"Quirks That Define Your EDH Style"

shandiris
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Post by shandiris » 4 years ago

KitsuLeif wrote:
4 years ago

Another example for this would be Thromok the Insatiable as my Gruul Commander instead of just another Xenagod deck out there. Also, because I love the German translation of "Hellion" which is "Teufelsbraten".
I'm curious, does that deck just straight out make tons of tokens and then you get a voltron commander? Or are there other tricks involved, like flinging? Was considering that or Radha for a potential Gruul deck, but Thromok seemed to easy to interact with.

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KitsuLeif
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Post by KitsuLeif » 4 years ago

shandiris wrote:
4 years ago
I'm curious, does that deck just straight out make tons of tokens and then you get a voltron commander? Or are there other tricks involved, like flinging? Was considering that or Radha for a potential Gruul deck, but Thromok seemed to easy to interact with.
Yeah, it's basically Token Voltron. I love Token Strategies in general, but normally I dislike Voltron. Thromok combines the two to something that is really fun to play. I've built two versions of this. My current version and a more budget oriented build.
No Fling but cards like Warstorm Surge and stuff that gives Haste, Trample or makes Thromok unblockable is generally good.

CrazyPierre
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Post by CrazyPierre » 4 years ago

1)As few mana rocks/ramp as possible. Sol ring, a Signet or two and maybe Explosive Veg and Reach and that's it;
2)Always have a "Fog" effect;
3)Play 6-8 cards that sweep the board, and 1-3 ways to recycle them.
4)Always build on a theme.

Just to add to this, I'm playing Jor Kadeen soon and while there will be equipment, I will at most play Stoneforge OR the Giant, but not both, and likely not blinking. I am allowing myself a few "Eggs" to draw and so on, but kinda iffy on Gerrard or Egg recycling.
I like winning in the red zone. I will, admittedly, just Ad Naus or whatever if I'm in a paid event, but I prefer grinding it out in combat, it's fun.
Last edited by CrazyPierre 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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kenbaumann
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Post by kenbaumann » 4 years ago

1. I love playing Magic on everyone's turn. (So Seedborn Muse + flash/instants is my ideal setup.)
2. Conversely, I guess: I'm very bored by combat. (Though love watching Krenko vomit out goblins and Najeela vomit out soldiers.)
3. I love fast play and games that end within 45 minutes.
4. I'm 50% Spike, 30% Johnny, 15% Timmy, and 5% Vorthos.

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tstorm823
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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

kenbaumann wrote:
4 years ago
4. I'm 50% Spike, 30% Johnny, 15% Timmy, and 5% Vorthos.
You broke it down 4 ways and still left out Melvin. What a shame...
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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kenbaumann
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Post by kenbaumann » 4 years ago

tstorm823 wrote:
4 years ago
kenbaumann wrote:
4 years ago
4. I'm 50% Spike, 30% Johnny, 15% Timmy, and 5% Vorthos.
You broke it down 4 ways and still left out Melvin. What a shame...
That 5% is probably half and half Melvin and Vorthos. (Though I didn't know about Melvins—other than the excellent band—until you mentioned them! Thank you.)

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BaronCappuccino
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Post by BaronCappuccino » 4 years ago

I only ever own one deck at a time. I'm on the hunt for my forever deck that'll get upgraded for the rest of Commander's lifetime. Finding it, my Goldilocks deck, has proven harder than expected. I love self-imposed limitations for thematic purposes. I love deckbuilding as an outlet of creativity. The problem is, I also love winning. Building little works of art comes naturally to me. Building competent works of art for a semi-competitive playgroup is a bit wanting. Always impactful, never winning - seems to be my lot since I've acquired a regular playgroup. Flip Chandra is currently auditioning as a Chandra tribal creatureless superfriends and burn deck.

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Post by Mimicvat » 4 years ago

Gonna try and describe what I percieve to be 'my style' of deckbuilding and playing.

Winning is of low priority to me

I will *absolutely* play to win at the table, though not at "any cost". But this is often compromised in a number of ways before I get there. I won't build optimal generals or strategies. Everything needs to be somewhat janky or I won't enjoy it. If I took the theme out of a deck, stopped playing telegraphed strategies, started playing more combo etc I would win more, but not at the cost of not doing the things I enjoy doing in commander.

I generally like to win in a telegraphed fashion over several turns

I want the narrative that comes with something like a big battle or conflict between players. I dislike any strategy that involves a whole lot of durdling and then suddenly winning or lethal a player out of nowhere, and prefer methods that are more telegraphed to my opponents. This often leads to continual pressure decks such as small evasive creatures or group slug "damage every turn" effects. Big overrun effects, Exsanguinate or infinite combo typically are not my style.

That said, my absolute #1 favourite and longest lasting deck is my big red combo deck, so every rule has an exception.

I dislike "obvious EDH strategies" that are well suited for the format

This is a format with combo pieces in the command zone, vintage card pool, gigantic life totals and multiple opponents. To play 'competitively' or 'to win' leads to the obvious outcome that infinite combos are the best means to do this. If you house ban these, you generally seem to end up with big mana, graveyard shenanigans, or valuetown. Certain colours are clear and obvious winners in this format, and others are total trash. So being a smug hipster I resist playing easy combos, playing decks that don't care about life totals, leaning too heavily on the graveyard or playing UG in general. If I'm playing valuetown or combo, you can bet your ass its or based. If I'm playing I'm going to try and do something a bit weird, or at least something I percieve as weird.

I would rather draw cards than do anything else, including win

My decks generally prioritize card advantage over everything. Damage, win rate, mana, or even card selection all take a back seat. I have started reigning that in a little, but have long stood by the mantra that I am legitimately here to draw and play cards even at the expense of the power of my deck.

My hipster hackles get up when people run obvious and overplayed staples

Cyclonic Rift, extra turns, X+commander combos, big mana, Exsanguinate...

Sometimes these cards see play when they "just make so much sense with the theme" - ie Seedborn Muse in Yeva. But hell my no-counterspell blue control couldn't stomach rift and turns, outside of janky ones like Final Fortune, are never played in my decks (or in my meta). I don't even run sol rings outside of like two decks.

I tend to prefer faster games and faster playstyles

Not so fast as to be quick combo, but on the faster end. People should be impacting the board and impacting each other right out the gate. Durdle, pillowfort, and big mana are things I generally avoid. I *hate* that EDH has 40 life and love strategies like infect, game modes like 5-star, or game mutators like "combined commander damage" that speed up games.

Piracy effects are my jam

"When this creature deals combat damage to a player, do X" are the sweetest words ever written on a card.
Currently building: ww Bruna, the Fading Light (card advantage tribal / reanimator)
Main decks;
r Neheb, Big Red Champion g Yeva's Mono Green Control, b Ayara's Aristocrats rb Greven, Predator Captain the One Punch Man, ugw Derevri, Empirical Tactician Aggro,rwbu Tymna & Kraum's Saboteurs, wbg Kondo & Tymna's Hatebears wugTuvasa's Silver Bullets, urBrudiclad does Brudiclad thingsgubSidisi, Brood Tyrant (lantern control)

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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

Well, I have my own...

1. I tend to hose artifacts. Even in Boros, I stay as away as possible from artifact ramp. I always include annoying anti artifact tech such as energy flux, afflicted deserter, Manriki-Gusari, Devout Chaplain, etc. I'm actually quite happy with this approach.

2. I get lovestruck with some cards and immediatly want to build them. When I first read Tuvasa the Sunlit I saw an enchantress that wanted each enchantment to really matter and I knew it was perfect to revive an old extended deck I used to play long ago . My Tuvasa the Sunlit build is made of Enchantment based color hosers, text-changing effects and a solid Merfolk package for a good measure. Time has shown that the deadliest card in the deck is actually Karma. I enjoy trying to make odd things work.

3. I enjoy beating hypertuned decks with cheap stuff. I love chaff and I will use it as much as viable. I like it when the chaffiness itewlf of a card kins.of prevents the opponents from wanting to deal.with the thing. Some of that happens with Asmire, Holy Avenger, my pet deck. Some opponents will fail to assess Asmira until they are suddenly hit by a huge fliee.

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lvg
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Post by lvg » 4 years ago

I like winning but the most important thing for me is having stuff to do during a game. I'd also rather do lots of small things than a couple of big haymakers. As such my decks tend to have a lot of small interactions and moving parts. Doing lots of things usually also requires a lot of mana so I tend to include quite a bit of ramp in my decks. Preferably ramping lands, as lands are much more safe than rocks.

I prefer of the wall strategies and underused commanders. Usually mono or dual colored, otherwise it usually ends up 3+ color goodstuff. Sitting across from someone and knowing over half the cards in their deck by looking at their commander is dull to me.

I'm not opposed to combo but they should be fairly convoluted and require lots of different pieces and ideally are non infinite.

If possible I like to break the color pie or do things outside of what you would typically expect a color to do.

I hate good stuff staples and try to only include them when they really fit a deck. Sol ring, smothering tithe, rhystic study and cyclonic rift are some of the most boring cards to show up in commander games.

I tend to build decks and then fairly quickly dismantle them again. Trying to do less of this (it's expensive) and keeping some decks around to keep tuning. Then again I'm a builders and I love theory crafting decks. Once the theory has been proven I lose interest fairly quickly and end up dismantling a deck.

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