Byrke, Long Ear of the Law Deck Tech
Byrke, Long Ear of the Law by Manuel Castañón
Catching the Renegade
Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life from the Long Ear of the Law.
Selesnya might not be my forte, but I do love commanders that make things go exponential, and Byrke, Long Ear of the Law doubles more counters than you can shake Styx at. I know, I know, making puns off of an aging rock band might miss some folks, but I'm writing this just before my birthday, and I'm not getting any deYoung-er.
Joking aside, Byrke is a commander that costs six but makes up for it with a powerful enters-the-battlefield effect, as well as a static ability that any creature you control can trigger when they attack.
Core Synergy
The base of our deck consists of creatures that enter the battlefield with their own counters and have low enough mana values to hit the battlefield before Byrke so that they can attack the turn our commander comes down for immediate value. What's more, Walking Ballista and a few others can remove their own counters without spending mana, enabling the deck to win outside of combat and even set up infinite combinations!
While infinite combinations attract competitive players, we're looking to run with a different kind of Spike. The Spike creatures enter with counters and can remove the counters for various effects. Arcbound Ravager will fit more with the next category, but those who are familiar with the Modern Hardened Scales deck know just how nasty the Fairy Godmother can be!
In addition to the Spikes, we are honor-bound to add Arcbounds to join the Ravager. I started playing right after Mirrodin block, and I struggled with a friend's Arcbound deck as they not only enter with counters, but they stack counters onto artifacts when they die. These creatures are not only powerful and synergistic, but they're also resilient giving the deck extra... legs.
There are a few more Arcbound creatures, as they are always better in numbers. Goldvein Hydra, however, is a singularly powerful threat, representing a large amount of power, growing itself even without the commander, and exploding into more coins than Sonic the Hedgehog at the end of a level.
Win Conditions
Focusing on building a board of small creatures can easily lead to board stalls. We need a way to leap over our opponents and put us out a hop skip and jump in front. The counter-doublers, including our commander, help our deck to spring into action and start churning out advantage. These are the lifeblood of the deck, but, while they are awesome in multiples, the returns diminish if the board hasn't been adequately set up; hence the Arcbounds and the Spikes.
Primal Vigor and Doubling Season are twins separated at birth. This deck reunites them and harnesses their combined energy to create exponential power and spiral out of control. Kami of Whispered Hopes and Conclave Mentor are extra copies of Hardened Scales and are an integral part of the strategy for tipping the scales of a balanced game in our favor.
Mana Spells
Ideally, we want our mana spells to synergize with our strategy and add to the deck's explosiveness. Kodama of the West Tree is a hugely powerful card, while Fertilid can be used politically to ramp anyone that needs it or provide fixing in exchange for certain... political assurances.
Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter is a solid substitute for hands that don't pull Rishkar, Peema Renegade, turning our modified creatures into Birds (or whatever creature type) of Paradise. All of this extra mana makes X spells and mana sinks, like Walking Ballista, into explosive finishers.
Despite the early-game aggression, a six-mana commander requires a massive mana investment. The counter-doublers also have decently high mana costs, so we need to get where we're going in a hurry. Not all of the rocks are inspiring, but they are necessary, and Mind Stone, in particular, provides a welcome bit of draw for colors that don't traditionally get it.
With so many green pips in the deck, Defiler of Vigor is a cost-reducer as well as a source of repeated advantage. Each green permanent we cast adds counters to all creatures we control, creating layers and layers of counters, a blanket of dice to tuck our opponents into bed.
Wrath Protection
Like most go-wide decks, we need to have plans for getting our board wiped. Arcbound creatures provide some assistance with that, as they can move the counters different places. The Ozolith gives them a good home, and Vigor is a particularly funny choice, as it happens to work well with Defiler of Vigor, which feels like a flavor fail.
Unbreakable Formation is a powerful anti-wipe card, and it gets even better when we can use it proactively (often with another anti-wipe card in hand) to enable a safe attack while adding a layer of counters before declaring attacks.
The general plan here is to set up with small creatures that have counters on them while building our mana for massive waves of tokens and protecting our board. As the game goes on, we build our creatures up bigger and bigger until our opponents are more afraid of rabbits than Elmer Fudd after Bugs Bunny's shenanigans. Our wall of dice will be red from the blood of our enemies. But aren't woodland critters cute?
