Hello happy people! I hope that your day is going amazingly well today!

Today I have something a little bit cool for you! The CoolStuffInc.com staff finished building brews around all of the legendary dorks that debuted in Crimson Vow and its Commander set as well. Good stuff! I did 6 builds from them myself!

Here are my previous builds from this set!

1. I created a deck around Runo Stromkirk. When I built it, it hadn't been added to EDHREC.com, but in the first week there are already 120 decks built around it! People love him as much as I do! I built around the flavor of copying the Deep Sea tribe and have natural good entries there like Deep-Sea Kraken, flipping him reliably with expensive cycling creatures like Scion of Darkness, adding in creatures that have triggers you'd love to get twice such as Aethersnipe, and then some tribe washing like Conspiracy. You can find this awesome deck here.
2. Then I took the really interesting Golgari leader Old Rutstein and his Peasant self out for a spin! Since all three of his abilities make tokens, I dug deep in token doubling effects like Doubling Season, Blood-matters cards in Black from the same set like Falkenrath Forebear, Treasure cards like Academy Manufactor and Grim Hireling, and loads of Food, Treasure, Blood and Clue making cards for the win! It's really a fun deck...enjoy it here! This may wind up being my favorite build from the set.
3. Next, I wrote around the really cool Odric, Blood-Cursed, which was a fun synergy of keywords-matter like Akroma, Vision of Ixidor, as well as artifact matters cards like Nettlecyst and Akiri, Line-Slinger. We also have Blood makers and matters card from the Red half of Rakdos's theme, like Olivia's Attendants and Arterial Alchemy. I even found space to blink Odric a few times with things like Flickerwisp and Teleportation Circle. Check it out here!
4. Then I created a deck around the popular Umbris, Fear Manifest from the Commander set that debuted with the set. For this Nightmare Horror you need to exile your opponents' stuff, so I have graveyard exiling like Relic of Progenitus and Planar Void, exiling counters like Dissipate, exiling removal like Vraska's Contempt, exiling milling like Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and exile from a library like Sadistic Sacrament. Enjoy this nasty brew here!
5. After those cool things I created an Orzhov Tokens Build around Edgar, Charmed Groom // Edgar Markov's Coffin, that really wants to flip over Edgar into the token making Coffin. We have loads of ways to make those tokens, from Lingering Souls to Elspeth, Sun's Champion. This is also the biggest number of planeswalkers I have tossed into a deck in months. Enjoy the brew here!
6. For my sixth build, I combined my Budget Commander series with this one and built a deck that came in a little over $30 to purchase. This is a Mono-Blue toughness-matters build around Geralf, Visionary Stitcher. That includes high-toughness cheapies like Wall of Frost and Charix, the Raging Isle as well as cards that play well with Zombies like Cleaver Skaab and ones that work well in a mono-Blue shell like Scourge of Fleets.

There is one leader that I saw a particular build as soon as I read the spoiler, but the person who built around it chose a very different build, which was pretty cool!

Who was it?

This guy! Torens, Fist of the Angels. There are already 346 decks for him over at EDHREC.com, which is pretty nice. Here is Stephen Johnson's build for Torens, Fist of the Angels. He chose a Human Tribal build, which makes sense since both the token and the dork are Humans, and there was a lot of Selesnya tribal support printed in the set as well as the previous one. In fact, that's the way the community has built around him as well over at EDHREC.com. Note that Torens has a cast trigger to make a 1/1 Human Soldier with training, so he should get more powerful the more creatures you have in your build. What I want to do it to run a ton of dorks with ETB triggers that will give you two. Good stuff!

Let's look at my build!

I love the power of the Witness Duo as much as the next person, so I definitely leaned into them as great ways to add card advantage to this brew. The first one will Regrowth on arrival and then from there smash some face or block a key attack. Love it loads here! The second Witness costs another mana for the same effect, but it's worth it, since the value is strong. You can also eternalize it and get another Regrowth from the card. I also tossed in Sun Titan and Karmic Guide to recur small stuff or dorks from the graveyard. That quartet was the first four cards I added to my brew!

Check out this oft-forgotten Angel. As you can see, it's a Phantom Monster in cost and size and ability, with the ETB trigger of exiling all stuff from a target graveyard, which is pretty nice for the price. We definitely need graveyard removal since folks regularly abuse it at the kitchen table, especially in Commander. I also tossed in Scavenger Grounds that can sweep all graveyards in an emergency situation. Use it if it's needed, but it might backfire, so don't lean into it unless it's necessary.

I also tossed in this mythic duo of "Cemetery Pro-" dorks that have a powerful card. I tossed in a bunch of Crimson Vow stuff into this brew, and this duo brings me to three. Each can exile a card when they arrive to the battlefield from a graveyard, and one can do it when it swings as well. Each features a 3/4 body and a keyword. Note that the card is not targeted, so you choose what you are exiling on resolution. If someone responds to the trigger by reshuffling their library or casting a spell with flashback, you can just choose something else. I love the flash as you can use it in response to a targeted recursion spell. It can answer something like Meren of Clan Nel Toth's recursive Spore Frog engine that shuts down attacks. Then when you cast/play a card with that type, you can make, for free, a 1/1 Human token, so the first Cemetery card has strong value here if you exile a dork. One can reduce your spells by 1 if they share a type with the exiled card, so, again, if you exile a dork that's pretty strong. If you can, try to target an artifact creature. Good pair!

Every Commander deck needs to find ways to draw cards, preferably in masse. Enter this pair. As dorks enter the battlefield, you'll draw cards. Well, looks like we have 40 other dorks, so that's a lot of card draw fun times. Note there is no trigger needed. The Human will only draw a card when a dork with power 2 or less arrives, and you spend a mana each time. But unlike the Elemental, this works on tokens, so the Humans that Torens makes will draw cards as well. I also tossed in Beast Whisperer and a single piece of equipment in Skullclamp.

I don't run Craterhoof Behemoth very often in my brews. It's a bit...obvious. It's expensive as all get out. I can't remember adding it to one of my decks this year, but here it's a perfect fit. It can turn your 2/1 Eternal Witnesses and boring 4/4 Indrik Stomphowlers as well as your army of tokens into a powerful game-winning one shot force out of nowhere. It's worth the cash in this brew! We also aren't running any tutors for it like Tooth and Nail or Green Sun's Zenith, so we'll draw it naturally, which feels fairer. Enjoy it!

We have tons of ETB triggers here with my dorks, and we are looking for ways to abuse them...enter Volkan Baga's beloved artifact from Kaladesh. Enjoy the power of its mana free ETB doubling from your stuff. Note that this will also double your triggers of things like Soul of the Harvest. Love it loads here!

Here are the two engines I mentioned above. As you can see, each is a commonly played powerhouse that will turn ETB triggers into powerful game states. The Shards will turn an ETB of any dork (including the tokens of Torens) into a Naturalize. It's a may effect, and there are times I won't use it, for example if someone is mana screwed and they have a Manalith out that is keeping them in the game.

The Crusade is another game winner alongside the Behemoth as it turns an ETB trigger into a +1/+1 counter on every dork you control and that's a quick growth with Torens, as one dork being cast is two triggers of a Crusade. Nasty stuff in a deck with 41 dorks and tokens from sources like Cemetery Protector and Torens, Fist of the Angels.

To maximize my creatures, I am only running a single planeswalker in this brew, and it's Vivien, Champion of the Wilds. It's here for an obvious reason - to flash out the 41 dorks in this deck on a static ability! Her +1 to give a dork vigilance and reach is strong, as vigilance will let you punch face and keep back for blocking. Torens's token making can also keep a few behind from swinging to protect this key Vivien. Her -2 can be done twice with her 4 starting loyalty and it will let you dig three and exile one face down and you can cast it if it's a dork from the exile zone, and it will still have flash. Good card advantage and pretty likely to hit at least one dork in a 40/99 starting deck.

Whoa! Check out this legendary pair of nastiness! Emiel is amazing here, as it can flicker another dork for three mana. You get another set of the ETB trigger of a key dork like Acidic Slime or Eternal Witness. Also note that while you control Emiel, other dorks arrive with a +1/+1 counter on them if you spend a hybrid mana, which is pretty good at bringing some heat with your smaller stuff. It's a powerful force of nature here. Emiel is also mad fun by giving out a +1/+1 counter each to the Human token with training and the dork you cast for two more mana.

And then don't sleep on the Kodama either. Six mana for a 6/6 reach is fine and dandy, just like candy. Imagine you cast Torens from your Command Zone. Now you can drop a free 3-drop or fewer from your hand. Then when you cast a 4-drop like Emiel then your cast trigger makes a 1/1 Human token and Emiel arrives, you can drop both a 4-drop or lower and a 0-drop like a land. Nasty synergy here with a deck like this one! The one issue with the Kodama is that it can over-commit to the battlefield and then you'll get smashed by a mass removal spell, so don't use it every time you can. Or make sure you are running cards in here like Rootborn Defenses or Heroic Intervention that will keep your team safe.

Let's add in some more blink effects. Note that blinking effects will not work super well with Torens, since his token making is a cast trigger, but they do work with the general theme of ETB Fun Times.

Let's begin with the Prince, which comes with three options. The first is to scry 2, which is nice library sorting. The second is too gain 3 life, which is also nice as we don't have much lifegain here. The final ability is to flicker a dork out that you control, which makes it very flexible here since it can flicker a key dork or just provide a nice ETB ability itself. The 'Wisp is a nice 3/1 flyer for three mana which is good since we don't have many flyers here. When it ETBs, you can flicker any permanent like your Vivien, or an opposing card about to go off, like their Dark Depths. It's very synergetic here and it's very fun!

Check out this 3/4 4-drop flash, flying White Angel duo! The former Angel was heavily played in Standard. When it arrives at the party, it will flicker a non-Angel dork you control, which is great for the ETB trigger to get recast. You can also use it to remove a dork that is being targeted by removal from your foe. The new version of the creature you blinked will cause the targeted removal to be countered. The latter Angel can exile any number of your non-Angels, but they won't return to the battlefield until the Protector is answered, which is great as an answer to mass removal, as you can exile all of your stuff, then the Protector dies from the Cyclonic Rift or Akroma's Vengeance your foe cast, and then they all return, and you'll load up on a big fat set of ETB triggers like Aura Shards and Conclave Naturalists. Good pair!

Let's add some free engines that will work recursively over time to the deck, not just a one of like Flickerwisp. Another slate of triggers arises every turn! Note that the Circle can blink out artifacts as well, although we don't have anything to use it on. The Closet is a may effect, but the Circle is not. You can use the Circle to blink out a tapped mana rock like Sol Ring and then tap it again on a foe's turn.

Alright let's do something that does have more synergy with Torens's cast trigger. This Portal is a powerful tool for your decks. I love doing this when someone taps out with a powerful Commander. If they left just mana untapped, you can use this at the end of their turn, they spend their last mana, and then untap, and then use it again and bounce it. This is a great answer to things like Consecrated Sphinx and Avenger of Zendikar that can win the game very quickly, and we don't have a lot of creature removal to abuse in our ETB stuff since we are in the Selesnya colors (I am running Duplicant and Meteor Golem) which isn't the color of Nekrataal and friends. Otherwise, this is in this brew to, ideally, self-bounce a key ETB dork, and then recast it for another Torens trigger and another slate of ETB stuff like Soul of the Harvest[/card].

I do run a few answers here and there as I mentioned before, to mass removal, but this instant is my favorite. Do this is response to a mass removal spell like a Blasphemous Act, and then exile all of your stuff. Your tokens won't come back, but the rest of your things will in the end step, and then you'll net a ton of ETB triggers as well. You can also just use this as a mass blink in case your foes just need some answers right now, like an abusive Commander that has to be answered or you'll die, and you control the Duplicant I just talked about above in a side comment. It's very powerful and flexible here.

Let's look at the penultimate card that returns dead things back. This is the powerful card that dominated Standard when it was legal. As you can see, this is a nice 4/3 for five mana that flies - a bit small, but the death trigger is pretty potent, and you can evoke it to get that death trigger right now. When it dies you can recur two small dorks back from your graveyard to the battlefield. This can be removal like Acidic Slime and Duplicant, recursion like Eternal Witness and Karmic Guide, or card flow like Wall of Omens and Elvish Visionary. Way to go, Idaho!

Now let's look at some lands! Karn's Bastion is very strong here. This is not a +1/+1 token themed deck. We also have only one planeswalker to up their loyalty, so why do I think it's so strong here? Great question, o reader! First, note that Torens has training, so he can get bigger over time as he swings with counters of the +1/+1 kind. Secondly, his tokens also have training, so they can get bigger over time as well. Then we have the counter giving of Emiel as well as Cathars' Crusade. I also tossed in Shalai, Voice of Plenty which gives creatures hexproof and can load up counters on your stuff. And then we have the next two lands as well...

...yup, these two! The Township can tap and toss a +1/+1 counter on your stuff for the entire team, and that is great with the Bastion. My only tutor for any land is Expedition Map, so if you have one of these two lands, you can fetch the other one. You can also recur the Map with Sun Titan and stuff like Timeless Witness. The Vastwood can tap to give a +1/+1 counter on Green stuff that enters the battlefield this turn only, so it's more limited, but the tokens Torens makes are Green and White, so that will work for them as well as all of the Wall of Blossoms and Llanowar Visionary cards here. And again, that's a combo with the Bastion.

The last few lands we'll look at is this trio. I want to get two lands with my ramp stuff, so we are running things like Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, and this trio. Instead of running single fetches like Evolving Wilds, I am running this trio. They can tap for colorless until you need to sacrifice them for two lands. The Verge can sacrifice for two mana to net a Forest and a Plains, two lands for one fetch. The Landscape has to get two of the same type, but again, it's two for one, and both of those don't require a color of mana to use, so you can crack them with any color of mana or mana rocks like Sol Ring. The final one doesn't arrive tapped, and needs Green to crack, but, again, will fetch two basics. Good stuff for the curve and to grab two basics from the deck each!

Alright, now let's turn to Crimson Vow and its Commander setcards.

Look at these two amazing sorceries! The first is amazing here! It will bring back all your dead stuff for another go around the bin, and it is the sixth and final card that cares about your graveyard. With a stacked 40 non-Commanders to bring back that's pretty strong. They become 1/1 flying Spirits which is fine, you don't mind bringing back Acidic Slime as a 1/1 flyer. Then you net a ton of triggers like card drawing, destroying of things, and loads more. Love it here a lot to push the game back your way after a sweeping removal effect, and even a 1/1 Craterhoof Behemoth will win the game.

The other sorcery is very important. You need sweeping removal, even in a go-wide build like this one, enter this. Ideally, you'll want to cast this when you have the most creatures, and most of yours are 1/1 tokens. Suppose you have 5 dorks, Foe 1 has 2, Foe 2 has none, and Foe 1 has 3. Choose three and sacrifice two tokens and a Reclamation Sage. Swing into a newly denuded board. I also tossed in Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins for its flexibility.

We need card flow! This is a Mentor of the Meek style of card draw fun, but it doesn't require mana and it only works once/turn. Which is still fine, and like the Mentor, it will trigger off your Human tokens.

Check out the power of the Summons here! I already showed you the ways to give a +1/+1 counter to your stuff. This makes them all 4/4 and Angels and flying. Your Human tokens are now 4/4, which is a permanent +3/+3 boost as well as their tokens. You can swing with flying and possibly win. Your ETB stuff is smaller as well and something like an Esper Sentinel is now a powerful 4/4 flyer with counters to make it better. This is another powerful game winner!

One card left, this one drop with training! Like Torens and its tokens, this is a training fun time. You can spend three mana to pull two +1/+1 counters off anything to Naturalize any target out there and do so at instant speed. This is another recursive threat. It's another way to play into the many +1/+1 counters this deck should just accidentally run out there.

Actually, after I built this, it may wind up feeling a bit more like a Selesnya Blink build than a midrange one, but that works!

We have 8 cards from Crimson Vow and the Commander set that debuted with it. Good stuff!

Ready for the decklist? Sure thing!

Torens Blink | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Torens, Fist of the Angels

• Creatures (40)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Angel of Finality
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Cemetery Protector
• 1 Cemetery Prowler
• 1 Charming Prince
• 1 Conclave Naturalists
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Elvish Visionary
• 1 Emiel the Blessed
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Flickerwisp
• 1 Glorious Protector
• 1 Hopeful Initiate
• 1 Hornet Queen
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Karmic Guide
• 1 Kodama of the East Tree
• 1 Llanowar Visionary
• 1 Mentor of the Meek
• 1 Meteor Golem
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Restoration Angel
• 1 Reveillark
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1 Skyclave Cleric
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Thragtusk
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Welcoming Vampire
• 1 Wood Elves

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

• Spells (13)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 By Invitation Only
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Ondu Inversion
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Sejiri Shelter
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Storm of Souls
• 1 Teferi's Protection

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Aura Shards
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Sigarda's Summons
• 1 Teleportation Circle

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Conjuror's Closet
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Erratic Portal
• 1 Panharmonicon
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (34)
• 1 Arctic Treeline
• 1 Blighted Woodland
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Stirring Wildwood
• 1 Temple Garden
• 9 Forest
• 8 Plains

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And there we are, 100 cards later! What did you think of my different take on Torens, Fist of the Angel? Anything in here that you liked or something that I missed? Just let me know! Have an amazing day!