Please help. My friend is addicted to playing blue/Izzet. I need to help him branch off into different colors. He has two commander deck that are both mono-blue. So if you could give any advice at all, it would be great.
Design and build decks that hose his blue spells, protection from blue, islandwalk, hexproof, etc. Beat him continually with them until he gets the point.
Either that of just swap decks with him to give him a trial of how the other colors play. Maybe he will like it. Good luck.
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STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
As others have asked - what's the problem with him playing blue?
If it's counterspells, play uncounterable spells. There are several generals for this, including Surrak Dragonclaw, who also keeps your other creatures from being countered. You could actually build a pretty cheap and effective counter to a counterspell deck.
If it's bounce spells, run ETB creatures that ramp you and hurt him (how many times does he want to bounce Acidic Slime when it blows up his stuff each time it re-enters?
Is he just drawing too many cards and drowning you in card advantage? Makeitpainful.
Sure, you could go the blue-hate route (pro-blue, islandwalk, Boil/Boiling Seas), but you don't want to include bad cards just to hose a specific deck or color. You want a focused deck with a plan to win that happens to pair well against your friend.
Well, it's possible to play "like blue" in a non-blue deck. I have a friend that says I play the most "Blue" Green/black deck ever because I just spend the whole game drawing cards.
Hate does tend to force players to change: I played Pithing Needle and I would just start naming commanders and people stopped playing commanders with activated abilities. We also once had a Mono-Black combo Mikaeus, the unhallowed deck in our group and we just slapped Nevermore into our decks and named his commander and he could never get rid of it. (at the time around innstrad/RTR) And so he learnt a lesson about playing linear combo decks. We kind of pushed people away from that kind of deck forever by having this hate and a culture of just hating something out if we didn't like it.
So first ask him why he likes blue so much? and try to find a non-blue deck that can do the same sort of things, second prepare your decks to deal with those kinds of things.
From my experience, when a player leans on one color or strategy more than any other it's typically because they feel like it's their preference (comfort zone) or it's necessary for them to win.
I would suggest paying closer attention to games win/loss ratios, including what decks (colors) are being played and who has what win%. In Christmas land, everyone in a 4-player game should have a 25% chance to win, but things change this (draw/compatibility/politics/etc). Eveyone wants to win - maybe your friend just feel like playing blue is what it takes for them to win. If this ends up being observable after a few sessions, then your problem is more about power level and deck compatibility.
This won't always be the case btw - I prefer mono-red, rakdos, and then grixis in that order, and rarely deviate away from those colors. Out of my 30+ decks over half are either mono-red or rakdos. No one ever complains about this likely because my preferred color combinations are not known for being the most powerful in this format. I know my win% goes down every time I design a deck with a color restriction.
what parts of blue are you having trouble with? i assume thats why you'd like him to play other colors
Either that of just swap decks with him to give him a trial of how the other colors play. Maybe he will like it. Good luck.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
If it's counterspells, play uncounterable spells. There are several generals for this, including Surrak Dragonclaw, who also keeps your other creatures from being countered. You could actually build a pretty cheap and effective counter to a counterspell deck.
If it's bounce spells, run ETB creatures that ramp you and hurt him (how many times does he want to bounce Acidic Slime when it blows up his stuff each time it re-enters?
Is he just drawing too many cards and drowning you in card advantage? Make it painful.
Sure, you could go the blue-hate route (pro-blue, islandwalk, Boil/Boiling Seas), but you don't want to include bad cards just to hose a specific deck or color. You want a focused deck with a plan to win that happens to pair well against your friend.
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Hate does tend to force players to change: I played Pithing Needle and I would just start naming commanders and people stopped playing commanders with activated abilities. We also once had a Mono-Black combo Mikaeus, the unhallowed deck in our group and we just slapped Nevermore into our decks and named his commander and he could never get rid of it. (at the time around innstrad/RTR) And so he learnt a lesson about playing linear combo decks. We kind of pushed people away from that kind of deck forever by having this hate and a culture of just hating something out if we didn't like it.
So first ask him why he likes blue so much? and try to find a non-blue deck that can do the same sort of things, second prepare your decks to deal with those kinds of things.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
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GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
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I would suggest paying closer attention to games win/loss ratios, including what decks (colors) are being played and who has what win%. In Christmas land, everyone in a 4-player game should have a 25% chance to win, but things change this (draw/compatibility/politics/etc). Eveyone wants to win - maybe your friend just feel like playing blue is what it takes for them to win. If this ends up being observable after a few sessions, then your problem is more about power level and deck compatibility.
This won't always be the case btw - I prefer mono-red, rakdos, and then grixis in that order, and rarely deviate away from those colors. Out of my 30+ decks over half are either mono-red or rakdos. No one ever complains about this likely because my preferred color combinations are not known for being the most powerful in this format. I know my win% goes down every time I design a deck with a color restriction.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
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