In my last writings we delved deep into the world of precons – discussing exactly what drives the market, and essentially forming a pretty solid argument as to why they’re unlikely to disappear from shelves any time soon.
Today I’m hoping to share a few tips and tricks that have helped me build low to the ground financially, without completely compromising raw power. Needless to say I am not a supporter of ‘netdecking’, the act of taking an existing deck list and copying it down to the bone. Some formats rely on this in order to keep things as competitive as possible, shifting cards around as the Meta evolves with new sets. Commander is not a format that calls for this malarkey IMHO. There are thousands upon thousands of unique cards within the Magic realm, so why on earth should two decks with 100 cards in a singular format ever look even remotely similar?
Later on I’ll also share some thoughts on widely-accepted ‘staples’. There’s some discussion to be had as to why they are sometimes best avoided & why you should never take a card out of your deck if it’s causing problems in your playgroup.
Something that was touched on last week, and again by forum user Sunna, is harnessing the power of an unassuming commander. She’s correctly identified an extremely powerful commander who is unassuming, modest and reticent, Elas Il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim. [Sorry folks, the old forum is dead & gone, so Sunna’s post is no longer accessible].
If you’re playing Edgar Markov (or any commander with Eminence) then you can expect a flurry of aggression your way right off the bat. No one wants to see you assemble a board state that would surely lead to their demise.
By reversing this logic, the weaker your commander appears to your opponents, the better chance you have of establishing a board state and/or getting your deck’s engine up and running. Granted, once they’ve fallen prey to your underwhelming underdog once, they’re going to assess your threat differently next time, right ?
Perhaps.
But here’s some food for thought; the underwhelming underdog is still going to be a lesser threat VS the well-established powerhouse in the next game. And the game after that. The cat is out of the bag, but the honest truth is that a halfway decent player is always going to see controlling your threat as a second or third thought.
Just by winding down on the bling / staple front, you’re almost guaranteed relative peace during those vital early turns. Careful not to dial it back too far, in my experience a turn one commander will put you firmly in crosshairs regardless of the impact you are looking to make. Rosnakht is going to cause just as much of a stink as Tinybones!
Let’s look at an example of a low budget brew with an unassuming commander at the helm and pick it apart to demonstrate my point. I brewed this deck with the purpose of demonstrating how a bulk rare can still slap a jellyfish out of the water.
Wizardry or Elephantine Surgery? A Quick Run Down
Three mana, a seemingly average ETB effect, and the same effect that’s triggered during the end step if the prerequisite is met.
Is this a top-tier commander? In my opinion, it is not. Nor is this a top-tier deck – I have it for sale for $130NZD, meaning the average cost per card sits around $1.30NZD. That’s a fairly low price point to enter an expensive format like Commando. The decklist can be found here. I should say that the deck is in need of a plethora of 0 cost artifacts, Academy Manufactor and some more Clue generation before it can be fully realised.
The odds of getting this Elephant fella out on turn one is incredibly slim, and would be a complete fluke. You also want to hold artifacts in your hand until they’re needed on the board , or your commander is out and you’re looking to “proc” your Commander’s secondary ability. Enough of this Elephantine nonsense, let’s dig deeper.
Good choices for your commander bear the following criteria in mind:
- Cheap converted mana cost, but not too cheap.
- An underwhelming effect (at least after a cursory glance.)
- Avoids any commander with a reputation.
- Preferably one or two colors, with minimal “pips”.
- Consider the safety of your commander VS CMC. If your Commando is easier to kill, that should be indicative of a lower CMC.
Let’s look at a few underutilized strategies that can often make a big impact…
Dungeon Crawling
It might be obvious to some, but thanks to only a few sets containing relevant cards, this mechanic is overlooked. If you want to build powerful decks at an affordable price? Look no further. With three dungeons to crawl this is probably the most simple thing that can be added to a deck for some pizazz. Top choice for beginners, younger players and casual players looking to have fun without exercising their brainholes too vigorously.
Exalted
Exalted is a mechanic that I rarely see used in Commander. Obviously it’s not very useful for “go wide” decks such as token generation, but for the right deck (perhaps Voltron?) this is a very strong mechanic to exploit. Don’t forget that Exalted stacks, so having multiple cards out with this ability is very nice indeed.
My Eriette deck has a few exalted cards [They are gone now, this was diluting the power of the deck, and I’ve had more luck focusing entirely on Auras]. Her passive ability does most of the hard work, alongside Extort. If I attack I rarely would want to leave myself prone, so attacking with one creature isn’t just ‘OK’, it’s ideal.
Embrace the Strange Papyrus
Use cards that time has been unkind to. There’s heaps of reasons why cards fall in and out of fashion and they’re not always justified. I try to minimize “auto-including” to prevent things becoming formulaic. Often I’m flabbergasted when I see a card’s price appear lower than I was expecting.
“If I had loads of money, I’d buy 20 of these and put them in the slow cooker”
A good card is a good card Regardless of how often it sees play. The abuse of EDHrec, subsequent netdecking…Hasbro pre-conning… it leads to a dry up of certain cards , and it dries out and mummifies our brains. Less Scryfall, Youtube and EDHRec and more HaHo ought to offer the inspiration you need to finish your latest deck.
Land Destruction et al.
So, no one else in your pod likes land destruction , and they certainly don’t use land destruction in their decks. Who cares? I’m not playing MTG to try and win the hearts of my opponents (though I appreciate, some of you may be).
If a card or a strategy serves a purpose to you, let the card do its work for you. If your opponent(s) repeatedly question the presence of a card or specific strategy (land destruction for instance) there are two possibilities. Your plan or a particular card is really, really bad – go back to the drawing board this time, young buck. The other possibility? It’s a powerful and formidable strategy in your arsenal and your opponents hate it (!!!!!). They really don’t like it. It’s likely broken the existing norms within your meta, and those who are used to being close to the top of the pecking order don’t like being relegated.
Maybe you’ll cave in and remove the offending articles after your opponent has a sook (for those of you outside of New Zealand, that’s slang for a toddler tantrum). This is really atrocious behavior, and a loathsome trait found once in a while within the community.. If you don’t like something? Get better. If you are the player at your LGS who scoops upon X or Y, get those barnacles off your brain and get over it!
We can say that we don’t enjoy a card or win condition easily enough, I absolutely despise cyclonic rift. It’s barely ever followed up with anything clever or meaningful. Rarely does my vitriol turn to glee and it’s followed up with a swift and intelligent assault that results in a win.
“Good news everyone, the game will continue for another 90 minutes”
My point is that while it’s ok to dislike cards & particular mechanics, it’s not okay to demand or guilt players into removing cards that can’t be easily dealt with.
Jokulhaups is a fair card. Worldfire is a fair card. Look at the converted mana cost for these beautiful beasts! If a red player can gather enough mana to cast these cards, and they resolve successfully? Congratulations. Land destruction & board wipes in general are a perfectly viable strategy and yet are distinctly absent from “Commando” games.
Yes, there is a point to make that superficially these cards are not particularly “casual”. However, I take the view that their high CMC automatically makes them casual play cards. Could it really be that the players against land destruction are the ones who benefit the most from having access to broken amounts of mana? Or perhaps they have an abundance of gargantuan strength Reserve List utility lands. Oh, you’re running expensive cards like Dual lands, Volrath’s Stronghold, Lotus Vale, Scorched Ruins etc.
The widely hated pieces that destroy these cards are worth a fraction of the cost. Imagine losing your $1,200 Gaea’s Cradle to a 50c Stone Rain that’s been copied (taking out the annoying Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth on the other side of the board too). Sodium levels reaching dangerous levels, tables are going to flip soon.
Tweaking your deck after every game with your playgroup could be seen as a little over the top, perhaps even frowned upon. But adding cards to deal with new threats seems completely logical to me. This is how metas are established in the first place, and why our pet decks that get the most use are often forever changing.
It’s also the reason why even stacked, blinged out staple-fests carved out of an EDHRec list or mentioned by your favourite YouTuber are not guaranteed to win. The meta of the original builder is going to be wildly different to yours. So allow yourself some wiggle room with regards to “staples”, and embrace strange cards with odd effects – they are far harder to cope with! If you play Damnation, everyone knows wagwan (that’s “what’s up”). They can respond accordingly, because it’s very clear what’s happening; it’s happened in many games before & will happen in many more to come.
On the contrary, If you play Tombstone Stairwell, players barely skim through the painful wall of text, let alone fully understand it. They might not really understand just how deadly that Bastion of Remembrance in combination really is.
Play around with the cards available to you and your playgroup – you’ll soon find synergistic cards and before you know it you have the backbone for an entire deck. Imagine, a synergistic and powerful deck made without the interjection of others, lacing your deck with subfusc peso gobblers. Feelsgoodman.
Just remember, you are your own Master – you ultimately decide what is and isn’t kosher because it’s your bloody deck! Take a minute to consider the notion your opponent does not have a particularly vested interest in your deck being powerful. If they laugh at your choice of cards, maybe you should just laugh back..
Keep on keeping on you kelpie creatures,
J / KK.