I have only been playing Magic for about a year and a half, a little before the Scars of Mirrodin block rotated out of Standard. Soon after that happened, I started showing interest in EDH, and even today EDH challenges and intrigues me as a deckbuilder and as a magic player. I may not have been playing for long, but most of my time has been spent researching various decks and scrolling through iMTG searching for specific keywords or effects.
Building a commander deck can be a little difficult at times, especially if you don't have a very large card collection. With the wave of new commander decks hitting shelves recently, a lot of people newer than I am will be hitting the scene. Thus, I present to you...
The Three Major Commander Deck Building Styles
1. Building around your commander
2. Building a deck, then adding a commander
3. Building with flavor in mind
Granted, there are a few other ways of building a commander deck, but they normally fall under one of these three broad concepts.
Building Around Your Commander
This is probably one of the easiest ways to begin construction of a commander deck. Either you already own the commander or you just like the idea of the card. Some commanders that absolutely scream, "build around me," are {Nekusar, the Mind Razer}, {Azami, Lady of Scrolls}, and {Kemba, Kha Regent}. Nekusar wants to play all of the "group hug" drawing effects like {Howling Mine} and {Jace Beleren}, Azami demands that you play a .love.ton of Wizards, and Kemba feels similarly about equipment.
Obviously the first step in this case is to identify your commander, then set out on a search with your favorite Magic App (iMTG!) to find all of the cards that go with it! This is probably the most common deck building path, since most people building commander decks see a legendary creature and think, "what cards worth well with this?"
The Afterthought Commanders
This path is a little more difficult. These decks operate much more heavily on sheer synergy and making sure that every card that you rip off the top of your library will tip the game in your favor. The best example I can think of regarding these decks is {Jenara, Asura of War}. Jenara is basically just there in case things start looking bad, or to cast on a turn in case you have nothing else to do. She is basically a second win condition to your Bant ETB (Enters the Battlefield) deck. If you can't flood the opponent with your ETB effects, slam Jenara and smack some +1/+1 counters on her, then swing for the win.
Occasionally, there are also decks that never cast their commander. I have a friend with a {Dromar, the Banisher} list, and he only plays that general because it has the colors he wants. One up-side to these commanders is that it keeps your opponents guessing if you sit down at a table with a bunch of people you don't normally play commander with. "Why is that your commander?" and, "What's your win condition?" often go through others' minds when they see commanders like {Nicol Bolas} hitting the table.
Flavor Builds
This has to be the most fun path out of all three, but also slightly harder to explain. Flavor builds don't have any specific commanders, they are mostly comprised of an idea or a theme. Two examples that come to mind are decks that one of my friends was talking about from him other playgroup (We go to the same LGS, but he has another local group he plays with). The themes were "birds" and "tentacles." The Birds deck only used birds for creatures and only used cards with art that had birds in it, even the basic lands had to have birds ({Storm Crow}!). The Tentacles deck had cards like {Tendrils of Agony} and its commander was {Wrexial, the Hidden Deep}. Both of these ideas are extremely unique and flavorful, but also usually much more casual than the other two deck contruction path.
Another detail about this third path that I haven't mentioned yet it that it isn't actually all that different from the other two. In fact it's more like a layer of deck building that can simply be laid over on of the other two types.
Let me know what you guys think about my first article! I hope you all enjoy it, and thanks for reading! I'll be writing more soon, but it will probably be more like thought processes of deck building and deck breakdowns for EDH. Let me know what you guys are interested in reading! Also, +1 to the first person who gets the title reference.
Nice man. Very nice. :)
Thanks! Let me know if there are any commanders you'd like me to cover.
Quote from: Vileo on November 12, 2013, 03:42:12 AM
Thanks! Let me know if there are any commanders you'd like me to cover.
What exactly do you mean by "cover"?
I'm going to make some articles about individual commanders at some point. If people show interest, that is.
Do they have to be legal commanders?
There aren't that many illegal commanders. So yeah probably. May end up doing some Pauper EDH commanders too, if It picks up.
Might want to get this sticked to the Commander Section
Very nice read! I'd love to hear your thoughts on {Teysa, Orzhov Scion} and {Sen Triplets}.
PS the title is a Hendrix reference, Commander of 60s rock! 😄
Or Dob Dylan reference (original)
Hendrix did a cover :)
Nice article looking forward to more!
Quote from: Wally on November 12, 2013, 06:28:58 AM
Or Dob Dylan reference (original)
Hendrix did a cover :)
Ah touché! You're right!
Awesome article, and very useful :)
Me likey. And I LOVE EDH.
Maybe in your next article, you could explore the strengths and weaknesses of Mono vs. Two- vs. Multi-Colored builds.
KARN :D
Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!
So far for the next article, I'm seeing {Sen Triplets}, {Teysa, Orzhov Scion}, {Karn Silver Golem}, and the merits of color choices. I may just have to do that color choice article next, but I will keep those three commanders in mind!
P.S. Wally got the +1 for recognizing Dylan first. ;P Although the Hedrix cover is my favorite!
Edit: Ok, +1 to Spikepit too. xP
🎉😁😁😁🎉
I think I'll be writing more about general deck building skills for a bit before jumpin into lists, and taking LG's suggestion to write about color choices. Is there anything about deck building (EDH) you guys would like me to write about?
Quote from: Vileo on November 12, 2013, 06:54:02 PM
I think I'll be writing more about general deck building skills for a bit before jumpin into lists, and taking LG's suggestion to write about color choices. Is there anything about deck building (EDH) you guys would like me to write about?
<3 I love it when you take my suggestions :D I would like you to touch more on the different types of Flavor and how that ties in to color choices. Dat color flavor ;)
Quote from: LadyGrixis on November 12, 2013, 07:37:00 PM
Quote from: Vileo on November 12, 2013, 06:54:02 PM
I think I'll be writing more about general deck building skills for a bit before jumpin into lists, and taking LG's suggestion to write about color choices. Is there anything about deck building (EDH) you guys would like me to write about?
<3 I love it when you take my suggestions :D I would like you to touch more on the different types of Flavor and how that ties in to color choices. Dat color flavor ;)
Lol I'm sure you do. xP They're good suggestions though. =3 And true! That might have to be a whole other article though, there's a lot of flavor to be talked about. =P
Oh the flavor -swoons-
Do {Olivia Voldaren}
*cough*cough Krenko
Those are both GREAT flavor decks. Olivia for Tribal Vampies & Krenko for GOBS OF GOBBIES! :D
Vampires vs Goblins! So I can make vampire goblins with her ability
Lol so many requests xD
I'll make a list and try to do them all... eventually, lol.
I'm really glad you will be talking about Karn I've built one but beside finding people playing them there rent really any way to compare cards and stratagys.
Karn is really difficult to build, but when you do it's one of the best EDH decks evar. Expensive, too. But we're talking like, early game infinite combos, etc.
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 01:08:26 PM
Karn is really difficult to build, but when you do it's one of the best EDH decks evar. Expensive, too. But we're talking like, early game infinite combos, etc.
I have a Karn EDH! Shall I post it up on the Commander thread for reference?
Quote from: LadyGrixis on November 13, 2013, 01:49:32 PM
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 01:08:26 PM
Karn is really difficult to build, but when you do it's one of the best EDH decks evar. Expensive, too. But we're talking like, early game infinite combos, etc.
I have a Karn EDH! Shall I post it up on the Commander thread for reference?
That would be cool :) I'm not sure how karn is a viable commander.
Quote from: Spencer_addington on November 13, 2013, 01:56:02 PM
Quote from: LadyGrixis on November 13, 2013, 01:49:32 PM
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 01:08:26 PM
Karn is really difficult to build, but when you do it's one of the best EDH decks evar. Expensive, too. But we're talking like, early game infinite combos, etc.
I have a Karn EDH! Shall I post it up on the Commander thread for reference?
That would be cool :) I'm not sure how karn is a viable commander.
What do you mean? Why wouldn't he be?
Quote from: LadyGrixis on November 13, 2013, 02:00:53 PM
Quote from: Spencer_addington on November 13, 2013, 01:56:02 PM
Quote from: LadyGrixis on November 13, 2013, 01:49:32 PM
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 01:08:26 PM
Karn is really difficult to build, but when you do it's one of the best EDH decks evar. Expensive, too. But we're talking like, early game infinite combos, etc.
I have a Karn EDH! Shall I post it up on the Commander thread for reference?
That would be cool :) I'm not sure how karn is a viable commander.
What do you mean? Why wouldn't he be?
I didn't say he wasn't a good commander, it's just that I'm not familiar with karn. I don't really know anything before worldwake.
Spencer, he makes like a million billion infinite combos. It works, ok? Lol
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 02:03:53 PM
Spencer, he makes like a million billion infinite combos. It works, ok? Lol
I had no idea lol
Yeah and they are also really easy to tone down and turn into a casual deck. I'm the most exp. player with my group and when they saw Karn as my commander they looked at me like "is this a joke?"
I play lots of Myrs in my Karn EDH, which is why I named it "Children of the Karn" ;) mwahahahaha
Why I get home tonight, I'm going to write article #2. Just a heads up! Looking forward to seeing what you guys think =3
Quote from: Vileo on November 13, 2013, 09:24:14 PM
Why I get home tonight, I'm going to write article #2. Just a heads up! Looking forward to seeing what you guys think =3
Any hints as to what it will be covering?
You'll see when I post it. It's not a deck list, because I spend a week or more working on all of my commander deck lists.