MTG Salvation

EDH is what kept me in Magic when I started hating all the other formats. Nowadays I play Modern on a rare occasion, but 95+% of my Magic gaming is in the Commander format.

Quote from Crusade

There are some players with 10+ EHD decks who have built them to be highly competitive and can combo off on or before turn 5, and numerous players who are just getting started, and have far less powerful decks.

I don't understand why there's a problem. If your game store had, like, only five players interested in playing EDH, of which 3 were competitive and 2 were casual, then I can understand why there would be a problem.

However, since there are so many players, why don't those with the higher skill level and more competitive decks play with each other, and the same goes for those with lower skill and experience? This is what usually happens when you let the players do this on their own, without the game store stepping in to mix up the groups.

It might be a bit rough at first, but people usually figure out in which group they belong fairly quickly, so long as they know that the option is available to play in a different pod.

Have you considered Halfdane? His casting cost is cheap, and his ability guarantees that he is equal in power to the largest target-able creature on the board (before you slap that awesome equipment on him.) He gives you access to the black you want, the white that supports equipment, and further artifact support in blue.

In black-white, two interesting options are Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter, and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts. At 7cmc, they're probably pricier than one generally wants as a Voltron general, but Teysa can't be blocked and Vish-Kal can get crazy big with the right support.

I love me some combat tricks. No one ever expects combat tricks in EDH because they're not considered "good enough." I've straight-up won games with Might of Oaks, Boros Charm, and Savage Beating.

I also run Bloodrush creatures in my Ruric Thar, the Unbowed 98% Permanents deck. No one expects a creature without trample or deathtouch to gain both after blockers have been declared.

I play EDH pretty much exclusively. I'll join in a cube, do a sealed prerelease, or break out one of my Modern decks whenever I've got a Spike itch to scratch, but whenever I look over the spoilers of a new set, I'm looking for cards to put in my EDH decks - or ideas for a new one. It's what I play, it's what I write about, it's what I tell people about when they ask me about Magic.

A few cards are going into my Atalya, Samite Master lifegain deck: Angelic Accord, Archangel of Thune, Path of Bravery, and maybe Staff of the Sun Magus.

Quote from TheTrueNub

Yeah, I figured it was complete and utter jank, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of back-of-the-envelope wombo combo I simply wasn't seeing.

Well, there's Academy Ruins and Field of Dreams, to do a steady 10 damage regularly. I wouldn't call that game-breaking though.

I run it in my Sharuum Sphinx-Tribal deck, since there's a "guess the card" theme in it.

I once had Booby Trap, Sculpting Steel (copying Booby Trap), and Phyrexian Metamorph (copying Booby Trap) in play waiting for an opponent to draw the Creeping Corrosion I knew he had in his deck, hoping to do 30 damage and knock him out before he could cast it. He never drew it, though.

So, it's not completely useless - but it's close.

Quote from Nim

repeated effects, especially from lands (Arena or Contested Cliffs being classics) can be very effective forms of repeatable removal.

Agreed. My regular EDH group has declared Contested Cliffs a kill-on-sight card in my beast-heavy Ruric Thar, the Unbowed deck.

Also, fight mechanics can be very nice if you have creatures that trigger upon taking damage, like Boros Reckoner, Coalhauler Swine, Saber Ants, or Kami of the Honored Dead.

A creature enchanted by Druid's Call is my favorite. Your massive Krosan Cloudscraper crushes an opponent's critter, say for instance a measly Frost Titan. Then suddenly... BAM! SQUIRRELS!!

Also, perennial favorite Phantom Nishoba is good to fight with, if you have any degree of counter manipulation.

I'm offended by that playmat because that's obviously the Barbara Gordon Batgirl, which perpetrates the vicious lie told by the "New 52" that Stephanie Brown never existed.

Nonetheless, still not a call I'd make if I were HJing the event.

Wild Beastmaster. She was in four of my five prerelease pools, both Holiday boxes I bought, every single RtR box I've opened, and shows up regularly in my FNM participation booster. Once I acquired my 14th, I briefly entertained the idea of collecting her before throwing half the pile into my bulk rares box to be traded away.

Quote from LandBoySteve

As far as synergy goes, nothing beats a Sliver deck. Not Merfolk or Humans or Goblins or anything. They were an abomination beyond any abomination this game has ever seen.

Allies.

Slivers can become huge, shrouded, double-striking, trampling creatures, but they still have to swing at the opponent in order to win.

Allies just have to come into play.

This is what Vorinclex thinks of this topic.

I don't know what it is about that last panel, but I just could not stop laughing.

In addition to the previously-mentioned benefit of having (even inefficient) land destruction in Limited where 3+ colors are frequently run and fixing is limited, I am glad to have "crappy LD" in sets like Innistrad that contained powerful utility lands: Gavony Township, Moorland Haunt, and Kessig Wolf Run could totally wreck you and have few answers.

Rogue's Passage doesn't quite meet the same level as the Innistrad lands, or Vault of the Archangel, but I have still most certainly sided in Survey the Wreckage against it.

My wife plays whatever wins, doesn't play limited, and doesn't play the format if she doesn't have a deck that wins consistently in it.

I'm the one who builds angel decks. Go figure.