It is also important to take into consideration the mana costs of cards in your deck, not only your commander's color identity. I used to have a bunch of boros lands in my Edgar vampire tribal deck until I realized that most of my bity boys ask for black mana, now i only run orzhov and rakdos lands apart from the ones giving any color ofc.
That's why I like building decks on sites like TappedOut. As you build the deck it keeps track of stats like devotion, allowing you to better tune your mana base. I used to have the same thing in my Atraxa deck, basing my mana base more on the color identities of the cards, rather than the actual colored mana costs of those cards.
@@skillganon606 I started doing that myself about 2 years ago after a deck I'd built kept getting screwed on colored mana. "Why do I keep getting white mana when I need black mana?! Oh, it's cus my mana base is split about 45/55 white/black, but the mana requirements is closer to 30/70."
I usually start with a commander or “gimmick” and go to gatherer. Once I’ve got a good idea of a deck I check out EDHrec to see if there’s anything I’ve missed or something I hadn’t thought about.
Powering up your commander deck is easy. It’s powering down and everyone having a fun experience that’s harder. That said, sitting there with not enough lands is no fun. Great video on making sure you have a consistent deck.
Taking out all the extra turn shenanigans from my Atraxa deck has done wonders for my playgroup. I'd always end up having to play with other decks since nobody wanted to have to gang up on me before I locked everyone else out of the game. Now it's mostly just another Simic Value Engine With No Real Win Con, which is pretty much my preferred playstyle, while still allowing the rest of the table to interact and, more importantly, play a turn of Magic.
powering down is definitely difficult, our playgroup had a tournement night like 3 months ago and a few of us are still running decks for, having a deck that wins turn 6 every time isnt the most fun for people. howver I've found presenting the theat of lethal for a turn or so mentioning what my next step for me (Zur the Enchanter can be very stright forward) gives them a chance to disrupt it.
It's not hard. Start by removing every tutor and extra turn cards. Remove infinite combos and cards that are auto-include in every deck. Don't ask "is this card good?", ask "is this card fun?". Magic players are way too competitive, which is why I don't enjoy playing with people outside of my circle of friends.
@@globenstine1335 I find spending thousands of dollars in singles that give you just a bit more edge than a card that cost cents to be a stupid thing to do, the same way that I find not letting other players play and spending 5 minutes preparing and ramping just to lose to a one turn combo boring and dumb, but to each their own. Competitive commander should be segregated from casual commander, I don't want any of that near my play table.
One thing about the ratio of what cards to play to add is how accessible they are in your overarching gameplan. An artifact deck that can easily tutor out removal artifacts don't need anywhere as much single target removal, but could still benefit from removal that's more flexible or efficient, based on how you access them Having some cards with niche effects can be really nice if they happen to coincide with what you can tutor should your deck be very toolbox heavy And one thing I love incorporate into the decks I make are engines: understanding what engines your deck can play and what they offer, should they be a win condition, value, interaction, or a pseudo form of value is heavily reliant on the deck's structure Not every deck with black should play torment, though one that establishes urborg and cabal coffers easily should certainly consider it. Artifact decks with blue have access to Artificer's intuition, but it's only truly good if the 1 mana or less artifacts you have in the deck are really worth it Having some mana sinks can be really good in your deck, but not all decks can play mana sinks. Control decks that keep their mana open all the time especially love sinks, yet decks aiming to make the most use out of their mana every turn would have a hard time ever activating a 4 mana activated ability There's so so so much that goes into commander deck building, and as a deckbuilding fanatic that loves making everything from scratch by looking over all the cards in magic's history several times, I've been working on refining my deck building for years to reach a point where I can beat my friends playing netdecked cedh decks (though my decks aren't as powerful as those decks, they can definitely win games and not just through sheer luck) I love discussing deckbuilding strategies with others as well as techs and upgrades, for commander is so unique that everyone can have valuable input Very often do I give people my decks and ask them what I can improve, especially after a game, to get some insight. Overtime, it became my friends coming to me to improve their decks Deck building has to be one of my favorite things in not just magic, but as a hobby I spend hours of my free time committing to
A few more things to add to the Professor's list of win cons (when riding the 1-trick pony) is counters to counters (going for direct damage in red, run Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast), ways to limit spells (Silence or City of Solitude), return from graveyard to hand/play, or be able to play from the graveyard. For example of that last one, if there's an artifact that can end the game (Walking Ballista, for example), run Burred Ruin... have an artifact that get's countered a lot and you want to repeatedly use it as a finisher (let's say to multiple opponents), also play Crucible of Worlds to repeatedly be able to get back Buried Ruin. I own over 100 Commander decks and when I am deck building, I think about back-up plans & ways to recoup a combo killer.
Thank you professor for getting me into commander. I've been a skeptic for years about it. But after learning from you about the different facets of the gameplay and how fun it can be from you, I gave in and got into commander when AFR came out and now I have 9 decks and I can't get enough. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Andrew, it happens to the best of us. I have been playing since 1994(on and off) and always avoided commander, because that's not how we played growing up. About 4 years ago I got into EDH/commander, and it brought back all the nostalgia of playing back in the day. It's a true expression of what MTG should be, and one of the purist, and most enjoyable formats.
Me and my boyfriend have spent the past five years listening to you for hours on end as we play magic, work on art, or do chores. I'm glad to hear that the algorithm appreciates it!
As a veteran player, I knew all of these things and yet having it explained for newbs and elders alike, it made more of it make sense. Time to reevaluate my dozen EDH decks!
Just in time! I actually just starting playing commander for the first time with some friends. Im putting a deck together and I hope its good :). I kept most of these in mind I just hope it works out haha thanks for the video professor
Can always count on the Prof to make videos that I now don't have to explain certain concepts to newer players! I use your land videos all the time as I know how I want my mana bases, but I struggle to explain things to a newer player. Magic gets complex and even the basics can be a bit of a battle to explain so having these as a option or choice is great.
"But as I've said before, time is valuable. Yours and mine." I feel like the cut after this was because you said something to the effect of, "But mostly mine," and thought it wouldn't go over well, but my mind filled in the blank anyway and I found it hilarious hahaha
1 and 2 drop mana rocks are key in my opinion. Of course 0 drop if your wallet can afford it. Or any artifact that draws you a card and or adds mana. Ex. Chromatic star or urza's bauble
Folks remember if playing cEDH don't focus on mass removal unless it is cyclonic rift as they don't really have creatures as it is a battle on the stack with a few combat based decks done such as Najeela. And combat decks in cEDH are usually fringe with Najeela beating them
I can also recomand that if you play a combo, try to use one where the individual pieces are also good on there owne. That can make a huge difference if you end up topdecking.
That's why I love my Atraxa Counters deck. Most cards will work with one another on some level, and sometimes the right combination of pieces allows me to go infinite 'by accident'. Sometimes I don't even notice it until someone else goes "Dude, you have infinite damage on the board."
@@gaiusjuliuspleaser I have somthing simular with my Korvold Treasures Deck, didn't even plan to have any infinite combos in the deck and realised while playing I build one in by accident.
I think it’s also important to consider options for protecting your critical pieces as well as yourself sometimes. Sometimes a Greaves or Boots are enough, but it always pays off to have options. White and green both have myriad options for protection. Blue of course relies on counters but has options like Lazotep Plating as well. Black has plenty of reanimation like Kaya’s Ghostform as well. Red probably the hardest time with protection, it’s best options being either artifacts that offer it, pairing with other colors, or of course Deflecting Swat.
@@Dyingwood. I don’t like Merciless Eviction. It’s 6 mana and doesn’t offer nearly the same flexibility as Austere Command does. For a boardwipe to cost 6 when there’s so many cheaper options, it needs to be more efficient.
@@Luke_Powers that’s fair. but if i’m tutoring for a board wipe, i’m digging for supreme verdict, yknow? of course i also play stax, so the last two options on austere are rather lackluster
@@Dyingwood. That makes sense, it’s definitely a good idea to tune your boardwipes to your deck permanent types. That’s why I don’t play Hour of Revelation in my Alela deck with a lot of artifacts and enchantments. I can’t seem to find room for Merciless Evictions anymore though for my decks.
I thought I had a pretty good understanding of chaos until I started playing the commander format. I always get stuck on the amount of removal spells and the types to use. Thanks for the upload.
I do like having a set of cards with a similar goal (Say, help my creatures survive combat) but that explore different spaces. For instance one effect regenerates a creature repeatedly, another one prevents my opponents creatures from dealing damage, and a third is a flash creature that mass buffs my creatures. That way they solve my primary problem, but also contribute additional utility.
One thing I’d recommend is to include more cards that make the table more dynamic, not for tuning but simply because it’s fun. Cards like Fact or Fiction or Telepathy are good cards yet also very interesting.
Fact or Fiction is great. It's basically "get the best card out of the top five cards of your library, and sometimes another card (or two!)" All for four mana at instant speed. It's such a strong card that back in the day, WotC had to print Seedtime-a two mana, green, instant Time Walk that can only be cast if an opponent cast a blue spell this turn-to combat Fact or Fiction.
Prof kinda touched on it when talking about the efficiency of removal, but just in general you can power up your decks by lowering the average mana value. If yours is over 3.5 without lands you gotta have a really good reason for that and I wouldn't even attempt it without green.
I love what you said about choosing board wipes based on what you *don't* have a lot of in your deck. That's a really good piece of advice. I've also had trouble in the past gauging the value of single-target removal, but this really lays it out clearly. Bye bye mortify & putrefy!
You will appreciate basic lands when you see a Blood Moon/Magus of the Moon hit the field and make all those non-basic turn into mountains. When making the mana base, I always keep in the back of my head "what if they drop a blood moon?". It saved a few games when the situation actually happened.
Those cards always end up in the 100-105 area of my deck building they just aren't that great in all situations. Rule of Law on the other hand is always gonna do what you want it to.
I've found that if your bread and butter cards arrive turns 4 and onwards anyway, playing a lot of tapped lands rarely slows you down much since you get to play them early on. I used to obsess over untapped mana for my 3+ color decks spending a pretty penny, but a curve that's not super low isn't severely handicapped by a few slow lands in the first couple turns. one and two mana acceleration is best, but switching some for more powerful 3 and four mana ramp that produces extra mana can take you to even more powerful midgame in the same time and potentially launch you way ahead. For example my Sidisi deck has a couple of one mana dorks which help smooth out the early game but the deck is looking for 8+ mana to start double spelling and really taking over. This is where more expensive ramp like Krosan Restorer and Splendid Reclamation will shine because they can add a lot more than just one extra. tl dr; untapped lands and 0,1 and 2 mana ramp gets you faster to 3 and 4 mana, but to go bigger you're better off with the more powerful 3+ mana options that don't mind some slow lands earlier
On the topic of Lands and producing more than two colours: Chromatic Lantern, Chromatic Orrery, and if you're in Five Colours, The World Tree. You're welcome.
Ahahaha I played once against a "Angus Mackenzie". I asked the player: - So your objective is bore the table to death until they all give-up? He said: - Yes, that´s one of the WinCons. Game took almost 3 hours.
Very nice guide prof, I’m personally a little confused as a new player to some of the land stuff mentioned, but I think I understand well enough. Hope y’all having an awesome day today dudes!
Other good lands for budget 4/5 color are the Vivid Lands and the Thriving lands, as you can pick what color they produce based of what you need. Much better than guidegates in 3+ color decks
I was forced to downgrade from Golos to Jodah due to Sheldon crying exceptionally hard, but was surprised to see Omniscience is still legal. Our group had to house ban the card cause it's not a card designed for interactive magic counter play and it's extremely easy to cheat out these days.
Maybe, but if your commander is a lot stronger than everyone else's it tends to be a removal target. I was playing Korvold at a low powered table, and I think I untapped with him once.
I used to have a Zombie tribal Mikaeus EDH deck that mostly won by forced sacrificing, like a low-rent aristocrats deck, but was overall still pretty fair. Ghoulcaller Gisa was one of the 99. I ended up switching her out with Mike one time after getting an altered Gisa, and boy howdy. To cut a long story short, I went back to Mikaeus to keep it fair for the other table.
@@thedicehavespoken6234 My example would be Pako. Even playing with the commander decks of that year seems unfair. Another is Liesa. She can be replayed too easily, so none really wants to remove her.
@@gaiusjuliuspleaser you would think it'd be the other way around, lmao. Mike is such an iconic busted commander, but MAN gisa is absolutely nasty and folks have kinda forgotten about her in my opinion.
Liked, subscribed, bell hit, and this is a comment. Great video! Keep putting out useful and informative content like this, please. Your reviews and buying guides have been invaluable in helping me make better purchasing decisions and resisting that impulse to buy product in sets I really don't care all that much for but nonetheless feel the "buy the box, crack those packs" compulsion. Thanks, Professor.
"Please watch another one of my videos!" Can do, Professor! The music at the start always reminds me of that lovely video you made at the start of the pandemic, with all the cosplayers....but that one takes a while to find, so I just watched your latest "don't buy this garbage" video.
Hmm, I may take some time to go apply these to my decks. I did recently prune back the non-basics I keep around for deck building, but I don't think I really had any formal logic for it. This could help refine that process too.
Thanks for all the work you do for the gathering! The prep and sheer volume of effort always shows, another killer upload! See you in Vegas (hopefully)!
ALSO, thanks for always saving me time, that's something that I think is generally TOTALLY overlooked, because more time having fun playing is the end goal.
I am going to to be that one guy. Some people can't afford those Shocklands, Painlands, or Triomes because they can get pretty pricey so you do have to consider what your budget is when trying to power up your decks. I personally don't like Shocklands and other lands like that using only whatever I pull not actively seeking them.
I will say last time I checked, most triomes were around the 10-15 range which is unfortunately where a lot of check lands have settled as well. The lands from Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow are pretty decently priced right now and the Modal lands from Zendikar and Kaldheim are fairly inexpensive as well
Have you considered proxying? personally i don't think a card's use should be restricted to its price on the secondary market but wizards won't reprint so some cards you have to proxy if you want to use them especially if you ever considered playing competitive as you HAVE to proxy for a lot of the cards are they are old and or really expensive. Like it would be rare to run into a competitive EDH deck that did not proxy their cards however either they are doing a powered down version/fringe or they have been collecting for years so they have the actual cards to use. And don't come at me with that Proxying is stealing bs as no one cares and if wizards did care then they would make more reprints that way people would not have to proxy though people would ask you to make some actual good proxies so they can read what the card is and does
@@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena I have a general rule of only proxying things I own and only a limited copies. For example I own a copy of Doubling Season I have no problem with making a copy. I don't own Parallel Lives so I wouldn't want to make a proxy. It's mostly a deck building challenge for myself. I don't mind other people proxying especially if its just like a placeholder to see if the card works in the deck. I personally don't like to. Custom Art is slightly different but would follow the same rules of "only if owned".
the start of this video suggests the instructor should be doing this video as it suggested "powering up lord windgrace", which is land destruction and that is is evil. But that wasn't what the video was about at all :)
New Deck Box Review Alert: ruclips.net/video/7b0diA2I2hc/видео.html
I sense a new dies to removal coming just a hunch
Step 1: Add Merfolk
Step 2: Add more Merfolk
Step 3: Add Islands (to cast the Merfolk)
Professor guaranteed!
Don't forgett step 4: remove everything but Merfolks and Islands
@@Lyricaon step 5: remove all the merfolk and replace them with counter spells. Call it seafood surprise.
Not gonna lie
I share the merfolk love and I wish he talked more about merfolk a XD
@@spliffi869 hey, no making the deck overpowered to that level.
The phrase "Simic value engine with no real win-cons" completely counters the first point you presented Prof ^_^
It is also important to take into consideration the mana costs of cards in your deck, not only your commander's color identity. I used to have a bunch of boros lands in my Edgar vampire tribal deck until I realized that most of my bity boys ask for black mana, now i only run orzhov and rakdos lands apart from the ones giving any color ofc.
An old friend a mine taught me to calculate devotion before doing your mana base. Has saved me many times.
That's why I like building decks on sites like TappedOut. As you build the deck it keeps track of stats like devotion, allowing you to better tune your mana base. I used to have the same thing in my Atraxa deck, basing my mana base more on the color identities of the cards, rather than the actual colored mana costs of those cards.
@@skillganon606 I started doing that myself about 2 years ago after a deck I'd built kept getting screwed on colored mana. "Why do I keep getting white mana when I need black mana?! Oh, it's cus my mana base is split about 45/55 white/black, but the mana requirements is closer to 30/70."
"Build a commander deck from scratch" stares at edhrec nervously
I do it on gatherer, atleast EDH rec give you some structure
I do that on a daily basis honestly. It’s nothing to be scared of if you have a plan.
I usually start with a commander or “gimmick” and go to gatherer. Once I’ve got a good idea of a deck I check out EDHrec to see if there’s anything I’ve missed or something I hadn’t thought about.
@@jonlangthorne7924 I had no idea people actually used gatherer, I always found it absolutely horrible for searching cards
I use edhrec as a primer then make my own tweaks here and there. There's like 30k cards no shame in not knowing every single one of them
Powering up your commander deck is easy. It’s powering down and everyone having a fun experience that’s harder. That said, sitting there with not enough lands is no fun. Great video on making sure you have a consistent deck.
Taking out all the extra turn shenanigans from my Atraxa deck has done wonders for my playgroup. I'd always end up having to play with other decks since nobody wanted to have to gang up on me before I locked everyone else out of the game. Now it's mostly just another Simic Value Engine With No Real Win Con, which is pretty much my preferred playstyle, while still allowing the rest of the table to interact and, more importantly, play a turn of Magic.
powering down is definitely difficult, our playgroup had a tournement night like 3 months ago and a few of us are still running decks for, having a deck that wins turn 6 every time isnt the most fun for people. howver I've found presenting the theat of lethal for a turn or so mentioning what my next step for me (Zur the Enchanter can be very stright forward) gives them a chance to disrupt it.
It's not hard. Start by removing every tutor and extra turn cards. Remove infinite combos and cards that are auto-include in every deck. Don't ask "is this card good?", ask "is this card fun?". Magic players are way too competitive, which is why I don't enjoy playing with people outside of my circle of friends.
fun is subjective. there are a lot of people that find playing overpowered commander decks fun.
@@globenstine1335 I find spending thousands of dollars in singles that give you just a bit more edge than a card that cost cents to be a stupid thing to do, the same way that I find not letting other players play and spending 5 minutes preparing and ramping just to lose to a one turn combo boring and dumb, but to each their own. Competitive commander should be segregated from casual commander, I don't want any of that near my play table.
This was a super informative guide. Lots of meaty information for newer players to think about. Great video, Prof!
Hey get back into your chat!
Those battlebond lands and filter lands are super useful too, they’re my favorites for sure.
One thing about the ratio of what cards to play to add is how accessible they are in your overarching gameplan. An artifact deck that can easily tutor out removal artifacts don't need anywhere as much single target removal, but could still benefit from removal that's more flexible or efficient, based on how you access them
Having some cards with niche effects can be really nice if they happen to coincide with what you can tutor should your deck be very toolbox heavy
And one thing I love incorporate into the decks I make are engines: understanding what engines your deck can play and what they offer, should they be a win condition, value, interaction, or a pseudo form of value is heavily reliant on the deck's structure
Not every deck with black should play torment, though one that establishes urborg and cabal coffers easily should certainly consider it. Artifact decks with blue have access to Artificer's intuition, but it's only truly good if the 1 mana or less artifacts you have in the deck are really worth it
Having some mana sinks can be really good in your deck, but not all decks can play mana sinks. Control decks that keep their mana open all the time especially love sinks, yet decks aiming to make the most use out of their mana every turn would have a hard time ever activating a 4 mana activated ability
There's so so so much that goes into commander deck building, and as a deckbuilding fanatic that loves making everything from scratch by looking over all the cards in magic's history several times, I've been working on refining my deck building for years to reach a point where I can beat my friends playing netdecked cedh decks (though my decks aren't as powerful as those decks, they can definitely win games and not just through sheer luck)
I love discussing deckbuilding strategies with others as well as techs and upgrades, for commander is so unique that everyone can have valuable input
Very often do I give people my decks and ask them what I can improve, especially after a game, to get some insight. Overtime, it became my friends coming to me to improve their decks
Deck building has to be one of my favorite things in not just magic, but as a hobby I spend hours of my free time committing to
A few more things to add to the Professor's list of win cons (when riding the 1-trick pony) is counters to counters (going for direct damage in red, run Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast), ways to limit spells (Silence or City of Solitude), return from graveyard to hand/play, or be able to play from the graveyard. For example of that last one, if there's an artifact that can end the game (Walking Ballista, for example), run Burred Ruin... have an artifact that get's countered a lot and you want to repeatedly use it as a finisher (let's say to multiple opponents), also play Crucible of Worlds to repeatedly be able to get back Buried Ruin. I own over 100 Commander decks and when I am deck building, I think about back-up plans & ways to recoup a combo killer.
you can use academy ruins instead of buried ruin + crucible of world too
@@fallenlords3151 Very true, but only if running blue.
Thank you professor for getting me into commander. I've been a skeptic for years about it. But after learning from you about the different facets of the gameplay and how fun it can be from you, I gave in and got into commander when AFR came out and now I have 9 decks and I can't get enough. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Andrew, it happens to the best of us. I have been playing since 1994(on and off) and always avoided commander, because that's not how we played growing up. About 4 years ago I got into EDH/commander, and it brought back all the nostalgia of playing back in the day. It's a true expression of what MTG should be, and one of the purist, and most enjoyable formats.
"oh, hello. I didn't see you there" is my comfort opening.
Me and my boyfriend have spent the past five years listening to you for hours on end as we play magic, work on art, or do chores. I'm glad to hear that the algorithm appreciates it!
As a veteran player, I knew all of these things and yet having it explained for newbs and elders alike, it made more of it make sense. Time to reevaluate my dozen EDH decks!
I really enjoyed this exhaustively thorough and definitive guide :) (12:40)
Just in time! I actually just starting playing commander for the first time with some friends. Im putting a deck together and I hope its good :). I kept most of these in mind I just hope it works out haha thanks for the video professor
Always a pleasure to refresh the basics
I get a lot out of these videos not only for working on my MTG game but also appreciate the Prof's modeling good stuff for my teaching game.
Can always count on the Prof to make videos that I now don't have to explain certain concepts to newer players! I use your land videos all the time as I know how I want my mana bases, but I struggle to explain things to a newer player. Magic gets complex and even the basics can be a bit of a battle to explain so having these as a option or choice is great.
Figuring out that there were tons of different Land Cycles from past editions was a real eye-opener for me.
I always enjoy my classes with the Prof. Merging informative & fun is no easy task, but it is greatly appreciated.
"But as I've said before, time is valuable. Yours and mine." I feel like the cut after this was because you said something to the effect of, "But mostly mine," and thought it wouldn't go over well, but my mind filled in the blank anyway and I found it hilarious hahaha
1 and 2 drop mana rocks are key in my opinion. Of course 0 drop if your wallet can afford it.
Or any artifact that draws you a card and or adds mana.
Ex. Chromatic star or urza's bauble
Folks remember if playing cEDH don't focus on mass removal unless it is cyclonic rift as they don't really have creatures as it is a battle on the stack with a few combat based decks done such as Najeela. And combat decks in cEDH are usually fringe with Najeela beating them
I can also recomand that if you play a combo, try to use one where the individual pieces are also good on there owne. That can make a huge difference if you end up topdecking.
That's why I love my Atraxa Counters deck. Most cards will work with one another on some level, and sometimes the right combination of pieces allows me to go infinite 'by accident'. Sometimes I don't even notice it until someone else goes "Dude, you have infinite damage on the board."
I run the *Chance For Glory* / *Angel’s Grace* combo in my Feather deck, and the latter has saved my butt by itself before.
@@gaiusjuliuspleaser I have somthing simular with my Korvold Treasures Deck, didn't even plan to have any infinite combos in the deck and realised while playing I build one in by accident.
I really enjoy this editing style. I don't watch your videos daily but this feels really new and fresh. Keep it up Prof
I have been playing 10 years this guide helps my newer players alot
Finally an upload that does not drown in commercials
I think it’s also important to consider options for protecting your critical pieces as well as yourself sometimes. Sometimes a Greaves or Boots are enough, but it always pays off to have options. White and green both have myriad options for protection. Blue of course relies on counters but has options like Lazotep Plating as well. Black has plenty of reanimation like Kaya’s Ghostform as well. Red probably the hardest time with protection, it’s best options being either artifacts that offer it, pairing with other colors, or of course Deflecting Swat.
Cards that return your creature to the board when they die are super underrated, love them in black
My EDH decks got destroyed at my LGS this past weekend and was thinking about this topic. Thanks TCC! Now get out of my head.
Thank you, Professor. I enjoy all your content / Collab's, and commander battles.
Amazing video prof, i frequently show my boyfriend to your channel if he has a question or is learning a concept you have covered in the past
Happy to have this video exist.
Austere Command really is a fantastic spell. Honestly I can't see a reason not to run it if you're in white, it's just so flexible.
i mean i run esper merieke and prefer running Merciless Eviction
@@Dyingwood. I don’t like Merciless Eviction. It’s 6 mana and doesn’t offer nearly the same flexibility as Austere Command does. For a boardwipe to cost 6 when there’s so many cheaper options, it needs to be more efficient.
@@Luke_Powers that’s fair. but if i’m tutoring for a board wipe, i’m digging for supreme verdict, yknow? of course i also play stax, so the last two options on austere are rather lackluster
@@Dyingwood. That makes sense, it’s definitely a good idea to tune your boardwipes to your deck permanent types. That’s why I don’t play Hour of Revelation in my Alela deck with a lot of artifacts and enchantments. I can’t seem to find room for Merciless Evictions anymore though for my decks.
I thought I had a pretty good understanding of chaos until I started playing the commander format. I always get stuck on the amount of removal spells and the types to use. Thanks for the upload.
I do like having a set of cards with a similar goal (Say, help my creatures survive combat) but that explore different spaces. For instance one effect regenerates a creature repeatedly, another one prevents my opponents creatures from dealing damage, and a third is a flash creature that mass buffs my creatures. That way they solve my primary problem, but also contribute additional utility.
Love your work on IHYD -especially when you and Post traded get ups. Prof Rocks!
One thing I’d recommend is to include more cards that make the table more dynamic, not for tuning but simply because it’s fun. Cards like Fact or Fiction or Telepathy are good cards yet also very interesting.
I used to run telepathy in my group hug deck, got me killed a few times.
Also Monarch cards make Commander games much less likely to turn into 2 hour slogs of nothing!
Fact or Fiction is great. It's basically "get the best card out of the top five cards of your library, and sometimes another card (or two!)" All for four mana at instant speed. It's such a strong card that back in the day, WotC had to print Seedtime-a two mana, green, instant Time Walk that can only be cast if an opponent cast a blue spell this turn-to combat Fact or Fiction.
@@skillganon606 everyone hates on Telepathy.
Can't wait for your Merfolk commander guide with the Dominaria-centered future releases :3
Prof kinda touched on it when talking about the efficiency of removal, but just in general you can power up your decks by lowering the average mana value. If yours is over 3.5 without lands you gotta have a really good reason for that and I wouldn't even attempt it without green.
Early greetings from Germany! Enjoying your content. Thank's for your shared knowledge!
Diese Kommentarspalte gehört nun der BRD!
I love what you said about choosing board wipes based on what you *don't* have a lot of in your deck. That's a really good piece of advice.
I've also had trouble in the past gauging the value of single-target removal, but this really lays it out clearly. Bye bye mortify & putrefy!
If you play any rakdos, terminate is perfect
Can't believe I'm just NOW subscribing. Thanks, doc
Welcome aboard!
You will appreciate basic lands when you see a Blood Moon/Magus of the Moon hit the field and make all those non-basic turn into mountains. When making the mana base, I always keep in the back of my head "what if they drop a blood moon?". It saved a few games when the situation actually happened.
Those cards always end up in the 100-105 area of my deck building they just aren't that great in all situations. Rule of Law on the other hand is always gonna do what you want it to.
I would really enjoy hearing about the prof's breakdown of card valuation regarding commander gameplay.
I've found that if your bread and butter cards arrive turns 4 and onwards anyway, playing a lot of tapped lands rarely slows you down much since you get to play them early on. I used to obsess over untapped mana for my 3+ color decks spending a pretty penny, but a curve that's not super low isn't severely handicapped by a few slow lands in the first couple turns.
one and two mana acceleration is best, but switching some for more powerful 3 and four mana ramp that produces extra mana can take you to even more powerful midgame in the same time and potentially launch you way ahead.
For example my Sidisi deck has a couple of one mana dorks which help smooth out the early game but the deck is looking for 8+ mana to start double spelling and really taking over. This is where more expensive ramp like Krosan Restorer and Splendid Reclamation will shine because they can add a lot more than just one extra.
tl dr; untapped lands and 0,1 and 2 mana ramp gets you faster to 3 and 4 mana, but to go bigger you're better off with the more powerful 3+ mana options that don't mind some slow lands earlier
Those mana base videos have helped a lot
On the topic of Lands and producing more than two colours:
Chromatic Lantern, Chromatic Orrery, and if you're in Five Colours, The World Tree.
You're welcome.
Besides a magic lesson, the prof is teaching us vocabulary. Bravo sir, bravo. 🎩🎩
I love these videos! They make my day so much better and I always learn something new.
Great video as always! I will look at some of the spells in my collection with a different light now.
Love everything about it. Keep up the great work! 👏
Always good to go to the basics
Clicked an older video because you’re awesome and asked so politely
This video is of some help to me! Thanks Prof!
Solid tips. I need to check my decks and see what swaps I need to make
I love everything you do on this channel!
Ahahaha I played once against a "Angus Mackenzie".
I asked the player: - So your objective is bore the table to death until they all give-up?
He said: - Yes, that´s one of the WinCons.
Game took almost 3 hours.
Very nice guide prof, I’m personally a little confused as a new player to some of the land stuff mentioned, but I think I understand well enough. Hope y’all having an awesome day today dudes!
Great video, Proff. One of your best instructional videos so far. Thanks for all of your great work!
Other good lands for budget 4/5 color are the Vivid Lands and the Thriving lands, as you can pick what color they produce based of what you need. Much better than guidegates in 3+ color decks
Anything is a win condition in my Jodah good stuff 😏
Ahhhh....Jodah of the Big Mana tribe!...fun times
Thank you for all the info prof!
Another awesome video, Prof. Thanks for everything you do for us. Agape love from ATL.
We love you too, Prof!
Great video as always professor!
Appreciate the recommendations!
Thanks for the tips Professor.
I love your videos! They bring me nothing but joy!
Include one copy of Storm Crow in every deck - you'll surpass the limits of even cEDH
Such power must not be unleashed you madman!
If you resolve SC and your opponents don't concede they haven't played magic that long.
Needed thissss. I have 3 decks I’ve built from scratch and I want to make them better
we love you proff keep the videos coming and we will keep watching
I enjoyed this breakdown :) Thanks Prof!
Just built my first ever commander deck so this video might be useful! 😁
Thanks for the tips prof!
If the Prof ever stops turning around pretending to be caught off guard at the start of every video, I will be very sad.
Is.... someone going to tell him?
Actually, just playing a stronger commander can be sometimes enough. Just by playing the wrong commander I made my casual decks too strong.
I was forced to downgrade from Golos to Jodah due to Sheldon crying exceptionally hard, but was surprised to see Omniscience is still legal. Our group had to house ban the card cause it's not a card designed for interactive magic counter play and it's extremely easy to cheat out these days.
Maybe, but if your commander is a lot stronger than everyone else's it tends to be a removal target. I was playing Korvold at a low powered table, and I think I untapped with him once.
I used to have a Zombie tribal Mikaeus EDH deck that mostly won by forced sacrificing, like a low-rent aristocrats deck, but was overall still pretty fair. Ghoulcaller Gisa was one of the 99. I ended up switching her out with Mike one time after getting an altered Gisa, and boy howdy. To cut a long story short, I went back to Mikaeus to keep it fair for the other table.
@@thedicehavespoken6234 My example would be Pako. Even playing with the commander decks of that year seems unfair.
Another is Liesa. She can be replayed too easily, so none really wants to remove her.
@@gaiusjuliuspleaser you would think it'd be the other way around, lmao. Mike is such an iconic busted commander, but MAN gisa is absolutely nasty and folks have kinda forgotten about her in my opinion.
Liked, subscribed, bell hit, and this is a comment. Great video! Keep putting out useful and informative content like this, please. Your reviews and buying guides have been invaluable in helping me make better purchasing decisions and resisting that impulse to buy product in sets I really don't care all that much for but nonetheless feel the "buy the box, crack those packs" compulsion. Thanks, Professor.
Scrolling back!!!
Flavor above all.
Great video professor!
Good suggestions here, but I still focus more on ramp and card draw capability when trying to squeeze a little extra performance from a deck.
"Please watch another one of my videos!" Can do, Professor! The music at the start always reminds me of that lovely video you made at the start of the pandemic, with all the cosplayers....but that one takes a while to find, so I just watched your latest "don't buy this garbage" video.
Hmm, I may take some time to go apply these to my decks. I did recently prune back the non-basics I keep around for deck building, but I don't think I really had any formal logic for it. This could help refine that process too.
Thanks for another great video! Your content is always so great.
Thanks for all the work you do for the gathering! The prep and sheer volume of effort always shows, another killer upload!
See you in Vegas (hopefully)!
ALSO, thanks for always saving me time, that's something that I think is generally TOTALLY overlooked, because more time having fun playing is the end goal.
I am going to to be that one guy. Some people can't afford those Shocklands, Painlands, or Triomes because they can get pretty pricey so you do have to consider what your budget is when trying to power up your decks. I personally don't like Shocklands and other lands like that using only whatever I pull not actively seeking them.
I will say last time I checked, most triomes were around the 10-15 range which is unfortunately where a lot of check lands have settled as well. The lands from Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow are pretty decently priced right now and the Modal lands from Zendikar and Kaldheim are fairly inexpensive as well
Have you considered proxying? personally i don't think a card's use should be restricted to its price on the secondary market but wizards won't reprint so some cards you have to proxy if you want to use them especially if you ever considered playing competitive as you HAVE to proxy for a lot of the cards are they are old and or really expensive. Like it would be rare to run into a competitive EDH deck that did not proxy their cards however either they are doing a powered down version/fringe or they have been collecting for years so they have the actual cards to use. And don't come at me with that Proxying is stealing bs as no one cares and if wizards did care then they would make more reprints that way people would not have to proxy though people would ask you to make some actual good proxies so they can read what the card is and does
@@JohnnyYeTaecanUktena I have a general rule of only proxying things I own and only a limited copies. For example I own a copy of Doubling Season I have no problem with making a copy. I don't own Parallel Lives so I wouldn't want to make a proxy. It's mostly a deck building challenge for myself. I don't mind other people proxying especially if its just like a placeholder to see if the card works in the deck. I personally don't like to.
Custom Art is slightly different but would follow the same rules of "only if owned".
Love seeing more edh content
That one Blue counter focused player : I have no such weaknesses
It's a bad blue player who can't see his own weaknesses.
1. Add More card-draw
2. Replace high-mana cost cards with lower cost cards, even if they aren’t quite as good.
3. Add even more card draw.
This is my second video after your is it worth it. F the algorithm.
Find things synergies and your deck will work better. I added Tome of Legends to my Norin deck and the card draw has never been better!
the start of this video suggests the instructor should be doing this video as it suggested "powering up lord windgrace", which is land destruction and that is is evil. But that wasn't what the video was about at all :)
10:32 The MID VOW lands will enter untapped on turn three. Am I misinterpreting what you meant here?
Loved the tips prof
Any video that talks about how to create a better mana base is so helpful to me, but also causes so much stress lololol
Let’s go! Just in time for work.
I try to only build decks from scratch that are unique, otherwise I just get bored. Most recent one is artifacts only Atraxa. 😁
Most excellent!!!
Thank you,you're videos are awesome and extremely helpful.please keep up your awesome work