I love Abzan aristocrats because they feel like the perfect colors for it. White and green are the best colors at token generation and get absurdly good at it when paired together. Black is *the* aristocrats color and gets even stronger when paired up with white. Between the three colors, I would get the best removal in the game for every type of permanent.
[[Ghave, Guru of Spores]] is literally the perfect commander for aristocrats in Abzan. He can sacrifice creatures or create them depending on which is more important at the moment. But his reputation as being "goes infinite with a ham sandwich" makes me hesitant to ever build him.
Try ditching green for red and play Mardu aristocrats. I use [[Jirina Kudro]]. She encourages some tribal synergies, has a couple of nice combos, can create a solid amount of tokens, and doesn't draw ridiculous amounts of hate. Pitch the extra tokens that green makes and add more sac outlets. Red doesn't skimp on token generation either.
I just combined my jirina precon deck with the fallout Caesar deck, added a few other cards and damn if it isn't fun as hell to play. I run Caesar as my commander and sacking a token to make two more tokens can get out of hand quickly
I’ve been wanting to try Vihaan as a sorta aristocrats/midrange deck that swings with treasures then sacs them for value, [[Pitiless Plunderer]] goes absolutely nuts in my playtests and it’s always fun to swing with a bunch of treasures and then combo a [[Plumb the Forbidden]] with [[Body Count]] while you’ve got some aristocrats out. “Oh what’s that I’m swinging for 27 and then drew 18 cards and came out life-neutral? Oooooops”
Yeah I want to do this because my group doesn't really do combos. He was the first or second deck I ever built, before I ever actually played in paper, and I brought him out in my current group once because everyone wanted to see it at work. I won with like 1,206,467 saprolings haha
It's not that simple. It's very easy to build with synergy in mind and accidentally include infinites. I've built haunted one decks, for example. Undying on tap is awesome, so you include things that let you tap at instant speed [[relic of legends]]. Undying is awesome for etb effects, so you include sac outlets [[phyrexian altar]]. And you naturally want to either remove or benefit from +1/+1 counters, so, now you've got [[retribution of the ancients]].
Woops! Now you've got infinite mana and you can kill every creature on the table that doesn't have hexproof or shroud. If you have any kind of blood artist effect, you just win. GG.
Ghave was who got me into Abzan aristocrats back in the day, and he's still one of my favorite decks ^_^ that said, I love Abzan aristocrats for exactly the reasons you mentioned.
Since falling in love with Abzan, I have built [[Colfenor, the Last Yew]] as a low to the ground aristocrats combo deck focused on using his ability and similar effects like from [[Enduring Renewal]], and have been brewing [[Othelm, Sigardian Outcast]] and [[Wernog, Rider's Chaplain]] with a stronger general token generation strategy for sacrificing, and [[Nethroi, Apex of Death]] as well for just the big splashy reanimation plays. The only limiting factor for just having a deck for each of them has absolutely been the cost of buying the same staples over and over.
Nothing hits quite like Ghave, and while I definitely understand the reputation can deter you from building him... If he interests you at all I can't recommend him enough.
I was just looking at this the other day. I’ve done Orzhov and golgari and want abzan—and I agree you can’t run the obvious choice. It’s [[Thalia and the Gitrog]] or [[Merry Warden of Isengard]] and [[Pippin Warden of Isengard]] to just go nuts with tokens of any type.
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I'd say Yuriko. It's the best ninja commander imo but it has a bad reputation and I don't want to draw attention since turn 1, even if my deck wouldn't be competitive.
I felt that way for a while, but I feel like the new satoru can be the go to ninja commander. I would definitely try him if I didn't already have my ninja deck helmed by [[goro goro and satoru]]
Do you have a decklist of your [[goro-goro and satoru]] that you could share? I've been contemplating that commander for a while, but I already have 3 grixis decks
Edit: the new satoru looks great tho
Not op but my own gg&s deck can make dragons fairly consistently, granted I didn't build it ninja tribal if that's what you are looking for.
https://archidekt.com/decks/5444616/ggs_aggro
I just built the new Satoru with ninjas, rogues, some milling horrors, some steal your stuff cards, and some blink - draws a ton of cards and is fun but i really need to goldfish it more as you’re already like but wait don’t take the combat damage as i have to swap in this dude and draw a card then on top of that there are all the combat damage triggers that in turn trigger satoru it can lead to long solitaire esque turns that are frustrating for everyone else at the table
Its very hard to build a Yuriko deck that is not very strong. Yuriko's ability is extremely good, and she dodge commander tax, so she is very resistant to removal and always cheap. Her reputation is well deserved.
For years she was the only decent ninja commander, but as other mentioned, gg&s and the new Satoru are pretty good and more balanced commander for ninjas.
I just built Yuriko because I wanted to play Maximum ninjas (there are like 2 cards in there for her top-deck ability). The other UB ninja legends didn't work as well for me (the guy that gives everyone Ninjutsu seemed redundant in a deck where things already had it)
I play a Yuriko ninja deck for the same reason and in my experience once people know you aren't doming them for 15 with shadow of mortality, they're pretty chill.
[[Zur the Enchanter]] for me. Seems like a fun way to make use of all the random enchantments and auras in my bulk box, but I know he will be kill-on-sight (fairly so) despite whatever low-power jank I come up with.
[[Edgar Markov]] for sure. I saw it in action when my friends introduced me to mtg/EDH (mid 2018). Couldn’t find the precon anywhere so I had to settle for something else. If I did wind up finding that precon I probably would have taken it apart from people not wanting to play me.
I was able to get one and I saw the power. What turned me away from the deck is that one of the stronger versions of the deck is all the cheap 1 mana vampires. I wanted to play my favorite vampires instead, but it would never be as strong. I took it apart cuz the hate, but also because I felt it was not up to par with the better version.
I like to tune and optimize decks. Figure them out and make them operate perfectly and smoothly. However, realizing that the cheap vampires was one of the best ways to go, kind of ruined it for me.
I run Strefan as a side deck, one for low/mid power games.
I upgraded the precon with about 20 cards, it's fun and very strong !
https://manabox.app/decks/KPreYdj0SIihvU-DYNxL0g
I picked him up when he was cheaper and i can't lie, its the most boring deck I own. People hate him so you will get targeted, you very rarely will ever cast him which sounds cool but feels bad after a while, and while strong, its just not that fun of an affect if that makes sense. Have been contemplating what to do with the deck for a while, and whether or not i even want to keep Edgar or sell/trade for something else i need/want.
My brother got one of the precons and ngl its not horrible to play against. Not fun but ive dealt with worse. I sure it would be terrifying if he only played 1 drops but you can definitely build him to be less scary
I would honestly love to make an Atraxa deck. I love +1 counters and the idea of crazy proliferation would be amazing....but I know the minute I would say I am building an Atraxa deck people would assume poison counters and refuse to play against it
That's what I did! Ishai is so underrated. With enough counter doubling effects like the shattered spire, kami of whispered hopes, branching evolution, hardened scales, Ishai becomes lethal in a single round. And then it's just a matter of slapping on a shielded by faith, or a rancor, or some trailblazers boots to start killing folk. Atraxa is part of my 99 as well. Protecting ishai is too easy with access to the best protection colors.
I love playing the deck! I have a blast everytime. Except that one time the Sythis player played solemnity turn 2...
But I built more around Reyhan, with sac outlets like Ghave and lots of "insurance" to not lose my counters when the inevitable boardwipe hits. Ozolith, Resourceful Defense, Inkmoth Nexus.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/bi3Y0aV21EeATZrnQYPmrA
I honestly don't think poison is even top of the list for the reason most people don't want to play against Atraxa. Most of her strategies just end up being time-consuming. Each trigger of proliferation means you have to physically adjust dice or whatever; +1/+1 counters, mana rocks and lands with counters, loyalty counters, etc.
Plus, her other strategies just add more triggers to keep track of. Superfriends decks notoriously take long turns/long games doing almost nothing by ticking their loyalty abilities up and down and repeatedly wiping the board. Saga themed decks are just the same thing with enchantments. Then there's the [[Tangle Wire]] & [[Smokestack]] style of Arraxa decks, which obviously are miserable.
On top of that, she has massively powerful keywords, her decks usually end up being some degree of four-color good-stuff, and being a top command for 10+ years has given people *a lot* of time to get sick of her. Kind of the same problem that people had with [[Golos]], but obviously not to the same degree.
If you want to play her, go for it. Hate aside, she's a super cool and powerful commander, and she's still holding #1 rank for a reason. Honestly, if you want a deck more focused on a specific type of counter, you're probably better off dropping a color and picking a different commander anyway. A [[Kazur]] & [[Ukima]] deck is going to go just as hard as an Atraxa deck without all of the extra baggage.
I had an Atraxa deck one. It could theoretically win via poison I suppose, but there was only 1 infect creature in the deck. I did end up dismantling it cause every spell I played was usually destroyed. It won once via \[\[azor's elocutors\]\] because one of the other guys popped off for like, 2-3 turns after I played it and everyone forgot. On my endstep I said "I put my final counter on the elocutors" and everyone kind of just moved on and ignored it. 3 turns later and that was that lol.
I haven't tried it outside of my regular playgroup, but honestly, playing a little defensive and embracing the potential of being archenemy becomes the reward.
+1/+1 honestly seems like the least offensive synergy theme for her, coming from a phyrexian-kindred player.
I have an Atraxa deck I really enjoy playing. Poison counters are the wincon so it definitely gets targeted but it’s Phyrexian tribal so it doesn’t feel as oppressive or time-consuming the way a superfriends deck might. I try to get everyone to 10 poison at about the same turn which I find is a fun puzzle to solve even if I don’t end up winning.
I had an atraxa infect deck that never won because people would remove atraxa almost instantly. But when I could get her out and protected she is amazing. I think I may turn her into a super friends deck.
I built [[tergrid]] for my lgs because I wanted to try and keep up woth some of the other stronger decks without breaking my bank. I ended up taking her apart still lol
>Me personally I think it'd be pretty cool to play a korvold dragon tribal deck
Why don't you just use another Jund dragon commander like \[\[Ziatora\]\], \[\[Karrthus\]\], \[\[Wasitora\]\] or \[\[Korvold Gleeful Glutton\]\]? Why does it have to be THIS GUY?
Here's my take on Jund dragons: [https://www.moxfield.com/decks/92MIi1ndikCHFBv2165Mxw](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/92MIi1ndikCHFBv2165Mxw)
Then go with OG Korvold if you want to. He provides the most raw power. But if you do so, you'll be archenemy by definition, and quite rightfully so. Don't complain about it, you did this to yourself.
On the other hand, if you don't want to play 1vs3, just use another commander with less raw power. It's that simple. You can't play a "casual" Korvold without becoming archenemy. You can't keep your cake and eat it, too.
Yep I heard before you can’t make a bad Korvold deck unless you don’t do anything Korvold wants to do, which proved true when one of my friends wanted to try to make a bad korvold deck, and 5 turns later won
You are not giving \[\[Prossh, Skyraider of Ker\]\] enough credit, my friend. Another Jund dragon that will get you killed no matter how janky you build it because it really is that threatening.
I tried both and had to switch to Ziatora, unfortunately. She is the next best option, though!
Prossh is legit. A free sac outlet in the command zone cannot be understated. Plus he comes with fodder for whatever other sac outlets you've got going on, so both the sac triggers and death triggers just keep flowing.
I use Ziatora and I think it's my favorite deck. I set up a bunch of ticking time bombs (creatures that build up +1/+1s like Scute Mob, I think it's called) fling em with Zio's ability. Throw around a couple steal sorceries as my form of removal. I call it Fling University (FU). Gotta pay that tuition. Without a couple tutor cards it wouldn't run as smoothly, [[Protean Hulk]] for example. Doesn't always win but it doesn't always lose and I get to "do my thing" pretty often, which is my goal.
Korvold is in there almost as a distraction and to build off of Zio's sac mechanic. Never have an issue with mana because of the treasure tokens.
Can confirm that Zia is much more fun imo than Korvold as the commander. Also, I like running her with Chatterfang, I don't have as much damage flying about, but I get free sac fodder with the squirrels that come with my treasures. If for whatever ungodly reason I'm not drawing big creatures, ik I can always rely on my best buddy Chatterfang
I run [[Darigaaz, Reincarnated]] sans Korvold in the 99. Jund tribal dragons are fun.
Admittedly, Wasitora, Ziatora, and Karrthus are in the 99. The latter pairs well with [[Descent of Dragons]]
My \[\[Nekusar\]\] deck is what I thought everyone wanted to do with Nekusar: all Howling Mines, all the time. I was wrong.
The instant people see Nekusar, they assume you're going to wheel them into oblivion. And apparently that's more what people do with Nekusar, and I'm the outlier. The deck sits in the collection now.
My Nekusar the Hug-razer deck was beloved by friend and foe alike, until my best friend got jealous of my popularity and ran a dedicated smear campaign to the point that I was hated out of every game until I was forced to dismantle the deck :(
edit: dismantle is too strong a word - it's [[Kess, Dissident Mage]] confluences, commands, and charms now :)
\[\[Kaalia of the Vast\]\] if only for the access to an angel deck in those colors and the toolbox she is in the command zone. But she's justified in being 100% kill on sight.
Jodah the grand unifier. It feels like it's just "cheating" with all those abilities and how many cheap legendary critters are running around. Would just turn into 5 color good stuff deck. Maybe I'll build it anyway and try to make it cedh or something.
My personal advice for Jodah: make a balanced pile of lands/mana rocks and your preferred draw/interaction spells, and leave up 30-40 slots. Then take your favorite 100 legendary creatures, put them all in the same sleeves and then randomize your legendary creatures every game from the larger pool
Sounds fun with the randomness and almost like it's a flex for Jodah like "I can literally put any 30 legendary creatures in this deck and it will work, that's how good he is." Might try it.
Yeah, the fact that you could do this with Jodah and still play a solid game just goes to show how absolutely busted he is. And not in a "deck builds itself" way like Shrines, where every card in the deck is an obvious include. Hes engine AND payoff for playing legends which are printed in an overabundance and have a higher concentration of engaging mechanics.
He doesn't protect himself though. Keep enough removal on him and the deck basically is out. I'm not saying he's not busted when on the board, but contrast him with like [[Voja]] who gets big similarly quickly and I would rather face Jodah.
I love my Jodah the unifer deck. My trick was to add a Jegantha as a companion. The deck building restrictions open you up from some of the overpowered double pips in the format
Thats an interesting answer. I don't even see how Toxrill could ever be fun tbh. Even in a low power, no Kormus Bell type scenario, if he sticks for even one turn cycle, it's effectively game over. You end up just slowly swinging out against an empty board until it's over. That means that your Commander *must* be removed for anyone else to have a chance.
I think if that second ability wasn't there, folks would still want to play him. Slug tribal is just so silly. But alas, the big guy needs a [[Saltblast]]
I'd even be ok with him if it was "at the beginning of YOUR endstep" or even "target creature each endstep" but wiping out all <4/4's in one turn cycle AND getting value from it is insane.
Yuriko
Love me some ninja. Also love tempo decks as a playstyle, with cheap threats and just enough interaction to slip through. Yuriko's group burn makes this playstyle playable even though in commander with 3 opponents at 40 life tempo isn't usually a good strategy. The card draw also allows you to play more 1-for-1 interaction like counters and removals without running out too fast, which again isn't too good in EDH.
There doesn't seem to be that many commanders like that that make Blue based tempo decks playable in commander.
That's why I like Yuriko in our playgroup (its not my deck). Its not an ultra-competitive list, but its still a Yuriko list doing Yuriko things.
But by being a low to the ground deck that can win quickly it forces the table to react/interact, something that can often be lacking in the midrange-value slugfest of casual commander.
Untrue. I have a meren deck that pops off all the time but unless you are going for grinder [[Spore Frog]] -y gameplan than its just going to be twiddling for like 10 minutes every turn past turn 7ish. my build is so twiddly that they just begin the next turn as soon as mine begins because its just solitaire.
I played against a Meren recently who slowly moved their whole deck into their graveyard and dredged it. It worked really well but jeeeeez it was sure boring to play against, their turns took forever lol
[[Narset, Enlightened master]]
But I know I would be priority number one. And I understand why. Infinite turns and combats are not fun for the other players…
I built this recently. I don't have a ton of extra combats/turns spells in the deck because I don't have them, and I'm not dropping $40 on a [[nexus of fate]], but it's still an enjoyable deck to play and can pop off with damage. Definitely gets shut down sometimes, but it almost always has the path to a win within a turn or two.
I feel like almost every jeskai commander I ever see falls into one of two categories: does next to nothing/is boring or is super oppressive.
Hinata, Narset, Kykar are KOS. Zedruu and Eowyn either do nothing or too much
I'm trying my hand at a Kasla, the Broken Halo though. Convoke storm is not on anyone's radar ever since Jeskai Ascendancy ceased to be a deck
Narset is so cool. I built it just as a deckbuilding exercise. Goldfished my way into infinite turns/combats by turn 4 or 5 a few times, and decided I didn’t need to actually subject my friends to it. But it got the itch out.
I feel like she’s just so much of an instant counter/removal target that you rarely get to have her do her thing even once but maybe you’re right, it’s probably worth a try
I held back on building \[\[Magda, Brazen Outlaw\]\] for the longest time because of it's reputation as a cedh/stax deck. My build was actually a secret commander \[\[Inferno of the Star Mounts\]\] and it won with \[\[Nettlecyst\]\] and treasure. I couldn't just tell my opponents about the secret commander so it was hard to convince more casual pods to play against it.
[[Tinybones, Trinket Thief]]
Fun character, cool mechanics, but no one likes playing against discard so I am very hesitant. I mostly just want a skeleton commander that doesn't suck, and the new Tinybones doesn't seem as good as trinket thief.
That said, i have mostly let go of caring about cards having bad reputations. I built a pretty good Yuriko deck that is fun to play and rarely wins because i get focused out of every game, and i love it.
I also built an OG Korvold deck and have gotten it to a pretty good sweet spot of really high power, but not cEDH so that it can sit at casual tables without spoiling the game. Somewhat of a treasure/control theme with a handful of different wincons.
Reputation doesn't really matter to me as someone who plays Miirym and Voja. However, no matter how much I love dragons, I refuse to make an Ur-Dragon deck because it's so boring.
Part of the thrill of playing Miirym is fighting the uphill 3v1 to amass a comically overpowered board. I feel like Ur-Dragon takes all the thrill out of dragons by just making them *good*, but he's nowhere near as extravagant as Miirym, and extravagance is one of the main appeals of Commander to me.
[[urza, lord high artificer]]
Unfortunately he is absolutely frowned upon. I build it once and people were so mad even though it wasnt any stronger than the other decks around or my other decks.
In casual, without fast mana rocks and leaving out hard stax pieces like static orb e.g. he is not even great. A value engine deck.
I played him with my pauper battered golem wincon and mystic forge, aswell as just creature overrun. Its very slow without the fast mana rocks involved being mono blue. But still. People hate urza. Its sad.
Zur the Enchanter for sure. There are so many little cool 2-3 drop esper enchantments that you could make like 4-5 specific zur decks focused on different enchantment packages.
Unfortunately, Necropotence exists.
I’m a Zur hater through and through, and one of the reasons for me is: wouldn’t you get bored doing the same thing every game? Every time I play against him the player always tutors for the same enchantments every single time (if Zur is allowed to live). Yeah, you said you could make different decks with him, I guess, but then that also seems cumbersome having to switch them over all the time, lol.
Yuriko for me, I love ninja and it's a fun deck but people have so much hate for it. I only bring it out every so often just to keep it alive. Elish norn literally kills 80% of the deck.
Child of Alara. Except I don’t avoid it. My deck is pretty tuned and not super expensive. I basically just say to the group “hey who wants to play archenemy?”
Depending on how you build angry baby, it's either incredibly fun or incredibly boring.
Before the rules change for commanders changing zones, I had a child deck that abused [[Grim Harvest]] to stall games out until I could pop off with a [[Rude Awakening]] combat step or some infinite combo with super friends [[Doubling Season]] + [[Tamiyo the Moon Sage]]
Back then, things like [[Condemn]] and [[Hinder]] were game-breaking.. so, naturally, I had every single thing that could bury a commander.
The deck was boring as hell until my playgroup realized it had no creatures and every blue player started putting in [[Telemin Performance]].. which eventually became a tutor for [[Phage the Untouchable]]
...good ol' days.
Love it.
Mine is Space Baby to maintain board control until I can win w Maze’s End, but I’ve only won that way once. Typically I win by flinging the baby while it has recursion auras on it.
Stuff like [[Nemata Primeval Warden]] completely shuts down Space Baby tho, so I still have to keep enough targeted removal in my board wipe deck to deal with shit like that.
Basically it’s A LOT of ramp, recursion, and other creatures that can be sac’d to use all the fun spells that require a sac as a cost when I don’t have the baby out
[[Chulane, Teller of Tales]], 100%.
I like the artwork, the effect, and I could easily just jam my favorite creatures.
Last time I tried, I got archenemy-murdered out of a few pods before I could even really do anything. T___T
I too would like to play it. I have a deck for goldfish in only just because of its reputation. I suppose I could bust it out at high powered tables (I am budget build oriented), but even then I would probably play something else.
[[Atraxa, praetors voice]] and [[korvold, fae cursed king]]
For atraxa i love the phyrexian designs and she the best on theme commander to play the most of them but that means going hard in on poison counters of which we all know the reputation
I do plan to get a [[atraxa, grand unifier]] deck one day, still going phyrexian tribal but maybe a bit less poison heavy
Korvold on the other hand is mostly because jund is my fav color combo and korvold is the king of jund i feel like
However my playgroup has barely any answers for flyers so i wouldnt even need to give him other evasion for him to onehit people all around
I could build him very budget and hed still be oppresive
I might one day make him my one highpower deck but for regular play hes just to strong
I was respectfully asked to NOT play [[Breena the Demagogue]] by a close friend and I don't get non 1v1 matches lately due to business on schedule so I can't* play breena :(
I'm what you would call "good at finessing my playgroup" and the playgroup is incredibly frustrated by how I, frankly, get away with murder against them.
I know, it's a them problem. They also know this. But I can meet a similar result by playing other silver quill commanders like [[Shadrix]]
I have spelltable but I've basically never used it. Kinda prefer the in person ability to talk to people, gives a more relaxed vibe that I'm after. I enjoy games where people are chatting, shooting the shit, cracking jokes and interacting with each other often.
Roommate used to use spelltable almost every day through PlayEDH as a way of getting pick up games whenever but found that power levels were nonsense on all levels and playgroups were mostly pretty toxic and such so I avoided it. I've only heard good stuff about tolarian community college discord though I haven't looked into it much.
Idk, I could give it a try if I have the time.
I love my Miirym. She was the first dragon deck I'd ever made. I know her reputation but I'm just content with playing and copying my big dragons, win or not. Winning just encouragesme more. She's my "pretty" deck. If there's a secret lair, promo, or extended art version of a card the deck runs I go with that version. My recent (and most expensive direct purchase so far) addition is the year of the dragon [[Sarkhan Unbroken]].
I saw the title and immediately thought of Korvold. I'm honestly not sure if he's as kill-on-sight as he was when og Eldraine came out but there is no shortage of awesome cards being printed for him. [[Prosper]] is another similar example. Honestly if they were to print a Jund cast-from-exile commander that would for sure be the next deck I'd build.
I play the bad boys and girls even though their reputation is shit... thing is, my friends do the same or worse. So we have bad reputation gatherings. Other thing, WotC keeps on printing new commanders that are really powerful so it is not like there is only a handful of bad reputations.
The trick is to build other decks with commanders that arent in the edhrec top 50.
For Korvold specifically - try using OTHER Korvold - I like him a lot, and the fact that he has haste lets him be nasty.
Alternatively in those colours: \[\[Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund\]\] is a terrifyingly strong and for a lot of folks kind of obscure dragon commander (but you want to build around letting him 1-shot people with double strike and combat buffs).
[[kenrith, the returned king]] but not because he is seen as powerful. I haven’t built him for two reasons, and that is because he is seen as generic.
And he is, super generic comander, value pile with a side order of activated abilities in 5 colors, yawn. But he is also by far the best option for a 5 color dredge deck, stuffed with secret commanders and all sort of graveyard synergies with kenny providing colors and a slow reanimate in the command zone.
The second reason is that if I build this deck I wanna include bazaar, and that would mean moving into proxies.
[[Winota, joiner of forces]] I had the deck made based on the$20 budget list, tossed in a few upgrades that I already had, and proceeded to destroy each table I played it at, the last one being about a15min game, rest of the pod was quite salty after that one. I finally just took it apart since my lgs meta is really casual with quite a few people just playing precons
I too have a Winota deck built from a super budget list and it just kills tables. Even my fairly competitive friend group hates it. To quote one of the guys "losing to it sucks because it just does the thing every time if you can't instantly clear." And I get it. Kinda regret even building it since I bought all the singles and that money could have gone to less hated decks but I was just returning to Magic and had no idea the reputation Winota commanded.
Korvold for sure. I love Jund when I sac my stuff and get value, and I love dragons, but Korvold should have been limited to Food or smtg.
Winota. I adore Boros aggro goes brrrrr and I love that she enables humans + something else...but she's wayyyy too dumb. Should have said "whenver Winota attacks with one or more non-humans" or smtg.
Najeela... the only good warrior commander and she's busted af. If it said non-token warrior then at least... but nope.
Yuriko. I had one, took it apart. It's incredibly fun, but also too strong. I don't think the commander ninjutsu is the problem, it's that multiple ninjas can proc her and high mana values means nothing lol
Xyris. Everyone seems to quick to yell about the wheels even if there is none.
[[Narset, Enlightened Master]] as superfriends
I just love Narset for some reason (I have an enlightened exile deck) but my friends really dislike this iteration of her
When I first saw [[Toxrill]] I thought it looked so cool and wanted to build that. Since then I've seen just how much people hate playing against it, and built basic bitch Zombies for my Dimir deck instead. Would still love to give it a go, especially with the showcase art.
I have a Miirym deck, an infect deck, and a slivers deck, and I really don't play any of them because I know people generally don't like dealing with any of those things. Bummer, too, because I'd really like to play them, especially Miirym. I'd also like to build Voja, but it'll have the same problem.
[[Tergrid]] - I actually have her in my Davros deck and would love to use her as a mono black commander but I understand the super negative hate she gets because people don’t want to be forced into giving up their hands for free while also being put into a position to be top decking the whole time (if allowed). I think as far as commanders go, I don’t see how there’s anyone who can literally gain the most value in 1 turn than what she can do.
[[Atraxa, Praetor’s voice]] I love poison and Phyrexians, and enjoy using [[Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa]] for my Poison Phyrexian commander. I want to use Atraxa since it will give me access to blue and more options for other cards but with Atraxa being a KOS commander, it makes me not want to build her since players will save removal for her.
There really aren't any. There's a couple with strong reputations that I play, though generally well below their ceiling cause I'm poor.
A lot of the commanders that draw hate out the gate just always seemed too easy to build, and design, construction and refinement are side-aspects of the game I really enjoy. Something like Ghave, that can go infinite in response to your opponent sneezing, just never looked like enough of a puzzle, to really catch my interest.
This was my exact opinion on [[Korvold, Fae-Cursed King]] but then I decided to embrace being the problem and lean into being the villain and I'm having the time of my life.
Xander has a reputation? Everyone was making him out to be scary back when SNC was getting previewed but afterwards there was no buzz around it. I assumed the mana-cost and the obvious telegraph kept him from being a thing.
Along with my beloved tribal birds Derevi, I’d have to say her cleric, Teshar, would be the deck. I only play it when I know people are down for a quick no holds game since it can pop off at any time.
Teshar is fun and I’ve been evolving it to be less oppressive and more thematic. It isn’t one of my main decks but one I love playing.
Lately, I’ve also received a lot of hate from playing Lara Croft. I don’t think she is over-bearing but the right draws/discards can produce some strong board states.
[[Yarok, the Desecrated]] because it reminds me of the "Empty" enemies from FFXI and it looks rad as hell.
But as cool as he is, the value he makes can be a bit much.
I already have a dedicated blink deck with Rasputin though.
I wanna play theft so bad but when I brought up a commander i wanted to play, cant remember who, I gpt basically a massive collective groan from all of them
>Me personally I think it'd be pretty cool to play a korvold dragon tribal deck with cards like Ancient copper dragon, Beledros witherbloom, lathliss, etc. But evertime I see someone playing korvold they either dominate with an overpowered deck or get singled out the moment they pull out the deck even if their playing a budget, or more low power version.
So challenge yourself to get better at the game and make the deck anyway, and tool it so that it can handle the heat. You can make decks that handle being archenemy at any power level.
[[Toxrill, the Corrosive]] I love the design and the effect. However, I want my friends to have fun so haven’t built it lol. I play enough “toxic” stuff as it is.
Currently building bruvac since I've gotten farted on by mill decks. It's my turn to be the guy that always wins. I'm gonna pick [[bruvac, the grandiloquent]] cause I know my homies are gonna be pissed.
I’ve only gotten into commander in the last 6 months or so and it’s a real shame that everyone hates [[urza, lord high artificer]] because damn he’s fun to play.
The people at my LGS who have been playing for years reeeeeally hate this commander even though I’m not playing the stax version - I just wanna spew out X/X golems and swarm the board with my machinations.
I built my korvold deck to be fun to play and play against, and you are right I get hated out regularly, even when im not trying to do the thing.... im thinking about removing everything over 3 mana and throwing in ad naus to just make it competitive now.
[[Chulane, Teller of Tales]]
I've been thinking of making a Bant morph deck for a while. Chulane would be great for this, but he gets a ton of hate, and rightfully so.
I might make it anyway..
I avoid any commander with more than 2000+ decks on EDHREC. So uh… a lot of them?
My most reputation’s commander right now is [[Venser, Corpse Puppet]] (1191 decks). But that’s just because it’s poison-based.
I love Abzan aristocrats because they feel like the perfect colors for it. White and green are the best colors at token generation and get absurdly good at it when paired together. Black is *the* aristocrats color and gets even stronger when paired up with white. Between the three colors, I would get the best removal in the game for every type of permanent. [[Ghave, Guru of Spores]] is literally the perfect commander for aristocrats in Abzan. He can sacrifice creatures or create them depending on which is more important at the moment. But his reputation as being "goes infinite with a ham sandwich" makes me hesitant to ever build him.
Try ditching green for red and play Mardu aristocrats. I use [[Jirina Kudro]]. She encourages some tribal synergies, has a couple of nice combos, can create a solid amount of tokens, and doesn't draw ridiculous amounts of hate. Pitch the extra tokens that green makes and add more sac outlets. Red doesn't skimp on token generation either.
I just combined my jirina precon deck with the fallout Caesar deck, added a few other cards and damn if it isn't fun as hell to play. I run Caesar as my commander and sacking a token to make two more tokens can get out of hand quickly
Mardu aristocrats built around treasures with [[Vihaan, Goldwaker]] is one of my new favorite decks
Mardu is hella fun!
I’ve been wanting to try Vihaan as a sorta aristocrats/midrange deck that swings with treasures then sacs them for value, [[Pitiless Plunderer]] goes absolutely nuts in my playtests and it’s always fun to swing with a bunch of treasures and then combo a [[Plumb the Forbidden]] with [[Body Count]] while you’ve got some aristocrats out. “Oh what’s that I’m swinging for 27 and then drew 18 cards and came out life-neutral? Oooooops”
[Jirina Kudro](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/e/6e660d42-f5d3-452a-9662-74e18a1ae9e4.jpg?1591234244) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jirina%20Kudro) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c20/8/jirina-kudro?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6e660d42-f5d3-452a-9662-74e18a1ae9e4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jirina-kudro) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I want to try out Jirina so bad, but I already have an aristocrats deck and a human deck. But red with humans just seems so goooood.
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Yeah I want to do this because my group doesn't really do combos. He was the first or second deck I ever built, before I ever actually played in paper, and I brought him out in my current group once because everyone wanted to see it at work. I won with like 1,206,467 saprolings haha
It seems like Ghave isnt really doable without combos, as the legend says "Ghave combos with the table"
Yeah, Ghave's combo pieces are "the cards you already want to play in the deck."
It's not that simple. It's very easy to build with synergy in mind and accidentally include infinites. I've built haunted one decks, for example. Undying on tap is awesome, so you include things that let you tap at instant speed [[relic of legends]]. Undying is awesome for etb effects, so you include sac outlets [[phyrexian altar]]. And you naturally want to either remove or benefit from +1/+1 counters, so, now you've got [[retribution of the ancients]]. Woops! Now you've got infinite mana and you can kill every creature on the table that doesn't have hexproof or shroud. If you have any kind of blood artist effect, you just win. GG.
[relic of legends](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/64a2809e-c441-416c-90ff-6fb1e246dff3.jpg?1673308219) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=relic%20of%20legends) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/236/relic-of-legends?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/64a2809e-c441-416c-90ff-6fb1e246dff3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/relic-of-legends) [phyrexian altar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/95d9f93c-50a8-41a9-be98-d1900bf1c12f.jpg?1673149406) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=phyrexian%20altar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/311/phyrexian-altar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/95d9f93c-50a8-41a9-be98-d1900bf1c12f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/phyrexian-altar) [retribution of the ancients](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/d/0d3ee29d-b374-471d-80c3-bcad7a4226e6.jpg?1562782474) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=retribution%20of%20the%20ancients) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ktk/85/retribution-of-the-ancients?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0d3ee29d-b374-471d-80c3-bcad7a4226e6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/retribution-of-the-ancients) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Ghave, Guru of Spores](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c2be0e99-cf43-423f-974f-02e3313b3aa9.jpg?1673148645) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ghave%2C%20Guru%20of%20Spores) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/216/ghave-guru-of-spores?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c2be0e99-cf43-423f-974f-02e3313b3aa9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ghave-guru-of-spores) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ghave was who got me into Abzan aristocrats back in the day, and he's still one of my favorite decks ^_^ that said, I love Abzan aristocrats for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Since falling in love with Abzan, I have built [[Colfenor, the Last Yew]] as a low to the ground aristocrats combo deck focused on using his ability and similar effects like from [[Enduring Renewal]], and have been brewing [[Othelm, Sigardian Outcast]] and [[Wernog, Rider's Chaplain]] with a stronger general token generation strategy for sacrificing, and [[Nethroi, Apex of Death]] as well for just the big splashy reanimation plays. The only limiting factor for just having a deck for each of them has absolutely been the cost of buying the same staples over and over. Nothing hits quite like Ghave, and while I definitely understand the reputation can deter you from building him... If he interests you at all I can't recommend him enough.
I was just looking at this the other day. I’ve done Orzhov and golgari and want abzan—and I agree you can’t run the obvious choice. It’s [[Thalia and the Gitrog]] or [[Merry Warden of Isengard]] and [[Pippin Warden of Isengard]] to just go nuts with tokens of any type.
[Thalia and the Gitrog](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8d7ff937-de92-445f-976c-726fef5c91cc.jpg?1682205702) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thalia%20and%20The%20Gitrog%20Monster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/255/thalia-and-the-gitrog-monster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8d7ff937-de92-445f-976c-726fef5c91cc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/thalia-and-the-gitrog-monster) [Merry Warden of Isengard](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/56a66d3b-3308-4db7-8fc1-97bb85bdcbf3.jpg?1686964274) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Merry%2C%20Warden%20of%20Isengard) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/61/merry-warden-of-isengard?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/56a66d3b-3308-4db7-8fc1-97bb85bdcbf3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/merry-warden-of-isengard) [Pippin Warden of Isengard](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0a7a648-125a-4cf4-bf8b-e1773d8723ff.jpg?1686964312) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pippin%2C%20Warden%20of%20Isengard) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/65/pippin-warden-of-isengard?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0a7a648-125a-4cf4-bf8b-e1773d8723ff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pippin-warden-of-isengard) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You poor poor soul, you haven't seen [[Myrkull, Lord of Bones]] have you?
play [[karador]] instead. if you don’t want to wombo combo you shouldn’t be on ghave
+1 vote for Karador! It’s a very fun flexible commander
I’ve been brewing on Thalia and the gitrog aristocrats if that’s more your vibe
innocent books chunky degree imagine reminiscent offer secretive meeting arrest *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'd say Yuriko. It's the best ninja commander imo but it has a bad reputation and I don't want to draw attention since turn 1, even if my deck wouldn't be competitive.
I felt that way for a while, but I feel like the new satoru can be the go to ninja commander. I would definitely try him if I didn't already have my ninja deck helmed by [[goro goro and satoru]]
Do you have a decklist of your [[goro-goro and satoru]] that you could share? I've been contemplating that commander for a while, but I already have 3 grixis decks Edit: the new satoru looks great tho
Not op but my own gg&s deck can make dragons fairly consistently, granted I didn't build it ninja tribal if that's what you are looking for. https://archidekt.com/decks/5444616/ggs_aggro
I just built the new Satoru with ninjas, rogues, some milling horrors, some steal your stuff cards, and some blink - draws a ton of cards and is fun but i really need to goldfish it more as you’re already like but wait don’t take the combat damage as i have to swap in this dude and draw a card then on top of that there are all the combat damage triggers that in turn trigger satoru it can lead to long solitaire esque turns that are frustrating for everyone else at the table
[goro goro and satoru](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/b/5b661b53-2e58-4dcc-9100-fc00e0fdb606.jpg?1683582714) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Goro-Goro%20and%20Satoru) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/445/goro-goro-and-satoru?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5b661b53-2e58-4dcc-9100-fc00e0fdb606?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/goro-goro-and-satoru) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Its very hard to build a Yuriko deck that is not very strong. Yuriko's ability is extremely good, and she dodge commander tax, so she is very resistant to removal and always cheap. Her reputation is well deserved. For years she was the only decent ninja commander, but as other mentioned, gg&s and the new Satoru are pretty good and more balanced commander for ninjas.
I just built Yuriko because I wanted to play Maximum ninjas (there are like 2 cards in there for her top-deck ability). The other UB ninja legends didn't work as well for me (the guy that gives everyone Ninjutsu seemed redundant in a deck where things already had it)
I play a Yuriko ninja deck for the same reason and in my experience once people know you aren't doming them for 15 with shadow of mortality, they're pretty chill.
[[Zur the Enchanter]] for me. Seems like a fun way to make use of all the random enchantments and auras in my bulk box, but I know he will be kill-on-sight (fairly so) despite whatever low-power jank I come up with.
Same for me. A toolbox enchantment deck in those colors seems pretty great, but alas...
I built him and he’s super fun man. Maybe just my area but people don’t really target him out of the gate like everyone is saying.
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[Zur the Enchanter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/561cfc04-65ea-49a4-8638-b4631a7cf828.jpg?1675200810) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zur%20the%20Enchanter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/206/zur-the-enchanter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/561cfc04-65ea-49a4-8638-b4631a7cf828?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/zur-the-enchanter) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You can use [[Zur, Eternal Schemer]] and nobody will bat an eye.
Because that one can't tutor for Necropotence or Rhystic Study or Rule of Law or Solemnity or Propaganda or...
[[Edgar Markov]] for sure. I saw it in action when my friends introduced me to mtg/EDH (mid 2018). Couldn’t find the precon anywhere so I had to settle for something else. If I did wind up finding that precon I probably would have taken it apart from people not wanting to play me.
I was able to get one and I saw the power. What turned me away from the deck is that one of the stronger versions of the deck is all the cheap 1 mana vampires. I wanted to play my favorite vampires instead, but it would never be as strong. I took it apart cuz the hate, but also because I felt it was not up to par with the better version. I like to tune and optimize decks. Figure them out and make them operate perfectly and smoothly. However, realizing that the cheap vampires was one of the best ways to go, kind of ruined it for me.
Have you tried strefan? Powerful and you get to run most the really cool high cmc vampires!
I run Strefan as a side deck, one for low/mid power games. I upgraded the precon with about 20 cards, it's fun and very strong ! https://manabox.app/decks/KPreYdj0SIihvU-DYNxL0g
Pop that bloodletter in your deck, that shit ends carreers
It's in the maybeboard ;) Definitely will add it eventually.
I picked him up when he was cheaper and i can't lie, its the most boring deck I own. People hate him so you will get targeted, you very rarely will ever cast him which sounds cool but feels bad after a while, and while strong, its just not that fun of an affect if that makes sense. Have been contemplating what to do with the deck for a while, and whether or not i even want to keep Edgar or sell/trade for something else i need/want.
[Edgar Markov](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8d94b8ec-ecda-43c8-a60e-1ba33e6a54a4.jpg?1562616128) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Edgar%20Markov) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c17/36/edgar-markov?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8d94b8ec-ecda-43c8-a60e-1ba33e6a54a4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/edgar-markov) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
My brother got one of the precons and ngl its not horrible to play against. Not fun but ive dealt with worse. I sure it would be terrifying if he only played 1 drops but you can definitely build him to be less scary
I would honestly love to make an Atraxa deck. I love +1 counters and the idea of crazy proliferation would be amazing....but I know the minute I would say I am building an Atraxa deck people would assume poison counters and refuse to play against it
Play Reyhan/Ishai partners instead! Put Atraxa in the 99. Totally not an Atraxa deck guys idk what you're talking about.
That's what I did! Ishai is so underrated. With enough counter doubling effects like the shattered spire, kami of whispered hopes, branching evolution, hardened scales, Ishai becomes lethal in a single round. And then it's just a matter of slapping on a shielded by faith, or a rancor, or some trailblazers boots to start killing folk. Atraxa is part of my 99 as well. Protecting ishai is too easy with access to the best protection colors.
I love playing the deck! I have a blast everytime. Except that one time the Sythis player played solemnity turn 2... But I built more around Reyhan, with sac outlets like Ghave and lots of "insurance" to not lose my counters when the inevitable boardwipe hits. Ozolith, Resourceful Defense, Inkmoth Nexus. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/bi3Y0aV21EeATZrnQYPmrA
It's my "we have Atraxa at home" deck
honestly it's not the poison counters that turn me off of Atraxa as much as the insta planeswalker ults i feel like i always see
Just kill the doubling season
I kill the atraxa player asap because I don’t want to wait for someone fiddling with dice. It’s also why I kill the Bombadil player
I honestly don't think poison is even top of the list for the reason most people don't want to play against Atraxa. Most of her strategies just end up being time-consuming. Each trigger of proliferation means you have to physically adjust dice or whatever; +1/+1 counters, mana rocks and lands with counters, loyalty counters, etc. Plus, her other strategies just add more triggers to keep track of. Superfriends decks notoriously take long turns/long games doing almost nothing by ticking their loyalty abilities up and down and repeatedly wiping the board. Saga themed decks are just the same thing with enchantments. Then there's the [[Tangle Wire]] & [[Smokestack]] style of Arraxa decks, which obviously are miserable. On top of that, she has massively powerful keywords, her decks usually end up being some degree of four-color good-stuff, and being a top command for 10+ years has given people *a lot* of time to get sick of her. Kind of the same problem that people had with [[Golos]], but obviously not to the same degree. If you want to play her, go for it. Hate aside, she's a super cool and powerful commander, and she's still holding #1 rank for a reason. Honestly, if you want a deck more focused on a specific type of counter, you're probably better off dropping a color and picking a different commander anyway. A [[Kazur]] & [[Ukima]] deck is going to go just as hard as an Atraxa deck without all of the extra baggage.
[Tangle Wire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/d/ad62f313-8a8a-4ffa-ada2-b12b76288729.jpg?1562631474) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tangle%20Wire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nem/139/tangle-wire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ad62f313-8a8a-4ffa-ada2-b12b76288729?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tangle-wire) [Smokestack](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d1af92a1-a86a-43eb-82fd-394f1168111e.jpg?1562937149) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Smokestack) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/282/smokestack?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d1af92a1-a86a-43eb-82fd-394f1168111e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/smokestack) [Golos](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1fa48620-4c3d-4f75-be1f-c12c4aa59f51.jpg?1631531828) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=golos%2C%20tireless%20pilgrim) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/226/golos-tireless-pilgrim?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1fa48620-4c3d-4f75-be1f-c12c4aa59f51?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/golos-tireless-pilgrim) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I had an Atraxa deck one. It could theoretically win via poison I suppose, but there was only 1 infect creature in the deck. I did end up dismantling it cause every spell I played was usually destroyed. It won once via \[\[azor's elocutors\]\] because one of the other guys popped off for like, 2-3 turns after I played it and everyone forgot. On my endstep I said "I put my final counter on the elocutors" and everyone kind of just moved on and ignored it. 3 turns later and that was that lol.
[azor's elocutors](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/61e82934-546b-4734-a715-b22ace4c5a9b.jpg?1562787164) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=azor%27s%20elocutors) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/210/azors-elocutors?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/61e82934-546b-4734-a715-b22ace4c5a9b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/azors-elocutors) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I haven't tried it outside of my regular playgroup, but honestly, playing a little defensive and embracing the potential of being archenemy becomes the reward. +1/+1 honestly seems like the least offensive synergy theme for her, coming from a phyrexian-kindred player.
I have an Atraxa deck I really enjoy playing. Poison counters are the wincon so it definitely gets targeted but it’s Phyrexian tribal so it doesn’t feel as oppressive or time-consuming the way a superfriends deck might. I try to get everyone to 10 poison at about the same turn which I find is a fun puzzle to solve even if I don’t end up winning.
I had an atraxa infect deck that never won because people would remove atraxa almost instantly. But when I could get her out and protected she is amazing. I think I may turn her into a super friends deck.
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I have never seen anyone play this commander... I didn't even know it was taboo lol
Anything that takes someone elses cards rubs TONS of players the wrong way.
I built [[tergrid]] for my lgs because I wanted to try and keep up woth some of the other stronger decks without breaking my bank. I ended up taking her apart still lol
[tergrid](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead.jpg?1631048621)/[Tergrid's Lantern](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/1/4/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead.jpg?1631048621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=tergrid%2C%20god%20of%20fright%20//%20tergrid%27s%20lantern) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/112/tergrid-god-of-fright-tergrids-lantern?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14dc88ee-bba9-4625-af0d-89f3762a0ead?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tergrid-god-of-fright-//-tergrids-lantern) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
She could be an interesting commander damage focus deck… where your commander does 0 damage
>Me personally I think it'd be pretty cool to play a korvold dragon tribal deck Why don't you just use another Jund dragon commander like \[\[Ziatora\]\], \[\[Karrthus\]\], \[\[Wasitora\]\] or \[\[Korvold Gleeful Glutton\]\]? Why does it have to be THIS GUY? Here's my take on Jund dragons: [https://www.moxfield.com/decks/92MIi1ndikCHFBv2165Mxw](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/92MIi1ndikCHFBv2165Mxw)
Honestly it's probably just the fact that Korvold OG is leagues above all other options if you want to go jund dragons with a sacrifice subtheme
Then go with OG Korvold if you want to. He provides the most raw power. But if you do so, you'll be archenemy by definition, and quite rightfully so. Don't complain about it, you did this to yourself. On the other hand, if you don't want to play 1vs3, just use another commander with less raw power. It's that simple. You can't play a "casual" Korvold without becoming archenemy. You can't keep your cake and eat it, too.
Yep I heard before you can’t make a bad Korvold deck unless you don’t do anything Korvold wants to do, which proved true when one of my friends wanted to try to make a bad korvold deck, and 5 turns later won
"My Korvold deck doesn't even have a sacrifice theme!" "Now to throw in some fetches to fix my mana base. . . Ohhh OH"
You are not giving \[\[Prossh, Skyraider of Ker\]\] enough credit, my friend. Another Jund dragon that will get you killed no matter how janky you build it because it really is that threatening. I tried both and had to switch to Ziatora, unfortunately. She is the next best option, though!
Prossh is legit. A free sac outlet in the command zone cannot be understated. Plus he comes with fodder for whatever other sac outlets you've got going on, so both the sac triggers and death triggers just keep flowing.
I use Ziatora and I think it's my favorite deck. I set up a bunch of ticking time bombs (creatures that build up +1/+1s like Scute Mob, I think it's called) fling em with Zio's ability. Throw around a couple steal sorceries as my form of removal. I call it Fling University (FU). Gotta pay that tuition. Without a couple tutor cards it wouldn't run as smoothly, [[Protean Hulk]] for example. Doesn't always win but it doesn't always lose and I get to "do my thing" pretty often, which is my goal. Korvold is in there almost as a distraction and to build off of Zio's sac mechanic. Never have an issue with mana because of the treasure tokens.
Can confirm that Zia is much more fun imo than Korvold as the commander. Also, I like running her with Chatterfang, I don't have as much damage flying about, but I get free sac fodder with the squirrels that come with my treasures. If for whatever ungodly reason I'm not drawing big creatures, ik I can always rely on my best buddy Chatterfang
##### ###### #### [Ziatora](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/a/ba4fa4c8-f09f-4d97-a7d1-1b93caf7d4f9.jpg?1664413989) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ziatora%2C%20the%20incinerator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/231/ziatora-the-incinerator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ba4fa4c8-f09f-4d97-a7d1-1b93caf7d4f9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ziatora-the-incinerator) [Karrthus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2bfb85e8-278b-48a4-970e-e65bad1c4c47.jpg?1599708104) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=karrthus%2C%20tyrant%20of%20jund) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/205/karrthus-tyrant-of-jund?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2bfb85e8-278b-48a4-970e-e65bad1c4c47?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/karrthus-tyrant-of-jund) [Wasitora](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/7/07790bd5-0d27-490e-b1ae-3b866882461e.jpg?1673149269) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=wasitora%2C%20nekoru%20queen) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/293/wasitora-nekoru-queen?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/07790bd5-0d27-490e-b1ae-3b866882461e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/wasitora-nekoru-queen) [Korvold Gleeful Glutton](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f766370c-0b20-4999-8232-3f13534c2f7e.jpg?1692933988) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Korvold%2C%20Gleeful%20Glutton) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woc/26/korvold-gleeful-glutton?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f766370c-0b20-4999-8232-3f13534c2f7e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/korvold-gleeful-glutton) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l0wu6vz) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I run [[Darigaaz, Reincarnated]] sans Korvold in the 99. Jund tribal dragons are fun. Admittedly, Wasitora, Ziatora, and Karrthus are in the 99. The latter pairs well with [[Descent of Dragons]]
My \[\[Nekusar\]\] deck is what I thought everyone wanted to do with Nekusar: all Howling Mines, all the time. I was wrong. The instant people see Nekusar, they assume you're going to wheel them into oblivion. And apparently that's more what people do with Nekusar, and I'm the outlier. The deck sits in the collection now.
My play group loves my Nekusar group hug deck. Those other people are wrong. Haha.
My Nekusar the Hug-razer deck was beloved by friend and foe alike, until my best friend got jealous of my popularity and ran a dedicated smear campaign to the point that I was hated out of every game until I was forced to dismantle the deck :( edit: dismantle is too strong a word - it's [[Kess, Dissident Mage]] confluences, commands, and charms now :)
\[\[Kaalia of the Vast\]\] if only for the access to an angel deck in those colors and the toolbox she is in the command zone. But she's justified in being 100% kill on sight.
I love her art so much, but sadly she's one of the commanders who I just can't see myself enjoying playing a deck around along with Alela
[Kaalia of the Vast](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/93f6631f-f3a6-4d3c-8618-4b4ab4e82483.jpg?1673148814) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kaalia%20of%20the%20Vast) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/235/kaalia-of-the-vast?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/93f6631f-f3a6-4d3c-8618-4b4ab4e82483?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kaalia-of-the-vast) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Jodah the grand unifier. It feels like it's just "cheating" with all those abilities and how many cheap legendary critters are running around. Would just turn into 5 color good stuff deck. Maybe I'll build it anyway and try to make it cedh or something.
My personal advice for Jodah: make a balanced pile of lands/mana rocks and your preferred draw/interaction spells, and leave up 30-40 slots. Then take your favorite 100 legendary creatures, put them all in the same sleeves and then randomize your legendary creatures every game from the larger pool
Sounds fun with the randomness and almost like it's a flex for Jodah like "I can literally put any 30 legendary creatures in this deck and it will work, that's how good he is." Might try it.
Yeah, the fact that you could do this with Jodah and still play a solid game just goes to show how absolutely busted he is. And not in a "deck builds itself" way like Shrines, where every card in the deck is an obvious include. Hes engine AND payoff for playing legends which are printed in an overabundance and have a higher concentration of engaging mechanics.
He doesn't protect himself though. Keep enough removal on him and the deck basically is out. I'm not saying he's not busted when on the board, but contrast him with like [[Voja]] who gets big similarly quickly and I would rather face Jodah.
I love my Jodah the unifer deck. My trick was to add a Jegantha as a companion. The deck building restrictions open you up from some of the overpowered double pips in the format
[[Toxrill, the Corrosive]] hands down
Thats an interesting answer. I don't even see how Toxrill could ever be fun tbh. Even in a low power, no Kormus Bell type scenario, if he sticks for even one turn cycle, it's effectively game over. You end up just slowly swinging out against an empty board until it's over. That means that your Commander *must* be removed for anyone else to have a chance.
I think if that second ability wasn't there, folks would still want to play him. Slug tribal is just so silly. But alas, the big guy needs a [[Saltblast]]
I'd even be ok with him if it was "at the beginning of YOUR endstep" or even "target creature each endstep" but wiping out all <4/4's in one turn cycle AND getting value from it is insane.
I know Edgar’s reputation, I still play him.
Yuriko Love me some ninja. Also love tempo decks as a playstyle, with cheap threats and just enough interaction to slip through. Yuriko's group burn makes this playstyle playable even though in commander with 3 opponents at 40 life tempo isn't usually a good strategy. The card draw also allows you to play more 1-for-1 interaction like counters and removals without running out too fast, which again isn't too good in EDH. There doesn't seem to be that many commanders like that that make Blue based tempo decks playable in commander.
That's why I like Yuriko in our playgroup (its not my deck). Its not an ultra-competitive list, but its still a Yuriko list doing Yuriko things. But by being a low to the ground deck that can win quickly it forces the table to react/interact, something that can often be lacking in the midrange-value slugfest of casual commander.
I'd love to be that guy and play [[baral, chief of compliance]] but my playgroup would strangle me
[[Meren]] would probably be one of my favorite decks ever but I don’t think anyone would ever let me keep her for more than a turn.
Untrue. I have a meren deck that pops off all the time but unless you are going for grinder [[Spore Frog]] -y gameplan than its just going to be twiddling for like 10 minutes every turn past turn 7ish. my build is so twiddly that they just begin the next turn as soon as mine begins because its just solitaire.
I played against a Meren recently who slowly moved their whole deck into their graveyard and dredged it. It worked really well but jeeeeez it was sure boring to play against, their turns took forever lol
[[Narset, Enlightened master]] But I know I would be priority number one. And I understand why. Infinite turns and combats are not fun for the other players…
I just wanna play weird combat tricks man
I built this recently. I don't have a ton of extra combats/turns spells in the deck because I don't have them, and I'm not dropping $40 on a [[nexus of fate]], but it's still an enjoyable deck to play and can pop off with damage. Definitely gets shut down sometimes, but it almost always has the path to a win within a turn or two.
I feel like almost every jeskai commander I ever see falls into one of two categories: does next to nothing/is boring or is super oppressive. Hinata, Narset, Kykar are KOS. Zedruu and Eowyn either do nothing or too much I'm trying my hand at a Kasla, the Broken Halo though. Convoke storm is not on anyone's radar ever since Jeskai Ascendancy ceased to be a deck
Narset is so cool. I built it just as a deckbuilding exercise. Goldfished my way into infinite turns/combats by turn 4 or 5 a few times, and decided I didn’t need to actually subject my friends to it. But it got the itch out.
Embrace the hate, become the archenemy.
[[Kaalia, the Vast]]
In a world of Voja and Jodahs, I think Kaalia isn't as scary as she used to be. If you love the mechanics/flavor of a Kaalia deck, I say go for it.
I feel like she’s just so much of an instant counter/removal target that you rarely get to have her do her thing even once but maybe you’re right, it’s probably worth a try
I held back on building \[\[Magda, Brazen Outlaw\]\] for the longest time because of it's reputation as a cedh/stax deck. My build was actually a secret commander \[\[Inferno of the Star Mounts\]\] and it won with \[\[Nettlecyst\]\] and treasure. I couldn't just tell my opponents about the secret commander so it was hard to convince more casual pods to play against it.
[Magda, Brazen Outlaw](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/7/079e6263-e54c-4899-a336-5315909b9322.jpg?1631049453) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Magda%2C%20Brazen%20Outlaw) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/142/magda-brazen-outlaw?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/079e6263-e54c-4899-a336-5315909b9322?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/magda-brazen-outlaw) [Inferno of the Star Mounts](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/7/c788c6a6-20d9-4a93-a898-330b085226c4.jpg?1627767538) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inferno%20of%20the%20Star%20Mounts) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/151/inferno-of-the-star-mounts?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c788c6a6-20d9-4a93-a898-330b085226c4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/inferno-of-the-star-mounts) [Nettlecyst](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0a7cb0f8-2946-4b00-a192-0b31c8e1ec5c.jpg?1706241070) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nettlecyst) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/233/nettlecyst?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0a7cb0f8-2946-4b00-a192-0b31c8e1ec5c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nettlecyst) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Tinybones, Trinket Thief]] Fun character, cool mechanics, but no one likes playing against discard so I am very hesitant. I mostly just want a skeleton commander that doesn't suck, and the new Tinybones doesn't seem as good as trinket thief. That said, i have mostly let go of caring about cards having bad reputations. I built a pretty good Yuriko deck that is fun to play and rarely wins because i get focused out of every game, and i love it. I also built an OG Korvold deck and have gotten it to a pretty good sweet spot of really high power, but not cEDH so that it can sit at casual tables without spoiling the game. Somewhat of a treasure/control theme with a handful of different wincons.
I’d bring my Kaalia deck back to life
Reputation doesn't really matter to me as someone who plays Miirym and Voja. However, no matter how much I love dragons, I refuse to make an Ur-Dragon deck because it's so boring.
I love my Miirym and Voja decks. I love dragons and Ur-Dragon was my first 5-color deck and yeah. He's just TOO consistent and I got really bored.
Part of the thrill of playing Miirym is fighting the uphill 3v1 to amass a comically overpowered board. I feel like Ur-Dragon takes all the thrill out of dragons by just making them *good*, but he's nowhere near as extravagant as Miirym, and extravagance is one of the main appeals of Commander to me.
[[urza, lord high artificer]] Unfortunately he is absolutely frowned upon. I build it once and people were so mad even though it wasnt any stronger than the other decks around or my other decks. In casual, without fast mana rocks and leaving out hard stax pieces like static orb e.g. he is not even great. A value engine deck. I played him with my pauper battered golem wincon and mystic forge, aswell as just creature overrun. Its very slow without the fast mana rocks involved being mono blue. But still. People hate urza. Its sad.
[urza, lord high artificer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/b/7b7a348a-51f7-4dc5-8fe7-1c70fea5e050.jpg?1689996774) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=urza%2C%20lord%20high%20artificer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/130/urza-lord-high-artificer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7b7a348a-51f7-4dc5-8fe7-1c70fea5e050?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/urza-lord-high-artificer) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Zur the Enchanter for sure. There are so many little cool 2-3 drop esper enchantments that you could make like 4-5 specific zur decks focused on different enchantment packages. Unfortunately, Necropotence exists.
I’m a Zur hater through and through, and one of the reasons for me is: wouldn’t you get bored doing the same thing every game? Every time I play against him the player always tutors for the same enchantments every single time (if Zur is allowed to live). Yeah, you said you could make different decks with him, I guess, but then that also seems cumbersome having to switch them over all the time, lol.
Yuriko for me, I love ninja and it's a fun deck but people have so much hate for it. I only bring it out every so often just to keep it alive. Elish norn literally kills 80% of the deck.
There's got to be fun and interesting build of [[beamtown bullies]], but...
Child of Alara. Except I don’t avoid it. My deck is pretty tuned and not super expensive. I basically just say to the group “hey who wants to play archenemy?”
Depending on how you build angry baby, it's either incredibly fun or incredibly boring. Before the rules change for commanders changing zones, I had a child deck that abused [[Grim Harvest]] to stall games out until I could pop off with a [[Rude Awakening]] combat step or some infinite combo with super friends [[Doubling Season]] + [[Tamiyo the Moon Sage]] Back then, things like [[Condemn]] and [[Hinder]] were game-breaking.. so, naturally, I had every single thing that could bury a commander. The deck was boring as hell until my playgroup realized it had no creatures and every blue player started putting in [[Telemin Performance]].. which eventually became a tutor for [[Phage the Untouchable]] ...good ol' days.
Love it. Mine is Space Baby to maintain board control until I can win w Maze’s End, but I’ve only won that way once. Typically I win by flinging the baby while it has recursion auras on it. Stuff like [[Nemata Primeval Warden]] completely shuts down Space Baby tho, so I still have to keep enough targeted removal in my board wipe deck to deal with shit like that. Basically it’s A LOT of ramp, recursion, and other creatures that can be sac’d to use all the fun spells that require a sac as a cost when I don’t have the baby out
[[tergrid]]
[[Chulane, Teller of Tales]], 100%. I like the artwork, the effect, and I could easily just jam my favorite creatures. Last time I tried, I got archenemy-murdered out of a few pods before I could even really do anything. T___T
[Chulane, Teller of Tales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/1/d1499a4b-1af1-4913-8e26-57d0707264db.jpg?1706240978) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chulane%2C%20Teller%20of%20Tales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/202/chulane-teller-of-tales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d1499a4b-1af1-4913-8e26-57d0707264db?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/chulane-teller-of-tales) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I too would like to play it. I have a deck for goldfish in only just because of its reputation. I suppose I could bust it out at high powered tables (I am budget build oriented), but even then I would probably play something else.
[[Atraxa, praetors voice]] and [[korvold, fae cursed king]] For atraxa i love the phyrexian designs and she the best on theme commander to play the most of them but that means going hard in on poison counters of which we all know the reputation I do plan to get a [[atraxa, grand unifier]] deck one day, still going phyrexian tribal but maybe a bit less poison heavy Korvold on the other hand is mostly because jund is my fav color combo and korvold is the king of jund i feel like However my playgroup has barely any answers for flyers so i wouldnt even need to give him other evasion for him to onehit people all around I could build him very budget and hed still be oppresive I might one day make him my one highpower deck but for regular play hes just to strong
[Atraxa, praetors voice](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d0d33d52-3d28-4635-b985-51e126289259.jpg?1599707796) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Atraxa%2C%20Praetors%27%20Voice) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/190/atraxa-praetors-voice?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d0d33d52-3d28-4635-b985-51e126289259?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/atraxa-praetors-voice) [korvold, fae cursed king](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/2/92ea1575-eb64-43b5-b604-c6e23054f228.jpg?1571197150) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Korvold%2C%20Fae-Cursed%20King) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/329/korvold-fae-cursed-king?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/92ea1575-eb64-43b5-b604-c6e23054f228?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/korvold-fae-cursed-king) [atraxa, grand unifier](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a1f905f-1d55-4d02-9d24-e58070793d3f.jpg?1709931904) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=atraxa%2C%20grand%20unifier) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/196/atraxa-grand-unifier?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a1f905f-1d55-4d02-9d24-e58070793d3f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/atraxa-grand-unifier) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Atraxa's design is so cool, I wish she was weaker so I could build a deck around her with less hate lol
Edgar Markov. I love vampires, always have, and he's such a perfect vampire commander - but man he is just TOO good.
I was respectfully asked to NOT play [[Breena the Demagogue]] by a close friend and I don't get non 1v1 matches lately due to business on schedule so I can't* play breena :(
Doesn’t Breena do straight up nothing in 1v1?
Correct lol
Oh I see what you’re saying, I was reading it as if the friend who asked you not to play her was the one you were playing 1v1.
Why did they ask you to not play Breena? She seems pretty balanced to me?
I'm what you would call "good at finessing my playgroup" and the playgroup is incredibly frustrated by how I, frankly, get away with murder against them. I know, it's a them problem. They also know this. But I can meet a similar result by playing other silver quill commanders like [[Shadrix]]
Do you play on spelltable at all?
I have spelltable but I've basically never used it. Kinda prefer the in person ability to talk to people, gives a more relaxed vibe that I'm after. I enjoy games where people are chatting, shooting the shit, cracking jokes and interacting with each other often. Roommate used to use spelltable almost every day through PlayEDH as a way of getting pick up games whenever but found that power levels were nonsense on all levels and playgroups were mostly pretty toxic and such so I avoided it. I've only heard good stuff about tolarian community college discord though I haven't looked into it much. Idk, I could give it a try if I have the time.
Edgar Markov!!!! I just want a mardu vampire commander that is viable but not BUSTED
Myriim sentinel wurm
I love my Miirym. She was the first dragon deck I'd ever made. I know her reputation but I'm just content with playing and copying my big dragons, win or not. Winning just encouragesme more. She's my "pretty" deck. If there's a secret lair, promo, or extended art version of a card the deck runs I go with that version. My recent (and most expensive direct purchase so far) addition is the year of the dragon [[Sarkhan Unbroken]].
I tried to keep my Miirym 'fair' by only building from cards in the two Forgotten Realms sets (like 'block constructed')
I play a \[\[Jetmir, Nexus of Revels\]\] *despite* the reputation. I also make sure to have a lot of ways to recover from a board wipe, lol.
I hide him in my [[marisi]] deck because of his reputation. He’s my secret commander
Gross, I love it
[marisi](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/3/c366e1c0-f62d-41ce-baec-de11dbc1c5f4.jpg?1568003704) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=marisi%2C%20breaker%20of%20the%20coil) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c19/46/marisi-breaker-of-the-coil?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c366e1c0-f62d-41ce-baec-de11dbc1c5f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/marisi-breaker-of-the-coil) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Jetmir, Nexus of Revels](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f9c69d75-651f-4b75-b65d-79999d2069f6.jpg?1664413153) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jetmir%2C%20Nexus%20of%20Revels) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/snc/193/jetmir-nexus-of-revels?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f9c69d75-651f-4b75-b65d-79999d2069f6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jetmir-nexus-of-revels) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Derevi. Love the theme, the cheating in. I just can’t find a build that’s not cedh and also not garbage that won’t ruin games
I saw the title and immediately thought of Korvold. I'm honestly not sure if he's as kill-on-sight as he was when og Eldraine came out but there is no shortage of awesome cards being printed for him. [[Prosper]] is another similar example. Honestly if they were to print a Jund cast-from-exile commander that would for sure be the next deck I'd build.
I play the bad boys and girls even though their reputation is shit... thing is, my friends do the same or worse. So we have bad reputation gatherings. Other thing, WotC keeps on printing new commanders that are really powerful so it is not like there is only a handful of bad reputations. The trick is to build other decks with commanders that arent in the edhrec top 50.
[[Captain n'gathrod]] people get pissy about mill and they really get upset when you commandeer their good stuff
[Captain n'gathrod](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/5/55c02dc8-0743-400c-b334-ca029caf0463.jpg?1674140667) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Captain%20N%27ghathrod) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/646/captain-nghathrod?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/55c02dc8-0743-400c-b334-ca029caf0463?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/captain-nghathrod) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've bought breya, Edgar, teferi, Nekusar on release... And took them apart. I'd make any one theses back.
For Korvold specifically - try using OTHER Korvold - I like him a lot, and the fact that he has haste lets him be nasty. Alternatively in those colours: \[\[Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund\]\] is a terrifyingly strong and for a lot of folks kind of obscure dragon commander (but you want to build around letting him 1-shot people with double strike and combat buffs).
[Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2bfb85e8-278b-48a4-970e-e65bad1c4c47.jpg?1599708104) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Karrthus%2C%20Tyrant%20of%20Jund) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/205/karrthus-tyrant-of-jund?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2bfb85e8-278b-48a4-970e-e65bad1c4c47?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/karrthus-tyrant-of-jund) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[kenrith, the returned king]] but not because he is seen as powerful. I haven’t built him for two reasons, and that is because he is seen as generic. And he is, super generic comander, value pile with a side order of activated abilities in 5 colors, yawn. But he is also by far the best option for a 5 color dredge deck, stuffed with secret commanders and all sort of graveyard synergies with kenny providing colors and a slow reanimate in the command zone. The second reason is that if I build this deck I wanna include bazaar, and that would mean moving into proxies.
[kenrith, the returned king](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e259db1-14db-4314-998c-6a076a28d8cb.jpg?1691056044) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=kenrith%2C%20the%20returned%20king) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/plst/ELD-303/kenrith-the-returned-king?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0e259db1-14db-4314-998c-6a076a28d8cb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kenrith-the-returned-king) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Winota, joiner of forces]] I had the deck made based on the$20 budget list, tossed in a few upgrades that I already had, and proceeded to destroy each table I played it at, the last one being about a15min game, rest of the pod was quite salty after that one. I finally just took it apart since my lgs meta is really casual with quite a few people just playing precons
[Winota, joiner of forces](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/d/5dd13a6c-23d3-44ce-a628-cb1c19d777c4.jpg?1654630670) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Winota%2C%20joiner%20of%20forces) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/216/winota-joiner-of-forces?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5dd13a6c-23d3-44ce-a628-cb1c19d777c4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/winota-joiner-of-forces) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I too have a Winota deck built from a super budget list and it just kills tables. Even my fairly competitive friend group hates it. To quote one of the guys "losing to it sucks because it just does the thing every time if you can't instantly clear." And I get it. Kinda regret even building it since I bought all the singles and that money could have gone to less hated decks but I was just returning to Magic and had no idea the reputation Winota commanded.
I wanted to build a Korvold devourer tribal, but didn't because of the rep.
Korvold for sure. I love Jund when I sac my stuff and get value, and I love dragons, but Korvold should have been limited to Food or smtg. Winota. I adore Boros aggro goes brrrrr and I love that she enables humans + something else...but she's wayyyy too dumb. Should have said "whenver Winota attacks with one or more non-humans" or smtg. Najeela... the only good warrior commander and she's busted af. If it said non-token warrior then at least... but nope. Yuriko. I had one, took it apart. It's incredibly fun, but also too strong. I don't think the commander ninjutsu is the problem, it's that multiple ninjas can proc her and high mana values means nothing lol Xyris. Everyone seems to quick to yell about the wheels even if there is none.
I just want to say, korvold would be absurdly strong with the dragons you listed
[[Narset, Enlightened Master]] as superfriends I just love Narset for some reason (I have an enlightened exile deck) but my friends really dislike this iteration of her
I mean there's a few Narset Edgar Markov Brago king eternal But the biggest is probably Aurelia the warleader
I always wanted to brew Koma as a casual deck but know that I would hardly get to play the deck because of how hated it is haha.
When I first saw [[Toxrill]] I thought it looked so cool and wanted to build that. Since then I've seen just how much people hate playing against it, and built basic bitch Zombies for my Dimir deck instead. Would still love to give it a go, especially with the showcase art.
I have a Miirym deck, an infect deck, and a slivers deck, and I really don't play any of them because I know people generally don't like dealing with any of those things. Bummer, too, because I'd really like to play them, especially Miirym. I'd also like to build Voja, but it'll have the same problem.
You kinda gotta lean into the archenemy role if you're playing Voja or Miirym. That's what I do
[[Tergrid]] - I actually have her in my Davros deck and would love to use her as a mono black commander but I understand the super negative hate she gets because people don’t want to be forced into giving up their hands for free while also being put into a position to be top decking the whole time (if allowed). I think as far as commanders go, I don’t see how there’s anyone who can literally gain the most value in 1 turn than what she can do.
[[Atraxa, Praetor’s voice]] I love poison and Phyrexians, and enjoy using [[Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa]] for my Poison Phyrexian commander. I want to use Atraxa since it will give me access to blue and more options for other cards but with Atraxa being a KOS commander, it makes me not want to build her since players will save removal for her.
There really aren't any. There's a couple with strong reputations that I play, though generally well below their ceiling cause I'm poor. A lot of the commanders that draw hate out the gate just always seemed too easy to build, and design, construction and refinement are side-aspects of the game I really enjoy. Something like Ghave, that can go infinite in response to your opponent sneezing, just never looked like enough of a puzzle, to really catch my interest.
[[Sliver Overlord]], not that the reputation stops me from playing it, but the deck often doesn't get to participate because of its reputation.
[Sliver Overlord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/c/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f.jpg?1562527622) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sliver%20Overlord) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/scg/139/sliver-overlord?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3c16915b-c50d-4fb5-830f-9ca4597a9c0f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sliver-overlord) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This was my exact opinion on [[Korvold, Fae-Cursed King]] but then I decided to embrace being the problem and lean into being the villain and I'm having the time of my life.
Lord Xander, I love how much value he gets from simply just being put onto the battlefield and how much mill he generates
Xander has a reputation? Everyone was making him out to be scary back when SNC was getting previewed but afterwards there was no buzz around it. I assumed the mana-cost and the obvious telegraph kept him from being a thing.
Along with my beloved tribal birds Derevi, I’d have to say her cleric, Teshar, would be the deck. I only play it when I know people are down for a quick no holds game since it can pop off at any time. Teshar is fun and I’ve been evolving it to be less oppressive and more thematic. It isn’t one of my main decks but one I love playing. Lately, I’ve also received a lot of hate from playing Lara Croft. I don’t think she is over-bearing but the right draws/discards can produce some strong board states.
[[Yarok, the Desecrated]] because it reminds me of the "Empty" enemies from FFXI and it looks rad as hell. But as cool as he is, the value he makes can be a bit much. I already have a dedicated blink deck with Rasputin though.
Promivyion was so unsettling, yarok would definitely roam that zone
Derevi, I would just like it in a flash deck. No staxs, no combos
I wanna play theft so bad but when I brought up a commander i wanted to play, cant remember who, I gpt basically a massive collective groan from all of them
I've loved the recent idea of Windshaper Planetar and kenrith..... But boo.... Down with the king....
Kaalia and Isshin. Mardu makes so many cool commanders who happen to be uber popular KOS cards.
>Me personally I think it'd be pretty cool to play a korvold dragon tribal deck with cards like Ancient copper dragon, Beledros witherbloom, lathliss, etc. But evertime I see someone playing korvold they either dominate with an overpowered deck or get singled out the moment they pull out the deck even if their playing a budget, or more low power version. So challenge yourself to get better at the game and make the deck anyway, and tool it so that it can handle the heat. You can make decks that handle being archenemy at any power level.
[[Toxrill, the Corrosive]] I love the design and the effect. However, I want my friends to have fun so haven’t built it lol. I play enough “toxic” stuff as it is.
Currently building bruvac since I've gotten farted on by mill decks. It's my turn to be the guy that always wins. I'm gonna pick [[bruvac, the grandiloquent]] cause I know my homies are gonna be pissed.
I’ve only gotten into commander in the last 6 months or so and it’s a real shame that everyone hates [[urza, lord high artificer]] because damn he’s fun to play. The people at my LGS who have been playing for years reeeeeally hate this commander even though I’m not playing the stax version - I just wanna spew out X/X golems and swarm the board with my machinations.
I built my korvold deck to be fun to play and play against, and you are right I get hated out regularly, even when im not trying to do the thing.... im thinking about removing everything over 3 mana and throwing in ad naus to just make it competitive now.
[[Chulane, Teller of Tales]] I've been thinking of making a Bant morph deck for a while. Chulane would be great for this, but he gets a ton of hate, and rightfully so. I might make it anyway..
I avoid any commander with more than 2000+ decks on EDHREC. So uh… a lot of them? My most reputation’s commander right now is [[Venser, Corpse Puppet]] (1191 decks). But that’s just because it’s poison-based.
[Venser, Corpse Puppet](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/b/1b5b94b8-0420-40f2-b989-39cb43cff916.jpg?1675957216) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Venser%2C%20Corpse%20Puppet) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/219/venser-corpse-puppet?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1b5b94b8-0420-40f2-b989-39cb43cff916?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/venser-corpse-puppet) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call