This week's column is my fifth in what turned out to be a trip around the color pie in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I didn't start out with that goal, but by the time I hit my third column I realized it was going to be a thing. I was lucky to be able to write about Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and even luckier to get my hands on Monk Gyatso last week. This week I have what might be an even more exciting legendary creature.

Green might be my favorite color in Magic, and I was thrilled to come across this week's commander. The Earth King is a 2/2 Human Noble Ally with a fondness for big creatures. When he enters I'll create a 4/4 Green Bear creature token. Whenever one or more creatures I control with power 4 or greater attacks, I'll search my library for that many basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped. He's got a pretty reasonable casting cost, at four mana, one of which must be Green. The real question is how much trouble I can get up to with a deck focused on four power creatures.

While this isn't going to be a combo list, mono-Green EDH decks can sometimes punch way above their weight. My Radagast, the Brown list has routinely surprised me with how explosive it can be. The Earth King could easily be another deck that looks like it will be good and winds up having some really great games.

Earth King Basics

There are some basics that are going into any Earth King deck. When your commander wants you to attack to put lands into play tapped, a few things jump to mind.

The first thing I want is to be able to use any lands I get from my attack trigger. That means I want ways to have them enter and untap. Amulet of Vigor is the gold standard for this ability, costing just one mana and often not seeming worth using removal for. Horizon Explorer, Tiller Engine, and Spelunking, will also serve the same purpose.

The second major issue is that I want my creatures to survive combat. A creature like Vigor will let me swing my four power creatures with zero concerns. Any damage dealt to them will be prevented, and I'll put a +1/+1 counter on each one for each damage prevented. I'm also running Stonehoof Chieftain, which will give my attacking creatures trample and indestructible. Ohran Frostfang might also help my attackers survive by giving them deathtouch.

The biggest concern with a deck that wants to attack, and attack a lot, is that there will be turns where I don't have much in the way of blockers. To help deal with that, I'm running a handful of ways to prevent combat damage. Obscuring Haze, Constant Mists, and Moment's Peace will all do that nicely.

The Power of Four

My attack triggers will only happen if I'm able to attack with creatures with at least four power. Fortunately, it's not hard to find four power creatures in Green. The real trick is finding ones that are as cheap as possible so I have mana available for other things.

One way to reduce costs is simply to run cost reducers. Emerald Medallion, Rhonas's Monument, and The Earth Crystal will all do that for my Green creatures quite nicely. The latter will also double the +1/+1 counters I put on creatures I control, and has an activated ability to distribute two +1/+1 counters on one or two creatures I control. That costs a hefty six mana, but in reality will put four counters, as it would double them when the ability resolves.

There are a few 4+ power creatures I decided to run in this list that have built-in cost reduction. Tangle Golem is part of a cycle of Golem creatures that reduce their casting cost based upon the number of a basic land I control. Last week we saw Razor Golem, which cared about Plains, and this week I'm running Tangle Golem, which cares about Forests. It's a 7 mana 5/4 but can probably be cast for three mana on turn four if I've been hitting my land drops and those lands have been Forests.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger has become an auto-include in many of my Green decks. It costs a whopping 12 mana, but that cost is reduced by X where X is the total power of creatures I control. It's a 12/12 with Trample that on occasion I've been able to cast for two Green mana.

Tangle Golem and Ghalta don't represent early game creatures. As much as I'd like to have seven Forests or 10 power worth of creatures on turn three, the reality is that I'll want some early creatures that can help me ramp when The Earth King first hits the battlefield.

It's not at all uncommon for players to play mana rocks in the early game. Lots of decks depend upon that kind of early boost, so Baloth Cage Trap is the kind of spell I'll be happy to have in my opening hand. For two mana I can make a 4/4 Green Beast creature token, but only if an opponent had an artifact enter the battlefield under their control. Otherwise I'll have to play five mana, which isn't great for a 4/4 Beast token.

Another card I'll be happy to see in my opening hand is Crashing Footfalls. For one mana I can suspend this sorcery and four turns later I'll get two 4/4 Green Rhino creature tokens with trample. Having what will feel like a free set of 4/4 tokens when The Earth King shows up on turn four or five will let me immediately start swinging and getting lands into play.

Another class of creatures I'll be able to cast early but swing with as 4 power bodies are landfall creatures - specifically creatures that get +1/+1 counters when a land enters play under my control. Scythecat Cub is a 2/2 Cat for two mana with trample and a landfall ability that will let me put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. If it's the second time that ability has resolved this turn, I'll double the number of counters on that creature instead. Sazh's Chocobo, Territorial Scythecat, Mossborn Hydra, Floral Evoker, and Tifa Lockheart are all creatures that can get up to four power with enough lands entering play.

My landfall might not be enough to get my landfall creatures to be big enough to swing as four power creatures, but if I'm getting a decent board of creatures the attack could still be significant. With five four power creatures attacking and five Forests entering play, a 5/5 Oran-Rief Hydra will end up hitting blockers as a 15/15, having gotten ten +1/+1 counters and trample. Tifa Lockheart would go from being a 1/2 to being a 32/2, again with trample. If I'm able to build up a board, this deck could absolutely get up to some crazy landfall shenanigans.

Odds and Ends

Making a lot of mana opens up all kinds of possibilities. I'm playing cards that I don't normally run in any of my commander decks, as they are a bit more expensive than even your average Green deck will be able to play. If this deck does what I hope it will do, I'll be getting an impressive number of lands into play, making those high mana cards much more playable.

I've decided to tie a bunch of my removal to creatures. I'm running a few little guys like Caustic Caterpillar and Voracious Varmint, but Bane of Progress and Terastodon are a pair of heavy hitters I can attack with to get lands in play. Bane of Progress is a 2/2 Elemental which will destroy all artifacts and enchantments when it enters play. I'll put a +1/+1 counter on it for each permanent destroyed this way. Terastodon is just an 8 mana 9/9 that will destroy up to three target noncreature permanents. For each permanent put into a graveyard this way, its controller will create a 3/3 Green Elephant creature token. If I've got a reliable source for +1/+1 counters, I might do well to pop a few of my own lands, as attacking with those Elephants would let me replace the lands I destroyed if I've gotten them up to four power.

Hunting Pack is a 7-mana instant in Green with storm. If I'm at a point where I'm able to keep seven mana up, and I can catch an opponent on a busy turn with lots of spells, I can cast this on the end step and make a 4/4 Green Beast creature token for it and for each spell cast before it this turn. Untapping with a bunch more Beast tokens could set me up for a game ending alpha strike.

If I'm able to catch my tablemates with lots of small creatures, a single Ezuri's Predation could set them back a lot and set me up for a big attack. For eight mana this sorcery will create a 4/4 Green Phyrexian Beast creature token for each creature my opponents control. Each of my 4/4 Beasts will fight a different one of my opponents' creatures. While they might not all live, it's not uncommon to end up with a half dozen or more that survive, and the best case scenario is much, much better.

I'm running a few mana dorks that synergize pretty well with this deck's theme. Raucous Audience and Fanatic of Rhonas can each tap for a Green, but if I have a creature with power four or greater in play, they'll tap for more. The former will tap for two, and Fanatic will tap to generate a whopping four Green mana.

Shamanic Revelation is a staple in Green decks that go wide, and in this deck it should also give me some reliable life gain. This five-mana Green sorcery will have me draw a card for each creature I control, and I'll gain 4 life for each creature I control with power 4 or greater. I'm also running Bonder's Enclave, a land that can tap for a cost of 3 mana to draw me a card if I control a creature with power 4 or greater.

I mentioned earlier that I'm running fogs, but Constant Mists is worth a second look. If this deck does well, it will be attacking a lot, and it will have a lot of lands in play. This particular fog has buyback, with a cost of having to sacrifice a land. Normally I don't want to sacrifice my lands under any conditions, but if I'm sitting on a dozen or more lands, I'll be happy to sacrifice one if it buys me another turn of not having to worry about combat damage.

Hail To The King

There are a lot of ways to build a board of four power creatures. A few weeks ago I shared a Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest list where the same exact challenge of amassing a lot of four power creatures was done by playing 2 power creatures and pumping them with +2/+0 combat tricks. While that strategy was a big experiment, this deck's plan seems much more reliable to me.

It is worth noting that this might be the kind of deck that will punch down a lot. I want my creatures to survive combat, and I'm very much aiming at having four power attackers, so I may well spend the mid game beating up on whoever has the worst boardstate. That is often the combo deck or the aristocrats deck, and it's a good plan to beat up on them anyways. Every game plays out differently, and if I build and play this in paper, I'll do my best to not be too much of a bully to anyone that's just missing land drops and having a bad early game.

The Earth King | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 The Earth King

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Avenger of Zendikar
• 1 Bane of Progress
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
• 1 Caustic Caterpillar
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fanatic of Rhonas
• 1 Floral Evoker
• 1 Garruk's Packleader
• 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 1 Horizon Explorer
• 1 Keeper of Fables
• 1 Mossborn Hydra
• 1 Ohran Frostfang
• 1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
• 1 Oran-Rief Hydra
• 1 Rampaging Baloths
• 1 Raucous Audience
• 1 Regal Force
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sazh's Chocobo
• 1 Scythecat Cub
• 1 Soul of the Harvest
• 1 Stonehoof Chieftain
• 1 Tangle Golem
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Territorial Scythecat
• 1 Tifa Lockhart
• 1 Tiller Engine
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Voracious Varmint

• Instants (9)
• 1 Baloth Cage Trap
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Constant Mists
• 1 Harrow
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Hunting Pack
• 1 Moment's Peace
• 1 Obscuring Haze
• 1 Return to Nature

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Crashing Footfalls
• 1 Ezuri's Predation
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Three Visits

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Retreat to Kazandu
• 1 Ride the Shoopuf
• 1 Roaring Earth
• 1 Spelunking

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Amulet of Vigor
• 1 Emerald Medallion
• 1 Rhonas's Monument
• 1 The Earth Crystal

• Lands (40)
• 36 Forest
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Garenbrig
• 1 Mosswort Bridge
• 1 Rogue's Passage

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Vivien on the Hunt

Buy This Deck Export text

I normally try to address ways to power a list down, but despite my optimism I actually think this list isn't overpowered. The biggest threats are cards that let you put out a bunch of 4/4 creature tokens at once. You might consider dropping out Ezuri's Predation, Avenger of Zendikar, and Craterhoof Behemoth, along with the land untappers, if you really wanted to play this in a low-powered meta and not worry about crushing tables.

To push this list up in power, you'd want to look at adding in some tutors, and there are probably some Temur Sabertooth shenanigans you could get up to if you ran that card. While attacking and putting a bunch of lands into play feels broken, it's far from the kind of game-breaking nonsense you want to be doing in cEDH pods and even at high powered tables.

Final Thoughts

I was able to get this list into a game and managed to eke out a win with it. I can't overstate how impactful it can be to have such an easy way to ramp when doing what you're going to be doing in a lower powered game anyways. In lower powered games, you're generally going to be attacking, and if you're able to get a little bit of momentum with a few four power creatures, you're definitely going to find yourself with more mana than you know what to do with. It was very fun to play, though The Earth King might easily become a "kill on sight" commander in your playgroup if you tune the deck up and have too much success.

I could definitely see a build for this deck designed around 3 power creatures and anthems. I sometimes find that overcomplicating a deck's game plan can make it more interesting to play. I did that with Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest, and I could see leaning on lords or anthems to turn your threes into fours could be entertaining. That does make a deck more fragile, but if your winrate is generally above your "fair share" this is a way to try to bring that down without just playing bad decks. You can still "do the thing" but it will take more work to assemble what you need.

This was a fun trip around the color pie, and next week I'll be jumping into a multicolored deck. I'll be building around the earthbending mechanic, but I don't plan on using an Avatar commander. I've found an excuse to build a commander I've long wanted to try again after a few less successful experiments many years ago.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!