French Commander
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Feb. 25, 2014, 4:25 a.m. by tigersfan774
I'm big into commander in the states, mainly multiplayer but 1v1 as well. I'm not too versed in dual/french commander though and was just curious what some of the top tier decks are over there.
French commander is just a way of playing commander that balances it for 1v1. It's pretty great because the banlist for normal commander is really stupid for 1v1 (Vanishing is allowed in 1v1? lol. Interestingly sinze Zur got banned Vanishing has been taken off the banlist - funny.)
Zur was really popular but then got banned. Same applies for Derevi.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is popular. Geist of Saint Traft , Doran, the Siege Tower . Under that lot are the T1.5 and T2 commanders such as Prossh, Karador, Griselbrand, Maesltrom Wanderer, Marath etc.
It's worth noting that duel commander is a very fast format. It's extremely different from 'normal' commander.
February 25, 2014 6:51 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #4
I have a strong distaste for French commander (for personal reasons that I won't go into depth on) but wasn't Prime Speaker Zegana pretty popular after Edric, Spymaster of Trest was banned as a commander?
February 25, 2014 8:32 a.m.
It's not appearing in the mtgtop8 lists. Probably too expensive?
February 25, 2014 9:08 a.m.
Ohthenoises says... #6
I think it was slotted in for a while as the commander and then torn apart.
February 25, 2014 9:13 a.m.
smash10101 says... #7
Might be it was popular post edric banning, pre C13? But yeah, I feel like it's too expensive and I didn't see it on mtgtop8 either, though I was only looking at the most recent data.
February 25, 2014 9:36 a.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #8
One thing to note is that many decks are viable, even if they aren't tier one. Bazaar of Moxen often has 40-50 decks in the top 64, even 8 decks in the top 8. It's generally accepted that skill at playing your deck is more important than the deck being tier one.
Many commanders can be viable if the deck is built and played well. While some are obviously less optimal, or at least worse than they are in multiplayer, playing what you're good at is better than playing a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck you've never played.
February 25, 2014 12:58 p.m.
All I play is 1v1 Commaner (French) and Modern, and I can say that it's a pretty healthy format now that Zur and Derevi are banned. I'd say that Tier 1 Aggro / Combo would be Ezuri, Renegade Leader , Tier 1 Aggro / Control (Tempo) would be Geist of Saint Traft , Tier 1 Combo / Control would be Maelstrom Wanderer . If you want a pure combo deck you would have to give it to Animar, Soul of Elements . All the the other people here don't know much about Dual Commander based on the fact that they just look at MTG top 8 and guess that whoever tops must be good. Which isn't true. A lot of the players on MTG top 8 aren't even that good. Dual Commander is still a new format, with a very small amount of players. Besides that, you can take my word on this or not. I'm not trying to start anything with anybody. That's just my opinion from an experienced player.
February 27, 2014 2:12 a.m.
I don't really know. Don't play it myself. Probably a fair comment.
February 27, 2014 7:03 a.m.
Having said that, mtgtop8 is just a list of the results from all the officially sanctioned tournaments around the world so it's not biased in any way. It's literally just lists of who's doing well amd who isn't.
I wasn't looking at individual decks, I was looking at deck statistics. For example - when it says that 30% (made that number up) of people are playing and placing semi highly with Grand Arbiter Augustin then you assume that he's a good general from a mathematical viewpoint. No comments made about the quality of the player but a nod towards his mathematical placement in the rankings. In you can't really argue with a statistic like that.
It's interesting that you says that the players on mtgtop8 aren't good, because they're the players that have entered sanctioned tournaments. If there are better players (which there could well be) they obviously haven't entered anything which makes me question how you know that they're better? Interesting problem.
You probably know more about duel commander than me, but whether you know more about duel commander than a website that gathers statistical data on all the official tournaments around the world is another matter.
February 27, 2014 7:17 a.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #12
@Erectnid420: I do follow the format fairly closely, and I play it myself. I agree with you(and am slightly peeved you included me in the grouping. :P). MTGTop8 doesn't include every event, giving you a fairly skewed view of the format. For example, it currently says that, since C13 came out, 33% of the format was either Derevi or Zur, both of which are now banned.
February 27, 2014 10:01 a.m.
smash10101 says... #13
I think that it doesn't have post BNG bans statistics. And while I do not follow the format closely, from what I do know, both were quite popular.
February 27, 2014 10:05 a.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #14
They were popular. So overwhelmingly popular and insane that they got banned. But the fact that they still are 33% of the format shows that there aren't that many stats from after that. That was my point.
February 27, 2014 10:10 a.m.
smash10101 says... #15
Ah. I tried to make it clear in my first post that they didn't have any data post BNG, but, as always, things get lost in text only communication. In the interest on including other media, I will attach an image of a french commander deck. Yes, that Geist is foil, as is the rest of the deck, as much as possible.
February 27, 2014 10:35 a.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #16
Dem sleeves. I think the proper thing to do is buy iPod touch first gens and use them as cards. Cheaper anyway.
February 27, 2014 10:43 a.m.
smash10101 says... #18
Yeah, but ipods don't stack too well, they have a roundish back. Hella hard to shuffle, and you'd have to recharge them all the time. Also, it's only cheaper for some of the cards, and you'd need 100 of em, which might be hard to find these days. I would go for ipad minis. Much blingier. On second though, why not just use macbook airs?
February 27, 2014 11:06 a.m.
Just because it doesn't have the latest results doesn't mean that it's an inaccurate view of the format. It just gives you a snapshot of the format from before a month ago. The format will have partially changed but not completely.
February 27, 2014 12:14 p.m.
@NotSoLuckyLydia Sorry! I totally wasnt singling anyone out! i was just noticing people were only going off mtg top 8 lol
March 2, 2014 6:17 a.m.
The more you get into duel commander, the more people will ask why you don't just play vintage, which is unfortunate. It's not my main format though. Just something I dabble in.
March 2, 2014 6:20 a.m.
Is duel commander worth getting into? I'm dabbling with a voltron-Lazav, Dimir Mastermind idea, and I think it would preform well in duel-commander rules. I just don't know where people play it.
smash10101 says... #2
Duel Commander is the official website for bannlists and such. Geist of Saint Traft is currently the most popular commander, though I can't find any data since the last bannings, so that may have changed (he was actually in like 3rd place, but Zur and Derevi both got banned). Marath, Doran, and Maelstrom Wanderer are all pretty popular as well.
February 25, 2014 5:12 a.m.