Legendary Creature — Vedalken Scout

Troyan, Gutsy Explorer

Mana value3EDHREC#5,689

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The Commander

{T} : Add {G} {U} . Spend this mana only to cast spells with mana value 5 or greater or spells with {X} in their mana costs.

{U} , {T} : Draw a card, then discard a card.

Guide

Gameplan

Troyan ramps you toward big payoffs, tapping for two mana that fuels expensive bombs and X-spells while looping its loot ability to dig and discard. You curve out small, deploy Troyan turn three, then chain into huge X-finishers or reanimate discarded fatties. The deck wins by going over the top with overwhelming value or a single backbreaking X-spell.

Strengths

Built-in ramp specifically for the splashy 5+ MV and X-spells that define the deck's payoff layer
Card filtering via looting smooths draws and bins reanimation/escape targets
Simic gives access to the best ramp, card draw, and counterspells in the format
Low cost (MV 3) means Troyan comes down early and is easy to recast

Weaknesses

Mana is conditional—it can't pay for cheap spells, lands, or activated abilities
Heavily commander-dependent; without Troyan the engine stalls and ramp dries up
Lacks built-in evasion or protection, so a single removal spell or sweeper sets you back
No direct interaction in the command zone—relies on the 99 for removal and stax answers

Key Cards

Finale of Devastation — X-spell that tutors and pumps your board into a lethal swing, exactly what Troyan's mana wants to fuel.
Hydroid Krasis — X creature that draws and gains life on cast, perfectly using Troyan's restricted mana.
Genesis Wave — Massive X-spell that dumps your library onto the battlefield using Troyan's ramp.
Villainous Wealth — Big X-payoff that steals an opponent's deck, a classic Simic blowout Troyan can power early.
Seedborn Muse — Untaps Troyan every turn so you can loot and ramp on each opponent's turn.
Tooth and Nail — With entwine it's a game-ending X-adjacent bomb that fetches a combo or two fatties.

Upgrade Path

Add untap engines (Seedborn Muse, Wilderness Reclamation, Murkfiend Liege) to double Troyan's output, and lean on fast mana like Sol Ring and the signets to deploy him early. Tighten the curve so most cards are either ramp, interaction, or 5+ MV/X payoffs, and include protection (Lightning Greaves, Heroic Intervention) plus a compact combo such as infinite mana into Finale of Devastation to give the deck a deterministic finish.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Lethal X-spell like Finale of Devastation or a giant Hydroid Krasis swing
▸Genesis Wave / Tooth and Nail dumping a game-winning board or combo
▸Reanimating an army of fatties and attacking
▸Infinite mana sunk into an X-spell to mill or burn the table out

Archetypes

Big Mana Ramp — Troyan's mana is dedicated to casting the largest spells, rewarding a high curve of payoffs.
X-Spell Spellslinger — His mana explicitly fuels X costs, making him a natural commander for an X-spell matters shell.
Reanimator — The loot ability bins huge creatures to cheat back with reanimation spells.
Combo — Untap effects plus Troyan's mana enable infinite-mana X-spell finishers and Tooth and Nail piles.