There are two groups of people that I play EDH with: one we could call more competitive (no budgetary constraints, lots of high-powered cards) and one much more casual (mostly upgrades to out-of-the-box commander decks, no cards over $10). I have a decent collection with a lot of commander staples, and if I possible, I don't want to give them up when playing with the more casual group. On the other hand, it's not fun to just crush them time and time again. So, I was hoping for a middle ground:
Is there any commander, which, no matter how you build it, will only be a "75%" deck? I was thinking maybe something like Omnath, Locus of Rage or some silly theme-commander? I imagine that this mostly means building towards a theme and leaning on the commander itself. But in any case it would be good to get some suggestions from people who are in similar circumstances
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Playing with proxied cards at sanctioned events is good, actually.
Mono-color is the way to go. Especially mono-white and, yeah, mono-green. Or really any sort of limitation that places an artificial cap on how strong your deck can be based on card quality while not capping how well you do by way of experience, deck construction, and etc.
Also people won't take you seriously if it's not meta and not blue. My Elesh Norn deck wins far too many games it shouldn't because I'll be at a four man table against three- and four-color decks but end up winning anyway because they play into my hand by assuming I'm not a threat and just ignoring me.
I'd agree with most of that, but not the mono-green bit - even a 75% tuned Azusa, Lost but Seeking deck can be incredibly powerful. Equally, I run a Hua Tuo, Honored Physician list which isn't particularly tuned (it's probably around 85%) and it has a really high win rate. Mono-green has access to absurd ramp, answers to most threats, powerful draw and tutors and of course a lot of win conditions.
Which is really annoying. I'd love to play mono-green, -black, and -blue but without the card advantage restrictions that white has I end up with far too many card advantage options and no idea of where to start with them and any lists I complete don't feel like they have personality to me. They're all just card drawing and tutoring. I just end up building more mono-white decks. I've got like three or four.
I am in a similar situation and will tell you from experience it is very difficult to build a deck you can play and enjoy with both groups. My recommendation would be to build separate decks. To answer your initial question though, if you want to try to build a deck that is playable with both I'd suggest something that uses your opponents cards like Gonti, Lord of Luxury or Keiga, the Tide Star.
First, thanks everyone for the very constructive feedback!
It seems like mono-color could be the way to go, provided I stick to a theme that isn't too broken. I've been thinking about Sram, Senior Edificer as a potential commander - It feels like it could lead to some broken plays without being so ridiculous that it's not fun to play against. Maybe the new white god could be good as well.
I was also thinking that commanders that are automatically arch-enemy could be good. I play Kozilek, the Great Distortion right now and it's just a little bit over the edge since the Kozilek's built-in CA means I can just plow through any resistance. But maybe something like Zurgo Helmsmasher? Or Yidris?
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Playing with proxied cards at sanctioned events is good, actually.
Monocolor decks, and very general-centric decks. Couple of my decks fit both categories:
My Jolrael, Empress of Beasts; her ability being my (nearly) sole wincon. It's projected so far and so well, that I make myself a threat just by ramping like crazy. Everything else in the deck is draw, removal and the occasional thing that benefits from me dropping couple dozen forests to table and/or attacking with them. I lose a fair amount of games by just having Jolrael be killed before my next untap, but sometimes it's fun to ramp like there's no tomorrow.
Also my Odric, Lunarch Marshal: the goal of the deck is to get All The Keywords of the Salad, and doing anything else is secondary. Quite obviously gets depowered very quickly if I don't have Odric on the table (but at least he's frequently hexproof and/or indestructible).
...and I'm not sure how high-intensity deck you can build around Lorthos, the Tidemaker either. "Big mana blue ramp" that is more interested gathering eight different swords for my general than doing the control game. Key word here being 'around' - obviously you can build a powerful monoblue control that uses Lorthos as a backup wincon or something.
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On a different note, a steal-centric/themed deck will always be only roughly as powerful as your playgroup. Something like Threaten-town Brion Stoutarm, for example.
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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
You could also build decks that thrive on weaker board states. Include low CMC spot answers like counters and permanent removal. Your threats can be earlier game things and a little more draw to get to all these smaller CMC game plans. This will perform better against higher tier decks than a lot of newer player decks. Timmy board states can still overwhelm you but sneaky wierd angle threats can be answered.
Decks built this way can be a lot of fun to play because you always have stuff to do regardless if opponents power lvl.
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Current edh decks
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm
I am in a similar situation and will tell you from experience it is very difficult to build a deck you can play and enjoy with both groups. My recommendation would be to build separate decks. To answer your initial question though, if you want to try to build a deck that is playable with both I'd suggest something that uses your opponents cards like Gonti, Lord of Luxury or Keiga, the Tide Star.
Best way for a deck to bring the power level to your table for sure. Play/ copy thier cards.
I'd also reccomended Dralnu, Lazav if hexproof won't be a problem, or Dragonlord Silumgar. Put stuff in such as Clone and Memory Plunder so its power level will be the same as what your opponents bring.
One classic way to do it is build a deck with a lot of powerful cards with a not-so-powerful commander (or vice versa). For example Reveka, Wizard Savant mono-u control. or build Derevi but as a bird tribal deck.
There are two groups of people that I play EDH with: one we could call more competitive (no budgetary constraints, lots of high-powered cards) and one much more casual (mostly upgrades to out-of-the-box commander decks, no cards over $10). I have a decent collection with a lot of commander staples, and if I possible, I don't want to give them up when playing with the more casual group. On the other hand, it's not fun to just crush them time and time again. So, I was hoping for a middle ground:
Is there any commander, which, no matter how you build it, will only be a "75%" deck? I was thinking maybe something like Omnath, Locus of Rage or some silly theme-commander? I imagine that this mostly means building towards a theme and leaning on the commander itself. But in any case it would be good to get some suggestions from people who are in similar circumstances
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
Also people won't take you seriously if it's not meta and not blue. My Elesh Norn deck wins far too many games it shouldn't because I'll be at a four man table against three- and four-color decks but end up winning anyway because they play into my hand by assuming I'm not a threat and just ignoring me.
There is a limit to how high powered he can be made. Naya colours are also not the strongest colour combination.
Which is really annoying. I'd love to play mono-green, -black, and -blue but without the card advantage restrictions that white has I end up with far too many card advantage options and no idea of where to start with them and any lists I complete don't feel like they have personality to me. They're all just card drawing and tutoring. I just end up building more mono-white decks. I've got like three or four.
I like it because the games are over quick, but it will never be a high tier deck.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
It seems like mono-color could be the way to go, provided I stick to a theme that isn't too broken. I've been thinking about Sram, Senior Edificer as a potential commander - It feels like it could lead to some broken plays without being so ridiculous that it's not fun to play against. Maybe the new white god could be good as well.
I was also thinking that commanders that are automatically arch-enemy could be good. I play Kozilek, the Great Distortion right now and it's just a little bit over the edge since the Kozilek's built-in CA means I can just plow through any resistance. But maybe something like Zurgo Helmsmasher? Or Yidris?
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
Doran, The Sieger Tower Treefolk tribal can also be fun, that too would be a real feat to even get it to 75%
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
My Jolrael, Empress of Beasts; her ability being my (nearly) sole wincon. It's projected so far and so well, that I make myself a threat just by ramping like crazy. Everything else in the deck is draw, removal and the occasional thing that benefits from me dropping couple dozen forests to table and/or attacking with them. I lose a fair amount of games by just having Jolrael be killed before my next untap, but sometimes it's fun to ramp like there's no tomorrow.
Also my Odric, Lunarch Marshal: the goal of the deck is to get All The Keywords of the Salad, and doing anything else is secondary. Quite obviously gets depowered very quickly if I don't have Odric on the table (but at least he's frequently hexproof and/or indestructible).
...and I'm not sure how high-intensity deck you can build around Lorthos, the Tidemaker either. "Big mana blue ramp" that is more interested gathering eight different swords for my general than doing the control game. Key word here being 'around' - obviously you can build a powerful monoblue control that uses Lorthos as a backup wincon or something.
--
On a different note, a steal-centric/themed deck will always be only roughly as powerful as your playgroup. Something like Threaten-town Brion Stoutarm, for example.
Decks built this way can be a lot of fun to play because you always have stuff to do regardless if opponents power lvl.
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm
Best way for a deck to bring the power level to your table for sure. Play/ copy thier cards.
I'd also reccomended Dralnu, Lazav if hexproof won't be a problem, or Dragonlord Silumgar. Put stuff in such as Clone and Memory Plunder so its power level will be the same as what your opponents bring.
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash