Want to start commander
Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 12, 2015, 12:25 a.m. by Chaser121
Hi, I'm really looking for some help. I have a Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest and I think that he would be a cool commander, but I've never played commander, I don't know the rules, and don't really have the cards. My local store loves commander, and I feel a little left out not being able to play. I want to start, but i would really like it if someone could please give me some suggestions on how to start. Thank you for reading.
Epochalyptik says... #3
Check out some of the resources on my profile page. They're mostly geared toward Commander.
February 12, 2015 12:48 a.m.
RoarMaster says... #4
IMHO the Commander 2014 decks kinda sucked. Well, they really dropped the ball compared to previous Commander products. Id try and get a 2013 if you can find one, or else just find a Legendary creature whose abilities inspire you, and build around that. BTW, my personal opinion is that Shu Yun would not make the greatest commander, but he could probably be built into some voltron-control sorta thing if you were set on building with him.
February 12, 2015 12:51 a.m.
I have a Shu Yun EDH deck on my Profile Shu Yun, Silent Douchemaster it can be done and plays surprisingly well. there are very few tri color Legendaries that make bad generals. some are just way harder to pilot. EDH is great.
but yes look at Epochs page and read every single article he has. he is a very very good resource.
February 12, 2015 1:51 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #6
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest is awesome as a Tiny Leader general but in EDH he works as well.
I would try to find a sealed commander deck somewhere and gradually improve on that.
February 12, 2015 2:35 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
Honestly, it's not difficult or expensive to build your own Commander deck. I'm going to go against the grain here and say you should try your hand at designing your own deck before buying anything for the format. This gives you several benefits:
- You end up with a deck that you want. Buying a deck off the shelf tends to have less appeal in the long run than building your own deck from scratch. There's a better connection between you as a player and the deck you use if you're the one to craft that deck how you want it to be.
- You don't waste time and money replacing half a deck. If you buy a precon, you'll inevitably end up changing it a bit. You're going to have to invest in the precon and in whatever you add to it, and some of the cards you remove won't have any kind of trade value. It's better to just buy the singles you know you want and go from there. Precons are often just convenience packages that don't offer you a ton of bonus value besides taking the legwork out of building the deck for you.
- You get to learn the format a bit before you begin playing, so you're more aware of how things will work and what things are and aren't worth pursuing. You can get experience just by designing and testing a deck (although true game experience will always trump this experience).
February 12, 2015 2:43 a.m.
notamardybum says... #8
ive built several commander decks based off of what epoc has posted. look at it
February 12, 2015 3:33 a.m.
notamardybum says... #9
Aurelia, the Warleader might like some cream of some shu yun
February 12, 2015 3:36 a.m.
Epochalyptik is this commander forum or deck help?
February 12, 2015 7:01 a.m.
Schuesseled says... #11
In a nut shell, you start with 40 life, need a 100 card singleton deck, all cards must be in your commanders colour identity, all his colours in cost and text. Your commander starts the game in the command zone, you can cast him as if he were in your hand at any time, each subsequent casting adds 2 mana to his cost. And commander damage can be extra lethal, only 21 combat damage is needed to kill someone from a commander.
February 12, 2015 7:35 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #12
@ChiefBell: It could be either, to be honest. I'll normally leave "first time in the format" posts in the format forums unless they're asking for help with a specific decklist because the comments tend to be format-related, but it's fine in DH, too.
February 12, 2015 12:24 p.m.
Thanks everyone for all your help. I've started looking at shu yun decks and I don't think I really enjoy his play style, so are there any other commanders you guys could think of to help me? Thanks everyone
February 12, 2015 1:25 p.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #14
What is your playstyle? Some really good ones are The Mimeoplasm, Riku of Two Reflections and Ghave, Guru of Spores as well as Damia, Sage of Stone check out some of Epochalyptiks list for cards to play and MagicalHacker has made an EDH deck for almost every legendary creature so be sure to check them out.
February 12, 2015 1:38 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #15
Oh look I've been summoned. XD Thanks for the kind words!
I can try to help with discovering your ideal commander, but it may take some time as my decklist for organizing my decks is currently experiencing technical issues.
February 12, 2015 2:30 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #16
So, when I build MY commander decks, I try to make it 1/3 lands, 1/3 ramp/utility and 1/3 win cons. The great part about commander is that every commander deck can use artifacts for mana ramp which is why I suggest the following cards to everyone building a new commander deck:
-Sol Ring-Wayfarer's Bauble-Burnished Hart-Mana Vault-Voltaic Key <- more utility than ramp-Lotus Bloom-Mana Crypt (might be able to proxy it if your playgroup lets you)-Gilded Lotus-Worn Powerstone-Doubling Cube
As for utility, different colours demand different kinds of utility. There are a few really good artifact utility cards; notably cards like Crawlspace, Strionic Resonator, Sensei's Divining Top and Sundial of the Infinite. I find without the right kind of utility in your deck, your win cons won't be as effective.
You need to know what kind of utility your colours offer, since you are playing blue-white-red, I suggest using Sundial of the Infinite in your deck and building somewhat around that card. Blue's main utility is draw and topdeck fixing, so you may not necessarily need Sensei's Divining Top, because you can use cards like Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain. White's utility is board control enchantments like Humility, Stony Silence or Blind Obedience while red's utility is draw/discard effects like Wheel of Fortune, Wild Guess and so on... Red is probably more for win cons like Insurrection or removal like Blasphemous Act and Chaos Warp, so most of your actual utility will be blue/white and artifact. One good thing about those colours is all the cool stuff you can do with Sundial of the Infinite. You can sundial to abuse Geist of Saint Traft, Flickerwisp, Sudden Disappearance and so many other things that have a drawback trigger.
February 12, 2015 2:50 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #17
My experience with Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest so far is he's effective as a kind of Voltron commander. He'll focus on buffing himself, gaining a form of evasion, and eliminating potential blockers so he can attack for lethal. My deck with him at Shu Yun, Silent Storm EDH is still being hammered out; it focuses on instants and sorceries primarily. It has very weak defenses though, particularly against flying, in its current state.
I think focusing on Auras would be more reliable (I had already done some of this in another deck - Anax and Cymede, Hero EDH ). There were a lot of good Auras in Ravnica and Theros, which were fairly recent sets; you should be able to throw something together even on a budget.
I would advise being cautious with how you manage aggro though. Shu Yun can very abruptly take someone out of the game once the deck is operational, however you do it. Once he does this, you stand a risk of the other players retaliating out of fear of being next. Doesn't mean it's a bad idea, just something to think about.
February 12, 2015 3:07 p.m.
Awesome, thanks for the help. I like the looks of Ghave, Guru of Spores but I don't really know what type of deck to build. I'm also spent on standard, so my budget isn't top level, but I can still afford several strong cards. Thanks you all for your help
February 13, 2015 12:14 a.m.
Hjaltrohir says... #19
Chaser121 some cards you will definitely need for ghave are Cathars' Crusade, Doubling Season and Kalonian Hydra
Other great cards for ghave are Abzan Ascendancy, Aura Shards Mirari's Wake, Corpsejack Menace and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes/Ajani, Caller of the Pride.
JA14732 says... #2
Buy a Commander 2014 deck and then work from there. Google the rules, and then once you're comfortable playing the game, build your own deck.
February 12, 2015 12:38 a.m.