Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Rhys, the Redeemed!

Rhys is a one mana 1/1 that for two and a green or white and tap you can make a 1/1 green and white Elf Warrior creature token and for four and two green or white, for each creature token you control, create a token that’s a copy of that creature.

Now normally Rhys is use for a massive go wide strategy using a consistent token generator and make a bunch of the same token. But, what I think is a much more interesting build is to have as many unique creature tokens made to achieve this effect.

There are a lot of tokens in Magic, and having a deck be a showcase of all of those tokens is, in my opinion, pretty neat. The goal of the deck is to have a ton of token generators of a wide variety of tokens, doing what we can to not have the same token twice.

The first thing we need to do is find a way to have some ways to get some utility out of our tokens.

Llanowar Mentor is a cheap creature that we pay one mana and discard a card in order to create a Llanowar Elves token, which is exactly like a Llanowar Elves in that it can tap to make a green mana.

We can also use a traditional mana dork like Twitching Doll, which gains a next counter whenever we tap it for mana, and when we have a ton of mana that we can use, we can sacrifice the Twitching Doll in order to make a number of 2/2 Spider tokens with reach equal to the total number of counters on it.

Mage’s Attendant is an interesting way to generate a token creature in our colors because it makes a blue Wizard token that for one mana and sacrifice that creature to counter a noncreature spell unless its owner pays 1 mana. This can catch our opponents off guard since no one expects countering spells in our colors.

If we just want a body to threaten our opponents and don’t mind a bit of a delay in the early game, then we can use Rhonas’s Last Stand in order to make a 5/4 creature token at the cost of our lands not untapping the next turn, which for a decent body that early in the game may not be a bad thing.

If we want to generate some value over time, then we can use Hoofprints of the Stag, which puts a hoofprint counter on it whenever we draw a card, and we can remove four counters and pay three mana to make a 4/4 Elemental with flying on our turns, which we can bank until we have a ton of mana to sink to start making some difficult to block Elementals.

The next thing we need are ways to synergize with our tokens in ways that we can slowly accrue value.

Anointer Priest is an excellent way for us to maintain a decent life total whenever we have a creature token enter under our control, and we can make an Embalm copy of it if it happens to die in order to still have access to some life gain, and on a unique token to boot.

If we want to be on the more offensive side of things, then we can play Ainok Strike Leader, which whenever it or our Commander attacks, then we make a 1/1 tapped and attacking Goblin creature token for each opponent, and we can sacrifice it to give our tokens indestructible until end of turn, which helps them stay resilient for a board wipe.

While we have the option of going on the offensive, we should be ready on the defensive as well, and something like Druid’s Deliverance is not something most people would see coming since it is a Fog, but not only is it a Fog, it also populates, which we can use to make a token copy of a token creature we control.

Speaking of populate, if we happen to have something that let’s us use our tokens for mana, like say a Jaheira, Friend of the Forest, then we can use Full Flowering as a way to populate a bunch of our tokens if Rhys is not available to make token copies of our token creatures.

In order for us to win, we are definitely going to go for a go wide aggro win, and for that we need to make sure our tokens can get in to deal damage.

Starry-Eyed Skyrider is a way for us to get our tokens to fly whenever they attack, and can give one of our nontoken creatures to gain flying until end of turn whenever it attacks like our Wilt-Leaf Liege, who will boost our white creatures and green creatures by +1/+1 and if an opponent forces us to discard it, we can just put it into play for free.

If we want a wide board to get even wider, Cadira, Caller of the Small can help in that regard because whenever she deals combat damage to a player, we make a number of 1/1 Rabbit tokens for each token we control, which if we play correctly will make a whole lot of Rabbits.

There is Intangible Virtue which gives our creature tokens +1/+1 and vigilance, Inspiring Leader which gives our Commander the ability to give our creature tokens +2/+2, and On Wings of Gold which gives any creature we control that are Zombies and/or tokens +1/+1 and flying and makes a 1/1 white Zombie if one or more cards leave our graveyard.

If we just want some big tokens and happen to have a lot of mana, then we can use Securiton Squadron and pay its Squad cost a couple of times to get some token copies in order for our tokens to enter with some additional +1/+1 counters on them, which does include the Securiton Squadron tokens.

Rhys is a token Commander through and through, and while it could serve us better to have a consistent theme with the tokens in order to gain typal strategies, it is much more interesting to have a variety of tokens to play with and explore the different tokens in the history of Magic.

There are some wacky tokens out there, and having a deck that showcases them may not win all the time, but there is a chance your opponents will have not seen that token in a long time, or hopefully at all.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual