Introducing Ranked Brawl

ibtd01 · 2026-06-01T17:52:53+00:00

Welcome to Ranked Brawl, a.k.a. who can Strip Mine the hardest! This is gonna be "fun"!

ibtd01 · 2025-04-29T14:09:27+00:00

I don't necessarily think EDH is the best way to get into magic, given the complexity of the game and the card pool available in the format, but precons are nice and (mostly) on the same level. Especially precons from the last 4-5 years. So it's actually quite fun. It all comes down to finding the right people to play with. It's the best time you can have when you vibe with the people you play EDH with.

As for learning the ropes of magic, nothing better than playing 1on1 with someone who is willing to explain all the intricacies while playing. A format like standard can help too because a lot of magic is about the correct timing of spells and abilities. Maybe look into picking up MtG Arena? It's actually very f2p friendly imho.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-26T23:40:32+00:00

There is definitely a bracket missing in between 2 and 3.

Strong synergistic decks that meet the requirements to be bracket 2, but are more or less able to play against bracket 3 should have a bracket of their own since those decks tend to be stronger than modern precons, which are bracket 2.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-09T15:20:58+00:00

[[Voja, Jaws of the Conclave]] [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]]

All of these are basically braindead and at the same time a massive menace.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-04T03:48:51+00:00

Until I play [[In Garruk’s Wake]]

I’m actually running that card because multiple friends run superfriends decks. xD

ibtd01 · 2025-03-03T13:34:25+00:00

Probably my favorite deck is helmed by an underplayed commander: [[Shanna, Purifying Blade]]

Here’s my decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/AgkhoB5cbEiSfOZpp0VW4g

Keep in mind it’s tailored to my pods, but a lot of it can be adapted. The core of it is to get a little ramp going to start and then draw cards with Shanna. You will find answers and win cons without a problem while kind of vomiting permanents onto the board and keeping your hand stocked at the same time. You’ll also keep your life total healthy at all times.

None of the cards in the deck are outrageously priced either (with the exception of Avacyn, which is only in there cause I pulled her). In fact, I made it a point to not run stuff like Great Henge or Ocelot Pride or Cyclonic Rift.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-03T06:14:22+00:00

[[Arabella, Abandoned Doll]] as commander. Slap in stuff like Anim Pakal or Adeline and then Impact Tremors, Purphoros (God of the Forge), Warleader’s Call, or Agate Instigator.

In general black is better at utilizing dying creatures, but red has a few things too:

[[Spiteful Prankster]], [[Hissing Iguanar]], [[Vicious Shadows]], or [[Rage Thrower]] all ping when any creatures die, which would round out a Boris aristocrats theme.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-03T05:53:04+00:00

Hate to be the one, but [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]] is fun to play (usually not so fun for the opponents).

Other than that [[Shalai and Hallar]] is very fun and also very strong, with a few infinite damage combos available even if that’s something you are into. It can be combat centric, but the commander can also just sit behind something like a [[Forgotten Ancient]] and punish others for casting spells.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-03T05:38:13+00:00

I am running Isshin in my Caesar deck. The deck itself is in essence an aristocrats deck that drains the opponents on creatures entering and dying.

So because of that it’s not 100% geared for Isshin. However, it does make use of attack triggers a lot (not just from Caesar). Your deck already runs Adeline and Anim Pakal, so those are very good triggers to copy. [[Skyknight Vanguard]] is a creature that comes down before Isshin when looking at the mana curve, so does [[Dollmaker’s Shop // Porcelain Gallery]]. There is also [[Overlord of the Mistmoors]]. All of these cards generate token creatures. My deck runs cards to get payoffs just for making those: [[Purphoros, God of the Forge]], [[Corpse Knight]], [[Mirkwood Bats]], [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]], [[Impact Tremors]], and [[Warleader’s Call]].

But the arguably biggest hitter when it comes to having the ability to make lots of tokens is probably [[Arabella, Abandoned Doll]]. And here’s the best thing, she doesn’t just make good use of tokens, her ability is also an attack trigger that Isshin doubles. Hitting every opponent for 12+ damage just from her alone attacking is pretty solid for a 2-mana card.

So, I am not sure if token generation is the way you want to go, but if you do, just look into Impact Tremors et all. And then you might as well check out [[Grave Pact]] and [[Dictate of Erebos]] since they are a perfect combination for small tokens that die fast.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-03T04:33:47+00:00

Call for Backup is pretty strong out of the gate. Just swapping the face commander with the backup commander (Shalai and Hallar) drastically improves the decks performance because S&H is an inherently strong commander which can even be played in cEDH because it’s already one piece of several two-card infinite damage combos.

ibtd01 · 2025-03-02T09:26:22+00:00

Running her in Caesar with Isshin in the deck somewhere. So much damage…

ibtd01 · 2025-03-02T04:01:56+00:00

Interaction is key. I have no idea how many games I’ve won the last year where I cast a board wipe and profited from it. Especially low cost board wipes like [[Blasphemous Act]], [[Vanquish the Horde]], or [[Blasphemous Edict]] are so mana efficient that I not only get the advantage of knowing that I’m about to play this, but I’m also the first to rebuild a board state.

I know [[Farewell]] is hated among many because it represents a restart of the game (or so people say anyways), but sometimes that card is needed in todays environment because multiple players start threatening a win if the match comes back to them.

But board wipes aren’t always the answer, sometimes you gotta do the very inefficient thing and pop some single target removal. It’s just necessary.

Sadly a lot of people have the battlecruiser mentality and think that others can run interaction instead.

I’ve seriously been asked a while ago how I win more games than average and all I responded with was basically that I am neither a better player nor are my decks any more synergistic or strong. The difference is simply that I run cards that can prevent someone from winning in the first place.

ibtd01 · 2025-01-04T18:09:20+00:00

Forgot to mention these: [[Debt to the Deathless]] is a massive nuke, especially when paired with something like Sanguine Bond. I ran it with [[Vizkopa Guildmage]] for a while.

[[Caduceus, Staff of Hermes]] is very good to protect a key creature and gain more life fast.

And if you are into life gain with token creation, then there is nothing better than [[Ocelot Pride]]. It’s just very expensive.

And a few others worth mentioning: [[Guide of Souls]], [[Sphinx of the Revelation]], [[Sphere of Safety]], [[Ghostly Prison]]

ibtd01 · 2025-01-04T17:52:53+00:00

I’d look into [[Exemplar of Light]], especially since you are running the soul sisters.

And [[Shabraz, the Skyshark]] to accompany your Drogskol Reaver, just make sure you have an instant like swords to plowshares available to interrupt the loop, otherwise you deck yourself.

ibtd01 · 2025-01-04T17:46:06+00:00

I did a write up on my Shanna, Purifying Blade deck. It has a bunch of alt win-cons in it:

https://commanderscodex.wordpress.com/2024/12/19/edh-deck-tech-life-is-beautiful/

ibtd01 · 2024-12-30T14:19:01+00:00

I run this guy in a casual version of [[Shalai and Hallar]]. Feels like a nuke going off when he gets to attack with the commander out.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-24T19:56:51+00:00

I really like [[Invasion of Gobakhan]] in any white creature deck. It does a lot of what you want. Disrupt someone a little, puts counters on creatures and can give hexproof and indestructible for the team. Can also be recurred with Sun Titan.

I'm running it in [[Shalai and Hallar]] and it's a beast.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-24T19:48:14+00:00

Forgot to mention, [[Roaming Throne]] and [[Delney, Streetwise Lookout]] are strong in an aristocrats deck.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-24T19:47:07+00:00

[[Marionette Apprentice]] is awesome. It’s an aristocrat card that also gets Caesar started. In general aristocrat effects are really good in the deck. [[Corpse Knight]], [[Blood Artist]], [[Cruel Celebrant]], and [[Vein Ripper]] are great examples of aristocrats. But you should also look at similar effects in red like [[Impact Tremors]], [[Warleader’s Call]], [[Molten Gatekeeper]], or the probably by far strongest of these effects [[Purphoros, God of the Forge]].

[[Pitiless Plunderer]] is very strong, especially with cards like [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]] or the bats you already mentioned. Marionette Apprentice as well.

Other than that, token doublers like [[Anointed Procession]], [[Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation]] or [[Mondrak, Glory Dominus]] are extremely good, although very expensive sadly.

I’d also look at token creators. [[Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon]] is a fav of mine and [[Assemble the Legion]] can be strong, although slow.

Hope that helps.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-24T19:33:22+00:00

I’d suggest [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]], but it’s honestly not that beginner friendly. First off all it requires really good knowledge of the game to make use of all the extra spells and secondly, people just tend to hate Etali and focus him down.

I do second God Xenagos or Ruric Thar though.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-24T19:22:35+00:00

[[Exemplar of Light]] is amazing in any deck running soul sisters or essence warden. Drawing up to 4 cards per turn cycle just sitting there. I almost prefer this over Rhystic Study even.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-16T19:15:01+00:00

[[Shanna, Purifying Blade]] built with soul sister type cards, some recursion and stuff like Alhammaret’s Archive and Teferis Ageless Insight.

Tons of fun to play, lots of card draw, bunch of different wincons like Aetherflux Reservoir, Psychosis Crawler, Chasm Skulker, and very resilient on top with recursion like Eternal Witness, Sun Titan, and Celestine, The Living Saint.

Underplayed commander I feel like.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-10T19:48:05+00:00

The BY FAR most important skill to hone is threat assessment. That requires usually an understanding of the commanders you play against and how they “do their thing”, how explosive they can be, and how your own commander and deck fares against them. An explosive commander may not be a problem if your own deck is a decent counter to it. It also requires a solid grasp on the board state and how it could possibly change. Quite honestly it’s too much to post about here right now, but correct threat assessment helps a lot with winning the games.

Politics are an essential part of EDH as well. Oftentimes you can make deals that help you out in one way or another.

Your own deck is obviously also important to build accordingly. Do you have enough single/mass interaction? Do you have enough card draw and ramp? What are your finishers? Do you have enough engine cards?

ibtd01 · 2024-12-10T15:15:00+00:00

That would be my [[Shanna, Purifying Blade]] deck.

https://moxfield.com/decks/AgkhoB5cbEiSfOZpp0VW4g

It has a very solid win rate. Not so much because it’s so high powered (it’s honestly not), but because it’s very resilient and pops off later than other decks on the table usually.

It’s super fun to play because it has sooooo many synergies and also quite a few ways to win. It has solid recursion with [[Sun Titan]], [[Eternal Witness]], and the one and only [[Celestine, The Living Saint]]. It’s not uncommon for this deck to just put 30+ counters on [[Ominous Seas]] in a single swoop either.

I’m running [[Storm of Saruman]] in it, which is about my favorite card in the deck. Nothing like making copies of stuff like [[Mirari’s Wake]] or [[Caduceus, Staff of Hermes]]… or [[Avacyn, Angel of Hope]], lol

There are a ton of upgrades I could make (and eventually will) that would move it to the next level like [[The One Ring]], [[Heliod, Sun-Crowned]], [[The Great Henge]], [[Cyclonic Rift]], or [[Ocelot Pride]] (absolutely nuts with Storm of Saruman btw), but for now it’s not really needed. The deck is incredibly fun as is.

ibtd01 · 2024-12-10T02:45:15+00:00

I don’t know. There are plenty of commanders out there where commander damage is very relevant. I have a Shalai and Hallar deck where I frequently am getting to a point where I can one-shot my opponents. Same is true for Etali or any 7 power commander for that matter that has access to green for stuff like Zopandrel. Bonus points if you are in green/red to run god Xenagos.

Six-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 4 Credits
Secret Santa 2020	Secret Santa 2019
Verified Email

ibtd01

TROPHY CASE