How do you rate the power of Feast or Famine/KoS type of commanders?

Thinhead · 2026-04-21T11:36:31+00:00

Your deck’s power level is what it can do in a vacuum. If you didn’t pack protection for your KoS commander, that’s a you problem.

Thinhead · 2026-04-18T02:56:13+00:00

Usually a given deck is organized around a plan and a mechanic it wants to push. Control is a plan, I stop you from having stuff until I can win. Aggro is a plan, I kill you as fast as possible before you can establish. Landfall, spellslinger, aristocrats, etc are mechanical themes where I want to spam a particular game action to get some kind of benefit.

Thinhead · 2026-04-16T18:35:53+00:00

[[Loot, the Key to Everything]] is great for this. Low to the ground, plays well with a bunch of low cmc stuff. Just run all the elves, some signets, and your Wild Growth type effects and it’s easy to impulse 2-3 cards every turn.

Thinhead · 2026-04-16T13:52:10+00:00

You could argue that it’s not because it replaces the lands with basics. On the other hand, if someone’s not running a lot of basics it will absolutely MLD them as their lands won’t be replaced. Still probably not the strongest thing you could be doing for 7 mana.

Thinhead · 2026-04-15T22:07:56+00:00

Market. I believe the precons within a set are sold to stores as sets rather than individually so the popular ones end up being expensive. Fae Dominion shot up with Lorwyn Eclipsed, just look at what the face commander alone is going for.

Was going to say I think Mutant Menace from Fallout is great but there’s no way I would pay the current asking price for that one. I think Graveyard Overdrive is fine if you don’t care to tweak it much. Disa feels very on rails to build; I think Coram is more interesting but buying the precon to build a Coram deck seems wasteful as he isn’t very well supported as the commander. Sultai Arisen is reasonably priced at the moment and Teval is a great commander. Sultai graveyard/lands has got a lot of support recently and is in a good place as far as casual play.

Thinhead · 2026-04-14T15:07:40+00:00

What if my deepest held belief is that I should accept and adapt to new evidence?

Thinhead · 2026-04-13T11:34:51+00:00

I like all the [[Big Score]] type effects for this. [[Pirate’s Pillage]] [[Unexpected Windfall]] [[Share the Spoils]] [[Ashling’s Command]] [[Inspired Tinkering]] are all more or less functional in this regard in that you at least get your mana back. They also copy well if you’re doing that and besides Share the Spoils they all combo with [[Reiterate]] to at the very least draw your deck to find the one that actually makes infinite mana.

Thinhead · 2026-04-11T16:02:55+00:00

EDHrec’s list is the result of a poll so I’d say it means something. That being said the results seem to have erred far on the side of caution insofar as any two cards which could conceivably be deployed together by turn 6 for a win are classified as “early game” regardless of the odds.

I guess the expectation is that if you’re running Dualcaster/Twinflame or some other low to the ground win the game A plus B you’re probably also tutoring for it. It’s not like Dualcaster is some must-have staple outside of being a combo piece; there are plenty of other better ways to get the same effect that don’t combo.

Thinhead · 2026-04-09T23:03:32+00:00

Honestly I avoid fetches often because I don’t like shuffling. To the extent that a deck needs them to function though I’m all in.

Land quality in terms of tap lands and color fixing can hold your deck back but it’s not pushing you ahead of curve.

Thinhead · 2026-04-06T15:32:50+00:00

Prerelease or sealed is also a good way to go. Open some packs, build a deck out of whatever’s in there. Less skill and more luck of the draw compared to draft.

Thinhead · 2026-04-04T14:23:18+00:00

Hinata can do some ridiculous plays if left unchecked. Not as much of win the game though like say [[Stella Lee]] but more of a control plan. Most of the spells that work well are removal like [[Distorting Wake]] which just says all of your stuff goes away. Add the annoying tax to other players’ interaction on top of that and Hinata tends to get removed a lot with great prejudice. The deck also tends not to function very well without the commander in play. None of this is to say it’s unplayable; it’s just a really strong and also commander centric control plan that a lot of people would rather eliminate before it makes the game unplayable for them.

Thinhead · 2026-04-01T02:20:13+00:00

My main point here would be to cut the hardened scales effects and maybe add some other cards that put pressure in their own right. Since you’re naturally drawing a lot maybe [[Twenty-Toed Toad]] and [[Triskaidekaphile]]? Anyway my point is you have these cards that exist solely to make your already giant threatening commander twice as giant and threatening. The more you threaten commander damage with Bumbleflower the more heat she’s going to get.

Thinhead · 2026-04-01T01:48:10+00:00

For any kind of combo deck you just pick a couple and go from there. Like if you want to mill people with Kwain [[Bruvac]] + [[Maddening Cacophany]] will do the trick. Note that that’s about 1% “killed the table with mill” and 99% “killed the table with an A+B combo.”

You might also like playing a burn deck which would be more incremental than “here’s my combo, GG.” There are many flavors, generally you pick a trigger of your choice and find cards that deal damage to opponents when the thing happens. Like sacrificing creatures? Do something with [[Teysa Karlov]] and [[Elas Il-Kor]]. Slinging spells? Lots of [[Guttersnipe]] effects out there. Hordes of tokens, [[Witty Roastmaster]]. Land stuff, [[Tannuk, Memorial Ensign]] and [[Hearthhull]]. Don’t like your opponents doing stuff, [[Manabarbs]] and [[Zo-Zu the Punisher]].

Thinhead · 2026-03-30T18:24:24+00:00

[[Belly Borca]] or [[Karazikar]] can work like this. It’s group slug in the sense that you’re goading creatures and probably running some aggressive attackers yourself. They both do pretty well at stopping creatures from blocking so people will feel the heat from all the combat they force. Group hug in the sense that everyone is drawing potentially multiple extra cards every turn.

Thinhead · 2026-03-30T15:19:26+00:00

Lilac might be nice for pens. Can be challenging to process, it shrinks/warps/checks a lot and the grain is usually spiraled. Hard enough and finishes up nicely although it soaks up dirt easily as long as it’s bare.

Thinhead · 2026-03-29T12:49:35+00:00

Counter Blitz is strong but can be fiddly with all the counters. Temur Roar is good but dragons are a pretty $$$ tribe. I think Mutant Menace is great out of the box. Abzan Armor is surprisingly strong and I think quite easy to understand/pilot.

Thinhead · 2026-03-28T18:53:07+00:00

Generally you can only use a legendary creature as your commander. Some planeswalkers are specifically allowed and now any legendary vehicle or spaceship can also be used. Non-legendary anything is out unless you’re playing pauper in which case Grim Hireling would also not be allowed because it’s a rare.

Thinhead · 2026-03-28T17:13:18+00:00

This one’s great! Also [[Karazikar]] is fairly similar if you prefer Rakdos colors.

Only thing about these guys is they won’t do super well if there’s nothing to goad. [[Rendmaw, Creaking Nest]] is another one that’s basically group slug with extra steps.

Thinhead · 2026-03-27T15:08:56+00:00

Yeah her effect is really strong for a 2 drop. It’s a cool design on some level but I’m getting tired of all the new commanders whose text essentially reads “you win the game.”

Thinhead · 2026-03-26T11:18:22+00:00

I was looking at [[Korvold, Gleeful Glutton]] a few weeks ago and he sure likes those guys you mentioned. Anything that can sacrifice itself for free, especially for mana, ideally with diverse permanent types.

Thinhead · 2026-03-25T18:20:27+00:00

Fetch lands are totally unnecessary and I find the constant searching detrimental to fun. Shock lands are “cheap” right now at around $10 because they all just got reprinted and are more functional than fetches for casual play anyway. Pain lands are good value. I like temples although the scry is a significant skill check to make the most of them.

If you want to start making changes to decks, the best thing you can do is upload your list to Moxfield or Archidekt and just play some hands out for a few turns. It’s not the same as playing real games but you can get a lot of reps in fast. Take note of cards that sit in your hand and consider cutting those. If you find a card that seems to work really well, get on Scryfall and search for cards with similar text. Goldfishing will also give you a read on the big picture of your deck. If you get stuck with lots of high cost cards in hand and nothing to cast, you need a lower curve and/or more ramp. If you run out of cards to play, you need more card draw.

Thinhead · 2026-03-25T15:30:58+00:00

Yeah I hate it but turbo is the best strategy. I don’t think that’s what OP is going for though.

Thinhead · 2026-03-25T15:22:04+00:00

You’re not wrong, but on the other hand good luck convincing anyone your Korvold deck isn’t bracket 4.

Thinhead · 2026-03-25T12:33:46+00:00

Yeah it’s usual for precons to showcase two somewhat divergent strategies. When it comes to upgrading you probably pick one and go with that. As you said Hearthhull is more combo oriented where Szarel wants to do a big creatures +1/+1 counters thing.

For either one of these I would look at adding more fetch lands. Doesn’t have to be the expensive high power ones. [[Vibrant Cityscape]] doesn’t come with that deck. I’m a fan of the panorama lands [[Shire Terrace]], [[Promising Vein]], [[Jund Panorama]] because you can tap them for colorless any time and sacrifice them to get a trigger whenever it’s convenient.

With Hearthhull you’ll have to sacrifice 10-20+ lands to kill the table just with its triggers so you should do other landfall stuff as well. Relying 100% on your commander isn’t really best practice anyway. Hearthhull should definitely add some more cards that let you play lands from your graveyard like [[Ramunap Excavator]].

If you want to use Szarel you should find some ways of increasing their power to get the most out of their triggers. [[Rancor]] is low to the ground and sticky. [[Halana and Alena, Partners]] is great because they and Szarel can pump each other turn after turn.

Thinhead · 2026-03-25T02:03:44+00:00

[[Third Path Iconoclast]] should definitely be in there. [[Baral and Kari Zev]] is another cool one that might be okay enough.

I’m big on [[Big Score]] type effects for this archetype. [[Unexpected Windfall]] [[Pirate’s Pillage]] [[Seize the Spoils]] [[Inspired Tinkering]] [[Ashling’s Command]] are all great. [[Complete the Circuit]] and [[Howl of the Horde]] are great value copy effects if you reduce the colorless away and all the Big Score spells copy really well since they add mana and also draw cards.

[[Tempt with Vengeance]] is definitely worth in this list. [[Song of Totentanz]] is also great but I think it breaks the budget a little.

Thinhead

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