MTG Salvation

It's always interesting to see how players evolve the more they play the game. When I started out 5 years ago, me and my friends didn't properly understand the format or the game. My first ever commander was Akroma, Angel of Fury, which I picked because I liked red and because we mistakenly thought that commanders could be cast for free.

Currently the deck at feel the most at home with is a Surrak Dragonclaw ETB/Flash deck that focuses on using creatures as responses. It's a playstyle im very familiar with and it has many creatures that Ive been using since Ive started magic.


What did you start out with and what do you feel the most confident piloting?

First EDH deck, nearly ten years ago now, was Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. Even to this day I'm still fond of mono white, but the metagame has crept up and it's difficult to make viable.

Not sure how to answer the second question. Karador Rebels is definitely the most outright fun I'm having right now. Gahiji is probably the most comfortable and brainless to pilot. Shirei and Rubinia have been with me a long time now and piloting them is very familiar.

Started out with a kinda janky Aurelia the warleader deck. It has evolved with me until I very recently cut the curve down and replaced her with Iroas as an experiment.

Now, I'm probably most comfortable with Alesha

Rakdos, Lord of Riots. I'm comfortable piloting all of my decks.

My first deck was either Savra, Queen of the Golgari or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. I built them both at the same time so that my brother and I could both have decks and we could play each other 1v1. Savra briefly turned into Sisters of Stoen Death, went back to Savra, eventually became Nath of the Gilt-Leaf, then morphed into Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord when it was printed.

I'm pretty comfortable with all my decks, but I would probably say Worth, the Raidmother or Bosh, Iron Golem may be my favorite ones to pilot.

Animar, Soul of Elements and I'm really comfortable piloting it. I don't break it out much anymore though, I have already had my fun with it.

I like my Karador, Ghost Chieftain the most because it lets me play with a lot of my favorite cards in the game's history.

Prime Speaker Zegana was my first commander deck ever and it took me through a soul-searching journey to discover why my friends hated playing against it. Then, after downgrading it each week following various complaints, I realized that it wasn't the quickly cut Sylvan Primordial they hated, nor the amount of times I would just be able to dump my fat grip with Myojin of Life's Web after a lengthy game; they just didn't like wincons, and even got salty at each other when I wasn't playing. So I got new friends.

Currently, my affinity is towards anything that's Green with a capital G, followed by blue, then X. Azusa is with what I am most comfortable, though my spirit animal is Derevi, Empyrial Tactician.

My first EDH deck was a U/B Szadek, Lord of Secrets mill deck, which was janky as all hell. And then Rise of the Eldrazi came out and made it so much worse

My favorite deck is Riku of Two Reflections which I have been playing in some variation (with brief affairs with Animar and Maelstrom Wanderer) since the first commander product came out; going from creature goodstuff, Laboratory Maniac combo, Primal Surge combo, Clone-everything-everywhere-and-the-copy-it.dec, to the current spellslinger build that I've enjoyed more than any other deck I've built.

My first two decks were Jhoira of the Ghitu and Sharuum the Hegemon, with Captain Sisay following shortly after.

Now my favorite deck is Athreos, God of Passage, followed shortly by Glissa, the Traitor. I've evolved from liking combo decks to preferring longer, grindier games. I've always liked control, so I think it'd be most accurate to say I lost my taste for combo. I still enjoy storm now and again though.

My first EDH deck was Sygg, River Cutthroat. It tried to emphasize hitting opponents for three or more damage with unblockable creatures. It did ok, but I was trying to cram too many themes and playstyles into the deck. Now that I have a bunch of other decks that have utilize these themes, it may be worth revisiting.

The deck I am most comfortable playing is probably Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. It is built like a classic control deck, of which I have lots of experience playing over the years. Its full of answers, counters, and fatty win conditions - everything I love in a Magic deck

My first edh (and first deck ever) was a Rith deck. To this day, I prefer playing something with a lot of draw or library manipulation, like my Darreti

First deck was an Olivia Voldaren vampire tribal deck that had voltron elements. It's still around, but I've since devoted more time to the two decks in my sig: Shattergang Brothers stax and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir devotion control. I'm most comfortable playing these, particularly Teferi, which has so many little interaction and lines of play, I thoroughly enjoy finding new ones and choosing which one is best for which situation.

My first deck was Multani, Maro Sorcerer, mainly because people said green commanders had to be one of a few options and Multani wasn't one. It was enjoyable, but a few turn 3/4 commander kills on people in multiplayer makes you a very large target, even if it is hilarious to watch blue decks crapping their pants once it is on the battlefield.... My second or third was Norin the Wary and is the one that doesn't get me into trouble with all the other decks I have (which is around 9...) even though I play very few broken cards.

Oros the Avenger was my first deck since 2008.

Zurgo is my most comfortable deck.

Zurgo replaced Oros ever since he came out and Oros is sitting in the 99 of the deck itself. The 99 has changed at least 8 times to explore different playstyles until I finally settled with one.

I'm honestly thinking about making two more Mardu color decks with different playstyles because I love Boros with the luxary of card advantage black has to offer. Thinking Tariel "You'll thank me for this" inspired Rachmiel by and your standard Alesha deck as well.

My first deck was a thrown-together Omnath, Locus of Mana deck which has since evolved into my mostly-tuned and fleshed-out Omnath deck. It's my favorite deck to play, though I'm comfortable with all of them and have mostly been playing Heartless Hidetsugu the last couple of weeks for a change of pace.

First commander was Odric, Master Tactitian and he really gross 1v1 and has some serious staying power in multiplayer games.

My favorite EDH DECK I have right now is Grim-Grin.
And maelstrom wanderer

My first was either Captain Sisay or Sharuum the Hegemon, neither of which lasted all that long. They were pretty typical takes on those decks at the time. Jaya Ballard, Task Mage was my third and she's most of the way to foiled out by now.

I'm comfortable with a good variety of decks, but my favorite archetype is BWx sac/recur shenanigans. I've gone through a few different generals, but Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter keeps reappearing at the head of the deck.

My first deck was technically the Political Puppets PreCon that I bought when it was released. Played it for a bit, then wanted to build my own. Immediately went to Zur the Enchanter for some Voltron fun.

I've kept it together, adding cards as I go. Still probably my top deck and the one I have the most fun playing.

My first EDH deck was built by my friends to try to coerce me into the MTG and the commander format. They thought they knew me sooo well, even though I had never actually played MTG before, so they built me a Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts deck. It turns out that they were very right about what type of deck I'd like to play, though I have had very many variations to the deck, it is still in the same colors! Nowadays, though, I have nearly perfected the deck as a Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck. It is still my favorite deck to pilot, though I have many many other decks,so kudos and thanks to my friends for knowing me well enough to bring me to this point in the MTG commander format with one deck...

My first EDH was Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund.

Right now my most comfortable deck isn't quite certain since I've lost quite a few games recently. Maybe Riku of Two Reflections will eventually take that spot, since it really seems 'solid on paper'. But there's no knowing how that will actually go. I'm often trying out and building new decks, nothing ever feels completely comfortable because even with countless hours spent tuning I can still see the weaknesses in what I build and know I can't possibly patch all of them, just try to work around them.

First EDH deck was Roon of the Hidden Realm because the idea of bouncing creatures in and out to disrupt them seemed like a lot of fun. There are tougher decks, but it is a blast to play and difficult for many to play against. It uses enter the battlefield effects along with cards that exile and return things to the battlefield. It can play a wide range of decks as it seems to have an answer for almost everything that's not completely broken. Spike Weaver, Knight-Captain of Eos, and Stonehorn Dignitary give people fits, especially when you use Rite of Replication to copy Stonehorn Dignitary five times and they skip their next 5 combat steps.

Its fun to bounce Avenger of Zendikar or Myr Battlesphere in and out 3 or 4 times with Cathars' Crusade in play. Or to play Ixidron and turn all opponents creatures into 2/2 face down creatures. Roon can exile cards and they come back in face up, with ETB effects, most can't recover from having their commander and best cards flipped, you can. The deck makes you a better player and improves your playgroup too as they try to deal with the ETB and strange effects. Nevermaker, when bounced in and out pretty much limits most players to whatever cards they have in their hand as putting the same card back on top of their library means they always get the same draw. If they don't have draw in hand its game over for most. If you want a fun deck with a lot of options give a Roon deck a try.

Sliver Overlord and Zur the Enchanter are my other two EDH decks. Slivers are fun, and fair until you give them shroud, Crystalline Sliver, and indestructible, Sliver Hivelord, then they get mean. Zur is near broken, just seriously unfair, runs about 22 counterspells and a bunch of 3 CMC enchantments. Zur runs Necropotence and Forbid, which is just wrong when you have both.

Arcades Sabboth Good Stuff which became Angus Mackenzie Control when other legends were allowed. I am comfortable with anything.

Keep brewing.

An interesting thread idea. My first EDH deck was Kresh the Bloodbraided and whilst im very comfortable with it, it isnt the easiest deck I have. Layers of complexity and options means that games are still fun and the deck has changed significantly from when it was first built.

My first EDH deck was a Wort, Boggart Auntie deck that a friend built and gifted to me because I played Zendikar Goblins in standard during college at the time. I've loved tribal anything since I started playing, so I've been most comfortable with my Korlash, Heir to Blackblade zombie tribal deck that evolved from my longest running old Grimgrin build.

5 years ago, I had built 2 decks to start out: Karn and Ashling. Karn's still around and it has it's charm - but I'm torn between Derevi Enchantress, Marath Combo, Melek Wheels and Karn as favorites.