MTG Salvation

my friends are trying to get me back into magic and its been a while since i've played but i've been trying to keep up to date but not too well. what would you consider the most fun or best commander would be that's at least part black for a beginner in commander.

Do you have a favorite strategy? Absent much to go by, I'm inclined to suggest Balthor. He's interesting while being fairly straightforward. Dredge and other methods get your creatures into the graveyard, creating an army for fun and profit.

im not quite sure if i wanna come back on mono black but im one of those players that like to play all types of deck but dredge sounds fun :3 and another thing, im kinda on a budget at start.

I built an aggro Damia deck for my brother. This way he always has his land drops and creatures to play. There are no combos in that deck, mostly big-mana and big creatures, with some blue control elements.

Teneb the Harvester offers you 3 colors, a large, evasive body for a good price, and an ability that is strong and almost always relevant. He gives you a ton of freedom with regards to how you want to build your deck, and you are never sorry to cast him.

Grimgrin is a pretty good starting commander. Zombie EDH is fairly straight-forward, so it's good for a beginner, but it can also be pretty powerful, plus it features two very versatile colors, which will allow for some diverse play experience while working with a pretty straight-forward theme. Plus, one can make a pretty good Zombie deck without spending boatloads of money, so, Grimgrin might work with the budget issues you mention.

I would avoid Kaalia for a beginner, personally. Yes, it's a pretty linear deck with lots of potential for splashy plays, but starting out playing a general that is likely to draw a lot of hate probably won't make for the best starting experience.

Olivia Voldaren for RB Vampire Tribal or Wort, boggart Auntie for RB Goblins

Quote from donfuan

i'd suggest Teneb, the Harvester. A good old elder dragon, a nice ability and a splash of G make this a very strong colour combination with answers for everything, tutoring and ramp.

Teneb is not an elder dragon. The five elder dragons are all shard colors, so there isn't even an elder dragon in Teneb's colors.

I will second Grimgrin, Corpse-born, he has a lot of potential and you don't need a ton of expensive cards to pull it off

Suggested landbase on a budget:

Terramorphic Expanse
Evolving Wilds
Drowned Catacombs
Command Tower if you can find one cheap
Reflecting Pool before it jumps higher than 10$
Bojuka Bog
Dimir Aqueduct
Jwar Isle Refuge
Reliquary Tower
Strip Mine, the cheap white bordered version is 5$ or the antiquities if you don't mind dropping 10=15$

Recommended cheap Staples:

Expedition Map
Sol Ring
Tormod's Crypt
Solemn Simulacrum
Pithing Needle
Trinket Mage
Phyrexian Metamorph
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
Hinder
Fact or Fiction
Frantic Search
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Beacon of Unrest
Black Sun's Zenith
Decree of Pain try to find one cheap
Killing Wave
Living Death
Demonic Tutor old white bordered version is 8 to 12 dollars
Diabolic tutor
Increasing Ambition
Demonic Collusion

Fun Cards on Theme:

Zombie Apocalypse
Army of the Damned
Call to the Grave
Oversold Cemetary
Noxious Ghoul
Undead Warchief
Cemetary Reaper
Diregraf Captain
Shepherd of Rot
Gempalm Polluter
Lord of the Undead
Unholy Grotto
Mikeaus the Unhallowed

just some ideas for you.

I suggest Damia, Sage of Stone. Even if you're playing wrong, or playing bad cards, your friends will have fun as long as they always have a hand full of cards to play.

I highly recommend mono colored commanders as your first commander because cards like caged sun, gauntlet of power, and extraplanar lens are all cheep and provide a big mono colored bonus.

Some good (and cheep) generals include

Maga
Chainer
Geth

I strongly recommend mono for your first deck unless you have access to a fantastic mana base in which case I would recommend the following.

Mimeoplasm
Jarad
Karaveck

A good beginner deck would be two colors, maybe one, because you won't have to struggle with the mana base so much in the early days. As you get more advanced move into three colors if you want, but I would stick with two early on.

My only suggestion is Jarad, he is pretty awesomely fun.

Personally, I'd advise against Grimgrin. At least when I've seen it, it's mostly powerful because of its expensive landbase (Volrath's Stronghold, Urborg/Coffers, etc.) and some of the zombie lords are surprisingly expensive due to the casual magic scene. In my experience B/W tends to run on money as well.

Jarad is a good suggestion, dredge + reanimate fatties and fling is cheap, fun, and fairly strong, even if a fairly developed meta with grave hate will neuter it. Don't want you to hate EDH just because one guy plays Crypt.

Alternatively, might I suggest Lyzolda, the Blood Witch? Aggro + theft/pact/sac shenanigans, with a burn/CA engine in a general. She's an insane 1v1 general, and I think a multiplayer take wouldn't be that hard. Besides, R/B aggro seems like a smart budget choice. That is, if you like aggro. She's a good way to make it EDH viable.

If you like control more, you can easily go U/B with someone like Wydwen or Wrexial and have a good time with it.

I use Xira Arien as my General for my aggro Jund EDH. Don't think you can get any more simple than pure aggro IMO. She's very cheap to cast at 3 CMC. She's also not essential to the deck, but her ability will certainly help. Being in Jund colors also gives you access to virtually everything you need. G gives you access to ramp, big dudes, and artifact/enchantment hate. R gives you access to haste enablers, more big dudes (usually with evasion), some creature removal, and more artifact hate. B gives you access to kill spells, card draw, and tutoring.

Olivia Voldaren seems pretty straightforward and solid in a casual environment. She gives access to fun things like Terminate, Dreadbore and Blightning. You could even run a combo like Wound Reflection + Havoc Festival or something with Exsanguinate (flavorful!) if you so desire.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Kaalia of the Vast are both pretty straight-forward strategies, easy to pick up fast, and actually do things. I personally love Teysa, Orzhov Scion but she is more of a combo deck.

I agree with people's suggestion of running a two color general because if you're just getting into EDH and don't already have an extensive magic collection then your manabase may have some issues.

The only way around this is for you to run a three color deck that is black/green/X. Since green will make it much easier for you to get the lands you need into play.

As for some good starter generals that include black I suggest:
2-color
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Glissa, the Traitor
Wrexial, the Risen Deep
3-color
Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund

I think a fantastic starting commander in tricolor to include black would be Teneb, the Harvester

Quote from donfuan

Kaalia of the Vast. As straight forward as it gets, big splashy creatures, lots of removal. The downside is that she draws a lot of hate, so i'd suggest Teneb, the Harvester. A good old elder dragon, a nice ability and a splash of G make this a very strong colour combination with answers for everything, tutoring and ramp.

I second Kaalia. She's a good beginner general, very sraightfoward - turn cards sideways, say "AAAAAARGH!. After playing with her for a bit, you should definately try out new generals with more depth of strategy, but she's a great "pick up my deck and play" general.

Grimgrin is just fine as a starting general. There are plenty of spells that will let you recur creatures and/or create token creatures for Grimgrin to eat.
Gath Immortal nailed many of the cards that can enable your zombie-ness without a great expense. Some others that I include in my own Grimgrin commander deck are...

• Corpse harvester
  
• Grave Titan
  
• Forbidden Alchemy
  
• Grave Pact
  
• Rooftop Storm
  
• Feldon's Cane (cuz people DON'T want you accessing your graveyard)
  
• Liliana Vess

Try him out, and enjoy the goodness!

Gonna vote for Drana as an outstanding beginner's general. I think she's my favorite black commander of all time, being versatile, and facilitating great deck options for all budget levels.

Im going to have to vote on Nath of the Gilt-Leaf. He is green and black; which offers a ton of support to whatever situation you are needing to deal with. Also you can build him a ton of different ways.

I second Glissa the traitor.

Easy access to ramp so you get to do stupid things faster.

Repeatedly reuse artifacts.

nearly unbeatable in combat

Low mana cost so can be repeatedly recast.

Teneb - Excellent board control, is not dependent on the general but the general definitely enhances the deck. Green is pretty much the bee's knees in EDH so accumulating G staples now will give you lots of flexibility downstream, it also helps lower your mana base burden since can use spells to mana fix.

Karrthus - Dragon tribal, yes dragon tribal. Not much else to say there.

Kresh - BRG can be very powerful in EDH, Kresh can get out of hand quickly.

Mimeoplasm, - Arguably the strongest 3 color combination in EDH. This guy is an interesting concept because he allows you to play each game differently. The addition of G helps lower mana base costs and the recursion element helps add longevity and resiliency.

Jarad, Lich Lord - BG is probably the best 2 color combo in EDH and this guy is probably the best BG general. Take advantage of some of the fatties, sacrifice and recur them, and clear out the table. Alternatively, you could play BG stax with Glissa the Traitor, but I think Jarad is more conducive to fun.

Wrexial - This was a pet deck of mine for a very long time but stopped working for some reason. I plan to rework the deck though. This guy is great because his ability gives you access to a ton of off-color spells and abilities. Alternatively in this color combination you could do Oona, she is a very powerful combo deck but is on the "hated generals" list so be wary.

Korlash - The simplest general I would ever recommend to someone. He grows all game and his regenaration makes him a little bit harder to kill. The most fun I have had with him is equipping Nightmare Lash and Lashwrithe at the same time making him a 36/36.

Chainer - My favorite character from MTG novels. Chainer has a great ability that draws from your GY and other players' GYs (as opposed to Geth which is just other players'). He can be built in a variety of ways, his ability lets you reanimate El Drazi, play Necrotic Ooze Combo, or just play a regular reanimator deck.

Drana - She starts very slowly but once you have your mana up and running she can absolutely wreck the boards while smacking people around.