Getting started with Commander/EDH (Page 1 of 2)

Ahh a post I can contribute too

1. Most if not all of the first 3-4 turns are spent getting your manabase to what you need to reliably cast spells and creatures espically if your running more than a 2 color general. There are very few decks that start faster even with a nut draw and with Primeval banned (if you play with the Ban List) its not as easy to get those non-basics that really can turn the game in your favour (Cabal Coffers and Urborg Tomb of Yawgmouth)

2. This is part totally based on what general you choose and then what that general does. If you choose Animar for example your going to run more creatures than instants and sorceries to take advantage of Animar making creatures cheaper (really fun casting an Ulamog for 0). Where as if you choose Talrand, your going to want more instants and sorceries to get drakes on the field. You might think that since you only need 1 of a given card it shouldnt be too hard to fill out a deck with stuff, but ask any EDH player with the having almost every single magic card in existance to choose from, your bound to find some youve never heard of and want to include them in the deck. that 99 runs out pretty quick. something else to consider although its kind of stupid is that some people just choose a general for their colors and don't even use them. To me thats kinda of stupid and defeats the purpose of this unique format but to each his own I guess.

2a. Your Land count should fall any where from from 30-40 (unless your playing Azusa, Lost but Seeking where 45 is average) depend on your mana curve, number of colors being used and if you choose to run artifact ramp (ie Signets, Prismatic tailsmen). I personally never have less than 32 lands in any deck with fetches and some sort of ramp and I dont usually have an issue.

3. You can have as many legends in your deck as you want. See Captain Sisay. Of course only 1 can be the general but there is no limit to the amount included.
4. Like its already stated, it varies alot and on the types of decks being played. Most games see 25-30 turns if people are casual but if its more competitive decks being played, games can end very fast with the amount of infinite combos that can be achieved.

4. There really isnt a way to be consistant. You just need to do the best you can with what you have to work with. A few tips I would suggest that I follow when I build decks
         A. recursion is important. Bc you only have a single copy of a spell in a deck its important to have a back plan incase it gets countered or removed before you use it. Obv some colors have an easier time recurring things than others (Green has Eternal Witness compared to Red that has...)

         B. Include some kind of graveyard hate (Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progentius) just in case. Alot of Generals can do crazy things with the gravy yard so it never hurts to have a way to make sure you have a way to deal with it without relying on your opponents to help.

         C. Make sure you have ways to draw extra cards reliably besides your 1 a turn. In a game that revolves around dealing with multiple people that have multiple threats you need to make sure you have more than 1 answer waiting in your hand when the time comes or it gets back your turn. This part is prolly the hardest to establish since people dont like you drawing more cards than them but just something to consider.

         D. This is the Format of Ramp. Primevals banning should drop it alot but its still important to get mana up so you can cast your fatties.

         E. Tutors are the best way to get what your looking for. Some are better than others as well as cheaper, but no tutor is really that bad that you cant make it work. Granted there are some that hold no purpose in a singlton format but being able to look for answers or combo pieces or even lands when you need it is alway important.

I hope this helps atleast alittle

Last edited by Helios52 (2012-09-24 14:11:57)

One thing to note is that mono-color is really really fast in EDH oftentimes but if you're playing casually it's often more fun to play slow games at least IMO.

It looks like all of your questions were answered very well above but if you'd like different thoughts I can offer some.

The speed of games is also relative to how many people are playing, for example, I never play with less than 4 people so I play very slow games but 1v1 can be fast

Make sure to check this against the official banlist at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resour … -commander

I know Tolarian Academy is banned, but is on Monolith's list.  Sundering Titan as well, but I think that was banned after Monolith wrote that up.

Last edited by Nighthawk (2012-09-24 16:37:30)

reminded me of a deck I played against recently.. Mono-Red Goblin Token...
it made the game interesting,.. let's just say that.

I've been thinking about making a Krenko based Goblin token deck as well, when I stumbled upon Voracious Dragon.  A must include if you ask me.

Well I would say your off to a good start My 2 cents -

Gisela - Love her in decks, hate her as a general. She just costs alittle too much to be reliably cast and since she doesnt have haste,  she dies and needs to be cast for 9 the next time. Boros is not known for ramp lol. Dont get me wrong she is an absolute house but Red is the weakest color of the 5 in EDH aside from Goblins (hey look at that!) Personally if you wanted to angel tribal I would used Kaalia just cause she can more reliably get out angels plus you get black which gives you access to Angel of Despair, Selenia, Tariel just to name a few. But thats really up to you .

Life gain in EDH is often not very good bc of how commander damage works. Combat Damage done by a single commander can never go away during a game no matter how much life you have. For example if you hit some with your Gisela they would take 10 general damage from her ( She doubles her own damage dont forget). Then say they somehow gain a 1000 life, they still technically have 10 Gisela damage on them so if you can manage to do 11 more points of damage to them with Gisela you would win. Keep mind that damage between generals doesnt stack, so hitting person A with Gisela for 10 then person A gets hit again by a Progentius for 5 does not stack the Commander damage to 15. each general needs to do 21 general damage to a single player.

Dont get me wrong you should try to run alittle life gain bc not all decks rely on swing in with the Commander, but unless your building a pure life gain deck where your win con is Feldiar Sovereign I would stick to things like True Conviction or Loxodon Warhammer if you really sold on it.

You cant use Feeling of Dread in a R/W deck bc it has the blue mana symbol in the flashback cost. You can only have cards that have the red or white mana symbol in them bc you need to abide by the Color identity of your General. The same is true for lands and things with hybrid mana like spitemare (hes fine but if his colors were White/Blue you couldnt use him)

One of the most powerful forms of removal in this format is tucking, which means to shuffle a card into a library. Cards like Oblation and Chaos Warp are good examples of this. It can really set some decks back if their General gets tucked and a player needs to either wait to try and draw it or draw a tutor to find it. Remove from the games spells like Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares are really good for getting rid of indestructible creatures or an annoying creature that either is getting abused bc of graveyard sheningans or something similiar.

In any case Ill throw out some suggestions I would to add

Elixir of Immortality - Goes in every deck of mine. I cant tell you how many times saving my graveyard has saved me later on in the game. One of the most underrated cards
Angelic Aribter - Helps control the board alittle
Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot boots - never leave home without these on.
Akroma Angel of Wrath + Akroma, Angel of Fury - They are beastly

Obviously there are others that Im sure I dont need to add but Id start with theses lol.

Are planeswalkers common in EDH decks?

Thanks, for pointing out the problem with Feeling of Dread, by the way.

For me planeswalker have done more than paint a target on my head no matter if I play tibalt or jace. They are my favorite card to play with but they just get hated on so ended up takin them out all my decks bc they just couldn't stay alive long enough to do anything meaningful. Unless your playing with doubling season so they basically enter the battlefield with double their counters to go ultimate they really are just wasted mana. 1v1 is a whole other story however. Bc it's easier to go against 1 person attacking them than 3.

I'd also like to apologize for the length of my posts lol. I didn't intend to make it look like a novel I just extra off time at work haha.

You should also talk to your friend group and see how strict they follow the rules, some people say that nothing is banned and others say that stuff like Feldar Soverign and Serra Ascendant are banned/have the rules changed. Some people are strict about the kinds of cards you can use as well, as it's a non-tournament type some groups allow printed proxies for any card that you want, and some don't even allow gold bordered cards.

Again chat with the people you know before you start to set stuff up cause if you can just proxy stuff it can save you ALOT of time + money, i know that my group will allow any proxies because we just want to have fun and have lives that don't allow us to drop 100+ dollars on one deck much less one card

Sacred ground only works if your opponent controls the Price of Glory so you'd have to add Bazaar Trader or something as well or if you want to do as was suggested above and not use Gisela as the commander, this looks like a perfect combo forZedruu the Greathearted EDH

Last edited by imsully2 (2012-09-26 16:49:59)

Since most of the folks above have answered all of your questions, here's a bit of advice for building/playing EDH.

Build your deck with a bit more mana at first.  I'd start with around 40, which can be reduced based on your ramp/artifact mana.

Put in whatever cards you want.  Don't rely on lists of staples or top ten lists.  Sure, if you want to add those cards, then great.  What I'm saying is that you should enjoy playing your deck, and sometimes if it's choked with must-use cards, it can feel a bit generic.

The best way to figure out what cards you should add or subtract is by playing EDH a lot.  This should go without saying, but many of my friends get so caught up in construction that they're reluctant to play their new deck because they're not sure it'll work.  Just play, and any time you see a card in your hand that you just can't use, cut it!  When someone plays a card in your colors that you've never seen before and it's awesome, buy one! 

Lastly, play a lot and have fun.  That's the reason we like this format, right?

-Phrank