>Introduction

Hello all, I’m WizardSpartan and I’ve been playing Elves since I started Magic. A little more recently, I’ve gone from Marwyn, the Nurturer to Ezuri, Renegade Leader, and I have had a lot of success.

>Disclaimer

There are 2 things this deck lacks:

1. Infinite combos. Because of how competitive my playgroup is, I choose to purposefully exclude intentional infinite combos. I personally like the puzzle of generating enough non-infinite mana to win the game. Later in this primer, I’ll discuss some infinite combos that would be fantastic in Ezuri.

2. Expensive cards. I operate off of an extremely limited budget, so staples such as Gaea’s Cradle/Aluren aren’t feasible for me. I will also discuss some expensive cards that definitely deserve a place in Ezuri if your wallet permits.

>Why Ezuri?

Well, here are the options:

>Ezuri, Renegade Leader

Advantages	Disadvantages
Provides a decently efficient outlet for extra mana and very efficient protection for all your important elves.	He doesn’t advance your gameplan (generate mana or make elves) and is oftentimes a lightning rod for removal (although this can be an advantage if you play right).

>Marwyn, the Nurturer

Advantages	Disadvantages
She make mana. Lot of mana. Fast. You get a nice payoff for playing elves in the form of a large lady and a lot of mana.	Very susceptible to removal. Green lacks counterspells, so oftentimes you can’t stop your opponents from just killing her and resetting your progress. Also, a large creature with no inherent trample/evasion can’t really end the game. Outside of making mana, she doesn’t transition into winning the game well on her own.

>Eladamri, Lord of Leaves

Advantages	Disadvantages
He gives all your elfy bois two very important abilities, and (depending on your playgroup) his protection can be better than Ezuri’s.	He adds even less than Ezuri to your gameplan. Not only do ya need to find mana producers, you need to find a win con.

>Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen

Advantages	Disadvantages
Nice pump, nice lifegain.	Overall meh. 4 mana for a lord effect and a few life if you manage to profitably attack with your elves. Imo much worse than the 2 previous options.

So, Ezuri vs. Marwyn. I know a lot of people swear by Marwyn, but I think both are viable elf commanders. They go in different directions, though. Ezuri needs lots of mana producers in the 99 to start humming, but he doesn’t need as many game-winning pump spells, etc. He’s a little slower but safer and more consistent. Marwyn justs wants 1 drops for a T2 Marwyn, has much less of a need for bigger mana. She needs more ways to win, though. I’ve found she’s faster but much more of a glass cannon.

>Inclusions

>Lands

Ancient Tomb: Extra mana is nice. If looking to make even more budget, this would be one of my first cuts, though.

Castle Garenbrig: Comes in untapped 99% of the time and can make an extra mana for more creatures, Ezuri activation, etc. There’s basically no reason to not run this.

Mosswort Bridge: Nothing like dropping this early and putting a Craterhoof under it. Nice little way to cheat out a tutor, etc. It can be activated at instant speed before your turn, by the way.

Sanctum of Eternity: Nice way of protecting Ezuri from harmful auras from opponents, etc. I don’t run a lot of colorless lands, so I can afford a couple.

Tranquil Thicket: Nice 1 mana cantrip for late game when you don’t want lands.

Wirewood Lodge: One of my favorite cards. For the extremely powerful effect, it is cheap both mana wise and $$ wise.

>Small Ramp

Arbor Elf, Birds of Paradise, Boreal Druid, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves: Nothing much to see here, good at pushing your mana ahead early game and good for pushing damage through in the late game.

Devoted Druid: Fun card that can get some extra mana with Ezuri.

Joraga Treespeaker: Another solid card that can be cast T1, leveled up T2 (and can be tapped for a 2 drop on T2) to get 5 mana on T3. Also can turn tokens, etc. into mana producing monsters. I rarely level this up to 5 simply because I want the majority of my elves to attack, with only a few generating mana. Because the Level Up ability can only be activated at sorcery speed, I've found that in 90%+ of the situations I've been in with 10+ mana I either want to straight up win or hold up mana and turtle up until my next turn.

Leyline of Abundance: Considering I just described 8 creatures that tap for mana (and those are just the 1-2 drop ones) I think the extra mana and mana sink it provides is just too good.

Sol Ring: It’s Sol Ring.

>Large Ramp

Elvish Archdruid, Priest of Titania, Wirewood Channeler, Marwyn, the Nurturer, Karametra's Acolyte, Elvish Guidance, Llanowar Tribe: The backbones of this deck. All make bunches of mana, can be untapped using various effects, and are elves so they can attack & trigger other abilities if needed.

Emerald Medallion, Herald's Horn: Both are fantastic discounters.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun: This card is hoppin’ up in price for good reason. If you can’t shell out the $350 for a Gaea’s Cradle (and even if you can), it’s absolutely fantastic. It draws you a card and note that it can tap for a single green if you happen to have no creatures, unlike Cradle.

>Card Advantage

Beast Whisperer, Guardian Project, The Great Henge, Soul of the Harvest: All are fantastic repeated draw engines.

Elvish Visionary, Generous Patron, Regal Force, Shamanic Revelation: The best of the best of one shot draw spells. All have nice upsides in addition to the cards they draw.

Harmonize, Collective Unconscious: While not as flashy as other inclusions, they help this deck hum.

Sylvan Library: Iconic. Fantastic. I'm never unhappy to see this card.

>Tutors

Chord of Calling, Finale of Devastation, Green Sun's Zenith, Worldly Tutor, Eldritch Evolution: While I aim to avoid infinite combos, I love tutors and love that the green tutors are much more affordable than the black ones (lookin at you Vampiric Tutor).

Elvish Harbinger, Fauna Shaman, Fierce Empath: All are fantastic tutors in their own right. They also leave a body behind to potentially swing with that nice Craterhoof Behemoth you just yoinked out of your deck.

>Protection

Eternal Witness: This is the best recursion effect in mono green. While Regrowth is 1 less mana, it doesn't include a stick with its effect. While Eternal Witness is not an elf, it still increases the mana generated by Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun; gets buffed by Beastmaster Ascension, Craterhoof Behemoth, Cultivator of Blades, Overwhelming Stampede, Triumph of the Hordes; and can be found by one of my many creature tutors.

Heroic Intervention: This card is so ridiculously good. It’s basically a green defensive counterspell. Very, very nice.

Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots: Both are fantastic and provide Ezuri protection he can’t give himself.

Temur Sabertooth: Both a value engine with cards like Dwynen’s Elite and Elvish Visionary and a solid protection spell against targeted removal that Ezuri can’t protect against.

Veil of Summer: More of a meta call, but if you deal with a lot of counterspells or black-based removal, this is an auto-include. There’s a reason it’s banned in Standard, Pioneer, and Historic.

Yeva, Nature’s Herald: If you can’t afford Vedalkan Orrery, look no further.

Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary: This card is just consistently good. I am happy to just spend 3 mana to get back a used tutor or removed creature with this, and in the rare times where I need the land desperately, it's better than not having access to a land whatsoever.

>Removal

Beast Within: This destroys any permanent. In green. Le fantastico.

Song of the Dryads: Right alongside Beast Within, Song of the Dryads is one of green's only ways to efficiently remove any permanent.

Force of Vigor: Now blue isn’t the only color that can bluff interaction when tapped out. Cue maniacal laughter

Kenrith's Transformation, Lignify: Green is notorious for not being able to remove creatures, so its options are much worse than colors such as black or white. Still, it’s not without any options. Kenrith’s Transformation and Lignify are both decent, requiring the use of enchantment removal on the part of the opponent.

Nullmage Shepherd, Reclamation Sage: Both are fantastic. Elves stapled to removal is always good.

Nature's Claim, Return to Nature: To round out the removal suite, some of the cheapest, most flexible artifact/enchantment removal available to green.

>Untappers

Quirion Ranger, Wirewood Symbiote, Seeker of Skybreak: All are fantastic low drops that can untap more important elves. Noice.

Seedborn Muse: Outside of the dreaded Damnation/Wrath of God and exile-based removal, this lovely little creature makes it a nightmare to interact with our board or even attack into us.

>Other Elves

Dwynen's Elite, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Elvish Promenade, Imperious Perfect: Know what’s better than having lots of elves? Even more elves. It’s much easier to get lethal with Ezuri when you have more elves. Your dudes make more mana & you have more creatures to swing and get buffed.

Elvish Champion, Joraga Warcaller, Metallic Mimic: Hans und Franz (and their weird friend Pons) are here to Pump. You. Up.

>Win Conditions

Beastmaster Ascension, Cultivator of Blades: Both are extremely powerful static pump effects.

Concordant Crossroads: You heard me. Haste in mono green. Ever hated playing a bunch of elves, sitting there with Craterhoof in your hand, knowing that if you pass, your opponents will just boardwipe and leave you crying on the ground? Yeah, me too. For the low, low price of 1 mana and giving your opponents’ creatures haste, you can drop your bois, drop Craterhoof, drop this, and then swing all in 1 turn. This should make any green player smile.

Craterhoof Behemoth: The biggest of the bois, the beastiest of the beasts, it’s the king himself.

Overwhelming Stampede, Triumph of the Hordes: The 2 only two noncreature pumps I would run in Ezuri. Most of the other ones (Overrun, etc.) are just not worth it and do as well or worse than Ezuri.

>Notable Exclusions

>Based on Personal Preference

Lifecrafter’s Bestiary: A consistent card that’s just a little too slow for my current list.

Defense of Heart: This card is just too telegraphed for me. It's 4 mana, easy to disrupt, and isn't the absolute best in here. It is still good, but it triggers on your upkeep, which is awkward. Whatever I find has to wait a turn cycle to do something. I like Defense more in decks with fatties with haste, powerful etb triggers, etc. that can get value that turn.

Genesis Wave: Just not the biggest fan of Wave. It encourages you to tap out for a huge wave, but that opens you up to getting blown out when your opponents (justifiably) gang up on you. In decks that can generate infinite mana, it's a lot better, as its guaranteed that Wave hits Concordant Crossroads and gives you the potential to win that turn.

Utopia Sprawl/Wild Growth: These cards are solid early plays that combo with Argothian Elder. I don't run Elder and don't see any need to run these either.

Collector Ouphe, Winter Orb, etc.: I run my lists like I would want my opponents to run theirs. I'm not a big fan of stax overall, even though there definitely are options that fit within this deck. If they start releasing elves that are stax pieces, then we may have to revisit this topic.

Nyxbloom Ancient: This card is the greediest card I've seen in a while. Obviously, it easily wins the game when paired with any decent amount of mana, but this deck doesn't need it. Leaning on cards like Ancient is a sign of weakness in your deck, as this card is such a threat (and is hard to protect as a result of it not being an elf) that I doubt it will make 1 turn cycle around the table. Oh, it's $15 also? Go buy yourself a Thousand-Year Elixir and some Starbucks instead of this overhyped elemental.

Nyx Lotus: I have a similar philosophy towards Lotus as I do towards Ancient. The card it's most similar to is Karametra's Acolyte, and Acolyte is much better in my eyes. The only thing Lotus has going for it is the fact its harder to kill, but Acolyte being a creature brings its own set of benefits. It can be tutored easily, can gain haste from Concordant Crossroads, adds mana to Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, and gets pumped by all of my pump effects (except Ezuri, obviously).

Oakhame Adversary: I have a tough time explaining why I don't like this card, but I definitely don't want it here. My meta is very creature-heavy, so Adversary will have difficulty getting through, for one. It's honestly a combination of tiny little dislikes that all come together to make me really not like it in my list.

Path of Ancestry: Tapland bad. Simple as that. I have 2 taplands (really, 1, as I end up cycling Tranquil Thicket 90% of the time or more) in my deck right now, and Mosswort Bridge is only in because I somehow manage to hit a Craterhoof Behemoth, major draw spell, or something equally amazing off of it almost every time. I don't know how, but I just do. Path of Ancestry just aint it in my mind. I will say that it's somewhat on the fence, so if you have a copy and like it a lot, feel free to ignore this and pop it in.

Vitalize: Just no. Blegh. Just run Scryb Ranger if you want more untaps. Vitalize will likely only untap 1-2 mana producers in an average game, and if my boardstate has 2-3+ large mana dorks, then I end up having so much mana Vitalize becomes unnecessary. Basically, either it's not worth it because it doesn't untap enough or it isn't worth it because it isn't necessary.

Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood: The only reason not to run this card as a replacement for a basic is its price (maybe if your playgroup has an abnormally high amount of nonbasic hate, but you would still have access to 20+ basics and a load of mana dorks). It doesn't do anything particularly special, and I just find it mediocre

>Based on Budget/Combo Potential

Gaea’s Cradle: $350 is just slightly above my budget range. Lol. Probably the best card to include if not on a budget.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: Another solid land that I like to think of as a more budget cradle. Still a bit of money.

Staff of Domination/Umbral Mantle/Sword of the Paruns: All go infinite really easily and are a little boring and too competitive for me.

Aluren + Cloudstone Curio: Apparently when 25% of a deck is creatures with a CMC ≤3, Aluren is a good card. It especially is nice with Cloudstone, allowing you to recast value creatures like Elvish Visionary until you hit Craterhoof Behemoth.

Argothian Elder: Combined with Gaea’s Cradle/Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Wirewood Lodge, it goes infinite with just a couple creatures on board. Unfortunately, both big mana lands are still outside my budget range.

Natural Order: Also on my list to purchase. Sacrificing a mana dork for Craterhoof Behemoth seems like a decent play.

Vedalken Orrery: Too far out of my budget range. Strong card that gets around sorcery-speed boardwipes, though.

Deserted Temple, Crop Rotation, Sylvan Scrying: If you are including Cradle in your list, these cards are no brainers. Not here, unfortunately.

Glimpse of Nature: This card has the potential to put in lots of work, but its price tag combined with how this deck looks to play makes it not necessary to me.

Helix Pinnacle: This card is best paired with infinite mana, as if my deck can produce 100 mana, it likely can just win the game through combat.

Natural Order: This card is very good, especially because I run a decent amount of token generators that can make good fodder for Order, but it's a decent chunk of change, 4 mana, and sorcery speed. Could be good, but the tradeoff $$ wise doesn't seem worth it right now.

Recycle: This card is a combo card through and through. My deck is not a combo deck, so the max hand size of 2 is too bad for my list.

Thousand-Year Elixir: This card is at the top of my list to grab. Haven't had a chance yet, though. If you have it, toss it in.

Tooth and Nail: See Defense of the Heart, but double its mana cost and price.

> Meta-Based Cards

Autumn's Veil: I include Veil of Summer, an obviously fantastic card, but if you have problems with resolving spells or losing creatures to u/b targeted removal, Autumn's Veil should definitely be included.

Grave Sifter, Praetors' Counsel: If you have problems with getting wiped by Damnation & Wrath of God in particular, look to include either or both of these.

Tajuru Preserver, Gaea's Herald: These are fantastic defensive pieces if your meta calls for them. If you have a lot of forced sacrifice effects (Mogis, God of Slaughter, Meren of Clan Nel Toth), Tajuru Preserver is excellent at fighting those kinds of decks. If you have such a difficult time with resolving spells that both Veil of Summer and Autumn's Veil won't cut it, Gaea's Herald is here to help.

Steely Resolve: Another excellent piece in the right meta. It's similar to Eladamri, Lord of Leaves except it's cheaper $$ wise and is much harder to interact with.

Krosan Grip: If you are facing a lot of situations in which Split Second would come in handy, Grip can easily replace Wilt.

Noxious Revival: Another good card if you face a lot of interaction and need to get some key cards back. I don't need a bunch of similar effects, and Eternal Witness combined with a large tutor suite means I'm usually fine recursion-wise.

Riftsweeper: While my deck doesn't rely on any one combo piece to win the game, Riftsweeper is decent against exile-based removal like Merciless Eviction or Swords to Plowshares. Bonus: it's an elf!

Wrap in Vigor: If you are facing extremely large amounts of destruction based wipes, then this card is solid. It allows you to protect your entire board without requiring you to leave a Priest of Titania or similar creature untapped.

>Keep or Mull

So, deciding whether or not to keep hands.

First, lands: Unless in extreme cases (Leyline + 1 drop along with you being sure your opponents won't remove your dork), ≤1 landers are definite mulls. 2 landers can be kept, but make sure you have some way to ensure more mana (1 drop(s), Sylvan Library, Priest of Titania, etc.). 3 landers are pretty easy keeps. Considering this deck only has 30 lands, then it's less likely that you will flood compared to most EDH decks. 4-5+ lands are also mulls, as elf decks need elves.

Using Deckstats' starting hand function, I did some example opening hands to give an idea of what to look for in an opening hand:

>Hand 1

Forest, Forest, Quirion Ranger, Nature's Claim, Concordant Crossroads, Collective Unconscious, Craterhoof Behemoth

This is an immediate mull. No good accelerants/early plays besides Quirion Ranger, and 2 high-cmc dead cards.

>Hand 2

Forest, Arbor Elf, Joraga Treespeaker, Kenrith's Transformation, Metallic Mimic, Force of Vigor, Leyline of Abundance

This one is spicy. Very spicy. One very important thing I would like to point out is the nonbo between Leyline and Arbor Elf. Since Arbor Elf doesn't tap for mana (it just taps to untap the forest), it doesn't get any extra mana from Leyline. If any other 1 mana dork replaced Arbor Elf, this could be keepable, but it's too risky for me.

>Hand 3

Forest, Forest, Castle Garenbrig, Elvish Mystic, Concordant Crossroads, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Soul of the Harvest

This is a very comfortable keep. If I draw another land by turn 4, it's a turn 4 Soul of the Harvest, which is very strong. If I don't, then I have Ezuri and Huntmaster as some early/midgame plays.

>Hand 4

Forest, Llanowar Elves, Emerald Medallion, Elvish Archdruid, Imperious Perfect, Reclamation Sage, Chord of Calling

This is even spicier than Hand 2. If you are afraid of an early removal spell eating your Llanowar Elves, then don't keep it. If you aren't, then this hand can be very scary. A turn 1 dork into Emerald Medallion with the best 3 drops in your deck and some removal and a tutor in your hand to top it all off is more than solid hand.

>Hand 5

Forest, Forest, Forest, Forest, Growing Rites of Itlimoc, Fierce Empath, Guardian Project

In a slow playgroup, this hand is fine. There won't be much coming out early, but Itlimoc can find a creature and Guardian Project is a solid source of card advantage. In faster groups where you might end up racing for the win, this hand is likely a mull.

>Playstyle

Usually, there are 2 lines of play. Both those lines depend on 2 things.

• How much interaction you are looking at from your opponents.

• How fast your hand is.

If your hand is slow or you are looking at a lot of interaction from your opponents, look to drop a low cmc dork, Ezuri, then follow up with your other elves, leaving mana up for Ezuri's regenerate ability. Slowly build up your board and don't attract too much undue attention from your opponents.

If you have a fast hand and your opponents don't have high-interaction commanders, look to go speedy. Still, play smart.

>Some Overall Tips

• Always try to think 2-3 turns ahead. See the advantages/disadvantages of spending an entire turn on Guardian Project, etc. Pay attention to your opponents and their likelihood to win compared to you.
• Prioritize hands with leyline and dorks, hands with a strong curve, hands with Sol Ring, and hands with tutors and enough mana to get the creature you want.
• When you have removal like Beast Within, be extremely cautious with using it. I would only use it if it stops an opponent from winning on the spot or if you can win with the removed permanent off of the board. You don't have a lot of removal, so play it wisely.

>Tutor Targets

• Reclamation Sage: Obviously good artifact/enchantment removal.

• Imperious Perfect: If playing a slower game, this is one of the best elves to have. Left unchecked, it creates an army of elf tokens in a matter of turns.

• Regal Force: Refills your hand when you have a large board and small hand.

• Craterhoof Behemoth: When you need to end the game, you know where to go.

• Yeva, Nature's Herald: Combined with instant-speed tutors like Chord, you can do some fun instant speed tricks before your turn.

• Eternal Witness: For when your opponents thought they survived Craterhoof.

• Temur Sabertooth: Abuses ETB triggers, can protect Ezuri, can protect important elves from Damnation/Wrath of God.

>The Typical Game

Here's what your first few turns in general should look like:
Turns 1-2: Play your smaller dorks, maybe Ezuri/larger one if you have the mana.
Turn 3: Usually, you'll want to have Ezuri out by now. If possible, leaving as little as 1 mana up makes it considerably more difficult for your opponents to get rid of what they want to get rid of on your board.
Turn 4-5+: Either be finishing up setting up repeatable card draw or be tutoring for what you need to win. Your opponents will likely be doing the same, so be smart.

>Infinite Combos

The reason I dislike most infinite combos is because of how boring, telegraphed, and clunky they can be. Umbral Mantle, for example, goes infinite with any dork that taps for 4+ mana. Super strong and super easy to win with it if you draw it. It's a fantastic card in Ezuri. The problem is, it's only used to go infinite, and it's a simple, game-winning, 2 card combo. Woo hoo. It gets boring fast winning every game with the same card. On that note, here are some infinite combos in my deck that include cards powerful outside of going infinite.

Devoted Druid + Ezuri, Renegade Leader + Leyline of Abundance

All you need is one green floating and all 3 on the field for this combo to work. Tap Devoted for GG, untap it, tap it again for GG. Activate Ezuri's ability, giving Druid +3/+3. You can then tap and untap Druid 3 more times for 6 total green mana. Using 5 of it, activate Ezuri again. This process nets 1 mana as many times as you want. With just one other elf on the field, you can pump all 3 elves until they have infinite power and trample and swing for the win. Outside of the combo, Druid still makes tons of mana with Ezuri, Leyline can create explosive starts, and Ezuri is Ezuri. Drawing any one of them doesn't feel bad.

Temur Sabertooth + Wirewood Symbiote + an Elf that costs 1 mana + a creature that taps for 5+ mana

This combo is a lot more complicated, but it only involves creatures (it's easier to tutor up). Tap your big mana dork for 5G, activate Wirewood Symbiote, bouncing the 1 drop elf to your hand and untapping the big dork. Then activate Temur Sabertooth for 2G, bouncing Symbiote to your hand. Spend 2G to replay Symbiote and the 1 drop elf. Each time the Symbiote is bounced and replayed, it's ability can be activated again, netting one mana an infinite number of times. Still, all of these creatures are more than useable outside of this combo. Sabertooth can be an efficient mana sink bouncing little creatures like Elvish Visionary & Dwynen's Elite for value, protecting important creatures like lords or mana dorks from removal, or ending the game with the etb effects like Craterhoof Behemoth. It all depends on what you have on the field and how much mana you have to spend. Symbiote, your small mana dorks, and your large mana dorks are obviously staples of Ezuri.

>Strengths and Weaknesses

>Strengths

• Can prey on slower metas.
• Is fast, can fight easily through destruction based removal and boardwipes.
• Can ignore many popular stax pieces. Common ones, like Winter Orb, Static Orb, Collector Ouphe, etc. don't work well against this deck (and some work well in favor of this deck, like Winter Orb).

>Weaknesses

• Bad removal. Mono green has subpar removal options, so you oftentimes want to be the threat at the table to prevent your opponents from playing their dangerous things.
• Weak to the right types of removal. Wipes like Merciless Eviction, Damnation, and Wrath of God are hard to beat here and can really set you back.
• Weak to pillowfort & stax strategies. If you know your opponents will be playing Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, etc., save your removal for the turn of your big swing.
• It's not immune to all stax pieces. Cards like Linvala, Keeper of Silence, Cursed Totem, etc. are a real problem. Linvala is probably the biggest bane for this deck simply because she's so hard to remove as a mono green deck. If your playgroup is playing stax pieces like Linvala and Cursed Totem, then it's likely you are allowed to run stax pieces of your own. Winter Orb, Thorn of Amethyst, Collecter Ouphe, and potentially even Static Orb can absolutely destroy your opponents' decks depending on how their manabases work.

>Lists for Those on Different Budgets

If you can’t afford a list as expensive as mine or you want to max out your list, no budgetary restraints necessary, I have made a $100 list and an unlimited budget list.

>$100

https://deckstats.net/decks/120669/1579807-ezuri-renegade-leader-100/en

I think this list is an excellent entrance into elves. Elves, as a tribe, is pretty budget to assemble and this list mostly drops tutors, Craterhoof Behemoth, Concordant Crossroads, and Sylvan Library. It will likely be even more welcome in casual circles (might want to consider swapping out Triumph of the Hordes, though), as it won't be as consistently powerful. It still packs a punch, though.

>Unlimited Budget

https://deckstats.net/decks/120669/1579918-ezuri-renegade-leader-unlimite/en
This deck changes in gameplan a bit when made fully optimized. Ya get a lot more mana with Gaea's Cradle & Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx & rather than attacking with finite damage for the win, the main goal is to go infinite either with a dork + untapper or Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge + land that taps for 2+ mana.

Note: I did not go with the Cloudstone Curio + Aluren, because individually, they are meh, they're hard to tutor for, and aren't an instant win by themselves.

>Extras

Format	Wins	Losses	Ties
Paper	4	1	0
Online	4	1	0

Note: I do not promise this table is 100% accurate, as I may forget games.

>Conclusion

Well, this concludes my primer. I would appreciate comments on what cards you think I should and shouldn't include, ideas for what to add to the primer, and questions about Ezuri in general! Thanks!

>Changelog

>3/10/20 - Edited Primer

Made visual changes.

>3/11/20 - Edited Deck

Made edits to deck, mostly based on recommendations made by Slyvester. Also made edits to primer, including Eladamri, Lord of Leaves as another potential commander.

Added/removed cards:
-1 Copperhorn Scout
-1 Fauna Shaman
-1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
-1 Prey Upon
-1 Rishkar's Expertise
-1 Vanquisher's Banner
+1 Collective Unconscious
+1 Eldritch Evolution
+1 Harmonize
+1 Llanowar Tribe
+1 Seeker of Skybreak
+1 Yeva, Nature's Herald

>3/11/20 - Edited Primer

Set up back half of primer, as Morg suggested.

>3/13/20 - Edited Primer

Added $100 budget version & unlimited budget version.

>3/18/20 - Edited Primer

Added some stuff and changed a lot of formatting.

>3/27/20 - Edited Primer & Edited Deck

Reformatted primer based on Nils’s markdown additions.

Took out a couple cards that felt subpar.

-1 Herald's Horn
-1 Seedborn Muse
+1 Soul of the Harvest
+1 Viridian Joiner

>4/13/20 - Edited Primer & Edited Deck

Added some sections to the primer, including strengths/weaknesses & meta based inclusions.

I like the ability of Wilt to cycle away over the targeted grave hate of Return to Nature.

-1 Return to Nature
+1 Wilt

>5/10/20 - Edited Primer

Added in some more exclusions and added some example starting hands.

>6/6/20 - Edited Deck

Got my hands on a Song of the Dryads, which beefs up my creature removal suite up. Metallic Mimic has yet to feel particularly good, so it's out.

Added/removed cards:
-1 Metallic Mimic
+1 Song of the Dryads

>6/8/20 - Edited Primer

I made various edits to the primer, adding to the descriptions of certain cards and adding some cards to the Notable Exclusions section.

>6/20/20 - Edited Primer & Deck

Slyvester12 & I have combined our primers and have been given the stamp of approval.

Also, I have been playing Lifecrafter's Bestiary in more and more decks and am never unhappy to see it. Soul of the Harvest is more expensive, more vulnerable, and provides less up front card advantage. Also, I managed to grab a Heritage Druid, so Joraga Warcaller is out for it.

-1 Joraga Warcaller
-1 Soul of the Harvest
+1 Heritage Druid
+1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary

>9/29/20 - Zendikar Rising Update

There aren't a lot of cards to go over, but I will talk about a couple.

Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood is an okay card. There's no reason to not run this if you don't care about spending the money, but it's so okay that I am not interested.

Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary is, to me, a better card than Turntimber Symbiosis here. A 3 mana recursion spell is definitely good, and it's a tapland in extreme situations where I desperately need one. Also, it's pennies, unlike Symbiosis.

Inscription of Abundance is a solid modal card, but it just doesn't fit quite right here. I think this card truly shines in decks that have a lot of big fatties, but this deck isn't one of those decks. Once I've buffed all my elves up, I want to spend mana ending the game, not gaining life or removing a single creature.

Tajuru Paragon is a Standard/Pioneer card, 100%. It's got a decent body and an okay kicker, but it just isn't built for Commander.

-1 Forest
+1 Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary

>10/23/20 - Edited Deck

Soul of the Harvest back in, didn't like Eldritch Evolution as there wasn't a particularly large amount of creatures I felt fine with saccing.

Added/removed cards:
-1 Eldritch Evolution
+1 Soul of the Harvest