I've spent the last few weeks looking at unlikely partnerships from March Against the Machine. Today's choice is one of those which has a pair of different directions right on the card. It'd be possible to lean into just one of them, but looking at them, I though it'd be even more fun to just... do both.

My big-monster-loving heart loves a 12/12. And it has Trample, and it costs seven mana. That's good on its own, but look at those abilities! We get to make either a) a giant, Trampling, attacking token or b) some number of Lifelinking 1/1s? I'll take it. Let's do both.

We want to get Ghalta and Mavren out as quickly as possible, so we're going to play our standard 40 Lands (hit those drops, people), and we're going to ramp fairly hard. There is some argument for mana dorks like Llanowar Elves here, but I don't normally like those; they die to the first board wipe and we're set back. Give me Land fetch any day. Additionally, because our Commander costs seven, I'd rather get more bang for my buck, and with 40 Lands we're very likely to hit our drops to three, so we're going to run ramp at three and four mana and gain some extra value. The hope will be to play a three-mana one on turn three, a four-mana one on turn four, and play our Commander on turn five. For three mana we get Cultivate, Topiary Stomper, and Burnished Hart-style effects - we'll either get a couple of Lands, wind up with an extra body, or both. At four we get our Explosive Vegetations, or Cultivates-with-extras like Peregrination. We'll almost certainly see at least one ramp spell at the beginning of each game, and often enough we'll see two.

I'll take a minute here to wax poetic about why I'm not choosing to run Sol Ring or Mana Crypt or any of the other Artifacts which might spring us forward a little faster. First, I'm not huge on sliding cards in which cost a ton just because "it's good", so that takes Mana Crypt out. I don't mind Sol Ring, and it certainly is fast, but whenever I have the option, I'd rather pull a Land out of my deck than not. That's one fewer Land I'll draw later, which means I'll draw an action card I'd rather see on turn eight. Sol Ring into Arcane Signet could mean a turn four General, but that small possibility isn't worth it to me for the upside of fetching Lands out of the deck. Finally, broad Land destruction is rare in Casual EDH. Artifact destruction is common. I'd rather not get set back by a Shatterstorm, just like I'd rather not to a Wrath of God.

Most of our Lands are Basic to facilitate the searches, but we have a few dual lands and a couple of abilities stapled on to Lands which could be useful. Gavony Township is particularly strong if we wind up with 15 1/1s with Lifelink or something. And Rogue's Passage can make for a solid attack.

I remember the days of EDH when card draw in Green-White was hard, and mostly Mind's Eye. Rumor Gatherer and Return of the Wildspeaker have really changed things since those days, haven't they? Since we have a 12/12 Commander, we can reliably expect our Soul's Majesty and its ilk to refill our hand quite easily, and just in case, we still have a few little things to make sure our cards keep flowing. I particularly like Skullmulcher here; I've liked that card since I first encountered it back in Shards of Alara, but I feel like I rarely get to play it. Here, it does double duty - it draws us a bunch of cards by eating a bunch of our little tokens, then becomes a big Creature to make a big token!

This is where things get fun. We're going to race to Ghalta, then we're going to start attacking with whatever we've got. Sometimes, that'll be another big thing and we'll start dumping big Trampling tokens. Other times it's going to be a mix of smaller Creatures and making the 1/1s will make more sense. We'll have to see what cards we draw and what the Battlefield is shaping up to be. Got Cadira, Caller of the Small? Might be time to lean into those little furry ones and drop a King Darien XLVIII. Got Giant Adephage? (One of the best Creatures in the game, by the way!) Maybe just start making a ton of Trampling 7/7s.

Hour of Reckoning seems like a great sweeper for us, and Mass Calcify isn't a bad second, so we've got them both. A couple of point removal spells in White and the two Beast Withins fill out the removal slate, though it should be noted our primary job is to attack, not deal with other threats. It's possible an Oblivion Ring or two would be good, and maybe a different mix is worthwhile, but this is a good starting point. Most people won't be able to stop a 12/12 Trampler, much less a few really big Tramplers or a whole mess of 1/1s. With that in mind, we do have a few ways to make our entire team indestructible for a turn, which will really frustrate someone when they think they've got you.

There are a ton of really fun cards in this deck. Look at Shanna, Sisay's Legacy. Here's a card which adds to the pile early so we make more 1/1s, then gets bigger as we make those 1/1s and turns into a giant-token creator later. Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus seems pretty solid no matter what we're doing. Wakening Sun's Avatar does a nice job of leaving behind our big stuff but otherwise clearing the way. Gala Greeters is great with every mode. Bess, Soul Nourisher is really fun with a bunch of 1/1s. Awakening Zone does a bunch of good work for us, whether it's ramping early or just adding to our attack count. Felidar Retreat is never bad, especially with all our Land fetch. We've got Strionic Resonator and Lithoform Engine to copy Ghaltren's ability (what's better than one 8/8 Trampling tokens? Two 8/8 Trampling tokens!) and a couple of Artifacts to grant Haste, which can make for awkward blocking moments. And the big one here is Dragon Throne of Tarkir. There's something wonderful about the idea of having a small pile of 1/1 Lifelinking Vampire tokens, then dropping that Equipment, equipping, and tapping, so suddenly they're 13/13 Trampling Lifelinking Vampire tokens... who make a bunch more 1/1s for next turn. Hilarious.

Ghalta and Mavren | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ghalta and Mavren

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Ancient Imperiosaur
• 1 Bess, Soul Nourisher
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Cadira, Caller of the Small
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Gala Greeters
• 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1 Giant Adephage
• 1 King Darien XLVIII
• 1 Nesting Dovehawk
• 1 Queen Allenal of Ruadach
• 1 Rumor Gatherer
• 1 Shanna, Sisay's Legacy
• 1 Skullmulcher
• 1 Surrak and Goreclaw
• 1 Topiary Stomper
• 1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
• 1 Wakening Sun's Avatar
• 1 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Garruk, Primal Hunter

• Instants (10)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Druid's Deliverance
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Momentous Fall
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Sundering Growth
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unbreakable Formation

• Sorceries (15)
• 1 Circuitous Route
• 1 Collective Unconscious
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 Hour of Reckoning
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life's Legacy
• 1 Mass Calcify
• 1 Migration Path
• 1 Overwhelming Stampede
• 1 Peregrination
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Soul's Majesty
• 1 Vastwood Surge

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Awakening Zone
• 1 Elemental Bond
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Intangible Virtue

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Chariot of Victory
• 1 Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Lithoform Engine
• 1 Navigation Orb
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Battles (1)
• 1 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

• Lands (40)
• 13 Plains
• 18 Forest
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Fortified Village
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Temple of Plenty

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I left out a few cards sheerly for price consideration. None of them is necessary and, frankly, this deck is pretty strong for a casual deck just as it is; but, if you want to run expensive cards because you have them or whatever, I'd consider adding an Eldrazi Monument (which is great any time you have a regular pile of 1/1s), a Beastmaster Ascension (that thing ends games in decks like this... fast), a Huatli, Radiant Champion (whose -1 turns the 1/1 strategy into the X/X strategy), and, of course, Craterhoof Behemoth, which is desperately in need of a reprint. If you happen to have a Kor Haven, it would fit nicely.

This is a cool deck to have in a stable, in part because it's so versatile. It can kind of play itself, so it's not too difficult for a new player who's borrowing a deck, but it can be tricky if you want it to be, so it'll keep an experienced player entertained. The big Creature aspect is fun for those who like that, messing with tokens and such is fun for people who like to fiddle, and the deck will always be pushing the game forward, because it will be difficult to contain without responses. There is a good chance I'll be building this one in real life.

I'm going to step away from the four-part series for a few weeks, just over the summer. We've got some interesting cards to look at and a few other ideas I'd like to pursue, so I hope you'll stay with me as we stretch a little bit. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out on social media with questions, comments, ideas - anything at all! When you connect with us we do hear about it, and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks for reading.