"Hey Dad, wanna use my Muzzio commander deck?" "No, I am your father"
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 27, 2015, 7:51 p.m. by Halphinian
STORY: My relationship with my dad is kind of rocky, but we have kind of been able to bridge that gap with M:tG. He has been doing well, and with my tutelage, he shall become a decent player of the game. The problem is that I really do not have a commander deck that is very suitable for him. So far, I have a Kruphix, God of Horizons and Muzzio, Visionary Architect commander decks, but they are full of combos and mechanics that really boggle his mind. So, after 2 whole games of commander, I decided to make my dad and I decks. The only problem with that is that I have no idea who the commanders should be. REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMANDERS:
NO pre-constructed decks, please. I want to be able to guide my dad through the process of making a deck, and that cannot be found in buying a couple of those.
I would like them to be semi-equal, but still be able to hold their own against other, outside threats
PERSONAL THOUGHTS:
I thought about Iroas, God of Victory at first for my dad, as his abilities let him attack with little consequence and he is super effective
I also thought about Omnath, Locus of Rage as another for him, because I have an Omnath and I thought that might be good for my dad as well.
I also thought about Zada, Hedron Grinder for him or me because she can really be a badass, but also be kind of humble
Maybe even Mikaeus, the Lunarch as one for my dad, as he (Mikaeus) has fairly simple abilities.
I have more, but I do not want to waste any more cyber-paper
PROBLEMS:
I have some ideas of simple commanders, but I cannot fathom an equal competition for any
DAD STRATEGIES:
My dad is kind of a slow player in the beginning, but becomes progressively more aggressive closer to the end of the game. He really does not grasp control decks, and combos in general tend to confuse him. This is, of course, an assumption, as I have only played 2 full games with him. NOTE: Making a deck that fits my dads style of play is the first priority. I do not mind adapting to a new strategy as long as my dad does not.
MY STRATEGIES:
I play a lot like my dad (like father, like daughter), in that I play pretty passive in the beginning (building the pillow fort as I like to say), and swing heavy late game, but I like control and welcome combos with open arms. Despite that, I can adapt to fit the needs of my father if need be (I am ok with playing an aggro deck as long as my dad has a deck he can use properly)
That is really it. Thanks for the help!
UPDATE
magicevan11, Coinman1863, The_Dragonmaster, SaberTech, Schuesseled, Ruffigan, MindAblaze, BIGBADVOODOODADDY, Lughh, Gidgetimer, deltacobra, michael921, JakeHarlow, RiskyRyan, McSleuthburger, NoNeedToBragoBoutIt, DudelRok, poorpinkus:
Thank you for your comments, I apologize for not responding to them, but I can assure you that I read them. I have not yet chosen a commander, but I am leaning toward Rosheen Meanderer, maybe Mayeal the Anima, and possibly Rafiq of the Many for me or something like that. I have not had much time to think about it, between work and school, but this coming Christmas will be a nice break I will take my Dad to a card shop and show him their selection. If you have any more suggestions, please feel free to give them! Thanks!
Coinman1863 says... #3
I almost feel like 5c goodstuff with Progenitus/Cromat at the helm may be your best bet. This is because he can put whatever he wants in it and you can introduce the idea of ramp to him. These decks are usually very simple to pilot (i.e. ramp to play big stuff/walkers/flashy spells with big effects), and can be a lot of fun to play. When I teaching my father to play EDH , this one was the most fun for him to play and the least confusing. Include Mirari's Wake, Kodama's Reach, Cultivate, and friends along with any big creatures/spells you can find.
But out of the ones you have proposed, I would suggest Iroas as his gameplan is incredibly simple to build around, use, and possibly make a solder tribal deck which leads toward some other cool options.
Hope this helps.
November 27, 2015 8:06 p.m.
The_Dragonmaster says... #4
Voltron is probably the easiest playstyle to wrap your mind around. Does your dad have any favorite colors?
November 27, 2015 8:16 p.m.
For your dad, how about Jenara, Asura of War? Bant colours are great and give a lot of different archetypes to work with. Jenara works well as a win condition without having to focus too much of the deck on her (a bit of protection and a few ways to give her double strike are really all you need). She's also a good commander to teach newer players about tempo and resource management, since you have to think about when it's worth spending your mana to pump her and when you should be building your board state.
November 27, 2015 8:58 p.m.
Schuesseled says... #6
Omnath is your man here, play lands, make lots of 5/5's, simple stuff.
November 27, 2015 9:23 p.m.
You could make him a voltron or tribal Doran, the Siege Tower deck. Voltron has you playing big butts/enchantments/equipment to smash face, tribal has lots of guys with big butts that all work together (but is very susceptible to board wipes).
November 28, 2015 12:23 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #8
Mayael the Anima is a great beginner commander for a midrange player. Ramp, cheat in fatties, attack. Mayael was my first deck on here and it's still one of my favourites.
For you, pillow fort and play defense early, hitting really hard late either by combo or voltron sounds like you would like Bruna, Light of Alabaster. Eldrazi Conscription and/or Corrupted Conscience. Nuff' said.
November 28, 2015 1:47 a.m.
BIGBADVOODOODADDY says... #9
Purphoros, God of the Forge. He's low cmc for early casting, is a huge indestructible creature (given you have devotion), and it welcomes in a new player to the format easily. Plus he deals 2 damage to every opponent every time a creature enters the battlefield. Just pair him with some goblins.
November 28, 2015 5:25 a.m.
I don't think you can use Mikaeus as a commander even though they are a legendary creature, it costs X to cast.
November 28, 2015 6:07 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #11
Mikaeus is fine as a commander. When you cast a commander from the command zone you are doing just that, casting it. This means that you can declare a value for 
.
Although it would require your dad to get a bit more aggressive I would say build him a Xenagos, God of Revels deck. You ramp for 2 turns, put Xenagos out turn 3 and swing for 10+ on turn 4. It is fairly linear so there is nothing too complex to try to understand.
For your part I'm not sure. I've seem some Oloro beaters decks that just pillow fort up the first few rounds and try to win off of creatures. This may work for you but there is something off to building a deck suboptimally to me and Oloro just begs to be made into combo-control. Maybe a tokens build helmed by Trostani, Selesnya's Voice with Wurm and Centaur tokens so that proliferate gives you creatures bigger than 1/1.
November 28, 2015 8:06 a.m.
deltacobra says... #12
I think a goblin tribal be one of your best bets for your dad. My reasons behind this are simple you only have one mana source to deal for one which means no mana fixing and not having to worry bout not getting the right land. Also with goblins the whole point to load the field with them and attack it a super aggressive deck and really easy to use. For the commander for the deck i would suggest Krenko, Mob Boss cause he is insane when he hits the field.
November 28, 2015 8:10 a.m.
deltacobra says... #13
And for your self you could go elves using i prefer Rhys the Redeemed since u then have access to both white and green mana. both decks are fairly aggressive or can be slow to start mass an army and attack. And it a fitting battle goblins vs elves and both decks pending on what cards u put in them should be very even.
November 28, 2015 8:13 a.m.
michael921 says... #14
First of all, its really cool that magic has brought you and your dad closer! The same is true for me as I managed to pull my dad into magic as well!
For commanders, I would go to edhrec.com and have your dad take a look at all of the commanders in his favorite colors. (Probably only two or three color ) And then just help him build the deck around the commander, and it should be a terribly fun deck.
As for building an equal powered deck, build around a theme, have few tutors, few infinite combos, and even potentially stick to a budget. Essentially build a 75% deck (See Jason alt on gatheringmagic for more info on 75%). Building 75% gives for a more interesting deck and more fun interactions!
Let us know of the deck lists when you build them! :)
November 28, 2015 8:18 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #15
I always start my new folks with Odric, Master Tactician. He is really easy to use and seems to mesh well with less experienced players. There are enough interesting things to do with him that he offers a reasonable transition for rookie players to transition to more complex things.
November 28, 2015 11:52 a.m.
Surrak Dragonclaw is a fairly simple commander that allows you to play powerful creature supported by draw spells. You take the first few turns to ramp and then go to town dropping huge fatties such as Titans and Hydras. He also has flash which people forget about and then get blown out because he's a 6/6.
November 28, 2015 6:23 p.m.
McSleuthburger says... #17
do you and/or your dad have any personal favorite cards or colors?
if there are some cards he might recognize it might make it easier for him to figure out combos or such
but I second Mayael the Anima because ramp, big creature, smash, repeat
November 28, 2015 7:22 p.m.
NoNeedToBragoBoutIt says... #18
I like the idea of two tribal decks. That way you can rather easily balance out the decks - plus it does have a plot-ish feel to it.
Elves should be in the huddle, since they are plain fun to use, have a large variety of functions and the strategy part is easy to understand.
Goblins, Slivers, Allies or Merfolk could be a cool matchup.
To keep the game interesting i'd mostly keep tutors out. I always feel annoyed going up against folks that run tons of tutors just to go for the same 2-3 card combo every match. On the other hand it let's you think about keeping the deck versatile enough not to depend on the cards you'd usually search for.
Keep us up to date how's it going, it's great to hear that you and your pops bond over glorious MTG.
November 29, 2015 5:15 a.m.
Okay, so we want to keep it fairly simple, and we want it to included dudes that turn sideways. My go to for that is RG. Step one is ramp, step two is giant dudes, step three is hit people. That sounds exactly like your dads playstyle.
So.. I'd go with the Omnath. Run some ramp, maybe a couple of doublers (Parallel Lives, etc) as well as a few stray elementals that accidentally work with the commander and then a giant dude or 20. Then call it a day.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&color=+![B]+![U]+![W]&subtype=+[%22Elemental%22]
November 29, 2015 11:16 a.m.
poorpinkus says... #20
I second Rosheen Meanderer, it's pretty easy to build a deck around as you just find things with "X" in their costs, and it can make a very fun and awesome mid/lategame aggro deck. If you want to have a starting point, this is my take on the general X Cost Control in EDH - Rosheen Budget
He might also like using saprolings, they are fairly good when it comes to starting off small and bringing out the big guns late game, Ghave, Guru of Spores would be the obvious choice, but that has the option for a lot of combos. I think Thelon of Havenwood would be a much more fun starter general
If he just wants to use big stuff, Hua Tuo, Honored Physician would be a great general as he can always get his stuff back if it dies, plus with certain interactions with putting a creature on top of your library and putting the top card of your library onto the battlefield, it's able to get multiple serious threats at once (Mono-Green Advantage - Hua Tuo Recursion if interested, it get a surprising amount of card advantage for green)
As for you, I think a slightly competitive Phelddagrif deck would be perfect. Surprisingly a lot of multiplayer-based Phelddagrif decks actually work very well in 1v1 games, as your pillow fort cards and control can be directed more towards one person. It would also be awesome to see how your dad reacts to your choice, only to realize that it actually is a very strong tactic (The deck that I use that works well in 1v1's is here: How to Have Fun in EDH - Phelddagrif Surprise. It's not too oppressive, but it's controll-y enough that you can deal with threats, I've tried it against my rosheen deck and they are actually fairly even)
Anyways other than that I agree quite a bit with your choices, and I think Iroas, God of Victory has always seemed like a fun general to me. Omnath, Locus of Rage is awesome, but the problem is that you have to save quite a few slots for land search to get the most out of him, and if the other player has any sort of removal then it can get frustrating for the Omnath player, whereas Iroas is much more difficult to get rid of and allows access to boros colours, meaning that he can still play a bit more removal (He might not like control but a little but can't hurt), plus boros allows for much more protection of one's creatures.
I'd say in my opinion that he'd most likely like either Iroas, God of Victory or Rosheen Meanderer. Naya in general seems like his colour choice, so take that as you will. I hope you two find decks that you both like!
magicevan11 says... #2
I think your father would like playing green/red with a commander like Rosheen Meanderer. Rosheen starts off slow. Ramping the first 3-4 turns is normal. Once you have a lot of mana, cast a Savageborn Hydra or Primordial Hydra and go to town. The deck is simple to play, and the hydras scale as the game gets longer.
November 27, 2015 7:59 p.m.