This post is reposted, with permission, from Rysaer Inc. The author is one of my regular opponents when playing Commander, and I’ve been at the recieving end of this deck.
You can click here to visit the original post.
Cadira is a fun deck and the first commander deck I ‘built’ when I got back into magic after a 10-15 year break. Rather than just modifying or upgrading a precon, I decided to build something new and focus on something that my other decks didn’t do and that was tokens. Add in some incredibly cute rabbit cards from Bloomburrow, (sensing a pattern yet?) and we have a fun new deck.
So to start let’s take a look at Cadira, Caller of the Small. A fantastic Selesnya (G/W) commander for 3 mana with inherent ‘Trample’ and a great ability based on combat damage to a player. Whenever she deals combat damage to a player I create a 1/1 White Rabbit token for each token I already control, meaning that she can instantly help build a big board of rabbits quickly, especially considering this is based on all tokens (e.g. Treasure, Clue, Food, Creatures etc). She is a fantastic cheap commander and an active component in the deck, being valuable at most stages of the game.
The main aim of the deck was obviously to build around the rabbit theme but also ensure that there was enough to make the deck work and that relies on two things. Cadira reliably doing damage and having enough tokens on board to benefit. In reality this wasn’t difficult, the harder part was cutting down on the options.
Firstly to make sure Cadira does damage, her inherent trample makes that a good bit easier but there were sneakier ways to get through with less risk of her being taken out. Some great pieces are equipment like ‘Trailblazer’s Boots’ or ‘Saddle of the Cavalier’ to get around blockers, ‘Gilded Pinions’ to give flying and some tokens on entry as well as instant buff pieces like ‘Poison the Blade’ to give deathtouch or spells like ‘Moment of Valor’ or ‘Take Up the Shield’ to give indestructible to keep Cadira safe when opponents react.
Next we need token creation, we need to multiply like rabbits…. literally. Now initially I made the mistake of leaning into creature tokens before really understanding how good Cadira was, meaning I’d just get board wiped and have to start all over again. I decided to move to more treasure and food creation on top of my standard tokens as these unlocked more resources to use and ultimately were safer than creatures. It’s very unlikely that food and treasures will be targeted and when I hold on to them, even when board wipes happen to my creatures, I have a quick way to build back up almost immediately. Having 10 food on standby means I already have 10 rabbits on Cadira’s first swing. To get tokens quickly I added a lot of staple cards like ‘Academy Manufactor’, ‘Tireless Provisioner’ and ‘Second Harvest’ which quickly help build up token pools fast and allow me to double/triple the value of my other creators. A key piece I’ve recently added is ‘Primal Vigor’ which is an incredible hit for me to boost token duplication and when the rarer buff pieces kick in +1/+1 counters.
Some of the more unique creators I chose were cards like ‘Head of the Homestead’ and ‘Hop to It’ (since it’s more rabbits) but also cards like ‘Gilded Goose’ which provides on entry and provides a method to create more early. I’ve also added a few of the Bloomburrow Rabbits with the ‘Offspring’ ability to help keep on theme and also get more tokens out of them, ‘Pawpatch Recruit’ and ‘Intrepid Rabbit’ being good examples. One card I really love in this deck too is ‘Beza, the Bounding Spring’ which is just a great piece if I’m struggling or being kept down and a quick way to get some tokens, life and card advantage whilst not being too ‘off theme’.
The rest of the deck is filled with the usual board wipes, blink/protection, removal and ramp to get me to where I need to be, but one of the other priorities is on buffing the rabbits once I have them, this is easy in tribal decks and even easier when you are creating potentially dozens of the same creature type. Cards like ‘Strength of the Coalition’ or ‘Overwhelming Encounter’ work well as a buff piece for all the rabbits, ‘Inspiring Leader’ also boosting tokens and support cards like ‘Valley Questcaller’ and the aptly named ‘Rabbit Response’ providing buffs to all rabbits and providing a little scry engine for when I need to dig a burrow in my deck.
Finally one aspect and combo I’ve spotted recently is how quick the rabbits can build, I can go wide fast, but this often doesn’t result in being able to do much as they are still only 1/1’s. So I decided to make Cadira more of a threat by giving her some commander damage options. Cards like ‘Horn of Valhalla’ or ‘Treeguard Duo’ allow me to make Cadira very powerful and quickly (based on the number of creatures I control) provide a knockout blow with her sneaking damage tactics I’ve built in. This also works well as a finisher with ‘Burrowguard Mentor’ too if a direct approach is needed or if Cadira has gotten pipped too many times.
Overall it’s a very fun deck that can work in a number of ways, it’s not perfect by any means but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using it and adapting it, each game I feel like I’ve learned a little more and made improvements which provides a feeling of satisfaction. Anyway I’ve rabbited on for far too long, check out the decklist here if you like: Cadira, Caller of the Small
Once again a notable shout out to Tavendale over at No Rerolls, for not only being a good MtG sport and opponent but also for providing a few of the valuable buff pieces to this deck! Make sure to check out his MtG and other great content!
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