My first thought, general-wise, when the format was announced was "well, I won't do the scarab god because everyone will be doing the scarab god". But so far it's been a couple weeks and no one has put up a single scarab god list on sally. So, suddenly he looks totally fresh and interesting. I truly am a magic the gathering hipster.
This deck is all about using the scarab god to play draw-go control in standard. TSG lets you keep up mana for answers and then get great value if you don't use your control spells, just by making 4/4 bodies.
The deck has a small cycling theme, with 11 cards that either have cycling or discard. Creatures with cycling are great for TSG since, besides smoothing your draws, they give him guaranteed bodies later on. Getting some extra synergy from curator and archfiend is really just icing on the cake. Discard can also be very strong for dumping cards like gearhulks into your grave to bring back on the cheap with TSG.
A big risk of playing TSG is getting him stuck in the grave from either disallow or nimble obstructionist. This deck has multiple ways to bust him out, should that happen - the back half of commit // memory and never // return, scavenger grounds, and razaketh's rite to grab one of them if needed. You can also use mirage mirror if you have enough mana and are clever - they kill TSG, you respond by copying him and dumping the original. Then when they counter the trigger, exile him with mirror and this time dump the mirror. TSG's trigger will still work on the mirror and return it to your hand, so you lose nothing! Or of course you could use mirror to copy someone else's scavenger grounds or something, if you need to exile him after the fact. And your own counters/obstructionist can also work to stop theirs.
I feel like Vraska's Contempt is mandatory. Crook of Condemnation is a good way to get your stranded commander back into the command zone and is a good tool in general for the format in my opinion. What's your game plan for a resolved silent gravestone or Gideon's intervention?
I feel like Vraska's Contempt is mandatory. Crook of Condemnation is a good way to get your stranded commander back into the command zone and is a good tool in general for the format in my opinion. What's your game plan for a resolved silent gravestone or Gideon's intervention?
I cut vraska's contempt late and I'm not confident about it, but considering my synergy with graves I think I'd be a lot happier killing things than exiling them. and there's already a lot of other creature removal options (unfortunately most of them sorcery speed, but fortunately many of them stapled onto creatures that can become instant-speed thanks to TSG).
Crook seems pretty niche to me, especially considering my commander hits the biggest offenders on his own. I haven't played enough to get an idea of whether enough decks abuse the graveyard enough to justify an otherwise useless card like crook, but my initial impression is that I wouldn't bother. That may change, though. Right now I think 4.5 ways to save him (plus the always-present option of just putting him in the CZ if I'm worried) seems like plenty, especially since 2 will sit in my grave until I need them.
I really dubious that anyone will be running silent gravestone with any regularity, but the main tools for answering hate cards, besides counters (I intend to keep up most of my mana on almost every turn as long as TSG is on the field) is to bounce them and then counter (or discard, especially with consign // oblivion). I mean it's not like I really have other options here, it's blue-black. Not exactly renowned for artifact and enchantment destruction. The deck is a bit threat-light without TSG working (or at least not working at full potential) so killing them outright might be hard, but it's not impossible.
I feel that you never really wanting to be tapping out main phase for anything post Scarab God, as you almost always will have the ability to activate him, plus at least threaten to interact with the action. Lay Claim, would almost always be cycled (mistake tapping out for it to cast it imo), so not looking very good. For the same reason, even though The Immortal Sun is a powerful card, almost always a mistake to tap out to cast it. Maybe just leave in Rags // Riches as your big main phase spell for later stages of the game, although I would personally cut it for something much cheaper.
You want to keep your win cons as creatures in a The Scarab God for the obvious reasons that you can cheat/get them back into play.
I wonder if Gilded Lotus is just better than Pyramid of the Pantheon, as it requires sinking 7 mana into it, where you can sometimes think of Gilded Lotus as costing 2 mana, as you get the 3 mana straight away. Not quite that simple, but I'd be inclined to go with the Lotus.
21 lands seems ambitious. You will get terrible mulls some games = instant loss.
I should point out that this version has no cards from DOM. I've seen some I'll be adding (unwind is for sure in) but I'm prepping to play this tomorrow with ideally no proxies.
Lay Claim and Immortal sun are interesting cuts, I do like leaning harder towards draw-god (this was a typo but I'm leaving it in) but the synergy with lay claim with my cycling stuff and the potential to lock a player out of the game with it makes it hard for me to want to cut, especially when the base case is pretty safe. Immortal sun allows me to keep up an answer like, say, negate or consign with just one extra mana. I agree it's not particularly synergistic but it seems so insane. Besides the pump, cards, and cost reduction it also locks down anyone playing a planeswalker while I'm playing none. I'd pay quite a bit for each of those abilities, and getting them all at once is obviously bonkers. So idk, maybe it will feel clunky but I think I'd rather at least try it first.
Failed inspection is interesting, I hadn't thought of it tbh. Might make the cut. unwind is in when I get it. tragic lesson is a maybe, it's pretty decent but not amazing. tomb robber, seeker, and seer I think are all a little too low-impact. Seeker is a little more interesting but I don't know that my non-creature count is high enough. Nezahal I considered, but the fact that it is significantly weaker when reanimated and costs 7 scared me off. If I'm going to pay a lot for something to draw me cards, I think I'd rather have immortal sun which gives me all those other benefits and costs functionally 2 less, in terms of leaving up answers.
Pyramid really only costs 4 mana, not 7. It's definitely one I'm watching to cut, but I haven't played with it yet and I want to give it a shot. A slow control deck like this one seems like a reasonable spot. Gilded lotus may well make the cut in DOM but for now we've only got pyramid. It's also something to do on turns 1-4 when I may well be twiddling my thumbs, and a way to generate any-color mana for activated abilities of stolen creatures.
As regards lands - I'm going low because of the large number of cyclers in the deck, which make the functional card count closer to 54. I think I'd like to go to 22 or maybe 23, but not higher than that, and that's mostly just because of how mana hungry the deck is, otherwise I'd keep it low.
I was keeping the land count on Tezzeret pretty low too, but we have access to a fair number of cycling lands, so I actually decided to bite the bullet and just go to 24. This was despite Tezzeret being a source of mana ramp and only costing 4. I get land flooded a bit every now and again, but as a trade off I get more consistent openers. I really don't think 21 is going to cut it, and that you are going to have a hell of a time keeping mana up for responses. I've also been pretty happy with Kumena's Awakening as it usually gets left alone (and doesn't die to board wipes), obviously, it usually only gets played once you have blessing.
I cut vraska's contempt late and I'm not confident about it, but considering my synergy with graves I think I'd be a lot happier killing things than exiling them. and there's already a lot of other creature removal options (unfortunately most of them sorcery speed, but fortunately many of them stapled onto creatures that can become instant-speed thanks to TSG).
I still feel like it's nice having a neat and tidy 4 cmc instant that just answers something when you need it to (like an opposing Scarab God or a Hazoret), you aren't going to be able to rely on having TSG on the field. It's also a good target for Torrential Gearhulk.
You're going to want to hit your land drops for the first 5 turns every game. You will be the archenemy at tables, expect it to be you versus everybody else. There will be no "oh, he missed land drops so he is not a threat". You will get eaten alive if you misstep and are unable to deploy cards in a way that can keep up with 3 other players wanting you dead.
The other thing is that The Scarab God will smooth out any land flooding, as you can Scry them to the bottom. 23 is the minimum, 24 would be the better amount.
You will be the archenemy at tables, expect it to be you versus everybody else.
Well, so far there aren't many people playing actual brawl at my LGS (a few that have said they will/might start with DOM though) so I've been playing it versus regular commander decks. So not so much in that environment.
But I take umbrage with that general idea. No deck should be automatically the archenemy based solely on the commander. Everything is based on context, especially in brawl where power level is relatively flat and people aren't going to be throwing down wins on turn 3 if you give them an inch. The scarab god is a strong card, sure, but he's not particularly explosive or anything - last game I played with kumena I added something like 50 power to the field in a single turn and killed the entire table in 2 turns from nearly full health. TSG ain't pulling that off anytime soon. Sure, maybe he's the default target with everything else being even or close, but anyone who'd automatically assume someone is always the threat based solely on their commander is awful at the game. And in the situation where you find yourself playing against idiots, the correct solution is to simply let someone else get out of control, and eventually the idiots will realize their mistake. Trying to play archenemy from turn 1 is a recipe for either losing or ruining the meta.
Good point about the scrying, though. I'll try to kick the land count up a bit, but damn it's hard to make cuts.
"Archenemy" in Brawl should only really happen when it looks like someone is running away with the game. That being said, I do feel u/b has the greatest potential to do so in the format, but due to pool limitations, it's not going to be as consistent. In normal commander it is absolutely correct to assume power based on commander (like when you sit down against Prossh, Thrasios/Tymna or Leovald when he was legal), 9 times out of 10 they are playing it the way you expect.
"Archenemy" in Brawl should only really happen when it looks like someone is running away with the game. That being said, I do feel u/b has the greatest potential to do so in the format, but due to pool limitations, it's not going to be as consistent. In normal commander it is absolutely correct to assume power based on commander (like when you sit down against Prossh, Thrasios/Tymna or Leovald when he was legal), 9 times out of 10 they are playing it the way you expect.
So I feel like my point kind of stands, then, given that you can't exactly be running away with the game if you're missing land drops on turn 4.
As far as the commander format, I'd say it's correct to be aware of potential power based on commander - classic example being Tazri. Did they play a fetched dual, or a guildgate on turn 1? Did they tutor for a card they haven't revealed? Are they actually playing any allies in the first couple turns? If things are looking combo-y, then keep up your answers and potentially direct others to do the same. But if they're playing out ondu war cleric on turn 2, then probably you can let the shields down.
It's pretty rare for anyone to play leovold very nicely, but the others get played fairly all the time. Or at least fair-ish. Keep an eye out, but don't just assume anything based solely on the commander, in my opinion.
Right, I don't think that Scarab God should be hated out upon setting up. Though, I feel that decks that lack a way to permanently deal with him are going to be forced into killing him early, as he will start to gain traction later when he has more targets in the yard. That's probably the best reason honestly for people to target Scarab God. Decks like Ghalta are going to find killing him early to be appealing, but control decks like Tezzeret or Azor will likely have better answers for him and will be confident in sitting back and just keeping an eye on things as they advance their board state.
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This deck is all about using the scarab god to play draw-go control in standard. TSG lets you keep up mana for answers and then get great value if you don't use your control spells, just by making 4/4 bodies.
The deck has a small cycling theme, with 11 cards that either have cycling or discard. Creatures with cycling are great for TSG since, besides smoothing your draws, they give him guaranteed bodies later on. Getting some extra synergy from curator and archfiend is really just icing on the cake. Discard can also be very strong for dumping cards like gearhulks into your grave to bring back on the cheap with TSG.
A big risk of playing TSG is getting him stuck in the grave from either disallow or nimble obstructionist. This deck has multiple ways to bust him out, should that happen - the back half of commit // memory and never // return, scavenger grounds, and razaketh's rite to grab one of them if needed. You can also use mirage mirror if you have enough mana and are clever - they kill TSG, you respond by copying him and dumping the original. Then when they counter the trigger, exile him with mirror and this time dump the mirror. TSG's trigger will still work on the mirror and return it to your hand, so you lose nothing! Or of course you could use mirror to copy someone else's scavenger grounds or something, if you need to exile him after the fact. And your own counters/obstructionist can also work to stop theirs.
1 The Scarab God
Ramp (3)
1 pyramid of the pantheon
1 cultivator's caravan
1 vizier of tumbling sands
Control (19)
1 siren stormtamer
1 nimble obstructionist
1 walk the plank
1 sorcerous spyglass
1 consign // oblivion
1 winds of rebuke
1 negate
1 disallow
1 supreme will
1 bontu's last reckoning
1 never // return
1 vona's hunger
1 hostage taker
1 rags // riches
1 commit // memory
1 ravenous chupacabra
1 yahenni's expertise
1 torrential gearhulk
1 noxious gearhulk
1 lay claim
1 curator of mysteries
1 horror of the broken lands
1 razaketh’s rite
1 archfiend of ifnir
Draw (9)
1 Thaumatic compass
1 chart a course
1 search for azcanta
1 champion of wits
1 gonti, lord of luxury
1 twilight prophet
1 unesh, criosphinx sovereign
1 the immortal sun
1 pull from tomorrow
Other (3)
1 mirage mirror
1 gifted aetherborn
1 yahenni, undying partisan
Lands (21)
1 Arch of Orazca
1 desert of the glorified
1 desert of the mindful
1 ipnu rivulet
1 ifnir deadlands
1 endless sands
1 scavenger grounds
1 fetid pools
1 drowned catacomb
1 submerged boneyard
1 evolving wilds
5 Island
5 Swamp
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Crook seems pretty niche to me, especially considering my commander hits the biggest offenders on his own. I haven't played enough to get an idea of whether enough decks abuse the graveyard enough to justify an otherwise useless card like crook, but my initial impression is that I wouldn't bother. That may change, though. Right now I think 4.5 ways to save him (plus the always-present option of just putting him in the CZ if I'm worried) seems like plenty, especially since 2 will sit in my grave until I need them.
I really dubious that anyone will be running silent gravestone with any regularity, but the main tools for answering hate cards, besides counters (I intend to keep up most of my mana on almost every turn as long as TSG is on the field) is to bounce them and then counter (or discard, especially with consign // oblivion). I mean it's not like I really have other options here, it's blue-black. Not exactly renowned for artifact and enchantment destruction. The deck is a bit threat-light without TSG working (or at least not working at full potential) so killing them outright might be hard, but it's not impossible.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Lay Claim, would almost always be cycled (mistake tapping out for it to cast it imo), so not looking very good. For the same reason, even though The Immortal Sun is a powerful card, almost always a mistake to tap out to cast it. Maybe just leave in Rags // Riches as your big main phase spell for later stages of the game, although I would personally cut it for something much cheaper.
You want to keep your win cons as creatures in a The Scarab God for the obvious reasons that you can cheat/get them back into play.
I would add some more control with counters and a few cards for discarding creatures.
Failed Inspection
Unwind
Tragic Lesson
Tomb Robber
Seeker of Insight
Seer of the Last Tomorrow
Nezahal, Primal Tide
I wonder if Gilded Lotus is just better than Pyramid of the Pantheon, as it requires sinking 7 mana into it, where you can sometimes think of Gilded Lotus as costing 2 mana, as you get the 3 mana straight away. Not quite that simple, but I'd be inclined to go with the Lotus.
21 lands seems ambitious. You will get terrible mulls some games = instant loss.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Lay Claim and Immortal sun are interesting cuts, I do like leaning harder towards draw-god (this was a typo but I'm leaving it in) but the synergy with lay claim with my cycling stuff and the potential to lock a player out of the game with it makes it hard for me to want to cut, especially when the base case is pretty safe. Immortal sun allows me to keep up an answer like, say, negate or consign with just one extra mana. I agree it's not particularly synergistic but it seems so insane. Besides the pump, cards, and cost reduction it also locks down anyone playing a planeswalker while I'm playing none. I'd pay quite a bit for each of those abilities, and getting them all at once is obviously bonkers. So idk, maybe it will feel clunky but I think I'd rather at least try it first.
Failed inspection is interesting, I hadn't thought of it tbh. Might make the cut. unwind is in when I get it. tragic lesson is a maybe, it's pretty decent but not amazing. tomb robber, seeker, and seer I think are all a little too low-impact. Seeker is a little more interesting but I don't know that my non-creature count is high enough. Nezahal I considered, but the fact that it is significantly weaker when reanimated and costs 7 scared me off. If I'm going to pay a lot for something to draw me cards, I think I'd rather have immortal sun which gives me all those other benefits and costs functionally 2 less, in terms of leaving up answers.
Pyramid really only costs 4 mana, not 7. It's definitely one I'm watching to cut, but I haven't played with it yet and I want to give it a shot. A slow control deck like this one seems like a reasonable spot. Gilded lotus may well make the cut in DOM but for now we've only got pyramid. It's also something to do on turns 1-4 when I may well be twiddling my thumbs, and a way to generate any-color mana for activated abilities of stolen creatures.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
I still feel like it's nice having a neat and tidy 4 cmc instant that just answers something when you need it to (like an opposing Scarab God or a Hazoret), you aren't going to be able to rely on having TSG on the field. It's also a good target for Torrential Gearhulk.
The other thing is that The Scarab God will smooth out any land flooding, as you can Scry them to the bottom. 23 is the minimum, 24 would be the better amount.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
But I take umbrage with that general idea. No deck should be automatically the archenemy based solely on the commander. Everything is based on context, especially in brawl where power level is relatively flat and people aren't going to be throwing down wins on turn 3 if you give them an inch. The scarab god is a strong card, sure, but he's not particularly explosive or anything - last game I played with kumena I added something like 50 power to the field in a single turn and killed the entire table in 2 turns from nearly full health. TSG ain't pulling that off anytime soon. Sure, maybe he's the default target with everything else being even or close, but anyone who'd automatically assume someone is always the threat based solely on their commander is awful at the game. And in the situation where you find yourself playing against idiots, the correct solution is to simply let someone else get out of control, and eventually the idiots will realize their mistake. Trying to play archenemy from turn 1 is a recipe for either losing or ruining the meta.
Good point about the scrying, though. I'll try to kick the land count up a bit, but damn it's hard to make cuts.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
As far as the commander format, I'd say it's correct to be aware of potential power based on commander - classic example being Tazri. Did they play a fetched dual, or a guildgate on turn 1? Did they tutor for a card they haven't revealed? Are they actually playing any allies in the first couple turns? If things are looking combo-y, then keep up your answers and potentially direct others to do the same. But if they're playing out ondu war cleric on turn 2, then probably you can let the shields down.
It's pretty rare for anyone to play leovold very nicely, but the others get played fairly all the time. Or at least fair-ish. Keep an eye out, but don't just assume anything based solely on the commander, in my opinion.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6