Tatyova, Benthic Druid is one of the many possible commanders available in Magic: The Gathering’s Foundations set. The card is a reprint of one originally released in 2018’s Dominaria set, and has proved itself as one of the best land-focused commanders in the game.
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Simic (green/blue) is the primary color of ramping, allowing you to play multiple lands in one turn, which lets you trigger all your land-based effects. The deck is very straightforward, making it an excellent choice for those newer to the game and format. Tatyova is a powerful commander and one that only gets stronger with every set release.
Decklist
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Commander: Tatyova, Benthic Druid |
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Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait |
Ancient Greenwarden |
Ashaya, Soul of the Wild |
Avenger of Zenikdar |
Azusa, Lost but Seeking |
Bonny Pall, Clearcutter |
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Bristly Bill, Spine Sower |
Chasm Skulker |
Clinquant Skymage |
Courser of Kruphix |
Cultivator Colossus |
Detective of the Month |
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Elfsworn Giant |
Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer |
Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse |
Loot, Exuberant Explorer |
Lotus Cobra |
Meloku the Clouded Mirror |
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Mossborn Hydra |
Oracle of Mul Daya |
Psychosis Crawler |
Rampaging Baloths |
Ramunap Excavator |
Roil Elemental |
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Sakura-Tribe Elder |
Sakura-Tribe Scout |
Scaled Herbalist |
Scute Swarm |
Twenty-Toed Toad |
Springbloom Druid |
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Springheart Nantuko |
Tatyova, Steward of Tides |
Tireless Provisioner |
Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath |
Walking Atlas |
Cultivate |
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Doppelgang |
Farseek |
Kodama’s Reach |
Nature’s Lore |
Rampant Growth |
Splendid Reclamation |
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Three Visits |
Beast Within |
Counterspell |
Crop Rotation |
Deprive |
Ghostly Flicker |
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Growth Spiral |
Triskaidekaphile |
Arcane Signet |
Conduit of Worlds |
Decanter of Endless Water |
Sol Ring |
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Talisman of Curiosity |
Thought Vessel |
Spelunking |
Trade Routes |
Zendikar’s Roil |
Arid Archway |
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Bant Panorama |
Blighted Woodland |
Brokers Hideout |
Cabaretti Courtyard |
Command Tower |
Coral Atoll |
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Dreamroot Cascade |
Evolving Wilds |
Fabled Passage |
Field of Ruin |
Field of the Dead |
Flooded Grove |
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x8 Forest |
Ghost Town |
Hinterland Harbor |
x6 Island |
Maestros Theater |
Myriad Landscape |
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Mystic Sanctuary |
Obscura Storefront |
Reliquary Tower |
Riveteers Overlook |
Shire Terrace |
Simic Growth Chamber |
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Urza’s Cave |
Waterlogged Grove |
Yavimaya Coast |
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The decklist contains 36 creatures, eight sorceries, six instants, six artifacts, three enchantments, and 40 lands. Since lands are so important, a higher number of them than usual are in the deck with creatures that benefit from lands entering or allow multiple lands to enter in one turn.
Key Cards
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
The commander that gives constant value, Tatyova, Benthic Druid is the most important and best card in the deck. It turns any land entering the battlefield into a card going into your hand and one life being added to your total. The effect isn’t once per turn, so any lands entering will always trigger it.
Since Tatyova draws you so many cards every turn, it synergizes very well with cards that get rid of your maximum hand size such as Thought Vessel and Reliquary Tower.
Tatyova’s ability lets you draw into more lands and landfall payoffs to rapidly build up a board state. There are a few alternate win conditions that require having a lot of cards in your hand, and Tatyova helps you achieve these alternate win conditions with ease.
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Ancient Greenwarden
Ancient Greenwarden doubles up on all of your landfall abilities. All of the effects that trigger when lands enter the battlefield are fantastic, so making them essentially a two-for-one is great, especially since you can double up on effects multiple times in one turn.
The effect to double triggers would already be enough to warrant playing Ancient Greenwarden, but as a bonus, you can also play lands from your graveyard. This lets you re-use fetchlands which are a way to guarantee two landfall triggers with just one land (and with Ancient Greenwarden on the battlefield, this becomes four triggers).
Springheart Nantuko
Springheart Nantuko is one of the best landfall payoffs because you’ll either get a copy of your best creature, or at bare minimum a 1/1 Inscet token. You want to bestow your best creature, as you’ll be able to constantly make copies of it so long as Springheart Nantuko is enchanting it.
If you do not pay the mana to create a token copy, you will create a 1/1 Insect token. This includes if Springheart Nantuko isn’t attached to a creature, meaning so long as Springheart Nantuko is on the battlefield, if the copy ability isn’t paid, you’ll get a 1/1.
Since you’ll have so many lands, you’ll almost always be able to pay the cost to create a token copy. If it’s enchanted to a creature, you’ll still keep Springheart Nantuko if that creature gets removed as it’ll become a creature instead of going to the graveyard like most Auras.
Field Of The Dead
A consistent way to flood the battlefield with tokens, Field of the Dead is the best land you can be playing. It turns any land entering the battlefield into a 2/2 Zombie token, so long as you have seven or more lands with different names (including itself). The deck plays 40 lands, with only 12 of those lands having the same name, making Field of the Dead easy to get going.
You can directly tutor Field of the Dead out from your deck with Crop Rotation by trading any one land for it by sacrificing it, or Urza’s Cave, which can sacrifice itself for three mana to put any land from your library onto the battlefield.
What makes Field of the Dead so strong is it’s a consistent way to rebuild a board state after a board wipe. Lands are much harder to remove than creatures, so once it’s on the battlefield it’s likely to stay there. Since you’re playing multiple lands a turn, you’re making multiple Zombie tokens a turn too.
How To Play The Deck
A Tatyova, Benthic Druid Commander deck is one built around value. This is in the form of constant card draw to always draw into your key cards as well as life gain to make it harder for your opponents to take you out of the game. There are a ton of ramp spells like Farseek, Three Visits, and Cultivate to get multiple lands on the battlefield to constantly trigger landfall abilities.
It is sometimes better to hold off on ramping early in the game so you can use ramp spells later once you have multiple permanents with landfall abilities to trigger them multiple times in one turn.
There are multiple permanents that give creatures when lands enter the battlefield to amass an army of tokens. These include Zendikar’s Roil, Greensleves, Maro-Sorcerer, Rampaging Baloths, and Springheart Nantuko. You also have cards like Meloku the Clouded Mirror and Trade Routes to return lands to the land so you always have a land to be playing.
The primary win condition of the deck is winning through amassing a large number of creature tokens, and with alternate win conditions. Triskaidekaphile automatically wins the gave if you have exactly 13 cards in your hand at your upkeep, and Twenty-Toed Toad wins the game when it attacks while you have 20 or more cards in your hand.
The biggest downside of the deck is the slowness of the early game. With a Tatyova deck, you need a lot of enablers in order for the deck to function to the best of its abilities. Once you are set up, you can start running away with the game, however, because of that, you may have an early target on your back since the power of Tatyova decks are already known.
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