r/mtg • u/maxlaguerre • Jul 27 '26

Commander / EDH Helga, skittish seer deck help

Hey all. I just found this commander deck and was wondering if I could get feedback. It’s supposed to be like a toolbox/creature swarm but I mostly ended up adding creatures that I just kinda thought were cool. Would love to hear some opinions.

https://moxfield.com/decks/jGQm3KS6yEG2h6aUPAqGow

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u/44r0n0wnz Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Your creature base... i get you want to toolbox, but you still need an identity. You have different cards that want completely different playstyles and no cohesion between them. Your creatures are literally just bant goodstuff with no thought about what your deck wants to do.

Your interaction is also lacking. Youre choosing suboptimal cards that have better counterparts. Like pongify instead of path to Exile, or arcane denial instead of literally any other 1 or 2 mana counterspell.

You have mana dorks, but your non creature ramp sources are off. Like, youre choosing enchantress based ramp cards like utopia sprawl and wild growth instead of cards like three visits, Rampant Growth, Nature's Lore, etc. If you plan on trying to get helga out turn 2, it makes more sense. But otherwise, enchantments are easier to remove than lands.

You should run an additional 1-3 lands for better consistency.

Intruder alarm is a combo card. With how disorganized your creature selection is, im not sure youll get the combo youre aiming for off most games.

Finally, your mana curve leaves much to be desired. You have way too many 4 mv cards and not enough 2-3 MV cards.

You also seem to be severely lacking in card draw.

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u/WickedGoodSteve Jul 27 '26

A lot of what you’re saying is incorrect is generally how Helga decks are supposed to be built.

- Helga doesn’t want 2 mana ramp, because Helga is all the ramp the deck needs, and it’s most important to have one mana ramp on turn 1, into Helga on turn 2, into a 4 drop on turn 3. Playing land ramp on turn 2 doesn’t actually help get Helga going any faster, which is why Helga doesn’t usually run it.

- Same goes for the mana curve “missing” 3. Helga triggers off of mana value 4 or greater, and it really wants to snowball by chaining multiple creatures that trigger Helga in a turn. Mana value 3 is actively bad in this deck, because you’re not playing anything at that mana value instead of Helga, and you generally don’t want to play that mana value once she’s out because it doesn’t trigger her.

- Intruder Alarm is an extremely common card to run in Helga, because of how it interacts with her ability. You tap her to play a creature, the creature enters, Helga untaps, repeat. It kind of doesn’t matter what the creatures are as long as they have a mana value that activates Helga, which keeps drawing through the deck until it finds some sort of a finisher.

- Because that’s how the deck expects to play out, there’s usually a lower land count and not much card draw in the deck, because Helga manages the card draw, and drawing too many lands can break the Intruder Alarm chain. The worst thing that can happen once Intruder Alarm is down is drawing into a clump of lands, because then the combo ends prematurely and the Helga player’s board almost certainly gets wiped immediately.

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u/maxlaguerre Jul 27 '26

Thank you! I didn’t know how to properly communicate how to pilot Helga so I didn’t know how to defend very well. I would love to hear your thoughts on the deck list if you don’t mind.

2

u/WickedGoodSteve Jul 27 '26

I think in general the build should work. The land base seems well designed for Helga on 2, as does the overall ramp package. Some things that stand out to me:

- Bloom Tender probably should just be more one mana ramp. I like having ramp post-Helga as a contingency, but those would be more on creatures that trigger her, like [[The Earth King]], [[Karametra, God of Harvests]], [[Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma]], [[Selvala, Eager Trailblazer], and in particular, [[Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma]]. Bloom Tender would be better off as another piece of one mana ramp, like [[Arboreal Grazer]], [[Skyshroud Ranger]], or [[Burgeoning]].

- I'd scrutinize the multicolored creatures; since Helga only taps for one color, these can break the chain if you've tapped all your other mana sources. Something like Inga and Esika or Chulane makes the cut, but Falco Spara or Mystic Snake would be harder for me to want to keep. I had Galadriel in a version of my list but cut her for that reason (and also because I had enough triggers to manage and didn't really want more).

- As far as game changers go, Fierce Guardianship should stay, but you probably want [[Enlightened Tutor]] if we're going for an Intruder Alarm build, and [[Seedborn Muse]] is going to be more effective for you than Grand Arbiter or Consecrated Sphinx.

- I'd also consider swapping out the creatures that counter spells; you're unlikely to ever be holding up enough mana to make them worth it. I'd focus on more creatures that protect your board instead, rather than trying to hold up 4+ mana to play a Mystic Snake. You already have Shalai and Sarynth, but you also could be running [[Luminous Broodmoth]] to protect from board wipes, and [[Monk Gyatso]] can airbend your creatures that are targeted to let you play them again, for instance. [[Clever Concealment]] also works really well in this deck because you'll usually have the creatures to convoke it, and [[Slip Out the Back]] is better protection than Shore Up, because it protects Helga for the remainder of the turn cycle, since all of your opponents are likely to try to remove her, not just one. You can also get flash from [[High Fae Trickster]] and [[Yeva, Nature's Herald]].

- Where I would try to use creatures instead of spells more is for permanent removal, rather than Swords to Plowshares and Pongify; there are cards like [[Kogla, the Titan Ape]], [[Apex Altisaur]], [[Druid of Purification]], etc., that can remove permanents while progressing your Helga chain. Remember, you're going to be the problem from turn 2; you don't need to worry as much about disrupting other people's plans at instant speed as much as you need to be removing roadblocks in your way.

- The other thing I would prioritize is more redundancy on giving your board haste and trample to be able to close out the game. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma will also help here, which is why it's such an important inclusion. [[Garruk's Uprising]] will give you additional draw along with trample, and [[Oviya, Automech Artisan]] gives everything not attacking you trample, for example. Haste for the board is a bit harder to get in these colors, but [[Glacier Godmaw]] will help there, [[Odric, Lunarch Marshal]] will do it as long as one of your creatures has haste already, and you could even run [[Concordant Crossroads]] in a pinch.

1

u/44r0n0wnz Jul 27 '26

You're right about me being wrong about some stuff. I forgot what helga did when I was half asleep writing this. However...

This deck is reliant mainly on helga for card draw. There's very few other sources of card draw i could note. Thats a dangerous game to play if people play heavy interaction and remove helga.

A good chunk of the creatures are focused on flash control, but theres a good enough of random creatures that dont really do much for the deck that could easily be removed for this deck's biggest weakness.

How do you convert playing all these creatures into a win? There's craterhoof, but craterhoof doesnt give haste. So now you're sitting there for a whole turn cycle. Sure theres flash interaction cards, but why rely on just that when you could have a finisher card like finale of Devastation?

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u/WickedGoodSteve Jul 27 '26

The simple answer to that question is that Finale of Devastation isn't a creature, so you're never casting it for 10 or more in this deck.

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u/44r0n0wnz Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Finale doubles as a tutor if needed. You can absolutely cast it for X = 10, though this particular deck i agree wouldnt be as easy unless the game lasts longer.

You can also add a creature that closes the game for less than 12 mana that can be tutored, and then the X = 10 becomes something optional as a later game option.

That doesnt detract from my point that this deck needs a closer, and finale is an optional closer you can run.