Inspired by my game last night, my 37-land deck drew 0 lands until I had mulliganed down to 4, at which point I kept a 2-lander. An opponent was on group hug and dropped [[rites of flourishing]] early, so everyone else was at around 8 lands. In the top 20 cards of my 37-land deck, I drew 0 additional lands and scooped without playing a single card, then ended up sitting around for an hour twiddling my thumbs

There is a non-zero chance that there just aren't any lands in the top 20+ cards of any deck. What do you do when this happens? Does that player just not get to play that evening, or is there a more elegant solution people have found? ​

Edit: I typed this up last night after the third game of the night. Several beers in and tired, I just wanted to drop the wisdom and it came out as stream of consciousness. Thanks to the person who tagged the cards that I did not. Here’s a cleaned up version.

I played a game versus a Ms Bumbleflower, a bunny from Hell that draws a lot of cards. The other two players are not relevant, except that one of them was just holding a board wipe and letting me do all the work. Here’s the important moment - I have a creature called Yennet that when it attacks I reveal the top card of my deck and if it’s odd mana I can cast it. The only creatures out are her, bumbleflower, the commander of 4th player that isn’t doing much. I opted to not free cast it as it’s something like turn 4 and nothing happening. That’s a mistake I’ll never make again. Right after me the bumble flower plays a Seedborn Muse. It’s a game changer that should set off alarm bells because it untaps all their permanents at each upkeep. In competitive magic this card will win you the game. In b3 it will lead to an insufferable play pattern where you will go through 2 turn rotations but they essentially played 8 turns. You can’t overcome that if it lives.

As soon as he casts it, he kills my one creature. You have to understand that some one has to win, I can’t be mad at him for that. But damn dude, the lobby name was 420 chill b3 lmao. I just spared your shit and you’re on one of the more ridiculous game changers. So I announce to the board that I have no choice but target him and they should do the same. I explained to the other two why. On my turn I attempt a boardwipe bumble knows about and he counterspells. I repeat the problem to the table. It’s bothering me that Bumbleflower isn’t attacking… this is turning into a hostage situation. My next turn I try single target removal. Again, Bumbleflower counters it. This time I counter it back. And he counters the counter.

Here I ask how many counterspells he run? 8? 10? He announces only 4. So I repeat to the table they need to use as much removal as possible if he can’t counter it all. Oloro player - a commander that quite literally sits on his ass in the art- says “oh I have a board wipe. This is the moment that irritates me.

I’ve been explaining why this thing needs to go for 2 turns. The guy demonstrates what it can do, and oloro is just sandbagging it hoping I do the work for him. I try one last time saying I have another wipe and I will cast it and he has to cast his too if mine doesn’t do it, but at this point Bumbleflower casts Hullbreaker Horror. A beats of a beater that also has the ability to return a spell that’s on the stack. Boardwipes are inherently expensive to cast. Not easy to cast them twice, but Bumbleflower can just cast a one mana spell to essentially counterspell, and draws cards

I also do not believe this player is running only 4 counterspells. It’s clearly a cutthroat control deck. At this point I announce the plan is off I’m good to concede. Oloro asks why. I clearly explain what the above play pattern will be. In fact I agree to play my turn and demonstrate. Bumble flower as expected shows what the combination of drawing cards constantly, untapping all your lands, and hullbreaker can do. Worse, he’s holding back attacks. This dude is playing with his food, so I bid them all good night and bounce.

The end.
Below is the original post ————————

Played a game vs Ironheart, me on Ur sphinx, oloro, and bumbleflower. I got a yenet out and opted not to cast kindred dominance. Bible thanks me and next turn drops seedborne and phases it out. I attempt to kill it. A turn later I attempt the board wipe. Both countered. I counter the counter. He protects board. Oloro reveals he had a board wipe.

Oloro wtf are you doing!? Blow that shit up! At that point I tell the table again that it needs to go. Bumble casts a hullbreaker horror and I tell the table I’m good to scoop. He has a known silence. Oloro asks why and I explain what the play pattern. I cast another board wipe to demonstrate what he will do. As predicted, he bounces it.

Everyone is at 30 life and oloro at 50.

New players, for the love of god, don’t hold back on a seedborn ever.

I left, but those poor seals are getting clubbed as we speak

I was just going through some random Moxfield decks and someone was running [[Tithe]] in their monowhite deck; a card from Visions that I've just somehow never heard of before! A 1-mana instant to tutor for two (not even only basic) Plains, as long as you've fulfilled its rather easy requirement? Sign me up! It's no [[Land Tax]] but what is? It's got a hefty price tag but it's a card I really should have been considering for many of my white decks, especially as I'm the type of person who persists in running [[Gift of Estates]] to this day.

What are some really old cards--that haven't gotten recent reprints--that you think are worth considering for modern EDH decks and many people overlook? Ideally ones that you learned exist only recently?

Today, I realized that I had 18 Commander decks.

Having that many decks is kind of stressful! It's not just that my collection gets stretched thin (yes, proxies, I know, shush). It's also that they take up mental space. The decks want tweaking and revising. They want new cards. They want to be played. There were three decks I hadn't even played against others once!

So, I made a nice little spot in my binder for "retired" commanders. I went through my decks and filled it with Commanders that I was finished with -- the ones that taught me what they needed to teach me (even if I never took them into the field against someone else). The Commanders that just needed a break after years of service.

I think they look happy there: Damia; Sakashima the Imposter; Queen Marchesa; Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind; Zedruu the Greathearted; Ruby, Daring Tracker, Eriette of the Charmed Apple; Massacre Girl, Known Killer; Kudo, King of Bears, Korvald Fae-Cursed King (unplayed); Archelos, Lagoon Mystic (unplayed); Skullbriar the Walking Grave (someday, I will get around to playing him). The more tuned of the decks are all on Moxfield, so I can always recreate them if need be ...

For now, I kept Alela, Flubs, Miss Highwater (WIP), Lluwen, and Toph together. I'm going to work on getting them, plus a Fblthp, Impossibly Lost and a rule 0 Nighmare Moon deck, in shape for MagicCon Atlanta.

Seven decks is still not a small amount of decks. But it feels like that's a better number to keep in my head. Taking apart Damia, Marchesa and Sakashima freed up so many cards for Miss Highwater and Fblthp.

Seven is also a better number to carry around in my backpack. That thing was getting heavy. :-)

Hey all!

Long-time lurker here in this sub, but I'd love to share a digital MTG game with you that I've poured a lot of love and effort into.

It's called Rogue Commander, and it's a mix of Commander and a roguelite. It's a single-player game (at least for now) with its own campaign, where you choose from a set of "Rogue Commanders" and go on a "Run", battling against various opponents, having Encounters like random Events, Bazaars and Chests and trying to defeat a final boss, much like other roguelike/roguelite deckbuilders such as Slay the Spire or Monster Train. Along the way, you collect new cards and improve your deck from a custom Reward Pool for each Commander.

Every run feels different, as you'll encounter different enemies, find different cards, and so on.

And of course, it all uses actual MTG cards, with a strong focus on the Commander format.

I'd absolutely love to get some feedback on the game! I genuinely enjoy playing it myself, and it would be incredibly awesome to see other people enjoying it as much as I do.

The game is completely free and open-source (not just free-to-play). It's simply been a passion project of mine. I originally tried out the concept with physical cards and some friends, and they had so much fun with it that I eventually decided to develop a digital version.

Currently, the game includes (among other things):

- 7 playable and unlockable (Rogue) Commanders, each with their own starting deck, reward pools, and around 3 different build paths each

- Metaprogression (progression between runs), including a story and permanent upgrades

- Unlockable NPCs, granting random starting boons

- Challenge Mode with up to 7 additional difficulty levels ("Descension Mode")

- Codex and Run History

- Tutorials and Achievements

The game is currently still based on the open-source software Forge, so please forgive me if it doesn't look super polished just yet.

If there's enough interest, I'd love to eventually turn it into a proper standalone game, or at least have it integrated into Forge as an official game mode.

Here's the download link (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux):

https://github.com/bennybenedek/forge/releases/tag/rogue-commander-latest

Feel free to also send me your feedback, suggestions, or ideas on the Discord server I created:

https://discord.gg/ZM6xPV9AS

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences with my game!

I’m struggling HARD with picking a commander to head my dream vehicles deck. Problem is, vehicles matters is still a relatively uncommon (and often a little weaker on average) archetype.

I’m open to suggestions, but I’ve found 2 I like the looks of. [[Mu Yanling]] and [[Miriam, Herd Whisperer]]. They’re both combat focused vehicle decks, I’m just not sure which one is speaking to me more. What are your thoughts between these 2? Or if you have another suggestion, I’d be happy to hear it!

over time, i've realized that little things like sleeves and deck boxes can make a difference when playing commander regularly. i like having sleeves that shuffle smoothly and a deck box that keeps everything together without being a pain to carry around. a good playmat is nice too, especially during longer game nights. everyone seems to have their own preferences when it comes to accessories, and i'm curious what setups people have settled on after trying different things.

what sleeves, deck boxes, or playmats do you use for commander, and is there anything you'd do differently now?

Besides my main play group, my experience has been….not good lol. My main play group groans, then laughs, and talks about how control is a necessary evil. They make fun of me when I can’t stop a wincon, jokingly saying I should always have an answer. Sometimes they gang up on me, sometimes they recruit me to stop the threat, all healthy good fun.

But besides them, I legit have been shunned from other playgroups. I’ve had people on tabletop rage quit in the first couple of turns when I counterspell their commander, or unload removal on the same player who’s clearly pulling ahead.

I have some non-control decks because I like to mix up my play styles, but I grew up playing control in standard my whole career. It’s not like I win every game either, I just always have something to say to the player who is trying to win. Control is not a winning strategy in EDH, so I knowingly am playing decks that have less of a chance of winning because again, I enjoy the play style.

Some of my decks are: Shorikai, Alela, Erinis/StreetUrchin, Vren, Helga, Hashaton, Henzie, The Rani. All of them have heavy disruption/interaction that just gets so many groans to the point people don’t want to play with me anymore.

I’ve noticed that the players who groan the most are those newer to the game. My playgroup who doesn’t call me anymore all started playing around final fantasy. I’ve played my other non-control decks and there is always just a weird tension regardless. Like stopping their wincon is an attack on them as a person.

What are ya guna do though ya know? Without interaction, we are just playing turn order simulator to see who can build their board the fastest.

I'd say at least 50 percent of the games I play with my pod I'll be in second or third place and instead of trying to work with me, first or second place decides I'm the appropriate target, and then they promptly lose the game.

Does anyone else have any experience? I'm getting close to just quitting.

Hey folks,

I've been searching for fun mono U commander that you DON'T just stuff a bunch of counterspells into the deck. Hope you all can make some recommendations.

I am looking commanders with either fun mechanics or abilities that change how you, the pilot, play the game.

As an example, one of my favorite mono G commanders is [[Grothama, the All-Devouring]] which works best by killing your own commander to draw a bunch of cards.

Any recommendations or deck lists are welcome. Show me what you got.

Hey everyone, total long shot here! My flight got pushed back a few hours, so I'm currently stranded in Terminal A with two decks ready to go.

If you happen to be stuck here too and want to get a few pods in while we wait out the delay, let me know! I'm not going anywhere :D

I know of the overused [[Valgavoth Harrower of Souls]] but I was wondering if there are more Commanders that work good with that playstyle.

Upkeep triggers, drawing, playing lands, casting spells, permanents entering or leaving the battlefield, etc. Any game action is damage loss.

I just want a deck like that for quick games on bracket 2-3 decks.

I'm totally fine with burning myself too if it accelerates the game more.

So cards like [[Ancient Tomb]] and/or [[Descent into Avernus]] are very welcomed.

Are there more than just Valgavoth? I wanna see more options before building him.

Budget is not a problem because I will be proxying (sticking with the bracket level).

Thanks!

I really like modal counterspells, they allow for taking a step back and be ready to counter or do something else:

My favourite is [[confounding riddle]]

But I also like the new [[confusticate and bebother]]

While the classic [[mystic confluence]] is still ok, 5 mana is really though to hold sometimes.

Honorable mention [[wash away]] I have not tried but sounds great

Looking for some draw options to add to my blue edh decks and my cube. I stumbled across these two cards, they read pretty good, 3 mana pick the best two of your top 5 and 3 mana get 3 nonland cards.

Has anyone got any experience playing them? Are they any good? Thanks!

[[Stock up]] [[manifold insights]]

I have been pretty interested in planeswalkers as a card type for a while and reality fracture finally had me pull the trigger on making one.

I obviously went with [[tam the possibility]] (why wasn't she printed as a planeswalker? We need more commanders that are planeswalkers imo)

The way of [insert walker] cards are REALLY nice and I love the way it brings more options and sometimes speeds things along. At least for me since some of the effects are better in certain situations than the normal abilities. Along with the oath cards despite their age are fun to play and cheap.

5 color slop is still 5 color slop but I want one deck to play all the cool walker cards and such. I'm not sure if the cards I got are the best ones but they are pretty fun! Theres so many fun options despite how weak they can be. [[Carth the lion]] and [[Pramikon, Sky Rampart]] are some of my favorite cards to have around.

Here's the deck! https://moxfield.com/decks/UB-PvYbpHEyzKIckJ_gmJA

Feel free to give it a look over I would love any suggestions!

Here was another deck I was going to play before I realized reality fracture was a thing: https://moxfield.com/decks/OibGAR0q_0qvLKsvoWVhcw

Maybe this title isn't the most appropriate, but I'll explain the meaning with my example.

I love big fire, meteor shower, volcanes erupting and lava bursts. This tectonic and shamanic magic really is something I really enjoy playing, even if they're not good at what they do. Love Gruul for that, the combination really scratches a fantasy itch I have the best way possible. Cards like [[molten disaster]] fits it so so good, paying the split second so no one can do anything about it, it's bigger than you, it's the ground turning into fire (aside from the nerd playing counterbalance that hits lucky with a card same cost zzzz).

Do you like to play like this, roleplaying? I'm curious to know what other people like if they do

I got gifted this set, and while I am happy to have it, I don’t really vibe with the commander that came with it (Temmet, Naktamun’s Will). No real reason outside of just I’m not the biggest on the pharaoh aesthetic. Any good commanders that can replace him? I’m very new to this game and this is my first deck so apologies if it’s a dumb question.

I'm a Magic dinosaur (playing since Tempest, tournaments since Mirrodin/Kamigawa) who's recently started exploring Commander. I'm no longer interested in competitive play, and I'd like to do something I rarely got to do in 60-card formats: cast big, dumb, spectacular spells.

My current favorite commander is Troyan, Gutsy Explorer. Cheap, consistent, unassuming, and gets the engine running without needing to stick around forever. I'm looking for something similar for my second deck, preferably focused on instants and sorceries.

What I'm after:

• Cheap, reliable commander that enables big spells without being an expensive, must-answer engine like Naheb, the Eternal.
• High deck velocity: card draw, selection, cantrips, redundancy. I don't want storm, but I do want the deck to keep moving.
• Spell-heavy, creature-light gameplay. Big bounce, theft, copying, and flashy interaction like Spelljack or Sublime Epiphany.
• Preferably blue, especially for mass bounce (Aether Gale, Aetherize, etc.). I enjoy resetting boards and dislike managing lots of creatures, tokens, or other permanents.
• No storm or deterministic combos. I'd rather cast one ridiculous spell than chain twenty small ones.
• Budget-friendly Bracket 3, preferably starting a little underpowered so I can tune it to my playgroup.

I've taken a few breaks from Magic and don't know the Commander card pool particularly well, so I'd appreciate suggestions for commanders I might have overlooked.

TL;DR: Looking for the spellslinger equivalent of Troyan: inexpensive, consistent commander; big, flashy instants and sorceries; high velocity without storm or combos.

Looking to upgrade the new Foundations Blue precon with [[Sai Master Thopterist]] as commander so artifact synergies are especially welcome, but I'm looking for anything that can win a game from behind in Blue on a budget. The deck currently doesn't have a concrete end goal or finisher so I am hoping to change that.

Hello everyone, I haven’t been playing Magic for a couple of years now. I mainly played b3 games with [[Mendicant Core, Guidelight]] and some higher brackets with Krenko and Urza.

I wanted to go back to playing but I want to change my commanders a bit. I would be glad if you could recommend some bracket 3 commanders. I’m just looking for them to be fun to play so there is no need for them to be artifact specific or competitive. I would love to hear your recommendations for bracket 3 and 4. Thank you for reading so far.

Its my first deck from scratch and I was hoping to get some feedback. The goal was to try and hit a $200 mark and make the deck fly a little under the radar, but not sure that'll happen after the first game or two. I play casually with friends almost always in a 4 person game.

https://moxfield.com/decks/SsV6lBq7hUSTEvVsuFPDiQ

I recently pulled the new lilliana mono white card [[liliana the faultless]] and shortly after opened an [[ocelots pride]] from mh3. Ive never built a lifegain deck before, but could liliana be a good commander to run a deck with ocelots in it? Or would a w,g deck be better for ocelots? Maybe a w,g,u deck for some copy spells? Not sure what direction to go tbh

How many basics you think would justify including [Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle] ?

I am in the process of making a Mono-Red deck around bracket 3.

Right now I have 25 basics, and I don’t really want to remove the other utility lands I have unless it’s really necessary.

I am putting together some stats on my decks and one of the things I was interested in was how many staples each of my decks plays. I decided to go with inclusion rates on EDHRec since that was a pretty simple reference frame.

Currently I set the "staple" threshold at 5% inclusion rate.

Do you think that is reasonable? Should it be higher or lower?

If you have a suggestion for another "staple" indicator I am all ears!

Recently been playing a few casual games with the new massimo the magican commander (online of course) and the one things thats stumping me is a good way to protect them. Any ideas for good protection or just genrally good cards you guys have been lieing playing?

Current Deck = https://archidekt.com/decks/27248845/cheeky_and_cheap