Mechanically Minded - Heroic

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Temur Banner" href="#" target="_blank">Temur Banner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by Daniel Ljunggren</h6>
<h1>On the Frontier</h1>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Tarkir’s Temur Frontier takes a lot of inspiration from Siberia’s past and present—from the use of mammoths and mammoth ivory, to the adaptation of indigenous shamanic practices, to</span><span class="s1"> the indigenous people. In this installment of <em>Historically Speaking, </em>we're going to look at the ways real-world Siberia helped inform the lore, setting, lifestyle, and overall character of Tarkir's Temur clan, and end with their assimilation into the Atarka Brood in the present timeline.</span></p>
<p>It's the final frontier... bivouac!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Frontier Bivouac"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">A brief qualifier: Siberia is a big place. When we say things like ‘Siberian natives’ or ‘Siberia’, those are, by nature, non-specific terms. It would be like using the term African or European to describe a small subset of the populations of these continents. When I say ‘Siberia’ going forward, I’ll do my best to qualify who and where in Siberia we’re talking about. For exmaple, the Chukchi are different from the Mongolia-adjacent Buryats, who differ from the Yakutsk and the Kirghiz tribes, and so forth. Even the word, Siberia, from the Tartar '<em>sibir</em>' conveys an air of mystery: translated, it means, 'the sleeping land'.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">According to historian Benson Bobrick, Siberia is a truly colossal bit of land, taking up a significant part of the Eurasian continent that could easily contain the continental US and what we call Europe inside its borders, and still have room left over. Thus, when making general statements about Siberia—from the arctic northern expanses to the inland sea that is Lake Baikal in the border of Mongolia—we are, of course, generalizing.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Bobrick continues:<br />
<strong>“The overall topography of Siberia divided rather neatly into three broad horizontal zones. To the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>north lay a great treeless tundra, extending along the whole Arctic coast from Novaya Zemla to Bering Strait; through the middle stretched a belt of broad forest from the Ural Mountains to the Okhotsk Sea; and to the south, arable land that shaded into semi-arid desert steppes from the southern Urals to beyond the Mongolian Frontier.”</strong></span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="http://go.grolier.com/map?id=mh00112&amp;pid=go&amp;spid=spot005336" alt="Russia, 1533-1914, expansion in Asia" /></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The frozen land of the Temur Frontier requires hardy people to survive its many perils: bears, mammoths, shrieking winds that pierce through skin, avalanches, yetis, and of course other tribes. </span><span class="s1">Small wonder that <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> based the frost-bitten and tough Temur on traditional Siberian culture and geography!</span></p>
<p>(Also, they punch bears. We're not here to talk about bears, but about mammoths, shamanism, and survivalism, but still, bear punching is rad.)</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Surrak Dragonclaw"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Savage Punch"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"> Mammoths have quite a presence in Siberian history and economy. Long ago, as the mammoths wandered up from the newly fused Indian subcontinent, they made their home in Siberia, and even crossed the Bering Strait into North America. They eventually died out, but the permafrost kept their bodies perfectly preserved—even down to the contents of their stomachs.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_32022" style="width: 675px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-32022" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-32022" src="https://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/woolly-mammoth-revive-restore-org.png" alt="" width="665" height="171" /><p id="caption-attachment-32022" class="wp-caption-text">Credit to Revive and Restore.org</p></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This has raised some debates about the utility/morality about raising the extinct mammoths from the grave via cloning and using them to combat climate change and change the Siberian biome, which as of this writing are unresolved issues. In pre-industrial times, mammoth tusks were used as sacred items or scrimshawed upon by the indigenous Siberians, who eventually hunted them to extinction.</span></p>
<p>However, the marker that mammoths have left upon the Siberian land has proved indelible, both in history and in the present.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Mammoth bones lie thick upon the central plain of Siberia—where rivers cut through the permafrost, their bones blend with dried and bleaching wood—indistinguishable till examined closely. Bones that would have corroded away inside of a decade last ten thousand years inside the embrace of permafrost.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Author Benson Bobrick recounts the significance, economically, of the mammoth to Siberia after the Russian conquest:<br />
<b>“Under the Russians, digging up mammoths became a kind of heavy industry and between 1650 and 1900 the tusks of an estimated 40,750 mammoths (each tusk weighing between 150 and 200 pounds) were taken out of Siberia. Between 1825 and 1831, the annual shipments exceeded 60,000 pounds was great quantities of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>fossil ivory were collected with each summer’s thaw from crumbling embankments along the Arctic coast…on the international market, Russian ivory, as it was called, competed successfully with that from Africa, India and Ceylon.”</b></span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter" src="https://s14-eu5.startpage.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=http%3A%2F%2Ft0.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcSn_hQYu5u166wbgxTHtjtIsFMaw4v0mPnlLhDE7B-uEtFeZFiD0Q&amp;sp=efbc2f20460a6f8d6a12d1dc80aa3278&amp;anticache=144343" alt="Mammoth tusks are serving as a cover for illegal traffic in modern ..." /></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This fact has not gone unnoticed by adventurous and unscrupulous ivory traders even into the modern day. Responding to pressure banning African elephant ivory in china, ‘tuskers’ have swarmed the central areas of Siberia near Yakutsk to dig up ivory from the mammoths. Where once they used sharp sticks to locate the ivory in peaty ground, they now use firehoses to blast away the earth to get at the precious stuff. Naturally, this is all wildly illegal. </span><span class="s1">Even in death, a mammoth has value.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Frontier Mastodon"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Mammoths are alive in well in the Temur clan of Tarkir. However, unlike in our world, they aren’t just confined to their tusks. The Temur use them as weapons of war and use their skins and tusks to keep warm or ornament their shaman’s hoods or even to keep records of clan skirmishes or genealogies. A huge amount of Temur art feature's mammoth ivory--as building materiel, as landscape decoration, or even simply aesthetic appeal for their shamans (whom we will get to in due time).</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Temur Charm"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Temur Ascendancy"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Temur Banner"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">For the Temur, like the Paleosiberian people they are based on, life is difficult. Historically, the Yakutsk, Chuchki, and Tungus tribes fought the Mongol incursions into southern Siberia as viciously as they did the Russians who arrived hundreds of years later. The land itself, unless you specifically adapt to it - and sometimes even if you have - is punishing. Sub-zero temperatures are common in winter along with brutal storms, driving winds and icefalls.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"> In summer, the invaders baked in the sun, wallowed in thick mud, and swore at thick black clouds of flies. The tribes of the Paleosiberians were small and not united—things that served them well in sustainability and mobility through this land, but made successfully repulsing first the Mongol and then the Russians much more difficult. The land is tremendously varied; even housing an inland sea, Lake Baikal, with its own species of freshwater seals and giant sturgeons that swim through waters nearly a mile deep.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Feed the Clan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Barrage of Boulders"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bear&#039;s Companion"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The Temur seem to favor similar tactics and lifestyle choices to the Paleosiberian tribes. They excel at ambushes, using the terrain to their advantage through avalanches or rock falls, and operating in small clan units. I can find no historical account of Siberian tribesmen strapping as many swords or spears to their sleds and charging downhill on them, as the Temur do, according to the Planeswalker’s Guide to Tarkir. However, they are a tough people, well suited to their environment in a specialized way. They were of the land in a very significant way, because to be out of touch with the Siberian environment was to join it - you know, by dying. Even for the native Siberians (and later the Russian diaspora that married into them or displaced them en masse), life is never easy. </span></p>
<p>The Temur Frontier, in many ways, is worse, because at least Siberia doesn't have yetis. That is at least one good thing you can say about Russia: low yeti population.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hungering Yeti"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Frontier Bivouac"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Temur Charger"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Shamanism was/is a key way of interacting with/understanding not only the Siberian environment but also its wildly disparate indigenous cultures. </span><span class="s1">Shamanism is too wide a term to be defined, but from our primary sources we know of several common<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>themes, including invoking spirits, astral projection, and making oneself immune to various types of harm. </span><span class="s1">Historian Benson Bobrick chronicles the words of a 16th century explorer who met with a group of Samoyed tribesmen and was given a taste of shamanic power:</span></p>
<p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">“Then he [the Samoyed] took a sword of a cubit and a span long [a cubit is the length between the longest finger and the elbow, or thereabouts] and he put it into his belly halfway and sometime less, but no wound was to be seen. Then he put the sword into the fire until it was warm, and so thrust it into the slit of his shirt and thrust it through his body, as I thought, in at his navel and out at his fundament; the point being out of his shirt behind. I laid my finger upon it, then he pulled out the sword and sat down.”</span></strong></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Roar of Challenge"></div></div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Siberian shamanism is also replete with claims of the spirit existing outside of the body and being able to travel about. </span>The Pleistocene Manifesto says of Siberia::</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>"The visit to Duvanii made the idea of the “mammoth steppe” extremely real. There was something elemental about being surrounded by Pleistocene bones in a melting tundra landscape. You could close your eyes and feel how rich this ecosystem was before it was hunted into extinction."</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This evokes similar language to the Temur shamanic experience. It is clear that <em>Wizards of the Coast</em> borrowed this idea and expanded upon it to create the Temur-shaman network called the Wide Whisper. Using the Wide Whisper, Temur shamans could travel and communicate in spirit over vast distances, similar to the concept of the . Clad in the bones of animals that are extinct in our world, the Temur shamans enter a trance and traverse the spirit realm, visiting the past, the present, and future.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rattleclaw Mystic"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Whisperer of the Wilds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Shamanic Revelation"></div></div>
<hr />
<h2><strong>Dragon to an End</strong></h2>
<p class="p1">The Temur's shamanistic spiritual network has been driven underground in Tarkir's present timeline. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dragonlord Atarka" href="#" target="_blank">Dragonlord Atarka</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, the head of the Dragon Brood that overthrew the Temur Clans, fears the shamans and their links to the past and future as much as any of the other Dragonlords. The Temur even take on her name and are forced to range ever farther afield on hunting parties to keep the great beast fed. The mammoths have been hunted out to please Atarka, and there are precious few of the bears left - Atarka's fires melted the glaciers and flooded the land. In a fit of irony, the faction once most closely associated with the stewardship of nature on Tarkir has become one of the largest threats to the natural order on the plane.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Berserker&#039;s Onslaught"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Atarka Monument"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragon-scarred Bear"></div></div>
<p>In this current Tarkir, like Siberia over the last few centuries, we see great and nearly irrevocable changes. The Russian civil war, World War Two, Stalin and his successor's gulags - this vast and beautiful land does not lack for horror in its past. Siberia, a land of hidden treasures and near-infinite natural resources has added the bones of countless men and women to the those of the mammoths and sabertooths in the ground while technology and lack of regulation foul the waters and sky.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragonlord Silumgar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragonlord Ojutai"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragonlord Atarka"></div></div>
<p>It is tempting to see Tarkir's Dragonlords as literal avatars of late-stage capitalism or imperialism: an endless, rapacious hunger that is dedicated to stamping out all traces or interests in a world before their reign while consuming far more than their share. Indeed, I may explore this metaphor in a future essay.</p>
<p>For now, though, I leave you on the image of a land where the bones of the past can be glimpsed in a riverbank and the land sleeps fitfully.</p>


Historically Speaking - Siberia and the Temur

Mind Bend - Bolas's Selesnya

The Knowledge Pool - Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Tiger" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Tiger</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/sebmckinnon/">Seb McKinnon</a>)</h6>
<h1>Kyle is a Liar Sometimes!</h1>
<p>Hey everyone! Welcome back to <em>Forgotten Harvest, </em>where we spotlight heavily underplayed cards in the Commander format. This time we're looking at the series of Phantom cards from <em>Judgment</em>. But before getting further into that strategy, I need to come clean on something: I am a dirty, rotten liar.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-32307" src="https://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/giphy.gif" alt="" width="320" height="180" /></p>
<p>As hinted at in the last <em><a href="https://articles.edhrec.com/forgotten-harvest-nefarox-enchantress/">Forgotten Harvest</a>, </em>I'm sure many of you were expecting a mono-green deck focused on damage prevention. I built that deck, helmed by <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sekki, Seasons&#039; Guide" href="#" target="_blank">Sekki, Seasons&#039; Guide</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and then quickly realized that adding white would make it <em>significantly</em> better! What you'll be reading about here is the result of that change. I'm so terribly sorry, and hopefully we can put this behind us for the rest of the article.</p>
<hr />
<h2>In the Spirit of Truthfulness</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantom Flock"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantom Centaur"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantom Wurm"></div></div>
<p>I'll start with the heart of the deck: cards in the Phantom series from <em>Judgment</em>. This series of creatures have zero toughness, but all enter with a number of +1/+1 counters and have the ability "If damage would be dealt to this creature, prevent that damage. Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature." <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Nishoba" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Nishoba</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Nantuko" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Nantuko</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> have both appeared in separate <em>Commander</em> products, but there are five other creatures in the series, along with a handful of creatures with similar abilities that are worth a look.</p>
<p>Less powerful than the two Phantoms already mentioned, this deck can still make good use of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Flock" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Flock</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (112 decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Tiger" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Tiger</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (97 decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Centaur" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Centaur</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (129 decks), <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Nomad" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Nomad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (50 decks), and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phantom Wurm" href="#" target="_blank">Phantom Wurm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (67 decks). Normally, these creatures would be fairly vanilla in an EDH deck. However, this build is going to focus on their damage prevention ability, making them the foundation of the deck's creature base. This is an ability ripe for abuse, and I'm shocked these cards don't see more play in Commander.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantom Tiger"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantom Nomad"></div></div>
<p>There's also a handful of other creatures not from the Phantom series that fit into the same strategy. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sekki, Seasons&#039; Guide" href="#" target="_blank">Sekki, Seasons&#039; Guide</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> deals in damage prevention and +1/+1 counters, but provides token production as well. From <em>Dissension</em>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sprouting Phytohydra" href="#" target="_blank">Sprouting Phytohydra</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> doesn't have the prevention clause, but does replicate when dealt damage. Given some of the ways we're looking to abuse the Phantom ability, this will come in handy. And WotC must be aware of the powerful nature of this ability, as it's been fixed on more recently-printed cards. Case in point, <em>War of the Spark's</em> <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ugin&#039;s Conjurant" href="#" target="_blank">Ugin&#039;s Conjurant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <em>Battle for Zendikar's</em> <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Undergrowth Champion" href="#" target="_blank">Undergrowth Champion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> both have a nerfed version of this ability. Given the latter's 2/2 body and <em>Landfall</em> trigger, I've included it in the deck.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Embellishing the Story</h2>
<p>Now that I have my all-star spirits laid out, I should get into how we're going to abuse the Phantom ability. From a careful reading, it's clear that these creatures don't require a +1/+1 counter be removed in order to prevent the damage. So, if I could get their toughness up to even a base value of one, I can score a damage-free army. And the best way to do that would be a commander with an anthem ability.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Trostani Discordant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Glorious Anthem"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Leyline of Vitality"></div></div>
<p>Enter <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trostani Discordant" href="#" target="_blank">Trostani Discordant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. She'll make sure all our Phantoms survive, regardless of the waves of damage they take. Add to that the anthems themselves: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Glorious Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Glorious Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gaea&#039;s Anthem" href="#" target="_blank">Gaea&#039;s Anthem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Not to mention the toughness-boosting powers of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spidersilk Armor" href="#" target="_blank">Spidersilk Armor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Leyline of Vitality" href="#" target="_blank">Leyline of Vitality</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. These effects are critical to keeping the Phantom team on the battlefield and in combat.</p>
<p>That's great and all, but what's to stop my opponents from overwhelming me with their own battalion?</p>
<hr />
<h2>The Truth Hurts for a Little While, But Lies Hurt Forever</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cyclone"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Splintering Wind"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hail Storm"></div></div>
<p>Here we come to the reason I moved into white for this deck. Oddly enough, it was a green card that convinced me to go all-in on the Phantoms, and that card was <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyclone" href="#" target="_blank">Cyclone</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. When our team of creatures can't die, we can just keep pumping more and more green mana into the <em>Cumulative Upkeep</em> of this card, and pretty soon our Spirits are all that's left. And with it only appearing in 44 decks currently, this card could really use some more play! It's such a unique ability for green, potentially resulting in a board wipe if unchecked. Yes, there is the possibility of indestructible creatures to contend with, but <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bonds of Mortality" href="#" target="_blank">Bonds of Mortality</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can help with that.</p>
<p>Once I found <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyclone" href="#" target="_blank">Cyclone</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, I expanded my search for green cards that damage. I also found <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Splintering Wind" href="#" target="_blank">Splintering Wind</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which I'll even admit is a terrible card, and sees play in only 16 decks on EDHREC. To be honest, I'm still testing out this enchantment to see how reliable it'll be. I like the idea of making a bunch of 1/1 fliers in green, and I like it even more when <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Vigor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>'s on the battlefield. Heck, that's really the only reason this enchantment is still around: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Vigor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> makes it outstanding!</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hail Storm" href="#" target="_blank">Hail Storm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was another terrific find in green, and is currently in only 10 decks. It's a great taunt to only leave green mana open, and then spring this spell in combat when attacked. Few will see that coming! And while they're more well known than the cards I typically talk about, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wave of Reckoning" href="#" target="_blank">Wave of Reckoning</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lightmine Field" href="#" target="_blank">Lightmine Field</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are some great damage sources in white that can be abused here.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hedron-Field Purists"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Candles&#039; Glow"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Protective Sphere"></div></div>
<p>With all this damage flying around here, it would be a good idea to have some added protection. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hedron-Field Purists" href="#" target="_blank">Hedron-Field Purists</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from <em>Rise of the Eldrazi</em> is an excellent form of that protection, helping to take the sting out of those Splinter tokens. And it's only seeing play in 290 decks at the moment. Operating as a second, far more limited <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Vigor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Candles&#039; Glow" href="#" target="_blank">Candles&#039; Glow</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (60 decks) can help protect some of the non-Phantom creatures in the deck, or help reload a waning spirit low on counters. From only 131 decks on EDHREC, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Protective Sphere" href="#" target="_blank">Protective Sphere</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an excellent way to minimize the hurt from a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyclone" href="#" target="_blank">Cyclone</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> after several turns. I've also included some mana-makers in the deck to give the Sphere more versatility in holding off opponents' volleys (see <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chromatic Lantern" href="#" target="_blank">Chromatic Lantern</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> among others).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Saltblast"></div></div>
<p>One final card I should mention is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Saltblast" href="#" target="_blank">Saltblast</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. I know it's not on-theme like the rest of the cards I've discussed. But in the wake of <em>War of the Spark</em>, I'm beginning to prep my decks for the wave of people in my playgroup trying out all kinds of new 'walkers. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Saltblast" href="#" target="_blank">Saltblast</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is some excellent white removal that can handle the nonwhite loyalty countered, as well as lands and all other types of problem permanents. It's a real shame it only sees play in 101 decks. Please help me get that number higher!</p>
<p>With that out of the way, onto the deck:</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Selesnya Damages" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards=""></span></div></p>
<p>[Commander]<br />
*1 Trostani Discordant<br />
[/Commander]<br />
[Creatures]<br />
*1 Permeating Mass<br />
*1 Phantom Nomad<br />
*1 Carven Caryatid<br />
*1 Eternal Witness<br />
*1 Hedron-Field Purists<br />
*1 Phantom Nantuko<br />
*1 Phantom Tiger<br />
*1 Undergrowth Champion<br />
*1 Bloodspore Thrinax<br />
*1 Phantom Centaur<br />
*1 Angel of Flight Alabaster<br />
*1 Bellowing Aegisaur<br />
*1 Phantom Flock<br />
*1 Seedborn Muse<br />
*1 Sprouting Phytohydra<br />
*1 Verdurous Gearhulk<br />
*1 Phantom Wurm<br />
*1 Vigor<br />
*1 Phantom Nishoba<br />
*1 Sekki, Seasons' Guide<br />
[/Creatures]<br />
[Instants]<br />
*1 Path to Exile<br />
*1 Candles' Glow<br />
*1 Heroic Intervention<br />
*1 Beast Within<br />
*1 Eerie Interlude<br />
*1 Hail Storm<br />
*1 Krosan Grip<br />
[/Instants]<br />
[Sorceries]<br />
*1 Nature's Lore<br />
*1 Kodama's Reach<br />
*1 Day of Judgment<br />
*1 Saltblast<br />
*1 Wave of Reckoning<br />
*1 Austere Command<br />
[/Sorceries]<br />
[Artifacts]<br />
*1 Blade of the Bloodchief<br />
*1 Sol Ring<br />
*1 Selesnya Signet<br />
*1 Bow of Nylea<br />
*1 Chromatic Lantern<br />
*1 Cloudstone Curio<br />
*1 Conjuror's Closet<br />
[/Artifacts]<br />
[Enchantments]<br />
*1 Hardened Scales<br />
*1 Bonds of Mortality<br />
*1 Mark of Asylum<br />
*1 Sterling Grove<br />
*1 Sylvan Library<br />
*1 Aura Shards<br />
*1 Beastmaster Ascension<br />
*1 Cartouche of Strength<br />
*1 Gaea's Anthem<br />
*1 Ghostly Prison<br />
*1 Glorious Anthem<br />
*1 Protective Sphere<br />
*1 Song of the Dryads<br />
*1 Spidersilk Armor<br />
*1 Cyclone<br />
*1 Leyline of Vitality<br />
*1 Lightmine Field<br />
*1 Primal Vigor<br />
*1 Splintering Wind<br />
*1 Cathars' Crusade<br />
*1 Doubling Season<br />
[/Enchantments]<br />
[Planeswalkers]<br />
*1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride<br />
*1 Garruk Wildspeaker<br />
[/Planeswalkers]<br />
[Land]<br />
*1 Blighted Woodland<br />
*1 Bountiful Promenade<br />
*1 Command Tower<br />
*1 Evolving Wilds<br />
*1 Exotic Orchard<br />
*10 Forest<br />
*1 Krosan Verge<br />
*1 Llanowar Reborn<br />
*1 Mosswort Bridge<br />
*1 Myriad Landscape<br />
*1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx<br />
*7 Plains<br />
*1 Razorverge Thicket<br />
*1 Sunpetal Grove<br />
*1 Temple Garden<br />
*1 Temple of Plenty<br />
*1 Temple of the False God<br />
*1 Terramorphic Expanse<br />
*1 Windswept Heath<br />
*1 Wooded Bastion<br />
*1 Yavimaya Hollow<br />
[/Land]</p>
<p>[/Deck]</p>

<hr />
<h2>I Think I Need to Lie Down</h2>
<p>Well, that about does it for this iteration of <em>Forgotten Harvest</em>. Any questions, comments, or snide remarks you may have can be left in the comments below. I'll be there in the comments to get into why I played <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Kodama&#039;s Reach" href="#" target="_blank">Kodama&#039;s Reach</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> over <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cultivate" href="#" target="_blank">Cultivate</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and which God-Eternal is my spirit animal.</p>
<p>What are some of the neglected series of cards like the Phantoms that you'd like to see featured in a deck? Are there any individual cards you've found that are hyper-underplayed and deserve their day in the sun? Let me know below! And I hope you stop by again next time, when I'll be tackling a five-color guild build helmed by <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Karn, Silver Golem" href="#" target="_blank">Karn, Silver Golem</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Or maybe not, you never know...</p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-32310" src="https://articles.edhrec.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tenor.gif" alt="" width="320" height="213" /></p>


Articles

Mechanically Minded - Heroic

Historically Speaking - Siberia and the Temur

Mind Bend - Bolas's Selesnya

The Knowledge Pool - Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

Forgotten Harvest - Phantasmic Beasts and When to Damage Them

The Toolbox - The Opulence of Telepathy

Underdog's Corner - Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle

War of the Spark Set Review - Enemy Pairs

War of the Spark Set Review - Ally Pairs

War of the Spark Set Review - Colorless/Colorful