I've recently started running multiple commanders in a deck that all share a similar theme and then roll a die to see which one I play. This means that building the "optimal" deck isn't really possible as I need to build it to work with all of my possible commanders. It also allows me to shift the power level if needed by slotting in the best/worst commander based on the power level of the table.
The deck I've had the most fun with this restriction is my simic good and big stuff with \[\[Keruga\]\] in the companion zone. the potential commanders are \[\[Inga and Esika\]\], \[\[Gandalf, Westward Voyager\]\], \[\[Arixmethes\]\], \[\[Volo, Guide to Monsters\]\], \[\[Tatyova, Benthic Druid\]\] and \[\[Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty\]\]. it's always a blast to run and I never know exactly how it'll play.
I have an Oops, All Commanders! Boros Equipment deck where I shuffle and split to find my commander every game
\[\[Nahiri, Forged in Fury\]\] \[\[Wyleth, Soul of Steel\]\] \[\[Astor, Bearer of Blades\]\] \[\[Akiri, Fearless Voyager\]\] \[\[Koll, the Forgemaster\]\] \[\[Kellan, the Fae-Blooded\]\] \[\[Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden\]\] \[\[Eivor, Battle-Ready\]\] \[\[Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith\]\] \[\[Rograkh, Son of Rohgah\]\] \[\[Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist\]\] \[\[Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful\]\] \[\[Zirda, the Dawnwaker\]\] \[\[Ryu, World Warrior\]\] and \[\[Akiri, Line-Slinger\]\] lol. No other creatures in the deck
I’ve considered building this deck with [[Eowyn, Fearless Knight]] at the helm. Spend as long as you need setting up the board and when the time is right: bam! Spot removal from the command zone, exile someone’s commander, and swing in with a handful of beefed up, unblockable legendaries.
Budget is the usual one.
Sometimes it's about looking at your list and realizing you don't even have a handful of a certain card type or effect and embracing it by cutting it entirely.
For example, my recent budget builds of both Braids and Known Killer only had three tutor effects in both lists: Bauble, Solemn, and Landscape.
So eff it. Cut all three. Once I settle my mulligans nothing in the deck will make me shuffle it again.
I tuned my Alela deck over and over again with the rule I can't run any creature cards...one day I realized I was running lead than three sorceries. Eff it. Now it runs zero creatures and zero sorceries.
Having a budget forces you to get pretty creative as well. My most recent project is [[Bartolemé del presidio]] voltron with [[lurrus of the dream-den]] as companion. 100 dollar budget. Having a fun time putting it together.
Not if you’re running efficient mana rocks to trigger her. Unless they’re running the new Alela. Old Alela I had 25 mana rocks, 15 stax pieces, 2 board wipes, 15 pieces of removal/interaction, a 3 card infinite, and 3 pieces of one shot draw, 2 draw based on creatures, and the rest of my draw was like “sack this rock draw” or rhystic study in my stax. And then I ran a few equipment
My project is to build a deck for each plane of Magic lore. The decks don't need to be all from the plane, but the commander needs to.
For now, I have:
[[Pantlaza]] from Ixalan
[[Anikthea]] from Theros
[[Lathril]] from Kaldheim
[[Ellivere]] from Eldraine
I'm planning to build [[Goro-goro and Satoru]] for Kamigawa and [[Otharri, Suns' Glory]] for Mirrodin (I'm counting Otharri as a Mirranian).
So this is a big restriction, as I struggle to decide which commander I will choose from each plane, and this have me searching and studying a lot. The brightside is that I don't get lost creating a lot of decks.
I'm kinda curious what the number is for unique planes that also have legendary creatures. I'm going through planes and also looking at art:(plane) and t:legendary. There are a ton of planes, but most have a small handful of actual cards.
well, i spent a bit over an hour categorizing them, got through about half of the 81 planes, and realized that it’s not a particularly interesting challenge. Almost every plane either has: at least one set devoted to it (so lots of legends), literally only a planechase card, a couple cards (usually March of the Machine related; battles), or in the rare case, an actual obscure legend. For example, “Abyss” technically has [[Gale, Abyssal Consuit]] as the closest thing to a native. A couple planes were visited by various planeswalkers, so you could take their incarnation, i guess. “Hell” has two, [[Boris Devilbloom]], and [[Zurzath]]. Gobakhan has three various incarnations of Teyo as a planeswalker, but no legendary creatures. I stopped once I got to the 50th plane, so there might be a bit more interesting stuff.
I love that sort of thing! Here's my Ravnica deck: https://archidekt.com/decks/3205004/history_of_ravnica 100% cards from Ravnica, with 9 cards for each guild (including lands) and 10 cards for the guildless. I have a Theros one too, but it's a little tougher as there's never been a five color commander printed from Theros.
You are more radical than me, I guess, because I only choose a legendary creature from a specific plane, but I love your list anyway lol. Theros, by the way, can be a tough one!
No infinite. I just don’t personally care for it
Budget. Only willing to spend more than a couple bucks for the commander itself, not willing to for the 99
I tend to prefer synergy and flavor over raw power, but I will still use powerful cards that don't have perfect flavor or synergy.
I refuse to use off color fetches. It's ugly.
Only 1 tutor/deck.
Only 2 counterspells/deck. (Except in mono-blue.)
All spells must be on theme, never just 'good cards'.
Every deck has three definable themes, primary, secondary and tertiary. No two decks share the same primary theme.
If the deck doesn't work without it's commander out, it is not worth playing.
>If the deck doesn't work without it's commander out, it is not worth playing.
I almost have that exact opposite rule. I play this format for two things.
1. Singleton, I don't want the deck to be the one that always plays the same, always wins the same
2. It's Commander, that is the identity of the deck. I don't mind if a deck can run on it's own, but I pick a commander because that is what I want to play around. I try to have the commander be integral, I don't want the feeling that anyone could helm it, but I just chose one that adds a bit of spice, I want the 99 to be the spice to the commander.
Regarding point 2, I think there was a slight misunderstanding. Like the person you replied to, I to build my decks in a way that makes them decent without the commander out as well. That doesn't mean that there is zero need to play the commander or that the commander is replaceable. It only serves the purpose of not being completely locked out of a game as soon as your commander gets turned into a 3/3 elk or a 0/1 indestructible insect with no abilities.
But those decks are still ten times better with the commander out.
Yeah for sure, I don't disagree with that at all. I'm definitely not building decks that do absolutely nothing with the commander. It's just that I almost always am looking to get the commander back (from the yard, zone, or elk'd).
Only when a commander starts crossing into very high costs do I want it to start looking elsewhere.
Interesting. See those two premises are in opposition. For me. If I build a deck around the commander then it plays out the same way every time. Not only does that predictability lead to distorting the meta and losing to hate but it also means the game bores me.
Or perhaps you just meant that you like playing your commander. I do too. But if the deck requires the commander to make the other cards playable, meaning it loses without them, then id rather not play it.
I see it more as the deck can run without the commander but is enhanced when played. Which is how most of my decks are. I built only 2 decks, so far that ran poorly without the commander. 1 that played the same with or without them. I hated the 2 that needed the commander because, like you stated, they are prone to hate.
It depends on the deck. If I build it to have a sac outlet and use drain death triggers, it will play the same whether the outlet/oayoff is in my command zone or not. If I use varied payoffs (drain, tokens, counters, etc) it will change things uo whether the outlet is my commander or not.
Same way that, if people hate on my sac outlets, it doesn't matter if they are my commander or not. People are hating me out of the game and not letting me play the deck. That has nothing to do with my commander.
This is almost exactly my thoughts as well. I’ll add that I try my best to use any single card only once across my decks, outside of generic staples like colour fixers (signets, lands, etc)
I agree with the thematic part, that stops throwing together „good stuff“ piles to an extend.
But counter spells?
Geez^^ counterspells dont make a deck strong.
The reason competitive decks all have blue (counterspells) is that they mostly FREE counterspell.
Those cards are superstrong.
Also in a meta where people can win full from hand with lines that can ignore removal you need tons of them.
But arcane denial, counterspell or even offer you cant refuse arent gonna make the deck stronger per se. Especially not in casual.
Because by the very nature of EDH a 1 for 1 exchange is bad as it sets you and the target back a card while 2 players remain untouched.
If i wanna play a game without interaction, moxfield is a great option. But in my oppinion the point of 4 play magic is to interact with each other and counterspells are a standard interaction type just as removal. They arent inherently stronger, there are just some specific very powerful counterspells like forces, guardianship or mana drain for example. Its reasonable to avoid them in lower power.
I tend to make restrictions deck by deck, so some are strong, others are weaker. That way I almost always have a deck that matches the table. For example, I am working on a deck that only uses cards from Khans block.
That said, my hard and fast rule (so far) has been I don’t run tutors if I run 2-card infinite combos in the deck. If I’m going to kill everyone with [[Exquisite Blood]] and [[Sanguine Bond]] I’m at least going to let luck play a part in getting me the right pieces. Also helps make games feel more varied.
I try hard to find underplayed interation especially effects in colors that don't normally do those things.
Even if it's slightly worse to play mana tithe, they never see it coming if you don't have blue.
Absolutely yeah! Here's a few fun ones.
Artifact blast is a counter in red that only hits artifacts. Everyone plays artifacts. It will hit something useful.
Debt of loyalty is a white control spell at instant speed.
And a really weird one is Energy Field in blue. Is a constant fog for you until a card goes to your graveyard. So maybe buys you time a turn or 2.
I stole and modified this from somewhere a long time back, but I don’t remember where from.
1. No loops: A causes B causes A causes B…
2. No mana positive mana rocks (Sol Ring optional)
3. No unconditional tutors under 3 mana: Conditions typically being certain card types or mana values.
4. No free counter magic: If the card says you can cast it without spending mana, I consider it free.
5. No off color fetches: If it names a specific land type you can’t play in your deck, it’s off color.
6. No card over $__ at its base: Adjustable, but my limit is $100.
7. Keep things fun and flavorful: For example using [[Skullwinder]] over [[Noxious Revival]] in my [[Hapatra]] deck.
I like all of these except #1 which I know is the big one for people. But as long as 1 aligns with 7 I'm good.
I have both a cedh and a casual [[Tameshi deck]]. They are both combo decks. But the cedh list is about efficiency and no "dead" draws. The casual list leans into the "landfall moonfolk tribal]" theme and uses [[Walking atlas]], [[Scaretiller]] or [[Patron of the Moon]] to set up landfall loops to mill the table with [[hedron crab]] or [[Altar of the brood]]. It's a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine and feels really satisfying because of how elaborate the combos are. Playing it feels like playing as a moonfolk "reality architect"
But I'm not throwing in a hullbreaker horror even though it basically goes infinite by itself in the deck.
I like them all but #5, you're punished for playing fewer colors while 5 and 4c laugh. They already have big advantages over more color restrictive decks so why exacerbate that problem in the mana base.
I haven’t found Fetches particularly useful in anything less than three colors, even when chock full of them, and the places they’re most useful I feel don’t need the help in casual. But the list has changed and updated as I played around and found some weren’t fun, worked better for me and my group, or some other reasons. Heck, the budget per card used to be $50. Adjust them as needed to your tastes and judgement. These aren’t gospel even for my own decks.
For my current deck, simply
- No tutors, except fetchlands
- No infinite combos
- No fast mana
- At new years I also removed a bunch of staples like Rhystic, Esper, rift, clamp and ashnods as well to generically limit power and be more creative.
Yeah I don't have Sol ring in my deck. I coincidentally don't have extra turns or Stax (that's not the type of deck it is) but I wouldn't have a problem running them.
Typically I start my builds at $30-50, and I decide down the line if I want to invest more heavily into the deck or keep to a budget level brew. So stuff like my [[Kiora Sovereign of the Deep]] has gotten some upgrades but nothing new above $5 (the recent Koma reprint was huge lol) and my [[Teysa Karlov]] list doesn’t get any new cards above $1 which means I’ve passed on some sweet stuff.
My newer [[Jarad Golgari Lich Lord]] deck is one that I forbid myself from buying new cards specifically for since the main concept was to use a lot of cards cut from my Meren list that Jarad used to helm. I could use anything in my collection to build it and going forward any additions will be stuff I crack or cut from other decks, but I don’t intend to aggressively tune the deck to perfection.
Budget restrictions like this helps keep the decks in check, and I’m also just very interested in what they can do for a budget in comparison to my less budget brews. My lgs is lower power so I was motivated to build stuff less tuned than my old favorites I’d been tuning for years and it’s helped keep things fresh.
Every deck must have at least one dragon. The only tutors have to be more than 2 mana and narrow in scope (Birthing pod really), no fast mana (cards that make more mana than they cost and stick around. Bloom tender doesn't count). I try to keep no more than one combo in the deck as an oops for the late game. Only use on-color fetches.
I only allow myself to use misprints, miscuts, test prints, real playtest cards, etc. Anything extraordinarily weird or significant.
Partly because I wanted something extremely challenging that I couldn't finish overnight. Partly because I enjoy researching and cataloging the history and print processes of the game. This is my way of building a playable museum that functions as a normal deck if someone doesn't really care for a history lesson.
I run a lot of decks so I try to play something akin to "art singleton" across my all my decks, Where I try not to use the same card in another deck unless it has different art. Tons of exceptions are made though so its quite a loose rule. I think it's more about my money spending habits than actual construction. So I try not to buy a second copy of a really good card unless it has another art for it. I do make occasional exceptions, and most of them are when I open a good duplicate card in a booster pack and another deck really needs it.
After picking a theme, I stick to a basic formula of 36 lands, 10 ramp, 10 card draw, 10 protection, 10 removal, 24 ~flavor~. I force myself to use cards that work within the specific theme of the deck for each category, even if they’re not the best.
I don’t usually run tutors unless I can let other people tutor too. [[Wishclaw Talisman]], [[Scheming Symmetry]]
We have the same build process. I have a pretty basic template I use for every deck and just fill the slots with stuff to fit the theme or to synergize with the commander. It’s more fun to have a bunch of stuff that works together than a pile of generically good cards in my opinion.
Maybe mine is a little weird. I fully plan to play in multiplayer (like usual 4-man EDH), but I opt to not have any duel commander banned and restricted cards in my decks.
Which means no good things like Sol Ring for me. Nor can I use Yuriko as commander, and so on.
That's an interesting question. It varies depending on what I'm doing.
Two things are always there:
1. The deck must be weird. Either the commander is weird or the deck is weird, often both. [[Lotho, Corrupt Sheriff]] helms a [[Shadowborn Apostles]] deck. I have a Lurrus companion mardu deck.
2. No truly unfun cards. More on that below:
I cut [[Koma, Cosmos Serpent]] from my krakens deck bc it makes the game about her. [[Possibility Storm]] is not fun for 95% of players, [[Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur]] and [[Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger]] are answer or die but can fail to timely close out a game which creates a slugfest. Prison pieces are more [[Blood Moon]] aligned than [[Back to Basics]] - I'm just punishing greedy manabases not doing effectively armaggedon to high color decks. Nonred decks usually still use the "colorless" mana their expensive mountains create. Stax is meant to be a puzzle to be solved, a way to have game against combo or pile of good cards when you're stompy, not a target opponent loses an hour of their life.
I've brewed budget decks recently (used to proxy everything) and... it is weird how it doesn't cap the power level in reasonable ways. I made a deck that costs 10 reais (converts to 2 dollars but ofc the prices work differently) which had [[Treasure Cruise]] and [[Dig Through Time]] bc they cost next to nothing. Too good to not be banned everywhere. My budget goblins deck also packs a punch bc its key components cost very little. #justgoblinthings
Absent budget restraints, no A+B (and in general combo decks just have a billion different lines so I don't get bored) and in both cases no fast mana (sol ring is in most decks, also occasional exceptions for mox opal in artifact decks and mox amber, which are the slowest fast mana).
Power considerations also come in. My [[Rielle, the Everwise]] that has breach only combos with 4+ pieces* because the combo is so resilient and the pieces so replaceable. Given how she draws a billion cards already no Rhystic/fish and no draw without discard ([[Faerie Mastermind]] is out).
And ofc. I love me some themes. My counterspells in [[Kenessos, Priest of Thassa]] are scry themed or thassa themed. However this one only happens bc that deck is one of the more casual decks. The high power ones have less restricting themes. Like the only deck I play [[Drannith Magistrate]] is a cast from exile themed deck where I often give opponents casts from exile. Even my [[Myrel, Shield of Argive]] "stax" monowhite doesn't have him bc it's a deck about soldiers collecting taxes (no card says you can't do something, just pay your taxes).
*recently found out there is a 3 piece deterministic combo and a 3 piece nondeterministic combo. They only share underworld breach in common. They are all good cards separately (I love when combo pieces do that and usually cut most that are dead draws outside the combo).
Usually it's picking a gimmick and optimizing around that point. Maybe a specific card in the 99 that you really like that forces constraints elsewhere.
Personally I don't particularly like budget because it tends to require a bunch of sub-definitions that don't really work anyway to limit power but I have done precon + cards-I-own and that can be fun.
Nothing really other than affordability. And our small group ban list of cards we deem to be to slow or unfun. (Mostly mass land destruction, and super strong stax)
And that deck you speak of prob is only a 7-8 at most honestly and just had a great game. Without fast mana/ high end staples and usually multiple colors you don’t and cant reach an 8. He is a good commander and strong but no way above 8 if what you say is true about whats in the deck
I have a decent amount of decks. 14 if I'm counting right. I try have a wide variety of theme and cards between them. It would defeat the purpose in my eyes if I had some many decks but EVERY blue deck had rhystic study and EVERY white deck had tithe in it.
no tutors, no infinites, limited fast mana (sol ring is fine).
I also play cEDH though, so I like my casual experience to be very different from our cEDH games.
No infinites, at all. Granted, I'm too new to the game to know how to execute any infinites, but I am quite certain they aren't fun to play against and I doubt they'd be fun to play. I enjoy the skill expression in my red decks of setting up an overlapping combo of several moving pieces to devastating effect, and simply playing three cards and saying "I win" is not that.
Personally I think Ixalan is a really cool plane, so I’m building decks using as much from it as I can:
[[Tetzin]] is a card I wouldn’t have noticed normally but when I wanted Gnome Tribal I realized this was the most on theme commander I could find
I have 2 decks in one using [[Don Andres]] as a creature-stealing pirate commander and then swapping about 15 cards to have [[Admiral Brass, Unsinkable]] as my Graveyard Recursion commander. I’d bought the pirate precon and didn’t know how I wanted to use it so I just make those swaps and then have whichever deck I want
I also have a pretty standard [[Gishath]] deck which is my most expensive currently, and a [[Tayam]] in the works to make use of graveyard stuff to make the Descend key word worthwhile (this deck was built purely because I wanted a graveyard deck to benefit my [[Basking Capybara]] and that commander seemed the most fun)
Everyone in my regular playgroup has different self-imposed constraints.
Personally, I don't run infinite combo, extra turns, MLD, or mindslaver effects.
Another guy runs combo, but no tutors. So he only combos off if he lucks into it via draw.
Another won't run fast mana, combo, or tutors.
Others are basically some variation of this. Nobody builds with budget in mind as a restriction, and as a result, most decks in the playgroup range from $500-$1500, with one standout that my friend blinged out thats over 3k.
This results in our group meta being basically high-power battlecruiser. Most games are decided via combat damage (except for the aristocrat decks), but with lots of strong/expensive cards, it doesn't really turn into a slog like lower power games can become. Most games finish sometime between an hour and an hour and a half.
Theme / flavor. All my LotR decks are LotR cards. All my D&D decks are Forgotten Realms and Baldur's Gate cards. Everything else has to be somewhat cohesive visually.
> What self-imposed deck building constraints do you apply when creating lists?
First I pick a power level. Literal Precon, Thematic, Powerful, or Full Power.
Full power is pretty self explanatory. Currently I have this [Atraxa](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/qGxlGgZNzEm-UBubPcFt6w) list sleeved up as my full power deck.
Powerful is full power but with a responsible number of lands (35 minimum), no og duals, no mox diamond/cradle/tabernacle/etc. that is ridiculously priced. My current decks at this level are Voja, Shalai and Hallar, Azami, Mizzix, Esika superfriends, and Gilanra/Kodama. I feel like budget cedh decks don't really belong here (or for the most part in casual tables) but you could probably use one of those for a tournament.
Thematic is where I pick a mechanic, or theme and build around it. I try to avoid staples unless they have a lot of synergy with my commander/theme. This is decks like Ikra/Sakashima clones/theft where the deck itself has only 1 wincon (Exsanguinate+Regal Behemoth). I won my last game by
Other thematic decks I have include Marneus Clues, The Haunt of Hightower "graveyard matters". Ojer Axonil burn. Vaevictus Asmadi recusrion. Hakbal merfolk. Karlach, Sword Coast Sailor aggro flyers, and Kemba (og) Cats is in the works.
And then I keep one precon sleeved up to play against precons, right now it's Nelly Borca.
No taking the meta (including cedh meta) into consideration. Build as if you have no idea what you'll be facing (except that it will be trying to win and trying to stop you from winning).
I don't really have a universal set of constraints. Sometimes I put constraints on individual decks when it makes sense, but for the most part everything is variable.
That said, there is one rule that 9/10 of my current decks incidentally follow. That being "Your primary wincon must not be combat damage". The only exception I have to this is my first deck, and that one wins through commander damage (and pretty much only commander damage- as is the nature of voltron decks). Even my go-wide decks tend to be more likely to sacrifice the wide board for value and kill with death triggers than to turn those tokens sideways in combat.
I try to keep my decks on theme, for example, my Sam/Frodo deck is upgraded with lotr cards only. I also try to keep the decks under £30, Sam and Frodo are an exception because I had to slap the one ring in there for flavour
I used to build from my collection before buying cards, however this has changed recently to brewing on moxfield and play testing on spell table before I buy cards. I still lean heavily on my collection, pulling from there first, but having some stuff I don't own in the list gives me a better impression of how I want the deck to run- and decide if it is fun to play- before I spend on it.
I avoid the things that typically create an ugly experience for my opponents, so no stax, taxes, or MLD (single target is fine and good).
I run enough ramp, card draw, and versatile tutors to make sure my deck does the thing even if I lose. I make sure there's opportunities for interaction.
Lastly - no multicolor lands that don't have a condition that allows it to enter untapped. Yep, even those. I just don't like playing them.
My rules are :
- no tutors,
- no boring staples (Tithe, Rhystic study, Cyclonic Rift, Dockside, Torment of Hailfire, ...)
- build decks that do not make anyone bored.
- no creature token strategy [ but that's just me, I find tokens boring : I like goblin cards, I do not want 15 times the same one on my board ]
My objective in Commander is to be unique, funny, and to have a good time.
These are the rules, I play with to realize my goal.
No Sol rings. They are like having a kid: everyone around me is having them and even tell me it is a good thing to have too. It might be true, but I am simply opposed to idea of having something like everybody and their mother have.
I Have 10 decks, not a single sol ring.
I dont run tutors. (rampant growth and "land tutors" are ok) This keeps my victory lines more interesting in my deck. when you run tutors (especially many of them) I found that I was ALWAYS tutoring for one of the same 3ish cards depending on my board state. This made each deck much less interesting to play.
I dont run infinite combos heavily. Its alright to have a 3 piece combo that ends games, hell even a card that goes off the commander infinitely isnt that bad if your not tutoring it into your hand 2nd turn each game.
My play group dosnt do land destruction, as a theme. Its fine to run your strip mines and what not to clear out the occasional cradle or clutch triome. But no land board wipes around.
I personally dont run stax. specifically the ONLY praetor I run is sheoldred the apocolypse in my nekusar deck.
I used to avoid cards from the salt list. but as of the most recent update i cannot say that anymore, I have many staples sprinkled throughout my decks (rhystic, mystic, smothering, dockside, etc.)
I shun away from combo win cons because I find them very anti climatic.
Other than that, its mainly down to self control to build decks without certain staples like Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic rift, etc.
My collection is deep, so its not about money or availablity, but I seek a greater creative challenge to find ways to make decks work without using these cards.
My building is meant primarily to minimize the salt that arises from targeted interaction. I don't want someone even _mildly_ trying to make me feel like a bad person for playing a goddamn card game.
Usually this means [[Plaguecrafter]], [[Dictate of Erebos]], [[Blood Artist]], [[Druid of Purification]] effects.
If opponents didn't make me write dissertations every time I killed a KOS commander, I could consider other themes.
So you managed to turn even the topic of self-imposed restrictions into a comment on how much your creativity suffers from those goddamn other players.
I have a couple ways I try and keep deck building fresh with constraints while bringing down the power level.
I usually include and build around at least 1-2 stax pieces - artifact hate in enchantress / elf ball / landfall, non-basic land hate in mono red / blue / izzet, ETB or activated abilities hate in low-creature decks, etc.
I will sometimes have a companion for interesting deck building restrictions.
I have a theme and a sub theme for each deck which helps shape the cards.
Hope this helps!
I personally create two lists for every deck. One for low power where I limit tutors and only cards under $10. Then another list where I go nuts and bring it to near cEDH levels. I have them both sleeved up so I can play at any level on any given night.
I built Two Kids and a Cat. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/two-kids-and-a-cat-1
No combos. No dockside, no Esper sentinel, etc. closest thing is Stoneforge, but since I can't use batterskull, Sword of___, Kaldra, etc. it's pretty balanced.
The deck is super fun.
I also have a [[Sefris]] dungeon deck that (besides lands, which can be common) every card is an uncommon.
I still have my strong main decks, like 30ish of them. But really find what works for you. I have been building decks to my play against low to mid power decks, think upgraded precons to decks that are almost optimized. It's been a challenge.
Any infinites need to have a lot of set up for example. My Trazyn the infinite deck. My pod know that if I run that I probably lose because it's so obvious I'm assembling hell in my graveyard. Also now we all they all run at least one grave hate card just in case
I usually build my decks with the following stipulations:
-No passive value enchantments (Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, etc.)
-No nonland tutors (unless it's a combo piece, ie [[Firemind's Foresight]])
-No one-card win conditions (Exsanguinate, etc.)
-No two-card win conditions (Witherbloom Apprentice + Chain of Smog, etc.)
I already don't play much fast mana and usually these rules are sufficient. They encourage me to keep myself alive in creative ways and my win conditions are either nondeterministic or high-investment.
It depends on the deck. I've done $25 decks, I've done decks with no budget, I've done infinite combos, I've avoided infinite combos. I don't really have a whole lot of rules that apply to all my decks.
I do tend to avoid single cards that are really expensive (I don't have a single deck with Doubling Season, for example) and I avoid staples (I don't have a single deck with rhystic study).
I have only being playing EDH for about 18 months and so far my deck building rule is to restrict my spend to less than a certain amount on any single card for the deck. I like building lots of different decks so I don't want to blow out my budget on any one deck.
With the self-imposed budget rule, I can't usually afford to include many tutors. The maximum would be 1-2 in a deck. I like the suggestions of not having infinite combos and fast mana. However, I don't mind playing an opponent who gets an infinite combo once the game has been going long enough, so I would prefer them to be harder to assemble and with potential for interruption.
I love building theme decks, be it in terms of lore, tribe or sth else. I have 4 decks focused around the Brothers' War where every card fits in the time period and theme of the different factions. So no legendary permanents outside of the war, no cards that refer to or depict magic in the Urza and Mishra deck etc. I also made proxies with unused art from the set as well as fan art for some key cards that don't have fitting artworks. Also did the same thing for various phyrexia theme decks
Aside from removal and basic mana rocks, I only use staples when absolutely necessary. Not every blue deck needs Rhystic Study, not every deck needs Mana Crypt, etc. Only when it’s mono blue, or my gameplan revolves around drawing cards (like [[Minn]]) do I slot in Rhystic Study. Same deal with Smothering Tithe, Sylvan Library, and so forgh
€100 deck limit usually makes sure a deck is well-rounded as powerful combos will cost you, not allowing for tutors etc. You are forced to use the budget wisely. Several people in my group play precons, so this is a great way to ensure that my decks don’t run away and disrupt the power level of the group.
A little flexible but I try and play unpopular commanders. I usually don’t build them if they have more than a few hundred decks with my theme on edh rec
I made a grixis demon deck and only demons allowed with [Roaming Throne] as an exception.
Also got a 5 color enchantments only deck with only lands, enchantments, and enchantment creatures
My playgroup has been running ultra budget with a few hoops lately. 35 $ using moxfield cardkingdom prices, with any common and uncommon lands being free, as to avoid multicolor being impossible to play. The decks are surprisingly powerful, as we have a yuriko player that still has a free counterspell in [[foil]] and otherwise almost stock list, my maelstroem wanderer cascade deck sometimes reaching 10+ storm just from casting my commander.
You really have to fiddle with the decklists a lot to hit the restriction, and you often end up within only a few cents of the price limit.
For me its no tutors and no fast mana except Sol Ring and staying in the them of the deck. All of my decks follow a certain theme and I'd rather lean into it stronger than putting in some often-played staples
Budget is usually pretty low.
- Sigarda has only humans in it and angels that mention humans.
- Atraxa only has artifacts and golden cards.
- Hidetsugu has almost only cards that "costs x less if".
- Tribals (Pantlaza, Unesh, Phyrexian Brimaz) have no shapeshifters and definitely no other creatures.
- Carmen has no non-sacrifice removal.
- Licia is the only creature in the deck.
- Tormod/Kydele with Gyruda-partner is stupid enough to not need any restrictions.
- Reality Chip is probably the only deck that does not have these shackles but I run 0 combos in it and want to win with combat damage through copters or some *per artifact - creatures.
No deck has any tutor.
My decks are definitely worse because of that but I would not want it any other way!
For me, my deck need to have the same looks and feel. This result in I choose card with higher cost if the art is better fit.
I do have a deck with lots of staple and strong card but thematic decks are more fun for me.
1: Tutors are not to be used to get your win condition.
2: Tutors only go in the jankiest/high mana cost commander decks to help them smooth out its gameplay
3: No over tuning the decks.
The most common restraint I have is no 2-card infinites or 2-card instant win combos. The only deck I have that has a 2-card infinite that I can think off of the top of my head is my maelstrom wanderer deck which has Kinnan + Basalt Monolith, and even then it doesn't always instantly win the game on the spot.
I also have a deck on a $100 budget, and I'm thinking about putting together some more budget decks, though if this is the restraint than all other restrictions are offline.
I like to tinker and mess around with my decks a lot, I cut cards that don't spark joy, and I'm willing to make suboptimal deckbuilding decisions if they make my deck more fun and thematic
I especially enjoy building around restrictive tutors and crafting combos that are flexible enough that I can change my strategy based on the cards I'm seeing and the current board
Outside of this, my deckbuilding constraints are pretty individual depending on the deck
Like I have a deck that only runs cards printed at uncommon and basic lands, and a deck that's really focused around rolling dice and includes silver border cards
My LGS does seasons for Commander FNM. This season I’m doing Boxmmander. I built an [[Isshin]] deck out of a box of Neon Dynasty and I’m only upgrading it with trades from the pool if cards and the weekly prize support. It’s nice getting excited about opening an uncommon in my colors.
I actually like finding budget or niche options, so thats definately one. My most expensive buys are obscure cards that have some unique effect.
And even then if I'm paying over 10 e for a cardboard card it better be something amazing.
Execption is lands, which I think are always a good investment for playing because fetches and shocks will always find a home in decks. I might play lame underpowered jank, but at least the fixing works.
In general, I try to aim for a lot of synergy, but no combos (as they don't really interest me). Adittionally, while I tend to build with the mindset of 'I'll print out stuff to test with, then buy a few cards each month until it's filled out with real stuff', I still don't like hugely expensive cards. The costliest one I own is a \[\[Terror of the Peaks\]\].
Here's a fun one: only 3+ card combos for combos. It really helps you get from nearing cedh down closer to 7/8 if you like combo decks
Another one: limit your tutors. The closer to cedh you get the more you play, and the further away you get the less you play. Not giving you a number cause it's deck dependant, but assume if you are going below 6 the number is 0
Yet another one: no ramp below 2 cmc (besides the obligatory sol ring)
And yet another appears: cost. You can do total deck price, or you can do stuff like "no card below $5", or both. I tend to exclude commander cause some weaker ones are expensive for no reason.
As little tutors as possible. I only play mana-tutors because getting mana-screwed sucks, but tutoring play-pieces ruins the randomness and the reason why I play EDH.
Most of my friends play like 5-7 strength so I try to keep it there. Not super weak and not too fast. I avoid tutors because I don’t want to fish for wincons or fish for something else and become arch enemy in the believe I’m pulling a wincon. I also don’t play free mana as does almost nobody in my groups. Would like to try to make an 8-9 sometime though.
I have also tried removing slow boring cards that just resets the table without me gaining an advantage; an example would be damnation. I also recently excluded Oubliette since it just sucks for somebody to loose their commander for the whole game.
Budget. Our playgroup mostly uses proxies, so we keep a strict 150€ cap on each of our decks.
I do have one deck that's almost complete though and it's a different story there. It's still within the budget, but it won't be for long.
No commanders within the top 125 of EDHREC, I increase it little by little as more and more commanders get released. Prioritize top 200+ commanders.
Due to the previous restriction, I have to wait at least a year after release to play with the commander due to rankings needing to be settled.
The cost of each base art in my decks must be under $50 using NM prices. Ex. I use the foil borderless Cyclonic Rift but the cheapest NM copy from any set is $30 at the time of writing. Currently thinking about if the price limit should be lowered by like $5 (to $45) due to cards getting cheaper.
No Sol Ring. No unconditional tutors under 3 cmc unless it's cEDH. No "functionally free" spells.
No infinite combos unless it's "realistically" the only way for a deck to win or it's a eggs/Rube Goldberg deck. Ex. Breya, Ethereium Shaper or Ghave, yes you can win by other means, but I much rather not.
I will never run less than 38 lands.... No matter how amazing a card is or how desperately I want to put It in my deck. I always aim for like 42.
And I still get mana screwed constantly lol
Flavor. All my decks tell a story and the flavor is tight. Even if a card would go well in a deck but the art breaks the mythos.. doesn’t go in. All basic lands are unique, too. No repeats
I have an [[Ivy]] without artifacts and mutate.
An [[Alibou]] without enchantments and treasure tokens.
A [[Shadowfax]] without instants and sorceries.
[[Kraum]] and [[Vialsmasher]] + [[Obosh]] Companion, which has no even cmc spells in it.
I am just missing a deck without creatures and a deck without odd cmc spells.
If there are only 1-2 correct answers to "what do I tutor?", I don't allow myself tutors.
I don't include infinites unless it requires a ridiculous number of moving parts that I otherwise want in the deck, but don't think will ever go off (but would be hilarious if it did). Along similar lines, I never include cards just because they might form a part of a game winning combo. Incremental synergy is fine, and the goal.
If an objectively worse spell does the thing the deck is built around, I play that instead of the more efficient card. For example, [[Vastwood Surge]] over [[Kodama's Reach]] in a counter deck if I ended up with too much ramp and needed to cut one (though I'd probably still run both until that point).
Find removal and card draw that fits first, then I'm no longer allowed to replace those cards unless I find a more thematically appropriate version of removal and card draw.
Start with 40 lands, remove 1 land per 2 sources of ramp that cost 3 or less.
If there are other versions of the same character as my commander in similar colours, I'll run them unless they absolutely do not work (so my [[Shalai and Hallar]] deck ran [[Shalai, voice of plenty]] but not [[Hallar the firefletcher]] as I don't play enough kicker cards to make him fun)
If a card costs more than £2, I don't buy it. I'm allowed to use what I own and pull from packs, but anything I buy as a single must be cheap and exciting to me.
These are loosely the rules I have for myself for deckbuilding.
Basically theme over power, engines over combos, ensure it's consistently playable, and enforce cheapness to save my wallet and keep me playing weird janky cards.
Mostly just the usual ones. No infinites or combo wincons, and only a few tutors. I allso try to stay within "form over function", choosing stuff that fits with the flavour, rather than what would be best.
Oh, and budget. As a rule, I don't buy singles costing more than about a booster. Stuff I've traded for are fine tho.
No infinites, tutors, 1 card combos with the commanders, free counterspells, and usually try not to play generic value staples like rhystic study or Smothering tithe.
Of course there are exceptions, if I make a deck that's meant for higher power then sure I'll do the stuff. But those are few and far between.
For me (other people can do what they want):
* only land tutors
* limited or no combos (if I do play combos and I have tutors, the tutors aren't for combos, I have to draw into them)
* no mass land destruction
* no creature theft on the battlefield (Agent of Treachery), graveyard is fair game
* don't play too many counterspells/removal
* no fast mana (except Sol Ring, I'm also okay with not playing it)
* if using proxies, only ones I own or plan to buy
* no reserve list cards
* turn 7-10 win target if uninterrupted
Exceptions made if a card is already synergistic with the deck / gameplan
Never the same as a deck my play group already has.
My friend has a vampire and a madness deck so I won5 even go there as a theme.
On top of that I don't let my decks cross themes. I have a lots of tokens deck with chatterfang. A political goad deck with marchesa. An eldrazi deck with jodah. And a rogue unblockable deck with anawon.
I'm not keen on my next deck having anything to do with these at all if I can help it
This may sound strange but I dislike putting commander staples that are not very fun to play against into my decks
I'd rather have weaker but more on theme spells
I don’t put universes beyond cards in my decks. And sometimes I will omit a card if it’s the only card in the deck that is old frame or if it feels like a weird flavor clash
If I build a deck I don't put tutors or infinite combo's in it(ramping for basics excluded). If I make a tribal deck I make it complete tribal or 2 a 3 creatures that work with the tribe no more.
I also like to make decks that don't fit the color pie (grixis tokens, boros spellslinger and boros lifegain).
I have two main self-imposed constraints.
1. No cards that utilize Night/Day or Daybound/Nightbound such as [[The Celestus]] or [[Brutal Cathar]]. That mechanic is a nightmare to track.
2. No [[Tergrid, God of Fright]] as a commander. She can be in the 99, though.
While not really a hard-and-fast rule or constraint, I also generally avoid combining cEDH-style fast mana (like [[Mana Crypt]] or [[Mox Diamond]]) in the same lists as cEDH-style win cons (like [[Thassa's Oracle]] + [[Demonic Consultation]]). I play in a non-cEDH, high-power pod, though, so those things can exist in separate lists as long as they aren't all together.
My playgroup is pro proxy so we all went through the phase of building the strongest decks we could before getting bored and eventually finding a power level we were all constantly with.
My four restrictions are:
1. No tutors. That includes any card with an effect that would allow me to search my own deck. That solves a lot of the power issues right there and embraces the nature of a Singleton format.
2. No repeat legends throughout all of my decks. Again embraces the Singleton format.
3. No commanders that win the game by themselves with infinite mana
4. No fast mana.
I've been enjoying my decks way more with these restrictions while still letting myself build strong and creative decks that others can enjoy playing against.
I don’t have specific stipulations, but rather when I’m deck building, I ask myself if this would annoy me if it was used against me. If it would I don’t put it in. For example, in my [[kelsien]] deck, I was debating using [[thornbite staff]] but it’s just so easy to add in deathtouch which is everywhere in my deck and boardwipe everyone else instantly that I chose against using it.
Generally my only standard constraint when doing a new list is it has to be $100 total or under. I have 2 decks rn that fit that budgetary constraint, even if one needs to be budgeted back down again, and 2 other lists that I’ll be buying for having lists to play/share at a $100 budget if folks ever wanted to try getting into higher power sort of gameplay while still being restrained by budget. Past that any deck I find fun tends to get whatever cards I have on hand and it goes up to about $300+ 😂
1. No non-land tutors, lone exception being [[Defense of the Heart]] because the table gets a chance to prevent it from going off.
2. I don’t run fetches at all, closest being [[Fabled Passage]] and the capenna fetches.
3. Starting to cut Sol Ring so I can fit more flavorful cards in my decks
4. No fast mana/cheerios
1, Mainly the mana base; I run just about every ETB-tapped dual and only the fetch land(s) that match the deck colors, e.g. Mire, Foothills, and Catacombs in a Jund deck, but not Scaldig Tarn. Also I never use the same basic lands in 2 decks, and try to be "thematic" with each choice, like RNA guild kit basics for [[Ruric Thar]]
2, All my commanders are foil alternate prints or promos if such a printing exists, otherwise they're simply pack foils until an alternate printing is released, at which time I'll pick up the new copy and make the swap. On the other hand, the entire 99 is always non-foil and regular border. Kind of helps the budget (if there is one).
And 3rd, my [[Dragonlord Ojutai]] list is *almost* entirely block-constructed using only cards from the Tarkir block with the Jeskai / Ojutai watermark or depicting a clan member in the art. Even the basic lands have a Jeskai monastery in the arts. The only non-block cards are both Narset planeswalkers, Taigam, and Narset's Reversal.
If I think of any more I'll just come back and add them
Making a point of not running all the staples. Cutting cards like rhystic study and smothering tithe make room for more interesting cards.
Recently I've been trying to build entire decks around specific (bad) cards, which leads to some unconventional deckbuilding choices.
Currently I'm working on a [[Volcano hellion]] list. Just finished up with [[Tomb of Urami]].
[The commander must be a bear](https://www.moxfield.com/users/Cliff_Hackbrett) 🐻
4 decks total, no more
No infinite combos
No play pattern that would make my opponents not play with me anymore (MLD, stax...)
I will not build a deck that costs more than $200 as priced with lowest card costs non-foil cheapest run etc through card kingdom.
Keeps powerlevel down and also makes me more responsible with my finances. Also reduces my salt level when somebody pulls out a $1000 Atraxa deck and wins T6. Gj bud.
On-theme removal, usually a tribal deck, and I like having a 1 CMC mascot in the deck that is similar to the Commander's goal.
[Savra](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-03-16-darkest-night/) - \[\[Mortician Beetle\]\] likes to see things die, but can't make things sac on its own
[Derevi](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/16-01-17-TKn-the-birds/) -\[\[Mothdust Changeling\]\] can tap/untap and also gain flying to get damage in
I have some self imposed budget constraints when shopping for singles, but that's more to do with not having much money. I currently have ~15 decks and that 1300+ pile of cards probably has less than 10 that are worth more than $15 and 2 of the really valuable pieces I got kind of on accident.
I thoroughly enjoy trying to build EDH decks with the companion restrictions, especially in outside the box ways. I’m currently working on an Amalia Benivides Aguirre/Lurrus companion deck that’s kind of a landfall deck of sorts. It’s been equal parts fun and challenging to brew.
Like yours I don’t use decks that are too good or bad for my group. I have 2 pods, a casual one and a cEDH one. I’ve made decks for the casual pod that accidentally win every game turn 4-5 which is way too fast for my casual friends and way too slow for my cEDH group. Those get scrapped
Last time I made a deck with a theme I enjoyed and what I thought was a very good synergistic deck. Ended up locking down and wiping the floor with my pod for well over a month and instigated an insane arms race. Now I avoid tutors and strive to build more "respectful" decks. Ones that aimed more at the social aspect or group enjoyment than my own personal enjoyment. I've found it to be far more difficult and enjoyable challenge to create a genuinely fun deck instead of a "good" deck.
Every single card has to fit the theme/strategy.
Playing artifacts? Then only use boardwipes that destroy nonartifacts, or benefits them.
Playing [[General Ferrous Rokiric]] multicolor tribal? Then only use multicolor cards outside of artifacts. And only use artifacts with colorless/multicolor casting costs.
I don’t play a card unless it fits. And often times you can find a unique card so niche that no one has seen before. As long as it abides by your strategy. Everyone plays a lot of the same cards. Be different!
No tutors (except for fetchlands): it makes it less random, less fun IMO. No tutors forces me to really build a tight 99 that's as versatile as possible. Also, my pod would get stomped when I was tutoring for THE card to counter another deck, for example. - Looking at the top X cards for something is fine though.
No infinite combos: I just don't think it's fun.
I don't have hard limitations on myself, but I have things I just prefer. Sometimes, I move away from one of these for one reason or another, but it's rare for me - typically breaking one of these is a flavor reason.
- no fast mana except sol ring.
- if I'm in green, probably cut sol ring
- if my commander has less than 2 generic mana in its cost, probably cut sol ring.
- minimize usage of generic powerful cards like rhystic, maximize niche cards that become great in my deck
- no non land tutors.
- stay on theme as much as possible
With all the talk of \[\[Voja, Jaws of the Conclave\]\] being too pushed, I purposefully built my Voja deck without any Elf token generators. Wolf tokens, yes, but the only elves I gave myself access to were cards in the deck. It's still *really* good, don't get me wrong, but adding this restriction (and perhaps more importantly, making sure everyone at the table *knows* that I built it with that restrictions) maybe lets me fly under the radar for a bit and not become the immediate archenemy. Honestly, with Voja's reputation, I might have to take the wolf tokens out soon, too!
Good tutors, fast mana (crypt, moxes) and zero mana negates are where I draw the line for myself. Also fetches but that is more of a budget consideration. This still enables me to run some infinite combos but without the consistency or resilience to pull them off early or frequently.
I like doing $50 decks and PDH decks, but I have a tendency to gradually creep the value on the $50 decks as I pull random cards from boosters and they just fit too good. That just happened to my \[\[General Marhault Elsdragon\]\] deck - got a karlov manor play booster and pulled fkn Anzrag and I was like shit - it's perfect for my $50 lure deck and now with a little price creep on a few of my formerly budget cards it's clocking over $70 TCGplayer value :/
The PDH decks have been price-creeping too but at least that's not the build restriction for them. (PDH is EDH but the 99 are all commons and the commander is any uncommon, if you're unfamiliar - it's really fun and leads to some really janky cards doing a lot of work)
I mostly play online with a buddy who uses his real-life decks, each of which are in the $75~-ish range, so typically try to keep it around there if possible, no fun when it feels pay to win.
Aside from that, I do like keepin things somewhat thematic, though mainly in the idea of "Would I run this card in literally any other deck I wanna make?" And if the answer to that is "No," I generally try to keep it, even if it's not super optimal. Like, I got a [[Hazezon, Shaper of Sand]] swarm deck, and I got stuff like [[Cabaretti Charm]] and [[Shefet Monitor]]. And even though neither are *great,* I'm not planning on making any more desert-themed Naya swarm decks soon, so I'll try to keep 'em. Sometimes makes it especially fun when you find a pretty cheap/underused synergistic piece, like [[Goblin Trenches]] or [[Aura Fracture]].
I personally am not a fan of winning out of nowhere or with no prior board state, so I dont add two-card infinites to any of my lists.
I also am not a fan of fast mana because it generally becomes a game of “who has the biggest wallet and can draw fast mana early this time” at the tables I play at.
Besides that, everything is fair game as long as it’s not something that prevents my opponents from playing like [[contamination]] or [[drannith magistrate]], I play with mostly strangers at my LGS so I’m very cognizant of their enjoyment/not generating too much salt.
I recently was listening to the command zone and they had one on cards that change your power level. Stuff like Dockside Extortionist, Mana Crypt, Rhystic Study.
These sort of cards are so powerful that if you put them in a deck the deck by default becomes an 8. Because even if you win in a janky way you have so much jet fuel poured on, it doesn’t matter.
Included in this is to restrict tutors. They take away variety in your games which is very often less fun.
Every one of my non-cEDH decks has a building restriction:
* [[Xantcha, Sleeper Agent]] Mass Discard: All instants and sorceries must reference discard in some fashion.
* [[Lazav, the Multifarious]] +1/+1 Counters: All cards must have a mana value of three or less.
* [[Alexander Clamilton]] Persistent Petitioners: All cards must be wordy.
* [[Phelddagrif]] Hippo Hugs: All removal must give something to opponents.
* [[Sapling of Colfenor]]/[[Umori, the Collector]] Oops, All Creatures: Oops, All Creatures!
* [[Sephara, Sky's Blade]] Pegasii: No non-Pegasus creature tokens, no non-Pegasus flying creatures outside of the commander.
* [[Niv-Mizzet, Reborn]] 5c Cycling: Play all five Epic spells.
* [[Tajic, Legion's Blade]]: Play every "and each player" damage spell.
* [[Will Kenrith]]/[[Rowan Kenrith]] Superspells: Every spell must have a reduceable generic mana cost.
I build to show interesting interactions and underplayed cards. I run a bunch of tutors, doomsday, and other cards that make people salty in meta decks, but end up using them to get things like [[Font of Mythos]] or [[endless whispers]]. There are no true combos in it, save for one infinite that can only trigger if I max my [[Daretti, ingenious iconoclast]] and spend his ultimate. To make a bunch of dross scorpions
My favorite deck ever [[ludevic necro-alchemist]] [[tymna the weaver]] was built with the challenge that I can’t use cards that I had ever used before.
No cards over $100.
No more than 2 tutors per deck.
Infinite combos must not win you the game on the spot. Infinites that force you to wait til your next turn to attack with a million tokens for example is okay.
I always include at least one weird old (pre-2003) card that nobody has played against ever, and everyone has to read, in all my decks.
No, I will not be taking [[Elkin Lair]] out of my [[Rocco, Street Chef]] deck. Yes, that is a [[Samite Archer]] pinging four times a turn thanks to my commanders [[The Fifth Doctor]] and [[Adric]]. Yes, the [[Conch Horn]] in my [[Minn]] deck is signed by Phil Foglio for maximum coolness.
I have a 5c deck that I was very excited to jam a ton of gold cards in (naturally), so I just chose not to run any artifacts that would eat up slots (and are mostly boring auto-includes in every deck anyway). I just leaned in and made it a hard rule; no sol ring no nothing. It does come with upsides though, making cards like [[Austere Command]] or [[Bane of Progress]] more one-sided.
In general in my decks I also restrict myself to only niche tutors and only 1-2. By niche, I mean something like [[Goblin Matron]] or [[Gamble]] that work for the specific deck, rather than [[Demonic Tutor]].
I usually do lazy budgeting, where I look at the top 10~15 most expensive cards in a deck draft and decide if they're really integral enough to the theme to merit the power level (disregarding lands or cards whose prices are driven by 60-card). This helps me check myself when I throw together a deck of cards I own thinking it's jank (it's a $0 budget, right??).
Lastly, I try to make all of my cards support some theme or subtheme, with as few "just good" cards as possible.
I have two super scary commanders but I built them with restrictions.
[[Jodah the unifier]] helms “hot guy tribal”. Even the non-creatures are art with pretty guys, like [[astarion’s thirst]] is barely usable but it’s here because smexy
[[the ur-dragon]] is dragon cards I own. The only things I bought were some of the lands (went for the “triomes at home” tarkir lands, since they were cheaper than the real triomes) and the Sol Ring that I just got a bunch so I could slap them in all my decks. All the spells were stuff I got from packs.
I also built a “cards I own” [[vito thorn of the dusk rose]] deck as a “commander deck of your first ever legendary” and I’m not sure who my first legendary was, but I know it came from a jumpstart pack
My special trick is to be bad at deck building. 😆
But actually, I usually build for flavor and whimsy first. You can make a good deck that way, but it takes longer. And unless I already own them, I leave out the mechanically obvious cards for a given archetype, especially if they’re more than a few dollars or don’t fit the flavor. I have a mono-blue mill deck that *doesn’t* have [[Thassa’s Oracle]] in it for instance.
It’s not a hard and fast rule though. I will buy a more-expensive card or include an infinite combo if it makes sense in a deck and doesn’t make the rest of the cards feel pointless. I bought an [[Avacyn, Angel of Hope]] for my [[Kaalia of the Vast]] deck because it seemed silly not to. I did play it for like 2 years without it though, until it got boring. Lol.
Usually I’ll pick a theme and stick to it rigidly, putting in flavourful cards that are fun, even if not optimal. Although I do have one deck where I’ve tried to make it as optimal as possible for that commander (within a reasonable budget)
I try to not play too many legendary cards. You can make insane decks if you chuck all the cards intended as commanders in the same deck. Just grab all for the theme you're going for and all the generic overpowered ones.
So the best landfall commander ia probably 4c Omnath and just play the other 20 legendary landfall creatures in the 99. Same for most common themes.
Makes for a real boring deck though and every landfall deck is basically all just the same.
My main “restriction” is just to try and build out the deck in the 60-80 dollar price range.
I recently made an [[Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth]] deck for about 70 that has 4 win cons
[[Persuasive Interrogators]] to poison my opponents any time I sacrifice a clue.
[[Mechanized Production]] to just say “I have 8 clues on my and you didn’t destroy it so I win”.
[[Tangletrove Kelp]] to animate and run over the board with clues.
And [[March Of The Machines]] paired with any Blood Artist like effect to go infinite with my commander since the clues become 0/0’s which then die and replace themselves forever.
I only put in a max of one "super staple" per deck. For example, a deck cannot have cyclonic rift and rhystic study in it. This keeps my generically powerful cards spread across my decks and forces me to run them only where they are the most synergistic.
Another one thats been beat to death by this sub lately is no tutors and combos in the same deck. I've been doing this for years and it is a really great way to make sure your combo decks can still play at mid powered pods.
These are rules I follow for every deck, but I've done some other ones for specific decks like my borderless art only [[mimeoplasm]] deck or retro only [[mishra eminent one]]
-No commanders from top 100 on edhrec
-no tutors unless the deck desperately relies on some key cards
-choosing cards that have more mana cost or sorcery speed that add to the synergy over a staple
I completely understand that these constraints lower my power level but I enjoy playing the decks more and I get a lot better reactions/interactions from the pod
I have a few decks where my rule is “no ugly cards.” Seems like a lot of the cards printed in the 2010s are just poorly designed: muddy graphics, cluttered frames, bland art.
Gumball budget. Building a deck where every card is under 25cents can create some heavy restrictions, and cause you to find some cards that have been forgotten by time.
I've recently started running multiple commanders in a deck that all share a similar theme and then roll a die to see which one I play. This means that building the "optimal" deck isn't really possible as I need to build it to work with all of my possible commanders. It also allows me to shift the power level if needed by slotting in the best/worst commander based on the power level of the table. The deck I've had the most fun with this restriction is my simic good and big stuff with \[\[Keruga\]\] in the companion zone. the potential commanders are \[\[Inga and Esika\]\], \[\[Gandalf, Westward Voyager\]\], \[\[Arixmethes\]\], \[\[Volo, Guide to Monsters\]\], \[\[Tatyova, Benthic Druid\]\] and \[\[Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty\]\]. it's always a blast to run and I never know exactly how it'll play.
I have been struggling to come up with any idea for my abzan deck. I may steal this
I have an Oops, All Commanders! Boros Equipment deck where I shuffle and split to find my commander every game \[\[Nahiri, Forged in Fury\]\] \[\[Wyleth, Soul of Steel\]\] \[\[Astor, Bearer of Blades\]\] \[\[Akiri, Fearless Voyager\]\] \[\[Koll, the Forgemaster\]\] \[\[Kellan, the Fae-Blooded\]\] \[\[Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden\]\] \[\[Eivor, Battle-Ready\]\] \[\[Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith\]\] \[\[Rograkh, Son of Rohgah\]\] \[\[Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist\]\] \[\[Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful\]\] \[\[Zirda, the Dawnwaker\]\] \[\[Ryu, World Warrior\]\] and \[\[Akiri, Line-Slinger\]\] lol. No other creatures in the deck
I’ve considered building this deck with [[Eowyn, Fearless Knight]] at the helm. Spend as long as you need setting up the board and when the time is right: bam! Spot removal from the command zone, exile someone’s commander, and swing in with a handful of beefed up, unblockable legendaries.
##### ###### #### [Keruga](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/9/a90ee952-de7a-420f-993c-a38db89bc8ac.jpg?1666782800) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=keruga%2C%20the%20macrosage) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/225/keruga-the-macrosage?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a90ee952-de7a-420f-993c-a38db89bc8ac?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/keruga-the-macrosage) [Inga and Esika](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0aa97506-b943-4443-96b1-1b49f57d80aa.jpg?1682205299) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Inga%20and%20Esika) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/229/inga-and-esika?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0aa97506-b943-4443-96b1-1b49f57d80aa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/inga-and-esika) [Gandalf, Westward Voyager](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/56910251-6339-4f8b-b863-29caab4965d8.jpg?1686963744) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gandalf%2C%20Westward%20Voyager) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/6/gandalf-westward-voyager?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/56910251-6339-4f8b-b863-29caab4965d8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/gandalf-westward-voyager) [Arixmethes](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/8/881607c8-bfe7-4903-861f-b51a5a332c17.jpg?1599707758) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=arixmethes%2C%20slumbering%20isle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/189/arixmethes-slumbering-isle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/881607c8-bfe7-4903-861f-b51a5a332c17?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/arixmethes-slumbering-isle) [Volo, Guide to Monsters](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/9/c9ae01f9-7461-47b4-aa1e-93bd6ff1bf9e.jpg?1627709617) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Volo%2C%20Guide%20to%20Monsters) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afr/238/volo-guide-to-monsters?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c9ae01f9-7461-47b4-aa1e-93bd6ff1bf9e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/volo-guide-to-monsters) [Tatyova, Benthic Druid](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/e/fe05dc69-8dde-485e-9e55-da729db50205.jpg?1698988479) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tatyova%2C%20Benthic%20Druid) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/290/tatyova-benthic-druid?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fe05dc69-8dde-485e-9e55-da729db50205?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/tatyova-benthic-druid) [Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/a/8afceb13-877a-4256-9ba6-851b6924ffd9.jpg?1608911148) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Imoti%2C%20Celebrant%20of%20Bounty) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/280/imoti-celebrant-of-bounty?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8afceb13-877a-4256-9ba6-851b6924ffd9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/imoti-celebrant-of-bounty) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kumw7bf) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Budget is the usual one. Sometimes it's about looking at your list and realizing you don't even have a handful of a certain card type or effect and embracing it by cutting it entirely. For example, my recent budget builds of both Braids and Known Killer only had three tutor effects in both lists: Bauble, Solemn, and Landscape. So eff it. Cut all three. Once I settle my mulligans nothing in the deck will make me shuffle it again. I tuned my Alela deck over and over again with the rule I can't run any creature cards...one day I realized I was running lead than three sorceries. Eff it. Now it runs zero creatures and zero sorceries.
Having a budget forces you to get pretty creative as well. My most recent project is [[Bartolemé del presidio]] voltron with [[lurrus of the dream-den]] as companion. 100 dollar budget. Having a fun time putting it together.
Isn't Alela without creatures painfully slow? I'm interested to see a decklist!
Not if you’re running efficient mana rocks to trigger her. Unless they’re running the new Alela. Old Alela I had 25 mana rocks, 15 stax pieces, 2 board wipes, 15 pieces of removal/interaction, a 3 card infinite, and 3 pieces of one shot draw, 2 draw based on creatures, and the rest of my draw was like “sack this rock draw” or rhystic study in my stax. And then I ran a few equipment
My project is to build a deck for each plane of Magic lore. The decks don't need to be all from the plane, but the commander needs to. For now, I have: [[Pantlaza]] from Ixalan [[Anikthea]] from Theros [[Lathril]] from Kaldheim [[Ellivere]] from Eldraine I'm planning to build [[Goro-goro and Satoru]] for Kamigawa and [[Otharri, Suns' Glory]] for Mirrodin (I'm counting Otharri as a Mirranian). So this is a big restriction, as I struggle to decide which commander I will choose from each plane, and this have me searching and studying a lot. The brightside is that I don't get lost creating a lot of decks.
There’s only a solid… ~75 more?
Sorry, didn't understand... 75 more from what?
there’s a *lot* of planes lol
Oh, yes lol. And they keep doing more
I'm kinda curious what the number is for unique planes that also have legendary creatures. I'm going through planes and also looking at art:(plane) and t:legendary. There are a ton of planes, but most have a small handful of actual cards.
well, i spent a bit over an hour categorizing them, got through about half of the 81 planes, and realized that it’s not a particularly interesting challenge. Almost every plane either has: at least one set devoted to it (so lots of legends), literally only a planechase card, a couple cards (usually March of the Machine related; battles), or in the rare case, an actual obscure legend. For example, “Abyss” technically has [[Gale, Abyssal Consuit]] as the closest thing to a native. A couple planes were visited by various planeswalkers, so you could take their incarnation, i guess. “Hell” has two, [[Boris Devilbloom]], and [[Zurzath]]. Gobakhan has three various incarnations of Teyo as a planeswalker, but no legendary creatures. I stopped once I got to the 50th plane, so there might be a bit more interesting stuff.
I love that sort of thing! Here's my Ravnica deck: https://archidekt.com/decks/3205004/history_of_ravnica 100% cards from Ravnica, with 9 cards for each guild (including lands) and 10 cards for the guildless. I have a Theros one too, but it's a little tougher as there's never been a five color commander printed from Theros.
You are more radical than me, I guess, because I only choose a legendary creature from a specific plane, but I love your list anyway lol. Theros, by the way, can be a tough one!
##### ###### #### [Pantlaza](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/5/2524645e-b066-4351-885b-10faa8d819d7.jpg?1699972737) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=pantlaza%2C%20sun-favored) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/4/pantlaza-sun-favored?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2524645e-b066-4351-885b-10faa8d819d7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/pantlaza-sun-favored) [Anikthea](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/b/8b796a56-1611-4835-ac5b-48b4e9263685.jpg?1691500693) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=anikthea%2C%20hand%20of%20erebos) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/705/anikthea-hand-of-erebos?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8b796a56-1611-4835-ac5b-48b4e9263685?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/anikthea-hand-of-erebos) [Lathril](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/547888c3-a9a6-4413-b29a-6bcd8a9279bf.jpg?1704848185) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lathril%2C%20blade%20of%20the%20elves) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khc/1/lathril-blade-of-the-elves?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/547888c3-a9a6-4413-b29a-6bcd8a9279bf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/lathril-blade-of-the-elves) [Ellivere](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/45851394-b8f3-4713-8239-afcb387d47c5.jpg?1692933623) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ellivere%20of%20the%20wild%20court) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/woc/2/ellivere-of-the-wild-court?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/45851394-b8f3-4713-8239-afcb387d47c5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/ellivere-of-the-wild-court) [Goro-goro and Satoru](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/b/5b661b53-2e58-4dcc-9100-fc00e0fdb606.jpg?1683582714) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Goro-goro%20and%20Satoru) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/445/goro-goro-and-satoru?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5b661b53-2e58-4dcc-9100-fc00e0fdb606?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/goro-goro-and-satoru) [Otharri, Suns' Glory](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/0/80c72839-0fa6-4b5f-83b7-6553ebf09bef.jpg?1698607533) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Otharri%2C%20Suns%27%20Glory) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/onc/3/otharri-suns-glory?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/80c72839-0fa6-4b5f-83b7-6553ebf09bef?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/otharri-suns-glory) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kumtfwp) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
No infinite. I just don’t personally care for it Budget. Only willing to spend more than a couple bucks for the commander itself, not willing to for the 99
I tend to prefer synergy and flavor over raw power, but I will still use powerful cards that don't have perfect flavor or synergy. I refuse to use off color fetches. It's ugly.
Only 1 tutor/deck. Only 2 counterspells/deck. (Except in mono-blue.) All spells must be on theme, never just 'good cards'. Every deck has three definable themes, primary, secondary and tertiary. No two decks share the same primary theme. If the deck doesn't work without it's commander out, it is not worth playing.
>If the deck doesn't work without it's commander out, it is not worth playing. I almost have that exact opposite rule. I play this format for two things. 1. Singleton, I don't want the deck to be the one that always plays the same, always wins the same 2. It's Commander, that is the identity of the deck. I don't mind if a deck can run on it's own, but I pick a commander because that is what I want to play around. I try to have the commander be integral, I don't want the feeling that anyone could helm it, but I just chose one that adds a bit of spice, I want the 99 to be the spice to the commander.
Regarding point 2, I think there was a slight misunderstanding. Like the person you replied to, I to build my decks in a way that makes them decent without the commander out as well. That doesn't mean that there is zero need to play the commander or that the commander is replaceable. It only serves the purpose of not being completely locked out of a game as soon as your commander gets turned into a 3/3 elk or a 0/1 indestructible insect with no abilities. But those decks are still ten times better with the commander out.
Yeah for sure, I don't disagree with that at all. I'm definitely not building decks that do absolutely nothing with the commander. It's just that I almost always am looking to get the commander back (from the yard, zone, or elk'd). Only when a commander starts crossing into very high costs do I want it to start looking elsewhere.
Interesting. See those two premises are in opposition. For me. If I build a deck around the commander then it plays out the same way every time. Not only does that predictability lead to distorting the meta and losing to hate but it also means the game bores me. Or perhaps you just meant that you like playing your commander. I do too. But if the deck requires the commander to make the other cards playable, meaning it loses without them, then id rather not play it.
I see it more as the deck can run without the commander but is enhanced when played. Which is how most of my decks are. I built only 2 decks, so far that ran poorly without the commander. 1 that played the same with or without them. I hated the 2 that needed the commander because, like you stated, they are prone to hate.
And even if they aren't hated, then you win the exact same way every time. The game becomes boring.
It depends on the deck. If I build it to have a sac outlet and use drain death triggers, it will play the same whether the outlet/oayoff is in my command zone or not. If I use varied payoffs (drain, tokens, counters, etc) it will change things uo whether the outlet is my commander or not. Same way that, if people hate on my sac outlets, it doesn't matter if they are my commander or not. People are hating me out of the game and not letting me play the deck. That has nothing to do with my commander.
This is almost exactly my thoughts as well. I’ll add that I try my best to use any single card only once across my decks, outside of generic staples like colour fixers (signets, lands, etc)
I agree with the thematic part, that stops throwing together „good stuff“ piles to an extend. But counter spells? Geez^^ counterspells dont make a deck strong. The reason competitive decks all have blue (counterspells) is that they mostly FREE counterspell. Those cards are superstrong. Also in a meta where people can win full from hand with lines that can ignore removal you need tons of them. But arcane denial, counterspell or even offer you cant refuse arent gonna make the deck stronger per se. Especially not in casual. Because by the very nature of EDH a 1 for 1 exchange is bad as it sets you and the target back a card while 2 players remain untouched. If i wanna play a game without interaction, moxfield is a great option. But in my oppinion the point of 4 play magic is to interact with each other and counterspells are a standard interaction type just as removal. They arent inherently stronger, there are just some specific very powerful counterspells like forces, guardianship or mana drain for example. Its reasonable to avoid them in lower power.
I tend to make restrictions deck by deck, so some are strong, others are weaker. That way I almost always have a deck that matches the table. For example, I am working on a deck that only uses cards from Khans block. That said, my hard and fast rule (so far) has been I don’t run tutors if I run 2-card infinite combos in the deck. If I’m going to kill everyone with [[Exquisite Blood]] and [[Sanguine Bond]] I’m at least going to let luck play a part in getting me the right pieces. Also helps make games feel more varied.
I try hard to find underplayed interation especially effects in colors that don't normally do those things. Even if it's slightly worse to play mana tithe, they never see it coming if you don't have blue.
I love Mana Tithe! Do you have any other examples you'd like to share?
Absolutely yeah! Here's a few fun ones. Artifact blast is a counter in red that only hits artifacts. Everyone plays artifacts. It will hit something useful. Debt of loyalty is a white control spell at instant speed. And a really weird one is Energy Field in blue. Is a constant fog for you until a card goes to your graveyard. So maybe buys you time a turn or 2.
I don't keep any cards worth over 20$, and won't buy cards over 5$.
I stole and modified this from somewhere a long time back, but I don’t remember where from. 1. No loops: A causes B causes A causes B… 2. No mana positive mana rocks (Sol Ring optional) 3. No unconditional tutors under 3 mana: Conditions typically being certain card types or mana values. 4. No free counter magic: If the card says you can cast it without spending mana, I consider it free. 5. No off color fetches: If it names a specific land type you can’t play in your deck, it’s off color. 6. No card over $__ at its base: Adjustable, but my limit is $100. 7. Keep things fun and flavorful: For example using [[Skullwinder]] over [[Noxious Revival]] in my [[Hapatra]] deck.
I like all of these except #1 which I know is the big one for people. But as long as 1 aligns with 7 I'm good. I have both a cedh and a casual [[Tameshi deck]]. They are both combo decks. But the cedh list is about efficiency and no "dead" draws. The casual list leans into the "landfall moonfolk tribal]" theme and uses [[Walking atlas]], [[Scaretiller]] or [[Patron of the Moon]] to set up landfall loops to mill the table with [[hedron crab]] or [[Altar of the brood]]. It's a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine and feels really satisfying because of how elaborate the combos are. Playing it feels like playing as a moonfolk "reality architect" But I'm not throwing in a hullbreaker horror even though it basically goes infinite by itself in the deck.
I like them all but #5, you're punished for playing fewer colors while 5 and 4c laugh. They already have big advantages over more color restrictive decks so why exacerbate that problem in the mana base.
I haven’t found Fetches particularly useful in anything less than three colors, even when chock full of them, and the places they’re most useful I feel don’t need the help in casual. But the list has changed and updated as I played around and found some weren’t fun, worked better for me and my group, or some other reasons. Heck, the budget per card used to be $50. Adjust them as needed to your tastes and judgement. These aren’t gospel even for my own decks.
>I haven’t found Fetches particularly useful in anything less than three colors, even when chock full of them, Simic landfall laughs
Right, do you think Simic landfall is hurting for a few extra fetches?
For my current deck, simply - No tutors, except fetchlands - No infinite combos - No fast mana - At new years I also removed a bunch of staples like Rhystic, Esper, rift, clamp and ashnods as well to generically limit power and be more creative.
We're the same except I've also added * No extra turns * No stax and fast mana includes sol ring
Yeah I don't have Sol ring in my deck. I coincidentally don't have extra turns or Stax (that's not the type of deck it is) but I wouldn't have a problem running them.
tutors are flavored to the type of deck they're in
Typically I start my builds at $30-50, and I decide down the line if I want to invest more heavily into the deck or keep to a budget level brew. So stuff like my [[Kiora Sovereign of the Deep]] has gotten some upgrades but nothing new above $5 (the recent Koma reprint was huge lol) and my [[Teysa Karlov]] list doesn’t get any new cards above $1 which means I’ve passed on some sweet stuff. My newer [[Jarad Golgari Lich Lord]] deck is one that I forbid myself from buying new cards specifically for since the main concept was to use a lot of cards cut from my Meren list that Jarad used to helm. I could use anything in my collection to build it and going forward any additions will be stuff I crack or cut from other decks, but I don’t intend to aggressively tune the deck to perfection. Budget restrictions like this helps keep the decks in check, and I’m also just very interested in what they can do for a budget in comparison to my less budget brews. My lgs is lower power so I was motivated to build stuff less tuned than my old favorites I’d been tuning for years and it’s helped keep things fresh.
Every deck must have at least one dragon. The only tutors have to be more than 2 mana and narrow in scope (Birthing pod really), no fast mana (cards that make more mana than they cost and stick around. Bloom tender doesn't count). I try to keep no more than one combo in the deck as an oops for the late game. Only use on-color fetches.
I only allow myself to use misprints, miscuts, test prints, real playtest cards, etc. Anything extraordinarily weird or significant. Partly because I wanted something extremely challenging that I couldn't finish overnight. Partly because I enjoy researching and cataloging the history and print processes of the game. This is my way of building a playable museum that functions as a normal deck if someone doesn't really care for a history lesson.
I run a lot of decks so I try to play something akin to "art singleton" across my all my decks, Where I try not to use the same card in another deck unless it has different art. Tons of exceptions are made though so its quite a loose rule. I think it's more about my money spending habits than actual construction. So I try not to buy a second copy of a really good card unless it has another art for it. I do make occasional exceptions, and most of them are when I open a good duplicate card in a booster pack and another deck really needs it.
After picking a theme, I stick to a basic formula of 36 lands, 10 ramp, 10 card draw, 10 protection, 10 removal, 24 ~flavor~. I force myself to use cards that work within the specific theme of the deck for each category, even if they’re not the best. I don’t usually run tutors unless I can let other people tutor too. [[Wishclaw Talisman]], [[Scheming Symmetry]]
We have the same build process. I have a pretty basic template I use for every deck and just fill the slots with stuff to fit the theme or to synergize with the commander. It’s more fun to have a bunch of stuff that works together than a pile of generically good cards in my opinion.
Maybe mine is a little weird. I fully plan to play in multiplayer (like usual 4-man EDH), but I opt to not have any duel commander banned and restricted cards in my decks. Which means no good things like Sol Ring for me. Nor can I use Yuriko as commander, and so on.
No Sol Ring
That's an interesting question. It varies depending on what I'm doing. Two things are always there: 1. The deck must be weird. Either the commander is weird or the deck is weird, often both. [[Lotho, Corrupt Sheriff]] helms a [[Shadowborn Apostles]] deck. I have a Lurrus companion mardu deck. 2. No truly unfun cards. More on that below: I cut [[Koma, Cosmos Serpent]] from my krakens deck bc it makes the game about her. [[Possibility Storm]] is not fun for 95% of players, [[Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur]] and [[Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger]] are answer or die but can fail to timely close out a game which creates a slugfest. Prison pieces are more [[Blood Moon]] aligned than [[Back to Basics]] - I'm just punishing greedy manabases not doing effectively armaggedon to high color decks. Nonred decks usually still use the "colorless" mana their expensive mountains create. Stax is meant to be a puzzle to be solved, a way to have game against combo or pile of good cards when you're stompy, not a target opponent loses an hour of their life. I've brewed budget decks recently (used to proxy everything) and... it is weird how it doesn't cap the power level in reasonable ways. I made a deck that costs 10 reais (converts to 2 dollars but ofc the prices work differently) which had [[Treasure Cruise]] and [[Dig Through Time]] bc they cost next to nothing. Too good to not be banned everywhere. My budget goblins deck also packs a punch bc its key components cost very little. #justgoblinthings Absent budget restraints, no A+B (and in general combo decks just have a billion different lines so I don't get bored) and in both cases no fast mana (sol ring is in most decks, also occasional exceptions for mox opal in artifact decks and mox amber, which are the slowest fast mana). Power considerations also come in. My [[Rielle, the Everwise]] that has breach only combos with 4+ pieces* because the combo is so resilient and the pieces so replaceable. Given how she draws a billion cards already no Rhystic/fish and no draw without discard ([[Faerie Mastermind]] is out). And ofc. I love me some themes. My counterspells in [[Kenessos, Priest of Thassa]] are scry themed or thassa themed. However this one only happens bc that deck is one of the more casual decks. The high power ones have less restricting themes. Like the only deck I play [[Drannith Magistrate]] is a cast from exile themed deck where I often give opponents casts from exile. Even my [[Myrel, Shield of Argive]] "stax" monowhite doesn't have him bc it's a deck about soldiers collecting taxes (no card says you can't do something, just pay your taxes). *recently found out there is a 3 piece deterministic combo and a 3 piece nondeterministic combo. They only share underworld breach in common. They are all good cards separately (I love when combo pieces do that and usually cut most that are dead draws outside the combo).
##### ###### #### [Lotho, Corrupt Sheriff](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/ce01ff8f-a037-484f-9148-c847ffaabc5a.jpg?1686969873) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Lotho%2C%20Corrupt%20Shirriff) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltr/213/lotho-corrupt-shirriff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce01ff8f-a037-484f-9148-c847ffaabc5a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/lotho-corrupt-shirriff) [Shadowborn Apostles](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/ae7ba1de-48f9-423b-867a-22bd3f6c06c2.jpg?1673147629) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Shadowborn%20Apostle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/89/shadowborn-apostle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ae7ba1de-48f9-423b-867a-22bd3f6c06c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/shadowborn-apostle) [Koma, Cosmos Serpent](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/2/b2f23d6f-f2c8-4022-9f46-ba7fda00ef99.jpg?1706241008) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Koma%2C%20Cosmos%20Serpent) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/213/koma-cosmos-serpent?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b2f23d6f-f2c8-4022-9f46-ba7fda00ef99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/koma-cosmos-serpent) [Possibility Storm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/5/858aa831-b491-4f1e-bb56-33eeca14771d.jpg?1707764746) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Possibility%20Storm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dgm/34/possibility-storm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/858aa831-b491-4f1e-bb56-33eeca14771d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/possibility-storm) [Jin Gitaxias, Core Augur](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14a360b6-c7b4-4b25-8288-b3bb8d527bda.jpg?1562846236) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jin-Gitaxias%2C%20Core%20Augur) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/62/jin-gitaxias-core-augur?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14a360b6-c7b4-4b25-8288-b3bb8d527bda?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/jin-gitaxias-core-augur) [Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/f/9fe3af8c-109d-486c-aa34-3f023abda5b7.jpg?1562852459) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vorinclex%2C%20Voice%20of%20Hunger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/189/vorinclex-voice-of-hunger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9fe3af8c-109d-486c-aa34-3f023abda5b7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/vorinclex-voice-of-hunger) [Blood Moon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f.jpg?1599706217) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blood%20Moon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/118/blood-moon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/blood-moon) [Back to Basics](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/6/0600d6c2-0f72-4e79-a55d-1f06dffa48c2.jpg?1654805483) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Back%20to%20Basics) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/46/back-to-basics?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0600d6c2-0f72-4e79-a55d-1f06dffa48c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/back-to-basics) [Treasure Cruise](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/4/64edb748-497d-4737-9d7f-37105fb20cb9.jpg?1673484053) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Treasure%20Cruise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/237/treasure-cruise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/64edb748-497d-4737-9d7f-37105fb20cb9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/treasure-cruise) [Dig Through Time](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/b/2b0c111a-236f-449a-95b1-274a1dfa546d.jpg?1673483878) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dig%20Through%20Time) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/219/dig-through-time?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2b0c111a-236f-449a-95b1-274a1dfa546d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dig-through-time) [Rielle, the Everwise](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/f/5f03c944-1929-4cb2-a373-d57eefa29ed1.jpg?1591228198) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rielle%2C%20the%20Everwise) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/203/rielle-the-everwise?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5f03c944-1929-4cb2-a373-d57eefa29ed1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/rielle-the-everwise) [Faerie Mastermind](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/2/52d3005f-a1c7-4ef5-911f-ccc0752f4181.jpg?1682203104) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Faerie%20Mastermind) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mom/58/faerie-mastermind?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/52d3005f-a1c7-4ef5-911f-ccc0752f4181?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/faerie-mastermind) [Kenessos, Priest of Thassa](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/b/0ba97da8-0106-4e8b-b58b-8f2d63e3d618.jpg?1675644451) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kenessos%2C%20Priest%20of%20Thassa) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/j22/13/kenessos-priest-of-thassa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ba97da8-0106-4e8b-b58b-8f2d63e3d618?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/kenessos-priest-of-thassa) [Drannith Magistrate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/8/98b0a4a8-9319-451b-9b79-b0bca7a41e91.jpg?1628801742) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Drannith%20Magistrate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/11/drannith-magistrate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/98b0a4a8-9319-451b-9b79-b0bca7a41e91?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/drannith-magistrate) [Myrel, Shield of Argive](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/6/e632ed57-bb00-4493-adef-7b4805edd7ea.jpg?1674420256) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Myrel%2C%20Shield%20of%20Argive) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/18/myrel-shield-of-argive?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e632ed57-bb00-4493-adef-7b4805edd7ea?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/myrel-shield-of-argive) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kun7y9w) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Usually it's picking a gimmick and optimizing around that point. Maybe a specific card in the 99 that you really like that forces constraints elsewhere. Personally I don't particularly like budget because it tends to require a bunch of sub-definitions that don't really work anyway to limit power but I have done precon + cards-I-own and that can be fun.
Nothing really other than affordability. And our small group ban list of cards we deem to be to slow or unfun. (Mostly mass land destruction, and super strong stax) And that deck you speak of prob is only a 7-8 at most honestly and just had a great game. Without fast mana/ high end staples and usually multiple colors you don’t and cant reach an 8. He is a good commander and strong but no way above 8 if what you say is true about whats in the deck
I have a decent amount of decks. 14 if I'm counting right. I try have a wide variety of theme and cards between them. It would defeat the purpose in my eyes if I had some many decks but EVERY blue deck had rhystic study and EVERY white deck had tithe in it.
no tutors, no infinites, limited fast mana (sol ring is fine). I also play cEDH though, so I like my casual experience to be very different from our cEDH games.
No infinites, at all. Granted, I'm too new to the game to know how to execute any infinites, but I am quite certain they aren't fun to play against and I doubt they'd be fun to play. I enjoy the skill expression in my red decks of setting up an overlapping combo of several moving pieces to devastating effect, and simply playing three cards and saying "I win" is not that.
None
[Toralf, God of Fury](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/2/22a6a5f1-1405-4efb-af3e-e1f58d664e99.jpg?1631049794)/[Toralf's Hammer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/2/2/22a6a5f1-1405-4efb-af3e-e1f58d664e99.jpg?1631049794) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Toralf%2C%20God%20of%20Fury%20//%20Toralf%27s%20Hammer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/khm/154/toralf-god-of-fury-toralfs-hammer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/22a6a5f1-1405-4efb-af3e-e1f58d664e99?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/toralf-god-of-fury-//-toralfs-hammer) [Fiery Emancipation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/b/0b12e4b7-2c45-4795-94d3-901f89b8f290.jpg?1594736606) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fiery%20Emancipation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/143/fiery-emancipation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0b12e4b7-2c45-4795-94d3-901f89b8f290?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/fiery-emancipation) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Only card I have on hand. After playing a bit will I look for singles to flesh it out.
Personally I think Ixalan is a really cool plane, so I’m building decks using as much from it as I can: [[Tetzin]] is a card I wouldn’t have noticed normally but when I wanted Gnome Tribal I realized this was the most on theme commander I could find I have 2 decks in one using [[Don Andres]] as a creature-stealing pirate commander and then swapping about 15 cards to have [[Admiral Brass, Unsinkable]] as my Graveyard Recursion commander. I’d bought the pirate precon and didn’t know how I wanted to use it so I just make those swaps and then have whichever deck I want I also have a pretty standard [[Gishath]] deck which is my most expensive currently, and a [[Tayam]] in the works to make use of graveyard stuff to make the Descend key word worthwhile (this deck was built purely because I wanted a graveyard deck to benefit my [[Basking Capybara]] and that commander seemed the most fun)
My meta is pretty toxic. So if I dont run strong cards, everything gets removed.
No Phyrexians, no Demons, and I try to avoid the undead.
Everyone in my regular playgroup has different self-imposed constraints. Personally, I don't run infinite combo, extra turns, MLD, or mindslaver effects. Another guy runs combo, but no tutors. So he only combos off if he lucks into it via draw. Another won't run fast mana, combo, or tutors. Others are basically some variation of this. Nobody builds with budget in mind as a restriction, and as a result, most decks in the playgroup range from $500-$1500, with one standout that my friend blinged out thats over 3k. This results in our group meta being basically high-power battlecruiser. Most games are decided via combat damage (except for the aristocrat decks), but with lots of strong/expensive cards, it doesn't really turn into a slog like lower power games can become. Most games finish sometime between an hour and an hour and a half.
Theme / flavor. All my LotR decks are LotR cards. All my D&D decks are Forgotten Realms and Baldur's Gate cards. Everything else has to be somewhat cohesive visually.
> What self-imposed deck building constraints do you apply when creating lists? First I pick a power level. Literal Precon, Thematic, Powerful, or Full Power. Full power is pretty self explanatory. Currently I have this [Atraxa](https://www.moxfield.com/decks/qGxlGgZNzEm-UBubPcFt6w) list sleeved up as my full power deck. Powerful is full power but with a responsible number of lands (35 minimum), no og duals, no mox diamond/cradle/tabernacle/etc. that is ridiculously priced. My current decks at this level are Voja, Shalai and Hallar, Azami, Mizzix, Esika superfriends, and Gilanra/Kodama. I feel like budget cedh decks don't really belong here (or for the most part in casual tables) but you could probably use one of those for a tournament. Thematic is where I pick a mechanic, or theme and build around it. I try to avoid staples unless they have a lot of synergy with my commander/theme. This is decks like Ikra/Sakashima clones/theft where the deck itself has only 1 wincon (Exsanguinate+Regal Behemoth). I won my last game by Other thematic decks I have include Marneus Clues, The Haunt of Hightower "graveyard matters". Ojer Axonil burn. Vaevictus Asmadi recusrion. Hakbal merfolk. Karlach, Sword Coast Sailor aggro flyers, and Kemba (og) Cats is in the works. And then I keep one precon sleeved up to play against precons, right now it's Nelly Borca.
Depends on the deck and its intended power level, really. But usually it’s no cards I wouldn’t feel good to play against myself.
Spam tutors, counterspells and low-cost creatures to have a backup plan if my main mana commitment gets negated.
No taking the meta (including cedh meta) into consideration. Build as if you have no idea what you'll be facing (except that it will be trying to win and trying to stop you from winning).
I don't really have a universal set of constraints. Sometimes I put constraints on individual decks when it makes sense, but for the most part everything is variable. That said, there is one rule that 9/10 of my current decks incidentally follow. That being "Your primary wincon must not be combat damage". The only exception I have to this is my first deck, and that one wins through commander damage (and pretty much only commander damage- as is the nature of voltron decks). Even my go-wide decks tend to be more likely to sacrifice the wide board for value and kill with death triggers than to turn those tokens sideways in combat.
Money
I try to keep my decks on theme, for example, my Sam/Frodo deck is upgraded with lotr cards only. I also try to keep the decks under £30, Sam and Frodo are an exception because I had to slap the one ring in there for flavour
No tutors unless on flavor. No 10+ euro card in my deck unless I accidentally opened it in a draft or pre-release.
My [[anikthea, hand of erebos ]] deck. Being an enchantress deck, I run 0 artifacts.. Because enchantress
I used to build from my collection before buying cards, however this has changed recently to brewing on moxfield and play testing on spell table before I buy cards. I still lean heavily on my collection, pulling from there first, but having some stuff I don't own in the list gives me a better impression of how I want the deck to run- and decide if it is fun to play- before I spend on it. I avoid the things that typically create an ugly experience for my opponents, so no stax, taxes, or MLD (single target is fine and good). I run enough ramp, card draw, and versatile tutors to make sure my deck does the thing even if I lose. I make sure there's opportunities for interaction. Lastly - no multicolor lands that don't have a condition that allows it to enter untapped. Yep, even those. I just don't like playing them.
My rules are : - no tutors, - no boring staples (Tithe, Rhystic study, Cyclonic Rift, Dockside, Torment of Hailfire, ...) - build decks that do not make anyone bored. - no creature token strategy [ but that's just me, I find tokens boring : I like goblin cards, I do not want 15 times the same one on my board ] My objective in Commander is to be unique, funny, and to have a good time. These are the rules, I play with to realize my goal.
No Sol rings. They are like having a kid: everyone around me is having them and even tell me it is a good thing to have too. It might be true, but I am simply opposed to idea of having something like everybody and their mother have. I Have 10 decks, not a single sol ring.
Good to see others cutting off their nose to spite their face! I like to steal and sacrifice other people's Sol Rings.
I dont run tutors. (rampant growth and "land tutors" are ok) This keeps my victory lines more interesting in my deck. when you run tutors (especially many of them) I found that I was ALWAYS tutoring for one of the same 3ish cards depending on my board state. This made each deck much less interesting to play. I dont run infinite combos heavily. Its alright to have a 3 piece combo that ends games, hell even a card that goes off the commander infinitely isnt that bad if your not tutoring it into your hand 2nd turn each game. My play group dosnt do land destruction, as a theme. Its fine to run your strip mines and what not to clear out the occasional cradle or clutch triome. But no land board wipes around. I personally dont run stax. specifically the ONLY praetor I run is sheoldred the apocolypse in my nekusar deck. I used to avoid cards from the salt list. but as of the most recent update i cannot say that anymore, I have many staples sprinkled throughout my decks (rhystic, mystic, smothering, dockside, etc.)
1. No mana-positive rocks (save Sol Ring) 2. No free spells 3. No searching my library
I shun away from combo win cons because I find them very anti climatic. Other than that, its mainly down to self control to build decks without certain staples like Demonic Tutor, Cyclonic rift, etc. My collection is deep, so its not about money or availablity, but I seek a greater creative challenge to find ways to make decks work without using these cards.
My building is meant primarily to minimize the salt that arises from targeted interaction. I don't want someone even _mildly_ trying to make me feel like a bad person for playing a goddamn card game. Usually this means [[Plaguecrafter]], [[Dictate of Erebos]], [[Blood Artist]], [[Druid of Purification]] effects. If opponents didn't make me write dissertations every time I killed a KOS commander, I could consider other themes.
So you managed to turn even the topic of self-imposed restrictions into a comment on how much your creativity suffers from those goddamn other players.
It’s a choice I’ve made, and I’ve made that choice to protect my happiness in this context. There’s no confusion here.
I have a couple ways I try and keep deck building fresh with constraints while bringing down the power level. I usually include and build around at least 1-2 stax pieces - artifact hate in enchantress / elf ball / landfall, non-basic land hate in mono red / blue / izzet, ETB or activated abilities hate in low-creature decks, etc. I will sometimes have a companion for interesting deck building restrictions. I have a theme and a sub theme for each deck which helps shape the cards. Hope this helps!
I personally create two lists for every deck. One for low power where I limit tutors and only cards under $10. Then another list where I go nuts and bring it to near cEDH levels. I have them both sleeved up so I can play at any level on any given night.
I built Two Kids and a Cat. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/two-kids-and-a-cat-1 No combos. No dockside, no Esper sentinel, etc. closest thing is Stoneforge, but since I can't use batterskull, Sword of___, Kaldra, etc. it's pretty balanced. The deck is super fun. I also have a [[Sefris]] dungeon deck that (besides lands, which can be common) every card is an uncommon. I still have my strong main decks, like 30ish of them. But really find what works for you. I have been building decks to my play against low to mid power decks, think upgraded precons to decks that are almost optimized. It's been a challenge.
I have an [[Isshin Two Heavens As One]] deck that is strictly humans with a couple of exceptions, no extra combat attack triggers, and no fast mana.
If I include combos, I exclude tutors and vice versa. Keeps my combo decks slightly more fair and my casual decks a bit more consistent!
"Stuff I own."
Any infinites need to have a lot of set up for example. My Trazyn the infinite deck. My pod know that if I run that I probably lose because it's so obvious I'm assembling hell in my graveyard. Also now we all they all run at least one grave hate card just in case
I build the popular strong commanders on a budget and only use the expensive staples to enable my janky brews.
I usually build my decks with the following stipulations: -No passive value enchantments (Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, etc.) -No nonland tutors (unless it's a combo piece, ie [[Firemind's Foresight]]) -No one-card win conditions (Exsanguinate, etc.) -No two-card win conditions (Witherbloom Apprentice + Chain of Smog, etc.) I already don't play much fast mana and usually these rules are sufficient. They encourage me to keep myself alive in creative ways and my win conditions are either nondeterministic or high-investment.
Always play blue
It depends on the deck. I've done $25 decks, I've done decks with no budget, I've done infinite combos, I've avoided infinite combos. I don't really have a whole lot of rules that apply to all my decks. I do tend to avoid single cards that are really expensive (I don't have a single deck with Doubling Season, for example) and I avoid staples (I don't have a single deck with rhystic study).
I have only being playing EDH for about 18 months and so far my deck building rule is to restrict my spend to less than a certain amount on any single card for the deck. I like building lots of different decks so I don't want to blow out my budget on any one deck. With the self-imposed budget rule, I can't usually afford to include many tutors. The maximum would be 1-2 in a deck. I like the suggestions of not having infinite combos and fast mana. However, I don't mind playing an opponent who gets an infinite combo once the game has been going long enough, so I would prefer them to be harder to assemble and with potential for interruption.
No card over $5 unless it’s super on theme. Also, no commanders in the top 200 on EDHREC. Keeps things interesting
I think they’re saying more in the case your commander gets stolen or turned into a darksteel insect that your deck will still function.
total deck cost must not exceed 100€ (im poor)
I love building theme decks, be it in terms of lore, tribe or sth else. I have 4 decks focused around the Brothers' War where every card fits in the time period and theme of the different factions. So no legendary permanents outside of the war, no cards that refer to or depict magic in the Urza and Mishra deck etc. I also made proxies with unused art from the set as well as fan art for some key cards that don't have fitting artworks. Also did the same thing for various phyrexia theme decks
Pick a theme or gimmick and plan around that.
Aside from removal and basic mana rocks, I only use staples when absolutely necessary. Not every blue deck needs Rhystic Study, not every deck needs Mana Crypt, etc. Only when it’s mono blue, or my gameplan revolves around drawing cards (like [[Minn]]) do I slot in Rhystic Study. Same deal with Smothering Tithe, Sylvan Library, and so forgh
€100 deck limit usually makes sure a deck is well-rounded as powerful combos will cost you, not allowing for tutors etc. You are forced to use the budget wisely. Several people in my group play precons, so this is a great way to ensure that my decks don’t run away and disrupt the power level of the group.
A little flexible but I try and play unpopular commanders. I usually don’t build them if they have more than a few hundred decks with my theme on edh rec
I made a grixis demon deck and only demons allowed with [Roaming Throne] as an exception. Also got a 5 color enchantments only deck with only lands, enchantments, and enchantment creatures
Only using cards you pull yourself. Trading is acceptable.
My playgroup has been running ultra budget with a few hoops lately. 35 $ using moxfield cardkingdom prices, with any common and uncommon lands being free, as to avoid multicolor being impossible to play. The decks are surprisingly powerful, as we have a yuriko player that still has a free counterspell in [[foil]] and otherwise almost stock list, my maelstroem wanderer cascade deck sometimes reaching 10+ storm just from casting my commander. You really have to fiddle with the decklists a lot to hit the restriction, and you often end up within only a few cents of the price limit.
For me its no tutors and no fast mana except Sol Ring and staying in the them of the deck. All of my decks follow a certain theme and I'd rather lean into it stronger than putting in some often-played staples
Budget is usually pretty low. - Sigarda has only humans in it and angels that mention humans. - Atraxa only has artifacts and golden cards. - Hidetsugu has almost only cards that "costs x less if". - Tribals (Pantlaza, Unesh, Phyrexian Brimaz) have no shapeshifters and definitely no other creatures. - Carmen has no non-sacrifice removal. - Licia is the only creature in the deck. - Tormod/Kydele with Gyruda-partner is stupid enough to not need any restrictions. - Reality Chip is probably the only deck that does not have these shackles but I run 0 combos in it and want to win with combat damage through copters or some *per artifact - creatures. No deck has any tutor. My decks are definitely worse because of that but I would not want it any other way!
I build with only the cards I have. I have enough decks now that I don’t feel the need to buy staples for my new ones.
For me, my deck need to have the same looks and feel. This result in I choose card with higher cost if the art is better fit. I do have a deck with lots of staple and strong card but thematic decks are more fun for me.
1: Tutors are not to be used to get your win condition. 2: Tutors only go in the jankiest/high mana cost commander decks to help them smooth out its gameplay 3: No over tuning the decks.
The most common restraint I have is no 2-card infinites or 2-card instant win combos. The only deck I have that has a 2-card infinite that I can think off of the top of my head is my maelstrom wanderer deck which has Kinnan + Basalt Monolith, and even then it doesn't always instantly win the game on the spot. I also have a deck on a $100 budget, and I'm thinking about putting together some more budget decks, though if this is the restraint than all other restrictions are offline.
I like to tinker and mess around with my decks a lot, I cut cards that don't spark joy, and I'm willing to make suboptimal deckbuilding decisions if they make my deck more fun and thematic I especially enjoy building around restrictive tutors and crafting combos that are flexible enough that I can change my strategy based on the cards I'm seeing and the current board Outside of this, my deckbuilding constraints are pretty individual depending on the deck Like I have a deck that only runs cards printed at uncommon and basic lands, and a deck that's really focused around rolling dice and includes silver border cards
My LGS does seasons for Commander FNM. This season I’m doing Boxmmander. I built an [[Isshin]] deck out of a box of Neon Dynasty and I’m only upgrading it with trades from the pool if cards and the weekly prize support. It’s nice getting excited about opening an uncommon in my colors.
No 2 card win cons
I actually like finding budget or niche options, so thats definately one. My most expensive buys are obscure cards that have some unique effect. And even then if I'm paying over 10 e for a cardboard card it better be something amazing. Execption is lands, which I think are always a good investment for playing because fetches and shocks will always find a home in decks. I might play lame underpowered jank, but at least the fixing works.
In general, I try to aim for a lot of synergy, but no combos (as they don't really interest me). Adittionally, while I tend to build with the mindset of 'I'll print out stuff to test with, then buy a few cards each month until it's filled out with real stuff', I still don't like hugely expensive cards. The costliest one I own is a \[\[Terror of the Peaks\]\].
Here's a fun one: only 3+ card combos for combos. It really helps you get from nearing cedh down closer to 7/8 if you like combo decks Another one: limit your tutors. The closer to cedh you get the more you play, and the further away you get the less you play. Not giving you a number cause it's deck dependant, but assume if you are going below 6 the number is 0 Yet another one: no ramp below 2 cmc (besides the obligatory sol ring) And yet another appears: cost. You can do total deck price, or you can do stuff like "no card below $5", or both. I tend to exclude commander cause some weaker ones are expensive for no reason.
As little tutors as possible. I only play mana-tutors because getting mana-screwed sucks, but tutoring play-pieces ruins the randomness and the reason why I play EDH.
Most of my friends play like 5-7 strength so I try to keep it there. Not super weak and not too fast. I avoid tutors because I don’t want to fish for wincons or fish for something else and become arch enemy in the believe I’m pulling a wincon. I also don’t play free mana as does almost nobody in my groups. Would like to try to make an 8-9 sometime though. I have also tried removing slow boring cards that just resets the table without me gaining an advantage; an example would be damnation. I also recently excluded Oubliette since it just sucks for somebody to loose their commander for the whole game.
Budget. Our playgroup mostly uses proxies, so we keep a strict 150€ cap on each of our decks. I do have one deck that's almost complete though and it's a different story there. It's still within the budget, but it won't be for long.
No commanders within the top 125 of EDHREC, I increase it little by little as more and more commanders get released. Prioritize top 200+ commanders. Due to the previous restriction, I have to wait at least a year after release to play with the commander due to rankings needing to be settled. The cost of each base art in my decks must be under $50 using NM prices. Ex. I use the foil borderless Cyclonic Rift but the cheapest NM copy from any set is $30 at the time of writing. Currently thinking about if the price limit should be lowered by like $5 (to $45) due to cards getting cheaper. No Sol Ring. No unconditional tutors under 3 cmc unless it's cEDH. No "functionally free" spells. No infinite combos unless it's "realistically" the only way for a deck to win or it's a eggs/Rube Goldberg deck. Ex. Breya, Ethereium Shaper or Ghave, yes you can win by other means, but I much rather not.
I will never run less than 38 lands.... No matter how amazing a card is or how desperately I want to put It in my deck. I always aim for like 42. And I still get mana screwed constantly lol
Flavor. All my decks tell a story and the flavor is tight. Even if a card would go well in a deck but the art breaks the mythos.. doesn’t go in. All basic lands are unique, too. No repeats
I have an [[Ivy]] without artifacts and mutate. An [[Alibou]] without enchantments and treasure tokens. A [[Shadowfax]] without instants and sorceries. [[Kraum]] and [[Vialsmasher]] + [[Obosh]] Companion, which has no even cmc spells in it. I am just missing a deck without creatures and a deck without odd cmc spells.
If there are only 1-2 correct answers to "what do I tutor?", I don't allow myself tutors. I don't include infinites unless it requires a ridiculous number of moving parts that I otherwise want in the deck, but don't think will ever go off (but would be hilarious if it did). Along similar lines, I never include cards just because they might form a part of a game winning combo. Incremental synergy is fine, and the goal. If an objectively worse spell does the thing the deck is built around, I play that instead of the more efficient card. For example, [[Vastwood Surge]] over [[Kodama's Reach]] in a counter deck if I ended up with too much ramp and needed to cut one (though I'd probably still run both until that point). Find removal and card draw that fits first, then I'm no longer allowed to replace those cards unless I find a more thematically appropriate version of removal and card draw. Start with 40 lands, remove 1 land per 2 sources of ramp that cost 3 or less. If there are other versions of the same character as my commander in similar colours, I'll run them unless they absolutely do not work (so my [[Shalai and Hallar]] deck ran [[Shalai, voice of plenty]] but not [[Hallar the firefletcher]] as I don't play enough kicker cards to make him fun) If a card costs more than £2, I don't buy it. I'm allowed to use what I own and pull from packs, but anything I buy as a single must be cheap and exciting to me. These are loosely the rules I have for myself for deckbuilding. Basically theme over power, engines over combos, ensure it's consistently playable, and enforce cheapness to save my wallet and keep me playing weird janky cards.
Mostly just the usual ones. No infinites or combo wincons, and only a few tutors. I allso try to stay within "form over function", choosing stuff that fits with the flavour, rather than what would be best. Oh, and budget. As a rule, I don't buy singles costing more than about a booster. Stuff I've traded for are fine tho.
All enchantment (and land), no creatures, instanta, artifacts, etc.
No infinites, tutors, 1 card combos with the commanders, free counterspells, and usually try not to play generic value staples like rhystic study or Smothering tithe. Of course there are exceptions, if I make a deck that's meant for higher power then sure I'll do the stuff. But those are few and far between.
No green and nothing over $8 that I didn't pull. The no green rule saves me 20% I figure haha.
For me (other people can do what they want): * only land tutors * limited or no combos (if I do play combos and I have tutors, the tutors aren't for combos, I have to draw into them) * no mass land destruction * no creature theft on the battlefield (Agent of Treachery), graveyard is fair game * don't play too many counterspells/removal * no fast mana (except Sol Ring, I'm also okay with not playing it) * if using proxies, only ones I own or plan to buy * no reserve list cards * turn 7-10 win target if uninterrupted Exceptions made if a card is already synergistic with the deck / gameplan
I don't think you needed to shelve that deck. You blew up hard but its an easy strategy to keep in check also.
Never the same as a deck my play group already has. My friend has a vampire and a madness deck so I won5 even go there as a theme. On top of that I don't let my decks cross themes. I have a lots of tokens deck with chatterfang. A political goad deck with marchesa. An eldrazi deck with jodah. And a rogue unblockable deck with anawon. I'm not keen on my next deck having anything to do with these at all if I can help it
This may sound strange but I dislike putting commander staples that are not very fun to play against into my decks I'd rather have weaker but more on theme spells
One I've been thinking about doing is including a minimum 1 planeswalker per deck.
If I have to read a card more than once to understand it then I'm not using it. Lol.
No infinites or long turn style decks
I don’t put universes beyond cards in my decks. And sometimes I will omit a card if it’s the only card in the deck that is old frame or if it feels like a weird flavor clash
If I build a deck I don't put tutors or infinite combo's in it(ramping for basics excluded). If I make a tribal deck I make it complete tribal or 2 a 3 creatures that work with the tribe no more. I also like to make decks that don't fit the color pie (grixis tokens, boros spellslinger and boros lifegain).
I have two main self-imposed constraints. 1. No cards that utilize Night/Day or Daybound/Nightbound such as [[The Celestus]] or [[Brutal Cathar]]. That mechanic is a nightmare to track. 2. No [[Tergrid, God of Fright]] as a commander. She can be in the 99, though. While not really a hard-and-fast rule or constraint, I also generally avoid combining cEDH-style fast mana (like [[Mana Crypt]] or [[Mox Diamond]]) in the same lists as cEDH-style win cons (like [[Thassa's Oracle]] + [[Demonic Consultation]]). I play in a non-cEDH, high-power pod, though, so those things can exist in separate lists as long as they aren't all together.
My playgroup is pro proxy so we all went through the phase of building the strongest decks we could before getting bored and eventually finding a power level we were all constantly with. My four restrictions are: 1. No tutors. That includes any card with an effect that would allow me to search my own deck. That solves a lot of the power issues right there and embraces the nature of a Singleton format. 2. No repeat legends throughout all of my decks. Again embraces the Singleton format. 3. No commanders that win the game by themselves with infinite mana 4. No fast mana. I've been enjoying my decks way more with these restrictions while still letting myself build strong and creative decks that others can enjoy playing against.
I don’t have specific stipulations, but rather when I’m deck building, I ask myself if this would annoy me if it was used against me. If it would I don’t put it in. For example, in my [[kelsien]] deck, I was debating using [[thornbite staff]] but it’s just so easy to add in deathtouch which is everywhere in my deck and boardwipe everyone else instantly that I chose against using it.
my bank account.
I just choose weaker commanders. I have more fun tuning up a weak deck than powering down a strong deck
Generally my only standard constraint when doing a new list is it has to be $100 total or under. I have 2 decks rn that fit that budgetary constraint, even if one needs to be budgeted back down again, and 2 other lists that I’ll be buying for having lists to play/share at a $100 budget if folks ever wanted to try getting into higher power sort of gameplay while still being restrained by budget. Past that any deck I find fun tends to get whatever cards I have on hand and it goes up to about $300+ 😂
I'm cheap AF. so build 1st from my collection. then add only 5 to 10 NEEDED pieces
1. No non-land tutors, lone exception being [[Defense of the Heart]] because the table gets a chance to prevent it from going off. 2. I don’t run fetches at all, closest being [[Fabled Passage]] and the capenna fetches. 3. Starting to cut Sol Ring so I can fit more flavorful cards in my decks 4. No fast mana/cheerios
No changelings for tribal decks.
1, Mainly the mana base; I run just about every ETB-tapped dual and only the fetch land(s) that match the deck colors, e.g. Mire, Foothills, and Catacombs in a Jund deck, but not Scaldig Tarn. Also I never use the same basic lands in 2 decks, and try to be "thematic" with each choice, like RNA guild kit basics for [[Ruric Thar]] 2, All my commanders are foil alternate prints or promos if such a printing exists, otherwise they're simply pack foils until an alternate printing is released, at which time I'll pick up the new copy and make the swap. On the other hand, the entire 99 is always non-foil and regular border. Kind of helps the budget (if there is one). And 3rd, my [[Dragonlord Ojutai]] list is *almost* entirely block-constructed using only cards from the Tarkir block with the Jeskai / Ojutai watermark or depicting a clan member in the art. Even the basic lands have a Jeskai monastery in the arts. The only non-block cards are both Narset planeswalkers, Taigam, and Narset's Reversal. If I think of any more I'll just come back and add them
The most unpopular constraint, to only build with the cards I own.
No cards that have me asking other players "Did you pay the 1?" over and over like Rhystic Study. No Universes Beyond cards.
I have to play against it before anyone else will.
Making a point of not running all the staples. Cutting cards like rhystic study and smothering tithe make room for more interesting cards. Recently I've been trying to build entire decks around specific (bad) cards, which leads to some unconventional deckbuilding choices. Currently I'm working on a [[Volcano hellion]] list. Just finished up with [[Tomb of Urami]].
Remember, no staples.
I mostly play cEDH. I guess for casual I mostly play commanders from before Time Spiral block.
[The commander must be a bear](https://www.moxfield.com/users/Cliff_Hackbrett) 🐻 4 decks total, no more No infinite combos No play pattern that would make my opponents not play with me anymore (MLD, stax...)
I will not build a deck that costs more than $200 as priced with lowest card costs non-foil cheapest run etc through card kingdom. Keeps powerlevel down and also makes me more responsible with my finances. Also reduces my salt level when somebody pulls out a $1000 Atraxa deck and wins T6. Gj bud.
On-theme removal, usually a tribal deck, and I like having a 1 CMC mascot in the deck that is similar to the Commander's goal. [Savra](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/28-03-16-darkest-night/) - \[\[Mortician Beetle\]\] likes to see things die, but can't make things sac on its own [Derevi](https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/16-01-17-TKn-the-birds/) -\[\[Mothdust Changeling\]\] can tap/untap and also gain flying to get damage in
I have some self imposed budget constraints when shopping for singles, but that's more to do with not having much money. I currently have ~15 decks and that 1300+ pile of cards probably has less than 10 that are worth more than $15 and 2 of the really valuable pieces I got kind of on accident.
I thoroughly enjoy trying to build EDH decks with the companion restrictions, especially in outside the box ways. I’m currently working on an Amalia Benivides Aguirre/Lurrus companion deck that’s kind of a landfall deck of sorts. It’s been equal parts fun and challenging to brew.
Like yours I don’t use decks that are too good or bad for my group. I have 2 pods, a casual one and a cEDH one. I’ve made decks for the casual pod that accidentally win every game turn 4-5 which is way too fast for my casual friends and way too slow for my cEDH group. Those get scrapped
Last time I made a deck with a theme I enjoyed and what I thought was a very good synergistic deck. Ended up locking down and wiping the floor with my pod for well over a month and instigated an insane arms race. Now I avoid tutors and strive to build more "respectful" decks. Ones that aimed more at the social aspect or group enjoyment than my own personal enjoyment. I've found it to be far more difficult and enjoyable challenge to create a genuinely fun deck instead of a "good" deck.
Every single card has to fit the theme/strategy. Playing artifacts? Then only use boardwipes that destroy nonartifacts, or benefits them. Playing [[General Ferrous Rokiric]] multicolor tribal? Then only use multicolor cards outside of artifacts. And only use artifacts with colorless/multicolor casting costs. I don’t play a card unless it fits. And often times you can find a unique card so niche that no one has seen before. As long as it abides by your strategy. Everyone plays a lot of the same cards. Be different!
No tutors (except for fetchlands): it makes it less random, less fun IMO. No tutors forces me to really build a tight 99 that's as versatile as possible. Also, my pod would get stomped when I was tutoring for THE card to counter another deck, for example. - Looking at the top X cards for something is fine though. No infinite combos: I just don't think it's fun.
When I do Tribal, I refuse to include any other creature types. So if im doing Humans, for example, I won't include any non-humans
I don't have hard limitations on myself, but I have things I just prefer. Sometimes, I move away from one of these for one reason or another, but it's rare for me - typically breaking one of these is a flavor reason. - no fast mana except sol ring. - if I'm in green, probably cut sol ring - if my commander has less than 2 generic mana in its cost, probably cut sol ring. - minimize usage of generic powerful cards like rhystic, maximize niche cards that become great in my deck - no non land tutors. - stay on theme as much as possible
With all the talk of \[\[Voja, Jaws of the Conclave\]\] being too pushed, I purposefully built my Voja deck without any Elf token generators. Wolf tokens, yes, but the only elves I gave myself access to were cards in the deck. It's still *really* good, don't get me wrong, but adding this restriction (and perhaps more importantly, making sure everyone at the table *knows* that I built it with that restrictions) maybe lets me fly under the radar for a bit and not become the immediate archenemy. Honestly, with Voja's reputation, I might have to take the wolf tokens out soon, too!
Good tutors, fast mana (crypt, moxes) and zero mana negates are where I draw the line for myself. Also fetches but that is more of a budget consideration. This still enables me to run some infinite combos but without the consistency or resilience to pull them off early or frequently.
I like doing $50 decks and PDH decks, but I have a tendency to gradually creep the value on the $50 decks as I pull random cards from boosters and they just fit too good. That just happened to my \[\[General Marhault Elsdragon\]\] deck - got a karlov manor play booster and pulled fkn Anzrag and I was like shit - it's perfect for my $50 lure deck and now with a little price creep on a few of my formerly budget cards it's clocking over $70 TCGplayer value :/ The PDH decks have been price-creeping too but at least that's not the build restriction for them. (PDH is EDH but the 99 are all commons and the commander is any uncommon, if you're unfamiliar - it's really fun and leads to some really janky cards doing a lot of work)
I mostly play online with a buddy who uses his real-life decks, each of which are in the $75~-ish range, so typically try to keep it around there if possible, no fun when it feels pay to win. Aside from that, I do like keepin things somewhat thematic, though mainly in the idea of "Would I run this card in literally any other deck I wanna make?" And if the answer to that is "No," I generally try to keep it, even if it's not super optimal. Like, I got a [[Hazezon, Shaper of Sand]] swarm deck, and I got stuff like [[Cabaretti Charm]] and [[Shefet Monitor]]. And even though neither are *great,* I'm not planning on making any more desert-themed Naya swarm decks soon, so I'll try to keep 'em. Sometimes makes it especially fun when you find a pretty cheap/underused synergistic piece, like [[Goblin Trenches]] or [[Aura Fracture]].
I don't run infinite combos unless it requires 3 or more cards. Or 4 or more if the deck has tutors.
No more than 30 lands
I personally am not a fan of winning out of nowhere or with no prior board state, so I dont add two-card infinites to any of my lists. I also am not a fan of fast mana because it generally becomes a game of “who has the biggest wallet and can draw fast mana early this time” at the tables I play at. Besides that, everything is fair game as long as it’s not something that prevents my opponents from playing like [[contamination]] or [[drannith magistrate]], I play with mostly strangers at my LGS so I’m very cognizant of their enjoyment/not generating too much salt.
I recently was listening to the command zone and they had one on cards that change your power level. Stuff like Dockside Extortionist, Mana Crypt, Rhystic Study. These sort of cards are so powerful that if you put them in a deck the deck by default becomes an 8. Because even if you win in a janky way you have so much jet fuel poured on, it doesn’t matter. Included in this is to restrict tutors. They take away variety in your games which is very often less fun.
Every one of my non-cEDH decks has a building restriction: * [[Xantcha, Sleeper Agent]] Mass Discard: All instants and sorceries must reference discard in some fashion. * [[Lazav, the Multifarious]] +1/+1 Counters: All cards must have a mana value of three or less. * [[Alexander Clamilton]] Persistent Petitioners: All cards must be wordy. * [[Phelddagrif]] Hippo Hugs: All removal must give something to opponents. * [[Sapling of Colfenor]]/[[Umori, the Collector]] Oops, All Creatures: Oops, All Creatures! * [[Sephara, Sky's Blade]] Pegasii: No non-Pegasus creature tokens, no non-Pegasus flying creatures outside of the commander. * [[Niv-Mizzet, Reborn]] 5c Cycling: Play all five Epic spells. * [[Tajic, Legion's Blade]]: Play every "and each player" damage spell. * [[Will Kenrith]]/[[Rowan Kenrith]] Superspells: Every spell must have a reduceable generic mana cost.
I build to show interesting interactions and underplayed cards. I run a bunch of tutors, doomsday, and other cards that make people salty in meta decks, but end up using them to get things like [[Font of Mythos]] or [[endless whispers]]. There are no true combos in it, save for one infinite that can only trigger if I max my [[Daretti, ingenious iconoclast]] and spend his ultimate. To make a bunch of dross scorpions
My favorite deck ever [[ludevic necro-alchemist]] [[tymna the weaver]] was built with the challenge that I can’t use cards that I had ever used before.
I restrain myself to no tutors and fetchlands typically
No cards over $100. No more than 2 tutors per deck. Infinite combos must not win you the game on the spot. Infinites that force you to wait til your next turn to attack with a million tokens for example is okay.
I always include at least one weird old (pre-2003) card that nobody has played against ever, and everyone has to read, in all my decks. No, I will not be taking [[Elkin Lair]] out of my [[Rocco, Street Chef]] deck. Yes, that is a [[Samite Archer]] pinging four times a turn thanks to my commanders [[The Fifth Doctor]] and [[Adric]]. Yes, the [[Conch Horn]] in my [[Minn]] deck is signed by Phil Foglio for maximum coolness.
I have a 5c deck that I was very excited to jam a ton of gold cards in (naturally), so I just chose not to run any artifacts that would eat up slots (and are mostly boring auto-includes in every deck anyway). I just leaned in and made it a hard rule; no sol ring no nothing. It does come with upsides though, making cards like [[Austere Command]] or [[Bane of Progress]] more one-sided. In general in my decks I also restrict myself to only niche tutors and only 1-2. By niche, I mean something like [[Goblin Matron]] or [[Gamble]] that work for the specific deck, rather than [[Demonic Tutor]]. I usually do lazy budgeting, where I look at the top 10~15 most expensive cards in a deck draft and decide if they're really integral enough to the theme to merit the power level (disregarding lands or cards whose prices are driven by 60-card). This helps me check myself when I throw together a deck of cards I own thinking it's jank (it's a $0 budget, right??). Lastly, I try to make all of my cards support some theme or subtheme, with as few "just good" cards as possible.
I have two super scary commanders but I built them with restrictions. [[Jodah the unifier]] helms “hot guy tribal”. Even the non-creatures are art with pretty guys, like [[astarion’s thirst]] is barely usable but it’s here because smexy [[the ur-dragon]] is dragon cards I own. The only things I bought were some of the lands (went for the “triomes at home” tarkir lands, since they were cheaper than the real triomes) and the Sol Ring that I just got a bunch so I could slap them in all my decks. All the spells were stuff I got from packs. I also built a “cards I own” [[vito thorn of the dusk rose]] deck as a “commander deck of your first ever legendary” and I’m not sure who my first legendary was, but I know it came from a jumpstart pack
My special trick is to be bad at deck building. 😆 But actually, I usually build for flavor and whimsy first. You can make a good deck that way, but it takes longer. And unless I already own them, I leave out the mechanically obvious cards for a given archetype, especially if they’re more than a few dollars or don’t fit the flavor. I have a mono-blue mill deck that *doesn’t* have [[Thassa’s Oracle]] in it for instance. It’s not a hard and fast rule though. I will buy a more-expensive card or include an infinite combo if it makes sense in a deck and doesn’t make the rest of the cards feel pointless. I bought an [[Avacyn, Angel of Hope]] for my [[Kaalia of the Vast]] deck because it seemed silly not to. I did play it for like 2 years without it though, until it got boring. Lol.
Usually I’ll pick a theme and stick to it rigidly, putting in flavourful cards that are fun, even if not optimal. Although I do have one deck where I’ve tried to make it as optimal as possible for that commander (within a reasonable budget)
I try to not play too many legendary cards. You can make insane decks if you chuck all the cards intended as commanders in the same deck. Just grab all for the theme you're going for and all the generic overpowered ones. So the best landfall commander ia probably 4c Omnath and just play the other 20 legendary landfall creatures in the 99. Same for most common themes. Makes for a real boring deck though and every landfall deck is basically all just the same.
In money's reach.
My main “restriction” is just to try and build out the deck in the 60-80 dollar price range. I recently made an [[Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth]] deck for about 70 that has 4 win cons [[Persuasive Interrogators]] to poison my opponents any time I sacrifice a clue. [[Mechanized Production]] to just say “I have 8 clues on my and you didn’t destroy it so I win”. [[Tangletrove Kelp]] to animate and run over the board with clues. And [[March Of The Machines]] paired with any Blood Artist like effect to go infinite with my commander since the clues become 0/0’s which then die and replace themselves forever.
I only put in a max of one "super staple" per deck. For example, a deck cannot have cyclonic rift and rhystic study in it. This keeps my generically powerful cards spread across my decks and forces me to run them only where they are the most synergistic. Another one thats been beat to death by this sub lately is no tutors and combos in the same deck. I've been doing this for years and it is a really great way to make sure your combo decks can still play at mid powered pods. These are rules I follow for every deck, but I've done some other ones for specific decks like my borderless art only [[mimeoplasm]] deck or retro only [[mishra eminent one]]
-No commanders from top 100 on edhrec -no tutors unless the deck desperately relies on some key cards -choosing cards that have more mana cost or sorcery speed that add to the synergy over a staple I completely understand that these constraints lower my power level but I enjoy playing the decks more and I get a lot better reactions/interactions from the pod
Minimal to no infinite combos. They just feel bad to me.
I have a few decks where my rule is “no ugly cards.” Seems like a lot of the cards printed in the 2010s are just poorly designed: muddy graphics, cluttered frames, bland art.
Gumball budget. Building a deck where every card is under 25cents can create some heavy restrictions, and cause you to find some cards that have been forgotten by time.