If there’s one tribe in Lorwyn that is the friend of the thrifty builder, it’s definitely Treefolk. If there were a Treefolk pre-constructed deck, that would pretty much fill out every need a Treefolk-deck builder would need.
Unfortunately, the number of Treefolk outside of Lorwyn is a little limited. There are only five extraneous Treefolk, and while two of them are rare, they’re certainly cheap enough for a budget builder: Heartwood Storyteller is $1.50, and Verdeloth is only $2. With Timber Protector rolling in at $3, and a bevy of common and uncommon Treefolk, we have all the tools we need to build a couple of Treefolk decks.
The first thing to decide is what colors to make the deck. It’s obviously going to start Green, but Lorwyn’s Treefolk are also Black and White. Do we stick with the single color, or try and fit in one or both of the splash colors? Let’s look at possible candidates, since it’s a short list:
Battlewand Oak: With decent stats and two really good abilities for this type of deck, the little Treefolk that could is pretty much the first guy we want in our lineup. Growing with each Treefolk spell leads us to try and play Treefolk before combat, but the Forest-related ability should give us a healthy-sized Battlewand Oak once combat rolls around.
Bog-Strider Ash: The Swampwalk is probably the better ability here, since we can’t rely on our opponents to play Goblins. About the only one that sees play regularly nowadays is Mogg Fanatic.
Cloudcrown Oak: With a power closer to toughness and the not-inconsequential Reach ability, this guy’s a fair choice for both offense and defense.
Deadwood Treefolk: Ah, Bennie’s dear Deadwood Treefolk. With the large number of creatures that will inevitably be loaded into this deck, getting a few guys back in the mid-game isn’t a horrible idea. We’ll probably only want a few, since that whopping SIX casting cost means that multiples will clog up our hand.
Guardian of Cloverdell: Too expensive for his size and ability – and we won’t have multiple Kithkin to get extra use out of him.
Heartwood Storyteller: Dependent on how many non-creatures we run. If we end up with only a handful of spells, then this guy is inexpensive and will help us draw into more business cards as the game goes on.
Oakgnarl Warrior: Seven mana is definitely a huge number in a world filled with Remove Soul and Rune Snag. While he does have some huge attributes for his mana cost, seven is still a lot.
Scarwood Treefolk: A 3/5 for four mana that can’t block on the first turn is a minor drawback for this guy’s stats. Four mana is a mile away from seven mana.
Seedguide Ash: Finally! A Treefolk with power the same as his toughness! Mind-boggling. The fact that he gives us a nice speedup into Deadwood Treefolk if he dies is just gravy.
Sheltering Ancient: I have wanted to like this guy for a LONG time. A 5/5 trampler for two mana is overboard, which is why it has that awful drawback. Luckily, Green has gotten a few ways to deal with creatures in the last year or so.
Timber Protector: This is a three-dollar rare that definitely belongs in every Treefolk deck. For five mana, you get a guy that can’t be efficiently burned out, makes every other Treefolk bigger, and makes them indestructible to boot. If you’re out to make a Treefolk deck or three like we are here, take the time and find a way to acquire at least three of these. They get better in multiples since they then protect each other.
Treefolk Harbinger: Fetches a Forest in the early game (or Battlewand Oak), or picks up Timber Protector or Verdeloth for the big finale – and all for the bargain price of one mana. Sure, it would be nice if he were a 1/3, or even a 1/2, but we can’t get everything in life.
Verdeloth, the Ancient: We’d be mostly using him for his +1/+1 ability, and not so much for the Saprolings – that should probably be saved for another article. Although, in a pinch, you can snatch one up late-game and splash for a big kicker to rebuild an army with one card.
Other cards we can consider for a mono-Green Treefolk deck include Woodland Changeling (a nice 2/2 Treefolk for two mana), Harmonize (drawing cards may be a necessity in this deck), Lignify (although it makes for an 0/4 blocker for Treefolk with less power), and Rootgrapple (instant-speed removal with a high likelihood of the extra card).
4 Battlewand Oak
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Sheltering Ancient
4 Seedguide Ash
4 Cloudcrown Oak
4 Woodland Changeling
3 Timber Protector
2 Verdeloth, the Ancient
4 Rootgrapple
4 Harmonize
23 Forest
The Mono-Green version of the decks seems like it relies on … well, on your opponent doing basically nothing. It’s fairly slow, doesn’t have any way to break through a ground stalemate, and doesn’t have any ability to recover from mass removal. Bummer.
The Black Treefolk and accessories seem to give us a few more options:
Black Poplar Shaman: Cheap and with a relevant ability, the Shaman lets us maintain an army while we wait to get down Timber Protector.
Thorntooth Witch: Six mana is a lot, but Thorntooth Witch at least provides something relevant – the hopeful ability to break a ground stalemate, which is where Treefolk usually get bogged down. She’s probably a one- or two-of, due to her casting cost and where you want her ability to appear in a game.
The Black Changelings (Skeletal and Ghostly) and, of course, Nameless Inversion give us Treefolk cards to keep bulking up Battlewand Oak, while giving us reasonably costed creatures that benefit from both Black Poplar Shaman and our Treefolk-pumping Lords.
4 Battlewand Oak
4 Black Poplar Shaman
4 Ghostly Changeling
4 Woodland Changeling
4 Sheltering Ancient
3 Timber Protector
2 Verdeloth, the Ancient
2 Thorntooth Witch
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Harmonize
2 Rootgrapple
Nameless Inversion probably makes this deck better than the Mono-Green version by itself, and the Black means that we can run other creature removal like Eyeblight’s Ending (or in the sideboard).
White also gives us an excellent removal spell and access to a couple more Treefolk, but will that be better or worse than the Black?
Oaken Brawler: Well, with Treefolk, one nice thing is that you’ll almost always win the clash. But Oaken Brawler really is just a Scarwood Treefolk that doesn’t come into play tapped, and that’s at best.
Sentry Oak: Again, you’re more than likely to win the clash, and this one is better since you can do it every turn to help dig through your deck. On the attack, he’ll always be a 5/5 at least, so that’s acceptable for five mana.
The White also gives us access to Crib Swap (another Treefolk spell to trigger Battlewand Oak) and Avian Changeling (a nice flying Treefolk to help with ground stalls).
4 Battlewand Oak
4 Sentry Oak
4 Avian Changeling
4 Woodland Changeling
4 Sheltering Ancient
3 Timber Protector
2 Verdeloth, the Ancient
2 Deadwood Treefolk
4 Crib Swap
4 Harmonize
2 Rootgrapple
Crib Swap can help you deal with creatures that have received an abundance of Sheltering Ancient tokens. The rest of the deck looks like our base, with the re-addition of Deadwood Treefolk, in an attempt to help with the clash costs and to give us a way to get back our more fragile treefolk.
There are, of course, rares you can add to the deck to make it more powerful, even if only in ones and twos. Doran, the Siege Tower, for example, is a powerful Treefolk with a powerful effect on a Treefolk deck, that you can put into a three-color Treefolk deck even as a singleton, provided you have Treefolk Harbingers to hunt him up. Dauntless Dourbark is another powerful attacker (since he’ll most likely have trample), and is also an easy fetch with the Harbinger. The manabase becomes much smoother with Tenth Edition painlands, although you could easily run Saltcrusted Steppe in any of the decks, and Arctic Flats in the Green/White deck. And you could easily put Wrath of God or Damnation in the double-colored decks, maybe in twos, to blast away opposing creatures once your Treefolk army has acquired a Timber Protector – sure, you’ll lose your Timber Protector, but it could make for an immense alpha strike out of nowhere.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at one of Lorwyn’s underpowered tribes. It’s a great tribe especially for casual play, I think, where you can get access to older Treefolk but still retain the power that Timber Protector gives you. I regularly played with Weatherseed Treefolk, and StarCityGames.com has a number of them well in the budget price range. And because most Treefolk decks run Treefolk Harbinger anyway, you can squeeze in any of the rares that you might already have, without breaking your bank to get a foursome.
See you next week!
Dave