(Ohabi Caleria| Art by Nestor Ossandon Leal)

Into the Borderlands

Welcome to Borderland Explorer, the new EDHREC series that takes a closer look at commanders right on the border of popularity – not too obscure, but nowhere near the “Top Commanders” front page either.

For this series, I’m choosing the 1,200-deck mark as a grounding point. (But it’s not too strict – there’s a few hundred decks’ worth of wiggle room on either side).

In this series we will:

• Identify a commander that falls into the 1,200-deck range for each allied two-color pair
• Highlight unique and interesting game plan(s) for this commander
• Outline the advantages and challenges of these strategies
• Build a budget-friendly deck following these plans
• Walk through important card categories and use EDHREC synergy numbers as a starting point to talk about notable inclusions and exclusions
• Go over upgrades for readers interested in investing more money into this strategy

The goal is to find commanders with some established traction but lots of room for exploration and innovation, so let’s get into the brewing spirit!

Moving on from red-green goad Enchantress last week, we are rounding out the series with the final allied color pair, green-white.

Filtering by number of decks, Ohabi Caleria fits the bill as a budget-friendly commander that hosts around 1,300 decks and offers a clear direction to build around.

The Game Plan(s)

The stock game plan for this commander is to simply fill your deck with Archers that tap to deal direct damage to creatures (usually that are attacking, blocking, and/or flying).

Ohabi’s abilities means you can repeat this damage many times per turn cycle and also convert Archer pings into card draw.

Advantages and Challenges

When looking at some of the high synergy cards with Ohabi Caleria, I was reminded of this EDHRECast video on “Red Herring Synergies”, where Joey explains how cards like Power Conduit and Conjurer’s Closet show up in many Winter, Cynical Opportunist decklists with the goal of removing the finality counters the deck’s commander puts on reanimated permanents.

However, as Joey notes, so much has to go right to get to the point where these cards can have their intended effect. Without a series of specific things happening in a certain order during the game, these counter-removing cards don’t help facilitate the main goals of the deck.

Looking at some of the top cards of the average Ohabi deck, I see a similar thing going on. The general plan has a lot of steps:

1. Have your commander on the battlefield
2. Have a number of Archers that “ping” or have deathtouch on the battlefield 
3. Give your Archers that “ping” deathtouch and your Archers with deathtouch the ability to “ping”
4. Use this combination of forces to mow down any opposing creature every turn and use your commander to draw a bunch of cards in the process.

When the deck finds all of these cards together, its pilot gets to create a great engine of destruction and card advantage. But this stock plan also comes with these pretty serious issues:

1. You need to draw the right combination of “ping” and deathtouch
2. Many of your “ping” effects only work when creatures are attacking and blocking and/or have flying
3. Your commander’s draw ability costs two mana every time you want to draw a card. 
4. Most Archer creatures do not hold up to the power level of Commander. Your commander has to be really good to justify playing cards like D’Avenant Healer (81% of decks) and Crossbow Infantry (75% of decks).

A New Direction

With all this being said, I’m taking a different direction with the deck. I want to find a critical mass of Archers that feel like they fit well in the format while also including a healthy dose of kindred synergies, tapping strategies, pingers, and efficient “fight”/“bite” cards.

Elves

Between the commander, Thornweald Archer, Wildborn Preserver, Jagged-Scar Archers, Legolas Greenleaf Legolas, Master Archer of Legolas, and Silhana Starfletcher, many of the Archers I’ve included in the deck are also Elves.

Assembling a critical mass of Archers that are also Elves means unlocking interesting abilities from cards like Birchlore Rangers, Heritage Druid, and Voice of the Woods, which become repeatable with Ohabi’s untaps on your opponents’ turns.

A high Elf density also opens up space for cards like Priest of Titania (helping alleviate pressure from Ohabi’s mana-intensive draw ability) and Wirewood Symbiote (protecting Ohabi, enabling more untap synergies).

There’s even a budget-friendly infinite combo when you combine these creatures with Mirror Entity.

Changelings

Speaking of Mirror Entity, Shapeshifters with changeling (all technically Elf Archer creatures) help keep both creature type counts high, with cards like Masked Vandal, Formless Genesis, Chameleon Colossus, and Valiant Changeling serving as more Commander-friendly upgrades to the underpowered pinger Archers in the average list. The new Soulstone Sanctuary becomes an Archer that taps for mana, working great with Ohabi.

These creatures with changeling also open up more “creature types matter” synergies – beyond being Archers and Elves, they are Mounts, Rabbits, and Wolves. They also pair excellently with Multiclass Baldric, enhancing your creatures for better pings, fights, and bites.

Direct Damage

Ohabi gives you an added bonus of drawing cards when your Archers deal damage directly to opposing creatures, whether through combat, fight/bite spells, or special abilities.

With that in mind, a lot of this deck’s removal will come in the form of spells like Coordinated Clobbering, Hard-Hitting Question and Dromoka’s Command.

While we aren’t including many of the more situational pinger Archers, cards like Matsu-Tribe Sniper and Jagged-Scar Archers can keep flying threats at bay, while Scattershot Archer and Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile protect against tokens (and can draw you tons of cards with Ohabi).

Inclusions

(28% of low-budget decks)

Leaning more into Ohabi's first ability (and Elves) means cards like Nullmage Shepherd is a perfect fit. Another disruptive tap synergy is Glare of Subdual, in nearly half of all decks.

(27% of low-budget decks)

Lots of Archers have built-in reach, and this creature's draw ability works well with Ohabi – you'll draw a card whether they block or not!

(not on page)

With enough ways to make your Archers tap to cast spells during other players' turns, you can live the dream of having a Seedborn Muse in the command zone.

Alongside Saryth, the Viper's Fang or even something as simple as a Birchlore Rangers, you can protect important threats from removal at will.

Exclusions

I mentioned a few Archer exclusions in the “Advantages and Challenges” and there are many other that fall into the category, like D’Avenant Archer, Femeref Archers, Elite Archers, Reverent Hunter, Arbalest Elite, Skyway Sniper, Trophy Hunter, Palazzo Archers, and more that are in over half of low-budget decks.

As mentioned above, I’m choosing to use more powerful Shapeshifters with changeling instead to keep the Archer count high rather than including these underpowered options. 

Stalking Leonin, Titania’s Chosen, and Catti-Brie of Mithral Hall are closer to the right power level, but I’m excluding them as well.

Could we potentially brew a different version of the deck more focused on Catti-Brie that uses more equipment and repeatable proliferate effects alongside Smell Fear and Signature Slam? Of course!

Decklist

Deck Checklist

• 50 Mana Sources (36 lands, 8 mana creatures, 3 noncreature ramp, 3 mdfcs)
• 8 Draw (+ Ohabi)
• 15 Removal (7 bite/fight, 6 spot removal, 2 recursive removal)
• 1 Board Wipe
• 2 Finishers

Mid-Budget Upgrades

Greatbow Doyen is the ultimate Archer lord, is an Elf, and works great with cards like Brigid (or even a huge Chameleon Colossus). With a slightly higher price allowance, it’s an auto-include.

Basilisk Collar, Lothlórien Blade, Thornbite Staff, and Viridian Longbow are all equipment that accentuate the “pingers” subtheme. 

Well Rested is a fitting enhancement for any Archer that can tap itself at will, taking full advantage of Ohabi’s first ability.

Chord of Calling, Enduring Vitality, and Dazzling Theater//Prop Room help you lean even more into the “using creatures as mana” strategy that works great with your commander.

Cards like Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project offer the deck some much-needed card draw.

Yes, Ohabi has some card advantage built in, but paying two mana for one card after a bunch of stuff goes right is not always dependable. Beast Whisperer has the added bonus of being an Elf.

If you're looking for more mass removal, Austere Command and Fracturing Gust are clean answers to artifacts and enchantments – permanents that don’t feature very prominently in this deck’s strategy.

And They Shall Know No Fear, Flawless Maneuver, Clever Concealment, and/or Heroic Intervention are all upgraded versions of board protection, crucial in this creature-heavy deck.

And They Shall Know No Fear furthers the “creature types matter” theme, while Clever Concealment is a great protection spell when you’ll often have lots of untapped creatures at the ready.

Conclusion

So there it is! A low-budget Ohabi Caleria brew with all sorts of kindred, tapping, and direct damage synergies.