Help me fix up my EDH decks

So, I just recently got into EDH. I bought the pre-made decks to give me a much needed leg up (since my card collection is zendikar onwards). During next meeting (or whenever else), anyone mind to sit down and give me a run through of which cards are just really bad (based on experience). I currently have Red/Blue/Green and a Green/Blue/Black decks.

Generally stick with things that Recur and things that have versatility.

Ex: Buyback is good and graveyard stuff is nice.

If I'm around I'll help.

Try not to swamp your deck with too many things that are like 5+ casting either. Good range for your converted mana cost is best on top of what V said (with the recurring cards).

You could probably do an advanced search on your favourite magic card website and under the "Rules Text" section search up something like "Return from graveyard". Dunno if this link will work but try this?

The way I build EDH?

Fun cards.

1) Find stuff you like to run, then see if there is a better version (IE: A 6/6 Trampler for 8 V.S. a 6/6 Trampler for 6).

2) Find cards that have little synergies with each other and make small card combos (IE: Hidden Horror and Zombify), then extend these combosout to other cards and make a small little"network" of cards that work well together (IE: Avalanche Riders and Dingus Egg... Now that Avalanche Rider combos with Zombify once he hits the graveyard!)

3) Find cards that you like which recur and have recurring effects (IE: Capsize, Eternal Dragon)

4) Have fun with it. Are you making a deck that has lots of evil looking demons? Throw in an imp or two to be your low mana drops (Gatherer has a great search engine). You have dragons and lots of burn? Run some "dragon themed" cards.

More or less, unless you're building competitive EDH, have fun with flavour and evolve it as you need it (Most of my decks have changed slowly over time, adding little trinkets and tricks here and there)


Gatherer can be found here

The others are on the right track, however you always want to keep in mind your intended playgroup. What works with some people won't work with others. If you plan on playing at the club though, a fun, casual outlook is generally all you need.

However, there are a few "staple" cards/concepts that you should probably be aware of which are just really good for handling certain problems. Obviously if you have another way to solve said problems they may not be necessary, but I for one generally won't leave home without certain power pieces:

White:
Some sort of wrath effect (Wrath of God, Hallowed Burial, etc.) - Used for clearing problems like Kozilek, Progenitus, and swarms of tribal dudes.
Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares - Gets rid of indestructible creatures. Any spot removal that exiles is good. Bottomdecking cards like Condemn and Bant Charm are also very useful.

Blue:
Counterspell/any other hard counter - If you need to just say NO, this is what it's here for. Used in situations where an opponent resolving a spell will win them the game, or kick you out of it.

Green:
Artifact/Enchantment destruction - You'd be surprised how many enchantments and artifacts our group runs, yet how few removal spells we run for it. Obviously other colours can often perform this function too (white's disenchant or any red artifact destruction spell), but green is the most proficient at it, so I put it here.

Black:
Creature spot removal - Whether you're packing Doomblade, Go for the Throat or a Damnation, black's got creature removal. Run something. You'll thank me. Even Shriekmaw or Innocent Blood, whatever works for you. Remember, people often win by attacking. The less creatures they keep, the better for you.

Red:
Red actually doesn't have too many staple cards, but if I had to pick one, I'd go with that artifact destruction I mentioned earlier. Past that, you're more or less free to synergize your red pie with the rest of your deck.

Artifact:
Depending on what colours you're running, this can change. Sol Ring is an auto-in whatever you run, and for multicolor decks cards that mana fix are good bets. Monocolor decks tend to stick to stuff like Gauntlet of Power and similar effects for ramp.

I tried to avoid namedropping expensive cards, and instead tried to stick to staple "themes" (what every deck should be capable of doing). Hopefully this helps.

PS: Bodies with abilities (we also call them "sticks") are very useful when their triggers or activated abilities perform the effects I mentioned. Shriekmaw is a good example of a Terror on a stick. This is especially helpful when the stick also synergizes with your commander or other elements of your deck.

PPS: Make sure every card in your deck either works toward your commander's purpose, or does not interfere with it. The best builds utilize your general, but do not necessarily rely on it to succeed. Hope this helps!

Red's also quite good at land destruction... But if you go off destroying lands people tend to get more angry than they would if their creatures/enchantments/artifacts are destroyed...

Red has a few other good tricks up its sleeve like Artifact hate: Into The Core, Shatter, Shattering Spree or even a big doozie like Shatterstorm (though you may tick off a lot of people with that)

But we kinda went over that... So... Additional Combat Steps! Fury of the Horde, Savage Beating, Relentless Assault

Acalia wrote:

Red's also quite good at land destruction... But if you go off destroying lands people tend to get more angry than they would if their creatures/enchantments/artifacts are destroyed...

Speaking of making people angry, avoid resolving multiple warpworlds and similar effects in the one turn, that tends to piss people off too.

Taking too long with combos.. exiling all permanents... killing 8 players by turn 6...

Just some things you may want to avoid doing.

All of the above are things I've done, so trust me when I say they might piss people off.



Are you making an EDH deck from scratch with the commander deck pieces to help you build it? Or are you modding one of the existing commander decks to your own end?

If you are making your own, and it is multicoloured, a good thing to be aware of is the different lands that tap for 2 colours.


This link will help greatly with that, it has everything except the new lands from Innistrad, but may update those when they come out.

http://www.magicdeckvortex.com/visual_spoilers_lands_dual_color_lands.htm





Lastly, while talking about lands. Finding good "tech" lands may help you. There are a lot of lands out there with very useful abilities that are repeatable.

Maze of Ith (Or mystifying maze ) is an example of one of those lands.


Lands that support the purpose of your deck or that have very useful abilities are a great asset to you. So save a land slot or two for those kinds of lands.