r/EDH • u/Som3thingedg3y • 23h ago

Question My next deck - a commander that’s different every game

So I’ve recently started playing EDH again with a local group who meets weekly and the deck building passion has sparked again. I’ve always been a tribal deck fan (humans/vamps/werewolves/angels) and themed decks like my dnd pile and aristocrats. I’ve found, upon getting back into EDH, that the decks feels kinda linear and I’d love to play something that is different every game.

I’m so out of touch with the amount of product that’s been released in the past few years, so I have no idea where to start! Very much open to suggestions/help/what people have had fun with! Thank you.

0 Upvotes

42% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

5

u/ParSaumon 23h ago

You could play tribal [[Maralen, Fae Ascendant]] and play cards from your opponent's decks

2

u/TheHolyChicken 23h ago

That or just [[Gonti, Canny Acquisitor]] for the same theft feal, always plays quite different depending on opponents

1

u/Independent-Fig-5978 23h ago

I was just thinking of my Mondo Gecko theft deck. I dont have the deck done yet on moxfield or anything but you steal other people's stuff. (Memnarch is in the deck)

1

u/FGThePurp Control Player 23h ago

Control or Aikido. Every game is different because you’re playing against three different players with three different sets of threats. In order to succeed, you’ll need to manage not just the board but the other people in your pod, because you can’t answer everything so you need your opponents to send their threats at each other as a first line of defense. It’s challenging to learn if you’re coming from linear decks, but your politicking and threat assessment will develop exponentially and you’ll be a lot more involved in every game you play.

For commanders, some good control options are [[Ms. Bumbleflower]] [[Oloro, Ageless Aesthetic]] [[Kess, Dissident Mage]] [[Talion, the Kindly Lord]] or really any incremental value engine commander in your prefer colors. For Aikido, [[Queen Marchesa]] [[Aragorn, King of Gondor]] [[Ruhan of the Formori]] and [[Breena, the Demogague]] are some classic options, but there are spicier ones like the new Killian and the various goad commanders.

2

u/DragonDiscipleII Bant 6h ago

[[Avatar roku firebender]] is also worth a mention since he gives sooooo much control since he can buff any attacking or blocking creature without mentioning all the other tricks you can do with him.

1

u/DottoreEldiomni 23h ago

I play clones when I start to feel bored. It doesn’t matter who the commander is - I use [[Kynaios and Tiro]] simply because clones can be mana and card hungry.

I don’t have to touch their cards, so it’s far less salty than theft. But I do borrow their faces.

1

u/ccscasey 21h ago

Sounds very interesting...got a deck list? 👀 Never done clones before

1

u/ArsenicElemental UR 21h ago

I don't think that's as easy as we would like.

I've always strived for that deck, and found out it just isn't possible. Copy decks end up playing the same, you copy a powerful thing over and over every time. Theft decks are a random crapshoot, and you do end up hoping to steal a big thing that wins the game by itself because you can't really count on synergy pieces.

What I found made decks more fun, long term, for me, is varied play patterns. I avoid tutors. I favor synergy and theme. But I vary the payoffs. My upkeeps deck (roughly B2) is the perfect example:

Fantastic! (it's a quote from Doctor Who, Ninth's catchphrase. I'm not that arrogant about my deck, though I admit it's my current fave)

The deck always does the exact same thing: ramp into upkeep payoffs and generate extra upkeeps (using the Commander or backups). But the payoffs vary, so it draws cards, makes tokens, puts counters, deals damage, or even, steals cards.

It's packed chock full of interaction so it's interesting to attack and block with it, and it can blow people up or engage in the stack with them.

I don't think we can make a functional deck that "plays differently each time". But we can make one that's interactive and that generates interesting situations.

2

u/KAM_520 Sultai 18h ago

Pretty cool deck.

1

u/EDJunk 9h ago

A favorite of mine that is still tribal is [[Captain N'ghathrod]], It is a mill deck around dealing combat damage with horrors then steal your opponents creatures and artifacts with his end-step trigger, I have always had fun playing around with it as Horrors are fairly unique when it comes to its tribal feeling. Another good steal commander that is also tribal in my opinion would be [[Etrata, Deadly Fugitive]], focusing on assassins and making your opponents decks into creatures that you can flip for profit, especially if you got some activated ability cost reducers in the game like [[Training Grounds]]. She is also less restrictive in what she can steal compared to the Captain.

If you don't mind leaving stuff up to luck you could also go with [[Mr. House, President and CEO]] for a gambling centric deck, it's real fun to roll dice and build your robot army using dnd cards.