Saprolings and Counters Come Together With Ferrafor, Young Yew

Ferrafor, Young Yew | Art by Jesper Ejsing

A return to Lorwyn means a return to Treefolk. And we all know which Treefolk is the folksiest. It's not Doran. Doran's washed. The answer is, of course, Ferrafor, Young Yew.

This is by default, since Ferrafor and Doran, Besieged by Time are the only two Treefolk commanders in Lorwyn Eclipsed. And honestly, it's a bit of a bit, too. Ferrafor's somewhat difficult to build around, and not especially popular. I gave her the Under in my latest Over/Under article, and I'm sticking by that take.

Yet still, one of Commander's richest traditions is the pursuit of abstract strategies. I mean, any old schmo with an Elf collection can build High Perfect Morcant. It's the real ones who build around something less obvious. So, in this article, we'll do just that.

You're a Youngster, Aren't Yew?

Let's take a gander at our commander.

Now let's take an even closer look.

Whoa. She looks kinda sinister. And is she about to chow down on one of those frog-looking things? And also, where's her big bottom?

Although it doesn't appear in Jesper Ejsing's sinister artwork, seven is indeed a big butt. And, like other Treefolk before her, Ferrafor is expensive. Of course, mono-green mitigates that downside with explosive ramp. And with Ferrafor, you get what you pay for, and you get it right off the bat (bark?) thanks to that enters-the-battlefield (ETB) trigger.

After all, Magic offers oodles of counters. You're familiar with several, but there are others you might not know so well. They all count toward Ferrafor's ETB, which is a major part of the card's value, so I'd like to investigate them further.

Various Counters for Ferrafor, Young Yew

+1/+1 Counters

You know 'em. You love 'em. You forgot to bring 'em to your prerelease, so you instead use globs of lint from your pocket to represent them. Or is that just me?

No matter how you're presenting them, +1/+1 counters are everywhere. They often come one or two at a time, but they add up fast. Furthermore, numerous enchantments help stack them rapidly, including Branching Evolution, Loading Zone, and the classic Hardened Scales.

Since these counters augment your creatures' stats, they're less plentiful than others. That said, they're often more useful, and still helpful for Ferrafor.

Earthbending is a new mechanic from Avatar that works perfectly with these, since it dumps multiple counters in huge spurts, often at a decent rate. Ba Sing Se is the only one I'm including in my list, but you could add others like Earthbending Lesson if you're a fan of the show. If you opt for the route, feel free to lean into more sacrifice and landfall synergies, since they function surprisingly well with earthbending.

And lest we forget evolve. I mean, you gotta love passive counter production. Just cast your creatures as normal and behold as your Gyre Sage grows larger and larger, getting you closer and closer to casting Ferrafor (and a bunch of Saprolings) while doing it. Sounds heavenly to me.

-1/-1 Counters

I hate to be negative, but these are literally negatives. Still, they often come on oversized creatures, especially in Ferrafor's native set.

Only problem is, our only option in mono-green is Bristlebane Battler. We'll still take it, along with a few other payoffs from the Blight Curse precon deck, like Devoted Druid and Channeler Initiate. The new blight mechanic would be nice here, too, but alas, it appears in every mono-color except green (two blight commanders have green in them, but none solo).

This is a bummer, man. But we've still got plenty of counters to choose from, including...

Keyword Counters

These debuted in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. They've hung around since then, especially in green, which is perfect for our purposes.

I like Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, since she produces a free counter every turn, along with Crystalline Giant for the same reason. Kappa Tech-Wrecker is another nice one, especially since it's cosplaying as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and we're headed there soon. Cowabunga?

Lore Counters

Time was, you'd be chuckling at me for mentioning these. Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, you'd comment, shaking your head as you typed. Didn't you read the card? Ferrafor only works with counters on creatures, and lore counters only appear on Sagas, which aren't creatures. How are you still employed?

Unsure. But I am sure about this: Lore counters now appear on select creatures, thanks to the best set of 2025, Final Fantasy.

Summon: Fat Chocobo and Summon: Bahamut are best for these purposes, since they come with an extra chapter (and therefore more lore counters), but Summon: Magus Sisters, Summon: Titan, and Esper Origins are acceptable, too.

Oil Counters

These are useful because they're useless. Seriously, they do zilch unless a card instructs you to do something with them. That means designers are free to dump tons on whatever cards, which is why Ferrafor loves Armored Scrapgorger, Evolved Spinoderm, and Rustvine Cultivator.

Just wash your hands often. They're gonna get oily.

Shield Counters

These debuted in Streets of New Cappena and are quite useful, so you don't see them often. Furthermore, since they were the signature of the Bant Brokers, our mono-green color identity once again precludes some of the better payoffs.

Still, we get some sweet ones, such as Family's Favor and Titan of Industry. There's also Diamond City, a card I just discovered from Fallout, which works great with proliferate.

Spore Counters

We conclude with some of the weirdest counters ever made. Spore counters come all the way back from 1994's Fallen Empires, a set that's little more loved than Homelands. They returned in Time Spiral block and Modern Masters, and that's it.

Still, they're perfect for Ferrafor, since they generate free every turn. We're packing several of these, so you'll find them in the deck list shortly. Perfection.

Proliferate Effects

While this classic mechanic doesn't produce counters, it sure as sugar multiplies them. I'd opt for recurring proliferation, such as Plaguemaw Beast and Evolution Sage, especially since they require no mana to activate.

Alright, we've spent a lot of time covering Ferrafor's ETB. But what about her tapping ability?

Tapping In, Tapping Out With Ferrafor, Young Yew

My favorite card to target with the tap ability has to be Forgotten Ancient. The only thing that feels better than a pile of counters is doubling it, after all. But that's not the sole application for this ability. Consider Summon: Magus Sisters:

This is a weird one, not least of all because it's riffing on the Weird Sisters of Macbeth. They're a Saga creature, for one, which works with the aforementioned lore counters. Better yet, they toss out shield counters, too.

As we've established, shields are tough to come by, especially in mono-green. That's because they're super useful, especially in multiples. Even doubling one means your creature survives the next Blasphemous Act (because there's always another Blasphemous Act), or the next combat, or both. Ferrafor lets you replenish those shield counters, so long as she can keep tapping.

But back to Summon: Magus Sisters. They generate up to three different counters, depending on where you place them, meaning our commander can double them all—at instant speed no less. Adding lore counters means the corresponding effect immediately triggers, so Ferrafor's tap ability allows you to churn through chapters at the speed of an instant.

Just don't forget, the Magus Sisters sacrifice themselves after chapter three. (Just like I do when reading Unicorn Academy to my daughter.)

Now how else can we take advantage of that counter-doubling nonsense? One card comes to mind...

You'll notice there's a blue stain on this green card, meaning we can't legally run it in our Ferrafor deck. It'll have to appear in the 99 of another commander. However, it's such a fun interaction I couldn't help mentioning it.

Here's how it works: You need some way to turn Simic Ascendancy into a creature, since Ferrafor's tap ability only works on creatures. That likely means you're turning to a third color for something like Starfield of Nyx, although that's not the biggest ask, since Bant Enchantress is a already a popular archetype.

Once Ascendancy becomes a creature with some growth counters—even a handful will do—place a +1/+1 counter on it, too. Don't forget to add another growth counter. Now tap Ferrafor and target the Ascendancy. This will double both the +1/+1 counter and the growth counters, which adds additional growth counters, depending on how many new +1/+1s were added.

See where I'm going with this? You can win out of nowhere with this cheeky little three-card combo, and it feels creative rather than degenerate. Not the most reliable way to a conquer a commander game—but certainly one of the most fun methods.

Speaking of fun, this one is:

I'm willing to bet serious dough many readers have never set eyes on Blight Sickle. You're probably not old enough. At any rate, Blight Sickle has never seen play, even in Shadowmoor Limited. However, thanks to Ferrafor, it shines for one simple reason. Let's read our commander's tap ability again...

That's target creature. Not target creature you control—anybody's creature. Which means if your opponents tangle with your Blight Sickle-wielding creature in combat and get even halfway to their toughness on -1/-1 counters, you can finish them with the tap of your Treefolk.

And that goes for infect, too, since infect is basically wither+. Mono-green offers many more options with this mechanic, including Phyrexian Swarmlord, Phyrexian Hydra, and everybody's favorite beater, Blightsteel Colossus. Neat little interaction there.

Ferrafor, Young Yew Commander Deck List

Playing the Deck

Without actually playing the deck, I'd suspect this plays out like your average mono-green ramp deck with a twist. That twist being counters, of course. Accumulate as many as you can in the early turns, placing particular emphasis on ramp cards with counters, like Gyre Sage, Channeler Initiate, and Utopia Mycon. Doing so lets you cast Ferrafor fast while simultaneously building your token swarm when she's cast.

With such a focused deck, you might be tempted to stay heads-down on your side of the battlefield. Don't. Look up from time to time, and make friends with opposing counter players. Our commander's ETB targets any player, not just us, so there might be some instances where targeting an opposing Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or The Wise Mothman player yields more Saprolings than it would for our side of the battlefield.

Otherwise, beware of board wipes. I know, that goes for most decks, but we can't run many and our opponents will be incentivized to cast theirs. Therefore, if you start on a hand with Heroic Intervention, don't mulligan.

Parting Thoughts

Ferrafor might be one of the lesser commanders of ECL, but she's also the sort that's only going to improve. Why? Because she's a young yew and she's got room to grow.

More pertinently, it's because counters are arguably Magic's most open design space, meaning they appear in every set, whether as the standard +1/+1s or something new. Therefore, each new set guarantees new cards for your list. How many commanders can promise that?

Anyway, I hope I've inspired you to try this under-appreciated commander. Now get out there. Yew've got this!