I have both chromatic lantern and vedalken ornery and believe that they both sit at a weird spot. they are not terrible cards but they are both bad cards.
build your mana base correctly and you don't need lantern. now you'd spend more than the 17 dollars on a good mana base so it's still a budget card if you think about it.
vedalken orrery is expensive because of the command zone pod cast. they have over hyped this card.
if every card was 2 dollars then every deck would be the same. I have 1 deck that is tier 1 with crypt moxen mana drain and the like. But I also have a 30 dollar elemental tribal deck that often times more fun than my tier 1 deck. having varying powerlevels allows you to match your meta.
look to give ydris double strike. it's better than extra turns. you'll double up on the cascade that way. with extra turns you lose the first trigger for him connecting.
No offense taken. I realize that I'm bad at deck building in this format. A lot of the time what I've found is that EDH decks seem to rely on different packages for ramp and win conditions, ect. When I look at a deck someone else has build, it's difficult to tell which pieces are most important and which pieces so what. What you said about missing tutors because they're expensive also totally applies to me. Is there a way to build decks for this format without expensive tutors?
you can help negate the lack of tutors by playing blue and some good draw spells. beseech the queen is a decent budget tutor. or like stated play the more narrow tutors however I feel they run more into the problem he stated where you grab the same creature each time.
Unless you're planning on making a competitive deck you really don't need to go all-out for efficient tutors. I try to keep my (non-land, obviously) tutors as minimal as possible to help keep the games fresh. If you just tutor for the same 2 cards every game it gets pretty boring pretty fast. If you feel like you NEED tutors you can try running some of the less expensive, less efficient ones like Diabolic Tutor or Increasing Ambition, or maybe some of the creature-only ones like Green Sun's Zenith or Chord of Calling to restrict yourself.
If you are using a tutor in a combo deck then yes it feels this way. But playing it in something else it very rarely gets the same thing every game. draw a cabal coffer grab the urborg. need a board wipe even then some are better at certain things grab a toxic deluge for indestructible or damnation for a easy wipe. Even grabbing a life from the loam to turn on the value train is acceptable. the utility tutors bring are really not easy to replace.
don't want to be mean and you might have gotten better since then but it seems like deck building might be your weakness at least in this format.
one big mistake people make in edh early is they don't play ramp so they can get to the end game quicker and more things feel on curve.
in would possibly look at some primers for the decks you are interested but be careful because some might not play right if you try to budgrtize them especially if you try to remove the tutors because they are expensive. there is no shame in wasting a d tutor for an urborg.
I personally really like ezuri claw of progress. it can win thru combo, going tall, or going wide without changing the deck. the idea of the deck is simple but it plays out differently every time depending on board state and what decks you're playing against.
I'm all for all those instances as long as other players don't lose anything in the process.
Say Joe has a rhystic study out and Sam played two spells moved to combat and second main plays one spell tapping out. Joe is not entitled to the previous triggers if he remembered them once Sam taps out. because you'd have to back up prior to the last attack phase and give Sam a chance to pay and there is free information given about what Sam wants to do second main phase.
I think Combos are a necessity because sometimes the board gets so muddled up that it becomes the only way to win. i will always include one for such a case. it's more of a plan c in case plans a and b go south.
when they do attack you. are you the only defenceless player?
if one person is going off on turn 6 and people are letting him go unopposed ask the other two players if they enjoy losing also. this is where the politics game comes in.
it does seem like you play decks that can accidentally win which is why I would not play maelstrom wanderer. token shenanigans with trostrani might work as trostrani isn't a huge threat.
if you are building a 75% deck is it really cEDH? edric uses cradle and craterhoof. you can make a decent 75% list but you could say the same for all mono blue decks. juyst drop command mana drain and replace with other counters and you could do arcum really cheap. even with a cheap mana base you could do zur on ther cheap but again without three mana base I don't think many would consider that cEDH
sad thing is if your going competitve if your in two plus colors you'll be playing shocks fetches and duals. even most 75% decks still play shocks and fetches.
krenko mob boss could possibly made cheap and catch someone off balance but purphoros isn't cheap either.
play enchantment creature.dec. play a enchantment search up purphoros end of turn. play purphoros and grab any enchantment creature. next turn you get to play it deal 6 damage to everyone and get to replace itself. even without playing out anything you might have in hand. This is the enchantment commander people have wanted. it'll make sure you keep two quests at all times also.
build your mana base correctly and you don't need lantern. now you'd spend more than the 17 dollars on a good mana base so it's still a budget card if you think about it.
vedalken orrery is expensive because of the command zone pod cast. they have over hyped this card.
if every card was 2 dollars then every deck would be the same. I have 1 deck that is tier 1 with crypt moxen mana drain and the like. But I also have a 30 dollar elemental tribal deck that often times more fun than my tier 1 deck. having varying powerlevels allows you to match your meta.
you can help negate the lack of tutors by playing blue and some good draw spells. beseech the queen is a decent budget tutor. or like stated play the more narrow tutors however I feel they run more into the problem he stated where you grab the same creature each time.
If you are using a tutor in a combo deck then yes it feels this way. But playing it in something else it very rarely gets the same thing every game. draw a cabal coffer grab the urborg. need a board wipe even then some are better at certain things grab a toxic deluge for indestructible or damnation for a easy wipe. Even grabbing a life from the loam to turn on the value train is acceptable. the utility tutors bring are really not easy to replace.
one big mistake people make in edh early is they don't play ramp so they can get to the end game quicker and more things feel on curve.
in would possibly look at some primers for the decks you are interested but be careful because some might not play right if you try to budgrtize them especially if you try to remove the tutors because they are expensive. there is no shame in wasting a d tutor for an urborg.
I personally really like ezuri claw of progress. it can win thru combo, going tall, or going wide without changing the deck. the idea of the deck is simple but it plays out differently every time depending on board state and what decks you're playing against.
Say Joe has a rhystic study out and Sam played two spells moved to combat and second main plays one spell tapping out. Joe is not entitled to the previous triggers if he remembered them once Sam taps out. because you'd have to back up prior to the last attack phase and give Sam a chance to pay and there is free information given about what Sam wants to do second main phase.
if one person is going off on turn 6 and people are letting him go unopposed ask the other two players if they enjoy losing also. this is where the politics game comes in.
it does seem like you play decks that can accidentally win which is why I would not play maelstrom wanderer. token shenanigans with trostrani might work as trostrani isn't a huge threat.
krenko mob boss could possibly made cheap and catch someone off balance but purphoros isn't cheap either.