Why is it that people say red is the worst color? i mean about a third of tier 1 generals have red in their color identity and about half of the tier 2 generals are red. this seems to say that red is not a bad color by any means sure it has weaknesses(card draw) but so do other colors.

@izikdornob it lacks answers to big threats. no creature removal, no enchantment interaction, and no couinters worth running.

Its easily utilized when paired though. its just the worst LONE color in EDH usually. maybe white.

DERPLINGSUPREME I wouldn't say NONE of those things, lacking, for sure but none is too final.

For mono colors, the order is: > > > > . Blue has the best card advantage, answers to everything, and powerful commanders. Green has amazing ramp and is decent all across the rest of the board, with one powerful commander. Black is strong in control and draw, but it has trouble dealing with artifacts and enchantments. Mono Red is similar in strengths and weaknesses to mono black, with worse draw power and a painful lack of tutors. White has terrible card advantage, no ramp to speak of, and no strong commanders.

For support colors (best colors in dual and tricolor decks): > > > > . Green and black switch because black has better tutors and win conditions (Ad Nauseam, Necrotic Ooze, etc). Red and white switch because white has amazing removal and hate tools, while red brings very little to a deck other than Gamble, Wheel of Fortune, and sometimes Vandalblast.

Not to be singing the praises of red, it's still one of the worst colors, but it does bring Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, and Stranglehold.

Moon & moon makes Hermit Druid decks cry, especially if moon is powered out with a Sol Ring. It also can slow down a lot of control decks (I only use blood moon in 2 color decks or mono R though since it's too hard to support in tri color.)

Stranglehold though is just great in anything with red.

Yes red doesn't do any of the most common things very well (removing enchantments, exiling creatures, drawing cards, tutoring, ramping, etc.) but it is second to blue on being able to do weird, but awesome things. It stops people from tutoring and countering stuff, can hurt players using lots of nonbasics, can deal damage without having to focus the damage on one opponent, destroy lands, and more!

I'm surprised to see Skullbriar, the Walking Grave in tier 4... Black and Green with the right support and early (and relevant) commander damage make well-made decks pretty nightmarish.

I feel Skullbriar is significantly better in 1v1 then multi player.

How useful have people found The Gitrog Monster to be as one of the 99?

As a rule of thumb, no. Gitrog requires a fair amount of build-around to be good in a deck. Otherwise he ends up being a slow, overcosted, sometimes detrimental draw engine. Since there aren't currently any GBx 'lands matter' commanders, he's too much work to be worth the trouble. He's far better helping his own deck.

I brought up Damia a while back while Tasigur was being discussed.

With the partial Paris mulligan rule change, I don't see her being worthy of T1 status any more. At 7 mana, she's extremely difficult to justify hard-casting. The banning of Prophet certainly didn't help either, as it was one of the best tools for getting her into play. Often she would be flashed in on the last opponent's end step to try to dodge removal. I vote to move her down.

In a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck he can be very useful for getting experience counters, as long as you have 4 experience counters before playing him. Play him then on your upkeep sac him, then return him to the battlefield as you now have 5 experience counters. this can be repeated many times to get exorbitant amounts of counters and can let you bring some really huge creatures straight from your graveyard to the battlefield. Of course this should not be the only form of gaining experience counters in a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck.

I agree on Damia. Yes her ability is great, but it OFTEN requires a full turn cycle to trigger and if she bites the dust, good luck casting her again, since most builds I have seen rely upon one shot fast mana cards to get her into play by turn 2 or 3. Also the traditional counterspell heavy control deck she suppprts is fairly weak when compared to combo or stax.

Damia has indeed lost a lot of her luster. I wouldn't be against moving her down. It's weird to think that Tasigur has passed her by but it appears to be the case with the recent changes.

I think Narset should be Tier 2. Reasons:

1 - High mana cost. Gives opponents 4 or more turns to find an answer.
2 - All in nature of the deck. Without her the decks suffer greatly.
3 - She is crushed by many of those "Tier 2" generals listed such as Shattergang Brothers, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, or Captain Sisay.

It just doesn't take very much effort to stop Narset and once you do then pretty much all you have to do is keep an eye on their mana and have an answer every 2-3 turns. It's not like a Doran, the Siege Tower deck that keeps pumping out threats even if you deal with Doran.

In the mean time if I kill a Alesha, Who Smiles at Death that doesn't really do much because their deck is still chock full of powerful X-for-1 control spells or repetitive value that out-classes many decks. If I kill a Captain Sissay then I still have to fight through a Host of powerful creatures many of which shut down strategies. If I kill a Shattergang Brothers they can cast it again much easier, combo out, play wraths, or beat down much better than .

The main advantage of playing isn't card draw, it's counters. Every color except has plenty of draw. Narset is one of the few commanders that doesn't play lots of counters. She's a glass cannon that everybody at the table will be happy to sit back and watch you destroy.

Narset, Enlightened Master is interesting because she's difficult to resolve, but if optimized, once she swings, she wins. I almost think she does better in higher tier matches because other things require your attention - then she makes it into the game and gg; in games against tier 2/3 she is more conspicuous and her vulnerability to shutdown becomes more pronounced.

Also, I've been slack on lurking and missed the Azami, Lady of Scrolls discussion. Would someone briefly summarize the reason for taking her down a tier? I'm finding it difficult to believe she belongs below Tier 1.

Azami has been badly hurt by the mulligan change and doesn't hold a candle to Teferi, the current de facto mono-blue general. She's not nearly as consistent as she used to be.

Though I recognize that I am somewhat biased on this, as I run a build of this commander, Ezuri, Claw of Progress has felt like a tier two to me. My build has multiple elements of how to use him effectively (infect, tokens, abilities with counters). How Bernie Sanders Plays Magic is worth a look, as it showcases the different playstyles available.

I also agree on Damia tier 2. Update!

Alot of these teir 1 generals tend to get hated off the table in multiplayer. I know a guy who plays to most broken zur and narset decks ever and they dont win all that often, even with putting 5 grand or more into each deck. It makes me wonder what teir 1 really is. I think it is not the general but the deck. My azami deck wins much more then my kaalia deck because the momo blue control build is better then super fast land d in my meta. I guess to wrap up I will say that the word teir 1 is different in each meta. In mine control owns combo since the new mulligan. Its just somthing to keep in mind.

Part of the description for Tier 1 says that these generals have to stand up to multiplayer hate,even though they may lose to dedicated hate. It could be that said pilots aren't as good as their decks. A tier 1 deck a tier 1 pilot does not make.

I would like to convince you that Azami, Lady of Scrolls is in fact a tier 1 multiplayer deck. My personal build of her often wins turn 4 easily. Check it out!

How has the non-partial mulligan changed things for you? I would think losing that would really slow things down with her.

After the mulligan change the deck did have some issues, but I tweaked it a lot after the changes and there are no issues. The win stats I talked of are post mull changes and this deck is still unfinished. Still need a crypt and a few of the more expensive extra turn spells. After that it'll be even more ridiculous.

I'm aware that this is supposed to be a list for good multiplayer commanders, but she also is great in dual commander and has seen some showing in the top 8 for dual commander. There's a good reason for that.

French is not really considered here as you said. It could also be that she is mono blue, and there is already a better mono blue option in the blue walker. Mono color does have limitations, even if it is the mighty blue. I think there was some talk of dropping Arcum down to 2 as well. Tier 2 is still extremely strong decks, and tier 1 is kept small for good reason. I feel that she is at the top end of tier 2 though.