This MTG format has me hooked! 

The format is definitely powerful! Zada is always terrifying. I can remember many times where I'm out of removal just doing everything in my power to convince new players that their Doom Blade, just this one, NEEDS to be used at sorcery speed haha.

Zada slaps af. I used to have a pretty tuned PDH deck that I would bring to EDH games and clean up with, she's berserk. I ended up taking it apart because I never played her in PDH - folks in those games knew to just murder her immediately, and so I spent a lot of games accomplishing nothing and losing. In the last couple years, we've gotten so many outstanding Zada cards: Flick a Coin, Ancestor's Aid, Witch's Mark, Daring Discovery... I decided I wanted to rebuild Zada but I just wanted to do stupid nonsense instead of combat. So I built her with all Walls. It's a really fun way to keep her casual but still a threat.

My pauper Zada deck has run over my group’s regular EDH decks, she goes hard (don’t think I won, knocked out a player or two but didn’t have the gas for all three)

Of of this is super interesting. Where was this? If you don't mind me asking. When I first started really grinding the format a couple years ago, my games did tend to last a very long time but as me and the people around me got better, that has died down. I feel like a lot of it was players coming from 1v1 formats that would just durdle and stay alive without finishing the game or only have non-evasive attackers to slam into one another. Competitive games end in combo, by commander damage, or by burn/pinger strategies that are hard to stop from ending the game. Only having 30 life / 16 commander now helps a lot too. Ulamog's Crusher getting banned is the most interesting part of this. Sounds like it was solving the previous problem to me. I honestly haven't seen on actually perform in my games. Fleshbag Marauder (and now Demon's Disciple) was downshifted to common before I started playing the format so I've never seen it in the command zone. We now have Legate Lanius, Caesar's Ace. I haven't seen it in a game but it looks so strong.

@@lobbert8 This was in Cali. Around 2017, 2018. (I uploaded my decks to tappedout, and that's what the timestamps say.) The top of the meta was a few decks: my Fleshbag Marauder and Bassara Tower Archer decks were pretty dangerous. Fleshbag was great because there were a lot of zombie synergy cards that let me recur it constantly. I actually tested out Plaguecrafter before people stopped playing, and the zombie synergies actually were worth having a "worse" commander. Archer of course had very specific ways you had to interact with it, and it could kill with commander damage pretty consistently. The Archer actually started as Slippery Bogle: it could either pilot the mono green build, a mono blue build, or mix them together. I switched to the archer to try and give other people more of a chance. Invisible Stalker was on the "recommended house bans" list (or whatever vague suggestions existed at the time), so no one played it. Warden of the Eye was the other top deck, and it won via infinite combo. Jeskai colors meant it had a lot of control tools to pace the game how it wanted. I daresay me and my Warden of the Eye friend ruined the format for a lot of people. But just like regular EDH, it felt pretty easy to stumble into broken stuff eventually. I also ran Jhessian Thief and Cunning Breezedancer prowess voltron, but they didn't feel terribly powerful. Same with Ascended Lawmage: it just felt too slow compared to the likes of Bogle and Archer. I was theorycrafting Bastion Protector when the format died locally, haha.

​@@neverclever0​ It sounds like it was a competitive event, where having something disproportionately strong is the goal. Having separate LFG rooms like the PDH Home Base discord solves some of that but I've played plenty of casual games where someone brings something that's much too strong. Decks that run more removal are better at handling a situation like that and reminding players that ganging up on someone is deserved if they're still a threat after being interacted with. Less experienced players tend to just attack whoever has the highest life total, which also exacerbates the problem. Everyone I've ever met online has been good about reigning in their power level if asked. It doesn't happen super frequently, though, and it's usually the new player bringing something that doesn't fit so people are usually quick to forgive. What I'd be most concerned about are players that feel too ganged up on in situations like that and get too upset when targeted.

@@lobbert8 My store sits on the higher end of EDH power scaling, from what out-of-towners have told me. That surely leaked in to the PDH scene. I would encourage everyone to try the format. But it just didn't last long at my store. Power level discussions and disparities are the #1 problem with EDH, and they become so much more important when your decks have limited closing power. As always, discuss it with your group, and find what works best for as many players as possible.

@@lobbert8 It wasn't competitive. My LGS is just on the higher band of power, then and now. We also have a lot of new players who are... inexperienced at threat assessment. They also have been influenced by the more experienced players and the general amount of information. Decks tend to skew stronger, even if the player piloting it is still learning. All local metas are different, so of course this is just my experience. I hope other stores are more vartied in their power levels, and don't accidentally murder their PEDH scene, as my store did. 😛

I definitely agree. I keep like 15 PDH decks updated and only have to order like 5 cards a set unless there's a new staple or it's a masters / horizons product. That might cost me a couple bucks. I'm still excited for new releases because of it. I dread new sets for EDH.

the struggle is real. For a while I tried to keep up with both EDH and PDH, but then they printed the whole "free if you control your commander" cards and deflecting swat was like $30 and I just gave up. Every time I see new commander-product I get really pleased with myself for having made that call.

Dargo is nutty

I've played many games against Sivriss. I think it's one of the best options in Golgari!

I'm curious, do you have a regular group that's adding grave hate to their decks? I plays with tons of different people and almost never see any grave hate. Even in competitive!

@lobbert8 not directly. But usually 1-2 cards per deck. I must say though that grave hate really annoys me and that makes me more sensitive.

GORX MY BELOVED! I build a LOT of decks, and my favorites shift pretty wildly back and forth at any given time, but in the last year Gorx has *consistently* been one of the decks I grab when I'm going somewhere, every single time. I can't get enough of him. I haven't had a problem with Grave Hate. Maybe I've been really lucky?

I knew it would be a bad title and thumbnail for people who already know me but wanted a channel trailer that would help sell people on this format.

@@lobbert8 it's a really good channel trailer

Heck yea! I've been doing something similar and have been really struggling the most to find something in mono green.

@@lobbert8 Haven't really seen what they have to work with yet, but Aberrant, Aftermath Analyst and Armorcraft Judge all seem doable. On second thought, Aberrant might not have the tools it needs to work since you can only use commons. The other two would be a lot easier I think. That's just a couple, but with any uncommon being possible as your commander

I feel like it's closer to EDH than it is to 1v1 pauper and even then, it feels distinctly different. I was not familiar with Lore Drakkis decks until looking it up right now. That sounds so cool! 🤩

@@lobbert8 yeah I feel so too, but I would have to use cards from a format that I play in a different format that is similar to a format I also already play I believe the cpEDH version of izzet mutate storm is lore drakkis mutated on a low cost creature (preferably 0) + high tide + snap (or any bounce spell, but snap is best, grinning ignus works too) in EDH its similar but with Vadrok, I have both a Izzet version and a Boros version of the deck. the izzet version 's combolines are a bit easier to achieve and give you infinite mill eventually the Boros deck is inspired by The Snail's Guide to EDH's friend's Vadrok infinite turns combo

I guess I can build a pauper edh version with Rootha so that I can also use it in normal EDH🤔

I would re-download arena

I agree that proxies are a great solution if you're not playing FNM. Heck, I proxy a lot of PDH decks but the great play experience PDH offers is worth considering on its own.

I feel ya. There's plenty of legendary options if you'd like to dip your toe into the format first but the format is way better for it.

@@lobbert8 not gonna lie, your video got me interested in trying out, will propose it to my pod. But nonlegendary commanders is a hard sell, and I think I wouldnt consider a deck that uses a nonlegendary as a commander as a real deck. At least with a legendary creature, pauper edh would still be a legal edh deck. But with nonlegendary commanders It feels way too rule 0 for me.

Why not ask to play casual PDH instead of competitive? That allows everyone to enjoy the game in the way they prefer. If you run into issues of people misinterpreting how strongly their deck is built, I’ve found asking people what turn their deck expects to win can be a more accurate measurement of what power level you can expect than using a subjective 1-10 scale. There are plenty of people playing the format in the way you enjoy in the servers he mentioned. I would look there. Best of luck :)

If combos feel oppressive, run more removal! The common removal suite is FANTASTIC and can efficiently deal w any threat.

Restricting to only legends would leave only 400 commanders. Lots of commanders opens up lots of possibilities, which has proven to be good for a format's longevity. Many people build a PDH deck with a legendary commander so that they can bring their deck to their EDH pods!

@@lobbert8okay. Restrictions breed creativity

Not a reason. It's like saying "I hate the sea because it has water". To make an argument, explain why non-legendary commanders is a problem.

🥱

Okay so we should only allow 1 commander that everyone has to use. That would make everyone the most creative and definitely not lead to the format being homogeneous, right? ​@@yugioh1870