Best Guild for Midrange/Control? EDIT: Control/Combo
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 31, 2017, 6:54 p.m. by TheEDHKid
Hey all I'm fairly new to EDH (I just love it so much my name has it in it) and I'm trying to decide what colors my next deck will be. I'd really like for it to be a midrange deck but not tokens cause thats already my Marath deck. Any tips and suggestions?
EDIT:thanks to TheDevicer I've found out all of EDH is kinda midrangy so I'll more be looking for combo/Control decks!
MoonTurtle7 says... #3
Golgari Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is one of the strongest midrange in a less graveyard hate-y metas. Even then he can still be very powerful.
Temur can be pretty fun with Riku of Two Reflections Animar, Soul of Elements and Yasova Dragonclaw can be cheeky, with a nice set of colours.
If you want control Azorius is one of the best ways to go. Brago, King Eternal alone is infamous for being one of the biggest degenerates in edh. But has Ephara, God of the Polis is you want some midrange control. she's even subtle so you can be political.
Bant Roon of the Hidden Realm can be a really good mid-range ETB goodstuff deck.
A lot of the two colour commanders tend to be a more narrow. So you may wanna do some digging.
March 31, 2017 7:38 p.m.
Okay thank you for the help!
I like the looks of Roon and Ephara but sadly my friend plays ephara and I don't think I want to play another three color deck, Putting my marath deck together land base wise was a huge pain. Thanks for your suggestions!
March 31, 2017 7:47 p.m.
In a lot of cases, especially if you're not super tight on cash, it's actually easier to put together a 3-color mana base than a 2-color one. This is esp. true for enemy colors.
If you just enjoy playing creatures on a curve, I recommend Meren of Clan Nel Toth since the precon is pretty decent and she can be built to be fairly competitive if you put time and money into the deck while also being decent out of the box.
March 31, 2017 7:57 p.m.
I would but in my 3 person play group someone already plays Meren and I feel like two of practically the same deck is kinda boring.
March 31, 2017 7:59 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #7
The best midrange deck in two colors is probably Captain Sisay right now, but Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is also quite good. As far as three color options, I lean toward Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Karador, Ghost Chieftain + Boonweaver Giant lists. This of course has to do with how competitive your playgroup is (most of these are highly competitive decks if made 100% optimal).
You could, however, make a great Yisan deck, which is a midrange deck in one color, which will allow you to save on mana and put more into the "actual" cards of the deck.
March 31, 2017 8:02 p.m.
Workman4137 says... #8
A really good Grixis deck I found is very spiteful and controlling. A good one is Crosis, the Purger
Another good deck that would be powerful is the sultai. Leovold, Emissary of Trest is a very control heavy deck but not for midrange.
Then again I have no idea what midrange means in edh soooo... ;; those are just my suggestions.
March 31, 2017 8:02 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #9
Leo is quite good. Crosis is pretty bad outside of a casual meta.
March 31, 2017 8:05 p.m.
Ok, so here's a list of two-color commanders that are newbie friendly, can be built on a budget, are at least a little bit flexible in how competitive you make them, and are effective in a "mid range" build:
- Brago, King Eternal
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
- Dragonlord Ojutai
- Sygg, River Cutthroat
- Wydwen, the Biting Gale
- Olivia Voldaren
- Mogis, God of Slaughter
- Xenagos, God of Revels
- Omnath, Locus of Rage
- Captain Sisay
- Gaddock Teeg
- Selvala, Explorer Returned
- Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
- Kambal, Consul of Allocation
- Mizzix of the Izmagnus
- Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
- Iroas, God of Victory
- Aurelia, the Warleader
- Prime Speaker Zegana
- Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
March 31, 2017 9:19 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #11
GAAIV is definitely a Stax list, not midrange. Nath is also usually a Stax list. Brago is a Stax list. Mizzix is a storm commander, though markedly worse than Jeleva or Sidisi. Momir Vig was a competitive midrange list pre Prophet ban, but it is overshadowed by most of the BUG commanders now.
Selvala and Sisay are decent actual midrange options. Wydwen is something I've been tinkering with as a pretty sweet commander for Paradox Engine combo with Aetherflux Reservoir.
March 31, 2017 9:28 p.m.
@buildingadeck... Mate. Real? You're honestly going to suggest someone new to the format should pick up GAAIV or a similar commander and start shoving in Rings combos or some other bs. I'm familiar with high-level commander since it's pretty much all I play, but suggesting strategies from tiered decks to newbies is dumb as fuck. It's insanely frustrating to play against tiered decks anyway.
What's wrong with playing GAAIV with cards like, I dunno, Sun Titan, Windborn Muse, Mulldrifter, etc. while splashing in some card draw and light control elements? The deck won't be amazing, but it'll be good enough to hold its own at most tables while also giving a new player the chance to amass cards that'll be valuable later on regardless of what they play. Investing in stuff like Cyclonic Rift and Rhystic Study's never a bad idea if you're starting out.
March 31, 2017 10:05 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #13
By the way, the notion that all of edh is midrange is kind of bull. The majority of the decks are combo, adaptive combo, midrange, and stax.
March 31, 2017 10:19 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #14
There's nothing wrong with that, but establishing that everything is midrange and then suggesting a bunch of decks that are not midrange is blatantly errant.
March 31, 2017 10:20 p.m.
Yo guys! Wtf ?!? no one mentions simic? In my humble opinion, it is one of the best guilds, if not the best! Thrasios+Kydele, are the bomb!
April 1, 2017 12:37 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #16
I was talking primarily about decks that could be converted into competitive decks, and unfortunately, there aren't any purely Simic options right now that are viable.
April 1, 2017 1:46 a.m.
landofMordor says... #17
TheEDHKid, the answer depends on what you mean by "control". Do you want fair control, where it's a 1-for-1 trade, you Canceling their Lord of Extinction or whatever? Or are you the kinda person to Armageddon? Fair control is usually U, UW, UR, or UB. "Mean" control almost always has white in it, because white is annoying like that.
Let's assume you want "fair" control, since I don't know many new players who are just itching to Armageddon. Now we get to the "combo" portion of your desired deck. Are you talking infinite combos like Deadeye Navigator and Palinchron? Or just jank combos like Zada, Hedron Grinder and Rally the Righteous? I personally prefer the jank stuff myself, because it makes for more fun multiplayer games.
If that description sounds like you, then we're narrowing in on some good guilds. In my opinion, GU (Simic) is perfect for a new player. It's straightforward, but still presents some cool deck building challenges. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter has been awesome in a deck I built called Crafting Eternities (Budget) (she's super fun, without being broken). However, there are also fun decks to be built with UR, like Melek, Izzet Paragon where you just cast a lot of spells. Or UB could be fun, though that restricts you a bit more.
Hope this helps! Mention me in the comments if I can do anything else for you! Feel free to check out my user page if you're looking for EDH decklists.
Arvail says... #2
Because of the high starting life total in EDH and the multiplayer nature, pretty much everything is "midrange" in very loose terms. My advice is to dick around and see what other people on this site have built. Then just play whatever colors appeal to you.
March 31, 2017 7:22 p.m.