I Want to Play Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 13, 2016, 8:26 a.m. by DarksteelBadger
Hello T/O, it's DarksteelBadger here and I need a little help. A large percentage of my LGS plays almost exclusively EDH and I want to join in. Does anyone have any suggestions for decks for a new player? I would like to keep the deck under $100-$200 at first to make sure I enjoy the format. Thanks all!
The precons are a surprisingly good place to start looking. In terms of building your own deck, it matters immensely what your playstyle is. Thankfully, there are commander to fit practically anything you'd want to do.
September 13, 2016 8:39 a.m.
Yeah, If you are going to start then I would suggest taking a look at the precons first.
September 13, 2016 8:43 a.m.
DiamondFlavor says... #5
Commander is also hugely meta-dependent. As a "social" format, people have widely varying ideas about what is fun, competitive, etc.
Like, if you bring a huge-creature stompy deck to a group full of infinite combos, you're gonna have a bad time. Same goes for the inverse. So, a little research about the decks that exist at your LGS could go a long way.
Of course, there are plenty of deck styles in between! The beauty of Commander is creativity / flexibility.
If you can work out the competitive level of your LGS and come up with a Commander, strategy, or colors you like, I'm sure the community and I can provide you with some great suggestions.
Good luck!
September 13, 2016 9:20 a.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #6
If you're into B/R and budget...Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury is a fun general to use.
September 13, 2016 9:22 a.m.
Hi DarksteelBadger! Take a look at my Roon deck. It's budget friendly (75 bucks), as well as a decently competitive deck. It requires a decent knowledge of stack workings, but is a very fun deck to play! Enjoy. Galaxy Bounce
September 13, 2016 9:36 a.m.
ThoAlmighty says... #8
The problems with the Precons are they are rarely competitive enough. However, the generals released with the Precons are incredibly fun. I've built Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Daxos the Returned, Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, and my most successful has been my Mizzix of the Izmagnus. There are a lot of good generals out there and I'd try and find one that fits the way you like to play (combo, aggro, politics, etc.), and build around it. I like generals who are designed for commander personally, though you may find something different. I can't think of any good commanders off the top of my head, but there are plenty of tier lists floating around on this site.
Anyway, best of luck.
September 13, 2016 9:56 a.m.
shaistyone says... #9
I build budget decks constantly, so the dollar value is fine. What do you want the deck to do, and how do you want to be perceived by your opponents?
September 13, 2016 10:09 a.m.
Get a precon. The main reason is it gives you a collection of staples from which to build from, as well as some unique and powerful cards.
From there it depends where you fall. Control can be done quite cheaply for example, because of the wide range of removal, counters and wipes, unlike other constructed formats
September 13, 2016 10:11 a.m.
Winterblast says... #11
I've also started playing Commander only a few months ago, for a similar reason: the weekly playgroup only plays Commander...
At first I had no interest in the format because I wanted to play Legacy instead (as Vintage is not present here at all). Then I realised that the available card pool for Commander actually makes this format something like "Vintage Light", as you can even use cards that are banned in Legacy, such as Mishra's Workshop. Then I started to enjoy the format!
The good thing in Commander is, you can play cheap or expensive, it doesn't necessarily mean winning or losing in a game with 3, 4 or even 5 players. One thing is for sure though: the more you want to dominate the table, the more you will have to invest in your deck in order to keep 3 people from killing you as soon as they realise who is the threat.
If you want to stay within a low budget I would say you need to focus on keeping your head down and trying not to appear as a threat to others until you are ready to kill everyone unexpectedly. I would suggest very primitive combo decks with maybe two or three different win conditions for that. Another way for going cheap is probably to play cards that are considered unplayable and not competitive at all, because they only create chaos and don't bring you closer to a victory. With that method you might be able to buy everything cheaply and have a lot of fun, while not necessarily winning the game.
Someone in our playgroup for example has Norin the Wary as a commander in one of his decks. There's all sorts of crap in the deck, that has only one purpose: chaos.
Confusion in the Ranks for example...I think he surely has more expensive cards in that pile than needed, but you can play such a deck on a low budget too.
On the other hand, if you plan on playing control, especially preactive strategies such as Stax, you need a very high budget to have an impact on the table AND protect your strategy well.b That's why I would not recommend going for such a playing style if you don't already have a large eternal card pool and/or some money to spend on a new deck.
September 13, 2016 10:23 a.m.
Like many others have said already, it's all about your meta and what you like to play. When I first got into commander I did one of the mono-color precons just to get an idea of how to build a deck and how to upgrade it. While the deck will ultimately be whatever you choose, I can offer some suggestions of decks that be built in $100-$200 price range that are fairly competitive.
Zombies are a strong tribe and have tons of synergy and can certainly be built within your budget. Ghoulcaller Gisa, Gisa and Geralf, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant are some of the more popular commanders.
Talrand, Sky Summoner can be fun with a bunch of counters and Proteus Staff.
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed is cheap and uses huge creatures to win.
The Precon featuring Meren of Clan Nel Toth is quite good and get some solid upgrades within your budget.
September 13, 2016 10:40 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #13
I was able to slap a mono deck together with just the cards I owned at the time, and I put it in a friend's hands and he piloted it to a win in its first outing. My mono deck was the same. The trick when playing lower power level/lower budget is to play the table more, keep your head low and pick your battles. Make sure you have enough removal.
September 13, 2016 11:12 a.m.
I am biased towards the Ezuri, Claw of Progress precon. I always buy each Commander deck every year. This one is by far my favorite in a long time.
The precon itself is cheap. The cards to upgrade are fairly cheap as well. Overall it is a very cheap deck to build, gets HIGHLY competitive and can go in multiple directions.
Other people prefer the other precons from 2015, but I honestly haven't seen one that can beat an optimized Ezuri, especially for as low of a price as you can build Ezuri with.
September 13, 2016 11:16 a.m.
There are weaker and stronger precons but they are all fun to play. There's lots of great advice already above referencing the playgroup and what their internal-meta looks like. "Find you a Commander who can do both?"Control > Combo > Aggro > Control > Combo ad nauseum... There's a commander for every playstyle and several commanders who can do any playstyle. I prefer three-color because it offers variety. Like being stuck in mono-black and need to deal with an artifact, ya know? FeelsBadMan. Grab your favorite colors, grab some value cards and make a goodstuff deck. You might find it's the best format in all of Magic, like I personally believe. Have fun! Dont' worry about "being competitive." Commander is a casual, fun format. Folks who want to make it competitive should stay in Modern/Standard. EDH is a "good beers and good friends" format.
September 13, 2016 12:17 p.m.
Winterblast says... #16
Talking about tribal decks, I'm currently building a goblin commander with Grenzo, Havoc Raiser. It's not yet finished and I am waiting for some cards to arrive...but I can tell you that it's very cheap. I've never collected goblins so I had to buy most and I managed to buy everything for under 150, except Gauntlet of Might. The mana base is also cheap in mono coloured decks, but it still cost me 20 because I wanted the Rob Alexander Portal Mountains lol.
September 13, 2016 2:26 p.m.
Take my advice (i have 25 EDH decks) and make a mono green big stuff deck as your first deck. It's the most easy to augment archetype in EDH and provides much fun. Mono colored decks are great starters as you don't need to sink any real money into lands. There's nothing worse than building a neat 3 color deck, not having a good mana base and spending every game saying, "god, as soon as i get 1 more black mana!!"
September 13, 2016 3:30 p.m.
Make America Great Again is a deck I just made it is really "pillowforty" (all the creatures are walls) but it is extremely competitive and budget at 24-ish dollars (CAD) and is easy to play so the deck just shows that you don't even need to spend $50. so in other words don't go deck surfing, see a cheep deck and assume it is just a dirt budget deck
September 13, 2016 4:24 p.m.
ThoAlmighty I disagree. With a few tweaks, many of the commander precons can be quite competitive for how much you spend.
Either way getting into the format is a lot less daunting when you have an easy entry point you can kick off from.
September 13, 2016 4:52 p.m.
personally i have 5-6 commander decks and like to rotate to keep some variety in the mix. if you just play one commander over and over it might get boring.
my opinion, i would shy away from the precons if you already have any magic cards - because i try to avoid having "a preconstructed experience"...
if you want, you can playtest your prospective commander deck on untap.in before you spend the bucks on it, to get to see how different commanders play and what you have fun with.
September 13, 2016 5:24 p.m.
RussischerZar says... #21
So, the way I started playing Commander was when two guys approached me one afternoon in a LGS and asked me if I want to play.
I said "sure, what format?" and they said "Commander, the best one!". I told them I had no deck, so I couldn't play with them, and they asked me if I had any legendary creature in my binder. Luckily for me, I had just traded for a Prime Speaker Zegana and then proceeded to build a deck in 10 minutes by throwing together all green and blue cards I had on me.
We played, it was a blast, and in the end I won, which was quite epic since my two opponents watched me build the deck from my limited selection.
Afterwards they were like 'dafuq, you built this deck in 10 minutes and beat us, how!'
Long story short: If you already own some cards, get a legendary creature and throw together a bunch of random, splashy cards. It might not be the best deck, but due to how multiplayer works, the underdog can often snatch the win as everyone else battles to death.
Disclaimer: this is heavily dependant on how competitive the Commander meta is at your place.
Afterwards you can continue to replace cards one by one or in batches to make it better over time. I still have my first EDH deck, and its definitely the most powerful of the ~7 I have now.
Actually, many people own multiple decks, and they're usually up to lending them out for a game. Just ask! Playing with your own decks is more satisfying though, and you know better what kind of cards to expect. :)
September 14, 2016 11:59 a.m.
ThoAlmighty says... #22
Having multiple decks is always awesome. I am one of those selfish assholes who almost never lends out their decks, but I must say it is surprisingly fun to lose to your own deck. Now, I'm going to take advantage of all these people on this thread and use this free publicity to mention that I could use some help on my mono-green Selvala, Heart of the Wilds EDH:
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds EDH
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 17 | 34 COMMENTS | 3475 VIEWS | IN 13 FOLDERS
September 14, 2016 12:05 p.m.
I have had several decks myself. A $1k Jhoira of the Ghitu
deck--currently I have [[Primer]] Seton, Druid Goodness built. It is a really strong, and competitive deck (Turn 4-5 can kill the table no matter how many players) that can be built for pretty cheap. It's one of my most favorite decks I've ever built. It's a mono green deck that can draw anywhere from 10-50 cards in a single turn. Loose the Gaea's Cradle, Norwood Priestess, Glimpse of Nature, Sylvan Tutor and defoil the deck and it's not too bad. Currently I've never met someone in person that has a deck similar to mine, and mine is ranked #1 on T/O out of all the other Seton, Krosan Protector edh decks. If you want to, or anyone else for that matter, check it out, that'd be super sweet. If you'd like to know more about the cards and why I chose them you can read my primer and see. Most all of the cards in the deck have a pretty good detailing of why I chose them. Reading this could help you create your own deck and tune it to your meta, and how you would prefer it.
September 14, 2016 12:21 p.m. Edited.
geekmp3 I have to say that you are wrong. Commander is NOT a Casual format.
It is a Social format. There is a significant difference between Casual and Social.
Every format has Casual players.
September 14, 2016 2:06 p.m.
DarksteelBadger says... #25
Well, thanks everybody. I wasn't expecting such a passionate response. I think I've made up my mind. I am going purchase the Ezuri, Claw of Progress precon and tweak/upgrade it with input from my local play group and browsing this site and others. Thanks again all! Have a great night!
September 14, 2016 8:47 p.m.
DarksteelBadger If you would like any help, please do not hesitate to ask. I would love to help another player become an avid EDH champion! Cheers mate!
September 15, 2016 7:13 a.m.
DarksteelBadger says... #27
@LTmiller: Thanks! Any budget-ish upgrades you can think of off the top of your head? If there are cards that tend to be played in Modern, then I might have them already.
September 15, 2016 8:01 a.m.
ThoAlmighty says... #28
If you want to take a look at my budget Ezuri, Claw of Progress, go ahead. I designed it purely from cards I had/could trade for, so it might not be easily makeable if you start with the precon, but it can give you some ideas if you like:
Ezuri, Claw of Poverty
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 1 | 2 COMMENTS | 231 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
It really just focuses on pumping up unblockable creatures and killing people one by one without them being able to do anything about it.
September 15, 2016 10:27 a.m.
In regards to Ezuri, Fathom Mage + Gilder Bairn is nuts. Master Biomancer, Kiora's Follower, Renegade Krasis.
GO to (http://edhrec.com/commanders/ezuri-claw-of-progress)
September 15, 2016 10:43 a.m.
ThoAlmighty says... #30
September 15, 2016 10:46 a.m.
I personally do not encourage Simic Manipulator or any cards that permanently gain control of things. I absolutely hate that. I will not play with people who use those kinds of cards. Definitely ask your play group before doing something so cowardly and degenerate.
September 15, 2016 11:02 a.m.
MindAblaze says... #33
Whoa, that's loaded. Stealing people's stuff makes for a super unique play experience for the pilot. It can be the least monotonous way to play with a stable play group.
I once won a three-player game with a turn three Telemin Performance by hitting Kozilek, the Great Distortion and proceeding to protect it with all the cards my mono deck could draw.
September 15, 2016 11:59 a.m.
We had a guy that ran a five color deck that ran every way possible to do that so, bad experience I guess you could say. I just think it's garbage I guess. I scoop when it happens after they waste their spell. No it's very good sportsmanship but I don't care. I've also played a game where my commander got O-ringed 23 times in a single game. Getting your commander stolen is what makes me mad. I don't care at all if you steal a creature directly from the 99 though.
September 15, 2016 12:11 p.m.
I never suggest that you tell people not to use great combos that can make their decks better. If you have problems with stealing creatures, you should run Homeward Path.
As for my own suggestion, Sage of Hours is an auto include. Gives you infinite turns.
Vorel of the Hull Clade is another great card.
September 15, 2016 4:06 p.m.
Winterblast says... #36
LTmiller, no offense intended but that sounds much like we were in school at age 12 or so, saying stuff like "counterspells are unfair" and "I won't play against mass removal", while running either massive amounts of token generating crap or huge green fatties.
In magic there is no card that can't be counteracted at all, no strategy that is impossible to break. That's the point of the game and if you can't handle certain strategies or even fail to deal with single cards, it's surely not the fault of that card or playing style being "unfair" or too strong. You probably don't want to play against certain strategies because they are very effective against your own playing style and you on't know how to deal with them (yet). But you won't get better if you simply avoid opponents that you can't easily win against.
In commander it's often very important to disable the commander, especially when you see that someone absolutely relies on their commander. You have to expect that people want to make your commander useless one way or the other...and stealing it is a common way of denying you the commander for quite a while. There's also the political aspect in multiplayer games, when you try to convinve a player to make choices from which you benefit as well in the future. Especially with stealing and copying stuff or when Mindslaver is about to be activated...or when Blatant Thievery has been cast and someone else wants to make a bargain by casting Twincast on it...
September 15, 2016 4:11 p.m.
Ha. Okay. Thanks for your useless information. It's not that I can't play against it, it's that I don't want to. You play a deck that revolves around your commander, which its kinda supposed to, and have someone take your commander every time you cast it. Let me know how you feel. Oh and you're playing monogreen. Good luck taking care of a Willbreaker.
I'm just saying its trash, and I think in my opinion looks like you're a garbage player. So take it for what you will. And please do not EVER lecture me again on Magic.
September 15, 2016 11:34 p.m.
Winterblast says... #38
It seems you may not be a bad player but most certainly a bad loser.
I could also just scoop when someone starts out with sol ring and their commander on turn 2 against me playing Stax because I might think I'm not gonna outrun them anymore...but you take the fun out of the game if you concede after a few turns and don't play until someone indeed loses or until there is an unescapeable lock on the board, especially when you have 40 life and 3, 4 or 5 players on the table.
Someone probably finds your mono green pile boring to play against but they still do it if you happen to be in the same local playgroup...The point is not that refusing to play against certain strategies makes someone a bad player but that it's an irritating aspect of one's character to do that in a casual environment, while hanging out together and having fun.
September 16, 2016 4:42 a.m.
I wrote a long post and decided to delete it.
Long story short, how Casual does a Meta have to be to NOT run Commander hate?
You run hate to mess your opponents up so that you can win before they do. Hate is normal.
September 16, 2016 5:23 a.m.
To me having my commander stolen is an inescapable lock. No matter how many players there are. So it doesn't really matter if I stay sitting there or not. I'm useless to the group. Also fun? Ha. Stax, Creature stealing is not fun. The only reason stax exists is to make the game 'fun' for the pilot and take all the fun from others.
It's not about the mets being casual. It's that the meta in Chattanooga, Tennessee is not casual. It's very competitive. In order to play with people that play very casually you have to pretty much play against players that have no skill, or don't even have a good deck. No meta is fun if it's nothing but a deck of solid commander hate. Just saying. I'm not a bad player by any means, I win quite often. Way more than I lose. That doesn't make you a good player, playing around that makes you a good player, which I do. My point is that play style is trash. I refuse to play against you if steal my commander. I scoop. Game 2. End of discussion.
September 16, 2016 7:12 a.m.
DarksteelBadger says... #41
Please everyone, I didn't start this thread for people to argue. Try to be polite and respectful to people.
September 16, 2016 7:57 a.m.
Winterblast says... #43
From my experience it's usually very much fun for everyone, even onlookers, if a match is mainly about the struggle of escaping locks and messing with other people's permanents.
Two weeks ago for example someone stole an opponent's Food Chain and then went off with a deck not designed around that card and actually managed to puzzle together a kill within one 15 minutes long turn. That was fun to watch and no one of us other players expected that he could pull it off with his current board position.
Maybe we have a weird sense of humour in magic but with a relatively high power level and a relaxed playgroup, matches with heavy control decks such as Stax involved, usually result in more fun for the whole round than having someone pull off a simple two card combo within a midrange aggro deck, killing the whole table out of the blue. At least most of the people here enjoy a good fight against my Augustin's $t4ks (4000$ Solution/Stax) or another player's Venser, Shaper Savant, although there will be some moaning when certain cards show up. In the end it's still more enjoyable than losing to Tooth and Nail...
What I don't really understand is why you consider your stolen commander an inescapable lock? Is your deck completely dead when you have no access to the commander anymore? Not questioning your deckbuilding at this point, I just don't understand how this is possible.
September 16, 2016 8:19 a.m.
[[Primer]] Seton, Druid Goodness. If it's a steal creature effect that I can't blow up with enchantment destruction, I can't do anything. If it happens turn 2-3, I lose. Period. I can't come back from that at all unless I've got a beast within in my hand. 1/99 chance.
September 16, 2016 8:33 a.m.
My deck is 100% completely based of my commander. Which, to me, is the best thing about commander. You get to build something BASED off of your commander. Like I've won one, singular game without the help of my commander at all. It's because my hand was the nut. Sol ring, cradle, greenweaver, elvish piper, avenger of zendikar, forest, concordant crossroads, and my draw for the turn was regal force which drew gilt-leaf archdruid, priest of titania, elvish archdruid, primordial sage and centinal heirophants.
September 16, 2016 8:39 a.m.
ThoAlmighty says... #46
I can't believe me casually suggesting Simic Manipulator got Chattanooga, Tennessee mentioned. I just have on thing to say: Are you guys ever going to come to a conclusion? Is there ever going to be a point in this argument where on of you says "y'know, I think he's right. My bad for yelling at you." You guys are so angry at one another that even if you do see the other person's point of view, you won't admit it. Just please, stop arguing.
September 16, 2016 9:36 a.m.
Winterblast says... #47
I don't feel this is about being angry at all. I had a look at this deck and firstly I couldn't understand why taking the commander could possibly ruin the whole deck - after all he only lets druids produce G when tapped and most of his stuff produces mana anyway. It's a classic creature ramp deck with mostly elves, why would you be unable to play it without Seton? Is it understandable that stealing the commander is an auto loss for this deck?
Secondly, you have to read the deck description. I think that says it all ThoAlmighty.
And LTmiller, it's true that in commander it's a hreat feature to have one creature to which you usually have access at any time if you want...BUT relying too much on that one card makes the deck vulnerable for everything that disables the function of that card. Pithing Needle for example will always be cast on commanders with activated abilities and stuff like Torpor Orb, Cursed Totem or Meddling Mage will also be used for that.
As this is actually a deckbuilding advice thread: don't rely on your commander, that's my opinion. Build a deck that fits your commander, but if you can't use it for some reason you should still be able to play well enough...or you'll end up refusing to play against certain deck types because they always fuck you up.
Zakass says... #2
I have this deck that is fairly budget and works well.
Rakdouche, Lord of Rage Quits
Commander / EDH Zakass
SCORE: 40 | 37 COMMENTS | 5657 VIEWS | IN 31 FOLDERS
September 13, 2016 8:30 a.m.