Sagas are almost always a joy to build around. Typically, I'll see players choose to focus on recurring the unique enchantments after they've been sacrificed to time. Others will jam sagas into their other enchantment-focused decks, like Enchantress shells. Today's deck, however, goes an entirely different route. Thanks to Scholar of New Horizons and other similar cards, we can remove counters from our sagas of choice, repeating any of their stages every turn without them ever expiring!

Selesnya Scholar Sagas | Casual | James Heslip

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Satsuki, the Living Lore
• 2 Weaver of Harmony
• 4 Alseid of Life's Bounty
• 4 Ferropede
• 4 Jukai Naturalist
• 4 Scholar of New Horizons

• Enchantments (14)
• 1 The Birth of Meletis
• 2 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 3 Fall of the Impostor
• 4 Planar Disruption
• 4 The First Iroan Games

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Power Conduit

• Lands (22)
• 7 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 4 Fortified Village
• 4 Radiant Grove

Buy This Deck Export text format

Cost: $26 at the time of publication

The Core

The Backup

Secondary to the counter removers would be the Sagas themselves. Of those included, the most important is The First Iroan Games. Every stage of the Green enchantment is relevant and certainly worth repeating every turn. Usually, though, we will be aiming to draw an extra two cards every turn. The +1/+1 counters are also extremely powerful for helping us to close out the game. Adding a ridiculous three counters every turn makes any creature a threat to be respected. Fall of the Impostor also places counters on creatures, but we're mostly playing it for its third stage, which allows us to freely kill our opponent's largest threat each and every upkeep. Eventually, they will run out of threats to play, and we can go in for the kill.

Luckily, both Green and White have plenty of enchantment support cards to round out the rest of the list. Alseid of Life's Bounty protects every part of our game plan, and Jukai Naturalist speeds us up by reducing their casting costs. Both creatures get a nice stat boost from Weaver of Harmony, who is extremely powerful when combined with any of our Saga triggers. Satsuki, the Living Lore is a more saga-specific support card that speeds up any triggers we want, and also revives lost sagas on her own death. Finishing up the list is Planar Disruption, a powerful removal option that pairs well with our enchantment support cards.

Tips and Tricks

• Ferropede is not just a tool for removing counters from your sagas. Because your opponent cannot block it, the insect is the perfect home for +1/+1 counters from Games, Impostor, or Power Conduit.
• Alseid of Life's Bounty and Jukai Naturalist both have lifelink, so they are also fine targets for stat boosts. Sometimes the deck can take some time to get going, and in those cases the additional health gained from these two can make all the difference.
• The Birth of Meletis' first trigger can only grab basic plains. Scholar of New Horizons, though, does not have such a restriction. Radiant Grove is a valid target, should you be itching for additional green sources.
• Though you likely won't need to do it often, Weaver of Harmony's copying ability works with your enchantment creatures, too. Use it to gain double protection from Alseid, or double of any of Satsuki's effects.
• Ferropede is not limited to removing counters from just your permanents. If needed, use it to more easily deal with enemy planeswalkers, or even reduce +1/+1 counters from opposing threats.

Additional Options | James Heslip

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1 Exemplar of Strength
• 1 Jotun Grunt
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Medicine Runner
• 1 Sheltering Ancient
• 1 Sky-Blessed Samurai
• 1 Suncleanser
• 1 Sustaining Spirit
• 1 Tragic Poet
• 1 Wall of Roots
• 1 Woolly Razorback

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Search for Glory

• Enchantments (11)
• 1 Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker
• 1 Battle for Bretagard
• 1 Era of Enlightenment // Hand of Enlightenment
• 1 Historian's Boon
• 1 History of Benalia
• 1 Jugan Defends the Temple // Remnant of the Rising Star
• 1 Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
• 1 Song of Freyalise
• 1 Tale of Tinuviel
• 1 The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration
• 1 The Weatherseed Treaty

Buy This Deck Export text format

Historian's Boon is by far the strongest of all of the potential inclusions to the deck. If it weren't for the high price tag, we would be running multiple copies without question. Anyone who doesn't mind spending a little extra would gain the ability to produce one or more free angel tokens every turn as a win condition.

Woolly Razorback and Sky-Blessed Samurai are some more budget-friendly beaters. Razorback wins points for style in my opinion, but it felt a little slow when I tried it out. I would play it with Suncleanser, though the "can't put counters on it for the rest of the game" clause makes it awkward to play alongside sagas. Jotun Grunt and Sustaining Spirit, however, don't mind such a limitation.

I think both History of Benalia and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit have a lot of potential as alternative saga options. History gives us an endless stream of blockers that eventually turns into a massive army assault when we decide we're ready. Herbs and Rabbit's token production is not quite as deadly but it's respectable, and it comes with a plethora of additional options, like life gain from food tokens, card draw, and even more +1/+1 counter buffs for our creatures.