I don't think it is nearly as binary as even this thread makes it out.
People build decks with the resources they have available to them and the resources they are willing to put into them, be it money, time, research, coordination. Casual and Competitive to me implies a difference in intent or expectation, which in a format like this all decks should be trying to achieve the same thing.
Maybe I am just exceedingly lucky but everyone near where I play seems to run about at the same levels, some aggro, some combo, some control.
"Most discipline is hidden discipline, designed not to liberate but to limit. Do not ask Why? Be cautious with How? Why? leads inexorably to paradox. How? traps you in a universe of cause and effect. Both deny the infinite." -The Apocrypha of Arrakis
Quote from Me, last Fall »
Took a long break from this deck but it slowly drew me back in, I can't escape the pull of such a weird combination of cards that Kurkesh makes me want to play.
It happened again and I am back at it again like clockwork, metallic red clockwork. Since last time I was here I have exorcised more of the red leaving more robots the wake.
Kurkesh Himself
-Pretty Decent Body, if his toughness was any lower it would be a liability and his power makes him somewhat a threat if people don't like playing creatures
-His ability is the linchpin of most of the deck and having something like that in the Command Zone is amazing, also it not requiring him to tap is spectacular
-His creature types do him no favors and no real synergy with his ability.
Other Mono-Red Generals:
Strangely mono-red is the color that often gets looked down upon yet it seems to have one of the best selections of commanders.
Krenko, Mob Boss: Makes boat tons of goblins, uses them in fun ways
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Adds value to most of the creatures that will be in the deck and having him in the general spot always seems to put opponents on edge knowing he can pounce in at any time.
Purphoros, God of the Forge: The Commander version of Red Deck Wins, races people out of the game with burn and can do so blisteringly fast.
Daretti, Scrap Savant: The other big artifact choice, plays well with aggressive stax strategies.
The reason this guy works at all is that his ability is so wide sweeping but provides value up and down the CMC of the artifacts being utilized, being able to Draw two cards off an Urza's Bauble for R is extremely potent and also it is something that is generally off the radar, a lot of this deck plays low CMC cards for the most potential value, so lets go over the most potent pieces at work here.
1) Voltaic Key, the powerful card in this deck, for 1R the Key will untap the artifact of your choice and itself or two different artifacts, this all coming from something that only costs 1 itself is pure power.
4) Isochron Scepter, Kurkesh can not double mana abilities, however Kurkesh doesn't know what card is stuck into the Scepter when he doubles that and if it is Desperate Ritual or Pyretic Ritual congratulations you just turned 2R into RRRRRR
Everything else in the deck works like you would expect it to except doubled. The only thing about this deck is a lot of the stuff you would be doing early game Urza's BaubleConjurer's BaubleBurnished Hart in this deck you want to delay them until the Commander can pull the most power out of them.
Combos
The general goal of this deck is to put together enough junk to create infinite mana (preferably red) to then use Kurkesh to double abilities to victory, here are the ways to generate said mana.
There are others but again the joys of playing this pile of scrap and junk is to see all the ways you can put the pieces together to create magic and explosions.
Good opponents make combo-ing off all the harder, I don't think it is possible to playing not in the spirit of the format since the format by definition is a means of having better access to a card at all times that synergies well with the other 99 cards in your deck.
If anything to me EDH is a format that is screaming to built out around the commander in fun weird ways that could lead to combo as much as it could anything else.
Interaction and Synergy is the most fun thing in the game for me. Putting 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 pieces together to make some crazy machine that leads to a victory is more fun that simply attacking for me.
I have a theory with the already bubbling of resentment brewing for Nekusar decks around here Waste Not will push that over the edge to the point where I see that card show up in this thread.
Flavor Choice, also Tutor generals are THE MOST BORING, Hivelord is not a Sliver deck leader and Legion is a much better surprise LEGION than as commander.
Yes but I think the point people were making is if you are in the lead and cast it everyone else will collude to vote for a more useless card on the board that you would not have cast removal for.
I think the real problem with this discussion is the binary distinction between those two things it always falls into.
There is no clearly defined split between casual and not EDH players 99% of the people who I have started games with from people playing unsleeved precons to thousands of dollars foiled out the ass insanity they all want to win, sure you can point to those two examples as the extremes but that leaves the majority of us floating in the middle.
So trying to create a playing field based on the whims of either of those extremes is utterly foolish because it misses most of the players.
Sliding Scales are cool hell I have a sliding scale myself as I move from deck to deck to deck.
People build decks with the resources they have available to them and the resources they are willing to put into them, be it money, time, research, coordination. Casual and Competitive to me implies a difference in intent or expectation, which in a format like this all decks should be trying to achieve the same thing.
Maybe I am just exceedingly lucky but everyone near where I play seems to run about at the same levels, some aggro, some combo, some control.
"Most discipline is hidden discipline, designed not to liberate but to limit. Do not ask Why? Be cautious with How? Why? leads inexorably to paradox. How? traps you in a universe of cause and effect. Both deny the infinite." -The Apocrypha of Arrakis
It happened again and I am back at it again like clockwork, metallic red clockwork. Since last time I was here I have exorcised more of the red leaving more robots the wake.
Kurkesh Himself
-Pretty Decent Body, if his toughness was any lower it would be a liability and his power makes him somewhat a threat if people don't like playing creatures
-His ability is the linchpin of most of the deck and having something like that in the Command Zone is amazing, also it not requiring him to tap is spectacular
-His creature types do him no favors and no real synergy with his ability.
Other Mono-Red Generals:
Strangely mono-red is the color that often gets looked down upon yet it seems to have one of the best selections of commanders.
Krenko, Mob Boss: Makes boat tons of goblins, uses them in fun ways
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Adds value to most of the creatures that will be in the deck and having him in the general spot always seems to put opponents on edge knowing he can pounce in at any time.
Purphoros, God of the Forge: The Commander version of Red Deck Wins, races people out of the game with burn and can do so blisteringly fast.
Daretti, Scrap Savant: The other big artifact choice, plays well with aggressive stax strategies.
Feldon of the Third Path: The explosive Graveyard choice in Mono-Red
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage: A strange form of mono-red control.
Márton Stromgald: The haymaker of turning dudes sidesways in Red.
1 Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient
//Lands
1 Buried Ruin
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Reliquary Tower
23 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
//Artifacts
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Aetherworks Marvel
1 Animation Module
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Clock of Omens
1 Codex Shredder
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Conjurer's Bauble
1 Contagion Engine
1 Decoction Module
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Erratic Portal
1 Expedition Map
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Fabrication Module
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grinding Station
1 Hedron Archive
1 Helm of Possession
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Jester's Cap
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Magnifying Glass
1 Mind Stone
1 Mirage Mirror
1 Myr Turbine
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Planar Bridge
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ring of Three Wishes
1 Scrabbling Claws
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Serum Tank
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Surveyor's Scope
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Trading Post
1 Urza's Bauble
1 Voltaic Key
1 Mana Echoes
1 Sneak Attack
1 Stranglehold
//Instants
1 Desperate Ritual
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Price of Progress
1 Pyretic Ritual
//Sorceries
1 All Is Dust
1 Gamble
1 Scrap Mastery
1 Trash for Treasure
//Planeswalkers
1 Daretti, Scrap Savant
1 Koth of the Hammer
//Creatures
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Burnished Hart
1 Dross Scorpion
1 Duplicant
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Junk Diver
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Scrap Trawler
1 Shimmer Myr
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Voltaic Construct
Cards to Pick Up
Salvaging Station
Oracle's Vault
Goblin Welder
The reason this guy works at all is that his ability is so wide sweeping but provides value up and down the CMC of the artifacts being utilized, being able to Draw two cards off an Urza's Bauble for R is extremely potent and also it is something that is generally off the radar, a lot of this deck plays low CMC cards for the most potential value, so lets go over the most potent pieces at work here.
1) Voltaic Key, the powerful card in this deck, for 1R the Key will untap the artifact of your choice and itself or two different artifacts, this all coming from something that only costs 1 itself is pure power.
2) Basalt Monolith, Colorless dark ritual R becomes CCC
3) Liquimetal Coating, the ability to Kurkesh non-Artifact targets is a potent thing indeed, especially when used on lands like myriad landscape or evolving wilds
4) Isochron Scepter, Kurkesh can not double mana abilities, however Kurkesh doesn't know what card is stuck into the Scepter when he doubles that and if it is Desperate Ritual or Pyretic Ritual congratulations you just turned 2R into RRRRRR
Everything else in the deck works like you would expect it to except doubled. The only thing about this deck is a lot of the stuff you would be doing early game Urza's Bauble Conjurer's Bauble Burnished Hart in this deck you want to delay them until the Commander can pull the most power out of them.
Combos
The general goal of this deck is to put together enough junk to create infinite mana (preferably red) to then use Kurkesh to double abilities to victory, here are the ways to generate said mana.
Commander Involved Combos
Kurkesh + Voltaic Key + Gilded Lotus = Infinite Red Mana
Kurkesh + Voltaic Key + Isochron Scepter imprinted with either Desperate Ritual or Pyretic Ritual = Infinite Red Mana
Non Commander Involved Combos
Karn, Silver Golem + Voltaic Construct + Any Three Mana Rock = Infinite Mana
Myr Turbine + Dross Scorpion + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Red Mana (replace altar with Grinding Station for mill)
Animation Module + Decoction Module + Fabrication Module + Mana Echoes = Infinite Mana and a lot of very big creatures and a lot of energy.
There are obvious a lot of other ways that these cards can be put together but those are the basics.
Winning
Well you have made infinite Red mana now what?
Sensei's Divining Top allows the drawing of entire deck one card at a time with Kurkesh
Trading Post plugged into any of the Voltaic Key combos allows all of its abilities to work in tandem to produce a lot of infinite stuff.
Aetherflux Reservoir plays nicely with the storm created by the Isochron Scepter as well as Trading Post loops
There are others but again the joys of playing this pile of scrap and junk is to see all the ways you can put the pieces together to create magic and explosions.
If anything to me EDH is a format that is screaming to built out around the commander in fun weird ways that could lead to combo as much as it could anything else.
Flavor Choice, also Tutor generals are THE MOST BORING, Hivelord is not a Sliver deck leader and Legion is a much better surprise LEGION than as commander.
There is no clearly defined split between casual and not EDH players 99% of the people who I have started games with from people playing unsleeved precons to thousands of dollars foiled out the ass insanity they all want to win, sure you can point to those two examples as the extremes but that leaves the majority of us floating in the middle.
So trying to create a playing field based on the whims of either of those extremes is utterly foolish because it misses most of the players.
Sliding Scales are cool hell I have a sliding scale myself as I move from deck to deck to deck.
Also I know someone who always T&N for Iona and Avcyn so there are a great many possible targets.