The Basics of a Commander Deck by Archivist Andy
Building a deck for EDH is vastly different from building a regular one. It requires an entirely different perspective. Rather than having a few types of cards, the limitation of one per deck makes it much more difficult to rely on a single card or combo. On the other hand, the commander is something that you will get out every game. The first and most important step in creating an EDH deck is choosing a commander. Next you need to look for as many cards as possible that could fit in the deck, and whittle down to about 60-70 cards once you have a large selection to choose from. Finally, you need to add lands to get to the full hundred cards.
When looking for a commander, there are several things to keep in mind. You want your commander to be a large part of your strategy. For example, if you have Animar, soul of elements as your commander, you will want to focus on making him as large as possible. That gives you the choice of two ways to win. You can either rely on your commander to do combat damage and win that way, or you can use his ability to build a large army quickly and win that way. The next thing to consider is how easy it is to play your commander. A high cost commander may be incredibly powerful, just look at Progenitus, but it will be very hard to get out. Because the commander will be in exile whenever it isn’t in play, you can’t rely on things like Elvish Piper to get it out quickly enough. A cheap commander that improves over time is one of the best kinds. If you do choose to pick an expensive commander, make sure you have enough mana ramp to play it quickly. Adding mana ramp by itself isn’t very useful, so you should add other things that can use additional mana. On example of an expensive commander that will work well is Verdeloth the ancient. He is innately expensive and has a multikicker, but works well when you get him out. Since he buffs saprolings, you may want to add something like jade mage to use up mana before and after you get him out to use that mana you were forced to get.
When deciding on the rest of your deck, there are some general guidelines, as well as some hard rules. The color of your commander restricts what colors you can put in your deck. This makes a multicolor commander advantageous but not required. Colorless commanders are very hard to build since you need special lands and should generally be avoided at all costs. With your colors and commander in mind, decide on how you want your deck to work. This part is very similar to making a normal deck, but you are more focused on aiding your commander. Once you have a general strategy, it is time to start picking cards. You will want at least a hundred cards to start with, and pick the best among them to actually add to your deck. Avoid combos that involve multiple cards besides your commander since you are unlikely to get both of them in a single game. Without the ability to add multiple cards to your deck, you may want to add ways to tutor, or search your library, for those cards. Other than that, just pick the cards that synergize best with your commander and each other. For Animar, those would be somewhat costly cards that require little colored mana to play, such as Eldrazi, since you will be able to ignore the colorless mana in their cost. You should also look for cards that add +1,+1 counters to boost Animar and cards that help you draw, such as Garruk, Packmaster, to make sure you aren’t limited in how many creatures you have.
Here’s an example of how an EDH deck should be built. I started by searching for a commander and stumbled upon Memnarch. He is expensive, blue, and has an expensive but nasty ability. With the cost in mind, I focused the deck around mana ramp, such as things like blue Mana Battery and Silver Myr. I also focused on the number of artifacts I had to do things like Darksteel Forge and shape anew. The end result is a deck that is very simple to use, but can control the game so well, that your opponents are unable to even commit suicide.
Building a deck for EDH is vastly different from building a regular one. It requires an entirely different perspective. Rather than having a few types of cards, the limitation of one per deck makes it much more difficult to rely on a single card or combo. On the other hand, the commander is something that you will get out every game. The first and most important step in creating an EDH deck is choosing a commander. Next you need to look for as many cards as possible that could fit in the deck, and whittle down to about 60-70 cards once you have a large selection to choose from. Finally, you need to add lands to get to the full hundred cards.
When looking for a commander, there are several things to keep in mind. You want your commander to be a large part of your strategy. For example, if you have Animar, soul of elements as your commander, you will want to focus on making him as large as possible. That gives you the choice of two ways to win. You can either rely on your commander to do combat damage and win that way, or you can use his ability to build a large army quickly and win that way. The next thing to consider is how easy it is to play your commander. A high cost commander may be incredibly powerful, just look at Progenitus, but it will be very hard to get out. Because the commander will be in exile whenever it isn’t in play, you can’t rely on things like Elvish Piper to get it out quickly enough. A cheap commander that improves over time is one of the best kinds. If you do choose to pick an expensive commander, make sure you have enough mana ramp to play it quickly. Adding mana ramp by itself isn’t very useful, so you should add other things that can use additional mana. On example of an expensive commander that will work well is Verdeloth the ancient. He is innately expensive and has a multikicker, but works well when you get him out. Since he buffs saprolings, you may want to add something like jade mage to use up mana before and after you get him out to use that mana you were forced to get.
When deciding on the rest of your deck, there are some general guidelines, as well as some hard rules. The color of your commander restricts what colors you can put in your deck. This makes a multicolor commander advantageous but not required. Colorless commanders are very hard to build since you need special lands and should generally be avoided at all costs. With your colors and commander in mind, decide on how you want your deck to work. This part is very similar to making a normal deck, but you are more focused on aiding your commander. Once you have a general strategy, it is time to start picking cards. You will want at least a hundred cards to start with, and pick the best among them to actually add to your deck. Avoid combos that involve multiple cards besides your commander since you are unlikely to get both of them in a single game. Without the ability to add multiple cards to your deck, you may want to add ways to tutor, or search your library, for those cards. Other than that, just pick the cards that synergize best with your commander and each other. For Animar, those would be somewhat costly cards that require little colored mana to play, such as Eldrazi, since you will be able to ignore the colorless mana in their cost. You should also look for cards that add +1,+1 counters to boost Animar and cards that help you draw, such as Garruk, Packmaster, to make sure you aren’t limited in how many creatures you have.
Here’s an example of how an EDH deck should be built. I started by searching for a commander and stumbled upon Memnarch. He is expensive, blue, and has an expensive but nasty ability. With the cost in mind, I focused the deck around mana ramp, such as things like blue Mana Battery and Silver Myr. I also focused on the number of artifacts I had to do things like Darksteel Forge and shape anew. The end result is a deck that is very simple to use, but can control the game so well, that your opponents are unable to even commit suicide.