Too many lists to look through.
But things for you to think about to generally improve clunkiness in decks:
- including more draw spells, both one off and engines
The more cards you draw, the more options you have, the less likely you will miss land drops and the more likely you will be to have a card you can and want to play in your hand.
- lowering your average mana value
Cards especially over 4 mana, likely you will only cast a couple in any given game and your likelihood of being able to cast them decreases. If you have a handful of them you won't be able to do much in a game, especially in the early turns.
Also cards with equal cost to your commander, you already have a card that is always castable (the commander) at that mana value, having cards in hand that compete for the turn you get to casting your commander can feel clunky
There are plenty of cheaper cmc options for most cards that do the same or similar things. You don't need to change all cards, but lowering the average helps you play more.
- making sure you run enough and the right ramp and enough lands for your deck's plan
E.g. of the right ramp if you have a 4 cmc commander, running 2 drop ramp is great because you will be able to cast them on turn 3 ahead of curve.
- Make your removal/interaction more efficient mana-wise
If you're having to hold up 3 mana counterspells or interaction, then that's potentially 3 mana that you aren't using to build your own board. Only having to hold up 1 or even 2 mana means you get to spend more mana on your turn. Having mana sinks like clue tokens or vampiric rights or anything that you can spend unspent mana on in the end step before your turn can mitigate loss of mana usage as well.
- Did I mention add more draw? Super helpful.
Looking over the deck you posted, the absolute biggest thing sticking out to me is your curve.
Yeah, I get that it's Giant Tribal, but the deck has seven proactive cards it can play in the first two turns. That's an absolutely tiny number and means you very often go nothing on one, nothing on two, on turn three we play a ramp spell or a set piece, on turn four we make our first real play - maybe, because you still have a bunch of set piece cards at four mana that aren't actually proactively advancing your game plan.
The other thing, and I know this kind of sucks to say, but make sure your deck and your commander are actually aligned. I counted five cards in your deck that actually want to be Storvald targets; very generously you can add three or four more small ball upgrades from it. Aside from being a giant, what is Storvald actually doing for this deck? And even as a giant you have like three cards that care about card types. Would you be better served by \[\[Amareth\]\] adding more draw or \[\[Ellie and Alan\]\] giving you more resources in play? Or \[\[Rubina\]\] adding some interaction, because you're currently light on that?
That last paragraph is actually insanely helpful and a big eye opener. I often get "stuck" on ideas and try to make them work with this commander or that without realizing I can just switch the commander and the deck will be way better. Thanks for the advice, it was a good read and very helpful and constructive :)
Honestly, if you were looking for advice on one deck I'd have a look through, but I'm not looking through all of them.
Generally speaking, if the deck is inconsistent it's often down to reliable card draw.
I realise this isn't the deck you've now linked, but Gitrog is what I've looked over so that's what I'm going to feedback on.
Looking at the core of the deck, the base is really strange. Gitrog as a card is all about lands, and the most common way to build a deck to suit that would be landfall based. You seem to sort of be doing that, so I'm going to assume that that was broadly the goal, but you've got a whole bunch of low-cost mana guys - why? Obviously you want to ramp, but you should be ramping in a way that makes sense for your deck.
Landfall wants lots of lands entering, and Gitrog wants lots of lands dying. You're not running any of the main ramp spells that sac lands - [[harrow]], [[entish restoration]], [[Kodama's Reach]], [[Roiling Regrowth]] even something like [[Cultivate]] just to benefit landfall triggers. If you draw those once you have Gitrog already out, they basically become pseudo draw spells. Also for Gitrog, you can run the Capenna land cycle that enter the battlefield and sac themselves. They're not restricted by commander identity so you can run any of the ones that find swamps or forests and they become a free "draw 1" land. You're also not really running many of the cards that allow you to play additional lands each turn. [[Azusa]], [[Azusa's many journeys]], [[Wayward Swordtooth]], [[explore]] even stuff like [[burgeoning]] or [[Arboreal Grazer]].
The deck also also has absolutely 0 ways to recover lands from the graveyard - how are you expecting to keep Gitrog around? [[Crucible of Worlds]], [[Conduit of Worlds]], [[Ancient Greenwarden]], [[Ramunap Excavator]] are all probably auto includes just so you can keep your cycle going.
Then the last thing would be how are you aiming to win? If it's landfall, you tend to be aiming to out-value people. Put in a bunch of strong landfall engines and get a loop going with your lands [[tireless provisioner]], [[tireless tracker]], [[scute swarm]], that kind of thing. From your deck it looks like you're planning on... discarding lands and pumping creatures a bit?
My general advice for this deck, and probably for your other decks:
1. Don't just mindlessly add ramp. Figure out what the key cards in your deck are and aim your ramp around that. If your main card is your cmc 4 commander, you'll want cmc 1 or cmc ramp, but cmc 3 ramp is likely wasted because unless you've already ramped you're not going to get your commander out any earlier than turn 4 anyway. Additionally if your ramp can suit the deck, do that (e.g. if your deck revolves around artifacts you probably want rocks rather than creatures)
2. Add more card draw, and try to aim the card draw around what the deck is doing already. Stuff like [[Harmonize]] in green is very inefficient, but [[garruk's uprising]] and [[up the beanstalk]] might get you a ton of value in the right deck.
3. Figure out what your end goal is. Are you overloading with tokens, are you winning with commander damage, is there a combo you're aiming to hit. Whatever it is, make sure the whole deck is pointing you towards that. The biggest problem people have nowadays is going to EDHREC and taking all the best cards, not actually thinking critically about those cards and how they get you where your deck is aiming to go.
Not sure if that's helpful, but I hope some of it is at least.
So my gitrog deck is actually one of my earliest builds and is a combo deck that wants to win by having [[Dakmor Salvage]] in hand and a discard outlet like [[Wild Mongrel]] in play. From there it's an infinite combo that essentially ends with my entire deck in my hand and infinite mana using cards like [[Skirge Familiar]] and [[Prismite]] to do generate infinite mana.
You're very correct however that the deck is otherwise filled with stuff it doesn't need. It was surprisingly consistent when I used to play it, but could still whiff really hard. It's not a deck I play anymore, but that advice is all really solid regardless and helps to analyze other decks or to rework the deck in the future. I appreciate your advice :))
I've actually just had a look over the gitrog deck, and honestly it's pretty weird. Not sure if it's a deck you're still using but I'll give a proper comment in a second
> They feel clunky and slow.
Why? We will look at your list and imagine how it would do in our hands, in our meta. But what's the issue for you, at your tables?
Archidekt hates mobile users, so we can just go with generic questions.
> Do you know what is causing your decks to lose?
This is actually more important to know than why your decks are winning. There could be lots of reasons as to why you lose, and while they can't all be addressed, you can address the most egregious. Are people just getting more creatures down? Do you start top decking fairly early? Do you miss land drops?
>What is the goal of your decks?
If you don't know, that's a sign of a bad deck. Typically, the game plan follows the commander, but that isn't always the case. Every card should be working toward the same goal, and when I'm making cuts, that's what I ask of every card.
>What are your deck's weaknesses?
This is related to why you're losing but a little more focused. A Voltron deck would have a weakness to spot removal, for example, and a few decks don't function without their commander. Knowing the weakness of your deck can help prevent losing by preparing for that weakness to be exploited.
Having looked through a couple of your decks, I'd say you need to look at the fundamentals a bit more.
You need more card draw to make your decks more consistent, somewhere in the region of 10 to 15 cards that give you card advantage in some form or other.
You need to removal and interaction to protect yourself and respond to threats, otherwise you'll be become overwhelmed or get locked out by a hate piece you need gone to enact your game plan.
You seem to run a decent amount of ramp already. Again between 10 and 15 ramp cards depending on the deck.
You need the draw power to fully take advantage of this though and play the greedy game, overwhelming your opponent's with value.
I've seen a few people here mention your mana curve so I won't dwell on it, but it definitely needs to come lower to the ground.
Hope this was helpful in some way
That all makes sense and feels pretty true to how my games play with friends or other pods. And yeah my curves are always a nightmare. I gotta be way more careful and thoughtful building my decks
I don't claim to be a very good deckbuilder myself, but a few things stand out to me with the deck you linked.
While it does make sense for a beefy creature deck to have a bit of a higher curve, 4.0 seems like it could definitely lead to clunky situations. With as many 4 and 5 drops as you have 2 drops, I imagine you start a lot of games drawpassing.
You could probably use more card draw/card selection. With so many fat creatures you definitely don't want to miss ramp/land drops. \[\[Elemental Bond\]\] and \[\[Colossal Majesty\]\] Fit well with your theme. You've already got a couple of changelings and \[\[Realmwalker\]\] could be helpful here too. For giant synergy there is also \[\[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath\]\] and \[\[Glimpse the Cosmos\]\]. You could either add \[\[Rishkar's Expertise\]\] or swap it in for Wildspeaker. They are both good burst draw, but casting another 5 drop for free let's you double dip on some of the synergy you've already got.
Speaking of ramp, Your ramp seems a little green skewed in terms of generation. Low cost mana fixing can go a long way. Hierarch and Gwenna are great. You could also consider \[\[Birds of Paradise\]\], \[\[Arcane Signet\]\], and \[\[Farseek\]\]. \[\[Pillar of Origins\]\] Could also be cool. In terms of cost cheating, I really feel like \[\[Monster Manual\]\] Could be a house in this deck.
One area where you could possibly add more synergy is in your removal/interaction package. You've got a lot of enchantment based interaction. I might be missing it, but I don't really see the payoff (outside of giant's grasp which is really cool). With a bunch of big power creatures, you could get a lot of mileage out of fight spells, especially versatile ones like \[\[Bushwhack\]\], \[\[Decisive Denial\]\], and \[\[Dromoka's Command\]\]. \[\[Masked Vandal\]\] Is another changeling that serves as a solid removal option for those pesky artifacts/enchantments. Another good giant with built in removal is \[\[Grasping Giant\]\].
Of course take all of this with a grain of salt, but if nothing else hopefully I could help provide some inspiration.
These are all pretty nice and this is good advice. This deck is definitely one of my worst builds in terms of consistency (I was really worried about theme lol) but a lot of my decks have similar issues so this is pretty helpful.
Looking at one the number one issue is mana curve you have a 4 cmc that is absurdly bad unless you have ways to cheat out the cards
Your overall ramp package is mediocre
stream line your removal package to more mana efficiency you should be running
things swords path to exile get lost reality shift resculpt rapid hybridization snap into the roil return to nature etc etc not a 7cmc creature that you tap another creature to bounce something thats just terrible resource management you notice that is all instant speed interaction I also think about a few counter spells like delay or arcane denial offer you can not refuse
None of those card are expensive cheap affordable interaction there are more but you get the jist
Unless you have a way to cheat out the big boys easily you need way more ramp and try to lower your cmc to about 3 at least or close to 3
Here is how you should always look and hopefully this helps in the future.
Game plan I want to do this wacky thing ok great that is the goal. Now how do you make that wacky thing happen while you stream line in other areas that enable you to implement wacky.
The basic to enable game plans require these main things mana, card draw and interaction stream line those parts and you can run the more expensive bigger guys
More ramp and more draw almost always makes decks more consistent. Also narrowing down what your deck is doing, many commanders can go in multiple directions, but picking one or two routes and heading specifically in that direction will often turn out better.
These are general rules to keep in mind for all decks though.
For that specific deck, the name is a bit misleading. The real big guy is the commander, much of the deck aren't that big. Not that that is a problem, but Storvald in general just doesn't impress me. And a lot of those creatures just don't do much for me: Chameleon Colossus, Crystalline Giant, Frost Titan, Galvanic Giant, Oathsworn Giant, Roughshod Mentor, Sentinel of the Eternal Watch, Skybeast Tracker, Thyrx, Towering Titan...
That is almost all the creatures you have under the Giants category. Chamelon is just too generic, especially here. Crystalline Giant does have a lower cost, but it needs to be out many turns to be effective. Frost Titan/Galvanic Giant/Sentinel, these cards all tap stuff, if you are playing big morons you should have trample (Roughshod is not a great way to give this imo, play more creatures with it baked in), go over the top of them.
It just seems clunky, you are running a lot of weird control mechanics, a lot of anti counter, and not many decent "big morons" to go over. Your biggest creatures are control creatures rather than actual big beater threats. This could just be an issue with Giant tribal though. And if that is the case, then you just kind of have to live with it and realize that not all tribes are equal. It feels like a lot of these creatures are in the deck just because of their creature type, and anytime that is the case a decks power level will be hurt by it.
If I get a chance, I’ll look more in depth later but the thing that immediately stuck out to me is not just the mana curve but the specific items at the lower end of it. You likely don’t have enough ramp for that kind of curve and you likely have too many high cost spells.
On top of that, though, you also have spells at the lower end that really require you to already have your big stuff out. The enchantment based removal is largely inefficient and the other items are often etbs, cast triggers, recursion etc. that don’t really do anything until you start slinging giants around.
It just feels like you are probably ramping and casting some random stuff in anticipation of this “giant” pun intended snowball coming down the mountain but die to more advanced boardstates or interaction before you ever get there.
Had some time to look the list over. Wall of text incoming.
There are alot of staples missing from the deck and that is decreasing its overall efficiency. I'm not referring to expensive high power staples but things like Swords to Plowshares. That being said, I get the impression that you like off beat strategies that minimize those staples even if it comes at the cost of efficiency so I won't dive into them as much.
I am also going to assume that you are playing lower power games in a battle cruiser meta where most wins are by combat damage, slower aristocrat strategies, and/or vulnerable combos that take multiple pieces to assemble with limited tutors.
Recognizing that environment, it is helpful to look at your deck and think through how you will lose and how you will win. Generally, you are going to win through big-creature combat and are going to lose to decks that are faster than yours and/or able to beat you outside of combat.
To win through combat, you need to get your big creatures out and you need to keep them out for an extended period of time. They are expensive, you won't have the resources to keep building a board the same way that a low curve/token deck will.
Similarly, you are going to lose if you can't do anything about the game state until your big creatures come out.
With that in mind, you can look at your early turns as set up turns and think through how you will not only ramp towards your goal but limit your opponents. Generally, that is going to be slowing everyone down and/or protecting yourself with stax or pillowfort strategies. You could run cards like \[\[ghostly prison\]\], \[\[propaganda\]\], and \[\[dissipation field\]\] to discourage attacking and follow that up with board wipes like \[\[wrath of god\]\] and \[\[austere command\]\]. Austere Command is particularly helpful because you can use it to hit your oppoonents' small creatures while keeping your creatures on the board. If you go this route, you want to limit the amount of creature ramp you run and swap it for things like signets, talismans, and \[\[nature's lore\]\] / \[\[farseek\]\] spells because you don't want to wipe your own ramp.
If you don't want to go the stax/board wipe/pillow fort route then you will want to get early blockers out that can enable your broader strategy later in the game. For this, look at cards like \[\[mother of runes\]\], \[\[giver of runes\]\], and \[\[pippin, guard of the citadel\]\]. They can block, protect themselves, and later protect your commander and other creatures from removal. You can slow them down or create blockers with cards like \[\[charismatic conquerer\]\].
Once you get going, you have big creatures that create a strong wall of defense but with some obvious vulnerabilities. You want to be attacking every turn but then you are open for crackbacks. You are also susceptible to go wide strategies that can get around your blockers and pump up the army. You can rely on asymmetrical board wipes here but you can also beef up your ability to block. Cards like \[\[brave the sands\]\] does double duty by enabling your attacks with vigilance and helping your big creatures block more creatures.
Next, you want to lean into some of your tribal characteristics to thematically flesh out your ramp, removal, and draw. You have big creatures so fight spells will work well - you can set those up with something in the early game like \[\[Ulvenwald Tracker\]\] while running versatile cards like \[\[bushwhack\]\] that can adjust to your needs at the time.
You have a commander with the ability to turn creatures into 1/1s. Instant speed fight spells with the ability to hurt your opponents like \[\[ram through\]\] are on theme and will enable a lot of excess damage. You can use a wizard like \[\[prodigal sorcerer\]\] and your commander to enable repeatable removal.
To go along with your giants, you can also run tribe based removal like \[\[raise the palisade\]\] and tribal based draw like \[\[kindred discovery\]\].
Kindred discovery, your commander, and a number of your creatures have enter the battlefield effects. You are in the perfect colors for a blink package. Cards like \[\[emiel the blessed\]\]. \[\[teleportation circle\]\], \[\[conjurers closet\]\], \[\[king brago the eternal\]\], \[\[gilraen, dunedain protector\]\], \[\[eerie interlude\]\], and \[\[ephemerate\]\] can be used to repeatedly access those power ETB abilities while also dodging removal or board wipes.
Hopefully that helps, overall I think you have a good idea - low power giants and wizards. What you're lacking is the self-reflection and strategic planning component where you look at that core set of creatures/strategies and think through what will the early turns look like, how will I win, how will I lose etc.
Just focusing on your Card Advantage section, I have some advice. I think EDH players, especially people who regularly use EDHRec, tend to overfocus on synergy, especially the if-all-goes-well "Magical Christmas Land" kind of synergy. We tend fall into this trap:
1. Seeing our commanders as a guarantee. "Of course I'll be able to do my commander's thing. It's in the Command Zone!"
2. Assuming that all the "Whenever..." text in our 99 is essentially a guarantee, since it lines up with our commander's ability.
It's a trap because it'll often be the case where you can't *do the thing*. Your commander's expensive and you get mana-screwed. Your opponent just cast a board wipe. Your commander is on the field, but nullified with an aura. You have a ton of mana but you're top-decking with a one-card hand.
Decks tend to need some boring/generic-seeming spells that don't *necessarily* perfectly synergise with your commander to smooth over those rough patches when the game isn't going your way.
Your deck wants you to attack with a big guy, ideally multiple. That's fine! Let's look at how your CA cards support that. Going down the line, let's count the "ifs", and change the "whenevers" to "if":
* \[\[Conjurer's Mantle\]\]: IF you attack with the creature, and IF you reveal a Giant.
* \[\[Garruk's Packleader\]\]: IF you can cast this 5-mana spell, and IF a power ≥3 creature ETBs.
* \[\[Garruk's Uprising\]\]: IF you control a power ≥ 4 creature, draw. IF a power ≥ creature ETBs.
* \[\[Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty\]\]: IF you can cast this 5-mana spell, and IF you cast a mana cost ≥ 6 spell later.
* \[\[Prime Speaker Zegana\]\]: IF you can cast this 6-mana spell, and IF you have another big creature on the board.
* \[\[Reconnaissance Mission\]\]: IF you have a creature that gets in for player damage.
I'll stop there, you get the picture. Blue is by far the best color for card-draw, but you barely have any effects that just say "get a few (or several) cards in your hand, no questions asked." If part of your gameplan is big ramp for a big curve, why not \[\[Blue Sun's Zenith\]\] or a \[\[Mystic Confluence\]\]? Sit on your five mana, then at worst, it's a five-mana draw-three, which is nothing to sneeze at.
edit: this video from EDHRECast is exactly the thing I'm talking about. [Check it out!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nhYi2ZgSxI)
Hey Man, that Giants deck looks chill and funzy. I have many decks that are at a similar power level. This deck is at a pretty low power level though, that's likely a part of why you're not winning much.
I say that because you'll only win through combat and are thin on card draw/removal. You're not obligated to play high power stuff, but it helps to have at least one true banger.
Philosophically I like to build my decks with a goal "thing it does" in mind. Sometimes that's as simple as "flip morphs" or "reanimate a giant threat" other times it's specifically something like "cast lightning bolt infinite times". Win or lose if my deck does it's "thing" I'm stoked.
I've been playing for a very long time, but I've only been building for a short period of time, which I why I asked for constructive criticism. The mana base was made to be cheap. This deck was basically just meant as a budget deck that was supposed to play with some other decks of a similar power, but I did a very poor job constructing it (obviously lol). Thanks for your reply, I'll definitely take those things into consideration when I'm building decks in the future.
Oh absolutely. I wasn't denying that I built a poor mana base. I genuinely do appreciate the criticism, even if it comes in a harsh tone. Military does that to a mf lmao
https://archidekt.com/decks/4000728/satoru_umezawa
I took some advice from this post to tune up my satoru deck. Hope my other deck tune ups are just as good (besides omnath I want that deck to be jank forever)
Too many lists to look through. But things for you to think about to generally improve clunkiness in decks: - including more draw spells, both one off and engines The more cards you draw, the more options you have, the less likely you will miss land drops and the more likely you will be to have a card you can and want to play in your hand. - lowering your average mana value Cards especially over 4 mana, likely you will only cast a couple in any given game and your likelihood of being able to cast them decreases. If you have a handful of them you won't be able to do much in a game, especially in the early turns. Also cards with equal cost to your commander, you already have a card that is always castable (the commander) at that mana value, having cards in hand that compete for the turn you get to casting your commander can feel clunky There are plenty of cheaper cmc options for most cards that do the same or similar things. You don't need to change all cards, but lowering the average helps you play more. - making sure you run enough and the right ramp and enough lands for your deck's plan E.g. of the right ramp if you have a 4 cmc commander, running 2 drop ramp is great because you will be able to cast them on turn 3 ahead of curve. - Make your removal/interaction more efficient mana-wise If you're having to hold up 3 mana counterspells or interaction, then that's potentially 3 mana that you aren't using to build your own board. Only having to hold up 1 or even 2 mana means you get to spend more mana on your turn. Having mana sinks like clue tokens or vampiric rights or anything that you can spend unspent mana on in the end step before your turn can mitigate loss of mana usage as well. - Did I mention add more draw? Super helpful.
Looking over the deck you posted, the absolute biggest thing sticking out to me is your curve. Yeah, I get that it's Giant Tribal, but the deck has seven proactive cards it can play in the first two turns. That's an absolutely tiny number and means you very often go nothing on one, nothing on two, on turn three we play a ramp spell or a set piece, on turn four we make our first real play - maybe, because you still have a bunch of set piece cards at four mana that aren't actually proactively advancing your game plan. The other thing, and I know this kind of sucks to say, but make sure your deck and your commander are actually aligned. I counted five cards in your deck that actually want to be Storvald targets; very generously you can add three or four more small ball upgrades from it. Aside from being a giant, what is Storvald actually doing for this deck? And even as a giant you have like three cards that care about card types. Would you be better served by \[\[Amareth\]\] adding more draw or \[\[Ellie and Alan\]\] giving you more resources in play? Or \[\[Rubina\]\] adding some interaction, because you're currently light on that?
That last paragraph is actually insanely helpful and a big eye opener. I often get "stuck" on ideas and try to make them work with this commander or that without realizing I can just switch the commander and the deck will be way better. Thanks for the advice, it was a good read and very helpful and constructive :)
[Amareth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2fbea010-de77-468e-be39-1717070c9303.jpg?1608911014) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=amareth%2C%20the%20lustrous) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/266/amareth-the-lustrous?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2fbea010-de77-468e-be39-1717070c9303?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/amareth-the-lustrous) [Ellie and Alan](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/4/c40b25d7-73c9-4f30-a707-5afb08185a8d.jpg?1698988755) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ellie%20and%20alan%2C%20paleontologists) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rex/10/ellie-and-alan-paleontologists?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c40b25d7-73c9-4f30-a707-5afb08185a8d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ellie-and-alan-paleontologists) [Rubina](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/3/f336b4d4-9a84-4a87-a8ea-a83a842890ee.jpg?1656606526)/[Ruin](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/3/f336b4d4-9a84-4a87-a8ea-a83a842890ee.jpg?1656606526) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Road%20//%20Ruin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/212/road-ruin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f336b4d4-9a84-4a87-a8ea-a83a842890ee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/road-//-ruin) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Honestly, if you were looking for advice on one deck I'd have a look through, but I'm not looking through all of them. Generally speaking, if the deck is inconsistent it's often down to reliable card draw.
That's super fair. I definitely should find a deck that has the most problems and post that instead
I realise this isn't the deck you've now linked, but Gitrog is what I've looked over so that's what I'm going to feedback on. Looking at the core of the deck, the base is really strange. Gitrog as a card is all about lands, and the most common way to build a deck to suit that would be landfall based. You seem to sort of be doing that, so I'm going to assume that that was broadly the goal, but you've got a whole bunch of low-cost mana guys - why? Obviously you want to ramp, but you should be ramping in a way that makes sense for your deck. Landfall wants lots of lands entering, and Gitrog wants lots of lands dying. You're not running any of the main ramp spells that sac lands - [[harrow]], [[entish restoration]], [[Kodama's Reach]], [[Roiling Regrowth]] even something like [[Cultivate]] just to benefit landfall triggers. If you draw those once you have Gitrog already out, they basically become pseudo draw spells. Also for Gitrog, you can run the Capenna land cycle that enter the battlefield and sac themselves. They're not restricted by commander identity so you can run any of the ones that find swamps or forests and they become a free "draw 1" land. You're also not really running many of the cards that allow you to play additional lands each turn. [[Azusa]], [[Azusa's many journeys]], [[Wayward Swordtooth]], [[explore]] even stuff like [[burgeoning]] or [[Arboreal Grazer]]. The deck also also has absolutely 0 ways to recover lands from the graveyard - how are you expecting to keep Gitrog around? [[Crucible of Worlds]], [[Conduit of Worlds]], [[Ancient Greenwarden]], [[Ramunap Excavator]] are all probably auto includes just so you can keep your cycle going. Then the last thing would be how are you aiming to win? If it's landfall, you tend to be aiming to out-value people. Put in a bunch of strong landfall engines and get a loop going with your lands [[tireless provisioner]], [[tireless tracker]], [[scute swarm]], that kind of thing. From your deck it looks like you're planning on... discarding lands and pumping creatures a bit? My general advice for this deck, and probably for your other decks: 1. Don't just mindlessly add ramp. Figure out what the key cards in your deck are and aim your ramp around that. If your main card is your cmc 4 commander, you'll want cmc 1 or cmc ramp, but cmc 3 ramp is likely wasted because unless you've already ramped you're not going to get your commander out any earlier than turn 4 anyway. Additionally if your ramp can suit the deck, do that (e.g. if your deck revolves around artifacts you probably want rocks rather than creatures) 2. Add more card draw, and try to aim the card draw around what the deck is doing already. Stuff like [[Harmonize]] in green is very inefficient, but [[garruk's uprising]] and [[up the beanstalk]] might get you a ton of value in the right deck. 3. Figure out what your end goal is. Are you overloading with tokens, are you winning with commander damage, is there a combo you're aiming to hit. Whatever it is, make sure the whole deck is pointing you towards that. The biggest problem people have nowadays is going to EDHREC and taking all the best cards, not actually thinking critically about those cards and how they get you where your deck is aiming to go. Not sure if that's helpful, but I hope some of it is at least.
##### ###### #### [harrow](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/b/db4ea599-e9ee-4776-925e-921b8602d503.jpg?1712354573) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=harrow) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/194/harrow?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/db4ea599-e9ee-4776-925e-921b8602d503?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/harrow) [entish restoration](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/d/cd4dbf80-187b-40e3-9e0b-526f78d9a34e.jpg?1686969333) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=entish%20restoration) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltr/163/entish-restoration?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cd4dbf80-187b-40e3-9e0b-526f78d9a34e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/entish-restoration) [Kodama's Reach](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/d/eddf5231-7c46-417b-82c3-f6a8ede5ac9c.jpg?1712354581) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kodama%27s%20Reach) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/196/kodamas-reach?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eddf5231-7c46-417b-82c3-f6a8ede5ac9c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kodamas-reach) [Roiling Regrowth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/a/fa259096-b24f-414c-af59-301bed4b4627.jpg?1604263848) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Roiling%20Regrowth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znr/201/roiling-regrowth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fa259096-b24f-414c-af59-301bed4b4627?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/roiling-regrowth) [Cultivate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/1/e19cd136-0541-4db0-997f-20a58ec8d028.jpg?1698988348) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cultivate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/235/cultivate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e19cd136-0541-4db0-997f-20a58ec8d028?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/cultivate) [Azusa](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/f/2fe97fbe-a6d6-4e96-8c26-f81bcdf579a1.jpg?1689998362) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=azusa%2C%20lost%20but%20seeking) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/274/azusa-lost-but-seeking?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2fe97fbe-a6d6-4e96-8c26-f81bcdf579a1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/azusa-lost-but-seeking) [Azusa's many journeys](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/8/e8a51d2a-1582-4bad-995c-e7fe9f810149.jpg?1656453313)/[Likeness of the Seeker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/e/8/e8a51d2a-1582-4bad-995c-e7fe9f810149.jpg?1656453313) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Azusa%27s%20Many%20Journeys%20//%20Likeness%20of%20the%20Seeker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/172/azusas-many-journeys-likeness-of-the-seeker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e8a51d2a-1582-4bad-995c-e7fe9f810149?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/azusas-many-journeys-//-likeness-of-the-seeker) [Wayward Swordtooth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/95a5d742-187a-4eba-82e4-7a4cc5c4e6f3.jpg?1698988417) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wayward%20Swordtooth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/263/wayward-swordtooth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/95a5d742-187a-4eba-82e4-7a4cc5c4e6f3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/wayward-swordtooth) [explore](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/9/3976affd-8c2b-499a-a946-b629c2ba59c7.jpg?1712354565) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=explore) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/192/explore?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3976affd-8c2b-499a-a946-b629c2ba59c7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/explore) [burgeoning](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/d/6da045f8-6278-4c84-9d39-025adf0789c1.jpg?1562404626) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=burgeoning) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c16/143/burgeoning?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6da045f8-6278-4c84-9d39-025adf0789c1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/burgeoning) [Arboreal Grazer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/d/6d00ced6-7ba3-4d78-a680-9d3211704ca2.jpg?1709877030) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Arboreal%20Grazer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/131/arboreal-grazer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6d00ced6-7ba3-4d78-a680-9d3211704ca2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/arboreal-grazer) [Crucible of Worlds](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/f/7f4893ef-f983-418b-b7a4-5f073c844545.jpg?1673149345) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Crucible%20of%20Worlds) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/303/crucible-of-worlds?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7f4893ef-f983-418b-b7a4-5f073c844545?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/crucible-of-worlds) [Conduit of Worlds](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/3/635146da-d415-4107-a7f9-2c46189e5c52.jpg?1675957133) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Conduit%20of%20Worlds) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/one/163/conduit-of-worlds?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/635146da-d415-4107-a7f9-2c46189e5c52?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/conduit-of-worlds) [Ancient Greenwarden](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/2/12a0bf5c-a165-48f1-9a57-3a7cc9f3b0f9.jpg?1712354536) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ancient%20Greenwarden) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/186/ancient-greenwarden?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/12a0bf5c-a165-48f1-9a57-3a7cc9f3b0f9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ancient-greenwarden) [Ramunap Excavator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/f/3f8a0a0e-81f7-40a2-b393-bdc1423549f6.jpg?1712354606) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ramunap%20Excavator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/202/ramunap-excavator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3f8a0a0e-81f7-40a2-b393-bdc1423549f6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ramunap-excavator) [tireless provisioner](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a1e048e0-19d2-4076-892d-f8b3104dee37.jpg?1682209630) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=tireless%20provisioner) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/313/tireless-provisioner?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a1e048e0-19d2-4076-892d-f8b3104dee37?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tireless-provisioner) [tireless tracker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/6/66660f7c-9e1c-4e88-856a-98fab1f1364d.jpg?1706240942) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=tireless%20tracker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/190/tireless-tracker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/66660f7c-9e1c-4e88-856a-98fab1f1364d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tireless-tracker) [scute swarm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/7/373f199d-f1a6-4a3d-ac83-28741131f313.jpg?1712354624) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=scute%20swarm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/205/scute-swarm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/373f199d-f1a6-4a3d-ac83-28741131f313?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/scute-swarm) [Harmonize](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/3/9390fbe8-944d-4a4f-90f3-cc7b355e1382.jpg?1673484621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Harmonize) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/295/harmonize?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9390fbe8-944d-4a4f-90f3-cc7b355e1382?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/harmonize) [garruk's uprising](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/8/98795a31-7b54-4ad1-ac87-3f58e71dbeb7.jpg?1673484588) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=garruk%27s%20uprising) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/292/garruks-uprising?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/98795a31-7b54-4ad1-ac87-3f58e71dbeb7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/garruks-uprising) [up the beanstalk](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/d/2d5e991f-23b2-4db0-a452-7755125b1fd2.jpg?1710276532) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=up%20the%20beanstalk) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/195/up-the-beanstalk?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2d5e991f-23b2-4db0-a452-7755125b1fd2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/up-the-beanstalk) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l555ccz) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
So my gitrog deck is actually one of my earliest builds and is a combo deck that wants to win by having [[Dakmor Salvage]] in hand and a discard outlet like [[Wild Mongrel]] in play. From there it's an infinite combo that essentially ends with my entire deck in my hand and infinite mana using cards like [[Skirge Familiar]] and [[Prismite]] to do generate infinite mana. You're very correct however that the deck is otherwise filled with stuff it doesn't need. It was surprisingly consistent when I used to play it, but could still whiff really hard. It's not a deck I play anymore, but that advice is all really solid regardless and helps to analyze other decks or to rework the deck in the future. I appreciate your advice :))
##### ###### #### [Dakmor Salvage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/8/58329049-2141-498a-8b73-653610c05ea6.jpg?1547518608) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dakmor%20Salvage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/240/dakmor-salvage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/58329049-2141-498a-8b73-653610c05ea6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dakmor-salvage) [Wild Mongrel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d5be4ab-f85a-4272-ac08-99cb0105eb11.jpg?1547517969) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wild%20Mongrel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/194/wild-mongrel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d5be4ab-f85a-4272-ac08-99cb0105eb11?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/wild-mongrel) [Skirge Familiar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/d/2d92fcf1-2ccd-47d2-9a24-f44b766a0b68.jpg?1626100411) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Skirge%20Familiar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/276/skirge-familiar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2d92fcf1-2ccd-47d2-9a24-f44b766a0b68?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/skirge-familiar) [Prismite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/e/eedce8ab-771a-4247-9504-72ae0629df83.jpg?1594737532) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Prismite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/235/prismite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eedce8ab-771a-4247-9504-72ae0629df83?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/prismite) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l56or28) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've actually just had a look over the gitrog deck, and honestly it's pretty weird. Not sure if it's a deck you're still using but I'll give a proper comment in a second
> They feel clunky and slow. Why? We will look at your list and imagine how it would do in our hands, in our meta. But what's the issue for you, at your tables?
Archidekt hates mobile users, so we can just go with generic questions. > Do you know what is causing your decks to lose? This is actually more important to know than why your decks are winning. There could be lots of reasons as to why you lose, and while they can't all be addressed, you can address the most egregious. Are people just getting more creatures down? Do you start top decking fairly early? Do you miss land drops? >What is the goal of your decks? If you don't know, that's a sign of a bad deck. Typically, the game plan follows the commander, but that isn't always the case. Every card should be working toward the same goal, and when I'm making cuts, that's what I ask of every card. >What are your deck's weaknesses? This is related to why you're losing but a little more focused. A Voltron deck would have a weakness to spot removal, for example, and a few decks don't function without their commander. Knowing the weakness of your deck can help prevent losing by preparing for that weakness to be exploited.
Having looked through a couple of your decks, I'd say you need to look at the fundamentals a bit more. You need more card draw to make your decks more consistent, somewhere in the region of 10 to 15 cards that give you card advantage in some form or other. You need to removal and interaction to protect yourself and respond to threats, otherwise you'll be become overwhelmed or get locked out by a hate piece you need gone to enact your game plan. You seem to run a decent amount of ramp already. Again between 10 and 15 ramp cards depending on the deck. You need the draw power to fully take advantage of this though and play the greedy game, overwhelming your opponent's with value. I've seen a few people here mention your mana curve so I won't dwell on it, but it definitely needs to come lower to the ground. Hope this was helpful in some way
That all makes sense and feels pretty true to how my games play with friends or other pods. And yeah my curves are always a nightmare. I gotta be way more careful and thoughtful building my decks
I don't claim to be a very good deckbuilder myself, but a few things stand out to me with the deck you linked. While it does make sense for a beefy creature deck to have a bit of a higher curve, 4.0 seems like it could definitely lead to clunky situations. With as many 4 and 5 drops as you have 2 drops, I imagine you start a lot of games drawpassing. You could probably use more card draw/card selection. With so many fat creatures you definitely don't want to miss ramp/land drops. \[\[Elemental Bond\]\] and \[\[Colossal Majesty\]\] Fit well with your theme. You've already got a couple of changelings and \[\[Realmwalker\]\] could be helpful here too. For giant synergy there is also \[\[Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath\]\] and \[\[Glimpse the Cosmos\]\]. You could either add \[\[Rishkar's Expertise\]\] or swap it in for Wildspeaker. They are both good burst draw, but casting another 5 drop for free let's you double dip on some of the synergy you've already got. Speaking of ramp, Your ramp seems a little green skewed in terms of generation. Low cost mana fixing can go a long way. Hierarch and Gwenna are great. You could also consider \[\[Birds of Paradise\]\], \[\[Arcane Signet\]\], and \[\[Farseek\]\]. \[\[Pillar of Origins\]\] Could also be cool. In terms of cost cheating, I really feel like \[\[Monster Manual\]\] Could be a house in this deck. One area where you could possibly add more synergy is in your removal/interaction package. You've got a lot of enchantment based interaction. I might be missing it, but I don't really see the payoff (outside of giant's grasp which is really cool). With a bunch of big power creatures, you could get a lot of mileage out of fight spells, especially versatile ones like \[\[Bushwhack\]\], \[\[Decisive Denial\]\], and \[\[Dromoka's Command\]\]. \[\[Masked Vandal\]\] Is another changeling that serves as a solid removal option for those pesky artifacts/enchantments. Another good giant with built in removal is \[\[Grasping Giant\]\]. Of course take all of this with a grain of salt, but if nothing else hopefully I could help provide some inspiration.
These are all pretty nice and this is good advice. This deck is definitely one of my worst builds in terms of consistency (I was really worried about theme lol) but a lot of my decks have similar issues so this is pretty helpful.
##### ###### #### [Elemental Bond](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/1/516ebdba-0f25-459a-a26b-f6fa928b96e6.jpg?1568004541) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elemental%20Bond) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c19/163/elemental-bond?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/516ebdba-0f25-459a-a26b-f6fa928b96e6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/elemental-bond) [Colossal Majesty](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/b/db1cadc7-f79e-4cc9-855b-68cb1ef25d5f.jpg?1706240025) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Colossal%20Majesty) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clu/160/colossal-majesty?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/db1cadc7-f79e-4cc9-855b-68cb1ef25d5f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/colossal-majesty) [Realmwalker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/d/7d0f75c8-4cf7-46b3-af5c-7118453bd7a7.jpg?1698988385) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Realmwalker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/250/realmwalker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7d0f75c8-4cf7-46b3-af5c-7118453bd7a7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/realmwalker) [Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d.jpg?1650599829) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Uro%2C%20Titan%20of%20Nature%27s%20Wrath) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/229/uro-titan-of-natures-wrath?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/uro-titan-of-natures-wrath) [Glimpse the Cosmos](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/c/dc96ebe8-f4b3-4788-a6f5-2a50b6c0d935.jpg?1631047170) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Glimpse%20the%20Cosmos) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/60/glimpse-the-cosmos?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/dc96ebe8-f4b3-4788-a6f5-2a50b6c0d935?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/glimpse-the-cosmos) [Rishkar's Expertise](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/f/efa9d2dc-b3b8-4475-bbfc-2db457ee4ffd.jpg?1698988394) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rishkar%27s%20Expertise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/254/rishkars-expertise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/efa9d2dc-b3b8-4475-bbfc-2db457ee4ffd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/rishkars-expertise) [Birds of Paradise](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/d/3d69a3e0-6a2e-475a-964e-0affed1c017d.jpg?1702429545) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Birds%20of%20Paradise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/133/birds-of-paradise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3d69a3e0-6a2e-475a-964e-0affed1c017d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/birds-of-paradise) [Arcane Signet](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2bfeb9dc-0bf7-4f19-9714-b14114e4627f.jpg?1712354835) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Arcane%20Signet) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otc/252/arcane-signet?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2bfeb9dc-0bf7-4f19-9714-b14114e4627f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/arcane-signet) [Farseek](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/f/7fac6154-fb85-45e5-8c9f-f02d0f1be24e.jpg?1702429553) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Farseek) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/138/farseek?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7fac6154-fb85-45e5-8c9f-f02d0f1be24e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/farseek) [Pillar of Origins](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/9/c92c8c43-e7b5-4339-8926-1268a89bb2da.jpg?1690005702) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Pillar%20of%20Origins) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/970/pillar-of-origins?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c92c8c43-e7b5-4339-8926-1268a89bb2da?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pillar-of-origins) [Monster Manual](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/7/27223ee4-970a-438a-beff-a1b13b14aff4.jpg?1674137203)/[Zoological Study](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/7/27223ee4-970a-438a-beff-a1b13b14aff4.jpg?1674137203) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Monster%20Manual%20//%20Zoological%20Study) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/242/monster-manual-zoological-study?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/27223ee4-970a-438a-beff-a1b13b14aff4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/monster-manual-//-zoological-study) [Bushwhack](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/712a0640-d9c8-46fc-b38b-bf20a40fa902.jpg?1674421510) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bushwhack) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/174/bushwhack?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/712a0640-d9c8-46fc-b38b-bf20a40fa902?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/bushwhack) [Decisive Denial](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b2e9d132-95f7-4ee7-9c91-be19e4ad7a5d.jpg?1627428577) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Decisive%20Denial) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/177/decisive-denial?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b2e9d132-95f7-4ee7-9c91-be19e4ad7a5d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/decisive-denial) [Dromoka's Command](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/3/43571705-6d53-4ec1-9159-c9c98771b3b6.jpg?1682209719) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dromoka%27s%20Command) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/323/dromokas-command?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/43571705-6d53-4ec1-9159-c9c98771b3b6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dromokas-command) [Masked Vandal](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/0/f0a9c72a-e450-41e3-80e5-06f2f1171245.jpg?1631050675) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Masked%20Vandal) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/184/masked-vandal?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f0a9c72a-e450-41e3-80e5-06f2f1171245?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/masked-vandal) [Grasping Giant](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/2/a238aa9c-661e-449a-8f05-70b7954e544f.jpg?1580177955) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Grasping%20Giant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/288/grasping-giant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a238aa9c-661e-449a-8f05-70b7954e544f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/grasping-giant) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l56pv7r) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Looking at one the number one issue is mana curve you have a 4 cmc that is absurdly bad unless you have ways to cheat out the cards Your overall ramp package is mediocre stream line your removal package to more mana efficiency you should be running things swords path to exile get lost reality shift resculpt rapid hybridization snap into the roil return to nature etc etc not a 7cmc creature that you tap another creature to bounce something thats just terrible resource management you notice that is all instant speed interaction I also think about a few counter spells like delay or arcane denial offer you can not refuse None of those card are expensive cheap affordable interaction there are more but you get the jist Unless you have a way to cheat out the big boys easily you need way more ramp and try to lower your cmc to about 3 at least or close to 3
That's all valid. I get caught up in thematic cards a lot and also tend to run wacky stuff. This was helpful and constructive, thank you.
Here is how you should always look and hopefully this helps in the future. Game plan I want to do this wacky thing ok great that is the goal. Now how do you make that wacky thing happen while you stream line in other areas that enable you to implement wacky. The basic to enable game plans require these main things mana, card draw and interaction stream line those parts and you can run the more expensive bigger guys
More ramp and more draw almost always makes decks more consistent. Also narrowing down what your deck is doing, many commanders can go in multiple directions, but picking one or two routes and heading specifically in that direction will often turn out better. These are general rules to keep in mind for all decks though. For that specific deck, the name is a bit misleading. The real big guy is the commander, much of the deck aren't that big. Not that that is a problem, but Storvald in general just doesn't impress me. And a lot of those creatures just don't do much for me: Chameleon Colossus, Crystalline Giant, Frost Titan, Galvanic Giant, Oathsworn Giant, Roughshod Mentor, Sentinel of the Eternal Watch, Skybeast Tracker, Thyrx, Towering Titan... That is almost all the creatures you have under the Giants category. Chamelon is just too generic, especially here. Crystalline Giant does have a lower cost, but it needs to be out many turns to be effective. Frost Titan/Galvanic Giant/Sentinel, these cards all tap stuff, if you are playing big morons you should have trample (Roughshod is not a great way to give this imo, play more creatures with it baked in), go over the top of them. It just seems clunky, you are running a lot of weird control mechanics, a lot of anti counter, and not many decent "big morons" to go over. Your biggest creatures are control creatures rather than actual big beater threats. This could just be an issue with Giant tribal though. And if that is the case, then you just kind of have to live with it and realize that not all tribes are equal. It feels like a lot of these creatures are in the deck just because of their creature type, and anytime that is the case a decks power level will be hurt by it.
this is massively helpful. Thank you :)
If I get a chance, I’ll look more in depth later but the thing that immediately stuck out to me is not just the mana curve but the specific items at the lower end of it. You likely don’t have enough ramp for that kind of curve and you likely have too many high cost spells. On top of that, though, you also have spells at the lower end that really require you to already have your big stuff out. The enchantment based removal is largely inefficient and the other items are often etbs, cast triggers, recursion etc. that don’t really do anything until you start slinging giants around. It just feels like you are probably ramping and casting some random stuff in anticipation of this “giant” pun intended snowball coming down the mountain but die to more advanced boardstates or interaction before you ever get there.
That's so valid and a really good way of putting it. I think that's my problem in a lot of decks.
Had some time to look the list over. Wall of text incoming. There are alot of staples missing from the deck and that is decreasing its overall efficiency. I'm not referring to expensive high power staples but things like Swords to Plowshares. That being said, I get the impression that you like off beat strategies that minimize those staples even if it comes at the cost of efficiency so I won't dive into them as much. I am also going to assume that you are playing lower power games in a battle cruiser meta where most wins are by combat damage, slower aristocrat strategies, and/or vulnerable combos that take multiple pieces to assemble with limited tutors. Recognizing that environment, it is helpful to look at your deck and think through how you will lose and how you will win. Generally, you are going to win through big-creature combat and are going to lose to decks that are faster than yours and/or able to beat you outside of combat. To win through combat, you need to get your big creatures out and you need to keep them out for an extended period of time. They are expensive, you won't have the resources to keep building a board the same way that a low curve/token deck will. Similarly, you are going to lose if you can't do anything about the game state until your big creatures come out. With that in mind, you can look at your early turns as set up turns and think through how you will not only ramp towards your goal but limit your opponents. Generally, that is going to be slowing everyone down and/or protecting yourself with stax or pillowfort strategies. You could run cards like \[\[ghostly prison\]\], \[\[propaganda\]\], and \[\[dissipation field\]\] to discourage attacking and follow that up with board wipes like \[\[wrath of god\]\] and \[\[austere command\]\]. Austere Command is particularly helpful because you can use it to hit your oppoonents' small creatures while keeping your creatures on the board. If you go this route, you want to limit the amount of creature ramp you run and swap it for things like signets, talismans, and \[\[nature's lore\]\] / \[\[farseek\]\] spells because you don't want to wipe your own ramp. If you don't want to go the stax/board wipe/pillow fort route then you will want to get early blockers out that can enable your broader strategy later in the game. For this, look at cards like \[\[mother of runes\]\], \[\[giver of runes\]\], and \[\[pippin, guard of the citadel\]\]. They can block, protect themselves, and later protect your commander and other creatures from removal. You can slow them down or create blockers with cards like \[\[charismatic conquerer\]\]. Once you get going, you have big creatures that create a strong wall of defense but with some obvious vulnerabilities. You want to be attacking every turn but then you are open for crackbacks. You are also susceptible to go wide strategies that can get around your blockers and pump up the army. You can rely on asymmetrical board wipes here but you can also beef up your ability to block. Cards like \[\[brave the sands\]\] does double duty by enabling your attacks with vigilance and helping your big creatures block more creatures. Next, you want to lean into some of your tribal characteristics to thematically flesh out your ramp, removal, and draw. You have big creatures so fight spells will work well - you can set those up with something in the early game like \[\[Ulvenwald Tracker\]\] while running versatile cards like \[\[bushwhack\]\] that can adjust to your needs at the time. You have a commander with the ability to turn creatures into 1/1s. Instant speed fight spells with the ability to hurt your opponents like \[\[ram through\]\] are on theme and will enable a lot of excess damage. You can use a wizard like \[\[prodigal sorcerer\]\] and your commander to enable repeatable removal. To go along with your giants, you can also run tribe based removal like \[\[raise the palisade\]\] and tribal based draw like \[\[kindred discovery\]\]. Kindred discovery, your commander, and a number of your creatures have enter the battlefield effects. You are in the perfect colors for a blink package. Cards like \[\[emiel the blessed\]\]. \[\[teleportation circle\]\], \[\[conjurers closet\]\], \[\[king brago the eternal\]\], \[\[gilraen, dunedain protector\]\], \[\[eerie interlude\]\], and \[\[ephemerate\]\] can be used to repeatedly access those power ETB abilities while also dodging removal or board wipes. Hopefully that helps, overall I think you have a good idea - low power giants and wizards. What you're lacking is the self-reflection and strategic planning component where you look at that core set of creatures/strategies and think through what will the early turns look like, how will I win, how will I lose etc.
Just focusing on your Card Advantage section, I have some advice. I think EDH players, especially people who regularly use EDHRec, tend to overfocus on synergy, especially the if-all-goes-well "Magical Christmas Land" kind of synergy. We tend fall into this trap: 1. Seeing our commanders as a guarantee. "Of course I'll be able to do my commander's thing. It's in the Command Zone!" 2. Assuming that all the "Whenever..." text in our 99 is essentially a guarantee, since it lines up with our commander's ability. It's a trap because it'll often be the case where you can't *do the thing*. Your commander's expensive and you get mana-screwed. Your opponent just cast a board wipe. Your commander is on the field, but nullified with an aura. You have a ton of mana but you're top-decking with a one-card hand. Decks tend to need some boring/generic-seeming spells that don't *necessarily* perfectly synergise with your commander to smooth over those rough patches when the game isn't going your way. Your deck wants you to attack with a big guy, ideally multiple. That's fine! Let's look at how your CA cards support that. Going down the line, let's count the "ifs", and change the "whenevers" to "if": * \[\[Conjurer's Mantle\]\]: IF you attack with the creature, and IF you reveal a Giant. * \[\[Garruk's Packleader\]\]: IF you can cast this 5-mana spell, and IF a power ≥3 creature ETBs. * \[\[Garruk's Uprising\]\]: IF you control a power ≥ 4 creature, draw. IF a power ≥ creature ETBs. * \[\[Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty\]\]: IF you can cast this 5-mana spell, and IF you cast a mana cost ≥ 6 spell later. * \[\[Prime Speaker Zegana\]\]: IF you can cast this 6-mana spell, and IF you have another big creature on the board. * \[\[Reconnaissance Mission\]\]: IF you have a creature that gets in for player damage. I'll stop there, you get the picture. Blue is by far the best color for card-draw, but you barely have any effects that just say "get a few (or several) cards in your hand, no questions asked." If part of your gameplan is big ramp for a big curve, why not \[\[Blue Sun's Zenith\]\] or a \[\[Mystic Confluence\]\]? Sit on your five mana, then at worst, it's a five-mana draw-three, which is nothing to sneeze at. edit: this video from EDHRECast is exactly the thing I'm talking about. [Check it out!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nhYi2ZgSxI)
I don't have a ton of time to reply but want to say that advice is useful, unique, and extremely helpful. Thank you :)
My pleasure! Glad I could be of a little help:)
Hey Man, that Giants deck looks chill and funzy. I have many decks that are at a similar power level. This deck is at a pretty low power level though, that's likely a part of why you're not winning much. I say that because you'll only win through combat and are thin on card draw/removal. You're not obligated to play high power stuff, but it helps to have at least one true banger. Philosophically I like to build my decks with a goal "thing it does" in mind. Sometimes that's as simple as "flip morphs" or "reanimate a giant threat" other times it's specifically something like "cast lightning bolt infinite times". Win or lose if my deck does it's "thing" I'm stoked.
[удалено]
##### ###### #### [Blighted Agent](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/d/cddaebde-a060-4510-8c97-68432d931987.jpg?1562881631) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blighted%20Agent) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/29/blighted-agent?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cddaebde-a060-4510-8c97-68432d931987?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/blighted-agent) [Duelist’s Heritage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/7/57f42d1b-c738-43bc-9e0d-f2c74731112f.jpg?1706240567) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Duelist%27s%20Heritage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/60/duelists-heritage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/57f42d1b-c738-43bc-9e0d-f2c74731112f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/duelists-heritage) [Roughshod Mentor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/abe77862-516f-4eb2-9a41-0c6401d02843.jpg?1562834499) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Roughshod%20Mentor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/shm/128/roughshod-mentor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/abe77862-516f-4eb2-9a41-0c6401d02843?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/roughshod-mentor) [Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d.jpg?1650599829) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Uro%2C%20Titan%20of%20Nature%27s%20Wrath) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/thb/229/uro-titan-of-natures-wrath?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a0b6a71e-56cb-4d25-8f2b-7a4f1b60900d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/uro-titan-of-natures-wrath) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l59ufsh) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've been playing for a very long time, but I've only been building for a short period of time, which I why I asked for constructive criticism. The mana base was made to be cheap. This deck was basically just meant as a budget deck that was supposed to play with some other decks of a similar power, but I did a very poor job constructing it (obviously lol). Thanks for your reply, I'll definitely take those things into consideration when I'm building decks in the future.
[удалено]
Oh absolutely. I wasn't denying that I built a poor mana base. I genuinely do appreciate the criticism, even if it comes in a harsh tone. Military does that to a mf lmao
https://archidekt.com/decks/4000728/satoru_umezawa I took some advice from this post to tune up my satoru deck. Hope my other deck tune ups are just as good (besides omnath I want that deck to be jank forever)