To each there own, as the OP said, Commander is all about having fun and however your playgroup likes to play is the correct way to be playing the format. Personally I think that a healthy and evolving meta is a good thing, but that is just one opinion. If someone is playing specific hate cards that take the fun out the game for you, talk to them about it.
You'd be surprised at what you can solve by simply communicating and trying to see things from each other's point of view!
My brother plays an Olivia voldaren vampire tribal deck that is both fun and fast. I think having access to red is sort of nice, although mono black could work too. Olivia is really powerful when build around herself and it can be tempting to go all in on on her. However, she is always a great late game threat and mana sink, stealing the best creatures on the board.
Play Kami of the Crescent Moon and make everyone draw lots of cards and play like tribal Merfolk or something. Little countermagic. No infinite combos, duh. Or play Selvala, Explorer Returned. Something interactive like that, especially if it gets them drawing cards and speeds up the development phase of the game.
Also, don't give your wife a control deck, since those require that you pay close attention to the boardstate at all times. I'd be playing Xenagos or something with lots of creatures like that. The guys on the CommandZone podcast did a deck tech on a <$100 Xenagos list with one of the guys from the show Space Janitors, and it seemed awesome. Cast creatures, give 'em haste, make 'em huge, and go nuts. Not complicated and attacking someone with a 12/12 double striking, trampling beastie is universally fun unless you're an idiot.
The command zone podcast is definitely a great resource and I highly recommended those guys! I think a Timmy strategy with big beaters and ramp is always good. Make sure to keep things interactive. You mentioned that your son plays mass land destruction, and if your family enjoys that, great! But in general I would say that that strategy may not be the best for introducing kids to the game because it takes out the interaction and makes it feel as if you can't play Magic anymore. I know that I hated it when I was introduced to EDH. Everyone is unique however, and what matters most is doing something that everyone enjoys!
Man, I'd hate to retool my build just so i could cast this, but if I could reanimate it it'd be solid. I love it.
I'm going to have to start looking through all of my active decks and figuring out how much access I have to colorless mana in an average game before I start working on these kinds of cards, but it is a sweet card. I'll start working on looming through the set and giving a review on it.
I should clarify i didnt realize all of the colorless mana sources i do run and there are. I got downvoted hard on reddit for it.
I think you should try out mostly red black with blue just for ruination guide and herald of kozilek. That is what I have been testing and it's working out well.
I played prophet a lot and am happy to see it go. When you play it you are immediately the target, but it doesn't matter because it is so good. The card is ridiculous.
I do not like the change to the Vancouver mulligan though. I like to have that form of consistency in commander where everyone gets lands and spells IN THE RIGHT RATIO. Yes the Vancouver mulligan will often do that but I think that partials make for a better play experience for everyone.
Its Bismuth
I hope its real. It looks super cool.
It would be kinda a flavor fail that land that the Eldrazi have drained can be tapped for mana, but I guess it needs to be that way so we can finally have a basic that taps for colorless mana.
You're right! That's what it is. I knew I had seen it before because I have some of that bismuth stuff lying around the house somewhere. I thought it looked cool
It's als on skitterskins art
You'd be surprised at what you can solve by simply communicating and trying to see things from each other's point of view!
This article has a lot of good ideas.
The command zone podcast is definitely a great resource and I highly recommended those guys! I think a Timmy strategy with big beaters and ramp is always good. Make sure to keep things interactive. You mentioned that your son plays mass land destruction, and if your family enjoys that, great! But in general I would say that that strategy may not be the best for introducing kids to the game because it takes out the interaction and makes it feel as if you can't play Magic anymore. I know that I hated it when I was introduced to EDH. Everyone is unique however, and what matters most is doing something that everyone enjoys!
Because rule 4 has been removed, now it will produce blue instead of turning it to colorless.
I do not like the change to the Vancouver mulligan though. I like to have that form of consistency in commander where everyone gets lands and spells IN THE RIGHT RATIO. Yes the Vancouver mulligan will often do that but I think that partials make for a better play experience for everyone.
I think that because they are showing the same event but all 4 walkers are there, a panorama would have made much more sense
You're right! That's what it is. I knew I had seen it before because I have some of that bismuth stuff lying around the house somewhere. I thought it looked cool
It's als on skitterskins art