pokken wrote: ↑3 years ago
Golos is a popular commander in many popular themes in addition to being the most popular commander period. It's pretty unusual for a commander to show up as a top commander in more than a couple themes (ex: atraxa in walkers and +1/+1 counters, but not in lands or enchantress:P).
But Atraxa has nothing to do with lands, nor with enchantments. Golos showing in Enchantress is imo due to the fact that there is simply no dedicated 5-color options (Sisay is in there as well, with more than double the number of Golos enchantress decks).
pokken wrote: ↑3 years ago
Lands is probably the only demographic I can speak semi-authoritatively to there, being something of a connoisseur of the archetype, but I know a bunch of people who have converted their lands decks to Golos. It's only a matter of time before he completely dominates that archetype, especially because in Lands you really do not need to deal with a 5c manabase if you don't want to (with world tree and cataracts you can basically play simic lands and just be better than Tatyova and Aesi as well).
I can also see Golos becoming number 1 in Lands, but I don't see this becoming true for the other categories.
Let's look for more context by taking a look at the top 5 themes of the 10 most popular commanders:
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
#2 in Lands
#2 in Big Mana
#4 in Planeswalkers
N/A in Artifacts
#3 in Eldrazi Tribal
=> Top 5 among 4 of its top 5 themes, but not number 1 in any of them
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
#1 in +1/+1 counters
#1 in Planeswalkers
#1 in Infect
#1 in Energy
#4 in Saproling Tokens
=> Top 5 in each of her top 5 themes, even being number 1 in almost all of them
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
#2 in Sacrifice
#6 in Graveyard
#17 in Pod
#8 in Mill
#2 in Primal Surge
=> Much more one dimensional design, only showing in the top 5 of two themes
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
#1 in Sacrifice
#5 in Aristocrats
#10 in Lands
#6 in Goblin Tribal
N/A in Pod
=> Again, rather one dimensional design, only showing in the top 5 of two themes
Kenrith, the Returned King
#4 in Pod
#1 in Politics
#3 in Group Hug
#3 in Cycling
#3 in Knights Tribal
=> Top 5 in each of the top 5 themes, being number 1 in one of them
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
#1 in Ninjutsu
#1 in Ninja Tribal
#2 in Topdeck
#5 in Extra Turns (tied with
Jhoira of the Ghitu)
N/A in Snow
=> Very one-dimensional design, so obviously number 1 in her themes of predilection
Yarok, the Desecrated
#7 in Lands
#1 in Pod (tied with
Prime Speaker Vannifar)
#6 in Landfall
#2 in Energy
#6 in Primal Surge
=> An open-ended design, scoring top 5 in two of themes and doing well in the other three
Alela, Artful Provocateur
#1 in Unnatural (mix of artifacts and enchantments)
#11 in Artifacts
#1 in Faerie Tribal
#8 in Enchantment
#7 in Flying
=> Due to her hybrid design, she is not as efficient in three of the themes but she still scores honourably well.
Edgar Markov
#1 in Vampire Tribal
#2 in Lifegain
N/A in Sacrifice
N/A in +1/+1 counters
N/A in Madness
=> Like Yuriko, Edgar is very one-dimensional and only scores well in two of his themes.
Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
#1 in Historic
#1 in Legends
#2 in Planeswalkers
#5 in Enchantress
#1 in Jegantha Companion
=> Top 5 in each of them, even top 1 in three of them (although that last one is somewhat weird).
All in all, I don't see how Golos is clearly more domineering than the others. If we take a look at the other two 5 colours open-ended legends of the top 10, they look to score even better than him. Yuriko and Edgar are the only two exceptions with such a narrow design.
pokken wrote: ↑3 years ago
Does being top 5 in 3 different very large archetypes not concern you? (lands, Planeswalkers and big mana)
For lands, maybe, but Golos can be number 1 somewhere, I don't really mind all that much. For planeswalkers and big mana though, not at all. Atraxa still dominates the first archetype like nobody's business and Jodah still has twice as many decks as Golos in the latter.
But I can understand the argument, so let's take a look at the top 5 commanders of the top 10 themes!
Artifacts - 17118 decks
#1 Breya, Etherium Shaper at 1989 decks (11,6 %)
#2 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain at 1537 decks
#3 Urza, Lord High Artificer at 1024 decks
#4 Saheeli, the Gifted at 1007 decks
#5 Daretti, Scrap Savant at 837 decks
Aristocrat - 11144 decks
#1 Teysa Karlov at 2507 decks (22,5 %)
#2 Meren of Clan Nel Toth at 1784 decks
#3 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician at 757 decks
#4 Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker at 680 decks
#5 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King at 370 decks
Lifegain - 10254 decks
#1 Oloro, Ageless Ascetic at 1576 decks (15,4 %)
#2 Edgar Markov at 1397 decks
#3 K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth at 960 decks
#4 Karlov of the Ghost Council at 856 decks
#5 Liesa, Shroud of Dusk at 634 decks
Wheel - 9646 decks
#1 Nekusar, the Mindrazer at 2220 decks (23,0 %)
#2 The Locust God at 1477 decks
#3 Xyris, the Writhing Storm at 1226 decks
#4 Niv-Mizzet, Parun at 1093 decks
#5 Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark at 621 decks
Lands - 9607 decks
#1 - Lord Windgrace at 2649 decks (27,6 %)
#2 - Golos, Tireless Pilgrim at 1528 decks
#3 - Omnath, Locus of Creation at 929 decks
#4 - Tatyova, Benthic Druid at 744 decks
#5 - Omnath, Locus of the Roil at 645 decks
Sacrifice - 8930 decks
#1 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King at 3216 decks (36 %)
#2 Muldrotha, the Gravetide at 1904 decks
#3 Meren of Clan Nel Toth at 538 decks
#4 Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest at 267 decks
#5 Titania, Protector of Argoth at 248 decks
+1/+1 Counter - 8820 decks
#1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice at 1205 decks (13,6 %)
#2 Skullbriar, the Walking Grave at 568 decks
#3 Gargos, Vicious Watcher at 561 decks
#4 Pir, Imaginative Rascal // Toothy, Imaginary Friend at 531 decks
#5 Ezuri, Claw of Progress at 515 decks
Equipment - 8126 decks
#1 Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale at 1974 decks (24,3 %)
#2 Sram, Senior Edificer at 664 decks
#3 Akiri, Fearless Voyager at 534 decks
#4 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist // Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh at 485 decks
#5 Valduk, Keeper of the Flame at 455 decks
Pod - 6506 decks
#1 Yarok, the Desecrated at 434 decks (6,7 %)
#1 Prime Speaker Vannifar at 434 decks (6,7 %)
#2 Animar, Soul of Elements at 353 decks
#3 Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver at 350 decks
#4 Kenrith, the Returned King at 325 decks
Aura - 6456 decks
#1 Tuvasa the Sunlit at 1027 decks (15,9 %)
#2 Siona, Captain of the Pyleas at 840 decks
#3 Uril, the Miststalker at 739 decks
#4 Bruna, Light of Alabaster at 644 decks
#5 Estrid, the Masked at 625 decks
This is the top 10 themes. The only commanders appearing more than once are Korvold and Meren. Note: more than a third of the sacrifice decks are helmed by Korvold!
Enchantments is number 11, so let's add it in:
Enchantment - 6323 decks
#1 - Tuvasa the Sunlit at 1084 decks (17,1 %)
#2 - Estrid, the Masked at 442 decks
#3 - Daxos the Returned at 400 decks
#4 - Karametra, God of Harvests at 323 decks
#5 - Sisay, Weatherlight Captain at 289 decks
Planeswalkers is number 13:
Planeswalker - 5760 decks
#1 - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice at 1849 decks (32,1 % !!!)
#2 - Sisay, Weatherlight Captain at 623 decks
#3 - Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen at 370 decks
#4 - Golos, Tireless Pilgrim at 366 decks
#5 - Ramos, Dragon Engine at 231 decks
Big Mana is way below so I won't really bother.
So overall, I'd say no, I'm not any more concerned by Golos than by Kenrith, Sisay, Atraxa or Korvold. Popular commanders are popular, but I think Golos at least has the merits of spreading his popularity over lots of different themes, unlike some of the other powerhouses in the top 10 of EDHrec.