Commander/EDH Deck Talk

[RadioshackRaider]

I want all of the decks to be on the same power level, which is harder than it sounds. Rakdos in particular is a hard deck to make work. It suffers from having the worst legends.

[theycallmejokke]

Hmmm, I don't know I feel balancing a whole ten decks sounds incredibly challenging. To even begin to advise we would need way more information on the decks, for example you say they are Ravnica commander decks does that mean you are limiting yourself to only the use of cards from Ravnica block, and Return to Ravnica block?
Does the respective guild leaders have to be the commander for their guild's deck?
Or are you "only" looking to make ten balanced commander decks in the guilds color pairings?

To be frank I don't know if what you want are actually achievable, but there are some very talented people in this threat so with a bit more info who knows.

[fantôme]

Sounds like lots of playtesting is in order! But yeah, also curious about these guild decks.

Meanwhile, been wanting to make this forever: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/arts-crafts-1 In terms of aesthetic think: Commander's Sphere, Etched Champion/Oracle, Seer's Sundial, Master Transmuter, in addition to the Kaladeshi filigree. Honestly I'm really bad at evaluating multiplayer in terms of the viability of synergies & strategies, but this deck sure does look pretty. Suggestions welcome!

[RadioshackRaider]

Hmmm, I don't know I feel balancing a whole ten decks sounds incredibly challenging. To even begin to advise we would need way more information on the decks, for example you say they are Ravnica commander decks does that mean you are limiting yourself to only the use of cards from Ravnica block, and Return to Ravnica block?
Does the respective guild leaders have to be the commander for their guild's deck?
Or are you "only" looking to make ten balanced commander decks in the guilds color pairings?

To be frank I don't know if what you want are actually achievable, but there are some very talented people in this threat so with a bit more info who knows.

I'll get full lists up on TappedOut soon, but the decks have a set of certain cycles of cards they need to play. They need all the Charms, Keyrunes, Cluestones, Signets Guild related Lands and legends. The commander of each deck has to be one of the 4 legends which the deck is the built around. Limiting myself to only Ravnica cards was considered, but I feel that could lead to some power issues as some of the guilds have very weak mechanics. Ultimately, the decks would be designed to be colour-balanced so each deck is equal in it's colour distribution. And each deck would be strong enough that even contending against 9 other deck, it could win.

[jadamelio]

I'm working on an WURG enchantment deck for the new 2016 commander. Best couple <3

http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/253132

I'm not very good at ratios, so I'm not sure how many ramp, wrath or rock effects in.

Preferably I would use cards that come with 2016 WURG deck.

Any thoughts on how to tool this out?

[jadamelio]

I'm working on an WURG enchantment deck for the new 2016 commander. Best couple <3

http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/253132

I'm not very good at ratios, so I'm not sure how many ramp, wrath or rock effects in.

Preferably I would use cards that come with 2016 WURG deck.

Any thoughts on how to tool this out?

[fantôme]

I'm working on an WURG enchantment deck for the new 2016 commander. Best couple <3

http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/253132

I'm not very good at ratios, so I'm not sure how many ramp, wrath or rock effects in.

Preferably I would use cards that come with 2016 WURG deck.

Any thoughts on how to tool this out?

I would cut Chained to the Rocks and Ghitu Firebreathing - considering there are so few Red cards, a disproportionate number of Red mana sources would be needed to make these two work, (and 4-colour manabases are hard enough already).

Some ways to repeatedly tap/untap your Inspired enchantment token makers could be useful, as you can't always rely on being able to attack with them. I notice you've already got Springleaf Drum and Freed from the Real in there, (add Bloom Tender for infinite combo - if that's your thing), another tapper to consider: Cryptolith Rite.

Starfield of Nyx is absurdly powerful in here already, and could certainly be built around further.

Enchanted Evening has some unused potential - look up a card called Calming Verse, (for that sweet Rebecca Guay combo).

Speaking of which, Angelic Renewal is a handy little combo with Auramancer.

Enchantment tutors: Idyllic is rather expensive, Enlightened a little cheaper, but Plea for Guidance IMO is worth it on anyone's budget. Also Sterling Grove. Wild Research I'm really iffy on as a tutor.

And you're maybe a little short on artifact/enchantment removal.

Some really cool ideas so far though, I especially like that there's a bunch of ways to bounce/recur enchantments to keep the value train going. Sorry, don't know if any of the above suggestions are in the precons.


Also playing Blue but no counterspells!? *gasp* j/k

[Tim_McM]

Hmmm, I don't know I feel balancing a whole ten decks sounds incredibly challenging. To even begin to advise we would need way more information on the decks, for example you say they are Ravnica commander decks does that mean you are limiting yourself to only the use of cards from Ravnica block, and Return to Ravnica block?
Does the respective guild leaders have to be the commander for their guild's deck?
Or are you "only" looking to make ten balanced commander decks in the guilds color pairings?

To be frank I don't know if what you want are actually achievable, but there are some very talented people in this threat so with a bit more info who knows.

I'll get full lists up on TappedOut soon, but the decks have a set of certain cycles of cards they need to play. They need all the Charms, Keyrunes, Cluestones, Signets Guild related Lands and legends. The commander of each deck has to be one of the 4 legends which the deck is the built around. Limiting myself to only Ravnica cards was considered, but I feel that could lead to some power issues as some of the guilds have very weak mechanics. Ultimately, the decks would be designed to be colour-balanced so each deck is equal in it's colour distribution. And each deck would be strong enough that even contending against 9 other deck, it could win.

Specifically on the weak Rakdos issue I've seen some good eldrazi based Rakdos lord of riots decks using his ability to cast things for free is strong but can be easily regulated by how powerful the things you are accelerating out are.

[chetoos]

I'm interested to make some more commander decks based on challenges from this forum. I've previously made Jund life gain, mono-green artifacts, and even a deck based on one of the least used commanders on EDH-rec, Yuan Shao, the indecisive.

[Atifexe]

Here's a challenge I've wanted to do for some time, but never got to: In one of my local play groups, Wish cards are allowed to draw from your entire collection. With that in mind, design a deck that can recur/copy enough Wish effects to win with Battle of Wits.

[AdmiralMemo]

Interesting. I'm assuming there's plenty of "Elixir of Immortality" effects to help.

[fantôme]

The Wishes exile themselves, so I don't think recurring is an option - the only repeatable recur from exile that comes to mind is Academy Ruins + Mirror of Fate, but Mirror eats the rest of your library.

You could copy the spell a bunch: Reverberate + Isochron Sceptre + Paradox Engine (does that even work?), or something singularly repeatable like Uyo to copy Burning Wish to get Death Wish and one other card, then copy Death Wish to get back Burning Wish and one other card, etc. (also needs lifegain).

Or just something that plays copies of spells rather than the spell itself.

Alternatively: does Spawnsire of Ulamog count as a Wish card?

[Atifexe]

The Wishes exile themselves, so I don't think recurring is an option - the only repeatable recur from exile that comes to mind is Academy Ruins + Mirror of Fate, but Mirror eats the rest of your library.

I found that in my Research as well, but there is one that doesn't exile.

You could copy the spell a bunch: Reverberate + Isochron Sceptre + Paradox Engine (does that even work?), or something singularly repeatable like Uyo to copy Burning Wish to get Death Wish and one other card, then copy Death Wish to get back Burning Wish and one other card, etc. (also needs lifegain).

Isochron Scepter is likely the best bet, and it definitely works with Paradox Engine as the Scepter has you cast the spell. Add in some sort of mana engine and you could probably accomplish it in one fell swoop.

Alternatively: does Spawnsire of Ulamog count as a Wish card?

I was thinking that anything capable of grabbing cards from outside the game would qualify. The final goal is a bit of a long shot, so any advantage available is likely necessary.

Edit to add: I'm totally up for tackling challenges put forth by other people, too, if anyone wants to throw one my way!

[chetoos]

I recently built 2 decks that I'm really proud of, an Arjun storm deck, and a Sedris reanimator deck, using conjurer's closet and dead eye navigator to make things stay alive after unearth.
I'm still looking for new challenges in deck building, such as a mono-green artifact deck that I made, or other things like that.

[fantôme]

Unfortunately Unearthed creatures get exiled if they leave the battlefield, so blinking doesn't work. It would be such a wonderfully abusable mechanic if it weren't for that caveat.

Storm decks in Commander are always interesting to me - I would never actually play one, but seeing people tackle the challenge of creating them is pretty neat.

[chetoos]

It totally works, actually, since the closet exiles them first, which fulfills the unearth requirement. It's a recent ruling on magicjudge.tumblr.com, if you want to check that one out.

[Atifexe]

Unfortunately Unearthed creatures get exiled if they leave the battlefield, so blinking doesn't work. It would be such a wonderfully abusable mechanic if it weren't for that caveat.

As Chetoos says, the only thing Unearth (or any "exile if it would leave the battlefield" effect) cares about is where it went, not how it got there.

In essence, Unearth and any similar effect consists of two points:
1) If this would go anywhere except exile, it goes into exile instead.
2) At the end of the turn, exile this.

When you blink the creature, it goes into exile. The applicable point here is 1, which sees that the creature went to exile and is therefore satisfied. The creature then returns as a new instance of the card, meaning that when 2 looks at the end of the turn, its intended victim no longer exists.

In regards to the ruling supporting this:

If a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it’s exiled instead -- unless the spell or ability that’s causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it.

Unlikely to be relevant, but the creature doesn't have haste when it returns from blinking.

[fantôme]

Oh, that's actually really cool then, and thank you for the rules clarification. Yay I learned something new today.

Wish I'd known that when drafting all those Unearth creatures in the MM3 draft I did though!

[True_Neutral]

Bolting a deck to this post, hoping for input and ideas for modification, as it's in a state now that feels alright, but could use tweaks. I hope this is posted correctly as I'm not entirely used to tapped out and haven't posted on proper forums in a long while: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/niv-mizzet-orbital-laser-4/

[bv310]

Here's a challenge I've wanted to do for some time, but never got to: In one of my local play groups, Wish cards are allowed to draw from your entire collection. With that in mind, design a deck that can recur/copy enough Wish effects to win with Battle of Wits.

Fwiw, I think the much easier way to do this would be with Spawnsire of Ulamog. Cast two hundred Emrakuls, take two hundred turns, shuffle all of them into your deck, win the next upkeep*

*Caveat: requires you to own 200 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

[gcninja]

So I'm building an azorius deck. It's a control shell with flyers (big angels, dragons, and spirits) for the killing. I have 70 sans commander and want to take out 5 more for land room. I plan on adding on more later but what would you all suggest for removing? I am building this from a VERY small pool and will be adding on cards later

Deck:
http://i.imgur.com/2hUesuv.jpg

Thank

[RadioshackRaider]

So I had what was to be my last Commander game at my LGS on Monday and it couldn't have gone better. A 6 Player game consisting of an WURG Group Hug deck, a Tasigur Control deck, a Yidris Chaos deck, a Mizziz Spells deck, an Atraxa +1/+1 Counters deck and my Jhoira of the Ghitu Artifacts deck, which won the game. I managed to assemble a contraption of enough mana rocks, Paradox Engine and Etherium Horn Sorcerer to go Infinite with Etherium Horn Sorcerer's cascade, which then allowed me to generate infinite mana and infinite energy a la Consulate Turret, which killed everyone. After the game, I realised that the deck could do what my Breya MyR Tribal deck idea could do and cast Breya infinitely to win the game as well, so I'll be switching Jhoira for Breya next time I play the deck, and maybe put some other colour-making mana rocks in.

[bighairygm]

I recently decided I had to many decks. The new ones where suffering from not having enough of the staples and not enough room in my budget to upgrade them all. So I grouped them into 5 general categories and broke them apart, removed any double cards, resleaved them into category specific sleeves, and then built one deck for each category. This way whenever I want to brew all relevant cards are together and sleeved. No more searching my unorganized playable and fringe playable boxes for that one card I want to use!
Categories/Colors Supported/Current Decks are: Sac Tokens (BRG) Omnath, Locus of Rage, Graveyard (UBG) Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Tribal Armies (WBR) Ghoulcaller Gisa, Spells (UR) Mizzix of the Izmagnus, 4+ color (WUBRG) Breya, Etherium Shaper.

Any thoughts on how to improve this organization would be appreciated.

[asteriskreaper]

So, how many EDH decks is to many to have? I currently own 14 with nearly a dozen more under construction...

[AdmiralMemo]

Online, I've got over 30. IRL, I've got like 4.