[EDH] Nath of the Gilt-leaf: Everything 5 mana or less

[Davran]

I got the idea for this deck from an article (http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/commander/24321_Nath_Of_The_GiltLeaf.html) Sheldon Menery posted over at SCG a while ago. The basic concept is that nothing in the deck has a converted mana cost higher than 5 with the exception of X spells. I liked the challenge of building a deck that can hold its own with a restricted card pool, so I went for it. Sheldon added a second restriction by imposing a budget, but I decided against it. After playing a bunch of games with the deck, I'm happy with how it turned out.

General:
Nath of the Gilt-leaf

Creatures:
Deathrite Shaman
Ulvenwald Tracker
Blood Artist
Bramblewood Paragon
Riftsweeper
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Withered Wretch
Eternal Witness
Farhaven Elf
Glissa, the Traitor
Imperious Perfect
Wood Elves
Disciple of Bolas
Masked Admirers
Necrotic Ooze
Oracle of Mul Daya
Solemn Simulacrum
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Acidic Slime
Indrik Stomphowler
Kessig Cagebreakers
Lord of Extinction
Sadistic Hypnotist
Shriekmaw
Stingerfling Spider
Vulturous Zombie

Instants:
Crop Rotation
Beast Within
Putrefy
Spore Cloud
Makeshift Mannequin

Sorcery:
Green Sun's Zenith
Demonic Tutor
Explore
Profane Command
Regrowth
Victimize
Damnation
Dread Return
Harmonize
Ill-gotten Gains
Sever the Bloodline
Syphon Mind
Beacon of Unrest
Increasing Ambition
Restock

Artifacts:
Expedition Map
Nihil Spellbomb
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Sol Ring
Coalition Relic
Crucible of Worlds
Darksteel Ingot
Sword of Vengeance
Memory Jar

Enchantments:
Rancor
Animate Dead
Oversold Cemetery
Phyrexian Arena
Doubling Season

Lands:
Bojuka Bog
Buried Ruin
Command Tower
Evolving Wilds
Gilt-leaf Palace
Golgari Rot Farm
Grim Backwoods
Homeward Path
Jund Panorama
Llanowar Wastes
Mosswort Bridge
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
Overgrown Tomb
Pendelhaven
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Strip Mine
Tainted Wood
Tectonic Edge
Twilight Mire
Verdant Catacombs
Woodland Cemetery
Swamp x8
Forest x8


There are several nice synergies in the deck:

Nath of the Gilt-leaf + Sadistic Hypnotist = Opponents with empty hands and a boat load of tokens.

Nath of the Gilt-leaf + Memory Jar = 21 tokens (assuming a 4 player pod) and a fresh 7 of your own to use.

Bramblewood Paragon works well with both Nath of the Gilt-leaf and Imperious Perfect to turn discarded cards into 3/3 trample creatures. While nothing to write home about, an army of 3/3s is much better than an army of 1/1s.

Doubling Season is just gravy.


The deck is surprisingly competitive despite the limitation in the card pool. I've found that people look at Nath as more of an annoyance than a genuine threat, so he tends to stick around in play for longer than other black and green generals. That said, it is easy for the small creatures to be overwhelmed in the later game. Damnation is far and away the best card in the deck, easily taking both the "most tutored for" and "most often regrown" slots. The deck really needs another cost efficient wrath effect, and possibly some more efficient beaters.

I've been strongly considering including Abyssal Persecutor as a 4 mana 6/6 - any thoughts on the pros/cons of that are welcome.

[trollking21]

joraga warcaller would be a better beater then abyssal persecutor, also casting him triple kicked can end games pretty quickly. Also most elf lords are pretty sound my buddy ran a nath EDH. He considered discard to be like token production and followed up with elf lords and beastmaster ascension style cards, though im not sure this is where your taking your deck

[Davran]

joraga warcaller would be a better beater then abyssal persecutor, also casting him triple kicked can end games pretty quickly. Also most elf lords are pretty sound my buddy ran a nath EDH. He considered discard to be like token production and followed up with elf lords and beastmaster ascension style cards, though im not sure this is where your taking your deck

Joraga Warcaller is a great suggestion, I'll have to pick one up. It seems like a great replacement for the underwhelming Necrotic Ooze.

I'm not sure I want to take the "elfball" route with the deck. I envision the deck as a mana efficient toolbox of sorts that has the ability to create a token swarm from time to time. That said, I can certainly see how an elfball style list would be quite powerful. There are plenty of elves already in the deck, so it wouldn't mess with things all that much. It may end up that elves.deck is the "best" implementation given the CMC restriction, but for now I'm mostly happy with the list.