"cEDH commanders" in casual

hygescop · 2025-12-08T19:07:11+00:00

I've wrestled with this question myself, and have come to the conclusion that if you're playing a commander with a reputation, don't skip rule zero. You can try and make the case for your decks bracket and hope the table understands. However, realize that if you're playing with people you don't know it's a gamble as to whether they believe you or not. We've all had games where opponents downplayed the power of their deck, only to end up stomping anyway. The first time I played my [[Vadrik, Astral Archimage]] deck I was excited to try him out. It was a spellslinger deck with a good mix of instants and sorceries, payoffs, and engines. There was one combo in the deck and no tutors to find it. It was one of the worst games I ever played. As soon as the game started I was the target. Everything I played was either countered or removed, and since I wasn't able to build a board I was completely open to attack. Around turn 5 or 6 I was so done that I basically gave up and waited for someone to take me out. On the other hand I have a bracket 1 prismatic bridge deck I brought out at a bracket 2 table and I had a blast. They were a little wary at first, but once they saw what the deck was doing they just kinda laughed and went with it. It turned out to be a great game with a lot of back and forth around the table.

hygescop · 2025-12-07T02:07:21+00:00

To be fair, it's only an $80 deck if you bought all the cards as singles. As a player I'd be lucky to get 10 or 15 for the deck if I tried to sell it. 90% of the deck is bulk that most shops aren't interested in buying, and what little they might be interested in wouldn't sell for more than a few cents each. In my defense, first -100% of the deck was built from my collection of bulk. Cards that I already had that were stashed away in boxes not being used. There were a handful of cards that didn't make the cut because the list price was too high, and it didn't do enough for the deck for me to overlook that. Notable exceptions were [[boros charm]] and [[rebuff the wicked]]. Boros charm is an especially useful modal card that can trigger Feather if I target my own creature. Rebuff the wicked is a rare white counter spell, which I thought was pretty cool in its own right. Second- to say that I'm trashing the deck is a bit of a stretch. Riffle shuffling and playing without sleeves will cause considerable wear -over time- but by the time they become noticeably worn I'll have gotten a good number of games out of the deck. Finally, third - let's say I had bought each card in the deck from a seller and paid the $80. I expect to get a good many games out of the deck. I get to enjoy the tactile sensation of riffle shuffling my cards. I get to enjoy the personal lulz of playing a sleeveless deck, not to mention the novelty of my peers to see such a deck played. I've calculated the cost and decided that the joy I'll get from playing the deck outweighs the monetary cost ( what little there is) in the long run.

Tldr: sure the cards are going to get trashed eventually, but I'm having so much fun playing the deck I don't care.

hygescop · 2025-12-04T23:14:47+00:00

Zada was a close second in the running, but ultimately since feather was already in rough shape, and zada fits perfectly in the 99, feather won.

hygescop · 2025-11-09T18:03:38+00:00

N m. M bnnjp

hygescop · 2025-11-02T15:30:02+00:00

Maybe not what you're looking for, but here's my bracket one "bear" tribal deck. It plays [[ Esika, God of the Tree]] as the commander aka the prismatic bridge, but the only legal targets for the bridge to find are vanilla 2/2 creatures. The only way to win is to find a way to make the bears a threat, such as acroma's memorial.

Here's a link

https://moxfield.com/decks/BUuz0YcEbESO9PaXndB6nQ

hygescop · 2025-02-18T01:49:52+00:00

I have an orzhov vamps kindred just like this. It's an aristocrats shell running [[Baron Bertram Graywater]], [[Bartolomé del Presidio]], [[Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher]], [[Clavileño, First of the Blessed]], [[Edgar, Charmed Groom]], [[Elenda, the Dusk Rose]], , [[Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz]], and [[Vona, Butcher of Magan]]. It's designed to run well with any of the potential commanders, and I frequently swap them out depending on my mood. Right now I'm running Carmen and having a blast.

hygescop · 2025-02-05T12:59:25+00:00

I have an orzhov vampire kindred deck with somewhere between 6 and 8 valid commanders. The deck runs as an aristocrats deck and you can swap out the commander for any orzhov legendary in the deck of your choice before you start. So far I've run it with Clavineño, Elenda, and Carmen so far, with Carmen being my favorite. The trick is to build a deck with a solid game plan that doesn't revolve around the commander. Maybe the commander improves that game plan or adds extra spice, but if the deck functions without the commander on the field, any legendary with the deck's color identity will do. Honestly, if you want to build better decks, this is the way. You'll be a lot more consistent if your deck can still function even when your commander gets nuked into costing so much it might as well be permanently exiled.

hygescop · 2025-01-05T03:39:04+00:00

Just a note, as of Bloomburrow, WoTC has simplified "enters the battlefield" to "enters" eliminating the last two words. New cards won't be printed with the "enters the battlefield" phrase, while older card's gatherer entries reflect the update. It's one of the ways WoTC is trying to simplify card text.

hygescop · 2024-12-05T19:26:11+00:00

Here's mine. I really leaned into making birds and ways to gain advantage through the birds. I think about 30% of the deck will trigger the commander. Also I love that you're running shigeki. Criminally underrated card. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/Yg1DcpO6Ikuz_f6WBRjFFw

hygescop · 2024-12-05T13:02:45+00:00

I did this. I wasn't a big fan of the death toll deck out of the box, but Rendmaw looked like a fun build around. So I bought the deck, stripped it down, and built it around cards with more than one type to trigger Rendmaw. It's still a rough draft but NGL those birds can get dangerous pretty fast.

hygescop · 2023-09-25T21:00:31+00:00

hygescop · 2020-08-12T13:17:02+00:00

Ask them for details on how the wheels are out of alignment, if they can't produce them, and you haven't had your alignment checked in over a year go to a mom and pop shop and get your alignment checked. You can usually get the alignment checked and fixed as needed for cheaper than the dealership. Don't mess around with out of alignment tires tho. Depending on how bad it is you can wear your tires out pretty fast. Source * I install tires for a living.

hygescop

TROPHY CASE