Too Many Commanders
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 12, 2015, 6:50 p.m. by Zyxix
I started playing commander probably 2 years ago, and since then I've used at least 25 different generals, while others in my playgroup have used 2-6 in the same time period. Is it just me, or are there other people who can't stick to just one commander? I have 5 decks currently built, and I'll probably build another by next week. My current main deck is off Reaper King, but I just got a Riku of Two Reflections and I'm already itching to build.
Is this a problem? Should I restrict myself and stick with only one or two generals?
GoldGhost012 says... #3
Yes, there are many people who don't just like playing one deck over and over again. When the creative juices get flowing, they can be hard to stop. There's nothing wrong with that.
If your playgroup has issues with you switching decks left and right, then you should probably only stick to one deck if possible. Otherwise make and run all the new decks you want.
April 12, 2015 6:56 p.m.
It's fine. I have about 4 decks that I keep permanently. I have two others that fluctuate. In the past year, I've had them house something like 10 decks. There are players like myself who enjoy deck building as much as they enjoy playing the game itself. I don't see why a playgroup would have issues with you swapping decks. If anything, it keeps games from getting stagnant, especially at higher levels of play where decks tend to be incredibly consistent and redundant.
April 12, 2015 7 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #5
I just swap cards out and in my current decks, then build new ones when I have the budget or can trade for all the expensive cards. Up to 9 EDH decks and a Pauper EDH deck, of which I play about 6 regularly (one is too trolly, one is too casual, and one is too competitive)
April 12, 2015 7:12 p.m.
They're not trying to ban me from constantly switching, they see it more as me not getting the results out of decks because I don't really narrow it down and spend the money for the more expensive cards for a strategy. I generally won't spend over 10-15 on any one card, but I do have a collection of something like 5-6,000 cards. I just wanted to see if I was the only person that keeps changing. I'll stick to Reaper King for now and just put Riku into that deck.
April 12, 2015 7:17 p.m.
I have 5 commander decks, and try to keep 1 or 2 in my main rotation. Outside of my big bad Oloro EDH, I try to keep the others more fun. Personally, I doubt that I'll go into more than 6, but it's always a possibility for some interesting and fun variation.
April 12, 2015 7:17 p.m.
I've done the same, switching cards between builds between pod matches, lemming, but I think that's more where it becomes a problem because it takes the extra time.
April 12, 2015 7:20 p.m.
lemmingllama says... #9
@Zyxix No, I mean swap out the cards after a day of playing. This way you can keep one commander, but change the theme over time to make it more interesting for you.
April 12, 2015 7:35 p.m.
MirranTitan says... #10
I have 7 different generals currently, I have 3 that I am in progress on. I have swapped a bunch. Honestly, I just build new commanders because I'm bored. It's not a big deal if you switch commanders a lot, I feel like it presents a fresh new way to play if you are using a different commander on a regular basis.
April 12, 2015 7:43 p.m.
I've been collecting a stable of potential generals, probably 100 or so legendary creatures. Not at all of them are necessarily good commander material, but I burn through decks like crazy. Every week I'm building new decks to try out, breaking down old ones.. sometimes decks I haven't even tested yet. I find grooves I like every now and then, but I'm still always trying new things.
April 12, 2015 8:08 p.m.
Depends on the individual. For me, I've built 100's of decks and it seriously does bother me. I only want to stick with one deck but my ideas either fall flat, suck, or I end up getting bored of it. Or, my short (deckbuilding) attention span ensures it withers away. I've had only one constant so far and, since then, it's become impossible to build a whole new deck.
I think someone called it EDHD or something but I can relate to your problem for sure.
April 12, 2015 8:50 p.m.
I've never had a problem with building too many decks, but I can see how you would. This is ESPECIALLY true with EDH, which has an absurdly open meta and becomes progressively more so as time goes on.
My current commander deck is Scion of the Ur-Dragon, and I've stuck with him for about six months. There are AT LEAST three drastically different deck archetypes just for this one commander:
- Dragon Tribal
- The Unblockable Swiss Army Knife (my deck)
- Mass-Reanimator
And there are probably more. What other format can you do three drastically different things with the same card?
April 12, 2015 9:15 p.m.
I think I needed a 5 color general, and Reaper King is so badass to trigger Vindicate over and over. Having every card available is pretty awesome. I think my solution is to keep building other decks, but to not take any cards out of my Reaper King build. I actually beat my friend's Jenara deck 1v1. He had mulliganed to 4, but he dropped an Avacyn on me, so it still counts, haha.
April 12, 2015 9:33 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #16
I've got 10 commander decks now, a couple of other decks I had in the past I took apart, around 6 or 7; they had varying levels of effectiveness but weren't fun enough for me. I think it is worth knowing I only play Commander and Seal Deck Prerelease events.
I don't think the number of commander decks is necessarily a concern. Of my regular playgroup, there are players with even more than I (a teacher who lugs around several large boxes; he's even let his students borrow them!) and players with fewer (guy who always shows up with only the same three or so decks he's been working on since he started coming- any given card in those two decks could probably buy half of mine). There's a guy who takes apart any deck that has won "enough" so that he can focus on something he hasn't won with, to the point I get confused about what he actually has. It also seems like there's always at least one kid who has built a single deck with stuff they must have got out of the nickel box.
Seems like there's room for all of them, to me, so long as everyone remembers the point is to enjoy playing the game.
April 12, 2015 11:03 p.m.
Sounds like a lot of people at my college. There's a lot of people that could not have invested more than $50 dollars. Then there are other's who have seriously invested into the game.
There's this one guy, for exmaple, who frequently plays there. Mostly casual decks, but also some of the meanest EDH decks I've ever seen. One time he resolves a spell that makes 1/1 soldier tokens. He goes to his box and pulls out a card from an EDH deck at random. It's a black bordered Wheel of Fortune in English. He shrugs, flips it upside down, and uses it as a token. I'm not sure if it was Alpha or Beta, but I died a little inside. I know this guy's been playing since Alpha, but damn...
April 12, 2015 11:22 p.m.
I personally have 7 EDH decks that are ready to go at any point. But that doesnt stop me from building and tearing down decks. It all depends if i enjoy the deck and if I would play it again. Currently building a Boros tokens, but i might have to tear apart my Soldiers deck to finish it, which Soldiers became boring. So its totally up to the player and money. If you like building and trying new things do it!
April 12, 2015 11:28 p.m.
I'm very much the same. It is hard for me to stick to certain commanders, even ones I genuinely like. I've dismantled dozens of decks to construct dozens more. I've had "heartbreaking goodbyes" many a general I thought I'd never stop loving. I still miss some decks that I dismantled long ago, like my Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord deck, or my Sygg, River Cutthroat build. It gets really bad when I have a MtG (color) identity crisis; that causes a mass revamp of my entire loadout.
I suppose there is good news in all of this. What I have found is that there are two decks that aren't going anywhere any time soon, I love my Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Nekusar, the Mindrazer too much. B as for the rest of my decks... They're fair game.
April 13, 2015 5:59 a.m.
I haven't been playing EDH long, and I'm running two deck which I am constantly tweaking and adjusting, and I've got another begging to be built. That said, one of the guys in my playgroup has only one deck at a time, but it's a different one every week. Can't complain, it brings something new to the table every week. Another guy has been playing the same Purphuros deck without changing a single card ever since I started playing. Another guy has a shattergang brothers deck he pours all of his love into and two others that rotate constantly for variety.
At the end of the day, the only question that matters is: Are you having fun?
April 13, 2015 7:14 p.m.
HeroInMyOwnMind says... #21
I can't play the same deck (especially if I win) too many times in a row. No one wants to see the same thing over and over. I also think it is good for politics if you change your deck between games, because it doesn't become a "must eliminate" situation after you have countered someone's deck or they have countered yours.
I have 15 decks I keep on me, but usually other people play any of my decks with blue in them because I don't really enjoy them.
I have been through a ton of different commanders on my way to finding what I like, and I don't see the harm in it if you can afford the investment. I don't play anything but commander, so it is easier for me to make multiple decks than someone who tries to play and maintain a deck for every format.
April 13, 2015 7:43 p.m.
monkeyofficeboy says... #22
See I thought I was the only one! I have some north of 20 complete Commander decks now, and I just keep gettinig ideas for new ones, which sometimes mean that old ones fall by the wayside. However I am loath to dismantle them so they are all still sleeved and built. I really should decide which ones I like the most, stick with them and try to improve them, but then I see some sweet new card, or some crazy new idea... So far it's all been good as I have been able to afford it, but I am going on a 3 month period of little money so have to cut back for 3 months.
April 16, 2015 7:58 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #23
I keep lowering my budget for each deck. I have 9 now, and working on 2 more. My new ones are going to be built on a $5 budget. Just trades if I need something that I don't already have. Yisan, and Talrand. My issue is I can not break the decks apart. I keep building.
April 16, 2015 12:26 p.m.
Since posting this I've managed to leave my current decks alone, though I've been contemplating Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, a Horde of Notions deck, and I'm going to buy three cards to build a combo deck with Sidisi, Undead Vizier, ad nauseum, Sickening Dreams for when I just feel like winning a game. Since I've just tweaked my main build, I won all 3 matches I played with my friends last night and won every round in a different way, one with Legacy Weapon and infinite mana through Pili-Pala/Grand Architect. The second round I controlled the field with Planar Guide with Reaper King and scarecrows/changelings blowing up stuff until I could attack until I could win. The last round I used Shapesharer and infinite mana from Composite Golem/Nim Deathmantle to change shapesharer into my opponent's Jenara, Asura of War, and then gave it 40 +1/+1 counters and changed it into a Yavimaya Dryad, then turned my Changeling Berserker into Jenara and giving it 40 counters as well, attacking the Jenara player with a forestwalk shapesharer and the other player who had no flying creatures with a changeling berserker.
April 16, 2015 1:28 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #25
Zyxix, Terrible EDH deck make sure you get Dark Sphere
April 16, 2015 1:38 p.m.
I already have one, but thanks. It's such a ridiculous combo, I wonder if that commander will get banned.
April 16, 2015 2:19 p.m.
I will probably run mine with 0 mana cost creatures and just play commander turn 5 and win on turn 6.
April 16, 2015 2:22 p.m.
I literally have 26 commander decks in all. A few other people that play at the card shop play at least 3-5 commanders. This other guy has almost as many as me, but he plays some of the same colors that his other decks are.
I like to have one each color/dual/tri/five color because each color and color combination plays differently. I am trying to build a colorless deck to finish 1 of every type or combination, but colorless is the most expensive of the combinations. Mainly because of the lands.
But I digress.
I certainly have a problem with magic. You do not. The point of commander is to shake up the game so you won't be bored with the same archetype each and every time.
April 19, 2015 2:03 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #29
Most people I meet only have a couple decks max. One guy seems to have 50+. He told me how many he has before, and I can think of at least 15-20 off the top of my head that he has played so I believe him. 26 seems like a big number to me. I would love to build all the color combos, but mono color is much easier on the budget. That is why I have been building a bunch of those.
I would love to make a colorless EDH, they can pull of some amazing shenanigans. I have seen turn one Kozilek with haste.
April 19, 2015 2:49 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #31
@VictorSilvertome Ancient Tomb into Helm of Awakening into Sol Ring into Mana Crypt into Mox Opal into Mana Vault into Lion's Eye Diamond into Lightning Greaves into Kozilek, Butcher of Truth or something silly like that
April 19, 2015 8:23 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #32
Lightning greaves was the haste part of it, and that adds up. He had used Krark-Clan Ironworks to get a bunch of the mana. There are a bunch of things that can be used to do it. Colorless can make lots of mana fast.
April 19, 2015 10:17 a.m.
I mostly build budget decks, finding cheap yet good commander options. Hardly any of my decks cost over $200 worth of cards. I then slowly buy cards over time, but not if the card is too expensive. I'm not going to go over 27 decks, I just kind of have ocd when it comes to this sort of thing. When I finally build the colorless deck, I'll be happy and stop making edh decks.
April 19, 2015 4:04 p.m.
I like making different decks just because I do enjoy deckbuilding and doing research into the archetypes and card choices and such; I have a special fondness for generals with unconventional/janky builds (especially those that REQUIRE it, like Mishra, Zedruu, and Chisei) and it's a great feeling when you play a spell that makes the other players go 'what the hell does THAT do?'
Plus, it's nice to be able to change decks when you're tired of one for a while, to make sure you don't burn yourself out playing the same thing over and over again.
April 22, 2015 10:57 a.m.
@Mix, I understand Mishra and Zedruu, but what in the world is the point of running Chisei?
April 23, 2015 9:48 p.m.
@sonnet666 Pure unadulterated jank. I'm still not sure if it'll work (its my current deck project), but I think with the right combination of cards that benefit from its 'downside' (persist/undying, cumulative upkeep, and the like- Mystic Remora, Chronozoa, or River Kelpie, for example) as well as some voltron elements to take advantage of Chisei itself (a 4/4 flier for 4 is not a bad foundation, haha), it could at least be a fun casual deck for when I don't care about whether I win or not and just want to have some fun.
Plus, I mean. How many generals look like a friggin' DALI painting?
April 24, 2015 12:57 a.m.
CastleSiege says... #37
I don't think it's a problem really, but it can end up being a hindrance to you. If you only use whatever cards you have laying around then the decks might not end up too effective. If you go out and buy all the cards you need to make the decks tick, then you'll end up spending a crap to of money on decks you will only play once in a while.
Personally I have 4 complete decks and I only bought a few cards for each after every paycheck until they were complete. Now I'm not really focusing on new decks, but rather on ways to improve the ones I already have.
cjk191997 says... #2
Its not a problem if money is not a problem but honestly I only use 1 Commander because I don't want to spend the time/money finding all the cards
April 12, 2015 6:56 p.m.