It is frustrating when that happens. The thing is, commanders like Riku or Ghave, they are the precon commanders. Tons of people out there have decks with them, but in a small group of maybe six people it seems like it would not be an issue. We have been playing together for over two years, and he had never once produced a Ghave or Riku deck. He had never even once mentioned having a deck with either of those legendaries, and when I was feeling inspired to make something new Riku really jumped out at me. I don't think it was until he realized just how strong my Riku deck was starting to shape up to be that he decided to make his own. He would text me constantly, gloating about how awesome it was, even after I told him it irritated me. He proceeded to do much the same about Ghave after claiming to have already had a Ghave deck as well.
It's alright though. I've had a lot of input for my Teneb deck, and it is starting to shape up to be better than both of those ideas were anyway. That's life though. Sometimes great ideas fall apart, and even greater ones are born.
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- Scott
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EDIT: I should say, of course I meant saccing something else to him, and then saccing him with other means to reanimate him again.
I also really like Skullclamp in my reanimation decks!
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Liliana Vess
Nim Deathmantle
Life/Death
Dread Return
Living Death
I like some of these!
I agree. I don't think they have to be, either. Another multi-color fetch source is a great thing, and I actually like the drawback. Even if you don't run a lot of basics, they can still come out mid-late game untapped, and if you run almost no basics... Well, it's still another fetchable dual, if you needed one. For a lot of people they will be really sweet.
I like to try and minimize my own risk, but you also have to be careful not to hang out for too long. I do know guys who will smack the player with relatively little just because.
I really love her, but I've never used her. She has this almost reanimation theme going, but without the need to grab things directly from your graveyard. I would think any creatures that focus on having +1/+1 counters on them would be ideal, as well as anything else. Something interesting might be Curse of the Stalked Prey, though obviously it could backfire. Undying might be an interesting little trick as well; if they die, they come back with a counter, and then when/if they die again, they would come back because of her. I know it's kind of limited in that there aren't a ton of undying creatures that are super relevant, but it might be something to consider looking at as well. Monstrous might be another interesting ability to look into as well.
Mephidross Vampire might be cool? It might be too narrow, but it seems kind of neat.
Honestly, I will take some more time later today and look at some other things. This could be a really neat deck, if done up right.
People have opinions, and like to share them?
I would hope no one would turn someone away for running all the fetches. That's kind of a dumb reason not to invite someone back to play, but... Eh.
As far as how people feel... I mean, like I said, people have opinions. I think Magic can be taken pretty seriously sometimes, and anything a person is passionate about is going to kick up emotions, even about something as often arbitrary as reasons for or against picking certain cards. I also enjoyed seeing the varying reasons for and against (though a lot of it boiled down to very similar things.)
Yeah, he's always been right around that. I bought him about... four years ago? I want to say it was about four years ago, and he was around that price point back then as well.
That's kind of a life problem, though, isn't it? You can't please everyone all of the time, and you shouldn't sit down expecting to. The bigger issue here is that most people tend to play with the same people, at least when it comes to EDH. There are games at local shops, of course, but I think by and large a lot of people tend to have regular games with the same people. You and I are unlikely to ever play together, so the problem you suggest isn't likely going to happen. Even if we did, I think we would quickly realize that our play-styles weren't that compatible, right? The only time it is a problem is when someone gets angry, but like someone said, that is a people problem. That is that individuals issue, not yours.
It may be a tree-huggy attitude, but it isn't a bad one. It's a bad attitude to think that everyone should conform to one idea.
I try to avoid using the word "casual." I dislike it, and I dislike the entire "casual/competitive" debate. Absolutely agree that it is a people issue; if I make a deck for a certain reason, and the deck can't win against my buddies deck... is that his fault or mine? Obviously it's mine, right? I decided to design the deck around something, and that something just isn't good enough to get there. I absolutely accept the consequences of that... but that's me. I'm not a table flipper, I don't hulk out and rage when I lose, and I am not going to cry when your ultra-tuned, epic deck of power crushes me to dust. In fact... I'll probably enjoy it, because when people play decks they are proud of they tend to be pretty happy to be playing them.
That's kind of my overall point though. The statement that "all formats are basically the same" isn't true at all, because while yes, people do play Magic to have fun in any type of format (I started playing with a 60 card mono black deck that was terrible but oh so fun sitting at the kitchen table with my friends) when you really look at how the formats are set up, EDH is one of the only ones set up to encourage that sort of outside-the-box deck building. So many people take the 100 cards and try to do something clever or creative with it. Again, not saying it doesn't happen in other formats, but I like to think that, barring people with thousands of dollars poured into what they have, EDH is a really accessible format for most people, regardless of budget or access.
You most definitely should play the off-color fetches... if they make you happy. The point is that you should be happy. Happy with your commander, happy with your deck... Happy to sit down and crush souls, or frolic around in your special forest deck.
The one that makes you happy. Maybe you are happy with the cards you picked because of something as arbitrary as the artwork, or creature type. Maybe you are drawn to a specific flow, or even specific colors, and the fact that other colors, while not technically part of the fetch, are shown on the card, bother you. There are a host of reasons why a specific deck building strategy is right... for that individual. For some people optimization is the thing they are looking for - this is, in my view, just as right as any other reason... But to me it has to come down to the individuals taste. In so many other formats if you aren't playing one of these specific decks, you aren't winning. In so many other formats everything is so utterly formulaic, and you fall into this trap of playing the same thing as everyone else... It doesn't *have* to be like that in EDH; optimized decks or decks decided based on the artwork on the forest used are both welcome here, and oddly enough both get made. That's what gets me excited to play EDH more than any other format.
I really dislike the sentiment "just what you do." I haven't accepted that, and clearly a lot of others haven't either. If I were playing more competitively, I could see myself running them, but I tend to play in really relaxed games. That isn't to say we aren't trying to win - we definitely are, but none of the people I play with are in that mindset.
I don't disagree with most of your reasoning, but I do disagree that there should be this idea of "this is just what you do."