Lluwen, Exchange StudentLluwen, Exchange Student | Art by Alix Branwyn

Hello, fellow exchange students! I'm back with another deck tech for a brand new commander. It's a new set, but an old face. Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) gives us another iteration on Lluwen, who was previously digging around on Lorwyn for wormsworms.

As the flavor text on his first cardfirst card implied, he was looking for something more, and what better way to explore new career opportunities than taking a few classes?

Evidently he still likes the creepy-crawlies, but hey, always nice to have something that reminds you of home.

What Does Lluwen, Exchange StudentLluwen, Exchange Student Do?

In keeping with the meme from original Strixhaven, Wizards is trying to jam as many words on cards as possible. Lluwen uses the new prepared mechanic, which allows us to cast the spell in the lower right of the text box as long as he's prepared.

To better understand the prepard mechanic, take a look at our mechanics article for SOS. Lluwen enters prepared, and from then on can only be prepared again by exiling a creature card from our graveyard. And when we cast his spell, Pest Friend, he becomes unprepared.

Speaking of Pest Friend, it has a punny name for a simple effect: make a Pest token that gains life on attack. This drives me absolutely batty, because the original Pest tokens from Strixhaven gained life when they die. Why Wizards? Why change it?

Theoretically, as long as we have enough creatures in the graveyard and mana, we can make a lot of Pests each turn, so that's what I'm going to focus on for this deck build. I'd also be remiss if I didn't include some "leave the graveyard" cards, as we have a very easy way to trigger them in the command zone. Let's go!

Key Cards for LluwenLluwen

Creatures for the 'Yard

We could take this build in a lot of different directions: tokens, sacrifice, lifegain, even Pest-typal. It's nice to have the flexibility, but all of those options require enablers. We need creature cards in the graveyard, and mana to cast Pest Friend.

Let's start with creature cards in the graveyard. The poster boy for this group of cards is Steve, a.k.a. Sakura-Tribe ElderSakura-Tribe Elder.

Creatures that self-sacrifice for an effect we want anyway are a perfect way to fill the yard. Steve's especially effective on turn two, helping us to cast Lluwen on turn three. Insidious FungusInsidious Fungus can also be ramp early, or be interaction if we draw it later. Spore FrogSpore Frog can save us from a big attack from an opponent and is just as nice to recur as it is to exile, and Blood PetBlood Pet's floor is just turning itself into a Pest.

There are plenty of creatures that self-mill as well. Stitcher's SupplierStitcher's Supplier is the most efficient option and is happy to chump block. Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst mills when it enters and gives us access to the Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation effect for later, which can be useful given how many cards we're planning to mill.

Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath is a continuous source of card velocity for us, milling what we want but giving us the option to get something critical back.

There are cards we can take from my previous Lluwen article that work well here too. Umbral Collar ZealotUmbral Collar Zealot and Snarling GorehoundSnarling Gorehound are great ways to fill the graveyard by utilizing the Pests themselves. I've done plenty of pontificating about how much I love convoke, so Lethal SchemeLethal Scheme and Pile OnPile On get the nod again for their graveyard filling ability.

Maybe there's an opportunity here to build a deck that can be commanded by either Lluwen!

Making Mana

We're also going to need ways to make the mana to cast a lot of copies of Pest Friend. Perhaps one of the easiest ways to do this is to get the Pests themselves to generate mana. Cryptolith RiteCryptolith Rite is often the go-to, but remember, our deck wants a lot of creatures. I'm going to pass on the Rite and instead include Enduring VitalityEnduring Vitality and Jaheira, Friend of the ForestJaheira, Friend of the Forest.

A noncreature spell that I am willing to include is Insidious RootsInsidious Roots. Maybe I buried the lede, but this might be the best card in the deck. Not only does it allow the Pests to tap for mana, but each time we activate Lluwen's ability to prepare him, we get a Plant token and grow all our Plants.

It's also a great transition to our next section!

Leaves the Graveyard

As I mentioned before, Lluwen is one of the best ways to abuse the slew of "leaves the graveyard" cards that we've gotten lately. Right off the bat, Desecrated TombDesecrated Tomb (see what I did there?) and Teval's JudgmentTeval's Judgment get thrown in as the pest payoffs (I'm on fire) for repeatedly preparing Lluwen. The Bats go along with the other creature synergies we have, and add flyers to our token army.

Teval's Judgement lets us add Zombie Druids, and perhaps even better, can ramp or draw cards.

Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie turns Lluwen's ability into free card draw as well, and with the lifegain subtheme we're going to add, shouldn't bother us with the downside at all. It's only once per turn, but still worth the add. Dredger's InsightDredger's Insight fuels the graveyard and gives us more lifegain triggers, and Soul EnervationSoul Enervation is mediocre interaction but also a win condition with enough exiles.

Lifegain Subtheme

Witherbloom's mechanical theme is lifegain, so I'm going to skew the rest of the deck towards lifegain and those payoffs. Fortunately we have a well established set of cards for Golgari () lifegain.

Dina, Soul SteeperDina, Soul Steeper is a great win condition and a flavorful add from the first visit to Strixhaven. She'll be joined by Marauding Blight-PriestMarauding Blight-Priest, Starscape ClericStarscape Cleric and South Wind AvatarSouth Wind Avatar. Most of the time we'll be gaining a lot of increments of one life, so I'm skipping the Sanguine BondSanguine Bond effects for other payoffs.

While we can trigger the above cards by attacking with a bunch of Pests, we might as well also trigger them when we make the Pests too. Essence WardenEssence Warden, Prosperous InnkeeperProsperous Innkeeper, plus their new friends Virulent EmissaryVirulent Emissary and Bogwater LumaretBogwater Lumaret all get a slot to proc more lifegain triggers.

They're all creatures as well, so they fuel Lluwen if they make it into the graveyard.

There are plenty of other lifegain payoffs. I've included a lot in the final list but there's a few I wanted to highlight.

Prize PigPrize Pig becomes quite the engine when we've got one of the Essence WardenEssence Warden variants on the battlefield. Witch of the MoorsWitch of the Moors and Veinwitch CovenVeinwitch Coven offer some recursion options should we want to use a creature in the graveyard for something other than preparing Lluwen.

Blossoming BogbeastBlossoming Bogbeast is an insane finisher, since we can stack all the lifegain triggers from the Pests to resolve before the Bogbeast's attack trigger. For the Common GoodFor the Common Good is also great; it protects our tokens, makes more Pests, and gains life!

Pest Storm

One last group of cards I couldn't resist adding. This deck is going to be casting Pest Friend a lot. That means many instances of spells being cast, which also means a high storm count. Hello, Weather the StormWeather the Storm and Tendrils of AgonyTendrils of Agony. Each copy of of the storm cards create a separate instance of lifegain, making them pair well with DinaDina and friends.

Songs of the DamnedSongs of the Damned can help up the storm count by giving us a burst of mana for casts of Pest Friend.

The Strixhaven classics Sedgemoor WitchSedgemoor Witch and Witherbloom ApprenticeWitherbloom Apprentice are natural fits due to their Magecraft abilities, though in the case of the Witch, have fun trying to keep track of which Pests are which. Thanks again, Wizards.

Gameplay

This deck has a lot of flexibility in its play patterns. Start by spending the early turns ramping and filling the graveyard, perhaps even waiting until you have enough mana to cast Lluwen and immediately cast Pest Friend, given how many lifegain synergies the deck has. Then it's all accumulating a giant army of Pests and the synergies to go with them.

Don't be afraid to chump attack the Pest if the lifegain matters for a trigger or two. The beauty of our commander is that we very easily have access to Pest Friend, so despite the name, we shouldn't be afraid to send our friends to their doom in the name of winning the game. That's what Commander is all about, right?

Wrap Up

While I was writing this I resolved to build this deck in its "lifegain storm" incarnation. The prepared mechanic is so cool, especially with a real easy way to re-prepare Lluwen. The final deck list is below, and I’d love to hear your feedback about my choices or cool tech you found for the deck. Would you also go with lifegain as a theme, or something else? Any sweet cards I missed or was wrong about (that's happened before)? Drop a comment below and fill me in!

Note: I didn't include any Game Changers to keep the price down and for the sake of being Bracket flexible, but you can always use them to power up the deck.

Happy brewing, and I’ll see you next time!

Lluwen, Exchange Student Commander Deck List