Slight changes like these three things can make a big outcome in the performance of your deck. Patreon / edhdeckbuilding TCGPlayer Affiliate Link www.tcgplayer.com/?...
also by selecting to group by mana value in the view settings, but I can agree that if you have a tool you already like then you'll prefer using that one. Demo already has a tool so 🤷♂️
We (the patrons who recommended moxfield) mentioned this too. At the end of the day people like to use the tools they're familiar with. And the Moxfield mana curve isn't as intuitive as the XMage one imo
Also consider the mana value of your commander in the evaluation of your mana curve. If your commander is 4 mana, and you have lots of 4-drops, they will compete with your commander for priority. If your commander is a 1-drop or 2-drop that you know you want out ASAP every game, you might want fewer cards in those slots.
With moxfield you can change how the deck is laid out to be laid out by mana cost or you can scroll down to the bottom where it will show you your mana curve
The point of having a low cmc boardwipe is not only to play it early as you suggest. It's so that you can do something other than wiping the board on the same turn. Getting to deploy something, anything, beyond simply spending a turn to effectively help 2/3 opponents is much more important than being able to wipe early.
I second this! A boardwipe hardly helps you if it doesn't push you ahead. So cast it when you make a new beater/threat in the same turn. Or wait when opponent's are low on cards in hand, so they're low/out of resources when you wipe. I also like instant speed boardwipes for those cases. Wipe before your turn starts, now gates are open and your the first to cast new stuff. Preferably even with haste to smack right away!
I don't play artifacts anymore other than sol ring because the people I often play with run so much mass-artifact destruction. I just use enchantments that try to fill a similar role to the artifacts I cut
I've noticed in my area not a lot of people play artifact/enchantment removal or graveyard hate... I am usually the guy dealing with those types of things and then get taken out once the threat has been dealt with... ingrates.
Haha! Manacurve? Focus? Pfffth! I'm here building a monoblue Thryx, the Sudden Storm deck and it have 30 cards in it that "can" be mana value 5 or more hehe. And it's all kinds of types. It got reducers for casting flash, blue spells, 5 mana spells or more, flyers instants and blue permanents can cist 2 life for a pip. So it's a glorious mix of everything haha. Altough it's sneaky cheap and many of the big spells have reducers on their own, or adventure spells stuck on them or such. I think the deck is super fun, only tried it once and it went well.
I built a Karlach, Fury of Avernus, Extra Combats deck and every deck building site wanted me to put Etali in the deck, but I really didn’t want to use that theme (cast cards from exile) in this deck. Then of course, there were a bunch of cards that wanted to play cards from exile that I had to filter through. Anyway, sticking to a theme sometimes makes a deck a lower power level, but that’s fine with me.
This helps me with my curve if I’m making changes to my deck upgrades let’s say I spread out my paper cards old school according to mana value and make the upgrades and keep my curve as close to the same. So not only when building but also after play test and now upgrades check that curve while swapping cards out.
Thanks for the video Demo! Your first point actually came up in our pod discussion last week: burst vs incremental draw; and I'd love to hear more opinions. In your first example, I prefer to play cards like Village Rites over Vamp Rites (assuming the deck wants to sac creatures, doesn't care about card types, and you just want some draw). I would much rather pay 1 black and 1 creature for 2 cards, instead of investing 5 mana and 2 creatures for 2 cards. Once your deck cares about permanents or enchantments, the scales start to tip obviously, but what other reasons are there for Vamp Rites? Feels like I'm missing something 😅
In my eyes, one component that needs to be added into the discussion is power level. Of the draw types of cantrip, burst or incremental, the slower a pod, the more value you get out of the incremental draw cards like beast whisperer. The faster the decks play though, the more burst draw becomes valued. And when you move to really fast pods, cantrips and burst start to blur lines, but you can generalize it to say cantrips are more valued (until you cast the high value game ender style cards like ad nauseum). That is atleast my view on the discussion: power level influences draw potential, and the faster you play, the faster you need cards
I have never found land destruction to be an issue except where it is used as a form of Stax ie. where you are just crippling opponents from playing the game without a win-con.
I do struggle with point 3 the most my decks tend to have alot of 2 cmc spells. One point about the kind of carddraw that you can do over and over again, it is mostly conditional. Which tends to do well if you are doing well and doing your thing. But i if for example it is later in the game and you only have 2 cards in hand there just was a boardwipe and you draw your guardian project with no other creatures in your hand, the Harmonize is gonna be better. I don’t think it is better, but i try to make sure i always have some unconditional carddraw in my decks, otherwise my decks get more inconsistent. (I usually do both and i don’t think it should be an one or the other scenario)
so i do my stuff physically and how i do it is i spread by card type then in those card types i set them up to see what each aera is looking like for each of those card types mana curve because if you break it down this way and you know kinda what you want to do then you can see if you need to take some off one or multiple card types to either replace with a card type that you need along side the mana value you need
Mine is generally play more lands (Outside of like cedh of course where mv is so low and hitting land drops is less valued) If I take a look at your average mana value of your deck or see what kind of commander you're trying to cast, so many times more often than not I see land counts that don't work for that deck.
Mana Curve - Great Suggestion, thanks! I have 3 Dragon Commander Decks and normally, I am mana-hosed when playing with 5-8 of my friends! I can't help it, I like Dragons! My new deck, I have 45 lands for the multi-color deck. Do you have any suggestions how to build a Commander Deck for either Tiamat or Ur-Dragon? I know, so many answers without seeing my deck.
I almost always play mana dorks. Most cEDH decks in green use dorks. The speed and creature synergies is what makes them good. Also, you need blockers so creatures are good. Too many enchantments and artifacts can leave you open to attack. Artifacts tend to be easily wiped for basically free (bane of progress can be stronger than Cyclonic Rift against artifact heavy decks). I find board wipes to be a bit like playing not to lose. I also think you need a few instant speed draw spells in your deck. Village rites lets you respond to other removal by getting value. They also help with early land drops because you get to see more cards on the turn you are short on lands.
I was searching to see if someone said something like this concerning ramp. I see what Demo is saying about creatures getting killed, but in a creature based deck if you follow his other point about picking the cards that go with the strategy then any dork or creature that finds a land is way more valuable than an instant or sorcery that does the same thing. Not only does it provide blockers but maybe it draws you a card on cast or ETB, or if it dies maybe I can recur it later just for value, where a instant or sorcery is one and done. Kinda weird that he makes that point about draw spells but then seems to go the exact opposite for ramp based things.
Question on Mana curves. How would you go about evaluating or deciding rough numbers if your deck is using Gyruda, Obosh or Keruga for their companion requirements?
Keruga and Obosh have tough requirements. Try to include Foretell and split cards. However, the CMC3 spot should be quite crowded. Gyruda is easier, just include a lot of 2- drop mana rocks. A 2-drop rock will give you 4 mana on turn 3. If you don't draw a 2-drop rock, take Gyruda to your hand on turn 3. Bolt Bend is your best secret tech.
I'm trying to play brawl more often on Arena, but I'm having a hard time making a cohesive deck. Do you have any blog posts or videos or anything like that that gives general advice about the kind of stuff you need in a deck? I find the biggest trouble I have is understanding how much of something to put in a deck.
Furthemore it's advisable to have the ramp in your deck be cheaper than your commander, so it comes down earlier. For example Gut decks shouldn't run 3 CMC mana rocks, because they'd have to choose between casting a rock and Gut on T3.
One tip that is so obvious it's often forgotten is this: *don't forget common staples.* I once had a Black deck where I could not find any synergistic draw engines. Then I remembered Phyrexian Arena is a solid draw engine unto itself.
@@bamby3144 Depends on the deck. The lifeloss can be a real issue in certain decks with Dark Prophecy, but I do agree, Phyrexian Arena isnt' the powerhouse it was a decade ago.
I dont really agree with running permanents over instants & sorceries. Obviously this all depends on deck archetype like you said, relying on permanents for card draw or value can get you cut short. I think spending 1 mana on a Vampiric Rites only for it to be destroyed is a lot worse than just spending 1 mana to draw and sac off of Village Rites. Its also more mana efficient. This was just one example but I think that there are many more where it is better to run a spell over a permanent.
Quick question for anybody that can give me their opinion : I'm actually building a Thalia/Gitrog deck, and I have a slot for a "ramp" spell, and I'm wondering between ornithopter of paradise, nature's lore and aracane signet is the best option. (Btw sorry if my english isn't correct, that's not a language I speak a lot. 😅) Thank's and have a good day !
Nature's lore can get you a dual land that can tap for what you need in the moment and lands have less of a chance of being removed, ornithopter unless it has haste has to wait a turn to tap for mana and arcane signet will tap for all your colors but may be removed. I'd go Nature's lore but it's up to you
I would go for Nature's Lore over the other two. Besides the point that Land Ramp is the best ramp, in your deck lands are also gas for later turns. If you get a Nature's Lore on turn 7-8, you can play it to get a land that can later be sacked with Gitrog/Thalia to draw another card. With this example, Nature's Lore has two functions in your deck, which make it viable on both early and mid-late stages.
For mana curves I use a channel fireball article. An important thing is be careful of cards that have the same cmc as your commander. Like if your commander is a 4-drop, be careful of running other 4-drops as they need to be good enough to play after your commander as your 5 or 6 mana play
Also, sometimes you want to sandbag your commander to play it later. It needs to be part of your strategizing to think when you want to play your commander.
I think with Yennett or Kaalia you are basically looking at the mana curve in regards to getting your Commander active. You can just toss everything 5+ in a pile. You still need to factor them in as unplayable until you reach 5 mana and cast Yennett or 4 for Kaalia. You don’t want a hand that does nothing until your Commander is active.
You'd literally be better off playing sign in blood over vampiric rites. 5 mana and losing two creatures for 2 cards and 2 life. That's awful advice. Also, Mana Dorks are some of the strongest creatures in the format. Turn 1 mana ramp is amazing. Plus, they synergize with all of the green draw spells. You're giving people bad advice
