Politics in EDH - Stories and Discussion
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 7, 2017, 2:11 p.m. by poorpinkus
I wanted to have a discussion about the good, the bad and the ugly of EDH politics since there definitely are some effective and ineffective ways to play the politics game. For example, I have a Phelddagrif group hug deck (my first deck - How to Have Fun in EDH - Phelddagrif Surprise) and a Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist + Vial Smasher the Fierce grixis group slug deck (Your Best Evil Friend - EDH Tempting Deals), and in terms of politics, the grixis deck surprisingly wins most of the time. I've realized that this is because so many group hug decks end up taking away a lot of control away from most of the other players, so they end up being unhappy in the long run because they aren't in control of the game. My grixis deck in contrast features a lot of effects like Illicit Auction in which everyone at the table has a say. Despite still running cards like Cruel Ultimatum in the deck, I am letting people have a lot more fun and I'm not hiding my intentions, so people feel like I'm not as big of a threat.
Anyways, this thread is for anyone who has had some first-hand experience with commander politics, or anyone who thinks they may have some insight on how to be a more effective EDH politician. Share your stories!
Politics wise, offer up your resources to solve problems for other players (like board wiping to reset someone who is running away with a game), but always hold something back for yourself so that you have an emergency panic button. That way other players see you as helpful, without seeing you as controlling.
I guess as far as politics go: let others think they are free to do as they please even when they aren't if you're playing control, and just get em dead fast if you're playing aggro or combo.
August 7, 2017 3:01 p.m.
Winterblast says... #4
I think political gameplay works only when the threat assessment of the involved players isn't that good that it is immune to manipulation. The stronger the decks and players are, the more everyone is aware what each other is capable of in the current situation, even more so if the players know each other and the decks well. I think the only times when I experienced politics is when someone managed to convince the others that he is not the one who is closest to the win, when in fact the kill was already set up.
I sometimes manage to do that with my 5c combo deck that includes flash/hulk and kiki-jiki tricks, because there are very few permanents involved before it's too late for intervention. That makes it easier to convince the table that someone with a more visible win option should be focused on first. After playing the deck a few times, people don't fall for that show anymore, so it's again a "no politics" game then.
August 7, 2017 6:07 p.m.
The big key is to find a balance between convincing the other players that you are more help than a threat. If you ham it up too much early game or pre game, you'll just make everyone suspicious.
I usually wait till the first time that I do a 'generous' thing and casually let the table know that my intention is to "see how the game plays out". If its with people I have played with before they likely know that I'm not a fan of instant kill combos so I sometimes make an enemy of one of them while befriending the remaining which against combo is more than a fair trade off.
August 7, 2017 6:27 p.m.
I think my favorite deck to "play politics" with is my deck Maelstrom's Mountainside Meat-Toboggan Massacre. If I can't solve a problem with my removal, I tend to either threaten the person who has the problem with their life (because I can do that on accident sometimes) or threaten someone else to solve it for me or I'll kill that person if they don't (usually with a nice life total chunk taken out as a "warning shot").
Otherwise, my decks kinda mind their own business and do what they want regardless of what other people are doin'. Iunno. Maybe I am bad at politics. XD
Also: The hippo dies first. I don't trust anyone that gives me stuff for no reason and runs UG!
August 7, 2017 7:55 p.m.
We often have a lot of politics happen in terms of everyone trying hard to stay below the radar :D.Especially when there is a tasigur control player I really need to hurry up with my combo to be able to outplay control. Nonetheless you often need to throw in some of your removal pieces. One of my favourite political games was together with a yisan and brago stax deck. Brago totally fucked up the board while yisan and me ( chain veil teferi) needed to get out of this, so I convinced yisan to hit brago before I finally managed to get out of the lock by making infinite mana with grim monolith and power artifact only to lock the table even harder played cursed totem (no lands in game because of Armageddon) static orb and many more hate pieces so that I could grind the game to a point where I was able to win
August 8, 2017 6:43 a.m.
poorpinkus says... #8
AlexoBn I think that's my favourite way to play politics; Screwing people over but in a way that screws over the guy that was screwing everyone else over the most. Unfortunately once people realize that their deck needs to be toned down this isn't as much of an option... It's the best feeling though
August 8, 2017 6:08 p.m.
poorpinkus we play a lot of cEDH so every continues to improve the decks. Politics is still there but it is harder to trick people. If someone plays and nauseam he gets attacked as often as possible and people tend to talk about available answers to the most threatening player. Makes it really funny to be faster with combo than your opponents if that is even possible (anti storm hatebears for example are killing some of my decks xD )
August 9, 2017 2:41 a.m.
poorpinkus says... #10
AlexoBn That's pretty funny lol, my playgroup is different since a lot of our players are on a pretty tight budget. We could still play competitive but a lot of our players would rather be able to just play silly/flavourful cards instead, which is fun but can also sometimes slow the game down
clayperce says... #2
Some of Jimmy and Josh's earliest Command Zone podcasts remain my favorite resource on politics. If you're not familiar with them, I recommend checking out ...
August 7, 2017 2:51 p.m.