"Then make up something that works for you and continue the game."

Easier said than done. It seems good on paper, but EDH playgroups can be surprisingly stubborn, especially when it comes to "well I don't know exactly what this does, but it could be this so this is what we're going to go with."

Rules 5,6,7 and 9 are stupid.

5) Me and my playgroup drink beers while we play, only once we've had a spill, it's not a big deal we all stopped to un-sleeve the guy's cards to prevent beer soaking.

The other rules 6,7 and 9 say a lot more about your playstyle than anything sensible. Gotts to agree about land destruction though, no one should be that guy.

What do you mean when you say you want Horizon Spellbomb explained?

You know, I was with you until about Rule #6. From there on a lot of the rules are either obnoxious or come off as whiny.

I don't really get the need to feature personal opinions about EDH play anyway, like, what's the point? To gloat about how civilized and organized your group is when you play? Comes off as snooty.

I agree with everything, except possibly the rule regarding Top. Top is a decent card with a useful effect, true. And it can take a while to do things involving it (see Magus of the Future, Counterbalance, etc). But it's definitely not worth making a rule over. The entire Rule #6 paragraph was a little bit painful to read, and overall only served to lower the quality and credibility of the article.

You have some good ideas in here, but frankly red and green clash so badly that I have a bit of a headache from such vivid shades of each being so close to each other.

It comes down to each playgroup doing what they want to do. Some of these rules you mention are specific rules for your playgroup. Not everyone wants infinite combos in their deck. For my playgroup, that defeats the purpose of EDH being a casual format.

The number one rule should be:

Respect the rules and desires of your playgroup.

And don't act like a tremendous ass in another playgroup if you don't know their rules. Really, that's all that you need. And anyone who has a deck over $200 should have it double-sleeved, because there is always an idiot or clumsy person somewhere.

As long as you don't constantly take 2-3 minutes a turn just thinking about what you're going to do (you should be doing this during your opponents turns), you should be able to play how you want to play. This includes infinite combo's, land destruction, whatever. If you don't like the decks your friends are using, ask them to make something different. If you're upset, honestly that's your problem. It's not up to others to change how they play. You either need to be more accepting of the STAX cards that people put in their decks, or you need to find a new group.

kyuuri117 even then, though, if your playgroup doesn't mind 2-3 minute turns, it's fine. mine doesn't; a lot of us smoke, so that gives us time to catch a smoke outside, and then we just get a recap of what we missed (if anything) when we get back in. we can use that time to grab food/drinks/whatever too. so really, as with everything else in EDH, it all comes down to respect for your playgroup's preferences, as UpsetYoMama already stated.

I think rule six is where you lost a lot of readers (including me). I think I understand the meaning behind it though. If any player is taking multiple minutes on single card interaction/abilities, regardless of the card, they should have a chat about timeliness.

We have Ultra fast players who are the opposite type of problem. They play their cards so fast and take their turns so rapidly its hard to interact or even know what they're doing.

atomic_moose I used to be like that. Then someone just sat me down and said "Hey dude, you have to let us respond to the stuff you're doing, or at least let us decide if we can/want to respond." And that was that. Just state it firmly but respectfully, and it shouldn't be an issue. If it is... Well, then just go from there.

We had that exact talk, but also started playing speed magic. Trying to take turns in ten seconds, whole matches over in a minute and a half. I have never had a problem with time at tournaments after practicing like that. That is an extreme, but we now know where the middle ground is. Question is, is it more annoying to play against a lightning fast player or speed of smell slow player?

I can only speak from personal experience, but I am far more annoyed by a fast player. As someone who primarily defaults to control in EDH, if I am faced with a player who plays so fast they not only a) don't think things through and leave gaping holes in their strategy where there shouldn't be any, but also b) don't give me time to think about whether or not I have a response to their shenanigans, I come dangerously close to tilting. Slow players, I have no problem with. I am one, myself, as I outlined in my response above to kyuuri.

This was awesome. As a player who joined magic through Drafts and then EDH, this guide is great!

One alibi. You're first Conclusion, installment is missing one L. =)

why is this an article? shouldn't it be a regular thread?

the top rule is kind of silly. Most of my encounters with top are like "I'm gonna spin top, keep playing I'll catch up when I'm done". I understand the spirit of not wanting people to take excessive time but yeah. it happens.

on fast players I generally just make them rewind when i want to counter their things. Priority passes for each spell and I don't care how much someone whines about missed opportunity, if you didn't hear me pass priority then I am liable to have a response and we'll need to back track to that.

and land destruction as a strategy is bad, but having no land destruction in the group can lead to degnerate things like Dark Depths/Thespian's Stage being unchecked, Maze of Iths grinding down combat, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx/Gaea's Cradles getting out of hand.

Uhm, you know that Braids, Cabal Minion is banned under the official Commander rules?

I agree with you on most points, the ones I dont particularly think should be here are 6 and 8.

In regards to Sensei's Divining Top, it is a fine card in commander, even if everyone has one, assuming the players at the table know how to use it. Basically, top at some point whenever you arent doing anything else, and inform the table that you reserve the right to change it if something detrimental to the board state happens. Assuming you arent in a super cutthroat metagame, this will work. It saves time and allows everyone to play how they want.

Now, land destruction is a bit of a touchy subject, but I think it does an important thing for the format. It secures wins. Since you play Kaalia, I'll use that for my example. You cast Kaalia on turn 3. Attack on 4. Drop any reasonable threat. Now you cast Armageddon or Cataclysm. This isnt you being spiteful. This isnt you trying to ruin the game for other people. This is you securing your spot in the lead. If you cast a land wrath just because you can, you're being a bit of an ass, but theres nothing wrong with LD when played with a plan in mind.

As a primarily EDH player, I found that most of these "rules" have merit. Rule 6 isn't really relevant because most people who use top are speed magic players, they utilize eot, as not to slow anyone else down. It's a five second action anyway. I digress, I have a hard time playing with most EDH players because, either they gloat when they win, or whine (or say you cheated or you're cheap) when they lose. Don't make a big deal out of it. My local tournament awards points for being a good sport and penalizes for being salty. The unfortunate thing about Commander though, is that everyone is going to try to keep you from winning, because they are trying to win too. So don't get butt hurt because other people won't just let you win. And on the other hand be gracious if you lose, and nice to those you have beaten. I do really like this article and I think you should write more. I would just keep in mind that rules that benefit all players are not necessarily going to be popular.

Like many of the other posters above I disagree with points 6, 7 and 9. I don't really care if people use land destruction either so long as they win within a few turns.

I would say more important are the following:

1) Don't take too long over your turn. This is different from tournament slow play. I once cast every spell in my deck in one turn in an edh storm deck. During this time everyone went to the toilet and went outside for a chat and a cigarette during my turn. The turn took about 20 minutes and by the time everyone was back at the table they were all dead. It was funny, but Never again.

2) Don't do too much stuff in your opponents' turns. I have a Derivi EDH deck that can do the following: Untap, Draw, play creatures, enchantments lands sorceries. All normal right? Except I do all of it in everyone's turn. So I am basically taking 5 turns for every one turn an opponent takes. DO NOT DO THIS

3) don't have a combo that you can tutor for reliably. I used to have a Momir vig deck that could kill the table or achieve mystic snake / deadeye navigator lockdown every game by about turn 6. This is not fun for anyone else.

4) don't have so many combo's that you always find one. Its easy to do, just don't

5) don't take too many extra turns.

6) Let your opponents develop board states. Yes, you can lock down an entire deck. Just don't. Tempo and control are not an edh archetypes. Save that for tournaments. Meddling mage or nevermore on an opponent's commander is not fun.

Finally have a 1v1 (french) edh deck as a spare. This should break at least some of the above guidelines or it wont' be powerful enough. Get this out if your opponent's forget that EDH is about interesting interaction.

Good EDH deck:

Azusa lost but seeking

Bad EDH Deck:

Derivi Empyrial Tactician

French EDH Deck:

[Arcanis Omnipotent](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mind-over-matter-a-1v1-comander-deck/)

First off.. your rules are ok in the sense of don't be salty, and win/lose gracefully... after that it's all bullshit.

You are implementing your personal ideas of how things should be. That doesn't have any effect on anyone, nor should you feel it should. If I want to copy a top, I am, cause that's called being a good player. If I want to play land hate, I will cause that's a viable way to play magic. You telling me that if I win at 5am it's not winning cause we all lose... ooh sorry that's again your assumption. I might work at 3pm, or hell have off, or hell.. Idc cause I can pull an all nighter once in a while and not be affected.

Basically, all of you need to stop deciding what you consider is fun/fair is what is right for everyone. You have no rights to do so, nor does anyone else to you. The only actual rights you have, are within the actual rules of the game. Don't play illegal cards within the format, unless the group is ok with it... fine. Don't conduct illegal moves, and cheat.. ok again with in the rules of magic. Anything else goes, and deal with it. As you say so yourself... it's just a game... so deal with it... if not.. DON'T PLAY simple...

Ok. I have read all of your comments, and I thank you for your critic, it is very helpful for me!

From what i can tell, the source of the problems are as follows:
Whiny, the rules are being read as "miracleHat is being a little b*tch who threw a tantrum and wrote something."
Stay away from topics that go both ways, they just lead to more problems...
In terms of things that go on every game, don't bother talking about them since they aren't going to change and they are only going to mildly annoy people.

Am I missing anything? For my writing style, is it easy to understand? Would you want to read another article, that would notfocus on implementing my thoughts and forcing them onto everybody else?

P.S.
When I was coming up with the top thing, it was just meant as an example for "don't take too long". You can copy a top if you want, just don't take 10 minutes. That is all that I was attempting to say.

How can someone manage to screw up the meaning of the word salty so badly?

I personally feel sort of uncomfortable with the idea that if people don't know how a card interacts you should "make up something that works". Magic has a set of rules and you should abide by them. When I put a card in my deck, my expectation is that it does what it's supposed to, and it does so every time, not that my opponents get a say in what "works" for this or that interaction.

In Commander, as well as any other format, you are responsible for knowing how the cards in your deck work. It's as simple as that. Yes, Humility has complicated interactions with almost every existent magic card. Your options are, either know those interactions, or don't play Humility.

Obviously I can't be everywhere to prevent people from making up stuff when they are playing with your friends. I still don't think this suggestion should be in an article because I don't like endorsing the idea that it's okay not to know the rules that govern how cards in your deck work.

My thoughts exactly, in any format you should know what your cards do. Since EDH has such a diverse card base, it's your responsibility as a player to do the research needed to know what your cards do. If you don't/can't understand what a card does, don't put it in your deck.

I really liked the read, although I would add a few play tips.

• The difference between EDH and Standard is that EDH adds a hidden "popularity" resource. Always play the table first, and your deck second. Hugbear is a thing most decks can use a splash of, not just a few.

• Unless the game is on the line, tutor as you end your turn. Pass turn, then search your library. Technically an abuse of the rules, but it helps speed the game along so much, it's worth it.

• Never use an expensive or well-known card when a cheap or obscure one will do. Personal opinion: Crystal Ball is better than Sensei's Divining Top in EDH. The big difference is that Crystal Ball can't dodge board-wipes and removal the way the Divining Top can. Not gonna lie; that's pretty powerful...but the divining top doesn't let you dig through your library, and after a few turns you will have three lands on top of your deck. Meanwhile, that top attracts WAY more negative attention, and as it can't really be removed...attacking you directly is the next best thing. Not the best card for your health.

• Leave some space in your decks for flavor or personal favorite cards. I play Double Negative in all my decks with red and blue just so I can quote Murder By Death whenever I cast it.

Again, fantastic read. Thanks for posting it.

Wow, if people use this many staples then I must say that your meta is pretty miserable. We don't tolerate ANY kind of infinite combo where we are, the social aspect has kind of evolved way advanced over here. If a person throws enough of a stink/is incredibly salty, we ask the shop for a vote of no confidence and if the entire shop agrees, that man will never play that format at that shop again.

I play decks such as Kaalia of the Vast and Narset, Enlightened Master and I so wish people more so understood that very first rile DON'T BE SALTY also i can contest to the words of, "prepare to lose the next game' because everytime I combo out with my Narset deck, the next game when I play my casual golgari Elves deck, I still get hated out right away because everyone else is **_

SALTY

_**

You know Evoksva_, I actually don't mind infinite combos in commander. I don't like when decks can reliably combo you off on turn three and you don't ever get to play real games, but if the game has dragged on for a while and a player has a dominant board and a billion cards in hand, they might as well just end the game in one fell swoop rather than slowly go around the table killing everybody, turn after turn, five damage at a time.

I hear a lot of people complain about infinite combos, and I think I understand what their problem is - nobody likes just randomly losing the game out of nowhere, especially because this is a format in which you are disincentivized to actually play some of the tools that stop people from comboing off, like single-target spot removal, or pinpoint hand disruption, in favor of slower answers like wraths.

I do prefer it if the combo is interesting, mostly because I like seeing new card interactions, but if the game has already devolved into a farce and someone's tool of choice to kill me and end the game so we can start a new one is Deceiver Exarch + Splinter Twin , so be it.

It's posts like this that always leave me scratching my head. In truth, there are no real tenets as, in the end, everything is up to the discretion of your playergroup. My group, for example, is perfectly fine with regularly breaking half of the above commandments. The only real thing people ought to keep in mind is that commander is a social format. If you play with widely varying groups regularly, make plans to be able to adjust your deck and playstyle on the fly. Maybe remove that Armageddon from your deck if he group seems to frown upon it. Talk to the people you're playing with. Just don't be a dick, really. That's all there is to it.

miracleHat I don't think people are whining, or implying that you are. They are having an intellectual disagreement with you. I personally disagree that you support infinite combos. However, that is simply how I prefer my EDH games. And Magic in general. This is all based on perception.

Criticism is good. Embrace it. Perhaps I have read you wrong, but you seem to be rejecting your critics rather than accepting them.

I feel like a lot of folks in this thread are ignoring Rule #1, lol.

Isn't this just an opinion thread? I don't think miracleHat was trying to put his thoughts down as law...I think he just wanted to share how his playgroup operates. He only presented the items as "rules" based on a stylistic choice. It's not as if anyone is expected to obey or even agree with them.

Sure JakeHarlow, but with the exception of one or two comments the discussion has been civil. Disagreeing is not being salty. Providing your own opinion is not being salty. Even criticizing is not being salty.

The same way miracleHat is not expected to agree with the commenters, they are not expected to agree with him or her. Most people have just been presenting how they feel about the matter. Their experience and opinions are no less valuable than the writer's. Why are you discounting them as them "being salty"?

TheRedMage:

I wasn't discounting anyone's comments or points of view. I'm quite sure that I did not assert that anyone's posts were invalid anywhere in my comment. I was merely observing that some...aggressive verbiage...was being used. That's just my perspective, of course. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and are furthermore free to choose any manner to express it. My intent was merely to stop by the thread and share my (admittedly subjective) observation that a couple of comments had excessively acid tones (again, a subjective assessment). Then I offered my interpretation of miracleHat's intent with the article. That's all.

I certainly wasn't trying to dismiss anyone's comments. I merely meant to comment on the tone.

Just to give some perspective on why I try to avoid infinite combos. I played Bloodchief Ascension t1 then Mindcrank t2. Explained the interaction to my opponents and they pummeled me into dust. Cruel but fair.

Sure I could have held onto the ol' crank until the chief had the required counters but it was more fun the way I did it.

Personally I'd say there are no creeds for edh. Just take on feedback from your playgroup, if everyone sighs when you play a certain card. Cut it.

The thing is, nobody can stop you from playing the way you want to play so you should play exactly the way you want to play.

But at the same time, nobody has the obligation to play with you either (unless it's a tournament). So keep in mind that some people will simply refuse to play with you and that they are completely within their rights to do so.

You can't force them to change, they can't force you to change and neither of you should change.

In the end it all comes down to; if you want to play a powerhouse deck, you better keep a spare or be prepared to sometimes not play at all.

Nice article.

When we're playing EDH and can't figure out a rule (and both opinions are wholly reasonable).. roll dat D20! Even roll we play it this way, odd roll we play it the other way. We can take the time to look it up after and play it properly next time. These games are long... no need to make em longer.

1 - I really don't see how infinite combos are better than LD. It sucks a lot when you're playing well, have good options in your hand, have ways of winning, and than, somebody who had nothing, plays a Deadeye Navigator or a Palinchron and wins out of nowhere. I really don't see how this is better than an Armageddon. I think LD only sucks, when used pointlessly. But when somebody uses it having a Narset, Enlightened Master, Kaalia of the Vast or Omniscience on the battlefield, it's just a power play. It's a combo. The same way people tend to concede the game when someone shows an infinite combo (look, I'll use Mirror Entity for 0, it kills my Reveillark, Body Double, Karmic Guide, and Mirror Entity himself... Reveillark triggers, etc., etc. repeat it 400 times and everyone is killed, milled, or have all his permanents screwed) they could do it when someone manages to destroy lands and keep a power house in play;

2 - In my opinion, there's an important rule of nice EDH Multiplayer Games, that we tend to follow where I play. The intention of keep balance. If a player has much more power on the table, the other players should work together to keep his game controlled, and only than, should they fight each other. They don't necessarily need to kill the strongest player, but they should at least weaken him to the point that he isn't the most powerful any longer. When they do, they should do the same to the new most powerful player. And repeat it until the hole table is balanced. Of course, they should do it, trying to keep answers to powerful players and Commanders who might combo out of nowhere, etc. Of course this is no rule, and people shall do whatever they want. But I think this is the finest way of playing Multiplayer. I say this because I often see people attacking and destroying a player simply because he plays a strong Commander, and at his side, other player just played Deadeye Navigator a turn ago and now is playing Chord of Calling for 7. Of course people may not know if I have something wicked in my hand, but there are effective ways of preventing some player to do a power play, without having to focus all of your efforts in ruining their game. I mean... if I don't have any haste enablers, my Kaalia won't be able to cheat in a Rakdos or a Master of Cruelties into play in one turn. If I have a haste enabler, destroy it. If you can't, just save a Terminate or something for when I try to play her.

Thanks for the tips miracleHat as well as the humor. The card links worked great for examples in real life play.

@CanadianShinobi: I did not say that all of your commenters were whining. From the early comments, i thought that you all thought that I was whining... I am reading the criticism and, while not taking it quite to heart, but I am accepting that nearly all of the points are valid.

JakeHarlow is correct, essentially. This is just opinion, everybody has them. While there are, apparently, a lot of people that disagree with me on different terms/scales, they are nearly all valid.

@Rule #9 (make up your own rules), your points are 99.99% right. You should follow the rules, that is why they are there! But when something comes up, and nobody can decide what to do because everybody has 3 different phones that say 7 different things, just choose one and continue the game. Yes you should know how cards work, but there are times when the board gets so clogged that it is too confusing and convoluted.

@Rule #7 debaters: I am not the biggest fan of infinite combos. I personally don't like playing against decks that have a combo, spend 5 turns getting to it, then comboing off. They are great decks, but they can be repetitive and most of the time linear (in my opinion). However, sometimes at 5:00AM, my father is waking up, and the game has to end. It can be a 7 card combo, but just have it as a just in case button.

In conclusion:
Thanks for keeping the comments, and debates, civil. Everybody has good arguments, and while most people agree and disagree on everything, these are still all good. I have read all of the comments, good/bad/nice/critical and enjoyed everyone of them. I asked this before, going to ask it again: would you want to read another article, written by me, about some part of EDH that involves '10'?

P.S.Thanks to the users who wrote comments of approval.
Thanks to everybody else who had something to say that disagreed with me, opening my sights to thoughts outside my city. Thanks to everybody who agreed with me on something.

Erk:
@Rule #9 Debaters*
...
...

EDH Rule #79!

Don't play this hand on turn 1:

• Plains
• Land Tax
• Mana Crypt
• Sol Ring
• Sensei's Divining Top
• Scroll Rack

I did that once. My turns went like 15 minutes long because I had just recently made the deck and was working out the kinks and trying to figure out what to tutor in the best possible scenarios. To be fair though, I was playing a cut-throat infinite combo deck in mardu colours with non-blue counterspells against opponents which ALL ran blue. Figuring out what to tutor for and when was REALLY hard, and the drawing 3 extra cards per turn interaction of Land Tax, Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top (probably about 5 minutes each turn right there) took a fair bulk of time.

I still won on turn 5 though :D

But that also brings me to EDH Rule #52!

Playtest your deck before you bring it to the table! Especially if you have a lot of card draw and/or tutors. Knowing what to play and what to fetch at any point in time is crucial to making the game stay within a certain time limit. Otherwise you'll be boring everyone else as you try and calculate what the best course of action is that will lead you to an advantageous position 5 turns down the line. But guess what? It won't be advantageous as you'll be hated out of the game as everyone will target you for taking incredibly long un-interactive games of just you deciding what to do.

So, not to rant or anything, but just 15 minutes ago I came back from a card shop, made a nice jank deck with Maralen of the Mornsong as the commander and sat down to - at long last - play a game of commander. Though I mentioned it to no one, the past 6 weeks have been incredibly tough on me at work and every time I came to the shop to play a game (is fairly big shop), almost every game had one player who had 30+ counterspells in his deck, another who built an Elesh Norn boardwipe deck running every form of 1 sided boardwipe, another deck who ran every form of mono blue mind control, another who did land destruction and all of them won through infinite combos. Despite the care we tried to do at this shop, at this 6th week of having the one person up against Maralen (it was Arcanis the Omnipotent this time), he tutored up a board wipe and took control of my entire board.

It was so infuriating, beyond infuriating. Now I"ve played through all stages of EDH, the new people who builds those kinds of decks because he doesn't know the social aspect, the timmy who plays huge creatures because he finally can, the spike Kozilek deck and so on, have for years. Finally became happy with jank decks. This player though? He'd been playing commander for nearly 8 years and this is the kind of thing he sat on. So I left in a rage.

In fact, I left and will not play mtg again. Every time I play this format (been playing since beta), I always feel like I'm the one player who doesn't run the infinite combos, doesn't run LD, doesn't run obscene amounts of control and throws flavor to the wind, and everytime everyone just makes some shit excuse and moves on. Then when I make one, I hear my own voice whine back at me threefold. I'm done. I've played modern to death, standard to death, and EDH to death. It's a pity because WotC has finally hammered down on lore (which is still pretty good) and I'll have to read up from time to time.

So, as a final parting comment from someone who's played for more than 2 decades, play EDH like you would any other format. Go ahead, the social contract is now globally broken. I've moved 11 times in the past 6 years and each time every card shop's been the same. After a long time standing as the player who balanced on fair and fun, I have finally come to realize that there's no more space for fair. It had to make the cut for the 42nd counterspell you ran.

On an unrelated (and happy) note, I wonder how much quid I can make off my collection.

@Evoksva - You can't reasonably expect strangers to play a format in a way that pleases you regardless of who you are or how you like to play the game. If playing against strangers doesn't tickle your fancy, maybe try setting up a group of like-minded players. Moving 11 times in the past 6 months does make that difficult, but I guarantee that there are players out there that share your outlook on magic.

Sorry bro, but you sound whiny. Find some people who want to play flavorful decks. It's amazing... but social media... has a lot of tools to do so. Literally go on facebook and find some random magic play group who just wants janky fun shit. Personally I play in a very competitive meta and 10 bucks a game, winner take all. We all have fun, we all mess with each other, and we all play to win. Your idea of fair and etc etc... sounds like an excuse... if you quit no one cares. That's your own downfall... not wizards, not players... but yours. Also you people who talk about the social aspect.... really need to get up and smell the coffee... YOUR IDEA OF SOCIAL FUN AND SOME ONE ELSE IS DIFFERENT. Just cause you wanna shoot the shit, doesn't mean some one else does and play your style of magic.

user:Evoksva_, you may stop playing... if you wish. However: please don't sell your collection. Wait on it for 6-12 months. If you don't feel the want/need to play again, then watch how your collection spike $$ wise.

I've been playing mtg for 23 years. 23 years. I've played every kind of meta and dished out every kind of meta. I've got stuff from alpha, beta, untold hours poured into DCI before the system went out of style, and quite a lot of points on the new planeswalker system, and now, I'm only now realizing it's taken me 23 years and a single game against Arcanis the Omnipotent to realize that that this was a money trap. The sad, sad fact for those of us who dedicated themselves to magic and those who collect and continue to gather more cards is that the card to dollar value of these things is largely illusory. I could easily sit another 1 year and sell my stuff, but you know what? 1 year later, my collection is still worth 0 dollars, because I haven't sold any cards for actual quid. I can make trade ins, trade for others stuff easily but you know what? They don't trade in quid, they trade in cards which have 0 value if I don't switch it to the dollar. And no matter how many arguments I've heard over the years, not a single one has trumped this empty cargo argument. I don't have anything of value here, unless it's sold.

I am still just reeling now how long it's taken me to realize that this is now just a playable stock market. Well I'm cashing out. I've long been wanting to make a channel on youtube on Star Citizen and now, I think I will use this to pay of some debt and build a machine worthy of it. I kind of like the idea now, more like retirement as a successful, old, and well traveled planeswalker.

As for the concept of fun: EDH should by no definition play a non-interactive deck. Ever. Ever. That's kind of a cardinal sin. Your meta, competitive or not, sounds boring. Tell me it's not so. People who out of respect/spite against other's deck had to necessarily dedicate a portion of their decks in a casual format to not allowing others to play theirs does not sound fun. Vintage was a bad time, no one enjoys it. The more fine tuned and ridiculous a game of MAGIC gets, the closer the game resembles a coin flip.

I'm out. I'll let my kiddies play with em til they're gone but I feel kind of happy about this decision. I'll just imagine myself casting an epic spell and ascend to whatever, a star citizen channel or something.

It's been fun everyone, I've lurked here for a long time and enjoyed our discussions. Have a good one!

-E-

**_

Evoksva, said "As for the concept of fun: EDH should by no definition play a non-interactive deck. Ever. Ever. That's kind of a cardinal sin. Your meta, competitive or not, sounds boring. Tell me it's not so. People who out of respect/spite against other's deck had to necessarily dedicate a portion of their decks in a casual format to not allowing others to play theirs does not sound fun. Vintage was a bad time, no one enjoys it. The more fine tuned and ridiculous a game of MAGIC gets, the closer the game resembles a coin flip."

_**

Your arguments again are just your personal opinions with no value behind it. You are trying to decide how fun should be decided by your standards, and your standards are not the gold standard, nor the only standard, NOR IS IT ANY STANDARD AT ALL.. IT'S YOUR PERSONAL OPINION. Also yes we all do have fun, as we are competitive by spirit, and enjoy playing magic in a set that's similar to legacy. We liked a lot of cards that aren't playable any more in those formats... and EDH allows us to. It's 1 of's and allows for a bit more skill to pilot. The guy who plays the 5 color hermit druid deck doesn't win every game, nor the majority of them. It's crazy to think that people constantly change their meta to revolve around specific strategies. Storm might win this week... but all of a sudden a stax deck just won the next. Hermit druid combo wins a week... ooh look the elves deck won.. lol wtf? no one expected that, that turn 3 kill on the guy who had best board position... then continued to shit on us with a gen wave with his whole deck... was funny shit we applauded him. Anyways I digress.... a bunch of guys who want to play their older cards that are good, but not good enough in older formats.. all of a sudden edh we can. Plus again.. EDH POLITICS.. that's a game within a game. So if you can't find fun in it.. that's your problem.. we literally have no problem with it.

No one plays vintage because how expensive it is btw.. not cause of it's a coin flip.... plus wizards doesn't care about it like it does standard and modern which is much more accessible to people. If everyone started back in the day, you'd see a lot more vintage players, and legacy players. Many new players are made every year to magic. The price to get into vintage/legacy is a lot, and not everyone has the budget or mindset why it's ok to spend the money on it. The amount of players who played in 1993 to 1998 WAS A HUGE JUMP! It got bigger still in early 2000's.. and is currently the largest card tcg format game played. So stop with your excuses... fine you don't like the game.. cause your reasons.. but don't try to tell others how to play, or how it should be cause you want it that way. Find a group, who are similar to you.. or get over it

Tajic, Blade of the Legion + Worldslayer does not agree with #8 :p

The examples given here were only single target land destruction. Nothing wrong with that at all really and I don't know who would actually get real pissy about those. It's MLD that seem to get everyone's panties in a wad. However, I always welcome a Ruination to punish those multicolored decks or decks where the lands themselves can shut down certain strategies like Glacial Chasm or Maze of Ith for example.

People, sympathize and not argue please. This is not the place to hate on the person because they have valid opinions. If he wishes to leave, give him your condolences and hope that he one day finds a playgroup that follows his interests.

But there are some things I must suggest. A) play online. Especially untap.in. You are almost guaranteed to find an EDH game where everyone just wants to enjoy themselves as long as you indicate what you want before hand. Do that and you'll find the style of play group you so desire.

B) Don't get rid of everything. Keep one or two decks to have, maybe not for playing, but for memory sakes. As TCC stated when he left the game is that he missed the decks he got rid of because of the memories they held for him. He tossed out a massive portion of the memories of his early years for some cash.

C) Sell stuff on Ebay. Probably the only place you are actually going to get any sales.

Desolation Angel isn't mld? 7 mana: destroy all lands and continue with a 5/4 flier?

Oh, and one other thing to suggest user:Evoksva_, try out cube or pauper. Pauper is really cheap, you can sell everything else and still be able to play a format that isn't such a money sink. Not too mention Pauper, as of now, has the best community of all the formats. The format of Pauper itself is a near 50/50 split of homebrew concoctions and competitive decks.

Cube itself is also quite fun to build and play. You no longer have to constantly pay to draft, and if you've been playing for over 20 years you most likely have a sizable card pool to build numerous cubes. The best thing about cube is actually how cheap it is to make. No need to make powered cubes, make regular cubes that are balanced like any other draft set, and these things will can cost you up to a max of $1 per card count. For example, if you have a 450 card cube, it can easily cost less than $450. That is if you try to keep the money cards out that is. Additionally, you can't complain about the community for cube since you are literally building the format everyone else is playing in. It is only as fair as you build it.

@Evoksva_ Ironic that you should equate collecting mtg as to playing the stock market, then go on to mention that you will be moving on to Star Citizen. The biggest money pit that one can find.

P.S Keep a deck, next time you move, you may find some decent people to play with.

Desolation Angel, Armageddon, and Boom/Bust are all MLD (Winter Orb excluded ofc). I meant to say the examples specifically mentioned were single target. I'm not going to shed a tear if I blow up somebody's Cavern of Souls, Gaea's Cradle, or Cabal Coffers those all can be used with win conditions to great effect. MLD is a viable strategy given the right deck/boardstate is what I was trying to convey.

Well I think it was a good read. I don't get why some people get so worked up over an article. Geez..., I would not play EDH with you guys...

Braids is banned altogether in EDH.

Zerjack: It's the interwebz, what do you expect? Surprised I haven't seen a troll face or kitten with lazers beams shooting out its eyes yet lol

I would rather not have the users of this site have that mentality Flagellum. That certainly wasn't how this community acted in the past and I do not wish to see us devolve into that sort of thinking.

I reeally don't know about #7 and #9. If everyone is packing an instant win but not using it then what's the point? You're not playing out your deck to the best of it's/your ability if you can end the game whenever you want but don't - at that point no one's getting better at the game or having their mettle tested, but as per your rule #1 defeat is still often taken seriously. Do you really think a card game where only one person CAN win but "If your deck cant instantly win, then there is a problem" is going to provide anything but arguments? Imagine if everyone in the Olympics could just choose to win gold in their chosen event - would anyone even try? How does it not devolve to everyone just barreling for the gold the unfair way? The implication here is that you have a casual meta where EDH isn't about winning so much as playing - yet most of your rules are talking about high profile competitive cards/comnbos and games churning into 5AM the next day which sounds like a different story.

As per #9, what? Why? Magic has defined rules that everyone needs to (and manages to) follow, there's no reason to make things up. You're running the risk of an inexperienced player (or spectator) developing a completely warped concept of how the game works. Sure it's weird niche situations in YOUR game but another player may overhear "3 card per turn draw limit" and carry the idea that it's a genuine rule for weeks or months. Plus, you've got internet and phones and sometimes judges at the venue available - if literally NO ONE present knows how the contradictions work then take ten minutes, have everyone learn something new and continue a (proper) game. You only have to look it up the one time to know it, and now you've actually gotten better at the game as opposed to played your cards improperly and possibly damaged someone's understanding of the game.

Some of your other rules seem a bit like personal preference stuff that doesn't fit either (I hate Sensei's Top but I live with it) but those two stood at as so bad I had to say something. Sorry to be a bit over-critical. Your earlier points were totally important and valuable statements about etiquette and caring for cards but as soon as you starting telling people how to play Magic it dropped off. Scrap 6-10 and make it a top five honestly. I understand you say these are suggestions but your article calls these "the quintessential rules of EDH" which is pretty contradictory.

@ VaultTechy: having the option of doing powerful broken things and choosing not to so everyone has fun ia basically the premiae of all of EDH

Having calmed down somewhat and have actually taken inventory of all my old stuff, it is to my immense surprise, embarrassment, and amusement to note that within a couple of hours on TCG and other sites, I have already sold off several thousands worth of stuff and already have my Star Citizen machine underway. :I Kind of makes selling the rest pointless now, as I have way too much stuff to launder. So I suppose I will be keeping most off my stuff. I had no idea that this was that easy to sell for quid. Guess I was wrong.

I think I just need to find another shop. Ugh, why does shopping for unchildlike players so difficult? I'm tempted to try magic online but do not want to purchase an entirely new set of cards. Are the prices similar? Anyone know?

Pauper EDH is a cool, very fun format. Perhaps try that with some of your buddies?

The prices on MTGO are usually between 50% and 80% of the paper equivalent, with some cards worth MUCH less than that (Moat anybody?)). You also don't necessarily have to actually interact with people that much, which I would argue is not a bad thing.

That said, I barely use MTGO for anything that doesn't involve having a 40 cards deck, so maybe other people have more insight than me on this.

Don't use MTGO, use a free to play online site. Untap.in, XMage, Cockatrice, OCTGN are all different places to play magic online for free. You are more likely to get players who play magic casually (though EDH is definitely losing the social aspect of it as time goes on, and that's a worldwide occurrence).

Like I said, Pauper and Cube. Pauper is the most inexpensive format out there, and has the best community. The meta of Pauper is 50% rogue-builds and 50% competitive builds.

As for Cube, you said you had a vast card pool, so building a few cubes should be no problem for you. Cubes are awesome in that all your junk cards that can't be sold off unless in bulk can immediately go into cube. In addition, a cube's price can easily be about less than $1 per card, so a 450 card cube can cost less than $450. Cheaper than any competitive deck in Standard at the moment. Beyond that, your cube becomes a playable card game that can last for a lifetime. Something you never need to spend money into to enjoy. It is sort of like what everyone reviewed the duel decks: Anthologies to be, a standalone item that anyone can enjoy, even the friends and family you have who don't normally play MTG.

Our lgs has a Havoc Festival that goes off when time is called.

Your rules are terrible.

Not sure if I missed the part where Horizon Spellbomb was explained, so it's like this:

The first thing is you pay the activation cost (2, tap, sacrifice). The activated ability of searching for a land goes on the stack. Starting with the active player, each player receives priority to add to the stack in clockwise order. If no one does, then at this time the trigger goes to the stack if you choose to pay one green. Priority goes around again as per stack rules, then the stack resolves and you draw one card. Then you search for a land.

I must admit I was a little confused by this before I learned about triggers & activation costs. A similar example is Yavimaya Elder.

About the article, it's a good sentiment to bring balance to EDH but as the game evolves the format continues to be more broken. It is the only format that I choose to play as it is fun for me, win or lose, to play with new cards. What I do to keep it fun is the key to EDH imo: make lots of new decks. With literally over 50 decks sleeved with no proxies, some might say I have an addiction, lol. (By the way, feel free to checkout my EDH decks on TappedOut. I still have many more to post.) With all of the ways to exploit the format, I've learned to just go with the flow of the playgroup. If someone wants to go infinite, let them get it out of their system. Eventually they will tire of using Animate Dead on Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger turn 1 or 2. Just don't give them the satisfaction of being defeated. Pack some counterspells or think of crazy ways to make their combos backfire. This is the thing of magic, you get out of it what you put into it.

@ Sizzlewump: this is not entirely correct. Steps in order are:

1) Activate Horizon Spellbombs first ability, it is put on the stack, then the second ability triggers and goes on the stack above it. This happens without anyone receiving priority in-between.

2) Priority passes all around, then triggered ability resolves and the activating player may pay to draw a card.

3) Priority passes all around, then the activating player searches his library for a basic land card and puts it in his hand, then shuffles his library.

I gotta say, this article was very well written :)

Thanks for clearing that up RussischerZar. This makes much more sense.

I've just noticed this series and have enjoyed reading #7 and now #1. Thanks for all the time you must have spent putting these together. I'm off to read #2 now (and I promise I wont read past 5am).