Baylen, the HaymakerBaylen, the Haymaker | Art by Ryan Pancoast

Welcome to a brand new series here at EDHREC, Best At, Worst At! Here, we'll look at some of Commander's most popular strategies, see which legendary creatures lead the most decks for them, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of those cards.

In this inaugural edition, we'll be looking at token decks! Tokens are actually the most popular strategy in Commander at the moment, with 193,021 decks tagged as belonging to the strategy on EDHREC. Without any further ado, let's see what makes token decks tick!

Why Play Tokens?

These decks tend to flood the board with as many tokens as possible before swinging in for huge damage to close out the game. Having a board full of tokens can help pilots navigate many of Commander's challenges. A board full of disposable creatures allows players to block opposing threats with impunity, overwhelm opposing boards with attackers, and even tank removal spells like Blasphemous EdictBlasphemous Edict without batting an eye.

There's also a wealth of synergy cards to support this strategy. From doubling effects like Parallel LivesParallel Lives and Mondrak, Glory DominusMondrak, Glory Dominus to mana producers like Peregrin TookPeregrin Took and Insidious RootsInsidious Roots, there's tons of cards to prop up a token commander!

Who's The Most Popular Token Commander?

The most popular token commander, by a long shot, is Baylen, the HaymakerBaylen, the Haymaker. This three-drop from Bloomburrow is immensely popular, and has climbed up to the #20 spot on EDHREC's rankings with nearly 30,000 decks to their name. For , they let us tap two tokens to make a mana, tap three tokens to draw a card, and tap four tokens to give Baylen a few +1/+1 counters and trample.

What Makes Baylen so Powerful?

There are other commanders that can produce mana, like Jaheira, Friend of the ForestJaheira, Friend of the Forest. Jaheira even produces mana at double the effectiveness of Baylen, letting each token produce one mana (instead of each producing half of a mana with Baylen). But, our Rabbit Warrior can produce mana of any color, and allows us to use tokens to create mana without regard for summoning sickness! It's a toss-up, but Baylen may be an even better mana maker than Jaheira.

Baylen lets us draw a card for every three tokens we've got. This is super strong, and is up there with the likes of Bennie Bracks, ZoologistBennie Bracks, Zoologist. Unlike Bennie, though, Baylen lets us use our tokens to draw cards over and over again (while also letting us choose exactly when we get to draw our cards). If we manage to pair Baylen with an effect that untaps our tokens, like Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse or DrumbellowerDrumbellower, we'll be able to draw a truly mind-boggling amount of cards. Baylen is the best token-centric card advantage engine in our format, and it's not particularly close.

Baylen also becomes a potent Voltron threat, turning every four tokens on our board into some +1/+1 counters and evasion. There aren't many other commanders that turn a "wide" board full of tokens into a single "tall" creature that can end games in one punch. Nadier, Agent of the DuskenelNadier, Agent of the Duskenel and Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach can pull off a Voltron game plan somewhat well, but Baylen once again dwarfs them.

This commander's color identity has also likely contributed heavily to its popularity. , , and all have great token cards. This three-color combination gives us access to interesting multicolor cards like Neyali, Suns' VanguardNeyali, Suns' Vanguard, Sundering GrowthSundering Growth, and even Roxanne, Starfall SavantRoxanne, Starfall Savant.

What's in a Baylen Deck?

These decks look to create dozens of tokens and tap them to create value with their commander. Pilots don't really care what type of token they're creating, as long as they're able to make a lot of them. Farmer CottonFarmer Cotton features in 42% of Baylen lists, Aura MutationAura Mutation is in 44%, and Hare ApparentHare Apparent is even in 35% of lists! We'll be ignoring the more Rabbit-centric versions of Baylen in this article, but I did want to at least acknowledge their existence.

Token doublers also see heavy play, with Second HarvestSecond Harvest, Ocelot PrideOcelot Pride, and Elspeth, Storm SlayerElspeth, Storm Slayer finding a slot in the 99 of many Baylen decks.

With all that background, here's a Baylen deck list. This is taken directly from EDHREC's "average deck" feature to reflect the community's use of this commander.

What Are Baylen's Shortcomings?

There aren't many things that this commander does poorly. She makes mana, draws cards, and even breaks through board stalls. But, all that said, Baylen decks don't recover from board wipes very well.

Commanders like Esika's ChariotEsika's Chariot produce some advantage the moment they hit the board (even if we had nothing going on before casting them). Other options, like King Darien XLVIIIKing Darien XLVIII can protect a pilot's board from sweepers. And, finally, commanders like Chatterfang, Squirrel GeneralChatterfang, Squirrel General can make good use of tokens that were on their way out regardless.

How Can We Shore Up Baylen's Weakness?

Let's take a closer look at Esika's ChariotEsika's Chariot, a somewhat unique token commander that can recover from wipes a bit more easily than Baylen can. For , this 4/4 Vehicle creates two 2/2 Cat tokens upon entering the battlefield. We also get to create a copy of a token that we control when this Vehicle attacks. We'll often want to create a copy of something a bit more potent than a 2/2 Cat, like Biowaste BlobBiowaste Blob or Elder GargarothElder Gargaroth.

Baylen is much better than Esika at creating mana and card advantage, but Esika has a much more unique take on tokens. Instead of flooding the board with tokens, Esika decks want to make a few super strong tokens to take over the game.

This opens up some super fun synergies! If we use Bramble SovereignBramble Sovereign or Springheart NantukoSpringheart Nantuko to copy Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth, we can make mincemeat of our opponents' life totals.

We can also speed up the clock that Giant AdephageGiant Adephage puts on the game, make Desolation TwinDesolation Twin into a Desolation Triplet, or improve on the already strong Sapling NurserySapling Nursery.

So, while Baylen may outclass Esika's Chariot in many ways, we can still have a lot of fun with this Vehicle. And, if we cast Esika into a fresh game state after a board wipe, odds are that we'll rebuild faster than most of our opponents. Even if we resort to using our commander to copy 2/2 Cat tokens, that's still creating a board state of some kind!

To illustrate my point a bit further, here's an Esika's Chariot list that I put together. I focused heavily on resilience to removal, trying to show just how much sturdier this game plan is compared to Baylen's.

To that end, I included lots of cards like Bristlebud FarmerBristlebud Farmer and Nexus of BecomingNexus of Becoming that provide steady streams of tokens and value. These one-card engines will provide great targets for our commander's copying ability, while also letting us build a great board state from scratch!

Conclusion

Baylen was a tough card to find weaknesses in. They do a bit of everything, and do everything well. But, like many token commanders, Baylen requires a lot of permanents to be firmly planted on the battlefield to operate at maximum effectiveness.

Is there a strategy that you'd like to see me take a look at next week? Any commander you're hoping to see analyzed? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll be back soon with more articles like this!