Commander for a Beginner

[Yawgmoth85]

My nephew plays casual from time to time and has joined in a few EDH games with me an my friends using my decks, and wants to make his own. He also like red/black color identity {he had been using my kaalia a fair bit). Any suggestions? My fist commander was {karavek the merciless} and I enjoyed him emensely.

[Gorzo]

Rakdos for a beginner, huh? No prob!

There are lots of tribal options. Tribal is real easy for new players to build and understand.

{Wort, Boggart Auntie} for Gobbies
{Bladewing the Risen} for Dragons
{Olivia Voldaren} for Vampires
{Boris Devilboon} for Demons

Non tribal options are pretty strong, too. You already know about {Kaervek the Merciless}, and the strategy he comes with.  {Tsabo Tavoc} can be a pretty nasty control commander, if you think he'd like that. You also have {Rakdos, Lord of Riots} for the option of "play huge mana cost stuff a lot for not very much mana" strategy.

[Yawgmoth85]

His tribal options are limited. I offered to help with a few cards but he wants to do it on his own which is commendable. So I think a rakdos or karavek will probably be the best, mainly for the not having to depend of specific strategy. Like all great wizards you gotta be hit with a blast/combo to understand how it works. Best advice I told him was to pick some favorites; play test then operate.

[Spencer Addington]

His tribal options are limited. I offered to help with a few cards but he wants to do it on his own which is commendable. So I think a rakdos or karavek will probably be the best, mainly for the not having to depend of specific strategy. Like all great wizards you gotta be hit with a blast/combo to understand how it works. Best advice I told him was to pick some favorites; play test then operate.

Goblins are unbelievably easy. My krenko is my first serious EDH and I'm in love with it.

[Yawgmoth85]

Krenko is good, but I love {goblin fodder launcher}+{mudbutton torch runner}+{wort auntie boggart} is a fav of mine. Throw in a {knucklebone witch} and ur laughin. I love goblins =)

[DYMongoose]

If he already has a few casual decks that he is comfortable with, I'd say to have him take one of those decks and whittle it down to singleton. From there, you could help him find a good compatible commander. Once the commander is set, remove any non color identity matching cards and fill the space up to 100 cards.

This approach is especially helpful if he has a deck that's over the standard 60-card size. I had an ~80-card saproling deck that was one of my favorites. Once I acquired {Ghave, Guru of Spores}, I followed this same method and it's still one of my favorite decks to play with.