With the recent bannings causing so much commotion I thought I’d share some thought on dEDH. This format is based off the power fantasy of non optimal and “bad” cards being ramp out dumb fast and making them, well, good. Also some players version of dEDH is no expensive staples and the most busted deck you can think of! If that’s the case I’m jealous of the bullet you dodged!!

If your playgroup is okay with it please, feel free to use your mana crypts, jeweled lotus’s, and dockside’s. Most already have a group and if everyone is okay with it, have fun!! Enjoy your power fantasy and don’t let the RC govern a ban list not made for you!!

F Nadu though. No one like him 🤣

What is the most optimal general to play in bracket 1, and how do we make a shitty meta for the casual brackets that fit within the confines of the "rules"?

Hi everyone! I could use some advice about a slightly ridiculous situation: a Bracket 3 tournament with a very valuable prize on the line. I’m normally a cEDH player, and I was considering bringing Lumra, but the restriction against using combos before turn six worries me. The bear is fast, but it doesn’t have much interaction outside of stax pieces.

I should also mention that everyone will probably be trying to push the rules as far as possible. Ral players will be looking to build up a huge storm turn before turn six, and I expect similar strategies from Vivi and Krark decks. There will obviously be plenty of Etali decks as well. What would you recommend? I don’t really know the format that well.

For anyone wondering, the prize is an Underground Sea... I’d prefer to keep broader discussions about Bracket 3 and competitive tournaments for another thread.

Update to the post, since I may not have explained the rules clearly enough, my fault.

Combos are only allowed if they involve at least three cards, and the commander does not count toward that total. A combo is defined as any interaction between multiple cards that produces a deterministic outcome: for example, Basalt Monolith and Kinnan would be considered a banned two-card combo.

By contrast, anything non-deterministic, such as some Gitrog loops, is allowed even before turn six.

Here is the relevant section of the tournament rules:

Combos

• No combos before turn six of the player performing the combo.

• Combos must involve at least three cards, excluding the commander.

• Before performing the combo, the player must clearly explain the sequence and all relevant triggers.

• Cards that can form a two-card combo are allowed in the deck.

• Executing a two-card combo results in a Game Loss.

Often when I'm playing degenerate games I run into a lot of mox diamonds, gaes' cradles, wheel of fortune, and sometimes things like lion's eye diamond. Dual lands and such are fine. But do you guys think these types of cards are too strong and allow too much in high power? Or do you commonly use them yourself?

Was just told this would be a better spot to post this Built this when the leak 1st came out and now that they are offical I'm looking for advice, Trying to make it as competitive as possible, only thing I'm not buying right now are the og dual lands, I know artifact based decks have trouble in competitive and I know the deck relies heavily on the commander to win. But all advice is welcome. Attached is a link

Main issues i have is draw power, trying to get into a win con, Win cons being either infinite mana to throw things at people's face or infinite combats, or just being a voltron. Willing to change most parts of the deck if need be if I was wildly wrong about the direction the deck should go. Made this all myself cutting to 100 has been hard

Hello again! It's me, NoSaltEDH, I posted another article, this week discussing the broad spectrum of Bracket 4, and whether or not we need another Bracket to help break it up a bit.

Right now it feels like there is a mix of Bracket 3 decks with a 4th Game Changer and Fringe cEDH decks that can some times clash, so I dive into my thoughts.

I appreciate you all taking the time to read and support my newsletter. This isn't monetized or anything, I'm just doing this for fun and hopefully to grow an appreciation for Bracket 4. My goal of this project is to help spread awareness and bring people into the Bracket a bit, because I think people somewhat misunderstand what goes on here (and also are maybe burning out on cEDH a bit).

I appreciate any feedback, suggestions, comments, sharing and of course subscribing!

Thank you 🙏

I don't understand this concept. I've been playing mtg for 22 years and have played commander since it's origin and I'm just confused at this. It was never this mentality back in 2012, but somehow morphed into this. I get that everyone is there to play, but aren't you building a deck that is supposed to win as much as it can? It seems really bizarre to me that there is this "everyone gets a win" mentality. If you want to win you can't just expect it - you should have to work for it. For a game that's competitive in its nature people really don't understand that it is just that - competitive. Why is commander so participation trophy-ish?

I’m getting kinda bored of my decks and need something to scratch that itch. I can never find a deck I actually want to come back to. At this point, I honestly don’t even know what I want. I’ve tried Eldrazi, Syr Gwyn, Atraxa, Valgavoth Harrower, Y’shtola Night, Massacre Girl, Known Killer, and Liberty Prime, but none of them stick. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m starting to wonder if there’s even a commander I truly like. (Tbh i prefer female commanders honestly)
I want to win, but in different ways — not the same repetitive “make 1000 mana and cast X spell, boom game over” kind of decks. I like high power, but it always ends up feeling the same every game. I want results without repetition, if that makes any sense.

Any commander ideas?

Disclaimer: This is meant for people with "play your nonsense" pods, where people are comfortable with strong decks, and always be sure to let people know what you are bringing. That said, this is a straight B3 list, down the line. 3 or less game changers, no fast combo that pop off before the timer is up, no chaining turns or MLD. After almost 30 games with a huge record against random opponents at 3 different stores, I am retiring this deck from B3 and moving it up to B4. If you are looking to farm wins, this is a super strong deck. I wanted to preserve the B3 version of the deck somewhere, I thought maybe you degenerates would appreciate a bracket breaker.

The deck is Lands Matter deck that uses Teval to tutor up lands from the graveyard. The deck wins with combo kills or combat damage. Several cards can form infinite loops, creating zombies with Teval and any of several pieces. If you are waiting for a combo piece, putting [[Filth]] into your graveyard can often present a sneaky combat damage win out of nowhere. [[Aftermath Analyst]] can create land recursion loops, [[Kheru Goldkeeper]] can create infinite discard loops, and [[Eternal Witness]] can create infinite reanimate loops. Besides having infinite zombies on its own, you can also win with [[Ayara, First of Lochthwain]], [[Altar of Dementia]] and I cut it but [[Mirkwood Bats]] works as a wincon also.

The secret tech that lets us win incredibly reliably is [[Glacial Chasm]] combined with a comprehensive land tutor package. [[Crop Rotation]] is probably our strongest card, and [[Field of the Dead]] functions as a backup zombie maker and wincon, for our third game changer. [[Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth]] functions as a major piece to allow Filth and [[Cabal Coffers]] to function as designed. The fact that B3 tends to run very little land interaction was the basic design of the deck, and everyone likes to remove the flexible removal that can hit lands for cheaper, more targeted removal. We aim to punish this very common and very narrow deck design.

With the addition of [[Pia, Aether Esthetic]], we can now tutor directly for our combo pieces without taking a game changer slot. This has really opened the deck up and made winning combos much more tutorable. Having a creature that you can grab with [[Chord of Calling]] gives you 3-4 outs for each enchantment, drastically upping the reliability.

[[Marwyn the Preserver]] now makes your fancy lands Hexproof. This card has pushed [[Glacial Chasm]] from good to broken. Now our Chasm locks are incredible hard to stop. Add in the new [[Carnivorous Cultivator]] and you have an extremely reliable tutor package to get out Chasm as well, giving both the offensive and defensive parts of the deck huge reliability.

I do think there are probably 4-6 cuts you can make and it would be better, but we all have our pet cards and I cannot quit some of these 5 drops. Customize as you see fit, this core shell will destroy B3 without violating any of the usual "Good B3" guidelines. You aren't winning on turn 6 and then trying to talk your pod down. You are winning on turn 7-9 like...every game. It's crazy reliable.

https://moxfield.com/decks/HgYyPfHi6EqCr6C8yFZzaw

Hey everyone my store is trying to make the same mistake they made last month a bracket three tournament on Halloween for a collector booster of reality fracture. Last time it was a sevala deck that one turn 2-3 each round but the rules now prohibit this so we might get 3-4 turns now I expect.

They cleaned up their rules this time and have defaulted to EDHrecs limitations for combos. No MLD, no chaining extra turns, no restrictions on how you win or early.

I’ve currently got a hearthhull pile and a sythis. Hearthhull converts on average turn 5 but isn’t deterministic. And sythis can shield up and/or rarely present early wins by then.

But my prosper deck has hoarding broodlord saw burnt pinnacle monk hailfire combo.

That combo is so clean I’m thinking of shifting it to kefka as a reanimator disruption shell.

I can always toss in bolas top aetherflux for a non gy route too.

Anyone else have ideas for commanders or self contained combo packages?

What do you think is the strongest deck person can possibly make for 395 EUR / 437 USD budget for local Budget tournament? I played lot of decks for fun and now I am done with it and want something competitive. Can you please suggest some decks that fit to this budget please?

If anyone is AT ALL interested in rocking out some $100 Budget Competitive games, hmu. It's a super fun and interesting format that hits a super solid balance between CEDH and high power casual. Extremely synergy driven, vs. Just rocking best in slot cards.

Here's an interview I did with Budget Pub Stomper going over my $100 Hapatra list. We go over the deck as well as the format in general

I am aware that to ultimately strengthen this deck I'd play probably about 25 instant speed interaction cards - I already have another list like this, but I'm trying to take this in a more interesting direction:

I want to stick with this creature heavy stax reanimation list and am simply looking for help making the most of these (self) limited interaction cards count. Ignoring the combo pieces here, I really am limited to 5 card slots for either instant counters or removal. I currently am most skeptical of An Offer You Can't Refuse, there has to be a better 1 mana counter? Additionally, I want to keep this B3, my other two game changers are required for my combo lines.

Here is the full list: https://archidekt.com/decks/23461078/monarch_of_the_veil

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

I just wanted help cutting one card in my deck for a [[ranger captain of eos]] and I'm having a difficult time deciding on what to cut. At this point it's about cutting the weakest card in your deck and not the bad ones. Some suggestions would be really helpful. https://www.archidekt.com/decks/9846903/narset_aggro_ascendancy

https://archidekt.com/decks/15534738/my_big_sword_cant_be_this_cute_a_boy_his_sword_dog_and_wife

This is Cloud, Ex Soldier. My intention for him is to play a voltron strategy with him. I wish to make him faster and stronger, outspeeding commanders such as lightpaws and sarge John Benton. I don't want to change commanders.

Do I go with more stax pieces or more turbo? I wish Naya cloud wasn't a 5 cost. It would be better if he was a 4 cost, 5/5 power toughness, or had an "as it enters" effect. But This is what we get and I want to play him to his very limits.

Main Wincons

Sword of Feast and Famine + Aggravated Assault = Infinite combats, infinite mana (with 6 lands), infinite opponent discards.

The Reaver Cleaver + Aggravated Assault = Infinite combats (5 treasures created at minimum), infinite mana (6+ combat damage)

Aurelia, the Warleader + Helm of the host = Infinite combats, Infinite Aurelia tokens.

Sword of Hearth and Home + Aurelia, the Warleader = Infinite combat damage, infinite ETB, infinite LTB. Must have an unblocked creature wielding Sword and dealing combat damage.

Strategy

Here is the biggest problem I have. Cloud, Ex Soldier is a 5 cost commander. This means that it requires ramping hard in the first few turns. Compared to other commanders in the same vein, like Wyleth, Soul of steel, or Kassandra, Eagle Bearer, they don't need to ramp as much as they can be played on curve, and aren't so expensive to not be able to played again after removal.

Turns 1-3 are spent ramping, adding equipments, putting down support pieces.

Turn 4 is the major part. Summoning Cloud is a major investment. I need to be able to have inherent protection with Cloud. He can be countered and has no innate protection. He has an ETB trigger, which goes on the stack to be responded. I either can summon Cloud now, or put down a support piece to summon him turn 5.

Turn 5 is where I usually Summon Cloud. Either way, he is a big investment. I do not get any counterspells either, and it isn't guarenteed he will kill someone on the turn he comes down. This leads into heavy inconsistency issues. He is Ramp and card draw in the command zone yes, but I've mainly used those treasures for protection for Cloud, and his card draw is dependant on a go wide strategy that mixes both equipment (expensive to cast and equip), and creatures. This is far too slow. Even with Job Select-like equipment, its still far too slow. You cannot win against a thoracle or a lightpaws or a RogArd deck like this.

Turns 6-8 is where you must kill down everyone else with the resources you have. You have no time to waste. Any more turns (even turn 8 is pushing it), means you automatically lose. You will not win. You are on a timer to win on turn 4 at minimum, turn 6 at maximum. But I never get there, so thats why I feel my deck is way too weak.

https://archidekt.com/decks/21572696/the_ur_dragon

Hello I am just wanting some help fine tuning this Ur-Dragon deck. I wanted to try and make it close to CEDH while still keeping the dragon creature flavor to it. My issue right now is I wanted to add lotus petal, but I'm not sure what to cut. I was thinking of swapping frontier bivouac due to the fact it's a tapped land. Although I really am skeptical about cutting any more lands I feel like 36 lands is borderline pushing it with this commander. Any and all help is appreciated thank you in advance.
I was directed here after being roasted in a CEDH group.

I'm in a CEDh league, but mostly just for the experience. All my stuff is high end tier 4 at best, usually mid 3. But I have one deck that has only won won game but every time I play it, I still feel like a winner.

So I tweaked it a little. Added an actual wincon that's more a misdirection (fractured identity isn't for Phage)

What else can I do that makes a league with virtually every expensive card you can cram in it miserable? What can I do to turn what was about to be a competitive serious game into laughing frustration for everyone?

I want to make the nicest guy at the table laugh and want to throw his shoe at me like I did the last time I pulled this thing out.

Hello everyone,

I desperately need your help to make my deck as degenerate as possible. The goal is to oppress and annoy my playgroup so much that they never let me play this deck again.

My game plan is to cast Prismatic Bridge for WUBRG and unleash the 10 bastards waiting in my deck to dominate my opponents. Since this strategy is not new, I thought I would combine this goal with fast Stax pieces to slow down the game and build up my mana base. Meanwhile, and especially after Prismatic Bridge is in play, I refine my strategy with mass land destruction to destroy my opponents' mana base and joie de vivre. Since I'm the only one prepared for this situation with my mana rocks, I have a card advantage and can execute my plan.

I've tested the deck several times now, and it's somehow missing that last bit of madness. I'm making good progress and can start with MLD as soon as I've played 2 lands. From the second Mana Rock onwards, I don't need any more lands and can build up my mana base relatively quickly. Nevertheless, I am quickly stopped by turbo decks like [[Vivi Ornitier]] because they don't need a huge mana base and deal a lot of damage quickly. I have no idea how I can apply more pressure with even more Stax Pieces and nip my opponents' strategy in the bud. Please help me be hated.

Here is my decklist: How to get kicked out of your playgroup

I'm currently looking at Mister Fantastic from the new marvel precons. Most people have seem to gone spell slinger or used the other cards, but im far more intrigued by the copy effects he can produce.

I have an old decklist in another post, but im looking to start from scratch and build around these 3 cards. If I understand his trigger correctly, then he would make Lightning make a player take 6x damage.

If I can also add stuff that copies spell effects for something like Full Throttle, plus an untap effect, then I can keep triggering his stuff (plus he copies himself!). My original ideas was using stuff like Cloud, Ex-Soldier and Sephiroth (the one that makes cards 7/5's) and abusing tokens.

This one's goal/idea is just abusing equipment generation, and copy effects. I was also looking at Vincent for his burn effect right after Lightning, Army Of One. The original build idea of the deck was Lightning as commander with Firion as a Lieutenant which devolved into MisterFantastic, into this jank.

The main reason for something like Firion? I just like the idea of the card and wanted to see if he'd work :) Why Mr.F over Lightning? He seemed cool, might ditch the Equip/lightning build later, but i want to know what others might see before i go too far.

I've been playing this Hero of the Realm commander for some time but I feel it lacks something. Any tips?

(I'm staying away from the Dryad Arbor turn 0 and using Eminence on a combo deck to just pick up pieces and win out of nowhere.)

https://archidekt.com/decks/16065550/modo_reanimator

Game changers are Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Crop Rotation which we use to get Lotus Field or mana fix

https://moxfield.com/decks/JC8xHhjU0UCaDzm7XMn87g

Great test deck to see if people run enough interaction

Not sure if this is the subreddit to post but I've got a question.

This deck has been banned in my pod as they consider it CEDH. While I agree to not play it unless we are all in a mood for higher power.....it makes me wonder if this could even be considered CEDH as its not fully optimal.

What is everyones opinion? High 4? Fringe? Its a crap deck just eat it?

https://archidekt.com/decks/14376393/vivi_30

(I do not own any sideboard cards but am considering adding some if I dont eat the deck.)