Current have 12 main EDH decks, and 4 learner mono-colour EDH decks. I don't regret having so many decks, but there are at least three that I feel like I could sell without missing them.
I have 25 finished decks and only 1 gets mostly ignored (my poor Zedruu deck has lost its way). My plan is to make mono-W, Mardu, and Esper by the end of this year and then probably stop there since I will have achieved my original goal of having a deck in each color combination other than the 4-color options (which I'm debating as to whether I want to pursue those or not).
With so many options, I may not play a particular deck for a month or so, but I try to consciously make sure I rotate through all my decks. It helps me not get burned out on any one deck or strategy, keeps things different for my opponents, and generally adds to whole experience for me. It also lets me play as many different cards as possible because I have a wide variety of strategies, and I'm rarely in a spot where there is some cool new card printed that I can't play because I have no deck that can support it.
On the flipside of this, I will say that this would probably be way too many decks if I only played once every two weeks or once a month. I would also say that this would be way too many decks if I did not own a lot of the cards since they were initially printed; I have ABU duals, Fetches, and cards like Gaea's Cradle without having to pay an arm and a leg for them. If I had to buy them at current prices, I would never be able to have this many decks (or if I did, they would look way different).
Honestly, any more than like 2 or 3 is excessive. Focus on tuning and improving the decks you have; you'll get more out of them that way. Don't spread your card pool too thin; a lot of builders do this and end up with 8 pile-of-trash commander decks instead of making 1 or 2 solid ones. Then they whine about losing and I'm like, ???? Do you not realize why you keep losing??
Honestly, any more than like 2 or 3 is excessive. Focus on tuning and improving the decks you have; you'll get more out of them that way. Don't spread your card pool too thin; a lot of builders do this and end up with 8 pile-of-trash commander decks instead of making 1 or 2 solid ones. Then they whine about losing and I'm like, ???? Do you not realize why you keep losing??
It requires more effort and costs more money to maintain a large stable of decks, but that doesn't mean that having a lot of decks means you'll have a bad card pool. I have a good income, and so I don't impose any particular budget on my decks. All my colored decks have shocks and fetches, and a few have Revised duals, as well. My Karn deck has Workshop. Etc.
It doesn't even cost a significant amount more in most cases - unless you want all of your decks extremely well tuned.
For myself, I have a reasonable rares folder, and my aim is to use as much of it as possible and have it be relatively empty. Having 2 or 3 decks would not achieve that, and having that number of decks would not give me a Mishra's Workshop or ABU dual lands. On the other side of that argument, I could probably lose one or two decks and make a really sweet mono black reanimator, but I don't want to because I feel like most of the cards I have are in their rightful place.
I get the point being made, but I think 'work within your means' is what was meant. I'll gladly keep brewing all day long, but I do try to be rational about how many decks I have and how much time/money I'm investing in the game.
I've got about 12 decks, one or two totally silly (eg Island Fish Jasconius fish tribal), and others with various degrees of strength. i don't find it difficult to maintain them all, and there's kind of a revolving door with at least one or two that i am just trying out or that are on their way out.
also i'm a pretty budget player and probably haven't spent more $700 on all the cards for all the decks (including 5+ decks that i've retired). i don't have the fancy lands and some of the other more expensive mojo, but my meta is causal enough and my decks are sufficiently synergy-driven that that doesn't really matter too much. I buy individual cards for all my decks, so there's probably 3-4 copies of Impulse between all the blue decks. the only exception is Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which cost too much $$ to do that with so I swap them out between decks when necessary.
i don't think it's particularly problematic to have and maintain 10+ decks. sure you don't play them over and over and get to know them as deeply as you would if you played only one or two, but you also have more variety. and some of the decks that i've had for a longer time have definitely been tuned and i feel like i know them quite well.
I have only three decks built. I had five, but two were hopelessly over-themed, and not very good in actual play. I converted one to a simpler Simic color scheme, demoted one to 65 cards, and then demoted a second to 65 because it was too hopelessly dependent on tutors and didn't work very well without them. I actually like the three I have now because we don't play edh all the time...just enough to take a break from other formats, but I really like all three. So, passion, budget, travel capacity, and frequency all play a part in what the right # should be.
I have 18. They all used to see regular play either from me personally, or from lending them out. By regular I mean twice a month or so. But, now that I'm focused on judging to try to get to level 2, and when I do play I am playing more modern, only my top 3 or so favorite decks see regular play and some haven't been played in months.
Just look at how many games you play a month and how often you want a deck to be played to be 'worth it'
When your decks start having the same cards in them, I think it is time to stop.
Disagree conditionally. I think if you're buying multiple bombs (Mana Crypt, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Mikaeus the Unhallowed - well powered, high cost cards that are staples in particular colours) for different decks, you have a point there. I'll agree that far.
If we're talking ramp spells, counterspells, mana rocks, these are the foundations of any solid build. You can't help doubling up, and you shouldn't walk the line just to prove a point. You're doing yourself, and your decks, a disservice if you do.
Well I am glad you agree on EDH stapley type stuff, but when your decks just have the same ol mana rocks, counter spells and such your decks start to become homogenized and feel the same. Instead of putting Thran Dynamo and or Sol Ring in every deck, why not put more synergistic cards that fit at least thematically with your commander? At the very least it will inspire some creativity instead of the same tired EDH cards that have no flavor or thought put into them.
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Well I am glad you agree on EDH stapley type stuff, but when your decks just have the same ol mana rocks, counter spells and such your decks start to become homogenized and feel the same. Instead of putting Thran Dynamo and or Sol Ring in every deck, why not put more synergistic cards that fit at least thematically with your commander? At the very least it will inspire some creativity instead of the same tired EDH cards that have no flavor or thought put into them.
I have to agree. Although budget is a huge driving factor for me having only three decks, I also don't like the idea of too many of the same card in every deck. But I see where toctheyounger77 is coming from. Rocks, ramp, certain answers (staples), and counters in competitve metas to a degree make up the frame of the car, but the engine and tires (theme and cards that actually win) make a huge difference between a Porsche, muscle car, or a monster truck. Lame metaphor, obviously, but it serves my point.
Oh I agree in that respect too. Not every staple card fits in every deck, and I'm much more inclined to pick something thematic and individual than go for a stock standard build.
The glory of edh to me is that i only need to own one copy of any given card even if i run them in all my decks (i.e. I own 1 of each fetchland but run all 9 I can in each of my decks since they're all 3 colors and no one I've ever played against has had a problem with this... just be ready to prove you own a legit copy).
All of my decks are of varying power level with Narset leading the pack, Animar is a close second, and Marchesa and Ghave are roughly tied and built for slightly longer games. The decks are all different styles of play to keep things fresh as well.
As others have mentioned, build as many decks as your heart desires and your budget allows, expensive staples can be shared between decks.
I have 16 completed decks and another 2 or 3 that's under construction or in the process of collecting cards for. The costs of getting shocks and fetches for new decks is the main speed bump in my deck building....
I really should start sharing my expensive staples between decks with proxies, that would let me actually use optimal shocks and fetches that are tied up in modern decks.
As others have said you can have whatever you want as far as deck quantity, nobody cares - 20 EDH decks in my house
That said, if new sets and products are coming out with for example Zombie cards and you're not combing them for your Zombie EDH, that in my opinion is a good sign that you've got too many decks going. You should be consistently updating everything you have without it feeling overwhelming, or like a chore.
I feel that the right number of decks for a person is contingent on a number of factors. This can be budget (though proxies can help with some staples shared between decks as some people mentioned above) or time to play (no sense in having 25 decks if you only play 2 or 3 games a week) or just wanting to have a greater focus on certain decks. Some people will find that playing and perfecting a smaller number of decks is the most satisfying while others like having a greater variety at the cost of proficiency.
I used to be in the camp of wanting a greater number of decks for variety's sake, but I have scaled back quite a bit. I no longer build decks just to play them for a couple times and then dismantle them. It does happen, but I often only have one "new" deck at a time while keeping a consistent rotation of other decks. I usually go for new decks that offer something a little more unique that my existing decks don't.
For example, I currently have 12 decks and am working on a Yasova Dragonclaw deck. I basically have it completed but I just need to order a couple cards. Luckily I already have all the expensive cards. The reason I went with Yasova (after looking at a couple different generals) is that she is low to the ground and plays around with more "Threaten" effects that I haven't really done with any existing decks.
I generally try to keep my decks to 12 or less. I have 9 decks that are either fully foiled or pretty close to it and these are meant to be the "permanent" decks in my rotation. The other 3 are ones that were built for something new or as a specific answer to other decks in my meta. These are the 3 "flex slots" as it were with my decks. These are Prime Speaker Zegana, Darien, King of Kjeldor, and Mina and Denn, Wildborn. Once I get Yasova finished, I will play her a little and then determine if she is a good fit to replace one of my other decks. If so, I will take apart the deck she replaces. If not, I will take her apart. I plan on taking apart Mina and Denn right now as it is the least flavorful or unique deck in all the ones I have built. Prime Speaker is a potential cut as well.
I like to keep a maximum of 12 decks for a couple reasons. One is that I have it set up to be able to carry 12 decks, dice, tokens, and 2 playmats in my backpack. It works pretty well. I have a little space to carry an extra deck or two for early testing, but 12 is the right number. I also don't like having too many more as then it takes longer to rotate through the decks and I end up with decks I never play. That is the problem I had when I had upwards of 17 decks. Within the 12 decks I have, 3 are my "go to" decks: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Ephara, God of the Polis. These are the ones that get played the most often and I usually start a night out with either Alesha or Sidisi.
One is my more casual Garza Zol, Plague Queen deck and is meant mainly for unknown metas. It is meant to be lower powered so I don't come out swinging too fast if the meta isn't used to it and I would rather lose with an under-powered deck the first time in a new meta than crush with an overpowered one. It does have some power behind it, but it is a fun Vampire tribal deck that allows me to gauge the meta. I can then change the decks I play and the way I play them to suit the meta a little better. It is not played often due to not often playing in new locations, but I like having it just in case and it is a fun deck to end a night on sometimes.
My Narset, Enlightened Master deck exists solely to fight against players who insist on infinite combos or ways to win before turn 4. It is not a play style I enjoy so I don't play it often. but I keep it around just in case.
Otherwise, the rest are Thassa, God of the Sea. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Karametra, God of Harvests, and The Gitrog Monster. These have a decent power level and they are fun to play. I generally play Karametra and Gisela the most of these as they are the most fin to play against. Thassa is Mono-U control and can be frustrating to play against (but it is a play style I enjoy) so she isn't played frequently and The Gitrog is probably my favorite deck after Sidisi. The main problem with Gitrog is that even without infinite combos (I intentionally omitted Dakmor Salvage for example) the turns can often take a while to complete. I used to play in a "league" where we had timed rounds so I didn't want to take a bunch of time taking long turns. Now that I play in a different store where the games go as long as they need to, I might play this deck more often.
So I guess this is a long way to say that, for me, anything more than 12 decks is too many. Since 2 decks (Narset and Garza Zol) exists for fairly specific reasons, I guess I could say that a rotation of 10 decks is the max I want to go. After years of playing and being above and below this number, this so far has felt like the right number.
Far as EDH goes, I have over a dozen different decks, and I was lucky to have things from a massive collection over the years to have crypts, duals, and such for the majority of them. 5 decks are full of proxies here and there because of overlap. I run a legacy elves deck so my cradles in my EDH decks are mostly proxies.
I play a bit of vintage, and my timetwister is graded and I have a beaten to hell twister (when I started playing, I didn't know what sleeves were back then) that is now just proxied because I cannot risk further degrading the beat up twister....
So... Yeah, I have 4 hyper competitive EDH decks, 4 competitive decks, 4 casual decks, and a few kitchen table under 100 dollar budget decks.
There's been times I had around 30 EDH decks, sold half of them, gave away a few others to people for birthdays or even as a wedding gift. Giving someone a karador deck with a lot of flash was cool because the wife really loved that deck and I was bored of it anyway.
Then I have around 20 pauper EDH decks, along with a few modern decks, but nothing in standard.....
So yeah, is all good...
It's only too much when you're spending more than you can afford to or if you say it's too much. I know I have a lot of money in my collection, but I paid prices like 20 bucks for a beta timetwister, 30 for a cradle, 50 for a black lotus, and such....................... the days when mana crypt was a 5 dollar card you got out of a book.
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.
I've got 22. I usually only bring 3-4 with me to the shop, usually my two favorite plus a rotation of the others. I like playing most of them, but there are a few I'm kinda bored of. I generally build to a theme though, which results in having a bunch of cards that don't really have another home and so the deck stays together.
I enjoy deckcrafting and tinkering probably slightly too much for my own good. From years of doing that, I am at 34 decks - one of each color combo and couple of extra Naya ones (Godsire as an unofficial general, and Gloryscale Viashino as pauper).
That is also likely to be the number I stay at, possibly dropping one or two down even - making Godsire my 'main' Naya deck and dismantling my Marath which isn't very fun to play.
Any given time, I have one or two decks 'in flux' as I change the general/theme of the deck. We're currently in the middle of paring down and sorting our collection to just a playset of each common and uncommon(more if the card is actually commonly used), so I'm holding on said projects a bit until we have a more sensible way for me to find them.
(I have, at times, pondered about creating a 'Commander cube' for my own use, but it would get too big as I enjoy using obscure weird stuff far too much.)
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Way too many for me to have time to get to playing them all, but I don't mind - for me the fun is in creating those decks possibly even more than actually playing. That, and I enjoy playing a variety of different ideas.
When I go to the shop, I take a box which nicely fits six decks - enough selection for one afternoon of games.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
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With so many options, I may not play a particular deck for a month or so, but I try to consciously make sure I rotate through all my decks. It helps me not get burned out on any one deck or strategy, keeps things different for my opponents, and generally adds to whole experience for me. It also lets me play as many different cards as possible because I have a wide variety of strategies, and I'm rarely in a spot where there is some cool new card printed that I can't play because I have no deck that can support it.
On the flipside of this, I will say that this would probably be way too many decks if I only played once every two weeks or once a month. I would also say that this would be way too many decks if I did not own a lot of the cards since they were initially printed; I have ABU duals, Fetches, and cards like Gaea's Cradle without having to pay an arm and a leg for them. If I had to buy them at current prices, I would never be able to have this many decks (or if I did, they would look way different).
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
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For myself, I have a reasonable rares folder, and my aim is to use as much of it as possible and have it be relatively empty. Having 2 or 3 decks would not achieve that, and having that number of decks would not give me a Mishra's Workshop or ABU dual lands. On the other side of that argument, I could probably lose one or two decks and make a really sweet mono black reanimator, but I don't want to because I feel like most of the cards I have are in their rightful place.
I get the point being made, but I think 'work within your means' is what was meant. I'll gladly keep brewing all day long, but I do try to be rational about how many decks I have and how much time/money I'm investing in the game.
also i'm a pretty budget player and probably haven't spent more $700 on all the cards for all the decks (including 5+ decks that i've retired). i don't have the fancy lands and some of the other more expensive mojo, but my meta is causal enough and my decks are sufficiently synergy-driven that that doesn't really matter too much. I buy individual cards for all my decks, so there's probably 3-4 copies of Impulse between all the blue decks. the only exception is Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which cost too much $$ to do that with so I swap them out between decks when necessary.
i don't think it's particularly problematic to have and maintain 10+ decks. sure you don't play them over and over and get to know them as deeply as you would if you played only one or two, but you also have more variety. and some of the decks that i've had for a longer time have definitely been tuned and i feel like i know them quite well.
Tymna & Ishai, ie Esper Edric
Crosis Turbotrash
Just look at how many games you play a month and how often you want a deck to be played to be 'worth it'
Marath, Will of the Wild Tokens!! / Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Dragons! / Muzzio, Visionary Architect / Brago, King Eternal / Daretti, Scrap Savant / Narset, Enlightened Master / Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Bruna, Light of Alabaster / Marchesa, the Black Rose / Iroas, God of Victory / Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury / Omnath, Locus of rage / Titania, Protector of Argoth / Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Modern
Elves / Titanshift / Merfolk
(Also: two decks with Snow-Covered Plains)
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Disagree conditionally. I think if you're buying multiple bombs (Mana Crypt, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Mikaeus the Unhallowed - well powered, high cost cards that are staples in particular colours) for different decks, you have a point there. I'll agree that far.
If we're talking ramp spells, counterspells, mana rocks, these are the foundations of any solid build. You can't help doubling up, and you shouldn't walk the line just to prove a point. You're doing yourself, and your decks, a disservice if you do.
I have to agree. Although budget is a huge driving factor for me having only three decks, I also don't like the idea of too many of the same card in every deck. But I see where toctheyounger77 is coming from. Rocks, ramp, certain answers (staples), and counters in competitve metas to a degree make up the frame of the car, but the engine and tires (theme and cards that actually win) make a huge difference between a Porsche, muscle car, or a monster truck. Lame metaphor, obviously, but it serves my point.
I personally have 4 decks (Marchesa, the Black Rose, Animar, Soul of Elements, Ghave, Guru of Spores, and Narset, Enlightened Master) but I'm constantly on the lookout for commanders for a 5th deck.
All of my decks are of varying power level with Narset leading the pack, Animar is a close second, and Marchesa and Ghave are roughly tied and built for slightly longer games. The decks are all different styles of play to keep things fresh as well.
As others have mentioned, build as many decks as your heart desires and your budget allows, expensive staples can be shared between decks.
Marath, Will of the Wild Tokens!! / Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Dragons! / Muzzio, Visionary Architect / Brago, King Eternal / Daretti, Scrap Savant / Narset, Enlightened Master / Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Bruna, Light of Alabaster / Marchesa, the Black Rose / Iroas, God of Victory / Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury / Omnath, Locus of rage / Titania, Protector of Argoth / Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Modern
Elves / Titanshift / Merfolk
That said, if new sets and products are coming out with for example Zombie cards and you're not combing them for your Zombie EDH, that in my opinion is a good sign that you've got too many decks going. You should be consistently updating everything you have without it feeling overwhelming, or like a chore.
I used to be in the camp of wanting a greater number of decks for variety's sake, but I have scaled back quite a bit. I no longer build decks just to play them for a couple times and then dismantle them. It does happen, but I often only have one "new" deck at a time while keeping a consistent rotation of other decks. I usually go for new decks that offer something a little more unique that my existing decks don't.
For example, I currently have 12 decks and am working on a Yasova Dragonclaw deck. I basically have it completed but I just need to order a couple cards. Luckily I already have all the expensive cards. The reason I went with Yasova (after looking at a couple different generals) is that she is low to the ground and plays around with more "Threaten" effects that I haven't really done with any existing decks.
I generally try to keep my decks to 12 or less. I have 9 decks that are either fully foiled or pretty close to it and these are meant to be the "permanent" decks in my rotation. The other 3 are ones that were built for something new or as a specific answer to other decks in my meta. These are the 3 "flex slots" as it were with my decks. These are Prime Speaker Zegana, Darien, King of Kjeldor, and Mina and Denn, Wildborn. Once I get Yasova finished, I will play her a little and then determine if she is a good fit to replace one of my other decks. If so, I will take apart the deck she replaces. If not, I will take her apart. I plan on taking apart Mina and Denn right now as it is the least flavorful or unique deck in all the ones I have built. Prime Speaker is a potential cut as well.
I like to keep a maximum of 12 decks for a couple reasons. One is that I have it set up to be able to carry 12 decks, dice, tokens, and 2 playmats in my backpack. It works pretty well. I have a little space to carry an extra deck or two for early testing, but 12 is the right number. I also don't like having too many more as then it takes longer to rotate through the decks and I end up with decks I never play. That is the problem I had when I had upwards of 17 decks. Within the 12 decks I have, 3 are my "go to" decks: Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Ephara, God of the Polis. These are the ones that get played the most often and I usually start a night out with either Alesha or Sidisi.
One is my more casual Garza Zol, Plague Queen deck and is meant mainly for unknown metas. It is meant to be lower powered so I don't come out swinging too fast if the meta isn't used to it and I would rather lose with an under-powered deck the first time in a new meta than crush with an overpowered one. It does have some power behind it, but it is a fun Vampire tribal deck that allows me to gauge the meta. I can then change the decks I play and the way I play them to suit the meta a little better. It is not played often due to not often playing in new locations, but I like having it just in case and it is a fun deck to end a night on sometimes.
My Narset, Enlightened Master deck exists solely to fight against players who insist on infinite combos or ways to win before turn 4. It is not a play style I enjoy so I don't play it often. but I keep it around just in case.
Otherwise, the rest are Thassa, God of the Sea. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Karametra, God of Harvests, and The Gitrog Monster. These have a decent power level and they are fun to play. I generally play Karametra and Gisela the most of these as they are the most fin to play against. Thassa is Mono-U control and can be frustrating to play against (but it is a play style I enjoy) so she isn't played frequently and The Gitrog is probably my favorite deck after Sidisi. The main problem with Gitrog is that even without infinite combos (I intentionally omitted Dakmor Salvage for example) the turns can often take a while to complete. I used to play in a "league" where we had timed rounds so I didn't want to take a bunch of time taking long turns. Now that I play in a different store where the games go as long as they need to, I might play this deck more often.
So I guess this is a long way to say that, for me, anything more than 12 decks is too many. Since 2 decks (Narset and Garza Zol) exists for fairly specific reasons, I guess I could say that a rotation of 10 decks is the max I want to go. After years of playing and being above and below this number, this so far has felt like the right number.
I play a bit of vintage, and my timetwister is graded and I have a beaten to hell twister (when I started playing, I didn't know what sleeves were back then) that is now just proxied because I cannot risk further degrading the beat up twister....
So... Yeah, I have 4 hyper competitive EDH decks, 4 competitive decks, 4 casual decks, and a few kitchen table under 100 dollar budget decks.
There's been times I had around 30 EDH decks, sold half of them, gave away a few others to people for birthdays or even as a wedding gift. Giving someone a karador deck with a lot of flash was cool because the wife really loved that deck and I was bored of it anyway.
Then I have around 20 pauper EDH decks, along with a few modern decks, but nothing in standard.....
So yeah, is all good...
It's only too much when you're spending more than you can afford to or if you say it's too much. I know I have a lot of money in my collection, but I paid prices like 20 bucks for a beta timetwister, 30 for a cradle, 50 for a black lotus, and such....................... the days when mana crypt was a 5 dollar card you got out of a book.
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.
That is also likely to be the number I stay at, possibly dropping one or two down even - making Godsire my 'main' Naya deck and dismantling my Marath which isn't very fun to play.
Any given time, I have one or two decks 'in flux' as I change the general/theme of the deck. We're currently in the middle of paring down and sorting our collection to just a playset of each common and uncommon(more if the card is actually commonly used), so I'm holding on said projects a bit until we have a more sensible way for me to find them.
(I have, at times, pondered about creating a 'Commander cube' for my own use, but it would get too big as I enjoy using obscure weird stuff far too much.)
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Way too many for me to have time to get to playing them all, but I don't mind - for me the fun is in creating those decks possibly even more than actually playing. That, and I enjoy playing a variety of different ideas.
When I go to the shop, I take a box which nicely fits six decks - enough selection for one afternoon of games.