The crushing multiplayer aspect
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on June 5, 2019, 1:43 a.m. by Farel
Hello, I had previous written a topic on here to help me pick a good commander deck for myself. The choice fell on the "Swell the Host" one, because I love green, especially when it teams up with blue. I bought the premade one, went to one EDH night, played a game, got p'owned pretty badly, so I went to this page to look at the "average deck" https://edhrec.com/decks/ezuri-claw-of-progress bought a whole bunch of cards, missing less than 5 now, went to play some games last night, and yes, certainly, I was in a much better position, but by better I mean "Well, when someone wiped the board, I did manage to resummon Ezuri... still only managed to attack twice before some other player nuked us all"
I looked at the boards of the other players, and even outright asked, if I have the slowest and most boring deck of them all or something, but I was assured that no, my deck is strong, I got some strong cards, and it's just that it would only do well when playing against very few players, because playing against 5 other players, anybody can just nuke the board and then I'd have to start all over again.
This feels like the most frustrating thing to hear after a whole month of preparations... traveling to the game store, back and forth, paying big cash for the cards online.
Now I question if the deck can be modified to better suit matches against many players, or if some cards that I bought could potentially be useful in a different deck, or if I really should just start all over again with a different deck, because it is a hopeless venture.
There are certain cards and strategies you can use to try and mitigate repeating board wipes. Cards like Eldrazi Monument , Soul of New Phyrexia , and to a lesser extent Inspiring Call and Heroic Intervention can help protect your board.
But you can also try and use recursion cards, like Seasons Past , Praetor's Counsel , and Creeping Renaissance to refuel your hand after a board wipe.
If these don't seem to be effective, you might need to try and add more ramp and creature tutor spells and try and combo win in a single turn with Sage of Hours .
June 5, 2019 2:07 a.m.
I'd also mention, hard as it may be (and a little counter-intuitive with Ezuri!) try not to overextend into potential removal.
Playing out threat after threat is asking for someone to hit the panic/reset button so no harm in keeping one or two things back if you're not desperate to pressure the board. I was rubbish at this until I got together with a regular play group and now though we may all be friends, we are rightly suspicious all the time!!
You are probably playing a perfectly competitive enough deck, sometimes you'll suffer from variance and won't go off and it seems worse than it is. Don't worry, you can always shuffle up and go again. See how your group feels about splitting into 2x games of 3 players, I expect you'll find you do better.
June 5, 2019 7:17 a.m.
I would say that if you are looking to avoid board wipes and removal then you need to get some stuff that keeps your guys protected. Since you are in Simic then you can run counterspells cards and hold them in hand until you need them to get around a board wipe or an important piece of removal and another card you can run is Heroic Intervention since it just protects your entire board at instant speed.
June 5, 2019 4:14 p.m.
Last_Laugh says... #6
It sounds like you're at the tail end of a meta arms race or just joined an enfranchised group of players. I've seen and been a part of both these before and they can be discouraging to newer players.
There's a few things that'll help close the gap, but outside of crazy wallet flexing they take time. The only immediate answer is a different play group that's more on your level but that's not always an option.
Mostly it's just experience. I've gotten my ass handed to me by decks that cost $100 while playing a $2000 deck so money isn't everything. Knowing when and when not to do something and good threat assessment can't be taught. A good example is most new players overextend and play stuff like removal or creatures just because they have the requisite mana to do so. It's done without reading the table for information like opponents' untapped mana, # of cards in hand, recognizing combo pieces/threats, or a player slow-rolling... which is a player avoiding playing stuff (typically creatures) in anticipation of playing a boardwipe themselves, etc.
It's best to start with 1-2 colors and a commander that's good on a budget with a clear line of upgrades like Omnath, Locus of Rage or Ezuri, Renegade Leader . As you play longer branch into another color and as your collection grows, more and more options become viable.
June 5, 2019 7:32 p.m.
In a pod of 6 players with ezuri, your best bet is to start the game by ramping up your resources (spells like Mystic Remora or Carpet of Flowers ), hanging back while everyone uses up their answers to deal with other player's threats and help with that end (spells like Counterspell or Out of Bounds , Pongify or Beast Within ) and then when you find an opening combo off with a Flash hulk infinite turn combo with ezuri.
So honestly the best thing to do is play a lot more games of commander and learn how the people you play with play habits.
June 6, 2019 4:24 a.m.
VampiricTooter says... #8
My very first commander deck was the same one you are playing and remember having the same frustrating issues with getting board wiped and it taking a long time to rebuild. Sage of hours is the best card in the deck and Counterspells are ok. My suggestion is to add Seasons Past and Genesis Wave maybe a Green Sun's Zenith and Cyclonic Rift . I also like sacrificing things to Altar of Dementia or coming out with haste from Concordant Crossroads . These cards are all staples of the format and will be useful even if you scrap ezuri.
June 6, 2019 9:03 a.m.
VampiricTooter says... #9
Intruder Alarm makes infinite tokens with any creature that taps to make tokens Kazandu Tuskcaller
June 6, 2019 9:18 a.m.
Part of doing well in any multiplayer game is threat assessment, playing conservatively (not overextending), effective politics, and taking advantage of opportunities to advance your game plan. You can have the best deck in the world, but if you fail to account for multiplayer variances in your game plan you're going to lower your winning percentages by a lot. From your description, I can tell that you might be overextending your board a little too much and too quick which prompts players to wipe the board. Including infinite combos in Ezuri is one of the best way to win the game because it's easier in a 40 life format and you don't have to overextend. Hope this helps!
June 6, 2019 9:23 a.m.
Cards like this can help as while Predator Ooze or Temur Sabertooth these are cheap and Sabertooth saves it self and another creature this is assuming destroy and not exile or negative counters. You could save your green creatures with Hibernation or like people said cards like Counterspell or Swan Song as example but blue has tons that are cheaper in $$ that are commons.
bushido_man96 says... #2
The more players you have, the more you have to account for removal and wipes. It just tends to be how people build their decks. If you play in a meta that runs heavy removal, then you will need to probably build with that idea in mind. If you are playing with blue, then running counter magic can by helpful with this. Another solution might be to play lower to the ground (lower overall CMC) and be more aggressive, getting damage in early before the wipes.
Commander is best played in multi-player scenes that are usually casual, but depending on the power level of the group, can get pretty competitive. Like I mentioned, the big thing is figuring out how your meta plays, and preparing for that in your deck building.
The venture is not a hopeless one. You just need to make some adjustments.
June 5, 2019 1:52 a.m.