I love forests and I’m not talking about that land card you play 20 of. My dad often walked with me through the woods. We sometimes sat against a tree and just watched the leaves move as the breeze passed by. The sounds of nature can be very soothing. As it happens Wizards of the Coast allowed us planeswalkers to make our very own forest. So let’s turn the battleground into a grove.

This is an introduction to Treefolk

Now to cultivate our very own forest we must start with basic lands. I know this sounds crazy, but we are going to grow our Treefolk out of other forests. And instead of giving them water and sunlight (you could try but I’d advise heavily against it) you simply spawn them with mana.

Lords:

Doran, the Siege Tower

Doran is a card that makes me chuckle, at first glance he is only a 0/5 but that’s where you are wrong. He has a unique effect that I want to abuse. His card states: Each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power. Power becomes useless and all that matters is toughness. Our hardened trees become razor sharp. Isn’t that beautiful? He is essentially a 5/5 for the cost of 3 mana. You can see what tree I intend to plant first. I would like to make note that Doran is still counts as a 0/5 that simply deals 5 damage… there is a small difference in that.

Unstoppable Ash

If you want something to combine with Doran, this card here is simply beautiful. Yes you need to cut down a tree to give him some space but sometimes sacrifices have to be made, as long as we do the chopping right? He will make all our creatures especially hardy when they get blocked. With Doran on the field he sort of gives a +5/+5 to every creature that becomes blocked. Ash himself is already a 5/5 with trample. Truly an unstoppable Force of Nature.

Sapling of Colfenor

This cute tree might not seem impressive at first glance, for 5 mana we get a 2/5 who is indestructible. Also every time she attacks we reveal our top card of our library. If it’s a creature card we gain life equal to its toughness and lose life equal to its power and we draw it. With all these hardy treefolk laying around, we are gonna gain some life.

Timber Protector

What is a forest worst nightmare? Lumberjacks. I intend to protect my Timber and this is the lord who will take care of all those pesky wood choppers. +1/+1 for our Tree friends and indestructibility for everything you control with roots (except himself). That’s what you get for touching my wood.

Verdeloth the Ancient

This card shows how well fungi can be bred in a forest. Not only is Verdeloth a lord to Treefolk he is also a lord for saprolings. What a great guy, he would make one swell ranger if he wasn’t a tree himself.

Dauntless Dourbark

Which do you like better? This card gets bigger for every forest or this guy gets bigger for every treefolk you control.

Of course it should be both. Dauntless Dourbark is a sick beater for 4 mana. He even has trample as long as you control another treefolk.

Sheltering Ancient

I have to add this card, for 2 mana you get a 5/5 with trample. How is this not something you want? Well there is a downside, you have to give +1/+1 counters to your opponents creatures. You can chose which creatures you want to give the counters. But cumulative upkeep means that you need to spread the love more and more. This card can be your own demise. Use it wisely.

Support:

Bosk Banneret

This little 1/3 makes expanding our treeline a little bit easier. The cost of Treefolk and Shamans is reduced by 1. This doesn’t mean that a Treefolk Shaman’s cost is reduced by 2.

Treefolk Harbinger

Sometimes we have an overall idea of what our forest battlefield should look like. Treefolk Harbinger makes sure you draw into the right trees.

Orchard Warden

Do we need some lifegain? Orchard Warden shows us the vitality that trees have and that they are willing to share. So whenever a Treefolk enters the battlefield we gain life equal to the creature’s toughness.

Thorntooth Witch

This black Treefolk shaman adds a weak variant of Bile Blight to our Treefolk spells. We can use it on our own creatures however. The effect is +3/-3 instead of -3/-3. Doesn’t that sound groov(e)y?

Lignify

Wouldn’t you say that everything looks better with a little bark on it? Lignify turns all those wicked creatures into beautiful treefolk. Be aware though with Doran on the field you will essentially give them a 4/4.

Leaf-Crowned Elder

This is a tribal way to cheat our creatures into play. At the beginning of our upkeep we can look at the top card of our library and if it happens to be a treefolk or shaman we can play it without paying for it. Instant tree, but not in a can.

Cultivate

I find the name highly appropriate, besides extra mana couldn’t hurt anyone right?

Murmuring Bosk

This land is a Caves of Koilos on a forest and if you reveal a treefolk card it doesn’t even enter the battlefield tapped. An amazing land if you play more than one colour in your treefolk deck.



The playstyle:

I can picture myself standing on top of some rock. I see another planeswalker in the distance. The valley between us is tranquil. Then one Goblin appears and runs through the valley in the hopes of attacking me. All that stands between me and the goblin is a single tree. Without stepping sideways the goblin rushes towards me and bashes his head into the tree. Of course the tree doesn’t budge. Another goblin spawns as I sit down. Now there are two trees. Again the goblins seem incapable of moving sideways as time and time again they run into the trees.

Slowly but surely a grove starts to exist. I lie down upon my rock, feel the breeze upon my face and listen to the death screams of goblins.