I'm unsure of whether I like this idea (can't quite decide), but heres the pros and cons I can see off the top of my head:
Pros
-Overnight, we'd suddenly have 79 new commanders as options for commanders (cant count the 5 that already can be played as commander). It would take atleast a solid year for the edh community to settle down and adjust to this change. While crazy to think of, imagine how much fun it would be to have no idea what 79 new commanders are capable of. Also, imagine how much fun it would be testing them.
-Would open up a plethora of new playstyles, different commander options offering a lot more potential fun for both pilot and opponent
-planeswalkers which are representative of the whole card game could actually be played as a general (think how cool that would be for newcomers to the format) and would likely make the format grow in popularity. And no, 10 planeswalkers (5 flips, 5 precons) as options that are currently allowed isn't enough when comparing it to a whopping 79 more as legal commanders.
Cons
-Seeing as the "banned as commander" ruling is gone, certain cards that are fine to have in your deck would likely become banned because they are unfit to play as commander (examples may include sorin markov, vraska the unseen or tezzeret the seeker)
-potential slippery slope? Once something like this has been done it opens up the question "why can't we allow other things to become commanders?" for example people may ask for double sided cards with a legendary on the back to bypass the rule, for example elbrus, the binding blade or dark depths
Zur the enchanter is a great commander. He's most definitely tier 1 (amongst 10-15 other generals) and arguably top 3 in the format when built in the best possible way. So as far as powerful? He's definitely got that box checked.
As far as oppressive? Probably not tier 1 in regards to oppression. When comparing him to things like Derevi, empyrial tactician or leovold, emissary of trest, zur's level of opression pales in comparison, despite being esper (but thats mainly due to the deck styles of derevi and leovold being lockdown/prison style decks and zur being a swiss army knife with less of a focus on oppression).
Overall, Zur is a 10/10 general, however, myself personally I could never invest in making a zur deck; simply because I find it too linear. Yes, yes, some of you will say "how can a tutoring general be linear?" Its simple in that because you're always either tutoring to answer or tutoring the best wincons for the moment, getting said cards becomes a lot more stale quicker.
On a side note when VSing Zur: Zur suffers from the same weakness several of the tier 1 generals suffer in that he his susceptible to spot removal timed perfectly. 90%+ of spot removal can handle him (especially with boseiju, who shelters all ) and the time to do so is when he first lands. If you managed to mess up and let him resolve and start going (he equips vanishing and then you're usually screwed after that) a simple wipe away normally does the trick.
All this being said, do what most of us are doing right now who are thinking of making/changing our deck; wait 4 weeks for the new commander set to come out. Maybe the BUWR or BUWG generals will be amazing?
Seeing as 2016's Commander products are now only a month away, what cards effect(s) or card function(s) are you hoping get printed?
White and Red have a negative stigma that they have terrible card draw and terrible tutors compared to other colors. While there are ways to mitigate this to some degree, it would be nice if they could print a noteworthy card draw card and/or tutor for each color so they can play with the big boys of B, U and G . I know we all hope for this year after year, but I don't want to lose hope. I'm not hoping for some broken draw or tutor, just something that is more reliable than gamble for example .
Hey everyone I'm at a loss as to whether containment priest would be worth it in derevi, empyrial tactician? The deck is the classic lockdown stasis-hatebears build, minus cards like eldritch evolution and birthing pod so containment priest doesn't affect any cards in the deck EXCEPT the commander (this information may or may not affect what you guys think I should do here). It of course screws myself over as I would have to hard-cast the commander instead of abusing its ability. I guess I'm just wondering is it worth it in Derevi? Thanks in advance for any help.
At the moment it seems everywhere I read people regard Ad nauseam combos and Doomsday combos as the most competitive way to win, simply because the "I Win" clock is the the shortest while being resilient too . So I thought I'd make a quick thread asking you all what your ways of dealing with these two ways of winning are, what your preferred answers to them are and what you believe to be the best way at shutting these decks down is.
If you knew you were going to face off against one of these wincons at your local game store, how would you prepare for it? (maybe give an answer for each color or something ). Thanks in advance for any help/ideas/suggestions
I've recently been wanting to play a Purphoros, god of the forge deck. I wrote up a quick decklist about a year ago, but my knowledge on red (especially mono-red) is very limited compared to all other colors. I guess the thing I need help with most is in the thread title; what are the say top 5 or so draw spells for mono red and/or Purphoros in particular? I imagine skullclamp to be an all star in purph and as far as I'm aware wheel of fortune is argueably the best mono-red draw spell at the moment. What would you guys say are some of the other top draw spells for purph? Also, what do you guys think of knollspine dragon in a purphoros list?
Hey everyone, I'm looking to start building a deck based around being highly explosive, albeit to an individual player. I'm after a deck that gives people an excuse to change deck/commander after their deck won on turn 3, as they would be in fear that my deck could instantly knock that player out of the next game turn 3-5 after seeing what they can pull off. Most Commanders generally considered tier one combo out on turn 3-4 (turn 4-6 if messed with or stalled) so the criteria would be the following:
-Needs to kill a single player via aggro by turn 3-4 (or turn 4-6 if slowed down / disrupted)
-needs to win without combo preferably (not too big of an issue, just that my meta finds combo somewhat boring unless it was unexpected)
-preferably has some degree of control until the burst insta-kills someone.
-would prefer to stay away from blue (im that "blue guy" in my main playgroups and i'd prefer to break away from that stigma)
Examples of commanders that i can think of would be things like xenagos, god of revels infect, skithiryx, the blight dragon burst and rafiq of the many burst control. My girlfriend has been playing kaalia of the vast since it got spoiled, so she's out too. Anywho, all of your combined knowledge far supersedes mine, therefore I ask you all, which commander fits the bill for the "single target burstiest competitive commander"?
Hello all its been a long time since I've come to these forums as my friends and I haven't touched an mtg card since my playgroup last had an EDH game 6 months ago, which happened to end in a brawl irl, but i digress. My friendship circle is starting to get back into EDH and as such, so am I. I have all my old decks still and I remember I was building a serious Derevi deck just before my playgroup and I stopped playing. Nevertheless, with everyone building there decks again in full swing I thought I'd rebuild the idea I had just before I stopped playing; A derevi, empyrial tactician deck. I know, I know, "not another one of these threads" you're saying, but honestly you guys have always been helpful over the years and I thought I'd ask for help here. Here's my thought process so far...
The point of this thread was for me to ask this question; what are the key combo pieces / wincons in the above mentioned decks (when built as competitive as possible) that I need to build against? Once I have figured out how each of the aforementioned commanders win primarily then I can build a sort of "anti-meta" deck, designed to let people know they should probably change from that oppressive deck. I know most derevi decks are anti-meta anyway if built as an oppressive version, but I wanted a stronger focus on the whole anti-meta thing. Thanks in advance to anyone who can supply answers as to how each of those commanders win mostly. Bonus points to anyone who can suggest cards that shut down those commanders and their stereotypical ways in which they win.
What is the most competitive Mass Land Destruction commander at the moment in your opinion? Also, how does said commander compare to say competitive derevi, prossh, teferi decks for example?
Generally speaking, splashing in an extra color or two (not so much 5c these days) helps the deck to perform better, minimizing weaknesses such as a lack of answers, ramp or even card draw for example. Times when mono-colored decks can be considered are when a commander is so beneficial, that running just a single color is worth it. From what I can tell, people generally believe mono-U to be the only competitive (by competitive I mean compete with derevi/prossh and such) color, disregarding mono-B as a tier-2 or even tier-3 ranking in terms of power level. Ignoring this(be it true or false), are there any competitive cards that only mono- B can run?
Over the years I would say B is the color I have the least knowledge on, and I'm curious if there are any cards that are competitive that only a mono-B deck could run. I suppose contamination would count come to think of it. So all you mono-B mages out there, what are some competitive cards that only mono-B can run?
If it does indeed work like that, this new avacyn would do pretty well with mass tokens, such as including secure the wastes, decree of justice or white sun's zenith for example. Deliberately wipe out your own tokens and prepare to see a boros purphoros, god of the forge type effect. Nuking 27 of your own tokens would equate to killing all opponents at once (while not effective or ideal, its interesting to note). Is there any creatures that can sack themselves to bring itself back, like a loyal retainers type effect but that can target itself? Nothing comes to mind personally. In all honesty, she seems to be ideal for a white/red draw-go flash-control thats more defensive than blue. On the bright side, boros has mld for days so its not short of any immediate win conditions...
How needed is mishra's workshop in both the hyper competitive combo variant of sharuum or the hyper competitive "engine" build of sharuum? Putting aside the pricetag, is it a staple in any of the variants? If it is a staple, how important is it?
Now that the dust has settled and we've been playing with this new official mulligan rule for a while, which (if any) commanders that are tier 2 can compete with tier 1 commanders? Which specific commanders got notable buffs indirectly? I havent played much since the ruling (uni finals) and was hoping you guys could tell me how the change is going? I imagine toolbox generals and generals with heaps of redundancy got boosted? Is there any aggro variants that can compete with combo now, like maybe purphoros, god of the forge or some other non-combo commander?
Pros
-Overnight, we'd suddenly have 79 new commanders as options for commanders (cant count the 5 that already can be played as commander). It would take atleast a solid year for the edh community to settle down and adjust to this change. While crazy to think of, imagine how much fun it would be to have no idea what 79 new commanders are capable of. Also, imagine how much fun it would be testing them.
-Would open up a plethora of new playstyles, different commander options offering a lot more potential fun for both pilot and opponent
-planeswalkers which are representative of the whole card game could actually be played as a general (think how cool that would be for newcomers to the format) and would likely make the format grow in popularity. And no, 10 planeswalkers (5 flips, 5 precons) as options that are currently allowed isn't enough when comparing it to a whopping 79 more as legal commanders.
Cons
-Seeing as the "banned as commander" ruling is gone, certain cards that are fine to have in your deck would likely become banned because they are unfit to play as commander (examples may include sorin markov, vraska the unseen or tezzeret the seeker)
-potential slippery slope? Once something like this has been done it opens up the question "why can't we allow other things to become commanders?" for example people may ask for double sided cards with a legendary on the back to bypass the rule, for example elbrus, the binding blade or dark depths
As far as oppressive? Probably not tier 1 in regards to oppression. When comparing him to things like Derevi, empyrial tactician or leovold, emissary of trest, zur's level of opression pales in comparison, despite being esper (but thats mainly due to the deck styles of derevi and leovold being lockdown/prison style decks and zur being a swiss army knife with less of a focus on oppression).
Overall, Zur is a 10/10 general, however, myself personally I could never invest in making a zur deck; simply because I find it too linear. Yes, yes, some of you will say "how can a tutoring general be linear?" Its simple in that because you're always either tutoring to answer or tutoring the best wincons for the moment, getting said cards becomes a lot more stale quicker.
On a side note when VSing Zur: Zur suffers from the same weakness several of the tier 1 generals suffer in that he his susceptible to spot removal timed perfectly. 90%+ of spot removal can handle him (especially with boseiju, who shelters all ) and the time to do so is when he first lands. If you managed to mess up and let him resolve and start going (he equips vanishing and then you're usually screwed after that) a simple wipe away normally does the trick.
All this being said, do what most of us are doing right now who are thinking of making/changing our deck; wait 4 weeks for the new commander set to come out. Maybe the BUWR or BUWG generals will be amazing?
White and Red have a negative stigma that they have terrible card draw and terrible tutors compared to other colors. While there are ways to mitigate this to some degree, it would be nice if they could print a noteworthy card draw card and/or tutor for each color so they can play with the big boys of B, U and G . I know we all hope for this year after year, but I don't want to lose hope. I'm not hoping for some broken draw or tutor, just something that is more reliable than gamble for example
If you knew you were going to face off against one of these wincons at your local game store, how would you prepare for it? (maybe give an answer for each color or something
-Needs to kill a single player via aggro by turn 3-4 (or turn 4-6 if slowed down / disrupted)
-needs to win without combo preferably (not too big of an issue, just that my meta finds combo somewhat boring unless it was unexpected)
-preferably has some degree of control until the burst insta-kills someone.
-would prefer to stay away from blue (im that "blue guy" in my main playgroups and i'd prefer to break away from that stigma)
Examples of commanders that i can think of would be things like xenagos, god of revels infect, skithiryx, the blight dragon burst and rafiq of the many burst control. My girlfriend has been playing kaalia of the vast since it got spoiled, so she's out too. Anywho, all of your combined knowledge far supersedes mine, therefore I ask you all, which commander fits the bill for the "single target burstiest competitive commander"?
I'm after an anti-meta commander, who doesn't combo with infinite mana, but simply stops tier 1 decks from doing their thing as much as possible while turning creatures sideways. I have no problem locking the board down though, so winter orb et al. are all in. I did some looking around at tier lists (I know, I know, tiers don't exist) just to get a rough idea of what to build against and prepare for. From what I've gathered, I need to be able to stop the following commanders most of all as these seem to be the most cutthoat at the moment:
Animar, Soul of Elements
Brago, King Eternal
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
General Tazri
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
The Mimeoplasm
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Zur the Enchanter
The point of this thread was for me to ask this question; what are the key combo pieces / wincons in the above mentioned decks (when built as competitive as possible) that I need to build against? Once I have figured out how each of the aforementioned commanders win primarily then I can build a sort of "anti-meta" deck, designed to let people know they should probably change from that oppressive deck. I know most derevi decks are anti-meta anyway if built as an oppressive version, but I wanted a stronger focus on the whole anti-meta thing. Thanks in advance to anyone who can supply answers as to how each of those commanders win mostly. Bonus points to anyone who can suggest cards that shut down those commanders and their stereotypical ways in which they win.
Over the years I would say B is the color I have the least knowledge on, and I'm curious if there are any cards that are competitive that only a mono-B deck could run. I suppose contamination would count come to think of it. So all you mono-B mages out there, what are some competitive cards that only mono-B can run?
How needed is mishra's workshop in both the hyper competitive combo variant of sharuum or the hyper competitive "engine" build of sharuum? Putting aside the pricetag, is it a staple in any of the variants? If it is a staple, how important is it?