Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent | Art by MITORI

About a month ago, when the new Katara was previewed and it was revealed that the upcoming Avatar set was going to feature the return of the Ally creature type, I wrote an article about the creature type and how there were finally enough to make a solid deck.

In the interim, a large amount of cards from the Avatar set have been released, including more Allies. A lot more Allies. So many more, in fact, that a mono-colored Ally deck is possible, albeit with a bit of help from the Changelings.

But why would we want to play mono-colored Allies? Because it would combine my two great loves in Magic: Typal strategies and bouncing! I am known as the Unsummoned Skull, after all!

But what does bouncing have to do with Allies? And how do we get these pieces to fit together into a cohesive strategy? The key is Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent, the centerpiece of today’s commander deck.

What Does Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent Do?

First and foremost, Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent is a cheap Ally, meaning that he's easy to cast and re-cast, with or without commander tax. This means that we can drop him early to gain a trigger off of each following Ally with his second ability or use him as a curve-topper if we have an aggressive hand, triggering any Allies’ activated abilities when he comes out.

Haru’s triggered ability, alluded to earlier, lets us earthbend 1 whenever an Ally enters under our control. For a low-to-the-ground deck, this lets us go wide with come impunity, as earthbent lands return to the battlefield tapped when they die or are exiled.

In fact, were we to get really cheeky, we could opt for a combo-style finish with Altar of DementiaAltar of Dementia and Maskwood NexusMaskwood Nexus. The Nexus would turn our earthbent lands into Allies, then we can sacrifice them to the Altar, return them to the battlefield as Allies because they are earthbent lands, and earthbend themselves with Haru’s ability, milling our opponents out!

The question remains, however: why limit ourselves to mono-green Allies when there are so many other colors that Allies are in? There is no one answer, but it starts with the reason the last build went from five to three colors: aggressive decks can’t afford to stumble on mana. When they do, they become worse versions of the engines everyone else is running because, card-for-card, we run worse quality. The hope is that our aggression and synergy carries the day before that matters.

Key Cards for Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent

Unlike other Ally commanders before him, Haru has the unique ability to go wide quickly with small creatures, simulating Elves, but doing so by animating lands and simultaneously protecting them. While Elf mana dorks are vulnerable to board wipes, earthbent lands pop right back.

This ability to go wide with impunity means that we present a lot of damage very quickly. The problem is, our damage is on small creatures without evasion. Good thing green has a ton of OverrunOverrun effects. Quite a lot of them give a power boost and an evasion boost, although we do sometimes get into the tight position where we need to figure out which lands to tap for mana and which ones to leave up as attackers. As a result, the seemingly simple deck has a lot of play to it.

As an aggro deck, we tend to run out of gas. The draw spells we run bridge two different phases of our plan: some synergize with our bounce spells and some with our Overruns. Guardian Project allows us to draw when a creature enters, which we can also use to re-activate our Ally triggers. You Meet in a TavernYou Meet in a Tavern is an Overrun effect that also lets us find multiple creatures if we need more bodies to get rolling.

Speaking of bounce spells, Cloudstone CurioCloudstone Curio and Temur SabertoothTemur Sabertooth are repeatable bounce effects that let us operate as an aggro-combo deck. Most Allies have abilities that trigger when an Ally enters, including our commander, so triggering these abilities multiple times in a turn is necessary to our engine.

Our nonbasic lands provide a boost of mana, making it so we don’t have to rely as heavily on our animated lands. These include Nykthos, Shrine to NyxNykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Three Tree CityThree Tree City. We can also sneak in a couple of extra Allies with MutavaultMutavault, Faceless HavenFaceless Haven, and Soulstone SanctuarySoulstone Sanctuary all able to be animated as creatures with all creature types.

How Does This Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent Commander Deck Win?

We aim to drop our commander early and expand our board with both Allies and earthbent lands before dropping an OverrunOverrun to deal massive amounts of damage. We use bounce and draw spells to avoid running out of gas before dealing the finishing blow.

Haru, Hidden TalentHaru, Hidden Talent Commander Decklist

Conclusion

Allies are a ton of fun as a creature type. They can oscillate between aggro, combo, and tempo, leveraging a conflux of ETB effects, building to a crescendo like a beautiful piece of music.

But how would you build Allies? And do you think we captured their teamwork?