Also: LOVE your OG Legends series!

Thanks for the upvote on my Zurgo; cheers!

Thank you for the upvote and kind comments on my Zurgo!

Cheers!

Just a quick follow-up on my recent comment about lands, over on your Zurgo deck:

Are you familiar with Salubrious Snail's manabase tool? If not, I wanted to strongly rec' checking it out next time you want to fiddle with a manabase. We bascially just plug in a text version of our decklist and it'll spit out numbers for how likely we're able to cast on curve. It took a few interations, but I was able to get the deck down to "strong, playing your spells 0.38 turns late on average".

It also gives us some details on hard-to-cast spells. For example, I looked at adding Bolas's CitadelGC, but even by Turn 8 I had less than a 50% chance of casting it, so I took it back out :-/

Hoping you find it as useful a tool as I have. And sorry for the spam if you don't!

Cheers!

Greets!
I've been working on the manabase for my Bracket 3 Zurgo deck over on Moxfield, and I've been super-impressed with the Mardu Triome (Savai Triome) and Battlebond lands (Luxury Suite, Spectator Seating, and Vault of Champions). Might be worth checking out ...

Cheers!

I was thinking about this some more and wanted to recommend picking up the Exquisite Inventions precon as your starting point: Exquisite Invention-UR Artifact C18 PreCon. Your local game store may not have it any more, but there are still plenty of copies available on Amazon/eBay/etc.

The deck is pretty solid right out of the box and precons are IMO the absolute best way to start in Commander. Plus almost all the cards you list above would slot in, once you get to the point you want to upgrade the deck. At that point you'll also know if you want Saheeli, the Gifted, Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer, Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice, or someone TOTALLY different in the Command Zone.

Cheers!

Deck_Building_Dude - And thank YOU for all the help! I will 100% be reaching out later this month/early next (i.e., once my friend gets a couple real-world reps with the B2 deck, and as I turn my attention towards the B3 version). Cheers!!!

Greetings!
I was thinking about your 1st commander deck and realized I didn't mention my number 1 rec' for people starting in Commander: Find a pre-constructed (aka "precon") Commander deck that seems cool (because of the theme, or the art, or whatever) and play it straight out of the box. Playing a precon is IMO a GREAT way to learn Commander, partly because the other people at the table will likely take it a bit easier on you (because it'll be very obvious you're playing a Bracket 2 deck). Wizards designs their Commander decks to be easily upgraded, so you'll be able to easily tweak the deck (learning about deck-building as you do so), plus you can find a ton of articles and video content that will help.
Cheers!

Oh, this is just fantastic! HUGE +1 from me!

I'm not at all sure if he'd be a good fit here, but Chameleon Colossus is one of my favorite Dragons, er, Hydras ... especially in a deck with a few +1/+1 counters. And if you find yourself needing just a bit more Card Advantage, Herd Heirloom or Herald's Horn might be worth trying.

Cheers!

Thank you for the upvote on Zurgo; cheers!

First: Welcome to Commander!

Second: I recommend starting a thread over in the Commander Deck Help Forum, asking for help.

OK, now for some thoughts ...

• There's no subtle way to say this, so I'll just say it: I'm pretty sure your game shop is WAY more interested in selling you pricey cards than in helping you develop as a new Commander player. Urza, Lord High Artificer, Cyclonic RiftGC, Mystical TutorGC, and Rhystic StudyGC are all amazing cards, but they're called "Game Changers" for a reason: They will totally warp the game if you play them and--more importantly--they will TOTALLY mark you as a competitive player to the other players on the table ... and if you're not prepared for that, you'll be pummeled. Urza, in particular, is one of the best Commanders in the game (until recently he wasn't even allowed as a Commander in Brackets 1 or 2), and I would NEVER recommend him as a Commander to someone who describes themselves as "not a very competitive person". Worse though, while Scalding Tarn is a great card in any deck with Red, there's absolutely no reason to run it in a Mono-Blue deck.
• When asking for help, it's a good idea to state what kind of a budget you're on. You've got some pricey pieces, but maybe you want to keep the price down on the rest of the cards? Or not ... either way is totally cool, it's just about getting recommendations that will be the most helpful.
• When first starting out, I totally recommend checking out other decks ... you can ask questions of the authors, and playtest them to see what works for you ... it won't be long and you'll be helping out other people! Here are some Urza decks that people have been working on recently and here are the top-rated Urza decks on the site.
• All that said, if I wanted to play an Urza Deck, I'd probably start with something like this: Urza Starter Pack.

Good luck (and good skill!) with Urza and again: Welcome to Commander!
Cheers!

Thanks much for the upvote over on my Balthier & Fran deck!
Cheers!

Greetings! Noticed your Help tag, and request for some general feedback ...

Biggest advice I could give -- especially if you're aiming for Bracket 4 -- is to invest a bit in your manabase for sure, and maybe in some more mana acceleration/cost reduction effects.

With a 4-mana Commander who wants to be casting multiple 3-mana spells a turn, I'd recommend 38 Lands (with as few Tap Lands as possible), 12 mana acceleration effects (costing 2-mana or less, to help power out Y'shtola on Turn 3), and 4 cost reduction effects or slow mana sources (costing 3 mana or less, to help power out 2x spells a turn starting on Turn 4).

Some possible Lands (with more options over at Managathering.com):
- Fetchable Triome: Raffine's Tower
- MDFCs: Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip, Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip, Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip, and maybe Waterlogged Teachings  ^Flip (not sure if it's worth it as the Land side enters Tapped)
- Missing Fetch Lands: Marsh Flats, Flooded Strand
- Missing Battlebond Lands: Sea of Clouds, Vault of Champions

Possible Fast Mana sources:
- Fellwar Stone
- Thought Vessel
- Mox Amber and Mana VaultGC (worth mentioning, even if they're too spendy)

Possible Cost Reducers/Slow Mana Sources:
- Lyse Hext
- Alisaie Leveilleur
- Grand Arbiter Augustin IVGC (I know he's 4 mana, but he's really good)
- Relic of Legends
- Bender's Waterskin

Good luck (and good skill!) with Y'shtola!
Cheers!

I'm always a sucker for a Naya Token deck, and this one looks hilariously fun. Big +1!

Cheers!

Crow_Umbra - Heck, yeah! You mentioned the deck in an early comment on my Zurgo, but I had gotten sidetracked before I could check it out. I was very happy to finally do so! Cheers!

Deck_Building_Dude -
Thinking more about the Token doublers ... I could add them and comfortably maintain the deck's no-combo state if I dropped Pitiless Plunder. Plunder has been REALLY good so far, so I'm loath to cut it, but the doublers might be even better. I think it's at least worth taking some time to test.

Also wanted to mention that I over-generalized above. Stridehangar Automaton is a 3-card combo with Pitiless Plunderer and any Free Sac, but Forsaken Miner needs something like Goblin Bombardment for its trigger.

Cheers!

Deck_Building_Dude -
Thank you for all the kind words too ... but honestly, it was your earlier comment that set me on this path, so thank YOU!!!

Yeah, Martial Coup is definitely better for this deck. I think I must have been comparing it to other Mass Disruption options when I cut it, rather than comparing it to other Go Wide options ... derp!

Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon has been fine so far, but thanks much for the thought; I'll definitely keep an eye on her. FWIW, Mardu Siegebreaker is my current "Hmmmmmm ..." card, mostly becuase it's so inconsistent ... amazing with something like Mirkwood Bats on the board, but super-frustrating with a board full of Legendaries and Tokens!

The token doublers are GREAT, but I'm very consciously avoiding them in this deck, just because I hate accidental infinite combos (in case it's not obvious, Exalted Sunborn or Anointed Procession go infinte with Spawning Pit and Pitiless Plunder on the board). I mean, I'm absolutely happy to run infinite combos, but I just hate it when they happen accidentally in a lower-Bracket deck ... if I'm doing combos, I'm going all-in! :-)
Similarly, I'm not running Luminous Broodmoth (2-card combo with any Free Sac), Restoration Angel (2-card combo with Mardu Siegebreaker), Stridehangar Automaton or Forsaken Miner (3-card combos with Pitiless Plunderer and any Free Sac), or Aggravated Assault (3-card combo with Mardu Siegebreaker and Professional Face-Breaker).
All that said, I've REALLY been enjoying working on this deck though for my friend, so I think I'm almost certainly going to try building this as an all-in combo deck (at a higher Bracket and with a higher budget) for myself.

Fanatical Devotion is a fantastic card and I generally try to run both. But if I can only find room for one, it's almost always Reconnaissance. Partly because it always fits nicely on curve (especially with a 3-mana Commander), but mostly because I find the pseudo-Vigilance to be so useful in multi-player.

Great catch on Ashnod's Altar; I'm not sure why I trimmed it. It maybe combo'd with some card that's no longer there? Or was maybe a purely accidental cut? Either way, you'll see it back in the deck soon(tm)!

Good call on Thunder of Unity ... I'll force it into some test games (I seriously can't recall ever having cast it, lol) and form an opinion.

Thanks again for all the thoughtful and kind comments! And good luck (and good skill!) on your remaining finals!

Cheers!

NV_1980 -
Thank you for all the kind words! Also, thank you for reminding me of Enduring Courage! I had a bunch of Haste enablers in an early version of the deck, and at 4 mana, he was one of the first to go. But he'd be a great target for Mardu Siegebreaker, and I'm excited to give him another look. Especially since the friend I'm building this deck for is a dog person! :-)

Lol ... yeah, I almost always tag Path to Exile as both Targeted Removal and Ramp in a Token deck. It never feels great to use it on my own Creature, but sometimes it's just exactly what we need :-)
Settle the Wreckage is similar ... not saying I'd want it in this deck, just that it can be a REALLY good Ramp spell sometimes! :-D

The biggest real suggestion in my version of the deck is probably the mana base. Some of the pieces may be too spendy, but the more I think about it the more I wonder if smoother mana might be the "missing something" you were looking for ...

Cheers!

Thanks tons, but not really. I mean, I'm ALWAYS happy to take comments on any deck, but I can only really concentrate on one deck at at time, and right now it's Zurgo :-D