Magic Monday: Bear Necessities

I've noticed something odd about my decks. I don't know what others usually build, but mine lean heavily into token swarms. This isn't deliberate. I like horde armies in various games, but it's not a theme I choose to the exclusion of alternatives. I've tried spellslinger decks, combo decks and other archetypes; different colors or combinations, and so forth. This time, I made a some specific choices for a deck design.

1. Low creature count
2. No focus on tokens, whether creature or otherwise
3. Try to win with commander damage

So what colors did I choose? Selesnya (green/white), one of the color combinations best known for tokens and token support as a core theme. But I won't be doing that, because that's not all these colors do.

---

---

There are many ways to win a game of Magic, but in the Commander format, there is a special rule for dealing 21 total commander damage to defeat an opponent regardless of their life total. I want to build a deck designed to exploit that win condition.

Wilson, Refined Grizzly, like the classic Grizzly Bears card (also in this deck) is a 2/2 bear for 2 mana, one generic and one green. However, he has some nice bonus text. He can't be countered; he has the keywords vigilance, reach, and trample; he has built-in Ward protection; and he can choose a Background. This last feature allows me to play with multi-color decks when Wilson only has green for his color identity.

When Wizards of the Coast combined their Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game with their Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, they added several Legendary Enchantments with the Background type which can be placed in the Command Zone along with the deck commander. Like the Partner keyword, the commander must state it can have a background for this to apply, like Wilson does. I have a few of these Background cards, and Flaming Fist is a superb power boost for Wilson. It also adds white to my overall command zone color identity, and that means more options for deck design.

Just a splash of a second color adds a lot to what this deck can do. But what exactly does this deck do? I plan to use a combination of permanent +1/+1 counters and temporary boost spells to make Wilson into an absolute tank. Fog effects and white cards generally let me add layers of protection so my small table presence can resist spot removal or punch through an opponent's defense.

Ideally, with 3 mana in hand, I can drop Wilson on turn 2, Flaming Fist on turn 3, and swing immediately for 4 points minimum of commander damage, escalating from there. Find the full list here on Moxfield.

Since this deck only has a few white and Selesnya cards compared to the predominantly green focus from Wilson, I could swap those out and splash another color with a different Background instead. I haven't built a Simic (green/blue) deck in a long while, and if the goal is making a big bear to slap my foes, blue also supports more +1/+1 counters while adding card draw and counterspells.

It just so happens I have a few cards in mind, and in my collection, too.

---

---

This would require adding a few more artifacts as well, so it would re-work the deck a fair bit, but there are several artifacts which add bonus effects when sacrificed, or which otherwise seem useless, so it could work. The question is whether I want the more defensive and evasive power of Plains or the +1/+1 counters interaction and control spells afforded by Islands.

What do you think, should I keep the Selesnya version or go with the Simic build? I may work up a full deck list for the blue-tinged version on Moxfield just for giggles while I try to decide for myself.

HIVE | PeakD | Ecency | LEO

If you're not on Hive yet, I invite you to join through InLeo or PeakD. If you use either of my referral links, I'll even try to delegate some Hive Power to help you get started.