Is EDH too expensive for you? Wanna play a fun deck that doesn't cost a fortune? Then allow me to introduce you to....Poor Man's EDH. For under $75 you can own a cool, powerful, and fun EDH deck that isn't too limited. For this edition of Poor Man's EDH, we take a look at a deck I've been play testing for about two weeks now. I made this to originally test Trostani's first ability, tuned it up, and now have a rather enjoyable budget deck! Trostani is a great commander with an awesome set of colors that don't just compliment him and his abilities, but he compliments even better! Enjoy!
The Conclave believe that they are the voice of nature itself. All are one voice, and to achieve this voice, one must silence the voice of your consciousness to hear Trostani, the three headed dryad. Trostani represent the three most important things to the Conclave: Order, Life, and Harmony. Yet, dark forces wish to seperate the planes for their own wishes, and now, Trostani has decided to take a stand. Now, all of Selesnya rises up for the sake of the planes to face off those who would cloud the planes with selfish desires, like Nicol Bolas and Liliana Vess, in order to spread the good word and save the planes! The Selesyna Conclave is filled with all sorts of enlightened members of all sorts of races and species, and it is with their unity that they will join forces to defeat the evil in front of them! Creatures like Doomed Traveler and Selesnya Evangel produce tokens early on, which ultimately fuel the Conclave's game plan, to produce an army large and powerful enough to trample over the forces of darkness! There are many ways to produce tokens in this deck, from cards like the previously mention Selesnya Evangel or cards like Seller of Songbirds give you tokens directly, while cards like Ornitharch force your opponents to choose either between a bigger creature or a powerful ability to go off! With such a variety of token producing abilities, it'll be easy to get at least one out, which is all you need!
After you get some tokens out, its time to start populating! Druid's Deliverance can save you early and give you a little populate, but Trostani is the best source of populate. Trostani uses a little mana and taps themselves to populate, which produces a copy of a token you control. Also, when another creature enters the battlefield, you gain life equal to it's toughness! So, Trostani heals you a bit and increases your forces a bit basically each turn! Trostani is a powerful commander by themselves, but with cards like Terastodon, you can destroy some noncreature permanents (like a few lands you seem to keep drawing into) to make 3 3/3 elephants, then populate an elephant to net 4 3/3 elephants and a 9/9 beater!
Gathering forces doesn't get you the win by itself, however. Opponents may try cards like Ratchet Bomb to nuke your tokens, or maybe try to use Blind Obedience to suppress you attack. Thankfully, the Conclave has nature itself to defend them! Selesnyans come to every fight with plenty of natural magics, like Naturalize, to get rid of these enchantments and artifacts that stunt your growth! And with this natural magics comes a few enchantments of your own to help everything the way it should be. Gravity Well cripples flying creatures, bringing them to your level to fight, while Ghostly Prison keeps all of those enemies back behind bars to keep you and your allies safe. A bonus to being a member of the Conclave is knowing that someone always as your back. Everyone is a hero at the Conclave, and sometimes you can count on other players to help bring down an in-game tyrant quickly, like Nekusar or King Brago! Just trust in your allies, and remember that the Conclave are the good guys, and they always win!