Locations
Hello Everyone! It's MTGBert bringing you a Legendary Creature Spotlight! This time featuring Selvala, Eager Trailblazer, one of my favorite legendary creatures to come out of Outlaws of Thunder Junction. I will go over the card's strengths and synergies so you know what to focus on when brewing with this powerhouse of a card. Let's get into it!
The Star
Selvala, Eager Trailblazer is a four-mana 4/5 with Vigilance and two amazing lines of text. The first says that whenever we cast a creature spell, we create a 1/1 Red Mercenary token with the ability to buff a creature with +1/+0 until end of turn and can only activate as a sorcery. This extends our board state with no additional cost, as we want to cast creatures to advance our game plan. This stands out to me because Selvala can get out of hand fast with some efficiently costed creatures that give us an overall advantage. But wait, Selvala also has ANOTHER line of text. She has an activated ability that causes her to tap to add mana of your choice equal to the number of creatures with different powers that you have. Making mana is always a powerful effect, and having it on your commander ensures we get access to this ability every game.
Synergies
Since we've gone over the card itself, let's talk about cards that synergize well with this commander. A card that I love for this deck is Oltec Matterweaver. It makes a 1/1 token whenever we cast a creature spell, reminiscent of Selvala's ability. While we don't get to trigger the second ability much, the first lets us swarm the board with Gnomes. Modern Horizons 3 gave Selvala some new toys that make the deck more consistent. Fanatic of Rhonas and Eladamri, Korvecdal power up Selvala, with Fanatic of Rhonas making more mana when our commander is in play and Eladamri, Korvecdal giving us the ability to play creature cards from the top of our library. Lastly, from MH3, we have Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow, which serves as both removal or a land drop depending on the situation. Other cards that are a slam dunk with Selvala are cards that give redundancy on her ability as well as things that trigger when we cast creature spells. Beast Whisperer is a powerful card draw source here as we are going to have a ton of creatures in our list. Torens, Fist of the Angels, is another favorite card of mine here as, again, we get to make more creatures on cast, but this time they have training, which allows them to power up and make more mana for Selvala. Silverback Elder is another card that finds its home here as casting creatures triggers its effect, giving you three choices to choose from. A final mention goes out to Aven Interrupter. We need to have some interaction, and having it on a creature is premium for us. Aven Interrupter gives us exactly what we need to protect our deck.
I have talked at length about creature cards that go well with Selvala, so now I want to give you some noncreature cards that pair well with her. We know drawing cards is a must, so look no further than one of my favorite cards: Staff of the Storyteller. It needs White mana to activate but will get a counter on it every time we cast a creature and have a token enter the battlefield. An expensive card but a good one for this deck is The Great Henge. Drawing a card and buffing our creatures is exactly what we want to do in this deck. Another no-brainer for this deck is the powerhouse that is Archdruid's Charm. With its awesome three modes, it will always have something to do in this deck, whether it's a creature tutor, ramp, or removal. With removal on the mind, another powerful card is Final Showdown. Choosing to keep Selvala and wiping the board is a great way to stay ahead and build up a board while your opponents have nothing. The last noncreature card I will mention that's a powerhouse in this deck is Growing Rites of Itlimoc. Getting us a creature on the front is pretty much guaranteed thanks to our creature density, and having a Gaea's Cradle on the backside is a great effect to have. As a nice incentive, here is my personal decklist for Selvala, Eager Trailblazer!
Selvala's Rodeo | Commander | MTGBert
- Commander (1)
- 1 Selvala, Eager Trailblazer
- Creatures (40)
- 1 Angelic Sell-Sword
- 1 Augur of Autumn
- 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 1 Aven Interrupter
- 1 Beast Whisperer
- 1 Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Champion of Lambholt
- 1 Delighted Halfling
- 1 Druid of Purification
- 1 Eladamri, Korvecdal
- 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- 1 Elvish Mystic
- 1 Esper Sentinel
- 1 Fanatic of Rhonas
- 1 God-Eternal Oketra
- 1 Haywire Mite
- 1 Karametra, God of Harvests
- 1 Knight of Autumn
- 1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
- 1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
- 1 Llanowar Elves
- 1 Mondrak, Glory Dominus
- 1 Moonshaker Cavalry
- 1 Oltec Matterweaver
- 1 Pathbreaker Ibex
- 1 Queen Allenal of Ruadach
- 1 Redemption Choir
- 1 Rumor Gatherer
- 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
- 1 Sigarda's Vanguard
- 1 Sigardian Zealot
- 1 Silverback Elder
- 1 Soul of the Harvest
- 1 Surrak and Goreclaw
- 1 Torens, Fist of the Angels
- 1 Welcoming Vampire
- 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow
- 1 Wood Elves
- Sorceries (5)
- 1 Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary
- 1 Farewell
- 1 Finale of Devastation
- 1 Shamanic Revelation
- 1 Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood
- Instants (6)
- 1 Akroma's Will
- 1 Archdruid's Charm
- 1 Clever Concealment
- 1 Final Showdown
- 1 Path to Exile
- 1 Swords to Plowshares
- Enchantments (6)
- 1 Cryptolith Rite
- 1 Elven Chorus
- 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
- 1 Guardian Project
- 1 Sylvan Library
- 1 Tribute to the World Tree
- Artifacts (6)
- 1 Arcane Signet
- 1 Collector's Cage
- 1 Skullclamp
- 1 Sol Ring
- 1 Staff of the Storyteller
- 1 The Great Henge
So, this is it for my spotlight on Selvala, Eager Trailblazer! What do you think of the card? What is a commander that you would like to see in the spotlight next?
