What's your favorite mechanic, and why?
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 12, 2023, 10:18 p.m. by TypicalTimmy
I really like experience counters. Unfortunately we don't have many good Commanders to build off of, so this is something I wish to see explored more.
What I like about them is two fold:
- It helps reign a deck in, making it more challenging to build and more rewarding to play and win with
- You get progressively better the more you play. Your spells and abilities become more impactful and you get free benefits.
For me, the challenge and reward feels appropriately balanced and I enjoy it.
How about you? What mechanic do you enjoy, and why?
DrukenReaps says... #3
I don't have a name for it because it exists on so few cards... Mairsil, the Pretender exiling and referring to those exiled cards is my favorite version of it. It allows me to screw around with things that aren't designed to interact with each other and protects those things in a nigh untouchable way.
It also exists on Zethi, Arcane Blademaster in a somewhat different but similar way. I'm not sure if any other card does quite the same thing as these two. Nor does Zethi have quite the mad scientist vibe Mairsil has.
April 12, 2023 11:50 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #4
As a general game mechanic, I adore filter spells like Commune with Nature. They help you to set up your next turns and smooth out the curve.
As a keyword, Cycling is great for similar reasons.
I just realized I like them because I tend to play rather budget cards (there are exceptions, obviously), and mechanics let you get away with that style of deckbuilding.
April 13, 2023 8:42 a.m.
'Demonstrate' was great. I like taking the "risk" but then choosing whatever setup engine player that has like 30 dorks in their deck.. or choosing an x-spell deck.
April 13, 2023 1:34 p.m.
I like explore because it's so versatile but nothing crazy on the power scale. Enter the Unknown is one of my favorite cards as a cantrip-ey value card for creature decks. But just that explore is like scry, but you get to put it in your graveyard for recursion decks, and it pumps a creature, and it just draws if it's a land...I really love explore : )
April 13, 2023 5:20 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #8
I thought devotion was really innovative; makes you look at all your permanents completely differently while still being chock-full of flavor.
April 13, 2023 6:18 p.m.
MattMan1982 says... #9
Cascade! Love it! Also I think they should make a first strike deathtouch creature just called deathstrike.
April 13, 2023 6:44 p.m.
First strike is a great one : ) You always look at first strike cards and think, well it doesn't do any more player damage, and it only works against creature decks, but then...sometimes...you get the right power creature at the right time with first strike, and it completely takes over the game.
Being powerful but chronically niche makes first strike such a fun one to play around with.
April 13, 2023 7:09 p.m.
I liked devotion & Theros Gods alot. I like indestructible because there are plenty of ways around it but it has also changed the relationship with destruction, based boardwipes in the game in a major way (deckbuilding & archetypes)
love "cannot be countered"
I like goad, though the original wording could have been better, also I could like it more but I play so much Kardur & he is just flat-out better than goad.
Niko9 first strike to you is like vigilance to me. Sometimes you hit the sweet spot with vigilance & just take over in a 4-player chip damage game. I've protected so many planeswalkers just by having multiple vigilance creatures while still contributing to the game in an aggressive way, which feels great. I have my cake & eat it too with vigilance... stay aggresssive, but don't get chiseled at by the table.
April 13, 2023 7:26 p.m.
DatShepTho says... #12
Anything Enchantress/Cantrip style. I love being able to play more Magic as a reward for playing Magic. Three of my EDH decks like to cast a card to draw a card repeatedly for value.
April 14, 2023 9:37 a.m.
Discard and Control Magic effects. They're dirty, but they work. If my opponent never has a chance to do anything bad, if I make them throw away their best stuff before it gets used or just steal it from them, I'm happy.
I'm a much nicer person in real life, I promise.
April 14, 2023 11:26 a.m.
nammertime says... #14
I like creature-combat effects. I'm not saying Magic should be resolved only with combat, but in this day and age, at least in EDH, it feels like everyone wants to combo out rather than play a classic game of summoning and beatdowns (outside of green).
That's right, I like rampage, banding, flanking, and whatever else. It makes combat interesting, even if it's weird and inefficient.
April 14, 2023 5:01 p.m.
Mutate for me. I know its awkward sometimes, but the minute I saw it spoiled, I began designing a deck, and I still play it. The idea of making one monstrous creature through mutations, I love it.
April 15, 2023 6:41 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #16
I love filtered draw cards like what seshiro_of_the_orochi listed, but I prefer the ones that pitch the remaining cards into the grave, such as Grisly Salvage or Winding Way.
I also love draw-replacement effects. Whether it's Dredge, Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar, or something like Words of Waste.
I'm borderline obsessed with Underrealm Lich, which does both of these things.
I'm also unreasonably satisfied with the mechanical combination of creatures with both Vigilance and a Activated Ability. Some creatures are printed this way, like Adarkar Valkyrie or Vona, Butcher of Magan, but it's just as easy to create the scenario by granting vigilance to something like a Bloodline Keeper  Flip.
April 16, 2023 11:54 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #17
Tyrant-Thanatos: Regarding Vigilance + Tap and your likings of binning cards, have you considered building Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor? I've built a Brawl version of her on Arena, and the deck feels really smooth.
April 17, 2023 1:49 a.m.
Favorite named mechanics, in order, are:
1) Cascade
2) Ninjutsu
3) Mutate (patiently waiting for more support for this one)
My favorite unnamed mechanic is Bounce; returning permanents to their owners' hands. My best 60 card deck is built around this. Now, anyone who knows me knows that my most hated card is Cyclonic Rift. However, the reason I hate that card is exactly because I understand more than most how fugging obnoxiously powerful it is. It's unequivocally the most powerful one-sided board wipe in the game. What it does is put all opponents back several turns, without the benefit of hand space to rebuild through draw.
From a strategic standpoint, bounce is better than removal. It gives the victim hope in the form of thinking they have a chance to replenish what they've lost, without realizing that they're now at least one turn behind their plans, and with dwindling hand space. It's a mind fokk, to the extreme, especially when repeated. Quintessentially Blue, annoyingly on par with counterspells, and even worse when paired with as much.
I intentionally haven't tried to build around bounce in Commander, because I like having friends.
April 18, 2023 1:40 a.m.
I also really like graveyard recursion, especially if it's stealing stuff from other players' graveyards.
April 18, 2023 1:47 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #20
Didn't you just finish building some sort of self-mill deck, Epicurus? Who's the Commander again?
April 18, 2023 2:03 a.m.
TypicalTimmy, you might be referring to my Sefris of the Hidden Ways deck. That's not exactly self-mill, but it does a lot of that.
I have a blueprint for a Syr Gwyn deck, with Haakon as the "hidden" commander, and that one is most certainly self-mill, but I haven't actually built that yet.
April 18, 2023 2:13 a.m.
I know I'm a little late to the party, but best mechanic? Cmon guys, that's an easy one. It's gotta be Hotshot Mechanic, no question. You get Savannah Lions, but it's also an artifact and gets that great vehicle synergy. No other mechanic comes close.
April 19, 2023 9:37 p.m.
rshistorysmuf says... #24
I have a few decks all based around a mechanic.
Mill, Ping, Timmy, X, Voltron, Colourless, Rainbow, Bushido, Hormanship/Shadow, Trample, That's Mine, Infinite Monkey Cage, Banding, and I am thinking of a Sharknado deck now.
April 22, 2023 12:05 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #26
Monstrosity / Landfall are among my top favorites, but Experience Counters have to be my #1. I just hope we get to see far more exploration with them in (hopefully near) future.
(Essentially I love value, obviously.)
April 23, 2023 2:05 a.m.
I love cards that have power and toughness equal to the amount of instants and sorceries in your graveyard and exile. My favorite keyword might just be Backup. It’s flavorful and loads of fun in limited.
April 23, 2023 7:39 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #28
Is there an official name for that? Where power / toughness are equal to something?
Does that have a mechanical term associated with it?
April 23, 2023 1:26 p.m.
DatShepTho says... #29
If it doesn't, I think it should be called Spellheart, after Spellheart Chimera, which looks like it's the first one to have an ability like this.
April 23, 2023 1:47 p.m.
They're called CDAs (Characteristic Defining Ability) by the official rules (604.3).
April 23, 2023 8:54 p.m.
How about spectering? My first deck was a Hypnotic Specter deck, and my last deck will probably be one too : )
Also, I do love flash just because of how versatile it is as a mechanic that fundamentally changes permanent cards. Though, it's also a slippery slope when there are a ton of flash, dash, evoke, and channel cards in a format because it power creeps out things that are just regular speed.
April 23, 2023 9:45 p.m.
rshistorysmuf says... #33
My favourite is Mill. It seems ah 80+ card challenge.
May 7, 2023 4:33 p.m.
And I honestly really love land gambling, even if it's probably not the most efficient. Something like Explorer's Scope or Traveler's Amulet may seem just worse than Wayfarer's Bauble but every now and then they are much better. If you don't have a land in your hand, traveler's is strictly better, and if you only have your land drop for turn, then it's a one mana reduction on bauble for functionally the same effect. I mean, just getting the land into play is probably overall better, but I love the aspect of, occasional big payoffs.
May 9, 2023 7:14 p.m.
GrimlockVIII says... #35
Either Group Hug or Group Slug. Any strategy that actively requires input and decision-making from all the players. After, it's a social game. I would prefer to make the experience as social as possible.
June 10, 2023 5:31 a.m.
GrimlockVIII says... #36
Wait oops I misread the actual title and thought we were talking general game strategies and not specific game mechanics. My b
Uhhh flickering/blinking is pretty cool.
Surveil is where it's truly at tho. Scrying and self-mill wrapped up into a neat little package that gives you more control over what you dump into your garbage bin.
Delphen7 says... #2
I really enjoy storm and donate.
Storm really brings to life the advanced planning aspect of the game, where you have limited resources, and you have to piece your way to a win. Not some beatdown deck that executes the exact same line every time.
However storm does tend to be very solitaire, so in social games I prefer donate effects (Slicer, Hired Muscle  Flip, Zedruu the Greathearted, Jon Irenicus, Shattered One), because I can manipulate the threat level of players and overall make a more interesting game
April 12, 2023 11:25 p.m.