Looking for fun control edh decks
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 26, 2017, 2:06 p.m. by Xmasspecial
Hi I want to build a control edh deck but I only know of mizzix izzit or whatever. Any others that I should look at (budget is preferable)Thanks
November 26, 2017 2:52 p.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #4
first off, two things
mizzix is a combo general, not control, and "control" and "fun" arent really the same thing, if by fun control you mean YOU have fun and nobody else does, then you're talking control!
there's a million options for good control commanders, but for edh multiplayer the most common and reliable control are stax builds, where you ramp out very fast into stuff like Smokestack, Winter Orb, Torpor Orb and Sphere of Resistance which then slows everyone down immensely with you being in the lead, problem is most of the good ramp that gets you very far ahead very fast to be able to handle the effects of such cards on your own board state are pricy.
my personal favorite control decks are Keranos, God of Storms and Meren of Clan Nel Toth,
keranos because it combines the above stax with Counterspells galore and the ability to cast Jokulhaups/Obliterate/Wildfire without keranos dying, and he just draws you into more lands and counters and bolts creatures
meren because she can easily ramp early by stacking Arbor Elf type cards and then playing stax or cards like Living Plane, Grave Pact or Contamination to not let opponents do much of anything while getting a free creature to sacrifice every turn, abusing stuff like Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Eternal Witness
stax is the cornerstone of edh control, but many other commanders do it well,
Sen Triplets//Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Hokori, Dust Drinker/Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Baral, Chief of Compliance/Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip
the most fun but least competitive form of staxcontrol is chaos, where silly things occur and lots of dice rolls of chance, for these you want my favorite general, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, or other chaos generals like Norin the Wary
nekusar uses chaos to win in the form of mass draws via Teferi's Puzzle Box or Wheel of Fortune effects, which is like casting a bunch of global mulligans and can either win you games or feed your opponents based on what cards are drawn when you force draw
norin abuses cards like Genesis Chamber, Possibility Storm and Confusion in the Ranks that mess the game up while norim comes out turn 1 and starts flickering
theres plenty more but those are the most common i can think of
November 26, 2017 2:54 p.m. Edited.
I've had fun and success playing Tasigur, the Golden Fang as a grindy control deck. The Lab Maniacs have a video on their YouTube channel for the strategy and you can find budget versions on here.
November 26, 2017 2:57 p.m.
Geralf_Cecani says... #7
At six mana, he's a bit unwieldy, he can be incredibly powerful.
Cards like Wild Guess and Cathartic Reunion become useful too. He does have a bit of an issue in that you REALLY have to cut down on the permanents you include in your deck, and he doesn't really work well with counterspells, but save that, he can do a ton of work.
November 26, 2017 5 p.m.
Geralf_Cecani says... #8
And aristocrats can also be a very fun deck type to play. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder and Teysa, Orzhov Scion, along with cards like Attrition or Sadistic Hypnotist. Don't forget Dictate of Erebos too
November 26, 2017 5:03 p.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #9
again.. melek is storm combo not control
not every izzet deck is a control deck, most arent -.- and before someone says niv mizzet and locust god those arent control either
i mean you could build mizzix and them control but it won't work that well if you have 2 or more opponents, and their abilities are more suited for combo
November 26, 2017 5:07 p.m.
Xmasspecial says... #10
Thanks for the feedback so I dnt now enough about he archetypes control to me meant spell heavy where you deny and blow up the other players but it sounds like storm and some other types fit the bill too. Thanks!
November 26, 2017 5:23 p.m.
Another way to look at control that most would accept as more "fun" involves boardwipes and removal.
I say this as a Talrand player of the opinion that multiplayer gets harder and harder to control with counterspells (albeit lots of fun if you can bluff the table into taking each turn into council as you entertain opinions about what should and should not be countered).
The more fun control could look like Teneb, the Harvester filling up graveyards and picking through them later. For some reason most people would call this "fun".
The next problem comes along when everyone plays graveyard shenanigans because it's "socially considered fun" and all of a sudden it matters where you are seated round the table for sorting out who gets to respond to a creature entering the graveyard first.
I actually prefer running my Talrand because I hate repetitiveness to the point where seating matters ... geez. But you used that little word "fun" which can be so loaded in EDH sometimes - although it may not be laced with aesthetic dogmatism in this particular case. It's hard to tell from one short paragraph.
November 26, 2017 5:23 p.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #12
storm is a combo archetype, not control.. so you're not playing control if you play storm, yea you have countermagic but its mostly protection, control is dedicated to board wipes, denial, and removal, casting a ton of spells isnt control, thats combo. also creatures and artifacts are spells so im not sure you understand what the difference between control and combo is :/
November 26, 2017 6:11 p.m.
There are tons of synergies in edh. Another synergy that goes with controling by removal and wiping involves Blood Artist et al.
I included these synergies that go along with wiping/removal style control because just killing everyone else's stuff doesn't win the game.
The need to have a way to win often pushes control and combo (or high-synergy or "super-combo" depending on who you talk to / communicate with). together (but of course not always or by any implied shared definition).
In this case the desire may be to play izzet edh? That's not an easy one but there are lots of options.
The whole "fun" thing depends more on who you are playing with than most newer players realize.
November 26, 2017 6:20 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #14
For black control, I would recommend Toshiro Umezawa, he ends up playing a very fun political game with a lot of table talk.
November 26, 2017 7:28 p.m.
multimedia says... #15
Hey, If you're new to Commander and control then I recommend keeping it simple for your first control Commander deck. I suggest the color pair Azorius, .
These two colors are very straight forward for what they do with control. In the simplest terms blue is for counterspells and draw. White is for board wipes and removal. Blue is the most obvious color you want with control because of counterspells and draw. Two cornerstones of how control can work. White has the most board wipe options which you'll need to control the battlefield and not die to swarms of creatures. White has fine removal spells that can deal with any nonland permanent your opponents' have.
I suggest Grand Arbiter Augustin IV for you're first control Commander. His three abilities are also simple to understand both reduce the casting cost of your blue and white spells while also increasing the casting cost of your opponents' spells.
Azorius can start as budget; you can make a fine casual Commander deck for under $100 with Arbiter most likely being the most expensive card in the deck. It's a good color pair for more expensive upgrades later on.
Suns_Champion says... #2
Baral, Chief of Compliance is most definitely "control" but "fun" is more debatable haha
November 26, 2017 2:52 p.m.