What is honestly the best way to pick a commander?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 10, 2016, 12:52 a.m. by RnG_Joker
Good Evening fellow Planeswalkers and Deckbuilders a like.
I have come here to ask a question that has been plaguing me since I've started playing Commander.
I have only really been playing since Khan's came out, and I've made a lot of dream decks here on the site. Sadly, the current deck I have in real life(Nekusar) within our play group just gets rolled over and I'm never really allowed to "play" the game whenever I join in.
I guess to shed some light on the matter here my play group that I mostly am able to play with is HIGHLY competitive and hence forth all have very, VERY deadly decks that seem to really start going off around turn 3-4 if things go well for them(Like one of them runs Selvala and some how gets on everyones good side then suddenly drops a Vorinclex on turn 4)
With all the decks that I've built online, I just feel like nothing I do is able to live up to anything all my friends have built, for I plan to put down the Nekusar deck and start building one of the decks I have on my list, but I honestly don't know which one would be the best to pick from to fulfill my wishes:
Have fun
Still be Competitive(It's the only way Imma be able to keep up with anyone at the table)
Not be completely hated by everyone(?). Hopefully?
I honestly could use all the help I could get, I still feel like I'm a novice to MTG and will gladly accept any advice I can get.
I just took a look at your Nekusar deck. I hate to be dickish, but the power level of that deck is not reflective of its price. In short, it's not good.
That's not Nekusar's fault. Seriously. He's a decent general as long as your meta is something like 8 max on a scale form 1 to 10 in competitiveness. Be a better deck builder and player.
Sorry.
March 10, 2016 1:36 a.m.
If the play group is too competitive for your liking, if you prefer to have play the game rather than to start over constantly, address it with your group: work it out. Perhaps you can play competitive one evening and casual EDH the next? That or find a second play group that more fits your style so you can play both games if you want to. Communication is everything here.
The 75% build is a pretty good aim for casual games with decks that are still competitive (it is a deck philosophy, but loosely translated: try not to cover every natural flaw in your deck, and try to find alternatives for certain power spells that affect the whole table and some players generally dislike)
The general / commander of your deck is really not that important (Mind: I didn't say not important) in constructing a competitive deck. Sure there are generals that are more powerful than others and that are by nature (very) competitive. I build competitive decks with generals that aren't that competitive by nature, and more casual oriented decks with commanders that are considered (very) deadly.
Have a look at what other players created on tappedout, and see what there preferenced style of play is .I think that is an excellent way to start.
As examples:
Here's my bit-competitive-bit-casual Asmira deck: Hail Hydra and the (Asmira) Avenger
And this is my more 75% Narset : Die Hard (with a better looking Bruce)
March 10, 2016 4:20 a.m.
fadelightningmm says... #5
I kinda agree with TheDevicer every nekusar deck that has been "good" plays the same exact way so if you want to beef up the current deck surf tappedout for other nekusar decks and look for common themes.
That being said most groups I've played in hate out the nekusar player first because all of their decks play the same and are never fun for anyone but the pilot of the deck.
March 10, 2016 4:30 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #6
Nekusar will always be hated and he's stopped so easily and while doing so is predictable, the outcome is predictable. Nobody likes playing against Nekusar because he ruins your game plan (you can't build a game plan when every time you untap the hand you hold is different from your last one). If you're not building Nekusar based around Ritual/Song-Poision combo, winning with Nekusar is nigh impossible because everyone at the table will either be faster than you or hate the shit out of you.
If you want to improve your deck, go to EDHRec or search this page's Nekusar decks for what they do.
If you want to find a deck you actually want to play, figure out which the Archetype is you want to play (Actual Combo? Control? Aggro?), then decide which colours you want to play this archetype in and from there on find out which commanders are good in this archetype-and-colour combination. EDHRec, this page and even MTGTop8 is a reasonable resource. My first guess is, if you're annoyed by combo decks (and in particular since money doesn't really seem to be an issue for you), go towards Grand Arbiter Augustin IV or Oloro, Ageless Ascetic for Stax Control.
March 10, 2016 4:43 a.m.
here is something that could help you greatly: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/edh-generals-by-tier-copy-3/#c2567852
March 10, 2016 8:28 a.m.
Either play heavy control or heavy aggro. U/W is a great control combination for EDH. Or for aggro, Purphuros will do nicely. Play Purphoros as early As possible and drop tokens until everyone is dead. Build the deck right and you'll have plenty of available blockers. I will admit Purphoros doesn't always win, but he can hold his own in both competitive and casual. If you want to take the control route, hmu. I'm hands down the best control player I know. I've been playing control, particularly blue, since I started playing magic. Now, I didn't say I'm THE best. Just the best out of the people I know. Hope this helps!
March 10, 2016 9:01 a.m.
If you're looking to keep up with fast decks, you might as well play a 
/
/X variation. Green for ramp, blue for draw/control, etc
and 
would add more control options, and 
would add more speed. As mentioned; the mana bases for 3-color decks can be expensive, but I don't own any ABUR duals and I still have fun and win
Nekusar, the Mindrazer is a hard one for me because although you're doing damage, you're still fueling your opponent's hands. We have a saying in my playgroup: he who draws the most wins the most
In the end it's supposed to be fun. If your friends are not letting you play stuff then f*ck them. Yea it may be fun for them when they win every time, but edh is supposed to be a social format as well. We shit on our friend who plays a hyper-control Tasigur, the Golden Fang deck because some games just aren't fun when one person takes absurdly long turns then counterspells everything lol
March 10, 2016 9:19 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #10
The best way to pick a commander, imho, is to decide on a strategy and then pick a commander based on it.
If you want to build a dredge deck, for example, you keep that strategy in mind and look for a general that would support the deck. That way you aren't relying on your commander to win.
A common dredge commander is The Mimeoplasm because it supports the deck as a whole. (Though I'm having great success with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant)
Now apply this to anything you want to play. Tokens? Rhys or Trostani will do it. (Rhys is usually considered better depending on the build)
March 10, 2016 9:26 a.m.
InfiniteParadoX says... #11
Run Hermit Druid Combo and kill everyone in a one turn combo before turn 3.
March 10, 2016 9:38 a.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #12
The best way to pick a commander is to pick one that matches the game strategy you want to employ.
To avoid getting hated on, it is important to understand what causes this. It varies from group to group. In my local group, for example, the things that draw aggro the fastest are discard, mill, and anything that consistently interferes with other people's decks operations (such as Kismet, Null Rod, etc). Stuff like ramping, mana doublers, making huge attacks, or playing boardwipes and removal tend to not draw nearly so much heat. The local group is not particularly competitive though.
You could argue these are/aren't sensible (I particularly think discard/mill gets way too much heat for its effectiveness- but most players hate to see possible plays going away, regardless of the practicality) but my point is learning how other people react through experience.
March 10, 2016 9:45 a.m.
niv mizzet, the firemind is good for edh. he has access to control and to a great combo: niv mizzet + curiosity/tandem lookout/ophidian eye. there is also splinter twin/kiki jiki + pestermite/deciver exarch. and for aggro there are cards like the ezuris and marchesa. i repeat this will help: tappedout.net/mtg-decks/edh-generals-by-tier-copy-3/#c2567852
March 10, 2016 10:10 a.m.
Thank you all very much for your input, especially TheDevicer (I know my deck is weak xD hence why i came here asking for helping, and learning to deck build better)(Also love the gif, LoTRs ftw)
I do have to agree though, all the Nekusar decks that I've seen just taking time to surf though tappout all look really similar to each other in just the core aspect of drawing cards, but as greyninja said "he who draws the most wins the most" has turned out to be very true for the time I've been playing.
Budget has never been a "huge" issue with me, I have a cap I keep to every month for MTG cards and will either cycle cards I never use anymore or I just save up into all those really big cards, it's been a nice system I've been keeping to so I don't go homeless and I can still enjoy at least collecting magic cards xD
Well, I could say to get a bit more consistency within my deck and till I learn to pilot decks better, I should move down to either Mono-color or dual colors till I get a better idea of what to honestly do for a three color deck.
March 10, 2016 10:13 a.m.
Well I decided that if I am to switch commander decks(I can honestly only really have 1-2 EDH decks fully put together at a time xD) then the following commanders I'd be thinking of making are ones I've made decklists for here on tappout, and I'll gladly take any criticism you all may have on them, I only want to keep improving.
Scion Ur Dragon: Dragonic Overlord
Omnath, Locus of Mana: Fear Nature's Wraith
Brago, King Eternal: King of the Afterlife
Karn Silver Golem: Liberty Karn: ONLINE
(To be honest, I thought this would be an easy deck to build due to needing no colors, when honestly it was a pain to figure out what would work xD)
Those are just decks I think would be good, honestly with Omnath being my favorite(I've always loved green, but I built Nekusar wanting to try something not green for once)
To be honest my person favorite play style fits under getting big very quickly and hitting hard, OR combo off out of no where, I love combos, but I prefer usually hitting hard when possible if that is any frame of refrence, I've tried control once( I had a mono-blue Teferi (Creature) once early on, I couldn't pilot it for the love of my life.)
I don't know if any of the other decks I've built would be a better fit for trying to learn Magic better, I'm very open to more suggestion, like seeing The Mimeoplasm, didn't know he was considered Tier 1 among the community.
March 10, 2016 10:37 a.m.
Choose a commander you like, then build from there! I did the complete opposite with Jarad Commands the Dead, though. I started with an idea to use all my spar cards with "Sacrifice a creature.", then I built up from there. I had to order a few cards off Amazon to complete it (including Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord), but it's so fun to play now that I got it together!
March 10, 2016 12:57 p.m.
Nekusar is best run without all the cute Howling Mine effects precisely because it does gives your opponents extra cards for extra answers. My old deck only netted my opponent's an extra card from Nek himself and that was it. Hand disruption either by discard or Teferi's Puzzle Box/Wheel of Fortune/other wheels is the best route with lovely things like Megrim et al. A counter suite was essential to protect your key pieces. Not the most competitive deck or fast, but I did enjoy it for a time. However, mine got to the point people ignored the sliver player and went after me. Nek is loved by no one lol and that is sort of why I retired him.
March 10, 2016 1:44 p.m.
If competetiveness is the thing you want, go Brago. I personally dislike him, but he's really good. Include token producers to go infinite with Strionic Resonator and mana artifacts along with Brago's blink.
March 11, 2016 12:28 a.m.
Can't you just trigger infinite blinks and colorless mana with just Brago, Sol Ring, and Strionic Resonator, blinking at least the sol ring and the Strionic Resonator and some random third item every time?
March 11, 2016 1:12 a.m.
RnG_Joker: Yes, with Brago's ability, Sol Ring and Strionic Resonator you can go infinite blinking token producers, bounce creatures like Man-o'-War, Peregrine Drake, mana rocks and other ETB triggers. You can also abuse the stack and permanently exile things with Strionic Resonator and Oblivion Ring if you so choose. He can also blink Tangle Wire to refresh the counters on it, same thing with Parallax Wave/Parallax Tide. He forms a nasty combo with Reality Acid which can be blinked back in enchanting another permanent forcing a sacrifice (i.e. gets around indestructibility) of the last permanent it was previously enchanting. Otherwise Reality Acid is just a terrible card lol. I run Brago as a "fairly" budget cruel control stax (Brago, King of Blinkage Deck). Probably needs updating with the last few blocks but it can give you an idea on the cheap. The Rishadan trio (Rishadan Footpad, Rishadan Cutpurse, Rishadan Brigand) are quite devastating in the first few turns or when paired up with other stax cards and Brago's ability.
Oh and one more thing, Brago with manifest is crazy. Lightform and Cloudform can allow you to play your entire deck for free (using Strionic Resonator shenanigans) because the manifested cards are blinked back into play face up.
The only problem with Brago is that in order to abuse him you have to turn him sideways and he has to land a hit. That usually means waiting a turn as haste in U/W is rather limited which opens up answers from opponents. Luckily he does have flying which helps, but a T2 Brago is the safest bet to get the engine going.
March 11, 2016 2:22 a.m.
That is some amazing combos o_o i didn't even realize that he had so many combos that go off from just landing one good hit in. It makes sense why he is considered Tier 1 among the pages now. I'm pretty sure my Brago deck I've made on here does not meet up to par with that level of craziness.
asasinater13 says... #2
depends on your playstyle. personally I search through gatherer for legendaries in colors I would enjoy playing, sometimes just all legendaries, and find whatever's interesting to you. Starting early is often less dependent on your commander and more dependent on your 99, so it's a good idea to look there and see that you have ways to interact meaningfully for 2 or less mana, as well as mana rocks that cost 2 or less mana to get into play. it's more difficult in three color decks and that often wants you to be running fetch/ABUR/shock manabases. I have no idea what budget you're playing on but that's a lot of money, so going to less than three colors may be ideal for you right now. If you enjoy nekusar try something else that can play a stacks style plan, I'm not confident what is best for this, other people will be more knowledgeable than I am about that specifically.
TLDR: the 99 is more important to decide how quickly you can play out than your commander.
March 10, 2016 1:03 a.m.