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Main » Articles » Drowning in Tokens

Drowning in Tokens

Mike Likes
Posted on March 8, 2018
 Reddit

This week I have a few decks to share with you that have proven themselves by going 5-0 in a Magic Online League that all have a token theme in common. If you have a soft spot in your heart for summoning creatures to the battlefield via the use of instants and sorceries, these are decks you'll love.

G/W Tokens

The first deck I'd like to take a look at is gw Tokens. Let's take a look at the following list from Magic Online (MTGO).

G/W Tokens -- Rivals Standard | Veveil, (5-0) MTGO

Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
I like this deck a lot because it utilizes some cards that haven't seen much play in Standard. Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter provides you a way to use up your leftover mana each turn by producing either a small Servo token or a potentially larger Construct token. She is a little fragile though, so I would look at her token creating ability as an added bonus when playing this deck rather than trying to rely on it too much.

Another card this deck plays that doesn't get much love elsewhere is Rishkar, Peema Renegade. Ideally you could play Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter on turn one. On turn two, you play Walking Ballista, and then follow it up on turn three with Rishkar, Peema Renegade. You can then give Oviya a boost as well as adding a counter to the Walking Ballista. And remember that Rishkar allows all of your creatures with a counter (of any type) on them to tap for a Green mana, which can be used to ramp you into playing extra spells each turn.

This deck also plays a copy of Path of Discovery which allows every creature that enters the battlefield for you (including tokens) to explore. That will help you smooth out your draw steps and make sure that you are always able to play a land each turn. It also provides your creatures with the possibility of gaining a +1/+1 counter, which works well in conjunction with Rishkar.

The final card I'd like to talk about from this deck is Growing Rites of Itlimoc. This is a card that was heavily hyped when it was first revealed but hasn't really found a home. Is this the deck it's been looking for? Quite possibly. It should be relatively easy for this enchantment to transform into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun. Once that happens, flooding the board with creatures and tokens should be easy. My only concern is that this is legendary, so extra copies you draw will not be very useful. Perhaps replacing 1 or 2 copies with The Immortal Sun, Legion's Landing, or Anointed Procession would be better? Each of these options comes with its own problems, but the rewards might just outweigh the risk.

W/U Tokens

The next deck I have for you is a wu token deck. Let's take a look at it.

W/U Tokens -- Rivals Standard | mavignon, (5-0) MTGO

Not only does this deck play spells that create creature tokens, but every creature in the main deck can be returned from the graveyard to the battlefield as a token. It also utilizes Anointed Procession to great effect to put additional copies of each token you create onto the battlefield. Even though this deck plays a fair amount of creatures, it plays out more like a typical token deck should.

Gideon of the Trials is a great addition to a deck like this one. You can use his +1 loyalty ability to make sure your opponent's greatest threat will be neutralized for a turn. This could cause your opponent to attack Gideon, which will allow you to chump block with tokens that are expendable or block with multiple creatures to eliminate another of your opponent's creatures.

B/W Tokens

The next deck I have for you has been around in some form since Aether Revolt was released. Let's look at bw Tokens.

B/W Tokens -- Rivals Standard | Doomslayin, (5-0) MTGO

Hidden Stockpile is a great enabler for this deck. Assuming you began your turn with a creature on the battlefield, it enables you to attack each turn without repercussion, as you can always sacrifice the creature you're attacking with if it were going to die. That'll allow you to scry and will give you a Servo token at the beginning of your end step. Also, keep in mind that sacrificing a creature for this will also satisfy the Revolt requirement for Fatal Push, allowing you to destroy any creature costing four mana or less for only a single Black mana.

This deck has the ability to gain you a fair amount of life as well, thanks in part to Anointer Priest. This card allows you to gain life every time a creature token enters the battlefield under your control. Combine that with Annointed Procession and you can easily gain a minimum of 1 point of life each turn. And also remember that the Cat tokens created by Regal Caracal and the Vampire tokens created by Legion's Landing / Adanto, the First Fort all have lifelink, so you can gain a lot of life from them as well.

Esper Tokens

The final deck I have for you today takes advantage of the token making ability of what I believe is the most powerful card in Standard today, The Scarab God. Let's take a look at Esper Tokens.

Esper Tokens -- Rivals Standard | GODhamu, (5-0) MTGO

This deck mixes a traditional wu control deck with a bit of Black mana to splash in The Scarab God. With that being said, the game plan is to control the game through the early turns by using your removal and chump blocking with your creatures. In the midgame, once you're able to get The Scarab God into play you can begin activating its ability to create 4/4 tokens of whichever creature is in any graveyard that has the best ability that happens upon entering the battlefield. If you're able to do that a few times, you can build up a formidable force which you can use to win the game.

Wrapping Up

Unfortunately I haven't found a wr token deck that's been putting up positive results on MTGO yet, but I'm hopeful someone will be able to make it work with Tilonalli's Summoner at some point. If you have a build you'd like to share, please feel free to leave a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

-- Mike Likes

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TAGS articles, constructed, standard, decklist, tokens, rivals standard, mike likes, 03082018

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