While I will be pivoting to writing about commanders from Magic Foundations soon, I couldn't resist the temptation to pen one more column about a Lord of the Rings commander. Today's subject is one of the most fun mono Green legendary creatures I've built around in a long time.

I've been moving from Green deck to Green deck a lot over the past few years. I enjoyed both Six and Jedit Ojanen of Efrava a lot, and even took Sakiko, Mother of Summer for a spin. I've got a Multani, Maro-Sorcerer deck that's not coming apart anytime soon, but I recently decided to pull apart Aeve, Progenitor Ooze to make room for something new. Aeve was kind of neat, but really only seemed to win games when I hit Food Chain, and I'm looking to move away from high powered combos. The deck that would replace Aeve was another Lord of the Rings commander.

Radagast the Brown is an Avatar Wizard with a knack for keeping my hand from getting too empty. Whenever Radagast or another nontoken creature enters the battlefield, I'll look at the top X cards of my library where X is that creature's mana value. I can reveal a creature that doesn't share a subtype with a creature I control from among those cards and put it into my hand. The rest go on the bottom of my library in a random order.

The beauty of Radagast is that you end up building your board at a good rate but not too explosively, and you rebuild after a boardwipe pretty well. You don't have to commit to only playing one of each creature type in your deck, but you can. Some amount of commitment to singleton creature types is sensible, but I could see a "Noah's Ark" build with two of each creature type still working quite well.

It's worth noting that you'll control the power level of your deck by deciding what quality of creature cards you include. Are you going to try to run the single best option for each of the creature types you run? Do you instead want to essentially run a mix of draft chaff and fun pet cards that will make you happy to see them in a game, but might not be all that powerful? Whichever path you choose, Radagast should give you a game where you feel like you're doing a lot and always have another body to put on the field.

Picking a Power Level

I've been playing more mid-powered games in recent months and decided that I wanted Radagast to play without any combos and at a lower power level. If I wanted to build it as a high-powered deck I would use Radagast to dig into my deck to dig for creature-based combos. Ivy Lane Denizen and Scurry Oak are an easy example of a combo I might want to dig for, but if I'm aiming for high power you might ask why I'm not just building around Yisan, Wanderer Bard so I can tutor up those combo pieces.

I ended up having a few creature types represented more than once, but I purposefully kept that to a minimum. I'm running three Elf Druids and an Elf Scout, as Beast Whisperer, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves and Wood Elves were all too good to pick just one. This first draft is running two Elementals, in Forgotten Ancient and Nyxbloom Ancient, but I might drop out the former as soon as I can pick up another copy of Guardian Project.

I ended up running over forty creatures to work with Radagast's ability to put creature cards into my hand. That means my ramp, interaction, draw, and wincons are generally going to be creature-based.

Removal comes in many forms, and any good deck is going to need ways to remove artifacts, enchantments, creatures and even lands. My creature removal comes in the form of creatures that can fight other creatures. Foe-Razer Regent is a Dragon that not only gives me a way to block flyers, it also fights target creature I don't control when it enters play. Whenever a creature I control fights, it will get two +1/+1 counters at the beginning of the next end step. I am also running Somberwald Stag, Thorn Mammoth, and Kogla, the Titan Ape, each of which also has an ETB fight trigger.

My card draw in this first draft is a little weak, as I'm expecting to lean on Radagast to put cards into my hand. I'm running Beast Whisperer, but should eventually slot in Guardian Project and The Great Henge if I want to really optimize the list. Keeper of Fables will help the cause, giving my non-Human creatures the ability to draw me a card when one or more of them deal combat damage to a player. The shocking omission from this list is probably Heartwood Storyteller, but I already have a Treefolk, and I was really trying to avoid running multiple creatures of the same type.

End-Raze Forerunners represents the kind of creature-based wincon this deck is going to be digging for. This Boar has vigilance, trample, and haste, and gives my other creatures +2/+2, vigilance and trample until end of turn when it enters play under my control. Great Oak Guardian is also in the list. It's my lone Treefolk, has flash and reach, and it lets me untap and give creatures target player controls +2/+2 until end of turn.

If I were aiming for high power, I'd be running Craterhoof Behemoth, along with Avenger of Zendikar and tutors to hit that pair as consistently as possible. In mid power those staples turn into cards like Overrun, Overwhelming Encounter, Overwhelming Stampede, and Unnatural Growth. I also threw in Triumph of the Hordes, as sometimes you need that extra special something to get a deck like this into the win column. Triumph might be a little sweaty for a deck that purports to be aiming for a mid-powered game, but I have a feeling that this deck might end up struggling to win games without it.

Mana Matters

The single biggest predictor of whether this brew will have a good game is going to be how much mana I'm able to produce in a single turn. That might seem obvious, but it's very true for Radagast the Brown. The limit on this deck is likely to be whether you can play the cards you're drawing fast enough to become a threat. You already saw that I'm running Nyxbloom Ancient. A Human Druid and a few other cards with Nyx in their names are also in today's list.

Devotion is a keyword that simply equates to the number of "pips", or color symbols in the mana values of permanents you control. A creature like Khalni Hydra, an 8/8 Hydra with a mana value of eight Green pips, made the cut in this list over a number of equally impressive Hydra cards because it single handedly gives me eight more points of Green devotion.

That might seem odd, but when I'm tapping a mana dork like Karametra's Acolyte for an extra eight mana, that will go a long way towards playing the cool new creature I just found in the top eight cards of my deck. In truth, there are no other mana dorks like Karametra's Acolyte, and the same can be said for Nyx Lotus, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Nyx Lotus is a mana rock that taps to generate mana equal to your devotion to a chosen color, and Nykthos is a land that also taps for mana equal to your devotion. If I can get even two of these on the field with a decent board and Radagast in play, I should be in a good position to really go crazy.

Let's Go Crazy

Going "crazy" is going to mean playing lots of creatures and drawing lots of cards. Whether you're slamming down a Rabid Wombat or some variation of Vorinclex, what really matters is that you're at a table where your power level will match what everyone else is playing.

I love the idea of playing janky cards like Uktabi Drake, which is in today's list, in a lower powered game. I also love playing out really serious threats in higher powered games. Whichever path you choose, you'll want a lot of mana to have those big turns where you can play out a ton of creatures.

Janky creatures aren't necessarily bad. Prized Unicorn is a great example of a card that might not seem too scary until it's coming at you alongside an army of other creatures. All of your opponent's creatures will have to block Prized Unicorn, likely crushing it into a fine Unicorn paste, while all of your other attackers will get through unblocked. If you are able to play a pump spell, you could easily be sending that tablemate to the showers.

Big turns with creature decks often hinge on the ability to give your creatures haste, so Concordant Crossroads had to be in today's list. This world enchantment gives all creatures haste, so I'll do well to hold it back until I really need it. That might mean playing it on a turn when Karametra's Acolyte comes down, or it might just be in my hand until the final turn of the game when I play out a bunch of creatures and an Overrun to go for the win.

Odds and Ends

This list has a few cards that deserve a special mention, not because they're incredibly obscure but because they just synergize so well with what I'm doing.

Creatures that have ways to reduce their casting cost are going to be valuable in Radagast lists. You already saw me mention Khalni Hydra, but I didn't mention that Khalni Hydra costs one Green mana less for each Green creature I control. I could easily pay two, one or even zero mana for it and get to dig 8 cards deep into my deck to grab another creature. If that creature were Ghalta, Primal Hunger, I would again see a cost reduction when casting it. I would also get to dig into my deck for the creature's full mana value.

Any creature heavy deck is going to love having an enchantment like Lurking Predators in play. Whenever an opponent casts a spell I'll reveal the top card of my library. If it's a creature, it goes plop right onto the battlefield! If it isn't, I may put it on the bottom of my library. Any creature cheated into play with Lurking Predators is going to trigger Radagast and will let me dig into my library to find another creature that doesn't share a creature type with a creature I control. At the right table a single turn cycle could easily catapult me ahead of everyone else.

The last card worth putting in the spotlight is the old instant Aspect of Hydra. For one Green mana I can give target creature +X/+X where X is my devotion to Green. I could easily have a devotion to Green up around 10 if the game is going well. Using this in advance of an Overwhelming Stampede would give all of my creatures that +X/+X, and the one I targeted with it would get pumped twice. Pair those two cards with a board that includes a creature like Ghalta or Majestic Myriarch and we're looking at dealing some serious damage.

This Guy's Got the Right Idea

He wore the brown pants. Of course, Radagast also wore the brown shoes, the brown cloak and probably the brown everything else. I doubt this list is really going to make anyone soil themselves out of terror looking at the army I'm sending at them, but it should have its share of games where I'm able to mount a serious threat.

It's worth noting that I left out lots of staples that you might want to include. Sylvan Library, Regal Force, and Rishkar's Expertise may eventually find their way into the list. Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves will go in if I find that Radagast is getting removed too often. So far I'm finding that he gets overlooked. The deck doesn't come across as seeming that scary in the early game, but once it builds up some momentum it can indeed go crazy.

Scheming with Raffine | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Radagast the Brown

• Creatures (41)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Arbor Colossus
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
• 1 Brawn
• 1 Daggerback Basilisk
• 1 Deadly Recluse
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Emperor Crocodile
• 1 End-Raze Forerunners
• 1 Foe-Razer Regent
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Gatecreeper Vine
• 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1 Grazing Gladehart
• 1 Great Oak Guardian
• 1 Harbinger of Spring
• 1 Hornet Nest
• 1 Karametra's Acolyte
• 1 Keeper of Fables
• 1 Khalni Hydra
• 1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1 Majestic Myriarch
• 1 Manglehorn
• 1 Myconid Spore Tender
• 1 Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1 Prized Unicorn
• 1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sedge Scorpion
• 1 Skullwinder
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Somberwald Stag
• 1 Spore Frog
• 1 Thorn Mammoth
• 1 Uktabi Drake
• 1 Voracious Varmint
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Yavimaya Dryad

• Spells (14)
• 1 Aspect of Hydra
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Overrun
• 1 Overwhelming Encounter
• 1 Overwhelming Stampede
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Triumph of the Hordes

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Concordant Crossroads
• 1 Lurking Predators
• 1 Unnatural Growth

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Emerald Medallion
• 1 Nyx Lotus
• 1 Rhonas's Monument
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (35)
• 26 Forest
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Garenbrig
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage

Buy This Deck Export text

If I wanted to power this list up, I would absolutely look at swapping out a bunch of creatures. I've got a couple of creatures with defender in Hornet Nest and Gatecreeper Vine that could drop out in favor of more aggressive creatures like Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus or Vorinclex. I could even play a staxy creature like Collector Ouphe, but if I really wanted to push up in power I would lean into combo and tutors. Creature combo decks in Green are playable in high-powered EDH, but you will probably find yourself looking for a better fit in the command zone. Yisan, Wanderer Bard is an old but popular choice and can still put in work even if he's no longer quite able to keep up with today's cEDH.

To power this list down you'd drop out Triumph of the Hordes and Lurking Predators, or just downgrade the creature package a bit. Losing Nyxbloom Ancient and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx will hurt, but they are among the more expensive cards in the list and could be replaced with cheaper land ramp for a lower powered game. This is already a fairly budget-friendly list, but you could just build around the chaffiest of draft chaff and the jankiest of obscure Green creatures to have a weird, fun, odd little Green deck that can do a lot but will keep surprising your opponents with what you're playing.

Early Results

I was able to get this deck into a few games and the deck always kept me feeling like I was actively doing stuff. I never had a game where I didn't have creatures to play or something to do. The best games were when I was able to land a card that tapped for mana equal to my devotion to Green. I also felt pretty good about the density of Overrun effects in the list, at times having multiple options in my hand and not quite enough mana to use them all.

I don't recall if I won any of the games, but in a way that's not a bad thing. It means I was focused on all the stuff I was doing, and not as focused on the outcome. If a deck doesn't do much all game long, it's easy to turn your attention to whether you won or lost at the end. If a deck is actively having you play stuff, advance your board, and be involved in the game, it's just more fun. For me, Radagast the Brown proved to be a very fun deck to pilot.

It's worth mentioning that in one of the games the table got hit with a Doomsday Excruciator and everyone had to exile their library except for the bottom six cards. I have nothing good to say about cards that basically rob players of their ability to play their deck, but I still came close to winning. I made an ill-advised block and the mono Black Valgavoth, Terror Eater player recurred a Gray Merchant of Asphodel to close out the game.

As you play a deck you see things you are going to want to change, and I have already had that happen in just a handful of games. In one match I just happened to have two creatures with defender in play at the same time. Gatecreeper Vine and Hornet Nest are fine cards. The former tutors up a land (or gate) to your hand, and the latter makes 1/1 Green Insect creature tokens with flying and deathtouch when it gets damaged. I had an Overwhelming Stampede in hand and I couldn't help but think to myself "I'll attack with my board and they'll get +8/+8 thanks to my Khalni Hydra... except for these two losers with defender that will have to stay back."

I'm already looking at other changes to make. Solemn Simulacrum is my lone Golem but I'm tempted to run Tangle Golem because it's another example of an oddball creature that most players don't play and may not have even seen. Tangle Golem costs one less mana for each Forest I control, so he could easily be a free body in the late game and would let me dig into my deck for his mana value, which is seven. I'm definitely aware that Solemn Simulacrum brings more to the game, but it's fun to mess around with a list and try different things, and Radagast is the kind of deck that you can do that with.

Final Thoughts

One of my favorite things about the list I'm currently running is that I don't think I'll feel like I'm pubstomping if I win a game. I recently was in a game where someone decided to combo off with Scion of the Ur-Dragon in response to being domed for eight or ten damage at what I hoped was going to be a more casual table. I was on Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls and had The Lord of Pain in play at the time. Today's list might hit Triumph of the Hordes, which could be a feel-bad for anyone already annoyed by infect, but in general it's not doing anything that complicated and it's not going to combo win out of nowhere.

I have played a lot of EDH and I've definitely been that guy who hit a combo and decided to just go for it rather than worry about the power level of the table and the feeling that my tablemates may not appreciate how I'm going to be winning the game. It's just a game, and while the Scion of the Ur-Dragon combo win felt a bit rude and out of place to me at the time, that doesn't mean it actually was either of those things.

Just a week earlier I had played the Aeve, Progenitor Ooze deck that I took apart to build Radagast, and I won in the late game by hitting Food Chain, which had been in my hand all game long.

Pot, kettle, Black?

Maybe so, but in my defense I immediately took that list apart to build today's list. Nobody wants to hear tablemates saying "that seems like a pretty boring way to win the game," and that's just what I heard after I played Food Chain and showed that I could dig to a haste enabler. I didn't even have the fun of playing it out because the table scooped. I've won games with Food Chain before. It's just not as much fun as it used to be.

For the record, I do not think there's anything wrong with combo, nor do I think combo should be relegated to high-powered play. The tier system Wizards of the Coast is going to be instituting may actually help us as players with having games that feel more balanced, but we'll need to see how they set that up to really know if it's going to work. I do not enjoy losing early to a combo when I'm playing a much weaker deck and being able to express power levels more clearly might be just what we need as a community.

If you're looking for a fun mid-powered Green deck that pretty much always has you feeling like you're doing something in the game, Radagast the Brown might be for you. I really enjoyed building and playing it, and I'm definitely looking forward to playing it some more.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!