While they’re easy to overlook, uncommon MTG legends can make for strong Commanders. Since there’s naturally more copies of them to go around, too, these Commanders are often very budget-friendly. This is especially true for Halsin, Emerald Archdruid, who is both extremely cheap and rather powerful.
Picking a Background
With many different colors supporting Halsin’s token ability easily, picking a Background will be the hardest deckbuilding decision this Commander faces. Interestingly, the best Backgrounds don’t seem to be the most popular ones here.
According to EDHREC, Inspiring Leader is the most popular Background with Halsin, but it seems like a win-more strategy. Creating an army of 4/4s with Halsin will usually be enough to close a game with or without an extra +2/+2 buff. Similarly, because Halsin’s entire deck will be focused on token generation, Feywild Visitor isn’t a great option either.
Since Halsin can turn any token into a creature, the card synergizes naturally with Agent of the Iron Throne. On top of giving your Commander a way to win the game without attacking, Golgari is also an excellent color combo for a Food deck, giving Halsin a very straightforward gameplan.
MTG Halsin, Emerald Archdruid
With tons of Food token generators like The Cabbage Merchant and Hazel’s Brewmaster available, Halsin will have no shortage of tokens to turn into 4/4s. These animated Foods can then be sacrificed, creating tons of value with outlets like Witch’s Oven and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine. This will give you a cycle of tokens to animate with Halsin, creating tons of fodder for your Background and Mirkwood Bats to drain your opponents.
With this engine established, replacement effects like Academy Manufactor or Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator can overflow your board with tokens. To help offset Halsin’s activation cost, cards like Jaheira, Friend of the Forest can turn tokens into mana generators.
Thanks to Halsin turning things into 4/4s, the card also supports Ferocious cards like Fanatic of Rhonas. Additionally, high power makes card draw options like Tom, Bert and William, Shadowheart, Dark Justicar, and Return of the Wild Speaker great inclusions in the 99.
If your Food production gets stopped, standalone token producers like Tendershoot Dryad and Blood Money can create instant boards with Halsin. No matter what tokens you have in play, Pippin, Warden of Isengard can turn just a few extra Foods into a massive attack.
Sacrificing Token Creatures Infinitely
Thanks to Halsin’s ability to make any token into a creature, the card has some scary infinite combos with Pitiless Plunderer, who can create Treasures after their animated tokens are sacrificed. Whether you use a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod’s Altar, or a Haste enabler like Concordant Crossroads, creating a loop here is trivial. From there, Agent of the Iron Throne can easily drain your opponent out for a win.
If you’d rather run Feywild Visitor as a Background, Halsin also has a series of infinite combos with Nick Valentine, Private Eye in blue. Creating Clues instead of Treasures, haste enablers won’t work here, but sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks still create infinite mana.
A Powerful Budget Option
With an ability that can both hit hard and play a powerful, grindy strategy, Halsin, Emerald Archdruid offers an extremely versatile strategy on a budget. Despite this, the card sees very little play, only appearing in about 1,110 decks across all of its different Background combinations. This is likely, in part, due to its uncommon rarity, making it easy to overlook.
That said, there is a silver lining: tons of supply is available for Halsin. This makes the card dirt cheap, commonly available for less than $0.10. At this price, building a powerful Halsin deck should be easy on a budget.
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