How Many Decks Do You Actually Play?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 30, 2026, 5:42 a.m. by EnbyGolem
I love stats and have always been fascinated in the different ways in which people brew Magic.
I would like to know:
A) how many paper decks you have ready to play right now
B) how many of those decks you actually regularly play
Personally, extremely picky about commanders and very slow in testing each cog in a deck. As such, only 2 decks are ready to play. They are the same two paper decks we have been building, playing, and refining for many years now
I am very curious to see how our numbers compare. Feel free to link your favorites for others to see as well!
I only really build for commander these days. I usually average around 10 playable decks since I want to have multiple options at different bracket levels. In theory I could build more but I've found that I have a habit of building multiple decks that feel similar to play. If two decks are too similar then I go through rounds of testing and take apart the one that I like the least. That process seems to have settled into my average of 10ish decks.
I haven't had much opportunity to actually play the game with people over the past handful of years. I just keep building decks as a creative exercise.
August 30, 2026 8:24 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #4
My bag holds fifteen decks, and I usually don’t rotate a deck out of there more than a few times a year (I have about 20 or 25 decks total). Out of the fifteen, I usually have about three or four that I’ll play consistently. As I get tired of them, or after a request for a certain deck, one of those three or four will sit idle long enough that it gets replaced.
August 30, 2026 10:13 a.m.
Icbrgr we have quite a handful of other decks sleeved up too. A pauper deck that is completely home brewed (so probably terrible against actual pauper decks) and a whole lot of 'kitchen table jank' that are from a long time ago when that's the format my playgroup mainly played. A lot have been disassembled but keep a handful for fun and nostalgia. Haven't had an opportunity to really play them in a long time too. EDH really seemed to take over the paper experience, at least from what I've seen. Really want to get into premodern but would either have to brew budget jank or proxy due to the price.
SaberTech I definitely feel you on the not having as much opportunities to play. Upgrading and brewing is an awesome way to be creative and express yourself. One of the coolest aspect of Magic imo
FormOverFunction sounds like a good system to rotate through your collection
Thank you all for sharing
August 30, 2026 11:18 a.m.
A) how many paper decks you have ready to play right now?
Currently, I have 10 decks: 3 Bracket 4, 3 bracket 3, and 4 unmodified precons. I usually bring 3 or 4 decks with me for a given night of commander as I feel 4 or 5 decks is enough to have a good variety of games.
B) how many of those decks you actually regularly play?
I play all my decks regularly. If I didn't care for a deck id simply strip it for parts.
August 30, 2026 11:26 a.m.
I have 22 decks that are in paper and ready to go.
2 - bracket 4 /
11- bracket 3 /
9- bracket 2 /
I hardly get to play my 4s or my strongest 3s.
On a given game night I bring one 4 and at least one strong 3. But usually I only get to play my 2s and weaker 3s because the folks at the LGS aren't strong deck builders.
My last 4 decks have had zero game-changers and abide by all bracket 2 rules, but I mainly play them against bracket 3 opponents. I'm making this conserted effort to handicap myself. It's barely changed my win-rate but I do encounter less salt... except for last week when I won off the back of an Expropriate. One of my opponents had a proxy Rhystic Study and yet somehow I'm still the villain...
August 30, 2026 3:32 p.m.
When you said: "I'm making this conserted effort to handicap myself. It's barely changed my win-rate but I do encounter less salt..." you come off like a Dragon Ball Z villain LMAO
At my last FNM a new player/acquaintance of mine put a proxied Candelabra of Tawnos in his Zhulodok, Void Gorger bracket 3 Commander deck and went infinite on turn 4 - he had no clue that what he did was a major faux pas in that the power of that card doesn't belong in a bracket 3 deck (at least in my opinion - am I wrong in that assessment?). We were only playing 1 v 1 and had an opportunity to discuss ethics of proxies in a friendly and constructive way. Just because you can, doesn't mean you always should. When building a deck one must consider what kinds of decks they want to face off against.
As for your Expropriate "feedback" - from my experience, most players that just aren't dialed into the game tend to ignore Rhystic Study for a time and rely on the one smart player that realizes Card Advantage wins games to get rid of it. Expropriate is big, flashy, and memorable. Nobody is gonna sit there for 1 to 4 turns while you tutor for multiple options to end the game or you steal everyone's favorite precious-es and bonk em' with them. It ends the game. I think that's fair honestly, but I hate Leovold's smug mug - he hurt me once a long time ago.
August 31, 2026 2:10 p.m. Edited.
TheoryCrafter says... #9
As of this post...
I have one deck I play exclusively online in the Commander Format; one deck that serves as my deck for both Legacy and Vintage; one deck each of Modern, Oathbreaker, Pauper, Pioneer and Standard. All of these decks except for my legacy/vintage deck can be viewed on my page
I've got 31 of the 32 color schemes ready to go or close to ready to go. I have two Commander Dex in WUBRG and they're the only 2 are technically completely finished. Of the remaining 30, 24 of them are sharing from the same collection of lands because I didn't have enough for all of them. I can put the lands right in and be ready to play. Of the remaining 6, once I'm able to get the necessary commanders for those dex they'll be ready like the other 24. of these dex, only my Dimir Deck is available to look at on my main page.
May you draw well.
August 31, 2026 10:03 p.m.
"you come off like a Dragon Ball Z villain"
I have achieved a power level over 9000!
But honestly, I do wish people were better at deck building.
Commander would be overall a much more interesting format if the average homebrewer could make a list that was more powerful than a modern precon.
Throwing 3 gamechangers into a pile of random cards does not make a tier 3 deck as it turns out.
I used to despise net-decking back when I played 60 card tabletop jank. But those days were so much better than the EDHrec slop I see these days.
August 31, 2026 10:28 p.m.
psionictemplar says... #11
I have 7 commander, 10 modern, 6 pauper, and 3 oathbreaker decks to choose from. I play all and none at the same, using a dice to determine which I play in any given game (for the appropriate format of course).
September 1, 2026 11:04 a.m.
RiotRunner789 says... #12
I have 34 commander decks ready to go, not counting numerous precons (most still in the box).
Two of the EDH decks are retired and I try and play the other 32. When I go to play, I look at my W/L sheet and try and pick decks I haven't played that year. I only play about 50-70 EDH games a year, so 3-8 decks don't get played.
Just can't stop building and can't stand the idea of taking them apart.
Outside EDH, I have my old-standard Shadowmoore -1/-1 counters deck and OG Kamigawa ninjas deck. Sadly no one plays block decks anymore, so they do not get played.
September 1, 2026 7:36 p.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #13
I have 17 decks sleeved up and ready to go, of which I play 5 pretty regularly, maybe 3 more occasionally, and the others rarely. Some of them are decks I'm too lazy to take apart. Also, storage is tight in my apartment, and the cards take up less space as a consolidated deck within my deck box than they would if I started pulling them apart.
September 9, 2026 11:18 a.m.
DragonMaster420 says... #14
in modern i've got 5c slivers, gruul land destruction, jund dragons, and sultai elves.
in pauper i've got mono green tron, mono green elves, and bant bogles.
for utter casual games when i need something weaker, mono R goblins, Mono R elementals, and Mono G "haste".
September 9, 2026 12:05 p.m.
wallisface says... #15
I only play modern, and currently have 6 competitive decks (Eldrazi Broodscale, Dimir Control, Esper Blink, two Golgari Midrange brews, and Sultai Living End).
I find with 6 decks i get to play them all fairly frequently. I used to have more but found that I just wasn’t playing each deck frequently enough. Modern is a format of knowing a LOT about lines and interactions, and it’s very easy to get sloppy without having a lot of reps for a deck.
Icbrgr says... #2
I have 6 decks sleeved up and ready to fire at any time (reflected on my profile page).
1 Modern (Most played)
2 Commander Decks (2nd most played) Ghired, Conclave Exile
and Ureni of the Unwritten
1 Pioneer (sometimes played)
1 Pauper (never played)
1 Premodern (never played)
Ideally I try and am ready to play a spread of formats but I genuinely prefer Modern "Competitive" Magic at the LGS... Commander is my fallback for when Modern doesn't fire and I have yet to find any opportunity to actually play pauper/premodern in paper.... so to be relevant to the forum... two decks :p
August 30, 2026 7:28 a.m. Edited.