Article: All Along the Command Tower

[Vileo]

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.

[Spencer Addington]

Nice man. Very nice.

[Vileo]

Thanks! Let me know if there are any commanders you'd like me to cover.

[Spencer Addington]

Thanks! Let me know if there are any commanders you'd like me to cover.

What exactly do you mean by "cover"?

[Vileo]

I'm going to make some articles about individual commanders at some point. If people show interest, that is.

[Ertai]

Do they have to be legal commanders?

[Vileo]

There aren't that many illegal commanders. So yeah probably. May end up doing some Pauper EDH commanders too, if It picks up.

[Stoneco1d869]

Might want to get this sticked to the Commander Section

[Spikepit]

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! 😄

[Wally]

Or Dob Dylan reference (original)
Hendrix did a cover

[Agrus Kos, Enforcer of Truth]

Nice article looking forward to more!

[Spikepit]

Or Dob Dylan reference (original)
Hendrix did a cover

Ah touché! You're right!

[Mlerner12]

Awesome article, and very useful

[LadyGrixis]

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.

[Shadridium]

KARN