(Emmara, Soul of the AccordEmmara, Soul of the Accord | Art by Kai Carpenter)

Hello All! This is Bert, coming from the Scrap Trawlers channel where we do EDH on a budget. Today we're looking at upgrades for the Token Triumph starter deck. In my previous article we dove into what the general strategies and synergies of the deck are, so while using that as a guide we'll find upgrades that will aid in those strategies. Let’s get in to it!

For reference here is the original decklist:

New Recruits

Our commander is Emmara, Soul of the AccordEmmara, Soul of the Accord. She provides us with a way to consistently create tokens by either attacking or using another source to tap her. The deck's initial shell comes with a number of ways to produce these tokens, but we'll definitely add a couple more so that we can make it a bit more consistent. Some of these spells have the Convoke keyword, which enables us to tap our commander to cast the spell.

Some areas the deck needs the most help in are protection for our board, card draw, synergies, and a bit more removal. Protection, card draw, and synergies are going to be my main focus, and the amount of removal should mostly depend on your play group and how it plays. So let’s take a look at our new additions!

Upping the Arsenal

So starting off we're adding some protection for our board, one of which is included in the breaking the budget section. Cards like Riot ControlRiot Control and Unbreakable FormationUnbreakable Formation will give us some defense against board wipes and protect us if we end up overextending. Rootborn DefensesRootborn Defenses even goes as afar as making another token for our board which can add a bit of power to our army while Unbreakable Formation gives us an advantage in attacking. With these we can be a bit more loose with our plays as we have a back up plan. 

With some protection in our corner we can move on to card draw. The importance in card draw in our deck is insurmountable since we will be using a lot of our cards to bolster our board state. We need the card draw to make sure that we can stay in the game. First is a new card from Brothers' War, Tocasia’s WelcomeTocasia’s Welcome. It provides us with a card whenever we create a token or play a creature that meets the requirements. I expect it to give us a number of cards over the course of the game. Welcoming VampireWelcoming Vampire is another card that provides us with card draw with the plus side of being on a 2/3 flying body. Rumor GathererRumor Gatherer is a card from New Capenna that has been working overtime in a lot of my decks. The scry effect, when used correctly, provides us with so much card selection that it feels as if we are picking the cards that we are going draw.

Last but not least we have some cards to add to the overall synergy of our deck. Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach is an amazing creature that provides us with another body whenever we create a token. Not only that but she herself gets bigger for each creature that we have on the field, making for a beefy attacker. Relic of LegendsRelic of Legends gives us a bit of mana ramp and a tap outlet for our commander. A good card to buff our creatures is Harmonious ArchonHarmonious Archon, which creates another two bodies on ETB and then buffs them to 3/3s. 

Sideline Warriors

Now that we have the additions, we can go over what's going to be left on the sidelines. Valor in AkrosValor in Akros is one of the first cards that is going to be cut from the initial list as it only gives us a buff until end of turn, and the amount of work that we have to do so that the buff is substantial is more than we are willing to put in. Dawn of HopeDawn of Hope is another cut that is just okay. This card is included because the tokens Emmara makes have lifelink, so it smooths out draws. But since we already addressed the draw issue earlier we can go ahead and remove this one. Verdant ForceVerdant Force is another card being cut. Its a bit over costed for what we want to do. Since we have added some more effective card draw we can take out Voice of ManyVoice of Many. Rishkar, Peema RenegadeRishkar, Peema Renegade is another cut for me. It gives us another outlet to tap our commander, but we don’t have many ways to provide our team with counters. Jade MageJade Mage is another card that just doesn't do what we want as its more mana intensive than we would like.

Riches for the Army

Every article we mention some high dollar cards that you can add to your deck if that is the kind of addition you are trying to make. The manabase is always an easy place to start so adding the shock land and other dual lands like Sunpetal GroveSunpetal Grove will definitely help you on the front end. 

Then we have some cards like Heroic InterventionHeroic Intervention that can fit into our protection section. It is just a bit more expensive than some of the other options that we have. Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteElesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a powerful card that shrinks our opponents boards yet empowers our side giving our armor a big advantage. In that same vein cards like Ohran FrostfangOhran Frostfang and Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth both provide us with some pushing power in our team. Ohran Frostfang also gives us another way to draw cards as well. Cryptolith RiteCryptolith Rite gives all our creatures the ability to tap for mana without a caveat like Rishkar. Finally we have Bennie Bracks, ZoologistBennie Bracks, Zoologist giving us the ability to Convoke for his cause and adding even more draw to our kit.

Results of the Battle

So our final list looks like this:

Again I have had a great time finding cards to upgrade the deck and add to its effectiveness. It's up to you to come up with some additional upgrades. Were there any that I missed? Please let me know in the comments.

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Scrap Trawlers

Scrap Trawlers is a Magic: The Gathering budget EDH streaming and video group, with gameplay, deck techs, chats, and more. Catch our videos at youtube.com/scraptrawlers. Andy, Lenny, and Bert.