At my LGS I've looked at how the commander player's play and from what I've seen they are super competitive. I'm not saying that all of them try to go infinite, but they are still very hardcore. Thats why I need your help, I've been looking at commanders and I've narrowed them down to a few choices. But, I need to know who is the best in pure raw power. My potential commanders are, [[Oloro, Ageless Ascetic]], [[Kess, Disident Mage]], [[Gishath, Sun's Avatar]], [[Omnath, Locus of Rage]], [[Ramos, Dragon Engine]], [[Riku of Two Reflections]], [[Narset Enlightened Master]], [[Ghave, Guru of Spores]], [[Brago, King Eternal]], and [[Akiri, line skinger]] and [[Silas Renn, Seeker adept]] (partnered together). If there's any other very strong commanders that I have missed than please comment them below, thank you so Much!
without knowing your budget oir your personal playstyle it's hard to give you some direction. Also is this going to be 1v1 or multiplayer. in a vacuum kess and master are pretty strong. Ramos can be pretty fun and strong as a spellslinger deck but not really at the same level.
Probably the biggest thing that will determine the correct direction is the playstyle you want.
Oloro can be a combo or a lock out build quite easily.
Kess seems comboish.
Gishath is aggro - combat steps are key.
Omnath is super ramp and aggro.
Ramos is probably combo(though I've never played against him).
Brago is combat related with trigger shenanigans.
Ghave is a combo general, but can be built more fairly for cheap.
Narset...don't play Narset. Everyone hates Narset.
Riku is pretty goodstuff - I don't mean that as a bad thing either, he can be built a few ways and looks a lot of fun.
The partners, I dunno. I wouldn't start with them.
Knowing what fun means to you would really help pointing you in the right direction. Budget wise, you could probably do well with any of these. The best bang for buck to my mind is ghave, you can build him cheap. But I'm biased. Brago is probably quite cheap too.
Following up on what Parax asked, what is your preferred playstyle? @Toctheyounger77 is on point with the General breakdowns, too.
And if you want to get into Commander, it'll definitely help to talk to the playgroup you might be joining at your LGS - help you get a gauge for how strong you should build your deck, or perhaps see if you can make a splash in their meta with something a little different.
Gishath is probably the least competitive but really encompasses edh flashy and fun. just throw all your dinosaurs and some ramp and have fun. id like it to playing ydris.
Omnath I think would be the easiest to build on your budget and keep it semi competitive.
Narset draws tons of hate, well known as an oppressive commander, I would suggest staying clear of her for your first build.
Ghave is nice because you can go in so many different directions with him, so that’s my vote.
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EDH Pantheon UBRG Yidris, Eye of the Storm WBR Kaalia, Herald of Apocalypse UBG Damia, Sage of Nightmare WBG Karador, the Bridge Between WU Grand Warden Augustin IV RG Omnath, Locus of Awakening BG Nath Addict UR Niv Mizzet, Brain Aflame B Kokusho, the Mourning Star U Memnarch is All
Ramos is not budget. I think ghave should be the right one. you can go different places and it'll translate well into another deck. brago is very one dimensional.
I currently run a fun to pilot Ramos, Dragon Engine deck. and its not super expensive. cards like traverse the outlands, off the back of a Rishkar's Expertise can empty out your deck of all your lands at once can be ridiculous. some of the charms spells Like abzan charm and jund charm can be a 3 mana investment to get 10 back in one spell. with enough Draw you can be a powerhouse. and a decent +1+1 counter mechanic deck can go nuts
I've narrowed my desicions down to Gishath, Ramos, Brago, Ghave, and Narset.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar should be your go to option if you want to enjoy yourself first and don't care too much about winning.
Ramos, Dragon Engine, if built with all 5C, will drain your budget like hell. Other than that versatile combo machine.
Brago, King Eternal is a great commander, as you can built him in dozens of different ways and rather cheap-ish as he only has 2 colors and barely any combo pieces that are expensive. I'd advice you to build him if you rather keep one deck for a long time but plan to overhaul it every now and then, instead of building a new deck.
Ghave, Guru of Spores is a lot of fun to maneuver, somewhat open to different deck themes and techs and comes with G which might help to save some money on the initial manabase, invest in the rest of the deck and get the shocks and others later on.
Narset, Enlightened Master is an odd choice for your first commander deck. She draws a lot of hate and being the antagonist at the table is a huge challenge for someone new to the format. Would be better to build her later on - or never - when you are used to the format and know how games play out.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar - I think he is SUPER cool, that said, I think it takes a rather high level of experience for it to turn into a decent deck. I think its also a bit expensive to build it right. The dinos are mostly cheap but honestly they are not what makes this deck expensive to build or hard to play. I like this deck but I think there is a ceeling to what it can do even in the right hands.
Ramos, Dragon Engine - honestly 5 color is REALLY expensive to do it well. You could do it on a budget but I wouldn't recommend it.
Brago, King Eternal - He is really strong. But thats sort of his problem. People tend to gun you down hard when they see Brago. He is good though.... I just think he draws a TON of hate to the point I often avoid him.
Ghave, Guru of Spores - if you are not building him combo.... I guess he is ok. The problem is he moves to combo with like.... damn near everything that is at all good with him. I think he is an interesting commander, its just unfortunate that like everything that is good with him goes infinite it feels like.
Narset, Enlightened Master - honestly, she is boring and has very little for room in how she builds. She also does really rude things like mass land destruction and extra turns because thats what she is good at. She is really kind of boring as she always builds the same if you ask me. She is also rather hated.
Honestly, of your original considerations Omnath, Locus of Rage was the one I would have chosen as a good starter commander that can be done somewhat cheaply. He does bring some hate down on you but I think that the cards that you want to put in a deck for that commander are actually somewhat cheap. Going 2 color saves money on expensive lands and green ramp cards are honestly cheap to obtain. I think that the difficulty in the build is also lower which is good as someone newer to the format.
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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.
ISB has a point - In building Ghave, the challenge is not so much squeezing in an infinite combo, but keeping them out of the deck. Even if you think you've avoided them, chances are you have one. It leads to just going 'screw it, I'll keep one because these cards are a good fit'. Which to my mind is fine; it's there if you need to close out a game, but it's not the deck's only purpose. That being said, optimising Ghave can be expensive if you let it. He's also not really a beginner deck with respect to the fact that there are a lot of smaller synergies and interactions with the stack that allow him to really prosper, and not being aware of that stuff can be detrimental.
Omnath is an easy build. He rewards you doing something you're going to do anyway - play lands. All you really need to do is land him early and be able to recast him if needed. The most expensive things you'll want are Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. It's a good starting deck with reasonably simple interactions, and can be quite effective.
I reiterate - DON'T build Narset. I get that she's cool and flavourful and her ability is sweet. But she's very one dimensional, and people HATE her. I had one built at one point and found this out first hand. It was a great deck but no one wanted to play it.
Hello everyone! After hearing all of your suggestions and having to do a lot of thinking myself I have decided to play Omnath, Locus of Rage! In the future I may build Ghave, Guru of Spores. Now I would like to ask one last question for you all, what is the best commander no matter how expensive no matter how boring just the best because I may build it in a few years. Thank you so much!
Hello everyone! After hearing all of your suggestions and having to do a lot of thinking myself I have decided to play Omnath, Locus of Rage! In the future I may build Ghave, Guru of Spores. Now I would like to ask one last question for you all, what is the best commander no matter how expensive no matter how boring just the best because I may build it in a few years. Thank you so much!
It's personal preference. The best is what you have the most fun with.
It's personal preference. The best is what you have the most fun with.
This. But also, even the most top tier highly tuned decks can't handle every situation. That's the beauty of this game - for every threat there is an answer, and no strategy is perfect.
Hello everyone! After hearing all of your suggestions and having to do a lot of thinking myself I have decided to play Omnath, Locus of Rage! In the future I may build Ghave, Guru of Spores. Now I would like to ask one last question for you all, what is the best commander no matter how expensive no matter how boring just the best because I may build it in a few years. Thank you so much!
Generally speaking, commanders that let you combo off into an infinite combo relatively quickly are probably the most powerfull. They are not neccesarily the most fun to play againt - or with - for the 10th time. I tend to avoid "one trick pony" decks because I grow tired of them quickly and then all the effort put in assembling the deck goes to waste. But then again, that's personal.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Hello everyone! After hearing all of your suggestions and having to do a lot of thinking myself I have decided to play Omnath, Locus of Rage! In the future I may build Ghave, Guru of Spores. Now I would like to ask one last question for you all, what is the best commander no matter how expensive no matter how boring just the best because I may build it in a few years. Thank you so much!
5 color combo decks that literally run every single Revised duel land tend to be super strong at pulling off insta wins. I personally think the my Nin, the Pain Artist deck is the strongest. Its more or less mono-blue with some splash Red cards. I ran it through mtggoldfish pricer tool and it costs about $3,128. Let me know if you want the list sometime?
Oloro can be a combo or a lock out build quite easily.
Kess seems comboish.
Gishath is aggro - combat steps are key.
Omnath is super ramp and aggro.
Ramos is probably combo(though I've never played against him).
Brago is combat related with trigger shenanigans.
Ghave is a combo general, but can be built more fairly for cheap.
Narset...don't play Narset. Everyone hates Narset.
Riku is pretty goodstuff - I don't mean that as a bad thing either, he can be built a few ways and looks a lot of fun.
The partners, I dunno. I wouldn't start with them.
Knowing what fun means to you would really help pointing you in the right direction. Budget wise, you could probably do well with any of these. The best bang for buck to my mind is ghave, you can build him cheap. But I'm biased. Brago is probably quite cheap too.
And if you want to get into Commander, it'll definitely help to talk to the playgroup you might be joining at your LGS - help you get a gauge for how strong you should build your deck, or perhaps see if you can make a splash in their meta with something a little different.
Omnath I think would be the easiest to build on your budget and keep it semi competitive.
Ghave is nice because you can go in so many different directions with him, so that’s my vote.
UBRG Yidris, Eye of the Storm
WBR Kaalia, Herald of Apocalypse
UBG Damia, Sage of Nightmare
WBG Karador, the Bridge Between
WU Grand Warden Augustin IV
RG Omnath, Locus of Awakening
BG Nath Addict
UR Niv Mizzet, Brain Aflame
B Kokusho, the Mourning Star
U Memnarch is All
Ramos, Dragon Engine, if built with all 5C, will drain your budget like hell. Other than that versatile combo machine.
Brago, King Eternal is a great commander, as you can built him in dozens of different ways and rather cheap-ish as he only has 2 colors and barely any combo pieces that are expensive. I'd advice you to build him if you rather keep one deck for a long time but plan to overhaul it every now and then, instead of building a new deck.
Ghave, Guru of Spores is a lot of fun to maneuver, somewhat open to different deck themes and techs and comes with G which might help to save some money on the initial manabase, invest in the rest of the deck and get the shocks and others later on.
Narset, Enlightened Master is an odd choice for your first commander deck. She draws a lot of hate and being the antagonist at the table is a huge challenge for someone new to the format. Would be better to build her later on - or never - when you are used to the format and know how games play out.
Honestly, of your original considerations Omnath, Locus of Rage was the one I would have chosen as a good starter commander that can be done somewhat cheaply. He does bring some hate down on you but I think that the cards that you want to put in a deck for that commander are actually somewhat cheap. Going 2 color saves money on expensive lands and green ramp cards are honestly cheap to obtain. I think that the difficulty in the build is also lower which is good as someone newer to the format.
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ISB has a point - In building Ghave, the challenge is not so much squeezing in an infinite combo, but keeping them out of the deck. Even if you think you've avoided them, chances are you have one. It leads to just going 'screw it, I'll keep one because these cards are a good fit'. Which to my mind is fine; it's there if you need to close out a game, but it's not the deck's only purpose. That being said, optimising Ghave can be expensive if you let it. He's also not really a beginner deck with respect to the fact that there are a lot of smaller synergies and interactions with the stack that allow him to really prosper, and not being aware of that stuff can be detrimental.
Omnath is an easy build. He rewards you doing something you're going to do anyway - play lands. All you really need to do is land him early and be able to recast him if needed. The most expensive things you'll want are Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya. It's a good starting deck with reasonably simple interactions, and can be quite effective.
I reiterate - DON'T build Narset. I get that she's cool and flavourful and her ability is sweet. But she's very one dimensional, and people HATE her. I had one built at one point and found this out first hand. It was a great deck but no one wanted to play it.
It's personal preference. The best is what you have the most fun with.
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Beatrice, the Golden Witch
This. But also, even the most top tier highly tuned decks can't handle every situation. That's the beauty of this game - for every threat there is an answer, and no strategy is perfect.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
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