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.