Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder | Art by Matt Stewart

Hello, and welcome back to Singleton Shmingleton, where I bend the singleton rules of Commander by building decks with as many functional reprints of a certain card as possible. This week's card is a Timmy/Tammy's dream come true, and it was one of the first cards I bought with my own money. And back in the day, Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder was worth something like $7, despite only seeing play on kitchen tables. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Kids these days will never spend weeks pining over an almost-vanilla creature that might even get big.

I understand that this isn't the first creature that's as big as your land count, but it was my first, and it was the namesake of a deck so precious I protected it with two rubber bands. No, the very first version of this effect was NightmareNightmare from Alpha. And what a card it was! From the art to the punny-but-unironically-metal name to be the largest flyer in the entire game, NightmareNightmare was so cool that the second creature in its lineage came very soon. Dakkon BlackbladeDakkon Blackblade from Legends was one of the most exciting cards in the entire game, with his craggy swords and crazy shield, and may have been second only to the titular Elder Dragons from the same set in inspiring the creation of EDH as a format.

Some versions of this creature have seen competitive play. Allosaurus RiderAllosaurus Rider dominated Modern for a short time while Once Upon a TimeOnce Upon a Time was legal, but not for its stats. It was merely a seven-cost creature that could be cast for free, and then sacrificed to NeoformNeoform in order to find GriselbrandGriselbrand. This glass-cannon combo deck became just a little too good with the combination of Once Upon a TimeOnce Upon a Time and the new London Mulligan to turbocharge its consistency.

Ulvenwald HydraUlvenwald Hydra saw a little bit of Standard play in fair decks that wanted to go big and cast Emrakul, the Promised EndEmrakul, the Promised End. And Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus continues to be an option for Modern decks centered around Amulet of VigorAmulet of Vigor, as a game-ending payoff in combination with Primeval TitanPrimeval Titan.

Most of these creatures, however, have only seen play in casual formats.

The Dungrove Elder Family

By my count, there are thirty-three cards that are or make creatures that are as big as your land count. I've included cards that care about one specific basic land type, like NightmareNightmare and Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder. Most of these cards are in green, but there are examples in every color. Here's the list:

The most played of these cards, in the 99 of 92,327 decks and at the helm of 2,281 more, is Ashaya, Soul of the WildAshaya, Soul of the Wild. This card is both exciting and powerful. Turning all your creatures into Forests can fuel some huge turns, and also opens up combo potential with Quirion RangerQuirion Ranger and Scryb RangerScryb Ranger, which can now return themselves to activate their abilities to get around the once-per-turn clause.

The next most played card, in 59,852 decks, is Cultivator ColossusCultivator Colossus. Not only is this the colossus huge, it also lets you play and replace lands in your hand until you have only spells, meaning it's in high demand in any Landfall or Ramp deck.

The least played of these cards, in only 325 decks, is Maraxus of KeldMaraxus of Keld. Only counting untapped permanents is tricky; he dies if you ever fully tap out, and if he gets into combat you have to be careful not to let his toughness go below the damage marked on him. Also near the bottom is Gaea's LiegeGaea's Liege in 391 decks, even more fiddly and conditional than Maraxus of KeldMaraxus of Keld, and poor old Dakkon BlackbladeDakkon Blackblade in 394 decks, who is an awesome commander but is hard to fit into the 99 of any deck with his colors.

Ramping Up to Value

I don't know if I've ever seen a Shmingleton list with as many potential commanders in it as this one. Of the 33 cards we're looking at, 12 are legendary creatures, and eight are in colors that include green. I've chosen to go mono-green for this deck, mostly so that you can switch out any of the mono-green legends at the helm. It's a great way to match the deck to the power level of the table.

Is everyone trying to cast efficient spells? Go with someone powerful like Greensleeves, Maro-SorcererGreensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer. Is the vibe more casual? Try good ol' MolimoMolimo. My personal favorite is Braulios of Pheres BandBraulios of Pheres Band, which both provides a steady stream of cards and helps get more lands in play, leaning into our strategy.

Obviously, for our deck to pop off we're going to need to get a lot of lands into play. But that's one of the things that green does best. Usually ramp is in service of another goal, like casting powerful spells, but since our spells derive their power from our ability to ramp, we can include a lot more ramp spells than most decks, making it one of our main plans. Cards like CultivateCultivate and Kodama's ReachKodama's Reach have been staples since the beginning of the format, despite some claims that they haven't kept pace with the rest of the format. We want as many copies of this effect as we can get, and thankfully, we can go up to five. In addition to those first two options, we also have access to Nissa's PilgrimageNissa's Pilgrimage, Flare of CultivationFlare of Cultivation, and the new Omen on Bloomvine RegentBloomvine Regent to give us consistent advantage. These spells are just what we want in order to go big and keep chugging into the late game.

In addition to more traditional lower-cost ramp that sets up our game plan, we're going to want some more expensive, more impactful land-generation that is our game plan. Traverse the OutlandsTraverse the Outlands rewards us for having a big Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder and doubles its size, making it one of the cards we most want to see. Boundless RealmsBoundless Realms offers a similar effect, doubling our land count, and these two cards have the potential to run us out of basics in our deck entirely! But even if we get to that point, Awaken the WoodsAwaken the Woods can create more Forests than we have in our deck by making tokens.

Finally, this deck is going to have a high land count, so we're going to want some ways to accelerate how many lands we can put into play once they end up in our hand. Azusa, Lost but SeekingAzusa, Lost but Seeking is a huge boost, tripling the number of lands we can play for relatively cheap. Gaea's TouchGaea's Touch works perfectly in a deck that's full of basic Forests, and can even give us a mana bump for a big turn. And Budoka GardenerBudoka Gardener can accelerate our land drops before turning into a Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder machine that pumps out huge tokens every turn.

All of these cards work great with our CultivateCultivate package, our high land count, and any card drawing we might be able to do. And card draw is certainly something a mono-green deck needs...

Draw Them Cards

With all of our ramp, we'll reach a point in the game where we have the mana to play tons of cards every turn, even if they're not cheap. We really don't want to run out of gas, and the best way to do that is to keep filling up the tank.

Since we're playing tons of huge creatures, the usual suspects a la Return of the WildspeakerReturn of the Wildspeaker will be incredible in our deck. Rishkar's ExpertiseRishkar's Expertise, Soul's MajestySoul's Majesty, and Garruk, Primal HunterGarruk, Primal Hunter aren't just the best card draw spells in green; they'll go toe to toe with any color on rate. Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising and Tireless TrackerTireless Tracker provide consistent value, rewarding us for what we already want to do. And Up the BeanstalkUp the Beanstalk is just ridiculous in this deck. We're playing 23 spells that cost five or more, meaning this enchantment can keep us fueled up forever.

Winning the Game With Dungrove Elders

Sometimes Commander is about doing something complicated just to prove it's possible, and winning on step eleven of a carefully crafted plan. Sometimes it's more simple. This deck wins by attacking with several huge creatures, hopefully with trample, over and over until our opponents lose.

With that said, there are a couple cards that make that plan happen faster. BerserkBerserk is a classic banger, which can often turn an attacker into lethal damage and surprise kill anyone who just chump blocks. And in this deck, we get to play a second copy in Primal BellowPrimal Bellow, except the latter doesn't even make us sacrifice the creature at the end of turn. Blanchwood ArmorBlanchwood Armor and Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged also double a creature's size, though at sorcery speed.

Hidden Gems

Timbermaw LarvaTimbermaw Larva - Put this card in more decks! Sure, it only gets buffed while attacking, but it's just as good in this deck as our Dungrove ElderDungrove Elders, and only sees play in 449 decks. I would argue that, in this day and age, it's better than Rampaging BrontodonRampaging Brontodon since it comes down earlier, but the Dino sees more than fifty times as much play as this common.

Time of NeedTime of Need - We have a surprising number of legendary creatures in this deck, and they perform different roles, from our regular big beaters to Azusa, Lost but SeekingAzusa, Lost but Seeking for ramp. I love tutors that act as toolboxes, and Time of NeedTime of Need does exactly that.

Howl of the Night PackHowl of the Night Pack - This acts similarly to Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder, but goes wide instead of tall. It was one of my favorite cards growing up, and starred right alongside Dungrove ElderDungrove Elder in that mono-green deck, but it still holds up today. It's hard to defend against both a huge creature and a ton of little ones, and it's just downright nasty with Ashaya, Soul of the WildAshaya, Soul of the Wild, since the Wolves count as Forests themselves.

The Dungrove Elder Decklist

This deck feels like a return to simpler times. Its entire goal is to get tons of resources and make huge creatures, and that strategy holds up even in the era of busted legendary creatures and lines upon lines of text on every card. Green advantage is just difficult to stop once it gets started, and any sort of finisher will do, so why not win with creatures that celebrate the lands that cast them?

In this sort of deck, which presents wins the table can see a mile away, surprise cards like BerserkBerserk are all the more satisfying. They totally catch opponents off-guard because they break up the patterns of expensive spells that this deck runs on, and any opponent who plays against this deck a second time will have to cross their fingers whenever they declare blocks.

Until Next Time

Once a Modern and even Legacy staple, this little guy has been outclassed but not forgotten. We have so many different cards that make tokens for every spell cast, and they are all so sweet. How can we unite the twin pulls of Spellslinger and go-wide tokens to create something more than the sum of its parts? Find out next time on Singleton Shmingleton!

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