Return to Ravnica previews have started rolling off the presses, and there are already quite a few great build-around cards. The first one that really caught my eye was Collective Blessing. It seems to be an amazing tool for a token-based deck, and since it's preselling for just $.75 on CoolStuffInc.com at the time of this writing, it's extremely easy to acquire even on the tightest of budgets. Although it's impossible to construct a good sideboard for an almost completely unknown format, here's the main deck I put together to use and abuse this card:

"Selesnya's Blessing"

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Doomed Traveler

• Spells (31)
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 4 Selesnya Charm
• 4 Gather the Townsfolk
• 4 Increasing Devotion
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 3 Collective Blessing
• 4 Intangible Virtue
• 4 Oblivion Ring

• Lands (25)
• 2 Swamp
• 6 Forest
• 9 Plains
• 4 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Sunpetal Grove

Buy This Deck

The Token Makers

Doomed Traveler is still the 1-drop of choice for token decks. It can create card advantage, protect your life total, and provide insurance against sweepers. Although not particularly powerful at first, it often becomes much stronger after death, helping you to present an array of threats that make for a fast clock. Once you cast Collective Blessing, this guy becomes a 4/4 that doesn't die to removal, sweepers, or blockers, all for only a single white mana.

Gather the Townsfolk is your basic 2-drop for the deck. Although rarely spectacular, it always does what you want it to do at a fair price, putting some bodies on the board for you to pump up later. Every once in a while, however, you'll draw one later in the game and be able to engineer a situation that puts you at 4 or 5 life. Then, you can pull the trigger on your 2-mana Increasing Devotion and watch the look of terror on your opponent's face.

Selesnya Charm provides an additional 2-drop for the deck. Although one 2/2 usually isn't as good as two 1/1s in this deck, the extra utility makes up for it. The ability to cast this at instant speed lets you play around countermagic and sweepers and set your opponent up for a lethal strike he wasn’t expecting. The pump effect can serve as a makeshift removal spell, allow you to push some extra damage in, or both. Finally, the ability to exile a creature with power 5 or greater helps you dispatch large threats such as Thundermaw Hellkite and Wolfir Silverheart. If reanimation decks rise in popularity again, this gives you an easy way to get rid of Griselbrand or any other large threat an opponent cheats into play.

Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls are the bread and butter of token decks, giving you a nice suite of evasive threats. Midnight Haunting's instant speed will often shatter your opponent's plans when he’s on the ropes and thinks he’s found a way to survive, and the card advantage provided by Lingering Souls borders on absurdity. Despite the in the casting cost of Collective Blessing, I think the ability to flash back Lingering Souls is powerful enough to justify stretching the mana base a bit.

Increasing Devotion is the top-end threat, our version of Thragtusk or Wolfir Silverheart. Interestingly enough, it also tends to blow those two cards out of the water. If you already have an Intangible Virtue on the battlefield when you cast this, you'll be generating 10 power for only 5 mana. Even better, if you curve out with one of these on turn five followed by a turn-six Collective Blessing, you'll have a full 20 power ready to attack. Since the deck plays a slightly higher land count to accommodate the 5- and 6-drops, paying the 9-mana flashback cost on this spell will often be within reach if the game goes long. At that point, your opponent has only a single turn to cast a sweeper before he’s crushed by your instant army.

The Rest

Although Honor of the Pure will be rotating out come October, we still have its more powerful cousin, Intangible Virtue. Although it doesn't pump up Doomed Traveler, the power of giving vigilance to your army of evasive creatures can't be overstated. It allows you to attack all-out every turn without fear of repercussions, putting your opponent in a very difficult position.

Finally, we have Collective Blessing. This card is absolutely fantastic in this deck, turning even two or three creatures into a force to be reckoned with. If you resolve one of these, your opponent will probably be dead before he even has a chance to kill it.

Playtesting

Since we don't yet know much about what might appear after Return to Ravnica's release, I decided to test against the existing deck with the fewest rotating cards: B/R Zombies

B/R Zombies – Game 1

My opponent played another Swamp, cast Blood Artist, and attacked for 2, which I took. He ended his turn. I drew Intangible Virtue, played my Swamp, and cast Gather the Townsfolk before passing the turn.

My opponent attacked for 2, and I blocked with Doomed Traveler. My opponent stole 1 life with Blood Artist, then played Cavern of Souls naming Zombie and cast Geralf's Messenger, dropping me to 15. He passed the turn. I drew a Sunpetal Grove, played it, and cast Intangible Virtue. I dropped my opponent to 15 as well with my trio of tokens, and then passed the turn.

My opponent cast Knight of Infamy and attacked with a 5/4 Geralf's Messenger. I blocked with Doomed Traveler, losing 1 life to Blood Artist and making a third Spirit token. My opponent passed the turn. I drew Intangible Virtue and cast it, dropping my opponent to 12 with my Spirits. I paid the flashback cost on Lingering Souls for two more tokens and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with a 5/4 Geralf's Messenger again, and I decided to take the damage, counting on my opponent's inability to produce red mana. He conceded.

B/R Zombies – Game 2

My opponent played a Swamp and passed the turn, and I cracked my Wilds for a Plains. On my turn, I drew another Evolving Wilds. I played it, cast Doomed Traveler, and ended my turn.

My opponent played a Swamp and cast Geralf's Messenger, making me lose 2 life. He passed the turn, and I sacrificed the second Evolving Wilds for a Swamp. I drew Increasing Devotion and played my Forest. I attacked with Doomed Traveler and passed the turn.

My opponent cast a Bonfire of the Damned for 2 during his draw step, killing my Traveler and dropping me to 16. He attacked with Geralf's Messenger, and I played Selesnya Charm, making a Knight token and blocking with it. I lost another 2 life when the Messenger returned to the battlefield, and my opponent played a Swamp and passed the turn. I drew Increasing Devotion, played a Forest, and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with Geralf's Messenger, and I used Selesnya Charm again to create a blocker. I double-blocked the Messenger to trade, and my opponent hit me for 5 with Brimstone Volley before passing the turn. I drew Midnight Haunting and cast Lingering Souls before passing the turn.

My opponent played Dragonskull Summit and passed the turn. I drew Selesnya Charm and attacked for 1 again. I made more tokens by flashing back Lingering Souls and passed the turn. My opponent played another Swamp and cast Bonfire of the Damned for 4, killing my tokens and dropping me to 5 life. He ended his turn, and I cast Selesnya Charm to make a 2/2 Knight token. I drew another Increasing Devotion and attacked with my Knight, dropping my opponent to 15. I cast Gather the Townsfolk to make five Humans and passed the turn.

My opponent played Blackcleave Cliffs and passed the turn. I drew Oblivion Ring and attacked for 7. I passed the turn. My opponent cast Flames of the Firebrand to kill three of my tokens, then played Diregraf Ghoul and passed the turn. I cast Midnight Haunting during his end step. I drew a Plains, played it, and dropped my opponent to 2. I cast Increasing Devotion and passed the turn.

My opponent drew his card and conceded.

Wrapping Up

If you think Selesnya might be the guild for you, give this deck a try. With only a few dozen cards revealed so far, there will undoubtedly be a few more goodies for it in the set, and populate has the potential to be very good if added onto an already useful card.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @Twinblaze2, or simply leave a comment below.