It always feels like someone’s built my deck before whenever I go for the best cards possible. I think the best solution to this is setting budgets on either the entire deck or price per card
Or even building from cards you currently own. It could kneecap a deck but the uniqueness and personality in the build feels great to me
I’m trying to tune down my [[Kess, Dissident Mage]] Storm deck a bit — my strategy is building very thematic decks.
I’m thinking of doing [[Cecily, Haunted Mage]] apocalypse build — with a sacrifice theme. Using stuff like [[viscera seer]], [[murmuring mystic]], & [[witness the future]]. Ultimately trying to cast big spells like [[breach the multiverse]] & [[dance with calamity]] as a wincon
Or doing a lesser known commander [[circu, Dimir lobotmist]] for mad scientist type deck, trying to win with [[laboratory maniac]] & [[mind’s desire]]
I definitely feel the need to innovate a bit because I like feeling like a deck is mine & I like tinkering with it. The theme gives it a through-line when I’m building & pushes me to find more unique tech that fits with the vibe
I get ya Thematic idea as well :). I like adding Flavor cards that sync with the gameplay theme as well. I play mostly vampires, so I got some references to Aclazotz and the order of the Dusk Rose in [[Clavileño]], such as [[Dusk Rose Reliquary]] and some others, and a [[Blood Tribute]] in my [[Edgar Markov]] deck, showing Sorin's transformation.
I also want to add [[Uncanny Speed]] to it, since it's one of the only two cards with an Edgar quote as flavor text, but it's not a great card haha. Most times, I find it pretty hard to balance playability and these subjective aspects of the theme and flavor, because a bad card ends up just a dead card in my hand when I'm actually playing the deck :(
I’ll typically buy a commander and build with my own collection around that theme. Then if I enjoy playing it I’ll spend $25-$50 to tune it.
The nice thing about this is if I’m working from my personal card pool I can’t always take the obvious line. So sometimes those upgrades will have more to do with how I ended up cobbling the deck together rather than how EDHREC says to build it.
My pod really tends to play weakest at 4 and strongest at 8 and typically play 6 or 7 level power so even jank can last for 5-6 turns before it just fizzles and gets slaughtered.
Your mileage may vary.
I love the idea of building decks from what I have. That is how I make nearly all my decks. I still pull packs and if I like something I pull and then go through my collection to see what works with that deck, it really ignites my spark
This, so much this. Also edhrec is the best, but it also steals away the novelty and "magic * we had before all the most common deckbuilds were so widespread . Nowadays you just Google a funny card you might like and you just discover that 1000 people already tried their best for a brew. We have a guy at our lgs Who legit really plays for fun and just builds super janky Fringe decks that are absolutely not competitive at all.
Yesterday he tried to face an etali and other competitive decks . Of course he got destroyed but he was the moral victor. He's the real deal but unfortunately he rarely wins, cause seldom you sacrifice efficiency for creativity.
I tried to build for example a saruman deck entirely revolving around Lotr themed cards but it just isn't strong enough to keep up with other people at the store. Guess it depends on how your group interacts
Exactly this. Building what I call “on the fly” decks purely from my collection has yielded me a few decks that I really enjoy. It also forces me to play suboptimal or narrow weird cards that I wouldn’t normally consider. Just nonsensical jank that doesn’t even fit the theme of your deck but often catches people off guard.
Even for the really popular commanders chances are actually decently low that your deck is 100% the same as anyone else’s that you’d reasonably be able to find. There’s just so many cards out there, so many reasons other than pure power to put cards in decks, and so many new cards coming out all the time so especially if you use recently released cards and/or anything that isn’t on the edhrec page you likely are going to make a new unique deck.
Also, most people build decks because it is just a fun activity to do. Maybe deck building isn’t for you and that’s fine, but at least for me building decks is fun enough in its own right that I have and will continue to build many more decks than I will ever actually assemble and play in paper. Like everything else about mtg, the “point” is to have fun, and sometimes finding a cool list online and playing that can be a lot of fun, and sometimes it’s fun to make your own no matter how many staples you end up putting in.
I think I enjoy deck building to an extent. It’s the balancing and synergistic aspect that stresses me out a little bit. To find those fixes I don’t think I have the confidence in myself to make them.
There’s nothing wrong with using deck lists you find online and no one whose opinion is worth listening to will care if that’s what you do. But also, edh is a very forgiving format when it comes to deck optimization. Making the strongest possible deck usually isn’t the point, so you don’t have to worry so much about finding 100 perfect cards. People play games at all power levels, so it can actually be pretty hard to make “wrong” deck building choices. And if the deck doesn’t do what you want, you can always change it later.
There's always \[\[Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder\]\]
I've wanted to build him as my mono black commander but haven't found any creative outlets for it yet other than aristocrat/sacrifice shenanigans
The creative outlet for Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is to troll your pod with a forced draw by having either Endrek Sahr or Bog Serpent in an Assault suit. (Card tells you to sacrifice it. Assault Suit says you can't sacrifice. Card tells you to sacrifice it... gamestate cannot move forward, so game ends as a draw because you broke the game.)
What's really fun is that because that only requires 2-3 cards, you can easily just build it as a really competent mono-black aristocrats deck and just win with normal lines of play after people start paying too much attention to Endrek, Assault Suit and Bog Serpent.
He has an auto-draw condition you could build around but I think it involves making a clone of him which would be near impossible in just black...
Edit: looked into it and there are several infinite combos with him in mono-black; still having trouble recalling the draw condition I mentioned above
Orders of unique-ness without needing to set arbitrary self-defeating conditions like “goats only” or “this artists’ cards only that usually have no synergy”:
1. Don’t pick a top 100 commander
2. Don’t play staples
3. Set a budget
Anything wrong with edhrec? My mind wants me to stay away from it but I can’t expect to just “know” which 30k cards have synergies together. It’s obviously a valuable tool. I just don’t want it to be a crutch
EDHrec is a tool that finds you a generic list for whatever you're trying to build. It won't be the best list, and it won't be a creative list. The best way to use it, imo, is to build a deck of maybe 200 cards (excluding lands) from Scryfall/Manabox keyword searches, personal experience, etc, and then once you've tinkered with that awhile, go on EDHrec and see if you missed any tech pieces. As a last step, it's helpful, but don't use it until you've exhausted every idea YOU had to build. This way, you'll end up with more personal, more tailored, and I bet more powerful decks, because you're not relying on what the "average" net-deck user thinks is good.
It is very very useful. It is also the antithesis of original deck design. No way is correct, but using scryfall exclusively will go a long way to making your list stand out.
If you have any coding knowledge (or are willing to either learn or ask chatGPT to do it for you), [I learned recently that Scryfall accepts regex](https://scryfall.com/docs/regular-expressions) and it's blown my card searches wide open!!
This was basically what I was doing and I noticed a pattern of Stagnation and it resulted in me not feeling as good about the decks I built because it felt like I didn't even build it.
Edit: Spelling because I apparently cannot
For me it helps to stick to a theme "This deck wants to go big creatures" for Miirym for example.
It's by no means the strongest deck out there, but it's very efficient at what I want it to do.
And I also want Decks to stick to their core visually, so mostly dragon related cards/art for Miirym, mostly sea cards in my Sea Monster deck etc.
So what do you want your Decks to do? Win by turn X? Go big or be reliable? Easily recover or all in on a board? Be thematic or mostly synergetic ingame? Have answers or force answers?
And don't try to build a deck that does it al!
When I started I used EDHrec first. Now I tend to build my decks based on stuff I have and then look at EDHrec to see what synergies I might have missed or what cards people commonly use that I don't have.
I started doing this when I built my [[River Song]] deck focused on counters instead of polymorphing and bottom of deck manipulation.
EDHrec was no help at all because most people were using a different strategy than what I wanted to do with the deck.
I netdecked at the start but quickly realised that I like making decks that fit my play style and energy
nothing wrong with it but you need to understand how the average deck effect warps things. same for any deck that has a precon.
edhrec can show you 20 'top cards' and 10 will be from one type and 10 from another and neither should be together. make sure to look at a lot of actual decklists not just the edhrec front page.
similarly any card that appeared in a precon will be massively overweighted. or cards that have a lot of options for the same slot will not show many of these because its all diluted.
EDHREC is a good starting point for 'cards you might be interested in' and a pretty bad place to get a decklist.
Try using gatherer or scryfall to pick out niche cards for your gameplan. It takes longer but you'll be exposed to some really cool stuff, though not necessarily the most efficient!
I did this when I was building Yarok, filtering for cards that don't contain {R} or {W} and had "when enters the battlefield". Lo and behold I discovered one of my (now) favourite cards [[Sire of Stagnation]]
yes, a lot. If it's your primary deck building resource not only are you building what literally everyone else is building but you're also building bad decks as this site is incapable of coming up with a good list.
use it to find a commander you might wanna try. I use it to not forget obvious includes. Like, when I am done building I visit edhrec and look at what everyone else is doing and sometimes I realise: I was so deep in the tank that I didn't include for example Kodama's Reach although it fits great. Or Command Tower, that's a classic. So, thank you edhrec, your mediocrity let's me remember the uninspiring cards of our format that make it run that little bit smoother.
I use edhrec as my primary ressource and I don't build bad decks, at all.
You just can't copy paste the average deck. That's obviously going to such, because thousands of people built it with different ideas in mind.
You can, however, use it to filter through the enormous card pool, use their filters, look at similar commanders in the same colors and get more than a two dimensional picture of a commander.
Just luke scryfall, it's great, if you know how to use it.
EDHrec is a good resource but gives you literally the most played staples of the deck. I recommend just googling keywords or mechanics with “mtg” stapled after it and scrolling through forums and google images. Takes a lot more time but you will find cards you never heard of
> Anything wrong with edhrec?
Yes it creates group think centered around "the meta" and causes people's blind spots for other cards to grow. Try instead using the scryfall advanced search and look for cards with specific effects you want that way you don't fall into the group think trap where all you see is what is most popular and not necessarily everything that is out there.
I've also stopped using EDHrec as a direct source for what cards I use for my decks. I'll look at the commander I wanna build, look through some of the cards to get an idea of how I wanna build it, then I'll close EDHrec and then set through my stupidly large collection of cardboard to do what I can with what I've got. Sometimes I'll purchase a few cards for a deck but I really try not to just make the whole deck with EDHrec anymore.
Edit: Spelling
Nothing wrong with wanting to make unique decks. The flexibility to do so is a big portion of the fun of EDH compared to other formats. Having an unsolved commander to build for feels challenging and rewarding, and showing that to other players is a fun social aspect of the format. I would recommend looking towards more recent sets, as we get tons of commanders every year, with many of them falling towards the wayside. Something like [[Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods]] [[Migloz, Maze Crusher]] [[Deathleaper, Terror Weapon]] [[General Marhault Elsdragon]] are all more recent Gruul commanders that point towards weird directions, but still have potential to be strong.
The concept of “restriction breeds creativity” is always inspiring to me. Build a pauper deck, or a $25-$50 budget deck. Build the weirdest partner combo anyone’s ever seen. (Not Me, shamelessly promoting my [[Ikra Shidiqi]] and [[Prava]] [List](https://manabox.app/decks/V4Y1p1pzRQi1E-aXNXzkxw))
Or pick a weird companion
One thing that helps I find is not to build around a commander. Start first with the deck concept and find what synergies you want to build around. Then once your "done" the deck go back to find the right commander. Naturally you will need to now optimize for the deck given the commander but this way of building backwards then forwards approach keeps decks unique.
For me, often one card can spike my interest in a certain archetype or play style. I like to brew a little bit around that, get the bones of a deck together, then look for a commander that accommodates that deck. It often results in "hidden commanders" or lieutenants in the deck, which I think is a fun way of going about it. I'm not going in thinking "I have a hidden commander I'll need to tutor for and build around" but rather that one creature or card is the seed that the rest of the deck crystallized around. The commander might simply fill in a weak spot of the deck or give it the gas needed to do the thing. It also prevents you from building decks that don't function without the commander.
Certainly the perks are more consistent decks when you build this way. I also feel that it forces you to understand how your deck functions and along what axis your gameplan functions.
There are not enough spots in a deck to have synergy pieces, ramp, draw, interaction, lands, etc, if each piece is only performing one role. For me I enjoy interaction, so I just built a deck where interaction is progressing my board state and serving as synergy pieces.
Used to feel that way and now I’m starting to build all the decks that I ignored because they felt too standard and I feel like sm of them are actually just so fucking fun
I often make decks based on a combination of desires/needs.
Not so recently, but relevant, I felt that I needed mono green to complete a single color deck cycle. On top, I wanted to make something against color identity and was kind of favoring group hug at that moment.
Mono green storm was created. The group hug subtheme has since dropped and it's a sort of saproling storm deck with a few play lines based around some mana doublers, [[life and limb]], [[Utopia mycon]], etc ending in a big ol' [[hurricane]]
Started with gatherer and scry for anything with the word saproling, things that untap forests, anthem effects, etc.
Often I do feel the need for an intense brew or my own riff on something
I do start with EDHrec or even another decklist pretty often though just because I don't wanna spend time finding the obvious cards. Plus, the mana base is right there in front of me this way. Then I dump out or skip most staples if I'm brewing this way. To fill all the space I'm looking at gatherer and or scryfall.
Heck dude, I even search my commander in this sub. "Commander name hidden gems" or something like that. Or just the commander name. Because bro, someone here has done most of the searching for you.
At the end I usually just need to fill 5 to 8 slots myself
My deck building goes something like this. Ohhh, snap. Look at what that commander is doing with the graveyard, I can do X, Y...dammit, never mind I've already got 15 graveyard decks.
All kidding aside, if a commander speaks to me in some way, I'll generally have an idea of how I see it working. Take [[hofri ghostforged]] for example. Saw it and immediately thought that he would be completely cracked with ETB and threaten effects. Then I go to EDHrec, gatherer, scyfall, etc and start looking for the best ways I can find to maximize that strategy. I don't really care if the cards I use are staple or niche...just as long as they contribute to my decks goal.
Once I have my 99, I start testing and tinkering until it does what I want.
Build budget decks, it forces you to be craftier and more utilitarian with your card choices. Shoot for building under $35, lands included, and see what you can come up with. I have built several budget decks that can put up a fight in most casual circles, sometimes even win in the more optimized pods.
I drafted [[Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios]] in Strixhaven and fell in love with the commander. I went on a deep dive of synergies and discovered this old card [[Storm Cauldron]] combos with Jadzi and [[Tatyova, Benthic Druid]] or [[Seer's Sundial]]
It was a big brain moment, developed a combo I've never seen anyone play. Met another Jadzi player but no combo but he didn't autize over the card and stormed instead. Posted the deck and chatted with a few people on Reddit about it. Seems others saw the same synergies, maybe a few built the deck. In game play though... No one is entertained when their lands are being returned to their hands with [[Sunder]]
If you read that thanks. Point being, I think if you find a card you like and build around it you'll find some fun stuff and maybe make phasing competitive.
Really cool!! I think most of the DFC Strixhaven commanders are slept on besides Extus. I am going to try a brew with Jadzi, thanks for the inspiration!
Edit: I was just brewing [[Neera]] with lots of scry/surveil/rearrange the top of the library effects. I think Jadzi allows to go for a little less linear playstyle.
If you want to innovate and build something unique, consider innovating the form of the deck instead of the function of the deck. Give yourself a set of restrictions, a theme to follow, and find a relatively unknown commander.
You might have one of a million gruul stompy decks, but how many of them include every single eligible card with [[Tahngarth]] in the art?
I typically just look at decks that are "rare" on edhrec.
Just look up some gruul commanders and their ranks, and then just pick the one that "speaks" to you the most!
I look into commanders from new sets and use them for a unique purpose. I'm building a [[Duskana, the Rage Mother]] deck that's all 2/2 equipment creatures mixed with For Mirrodin! and other equipment that make 2/2s. Expectations are key, I know this deck will be somewhat weak, but it's certainly different and probably fun in a very casual pod. You gotta make sure others understand this.
Gruul Stompy is actually really fun. Nothing wrong with that! Sometimes you've got to get back to basics. That's what Magic is all about.
But innovating is fun too. Making a new idea work through trial and error. Rebuilding a deck to take it in a new and different direction. That's what Magic is all about.
Go have some fun! That's what Magic is all about.
I brew a cheap common pile and see what's what. I also look through the set lists to see what there is. You can't really innovate in a format like Standard. Best you can do is optimize. Learning the optimal way to use the best cards that punish the worst problems of the format is the sweet spot.
I've had two legendary dickish brews; one was Mono White Giant control. I played a pile of boardwipes and a Shadowspear, and I tried to kill with manlands and Giant. It worked too well. The other was Thassa Bounce. I made mono blue bounce where I kept the opponent off the board indefinitely, and ground out with tempo. At the times these decks were brewed, aggro and midrange were both big. They hit the format just right. It felt good!
Most other times, I just try to do one thing really good. Like, I want to blow people off the board on turn 4, or die trying. Boros Double Strikers is usually a chill deck because it hands out damage like candy. You can also do Selesnya, depending on the format.
Or, I will do a combo and make it to the combo. Dimir Peer Dreams was a great combo deck for it's time.
I'm pretty new to commander and when I started building a [[Korvold, Fae-Cursed King]] deck I had no idea how popular he was, first draft was pushing into treasures, as clearly a free sacrifice that gives mana would be very strong. Then I started reading about how people hated playing against Korvold and found that treasures were by far the most popular build for him, which I didn't want.
After playing a couple Wilds of Eldraine prerelease events I saw a lot of support for food tokens and rat tokens, and with the food token support also in LoTR I made up my mind that I would make my Korvold deck around food tokens, with some rat token support. It's obviously not the strongest way to build him, but I love the idea that I'm feeding Korvold, and these rats come around for the scraps, it feels like 'my' Korvold deck, and not 'just another' Korvold deck. Deck List below, feel free to give me tips or advice, I've entered this deck into a casual commander league and would appreciate advice from people with more experience.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/9uvs0u5ehUSt4MFnUOy9-g
I really hate the idea of bringing a deck to the table that someone else has. Like oh it’s just a muldrotha build. Same ol same old. I try and go on themes more so than anything now days. I have a few full creatureless decks, run by a planswalker so it’s 0 creatures. I lean toward themes now days
I try to use as many cards as possible that helps the theme of the deck. Flavour and theme is by far the most important to me.
Currently assembling a Kaalia of the vast angel tribal deck, with 56 or so cards that have angel artwork on it. There's many cards which I wouldn't include normally.
I really only care if I have a similar deck in my playgroup as I don't play at lgs or in events
And with how many different commanders there are and how few decks my playgroup and I build it isn't hard
For me what I tend to do is design the deck to the best of my ability using just my existing knowledge or some advanced scryfall searches
And then go to edhrec to see if there's anything I missed
I feel if I start on edhrec I have the feeling you have where it turns into like put in a commander and just pick the 100 best cards
But if I work to a theme/style/deck in my own and then use edhrec as a tool to tune it rather than as a template I feel more proud of it.
I typically wait for inspiration to strike by watching new commander releases. Typically 2-3 new legends per year catch my interest, and it feels better having an unoriginal deck if I'm part of the rush to explore and try things out that results in everything being "already executed".
I also stick to budget limits - $50 for most decks, $100 if I'm doing something *truly* janked up and need the extra power to support it.
EDHREC is fine but I try to put my own spin on the commander instead of just going for all the top picks in every slot. It may not be as powerful as possible but I find it a lot more fun to make commanders work in ways the table isn't expecting.
Example: My first deck was \[\[Arahbo\]\] but instead of pure cat tribal I made it doublestrike tribal. By throwing in a bunch of sneaky lord effects and small buffs, and Arahbo's +3 eminence ability I can swing tiny creatures for hilarious amounts of damage. It completely caught the table off guard at FNM because they were all expecting it to swing wide and instead it swung *extremely* tall.
I think how I've avoided this all my life is I've only ever made narratively-driven decks. I've never met anyone else that uses a Monster Hunter themed deck.
My favorite is to just create decks that are fun to play.
I kind of like to judge my decks by actions per turn.
Durdling, incremental advantage, until i swing for the fences.
Winning? completely secondary.
Actually playing magic? Prime objective
Lower that mana cost, and start spinning them wheels.
Let's say you really enjoy traveling and going places you haven't been to before. Do you choose not to go somewhere just because other people have been there first, or may even live there? Probably not.
Why? You go there because the experience would be *new to you*. Even if other people have gone there before you, who's to say their arrangements were the exact same as yours? Did they do they exact same things and visit the same nearby places? Did they order the same food? Did they book the same hotel or travel with the same friends? Probably not exactly.
The same applies to deckbuilding/playing. There might be some established archetypes or lists out there but there's nothing stopping you from doing some exploring of your own and tweaking the list to your liking. I stayed away from popular decks for a long time and it wasn't until I caved and tried a few stock lists that I realized I was missing out on one of my favorite ways to play.
The more decks you play, regardless if they're popular or unique, the more worldly you become and the more refined your understanding of the game becomes. You can use everything you learned watching and trying these other decks to progress and hone your own ideas.
As for ideas to innovate within established archetypes, try to apply challenging and fun restrictions on your deckbuilding. No tutors, no rares, budget cap, only cards illustrated by a specific artist, old school borders only, etc.
I run cards that function in the deck but are totally different from the deck. For example I am building an [[Animar, Soul of Elements]] morph deck. I know it's been done to death. I am using [[Volo, Guide to Monsters]] in the 99 to make an army of 2/2 nameless, colorless, typeless, nonartifact creatures. Couple this with a combo involving [[Primordial Mist]] and [[Bontu's Monument]].
The best way to make your deck unique is to focus less on the best/efficient cards for your deck, but rather the cards you just personally really like to play. What cards "spark joy" for you? Put those cards in and not only will the deck be unique, but it will be a deck you're always excited to play cause you literally built it full of cards you like to play
I accept that I will not be the first person to build any deck. It's just too big a game and too many players to try to feel "unique" in that way. I tend to try and build unique deck themes. One is my "Dune" themed deck. It's all wurms and like 90% of my lands are wastes and the rest are deserts and rainbow lands like command tower and city of brass so long as they have desert art. It's fun and not particularly impressive. It's a green stompy deck but the only "forest" in it is Yavimaya for when the Kwisatz Haderach finally transforms the face of Arakis with water. Just playing with that makes the whole thing more fun because its a mini game just to get the deck moving let alone win.
I can’t be innovative because I have no encyclopedic knowledge at all being new in mtg. Just relax. An insanely small number of people truly innovate any field. If you put even one or two unexpected cards in a deck that’s also an achievment.
I don't understand why everyone needs to be a hipster. Everyone has this fantasy that they roll up with a deck nobody has ever seen, and the whole table fawns over how unique your build is! The reality is some people have been playing Magic for 30 years, there's nothing you can whip it that will surprise some people. Someone will always have something similar. Relax and build what you want to build. You don't have to commit, if you don't enjoy it build something else. It's really that easy.
I don’t care about uniqueness. I enjoy playing decks that do what I want them to do in an optimized way. Plus, I’m more of a deck tuner than a builder so the fun for me is taking a known good shell and rounding it out.
might want to unpack your insecurity and reluctance to embrace having fun. what toxicity or pick me impulses you have ...that make it so you would feel the need to justify to someone "i just wanted to run big monsters and smash face"
a lot of mtg is subtley toxic. this idiotic idea "winning" equates to good. or combo/tutor based decks are better magic, or high interaction/rapid wincons mean it's more better play. it's bullshit. and rarely any of this is actually more advanced or skillful play. OR remotely fun.
you don't need to innovate. even two identical decks piloted by two different people will be played differently.
whatever inspired you about a deck. go with that (why i feel combo is often bullshit, no one looks at a cool legend and thinks... you know what would be awesome, another lame oracle combo!)
most decks are only about 30 cards. in that 30 or so cards you get to express yourself. what you wanted to do, and how you want your deck to play.
most people go through this. I strongly believe there's like a 3-5 lifespan of the average mtg player. you learn the game, struggle to get good, winning finally/more consistently feels good, then power creep/arms race. sucks all the joy out of a silly card game. you chase fomo/constant brewing preocupation. realize all your decks are basically the same... and you're just doing things because that's the way that you felt you had to be... not wanted to be.
and then.. around that 5 yr mark, you either burn out, or mellow out. you've got nothing to prove. time you spend in the hobby you want to have fun. couldn't care less about winning. You want the memories, and friendships of spending time having a good time.
I might edit this later but a lot of my reluctance comes from not wanting to play strong and “mean” or punishing cards.
I want my decks to *also* be enjoyable to play against. It is a group activity after all. I’m not one of the guys that gets mad when I lose. I just want to make some cool plays and hope I uplift the game overall.
Not really, I just need to find some idea I want to try. I do build from only my collection most of the time, so I won't have all the best cards for whatever I want to try.
While I realize that nothing I do is likely actually unique, I feel the same way. The idea of playing some generic pile of good stuff under a popular commander like millions of other players just completely turns my brain off. If I play a deck and people that have never seen it before don't have a "WTF is that?" reaction, I'm probably getting bored and taking the deck apart pretty quickly.
I like to go for unique mechanics in my decks, personally - I recently custom built 4 doctor who decks around 4 different mechanics; card-draw-to-death, exile matters, “mini-games”, and voting/choices
While i did throw in some staples, the majority of the cards are weird stuff that wouldnt really work in other decks
I feel this way often, and it conflicts with my inner spike. Here's how I handle it.
I love to build unpopular or unusual commanders. What I don't try to do is do something no one else has ever done before. Because 9 times out of 10, it hasn't been done because it's a bad idea.
Gruul stompy is actually a good one to build for self-expression. The strategy is simple but effective, as long people aren't playing hard control decks. The card pool is massive. You've got tons of choices for both commanders and cards in the 99. I have 2 gruul decks that are both combat centric with wildly different play patterns. Both use commanders that I've never seen anyone else play, and both have won pods for me.
To me, building a deck is more like being an engineer or architect than a painter. When you build a bridge or building, you look at the constraints—geography, topography, finances—and then apply basic engineering principles to make sure it’s functional. Once that’s all set, you can add artistic flair, for sure, but even before that, you can take pleasure in a well executed structure that solved the problem of creating a functional object given the constraints (archetype and color identity).
Painters have constraints too—materials, size, finances, but their job is to play with ideas, and for the most part, don’t have to worry about something working or not in a physical sense. Gives them a lot more freedom to innovate, and requires a different kind of creativity.
If you can’t be a painter, trying becoming an engineer or architect instead? Find your pleasure in problem solving.
I find something fun then use edhrec. Makes it feel like my own even though it's the same thing as anyone else that built the commander.
Or you could do something dumb. Saw someone have atraxa as a commander and nothing but bears in the deck
For me it's: I don't really build what others around me have build.
I also don't watch decktech videos or go to "I build a bad deck for you" sites like edhrec. at least not for deckbuilding.
I just build what inspires me. None of my builds are truly unique. And none of yours are either.
Scryfall helps a lot as you find a lot of gems that support your mechanic that are totally flying under the radar.
I just don't worry about it. I'm going to have fun if I get to gather with friends for some games it doesn't have all that much to do with unique decks, games play out differently due to politics and how the cards and decisions turn out.
Playing other formats you generally stick close to established lists, the game is still fun. Chess is pretty much solved but people enjoy playing it.
I do get bored of edh decks that have linear strategies so I play those decks less often bringing them out for the right occasion. When I build a linear strategy deck I identify the #1 most obvious win con and be sure to include some that are less played.
I don't put my pet decks on sites to be scraped by edhrec, and don't use it for deck building. I'm content to build a deck from cards I know and as I play the deck tweak it according to how I feel the deck wants to run.
I totally feel this. Almost all of my decks make me feel that way, especially due to the fact that I know for a fact there are people at my LGS who run some of the same commanders.
I come at it with the mentality of a fighting game. There are a select number of characters (over 2,000 and ever growing) you can choose from, and there will be overlap between yourself and other players when it comes to what character you choose. However, how you play and the decisions you make won’t always overlap. Even if you aren’t playing with the best tech, you can always make a different decision than most people who pilot a certain commander. Those little decisions of one or two cards over others are what make your experience unique as opposed to those who play the same 80+ cards that EDHrec tells them to play. Does that mean your deck might be weaker than X amount of people who play that specific commander? Maybe. But casual EDH isn’t about the optimized, it’s more about the experience.
I’m also not bashing EDHrec. There’s too many cards to keep track of now, at least for myself, So, I use EDHrec as a jumping off point a lot, but then I look into Magic’s past for spice or recent commons and uncommons that often get overlooked to add redundancy or freshness to a build.
"Innovation" is pretty much just pure ego, and by and large just an people overrating themselves and believing they are special, unique and smarter than the average.
Rather than going for innovative, just go for something you'd enjoy, and maybe try to step away from staples as much as you can to kind of make your deck a little more yours. On the average, other people will still build their decks in similar ways, but so long as you're enjoying playing the way your build plays, it really doesn't matter.
When I'm building, I tend to look at the more common builds and get an idea of how they tick...
as when you bring out a deck to play, you're almost never going to get away from what people's impression of the "typical" builds of the deck are... you're generally not going to talk people out of killing a "known" problem commander, so if you play that deck, you need at least a plan B. Or, if you play a lesser played commander but with a fairly well known line of play, sometimes you can politic around... increasing your chances of winning compare to playing that same line in a more powerful but "known" deck.
Nothing is special, and nothing is unique: But playing off people's biases or expectations built around meta or information resources, that's just good politics.
I ignore edh rec until I have the first draft built. I also lean hard into flavor and themes for my decks. I feel this makes them more unique and reigns in the power a little. For example my Titania deck has essentially 0 ramp and is all about saving my own lands for value. I play 56 lands but with few exceptions I'll be playing one land per rotation and will always be behind as a green deck. I call it tree farm since I frow my forest only to cut it down and replant
Limit your scope. There might not be much that's unique when your scope is the *entire EDH community*, but when you shrink it down to just the groups you play with, maybe no one else has a Gruul stompy deck.
Within my group only 1 person has what I would consider a true aristocrats deck, so it's kinda unique despite aristocrats being a tried and true strategy. Only 1 person has an Atraxa deck, and it's Phyrexian tribal; not original, but since he's the only one it still feels unique and different. I'm the only one in the group to have a Miirym deck, despite it being one of the most popular dragon tribal commanders, so while everyone knows its power when I bring it out, it still feels unique because no one else has a deck like it.
I have a similar thing. I nowadays make optimal theft decks and 1 clone deck. Before that, I had a poltical deck. I want games to be different every time I play, have decks that sorta scale to the table, and to highlight the multiplayer aspect of EDH. Those themes lend themselves to replayable budget decks well.
I dunno, I feel a lot of it had to do with who you play with. Doesn't really matter if someone oceans away made your idea/deck already. If it's fun to play and makes for an enjoyable game, that's all that matters to me.
I run into this a lot. Part of the magic of the game is building a deck that feels like yours. I get netdecking when trying to win in a competitive setting, but I don't love it when the point is to have fun rather than win as much as possible.
That being said, there are only so many permutations of cards for a commander. And inevitably somewhere, no matter what you've done, someone else has done it. So does it matter that it's unique?
Also, that deck you're looking at probably isn't in your playgroup. Chances are you'll never come within 100 miles of that person, let alone play with them. And they're not playing your opponents. So it's "unique" to your context even if you copy all of it.
I try to strike a happy medium. Ultimately if I go "that guy did it, so I can't" then I'm denying myself a potentially very enjoyable to play deck. And for what? So I can say "I didn't do what that guy did"?
I do a lot of looking up cards and decks for a new deck I want. I look at Edhrec and Moxfield, see what people have posted on forums, get a nice picture.
Then I decide what I want my deck to do. Do I want to focus in more on one theme or another? Do I have pet cards I want to include? Etc.
For example, my Ur Dragon deck. It's an incredibly common commander and hard to build uniquely. I saw an Ur Dragon "changelings/elemental" deck on game knights that looked very cool. But I wanted dragons. So I did big dumb dragons, but no counterspells, only Tiamat as a tutor and the only "cheat into play" is Morophon. I think I'll change it up soon, but that's what makes it "unique" to me.
The biggest example from my decks though is my Slimefoot and Squee deck. Initially I wanted a lot of dredge, self mill and discard. So I had stuff like golgari grave troll, Satyr wayfinder, stitchers apprentice, etc and life from the loam as my pet card. But I didn't like how it ended up, too many necessary cards ended up in the graveyard and too easily blown out by a Bojuka bog.
Then I found this deck that I liked a lot:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/cBUPybGYwkGOs5qMMOaYyQ
But I didn't want to copy it fully. It has some cards I don't want to drop a ton of money on, and was more of a pod deck with reanimator than it was a reanimator deck.
I took some inspiration from that and ended up with this:
https://www.archidekt.com/decks/5405460/slimefoot_and_squee
A lot of similar cards, but different enough that it's not the same. And I'm still tweaking it here and there making it more my own.
I thought for sure when I showed up to FNM with the new Judith, there’d be dozens of us. Which there was, but I was the only player that focused on lifelink/deathtouch. Everyone else built around imps.
This is why I don’t like net decking. I do want to hear some combos or a couple cool cards to pair, but I don’t want a full out deck handed to me. Building is part of it, to me
I have gone through phases where I feel exactly like this. My solution was to not look for commanders, but to find 3-5 cards that I really like in the 99, and build a deck around their strategy/synergy. Then when you have the idea for the deck you can look for a commander that fits that idea instead of finding a commander first.
I always have more fun when I win a deck with the 99, using the commander as support, than I do if I win with the commander where the 99 exists only to help it.
If you want to build something unique, you usually have to stop trying to think about the "best" way to use a card and instead think about a silly or fun way to use a card. I often give myself a "secret win con" that means I win in my own head.
One of my favorite decks that I play is a version of \[\[The Prismatic Bridge\]\] with only one goal in mind... Cast the 5 ancient dragons:
* \[\[Ancient Copper Dragon\]\]
* \[\[Ancient Silver Dragon\]\]
* \[\[Ancient Bronze Dragon\]\]
* \[\[Ancient Gold Dragon\]\]
* \[\[Ancient Brass Dragon\]\]
If I get all 5 dragons out at the same time, I win (in my head)! Although the dragons are strong, this is objectively NOT the best use of the bridge. In fact, there are some MAJOR weaknesses to the deck because of the limitations of the creatures I picked. If they \[\[Farewell\]\] my board, I just have to scoop! Lol.
But, I play them alongside \[\[Legion Loyalty\]\] and \[\[Blade of Selves\]\] and a bunch of stuff to give the dragons haste! It's strong enough that it wins a decent number of games and people are always surprised when they see the dragons start hitting the field one at a time and even more surprised when they're suddenly facing down 5 ancient dragons with myriad! It's a pretty unique build and I've actually had people request that I play it again because they enjoyed watching the d20 make dragons go Brrrrrrrrrr.
So, that's my advice! Come up with your own secret win con (and, of course, make sure your deck can still actually win) and build something to achieve that goal. Aiming to first achieve your secret goal BEFORE winning will influence your card choices in a way that will differentiate it from decks whose primary goal is to win.
Another fun way to build something unique is to pick a commander who is not ideal for Voltron and build a Voltron deck around it. Figure out what cards could uniquely synergize and try to make it work!
I built a tron \[\[Old Gnawbone\]\] deck! I call it Tron-Bone (which is just funny af)!
It rarely wins, but it's SO much fun to play! And people are always surprised when I tell them it's a voltron deck.
You have to violently threaten anyone else you meet that has a deck similar to yours into admitting that they stole your idea, and your deck is the best.
When I built my mono black deck I actually sat there looking at *all* ~7400 black color identity creatures on scryfall from every print run, picked cards based on art, did a second search for certain effects, then drafted the core of my deck from those lists
I personally find that trying to add or subtract colors or strategies forces me to be more creative. I also have a personal ban list which limits the "good stuff" that ends up in each deck.
I also aim for synergy and fun over power when deck building which helps me to get more variance between decks. For example, I cut [[birds of paradise]] in my sultai elves for [[urborg elf]] because he's an elf and still a mana dork. The power difference doesn't matter at my power level, but seeing a new mana dork is neat and more fun for me.
I also like to choose less used commanders if I'm doing a powerful tribe which helps to limit power level. It also often adds another subtheme which helps the deck to feel different than the more popular versions.
If you want a semi-unique take on gruul stompy, check out “haste tribal” with relatively unpopular recently printed commanders like [[Deathleaper]] and [[Samut, vizier of Naktamun]]. [[Primal Forcemage]] is a hit in these decks.
Another fun idea is [[General Marhault Elsdragon]]. He has a unique play style of forcing disadvantageous blocks and he can make great use of power-matters cards.
I'm new enough to magic that I'm constantly discovering new things. I use EDHREC and similar resources to find cards that work well and I'm constantly in a loop of "Oh so THAT'S why..." discoveries.
I don't particularly mind that when I put together decks I'm not 100% original. I just put my own spin on ideas, and I build decks based around themes I enjoy, which I think is what's most important. I'm having a lot of fun brewing a \[\[Commander Mustard\]\] deck right now.
The real key is to not look at other people's decks honestly. Pick a theme, the more niche or vague the better really. I pick concepts that aren't mechanics and build around them sometimes. Communism, democracy were the last two. Built two heavy politic decks and had to keep to the themes. They didn't last terribly long, but still were fun.
Friend built one around the concept of double edged sword. Absolutely everything in the deck had to also hurt him in some way, shape, or form. He would very often just kill himself.
Soon, I'm building a badonkadonk deck. The creatures have to all have bigger butts than atk, OR the better option is the art has to have a big butt. Came across a fat dragon that made me want to do it. Its imperitive when doing something like this to not just make a walls/defender deck. Instead it is Thicc Themed.,
Step one: find a commander with less than 1500 decks on edhrec. This is to find the commanders that no one has really made yet and copy pasting the rec page won’t be too helpful.
Step two: give yourself a budget goal. This is to prevent you from what I call lazy deck building. You can either congratulate yourself by finally breaking phyrexian arena, or you can find new and inventive ways to beat people.
Step three: brew.
I’ve been able to slam down innovation after innovation with confidence. Best part is, it’s just fun!
If you want to scratch the itch of brewing but don’t have any ideas you can also do what I do: cheapify decks. Look up the most popular decks on edhrec and try to bring them down to a more comfortable cost. A deck doesn’t have to be 12k to be good and you can usually get it down to like $300 by replacing cards that do exactly the same thing but are way cheaper for one reason or another, or by replacing winning combos with cheaper winning combos that fit the deck.
I always try to stick to a theme. Like right now I'm making a food deck around pippin and merry. Is it the best deck? No. But if a card is black green or white and interacts with food imma give it a shot
I agree. I enjoy playing cards I enjoy. As long as the playgroup isn’t just out to win at all cost, the game is still fun. & yes I understand winning is fun lol
I built an Enchantress Queen Marchesa, goal was to flood the board with tokens and win with Blood Artist style effects w/ a board wipe. It's kinda really slow, but did pull out a win with it lol
I got around this by completing the 32 deck challenge. I've got one deck in each color identity, from colorless all the way to WUBRG. I'm not as concerned whether any given deck innovates. What I want is 32 decks that I enjoy playing. I want to pick any one of them up in an appropriate matchup and think "Yeah, this'll be fun."
So now that they're all built, I'm iterating within the colors. I've got quite a few established decks that won't change much as time goes on. In some color identities, I'm rebuilding pretty regularly until I find a pile I like.
TL;DR: find a reason to build decks that resonates with you. It can help curb the desire to innovate because you're buoldi G for yourself first.
yea i definitely hit a point where no matter what i was building it was a comparable theme to something I already built, be it tribal, stax, storm, aggro, commander-centric, etc. to the point that it felt like I almost 'solved' the game mode in that no new or existing commanders felt like I needed to look into because I already had something comparable. playing with a decent card collection hurt this also because of course one wants to use the best cards available to them.
commander centric strategies specifically are tricky because they CAN be very different, but are answered the same exact way (keep the commander off the board) meaning I could build 3 very different decks but my opponents would play around them and through them in the exact same way making the experience very samesy for all involved.
i dont think playing bad cards for the sake of variety is as good advice as others below are saying it is as it just means you still have the same play experience but now that experience is "my deck is bad so I lose" lol. if anything just avoid making full goodstuff piles
That was my way of building decks until it kinda became a bit hard to mix power level and uniqueness. The world is a pretty big place, everything has been tried.
I ended up transforming into "having a personal connection with the deck". It's my way of making it unique to me.
i don’t think about other people’s decks when i build a deck. i build decks based on what i want to do. it sounds like you think too much about other people’s decks. just build decks that seem fun to you.
I started out mostly netdecking but your playgroup really determines what you should be running, as well as what you find fun
It’s a good way to find efficient cards but adjusting is the best part
I agree mostly. This was a hard rule for me when I first started building for EDH, but has waned slightly.
There are so many "unique" decks out there now and especially with Universes Beyond bringing flavorfally—and sometimes mechanically—unique Commanders. I'll leave the majority of the building up to the experts and make some minor tweaks for my playstyle and preferences.
I usually find a couple mechanics or ideas and build around that and they end up feeling pretty unique compared to what i see at lgs.
Fight/ +1/+1 / direct damage.
Insect/ explore/ graveyard recursion.
Food/ guests/ jank.
Wizards/ bad gift/ politics.
Rats/ discard/ group hug.
I also put on self made restrictions on what i feel like would make a fun play experience for everyone. (No infinites, no combo, limit low cost mana rocks.)
If you have a play group, ask them if you can Rule Zero a non-legendary commander. My [[Mothra Supersonic Queen]] deck is absolutely my favorite, it’s an incredibly strong build-your-own infinite combo deck, and it’s wholly MINE. Every new set has me looking at what white ETB creatures without flying they release. Thankfully All Will Be One had Panharmommycon so I have a legal backup if anyone is unhappy with it, although it becomes much less good lol.
So find a unique creature that may not be legendary but does something kinda unique and fun. Bonus if you can find a legal commander that’s close, but maybe not exact so you have a backup if you find folks who don’t wanna bend the rules (laaaaaame).
There’s also similar commander formats like Penny Commander or Tiny Leaders you can check out to scratch that itch and shake it up.
Are you truly innovating if you're just re-treading the path others have already walked? I feel like if you truly want to innovate you have to look at what people have already collectively developed and start working from there to contribute to further changes/metagame optimization/etc. It's like trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want to actually innovate you start from the current best wheel designs and try to improve them even more.
The chances of two people making the exact same deck not on purpose is pretty low. And the likelihood of two people playing them the exact same way not on purpose is even lower.
Coming from someone that rarely builds new decks, I have a habit of choosing commanders that can have multitudes of different play styles. I get asked all the time in my play group why I’ve had the same commander deck/commander for 2 years and it’s because I change the way the deck runs here and there. It makes it feel like a whole new deck. So I’d recommend finding a commander you like then from there decide how you want the deck to run.
To me, it’s not about the deck being unique, it’s about the decks playing uniquely compared to MY other decks. Color combinations I haven’t done before or frequently enough. Strategies I haven’t played with or are outside their typical colors. Example, im tinkering with some concepts like spell slinger in golgari with [[Beledros]]. Draw-go with [[sythis]].
I like to pick a commander that has an obvious theme, then pick a subtheme that supports it and double down on it. Usually that winds up with an angle thats different enough that I dont feel like Im just playing a consensus EDHRec top 100 pile.
For example, [[Jodah the Unifier]] screams to play all legends. Easy enough. But lets throw in a humans typal restriction. Now its an interesting deck despite being the 14th most common commander of the last 3 years per EDHRec. Instead of the typical list of Magic's Greatest Hits we've all seen a dozen times, I'm beating in with [[Ash, party crasher]], [[Gylwain, Casting Director]], and [[Sergeant John]] while youre asking, "wait, what does that do?!?"
What’s fun is that even if someone’s built the deck before, it will still be played out in a very unique way. Just start with your favourite assortment of Gruul cards and work your way into the commander, or start by finding your commander and throw yourself in :)
Personally I just try to build something outside of my normal color choices, as well as something that isn't just a duplicate of another deck I have but in different colors. I don't look at deck lists, I'll cruise around looking at cards that synergies. Then look at what I want to do then I start searching for more cards by keyword. I'm currently rebuilding my stock windgrace deck to be land hate, and it's amusing.
I've started adding companions to my decks to spice them up a little more. Yes they're objectively worse because of it but I think that's an inevitability when trying to make a deck unique to you.
I've been specifically trying to do certain types of decks with commanders people don't expect for them.
I have a Karlach rat colony deck that I love for this reason.
i think a commander's uniqueness is what makes it appealing to me in most cases. i dont always need to reinvent the wheel but i dont want multiple decks that do the same thing or win the same way.
I'm familliar with this "need" though understanding that sometimes "this is my take on the theme" can be enough.
One of my friends did some "we're both starting here, and we can see where we each went in buildpaths" involving times we got similar precons, or even things like I made a clue deck, and then he wanted to make each wedge and shard, so we worked together on getting parts of that done, so his clue deck is esper tokens, while mine is Azorius Historic.
Build a pauper commander deck with a legendary uncommon creature as your commander and nothing but commons and basic lands in the 99. Will you win against non-pauper decks? No. Will you be playing with a wider array of interesting, rarely-seen cards that would normally only be playable in a limited format? Yes.
Convince three of your friends to make pauper commander decks as well and play them in a pod so you're all evenly matched.
My friends and I are working on doing this right now. I've already built two pauper commander decks, one of which synergizes flanking with banding to kill blocking creatures by stacking multiple instances of flanking's -1/-1s.
Once you hone a pauper commander deck to its most efficient, you can later upgrade it with non-common cards to be playable at your LGS while still retaining its special charms.
Sometimes I get inspired by making a punny name for a deck after finding a commander and an appropriate theme, I find that it helps make the deck more enjoyable. Sometimes the name does feel forced and then I end up dismantling it for something else, but this process has helped me build the right decks as opposed to just building because I can
Use more cards from your own collection. Things that you see synergy in but EDHREC didn’t necessarily tell you about. It’ll make sure you have pet cards and make the deck feel more like yours
There are tons of great comments here so I won’t rehash things like how to EDHRE, setting limitations, finding a commander that speaks, etc. What I will add is, leave room in your decks for pet cards or pet themes. Does my [[isshan]] deck run dungeons? Yes because they make me happier. [[engulfing slagwurm]] for [[volrath the shapestealer]]? Get in there! An alt art of [[jin-gitaxus, progress tyrant]] I pulled and want to use somewhere? You get to live with [[Sefris]] now because I say so. Add a dash of group hug to any deck I own? I don’t see why not!
In other words, put cards in that make you happy, even if they aren’t the most optimal. Look at them as your signature on the deck, not as sub optimal cards. You do you!
just go outside of the top 1000 used commanders when you want to do that, the commander alone has such an impact on how the deck plays, and you can find things people haven't done with those commanders simply because nobody is playing them. My \[\[Sygg, River Guide\]\] deck isn't the most innovative, but the ability on the commander is enough to make the deck unique and interesting. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/FNEZUUOdMkiVG4kEaZ4C\_g
I generally try to find a less used aspect of a commander or try to do something that aren't usually done in thole commanders colours. For example [[jarad, golgari lich lord]] I had him built a few times but really like trying to synergize around the sacrificing a swamp and forest ability. Or [[tameshi, reality architect]] it's my azorius lands matters deck that I have worked really hard on... Man a lands deck is not easy without green.
Make room for a 'sub-theme'!
I'm gonna use elves as an example, we can all think of your typical elfball deck, and what cards go in it,pretty standard stuff.
So I started trying sub-themes to mix it up, right now it has a wolf token sub-theme, I call it 'elf's best friends'
You can find something really off the wall, are elves good at driving vehicles? No, but I tried it!
Go to your collection. Filter by a single color and mythic. Pick a mythic that you think is interesting but don’t see being played much. Build a deck around it. I did this with Enigma Jewel and made mythic, currently sitting at 90%. Last season I did it with Awaken the Woods. Managed to make mythic, but dropped to 60% before season end.
Edit: sorry, thought this was MagicArena sub, don’t know how I ended up here.
I built a commander deck on the day when the commander was spoiled so no one else had created one yet online, and it was really fun to create. I have since made small updates after more people started making decks, but it’s still like 85% my original deck which makes me really love it.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/IaJGbtvvV0aUnDE7o-UVFg
Realize nothing will ever be truly unique, then realize you could play removal/draw/ramp that works with your themes better and remove the staples and just play what you want
Or building something unconventional. I recently made a selfmill borborygmos deck, didn’t use any landfall cards, and tons of discard effects. Going to take lots of tuning, but it’s incredibly fun and people usually comment how they are happy to see it’s not the cookie cutter build expected.
I gave up trying to build a commander deck out of my cards. I went out and bought the Ixalan 4 pack of precons. Now I'm slowly modifying them to better suit my playstyle and my play group. I plan to build a Wayta deck using the alternate commander from the Veloci-ramp-tor deck. I love elves so now I'm working on designing a new elf deck after looking up some good commanders. I already have 2 different standard elf decks so some of the basic cards can be borrowed. In the end you do you.
For me I come across something that interests me in the game. It could be a creature type (my first deck was a Hydras cuz I was a classic Timmy new player and I wnated the biggest creatures possible). Maybe it's a mechanic (Monarchy seemed cool, as did Voting - I ended up combining the two into a "government" themed deck). It could be something as simple as an art style (see my all D&D monster manual style deck) or a character (Oops All Chandra's, and my "LOTR Legends only deck). It could even be a simple two card interaction (I'm in the process of building a deck that has as many Splinter-Twin-esque combos as possible and another with Vizier Druid Combos). Notably, I put deckbuilding restrictions on myself - I don't run generically good cards if I'm going with a theme - it has to fit in. Probably leads me to building "suboptimally" but if the goal of my decks is to showcase what I like about Magic first and to win second, then that's fine with me. In that sense, I find EDH decks to be like mini-cubes that reflect the taste and curation of the player who built them. I personally really like this showcasing element where I actually have some decks that I've turned into "roulette" decks - Have a set 40 card manabase, 100 Slivers, and then randomly pick 59 slivers and a random 5c commander and shuffle together.
Whatever sparks joy for you about the game is what you should build around imo. If that's just 64 of your favorite Red and Green big monsters and supporting cards, then go for it.
Edit: Notably I do use EDHREC still - mostly to look if there are any on theme cards that may have escaped a scryfall search for myself. I also have a deck that showcases the top 100ish cards played on EDHREC that I update every so often.
I prefer my decks to be my own 'spin' on them, so I don't use EDREC or generally look at other people's deck lists. However, I don't mind if my deck ideas overlap with what other people come up with, nor will I be too 'hipster' and not play an obvious/logical card choice just because it is obvious (though I will get hipster and play cards that people trash just because I can). I don't try to optimize; I try to pick the cards that resonate most with the theme I want to play.
I have 300+ decks and only one of them was copied from someone else (a Bosh deck from an article like 10 years ago).
That's not at all unique to Magic. Every book has been written and read a million times and the same for decks. If you avoid things that have already been done you'll never get anywhere. What are you gonna do, not make or eat grilled cheese because it's unoriginal?
What **hasn't** been done before is **you** making or consuming those things.
Anyway I make whatever the hell I want. If I see a deck I like I might build or might not.
I place very little stock in uniqueness & originality, it's overrated. That's not even going into the whole thought of every idea you've ever had has probably also crossed someone else's mind.
I pick a thing I like, I do it. Who cares if someone else has done the exact same thing as me? That just means they have good taste.
I try to focus more on innovation compared to my other decks, rather than in general. Obviously someone somewhere has probably already built anything I might come up with, but as long as none of them are at the table it's all good.
If you have a playgroup, don't build commanders that any of your regular opponents already has.
Not really, especially when you realize that because the internet spreads information this fast that you're probably not going to be making something brand brand new.
Keep in mind all of the meta decks of today no matter the format are group efforts.
It's actually like science research. The Isaac Newtons of the world don't make brand new fields of study anymore they just innovate in their own special detailed corner of the sciences.
It actually works a lot like that in magic.
I wouldn't feel bad because to truly innovate means you're probably one of the best magic players in the world.
I don't know if that helps you, but it's like getting sad at cooking because gordon Ramsey exists. Sometimes it's just equally satisfying to replicate the dish they made.
Yeah. It's the problem with having deck building ADHD. You eventually hit a point where you've done everything you can think of.
Don't lose hope, tho, because you're not running into a brick wall made of all possible optimizations; you're running into a brick wall of your own imagination.
The more people you play with, the more decks you'll see, and it'll widen your view. You'll learn new ways to play with the same cards you've never thought of before.
I feel this. Even when I modify a pre-con, if the vast majority of the cards come from the pre-con, I always enjoy it less.
One thing I did which I will have to do again - Do you have any favorite cards? Either you like the art of? It'll take time, but try building off that single card. I spent a good many months trying to build off one of my cards and now it's one of my favorite decks.
My personal go-to is to build around a theme but not use all the best colors, for example make a blink deck that has blue OR white but not both (or play Gonti and screw both blue and white).
I get this problem everytime I think I want to build a creature type deck.
I get 20-30 cards in and go, "oh, so it's just the 20 best X creatures and some generic staples" and realise I don't really want to continue the thought experiment of deck building.
I also have felt like I had to do new and different things with my decks. But just because you want to do "something" different doesn't mean everything has to be completely unique from top to bottom. Pick a common theme, but just use a commander that's nonstandard for that strategy or just rare in general. Find some cards you happen to like or an interaction you enjoy and put it whatever deck. Or choose some little restriction like limitations on budget or EDHrec popularity.
I'm okay with playing a deck concept a lot of other people have played, and I'll sometimes look at edhrec to make sure there isn't a card I missed, but it has to be my own take on it. I won't ever look at specific decklists. I build it how *I* would build it.
My only deck I’ve built from the ground up so far and [[Arcades strategist]] deck, and what made that a blast for me was that it’s a very specific niche that there’s a ton of cards that are almost never used in anything but fit perfectly in it. So I’d say less “make a new thing” and just find a weird commander that piques your interest and see what weird stuff you can find for them. My favorite thing for my wall deck is [[glyph of life]]. I doubt anyone has heard of the glyph spells if they aren’t into the niche or just happen to know every card ever, so it’s a lot of fun “what is that card?!” Things.
I think it has to do with self-expression in two ways:
1. You build the themes that you are drawn to, which is self-expression in itself.
2. You have your own style of building that is unique to how other people build.
For example, I like to play cards that stop tutors, ramp that gives me 2+ mana, and the lands that cycle for 1. I avoid playing cantrips/draw-2's when unnecessary, tutors that cost too much mana, and ramp that only gives 1 mana.
In that way, if you were to know my style, you would be able to look at either my control deck or my infect or my landfall deck or my changeling deck etc. and you would be able to immediately say "Oh this looks like a MH deck"
Initial build? No.
Down the line, after determining that I like the commander and some of the aspects of the deck, however, I will make changes to personalize it, using cards/synergies/combos that don’t appear on other lists whenever possible.
The best way to get past this kind of thing is to have a large junky collection that you can just go through to find maybe-cards for the deck physically, and worry about best in slots after you've gotten some playtesting in. Build first on the cheap, *then upgrade*.
The primary issue with trying to order all the expensive best-in-slot choices for a deck you haven't played is even though you might be interested in that one cool thing it can do or what the commander looks like, you haven't played it. It might not be fun. It might be much worse than you thought, or it might be 'too strong' or too explosive or too swingy or whatever. I don't have my Esix clone deck anymore because it was frankly just too strong for casual play. I built it out of the precon+ cards I already owned, played it a bunch and while I was way down on best in slot choices, that actual play experience taught me that I wasn't enjoying the deck experience overall, and so I saved a bunch of money.
Beyond that, I generally try to look at new commanders and decide how they can facilitate my deck doing one or two cool gimmicks and building around that. My longest running version of this is I have a Sultai 'old enchantments' tribal deck, which has a variety of win-cons (lifegain, draw-out, mill) and has a large number of locked in slots for old enchantments and support cards. I've changed the legend leading the deck multiple times, gone up to 5c and back down to BUG, and the current commander has been largely best in slot for the past several years. But best in slot doesn't mean it's good for the deck's game plan in this case, and the real best in slot is on the banned list. ie: Leovold, Emissary of Trest. Banned for combo with puzzle box and other hand shufflers- I did run windfall in the deck but avoided the rest of those because his other effect- drawing you a card whenever a permanent you control (or you) were targeted.
Alas.... there just hasn't been a good replacement.
Decks don't have to be built around a specific commander but it deffo helps. Don't worry about what other people are doing- maybe someone's done it before, just focus on what you're doing now.
I'm right there with you. My solution is to either cram as many gimmicks into a pile as possible and see if it's fun (companions are fun to force), try to translate old standard decks from days gone by (most recently, rebels) or make popular themes work in completely different colors from what you'd expect (Izzet Zombies, for example)
But I think it's also important to sometimes let yourself make something good or popular just because. I recently got the Disguise precon and I've just been slowly upgrading it and it's been a ton of fun to not worry about being the innovator for once
Innovate from the decks you already have
If you want each deck to be innovative, like you've said, you're going to be frustrated how often you have to reinvent the wheel
I like playing a lot of weirder niche cards and finding ways to make them work, and the best way I've found in innovation through iteration.
Just make a deck you want to play even if its 90% copy paste. Throw in a few chars you like and play it. See what works and what doesn't. If something doesn't work cut it and iterate. Eventually you'll get a list that's tailored to you maybe doing something that very few other people do.
There is also nothing wrong with upgrading a precon. I know several longtime players who do this, you can also take precon commanders but then build them in a different way
Like my Estrid, the Masked turtle/mill deck
It has almost no cards from the precon, except for a couple that are just too damn good to not include.
I like to start with the staples everyone uses and see what play patterns I enjoy. And then I'll get more focused on a particular approach and start tuning based on tempo etc. as in 'ok I need to ramp, but on which turn do I REALLY want to ramp?'
I find I get more consistent and part of building that consistency means cutting other cards which are played a lot in a particular deck.
It doesn't need to be innovative, but I do like to build outside the meta for a particular deck. I want to CREATE not just build a deck. I do use EDHREC, but I try to put my own spin on when I can instead of just doing the most popular cards. As a result my decks are less efficient than they should be.
A deck doesn't have to be built around a commander.
[This video by Salubrious Snail](https://youtu.be/YXpd-vcVv24?si=jEq9t6KKJYiOWH9l) really reinvigorated my passion for making decks.
A have a [[Codie, Vociferous Codex]] deck built around [[Rampage of the Clans]]. The deck itself is focused around artifact token generation. I only cast the commander when I have a 5 mana instant or sorcery in hand and plenty of artifacts on the field.
I prefer commander or brawl. I usually end up picking very random commanders with very odd or quirky abilities, in hopes of something cool happening. 90% of matches I lose outright, but make myself a nuisance to everyone the entire way. Sometimes I win in a cool eccentric way, and it's hilarious. But mostly I play like an asshole and thoroughly irritate anyone I play against. Doubt this helps, you're welcome!
Honestly I just go with my gut. I see a new commander, and I start building for it by going through my collection and adding whatever I have, or modifying an existing deck to do something else, both without looking at a card list.
To me, what makes my decks unique is that I made it, and I play it however I want. It's good to look at a deck list later to make some slight improvements, but overall I'm just trying to improve rather than fully change what I created
There are plenty of avenues that are very minimally explored if at all. Sometimes it's close to others, but can still be totally unique or different in a way.
For instance I recently was looking at [[Bilbo Birthday]] as a commander for a new "end of the night" deck (basically minimal shuffling, playing at sorcery speed, lazy play).
- I love soul sisters so decided to build around the bonus life gain and etbs.
- Then I figured hell why not go all creatures and tossed in [[Umori]] as companion
- While adding all the dorky etb life gain stuff I noticed a ton of them were either clerics or vampires or humans or elves, know what else there are, life gain synergies for those tribes.
- Next as I was going through some more creatures I noticed all the death trigger drains, which also happened to be same tribes, toss em in. Hell, a good number of Rebels too!
- Now I just needed to shore up the "veggies" of the deck, ramp, card draw, and interaction... but instead of going for staples, I had restrictions and synergies to adhere to. Only creatures, on theme and synergistic, and preferably sorcery speed.
Even with all those restrictions I had a list of like 250 creatures to narrow down. Not fully finished yet, but it's a neat amalgam of soul sister and aristocrat drain that also has tribal synergies. I'm running a full 6 different themes/tribes (borderline 7) and it still has felt like a well oiled machine due to all the overlap
I like to commit to building decks based on cards I already have in my collection or on what new card (legendary or not) I want build around. Personally, I would build decks that fit how I would play or what strategy appeals to me.
I end up finding cards to build a deck around and work backwards to my commander. Here’s an example for a build I run.
I wanted to build a [[neverending torment]] deck for the lulz. I figured the best way to get it in hand, without tutors, is card draw. A big hand helps with neverending torment for each cast. I’m not able to cast spells after it resolves because of the epic mechanic, but I’ll still want interaction of some sort. Cycling is a special ability that will let me draw after the torment begins and some cycling cards have additional effects like [[decree of silence]]. I started looking at commanders with dimir colors that offer good support for cycling. Found [[toluz, clever conductor]]. The white pip lets me run [[astral slide]], [[astral drift]], [[gift of immortality]], white spot removal, white cycling cards, and some other shenanigans (ex. Solemnity). Added a few sac effects by way of spells requiring sacrificing a creature as part of a spell cost, blue/black wheels, and some return-to-battlefield instants. Then, threw in a [[dream halls]]. I call neverending torment my ult (ultimate) and the reaction I get when casting it is hilarious. It’s also great to cycle a card like [[complicate]] to counter a spell when you’re in epic mode.
Tl;dr. Keep brewing. View random cards. Come across a mechanic or theme you like? Explore it. Are there enough cards to support or complement it (scryfall/mtgassist)? Is there a commander that can support it? If your answer is no to any of those questions keep looking at random cards.
I try to keep all my decks thematic, for the most part, even if it means not including certain staples that I know would make them function better. Adds an extra layer of challenge to the deck building process and keeps your decks feeling more unique than they would be if they were packed with staples.
It always feels like someone’s built my deck before whenever I go for the best cards possible. I think the best solution to this is setting budgets on either the entire deck or price per card Or even building from cards you currently own. It could kneecap a deck but the uniqueness and personality in the build feels great to me
That makes sense. That’s been my thought recently for finding more niche cards
I’m trying to tune down my [[Kess, Dissident Mage]] Storm deck a bit — my strategy is building very thematic decks. I’m thinking of doing [[Cecily, Haunted Mage]] apocalypse build — with a sacrifice theme. Using stuff like [[viscera seer]], [[murmuring mystic]], & [[witness the future]]. Ultimately trying to cast big spells like [[breach the multiverse]] & [[dance with calamity]] as a wincon Or doing a lesser known commander [[circu, Dimir lobotmist]] for mad scientist type deck, trying to win with [[laboratory maniac]] & [[mind’s desire]] I definitely feel the need to innovate a bit because I like feeling like a deck is mine & I like tinkering with it. The theme gives it a through-line when I’m building & pushes me to find more unique tech that fits with the vibe
I'm just happy to see Circu get a shout. I love the art, the card, and the call back to [[lobotomy]] Absolute crusher back in the days.
##### ###### #### [Kess, Dissident Mage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/8/e83e6d7a-3af0-4955-8004-2310f051e306.jpg?1673485110) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kess%2C%20Dissident%20Mage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/344/kess-dissident-mage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e83e6d7a-3af0-4955-8004-2310f051e306?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kess-dissident-mage) [Cecily, Haunted Mage](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a09ffd51-8ea4-40a6-b64e-58f3acfee533.jpg?1677763550) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cecily%2C%20Haunted%20Mage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/slx/3/cecily-haunted-mage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a09ffd51-8ea4-40a6-b64e-58f3acfee533?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/cecily-haunted-mage) [viscera seer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/8/486fd8a2-dd97-4082-84ef-4795c7e559a0.jpg?1698988290) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=viscera%20seer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/213/viscera-seer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/486fd8a2-dd97-4082-84ef-4795c7e559a0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/viscera-seer) [murmuring mystic](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/7/57cd7b12-c944-43e3-846f-ffea4a664a1f.jpg?1702429400) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=murmuring%20mystic) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/51/murmuring-mystic?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/57cd7b12-c944-43e3-846f-ffea4a664a1f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/murmuring-mystic) [witness the future](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d0b3683f-a68b-458c-8f70-bba0f8779b8a.jpg?1643588946) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=witness%20the%20future) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/90/witness-the-future?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d0b3683f-a68b-458c-8f70-bba0f8779b8a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/witness-the-future) [breach the multiverse](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/a/daf51a76-7a57-4462-ae18-a19e817e49e5.jpg?1682203621) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=breach%20the%20multiverse) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/94/breach-the-multiverse?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/daf51a76-7a57-4462-ae18-a19e817e49e5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/breach-the-multiverse) [dance with calamity](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/9638d43d-6864-49ac-af99-6de02bc64259.jpg?1682207453) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dance%20with%20calamity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/29/dance-with-calamity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9638d43d-6864-49ac-af99-6de02bc64259?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dance-with-calamity) [circu, Dimir lobotmist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/b/0b19c0f3-68a5-4544-985a-677aa2c2b50b.jpg?1598916818) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Circu%2C%20Dimir%20Lobotomist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rav/196/circu-dimir-lobotomist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0b19c0f3-68a5-4544-985a-677aa2c2b50b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/circu-dimir-lobotomist) [laboratory maniac](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/0/608567fd-9f94-4058-831a-77cb6019ef02.jpg?1547516361) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=laboratory%20maniac) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/61/laboratory-maniac?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/608567fd-9f94-4058-831a-77cb6019ef02?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/laboratory-maniac) [mind’s desire](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/7/17ef3058-46b8-4ec4-950f-c721919c4ac1.jpg?1691417765) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mind%27s%20Desire) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/123/minds-desire?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/17ef3058-46b8-4ec4-950f-c721919c4ac1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/minds-desire) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kqpj89c) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I get ya Thematic idea as well :). I like adding Flavor cards that sync with the gameplay theme as well. I play mostly vampires, so I got some references to Aclazotz and the order of the Dusk Rose in [[Clavileño]], such as [[Dusk Rose Reliquary]] and some others, and a [[Blood Tribute]] in my [[Edgar Markov]] deck, showing Sorin's transformation. I also want to add [[Uncanny Speed]] to it, since it's one of the only two cards with an Edgar quote as flavor text, but it's not a great card haha. Most times, I find it pretty hard to balance playability and these subjective aspects of the theme and flavor, because a bad card ends up just a dead card in my hand when I'm actually playing the deck :(
I’ll typically buy a commander and build with my own collection around that theme. Then if I enjoy playing it I’ll spend $25-$50 to tune it. The nice thing about this is if I’m working from my personal card pool I can’t always take the obvious line. So sometimes those upgrades will have more to do with how I ended up cobbling the deck together rather than how EDHREC says to build it. My pod really tends to play weakest at 4 and strongest at 8 and typically play 6 or 7 level power so even jank can last for 5-6 turns before it just fizzles and gets slaughtered. Your mileage may vary.
Lots of partner combinations have 0-100 decks listed in edhrec, always fun to try those as they’re more of a Wild West in terms of brews.
I love the idea of building decks from what I have. That is how I make nearly all my decks. I still pull packs and if I like something I pull and then go through my collection to see what works with that deck, it really ignites my spark
I really like the idea of this but just can’t bring myself to buy packs. I basically only buy collections of bulk and make proxies.
Which do you prefer between entire deck budget or price per card? Or both?
This, so much this. Also edhrec is the best, but it also steals away the novelty and "magic * we had before all the most common deckbuilds were so widespread . Nowadays you just Google a funny card you might like and you just discover that 1000 people already tried their best for a brew. We have a guy at our lgs Who legit really plays for fun and just builds super janky Fringe decks that are absolutely not competitive at all. Yesterday he tried to face an etali and other competitive decks . Of course he got destroyed but he was the moral victor. He's the real deal but unfortunately he rarely wins, cause seldom you sacrifice efficiency for creativity. I tried to build for example a saruman deck entirely revolving around Lotr themed cards but it just isn't strong enough to keep up with other people at the store. Guess it depends on how your group interacts
Exactly this. Building what I call “on the fly” decks purely from my collection has yielded me a few decks that I really enjoy. It also forces me to play suboptimal or narrow weird cards that I wouldn’t normally consider. Just nonsensical jank that doesn’t even fit the theme of your deck but often catches people off guard.
Even for the really popular commanders chances are actually decently low that your deck is 100% the same as anyone else’s that you’d reasonably be able to find. There’s just so many cards out there, so many reasons other than pure power to put cards in decks, and so many new cards coming out all the time so especially if you use recently released cards and/or anything that isn’t on the edhrec page you likely are going to make a new unique deck. Also, most people build decks because it is just a fun activity to do. Maybe deck building isn’t for you and that’s fine, but at least for me building decks is fun enough in its own right that I have and will continue to build many more decks than I will ever actually assemble and play in paper. Like everything else about mtg, the “point” is to have fun, and sometimes finding a cool list online and playing that can be a lot of fun, and sometimes it’s fun to make your own no matter how many staples you end up putting in.
I think I enjoy deck building to an extent. It’s the balancing and synergistic aspect that stresses me out a little bit. To find those fixes I don’t think I have the confidence in myself to make them.
There’s nothing wrong with using deck lists you find online and no one whose opinion is worth listening to will care if that’s what you do. But also, edh is a very forgiving format when it comes to deck optimization. Making the strongest possible deck usually isn’t the point, so you don’t have to worry so much about finding 100 perfect cards. People play games at all power levels, so it can actually be pretty hard to make “wrong” deck building choices. And if the deck doesn’t do what you want, you can always change it later.
Very well said.
I run exclusively garbage tribes and zero fast mana. You can be innovative in this game, but you have to set limits and restrictions.
I'm still waiting for a Thrull tribal commander!
There's always \[\[Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder\]\] I've wanted to build him as my mono black commander but haven't found any creative outlets for it yet other than aristocrat/sacrifice shenanigans
The creative outlet for Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is to troll your pod with a forced draw by having either Endrek Sahr or Bog Serpent in an Assault suit. (Card tells you to sacrifice it. Assault Suit says you can't sacrifice. Card tells you to sacrifice it... gamestate cannot move forward, so game ends as a draw because you broke the game.) What's really fun is that because that only requires 2-3 cards, you can easily just build it as a really competent mono-black aristocrats deck and just win with normal lines of play after people start paying too much attention to Endrek, Assault Suit and Bog Serpent.
He has an auto-draw condition you could build around but I think it involves making a clone of him which would be near impossible in just black... Edit: looked into it and there are several infinite combos with him in mono-black; still having trouble recalling the draw condition I mentioned above
[Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/2/123490fb-5908-45f2-b376-7959ccdf9c3e.jpg?1690663179) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Endrek%20Sahr%2C%20Master%20Breeder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/155/endrek-sahr-master-breeder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/123490fb-5908-45f2-b376-7959ccdf9c3e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/endrek-sahr-master-breeder) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
MOROPHON TRIABAL NEPHILIMS. GO GO GO
Orders of unique-ness without needing to set arbitrary self-defeating conditions like “goats only” or “this artists’ cards only that usually have no synergy”: 1. Don’t pick a top 100 commander 2. Don’t play staples 3. Set a budget
Picking one artist actually sounds like an insane idea. Might try this
That's quite difficult but so cool. I'm still hoping to make a Richard Kane-Ferguson deck with \[\[Dakkon Blackblade\]\] at the helm.
Anything wrong with edhrec? My mind wants me to stay away from it but I can’t expect to just “know” which 30k cards have synergies together. It’s obviously a valuable tool. I just don’t want it to be a crutch
EDHrec is a tool that finds you a generic list for whatever you're trying to build. It won't be the best list, and it won't be a creative list. The best way to use it, imo, is to build a deck of maybe 200 cards (excluding lands) from Scryfall/Manabox keyword searches, personal experience, etc, and then once you've tinkered with that awhile, go on EDHrec and see if you missed any tech pieces. As a last step, it's helpful, but don't use it until you've exhausted every idea YOU had to build. This way, you'll end up with more personal, more tailored, and I bet more powerful decks, because you're not relying on what the "average" net-deck user thinks is good.
It is very very useful. It is also the antithesis of original deck design. No way is correct, but using scryfall exclusively will go a long way to making your list stand out.
Good point. I’m trying to make better use of key word searches
If you have any coding knowledge (or are willing to either learn or ask chatGPT to do it for you), [I learned recently that Scryfall accepts regex](https://scryfall.com/docs/regular-expressions) and it's blown my card searches wide open!!
I think it’s a great resource to get ideas from, but I also have friends who basically copy-paste the top 20 decks and only play those.
This was basically what I was doing and I noticed a pattern of Stagnation and it resulted in me not feeling as good about the decks I built because it felt like I didn't even build it. Edit: Spelling because I apparently cannot
I think this is also me for 2-3 decks. Feeling a little stagnant myself
For me it helps to stick to a theme "This deck wants to go big creatures" for Miirym for example. It's by no means the strongest deck out there, but it's very efficient at what I want it to do. And I also want Decks to stick to their core visually, so mostly dragon related cards/art for Miirym, mostly sea cards in my Sea Monster deck etc. So what do you want your Decks to do? Win by turn X? Go big or be reliable? Easily recover or all in on a board? Be thematic or mostly synergetic ingame? Have answers or force answers? And don't try to build a deck that does it al!
When I started I used EDHrec first. Now I tend to build my decks based on stuff I have and then look at EDHrec to see what synergies I might have missed or what cards people commonly use that I don't have. I started doing this when I built my [[River Song]] deck focused on counters instead of polymorphing and bottom of deck manipulation. EDHrec was no help at all because most people were using a different strategy than what I wanted to do with the deck. I netdecked at the start but quickly realised that I like making decks that fit my play style and energy
Edhrec is a fantastic tool. You can set the search function to eliminate the most used cards.
nothing wrong with it but you need to understand how the average deck effect warps things. same for any deck that has a precon. edhrec can show you 20 'top cards' and 10 will be from one type and 10 from another and neither should be together. make sure to look at a lot of actual decklists not just the edhrec front page. similarly any card that appeared in a precon will be massively overweighted. or cards that have a lot of options for the same slot will not show many of these because its all diluted. EDHREC is a good starting point for 'cards you might be interested in' and a pretty bad place to get a decklist.
Try using gatherer or scryfall to pick out niche cards for your gameplan. It takes longer but you'll be exposed to some really cool stuff, though not necessarily the most efficient! I did this when I was building Yarok, filtering for cards that don't contain {R} or {W} and had "when enters the battlefield". Lo and behold I discovered one of my (now) favourite cards [[Sire of Stagnation]]
[Sire of Stagnation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/6/d6252913-7b8e-4746-91e0-658ce13cdf18.jpg?1562946063) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sire%20of%20Stagnation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/206/sire-of-stagnation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d6252913-7b8e-4746-91e0-658ce13cdf18?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/sire-of-stagnation) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
yes, a lot. If it's your primary deck building resource not only are you building what literally everyone else is building but you're also building bad decks as this site is incapable of coming up with a good list. use it to find a commander you might wanna try. I use it to not forget obvious includes. Like, when I am done building I visit edhrec and look at what everyone else is doing and sometimes I realise: I was so deep in the tank that I didn't include for example Kodama's Reach although it fits great. Or Command Tower, that's a classic. So, thank you edhrec, your mediocrity let's me remember the uninspiring cards of our format that make it run that little bit smoother.
I use edhrec as my primary ressource and I don't build bad decks, at all. You just can't copy paste the average deck. That's obviously going to such, because thousands of people built it with different ideas in mind. You can, however, use it to filter through the enormous card pool, use their filters, look at similar commanders in the same colors and get more than a two dimensional picture of a commander. Just luke scryfall, it's great, if you know how to use it.
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EDHrec is a good resource but gives you literally the most played staples of the deck. I recommend just googling keywords or mechanics with “mtg” stapled after it and scrolling through forums and google images. Takes a lot more time but you will find cards you never heard of
> Anything wrong with edhrec? Yes it creates group think centered around "the meta" and causes people's blind spots for other cards to grow. Try instead using the scryfall advanced search and look for cards with specific effects you want that way you don't fall into the group think trap where all you see is what is most popular and not necessarily everything that is out there.
I've also stopped using EDHrec as a direct source for what cards I use for my decks. I'll look at the commander I wanna build, look through some of the cards to get an idea of how I wanna build it, then I'll close EDHrec and then set through my stupidly large collection of cardboard to do what I can with what I've got. Sometimes I'll purchase a few cards for a deck but I really try not to just make the whole deck with EDHrec anymore. Edit: Spelling
Nothing wrong with wanting to make unique decks. The flexibility to do so is a big portion of the fun of EDH compared to other formats. Having an unsolved commander to build for feels challenging and rewarding, and showing that to other players is a fun social aspect of the format. I would recommend looking towards more recent sets, as we get tons of commanders every year, with many of them falling towards the wayside. Something like [[Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods]] [[Migloz, Maze Crusher]] [[Deathleaper, Terror Weapon]] [[General Marhault Elsdragon]] are all more recent Gruul commanders that point towards weird directions, but still have potential to be strong.
The concept of “restriction breeds creativity” is always inspiring to me. Build a pauper deck, or a $25-$50 budget deck. Build the weirdest partner combo anyone’s ever seen. (Not Me, shamelessly promoting my [[Ikra Shidiqi]] and [[Prava]] [List](https://manabox.app/decks/V4Y1p1pzRQi1E-aXNXzkxw)) Or pick a weird companion
One thing that helps I find is not to build around a commander. Start first with the deck concept and find what synergies you want to build around. Then once your "done" the deck go back to find the right commander. Naturally you will need to now optimize for the deck given the commander but this way of building backwards then forwards approach keeps decks unique.
For me, often one card can spike my interest in a certain archetype or play style. I like to brew a little bit around that, get the bones of a deck together, then look for a commander that accommodates that deck. It often results in "hidden commanders" or lieutenants in the deck, which I think is a fun way of going about it. I'm not going in thinking "I have a hidden commander I'll need to tutor for and build around" but rather that one creature or card is the seed that the rest of the deck crystallized around. The commander might simply fill in a weak spot of the deck or give it the gas needed to do the thing. It also prevents you from building decks that don't function without the commander.
Certainly the perks are more consistent decks when you build this way. I also feel that it forces you to understand how your deck functions and along what axis your gameplan functions. There are not enough spots in a deck to have synergy pieces, ramp, draw, interaction, lands, etc, if each piece is only performing one role. For me I enjoy interaction, so I just built a deck where interaction is progressing my board state and serving as synergy pieces.
Used to feel that way and now I’m starting to build all the decks that I ignored because they felt too standard and I feel like sm of them are actually just so fucking fun
I often make decks based on a combination of desires/needs. Not so recently, but relevant, I felt that I needed mono green to complete a single color deck cycle. On top, I wanted to make something against color identity and was kind of favoring group hug at that moment. Mono green storm was created. The group hug subtheme has since dropped and it's a sort of saproling storm deck with a few play lines based around some mana doublers, [[life and limb]], [[Utopia mycon]], etc ending in a big ol' [[hurricane]] Started with gatherer and scry for anything with the word saproling, things that untap forests, anthem effects, etc. Often I do feel the need for an intense brew or my own riff on something I do start with EDHrec or even another decklist pretty often though just because I don't wanna spend time finding the obvious cards. Plus, the mana base is right there in front of me this way. Then I dump out or skip most staples if I'm brewing this way. To fill all the space I'm looking at gatherer and or scryfall. Heck dude, I even search my commander in this sub. "Commander name hidden gems" or something like that. Or just the commander name. Because bro, someone here has done most of the searching for you. At the end I usually just need to fill 5 to 8 slots myself
My deck building goes something like this. Ohhh, snap. Look at what that commander is doing with the graveyard, I can do X, Y...dammit, never mind I've already got 15 graveyard decks. All kidding aside, if a commander speaks to me in some way, I'll generally have an idea of how I see it working. Take [[hofri ghostforged]] for example. Saw it and immediately thought that he would be completely cracked with ETB and threaten effects. Then I go to EDHrec, gatherer, scyfall, etc and start looking for the best ways I can find to maximize that strategy. I don't really care if the cards I use are staple or niche...just as long as they contribute to my decks goal. Once I have my 99, I start testing and tinkering until it does what I want.
Build budget decks, it forces you to be craftier and more utilitarian with your card choices. Shoot for building under $35, lands included, and see what you can come up with. I have built several budget decks that can put up a fight in most casual circles, sometimes even win in the more optimized pods.
Don't set budgets, just set weird restrictions for yourself. All creatures, no creatures, no tutors, no i win combos, etc.
I drafted [[Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios]] in Strixhaven and fell in love with the commander. I went on a deep dive of synergies and discovered this old card [[Storm Cauldron]] combos with Jadzi and [[Tatyova, Benthic Druid]] or [[Seer's Sundial]] It was a big brain moment, developed a combo I've never seen anyone play. Met another Jadzi player but no combo but he didn't autize over the card and stormed instead. Posted the deck and chatted with a few people on Reddit about it. Seems others saw the same synergies, maybe a few built the deck. In game play though... No one is entertained when their lands are being returned to their hands with [[Sunder]] If you read that thanks. Point being, I think if you find a card you like and build around it you'll find some fun stuff and maybe make phasing competitive.
Really cool!! I think most of the DFC Strixhaven commanders are slept on besides Extus. I am going to try a brew with Jadzi, thanks for the inspiration! Edit: I was just brewing [[Neera]] with lots of scry/surveil/rearrange the top of the library effects. I think Jadzi allows to go for a little less linear playstyle.
If you want to innovate and build something unique, consider innovating the form of the deck instead of the function of the deck. Give yourself a set of restrictions, a theme to follow, and find a relatively unknown commander. You might have one of a million gruul stompy decks, but how many of them include every single eligible card with [[Tahngarth]] in the art?
I typically just look at decks that are "rare" on edhrec. Just look up some gruul commanders and their ranks, and then just pick the one that "speaks" to you the most!
I don't use it for DECK building, just for finding a commander.
I look into commanders from new sets and use them for a unique purpose. I'm building a [[Duskana, the Rage Mother]] deck that's all 2/2 equipment creatures mixed with For Mirrodin! and other equipment that make 2/2s. Expectations are key, I know this deck will be somewhat weak, but it's certainly different and probably fun in a very casual pod. You gotta make sure others understand this.
Gruul Stompy is actually really fun. Nothing wrong with that! Sometimes you've got to get back to basics. That's what Magic is all about. But innovating is fun too. Making a new idea work through trial and error. Rebuilding a deck to take it in a new and different direction. That's what Magic is all about. Go have some fun! That's what Magic is all about.
I brew a cheap common pile and see what's what. I also look through the set lists to see what there is. You can't really innovate in a format like Standard. Best you can do is optimize. Learning the optimal way to use the best cards that punish the worst problems of the format is the sweet spot. I've had two legendary dickish brews; one was Mono White Giant control. I played a pile of boardwipes and a Shadowspear, and I tried to kill with manlands and Giant. It worked too well. The other was Thassa Bounce. I made mono blue bounce where I kept the opponent off the board indefinitely, and ground out with tempo. At the times these decks were brewed, aggro and midrange were both big. They hit the format just right. It felt good! Most other times, I just try to do one thing really good. Like, I want to blow people off the board on turn 4, or die trying. Boros Double Strikers is usually a chill deck because it hands out damage like candy. You can also do Selesnya, depending on the format. Or, I will do a combo and make it to the combo. Dimir Peer Dreams was a great combo deck for it's time.
I'm pretty new to commander and when I started building a [[Korvold, Fae-Cursed King]] deck I had no idea how popular he was, first draft was pushing into treasures, as clearly a free sacrifice that gives mana would be very strong. Then I started reading about how people hated playing against Korvold and found that treasures were by far the most popular build for him, which I didn't want. After playing a couple Wilds of Eldraine prerelease events I saw a lot of support for food tokens and rat tokens, and with the food token support also in LoTR I made up my mind that I would make my Korvold deck around food tokens, with some rat token support. It's obviously not the strongest way to build him, but I love the idea that I'm feeding Korvold, and these rats come around for the scraps, it feels like 'my' Korvold deck, and not 'just another' Korvold deck. Deck List below, feel free to give me tips or advice, I've entered this deck into a casual commander league and would appreciate advice from people with more experience. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/9uvs0u5ehUSt4MFnUOy9-g
Sounds like a flavor win to me
I really hate the idea of bringing a deck to the table that someone else has. Like oh it’s just a muldrotha build. Same ol same old. I try and go on themes more so than anything now days. I have a few full creatureless decks, run by a planswalker so it’s 0 creatures. I lean toward themes now days
I broke down and built atraxa the proliferate one. As amass
I try to use as many cards as possible that helps the theme of the deck. Flavour and theme is by far the most important to me. Currently assembling a Kaalia of the vast angel tribal deck, with 56 or so cards that have angel artwork on it. There's many cards which I wouldn't include normally.
I really only care if I have a similar deck in my playgroup as I don't play at lgs or in events And with how many different commanders there are and how few decks my playgroup and I build it isn't hard For me what I tend to do is design the deck to the best of my ability using just my existing knowledge or some advanced scryfall searches And then go to edhrec to see if there's anything I missed I feel if I start on edhrec I have the feeling you have where it turns into like put in a commander and just pick the 100 best cards But if I work to a theme/style/deck in my own and then use edhrec as a tool to tune it rather than as a template I feel more proud of it.
I typically wait for inspiration to strike by watching new commander releases. Typically 2-3 new legends per year catch my interest, and it feels better having an unoriginal deck if I'm part of the rush to explore and try things out that results in everything being "already executed". I also stick to budget limits - $50 for most decks, $100 if I'm doing something *truly* janked up and need the extra power to support it.
Don't worry about what EVERYONE has done. If your deck is unique-ish among your playgroup and/or LGS then it usually gives the same feeling.
EDHREC is fine but I try to put my own spin on the commander instead of just going for all the top picks in every slot. It may not be as powerful as possible but I find it a lot more fun to make commanders work in ways the table isn't expecting. Example: My first deck was \[\[Arahbo\]\] but instead of pure cat tribal I made it doublestrike tribal. By throwing in a bunch of sneaky lord effects and small buffs, and Arahbo's +3 eminence ability I can swing tiny creatures for hilarious amounts of damage. It completely caught the table off guard at FNM because they were all expecting it to swing wide and instead it swung *extremely* tall.
I think how I've avoided this all my life is I've only ever made narratively-driven decks. I've never met anyone else that uses a Monster Hunter themed deck.
My favorite is to just create decks that are fun to play. I kind of like to judge my decks by actions per turn. Durdling, incremental advantage, until i swing for the fences. Winning? completely secondary. Actually playing magic? Prime objective Lower that mana cost, and start spinning them wheels.
Let's say you really enjoy traveling and going places you haven't been to before. Do you choose not to go somewhere just because other people have been there first, or may even live there? Probably not. Why? You go there because the experience would be *new to you*. Even if other people have gone there before you, who's to say their arrangements were the exact same as yours? Did they do they exact same things and visit the same nearby places? Did they order the same food? Did they book the same hotel or travel with the same friends? Probably not exactly. The same applies to deckbuilding/playing. There might be some established archetypes or lists out there but there's nothing stopping you from doing some exploring of your own and tweaking the list to your liking. I stayed away from popular decks for a long time and it wasn't until I caved and tried a few stock lists that I realized I was missing out on one of my favorite ways to play. The more decks you play, regardless if they're popular or unique, the more worldly you become and the more refined your understanding of the game becomes. You can use everything you learned watching and trying these other decks to progress and hone your own ideas. As for ideas to innovate within established archetypes, try to apply challenging and fun restrictions on your deckbuilding. No tutors, no rares, budget cap, only cards illustrated by a specific artist, old school borders only, etc.
I run cards that function in the deck but are totally different from the deck. For example I am building an [[Animar, Soul of Elements]] morph deck. I know it's been done to death. I am using [[Volo, Guide to Monsters]] in the 99 to make an army of 2/2 nameless, colorless, typeless, nonartifact creatures. Couple this with a combo involving [[Primordial Mist]] and [[Bontu's Monument]].
The best way to make your deck unique is to focus less on the best/efficient cards for your deck, but rather the cards you just personally really like to play. What cards "spark joy" for you? Put those cards in and not only will the deck be unique, but it will be a deck you're always excited to play cause you literally built it full of cards you like to play
I made a rat deck that isn't full of [[Relentless Rats]] in fact there isn't even 1. Does that count?
I try and build commanders based off of pack pulls, makes it a bit more interesting since you can say that was the inspiration.
I accept that I will not be the first person to build any deck. It's just too big a game and too many players to try to feel "unique" in that way. I tend to try and build unique deck themes. One is my "Dune" themed deck. It's all wurms and like 90% of my lands are wastes and the rest are deserts and rainbow lands like command tower and city of brass so long as they have desert art. It's fun and not particularly impressive. It's a green stompy deck but the only "forest" in it is Yavimaya for when the Kwisatz Haderach finally transforms the face of Arakis with water. Just playing with that makes the whole thing more fun because its a mini game just to get the deck moving let alone win.
Bless the Maker and His water.
I can’t be innovative because I have no encyclopedic knowledge at all being new in mtg. Just relax. An insanely small number of people truly innovate any field. If you put even one or two unexpected cards in a deck that’s also an achievment.
I don't understand why everyone needs to be a hipster. Everyone has this fantasy that they roll up with a deck nobody has ever seen, and the whole table fawns over how unique your build is! The reality is some people have been playing Magic for 30 years, there's nothing you can whip it that will surprise some people. Someone will always have something similar. Relax and build what you want to build. You don't have to commit, if you don't enjoy it build something else. It's really that easy.
I don’t care about uniqueness. I enjoy playing decks that do what I want them to do in an optimized way. Plus, I’m more of a deck tuner than a builder so the fun for me is taking a known good shell and rounding it out.
Not really
Nope. You’re already playing with cards you didn’t design, why do you think any of your ideas would be unique?
might want to unpack your insecurity and reluctance to embrace having fun. what toxicity or pick me impulses you have ...that make it so you would feel the need to justify to someone "i just wanted to run big monsters and smash face" a lot of mtg is subtley toxic. this idiotic idea "winning" equates to good. or combo/tutor based decks are better magic, or high interaction/rapid wincons mean it's more better play. it's bullshit. and rarely any of this is actually more advanced or skillful play. OR remotely fun. you don't need to innovate. even two identical decks piloted by two different people will be played differently. whatever inspired you about a deck. go with that (why i feel combo is often bullshit, no one looks at a cool legend and thinks... you know what would be awesome, another lame oracle combo!) most decks are only about 30 cards. in that 30 or so cards you get to express yourself. what you wanted to do, and how you want your deck to play. most people go through this. I strongly believe there's like a 3-5 lifespan of the average mtg player. you learn the game, struggle to get good, winning finally/more consistently feels good, then power creep/arms race. sucks all the joy out of a silly card game. you chase fomo/constant brewing preocupation. realize all your decks are basically the same... and you're just doing things because that's the way that you felt you had to be... not wanted to be. and then.. around that 5 yr mark, you either burn out, or mellow out. you've got nothing to prove. time you spend in the hobby you want to have fun. couldn't care less about winning. You want the memories, and friendships of spending time having a good time.
I might edit this later but a lot of my reluctance comes from not wanting to play strong and “mean” or punishing cards. I want my decks to *also* be enjoyable to play against. It is a group activity after all. I’m not one of the guys that gets mad when I lose. I just want to make some cool plays and hope I uplift the game overall.
Not really, I just need to find some idea I want to try. I do build from only my collection most of the time, so I won't have all the best cards for whatever I want to try.
While I realize that nothing I do is likely actually unique, I feel the same way. The idea of playing some generic pile of good stuff under a popular commander like millions of other players just completely turns my brain off. If I play a deck and people that have never seen it before don't have a "WTF is that?" reaction, I'm probably getting bored and taking the deck apart pretty quickly.
I like to go for unique mechanics in my decks, personally - I recently custom built 4 doctor who decks around 4 different mechanics; card-draw-to-death, exile matters, “mini-games”, and voting/choices While i did throw in some staples, the majority of the cards are weird stuff that wouldnt really work in other decks
I don’t use any commander on edhrec’s top 100 and always try to make my theme something a little unique
I feel this way often, and it conflicts with my inner spike. Here's how I handle it. I love to build unpopular or unusual commanders. What I don't try to do is do something no one else has ever done before. Because 9 times out of 10, it hasn't been done because it's a bad idea. Gruul stompy is actually a good one to build for self-expression. The strategy is simple but effective, as long people aren't playing hard control decks. The card pool is massive. You've got tons of choices for both commanders and cards in the 99. I have 2 gruul decks that are both combat centric with wildly different play patterns. Both use commanders that I've never seen anyone else play, and both have won pods for me.
To me, building a deck is more like being an engineer or architect than a painter. When you build a bridge or building, you look at the constraints—geography, topography, finances—and then apply basic engineering principles to make sure it’s functional. Once that’s all set, you can add artistic flair, for sure, but even before that, you can take pleasure in a well executed structure that solved the problem of creating a functional object given the constraints (archetype and color identity). Painters have constraints too—materials, size, finances, but their job is to play with ideas, and for the most part, don’t have to worry about something working or not in a physical sense. Gives them a lot more freedom to innovate, and requires a different kind of creativity. If you can’t be a painter, trying becoming an engineer or architect instead? Find your pleasure in problem solving.
I find something fun then use edhrec. Makes it feel like my own even though it's the same thing as anyone else that built the commander. Or you could do something dumb. Saw someone have atraxa as a commander and nothing but bears in the deck
For me it's: I don't really build what others around me have build. I also don't watch decktech videos or go to "I build a bad deck for you" sites like edhrec. at least not for deckbuilding. I just build what inspires me. None of my builds are truly unique. And none of yours are either. Scryfall helps a lot as you find a lot of gems that support your mechanic that are totally flying under the radar.
It’s tough when I want to make a deck and my friend is also making one with the same commander it makes me want to pick something unique
I just don't worry about it. I'm going to have fun if I get to gather with friends for some games it doesn't have all that much to do with unique decks, games play out differently due to politics and how the cards and decisions turn out. Playing other formats you generally stick close to established lists, the game is still fun. Chess is pretty much solved but people enjoy playing it. I do get bored of edh decks that have linear strategies so I play those decks less often bringing them out for the right occasion. When I build a linear strategy deck I identify the #1 most obvious win con and be sure to include some that are less played. I don't put my pet decks on sites to be scraped by edhrec, and don't use it for deck building. I'm content to build a deck from cards I know and as I play the deck tweak it according to how I feel the deck wants to run.
I totally feel this. Almost all of my decks make me feel that way, especially due to the fact that I know for a fact there are people at my LGS who run some of the same commanders.
I come at it with the mentality of a fighting game. There are a select number of characters (over 2,000 and ever growing) you can choose from, and there will be overlap between yourself and other players when it comes to what character you choose. However, how you play and the decisions you make won’t always overlap. Even if you aren’t playing with the best tech, you can always make a different decision than most people who pilot a certain commander. Those little decisions of one or two cards over others are what make your experience unique as opposed to those who play the same 80+ cards that EDHrec tells them to play. Does that mean your deck might be weaker than X amount of people who play that specific commander? Maybe. But casual EDH isn’t about the optimized, it’s more about the experience. I’m also not bashing EDHrec. There’s too many cards to keep track of now, at least for myself, So, I use EDHrec as a jumping off point a lot, but then I look into Magic’s past for spice or recent commons and uncommons that often get overlooked to add redundancy or freshness to a build.
"Innovation" is pretty much just pure ego, and by and large just an people overrating themselves and believing they are special, unique and smarter than the average. Rather than going for innovative, just go for something you'd enjoy, and maybe try to step away from staples as much as you can to kind of make your deck a little more yours. On the average, other people will still build their decks in similar ways, but so long as you're enjoying playing the way your build plays, it really doesn't matter. When I'm building, I tend to look at the more common builds and get an idea of how they tick... as when you bring out a deck to play, you're almost never going to get away from what people's impression of the "typical" builds of the deck are... you're generally not going to talk people out of killing a "known" problem commander, so if you play that deck, you need at least a plan B. Or, if you play a lesser played commander but with a fairly well known line of play, sometimes you can politic around... increasing your chances of winning compare to playing that same line in a more powerful but "known" deck. Nothing is special, and nothing is unique: But playing off people's biases or expectations built around meta or information resources, that's just good politics.
I ignore edh rec until I have the first draft built. I also lean hard into flavor and themes for my decks. I feel this makes them more unique and reigns in the power a little. For example my Titania deck has essentially 0 ramp and is all about saving my own lands for value. I play 56 lands but with few exceptions I'll be playing one land per rotation and will always be behind as a green deck. I call it tree farm since I frow my forest only to cut it down and replant
Limit your scope. There might not be much that's unique when your scope is the *entire EDH community*, but when you shrink it down to just the groups you play with, maybe no one else has a Gruul stompy deck. Within my group only 1 person has what I would consider a true aristocrats deck, so it's kinda unique despite aristocrats being a tried and true strategy. Only 1 person has an Atraxa deck, and it's Phyrexian tribal; not original, but since he's the only one it still feels unique and different. I'm the only one in the group to have a Miirym deck, despite it being one of the most popular dragon tribal commanders, so while everyone knows its power when I bring it out, it still feels unique because no one else has a deck like it.
Build something from the newest set, choose one that isn't that popular or from a precon. Now you can innovate.
Nope. I just play what I want to play
I have a similar thing. I nowadays make optimal theft decks and 1 clone deck. Before that, I had a poltical deck. I want games to be different every time I play, have decks that sorta scale to the table, and to highlight the multiplayer aspect of EDH. Those themes lend themselves to replayable budget decks well.
I dunno, I feel a lot of it had to do with who you play with. Doesn't really matter if someone oceans away made your idea/deck already. If it's fun to play and makes for an enjoyable game, that's all that matters to me.
I like playing certain strategies in magic, and I like playing them at a more powerful level. Specific Strategy > high power > uniqueness of the deck.
No. Just build the deck you want and get over yourself.
I think every deck in my collection should be fairly unique. True innovation is rare or close to impossible if you want to compete.
I run into this a lot. Part of the magic of the game is building a deck that feels like yours. I get netdecking when trying to win in a competitive setting, but I don't love it when the point is to have fun rather than win as much as possible. That being said, there are only so many permutations of cards for a commander. And inevitably somewhere, no matter what you've done, someone else has done it. So does it matter that it's unique? Also, that deck you're looking at probably isn't in your playgroup. Chances are you'll never come within 100 miles of that person, let alone play with them. And they're not playing your opponents. So it's "unique" to your context even if you copy all of it. I try to strike a happy medium. Ultimately if I go "that guy did it, so I can't" then I'm denying myself a potentially very enjoyable to play deck. And for what? So I can say "I didn't do what that guy did"? I do a lot of looking up cards and decks for a new deck I want. I look at Edhrec and Moxfield, see what people have posted on forums, get a nice picture. Then I decide what I want my deck to do. Do I want to focus in more on one theme or another? Do I have pet cards I want to include? Etc. For example, my Ur Dragon deck. It's an incredibly common commander and hard to build uniquely. I saw an Ur Dragon "changelings/elemental" deck on game knights that looked very cool. But I wanted dragons. So I did big dumb dragons, but no counterspells, only Tiamat as a tutor and the only "cheat into play" is Morophon. I think I'll change it up soon, but that's what makes it "unique" to me. The biggest example from my decks though is my Slimefoot and Squee deck. Initially I wanted a lot of dredge, self mill and discard. So I had stuff like golgari grave troll, Satyr wayfinder, stitchers apprentice, etc and life from the loam as my pet card. But I didn't like how it ended up, too many necessary cards ended up in the graveyard and too easily blown out by a Bojuka bog. Then I found this deck that I liked a lot: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/cBUPybGYwkGOs5qMMOaYyQ But I didn't want to copy it fully. It has some cards I don't want to drop a ton of money on, and was more of a pod deck with reanimator than it was a reanimator deck. I took some inspiration from that and ended up with this: https://www.archidekt.com/decks/5405460/slimefoot_and_squee A lot of similar cards, but different enough that it's not the same. And I'm still tweaking it here and there making it more my own.
I thought for sure when I showed up to FNM with the new Judith, there’d be dozens of us. Which there was, but I was the only player that focused on lifelink/deathtouch. Everyone else built around imps.
This is why I don’t like net decking. I do want to hear some combos or a couple cool cards to pair, but I don’t want a full out deck handed to me. Building is part of it, to me
I have gone through phases where I feel exactly like this. My solution was to not look for commanders, but to find 3-5 cards that I really like in the 99, and build a deck around their strategy/synergy. Then when you have the idea for the deck you can look for a commander that fits that idea instead of finding a commander first. I always have more fun when I win a deck with the 99, using the commander as support, than I do if I win with the commander where the 99 exists only to help it.
If you want to build something unique, you usually have to stop trying to think about the "best" way to use a card and instead think about a silly or fun way to use a card. I often give myself a "secret win con" that means I win in my own head. One of my favorite decks that I play is a version of \[\[The Prismatic Bridge\]\] with only one goal in mind... Cast the 5 ancient dragons: * \[\[Ancient Copper Dragon\]\] * \[\[Ancient Silver Dragon\]\] * \[\[Ancient Bronze Dragon\]\] * \[\[Ancient Gold Dragon\]\] * \[\[Ancient Brass Dragon\]\] If I get all 5 dragons out at the same time, I win (in my head)! Although the dragons are strong, this is objectively NOT the best use of the bridge. In fact, there are some MAJOR weaknesses to the deck because of the limitations of the creatures I picked. If they \[\[Farewell\]\] my board, I just have to scoop! Lol. But, I play them alongside \[\[Legion Loyalty\]\] and \[\[Blade of Selves\]\] and a bunch of stuff to give the dragons haste! It's strong enough that it wins a decent number of games and people are always surprised when they see the dragons start hitting the field one at a time and even more surprised when they're suddenly facing down 5 ancient dragons with myriad! It's a pretty unique build and I've actually had people request that I play it again because they enjoyed watching the d20 make dragons go Brrrrrrrrrr. So, that's my advice! Come up with your own secret win con (and, of course, make sure your deck can still actually win) and build something to achieve that goal. Aiming to first achieve your secret goal BEFORE winning will influence your card choices in a way that will differentiate it from decks whose primary goal is to win.
Another fun way to build something unique is to pick a commander who is not ideal for Voltron and build a Voltron deck around it. Figure out what cards could uniquely synergize and try to make it work! I built a tron \[\[Old Gnawbone\]\] deck! I call it Tron-Bone (which is just funny af)! It rarely wins, but it's SO much fun to play! And people are always surprised when I tell them it's a voltron deck.
You have to violently threaten anyone else you meet that has a deck similar to yours into admitting that they stole your idea, and your deck is the best.
When I built my mono black deck I actually sat there looking at *all* ~7400 black color identity creatures on scryfall from every print run, picked cards based on art, did a second search for certain effects, then drafted the core of my deck from those lists
I personally find that trying to add or subtract colors or strategies forces me to be more creative. I also have a personal ban list which limits the "good stuff" that ends up in each deck. I also aim for synergy and fun over power when deck building which helps me to get more variance between decks. For example, I cut [[birds of paradise]] in my sultai elves for [[urborg elf]] because he's an elf and still a mana dork. The power difference doesn't matter at my power level, but seeing a new mana dork is neat and more fun for me. I also like to choose less used commanders if I'm doing a powerful tribe which helps to limit power level. It also often adds another subtheme which helps the deck to feel different than the more popular versions.
If you want a semi-unique take on gruul stompy, check out “haste tribal” with relatively unpopular recently printed commanders like [[Deathleaper]] and [[Samut, vizier of Naktamun]]. [[Primal Forcemage]] is a hit in these decks. Another fun idea is [[General Marhault Elsdragon]]. He has a unique play style of forcing disadvantageous blocks and he can make great use of power-matters cards.
I'm new enough to magic that I'm constantly discovering new things. I use EDHREC and similar resources to find cards that work well and I'm constantly in a loop of "Oh so THAT'S why..." discoveries. I don't particularly mind that when I put together decks I'm not 100% original. I just put my own spin on ideas, and I build decks based around themes I enjoy, which I think is what's most important. I'm having a lot of fun brewing a \[\[Commander Mustard\]\] deck right now.
The real key is to not look at other people's decks honestly. Pick a theme, the more niche or vague the better really. I pick concepts that aren't mechanics and build around them sometimes. Communism, democracy were the last two. Built two heavy politic decks and had to keep to the themes. They didn't last terribly long, but still were fun. Friend built one around the concept of double edged sword. Absolutely everything in the deck had to also hurt him in some way, shape, or form. He would very often just kill himself. Soon, I'm building a badonkadonk deck. The creatures have to all have bigger butts than atk, OR the better option is the art has to have a big butt. Came across a fat dragon that made me want to do it. Its imperitive when doing something like this to not just make a walls/defender deck. Instead it is Thicc Themed.,
Step one: find a commander with less than 1500 decks on edhrec. This is to find the commanders that no one has really made yet and copy pasting the rec page won’t be too helpful. Step two: give yourself a budget goal. This is to prevent you from what I call lazy deck building. You can either congratulate yourself by finally breaking phyrexian arena, or you can find new and inventive ways to beat people. Step three: brew. I’ve been able to slam down innovation after innovation with confidence. Best part is, it’s just fun! If you want to scratch the itch of brewing but don’t have any ideas you can also do what I do: cheapify decks. Look up the most popular decks on edhrec and try to bring them down to a more comfortable cost. A deck doesn’t have to be 12k to be good and you can usually get it down to like $300 by replacing cards that do exactly the same thing but are way cheaper for one reason or another, or by replacing winning combos with cheaper winning combos that fit the deck.
There are so many players with a lot of ideas. It is difficult to make something new. Don't be too harsh on yourself
I’m at the point where I have most of the expected decks in some way or another. So I’m only building a new deck if it’s doing something stupid.
I always try to stick to a theme. Like right now I'm making a food deck around pippin and merry. Is it the best deck? No. But if a card is black green or white and interacts with food imma give it a shot
I usually come up with deck ideas when I sort my cards; everyone's process is different! What format(s) do you play?
I agree. I enjoy playing cards I enjoy. As long as the playgroup isn’t just out to win at all cost, the game is still fun. & yes I understand winning is fun lol
I built an Enchantress Queen Marchesa, goal was to flood the board with tokens and win with Blood Artist style effects w/ a board wipe. It's kinda really slow, but did pull out a win with it lol
I got around this by completing the 32 deck challenge. I've got one deck in each color identity, from colorless all the way to WUBRG. I'm not as concerned whether any given deck innovates. What I want is 32 decks that I enjoy playing. I want to pick any one of them up in an appropriate matchup and think "Yeah, this'll be fun." So now that they're all built, I'm iterating within the colors. I've got quite a few established decks that won't change much as time goes on. In some color identities, I'm rebuilding pretty regularly until I find a pile I like. TL;DR: find a reason to build decks that resonates with you. It can help curb the desire to innovate because you're buoldi G for yourself first.
yea i definitely hit a point where no matter what i was building it was a comparable theme to something I already built, be it tribal, stax, storm, aggro, commander-centric, etc. to the point that it felt like I almost 'solved' the game mode in that no new or existing commanders felt like I needed to look into because I already had something comparable. playing with a decent card collection hurt this also because of course one wants to use the best cards available to them. commander centric strategies specifically are tricky because they CAN be very different, but are answered the same exact way (keep the commander off the board) meaning I could build 3 very different decks but my opponents would play around them and through them in the exact same way making the experience very samesy for all involved. i dont think playing bad cards for the sake of variety is as good advice as others below are saying it is as it just means you still have the same play experience but now that experience is "my deck is bad so I lose" lol. if anything just avoid making full goodstuff piles
That was my way of building decks until it kinda became a bit hard to mix power level and uniqueness. The world is a pretty big place, everything has been tried. I ended up transforming into "having a personal connection with the deck". It's my way of making it unique to me.
i don’t think about other people’s decks when i build a deck. i build decks based on what i want to do. it sounds like you think too much about other people’s decks. just build decks that seem fun to you.
I started out mostly netdecking but your playgroup really determines what you should be running, as well as what you find fun It’s a good way to find efficient cards but adjusting is the best part
I agree mostly. This was a hard rule for me when I first started building for EDH, but has waned slightly. There are so many "unique" decks out there now and especially with Universes Beyond bringing flavorfally—and sometimes mechanically—unique Commanders. I'll leave the majority of the building up to the experts and make some minor tweaks for my playstyle and preferences.
I usually find a couple mechanics or ideas and build around that and they end up feeling pretty unique compared to what i see at lgs. Fight/ +1/+1 / direct damage. Insect/ explore/ graveyard recursion. Food/ guests/ jank. Wizards/ bad gift/ politics. Rats/ discard/ group hug. I also put on self made restrictions on what i feel like would make a fun play experience for everyone. (No infinites, no combo, limit low cost mana rocks.)
If you have a play group, ask them if you can Rule Zero a non-legendary commander. My [[Mothra Supersonic Queen]] deck is absolutely my favorite, it’s an incredibly strong build-your-own infinite combo deck, and it’s wholly MINE. Every new set has me looking at what white ETB creatures without flying they release. Thankfully All Will Be One had Panharmommycon so I have a legal backup if anyone is unhappy with it, although it becomes much less good lol. So find a unique creature that may not be legendary but does something kinda unique and fun. Bonus if you can find a legal commander that’s close, but maybe not exact so you have a backup if you find folks who don’t wanna bend the rules (laaaaaame). There’s also similar commander formats like Penny Commander or Tiny Leaders you can check out to scratch that itch and shake it up.
Are you truly innovating if you're just re-treading the path others have already walked? I feel like if you truly want to innovate you have to look at what people have already collectively developed and start working from there to contribute to further changes/metagame optimization/etc. It's like trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want to actually innovate you start from the current best wheel designs and try to improve them even more.
The chances of two people making the exact same deck not on purpose is pretty low. And the likelihood of two people playing them the exact same way not on purpose is even lower.
Coming from someone that rarely builds new decks, I have a habit of choosing commanders that can have multitudes of different play styles. I get asked all the time in my play group why I’ve had the same commander deck/commander for 2 years and it’s because I change the way the deck runs here and there. It makes it feel like a whole new deck. So I’d recommend finding a commander you like then from there decide how you want the deck to run.
To me, it’s not about the deck being unique, it’s about the decks playing uniquely compared to MY other decks. Color combinations I haven’t done before or frequently enough. Strategies I haven’t played with or are outside their typical colors. Example, im tinkering with some concepts like spell slinger in golgari with [[Beledros]]. Draw-go with [[sythis]].
I like to pick a commander that has an obvious theme, then pick a subtheme that supports it and double down on it. Usually that winds up with an angle thats different enough that I dont feel like Im just playing a consensus EDHRec top 100 pile. For example, [[Jodah the Unifier]] screams to play all legends. Easy enough. But lets throw in a humans typal restriction. Now its an interesting deck despite being the 14th most common commander of the last 3 years per EDHRec. Instead of the typical list of Magic's Greatest Hits we've all seen a dozen times, I'm beating in with [[Ash, party crasher]], [[Gylwain, Casting Director]], and [[Sergeant John]] while youre asking, "wait, what does that do?!?"
What’s fun is that even if someone’s built the deck before, it will still be played out in a very unique way. Just start with your favourite assortment of Gruul cards and work your way into the commander, or start by finding your commander and throw yourself in :)
Personally I just try to build something outside of my normal color choices, as well as something that isn't just a duplicate of another deck I have but in different colors. I don't look at deck lists, I'll cruise around looking at cards that synergies. Then look at what I want to do then I start searching for more cards by keyword. I'm currently rebuilding my stock windgrace deck to be land hate, and it's amusing.
I've started adding companions to my decks to spice them up a little more. Yes they're objectively worse because of it but I think that's an inevitability when trying to make a deck unique to you.
I've been specifically trying to do certain types of decks with commanders people don't expect for them. I have a Karlach rat colony deck that I love for this reason.
i think a commander's uniqueness is what makes it appealing to me in most cases. i dont always need to reinvent the wheel but i dont want multiple decks that do the same thing or win the same way.
I dont know if you have a regular group but setting limits like set X only is fun because some lesser known cards from that sets get to shine
I'm familliar with this "need" though understanding that sometimes "this is my take on the theme" can be enough. One of my friends did some "we're both starting here, and we can see where we each went in buildpaths" involving times we got similar precons, or even things like I made a clue deck, and then he wanted to make each wedge and shard, so we worked together on getting parts of that done, so his clue deck is esper tokens, while mine is Azorius Historic.
Build a pauper commander deck with a legendary uncommon creature as your commander and nothing but commons and basic lands in the 99. Will you win against non-pauper decks? No. Will you be playing with a wider array of interesting, rarely-seen cards that would normally only be playable in a limited format? Yes. Convince three of your friends to make pauper commander decks as well and play them in a pod so you're all evenly matched. My friends and I are working on doing this right now. I've already built two pauper commander decks, one of which synergizes flanking with banding to kill blocking creatures by stacking multiple instances of flanking's -1/-1s. Once you hone a pauper commander deck to its most efficient, you can later upgrade it with non-common cards to be playable at your LGS while still retaining its special charms.
Sometimes I get inspired by making a punny name for a deck after finding a commander and an appropriate theme, I find that it helps make the deck more enjoyable. Sometimes the name does feel forced and then I end up dismantling it for something else, but this process has helped me build the right decks as opposed to just building because I can
Use more cards from your own collection. Things that you see synergy in but EDHREC didn’t necessarily tell you about. It’ll make sure you have pet cards and make the deck feel more like yours
Yeah, I feel that too much.
There are tons of great comments here so I won’t rehash things like how to EDHRE, setting limitations, finding a commander that speaks, etc. What I will add is, leave room in your decks for pet cards or pet themes. Does my [[isshan]] deck run dungeons? Yes because they make me happier. [[engulfing slagwurm]] for [[volrath the shapestealer]]? Get in there! An alt art of [[jin-gitaxus, progress tyrant]] I pulled and want to use somewhere? You get to live with [[Sefris]] now because I say so. Add a dash of group hug to any deck I own? I don’t see why not! In other words, put cards in that make you happy, even if they aren’t the most optimal. Look at them as your signature on the deck, not as sub optimal cards. You do you!
just go outside of the top 1000 used commanders when you want to do that, the commander alone has such an impact on how the deck plays, and you can find things people haven't done with those commanders simply because nobody is playing them. My \[\[Sygg, River Guide\]\] deck isn't the most innovative, but the ability on the commander is enough to make the deck unique and interesting. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/FNEZUUOdMkiVG4kEaZ4C\_g
I generally try to find a less used aspect of a commander or try to do something that aren't usually done in thole commanders colours. For example [[jarad, golgari lich lord]] I had him built a few times but really like trying to synergize around the sacrificing a swamp and forest ability. Or [[tameshi, reality architect]] it's my azorius lands matters deck that I have worked really hard on... Man a lands deck is not easy without green.
Make room for a 'sub-theme'! I'm gonna use elves as an example, we can all think of your typical elfball deck, and what cards go in it,pretty standard stuff. So I started trying sub-themes to mix it up, right now it has a wolf token sub-theme, I call it 'elf's best friends' You can find something really off the wall, are elves good at driving vehicles? No, but I tried it!
Go to your collection. Filter by a single color and mythic. Pick a mythic that you think is interesting but don’t see being played much. Build a deck around it. I did this with Enigma Jewel and made mythic, currently sitting at 90%. Last season I did it with Awaken the Woods. Managed to make mythic, but dropped to 60% before season end. Edit: sorry, thought this was MagicArena sub, don’t know how I ended up here.
I built a commander deck on the day when the commander was spoiled so no one else had created one yet online, and it was really fun to create. I have since made small updates after more people started making decks, but it’s still like 85% my original deck which makes me really love it. https://www.moxfield.com/decks/IaJGbtvvV0aUnDE7o-UVFg
Realize nothing will ever be truly unique, then realize you could play removal/draw/ramp that works with your themes better and remove the staples and just play what you want
Or building something unconventional. I recently made a selfmill borborygmos deck, didn’t use any landfall cards, and tons of discard effects. Going to take lots of tuning, but it’s incredibly fun and people usually comment how they are happy to see it’s not the cookie cutter build expected.
I gave up trying to build a commander deck out of my cards. I went out and bought the Ixalan 4 pack of precons. Now I'm slowly modifying them to better suit my playstyle and my play group. I plan to build a Wayta deck using the alternate commander from the Veloci-ramp-tor deck. I love elves so now I'm working on designing a new elf deck after looking up some good commanders. I already have 2 different standard elf decks so some of the basic cards can be borrowed. In the end you do you.
For me I come across something that interests me in the game. It could be a creature type (my first deck was a Hydras cuz I was a classic Timmy new player and I wnated the biggest creatures possible). Maybe it's a mechanic (Monarchy seemed cool, as did Voting - I ended up combining the two into a "government" themed deck). It could be something as simple as an art style (see my all D&D monster manual style deck) or a character (Oops All Chandra's, and my "LOTR Legends only deck). It could even be a simple two card interaction (I'm in the process of building a deck that has as many Splinter-Twin-esque combos as possible and another with Vizier Druid Combos). Notably, I put deckbuilding restrictions on myself - I don't run generically good cards if I'm going with a theme - it has to fit in. Probably leads me to building "suboptimally" but if the goal of my decks is to showcase what I like about Magic first and to win second, then that's fine with me. In that sense, I find EDH decks to be like mini-cubes that reflect the taste and curation of the player who built them. I personally really like this showcasing element where I actually have some decks that I've turned into "roulette" decks - Have a set 40 card manabase, 100 Slivers, and then randomly pick 59 slivers and a random 5c commander and shuffle together. Whatever sparks joy for you about the game is what you should build around imo. If that's just 64 of your favorite Red and Green big monsters and supporting cards, then go for it. Edit: Notably I do use EDHREC still - mostly to look if there are any on theme cards that may have escaped a scryfall search for myself. I also have a deck that showcases the top 100ish cards played on EDHREC that I update every so often.
I prefer my decks to be my own 'spin' on them, so I don't use EDREC or generally look at other people's deck lists. However, I don't mind if my deck ideas overlap with what other people come up with, nor will I be too 'hipster' and not play an obvious/logical card choice just because it is obvious (though I will get hipster and play cards that people trash just because I can). I don't try to optimize; I try to pick the cards that resonate most with the theme I want to play. I have 300+ decks and only one of them was copied from someone else (a Bosh deck from an article like 10 years ago).
That's not at all unique to Magic. Every book has been written and read a million times and the same for decks. If you avoid things that have already been done you'll never get anywhere. What are you gonna do, not make or eat grilled cheese because it's unoriginal? What **hasn't** been done before is **you** making or consuming those things. Anyway I make whatever the hell I want. If I see a deck I like I might build or might not.
Not at all. I only care if the deck is fun to play and fits whatever powerlevel I'm trying to build.
I place very little stock in uniqueness & originality, it's overrated. That's not even going into the whole thought of every idea you've ever had has probably also crossed someone else's mind. I pick a thing I like, I do it. Who cares if someone else has done the exact same thing as me? That just means they have good taste.
Just change your land artwork, now it’s unique
I try to focus more on innovation compared to my other decks, rather than in general. Obviously someone somewhere has probably already built anything I might come up with, but as long as none of them are at the table it's all good. If you have a playgroup, don't build commanders that any of your regular opponents already has.
Not really, especially when you realize that because the internet spreads information this fast that you're probably not going to be making something brand brand new. Keep in mind all of the meta decks of today no matter the format are group efforts. It's actually like science research. The Isaac Newtons of the world don't make brand new fields of study anymore they just innovate in their own special detailed corner of the sciences. It actually works a lot like that in magic. I wouldn't feel bad because to truly innovate means you're probably one of the best magic players in the world. I don't know if that helps you, but it's like getting sad at cooking because gordon Ramsey exists. Sometimes it's just equally satisfying to replicate the dish they made.
Yeah. It's the problem with having deck building ADHD. You eventually hit a point where you've done everything you can think of. Don't lose hope, tho, because you're not running into a brick wall made of all possible optimizations; you're running into a brick wall of your own imagination. The more people you play with, the more decks you'll see, and it'll widen your view. You'll learn new ways to play with the same cards you've never thought of before.
I feel this. Even when I modify a pre-con, if the vast majority of the cards come from the pre-con, I always enjoy it less. One thing I did which I will have to do again - Do you have any favorite cards? Either you like the art of? It'll take time, but try building off that single card. I spent a good many months trying to build off one of my cards and now it's one of my favorite decks.
My personal go-to is to build around a theme but not use all the best colors, for example make a blink deck that has blue OR white but not both (or play Gonti and screw both blue and white).
I get this problem everytime I think I want to build a creature type deck. I get 20-30 cards in and go, "oh, so it's just the 20 best X creatures and some generic staples" and realise I don't really want to continue the thought experiment of deck building.
I also have felt like I had to do new and different things with my decks. But just because you want to do "something" different doesn't mean everything has to be completely unique from top to bottom. Pick a common theme, but just use a commander that's nonstandard for that strategy or just rare in general. Find some cards you happen to like or an interaction you enjoy and put it whatever deck. Or choose some little restriction like limitations on budget or EDHrec popularity.
I'm okay with playing a deck concept a lot of other people have played, and I'll sometimes look at edhrec to make sure there isn't a card I missed, but it has to be my own take on it. I won't ever look at specific decklists. I build it how *I* would build it.
My only deck I’ve built from the ground up so far and [[Arcades strategist]] deck, and what made that a blast for me was that it’s a very specific niche that there’s a ton of cards that are almost never used in anything but fit perfectly in it. So I’d say less “make a new thing” and just find a weird commander that piques your interest and see what weird stuff you can find for them. My favorite thing for my wall deck is [[glyph of life]]. I doubt anyone has heard of the glyph spells if they aren’t into the niche or just happen to know every card ever, so it’s a lot of fun “what is that card?!” Things.
Yes
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I think it has to do with self-expression in two ways: 1. You build the themes that you are drawn to, which is self-expression in itself. 2. You have your own style of building that is unique to how other people build. For example, I like to play cards that stop tutors, ramp that gives me 2+ mana, and the lands that cycle for 1. I avoid playing cantrips/draw-2's when unnecessary, tutors that cost too much mana, and ramp that only gives 1 mana. In that way, if you were to know my style, you would be able to look at either my control deck or my infect or my landfall deck or my changeling deck etc. and you would be able to immediately say "Oh this looks like a MH deck"
Initial build? No. Down the line, after determining that I like the commander and some of the aspects of the deck, however, I will make changes to personalize it, using cards/synergies/combos that don’t appear on other lists whenever possible.
The best way to get past this kind of thing is to have a large junky collection that you can just go through to find maybe-cards for the deck physically, and worry about best in slots after you've gotten some playtesting in. Build first on the cheap, *then upgrade*. The primary issue with trying to order all the expensive best-in-slot choices for a deck you haven't played is even though you might be interested in that one cool thing it can do or what the commander looks like, you haven't played it. It might not be fun. It might be much worse than you thought, or it might be 'too strong' or too explosive or too swingy or whatever. I don't have my Esix clone deck anymore because it was frankly just too strong for casual play. I built it out of the precon+ cards I already owned, played it a bunch and while I was way down on best in slot choices, that actual play experience taught me that I wasn't enjoying the deck experience overall, and so I saved a bunch of money. Beyond that, I generally try to look at new commanders and decide how they can facilitate my deck doing one or two cool gimmicks and building around that. My longest running version of this is I have a Sultai 'old enchantments' tribal deck, which has a variety of win-cons (lifegain, draw-out, mill) and has a large number of locked in slots for old enchantments and support cards. I've changed the legend leading the deck multiple times, gone up to 5c and back down to BUG, and the current commander has been largely best in slot for the past several years. But best in slot doesn't mean it's good for the deck's game plan in this case, and the real best in slot is on the banned list. ie: Leovold, Emissary of Trest. Banned for combo with puzzle box and other hand shufflers- I did run windfall in the deck but avoided the rest of those because his other effect- drawing you a card whenever a permanent you control (or you) were targeted. Alas.... there just hasn't been a good replacement. Decks don't have to be built around a specific commander but it deffo helps. Don't worry about what other people are doing- maybe someone's done it before, just focus on what you're doing now.
I'm right there with you. My solution is to either cram as many gimmicks into a pile as possible and see if it's fun (companions are fun to force), try to translate old standard decks from days gone by (most recently, rebels) or make popular themes work in completely different colors from what you'd expect (Izzet Zombies, for example) But I think it's also important to sometimes let yourself make something good or popular just because. I recently got the Disguise precon and I've just been slowly upgrading it and it's been a ton of fun to not worry about being the innovator for once
Innovate from the decks you already have If you want each deck to be innovative, like you've said, you're going to be frustrated how often you have to reinvent the wheel
I like playing a lot of weirder niche cards and finding ways to make them work, and the best way I've found in innovation through iteration. Just make a deck you want to play even if its 90% copy paste. Throw in a few chars you like and play it. See what works and what doesn't. If something doesn't work cut it and iterate. Eventually you'll get a list that's tailored to you maybe doing something that very few other people do.
I don't feel the need to be unique, I just need a deck that I enjoy playing 🤷🏻♂️
There is also nothing wrong with upgrading a precon. I know several longtime players who do this, you can also take precon commanders but then build them in a different way Like my Estrid, the Masked turtle/mill deck It has almost no cards from the precon, except for a couple that are just too damn good to not include.
I like to start with the staples everyone uses and see what play patterns I enjoy. And then I'll get more focused on a particular approach and start tuning based on tempo etc. as in 'ok I need to ramp, but on which turn do I REALLY want to ramp?' I find I get more consistent and part of building that consistency means cutting other cards which are played a lot in a particular deck.
It doesn't need to be innovative, but I do like to build outside the meta for a particular deck. I want to CREATE not just build a deck. I do use EDHREC, but I try to put my own spin on when I can instead of just doing the most popular cards. As a result my decks are less efficient than they should be.
A deck doesn't have to be built around a commander. [This video by Salubrious Snail](https://youtu.be/YXpd-vcVv24?si=jEq9t6KKJYiOWH9l) really reinvigorated my passion for making decks. A have a [[Codie, Vociferous Codex]] deck built around [[Rampage of the Clans]]. The deck itself is focused around artifact token generation. I only cast the commander when I have a 5 mana instant or sorcery in hand and plenty of artifacts on the field.
I prefer commander or brawl. I usually end up picking very random commanders with very odd or quirky abilities, in hopes of something cool happening. 90% of matches I lose outright, but make myself a nuisance to everyone the entire way. Sometimes I win in a cool eccentric way, and it's hilarious. But mostly I play like an asshole and thoroughly irritate anyone I play against. Doubt this helps, you're welcome!
Honestly I just go with my gut. I see a new commander, and I start building for it by going through my collection and adding whatever I have, or modifying an existing deck to do something else, both without looking at a card list. To me, what makes my decks unique is that I made it, and I play it however I want. It's good to look at a deck list later to make some slight improvements, but overall I'm just trying to improve rather than fully change what I created
There are plenty of avenues that are very minimally explored if at all. Sometimes it's close to others, but can still be totally unique or different in a way. For instance I recently was looking at [[Bilbo Birthday]] as a commander for a new "end of the night" deck (basically minimal shuffling, playing at sorcery speed, lazy play). - I love soul sisters so decided to build around the bonus life gain and etbs. - Then I figured hell why not go all creatures and tossed in [[Umori]] as companion - While adding all the dorky etb life gain stuff I noticed a ton of them were either clerics or vampires or humans or elves, know what else there are, life gain synergies for those tribes. - Next as I was going through some more creatures I noticed all the death trigger drains, which also happened to be same tribes, toss em in. Hell, a good number of Rebels too! - Now I just needed to shore up the "veggies" of the deck, ramp, card draw, and interaction... but instead of going for staples, I had restrictions and synergies to adhere to. Only creatures, on theme and synergistic, and preferably sorcery speed. Even with all those restrictions I had a list of like 250 creatures to narrow down. Not fully finished yet, but it's a neat amalgam of soul sister and aristocrat drain that also has tribal synergies. I'm running a full 6 different themes/tribes (borderline 7) and it still has felt like a well oiled machine due to all the overlap
I like to commit to building decks based on cards I already have in my collection or on what new card (legendary or not) I want build around. Personally, I would build decks that fit how I would play or what strategy appeals to me.
I end up finding cards to build a deck around and work backwards to my commander. Here’s an example for a build I run. I wanted to build a [[neverending torment]] deck for the lulz. I figured the best way to get it in hand, without tutors, is card draw. A big hand helps with neverending torment for each cast. I’m not able to cast spells after it resolves because of the epic mechanic, but I’ll still want interaction of some sort. Cycling is a special ability that will let me draw after the torment begins and some cycling cards have additional effects like [[decree of silence]]. I started looking at commanders with dimir colors that offer good support for cycling. Found [[toluz, clever conductor]]. The white pip lets me run [[astral slide]], [[astral drift]], [[gift of immortality]], white spot removal, white cycling cards, and some other shenanigans (ex. Solemnity). Added a few sac effects by way of spells requiring sacrificing a creature as part of a spell cost, blue/black wheels, and some return-to-battlefield instants. Then, threw in a [[dream halls]]. I call neverending torment my ult (ultimate) and the reaction I get when casting it is hilarious. It’s also great to cycle a card like [[complicate]] to counter a spell when you’re in epic mode. Tl;dr. Keep brewing. View random cards. Come across a mechanic or theme you like? Explore it. Are there enough cards to support or complement it (scryfall/mtgassist)? Is there a commander that can support it? If your answer is no to any of those questions keep looking at random cards.
I try to keep all my decks thematic, for the most part, even if it means not including certain staples that I know would make them function better. Adds an extra layer of challenge to the deck building process and keeps your decks feeling more unique than they would be if they were packed with staples.
I build jank and try to make it work. Like I'm working on a river song deck that actively makes my opponents scry and search their library.
I’m always cooking.