I was curious as to which three to five commanders lead the best "novice" decks. I have a friend who hasn't playing for long so a) he doesn't appreciate all the ridiculous interactions that can occur, and b) he gets anxious when there are too many cards he doesn't understand/know. Originally I was thinking Radha, but I was hoping for the community's opinion on the matter.
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I would also say to go with a tricolor goodstuff commander. It will give him enough flexibility to try different things and not get bored with a linear strategy.
I find Glissa, the traitor to be the best. Can be built anywhere on the good stuff to commander dependant scale. In colours that can destory any perminant type and has a lot of ramp and card draw. Plus added utility from all the artifacts. finding something large to win with is trival.
I find that commanders complexity is part of its charm. I feel like if your deck is too simple a new player wont get the format. I think new players might say they don't like complexity but they are just as excited as the rest of us when they find a neat card interaction. Doesn't have to be complicated just highly synergistic. this card is good and this card is good... but when you have both... broken things happen
If you want really simple then Prime speaker Zegana just ramp and draw and play large creatures.
Mono coloured decks would be best, since the dual and tri-lands are expensive money wise and hard to justify to a new player. So, maybe a blue wizard deck with azami, lady of scrolls and bounce spells and a couple (no more than 4) counter spells. Maybe a green beatstick deck with molimo, maro-sorcerer, maybe a black deck with Ob Nixilis, the fallen and simple creature kill spells.
Honestly, the way I started was simply: Pick a commander I like the aesthetics of, see what kind of theme it promotes (In my case it was Lyzolda, the Blood Witch), and find a pile of cards that work around it. So perhaps the best question to ask is, which legendary creatures does he like, get that list, and then see which one might best fit his style.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
While I'm not a beginner I am someone who doesn't enjoy most commander games, but would like to find a deck that I like. My small play group all enjoy playing commander over everything else, but I have never found a deck that I really enjoy. Can anyone suggest a commander that is consistent and resistant to board wipes? My play group way over loads on board wipes, it's common to see one every 3-4 turns.
Spell based combo commanders don't care about boardwipes Melek, Niv, Nekusaur
If you can play 1 large creature give it haste and kill people in 1 swing you can just murder people without giving them a chance to boardwipe. A bunch of reanimator stratagies can do it, RGx ramp into fatty decks and I find a Zirilan of the claw really good when you have others playing control for you and you can just cast dragons throw them at people sac em and put them back in your deck basically burn people out.
While I'm not a beginner I am someone who doesn't enjoy most commander games, but would like to find a deck that I like. My small play group all enjoy playing commander over everything else, but I have never found a deck that I really enjoy. Can anyone suggest a commander that is consistent and resistant to board wipes? My play group way over loads on board wipes, it's common to see one every 3-4 turns.
Marchesa, the Black Rose, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and any of the theros block god creatures not only don't care about board wipes, but punish playing them. My two favorite decks are Marchesa and Thassa because of their resilience to wipes and the value they bring.
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Resilient to board wipes? I find recursive creature decks/decks that don't care about their own creatures actually do relatively well against heavy board wipe.
On Topic: Good generals for beginners use linear strategies with little interaction. This is so they get used to the format, and can get a win once in a while. After playing the deck a few times against a diverse metagame, they will learn what the important threats are, and what they can ignore. Try to avoid loads of triggered abilities.
Honestly some of the decks people are recommending are not good for beginners.
I recommend Sigarda, Host of Herons for Voltron. Very simple, play ramp spells, cast Sigarda, Host of Herons, put Auras on her, swing and win. Very simple. With totem armor, she beats board wipes. The deck can have cool enchantress draw abilities to make things interesting, without having to be super complicated.
Mayael the Anima. The deck plays itself, and it's fun anyhow. Just drop her, activate her, pick your favorite fatty, and repeat until you win.
I've always though this was the best general for a new player deck. At its core, the deck wants to drop giant fatties and turn them sideways, it has green for mana fixing, removal across all colors, and it teaches reactive gameplay AMD holding up mana. Plus it grows with the player. We have two Mayael decks in my group, one casual with big stomp things and another with Avacyn and other brutal cards.
While I'm not a beginner I am someone who doesn't enjoy most commander games, but would like to find a deck that I like. My small play group all enjoy playing commander over everything else, but I have never found a deck that I really enjoy. Can anyone suggest a commander that is consistent and resistant to board wipes? My play group way over loads on board wipes, it's common to see one every 3-4 turns.
Gaddock Teeg stops most boardwipes dead. Probably not for a beginner, though.
Just make sure he has an understanding of how Suspend works (Since he hasn't played in a long time, he may need help with the Stack but he should remember most of the basics) and let him go to town.
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Oath of the Gatewatch; the set that caused the competitive community to freak out over Basic Lands.
if there is a lot of boardwipes, go with athreos,god of passagewhere you actually want the sweepers..
i have that deck, creatures with "entering and leaving" effects, and 15+ sweepers, to kill my own creatures, when Athreos is out
Honestly, the way I started was simply: Pick a commander I like the aesthetics of, see what kind of theme it promotes (In my case it was Lyzolda, the Blood Witch), and find a pile of cards that work around it. So perhaps the best question to ask is, which legendary creatures does he like, get that list, and then see which one might best fit his style.
i'm going to go against the grain and second this.
pick a commander you like, and build around it. its that simple.
"for a beginner" is a ridiculous mind set that stifles creativity. are there generals that take a little more skill to play than others? well yeah... if you build it that way. every beginner needs to learn too, playing a jasmine boreal vanilla army does not teach anyone anything.
i played a kid who was playing kaalia today, he didn't know how the triggers work for things like utvara hellkite off her attack, so i explained them and now he better understands his deck because of one simple conversation.
I've run Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, and just loaded the deck with clones, kill spells, and mill. No idea if it works well with beginners, but it's what I've used since I started Commander (about three months ago)
Back when I was playing standard I really liked tokens but there wasn't a feasible strategy that really put them at the forefront. So the first deck I went all out building and researching was a hazezon deck. I wouldn't say that he's a very beginner friendly general but I never struggled with him. And I still learn new things that happen depending on board state.
Have your friend pick a strategy that appeals to him. Colorless with lots of ramp and eldrazi or creatureless lots of turns and combats narset. Countermagic or mass card draw. There's something for everyone.
Cracking the board state is usually harder than piloting a deck. At least in the case of most decks.
I am currently in a similar situation, I want to teach my GF commander and have built a deck for her.
The commander is Surrak Dragonclaw.
I try to keep the deck quite simple in terms of interactions, while trying to keep a high 'power level' so to say.
Meaning it contains a lot of ramp, draw and removal and of course lots of big creatures.
Most cards are one-go cards and there are not many synergies in the deck. To keep it still a little competitive compared to the decks in my meta (and mine) I put a lot of ramp in the deck, so she can usually play the first big dude around turn 4 then followed by a draw spell that refills her hand.
I noticed that the whole stack concept and counterspells and so on are a little difficult for her at the moment, which is one of the main reasons why I chose the general (Apart from making boring 6/6 mana dorks awesome in late game).
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
I find that commanders complexity is part of its charm. I feel like if your deck is too simple a new player wont get the format. I think new players might say they don't like complexity but they are just as excited as the rest of us when they find a neat card interaction. Doesn't have to be complicated just highly synergistic. this card is good and this card is good... but when you have both... broken things happen
If you want really simple then Prime speaker Zegana just ramp and draw and play large creatures.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
I second this. She can be a power house. And with blue draw and her you always have something to do.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
If you can play 1 large creature give it haste and kill people in 1 swing you can just murder people without giving them a chance to boardwipe. A bunch of reanimator stratagies can do it, RGx ramp into fatty decks and I find a Zirilan of the claw really good when you have others playing control for you and you can just cast dragons throw them at people sac em and put them back in your deck basically burn people out.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Marchesa, the Black Rose, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and any of the theros block god creatures not only don't care about board wipes, but punish playing them. My two favorite decks are Marchesa and Thassa because of their resilience to wipes and the value they bring.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
In my own entourage of decks, I have plenty that work relatively well against board wipes: Jenara, Asura of War, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter, Norin the Wary, Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed are a few. Even Isamaru, Hound of Konda is basically indifferent to board wipess - just play one dude, slap equipment on, and attack. Rinse, repeat.
On Topic: Good generals for beginners use linear strategies with little interaction. This is so they get used to the format, and can get a win once in a while. After playing the deck a few times against a diverse metagame, they will learn what the important threats are, and what they can ignore. Try to avoid loads of triggered abilities.
I recommend Sigarda, Host of Herons for Voltron. Very simple, play ramp spells, cast Sigarda, Host of Herons, put Auras on her, swing and win. Very simple. With totem armor, she beats board wipes. The deck can have cool enchantress draw abilities to make things interesting, without having to be super complicated.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
I've always though this was the best general for a new player deck. At its core, the deck wants to drop giant fatties and turn them sideways, it has green for mana fixing, removal across all colors, and it teaches reactive gameplay AMD holding up mana. Plus it grows with the player. We have two Mayael decks in my group, one casual with big stomp things and another with Avacyn and other brutal cards.
Misc. EDH Stuff: Commander Cube | Zombies (Horde)
Resources:Commander Rulings FAQ | Commander Deckbuilding Guide
Follow me on Twitter! @cryogen_mtg
I recommend Silvos, Rogue Elemental, Stonebrow, Krosan Hero, or Commander Eesha as beginner decks. Just be wary about decks with any form of tutors, as these can lead to someone wanting to read every card during the game.
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
1) Big creatures
2) Big Spells
3) BIG THINGS.
Just make sure he has an understanding of how Suspend works (Since he hasn't played in a long time, he may need help with the Stack but he should remember most of the basics) and let him go to town.
Maybe Stonebrow, Krosan Hero ? He seems nice for a beginner deck.
Who needs Colours?
My most played EDH deck:
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion
UBR Nekusar, the Mindrazer
i have that deck, creatures with "entering and leaving" effects, and 15+ sweepers, to kill my own creatures, when Athreos is out
i'm going to go against the grain and second this.
pick a commander you like, and build around it. its that simple.
"for a beginner" is a ridiculous mind set that stifles creativity. are there generals that take a little more skill to play than others? well yeah... if you build it that way. every beginner needs to learn too, playing a jasmine boreal vanilla army does not teach anyone anything.
i played a kid who was playing kaalia today, he didn't know how the triggers work for things like utvara hellkite off her attack, so i explained them and now he better understands his deck because of one simple conversation.
-Commander-
UBGMill, Sidisi, and Other ShenanigansGBU
WUBRGShingeki no TazriGRBUW
Back when I was playing standard I really liked tokens but there wasn't a feasible strategy that really put them at the forefront. So the first deck I went all out building and researching was a hazezon deck. I wouldn't say that he's a very beginner friendly general but I never struggled with him. And I still learn new things that happen depending on board state.
Have your friend pick a strategy that appeals to him. Colorless with lots of ramp and eldrazi or creatureless lots of turns and combats narset. Countermagic or mass card draw. There's something for everyone.
Cracking the board state is usually harder than piloting a deck. At least in the case of most decks.
The commander is Surrak Dragonclaw.
I try to keep the deck quite simple in terms of interactions, while trying to keep a high 'power level' so to say.
Meaning it contains a lot of ramp, draw and removal and of course lots of big creatures.
Most cards are one-go cards and there are not many synergies in the deck. To keep it still a little competitive compared to the decks in my meta (and mine) I put a lot of ramp in the deck, so she can usually play the first big dude around turn 4 then followed by a draw spell that refills her hand.
I noticed that the whole stack concept and counterspells and so on are a little difficult for her at the moment, which is one of the main reasons why I chose the general (Apart from making boring 6/6 mana dorks awesome in late game).
WUBCycling ZurWUB
WGRJohanWGR