So I am a hardcore EDH fan (Or commander for the uncultured swine) And I am growing a little tired. I play every thursday and it is a little stale. Decks are the same, people play the same deck,s (I think in all my games, 90% involves this one guy Playing derevi, who also proceeds to win 90% of the game she plays. Even 3 people ganging up on him often lose)
(Skip to the end if you don't want to read my essay about my life with magic... if i was still in school i would probably get an A for this)
So While I am not about to quit EDH, I do want to rekindle what first got me into magic. The Kitchen table. I remember Going to my local game store, and buying a pack of cards, the crisp spell and the sound of crinkling as I opened up, Hoping for a Holo charizard. It Never happened, but Pokemon is what started my love for card games, and as I got into high school, that is when Magic took off. People bringing decks and a room where those who played magic would bust Book Burnings. (Also trying to explain how the card works. You don't get to do both. I either take six or I mill six.) Pokemon had gone and passed, no one played it except for the elementary school kids, no one in high school admitted to liking pokemon (But i still played the games) Magic was on that slope as well, But i still liked it. Thorn Elemental was the go to card and every deck was G/B. I was not that guy. I cracked my first test of endurance and went G/W life gain deck. And it WORKED. Big stupid blockers, Fogs and life gain. Since they all went with Beatdown decks (Aside form the people who had one copy of book burning) My deck was difficult to deal with.
Well I dropped out for a while. Eventually when i finally finished high school, my friend was still really into the game, but had no one to play with. He had built me a B/R deck in hopes I would play again. I did, I used his B/R deck (Which was garbage) and was out of it again. Yu-gi-oh had become a thing. Until i learned about the competitive scene, and gracious had my ass handed to me. But again the game grew dull. So another one of my friends (Not the one who gave me a R/B deck another one, who played YGO with me) Decided to instead of buying more YGO cards, picked up a precon Tenth edition. I got green, He got blue, and the spark was back. From that day forward (Until i got to standard) every weekend the three of us would get together and play magic, or two of us would. Basically Magic was what we played. Saving up our allowance and buying not only boosters, but also buying singles. We even played at events (Casual format) where I was the kings, A full burn deck which would quickly erase players. Winning prize money. But that also eventually died when more of my friends got into eh game and we got to the point where Standard became a thing, just as Llorwyn was about to rotate out. Up until now I had never thought of being competitive but standard changed that drastically. Of course, I did not want to play jund. I did not want to play the deck everyone else was playing. But i continued to pour money into more cards,, more singles, and slowly had no money left. I was addicted. and then, EDH was reveled to the game store. It took it by storm.
I built a sliver deck as I was already working on one) and eventually built my first true deck. Arcum Dagsson. You had a four-turn clock, as I would consistently win by turn 4, five if i had a slow start. Originally the deck was jank. but i got ganged up on and fine tuned the deck, week after week after week. Until i could go 3v1 and still come out laughing. And Started playing in a league. (Mind you this was before Erayo, Soratami Ascendant had been banned, so i also had an erayo deck) the league however had you register your deck and for 12 weeks that was the one you had to play. People were not having fun with me in the pods, even though i wanted to switch decks. I wanted to change it up. But i had to play that deck. Sure I won games and got prizes but i felt empty. Something was missing. The Casual game that i had originally started to love. When i could play other decks, where I wasn't in try-hard mode. As soon as the league had finished its 12 weeks. Arcum was dismantled. Never to be played again.
Of course I had Erayo, which i had originally built to show people Arcum was not so bad, but it too was dull as while arcum would finish games. Erayo just made it so I won by people scooping) But i had another deck as well, not not slivers. It was Nin, the Pain Artist. the day she was spoiled, that evening I had a deck built. Within four hours, printed a proxy, built a deck, I was ready to have fun with her. And having fun I did. Fine tuning her over the next few weeks, and buying a case of all 5 EDH decks. (I also bought 2000 cards form a friend for $200, which inside had 6 revised duals. I did well for my money. Took the rares from the 2000 cards and sold the rest in bulk. I got like 60 bucks for jank old school (invasion) commons and uncommons)
But i still played standard while also playing EDH. That would have to end. Feeling no joy in my decks that i built and having to deal with toxic players who only cared about winning, not having fun. Rules lawyers, Acted as though MTG was their life source. (None were GP, in fact only one of that group managed to make GPQ, and he didn't go far) I was drained though, Standard had broken my bank account and sadly broken my soul. New Phyrexia was the last set I played in. Standard was dead to me. Aside from that it was all about EDH New decks every two weeks, I loved the game and loved building decks. (I still like to build decks, but they don't all survive. Some last one day, others a few weeks or months. I had about a dozen and none are still around today.)
So I have come a long way. 2000 till today. While i did have a hiatus, I still feel i dedicated a good portion of my life to Magic. But as I said at the beginning. I wish to rekindle that spark. This is where I ask for help. I want to build 60 card, Casual budget friendly decks with a theme. What do i mean by theme? They will have a commander. So I want a 60 card deck based around that commander. along with a few rules. No lands beyond commons (I did not say basic, I said common). Decks may not have more than 3 copies of uncommon and no more than 2 copies of rares and mythics. (this is to avoid powerful decks that require four copies of a rare. (Affinity anyone?) and to avoid making something too good as EDH is singleton, I am not making 60 card singleton decks. Otherwise i would shove 40 more card sin and build an EDH deck) In addition, The commander must still follow the same formula. A Legendary creature (No PWs and not even PWs that can be used as your commander) And this commander does not count towards the 60. Meaning it is 61 cards per deck. (also one final note, logically, you cannot have a second copy of your commander in the deck. But I figured I would specify it for those who want to be "Smart"
tl;dr I want to build 60 card kitchen table decks, budget friendly, That work around a commander. I have a few construction rules (Up above) But that is all.
So help me build a few decks. I am not the only person in my group who wants to go back to kitchen table. I am just doing it differently
Hey Gashnaw. Honestly, while I typically like your posts, your asks here are too specific for me to get excited about making suggestions. The thing I like about tabletop (and I never left it, only branching out to edh after 24 yrs...two years ago), is being able to build freely with playsets of commons to mythics, from straight janky to carefully layered. I build to what I consider fun mechanics and themes without worrying about rarity. Maybe just let the deck theme brew itself by putting together things you would like to explore without restriction of cost and rarity? You can always sub ideas later before purchasing cards you don’t already own. I recently built a 5-color deck revolving around abusing rainbow themes like Maelstrom Archangel, Knight of New Alara, Fusion Elemental, and All Suns’ Dawn. In addition, I wanted to keep some Alara Blades from a recently broken-apart deck, play with some ultimatums (Cruel and Violent), and I had never played with Pernicious Deed before. Here’s what I put together.
Some of the lands and critters are not budget (fortunately I sprung them from my collection), but this is what the deck shaped up as. Is it going to work in my tabletop group? I have no idea, but I’m itching to find out. For me, it was just scratching itches I’ve wanted to try, and that’s how most of my decks start.
Another one was a Boros-themed deck that first tried to use as many Lightning Helix effects as possible, and also torch the board with Blasphemous Act and Spitemare-type creatures and Hissing Iguanar. I ended up splitting the two themes, but both decks are still together and the damage reflection deck is possibly my most powerful synergy, now RGB, using mostly commons, uncommons, and bulk rares. All three started from a whim, and just putting interesting cards together with some Gatherer research.
I get where you are coming from, however the restrictions was to sort of keep them balanced. What i have been ding is checking around this forum to find decks that are not too expensive but also looks like fun. I might even drop the Commander aspect and just build some decks i can pull out out when the desire rises. Planechase but not with commander? No problem, we have these little 60 card decks for fun.
I've been struggling w/ this exact problem for yrs Gashnaw. i'm so sick of EDH & just haven't been able to find the right idea that ticks all the boxes for the majority of players. here's a few things we've toyed around w/: we tried building 60 card constructed decks the only restriction was if a card had been banned or restricted in ANY format, then the card could not be used. @ the time it seemed like just the simplest way to keep the power lvl balanced b/c all the decks would have to conform to those constraints, but that didn't pan out b/c most ppl just built modern decks w/ upgrades & I brought a re-animate deck that could put a progenitus or jin-gitaxias, core augur in to play turn 1 or 2. we tried using the "vs" series against each other & that was lame. I've built an aggro, mid-range & control deck to play against each other, hell we even tried using the 30 card welcome decks w/ the caveat, that you could change 1, & only 1 card in the deck. you might try to the card kingdom "pre-constructed" decks, maybe you'll like those. I suspect w/ a little digging on tapped out, etc, you could find decklists. honestly, what we found that's worked best for us, is "battlebox/danger room". I built my own & its 330 cards. we can just jam multiplayer games w/ it, play 1v1, do sealed deck & if we add in 30 allied & enemy come in to play tapped duals, we can do an 8 man draft. + just like you mentioned above, wanna play planechase, ok, archenemy, sure thing, want to use the vanguard cards you say, check.
I've been struggling w/ this exact problem for yrs Gashnaw. i'm so sick of EDH & just haven't been able to find the right idea that ticks all the boxes for the majority of players. here's a few things we've toyed around w/: we tried building 60 card constructed decks the only restriction was if a card had been banned or restricted in ANY format, then the card could not be used. @ the time it seemed like just the simplest way to keep the power lvl balanced b/c all the decks would have to conform to those constraints, but that didn't pan out b/c most ppl just built modern decks w/ upgrades & I brought a re-animate deck that could put a progenitus or jin-gitaxias, core augur in to play turn 1 or 2. we tried using the "vs" series against each other & that was lame. I've built an aggro, mid-range & control deck to play against each other, hell we even tried using the 30 card welcome decks w/ the caveat, that you could change 1, & only 1 card in the deck. you might try to the card kingdom "pre-constructed" decks, maybe you'll like those. I suspect w/ a little digging on tapped out, etc, you could find decklists. honestly, what we found that's worked best for us, is "battlebox/danger room". I built my own & its 330 cards. we can just jam multiplayer games w/ it, play 1v1, do sealed deck & if we add in 30 allied & enemy come in to play tapped duals, we can do an 8 man draft. + just like you mentioned above, wanna play planechase, ok, archenemy, sure thing, want to use the vanguard cards you say, check.
the only reason i plat PC is because i have all 86 planes (and if they release another set, well, i'll buy those too) Issue is, some planes help EDH decks just too much. one plane allows you to play all lands from your hand, If i go first i am gonna empty my hand and then try to get the hell off that plane. I mean in a 60 card deck it is still useful; but the power creep will not be as significant.
I am not sick of EDH, just tired of always playing the same people with the same decks and same outcome. It does not feel casual anymore, it feels repetitive. I need a different format that is not filled with toxic players. Sealed is a fun one, but not really desired.
i will use a formula similar to the PC decks. where there is a "commander" in the 60. so you cannot cast them whenever, but if you draw them they help.
Following the PC formula also means they will be similar in power level. (and i can edit them a bit. Ninjas, Vela and yuriko inside, Samurai, Godo and Fumiko inside. Sure yuriko may not benefit from a low curve deck, but she is still a ninja.
Tribal will probably work best. Maybe fungus with Slimefoot, (already have a fungus tribal Ghave deck for edh) Tribal is also a far easier formula to follow and power can easily be balanced. Sure may be a little lackluster in variety as all will generally want to win by smashing face, but thos also means i can take apart an EDH deck that is not working (Brudiclad) and instead try a different (60 card) deck.
I could also still go with a commander which will allow command tower to work or lieutenant creatures. i am gonna have to ponder this for a bit.
(gonna stick with two color decks though. much easier to manage. so mealstrom wanderer will not be on my new battlebox. but he does have cards that i can use)
This first suggestion is based on the assumption that you would be playing such a deck in a non-duel multiplayer setting:
Make a chaos/group-hug deck with NO win condition. One of my favorite decks to run in a four player setting is my Izzet Chaos deck which runs mana and card acceleration with chaotic components. My goal is to come in second. If I come in first I treat it as if I was the first eliminated. I add new cards here and there when they are printed like Perplexing Chimera or Stolen Strategy(which is being tested, it might be too "winning" for the deck), but whenever cards are cut, for the most part it is because they are OVER performing (making me win).
The second suggestion would be to lay off the engines. A turn four win in a four player match means your talent for finding combos/synergy are actually sapping the fun of the game from you. Why not try a mirror match? Make Shakashima, the Impostor your commander:
This deck relies on your opponent's deck, so almost every matchup is going to be different from the last. You can also swap in a True-Name Nemesisand/or a Fog Bank/Guard Gormazoa if the deck is too slow to defend itself.
I’m not sure how helpful this is for the OP (since I’m not actually following your rules), but something to consider if you like EDH but want a change and a more casual direction:
Adapt Brawl.
Many people who first heard about Brawl and were worried about rotation proposed making decks based on any standard period rather than the current one only. This could be the kernel for a cool set of multiplayer decks.
For example, you could make a set of Ravnica decks with guild leaders as commanders using cards from all three blocks.
You could make sets based around the friendly color-pair tribes of Innistrad.
Basically take any subset of three to six sets that supports a theme in a few colors and build a Brawl deck using those sets. I think you would have a lot of options here. You could start building a few, tune them based on play results and add more over time with a nearly unlimited pool to choose from.
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(Skip to the end if you don't want to read my essay about my life with magic... if i was still in school i would probably get an A for this)
So While I am not about to quit EDH, I do want to rekindle what first got me into magic. The Kitchen table. I remember Going to my local game store, and buying a pack of cards, the crisp spell and the sound of crinkling as I opened up, Hoping for a Holo charizard. It Never happened, but Pokemon is what started my love for card games, and as I got into high school, that is when Magic took off. People bringing decks and a room where those who played magic would bust Book Burnings. (Also trying to explain how the card works. You don't get to do both. I either take six or I mill six.) Pokemon had gone and passed, no one played it except for the elementary school kids, no one in high school admitted to liking pokemon (But i still played the games) Magic was on that slope as well, But i still liked it. Thorn Elemental was the go to card and every deck was G/B. I was not that guy. I cracked my first test of endurance and went G/W life gain deck. And it WORKED. Big stupid blockers, Fogs and life gain. Since they all went with Beatdown decks (Aside form the people who had one copy of book burning) My deck was difficult to deal with.
Well I dropped out for a while. Eventually when i finally finished high school, my friend was still really into the game, but had no one to play with. He had built me a B/R deck in hopes I would play again. I did, I used his B/R deck (Which was garbage) and was out of it again. Yu-gi-oh had become a thing. Until i learned about the competitive scene, and gracious had my ass handed to me. But again the game grew dull. So another one of my friends (Not the one who gave me a R/B deck another one, who played YGO with me) Decided to instead of buying more YGO cards, picked up a precon Tenth edition. I got green, He got blue, and the spark was back. From that day forward (Until i got to standard) every weekend the three of us would get together and play magic, or two of us would. Basically Magic was what we played. Saving up our allowance and buying not only boosters, but also buying singles. We even played at events (Casual format) where I was the kings, A full burn deck which would quickly erase players. Winning prize money. But that also eventually died when more of my friends got into eh game and we got to the point where Standard became a thing, just as Llorwyn was about to rotate out. Up until now I had never thought of being competitive but standard changed that drastically. Of course, I did not want to play jund. I did not want to play the deck everyone else was playing. But i continued to pour money into more cards,, more singles, and slowly had no money left. I was addicted. and then, EDH was reveled to the game store. It took it by storm.
I built a sliver deck as I was already working on one) and eventually built my first true deck. Arcum Dagsson. You had a four-turn clock, as I would consistently win by turn 4, five if i had a slow start. Originally the deck was jank. but i got ganged up on and fine tuned the deck, week after week after week. Until i could go 3v1 and still come out laughing. And Started playing in a league. (Mind you this was before Erayo, Soratami Ascendant had been banned, so i also had an erayo deck) the league however had you register your deck and for 12 weeks that was the one you had to play. People were not having fun with me in the pods, even though i wanted to switch decks. I wanted to change it up. But i had to play that deck. Sure I won games and got prizes but i felt empty. Something was missing. The Casual game that i had originally started to love. When i could play other decks, where I wasn't in try-hard mode. As soon as the league had finished its 12 weeks. Arcum was dismantled. Never to be played again.
Of course I had Erayo, which i had originally built to show people Arcum was not so bad, but it too was dull as while arcum would finish games. Erayo just made it so I won by people scooping) But i had another deck as well, not not slivers. It was Nin, the Pain Artist. the day she was spoiled, that evening I had a deck built. Within four hours, printed a proxy, built a deck, I was ready to have fun with her. And having fun I did. Fine tuning her over the next few weeks, and buying a case of all 5 EDH decks. (I also bought 2000 cards form a friend for $200, which inside had 6 revised duals. I did well for my money. Took the rares from the 2000 cards and sold the rest in bulk. I got like 60 bucks for jank old school (invasion) commons and uncommons)
But i still played standard while also playing EDH. That would have to end. Feeling no joy in my decks that i built and having to deal with toxic players who only cared about winning, not having fun. Rules lawyers, Acted as though MTG was their life source. (None were GP, in fact only one of that group managed to make GPQ, and he didn't go far) I was drained though, Standard had broken my bank account and sadly broken my soul. New Phyrexia was the last set I played in. Standard was dead to me. Aside from that it was all about EDH New decks every two weeks, I loved the game and loved building decks. (I still like to build decks, but they don't all survive. Some last one day, others a few weeks or months. I had about a dozen and none are still around today.)
So I have come a long way. 2000 till today. While i did have a hiatus, I still feel i dedicated a good portion of my life to Magic. But as I said at the beginning. I wish to rekindle that spark. This is where I ask for help. I want to build 60 card, Casual budget friendly decks with a theme. What do i mean by theme? They will have a commander. So I want a 60 card deck based around that commander. along with a few rules. No lands beyond commons (I did not say basic, I said common). Decks may not have more than 3 copies of uncommon and no more than 2 copies of rares and mythics. (this is to avoid powerful decks that require four copies of a rare. (Affinity anyone?) and to avoid making something too good as EDH is singleton, I am not making 60 card singleton decks. Otherwise i would shove 40 more card sin and build an EDH deck) In addition, The commander must still follow the same formula. A Legendary creature (No PWs and not even PWs that can be used as your commander) And this commander does not count towards the 60. Meaning it is 61 cards per deck. (also one final note, logically, you cannot have a second copy of your commander in the deck. But I figured I would specify it for those who want to be "Smart"
tl;dr I want to build 60 card kitchen table decks, budget friendly, That work around a commander. I have a few construction rules (Up above) But that is all.
So help me build a few decks. I am not the only person in my group who wants to go back to kitchen table. I am just doing it differently
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
2 Esper Stormblade
2 Grixis Grimblade
2 Jund Hackblade
2 Bant Sureblade
2 Naya Hushblade
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Maelstrom Archangel
4 Fusion Elemental
4 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Violent Ultimatum
4 Bant Charm
4 All Suns’ Dawn
3 Pernicious Deed
Lands:
5 Alara Tri-lands (1 each)
5 Vivid lands (1 each)
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Exotic Orchard
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
1 Azorious Chancery
1 Gruul Turf
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Dimir Aqueduct
Some of the lands and critters are not budget (fortunately I sprung them from my collection), but this is what the deck shaped up as. Is it going to work in my tabletop group? I have no idea, but I’m itching to find out. For me, it was just scratching itches I’ve wanted to try, and that’s how most of my decks start.
Another one was a Boros-themed deck that first tried to use as many Lightning Helix effects as possible, and also torch the board with Blasphemous Act and Spitemare-type creatures and Hissing Iguanar. I ended up splitting the two themes, but both decks are still together and the damage reflection deck is possibly my most powerful synergy, now RGB, using mostly commons, uncommons, and bulk rares. All three started from a whim, and just putting interesting cards together with some Gatherer research.
What themes interest you?
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
the only reason i plat PC is because i have all 86 planes (and if they release another set, well, i'll buy those too) Issue is, some planes help EDH decks just too much. one plane allows you to play all lands from your hand, If i go first i am gonna empty my hand and then try to get the hell off that plane. I mean in a 60 card deck it is still useful; but the power creep will not be as significant.
I am not sick of EDH, just tired of always playing the same people with the same decks and same outcome. It does not feel casual anymore, it feels repetitive. I need a different format that is not filled with toxic players. Sealed is a fun one, but not really desired.
i will use a formula similar to the PC decks. where there is a "commander" in the 60. so you cannot cast them whenever, but if you draw them they help.
Following the PC formula also means they will be similar in power level. (and i can edit them a bit. Ninjas, Vela and yuriko inside, Samurai, Godo and Fumiko inside. Sure yuriko may not benefit from a low curve deck, but she is still a ninja.
Tribal will probably work best. Maybe fungus with Slimefoot, (already have a fungus tribal Ghave deck for edh) Tribal is also a far easier formula to follow and power can easily be balanced. Sure may be a little lackluster in variety as all will generally want to win by smashing face, but thos also means i can take apart an EDH deck that is not working (Brudiclad) and instead try a different (60 card) deck.
I could also still go with a commander which will allow command tower to work or lieutenant creatures. i am gonna have to ponder this for a bit.
(gonna stick with two color decks though. much easier to manage. so mealstrom wanderer will not be on my new battlebox. but he does have cards that i can use)
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Make a chaos/group-hug deck with NO win condition. One of my favorite decks to run in a four player setting is my Izzet Chaos deck which runs mana and card acceleration with chaotic components. My goal is to come in second. If I come in first I treat it as if I was the first eliminated. I add new cards here and there when they are printed like Perplexing Chimera or Stolen Strategy(which is being tested, it might be too "winning" for the deck), but whenever cards are cut, for the most part it is because they are OVER performing (making me win).
The second suggestion would be to lay off the engines. A turn four win in a four player match means your talent for finding combos/synergy are actually sapping the fun of the game from you. Why not try a mirror match? Make Shakashima, the Impostor your commander:
1x Sakashima the Impostor
Creatures
2x Phantasmal Image
1x Clever Impersonator
2x Cryptoplasm
1x Identity Thief
1x Sakashima's Student
2x Vizier of Many Faces
2x Stunt Double
1x Gigantoplasm
1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1x Mercurial Pretender
1x Keeper of Keys
1x Mechanized Production
1x Aqueous Form
1x Followed Footsteps
1x Shapeshifter's Marrow
1x Propaganda
Artifacts
1x Helm of the Host
1x Sapphire Medallion
1x Soul Foundry
1x Conjurer's Closet
1x Urza's Incubator
2x Boomerang
2x Brainstorm
1x Cackling Counterpart
3x Counterspell
1x Cyclonic Rift
2x Unsummon
Lands
1x Skyline Cascade
23x Island
This deck relies on your opponent's deck, so almost every matchup is going to be different from the last. You can also swap in a True-Name Nemesisand/or a Fog Bank/Guard Gormazoa if the deck is too slow to defend itself.
Have fun!
Adapt Brawl.
Many people who first heard about Brawl and were worried about rotation proposed making decks based on any standard period rather than the current one only. This could be the kernel for a cool set of multiplayer decks.
For example, you could make a set of Ravnica decks with guild leaders as commanders using cards from all three blocks.
You could make sets based around the friendly color-pair tribes of Innistrad.
Basically take any subset of three to six sets that supports a theme in a few colors and build a Brawl deck using those sets. I think you would have a lot of options here. You could start building a few, tune them based on play results and add more over time with a nearly unlimited pool to choose from.