Commanders by Power Level [EDH Tier List]
Commander / EDH*
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I finished doing a write-up on the Arcanis list I posted earlier. I'd appreciate if you guys gave it a look to see if I missed anything. Thanks in advance.
January 8, 2017 12:56 p.m.
Lilbrudder says... #4
Shes mono green, combat dependent, and much slower than most tier 2 generals. Also many new generals now exist that are strict upgrades to what used to be (Leo, gitrog, thrasios, breya, yidris and more to the point selvala, heart of the wild). All of these generals have occupied the top 2 tiers and many others (sidisi brood tyrant, Animar, Azami, etc) have gotten big power boosts lately. She just cant hang anymore. She was one of about 10 recent demotions. In cEDH if you aren't stronger because of a new set you just got worse. She hasnt gotten any great tech (except Eternal Scourge and she cannot tutor for food chain) for a while unless I am mistaken.
January 8, 2017 4:06 p.m.
Stealthybiscuit says... #5
One assumes General Tazri is tier one for her food chain deck and not tribal applications?
January 8, 2017 5:55 p.m.
p0megranates says... #6
@Stealthybiscuit Yes. Tazri Food Chain is probably one of the top 2 decks in the format alongside Doomsday Zur.
Tazri ally tribal would probably be tier 4.
January 8, 2017 6:04 p.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #7
correct. The only tribes that really are possible for cEDH as the best build are Wizards-azami, Goblins-Krenko, Elemental-omnath, elf-(any elfball commander), and Dragon-scion.
January 8, 2017 6:09 p.m.
Archwizard says... #8
As a cEDH player I often peruse other people's decks and see what they're running compared to what I'm running etc. and I've noticed that an overwhelming number of people play Intuition (especially in a lot of the decks that this group features). I've had the card in my deck for a few months and it started out being a pretty decent tutor, but after some of the changes I've made it has become less playable. I'm aware that people generally use it to get 3 of the same effect or 3 combo pieces that will kill in any given scenario. The problem is Azami doesn't have 3 cards that kill with her in any given scenario and I find that it is generally a very situation dependent tutor (which generally just ends up getting 3 counterspells which is feelsbadman). Anyways, I digress, the main question I wanted to ask was, does anyone else feel the same way about this card or am I just going crazy? I know that certain commanders have more ways to abuse it such as The Mimeoplasm and others with better graveyard recursion or more combo pieces that have equal kill potential. I'd like to hear what other players who run this card think about it, cause I think I'm going to cut it.
January 8, 2017 7:36 p.m.
@AzamiLadyofScrolls - If you take a look at the Arcanis deck I linked a few posts earlier, you'll notice I don't have it either. Part of it has to do with the deck relying primarily on artifact combos and thus being able to rely on more consistent tutors, and part of it is that it's rare for the deck to get in the type of no right answer situation that the card can present.
On the other hand, I also play Sedris Splinter Twin and Intuition is hands down the best tutor in the deck. It all depends on the situation. I do feel like people are a little too quick to include it in some builds occasionally.
January 8, 2017 7:49 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #10
I don't run it in my Azami but in my case what I could do is get paradox engine, the missing piece to dramatic scepter, MOM, or a piece of the Futuresight Helm Top combo. (Probably the combo to come out once engine is released.)
No matter what they pick it's likely I'm going off with it that turn.
That being said, I'm MUCH happier with Long-Term Plans. Any card, no reveal, just need to draw for it which is easy.
January 8, 2017 7:54 p.m.
Archwizard says... #11
TheDevicer Yeah, I feel the same way about it. I saw your list and it was one of few that didn't run it, I just wanted to pitch this question to discussion just cause the card seemed to be in so many other decks that it felt like I was missing something.
January 8, 2017 8 p.m.
Archwizard says... #12
Ohthenoises Yeah, the problem I have with it is. I have to either have to have Dramatic reversal or Isochron Scepter in hand then I can get Mind Over Matter, Paradox Engine, and whichever card I'm missing from the combo or if I have no combo pieces in hand I have to get Mind Over Matter and 2 tutors so that I can tutor for another piece that'll win me the game. At that point it's just not worth it anymore. Most of the time it's just a dead card and I win by drawing my combo pieces or by tutoring for them with a different card.
January 8, 2017 8:05 p.m.
Archwizard says... #14
TheDevicer Correct, but by the time I get the tutor, cast it, and get the piece it's just so slow with mono-blue tutors. People will just focus me out and kill me by that point. I'd rather keep my lands up to deal with threats than chain tutors. Plus if I draw into any one of my other tutors, which is likely to happen, they're generally better.
January 8, 2017 8:15 p.m. Edited.
chaosumbreon87 says... #15
you could always tutor up cursed totem, scornful egotist, and guru island. Honestly i think intuition is mainly a way to dump cards into your grave or fore a situation where your opponent's choice doesnt matter.
January 8, 2017 8:20 p.m.
Archwizard says... #16
chaosumbreon87 I personally think that's a very incorrect view of the card. Generally when people use it they use it in a way that none of the choices are good for their opponent. Of course if you have good recursion in your deck you won't care which ones go to your yard, but if you don't then you need to make sure that all three options are of equal lethality or provide essentially the same outcome. Some decks can do this quite well, but I think if you're just looking to dump things in your yard and you aren't running some sort of effective recursion then it's just not that worth it in my opinion.
January 8, 2017 8:35 p.m.
chaosumbreon87 says... #17
I mean the way ive used it was almost like a burried alive +tutor at oppponents EOT. I could be wrong in that, but I still find use in it for some decks. Yes, its not for every deck. It might not be for many decks. But until I find a better replacement card, I still think it's pretty good. Generally most choices your opponents have to make are good for them so the assessment is unnecessary for me in that way.
January 8, 2017 8:54 p.m.
Archwizard says... #18
If I were running reanimator, I would run Intuition without question. I think I've made my decision to remove it considering I'd need a third combo piece on par with MoM and Paradox Engine to make it worth my while. Thank you everyone for your opinions and insight.
January 8, 2017 9:04 p.m.
The most common use for Intuition in mono-blue is to tutor for things that blue can't normally tutor for - creatures, planeswalkers, enchantments, lands, etc. at instant speed. In Teferi, for example, you can use Intuition to tutor for Back to Basics, Winter Orb, and Static Orb to set up an early lock or if you need a draw engine online you can grab JVP+Mystic Remora+Rhystic Study. You can even just grab Mana Crypt+Sol Ring+Mana Vault if you need ramp. The big advantage this has over using a artifact tutor to do so is that every artifact tutor in mono-blue is either sorcery speed (Transmute Artifact, Fabricate, Reshape) or mana intensive (Whir of Invention requires UUU, which is hard to hit early game, even for Teferi) or both (Tezzeret). Somebody mentioned creating an Intuition pile of three tutors, which, honestly, is my most common pile. Tutoring for The Chain Veil+Buried Ruin+Academy Ruins will create a situation in which your win condition is vulnerable to graveyard removal, you have to use your land drop to get it back which will hamstring your High Tide lines, and if they give you Academy Ruins (they will) then it's a big tempo loss too since you will have to draw it the following turn. Tutoring for some combination of Whir of Invention, Tezzeret, Reshape, or Transmute Artifact will keep The Chain Veil safe in your library until one of those spells resolves, and then tutors it directly into play, often at a discount. Outside of Teferi, Jace likes to use Intuition to grab untap effects since it helps him flip and he can flashback whatever he wants to cast the following turn anyway.
The most common use for Intuition in UBx is for reanimation or recursion strategies. Sharuum, Sedris, and Mimeoplasm, for example, all love Intuition. Branching into other colors also gives you access to redundant effects (more wheels, more mana sources, more draw spells, etc.) and more recursion (Yawgmoth's Will/Past in Flames, reanimation spells, etc.), so your Intuition piles will be better.
As far as Long-Term Plans goes, I disagree with the idea that it is strictly better overall. However, I do agree that in the right deck, it can be as good or better than Intuition. The key difference is whether your commander innately has access to card draw or not. In Azami, for example, Long-Term Plans is absolutely better than Intuition, especially if you already have some wizards in play and enough mana to play Azami and [insert combo piece here] in the same turn (which I assume you would). Even though (one of) your win condition(s) is an enchantment, none of your other win conditions are cards that couldn't be tutored for using blue's normal tutor suite. The only potential win condition I can think of would be Future+Top combo (Magus of the Future IS a wizard, but unfortunately Etherium Sculptor is not), but that's...just not very good. The point is to say that since Azami can draw cards for free, the drawback of Long-Term Plans is negligible. Even in Jace, Long-Term Plans can work out fine - Long-Term Plans EOT, loot with Jace EOT, untap, draw, loot again and you have what you need. Jace will probably still run both Intuition and LTP though - in a dedicated combo deck like that you need all the tutors you can get. Teferi, however, absolutely does NOT want Long-Term Plans over Intuition. The Chain Veil costs 8 mana to play and activate (and that's before the fact that you will probably have to fight a counter war over it), meaning that you WILL need to use your first Teferi activation to untap on your combo turn an overwhelming majority of the time. Even though Teferi can +1 to get the Long-Term Plans card right away, that's effectively cutting yourself off from between 4 to 8 mana on the one turn where you need it more than any other. I can see very few cases where Long-Term Plans is better than Intuition in Teferi.
TL;DR - Teferi and Baral and UBx graveyard decks like Intuition more, Azami likes Long-Term Plans more, Jace wants both, Arcum doesn't care because HE is the best tutor in his deck, and Survival of the Fittest is still the best tutor in the format.
On another note, I noticed today that The Mimeoplasm Hermit Druid is still tier 1. This surprised me a little bit. I know he was considered tier 1 in the past, but I feel like nobody ever talks about him as a top-tier commander whenever the powerhouses of the format are being discussed. I have little experience playing with or against the deck, so I can't make a call on it myself. Does everyone else think that Mimeoplasm is still tier 1?
January 8, 2017 10:44 p.m.
Archwizard says... #20
Well, that was a nice essay on the uses of Intuition, which mainly summed up what I already knew. Good input though.
January 8, 2017 10:57 p.m.
Lilbrudder says... #21
Gates88: I questioned mimeoplasm a while back but noone else agreed at the time. I think mimeo is the weakest tier 1 commander we currently have.
On a related note. Now that SBT has a good food chain combo finisher in Walking Ballista there is no doubt in my mind that Sidisi is a better option than Mimeo and I believe they should switch places. I fully admit I am biased, but I have also tested SBT more than anyone else and have several tier 1 and 2 commanders as a basis for comparison. I can say with certainty that she is the fastest BUG combo general. I am in the process of testing a new version of my list, but early testing has shown a big improvement overall in the consistency of the deck and it already was a list that could often win on turn 3.
January 8, 2017 11:06 p.m.
Can't food chain sidisi just dread return vela the nightclad onto the field and sac zombies to food chain as is?
January 8, 2017 11:42 p.m.
The problem with the Vela route is that Sidisi doesn't have access to infinite zombies. She only has a number of zombies less than or equal to the number of creatures in the deck. Dread Returning Eternal Witness and playing Walking Ballista is a better option.
January 8, 2017 11:45 p.m.
Ohthenoises says... #24
In the Top combo you don't use Sculptor, you use Helm which also helps the HT plan.
January 9, 2017 12:35 a.m.
I usually only play Intuition in mono blue or UW decks, which don't ordinarily have access to higher quality tutors. When used, most of the time I'm going for a critical combo piece and two pieces of recursion (IE, The Chain Veil + Academy Ruins + Buried Ruin), or for three answers to the same threat (triple counterspell, triple tax effect, etc). Either way, it's not ideal. It's almost always on the lower end of playable cards in a given deck.
@Lilbrudder: I definitely agree. Mimeoplasm should move down. He was originally placed in Tier 1 back when the only other decent Sultai commander was Damia, and managed to stay there because he was overall slightly better for reanimator than Tasigur. With the release of Leovold and to a lesser extent Thrasios, there's really no need to keep him there though. Leovold with minimal support is better for the strategy, despite having little tie-in. Mimeo managed to sneak past the survey I made because no one had brought him up recently, and the poll was entirely suggestion based other than Riku. He, Derevi, and possibly a handful of others can be bumped down.
Ohthenoises says... #1
Alright, I'll tune it a bit more, currently it's built as a "big dumb dudes" deck and that could easily be changed.
Wondering if George should be added back in since, with a haste source, it turns your battlefield into AEtherling which could be useful to combat wipes and MLD. There is that nasty downside of spot removal tho... lol
January 8, 2017 9:39 a.m.