Ghired, Conclave Exile EDH (EDH / Commander)

My take on the C19 pre-con: Primal Genesis.

Naya has gotten a bad wrap. Green alone has the best ramp and nearly the best card draw. Green and Red enable creature-based strategies (which is one of the most common strategies). White is a great support color with some of the best removal and go-wide cards in the game. Although this deck does not have black the graveyard is not as prominent in this deck due to the tokens and blue is more useful in cEDH than casual (unless you want to make your friend rage from countering his commander).

The pre-con did not have enough accelerants for what the deck demanded so I added in Birds of Paradise, Cultivate, Elvish Rejuvenator, Growing Rites of Itlamoc, Llanowar Visionary, Wood Elves, and Smothering Tithe. The best accelerants have a CMC that is at least 2 less than your commander. For example, for a 5 CMC commander, you want accelerants that are 0-3 CMC for a 4 CMC commander you want accelerants that are 0-2 CMC. This is because you want to get the commander out a turn earlier than expected. Ramp that puts lands onto the battlefield is more powerful than creature-based or artifact based because of the taboo around land destruction. A board wipe can destroy all of your creatures and a Vandalblast or Cyclonic Rift will decimate your artifacts. If that happens you are at square one. Smothering Tithe and Domri, Chaos Bringer have a high CMC for ramping to the commander but they have powerful long game effects that synergize with the deck. You want at least 10 ramp in any given deck. 2 of the 10 ramp can have a CMC that is greater than 2 less the CMC of your commander.

I added Courser of Kruphix initially for ramp but then realized it is actually card draw. Nonetheless, Courser of Kruphix is a great card that can go in nearly any green deck. It filters land from the top of your library to make sure you do not get land flooded and lets you see the top of your library. Other people seeing what the card is is not a disadvantage because they A. won't necessarily understand the function/impact of the card or B. if it is removal your opponents will slow down their play to avoid the removal, giving you more time to build a board state. Think of it like being able to scry every turn and draw a card every other turn for 0 mana after the initial 3 mana investment. You want at least 10 card draw in your deck. Card draw that draws cards over a game is better than card draw that happens once and it is over. This is because it gets around discard effects and board state swings like a board wipe.

The removal that came in the pre-con was a mixed bag. When finding removal you want versatility, low CMC, and at instant speed. I added Elspeth Conquerers Death, Heliod's Intervention, and Swords to Plowshares. Elspeth Conquers Death exiles permanents which is powerful in its own right. Then the icing on the top is slowing your opponents down, and returning a creature or planeswalker to the battlefield with extra counters. Even if it gets removed midway through the saga it did its job and caused your opponents to waste removal on something you already got the most important effect from. Heliod's Intervention is the next Vandalblast (but better). This modal card lets you deal with both artifacts and enchantments while Vandalblast only deals with artifacts. Being modal allows for even more flexibility. This deck gains a ton of life throughout the game already and this is one more card that does that. I have plans on putting in win cons that revolve around life gain. Swords to Plowshares is a staple in white. It cannot remove permanents, but at instant speed, it exiles creatures for only 1 white mana.

Token Makers are essential to the deck. To populate you need tokens, on the battlefield. I added Mirror March and Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves. I just added Mirror March in for Soul of Zendikar. Let's do a quick comparison. Soul of Zendikar, pay 6 mana with double green in the CMC get one 6/6 with trample okay so far but not game-winning. Then pay 5 more mana to get one 3/3 token! To trigger this ability one you pay 11 mana for 9 power and toughness over 2 bodies. Mirror March: pay 5 and a red and get an enchantment, which is harder to remove and less restrictive right off the bat. Then every other creature you play gets a token copy that you can populate. No extra mana. Tolsimir is 5 mana for 6 power and toughness over two bodies. Passes the vanilla test. You gain 3 life with the first Voja and if you populate Voja you'll gain 3 life each time (because Voja is legendary you can only have one at once sadly so it might be worth taking out).

Lands are important but do not have to break the bank. Run exactly 38 lands in any deck including this one unless you have a good reason not to. I am running lands that I drafted or won at tournaments in this deck. It is important to run lands that come in untapped or give your powerful effects. Check Lands, Shock Lands, and Scry lands are all great additions. I would try to take out Guild Gates and Tapped Lands. You can run about 19 basics. Basics are great because they come in untapped and they tap for colored mana. I only run two utility lands. Both these lands come in untapped and have abilities the deck can capitalize on without being slowed down if I do not take full advantage of the lands's abilities.