Midrange in EDH - Curves, Priorities, Ratios
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on March 4, 2020, 3:27 p.m. by SplendiferousPotato
Hey friends,
I am working on a 4-color midrange EDH deck (with ya girl Saskia the Unyielding), and I am wondering how others go about looking at their curves, threats, ramp and card draw when trying to play the value game in our 100 card format.
- How related are your beefy creatures to your deck's principal strategy and commander?
- Where are you placing your ramp and card draw spells on the curve?
- How many removal pieces do you pack?
- What is your average CMC?
- Do you have a win condition in mind, or are you primarily hoping that the value train will get you there without specific considerations for "cards to cast so that I win the game"?
Any advice would be great!
SplendiferousPotato says... #3
Oh yeah, that may have been a good thing to mention. I'm building Saskia the Unyielding. That may indicate how aggressive and/or grindy I am trying to be.
March 4, 2020 4:55 p.m.
Neat question. I had success with all creatures/enchantments being r/t either draw for creature play, or haste enabling. This let me win grind games against control decks surprisingly suddenly. The rest of my cards were focal to mass non-creature removal (large portion) I usually dealt with creatures by assuming creature superiority or letting my majority control meta deal with creature populations... This won me a few games against reasonably strong competition.
March 4, 2020 11:43 p.m.
triproberts12 says... #5
What is most important to me is having a set plan for each turn of the game. If you want to run 6 copies of Llanowar Elves and friends, go heavy on 3 drops and start the game with a plan of going T1 dork, T2 3-drop. For example, the Tatyova druid tribal deck I used to play contained 5-10 1-mana dorks, so I loaded up on 3-mana land ramp and consistently had her out turn 3. I would do the same for Saskia. Load up on good fixing (especially Gx duals), signets, and 2-mana green ramp spells so that you can consistently put her on the board turn 3. From there, since you're playing midrange, you can assume that the beef starts at 4 CMC, and begin planning what your mid-game double-spell turns will look like.
March 5, 2020 9:46 a.m.
SplendiferousPotato says... #6
Thank you triproberts12, that is an incredibly useful comment!
If I were to run hate pieces (Thalia, Kambal, and Gaddock Teeg effects), should I consider them in a different category than my 4+ CMC beatdown fellas, or would it make more sense to include them in that group?
And also, how important is keeping my average CMC low with all of my threats being at the higher end? Does this mean I want all of my hatebear effects to be at or below my average CMC?
March 5, 2020 11:22 a.m.
triproberts12 says... #7
Some cards don't fit neat catagories, but I think that stax pieces could either come down turn two when your opening hand doesn't have ramp or when it seems especially devastating (i.e. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben against 2 spellslingers and an artifact opponent), or they could come down turn 4 with an aggressive 3-drop to put your opponents off resources for a turn or two while you start beating face.
I wouldn't go crazy with 5+ drops, since a perfect curve-out of midrange creatures isn't as winning a strategy in EDH as in 1-vs-1 formats. Being able to consistently go Night's Whisper into a 4-drop beater or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben into Furnace of Wrath (maybe not the best example for the sake of mana fixing, but you get the point) is going to be the most powerful thing you can do in a midrange deck. You'll need efficient draw, creatures with effects that can replace spells, 2-for-1's, and disruption for combo. I'm not sure what your meta looks like, you'll have to take the Modern Jund approach to deck-building and chose the marginally-best cards from a pretty deep pool of utility cards.
March 5, 2020 11:57 a.m.
SMASHER101 says... #8
By definition when playing midrange you play the best cards and out value the opponent. So play the best removal until you get to the removal that isn’t best, play the best ramp until you get down to ramp that is not the best. That said this is EDH and you really need a win con in order to close out games against 3 40 life players.
March 5, 2020 12:52 p.m.
SplendiferousPotato says... #9
Ah. I see.
Well, as for win-cons, I was hoping on damage-doublers. What would you recommend to supplement or replace that as a win-con?
March 5, 2020 1:03 p.m.
SMASHER101 says... #10
If you go wide then I would suggest cards like Overwhelming Stampede
March 5, 2020 1:31 p.m.
SplendiferousPotato says... #11
I don't think I plan on going wide. I was thinking maybe having 2-3 creatures on the battlefield most of the time. I was picturing win-cons that would function once I have a Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
, a Zurgo Helmsmasher, and an Aurelia, the Warleader on the battlefield at once, and how I turn those creatures into a victory. And it is just occurring to me how bonkers Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder would be in this group . . .
Is extra combats a potential avenue? I had considered that a bit, but I don't know how much redundancy I can have for that win condition. Aurelia would certainly appreciate that, I think.
Maybe a mix of alpha-strikes, extra combats, and damage doublers would be the way to go?
March 5, 2020 1:42 p.m.
You can do just fine with that as long as you have plenty of card draw for fuel and ench./artifact removal. As that other fellow says about the Jund approach
March 6, 2020 12:38 p.m.
triproberts12 says... #13
Sounds like a job for Insurrection.
It also kinda looks like you're trying to build a combo deck, what with the Congregation at Dawn and specific 3 creatures you want out, in which case Genesis Wave, Genesis Hydra, Lurking Predators, Kamahl's Druidic Vow, Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire, See the Unwritten, Atla Palani, Nest Tender, Aid from the Cowl, Warp World, Divergent Transformations, Indomitable Creativity, Reality Scramble, and Genesis Storm are your options for cheating out multiple creatures off the top of your deck. You'd then want to shore up your tutors (not having blue hurts here, but black is king) to be able to consistently grab Congregation at Dawn.
The other option (or perhaps in addition to) is to go reanimator. Buried Alive+Balthor the Defiled, Champion of Stray Souls, All Hallow's Eve, Immortal Servitude, Pyrrhic Revival, or Rise of the Dark Realms.
Tutors can serve each plan equally, and it keeps the deck from doing the same thing every time, which is good for casual play. Also, if you throw in Footbottom Feast, Gravepurge, Forever Young, and/or Bone Harvest, Buried Alive interacts with Genesis Wave and friends.
Pervavita says... #2
I think a lot depends on your commander and colors.
In a 4+ color deck I shoot for my ramp to also fix me and try to keep it between 1-3 cmc. Burnished Hart is an exception because it has flexibility of being colorless to cast, ramps for two lands, and it's a creature for where that matters. Vial Smasher the Fierce I do break the mana cost rule because I'm just happy casting big spells and if my ramp is a big spell then even better as it sets me up for even bigger spells next turn.
I keep card draw between 3-5 but that depends also on how effective it is or how much the card it's self fits with what I need to be doing... also how desperate I am in my colors (4 colors you shouldn't be desperate enough to need to over pay).
March 4, 2020 4:18 p.m.