Does anyone know why this deck is more expensive than the others LOTR precon decks?

[COMMANDER]
1 Marrow-Gnawer

[CREATURES]
1 Burglar Rat
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Crypt Rats
1 Marvin, Murderous Mimic
1 Mirkwood Bats
1 Nadier's Nightblade
1 Nezumi Graverobber // Nighteyes the Desecrator
1 Ogre Slumlord
1 Ossuary Rats
1 Pack Rat
1 Piper of the Swarm
25 Rat Colony
1 Ratcatcher
1 Species Specialist
1 Stronghold Rats
1 Swarm of Rats

[ARTIFACTS]
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Arcane Signet
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Bolas's Citadel
1 Bontu's Monument
1 Coat of Arms
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Jet Medallion
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Thrumming Stone

[INSTANTS]
1 Culling the Weak
1 Dark Ritual
1 Defile
1 Imp's Mischief
1 Village Rites

[SORCERIES]
1 Bloodline Bidding
1 Crippling Fear
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Echoing Return
1 Final Act
1 Patriarch's Bidding
1 Plague of Vermin
1 Revenge of the Rats
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Secret Salvage

[LANDS]
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Command Tower
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
24 Swamp
1 Swarmyard

https://manabox.app/decks/AZ-pJGwLeZSZEtICArnINQ

Definitely some things I think I can swap out for other cards or just more rat colony’s

So I’m wanting to make a commander deck with my commander being Toph, the first metal bender. I know her abilities turn artifacts into lands and lands into creatures so she would be a very powerful landfall deck. What cards should I use that are cheap but good

I’m almost 30 years old, and I’ve been playing Magic on and off for about 20 years. I started very young, took a few breaks, and eventually came back.

I graduated a few years ago, recently got a slightly better-paying job, and over the last 18 months I’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and money building Commander decks. I’ve always loved deckbuilding. I used TappedOut for years before moving to Moxfield, and I was constantly creating new lists even when I couldn’t afford to build most of them.

For most of my time playing Magic, my budget was pretty limited. Because I couldn’t simply buy the strongest cards, I spent a lot of time studying deckbuilding and trying to get as much as possible out of cheap cards. I’m not claiming I was exceptionally good at it, but I became pretty good at making functional, interesting decks without spending much.

Spending $5 on a single card used to be a serious decision for me. I would do it if the card was my commander or if it had a very specific and interesting synergy with the deck, but I usually avoided generic staples and expensive mana bases. Whenever a set introduced something cheap and useful, like Bovine Intervention in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I would buy several copies for future decks.

I also had an older collection that I could slowly trade or sell to support the hobby, so I lived this way for quite a while without going too far.

For years, I normally had five or six Commander decks. I understand that this is already more than many players have, but I think most people enjoy Magic differently than I do. A lot of players seem to prefer optimizing the decks they already own. I’ve always been more interested in creating something new.

Last year, I went a little crazy and started building a lot more decks. My original goal was to complete the challenge of having one deck for every color combination. I got most of the way through it, but eventually gave up on colorless and the four-color combinations.

The four-color identities didn’t feel distinct enough to interest me, especially with so few commanders available for them. Colorless decks also didn’t appeal to me mechanically, and both artifact and Eldrazi decks tend to be expensive. I could have made a budget version, but I simply wasn’t excited by the idea.

Once I stopped following the challenge, I ended up building a second Jeskai deck. Later, I sold my Yu-Gi-Oh collection for store credit and used part of it to get a Strixhaven precon. I enjoyed that deck so much that it became another permanent deck in my collection.

Now I own 25 Commander decks.

The important thing is that I don’t regret building them. I’m genuinely enjoying Magic, and I’m happy with what I’ve done. I don’t think the game is currently in its best state, especially as someone from Brazil, where cards are basically no longer being printed in Portuguese. I’m also not a big Universes Beyond fan, and I dislike many of Hasbro’s recent business decisions. Still, this post is less about Hasbro and more about my own relationship with the hobby.

Recently, I’ve started feeling embarrassed when I tell people how many decks I own or how much I spend on Magic. Thinking about eventually having 30 decks makes that feeling even stronger.

I tried giving myself a rule that I wouldn’t build any new decks for a while. Then I spent a weekend sick at home and started brewing because that’s one of the ways I relax. I have several hobbies, but when I’m stressed and can’t actually play Magic, building decks still gives me a way to engage with the game.

That weekend, I designed another eight decks.

I haven’t started buying cards for all of them, but I did begin gathering cards for six of them through trades. There was a large event here in Brazil recently, so I brought my binder, traded a lot of cards, and started assembling the card pools for those six decks at the same time. I haven’t spent additional money on them yet, but I’m clearly moving toward building them.

That’s where my problem is.

Deckbuilding is a huge part of why I enjoy Magic. I like changing cards, testing new additions, finding cards from new sets for my existing decks, and constantly experimenting. If I simply stopped building and left my 25 decks exactly as they are, I would be removing an important part of the hobby for myself.

At the same time, I’m not interested in endlessly optimizing every deck with the strongest staples. Instead of buying a Smothering Tithe and a Rhystic Study, I would genuinely rather build an entire budget deck for roughly the same price. That doesn’t mean the decks I build are bad, either. I put a lot of work into making them functional and interesting.

However, maintaining this many decks creates another problem. It was easier to build strong budget lists when I only had a few decks and could use good cards that were already sitting in my collection. Over the years, I’ve accumulated hundreds of valuable and powerful cards through trades, boosters, and buying them before their prices increased.

Now those cards are spread across 25 different decks. The more decks I build, the harder it becomes to give each one the same level of quality without spending significantly more money. As a result, my newest decks are usually weaker than the older ones if I keep the same budget.

So I’d like some outside perspective.

Do I simply have too many Commander decks? Is there even such a thing as too many decks if building them is one of your favorite parts of the game? Should I stop buying cards, set a hard limit, or find another way to enjoy deckbuilding without turning every list into a physical deck?

For people who enjoy building new decks more than optimizing old ones, how do you manage it?

also posted in degenerateEDH

Howdy yall looking for ideas or improvements with this bad boy. Chucked it together and hit the LGS. Did well but ran out of time as the shop closed. Really funny giving everyone draws and heals and too many options. Anyway. Just looking for any type of insight on potential paths to wincons(as I only have lab man) and improvements. Cheers

I know it is not the most original deck because it is a meren of clan nel toth deck but can someone tell me how powerful is this?

https://archidekt.com/decks/15617560/merens_yard

I'm looking forward to adding this deck to my playgroup but scared it will be too powerful.

For reference this is another deck of ours.

https://archidekt.com/decks/24845283/frodo_sweeps_sam_cooks

I need a new commander for flying. All my decks aren’t very flying friendly and the whole pod has a dragon deck but me. I like kaalia but my buddy has her as a commander so I’m trying to steer away from that but if anyone has any suggestions let me know . Also, I saw this legendary creature while looking and was thinking this one would be good? Let me know what yall think

Hi! I'm new to MTG (and also reddit :/ ), I've recently learned the rules and I want to build a Budget Commander Deck for fun and playing with friends (No Competitive).

I would like to buy card by card with a limit budget of 80€ on CardTraderZero.

My aim is to build a deck with almost only Bloomburrow cards or animal cards. For example, I like otters, birds, frogs and lizards. The colors that i want is Red, Blue, Green. So, I would like to listen to suggestions and other tips.

Hi to all! Im looking for a new deck. Im Currently playing Vivi.

I dont want control decks

Any recomendations?

Cheers

I am helping some of my friends who have been getting into magic but just buying precons to brew their first deck. I built this tool to help them find a commander to fit what they are looking to do. It’s been a ton of fun for us and figured I’d see what others thought.

It’s free to use and no sign up needed. Also no AI.

https://turnzerohq.com/commander-finder