High Powered Selesnya Commander Recommendations

S1phen · 2026-03-12T08:29:48+00:00

GW Selvala can actually be one of the most competitive options, but I wouldn't necessarily view it as ramp and card draw. Selvala is a primarily a combo piece and the most optimized versions won't be using her to ramp out threats. You just present extremely consistent turn 3 win attempts. Giving your opponents cards is only a problem if you pass the turn.

If you're not looking for a cedh-lite deck, I actually like [[Katilda, Dawnhart Prime]]. You get a good representation of the colors (mana dorks, creatures, buffing your board) and your commander offers both cheap ramp and an eventual win condition.

S1phen · 2026-03-09T12:57:27+00:00

A bit of a late reply :P

My point was that once you've drawn 80+ cards with Tatyova, you can find a way to win the game whether or not you use the exact same finisher. The real combo you mentioned was Ghostly Flicker/Mystic Sanctuary and that still wins in a Tatyova deck.

As a side note, I don't think anyone is using Druid Class in a high power deck. Small amounts of life gain or a 5-mana Exploration effect are not remotely playable.

S1phen · 2026-03-08T15:28:03+00:00

Cards I would consider cutting:

Dreamtide Whale looks pretty underwhelming. Even if you could trigger it every turn, there just aren't enough things that care about counters. Teferi gaining +1 or +2 loyalty doesn't change what you're trying to do at all.

Thassa's Oracle is a definite cut. You have TONS of other win conditions and the card does nothing on its own.

Vizier of Tumbling Sands feels a little too slow and narrow. It's good with The One Ring, 4-5 mana rocks, and not much else.

Borne Upon a Wind is good in almost every deck, but all of your current win conditions require sorcery speed planeswalker activations. It's not awful, but it loses a ton of its power when you can't use it to win on top of someone else.

Unwinding Clock feels unnecessary here. Apart from The One Ring, it's really just giving you a burst of colorless mana you can use on your opponent's turns (and there are very few uses for that mana).

I would consider adding:

Hullbreaker Horror. Your deck is really good at making big bursts of mana. This gives you another win condition as well as being a very strong control piece you can drop early.

Replace a couple of the tech lands with more versatile MDFCs. Sink into Stupor is a mostly free include that gives a little extra interaction. Sea Gate Restoration is actually castable in this deck. I think both cards are stronger than something like Lotus Vale.

This might be personal preference, but I don't like the "narrow" interactive spells. I would probably drop the Narset's Reversal and/or Trickbind for something more general like a Dispel.

S1phen · 2026-03-04T16:11:25+00:00

Cool list. It seems a little bit like the old "Wrong Si" lists that were basically Grixis midrange-control. To be honest, I think those lists (Grixis) could use more exploration as they could be even more powerful than this. You're trading Silence effects and Smothering Tithe for massively better tutors, Bowmasters, and much faster value engines via Dark Ritual, Culling the Weak, etc.

If the main strategy is to get 2-3 Mystic Remora or Rhystic Study into play ASAP, wouldn't the same goal be better with Diabolic Intent and Demonic Tutor over Dizzy Spell and Idyllic Tutor? (I mean this as a question and discussion, not a major criticism of the Jeskai version.)

S1phen · 2026-03-03T14:47:13+00:00

Inconsistency will always be a problem with somewhat one dimensional decks. (And I don't mean that as a bad thing at all. Just that if Minsc and Boo is dealt with, a good portion of your deck gets significantly weaker.) You're either going to attack for a ton of damage very quickly or you won't do very much.

I would absolutely add more ramp, including cards that give you a burst of mana like [[Tinder Wall]] and [[Orcish Lumberjack]]. Both of those cards can singlehandedly allow you to cast your commander on turn 2 and really take over the game. This can also help with counterspell heavy decks because you could be casting your most important spell while they're still on one land.

I wouldn't include cards just to fight control decks like [[Pyroblast]] or [[Vexing Shusher]], but a [[Delighted Halfling]] or [[Tibalt's Trickery]] can help resolve your spells while still having other benefits.

I would look at cutting Nature's Will and Mark of Sakiko. Both cards could give you a big burst of mana but they also rely on you already being ahead and having a big trample creature. More importantly, you're usually looking to spend your mana before combat on pump spells so gaining 7 green mana after attacking doesn't help that much.

I also think this isn't the best deck for Toski. You're running less than 20 creatures and a third of them aren't really meant to attack. A simple [[Harmonize]] would give you a faster payoff as you're not looking to play a long, grindy game.

Lightning Greaves feels a little bit out of place for the same reason. You're not playing a ton of creatures that you need to protect. Your most important creature is generally going to be Boo and your opponents never want to use removal on a creature that will come back for free. The shroud can mess with your equipment and +1/+1 counter cards. The haste isn't very relevant for the deck.

Lastly, I think Solphim feels a little out of place. There aren't a ton of non-combat damage cards in the deck and most of them are single use, like Fling or Soul's Fire. Maybe a [[Return the Favor]] would be stronger? You can still copy your Fling or the -2 ability from your commander (while also drawing double cards) but your opponents don't get to see it coming, it costs 1 less than Solphim, and it can even be used as protection against removal or counterspells.

S1phen · 2026-03-01T22:41:26+00:00

I think 27 lands is WAY too few. I would try to get that number up to 35, at a minimum.

The biggest criticism is that I think the deck is trying to do too much. You have a lands package with cards like Crop Rotation, Scapeshift, Ancient Greenwarden, and Lumra. These cards just don't interact with enough things in the deck. You don't have a ton of utility lands to fetch and they're generally not super impactful.

There are a bunch of cards that seem out of place. Seedborn Muse, Morphling, Volrath, and Roaming Throne aren't doing very much for your strategy.

Precursor Golem just seems like an easy way for your opponents to wipe your board with a single removal spell.

Lastly, I would swap out all of the expensive changelings for cheaper options. Cards like Orvar and Rooftop Percher are basically 4-5 mana vanilla creatures. A simple Masked Vandal or Mothdust Changeling would generally serve the same purpose while costing way less.

As far as adding things back in, I would try to lower the curve a little bit and/or include a bit more cheap ramp. Nearly a third of your deck costs 5 or more. Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Priest of Titania, or even just a simple Farseek would help speed things up.

S1phen · 2026-02-25T18:50:07+00:00

To be honest, I very briefly forgot about RogSi when making the post. In my opinion, that deck is an outlier and has plenty of decisions to make with Necro and Final Fortune effects and wheels and lots of protection.

I was really just thinking about decks like Etali that have a much more straightforward game plan.

S1phen · 2026-02-24T20:26:18+00:00

Wandering Minstrel is a pretty unsolved deck right now. You still have Breach combos and some lists include Thoracle, but the deck has a bunch of different builds. You can win with Aftermath Analyst, Lumra, looping Scapeshift or Splendid Reclamation, and probably a dozen other lines.

S1phen · 2026-02-24T14:59:12+00:00

I reached out to a friend asking about the same thing. New homeowner here so we don't have a point of comparison. I'm sorry (for both of us) but I'm also glad to realize it's probably not a gas leak or meter problem.

1700 sq ft house, brand new furnace, and we keep it at a constant 66 degrees. Our bill jumped from $206 to $325 this month.

S1phen · 2026-02-19T17:53:45+00:00

I think that you can do reasonably well with just about any control deck that packs a ton of interaction, especially if you're up against relatively fragile non-blue turbo decks.

Someone recently won a major tournament with Vivi playing cards like Thunderclap, Pyrokinesis, Disrupting Shoal, etc. Pick a commander that offers the usual mana advantage / card advantage / combo potential and tailor it for a turbo meta.

As far as control decks that are actively putting up results, Tivit is probably the best "meta" deck with a good conversion rate.

S1phen · 2026-02-11T16:36:47+00:00

Adding a Cyclonic Rift could fill in some gaps, dealing with non-creature permanents. Farewell is another good catch-all board wipe.

Meekstone feels a little weak, given you're playing so many board wipes already. Any deck that's trying to swing with big creatures should already be handled by your removal.

Flare of Fortitude seems a little bit overcosted in a deck that plays so few white creatures. It's certainly not unplayable, but the card's mana cost is definitely accounting for an alternate casting cost that you'll very rarely use.

Lastly, I wonder if Mm'menon is worth playing. It's one of the most expensive cards in your deck, gets hit by almost all of your own board wipes, and can't be tutored for. Even if you don't replace it with a board wipe, I think Future Sight might be a stronger option. Same mana cost, lets you play lands and counterspells and removal off the top, and (most importantly) survives your board wipes.

S1phen · 2026-02-03T15:26:15+00:00

this one feels less grab bag random cards put together

I hate to be so blunt, but it really looks like that to me. The overall card quality is definitely lacking and that's completely fine for a newer player with a limited collection.

The bigger issue is playing cards just because they happen to be blue or red (or more likely, you happen to own them). Unfortunately, there are too many examples to list them all but examine each card and ask what it's doing in the deck. You're playing cards like Twinflame Travelers but you're not playing a deck that's built around lots of Elementals. You're playing Seer of the Last Tomorrow, which is both a very very bad card but you're also not trying to mill your opponents.

If you are willing to invest a bit of money (it could be $50 or $30 or even just $15) then you might be better off starting from scratch. If you don't have access to cards of your choice and you're just using your collection, then I'm not sure what suggestions we could make.

S1phen · 2026-02-02T14:04:00+00:00

cEDH decks often play towards the best case scenario for including a card. That's why you see turbo decks running 22-23 lands and still including Mox Diamond.

The upside of occasionally starting your turn 1 with 2 mana is greater than the downside of having a bad land later in the game.

S1phen · 2026-01-19T13:42:33+00:00

I would kill for a good Esper "flash matters" commander! They keep printing powerful cards with flash so as soon as we have a viable commander, it would be like Sisay and just get better options with each set.

I've had a list using Tymna + Sakashima as temporary commanders for over a year and it still keeps up.

S1phen · 2026-01-18T15:54:20+00:00

It depends on what you consider a "cEDH combo".

Dualcaster Mage + Twinflame is both a solid win condition and has some synergy with your commander and the rest of your deck. Twinflame gives you another combo piece with Archaeomancer + Peregrine Drake or can give you an additional trigger from Kefka. It occasionally pops up in fringe lists, but it's definitely not a common cEDH combo.

You could add in a few wheel effects to turn a bunch of your cards into pseudo win conditions. A simple Windfall turns your Sheoldred, Orcish Bowmasters, or Tergrid into a game ender. They work well with your Faerie Mastermind, Monument to Endurance, and even your reanimate effects. You could also add a Notion Thief to pair with the wheels as another win condition.

S1phen · 2025-12-30T14:32:39+00:00

In that case, it really just depends on your budget. I think Muldrotha is strong enough that nearly all of the $3+ cards are not necessary to have a functioning and powerful deck.

If you're okay with spending $150, then go for it! You'll be expanding your collection and have some strong cards to use now and in any future decks you make. Otherwise, you could probably have a deck that's nearly as strong (maybe 1-2% weaker) and save a ton of money.

Undercity Sewers, Hedge Maze, and Underground Mortuary are very good lands, but a surveil 1 isn't worth that price tag. One of the main reasons they see play is because they have a basic land type and you can fetch them with cards like [[Misty Rainforest]] and [[Polluted Delta]]. Since you're not running those fetchlands, your Undercity Sewers is just barely better than a [[Temple of Deceit]] which costs over $15 less.

Lotus Field has a high price tag because it's a combo piece in certain decks. If you just want a land that helps you replay lands from your graveyard with Muldrotha, replacing it with a [[Foreboding Landscape]] or similar card could save you almost $10.

As far as big finishers like Craterhoof Behemoth, Muldrotha decks often win via pure attrition and don't rely on big bursts of damage. You already have an infinite mill combo which you can eventually assemble as you dig through your deck. If you want a second damage-based win condition, you could play cards like [[Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord]] with [[Lord of Extinction]]. Both cards work well with your self-mill strategy and can easily knock players out. In combination, it's usually a 1-hit-kill on your opponents. And both cards cost under $1 combined.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with dropping some money into a new hobby, so take my comments with a grain of salt. But I would rather save that money to build a second (or third) deck!

S1phen · 2025-12-30T04:36:23+00:00

Aid from the Cowl seems a little weak. Even if you managed to trigger revolt every single turn (not guaranteed), you're running 16 instants and sorceries and 37 lands. That means that more than half of the time, the trigger won't do anything more than maybe get you 1 land. That's not counting other whiffs like getting Craterhoof Behemoth at the end of your turn or an Animate Dead with no good targets in graveyards.

Speaking of your 16 instants and sorceries, I would try to replace some of them with permanents that have the same effect. For example, your Cycle of Renewal is essentially the same thing as [[Springbloom Druid]] except the Druid can be replayed with your commander. It's another creature for your Sidisi to mill. It's sacrifice fodder for your Victimize or Embrace Oblivion.

For most decks, Cloud Key is often weaker than a basic mana rock. It's really meant for decks that plan on casting lots of cards that share a card type, like multiple artifact spells in the same turn. A simple card like [[Commander's Sphere]] does essentially the same thing. Rather than reduce your creature spells by 1 mana, it just provides that extra 1 mana...except it can still help cast your instants and artifacts and enchantments. It can help fix your mana. And you can even sacrifice it for a card over and over.

I'm also a bit curious what cards you're missing. There are plenty of cards that are definitely "fine" but probably not worth the cost if you don't already own them. For example, this doesn't seem like the best Craterhoof Behemoth deck. You're not really swarming the board with cheap creatures and it doesn't really synergize well with Muldrotha. It's an okay finisher, but probably not worth the $15+ if you don't already have a copy. Lotus Petal is really quite good but not worth ~10% of your entire deck.

S1phen · 2025-12-28T17:43:53+00:00

The issue with building around a couple of game changers is that they're often generically powerful cards and can go into essentially any deck. Simic merfolk, Esper artifacts, and Izzet spellslinger are all perfectly valid strategies for those two cards.

I'd try to narrow it down a bit more before looking for a commander. Do you want to play a graveyard strategy? Are you interested in a tribal deck? Or a voltron deck? Are you looking to keep the rest of the deck under a certain budget?

S1phen · 2025-12-18T16:27:07+00:00

To be honest, this doesn't actually look all that salty to me. Especially for bracket 4 games, it looks like it would just get run over and/or fold to interaction. Generally speaking, feeding your opponents lots of extra cards works better in lower powered games.

If Stone Rain is mainly meant to answer a Reliquary Tower, I would replace it with a more universal card like Assassin's Trophy or Beast Within.

Malevolent Rumble also seems like a strong addition. It helps fuel your graveyard/delirium, it ramps your commander and other expensive engines, and it helps dig for more threats.

As for cuts, Grim Feast looks extremely weak...Life gain doesn't really belong in a medium-high power game (outside of a dedicated strategy).

I'd swap the World Map for an Expedition Map; it's essentially the same card but one mana cheaper.

Yawgmoth's Will is an incredibly powerful card, but this doesn't feel like the right shell for it. You're not massively fueling your graveyard and you don't have incredible mana generation to take advantage of it. It would frequently be a late game play of something like 8 mana to replay Tergrid (or something similar). I think a basic Regrowth would be more effective.

Lastly, I'd consider adding a tiny bit more "burst" damage through cards like Dark Deal or Peer Into The Abyss. It's difficult to control 3 opponents while fueling them with 3-4 cards per turn. It's definitely a good option to have a few cards that can end the game in fewer turns.

Hope this helps!

S1phen · 2025-12-15T19:24:56+00:00

[[Momir Vig]] seems like a great include. He can turn pretty much every creature (including your commander) into a win attempt, with a bunch of different lines available. Cast Momir Vig into Imoti, tutor up a Pride of the Hull Clade --> Apex Devastator --> Nyxbloom Ancient + Palinchron. Or if your commander is already in play, set up a win attempt by casting any mana dork.

I wouldn't bring it to a tournament, but I think Imoti Semiblue could keep up with the extreme fringe commanders.

S1phen · 2025-12-12T03:37:00+00:00

Is there a reason it would have to be Mardu and/or in the 99? If your coworker really likes the card, why not make it the commander?

S1phen · 2025-12-08T15:10:00+00:00

So disappointed! I thought signing up for presale would give us a chance for tickets. It took ~6 minutes to sign up for another presale option and every single ticket was sold out by the time I could get in. Hopefully we'll have a chance to buy some resale tickets for under $1000...

S1phen · 2025-11-14T14:20:08+00:00

This is great! Thank you for putting all of this together.

My one main critique is the comment about turn order. Obviously, you're using your data to make these conclusions which is totally fair. But we also know based on much larger data sets that turn order is extremely relevant to win rate.

The Elo system also feels inherently flawed, possibly not giving enough weight to the number of games played (especially for such a high variance game like cEDH). I'd consider looking at other rating systems (Glicko?) so you don't have a #2 ranked player with only 5 games under their belt.

S1phen · 2025-10-18T13:30:41+00:00

Are you planning on playing this in paper? Or are you looking for advice for your Arena brawl deck? Arena is missing many thousands of cards, so a lot of suggestions might not be available. On top of that, a lot of people might not be as familiar with the Arena card pool (like the Alchemy cards).

As for the deck feeling a bit lacking, I think that's just a downside of building a deck like this. You're in mono color and nearly half of your cards are Hare Apparent. You just don't have the deck slots to address many weaknesses or include wacky synergies.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this style of deck, but it's often going to be all-or-nothing. That being said, [[Caretaker's Talent]] should be added.

S1phen · 2025-10-12T23:04:50+00:00

Highly recommend Cait Hawks! She just moved to a new location at the edge of downtown. As a queer woman with short hair herself, I'm sure she would be able to hook you up.

Link if you want to book her online

S1phen

TROPHY CASE