I'am a MTG new player looking to build a Blue and White EDH deck to overwhelm my opponent(s). This not my official playing deck, and I have low/poor deck-building skills at the time, so I may have some unnecessary cards in it, and any and all advice is welcome. I'm willing to buy individual cards, but I'm on a budget unless the card is very useful then I'll consider it, as long as it doesn't cost to much.
As much as people want to help, you would need to move this to the multiplayer edh forum section. Basically because the top of this edh forum states "Commander Forum Rules - (NO DECKLISTS IN MAIN FORUM!)"
Your cards in Commander should either be powerful, efficient, or synergistic (all if possible). There are over 20 years of cards to filter through and Commander is a complicated format for someone new to the game as a whole. I commend your diving right into the deep end of the game.
Thanks for the tips. Everyone here at my local game store plays this format, so I had to just jump right in. Do you recommend any cards in particular? I'll buy single cards as long as they're worth it. My goal is to use blue and white to overwhelm people with creature/token spam.
First, are you set on Medomai as your commander? Two other options that are fun with tokens are Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun and Brago, King Eternal. Temmet can be very fun, but looking at cards you already have Brago may be the better option. Brago can use its ability to blink creatures like Blade Splicer to give you another Golem token, then you get the Bolster effect from your Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit or gain some life from your Soul Warden.
Other good cards with Brago are Cloudblazer and Mulldrifter, because drawing cards is cool.
This isn't an optimized list, but a possible starting place if you want to go Brago tokens. Due to the nature of the format you can build a very budget version of a deck like this and still do well, and if you end up really liking the deck its easy to add better, more costly cards slowly over time.
Cool, thanks for the recommendations. For now, I'll stick with Medomai, because I really like the free turn. Are there any spells, artifacts, non-basic lands or any other non-creature cards do you think I could add? I both don't want a lot of basic lands if I can avoid it, and I really need some better spells/artifacts etc.
I'm biased, but I'd recommend Ephara, God of the Polis as a commander. She loves having your creatures enter the battlefield each turn, including tokens, and she gives you cards for them, which is awesome.
The thing is that building a deck around her can be very flexible - there are a ton of different builds for stuff viable with her, so you're not constrained to a particular strategy, and it's ridiculously easy to find cards that synergize well with her without reaching for your wallet.
Whichever commander you might choose, JDviant is correct about having a good manabase and ramp base - those are key to a good deck. I mostly agree with his choices for 2 drop artifacts, though I don't like the 3 drops - they tend to be too slow in my opinion. There's also Talisman of Progress which is very good for us.
Whether you're looking for good cards to put in your deck, or for recommendations for a good mana base - there are sites that automatically calculate that kind of stuff, like this one and this one. I suggest you have a look at some of the cards featured there, as well as some UW token threads in this forum as Jivanmukta said earlier, then head back here and give us an indication of where you'd like your deck to go.
Welcome to the giant mess that is multiplayer EDH! I hope you grow to like our crazy format
I like having Medomai as a finisher for my amateur never-quite-finished Bruna deck. That way I can enchant him with indestructibility auras and help make sure I get back the mana I invested in him, plus I have something to do in that extra turn - kill players with Bruna...
I'm biased, but I'd recommend Ephara, God of the Polis as a commander. She loves having your creatures enter the battlefield each turn, including tokens, and she gives you cards for them, which is awesome.
The thing is that building a deck around her can be very flexible - there are a ton of different builds for stuff viable with her, so you're not constrained to a particular strategy, and it's ridiculously easy to find cards that synergize well with her without reaching for your wallet.
Whichever commander you might choose, JDviant is correct about having a good manabase and ramp base - those are key to a good deck. I mostly agree with his choices for 2 drop artifacts, though I don't like the 3 drops - they tend to be too slow in my opinion. There's also Talisman of Progress which is very good for us.
Whether you're looking for good cards to put in your deck, or for recommendations for a good mana base - there are sites that automatically calculate that kind of stuff, like this one and this one. I suggest you have a look at some of the cards featured there, as well as some UW token threads in this forum as Jivanmukta said earlier, then head back here and give us an indication of where you'd like your deck to go.
Welcome to the giant mess that is multiplayer EDH! I hope you grow to like our crazy format
Thanks for the recommendations and the sites, I'll be sure to look at them. I'll come at let you guys now where I want to go with my deck.
Okay, after looking at my options, I'm going to do Ephara, God of the Polis as my commander. Then, I'm going to add some mana rocks (don't know which ones yet, as there are a lot of them out there). After that, I want to do a mixture of both big and small creatures with some tokens to overwhelm and spell artifacts to help them out. I'm going to use the cards you guys suggested to me plus others. Do you guys think I should buy booster packs, or buy them on their own?
Do you guys think I should buy booster packs, or buy them on their own?
Easy rule to remember: don't buy booster packs unless you're playing in a Limited environment (Draft, Sealed, etc. -- for instance, a prerelease -- which I do encourage you to try sometime). It's important to build up a basic collection of cards, and the best way (IMO) to do that is to get Duel Decks, official Preconstructed EDH decks, Deckbuilder's Toolkits, and (yes) try Drafting/Sealed. That way, in the long run, if you decide to switch to another deck then it should be somewhat easy and you won't need a ton of new cards.
However, since you're trying to make one deck now, there's just absolutely no chance you'll open the specific cards you need. An average booster pack might give you around 5 cards or so in your colors (blue and white); I'd guess maybe 1 of them (if that) will be something you'd be at all interested in playingin your EDH deck. A lot of them are bad commons, just 'french vanilla' creatures (that is, they have no special abilities except maybe a keyword, like Wind Drake or Huatli's Snubhorn); others are out of your colors; and some just don't do quite what your deck is looking to do. Frankly, and this is just my opinion, but I don't find opening booster packs to really almost ever be even remotely close to being worth the price of $4.
Instead, ordering singles online is relatively cheap and will get you all you need. One time, I spent a total of $10 for some cards for a red/blue edh deck; I got 3x more cards than I needed and now can build tons of decks. I prefer to stick to cards under $0.50 or $0.25, but that's just me being a cheapskate; sometimes it's really worth it for a card you're lusting over (or one that you need to build the deck, if you're ordering a commander). This will vary based on your monetary tastes: I tell beginners to just use basics and 3-mana mana rocks, because you often have more fun finding exciting, splashy cards; however, if you're jumping into a competitive environment, a deck full of cheap (mana cost-wise) cards and good (expensive money-wise) lands is probably preferred and will definitely be something you can reuse in other decks down the road.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Do you guys think I should buy booster packs, or buy them on their own?
Easy rule to remember: don't buy booster packs unless you're playing in a Limited environment (Draft, Sealed, etc. -- for instance, a prerelease -- which I do encourage you to try sometime). It's important to build up a basic collection of cards, and the best way (IMO) to do that is to get Duel Decks, official Preconstructed EDH decks, Deckbuilder's Toolkits, and (yes) try Drafting/Sealed. That way, in the long run, if you decide to switch to another deck then it should be somewhat easy and you won't need a ton of new cards.
However, since you're trying to make one deck now, there's just absolutely no chance you'll open the specific cards you need. An average booster pack might give you around 5 cards or so in your colors (blue and white); I'd guess maybe 1 of them (if that) will be something you'd be at all interested in playingin your EDH deck. A lot of them are bad commons, just 'french vanilla' creatures (that is, they have no special abilities except maybe a keyword, like Wind Drake or Huatli's Snubhorn); others are out of your colors; and some just don't do quite what your deck is looking to do. Frankly, and this is just my opinion, but I don't find opening booster packs to really almost ever be even remotely close to being worth the price of $4.
Instead, ordering singles online is relatively cheap and will get you all you need. One time, I spent a total of $10 for some cards for a red/blue edh deck; I got 3x more cards than I needed and now can build tons of decks. I prefer to stick to cards under $0.50 or $0.25, but that's just me being a cheapskate; sometimes it's really worth it for a card you're lusting over (or one that you need to build the deck, if you're ordering a commander). This will vary based on your monetary tastes: I tell beginners to just use basics and 3-mana mana rocks, because you often have more fun finding exciting, splashy cards; however, if you're jumping into a competitive environment, a deck full of cheap (mana cost-wise) cards and good (expensive money-wise) lands is probably preferred and will definitely be something you can reuse in other decks down the road.
Thank you, now I have a much better idea of how to build my collection. Thank you so much!
About the Deckbuilder's Toolkits - do they always give you different cards with each box? I have already bought two of them.
About the Deckbuilder's Toolkits - do they always give you different cards with each box? I have already bought two of them.
I love them as a starting point, but in your position I wouldn't get another one. They combine a large set of fixed cards with a group of semi-random other groups -- if you have 2 then you're highly unlikely to get many individual cards from it you didn't already have. They're great for having a set of basic cards to fill in decks you don't have quite enough cards for yet -- basically, for starting a basic collection. However, especially since it's EDH, where you can only have 1 of any particular card, they're useless for repeats.
I would go for very cheap singles and individual cards you love (and also remember that card shops have rares and often have bargain-bin commons/uncommons, I've found great junk that way), then get out there and try the deck. EDH can be much more forgiving than other formats because of the social, multiplayer aspects, and you may not know what you want to improve in the deck until you try it. Also, one last time: all this is my opinion, and people have wildly different views on how people should start out. I'd wait for others to comment here, if anyone else will.
Good luck!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
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6 Medomai the Ageless
Lands (44)
1x Sunscorched Desert
1x Unclaimed Territory
1x Unknown Shores
1x Meandering River
20x Plains
20x Island
Creatures (31)
3 Daxos of meletis
3 Filigree Familiar
6 Bastion Inventor
3 Watertrap Weaver
5 Mercurial Pretender
2 Tidebinder Mage
6 Jace's Mindseeker
6 Sphinx of Magosi
1 Hypnoitc Siren
4 Clone
5 Air Elemental
7 Gearseeker Serpent
6 Angler Drake
7 Chancellor of the Spires
6 Shipbreaker Kraken
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
5 Celestial Archon
6 Victory's Herald
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
5 Shining Aerosaur
9 Blazing Archon
2 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
5 Serra Angel
1 Soul Warden
5 Thalia's Lancers
7 Luminate Primordial
5 Expedition Raptor
3 Eidolon of Countless Battles
3 Blade Splicer
5 Karmic Guide
3 Mirror Entity
4 Pirate's Prize
2 Negate
3 Metallic Rebuke
4 Inspiration
1 Spell Pierce
5 Reverse Engineer
2 Counterspell
4 Hieroglyphic Illumination
3 Render Silent
2 Impeccable Timing
5 Increasing Devotion
1 Fragmentize
4 Divine Verdict
3 Acrobatic Maneuver
Artifacts (2)
4 Bident of Thassa
2 Torch Gauntlet
Enchantment (8)
4 Cast Out
5 Dictate of Heliod
1 Cartouche of Solidarity
3 Caught in the Brights
4 Kindred Boon
4 Sleep Paralysis
3 Monastery Siege
4 Tricks of the Trade
I buy HP and Damaged cards!
Only EDH:
Sigarda, Host of Herons: Enchantress' Enchantments
Jenara, Asura of War: ETB Value Town
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Global Punishment
Xenagos, God of Revels: Ramp, Sneak, & Heavy Hitters
Ghave, Guru of Spores: Dies_to_Doom_Blade's stax list
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: Donald's list
I'd suggest giving a look to http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/204408-commander-decklist-database for some commonly used cards in similar decks. Don't feel beholden to looking exactly at decks utilizing your specific commander as you can get a ton of value from just seeing common cards within your colors.
Cool, thanks for the recommendations. For now, I'll stick with Medomai, because I really like the free turn. Are there any spells, artifacts, non-basic lands or any other non-creature cards do you think I could add? I both don't want a lot of basic lands if I can avoid it, and I really need some better spells/artifacts etc.
Ok, I'll try those. What about Sol Ring and other so called "mana rocks"? Will that help?
The thing is that building a deck around her can be very flexible - there are a ton of different builds for stuff viable with her, so you're not constrained to a particular strategy, and it's ridiculously easy to find cards that synergize well with her without reaching for your wallet.
Whichever commander you might choose, JDviant is correct about having a good manabase and ramp base - those are key to a good deck. I mostly agree with his choices for 2 drop artifacts, though I don't like the 3 drops - they tend to be too slow in my opinion. There's also Talisman of Progress which is very good for us.
Whether you're looking for good cards to put in your deck, or for recommendations for a good mana base - there are sites that automatically calculate that kind of stuff, like this one and this one. I suggest you have a look at some of the cards featured there, as well as some UW token threads in this forum as Jivanmukta said earlier, then head back here and give us an indication of where you'd like your deck to go.
Welcome to the giant mess that is multiplayer EDH! I hope you grow to like our crazy format
Thanks for the recommendations and the sites, I'll be sure to look at them. I'll come at let you guys now where I want to go with my deck.
Easy rule to remember: don't buy booster packs unless you're playing in a Limited environment (Draft, Sealed, etc. -- for instance, a prerelease -- which I do encourage you to try sometime). It's important to build up a basic collection of cards, and the best way (IMO) to do that is to get Duel Decks, official Preconstructed EDH decks, Deckbuilder's Toolkits, and (yes) try Drafting/Sealed. That way, in the long run, if you decide to switch to another deck then it should be somewhat easy and you won't need a ton of new cards.
However, since you're trying to make one deck now, there's just absolutely no chance you'll open the specific cards you need. An average booster pack might give you around 5 cards or so in your colors (blue and white); I'd guess maybe 1 of them (if that) will be something you'd be at all interested in playingin your EDH deck. A lot of them are bad commons, just 'french vanilla' creatures (that is, they have no special abilities except maybe a keyword, like Wind Drake or Huatli's Snubhorn); others are out of your colors; and some just don't do quite what your deck is looking to do. Frankly, and this is just my opinion, but I don't find opening booster packs to really almost ever be even remotely close to being worth the price of $4.
Instead, ordering singles online is relatively cheap and will get you all you need. One time, I spent a total of $10 for some cards for a red/blue edh deck; I got 3x more cards than I needed and now can build tons of decks. I prefer to stick to cards under $0.50 or $0.25, but that's just me being a cheapskate; sometimes it's really worth it for a card you're lusting over (or one that you need to build the deck, if you're ordering a commander). This will vary based on your monetary tastes: I tell beginners to just use basics and 3-mana mana rocks, because you often have more fun finding exciting, splashy cards; however, if you're jumping into a competitive environment, a deck full of cheap (mana cost-wise) cards and good (expensive money-wise) lands is probably preferred and will definitely be something you can reuse in other decks down the road.
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Thank you, now I have a much better idea of how to build my collection. Thank you so much!
About the Deckbuilder's Toolkits - do they always give you different cards with each box? I have already bought two of them.
I love them as a starting point, but in your position I wouldn't get another one. They combine a large set of fixed cards with a group of semi-random other groups -- if you have 2 then you're highly unlikely to get many individual cards from it you didn't already have. They're great for having a set of basic cards to fill in decks you don't have quite enough cards for yet -- basically, for starting a basic collection. However, especially since it's EDH, where you can only have 1 of any particular card, they're useless for repeats.
I would go for very cheap singles and individual cards you love (and also remember that card shops have rares and often have bargain-bin commons/uncommons, I've found great junk that way), then get out there and try the deck. EDH can be much more forgiving than other formats because of the social, multiplayer aspects, and you may not know what you want to improve in the deck until you try it. Also, one last time: all this is my opinion, and people have wildly different views on how people should start out. I'd wait for others to comment here, if anyone else will.
Good luck!
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.