Who should I use as my new general? (EDH players, please read!)
Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 5, 2013, 1:04 p.m. by gurnavaj
So Im not really new to the game, but I want to make a new EDH deck and I cant decide which of my legendary creatures to build it around. Any advice, tips and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The possible generals (the ones I own, basically) are:
Krenko, Mob Boss , Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis , Lazav, Dimir Mastermind , Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker , Rakka Mar , Azusa, Lost but Seeking ,Animar, Soul of Elements , Emmara Tandris , Ruric Thar, the Unbowed , Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant , Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts , Tajic, Blade of the Legion , Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch and Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker .
When making suggestions (or just making your opinion known, whichever you prefer), please try not to just say Bro, use BLANK cause hes cool. As cool as he may be, thats not super helpful, and it also doesnt do much as far as conversation is concerned. Im not just looking to solve a problem here, discussion is fun too!
Sidenotes: My playgroup varies between large multiplayer games and 1v1 matches/tournaments, so keep that in mind; also, I already have an Aura/Equip voltron using Uril, the Miststalker , in case that changes anything. Something different from the look how big this beatstick is style of play would be nice!
So yeah, thats about it! Im open to any and all feedback, and I appreciate your attention.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch . There are tons of fun cards in her color that use +1/+1 counters, and haste is really useful for surprising people in a slow format.
September 5, 2013 1:19 p.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #4
Azusa, Lost but Seeking decks can be incredibly strong. However, if I'm going mono green she isn't my first choice. (right now Omnath, Locus of Mana is).
Out of the possible Generals you mentioned I am only running one as my EDH General. Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts is the commander of my Pillow Fort deck. Basically you abuse enchantments and some control to build a deck that is very hard to get through to. The deck is a lot of fun if you like the sit back and wait kinda game. Its better at Multiplayer but can hold its own in a one on one.
I will be building an Animar, soul of elements deck soon. It will be my first attempt at a tribal EDH focusing on Elementals. I think as far as a creature based strategy goes he's pretty darn solid.
September 5, 2013 1:29 p.m.
If you weren't experienced, I'd steer you clear of mono colored generals just because it takes a lot of research to find the cards that allow you to respond to various threats. But, you've been around the block and may even like that challenge.
I think generals come down to personal play preference. If you're looking to get away from Voltron, I might suggest a commander that encourages having a deck packed with creatures. Exava, Tajic and Ruric and Animar are strong candidates there. In which case, I'd say pick the candidate that fits your color preferences.
Lazav decks tend to benefit from lots of mill and some combo-tastic-ness. If that sounds like a blast to you then he's a great candidate.
Emmara is pretty difficult to build around. If you're looking for a challenge to make a very difficult commander viable. That's an option. Not one I'd pursue though. She sounds like the worst of the bunch.
Lazav, Tajic and Animar have been very fun commanders for me.
September 5, 2013 1:55 p.m.
With what you have, I'd say go Animar, Soul of Elements , or Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts . Both are super fun to play and can be built up pretty nicely on a budget. It's not a bad idea to build on a couple of colors to start out until you see how different of a format EDH really is. Keep in mind ramping; mana fixing; cards with multiple functions, ie. the charms, permanents that cycle; and bombs. It's super fun to drop huge creature after huge creature. Try to stay away from things that are one time use spells, unless they are big. Doom Blade is by no means the most effective card against three or more opponent's.
Tajic can be a great build too, but if you're going voltron, you're going to sink some money into the cards to make it competetive.
September 5, 2013 2:01 p.m.
Animar, Soul of Elements is by far the best general here, but due to his reducing the colorless costs of cards, he demands a very good (and therefore expensive) mana base to consistently have the right color combinations. Animar Combo for reference, not my deck but one I copied for playtesting.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking is the next best general, but her strategy is very linear and can be very boring to many players. Ramp and fatty is not the most exotic strategy. I don't have a decklist for her for that very reason.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker can be very fun and still somewhat competitive, but you need to have in your possession ~25 black creatures with power one or less to support him. This can be difficult if you don't want to by new cards. Shirei's Storehouse for reference.
Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant can be fun as it is a really crazy combo deck. Produces more mana than any other non-infinite deck. Sasaya Super Combo for reference.
The rest of those generals are for the most part inferior generals to many you will see, to hard/expensive to make on a small budget, or are very bad in multiplayer.
September 5, 2013 2:18 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #8
Out of the above selection, Animar, Soul of Elements seems to stand out. As a three-colour commander he offers the widest pool of good cards at a decent budget and only really gets expensive if you want efficient dual-lands. Building a deck around him is relatively simple and offers lots of choices in how far you want to go with it, and can make for a powerful creature-based deck.
One option you may not have considered: Investing in a not-very-expensive-at-all Riku of Two Reflections . He is a wonderful commander that can allow for a lot of creativity and invention, and, unlike Animar, he interacts with instants and sorceries as well as creatures.
September 5, 2013 2:20 p.m.
Wow, this much feedback is awesome... keep it up, guys! :)
September 5, 2013 2:33 p.m.
if you plan to use Red i would recommend to choose from here in this order:
September 5, 2013 2:48 p.m.
I think an important question that needs to be answered here is what is the budget for this deck. That question has a lot of input on possible suggestions.
September 5, 2013 2:57 p.m.
Animar is a blast. I don't tend to like commanders with 2 or less toughness unless they have some other advantage that can keep them alive. His pro-black and pro-white bonuses keep him from getting hit with a lot of targeted removal.
I have to disagree with his expensive mana base. Mine runs fairly heavy in basic lands and I haven't seen much of an issue. But, then again, my build tends to run heavy with green ramp.
This deck very much felt like a deck that put itself together for me. I had a few ideas and dug through some cards and it very quickly came together as a viable deck. It's also a deck I tend to lend out to new players. It's strategy is relatively straight forward but it has enough interesting interactions to make it a surprise to play. If you're looking for a commander that facilitates lending he's a good choice.
I tend to like commanders with access to black or white though. Those are the colors with the best options for targeted removal and sweeping the board state. You'll find those actions more difficult in R/G/B. Though red has a few damage based options at your disposal.
September 5, 2013 3:21 p.m.
miracleHat says... #13
Azusa, Lost but Seeking in my opinion is the best general. the ability to have on turn 2 4 lands, then on turn three 7 lands meaning that you can Boundless Realms to get fourteen lands is pretty incredible. there are also other combos that you can do with her (mass ld, big faties, Primal Surge and stuff). Animar, Soul of Elements would be second.
September 5, 2013 5:09 p.m.
Budget isn't too much of a concern for this, though id appreciate things staying on the cheaper side!
SharuumNyan says... #2
I would pick Lazav, Dimir Mastermind because his ability can be fun, and Dimir decks are my kind of thing anyway.
I wouldn't pick Krenko, Mob Boss because he's used too much already.
September 5, 2013 1:08 p.m.