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Rhys the Redeemed

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Rhys the Redeemed

At a glance

  • Commander: Rhys the Redeemed
  • Colors: Selesnya
  • Archetype: Selesnya go-wide tokens
  • Power tier: high

Cards

Commander

Rhys the Redeemed — Legendary Creature — Elf Warrior (1/1)

, : Create a 1/1 green and white Elf Warrior creature token. , : For each creature token you control, create a token that’s a copy of that creature.

The printed text matches the scout’s paraphrase exactly. Rhys is a one-mana commander with two activated abilities sharing a tap. Early he is a slow-but-recurring token faucet (a fresh 1/1 Elf Warrior every turn for three mana). Late he is the engine’s finisher: his second ability doubles your entire token board — every Elf, Soldier, Bird, Spirit, Centaur, and copied populate-token gets cloned at once. The deck’s whole job is to (1) build a wide board of cheap tokens, (2) make those tokens individually threatening via permanent +1/+1 anthems, and (3) untap/protect Rhys long enough to fire the doubler, then swing.

Gameplan

Flood the board with cheap, mana-efficient token-makers and convoke spells, layer in permanent counter-anthems (Silverflame Ritual, Inspiring Roar) so the tokens stick as real bodies, then snowball with populate (copy your biggest token) and Rhys’s board-doubler. Inevitability comes from a board that regrows and widens faster than common-only opponents can answer — there are no commander-legal mass wipes in either color, so the table can’t reset you.

Curve is low: the vast majority of cards are MV 1–4, so you deploy a board by turn 4–5 and start pumping. Mana dorks and convoke let the expensive token sorceries (Triplicate Spirits, Battle Screech, Coursers’ Accord, Horncaller’s Chant) come down a turn or two early using the tokens you already control.

Key synergy lines

  • Rhys doubler + anthem first: Cast Silverflame Ritual / Inspiring Roar to put a +1/+1 counter on every creature, THEN activate Rhys’s second ability. The copies are made with the counters baked into the originals’ current state? No — copies use printed values, so instead the line is: double the board first, then anthem all of them. Either order grows the board explosively; doubling a 10-token board into 20 then dropping Inspiring Roar is lethal-adjacent.
  • Populate a buffed token: Get a counter onto a token (Travel Preparations, Gavony Silversmith, Felidar Savior, Silverflame Ritual) — populate (Wake the Reflections, Sundering Growth, Eyes in the Skies, Coursers’ Accord, Druid’s Deliverance, Rootborn Defenses) copies the token as it currently is, counters included, so you clone a 3/3 or 4/4 instead of a 1/1.
  • Presence of Gond on a token / Rhys himself: Turns any creature into a repeatable ”: make an Elf Warrior” — a second token faucet that also gives Rhys redundancy.
  • Sprout Swarm buyback: With a few tokens to convoke it, Sprout Swarm makes a Saproling every turn for effectively free and returns to hand — grindy inevitability.
  • Convoke big spells: Triplicate Spirits, Battle Screech (and its flashback), Scatter the Seeds, Conclave-style spells all tap your existing tokens to pay, converting a wide board into an even wider one.
  • Trample alpha strike: Thundering Ceratok and Stampeding Elk Herd hand the whole team trample so anthem-pumped tokens punch through chump blockers for the kill.

Role breakdown (with counts)

  • Lands — 36: 10 GW duals (Selesnya Guildgate, Blossoming Sands, Tranquil Expanse, Botanical Plaza, Kyoshi Village, Radiant Grove, Arctic Treeline, Suburban Sanctuary, Etched Cornfield, Creosote Heath), Khalni Garden (free token), 4 cycling deserts/plains (Tranquil Thicket, Secluded Steppe, Slippery Karst, Drifting Meadow), 11 Forest, 10 Plains.
  • Ramp — 10: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Avacyn’s Pilgrim, Leaf Gilder, Priest of Titania (scales with the Elves Rhys makes), Sakura-Tribe Elder, Selesnya Signet, Wild Growth, Fertile Ground.
  • Card advantage — 10: Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector (bodies + Clues), Adventurous Impulse, Commune with Nature, Abundant Growth, Travel Preparations, Confront the Unknown, Byway Courier, Shoulder to Shoulder, Selesnya Locket.
  • Spot removal / interaction — 9: Journey to Nowhere, Last Breath, Banishing Light, Oblivion Ring, Pacifism, Pounce, Rabid Bite, Prey Upon, Sundering Growth (also populate + artifact/enchantment removal).
  • Mass wipes — 0: GW has no common-legal board wipes. Compensated with 9 pieces of interaction, a self-rebuilding board, and the inevitability plan below.
  • Token makers (payoffs) — ~22: Raise the Alarm, Gather the Townsfolk, Scatter the Seeds, Triplicate Spirits, Captain’s Call, Battle Screech, Eyes in the Skies, Coursers’ Accord, Call of the Conclave, Cartouche of Solidarity, Chatter of the Squirrel, Sprout, Centaur’s Herald, Presence of Gond, Sprout Swarm, Wake the Reflections, Druid’s Deliverance, Rootborn Defenses, Horncaller’s Chant, Rosemane Centaur, Conclave Naturalists, plus value bodies Gavony Silversmith / Felidar Savior / Pollenbright Druid.
  • Anthems / mass pump / finishers — ~9: Silverflame Ritual, Inspiring Roar, Charge, Glorious Charge, Sigil Blessing, Dauntless-tier pumps, Nature’s Panoply, Lead by Example, Thrive, plus trample from Thundering Ceratok & Stampeding Elk Herd.

Win condition (one line)

Build a wide token board, slap permanent +1/+1 anthems (Silverflame Ritual / Inspiring Roar) on it, double it with Rhys’s second ability and/or populate, then alpha-strike with trample for lethal.

Pilot notes

  • Rhys’s first ability is a fine turn-3 play when you have nothing better, but don’t tap him if you intend to fire the doubler that turn — the abilities share the tap.
  • Sequence anthems and doubling for maximum board size: if you can double a big board, do it before the all-creatures counter anthems so the new copies also get pumped.
  • Hold one populate spell to copy your largest token after a pump rather than spending it on a vanilla 1/1.
  • Use mana dorks and tokens to convoke the expensive sorceries early; Priest of Titania can produce absurd mana once Rhys has made a few Elf Warriors.
  • Sundering Growth / Conclave Naturalists / Sundering Vitae double as answers to problematic artifacts/enchantments (the main thing commons removal otherwise struggles with).

Weaknesses

  • Board wipes are the obvious nemesis. The deck rebuilds well (Rhys, Sprout Swarm buyback, recurring token sorceries, Battle Screech flashback), but a well-timed wrath from a higher-powered table sets you back a full turn cycle.
  • No reach/flying defense beyond a handful of flyers — fast evasive aggro can race the slower doubling turns.
  • Card draw is shallow by GW-commons standards; the Clue/Selesnya Locket package keeps the hand stocked but you won’t dig fast for a specific answer.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

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