I’ve been spending time lately brewing entire lists, only to scrap them. It’s not that they are bad for my group’s level of play, or wouldn’t be fun, it’s just five seems to be my limit. So I was thinking, what drives a person to build less than a few or go ballistic with dozens? Does honing one deck appeal, are you a “cast your nets wide” kind of person that loves experimenting with hot messes, or do you just love any and all mechanics that work in this format? Is it financially based?
In my case, I like building decks that have an appealing commander, but then do things in the 99 that also appeal. Xenagod and hydras were an immediate draw. I don’t mind using some of the same staples in several decks...after all, they really do help any theme work. But too many of the same staples or repeating themes, and I just can’t expand further (and these things are kind of expensive). I suppose that since I have sixteen 60 card decks, it limits the themes remaining that I would want to play.
For example of motivations, I wouldn’t mind a polymorph or theft/cloning deck, but my Zegana deck does some of both, and I have a Simic 60 card deck that further exploits polymorphing and general Simic shenanigans. Dune scratches the vorthos itch, so I don’t really need to build a LotR deck. Sliver Queen gets as close to combo as I feel inclined, gives me a rainbow deck, has some Superfriends vibe, and goes wide with tokens, so I’m good in those departments. Xenagod and Jenara allow me to go tribal with tribes I have always loved but never played in 60 card formats, and I have a sixty card all creature/land elemental tribal and also a treefolk tribal. And all of the edh decks are now just really a joy to pilot after spending time refining them and I’ll never play more than five edh games in a night, so why spend the money?
Anyway, feel welcome to post your motivations, I like reading about more than just mechanics and strategy. Cheers!
I've currently got about a dozen. I'd build more, but I don't get to play as much as I'd like. And I don't have the existing card base or money for more. So, a dozen is where it sits, and it'll probably stay there for a while.
That being said, almost my favourite part of EDH is the brew; myriad (not the mechanic) possibilities, synergies, interactions or combos - no two decks are the same or have the same feel, and I find it to be an excellent thought experiment to have a set of conditions (your commander) and work through various other variables to optimise the way those conditions achieve whatever end goals they might have.
So yeah, I'm kind of ok with the number I have physically, knowing that intellectually I've built lots and lots more just to see if I can. I'm far from amazing at it, but it is fun to brew.
* Sliver Overlord Aggro Toolbox: My first Commander deck, and Slivers are my favorite creatures. Naturally, I have to keep this for sentimental reasons. It's also a hyper-aggressive toolbox deck, and can overcome most other decks in 1v1, though tends to fall short in multiplayer if people start aggressively targeting me as a group. I rarely play this deck because of how powerful and consistent it is. It also covers my Tribal quota.
* Atraxa Artifacts: I wanted an artifact deck, and I wanted silly win conditions. So I went with stuff like Mechanized Production, Revel in Riches, and a lot of artifact clone cards, as well as Doubling Season etc.. I once had a game where I made 20 Indestructible Hexproof 5/5 Etherium Cells and 8 Indestructible Hexproof Platinum Emperions and still didn't win, so this deck has a lot of shenanigan potential. Originally evolved from Thada Lord of the Rings since I wanted to add B, but also wanted to include Glissa, Behemoth Sledge, and the token doubling effects.
* Bolas Community Chest: This used to be Sygg at the helm, but I decided I wanted to run Wheels. Think Nekusar without the burn. Stuff like Dictate of Kruphix, Font of Mythos, Forced Fruition, etc.. My only reliable win conditions are Omniscience into Laboratory Maniac after casting my entire deck in a turn - it's very spellslinger-oriented - but I consider myself the spiritual victor if I power somebody into a win.
* Endrek Sac Control: I had to have a mono-B deck. I tried Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed as a reanimator/big black mana/quasi-control deck, but it durdled way too much. Somewhere down the line, I decided to try out Endrek, and never looked back. The deck uses a lot of sac abilities and tiny creatures with neat abilities for maximum value, and is all about incremental draws/life drain/etc. with BBM for Yawgmoth's Will/Blood Artist shenanigans. Fun for nobody that isn't me at the table.
* Rashmi Fatties: Previously, this was an Animardrazi deck, but I got sick of my threats getting removed and Animar being the only way I could do anything. So, I ported the deck over to Simic colors with basically every huge Indestructible/Hexproof/Shroud creature I could jam in there, and made it combo-oriented with a lot of triggers like Rashmi, herself, with Mind's Dilation or just cheating fatties out with stuff like Genesis Wave or Selvala's Stampede and profiting with Elemental Bond, Garruk's Packleader, etc.. The deck is wildly inconsistent and will immediately fold to sac control, but boy, when it goes off, it goes off. I actually think I'm going to re-tool this into Muldrotha Favorite Spells and see how that goes for me since I don't like how inconsistent this build feels, as strong as it can be.
* Grusilda EtB: This is a fresh deck, and I'm actually currently waiting on the remaining pieces to arrive before I can test it out, but it abuses a lot of EtB destroy/burn effects such as Noxious Gearhulk, Inferno Titan, and Panharmonicon, looting cards (such as Goblin Lore and Control of the Court), a few Wheel effects, and some value stuff like Heartstone and Illusionist's Bracers. Of course, the deck will fold to a well-timed Bojuka Bog since Grusilda is the sole reanimator card (though I have God-Pharaoh's Gift as back-up), and I wanted to try to be a little more Equipment-centric with it, but I think the current build is cute and should be fun when I am able to actually get to try it out. If I don't like it...well, then maybe I'll just have 5 decks. Or make a coin flip deck. That sounds like fun.
I like a deck cache of varying playstyles, colors, and archetypes, so mixing it up like this helps keep me entertained with what I'm running and I can switch without having to worry about whether or not I have something built that I'm in the mood to play. I used to have 14 potential decklists, but realized pretty quickly that it was ill-advised to have so many as I rarely got to play more than 3 decks a week, and it felt like some decks were not getting the attention they should have been getting from me to be worth keeping around. (It was also hella expensive.) On occasion, I do sometimes lament about other decks I wish I could build or have built before but no longer have (Kresh Hydra Tribal was fun, as was Ulasht, and Circu Cantrips seems fun to play), but I try to exercise self-control and not overspend on Magic like I have been since I picked the game back up. (I'm starting to foray into Legacy, so as you might imagine, that can be difficult, at times.) But yeah, that's the gist of it - hope this was what you were looking for.
Edit: Agree with toc; the brew is half the fun! I've made so many decklists.
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I have to say I enjoy brewing myself, too, in both 60 and 100 card formats. I also enjoy rescuing troublesome decks and I therefore have a hard time giving up permanently on decks. Xenagod hydras is the only deck I haven’t broken up at least once or converted from something else. Actually, I’ve only changed a single card in Xenagod...pretty much that rare “lightning in a bottle” kind of build.
I used to be the idea-build-dismantle-repeat type of builder/player for about the first 3-4 years in the format (I seriously think most people definitely go through this phase, although how long it lasts and the end result depends on a lot of factors relevant only to the individual) before I got sick of it.
I knew I wanted EDH to be my "vanity project" in the sense it is the only format I will go out to foil (which was a contributing factor to why I got sick of the old model since I knew it wasn't sustainable especially with foils), so I buckled down, spent a few months formulating the exact types of archetypes I wanted to play the most and enjoyed in the format (here's where 3-4 years of disaster was useful experience) then mixed it was a precise calculation of color combinations to determine the number of decks that could balance those archetypes nicely.
It wasn't perfect, I had to make some concessions, especially for Color Balances (so some archetypes were less than ideal lacking colors, so it became a matter of different priorities lining up), but I eventually ended up with 8 decks I was happy with in concept and were almost color-balanced (had one color-pair overlap, but you cannot build 3 3-color decks without an overlap), 2 mono, 2 dual, 3 tri and 1 5C with each color appearing in 4 of those decks and each color pair once across all decks (with that one exception I said), so there was so some balance between the number of colors. Colorless didn't appeal to me and even if 4C was viable then it was too much a logistics headache to even bother with, honestly. 8 is also what I consider the optimal number for a "constructed EDH Cube" of some sort, since in theory it allows for 2 pods, although pragmatically it just allows a group of 4 to play 2 completely different games if they wanted to, although that's my reasoning after the fact I landed on 8, since I initially planned for 7 until the 5c deck idea rolled in about a month later as the 8th.
I daresay it has been successful, those few months of melding all the archetypes I wanted to play together with color balance has successfully made me not want to brew anything new even when new cards come out, since I could more or less absorb it into the mold or if it cannot chances are it runs too similarly to one of my decks in some function that is becomes less enticing. A creative loss it also results I won't deny, but the amount of time it saves is also undeniable (especially when the priority of the game itself fluctuates with a gradual decline due to business).
For me it is always "what looks interesting?"
I brew decks often but due to lack of income i cannot always buy what i want to play. So a lot of my motivation for fewer than X decks is money issues. Sometimes i lose interest in a deck i play so i may dismantle it and scour the deck for cards for a different one. or perhaps the deck I am playing is just too string and makes the game unfun for everyone. (Leovold, but he got banned, yet derevi is still not banned, i build leovold to deal with derevi)
One thing that motivates my creative juices more than anything is obscure decks. Not always right out of left field but Mazirek, Kraul death priest was interesting. Massive sac deck. Most B/G decks would probably more likely run Meren, i did not want to go that route.
(of course i have common interests as well)
The most decks I had operational at one time was 7. They would still be in operation if I had the money to sustain them and support my next flavor of the week.
All i know for sure is that Dragons will never be taken apart. I wanted dragons since i started but i did not like Scion. The ur-dragon was a blessing.
EDH has been my sole format since 2012 and i'm sitting at 11 decks right now, which means on average i'm building 2 new decks a year. I am yet to find an idea to complete a dozen though - right now Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is tempting. I've built another 2 decks, but they turned into 2 of my current decks later on. Fall to spring i'm able to play 4-6 hours of EDH at least once or twice a week, which is more than enough time to see each deck in play regularly without heavy repetition of certain commanders.
There are several reasons why i build/built so many:
1. Different power levels: Being able to adjust to pods and playgroups opens up to a lot of enjoyable playing opportunities. 2. Different color identities: I once realized i had 2/5 colors as mono-decks and went with the idea of having one of each. The research really helped appreciating each color and its given strengths and weaknesses more. I don't see myself scraping these decks ever. At max i'll switch commanders and adjust accordingly, i guess. 3. Different deck techs: MTG has a plethora of mechanics to explore and i intend to do as many as i enjoy. 4. Perfecting "old" decks is more rewarding than assembling new ones instead: Might sound like it contradicts the purpose of new ones, but it actually doesn't. Instead of scraping one deck for another i will usually keep tinkering on the "old" deck and build another new deck in addition.
As for motivation, i'd say i'm 60% driven by brewing and 40% driven by playing. Don't get me wrong, i love playing MTG, but it's the brewing that comes with it, that keeps me addicted. Optimizing lines and synergies, re-evaluating card choices, finding slots for released cards, lowering curves, implementing themes, ... i thrive on these things and enjoy the huge amount of time i spend on reviewing my decks. What comes of it enhances quality and fun of my games. I could never just brew a deck and scrap it before playing it at least a dozen times to see it unfold.
Money will always be a factor, of course. Not being a goodstuff player helps as much as my lack of enjoyment of tutor heavy decks. On average my decks are worth 200-300€ each. I usually start out with cards from my collection and slowly assemble the decklist i came up with. From my experience splashing the money in one big order is a terrible move, since you might go for a dealer who has most cards you want maybe at the cost of a reasonable price for several of them. Plus, even a few games might give you an idea which cards aren't even worth it and which ones might be better instead.
More importantly, i tend to evaluate whether a card is worth its price. E.g. Galerider Sliver is a great card for Edric, Spymaster of Trest, but do i really want to pay 5 bucks for a card that can easily be replaced by Flying Men variants that only cost me cents and may come with greater utility (Siren Stormtamer) or evasion (Slither Blade)? No. So i'd rather wait for someone who has Galerider Sliver sitting in his or her binder and feels like trading it.
tl;dr There are plenty of reasons to build (and play) more. Money can be a limiting factor but doesn't need to be. My main motivation is brewing and optimizing decks, which in return makes the playing experience even better.
For the longest time, I only owned one deck. I built it after returning from hiatus, and I continued to refine it for several years. There are two principle reasons why I believe I built one deck and one deck only.
1. I enjoy refining decks. It's something I find a lot of fun. Because the amount of time I can spend playing Magic is finite though, playing several different decks would spread my mental energy too thin for me to be able to learn any one deck well enough to refine it properly. As such, I tend to play with a single deck for long periods of time. Coarse and unrefined decks often bother me, and I would much rather play with a single well-refined deck than I would several crude ones.
2. Owning one deck is cheaper. Because I don't enjoy playing poorly tuned decks, acquiring the cards necessary to build several polished decks would be too difficult for me financially. This, consequently, has allowed me to pursue foils more readily, as any additional income I wish to invest back into Magic can go toward this deck instead of others. And these foils have several perks. They serve as a status symbol, retain their value better over the years, and alleviate my worries regarding counterfeits.
Today, I own three decks. One is the deck I mentioned above, another is a new deck I recently began working on, and the third is a Brawl deck I just created. The new Commander deck is something I started working on because I finished refining my old deck. The Brawl deck I created because I am intrigued by the format and obviously need something in order to play in it. So, that explains how I've come to own three decks of cards.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WUBRGMr. Bones' Wild RideGRBUW Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
I like my old decks enough to keep them, but when a new interesting Legend comes along, I have to build it as well, trying to get as much different play styles and power levels as possible.
Arkham, the 1920's. Investigators battle horrors from beyond time and space, risking life and sanity while conspiracies of cultists and malign servitors seek gateways for their outer gods to return...
Soon, the stars will be right! Great Cthulhu shall rise!
Most my original decks were dismantled at some point, just because I made many deck construction mistakes with it, some strategies just weren't appealing enough in the long run and eventually I just wanted to go just a little less casual with one deck. So traded away a fair bit to put together a decent Edric list and figured I'd stick to just a few decks to maintain, didn't last that long because I just enjoy the whole aspect of seeing new sets like Dominaria and trying to figure out what new is there for my decks and with the decks I had at the time I just made little chances. So now I tend to try and just have decks that are more spread in power level, sharing aspects but each being different in their own way. With the idea being to limit myself at pretty much eight decks for now, just so to keep my wallet somewhat happy.
I do have become less reluctant about trading away things now though, as often there are some staples you end up having to rebuy in the end, which isn't that efficient either. Though on the other hand, save for one deck I don't really have regrets pulling them apart either, as I enjoy my current line up far more. That only exception being my Kari Zev deck, which I plan to rebuild soon.
But yeah, the brewing and adding newly released cards to decks is what is definitely what defines the amount of decks I have.
I play Commander 1 maybe 2 times a week so I keep decks low because I hate having decks together that never get played.
Also the way I built decks at this point has become very reflecting of my collection of cards so if I am building a 3rd deck that shares a color and I don't have certain cards of that color because they are in other decks it is noticable and I don't really like proxies or hot swapping cards between decks.
I experience a compulsion to try out new ideas and build the ones I like. Part of me wishes I'd stopped a while back. Currently I've got around eighteen (!) decks more or less together. (My signature on here is out of date.) I haven't even been playing EDH much lately, either, so some I haven't used in months.
As I started Magic in 1995, I have fond feelings toward lots of cards and often design lists to use one or more pet cards. I lamentably sold most of the higher-value cards I owned back in 2008 or earlier, before I discovered EDH, but I still have a bit of a collection from over the years. Thus, sometimes I feel I should try to use unused cards I have lying around in a new EDH deck.
"Oh, Kismet. I love Kismet! Such a cool card! What can I build with Kismet?"
I really enjoy building new decks, and I really don't like dismantling decks that have proven themselves. Hence, my collection of decks is growing steadily. I just finished my 16th deck yesterday (started with EDH around 2011 I think). I am mostly motivated to build because I just enjoy it a lot, and I enjoy playing a wide variety of different strategies. All of my decks have a different strategy and combination of themes, and until recently I took care to not have more than one deck per color combination (I gave up on this recently and added a second Naya and a second Jeskai deck). I don't play all of them regularly, and some I haven't played in a very long time (a year or more). Usually, this is simply because I am more excited about some other deck and not because I don't like it. However, if I find I do not play a certain deck because I do not like playing it, this usually puts it on the waiting list for disassembly. I have disbanded probably close to 10 paper decks since I started playing Commander. The amount of time and money that I can allocate to Magic fluctuates. There are perios where I spend a lot of time on it and periods where I almost don't play. For instance, I barely got to play during 2016 and the first half of 2017 and built no decks during that time. But, since last October, I built a total of six new decks.
I would conservatively estimate the average monetary value of my decks to be somewhere between 150-200 Euro (depending on how you calculate). Since I have a reasonable card pool at this point, I do not spend a ton when building a new deck (between 20 and 50 Euro). One reason for this is that I cannibalize my existing decks for a new decks, taking out cards that fit with the new deck's strategy more closely and replacing them with newly released cards that I wanted to try in the older deck (e.g. I just removed Deadeye Navigator from my Riku Copy deck and put it into Jeskai Blink, replacing it with Etali, Primal Storm). This means most of my decks are updated somewhat regularly. I enjoy this approach because it makes me reevaluate the card choices in my old decks and prevents them from becoming stale. Since the replacement cards do not always fulfill exactly the same function, I do a big update of each deck about once a year (sort of like a general maintenance to see if the deck is packing enough ramp, draw, removal etc). Another way I save money is by only playing staple cards when the deck really needs them for its particular strategy (the only card I play in almost every deck is command tower, because I once bought a ton of them. Other than that, I only play Sol Ring in non-green decks, and only play 3 Solemn Simulacrums, 3 Rhystic Studys and a single copy of Cyclonic Rift among all of my decks). Powerwise, I think most of my decks are between 75% and 90%.
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy, then copy again | Shattergang Brothers - Token Sac&Recur | Gahiji, Honored One - Multiple attack steps | Karametra, God of Harvests - Landfall, Creaturefall, Shroud | Ruhan of the Fomori - Stop hitting yourself | Zurgo Helmsmasher - Equipment&Wraths | Crosis, the Purger - Dragon Tribal Reanimator | Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - No stax, just tap and untap fun | Anafenza, the Foremost - Enduring Ideal Enchantress | Sharuum, the Hegemon - Sphinx Tribal Control | Noyan Dar - Spellslinger | The Mimeoplasm - Counterpalooza
Lists can be found here.
Still convinced the guy on Beseech the Queen is wearing a Mitra-type hat. Wake up sheeple!
My stable of decks started small. Then I built up a cycle of mono-colored decks (2/2 creatures for 1MM, after having already built Thada and Jaya). Then I slowly worked towards having a full collection of 32, plus a silver-bordered deck.
Now I build decks I think would be fun, and I don't take apart my old ones. Having a well-paying job helps. To echo my days playing City of Heroes, "I don't suffer from altitis, I revel in it."
My stable of decks started small. Then I built up a cycle of mono-colored decks (2/2 creatures for 1MM, after having already built Thada and Jaya). Then I slowly worked towards having a full collection of 32, plus a silver-bordered deck.
Now I build decks I think would be fun, and I don't take apart my old ones. Having a well-paying job helps. To echo my days playing City of Heroes, "I don't suffer from altitis, I revel in it."
I currently have 35 decks, with plans for 4 more.
Nice!
How regularly do you get to play your decks? Do you update them regularly?
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy, then copy again | Shattergang Brothers - Token Sac&Recur | Gahiji, Honored One - Multiple attack steps | Karametra, God of Harvests - Landfall, Creaturefall, Shroud | Ruhan of the Fomori - Stop hitting yourself | Zurgo Helmsmasher - Equipment&Wraths | Crosis, the Purger - Dragon Tribal Reanimator | Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - No stax, just tap and untap fun | Anafenza, the Foremost - Enduring Ideal Enchantress | Sharuum, the Hegemon - Sphinx Tribal Control | Noyan Dar - Spellslinger | The Mimeoplasm - Counterpalooza
Lists can be found here.
Still convinced the guy on Beseech the Queen is wearing a Mitra-type hat. Wake up sheeple!
I build and dismantle constantly, topping out at 4 decks constructed at any given point. My Jaya deck is effectively permanent and everything else tends to last no more than a month. Radiant might stick - I mostly built the deck as a way of using some of the collection of foil angels I've built up and because I wanted another pimping project after Jaya was finished (at least as much as an EDH deck can be). Most of my decks don't last any longer than a month, playing about once a week for 2-3 hours. I build out of a collection where everything is sleeved the same, so constructing new decks is a relatively quick endeavor. It also helps to keep the cost down to a degree because I only need single copies of most cards, though picking up primarily foils means it probably evens out long term.
At my last count, I had built and played at least one paper game with 100+ generals. Part of it is that I'm a longtime EDH player, so it averages out to about 1 new general every 4-6 weeks over my EDH career. The other part of it is that I can build to try out an idea without having to commit any resources to the deck beyond time. If the idea works out I can either keep and tune the deck for a little bit, possibly spending a little bit to pick up some niche cards, or I can file it away as something to revisit in the future. If I don't like the themes or how the deck is working, I can pull it apart without having lost anything.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Anafenza, the Foremost Enchantress-Control with reanimator and superfriends subthemes (about 12 cards total between the subthemes)
Slimefoot, the Stowaway Fungus-Saproling "tribal" the varied ways that make tokens don't really form a real tribe. Deck is early stages of testing (mtgo under thelon of havenwood.) deck was built on a $50 paper budget.
I'm not even sure why I'm drawn to this color combination in EDH. In "real" formats I avoid green like the plague.
For me, it is definitely "why so many?". Commander started for me as a place where I could play all the cards that I had amassed in a format that seemed really fun yet not so ambiguous as "casual" nor as rigid as 5-color. Building Commander decks became a way to find homes for all those old cards.
Commander quickly morphed into looking at old cards and grouping them by theme to create synergy between cards that I would have never had reason to play together before. Building around a commander or having a commander suggest a theme wasn't always an option back then; we didn't have a lot of commanders that just screamed what you "should" be doing with it. It became fun to try and find out of the way cards to add to those themes to create decks that did certain things very well, and then find commanders that not only gave me the right colors but also made sense to synergize with my theme.
Where things really turned for me was when I decided that the goal of having one deck in each color combination was a) something that I thought I could actually achieve, b) would be a fun goal to strive for even if I never got there, and c) would give me a place to flush out as many different themes as I wanted. So I dismantled all of my Vintage and Legacy decks to salvage all my ABU dual lands and other good cards, traded off or sold some of the pieces that I didn't think I would ever want to use, and started looking for more decks to build and play.
Right now, I have 24 out of the original 27 color combinations (missing colorless, mono-W, and Mardu) although I ended up with 3 Selesnya decks and I'm not sure that I want to stick with my current Jund (Prossh Dragons), Jeskai (Zedruu Donate), or 5-color (Progenitus) decks. This gives me a ton of options to play, share with friends, and plenty of places to find home for new cards that I like from new sets (which seem chock full of Commander-ready cards every set). The highlander rules and somewhat random nature of the format that brings with it has always appealed to me, so having even more variety of games because of having a lot of deck options always made a lot of sense to me. Playing and maintaining that many decks can seem like a chore to some people, but I personally like it.
Right now, my motivations are a) to finish the original 27 color combinations without forcing it (like playing Edgar Markov Vampires even though I didn't enjoy putting the deck together much less playing it), b) finding a reason to build 4-color decks with themes that I haven't touched yet, then c) eventually circle back to a few color combinations that I already have a deck but I want to build a different commander or theme (looking at Esper artifacts, Bant Merfolk, a Planeswalker deck, Charge Counter deck, a color matters deck, recreating my "top of the deck matters" deck, a Cycling deck, and a 4 or 5-color Affinity for Artifacts).
For me, it is definitely "why so many?". Commander started for me as a place where I could play all the cards that I had amassed in a format that seemed really fun yet not so ambiguous as "casual" nor as rigid as 5-color. Building Commander decks became a way to find homes for all those old cards.
Commander quickly morphed into looking at old cards and grouping them by theme to create synergy between cards that I would have never had reason to play together before. Building around a commander or having a commander suggest a theme wasn't always an option back then; we didn't have a lot of commanders that just screamed what you "should" be doing with it. It became fun to try and find out of the way cards to add to those themes to create decks that did certain things very well, and then find commanders that not only gave me the right colors but also made sense to synergize with my theme.
Where things really turned for me was when I decided that the goal of having one deck in each color combination was a) something that I thought I could actually achieve, b) would be a fun goal to strive for even if I never got there, and c) would give me a place to flush out as many different themes as I wanted. So I dismantled all of my Vintage and Legacy decks to salvage all my ABU dual lands and other good cards, traded off or sold some of the pieces that I didn't think I would ever want to use, and started looking for more decks to build and play.
Right now, I have 24 out of the original 27 color combinations (missing colorless, mono-W, and Mardu) although I ended up with 3 Selesnya decks and I'm not sure that I want to stick with my current Jund (Prossh Dragons), Jeskai (Zedruu Donate), or 5-color (Progenitus) decks. This gives me a ton of options to play, share with friends, and plenty of places to find home for new cards that I like from new sets (which seem chock full of Commander-ready cards every set). The highlander rules and somewhat random nature of the format that brings with it has always appealed to me, so having even more variety of games because of having a lot of deck options always made a lot of sense to me. Playing and maintaining that many decks can seem like a chore to some people, but I personally like it.
Right now, my motivations are a) to finish the original 27 color combinations without forcing it (like playing Edgar Markov Vampires even though I didn't enjoy putting the deck together much less playing it), b) finding a reason to build 4-color decks with themes that I haven't touched yet, then c) eventually circle back to a few color combinations that I already have a deck but I want to build a different commander or theme (looking at Esper artifacts, Bant Merfolk, a Planeswalker deck, Charge Counter deck, a color matters deck, recreating my "top of the deck matters" deck, a Cycling deck, and a 4 or 5-color Affinity for Artifacts).
Since you and Lithl seem to be on the same quest, have you ever compared how many commanders you two have in common? Lol
How regularly do you get to play your decks? Do you update them regularly?
I play after work on Wednesdays with some coworkers (we usually get in 2-3 games before people have to go home, including some break time for dinner), and from about 1pm until close at an LGS on Sundays. I usually make some updates to some of them when a new set comes out, but I'm not constantly tweaking them between sets.
Since you and Lithl seem to be on the same quest, have you ever compared how many commanders you two have in common? Lol
I've finished my quest. I've got at least one deck in every color combination (including colorless and 4-color, and I built the colorless deck before Wastes were a thing, so that was fun...). I have two mono-white decks, two Rakdos decks (the second one is silver-bordered, so I consider it to be an honorary 33rd color combination), and two Grixis decks.
I currently have plans for a second Naya deck, a second mono-red deck, a second five-color deck, and a second mono-blue deck.
I usually make some updates to some of them when a new set comes out, but I'm not constantly tweaking them between sets.
I don't know about you, but I actually found that keeping a notebook with any potential ideas for cards helps me remember that I want to change out a certain card or go back and try a card that might have looked interesting in another player's deck or that I saw online. That way, when I do make updates when I get new cards at set releases, I can make the other changes at the same time. But I otherwise agree that trying to tweak decks on the fly constantly is too much. If something isn't working with a deck, I just set it aside and play something else instead of worrying too much about it.
I have ... a lot of decks. For me, I have to have a theme I want to build for--and it is totally unrelated to the cards. For example, this particular "concept" has been driving me crazy for 3-5 decks. I played an AD&D Ravenloft game, and the heroine of the story was a Vistana cleric, who ended up searching multiple realms for her lost chief (who as it turns out became a ghost) and whose oath-sworn companion eventually decided he wanted her for himself, so he killed her to prevent the chief from getting her, not knowing the chief was a ghost--and they all three ended up in some weird Ravenloft-appropriate time loop of relieving those last few days. Plus, as a cleric in Ravenloft, she raised a LOT of zombies.
So. I wanted a deck that incorporated zombies, preferably zombie tribal, with a couple of power legendary bombs to represent the chief and the oath-sworn companion, with a fitting general.
AND it had to be able to at least somewhat compete in my meta.
But because every one of my own decks has to start with an idea like that, it means I have lots of decks (gamer here...) and yet for the decks to stick around, they have to work on all the levels I mentioned.
I will occasionally build decks for my children or for my darling just because they want a deck of a particular type or legend, but I find those simultaneously easier to build (no theme to worry about) and less interesting (I like the creativity that is forced by the constraints of the theme).
I find playing the same thing over and over to be very boring and predictable. And deckbuilding is half the challenge - it's a puzzle to figure out, and actually playing is how you find out if you did well.
So, yeah, for me it's a matter of how many - I've built over 50 commander decks and build more all the time. It got to the point that I had to get 2000 matching sleeves and get rid of many of my duplicate cards to build a modular commander "cube" that I assemble around 4 decks ata time from. I still have a few decks that I keep together outside of that collection, but it enables me to build/scrap/rebuild at will and really get a lot of variety.
I've turned into Mr. Golgari so I've limited myself... I'm not even sure why I'm drawn to this color combination in EDH. In "real" formats I avoid green like the plague.
Golgari and Orzhov are my favorite two color combos. Green by itself, or white by itself, does tend to be boring and straightforward. But mix them with black, and you get a potent combo. They shore up each other's weaknesses so well.
In my case, I like building decks that have an appealing commander, but then do things in the 99 that also appeal. Xenagod and hydras were an immediate draw. I don’t mind using some of the same staples in several decks...after all, they really do help any theme work. But too many of the same staples or repeating themes, and I just can’t expand further (and these things are kind of expensive). I suppose that since I have sixteen 60 card decks, it limits the themes remaining that I would want to play.
For example of motivations, I wouldn’t mind a polymorph or theft/cloning deck, but my Zegana deck does some of both, and I have a Simic 60 card deck that further exploits polymorphing and general Simic shenanigans. Dune scratches the vorthos itch, so I don’t really need to build a LotR deck. Sliver Queen gets as close to combo as I feel inclined, gives me a rainbow deck, has some Superfriends vibe, and goes wide with tokens, so I’m good in those departments. Xenagod and Jenara allow me to go tribal with tribes I have always loved but never played in 60 card formats, and I have a sixty card all creature/land elemental tribal and also a treefolk tribal. And all of the edh decks are now just really a joy to pilot after spending time refining them and I’ll never play more than five edh games in a night, so why spend the money?
Anyway, feel welcome to post your motivations, I like reading about more than just mechanics and strategy. Cheers!
I've currently got about a dozen. I'd build more, but I don't get to play as much as I'd like. And I don't have the existing card base or money for more. So, a dozen is where it sits, and it'll probably stay there for a while.
That being said, almost my favourite part of EDH is the brew; myriad (not the mechanic) possibilities, synergies, interactions or combos - no two decks are the same or have the same feel, and I find it to be an excellent thought experiment to have a set of conditions (your commander) and work through various other variables to optimise the way those conditions achieve whatever end goals they might have.
So yeah, I'm kind of ok with the number I have physically, knowing that intellectually I've built lots and lots more just to see if I can. I'm far from amazing at it, but it is fun to brew.
* Sliver Overlord Aggro Toolbox: My first Commander deck, and Slivers are my favorite creatures. Naturally, I have to keep this for sentimental reasons. It's also a hyper-aggressive toolbox deck, and can overcome most other decks in 1v1, though tends to fall short in multiplayer if people start aggressively targeting me as a group. I rarely play this deck because of how powerful and consistent it is. It also covers my Tribal quota.
* Atraxa Artifacts: I wanted an artifact deck, and I wanted silly win conditions. So I went with stuff like Mechanized Production, Revel in Riches, and a lot of artifact clone cards, as well as Doubling Season etc.. I once had a game where I made 20 Indestructible Hexproof 5/5 Etherium Cells and 8 Indestructible Hexproof Platinum Emperions and still didn't win, so this deck has a lot of shenanigan potential. Originally evolved from Thada Lord of the Rings since I wanted to add B, but also wanted to include Glissa, Behemoth Sledge, and the token doubling effects.
* Bolas Community Chest: This used to be Sygg at the helm, but I decided I wanted to run Wheels. Think Nekusar without the burn. Stuff like Dictate of Kruphix, Font of Mythos, Forced Fruition, etc.. My only reliable win conditions are Omniscience into Laboratory Maniac after casting my entire deck in a turn - it's very spellslinger-oriented - but I consider myself the spiritual victor if I power somebody into a win.
* Endrek Sac Control: I had to have a mono-B deck. I tried Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed as a reanimator/big black mana/quasi-control deck, but it durdled way too much. Somewhere down the line, I decided to try out Endrek, and never looked back. The deck uses a lot of sac abilities and tiny creatures with neat abilities for maximum value, and is all about incremental draws/life drain/etc. with BBM for Yawgmoth's Will/Blood Artist shenanigans. Fun for nobody that isn't me at the table.
* Rashmi Fatties: Previously, this was an Animardrazi deck, but I got sick of my threats getting removed and Animar being the only way I could do anything. So, I ported the deck over to Simic colors with basically every huge Indestructible/Hexproof/Shroud creature I could jam in there, and made it combo-oriented with a lot of triggers like Rashmi, herself, with Mind's Dilation or just cheating fatties out with stuff like Genesis Wave or Selvala's Stampede and profiting with Elemental Bond, Garruk's Packleader, etc.. The deck is wildly inconsistent and will immediately fold to sac control, but boy, when it goes off, it goes off. I actually think I'm going to re-tool this into Muldrotha Favorite Spells and see how that goes for me since I don't like how inconsistent this build feels, as strong as it can be.
* Grusilda EtB: This is a fresh deck, and I'm actually currently waiting on the remaining pieces to arrive before I can test it out, but it abuses a lot of EtB destroy/burn effects such as Noxious Gearhulk, Inferno Titan, and Panharmonicon, looting cards (such as Goblin Lore and Control of the Court), a few Wheel effects, and some value stuff like Heartstone and Illusionist's Bracers. Of course, the deck will fold to a well-timed Bojuka Bog since Grusilda is the sole reanimator card (though I have God-Pharaoh's Gift as back-up), and I wanted to try to be a little more Equipment-centric with it, but I think the current build is cute and should be fun when I am able to actually get to try it out. If I don't like it...well, then maybe I'll just have 5 decks. Or make a coin flip deck. That sounds like fun.
I like a deck cache of varying playstyles, colors, and archetypes, so mixing it up like this helps keep me entertained with what I'm running and I can switch without having to worry about whether or not I have something built that I'm in the mood to play. I used to have 14 potential decklists, but realized pretty quickly that it was ill-advised to have so many as I rarely got to play more than 3 decks a week, and it felt like some decks were not getting the attention they should have been getting from me to be worth keeping around. (It was also hella expensive.) On occasion, I do sometimes lament about other decks I wish I could build or have built before but no longer have (Kresh Hydra Tribal was fun, as was Ulasht, and Circu Cantrips seems fun to play), but I try to exercise self-control and not overspend on Magic like I have been since I picked the game back up. (I'm starting to foray into Legacy, so as you might imagine, that can be difficult, at times.) But yeah, that's the gist of it - hope this was what you were looking for.
Edit: Agree with toc; the brew is half the fun! I've made so many decklists.
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I knew I wanted EDH to be my "vanity project" in the sense it is the only format I will go out to foil (which was a contributing factor to why I got sick of the old model since I knew it wasn't sustainable especially with foils), so I buckled down, spent a few months formulating the exact types of archetypes I wanted to play the most and enjoyed in the format (here's where 3-4 years of disaster was useful experience) then mixed it was a precise calculation of color combinations to determine the number of decks that could balance those archetypes nicely.
It wasn't perfect, I had to make some concessions, especially for Color Balances (so some archetypes were less than ideal lacking colors, so it became a matter of different priorities lining up), but I eventually ended up with 8 decks I was happy with in concept and were almost color-balanced (had one color-pair overlap, but you cannot build 3 3-color decks without an overlap), 2 mono, 2 dual, 3 tri and 1 5C with each color appearing in 4 of those decks and each color pair once across all decks (with that one exception I said), so there was so some balance between the number of colors. Colorless didn't appeal to me and even if 4C was viable then it was too much a logistics headache to even bother with, honestly. 8 is also what I consider the optimal number for a "constructed EDH Cube" of some sort, since in theory it allows for 2 pods, although pragmatically it just allows a group of 4 to play 2 completely different games if they wanted to, although that's my reasoning after the fact I landed on 8, since I initially planned for 7 until the 5c deck idea rolled in about a month later as the 8th.
I daresay it has been successful, those few months of melding all the archetypes I wanted to play together with color balance has successfully made me not want to brew anything new even when new cards come out, since I could more or less absorb it into the mold or if it cannot chances are it runs too similarly to one of my decks in some function that is becomes less enticing. A creative loss it also results I won't deny, but the amount of time it saves is also undeniable (especially when the priority of the game itself fluctuates with a gradual decline due to business).
yidris is my powerful but not close to optimal build. When I wanna play something I enjoy and still reasonable
Ghave is my janky build for when I'm playing weaker/casual tables. I know ghave has a reputation of being dumb but my build is janky.
I haven't played enough edh to justify 3 decks over the past 6-8 months but I wanna have a fun deck and can't bring myself to take the others apart
I brew decks often but due to lack of income i cannot always buy what i want to play. So a lot of my motivation for fewer than X decks is money issues. Sometimes i lose interest in a deck i play so i may dismantle it and scour the deck for cards for a different one. or perhaps the deck I am playing is just too string and makes the game unfun for everyone. (Leovold, but he got banned, yet derevi is still not banned, i build leovold to deal with derevi)
One thing that motivates my creative juices more than anything is obscure decks. Not always right out of left field but Mazirek, Kraul death priest was interesting. Massive sac deck. Most B/G decks would probably more likely run Meren, i did not want to go that route.
(of course i have common interests as well)
The most decks I had operational at one time was 7. They would still be in operation if I had the money to sustain them and support my next flavor of the week.
All i know for sure is that Dragons will never be taken apart. I wanted dragons since i started but i did not like Scion. The ur-dragon was a blessing.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
There are several reasons why i build/built so many:
1. Different power levels: Being able to adjust to pods and playgroups opens up to a lot of enjoyable playing opportunities.
2. Different color identities: I once realized i had 2/5 colors as mono-decks and went with the idea of having one of each. The research really helped appreciating each color and its given strengths and weaknesses more. I don't see myself scraping these decks ever. At max i'll switch commanders and adjust accordingly, i guess.
3. Different deck techs: MTG has a plethora of mechanics to explore and i intend to do as many as i enjoy.
4. Perfecting "old" decks is more rewarding than assembling new ones instead: Might sound like it contradicts the purpose of new ones, but it actually doesn't. Instead of scraping one deck for another i will usually keep tinkering on the "old" deck and build another new deck in addition.
As for motivation, i'd say i'm 60% driven by brewing and 40% driven by playing. Don't get me wrong, i love playing MTG, but it's the brewing that comes with it, that keeps me addicted. Optimizing lines and synergies, re-evaluating card choices, finding slots for released cards, lowering curves, implementing themes, ... i thrive on these things and enjoy the huge amount of time i spend on reviewing my decks. What comes of it enhances quality and fun of my games. I could never just brew a deck and scrap it before playing it at least a dozen times to see it unfold.
Money will always be a factor, of course. Not being a goodstuff player helps as much as my lack of enjoyment of tutor heavy decks. On average my decks are worth 200-300€ each. I usually start out with cards from my collection and slowly assemble the decklist i came up with. From my experience splashing the money in one big order is a terrible move, since you might go for a dealer who has most cards you want maybe at the cost of a reasonable price for several of them. Plus, even a few games might give you an idea which cards aren't even worth it and which ones might be better instead.
More importantly, i tend to evaluate whether a card is worth its price. E.g. Galerider Sliver is a great card for Edric, Spymaster of Trest, but do i really want to pay 5 bucks for a card that can easily be replaced by Flying Men variants that only cost me cents and may come with greater utility (Siren Stormtamer) or evasion (Slither Blade)? No. So i'd rather wait for someone who has Galerider Sliver sitting in his or her binder and feels like trading it.
tl;dr There are plenty of reasons to build (and play) more. Money can be a limiting factor but doesn't need to be. My main motivation is brewing and optimizing decks, which in return makes the playing experience even better.
1. I enjoy refining decks. It's something I find a lot of fun. Because the amount of time I can spend playing Magic is finite though, playing several different decks would spread my mental energy too thin for me to be able to learn any one deck well enough to refine it properly. As such, I tend to play with a single deck for long periods of time. Coarse and unrefined decks often bother me, and I would much rather play with a single well-refined deck than I would several crude ones.
2. Owning one deck is cheaper. Because I don't enjoy playing poorly tuned decks, acquiring the cards necessary to build several polished decks would be too difficult for me financially. This, consequently, has allowed me to pursue foils more readily, as any additional income I wish to invest back into Magic can go toward this deck instead of others. And these foils have several perks. They serve as a status symbol, retain their value better over the years, and alleviate my worries regarding counterfeits.
Today, I own three decks. One is the deck I mentioned above, another is a new deck I recently began working on, and the third is a Brawl deck I just created. The new Commander deck is something I started working on because I finished refining my old deck. The Brawl deck I created because I am intrigued by the format and obviously need something in order to play in it. So, that explains how I've come to own three decks of cards.
Trap your friends in an endless game with this 23-card combo!
• Call of Cthulhu CCG Servitor for the Netherlands!
Arkham, the 1920's. Investigators battle horrors from beyond time and space, risking life and sanity while conspiracies of cultists and malign servitors seek gateways for their outer gods to return...
Soon, the stars will be right! Great Cthulhu shall rise!
I do have become less reluctant about trading away things now though, as often there are some staples you end up having to rebuy in the end, which isn't that efficient either. Though on the other hand, save for one deck I don't really have regrets pulling them apart either, as I enjoy my current line up far more. That only exception being my Kari Zev deck, which I plan to rebuild soon.
But yeah, the brewing and adding newly released cards to decks is what is definitely what defines the amount of decks I have.
Also the way I built decks at this point has become very reflecting of my collection of cards so if I am building a 3rd deck that shares a color and I don't have certain cards of that color because they are in other decks it is noticable and I don't really like proxies or hot swapping cards between decks.
As I started Magic in 1995, I have fond feelings toward lots of cards and often design lists to use one or more pet cards. I lamentably sold most of the higher-value cards I owned back in 2008 or earlier, before I discovered EDH, but I still have a bit of a collection from over the years. Thus, sometimes I feel I should try to use unused cards I have lying around in a new EDH deck.
"Oh, Kismet. I love Kismet! Such a cool card! What can I build with Kismet?"
I recognize I have a problem.
I would conservatively estimate the average monetary value of my decks to be somewhere between 150-200 Euro (depending on how you calculate). Since I have a reasonable card pool at this point, I do not spend a ton when building a new deck (between 20 and 50 Euro). One reason for this is that I cannibalize my existing decks for a new decks, taking out cards that fit with the new deck's strategy more closely and replacing them with newly released cards that I wanted to try in the older deck (e.g. I just removed Deadeye Navigator from my Riku Copy deck and put it into Jeskai Blink, replacing it with Etali, Primal Storm). This means most of my decks are updated somewhat regularly. I enjoy this approach because it makes me reevaluate the card choices in my old decks and prevents them from becoming stale. Since the replacement cards do not always fulfill exactly the same function, I do a big update of each deck about once a year (sort of like a general maintenance to see if the deck is packing enough ramp, draw, removal etc). Another way I save money is by only playing staple cards when the deck really needs them for its particular strategy (the only card I play in almost every deck is command tower, because I once bought a ton of them. Other than that, I only play Sol Ring in non-green decks, and only play 3 Solemn Simulacrums, 3 Rhystic Studys and a single copy of Cyclonic Rift among all of my decks). Powerwise, I think most of my decks are between 75% and 90%.
Tamanoa - Welcome to the Jungle
Lists can be found here.
Now I build decks I think would be fun, and I don't take apart my old ones. Having a well-paying job helps. To echo my days playing City of Heroes, "I don't suffer from altitis, I revel in it."
I currently have 35 decks, with plans for 4 more.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
How regularly do you get to play your decks? Do you update them regularly?
Tamanoa - Welcome to the Jungle
Lists can be found here.
At my last count, I had built and played at least one paper game with 100+ generals. Part of it is that I'm a longtime EDH player, so it averages out to about 1 new general every 4-6 weeks over my EDH career. The other part of it is that I can build to try out an idea without having to commit any resources to the deck beyond time. If the idea works out I can either keep and tune the deck for a little bit, possibly spending a little bit to pick up some niche cards, or I can file it away as something to revisit in the future. If I don't like the themes or how the deck is working, I can pull it apart without having lost anything.
Savra, Queen of the Golgari Sac-for-profit, Graveyard toolbox with lands subtheme.
Anafenza, the Foremost Enchantress-Control with reanimator and superfriends subthemes (about 12 cards total between the subthemes)
Slimefoot, the Stowaway Fungus-Saproling "tribal" the varied ways that make tokens don't really form a real tribe. Deck is early stages of testing (mtgo under thelon of havenwood.) deck was built on a $50 paper budget.
I'm not even sure why I'm drawn to this color combination in EDH. In "real" formats I avoid green like the plague.
Savra, Queen of the Golgari (Green Black Control with Graveyard Advantages)
Standard
Probably Mono Red Sligh
Modern
Dredge
Legacy
Dredge
Commander quickly morphed into looking at old cards and grouping them by theme to create synergy between cards that I would have never had reason to play together before. Building around a commander or having a commander suggest a theme wasn't always an option back then; we didn't have a lot of commanders that just screamed what you "should" be doing with it. It became fun to try and find out of the way cards to add to those themes to create decks that did certain things very well, and then find commanders that not only gave me the right colors but also made sense to synergize with my theme.
Where things really turned for me was when I decided that the goal of having one deck in each color combination was a) something that I thought I could actually achieve, b) would be a fun goal to strive for even if I never got there, and c) would give me a place to flush out as many different themes as I wanted. So I dismantled all of my Vintage and Legacy decks to salvage all my ABU dual lands and other good cards, traded off or sold some of the pieces that I didn't think I would ever want to use, and started looking for more decks to build and play.
Right now, I have 24 out of the original 27 color combinations (missing colorless, mono-W, and Mardu) although I ended up with 3 Selesnya decks and I'm not sure that I want to stick with my current Jund (Prossh Dragons), Jeskai (Zedruu Donate), or 5-color (Progenitus) decks. This gives me a ton of options to play, share with friends, and plenty of places to find home for new cards that I like from new sets (which seem chock full of Commander-ready cards every set). The highlander rules and somewhat random nature of the format that brings with it has always appealed to me, so having even more variety of games because of having a lot of deck options always made a lot of sense to me. Playing and maintaining that many decks can seem like a chore to some people, but I personally like it.
Right now, my motivations are a) to finish the original 27 color combinations without forcing it (like playing Edgar Markov Vampires even though I didn't enjoy putting the deck together much less playing it), b) finding a reason to build 4-color decks with themes that I haven't touched yet, then c) eventually circle back to a few color combinations that I already have a deck but I want to build a different commander or theme (looking at Esper artifacts, Bant Merfolk, a Planeswalker deck, Charge Counter deck, a color matters deck, recreating my "top of the deck matters" deck, a Cycling deck, and a 4 or 5-color Affinity for Artifacts).
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
I've finished my quest. I've got at least one deck in every color combination (including colorless and 4-color, and I built the colorless deck before Wastes were a thing, so that was fun...). I have two mono-white decks, two Rakdos decks (the second one is silver-bordered, so I consider it to be an honorary 33rd color combination), and two Grixis decks.
I currently have plans for a second Naya deck, a second mono-red deck, a second five-color deck, and a second mono-blue deck.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
When Lithl posted that he had completed his quest, he also listed all his commanders.
We have the following commanders in common: Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Wort, the Raidmother, Vorel of the Hull Clade, Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Uril, the Miststalker, and Ghave, Guru of Spores.
I don't know about you, but I actually found that keeping a notebook with any potential ideas for cards helps me remember that I want to change out a certain card or go back and try a card that might have looked interesting in another player's deck or that I saw online. That way, when I do make updates when I get new cards at set releases, I can make the other changes at the same time. But I otherwise agree that trying to tweak decks on the fly constantly is too much. If something isn't working with a deck, I just set it aside and play something else instead of worrying too much about it.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
So. I wanted a deck that incorporated zombies, preferably zombie tribal, with a couple of power legendary bombs to represent the chief and the oath-sworn companion, with a fitting general.
AND it had to be able to at least somewhat compete in my meta.
AND be interesting to play.
Right now, I'm on take #5 maybe? I'm going with Lady Evangela at the head of Esper zombies, with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Geth, Lord of the Vault as the two legendaries.
We'll see.
But because every one of my own decks has to start with an idea like that, it means I have lots of decks (gamer here...) and yet for the decks to stick around, they have to work on all the levels I mentioned.
I will occasionally build decks for my children or for my darling just because they want a deck of a particular type or legend, but I find those simultaneously easier to build (no theme to worry about) and less interesting (I like the creativity that is forced by the constraints of the theme).
So, yeah, for me it's a matter of how many - I've built over 50 commander decks and build more all the time. It got to the point that I had to get 2000 matching sleeves and get rid of many of my duplicate cards to build a modular commander "cube" that I assemble around 4 decks ata time from. I still have a few decks that I keep together outside of that collection, but it enables me to build/scrap/rebuild at will and really get a lot of variety.
Golgari and Orzhov are my favorite two color combos. Green by itself, or white by itself, does tend to be boring and straightforward. But mix them with black, and you get a potent combo. They shore up each other's weaknesses so well.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter