If there's one thing I love doing in Magic, it's a good swarm deck. The kind of deck that makes a ton of creatures and takes over the entire game with them. After all, I'm known for playing Elves in most Constructed formats I play. I like a good go-wide deck. As it happens, I also enjoy go-tall decks and decks that do a lot of buffing with counters. My old Tempered Steel-themed list I built in 2020 should be proof enough of that. I wanted to build another one, however, and Torens, Fist of the Angels, was one that caught my attention over the last few months.

I've wanted to build a list around Torens for a while now. He stood out to me during the Crimson Vow preview season as he really does a lot that I enjoy. The whole go-wide and go-tall thing? Torens does both in one package, and he can get out of control fast. Plus, how can you not love that Bruce Campbell doppelganger's badassery? Time to get groovy and make train up our army! We've got some demons to take care of.

Let's look at a list!

Torens Pumps You Up | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Torens, Fist of the Angels

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Abzan Battle Priest
• 1 Abzan Falconer
• 1 Augur of Autumn
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Champion of Lambholt
• 1 Champion of the Parish
• 1 Cloaked Cadet
• 1 Conclave Mentor
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Heronblade Elite
• 1 Hopeful Initiate
• 1 Juniper Order Ranger
• 1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
• 1 Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Kyler, Sigardian Emissary
• 1 Mentor of the Meek
• 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
• 1 Odric, Master Tactician
• 1 Savior of Ollenbock
• 1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 1 Sigarda, Champion of Light
• 1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
• 1 Stalwart Pathlighter
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Temur Sabertooth
• 1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 1 Thalia's Lieutenant
• 1 Tireless Tracker
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Tuskguard Captain

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Ajani, the Greathearted
• 1 Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter

• Instants (8)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Second Harvest
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unbreakable Formation

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 By Invitation Only
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Winds of Abandon

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Branching Evolution
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Laid to Rest
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Path of Discovery
• 1 Sigarda's Summons

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Oketra's Monument
• 1 Selesnya Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 The Ozolith
• 1 Vanquisher's Banner

• Lands (36)
• 8 Forest
• 8 Plains
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway
• 1 Bretagard Stronghold
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Krosan Verge
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Overgrown Farmland
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Scattered Groves
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Wooded Bastion
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

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There are two big strategies at play here: counters and human tribal. Humans are probably the smaller theme here, being only a portion of the overall creature count, but there's still enough that they can do quite a bit together. It's even better to have that focus when all of the tokens that Torens makes are humans, meaning you can make them work a little more nicely. This makes cards like Champion of the Parish, Thalia's Lieutenant, and Kyler, Sigardian Emissary way better than they might otherwise be in a pool of creatures like this.

As it happens, all of the tokens Torens makes have training, and as such, you want to have creatures that get as large as possible so as to keep the power ups coming. The aforementioned creatures work well here, as they continually get larger as more humans enter the battlefield. Since every token Torens makes is a human, those three creatures basically are guaranteed to always be bigger than the tokens, giving you continual pumps. This works well also with the other three training creatures within the deck: Hopeful Initiate, Savior of Ollenbock, and Cloaked Cadet. There's so much value on each of them that being able to continually charge them up is often going to be a real game-changer.

What's cool, too, is that you don't even need to be relying strictly on training to get your +1/+1 counters going. The deck is filled with ways to keep them coming! You've got classics like Gavony Township, Cathars' Crusade, and Mikaeus, the Lunarch, but there's also a ton of recent options as well. Felidar Retreat not only pumps your board, but it can give you creatures in a pinch as well. Path of Discovery, Shalai, Voice of Plenty; and Katilda, Dawnhart Prime dish out the counters like candy as well. There's even the mighty Juniper Order Ranger, who I feel doesn't get nearly enough love nowadays, but works especially well here as a means to pump your board while also having a potent go-tall creature as well.

There's also a lot of ways to help enhance those counter buffs as well. Yes, yes, Hardened Scales is here, as are Branching Evolution and Conclave Mentor. But there's also the likes of Abzan Falconer, Tuskguard Captain, and Abzan Battle Priest to get some extra keywords to all your creatures. Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter turns them all into mana dorks as well, helping you fill your board in a pinch. The coolest by far, however, is the new Sigarda's Summons. With just a single +1/+1 counter - which should be most of your creatures in a deck like this - your creatures become incredibly powerful and will take down opponents in a flash.

If you want to go a little harder with your swarm, Temur Sabertooth has you covered. Your spells tend to be pretty limited, so having this as a way to keep the ball rolling helps a lot. While I couldn't really find a good cut for him here, Kogla also does this well in a deck full of humans and may be worth playing if you want it over a different card here. And speaking of big finishers, it pairs up pretty decently with Craterhoof Behemoth to close out games in quick fashion - provided you have the mana.

And last but not least are some of the cool tools to help the deck get to the end goal. Laid to Rest does a ton of work in a deck like this and will generate absurd amounts of both card advantage and life alike. It's not the only new powerhouse to show up here, though. By Invitation Only excels in a deck like this, as Torens can usually sacrifice a few good soldiers from his many tokens. Your opponents, however, likely won't have nearly as many critters, so you'll be able to do a nice clean sweep of their fields and let you get in for a ton of damage. There's a number of potent indestructible abilities as well to make sure your board doesn't disappear from under your feet in one fell swoop.

All of this makes for a really cool and really strong deck. This is definitely the kind of deck that I love to play and I'm sure many others will as well. It's not hard to piece together and many cards can likely be swapped for more budgetary solutions if need be. Give it a try at your next Commander night with friends and let Torens pump YOU up!

Paige Smith

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