I was wondering what the community considers the best and worst aspects of the Commander format. Here are a few of mine:
Favorite
1) I'm able to play with cards I normally wouldn't be able to run competitively in other formats.
2) I love the flavor and creative opportunities having a commander gives you.
3) Being locked into certain color combinations makes deck-building more interesting.
4) Multiplayer politics add a new layer of strategy.
5) The massive card pool makes every game and decklist more interesting.
Least Favorite
1) Games can tend to either drag on too long or end too early to a broken combo.
2) People can't seem to agree on how they want to play or what they want to allow.
3) Kingmaker situations take away the fun from the competitive aspects.
4) Aggro is weak, while combo can be overwhelmingly powerful.
5) The colors aren't balanced.
1) Games can tend to either drag on too long or end too early to a broken combo.
2) People can't seem to agree on how they want to play or what they want to allow.
5) The colors aren't balanced.
To be fair, those complaints aren't exclusive to EDH and are made in any format you can imagine.
Favorite:
The command zone and ability to choose a commander do a good job of emulating the extra deck from Yu-Gi-Oh. The extra deck was my favorite part of Yu-Gi-Oh and to see it mimicked so well in commander is the reason I started playing Magic: the Gathering
Least Favorite:
EDH players tend to promote a fictitious game of Magic where anything thing that isn't fun or fair to a specific individual isn't acceptable and they seem to do this with more frequency than players of other formats do. It gets old fast.
1) Multiplayer, got to love playing with multiple friends. Key to the format for me.
2) Restriction breeds creativity. I love how the format enables this.
3) Politics. This could belong to my first one, but heck. Worth a spot.
4) Being able to play with all the cards I love. ..Minus Sundering Titan.
5) Seeing what friends cook up every week, lots of change.
6) Ever-changing meta-game.
7) Did I say deckbuilding and creativity? Woops I'll say it again. Deckbuilding and it's creativity.
Least Favorite
1) Big difference in players, lots of casuals, lots of competitive players. Always hard to see eye to eye.
2) Kingmaking and Griefing for no reason.
3) "My combo is the only one allowed", hidden banlists for cards in everybody's head and lots of debates about this. Seriously just play the game and get along.
4) Lately, 40life is bugging me. Especially after seeing Conspiracy. They could balance this a bit more
5) People getting "mad for realsies" because they get targetted. (even when they have the most threatening boardstate and color combinations)
Favorite:
The deckbuilding opportunities this format presents are almost limitless. Literally anything is viable as long as you find the right group of people.
Least favorite:
Finding the right group of people is really hard. Mutual respect is hard to come by.
No other format comes close, IMO. They all get stale too quickly.
Pros
1. I like that you can only run 1 of a card
2. Being able to recast a commander gives your deck an identity
3. Limitation of colors
4. The people I play with, its a friendly and competitive environment
5. Multiplayer is a good time
Cons
1. No 4-colored commanders (unless your playgroup allows Nephilm)
2. Infinite combos, hopefully you have a playgroup that doesn't run a lot of them or any of them
3. Ragers
4. You sometimes get a lack of variety, I like interesting and fun cards like my favorite card is scute mob not just the same old same power house staples
5. I guess if I had to throw one more on the list I wish red wasn't so weak, Im not a fan of red but it would be nice to see it be more viable
Favorite: Friends that I gather with, play fun games, exchange creative deck ideas, and appreciate all these awesome cards we see.
Least Favorite: Approximately 70% of Strangers that join us, wreck fun games, put all their faith in their proxy filled netdecks to win/lock ASAP, and get angry at cards they weren't prepared for.
My favorites parts of edh are the ability to build anything you can imagine and the diverity that brings.
My least favorite or hated aspects are far too linear decks that build themselves and u/g/x goodstuff decks. Goodstuff was fine at first but when certain cards/combos become staples (tooth and nail, kikimite, labman) it takes the best aspects out of the game.
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For Lists, Click Here EDH: GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU. UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax RW: Gisela, Boros Control RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?! B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Favourite: The sheer posibilities for deckbuilding, the way that card that never get seen in contructed are often great, the variety between decks. So much fun.
Least favourite: See what I put for favourite. I can't stop coming up with new decks I want but can't afford and don't have the time to play. Oh, and the whiners.
FAVORITES:
The deckbuilding options are huge. There are a ton of viable decks and strategies.
Its social and fun. I love when I get to meet new people especially when their own outlook on the game is similar to mine.
There are broken things to do which is a pro and a con I suppose. Its fun doing broken things sometimes.
DISLIKES:
It is essentially a broken format that when pushed to its limits does show its flaws.
Everyone has different expectations from a game and it can lead to some bad experiences.
People who dont threat assess (I have been tunnel vision attacked plenty of times).
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Likes:
-Your Commander, Command Zone, and the general build-around feel of the format
-Singleton allows for more cards to see play, and a fixed deck-size gives the format the perfect amount of randomness
-Multiplayer!
Having a general. That's the best part for me, I love building around one creature, and the restrictions make it fun.
I love big flashy spells, and this is a good way to exercise that.
The card pool is huge. While there are some obviously powerful cards available, there are some really sweet ones that you wouldn't normally see anywhere else.
Love sitting down to a game with a large group of friends.
I love that I can have a few games that are played a bit more competitively, and then switch to something silly. It keeps me from getting bored with the format, like I have with others.
Cons:
This can be said for any format, but the large gap in power between players can be frustrating for both sides.
I can't stand it when people go at each others throats when they play differently and don't agree. You can not agree, but not everyone enjoys the same kind of game and there's no need to make the game miserable.
It's pretty easy to break the format, and this goes back to my first point with power level gaps.
Pros:
-Social aspect (I've played with same playgroup for many years)
-Deckbuilding. I did it a lot in Magic before I started Commander... then it seemingly jumped to a warp-drive and I now have 18 decks and counting(or is that a con?) -.-;
-Building around the commander is fun if an opportunity presents itself
-Related to the two above above points, the eternal deckteching
-Complicated and downright stupid boardstates, resolving gigantic balls of spell stacks
-Playing cards that make people pick them up and go 'what is this thing?'
Cons:
-Game nights end up taking some planning as games take time
-Legacy and Modern popping every now and then when I look for prices of cards I think are somewhat weird and obscure, then realizing they're played in those formats somewhere and cost major strawberries to get...
-Aforementioned complicatedness makes it a rather tricky format to introduce, especially to someone new to Magic
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
My least favourite is the banned list just doesn't get updated enough. Having to wait three months for a change when it's obvious some cards are broken (Emrakul, Griselbrand) is kinda annoying, and the banned list staying untouched means we need to put up with that stuff for three months. I really, really, really wish they'd drop the hammer on a good portion of tutors, fast mana rocks and such but they prefer a laissez-faire attitude so sameness reigns.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
1.) The price tag of some cards that are used solely for Commander as well as price spikes of cards that are used elsewhere due to their playability in Commander.
2.) Budgetized decks with gatelands, Terramorphic Expances, etc.
3.) Inefficient cards (played by someone).
that seems very harsh. It sounds like you do not like people who play within a budget or don't spend all day everyday trying to optimize their deck. What is wrong with flavor or playing your favorite cards?
1.) The price tag of some cards that are used solely for Commander as well as price spikes of cards that are used elsewhere due to their playability in Commander.
2.) Budgetized decks with gatelands, Terramorphic Expances, etc.
3.) Inefficient cards (played by someone).
that seems very harsh. It sounds like you do not like people who play within a budget or don't spend all day everyday trying to optimize their deck. What is wrong with flavor or playing your favorite cards?
I think you'd actually want your opponents to play inefficient cards
1.) The price tag of some cards that are used solely for Commander as well as price spikes of cards that are used elsewhere due to their playability in Commander.
2.) Budgetized decks with gatelands, Terramorphic Expances, etc.
3.) Inefficient cards (played by someone).
that seems very harsh. It sounds like you do not like people who play within a budget or don't spend all day everyday trying to optimize their deck. What is wrong with flavor or playing your favorite cards?
I think you'd actually want your opponents to play inefficient cards
You can't hold everyone's hand during deck building. I don't believe everyone has a perfect mana base.
One of my least favorite things is having to sort through over a dozen 5000 count giant card boxes to find some commons/uncommons or crap rare that I know I have just for an EDH deck.
What is even worse is doing the above and then not being able to find the card anyway!
I think my favorite thing about the format is the color identity rules; they've really pushed me into some strange places in deck building and gotten me to try and fall in love with cards that I'd have never considered playable in EDH before.
Like:
1) Variety: A standard season might have 3-5 playable decks. One EDH player might have that many decks, and have only 1 or 2 other players in a league with the same deck (if any)
2) Cool cards: I can play neat cards that I couldn't dream of playing in standard or modern.
3) Freshness: between the deck variety, diverse card mix, and assortments of players in a pod, I'm always seeing different situations.
4) Low barrier to entry. I don't need 4 of every staple card, and staple cards aren't really expensive unless they are currently popular in standard or modern or especially old/rare. Certainly you can drop some jink on your decks, but I've been getting by without the likes of JtMS or vintage dual lands. Heck, I don't even own a Top.
Don't like:
1) Some decks that are legal and competitive in the format just aren't fun to play against by producing drawn out win-locks, etc. And their players either don't get it or say "just trying to win."
2) On the other extreme, some players whine if you win in a different way than they do. One in our league is notorious for getting surly if you do something like win by recurring a Gray Merchant but it's okay for him to cheat out Eldrazi.
My favorite things about the format would have to be:
(listed in no particular order)
- The "Commander" itself. The "Commander" creature is one of the first things that drew me into the format.
- Deckbuilding restrictions such as color identity, the singleton rule, or the banned list. The format just couldn't exists without any of these things. Color identity stops goodstuff builds and encourages flavor. The singleton rule may slash deck consistency, but I count this as more of a positive than a negative. Then there's the banned list. Overall, I think the bannings up until now have done nothing but help my playgroup. That being said, I don't know that the banned list goes far enough.
- Weird plays/combos. The weirder the better! Nothing like seeing a card you never thought would see play winning from out of left field!
- Multiplayer. I much prefer the 3+ player game to 1v1. I just have more fun with more people to interact with. The only thing I don't like is when it takes forever and a half to finish a round of turns. At which point my group would just split into 3-4 player pods anyway.
- Commander hasn't gotten stale like other formats. I can't play Standard, Modern, Legacy, or Vintage anymore. I'm just flat bored of them. For a while I was only drafting and going to release events... Then I took command. EDH most likely saved my life as a Magic: the Gathering player. It is the format of formats.
The things I dislike about the format will take up a lot less space. Really, my only problems with EDH are the same problems I had with other formats. My number one peeve would have to be bad sportsmanship. Especially in a format like EDH. We're playing a game, (probably) having fun, and nothing is really at stake. So, put on some big boy pants, calm down, and enjoy yourself!
Favorite
1) I'm able to play with cards I normally wouldn't be able to run competitively in other formats.
2) I love the flavor and creative opportunities having a commander gives you.
3) Being locked into certain color combinations makes deck-building more interesting.
4) Multiplayer politics add a new layer of strategy.
5) The massive card pool makes every game and decklist more interesting.
Least Favorite
1) Games can tend to either drag on too long or end too early to a broken combo.
2) People can't seem to agree on how they want to play or what they want to allow.
3) Kingmaker situations take away the fun from the competitive aspects.
4) Aggro is weak, while combo can be overwhelmingly powerful.
5) The colors aren't balanced.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
To be fair, those complaints aren't exclusive to EDH and are made in any format you can imagine.
Favorite:
Least Favorite:
That's it really. I'm nothing but a simple man.
Favorite
1) Multiplayer, got to love playing with multiple friends. Key to the format for me.
2) Restriction breeds creativity. I love how the format enables this.
3) Politics. This could belong to my first one, but heck. Worth a spot.
4) Being able to play with all the cards I love. ..Minus Sundering Titan.
5) Seeing what friends cook up every week, lots of change.
6) Ever-changing meta-game.
7) Did I say deckbuilding and creativity? Woops I'll say it again. Deckbuilding and it's creativity.
Least Favorite
1) Big difference in players, lots of casuals, lots of competitive players. Always hard to see eye to eye.
2) Kingmaking and Griefing for no reason.
3) "My combo is the only one allowed", hidden banlists for cards in everybody's head and lots of debates about this. Seriously just play the game and get along.
4) Lately, 40life is bugging me. Especially after seeing Conspiracy. They could balance this a bit more
5) People getting "mad for realsies" because they get targetted. (even when they have the most threatening boardstate and color combinations)
[Primer] Kozilek, Butcher with Juice.
The deckbuilding opportunities this format presents are almost limitless. Literally anything is viable as long as you find the right group of people.
Least favorite:
Finding the right group of people is really hard. Mutual respect is hard to come by.
No other format comes close, IMO. They all get stale too quickly.
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
1. I like that you can only run 1 of a card
2. Being able to recast a commander gives your deck an identity
3. Limitation of colors
4. The people I play with, its a friendly and competitive environment
5. Multiplayer is a good time
Cons
1. No 4-colored commanders (unless your playgroup allows Nephilm)
2. Infinite combos, hopefully you have a playgroup that doesn't run a lot of them or any of them
3. Ragers
4. You sometimes get a lack of variety, I like interesting and fun cards like my favorite card is scute mob not just the same old same power house staples
5. I guess if I had to throw one more on the list I wish red wasn't so weak, Im not a fan of red but it would be nice to see it be more viable
Least Favorite: Approximately 70% of Strangers that join us, wreck fun games, put all their faith in their proxy filled netdecks to win/lock ASAP, and get angry at cards they weren't prepared for.
Least favorite is the whiners
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
My least favorite or hated aspects are far too linear decks that build themselves and u/g/x goodstuff decks. Goodstuff was fine at first but when certain cards/combos become staples (tooth and nail, kikimite, labman) it takes the best aspects out of the game.
For Lists, Click Here
EDH:
GW: Selvala, Let us help YOU.
UB: Mirko Vosk, when outmatched cheat
BW: Vish Kal, The Arbiter of Reanimation
UG: Prime Speaker Zegana, the science of sorcery
RB: Malfegor, Traitor's Haven
UW: Daxos, Control-Fort-Tron
BG: Pharika, Goddess of Stax
RW: Gisela, Boros Control
RG: Ruric Thar, a Primal Surge deck
RU: Niv-Mizzet the Firemind, Spellslinger?!?!
B:(Pauper) Mikaeus the Unhallowed
R: Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient: The Power of Engineering
Least favourite: See what I put for favourite. I can't stop coming up with new decks I want but can't afford and don't have the time to play. Oh, and the whiners.
The deckbuilding options are huge. There are a ton of viable decks and strategies.
Its social and fun. I love when I get to meet new people especially when their own outlook on the game is similar to mine.
There are broken things to do which is a pro and a con I suppose. Its fun doing broken things sometimes.
DISLIKES:
It is essentially a broken format that when pushed to its limits does show its flaws.
Everyone has different expectations from a game and it can lead to some bad experiences.
People who dont threat assess (I have been tunnel vision attacked plenty of times).
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
-Card pool
-Infinite ways to play
Dislikes:
-Other EDH players.
-Your Commander, Command Zone, and the general build-around feel of the format
-Singleton allows for more cards to see play, and a fixed deck-size gives the format the perfect amount of randomness
-Multiplayer!
Dislikes:
-The banlist
Give Zaliki a CardI must have all the cats!
Cons
UAzami, Locus of All KnowledgeU
BMarrow-Gnawer, Crime Lord of ComboB
WBRTariel, Hellraiser StaxWBR
Annul is really good in EDH
Cons:
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
-Social aspect (I've played with same playgroup for many years)
-Deckbuilding. I did it a lot in Magic before I started Commander... then it seemingly jumped to a warp-drive and I now have 18 decks and counting(or is that a con?) -.-;
-Building around the commander is fun if an opportunity presents itself
-Related to the two above above points, the eternal deckteching
-Complicated and downright stupid boardstates, resolving gigantic balls of spell stacks
-Playing cards that make people pick them up and go 'what is this thing?'
Cons:
-Game nights end up taking some planning as games take time
-Legacy and Modern popping every now and then when I look for prices of cards I think are somewhat weird and obscure, then realizing they're played in those formats somewhere and cost major strawberries to get...
-Aforementioned complicatedness makes it a rather tricky format to introduce, especially to someone new to Magic
My least favourite is the banned list just doesn't get updated enough. Having to wait three months for a change when it's obvious some cards are broken (Emrakul, Griselbrand) is kinda annoying, and the banned list staying untouched means we need to put up with that stuff for three months. I really, really, really wish they'd drop the hammer on a good portion of tutors, fast mana rocks and such but they prefer a laissez-faire attitude so sameness reigns.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
Any deck may be behind in board/game state and then find that miraculous mixture of cards that wins out of nowhere and the game ends.
Least Favorite:
SAME RESPONSE
that seems very harsh. It sounds like you do not like people who play within a budget or don't spend all day everyday trying to optimize their deck. What is wrong with flavor or playing your favorite cards?
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
I think you'd actually want your opponents to play inefficient cards
You can't hold everyone's hand during deck building. I don't believe everyone has a perfect mana base.
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
What is even worse is doing the above and then not being able to find the card anyway!
I think my favorite thing about the format is the color identity rules; they've really pushed me into some strange places in deck building and gotten me to try and fall in love with cards that I'd have never considered playable in EDH before.
1) Variety: A standard season might have 3-5 playable decks. One EDH player might have that many decks, and have only 1 or 2 other players in a league with the same deck (if any)
2) Cool cards: I can play neat cards that I couldn't dream of playing in standard or modern.
3) Freshness: between the deck variety, diverse card mix, and assortments of players in a pod, I'm always seeing different situations.
4) Low barrier to entry. I don't need 4 of every staple card, and staple cards aren't really expensive unless they are currently popular in standard or modern or especially old/rare. Certainly you can drop some jink on your decks, but I've been getting by without the likes of JtMS or vintage dual lands. Heck, I don't even own a Top.
Don't like:
1) Some decks that are legal and competitive in the format just aren't fun to play against by producing drawn out win-locks, etc. And their players either don't get it or say "just trying to win."
2) On the other extreme, some players whine if you win in a different way than they do. One in our league is notorious for getting surly if you do something like win by recurring a Gray Merchant but it's okay for him to cheat out Eldrazi.
Roon of the Pod People (Roon of the Hidden Realm)
Sydri, Super Genius (Sydri, Galvanic Genius)
Marchesa, the Black Rose
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
Retired:
Grimgrin's Corpse-Beats (Grimgrin, Corpse-Born) | Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge | Varolz, the Scar-Striped (1v1) | Glissa, the Traitor
(listed in no particular order)
- The "Commander" itself. The "Commander" creature is one of the first things that drew me into the format.
- Deckbuilding restrictions such as color identity, the singleton rule, or the banned list. The format just couldn't exists without any of these things. Color identity stops goodstuff builds and encourages flavor. The singleton rule may slash deck consistency, but I count this as more of a positive than a negative. Then there's the banned list. Overall, I think the bannings up until now have done nothing but help my playgroup. That being said, I don't know that the banned list goes far enough.
- Weird plays/combos. The weirder the better! Nothing like seeing a card you never thought would see play winning from out of left field!
- Multiplayer. I much prefer the 3+ player game to 1v1. I just have more fun with more people to interact with. The only thing I don't like is when it takes forever and a half to finish a round of turns. At which point my group would just split into 3-4 player pods anyway.
- Commander hasn't gotten stale like other formats. I can't play Standard, Modern, Legacy, or Vintage anymore. I'm just flat bored of them. For a while I was only drafting and going to release events... Then I took command. EDH most likely saved my life as a Magic: the Gathering player. It is the format of formats.
The things I dislike about the format will take up a lot less space. Really, my only problems with EDH are the same problems I had with other formats. My number one peeve would have to be bad sportsmanship. Especially in a format like EDH. We're playing a game, (probably) having fun, and nothing is really at stake. So, put on some big boy pants, calm down, and enjoy yourself!
Least Favorite: