How to Build a Commander Deck | The Nitpicking Nerds Official Deckbuilding Strategy 

My standard commander deck building technique, no matter how many videos I watch: - Encounter a fun-sounding tribe - Choose a suitable commander - Go through all kinds of angst narrowing down to about 60 of that tribal type - Add about 5 artifacts that help tribal - Add 35 lands - Lose

LANDS: 30-36 adjust for MDFC lands 0-8 CARD DRAW: 6-12 Consider card advantage as part of your draw if it's very impactful SINGLE TARGET REMOVAL: 7-15 Consider counter spells that trade 1 for 1 BOARD WHIPES: 2-6 Count things like Bane of Progress that wipe all of -something- not just creatures RAMP: 10-16 WIN CONDITIONS: 3ish? This doesn't count single cards, but "A+B=Win" type combos or critical mass situations. Too many, especially with high cmc components, is unfocused, slow, and give you too many dead hands/draws. MANA CURVE: lower it. Play more spells per turn and be better set to win. 3-Drops get crowded, look to cut for 1s and 2s here. You're likely not going to play more than one 4+ per turn, and having several in your hand leaves you with nothing to play. Higher than 4, you're looking at like...2-3 cards of each at most. More general tips in video, I'm not gonna transpose it all lol. This was for quick reference.

Last time I was this early Grave Titan was a must include in every deck with black!

For any of you looking for the TLDR on this video, here it is: If you're running black in your deck. Grave Titan is an auto-include. At all times. No exceptions. You're welcome. Just saved you 41 minutes.

Instructions unclear, bought 99 mountains and Ashling the Pilgrim

I'm sure this has already been suggested numerous times and, to some extent you already cover a lot of your deck building choices and insight during your commander tune ups videos, but have y'all considered straight up building a new deck from scratch as a video or possibly a stream?

the first thing i do when i built a deck with green is i check if protean hulk is still not on the banlist

Okay so I am just going to assume this video sums up to: if running blue, black or green you must run at least 1-2 crocodiles

“Too many board wipes” Avacyn “absurd. Destroy everything all the time!”

I used to struggle making decks. Videos like these are always helpful developing my own rules. Recently i made the rule that any card over 3 mana to cast has to be key to my decks strategy. All my decks feel much better.

Here's a new topic for you guys to do shows on. How about you break out decks that you've built...then break them down into categories and explain why you have that amount of each type (Ramp, Card Draw Target Removal etcetera.) That way people get a visual example as well.

I'm a yugioh player but my cousin recently got me into magic like a month ago. So fundamental videos like this are super helpful for me in understanding what the heck is going on. Hope there's more in the future! But you guys are by far the channel I watched the most when it comes to magic (even thoug idk what is going on half the time). Very enjoyable videos and topics and cool hosts. Keep it up guys 🔥

Finally, a channel that isn't afraid to talk about 30 land decks. I have been picking up commander since I got back into the game 2 years ago and I was surprised to see how a well-tuned optimized deck can work very efficiently at 30 lands (or less). Cream of the crop maybe, but it's no fun sitting with 7 lands and not enough spells to do anything.

Beezy: you cast your commander every game Yuriko players : Ha!

This is my third time watching this video. I come back to it when I feel I have practiced deck building a bit and want to level up, picking more of the nuances up to build better. I am also sending it to a friend because everyone should see this.

I just want to say when I joined your patreon I 100% felt as much love as possible without feeling uncomfortable. I didn't believe it till it happened. You guys are the best. Love you guys

there's a kid at my lgs who only knew me as Judge. a few years ago i stepped down from the judge program. the kid didn't know what to call me afterwards because he never learned my name.

1- Land count: for me is 34-38, depends on the mana curve (always target no more than 4). Importantly, I do count MDFC as spells rather than lands, so I end up having extra lands to not miss a drop... 2- RAMP: 10-12 hopefully for Turn 2... 3- Card draw/sorting/advantage: I always go for 10 Minimun, but this number changes depends on the cards used which can make it less than 10. I.E: faithless looting, ponder, mind spring all count as 1, but things that are meant to give more than 1 like Guardian project and beast whisper (green because WotC belives green must have everything :( duh!) Actually count as 2 for me... 4- Boardwipes: 2-5, if the deck is creature heavy it gets 2, otherwise it gets 4-5 depending on how control oriented it is... 5- Spot removal: 8-10 this is counting creature/artifact/enchantment and its composition depends on the color. I.E: green is fight spells, blue considers counterspells as removal... 6- WinCons: these depend on the sinergy and strategy of the deck, but it should have at least 5 bombs/wincon.... That is my structure, and I based it around guides and decktechs from Command Quarters, Command Zone, and of course, this Lovely channel the NitPicking Nerds

Thank you for all these amazing videos! I have a playgroup that has adopted newer people, people with lower cardbase, and people that don't have crazy deck building knowledge. I share SO MANY of your videos. Thank you for your knowledge, and for not being afraid to share your opinion on things that others don't listen about when it comes from me haha. Thanks for everything, keep it going.

Another video where i get to enjoy those moments when Joe Cherries has a funky blue pointy hat.

This video is awesome because it applies very helpful and objective information with a reasonable source for the info, the video also incorporates a lot of core deck building for cedh which is a combination I have been looking for in videos and channels.

Gotta be careful on the curve in the reverse way you guys talked about as well. Cyclonic Rift cost 7 not 2

This video was worth the watch for the Cultivate analysis. Newbie EDH builder and I needed to hear that. 💯

This definitely helped me. I've wanted to build a thraximundar deck for so long. But the high CMC for that ability made it hard to build around. I settled on building a deck that is based on edict effects and cards that sacrifice themselves for interaction and value (mulldrifter, plaguecrafter etc) to buff up my commander. I had a lot of trouble laying out the deck and building anything consistent. Having useful tips like having multiple win cons and playing lower mana costs really helps me shape how I want this deck to go. Y'all definitely have got a sub from me!

thinks so much guys, your videos are helping me learn the Fundamentals of Deck building.

I also like separating my spells into their individual spots like I'll have a stack of enchantments, a stack of artifacts and so on

Ahh, the pre moxfield sponser days. Using this a year later btw. Great video! Still very similar to what u all do a year later. Crazy good quality! Thanks!

Just now watching this. Great video guys!

Keep putting out the great content guys. Love the channel. Ill be here all the way

This video was awesome, guys. Thanks so much for the help!

Awesome video guys. Thanks for the time stamps.

Not sure anyone will see this comment so many months late but I have a system I use for "enablers and payoffs" and things of that nature for all my decks. It's not perfect, but it gives a pretty good starting point for deck building, and it's abstract enough that it can work no matter what kind of deck you are trying to build. I figure some people might benefit from this idea too, so here it is. In order to make sure I have the right numbers of cards that advance my strategy, I try to have at least 30 'Setup' cards, and at least 12 'Hinge' cards. I use these abstract names because what defines a Setup vs a Hinge card is going to be different for every deck, it all depends on what your strategy is. So you'll need to define what constitutes a Setup and a Hinge for your specific deck. Basically, a Setup card and a Hinge card together form a synergy of some sort, that makes the two cards together better than each one would be on their own. The way you tell the difference between Setup and Hinge cards is what each one does when it's the only card you have. Setup cards on their own are not particularly powerful, but they still do something. Hinge cards on their own, do absolutely nothing unless you have a Setup to use with it. So for example, a simple Hinge would be an anthem enchantment... it does absolutely nothing by itself, but if you have creatures (which would be the Setup in this case), it makes them all bigger You can also have cards that are both Setups and Hinges at the same time, like for example, Canopy Tactician in an elf deck. It is itself an elf, so it can be used as a Setup for any other card in your deck that cares about elves, but it also gives all your other elves +1/+1, so is also a Hinge for elves. Setup and Hinge can be really flexible since you can use these terms for any strategy. Some other decks I have where I have used this way of thinking for examples; Sidisi Graveyard deck: Setup= any card that puts more cards into graveyards. Hinge= any card that either wants to be in the graveyard, or cares how many cards are in graveyards Omnath Landfall: Setup= any card that puts lands onto the battlefield. Hinge= any card that has a landfall trigger Tuvasa Enchantress: Setup= any enchantment. Hinge= any card that reacts whenever you cast an enchantment, or cares how many enchantments you control Kykar Spellslinger: Setup= any instants and sorceries. Hinge= any card that reacts whenever you cast an instant or sorcery Florian Burn: Setup= any card that deals damage to opponents. Hinge= any card that gives a benefit based on how much damage was done this turn. Once you have defined what Setup and Hinge are for your deck, you can then ensure you have a minimum of 30 Setup cards and 12 Hinges and you'll have really good odds of drawing into those pieces with appropriate frequency.

When I start a new deck, the first thing I do is rummage through my collection for any cards that generally do the things I'm looking for. Once I have a pile, I sort it into general categories (card draw, ramp, etc) and then try to choose the best 9-11 cards in that category. I generally also have a miscellaneous group for cards (generally 20+ or so) that include bodies, wincons and such, as well as any cards that I didn't choose from a previous group that I still reaaaallly want to play. Later, when I want to upgrade my deck with a card, I look at the existing cards that fill a similar role and try to assess if it better than any of them at the same/lower mana value. I have a very small play group, but it generally works out alright.

What better than listen to you guys lumber along a deck-tech session as I catalogue my collection as well as create an Alesha, Who Smiles At Death deck at the same time. Awesome! If you are a veteran or a noob, listening to different deck building opinions will make you a better overall brewer over time. I been giving White some love in my new brews lately, since I love White, weak or not. Ironically, I have been disliking Red more than White the past several brews I have made.

The constant hate for Grave titan fills me with joy, finally someone hates it as much as me

Your friend thinking your last name is Cherries is the real life equivalent of the scene in Bob's Burger where Bob's friend Teddy thinks his full name is "Bob Burger"

Hi guys, just wanted to say that ARCHIDEKT has a feature where you can CUSTOMIZE the mana value/CMC of your cards. For example, I always register Fierce Guardianship as a 0 CMC card. It can change the average CMC of your list, sometimes going down, sometimes going up (I tend to register Cyclonic Rift as a 7 drop. And I try to guess at what minimum value I would cast my "X spells"). You have to click on the blue arrow that shows on the cards in your deck to do that.

About 23 spells, about 29 créatures, 8-9 artifacts, about 35 lands, 1 general who must be a Legendary creature with the same color of the deck...here we go ...

I literally asked for this like a week ago. Thank you

As a dedicated monoblue player, it was so liberating when I stopped running counter spells. I could then stuff all the other powerful things blue does in there.

99.9k subs and you just earned another! I hope you guys get to that 250k! You deserve it! Now go get that Obi Wan!

This was very helpful, thank you! I am looking for synergistic one drops now 😁

I did this a bit differently, and went with finding my gameplay first, and commander last. This lead me to knowing what colours I wanted to build, (along with a theme) in this case, blue, black and green, and then I chose my commander last, looking at what blue, black and green commanders where available, and then picking one that suited the theme and strategy. (The commander in this case helps the strategy of the deck, can be a massive boost to winning, but is also not essential in winning the game)

Seriously appreciate this RU-vid video u guys are the best

Revisiting this video to get more perspectives for my Be'lakor demon tribal deck and even a year later it helps a ton. Definitely cutting a board wipe now, kind of tempted to replace some of my regular kill spells with demons that kill something on entry, etc. The section on curve hurt me though lol there's too many good 6+ drop demons to pass on. But at the same time like 20 ramp cards including the likes of Urzas Incubator, Nightscape Familiar, Rakdos Lord of Riots, and the new Herald of Slaanesh it shouldn't be too bad.

I was able to power through the glitchy version before you reposted it, still a great episode!

Thank you guys, this really helped alot. You offered a lot more details and explanations. You didn't just throw numbers at a wall

great video. my favourite so far. good job NPN.

Been waiting for this one boys!

Love your passion guys, keep it up. To the death!

Great video.one must curve mana with consideration cause my yoriko deck curves out at 3 or 4 but I don’t count the big mana spelled I get to the top I had so much fun building that deck and it has one by killing everyone with spell on top

I feel it's a good litmus test to say that when you're looking at 3-drops you have to realize that necropotence costs 3.

How do you decide on a game plan? What are the archetypes for decks? I decided to get into MTG about a month before the pandemic hit last year, and I'm sure someone at my LGS could explain all this in about 10 minutes, but that access is closed off for a little while longer. The game plan is something every "how to build a deck" video talks about, but it seems like the most difficult thing to understand for a newbie player. Any thoughts? Thanks for your time guys, I really like the channel.

Most of my decks are only built with one win con in mind. But I'll discover others while playing the deck. It's always a pleasant surprise. I also have a habit of including cards because I'm fixated on. Example, I ran steel of the godhead in every deck I could just because I thought the kithkin looked sick summoning the sword. Ran kaiga the tidestar only because I liked the name.

As a general rule of thumb I try to ensure that cards I play always replace themselves thanks to synergies. For example having permanents that reward you for playing a certain power/toughness, or instants or sorceries, play grave recursion, play manarocks that can be sacrificed for a card, play some cycling lands. Having options on having the card either impact the board or select cards/ draw cards for you is the key to winning EDH. It's hard to put my thoughts to words in text but I hope this helps someone

Nice I’m early for once, these vids get me through work days, much appreciated

Trying to build my first commander deck. I bought aura of courage my buddy bought a precon as well. I thought it was super awesome and I have an affinity for pirates trying to build my own deck. We played all Saturday and got steam rolled.

You guys are my #1 magic channel !

My fav deck is an Oloro combo control deck, I think I actually cast him like 1 out of every 6/7 games

Just as I was looking to refine my deck, this gets uploaded. Impeccable timing

In terms of board wipes, the only time I run more than 2-3 is in my Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate fliers deck since she can protect my army of creatures, wipe away every other creature and then swing and beat face.

Love it! Thanks guys 🌹

Good rule of thumb for lands start with 40 and take out 1 for every 2 sources of ramp not perfect for every deck but a good starting point.

Good advice. thank you

I tend to use more generic single target removal like terminate because having it at instant speed is just so important. I'll run plague crafter as 0.5 of a board wipe, but for single target I stick to swords to plowshares, nature's claim, etc. I make sure almost all my draw and ramp has synergies to make up for it though.

Subbed for the Cherries. Get em.

Love you guys. Ready to watch you for decades 👌

Firstly, I just wanted to say that I've been binging all your videos, and I love your content (dare I say, more than Command Zone)! I wanted to add that synergistic deck building is so much more fun than using strong staples. I had an "ah ha" moment the other day when I was adding in removal and was going to use "Swords" AND "Path" in my white artifact matters recursion deck. I came across the card "Glass Casket" and said wow this provides so much more synergy with my deck even through it is strictly worse--I'm cutting Path! It felt so good to use that card over a boring old staple.

Honestly, Wylie Beckert is one of my favorite artists in Magic. Especially Vesuvan Duplimancy.

I loved the video because I have so much to do to improve my deck efficiency. But i feel like this was a "command zone did it wrong" video and i agree mostly with you all especially about the variability of how many of each card type you have but i would imagine they would agree with you they just decided to put a single number rather than a range. Regardless i love all your videos thank you for putting in the time and work to share this info with us.

My battle cruiser dragon deck has over a dozen creatures at 6+, and that is a magic number for the dragon auras from Scourge.

Cherries is such a believable last name, I really thought it was your real last name. My mind is blown!

I would like to see some examples of the lands, because anything under 34 seems low. I usually split it 64 / 36 and most people I know do the same unless it's an outlier.

With ramp it really ranges a LOT, I'd say honestly between 5 and 25 can be optimal depending on the deck... and my Goreclaw deck has like 30 ramp/mana advantage cards, which may sound to some people like WAY to much, but it's actually pretty close to ideal as the deck wants to consistently have access to 20+ mana on turn 5. The deck also has 15+ ways to draw cards as well as 5 Tutors so there's not much risk of flooding out with ramp cards EDIT: The nerds mentioned Aesi right after I left the top part of this comment, so I wanted to say I also have a Tatyova deck with only like 2 draw spells and probably 40+ ramp cards as well as 43 lands, and that deck functions perfectly because of how busted Tatyova is (Why is she only uncommon?!?!) The deck wins by turn 5 or 6 every time, and is probably my hardest deck to stop from going off. My point is that as the Nerds mentioned, these numbers vary per deck and there will be outliers, but I wanted to emphasize that in some decks the numbers will not just be different from the general recommendations, but will be DRASTICALLY different.

I will be building a Liliana tribal deck with a sub theme of zombies ....I will be including Grave Titan. One of my favorite creatures from back in the day

Thanks for the video! Regarding the lands, I've personally seen that my decks run smoothly (in the sense that I rarely miss land drops and I'm rarely flooded) with 37 to 40 lands counting MDFCs. I think 36 lands counting MDFCs is just too low. Also with a low curve I would run more, since you really don't want to miss land drops in any case.

18:00, ahh yeah, I always lay out the curve and the three drops, YEESH

There it is. Let's go!

Just the best mtg content creators out there no doubt... Really appreciate you guys!

Very good video

Joe was an absolute king in this video

I’m looking for a way to build a deck based around tutoring storm crow, then equipping it with auras and enchantments, and killing someone with it. And not gonna lie, this helped.

Could totally tell you were talking about the command zone when beezy made the comment on ramp not being a straight 10

The mention of lands decks, and also the mention of wincons, has me remembering I need to tweak my tatyova deck. It really doesn't have many wincons... Just drawing cards...

love your videos. do you think you could do one on cards with flash in it? im trying to make a deck focused on that theme and would really like some input from you guys

Do you have a video/decklist for your Karador build? I’m trying to build around Nethroi and it’s been a little difficult getting things to synergize

Thinking about how to build a deck with one of the Win Con based on Mazes End? If so, what Commander(s) would you recommend?

Please do a vid on Pillowfort strategies and Enchantress effects

My breya deck has 14 4-cost spells in it, all permanents, and I've tried so many times to cut some of them for 1 drops, but the only ones I can think to cut are like... nautiloid ship or unwinding clock, maybe saheeli, the gifted... but they're all so powerful. That said I only have 17 total cards above 4 cmc, and some of them are like mycosynth golem and though monitor, which never get played at cost, so not counting those types of cards I only have 13 above 4cmc. and like 4 of those are win conditions or combo pieces

When you guys say things like (example) 2-6 wipes - are you assuming Tutors are in play here? Or the recommended 3-4 are assuming tutorless? Curious how much tutors play a role in your guys assessment of the ranges.

My mana curve in most decks is 3.5 but my highest is 4.5 in a momir vig since I can search for a mana dork

Beezy should do the same! Joe 🍒 love it! Hope you get there!

Glad to see the reupload took better. Not seeing the artifacting this time

When calculating average mana value do you include lands or exclude lands?

One of my decks peaks at 5 am I doing it right? I actually got the deck idea from you guys but did my own brew. 5, 1 drops 12, 2 drops 8, 3 drops 4, 4 drops 15, 5 drops 9, 6 drops 7, 7 drops 1, 8 drop 3, 9 drops.

I don't think you need hundreds of data sets to get your ramp right. I really do feel like making sure the "percentage chance of getting it by whatever turn you want it formula" is basically always right. because I've constantly used that, deviated from it by doing what you said (trying a bunch of games and just changing a little bit at a time every 10 or so) just for every single time I've tried to end up right back at the exact ratio I started with because the math is good enough and my experiences eventually prove it. 😂

Something I’m doing that I’m curious to hear other opinions about is to not call it “removal” but “interaction”. So a card like hushbringer or Rest In Peace would fit in this category as it interacts with the opponent

Thanks, I now have about 16 decks on the table scattered around, cut a quarter of each deck but have no plans yet on how ti 'fix' them. But I'm now officially my own deck doctor =/

Yay! Moxfield gang united!

glad to know another fellow MTG Gaymer and a great environment as got several groups of MTG Gaymers