There's no clear-cut answer. Different people have different goals (some are more concerned about deck building, others competitiveness) and are in different situations (people who play Commander very often and people who play once in a while). 30-40 decks will not sound much to the person who wants at least a deck in every Color Combination, while it sounds way excessive to both the casual player or the concentrated competitive player. 1 deck sounds right for the competitive player who enjoys tuning but only plays once in a while but way too boring (and little) for the casual player playing every weekend.
So it boils down to what you, as an individual, wants from the format. But even listing down doesn't give you exact answers - it gives a range at best (even if you're the "build a deck of every color combination", there's a range between those who want exactly 32 decks and those who only care about it as a minimum).
Of course, there's also the different budget concerns of each individual, but ultimately that's another part of planning - how much are you willing to invest to match your expectations from the format, and if they don't line up, are you more willing to invest more for the sake of it, or are you more willing to sacrifice some of those expectations to line it up with your budget instead. I mention willingness because it's an important factor - because if you plan for the long-term you might not actually have to sacrifice your expectations - you just extend the time required instead (which means your expectations cannot be just a whim). This sounds a lot like a financial guide than an EDH one, but admittedly it's pretty much the same.
On top of all of these, remember that EDH decks are malleable, in fact highly susceptible to individual changes whenever new cards come out. You will almost definitely have to drop cards you bought back then because they just don't make the cut any more, but this only serves to reinforce that your initial plan/structure of the deck(s) need to be firm - because the cards dropped could still have potential in the future (therefore mitigating the "loss" even if you're not playing the card now). If you lose interest in the base idea of the deck, then it's a costly complete overhaul.
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So it boils down to what you, as an individual, wants from the format. But even listing down doesn't give you exact answers - it gives a range at best (even if you're the "build a deck of every color combination", there's a range between those who want exactly 32 decks and those who only care about it as a minimum).
Of course, there's also the different budget concerns of each individual, but ultimately that's another part of planning - how much are you willing to invest to match your expectations from the format, and if they don't line up, are you more willing to invest more for the sake of it, or are you more willing to sacrifice some of those expectations to line it up with your budget instead. I mention willingness because it's an important factor - because if you plan for the long-term you might not actually have to sacrifice your expectations - you just extend the time required instead (which means your expectations cannot be just a whim). This sounds a lot like a financial guide than an EDH one, but admittedly it's pretty much the same.
On top of all of these, remember that EDH decks are malleable, in fact highly susceptible to individual changes whenever new cards come out. You will almost definitely have to drop cards you bought back then because they just don't make the cut any more, but this only serves to reinforce that your initial plan/structure of the deck(s) need to be firm - because the cards dropped could still have potential in the future (therefore mitigating the "loss" even if you're not playing the card now). If you lose interest in the base idea of the deck, then it's a costly complete overhaul.