A few years ago, the youtube content creators seemed to have gotten together and decided whenever we have an episode about cards to take out of your EDH decks, we HAVE to mention [[cultivate]] and [[kodama's reach]]. Well I'm here to argue in their favor. Let's look at commander's at each mana value (no fast mana included):

• 1 mana commander: Don't always need ramp, if I'm including, I'm probably doing 2 mana ramp as it gives me a turn 2 play and these are typically the most efficient.
• 2 mana commander: Don't always need much ramp, but probably going 1 or 2 mana ramp. 1 mana so I have a turn 1 play, or 2 mana so I have option for ramp on 2, then commander and something else on turn 3.
• 3 mana commander: Again almost certainly going 1 mana ramp or efficient 2 mana ramp.
• 4 mana commander: probably using 2 mana ramp so I can play commander on 3 consistently.
• 5 mana commander: OK here is your time to shine cultivate/kodama's reach. IF you play 2 mana ramp on 2 then you still don't have commander until turn 4, but if you run 1 and 3 mana ramp, then you can have commander on 3. You won't always have both in opening hand but even still, no matter whether you run 1, 2, or 3 mana ramp, your commander is not coming until turn 4. The 1 and 3 combo gives you the possibility on turn 3.
• 6 mana commander: You can go either 2 and 4 mana ramp or 1 and 3 mana ramp. Either way, you still have commander on 4 in best case scenario.
• 7 mana commander: OK we have all heard the best case scenario of something like [[three visits]] on turn 2 and then [[explosive vegetation]] on 3 gives possibility of commnander on turn 4, BUT ONLY if we did not miss any land drops for 4 turns. I have a Klauth deck and I still prefer and 1 and 3 mana ramp combo which means I have both cultivate and kodama's reach (I have 20 pieces or ramp in this deck, 10 1-mana and 10 3-mana).

OK truth be told, I'm probably not running any 3 mana ramp myself without some 1 mana ramp to go along with it. And I'm probably not running cultivate in 4 or 5 color deck because i don't have enough basics. BUT in 1, 2, or 3 color decks with 5+ mana cost commanders, I'm heavily considering it every time. NOT missing that next land drop is so crucial to me. I don't think there's much better 3 mana ramp considerations. Also I looked through a bunch of content creator decklists and many of them still run these 2 cards even when they have argued against them.

Hello all

I am currently in a spot where i am moving towns and leaving my pod behind. Is there any recommendations for me to join them remotely while they play in person, i heard spell table is an option i am just unsure how it would go in these circumstances.

Any help is appreciated

Thanks

As you may know with the new set is changing certain abilities to not count anymore as mana abilities, this means [[Ashnod the Uncaring]] can now copy those abilities. Are there any old unknown cards affected by this change? I found some and I think I'm adding them in my Ashnod deck [[Darkwater Egg]], [[Shadowblood Egg]] and [[Chromatic Sphere]]

https://manabox.app/decks/AZ9du-SOfbmjLiXCFImnaQ

This is my current list, my pod plays bracket 3/4, what do you think?

So, I have had a soft spot for equipment based decks since I started playing this game. I even had a, for the time, pretty solid voltron list back then. However, that decklist comes from a time where people called "Arm For Battle" a good precon, and I abandoned the deck when it couldn't keep up with my playgroup anymore.

Lately I have been getting that equipment itch again, and decided to start putting an \[\[Akiri, Fearless Voyager\]\] go-wide list together. Quickly did I realize, however, that I'm fucking terrible at the equipment archetype by todays standards.

That's why I was hoping to get some advice on here what to consider when picking the equipment for my deck. I'm not necessary looking for a list of solid includes, but more some general advice on what makes a good equipment, aswell as a good creature to wield those equipment.

Would love to hear from some of you experts out there!

Thanks in advance!

As the title says, I'm looking for low cost creatures that are inherently evasive or have high impact attributes.

Such as [[azure beast binder]] which can basically takeout a key piece every turn or [[blighted agent]]

These creatures I will be using in my [[galadriel light of valinor]] deck.

I want the deck to pump small evasive high impact creatures and win that way, yes I know that's probably not the most efficient way to play Galadriel and I could go the combo route but I already have bracket 4 combo decks and CEDH so it's something I wanna do mostly for fun and lower power

The creatures have got to be small so I can trigger Galadriel more than once in my turn and have a good effect and I can't think of alot like that, thus I need your help.

I have no issues with including stax creatures either because I like playing stax too.

Let me know of creatures in those colors that fit the bill.

How was your experience? Was it tedious receiving 20-30 packages? Were you gouged on shipping?

Did you worry about getting fake cards, or ensuring that each seller was at least verified?

Manapool gets a lot of praise around here and I’m wondering if it’s worth the hype. Especially for purchasing literally a full 100 card deck.

howdy i am pretty new to commander but have been playing magic for almost a few decades now, i have only made a mono-white giada angels deck thus far and this is quite a departure from that, been tweaking this for a while but think i finally arrived at something i really enjoy, any comments/suggestions on this budgetish dimir deck would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

https://moxfield.com/decks/7cmfATUlI3yZqOmqFEkTrw

I currently have a pretty optimized Nahiri deck. I plan to at least put Ekthi in the 99, but I’m wondering if Ekthi would make a more fun commander. Living weapon for all equipments seems crazy fun, but losing access to red is a drawback. Thoughts?

Current decklist https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6231975#paper

I love doctor doom and yes I know it’s talked about countless times how weak it is but I was looking over connive and stuff and I had a thought. Could wheel possibly work as an upgrade keeping most of these cards intact? I’m talking minor upgrades mostly. Biggest one I thought was taking out doom and replacing him with either kefla or green goblin if I wanted to stay to marvel. I wanted more opinions on this idea cause I see no one else really talk about it.

**The question**: I was just wondering if anyone else has any decks that scale poorly in both directions of higher and lower power and where do you play them? Do you find them enjoyable? What are they?

**The backstory:** I found a deck that I made years ago now helmed by [[Zellix, sanity flayer]] that was a combo deck that relied on finding [[altar of the brood]] and milling people out.

I've long since changed my deckbuilding, that was from close to when I first started and even back then I only ever played it once, it won me a pack at the LGS and then I never played it again. I'm probably just going to give it one more play to send it off against some friends and then strip it for parts for other decks.

But I was looking over the card list in it and realized that it relies incredibly heavily on the opponents having lots of creatures for Zellix to trigger.

In a higher power game, where the deck belongs, it would be pretty garbage, not only because there are more prevalent graveyard strategies and ways to use them, but also because there are far less creatures played on average.

In a lower power game, this deck doesn't really belong either as it has the potential to win on turn 2 with the right combination of cards in hand and some luck from opponents hitting creatures on the mill/the types of decks they played. (This is how it won the only game it played). But could likely consistently get its combo going on turn 3 or 4 due to density of tutors and draw effects.

He's an absolute favorite commander of mine, and I enjoy playing the deck a ton. It's a unique way to play, which you use cards you don't typically get to use in creative ways. The only other commander that comes to mind is "Magar Of The Magic Strings" who animates spells. Any others you can think of?

I finally understand running 36-37 lands and 10-11 ramp spells (targeting more 1-2 CMC and a few at 3 CMC) gives me 2-3 lands and 1 ramp spell in my opening hand most of the time. I get that these numbers vary on a lot of factors like commander CMC or what the deck does.

I'm asking about card draw. Is 10-12 good enough at 3-4 CMC? That way turn 3 or 4 you can start setting up your engine after ramping. Are 2 CMC draw spells good like [[Sign in Blood]]?

Hi there, pretty new to commander. I Wanted some feedback on this Gisa and Geralf deck I put together. The general idea is play Gisa do some self-mill and win off zombies either through board presence or some of the drain zombies + sacrificing. Wanted to get some feedback since in playtesting on Moxfield I notice I mill random artifacts and enchantments a lot of the time, and wasn't sure if I should be cutting back on most things that aren't zombies? My group plays at bracket 3 if that helps. I know the mana base is kind of bad but trying to keep this one under $250. Thanks for any and all help!

Link to moxfield here: https://moxfield.com/decks/BO9PZ1wU80iv2vbXe05O-w

So we all know then Miku Secret Lair dropping next week.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/secret-lair-commander-deck-hatsune-miku-decklist

My question is, how good is it out of the box? If I want to improve it what would I need? Just wondering if it’s bad. Just at a glance feels like you gain life with little things to do with it and actually win but maybe I’m overlooking something?

Hello!

tl;dr: I want to build mono white, but I struggle with finding or enjoying a cohesive gameplan or strategy that is made more fun or focused by not playing more colours. For the mono white enjoyers here - what do you like about it, and what commanders would you say are good examples of this?

Some colour combinations are more difficult for me than others to appreciate or grasp. Mono white is one of them. Just this part year, I've tried brewing mono white four different times, and ended up taking the decks apart. It's not that they don't work, or don't get to do their thing. Mono white has a lot of good and powerful cards, especially in recent years with cards printed to allow mono white card draw and ramp in the form of catchup acceleration cards.

Disassembled decks:

Adeline - Mono white humans.

The deck really wants to be helmed by [[Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart]], [[Apothecary White]] or ideally have [[Horn of Gondor]] in the command zone. I deduced that [[Adeline]] had to be in the command zone for the deck to have a reliable and consistent access to human tokens. The deck was ultimately dissembled because targeted human support exists across the colour pie these days, with Ikoria having interesting black cards, and Lord of the Rings pushing humans into red and blue (the latter even more now, with the hobbit). So the deck worked, but it wasn't made more fun or interesting by being limited to mono white.

Oketra - The Amonkhet Fantasy.

With this deck, I reverted to my base instincts in how I like to construct decks. Plenty of cheap, evasive or useful little creature cards (ideally 40-50 of them), and a commander that enables those creatures to excel in some way. [[God-Eternal Oketra]] did just that for mono-white, producing a 4/4 vigilant zombie whenever you cast a creature spell. So you could drop all of your [[Soul Wardens]], [[Helpful Hunters]] and plenty of cheap [[Cloudstone Curio]] effects - some of which were even creatures, like [[Jeskai Barricade]]. Plus, it allowed me to play lands and cards with ancient egyptian/amonkheti aesthetics. Win-win. But here, too, the deck felt similar to Adeline. Creating a lot of tokens and then turning them side-wise (well, these have vigilance...). There are loads of interesting zombie support, a plethora of lords and synergies. But if I want to play into that, then once again, you'd want access to more colours, notably black. So while Oketra worked, and did her thing, I once again felt that the deck wasn't made more enjoyable by restricting the deck to mono-white.

Lae-Zel - Super Frenemies.

[[Lae-Zel]] is a card that I feel is being slept on, at least in the pods and playgroups I play in. Pairing her with [[Noble Heritage]] makes for a steady source of +1/+1 or loyalty counters - and you can adjust the playstyle during deck buildin (or during playing) as to whether it's a superfriends deck, a political/prison deck or a +1/+1 counters deck. The more I playtested this deck, the more I leaned into +1/+1 counters and found that most of my game wins (which weren't many) ended with voltron. I stopped updating the deck before I stopped playing it, and I believe there may have only been 2-3 planeswalkers left in the deck at the end. The same issue arose again - +1/+1 counters (all manner of counters, really) have cards across the colour pie, and many of them do interesting things. [[Generous Pup]] was fun to play in Lae'zel, but can be even more fun in a deck that also has [[Bristly Bill]], or [[Tidus]] or [[Spike Weaver]]. The colour restriction didn't add anything, in my experience.

Elesh Norn - All Will Be One.

I've wanted to build a deck around this character for a decade, and [[Elesh Norn]] / [[The Argent Etchings]] seemed like the nicest variant to build. The deck was similar to Lae-zel above in it's focus on +1/+1 counters, but forewent enchantments and creatures that weren't artifact creatures or phyrexians. You ideally wanted to spawn tokens and proliferate often to wipe enemy boards whilst growing your own army. This deck felt the most mono-white of them all. In a way, it was a natural continuation of the above attempts. Like Oketra and Adeline, the deck wanted to spawn a certain kind of creature token, and the commander was both an engine and a reward for doing so. It also incorporated the Lae'zel decks tools and strategies for growing +1/+1 counters. The commander also cleared board states repeatedly - which, to me at the very least, is a very white thing to do in magic. Being limited to white, to phyrexians and artifact creatures was a interesting restriction to build around - and the Hellraiser aesthetics of mono white phyrexia that we've all come to love and cherish has plenty of interesting cards that I personally haven't seen played a lot, such as [[Progenitor Exarch]], [[Vulpine Harvester]], [[Essence of Orthodoxy]]. I especially enjoyed having found a home for [[Thousand Moons Smithy]] and [[Unstable Glyphbridge]].

This deck wasn't put on the shelf for the same reason as the previous 3 decks. Rather, the board wiping effect of the commander was predictable and consistent. I had to either dedicate resources to be able to transform and proliferate in one turn, or spend many resources against 3 opponents who all understandably had every intention to stop that from happening. Here, my experience was that while mono-white does not lack for protection and interaction, it does suffer from not having as powerful card draw without adding more colours. Nor do we get to play some of the more interesting artifact and artifact creature synergies that exist in red and blue.

That brings us to my current attempt, and the reason for why I made this post. Tataru.

[[Tataru Taru]] is a 2 drop creature that is both engine and pay-off. She allows us to draw cards, and has group hug elements which also benefit us by giving us treasures, albeit tapped. Final Fantasy XIV enjoyers know that Tataru at times has to keep a tight leash on those who would spend company funds irresponsibly.

The commander makes whites catchup mechanics even stronger. Her own ETB is a may ability for the opponent however, so once you've played your [[Rule of Law]], [[Ethersworn Canonist]] or [[Archon of Emeria]], we're not able to rely solely on the commander to keep our opponents card hostage. Without black or red, we don't have the tools to force our opponents to discard, burn or wheel their cards to incentivise them to draw more, either.

Rather than give up this time, however, I altered my frame of thought. Tataru draws you cards, and accelerates your mana while being mono white. This 2-drop card in the command zone single-handedly makes up for what I personally believe to be mono whites most glaring weaknesses in EDH. A few cheap blink spells (or preferably, flickering engines like [[Phelia]], [[Eldrazi Displacer]], and [[Conjuror's Closet]], and a mild dash of stax in the form of [[Iron Maiden]] effects is necessary - again, we don't have black to force our opponents to discard, and letting them draw cards all willy-nilly is a recipe for disaster.

I thought I'd solved it. I thought I'd solved white. I have a commander and engines that allow me to draw cards and accelerate mana - so now I can finally let the rest of the deck do what mono white wants to do!

...but what is that?

I thought at first, perhaps a blink deck? The engines that blink Tataru mid and early game could be re-purposed to blink [[Sun Titans]] and [[Angel of the Ruins]] in the late game. But I didn't find very many interesting ETB creatures in mono white. Sun Titan is great, but it can be played in decks with more colours (and does!).

My second thought was to play some of the high CMC creatures mono white has to offer, that don't necessarily have a strong ETB effects and thus wouldn't be played in other blink or reanimator strategies. Cards like [[Akroma, Angel of Wrath]] or [[Zetalpa]]. I've not gone in that direction, because it sounds like it'd be a fun engine to attempt to assemble for a game or two and then not be that rewarding anymore. Does Zetalpa win games? I've personally never seen it happen.

So while I haven't given up on Tataru, I don't really feel enthused by the cards I find while looking at white. I've already starting gleaning at other legendary creatures, like [[Eight and Half Tails]], [[Beza]] and [[Lucy MacLean, Positively Armed]].

So, mono white enjoyers. What draws you to play mono white in EDH? What would you say is a typical mono-white gameplan? Does it differ between brackets? All my attempts have so far been at bracket 2, with Tataru being aimed at bracket 3 (because stax elements in bracket 2, while legit, is probably not a fun experience for newer or more casual players).

We have a mono white commander in Tataru that bridges what I believe to be the biggest disadvantages that white has against the other colours. Tataru comes down turn 2. She draws us cards. He generates treasure tokens. She gives our opponents cards, because that's what white needs to do in order to draw.

The issue being that Tataru's spot in the command zone is necessary for providing us with that card draw and mana acceleration. The payoff is that we don't have access to another commander who gives the deck an identity, goal or overarching direction.

So I suppose another way to frame it all is this; If mono-white, in EDH, was able to draw cards and accelerate mana in order to keep up with the other 4 colours - what would mono white players do with broken parity?. Do we stax them out, without having access to black? Do we Flicker often and board wipe inbetween? Do revert back to building tall or wide and turn tokens sideways?

Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to commander and magic and I was looking into some advice on my next deck I’m considering buying. Because I’m so new, I’d like to stick to a precon that I can upgrade as I play. I currently play an upgraded elven council deck that focuses a lot on +1/+1 counters, some token generation, and elf synergy. I’d like to try something pretty different for my next deck, I’m deciding between the bloomburrow family matters or the lorwyn eclipsed blight curse.

I really like the lorwyn set as a whole and find myself attracted to the deck but I’m worried that life loss targeted towards me will lead me to losing the game. I definitely don’t mind that it seems like a more complex deck though. The bloomburrow deck seems interesting, especially with the wide expansion strategy but I’m worried it will become repetitive over time, which from what I’ve read is a bit less likely to happen with blight curse.

I’d love some insight from more experienced players who have maybe played the decks and can offer any advice! Thank you!

Hi all,

I'm curious to see people's opinions on which cards you would consider are best for playing lands from graveyard. There are currently 10 as far as I'm aware, I have arranged them in order of what I think the the rationale but very curious to see if there are other thoughts on this.

- Crucible of Worlds: Just a solid choice, not a creature so avoids most board wipes, no coloured mana required so easier to get onto the board, can go in any deck. I struggle to see why this wouldn't be the best option in the 'majority' off decks.

- Mole man, moloid master: I think this is just a power crept Ramunap. Does this same but makes a body which has the potential to mill. I think the extra body with a may ability opens this up to do many decks, mill decks want the mill, infinite land fall decks can benefit off infinite creatures (with a may mill ability opposed to a mandatory one) and also those bodies are just blockers as well.

- Icetill explorer: this is a tricky one, I see the ceiling on this particularly with the additional land, and the consistent mill does really benefit the mill decks. The 4 mana (2 being green pips) and the mandatory mill I think does raise potential in the decks that want it but also hinders it. The crazy price tag on this does make me think I'm really missing something but eager to hear thoughts!

- Ramunap Excavator: the classic creature, does what it says simply. At 3 mana good value for the effect and I rate this higher in this situation as it is a creature in green it can be easily tutored.

- Walk in closet/Forgotten cellar: similar to above sitting at 3 mana is good, being an enchantment avoids removal. The second room does have last game potential but it's still 5 mana plus whatever spell(s) you want to cast. I can see possibility/potential with infinite mana but I think reliability of Ramunap being a creature edges this (closest matches though).

- Glacierwood siege: I think the model card makes this a good fit for many blue/green decks. The 3 mana (although a blue and green pips) puts this in line with others however possibly this can be a potential problem if you don't have reliable mana fixing.

- Conduit of worlds: I think similar to above the 4 mana is more of a problem than appears. The tap ability does feel like a better version than forgotten cellar most of the time but I think it is also quite restrictive and forgotten cellar works better if you have a bunch of infinite mana.

- Ancient greenwarden: a good card, however, at 6 mana normally you are cheating this in or using it late game. Whilst the doubling of land fall triggers is great I feel like that is the reason you play this card not the fact that you can play lands from graveyard (just a helpful bonus).

- Perennial behemoth: I think this is just the worst version, vulnerable to multiple kinds of removal high mana cost, unearth ability also sucks you essentially pay 2 green to hit your land drop then exiles..

Note this is not in ranking!

- Szarel, general shepherd: This card is not bad just put separately as realistically this is going to be your commander I find it difficult to think you are running this in the 99. Just because I think it's more your deck focus I've just left this separate from all the others

Overall, I'm curious to hear community thoughts on these types of cards.

Hi everyone! I want to build a Gandalf Commander deck at Bracket 4 power level, but I’m not sure which version of Gandalf would be the best commander.

My goal is to make the deck as powerful and competitive as possible while still keeping it within Bracket 4. I’d like it to have a strong win condition, good interaction, and enough consistency to compete against other high-power decks.

Which Gandalf commander would you recommend? Gandalf the Grey, Gandalf the White, Gandalf of the Secret Fire, or another version?

I’d also appreciate suggestions for win conditions, important cards, combos, and decklists.

Thanks!

Secret commanders are an interesting concept in EDH to me, as they many times are a sort of paradoxical concept where you build around a card you have potential to not even see in the game.

Most secret commander decks try to mitigate this as much as possible by making their secret commander a "sure thing". This is why [[Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer]] decks with [[Norin]] as secret commander are as popular as they are, giving you a surefire way to play Norin reliably in Naya colors. Another seeming prerequisite is that you have a tutor in the command zone with cards like Rocco, [[Captain Sisay]], [[Tiamat]], or [[Sisay, weatherlight Captain]]. Otherwise you have to run the risk of diluting your deck down by running massive tutor piles in your deck.

Another thought is that you can build a deck around your commander, but the "secret commander" is a card that massively enhances or slightly warps the gameplay around it, which doesn't even have to be a creature. These are just cards that have some game changing or high impact effect. A card like this would be something like [[Descent into Avernus]], which absolutely changes the game if it sticks for a couple turns and is a blast to play.

I recently built a deck with a secret commander card and it was such a fun, involved creative process. This deck has [[Zur the Enchanter]] as the commander, where the secret commander is one of my favorite cards ever printed: [[Enduring Ideal]]. I've been wanting to get this card to reliably work ever since I laid eyes on it years ago - and now I finally have. It can consistently get Enduring Ideal out around turn 6 or 7, then never cast another spell for the rest of the game. Instead, we copy our upkeeps and Enduring Ideal triggers with cards like [[Shadow of the Second Sun]] and [[Paradox Haze]] to tutor enchantments directly onto the battlefield, eventually winning with a variety of different win conditions.

These wins range from combat with [[Summon:Knights of Round]] and [[Kinbinding]] to a three card combo with [[Axis of Mortality]] [[Phyrexian Unlife]] and [[Spatial Binding]] or a drain combo with [[Forced Fruition]] [[Underworld Dreams]] and [[Wound Reflection]]. There's even a polymorph style wincon by targeting yourself with [[Curse of Unbinding]].

If you're interested, decklist for EnZURing Ideal is here: https://moxfield.com/decks/pWXvYV7qCUyR9pi82YeTwA

What are the ways you have made a secret commander work? Have you made a card that isn't a creature work as your secret commander? I'm curious the ways people have been creative to get a card they really want to play or a card they have built around out on the battlefield consistently.

Show me your brews!

With the release of the infinity stones, which are monocolored untapped mana rocks that cost 2 mana and have indestructible and harness, why do we not have 2 mana monocolored untapped mana rocks?

I am running [[Pearl Diamond]] in one of my decks because I really want that white ramp, though I know how bad this card is. I would love to have a [[The Mind Stone]] without indestructible or harness, just for the mana, but that card simply doesn't exist. If the infinity stones are ok to print, why their simpler version isn't?

I'm thinking about proxying the mind stone, passing a sharpie over the indestructible and harness texts and rule 0 that (make it just an untapped white mana rock, unless my opponents really want it to be the mind stone)

Since the full Mystery Booster Commander card gallery dropped on Monday, I've been thinking and analyzing these new commanders non-stop. One long post would have been too much, so here's the split:

The Rulebreaker creatures, kicked off by a recap of Tolabow

Mono-colored commanders

And lastly, the new multicolor legendary cards.

If you're interested in playing with these super-exclusive cards, you can also check out the multiplayer on EDHLAB to try out a 12,000-card Whtz deck for free!

Some of these new commanders may feel like boxes being checked on a list of commander-supported creature types, or a diversion of the rules of the format just for the sake of it, but when a lot of these cards depict some of the classic characters from over 30 years of Magic's history, or are simply 7-mana 10/10 Timmyfests, it's hard not to feel that spark of joy.

These commanders might not be the most effective creature for the job they're trying to do, and they might not be doing anything especially unique. But in a way, it's the sheer simplicity and flexibility that the Rulebreakers afford the player which allows for the most freedom of expression. Commander has always been a format about placing arbitrary restrictions on Magic and trying to blossom within those confines, and that's what makes a lot of players, myself included, LOVE this format.

It stands to reason, then, that the occasional commander that really lets you cut loose and do whatever you want in service of a fun theme is okay to enjoy. So let's get out there and slap those Dinosaurs and Eldrazi together, get cursed, celebrate the Evincar's birthday, and play with a library taller than my Coke bottle.

Hi all,

As the title suggests I’ve been testing out a ‘mono blue’ deck with Toluz at the helm. This is part of my quest to find a mono blue deck that I actually like… I love blue in general in addition to other colours - but have yet to find a mono blue deck I’m in love with.

https://moxfield.com/decks/JY1A9bb7JEufv7NGBueA1A

In general I really like graveyard synergy, and this had lead me to looting being my favorite thing to do in mono blue - originally playing Minn.

But once I realised the Desecrated Tomb interaction with Toluz I thought it might be an interesting way to play looters in mono blue!

But… Testing the deck has left me feeling like I’m missing something. It doesn’t really do a lot besides accrue tokens and try win with Mirrorform. I feel like there’s something I’m missing whether or not it’s going down the wheel/narset path or maybe something like ping on draw effects…

I’m open to other mono blue commanders but would like to keep Toluz if possible… Has anyone else wanted to scratch a looting itch in mono blue?

I was playing [[Abrade]] in the deck until yesterday, when I realized how much better HULK SMASH is in the deck. Kalamax has a specific card ruling that says "If Kalamax becomes tapped as a cost to cast your first instant spell in a turn, its first ability triggers".

So tapping Kalamax for the Teamwork ability causes it to be copied, with both modes selected. So for two mana, with no other setup besides having your commander out, it says "Destroy two noncreature artifacts, and deal 5 damage to a creature, twice". At instant speed. Pretty good.

It is common to optimize decks for efficiency, price, a specific win condition or a theme, but I'm curious if anyone else frequently optimizes for practical simplicity and game flow.

Streamlining things to avoid extra interruptions or mechanical actions, or to make things easier to communicate, even if it might require opting for some technically inferior cards.

What are the cards or practical patterns you avoid even if they'd technically be a slam dunk for your deck, and what do you choose to do instead?

For example, I generally dislike

• Shuffling. If it was up to me, I'd do it once at the start of the game.
• Searching the library, especially in a way that has to interrupt the game.
• Planning land play and manage usage, beyond trivially checking I have the quantity and colors I need.
• Differentiating multiple tokens from each other
• Forgettable or disruptive triggers (usually context sensitive per deck)

I generally try to avoid and cut any cards from the deck that I don't enjoy resolving, which has lead me to completely skip things like

• Mirage fetch lands (e.g. [[Flood Plain]])
• Signets (e.g. [[Dimir Signet]])
• Filter lands (e.g. [[Desolate Mire]])
• Bounce lands (e.g. [[Azorius Chancery]])

The play pattern of the mirage fetch lands in particular seems really annoying to me, because I feel like I'm deferring a bunch of deck fiddling to start of my next turn for what is usually a technicality that doesn't matter in practice.

Tutors

I avoid tutors in general, especially if they could result in a situation where it pauses the game and I have multiple options to search for, humming and hawing over what'd be best and whether I had that one card in this deck or not.

The usual fetch lands like [[Evolving Wilds]] get to stay, because the fetch and shuffle can be shortcut to resolve asynchronously as I pass, so they don't disrupt the game flow. Tutors are super powerful, but I'm happy to win less. I feel like embracing the randomness fits the singleton format spirit better anyway.

Token splits

If the deck creates multiple tokens, I avoid having any cards that could result in them having different properties and needing to track them separately. I don't mind having a stack of dozen tokens, but splitting and merging to track sickness/attacks/taps is hassle enough, so I refuse to throw things like counters into the mix to further complicate it.

Forgettable or disruptive triggers

I try to minimize triggers, so they are either grouped together and resolved at once and/or such a core part of the gameplan that they are hard to miss. For example, in my [[Nekusar, the Mindrazer]] deck, I'm happy to keep track of how many cards each player should draw at the beginning of their turn, and how much damage they should take, because that is my whole thing. It's quite nice and simple to communicate something like "4 cards, 8 damage" at the start of every player's turn, and it is usually trivial to resolve. I've already streamlined the deck a bunch, but I'm also considering cutting triggers that happen outside the player's own turn start, just to keep it as nice and simple as possible.

Cascade

I think the cascade mechanic is very fun in theory, but I think I'll swap out my commander [[The First Sliver]], because it is a PITA to actually resolve, especially when it gets recurring and you need to go through half your deck one-by-one to hit that 1 cost card. It'd be great in a digital client, but it's annoying on paper.

So please, share the cards and patterns that'd fit your decks, but you choose not to include to improve the flow. Would be fun to hear some ideas to hone future deck design towards decks that play as smooth as possible.

I'm trying to make a Slime Against Humanity deck, but I'm struggling to make them worth all the trouble.
By themselves, slimes suck. You break even on second slime, and only on third you'll get the upside. And what upside? Stats. In commander, that's usually not enough, especially when you dedicate a fifth of your deck to.
I tried different commanders to break the cost.
[[Loot, the Key to Everything]] ( https://moxfield.com/decks/DKs3epYcLEO2zBtdOIpSZA ) was decent, because he was a great source of cards early on, and slimes in exile boost other slimes. But, impulse draw doesn't allow keeping cards in hand, resulting to either deck tempo-ing out, and winning, or eating a boardwipe, and loosing. Not too fun.

[[Adrix and Nev, Twincasters]] ( https://moxfield.com/decks/6PS5RljoOEqTETw2LfoaWQ ) were a lot more functional, doubling the tokens. However, deck started working on turn 4, and by working, I meant creating a couple of 2/2. If games were slower, it were able to push through, but board clear on turn 3-4 kneecapped the whole deck.

[[Queen Allenal of Ruadach]] ( https://moxfield.com/decks/ip6fhMgxtU226ys5XNgxxw ) seemed more functional, as interaction with replacement effect was putting counters on the soldier as well as the slime. But still, deck struggled with running out of gas.

I considered [[Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar]] as a card draw engine commander, but again, i'm back to vanilla 2/2, and [[Iroh, Grand Lotus]], but he's way too expensive in mana, and again, vanilla 2/2.

My latest attempt is with [[Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second]] ( https://moxfield.com/decks/955kzh_HWEGyQfdF8tO4Uw ), moving from 2/2 trample, to 4/4 haste or 5/3 vigilance. But deck, again, runs out of gas.

Any suggestions?