKERS

Garruk, Caller of Beasts: Just the one, although nearly all the legal Garruks would fit. The +1 should draw two or three cards every time, and the ultimate
will be simply absurd.

INSTANTS and SORCERIES

Creeping Corrosion: Artifacts sometimes get out of hand, so all of them need to go away. I had considered the slower burn of Molder Slug, but I think this
suits the deck a little better since we’re not putting all our eggs into the creature basket.

Cultivate: A little ramp, plus an extra for some landfall.

Genesis Wave: The deck is mostly permanents, and I probably won’t wait too long to make use of it. Eight or so should be just fine.

Hunter’s Insight: Here’s one that I kept from doing the search on “hunt,” since it’s a nice little card draw trick.

Hush: All enchantments also need to go. If I already have Tranquil Grove out, then this simply cycles.

Kodama’s Reach: See Cultivate.

Momentous Fall: For when I’m either desperate for cards or desperate for life, Momentous Fall is the answer. Life’s Legacy was also in the deck, but ended
up on the cutting room floor.

Repopulate: Another card with some flexibility to help me reuse my stuff or to blow out the graveyard recursion player.

Skyshroud Claim: This could just as easily be Hunting Wilds or Ranger’s Path.

Whirlwind: Hey, you, with Archetype of Imagination. Get Wrathed.

LANDS

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: When you’re devoted, it pays off. People have talked about this card being more dangerous than Cabal Coffers. I disagree with those
people, since you have to have permanents. Coffers brings you back from a board wipe pretty easily. Nykthos does not.

Tectonic Edge and Wasteland: There are dangerous nonbasic lands, so being able to get rid of a few of them makes sense.

Yavimaya Hollow: People are going to try to destroy your creatures. I like having a little backup plan.

Forest: I kept most of the lands as Forests because Forests matter with a number of cards. There aren’t too many other nonbasics in the color identity that
I might want-maybe Miren, the Moaning Well or Diamond Valley to gain some life. We’ll see how it goes as the deck plays out if those might be worth adding
in.

All in all, the deck should be reasonably fun and low-impact to play. It’s thematic and a little linear, but not so plays-the-same-always as to make it
boring (unless, of course, you find battling with big monsters boring). The amount of card draw and land search should give it some resiliency by making
draws in the game mostly gas. There are quite a few cards that could go into the deck (my first draft had about 80 non-land cards), so if you use this as a
template, you still have quite a bit of room for individual style. I had actually considered making it a nonbasic land hate deck (starting with Primal
Order, which may still make its way in one day), but realized that red-green (maybe Radha, Heir to Keld?) would be much better at doing that. I’m not the
type to play Dingus Egg/Armageddon, but Ruination and From the Ashes are on the table. We’ll see how that idea develops in the coming weeks.

This week’s Deck Without Comment is Karador, Ghost Chieftain. As always, feel free to say whatever you’d like to about it in the forums.

Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Sheldon Menery

Test deck on 01-17-2014