I've advocated our playgroup try this out since I heard about it being that way in Duel commander (well, less the bounce replacement). Know lots of people who check out of a game completely when their commander gets tucked.
Then they're doing it wrong. Your decks should be able to function adequately without the commander, or there should be plenty of ways to get them back.
I disagree, and that's a difference of philosophy. That said, even if a deck will function well without the commander it doesn't mean it's doing what you enjoy about it. Further, jamming a bunch of tutors to get it back - well, certainly an option I guess, but not super fun way to play magic in my opinion.
Further, "doing it wrong" is a pretty questionable way of expressing what is a clearly an opinion (that you haven't bothered to back up with reasons). I know the internet loves a pithy post and all, but if you're going to make rather snide absolute statements you should support them - or at least attempt to, since I don't think your position is particularly supportable given the nature of EDH.
With the new ruling, the things that interact with commanders favorably have answers other than tutors (which are only available in some colors) -- removal is available in most colors, so getting rid of a control magic or a helm of possession is achievable. Not every color has ways to get their commander back from tucking.
I've advocated our playgroup try this out since I heard about it being that way in Duel commander (well, less the bounce replacement). Know lots of people who check out of a game completely when their commander gets tucked.
From a card perspective, I will still play Chaos Warp since it's great removal in red. Hinder and Crumple go back in the box for more efficient counterspells. Spin into Myth will be more counterspell.
I think this is a great change that is in keeping with Commander as a social format. I've never played a game of commander where someone's general got tucked and we were like "Yeeeeah, that's awesome!" Even busted commanders, the reason most people get attached to decks is the commander and the interactions, and it sucks to see that get taken away.
I do think there'll need to be a lot more attention to the banlist paid, as many commanders are frigging out of hand without the ability to tuck them - Maelstrom Wanderer is problem #1 imho, as he often just wants to get back in the CZ.
I actually think it's a really good thing that this will likely bring about some heavier handed bannings of commanders. Maelstrom Wanderer and Derevi, lookin' at you
Man, this is amazing and a long time coming. The best part of commander for me is doing neat stuff with your commander, and tucking just feels counter to the spirit of the format (why does tuck work, but exile doesn't? Dumbs).
That said, I predict Maelstrom wanderer gets banned next go around
Targeted grave hate like Scooze and Stonecloaker is my favorite, since they serve other purposes. Generic stuff like Relic of Progenitus or Rest in Peace I'm not a giant fan of, because they feel like donothings so much of the time.
The most maindeckable one is probably Relic, though, since it kinda cantrips at least.
EDH is pretty damned degenerate in a vacuum and I don't see any way to change that short of a seriously rigorous banlist if you're trying to make it a diverse competitive format. Every playgroup I've been a part of has had serious social conventions that tend to lengthen games and promote a broader array of generals and deck types.
Fast mana, tutors, and 2-card combos with your general are the main issues (e.g. Niv Mizzet + curiosity, etc.), as has already been said.
The Duel Commander banlist is pretty solid for competitive 1v1 play.
What you're playing here looks like a generic Azorius control deck with a couple commander specific gimmicks in it. My inclination is to say that this will:
1) Quickly get boring unless playing azorius control is something you love
2) Be worse than most of the other top notch Azorius commanders at being a control deck (because of the need to jam in some of those gimmick cards)
If you took all the vigilance support stuff out and played this as straight control deck - replaced those things with draws/counters, would it be stronger?
Now, all that being said, I think I'd skip any of the enchantments and do an equipment package for vigilance. Add batterskull and accorder's shield possibly--the latter has the benefit of being trinket mageable.
This deck is working really well; won several games today. Almost got to live the Archangel of Thune + Soul Warden dream even, but still won that game with an Elspeth Sun's Champion ultimate.
Snapcaster Mage has to be the new MVP of the deck. Drawing cards, reusing removal, he's a beast. Really like him.
I only got to play Vendilion Clique once, but it did win the game (taking a player's Mogg Infestation during their upkeep). Definitely sticking around for a bit. Still not seen the wizardcycler yet.
Cloudstone Curio is beastly. No idea how I lived without it. Recycles Venser, Snapcaster, Stoneforge, etc. Really good card that should be an autoinclude in most Ephara lists, especially given its extremely strong synergies with many cards in the deck.
Stonecloaker is never, ever leaving my list. Holy crap did he win me some games tonight His grave hate is just the right amount and he goes hilariously with an ultimated Venser. Hah.
I'm not super excited about much from the recent sets. Anafenza, kin-tree spirit is the only one super likely to see some play. I definitely want to give Monastery Mentor a try at some point, especially if I rotate a few more removal/counter spells back in.
The two conditional counters on bodies (stratus dancer and silumgar sorcerer) are both really mediocre. Mostly too conditional. Glen Elendra Archmage is not impressed, guys. Silumgar sorcerer might get a tryout someday but I doubt it. Narset Transcendent is just...the antithesis of what I want to be doing, sadly. Lots of planeswalkers I'd try out first.
The cards currently on my watchlist for removal are:
Batterskull just tends to be too durdly. Priest, eh, just doesn't seem to happen much? Probably be happier with another good counterspell. Knight of the White Orchid I've found just doesn't ramp like I want - too often I can't play him for ramp until T3, which is when I want to be playing Ephara. Most of my playgroup doesn't land ramp T2 much, definitely not consistently enough for me to count on Knight.
Heliod I find too mana intensive. I can't recall using his token producing ability in quite some time. If I could play a second Sacred Mesa instead of him that'd be the best, but Mobilization is on my maybe list - as is Thraben Doomsayer, who was ridiculous every time I used him. Wish there were more open token producers out there.
Archangel is regularly super strong, but he just brings the hate. People really flip out for that dude, especially once you slap a sword on him.
Feast and Famine is just amazing, but Light and Shadow really is my goto sword almost all of the time. I think Fire and Ice might be more innocuous and less likely to get raged on, but I might try Skullclamp in its place too.
Cards currently on my hotlist for consideration are:
The Mentor - triggers off of almost half the deck, including a good number of instants. Might not generate a ton of card advantage, but probably some.
Skullclamp is skullclamp
Trinket mage finds Skullclamp
Elspeth Tirel doubles as a board wipe which is nice, although not as well as other Elspeth. Also makes dudes and gains life.
Doomsayer as I've said is a house.
Helm of Possession and Fiend Hunter/Relic warder go together really well, to abuse the ETB abilities - and Sun Titan is great. Also goes really well with many other recursion effects in the deck.
Dovescape, well...man, it's really, really good in this deck. Turns your non-creatures into cantrip token producers and shuts off a lot of other people's stuff. It's pretty likely to be a game ending effect. It's a bit risky though as other creaturey-decks have the potential to roll you.
On the more conventional front, I'm strongly considering pulling all of the suspect stuff and just replacing it with alternate card advantage engines and answers, instead of trying to get cute with synergies
I actually decided to do this deck with Keranos and haven't gotten it written up yet. It is much better and super fun. I think you're right that Iroas is better suited for something more inclined to swing with dudes, and really not going to work for me - I've got too many aggro decks as is
My buddy played it tonight and lived the dream - exiled a bunch of stuff with Karn and then restarted the game (including exiling his own Keranos and choosing not to send it to the commandzone).
I'll try to get a post up about the deck once I finish tuning it up
I got to live the dream today - wound up with a total of 6 enchantress effects with Dream Halls, played almost entire deck with a combination of Dream halls, Enchantresses, Life from the Loam dredging, and then Open the Vaults for the lols. Had to pass the turn, then swung for infinity with Jenara and Finest Hour killing both other players when they had no answers (Serra Sanctum and 30 some-odd enchantments and bear umbra).
This deck is super fun; needs some tuning, but it's really neat. I've had a few other people play it and general comments are that it runs pretty smoothly which is my main goal - strong curve, solid manabase, good gameplans throughout the game.
Leonin relic-warder is pretty good if you're looking to do stuff like reclamation sage - bouncing him with whitemane lion while his trigger's on the stack is pretty strong, for example. Pretty strong to recur with Sun Titan too (and then sac to perma-exile).
Yar, I definitely see the arguments for FAI - just never really had room for it. The Junk protections (white/black/green) feel like the most relevant in EDH, with Red/Blue almost never factoring in for me anyway. Lots of green and black in my meta though.
I disagree, and that's a difference of philosophy. That said, even if a deck will function well without the commander it doesn't mean it's doing what you enjoy about it. Further, jamming a bunch of tutors to get it back - well, certainly an option I guess, but not super fun way to play magic in my opinion.
Further, "doing it wrong" is a pretty questionable way of expressing what is a clearly an opinion (that you haven't bothered to back up with reasons). I know the internet loves a pithy post and all, but if you're going to make rather snide absolute statements you should support them - or at least attempt to, since I don't think your position is particularly supportable given the nature of EDH.
With the new ruling, the things that interact with commanders favorably have answers other than tutors (which are only available in some colors) -- removal is available in most colors, so getting rid of a control magic or a helm of possession is achievable. Not every color has ways to get their commander back from tucking.
I do think there'll need to be a lot more attention to the banlist paid, as many commanders are frigging out of hand without the ability to tuck them - Maelstrom Wanderer is problem #1 imho, as he often just wants to get back in the CZ.
That said, I predict Maelstrom wanderer gets banned next go around
The most maindeckable one is probably Relic, though, since it kinda cantrips at least.
Fast mana, tutors, and 2-card combos with your general are the main issues (e.g. Niv Mizzet + curiosity, etc.), as has already been said.
The Duel Commander banlist is pretty solid for competitive 1v1 play.
1) Quickly get boring unless playing azorius control is something you love
2) Be worse than most of the other top notch Azorius commanders at being a control deck (because of the need to jam in some of those gimmick cards)
If you took all the vigilance support stuff out and played this as straight control deck - replaced those things with draws/counters, would it be stronger?
Now, all that being said, I think I'd skip any of the enchantments and do an equipment package for vigilance. Add batterskull and accorder's shield possibly--the latter has the benefit of being trinket mageable.
Snapcaster Mage has to be the new MVP of the deck. Drawing cards, reusing removal, he's a beast. Really like him.
I only got to play Vendilion Clique once, but it did win the game (taking a player's Mogg Infestation during their upkeep). Definitely sticking around for a bit. Still not seen the wizardcycler yet.
Cloudstone Curio is beastly. No idea how I lived without it. Recycles Venser, Snapcaster, Stoneforge, etc. Really good card that should be an autoinclude in most Ephara lists, especially given its extremely strong synergies with many cards in the deck.
Aether Vial continues to impress, as does Venser, the Sojourner.
Stonecloaker is never, ever leaving my list. Holy crap did he win me some games tonight
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New Sets & the future stuff
I'm not super excited about much from the recent sets. Anafenza, kin-tree spirit is the only one super likely to see some play. I definitely want to give Monastery Mentor a try at some point, especially if I rotate a few more removal/counter spells back in.
The two conditional counters on bodies (stratus dancer and silumgar sorcerer) are both really mediocre. Mostly too conditional. Glen Elendra Archmage is not impressed, guys. Silumgar sorcerer might get a tryout someday but I doubt it. Narset Transcendent is just...the antithesis of what I want to be doing, sadly. Lots of planeswalkers I'd try out first.
The cards currently on my watchlist for removal are:
Batterskull just tends to be too durdly. Priest, eh, just doesn't seem to happen much? Probably be happier with another good counterspell. Knight of the White Orchid I've found just doesn't ramp like I want - too often I can't play him for ramp until T3, which is when I want to be playing Ephara. Most of my playgroup doesn't land ramp T2 much, definitely not consistently enough for me to count on Knight.
Heliod I find too mana intensive. I can't recall using his token producing ability in quite some time. If I could play a second Sacred Mesa instead of him that'd be the best, but Mobilization is on my maybe list - as is Thraben Doomsayer, who was ridiculous every time I used him. Wish there were more open token producers out there.
Archangel is regularly super strong, but he just brings the hate. People really flip out for that dude, especially once you slap a sword on him.
Feast and Famine is just amazing, but Light and Shadow really is my goto sword almost all of the time. I think Fire and Ice might be more innocuous and less likely to get raged on, but I might try Skullclamp in its place too.
Cards currently on my hotlist for consideration are:
The Mentor - triggers off of almost half the deck, including a good number of instants. Might not generate a ton of card advantage, but probably some.
Skullclamp is skullclamp
Trinket mage finds Skullclamp
Elspeth Tirel doubles as a board wipe which is nice, although not as well as other Elspeth. Also makes dudes and gains life.
Doomsayer as I've said is a house.
Helm of Possession and Fiend Hunter/Relic warder go together really well, to abuse the ETB abilities - and Sun Titan is great. Also goes really well with many other recursion effects in the deck.
Dovescape, well...man, it's really, really good in this deck. Turns your non-creatures into cantrip token producers and shuts off a lot of other people's stuff. It's pretty likely to be a game ending effect. It's a bit risky though as other creaturey-decks have the potential to roll you.
On the more conventional front, I'm strongly considering pulling all of the suspect stuff and just replacing it with alternate card advantage engines and answers, instead of trying to get cute with synergies
My buddy played it tonight and lived the dream - exiled a bunch of stuff with Karn and then restarted the game (including exiling his own Keranos and choosing not to send it to the commandzone).
I'll try to get a post up about the deck once I finish tuning it up
This deck is super fun; needs some tuning, but it's really neat. I've had a few other people play it and general comments are that it runs pretty smoothly which is my main goal - strong curve, solid manabase, good gameplans throughout the game.