So I have a group I've played with a bit but they mostly played draft for fun and 60 card duel/multiplayer decks. They have never played commander, not built a test deck, not even really read about the format.
I'd like to build 4x proxy decks for them to mess around with to get a hang of the format. Just wondering what you all think would make good candidates for that? I'm not concerned with game breaking cards or combos, or anything like that so please don't skew it with bias on what constitutes "fun". They play some pretty great 60 card decks and love to see the interaction of cards and decks against each other as much as they love watching crazy combos break loose.
If you can copy/paste from this site there are a ton of decklists here. Pick some colour combinations that are intresting and then find a commander decklist here that you like.
Id stick to 2 colours, three max.
If you like grave recusion, G/B and or x
Spell slinger typically U/R +x
Avoid W/R, its in depth to make 'work'
Tokens G/W +x
Proxy em up. There is also a definite 'tier' system of strong decks/commanders so be aware that competitive lists tend to end games quicker than you can shuffle. Casual lists tend to be more goofy, late game battle cruiser style.
If i were to pick 4 decks, would be a guild battle royal
G/U Simic with Vorel of the Hull Clade counters, synergy
B/U Dimir with Lazav, Dimir Mastermind control
G/B Golgari with Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord recursion, graveyard abuse
G/R Gruul with Ruic Thar, the Unbowed stompy, smashy
I would approach it from a standpoint of what would actually be cheap to build. When going down this avenue I usually go for what costs less to ideally build which usually means 1-2 colors as adding more colors often involves adding more staples and a better landbase. Find some decks instead where the ideal build is a lower end so usually I would say look to a few strong mono colored commanders who have strong impact over subtle abilities so it will be more obvious as to how to play those decks for the newer players.
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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.
Check out the decks by Budget MTG Decks on YouTube. There's quite a few on there and a good represenation of the various deck types and styles of play. I've built several of their decks since I found them, simply out of the interest of having more variety of playstyles. They're not high power level and they test them thoroughly and against each other. With the exception of Brago, who is super easy to make powerful on a budget, all of them have been pretty balanced. I usually spend about $25-30 per deck when I decided to pick one up from them to build
Either work off of youtube budget lists OR the precons from last year or the year before (enemy pairs and mono respectively) were really quite playable straight out of the box and make a good starting point if you are trying to stay cheap.
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EDH BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern: RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Don't run tutors, looters, or cards that are useless outside of a combo (basically cards that require a very specific setup to be useful and cards that shove a lot of decisions at the player). Avoid too many cards that rely on other player's decks. Clones are fine, and are generally good because they scale up with the number of opponents, but something like Hushwing Gryff is probably something to avoid as that can be more of a meta call.
Synergies are good, but I would avoid building the decks such that an infinite combo is the primary route of winning. Your goal should be that how the deck plays doesn't need to be taught to them. To achieve this, I think you'd want to have a flat powerlevel that is fairly high. Or at least cards that scale up and flexible removal and reliable card advantage.
I think Yidris or Maelstrom Wanderer are probably ideal for this as goodstuff decks. Ephara would be decent for that color combination while being flexible.
You can make some of the decks more complex, but you should have at least two that are low complexity and optimized for people not used to highly technical play.
I think for cost and ease of getting into the format I would consider mono-colored decks. You can do some very interesting decks for relatively inexpensive. I've been playing some neat mono colored decks myself recently that are a little off the beaten path that aren't over powered but I think could go well together for pretty cheap.
WWhite is hard. There are a lot of neat legendaries but I struggle to find one I feel like is good enough that isn't crazy expensive. There are a few "Plains Matters" cards that I think could be neat to build around like Quarry Colossus and Emeria Shepherd. There are also some good landfall cards like Emeria Angel and some decent land tutors like Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer as well as artifact options like Pilgrim's Eye and Burnished Hart. White also has a lot more reanimator spells than you would think so maybe a Mono-W Reanimator/Plains Matter strategy could be fun.
BNefarox, Overord of Grixis creatureless Voltron or King Macar, the Gold-Cursed Inspired Vehicles. Either one can be fine. The Nefarox one was designed to be a Control/Voltron deck so it uses as many Sweepers and targeted removal as you can get along with cards like Homicidal Seclusion and Scroll of the Masters. The King Macar deck is probably a little more pricey because it uses Inspired creatures and their obvious synergy with Vehicles to create a kind of aggressive control list.
RKari Zev, Skyship Raider semi-Voltron Threaten aggro. Kari Zev is pretty good for Voltron believe it or not. First Strike and Menace is a pretty potent combination and discourages a lot of blocks. Often she can survive the double block by First Striking the most dangerous creature to death and then just outlasting the other one. The token can put out a lot of damage and is just a nice bonus. On top of that, running a Threaten themed deck (because of Kari Zev's Expertise) is kind of a cool idea because it gives you a way of clearing out blockers and laying in the smack down. Sometimes that means the opponent doesn't even have enough creatures left to block Kari. For a Mono-Red deck, its pretty good and can really put on the pressure. Hero's Blade and Tenza, Godo's Maul are the all-stars of this build. Make sure you have access to something like Goblin Bombardment to make use of the token.
GNissa, Vastwood Seer (or anything else really) Forest Matters. There are a lot of neat cards that count the number of Forests you control or just tutor Forests etc.
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I actually think the mono-colored Aether Revolt legends are a great place to start. They're powerful and fairly simple as well. If your friends play limited or standard, they'll also know the cards. Build them without tutors (just add sufficient draw) and they should play out fairly smoothly. They also give you some of the more basic archetypes in the game.
I'd like to build 4x proxy decks for them to mess around with to get a hang of the format. Just wondering what you all think would make good candidates for that? I'm not concerned with game breaking cards or combos, or anything like that so please don't skew it with bias on what constitutes "fun". They play some pretty great 60 card decks and love to see the interaction of cards and decks against each other as much as they love watching crazy combos break loose.
Id stick to 2 colours, three max.
If you like grave recusion, G/B and or x
Spell slinger typically U/R +x
Avoid W/R, its in depth to make 'work'
Tokens G/W +x
Proxy em up. There is also a definite 'tier' system of strong decks/commanders so be aware that competitive lists tend to end games quicker than you can shuffle. Casual lists tend to be more goofy, late game battle cruiser style.
If i were to pick 4 decks, would be a guild battle royal
G/U Simic with Vorel of the Hull Clade counters, synergy
B/U Dimir with Lazav, Dimir Mastermind control
G/B Golgari with Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord recursion, graveyard abuse
G/R Gruul with Ruic Thar, the Unbowed stompy, smashy
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[Modern] Allies
Here's a link to their videos. They have the deck lists in the More Info section if you don't want to watch the videos themselves - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxpwtUT2AMsfTdJTGn8XDBbm0Z-U9ehQy
(Also known as Xenphire)
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Synergies are good, but I would avoid building the decks such that an infinite combo is the primary route of winning. Your goal should be that how the deck plays doesn't need to be taught to them. To achieve this, I think you'd want to have a flat powerlevel that is fairly high. Or at least cards that scale up and flexible removal and reliable card advantage.
I think Yidris or Maelstrom Wanderer are probably ideal for this as goodstuff decks. Ephara would be decent for that color combination while being flexible.
You can make some of the decks more complex, but you should have at least two that are low complexity and optimized for people not used to highly technical play.
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
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BWREDGAR MARKOV VAMPIRESBWR
Mono G Ramp w/ Rishkar, Peema Renegade
Mono W Voltron w/ Sram, Senior Edificer
Mono B Control/Reanimator w/ Yahenni, Undying Partisan
Mono U Spellslinger w/ Baral, Chief of Compliance
Mono R Chaos w/ Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
Otherwise, I'd say the mono-colored precons from a few years back are great for beginners.
R Norin the Wary: I've Got a Bad Feeling About This
UG Thrasios & Kydele: Knowledge is Power
RG Borborygmos Enraged: The Breaking of the World
BG The Gitrog Monster: All Glory to the Hypnotoad
WUR Zedruu the Greathearted: Endless Possibilities, One Outcome
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain: What's Dead May Never Die
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