Commander Abilities
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 3, 2017, 12:15 p.m. by krlsrrll
Afternoon All
I am a fairly new player, started from 2015 onwards, and only recently started playing edh. I generally play for kicks rather than to be the strongest deck so when I pulled a Depala, Pilot Exemplar and instantly thought "great, a Dwarf Vehicle Deck" but after looking through my limited stock of cards I have no red dwarf cards.
So my (eventual) question is: Do people often use commanders where some of their abilities wont be relevant? So for example if I fleshed the deck out with some red human artificers 2 of his main abilities wouldn't be applicable to them. Other option is only have white creatures and use red for multicoloured and other spells.
Thoughts?
P.S. I know I could buy some red dwarfs but I mainly play EDh to use some of my non-standard and 1-off cards so don't tend to buy anything for the decks I have built.
its not uncommon to use a commander for only one of their abilities for just for their colors. I tend to try and build around the commander but my Ulasht, the Hate Seed edh deck only makes real use of one his abilities.
February 3, 2017 1:27 p.m.
Thanks for the comments.
I've had a look and there some nice Dwarfs in AR (especially Renegade Wheelsmith and Sram, Senior Edificer) so think I'll go dwarf/edh with what I have, mayput put in a few human artificers as 'placeholders' then if it works and I enjoy it I can purchase a few.
Sorry, n00b edh player question number 2: With the red cards primarily going to be instant/sorcery I'm never sure what makes for a 'good card 'in EDH in comparison to 60 card decks? For example in my modern/frontier decks Lightning bolt is fairly common but I heard that in edh its not worth it?
February 3, 2017 1:49 p.m.
You do want a commander that either creates or supports the strategy you're going for. You do, however, want the deck to work without it.
I'll sometimes play games and never cast my commander just to see how the deck runs by itself. My playgroup is very Counterspell heavy; so there are many times where I don't ever get to resolve my commander haha
In reference to your Lightning Bolt question, you often want cards that hurt over and over again. 3 damage is laughable when you have 40 life. Heck, Mana Crypt is highly played card and it lightning bolts it's own pilot!
is a challenge strictly due to its minimal draw-card options. Definitely run every card you can get your hands on that draw cards
February 3, 2017 3:11 p.m.
Randomdeath says... #6
For RW decks I always try to run Sunforger and some good spells to complement it. My 2 cents
February 3, 2017 4:12 p.m.
Answering question number 2: You are indeed right. Lightning Bolt is amazing in 1v1 fast formats, but under-performs in EDH, as opposed to a card like Path to Exile. The reason for this is two-fold; 3 damage is relevant when things have that or less toughness. In commander these targets will most likely be small utility creatures, so Bolt doesn't answer real threats once they hit the field. In addition, in multiplayer, spot removal generally sets you a little back in terms of resources (you spent 1 card, for 1 card of one opponent - this means that you and that opponent are now 1 card behind your two other opponents, assuming a 4 player ffa). A little extra reason but not that important to me is the life totals... 40 is 2*20 so if you wanted bolt to be equally good in EDH it would have to deal 6, which is absurd.
That said, it's not such a bad card... When you need it, a bolt is a bolt and you won't mind using it. Although in general for multiplayer EDH you should go big! Instead of bolt, play Anger of the Gods for example. Of course some spot removal is always nice to have and you shouldn't leave home without it as the low cmc allows for some protection if the worse comes to pass. So find a balance between the two, but when you can, favour bigger plays!
killroy726 says... #2
After a quick search there's only 61 dwarf creatures email ever made. 2 of which are black, and one is blue. Edh isn't really something that can be successfully played with current cards. You can get a skeleton of it sure. But to answer your question yes you can use a commander purely for one ability. Heck I use Progenitus as a commander for a 5 color deck only because he's five colors nothing more
February 3, 2017 12:25 p.m.