I came upon a reel where someone was reviewing a decklist they were sent and was questioning why they didn’t have [[dark ritual]] in the deck, the player “misread” it apparently. Anyhow in the comments there were people arguing that you shouldn’t always run Dark Ritual in black, that it puts you down a card so it’s bad, that the rate isn’t good enough. How did we get to this?

I had a few paragraphs written but it was too much so I'll keep it short.

Been playing since 1994, used to be competitive but now just play for fun. When I play with new players, I will do everything I can to make it a fun game. If I'm getting too far ahead, I will start holding back or misplaying until they can catch up. I let them win but I make them work for it. The games are always exciting and play out like an epic movie. Over the last 10 years, my win rate against new players is 0%. I've never told them what I've been doing and I never will.

Imagine this scenario. You've played 3 games and won two of them. The third you were tight there competing until the end. You go to grab your deck for game 4. You choose commander X....not because you think it could win, or even that its a fun deck. No, you choose it because you KNOW it will almost certainly not win.

Does anyone else keep a deck or two in there rotation in case you want to lose. I like to have these decks for when ive had really good luck on a game night and I dont want to play a deck i know starts me out on equal footing with every one else. The decks are fun to play, but just aren't strong for whatever reason. Now, I still try to win while playing the game, I just know going in its highly unlikely.

So Im invited to a EDH kitchentable tournament. 3 player Pods, unmodified Precons only, Cardvalue 100€ tops, 100% proxy friendly.

In the past years most of the precons are pretty consistently good. I was think about goin as far back as possible and still be able to play a game. I mostly use this List for every Precon ever to get inspiration on what deck im choosing. I didn get through every single one for now. But my favorites of what ive seen are Urdragon and Saskia. What about things like Breya, Atraxa, Mimeoplasm, Prosh, etc. Are there old precons any good or did onyl the Commanders survive the time?

I love a creature with a repeatable activated ability, even if it's a bit overcosted. It feels nice to have the utility of someting that can be used at instant speed at any point, as long as you have the mana.

I'd love to see some of other people's favorites/hidden gems. Would appreciate if they were vaguely useable. Bonus points if they have mulitiple abilities, like any of the Guildmages, such as [[Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage]].

Some other examples that come to mind are [[Ant Queen]], [[Captivating Crew]], [[Ambassador Laquatus]], or [[Daxos the Returned]].

Appreciate any input, thanks!

Hello. Fairly new to MTG in general here. Been playing kitchen table 60 card games with my boyfriend who introduced me and want to dip my toe into EDH.

Perhaps unfortunately though, the only card I'm drawn to for a commander is Pippa, Duchess of Dice. I just want to make a silly bracket 1 gimmick deck around her so bad. I have all the supplies on hand to do it properly. I have more than enough green coloured dice lying around, I have a deck of standard playing cards to place under them when they become tokens to make it easier to tell if they're tapped or not. I even have a dice tower to prevent dice rolling everywhere on the table. Being a considerate player is priority #1 and I've made sure to put some thought into that first.

Pippa is - of course - an un-card though and therefore not legal in Commander. However, it's a casual format so maybe I could get the all clear after a rule zero discussion? Especially if we're talking bracket 1 where everyone's just goofing around anyway. I wouldn't put any other un-cards in my deck. I don't see anything about Pippa's abilities that are particularly overpowered or obnoxious. It doesn't interfere with other players' decks or subvert the fundamental rules of the game. I just like rolling lots of dice. Heck, I want to impose more restrictions on myself in line with the gimmick:

- I can't attack with any creatures other than the die tokens. Every other creature in the deck must have Defender.

- I can't alter the power and toughness of the die tokens in any way other than re-rolling them. The number showing face up is sacred.

I'm just worried about causing a huge breach of etiquette. Is this deck something I should only suggest in a playgroup I've known for some time first? If I roll up to the LGS with this nonsense, will I be politely, yet firmly turned away from every table I approach? I want to be a little silly, but not annoying. If you saw a deck with this for a commander, would you at least hear it out?

I recently took apart a number of decks that I never play anymore, which has left me with a bunch of good lands (I have a solid mana base for basically anything now) and I am now trying to put these lands to good use. The other day I was inspired by a really cool Vial Smasher + Thrasios control/burn list, and I've kind of always wanted to use Thrasios in a deck, but never could find the right context. And that's just the thing with 4c and 4c partners in particular – they were designed to be open-ended, even the ones with somewhat of a direction still feel enormously flexible due to their access to so many colors. I really enjoy this element to partners, though I've always stuck to 3 color pairings to make it a little easier to build. I took a shot at building breya and I was quickly overwhelmed by the available options. While I'm over my attempt to build breya, I am trying to brew something creature-centric with Thrasios, though the idea is still super nebulous.

So all that being said, I want to hear what sort of 4-color non-cEDH decks you all have built and why you like them so much?

PS, I have nothing against cEDH, my pod just tends toward B3 and B4 games.

Making a [[Blor, the Impervious]] deck for my partner, and that 5 CMC seems really pricey. I don't play much green, or much voltron, so it's been a tough build. In my head, I'm wanting to consistently have him on the board by turn 3, but I have no idea if this is realistic in a deck that wants a load of buffs, as well as a pretty decent draw and removal package to keep up pressure.

I was thinking to maybe go all-in on the enchantment stuff? Get a bunch of those "Enchant Land" auras alongside the dorks I already have to really boost the curve, then get more value off cards like [[Helm of the Gods]] and [[Strong Back]].

I'll put the decklist below. It's mostly tagged, but I'm still actively working on it so tags might be inconsistent and weird.

https://moxfield.com/decks/hnIxOi-gP0aom68HmGPwBg

Hi!

My name is Skura, also known as IslandsInFront.

Today, I want to share with you a deep dive into one of my commander decks - Raffine, Scheming Seer.

It's meant to be an interactive tempo strategy with a small-creature reanimation subtheme.

It's meant to be without game changes, around Bracket 3, and without any crazy expensive cards.

I hope you find it useful and entertaining! Cheers!

https://ultimateguard.com/en/blog/raffine-scheming-seer-edh-deep-dive-deck-philosophy-strategy-and-card-choices

I have an [[atla palani]] deck that is built all around getting [[jumbo cactuar]] out and doing cactuar shenanigans. It has about 9 other creatures that support him by giving trample and what not. [[serras emissary]], [[stonehoof chieftan]], [[brash taunter]]. Fun stuff. [[platinum angel]] cuz it goes in any deck I can stuff it into. It’s won plenty, but has gotten a little stale in the pod. I threw [[dack fayden]] in and now it’s like I get to crack an egg for the whole table! It’s a gamble for sure, but the whole table loves it. Plus if someone gets cactuar or [[serra avatar]] I still have all the instants that give things trample or unblockable. It’s been the most fun gambling I’ve done in magic. Just wanted to share a different take on this card that’s getting talked about so much. Thanks for reading!

Just built this deck yesterday and got absolutely destroyed by two different groups. I feel like this has potential but it’s not performing as I hoped. Please give me recommendations to make it a bit better. PLEASE.

I also realized my pod might be playing at a less competitive level and I actually might not be good at all lol. Moxfield link below. Let me know what you think and how to make it better. Thank you 🫡

https://moxfield.com/decks/0d2HjqGJBUmlVWgVz0hQRw

I am currently building a Dimir control “draw/go” deck.

I’m one of the two more experienced players in my group (it’s a pretty battlecruiser-y meta) and I play the most blue and interaction and because of that some of them seem to always think I have a trick up my sleeve and that I have an answer to everyone. They won’t even assess the board correctly - another guy could have a 14/14 flyer and instead of attacking him they’ll hit me because they assume I’ll kill the flyer just because I actually run counterspells in my decks (it’s kind of funny)

However it got me thinking and I wanted to build a good control build but I’m struggling to figure out which commander to use

[[Nymris, Oona’s Trickster]] [[Talion the Kindly Lord]] [[Sygg, River Cutthroat]]

Nymris seems like the best engine to reward what I’m doing already, Talion is just value but a big power bump, and Sygg seems to draw a lot of cards and I’d add some pinger damage / group slug subtheme as burn which could be an additional wincon

The next issue is how do you guys have control decks win? I’ve got a handful of compact wincon combos to draw into as well in mind - [[singularity rupture]] + [[riverchurn monument]] ; [[rite of replication]] + [[gray merchant]] but these both seem sort of dimir goodstuff-y. I have a [laboratory maniac]] and [[demonic consultation]] as well. I can run any number of these but the last one seems like it’s not allowed in bracket 3, right? And that’s what I’m aiming for

Any feedback could help

pls review/suggest:

https://moxfield.com/decks/CTaL4f19KUCiu3QBL17arQ

inspired by EoE spacecraft & trying to make some of the new star trek stuff work. not sure if the deck is silly and broken or just silly. probably bracket 2-3ish with the Mishra's Workshop and a couple theoretical combos but nothing too insane or consistent. I wanted strong flavor and restrictions:

• colorless
• artifacts
• spacecrafts and vehicles, manned by artifact creatures (robots/constructs/golems)
• everything is a permanent that deep space 9 can slam out without fuss
• in space!(?)

Hello everyone! My friends have all convinced me to get back into magic and get started with Commander.

I haven’t played Magic since Arcane Phoenix rotated out of standard. Back when I did play I had 2 decks, one for standard and one for modern. My standard deck was a izzet spellslinger deck focused on Niv Mizzet Parun, Arcane Phoenix and crackling drake whereas my modern deck was a goblin guide focused red deck wins type of deck.

I’m very new to commander so I’m not sure what to build around or who to even start with. I’m used to 1v1 so who would be the most logical commander to get me started with?

I'm looking for some help/feedback on a deck I'm working on.

It's meant as a Azorious control deck with enough punch in it to threaten the table. At this point, I've only put together my theoretical list and I fear that it won't slow down other members at the table. The deck feels more incremental with only a couple explosive plays (unless I'm missing lines). Aiming for around high bracket 2 or a bracket 3.

So thoughts and ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance

https://moxfield.com/decks/wvQh4eJ_EUuPiqAkoctbbg

I'm still trying to find out what type of decks I enjoy playing the most. I like when a deck is very thematic/tribal focused (not just good stuff), and I'm having fun with my Council of Four/Knights slow pillowfort value, but I also love big Timmy Demons/Dragons/Angels etc.

Looking for B2/3. Hoping for something that discourages being attacked to set up an explosive late game battlecruiser. As opposed to my Ureni which Ramps asap and then drops bombs... but doesnt really have a wall.

Thanks for any ideas!

Hey there, I'm wanting to build a zombie deck, kind of focused on defense and control. Not looking to spend an arm and a leg to build it, mostly just want it for a casual setting with friends. I've been looking at some of the commander options and I think Wilhelt or mono black Gisa are what I'm leaning towards, but I think Wilhelt takes the lead with the inclusion of the blue card options. I hate to say it, but counterspell is a fun card to play or even just threaten to play. Any suggestions on which commander to run?

Here's a link to my Archidekt deck in progress: https://archidekt.com/decks/27641396/sounds_swedish

I want to go for a go-wide approach with Borg and thopter tokens. I also want to stay at least sort-of on theme, so the white token doublers (Anointed Procession, etc.) aren't ideal.

The cards tagged green are ones I own (that I'm considering adding to the deck). The maybeboard and the "Out" category are pretty self-explanatory.

I'm open to suggestions—don't add X, do add Y, what the heck were you thinking? etc.

Im building a Tam, the Possibility superfriends deck. It's firmly in bracket 3. I made the deck swing heavily into control. I have almost half of my nonland cards serving as interaction or board wipes. (Many of them are planeswalkers with removal stapled to them). I only have two creatures in the deck so I avoid wrathing myself. The main goal of the deck is to repeatedly wrath the board and control the state of the game long enough to let me either swarm out with creature tokens or ult one of my game ending walkers. However, I often find that my deck struggles with pulling out a win, as i still get ovewhelmed near the endgame. What are some Finishers i could add to my deck to make it just a fraction faster?

P.S. I know my deck lacks many proliferation cards, but in all honesty most of them feel extremely slow to me.

Here's my current deck list https://moxfield.com/decks/DxChAY8aInCrKB6Cl70icg

https://moxfield.com/decks/_BbrwKzAk0WAhP8G92xYxg/primer

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could give some insight to me on my deck. I think that this is my strongest deck but that’s not saying much because I only started playing Magic in February. I put some effort into writing a primer today, at the end of the list is some upgrades I am considering.

The main thing I am struggling with is cheating out my high cost combo pieces early. The deck can consistently win on turn 6 or 7 but some of the pieces feel slow. I know I am missing some mono black mana staples like [[Dark Ritual]] and [[Culling the Weak]]. I have them in another deck and am probably going to cut them out of those for this one.

If anybody has the time, could you give me your honest feedback? I have spent a lot of time with the deck but am still a newer player so I would like some experienced eyes on it.

Thanks! And don’t hold back, I don’t want this to be bracket 5 but lowering the curve and making it more consistent is ideal to me. This is supposed to be my high power deck and I would like it to perform that way.

I loved both precons and ran [[Hazezon]] as my commander for desert bloom. They both do similar things bringing things out of graveyard and making tokens. I figured since I’m constantly bringing out deserts it will trigger my spirit token makers too.

I also think it does a cool like Egyptian excavation/Indiana Jones thing going on which is fun.

https://moxfield.com/decks/YA3pQnEaOE2Io3hR85DUPw

Hi everyone!

I've been building a [[Tovolar, Dire Overlord]] Werewolf/Wolf tribal deck, and I'm looking for some advice on getting it comfortably into Bracket 3 territory.

Decklist: https://archidekt.com/decks/27844771/awwwooooooo

At the moment, Archidekt and other deck-rating sites consistently put it at Bracket 2. I'd like to bring it up to Bracket 3 because I'm playing against a pod at work running decks like:

• [[Chatterfang, Squirrel General]] (Bracket 3)
• [[Marina Vendrell]] (Bracket 3 Enchantress)
• [[Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls]] (Bracket 3)
• Other similarly powered decks

My main concern is keeping the werewolf flavour intact. I really enjoy the tribal theme and the whole transforming mechanic, and I'd rather not end up replacing half the deck with generic Gruul staples just to make it stronger.

That said, I'm happy to make compromises if certain cards are genuinely holding the deck back. I'd like it to be capable of winning games against my pod rather than just being a fun thematic deck that gets steamrolled.

I'd particularly appreciate advice on:

• Cuts and replacements: What would you remove from my current list, and what would you replace it with?
• Consistency and power: What are the biggest weaknesses preventing it from competing at Bracket 3?
• Transforming: Any tricks for keeping my werewolves transformed, especially given the differences between the older Innistrad werewolves and the newer daybound/nightbound mechanic?
• Win conditions: Can I realistically win through werewolf tribal combat at this level, or should I be considering additional ways to close out games?

One other question for fellow werewolf players: how do you physically handle transforming cards?

I'm planning to double-sleeve the deck, but constantly taking cards out to transform them sounds like it could become a pain, particularly when several creatures transform at once.

I was considering clear sleeves for the transforming cards, but obviously I don't want identifiable cards in my library. Do you use clear inner sleeves and remove the opaque outer sleeves once they're on the battlefield? Or do you use substitute/checklist cards and keep the actual werewolves separately in clear sleeves?

I'd be interested to hear what works best in practice without slowing down games or damaging the cards.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I'd love to get this deck to a point where it can hold its own at Bracket 3 without losing what makes werewolves fun to play!

Been trying to decide which I want to use for my 32 deck color combination in Orzhov, and I just can’t seem to decide between the two. Was wondering if anyone’s had experience with both and can share some insights?

Goldfishing them both, Niv-Mizzet feels like the stronger option overall, the option (well ok, the main game plan) of turning lifegain into card draw is really strong, it always feels like you can brute force your way through your deck to get what you need or just sit on a giant pile of life if needed. Extort is also great, and there’s a bevy of ways to just end the game from Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combos to just drawing your deck and tossing in Dr Doom. My main concerns are that it can be slow to get the big guy out, and then protecting him once he’s out since I imagine it’s boogeyman time once he hits the field. Plus he almost feels a bit too strong for what I usually play in, which is more upper bracket 2 into bracket 3.

Elenda on the other hand is quicker to get out since she’s not 6 mana. Aristocrats with a touch of vampire tribal is fun, and you get dual options for beating someone with a giant vampire for commander damage or making a horde of vampire tokens if she gets taken out and simply rebuilding from there, so it has good endurance and a solid gameplan. More combat-focused than Niv obviously, and unlike having to source or buy a bunch of Niv stuff, I imagine a good chunk of stuff for Elenda is sitting in my LCC precon. My main concern with building Elenda is that for me personally, it devolves pretty quickly into another token deck, which I already have a couple of, so it’s not really a unique spin on a deck for me. It also feels like it needs more moving parts than Niv (who just needs you to gain life to do the thing), Elenda herself is just the payoff of her own deck; you have to provide your own sac outlet and (ideally recurrable on the cheap) things to sac, etc. So if you don’t see them timely, you’ll just be kinda twiddling your thumbs until then.

But yeah looking to see if anyone has some insights about both of them. Thanks!

https://moxfield.com/decks/2KCgAc4233qQJOOWDoajtA

looking for any guidance for a Sauron deck I am building for a buddy! Please see included post. I appreciate any feedback. Cheers!

ignore land base overall, have not considered that just yet but will likely land at 38 lands.