thaumaturgy : the Gathering ’s fabled chance formatting , Commander , got a Brobdingnagian cost increase this month with the exit of five unexampled deck full of multiplayershenanigans . This guidebook to Commander will facilitate you get started and incur the rightdeck to destroy your friends in the most awfully fun direction possible .
Whenever I post Magic : the gather articles , a mickle of thecommenters lament not being able to play because it costs too much or it ’s toohard to keep up with new passing . I totally feel your pain in the neck ( I ’ve stoppedplaying in tournament for similar reasons ) . But there are tons of fun way toplay Magic with your friends without emptying your checking account , andCommander is one of the best .
In Commander , each player uses a 100 - placard deck . you could onlyhave one copy of a devote card ( other than basic lands ) in your deck , which iswhy it ’s eff as a singleton format . In addition , your deck has a Commander – a single legendary tool who begins playing period in the “ command zone . ” It canalways be cast from your statement zona , and when it dies it goes back to the program line zone ( although thecost to draw it increases each sentence this happens ) . This means you’re able to progress therest of your deck to take vantage of the commander ’s ability , since you’llalmost always have approach to it . Your deck of cards also has to be built from the samecolors as your commander .
Commander was originally invented by evaluator who wanted alow - pressure agency to play when they were n’t evaluate tournaments . Back then theycalled it older Dragon Highlander , or EDH , and you ’ll still hear player referto the format this way . But in 2011 , superstar of the Coast let go of their firstofficial Commander product ( and changed the name out of fear of trademarkinfringement ) . The Commander rules are still maintained by a committee of fans – you could read the full rulesat their land site – there ’s aninformaloverviewof the rules here .
Why is Commander such a good format for casual players ?
It ’s contrive as a multiplayer data format , perfectfor a grouping of four or five friends .
Cards never “ rotate out ” of Commander , so youdon’t have to worry about buying young set or reconstruct your deck with newcards every three months . you’re able to act on your Commander deck bit by bit , addingcards over time and as you’re able to afford them . ( Cards are sometimes ostracize by therules citizens committee for being unfun or make games go on too long , but this ispretty rare ) .
Commander is suppose to be a scummy - stakes , funformat ( it ’s in the committee ’s prescribed philosophy ) . It is certainly possibleto expend a net ton of money build your deck , but it ’s equally possible to builda great , fun pack of cards with inexpensive cards and you ’ll never feel spoilt that yourdeck could n’t win the big tournament . Because there are no big tournaments .
It tends to be a dense format , so you may playall those ridiculous immense creatures and spell out that cost too much mana to playin a “ serious ” witching game .
Building a 100 - circuit card pack of cards around your Commanderof choice is a huge opportunity to show off your creativity and use some of theweird cards in your collection .
If you ’d like to dig a little profoundly into Commanderstrategy , there are some excellent blogs where player apportion newfangled deck ideas andalternate ways to spiel .
Jules Robinswrites a regularCommander columnfor GatheringMagic.com .
Adam Styborskiwritesabout Commander(among other matter ) for the prescribed Magic site .
Sheldon Meneryalsohas a Commander editorial , this one at StarCityGames.com . Menery is on theCommander rules commission , and he has a mountain of interesting things to say aboutthe format .
Commander game can get complicated with four orfive players ’ puppet , artifact and spells creating a convoluted entanglement of weirdinteractions . There ’s an excellentMagic rule judge blogthatposts interesting rule baksheesh a few times each week . They even devoted this weekto some of the new Commander cards .
If you have a combustion rules question that needsanswering immediately , Wizards of the Coast maintainsa 24/7 live chat(actually anirc epithelial duct ) , where a certified MtG evaluator will reply your interrogative sentence on thespot . I did n’t know about this until we did our playtesting , so I tried it outthis morning , and they answer my question about Price of Knowledge withinabout two transactions .
Commander 2013
Now , on to the reassessment of the fresh decks ! establish a Commanderdeck from scratch is fairly daunting for new or give back instrumentalist , which is whythe official Commander deck are so nice . Wizards let go of the 2013 Commanderdecks of late , and while the decks are n’t perfect out of the boxwood , they ’re agreat base to startle with . They include separate of Greco-Roman card , somegreat Commander staples likeSol Ring , and a crowd of brand new , never beforeprinted cards . Many of the new posting are design to take advantage of thequirks of the format ( like commanders that get stronger each time you puke themfrom the command zona ) .
When it came meter to go over all five decks , there weren’tquite enough review copies to go around . So we turned toour friends at CoolStuffInc . They hook us up with the four decks we still needed so we could give them alla serious test driving . They also sellsingle cards from the pack of cards , so you cangrab a specific air force officer if you ’d rather build around it yourself . With allfive decks in bridge player , we seat down with our friendsLaura Grace(who is , incidentally , an amazing cosplayer ) and Joe Azzarella for a few games .
Each of the five decks is built around a new commandant , butalso admit two other legends in the same color , so you could use one of themas the commander alternatively . A deck will flirt a picayune differently depending onwhich commander you use , so there ’s some flexibility to pick the one that suitsyour favorite style of looseness . Each deck of cards also derive with three outsized foilversions of the three legend . I ’ve frankly never take heed anyone express theslightest bit of pastime in these giant cards , and have never seen them usedin a Commander secret plan . During our playtest we decided that some token creaturescards representing some of the creature the pack of cards can beget would be muchmore desirable . The decks do come with nice pack of cards boxes that are design to fitthe giant cards .
Eternal Bargain – White , Blue , Black
build aroundOloro , Ageless Ascetic , this deck strives togain tons of life , then spend it on powerful effects like drawing lots of cardsor kill every puppet in maneuver . Oloro himself is very herculean while inplay , but he permit you hit life-time even when he ’s languishing in the bid zona . Some of the reprint in this deck are especially interesting , likeBrilliant PlanandKongming , “ Sleeping Dragon . ”These add-in originally appeared in a sortof beginner ’s set called Portal : Three Kingdoms several years ago . The morepowerful cards in the set have become scarce and expensive , plus this is thefirst meter they ’ve ever been print as regular Magic menu ( Portal cardslooked a bit dissimilar ) .
In our playtest , this deck gained a lot of life ahead of time , butthat seemed to paint a objective on it as other players would round to keep thegrowing life story total under control . It also ran out of steam and shinny tofind a way to finish off opponents . It was frightfully hard to stamp out , though – just when you thought it was down to its last few life-time points , it would gain 12more .
Some ideas for improving this deck of cards : Ajani Goldmane(whoseultimate ability gives you an avatar wight equal to your life total);Obzedat , Ghost Councilgains you more life and is difficult for opposition tokill;Blood Baron of Vizkopabecomes truly dreaded as soon as someone getsbelow 10 life;Beacon of Immortalitywill make your friends detest you;any of the Extort creaturesfrom Return to Ravnica will let you chip away at youropponents and keep gaining life .
Nature of the Beast – Red , Green , White
Built aroundMarath , Will of the Wild , it was a piddling toughto see what this pack of cards was trying to accomplish . It understandably wants a slew of mana , and has a few effects likeCultivateto ramp up your mana product early on , butnot as much as you ’d expect from a dedicated ramp pack of cards . you may also shaft outbigger puppet with alternate commanderMayael the Anima . alas , there were n’t enough really satisfying target for either of these strategy . Thisdeck felt the weakest and least focused of the five . However , it has a lot ofpotential if you want to add more Brobdingnagian creature likeWoodfall PrimusorWorldspine Worm . Just be aware that adding inNatural Orderto get a turn of events four(or even turn three ) Worldspine is not fail to pull ahead you many champion at the mesa , and Commander canbe a very political secret plan .
Another really fun ( and less abusive ) choice for this deckisBirthing Pod , which lets you gradually escalate the creatures you have whilesearching for just the correct menace for any place . Like all of these decks , Nature of the Beast would benefit from improving the lands . It ’s a three colordeck , so benefit access to more versatile terra firma likeWooded BastionorClifftop Retreatwill verify you may cast your trance more consistently .
Power Hungry – Red , Black , Green
WithProssh , Sky Raider of Kheras Commander , this deck’sgoal is easy to discern . It creates a mass of small-scale , disposable creature , thensacrifices them for some beneficial effect . Sometimes you could eat your owncreatures to draw card , but most of the time you ’ll apply them to deal damage toyour opponents . In one of our test plot , I was blend in to lose on my haulage step(thanks to being at 1 liveliness with an opponent’sPrice of Knowledgein play).Using aScarland Thrinax , Stalking Vengeanceand a clustering of small beast , I was able to kill off one opponentbefore I died , and if I did n’t suck at math , I think I could have won the biz . So the deck has the potential to be volatile and come out of nowhere with hugeplays .
This deck offers a nice opportunity to play a quicker , moreaggressive deck than you usually see in Commander . Adding identity card likeMadrush CyclopsandOgre Battledriverwill put on the other pressure , while a kickedGoblin Bushwhackercan make all those slight kobold and saproling tokens agenuine threat . Just be fain to deal with some hate from the other playerswhen you get bashing away at their life sentence totals . Since you ’re not play niceanyway , you might as well breed aLavalancheto really punish anyone who triesto staunch your ravishment .
Mind Seize – Blue , Black , Red
This is the deck most likely to be out of fund or sold wayabove retail terms . The reason is that the new cards in the Commander fix arelegal in Magic ’s competitive “ everlasting ” format , where role player can use almostany card in Magic ’s history to build deck . once in a while the Commander cardsare so skilful that supplying and demand drives the price of the plug-in ( and the deckit ’s in ) way up . Such is the case with Mind Seize , which comprise the totallyfair in a multiplayer game but horrendously overpowered in a head - to - head matchTrue - Name Nemesis .
In any sheath , this is a really fun Commander deck if you canget your men on it . It play a expectant political secret plan by allowing everyone atthe table to withdraw lots of extra cards with thing likeTemple BellandProsperity . Everyone loves drawing cards , so no one will want to kill you ordestroy your awesome add-in draught effects . Then , when everyone is feeling fatand glad with their bulge out hand full of carte du jour , you punish them for theirgreed with Price of Knowledge orNekusar , the Mindrazer .
Skyscribing , Braingeyser , andForced Fruitionare good waysto bubble over everyone ’s hands with a bounty of extra visiting card . For a winnings conditionother than Price of Knowledge , you could useMegrimorLiliana ’s Caressto harmthem when they dispose down to seven cards at turn ’s destruction . Alternately , you canfocus on commanderJeleva , Nephalia ’s Scourge , who exiles card from librariesand disgorge instants or sorceries for detached when she attacks . You ca n’t controlwhat ’s in your opponent ’s decks , but you’re able to stack your own deck with greatJeleva quarry . Spells thatgive you extra turnswill seem tempting , but theycan seriously smash a Commander plot for everyone else at the table . Be morecreative than that .
Evasive Maneuvers – Green , White , Blue
This deck has a really fun theme that ’s sort of poorlyexecuted . What it aims to do is “ blink ” your own creatures in and out of playto gain extra welfare from burden that set off when they follow into gambling . Derevi , Emperial Tacticianis ok as the commander , but one of the alternatecommanders , Roon of the Hidden Realm , is much better . Roon will lease you blinkyourFarhaven ElforAcidic Slimein and out of existence all twenty-four hours .
While there are a few good blink targets in the deck of cards , it needsa lot more . Mulldrifteris a innate pick , along withEternal Witness , Solemn Simulacrum , and ( if you ’re feeling mean),Draining Whelk . Better ways to blinkyour animal will assist too : Deadeye Navigator , Restoration Angel , and theplaneswalkerVenser , the Sojourner .
WhatlegendaryMagic creaturewould you build up a Commander deck around ? Or if you alreadyplay , what ’s your best-loved commandant ?
peculiar thanks toCoolStuffInc .
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