A lot of commanders seem to generate a lot of initial excitement, such that it seems like everyone and their dog is suddenly playing a deck led by that commander. Many of these don't seem to have a lot of lasting power. Arcades the Strategist is a good example. Before he was even released, prices hurtled upward on a pile of old cards that are mediocre to downright bad in pretty much any other possible deck, and when he was released, there were Arcades decks everywhere. I don't think I've seen anyone playing one since late October, though. Same with Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. People on here were wildly theorycrafting from the moment the card was spoiled, and by the time this past year's Commander decks hit the stores, I think just about everyone who still cared had a (remarkably similar) list ready to go. She was all over the place for a short while, but last night was the first time I've seen a Yuriko deck in a couple months.
Others are initially huge presences, but after the initial rage dies down, you still see them frequently. Muldrotha, the Gravetide seems to be one example; I don't see him in every other game anymore, but it is still a rare Commander night that I don't run up against at least one Muldrotha deck. Lord Windgrace is another example. It seemed everyone was excited to build him when he was released, and for awhile there it wasn't uncommon to have games with multiple Windgrace decks. He's not quite as omnipresent a few months later, but as recently as last night I decided to not play my own Windgrace deck (Windgrace is the only one of the commanders mentioned in this post so far that I've built a deck around) because someone else with fewer available choices wanted to play his Lord Windgrace deck.
I think a big factor in which commanders have staying power and which ones quickly bore people to tears is how flexibly one can build with them and still have a solid, workable deck. Yuriko and Arcades, there don't see to be very many real choices, mostly because there aren't that many good ninjas and cost-effective unblockable creatures, and most creatures with defender suck even when they do damage based on their toughness. Both decks are pretty much "solved," and each is narrow enough that trying to do something very different is probably not going to result in a very good deck. This results in decks, and games, that play pretty much the same from game to game, and which thus get boring for everyone pretty quickly. In contrast, while the basics of Muldrotha and Windgrace are pretty straight-forward, there are practically endless possibilities in regard to different cards that might be good in a lands or graveyard recursion deck, not to mention that you can get decks which play very differently depending on how much you decide to emphasize different aspects of each deck's basic strategic possibilities. I know that for myself, the first version of my Windgrace deck came together much more quickly than is usual for me, but that I have been essentially endlessly tinkering with it and considering various possible card swaps ever since.
Anyhow, I was wondering about others' experiences and perceptions in regard to which of the commanders of the past couple years you have seen go from stardom to obscurity in short order, and which ones have proven to have staying power in your own gaming communities, and why.
Similar experiences from my end. New Lazav, New Niv, have both come and gone. New trostani I still see a few of. It's kind of a solved build, but it still looks like a fun deck to play. I don't see any Arcades, the Strategist at all any more. Frankly, I'm glad. If it's solved that easily it gets boring quick. The Izzet coin flip partners were prevalent for a little while there, too. It's entirely a gimmick combo deck though, once you've seen it once you don't need to see it again.
I still see a lot of Jodah, Archmage Eternal, a fair bit of Muldrotha, the Gravetide, but less than initial release. Both are strong commanders, I can see why. I think what gives them a little more lastability is being less 'solved' and requiring a little more creativity and ingenuity to actually make a decklist. It gives it a feeling of being more 'yours' instead of just being a netdeck simulacrum.
In related news, I've had people pick up my Glissa, the Traitor to see what she does recently. Seems weird, but apparently I'm getting old.
I have a pretty small playgroup and not a lot of the people really go out of there way to build new decks around new generals so I may not see as much turnover as someone else. But, this is an interesting topic so I figured I would weigh in on some that have been built and (potentially) dismantled in my playgroup with the caveat that most are mine. This is a huge wall of text because I ended up typing a lot, so I surrounded them in spoiler tags.
BUSTS
Arcades, the Strategist - This one was actually on my list to build and I made the list with the intention of putting it together. But, when I looked at the deck a bit more objectively, I felt it was worse than I wanted it to be. You mentioned that Arcades wants a bunch of mediocre to bad cards and that is exactly it. Without the general, or other support cards, I just felt that it wouldn't play well. And the general didn't seem to lend itself to much more beyond that which made it fairly shallow.
Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire - I was excited for this one and put together a deck pretty quick. However, after playing it about 4-5 times I just realized that the game was always "swing, sac something, hope for something good". Another player in my group has a Vaevictus deck and they seem to like it but I did not enjoy the chaotic aspect of the deck nor "needing" cards to control it better. I felt I was spending a lot of cards to make Vaevictus good or asymmetrical and I felt that I could just play actual good cards in those slots.
Yennet, Cryptic Sovereign - This was another that I thought would work out really well for a style of deck I had wanted to put together for a while in the colors I wanted. I was playing a league where I saw another player try this out and it worked decently well. This one didn't last mostly for the same reason as Vaevictus (though to a lesser degree). I felt I had a number of cards solely to make Yennet good. And they did. And even without Yennet on the field, those cards were still flexible and powerful where they played well.
So, Yennet might be a bit unique for this in that the deck allowed for a number of different strategies but, in my group, the decks just didn't last very long for other reasons. In my case, I just preferred Ephara as my UWx control build and I didn't really like having another. The other player who had her I think took the deck apart mostly to build a different deck but, as a but of defense for him, the deck was made better by things like Top and some other cards that were a little out of budget so there were still some "auto-includes" that made her kind of narrow.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid - This is another that actually seems to have a bit of depth around the possible ways to build her, while still steering towards a few cards that "should" be included. Overall, I don't think she was bad or anything like that but, at least with the way I built her, the games just dragged on due to the length of time it took for some turns. In some cases, I would drop 3 lands, draw 3 cards; ramp to draw more cards; drop a fatty and then determine how to attack. It seems quick when typing it up, but I found that I was often taking 2-3 minute turns and I am generally a fast player. It was also pretty powerful so while my opponents were sitting there doing nothing, I was also efficiently whittling them down while keeping up counter magic to stop them from stopping me. It was just unfun for everyone.
Lord Windgrace - I think someone else at the store I play at does have a Windgrace deck (or, they did). I found that after getting my tuned to where I wanted it, it played extremely well and was really fun to play. I had my own strategy with him (no MLD for example) and I won fairly consistently. The main issue I had was more of an issue I have had with a lot of my Jund generals: they play much too similarly to Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Part of this is because of my desired way to play BGx but the other is that Windgrace still seems to want to be a graveyard based general. A number of cards were included to ensure I could get nonlands back from my graveyard since Windgrace would get the lands and other cards were included to put things in my graveyard. A lot of these cards overlapped with Karador and the strategy was fairly similar since Windgrace's whole shtick was "discard lands, get them back" so I needed other avenues to actually win with that mana. When I realized the red was not offering enough of a difference, I took it apart.
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - This was another that played reasonably well but just really pushed to be built in a certain way. Playing the deck also felt really linear in that the cards all synergised well, but the deck really wanted Hapatra on the field so it was less good (and less fun) when she wasn't around.
Samut, Voice of Dissent - She seemed like a fun take on Naya that wouldn't force the deck too strongly in any one direction (other than wanting creatures). She was actually pretty fun, but she played too similarly to my Karametra deck. After her, Windgrace, and my current Queen Marchesa deck for an upcoming league, I am beginning to believe that I, personally, will almost never want to build a 3 color deck with red in it since it either never seems to play as well as a 2 color deck with the other colors or just replacing red with something else entirely. I have tried 2 Grixis decks in the past that both just got dismantled and I don't think Queen Marchesa will stick around too long after the league is done since I have Teysa.
SUCCESSES Being that a couple are fairly new, it is hard to say that they will have true staying power, but these seem like it so far
Niv-Mizzet, Parun - I have tried a few options for a true spellslinger deck in the past. Narset was overpowered (intentionally), Thassa was more mono-blue control, and Shu-Yun had a lot of "fluff" that was meant to make sure he hit in combat. Narset was taken apart because I never played her, Thassa was usurped by Ephara, and Shu-Yun never felt right when I played him. I also had a Locust God deck that was built almost entirely on Wheel effects. It sucked.
Then, along came Niv-Mizzet, Parun. This was a general that I thought would actually allow me to play a spellslinger style of deck without forcing me into a certain strategy. I had built the original Niv-Mizzet years back and that too went all in on Wheels and Twisters and it wasn't fun. Since the new Niv-Mizzet allowed for card draw with casting spells, I felt this was the way to go with him. And so far, he has been a lot of fun. Just the other day, I had a hand of 30 cards and a library of 31 and I cast Fateful Showdown to deal a bunch of damage to the remaining two players to end the game. But the build up to that point was a lot of strategy and working to ensure what I did would stick and stop my opponents.
Teysa Karlov - It is *really* early for her but I do want to call her out now as she seems like one that I can see sticking around for a long time. The axis on which she operates is so different than any other deck I have ever had that she is a lot of fun. She obviously wants dies triggers but there are a lot of options for the deck and a lot of ways to make her work. She also works well with tokens so she can be constructed to take advantage of that too. This will be one that might be similar to your examples above and any hype she may have might wear off pretty quickly. I do know that another person in my playgroup is considering building her as well so we will see if she sticks around for both (or either one) of us.
Admiral Becket Brass - Another person in my playgroup went with a pirate tribal deck around her and he seems to enjoy it. I believe he started playing Magic around this time, so that might be a factor. But, he has a pretty decent deck going and it seems to play well.
I do thing your speculations regarding what makes a general easier to stick around are spot on. Generals that cast a wide net regarding possibilities while still being focused seem to be the easiest to get excited about and build towards. But, the ones that are extremely narrow don't work out nearly as well
So, Yennet might be a bit unique for this in that the deck allowed for a number of different strategies but, in my group, the decks just didn't last very long for other reasons. In my case, I just preferred Ephara as my UWx control build and I didn't really like having another. The other player who had her I think took the deck apart mostly to build a different deck but, as a but of defense for him, the deck was made better by things like Top and some other cards that were a little out of budget so there were still some "auto-includes" that made her kind of narrow.
I am considering making a Yennet deck, and have since the card was spoiled, but she is still in the consideration stage. I would certainly like to hear what others have experienced with her.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid - This is another that actually seems to have a bit of depth around the possible ways to build her, while still steering towards a few cards that "should" be included. Overall, I don't think she was bad or anything like that but, at least with the way I built her, the games just dragged on due to the length of time it took for some turns. In some cases, I would drop 3 lands, draw 3 cards; ramp to draw more cards; drop a fatty and then determine how to attack. It seems quick when typing it up, but I found that I was often taking 2-3 minute turns and I am generally a fast player. It was also pretty powerful so while my opponents were sitting there doing nothing, I was also efficiently whittling them down while keeping up counter magic to stop them from stopping me. It was just unfun for everyone.
Tatyova is another who, in the local meta, hit hard and then went away fast. The different games I played against her seemed much as you described, fairly linear, and I don't really recall much about them than "drop a lot of land, draw a gazillion cards, good game."
Lord Windgrace - I think someone else at the store I play at does have a Windgrace deck (or, they did). I found that after getting my tuned to where I wanted it, it played extremely well and was really fun to play. I had my own strategy with him (no MLD for example) and I won fairly consistently. The main issue I had was more of an issue I have had with a lot of my Jund generals: they play much too similarly to Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Part of this is because of my desired way to play BGx but the other is that Windgrace still seems to want to be a graveyard based general. A number of cards were included to ensure I could get nonlands back from my graveyard since Windgrace would get the lands and other cards were included to put things in my graveyard. A lot of these cards overlapped with Karador and the strategy was fairly similar since Windgrace's whole shtick was "discard lands, get them back" so I needed other avenues to actually win with that mana. When I realized the red was not offering enough of a difference, I took it apart.
I have never built a Karador deck because Karador used to be "the thing" in the local meta for a long time, and there are always a couple of Karador builds, but I do have a Meren deck that is quite good (as Meren decks tend to be), and I intentionally avoided the lure to make my Windgrace deck strongly about reanimation, winnowing it down to just three reanimator spells in the whole deck as a means of keeping key creatures in play as they get killed. I also made sure to build around several cards that made red a key part of the deck, including Borborygmos Enraged and [Omnath, Locus of Rage as part of my land-focused strategy. I have found Nesting Dragon to be surprisingly good, and this deck also gave me a home for Wasitora, Nekoru Queen, with both serving to protect Windgrace and also as possible finishers. I think that strategy - making the red essential - is necessary for making a Windgrace deck that you don't want to instead just be another Gitrog or Karador deck.
Teysa Karlov - It is *really* early for her but I do want to call her out now as she seems like one that I can see sticking around for a long time. The axis on which she operates is so different than any other deck I have ever had that she is a lot of fun. She obviously wants dies triggers but there are a lot of options for the deck and a lot of ways to make her work. She also works well with tokens so she can be constructed to take advantage of that too. This will be one that might be similar to your examples above and any hype she may have might wear off pretty quickly. I do know that another person in my playgroup is considering building her as well so we will see if she sticks around for both (or either one) of us.
Teysa 3 looks good, but she also looks to overlap a fair bit with my Teysa 1 and Ertai decks, so I am not planning to build her right away. I suspect she will probably have a fair bit of staying power in the long run, but will have to wait and see.
One general i was surprised of is gishath, sun's avatar. While the deckbuilding is pretty straightforward, games are surprisingly very different from each other and i am really enjoying the even after almost a year.
I have found that as well. I am still enjoying my own Gishath deck a lot, and he has maintained a presence, though fading a lot from his initial prevalence. He can be built more ways than was immediately obvious, and I think that will give Gishath some longevity.
I rarely keep any deck together for long, but when deciding which deck to make I usually ask myself "what am I bringing to this deck?" If I don't have any original ideas, then I have a lot less interest in making it. Which is definitely true for commanders like arcades.
I also tend to dislike commanders that are too easily broken. So I also have little interest in commanders like muldrotha.
Unfortunately between those two categories that's a lot of the commanders wotc prints these days.
Lasav, the Multifarious - Probably the most enjoyable of the commanders I scrapped, he was just too reliant on a gimmick that was easy to interact with and punish. The usual "infect + pump, infinite power combos" etc just didn't feel good to resolve or win with in the rare occasions that happened. Turned this into a Sidisi list I also recently dismantled, purely due to how often I would lose something I'd rather draw (lands). Never has a non-red deck felt so red to me. I also haven't seen another player pick this up around our LGS either, although there was a little hype on release.
Vaevictus Asmadi, the Dire - Arcades never took off around here ("who wants to play walls?" was the common sentiment) but this guy was heralded as the next big Jund commander besides Prossh. Removal AND a way to abuse the trigger? Sadly, he falls to the same curse a lot of 6 mana commanders who need to swing to do something in 3 colours, coming out too late and relying on high-cmc ratios in his deck. Muldrotha is barely more acceptable for the cmc just because she can recur so much value.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Had a lot of this one from a couple of regular players, felt damn tough to put down too with our meta. Then everyone started picking up things like Estrid stax, and suddenly a commander that has a hard time dealing with enchantments facing down a board of Ghostly Prisons and Stasis effects looked bad. I never built her, but it didn't feel pleasant playing against this deck or if I used a couple of cards to shut it out of the game. Don't really see her at all now.
Pure Hits:
Lord Windgrace - Everyone loves this damn kitty. I've taken my MLD build apart for the misery it induced, but he now sits in my Prossh list as a way to get certain cards into the GY or cycle out dead land draws. I don't have copies of the many $20+ staples LWG requires such as the Oracles and Explorations of the world, so MLD was the only route I was able to go down with any success, but I continue to see plenty of lists about that pack said cards and feel tough to beat.
Estrid - Surprised? So was I. Another one I've taken bits from and that sits half-full in a deck box somewhere for me after a few rounds, but boy does she seem to hit the enchantress spot for others. Stax is the common one with Stasis, Decree of Silence and Authority of the Consuls being regular inclusions in the lists I encounter, but there are a couple of friendlier decks that work off of value at my local.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide - We've already said what needs to be said on her. Graveyard, Stax, Sacrifice, Value combos, she can do a lot in very deep ways for such a simple ability. Thats likely the reason she has stayed on as a staple commander at most EDH tables.
i can't stand many of the generals that've been mentioned here as "hits". mostly the ones that are just value-town ones (Muldrotha, the Gravetide et al comes to mind). they don't really have anything interesting to give to the games, the strategies are so monotonous and tired, and just don't lend themselves to anything that i can be bothered to play with or against.
in my playgroup, the really weird and off-beat decks are the ones that create memorable games:
whereas with some other decks in my meta... oh its a craterhoof behemoth kill. woop.
Heck i have a 5c lands control deck that epitomises the 2nd most hated deck ever (most hated one being my judge-breaker/skip-turns lock deck), and i NEVER bring that out (that is, unless someone else explicitly asks for trying to climb out of a near-impossible hole game).
i feel like many players have an idea about how they're gonna make their decks better, but sometimes lose sight of them being 'fun' still. and again, we all judge fun differently. i just define it as having a good amount of variation; from card choice to even tactics.
A bunch of close knit friends, 8 or so, playing together for ages. A lot of us voluntarily shy away from commanders others already built, so you usually don't see more than say 2 decks with the same commander across our rosters. On avg. each of us maintains around 5-15 decks, so overall variety is great.
Newly released commanders do pop up, but due to the circumstances not in high numbers and anything from Vorthos bulk to borderline cEDH.
2) My LGS ~25% of my games
There's a ton of "trending" commanders, less intense brewing, card pool knowledge and what's played is usually good stuff, net decked or battlecruiser EDH.
One of the main reasons why i play a lot less in my LGS is i enjoy seeing different matchups, builds and approaches. Whenever i hit the LGS i can easily sense what "season" it is.
Overall i'd say anything that has more or less one way of building it - and isn't exceptionally entertainling e.g. Zada, Hedron Grinder et al - doesn't last long. In their prime our store had dozens of players that felt like Hapatra, Meren or Najeela were the best thing since sliced bread. These days those decks rot in shelves or were dismantled already.
Exceptions appeal to a certain type of admirers or vorthos driven players, in our LGS dragon commanders are a prime example of that. Others that have an extended prime might be very powerful, granting rewarding games for those who are driven by wins. Breya, Etherium Shaper, Edgar Markov, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and the likes fall into that category.
Ever since Commander 2015 my playgroup shies away from Precon commanders, because our sentiment is that the power creep killed their appeal. Most years there's at least one general that enters Top Tiers and others that bluntly fulfill buyers wishes (5C, 4C, Jhoira 2.0).
Overall the format is much more of a product than an aficionado's home as it was a few years back. While that might've sound cynical, our playgroup is in its best shape ever, because as a result of us being bored by the mainstream builds and players a lot of niche deck ideas were picked up with huge success. Every now and then recent products present us with fun stuff such as Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer, Lazav, the Multifarious or a handful of Dominaria Legends.
While those bandwagoners overextend building Muldrotha, the Gravetide i'm happily working on the finishing touches of my Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle "Eggs" project.
Everyone and their mom played Meren of Clan Nel Toth until they realized that their every opponent and their mom will want to kill them right from the very beginning of the game for playing that commander. The Gitrog Monster was another thing that like, everyone tried out and then very quickly realized that it is not a fun commander to play against at all so they stopped playing it.
I remember The Ur-Dragon being everywhere when commander 2017 came out. It was not uncommon for me to be playing with 1 or even 2 other Ur-Dragon players alongside myself. Nowadays I am like, the only one who still busts the ur-dragon out as far as I can see. I guess everyone else realized that playing a dragon deck is like bringing a chainsaw to a gun fight. That, and Wizards seems really reluctant on giving the ur-dragon new toys that are actually good. Even core 2019 had like, Lathliss and Nicol Bolas out of the zillions of dragons it introduced. I miss you so much Dragons of Tarkir...
A few people I know thought Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire looked fun on paper and then realized the card is absolute garbage in practice to the point where even the legends original would probably make a better commander. Judging by common observation in this thread so far as well as my own, Arcades, the Strategist is the high definition picture of a One Hit Wonder.
I believe some people (like me) have issues playing hyped generals, and since many of those have one designated trick I tend to avoid them.
Vannifar is the new hyped general of the set and I have 0 interest in building her. I find it a lot more entertaining to build Rakdos III. (Pun intended)
I've actually enjoyed Arcades. I saw a lot of decks go all in on attacking with walls, and that's just too unreliable. I play him as a control deck with around 25 cards that trigger him. Draw cards and react to the board, eventually get Cloudstone and go nuts. I approach it as a control deck with a wall subtheme, and that's pretty satisfying and avoids playing the same way each time because control by it's nature rarely plays the same game to game, but I could see where all in walls attack builds or all in combo builds would get old quickly.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I fell in love with Arcades, the Strategist the moment he was spoiled and it's still my favorite deck, especially with new toys like High Alert and his pet doggy coming out soon. For Arcades to function properly you have to build a proper toolkit with your defenders that can survive without the wall dragon on the field, if people are just filling the deck with one and two-drop Steel Walls and turning them sideways and expecting to win, it's going to get boring quick. That said, the strategy Arcades encourages does result in most of the same cards being used (Axebane Guardian, Tetsuko Umezawa, etc)
On the topic at hand, I rarely see Prossh, Oloro or Derevi anymore. Everyone knows what to expect when up against them whether it's because they're uninteractive or just too strong that they're just not really fun to play with at the average table. Meren and Mizzix are the same thing, used to be everywhere, now they're unicorns.
Atraxa on the other hand is more popular than ever. Just the other week I saw a pod of 5 players all playing Atraxa. It's crazy.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Others are initially huge presences, but after the initial rage dies down, you still see them frequently. Muldrotha, the Gravetide seems to be one example; I don't see him in every other game anymore, but it is still a rare Commander night that I don't run up against at least one Muldrotha deck. Lord Windgrace is another example. It seemed everyone was excited to build him when he was released, and for awhile there it wasn't uncommon to have games with multiple Windgrace decks. He's not quite as omnipresent a few months later, but as recently as last night I decided to not play my own Windgrace deck (Windgrace is the only one of the commanders mentioned in this post so far that I've built a deck around) because someone else with fewer available choices wanted to play his Lord Windgrace deck.
I think a big factor in which commanders have staying power and which ones quickly bore people to tears is how flexibly one can build with them and still have a solid, workable deck. Yuriko and Arcades, there don't see to be very many real choices, mostly because there aren't that many good ninjas and cost-effective unblockable creatures, and most creatures with defender suck even when they do damage based on their toughness. Both decks are pretty much "solved," and each is narrow enough that trying to do something very different is probably not going to result in a very good deck. This results in decks, and games, that play pretty much the same from game to game, and which thus get boring for everyone pretty quickly. In contrast, while the basics of Muldrotha and Windgrace are pretty straight-forward, there are practically endless possibilities in regard to different cards that might be good in a lands or graveyard recursion deck, not to mention that you can get decks which play very differently depending on how much you decide to emphasize different aspects of each deck's basic strategic possibilities. I know that for myself, the first version of my Windgrace deck came together much more quickly than is usual for me, but that I have been essentially endlessly tinkering with it and considering various possible card swaps ever since.
Anyhow, I was wondering about others' experiences and perceptions in regard to which of the commanders of the past couple years you have seen go from stardom to obscurity in short order, and which ones have proven to have staying power in your own gaming communities, and why.
I still see a lot of Jodah, Archmage Eternal, a fair bit of Muldrotha, the Gravetide, but less than initial release. Both are strong commanders, I can see why. I think what gives them a little more lastability is being less 'solved' and requiring a little more creativity and ingenuity to actually make a decklist. It gives it a feeling of being more 'yours' instead of just being a netdeck simulacrum.
In related news, I've had people pick up my Glissa, the Traitor to see what she does recently. Seems weird, but apparently I'm getting old.
BUSTS
Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire - I was excited for this one and put together a deck pretty quick. However, after playing it about 4-5 times I just realized that the game was always "swing, sac something, hope for something good". Another player in my group has a Vaevictus deck and they seem to like it but I did not enjoy the chaotic aspect of the deck nor "needing" cards to control it better. I felt I was spending a lot of cards to make Vaevictus good or asymmetrical and I felt that I could just play actual good cards in those slots.
Yennet, Cryptic Sovereign - This was another that I thought would work out really well for a style of deck I had wanted to put together for a while in the colors I wanted. I was playing a league where I saw another player try this out and it worked decently well. This one didn't last mostly for the same reason as Vaevictus (though to a lesser degree). I felt I had a number of cards solely to make Yennet good. And they did. And even without Yennet on the field, those cards were still flexible and powerful where they played well.
So, Yennet might be a bit unique for this in that the deck allowed for a number of different strategies but, in my group, the decks just didn't last very long for other reasons. In my case, I just preferred Ephara as my UWx control build and I didn't really like having another. The other player who had her I think took the deck apart mostly to build a different deck but, as a but of defense for him, the deck was made better by things like Top and some other cards that were a little out of budget so there were still some "auto-includes" that made her kind of narrow.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid - This is another that actually seems to have a bit of depth around the possible ways to build her, while still steering towards a few cards that "should" be included. Overall, I don't think she was bad or anything like that but, at least with the way I built her, the games just dragged on due to the length of time it took for some turns. In some cases, I would drop 3 lands, draw 3 cards; ramp to draw more cards; drop a fatty and then determine how to attack. It seems quick when typing it up, but I found that I was often taking 2-3 minute turns and I am generally a fast player. It was also pretty powerful so while my opponents were sitting there doing nothing, I was also efficiently whittling them down while keeping up counter magic to stop them from stopping me. It was just unfun for everyone.
Lord Windgrace - I think someone else at the store I play at does have a Windgrace deck (or, they did). I found that after getting my tuned to where I wanted it, it played extremely well and was really fun to play. I had my own strategy with him (no MLD for example) and I won fairly consistently. The main issue I had was more of an issue I have had with a lot of my Jund generals: they play much too similarly to Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Part of this is because of my desired way to play BGx but the other is that Windgrace still seems to want to be a graveyard based general. A number of cards were included to ensure I could get nonlands back from my graveyard since Windgrace would get the lands and other cards were included to put things in my graveyard. A lot of these cards overlapped with Karador and the strategy was fairly similar since Windgrace's whole shtick was "discard lands, get them back" so I needed other avenues to actually win with that mana. When I realized the red was not offering enough of a difference, I took it apart.
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - This was another that played reasonably well but just really pushed to be built in a certain way. Playing the deck also felt really linear in that the cards all synergised well, but the deck really wanted Hapatra on the field so it was less good (and less fun) when she wasn't around.
Samut, Voice of Dissent - She seemed like a fun take on Naya that wouldn't force the deck too strongly in any one direction (other than wanting creatures). She was actually pretty fun, but she played too similarly to my Karametra deck. After her, Windgrace, and my current Queen Marchesa deck for an upcoming league, I am beginning to believe that I, personally, will almost never want to build a 3 color deck with red in it since it either never seems to play as well as a 2 color deck with the other colors or just replacing red with something else entirely. I have tried 2 Grixis decks in the past that both just got dismantled and I don't think Queen Marchesa will stick around too long after the league is done since I have Teysa.
SUCCESSES
Being that a couple are fairly new, it is hard to say that they will have true staying power, but these seem like it so far
Then, along came Niv-Mizzet, Parun. This was a general that I thought would actually allow me to play a spellslinger style of deck without forcing me into a certain strategy. I had built the original Niv-Mizzet years back and that too went all in on Wheels and Twisters and it wasn't fun. Since the new Niv-Mizzet allowed for card draw with casting spells, I felt this was the way to go with him. And so far, he has been a lot of fun. Just the other day, I had a hand of 30 cards and a library of 31 and I cast Fateful Showdown to deal a bunch of damage to the remaining two players to end the game. But the build up to that point was a lot of strategy and working to ensure what I did would stick and stop my opponents.
Teysa Karlov - It is *really* early for her but I do want to call her out now as she seems like one that I can see sticking around for a long time. The axis on which she operates is so different than any other deck I have ever had that she is a lot of fun. She obviously wants dies triggers but there are a lot of options for the deck and a lot of ways to make her work. She also works well with tokens so she can be constructed to take advantage of that too. This will be one that might be similar to your examples above and any hype she may have might wear off pretty quickly. I do know that another person in my playgroup is considering building her as well so we will see if she sticks around for both (or either one) of us.
Admiral Becket Brass - Another person in my playgroup went with a pirate tribal deck around her and he seems to enjoy it. I believe he started playing Magic around this time, so that might be a factor. But, he has a pretty decent deck going and it seems to play well.
I do thing your speculations regarding what makes a general easier to stick around are spot on. Generals that cast a wide net regarding possibilities while still being focused seem to be the easiest to get excited about and build towards. But, the ones that are extremely narrow don't work out nearly as well
I am considering making a Yennet deck, and have since the card was spoiled, but she is still in the consideration stage. I would certainly like to hear what others have experienced with her.
Tatyova is another who, in the local meta, hit hard and then went away fast. The different games I played against her seemed much as you described, fairly linear, and I don't really recall much about them than "drop a lot of land, draw a gazillion cards, good game."
I have never built a Karador deck because Karador used to be "the thing" in the local meta for a long time, and there are always a couple of Karador builds, but I do have a Meren deck that is quite good (as Meren decks tend to be), and I intentionally avoided the lure to make my Windgrace deck strongly about reanimation, winnowing it down to just three reanimator spells in the whole deck as a means of keeping key creatures in play as they get killed. I also made sure to build around several cards that made red a key part of the deck, including Borborygmos Enraged and [Omnath, Locus of Rage as part of my land-focused strategy. I have found Nesting Dragon to be surprisingly good, and this deck also gave me a home for Wasitora, Nekoru Queen, with both serving to protect Windgrace and also as possible finishers. I think that strategy - making the red essential - is necessary for making a Windgrace deck that you don't want to instead just be another Gitrog or Karador deck.
Teysa 3 looks good, but she also looks to overlap a fair bit with my Teysa 1 and Ertai decks, so I am not planning to build her right away. I suspect she will probably have a fair bit of staying power in the long run, but will have to wait and see.
I have found that as well. I am still enjoying my own Gishath deck a lot, and he has maintained a presence, though fading a lot from his initial prevalence. He can be built more ways than was immediately obvious, and I think that will give Gishath some longevity.
I also tend to dislike commanders that are too easily broken. So I also have little interest in commanders like muldrotha.
Unfortunately between those two categories that's a lot of the commanders wotc prints these days.
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
Lasav, the Multifarious - Probably the most enjoyable of the commanders I scrapped, he was just too reliant on a gimmick that was easy to interact with and punish. The usual "infect + pump, infinite power combos" etc just didn't feel good to resolve or win with in the rare occasions that happened. Turned this into a Sidisi list I also recently dismantled, purely due to how often I would lose something I'd rather draw (lands). Never has a non-red deck felt so red to me. I also haven't seen another player pick this up around our LGS either, although there was a little hype on release.
Vaevictus Asmadi, the Dire - Arcades never took off around here ("who wants to play walls?" was the common sentiment) but this guy was heralded as the next big Jund commander besides Prossh. Removal AND a way to abuse the trigger? Sadly, he falls to the same curse a lot of 6 mana commanders who need to swing to do something in 3 colours, coming out too late and relying on high-cmc ratios in his deck. Muldrotha is barely more acceptable for the cmc just because she can recur so much value.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Had a lot of this one from a couple of regular players, felt damn tough to put down too with our meta. Then everyone started picking up things like Estrid stax, and suddenly a commander that has a hard time dealing with enchantments facing down a board of Ghostly Prisons and Stasis effects looked bad. I never built her, but it didn't feel pleasant playing against this deck or if I used a couple of cards to shut it out of the game. Don't really see her at all now.
Pure Hits:
Lord Windgrace - Everyone loves this damn kitty. I've taken my MLD build apart for the misery it induced, but he now sits in my Prossh list as a way to get certain cards into the GY or cycle out dead land draws. I don't have copies of the many $20+ staples LWG requires such as the Oracles and Explorations of the world, so MLD was the only route I was able to go down with any success, but I continue to see plenty of lists about that pack said cards and feel tough to beat.
Estrid - Surprised? So was I. Another one I've taken bits from and that sits half-full in a deck box somewhere for me after a few rounds, but boy does she seem to hit the enchantress spot for others. Stax is the common one with Stasis, Decree of Silence and Authority of the Consuls being regular inclusions in the lists I encounter, but there are a couple of friendlier decks that work off of value at my local.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide - We've already said what needs to be said on her. Graveyard, Stax, Sacrifice, Value combos, she can do a lot in very deep ways for such a simple ability. Thats likely the reason she has stayed on as a staple commander at most EDH tables.
in my playgroup, the really weird and off-beat decks are the ones that create memorable games:
anyone been hit with rakdos the defiler with double strike? it's painful, and definitely memorable. or hit with a pox-it that betrays-forbidden ritual off a hellcarver demon to win? or a turn 1 demonic consultation into a turn 2 master of cruelties with anger in the 'yard?
or heck even my selenia, dark angel deck gives moments like wall of blood, paying 30+ life into it, followed by axis of mortality with a tainted remedy in play... or my favourite is when another player somehow stole another player's lich's mirror, and gets themselves into an infinite loop of losing life infinitely (with tainted remedy in play).
whereas with some other decks in my meta... oh its a craterhoof behemoth kill. woop.
Heck i have a 5c lands control deck that epitomises the 2nd most hated deck ever (most hated one being my judge-breaker/skip-turns lock deck), and i NEVER bring that out (that is, unless someone else explicitly asks for trying to climb out of a near-impossible hole game).
i feel like many players have an idea about how they're gonna make their decks better, but sometimes lose sight of them being 'fun' still. and again, we all judge fun differently. i just define it as having a good amount of variation; from card choice to even tactics.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
1) My playgroup ~75% of my games
A bunch of close knit friends, 8 or so, playing together for ages. A lot of us voluntarily shy away from commanders others already built, so you usually don't see more than say 2 decks with the same commander across our rosters. On avg. each of us maintains around 5-15 decks, so overall variety is great.
Newly released commanders do pop up, but due to the circumstances not in high numbers and anything from Vorthos bulk to borderline cEDH.
2) My LGS ~25% of my games
There's a ton of "trending" commanders, less intense brewing, card pool knowledge and what's played is usually good stuff, net decked or battlecruiser EDH.
One of the main reasons why i play a lot less in my LGS is i enjoy seeing different matchups, builds and approaches. Whenever i hit the LGS i can easily sense what "season" it is.
Once popular commanders that vanish(ed):
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
Ghalta, Primal Hunger
General Tazri
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Kaalia of the Vast
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
Kyanios and Tiro of Meletis
Maelstrom Wanderer
Mairsil, the Pretender
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Mina and Denn, Wildborn
Narset, Enlightened Master
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Prime Speaker Zegana
Riku of Two Reflections
Roon of the Hidden Realm
Saskia, the Unyielding
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Sen Triplets
Sram, Senior Edificier
Talrand, Sky Summoner
The Locust God
The Mimeoplasm
Uril, the Miststalker
Xenagos, God of Revels
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
Zacama, Primal Calamity
anything Slivers
Former trending commanders that still see play:
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Animar, Soul of Elements
Atraxa, Praetor's Voice
Brago, King Eternal
Edgar Markov
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Kess, Dissident Mage
Marchesa, the Black Rose
Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Neheb, the Eternal
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Queen Marchesa
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
The Ur-Dragon
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
Yeva, Nature's Herald
Zur the Enchanter
In question:
Arcades, the Strategist
Breya, Etherium Shaper
Liliana, Heretical Healer
Lord Windgrace
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Samut, Voice of Dissent
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
The Gitrog Monster
The Scarab God
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
Zedruu the Greathearted
Overall i'd say anything that has more or less one way of building it - and isn't exceptionally entertainling e.g. Zada, Hedron Grinder et al - doesn't last long. In their prime our store had dozens of players that felt like Hapatra, Meren or Najeela were the best thing since sliced bread. These days those decks rot in shelves or were dismantled already.
Exceptions appeal to a certain type of admirers or vorthos driven players, in our LGS dragon commanders are a prime example of that. Others that have an extended prime might be very powerful, granting rewarding games for those who are driven by wins. Breya, Etherium Shaper, Edgar Markov, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and the likes fall into that category.
Ever since Commander 2015 my playgroup shies away from Precon commanders, because our sentiment is that the power creep killed their appeal. Most years there's at least one general that enters Top Tiers and others that bluntly fulfill buyers wishes (5C, 4C, Jhoira 2.0).
Overall the format is much more of a product than an aficionado's home as it was a few years back. While that might've sound cynical, our playgroup is in its best shape ever, because as a result of us being bored by the mainstream builds and players a lot of niche deck ideas were picked up with huge success. Every now and then recent products present us with fun stuff such as Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer, Lazav, the Multifarious or a handful of Dominaria Legends.
While those bandwagoners overextend building Muldrotha, the Gravetide i'm happily working on the finishing touches of my Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle "Eggs" project.
Keep brewing!
I remember The Ur-Dragon being everywhere when commander 2017 came out. It was not uncommon for me to be playing with 1 or even 2 other Ur-Dragon players alongside myself. Nowadays I am like, the only one who still busts the ur-dragon out as far as I can see. I guess everyone else realized that playing a dragon deck is like bringing a chainsaw to a gun fight. That, and Wizards seems really reluctant on giving the ur-dragon new toys that are actually good. Even core 2019 had like, Lathliss and Nicol Bolas out of the zillions of dragons it introduced. I miss you so much Dragons of Tarkir...
A few people I know thought Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire looked fun on paper and then realized the card is absolute garbage in practice to the point where even the legends original would probably make a better commander. Judging by common observation in this thread so far as well as my own, Arcades, the Strategist is the high definition picture of a One Hit Wonder.
Jodah, Archmage Eternal is an interesting case in that a lot of people were really hype for him but then I saw nobody actually playing him. If I didn't know any better I'd swear that the only legendary creatures in Dominaria were Muldrotha and Jhoira. Hey don't look at me I totally would have built 5 color Bishonen tribal with Jodah if magic had more bishonen guys than Jodah himsef, Mairsil, the Pretender, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Will Kenrith, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer, Ramirez DePietro, and Phelddagrif.
Vannifar is the new hyped general of the set and I have 0 interest in building her. I find it a lot more entertaining to build Rakdos III. (Pun intended)
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
On the topic at hand, I rarely see Prossh, Oloro or Derevi anymore. Everyone knows what to expect when up against them whether it's because they're uninteractive or just too strong that they're just not really fun to play with at the average table. Meren and Mizzix are the same thing, used to be everywhere, now they're unicorns.
Atraxa on the other hand is more popular than ever. Just the other week I saw a pod of 5 players all playing Atraxa. It's crazy.