Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Baylen, the Haymaker!

Baylen is a four mana 4/3 who can tap two untapped tokens you control to add one man of any color, tap three untapped tokens you control to draw a card, or tap four untapped tokens you control to put three +1/+1 counters on Baylen and gives them trample until end of turn.

What makes Baylen different than other token decks is that they care about any tokens and not just creature tokens, which definitely makes the deck a much more interesting build around to go wide with a large number of other tokens rather than just creature tokens.

We can have a deck that focuses on making a large number of a variety of tokens and use them to generate the resources we need for Baylen to deliver their signature Haymaker to win us a game.

The first thing to look for are ways to generate tokens along with standard token generators.

Peregrin Took is a solid way to get an additional Food token whenever one or more tokens would be created under our control, along with being able to sacrifice three Foods to draw a card. Farmer Cotton is also a great way to double dip in token generation because we make X Halfling creature tokens and X Food tokens.

In a similar vein to Peregrin, we also have Quina, Qu Gourmet who makes a Frog creature token whenever one or more tokens would be made and for two mana and sacrificing a Frog we can give Quina a +1/+1 counter. In terms of other additional token makers, Academy Manufactor is also a great way to get even more tokens whenever we make a Food, Clue, or Treasure token in that we get to make one of each of those tokens instead.

There are also creatures like Jacked Rabbit who makes a number of Rabbit tokens equal to their power when they attack, while also being an X cost creature that can put +1/+1 counters on themselves while also having Ravenous to draw us a card if we paid 5 or more for the X cost.

One of the better examples of an attack trigger making tokens would be Cadira, Caller of the Small, who when they deal combat damage to a player we make a Rabbit token equal to the number of tokens we control, which like Baylen doesn’t require those to be a specific token type, just that they are a token.

Once we have a few creatures on the battlefield (tokens or otherwise) we can use Wildfire Awakener as an X cost creature that has convoke that makes X Elemental creature tokens that when they become tapped deal 1 damage to any target. March of the Multitudes works in a similar manner, being a convoke spell that has X in the mana cost that gets us more creature tokens, in this case Soldier tokens with lifelink.

The next thing we need to look for are ways to get a number of tokens from our utility spells.

Artifact Mutation and Aura Mutation are ways for us to destroy an artifact or enchantment respectively and to make X Saproling creature tokens where X is the mana value of the destroyed artifact or enchantment, both of which cost two mana which is a great value for what it does.

Grand Crescendo is a way for us to dump some mana, either from our mana sources or from Baylen, in order to make X Citizen creature tokens and give creatures we control indestructible until end of turn, which we can use for more utility with Baylen. Provided we have a decent number of creatures in play, we can also use Moogles’ Valor to make a 1/2 Moogle token with lifelink for each creature we control and then give creatures we control indestructible until end of turn.

Since we are tapping a bunch of tokens, we can also make use of Harvest Season in order to search our library for up to X basic lands equal to the number of tapped creatures we control and put them on the battlefield tapped.

If we want some card draw combined with token generation, we can use Tempt with Bunnies as a way to make a Rabbit token and draw a card, while also giving our opponents the options to do the same, and if they do, we draw cards and make a Rabbit token for each opponent who did.

Season of the Burrow is an interesting modal spell that gives us three options with a different pawprint costs and we have five pawprints to use and being able to pick the same mode more than once, meaning we can mix and match options as we need them.

One pawprint makes a Rabbit token, two pawprints exiles a nonland permanent while letting its controller draw a card, and three pawprints brings a creature of mana value 3 or less from the graveyard to the battlefield with an indestructible counter on it.

The last thing we need are ways for us to get a wide enough token suite in order to get Baylen large enough to swing out to win the game from Commander Damage.

Finale of Glory is appropriately named because with Baylen we can use some of our incidental tokens to help make mana to get this to get X to be 10 or more in order to get a huge suite of Soldier tokens and Angel tokens, of which we can use to get Baylen even bigger.

Pest Infestation also allows us to get a ton of Pest tokens while also being able to destroy up to X artifact or enchantments to clear up the board of potential threats, Song of Totentanz to get a bunch of Rat tokens and give all creature we control haste, and Call the Coppercoats to get X Human Soldier tokens equal to the number of creatures a target opponent controls while having Strive to let us pay more mana to target more opponents.

Once we have an insane number of tokens, we can then use Second Harvest to create a token copy of each token we control and then use For the Common Good to make X tokens that are copies of target token we control to give tokens we control indestructible until our next turn and gain 1 life for each token we control.

From there we use all of the tokens we have made to get Baylen massive, and with any excess mana we can cast spells like Full Throttle to get an additional combat phase, or for the case of Full Throttle two additional phases that can help us win the game.

Baylen is a value Commander that requires a bit of set up to start getting some solid value from. The issue comes from that if we are unable to get enough tokens for Baylen to get value from, we will struggle to get our game plan running. Baylen will also be the target of a lot of removal because they are a value engine that will only get better the longer they stick around.

It may be best to not immediately cast Baylen, instead wait for the right moment to cast them in order to make the most use of their abilities while still being able to protect them if necessary.

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

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual