I've bought breya yidris and atraxa, while building with them I've felt there's no real advantage for being in 4 color instead of 5 and I've felt like my deck would be more focused with fewer colors. Finding it hard to convince myself 4 color is worth it.
Compared to the 5C options i'd always pick the non-partner 4C commanders over them.
5C tends to be good stuff and i'm bored by good stuff. The few ones with a real theme to it are either tribal (Dragons, Slivers, Allies, ...) or don't really appeal to me. The 4C ones though all come with a definite theme and can be built around in dozens of ways.
I've bought breya yidris and atraxa, while building with them I've felt there's no real advantage for being in 4 color instead of 5 and I've felt like my deck would be more focused with fewer colors. Finding it hard to convince myself 4 color is worth it.
If you want to build a deck on a theme and don't care about the commander, then 5-color will typically be better if all 5 colors have cards that support the theme. Building to the themes of the 4-color commanders, I think the colors they exclude fit fairly well. Breya excluding Green makes sense as most green cards destroy artifacts rather than anything else. Atraxa excluding Red makes sense as there are very few counters matter cards in red. Kynaios and Tiro excluding Black makes sense with black having next to no group-hug cards if any. Saskia excluding Blue makes sense as blue is more of a control focused color rather than aggro. Yidris is a little strange to me as white could be included in the theme, mostly because it does most of what red does on this sort of theme but Red does do most of it better.
Kyanos being not black isn't great for abusing that 8 toughness or making your opponents draw though. It would clearly be a stronger card if it was black.
I think it really doesn't matter. The 4 color commanders are pretty unique and for the brewers who just like to have fun (mostly casual players) that is great. If you want to be competitive, then either one is probably bad for you (exception: hermit druid combo) as it is usually better to stick to 2 or 3 and keep it simple and focused at that point.
Yidris isn't white because white is order, while Yidris is chaos. They did a good job with their exclude colors and making the cards justify the lack of, flavor or abilities.
As mentioned before, these commanders are fairly unique and decks can easily be made around their abilities. This you won't find with most 5 color commanders. Honestly I prefer the 4 color commanders, and have yet to play any of their decks wishing I had their missing color. 4 colors is enough to go through...
Breya legitimately benefits from having access to Red. Esper synergy with access to stuff like Goblin Welder. Daretti, Scrap Savant. Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer, Feldon of the Third Path and that's just off the top of my head. Red has so much good stuff for an artifact focused deck, and I'm always genuinely happy to get to play it all. I can't strictly speak for the other decks of course, but at the very least Breya's access to all four of her colors have been an absolute Godsend, and she's actually become my favorite deck to play.
Most 5-color decks are just full of good-stuff without much deck creation synergy or theme (past tribal scarecrow/sliver/atog/etc). Past tribal, none of the 5color legends really describe or lend themselves to a specific deck archetype.
The 4color legends although all do lend themselves to what a deck is likely to be doing, be it artifact and combo (breya), value engine (yidris), grind or hug (M & T), attacking (saskia), or infect/voltron/planeswalker/counters (atraxa).
So if the deck you wants has one of the archtypes that a 4color commander actually supports, then sure they would be worth it over a 5-color commander. But if you just want to play all of the best cards ever, then 5-color is usually the default choice.
My original fear with the 4color commanders was going to be an spike of 4-color good-stuff decks, where players just found an excuse to skimp on a slightly less expensive mana-base with a legitimate legend. Luckily the commanders all seem to be directing players to focus their decks for what they support.
I gotta' agree that four colour focuses in on stuff a little more than 5 colour.
What I do, is think of the four colour combos not as the four colours come together, but as the colour missing. Breya is obviously great for artifacts, as green has little to no support in artifacts. Atraxa's proliferate abilities have no support in red, as red isn't really a 'teamplayer' sorta' colour. Story wise, they explain this, as all the praeter's came together to create Atraxa, except the red guy (why can't I remember his name?!), as red doesn't really scream teamwork, as I said.
I think Breya is AMAZING for artifact combos! You get access to so many different things from every colour, and since a lot of the deck is colourless anyways, it works out pretty easily. Especially with Mycosynth Lattice, as my deck (and hopefully many others) ALWAYS has a way to get it on the table!
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EDH: Bruna, Light of Alabaster | Karlov of the Ghost Council | Breya, Etherium Shaper | Marchesa, the Black Rose | Queen Marchesa | The Mimeoplasm | Avacyn, Angel of Hope |
Pauper:
Orzhov Nightsky Mimic
Frequent lurker and vorthos player
I gotta' agree that four colour focuses in on stuff a little more than 5 colour.
What I do, is think of the four colour combos not as the four colours come together, but as the colour missing. Breya is obviously great for artifacts, as green has little to no support in artifacts. Atraxa's proliferate abilities have no support in red, as red isn't really a 'teamplayer' sorta' colour. Story wise, they explain this, as all the praeter's came together to create Atraxa, except the red guy (why can't I remember his name?!), as red doesn't really scream teamwork, as I said.
Urabrask the Hidden.
I'm really happy with my Atraxa deck, personally. Wondering about whether to pick up Saskia or Breya next.
Kyanos being not black isn't great for abusing that 8 toughness or making your opponents draw though. It would clearly be a stronger card if it was black.
That would have been sweet if he was partial black. Soo much I could add to my control shell with removal.
I gotta' agree that four colour focuses in on stuff a little more than 5 colour.
What I do, is think of the four colour combos not as the four colours come together, but as the colour missing. Breya is obviously great for artifacts, as green has little to no support in artifacts. Atraxa's proliferate abilities have no support in red, as red isn't really a 'teamplayer' sorta' colour. Story wise, they explain this, as all the praeter's came together to create Atraxa, except the red guy (why can't I remember his name?!), as red doesn't really scream teamwork, as I said.
Urabrask the Hidden.
I'm really happy with my Atraxa deck, personally. Wondering about whether to pick up Saskia or Breya next.
Urabrask is also the only Praetor with glimpse of compassion, and dislike the rest for how abusive they were.
A huge advantage of the 4 colour commanders is just how broadly applicable they are. You can have Atraxa helm superfriends, stax... or, yknow, thallid tribal. Because you can. Yidris is also ridiculously flexible, going anywhere from goodstuff value town to a fierce storm build. Breya implies an artifact deck, but what will it be? Sac and recur? Combo shenanigans with Breya used as a possible finisher? That huge potential for self expression and not having the deck build itself (*cough* Depala *cough*) the moment you set your eyes on the commanders makes them the huge success that they have been. For crying out loud, Atraxa is already the most played commander of all time, with Breya not far behind at #5!
5C tends to be good stuff and i'm bored by good stuff. The few ones with a real theme to it are either tribal (Dragons, Slivers, Allies, ...) or don't really appeal to me. The 4C ones though all come with a definite theme and can be built around in dozens of ways.
4C > 5C, as of C16.
ps. don't even get me started about mana bases...
If you want to build a deck on a theme and don't care about the commander, then 5-color will typically be better if all 5 colors have cards that support the theme. Building to the themes of the 4-color commanders, I think the colors they exclude fit fairly well. Breya excluding Green makes sense as most green cards destroy artifacts rather than anything else. Atraxa excluding Red makes sense as there are very few counters matter cards in red. Kynaios and Tiro excluding Black makes sense with black having next to no group-hug cards if any. Saskia excluding Blue makes sense as blue is more of a control focused color rather than aggro. Yidris is a little strange to me as white could be included in the theme, mostly because it does most of what red does on this sort of theme but Red does do most of it better.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
B Toshiro Umezawa
BG Pharika, God of Affliction - Necromancy and Politics
WWW The Church of Heliod
WBR Zurgo, Helmsmasher
RG Wort, the Raidmother
UBR Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
UG Vorel of the Hull Clade
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
As mentioned before, these commanders are fairly unique and decks can easily be made around their abilities. This you won't find with most 5 color commanders. Honestly I prefer the 4 color commanders, and have yet to play any of their decks wishing I had their missing color. 4 colors is enough to go through...
The 4color legends although all do lend themselves to what a deck is likely to be doing, be it artifact and combo (breya), value engine (yidris), grind or hug (M & T), attacking (saskia), or infect/voltron/planeswalker/counters (atraxa).
So if the deck you wants has one of the archtypes that a 4color commander actually supports, then sure they would be worth it over a 5-color commander. But if you just want to play all of the best cards ever, then 5-color is usually the default choice.
My original fear with the 4color commanders was going to be an spike of 4-color good-stuff decks, where players just found an excuse to skimp on a slightly less expensive mana-base with a legitimate legend. Luckily the commanders all seem to be directing players to focus their decks for what they support.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
What I do, is think of the four colour combos not as the four colours come together, but as the colour missing. Breya is obviously great for artifacts, as green has little to no support in artifacts. Atraxa's proliferate abilities have no support in red, as red isn't really a 'teamplayer' sorta' colour. Story wise, they explain this, as all the praeter's came together to create Atraxa, except the red guy (why can't I remember his name?!), as red doesn't really scream teamwork, as I said.
I think Breya is AMAZING for artifact combos! You get access to so many different things from every colour, and since a lot of the deck is colourless anyways, it works out pretty easily. Especially with Mycosynth Lattice, as my deck (and hopefully many others) ALWAYS has a way to get it on the table!
Bruna, Light of Alabaster | Karlov of the Ghost Council | Breya, Etherium Shaper | Marchesa, the Black Rose | Queen Marchesa | The Mimeoplasm | Avacyn, Angel of Hope |
Pauper:
Orzhov Nightsky Mimic
Frequent lurker and vorthos player
Urabrask the Hidden.
I'm really happy with my Atraxa deck, personally. Wondering about whether to pick up Saskia or Breya next.
BWREDGAR MARKOV VAMPIRESBWR
Urabrask is also the only Praetor with glimpse of compassion, and dislike the rest for how abusive they were.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs