Five Creature Types That Need More Support for Commander

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<a href="https://scryfall.com/card/j25/54/shroofus-sproutsire">Shroofus Sproutsire</a> | Art by <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?q=a%3A%E2%80%9CYukihiro+Maruo%E2%80%9D&amp;unique=art">Yukihiro Maruo</a>)</h6>
<h1>Just a Fun Little Guy</h1>
<p>People have told me that I am a fun guy. Luckily, no one has ever told me I am a fungi. The same cannot be said for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shroofus Sproutsire" href="#" target="_blank">Shroofus Sproutsire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Few things in magic take a player back to the old days as much as making a Saproling token. I aim to make many of these little guys, and I am using a crop of cards that some players know all too well and others will be seeing for the first time.</p>
<p>It is fitting that Shroofus Sproutsire comes from <em>Foundations Jumpstart</em> because we are returning to the format's foundations with this one. I am Nick, and I hope you will join me as I Tech this Deck.</p>
<h2>There is a Fungus Among Us</h2>
<p>Two creature types in the game are forever joined at the hip; <a href="https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&amp;order=name&amp;q=type%3Afungus+%28game%3Apaper%29+is%3Apaperart">Fungus</a> and Saproling. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Plenty of Fungus creatures</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, even six, have become legendary</span>. But it wasn't until Shroofus that we got the first legendary creature - Saproling. So why is this a big deal? Because Shroofus is just a little guy, and it would not be very nice if you were mean to him. I joke, but this is a very cool commander with many synergies with cards seen across the many years the game has been around. So, let's go deep into the forest and find some fungi.</p>
<h3>Mushroom Monsters</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thallid|FEM|74d"></div></div>
<p>It's the most classic of the monsters in our list and the one that explains the core of what our creatures are all about. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can remove spore counters to make Saproling tokens. It's a simple effect, but without help, it will take three turns after casting before you can get a single 1/1 creature. While this effect isn't fast, it's frequent across many other Fungi.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Utopia Mycon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Savage Thallid"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Psychotrope Thallid"></div></div>
<p>Four more Fungus monsters, all with the same ability to get spore counters. But each one brings its twist to the same recipe. Utopia Mycon is not only the lone creature not having Thallid in its name of the above four, but it also can cash in your tokens for mana. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Savage Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Savage Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> brings a double dose of older themes with Regenerate, a keyword that card designers have moved away from as years gone by.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Psychotrope Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Psychotrope Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> might be one of the best of the bunch outside of the Mycon. If we are not making mana, the next best thing to do is draw cards, and this Thallid knows a thing or two about drawing cards. Finally, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vitaspore Thallid" href="#" target="_blank">Vitaspore Thallid</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can allow us to send in our commander immediately or use some of our other nonfungus creatures in this deck when they hit the board.</p>
<p>But all of these cards have the same problem: they're slow. Even if all the other players let me put these four creatures on the board on turn one, they still would not look great when I got around to my fourth turn. The best scenario is I now have four additional 1/1 creatures, and I can parlay that into mana or card draw. The worst case is right before I get enough counters, someone casts a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wrath of God" href="#" target="_blank">Wrath of God</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and I am out of the game. So what do we do to go faster?</p>
<h2>We Evolve</h2>
<p>Join me in the glorious evolution of this deck featuring a green all-star for any strategy that requires someone to carry a dice bag with them, <div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Evolution Sage"></div></div>. Proliferation is one of the best ways to send our Saproling generation into overdrive. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Evolution Sage" href="#" target="_blank">Evolution Sage</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of the best cards for helping us out since all it requires is to make our land drops. We also have a few extra pieces of proliferation to pair up with the sage.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cankerbloom"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Karn&#039;s Bastion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Staff of Compleation"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cankerbloom" href="#" target="_blank">Cankerbloom</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a Swiss army knife creature offering us proliferation, artifact removal, and enchantment removal on a cheap body with great stats. I have undervalued this card for a long time, but I am glad that I got to see just how good they could be before putting this deck together.</p>
<p>Karn's Bastion gives us a repeatable proliferation effect on a land, so playing it with Evolution Sage on the battlefield should make you chuckle at the table. While <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Staff of Compleation" href="#" target="_blank">Staff of Compleation</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does cost three life every time we want to use it, getting the one last counter we need could make all the difference. Believe it or not, we have a few other ways to use this proliferation in our deck besides strictly adding spore counters.</p>
<h3>Proliferating the Proliferation</h3>
<p>Proliferation would have been much different if it specified what counters you could add. Luckily for us and many other players, it does not. So, what are we proliferating outside of spore counters and +1/+1 counters?</p>
<p>How about Fading? <div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Saproling Burst"></div></div> gives us a choice between a single 7/7 token that slowly shrinks until it is no more or a surprise of seven 1/1 tokens that will only be around for a single turn. But what if we could add more counters? Not only could we get multiple tokens that could be larger than a 1/1, but we could also increase the number of 1/1s that we can make.</p>
<p>Maybe you need to close out the game and do not have many turns left. If you have a few counters on your <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Beastmaster Ascension" href="#" target="_blank">Beastmaster Ascension</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> but not enough creatures to get the magic number of seven, proliferation can help you close out the game.</p>
<p>Similarly, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Door of Destinies" href="#" target="_blank">Door of Destinies</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can get more and more and MORE counters growing our mushroom army. But the heart of this deck is and always will be the Saproling tokens, so let me show you what we've got.</p>
<h2>Saproling Synergies</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Brightcap Badger"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thelonite Hermit"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Verdant Force"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sprout Swarm"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Brightcap Badger" href="#" target="_blank">Brightcap Badger</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of my favorite cards in the deck because it does everything. Makes Saproling creatures for us at instant speed and every end step. As well as turning all of our Saprolings and Fungi into mana dorks. Saddly, as a Badger Druid, it will not gain any synergies from our next card, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>While <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thelonite Hermit" href="#" target="_blank">Thelonite Hermit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does have an expensive Morph cost at 3<span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span><span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-g" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> after playing it face down, the payoff is worth the steep investment. Four 1/1 tokens that get buffed up will do just as well, if not better, than most of the cards in our deck at closing out a game or keeping us alive.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Verdant Force" href="#" target="_blank">Verdant Force</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is objectively past their prime. But I would be forced to turn in my deck building license if I did not include it in the list. We are in mono green, so there is a reasonable chance we can cast this large lad ahead of the curve, even with the heavy mana requirement. If we can't, we also run <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tendershoot Dryad" href="#" target="_blank">Tendershoot Dryad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> so that we can win the game.</p>
<p>A few cards in this deck will elicit a groan from others at the table, but one, in particular, has the possibility of sending someone into a breakdown.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sprout Swarm"></div></div>.</p>
<p>If you ever find a player who was around when this card first came out, be careful when mentioning <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sprout Swarm" href="#" target="_blank">Sprout Swarm</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. With the mix of Convoke and Buyback <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-3" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, the swarm will eventually give someone an unending swarm of Saprolings. This card can only be described as a mistake that should never have seen the light of day. But luckily for us, we got to pair it up with our happy little mushroom man. Sometimes, saddly, Saprolings beating down your opponents is not enough to win the game. So, the last part of our deck is where all the spice lives.</p>
<h2>Spicy Mushrooms</h2>
<p>Every good deck needs a plan B. Since our deck combines Fungus and Saproling typal, we start the game around plan C. Never fear because alternate win conditions are here.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Triumph of the Hordes"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Strixhaven Stadium"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Epic Struggle"></div></div>
<p>While it might be cheating to consider <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Triumph of the Hordes" href="#" target="_blank">Triumph of the Hordes</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Strixhaven Stadium" href="#" target="_blank">Strixhaven Stadium</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> as alternative ways to win the game, giving all of our creatures trample and infect drastically changes the math during the combat step. One moment, all of your opponents think they are safe with a few creatures to block; the next, they are shuffling up for game two. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Strixhaven Stadium" href="#" target="_blank">Strixhaven Stadium</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a risky card for most decks. Ideally, we should have less incurred risk since we should have enough creatures to stop getting counters removed from the stadium, and we can pair it with proliferation to up the counters as close to ten as possible.</p>
<p>There is no way that <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Epic Struggle" href="#" target="_blank">Epic Struggle</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can be considered anything but an alternative to winning the game. The biggest downside to this card, and the reason most people have never seen it on a battlefield, is that it will become the immediate target no matter what. Someone will try to remove it, your creatures, or you from the game before losing to this card. But if you can pull off the win, it becomes a card where the name perfectly fits the feeling coursing through your body.</p>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Shroofus Sproutsire" href="#" target="_blank">Shroofus Sproutsire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a card I expect to show up at a surprising amount of tables. It's a bit of a perfect storm for a commander deck. The art of this card is adorable, and while no one would ever say this card is broken, it can be made to be powerful. This deck hits the perfect middle on the Venn diagram of a new player getting into the format and a long-time player trying to recapture the feelings when they first found themselves tapping lands and slinging spells.</p>
<p>If you want to see more content around the new cards from <em>Foundations</em> or <em>Foundations Jumpstart,</em> check out the other deck techs I did or any other fantastic articles on both EDHREC and Commander's Herald. Once again, I'm Nick, and I will see you the next time we Tech the Deck.</p>
<h2>Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Fun Guy - Shroofus Sproutsire Deck Tech" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Shroofus Sproutsire
[/Commander]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Commander&#039;s Plate
*1 Door of Destinies
*1 Idol of Oblivion
*1 Patchwork Banner
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Staff of Compleation
*1 Strixhaven Stadium
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Asceticism
*1 Beastmaster Ascension
*1 Doubling Season
*1 Elven Chorus
*1 Epic Struggle
*1 Night Soil
*1 Parallel Lives
*1 Saproling Burst
*1 Song of the Dryads
*1 Sporogenesis
*1 Tribute to the World Tree
[/Enchantments]
[Creatures]
*1 Brightcap Badger // Fungus Frolic
*1 Cankerbloom
*1 Champion of Lambholt
*1 Circle of Dreams Druid
*1 Craterhoof Behemoth
*1 Elvish Farmer
*1 Evolution Sage
*1 Insidious Fungus
*1 Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
*1 Mycoloth
*1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
*1 Ohran Frostfang
*1 Psychotrope Thallid
*1 Renata, Called to the Hunt
*1 Ruxa, Patient Professor
*1 Saryth, the Viper&#039;s Fang
*1 Savage Thallid
*1 Sporecrown Thallid
*1 Sporemound
*1 Sporesower Thallid
*1 Tendershoot Dryad
*1 Thallid
*1 Thelonite Hermit
*1 Thunderfoot Baloth
*1 Undercellar Myconid
*1 Utopia Mycon
*1 Verdant Force
*1 Vigor
*1 Vitaspore Thallid
[/Creatures]
[Sorceries]
*1 Collective Unconscious
*1 For the Common Good
*1 Fungal Sprouting
*1 Harvest Season
*1 Nature&#039;s Lore
*1 Overrun
*1 Pest Infestation
*1 Rampant Growth
*1 Triumph of the Hordes
[/Sorceries]
[Instants]
*1 Fungal Rebirth
*1 Heroic Intervention
*1 Return of the Wildspeaker
*1 Second Harvest
*1 Sprout Swarm
*1 Wrap in Vigor
[/Instants]
[Lands]
*1 Boseiju, Who Endures
*26 Forest
*1 Fountainport
*1 Karn&#039;s Bastion
*1 Mosswort Bridge
*1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
*1 Rogue&#039;s Passage
*1 Three Tree City
*1 Tranquil Thicket
*1 War Room
[/Lands]"></span></div>


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