Do These Decks Just Build Themselves? | EDHRECast 271

I totally agree that R&D have a really hard job creating new cards. What I would love to see in future commanders is less text. That's all I ask. Give us both open ended and niche commanders that have 2 lines of text at most.

Two things: -First, an apology to Joey or, rather, to Baba Lysaga: I was wrong about her. I threw together a list on MTGO and jammed a few games. Arguably the most fun commander I've ever played, made great use of niche/underplayed cards, and it was durdley as hell in the best possible way. I will never doubt you again, Joseph Tiberius Schultz. -This might be a hot take, but I find decks that build themselves/"solved" decks to be a lot of fun. Maybe it's because I spent so much time playing 60-card formats, but making little tweaks to established lists is something I enjoy more than playing open-ended commanders like Alela or Atraxa. Great vid as always, folks!

The nice thing about very obvious build-around set mechanic commanders is that it gives you a reason to play those set mechanic cards -- things like Verazol, Kadena, Gavi, Ranar, etc. There are plenty of "set mechanic" cards that I will run as pet cards or as a sidegrade to the standard disenchant, counterspell, etc. but having a strong reason to run a large mass of those cards is fun, even if it's not challenging. Plus, it doesn't mean there's no need to discriminate -- there's plenty of optimization to be done. You don't just run any card with adventure in Gorion, only those that have enough utility to reasonably cast most games. So it scratches a lot of the same itch that non-build around niche commanders have -- you get to play cards that otherwise would languish in your collection. Another benefit is that since you're supplementing a lot of generic good stuff with more niche versions that synergize with the commander, the deck has little overlap with other decks you're running, even if it's remarkably similar to every player's deck of that commander. It's also nice to see those decks use cards from multiple blocks as time goes on and mechanics get revisited. This is definitely a subset of commanders that tend to be built similarly, but it's one I've been enjoying. Just my two cents, to up those (viewer response) stats.

love this topic guys. more people need to talk about it.

I think the main issue I would have is not that a Commander is niche, but it is the obvious singular choice Commander for that style. So, if you are playing a shrine deck, why wouldn’t you be playing Go-Shintai or for a saga deck, why wouldn’t you use the new Tom Bombadil. Everything else would just be vastly inferior. If you like Dragons, the Ur Dragon is not your only choice as good as it is; there are so many good commanders for a dragon tribal and they can play very different from each other. You could constantly be taking that deck apart and making new dragon decks but once you have your Tom Bombadil saga deck, at most you may slightly tweak it over time. There is no crossover.

I think having more narrow commanders is fine as long as those arent the only commanders they are printing. Having a mix so people can build to their taste is great. There is a risk if the more narrow commanders are WAY more powerful than the more open ended commanders.

Do you all ever feel like EDHRec contributes to homogeny in the format?

You get people saying a deck is 'solved' because there are 100-150 alleged 'auto-include' cards for the commander. If you have more 'auto-include' cards than there are nonland slots in the deck, you have a construction challenge immediately, building down instead of up.

Challenge the stats: Ruthless Technomancer in Urza, Chief Artificer. Sac a construct to double the amount of artifacts you control, and a lot of treasure. Shows up in only 83 urza decks, or 0.003%

46:40 this is why I love playing my Sultai Sidisi reanimator deck. It's easily one of my all time favorite decks

Another factor that I feel like wasn't touched on was how many reprints for commander we've had within the last 2 or 3 years. People have been able to get alot of these staples now from price reduction due to list reprints, precons, and supplementary/premium sets that got more copies out there for people who wanted it.

The way you guys present information is the best on the tube!

I would like to see less legendary cards per set. A commander that bounces permanents on it's own is a "energy" commander.

Definitely agree with and appreciate the comment about people just not having time, and people like the illusion of the challenge. Personally think a bigger issue is just the face roll easy commanders (Korvold, Aesi). Too many of those is probably worse for the format than a mild power level saga deck with ole Tom that all look similar.

23:19 "Are you playing the deck... or is the deck playing itself?" This is the ultimate question for any brewer.

As much as I loved the accidental segue, there was a missed opportunity. "One reason for the homogeny from deck to deck is simply that more people are looking at resources like EDHrec. Unfortunately, that can also lead to less optimal cards still finding their way into the majority of decks, or great cards being overlooked. That's why every week we challenge the stats." This episode could have really highlighted how important that segment really is.

I really like narrow commanders like Urtet for my Changeling Tribal deck. It was such a nice addition to combo with Gemhide Sliver and Magda. I can tap creatures for mana which in turn also creates a treasure. Now Urtet untaps the changelings so I can tap them to attack and make more treasures. Assembling a Rube Goldberg machine with changelings is so fun. With Go-Shintai I love combining it with Umori as a companion and running all enchantments. So while yes you have the shrines in there you also have to search for enchantments to act as removal, ramp, and for your creatures. Makes it a fun puzzle to assemble.

Your desire to win rather than to play is what pushes out your favorite/pet cards. My decks are not great and I usually am playing a level under the table and that is perfectly fine with me because I love to play and to play with my fun cards. It makes winning when I do even better.

So after I finished watching this episode, I switched over to a set review from (unnamed popular Commander podcast) and not to throw hate, but it seems like a lot of big EDH content creators tend to pigeonhole cards into only belonging in certain decks, and I think all the viewers that take those opinions as doctrine might also affect the similarity between decks nowadays

As someone that’s new, I don’t know cards well. Being able to see average decks and build off them like upgrading a pre-con is much easier and accessible for me than brewing something from scratch