Commander Deck Tech - Hylda of the Icy Crown

A big Wilds of Eldraine celebrity was definitely Hylda of the Icy Crown, because of her clear reference to a certain Ice Queen from another franchise. She is a legendary creature in an Azorius combination of colors which can do a bit of everything. Let's see how we can extract the most out of her.

Hylda of the Icy Crown is a commander who needs to be on board 100% of the time for her deck to be truly effective. For this reason, we can see how she is a bit more casual than other commanders with the same color combination, but that doesn't mean her potential can't be explored.

As we know keeping her on board is a bit uncertain, we'll try to extend her lifespan as much as we can to use her in the best way possible, be it by creating 4/4 Elementals, growing your creatures or drawing cards.

But, for that, we need to tap our opponent's creatures, and it is in our build that this Icy Queen's powers come to life.

This list's win condition is primarily combat damage, but there is another way to win if you choose to follow it. This deck allows you to go through both the path of drawing increasingly more cards, and making an army of Elementals strong enough to both aggro down your opponents and defend yourself.

Mana Rocks

Hylda requires you to pay 1 colorless mana every time a creature is tapped so that her effects can be used. So, you need to have a reasonable number of low-cost mana rocks: we have Sol Ring, Talisman of Progress, Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Fellwar Stone, Thought Vessel, Mind Stone, which can draw another card, and Everflowing Chalice, which can create more than one mana.

Tapping Creatures

Creatures Tapping Creatures

We'll start with Court Street Denizen. With this Human, you can create Elementals as long as your opponents have creatures and you have mana, considering that, for each Elemental that comes in, you'll trigger Court Street Denizen again.

Elvish Mariner has a similar role, considering its ability to tap creatures alongside Hylda's Scry effect.

In the Spirit section, we use Dreamshackle Geist, Niblis of Frost, Timin, Youthful Geist and Topplegeist. They are all quite versatile, and can trigger Hylda every turn. I'll particularly highlight Timin, Youthful Geist, which can act in every combat, and Niblis of Frost, which can also tap creatures outside your turn without much issue.

Providing us card draw, we have Gadwick, the Wizened and Sharae of Numbing Depths.

Sharae mostly, as it can provide us with one card draw at each opponent's turn with Timin, Youthful Geist, for instance, creating a beautiful harmony.

Finally, we have Minister of Impediments, Illithid Harvester and Githzerai Monk. Minister of Impediments is quite straight-forward: it taps the target creature and that is it. As for Illithid Harvester, it can wreak havoc with its ETB effect even without using its Adventure, Plant Tadpoles, which by the way is quite useful even without its creature part.

To catch opponents off guard, we have Githzerai Monk, which even works quite well when played before Illithid Harvester.

Other Resourceful Creatures

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV seems a bit "out of place" here as it doesn't have much to do with the deck's theme. But, in reality, you can see in Hylda's build that every mana matters; hence each play needs to be thought out to the last detail, so you don't create a problem by running out of answers for an opponent later on.

Having a spell discount and using the mana that would be spent to trigger Hylda's abilities seems interesting, besides being able to disrupt your opponent's life a bit by taxing them.

Moving on to building a board with several Elemental tokens, Junk Winder, once on board, can do a lot of damage, considering that, for each token created, we have another non-land permanent tapping trigger, and, from then on, you can already see what this serpent is capable of doing.

Sunblast Angel can get rid of the creatures which were tapped, and harmonizes well with spells that tap all creatures, therefore becoming a way to clear the path.

Finally, we have a surprise for our opponents: Willbreaker, to have control of every creature we tap punctually. The many aforementioned creatures and cards that will be shown later on will make Willbreaker work nicely.

Spells and Interaction with Tapped Creatures

Detection Tower and Arcane Lighthouse are used to deal with what would be one of the deck's main weaknesses: Hexproof and Shroud. They demand a certain additional effort, but may be worth it, depending on how the game is developing.

But, if they don't solve it, we have the option of taping not one, but all creatures. We can use Blustersquall with its Overload, Bond of Discipline with the possibility of gaining life if your board is wide, Sleep and Cone of Cold.

To punctually tap creatures, we have Icy Blast, Plunge into Winter, Succumb to the Cold, Cone of Cold and Freeze in Place. And, finally, to take advantage of creatures which are already tapped, and not lose as much gas, we use Theft of Dreams and Borrowing 100,000 Arrows.

Enchantments and Similar

We couldn't exclude Hylda's signature card, Hylda's Crown of Winter. Tapping creatures for no cost and triggering her for free can only be good. Similar to this card, we also use Icy Manipulator and Scepter of Dominance, in case another non-creature permanent also needs some ice.

We also have an array of enchantments which trigger Hylda: Citadel Siege, Opposition, Retreat to Coralhelm, Scroll of Isildur, Time of Ice, Solitary Sanctuary and what can generate us the highest amount of value: Verity Circle. Both the deck's own spells and creatures tapping to activate an ability or pay a Convoke cost, for instance, trigger a card draw, so you can say Verity Circle speeds up the game exponentially.

And, finally, we have the first version of Tamiyo - Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Its biggest use in our list will be its first two abilities, but, if you can eventually use its ultimate, it will be very welcome.

Defensive Resources

Protection and Global Removals

Despite the great potential of tapping many creatures, it isn't guaranteed you'll be intact 100% of the time. Sometimes, defeat can come out of thin air. So, to keep us safe, we have Propaganda and Ghostly Prison for creatures which aren't tapped and/or come in with Haste.

If that still doesn't do it, no worries, as we use in the deck Cyclonic Rift and Teferi's Protection. These are cards that can be swapped at the pilot's discretion, as they are very famous and popular staples in Commander, which makes their search and price consequently a bit more difficult.

As global removals, we have the Azorius classic, Supreme Verdict, for creatures only. To remove other things, we use Austere Command and Farewell, which fulfill their role of eliminating whatever is causing a problem quite well.

Counters and Punctual Removals

When I'm building decks with Blue, I always add in a "basic package": Counterspell, Arcane Denial and An Offer You Can't Refuse. But, as this deck also has White, you can add Dovin's Veto as a bonus.

For punctual removals, White's "package" exists as well and is made up of Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Generous Gift and a new addition, Stroke of Midnight.

Finally, we have our favorite counter in this list: Cryptic Command. Its versatility has always been appreciated in several formats, but it particularly shines in this list due to its variety and synergy with Hylda. It is almost a Sleep with the option of drawing a card or countering a spell.

Creating Value and Drawing Cards

Smothering Tithe goes well with Hylda to pay for the cost of her abilities. Rhystic Study is a card that goes in almost 100% Blue decks to fill your hand early, as you can also avoid having too much mana or no spells at all in hand.

Dig Through Time helps with card selection, besides being quite versatile due to Delve, not to mention its incredible use after casting an Approach of the Second Sun, already setting up victory. By the way, moving on to a Scry 2 and draw line, Hylda can potentially dig and find Approach of the Second Sun quite soon to finish the game quickly.

We cut a few cards that are more expensive, but which aren't as essential to this list, such as Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and Teferi's Protection. Hylda's deck engine cards can fit the Budget build well.

Azorius is quite out of my comfort zone, but I can see myself playing this deck. Fair and fun, I can say this is the perfect Midrange deck for the kitchen table. Some cards make it more expensive, but, like I said before, even when we cut our defensive resources, the deck's essence remains the same.

Did you like this list? Do you prefer the budget version? Would you go for a more token-focused strategy? Or a more Control one? Share your thoughts!