Selesyna tokens primer, work in progress.
1-dropsLegion's Landing - not the best imaginable card but an important role-player. The token has lifelink which can help, it acts as "ramp" for your convoke cards, and if you flip it it becomes a mana sink late-game. Run 3-4. I favour 3 because after turn 1 the value of this card drops quite a lot (don't forget you can still play it before attacking to flip it however), and if you draw two, the second copy is just a
Sacred Cat without the embalm.
Flower//Flourish - an important card. Run 4. It's part of your manabase. It's why you can get away with 25 lands and still not flood out late-game. Do remember it's effectively a comes-into-play-tapped land in the early game, i.e. it's free. You can e.g. cast Emmara and still make your land drop with 2 lands in play + a Flower in hand. The only other thing to say is that it's not really a land just like it's not really a spell: if you play Flower to get a land, the number of real lands in your deck goes down. You can't just say your total land count is 25 and run lots of 6-mana sideboard cards for this reason. Otherwise, end-of-turn March into Flourish is one way your games can end out of nowhere.
2-dropsYour 2-drops take some serious consideration outside of the 3x Emmara. In the standard list, you pick two of the first three options below and run 4 of each.
Adanto Vanguard - One of the best cards around against control. Many Jeskai lists don't even have a way to deal with it aside from countering it or with Teferi's -3. Since against these decks your lifetotal barely matters, you can happily pay 4 to make it survive Cleansing Nova, Ritual of Soot, etc. The downside of this card is that it's absurdly bad on defense. In the best case scenario you can trade against a Boros aggro 2/1, in which you still come out behind on tempo. In the medium case, you can chump block the likes of History of Benalia tokens, Ghitu Lavarunner or Seeker's Squire. In the worst case it just dies to Goblin Chainwhirler.
Thorn Lieutenant - This doesn't just block everything mentioned in the previous section, it blocks them advantageously. It's also a late-game mana sink. It's true that with this deck you rarely run out of things with 6 mana, but being able to attack as a 6/7 - big enough to rumble against Lyra, Carnage Tyrant and Doom Whisperer - is still a nice option to have. It's also a great card against monored, since it blocks many of its small creatures and creates 1/1s that block Viashino Pyromancer even if removed. The downside of the card is, it just outright folds to sweepers. With the single exception of Golden Demise, the commonly-played sweepers all kill it.
Saproling Migration - This usually isn't a good card. If you compare to the things that Thorn Lieutenant blocks profitably, an unkicked Saproling Migration barely compares. However, it's convoke neutral - if you're intending to cast Venerated Loxodon for example you can simply play this for free. It's how you surge onto the board before the opponent does. Against that, when it's bad, it's really bad, dying to Goblin Chainwhirler + all the sweepers, fails to block Seeker's Squire, etc.
Emmara, Soul of the Accord - standard convoke card. Run 3 because it's legendary. Don't be too afraid to attack with it - you still make a token (i.e. you can still convoke), and if you e.g. trade this for a Merfolk Trickster you still come out ahead with the token.
Song of Freyalise - this isn't a card I've played with. It seems potentially busted to me, but also potentially very awkward. If you have no creatures then it literally does nothing. On the other hand, if you are able to surge onto the board, it can be one of your best token payoffs - the 3rd chapter even grants temporary indestructibility. If you do run this card, make sure to run lots of 2-drops so you can play out your hand really quickly.
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy - this isn't a card I've played with either, but in theory I'm unimpressed. Sure it can get really big, but it's still dying to most sweepers, including damage-based ones like Golden Demise, Find//Finality and Deafening Clarion.
3-dropsThis tends to be less congested simply because there aren't that many good 3-drops.
History of Benalia - 4x of this card is non-negotiable. It's just a very good card: it generates power, bodies, and lots of damage in the third chapter. For you it's even better than normal because 1) you get 2 bodies = 2 convoke mana, and 2) since they have vigilance, you get to attack and then convoke.
Knight of Autumn - standard sideboard card for aggressive matchups where the lifegain matters, or as enchantment removal. It's a great card when it comes in. Notably it's a knight so it's affected by History's 3rd chapter.
Benalish Marshal - another card I've not played with. It's a weaker Trostani Discordant but that's comparing a 5-mana card to a 3-mana card. A downside with Marshal is that everything comes in one body, which is bad not just for convoke but also for attacking (Trostani for example can usually be kept back and still present 4 points of damage; Marshal cannot). Another problem is that requiring WWW is not cheap: you still need at least one green mana to operate.
4-dropsStandard lists pick one of the four-drops and play 2 of them.
Shalai, Voice of Plenty - this isn't a great card, but it's decent. Being a flyer is good since otherwise you have no way to block flyers. However it's not big enough to rumble against the 4-toughness flyers (Tempest Djinn, Drakes) or Lyra. At 6 mana, the mana sink also very rarely comes up, same with Thorn Lieutenant's active. Where Shalai really shines is against monored. Not only are they usually unable to kill it in one spell (beware Fight with Fire, Lava Coil, and Lightning Strike + Goblin Chainwhirler though), it makes you immune to burn. Even Viashino Pyromancer has to nuke themselves.
Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants - the more anti-control option, its main selling point is that it's a planeswalker that survives board clears. The +1 ability is useful not just because you often have creatures on the board; it's also because you make lots of lifelink tokens so +1/+1 counters are more useful than normal. Unfortunately the -2 ability is weaker than normal because you don't have many 2-drops (you run many, but Saproling Migration isn't actually a creature, and Adanto Vanguard tends to stay on the battlefield). The ultimate isn't very relevant but every now and then the board will stall or you'll be able to make enough chump blockers to reach it. You have anthems to pump the tokens from the ultimate, and March of the Multitudes loves it, but it's not game-winning on its own (compared to, say, Jace TMS's ultimate).
Conclave Tribunal - convoke removal that answers everything except flipped lands. Standard lists run all four. Being able to e.g. play Saproling Migration, then boost the tokens with Venerated Loxodon, and then tap Loxodon to cast Conclave Tribunal is very powerful.
5-dropsVivien Reid - it's rare to see this card maindeck since it doesn't work with your strategy; however it's one of your most potent threats against control. It also removes enchantments.
Trostani Discordant - standard lists run 3. It's a great anthem and makes 3 bodies as well, some of which even have lifelink. The triggered ability isn't usually relevant but occasionally does work against
Hostage Taker (you regain the creature if opponent casts it - admittedly savvy opponents will not make that mistake).
March of the Multitudes - your best token maker. Run 4. March into March is disgustingly powerful, and since the tokens even have lifelink you might be able to chump block your way to cast a game-winning Flourish. This combination can easily result in an attack for more than 30 damage. Even a March for 3 tokens isn't terrible since it's instant speed.
6-dropsThe Immortal Sun - the only real maindeckable 6-drop. It's great if it resolves and will likely win the game for you eventually. Problem with the card though is that 6 mana is a lot - empirically, you hit 5 mana quite often but 6 is significantly rarer. It's also not that good at advancing your gameplan since it doesn't make creatures. Standard lists run 0. If you run any at all, I'd run one maximum, since drawing two or more copies would be very awkward.
LandsYour lands are self-explanatory. You have enough colored sources to afford to run Arch. It's not great - I find I seldom have the mana to activate it, the same as other mana sinks - but it's almost free so why not.
Tips & tricks- You can gang block a creature with all your lifelinkers to get extra life. For example if opponent attacks with a 2/2 and you have 10 lifelink tokens out, you can put all of them in front of the 2/2 and gain 10 life.
- Your total available mana for convoke cards is all your lands + all your creatures.
- Look for opportunities to maximize your mana each turn. A summoning sick creature can still convoke. Plays like Emmara into tap Emmara for convoke and still leave a 1/1 to chump block with are very possible, but you must look out for them. Example: your board is Emmara, Adanto Vanguard, 1/1 lifelink token (from Emmara), 1 Plains, 2 Forests. Opponent's board is empty. Your hand is March of the Multitude x2, Legion's Landing, Venerated Loxodon. Notice that you can cast Legion's Landing, attack with all three creatures (makes another 1/1), flip Legion's Landing, and
still have five mana to convoke Loxodon. It's not obvious. You must do the math.
- For the same reason, you might not want to trade even if given the opportunity. This is especially the case if you have an anthem effect or March of the Multitudes in hand.
- Similar to the above, pay close attention to how to maximize your cards. One not-very-obvious sequence for example is if the opponent has a 2/2 out while you have Shalai, a 1/1 Legion's Landing token and Adanto Vanguard, as well as March in hand. In this case you should attack with all three because even though you lose the 1/1 token, you flip Legion's Landing, and that +1 mana means you get the token back when you cast March anyway.
- You might want to conserve History knight tokens for the 3rd chapter instead of trade them off (besides they convoke well).
- If you're running Ajani, you can use it to get your creatures out of range of damage-based sweepers (Deafening Clarion, Golden Demise, Find//Finality).
- It might sound good to March into March on the same turn (your newly-created creatures can convoke), but you almost never want to do it because you might as well just March on your the next turn for a lot more tokens.
SideboardingSome cards you can consider for the sideboard are:
Knight of Autumn - covered above.
Vivien Reid - also covered above.
Karn, Scion of Urza - for when you want to grind. It's at its best vs. control, but is also a way to get card advantage against e.g. monored, because of his high starting loyalty. It's not often you -2 with him though, since you don't have artifacts.
Treasure Map - an even cheaper version of Karn. It's not bad but it's quite mana intensive. After you flip it though, you have plenty of ways to use the excess mana. A small combo with Karn's -2.
Kraul Harpooner - shores up your weakness to fliers somewhat. However you may not have creatures in the graveyard to pump it. It's at its best against white aggro with Healer's Hawk and monoblue tempo with Siren Stormtamer. Still worth bringing in against Drakes.
Carnage Tyrant - a vital card, since control is your worst matchup. Unfortunately you can't play too many of this since it's 6 mana.
Nullhide Ferox - somewhat counterintuitive in a deck with so many noncreature spells, but an important one nonetheless. The point is that it's hard to remove - Cast Down is about the only thing that kills it on equal mana - and it survives all the common sweepers. The gameplan with this card is to put some small creatures on the board and then play Nullhide Ferox. Now your board can't be easily answered by a single card. It stops opponents from sandbagging a sweeper against you, and it's also big enough to be a quick clock and / or block well. Yes it does stop all your noncreature spells, but if it stays on the board you're often in good shape. It also has the random side-effect of crushing Dimir and Grixis control. I like the card but your mileage may vary.
Ixalan's Binding - more removal if you need it. If you're able to, e.g., Binding your GW opponent's Conclave Tribunal they might not be able to interact with your board anymore.
Baffling End - you don't have cheap removal. The most important cards this answers are Wildgrowth Walker, Goblin Electromancer and Runaway Steam-Kin; it's still useful against other small creature decks.
Lyra Dawnbringer - the single best card against aggressive decks. If you ever untap with her (and some decks can't easily answer her) it's probably game over. Also shores up weakness to fliers, and is a small combo with Shalai.
The Immortal Sun - covered above. It's a generically powerful card you can bring in against a variety of strategies to improve your late-game threats. However as an anti-control card being counter-able is a large drawback, and it's also a nonbo with Karn / Vivien which are your other main tools vs. control. Nonetheless, some decks literally cannot answer TIS once it resolves - it's not vulnerable to Vivien or Teferi -3 for example.
Tocatli Honor Guard - specifically targeting Golgari.
Deathgorge Scavenger or
Citywide Bust - specifically targeting Drakes.
When sideboarding the cards you can consider cutting are:
Adanto Vanguard - when it's bad, it's really bad. It's also less good on the draw since you're less likely to be on the offensive.
Saproling Migration - see above. When it's bad, it's really bad. Take this out against all decks from which you expect a sweeper.
Legion's Landing - same as above. If you run out of things to board in however you can still keep one copy. It wouldn't be for the 1/1 body, but for the possibility of flipping it.
Thorn Lieutenant - against control decks. It's not terrible when it's bad, but it's still a threat that folds against Deafening Clarion and Ritual of Soot.
Venerated Loxodon - if you've boarded out a lot of your small creatures, then this gets lets powerful as well.
Ajani - against aggro. He's embarrassingly bad if you have no board.
March of the Multitudes - it's strong, but also quite slow. If you don't have the time to cast this (e.g. vs. monored), or if you don't expect to be able to build a big board (e.g. vs. multiple sweepers), then board out a few copies.
Trostani - if you're bringing in lots of high-mana cards, this is the card to cut to keep your curve reasonable.
vs. Golgari:
Board in The Immortal Sun, Vivien Reid (even more so if they have Doom Whisperer), Tocatli Honor Guard. I'm uncertain about Baffling End: it kills Wildgrowth Walker, but it does die to their Viviens and Brontodons however, which is a massive tempo swing. If you have Nullhide Ferox and Carnage Tyrant you can bring those in as well since it's awkward for them to answer these cards. Expect Golden Demise, Ritual of Soot, and Find//Finality; take out Adanto Vanguard & Saproling Migration for this reason (and Venerated Loxodon).
It depends on the build but overall I like this matchup. Cards like The Eldest Reborn and Golgari Findbroker are very far from at their best against you. Still, Doom Whisperer is a strong threat that can surveil to their sweepers, and if they dedicate enough sideboard slots against you it can be terrible.
vs. Monoblue:
The key here is to focus on developing your board. Don't bother trying to remove their creatures while they have mana up. It's not cheap for them to keep up mana, and they only have so many instant-speed ways to develop their board if you don't play a removal spell. I've yet to play against this deck post-board, but I'd sideboard lightly. Board in Knight of Autumn (they can't protect Curious Obsession well, only the enchanted creature), Baffling End, Kraul Harpooner. Take out Ajani since it's too slow, Adanto Vanguard since it's embarrassing vs. Merfolk Trickster, and possibly a few copies of March as well.
I like this matchup but you can easily lose if they draw well (some of monoblue's draws are pretty unbeatable), and Tempest Djinn represents a fast clock if you can't answer it.
vs. Monored:
By far their most dangerous threat is Experimental Frenzy. The rest you can mostly ignore, with the exception of Rekindling Phoenix, but you have Conclave Tribunal to answer that. Take out everything that dies to Goblin Chainwhirler - Adanto Vanguard & Saproling Migration are at the top of the list, Legion's Landing not far behind, and since you're sideboarding all those stuff out Loxodon is also worse. Bring in all the Knight of Autumn you have, Lyra Dawnbringer, Vivien Reid, and Baffling End. You can also consider Nullhide Ferox if you have the space. It's not great, but it's big enough to block all their creatures.
Surprisingly against the Goblin Chainwhirler deck, I find this matchup quite good. However this can easily tilt from good to bad if you build your deck to be vulnerable to it - in particular, by running Adanto Vanguard + Saproling Migration maindeck, or by not running Shalai.
vs. Drakes:
Once again you focus on doing your thing. They don't interact, you don't interact. You must maximize your mana every turn. If you're able to build a large army of lifelinking tokens they're suddenly unable to kill you. Board in Vivien, Kraul Harpooner, Baffling End (they have Enigma Drake & Goblin Electromancer), Deathgorge Scavenger, Lyra, Nullhide Ferox (it'll at worst trade with their drakes). Expect Fiery Cannonade post-board; take out Saproling Migration and Legion's Landing as a result. Ajani is also less good - you can't chump block drakes since they fly.
I find this to be a poor matchup, but it's winnable.
vs. Jeskai:
With sweepers maindeck, this is a bad matchup, especially if you're not running Adanto Vanguard. You need a good sideboard plan for this or the odds will be heavily against you. Board in all your planeswalkers, Treasure Maps, Carnage Tyrants, Nullhide Feroxes, The Immortal Sun. Take out your weaker 2-drops, Loxodon, some Legion's Landing. You can also consider taking out Trostani because getting your 5-drop countered is a massive tempo loss. March is worth keeping because it's a great mana sink if you get Settled, and it's an instant speed threat as well.
The plan is to develop enough of a board that they're forced to sweep, and then resolving a planeswalker while they're tapped out. One great example is having Emmara. If you've played that on turn 2 and it lives, you don't have to play History of Benalia next turn because an unchecked Emmara is a fine clock. Another important tip is, you don't
have to do anything if the opponent is also doing nothing. You can save your spells to play multiples in a turn and make them unable to counter them all.
vs. Dimir/Grixis:
See Jeskai. This isn't a good matchup, but you improve dramatically post-board. They literally cannot beat Carnage Tyrant unless they have The Eldest Reborn (against which you usually have tokens to sacrifice) or if they trade using a Doom Whisperer. It's even more embarrassing if they "discard" Nullhide Ferox with Disinformation Campaign or Nicol Bolas.
vs. White aggro:
You can match their go-wide strategy and your 1/1s are great against their 2/1s. However they can deploy their cards so quickly it's still possible to be overwhelmed. Take out your Adanto Vanguards (you're the control deck and you'll never block with this anyway) and Ajani. You can trim Loxodons as well especially on the draw. Bring in Knights of Autumn to kill Experimental Frenzy, Baffling End, Lyra. Vivien is less good since she's slow if opponent doesn't have Experimental Frenzy. However even if no Frenzy, you can still kill their enchantment-based removal. I'd board in Vivien depending on how many Knights of Autumn I have. Kraul Harpooner is a shoo-in as well if opponent has Healer's Hawk.
vs. mirror:
Focus on doing your thing. You want to trade if you're not holding convoke cards, but avoid trades if you are. Bring in Knights of Autumn to kill History & Conclave Tribunal, Vivien for the same reason, The Immortal Sun. Take out Adanto Vanguard since it's bad against 1/1s, Legion's Landing since the 1/1 body is irrelevant except for convoke.