Seeking Advice for Lazav., Dimrir Mastermind EDH Deck.
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on March 25, 2024, 1:43 a.m. by Danutercisd
Seeking advice for Lazav, Dimir Mastermind EDH Deck
Hello! I hope everyone is well! I've relatively new to MTG, and I started out with Commander about 3 weeks ago, and let me tell you, its been rough for me getting into it, honestly. Fortunately, I was inspired to build my first deck from scratch, with some help from a friend and other resources. It led to me building a deck with Lazav, Dimir Mastermind. I built this deck as a clone/light mill control deck, with the intention of the deck being a funny deck where I just play other peoples decks, cloning their creatures, or stealing creatures from their graveyard. I wanted something that would be fun, as well as refreshing. I would like to know what everyone thinks, and if there is anything I can do to make it even better. I think I've done a decent job so far. I've modified it a bit, but I want to see what yall think. I appreciate any feedback!
Here is my deck: Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
Danutercisd says... #3
Those are pretty helpful indeed. I do need to diversify a bit. I have something to copy artifacts, such as Phyrexian Metamorph, but I don't seem to have much to deal with things besides creatures. I only played one game with this deck, and my friend played a planeswalker deck, but he called it the "superfriends deck." I think this is more suited for full four player games anyway, but I may replace a creature or two that exile, since my deck would do better with destroying cards instead The budget thing will be a non-issue for me, since this is not going to be on paper. I've been playing on Tabletop Simulator, a game on PC that allows me to play tabletop games such as magic. Another thing recommended to me was to not run cantrips. I'm actually on the fence on that, because my friend told me that they're really good for thinning out decks, and someone else I've talked to when deck teching told me that I don't really need them unless I had synergy.
March 25, 2024 4:20 a.m.
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March 25, 2024 11:09 p.m.
Thinking about cantrips, I see Necropotence, Rhystic Study, and Phyrexian Arena in here, so there's some drawing power. Broadly speaking, I agree with the second person you talked to. These enchantments provide more advantage over time than spending a card to draw a single extra card. You can use graveyards as a resource, too. As far as cards like Dimir Doppelganger and Reanimate are concerned, everybody's graveyards are just extensions of your hand. So aside from the Preordain/Ponder/similar stuff in here that's good card fixing in general, cantripping isn't especially necessary. Unless you use massive amounts of cantrips (and some commanders are okay with that), they don't offer that much thinning, and simply playing with good knowledge and fundamentals will give you much more of an advantage. It wouldn't really hurt anything to include a few, but don't rely on them to break the game open in this deck.
March 26, 2024 2:35 a.m.
Danutercisd says... #6
Yeah. I followed both people's advice. I decided to keep three cantrips in there for card fixing, as well as put in a few more draw cards as well. I really do like what I've done with it so far. I know this deck is gonna really be dependant on what the table has, so I'll probably play this deck when it can steal some really good commanders/creatures.
legendofa says... #2
Welcome to the club, Danutercisd!
For being a first deck, I'm impressed to see the Mana Crypt, Cyclonic Rift, Fierce Guardianship, The Meathook Massacre, Underground Sea... I'm going to guess that budget isn't a major constraint here.
One of my pet cards for this sort of thing is Geth, Lord of the Vault. It offers milling, reanimation theft for creatures and artifacts, and a pretty big evasive body.
If you like instant-win combos, both Bloodchief Ascension and Duskmantle Guildmage set up full-deck milling and lots of damage with the Mindcrank in the deck.
Another suggestion is to diversify your copy/theft effects. There's a lot of ways to copy opponents' creatures, but you can take them directly with Control Magic, Beguiler of Wills, and similar effects, steal and copy spells with Talent of the Telepath or Twincast, or yank something from their deck with Praetor's Grasp. You opponents are probably going to be doing things beside throwing creatures around, and being able to react to different threats and take advantage of different opportunities is always good.
March 25, 2024 3:36 a.m.