Best color(s) for a Saproling Commander

[nethys]

Hello everybody !

Few months ago I was thinking about building a saproling EDH Deck.
I was planning to use https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Verdeloth%20the%20Ancient as a commander and base my deck on those mechanics, amongs other cards :

• Forests as saprolings with https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Life%20and%20Limb and https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?lng=en&utf8=1&card=Sprout%20Swarm
• Treefolks with https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Timber%20Protector
• Fungus with https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Vitaspore%20Thallid and https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Sporoloth%20Ancient

My goal was to use the fungus and the treefolks to create and protect a fast growing army of mana-producing saprolings. The fact is, recently, some new cards were added to the game : https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Slimefoot%2C%20the%20Stowaway and https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Ghave%2C%20Guru%20of%20Spores

I think those cards, and more precisely Ghave, were created to allow more flexibility in saproling decks. For exemple, the white allow things like https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Growing%20Ranks or some clean bord or protective cards.

Black can be used to kill big creatures that would be lethal to small beasts like saprolings.

I understand the interest of building tricolor deck with Ghave as a commander, but this would mean removing some cards that are meant to be part of my initial strategy.

My question is the following : Does a mono-green deck, based on small creatures can be robust enough to face good level commanders decks. And not necessarily in an highly competitive context.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[WWolfe]

Ghave isn't really a new card, I think it was originally printed in C11.

I don't have a Saproling deck, but I do have a few token decks. I've always preferred Selesnya as a starting point. It has access to Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, & Anointed Procession as token doublers and will now have access to Divine Visitation with the Guilds of Ravnica release.

You can certainly make a mono green token strategy work. My friend has a mono green Elf token deck that is pretty viable.

The biggest thing for any token strategy is including game winners like Triumph of the Hordes, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Overrun effects (Kamahl, Fist of Krosa for example).

Slimefoot seems like a pretty good commander for a Saproling deck though I personally haven't seen it in action though I hear there's a possible infinite loop that's a game-winner.


Edit- spelling is not my friend.

[Morganator 2.0]

You're in luck! Slimefoot the Stowaway is great for saprolings.

Slimefoot is a fungus, which goes with the theme of saprolings, and she makes saprolings herself. She also has a built-in win condition, where you can sacrifice a bunch of saprolings. Using Ashnod's Altar and Parallel Lives (or Doubling Season) you can loop this to infinity.

Thelon of Havenwood is another option, but he would be better off in the 99 of another deck, then as the leader. The downside is he favors fungi (which go hand-in-hand with saprolings, but are not the same thing).

[Judaspriester]

Hmm.. with a saproling deck you want to do 2 things: get LOTS of them and get them fast. If you manage to do that, you can just overrun your enemies. This can work very well, but this makes you very board dependend, so cards like Heroic Intervention are a must have to protect yourself from board wipes.

I've already thougt about a Saproling EDH deck myself and got an option not mentioned:
Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa + Tana, the Bloodsower: get lots of (nearly) unblockable saprolings, make them even harder to block with Bower Passage and make sure your enemies doesnt kill you with big stuff with cards like Meekstone or Crackdown.

Btw, Life and Limb is VERY dangerous. 1 boardwipe that isn't countered and nearly your whole manabase is gone. only play this if your sure you can avoid this, otherwise its like playing russian roulette.

[nethys]

@WWolfe
Checked for Ghave, and your were right XD. My bad ! I get lured by the commander anthology version !

Of course, Kamahl was planned. Along with https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Coat%20of%20Arms and https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Decree%20of%20Savagery for instance.

I like the selesnya colors, but I don't know any commander that would match with the saproling theme. Did you know one that would be interesting ?

@Morganator 2.0
Nice combo with Slimefoot the Stowaway ! I didn't tought of it ! And I already own Ashnod's Altar and Parallel Lives !
I didn't know about Thelon of Havenwood before, but it's also an interesting card.

@Judaspriester
I agree with the fact saproling need to be fast. It was the purpose of Life and Limb. With https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Vernal%20Bloom and https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Sprout%20Swarm, if you have some saproling already in play, you can spawn new creature very fast (each new sapro can produce 2 green mana to help recast the swarm).

I've already played it in a legacy format and it's fairly effective.

But you are very right. A simple https://cards.deckstats.net/magiccard.php?utf8=1&lng=en&card=Tremor can end up the whole game. But the fact is he deck, like I was seeing it, was heavily based on that card.

Without it, the swarm is lot less effective. Fungus can produce some sapro but they are pretty slow and the treefolks... well... One of them give the indestructible to forests, that isn't as interesting if the sappro aren't forests.

Your commander are interesting but I don't see how to use the red of your second commander here.

[Judaspriester]

Without it, the swarm is lot less effective. Fungus can produce some sapro but they are pretty slow and the treefolks... well... One of them give the indestructible to forests, that isn't as interesting if the sappro aren't forests.

Your commander are interesting but I don't see how to use the red of your second commander here.

Well, at least at my group they would laugh if i would play Life and Limb and then play an mass destruction. if you think its safer at your group, give it a try. Just dont focus to much on that card, since it could be difficult to tutor for a Enchantment in green.

About  Tana, the Bloodsower, i agree with you, you dont need to invest heavy into red, but she got trample, would be difficult to block in combination with Sidar and generates lots of saprolings.
Hmm.. On the second Thought, i got some ideas: Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge. Ping some damage with every saproling you produce.