Commander help and tips

[Foxmar]

I'm looking to build my first commander deck and wanted some help from all the MTG players here.

First a few things about my play style and what I'm looking for. I play allot of green and white and love either big creatures or token decks. I'm looking to make my commander deck tribal and was thinking elves or treefolk but I'm not sure yet and I don't have allot of money to spend on it so it has to be cheap.

I'm really just looking for what would be a good commander for either elves or treefolk and what are some cards I should look at. Also how much land is typical for a commander deck?

Any tips or suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance!

[Volafortis]

Rhys the Redeemed is a good GW elf/token commander.

Some good cards for it:
Craterhoof Behemoth
Awakening Zone
Imperious Perfect
Elvish Archdruid
Joraga Warcaller
Joraga Treespeaker
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Twilight Drover
Parallel Lives
Doubling Season
Nissa Revane
Garruk Wildspeaker
Skullclamp

...and there's a ton more, but those should be a good start toward a GW Elf commander deck.

As for lands, I always run 40. Never more, never less.

[Kapol]

There's one on Wizards site that's a Ghave, Guru of Spores deck largely based around tokens. It's almost all newer cards and almost all commons and uncommons, and very few money rares if any. So it makes a good starting point and is easily modable. I just made my first commander deck from it.

[Yaxley]

If you want to go mono green, Ezuri, Renegade Leader is a great commander. I have most of a deck with him put together, but I keep forgetting to finish it. There are more than enough elves to fill out a deck. The key ones would be the lords that pump your other elves, like Elvish Archdruid, Elvish Champion, Imperious Perfect, Joraga Warcaller, and Adaptive Automaton. Coat of Arms is also obviously a beating in this deck.

If you want to be more flexible, you could go Green/Black with Nath of the Gilt or Glissa the Traitor. It might be more expensive to go multi-color, but it would give you access to better removal (including Eyeblight's Ending).

I agree with Volafortis that 40 seems to be the sweet spot for lands. I will go down to 38 or so if I have several creatures or artifacts that produce mana, but much less than that in a 100 card deck and you're just tempting the gods of mana screw.

[Jamfalcon]

I'll throw in another vote for Ghave. My play group plays a lot of commander, and my brother has been playing Ghave happily since those pre-built decks came out. His deck is only about 30% cards that originally came with it, but like Kapol said, it's a great starting point, a powerful deck right off the bat, and something to play that will be competitive while you get a better handle on the format. When you want to modify it, it's just a matter of swapping out one card for another, rather than building a whole deck.

All that said, the deck isn't cheap these days. All the commander decks have gone up a lot over their price range, but the Ghave one is the second most expensive. It might be a bit tricky to find, depending on your budget.

[Utilitarian]

I really want to make an Enchantment themed Commander deck. Make the commander Uril the Miststalker. Play cards like Ethereal Armor, Sphere of Safety and Enchanted Evening. Then, for hilarity, play Boros Charm into Paraselene.

Too bad Greater Auramancy is so expensive. Then again I suppose I'd only need one.

[Kapol]

I'll throw in another vote for Ghave. My play group plays a lot of commander, and my brother has been playing Ghave happily since those pre-built decks came out. His deck is only about 30% cards that originally came with it, but like Kapol said, it's a great starting point, a powerful deck right off the bat, and something to play that will be competitive while you get a better handle on the format. When you want to modify it, it's just a matter of swapping out one card for another, rather than building a whole deck.

All that said, the deck isn't cheap these days. All the commander decks have gone up a lot over their price range, but the Ghave one is the second most expensive. It might be a bit tricky to find, depending on your budget.

I'm actually not talking about the pre-built. I wasn't ever able to find one since I started playing too late, at least not for a decent price. I'm talking about the list that was posted by a user and modified by a Wizard's writer. Here's the Article. The deck should cost about $20 without trading I'd think since most of the rares are cheap and uncommons/commons are easy to find for those sets. Just keep in mind the lower list is the newer one.

[Utilitarian]

So, on the issue of Commander decks, how do Hybrid cards work in regards to inclusion? IE, can I include Enchanted Evening with Uril the Miststalker as my commander, since I can cast Evening for straight white mana, or does it get excluded due to blue being part of its color identity?

[Drecon]

You can use hybrid cards in either of their colors in commander.

[Kapol]

Actually, from what I've seen, no you can't. Hybrid cards count as both colors that can be used to cast it, which means you can't put them in a legal commander deck if both aren't in your colors.

[Drecon]

Actually, from what I've seen, no you can't. Hybrid cards count as both colors that can be used to cast it, which means you can't put them in a legal commander deck if both aren't in your colors.

You´re right in fact. I seem to have misremembered.

Here´s the rules: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Co ... 8format%29
It mentions hybrid specifically.

[Trymantha]

I really want to make an Enchantment themed Commander deck. Make the commander Uril the Miststalker. Play cards like Ethereal Armor, Sphere of Safety and Enchanted Evening. Then, for hilarity, play Boros Charm into Paraselene.

Too bad Greater Auramancy is so expensive. Then again I suppose I'd only need one.

if you have a competitive play group for edh you'll be fine, if you have casual playgroup prepare for the deck to be hated. Uril is really uninteractive he has shroud so no spot removal, and the first thing people tend to do with him is to make in indestutable and/or unblockable.

[Jamfalcon]

I'm actually not talking about the pre-built.

Ah, I was wondering why you specifically mentioned that it was on the Wizards site in your first post. It all makes sense now!

Also, Trymantha is right. In a casual game Uril would likely not be a lot of fun to play with. In my (pretty small, and very casual) group, picking a commander that isn't an irritant is just as important as picking one that's effective, if not more so. After winning a couple of games with one like that, they'd just end up being hit hard in an attempt to shut them down before they get going.

[Utilitarian]

Hmmm fair enough. I have difficulty not thinking in terms of power plays because my brain just works like that. Basically it was like "Why would I play a Commander without hexproof? It will just get sniped as soon as it comes down otherwise!"

But yea, I understand that Commander is generally meant to be a more casual format. I suppose I can always just build the same deck and then swap Uril in if I find myself playing a more serious Commander game. Ugh though I feel like I'm in Kathleen's shoes from Friday Nights in finding a decent Naya commander. I suppose I could just run Horde of Notions or something.

[Foxmar]

Thanks for the recommendations on cards I should be looking at. Might take a little while to actually get a deck together, but at least I have an idea of what I should be looking for.

Keep the suggestions coming, I'm making a short list of cards to look at. Trying to keep the price as low as possible and that's my only problem so far. Most of the elf cards I've looked at are a little on the expensive side.

[Utilitarian]

So. I have been inspired by Kathleen's "Moldmander" suggestion.

I give you... the Thallid Shooter

Still need to make a few cuts.

Commander:
Ghave, Guru of Spores

27 Creatures:
Bramble Elemental
Deathspore Thallid
Dreampod Druid
Elvish Farmer
Fungal Behemoth
Jade Mage
Mycologist
Mycoloth
Nightshade Peddler
Pallid Mycoderm
Selesnya Guildmage
Psychotrope Thallid
Savage Thallid
Scion of the Wild
Sporesower Thallid
Sporoloth Ancient
Thallid Devourer
Thallid Germinator
Thallid Shell-Dweller
Thelonite Hermit
Thelon of Havenwood
Thorn Thallid
Tukatongue Thallid
Utopia Mycon
Verdant Force
Verdeloth the Ancient
Vitaspore Thallid
Wayfaring Temple

5 Artifacts:
Doom Cannon
Druidic Satchel
Elixir of Immortality
Fodder Cannon
Mortarpod

7 Enchantments
Death's Presence
Gaea's Anthem
Fungal Bloom
Mirari's Wake
Necrogenesis
Pollenbright Wings
Sporogenesis
Verdant Embrace

12 Instants/Sorceries
Aura Mutation
Death Mutation
Flash Foliage
Fungal Sprouting
Golgari Charm
Grim Affliction
Morbid Bloom
Rootborn Defenses
Saproling Symbiosis
Seed Spark
Spread the Sickness
Sprout Swarm

[Dubious_wolf]

Isamaru, Hound of Konda
This seems like a fun silly deck.
mono white board wipes and a one drop commander every turn or so?
seems fun yo.

And then put a bunch of cat people in the deck.
It's the cat dog deck were the leader of the city is a Hound and he has an army of cats at his disposal.
THe only way this could possibly be better is if it was catmander, and bunch of dogs.

[Utilitarian]

Isamaru can actually be pretty mean given the special rules around commander damage. If you've got some cheap buffs and/or equipment for him he can be an amazing early threat given how slow many commander decks are

[Dubious_wolf]

Sound like it could be a good Aggro build.

[ArchieO]

Luminarch ascension, if that card comes down turn two in a commander game you are sooooo far ahead