Seton, Krosan Protector

So, first post. Seems appropriate that I talk about my first EDH deck, and my introduction to the format, right? One of my friends introduced me to the format when he brought to decks to regionals last year. The commander he played was Turbo Rafiq of the Many, and he brought a terrible Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir control deck. I got wrecked five or six times between rounds, killed on turn 4 or 5 most of the time, and that was pretty unfortunate.

So, when I got back on campus, I decided to build something a little faster. Rofellos was the first general I wanted to use, which I assume is true for just about everyone. After reading up on him though, I realized just how broken the deck could be, and that isn't really what I wanted. Instead I wanted a deck that could ramp up and start casting bombs early, but still be reasonably fair. I considered a few green ramp legends, Sasaya, Azusa, and Seton. Druid tribal with Seton seemed like the easiest (cheapest) option, since most of the druids in the deck aren't very expensive, and I had most of the pricier cards in my cube anyway. So, here's the list, updated since last year. Okay, so I mostly just added Fauna Shaman.

Lands

Thawing Glaciers
Deserted Temple
Vesuva
Mosswort Bridge
Gaea's Cradle
Tranquil Thicket
Slippery Karst
Blasted Landscape
Scrying Sheets
Mouth of Ronom
25 Snow-Covered Forest

Plan A-Draw Some Cards
Recycle
Tower of Fortunes
Harmonize
Glimpse of Nature
Primordial Sage
Regal Force
Enchantress' Presence
Sylvan Library
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Genesis
Argothian Enchantress
Verduran Enchantress

Plan B - Pump your Guys
Kaysa
Gaea's Anthem
Door of Destiny
Eldrazi Monument
Gauntlet of Power
Baru, Fist of Krosa
Concordant Crossroads
Vigor
Beastmaster Ascension
Cloudstone Curio

Plan C - Resource Denial
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Masticore
Winter Orb
Storm Cauldron

Tutors
Primal Command
Worldly Tutor
Summoner's Pact
Survival of the Fittest
Sylvan Scrying
Abundance
Sensei's Divining Top
Tooth and Nail
Natural Order
Lurking Predators
Fauna Shaman

Druids
Boreal Druid
Civic Wayfinder
Devoted Druid
Drui Lyrist
Elvish Archdruid
Elvish Harbinger
Elvish Pioneer
Farhaven Elf
Fyndhorn Elves
Fyndhorn Elder
Heart Warden
Joraga Treespeaker
Juniper Order Druid
Ley Druid
Llanowar Druid
Llanowar Elves
Mul Daya Channelers
Nantuko Cultivator
Nantuko Vigilante
Priest of Titania
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Seedguide Ash
Zoologist
Yavimaya Elder
Wirewood Channeler
Chameleon Colossus
Argothian Druid

Other Ramp
Vitalize
Mana Reflection



So what does the deck do. The list is broken down into three major categories which represent your gamplans. The first is to draw enough cards that you don't mind getting your creatures wrathed away. Drawing enough extra cards also helps you find combo pieces, and your resource denial cards. Seton allows you to continue to develop your board even under a Winter Orb or Storm Cauldron, which makes those cards absolutely busted for you. You also have the option of just vomiting a bunch of druids onto the board, and making them huge with your Overrun/Glorious Anthem effects.

So how do you actually win? You've got a couple of combos that can win the game, most of which revolve around Masticore. Masticore combos with Vigor and with Kamahl. With kamahl, it's an Armageddon for players that aren't you, and with Vigor, you get to do ridiculous combat tricks to pump all of your druids repeatedly. You can also steal everyone's lands with Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.

So, the problem with this deck ended up being that you don't have enough ways to win the game. You can make your guys huge, but then they get wrathed. You can draw a lot of cards, but still whiff on the pieces you need to put pressure on the rest of the table. The games that this deck did win all involved an early Storm Cauldron or Winter Orb while dropping a ton of guys onto the board with Seton.

So, what did I like about this deck? I liked the ability to add "draw a card" to most of your creatures/enchantresses. I liked disrupting other players mana while developing my board with Seton. I liked the ramp engine that is Thawing Glaciers and effects that untap lands. I liked the synergistic combo finishes. As a rule, I love finding the cool little synergies between cards, and showing them off in EDH games. As long as the combo isn't infinite, I'm a fan of it.

Really, I think the deck would be improved by adding some more Naturalize style effects, preferably attached to an elf, like Viridian Zealot. You really don't have very many ways to interact with your opponents outside of the combat step, which is a real issue for the deck.
All told, this is a really fun casual deck to play. It's not as powerful as the straight up Elfball combo decks some people build, but sometimes you get that perfect storm of cards and go nuts. Definitely not something I'd build again, since it really doesn't know what role it wants to play. Sometimes it wants to go druid aggro, sometimes it wants to combo off, and sometimes it wishes it could play control.

So, that's all I've got on Seton for now. If you've got any comments or recommendations with regard to this decklist, let me know. If you've got any legends or decklists in particular you'd like to have looked at, shoot me an email. I think next time I might try to port one of my favorite constructed decks to EDH.

-Carlos
Carlos.edhblog@gmail.com