Magic: The Gathering - Tovolar, Dire Overlord Commander Deck Guide

Innistrad's timeless conflict between vampires and werewolves rages on in the gothic horror plane of Magic: The Gathering. While legendary vampires abound, Only One werewolf commands your Commander deck: Tovolar, Dire Overlord.

While Ulrich of the Krallenhorde presents an alternative, Tovolar uniquely blends the classic transform mechanic from the original Innistrad set with the day/night cycle, uniting your pack under a single banner. As night falls, fangs lengthen, and opponents learn to fear the darkness.

Sample Decklist

Commander
Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge	Creatures (30)	Breakneck Rider // Neck Breaker	Cemetery Prowler	Child of the Pack // Savage Packmate
Conduit of Storms // Conduit of Emrakul	Cult of the Waxing Moon	Daybreak Ranger // Nightfall Predator	Duskwatch Recruiter // Krallenhorde Howler
Geier Reach Bandit // Vildin-Pack Alpha	Hollowhenge Overlord	Hound Tamer // Untamed Pup	Howlpack Piper // Wildsong Howler
Huntmaster of the Fells // Ravager of the Fells	Ill-Tempered Loner // Howlpack Avenger	Immerwolf	Instigator Gang // Wildblood Pack
Kessig Naturalist // Lord of the Ulvenwald	Kruin Outlaw // Terror of Kruin Pass	Mayor of Avabruck // Howlpack Alpha	Mondronen Shaman // Tovolar's Magehunter
Nightpack Ambusher	Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker	Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher	Sage of Ancient Lore // Werewolf of Ancient Hunger
Scorned Villager // Moonscarred Werewolf	Tovolar's Huntmaster // Tovolar's Packleader	Ulrich of the Krallenhorde // Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha	Volatile Arsonist // Dire-Strain Anarchist
Weaver of Blossoms // Blossom-Clad Werewolf	Werewolf Pack Leader	Sorceries (8)	Cultivate	Into the Night	Nature's Lore
Rampant Growth	Stump Stomp	Unnatural Moonrise	Vandalblast
Instants (8)
Beast Within	Chaos Warp	For the Ancestors	Moonlight Hunt
Moonmist	Return to Nature	Tyvar's Stand	Waxing Moon
Artifacts (11)
Arcane Signet	Decanter of Endless Water	Doors of Durin	Gruul Signet
Herald's Horn	Lightning Greaves	Sol Ring	Swiftfoot Boots
Talisman of Impulse	The Celestus	Thought Vessel	Enchantments (7)	Full Moon's Rise	Howling Moon	Howlpack Resurgence
Rhythm of the Wild	Shadow in the Warp	Unnatural Growth	Lands (35)	Cinder Glade	Command Tower	Cragcrown Pathway
Forest (13)	Game Trail	Gruul Turf	Kessig Wolf Run
Mountain (7)	Path of Ancestry	Reliquary Tower	Rockfall Vale
Rogue's Passage	Rootbound Crag	Stomping Ground	Thornspire Verge
Three Tree City

The Commander

Tovolar, Dire Overlord, one of only two legendary werewolves, reigns supreme as the ideal leader for a werewolf deck. His front side, a 3/3 Human Werewolf costing {1}{R}{G}, triggers a card draw whenever a controlled werewolf or wolf deals combat damage.

He also manipulates the game's time to night, transforming daybound creatures. While Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow werewolves utilize the day/night cycle, older versions don't. Tovolar simplifies night triggers and transforms both old and new werewolves.

Tovolar's back side, a 4/4 Werewolf, retains the card draw, replacing the mass transformation with a Kessig Wolfrun copy: for {1}{R}{G}{X}, he grants a wolf or werewolf X/ 0 and trample. His untapping nature allows multiple creature buffs.

His low mana cost and consistent card draw make Tovolar your primary draw engine and a way to spend mana without reverting to day. Werewolves and mana are all you need.

Building the Deck

As a midrange Gruul (red/green) commander, Tovolar prioritizes numerous creatures and aggressive attacks. The color combination lacks strong card draw, but Tovolar compensates, allowing a werewolf-heavy deck.

The win condition and card draw rely on attacking; the strategy is straightforward: play large creatures and attack. While options exist to enhance attacks, the main strategic decision involves choosing when to forgo actions to maintain night.

Skipping spells on your turn can be detrimental with three opponents potentially switching back to day. The deck lacks the ability to force opponents to skip spells (unless Winter Orb is included, which isn't ideal).

To avoid skipping turns entirely, several methods exist to control the day/night cycle or force werewolf transformations. Tovolar and other permanents act as mana sinks, allowing mana usage for buffs or creature generation.

Adding ways to deploy creatures without casting spells (which doesn't affect the day/night cycle) reduces creature costs, crucial in a deck lacking extensive ramp. Managing numerous transforming cards can be challenging; using extra copies as markers simplifies gameplay.

Ramp

Beyond standard mana rocks, green offers excellent land ramp and mana dorks. However, this deck favors mana-generating werewolves over staples like Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise.

Scorned Villager, a slightly more expensive Llanowar Elves ({2} instead of {G}), is a 1/1 that taps for {G}. Upon transformation, it gains vigilance and taps for {2}, enabling attacks and spell casting.

Other mana creatures require attacking for mana generation, aligning with the deck's strategy. Kessig Naturalist produces {R} or {G}, and this mana persists between phases. Its transformation into Lord of the Ulvenwald retains this ability while buffing the pack.

Conduit of Storms, the deck's only non-Human Werewolf (Tovolar can't transform non-Humans), produces {R} when attacking and transforms into Conduit of Emrakul for {2}.

The Celestus, a legendary artifact ({3}), taps for any color of mana, similar to Commander's Sphere. It initiates the day/night cycle and rewards life and card draw with each cycle change. Crucially, it allows day/night switching for {3} at any time, enabling werewolf transformations regardless of opponent actions.

Draw

Tovolar is the primary card draw engine, providing a card per wolf or werewolf dealing combat damage. Supplementary card draw options include:

For the Ancestors allows selecting cards from the top six of your library, useful with the deck's werewolf concentration.

Duskwatch Recruiter looks at the top three cards and selects a creature, and transforms into Krallenhorde Howler to reduce creature costs.

Howlpack Piper puts a creature into play for {2}, untapping if it's a wolf or werewolf, and transforms into Wildsong Howler to search for a creature among the top six cards.

Werewolf Pack Leader provides card draw when attacking with a total power of six or more.

Night and Day

The deck balances old-style and daybound werewolves, with wolves and other creatures included. Tovolar transforms Human Werewolves; other methods are needed for others.

Unnatural Moonrise and Into the Night switch to night, transforming daybound werewolves, providing additional card draw.

Moonmist transforms Humans (Conduit of Storms is unaffected), doesn't change day/night, but catches up older werewolves if it's already night. It's an instant with a Fog effect, allowing attacks.

Daybound and nightbound abilities override Moonmist.

Immerwolf prevents non-Human Werewolf transformations, keeping them in battle mode. It also provides 1/ 1 to wolves and werewolves.

Pack Tactics

Werewolves and wolves synergize, with several acting as lords, buffing the pack. Each creature enhances the board's threat level.

Mayor of Avabruck provides 1/ 1 to Humans (front) and werewolves/wolves (back), also creating a 2/2 wolf each turn.

Nightpack Ambusher acts similarly, creating 2/2 wolf tokens if no spells were cast, allowing werewolf transformations. It has flash for defensive plays.

Avabruck Caretaker distributes 1/ 1 counters, and at night, as Hollowhenge Huntmaster, it places two counters on each creature during combat.

With Aggravated Assault, multiple Hollowhenge Huntmaster triggers are possible, potentially leading to infinite mana generation with enough mana-generating werewolves.

Creature generation without spell casting facilitates werewolf transformations.

Child of the Pack spends mana to create a 2/2 wolf, and at night, becomes a 5/5 with trample and provides 1/ 0 to other creatures.

Hollowhenge Overlord doubles the board size at the beginning of your upkeep, creating a 2/2 wolf for each other wolf or werewolf.

Mass Hysteria (not in the decklist, but a potential addition) grants haste to wolves, enabling immediate attacks.

If an opponent casts two spells, old-style werewolves revert. Howling Moon creates a 2/2 wolf when an opponent plays a second spell.

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