Ahoy ahoy! I'm pretty fresh in the EDH world, having build my first commander deck under Nin, the Pain Artist. I'm realy enjoying her! Problem is, I don't really have anyone to play with. So I saw a thread about making loaner decks for other people and thought that'd be a great idea. I already have a ton of casual 60 card decks I let people play with when they don't have their own, I figure why not expand on the idea? So I thought I'd tackle a fun combo first with U/G, but I'm having trouble deciding on a commander between Experiment Kraj and Prime Speaker Zegana. The latter is obviously simpler. Play fatties, drop Zegana, draw a bajillion cards and a giant Zegana. Kraj has quite a bit more subtlety, but I worry that might make it a hard pick up and play general. I think in both cases the other will go in the 99 just based on the cards being good in their own right. And I realize there's a general theme for loaner decks, but I didn't want to hijack that thread for a discussion on this color combo specifically so I figured I'd make one just for this.
Unless you try to build the deck with a combo-based strategy instead of a fun interaction-based strategy, I think Experiment Kraj would be fine to make a loaner general. Unlike, say, Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Kraj doesn't really demand an in-depth knowledge of his deck. Cards that work well with him aren't that hard to recognize, unless you're trying to lend the deck to a total MTG novice. The finer points of using Kraj as a political tool in multiplayer might not be recognized right away, but it's not too hard to look at a creature with a cool activated ability and say "I want Kraj to do that, too."
If people are sick of reading about stuff just stop taking part. You have 100% control over what you read. Simic Ascendancy isn't going to get banned just because you didn't tell someone to shut up on the internet.
I second a vote for Prime Speaker Zegana. Experiment Kraj is far more entertaining in my opinion, but I think he'd be more enjoyable as a build around commander which would require a certain group of cards to support him. Prime Speaker is just powerful in a more general way because drawing cards is almost always a good thing to do, especially in EDH. Just my two cents
Easily Prime speaker. No matter what you're trying to do, she makes it better. Kraj suffers a lot from having to play niche cards, and he's very obviously a combo Commander while still only being like... the fourth best combo commander in those colors. It would still probably be a fun deck to build for yourself, but you don't want to have a loaner with cards like Horseshoe Crab in it (though I have no idea if that card is still good in Kraj).
For loaner decks i try to make sure that the player never runs out of gas so for that reason i like Prime Speaker Zegana. A new player is more likely to be dissatisfied with a format if they are sitting around twiddling their thumbs. With Prime Speaker Zegana you should never run out of stuff to do which should keep a new player engaged with the game. Kraj can kind of fizzle out but is also much more complicated so i wouldnt build a loaner deck with it.
Experiment Kraj would be fine if you just put a bunch of activated abilities into the deck. However, the combos can be several pieces where some look rather unassuming by themselves. A simple example being that Bloom Tender and Horseshoe Crab goes infinite (green mana), while one is a simple mana dork and the other looks like it just allows you to add 2 counters per turn. Yeah, if you have them both in your hand, commander on board and a couple of available graft triggers you'd figure it out, but it isn't always obvious especially for a loaner deck.
Honestly, I like Vorel of the Hull Clade. With the monsterous creatures and other ways to add +1/+1 counters, he can make all your doods HUGE. Its a lot of card draw because its U/G. The creatures hit the board early and grow over time to remain relevant. Honestly, I love him. I'd recommend him for anyone.
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Zegana for sure. No need to put a ton of thought into synergy. Just ramp, draw, good stuff and splashy fun simic spells. Keep it simple and fun for a loaner deck.
Ezuri, Claw of Progress is pretty easy to build around. Just fill it full of small evasive creatures like Invisible Stalker and anything that loves +1/+1 counters like Fertilid, add in a pile of ramp/card draw effects and be prepared to have a lot of dice to hand. It’s cheap to build (unless you want to up it to T1 with Sylvan Library and Doubling Season), easy to play (if a little fiddly at times due to all the counters you’ll be throwing around), very quick to win and fun to use.
I second the Ezuri, Claw of Progress. You can pick up the Commander 2015 premade deck for $35, and then with about $25 worth of tweaks, you can have a sweet Ezuri deck. If you focus some cards on increasing your ability to add experience counters, you can consistantly get to 10-15, with the option to get well beyond that in some games too. And at the time being, there are not any cards or abilities that can wreck or remove your experience counters.
Honestly, I like Vorel of the Hull Clade. With the monsterous creatures and other ways to add +1/+1 counters, he can make all your doods HUGE. Its a lot of card draw because its U/G. The creatures hit the board early and grow over time to remain relevant. Honestly, I love him. I'd recommend him for anyone.
I can second Vorel being a good starter general, although he can draw a bit of hate if someone notices what is going on with the deck. I think Zegana is benign enough to not draw focus and keeps doing things throughout each stage of the game. I'd rather not give a loner deck that will draw hate to a player. Just my two cents.
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Vorthos-player with way too much time on his hands and a love of thematic decks.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
Anyway, looking forward to hearing your opinions!
U Azami, Lady of Scrolls - Knowledge is Power U [Primer]
R Heartless Hidetsugu - The Art of Ending Games R
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - The Cluster HungersBG
Draft my Peasant Cube.
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
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I second the Ezuri, Claw of Progress. You can pick up the Commander 2015 premade deck for $35, and then with about $25 worth of tweaks, you can have a sweet Ezuri deck. If you focus some cards on increasing your ability to add experience counters, you can consistantly get to 10-15, with the option to get well beyond that in some games too. And at the time being, there are not any cards or abilities that can wreck or remove your experience counters.
I can second Vorel being a good starter general, although he can draw a bit of hate if someone notices what is going on with the deck. I think Zegana is benign enough to not draw focus and keeps doing things throughout each stage of the game. I'd rather not give a loner deck that will draw hate to a player. Just my two cents.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
B Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief B - Fear of the Dark
WG Sigarda, Heron's Grace WG - Strength in Numbers
RG Xenagos, God of Revels RG - Fullmoon (It's werewolves)
RW Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier RW - The End is Nigh
60 Card Kitchen Table Decks
WUB Avacyn, Spirit Ferrier
RG Arlinn Kord's Howlpack