Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: Truly Guided by Nature (EDH / Commander)

"Artifice has always stood upon nature's shoulders. Let us watch nature take a turn."
—Freyalise

=== P L E A S E _ N O T E ===

I disassembled this deck in March 2018.

=== I N T R O D U C T I O N ===

When I read the decklist of the preconstructed Commander 2014 deck "Guided by Nature", I was a bit dismayed that a deck with such a title contained artifacts, and moreover some with a clearly out-of-color flavor, like Assault Suit and Predator, Flagship.

Since its commander Freyalise was one of the nine planeswalkers who destroyed Phyrexia, an artificial plane of mechanical and biomechanical unlife, I expected that the deck would have some kind of anti-artifact theme and would contain only a few green-flavored artifacts, if any. So I decided to rework the deck, in order to bring its flavor in line with that of its commander. This is the result.

=== S T R A T E G Y ===

The creature tokens Freyalise creates tap for {G}, turning her into a ramp engine once she hits the board. Freyalise's -2 ability is a solid control effect and another hint that she really doesn't like artifice, so I decided to completely abstain from using artifacts in my deck. Her ultimate synergizes well with her +1 ability and turns her into a very solid draw engine, technically capable of refilling my hand a few times over the course of a game.

I dropped the elf tribal theme in favor of a more "good stuff" orientation. I like tribal themes very much, but just because Freyalise can pump out elf druid creature tokens doesn't automatically make her a good choice for commander of an elf tribal EDH deck. Many of the legendary, format-legal elves are much more interesting in this role.

Since I'm not using any artifacts in my deck, I can shamelessly run some of green's most powerful and interesting artifact hosers, like Creeping Corrosion and Hum of the Radix. Many EDH decks utilize about a dozen or more artifacts for mana ramping (Sol Ring), mana fixing (Ravnica signets), protection (Lightning Greaves) or for access to out-of-color abilities (Sword of X and Y), so these spells always have an impact on the board.

Freyalise's ultimate needs some beasts on my side of the table to work, so I run 36 creatures in my deck. Some of them also create creature tokens, in addition to other token generating spells like Garruk, Primal Hunter or Arachnogenesis. Cards like Gaea's Cradle and Regal Force also profit from this.

My deck also has a "lands matter" subtheme. Since green mostly ramps via land fetching spells, cards like Budoka Gardener, Dungrove Elder and Rampaging Baloths capitalize on either the number of lands I control or on lands coming into play on my side of the table.

Piloting this deck is really simple. I ramp like there's no tomorrow, blow up everything that shimmers, play a bunch of big creatures and stomp all over my opponents.

=== C O N C L U S I O N ===

Freyalise can stand her ground at any casual table, and has even won me a FNM event. Naturally (pun intended) this deck is very strong against artifact or enchantment based strategies, but has answers to most other threats as well. The deck is able to kill every opponent in one turn if the conditions are met, but can also decide long wars of attrition in its favor.
A weakness of the design is clearly its inability to deal with indestructible threats. Its only answer to Avacyn, Angel of Hope is Song of the Dryads. It also has a hard time against control strategies based on instants and sorceries instead of artifacts and enchantments. Since my deck relies heavily on creatures, it is a tough task to play against an opponent who uses a lot of wrath spells.

I hope you like my concept. If so, or if having questions or suggestions, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

=== C O M M E N T E D _ D E C K L I S T ===

//Commander
1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury #!Commander

//Lands
26 [XLN] Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle #The WCD 1999 version of the card is quite affordable.
1 [VIS] Jungle Basin
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Reliquary Tower #Much appreciated when Freyalise ultimates.
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Sapseep Forest
1 Winding Canyons #Neat ability to have on a land.
1 Yavimaya Hollow

//Enchantments
1 Concordant Crossroads #So much win if I Genesis Wave into it.
1 Root Maze #Slows down artifact based mana ramping by a lot.
1 Night Soil #Primarily a graveyard hate card, but the Saps are appreciated.
1 Viridian Revel #Nice synergy with Freyalise's -2 ability.
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 [USG]Vernal Bloom
1 Hum of the Radix
1 Doubling Season #Auto include because reasons.
1 Asceticism

//Auras
1 Song of the Dryads

//Instants
1 Summoner's Pact
1 Emerald Charm
1 Evolution Charm
1 Setessan Tactics #Mono green mass removal.
1 Arachnogenesis
1 [DDL] Beast Within
1 Return to the Earth

//Sorceries
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Wurmcalling <cost=1G> #Reusable mana sink for the late game.
1 Nissa's Pilgrimage
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Whirlwind #murders dragons, which is useful nowadays.
1 Genesis Wave <cost=1GGG> #replaced Genesis Hydra.
1 Shamanic Revelation

//Planeswalkers
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

//Creatures
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Ambush Viper
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Fauna Shaman #Almost as good as Survival of the Fittest, and much cheaper.
1 Kazandu Tuskcaller
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Magus of the Library #can be bonkers in the early game.
1 Dungrove Elder
1 Manglehorn #neat addition to this deck with regard to flavor and function.
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways #Mana acceleration plus a Biorhythm on legs.
1 [EXO] Wood Elves
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Predator Ooze
1 Karametra's Acolyte #Basically a second Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
1 Mold Shambler
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Temur Sabertooth #Recurring ETB triggers are always good, plus it's a potent blocker.
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Genesis
1 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
1 Molder Slug
1 Silklash Spider
1 Shefet Monitor #replaced Skyshroud Claim because versatility.
1 [ARC] Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Ulvenwald Hydra
1 Vigor #I rediscovered this card in an old deck of mine. Auto include.
1 [DDP] Avenger of Zendikar
1 Krosan Tusker #gets cycled most times, but is great if I need a body instead.
1 Regal Force
1 Terastodon

//Maybeboard
1 Living Wish #I'm considering to add this sorcery to the 99 and use the following cards in a sideboard:
1 Bane of Progress
1 Brooding Saurian
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Elderscale Wurm
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Tajuru Preserver
1 Tornado Elemental
1 World Breaker