I find it so much more rewarding when all the cards in the 99 synergize with each other instead of relying on my Commander to be on the battlefield for my deck to do its thing.
Demo, you've convinced me to try method 2 building. I have too many monolith commanders and I'm working on changing commanders. By the way, I remember playing with leviathan back in the day!
I had a method 2 blink deck that worked really well. There were games I'd never cast my commander because other cards were just better at the time. However, I enjoy method 1 decks, too, because they can often be a lot more unique. If you have a commander that does something that nothing else really can do, you can have a more unique deck overall. If you rely on the 99 for mechanics, you're restricted to more well-supported archetypes.
thats why I love building around the commander, just makes games a lot more interesting for my own gameplay. I try to protect my commander a lot and have a lot of recusion for it for that reason.
The only commander you can build as a type 1 without any of the drawbacks is Lucius the Eternal. With enough removal, you can practically garuntee youll always have him on the field when you need him. Gotta be one of my favorite commanders.
I too, am building more having fun decks. If I'm not having fun, then there's no point. I made a Cadeira, Caller of the Small deck which just makes bunnies. Lots and lots and lots of bunnies. It's really fun and it wins a surprising number of times.
I have a Dromoka, the Eternal deck that was originally built for her.(lots of bolster) I included Karametra, God of the Harvest, and Dragonlord Dromoka in the 99.I have found the three of them interchangeable as commander, a d things still work out well.😊
I recently switched Tevesh Szat and Armix, Filigree Familiar in my mono-black artifacts deck for Braids, Arisen Nightmare and I haven't looked back. She's so good...
I have been looking at Omnath, Locus of all as a commander for a deck. I intended to build a mana base around guilds and use 1 win-con based on guild lands. Then for the remaining for the deck i can do more or less whatever. The commander provides so much value, but nothin really specific. I always draw cards, passing with untapped land may result in more mana on next turn etc. I could even have a card box for maybe 300-400 cards and have a couple of different builds for him.
I recently built a myrkul deck as a stand in for necrobloom and in doing so I leaned into creatures that getting a second life benefits the field of the dead stuff and I’m stoked on it myrkul isn’t important but he’s solid for a contingency on creatures
I switched my shadowborn apostle decks commander; It has gone through multiple commanders. I have Syr Konrad, the Grim as of now, and it works great! But I can just take a bunch of other black legends, and switch out at any time. Now not every deck I have can do that.
I recently retooled at RG Volron w/Aura deck, using not a 4-5 MV commander but instead the 2 MV Targ Nar. It comes out earlier, forces me to play more auras on it to make it effective, yet also lets me leverage mana for a big damage spike. Are there other choices in RG and RGW for a Voltron strategy? Sure. This makes it more fun.
It’s kind of funny because I remember when you first talked about your “I want less lands in play” deck I thought to myself (and should have commented, in hindsight) that if I was going to do that strategy I’d go with blue and white. Because personally I’d see it as an excuse to use all of those Moonfolk cards that require you to bounce lands as a cost for their abilities, so I’d have kind of a secondary Moonfolk tribal theme. When you first brought it up the commander I had in mind was Tameshi, Reality Architect, but now that MH3 is out I’m leaning towards Genku, Future Shaper. I’m still tempted to build that.
It's much easier for me to build method 2 with generals of CMC 6 and above, because there's stuff I want to do while I'm waiting for my general to hit the field anyway. I also have issues with method 2, because I mostly want the color(s) AND the general(s) to work with my idea, so then I swap in cards to work with my idea and the general. There's several times where I know I'll have awareness of basic ideas in EDH, like aristocrats control, but most of the time, it is the right general inspiring me to look at my collection to see what kind of deck I can build. However, the EASIEST time I've ever had with method 2, was when I was in the middle of building Golos (Tireless Pilgrim), when the ban came. I was already trying to assemble silly jank synergies, so Varragoth (Bloodsky Sire) was the best choice, especially since I finally had an excuse to run a tutoring deck. There's no Kaldra pieces, but I did get all three 'of Empires' pieces, same with the Bogbrew Witch and her cauldron and newt. With the Fallout set, I swapped in ALL seven of the bobbleheads... yeah. Very fun build. Janky pile of crap, but it may increase in power someday. There's also the hipster choices, like 🟢 dragons, and I went with Skanos Dragonheart and Acolyte of Bahamut, because such a possibility says to me... what if? What if I could make it happen? Tarkir's coming back next year, so hopefully the deck can get powered up.
Hey Demo! I got a strong recommandation for your Nadier-Deck: Fallen Ideal. Its THE All-Star of my Nadier/Tana-Token-Deck is nearly absurd with Nadier: 1. Does not have the typical downside of auras because ist goes back to your hand when it dies 2. Free sac-outlet 3. Gives him evasion (flying) and buffs him even more 3. Saq-ing 6 Tokens means leathel Commander damage in one swing or saq-ing him afterwards into the Ideal means 21 elf-tokens!
So I had Vae victis the dire (I call Vivaldi) and it was such a monolith commander, also he Was a huge target. Afte many of your videos I decided to change a lot of the deck to function without him: basically I am cheating stuff from the Top of library wich killer instict effects- I have decided to put the gods from war of the spark because they retuck themselves. I am really happy about the build, thanks I still kept vivaldi as a commander.
I have a Mardu Ghen enchantment deck that is similar; his job is to assist (get important enchantments back from the graveyard). Otherwise he usually doesn't get cast.
Only time I've changed the commander of a deck was because I was trying to make a weaker option work just to avoid the more obvious choice because it felt "over-played." I ended up caving eventually because it just added way more synergy to the entire deck. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What I like about method 2 building is that there tends to be less "infinite value engine" commanders. Commanders that create additional card advantage every turn for free with no additional investment.
I did this with my Locust God // Niv Mizzet Parrun deck. I just kept the God as the commander, because it has a return to hand option in case it dies. Also the casting cost was a nightmare for Niv Mizzet 😂😂😂. The curiosity combo made the games really boring and I always won the same way. With the Locust God I have a powerful Go wide strategy and I use cards like Bident of Thassa and Impact Tremors to deal a bunch of damage, but not necessarily enough to kill the whole table. But the synergies are so cool and it looks like an engine, instead of a one trick pony. Also, the fact that it creates additional creatures, I'm able to participate in the combat phase and not just be the trigger police, which was kinda tiresome. Also the Skull Clamp and Kindred Discovery are terrifying when they hit the battlefield and I love the reactions they cause when I play a Lab Man or I have the Tremors in play 😅
I pick a commander then build a 90 that doesnt care about the commander and have a weakness that will be covered by the commander, then fit in 9 that will need the commander.
Aura of Dominion also works well with Disciple of Deceit, a repeatable tutor that gives any non-land card in your hand Transmute. At any time, pay one mana, tap & untap Disciple, discard a non-land, and grab any card from your library with the same mana value as the discard. By far, the cheapest repeatable tutor ever.
I had a mardu lifegain mutate deck, and it was boring, i blew it up this week and planning for a naya zoo deck with bloomburrow, so switching the black cards for green.
What method is it called if you use your commander as a distraction/carrot on a stick while you assemble your actual game plan? E.G.- Slicer, Hired Muscle as your commander for a goblin deck.😂
I built Omarthis when he came out it is one of my stronger decks. but i built mine around manifesting my library and murdering everyone with my deck literally.
My humans deck has changed over time. Started as tokens. First one made a human on landfall. Then sigarda human token maker. Now aftermath sigarda giving all permanents hex proof. Sisay is in there to tutor up whatever I want and kyler to go big and wide. Switch em around to punish the table but aftermath sigarda is still default
man, i'm glad you have fun but i just can't get behind how you build decks. mono blue auras? well, good for you. i'm gonna keep playing my- to borrow your term- type 1 decks, you know there's ways to protect your commander right? or just play maelstrom wanderer where it's "sure, get rid of my commander, but i'll cast it again and get 2 free spells"
you know there's ways to remove your commander right? in fact there are far more ways to remove a commander than protect one in any given commander game. and your maelstorm wanderer costs 10 mana after death. 2 free spells for 10 mana? that sounds just okay.
@@edhdeckbuilding it's not a 1:1 comparison. 1 way to protect your commander (say, lightning greaves, swiftfoot boots0 protects it from more than 1 way of removing it. crystal shard in any deck that plays blue goes a loooooong way to protect your commander, especially if your commander wants to be recast repeatedly like maelstrom. (it obviosly can protect other stuff, but we're speaking from the pov of a methos 1/monolith commander right now) and lastly, 10 mana for 3 spells (aelstrom+2) is at worst "just ok", if cascade hits two mana rocks/dorks but get's insane if i hit any of the many large creatures i play exactly so i can cascade into them. and dude, you play the leviathans that- cool as they may be- force you to sacrifice islands to attack, i KNOW your bar for value isn't that high
There is no correct way to build a decl, some people build around a commander they like others build a deck around a theme and use a commander that supports that theme
It is easier to stop a man than a movement. While it is fun to craft monolith commanders, too often such decks stop working when the commander is removed. Yawgmoth is an excellent example, thought this is voltron decks typically pick a legend with hexproof or ward. It is why Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots are so often auto includes. Building a deck that still works even when an opponent has control of your commander is liberating, as it is harder for your opponents to stop your fun.
